Archive for the ‘ Films ’ Category

A Dark Truth

Andy Gracia in "A Dark Truth"

Radio talk show host and ex-CIA agent Jack Begosian (Andy Garcia) is trying to make sense of his past by seeking the truth in his nightly radio show. But when he is hired by heiress Morgan Swinton (Deborah Kara Unger) to uncover a water crisis-spurred massacre in South America, Begosian sees his chance for redemption.

Sadly The Dark Truth aspires to more than it delivers. The combination of third world exploitation, corporate cover-up and a leading man trying to do the right thing aims to be highly dramatic, yet still weighty, but only succeeds to feel like a made-for-TV movie.  And even though Garcia tries to hold the poorly written script together it is just not enough.  The action scenes are underdeveloped and bland, the plot too fragmented and the characters have no depth. In addition to this the viewer can’t help but feel that well-known actors like Forest Whitaker and Eva Longoria are past their prime.

It seems as if the aspirations of Director/Screenwriter Damian Lee and his budget were too far apart. His attempt to create a disturbing drama like “Blood Diamond” or an action thriller like “Tears of the Sun” with A Dark Truth failed.  And even the cynical and world-weary monologues of Begosian in his recording booth fail to inspire as everything is to obvious or clichés to actually make the audience think.

The Dark Truth may have good intentions but is boring and filled with lacklustre stars, and truthfully not worth the price of a ticket

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2013
01/03
CATEGORY
Films
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Playing for Keeps

Gerard Butler, Noah Lomax and Jessica Biel in "Playing for Keeps"

George (Gerard Butler) a former international football star (soccer to our American audience) moves to a chic Virginian suburb to be near his son Lewis (Noah Lomax). While he is trying to re-build his relationship with Lewis and win back his ex-wife Stacie (Jessica Biel) he is also desperately struggling to break into sports broadcasting. Down on his luck and with no money George steps in as his son’s football coach and suddenly becomes the centre of attention, both to male and female parents and the story gets complicated.

Playing for Keeps is a film that can’t make up its mind what its main plot should be.  There are three strands of stories that never seem to quite twist into one coherent plot. The first is about a washed–up international football player who tries to redeem himself by becoming the coach of his child’s football team, the second is a bad and very awkward slapstick comedy about MILF’s who can’t wait to get their hands on and under their kids hunky Scottish coach’s kit and lastly there is a romantic drama about two people who are still in love but who are not sure if love can really conquer all and if family trumps career.

Even the plethora of stars in the cast can’t save this film from being less than middle-of-the-road. Uma Thurman as the horny, revenge-seeking MILF Patti is lacklustre, her jealous, spendthrift husband Carl (Denis Quaid) is like a cartoon. Even the normally enjoyable Judy Greer as the emotional divorcee Barb and sexy Catherine Zeta-Jones as the queen bee of MILF’s Denise don’t give Playing for Keeps a much needed lift.

Overall Playing for Keeps is a forgettable film and one you shouldn’t pay to watch, just another one of Directors Gabriele Muccino’s flops.  But if you really think you need to see Gerard Butler at his worst and spend over 100minutes wondering how much these big stars must have been paid to be part of this film fiasco wait till it’s on TV and you have nothing better to do. Definitely don’t buy the DVD as Playing for Keeps is not worth keeping, or remembering for that matter.

2013
01/03
CATEGORY
Films
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The Top Five and Bottom Five Films of 2012

spideyIt’s that time of year again. The time when we all gather around our fireplaces with the people we love, think back over the past year and compile lists of our favourite things throughout the year. While it may take a few more weeks to finish my Top Five Lists of 2012 list one topic I am prepared to talk about is my favourite films of the year. At the same time I am a man who believes that one must acknowledge and learn from their mistakes and this year is anything if not rife with opportunities to learn. As such, I will also be listing what I consider to be the worst films of 2012. Keep in mind, however, that I am only including films I have seen on these lists, so while I’m sure that The Master has some of the best performances of the year and that Life of Pi is stunningly beautiful and life-affirming I can only see so many films in a year. So without further ado I give you my Top Five and Bottom Five Films of 2012

Top Five Films of 2012

5. Skyfall (Sam Mendes)
Well written and wonderfully acted, Skyfall‘s greatest success is its ability to justify the continued existence of James Bond in a world of technology, transparency and Jason Bourne-style action heroes. It is also worth noting that it is the only film released this year entertaining enough to make me feel compelled to go see it a second time.

4. Avengers Assemble (Joss Whedon)

There are films that actively encourage analytical thought. Films that make you want to sit and discuss their content, debating themes and the use of mise-en-scene. Then there are films that exist purely to entertain and Avengers Assemble succeeds in this regard with great aplomb. Action packed, hilarious and exciting in equal measures, this is a film that will keep your attention throughout. Any film in which you can say your favourite part is ‘the bit where Iron Man went into space’ is certainly a film that will entertain.

3. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
I feel almost compelled to include a foreign language film in this list lest I fail to get a date to the annual Pretentious Film Critic’s Ball. Thankfully, Holy Motors, Leos Carax’s first feature film in 13 years, is a truly great film that genuinely deserves its spot on this list. One of the most interesting films you will see this year, Holy Motors offers a unique study of modern cinema. This is fuelled in no small part by the wonderful performance, and indeed performances, of Denis Lavant. If you want to see a film this year that not only thinks outside the box but also gazes into the box the whole time then look no further than Holy Motors.

2. Looper (Rian Johnson)

Looper is by no means a perfect film. You can complain about it being overly long or having skittish pacing. That being said, the interesting discourse with the problems of time travel, both physically and ethically, featured in this film is enough to get it a place on this list. This is complemented by the weight of the performances in the film, alongside the world that director Rian Johnson creates, a dystopian future that feels real enough to add tangible weight to the film.

1. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson)

Director Wes Anderson really ups his game with what is easily one of his best live-action films. Moonrise Kingdom retains his trademark quirkiness, humour and colourful aesthetics but where the film truly excels is in the way it can melt the heart of even the coldest cynic, creating a sense of humanity that allows you to connect with the characters in a way that Anderson has never really succeeded in in his previous attempts. It is this mixed with the all-around stellar performances by the ensemble cast that bags Moonrise Kingdom the top spot on my Top Five Films of 2012 list.

Bottom Five Films of 2012

5. John Carter (Andrew Stanton)
Why might a film fail financially? It might have characters so ludicrous that the audience can never truly connect with them, it might have an incomprehensible plot that makes the film generally inaccessible to anyone or it might be based on such a niche and poorly written source material that the studio has no desire to adequately market the film. Or perhaps, like John Carter, it falls foul of all these pitfalls. There is a reason why this film is now recognised as the biggest box office flop of all time, and that reason is that John Carter is just a very bad film.

4. Liberal Arts (Josh Radnor)

Liberal Arts is a true example of an emerging subgenre of filmmaking that can best be described as pseudo-intellectual, cliché-ridden indie movie nonsense. While the film clearly thinks it is a lot cleverer and funnier than it actually is I would almost be willing to ignore this were it not for the film’s complete and utter lack of subtlety. Liberal Arts is a film that beats you over the head with its themes until you beg for death and then afterwards asks for a nice pat on the back for being so clever as to have themes in the first place.

3. Ruby Sparks (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)

Listing my complaints about this film would be like just copy and pasting my views on Liberal Arts. The key difference with Ruby Sparks is that it goes out of its way to have a horrendously quirky plot and unlikeable characters while at the same time failing to approach what could have been an interesting subject matter, the ability to exert complete control over your partner, with any degree of tangible depth.

2. The Amazing Spider-Man (Marc Webb)

This is a film whose only entertainment value is how laughably bad it is. With the worst use of 3D I have ever been forced to sit through and ridiculous scenes such as the one where Spiderman learns how to use his powers in an afternoon by re-enacting the warehouse dance scene in Footloose, or the overly dramatic slapstick scene involving cranes, the ironically named The Amazing Spider-Man is, simply put, one of the worst superhero films of all time. And yes, that does include Daredevil.

1. About Cherry (Stephen Elliot)

About Cherry is a truly deplorable film. Claiming to tell the tale of a young girl who empowers herself through her involvement with the porn industry I might have been able to buy into this premise had the eponymous Cherry not been portrayed as a hapless child with no autonomy who gets into porn by accident and stays in porn because its simpler than taking control of her own life. The film also features a number of pointless star-studded cameos including a grossly under-used Dev Patel as the voice of reason who is chided by Cherry every time he talks sense and James Franco who, likely in preparation for his role in the upcoming Oz the Great and Powerful performs his great disappearing act and just vanishes from the film halfway through. To be honest, however, I doubt you will be able to keep watching the film up until that point.

And with that the year that was 2012 comes to an end, not with a bang but with an exasperated sigh. Now we can start to look forward to 2013, the first year I have been genuinely excited for in a long time. With so many great films to be released I’m not sure what I want to see most of all. Perhaps I should make a list.

-David O’Neill

2012
12/24
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Films
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The Future of the Movie House

3D-pics-come-out-3d-28819473-1237-760The last few years have seen huge developments in the world of film. We have had the rise of 3D, the growth of IMAX and my local cinema has recently gotten slightly more comfortable seating. The Mayans believed that 2012 would be a time of change and development for humanity. As such the year 2012 should be seen as a time to look to what the future holds. On the other hand there are those who have interpreted the Mayan’s failure to produce an infinite calendar as evidence that civilization will collapse in on itself like an origami bird in a bath tub in just a few days. I, however, am an optimist so I am going to look at some of the ways that the world of film could change for the better in the next few years.

With the success of the film Avatar (Cameron, 2009) the use of 3D in films has raised exponentially in the last few years. There is something about the darkened images and the fact that we can now see beyond reasonable doubt that events in films occur on a three dimensional plane and not in some bizarre Mario-esque world where people can only move from side to side and not forwards and backwards that really seems to appeal to the cinema- going public. But the question has to be asked, where do we go after 3D? The answer can be found in visionary filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s recent masterpiece, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011). With this film Rodriguez managed to show the world that rather than the fourth dimension being an area of space it is, in fact, smell. With the success of Spy Kids 4 it’s obvious that the use of smell-o-vision is just going to skyrocket but I ask, why stop there? Why not allow films to convey every single sense a human being can experience. Except for touch. People get shot in films. That would be unpleasant to experience. But taste; now that’s something that can only add to our viewing experience. How can we truly understand the movie Pulp Fiction without knowing just how tasty a Big Kahuna Burger is? That’s the real future of cinema: Taste-o-vision!

If the last 20 years have shown us anything it’s that if film audiences are unhappy with the ending of a film they are more than willing to go out and completely change it themselves. Just look at esteemed actor Topher Grace’s recent attempts to recut the prequel trilogy of Star Wars into one single, coherent, Jar-Jar-less film, or the fan cut of Highlander 2  that removed every single mention of aliens despite them being an important plot point. Completely changing someone else’s artistic vision takes a lot of time, however, and this time is clearly very precious to the people who re-edit other people’s films. Why not cut out the middle-man altogether and just have audience choose their own ending for a film as they watch it. That way everyone is satisfied with the end product and in the end is that not the most important thing when it comes to making films? Who cares about artistic integrity when we can just pump a satisfying gruel directly into the mouths of a mass audience?

This last possible development is, admittedly, the least likely of the three and is more of a pipe-dream to be quite honest: reasonable prices for tickets and food at the cinema. I know it sounds crazy but is it really such an unreasonable demand to not have to pay three euro for a bottle of water after having paid ten quid for a ticket to Ice Age 5: Space Age? I know it will probably never change, but a man can dream, right?

If the Mayans were right then hopefully we’ll be seeing these developments in film in the next few years. And if the people who post on internet forums are right and the world does end on Friday? Well I hope you’re as prepared for the impending zombie apocalypse as I am.

-David O’Neill

2012
12/19
CATEGORY
Films
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Seven Psychopaths

Seven-PsychopathsNot since 2010′s “The Guard” have I had this much fun in the cinema. Martin McDonagh returns to the screen with his first film since 2008′s “In Bruges”, also starring Colin Farrell as a hit-man laying low in Bruges with Brendan Gleeson. His latest film certainly equals the standards raised at the last toll; it’s a bloody, violent, stylish and absolutely hilarious film pitting some fine talents such as Colin Farrell, Christopher Walken and Woody Harrelson together in a brutal game of cat-in-mouse in a style echoing the dark humour of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and the sharp, witty dialogue of Tarantino’s masterpiece “Pulp Fiction”.

Marty (Colin Farrell) is an Irish writer living in LA struggling to start his new screenplay titled “Seven Psychopaths”. He hasn’t even got beyond “Psychopath No. 1″ and already his drinking problem is spiralling out of control. His best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) is a slightly unhinged and failed actor who makes a living from kidnapping dogs and sending his partner-in-crime Hans (Christopher Walken) to the owner’s house to retrieve the money in award for ‘finding’ their beloved pet. Billy tries to help Marty by placing an ad in the newspaper calling on all psychopaths to come to Marty’s house to be interviewed for the chance of their story appearing in his screenplay. But it soon becomes apparent that Marty will not need to rely on the ad to bring the psychopaths in, because when Billy and Hans kidnap the Shih Tzu belonging to a sadistic gangster (Woody Harrelson) and Marty gets sucked into the mess, by the end of it all – if he is still alive that is – he’ll have one hell of a story to write.

“In Bruges” was pretty successful when it was released back in 2008, and “Seven Psychopaths” serves to be the long-awaited follow-up to that film from Martin McDonagh. While I’m undecided on which is the better film, “Seven Psychopaths” certainly lives up to the lofty standards set by “In Bruges” in terms of humour, sharp and witty dialogue and pure mayhem. Sam Rockwell (“The Green Mile”, “Choke”) is arguably the star of the film. His extroverted performance as the unhinged Billy is very enjoyable to watch; it’s a well composed and characteristic. Colin Farrell (“Tigerland”, “In Bruges”) looks somewhat lost at times, but it’s fitting for his character – an alcoholic writer with writer’s block. Rockwell’s Irish jokes and impersonation were surprisingly very good, unlike the vast majority of the kicks Hollywood tries to make at the Irish culture and accent. Christopher Walken (“The Deer Hunter”, “Biloxi Blues”) has always stolen the show, and it’s no exception here. His character Hans, is very interesting, and Walken proves he was the perfect man to cast in this role. Woody Harrelson is personally one of my all-time favourite actors, if for nothing more than his psychotic look and domineering presence on screen. Ever since his lead role in the amazing “Natural Born Killers”, Harrelson has set his own standards and met them ever since. He’s superb in this film. Very funny and completely psychotic. The dialogue, brutal dark humour and witty one-liners have to be the best thing about the film alongside the exceptional performances from a superbly assembled cast (Which also includes singer Tom Waits).

“Seven Psychopaths” is one of the best films of 2012. The criss-crossing storyline imitates the best of Tarantino and has a very strong odour of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”, which McDonagh’s latest effort is slightly better than in my opinion. An absolutely enjoyable film that literally cuts your throat while you’re laughing; the violence is gorgeously bloody at times – stylized yet realistic. Hopefully McDonagh comes out in the next round with an equally superb, if not better, film.

- Joe Callan

2012
12/17
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The Heart of Darkness of Apocalypse Now

apocalypsenow235“My film is not about Vietnam, it is Vietnam. The way we made it is the way Americans were in Vietnam. We had too much money, too much equipment and little by little we went insane.”  - Francis Ford Coppola

Four years in the making, and literally almost the death of some of those involved, “Apocalypse Now” remains today one of the most ground-breaking, surreal and audacious films ever made. Using the Vietnam War as a backdrop to Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, the film won two Oscars and has been cited ever since as one of the greatest achievements in the history of filmmaking. The work put into “Apocalypse Now”, and the troubles and freak occurrences behind the production, were exceptional and to read about them would lead one to wonder how the film was ever even made.

Capturing the insanity and the ‘heart of darkness’ of Conrad’s tale, ingeniously employing the Vietnam War as a backdrop to this phenomenal text, “Apocalypse Now” is a relentlessly dark and horrifying film. As beautiful as it is violent, it balances the darkness and the light well until the final part when the darkness completely takes over. It is a satirical view of the Vietnam War in one sense; as it portrays the futility of the war in the form of abandoned outposts along the Nung River, where undisciplined soldiers have descended into savagery. Coppola’s masterpiece is laced with so many layers of symbolism that it takes quite a number of viewings in order to appreciate everything that unfolds on the screen. And to learn about the background and the production of the film will also contribute to one appreciating everything that “Apocalypse Now” is. Nothing was ever quite achieved like it before, nor has anything like it been achieved since. It is one of the most surreal, captivating and beautifully worked films of all time.

Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), is a US Army Special Forces Officer, rendered to float in drunken limbo in Saigon until his next mission is handed down to him by intelligence. Willard is briefed by his superiors on a Col. Walter. E. Kurtz – a highly decorated Green Beret turned renegade who has gone “insane” and is operating from within the jungles of Cambodia with the tribes who he has asserted himself as a god-like figure over. Willard is instructed to travel up the Nung River on a Navy patrol boat, to locate the Colonel, and to terminate his command. “Terminate with extreme prejudice.” Willard’s journey up river into Cambodia is a metaphor for the journey into the dark heart of man, concealed by a thin surface crust portraying the madness of war. Along the way, he and his Navy crew are escorted by a manic Colonel (Robert Duvall in an infamous performance) and his squadron of gung-ho attack helicopters. They arrive at isolated and ravished US outposts amidst constant threat all while the men become restless and wary of Willard’s classified mission. Willard himself is confused, as the more he reads into the records and biography of the man he is to murder, the more he questions the mission and the ever-increasing ambiguity of what exactly constitutes murder and insanity in a place like this.

One only has to watch the 1991 documentary “Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” to a get a sense of just how close this movie came to not being made, scrapped, or destroyed. Filming began in 1974, and didn’t end until sometime 1979. The editing of the 200 hour film was what took up most of that time, as one can probably imagine. Essentially, “Apocalypse Now” almost destroyed Francis Ford Coppola’s career, and his life. Millions of dollars over-budget before filming even commenced, Coppola had to invest his own personal fortune into the film. He contemplated suicide after a barrage of mishaps and when it looked as though the studio was considering just abandoning them all out in the jungle. Marlon Brando was a huge problem; he was depressed, overweight, and couldn’t remember his lines and argued everyday with Coppola over the dialogue. Martin Sheen was called in to take the role after it was determined that Harvey Keitel wasn’t going to hack it. Sheen, however, was a raging alcoholic at this time and suffered a heart attack shortly after filming began. Dennis Hopper was off his head on drugs for the majority of the shooting, and the undisciplined motley crew of props men, stunts men and other assorted film crew were running up the bill and causing havoc, and then to top it all off – a real war broke out nearby. The troops of the Philippines army had to be withdrawn from the set where they were being used as extras to take-down some rebels on a nearby island. The local police were called to the set after a crazy prop’s man managed to get his hands on some real dead bodies from a grave-digger to use on set to help create a better atmosphere, and the filmmaker’s passports were confiscated as a result.

And finally, after everything was filmed – some guy goes crazy in the editing department and takes the film reels hostage in a locked room for a few hours and threatens to burn them, until he is talked out of it. The making of “Apocalypse Now” may be classified as a circus, but it is undeniably one of the most inspirational filmmaking tales of all time. By hauling his 900 crew and cast out into the jungle into uncertainty, Coppola inadvertently managed to create the very thing that he was attempting to portray – insanity, and the duality of men.

2012
12/10
CATEGORY
Films
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Friday the 13th – A Blatant Rip-off Of A Far More Superior Work?

Hailed as one of the most iconic horror films ever made, and being the zygote that spawned the iconic hockey mask wearing Jason Voorhees, “Friday the 13th” (1980) is possibly one of the worst horror films that I’ve seen. Not only is it a blatant rip-off of John Carpenter’s “Halloween” (I think the script writer himself admitted that he wrote this to cash in on the Michael Myer’s craze) it also has aged very badly and is extremely dull and unbelievably boring. It doesn’t come anywhere near to matching the knuckle-biting, chair-gripping suspense of “Halloween”, and nor does it have anything on the crazy, nihilistic atmosphere as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. And also, it lacks the style and horror of the later film from Wes Craven, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. I could go on, but I won’t. The films I just mentioned there are other considered classics; “Friday the 13th” is not of their calibre. It has as much the right as being ranked up there with them horror greats as “Gremlins” does. Directed by Sean Cunningham who had before this helped produce Wes Craven’s controversial debut “The Last House on the Left”; I thought that after having experience working on such a nasty and violent film like that, that Cunningham would have done the same with his own slasher. But instead what he did was kept the violence at a minimum and just spent the whole film watching the teenagers from the killers perspective as it roams around the forest stalking them. Nice idea Sean, but it had been done already in “Halloween” no more than three years before you! There are some nice gory and violent killings at the beginning, thanks to some smart editing, but as the film progresses, it rapidly runs out of steam because the murders get less and less violent.

I think everyone knows the plot at this stage. Camp Crystal Lake has been closed for years, but it’s having a re-opening during the summer and the camps counsellors are working hard to have the place in good condition for the summer months. They’ve been warned by the town looney from down the road that they are all going to die because the place is cursed. But as usual, the guy is crazy, so why heed his warning? What these teenagers weren’t told is that back in the late 50′s, a young boy named Jason drowned in the lake because the counsellors were too busy having sex to notice and help him. The events in the film take place over one night, as an unknown assailant stalks and murders each one of the counsellors…

Well, I don’t want to spoil this movie so I’ll refrain from saying what it is I want to say, the thing that disappointed me the most – and I think anyone who has the seen the film will know what I’m talking about as it has something to do with the killer… or for lack of a better phrase, who ‘isn’t’ doing the killings. I’ve probably said too much there, but ah well. When poor little Victor Miller wrote the script for this film, he had no idea that Cunningham would get carried away and turn the film into the mad franchise that it is today – it’s even bigger than the Freddy Krueger and the “Halloween” franchises with a grand total of nine sequels (For a while there I thought that “Saw” was gunning to either match or over-jump this record). Add that with a cross-over with Freddy in 2003, and of course, an inevitable remake. A very young Kevin Bacon from “Footloose” stars in one of his very first roles. The acting is atrocious, but I don’t blame the actors for their lousy dialogue and whatever, because the script was just horrendous from Miller. It shows no merit, no innovation, and most of all, it shows no ‘talent’ whatsoever and this could have easily just passed off as some amateur’s low-grade feature. Had it not spawned such a huge franchise, I may have looked upon this film differently but you can’t help going into it with high expectations when it has generated the reputation that it has had over the years. The ending, I have to say, is very frightening, but apart from that, I hated everything about the film; from its ridiculous opening credits with the logo crashing through class, right down to the twists and turns and the despicable characters. To say that the only interesting parts in the film are when someone gets brained with an axe or their throat cut makes me sound psychotic, but also just goes to show how dull the film really is.

Joe Callan

2012
11/26
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Silver Linings Playbook…

15A, general release, 122 minutes.

Director: David O’Russell

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver.

Director of 2010s Oscar winning The Fighter which told the story of “Irish” boxer Mickey Ward and the brother who helped train him before going pro in the in the mid 1980s David O Russell is back only this time he has something a little different to offer. Having always been what one would refer to as an eclectic filmmaker this hardly comes as a surprise after all he is the same man who gave us Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees. This time around instead of focusing on the gritty true story of a working class hero he has something altogether more cerebral, uplifting and witty to offer eager audiences in the form of Silver Linings Playbook which is based on acclaimed novelist Matthew Quick’s book of the same name.

Despite being a much easier watch than The Fighter it is important to note that Silver Linings Playbook does in fact have its darker moments. When we first meet Pat Solitano (Cooper) he is dodging his medication in a Philadelphia mental institution. Naturally, it’s not long before we find out how he got there. Turns out Pat has quite the temper. Not only that but the doctors treating Pat have decided he is suffering from bi-polar disorder. All of this was originally discovered when Pat, a former high school teacher, returned home from work one day to find his beloved wife Nikki indulging in a shower with another man. As you can imagine Pat was not best pleased and proceeded to beat the guy half to death, and has been locked up ever since.

Refusing to give up on her troubled son is Pats saint-like mother Dolores (Weaver) who fights relentlessly (as only a mammy can) to persuade doctors to let him come home after eight months of incarceration. Eventually she manages to do so and Pat who is still avoiding his medication, is still dangerously unstable, and still cannot manage to get along with his equally obsessive and gambling addicted father Pat Senior (De Niro) returns to his family home. It is here that Pat becomes manically optimistic and convinces himself that his estranged wife Nikki will have no problem taking him back if he only works hard enough.

Pat as he himself puts it does not “have a filter.” So when he talks he does so with purpose and just what is his purpose? Why to tell it as it is of course. While this is a joy to watch and I often find myself envying his rather um refreshing honesty others who have to deal with Pat clearly do not feel the same way. However, when he is introduced to Tiffany (Lawrence) the younger sister of his best friend Ronnie’s wife it’s clear from the very start that he has finally met his match. Tiffany, you see has problems of her own: her husband has recently been killed in a horrific car crash a tragedy which has left her fragile and ever so slightly erratic. She also has as Pat so kindly informs her “poor social skills” which is true in fact they are just about as poor as his own.

It’s not long before Pat finds out that Ronnie and his wife Victoria (Julia Stiles – nice to see her back) still see Nikki on a regular basis. Knowing that he has very few people he can ask this favour of Pat soon asks Tiffany if she will deliver a love letter to Nikki on his behalf. She agrees but under one condition, Pat must train with her to enter a ballroom dancing competition and the rest as they say is history folks, well… sort of!

As you would expect it all becomes a little soppy in the last half hour but do not write this one off as a romantic comedy, it is way too good for that. This is a beautiful, smart, grounded and well put together film. Perhaps most impressive is the way Russell manages to mix so well the light with the dark. He does not, like so many others, shy away from the issue that is mental health. Instead he portrays characters who are complex and at times scarily relatable. Cooper, who I was worried for after his part in The Hangover 2 and Limitless is absolutely brilliant in this and it’s just great to finally see Robert De Niro taking on a role that is worthy of his talents – I cannot tell you how sick I was getting of Jack Byrne’s, honestly they should stopped after the first Meet The Parents. When it comes to Lawrence I’m sure you already know what I’m going to say in fact to sum up her performance all you need is one word and that is, sublime. In years to come I think we’ll look at Lawrence’s career and compare her to Hollywood’s finest leading lady; Meryl Streep.

After winning The Audience Award at this years Toronto Film Festival critics everywhere are saying Silver Linings Playbook will surely be in line for an Oscar with certain Oscar “locks” predicted including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay so why not go take in a must see tonight?

Kerrie Mitchell.

2012
11/24
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The Irish Film Industry Needs an Injection of Fresh Enthusiasm

There can be little doubt about it that when compared to our British neighbours, our film industry is pretty far down the pecking order. Ireland as a nation has traditionally been renowned for the arts over the decades, particularly with the likes of Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, W.B. Yeats and Bram Stoker hailing from these shores. But when it comes to the film industry, we are inconsistent and somewhat incompetent.

Roddy Doyle’s “The Commitments”, released in 1990, certainly put us on the map as the film was a hit over in the States. And for a while, it was looking good for us. “The Commitments” shattered any foreign delusion that Ireland was a place full of beautiful valleys, white horses, cottages and fighting leprechauns. Abandoning us in the dark-heart of recession-crippled 80’s Dublin, and riddling us with a dose of Doyle’s realism and dark comedy, the film was an instant success and gained world-wide attention for show-casting some of the most poverty-striken areas of Dublin at the time in all their bitter glory. Doyle penned two sequels to complete what would become known as “The Barrytown Trilogy”, and they were adapted into lesser sequels which proved to be successful at home, but abroad, they are virtually unheard of. And this is partially 20th Century Fox’s fault, as they owned the rights to “The Commitments”, which also meant that the family name Rabbitte was subject to copy-right. Subsequently, in the low-budget sequels, the family had only two children in “The Van” but were back to it’s full-house in “The Snapper”. Oh, and to make it all the more confusing, only one character maintained their role through all three films, and that was Colm Meaney as Jimmy Snr in “The Commitments” and “The Snapper”, but as Dessie Curley in “The Van”. Naturally, this generated a certain feeling of alienation with the films in regards to connection. However, the lesser-known sequels are equally as good as their triumphant older brother “The Commitments” who had cast an immense and oppressive shadow over them.

With the right funding, and the right minds, I sincerely hope that this country continues to produce the talent and films that we all know it’s capable of. We are a distinctive people on the frontier of Europe; the first-stop for the US on the way to this continent. So instead of losing our talented actors and directors to Britain and the US, the Irish film industry will hopefully receive a hefty dose of fresh enthusiasm with new young minds of this generation. With this in mind, I’d like to draw attention to a low-budget and unheard of film made back in 1998 called “Crush Proof”.

Now, it’s a pretty bad film, however, what I want to highlight here is what the film makers were trying to do, and how they almost managed to pull it off. In this brutal urban drama, 18 year-old Neal gets released from Mount Joy prison after spending a year behind bars. He heads to his girlfriend’s flat to see the baby boy he hasn’t held yet, and when she doesn’t let him in, he attempts to break the door down and she calls the Guards. Neal’s not even out half an hour and already it looks like he could be going back in, and when he robs a mobile phone, he only makes things worse. He rejoins his gang of horse-loving misfits and thugs and after killing the drug dealer who ratted him out and got him locked up, the gang goes into hiding in the Wicklow mountains where they’ll confront the situation, and themselves, head-on. It’s a very grim and realistic depiction of modern-day Ireland. However, the dialogue is surprisingly bland and the script has plot-holes the size of the Grand Canyon. The editing gives off the impression that no care was taken in the editing room and the scenes were all just mashed together in parts. But at the heart of it all, we have some very rough, and realistic performances. Darren Healy – where did he ever go? – is superb as Neal. It’s such an anger-driven performance. He’s the epitome of adolescent angst, social isolation, and essentially a sad testimony as to when people generally get stuck in a rut, so to speak, many just continue to spiral downwards towards self-destruction. The title is derived from a speech made by Neal in the pub when he describes the North-Side Dubliners as the original breed and ‘Crush Proof’.

We are a nation socially built on verbal abuse and banter, and this generally rings through in many of the dark comedies that have hailed from here in the past ten years. “Intermission” and “The Guard” are two fine examples of brilliant modern Irish film making. “Intermission” exhibited some of the finest Irish acting talent available in 2003, with Cillian Murphy, Colm Meaney and Colin Farrell in lead roles. It was a charismatic and pulsating directorial debut from John Crowley, who was genius in his employment of Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” tactics as we have a motley crew of characters in the film portraying their lives and the events which shape them, and subsequently interlinks them with the other characters. We have a corrupt cop, a violent scumbag, two losers who work in a supermarket, a pessimistic young lady with a moustache, a bank manager who has left his wife for a younger woman, and his aforementioned wife in search of a bit of excitement following him abandoning her. “Intermission” is a sharp, honest and inglorious look at Irish culture, and the characters that exist in every society. It’s a fast-paced film; very brutal and absolutely hilarious.

“Intermission” was probably the best dark comedy Ireland had to offer until “The Guard” in 2011. Brendan Gleeson – who was a teacher before picking up acting in his thirties – plays a corrupt, acid-licking, pessimistic, whore-loving, overweight and crude Guard living in the immense wilderness of Connemara, Co. Galway. Don Cheadle stars as the FBI agent sent to Ireland to instruct the authorities on a suspected international drug-ring operating from within Connemara. Unfortunately for him, he is paired up with Gleeson in a poor man’s “Lethal Weapon”. We’ve had our share of horror films as well – and pretty bizarre and unique ones at that. “Isolation” (2005) set on a rural Wexford farm, was as gruesome as it was welcoming. And 2008’s “Shrooms” set in the Wicklow Mountains was pretty good too.

Despite these examples – there are many more, of course, but hopefully I’ve named some of the best – there does indeed appear to be a certain lack of consistency and drive within the Irish film industry at the moment. Films that are made on these shores tend to have little, if any, major publicity. Irish film makers need to be concentrating on low-budget productions, in my opinion. And I say this in regard to the indie boom in the US during the 1990′s. A pandemic that continues to this day, in which many cult favourites today are destined to be classic-status in a few decades time. Irish film-makers need to be aiming for this.

2012
11/13
CATEGORY
Films
Reviewlution
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Paranormal Activity 4

How is there a fourth one I hear you ask? Well as any horror series will tell you (Saw, Hostel, Halloween) as long as there is no definite ending then there’s no way the production company, Room 101 in this case, is going to turn down the possibility to steal more money from naive theatre goers (i.e. me). Whether it’s the right thing to do is another question. Yes there is jumpy moments and the usual suspenseful undertone we’ve come to expect from the Paranormal Activity franchise but there is nothing different here than any of the others. In fact, the scariest part of the movie was the reflection of modern-day capitalisation and the negative effects it is having on our culture. I mean a six-year-old kid watching cartoons on his laptop while having a bath! Society is doomed.

The plot picks up at the culminating events of Paranormal Activity 3 where demon-possessed Katie killed her siblings family, apart from her sister’s son, Hunter, who she can be seen leaving with at the end. A new family have just moved in to the house but we soon find out Katie lives just across the road with her own son Robbie. Hunter is nowhere to be seen until we realise  that he is here all along as he is the adopted son of the new family, renamed Wyatt. The “stars’ of this film are the teenage daughter Alex and her snoopy boyfriend Ben. Alex is the protagonist we follow hoping, or not, that her journey doesn’t come to a bitter end like every character previously in that role. The goal of these spirits is still confusing after four attempts at it. Katie needs to turn human vessels into dark spirits for Robbie to become one himself and needs Wyatt’s (Hunter’s) help to do so, or something along those lines,. The ending does give some hope in that it appeared to close the revolving door that is Paranormal Acterrible (see what I did there). Although having said that, if anyone could keep a series going it would be these writers. A court ordered cease and desist is the only way to be safe from this build up of waste encroaching further into our lives.

The special effects appeared worse than the previous ones as well and the film was generally just tedious and mundane. The novelty of an entire movie being made on hand-held and surveillance cameras  has definitely worn off and with the added spice of webcams for this one it merely appeared like an advert for Apple with the amount of laptops being brandished about. Maybe there WAS subtext and the film IS a cultural criticism of our reliance on technology…..or maybe it just is what it is, a cheap seasonal thrill with little creative effort put in. The fact that this falls into the horror genre and that it is coming up to Halloween is possibly the only reason I could safely give for going to see this film without feeling as morally bankrupt as the producers themselves.

My Rating: 1/10

(@rorytoal)

2012
10/30
CATEGORY
Entertainment
Films
Reviewlution
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