Rev Stan's film blog

Madonna's vanity project: W.E. (or don't waste your money)

Another film that makes me feel like I've lost two hours of my life. The best I can say about this Madonna directorial/co-writing effort is that the actors did the best they could with a jumbled and contrived plot and naive and amateurish script.

I get the impression that Madonna wanted to focus on the sacrifices Wallis made in order to marry Edward as everyone concentrates on his sacrifices. Fine but why then dilute the whole thing with a ridiculous parallel storyline about a modern day Wallis-obsessed New Yorker who's in a troubled marriage?

That whole storyline just got in the way and I left me just wanting to see more of Wallis - perhaps Madonna just couldn't manufacture enough about her and her sacrifices to make it the central story line.

And don't even get me started on the Mohammad Al Fayad scene (I'm not kidding) or the mish-mash of shooting styles or the...nope I'm going to stop there.

Dreadful on so many levels I felt embarrassed for the actors particularly Andrea Riseborough who did a marvellous job considering.

It's get a big fat raspberry 19%/one star from me. On IMDb it's got 44% with a Metacritic score of 39% while on Rotten Tomatoes it's got a critics score of 23% and inexplicable 63% of audience members have given it 3.5 stars or more.

And as it's on the Guardian 50 film list albeit this one is recommended for it's idiocy here's what it's reviewer had to say about it. Well Peter Bradshaw and I seem to agree, he's given it 1 star also commenting: "Madonna delivers a tale of two wallies." Enough said really. 

Oh and if you still want to see it after watching the trailer, just take a tenner and burn it, you'll get more pleasure.

 

Oh Steven Spielberg what did you do to War Horse?

Have to confess that my initial thought about seeing the film was 'it won't be as good as the play' then my second thought was 'you don't want it to be as good at the play' and then my third thought was 'I'll bet you'll cry like a baby and love it'.

Well only one of those proved true and it wasn't the latter - although I did cry a couple of times.

My main problem with the film is that it is just too big and too Hollywood. There are rather too many scenes of sweeping landscapes and actors staring off into the sunset for my liking. It feels unnecessarily glossed at the expense of the heart of the story.

The film is longer than the play and I don't know whether they have added in stuff that was originally in the book or of the writers own devising but it diminishes the impact of the central Albert/Joey story. 

How Albert gets into the army when he is turned away for being too young isn't explained and scenes have been added to create dramatic tension that really don't seem necessary. The French grandfather coming back to bid for Joey at the end, for example.

The play had charm, primarily because of the puppet horses, but you also got a real sense of the danger and destruction of war. War Horse the film didn't have the charm. It feels like Spielberg was trying to make another big war epic rather than a film of a children's book and failed at both.

I'm giving it 48% (3 stars) only because I'm a sucker for an animal sob story and I cried twice in it and having subsequently seen J Edgar this weekend, I know which I'd rather sit through a second time if I had to.

It's on the Guardian 50 films for 2012 list and Peter Bradshaw has given it 2 stars: 

"Spielberg's version of the equine first world war yarn is an unconvincing attempt at summoning up the spirit of the time"

Maybe the Guardian and I are wrong because over on IMDb its got 74% with a Metacritic rating of 72% while on Rotten Tomatoes critics have given it 77% while 76% of audience members have given it 3.5 stars or more.

 

The very short J Edgar film review

Dull, dull, dull, dull, dull. And indulgent. Stop putting actors on awards shortlists because they got made up to look old.

Wasted two hours and 17 minutes of my life on that film and don't want to waste much more. It's getting (2 stars) 30% from me only because the acting was good, I liked what Naomi Watt's wore and Armie Hammer has nice eyes.

I'm blaming the Guardian 50 film list challenge for putting me through this one and they didn't like it either with Peter Bradshaw also giving it 2 stars and commenting:

Clint Eastwood's biopic of J Edgar Hoover never gets to grips with the FBI founder's sexuality, or his impact on American life

Over on IMDb its got a surprising 71% with a Metacritic score of 59% while on Rotten Tomatoes it's got 44% from critics while 52% of audience members give it 3.5 stars or more.

 

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.