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
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Moneyball
I love sports movies, i really do. But baseball never has been my thing. The trailer didn't make the film look appealing to me so this is one film I would have let go past, and perhaps downloaded or seen on TV one day.
But... I do love Phillip Seymoure Hoffman, and Brad Pitt makes very few bad choices... Plus, the reviews were right up there.
We were going to see a movie with friends, and I initially thought Id like to go see The Ides of March. But turns out it hasn't started it's run yet, so Moneyball it was.
So let me start with the premise. Based on a true story about Billy Beane, a Baseball Team's general manager who because of budget constraints, drafts players based on analytics.
The movie felt long, but the dialog was sharp and funny. The trailer did not portray the movie correctly I don't think, and I was surprised by how much we laughed throughout it. The writing is very good, fast paced and witty.
Brad Pitt is a superstar. He commands your entire attention whenever he is on screen. He does well here, I like him as an actor very much. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also brilliant - he always is. The surprise of the film for me was Jonah Hill - a really good role for him, he really held his own, well done!
I think this film may go down as one of the best of the year, and while not astonishing (like i think Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy will be), was interesting, fun and great entertainment!
Above all, i think this is a film about leadership. I liked it a lot.
Rating 4/5
But... I do love Phillip Seymoure Hoffman, and Brad Pitt makes very few bad choices... Plus, the reviews were right up there.
We were going to see a movie with friends, and I initially thought Id like to go see The Ides of March. But turns out it hasn't started it's run yet, so Moneyball it was.
So let me start with the premise. Based on a true story about Billy Beane, a Baseball Team's general manager who because of budget constraints, drafts players based on analytics.
The movie felt long, but the dialog was sharp and funny. The trailer did not portray the movie correctly I don't think, and I was surprised by how much we laughed throughout it. The writing is very good, fast paced and witty.
Brad Pitt is a superstar. He commands your entire attention whenever he is on screen. He does well here, I like him as an actor very much. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also brilliant - he always is. The surprise of the film for me was Jonah Hill - a really good role for him, he really held his own, well done!
I think this film may go down as one of the best of the year, and while not astonishing (like i think Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy will be), was interesting, fun and great entertainment!
Above all, i think this is a film about leadership. I liked it a lot.
Rating 4/5
Twilight Breaking Dawn
oh god, what's wrong with me?
I hate the books but i read them.
i hate the movies but i go see them.
the worst!
stupid story, stupid film.
0/5
I hate the books but i read them.
i hate the movies but i go see them.
the worst!
stupid story, stupid film.
0/5
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In
I have been waiting for this movie to come to Australia, and it did indeed, closing the Brisbane International Film Festival tonight. Nick and I decided to forego the 'let's walk down the red carpet like the other people pretending to be fancy' and instead, jumped the rope and walked up the stairs into a 1/2 filled theatre. I went to buy myself a glass of wine, and in the 10 minutes it took me to do that, the cinema was jam packed! Every seat in the house!
My love affair with Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas began way back with Law of Desire in 1987 and continued with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.. Then hollywood called, and in my opinion, Banderas in English cannot compare with Banderas in Spanish.
Pedro Almodovar is a director without peer. I think he writes and directs the best roles for women in film - All About My Mother - a masterpiece and tribute to mothers - all kinds of mothers - showing that you do not have to have a child to be a mother and you do not have to be a woman to be a mother... No other director has the ability to portray the sympathetic villain with such beauty and empathy. In Tie Me Up... a man kidnaps a woman until she loves him. In Talk To Her, a nurse rapes a comatose patient because he loves her... Almodovar sees things differently, and thank God, he can make us see things differently too.
In the Skin I Live In, Dr Robert Ledgard loses his wife in tragic circumstances, and as a result, creates a synthetic skin that cannot be harmed. He experiments on a live person, and I cannot tell you any more than this, otherwise I will spoil the film.
Needless to say, the film is shocking and bizarre and with a whopping great twist that leaves you in complete disbelief. However, you have a sympathy for Dr Ledgard, you understand his pain and his drive. As violent and brutal as the films themes are, the film is also beautiful and moving.
Banderas is fabulous as Ledgard. His physicality is so powerful. The way he wears his clothes, the way he walks, and this might be strange, but I love his wrists and the way his watch sits (ok wierd, but i like Adrien Brody for the same reason). Elena Anaya as Vera is stunning, perfection. Marisa Paredes is also very very good as Ledgard's lifelong carer.
This movie belongs to Banderas though, and he is never better than with Almodovar.
I think this film is not for everyone, I think Almodovar is an acquired taste for people who may not culturally identify with him. You need to let your belief systems stay outside the cinema for a while. I for one, loved every bizarre minute of it.
4/5
My love affair with Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas began way back with Law of Desire in 1987 and continued with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.. Then hollywood called, and in my opinion, Banderas in English cannot compare with Banderas in Spanish.
Pedro Almodovar is a director without peer. I think he writes and directs the best roles for women in film - All About My Mother - a masterpiece and tribute to mothers - all kinds of mothers - showing that you do not have to have a child to be a mother and you do not have to be a woman to be a mother... No other director has the ability to portray the sympathetic villain with such beauty and empathy. In Tie Me Up... a man kidnaps a woman until she loves him. In Talk To Her, a nurse rapes a comatose patient because he loves her... Almodovar sees things differently, and thank God, he can make us see things differently too.
In the Skin I Live In, Dr Robert Ledgard loses his wife in tragic circumstances, and as a result, creates a synthetic skin that cannot be harmed. He experiments on a live person, and I cannot tell you any more than this, otherwise I will spoil the film.
Needless to say, the film is shocking and bizarre and with a whopping great twist that leaves you in complete disbelief. However, you have a sympathy for Dr Ledgard, you understand his pain and his drive. As violent and brutal as the films themes are, the film is also beautiful and moving.
Banderas is fabulous as Ledgard. His physicality is so powerful. The way he wears his clothes, the way he walks, and this might be strange, but I love his wrists and the way his watch sits (ok wierd, but i like Adrien Brody for the same reason). Elena Anaya as Vera is stunning, perfection. Marisa Paredes is also very very good as Ledgard's lifelong carer.
This movie belongs to Banderas though, and he is never better than with Almodovar.
I think this film is not for everyone, I think Almodovar is an acquired taste for people who may not culturally identify with him. You need to let your belief systems stay outside the cinema for a while. I for one, loved every bizarre minute of it.
4/5
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris
I don't belive there is a modern Director that tells the story of a city better than Woddy Allen - Manhattan, Annie Hall, Vicky Christina Barcelona and now Midnight in Paris.
Set in modern day Paris, a young couple - writer Gil (Owen Wilson) and his extremely dislikeable fiance Inez (Rachel McAdam) are in Paris together with her parents. Gil is in love with Paris, particularly Paris of the 1920s. Needless to say, Inez is not. I won't waste time talking about how unlikeable Inez is, but Rachel McAdam really does a good job of portraying this spoiled, American ignorant brat.
Walking along the streets of Paris at midnight, a vintage car pulls over and Gil is invited to join them for a ride. Night after night at midnight he gets in to the car to be transported to Paris of the 1920s - meeting Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter, Salvador Dali, Gertude Stein, Man Ray, Henri Matisse, TS Eliot etc...
The film opens with the most beautiful montage of Paris - minutes... a sincere homage to a city that the Director obviously knows and loves.
The ensemble cast is outstanding. Owen Wilson (in the Allen persona) is the best I've seen him, Rachel McAdam was so annoying - very well played. Highlilghts for me were Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway, Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald, Adrien Brody as Pablo Picasso. When Adrien Brody came on screen I heard some girls whisper "That's Adrien Brody" and after his first rant as Picasso, the theatre erupted in applause. I am a massive Brody fan, and he steals the show here - with only 2 minutes of screen time. Stoll as Hemingway is suitably intense, delivering some of the best lines in the script. Kathy Bates is also really good as Gertrude Stein.
And then of course there is Marion Cotillard as Adriana, a woman Gil meets and falls for in 1920s Paris. She is also looking towards the past - Le Belle Epoque... She, together with Penelope Cruz (who is not in this film) are - to me - goddesses! So beautiful, She plays her role with fragilility and grace. I love her.
At the end of the film the audience errupted in applause. This is something I've seen Australian audiences do only once or twice before.
This movie was exquisitely filmed, beautifully written, the cast well assembled and in my opinion flawless. I laughed throughout, but it was moving as well.
Lovers of Paris will love this film. For me, I have no feelings either way about Paris, but I love the way Woody Allen tells a story, and i have been a lifelong fan. I love the way he shows off architecture and hand selects every piece of music in his soundtracks. I love how his characters are flawed and insecure and strong at the same time. I love all the pauses in the dialogue, all the thinking you can physically see in his characters.
Like Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo when the film stars come to live, there is no explanation (like a dream) for Gil going back in time night after night. It just happens.
Loved it. 4.5/5.
Set in modern day Paris, a young couple - writer Gil (Owen Wilson) and his extremely dislikeable fiance Inez (Rachel McAdam) are in Paris together with her parents. Gil is in love with Paris, particularly Paris of the 1920s. Needless to say, Inez is not. I won't waste time talking about how unlikeable Inez is, but Rachel McAdam really does a good job of portraying this spoiled, American ignorant brat.
Walking along the streets of Paris at midnight, a vintage car pulls over and Gil is invited to join them for a ride. Night after night at midnight he gets in to the car to be transported to Paris of the 1920s - meeting Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemmingway, Pablo Picasso, Cole Porter, Salvador Dali, Gertude Stein, Man Ray, Henri Matisse, TS Eliot etc...
The film opens with the most beautiful montage of Paris - minutes... a sincere homage to a city that the Director obviously knows and loves.
The ensemble cast is outstanding. Owen Wilson (in the Allen persona) is the best I've seen him, Rachel McAdam was so annoying - very well played. Highlilghts for me were Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway, Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald, Adrien Brody as Pablo Picasso. When Adrien Brody came on screen I heard some girls whisper "That's Adrien Brody" and after his first rant as Picasso, the theatre erupted in applause. I am a massive Brody fan, and he steals the show here - with only 2 minutes of screen time. Stoll as Hemingway is suitably intense, delivering some of the best lines in the script. Kathy Bates is also really good as Gertrude Stein.
And then of course there is Marion Cotillard as Adriana, a woman Gil meets and falls for in 1920s Paris. She is also looking towards the past - Le Belle Epoque... She, together with Penelope Cruz (who is not in this film) are - to me - goddesses! So beautiful, She plays her role with fragilility and grace. I love her.
At the end of the film the audience errupted in applause. This is something I've seen Australian audiences do only once or twice before.
This movie was exquisitely filmed, beautifully written, the cast well assembled and in my opinion flawless. I laughed throughout, but it was moving as well.
Lovers of Paris will love this film. For me, I have no feelings either way about Paris, but I love the way Woody Allen tells a story, and i have been a lifelong fan. I love the way he shows off architecture and hand selects every piece of music in his soundtracks. I love how his characters are flawed and insecure and strong at the same time. I love all the pauses in the dialogue, all the thinking you can physically see in his characters.
Like Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo when the film stars come to live, there is no explanation (like a dream) for Gil going back in time night after night. It just happens.
Loved it. 4.5/5.
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