Review: Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

★★★★☆
Director: David O. Russell
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro

Silver Linings Playbook is the consequences of the bond formed between two misfits. Pat (Bradley Cooper) is discharged with the aid of his mother from a mental health institution, albeit against medical advice. After losing his home, his teaching job and his wife, Pat is forced to live with his parents as he tries to prove to his wife that he has become the man she wanted him to be. This has to be done from afar and with the aid of friends because of a very strict restraining order she holds against Pat. When he meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), an equally odd soul, she agrees to be a go between and Pat finds his way to communicate with his estranged wife. Along the way Pat and Tiffany form a special bond that cannot be ignored. 

For me this film is made special by the performance Bradley Cooper gives. His approach to a quirky character, who has no filter when he speaks and is socially awkward, is effortless. Pat is a character who is looking for happiness, but doesn't quite understand how to overcome his problems. This inner turmoil is the reason his bond with Tiffany is so compelling. I didn't feel any genuine affection or sympathies for Tiffany, but to some extent I don't think you are meant to. She is a bittersweet character that is difficult to fully appreciate, but makes Cooper's character shine. 

Robert De Niro plays Cooper's obsessive compulsive father, Pat Senior. His OCD is displayed in the form of his superstitions whilst running his illegal bookkeeping business. The relationship between Pat Senior and Junior is endearing to watch. It has such a beautifully real quality to it and reinforces the plots central idea - everybody has their demons, but not everyone knows how to  live with them. 

It is a success because it has a set of very real characters that are learning how to get by with what they have. With an endearing quality that gives it heart, but still full of banter, it is a great watch.

Review: About Time (2013)

★★★★☆
Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy    

About Time is the story of Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) and his attempts to find love and understand the way he can use his gift of Time Travel to aid this. On Tim’s 21st birthday, his dad (Bill Nighy) reveals a family secret to his son: all the men in his family can time travel. After verifying this seemingly ludicrous information, Tim is asked what he wants to achieve with this ability. Quite a profound question by all means. Tim answers in an equally profound way: he wants to find love. This is by all accounts a very Richard Curtis movie. As I sat there and the end credits started rolling, I realised I felt every emotion possible during the picture and even though I was still in tears, I was completely uplifted. This is film focuses on relationships in all forms, even though it is predominantly a love story.  

The main subplot focuses on Tim and his dad and is just as beautiful and uplifting as the main plotline. All of the relationships in this film feel like they are filtered with rose tinted glasses, but they work within the world the story allows. My only qualm with this film is related to the time travel aspect. Going into this film I was prepared to be let down by the tiny loopholes that all time travel movies have been victim to. It didn’t succumb to the usual time paradoxes, which was an incredible relief. It battled the usual loopholes by only allowing the time traveller to travel to past events that he was actually a part of. The only real hurdle was failed right at the end of the movie.  A technicality that was outlined during the movie was breached for an emotional ending. The movie was so enjoyable though that I barely realised until after the movie. So for all the good, plus the tiny bit of bad I would give this movie a 4 out of 5.

James Stewart: My Top 5

James Stewart has always been the quintessential all-American actor. With an easy charm and a voice so distinct that it is often recognised with the first syllable he speaks it was no wonder that he became the legend we know him to be today. He has had many phases in his career and each one has its own way of drawing you in. I will be going through my top 5 James Stewart movies. Each of the movies below are amazing in their own right and it has been incredibly difficult to rank them, but here goes:

5. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Director: John Ford
Starring: James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles

This is a great story about the beauty of idealism, but its ultimate lack of use when facing a society that has been twisted into believing that those ideals can never be reached. Throughout the movie we have the juxtaposition of a gun toting Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) who believes he is a realist and a knowledge wielding Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart). The film plays with the resolve of Stoddard against a town that is ruled by violence and no real law. He questions himself constantly as to whether he should succumb to the life owning a gun entails or whether he should stick by his belief that knowledge and education is all that we need to reform society. It is a great story because it feels like it is still relevant today. We are often made aware of the violence in society and the links to a failure in education, but we are never really made to look at the people who advocate the violence any further than that. Wayne and Stewart are on top form in this and play their roles impeccably. The journey Stewart's character goes on is remarkably and realistically portrayed and keeps you engaged throughout.

4. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Director: Frank Capra
Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

No list of the best James Stewart movies is complete without this classic somewhere on the list. For those of you who do not congregate around a TV on Christmas the movie follows the life of George Bailey (Stewart) as he sacrifices everything for the people around him. When eventually things go from bad to worse for George, he decides there is no solution besides ending his life. He is then shown what the world around him would be like if he had never been born and it isn't pretty. Even if you are hardened to the lovely message that the film portrays, there is no doubt that Stewart gives an amazing and endearing performance as the man who gives up his own dreams and aspirations to do the right thing. Something perhaps all of us want to be like, but might not be able to do. In the wrong hands this character could come off as a bit of a goody two shoes, but Stewart makes George Bailey the believable and likeable friend to his community that makes this film what it is known as today: a classic with great heart.

3. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Clarke Gable

This is the charming tale of divorcee Tracy Lord (Hepburn) getting ready to go down the aisle again with George Kittrege (Gable). Trouble ensues when her ex-husband C.K. Dexter Haven (Grant) is coerced into taking a couple of undercover reporters, including Stewart, to the wedding so they can get the scoop. Love, laughter and witty banter follows in what feels like an homage to A Midsummer Night's Dream. A greatly competent cast make this movie incredibly endearing and full of laughter. The real stars of this are Grant, Hepburn and Stewart. Hepburn's Tracy Lord is a character full of gumption and matches her male leads with a great tenacity. The way they play off of one another is what draws you in and they are all on top form in this great watch.

2. Rope (1948)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Dick Hogan, John Dall, Farley Granger, James Stewart

In true Hitchcock style this is a dark and sinister tale of the human mind. The premise of the film is quite simple: How do you commit the perfect murder? Our murderers come to us in the form of Brandon Shaw (Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Granger) and the victim is a former classmate (Hogan). The motivation behind their action is not only committing the perfect murder, but also proving that in doing so they are of a superior class due to their intellect. After committing the murder, they hide the body in the apartment and they hold a dinner party which is attended by the victim's father, aunt, fiancee, close friend and former housemaster (Rupert Cadell played by Stewart). Brandon and Phillip feel that it is the only way to keep suspicion of their actions at bay. Cadell is a highly astute individual, who feels his suspicions rising as the movie goes on. The audience is constantly kept on tenterhooks, as is characteristic of Hitchcock, and screaming for the evidence to be found and justice to be served. A great exercise in the power of an idea. 

1. Rear Window (1954)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter

Rear Window is a great piece of cinema. The entire movie focuses on L.B. 'Jeff' Jefferies (Stewart) a journalistic photographer who is confined to a wheelchair as he waits for his plastered leg to heal. Boredom ensues and he begins to use his camera to spy on his neighbours. Eventually Jeff spots something suspicious about one of his neighbours and becomes convinced that a crime has been committed. For some neighbours more than others we, as the audience, feel a great sense of an invasion of privacy, but soon we build a relationship with them that compels us to ignore Jeff's wrong doing. The characters that we see through the lens are just as interesting and intricate as our main characters. This is a great credit to the story, because it allows us to feel exactly what Jeff feels, so when he doubts the suspicious neighbour, we too doubt him. We feel just as much a part of the hunt for truth as Jeff. 

Review: Little White Lies (2011)

★★★☆☆
Director: Guillaume Canet
Starring: François Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel, Gilles Lellouche, Jean Dujardin

A group of friends' annual holiday is threatened when one of them, Ludo (Dujardin), is involved in an accident that leaves him hospitalized. Battling with the pros and cons of whether they can leave Ludo in his current state, they ultimately decide that they can leave him. They convince themselves that they won't really be very far and there isn't much they can do by Ludo's bedside. As the film progresses we learn of their personal grief and secrets that threaten to drive a wedge between them.

The film is an interesting take on what could happen to friendships if they are tested or stretched too far. Little White Lies starts off as quite slowly. After the initial shock of the accident of course. It tries to establish each of the main characters and their relationship to one another. This proves to be problematic as there are quite a few characters that have a lot of depth and to cover the depth of each one would probably take a lot longer than the running time (which is an already substantial 2 hours 34 minutes).  Some relationships seem like they are simply given in bullet points and feel too rushed. The balance between depth and what is relevant seems like it isn't addressed properly. 

Once the plot thickens, however, it is a lot more enjoyable. The characters have an extremely endearing quality about them, especially when we explore their relationships with one another. It feels like a group of fallible people that are prone to the kind of mistakes we are all capable of making. It seems as though they may be afraid that their secrets could change everything and that firmly grounds the story. Something secrets tend to do to friendships is change the status quo. Why? Usually it is one of three reasons: either it's such an awful secret that you are considered different to who you were thought to be, or because the friend feels betrayed that you thought them untrustworthy, or you reveal an undeniable love for your friend that makes it difficult to ever be the same again. The second half of the film feels poetic and sweet and has that beautiful french joie de vivre feeling about days gone by as the secrets unfold because they have this very real approach to relationships.  

For me this film deserves three stars simply because it takes too long to get into. It is perfectly understandable that to make this story come to life we need to know who we are watching, but it isn't done well enough. The saving grace of this movie is the casting. The story is a very intriguing study of the human condition, but the cast really bring it to life and have a real chemistry. I would class it as one of those laid back lazy afternoon movies, but definitely worth a watch!

Review: Oldboy (2003)

★★★★★
Director: Chan-wook Park 
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang

Oldboy is the story of Oh Dae-su (Min-sik Choi) who, after being released from a fifteen year imprisonment, is made to find out who his captor was and the reason for his captivity. He has five days to do so, with dire consequences should he fail.

The entire movie plays with the idea of consequences and revenge. What are the consequences of Oh Dae-su's imprisonment? What has it turned him into? His outer transformation from pre-captivity to post-captivity mirrors his inner transformation remarkably well. The character is incredibly disturbed and equally thrilling to watch. As a character that seems unhinged after captivity he is not completely what we would expect. Rather than just being dark and unhinged, he is also bold and at times wacky. You can tell from the amount of depth Oh Dae-su has that this film is based on a Manga series of the same name.

Min-sik Choi does a fantastic job of portraying all of the tiny idiosyncrasies of his character. Choi makes us feel as though we can relate to the character even though it is a massive stretch from anything that could possibly happen to us (or so we hope!). 


This is an irresistibly dark and difficult story to tell with many twists and turns, but I feel like it has been done impeccably. The telling of the story is successful because of the incredible direction by Park. He does this by focusing intensely on the five testing days that Oh Dae-su is put through to find answers. Though his captivity is an integral part of the film it is not given too much time. In fact it is gone over relatively quickly. In spite of the pace it is given the proper coverage. The passage of time and his plight is made much more effective with the speed with which we take in all the information that we are presented with. It keeps it compelling rather than hard to watch, boring or repetitive. 

For me this is definitely worthy of five stars because the story is painfully poetic, the direction is amazing and the difficult character of Oh Dae-su is faultlessly performed by Choi. This is not by any means an easy film to watch, but it is in every way enthralling.

Review: Requiem for a Dream (2000)

★★★★★
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans


Let me start by warning you: this is not a film that you watch if you use film as a form of escapism. This is as dark and heartless as a movie can be to an audience, but that's not to it's detriment. The film is about the lengths four people go to to maintain their drug-fuelled lifestyles and the powerful need for a certain feeling. Any feeling of worth and satisfaction. Not light material by any means! Unfortunately I cannot reveal much more without taking away some of the impact of this intense journey, but you will be glad I didn't!

This is a film that everybody needs to watch at some point in their lives. I feel like watching it has changed me in some unknowable and profound way. Not because my understanding of drug use and it's effects has changed, but rather because I feel like I've had a real insight into real lives. There are three things that make this go from a good film to a great one. The first of these is that nobody is made to look movie star beautiful and that firmly grounds it in reality. To see what I mean have a look at Jennifer Connelly in A Beautiful Mind (2001) and compare it to her in a still from Requiem for a Dream:

A Beautiful Mind

Requiem for a Dream

Even at her roughest she isn't ugly, but she seems real.

The second thing that made this movie feel like an undeniably enigmatic piece of cinema is Ellen Burstyn's performance. Her character, Sara Goldfarb, is sweetly tragic and at times painful to watch. As soon as we meet her we feel strangely drawn to her obvious, but understated, plight. As we gradually learn about her she only becomes more captivating. She is simply mesmerising.

My third and final factor that elevates this film to greatness is the music. As I watched this beautiful train wreck I felt an eerie sense of understanding predestination. I felt as though everytime I heard the music I understood that the characters' lives were on a path that had already been written and there was no way to change it. The music was just as much a main character as the others. It was as though in place of a narrator, which would have completely ruined the effectiveness of the trippy directing style, the music was telling us how to understand what we see on screen. This isn't to say that I am ignoring the way music obviously does this in film. In Requiem for a Dream it was never a soft background sound. There was nothing gentle about it. It was very much in your face influencing you as you piece together what you see on screen.

I gave Requiem for a Dream five stars because alongside the three factors that elevate this film to greatness we have incredibly strong performances from the other actors. You always feel like their stories are deeper than what you see on screen, but you're happy to know only what is revealed to you. Their troubled pasts are left to your imagination, helping the film's intensity. Put this on your list of films to watch before you die!

Review: Zombieland (2009)

★★★★☆
Director: Ruben Fleischer

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin 

After someone eats a contaminated burger (quite a scary movie if you're from the UK; never going to buy a burger from Tesco again now are we...?) the zombie apocalypse begins. 

Columbus (Eisenberg) is the shy, anxiety prone, loner college student in search of his family. He wants to travel to Ohio to make sure they are safe. Tallahassee (Harrelson) is a loveable, gun wielding, Cadillac driving rogue who is looking for a Twinkie before it's too late and they are past their sell by date. Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) are sisters seeking the only zombie-free zone in America. The four join forces to cross the country together.

This was one of those movies that I had been meaning to see since it came out, but never really got around to. The plot focuses on the ever popular zombie apocalypse. I was ready for this to be less than amazing. The idea of a comedic zombie movie didn't exactly make me jump for joy. It could have turned into a disastrous attempt to be funny and just end up as a kind of mangled spoof of zombie apocalypse movies. 

I don't think it feels like a spoof at all nor does it feel like it's trying too hard. This is an incredibly witty comedy and for me it is all about the incredibly clever pairing of Eisenberg and Harrelson. I have always been a big fan of the Woody Harrelson brand of comedy and he delivered in abundance! He does seem to outshine Eisenberg a bit, but that could be down to the fact that Harrelson's character simply demands more attention. Whenever they're on screen together it just works so well. 

For me it felt like they might just be playing versions of themselves and that only made me love it more. The downfall for me in this movie is the decline in intelligence of the sisters. They start off extremely savvy but then just get a bit annoying. The zombie killing is brilliantly done. It's made funny by making it feel like a video game at times with the brutality, but never feels silly.

For me this is definitely worth a watch! It works so well and is filled with clever laughs and lots of banter. Yes, it has a teeny tiny flaw, but Harrelson makes up for it entirely! Happy watching!

The Flashpoint Paradox

THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE!! Warner Brothers have finally annouced that the DC Flashpoint comics are being constructed into an animated feature. Newsarama have reported that it has been given a DVD, Digital Download and Bluray release date of 30th July 2013 and it will be entitled "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox" and I cannot wait! 

I am still relatively new to the world of comics. A dear friend of mine, who is also my comic book world sensei, was kind enough to lend me a selection of his Flashpoint comics. The main plot line centres around the always fascinating idea of fracturing the space-time continuum. With the inevitable alternate reality  that is formed we find that the Justice League has never been formed. Every member of the Justice League that is part of this new reality is a lot grittier. 

My favourite alternate reality sub-plot belongs to Batman! Not much of a surprise there. He is after all the best superhero ever. That, however, is not why it's the best sub-plot. In the interest of not giving too much away let's just say the rules have changed and so has the majority of the Batman origin story. Exciting and heartbreaking, it does not disappoint! I hope that the film has enough of this plot in it as it isn't part of the main set of Flashpoint comics, but would be an epic addition! 

The official Warner Bros synopsis is as follows:

"When time travel allows a past wrong to be righted for The Flash and his family, the ripples of the event prove disastrous as a fractured, alternate reality now exists where a Justice League never formed, and even Superman is nowhere to be found. Teaming with a grittier, more violent Dark Knight and Cyborg, Flash races to restore the continuity of his original timeline while this new world is ravaged by a fierce war between Wonder Woman’s Amazons and Aquaman’s Atlanteans. With breath taking action and an all-star voice cast, it’s a bold, emotional vision that will forever change the landscape of the DC Universe."

The plot has everything a great story needs: a war, a broken man and a great race to fix an altered timeline. Definitely one to look out for especially to learn more about The Flash, who has one of the lesser known backgrounds in the world of pop culture.

The Sequel to Finding Nemo: Finding Dory!

I heard about the sequel to Finding Nemo some time ago, but was worried about "The Hangover effect" (formerly known as the "Home Alone Effect"). That is, the same plot line with slight alterations, but nothing worthy of more than watching on TV. I then found out that it was going to be called "Finding Dory" and immediately I squashed any worries I may have had to the back of my mind. Thanks Digital Spy for the info!



"I have my own movie!"

 
It's been 10 years since Finding Nemo was unleashed to the world and I was in love with it as soon as the adverts were in cinemas. The movie lived up to the hype completely. I hadn't seen anything like it. When I assumed that the sequel may just be "Finding Nemo 2" I had very mixed emotions. I mean really, how many times can you lose the same fish? Would I be disappointed at the lack of inventiveness? No, no but they wouldn't ruin such a beloved film, would they? 

However, now that we know that it's centred around the immediately loveable, forgetful Dory, who is masterfully voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, the storyline possibilities look promising. Although it seems to be the same sort of plot line at heart, more can be done with it. My guess is we will learn a lot about Dory's family and background (cue images of baby Dory: awww!) There is always the worry that they won't have enough of Dory in the storyline, because the aim of the movie is to find her. I'm sure that they can overcome this in a clever way. You can never have enough of her! I have every faith in you Disney Pixar.

The film is due for release at the end of 2015 and as such we don't have much information on it just yet. Besides the title, we do know that it will be set a year after Finding Nemo, but not much else. Watch this space... 

Find the Digital Spy article here

Entourage... The movie?!

I was completely addicted to the series. All 8 glorious seasons. The harshly witty agent, the loveable loser brother, the sensible best friend, the cute sex obsessed moocher and the impressionable star. The beauty of the show is the chemistry of the characters. Hands down. It is the perfect dynamic for a TV show. How then do you make this perfect-for-tv dynamic perfect-for-film? 

Fire fire! 

We left the band of brothers at the end of the tv series beginning their new lives and all seemingly happy: Ari decides Mrs Ari is worth more than his career and they reconcile, Vince gets his girl and is whisking her off to Paris to get married, Drama is employed, turtle makes a tidy sum of money and E gets his baby mama Sloane! All riveting stuff... then Ari gets the call to become studio head and the movie is set up and ready to go...

Doug Ellin, creator extraordinaire, has penned the screenplay and we only know a few things for sure:

1. The movie is set 6 months after season 8's finale
2. Even with the strong women in their lives it will still be a boy's night out
3. Mark Wahlberg will make a cameo (shocked? I thought so.)

This is pure speculation, but I'm sure Ari's marriage will play a huge part in the movie. Or at least it should seeing as how that's the only storyline set up for the movie... but then again a lot can happen in 6 months! 

Here's my worry: will you really be able to make any Vince sized problem-solution-happy ending fit into the cursory 1 hour 30 minutes or even 2 hours?

I don't think so. After all, when Vince has problems they all do. Then it's not just Vince it's the entire entourage's problems that need to be solved in the allotted time. 

I'm still bloody excited to see it but I'm worried that I may be creating too much of a hype for myself and should just accept it for what it may inevitably be... a long episode. Oh well, who gives a crap bring on the Ari antics! 

The Intro Post

Hello blogging world!

I come to you in search of like minded (and not so like minded) individuals that can help me. My love of all things film has brought me to you and I would like to use this medium to post about anything and everything in the weird and wonderful world of cinema. Every so often I will be posting about movies and my opinions on them whether I have seen them or I'm waiting for them to be released (I won't discriminate). I will also aim to post other things related to the movie world once a week, such as, "The 25 reasons such and such needs to keep doing what they're doing". It won't be that drab I swear, but you get the idea!

This is where you guys can help me: I would love to hear what thoughts and ideas you lovely people have about the topics that I will be discussing and whether you agree or disagree with me. After all a well formed opinion and/or belief is one that has been discussed the hell out of! Saying that, I would love for everyone to get along and for there to be peace and unity in the world. That probably won't happen, but if we could make this a nice environment free of any of that unnecessarily harsh or unhelpful posting that happens out in the world I would be eternally grateful.

I hope you all enjoy the discussion and join in!

Aneeqa