All 41 reviews in alphabetical order by title
Contents
"Johnny English" "The Joy Luck Club" "Jurassic Park III" "Kate And Leopold" "Katyn" "Kill Bill: Volume 1" "Kill Bill: Volume 2" "King Arthur" "King Kong" "The Kingdom" "Kingdom Of Heaven" "Kinsey" "Kissing Jessica Stein" "The Kite Runner" "Klute" "Knocked Up" "K-19: The Widowmaker" "Koyaanisqatsi" "K-PAX" "LA Confidential" "The Lake House" "Lantana" "Last Chance Harvey" "Last Night" "The Last Seduction" "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life" "The Last Samurai" "Layer Cake" "Leon" "Life Is Beautiful" "The Life Of David Gale" "Little Voice" "Little Women" (1994) "The Lives Of Others" "The Long Kiss Goodnight" "Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" "Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers" "Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King" "Lost In Translation" "Love Actually"
Mr Bean meets Mr Bond and the result is "Laugh Another Day". Rowan Atkinson can be very funny, as we saw in his 1997 beanfeast. The trouble with this movie is that, 40 years after the first 007 outing, Bond has been parodied to death. What was funny for 60 seconds in a television advertisement for Barclaycard cannot be sustained for a full-length movie and most of the jokes are signposted well in advance. Natalie Imbruglia gives the impression of having wandered off the set of an Aussie soap (what do you mean, she has?), while John Malkovich looks squint-eyed and affects the most appalling French accent, because "The Wonk Is Not Enough".
This is an ambitious and worthy film that unfortunately comes near to collapsing under the weight of its multiple storylines. Four Chinese women recall their brutal lives back in the feudal homeland and then their Chinese-American daughters are shown clashing with their mothers in modern-day California. Taken from the novel by Amy Tan and co-written by her for the screen, the movie tries to cover too much and as a result engages too little, although it is refreshing to observe a different culture and view new actresses.
Just when you knew that it still wasn't safe to visit the island …some fool does so. Following in the dinosaur footsteps of the earlier two movies in 1993 and 1997, a new cohort of youngsters can thrill to the brilliant special effects - especially since this one is rated PG. For the lead character, its back to the original film with Sam Neill as Dr Alan Grant and there's even brief appearances from his colleague at that time, played by Laura Dern. However, the real 'stars', as always, are the creatures themselves and - as before - we have a mixture of old and new, the latter this time being represented by something called the spinosaurus and the winged pterodactyls. There's no plot and the ending is surprisingly sudden and weak, but this won't worry the kids and, at a mere one and a half hours, it's the perfect afternoon's entertainment for them.
Meg Ryan - now 40 - was probably born a cute and ditzy blonde with a shaggy dog hair style. Indeed she may well have emerged from the womb crying: "Yes! Yess!! Yesss!!!" I've been a fan since seeing her in "Innerspace" and who could forget her fake orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally"?
So she is a natural - if typecast - in this romantic comedy where she plays the New York advertising executive Kate McKay. More surprising is Australian-born but London-based Hugh Jackson - Wolverine in "X-Men" - who sports an impeccable English accent as the suave Duke of Albany transported from 1876 via a crack in time located at the Brooklyn Bridge (which - perhaps fortunately - I didn't notice when I was there).
There have been many 'fish out of water' movies set in New York, ranging from "Crocodile Dundee" to "The Dream Team". This one is likeable but light, frothy but forgettable.
Link: official web site click here
Everyone in Poland has heard of the Katyn massacre but I've been surprised and sadened at how few people in Britain know of the atrocity. In the early part of the Second World War, more than 4,000 Polish soldiers were executed in the Katyn forest near Smolensk in western Russia. This was part of an organised effort to eradicate the military, political and intellectual leadership of Poland and a series of executions in various other locations removed some 22,000 Poles from their loved ones and their nation.
So, who did this? The Germans claimed to have uncovered the bodies in 1943 and blamed the Soviets in an effort to embarrass and divide the Allies. The Soviet Union categorically denied the crime at the time and for decades afterwards, only in 1990 admitting what the Poles and any independent assessor of the evidence knew: Stalin's NKVD perpetrated the horror on his express command.
The incident has now been made into a major Polish film by the acclaimed Polish director Andrzej Wajda whose own father was killed at Katyn and who is now in his 80s. The work was premiered at the Berlin film festival in 2007; it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2008; and it finally arrived in Britain in a few cinemas in the summer of 2009. It is an exceptional work - both powerful and moving - that deserves a much larger audience.
Starting in 1939 with the simultaneous invasion of Poland by the Nazis and the Soviets, it takes us in several jumps to the immediate post-war period and underlines that the shame of Katyn was not just the deaths of the 22,000 in 1940 but the denial of the truth by so many people for so many years afterwards. Through the device of a prolonged flashback, the film concludes with a return to Katyn with close-up scenes of the sheer brutality of what was unquestionably a war crime.
The film is based on a novel by Andrzej Mularczyk and revolves around a number of fictional families with a fair bit of location work in Krakow, a city centre that looks today much like it did in the 1940s and which I have visited. The photography and acting are both excellent and selective use of wartime film footage simply adds to the sense of verisimilitude.
Footnote: To my utter astonishment, at the Renoir cinema in central London where I saw the film, as I descended the stairs to the screen, I was given a leaflet by a representation of something called The Stalin Society which insisted that the massacre was carried out by the Germans in 1943 and that Wajda's film is simply part of a sustained attempt to discredit communism at a time of economic crisis when so many people would see it as the obvious alternative to capitalism.
Link: the Katyn massacre click here
You wait six years for a new Quentin Tarantino film and what happens? Two come along. But, on the strength of Volume 1, I'm really looking forward to the second and maybe some cinemas will show both parts together, giving a whole new meaning to the term 'double bill'. The overall project is a tongue-in-cheek homage to samurai films, kung fu movies, and spaghetti westerns that will revive Tarantino's cult reputation.
From the throat-grabbing opening to the jaw-dropping closing, along a gravity-defying, blood-spurting, limb-chopping journey of retribution, this is classic and unmistakable Tarantino, down to the use of chapter headings and labelling, the non-linear nature of the narrative, the graphic deployment of an animé sequence, and the inevitable idiosyncratic choice of music. Writer and director Tarantino was right to wait a year until his preferred star Uma Thurman was available, because this talented - as well as sexy and sassy - woman carries the film as the one-time prnt bride hho becomes a vengefunutesnutes, l suiw very special sword.
The whole thing is something to do with a strange and fearsome group called The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Two squad members - Vernita Green who is actually black (Vivica A Fox) and O-Ren Ishii who is actually a Chinese-American and not Japanese (Lucy Lui) - pay the price for messing up the wedding, with a veritable orgy of death and dismemberment in between, and I don't think that the other squad members (including former lover Bill) will have much of a chance in Volume 2. But I want to see how they meet their well-deserved end and hopefully in the process discover where the bride learned her martial arts, what exactly was her relationship with Bill, and why was her wedding day the subject of such savagery.
Apparently wunderkid Quentin Tarantino, writer and director of "Kill Bill", conceived it as a single work, but Harvey Weinstein of Miramax, suggested that it be cut in two. Looking at the double bill (sorry!) now, it's hard not to believe that it was always intended to be a two-parter, because the tone of the two parts is so different. If this doesn't sound too perverse for a Tarantino work, Volume 2 is a gentler movie - slower paced, much more character-driven and, in spite of some ugly violence, with a much, much lower body count.
In my review of Volume 1, I concluded: "I don't think that the other squad members (including former lover Bill) will have much of a chance in Volume 2. But I want to see how they meet their well-deserved end and hopefully in the process discover where the bride learned her martial arts, what exactly was her relationship with Bill, and why was her wedding day the subject of such savagery." In this sense, the second part is satisfying: all the questions are answered, all the issues resolved, and all of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad are well and truly eliminated.
Whereas Bill hardly featured in the initial half, he is central to the latter segment and David Carradine - whom I remember from the television series "Kung Fu" - gives a compelling performance in which he has the best lines, notably his apologia for the massacre. Again, though, it is Uma Thurman - as The Bride, Black Mamba, Beatrix Kiddo, and Mommy - who is brilliantly cast in a role which has already become iconic. Her rise from the 'dead' has echoes of Hammer horror "The Fall Of The House Of Usher", while her eye-catching battle sequence with Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) in the constricted confines of a trailer reminds one of the train fight in "From Russia With Love". If I came out the cinema with a slight sense of disappointment, it was because Bill is dispatched just too quickly, creating a slight sense of anti-climax. The smooth-talking brute deserved to suffer much more ...
Link: official web site click here
This is a mammoth of a movie: an ape standing 25 feet high, huge dinosaurs and insects, a budget of over $200 million, a workforce of 2,500, and a running time of over three hours (in Prague where I saw it, there was an old-style intermission). But, the architect of it all, New Zealander Peter Jackson, was seemingly born to craft the work, having been inspired to enter moviemaking when he saw the original at the age of nine, having almost made the film in 1996, and now the veteran of three outstanding segments of "Lord Of The Rings". The storyline is utterly familiar from the original and iconic 1933 black and white, stop motion, film and the much maligned, more tongue-in-cheek, up-dated remake of 1976, but Jackson has created a homage to his beloved original with so many allusions (most obviously with the final line of dialogue) and some subtle changes (such as a more modern heroine and a more playful relationship between beauty and the beast).
In many ways, what is most similar and most different is Kong himself. At the heart of the movie, we still have a black beast that is lost and lonely in a manner paralleled by the blonde woman with whom he develops a strange affection that will ultimately be the death of him. On the other hand, as modelled on the movements of Andy Serkis (who is the cook as well as Kong), this is a gorilla who walks on all fours in a naturalistic style absent from the previous versions. Jack Black ("High Fidelity") is surprisingly effective in a role (the film producer Carl Denham) that represents a change of style from his usual comedic characters, while fetching Naomi Watts ("21 Grams") is wonderful as a more independent-minded Ann Darrow than we have seen before. Adrien Brody is a talented actor, as witnessed in "The Pianist", but seems somewhat ill-cast here as a playwright who is willing and able to climb to the very top of the Empire State Building to rescue his muse.
Obviously "King Kong" is a film full of allegorical references, never more so than when New York in the Depression - brilliantly realised in some stunning opening and closing scenes - is represented as a jungle as much as Skull Island itself, but essentionally movies are about magic and entertainment and, in these respects, Jackson delivers a wonderful, if over-long (twice the length of the original), trip. Skull Island looks genuinely scary, the animals are brilliantly realised with some state-of-the-art special effects, the fight sequences between Kong and dinosaurs are ferocious, the insect scene - apparently cut from the 1933 version - will make young viewers especially cringe and squirm, and the parallel love stories have a certain tenderness. So it may be corny and familiar but it works really well.
Links:
official web site click here
Kong is king site click here
Over the years, I've enjoyed many entertaining movies produced by Jerry Bruckheimer from "Top Gun" to "Pirates Of The Caribbean" and once again there is the rousing score (written by Hans Zimmer) and the great action sequences (filmed in Ireland), with a battle scene on a frozen lake particularly exciting, but sadly there are too many weaknesses to make this a success in the vein of "The Rock" or "Black Hawk Down".
The chief deficiency - as in far too many movies - is in the script. I could have forgiven the total recasting of the Arthurian legend, down to its repositioning centuries earlier than is normally suggested back to the contraction of the Roman Empire, if there had been a half-decent plot and some less stilted lines, surprising absences given that the writer David Franzoni authored the script for "Gladiator". It may not be the classic story as depicted in John Boorman's "Excalibur", but new research has fundamentally revised the myths.
The other main weakness is in the casting. "Gladiator" had Russell Crow and "Troy" had Brad Pitt, true stars with charismatic presence, but Clive Owen as Arthur cannot rise above his essentially television persona and Keira Knightly, lovely and spirited though she, is too young and has too few lines as Guinevere. In fact, the best performances come from Ray Winstone as one of Arthur's rough-hewn knights and Stellan Skarsgård as the leader of the brutal Saxons.
If you can live with these faults and keep your expectations in check, then this is a reasonably uplifting action movie that attempts to do for early English nationalism what "Braveheart" did for Scotland.
Link: official web site click here
The Kingdom in question here is Saudi Arabia, where virtually all the film is set but none of the shooting could take place (so Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates fills in). When a bomb goes off in an American housing compound, a crack FBI investigation team (Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman) manages to gain short-term access to the country (which is utterly unlikely) to investigate the attack with explosive consequences (which are even more unlikely).
At the level of entertainment, the movie is a success. It grips from the very beginning and the tension never lets up. Bombs and bullets are flying everywhere and there is more than enough action. At the level of education, it could be worse, especially from a director (Peter Berg) not noted for being cerebral in his work.
During the opening credits, we have a very rapid but interesting history of Saudia Arabia, which goes beyond the usual distinction between Sunni and Shia to highlight the role of the Wahhabi movement. In this slightly more nuanced examination of the war on terror than we usually have from Hollywood, not all the Americans are good and not all the Arabs - notably a character played by Ashraf Barhom - is bad.
With his brilliant "Gladiator", director Ridley Scott revived the sword and sandal genre; since then, we have had "King Arthur, "Troy" and "Alexander", none of which equalled the Roman triumph. Now Scott himself returns to the theme with a movie which seeks to proclaim a grander political message than "Gladiator" but which lacks the pace and excitement. His message here - post the trauma of 9/11 - is that it is possible, and indeed necessary, for the great world religions of Christianity and Islam to co-exist in a spirit of mutual tolerance and even respect. Perhaps predictably, Scott has been criticised both for being anti-Islamic and for being an apologist for the Muslim view. Howver, the last time I saw a cinematic effort to advocate such a theme on such a scale was the classic "El Cid" of 1961.
In "Kingdom Of Heaven", the setting is a brief period of peace in the war of the Crusades when at the end of the 12th century the King of Jerusalem Baldwin IV (a metal-masked Ed Norton) and the Saracen General Saladin (Syrian actor Ghassan Massound) brokered a peace that was threatened by fundamentalists on both sides. If one needs more resonances with the present, one recalls that the birthplace of Saladin, Tikrit in modern-day Iraq, is also that of Saddam Hussein and the most dangerous of the fundamentalists are the Christian Templars whose supposed heirs are to be found in Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code" and, in spirit at least, among the neo-cons in the Bush Administration.
The central role is taken by Orlando Bloom - who has already seen a good deal of swordplay in "The Lord Of The Rings" - as Balian, a blacksmith in rural France who one day finds that he is the son of a knight (the always impressive Liam Neeson) and almost as quickly is transported to Jerusalem, becoming a magnificant sword fighter and military strategist. As if this was not fortune enough, the freckle-faced local beauty Sibylla (the French Eva Green) makes it clear that she is happy to do her bit for cultural unity, although - given the sensibilities of American viewers - there is not a hint of nudity or sex (now violence is no problem for the US moral guardians). Costumes, sets, sound and music are all of a high order. The script is written by William Monahan and has clearly been well-researched - most of the leading characters (including Balian) existed and all the key events actually took place - but it lacks the characterisation and depth of a work like "Gladiator" or, to go back many years, "Lawrence Of Arabia" (directed by David Lean who is much admired by Scott).
Shot on location in Spain and Morocco and utilising wonderful effects, it looks stunning, especially the recreation of Jerusalem itself and the October 1187 savage assault of the city with siege towers and massive catapults which makes "The Alamao" look like a tea party. Blood spurts and sprays all over the place and yet ironically the work would have benefited from a few more scenes of conflict since it sags in parts. Indeed, at one point, we seem to be promised the mother of all conflicts (actually the July 1187 Battle of Hittin), when the scene suddenly switches to the aftermath of the massacre with dead bodies everywhere. In short, the two-and-a-half-hour "Kingdom Of Heaven" is a politically and cinematically ambitious and worthy work that deserves praise for both its intentions and execution but falls short of the classic that it might have been.
Links:
official web site click here
the real Balian click here
America has always had a complex and confused relationship with sex. On the one hand, the country generates the largest volume of pornography in the world; on the other hand, it has an almost puritanical public attitude to any portrayal of sex in the mainstream media. In the 1940s and 1950s, Dr Alfred Kinsey was the personification of this ambivalence: a man who pioneered a new detached, scientific analysis of sexual behaviour, while himself exhibiting a confusing mixture of loyalty and lasciviousness in his relationships.
Writer and director Bill Condon cleverly uses the narrative device of framing the film around the idea of Kinsey being the subject of one of his own questionnaires. This enables us to learn about his troubled upbringing with a repressed and repressive father, his total lack of sex until his marriage at the age of 30, his ground-breaking research at the conservative mid-western Indiana University, and his experimentation with homosexuality and masochism while endorsing partner-swopping by members of his research team. In the eponymous role, Liam Neeson gives his best performance since his recreation of other real-life figures in "Michael Collins" and "Schindler's List". As his open-minded but long-suffering wife, Laura Linney gives an Oscar-nominated showing. Peter Sarsgarrd is sensitive and subtle as Kinsey's colleague, friend and lover, while Lynn Redgrave has a cameo role that is so powerful her scene should have been the ending of the movie.
The film contains much explicit discussion of sex, but the only depiction of intercourse is an end credits sequence of black-and-white film from the Kinsey archives showing copulation between animals, and the only nudity is a couple of brief shots of a full frontal male. So this is not a work to excite or even titillate but to inform and provoke. "Kinsey" is a brave and timely movie that dares to remind us that, as recently as half a century ago, the USA treated sex as the great unmentionable, to be carried out with one person in one position for the simple gratification of men, and, while we are far from slipping back to that view, sections of society still have great difficulty in accepting the variety of sexual practices and orientations.
This is such a fresh and enjoyable romantic comedy with the twist that it centres on two basically straight New York women who experiment with a lesbian relationship. It could so easily have been prurient or embarrassing or just plain sexist, but that it succeeds so well and so endearingly is down to Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen.
These two wrote and performed the original off-off-Broadway play and have now successfully transfered their scripting and thespian talents to the screen. Westfeldt plays the eponymous Jessica, a Jewish singleton who sets impossible standards for both herself and her male suitors, while Juergensen is the cooler Helen who seduces Jessica into trying something Sapphic. The dialogue and acting are very naturalistic and, together with direction by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, it makes for entertaining, if undemanding, viewing.
Link: official web site click here
I was enormously impressed and moved by the first novel from Khaled Hosseini, a tale of the friendship of two Afghan boys: Amir, aged 12 when we first meet him in Kabul and Hassan, the runner of the title - the former Pashtun, Sunni and wealthy; the latter Hazara, Shia and poor. To bring such a rich text to the screen was always going to be a hugely challenging enterprise and director Marc Foster and writer David Benioff have achieved a qualified success. A brave decision was made to use local languages so, most of the time, the characters speak in Dari (and bits of Pashtu and Urdu), although the scenes in America are in English. An unknown cast - including two impressive child actors - and an unusual location - various parts of China standing in for Afghanistan - make this a very distinctive work that is miles away from the usual commercial Hollywood fare.
Understandably, given the limitations of running time, the film concentrates on the human relationships and misses out most of the history and the politics that underline the power of the novel. Even then, so much narrative is squeezed into just two hours, that there is no time to show the real nature and depth of the boys' friendship and, for all its efforts, the movie does not quite convey the emotional rawness of the novel. Where the moving image can and does score over the written text, however, is in the depiction of the kite flying which acts as bookends to the narrative, giving a slightly more uplifting ending to the film version of the story.
It is bitterly ironic that "The Kite Runner" has been banned in Afghanistan itself after government officials claimed it could incite violence. To everyone who can see the film, I would heartily commend it.
The oddly-named John Klute (Donald Sutherland) is a private detective tasked with investigating the disappearance of a businessman who was a friend and the only clue seems to be his apparent correspondence with a New York prostitute called Bree Daniel (Jane Fonda). Producer and director Alan J Pakula created a work that is both thematically and visually very dark, although there is the odd moment of tenderness. Fonda is particularly good and won an Academy Award for her engaging performance.
This movie - the surprise low-budget success of summer 2007 - is the latest in a growing line of 'nerd gets girl' rom-com fantasies which have included "High Fidelity", "The Wedding Singer" and "There's Something About Mary". Written and directed by Judd Apatow, who gave us "The 40-Year Old Virgin", this stars Seth Rogen as Ben Stone, an overweight slacker in all departments, who manages to bed Katherine Heigl as Alison Scott, the beautiful and aspiring television production assistant about to go in front of the cameras. Their drunken one-night stand becomes immensely more complicated when Alison finds that she is pregnant and wants the baby.
"Knocked Up" is really two films aimed at different demographics and, over the two hours, it veers from one to the other. There is is the gross-out comedy full of crudity and profanity aimed at (mainly male) teenagers and then there is the perceptive, even moving, examination of the trials and the joys of commitment, marriage, pregnancy and parenthood targeted mainly at both men and women in their 20s and 30s. The first theme has some very funny lines and situations, but for me all these cinematic references to masturbation need to be taken in hand. The second theme is more intelligent and true-to-life, while still being wry and amusing, and is made genuinely poignant by the engaging performances of the two leads, ably supported by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd as Alison's sister and brother-in-law representing a warning vision of how adulthood can so often work out.
A film which presents in an heroic light the Soviet crew of a nuclear submarine at the height of the Cold War is probably not what American audiences want to see in the aftermath of September 11th. Furthermore, unlike more conventional sub movies, such as "The Boat" or "U-571", this is one where essentially there is no enemy and not a single sonar blip. It is the work of an American woman, producer and director Kathryn Bigelow, where the only American on show is a helicopter crew member and the only woman to make an appearance is the tearful partner of one of the crew. So the whole thing is - so to speak - swimming against the tide.
It is all rather predictable and wooden with a weak script, yet it still is worth seeing - the production values are high, there is sustained drama, and it was "inspired" by an actual event. K-19 is the first of the Soviet Union's nuclear-powered submarines and is forced to go to sea with a host of known technical and logistical deficiencies with two rival captains on board. One could almost imagine the movie being shown to an MBA class studying leadership models, as we see the dramatically conflicting styles of command of the tough Alexei Vostikov (Harrison Ford) and the more tender Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson). If they get it wrong, they'll not only lose their crew, but they could provoke a nuclear war. Ultimately though, this is a tribute to the resourcefulness and bravery of crew members individually and collectively. There are some bad accents, but some tense moments, and it would be a shame if the movie sunk without trace.
Links: official web site: click here the true story of K-19 click here
A most unusual title for a most unusual film. The term 'koyaanisqatsi' is a Hopi Indian word meaning 'life out of balance'. This is a breathtakingly original work with no plot, no characters, and no dialogue. Instead, using time lapse, slow motion, aerial and infra-red photography, producer and director Godfrey Reggio and cinematographer Ron Fricke present some brilliant imagery of contemporary America suffused by atmospheric music from Philip Glass. Following shots of a pristine vision of our fragile earth, in a powerful ecological message we see how man and machine have damaged and desecrated it. The work was followed by "Powaqatsi" (1988) and "Naqoyqatsi" (2002) to make up a trilogy.
Official Web site click here
Great title, reminiscent of "THX 1138" from George Lucas. However, although this might sound like another science fiction movie - which initially put off my wife - it is in fact an earth-bound tale devoid of special effects. Kevin Space, as a character called Prot, is either a visitor from a planet called K-PAX who can travel faster than the speed of light or someone very seriously mentally ill with complex and detailed delusions. Assigned to find out is Jeff Bridges as Dr Mark Powell who - on his own admission - becomes too deeply involved in the mystery.
Spacey, an actor with an 'otherworldliness' about him and a surname to match, is utterly believable as the benevolent and insightful alien with a consuming taste for fruit. Of course, Bridges has been here before and performs well as the doctor who often cares more about his patients than his family. He was himself a visitor from outer space in "Starman" and he was a psychiatrist again in "Vanilla Sky". Indeed so well cast are the two that it's hard to imagine that originally Spacey was going to be the shrink and Will Smith was slated to be the spaceman.
There are some good lines ("I've got a light beam to catch"), but unfortunately it all looks rather familiar. The idea of a man with seemingly magic powers was done in "Phenomenon" and the cathartic revelations in the psychiatrist's office is straight out of "The Prince Of Tides". Although there is much sentimentally, the ending is uncharacteristically down-beat and - unless you're like me and watch all the credits - you'll miss a tiny scene at the very end of this particular rainbow.
Link: official web site click here
Set around the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1950s, this is quite simply one of the best crime movies ever made. A clever but complex plot involving shifting loyalties and alliances, fast-moving and often explosive action, and a set of superb performances make this a work which has to be seen more than once.
Although the script was by Brian Hegleland, it is based on the novel by James Ellroy whose mother was brutally murdered when he was 10. The assured direction is by Curtis Hanson who earlier made "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle". The central performances focus on a quartet of cops - Kevin Spacey as image-conscious Jack Vincennes, Russell Crowe as pugnacious Bud White, Guy Pearce as ruthlessly ambitious college boy Ed Exley and James Cromwell as their hard-bitten captain Dudley Smith - but Danny de Vito and Kim Bassinger also star in a film that grabs you from the start and never lets go.
"Speed" was such a success for Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves that it must have seemed an exciting idea to bring them back together again for the first time since that 1994 hit. Bullock can certainly act - given the right role - as we saw in "Crash", although I personally feel that Reeve's acting range is distinctly limited. So the prospects probably seemed fair for this renewed pairing in which Bullock plays a hospital doctor and Reeves an unfulfilled architect, both in Chicago, but - and here's the rub - separated by two years in time.
They connect with one another through a stream of letters and this literary device could have worked much better in a novel and apparently did adequately as the South Korean movie "Il Mare" on which this Hollywood offering is based. Here, though, the whole thing seems stilted when it isn't downright ridiculous. There is simply no attempt to explain why these lovers are separated by 24 months, let alone how they manage to defy the laws of time and space to come together. So the whole thing is slow, unconvincing and unappealing.
Argentinian director Alejandro Agresti offers us some zippy camerawork and attractive shots of Chicago's architecture and the house itself is impressive if you like living in a goldfish bowl on stilts. Sadly, however, "The Lake House" is likely to sink with little trace.
Calvin Allan writes:
This Australian film opens with the (fully-clothed) body of a dead woman hidden deep in a lantana - a dense, thorny bush which forms a metaphor for the film's treatment of its central characters: four couples whose lives are interweaved in a complex, but very believable way. As the film evolves, it does not become evident which one of the women is the victim until towards the end. By then, we care deeply about the reasons for her disappearance and the motives, and even more so, for what it has to say both about those who are involved with her on the screen and, by extension, ourselves as viewers bringing to it our own complex relationships.
It is no coincidence that one of the characters is a therapist - perhaps as much for ourselves as for the on-screen characters. In an absorbing, gritty (and appropriately shot) film that has much to say about the state of the human - and specifically the male - condition, Anthony LaPaglia, the male lead, is utterly compelling as an Australian detective undergoing his own mid-life crises, a tough role to which he brings immense realism and, ultimately, pathos. Despite the difficult nature of the film's central themes, it is not without its moments of humour and its ending outlines a hopeful, if fragile, future.
Note: At the time that Calvin submitted this review to me, I had not seen "Latana". I have subsequently see it twice and fully endorse his positive assessment. This is a finely-plotted work with a carefully-constructed narrative that engages and challenges in equal measure.
There are far too few strong roles for women in the cinema, so bringing electronic game icon Lara Croft to the big screen was a wonderful idea and 26 year old American actress Angelina Jolie is perfect physically for the role, even managing a competent English accent, like her compatriots Gwyneth Paltrow ("Sliding Doors") and Renee Zellweger ("Bridget Jones's Diary") before her. Her sardonic tone and sassy swagger are just right. In another neat bit of casting, real life dad Jon Voight plays her deceased father in flash backs.
Director Simon West does a competent job. The locations are wonderful - most notably the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but also Iceland, Venice and Hartfield House in rural England - and the action scenes are fast, furious and fun. A pity then that the plot is so weak (finding the key to time and space before the wicked Illuminati get hold of it) and some characterisation would certainly have been in order (where did Lara learn to shoot two huge guns simultaneously?). Jolie has signed a two-sequel contract, so let's hope that the franchise will become better.
Footnote: Jolie told an interviewer: "I'll make it real simple. I'm a 36C. In the game, Lara is a double-D. In the movie, she's a D. So we split the difference and made her more athletic".
"Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life"
This movie has had a tough time from the critics, but really its weaknesses and strengths are very similar to the original outing - and that grossed almost $300M worldwide. There are worse things in life than spending two hours watching someone with Angelina Jolie's animalistic eyes, bee-stung lips and engaging figure knocking hell out of the bad guys, while performing swirling gymnastics and sporting two huge guns.
Jan de Bont ("Speed") has taken over as director. Again the plot is simple and silly: some megalomaniac (an unimpressive Ciarán Hinds) wants to gain access to an object that will give him unprecedented power over the world (this time it's Pandora's Box which can only be located through a golden orb). Again the script is weak when not risible. But again the locations are wonderful (Greece, Hong Kong and Kenya) and the action non-stop. An extra bonus is Scotsman Gerard Butler who brings a real physicality to his role as a renegade agent and some emotional vulnerability to Croft's tough exterior.
Link: official web site click here
Harvey Shine is an American jingle writer at serious risk of losing his job as he jets over to London for the wedding of his daughter where he is assigned a peripheral role compared to her step-father. Kate Walker works at Heathrow airport conducting passenger surveys and is a middle-aged single women still caring for an emotionally dependent mother. How these lost souls find each and frie4ndship is the simple, gentle story of this movie aimed at an older and more feminine demographic than your Hollywood blockbuster. In many ways, this is a very British work - written and directed by Londoner Joel Hopkins, shot frequently on the capital's South Bank and other familiar tourist locations, and featuring an Autumnal setting that reflects the age of the lead characters.
It is a slight, but engaging, tale and told with a script that could have been trite in the hands of lesser actors, but the casting is superb and absolutely makes the movie. Dustin Hoffman as Harvey is now in his seventies but looks a decade younger; he is an outstanding actor and even wrote the 'father of the bride' speech and composed and performed the jiggle that opens the film. Emma Thompson (now 50 but still so lovely) as Kate is brilliant; she can convey so much with an expression or a walk and gives a genuinely nuanced performance. These are naturalistic actors who can do pathos and humour with equal talent and who do not rush their lines and can communicate with a pause. It's love actually.
Link: official web site click here
If you knew that the world was going to end in six hours, how would you spend the remaining time? I know .. but besides that? This is a low budget Canadian film that addresses some of these issues with dry, mordant humour. It comes from Don McKellar who wrote and directed the work and takes the leading role. He explores a range of reactions from the college mate who wants to have sex in every conceivable situation and variation, to the gas company official who calls every subscriber to thank them for their custom. The ending is perfect.
The critics have not been overly supportive of this movie, but it is one of the best action-adventure films since "Gladiator". It is far more exciting than "Master And Commander" with well-choreographed fights and stunning battle sequences, while the visceral violence is even more gripping than in "The Return Of The King". Set almost exclusively in Japan in 1876 with a good deal of Japanese dialogue, this is far more respectful of oriental culture than "Lost In Translation" and reminiscent of "Dances With Wolves" in its appreciation of the 'native' way of life. In fact, it was largely shot in New Zealand and the cinematographer is simply wonderful, while the weaponry and costumery are impressively authentic.
Tom Cruise plays Nathan Aldgren, an American civil war veteran who is still revolted and traumatised by the role he played in the indian wars. In the life of the samurai, he finds the honour and dignity that give purpose to life - and death - and, when taken captive by them, soon goes 'native'. Ken Wanatabe is noble in the eponymous role and indeed all the Japanese actors give deeper performances than their Hollywood counterparts. If director Edward Zwick - who did so well with "Glory" - had dispensed with the narration and ended the movie with the conclusion of the final battle, this would have been an even stronger work, but it is still superior entertainment.
Link: official web site click here
In a role reminiscent of an early Kathleen Turner in “Body Heat” (1981), Linda Fiorentino is simply brilliant as a manipulative, ball-breaking femme fatale willing to do anything to keep her ill-gotten dollars. Peter Berg plays the small-town guy taken for the ride of his life, while Bill Pullman is the one who swindled the money in the first place. I came very late to this movie and I simply can’t understand why Fiorentino hasn’t become a star (all I’ve seen her in is “Men In Black”). This is a film noir that is sexy, funny, violent, and totally amoral.
The modern tradition of the violent and sardonic London 'in yer face' gangster movie - starting with "The Long Good Friday" and continuing through "Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" - is continued here with a movie that is the directorial debut of Matthew Vaughn who worked as producer on the last two of the aforementioned films. It is an impressive first work with a flashy directorial style and clever use of the camera that draws the viewer uncomfortably into the action. The violence is often brutal, but it is more a matter of hearing what is happening and seeing the consequences than witnessing the actual physical blows.
What ultimately makes "Layer Cake" more evocative of the American "GoodFellas" than "Lock, Stock .." and the rest is its creation of a terrifying nightmare world of drugs and deceit, murder and mayhem, and cross and doublecross. At times, it is not clear what is happening, but the action is never less than compelling and this is a tough cake to swallow. Most of the cast is unfamiliar (the principal exception being Michael Gambon as the figure at the top of the cake) and, in the central and narrating role, Daniel Craig is particularly convincing as the suave unnamed crook trying to leave this mad world and spend some of his illgotten gains with newcomer Sienna Miller (who has one of only two female roles in this very male movie).
What a wonderful movie – so different and so stylish. Directed by Luc Besson (“Nikita”), it is a kind of love story between the eponymous gristled French professional hitman (Jean Reno) and 12 year old abused American girl Matilda (Natalie Portman, more recently seen as Queen Amidala in the new “Star Wars” film) who are thrown together by circumstance. They give wonderful performances – as does Gary Oldman as a psychotic cop – in a work where lots of dramatic tension and explosive violence are balanced with humour and tenderness to produce a real hit.
Although this Italian-language film was critically acclaimed – it won Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Actor and Best Original Dramatic Score - I just couldn’t bring myself to go to the cinema to see a comedy about the Holocaust but, when I saw it on television, I could see that it deserved its reception and the subject is handled sensitively if humorously. It is a triumph for Italy’s version of Charlie Chaplin, Roberto Benigni, who directed and co-wrote the film as well as taking the lead role of Jewish-Italian Guido Orifice (at the Academy Awards, he amazed everyone by walking across the backs of the seats to receive his award!). Giorgio Cantarini is endearing as his son, persuaded that confinement in a German concentration camp is actually a fantastical game, and Nicoletta Braschi is beautiful as his Aryan wife who chooses to join them (like every attractive Italian in war-time, she reminds me of my late mother). This is such an unusual film that is patently non-credible, but best seen as a clever and effective satire on the absurdities of racism.
I have admired director Alan Parker's work since "Midnight Express" and I have been a big fan of actor Kevin Spacey since "The Usual Suspects", so this pairing of the two promised much. Here Spacey plays a philosophy academic who is passionately opposed to capital punishment but finds himself convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Thin-some and American-accented Kate Winslet is the investigative journalist who meets him for the first time just four days before the date of execution and becomes convinced of his innocence. I certainly don't object to message movies - and, in this case, I strongly support the message - but, as so often in such works, the case is presented in a one-sided, even histrionic, fashion. All cinema, indeed all art, is manipulative, but this film manipulates its audience in too obvious a fashion.
Link: official web site click here
This is a very British film: small-scale (it only lasts one and a half hours and the location shooting was in Scarborough), wonderfully scripted (it is based on a play), and full of fine performances (Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent, Ewan McGregor and Brenda Blethyn - who received an Academy Award nomination - all feature). LV is a term of derision for a young woman severely traumatised by the premature death of her devoted, music-loving father and the emotional battering from her overbearingly loud and loquacious mother (Bethyn). Jane Horrocks - who performed the role on stage - is brilliant as the slight figure who can hardly speak but is able to mimic singers such as Judy Garland and Marlyn Monroe. The movie manages to be both immensely funny and heart-warmingly touching.
A bit of a chick flick, this one – but then I do have a definite feminine side. The autobiographical novel “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott was published in 1868 and tells the story of four girls in a New England family of the mid 19th century. Such has been its appeal to successive generations of Americans that it has been made into a film three times – by George Cukor in 1933, by Mervyn Le Roy in 1949, and now by Gillian Armstrong. In this notably feminist version, the four youngsters are played by winsome Winona Ryder (Jo – the Alcott character), Claire Danes (Beth), Trini Alvarado (Meg) and Kirsten Dunst (Amy), with Susan Sarandon as the saintly mother and Gabriel Bryne terribly miscast as a German teacher. The movie is beautifully shot with British Columbia standing in for Massachusetts.
Commendably German cinema is not afraid to confront the ugly past of the country. We had "The Boat" and "Downfall" on the Nazi era and "Good Bye Lenin!" and now "The Lives Of Others" on the communist period. Like "Good Bye Lenin!" this newest film is set and shot in East Berlin and features the collapse of the Wall in 1989. However, whereas the former was a satire set mostly after the fall of communism, "The Lives Of Others" is a sombre work located overwhelmingly before the demise of the regime.
The film opens with the brutal facts on the formidable size of the secret police apparatus operated by the former East Germany: the Stasi employed 100,000 full-time workers and had an incredible 400,000 informants. In a country of just 17m, there weer 5M personal files. Playright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his lover, the actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedek), think that they can survive the worst of the surveillance machine but, when a Government minister decides that he wants Christa-Maria for himself, a chain of events is set in motion which changes everything and everybody.
Surprisingly the greatest changes occur with the Stasi agent assigned to bug the flat of Georg & Christa-Maria. Ulrich Mühe gives an outstanding performance as the intially cold and efficient Gerd Wiesler and the poignancy of his role is only heightened when one remembers that Muhe himself was married to a Stasi agent. At first utterly chilling, he and we are moved by the gradual transformation that goes on in his perspective and behaviour. The Stasi probaly had nobody like Wiesler but, as a cinematic device, the character works well.
It is remarkable that such an assured film could be the début work of 33 year old Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck who both wrote and directed it. Deservedly it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film of 2006.
Links:
official web site click here
article on what was right and what was wrong click here
article on why it could never have really happened click here
Finnish Renny Harlin directed this as a starring vehicle for his (then) wife Geena Davis who - aided by Samuel L Jackson - has a 'tough girl' role reminiscent of "Nikita" or "The Assassin". There is silly dialogue and confused plotting, but a few good one-liners and some good action scenes.
"Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring"
J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor of medieval literature at Oxford University when he wrote the "Ring" trilogy between 1937 and 1949 and, since their publication in 1954/55, apparently some 100M people have consumed them. I've never read a word of Tolkien and have no desire to do so, but I'm always up for a fantasy film because today's special effects are so brilliant in realising strange, new worlds. Director Peter Jackson shot three films in one mammoth undertaking, taking 15 months and $300M and deploying 300 crew members and 20,000 extras.
Certainly there is much to admire here: an eclectic cast, some fine acting from veterans Ian McKellan (Gandalf) and Christopher Lee (Saruman), magnificent sets, wonderful prosthetics, stunning special effects, terrific battle scenes, soaring camerawork, and the splendidly varied terrain of the director's New Zealand.
But there are many problems too - most of them inherent in the novels themselves. For starters, how can one believe that the saviour of Middle Earth can have a name like Frodo Baggins (played by pop-eyed Elijah Wood)? Indeed, for viewers not familiar with the books, there is a bewildering array of strange names and it's not always clear what's going on. Then there's the lack of female characters, just brief appearances by the ethereal Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and the elf Arwen (Liv Tyler). Next there's the utter ponderousness of it all - this is a work that takes itself so seriously and "Harry Potter" was much more fun. In short, one could say that the film is a triumph of visuals over victuals.
Most seriously of all, there is the poor pacing. The bladder-testing three hour movie is one set-piece battle after another, with no real plot development or build up of the tension. Then, to cap it all, suddenly the film ends in mid air, leaving us to wait for 12 months before we can pick up the story ("The Empire Strikes Back" did this much more successfully). However, real fans will stick it out and Christmas and the "Ring" is set to become a hobbit.
"Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers"
If you've not read "Lord Of The Rings" or seen the first film, "The Two Towers" will be totally bewildering to you, because director Peter Jackson offers no summation of the earlier work but plunges immediately into three new segments. I've not read the book but I have seen the earlier film, so I had some idea of the plot, but I confess that - 12 months on - I can't really remember where the Ring came from and why Frodo Baggins has it. But never mind, like the other movie this is a visual treat and, unlike the original film, we don't have to put up with all that twee stuff in The Shire.
Of the three adventures, the least satisfactory is the wanderings of the Hobbits Merry and Pippin. Personally I could do without talking, walking trees but I suppose that, if they're in the novel, they have to be in the movie. Then there's two more Hobbits - the central hero, bug-eyed Mr Frodo, and his ever-faithful Sam, the gardener - who encounter a strange, schizophrenic creature called the Gollum, brilliantly realised through computer graphics but voiced by and based on the British actor Andy Serkis. By far the best segment is that centred on the warrior Aragorn, the elf Legolas and the dwarf Gimli which climaxes in a stupendous battle where thousands upon thousands of the hulking, clanking Uruk-Hai lay ferocious siege to the fortress at Helm's Deep.
Even more so than "The Fellowship Of The Ring", "The Two Towers" totally marginalises its (very few) female characters and it's clear that Middle Earth is even more of a man's world than this one. Again the landscapes are stunning and the aerial shots breathtaking, while the special effects reflect immense credit on the New Zealand creators. All in all, intoxicating for "Ring" readers, but less than totally satisfactory for the rest of us.
"Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King"
While "The Matrix" trilogy has progressively disappointed me, as it failed to capitalise on the brilliance of the original movie, "The Rings" triptych has increasingly engaged me, as - originally unfamiliar with the characters because I've never read any Tolkien - I have become used to the strangeness and complexities of Middle Earth.
For me, this is not the cinematic masterpiece that some have claimed. The dialogue is dire, the characterisation is minimal, and Saruman is sadly absent. Yet again, the female actors are few and underused, although for once we have a warrior in Eowyn. There's no doubt that, at a bladder-bursting 3 hours 21 minutes, this final segment is too long and the ending in particular is unnecessarily protracted and trite.
However, the movie is unquestionably a phenomenon that ends the trilogy on a satisfying high. As with the previous works, there is spectacular New Zealand scenery, sweeping and swirling camerawork, and superb prosthetics and special effects. This time, though, the battle scenes are bigger and bloodier than ever and literally out of this world - stunning panoramas, huge numbers, fantastical creatures and thrilling action. If anything, at times it is all too fast and a little confusing.
The three films have made the reputation of director Peter Jackson, actor Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), and the New Zealand special effects industry, while veterans Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee have crowned their long and distinguished careers. The realisation of Gollum and the battle sequences will be cinematic benchmarks for decades to come. But the movies, like the book, tell us nothing new about human nature and should not be elevated above their true level of sophisticated storytelling and genuine entertainment.
Links for all "LOTR" films:
official web site click here
unofficial fan site click here
another fan site click here
I'm not a particular fan of the undoubtedly-talented Bill Murray, but here he gives his best performance since "Groundhog Day" as Bob, a middle-aged actor selling his soul to make a whiskey commercial for the lucrative Japanese market. I've never seen Scarlett Johannson in a movie before, but this young actress, pretty in a plain way, shows considerable promise as Charlotte, a 22 year old philosophy graduate and recent bride who is already as lost as the older man.
The two dislocated and disoriented characters find themselves unable to sleep in the capital's Park Hyatt Hotel and unable to connect with a society which seems so soulless and alien, but this "Sleepless In Toyko" story is a million miles from the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan offering, eschewing a neat final coupling in favour of a chaste parting with some unheard words of wisdom or comfort. All credit then to writer, director and co-producer Sofia Coppola who, having recovered from her miscasting in "The Godfather III", is proving to be an able and unconventional creator of original movies.
Maybe the work is a bit hard on the Japanese whose frivolous pursuit of excessive politeness, the easy laugh, and everything bright and electronic is easy to parody. Most of the movie is set in the entertainment district of Shinjuku, where I have been and which actually has an incredible buzz, and there is the almost obligatory scene of karaoke, which I have performed (in the interests of international relations). There is another side to the Japanese which the film only hints at with a brief trip to a temple in Kyoto, but Americans always find it difficult to appreciate another culture and Bob and Charlotte are too lost to want to make the effort.
Links
Official web site click here
Park Hyatt Toyko click here
The film opens with the recording of a cynical repackaging of the old hit single "Love Is All Around" by an aging rocker who aims to hit the populist Christmas market and critics have suggested that essentially "Love Actually" is a manipulative reworking of earlier Richard Curtis scripts designed to pull in cinemagoers in the run-up to Christmas. It certainly is - but it is rather more. The evidence of the crowds at my multiplex is that Curtis has succeeded handsomely in his directorial debut and created a natural feel-good alternative to "It's A Wonderful Life" for television viewing at endless future yuletides.
OK, so this is moviemaking by the numbers, but they are some numbers. A multi-stranded storyline gives us nine different looks at love, most of them sweet to the point of saccharine, but the whole thing is saved from excessive sentimentality by a couple of harder-edged scenarios, one topical political scene, and a cracking script with lashings of humour. The whole thing lacks focus and a clear narrative form, but few viewers will bother. They'll be too occupied laughing at the gags and spotting all the stars.
The cast is one to die for. We have the best of British - from Hugh Grant as the affable Prime Minister to Rowan Atkinson as the bumbling shop assistant, with the highlights being Bill Nighy as the over the hill and over the top rock star and Emma Thompson as someone who can express pain equally as well as laughter. These 'Brits as imagined by Yanks' only exist in Curtis's dream world but we cannot help but warm to them. On top of these dozen or so skilful performances, we have several surprise guest appearances by Americans, a German super model, and a delightful Portugese ingénue. Throw in tourist scenes of London and a lively soundtrack and you have all the ingredients for a runaway success.
Link: official web site click here
All reviews by ROGER DARLINGTON.
Last modified on 22 June 2008
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