Rev Stan's film blog

The amazing American

To say that The American is about a killer with a heart is to over simplify and do a diservice to this complex and atmospheric character study.

The only thing we know for sure about George Clooney's charcter Jack/Edward is that his job is to kill people; for whom and in what capacity is never revealed. The scene is set in a secluded snowy landscape where Jack is spending time with a lover in a chalet. On a walk he quickly realises he's being stalked. A gun battle ensues and the lover, now a witness, is disposed of with seemingly little thought. 

Quickly departing the scene of the crime he heads to Italy where his boss/handler arranges a place for him to live in a small mountain village where he decides enough is enough and is given one last, low key job to perform.

With a screenplay written by Roland Joffe (28 Days Later/Brighton Rock) and directed by Anton Corbijn (Control) The American isn't your average spy/assassin thriller/action movie. For a start the action sequences are few. Instead Corbijn plays on layers of ambiguity to create something far more deliciously subtle and tense that seems more about the central character than the unfolding plot.

The idylic pastoral setting it at once beguiling and threatening with Corbijn unexpectedly shattering the peace on occasion and making even the nosy neighbours seem slightly less than innocent. Jack is, of course, the biggest ambiguity. He is an emotionless, alert and experienced killer and yet someone who craves company and closeness. Friendship, particularly with women, is his weakness.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - does it end well?

And so we come to the final film in the Lisbeth Salander/Millenium trilogy. The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo was thrilling and had me hooked, The Girl Who Played With Fire wasn't quite as good but I put that down to it being the awkward in-between film leading up to the finale.

So I settled down with a hot cuppa in a rather chilly Curzon Soho (disadvantage of it being the first screening of the day) to see how things pan out for Lisbeth. Has she survived the attack by her father? Has her father survived her attack on him? Will her half-brother come after her? Will the truth about her past and how she was treated ever come to light? Will the secret organisation hiding behind the cloak of the Swedish government be exposed? And will Lisbeth ever be certified clinically sane?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: the verdict

Mixture of excitement and nervousness about this one after the Dumbledore/astronomy tower debacle of the Half Blood Prince.

Much relief in that there isn't any obvious messing with the story this time although I've purposefully avoided the book so it's not too fresh in my mind. But it bodes well for part 2.

Deathly Hallows 1 certainly seems the most polished of the films so far. The production is much more grown up, reflecting the subject matter and maturing characters, flexing its film-craft muscles using hand held cameras for some of the action sequences, for example. 

And the CGI too seems the most polished of the films. Technology has developed or perhaps the film makers just had more time with this one. Dobby and Kreacher in particular are about as 'real' as they could be. Lets face it, Harry weeping over a bad CGI Dobby would be a hard scene to give emotional gravitas to otherwise.

Indeed Daniel Radcliffe's ability as an actor continues to grow, no doubt helped by his stints on stage and screen outside the franchise. There is great rapore between Harry and Emma Watson's Hermione but Rupert Grint's  Ron seems a bit stodgy, almost as if he has outgrown the character.

I haven't read any reviews but I confidently predict that a good handful of them will comment on Hallows being darker than the others and of course it is only right as the characters reach adulthood the film matures. Indeed there is one particularly bloody scene where Hermoine treats what is a very convincingly 'splinched' Ron. Maybe it's because of this that Ron's humour seems sometimes a little out of place and awkward at times.

The film has not manage to overcome the dull sequence in the book when the trio seem to spend endless hours in different campsites, not making much progress with their search for horcruxes and I did wonder how engaged the younger members of the audience were.

Let Me In: confirmation of what I first suspected

Thanks Mark Kermode for eliminating any doubt in my mind that I was making the right decision in not going to see Let Me In, the english remake of Let the Right One In.

I was actually starting to consider it but after watching Mr Kermode's video blog, it confirms my first suspicion that all the subtlety of the original would be stomped out in the remake. If anyone else has seen both, I'd be interested to know if you share the same opinion.

 

 

 

Another pic of Ben Whishaw as Ariel (and some TV news)

I only go away for a week and there is all sorts of exciting news about Mr W (thanks to @polyg for texting me to let me know). After a dry period of project announcements he's finally found something to sink his acting teeth into: The Hour. It is the BBC's answer to Mad Men (apparently), only set in a 1950s London newsroom and has a pretty starry cast that includes Romala Garai and Dominic West, who I last saw on stage at the Donmar earlier this year.

Naturally I'm very excited and will be doing everything I can to discover where filming is taking place in the capital. I've got three months to crack it.

Anyway another little morsel of delight I came back to was this picture of Mr W as Ariel in The Tempest which I found over at aceshowbiz.com. There is a bulging bag of other stills from the film on their site too.  Am loving Ben's moobs and the long blond hair.

Still no UK release date though.