flechette's Reviews

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

9/10

Funny, sad, and ultimately frightening - a film that makes you both laugh and weep at the state of the world.

15 December 2007

Mike Nichols in finest form. I was not a fan of "Closer", so it's refreshing to see him again right back on top with this comedy set in the darkest of circumstances. Just one slip in tone could have wrecked this compelling picture but Nichols and his very strong A-list cast never put a foot wrong in this biopic of a deeply flawed but utterly compelling Congressman.

Philip Seymour Hoffman as usual is scintillating and brilliant - here playing a damaged but ultra-smart CIA manipulator, and it is in the exchanges between Hanks and Hoffman's characters where the comedy soars. Rarely is movie humour laugh-out loud and also smart... This hits the spot time after time with a biting satirical edge that makes you both laugh and weep at the state of the world (often simultaneously).

One other major plus is the length of the picture. The film is based on George Crile's fat book of the same title. The temptation for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (his claim to fame is "The West Wing") must have been to make a fat movie, but what we get is a breath-taking 90 odd minutes of great story with sweeping implications.

This film deserves to be seen and to be recognized for finding an extraordinary balance between the darkest of dark subject matter and the lightness of touch of it's sparkling witty script - even if it does flunk the obvious link between the help that Herring and Wilson provide and the ultimate consequences (9/11).

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St. Trinian's (2007)

2/10

Embarrassing drivel

13 December 2007

Sadly and utterly predictably, they should have left the old tired St Trinian's franchise well alone.

This is the 2007 version - with the cross-dressing headmistress, and Flash Harry the Spiv - played in the 1950s and 60s by the brilliant and sadly missed Alastair Sim and George Cole - still here as characters - but without a hint of their original charm. Somehow instead of jokes there is a real nasty streak including the humiliation and stripping of a new girl, and a pointless, well-past-its-sell-by-date sniggeryness about gayness. (Both Rupert Everett (yes, yes, we know he's gay, and who in the 21st C gives a damn?) and Colin Firth (who probably isn't, but camps it up with gusto) are an embarrassment to themselves and the so-called British cinema industry.

This is a film that has attracted state funding from the National Lottery and the UK's Film Council. The audience that I saw it with were all BAFTA members, and even more embarrassingly, they applauded at the end. Why did they applaud? Perhaps it was because the British Academy membership was so pleased that it was a British picture they felt obliged to leave their brains outside and let jingoism rule their hearts. Of course it says nothing positive about British cinema or for that matter BAFTA members!

This is a puerile load of old recycled garbage. Do not be tempted to see it.

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Paranoid Park (2007)

2/10

Paranoid Park is 85 minutes too long

1 December 2007

Don't be fooled by the ridiculous and dishonest voting for this film (which is packed with so many 10s it's pretty obvious it's misleading and desperate). This is a pointless story with a singular violent act in the middle that frankly you ain't gonna care about anyway. Seeing endless long and really tedious shots of a moochy teenager doesn't do it for me and contribute to a sense of a film that is stretched to snapping.... to the point that it feels 85 minutes too long! Van Sant has given us the glimmer of greater things in the past with a sparkle showing through despite his low budget indie approach. Now that he's done that, and we've forgiven him for doing the best with the limited resources at his disposal, surely it's time to expect a little more. Instead it looks like he's a one trick pony and this time around it will take a lot for me to give him another chance.

This film is weak and unengaging. The skateboarding "culture" is so old hat and uninteresting, and the "crime" at the centre of this chopped up mess is such a non-event, that I wonder what it was that Gus van Sant saw in the story or why he raised the money to make it into a movie.

Avoid this film! It's a stinker.

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Lions for Lambs (2007)

3/10

Save your time and money. This is a confused first draft lecture - not a movie .

21 November 2007

The film is essentially 3 related story snapshots that you feel may be heading somewhere at the start. But prepare to be disappointed since what unfolds is thin and intellectually threadbare.

There is so much more to say about the US (and UK) involvement in the Middle East and this film marches up a blind alley. At no point do you care about any of characters. Streep's performance is a shadow of her utterly compelling cameo in "Rendition (2007)"; Cruise does not convince us that he's a powerful senator, and Redford delivers a tedious static lecture to a spoiled kid who we couldn't give a damn about. After the power of "Babel (2006)", "Syriania (2005)" and arguably "Rendition (2007)", "Lions for Lambs" looks like it tried to bite off much more than it could chew.

There are no Oscar prizes here for any of the players. Even the title is wrong-headed. It's based on the famous line "lions led by donkeys", describing World War 1 British ground troops and their stupid officers. In a promotional interview, Redford seemed sublimely unaware of this strange and fundamental slip-up.

This film is a sad first release for the new United Artists owners and bodes badly for the future.

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Silent Light (2007)

2/10

Slow, slow (no quick, quick), slow - art-house pretension at its most tedious

23 October 2007

Warning: Spoilers

Be warned! The 10/10 votes for this film are the height of pretentious art-house "we know better than the rest of you" quasi intellectual bulls**t.

This film is far too slow to play outside the hermetically sealed festival circuit and it does betray its audience by switching from being purely naturalistic (though mannered in the extreme) to plunging into the supernatural. When this happens, it raises plenty of laughs at the film-maker's expense. The ridiculous nature of the switch sinks the film for me (when I saw it at the packed London Film Festival Gala screening on 23 October 2007).

Give yourself a break - avoid it!

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Rendition (2007)

9/10

This film piles deserved shame on our so-called democracies

18 October 2007

Warning: Spoilers

The film tackles the here and now horror of "rendition" with a multi-cast trans-global account of all involved. No-one gets off lightly because we see the blindness of the players as they carve out their own slice of the worldwide game piling hatred and misery on their "enemies" and themselves in equal measure.

The interplay between the sympathetic Senator's Aide (played in scintillating style by Peter Sarsgaard) and the real Washington power-mongers is electrifying. Meanwhile out in the field, new CIA man (Jake Gyllenhaal) goes through a sea change in his attitude to the USA's new found cosiness with torture. Sudden though his rejection of what he initially tacitly condoned is, one has to ask why on earth would anyone who calls him or herself civilized stand and watch anyone be humiliated and abused in this way? The film has few heroes - perhaps Gyllenhaal's flawed and vacillating CIA man is the exception and a necessary indulgence to make the film offer a sliver of hope.

The sad fact of course is that this film isn't fiction at all, but a wake up call to those with a shred of decency left in them. The awful truth is that we in the UK and USA have lost the moral plot and this film shows how low we are prepared to go. All this in the name of freedom! There's a wonderful line in the script that says that torture is a sure way to swell the numbers of our enemies. This is already happening in real life and we should listen to the message that this film delivers and start using our might and money much more intelligently!! The message seems to be that any of us who claim that rendition, torture and the abuse of basic human rights are necessary to protect our way of life are as wrong-headed and stultifyingly stupid as the Jihadists and suicide bombers.

All praise to the sensibilities of a talented South African director with a eye on the gross unfairness of how power is exercised, and a cast of principled mainstream actors from the US and beyond. Oh, and by the way, the film has a sting in its tail with the ending a clever and thought provoking surprise (which I won't give away).

I saw the film in an early London preview so it has not yet been widely written up but I'm glad to say that the tide of less than glowing reviews seems to be turning. The BBC review has been very strongly in support and they (and I) suspect that much of the negative comments come from those who see the world through the simple specs of Hollywood - where the good guys and the bad guys are cardboard cut-outs. Hence the reason that many of the truly great films of the year are increasingly indie and/or non-US pix.

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An Everlasting Piece (2000)

1/10

Seriously confused bad taste attempt to make The Troubles funny

13 June 2007

This film is a stinker. In an era when we can see SIX FEET UNDER and SCRUBS on the box, who would want to go to a cinema or pay good money to buy or rent this? It's set (with no real sense of place or time) in 80's Ulster. It's about toupee salesmen in irritatingly stupid situations with story lines wandering in a zillion pointless directions. It features music chosen at random from the Oirish songbook (and this was nominated for a music award!!!!!?????).

What on earth Billy Connolly is doing in the film is beyond comprehension? He pops up from time to time at the start, disappears completely in the middle and makes a pointless final appearance at the end. But he's not alone: A police detective makes a strong appearance then vanishes from the film too.

One suspects that this was a movie that came into the cutting room as a rescue job which never worked. It's a crying shame since there is a good comedy to made out of the conflict in the North of Ireland - but this definitely isn't it. Luckily, 4 years later, first time writer-director Terry Loane's "MICKYBO AND ME" (2004) filled the gap with style and higher production values despite being made on a fraction of EVERLASTING PIECE's budget.

Be warned - AN EVERLASTING PIECE is just what it says on the tin - it seems to last forever with a mere 95 minutes feeling like 10 wasted hours. See MICKYBO AND ME instead. (I have no connection with either production team or am in any way partisan.)

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The Portrait of a Lady (1996)

9/10

Give the movie a chance

4 April 2006

PORTRAIT OF A LADY is a sincerely made exquisitely-shot exploration of a woman wrestling with the universal conflict between the freedom to choose and the resignation and acceptance of her lot. (Men share the dilemma too!).

As such, Campion's modern opening is appropriate and thought-provoking, and the intensity of the performances from all the players (perhaps with the notable exception of Shelly Winters) gives it a complexity and power that clearly many writing here just don't get.

Rarely will you see such powerful images and to-die-for settings. I suspect that the car-crash action movie fans who find this too slow walked into the wrong movie-theatre or rented the wrong DVD. This film is well worth seeing and the character John Malkovich plays, Gilbert Osmond, is very believable (contrary to what the Malkovich-haters have to tell us). Manipulative cruelty is at the heart of many a long-term relationship and, like DANGEROUS LIASIONS, is a game played by the ruthless and heartless on the vulnerable and weak. Again I refer to the car-chase sensation-seekers who expect their baddies to spring from comic books. Malkovich does not have to be anything other than cold and cruel, and many a woman has fallen for a 'bastard' only to realise that she has passed on better men.

GIVE THIS FILM A CHANCE - and tell us if you liked it! (I am always staggered by the vitriol poured onto movies that have some merit. What is left for the films that are truly awful?)

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The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby (2005)

3/10

A small picture about a small dog

8 February 2006

Just saw the film tonight in a preview and it's a film for kids only. It does not improve or add to the original Disney film in any way. There is a corny Scottish pastiche style throughout, not helped by weak writing (where motives are lumped in by the spadeful) and acting that is uneven and often unengaging (despite what reads like a decent cast). I have no problem with the wee dog - although there is a certain "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" (see below) quality about his shots.

* For those that don't know, "Skippy" was an Australian kids' TV series from the 1960s where the kangaroo would be an essential part of all the stories. It is said that to get poor old Skippy to "act" they stuck an elastic band round his muzzle that he then tried to get off with his paws - sort of appearing to be communicating with the human actors!!! Bobby has a similar range and you just don't buy his series of heroic rescues at all.

Advice would be to take kids aged 8-12. Below that, they might be scared. Above that, if they or you love it, good luck to you, but this is strictly cardboard cut-out film-making for the undemanding. It's a missed opportunity since there is real pathos and cuteness in the story of Bobby and this film fails to deliver it.

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The Truth (2006)

7/10

Well crafted, consistently funny black comedy

17 January 2006

This black comedy set in the Highlands of Scotland may well slip by unnoticed in the cinema (and sadly, only gained a limited release in the UK) but it is well worth seeing.

Essentially it is an ensemble piece and unlike most ensemble films it works surprisingly well. All of the casting is spot on, but it's carried along with a great scary, starey performance from Elizabeth McGovern as Donna, an American psycho-babble New Age guru offering seven specimens of the weak and weird a philosophy of sorts to cling to.

The film effectively and ferociously attacks New Age airhead bullshit and you love to hate McGovern's appalling glib nonsense and insensitivity, and side with the wonderfully stroppy Candy (Elaine Cassidy). Yet no-one here gets away unsoiled by Donna's controlling influence.

On the surface this is black comedy with few laugh out loud jokes but an even and regular series of sniggers and shocks at the brazen (but actually almost credible) compromises that this lot of needy retreat attendees are willing to make. Underneath there is a genuine and surprisingly fresh examination of the nature of right and wrong and a whodunit to carry you through a running time that is too long for the material.

The film reminds me of David Mackenzie's film, "The Last Great Wilderness", which mines similar territory in both geography and storyline. However writer/director George Milton's "The Truth" is a much better and more rounded experience - and somewhat of a miracle on a budget that was reputedly minuscule. Milton is well worth watching for the future and his "Truth" is a sleeper destined for DVD cult status if ever there was one.

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Frozen (I) (2005)

7/10

For a place where nothing ever happens, there's a hell of a lot going on

14 January 2006

This is Shirley Henderson's film through and through. If "Frozen" does nothing else it must surely let casting agents see that Henderson can be stretched further than we have ever seen before and that she will deliver the goods. Her performance has already been recognised in the BAFTA Scotland Awards in 2005 where she (rightly) picked up the Best Actress prize. This is the first time that she has carried a film as the star that she is. Here there are no places to hide since she is on screen in mostly every scene. With a flawless Lancashire dialect (she is Scottish) and a paper-thin fragility, she convinces us that she is trapped in this bleak but beautiful (and rarely filmed) place as she searches for the truth behind her sister's mysterious disappearance.

The film is slow though well paced, stark and bleak, but never dull, but would have been a whole lot better if the end wasn't so obfuscated and needlessly confusing. In a whodunit (and this is) you can't short change the audience by not telling them what happened. From what I can tell, about half the audience when I saw it really liked the film. Others were disappointed and without doubt this is not a commercial film by any standard, but it is one worth seeing just for Henderson's tour de force.

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Before Sunset (2004)

9/10

Sublime and profound

16 November 2005

I saw BEFORE SUNSET as soon as it was released but never had even heard of BEFORE SUNRISE. But SUNSET stands alone and works alone. Having now seen SUNRISE - SUNSET is sublime in its even greater simplicity and its profundity. Linklater's even greater restraint in part 2 shows his total confidence in his creation and his astonishing actors. The frisson of engagement where all is in the subtext is just thrilling in both films, and, no, not everyone will get it, but for those that do, these movies affirm life and the power and subtlety of human love.

Someone in the postings said that the movie is unrealistic! Yep! It's a movie! Yep, the "real" characters (whoever they might be!) wouldn't say fascinating things every second together but this is a movie capturing the essence of the invisible electricity between two ordinary people. Listen to how we actually speak in "real" life.... We bumble and rarely stick to the point. To allow Linklater to edit their story (in the writing and in the cutting room) to the essence is called film-making and it does not represent a lack of truth but a heightening and intensifying of the experience of the two characters - akin to their own memory of what happened to them.

Thank God films like this get made, and for those that don't like them - go see the latest blockbuster of which there is an endless stream. The choice is between a bistro and McDonalds; a family run pensione or the Marriott. The vast majority choose the latter out of laziness, a lack of imagination and avoidance of risk. (Just the predictable story elements that Hollywood sticks to, to get the right demographics to get mass bums on seats.) Good luck to them.

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Bitter Dream (2004)

10/10

A refreshing Iranian comedy

19 October 2005

This gem of a film deserves a much wider audience than it will inevitably get. I saw it at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2004 in a small audience who spilt out thrilled to have seen the best film in that year's Festival. The bonus of meeting Mohsen Amiryoussefi, the director of the film, after the screening made it very special. The charm and intelligence of his approach and his modesty only acted to complement the brilliance of Amiryoussefi's instinctive and compelling film-making and his years of dedication to making one of the most original cinematic statements of recent years.

The film is well described in another of the postings so I'll spare you a rehash of that. What especially made the experience magical was the sure-footed direction that at first misleads you into thinking that you are seeing a straight documentary. Then the film seems to falter when "impossible" TV footage makes the documentary look "dishonest". At this point, I was convinced the film was a sham and the director was not in control of his material. Then over the next minutes it becomes apparent that Mohsen Amiryoussefi is a conjurer and even a genius. In fact, he has never mislead, but rather taken us on a journey to fresh pastures (no less) by letting us believe that we were watching a conventionally filmed documentary initially. What Amiryoussefi delivers is as far away from a "normal" film as it is possible to be - and all the better for it.

This is one of the masterpieces of recent world cinema. See it if you get a chance. It's a great film and ask yourself: "How many Iranian comedies have you ever seen?". Here's your chance!

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