Rev Stan's film blog

Review: Did the long awaited Cloud Atlas live up to expectation?

Synopsis: Six separate stories spanning from the 1800s to the 22nd Century linked thematically by ideas of reincarnation, love, freedom, destiny and redemption.

Stan's thoughts: Life of Pi proved that what was thought to be an unfilmable book could translate to the big screen and Cloud Atlas has similarly broken the mould, although I do wonder how much those who haven't read it actually get out of the film. The screen adaptation is far less subtle, I suppose for this very reason. Having your key actors pop up in medium and minor roles in all the story lines is something that only works on the screen and makes for quite a fun game of 'spot the actor behind the make up'.

Plots have been tinkered with upping the drama and I tried hard not to draw comparisons with the book as that inevitably disappoints but I couldn't help it with the Frobisher storyline - my favourite in the book and on screen featuring my fav Ben Whishaw. I remember being completely charmed by Frobisher and moved as it built up to the tragic suicide (not a plot spoiler as it happens very early in the film) but this, despite magnificent performances from Mr W, James D'Arcy and Jim Broadbent, was somehow diminished in the film.

Each of Mitchell's stories could make a film in its own right and in condensing down the book to two hours and 40 minutes you do lose a lot of the characterisation and some of the plot but where the film works is in the visualisation of his worlds. It is truly breathtaking in its scope and imagination and held my attention throughout.

Without breaking it up and concentrating on fewer plotlines I'm not sure how they could have made this better. Oh and if nothing else it is worth watching just to see Hugh Grant released from the rom-com shackles and having a thoroughly good time.

Definitely one to watch again on DVD and I'm hoping for a good commentary as I imagine there are plenty of tales to tell about its making. (My Cloud Atlas claim to fame is that I've walked down the street in Glasgow that doubled for the Louisa Rey/San Francisco shoot out).

Ratings

• Stan's: 78%
• IMDB: 78%
• Metascore: 55%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 66%

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No

Review: Uncomfortable and emotional viewing - The Impossible

Synopsis: Based on the true story of a Spanish family holidaying in Thailand when the 2004 tsunami hit, separated they search for each other not knowing who is alive or dead.

Stan's thoughts: This is a difficult watch, harrowing at times and naturally very emotional. It doesn't shy away from the gritty realism of such a horrific natural disaster and the aftermath. Succeeds in marrying the scale of the disaster with the intimacy of the family's own predicament. Left me feeling a tad emotional and wanting to find out more.

Ratings:

• Stan's: 80%
• IMDB: 77%
• Metascore: 73%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 82%

Two coming of age movies but which is the best?: Perks of Being A Wallflower or Liberal Arts

Perks of Being a Wallflower

First thing to say is that the two male leads in this, Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman, are superb. Emma Watson puts in a solid enough performance aside from her American accent which slips occasionally but her character isn't huge leap from Hermione apart from a bit of wild dancing she wants to study hard and get into a good university.

Perks is the story of Charlie (Lerman) who is starting High School having been away for a spell in a mental health institute for reasons that are only gradually revealed.

He's intelligent, loves reading but is shy and an outsider. He makes friends with two fellow 'misfits' (why are misfits in films anything but?) Patrick who is gay and in a secret relationship (Miller) and Patrick's step-sister Sam (Watson) who's only character flaw seems to be that she always falls for men that treat her like dirt.

We follow the threesome and their wider group of misfits as Charlie slowly comes out of his shell, revealing some of his past and subsequently starts to live his life again. He falls in love with Sam but cannot tell her and falls into a relationship with another girl. But when that goes wrong it causes ructions in the group.

Perks is, on one level, a coming of age story as the group get ready for college, learn about themselves through loves and losses but it is Charlie's story and his emotional struggle with his past which raises it above the usual schmultz giving it depth. It makes for an amusing, warm, touching and at times moving film. Lerman manages to convey a sense of sadness and tragedy about Charlie from the outset, without saying very much.

And Miller is great to watch as the gregarious, extrovert, Patrick who likes to perform in a Rocky Horror tribute show complete with basque, stockings and suspenders. It's a role that is in complete contrast with that which he played in We Need to Talk About Kevin and a joy to see such a varied performance. Emma Watson could learn a thing or two about choice of parts.

It made me laugh out loud and cry so I'm going to give it 80%. On IMDb it's got 84% with a Metacritic score of 67% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 86% and 95% of site visitors have given it three and a half stars or higher.

Joe Wright does Baz Luhrman with breathtaking theatrical style: Anna Karenina

The trailer for Anna Karenina doesn't really prepare you for the full thing. This isn't Joe Wright doing costume drama Pride and Prejudice style, this is Joe Wright doing costume drama Baz Luhrman style. With knobs on.

It is theatrical in the literal sense of the word. We are presented with a stage, the curtain draws back and the drama and tragedy of Anna Karenina begins. Wright uses cleverly staged juxtaposition: Characters climb steps into the lighting rigs above the stage which become streets or a garret, a toy train becomes a real train, a horse race is watched at the theatre with the horses racing across a stage.

He also uses choreographed movements so that office workers stamp paper work in time as do those cutting hay in the field and individual movements are repeated dance-like such as putting on and taking off a coat.

And through the spectacle, the breathtaking, beautiful opulent spectacle weaves a thread of more traditional story telling.

It is a clever mix. It would be easy to lose the heart of the story, a story of love in all its guises from dutiful love to the physical and passionate together with the accompanying heartache, heartbreak and jealousy and, this being 1874, tainted reputation. In the midst of the colour and movement there are micro moments where time almost stops and the focus in on one thing - Anna watching her lover Vronsky (Aaron Johnson) at the races fanning herself in a frantic, noisy rhythm.

Anna Karenina is a wondrous pieces of film making, audacious in its vision but a vision that has a stunning effect, it oozes atmosphere - and emotion thanks to the cast. It is great to see so many wonderful performers in one piece, to see Jude Law playing straight and upright and Keira Knightley reunited on screen with her Mr Darcy, Matthew Macfadyen, albeit playing brother and sister here.

Yes you can pick faults but when you have to go and sit down somewhere quiet afterwards and just absorb what you've just seen, when you are haunted by it long afterwards, much can be forgiven.

I was already excited about the prospect of Joe Wright directing for the stage for the first time at the Donmar but now I really just cannot wait to see what he does.

I'm giving it 84%. On IMDb it has 72% with a Metacritic score of 61% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 65% from critics with 65% of site visitors giving it three and a half stars or higher.

 

 

Review round up: Pirates: An Adventure With Scientists, Good Bye First Love and Free Men

Pirates - not Aardmen's best film but still enjoyable with a few laugh out loud moments. Definitely benefit from repeat viewing as the details are easily missed and playing guess the voice over is always fun. 59%

Goodbye First Love - musing on the power of first love. Story is fairly simple girl meets boy. Falls in love and everything is perfect until boy decides to go travelling for a year. Girl is devastated. They write to each other for a while. As time goes on girl eventually starts to move on meets someone else then boy comes back.

It's a nice gentle film but never quite plumbs the emotional depth the subject matter demands. It has it's moments but just wasn't quite satisfying enough. 55%

Free Men - great second world war film told from a different perspective, that of a Muslim living in German occupied Paris who after getting caught selling black market goods is persuaded to spy on the local mosque, suspected of harbouring Jews. 

Loyalties and duty are tested but it lacks the wrought emotional and moral dilemmas and sense of danger of films like The Counterfeiters. Otherwise an interesting film. 60%

 

Reviews round up: Subtle flaws of Albert Nobbs & disappointing Dark Shadows

Albert Nobbs

This film seemed to be getting everyone excited a while back but now it's out in the UK it feels like it's been forgotten about. Almost like the reverse of the eponymous character played by Glenn Close. Posing as a man in order to get a job at a hotel in late 19th century Dublin Albert gets adept at blending in, almost melting into the background then when shown the possibilities of the life he could lead becomes a little bolder. Just a little.

It is a brilliantly subtle performance from Close. Albert doesn't say a great deal verbally but there is so much going on in the eyes. Janet McTeer, fellow cross dresser, too puts in a wonderful performance. The re-frocking scene is particularly superb and shows just how much of a male demeanor these two woman have taken on.

There is a superb supporting cast too with the likes of Brendan Gleeson, Pauline Collins, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson but there is something stopping this from being a five star movie, it's ironic flaw. The problem, you see, is that because Albert is so much in the background and so secretive and quiet that you never really get the measure of him. Central to the plot are Albert's plans to open his own shop and get married however there is a big question mark over his motives. Does Albert want to marry a woman as a man or as a woman?

Albert Nobbs is still a very well made, engrossing and deeply moving film but this question hanging over the central narrative thread left an unsatisfying taste in my mouth.

It's getting 79% from me. On IMDb it has 66% from critics and a Metacritic rating of 57% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 55% from critics and 49% of visitors gave it three and half stars or more.

Dark Shadows

I'm getting a bit worried about Johnny Depp. I can't remember the last time I saw him in a really great film, probably the first Pirates of the Caribbean. He used to be an actor I'd run out and see whatever he was in but the pull is starting to wain even if he does remain drop dead gorgeous.

It's not that Dark Shadow is a bad film it just isn't great. First there isn't much in his performance that you haven't already seen - heavy doses of Edward Scissorhands for example. The biggest problem is that it isn't really much of anything. It's not funny enough to be a comedy despite a potentially amusing premise (18th century vampire is unwittingly released from his coffin prison in 1971). There is not quite enough horror to make it satisfying as a film of that genre and not quite enough family drama to be, well, a family drama. 

Of course with Tim Burton at the helm it is beautifully gothic and has his style stamped all over it and there is much to admire there. It also has some brilliant effects (love the china doll effect of baddie Angelique) but his pairing with Mr Depp and small role for long time beau/mother of his children Helen Bonham Carter is just starting to feel a bit cliquey and like it is running out of steam.

And I confess that I did get a bit bored at times. It's just not enough of anything and it's a shame because there is much promise within it.

I'm giving it 59%. On IMDb it's got 67% and a Metacritic score of 56% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 42% from critics and 55% of visitors gave it three and a half stars or more.

Fifteen minute review: A Dangerous Method

Quick catch up time...

Dangerous Method: Freud vs Jung. Both experimental and pioneers in the field of psychology but with increasingly different approaches. Jung (Michael Fassbender) takes on a new patient Sabina (Keira Knightly) who is all hysteria and jaw-jutting. 

His method is to get the patients talking and with Sabina he has a break through. He also falls for her and a relationship starts.

Freud (Viggo Mortensen) meanwhile starts to disapprove of Jung's methods and the later is forced to examine his own behaviour and feelings.

The psychology is interesting - I studied a bit when I was university but ultimately it feels bit like high-brow melodrama with some sex thrown in for titillation. Trying to create a dramatic tension between two intellectuals as they discuss their different theories and methods is a difficult one to pull off and I don't think director David Cronenburg fully achieves it.

Naturally it's well done with such a great director and cast. Knightley really throws herself into the role and isn't afraid to do ugly but it boils down to whether you care enough and I'm not sure I did. 

It's getting 60% from me. On IMDb it's got 67% with a Metacritic rating of 76%. On Rotten Tomatoes it has got 77% from critics and 55% of site visitors have given it 3.5 stars or above.

 

First War Horse trailer

As a big fan of the play, the jury is still out on whether the film will be quite as good for reasons I've mentioned before.

Of course I'll be going to see it when it's released at Christmas, it's got the wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch in it after all - no glimpses of him in this first trailer though.

  

The fabulous Life, Above All

This South Africa-set film has been sitting quietly at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly for a week or two now, and it's only through lack of obvious choices of other films to see that I decided to give it a go. And I'm glad I did.

It's about a girl, Chanda, played by newcomer Khomotso Manyaka and her relationship with her mother who has AIDS which culminates in a struggle to do what she believes is right in the face of prejudice.

The film starts with her visiting an undertaker to get a coffin for her baby half-sister who has died, her mother Lillian is too wracked with grief to leave the house. Her step-father is an alcoholic-waster who visits his wife and children full of promises and regret only to steal what little cash they have in the house and disappear again.

Chanda is bright, studious and takes on the role of parent to her two younger half-siblings as Lillian gets sicker. The community she lives in rally around to help Lillian when her baby dies but the truth about her illness is something that she must hide at all costs - only her neighbour Mrs Tafa (Harriet Lenabe) is complicit in her deceit and she has her own reasons for keeping the truth hidden.

Another cracking indie Brit flick: Island

British filmmakers have been ploughing a rich seam in the last 18 months. There have been some cracking low-budget indie flicks - Skeletons and Monsters to name just two. And directing duo Brek Taylor and Elizabeth Mitchell's debut, Island, is another to be added to that list.

OK there are one or two clunky moments but this is an otherwise beautifully shot and acted piece which is intriguing from the outset. Protagonist Nikki (Natalie Press) travels to a remote and bleak island, hell-bent on revenge on her mother Phyllis (Janet McTeer*) who abandoned her as a child. But her plans go awry when she realises she has a brother, Callum (Colin Morgan**) and her mission becomes more about wresting him from matriarchal control.

But weaving its way, like a cat around its owner's legs at meal times, are a series of delightful myths and legends which Nikki and Callum tell each other - almost recreating the childhood they never had together. It lends the story a hint of the fairytale but fairytale of the Grimm vein where there is hint of the grotesque and sinister. Something that is not that far from the truth as revealed in the films final scenes.

Definitely a palette cleanser after the dreadfulness of recent Hollywood fare I've enjoyed it packs a lot of visual and emotional punch. It gets 79% from me but as it has such a limited release at present doesn't yet feature on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic so you'll have to take my word for it.

 * After the screening there was a Q&A with Brek and Elizabeth who said that Juliet Stevenson and Anne Marie Duff were originally lined up for the female leads. Can't quite see that working as well somehow despite them being such good actors.

** Doing a wonderful Scottish accent - he really is a master but would love to see him do something in his native Northern Irish at some point