Guilty Pleasures

Everyone has it. That one film they never admit to liking in public.  When asked to list your top 10 films, it’s not on there, despite the fact you’d happily watch it on a loop for a week.  It’s time to get it out in the open, and my guilty pleasure film is Free Willy.

I’ve loved orca whales for so long I can;t remember if I love the film because of the whale or if it’s the other way around. What I do know is that even though there is nothing that special about it, Free Willy makes me happy.  It’s the perfect film to watch on a wet afternoon or when you’re half asleep, and it never fails to cheer me up.  Perhaps it’s because it reminds me of my childhood, or because I still kind of wish I had a pet whale too.  All I know is that when those opening shots of the whale pod come on screen and that simple harmonica theme starts playing I’m hooked.

It might not feature among the greatest films of our time, but in fairness Free Willy does have a lot going for it.  While the idea of an angry disadvantaged child finding something to relate to in an equally messed up animal isn’t unique (I’d draw comparisons with Kes if I was less afraid of the ensuing outrage ) it’s done really well in Free Willy; not making a big deal out of the fact that Jesse has no family while at the same time using it as the device for why the pair understand each other.  Of course, a lot of why the film is successful is that orca whales really are beautiful (take that Flipper) but I reckon you’ve got to hand it to 13 year old Jason James Richter for what is a remarkably strong performance in such a young actor.  Pretty much the whole film sits on is shoulders and he carries it effortlessly.  Oh, and any film that can make Micale Madsen seem friendly has to get bonus points.

So there you go. I’ve admitted it.  Now it’s your turn.

Jim Carrey-underrated actor?

I’ve been meaning to write a post along these lines for a while, and with A Christmas Carol making Jim Carey a hot topic at the moment I thought I’d finally get on with it.

Most of the world know Jim Carrey for his “rubber-faced” antics (I swear that term was invented to describe him)  and his over the top form of comedy which makes him a definite love-hate figure for a lot of people.  Whether or not his particular style of comedy appeals to you, (and I’m slightly ashamed to say it does to me) you have to admit, he’s good at what he does.  What interests me is that there tend to be moments in his films which belie a more serious talent behind all the funny voices and flailing limbs.  I’m wondering if I’m the only one who thinks that maybe, just maybe, Jim Carrey is actually a pretty good actor.

My main evidence for this is The Truman Show.  Carrey’s role is pretty serious throughout, with only a couple of his trademark gags.  The rest of the performance is a really sincere portrayal of a man discovering everything in his world is a fabrication.  I don’t want to ruin the movie for those who haven’t seen it (and I highly recommend you do) but the final scene in the boat is really well performed, and very held back for someone who is so renowned for being off the wall and out of control.  In the gag reel to Liar Liar he picks up on his tendency to over-act, but it seems to me that the Jim Carrey we know is just part of the character, and if he’d chosen a different path, we might just know him as another good actor.

In recent years, it does seem that Carrey is trying to be taken more seriously, with films like Eternal Sunshine, which again is a very straight role for someone like him.  He’s not always gone down well (The Number 23-oops) and he seems to be kind of stuck in this stereotype he’s created for himself.  Perhaps that’s why he’s taken on a lot of voice over work recently, with Horton Hears a Who and A Christmas Carol.

I’m not saying Jim Carrey is one of the best actors of his generation, but I do think that people tend to overlook him because they think of him as a clown rather than an actor.  I think films like Truman and Eternal Sunshine show that actually, he is a better actor than most give him credit for.

Up (3D)

So, I finally made it back to the cinema! This time it was to see the long-awaited Up, the first film I’ve ever seen in 3D.

I have to admit I was sceptical at first, I grew up in the age of those horrible green and red cardboard things and was a bit worried that seeing a film in 3D might be more annoying than exciting.  Turns out 3D glasses have come a long way, still not the most attractive thing in the world, but in the case of Up you end up looking quite a lot like our lead character which made me laugh every time I looked around the room.  As for the effects themselves, I think the jury is still out.  At times, the 3D was really cool, particularly in the wide angle shots of landscapes, and it did bring the action to life, but at other times I found it a bit distracting, and I couldn’t help continually taking off my glasses to see what the screen looked like without them. (Blurry, if you’re wondering).  I think with an animation like Pixar, 3D is a good thing, as it carries on what the computer has begun, but I’m not sure I’d like to see it spill into mainstream cinema too much.  There is a definitely increase in the number of films being released in 3D, so I guess it’s something I’ll be getting used to.  The trailer for the new Christmas Carol which came before was a clear example of 3D being just right, as the falling snowflakes really did look amazing in 3D.

Onto the film itself.  My first impression of Up is how shockingly sad it is!  We’re talking Bambi’s Mum here.  I’d seen a news report earlier about Up being one of the few films that has made men cry but kind of shrugged it off…turns out they were right.  It’s the opening montage that does it, where we find out how Carl Fredricksen goes from a cute little kid to a grumpy old man.  Up is an unusual film for Pixar, because it tackles some pretty adult content about loneliness and loss, and is one of the only films I can think of that centres almost entirely around a grumpy old man.  It might not quite stand up to some of its predecessors, but it is a good film, and I guess we should hand it to them for taking on a storyline you wouldnt expect in a kids’ film.

Once you get over the sad opening, there are some brilliant funny moments in the film, provided mainly by the counterpoint between Carl and cute boy scout Russell.  There were at least 3 things that had me laughing out loud, and the way that both characters are drawn adds to the contrast, with Russell pretty much ball-shaped, while Carl has an almost perfect square for a head.

The plot of the film is good too, there were a couple of times when I thought an obvious ending was approaching and was surprised to find the story heading in a different direction.  At 96 minutes it never drags, and is basically a fun ride from beginning to end.  One thing I did like was the new way Pixar has found for its animals to talk, stepping away from the Disney norm of all creatures great and small speaking perfect English-well, sort of.  There are actually very few characters in the film.  Apart from Carl and Russell, there’s comic relief dog Dug, quintessential bad guy Charles Muntz, and that’s about it.  Because of this, the film feels quite small despite the grandeur of its setting, with the floating house actually not having an awful lot to do with it in the grand scheme of things.  I think this works with a film like this which is really about the development of one character-Carl.  As I’ve said before, it’s unusual for any film, especially a kids film, to invest so much in a crotchety old man, but Pixar somehow manages to make him just loveable enough for it to work.  I’m betting that opening montage has a lot to do with it.

Also a departure for Pixar is the lack of all-star voice talent.  Apart from Christopher Plummer inhabiting our villain, the rest of the voices come from relative unknowns or one of the films directors (Bob Peterson).  At times, it can be distracting having a really recognisable voice in a film so it was nice to be able to only have one character with whom I associate the voice.

Altogether I think Up is a worthwhile family film with enough in it to keep the big kids (i.e. me) happy and lots of bright colours and flying about for the little ones.  I did kind of get the impression that this was a film for boys, (there’s really only one female character in the whole film, and she’s called Kevin!) and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that quite a lot of Pixar films are leaning more towards the male than female market.   In  Toy Story we have Andy with typical boy toys: cowboys and space men;  Finding Nemo is all about a boy and his father, Cars is just obvious…the only one I could think of with a more feminine air was Monsters Inc, and that’s just for Boo, because otherwise that’s quite a boyish film too.  It’s not necessarily a criticism, but I wonder if Pixar have noticed how many of their films centre around a young male character with, more often than not, and older male representing some kind of lost father figure.  I’ve mentioned before the Hollywood obsession with “Daddy issues” and it seems that Pixar, and all of Disney in fact, might be some of the biggest culprits. ‘Course if you’re like me and tend to prefer the boy films then it’s not really an issue.

Quote of the Day

I’m disappearing for a little bit so it might get a bit quiet over here for the next week.  I haven’t done a quote of the day for ages, and this one popped into my head this morning:

“If I’m not back in five minutes…just wait longer.”

See ya later.

Top 5 Movie Fight Scenes

Catching the final showdown of a soon to be named action movie on TV a little while ago got me thinking about the best fight choreography to hit the big screen.  The following debate with my sister made me realise that a blog post was in order, so here are my favourite movie punch ups.

Just so you know, I’m not counting full on battles here, more one on ones (or one on manys).  Coming up with a top 5 was really tricky, and there are lots of great films that aren’t on the list (Die Hard, Fight Club, Spiderman, Star Wars…) so try not to get too angry if you’re favourite isn’t there. And please, remind me of the awesome punch ups I’m bound to have forgotten.

5. Daredevil

Maybe a controversial one here, since I seem to be pretty alone in liking this film, but I reckon that the first meeting between Matt and Elektra in the playground is a great movie moment.  It’s a tie between that playground fight, and the showdown in the bar with some cocky criminals for best fight in the movie.  What makes the latter so great is the point of view stuff, showing what Daredevil “sees” and making the fight a lot more interesting.

4. Bridget Jones’ Diary

It’s the ultimate anti-fight.  Two posh public school boys try to knock the stuffing out of each other without getting their expensive suits dirty.  Outcome? Definitely one of the best on screen fights ever.  I think what makes it so good is the fact that it seems perfectly likely that if Hugh Grant and Colin Firth ever do get into a fight, this is exactly what it would look like.  The best part is when they sing happy birthday.

3. X2: Wolverine’s Revenge

When I’ve watched Origins again, this may well get replaced by one of the Wolverine/Sabre fights, but when I first saw X2 and the set up starts for the battle between Wolverine and his female counterpart Lady Deathstrike I knew it was gonna be good.  It’s a dual of the immortals and the fact that the pair are so evenly matched is what makes the fight so awesome.  And the way he wins, you’ve gotta admit, is pretty inventive.

2. Equilibrium

Gun Kata. All hail the guy who came up with that one.  It’s not quite Martial Arts, it’s not exactly a shoot out, it sure is awesome to watch!  The whole film is filled with wicked fight moments, but I think for obvious reasons the ultimate fight sequence of the movie has got to be Preston’s final show down with “Father”. Damn that was good.

1. And the winner is….The Marix Trilogy

The film I was watching when this idea came to me was Matrix Revolutions, and despite the flaws in that film, I still think the so called “super-burly brawl” at the end is the best bit of fight choreography yet to be committed to celluloid. I mean, their punches stop the rain for god’s sake!  The effort that went into the visuals of that scene is just staggering, the row upon row of Agent Smiths that appear even in the windows of the skyscrapers for example must have taken hours of post production.  Of course, the focus on visuals rather than plot is probably what killed the two sequels, but you’ve got to hand it to the Wachowski brothers, they know how to stage a punch up.  In Reloaded we have the (not quite as super) burly brawl where Neo and a metal pole take on the legions in yet another stunning combination of wire work, kung fu and bullet time.  If you’re not into the sequels, the sequence which follows: “What do you need?” “Guns. Lots of guns,” in the original is just epic.  And since it’s pretty clear that fights liked this spawned our number two spot, it gets extra credit.

I could go on about Matrix fight scenes for a long time.  The thing about The Matrix is, the films changed our expectations of movie fights; with the invention of bullet time one of the major landmarks in visual effects history.  Thanks to them, fight choreography isn’t just about one guy swinging at another, it’s an art form in itself.  Which keeps action junkies like me very happy.

Honorable Mention:

“Come back and I’ll bite your legs off!” The Black Knight always triumphs.

Reasons to be cheerful….

I’ve had quite a lot going on recently, which has been stressful to put it mildly. Plus its been cold and rainy and I haven’t been to the cinema in months. But let’s have some reason’s to be cheerful; the sun’s come back and the trees are all turning into pretty colours, plus there’s some great films on the way which (if I ever make it back to the cinema) will definitely keep me going for a while.

I’ve already written about the awesome Parnassus which comes out next week, and way back in Summer I started getting excited about Up which comes out at the same time.

Following them we have Fantastic Mr Fox, which has an unbelievable voice cast including George Clooney, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Meryl Streep, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman…

It’s looking like the next big hit in the kids-film-not-strictly-aimed-at-kids category and showcases some brilliant stop motion animation that holds up really well against its computerised rivals.  I actually did read the book for this one back in primary school (although I can’t remember much) but its nice to have another airing of a Roald Dahl classic that isn’t all about chocolate. Out on the 23rd.

If you can hang on ’till December then Avatar is out on the 18th.  not to be confused with Avatar: the last airbender, which is a completely different thing with an annoyingly similar name (also looks kinda good by the way).  The premise is sort of hard to explain, so really the best thing to do is watch the trailer.  James Cameron is directing, and the visual effects are clearly going to be stunning. I reckon it’s definitely one to catch on the big screen if you can.

And if you need to have something to look forward to for next year, the full Toy Story 3 trailer is finally out (thanks Saam). Enjoy. I can’t wait.

I’ll try to get the balance back soon so that trailers don’t outnumber reviews, someone take me to the cinema!

Just how popular is Edward Scissorhands?

Apparently very.

A long time ago I wrote a post about Tim Burton films and his collaborations with Danny Elfman and Johnny Depp.  It’s possibly not the most interesting or groundbreaking post on this blog, but thanks to the 200 or so people a day who stumble onto my blog after searching “Edward Scissorhands” it’s my most read post by some considerble margin.

Edward is an awesome film and thanks for stopping by all you Burtonphiles, hoping you’ll come back for some of the other posts some time.

10 Days to go!

Today is the premiere of one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year: The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus.  I really hope it lives up to the hype, because with a cast like that and Terry Gilliam at the helm it’ll have to work hard to go wrong.

Of course, there’s gonna be a lot of the same cautious criticism that there was with Dark Knight, and again there will be a significant proportion of the audience who wouldn’t have bothered to turn out to the cinema in different circumstances, but I’d like to think that the movie should be able to earn praise in its own right.  It definitely looks like it’s gonna be one amazing ride.

The Credit Crunch hits Tinseltown

It seems even Hollywood isn’t safe from the “economic crisis” we’re all in, as spending millions of dollars on production and marketing suddenly starts to seem like a bad idea.  Latest to run into (unconfirmed) problems is Paramount, who have mysteriously bumped the upcoming release of psych-thriller Shutter Island from October to February.  Not much of a reason has come from the studio, but whispers are circulating that they just can’t afford to promote it right now.  It’s a real shame too because I’ve been really looking forward to the film since I first saw the trailer back in August.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, enjoy, but don’t get too excited because you have to wait a whole 4 months before you can see it.  Boo.

And it’s not just Paramount with money woes.  MGM might be starting to regret their epic battle for the rights to The Hobbit now that they (allegedly) can’t afford to make it.  After years of studio battles and trying to find a production team that would satisfy the lynch mob who wanted the rights to stay with New Line, they finally managed to get director Guillermo Del Toro on board with Peter Jackson, Phillippa Boyens and Fran Walsh there to write (pitchforks down, lynch mob).  Having finally got together a team who could make it work, and with rumours of Andy Serkis and Ian McKellen on board, it really is sad to hear that the movie might never get made.  Cinematical makes a good point that it really doesn’t matter that much to the fans which studio makes the movie, but if MGM does have to sell of The Hobbit it will slow down an already drawn out process, and with backers caring more and more about the  profit margins, they may end up thinking that the coat-tails of the LOTR movies are now trailing too far in the distance to make the multi millions that will inevitably be spent on the prequel worthwhile.

Of course, the plight of millionaire producers and actors doesn’t seem much in comparison to the huge rises in unemployment that us mere mortals are facing, but, just like in the 1930s, cinema visits are reaching new highs as people look for cheap ways to have fun, and I for one will be very sad to see some of the big Hollywood staples go under.

Pleasantville

Here’s another one from the movies-you-may-not-know pile.

Pleasantville is a pretty strange film in concept, two teenagers (twins in fact) get sucked into a black and white 50s TV show thanks to a slightly creepy TV repair guy.  Their behaviour in “Pleasantville” begins to affect the town and its people so much that the very nature of their society is completely and irrevocably changed.  It almost sounds like a kids film, until you watch it and realise there’s some definitely not-for-kids themes going on.

So, is it any good?  Well, yes actually!  The film is totally predictable with the twins, played by Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon, swapping roles; Witherspoon becomes more straight-laced and while Maguire learns how to have fun.  But it’s the predictability that makes it so enjoyable.  In fact, the only thing about the film I didn’t like was the ending, which breaks away from the natural story arc and goes in a direction which I found a bit implausible.  (I also thought of a much better way of ending the film, but I want you to watch this film so I’m not going to ruin it for you!)

The best thing about this film is it’s use of colour.  At first, everything in Pleasantville is black and white, but every time someone removes themself from the normal pattern of events colour appears in the town.  The first to change is a red rose, with colour then spreading to cars, trees and finally, people.  The town ends up divided between the orthodox residents, who remain monochrome, and those who have given in to the looser morals and free thinking of our invading characters, who stand out in glorious Technicolor.  What results is an unexpected comment on racism, morality, culture and the nature of society.

To look at, the film is also brilliant, as the gradual integration of colour is very cleverly done, particularly in scenes such as the drive to “lovers’ lane.”

There are some great funny moments in the film and the appearance of “Greasers” and other bits of 50’s memorabilia really highlights the contrast between the two sides of society, and marks the shift in ideas between the 50s and 60s.  It would be easy for this film to play on the generation gap, having all the kids in colour and adults as the prudes, but the side story of the growing romance between David’s “mother” and the ice cream parlour owner (Jeff Daniels) is equally, if not more compelling than the main plot.  Daniels’ character’s discovery of Art is also a really nice moment, well performed by an underrated actor.

I definitely would recommend Pleasantville, as both a nostalgic look back at our romanticised view of 50s america and as a film which actually manages to make some valid points.  As I said, the ending isn’t great, and does leave a bit of a plot hole, but I’ll forgive it that on the basis that the rest of the film is really worth your time.