9 February 2010
Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro)
Abandoned by its original director and with its release date pushed back several times before finally being unleashed on audiences, The Wolfman arrives with very low expectations that it meets with gusto. A loose remake of the 1941 Universal monster film The Wolf Man, this new incarnation of the classic werewolf story initially looks like an enticing blend of the original film, Hammer Horror films and Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow. However, it very quickly becomes apparent that the The Wolfman fails to capture any of the magic or thrills that this would suggest.
Set in 1891 Lawrence Talbot, played by Benicio del Toro, returns home to Blackmoor in England after the death of his brother. The audience knows a werewolf got his brother, many of the film’s characters know that a werewolf got him and yet the film takes a painfully long time to arrive at the point where it is ‘revealed’ that a werewolf is to blame. By that point Talbot has been bitten and is starting to notice that his body is changing.
The Wolfman demonstrates what truly bad writing really is. Del Toro’s uncharacteristically soap-opera acting style doesn’t help the horribly trite dialogue and Anthony Hopkins, as Talbot’s father, certainly doesn’t help either by sounding bored beyond comprehension throughout the entire film. Emily Blunt as Talbot’s brother’s fiancé and Hugo Weaving as a Scotland Yard policeman do a little better but only just.
The poor pacing, blatantly obvious narrative signposting and over-reliance on false scares generated by sudden sounds and movements, removes any chance of The Wolfman actually being frightening. The gore is not gruesome enough to be shocking and not over-the-top enough to be fun schlock. It’s a terribly serious film and as a result very dull. One minor point of interest is the representation of a psychiatrist as a mad scientist character since it would be interesting to find out if the filmmakers actually intended on depicting the hysterical religious fanatic characters as being right all along while the scientific community appear as villainous fools.
The Wolfman contains elements that evoke The Crow (long roof top chase), the various King Kong films (creature is brought to a populated city where it goes wild) and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 version of Dracula (romance doomed by one of them being a murderous monster). It is a damning comparison in every case and even the supposedly state-of-the-art transformation sequences fall seriously short of the effects used in John Landis’s 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. On the plus side there are a few unintentional giggles to be had over the fact that once transformed into the werewolf, Talbot looks and sounds a lot like Chewbacca.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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Posted by Thomas Caldwell
6 February 2010
Claireece "Precious" Jones (Gabourey Sidibe)
Claireece “Precious” Jones is a 16-year-old African American girl living in Harlem in 1987 although ‘barely surviving’ seems to be a better way of describing her situation rather than ‘living’. Precious is obese, illiterate and pregnant with her second child as a result of being raped by her father. Living with her physically, psychologically and sexually abusive mother, Precious desperately needs some way of escaping from her world. That opportunity comes in the form of an alternative school and although the full extent of Precious’s woes are yet to come, the supportive classmates and inspirational teacher Precious meets gives her the chance she needs to break free.
Adapted from the 1996 novel Push by African American author and performance poet Sapphire, Precious is the second film directed by Lee Daniels who had previously produced The Woodsman and Monster’s Ball. The basic narrative of Precious is very simple but its strengths are in its powerful dialogue and the incredibly strong performances from its nearly all female cast. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe is a revelation as Precious giving the character a sullen and defensive exterior that when broken down is absolutely heartbreaking. As Mary Lee Johnston, Precious’s abusive mother, comedian and comic actor Mo’Nique is completely terrifying and contemptible. Mary’s astonishing ignorance and stupidity may have given her a degree of sympathy if she wasn’t so viciously selfish and defiantly proud of her lack of education.
Mary Lee Johnston (Mo'Nique)
What makes Precious bearable are the moments of warmth, hope and humour that are delivered mainly during the scenes with Precious’s teacher and classmates. Unfortunately Daniels doesn’t seem to be confident enough in the material to allow such scenes to speak for themselves so he has littered Precious with small Magic Realist touches and fantasy sequences where Precious imagines herself in various glamorous situations. Victims of repeated sexual abuse and violence in the home reportedly often disassociate themselves from both their own bodies and surroundings as a physiological coping mechanism but Daniels handles the depiction of this in a clumsy and repetitive way. Nevertheless there is no denying the incredible power of Precious and while it doesn’t reach the same heights of landmark films such as Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing or John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, it deserves a place in the canon of bold, confronting and relevant African American filmmaking.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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2 Comments | 3½ stars, Film reviews | Tagged: Cinema Autopsy, Gabourey Sidibe, Lee Daniels, Mo'Nique, Precious, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Push, Sapphire | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
3 February 2010
Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson)
Edge of Darkness is a heavily Americanised remake of an acclaimed 1985 BBC television miniseries, with one of the film’s producers (Michael Wearing) and its director (Martin Campbell) respectively being the producer and director of the original series. The basic premise has remained: a young woman is brutally gunned down in what appears to have been a revenge kill that was meant for her policeman father. The policeman (Thomas Craven in the film and played by Mel Gibson) is not convinced he was the target and upon investigation discovers his daughter’s involvement in an anti-nuclear organisation accused of terrorism. The dense, murky and frankly bleak six-part English political thriller has been condensed and simplified for this film version but with Casino Royale’s director Campbell at the helm the film starts off as a largely decent adaptation for the big screen. Campbell often shoots scenes from unusual locations to suggest concealment and therefore increase the film’s paranoia plus the extra dollops of action and violence do help to move the story along at a brisk pace.
For the most part Mel Gibson does a terrific job at portraying Craven. He methodically goes about his investigation with the cold detachment of man who is bottling in his emotions and still partially in a state of shock. After directing such hysterical portrayals of martyrdom in films such as Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ, Gibson is clearly suited to playing a character like Craven whose desire for justice and revenge stops him from caring about the variety of ways he puts his life at risk. We don’t really need him to tell us that he is “a guy with nothing to lose who doesn’t give a shit” but his cold and ruthless delivery of the line is still effectively chilling. It is only later in the film that Gibson starts to go over the top, relying a bit too heavily on his trademark crazy-darting-wide-eyed expression (think Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet and The Lethal Weapon films) to indicate that he is becoming unhinged.
Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) and Craven
Unfortunately something goes horribly wrong towards the end of Edge of Darkness. The film never reached the same dramatic heights as the original television series but for its first two acts it functions well as a taut and engaging action/thriller. However, for the third act it loses all credibility and suspense by derailing into a messy and pulpy mash-up of Dr. No and Death Wish. If you’ve ever seen Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons you will understand the incredible disappointment and frustration at how the closing scenes (shot by another director and spliced in against the wishes of Welles) undermine the rest of the film. However, in the case of The Magnificent Ambersons such an ending reduced a film that could have been a masterpiece to a film that just falls short of being a masterpiece. In the case of the 2010 film version Edge of Darkness, its misguided third act is enough to reduce it from a film worth seeing to a film worth avoiding.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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Posted by Thomas Caldwell
31 January 2010
Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) and Lt. Gen. George Miller (James Gandolfini)
Barely disguising its intentions to ridicule the circumstances that lead to the 2002 Iraq Invasion, In the Loop examines the fictitious machinations of UK and USA spin-doctors, career politicians and advisors who get caught up in a debate about whether or not to declare war in the Middle East. As everybody plays off each other for political gain it soon becomes apparent than in modern politics you must either compromise your morals or be destroyed.
Made by the UK comedic writer/director Armando Iannucci as a stand-alone spin-off from his TV series The Thick of It (think The Office meets Yes Minister), In the Loop is both ruthlessly cynical and extremely funny. While the consistently strong cast includes recognisable names such as Steve Coogan and James Gandolfini, it is Scottish actor Peter Capaldi as the unstoppable spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker who truly stars. Tucker’s profanity-filled tirades of abuse would intimidate the entire cast of Glengarry Glen Ross, making him one of the most delightfully repugnant characters to grace the screen.
In the Loop is political satire at its best, leaving you giggling at the one-liners yet feeling complete despair about the political process.
Originally appeared in The Big Issue, No. 346, 2010
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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Posted by Thomas Caldwell
27 January 2010
The Man (Viggo Mortensen) and The Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee)
After the success of Joel and Ethan Coen’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men, the next novel by McCarthy that was the obvious one to adapt for the screen was his Pulitzer Price-winning novel The Road. When it was announced that Australian director John Hillcoat was going to direct there was a sense of relief. Hillcoat’s previous film, his 2005 Australian Western masterpiece The Proposition, articulated the sort of violent existentialism and bleak landscapes that are to be found in McCarthy’s story about an unnamed man and his son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world. Also, Hillcoat’s début feature film, the 1988 futuristic prison drama Ghosts… of the Civil Dead, contains a similar fragmented narrative to The Road where a sense of relentless monotony is punctuated with extreme, but fleeting, incidents.
The trust placed in Hillcoat to adapt The Road has paid off and the result is one of cinema’s most faithful adaptations. Hillcoat has embellished some aspects of the novel and condensed others for the purpose of making the text more cinematic but it would be very difficult to question any of his decisions as by doing so he has successfully ensured that The Road functions as a film in its own right.
As the unnamed father in the film, Viggo Mortensen delivers an astonishing performance as a man who is essentially trying to survive while still doing the right thing. The parental bond that Mortensen establishes on screen with the 13-year-old actor Kodi Smit-McPhee playing his son is extremely powerful and this bond gives the film the small bursts of humanity that radiate out through the bleakness. Smit-McPhee is astonishing and demonstrates a disciplined approach to portraying complex emotions on-screen that is far beyond his years. Together the pair ‘carry the fire’ through a wilderness populated by murderers, rapists and cannibals.
Visually The Road is a relentless palate of greys and browns making the eye initially struggle to adjust to its lack of colour and light. This of course is part of what makes the film such a beautiful expression of McCarthy’s prose and Hillcoat wisely uses a low-key combination of location footage and CGIs to create a sad industrial wasteland that is more reminiscent of Tarkovsky’s Stalker than Mad Max.
The one main sticking point many may have with Hillcoat’s The Road is the ending, which, although it stays faithful to the novel, on the surface may appear compromised. It is nevertheless a fitting conclusion that actually remains completely true to the core ideas expressed throughout the rest of the film and upon extended reflection it becomes clear that it is the only ending that is possible. Anything else would have upset the delicate balance of ideas and meaning that make The Road resonate so profoundly.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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12 Comments | 4 stars, Film reviews | Tagged: Cormac McCarthy, Ghosts... of the Civil Dead, John Hillcoat, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Mad Max, No Country for Old Men, Stalker, The Proposition, The Road, Viggo Mortensen | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
23 January 2010
Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman)
William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus”, written in 1875, is said to have been a powerful source of inspiration for Nelson Mandela during the 27 years he was kept a prisoner in Apartheid South Africa. Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and four years later became South Africa’s president after helping to end Apartheid and introduce democratic elections. Director Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus portrays Mandela as a man of great intelligence, compassion and fairness. Mandela was all too aware that great tensions still existed in South Africa and that the only way for his nation to heal was through forgiveness but also for the people to develop a sense of unity. Mandela seized upon the opportunity provided by South Africa hosting the 1995 Rugby World Cup to make the national South African rugby team, the Springboks, a source of inspiration for all South Africans, black and white. Invictus portrays the PR campaign and series of rugby matches that resulted.
Adapted from the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, by journalist John Carlin, Invictus is an examination of the relationship between sport and politics. Invictus never gets too much deeper than establishing this connection in its precise historical context but it does convincingly demonstrate the incredible importance and significance a sports game can have to a nation. During the scenes depicting the cup you very quickly find yourself cheering on the Springbok’s knowing how profound the outcome of the matches will be.
François Pienaar (Matt Damon)
Working with Eastwood for the third time after Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, Morgan Freeman gives one of his best performances to date as Nelson Mandela. Freeman beautifully captures Mandela’s charisma, confidence and genuine enthusiasm for both rugby and reconciliation. Matt Damon is also convincing as the South African sporting hero François Pienaar the Springbok team captain. However, many of the best moments in Invictus occur during the scenes depicting Mandela’s security team who are a combination of Mandela’s personal guards and ex-Apartheid Special Branch men. The initially tense dynamic between the security men functions as a microcosm for black and white relations within South Africa, creating an enjoyable subplot throughout the film.
Invictus begins as a political biopic, ends as a sports film and is entertaining throughout. Eastwood is one of the most reliable and assured directors working today and like most of his films Invictus combines his disciplined approach to filmmaking with his calm desire to not rush proceedings in order to allow the story to leisurely unfold. There is nothing particularly remarkable about Invictus but it suitably delivers plenty of emotive moments that are hard to not be swept away by and the final rugby game is suitably exhilarating.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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2 Comments | 3½ stars, Film reviews | Tagged: Cinema Autopsy, Clint Eastwood, François Pienaar, Invictus, John Carlin, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Nelson Mandela, Playing the Enemy, William Ernest Henley | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
20 January 2010
Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Luisa Contini (Marion Cotillard)
The 1960s Italian filmmaker Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) is in a creative slump and hasn’t written a word of the script for his new film. To placate the media, the film’s producer ostentatiously announces that Guido’s film will be about Italy “as a myth, as a woman, as a dream.” This description encapsulates Nine, a musical dripping in Italian chic, which borders on the fetishistic, about the mythology surrounding a great filmmaker, the women in his life and the dreams he slips into to make sense of it all. Nine is a cinematic adaptation of a 1982 Broadway musical, which was itself an adaptation of Federico Fellini’s playful, self-reflexive and semi-autobiographical 1963 film 8½. Nine was an excellent opportunity to make a cinematic spectacular but unfortunately director Rob Marshall has instead churned out a largely by-the-numbers musical.
Marshall’s biggest mistake is his very conservative approach towards the fantasy sequences. While Fellini intertwined the subjective and objective moments of 8½, blurring the boundary between reality and fantasy, Marshall frames all the musical numbers as fantasy scenes that are detached from the real world. It’s a stodgy and boring approach made worse by the fact that all the songs take place in a clearly delineated ‘dream-space’ that is an empty theatre stage with bits of half built scaffolding. Instead of breaking free of the restraints of Nines’s theatrical origins, Marshall has embraced them and the musical numbers suffer as a result. Marshall had a similar approach to the songs in his excellent 2002 film adaptation of Chicago but it suited the format of that show while it does not in the case of Nine.
Marshall’s unambitious approach means that despite the bevy of sultry backup dancers in corsets, fishnets and suspenders (aren’t we over this look in ‘sassy’ musicals yet?) the music numbers mostly lack excitement. This is a shame because the mainly all female cast do an excellent job. Day-Lewis is as reliably immersed in the part of Guido as always, but Nine belongs to Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren and Stacy Ferguson (Fergie) who are all in top form playing the women in Guido’s life. Cotillard (Public Enemies, La Vie en Rose) as his long suffering wife is perhaps the one who shines the most. She gets the best numbers, she is the best written character (the rest of the women are maternal figures or objects of desire) and the camera adores her.
There are moments in Nine where the combination of music, spectacle and subjective filmmaking is just right and the final sequence in particular hints at how great the rest of the film may have been. Otherwise Nine is a disappointment and it really needed a more inventive and unrestrained director, such as Alan Parker, Tim Burton or even Baz Luhrmann, to do it justice. While Fellini’s 8½ was a glorious melange of myths, women and dreams, Marshall’s Nine is the product of a neat freak whose determination to tidy everything up ruins all the fun.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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Posted by Thomas Caldwell
16 January 2010
Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson)
Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson) is a close to washed-up ice hockey player who is affectionately known as “The Tooth Fairy” due to his ability to wipe out opposing players on the rink, an action that usually results in their loss of teeth. Having long ago given up the dream of ever scoring during a game, Derek is happy to lap up the adulation he receives from the crowds for causing such carnage. However, when Derek’s overly pragmatic approach to coping with life by having low expectations results in him telling a young boy to also abandon his dreams, Derek is magically taken to Fairyland where he learns that he must atone for his dream-killing sins by doing time as a tooth fairy.
The tough guy having to deal with the world of children comedic scenario has been popular since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stint in Kindergarden Cop in 1990. Just the contrast between the tiny physiques of children to the muscular and hyper masculine body of action stars, like former professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson, provides a basic degree of amusement. Throughout Tooth Fairy Derek has to somehow reconcile the delicate world of fairy magic with his bulky and destructive presence and most of the gags in the film are bull-in-a-China-shop type situations as he screws up various attempts at retrieving teeth from under the pillows of sleeping children.
Johnson has in the past proven to be a very charismatic performer who is excellent in supporting roles as a character actor. Unfortunately, he just doesn’t have to talent to sustain a lead role, especially a comedic lead role. It is impossible to dislike the guy but his constant mugging for the camera does wear thin and very few laughs ensue. However, he still comes out a lot better than Ashley Judd, as Thompson’s girlfriend Carly, who is absolutely woeful.
Derek Thompson (Dwayne Johnson) and Tracy (Stephen Merchant)
What makes Tooth Fairy far from being a total loss is the inclusion of a very strong supporting cast. Billy Crystal has a marvellously funny cameo as a sort of Fairy Q character, who is in charge of dispensing the magical items used for teeth collection, and Julie Andrews as the stern but fair matriarch of Fairyland is a delight. However, the most significant aspect of Tooth Fairy is that for the first time English comedy writer, actor and performer Stephen Merchant finally gets a significant role. As the co-creator of the television series The Office and Extras, Merchant has been somewhat left in the shadow of co-creator Ricky Gervais’s meteoric rise to fame. Merchant has had cameos in various films, plus he played the incompetent agent in Extras, but as Tracy, Thompson’s reluctant caseworker, Merchant really gets to shine. Merchant is so effortlessly funny that when he’s not on screen you are impatiently waiting for him to appear again. Once he is there you forget about the fact that for the most part Tooth Fairy is fairly mediocre entertainment.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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Leave a Comment » | 2½ stars, Film reviews | Tagged: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ashley Judd, Billy Crystal, Dwayne Johnson, Julie Andrews, Kindergarden Cop, Michael Lembeck, Stephen Merchant, Tooth Fairy | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
13 January 2010
Willie (Rocky McKenzie)
The latest film by Indigenous Australian filmmaker Rachel Perkins (Radiance, One Night the Moon) is a road trip musical set in 1969. Indigenous teenager Willie (newcomer Rocky McKenzie) dutifully heads off to a boarding school in Perth only to then run away in order to get back to his home in Broome so he can declare his love for local singer Rosie (2006 Australian Idol runner-up Jessica Mauboy). Along the way Willie teams up with a homeless Indigenous elder named Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo) and a couple of hippy backpackers (one of whom is played by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins). With Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush) from Willie’s boarding school in hot pursuit, the journey home involves much singing, a bit of dancing and a few wacky hi-jinks.
Bran Nue Dae began as a collection of songs written in the early 1980s by composer, musician and playwright Jimmy Chi and his band Knuckles. Chi later used these songs to create the original stage musical Bran Nue Dae, which successfully debuted at the 1990 Perth Festival. Twenty years later this new film adaptation feels exactly like a twenty year old show that may have worked wonderfully as a piece of community theatre but not so on the big screen. The film is so incredibly well–intentioned and full of energy that you almost hate yourself for finding it so twee but overall the prevailing pantomime aesthetic of Bran Nue Dae is just too strong. The over-the-top performances would usually be suitable for this style of musical romp but the story, songs and dance numbers are not strong enough to sustain such hammy performances.
Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo) and Annie ('Missy' Higgins)
Many of the song lyrics are actually very poignant and wickedly ironic but any sense of their sly and cheeky political commentary is lost in the film’s very trite approach. The presence of Bran Nue Dae’s charms are detectable but they are overshadowed by sight gags such as Father Benedictus taking a dump by the side of the road and jokes involving Magda Szubanski, as a character named Roadhouse Betty, throwing herself at every man she meets (it’s funny because she is a large woman being sexually aggressive).
Bran Nue Dae is not completely without merit and Ernie Dingo is especially a joy to watch as Uncle Tadpole. Unlike most of the rest of the cast, Dingo knows how to have fun with a character without completely overacting. Tom Budge (Ten Empty) also gives a very funny performance as a German hippy and manages to bring a bit of an extra dimension to an otherwise very stereotypical character. Otherwise there is little that appeals about Bran Nue Dae. It is the type of film that you could enjoy if you could just let go and surrender yourself to it but far too many cringe worthy moments constantly prevent you from being able to do so.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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4 Comments | 2 stars, Film reviews | Tagged: Australian cinema, Bran Nue Dae, Ernie Dingo, Geoffrey Rush, Jessica Mauboy, Magda Szubanski, Missy Higgins, Rachel Perkins, Rocky McKenzie, Tom Budge | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
10 January 2010
Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) and Ryan Bingham (George Clooney)
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) adores the world of airports, chain hotels and loyalty cards. His life as a motivational speaker and downsizing man-for-hire keeps him travelling around America enjoying his status as a privileged business flier. Charming, slick and truly happy with his unencumbered lifestyle, which is free of physical and emotional baggage, Bingham revels in his life “on the road”. Preferring to work on his frequent flier miles collection rather than engaging with people Bingham is less than impressed when his boss Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman) lumps him with young up-and-comer efficiency expert Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick from the Twilight films). If Tyler Durden in Fight Club represented a primal force that at the end of the 1990s wanted to break free of the commodity culture, Bingham represents the tamed desire, which ten years later, wants to embrace the superficial security and comforts of that culture.
Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) and Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga)
Up in the Air is the third feature by writer/director Jason Reitman and it has a lot more in common with his 2005 corporate comedy Thank You for Smoking, which Reitman also wrote, than it does with his 2007 teen pregnancy comedy Juno. As with Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air features a charismatic anti-hero lead character who in any other film would be the bad guy. Reitman and Clooney do an extremely good job at endearing Bingham to the audience and making us understand why he loves his life so much. We should feel either pity or contempt at his shallow existence but in fact we instead start to become seduced by it especially when he hooks up with Alex Goran (played marvellously by Vera Farmiga from Orphan and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) who is his female counterpart. For the most part Up in the Air is a breezy comedy that will appeal to anybody who has ever had to do extensive travel for work or attend corporate conferences.
Unfortunately Up in the Air does lose its bite in the third act and ends up lacking the wicked edge of Thank You for Smoking. Reitman drives the film towards a disappointingly conventional epiphany and then comeuppance sequence of events that detracts from the film as a whole. Up in the Air still resolves smartly and genuinely with a satisfyingly bittersweet conclusion but goes for a safe middle ground. Reitman’s film is far from being a masterpiece but he has succeeded in making Up in the Air very much a film of its time.
© Thomas Caldwell, 2010
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6 Comments | 3½ stars, Film reviews | Tagged: Anna Kendrick, Cinema Autopsy, Fight Club, George Clooney, Jason Bateman, Jason Reitman, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Vera Farmiga | Permalink
Posted by Thomas Caldwell
