Rev Stan's film blog

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

Posted at 03:54 PM in Comedy, Foreign films | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/22/2014

The I'm not behind with my reviews review: David Tennant in What We Did On Our Holiday

Synopsis: Abi (Rosamund Pike) and Doug (David Tennant) pretend to still be a couple for the sake of a family holiday to visit Doug's father Gordy (Billy Conolly) for his birthday celebrations.

Stan's thoughts: OK so August doesn't seem that long ago but that's when I saw this. Wow. Don't read an absence of review to this point as an indictment on the film because it isn't. Just busy. What nudged me to get on with it was seeing Bobby Smalldridge in a play on Monday - he plays one of the kids.

So what did I think? Well this is a strange one because it is a comedy and I did laugh but I cried more but there is a reason for that. There is a particular storyline in it that pressed a certain emotional button and as a result I wept for half the film.

It's from the team behind the sitcom My Family so lots of improv with the kids which is where most of the laughs come from but it does occasionally feel like we've been here before with that technique.

There is some brilliantly observed parental bickering particularly on the long drive to Doug's Scotland home. The particular plot line I've referred to does take the film in an unexpected and brave direction and it just about gets away with it tonally. Just about.

While I probably got more upset than most in the cinema the rest of the film is frothy and reasonably satisfying fun. One to watch on the telly when its on, on a wet Sunday tea time.

Ratings

Stan’s 60%
IMDB 67%
Metascore No rating
Rotten Tomatoes 78%
RT Audience Rating* 72%

Recently seen

Interstellar

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

Ratings

Stan’s 70%
IMDB 90%
Metascore 74%
Rotten Tomatoes 73%
RT Audience Rating* 87%

Recently seen

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

- See more at: http://film.revstan.com/2014/11/review-interstellar.html#sthash.CiPluIQd.dpuf

Ratings

Stan’s 70%
IMDB 90%
Metascore 74%
Rotten Tomatoes 73%
RT Audience Rating* 87%

Recently seen

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

- See more at: http://film.revstan.com/2014/11/review-interstellar.html#sthash.CiPluIQd.dpuf

Ratings

Stan’s 70%
IMDB 90%
Metascore 74%
Rotten Tomatoes 73%
RT Audience Rating* 87%

Recently seen

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

- See more at: http://film.revstan.com/2014/11/review-interstellar.html#sthash.CiPluIQd.dpuf

Posted at 10:48 AM in British films, Comedy | Permalink | Comments (0)

Review: The IMAX movie - Interstellar

Synopsis: Earth is dying and an ex-astronaut is brought in to fly a mission through a wormhole to find a new planet for the human race.

Stan's thoughts: This is film definitely worthy of a trip to an IMAX screen. The volume when the space craft takes off is such that it vibrates the whole cinema. I felt like I was on the spaceship with Matthew McConaughey and his crew.

There is a lot of science in this - worm holes, black holes, time and relativity and some have said you need a degree in physics to understand it. I don't have a degree in physics but understood enough to get the gist. Besides, this is a human story, the technicalities of space travel are background context and it is that which helps make this a great movie.

It is too long with the first and last act dragging their heels a bit but the central third is cracking. Christopher Nolan's skill is in drawing out the real emotion of the situation, despite how absurd but also in creating drama and tension from fairly ordinary situations. There is a scene where two bits of space rocket are trying to connect and I was on the edge of my seat.

A great ensemble of actors work brilliantly with sometimes clunky script but this remains an aural, visual and emotional feast and certain scenes and tones haunted me afterwards.

Ratings

Stan’s 70%
IMDB 90%
Metascore 74%
Rotten Tomatoes 73%
RT Audience Rating* 87%

Recently seen

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

Posted at 09:53 AM in Action/Adventure, American films, Sci fi | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/09/2014

Review: Jake Gyllenhaal is the Nightcrawler

Synopsis: Louis Bloom (Gyllenhaal) is desperate for work when he discovers that TV news stations will pay for footage of accidents and crime scenes but how far will he go to get the scoop on other crime hacks?

Stan's thoughts: Bloom is a fascinating character. He initially appears a sad loner who spends his time doing online courses only to regurgitate chunks of what he's learned verbatim at what he feels are appropriate times. But as he gets a taste of success he becomes more manipulative and calculating.

He is generally friendly and polite with traces of that desperate loser bubbling beneath the surface but never wholly nice; there is something quietly sinister about him. He is in one sense perfect for the work he does lacking any scruples. The TV news stations he sells too, desperate for ratings, has little more by way of moral conscience. His footage is questioned but only as far as whether the footage is legal.

There are a couple of moral touchstones - a news producer and the intern Bloom takes on - in this cesspit where desperation and ratings war collide.

Nightcrawler is an uncomfortable watch but like the accidents and crimes Bloom films you can't tear your eyes away. It makes you leave the cinema feeling a little bit disgusted and a little bit of that is with yourself. Great performance from Gyllenhaal.

Ratings

Stan's: 80%

IMDB: 83%

Metacritic: 76%

Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

RT Audience*: 87%

*% of people rating the film 3.5/5 or higher

Posted with Blogsy

Posted at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/19/2014

#LFF Review: James McAvoy in the Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and a bit of the Q&A

Synopsis: The disintegration of couples relationship after a tragic event.

Stan's thoughts: Like to think of this one as an emotional mystery 'thriller' but first I need to explain how the film came about. It was originally shot as two films, Him from James McAvoy's perspective and Her from Jessica Chastain's. To make it more commercially viable (I'm reading between the lines a little) the director Ned Benson was encouraged to edit the two together into one film and thus 'Them' was born. I'll come back to this.

The film opens with a romantic dinner between Conor and Eleanor early in their relationship. They are happy and having fun. Then we cut to some time in the future and see Eleanor attempt suicide. What follows is the aftermath in Conor and Eleanor's relationship as they try and piece things together, indeed can they piece things together and what was it that led Eleanor to make an attempt on her own life?

There is never a big reveal in this film just a slowly growing understanding of what happened to them fed by an undercurrent of sorrow and tragedy. It is gently moving, no killer emotional punch, just a feeling in the gut that had me on the verge of tears pretty much throughout.

James McAvoy said in the Q&A afterwards (yes I got to walk the red carpet 'with' Mr McAvoy) that it was an unusual filming experience because Ned Benson's process was so different to other Hollywood films he's worked on. He kept getting told to do less and the result is a performance that is pared back and speaks volumes without grand gestures and words. A performance that reminds me a little of Atonement.

Jessica Chastain is equally superb, full of unspoken hurt and sorrow. A woman obviously on the emotional edge but quietly so.

Great supporting cast too Ciaran Hinds plays Conor's father, Isabelle Huppert and William Hurt Eleanor's parents and Viola Davis her lecturer.

It is difficult to tell what was lost from cutting the two films together. I'd love to see them to properly judge particularly to get more under the skin of Eleanor. I suspect it might shed a bit more light on the implications of the ending too.

James McAvoy was asked whether it was hard playing Conor for a particular plot reason I won't reveal but he said it was easy to get into character just not easy to leave him behind.

Ratings

Stan’s 75%
IMDB 71%
Metascore 58%
Rotten Tomatoes No score yet
RT Audience Rating* No score yet

Recently seen

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

Posted at 11:08 AM in American films, Independent films | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/12/2014

#LFF Review: The best constipation comedy you'll see - The Mule

Synopsis: A first time drug mule is caught returning home to Australia from Bangkok where the police decide to sit and wait for the evidence to appear.

Stan's thoughts: This is black comedy, Australian style and it is brilliantly dark and funny. And it is the dark side which pushes this to a cut above. In the hands of the American's it would most likely have been a puerile gross out comedy and not nearly as a good as a result.

In the Q&A, director/writer/star Angus Sampson said he wanted to play with the idea that men generally think they are the most intelligent person in the room. In doing so he tricks the audience into believing they have quickly sussed out each character. And of course his female characters out trick them all. Sampson delivers an unlikely hero.

It isn't pleasant, the violence can sometimes be quite shocking and it definitely isn't a film you want to watch while eating. The humour is delicately balanced in between, it never seems out of place perhaps reflecting the ridiculousness of the scenario - it is based on real events. And lets face it who doesn't laugh at a fart joke.

There is no general release date yet but seek it out if you do appreciate a well done black comedy, I suspect this will be a hidden gem. In fact I'm still chuckling at certain scenes.

Ratings

Stan’s 80%
IMDB 71%
Metascore 58%
Rotten Tomatoes No score yet
RT Audience Rating* No score yet

Recently seen

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

Posted at 08:59 PM in Australian films, Comedy | Permalink | Comments (0)

#LFF Review: Jack O'Connell runs for his life in the tense thriller '71

Synopsis: A soldier on his first tour (Jack O'Connell) in Northern Ireland gets accidentally left behind when a riot breaks out in dangerous part of Belfast.

Stan's thoughts: Been eager to see this since I saw Jack O'Connell play a violent young offender in Starred up earlier this year. The trailer for '71 held a lot of promise and the film didn't let me down, in fact it was even better.

This is more than just the cat and mouse game of Gary, the lost soldier, trying to get back to safety, never knowing if the people he meets are going to be friends or want to kill him. It is also about what he observes and experiences for good and bad on both sides of the conflict along the way.

The troubles remain a sensitive topic but in having Gary as a passive observer no sides are drawn. He makes no judgement, any action is survival extinct and last resort. In fact his fear is mirrored by many he meets on his journey.

What you get is a film in which there is layer after layer of gritty, grimy tension. O'Connell doesn't have much by way of words to communicate but the stress, fear and anxiety of his situation is palpable. He reminded me a little of Leonardo diCaprio's performance in Scorcese's The Departed, a film of such high tension and nerves it leaves you feeling a bit jittery afterwards. And '71 is the same but it does it in 98 minutes rather than two and a half hours.

This isn't a relaxing watch, it is one of those films that haunts you long after you've left the cinema and for that I loved it.

Ratings

Stan’s 88%
IMDB 78%
Metascore 81%
Rotten Tomatoes 97%
RT Audience Rating* 92%

Recently seen

Maze Runner

Gone Girl

Before I Go To Sleep

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

Posted at 08:28 PM in British films, Thriller | Permalink | Comments (0)

Review: The mysterious and tense Maze Runner

Synopsis: Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) wakes up in a lift that has emerged in an encampment of boys bordered by high walls, The Maze. He only remembers his name as do all the other boys. Then one day a girl appears in the lift.

Stan's thoughts: I'm a huge fan of young adult fiction and films, even though I'm old enough to be the target audience's mother, so I had heard about this film a few months ago, there was a bit of a buzz about it and the book its based on. Decided not to read the book (it's part of a series) and go into the film without expectations.

It is part Hunger Games with a hint of Lord of the Flies. The difference with the former is the not knowing why the boys have been put in the Maze. Without their memories there are no reference points. It certainly adds a delicious intrigue.

Maze Runner is also refreshingly shy of romance, there is no love story. Now I love a bit of soppy teen love but without it there are no distractions from the mystery and horror that is unfolding. This being the first of a trilogy (the second film is due out next year) you don't get all the answers by the end in fact you get a hold load more questions which is also satisfyingly frustrating.

It is also a great action movie with good characters at its heart, characters that you care about. Great to see Will Poulter, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Kaya Scoldelario flying the Brit actors flag. There is a sense of jeopardy that adds to the tension. It's nicely imagined, exciting and I really enjoyed it. Can you tell?

Ratings

Stan’s 80%
IMDB 75%
Metascore 56%
Rotten Tomatoes 63%
RT Audience Rating* 76%

Recently seen

Gone Girl

Before I Go To Sleep