Ryan Gosling plays a stuntman and getaway driver who falls for his neighbour Irene (played by Brit Actress Carey Mulligan), whose husband is in prison. On his release, the husband has a hangover of trouble and debt, which Goslings character (who is only ever known as “The Driver”) attempts to help him out of, by being a getaway driver at a raid on a pawn shop. The trouble kicks off from there and the Driver is the only one savvy enough and alive enough to do anything about it. And for the sake of his neighbour and her son, he does!

Heavily influenced by 80’s culture, from the off this film feels like you’re in a middle-aged mans fantasy. The main character is a stuntman who specialises in flipping cars! And classic cars too! Inevitably there are fast car chases (just like the Hoff in Knight Rider). Opening credits are cocktail pink with sexy synth pop 80’s music beating away! The Driver is as inscrutable and expressionless as Steven Seagal. He’s able to summon up massive strength from nowhere, endure being shot and stabbed and yet remain emotionally uncommitted and aloof. He protects the girl and aspires to ride into the sunset, content in the knowledge that he killed various people in the name of freedom and the American dream. So, that done, we can all leave the cinema feeling that the evil-doers are vanquished and the world is now a bit safer thanks to guys with guns like him.

All sounds like a great action film. But for some reason this film doesn’t want to be that. It wants realism, it wants us to emotionally invest and it tries to have poignant moments. The awkward result is reminiscent of the interstitials computer games have between levels that crowbar a story line into what is otherwise just another plain old driving game, in the feeble attempt to make it different from, you’ve guessed it… all the other plain old driving games! Indeed the film is reminiscent of an old 1999 Playstation game, funnily enough called “Driver”. A cross between that and a Tarantino film.

And like a Tarantino film the soundtrack is un-original. Most notably is a heavy use of Brian Eno’s – An Ending. Whilst a beautiful piece of music, it was a mistake using such a popular and well know piece in the film. And distracting! And so many times! What were they thinking? I’m all for using themes for moments but this one already came with baggage for me and so appeared completely disjointed!

However, director Nicolas Winding Refn has openly admitted to many influences, especially films including The Transporter, Taxi Driver and Halloween – the last being more than evident when the Driver adopts a mask for one kill. The shots of him stood still and menacing in front of his prey were very Michael Myers and , I admit, were rather cool!

Gosling and Mulligan also give good enough performances, but the film as a whole is suffering from an identity crisis. Or maybe its makers are suffering a midlife one.

[rating=3]

The movie is set in the early 1960’s at the zenith of the American Civil Rights Movement and in one of the hotbeds of racial segregation at that time, Jackson Mississippi. Skeeter Philan (Emma Stone) is a young female writer, disenchanted and saddened by the racist company she keeps, she pitches an idea to write a book from the perspective of the black help workers in her community. The pitch earns her a trial commission and she sets about writing her book with the assistance of some of the helpers, primarily housemaids Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer). But the task is not without it’s dangers as Jackson is very much alive with the likes of the KKK and other violent racists. Were they to be discovered, their personal safety and their homes are just as much at risk as their jobs and livelihoods.

I regard this film on the same level as The Shawshank Redemption and director Tate Taylor should be pleased with what will no doubt be regarded as his seminal work. You will find yourself quickly attached to the characters and their plight. The film boasts a large principally female cast and there are some amazing performances here most notably from Viola Davis. Oscar winning? Yes. You will wince with her as she experiences pangs of emotional pain and wretchedness. Octavia Spencer’s character is beautifully complex despite the wysiwyg front. I really liked Emma Stone’s feisty performance too. There was also enjoyable appearances from Sissy Spacek, Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard.

[rating=5]

With another year-long presidential race taking up space in daily news reports, fascination about who will land “the worlds top job” remains disproportionally high especially amongst Americans. Increasingly, other countries media devote more and more time to the issue and foreigners, such as myself, get roped in to listening about various congressional caucuses, committees and sub-committees, campaigns and primary voting, whatever the hell any of that means!

Since The West Wing American political dramas have become very popular. The focus is not just on the principal candidates but the “other” politicians, their advisors, the teams of PR people and behind-the-sceners whom sway as much power in policy decision making as the politicians in the public spotlight. Often the policies are a result of compromise, political ambition, cover ups, blackmail, conspiracy and only very very occasionally, idealism. Of course, I’m joking about the last one! As a drama, it is often the back-stabbing and conspirocy that features heavily. This is presumably why they called this film The Ides of March – a reference to Shakespeares Julius Caesar whose close associates conspired to assinate him by literally stabbing him in the back.

This adaptation of Beau Willimon’s play Farragut North tells the story of young campaign officer, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) working for a Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) who naively falls victim to the dodgey side of politics, till he himself sells his soul to stay afloat. The movie includes splendid performances, including Philip Seymour Hoffman as campaign officer Paul Zara and Evan Rachel Wood as Molly Stearns. I was particularly impressed with some of the directorial decisions too including a brilliant moment when Zara enters Morris’ car for a chat. That’s all I’ll say on that for risk of spoiling it.

American television drama has reached such cinematic standards that when one watches a film such as this, one does wonder what is to be gained by putting it on the big screen first. Especially given that Clooney (who also co-produced and co-adapted the film) has experience in both mediums. Perhaps there was politics in his decision, who knows. And Seymour-Hoffman deservedly nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA’s – whilst I don’t think he will win, I personally believe he should.

[rating=5]

“Everything has it’s time” and this is very much the theme in this movie set in Hawaii.  A successful lawyer, Matt King (George Clooney) finds himself having to reconnect with his family after his wife suffers a boating accident that leaves her in a coma. The prognosis is not good and King not only has to deal with the reaction of his two daughters to the news, but also unearth some skeletons in his wifes cupboard that he has no choice but to face up to. Add to all that a backdrop story of  a land sale of 25,000 acres of unspoilt Hawaiien beauty bequethed to himself and a vast body of cousins, then at once the movie aptly reflects the feeling of life moving one on before, if ever, one is ready to move with it.

Everything has it’s time and when that time arrives it can catch you by surprise. The film could have easily made the mistake of ramming the situation down your throat and letting the character react to it in a rather cliched manner. Indeed, some of the characters reactions are deliberately cliched and self-indulgent, which contrasts beautifully with the much subtler more genuine and confused reactions of others. Like 50/50, this movie invites us to question our own attitudes to life, death and grieving. Peoples general reaction to bad news is often hollow, soulless routines that do little to address deeper, visceral feelings. I guess the cliches are there to fill in our lack of preparation when these situations arrive. We see King often lying that his wife is fine, just so he can escape such cliche from those whom he meets. It also includes reactions from other featured characters that are awkward, inappropriate or just plane weird. I most enjoyed the young daughter bringing her “friend” from school to the hospital because her friend didn’t believe her mother was in a coma. Once she saw it to be true, her friend just shrugged and left.

It was nice to watch a Clooney film that didn’t (obviously) try to woo the female viewers. He’s a good actor. Ok, maybe not Academy Award winning, but nevertheless. The rest of the cast play well as an ensemble but don’t appear to have been set anything too challenging actingwise, which is no bad thing. As I say, don’t want to over egg the pudding. Nor do I feel it will win Best Film because it’s not groundbreaking. But again that’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable. And I’ve not read the book it was based on so I can’t comment about the screenplay adaptation. The Hawaiian guitar music played throughout was nice, but not exactly John Williams. However, I found little in this film that I would describe as cinematic. Everything has it’s time. So that said, I’d suggest you wait for the DVD on this one. [rating=4]

Film was born in France, but it found its feet in Hollywood. So it’s almost poetic that The Artist is a French film that pays homage to the golden years of Tinseltown. George Valentin is the star of silent comedy and helps nurture the talent of up and coming heart-throb Peppy Miller. But the advent of the “talkie” chimes the death of his career whilst the young, but not ungrateful Miller sails into stardom. What follows….. I’m not saying. You’ll have to watch it! To be frank, if you’re unlikely to see this film , then you have no business reading this blog or even considering yourself a fan of film!
Never before have I felt so adament that a film deserves heavy recognition at the Oscars than this film. It’s brilliant. But here’s the problem. I’m worried that to pick out any specific aspect of this film for praise, adoration and recognition would be to suggest that other parts of it didn’t make the mark. Nothing could be further from the truth. This film is a collaborative effort of epic proportion. From the dog trainer to the extra at the very back. It was all fantastic. So to pick it apart, either in criticism here or for award recognition will inevitably be to the detriment of other aspects, surely?.
Is this film just a homage? Or is it also a reminder of the basics of cinema? Unlike the current checklist for Hollywood films there was no violence, colour grading, sex-scenes, swearing, fast edits, special fx etc… Instead it used limited dialogue (using intertitles like you would have in a silent movie), tableau shots, melodrama and a simple interesting story, to name just a few of it’s features. In Hollywood, the winning formula has become exactly that. A formula. It’s regurgitated without understanding or development, followed to the letter like a patented franchise. No soul, no love, no passion. Hollywood will love this film about Hollywood. It’s like a breathe of fresh air. Yet it’s not a Hollywood film. Enough said.

[rating=6]

As I write, the award season is hoving into view. We’ve Golden Globes in a fortnight (the highlight no doubt will be host Ricky Gervais), then BAFTAs and finally the Academy Awards. Forget the fame, forget the fortune, forget getting your handprint on the Walk of Fame or having your name in billboard letters larger than the Hollywood sign. For some artists that’s not enough. International recognition is the order of the day where they get to stand on their podium and gain some vindication or weird closure by telling everyone “I told you I could do it and now look at me” and “See! My ego was right all along!”. The only good chasing that particular dragon will possibly achieve is that it may sate their ego for a minute or two, they’ll shut the f*ck up and the rest of us can get on with our mortal, humble yet real lives.
Tilda Swinton has already collected a few awards for this film and maybe set to collect more. This, I fear, is due to her achievement as an actress rather than her performance in this specific film. Indeed the whole film is sadly lacking. It’s onerous use of symbolism (tomatoes and red paint, blood right?!), it’s cliched cinematography  (red graded footage, blood right?!) and it’s underwhelming performances attempt to cover up what is a weak script and a lame story.
Swinton plays Eva Khatchadurian, the mother of Kevin whom displays from an infant age sociopathic behaviour. It culminates with teenage Kevin going on a Columbine-style slaughter at his school. That’s not a spoiler. You guess rather early on due to the jumpy timeline edit. It leaves you in full possession of the facts rather early on in the film, which also left me wondering why I should bother watching the rest of it.
Are we meant to be frightened of Kevin, who is no more precocious, obnoxious, conceited or anti-social than most teenagers? Especially, I imagine, the rich middle American white teenagers like Kevin. Swinton’s character got no sympathy from me at all. She was a wet wishy washy pain in the arse. She deserved every bit of her misfortune. Harsh? Well take The Shining for example. Didn’t Shelly Duvall’s character grate a little bit? Did you not wish there had been a Directors Cut where her character ended up stabbed repeatedly in the face? (By all accounts, I’m imagine Kubrik would have loved making it too) Well, it’s a shame nothing like that befell Swintons character either.
Before I condemn this film entirely, I will praise the eerie soundtrack, part music, part cutting sound effects that left one physically affected as well as emotionally. I’d chuck that a nomination, but nothing else in the film.
[rating=1]