Time for some new Kicks...

Was listening to a podcast on my way out this evening and heard about this film and it got my interest up so when I got home I looked up the trailer. Shot by the cinematographer that went on to be nominated for an Oscar for his work on A Single Man (Eduard Grau), the film appeared at the 64th Edinburgh film festival and seems quite interesting. It follows the lives of two football fangirls who get involved with an up and coming footballer named Lee.

Check out the trailer below, I think this one's worth watching:

I'm prejudiced against voice over...

...especially when it's mine. This has been my day, though a little more solitary and with somewhat less half-naked Jack Black. Just thought I would share my frustration.

Enjoy,

Siobhan

This made me laugh...

...it's funny, though I'm not sure it would work as a full length film it made for a cute trailer. Take a gander at everyone's favourite: the original Karate Kid.

This Swedish thriller left me stunned...

This film is an incredible example of why remakes of amazing foreign properties should not be allowed. This film is paced beautifully, developed expertly and comes to a head in a satisfying and thought provoking way.

This film made me happy I hadn't read the book yet.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a Swedish thriller/mystery based on the best-selling novels by the late Steig Larsson (author and journalist much like his protagonist). The story picks up as Michael Bloomkvist, celebrated journalist, is convicted for defaming the character of a wealthy businessman about whom he wrote a tell-all exposé and takes place over the 6 months prior to his serving his jail sentence. Bloomkvist is approached by another wealthy tycoon whose favourite niece disappeared nearly 40 years prior and who is desperate to find out what happened. He is charged with uncovering the secret of her disappearance and the identity of her killer and, having nothing else to lose and no paying gig to speak of he accepts the assignment.

Though all of this is incredibly compelling and serves as the main storyline, keeping the momentum going it is the subplot and introduction of the titular character Lisbeth Salander which keeps the audience pinned to their seats. To give anything away about Lisbeth would be to take away from the impact of her story so I will simply say that actress Noomi Rapace's performance will be etched in my brain for quite some time.

You owe it to yourself to see the original before Hollywood makes a travesty of this incredible film (they're in talks with the production company for a remake). Do you remember My Sassy Girl (with Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford)? Brothers (you may remember this offering featuring Nathalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey MacGuire)?

There's a reason the remakes weren't huge hits...respect the original. And while you're at it check out these two films as well. They may not have done well as remakes but there's a reason they were purchased...




(click the arrows on the right to open fullscreen)

Harry Brown, needs a vacation...

I truly adore Michael Caine. I think his acting, even in those few movies that he's done which weren't worthy of him, has been truly superb. In Harry Brown, we have undoubtedly found another movie which simply wasn't worth his acting talents. Caine, the film's suposed protagonist, is a pensionner who's wife has passed away and who live alone on the estates (low rent housing in London's south end). All Harry wants is to play chess with his only surviving mate, Len. But when Len is pushed too far by he hooligans living in their housing complex and gets himself killed it looks like Harry (a veteran marine involved in the conflict in Northern Ireland) has to go back to work.

Although there wasn't anything in the film which pushed so far it seemed unreal the overall feeling of the film-- for me--amounted to a badly executed cross between Gran Torino and Payback with none of the charm of either. Although Caine's returned marine is perfectly balanced, making mistakes from lack of practice and not being able to chase down young drug addicts, his coldness during the whole procedure makes it difficult not to sympathize with the victims. In addition where Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino grew through the film (realizing the error of his racist ways and defending a family from gangsters), Caine's Harry Brown devolved into a sometimes likeable killing machine reminiscent of homeicidal psychopaths. All this would be fine if, like Gibson's Payback protagonist, while clearly psychotic there were moments of lightness or comedy.

All in all I think the film was a little heavy on the violence and not heavy enough on the justice. If you want to see Michael Caine prove that pensionners can fight back the by all means, see the film, but be warned: you may come out of it with a tinge of pride for the unsung hooligans defending their homes from vigilantes and self-righteous policemen.

BABIES!!

Isn't that what you think every time you see the trailer for the new documentary film? Babies follows the youngest of four families through their first year until they start to walk. A great premise that was not at all executed well.

The four families that were chosen came from different countries and situations (one assumes in an attempt to show that we are all the same). Unfortunately I didn't get that at all and what's more, I found myself getting annoyed with the parents from San Fransisco and their insistence on speaking a language I could understand. Not a good sign. The film has consciously chosen not to interview the parents in order to focus our attention on their protagonists (the titular babies) and as a marketing strategy it works beautifully. Change a little text and your film can be shown Inc any country in the world. As a storytelling technique it comes off a little lacklustre.

The problem is not in the setup though but rather the execution of the film. The babies are not compelling enough to keep my attention for two hours and the interesting life of the children (who live in Nimibia, Mongolia, Japan and San Fransisco) is never mined because the filmmakers wanted to prove their preconceived notion of what they would find so they weren't looking for anything else. The babies were cute, the film was surprisingly short and ultimately it's a good thing to support documentaries but I would suggest you save your money and spend it on ice cream and a walk in the park, it'll be much more exciting.

Better Together?

Even though I like many of the players I'm concerned this will be a one note comedy that doesn't last very long...thoughts?