Rev Stan's film blog

Review: The superb Selma

Synopsis: Biopic of Martin Luther King's campaign for equal voting rights for blacks in 1965 Alabama.

Stan's thoughts: There has been a shameful lack of awards nominations for this film. Rather than trying to do a cradle to the grave biopic the narrative concentrates on particular period of Martin Luther King's life and a specific campaign to get equal voting rights which culminated in protest marches in Selma, Alabama.

David Oyelowo's performance as King is breathtaking to watch and ably supported by a whole bunch of brilliant British thesps - Tom Wilkinson as president Johnson, Carmen Ejogo as Coretta King and Tim Roth as Governor George Wallace.

The history that this film portrays is shocking and the method with which victory is secured inspiring but the film also delves into Dr King's family life, the tension between his political career and role as father and husband.

It is delicately handled and roundly presented, oozing with tension it's not always easy to watch but rewarding nonetheless.

Ratings

• Stan’s 85%
• IMDB 76%
• Metascore 89%
• Rotten Tomatoes 99%
• RT Audience Rating* 87%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Review: Trying to make hacking exciting in Blackhat

Synopsis: Jailed hacker Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) is temporarily released to help stop a cyber attack.

Stan's thoughts: Blackhat is the epitome of how difficult it is to make an exciting film about hackers. Firstly they spend all their time on computers writing and looking at code which isn't very filmic or dramatic. Secondly, it's quite technical so mere non-coding mortals like myself don't fully understand what it is the baddies are doing or what the goodies are doing to try and stop them.

In order to get around these problems Chris Hemsworth is not only a hacker but has been made into an action hero. He doesn't merely sit in front of a lap top tapping away, oh no, he goes out with the police chasing baddies and wielding a gun. In fact he seems to be quite good at wielding a gun and fighting and doesn't in anyway seem phased by getting involved in big shoot outs. Computer science classes can't be for the faint-hearted.

Sounds bad doesn't it? It is. In fact the first three quarters of the film is dull - the computer bits you don't understand and the action hero bits are so improbable they aren't even funny.

When the filmmakers seem to abandon all attempt at geekery and it is all about action in the last half hour, it's actually quite good fun.

Ratings

• Stan’s 42%
• IMDB 56%
• Metascore 51%
• Rotten Tomatoes 33%
• RT Audience Rating* 27%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Review: Jupiter Ascending (into the heaven of duff films)

Synopsis: Jupiter (Mila Kunis) has a mundane life cleaning houses unaware that she is genetically linked to a powerful family intent on getting their hands on her and her rightful inheritance.

Stan's thoughts: Was really looking forward to this. Needed some good sci-fi/fantasy action fun after all the intense, thought-provoking Oscar films I've been devouring recently. It has the Wachowski's writing and directing and a superb cast of British thesps supporting Kunis and Channing Tatum in the leads. What could go wrong?

Well the script mainly. The film was just a few minutes in when I was wincing with embarrassment for the actors having to deliver such trite nonsense. The amount of what critic Mark Kermode calls 'Basil exposition' should have set alarm bells ringing - if you need that much explanation of the world you've created and plot set up then something is wrong. Another warning bell is that it felt long and it was only 2 hours 8 minutes long.

While I was watching I couldn't help thinking that all the energy and imagination had gone into creating the fantasy world and the special effects. Well I say imagination there are plenty of Cloud Atlas reference points to spot (and I loved that film). It all felt a bit too much. If they'd stuck with the super humans and splicers - humans spliced with animal and presumably alien DNA then it might have worked better.

The pleasure in watching this was spotting the British thesps - Eddie Redmayne giving a scenery chewing performance as one of the baddies, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Tuppence Middleton, Douglas Booth, Vanessa Kirby, Sam Barnett...I just hope they took home a good pay packet.

Jupiter Ascending feels like the Wachowski's have vomited up 10-course banquet of ideas and as a result you can't see the amuse-bouche for the fish course.

Ratings

• Stan’s 35%
• IMDB 60%
• Metascore 40%
• Rotten Tomatoes 22%
• RT Audience Rating* 52%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Review: Dopey drama in Inherent Vice

Synopsis: Joaquin Phoenix plays a dope smoking private investigator asked by his ex-girlfriend to help out her two timing lover who's about to be sectioned by his wife and her boyfriend. I think.

Stan's thoughts: Got really excited by the trailer for this. It looked a little eccentric in style and tone and a little bit silly and, after all the worthy and/or tense Oscar fodder I've consumed in recent weeks, was just what I was looking for. Sadly it didn't live up to expectation.

The best way to describe it like going out with a group of people you don't know very well and staying sober while they all get off their tits. It's gets boring quite quickly. The plot is rambling to say the least and there are a ton of characters, some you never even see, which makes it difficult to follow; in fact I couldn't really tell you what was going on half the time.

There is also an inordinate amount of female nudity which felt gratuitous very quickly.

Inherent Vice has some great little moments and I did laugh out loud a couple of times but not enough to keep the whole thing together. Sorry PT Anderson but I was a bit bored.

Ratings

• Stan’s 40%
• IMDB 72%
• Metascore 81%
• Rotten Tomatoes 72%
• RT Audience Rating* 56%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

 

 

Review: Teacher vs talent in the thrilling Whiplash

Synopsis: Andrew (Miles Teller) enrolls as a prestigious music school where he comes under the tutelage of Fletcher (JK Simmons) who will stop at nothing to get the performance he wants out of his pupils.

Stan's thoughts: Fame this isn't. There is no dancing in the corridor and friendly pep talks just a teacher who walks into a room and everyone immediately stands up and is silent, a teacher who is a perfectionist and will use whatever means necessary - psychological or physical - to get what he wants.

As a result Whiplash is a tense, nerve jangling psychological study and not what I was expecting. It is gripping battle of minds, personality and talent that keeps you on the wrong foot until the very end at which point you just want to stand up and applaud.

A worthy best film Oscar nomination and likewise best supporting actor for JK Simmons but a shame Miles Teller isn't getting recognised. This is an unexpected gem of a film, powerful, disturbing and thrilling to watch. And that's all I'm going to say because anything else would spoil it.

Ratings

• Stan’s 86%
• IMDB 87%
• Metascore 88%
• Rotten Tomatoes 95%
• RT Audience Rating* 96%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Review: American Sniper

Synopsis: Based on the story of real life US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle who became a legend for his pinpoint sniper accuracy during the Iraq war.

Stan's thoughts: Clint Eastwood makes very American films doesn't he? That probably seems like an odd statement but there is a particular type of patriotism in America that we just don't have in Britain, a patriotism that can be difficult to fully comprehend. It's a cultural thing and can be slightly alienating especially as Clint Eastwood's films tend to portray it in a full suited and booted form.

Where American Sniper wins for me - and I had no idea who Chris Kyle was or that he was in fact an actual person when I sat down to watch - is in its dealing with the psychological effects of his work. This is most acute when he returns home after tours.

The war time environment is so ingrained in him that he can't fully relax. Bradley Cooper who plays Kyle doesn't need to say anything as, out of the corner of his eye, he watches a car overtaking him on the freeway, you just know he is assessing it for potential threat, in the same way he would in Iraq. Having spent so much time with him 'on tour' in the film, I found myself sharing his suspicion: 'would someone pull a gun?'.

It makes for a nerve jangling film and you can understand how his military life becomes all encompassing. It's a wall of physical self preservation and a psychological muscle that can't flex to civilian life when he's back home. Not knowing his story made the ending all the more powerful.

This isn't the sort of film that is going to linger too much on the impact his dangerous job has on his wife and family; Sienna Miller* plays his wife Taya and does a great job with what she is given. I think there is a whole separate story as to how she coped; at one point she is on the phone to Chris in Iraq and he comes under attack. The phone is dropped and Taya hears the whole battle not knowing what is going on at the other end of the line or whether her husband is alive or dead.

American Sniper is a testament to Clint Eastwood's directing skills in that it has more depth than your average war movie but, for my personal taste, it was just a little too reverential at times.

* Sienna Miller is in two Oscar nominated Best Films but hasn't herself been nominated.

Ratings

• Stan’s 70%
• IMDB 77%
• Metascore 45%
• Rotten Tomatoes 73%
• RT Audience Rating* 88%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

 

Review: Steve Carrell is scary in track suit bottoms - Foxcatcher

Synopsis: Based on true events, multi-millionaire John du Pont (Steve Carrell) sets up a training camp for wrestlers looking to compete in the Seoul Olympics. Among those training are the Schultz brothers Mark (Channing Tatum) and David (Mark Ruffalo) who are already Olympic champions.

Stan's thoughts: The synopsis and trailer don't really give you a proper insight into what this film is about. It's a psychological thriller that makes for an uncomfortable two and bit hours in the cinema - but that certainlyisn't a criticism.

Carrell's performance is quite incredible and key to why this film works. John du Pont is a complex character whose motives and intentions are never fully clear. He has a difficult relationship with his mother (a brilliant Vanessa Redgrave), has had a very privileged but potentially lonely upbringing, comes across as interested and passionate about his hobbies but likes to get his own way.

He makes those around him just a little uncomfortable. The way he holds his head slightly back looking over the bridge of his nose and meets peoples gaze for just a bit too long after the conversation has finished is part of it.

Then there are the track suit bottoms. There is something just a little bit odd and creepy about someone who wears tracksuit bottoms most of the time or maybe that is just me.

This is a film about the relationship between three people who happen to share a passion for wrestling. It's not a sport I know anything about or have any real interest and while it is peripheral to the story, I walked away with a better appreciation for the skill involved.

A lot of people are talking about Channing Tatum's performance in this and it is certainly his best by a long shot even if his 80s haircut is a little bit scary.

I know some have found this a little too uncomfortable to watch and some might find it a little plodding but for me it's careful and considered pace is what helps give it its taut atmosphere.

This is a film of great quality, a film of great subtlety that makes you want to go and spend time watching something fluffy and colourful afterwards.  Steve Carrell's John du Pont still haunts me a week on.

Ratings

• Stan’s 83%
• IMDB 74%
• Metascore 81%
• Rotten Tomatoes 87%
• RT Audience Rating* 74%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

 

Review: The brilliance of Birdman

Synopsis: A former super hero movie actor Riggan (Michael Keaton) is trying to revive his career and credibility by adapting, directing and starring in a Broadway play while his ex-druggy daughter and managing his love life.

Stan's thoughts: I'm not party to what goes on back stage before, during and after a performance but having watched Birdman I don't think I'll sit through a play with quite the same impression.

Birdman is so many things. It is a satire on actors, critics, Hollywood and theatre; it is an existential comedy drama and it is a farce. It is a film that you want to enjoy over again so you can better take in everything in the background.

There are some brilliantly funny lines that had me cackling with laughter and I wasn't the only one:

"Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige"

It is also a brilliant, brilliant showcase for the talent of the actors. Being a film about theatre, the actors who are in Riggan's play - Andrea Riseborough, Naomi Watts and Ed Norton - get to perform as their film characters, their play characters and sometimes somewhere half way in between. I'm still giggling when I think about Edward Norton - we don't see anywhere near enough of him on screen these days.

Keaton also gets to play his alter ego Birdman, a corrupting voice in his head, a metaphor for...well you could write reams on it.

And I can't not mention the excellent performances of Emma Stone as Riggan's daughter Zach Galifianakis as his lawyer/manager and Lindsay Duncan as the critic who can make or break a show.

Birdman is really clever, intelligent and very funny and I can't wait to see it again.

Ratings

• Stan’s 90%
• IMDB 87%
• Metascore 89%
• Rotten Tomatoes 93%
• RT Audience Rating* 85%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Catch up review: Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Synopsis: After being rescued from the Games at the end of Catching Fire, Katniss finds herself struggling with acute post traumatic stress and is manipulated into becoming the figurehead of the rebellion.

Stan's thoughts: My admiration for the adaptations of what are among my all time favourite novels continues. The film makers haven't attempted to gloss over the horror - physical and psychological of what the key characters experience. This first part of the final book is all about media, propaganda and manipulation with a complex character and relationship story thread weaved through it.

Jennifer Lawrence brilliantly portrays the traumatised Katniss who is not only struggling with PTS but a whole raft of mixed up feelings about Gale and the captured Peta. It sounds like teen schmultz but this is something far more intelligent and psychologically probing.

Josh Hutcherson doesn't get much screen time as Peta in this one being in the Capitol but through Katniss he is ever present and we do get to see much more of the ever so handsome Liam Hemsworth as Gale. Bonus.

Was slightly worried at the end of Catching Fire that Finnick (Sam Claflin) was going to be a more stable and together character than the book portrays but that seems to have been set right although I think his character's story has been a little sacrificed in order to keep the running time down. New cast members Julianne Moore as President Coin and Natalie Dormer as Cressida slot in perfectly though.

Have seen this three times now (yep) and it is some sort of Capitol torture having to wait for the final part in November.

Ratings

• Stan’s 90%
• IMDB 72%
• Metascore 64%
• Rotten Tomatoes 65%
• RT Audience Rating* 75%

* Number of people rating 3.5/5 or higher

Review: Stan's screen star of 2014 gets tortured in Unbroken

Synopsis: Biopic about Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell) an olympic runner and American Airforce bombardier in the second world war who survived days at sea in a life raft only to be picked up by the Japanese army and interned in a prisoner of war camp where he was brutally picked on by one prison guard.

Stan's thoughts: When you list all the things Louis went through and there is a shark attack in there it seems almost unreal and perhaps that is part of the problem, the film sometimes feels relentless like you are sitting ticking off the key moments shown in the trailer.

After a particularly clunky first act it does find its feet once Louis begins to form bonds with his fellow survivors. Jack O'Connell who plays Louis is my screen star of 2014 (Starred Up, '71) and an actor I can't wait to see what he does next. He makes this film for me. He has an amazing screen presence and has so much going on behind his eyes you could ditch his scant script entirely and he'd still tell the story brilliantly.

But despite his star turn the film ends up feeling like it is in awe of Louis leaving little room for the audience to feel that for themselves.

Ratings

• Stan’s 55%
• IMDB 72%
• Metascore 59%
• Rotten Tomatoes 51%
• RT Audience Rating* 77%