Hidden Gems

Many of my posts have served as previews of promising times ahead, so I'm going to focus on the good times that have passed.  With the multitude of films that are released each year, it is inevitable that some of them fail to show up on your radar or linger in the shadow of the blockbusters before falling between the cracks. 
Some are forgotten about and some never find a place in your consciousness in the first place.  You could call them hidden gems, the films that time forgot, underrated classics, whatever you like.  There'll always be something out there that you haven't seen that holds a special place in the heart of the person who'll unreservedly recommend it to you.  Sometimes you'll wish that person had reserved their recommendation, but that's movies for you - forever dividing opinion.  If you're already familiar with those that I mention, great, I'm glad.  Many won't be.  Also, my taste is very eclectic, as I'd imagine would be the case for most film fanatics, so I'm sorry if my selection isn't for everyone.

To start with, I'll cover some that you may have missed as recently as last year.  Short Term 12 impressed me last year.  It tells the story of a supervisory care worker at a treatment facility for troubled teens, played by Brie Larsson, hiding her own troubles from the past and present.  There's uplifting drama, played out with a range of fleshed-out characters, balanced perfectly with tragedy and heartbreak.  However, if you want a film without any sadness whatsoever, another that didn’t get the recognition it deserved last year was The Way Way Back; a very enjoyable, feel-good, summer-set coming-of-age comedy drama.  It's about a shy teenager spending the summer at his mother's boyfriend's holiday home in a seaside town, and it reminded me of the kind of film I would have watched growing up in the eighties.  Other films that grabbed my attention last year included the extraordinarily vague Upstream Color, which left much open to interpretation, and Neil Jordan's engaging vampire drama, Byzantium, starring Saorise Ronan and Gemma Arterton.  But, that was last year, and there's still time for these films to get noticed (even Blade Runner and Shawshank Redemption were flops at the cinema when they were released).

For another lesser-known film featuring the nocturnal undead of the fanged variety, you could look back to 1987 and find Kathryn Bigelow's directorial debut, Near Dark.  The word vampire is never used and the mythology remains vague, as it's not established whether they are vulnerable to the usual threats such as garlic, holy water and so on.  What is clear is that they are immortal, dependant upon blood for sustenance and definitely keep 'odd hours.'  It's more of a road movie than a horror and could certainly be described as a film that the term cult-classic would have been coined for, different to the more mainstream vampire flick released that year, Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys.  Joel Shcumacher's portfolio has range, from the iconic Falling Down and the compelling A Time to Kill to shockers like Batman & Robin.  One of his smaller movies was one of Colin Farrell's earlier movies, Tigerland, in 2000.  It's a gritty movie with an independent-feel, shot on hand-held digital; unlike anything you'd expect from Schumacher.  Tigerland was the training camp that US soldiers would go through before being deployed in the Vietnam war during the sixties and seventies, but it's not really what could be simply described as a war film.  That would be like describing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as a prison movie.  Colin Farrell shines as Bozz, the rebel with an ethos akin to Yossarian from Catch 22, with a performance that paved his way to stardom.  While I'm pointing out star-turns in early roles, I'll mention What's Eating Gilbert Grape from 1993.  Johnny Depp takes the lead, but this was the movie in which Leonardo Di Caprio broke through as his mentally-disabled brother.  It's a remarkable film and earned Di Caprio his first Academy Award nomination a few years before hitting it big with Romeo & Juliet, that one with the ship and his ongoing collaborations with Martin Scorcese.  Another film frrom the nineties that I'd like to cite would be one starring the lead from one of Di Caprio and Scorcese's most successful collaborations; The Departed.  Matt Damon plays a law student, pulled back into the dangerous wold of high-stakes poker, in Rounders, after an old friend, played by Ed Norton, is released from prison.  I remember first watching it on my little TV in the Halls of Residence during University, gripped after renting it on video from Blockbuster.  John Malkovich is magnificent as Teddy KGB, the Russian responsible for running one of the underground establishment that they frequent on the poker-playing circuit, and the movie benefits from a strong supporting cast comprised of Gretchen Mol, Jon Turturro, Famke Janssen and Martin Landau.  It's one of the many that provides the thrills through the tension that it conveys.  On that score, 2011's Margin Call also succeeds.  It's set at a Wall Street investment bank during the start of 2008's financial crisis and focuses on the psychological implications of transpiring events for the key figures involved at the bank rather than the technicalities.  It's completely engaging and well acted by Zachary Quinto, Paul Bethany, Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, Kevin Spacey and a scene-stealingly over-the-top Jeremy Irons.  However, it's not a patch on one of my favourite outstanding ensemble-cast films, Glengarry Glen Ross.  This again includes Kevin Spacey, along with Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce, Al Pacino and an iconic scene driven by Alec Baldwin.  Released in 1992, Glengarry Glen Ross focuses on a few hours at a Real Estate office.  The pressure to sell is high, the salesmen have reached desperation point and it's masterfully written by David Mamet.  It was the film that brought Mamet to my attention.  He's got a very distinct style as a screenwriter and playwright, applying rhythm to his realistic dialogue.  His well-known works include The Edge, Ronin and The Untouchables, but you should check out The Spanish Prisoner,Heist and Spartan.  For me, those showcase his ingenuity when it comes to plotting and telling a story.

And finally, many may have seen Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhall last year.  It was directed by Denis Villeneuve and evoked a strong reaction from those that I've spoken to and from the reviews that I've read.  A film that packs an even stronger punch would be Villeneuve's previous movie, academy-award-nominated Indendies from 2010.  It's a very powerful drama with a mystery unfolding for brother and sister twins following the reading of their mother's will. 

I'd like to revisit this subject again in the future and mention others that I feel are underrated classics and hidden gems. I'm always on the lookout and hope that many new discoveries come to my attention before then.

Cross the bridge

I heard this track by Mint Royale last Sunday, which must be one of their latest.  The tingling bells at the start have featured heavily on BBC One's programme introductions since the new year, but what follows is an inspiring voice-over monologue from Willem Dafoe.

As well as being a decent tune, I'd say it speaks to us all.  I chose to cross the bridge today and then burned it down.  That is to say, I did something I hadn't done before and now there's no turning back.  I was fed up of all of the clutter - inside and out of the house.  Inside, I've got so much sensitive paperwork that it would take months to shred it all.  It's tempting to just put it in the bin for recycling, but you never know what can happen.  In the age of identity theft and fraud, it would most probably be a dumb move.  The thing is though, the amount that I've got would take months to shred.  I haven't got the time,  commitment or the tolerance to withstand the boredom threshold to do what's required.  I've found old, mouldy nets and curtains under the stairs that have been taking up valuable storage space for about ten years.  These things have to go.  Then, outside, there's the three dead Christmas trees that I haven't got rid of yet.  I would chop them up and put them out for the fortnightly garden waste collection, but the council don't offer this any more.

So, I bought a garden incinerator.  It's one of those steel bins with a hole to emit the smoke on top.  Yes, I'd prefer to dispose of my waste without the emissions, but I going to be considerate about which time I choose to burn stuff.  I'll make sure it's not a time when people are going to have stuff hanging out on their washing line and all that.  I could stuff the manky old curtains  into bin bags and leave them out for the rubbish men, but I think it's better to disintegrate them rather than have them taken to landfill.  It was a good start.  I've made some space and I've begun to get rid of some of the clutter.  It's the way forward - getting rid of what I don't need.

I'm also going to have to 'cross that bridge,' as the lyric goes, and do something I haven't done before once I've finished editing my new novel.  I don't know what that something is yet, but it's linked to marketing.  I'm close to having 'Disposition' ready for distribution and I'm hoping its going to reach further than 'The Ellroy Deflection' and 'Barren Endeavour' have.  It's a challenging marketplace, emphasised by an article I read this week.  Most writers earn less than £600 a year apparently.  CLICK HERE to read it.  Its not surprising.  Watch this space...

MOVIES OF 2013 REVIEW

Box-office-wise, 2013 was cinema’s biggest year yet.  Leading the way was Iron Man 3, taking over $1.2 billion as it became the 5thbiggest film of all time.  Clearly, the comic-book superhero movie genre is the biggest genre for the studios alongside the family-favourite animated features.  Thor: The Dark World saw the successful return of another Avenger and we’ll see him again in 2015 when the Avengers re-assemble. 

But, before that, Steve Rogers will have another entry in the series with Captain America: Winter Soldier next year as well as the movie debut of The Guardians of the Galaxy arriving in the summer.  Zack Snyder’s Superman-reboot Man of Steel did well enough this year to ensure a return in 2015, with Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot recently cast to join the sequel as Batman and Wonder Woman.    Another group of superheroes set to stick around would be the X-Men following the success of Logan’s second solo outing this year in The Wolverine, next year’s epic-scale sequel/prequel Days of Future Past with another sequel, Apocalypse, already greenlit for 2016.

A long loved-character that seemed to have transformed into a superhero this year was John McLane in the disappointing A Good Day to Die Hard.  Bruce Willis’ tough New-York cop seemed to have superpowers of invincibility during his trip to Russia to rescue his secret-agent son.  I was defiantly willing myself to like the film because I’m a huge fan of the series.  But, there’s no denying how bad it was.  I’m in two-minds as to whether I want a 6th entry, which is inevitably going to happen because of the amount of money this one still made.  On the one hand, this was bad and maybe enough's enough.  On the other, I’d really like to see the franchise redeem itself with a return to the standard of previous instalments.  Disappointments this year, however, were few and far between.  On the other end of the scale, there were plenty of triumphs and, without a doubt; the film of the year was Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity.  Not only was it an amazing technical achievement, but it was a gripping thriller with an outstanding career-best performance from Sandra Bullock.  It won’t pack as much of a punch on the smaller-screen, so I’d urge you to catch this one in 3D on the biggest screen available if you can.

Now, I haven’t seen all of the films released this year.  So, before you accuse me of omitting to mention a few that may have impressed you this year, I’ve been told good things about Captain Phillips, Philomena and Prisoners, which I look forward to seeing in the new year.

What I was first-in-line for on the day it came out was Rush, portraying the true story of the exhilherating rivalry between racing drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda.  If you don't know their story - lucky you.  Ron Howard's made a lot of good films, but I'd say this is his best.  You don't even have to know anything about Formula One motor racing to enjoy this one.  It was expertly written, shot, scored, acted, directed and it's out on Blu Ray and DVD at the end of January 2014 if you want some enthralling entertainment.  Other fantastic dramas that you should check out, if you didn't catch them, would include The Place Beyond the Pines, The East and Mud.

Some of my favourites this year have been visually-stunning offerings from some of the most artistically-visionary directors in the business today.  The first was a film from Nicholas Winding-Refn, which divided audiences and critics alike, called Only God Forgives.  I gave my thoughts on it back in August, so click here for my review.  Another film that divided opinion was Terrence Mallick's To The Wonder, which might have just caught me the right mood as I wasn't a fan of last year's Tree of Life at all.  Then there was Chan Wook Park's English-language debut with Stoker, an excellent gothic drama written by Wentworth Miller (Schofield from TV's Prision Break).  Park's most famous film was 2003's Oldboy, of which Spike Lee's remake was released recently.  I had been looking forward to it, but the reviews were terrible.  So, I didn't bother.  Many of Oldboy's reviews have cited Sharlto Copley's villainous performance as one of the worst of the year, which is surprising considering I'd say he was the villain of the year in Elysium.  Elysium was one of the sci-fi hits of the year, amongst Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Pacific Rim and Oblivion, which was a relief after the tedious and predictable After Earth from M.Night Shamaylan.

If, like me, you enjoy a good scare, there were a few crackers to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up - Mama, Evil Dead, Dark Skies and The Conjuring.  But, if you'd prefer a good laugh, some of the more successful rib-ticklers this year were Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, This Is The End, Warm Bodies, The Heat and The World's End.  I hope I'm not wrong, but I took Pain and Gain to be a comedy, even though it's a Michael Bay film, and it featured one of two subtle crowd-pleasing performances from Mark Whalberg, with the other following in the comedy-actioner 2 Guns.  The only remaining comedy from my list has only just been released.  I haven't seen Anchorman 2 yet, but I don't doubt that any fan of the first is going to love this one just as much. 

In summary, here are the films I enjoyed the most this year:

10. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

 9.  Frances Ha

 8.  The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

 7.  Stoker

 6.  The Way Way Back

 5.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

 4.  Only God Forgives

 3.  Les Miserables

 2.  Rush

 1.  Gravity

Movie Review: The Lone Ranger

I’ll start by saying this is a strange one.  It may already be well on its way to becoming a worldwide flop in that it’s set to lose Disney around $150,000,000, reminiscent of what happened with Disney’s John Carter of Mars last year.  However, it’s by no means a bad film. 

After seeing the trailer a couple of times beforehand, I’ll admit that I wasn’t keen in the slightest.  That trailer did not do the film any justice.  Don’t judge it by that and embrace the film for the entertaining surprise that it turns out to be. 

It may be a Disney western, but it’s far from The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin or The Apple Dumpling Gang.  Parts of it certainly belong in a Jerry Bruckheimer production, but not in a Disney one – until now that it.

It is essentially an origin story about how an upstanding lawyer becomes the legendary masked ambassador for justice.  The story starts in 1934, where Johnny Depp’s Tonto recounts the tale of The Lone Ranger to a young boy.  The introduction of the man who will become the titular hero, John Reid, played by Arnie Hammer, sets the tone and suggests he’s a buffoon underneath his well-presented appearance.  It’s clear that comedy is on the agenda.  It turns out that he’s just a naively upstanding stickler for the rules and is about to discover that his by-the-book nature will only go so far.  The moments of slapstick scattered throughout are successful and induce a chuckle for the majority.

In the first half, the tone of the film changes whenever Depp’s Tonto appears.  The role does not seem much of a stretch for him, but you can’t fault him for that.  It’s a typically Depp performance which mostly leans towards the deadpan delivery of Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean  with the intensity of Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 

It’s a family film, but isn’t suitable for younger children.  It’s frequently violent with flashes of terror, including a scalping when a home comes under attack from a gang masquerading as Native Americans, headed by William Fichtner’s Butch Cavendish.  Then there are the unexplained psychotic rabbits, which appear in the background of a couple of scenes.  

It’s a shame about the bloated middle as the first half an hour flies by and the final twenty minutes are tremendous, featuring an exhilarating action sequence accompanied by the famous William Tell overture that is synonymous with the masked hero. 

The Lone Ranger is released in cinemas on 9th August in the UK, is rated 12A at 2 hrs 29 mins and I’d give it a 3 out of 5.  It is already on general release in many other countries worldwide.

The Future of Cinema

What does the future hold?  Look at the differences between the ways films were made just thirty years ago compared to how they are now.  People were probably saying cinema was in trouble back then as well, but the technological advances of recent years have helped cinema endure and will continue to do so further ahead than you can probably imagine.

Performance and story are still the key to success, of course, but the technological changes are enhancing the experience and giving moviegoers reason to part with their cash.  Furthermore, the quantity is set to improve within the foreseeable future.  For decades, movies have been filmed at twenty-four frames-per-second and then projected onto the big screen with a shutter system showing the same frame a couple of times, boosting the overall frame rate and reducing signs of flicker being visible to the audience.  When a 3D movie is filmed and put on display at twenty-four frames-per-second, strobing and judder can become more apparent.  Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy has been filmed at forty-eight frames-per-second as well as in 3D.  James Cameron has said that the next two sequels to his record-breaking smash, Avatar, will be shot at sixty frames-per-second.  It could be argued that Cameron embraces these advances more than any other filmmaker.  When he made Terminator, in 1984, they used stop-motion animation, miniature models and glass paintings for the special effects.  These days, all the effects are digital and he doesn’t shoot on celluloid anymore.  When explaining high frame rate movies, Cameron has said, “If watching a 3D movie is like looking through a window, then (with this) we’ve taken the glass out of the window and we’re staring at reality.”

Of course, this will mainly apply to the mega-budget mainstream offerings.  Hollywood is run by accountants and the target market has to be catered for.  But, the recent film festival at Cannes emphasises that the artistry in filmmaking is just as strong as ever.  The independent film system continues to provide a stream of talent and promises to go from strength to strength as the medium becomes more accessible.  Emerging talent is usually recognised and a fraction are sometimes lucky enough to become embraced by the studio system.  Christopher Nolan and Duncan Jones cut their teeth on the independent circuit before moving to the studio system.  More recently, following the success of his low-budget indie hit Monsters, Gareth Edwards has been given the task of helming the big-budget behemoth that is Godzilla.

Another avenue for independent filmmakers is the internet.  If you look hard enough, you’ll find impressive shorts that you would expect to have been made on a much larger budget than they actually have been.  Again, this stems from the technological advances in the tools available. 

As movies become more accessible, viewers crave more quality content as the selection becomes saturated.  Movies now have to stand out to succeed and strike while the iron is hot.  Iron Man 3 was available to pre-order on Blu-Ray and DVD before it was even released in the cinema.  These days, when something is released on DVD, it is simultaneously available via an On-Demand service as well, with the gap since it cinema release now averaging three months.  Taking this further, British filmmaker Ben Wheatley recently announced that his new film, A Field in England, will be simultaneously released in the cinema, on DVD, available On-Demand and screened on Film Four on the same day.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens.  Will people still pay to see it at the cinema or buy the DVD when they can watch it free on Film Four the same day? 

MOVIE REVIEW: John Dies At the End

In the first five minutes, our hero, David Wong, tells us that he once saw a man's kidney grow ten nipples, tear itself out of a ragged hole on his back and go slapping across the kitchen floor.  But that's another story.  The fact that such things can be omitted from this imaginatively trippy voyage is testament to how phantasmagoric the following hour-and-a-half is going to be.  When we join him, David seems to have already grown accustomed to the other-worldly events occurring around him.  He has a story to tell and the full attention of reporter Arnie Blondestone, played by Paul Giamatti.  David presents a cynical front as he restrains his reactions to the mind-blowing developments at the start of his account.  His best friend is John, and this could essentially be described as a buddy-movie, aside from the realization that defining it is as so would not do it justice.

David comes to John's aid one night when he is suffering from the hallucinogenic effects of a drug called Soy Sauce.  The title of the movie proves not to be far from a spoiler when David starts to receive phone-calls from  John's beyond-the-grave future-self, whilst in John's presence.  Suffice to say, if you're looking for a linear story, forget about it.  What we are given is lingering yet snappy dialogue with jittery editing to accompany the frenetic situation that David falls into.  Soy Sauce, the drug, heightens David and John's abilities to the extent that they can anticipate the future, read minds, and even travel to alternate universes.  

Much of this movie is an experience requiring you to just strap in and go with the ride.  It is frequently unclear what is real and what is David's hallucination.  Glynn Turman, who you may remember among other things as Mayor Royce in The Wire,  sums up it up as stuff being real and not-real at the same time.  He believes Hell is the grease-trap of the Universe and we are not capable of perceiving what could be down there.  This movie tries to give us an idea.

Cue telepathic dogs driving cars before it is left to David to save the world from impending doom. Users of Soy Sauce  are being sent through time and other dimensions to return as something alien.  This all plays out straight-faced with a commitment to its surreally comic narrative, confident and self-assured to become a cult favorite.  A handful of reliable veterans support emerging young talent

By now, you should have decided whether John Dies At The End is going to be to your taste or not.  If you enjoyed the director Don Coscarelli's previous offerings, such as Bubba Ho-Tep or the Phantasm series, you should certainly give this a shot.  If you can already sense it's not for you, I'm glad that I've saved you the aggravation.

Tonally, its humor is comparable to Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness and features creatures the likes of which you would expect to find in a Cronenberg film.  But, to give it its due, this is an original genre-bending comedy that you should not expect to make sense.  Enjoy it for what it is and soak in the insanity as a handful of reliable veterans support the emerging young talent leading the way.  It boasts a fresh vibe that you would associate with an up-and-coming young filmmaker, not someone who's been making movies for over thirty years.

MOVIE REVIEW: Rust and Bone

Rust and Bone begins with a father and his son.  Alain, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, is travelling across France.  Times are clearly tough, and desperate measures are called for when it is also clear that Alain is a devoted father who will do whatever it takes to provide for his son.  Whatever they are leaving behind must have been an inferior existence to strive for the situation they have found themselves in at the start of the film.  Their destination is Alain's sister's, where they are being welcomed to stay with her and her husband.  They are only just getting-by themselves and their charity is not going to extend further than putting a roof over the heads of Alain and their nephew.  However, Alain's prospects are thin on the ground and far from promising.  All he seems to have going for him is that he was a boxer when he lived in Belgium.  Nevertheless, he is given a job as a doorman at a nightclub, where he meets our other lead character, Stephanie.  Played by Marion Cotillard, Stephanie is alone at the nightclub when Alain comes to her aid during a fight she is having with one of the establishment's male revelers.  He drives her home and their connection is the seed for the blossoming bond that follows.

We then follow Stephanie.  Just when we're amazed at how she makes her living, captivated even, tragedy strikes.

Cotillard was awarded with her Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2008 and was only the second woman to do so for a non-English-speaking part behind Sophia Loren.  In Rust and Bone, Cotillard gives another acclaim-deserving performance here; exactly what can be confidently expected from her now.  She is one of the finest actresses in the business and is going to have a successful acting career as long as she desires.

Returning to the story, Stephanie makes contact with Alain and it proves to be the best decision she could have conceivably made at the time.  It is a life-changing time for them both.  They become an amazingly positive influence on each other and their relationship becomes far from a straightforward one.  However, Alain still has his own responsibilities to attend to and he becomes involved in illegal, high-stakes street-fighting,  He is fighting, not for the glory, but for the money.  He's good at it and it's his best chance to provide for his son.

Rust and Bone is a powerfully engaging and emotive story about recovery.  It tells the fateful story of a bond between an emotionally handicapped man and a physically handicapped woman, whose support for each other develops and progresses throughout the film's fleeting 120 minutes running-time.  At the end of those two hours, you'll feel ready to go through the experience again despite the abundance of heart-wrenching scenes you've just witnessed.  It's a magnificently engrossing tour-de-force demanding your attention.

(TRAILER)