Rev Stan's film blog

Review: Richard Linklater's 12-year film drama Boyhood

Synopsis: As the headline suggests, filmed over 12 years with the same cast Boyhood follows the life of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from boyhood to High School graduation.

Stan's thoughts: Read somewhere that the film makers were claiming this is the first time a project like this has been done and that isn't quite true. Michael Winterbottom's film Everyday did something similar but over the course of five years and that did have it's problems.

Putting that to one side what Richard Linklater has created is something that is fascinating, engaging and quietly dramatic. He resists the temptation to pepper Mason's life with high drama instead concentrating on an ordinary story of a boy growing up in a modern family.

There is divorce and step-siblings, parents and step-parents trying their best, succeeding at times and failing at times. The drama is seeing it through Mason and his older sister Sam's (Lorelei Linklater) eyes and what impact it has on them. Then there is the drama of growing up, first love, finding your place in the world, deciding what you want to do and becoming independent.

I wondered how much the story was influenced by Ellar's personality - in the film he's a gentle, quiet contemplative boy - and subsequently have seen Richard Linklater talking about how it did shape the story.

Boyhood was a lovely, warm film that perfectly captures the everyday struggles and triumphs of family life. Such is its pull it left me wanting more - another 12 years perhaps?

Ratings

• Stan’s 85%
• IMDB 89%
• Metascore 99%
• Rotten Tomatoes 100%
• RT Audience Rating* 89%

Recently seen

Jersey Boys

Bright Days Ahead

Fault of Our Stars

The Young and Prodigeous TS Spivet

Belle

Edge of Tomorrow

Two Face of January

Maleficent

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Frank

* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

 

Review: The Oscar-worthy Nebraska

Synopsis: Alcoholic old man Woody (Bruce Dern) who also suffers from dementia thinks he's won a million in a marketing raffle and insists on travelling across country to claim his prize. Unable to persuade his father it is a scam his son David (Will Forte) decides to humour him and drive him to Nebraska.

Stan's thoughts: So glad I decided to see this because I nearly decided against it and it is such a brilliantly funny, warm and moving film.

You share the frustration David feels about his father's single-mindedness and cerebral impairment while loving him all the same. This is a father-son journey of rediscovery via Woody's past in the town he grew up in.

Simply and quietly shot in black and white and against a backdrop of recession hit small town America this is full of perfectly pitched performances, with characters delightful in their ordinariness. It is the antithesis of other Oscar contenders The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle.

Bruce Dern should win the Oscar he's been shortlisted for but he probably won't. If you can catch it, you should because it is perfectly lovely film and will leave you feeling warm and maybe a little sentimental.

Ratings

• Stan's: 86%
• IMDB: 81%
• Metascore: 86%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 91% 
• RT audience rating: 88%

Recently seen and reviews available here unless otherwise indicated

The Wolf of Wall Street

The Railway Man

12 Years A Slave

Mandela: Long Road To Freedom

Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Saving Mr Banks

Philomena

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

#LFF Review: The controversial Compliance

I don't think I've ever felt so uncomfortable watching a film before. I don't think I've ever seen so many people leave a screening before. I certainly haven't heard an audience member very vocally encouraging people to leave the cinema before. It's safe to say that Compliance is a difficult and controversial watch.

Normally people walk out because a film isn't very good or perhaps the violence is particularly shocking but neither of these can be given as reasons in this instance, it is the subject matter.

Compliance is based on true events about a prank caller who, posing as a police man, persuades the manager of a fast food outlet that one of his young female staff has stolen from a customer. He convinces the manager to interrogate the girl in his absence. This isn't about violence, it's about sexual exploitation a gullibility on a massive scale.

If you didn't know that it was based on true events you simply wouldn't believe it. Never have I wanted to yell at the screen more, never have I felt so psychologically squeamish.

Some have criticised the film saying it is to exploitative, titillating and tantamount to pornography. The filmmakers certainly can't be accused of glamourising sexual exploitation. The film has such a naturalistic feel you could imagine, they've put cameras on the wall of any down-at-heel fast food joint in North America.

Compliance, like the events it is based on, puts some of the very worse and baffling human behaviour under the microscope - the stuff of psychologists or sociologists research papers. It isn't worrying that this film was made, it is worrying that supposedly right-minded human beings allowed such things to happen.

Compliance stays with you - afterwards I had to purge it from my mind with a nice, pleasant, fluffy DVD. I can't fault it for the emotions it stirs but it won't be one I'll rush back to see indeed I could never stomach seeing it again.

Such is its affect that I'm finding it hard to rate. For something that produced such a strong emotional response it should get a high rating but such is the subject matter that I'm finding it hard to detach moral judgement; to give it a good score makes me feel like I'm somehow complicit. Which is ridiculous.

I'm going to give it 80% for producing the effect it did and for being such a talking point but I certainly didn't enjoy it. On IMDb it has 66% with a Metacritic score of 68% while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 89% but no reader rating yet.

 

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.

Reviews round up: This Must Be the Place & Avengers Assemble

This Must Be The Place

Sean Penn doesn't half like to mix up his roles and admire him greatly for that because so few that have reach his level of success do. Here channelling Robert Smith he plays a bored, retired rock star who, on the death of his estranged father, decides to go in search of a man who was a guard at his concentration camp during the second world war.

On the one hand it's deliciously quirky but on the other hand there is there the holocaust/revenge plot and I'm not sure the two sat comfortably together. 

Penn is superb as you can imagine and so is Frances McDormand who plays his wife, although I'd have liked a bit more of her. But Penn's odd and quirky character and how bored he's become with his life just felt trivial against the concentration camp storyline although I was curious as to whether he had got it in him to mete out his revenge.

I'm giving it 65%. On IMDB it has 67% and no Metacritic score while on Rotten Tomatoes it has 69% from critics and 60% of visitors gave it three and a half stars or higher.

Avengers Assemble

In my mind this film is called Avengers Ensemble for reason known only to my small brain but anyway, I loved it. And what made me love it was the humour, it didn't take itself too seriously - it is about comic book heroes after all. I laughed out loud several times. There is one particularly funny moment between The Hulk and baddy Loki which had me giggling for quite a while, but I won't spoilt it.

And I think the fact that the characters had a bit of depth helped tremendously. Much of the humour is derived from a clash of personalities of our assembled super heroes working together for the first time. 

Robert Downey Jr does steal it a little as Iron Man but then I love the Iron Man films and wasn't overly fond of Captain America. (And I haven't seen the rest).

There is going to be a sequel which is predictable and I wonder if they can recreate the humour when there isn't that element of 'meeting fellow super hero for the first time'. I'll still go and see though.

Funny and good fun and I managed to see it in 2D - hurrah. I'm giving it 82%.

On IMDB it's got 88% with a Metacritic score of 69% while on Rotten Tomatoes it 93% from critics and 96% of site visitors have given it three and a half stars or higher.

Chronicle - the other film I've liked recently

I've been through a run of 'meh' films recently (and I've also been very lax at writing up the reviews which I'm in the process of addressing) but this is one of two goodies - the other was the Woman in Black.

It's another low budget sci-fi about three high school kids, naturally one is the bullied outcast, who discover  they have special powers after an encounter with a mysterious power source.  They have to learn how to use their new powers and explore their different skills, moving large objects, making things float, flying, that sort of thing, having a bit of fun along the way. 

But soon mistakes are made and they begin to question what is right and what is wrong to use their new found skills for.

And I really liked it. It is very human in its approach. If you found out you could move a car just by thinking about it you so would move the car a woman had just parked at the supermarket and then wait for her reaction when she returned to find it was in a different bay.

Yes there is a message there about with great power comes great responsibility but it doesn't feel over-egged and is nicely handled. And OK the special effects aren't the best in the world but they are more than adequate creating some quite dramatic set pieces.

Chronicle is a good fun, 90 minute movie. Hurray for low budget, independent film I say.

It's getting 70% from me, over on IMDB it's got 75% and Metacritic score of 69%. While on Rotten Tomatoes it has 84% and 76% from audiences.

 

The last two reviews of 2011: Another Earth and Moneyball

Slight cheat, two reviews in one but I'm eager to get my 2011 best of/worst of compiled as well as decide on my StOscars which I can't do until these are written, so here goes.

Another Earth

Low budget sci-fi movie about a high school student Rhoda (Brit Marling) who in a tragic car accident kills composer John Burrough's wife and child (William Mapother). On the same night a duplicate earth is discovered. When Rhoda comes out of prison, haunted by the consequences of her actions she sets about trying make amends while wondering if the other her, on the second earth, has made the same mistakes - something she might soon find out.

Like the low budget sci-fi movies I've enjoyed over the last 18 months it is more of a character piece than about the science and as such it works really well although I do wonder if the film wouldn't work just as well without the second earth.

Rhoda doesn't say much leaving the audience to fill the gaps which I like. She is at time a difficult character to like and I also liked that ambiguity, the humanness of her. 

It doesn't have a conclusive ending and raises a lot of questions that are unanswerable which some might find unsatisfying but I didn't. It's certainly a film that stays with you afterwards.

A nicely gentle, thought provoking film I'm going to give it 63%. On IMDb it's got 70% with a Metacritic scores of 66%. On Rotten Tomatoes there is no consensus from critics but 71% of visitors to have rated it 3.5 stars or higher.

Moneyball

Only the fact that Aaron Sorkin co-wrote the screenplay got me in front of this baseball movie that and the fact that critic Mark Kermode said it wasn't really about baseball but about statistics.

I know nothing and care nothing for baseball and yes it is more about statistics, money and the politics behind the game. And there is nothing wrong with it but I just can't muster much enthusiasm for it. The script, as you can imagine, is excellent, it was well acted and engaging enough for the duration but ultimately I didn't really care enough. 

I'm going to give it 55%, on IMDb it's got 78% and a Metacritic score of 87%. On Rotten Tomatoes it's got a critics rating of 95% and 88% of visitors gave it 3.5 stars or more. Just not one for me then.

 

And so that concludes my film reviews for 2011, now for the best and worst of's....

 

I Need to Write About Kevin

Must have seen the trailer for We Need to Talk About Kevin about half a dozen times over recent cinema visits but unlike Melancholia it just heightened my anticipation and, by the numbers that were in the early bird screening today, I wasn't alone.

It's based on the novel by Lionel Shriver about a mother coming to terms with an appalling act of violence carried out by her son and questioning her part in shaping him into a someone capable of such an act.

The story flits backwards and forwards from before Kevin's conception to his mother visiting him in prison putting the pieces together that lead up to the dispicable act.

From the opening sequence where Eva (Tilda Swinton) is enjoying a festival in France which involves everyone smothering themselves in tomatoes to scraping off the first lot of paint smeared on her house post Kevin's trial, red becomes a powerful motif. It is an ambiguous colour symbolic of both love and horror and summing up nicely Eva's feeling for her son from his birth.

Dimensions - worth selling the house for?

When the writer and director stand up and say they sold their house in order to make the film you are about to watch there is a big part of you hoping that it is good. And they - Antony Neely and Sloane U'Ren - did just that ahead of the cast and crew screening of their film Dimensions yesterday at the BFI.

It is a romantic sci-fi set in 1920s/1930s Cambridge about a boy, Stephen, who after an encounter with a professor becomes interested in time travel. A tragic incident results in Stephen growing up obsessed with going back in time.

And there is much to be admired in Neely and U'Ren's endeavour. Both have a lot of experience in film and television, Neely in composing and U'Ren as an art director and it is these areas that really shine in Dimensions. It is beautiful both in its settings, costumes and how it is shot. Neely isn't listed as the composer but the music is certainly atmospheric.

It's weakness is, however, its script. The dialogue feels awkward and cliched. While the plot's premise is an interesting one there are a some scenes which seem forced in order to contrive the plot and there are also some plot holes.

There are some good performances from the younger cast and Henry Lloyd Hughes does a reasonable job as the grown up Stephen but there are also some stiff performances and often the extras in background look staged.

Parts of the film feels like they lack confidence while others feel experienced and accomplished.

Dimensions was certainly a brave venture for a first movie and I'm not sure Neely and U'Ren pulled it off which is a real shame because I so much wanted to like it.

You can find the Dimensions trailer here and below is a slide show of production shots.

 

A new Dimensions for Stan (or the first invite to a film screening)

This is a first for me. I've been invited to a screening of a new film. It's a indie Brit flick called Dimensions and the trailer looks rather interesting.

The screening I'm going to is also the cast and crew screening - another first. Looks like it's going to be an interesting afternoon.