Rev Stan's film blog

Woman in Black and why it works better as a film

I saw the stage version of The Woman in Black a few years ago, before I started going to the theatre again properly and couldn’t help thinking how much better it would work as a film.

There is something you can add to the whole horror/suspense genre on film with music, fleeting glimpse, sudden appearance and well, just the fear you see in the actors face and hear in their breathing when they are up on the big screen.

And this version starring Daniel Radcliffe and Ciaran Hinds proved me right. Radcliffe is not the best actor in the world but solid enough to pull off the young, bereaved and terrified Arthur Kipps contending with a vengeful ghost while trying to sort out the affairs of a bereaved client.

Director James Watkins employs every trick at his disposal to create a creepy and suspenseful drama that chills and even had me jumping out of my skin a few times. It is well done ghost story with a delicious twist to nicely round it off. 

Somethings work better on stage  - I just can’t bring myself to watch Carnage on the big screen having seen the stage version because even the trailer feels wrong but this is definitely a case of screen winning over stage.

I’m going to give it 75%, on IMDB it's got 71% and a Meta Critic score of 62%. While over on Rotten Tomatoes it has a critics score of 64% and 65% of site visitors gave it three and a half stars or more.

Oh and Mr Radcliffe himself was at the screening I went to, to introduce the film, here's a (not great) pic I snapped of him with James Watkins, there are a couple more over on my Flickr page:

Here's the UK trailer (the US one has a dreadful voice over)

 

Pics: Daniel Radcliffe introduces Woman in Black

Found out about this by chance last week and when it said screening 'introduced by Daniel Radcliffe' I thought perhaps it would just be a recorded video. But no it wasn't, he was there in person - very, very briefly with director James Watkins but still a treat nontheless.

He bounded into the spotlight from a side door said a few words about enjoying working on the film, it being scary and made a passing joke reference to Harry Potter being a small indy film series. And then he bounded off again to hysteria from a few fans.

In fact I'm curious as to why the cinema, Empire Leicester Square, wasn't busier - it was barely two thirds full. Harry Potter/Radcliffe fans are obviously losing their touch when it comes to stalking their idol.

More of my thoughts on the film itself to follow but in the meantime here are some pics that I hastily snapped - excuse quality, lighting wasn't great and the appearance was very brief.

 

Guardian 50 biggest films in 2012 challenge #2: The shamefully good Shame

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And indeed wow. Been a while since I've walked out of the cinema barely able to speak. And I wasn't the only one, don't think I heard a voice as I left the unusually busy early bird screening yesterday with my friend Kate.

This is a great film for so many reasons I don't know quite where to start. I suppose first of all I should say that considering the subject matter - a man with a sex addiction -  it is handled so perfectly, without glamour or titillation, leaving you in no doubt that this isn't a giggle-inducing problem but something quite emotionally devastating. It's human, that is the key, about the person not the action. The sex scenes are icily detached.

Director Steve McQueen achieves this with subtlety, atmosphere and art. Few words,  gob-smacking performances from Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan as brother and sister Brandon and Cissy and beautiful, nay a heart-wrenching score set against a glamourous New York back drop that feels for the most part incongruously grimy and seedy.

Stan's 2012 Guardian 50 film challenge begins...with The Iron Lady

It doesn't feel quite right starting on 2012's films while there are a couple of outstanding reviews plus my best of for 2011 still to post but I've had an idea and I'm impatient.

The Guardian has drawn up a list of what it sees as the 'biggest' films of 2012. Not sure what the criteria is for being the 'biggest' - the closest to an explanation is to describe it as it's film experts 'top picks', 50 in fact. 

Flicking through the list and probably 80% are either already on my list or have pique my interest. So what if I was to try and see them all during the year and then keep a tally on how the Guardian rates in their reviews compared to my own? I'm aware it is slightly nerdy but what the heck, I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.

So first on their list is The Iron Lady described by critic Xan Brooks in the list: 

Director Phyllida Lloyd gives us Thatcher without the Thatcherism in a perky biopic that amounts to a greatest hits package, bookended by scenes of the legend in her dotage, dancing with the ghost of Dennis and getting lost as she totters out in search of milk. What The Iron Lady has in its favour, though, is an electrifying bit of mimicry from Meryl Streep. The best actress Oscar looks all but guaranteed. 

Now I'm not a fan of Maggie, having harshly felt the effects of her Poll Tax as a student and taken part in the demonstrations but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in her as a woman who fought sexism and the establishment to become the first female British Prime Minister.

Her story is told through aging, widowed Maggie's eyes as a series of flashbacks and hallucinations in which her husband Dennis is still alive and converses with her.

There are some fantastic performances. I had reservations about Meryl Streep taking on the role but she is very, very good. Olivia Colman is a favourite of mine and can't do anything wrong so naturally I loved her Carol Thatcher. I was also particularly touched by little Harry Lloyd's young Dennis. 

However, my problem with the Iron Lady is that it doesn't feel political enough to be a film about politics, neither does it give enough insight into Thatcher to make if feel like a true biopic. Probably the area in which is was the most satisfying is the love story between Margaret and Dennis which was warmly portrayed.

Ralph Fiennes talks acting and directing Coriolanus

Looking the most relaxed and displaying a warmth rarely seen in the public eye Ralph Fiennes talked to Radio 4's Mark Lawson about his directorial film debut Coriolanus during a National Theatre platform event this evening.

Before opening up the questions to the audience Lawson talked to actor about the challenges of not only making and starring in a film but turning Shakespeare play into a film - not immediately a concept that gets film studios salivating. Three clips, chosen by Fiennes were also shown all of which gave a tantalising taster of what audiences can expect when the film opens in cinemas on January 20.

This is a slightly abridged version of the interview:

On his approach to the film:

Wanted to approach the text in a filmic manor making the dialogue conversational dialogue rather than keeping it in verse which is very theatrical and can be alienating.

With everything that has been going on around the world, Arab Spring etc felt the play had many parallels and therefore wanted to give it a modern setting.

Felt strongly that the world of Coriolanus should be multicultural and cast actors from different cultural backgrounds with a variety of accents.

On working as an actor/director

Had people around to give him an honest opinion on his own performance and because the filming process is such a whirlwind didn't get too much time to think about watching himself on the monitor. But it was tougher during the editing process "everything felt very exposed and I thought everything was shit, especially my own stuff".

Says the acting/directing roles are less defined than people imagine "The geography of where you are in a scene is defined by the camera." 

Had a dialect coach who gave a critical view of his performance but if he felt something was right in a scene would encourage it.

"Often it is collaborative between actors and director and the collaborative experiences are the best. For example working with Anthony Minghella never felt a strong finger suggesting what you'd done was wrong. Directing is about managing."

15-minute review: My Week With Marilyn

Bit behind with reviews so have decided to reintroduce 15-minute reviews....

So, My Week With Marilyn is based on a true story about Colin Clark who wangles himself a job working on the set of Laurence Olivier's Prince and Showgirl film with Marilyn Monroe. 

It's got some great actors in it, KennethBranagh is naturally very good as Olivier but it doesn't seem like a role that has stretched him (maybe that's his genius?), Eddie Redmayne plays Colin and it's great to see him as lead but again it does feel like a meaty enough role for his talents.

There is a small part for Judi Dench who naturally steals all her scenes and Zoe Wanamaker can do no wrong in my eyes but the stand out performance goes to Michelle Williams as Marilyn herself. You just can't take your eyes off her, which I guess is the effect Marilyn had. 

And it's a nice story, nicely done, engaging, entertaining but aside from Michelle Williams it is just nice and isn't going stand out in the crowd of 80 or so films I've seen this year. 

I'm going to give it 60%. On IMDb it's got 75% with a Metacritic score of 65%. On Rotten Tomatoes it's got 83% from both critics and site visitors.

 

 

The cheat post of three reviews in one: Wuthering Heights, Twiglet 4a & Snowtown

I've virtually run out of time to write these before I head off on holiday so I'm going to combine three short reviews into one post for brevity (if I wait until I get back, it'll never happen)

Wuthering Heights

This is stripped back version of the classic novel, devoid of cliched fancy costumes and violin heavy soundtrack instead you get an almost sensuous approach. The sounds of the landscape, the weather and creatures form the music and the backdrop. There is mud and rain and rough clothes of those who live from the land. 

It is a brutal portrayal with dialogue pared back to a minimum. Cathy and Heathcliff's is a visceral connection established in looks and touches but it is all the more powerful for it. 

Breathtaking in its beauty and brutality, its a refreshing take on what is actually quite an odd novel, my only reservations is that the long lingering shots of nature and constant use of pull focus gets a bit tiring in the end and I'd like to have seen 10 minutes or so trimmed from it's running time just to tightening it up a little.

Stan rating 74%, IMDb 67%, Rotten Tomatoes 81% from critics and 68% from audiences.

Twilight Breaking Dawn part 1

Never should have been split into two films, the result is indulgent and I haven't rolled my eyes so much in a Twilight movie yet. But I'm a sucker for a wedding and so the first half had me smiling. 

As a consequence when the plot moves into the wolves story line it feels like a different film. The scene when Jacob challenges the pack shouldn't have been done as wolves but as humans as it just felt like a kiddies film.

Think I'm over Twilight, there are far better and far more interesting Vampire stories being told elsewhere (True Blood, Vampire Diaries for example) but I've come this far with the films I feel as if I have to see it out.

Stan rating 56%, IMDb 47% and 45% from Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes 28% from critics and 92% from audiences (it's going to take loads of money regardless because of its fan base)

Snowtown

Certainly the most disturbing film I've seen in a long long time. Based on a true story of Australian serial killer John Bunting but told from the viewpoint of a 16-year old boy Jamie whom he takes under his wing. John becomes a father figure to Jamie but his vigilante morals against paedophiles and then homosexuals disguise the fact that he is a brutal sadist who takes pleasure inflicting pain and fear on his victims before murdering them. 

Jamie is at first flattered, John is charming and pays him attention but slowly he manipulates the teen introducing him into his world bit by bit until he is terrified and reluctantly does all that John asks.

There is one particularly gruesome scene but it is the growing threat from John, all smiles and charm on one hand and a torturer and murderer on the other.  

It's a gritty and simply shot film with little by way of dramatic embellishment. Jamie says little but emotes a great deal and I was squirming in my seat for him. Fantastically naturalist performances all around.

Its haunted me for days. I'm glad I saw it but I don't think I could ever watch it again.

Stan rating 80%, IMDb 68%, Rotten Tomatoes 93% from critics and 73% from audiences

First trailer for Benedict Cumberbatch's Wreckers

Saw this brilliant film at the London Film Festival a couple a weeks ago and couldn't put the trailer at the end of my review, as I normally do, because, we were told at the screening, it was still being put together. Well it's finished now ahead of it's December release. It looks like it will be select cinemas only, which is a shame although I doubt it is going to appeal to the average multiplex visitor (that makes me sound snobby, I know).

Go and see it when it's out in December it's a great film about a newly married couple (Cumberbatch and Claire Foy) realising that they don't actually know each other quite as well as they first thought.

 

I Need to Write About Kevin

Must have seen the trailer for We Need to Talk About Kevin about half a dozen times over recent cinema visits but unlike Melancholia it just heightened my anticipation and, by the numbers that were in the early bird screening today, I wasn't alone.

It's based on the novel by Lionel Shriver about a mother coming to terms with an appalling act of violence carried out by her son and questioning her part in shaping him into a someone capable of such an act.

The story flits backwards and forwards from before Kevin's conception to his mother visiting him in prison putting the pieces together that lead up to the dispicable act.

From the opening sequence where Eva (Tilda Swinton) is enjoying a festival in France which involves everyone smothering themselves in tomatoes to scraping off the first lot of paint smeared on her house post Kevin's trial, red becomes a powerful motif. It is an ambiguous colour symbolic of both love and horror and summing up nicely Eva's feeling for her son from his birth.

#LFF Benedict Cumberbatch goes darker in Wreckers

With a title like Wreckers you know that no matter how solid and seemingly perfect a relationship appears, something or someone is going to shatter it.

Married couple Dawn (Claire Foy) and David (Benedict Cumberbatch) have moved out of the city to the rural village where David grew up to start a family.

It's all very idyllic: doing up an old cottage, chickens in the garden, singing in the local church choir and then David's brother Nick (Shaun Evans) turns up. Nick is in the army and has done active service in the Middle East.

There is an immediate and obvious close bond between the two brothers who haven't seen each other for a long time. Nick suffers terrible nightmares and is prone to sleep walking and David is a adept at dealing with these episodes - something he has learnt from the past.

The longer Nick stays the more of the past - the brothers childhood - is brought up fuelling a growing tension between the siblings and threatening to expose the lies in Dawn and David's own relationship. The problem is exacerbated by the reigniting of old friendships with former school friends who still live in the village.

This is a gentle, slowly unraveling film which examines love, rivalry and betrayal. Foy and Cumberbatch make for a natural and compelling couple which is the lynch pin of the film, a sunshine that is slowly engulfed in the darkness of lies and deceit. Both give wonderfully subtle performances often played out in the tightest of close ups and they have able support from the rest of the cast.

Wreckers is evocative and beguiling, another cracking low budget, independent British film and I hope it gets the wide distribution it deserves.

I'm going to give it 80% but you'll have to take my word for it, this being its first airing and part of the London Film Festival, it hasn't been widely reviewed and therefore doesn't have any IMDb, Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes rating yet. It doesn't even have a trailer yet that's how fresh out of the can the screening was.