Senna

In recent years I've stopped watching documentaries. On the whole, the task has become futile. In the past the purpose of a documentary was to investigate a subject and present the findings to the audience in an interesting, and preferably balanced fashion. Unfortunately, all that has changed in recent years and I predominantly blame one man for that.

Now don't misunderstand me, this is not about my political persuasion or anybody else's for that matter, but Michael Moore is responsible for making documentaries unwatchable for me. I may agree with a lot of the points he made in Bowling for Columbine, Sicko etc and I may disagree with others. However, at no point did he ever try to present all of the facts on a topic. His style is to ram his personal agenda down the throat of the audience and ignore or even ridicule any attempt to disagree. This does not encourage debate, it destroys it. It's also quite a good example of how American politics is becoming increasingly combative and antagonistic.

If it were just Michael Moore doing this then it wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that, probably because Moore's films became commercially successful, everyone else has began to follow his lead. There was Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth that, while making some fascinating points, refused to engage with differing opinions and even included some 'key scientific errors' according to a high court judge. Then there was the guy that ate nothing but McDonalds for a few weeks and expected us to be shocked when he got ill. Hey buddy, try eating nothing but bananas for a month and see what happens to you.

It's not just films either. Regular documentary series in the UK like Panorama and Dispatches are copying the 'Moore Method' as I like to call it and are therefore pointless viewing in my opinion.

I realise I have spent a lot of time getting round to the subject matter of this post, but I want to make it absolutely clear how much I hate documentaries before I talk about out how much I loved Senna. It was the best thing I've seen in the cinema this year and probably the best documentary I've ever seen.

I'm sure that it helps that I am a motor racing fan and I remember watching Senna and Prost go to war with each other when I was young. I also vividly recall watching the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 and seeing the crash that killed him. At the time Seena seemed like an old man to me. I was only 13 myself and he'd been at the top of Formula 1 almost my whole life. Watching the film this weekend reminded me of just how young he was, which made his success even more incredible.

Almost surprisingly the film doesn't show as much racing footage of Senna as you might expect. It certainly shows enough to remind you of the phenomenal skill he had and how reckless he could be, but there is much more behind the scenes footage and excellent storytelling that help to bring everything together without relying on replaying races.

His battles with Prost and the management of F1 at the time are obviously a big focus and I will confess that Senna is very much painted as the good guy, despite a few indiscretions. However, it is important to remember that despite the animosity between them, Prost was pall bearer at Senna's funeral, is a patron of the remarkable Senna foundation and was involved in the making of the documentary.

Do you need to be an F1 fan to love Senna? It helps, but I don't think it's essential. Racing may be the fulcrum around which the documentary is made, but this is a remarkably moving story about a very interesting human being. It's compelling viewing from start to finish and made me feel like there is hope yet for the genre.

X Men: First Class

Oh Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, how I love you! Every film that these two work on together has been spot on. Kick Ass was one of my favourite films of last year and X Men: First Class is definitely the best comic book movie of 2011 so far in my opinion.

After a very strong start to the franchise with the first X Men film 11 years ago (I know, where does the time go?), Bryan Singer followed up with the superb X2 in 2003, which raised the bar for comic films that few have come close to since.

Everything was looking good for the X Men series and I was a happy fan. That was until the curse of the 'difficult third movie' struck (see Spiderman 3). X Men 3 could have been epic. It was the Phoenix Saga for goodness sake, one of the greatest story arcs of all time. However, Bryan Singer wasn't at the helm this time as he chose to do Superman Returns instead, which I thought was great despite poor box office returns. This led to the worst choice in directors since Joel Schumacher took over the Batman franchise... Brett Ratner.

X-Men: The Last Stand was a disaster of a movie and one that I refuse to watch a second time after almost weeping with disappointment in the cinema. My favourite series of comic films had been ruined. Ratner made a bigger mess of the Phoenix than Raimi did of Venom.

You'd think that would be the end of things, but no. They then decided to make the Wolverine origins film. While I didn't hate it, I went in with very low expectations... I'd been hurt too many times before. However, my girlfriend is a huge X Men / Wolverine fan and is a far bigger comic book geek than I am and she can barely bring herself to talk about it. I can see her point.

After all of this you'd think I wouldn't be able to face another X Men film and I'm not sure I would have bothered with First Class if I hadn't seen those two names attached to the project. Not only did I decide to go and see it, I actually let myself get a little bit excited. The writer / director partnership aside, James McAvoy is usually worth seeing.

I certainly wasn't disappointed this time. X Men: First Class is a great comic movie and utilises major historical events of the 20th Century (the holocaust, the Cuban missile crisis) to provide not only the backdrop for the story but also the allegory for persecution and fear of what is different. It does a great job of building the friendship between Xavier and Magneto and demonstrating how their different backgrounds gave them opposing perspectives on the world. It also introduces old favourites like Dr. Hank McCoy / Beast, played by the excellent Nicholas Hoult who I hope goes on to bigger and better things in Hollywood now.

However, First Class isn't perfect and there are a few niggles that I can't let go. Firstly, to remind the audience that they are watching events that are supposed to have happened in the 60s, at times the film looks a little 'shagadelic'. Watch out for the decor of Shaw's submarine to see what I mean.

Also, there were some parts of the story that I just didn't buy. Unless I missed something, since when was Mistique Charles Xavier's oldest and closest friend? I know they're thinking of doing a Mistique film, but that wasn't the way to give her a bigger role in this film.

Still, that doesn't take too much away from what is a very enjoyable cinema experience, made even better by the fact that they didn't release it in 3D. Happy days!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

It’s no secret that I’m a Harry Potter geek. Unlike most fans I came to the party late and saw the first four films before I picked up one of the books. I had dismissed them as kid’s books, but it’s amazing what you’ll watch with a bad hangover and the TV remote control out of arms reach. Thanks to one of those hangovers I became hooked on the films, which of course led to me reading the J.K. Rowling novels and thoroughly enjoying myself.

Something that always impressed me was how the films were made to represent the books so closely. Of course as the books became longer, this became more difficult. A number of omissions and slight changes were made from the fourth and fifth films, but nothing was lost, and the excellent story remained intact.

This is why I was so surprised when I sat down and watched The Half Blood Prince for the first time. What I watched was not a bad film by any means, in fact it was highly enjoyable. It also fitted in quite nicely with the rest of the films in the series. What it did not do, however, was represent the sixth book in the series.

The Half Blood Prince was always going to be one of the most difficult of the series to film. It represents the build-up to the finale and, as such, possibly struggles with a lack of unique story arc that was always present in the previous books and films.

However, to my mind the most important part of the story was always the history of Voldermort – how did he become the evil dark lord and how can Harry stop him? Obviously the film makers disagreed because this feels like a sub-plot, while the love lives of the students seem to take precedence.

Some critics have commented that the Half Blood Prince is the darkest of the films, which is something I could not disagree with more. With the exception of the dénouement it is one of the most light-hearted of the series. It feels like the comic relief before the drama of the Deathly Hallows, which is still to come.

The film is so light in fact that it was necessary to add in a dramatic scene that never existed in the book. The Christmas attack on the home of the Weasley’s was certainly not in the version of the book that I read. It is possible that I hold Harry Potter to a higher standard, because this would not surprise or bother me with other film adaptations, but to add in such an important scene that never existed before suggests to me that they were perhaps struggling with this one.

All of my fan-boy geek rants aside, The Half Blood Prince is a funny, well acted (take a bow Mr Broadbent), beautifully shot film that is well worth the price of admission. You may have some issues with it if you are a lover of the books, but if I can get over it then so can you.

A Disappointing Summer

My my, how time flies. Three months between posts – sorry folks. It’s not the first time I’ve neglected my blog and it almost certainly won’t be the last. In the past it’s usually been because I get distracted by something shiny or, from time to time, real life.

However, this time is different. I haven’t really had much to say. Granted I should have kept things going by posting trailers and the odd bit of news, but I felt I needed to talk about some of the films that I was so looking forward to just a few months ago. It’s just that, almost everything has been so dull that I couldn’t really be bothered.

OK, Star Trek was excellent but I’ve already talked about that. So far none of the others on my list has lived up to my expectations.

Transformers will always have a soft spot in my heart because I am a child of the 80s. I’ve loved Optimus Prime since I was four years old. However, once you remove that feeling of nostalgia, all you are left with is two hours of Bayhem at its explosive worst.

Wolverine was fun but nothing special. Again nostalgia came into play and it was interesting enough to qualify as two hours of summer popcorn fodder, but there was nothing else to it. If I want to see a great film with Wolverine in it I’ll go back and watch X2.

Of course my reaction to these two films was entirely predictable. I wasn’t expecting to be blown away by innovative direction or pithy dialogue. Unfortunately I had higher hopes for Public Enemies, which is why it is probably the most disappointing film of the summer so far in my opinion.

Public Enemies is a film ruined by the director. I’ve discussed my issues with Michael Mann here before but I never would have predicted that he could take some excellent writing (some of it his own) and even better acting and make them into a poor film.

Perhaps poor is too strong, but his direction is so distracting that it’s difficult to enjoy Depp’s excellent turn as Dillinger as well as some impressive supporting performances, particularly by Stephen Graham who I think is an exceptionally talented actor. Mann’s attempt to shoot the film in an almost documentary, shaky hand-cam, style fails miserably as does his insistence on making every scene 20 seconds longer than it needs to be (a growing problem amongst directors at the moment).

This leaves me with two films from my list. I am yet to see Inglorious Basterds and, despite having already seen it twice, I have plenty to say about Harry Potter (both good and bad), so I will give it a full review in my next post.

Outside of my list I have heard good things about Moon, written and directed by Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son) and plan on seeing it at some point – are there any other hidden gems I’ve missed out on this summer?

The Apatow Bunch

I’m a big fan of the ‘Apatow Bunch’*. I’m referring, of course to the bunch of very funny guys - Seth Rogan, Judd Apatow, Paul Rudd, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill et al – who over the last few years have shown up in a bunch of great comedies that, more often than not, include some form of involvement from Judd Apatow.

Not only is this a really talented group of comedians, but they have managed to find a formula for making comedies that can appeal to everyone. For example, Knocked Up should, by all accounts, be described as a romantic comedy and therefore despised by all men. However, there’s enough guy humour running through it to keep me entertained. It is the perfect date movie.

However, not content with making the men and women laugh, they always through in some great lines for the geeks as well. There’s nothing a geek likes to see more than an in-joke. It makes us feel superior because we get a joke that some people in the audience won’t have understood because they don’t get the reference. You can see a great example of this if you watch I Love You Man staring Rudd and Segal, which came out in the UK last week. Just watch out for the Princess Bride reference – you’ll love it.

Even if you’re not a Princess Bride fan (ie soulless), you should go see it anyway because it’s just plain hilarious.

Amusingly enough I don’t think Judd Apatow had anything to do with I Love You Man, but it’s in the same style and stars two of his boys, so it counts as a ‘Bunch Movie’ as far as I’m concerned.

The only recent film by ‘The Bunch’ that I avoided in recent times was Pineapple Express. Stoner humour just doesn’t do it for me (that’s right, you heard me correctly Big Lebowski), and from what I understand I haven’t missed anything. Still, one dog out of around 15 movies isn’t so bad.


*The terms ‘Apatow Bunch’, ‘Bunch Movie’ and ‘The Bunch’ are registered trademarks of the Films and Things corporation (as if anyone cares!)

In Bruges

Whoever made the trailer for In Bruges should be shot. To take an excellent, original, piece of work and make it look like an average, everyday, comedy must have taken some effort. I can only assume that it was done on purpose in order to bring in larger crowds.

I never really considered going to see the film in the cinema after watching the trailer. Even after it came out on DVD and my housemate bought it I let it sit on the side for about a month before finally watching it over the Easter Weekend.

The film begins with a simple enough premise – two Irish hitmen (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) flee London after a job and hideout in Bruges on their bosses orders. The first twenty minutes or so go as expected with some great witty banter between the two. However, there is an uncomfortable atmosphere that hangs over the comedy, created by bleak backdrops and a melancholy soundtrack.

Eventually the reason for the depressing feel is revealed and the film becomes one of the best black comedies that I can remember seeing. Farrell and Gleeson are superb and do a great job with some excellently written, witty dialogue. While the soundtrack and direction are impressive, it is the two of them that control the mood of the film throughout, making you laugh out loud one minute and then stopping you in your tracks without ever making it feel forced.

It’s difficult to talk about the film too much without stepping into ‘spoiler’ territory, and this is definitely a film that should be watched with as little prior knowledge as possible. So if you haven’t seen it yet then I would definitely recommend it – especially if you’ve avoided it because of the hideous job they did promoting it in the first place.

The Spirit

I have that feeling about The Spirit – you know the one where you really love a film that maybe you shouldn’t. I’m not talking about the movies that everyone knows are rubbish but love anyway because they are reminded of their childhood or for some other kitsch reason. I’m talking about the ones that you pretend fall into that first category, but that you actually really like.

OK, maybe that isn’t completely clear, so I’ll give you an example of each…

Goonies is a film that I watched when I was young. It was about kids going on an adventure, finding treasure and beating the bad guys. When it’s shown on TV these days I’ll watch it and laugh because I remember laughing when I was 6. However, deep down, I don’t really love watching the film any more.

By way of contrast I present the Karate Kid - a film that I will watch today and enjoy as much, if not more than when I was still in single digits. I still get emotional at the right moments and honestly believe that it’s an excellent film. There are those that would point out that it’s predictable and little more than 80’s cheese, but I still like it.

Got it now? Am I making sense? Good…

With that in mind I found The Spirit to be incredibly entertaining, very funny and just downright sexy! Was it anywhere near as cool as Sin City? Nope. Will any critics put it in the same league as The Dark Knight? I seriously doubt it. But none of that matters.

I’d never even heard of The Spirit before I saw the trailers a few months ago. Perhaps that is why I didn’t have any expectations and was able to watch the movie for what it was – a comic. It’s a ridiculous movie but the cast, particularly Samuel L Jackson as the spectacularly unhinged Octopus, keep you entertained throughout.

Well, they kept me entertained. During the screening that I saw I think a total of 15 people left the cinema (three groups as a opposed to one by one) complaining loudly about how stupid it was. However, to put that into context, I was sitting in a cinema at 11pm on a Saturday night in East London. It is more than likely that the people who left had come to see the latest Fast and Furious film but had gone in the wrong door!

So, to bring this rambling review to a close, if you like Frank Miller, enjoyed Sin City, but are like me and have a stupid sense of humour, then go see The Spirit. If not, then don’t waste your time or money. That is unless you’re a big fan of these ladies…

Gone Baby Gone

This weekend my truly delightful girlfriend brought me another DVD to watch. While it wasn’t a horror, it was probably far more harrowing due to the subject matter.

The release of Gone Baby Gone was delayed for a long time in the UK because of the Madeline McCann case. At first I thought the decision to pull the movie just before its release was an over-reaction, but quickly realised why it was done. The resemblance between ‘Maddy’ and the girl that goes missing in the film is striking. An unfortunate coincidence to say the least.

However, Gone Baby Gone was eventually released over here and I am very happy to say that, thanks to the gorgeous woman in my life (in case you’re wondering I’m still paying for my earlier Horror Movie post), I was finally able to see what all the fuss was about.

Now I’ve always rated Ben Affleck as an actor more than most people. What he has been guilty of, in my opinion, is accepting roles in too many bad movies. Matt Damon has made far better choices since Good Will Hunting, but that doesn’t mean that Affleck is a poor actor. Plus I don’t care what anyone else says, Daredevil was awesome.

Regardless of this, when I’ve heard people talking about Gone Baby Gone the consensus seems to be that Casey is the better actor of the Affleck brothers and that Ben should stay behind the camera. While I thought this might possibly be a back-handed compliment, having seen the film I now know what they mean, and it is in no way insulting.

This is the first time I’ve seen Casey in a lead role (I still haven’t watched The Assassination of Jesse James - careless I know) and he is excellent. I always liked him in the few movies I’d seen him in previously, and always thought he was the most under-rated character in Good Will Hunting, but this was the first time I really got to appreciate what a great talent he is. His performance is subtle but extremely believable and it is him that makes the film so uncomfortably real.

While it’s not something that people seem to appreciate these days, but Ben Affleck is a pretty good writer – he won an Oscar for it and everything. Not only did he help write another excellent film with Gone Baby Gone, but he also did an excellent job of directing it too. The bleak, depressing story is made all the more real for the world that Ben creates and you could be forgiven for thinking that the film was lead by a far more experienced director.

I realise that there is nothing new or insightful about what I’m saying here. Most people have written the same thing about this film and the Affleck brothers 18 months ago. However, I feel I can get away with it as I don’t think many people in the UK have really discovered this one yet and, if they get the chance, they should watch it as soon as possible.

Quantum of Solace

You may have seen this post I made back in September, lamenting the lack of good movies coming out this autumn. The situation has been so dire that, until yesterday, I hadn’t been to the cinema in almost two months, my longest drought in about 3 years – a shocking state of affairs!

Not only was I unable to find any good independent films to keep me going, but I also had to sit back and watch as Mamma Mia became the UK’s biggest ever film at the British box office. It was almost enough to throw me into a deep depression.

Fortunately, just as things were at their worst, I was saved by the man from MI6. It’s no secret that I’ve always been a bond fan. I’ve been hooked since watching Goldfinger when I couldn’t have been much older than 6 or 7 years old. I loved Sean Connery and hated Roger Moore, was indifferent to George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton, and just felt sorry for Pierce Brosnan who was given nothing to work with after his fantastic debut in Goldeneye.

When it was released Casino Royale very quickly made it into my top three bond films. I’m almost certain that it will become my number one and remain there for a number of years, but I need to make sure that it holds up to the test of time first. Having watched it about 10 times now, most recently a couple of weeks ago, the signs are pretty good.

All of this meant that Quantum of Solace had some pretty big shoes to fill. How do you follow up such an excellent debut? Like many fans I was expecting a lot and, on the whole, I was not disappointed.

The people in charge of Bond certainly aren’t afraid to break the mould and they’ve taken another big risk this time around. Instead of making another stand-alone film they have decided to continue the story that began in Casino Royale with a direct sequel.

The film starts just moments after 007 has made his introduction to the mysterious Mr White with a car chase through the Italian mountains. This is high adrenaline stuff and it sets the pace for the rest of the movie. There is a lot of action and we are quickly reminded of Daniel Craig’s cold, brutal Bond as he investigates the mysterious organisation responsible for the death of his beloved Vespa.

However, this is not a simple revenge film and we are shown a complicated investigation which throw up a number of political obstacles that concerns everyone except our James, who proves a rather focused and tenacious chap to say the least.

The best thing about Quantum of Solace is the same as the best thing in Casino Royale – Daniel Craig. Not only does he have an incredible amount of style, but he is also a very good actor. I’m not sure any of his predecessors could have pulled off the dark, haunted 007 that he portrays in Quantum of Solace.

The supporting cast is also very good, particularly Judi Dench as M and Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis, even if the latter’s screen time was rather brief. Mathieu Amalric was fine as Dominic Greene, but was perhaps a little too sinister for my liking. I know Bond villains are supposed to be particularly ‘evil’ but, in my opinion, the archetypal, cat stroking baddie doesn’t really belong in this new, grittier style.

Despite coming out of the cinema with a smile on my face, I do have some criticisms. I had heard beforehand that the director had gone for more of a Bourne style when it came to the action sequences and it’s certainly true. There are lots of quick cuts used to give an impression of frantic chases and fights. I didn’t really like this, it felt like a gimmick. Marc Forster seems to be of the opinion that you shouldn’t film a sequence from one angle when you can shoot it from 17.

While this is a relatively large complaint I was still very happy with Quantum of Solace. It’s a worthy follow up to Casino Royale thanks to an excellent cast and a great script, which provided some nice moments of humour despite the serious story. There’s also a nice little Goldfinger homage thrown in there with a modern twist, which made me smile.

So if you’ve also been waiting for a film worth returning to the cinema for after the long autumn drought, this is it. Enjoy!

Layer Cake

In my flat, between three of us, we have somewhere in the region of about 400 DVDs. With such a large selection, you’d think that we’d be able to find something to watch with relative ease.
Unfortunately, when it comes time to make a decision, this is how conversations often go:

“Film?”

“Go for it”

“What do you fancy?”

“Don’t mind, anything”

“How about X?”

“Nah”

“OK, how about Y?”

“Nah, saw that too recently”

“What about Z?”

“Not sure I’m in the mood for that.”

This conversation can go on for some time and often results in nothing being chosen.

Fortunately this wasn’t the case on Saturday morning and the number of titles shouted out by my brother was mercifully short once we both spotted Layer Cake, a film I haven’t seen for a couple of years.

Layer Cake is an impossibly cool film. It actually made me want to become a cocaine dealer. Well, not really, but they do a great job of glamorising the underworld. In fact I find it quite remarkable that people complained that Trainspotting might make young people think drug taking was cool (because overdosing in a Glaswegian slum flat is my idea of awesome!), yet, to my knowledge, no one made a peep about this film.

As far as I can tell, the message is that if you deal in enormous amounts of drugs, you become stinkingly rich, intelligent, charming, stylish, get to enjoy all sorts of crazy hijinks and then shag Sienna Miller. OK, so your white suit might get ruined when you get shot at your local golf course, but I think it’s a small price to pay when you consider the upside.

Either way, I love this flick. While I usually bemoan the fact that we only seem to make three types of film in this country (Northern working class misery, Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant idyllic posh England and the gangster movie), this is a really enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. It’s well written, well directed, well cast and well acted. Not much more you can say about a film than that.

So I won’t.

Hellboy 2

I should start this post off with a confession. I haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth yet. It’s on my ‘to watch’ list but I just haven’t got round to it. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it based on the fact that everyone else who has seen it has told me I will.

However, I’m equally sure that it’s not going to be as easy to watch as, say, Die Hard 4, which my brother and I watched on this Saturday while recovering from our Friday induced hangovers. A film like Pan’s Labyrinth is obviously going to require a little concentration and effort to watch and not just because of the subtitles.

Fortunately for me, Guillermo del Toro doesn’t just make films that require me to really concentrate. A lot of his films can just be enjoyed as popcorn fodder such as the very enjoyable Hellboy, the sequel to which I went to see this weekend.

Del Torro has become the man of the moment when it comes to creating fantasy worlds on film. I’m anxious to see what he has in store for us with the Hobbit over the next few years. However, while all of his films are visually stunning, they aren’t necessarily all good, with Blade 2 immediately springing to mind.

Unfortunately I was reminded of this disappointing sequel within ten minutes of the start of Hellboy 2. It was with no small sense of déjà vu that I observed Luke Goss playing the role of an immortal prince with daddy issues trying to wage war on humanity. Luke may play this role very well but I was a little surprised to see him doing it twice.

Fortunately this is where the similarities between the two films end and I was able to enjoy a good, and very pretty, comic book movie. Ron Pearlman is once again enjoyable as Hellboy who is well supported by the likes of Selma Blair and the very funny Jeffrey Tambor.

Unfortunately I did leave the cinema feeling a little underwhelmed as the film didn’t quite meet my expectations. However, I’m not going to blame Del Torro for this. In fact it was all my fault. The film had been given a great deal of hype in recent months and I think I became caught up in that. I was expecting the brilliance I have been promised from Pan’s Labyrinth in a film about a cigar smoking, wise-cracking, hell demon who is trying to save the world.

If you like comic book movies you’ll probably like this. Just don’t go expecting anything more than that or you might be disappointed.