Driving Mildly Frustrated

Drive Angry is the story of John Milton, played by the unpredictable Nicolas Cage, an escapee of hell on the trail of a satanic cult who have kidnapped his granddaughter. With a young female sidekick in tow, Milton sets out on a trail of ultra-destruction which includes sex, gun-fights and muscle cars. Hot on the heels of the odd couple is The Accountant, an excellent outing for William Fichtner, a bounty hunter tasked with returning Milton to his hellish surroundings. Milton's granddaughter is to be sacrificed at the sight of a full moon by the satan worshipping cult responsible for the death of his daughter. The story plays out in a surprising linear sequence of chase and fight with an unfortunate lack of deviation into the absurd.

I never disrobe before gunplay. 

The recent mini-renaissance of exploitation cinema results in satisfaction levels being raised and raised high. A film that would have interested fans of the genre in years gone by now appears diluted alongside recent contemporaries. The problem is that Drive Angry sits closer to Piranha 3d than it does Black Dynamite or Death Proof in the pantheon of this nu-exploitation.  This is to be his expected when considering director Patrick Lussier's earlier outing as director of the My Bloody Valentine reboot. Drive Angry rarely gets out of second gear (oh dear) due to its unwillingness to fully commit to its exploitative nature. Cage seems somewhat imprisoned in the role although it is this character type that usually sees Cage's best work (see Bad Lieutenant or Wild at Heart). Usually we can assume that the crazier the film or character the better the performance but the difference in this instance is in the quality of script. Cage's deadpan delivery is not exploited to its fullest due to the lukewarm nature of the humour which rarely stretches far beyond the odd questionably timed 'mother-f**cker'. Lynch and Herzog have displayed an enhaned capability for working to Cage's limited strengths which are not utilised with the same vigour here. 

Drive Angry does make good use of  3d, a cinematic craft not yet mastered in my opinion, and the action sequences are enhanced by this presentation. The days of a films release in 3d being enough to guarantee an audience are past due to the sheer volume of these being issued every month.  Drive Angry has received a 'mixed' reception, to put it respectfully, and looks like it may to struggle to recoup the $50million budget put into its production.

Unfortunately it seems that I have been writing about my disappointment at films not living up to my expectations a lot lately. I really expected Drive Angry to be an all-out exploitation film which would see Cage at his manic best. Instead Drive Angry decided not to enter the overtaking lane, happy enough at it's own pace under the speed limit.

Official Site - http://www.driveangry3d.com 

Ride a White Swan

I feel a bit like a man who has woken from a coma to find that the world has ended. I'm walking the streets to find only abandoned cars and the remnants of a once prosperous human race before looking up at a scarred billboard advertising Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. I must be the last person on earth to see this film... it certainly feels that way. 

The new production needs a new swan queen. A fresh face to present to the world. But which of you can embody both swans? The white and the black? 

Black Swan is the story of young ballerina Nina and the realisation of her aspiration to undertake the lead role in a production of Swan Lake. I do not possess any sort of knowledge of ballet but can acknowledge how far from my crude stereotype Natalie Portman's characterisation, of the relatively psychotic Nina, progresses. Nina has struggled her whole life for perfection and is now struggling to resist her will for perfection as the role of the Black Swan requires a looser, more seductive approach. Alongside this Nina is also battling her over-bearing mother, a failed ballerina with a penchant for rough nail-clipping. This relationship makes for some uncomfortable viewing but is successful in establishing viewer sympathy for the main character. The nail-clipping, symbolic of the clipping of the wings of a bird (or swan), ensures that it does not flee its nest. The wishes of her mother manifest. Black Swan's scenes of horror are the ones that are most affecting and the atmospheric, claustrophobic nature of filming, with primarily hand-held camera, takes the viewer into the cramped apartment Nina shares with artistic mother.

Black Swan, at its best, has a fairytale-like aura which encompasses and allures the viewer. The backstage competition between dancers is really no different to that seen in films like Showgirls but where the films falls in my opinion is in it's refusal to commit to either fairytale, thriller or black comedy. With a budget of $13million Black Swan has some truly affecting scenes. Portman and Kunis' performance of the actual ballet was extremely convincing and the time spent in training certainly successful. I have to confess to hugely enjoying Aronofsky's The Wrestler and I understand that Black Swan has been likened in the shared depiction of individual suffering for their 'art'. Both Portman and Kunis perform well and Winona Ryder, although only in a few scenes is also strong. The casting of Vincent Cassel is slightly questionable and his attempts at seduction not wholly satisfying. I don't know if you ever watch a film and imagine what changes you would have made in terms of casting or production. I do. Imagine Willem Defoe, in Wild at Heart style, whispering in the ear of young Nina. Imagine.

The overriding feeling I take from the film is one of slight disappointment. It is only slight disappointment but I would have liked the film to have been a more visceral depiction of the protagonists struggles. I fully appreciate the premise of the ballerina's absolute embodiment of the role she so longed to play and her actual transformation into the Black Swan is one of the films most memorable scenes. Of these though, there were not enough. Each time the narrative tension was allowed to build, primarily by the genuinely affecting scenes of Nina confronting and handling her supposed psychosis, it was broken by lines such as "Did you have some sort of lezzie wet dream about me? Was I good?" which seem to belong to the pages of another script. Considering the points of detraction, and there are a few, you will not see anything else like Black Swan this year. Of that I can almost guarantee. Did I enjoy the film? Definitely. Was it as good as I hoped. Nope.

Perfect? I'm not perfect. I'm nothing. 

Official Site - http://www.foxsearchlight.com/blackswan

Eye of the Tiger

I'm a big boxing fan. I don't know if that was an advantage or a disadvantage when approaching The Fighter. The Fighter is the story of 'Irish' Micky Ward; a man who is about as close to a real life Rocky Balboa as you are likely to encounter. A boxer of minimal talent but an over-abundance of heart and spirit.

I'm the one who's fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.

Ward's never say die, working class spirit made him the most televised fighter in boxing history. Ward was also involved in Ring magazine's fight of the year consecutively from 2001 to 2003. Memorable fights against Arturo Gatti are the highlights of Micky Ward's career and are widely acknowledged as proof that the sport of boxing still has a life to live. Ward opened a tanning salon in his home town after retiring from the sport and reportedly turned down a seven figure offer to return to the ring. Boxing lesson over.

Portrayed for film by Mark Wahlberg, Ward remains an engaging character throughout the piece and his struggles between family, partner and business are presented well enough for the viewer to experience genuine empathy for the character. Wahlberg and Bale have clearly gone to some extent to visually prepare for the film with Wahlberg bulking up for the part and Bale going to the other extreme.

If you follow my Twitter account you will probably be aware that I am not a big Christian Bale fan; by any sense of the imagination. However, I would struggle to fault his performance in this film. Playing the drug addicted older (half) brother of Ward, Dicky Eklund is the local town hero who fought, and lost to, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard. Dicky is a constant drain on Micky and his career but his redemption comes in his tactical awareness and advice which is priceless to Micky in the ring. Outwith this, Micky tolerates his brother only in the name of family. It is clear from the movie that family is important to Micky. He is loyal to the core, even at the expense of his career. This is apparent in the prolonged employment of his Mother as manager. Critical of all outwith the family, she arranges fights for Micky in the name of fast cash, and accuses others of disregarding her son's interests. The rest of Micky's family consists primarily of an immeasurable number of sisters who resemble the female cast of Jersey Shore gone eighties.

Going back to my enjoyment of the sport, and of course the Rocky series, I did feel slightly let down by the fight sequences in The Fighter. The manner in which the scenes were presented was faultless and extremely successful in recalling the look of the era (think early Mike Tyson on ESPN etc.) but the actual boxing was slightly unconvincing. I remember my Dad telling me that Carl Weathers could have been a boxer; you could tell by the way he moves his feet and threw a jab. The same could not be said of Wahlberg. The punching looked unnatural to a boxing purist but to the untrained eye posed no apparent issues. Maybe just a gripe of my own but I never pretended to be anything but a perfectionist.  

The film has received generally positive reviews and you can count this as another. It has received nomination for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. In my opinion the film is available for the enjoyment of both boxing and non-boxing fans alike. You can call it predictable but you have to remember it's a true story.

Official Site - http://www.thefightermovie.com

True Romance..?

Originally due to shoot in 2008, the filming of Blue Valentine was delayed due to the death of Heath Ledger. Filming took place in Brooklyn, New York and stars Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The main attention grabber for the film was hype generated by the NC-17 rating given for release in American cinemas. Changed through appeal the old no such thing as bad press adage has been well applied.

The story follows the tribulations of a young couple falling in, and subsequently out of, love. Removal man Dean pursues the unrealistically sought after student Cindy and cannot be deterred by pregnancy or beating. The story you expect to shift from bliss to misery never really reaches the heights of bliss as the undertones of the film are relatively desperate. From meeting to marriage the couples encounters, although realistic, are not particularly heart-warming save for the stand out scene that sees Dean serenade the dancing Cindy on his old ukulele.

There are two musical elements that are intrinsic to Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine. The first is the title shared with the 1978 Tom Waits album containing classics Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis and Kentucky Avenue.The second was less obvious but lies within the narrative of the film. If protagonist Dean had debts that no honest man could pay we would have the on-screen projection of the pertinent storyline apparent throughout the work of Bruce Springsteen. The problem is that the film does not live up to the promise offered by connections with these two artists.

Dean is an honest man trying to make an honest living but that's not enough to maintain an ultimately antique relationship. It seems that we follow our parents and as such replicate their (un)successful attempts at love and marriage. Are those who come from a broken home ultimately destined to create the same for their children and is this lesson learned of our parents suffering? Shall we abandon ship before it is too late? In Blue Valentine we do.

The narrative problems are caused in part by the manner in which the story is told as we jump from meeting to greetin' (crying if you are not Scottish) and back again. This serves to break the story and contributes to the problem that I never believed that Cindy loved Dean.. she settled for the best offer available.

I feel like men are more romantic than women. When we get married we marry, like, one girl, 'cause we're resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think I'd be an idiot if I didn't marry this girl she's so great. But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option... 'Oh he's got a good job.' I mean they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who's got a good job and is gonna stick around.

Throughout the film I never doubted that Dean was honest in his intentions however the relationship built between the two main characters of 500 Days of Summer (2009) for example, is never replicated in Blue Valentine. This results in the dissolution of the relationship having less of an impact on the viewer. Honestly, Cindy's happiness is of no concern to me come the end of the film and the painter's efforts to reconcile with the newly redundant nurse are obviously vain form the outset.  The film is not without redemption and Gosling's performance is particularly good. The overall sense is one of unreached potential rather than overall disappointment.

Official Site - www.bluevalentinemovie.com

The Trouble with Christmas

There is just something about the festive season that has never lost its magic. Whether it is the promise of multiple turkey feasts with family or listening to Shakin' Stevens Christmas hits, I just never tire of Christmas. This results in films which I would not even consider normally rising to the top of my priorities if they have a Christmas setting. It is difficult to explain exactly what it is about Christmas that still enchants me so but it is again that time of year when I feel my belly rumble with festive cheer. This blog is going to cover three of my favourite Christmas films ranging from a child unfortunately left alone by their family to those suffering the fear of an altogether more sinister ol' St. Nick. Now that I think about it, that sums up my love for Christmas right there.

Home Alone

Home Alone was my favourite film when I was young. Actually Home Alone 2 was but because I owned the sequel and not the original, the otherworldly allure of its predecessor was too much to resist. I liked everything about the film, the criminals are genuinely villainous and Kevin's out-witting of various adults made him the perfect role model for an impressionable young man. I remember being given a replica Talkboy for my Christmas only to feel utter dejection upon finding that my voice and the 'slow' function did not equal my fathers voice and as such could not book me hotel rooms or explain my absences from school. I was willing to overlook this and just focus on how good the films are. The original (although I am sure you are aware) tells the story of a feuding family who, in the haste of pre-holiday havoc, leave their young son behind as they embark on a trip to France. Kevin quickly adjusts to his role as the man of the house and begins the associated tasks of showering, shopping and defending his kingdom from the advances of two hapless burglars. What ensues is a slapstick series of traps and tricks as the criminal worlds answer to the Chuckle Brothers attempt to defeat Macaulay Culkin. Kevin's success is a victory for all children and his ingenuity an inspiration for my future endeavours to the present day.

This is Christmas, the season of perpetual hope. And I don't care if I have to get out on your runway and hitchhike. If it costs me everything I  own, if I have to sell my soul to the devil himself, I am going to get home to my son.

Elf

Starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel, Jon Favreau's Elf (2003) depicts Buddy the Elf's banishing from Christmas paradise and his struggles to adjust to everyday life in the city. Buddy, previously unaware of his human origins after a mix-up and hasty adoption, struggles to adapt to this new life which brings some hilarious moments with his initial arrival in New York and subsequent attempts to please his father particular stand outs.

It's just like Santa's workshop! Except it smells like  mushrooms... and everyone looks like they wanna hurt me...

Elf is essentially a story about spreading Christmas cheer to those who are not so predisposed  but is also a story about family and the connections that are particularly important to people at this time of year. It is Buddy's persistent insistence which, although at first grating to those around him, endears people to him and the Christmas spirit required to resolve the plight of Santa and his elves. Elf is a genuinely funny and heartwarming film that loses its way a little towards the end. However, Will Ferrell's MTV Movie Award for best comedic performance was very well deserved. Buddy has settled in New York and is telling his tale in a Broadway musical through the Christmas season this year. The films box office takings of $220million display how much affection the movie going public has for this type of festive experience.

I just like to smile, smiling's my favourite!

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

In terms of appropriate titles Rare Exports is about as apt as you could request. Rare in terms of its portrayal of Christmas so far removed from that we are accustomed to and exported from Finland to an unsuspecting audience around the world. It is unusual for me to be able to summarise a Christmas film as a creepy horror with comedic moments and under-tones of paedophilia but that is exactly what Rare Exports has to offer. To say that this is a Christmas film not suitable for children evokes memories of Bad Santa et al. but this is a far different proposition. Rare Exports may not be for children but it may not be for most adults either. 

Director Jalmari Helander has created something between an unsuccessful comedy and unsuccessful horror derived from his earlier series of Internet shorts. That is not to say that the film is not enjoyable just that it does not fulfil expectations of either genre. The films tag line proclaims that "This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus", they may well but it is not the same Santa Claus you can expect to see on your Coke can. Children will barricade the doors of their advent calenders, naked elves will chase children through the snow and in time honoured tradition Santa will be nowhere to be seen. In place of the great deliverer or gifts we are faced with the great discipliner of children. Santa is excavated from an icy mountain grave before facing the guile of the local townspeople. The film is strangely unsatisfying regardless of the fact that there are no loose ends at the close of the film but it is also unlike any other Christmas film you will see this year.

I asked through my Twitter account what your favourite Christmas movies were and the replies were so varied that it really reiterated the wide range of circumstances, and as such the cinematic opportunity, afforded by this particular holiday. Christmas films have the wide-ranging appeal of being suited to hard-luck stories of loss and redemption to tales of unbridled joy for family viewing. The Christmas setting can be adapted to almost every narrative and as such we can expect an influx of new additions at this time every year. However, any new additions to my cinematic stocking will struggle to usurp the magic of the three detailed above.

The trouble with Christmas..? It only comes once a year.

The Millennium Bug

Based on the bestselling books by Stieg Larsson the films that comprise the Millennium trilogy have been at the centre of a resurgence in Scandinavian cinema with films such as Let the Right One In also prompting Hollywood remakes. The films focus on the investigative work, on both sides of the law, undertaken by Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist). Brought together by a series of conspiring circumstances, the two form a bond, or what could be more accurately described as a 'mutual understanding'.

The first in the series is titled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and sees Blomkvist, journalist for underground magazine Millennium, investigate the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy businessman's granddaughter while also fighting a court case, and subsequent jail term, handed to him for his expose style journalism. Lisbeth, a talented computer hacker, is initially hired to investigate Blomkvist but becomes involved in his work after finding information pertinent to his case. The two strike up a relationship and uncover a web of deceit through a well-to-do family and the upper-echelons of Swedish business. During this Lisbeth also has to contend with her sadistic custodian which add the scenes of sexual violence to the film and we are also faced with serial killers and Swedish Nazi's as the cherry on top of the already well-baked cake. To be honest there are only two things I would criticise the three films for and they are all apparent throughout each addition to the series. The first is that there are so many characters, and so many sub-plots that the films feel bloated to the point of combustion. The second, related to the first, is the running time for each film with them all coming in at well over 2 hours. The only time I really had a problem with this was in the second installment which I though was the weakest of the three.

During The Girl Who Played with Fire we delve deeper into the psyche of Lisbeth Salander who returns to Sweden after a year abroad to be faced with charges for the murder of a journalist, his girlfriend and the sadistic guardian mentioned earlier. The film sees revelations about Lisbeth's childhood and the film ends with a climatic battle between Salander and her father/brother. This film suffers from being devoid of the chemistry so successful between the protagonists in the first outing. Mikhael's searching for Lisbeth and his continued relationship with his magazine colleague are slightly unconvincing and, after the themes of the first, the second film feels a little tame in comparison.



The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest is the final film in the series and begins with Lisbeth in hospital following the showdown at the end of the second film. Still facing the murder charges, Blomkvist does what he can to attempt to prove her innocence but has to deal with Salander's continual uncooperative behaviour which threatens to derail their progress at every other turn. Going from hospital to police custody we see less of Salander's talents and are faced with more of a race against time which follows a more familiar 'thriller' narrative structure. Again the film suffers slightly from the sheer number of characters but I did find myself slowing move towards the edge of my seat as the film, and the series, neared conclusion. The consecutive releases of the films within the period of a year worked well and resulted in the characters becoming so familiar that it would have been hard not to care about the outcome and well-being of each.

The influence for the series has been reported as Larsson's real-life witness to the gang-rape of a young girl named Lisbeth and his abhorrence of sexual violence from that point forth. This is also reflected in the original title given to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo of Män Som Hatar Kvinnor which translated as Men who Hate Women. I have to admit to seeing the films before reading any of the books but was impressed enough with the first film in the series to read the material from which it was adapted. I found the book to be a little slow paced which, although worked well throughout the cinematic series, struggled to hold my attention. I understand how I am in the minority with this opinion but preferred the character portrayals offered by the films.

The Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is due for release December 21st 2011 and will star Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in the lead roles. I suggest you see the Swedish trilogy first.

Official Site - http://dragontattoofilm.com/

(m)Exploitation

I remember watching the Grindhouse (2007) double bill when it was first released in the cinema and the sense of cinematic superiority I could display upon hearing a patron in the row behind state his excitement at seeing the upcoming feature 'Machete' for which the trailer had just been screened. Little did I know it would be he who was to enjoy laughing last.

I have been excited about the release of Robert Rodriguez's Machete since it was announced that the trailer was to be made into a full length production. My love for exploitation cinema has been well documented throughout my blog and this year has already seen a classic in Black Dynamite receive its overdue UK release. Although I feared disappointment, caused by heightened levels of excitement, I soon found there was no reason to worry. The original trailer for Machete, contained within Grindhouse, promised a full-on exploitation fix whereas, upon first viewing, the official trailer for the actual release was much less encouraging. It just didn't have the same impact and it appeared as the grindhouse look of Rodriguez's Planet Terror (2007) had been ditched in favour of that of the generic action-movie. I was wrong.

The plot sees Danny Trejo in his first leading role playing Mexican immigrant Machete. An ex federale who sets out to right the wrongs resulting from the killing of his wife. Some time later we join Machete as he seeks work as a day labourer in Texas before being offered $150,000 to kill a corrupt Senator. Accepting the cash involves Machete in a plot to win support for the Senator and he is quickly double crossed and hunted for the assassination attempt. Machete is unstoppable in his efforts to seek revenge and assist in the protection of Mexican immigrants to Texas.

The cast is extremely impressive and is notable for memorable performances from Robert De Niro, Steven Seagal and Cheech Marin. I really can't recommend the film enough especially if you, like me, are trying to avoid Potter-mania at all costs. The scenes that I looked forward to from the original trailer were included in the movie and the fact it was quite clear that these were filmed years previous, and sometimes even with different actors, added to the grindhouse feel of the film. I would have liked it to be heavier in terms of stylisation but the action, script and acting is more than enough to satisfy. It has been reported that the sequel, promised during the credits, has already been written and with a 'more violent' directors cut due for DVD release Machete isn't going away anytime soon.

Official Site - http://www.vivamachete.com