There was a lot of hype around this movie - particularly surrounding Steve Carrel's transformation as John du Pont - mentally ill philanthropist , wrestling fan and millionaire. I never particularly liked Steve Carrel - i'm not a fan of stupid (although i loved him in the Anchorman series), but he is virtually unrecognisable in this film.
Based on the true story of US and Olympic Champions Dave and Mark Schultz and their relationship with the very strange John du Pont, we see actors we are very familiar with become completely different people.
Channing Tatum is solid as Mark Schultz. I think a great job with the physicality of this big, strong athlete - the way he walks, the set of his jaw, his wrestling moves. Ive always liked him (being a big fan of the Step Up films :-) )
Mark Ruffalo is great in this too, but he is great in everything. He can do no wrong in my eyes. Mark plays David Schultz, Mark's older brother and an Olympic Gold medalist in his own right. The role is a smaller one, and we never get to know the man as such.
The real achievement of this movie is Steve Carrel's portrayal of du Pont. I watched this movie twice - as soon as it finished i started it again. I looked for Steve Carrel in du Pont's face. I could not find it. His whole self is different, from the way he talks, looks, his teeth, his nose, his expressions, his voice. Dark and menacing. And Steve Carrel is not dark or menacing. We watch him get stranger and stranger, more angry, grow envious. It's just incredible.
Steve Carrel probably won't win the Academy Award - I think Eddie Redmayne will for portraying Stephen Hawkins in The Theory of Everyting. But this is his movie. And I hope this role will define him more than the 40 Year Old Virgin.
Directed by Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball) - this is an honest, frank look at the relationship between men, between coaches and athletes, mentor and student, friends.
Highly recommended.
3.5/5
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
The Imitation Game - yes, I am a Cumberbitch!
Based on the true story of mathematician Alan Turing, who together with a small team of the finest code breakers attempt to crack the German Enigma Code during WW2. Directed by Morten Tyldum (who i had never heard of before), this is a cracker of a film.
Credited with influencing the creation of the modern computer, Alan is fascinatingly strange - a remote, quirky genius - so out of place, so uncomfortable in his own skin.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, and he is so great in this, and i am such a fan. He is completely "fit for purpose", strange and remote, but warm and personable at the same time.
The people portrayed in this film did very important and yet uncredited work to break the unbreakable code and help bring about the defeat of the Germans. And yet they remained uncredited and unrecognised - enigmas - like the code they tried to break.
And afterwards, the humiliation and victimisation that Turing had to endure because of his sexual preferences - i could hardly believe that such a great man was treated so disgracefully. So disgracefully in fact that he simply could not go on living.
The film was incredibly stressful and tense for a non-action film. I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for them to break the code, wondering when they would, if they would. Even having read a little bit about the story prior to seeing the film did not diminish the suspense.
Really well done. Solid.
4/5
Credited with influencing the creation of the modern computer, Alan is fascinatingly strange - a remote, quirky genius - so out of place, so uncomfortable in his own skin.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Alan Turing, and he is so great in this, and i am such a fan. He is completely "fit for purpose", strange and remote, but warm and personable at the same time.
The people portrayed in this film did very important and yet uncredited work to break the unbreakable code and help bring about the defeat of the Germans. And yet they remained uncredited and unrecognised - enigmas - like the code they tried to break.
And afterwards, the humiliation and victimisation that Turing had to endure because of his sexual preferences - i could hardly believe that such a great man was treated so disgracefully. So disgracefully in fact that he simply could not go on living.
The film was incredibly stressful and tense for a non-action film. I sat on the edge of my seat waiting for them to break the code, wondering when they would, if they would. Even having read a little bit about the story prior to seeing the film did not diminish the suspense.
Really well done. Solid.
4/5
Boyhood - why did i wait so long?
I thought this would be a sentimental film - manipulative even. I hate being manipulated by anyone, let alone a movie! Man was I wrong.
Directed by Richard Linklater - who directed one of my all time favourite movies "School of Rock", as well as Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, A Scanner Darkly among others - this film is a culmination of 13 years of vision.
Filmed over this period with the same cast, we see the children Mason and Samantha grow up before our very eyes. We see their parents played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke grow older before our eyes. We see a broken family break some more, and we see the resilience of the human spirit. We feel the despair and the hope, the future and the past that can never be recovered.
This movie was very hard to watch - I don't know if it because of how i was feeling that day... but so many of the scenes and conversations in the film reminded me of what growing up is like. And at the same time, what being a parent is like, what being part of a family means - however disfunctional.
The dialog seemed unscripted to me - ad libbed. I felt so often throughout this movie that I was eavesdropping on private moments, that i was looking at this family from the outside. Maybe it was, I haven't checked.
It's so beautifully filmed, so heartfelt, so heartbreakingly sad and yet joyful at the same time.
Patricia Arquette - in her final scene talks about life being a series of milestones. She says "i thought there would be more" - to life that is - than just a series of events that define your life. I cried for hours that day, i too thought there would be more to my life.
I love the movies, and i go to the movies - not simply to be entertained, but because i love language and i love watching the pictures in someone else's mind come to life.
There are films - like The Tree of Life, and this one - that speak to me about what life feels like, its texture. I absolutely loved this movie. I cried and laughed throughout it. It made me remember, and made me feel... that ultimately perhaps there is no more to life than the events that define us.
5/5
Directed by Richard Linklater - who directed one of my all time favourite movies "School of Rock", as well as Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, A Scanner Darkly among others - this film is a culmination of 13 years of vision.
Filmed over this period with the same cast, we see the children Mason and Samantha grow up before our very eyes. We see their parents played by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke grow older before our eyes. We see a broken family break some more, and we see the resilience of the human spirit. We feel the despair and the hope, the future and the past that can never be recovered.
This movie was very hard to watch - I don't know if it because of how i was feeling that day... but so many of the scenes and conversations in the film reminded me of what growing up is like. And at the same time, what being a parent is like, what being part of a family means - however disfunctional.
The dialog seemed unscripted to me - ad libbed. I felt so often throughout this movie that I was eavesdropping on private moments, that i was looking at this family from the outside. Maybe it was, I haven't checked.
It's so beautifully filmed, so heartfelt, so heartbreakingly sad and yet joyful at the same time.
Patricia Arquette - in her final scene talks about life being a series of milestones. She says "i thought there would be more" - to life that is - than just a series of events that define your life. I cried for hours that day, i too thought there would be more to my life.
I love the movies, and i go to the movies - not simply to be entertained, but because i love language and i love watching the pictures in someone else's mind come to life.
There are films - like The Tree of Life, and this one - that speak to me about what life feels like, its texture. I absolutely loved this movie. I cried and laughed throughout it. It made me remember, and made me feel... that ultimately perhaps there is no more to life than the events that define us.
5/5
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