Rev Stan's film blog

10/05/2014

Quick review: Before I Go To Sleep

Synopsis: Christine (Nicole Kidman) wakes every day having forgotten everything that's happened since she was in her 20s as the result of a head trauma but one day something happens that leads her to question the motives of all those around her.

Stan's thoughts: This seems to have had very mixed reviews but I really enjoyed it. I haven't read the book so I knew little about the story which may have helped.

It's a great psychological thriller which makes you question everyone and much of it is down to superb performances by the three leads. Colin Firth plays Christine's loving and patient husband and Mark Strong plays her gently sinister psychologist. Great also to see Anne-Marie Duff on the big screen as Christine's old friend.

The story isn't laboured and is therefore a tight and tense 90 minutes and it certainly had me on the edge of my seat. If your nerves can stand it, it would be a great double bill with A Most Wanted Man.

Ratings

Stan’s 70%
IMDB 65%
Metascore 41%
Rotten Tomatoes 58%
RT Audience Rating* 55%

Recently seen

The Hundred Foot Journey

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

Posted at 09:48 AM in British films, Thriller | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quick review: Helen Mirren is stern and French in The Hundred-Foot Journey

Synopsis: An Indian family set up a restaurant in France opposite the Michelin starred eatery owned by the formidable Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) which causes friction.

Stan's thoughts: Bit behind with reviews (again) so some even quicker thoughts than usual... This is a lovely gentle Sunday night type of film. Don't watch it if you are hungry because it is laden with food porn.

It's basically a story about people from very different backgrounds but equally passionate and skilled in cooking who clash but in the end learn something from each other. I don't think that's a plot spoiler particularly because you can see it coming with a blindfold on and it's the journey, as the title suggests, rather than the destination which gives its warmth and humour. There is also a nice romantic sub plot.

Drags its feet a little bit but a film that leaves you with a warm fuzzy glow, a smile on your face and a raging appetite.

Ratings

Stan’s 60%
IMDB 75%
Metascore 55%
Rotten Tomatoes 68%
RT Audience Rating* 74%

Recently seen

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

Posted at 09:35 AM in Drama, Rom-coms | Permalink | Comments (0)

Review: Dracula Untold (we'll it isn't now, is it?)

Synopsis: Mixing the history of Vlad the Impaler with the myth of Dracula, Vlad is forced to seek help from a dangerous and deadly beast that lives in the mountain to protect his people.

Stan's thoughts: You know ideas are running out when words like 'untold' start making it into titles and surely the current love of all things vampire will run out soon too? This is muscular and gothic in tone, think the Gary Oldman Dracula film crossed with something like 300.

Vlad (Luke Evans) is toned, we get to see how toned he is (shame that) and is a conflicted hero. He was a successful soldier with a lethal reputation in his youth but is now trying to live in peace. Of course his wife is beautiful (Sarah Gadon) and supports him emotionally - lots of floaty dresses that fall off one shoulder and breathy pouting at the camera, you know the sort of thing.

Dominic Cooper phones in his performance as the big bad Turk demanding a tribute of a 1,000 boys from Vlad (is this the only role he likes to play these days?). And Charles Dance is the oddly creepy Dracula, a little bit Guillermo del Toro Pan's Labyrinth in style initially but then he just reminded me of a very old Tywin Lannister.

This all sounds a bit dismissive. The truth is Dracula Untold is alright, mildly entertaining it ain't anything new really. Everything is just a little too cliched to get anything other than a mild investment in the characters or sense of jeopardy. It's Dracula with lots of CGi and big, big battles which might really appeal to some.

Ratings

Stan’s 50%
IMDB 64%
Metascore 34%
Rotten Tomatoes 32%
RT Audience Rating* 65%

Recently seen

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

Posted at 07:30 AM in American films, Fantasy | Permalink | Comments (0)

09/29/2014

Review: The tense and intelligent A Most Wanted Man

Synopsis: An illegal immigrant, a Muslim who is half Chechen, half Russian, arrives in Hamburg seeking access to his late father ill-gotten fortune. Who is he and is he a threat? It's a race between different secret services to get to him first and also expose a financier who they suspect is funding terrorist organisations.

Stan's thoughts: A superb spy thriller this is just as much about the rivalry within the German agencies and the American's as it is about catching potential baddies.

It avoids cliche and doesn't patronise its audience with black and white characters and scenarios. Neither does it spoon feed plot or outstay its welcome. Instead it is a film that is intelligent, tense and gripping.

Sad to see what was one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films but it is a great one to leave us with. Great performance too from Grigoriy Dobrygin who plays the immigrant Issa. He doesn't say much but is a brilliantly beautiful and intriguing linchpin to the central story. Robin Wright also stands out in what is a relatively small part.

A great, solidly enjoyable film.

Ratings

Stan’s 80%
IMDB 73%
Metascore 73%
Rotten Tomatoes 91%
RT Audience Rating* 71%

Recently seen

Guardians of the Gallaxy

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

Posted at 07:25 PM in American films, Thriller | Permalink | Comments (0)

09/21/2014

Review: Pride, the film that leaves you feeling so good you want to give it a hug

Synopsis: A group of gay and lesbian activists decide to raise money for a group of striking miners in small Welsh town but their efforts cause division in the community.

Stan's thoughts: Pride is the epitome of a feel good movie. It has the perfect mix of laughs with heartfelt tender moments, it is a well-rounded story, with characters you care about and has toe-tapping 80s soundtrack.

Perhaps one of the best ensemble casts you'll see in a film, there are too many star performances to mention all individually. Dominic West continues to surprise with his variety of roles, in this he is a mullet-sporting, disco-hips and it's great to see Imelda Staunton having heaps of fun as the liberal Welsh matriarch who gets a taste for life.

Then there is Andrew Scott who is movingly understated and George MacKay's delicately observed Joe who is newly 'out'. He is definitely a talent to keep an eye out for. In fact it is a film you need to watch more than once to spot and enjoy fully.

Pride is a perfectly huggable film, it is chocker full of good feelings and poignancy, laughter and tears I dare you not to enjoy it.

Ratings

Stan’s 95%
IMDB 82%
Metascore 83%
Rotten Tomatoes 97%
RT Audience Rating* 93%

Recently seen

Guardians of the Gallaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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

Posted at 07:19 PM in British films, Comedy | Permalink | Comments (0)

Review: The Riot Club - it's Wolf of Wall St for the young British upper crust

Synopsis: Based on the hit play Posh it follows a group of supremely posh and privileged Oxford students who are members of the elite Riot Club as they recruit two new members and indoctrinate them at one of their infamous dinners.

Stan's thoughts: Loved the play which is set purely at the night of the dinner and the film has been been broadened out nicely. Laura Wade who wrote the play and the film has fleshed out the characters adding in a glimpse of their world outside the club dinner. There are also additional female characters and a romantic plotline which balances the story nicely.

Having expanded the Club's world beyond the dinner it makes their behaviour and outlook all the more ghastly, it dampens the humour of the play. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it feels more political - The Riot Club is loosely based on the Bullingdon Club which numbered Boris, Cameron and Osborne among its members.

It also emphasises how seductive the Club is. Miles (Max Irons) is the moral touchstone in the play and becomes more so in the film. He is the most socially aware of the group but makes bad choices while swept up in the whirlwind and loses more as a result.

This is a great ensemble of actors to have sharing screen time - there is almost too much going on to really appreciate them fully. This is also a very pretty ensemble of actors - Max joined by Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth, Freddie Fox, Ben Schnetzer, to name just five - and they are like poisoned lilies, beautiful to look out but certainly not beautiful inside.

The Riot Club is funny at times but is also an uncomfortable watch and a little bit depressing. It is a little like Wolf of Wall Street for the British upper crust.

Ratings

Stan’s 75%
IMDB 69%
Metascore 61%
Rotten Tomatoes 78%
RT Audience Rating* 72%

Recently seen

Guardians of the Gallaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Begin Again

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

Posted at 10:43 AM in British films | Permalink | Comments (0)

09/20/2014

Review: Jesse Eisenberg is quiet and moody (again) in Night Moves

Synopsis: A group of young eco-activists plot to blow up a dam but the result isn't quite what they expected.

Stan's thoughts: I'm bored of seeing Jesse Eisenberg playing the quiet, moody guy - he can do so much more, The Double gave a hint of it. The problem with this film is that he is so quiet and moody you never really get a sense of what is going on in his head, what is motivating him. And it is similar with the other activists played by Peter Sarsgaard and Dakota Fanning.

I'm all for films that don't patronise the audience but this is a film that is about consequence of action and for that I feel you need slightly more fleshed out characters particularly as the second half plays out.

It starts off promisingly, the first half carries with it a nice tension as the group plan and attempt to execute their act of eco-terrorism but feels like it runs out of steam in the second half.

Ratings

Stan’s 50%
IMDB 61%
Metascore 75%
Rotten Tomatoes 86%
RT Audience Rating* 46%

Recently seen

Guardians of the Gallaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Begin Again

Boyhood

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

Posted at 08:44 AM in American films | Permalink | Comments (0)

09/07/2014

Review: The sharp and sweet Obvious Child

Synopsis: A jilted, twenty-something, stand up comic gets knocked up on a one night stand and is forced to assess her life.

Stan's thoughts: A rom-com that gets an airing at my favourite, discerning cinema-goers chain Curzon is always going to get my attention. Likewise a rom-com that isn't pushed as being 'quirky' - which in movie speak usually means a female protagonist who wears flat shoes and normal clothes.

So that's how I ended up watching Obvious Child on a Friday morning at the Curzon in Victoria with about five other people (I was on holiday, not bunking off). And, it lived up to the promise. It has moments of refreshing honesty and a sharp wit but it was also a lot sweeter than I expected. The abortion storyline (it's not a spoiler, it's in the trailer) is also handled with honesty and sensitivity.

Obvious Child is a rom-com that avoids a lot of the usual cliches, succeeds in making you laugh but also leaves you with a warm fuzzy glow. Isn't that what rom-coms are supposed to do?

Ratings

Stan’s 75%
IMDB 72%
Metascore 75%
Rotten Tomatoes 88%
RT Audience Rating* 78%

Recently seen

Guardians of the Gallaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Begin Again

Boyhood

Jersey Boys

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

Posted at 10:55 AM in Independent films, Rom-coms | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/31/2014

Review: Marion Cotillard shines in sluggish Two Days One Night

Synopsis: Sandra (Cotillard) is a young mother who has been suffering from depression. Ready to return to work she discovers that her colleagues have been told that if she is dismissed the company can afford to give her a bonus. She has a weekend to convince them to vote to keep her on.

Stan's thoughts: Marion Cotillard I could watch all day. Her performance in this is incredible in its understatement but, and I feel I have to apologise, I just found the film a bit dull. It is pretty much as described: a depressed woman travelling from door to door asking her colleagues to chose her over a bonus. The conversations go pretty much the same with each one and I just wanted to fast forward to the vote.

Be warned that right at the beginning, when the film certificate is displayed, it does give you a spoiler and that particular event, I think is unsatisfactorily glossed over. It feels like 90% of the film is at one pace then the final 10% is a resolution at another.

Sorry Marion you were fab but the film wasn't, for me, and I normally love this sort of subtle, quiet, human drama. Everyone else seems to have adored it though so probably best to just ignore me.

Ratings

Stan’s 50%
IMDB 75%
Metascore 94%
Rotten Tomatoes 94%
RT Audience Rating* 82%

Recently seen

Guardians of the Gallaxy

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Fault of Our Stars

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

Posted at 11:34 AM in Drama, Foreign films, French films | Permalink | Comments (0)

08/28/2014

Review: Gerard Depardieu bares all and nothing in Welcome to New York

Synopsis: Any resemblance to the Dominique Strauss Kahn New York hotel sex attack allegation are completely coincidental. Apparently. Essentially Deveraux, played by Depardieu, is a rich and powerful man who is something to do with economics and a potential candidate for the French presidency. He is into orgies with prostitutes but doesn't stop at that when it comes to satisfying his lust.

Stan's thoughts: The first 20 minutes of this film sets up the character of Deveraux as a powerful man, a man who has people who will ensure there are bevvy of high class prostitutes waiting to great him in his New York hotel room. A man without any conscience or moral touch stone about his behaviour and attitude towards women and sex. He's a modern day immoral Bacchus.

Not much is left to the imagination in those opening scenes and it was on the verge of becoming gratuitous when we get the hotel incident. The film doesn't leave you in any doubt that he assaulted the maid and then what follows is the aftermath, his arrest, brief stint in prison and the court case.

Gerard Depardieu does bare all but other than his debauched behaviour there is little else to work with about his personality and motives. He openly asks his daughter about sex with her new boyfriend in front of him at lunch and infuriates his wife (Jacqueline Bisset) by his lack of concern about the turn of events. She doesn't seem in any doubt about his behaviour:

"A real man doesn't follow his dick into every dark alley and prostitute."

What is most revealing is his lack of remorse. The legal process seems like a minor irritation that he almost sleepwalks through. He never seems worried about the possible outcome. His power and wealth has made him supremely arrogant.

It is a damning tale for all in Deveraux's sphere. His wife seems concerned only with his and her reputation and how it might affect their careers and as a result is depressing in its conclusions. In revealing so little about Deveraux outside of his world of sex obsession it does feel unbalanced, one dimensional and perhaps a trial by film other than any thing else.

Ratings