These days when you watch a trailer you more or less see a mini version of the whole film. Indeed the trailer for this film makes the film look rather plain and I was in two minds whether to go and see it. (After all, you may have noticed that since fatherhood at the start of the year reviews have been few and scarce and there’s a good reason for that – ask any new parent, they’ll tell you. Needless to say, today I got to go to the cinema and so I had my pick of the films!) The running time, 2hrs and 50m, was nearly enough to put me off completely. But I was going to see it on IMAX – Sci-Fi looks great on that doesn’t it? Though my apprehension wasn’t helped by memories of my midnight trip to see Prometheus at the Southbank IMAX which, whilst enjoyable in the wee hours, was tainted by the protests of Scott fans who thought he had ruined the franchise big time like The Phantom Menace. But this is Christopher Nolan! OK – let’s give it a whirl. I’m glad I did.
So Earth appears to be dying. Crops are suffering severely with blight, dust storms are rampant and scientist reckon life for humankind is doomed after the current young generation. Ex-NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is called to fly a special space mission to seek a new habitat for humankind to emigrate to. The journey is epic and will require a small section in stasis and a jaunt through a wormhole just to the right of Saturn. But Cooper leaves behind his son Tom and his daughter Murph (kept sounding like Smurf – “that’s Murph!”) and the latter is proper pissed off about him leaving. Indeed, there are no spoilers here because I’ve more or less recounted the trailer. But thankfully, that is only the first hour of the film. The rest is superb, but you’ll probably be asking why?
The great thing about this film is that despite being set slightly in the future, everything seems plausible and well thought out. There is no dreadful ambiguity as there is in other films such as Contact (also starring McConaughey) or Kubrick’s 2001:A Space Odyssey. We follow the main character through absolutely every minute of his experience and get to share, feel and live it with him. The worlds have this plausibility too yet also contain a few surprises – like frozen clouds or mountains on the horizon that aren’t what they seem (proper “That’s no moon, it’s a Space Station” moment)
There are some interesting, yet successful casting choices in this film too including John Lithgow (who stayed on the 3rd Rock from the Sun) and, as you’d expect in a Nolan film, Batman veterans David Gyasi, Michael Caine and Anne Hathaway. The ubiquitous droids, in this case TARS, CASE and KIPP, were bizarre to say the least. They had amazingly natural voices and were highly intelligent including settings for wit and honesty! Yet I’ve never seen a clunkier droid since V.I.N.C.E.N.T. in cult flop The Black Hole. But this only added to the overall feasibility and therefore sense of realism. And it’s this realism which is key to bridging our imagination in any SciFi film, and many films fail at it. Great care appears to have been taken to address this factor and it is very much to the film’s credit!
I’m gonna stick my neck out here and categorise the review on this site under the BAFTA and Oscar category for 2015 – I’ll be very surprised if some aspect doesn’t get a nomination for one of them!
[rating=4]
There has been a fashion, which has recently spiked in popularity, of mixing what would otherwise seem odd combinations into winning (and therefore original) formulas. Last year for my birthday I enjoyed the signature dish at Londons “Duck And Waffle” which was precisely that plus a fried egg and maple syrup. It sounds wrong but it was delicious. One can’t help thinking about all the disastrous combinations that may have been tried and never made it past the test stage. Some poor soul still had to eat it.
Costner is pretty impeccable in whatever he is in and, like Richard Gere last year, it was nice to finally see a return of this actor who, like Gere, was at his prime in the 1990’s. But he is let down by a terribly corny script and is forced through a variety of “being a good dad” cliches that would have been fine in a 30 second advert that precede the movie, but is saccharin and lard crowbarred as it is into this ill-constructed story! And then there are the attempts to be funny, even quirky. But the humour is of the quality you see politicians attempt in their speeches and just leaves you feeling awkward and embarrassed for them. The action sequences however are good.
Filmed, released and set in 1954, the movie is set in the docks near Manhattan and tells the story of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), a dockworker who lives a humdrum existence accepting casual low paid work at the docks and spending the rest of his time keeping pigeons. Nothing wrong there, you may ask! However the entire workforce lives under the suppressive shadow of mob union leader (and ironically named) Johnny Friendly who runs a racket out of the docks. People who step out of line are quickly and fatally dealt with. Despite the imminent danger, many workers remain “d&d” (deaf and dumb) fearing lethal retribution or the eternal shame of informing.
Before all the special effects, Hollywood quite often relied on a good story to get bums on seats. Present day Hollywood could do well to remember this simple yet powerful device that can make a film like this compulsive to watch, ultimately earning it a modest handful of Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Brando. But the guy who “could have been a contender” without doubt was Karl Malden as Father Barry. His sermon on the docks is as powerful as any Shakespeare soliloquy and utterly captivating. For this reason, and as small comfort to him for not winning Best Supporting Actor, FilmFridays declares him Man of the Match in this movie!
Disney brings us this film about the making of its film Mary Poppins. The story, presumably based on anecdotal and early spooled recordings of the early development stages depicted in the film, tells of the hot cold relationship between Walt Disney himself (Tom Hanks) and the writer of Mary Poppins Pamela L Travers (Emma Thompson), a woman more English and stern sounding than the original voice of the speaking clock or indeed the woman who voices the elevator at Belsize Park Underground Station. The film compares the development of the story we know and love in the Disney classic with Travers own upbringing, specifically her relationship with her father; hence the significance of the Mr Banks character whom he symbolises.
Based on a true story published in the book “A Captain’s Duty:Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS and Dangerous Days At Sea” by Captain Richard Phillips, the film tells the account of how his cargo ship, the US Maersk Alabama was hijacked in 2009 by a handful of Somali pirates and he himself later kidnapped by them in a emergency lifeboat and held hostage whilst the US Navy pursued. Tom Hanks plays our eponymous hero whom isn’t too romantically portrayed. Indeed, you can see at the start of the film that many of his staff appear to have their noses put out of joint by his officiousness. This seemingly innocuous start to the film is essential however as it sets the tone that Captain Phillips was not a hero. He was a victim of circumstance, but so was his Somali captors whose desperation is clear in the remainder of the film.
Gary King (Simon Pegg) has been unable to move on in life since he was in his late teens – the glory years! He still drives his car, The Beast, still listens to the same cassette compilation tape and still lives in his home village of New Haven. During a group therapy session, he becomes convinced that the root to his troubles was his inability to complete “the golden mile” – an epic pub crawl which appears to be the most enduring image of happier days for him. So twenty years on he reunites his original gang, his four mates who have significantly moved on from those halycyon years – one is even teetotal. However much time has passed since those days and it appears that his friends may well abandon the idea which for them has lost all creed and substance. Until, that is, something very peculiar happens that binds them together and their pub crawl become an epic quest – a search for truth, discovery, survival…. and a few more pints!
And after the previous films successfully jokingly lampooned their relevant genres, this had little spoofing. Indeed the comedy has moved on a little since the Spaced years of the early noughties. What started off looking deliberately aged and jaded, alas, never evolved and so the irony of a film that has stubborn nostalgia as a main theme for it’s protagonist ended up being exactly that itself.
According to the film’s opening, this was based on a true story! Ok. According to the film’s poster there is a noose hanging from a tree in the garden of a creepy looking house. No spoiler alert here apparently, it’s on the poster despite being a major plot line in the story. Not looking good so far! Ok. Paranormal investigators and husband ‘n’ wife team Ed and Lorraine Warren present a seminar where they shock students with their weird spooky footage from previous jobs of theirs. These people are calm professionals when it comes to witnessing witchcraft and the paranormal. So I guess that must explain their hysterics later in the film then. And our lucky victims tonight are a family, husband and wife with their five lovely daughters. That’s right they’ve moved into their dream home with the plan of settling down. Of course, they’ve not had the house surveyed or they would have been au fait with it’s horrific, terrifying past, surely?
If you’ve never seen a horror film in your life then I’d say give this one a whirl. But horror connoisseurs will find this film frustratingly predictable as it appears to feast off every cliché in the book. From corny lines to borderline plagiarism, this film tries so desperately hard to be a horror film it looses us. One minute we’re in Hitchcocks The Birds, the next minute we’ve an establishing shot of a house that’s almost alive, reminiscent of Amityville. Cut to a Kubricesque hall shot and then we’re doing an exorcism like in that film, what was it’s name….? Oh yeah The Exorcist! It’s a typical example that, no matter how you try to pack it to the hilt, there is more to a film than formula and devices. A good horror films requires us to believe and when your lay on the cliché this thick, you just end up rolling your eyes heavenwards and wish that the ground swallowed you whole rather than the characters on the screen.
Shame there’s not much around at the local cinema right now, just the usual formulaic Hollywood crap. And as the nights are drawing darker and colder who would blame anyone for wanting to get their film fix from the comfort of their own home. So like my previous review, 
East Anglia has produced many, many famous faces but none (bar Delia Smith and the people who make Colmans mustard though theoretically they’re not a face, they’re a condiment) could be more famous than Alan “A-ha” Partridge. The former DJ turned sports presenter turned chat-show host turned motivational speaker turned DJ again for North Norfolk Digital has finally turned film star with his very own film in which he stars. Rumoured to be ten years in the making (though the filming probably only took ten weeks) Alan, author of failed motivational book “Bouncing Back!” has a sure fire hit on his hands and moribund it isn’t!
It’s HOT on action! If you’re watching this gripping drama in the cinema, insist they leave the lights on. If you’re watching it at home, prepare a change of pants. Because if you don’t soil yourself with the fear and suspense, then you’ll wet yourself laughing. Either way you will end up fouling yourself several times during this movie. And if it leaves you with anything, it’s the knowledge that “cows don’t have hymens!” Another fascinating fact same time tomorrow.