Rev Stan's film blog

A Royal Affair and the man that made it most memorable

I know what you are thinking. Some hunky actor stripping off has elevated this Danish costume flick above a star rating it really merits. Well you'd be wrong (on this occasion). 

The man that made A Royal Affair quite so memorable was an elderly gent, with an Einstein-esq mop of white hair sat in the row in front who took to randomly shouting things at the screen. At first it was a very vocal defence of the heroine who was being particularly badly treated by her husband the King of Denmark. 

Then later he turned his outbursts to the UK government, presumably drawing some sort of parallel with what was happening between crown and government in 18th Century Denmark. At least we know he was certainly finding the film affecting.

And it is a good, solid film. Not an amazing film. Having checked on the fount of all knowledge that is Wiki it seems to be based on real events. The story is that an English princess is betrothed to the Danish King Christian VII. She sets out determined to be a good wife and he is an arse to her, well it's most likely some sort of undiagnosed paranoid psychological disorder but he is pretty horrible. 

A new country doctor is employed as the King's physician and he seems to have a knack with the King. In the meantime the Queen has done her duty and produced an heir and closed the door on her husband. The physician is asked to look after the Queen and finding a kindred spirit an affair quickly starts.

The love triangle proves productive with the doctor and Queen persuading the King to be more authoritative in Parliament and push through reforms that benefit the ordinary people. But it soon all starts to unravel as the King's council and his dominant step mother smell a rat.

Great to see Mads Mikkelsen in a non-baddie role - he plays the doctor - and I liked the juxtaposition of love story, politics and history. Came away having been engaged, entertained and educated a little on a part and period of European history that was alien to me. However, the frosty winter setting for most of it must have seeped into the characters because I never warmed to them quite as much as I should have. As a consequence it felt like it stopped just short of feeling like a tragedy.

I'm going to give it 64%. On IMDb it has 77% with no Metacritic rating yet. And on Rotten Tomatoes it has 95% with 85% of site visitors rating it three and a half stars or higher.

Finally Robert Pattinson puts in a performance: Cosmopolis

 

I'm not going to pretend that I fully understood David Cronenberg's latest, Cosmopolis, because I don't think I came close but I walked out of the cinema feeling exhilarated by the experience.

On paper the story is about the day young billionaire asset manager Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson) decides he wants his hair cut and the place he wants it cut is across town. So while his business seems to be going down the pan, anti-capatalism riots are in full flow and someone is threatening to kill him, he insists on making the journey in his limo.

During the course of the journey he has sex, has meetings, has a rectal exam and pursues his young wife, a billionaire poet, who doesn't want to sleep with him. Oh and he gets a pie thrown in his face.

But this isn't an action packed thrill ride as the eventful journey (or trailer) suggests, this is an atmosphere laden study on, among other things, capitalism, the value of money, freedom, fate, man's place in the world etc. You get the idea. It does sound dull but it isn't. Well I didn't find it all dull.

I found Pattinson a charismatic screen presence for the first time in his acting career, certainly not just a pretty face here. Its almost ironic because the character he plays is an emotional husk of a man. Packer's knowledge and possessions surpass most peoples wildest dreams and yet he is bent on a sometimes painful search for something new. Pattinson manages to give Packer an intelligent depth, hints of who he once was before the emotional malaise set in, a malaise he tries on a number of occasions to physically jump start himself out of.

And there are some great supporting cameos from the likes of Samantha Morton, Paul Giamatti, Juliette Binoche and Mathieu Almaric.

Cosmopolis feels apocalyptic on an emotional level begging the question of how we got to this point, where people can lose millions and place so little value on it, and where anything can be bought for a price, where ultimately there is a loss of care.

It's difficult to explain fully why I loved Cosmopolis but I did. It certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea but it was mine. I'm giving it 82%. On IMDb it has 63% and no Metacritic score yet while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 58% with 47% of site visitors giving it three and a half stars or more.

The gothic feel of Snow White and the Huntsman and the silly Disney moment

Last weekend as well as Prometheus, I also saw Snow White and the Huntsman and I think it's the latter that I enjoyed most. Both are visually stunning films but I just felt more engaged with this gothic take on the Snow White story - despite Kristen Stewart.

I loved the illusory feel to it - the evil Queen's brother thinks she is talking to herself because he can't see the mirror (is it all in her head?) and the hallucinogenic mushrooms in the woods that made a creepy almost del Toro-esque wood even more creepy.

In fact I loved the whole tone and dark feel to it which is probably why the elysium woods sequence with the Aslan-style deer and where everything looked like it had walked straight off the set of a Disney cartoon jarred. It is my only real criticism.

It's worth seeing for the dwarves alone with such a delicious collection of acting royalty, I almost squealed as I identified them: Toby Jones, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Bob Hoskins and Eddie Marsan.

Kristen Stewart was OK - she's yet to give a performance that didn't remind me in large parts of Bella, Chris Hemsworth is just hunky and Charlize Theron was superb but then playing the baddie is often the best role.

It was good, all round fun and a visual feast so I'm going to give it 79%. On IMDb it's got 67% with a Metacritic score of 57%. While on Rotten Tomatoes it has 47% and 59% of site visitors gave it 3.5 stars or more. The two people I work with who go to the cinema regular also both really enjoyed it so perhaps we were blind to the flaws the critics see in it.

The Raid - strong contender for my least favourite film of the year

Think The Raid will go down as the film I disliked most in 2012 and probably longer. It's not that it is badly made indeed the fight choreography is quite incredible, it's just that for me a well done fight scene doesn't a film make.

In fact if you don't like fighting, which I don't particularly although I can tolerate a bit when absolutely necessary, then there is no reason whatsoever to see this film. It is essentially one long fight scene after another as a group of police try to take down a gang boss who has taken up residence in a tower block where he leases apartments to criminals.

There are fights with guns, fights with knives and other sharp objects and lots of martial arts fighting. Take it all away and you are probably left with about 20 mins of plot. 

I nearly left several times and only the hope that, as it seems to have wowed critics and done so well on the festival circuit, it would get more interesting. It didn't.

It is extremely violent throughout but the extent of the violence meant that rather than looking into my lap as I would normally I became quickly desensitised. It felt gratuitous and well just boring after a while.

I know I'm most likely not the target audience so take everything I write with a small pinch of salt but you can't say I didn't give it a try. It's getting 10% from me. On IMDb it has 81% with a Metacritic score of 73% and on Rotten Tomatoes it has 83% from critics and 92% of site visitors gave it three and a half stars or more. So what do I know?

 

Will an Alien series virgin like Prometheus?

Prometheus is certainly sepectacular to watch but I don't know whether it's because I've not seen any of the Alien films (nothing to do with not wanting to) and am not wedded to the concept but I thought it was very good, not great.

It has a fantastic cast with some superb performances - particularly enjoyed Michael Fassbender as the sinister robot Michael - but the script feels at times a little clunky and action movie 101. I felt talked down to as if I wasn't quite bright enough to keep up with not very complicated plot. 

My other bug bear is that for a group of seemingly highly intelligent human beings they aren't half stooopid. I suppose they have to be to generate the narrative.

It is a visual and effects feast though and I'd love to see all the 'makings of' stuff but it somehow lacked a bit of heart. You never really get under the skin of Noomi Rapace's character in order to fully understand her motives or to empathise.

So much to be admired but not quite satisfying to be a rounded hit, I am giving it 78%. On IMDb it's got 83% with a Metascore of 63%. While on Rotten Tomatoes it has 80% from critics and 87% of site visitors have given it three and a half stars or higher.

PS I spent the whole film thinking that it was Tom Hardy was playing Charlie Holloway when it is in fact Logan Marshall-Green - those two could be brothers.

 

Review round up: Salmon Fishing In The Yemen and Jeff Who Lives At Home

Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

Haven't read the book so didn't have any preconceived ideas about this. And, I also wasn't planning to see it but ended up buying a ticket on a whim. But I'm really glad I did because it's a nice gentle rom com. Funny and warm, if a little predictable it worked for me. A pleasant couple of hours in the cinema and so I'm giving it 73%. 

On IMDb it has 69% and a Metascore of 58% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 68% and 72% of site visitors gave it three and half stars or higher.

Jeff Who Lives At Home

From the trailer this could have gone one of two ways: quirkily funny or just irritating. It's about Jeff who is too old to be still living at home and sits around smoking dope and generally not doing anything useful. He believes that everything is a sign, that fate will lead you down the right path and in the process of following 'a sign' one day he ends up on a voyage of self-discovery.

And it worked. It is nicely quirky with some laugh out loud moments. Susan Sarandon as Jeff's mum is particularly good and the Porsche scene still makes me chuckle.

I'm giving it 73% while on IMDb it has 70% with a Metacritic score of 60%. On Rotten Tomatoes it has 77% and 74% of site visitors gave it three and half stars or more.