Brutal Ballet - Black Swan

Okay, as promised, finally, a review of Black Swan. I didn’t know much about this film before seeing it, only that Portman had been awarded several Best Actress awards, and that the critics either hailed it as a masterpiece, or were slightly less pleasant. Because of the critical reaction, I knew I had to see this film. According to the talk it was love or hate. You had to pick a side. No middle ground. But despite the talk, here I am in no man’s land.

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey

Rating: EE

The Plot:

Swan Lake. I can’t say that with any certainty, I’ve never seen, read or been told the story of Swan Lake before but it’s outlined pretty well in Black swan.

I think Black Swan is a classic case of don’t listen to the hype. The very reason I’ve avoided DarrenAron’s previous film ‘The Wrestler’ was because I knew Mickey Rourke could never live up to my expectations thanks  to all the Oscar’s hype about his amazing comeback.

Hype leads to the strange scenario where I’m looking to be drawn into the film, almost trying to force it rather than be naturally absorbed by the events on screen. That’s what happened with Black Swan, I tried to force myself to enjoy it and believe it was a great movie and all I ended up seeing were the problems. My own fault really, I should have gone to see it earlier.

My issues with Black Swan are all pretty moot: I don’t like the camera work, but I understand why it’s like that. Portman seems to have won an Oscar for looking sad, but she does the ‘I feel sad’ look very well. Parts of the story don’t make sense, but that’s where the paranoia comes from.

These issues make the film what it is. And if you want to make a film about someone getting ever more paranoid, that’s how you do it. There is nothing I would change or want to see done differently.

So Black Swan gets a low rating. Maybe undeservedly, but I watched it and just couldn’t connect in the way I was promised. If you haven’t already seen it I’d suggest you leave it a few months, let anything you may have heard about it fade away and watch it on its own merit. If you ‘follow’ my blog then you will still have this review to come back to afterwards.

Thanks for reading. I realise this review has been a little different from the others, a little less in depth, so please let me know if you liked it, preferred the previous style or want to see a bit of both in the future. You can do so by leaving a comment below. And if you have any questions about the camerawork, performances, editing, etc…  you can also comment below and as always I’ll be happy to let you know what I think.

From Phillip K Dick - The Adjustment Bureau

Again, i'll start with a plug. You can follow this blog by clicking the follow button beneath the blog archive, and you can leave your comments at the bottom of the review.

This week I’ve seen first time director George Nolfi’s adaptation of the Phillip K Dick novel Adjustment Team. What at first glance is a promising little thriller turns out to in fact be a little disappointing.

Director: George Nolfi

Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery and Terrance Stamp

Rating: EE

It’s been billed as Bourne meets Inception. I don’t really rate the Bourne films, but Inception was by far the best movie of the last couple of years. Perhaps, because of the advertising, this film was never going to meet my expectations. Take note advertisers: don’t sell a film to me by comparing it to another film unless you can stand up and defend your claim.

The Plot:

Humans do have free will and chance to get them through life, but for some of the more important moments there is an otherworldly team of ‘angels’ who make adjustments to the world to keep us on the right track. Due to a mistake by Harry (Mackie), the adjuster assigned to bad boy Congressman David Norris (Damon), he walks in on one of these adjustments. Due to Norris’ never give up attitude, Harry’s boss Richardson (Slattery) reasons the only way to stop Norris telling the world is to ‘level’ with him, giving a nice little exposition speech to the audience. The only catch is, because of the mistake, Norris met the love of his life (Blunt) that he was never meant to be with. When chance brings them together again, the adjusters must do all they can to keep them apart.

So why the low rating? Well it’s to do with the writing, the story itself while conceptually interesting is quite week once examined. !!!PLOT SPOILERS!!! From now on. Sorry, I try not to do this most of the time but there’s no way around it here. Firstly Norris takes the news that his life is being controlled by mysterious men in 50’s style suits amazingly well. Secondly, he proceeds to beat these adjustments with extraordinary ease. After each adjuster fails, the ‘case’ is simply passed up to that person’s boss and we never see them again. First from Harry to his boss Richardson (a real shame we don’t see more of Slattery). From Richardson to Donaldson, who in turn gets in a specialist, Thomson (Stamp) who doesn’t seem to have any more power than Harry. As an aside, why isn’t Harry called Harrison? Then there’s Emily Blunt’s character Elise Sellas. The first meeting of the two leads is horribly contrived. Sellas dared herself to gate crash a wedding in the same hotel where Norris is giving a speech, and she’s hiding from security in the gents while Norris is practising said speech. At first I thought it was a nice touch that she was the only character to casually swear. Normally in Hollywood movies swearing is used as a device to show some one is angry, and it’s just not naturalistic. Here though it just seems like a part of her character. That is until you look at the big picture. Because you know essentially that the Adjusters are trying to help Norris with his political career and often visit him in an attempt to persuade him to leave Sellas, the chase sequences are completely devoid of tension and although visually interesting there’s no emotion to go along with it. In the whole film the only threat is that Sellas twists her ankle. Only the occasional swearing is keeping The Adjustment Bureau from being a family friendly PG that kids don’t want to see because it looks like an adult film and that adults don’t want to see because it’s rated as a kid’s film.

Please leave a comment to let me know what you thought, and watch out for a cameo from the Baby’s Day Out villain who isn’t famous.

It's been a while - True Grit

First things first, the shameless plug. If you like what you read on this blog, you can 'follow' it and get alerts when I post some thing new. Also if you could help spread the word to any other folk who might be interested in what I have to say, and increase my readership, that would be fantastic. Or if that sounds like too much bother, you can just leave a comment at the bottom of the review and let me, and others know your thoughts. Cheers.

It's been a while since I last talked about one film, simply because I haven't been to the cinema for ages. However, I've been to see True Grit and had some time to gather my thoughts.

True Grit is the latest offering from the Coen brothers. It's not a re-make of the 1969 John Wayne classic, but rather a re-imagining of the Charles Portis novel upon which the original film was based.

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper

Rating: EEE

I'm not really a fan of the Coen brother, they rose to fame with a series of 'quirky comedies' and suddenly became serious awards contending directors with the pretentious and boring No Country for Old Men. A couple of 'comedies' down the line, they return to the cinemagraphic wild west.

Plot Summary:

14 year old Mattie Ross (Steinfeld) hires a man of 'true grit' (Bridges) to track down her fathers killer, Tom Chaney (Brolin). Bridges, the drunken, cycloptic U.S. Marshall agrees to track down Chaney, but only because Texas Ranger, Le Boeuf (Damon) offers him a substantially larger reward.

We see the story form the view of headstrong teenager Mattie as she tags along with the bickering law men. The unlikely trio head into Indian territory seeking notorious bandit 'Lucky' Ned Pepper (Pepper) who they suspect is sheltering Chaney. Bloodshed ensues.

I was impressed by this film because I didn't think I would like it. But the fact that the Coen's didn't write the story and that the direction is suitably low key, I think allows Coen naysayers to feel more at ease with the characters. Some fresh faces help as well. The Coens being notorious for relying on a small bank of movie stars. Only the actors Bridges and Brolin have worked with the directors before, and both of them are unrecognisable as their previous Coen incarnation.

Hailee Steinfeld is a strong lead, especially for her age. She could have a great career ahead of her. There are a few humorous moments when people underestimate her character, and her deadpan delivery and comic timing let the audience know for sure who's in charge of the situation.

The supporting cast of Damon, Brolin and Pepper all put in terrific performances. Damon, I’m beginning to think is a better actor than the Team America creators and I gave him credit for. Brolin, although not in it for very long plays a great hill billy. And Barry Pepper, who I've never seen be bad in anything gets nowhere near the recognition he deserves (not even billed on the poster) for his illustrious career as a supporting actor. His only lead part I can think of was Battlefield Earth. Please people, I'm telling you, give him another chance. He wont let you down.

However, no one comes close to the performance of Jeff Bridges. I wouldn't be surprised to hear he prepared for this role by living the life of Marshall Rooster Cogburn. Including spending the last three months in the same pair of long-johns and sleeping on a bunk in the back of a Chinese grocers.

It may no be a classic, but the characters and performances keep you involved for an enjoyable romp into the old west, and a tale of revenge.

Here comes the plug again. Please 'follow', tell your friends, and leave comments below. Feel free to disagree with me, but note, if you do you shall be branded a nincompoop.