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REDMAN RUNNERS
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REDMAN RUNNERS BRISBANE.AUSTRALIA. |
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ARCHIVE OF LIZ.D's MOVIE REVIEWS: 2007/08 MOVIES IN ORDER on this page: My Best Friend, I Do, As it is in Heaven, Harry Potter & the order of the Phoenix, This is England, Control, Death at a Funeral, The Golden Compass, Gone Baby Gone, Happy go Lucky, When did you last see your Father, No Country for Old Men, There will be Blood, The Kite Runner, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Run Fatboy Run, Before the Devil knows your Dead, Lars and the Real Girl, Brick Lane, Iron Man, The Dark Knight, In Bruges, The Bourne Ultimatum, In Bruges, Burn after Reading
MOVIE: My Best Friend MOVIE: I Do Luis (Chabat) is introduced to us at the age of 43 as single, charming and laid-back, who has a job at a successful perfumery. Luis lives in a great apartment and doesn't have a problem picking up dates, which is perfect really. The only stressful aspect in his life stems from his mother and five sisters, who have decided that he has been molly-coddled enough and needs to get a life. Or, more accurately, get a wife. An impromptu family meeting is held, following much griping about doing his laundry and cooking his meals (although why they do this in the first place is unexplained), and it is decided that he has to get a wife. We sit through a brief barrage of blind dates, which gently leads to the crux of the film. Luis comes up with the ingenious plan of finding the perfect woman to go along with his charade to get engaged and lead him to the altar, but not actually marry him. The idea being, that once jolted so publicly, his family will stop nagging and leave him to enjoy his life. Luis enlists the help of his best friend's younger sister, Emmanuelle (Gainsbourg) to act the part. She has just arrived in Paris and is in need of a job, so the two of them strike up a mutually beneficial deal and the game goes on. There's no suspense and few surprises in this French film, but it's an easy one to watch. MOVIE: As It Is In Heaven
The film starts off dramatically enough when a world renowned conductor has a heart attack while on stage. He is exhausted and unhappy with his life and decides to make some space for himself as he moves back to his home town, which he left when aged six. This film uses flashbacks intelligently to fill in the gaps and explain the motives of the film's main protagonist, Daniel Dareus (Nyqvist). Daniel's return to Norrland, a tiny village in northern Sweden, understandably sparks off interest with the locals, as nothing goes unnoticed in a place that size. He is soon asked to listen to the local church choir which meets once a week to "give a bit of advice". At first he resists, but his love for music takes over and he is drawn into the lives of the village folk as old memories are stirred and ghosts are revisited and challenged. There are no twists or surprises in this film, but that's ok. It's a beautifully told tale which sweeps you along and keeps you interested in all of the characters. This film could have been corny in parts, but amazingly the director manages to leave the audience feeling charmed, rather then uninspired. MOVIE: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix The story line…………. The fifth Harry Potter film is the best so far. It’s fast-paced, thrill-filled, and fun to watch. Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is now in his fifth year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry (that’s Grade 10 to you and me) and supposed to be concentrating on his O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizard Level) exams, but where he gets the time to study is beyond the viewer. The film starts off as always, with Harry kicking dust and dying of boredom in his suburban home in middle class England. He hasn’t heard from his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) all summer, which does nothing to lift his dark teenage mood. Understandably enough he’s struggling. Harry is plagued by nightmares of Lord Voldemort (who made a dramatic return at the end of the last film) and seems to have become ‘closer’ to his nemesis, as Harry develops a kind of psychic connection which means he can now feel Voldemort’s feelings. An early visit by the Dementors sees Harry using his wand in front of his muggle half-brother, which leads to instance expulsion from Hogworts. But help is at hand, and Harry is soon wizzed off (too bad a pun?) by the Aurors to London to the safety of his friends and surrogate father, Sirius (Gary Oldman). Harry learns about ‘The Order of the Pheonix’ the band of good wizards who defeated Voldemort’s first attack, over a decade ago. Before Harry can go back to school he has to sit through a trial at the Ministry of Magic. A new year at Hogwort’s means a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge (played perfectly by Imelda Staunton). Umbridge is a staunch supporter of the Ministry of Magic, who refuses to believe Voldemort is back, so she sets about dumbing down the students’ defense skills. This basically sets the scene for the rest of the film, as Harry drops the nervous schoolboy cloak to become the trainer of Dumbledore’s Army, a league made up mostly of fellow Grade 10 students who pledge to fight the mounting forces supporting Voldemort’s return. Snape (Alan Rickman) also lends a hand here and tries to teach Harry to defend himself against Voldemort’s mind-intrusions, by controlling his impulses. All this while struggling with the death of a friend, first love, betrayal and growing up. We soon learn what Voldemort is after from Harry and we’re treated to some wizardy fight scenes. One of the strengths of this film was that you didn’t feel like you were bombarded by computer generated antics, new characters are properly introduced and old favourites were still on the scene, but didn’t needlessly take up too much of it. MOVIE: This is England The story line…………. This is a story about Shaun, a 12 year old boy growing up in Yorkshire, England in 1983. He’s not in a good place – his Dad died in the Falklands War and so he’s left living with his Mum. He gets bullied at school and on his way home one day he meets some Skinheads (Woody, Milky, Puke and co) in their late teens/early twenties who seem to be more about the Doc Martin/stove pipe jeans look than the politics, and they take a liking to him. Shaun starts hanging around with them, and his Mum accepts these new friendships – once she gets over the shock of Shaun’s shaved head. It’s all harmless mayhem until Combo is released from prison. Combo’s a National Front kind of Skinhead – a charismatic, psychotic, xenophobic, violent, bully and older than the rest. He destabilises the tolerant Woody’s position as leader of the gang and some members defect to his side including Shaun (who perhaps recognises his father more in Combo than in Woody). The story line becomes tense and is unrelenting in its portrayal of what can happen when you make your own rules and shape your own definition of what it is to be ‘English’. There are a lot of clichés in this film – bullied child, widowed mother, poverty, a likeable group of Skinheads, violence, vandalism, and the need for a father figure. Don’t let that put you off - the acting is great. MOVIE: Control The story line…………. This film is about the short life and times of Ian Curtis, original lead singer with UK band Joy Division (initially called Warsaw) in late 1977. It’s shot in black and white and starts off with Curtis (Sam Riley) growing up in Macclesfield, England in the 60’s, who as a school boy, stole prescription drugs to experiment with their side effects. The part chemistry plays in his life is underlined early on. We see the creation of the band, their first TV gig on Tony Wilson’s So It Goes pop music programme and later sign up to Factory Records. Based on a book by Curtis’ wife Deborah this is not about a hard rock ‘n’ roll band, but focuses on Curtis and Deborah (Morton) as they set up home together as teenagers and his band takes off. Even though Curtis suffers from epilepsy, it’s depression that is his biggest enemy. Joy Division had only released one album, but were about to complete their second album when Curtis, who was only 23, hung himself in the kitchen of his estranged wife. The acting is brilliant. Riley has to be acknowledged for providing the vocals to all of Joy Divisions’ on-screen songs. Deborah (Curtis’s wife) plays a sympathetic character, who as a young mother is helpless as she watches her husband unravel before her. Curtis has an affair with a journalist, which ultimately pushes him to breaking point. The music is brilliant, but surprisingly there’s not a lot of it. But when you do hear one of their songs, it takes over the film in a very powerful way. You don’t have to be a die hard Joy Division (later to become New Order) fan, but you’ll appreciate it that bit more. MOVIE: Death at a funeral The story line…………. The film is set in a beautiful English manor home where the family have gathered to for the funeral of the father. We are immediately drawn into the dynamics of the two sons, Daniel (Macfadyen) who lives at home but can’t wait to settle into his own place with his supportive wife, and Robert (Graves) who flies in (first class) from New York, where we has established himself as a successful novelist and womaniser. Daniel has had to organise and pay for the funeral, which has been a stretch on both accounts. As the rest of the extended family gather for the funeral we are introduced to a host of characters with their own problems. Principally cousin Martha (Donovan), her brother Troy (Marshall), and Martha’s boyfriend, Simon (Tudyk) who is shunned by her father. Troy is a budding pharmacologist with a sideline in creating and supplying concoctions for his friends. Troy gets a lift with Martha and Simon and brings along a new blend of hallucinogenic which he intends to sell after the family gathering. On the way there Simon has a panic attack at the thought of having to meet Martha’s father, so she gives him one of Troy’s pills, thinking it’s valium, to calm him down. Pretty soon after arriving Simon starts tripping, which is brilliant to watch. Things go wrong from the start, but in a cringing “oh my god I can’t watch this bit” sort of a way. This film was made to make you laugh. And it does just that. Go and see it. Movie: The Golden Compass MOVIE: Gone Baby Gone A tense thriller from first time director, Ben Affleck, is quite an amazing debut. Set in Dorechester, one of Boston’s roughest neighbourhoods, four-year girl old is kidnapped. All the time, in the back of your mind, you are wondering what’s happened to her, and is she still alive? The Boston Police Department are all over the investigation, but the missing girl’s aunt calls in two private investigators Kenzie (Affleck) and his partner Gennaro (Monaghan) to ‘augment’ the search and find the girl. Kenzie knows the neighbourhood and knows the people, and they agree to help. Kenzie calls on his local contacts to build up a picture of the family’s background. We soon find out that the girl’s mother Helene (Ryan) is a drug mule and user. On the night her daughter disappeared she claims to have been across the road to watch her favourite tv programme with her best friend, but as the investigation unravels, we learn that the grieving mother has some secrets of her own. The chief of police (Freeman) and the cop leading the investigation (Harris) are notified that an exchange for the daughter has been arranged and go along with Kenzie and Genaro. The exchange goes horribly wrong, shots are fired, and the whole thing turns out to be a complete disaster. Kenzie and Genaro feel responsible for the outcome and their relationship starts to unravel. Kenzie tries to make sense of what happened and piece together the sequence of events that brought them to the exchange. This throws up a myriad of questions which leads him to the truth behind the kidnapping. The acting is strong in this is intelligent, thought-provoking film and you come out of the movie asking questions like – what would I have done?
MOVIE: Happy-Go-Lucky Set in contemporary north London, Poppy (Hawkins) is a 30-year old primary school teacher. She lives with her best friend Zoë (Zegerman), also a primary school teacher and they lead uncomplicated, single lifestyles which revolve around their work, clubbing, pubbing and hanging out with friends. Poppy has a very positive view on life, which struck me at the beginning as over the top and portrayed her character as mildly vacuous. Nothing really seemed to bother her as she manages to laugh off uncomfortable situation with ease. She gets around town on her bike which is stolen in the first 10 minutes of the film which results in her deciding to take driving lessons and we are introduced to her instructor Scott (Marsan). Scott has a lot of anger issues and we slowly learn where these stem from as Poppy’s lessons unfold. I think it was at this stage I twigged to the fact that Poppy had a lot more substance and intelligence than I gave her credit for as she gently uncovers his demons. I am a big fan of Mike Leigh's films. His stories are typically about normal people just getting by in life. He always manages to get great performances from all the actors, and this film is no exception. I assumed the title was a pun, as Leigh’s films are generally gritty and grim in equal proportion, but this film expertly takes you through beautifully played scenes of raw pain and distress without dragging you down. MOVIE: When did you last see your father? This film is based on Blake Morrison's novel about the weeks leading up to his father’s death from cancer. The story is told in flash-back sequences from the son’s perspective as he travels through this painful and confusing time. Blake (Firth) grew up with his sister in Yorkshire, and parents who were both doctors. He is now a successful writer, married with children and getting on with is life. But as he returns home to spend time with his dying father he also returns to memories of his childhood and his relationship with his dad. The usual mixture of frustrations, aggravations and disappointments that went on between them are played out, but Blake fixates on a relationship his father had with a female friend throughout his childhood which he thinks culminated in a half sister. Blake has a lot of questions for his father, but the time is never quite right to delve into this particular corner of their past. Blake’s mother (Stevenson) is left to get through the marriage with as much grace and strength as she can, and in the end, she stays with him until the end. The scenes are cleverly shot and we see a lot of feelings and emotions through the use of mirrors. It’s not all bad between the father son – teaching Blake to drive on the beach had to have been a great day. The acting is strong from all quarters and it’s a film that will make you think about the important things in life.
Another movie adaptation, this time from a novel by Cormac McCarthy. The story is set in Texas and the cinematographer makes the most of wide-angle lens sweeps of the parched landscape. The script is tight and executed brilliantly by all the actors. We start off with Llewelyn Moss (Brolin), a hunter who comes across what appears to be a mass-murder scene. A closer inspection shows it to be a drug deal gone wrong. Moss finds the cash but is soon pursued by a ruthless psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh (Bardem). His strong performance is chilling and unnerving in equal measures so you never trust what he’s going to do next, but you know it’s not going to be good. Suspense builds as Moss tries to cover his tracks and protect his wife (Mcdonald) by getting her out of the picture so she won’t be drawn into this mess. The local sheriff Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) is left to follow the trail of murders with brilliant, calm insight and witty dialogue, a hallmark of the Coen Brothers' films. If you’re going to see one film this month, make it this one. The Texan accent stumped me a couple of times, but it doesn’t detract from the film – it just adds to the authenticity MOVIE
: There Will Be Blood Based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil! this is a true epic of a film. Set in 1898 in New Mexico, we are introduced to the main protagonist, Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), a prospector who breaks his leg while mining for silver ore. The stark realities of the harsh working conditions at that time are portrayed using minimal dialogue to maximum effect throughout the film. Plainview hires a team to mine the silver and inadvertently strikes oil. After one of his men dies in a drilling accident, Plainview takes over the care of his child, whom he names H.W. (Freasier). We meet up with them a decade later, as father and son are operating as a small, but successful mining company. They travel around the country buying up drilling rights to privately-owned land as the scramble for oil becomes more desperate. The film really takes off after a young man, Paul Sunday (Dano), approaches Plainview in an effort to sell information about his family’s oil-rich land. Plainview decides to check out the claim and visits the area on the pretence that they are quail hunting. The claim turns out to be true and Plainview quickly closes a deal with the family. The one fly in the ointment, however, is Paul’s twin brother, Ely, a self-righteous, rather creepy preacher, who insists that Plainview donates $10,000 to pay for ‘his’ church, which he has no option but to accept. Plainview’s local empire grows as he decides to buy up the surrounding property so he can construct a pipeline to the coast and forfeit the crippling shipping and railroad transport costs. All but one landowner, Bandy, sells up. Another accident, this time involving Plainview’s son, causes the child to loose his hearing. This tragedy affects them both deeply as they struggle to communicate and cope with this loss. The film twists and turns as his son is packed off to boarding school to learn sign language and Plainview is approached by a half-brother he never knew he had. He becomes suspicious of his sibling after a conversation about their childhood. Plainview shoots him when he confesses to lying about being his half-brother and buries the body on Bandy’s land. Plainview wakes the next morning to find Bandy standing over him, and literally blackmails Plainview into joining the church in exchange for leasing his land. The film culminates years later, as Plainview has turned to alcohol and is living alone in his mansion. The final scenes are poignant, sad and violent in equal measures. The film is long (2 hr 40), but you don’t feel the time pass once you settled into it. The performances are strong and credible. Day-Lewis is a genius and will have deserved any accolades that come his way. The sound track, written by Radioheads’s Jonny Greenwood, is stunning and complements the cinematographer’s harsh, dry desert shots. MOVIE: The Kite Runner Well on his way to realizing the American dream, Afghan immigrant Amir (Abdalla) receives a phone call from Rahim Khan (Toub in an excellent, textured performance), his father’s best friend, asking Amir to return home. We flash back to Amir’s boyhood in Kabul, prior to the Soviet invasion. Life is good. His father (Ershadi) is a sophisticated, passionate, modern man with little time for the retrograde ways of the Mullahs. Young Amir and his best friend Hassan (beautiful work from Ebrahimi and Mahmidzada - who won a critics award for best young actor - respectively) roam the streets of the city – as self-styled sultans of Kabul. But it is not an equal partnership. Amir is fearful where Hassan is fearless – like his talent for running down kites, Hussan also has a talent for doing the right thing: he just knows. Amir’s father, a Pashtun, is well-to-do. Hassan’s father, a Hazara, is his servant. Trouble strikes the friendship, brutally exposing Amir’s weaknesses. Amir, deeply shamed, reacts first by ignoring then by framing Hassan, implicating him in an act of theft. Leaving his wife (Leoni), Amir returns to help Rahim Khan. But it is Hassan’s son who needs Amir’s help. In his attempts to rescue the boy from the Taliban, Amir finds the best of himself by facing the worst of his country. There are some dreadful and disturbing scenes in this film and some deeply beautiful ones. It gives interesting insight into the transformation of Afghanistan society brought about by first the Soviet invasion then the rule of the Taliban. It is a telling companion piece to the film Charlie Wilson’s War. MOVIE: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly The story line…………. The premise upon which this story is set is not an easy one. In 1995 the journalist and editor of French Elle magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby (Amalric), suffers a stroke, is paralysed and left in a rare condition called ‘locked-in syndrome’. Once he fully realises his situation, he decides to co-operate with the hospital therapists and learns to communicate by blinking his left eye lid to identify when the correct letter of the alphabet is read aloud to eventually form a word. This sounds like a slow, painful process, and it is, but the story is told with humour and very little sense of self pity that you quickly come to admire this amazing person. The film tells his story in flashback sequences and present day events (seen through his left eye) as he learns to live in his new, altered, physical state. We learn that he is separated from his partner Céline (Seigner) and three children to be with his girlfriend whom he seemed to have a rather empty affair with. Anyway….. before the stroke Bauby had a book contract to write a female version of The Count of Monte Cristo. We hear him reflect that he should leave the masterpiece alone and decides to tell his story instead. He is sent an assistant, Claude (Consigny) who takes his dictation, and to some extent, saves his sanity. Bauby shares his fantasies, past experiences, family seaside outings, and touching conversations with his father, Papinou (played by the ever great Von Sydow). Parallels are easily drawn between his locked-in state his ageing father’s confinement to his apartment due to old age. The film winds back to show the moment Bauby suffered his stroke and you are reminded that Mathieu Amalric has guided you through an amazing cinematic performance. Great soundtrack too. MOVIE: Run Fatboy Run Set in London, this is a story of a commitment phobe, Dennis (Pegg) who runs out on his own wedding to his beautiful, heavily pregnant bride Libby (Newton). We meet up with him 5 years later to discover he is still single, still in touch with his ex, and closely involved with his son. He knows he made a mistake and wants to win Libby back. But now there’s a boyfriend on the scene. Whit (Azaria) is a wealthy, successful City banker who has also fallen for the lovely Libby and so Dennis sets out to prove he is a changed man and can be depended upon, reliable and worth having back in her life. Whit mentions he is going to run the London marathon which automatically spurs Dennis into action, and he decides to run it too, to prove to Libby he can commit to something big. The rest of the film is predictable with no surprises. If you’ve seen the shorts for this film, you’ll have seen the funny bits. This just isn’t a good comedy film. It isn’t the implausibility of the plot (Dennis starts training for the London marathon 3 weeks out), or the acting - which isn’t bad, it’s the script - its shite. The only reason this films gets 2 out of 10 is down to Dylan Moran, who plays Libby’s cousin and supporter to Dennis getting his life sorted. Moran is just always funny – in a charming way MOVIE: Before The Devil Knows You're Dead Two brothers, one a ‘successful’ real estate agent called Andy (Seymour Hoffman) and his drop kick younger brother Hank (Hawke) are both in need of some serious cash. Andy wants to disappear to Rio with his gorgeous wife (Tomei) to start all over again, and Hank is way behind in paying for child support to his ex. Andy dreams up the idea to rob a jewellery shop, where nobody gets hurt. This film unfolds in the Tarentino flashback mode of going back and forth from the robbery to snippets of ‘real time’ conversations that got them there in the first place. The robbery goes horribly wrong. Hank hires his ‘friend’ Bobby, a local bartender to do the hold up, as he can’t stomach that much real life drama. Bobby is shot, but so is the lady behind the counter, Hank and Andy’s mother. Both are killed. Hank flees the scene and we follow the ensuing funeral with captions from the days leading up to the robbery. From these snippets we find out that Hank and Andy’s wife have been having an affair and Andy has been stealing from his company. This is a dark movie. The acting is very good, but because none of the characters have any redeeming qualities, you don’t feel any empathy for where they end up. Twists and complications abound as Hank is blackmailed by Bobby’s girlfriend who demands $10,000 to keep quiet about the robbery. Meanwhile the father (Finney) cannot grieve the loss of his wife until he understands why their jewellery store was chosen for the robbery and undertakes his own investigations. His search leads him to his sons. It’s a futile story of greed and family resentment. Not a happy story, but a well-acted one. MOVIE: Lars and the Real Girl Let me preface this review with a phone conversation I had with a friend asking if she wanted to see a movie. OK, the movie does feature a bloke who brings home a blow up doll, but that’s not what the film is about. Lars (Gosling) is a young man with a few social hang ups. We learn that his mother died soon after he was born and he was brought up along with his older brother, by his heart-broken father. His brother (Schneider) later returns to the family home with his pregnant wife (Mortimer) and Lars moves out to the garage to give them some space. Lars becomes more withdrawn as his sister-in-law’s pregnancy progresses, but we only understand the reasons for this later. Lars is introduced to online shopping by one of his work colleagues and orders a doll (Bianca). At this point we see him enter his fantasy world to cope with the loss of his mother and his fears of loosing his sister-in-law to her impending birth. In order to help Lars through this turn of events, his family decides to seek the help of their GP, portrayed beautifully by Clarkson, who encourages everyone around him to go along with his delusion and treat Bianca as a real person, just as Lars does. He has imaginary conversations with her, builds up her background as he gets to know her, and the audience too is seamlessly drawn into going along with the fantasy for his sake. As the film progresses we see Lars work out his problems and push through his fears and awkwardness. The beauty of the film is captured in the way his friends also accept Bianca in order to help him deal with what he needs to. This film is worth seeing. The acting is strong. The director didn’t go in for any cheap laughs and it handles some weighty topics with gentle care and respect. MOVIE : Brick Lane A young, 17 year old Bangladeshi girl, Nazneen (Chatterjee) is sent to London in the ‘80s for an arranged marriage. Knowing no one and leaving behind her sister and widowed father, she has to make her new life on a poor, East London council estate. She does this without complaining, or any self pity, as she has been taught to accept her fate. She keeps in touch by frequent letters to her sister, whom she imagines is living a carefree life back in Bangladesh, but is, in fact, slowly destroying herself. We meet up with Nazneen 16 years later to discover she has two daughters with her husband, Chanu (Kaushik) whom she doesn’t love, but stays with for the sake of her family. Chanu resigns from his job and the family struggles financially to keep afloat. The arrival of a neighbour on her estate opens Nazeen’s eyes to the possibility of earning a living by sewing clothes for a factory outlet from home. Nazeen’s zest for life has deserted her, but she carries on, keeping her head down until she comes into contact with Karim (Simpson) who delivers the clothes to her house. Karim injects passion and forbidden love into Nazeen’s life, but the mood of the times is changing as the aftermath of 9/11 forces them to confront their life as Muslims living in London. This is a beautifully acted film about family, love and harsh realities. Everything is so totally believable that you are immersed in the story right up to the end when the credits roll and realise the film is over. MOVIE: Iron Man MOVIE: The Dark Knight This is a dark instalment in the American comic book series and viewers should be warned – this is the loudest film I have ever seen. Bruce Wayne (Batman) the successful business man (played again by Bale) continues his fight for justice on the streets of Gotham City. This time the threat is caused by the Joker (Ledger). Visually strong, Ledger steals every scene he’s in as a chilling, psychotic, and ever so mad criminal. Wayne continues his infatuation with Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhall) who is a good match for his ego. All the other actors play their parts well, but it’s Ledger’s performance that captures your attention. There are a few stunning visual effects and tricks – my personal favourite was Batman’s motor bike – but if it wasn’t for Ledger’s screen presence, I don’t think this film would have been so strong. MOVIE: In Bruges DIRECTOR: Martin McDonagh Two Irish, London-based hit men, Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) are sent to out hide out in the medieval city of Bruges to await further instructions by their gangster boss, Harry, (Fiennes) after a botched assassination job. Ken is willing to explore the sights and acts the tourist while Ray, who is wracked by guilt, is unable to take in the charm of the canals and gothic architecture – as he moodily explains to Ken “If I grew up in a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn’t, so it doesn’t”. The script is politically incorrect throughout but that doesn’t stop you from laughing. You feel like you’re listening to conversations between people who know each other very well and also know how to wind each other up. The dialogue is sharp, funny, shocking and believable in equal measures. Watch for the hysterical conversation about lollypop men that runs parallel to revelations of tragedy. While they wait for Harry to call, Ray meets Chloë (Poésy), a local drug dealer working on a film set and tries to strike up a romance. But even a simple dinner date goes wrong and Ray assaults a couple at the table next to them, with disastrous consequences. That evening Ken gets the call from Harry and is ordered to take Ray out for botching the assassination. Realising he has little option here, Ken accepts the job, but changes his mind at the last moment as he sees Ray about to shoot himself and stops him from doing so. Again, the conversations work beautifully as they struggle to share experiences and find a resolution to their situation. Ken convinces Ray to disappear, puts him a train out of Bruges and calls Harry to lay down his cards and waits for the fall-out to hit. Harry is furious and heads off to Bruges to sort him out. The pace doesn’t slow down and I think this is mainly due to the adroitly written script. The acting is brilliant, the scenery is beautiful, the characters are convincing and it all hangs together very well. There’s a twist at the end which Harry falls for, which seemed just right to me. MOVIE: The Bourne Ultimatum This films moves at an amazing pace as Jason Bourne flits across the globe without any hold ups at passport control, or pick ups at Duty Free. The story line…………. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is out for revenge on his superiors who trained him into the killing machine he is today. This third (and possibly final) instalment of the Bourne series starts off in Moscow, where the last film concluded. Bourne is injured and on the run from the police and breaks into a pharmacy to sort himself out. We are treated to a LOT of flash backs, so if you can’t remember the Bourne Supremacy, don’t worry, everything will be explained. The first flash back transports us to when he was training - not an easy time for our Jace – as he ends up fighting with his programmers and leaves on less than happy terms. Next stop – Italy Langley, USA London On to Spain Tangiers, Morocco New York. The CIA believes Bourne is dead but is still twitchy about the whole affair. Bourne makes contact with Landy and she tells him his real name. Of course the call is being monitored (remember the fabulous machine at the beginning of the film?) and the CIA baddies go looking for him. An impressive car and roof top chase later, Bourne finally winds up at Treadstone's headquarters. Dr Albert Hirsch is there waiting for him and questions are answered, and flash backs abound. I can’t give away the final scene, but it certainly keeps you watching till the end.
DIRECTOR: Martin McDonagh Two Irish, London-based hit men, Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) are sent to out hide out in the medieval city of Bruges to await further instructions by their gangster boss, Harry, (Fiennes) after a botched assassination job. Ken is willing to explore the sights and acts the tourist while Ray, who is wracked by guilt, is unable to take in the charm of the canals and gothic architecture – as he moodily explains to Ken “If I grew up in a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn’t, so it doesn’t”. The script is politically incorrect throughout but that doesn’t stop you from laughing. You feel like you’re listening to conversations between people who know each other very well and also know how to wind each other up. The dialogue is sharp, funny, shocking and believable in equal measures. Watch for the hysterical conversation about lollypop men that runs parallel to revelations of tragedy. While they wait for Harry to call, Ray meets Chloë (Poésy), a local drug dealer working on a film set and tries to strike up a romance. But even a simple dinner date goes wrong and Ray assaults a couple at the table next to them, with disastrous consequences. That evening Ken gets the call from Harry and is ordered to take Ray out for botching the assassination. Realising he has little option here, Ken accepts the job, but changes his mind at the last moment as he sees Ray about to shoot himself and stops him from doing so. Again, the conversations work beautifully as they struggle to share experiences and find a resolution to their situation. Ken convinces Ray to disappear, puts him a train out of Bruges and calls Harry to lay down his cards and waits for the fall-out to hit. Harry is furious and heads off to Bruges to sort him out. The pace doesn’t slow down and I think this is mainly due to the adroitly written script. The acting is brilliant, the scenery is beautiful, the characters are convincing and it all hangs together very well. There’s a twist at the end which Harry falls for, which seemed just right to me.
MOVIE: Burn After Reading Osbourne Cox (Malkovich) ‘resigns’ from his job as an analyst with CIA because of his drinking problem. He thinks he’s something special and decides to write his memoirs about life in the CIA. Unbeknownst to him he also has troubles at home – his wife, Katie (Swindon) wants to divorce him and start afresh with her lover, Harry (Clooney), a serial womaniser. Katie plans to find out as much as possible about her husband’s financial affairs before she starts proceedings, so she copies his computer files onto a disc which accidentally gets left behind at a gym. Chad (Pitt) works at the gym and gets hold of the disc. He’s not too bright, but along with his co-worker Linda (McDormand), decides that the disc contains information worth paying for. They hatch an unsuccessful plan to blackmail Cox, and so take the disc to the Russian embassy with promises of more material. This movie could easily be about 6 degrees of separation as Linda and Harry meet and start dating, just before circumstances lead Harry’s behaviour to spiral out of control, culminating in Linda being a piece of his paranoid puzzle. The film focuses heavily on people’s paranoia, and the CIA’s inability to make a rational, informed decision. The characters’ lives are tangled, messy and sad, but the performances are funny, cleaver, engaging and memorable.
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