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.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR... "SEVEN PSYCOPATHS"

Now, the name of this film does not give much away. I mean, it does and it doesn’t. As you probably guessed, from the trailer and from the name, yes, it is basically about seven psychopaths. Basically.  There is quite a hefty dose of violence mixed up in all of this. Come on, we are dealing with psychos here. But it is also about something you might not actually expect. Creativity. We all know that any sort of creativity – writing more than most perhaps as it is such a solitary occupation when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it – is a bit of a battle. But of course no man is an island. And if you have not chosen your friends as wisely as you could have done, they might well leak into your creative endeavours to create what we might call an “explosive” mix… Especially in Hollywood the land of dreams…

Marty  ( Colin Farrell) is a struggling screenwriter trying to place together his “next hit” – a screenplay called “ Seven Psychopaths”. Now, the title may be catchy but sadly it is about as far as Marty has got. Billy (Sam Rockwell), an actor who is not all together very stable himself, is Marty’s best friend and as such is dying to use his own rather original approach to get Marty out of his predicament. There is, however, a very slight problem. It involves actual psychopaths. And the head of a gang (Woody Harrelsson) who is out to basically kill them all. There’s a Shih Tzu in the mix. And of course, an almighty shootout at the end, worthy of the name “Seven Psychopaths” – or so Billy hopes anyway. Well, one thing is for sure. If he makes it out of this mess alive, Marty really is going to have one heck of a story to tell.

As you will be able to tell from the get go, there is not one iota of material that is “serious” about Seven Psychopaths. True enough, there are some moments of “genuine” emotion, but only to serve as a breather for the onslaught of absurd comedy that reigns supreme throughout the show.

Now, the onslaught of absurd comedy is not a bad thing. Nor is the profusion of violence – as long as you don’t mind that sort of thing. The film is a bizarre one. I suspect that a lot of people will see a lot in it that they like. But almost definitely some things they don’t like. Stylistically the film is quite “modern”. Multiple characters and merging storylines (the name of the script should be a hint here), each slightly larger than life and the previous hero come together to form the film. This means very slick and quick editing and a lot of laughs / emotion based exclusively on violence. In fact, I have just found the word I was looking for, it’s cartoonish. I’m specifically thinking of Road Runner and Wiley E. Coyote, where more and more elaborate weapons come out as the two immortal cartoon heroes “duke it out”. While this is all well and good as entertainment and for some, you may well want a tad bit less pointless bloodshed (by pointless I mean for comedic value only – or close enough for it not to matter), fewer characters and slightly fewer “branches” on the storyline. Or at least branches that are tied together a little more “tidily”. I feel you. I kind of feel the same way. But on the other hand, I honestly doubt this film was ever made for serious dissecting. It is loud, bawdy fun and you should take it as such. Or not take it at all if you don’t have a stomach for violence – but that’s another story all together…

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.  

MY WEEKLY DOSE OF MALIK: "THE THIN RED LINE"

I hesitated, for like 5 minutes before I decided to put this one in this week. I do get it, it’s beginning to look a tad ridiculous. There’s almost a “weekly Terrance Malik” now in the blog. I know, I know… Well the good thing is, there is just one more to go – and you can revel in the fact that I haven’t actually found the film yet – and then that’s it until Mr. Malik makes another film. For, as some of you know, the great director goes for quality over quantity. Thus, once I get my grubby paws on Tree of Life, that will, for all intents and purposes be all for a while. As you may or may not know Mr Malik has directed a total of 5 films to date, his sixth film, the internet informs us, is finished and due to be released end of 2012 – beginning of 2013 (insert howl of anguish – how will I wait that long?). The fact that, with a total of five films, he has been nominated, among other things, for 3 Oscars ® should tell us something though… Anyhoo, moving on to specifics – although I’m pretty sure Mr. Malik is in no way averse to a little meandering here and there – but seriously. Let’s get back to the Thin Red Line. “What was the film about?” is rarely as complicated a question as when we are talking about a Malik film. The Thin Red Line is no exception to this. Set in the Pacific during WWII, we follow a company of American Soldiers making their way through the jungle. Through them we explore not only the horrors of war but the various different facets of war, the tragedies, the difficulties and all the sides of war we probably never really considered in depth. We ponder what makes men fight, the place of love for your fellow man on the battlefield, all the different things that motivate men to fight, make decisions and sometimes, in this case, die. We wonder if another world, another kind of life where everything is simpler, more peaceful and beautiful is possible. Or maybe all that is just a fanciful dream that cannot survive in what we call the real world. I get why people may criticise the film. It is deeply poetic and philosophical; you might say this has no place on the battlefield, or maybe that this is not a realistic depiction of battle. As the film progresses, and by the way Malik by no means shies away from gory deaths and realities of the battlefield, the film is interspersed with Malik’s hallmark breath-taking photography that presents a truly beautiful background to the inner ponderings of various characters. It is very true, it is not a “typical” depiction of a battlefield, but I don’t think it’s any less realistic. It is just that, through sheer cinematic genius, Malik has found and magnified facets and snapshots others would have overlooked. Yes, war is truly horrific, and like I said the film portrays that, but this horror also leads to deeper thought. Platoon famously asked the question “WHY?”, Malik, I feel, attempts to answer. Or maybe just to set out a train of thought for the viewer to follow. And besides, personally never having been on the battlefield I could not swear to the fact that the men on the ground do not stop for more philosophical thoughts brought on by the very out of the ordinary circumstances they are living in, if only for a couple of moments… This multiple Oscar® nominee (seven to be precise)is hard to watch on many levels, not least because it is three hours long, but I felt I truly learnt something from it. You’ll know what I mean once you watch it…

SURREAL TV : "NATURAL BORN KILLERS"

Having sampled some of life’s bitter truths with Kusturica, let us now turn to some light entertainment. As I was preparing for the review on this one I realized something… This film can be likened to a family fight. In it, under the direction of Oliver Stone, the cinema takes a massive bite out of its younger cousin, the television. And put like that I know it sounds a touch unfair, but really it isn’t anything the TV culture doesn’t deserve… I honestly feel sometimes that the “media” has gone completely barmy and could have disastrous results… And I liked this film because it is precisely this hypothesis that Stone explores. If the film is completely surreal, it is more to set us in the type of universe where everything is possible and where the more outrageous possibilities can be explored; this is akin to the sense of liberty the medium of animation affords… It also has the added benefit of rendering the film watchable; even though the amount of bodies that pile up all over the screen can only be described as carnage, the whole thing is so unbelievable it just doesn’t sort of you know… Hit you… (Excuse the bad pun)
Mickey (Woody Harrelsson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis) are “Natural Born Killers”. They love each other and they love life, and for them, “life” means rolling round the countryside, getting drunk, getting high and killing pretty much whoever they want whenever they want. The manhunt that begins is massive, as is the media frenzy. And of course the whole thing does nothing but get worse when, in a hail of bullets, the couple actually get caught. Now they are safely behind bars, it’s the press that wants its pound of flesh. In depth reports, close ups… The natural born killers love the attention, the problem is, they are NOT as dumb as some people seem to make them out to be… And the fact that they love the attention doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to use it to their advantage…
Oliver Stone’s attack on “TV Culture” is two-pronged. First of all there is the very obvious interaction of Mickey and Mallory with the media who takes the form of Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.), the uber-cheesy reality-show host who thinks of nothing but his own face on TV and his ratings. And then, just in case you missed that one, there is the media in general’s “feeding frenzy” – Mickey and Mallory become super-stars overnight, their faces are all over the front pages of newspapers, morbid fascination pervades and as the audience we receive a little poke ourselves… Come on, admit it, you DO read all those gory stories in the newspaper… But there are also a few more slightly less-obvious attacks going on. First of all, as I already mentioned, the whole film is very OTT. So much so that the overly cliché characters in it just pass one by. But in fact these men, Wayne Gale, the police officers, everybody is the epitome of B-movie characters. So intelligently enough, the film criticizes what television has become by becoming rather disturbing itself. Here, the credit that is due must be given to the actors, especially Tom Sizemore as detective Jack Scagnetti and Tommy Lee Jones as the prison warden, one of the most laughable yet psychopathic characters I have ever seen on screen… Then of course, there’s Mickey and Mallory. In actual fact, what they are doing is no more than simply copying what a lot of us see in bad action movies all around the world late at night (I assume some things don’t change no matter where you go). Even though their love for eachother is genuine – as far as we can tell – the things they use to show that love (apart from the murders of course) are again all the old clichés we’ve all seen a thousand times before. They are not educated, they are not cultured, this is the only means they know of self-expression…
Oh yes, the movie may seem all innocence and light, however, Oliver Stone actually has a lot of scathing things to say about where media and modern culture are today… Just don’t get mesmerized by the fast- moving script, open your eyes and ears, and listen.

MORE CARTOONS ANYONE? TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED : "A SCANNER DARKLY"

Now, in telling its story, this film employs a rather original technique… Now, the whole thing is an animation, no doubt about that but the animated characters are real actors. Drawing of Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrellson and Winona Rider (she’s the epitome of the 90’s as far as I’m concerned, it was a bit of a surprise to see her acting in a 2006 film if you see what I mean… ) parade around the screen making one feel decidedly odd. But odd is good in this particular case and experimental. Almost a nice mid-way solution for those who don’t particularly like animations, a wonder we didn’t think of it before… Apart from a few sci-fi details the whole film is set within “real” boundaries too, no weird space creatures (well there is a creature from another dimension but in context it’s actually quite acceptable), no one flying through the air… Serious and sci-fi never the less. And very thought provoking…
In the future – but not the too distant future – the world has become a much more totalitarian place… Security cameras are everywhere recording our every move, undercover cops everywhere trying to uncover God knows what… The biggest problem is D, also known as Death. That by the way is not a bad joke but the name of a highly addictive drug; little red pills that first give you a massive high and then of course, by degrees, destroy you. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is one of the good detectives working on the gangs selling “D”. He is undercover, completely so because at his office he wears a “scrambler suit” preventing him from being recognized and is known as Agent Fred. He spends time as Bob Arctor with a bunch of small-time dealers and addicts, trying to get to the “bigger picture”. However as the operation deepens, Arctor has to take more and more D to keep “in” with the suspects. Plus when he (Agent Fred) is given the bizarre directive of keeping an especially close eye on Bob Arctor things start getting tricky… And schizophrenic… In more senses than one…
It doesn’t take long to realize this is a very “anti system” film. Not anarchist in any way but anti-totalitarianism, anti-big companies having their own agendas and controlling everything. It’s sci-fi of course, none of it is based on real events but the dedication at the end seems to imply it is in the memory of security service agents who were irretrievably harmed in the line of duty. It isn’t a “down with everything” type of message though. This is very clearly a dystopia, “look, this is what we could become. Let us do our best not to be so”. And this should be done by being anti-totalitarianism of all kinds. Not letting anyone get too strong for the common good. It’s a good film and a good moment to stop and reflect on what could happen without freedom. Something we should possibly do more often…

NOT YOUR AVERAGE TRAIN : “TRANSSIBERIAN”

I’m guessing most of us would love a ride on the Transsiberian express… I personally think train rides themselves are romantic enough but who can resist riding across the snow-covered Russian steppes, watching the wonderful scenery go by… This is possibly why such a lot of films are set on the Transsiberian express. There are highs and lows in this category of course, but Transsiberian is definitely one of the highs…

Jessie (Emily Mortimer) and Roy (Woody Harrelson) are a typical American couple. They have just finished work at a charity in China sponsored by their church and now they are returning home. However, they have decided to taste a bit of adventure on the way and therefore have decided to take a trip on the Transsiberian express before flying home. Roy loves trains, Jessie is loving Russia because of the photography opportunities. They keep meeting fascinating characters the trip is going well. Their room-mates are also good people, a young couple called Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby (Kate Mara) are interesting people and experienced travelers – just what novices Roy and Jessie need. But their “peaceful adventure” is to be short-lived. Roy fails to board the train after one stop. A strange police detective named Elia Grinkov(Ben Kingsley) enters the mix. Ulterior motives begin to surface. And we begin to genuinely wonder what is going on on board this train…

Transsiberian screams quality from a mile away. I mean the cast alone speaks for itself. And as an added footnote I watched this film on blu-ray (high definition dvd – no, I’m not loaded, it’s also my job. I promise.) And it was well worth the experience (for those of us who ARE loaded) not so much because it’s a high-power action movie (and it isn’t. I mean it has action but don’t think Fast and The Furious. This is a train) but because of the breathtaking photography of the afore-mentioned snow-covered Russian steppes. I actually read a review of the film claiming it’s “almost Hitchcock” and I assure you this is not an understatement. Fair enough, you probably will not want to watch it a second time (it kinda palls when you know all the plot-twists. I should know, the afore-mentioned blu-ray episode was my third time round…) but I promise you, you will LOVE the first one :)

COOL VS “COOL” : SURFER, DUDE.

This is “a clash of the cools”. The California surfing scene may never see another clash of the titans such as this one!
California is ablaze because the surfing phenomenon Steve Addington (Matthew McCounaghy) is back in town. He is the epitome of cool : ultra laid-back, mostly high and nearly always broke, the latter much to the distress of his manager Jacky (Woody Harrelsson). To be fair Jacky’s fears are easily quelled by a few puffs on a joint, and his “lawn mowing business” is doing well, but as far as being a “major asset” is concerned, Steve is not doing well… Then one day, things get rather “uncool” in the surfing world. Steve’s contract is handed over to one an ex-surfer and new entrepreneur. And his plan for Steve is to get him to live in a “Big Brother” type house for surfers where he will be filmed 24 / 7 and participate in tests to have is avatar created for his new surfing video game. Steve “has no problem going to shake a surfer’s hand” but wants none of the rest of it. His new boss responds by refusing to give him any money until he complies and starts circulating “uncool” rumors about him. This would not really have bothered Steve, unless California was going through the longest “waveless spell” in recorded history…
Unable to surf (and thus with his mind deteriorating) or do anything else ( for lack of funds) and with his manager in jail (another pressure tactic from ) Steve is faced with a tough decision: Sticking to old-school cool or complying with modern times….
Surfer dude is an understated yet hilarious comedy making fun of all the surfing / sports movie clichés while deep down under the hilarity, presenting us with the very real battle of old-school versus “high-tech new school” . It may at first glance look very much like yet another sporting spoof but really, I couldn’t wipe the smile of my face from the beginning to the end of this one… Just be cool and give it a shot…