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Oblivion

Filed under: 2 Star, Reviews — Leave a comment
April 17, 2013

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Tom Cruise poses and postures with not a single original idea in sight.

Wilson Mizner said, “If you steal from one author, that’s plagiarism, if you steal from many, it’s research” in which case Oblivion is the greatest piece of research that has ever been created. A science fiction film that plays like a greatest hits of other sci-fi or the Eye Spy Book of Sci-Fi Movies.

Oblivion ‘borrows’ from a huge range of sources including, Moon, WALL-E, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Silent Running, Soylent Green, The Matrix, Independence Day, Serenity, Predator and Prometheus, to name a few of the pictures being pilfered here.

Set on an apocalyptic earth an alien invasion has destroyed the moon and left Earth a wilderness, the human race has fled to Titan and only a handful of operative are left on the planet, working from high level towers, above the cloud, monitoring the drones that defend the machines that are hoovering up the sea to create energy for the new colony out in the solar system.

Living in their iHome is Tom Cruise, playing Jack, the operative and his handler and co-pilot Victoria, who remains in the tower, played impeccably by Andrea Riseborough. The couple share a strange relationship and Jack has frustrating dreams where he sees a woman he doesn’t know. Both characters have had their memories wiped before they were stationed on the planet and Cruise’s character is desperate to find out the truth. A ship crashes into the planet and on board is a pod containing a woman, unsurprisingly the woman from Jack’s dreams. Played by Olga Kurylenko Julia is the third part of the love triangle and holds the secrets to Jack’s restless existence.

Exploring the relationships and revelations from here would have produced an interesting, contained sci-fi movie that could have been wholly satisfying, unfortunately to justify the budget it needs to be bigger and so Cruise heads out into the planet where he meets with Morgan Freeman’s Beech, the leader of a team of humans who have remained on the planet and are fighting a revolution to expose the truth about the planet and what occurred. This intervention is entirely pointless. The plot develops exactly as you would expect and contains not one single surprise.

While Kurylenko and Riseborough both put in strong performances Cruise is cringe worthy. From his triumphant opening monologue to a sequence where he reenacts a historical football game, his is a performance so pleased with itself, so conceited that it is a wonder that his own drones don’t rebel and kill him on the spot for being such a prick.

Director Joseph Kosinski previously brought us Tron:Legacy and he manages to even steal from this, he clearly has an eye for design and for creating a futuristic world and landscape, unfortunately when it comes to telling a coherent story, delivering surprises or containing a egomaniacal actor he is found severely lacking.

If you have no interest in sci-fi and want to get a Fisher Price guide to the major ideas in the canon then Oblivion can serve as your guide, it is however light years behind every single film that it has stolen from.

**

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The Place Beyond the Pines

Filed under: 4 Star, Reviews — 2 Comments
April 16, 2013

The-Place-Beyond-The-Pines-19

A triptych with a third part that lacks the punch of the preceeding two, but still delivers an insightful look into the role of fathers and sons.

Director Derek Cianfrance first picture was the claustrophopic relationship drama Blue Valentine, here with The Place Beyond the Pines he reunites with Ryan Gosling to bring us a much wider film that is as vast as Blue Valentine was compact.

Beginning with an exploration of the life of Luke a motorcycle stunt rider attached to a travelling fairground who visits a town only to discover that on his visit a year earlier a fling with Eva Mendes’ Romina had resulted in a child. His discovery that he is now a father leads him to quit his job, stay in town and become a bank robber.

Gosling plays Luke a man far from the tracks but driven by a desire and sense of duty to provide for his child. Gosling is as spellbinding and visceral as he has ever been, and fully earns his reputation as this generations Brando, there is a potent masculinity in his every move and this informs his performances. He forms a friendship with a local garage owner, played superbly by Ben Mendelsohn, who encourages Luke to use his ‘unique skillset’ to profit from robbing banks. Luke struggles with his commitments and strives to get Romina back into his life and the pressure leads him to take more and more risks and ultimately to cross paths with Bradley Cooper’s police officer Avery Cross.

Part two of the film follows Avery as he recovers from injury, is rehabilitated into the force and fights against the corruption in the force. Avery struggles to live up to his father’s expectations but through a series of opportunities and interventions Cross manoeuvres himself into a position that all are impressed with. Bradley Cooper continues to build on the work he laid down in Silver Linings Playbook to prove that he is a much better performer than his early work indicated, it’s a shame there is a third Hangover on the horizon that could undo this work. His performance here is subtle and informed his problems connecting with his infant son are well delivered, something that develops into the third part of the movie.

The final section of the film is 15 years into the future, both of the sons of Luke and Avery are now in the same school together and they form an unlikely relationship. This relationship is tested by the legacy of both of their fathers and what Cianfrance attempts here is to tie everything together. He is not entirely successful but that seems to be more due to aiming too high than through any specific technical deficiency. The story would benefit from being slightly less convenient, ambiguity would strengthen it.

The Place Beyond the Pines is an excellently visioned movie, strong performances underpin an interesting handheld quality. Ancillary characters are given the breadth and attention of lead roles and this along with a strong cast mean that the audience are swept along for the ride. Gosling, Cooper and Mendes are all exemplary in the performances and Cianfrance maintains his reputation for intense relationship analysis.

****

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Trance

Filed under: 3 Star, Reviews — 1 Comment
April 15, 2013

Trance-James-McAvoy-HD

Danny Boyle’s project to keep him sane during his Olympic exertions is a hard-hitting mental drama that almost loses its way in its final chapter but just manages to hold onto credibility.

Trance is an interesting movie, made by Danny Boyle during his creation of the London 2o12 Opening Ceremony it is Boyle’s usual mix of dynamic storytelling and oodles of style and cool but it suffers from a director whose eye is clearly not fully on the ball as it veers into the absurd.

We are introduced to James McAvoy’s, Simon through an explanation of the security arrangements surrounding the auction of a painting. It is slowly revealed that the precautions he is responsible for he will soon be using to his advantage to steal said painting. Once it is gone we are launched into a cat and mouse battle with Vincent Cassel’s Frank who despite being responsible for knocking Simon unconscious during the heist now expects him to remember where he has hidden the painting.

Enter Rosario Dawson’s hypnotherapist Elizabeth who Simon engages to unlock the secrets hidden inside his mind. What follows is a mind bending journey where no one is really what they seem and where what is hidden in Simon’s mind is never to be trusted. Relationships with Elizabeth and Frank change frequently and we are never really sure who is in charge, who is winning and who eventually, will come out on top.

Boyle uses his usual mix of bright colours, style and graphic violence to keep the narrative moving and gets good performances out of his actors. This is Boyle’s 5th film with writer John Hodge and his first since The Beach and what Hodge has created here is an interesting premise and set up, where the film sags slightly is in the conclusion which is telegraphed too early and fails to neatly tie up all of the loose ends.

McAvoy continues to show how strong he is at playing a slightly edgy everyman, his role is fluid and his ability to roll with the punches, both metaphorically and physically, makes McAvoy dependable as an actor, it is no different here. Vincent Cassel turns the French master criminal up to 11 and brings the malevolent psychopath out in his dealings with both McAvoy and Dawson. It is Rosario Dawson who is the surprise in this cast, proving that she is capable of fully embodying a part, something that we have rarely seen before. Her Elizabeth is a fully rounded character who we believe in throughout what is a challenging part.

Trance is essentially a three hand film and all three performers step up to the plate to bring a fast-paced, visually dynamic story to the screen. Boyle is clearly enjoying himself and with regard to the other project he had on his plate at the time of making this his escapism is clearly visible throughout. It is this film’s strength but also its weakness for what this film exudes in terms of a director letting go, it loses in a lack of fine detail that would have led to a more cohesive final act.

***

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Side Effects

Filed under: 4 Star, Reviews — Leave a comment
April 14, 2013

DSC_8803.NEFSteven Soderbergh claims this will be his last film, if so he has left us with two films, the film this professes to be and the film that it is. 

Side Effects is an interesting proposition, it is a film that is one thing for two thirds of its running time and then becomes its true self in its final act. The result is an exciting, twisting story that makes bold comment on the use of drugs in society but also has a trashier underbelly.

Starring Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum, Side Effects opens on a couple dealing with the fact that banker husband Martin Taylor has been incarcerated for insider trading and wife Emily has had to deal with being alone for the first few years of their marriage. As they are reunited she slips into a depression and following a brutally violent cry for help and on the advice of her doctor, Jude Law, she starts taking a drug called Ablixir. The side effects of this drug cause Emily to indulge in powerful episodes of sleepwalking that become increasingly violent. As Emily’s life descends, suspicions are raised about the safety of the drug and the role of herself, her doctor and her doctors advisor, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones are all called into question.

Soderbergh has never been one to shy away from tackling difficult issues and here he tackles depression and its medication full on. In the same way he challenged the scientific community with Contagion here he looks to those responsible for mental health to answer some questions.

Soderbergh is also a fantastic director of actors, his ability to get a performance out of Channing Tatum shows that Magic Mike was no fluke and here he even manages to bring the best out of Jude Law. Rooney Mara shows her talent and class, in fact it is only Zeta-Jones who fails to step up to the plate, putting in a bland performance as the mysterious outsider.

Side Effects throws a loop in its final act; what appears to be a critique of an over-medicated society falls away to reveal a seedy, pulpy conclusion. The twists and turns in the finale frequently breakdown what Soderbergh has led the audience to believe and the movie embraces a style akin to films like Wild Things as characters motivations swing wildly to reveal their true desires, intentions and motivations. It is here that the initial desire to cast Lindsey Lohan in the Rooney Mara role makes sense as Soderbergh creates a world wildly different from the one he initially introduces us to.

The effect of this stark change is to wake up the audience for the final stages of the movie and although it waters down his political comments somewhat it drives the movie to a thrilling conclusion. If this is the last we see from Soderbergh he has left us with a surprising and challenging final picture that is anything but what it professes to be. For a genre spanning director we would expect nothing else.

****

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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Filed under: 3 Star, Reviews — Leave a comment
April 14, 2013

THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE

With a tighter focus and a few more gags this could have been a great comedy, as it stands it’s merely good enough.

Steve Carell has had a varied career outside of his Dunder Mifflin opus. He is beginning to establish himself as a solid star in comedy-dramas (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Hope Springs, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) but in out-and-out comedy he has yet to reach the heights of Anchorman with his other efforts.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is the closest he has come yet to achieving this feat and it is certainly not down to his performance that this film never quite takes flight. Focusing on the career of Burt Wonderstone and his partner Anton Marvelton. Carell and Steve Buscemi bring us the story of a magical double act in full Las Vegas showtime excess being threatened by the arrival of a new breed of street magician depicted here by Jim Carrey’s Steve Gray.

Wonderstone and Marvelton see their audiences slip as Gray’s popularity grows and following their inevitable break up Wonderstone dives into a world of depression, alcohol and ends up performing magic at a retirement home for Las Vegas entertainers.

There is a lot to like about this film, the jokes are plentiful and are at their strongest when they are targeted at the weird and wonderful world of Las Vegas, there are plenty of jokes for those in touch with the Las Vegas magic scene but also digs at Seigfried and Roy, Penn and Teller and a cameo from David Copperfield that bring the jokes to a wider audience. The gags from extreme street magician Steve Gray are aimed squarely at David Blaine and as Gray’s illusions get more and more dangerous Carrey ramps up his rubber faced abilities to bring the ridiculous to the service.

So why doesn’t Wonderstone work fully?  It is too complicated, there are too many subplots. A love interest for Burt is excellently played by Olivia Wilde, A former magician, the again excellent Alan Arkin and the community of magicians make the storytelling needlessly complex. The unscrupulous hotel boss played by James Gandolfini is there only to bring jeopardy to Wonderstone’s life but doesn’t hold enough cards to make a really killer hand and overall while there are plenty of jokes, there needs to be a handful more.

The world of magic is a place ripe for comedy and so it is a shame that the writers here have gone for some of the easier targets.  The illusions featured are also beyond what even the best magician would be able to achieve and as such the movie ridicules instead of satirising.

There is a good start here and plenty of jokes to take you along for the ride, it could just do with a little more bite and a more focused narrative.

***

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