THE CLOSER YOU LOOK, THE LESS YOU SEE : "NOW YOU SEE ME"

For my first trick tonight, I will make two hours of your life disappear J Wow, ok, that came out a tad bit darker than I intended it to. But you know what I mean. You sit down to watch a film, what with the dazzling special effects (yes, I know, I do moan about special effects a lot but you can’t beat them when they’re well used), glamorous actors and a whirlwind of a storyline, you’ll be walking out of the cinema scratching your head before you became fully conscious of ever sitting down.

It all starts, you see, with four illusionists (Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Woody Harrelsson and David Franco). They have banded together to form a troupe entitled “The Four Horsemen” – and for their tour around Las Vegas they use “magic” to “rob banks”. An amusing gimmick and nothing more, right? Well, possibly not. As the banks the four horsemen say they are robbing on stage in front of a live audience indeed start turning up empty the next morning, the police force (headed by Mark Ruffalo) is faced with the very same perplexing question we are all faced with at the end of magic shows (I know I’m supposed to call them mentalists or illusionists or whatever. For me, they will always ever be magicians. Sorry J ) : “How the heck did they do that?”  But with even one of the most famous “illusionist de-maskers” (Morgan Freeman) baffled by the turn of events and the possibility of an agenda that stretches way beyond just the cash… Is this simply a rather glamorous set of heists? Or is there actually something a lot bigger at stake?

Ok, quick question: Did you like the Ocean’s franchise? You did? Then jump right on the bandwagon my friends! This is most definitely one for you! And I mean, don’t get me wrong, I loved the Ocean’s films. But this is a tad bit better methinks. First of all, I like the fact that it doesn’t rely so much on star power. I mean don’t get me wrong there are one heck of a lot of stars in this one too. There are even a few I couldn’t get into the blurb like Michael Cane for example. But there are not 15 of them.  Which, in my view is a good thing. I mean 15 a-list celebrities are all very well and good – in fact in some cases but it always makes me a tad nervous about the rest of the film. You know, the directing, the storyline, the effects… I know it’s a tad unfair, but I always get the nagging question “what are they trying to hide?” – you know. If they’re throwing that much talent at it, my head reasons, there must be something going not quite right with it. Now this little number has a significant amount of star talent in the mix, you can ask what it’s trying to hide until you are blue in the face; I am pretty darn confident you won’t get it.

This is not simply because there is nothing that is obviously wrong with it; I have to say that this was one of the best heist  /stroylines I have seen in a very long time. I know that technology and development allows us to design visual effects gimmicks that are more intricate than ever before, but this was truly spectacular. And all the visuals – be it the effects all the stars – definitely do not retract from a complicated plotline you will literally “not see coming” until the very end. But don’t worry. There is a an actual “explanation”  bit very neatly inserted into the film so I can guarantee you won’t get completely lost.  This is actually my favourite kind of plot. I don’t like it when I can see films “coming” a mile away. And my “eyesight” is pretty darn good what with one thing and another  (mainly the sheer volume of films I have watched in my life).

If I were to say one negative thing about the film, it might be that it suffers from a slight lack of character development. I’m not going to go as far as saying they are “stock characters” they definitely are not, but… I mean we could, in an ideal world, get to know them a tad bit better. But then again, that is not what the movie is about. The movie is about the show – that’s why this is what the movie concentrates on. Which is fair enough, I think.

So next time you have a few hours to spare, feel free to spare it on this little number. You will not regret it – this much I promise you.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR... ALONG WITH BLOOD, GUTS AND THE WALKING DEAD... ZOMBIELAND

This film had been recommended to me by a friend a while back. I have been saving it for a rainy day for a while. You know what I mean, not an ACTUAL rainy day, but you know, one of those days you actually need a few belly laughs in your day. One of those days when everything goes wrong, you only achieve about a third of what you set out to do that day, and in the end, end up going “Oh s*d it”, abandoning everything, turning on a comedy and gorging yourself on chocolate. I had one of those recently. This film did wonders for me. And it goes especially well with triple chocolate chip cookies. Just fyi…

 The initial premise of the film does not sound promising at all, this I grant you. Ok, sometime in the not too late 21^st century, a mysterious virus has wiped out most of the United States and possibly the world – there is no way of knowing at this point. This virus however, does not kill. It transforms you into a zombie. And there is no cure. So there you are you see. Only a handful of resourceful souls have managed to survive and one of them is our narrator, otherwise known as Columbus. This is not his name you understand, but his destination, he doesn’t like exchanging names, it makes you too familiar, and this is not good in a thing if one is in constant danger of being eaten alive. Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is, ironically not the kind of person who would survive in what used to be the real world. A virtual recluse with not many friends and far too many phobias and hang ups, he has survived by rigidly sticking to a set of 30 something rules he has made for himself. He was in university when the outbreak took hold for good, so he reckons that he might as well try and make his way back home (to Columbus) to see if his family has survived. Now, crossing a zombie-infested United States is not a straight-forward task as you might imagine. This is why you might think it’s a good thing that our friend Columbus runs into a couple of actual people on the way. But when one of them is a self-styled and quite possibly completely insane self-styled Zombie hunter Tennessee (Woody Harrelsson) and the other two sisters with a propensity for scamming our dastardly duo out of everything they own and making off with it… Well, let’s just say things get interesting.

Ok. Don’t worry about the gore and blood, it’s not that kind of comedy. It’s a combination of genres, the way most things actually are these days, but mainly it’s a romantic-comedy / road - trip movie with the comedy level really, REALLY amped up. I mean, in my already depressed state at that moment, a mere 20 minutes in, I had laughed out loud 4 – 5 times. That’s how good it is. I love Jesse Eisenberg who is impossibly aggravating and endearing at the same time as Columbus with all his worries and hang-ups (note the name, Columbus by the way. He is after all, our hero who will go on a voyage of discovery and growth, so what better name? They don’t choose these names randomly ya know, some thought DOES go into it!). As for Woody Harrelsson, oh my GOD. I mean, Columbus is of course our hero and main man, Tennessee is our main comic situation provider and sidekick, but man oh man… He deserves a film all to himself. My respect for Mr Harrelsson grows with every single film I see him in, I mean, he has acted in an absolute plethora of different, almost random parts and films but has pulled off every single one to such a high standard… This definitely comes as one of my top recommendations folks. Chocolate and bad days are optional but hey. Watch it. Seriously.  

FUN AND SONGS IN THE SUN AS AUTUMN COMES - GO TO : "RIO"

Now to be fair to my boyfriend though, he doesn’t always provide me film advice complete with spoilers. In fact, more than once and open mouthed at my ignorance on the matter, he has sat me down in front of a film and insists I watch it. Rio was one of these films. And credit where it’s due, this film more than hit the spot on many different levels. It’s an animation for starters and I ALWAYS have room in my heart for those fellas, as you will have noticed. Secondly, this is definitely one of the better examples of the afore-mentioned genre, complete with songs, dance numbers (well, sort of) and LOADS of fun. Plus quite a worthy message hidden in there too.

Now, as you can guess Rio and Brazil feature a lot in this story. Not surprising as our story begins in the rainforests of Brazil. Blue (as he will later be known) is a baby blue macaw whose peaceful existence is interrupted by poachers who seize him and take him away to far off lands, far from his family. It’s terribly sad of course but it sort of works out. Chance means that Blue finds a very loving owner who takes care of him well and with whom he grows up. And he has a very peaceful life, that involves hot chocolate, marshmallows a peaceful life in a book shop and no flying. At all. Not that Blue really needs to fly, but anyway. But then, quite suddenly, into this peaceful existence erupts a scientist who explains to his owner that Blue’s breed has been hunted and exported almost to extinction and he is the last remaining male blue macaw of his kind. And the thing is, the last remaining female, Jewel, lives in Brazil. As you can imagine, the scientist is pretty eager they should meet. Now Blue’s owner is quite attached to her routine (as is Blue) but in the face of this great duty, off they go to Brazil. Here Blue will come back together with his roots. Find love. And spread his wings a bit – literally and metaphorically.

Well, topic wise, as you can see, it is pretty much a typical Hollywood animation film. Obstacles overcome, love discovered, family unit restored, and personal growth achieved. But we have said it often enough here. It is not, what you say in cases like these. It’s the way you say them. And this film says all of that with a lot of gusto. And a LOT of talent.  I mean, seriously, films don’t just randomly get nominated for Oscars for best song you know.  Besides, we have Ann Hathaway lending her voice to Jewel – and she does such a spectacular job. There’s a reason she’s one of my favourite actresses, seriously. And Blue has the voice of the equally talented Jesse Eisenberg of whom I have written on these pages more than once. In short, this is one of those really, really fun animations that you can watch with the smaller members of the family with the greatest of ease, and yet really enjoy yourself as well… And as the little ones (and some of the big ones) watch, hopefully messages on animal smuggling and illegal trafficking will be picked up too. Oh don’t worry, it’s all very subtly done. Not in your face or anything. You can’t really avoid it either though, and it is, you have to admit, a rather worthy lesson to be learnt by us all.  And what more you could want from a film, I honestly cannot imagine. 

A STORY WE ALL REALLY SHOULD KNOW - THE STORY OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK!

For whatever reason, I very rarely seem to review films that are actually on in the cinemas. That is because my job dictates that I watch a large number of films a couple of months after they are in cinemas. I don’t like seeing films twice (except for the classics naturellement) and thus my blog ends up being slightly “willy nilly” and all over the place – and also largely dependant on my mood at the time. However, I will break with tradition this week and discuss something that is actually on / or was on very recently – David Fincher’s film “The Social Network”. It’s a fascinating idea of course I mean Facebook is pretty much the phenomenon that defines our generation. Even not being on it is considered a sort of statement… Naturally, Mark Zuckerberg – the youngest billionaire of all times – is a valid point of interest. And his story is interesting to say the very least…

It’s a story a lot of us know somehow but let’s run through the basics again. Mark Zuckerberg was a highly successful student at Harvard University. He is a genius computer programmer even if not the most popular student on campus. He then comes up with the idea of a social networking website or allegedly he steals the original idea from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss we don’t know and I don’t want to comment as it was part of a very VERY large lawsuit and the film doesn’t particularly comment on it either. Suffice to say that Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg – of whom I had heard of but funnily enough never seen in anything) with the financial aid and support of his best (and only) friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield – remember I told you about him in the Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus). As we all know, the whole thing was a HUGE hit and began to grow, attracting the attention of many people, among them Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake – now I don’t know which camp you’re on and I’m not a fan but credit where it’s due the guy CAN act). Sean Parker is a bit of a loose canon with great ideas, charm and charisma. Mark and he seem to be almost made for each other and Sean is very soon part of the company. There is one person he doesn’t charm however – the company’s C.F.O and main founder Eduardo. That is where things start getting… A little awkward…

Now, the film is, I think, brilliant. Then again, I’m biased – I think the director David Fincher is brilliant (Fight Club, Zodiac and Seven are among my favorite films of all times). I am also a healthy addict of Facebook so who am I to complain? The film is honest; our hero Mark Zuckerberg is by no means a “huggable” character. Jesse Eisenberg does a brilliant job of portraying the socially awkward but amazingly intelligent Zuckerberg. Plus Andrew Garfield is growing on me – kinda like a rash. This film is a very good example of why I love true stories – films about real life. The characters are not “perfect” they act emotionally; sometimes they make bad decisions… I know that these guys have achieved fame and fortune and now live lives far beyond most of our means; HOWEVER, the film is completely approachable for this reason. And this is also why it’s different from the 10 a penny “American Dream” movies out there. The film is REAL. Not just in the sense that it is a real story but emotionally real and grounded and easy to relate to. But then again there is nothing I loathe more in a film than “perfect” characters which is why a) I’m slightly biased b) 15 minutes into the film I had a broad grin all over my face and was thinking “Ok, this is gonna be interesting.

What else? Well, you would be wrong to think this film is going to be very “geeky” and “computery” and incomprehensible. Yes, Facebook is an online phenomenon but it is also a social phenomenon that has taken over the world in case you hadn’t noticed. It is about people. In this case, specifically about the people that created a website that is a concrete part of our lives… Which is why on one level, it can be said that one may consider knowing this story part of basic general culture.