The Railway Man ***

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Posted: 08/01/2014

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Colin Firth has done some of his finest work recently since The King’s Speech, reaffirming his dominance in British screen drama. Therefore, a film based on the memoirs of British WW2 veteran Eric Lomax, who survived the gruelling hardship of working on Burma’s railway as a POW, and starring Firth as Lomax promises another resounding screen success. Indeed, Firth makes the most of a disjointed plotline that sadly stops and starts and carves up any dramatic nature that such a real-life story should strongly and consistently evoke.

Lomax is a railway enthusiast who meets and falls in love with a fellow travelling companion, Patricia Wallace (Nicole Kidman), who later becomes his wife. However, Lomax has a dark and haunting past as a WW2 POW working on the new railway, ‘Death Railway’ in Burma. This causes him repeat nightmares and continual psychological torment, years after the war has been over.

Patricia resorts to finding out more from Lomax’s fellow former POW, Finlay (Stellan Skarsgård), after her husband refuses to talk. One day Lomax discovers his key torturer is still alive and helping run the country’s Kempeitai War Museum, dedicated to Death Railway’s fallen, and decides to confront him in the hope of ridding Lomax of his demons.

The film’s beginning promises superior and complex subtle tones and menacing unease to come, with an endearingly awkward union between Firth and Kidman. Both acclaimed actors play to their strengths in the limited screen-time they have together. However, director Jonathan Teplitzky and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce’s script seems to keen to plunge us into the WW2 setting as soon as possible, without allowing breathing space and character empathy to first grow. There is an unsettling curiosity and delayed answers as to the root of Lomax’s temperament that do benefit from the time-jumping plot.

Indeed, Jeremy Irvine as the young soldier Lomax fares very well in this respect, giving a standout performance as the young engineer who takes the fall and the brutal punishment from his captors for trying to build communication to the outside world. Irvine, who is no stranger to wartime roles (young star of War Horse), has found his niche here in a more sobering and serious part, and gets full credit.

That said as uneven as the story flows and sometimes languid in parts, Teplitzky gives dramatic centre-stage to Firth in the present day as Lomax when confronting his tormentor Nagase, aptly played by Hiroyuki Sanada. This should be the ultimate redemption scene, full of emotive power but feels a bit of damp squib in hindsight, with the most powerful impact being the end scene on the railway tracks and subsequent real-life photographs in the end credits. It feels as though Firth is holding back in authority and vengeful nature that the whole story has been building to, which is disappointing.

What is a remarkable real-life tale feels short-changed in the hands of Teplitzky and team, even though there is just enough characterisation and unimaginable hardship to get immersed in. The lasting sentiment of The Railway Man is not as dramatically compelling as one might have hoped for, and this is probably a factor of the jumbled plotline, rather than acting ability. Still, such a tale deserves our full attention, and the cast is a stellar one to admire, as well as the stunning production values.

3/5 stars
By @FilmGazer

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Delivery Man **

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Posted: 08/01/2014

Delivery-Man

Star Vince Vaughn is up to his usual tricks in Ken Scott’s Delivery Man; that of ‘man child’ forced to grow up with the help of ‘the family’. Admittedly, he does curb some of his usual stream of prattle in this. There is a sense that the comic actor is trying to find the right balance of drama and comedy with each new project but insists on reverting to these goofy, irresponsible roles as a fallback in case he can’t cut it as a serious actor. Indeed, the plot alone makes it very hard for anyone to take this – or him – seriously.

Deliveryman David Wozniak (Vaughn) is one of life’s constant losers (estranged from his pregnant girlfriend and in trouble with the mob), even though he has a steady job at his family’s firm delivering meat. One day he finds a man in his apartment who informs him that due to his very generous sperm donations made twenty years earlier for money to take his family abroad, the same clinic subsequently reused his semen. The result is he has fathered 533 children, some of which – 142 – want the right to know who their birth father is, and for his anonymity to be lifted. Intrigued, Wozniak sets out to secretly meet some of his offspring, against the advice of his lawyer and best pal Brett (Chris Pratt), with Wozniak facing the dilemma of coming clean or not.

Those who enjoy the usual formulaic Vaughn comedy can comfortably add this one to the long list. Vaughn always plays the loser with total credibility; there is nothing new here, aside from a more pensive character at the state of play – hence the stemming of Vaughn verbal dysentery. He is as flawed and affable as ever as Wozniak for loyal fans.

Pratt does get the chance to upstage Vaughn as the real loveable fool – end revelation aside. Theirs is the film’s bromance, acting like a bickering married couple trying to sort out the situation. The film plays for our empathy at the start, with Brett left to bring up four young kids after his partner walks out – Wozniak’s worst nightmare, long before the real one begins.

The trouble is, Wozniak seems to come out of the whole thing rather too lightly and unscathed, complete with a gooey ending that feels as staged and ridiculous as the rest of the scenarios. It does appear as though the film tries to change tone but freaks out and reverts to Vaughn type. A little stark reality is missing along the way, like none of the kids get really angry, that naturally makes the whole thing ultimately frivolous.

That said it is Vaughn’s attempt at a little emotional input in a far-fetched and daft premise, again feeling all too comfortable for him. This could have been a mould-breaking role with a little more effort on the film-makers’ part, especially given the more genuine sentiments of the original 2011 Canadian film Starbuck. Still, Delivery Man is entertaining if lacking in substance.

2/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2013: 12 Years A Slave ****

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Posted: 08/01/2014

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British artist turned director Steve McQueen (Shame) has crafted another beautiful-looking and moving film in 12 Years A Slave that has equally emotive subject matter. Naturally, a story dealing with slavery provokes revulsion, and here, is where reviewing such a film needs a separation of personal sentiments from actual empowering film-making. Indeed, the film feels all too similar in style to others tackling the same topic, but in McQueen’s defence, there is an unexpected, gradual build-up of anger that is overwhelmingly felt at the end, as well as the circumstances of its lead being different from the traditional tale.

Family man Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is a free black man living upstate New York, revered for his professional musician talents. On the promise of work, Northup is abducted and sold into slavery one night, and taken by boat to the South. He is renamed and passed from owner to owner, ending up working on the lands of sadistic Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). Northup tries to get word to home, in the hope that he will be freed, after years have passed and he has routinely witnessed brutality and murder.

McQueen has cast very well in this, in British actor Ejiofor (2012, American Gangster and Children of Men), as well as in ‘muse’ Fassbender (Shame, Hunger) who is utterly vile and pitiful as Epps. The acting alone is exquisite and the reason for this film’s impact alone – the story is one told over and over. The afore-mentioned actors definitely deserve awards recognition, with much of the lingering camerawork centred on Ejiofor who carries the film with admirable confidence.

Another ‘tweak’ to the standard screen slavery story is focusing on one affluent man’s plight, but in a humbling manner that does not tub-thump the slavery issue or rely on constant titillating brutal actions for added effect. Indeed, when these do feature, they are aptly placed to enhance the situation at that given moment and are very difficult to watch.

What McQueen’s film focuses on more is psychological manipulation. There is a constant sense of anxiety for the lead, with every situation a potential hazard, even those which seem ‘harmless’: For example, Northup goes to the home of another landowner on an errand, where the mistress is black and taking tea. It is such a situation that raises highly intriguing questions on the whole debate and the highlights the disparity among the treatment of the black population at this time.

Overall, 12 Years A Slave feels loyal to the original story of the same name by the real Northup by making the experience a personal and faithful account, so much so that the end feeling of anger creeps up on you while watching the last scene at the waste of one man’s key years away from his growing family. In this sense, McQueen has reignited controversy without bowing to excessive measures on a grand scale.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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Last Vegas ***

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Posted: 08/01/2014

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Jon Turteltaub’s Last Vegas is obviously pitched as a ‘mature’ The Hangover with a crowd-pleasing, all-star cast of Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline, and Mary Steenburgen as the love interest. It has the potential of being quite a geriatric farce, and there are parts that are very funny in a sort of ‘ah, bless them’ afterthought. Much of the rest is not so much comfortably entertaining but sometimes a little flat. That said, each actor brings an element of what makes him uniquely special on the big screen, and that’s the key to the film’s box office success, not the story itself.

Billy (Douglas) is a wealthy, sixty-something playboy who is set to marry a woman half his age. He wants to have his bachelor party in Sin City but his circle of childhood friends, Paddy (De Niro), Archie (Freeman) and Sam (Kline), remains broken after a long-standing feud between him and Paddy who fell out over a girl. The group manage to reunite nevertheless, and give their friend a weekend to remember.

Like The Hangover, the four use the time away from worrying family members to let loose, except this film has none of the outrageous high jinx of the former, more age-comparison gags a plenty. True, there is a certain poignancy to the whole affair of how quickly time passes so cherish youth, and watching the ‘oldies’ in more youthful situations has its obvious amusement factor and is done in a respectful, almost cynically observed manner. The funniest of the bunch is Freeman who seems to use the opportunity to let his own hair down, with a particularly hilarious dancing scene at a nightclub – sadly, the trailer features part of that punchline.

Last Vegas has no less bromance to enjoy, with the moral of the story being the importance of friendship overriding everything. The same ideals surface where certain members rediscover themselves after having the space to release, but some of those ‘releases’ are naturally predictable, such as the mandatory babes-in-bikinis parade and Viagra jokes. It’s perhaps the fault of writer Dan Fogelman for not coming up with more unique scenarios for the boys to find themselves in, even though he does play to the screen personas of each actor. It’s all very safe in that respect, which seems a tragic waste of legendary talent.

Still, Last Vegas has some old-timers we love to watch and the opportunity for them to get a little naughty and decadent (for their age), even if you do wish for more absurdity.

3/5 stars

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The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty ***

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Posted: 30/12/2013

walter-mitty

The new Forrest Gump this is not, in terms of an iconic screen character, but actor-director Ben Stiller’s remake of the James Thurber classic 1947 short, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty has some life-assessing moments, some of which you may be stirred into making. In that sense, it has a poignant and ‘inspiring’ legacy that rings more true in these gloomy days of austerity. Indeed, Stiller is a family favourite and guarantees a degree of endearing and modest entertainment value too.

Average, single Walter Mitty (Stiller juggling lead role as well as directing) is a hardworking stills library researcher at Life magazine who has a habit of zoning out and having fantastical daydreams. When his job is put on the line through a digital revamp of the magazine, led by ignorant hatchet man Ted Hendricks (a delightfully spiteful Adam Scott), and egged on by potential love interest and finance colleague Cheryl Melhoff (Kristen Wiig), Mitty’s daydreams become reality. His quest is to find a lost negative sent in by famous photographer Sean O’Connell (a Zen Sean Penn), said to be ‘the quintessence of life’, that will take pride of place on the last edition of Life magazine.

This is a situation where a film’s trailer sells quite a different kind of film. Indeed, to appeal to the usual Stiller audience, a degree of this is necessary. The actor is known for comedy roles and this is where any misconceptions could understandably happen. Hence, tonally, the film feels uneven, with the first half almost undermining the life-affirming sentiments of the latter and moving ending. Stiller places us in a false sense of security to begin with, with the greatest intention perhaps. He also confusingly blends fantasy and reality to the extent that Mitty’s encounter with a shark feels totally implausible. This is either more expertly seamless than the original film or subversively muddled in execution (the jury’s still out here).

Naturally, the most enjoyable parts of the film are where Mitty starts ‘living’ without fantasyland, with Stiller’s rather indulgent Icelandic scenery awakening the adventurer spirit in any of us. There are moments of being at the whim of the director’s own fantasies being played out (and ego to boot). Nevertheless, it’s perhaps the chance of escapism to places that most will never get to and being in obscure and exciting situations that really sell the film’s promise, regardless of any expectant Stiller affability.

There are also some nice if fleeting moments to savour from supporting cast members Wigg, Penn and Shirley MacLaine as Mitty’s slightly scatty mother, Edna. Penn makes another snatch bid for sex symbol status as brooding, deep-thinking, creative O’Connell on a mountainside. However, it’s Stiller’s championing of the ‘ordinary man’ on a serious note that keeps things very much grounded. In addition, the film challenges the changing working landscape due to the rapid advancement of technology and human expendability, where time-consuming, artful practices are becoming obsolete that resonate the loudest here.

Walter Mitty promises a bit of everything for the family appetite this festive season, but be prepared for it altering the goalposts between comedy classic of the Stiller variety and action-drama that some might find patchy to reconcile. The danger is the detail being skimmed over in parts as you try to find its comfortable grove. That said, you do get there in the end after quite a picturesque journey, with the last scene definitely hitting home with a nostalgic and gloriously triumphant air punch.

3/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2013: All Is Lost ****

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Posted: 30/12/2013

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A film without dialogue is unusual in this day and age. A survival film with an older protagonist is even more so. JC Chandor’s ocean drama, All Is Lost is so simple in its execution that is offers its 77-year-old star Robert Redford a blank canvas to show off his exceptional acting talents at this stage in his long career. His reactions to the harsh situation seem underplayed and realistic, without an ounce of melodrama. Without dialogue we focus solely on these so that every move appears significant. In fact it’s like watching the star himself in an own private moment, battling the elements.

A man (Redford) wakes up on his yacht in the Sumatra Straits, near the Indian Ocean to find his hull pierced by a floating container. So begins the drama that sees him fighting the elements alone in a bid to stay alive.

Perhaps the most fascinating and intriguing way is how matter-of-factly the story unfolds. The man is unfazed by the initial realisation and pragmatic in response. Chandor’s film creates a more natural state of affairs, without the need for inducing any hint of panic through overreaction or musical accompaniment either to heighten the senses. Curiosity is pricked and we are hooked as to how the rest of the 106-minute run-time will pan out. All we know is a vague suggestion from the title that things must develop for the worse. The rest is a tense waiting game born through our own imaginations.

Redford is supremely captivating as the sailor; we sense his every emotion as though telepathically in tune. There are moments of great physical strength coupled with mental ones that it’s hard not to admire the investment the actor has made. He keeps his character unremarkable and so doing, we can relate to his ‘average man’ in a tough environment who makes mistakes as well as finds solutions. Chandor keeps the camera at a respectable distance in the cramped location to allow the man space to figure out the next move.

At the end of the film, there is a huge amount of respect for the character that rewards our own investment. Chandor’s All Is Lost is actually a very interactive experience in fact without the viewer realising from the comfort of his/her own seat, and is one of the triumphs of LFF 2013.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues ****

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Posted: 18/12/2013

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Some might argue, why do another Anchorman film, given the low takings of the first back in 2004 (around $90 million mark)? The chauvinist, un-PC news dinosaur that is perfectly-coiffured newsreader Ron Burgundy – played by Will Ferrell – surely has said everything he needs to say back then. And if you didn’t like what he had to say, then this film is not going to bring you back to the cinema in a hurry.

However, the key difference this time is the commentary on the mushrooming growth of 24-hour news services from the 1980s to now that has left us with channels upon channels of (sometimes meaningless) content, and in particular, certain stations that make news out of a paper bag opening. This is where Ferrell-McKay’s sequel is pure genius in the comedy stakes, with an almighty end battle to gleefully relish.

Burgundy should have left Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) to the bears in the first film as she gets a coveted TV position, leaving him unable to continue their relationship. As time passes, amusement park worker Burgundy gets a call out of the blue in the knick of time from a producer of a new 24-hour news station in New York, inviting him to host the graveyard slot. Burgundy rounds up his former news crew, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) and Champ Kind (David Koechner) with hilarious and risqué effect. But can he beat smooth archrival Jack Lime (James Marsden) in the ratings war?

Fans of the first film will be delivered more of the same this time around as the writing team give nods to past events and gags. Where as the first film seemed to be a mouthpiece for Ferrell’s outrageous lead character, shooting off where and when, this time there is more purpose disguised under the utter lunacy. It is essentially bonkers fun – just watching the first scene makes you wonder exactly where the story is going and it’s as far-fetched as can be imagined.

The two hours do seem to fly by when you’re having fun and allow yourself to be submerged in the stupidity. However, this is not without a tad of lag, for example, the uncomfortable dinner table scene when Ferrell is given carte blanche to peddle every racist black pun, plus the real purpose of the ferocious first scene dragged out in a reunion story that has moments of amusement but gets a little tedious in the end.

Ferrell is just as loveably idiotic and entertaining as Burgundy, and there are some nice confrontations as 70s meets 80s boardroom thinking and the advent of sexual and racial equality in the workplace. The Burgundy crew do much the same, with the most memorable being Carell’s Brick who has an insane ‘banter’ going with an equally socially challenged colleague and love interest, Chani, played by ‘comedy flavour of the moment’ Kristen Wiig. That said Brick’s character still delivers some hilarious solo turns, including being introduced to chromakeying.

The headline is: Anchorman 2 has all the ingredients for a daft night out, but you do have to surrender your brain and go with it. Certainly, you don’t have to have experienced working in a newsroom – but it helps. Nevertheless, everyone must have an opinion on the plethora of infuriating TV channels available, as well as being tuned into YouTube for the funniest videos that go viral. It’s these current, social issues that Anchorman 2 really ties in nicely with the comedy, and that’s why Burgundy is still a legend needed to subtly mock our reliance on 24-hour content. There could certainly be a later Anchorman film that targets the online/social media addiction…

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ****

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Posted: 14/12/2013

the-hobbit2

The second film in The Hobbit trilogy was always going to have its work cut out to be a worthy piece of cinema in its own right, with Peter Jackson and team trying to give the fans what they want, while keeping focus and excitement brewing for the finale, There And Back Again next year. Jackson seems to have achieved the latter with some white-knuckle action moments and a world of imagination in The Desolation of Smaug. Indeed, it picks up where An Unexpected Journey left off and is always going to be seem as elaborate ‘padding’, but it’s watchable padding all the same that holds the attention.

Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the dwarves, led by Thorin (Richard Armitage) continue on their quest to reach Erebor, the dwarf homeland, and reclaim it from Smaug, a dragon that ferociously defends their inheritance. Along the way they get unexpected help from elf and man alike, making new allies in the fight against growing evil.

This film is very much a Bilbo showcase of bravery, with Freeman gurning in defiant mood as the diminutive hero, with a little help from his ‘precious’ ring. His is the only character development evident in the second film, what with Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) very much out of the picture fighting his own sorcery battles. The dwarves are more of a collective team effort in this or ‘fighting troop’, with a smaller, standout role for Kili (Aidan Turner) to highlight the introduction of elf warrior beauty Tauriel (played with grace and confidence by Evangeline Lilly) who in turn gives back-story to Orlando Bloom’s Legolas character (who is featured very sparingly here).

That said there are a lot of thrills to be had with the film’s action sequences, including a white-water-barrelling escape from Rivendell/Misty Mountains. The dragon confrontation at the end also looks golden and sumptuous on screen, with echoes of Aliens/Terminator combat tactics to enjoy. What is lacking in individual film story arc is very much made up in design and imagination, energised by an ever-present tension. Those who are a tad arachnophobic may be wise to shut their eyes tight in one scene in the forest as the multiple-legged monsters send chills up your spine.

Overall, Smaug is a vast improvement on the first film that was very touch and go; tedious at the start in the Baggins abode and desperately relying on the orc battle scenes to bring us back to the table. Thankfully, bloated bit and artistic story licence aside, we are plunged into the journey and the action in this film that it satisfies and gets us in place for the concluding episode, rather than wallowing in character development perhaps? Nevertheless, a little more – or further – introduction would have been welcome so that we really do know what makes our heroes and their allies’ collaborations tick in the ultimate battle ahead. It is the stuff of big-screen Tolkien though, with much to feast on.

4/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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LFF 2013: Nebraska *****

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Posted: 06/12/2013

nebraska

Descendants director Alexander Payne has created such a powerhouse of a film in Nebraska that focuses the attention fully on the trials and tribulations of one family teetering on the brink of collapse, exquisitely shot in black-and-white. This intriguing monotone choice highlights the despair and humdrum at the start, but curiously sharpens the senses along the way, conjuring bursts of uplifting colour at the end in the mind when things are on the path of resolution for the discontented but utterly charming characters.

Booze-addled and aging head of a grown-up family of two sons, Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) believes he has won the lottery, and ventures forth on the highways of Montana to Nebraska (the lottery office’s HQ) to claim his prize, a million-dollar sweepstake. His estranged but loyal son David (Will Forte) always comes to bring him home from the authorities to his mother, Woody’s nagging wife, Kate (June Squibb). However, Woody is so convinced that he has won a prize, David decides to indulge his fantasy and drive him there. The pair takes a road trip that is also a momentous journey for the whole family, with a few home truths surfacing, and new bonds made.

Dern and Forte are superb in this as the embattled father and son, both forever miscommunicating but persisting nevertheless, because there is the underlying bond of love, whether it’s easily reciprocated or not. Cannes winner Dern’s grizzled and embittered Woody has moments of joviality and juvenile revival, especially when he returns to his hometown near Nebraska as local hero. It’s a heartbreaking and poignant cry for help too, in not wanting to fade away in one’s winter years. Dern brings a warming and infectious spirit to Woody, all utterly compelling to watch within the framing of the stunning cinematography from Phedon Papamichael (The Descendants).

However, the show-stopping scene is Squibb at her finest who speaks her mind as Kate with such blunt determination that it’s a triumphant turning point and delightful to watch – expletives and all. The character is out of the picture most of the film but is the passive-aggressive force that’s needed to shake the Grant male population into action, and wake them from their mundane acceptance.

Payne has created a fascinating character-driven film, with a near old-school Hollywood candour to it, as its characters lay bare their emotions. It has a humble reverence too; part in thanks to its warts-and-all revelations and character flaws, translatable whoever the audience is. Nebraska is one of the quiet and confident successes of BFI LFF 2013, and it’s not surprising there is Oscar talk.

5/5 stars

By @FilmGazer

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