It’s only seeing a film aimed squarely at adults that makes you realise the degree to which most really aren’t. Michael Clayton, whatever it’s faults or merits, is definitely such a one – it’s solid and intelligent, telling a provocative story with little in the way of thrills or fireworks.
That Snakes on a Plane proceeded to flop as badly as it did might be seen as a cautionary tale – perhaps against putting your faith in internet fanboys – but it’s hard to imagine it coming as much of a surprise to anybody but the producers. Still, you’d be justified in expecting a certain amount of dumb B-movie fun from renting the DVD, right? That title might not guarantee a good movie, but surely it should ensure a certain amount of cheap enjoyment.
When was the last time you saw a proper, old school western in the cinema? One that wasn’t revisionist or post-modern, told from the perspective of the Native Americans or Jesse James’s hat? Ever since Dances with Wolves it seems that to just make a film set in the old west with bad guys against good guys and plenty of shooting, fighting and cussing is a faux pas on a level with turning up at a dinner party in your dressing gown.
Atonement is magnificent filmmaking, a work that doesn’t once hesitate or compromise in telling a story that’s both haunting and vital.
The eagle and shark of the title are in fact Jarrod and Lily, who meet at Jarrod’s ‘dress as your favourite animal’ party, bond over video games, and then have cringe-inducing sex. Lily is desperate to find love, but Jarrad is a man on a mission – he’s training to fight his high-school nemesis, and he just doesn’t have time for romance.
What separates Bourne isn’t that he can get the girls or how he drinks his martini, but the fact that he could kill you with a rolled-up newspaper in two seconds flat…
David reviews Tales from Earthsea, an animated film by the son of Hayao Miyazaki.
You have to feel a little sorry for Goro Miyazaki. Entering the family business must be an intimidating prospect when your dad is master-animator Hayao Miyazaki, co-founder of the famous Studio Ghibli and Oscar winning director of films like Princess Mononoke and, most famously, Spirited Away. Not only that, but Goro’s first project is an adaptation of one of his father’s favourite works, Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic Earthsea series – Miyazaki has said that he keeps the books by his bed, and had once hoped to direct the project himself. Goro’s choice of first directorial project seems almost calculatedly masochistic.
David reviews The Simpsons Movie.
What can you possibly say about The Simpsons Movie? The only ones who don’t know what to expect from it are the seven or so people left in the world who don’t have TV. We’re talking about what’s probably the most consistently great television program ever, and considering that the film is made by exactly the same people as the series, but with more money and less technical restrictions, it would have taken an astonishing amount of effort for it not to be great.
Dave is tricked by giant robots into enjoying a Michael Bay film.
Jeremiah watches Sicko, and likes what he sees. Moore has changed for the better.
I wrote Michael Moore off.
Fahrenheit 9/11 is what did it. I kept seeing references to scenes in the film about members of bin Laden’s family being allowed to leave the country, and connections between Bush and the Taliban, and hints at other wacko conspiracy theory stuff that really did not appeal to me. I am all about showing the human cost of a given course of action, and revealing hypocrisies, and doing all those other things that amount to one of the noblest aims of art, which is “speaking truth to power.” Moore, however, with his penultimate film, seemed to be doing anything but. Instead of cutting through the powerful smokescreen of propaganda, it seemed as though he was more than willing to create his own pack of lies, half-truths, and misdirection. Only his was “okay” because it was created to work against the bad guys. Or something.