Melancholia Review

An awe inspiring, beautifully tragic conceptualization.

Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Kirsten Dunst
About: In the aftermath of a disastrous wedding two sisters contemplate the inevitable destructiveness of Melancholia as a planet hurtles towards Earth.

“Earth is evil, we shouldn’t grieve for it, and no one will miss it when it’s gone.” In Lars Von Trier’s latest film melancholia is an enormous, destructive force, planet-sized and ominous it falls through space on a deceptive yet inevitable collision course. There are several key questions that emerge through this; the acceptance of death being inescapable and impossible to hide from (hiding is suicide, literally), the peace that comes from such acceptance, and the question of the actual practicality of marriage and love (every marriage in the film fails, in all cases with the husband failing to help a wife slipping into mental illness, while love is presented as both crumbling and imperfect, though there is never the promise of forever in a film about the end of the world). All of this is incredibly captivating (along with Dunst’s stellar performance), and then Von Trier goes ahead and completely destroys the Earth, it is an awe inspiring, beautifully tragic conceptualization of the complete sense of hopelessness that melancholia inspires.

★★★★★

Contagion Review

The scariest movie you’ll see all year.

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law
About: A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.

In a nutshell: Grippingly realistic and breathlessly paced Soderbergh’s foray in the disaster movie is a real triumph - and will definitely make you think twice about shaking someone’s hand, or visiting the airport without a face mask. What it has in realism though it lacks in emotional depth and character development. Matt Damon discovering his wife is dead is a particularly cringe worthy attempt at it, otherwise Soderbergh stays clear. There is also something to be said of filling a movie that seeks realism so determinedly with celebrities, a bit of an oxymoron. Despite that the film is a stunner (with a truly fantastic ending) and brings to horrible life those deadly virus articles you read in National Geographic.

★★★★☆

Midnight in Paris Review

“Wonderfully, warmly nostalgic… enjoyable and romantically silly.”

Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates
About: A young man (on holiday in France) yearns to fulfill his nostalgia for 1920’s Paris amid an impending marriage. He manages to find such an outlet by traveling back in time each night as the clock strikes midnight.

In a nutshell: I love Woody Allen films, I’m just going to put that out there, so I may a bit biased on this one, but this is genuinely one of the best (and funniest) he’s done in years. The dialogue is quick and witty, the whole film moves smoothly, and it provides something sorely lacking from the cinema: smart entertainment (if your a fan of art history you’ll really enjoy this). My old media teacher used to say Woody Allen isn’t a real filmmaker, and that is true, he is a screenwriter making films that act as plays. Yet I don’t think there is anything terribly wrong with that, especially when the results are this enjoyable and romantically silly. Yes, this is vintage Woody Allen, it is wonderfully, warmly nostalgic with a modern twist and like the characters in Midnight in Paris you’ll find this blend more than agreeable.

★★★★☆

Crazy Stupid Love Review

“A rather genuine romantic comedy with a surprising amount of substance.”

Directed by: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Steve Carrell, Emma Stone, Juliane Moore
About: The intercrossing of several love affairs: Cal has just separated from his wife and joins the dating scene for the first time in 25 years; Jacob is a rampant womanizer who may just have found love.

In a nutshell: What separates this film from all the other romanic comedy fluff out there today is that this one is surprisingly genuine in its approach. The characters for the most part feel like real people and this is thanks mainly to the fantastic cast. It’s as though there is a strong indie film just beneath the surface, trying to break out from underneath this one, while simultaneously being embarrassed by its popcorn movie roots. The biggest weaknesses are when the film strains to accept its leaps in plot formation (when Jacob initiates helping Cal, for instance, there’s no way to make this realistic yet Crazy Stupid Love tries anyway). This mostly doesn’t matter though and once the film gets underway it is an extremely enjoyable ride. My only quibble really is with the annoying thirteen year old kid who insists he’s in love with his babysitter, it’s alright as a side storyline but once it moves into the foreground it becomes unbearable… and slightly stalkerish. This all tumbles into a messy cheese-filled ending that attempts to summarise relationships into a hollywood definition of love, which is okay if you like that sort of thing but really it just undermines the last 80 minutes. Still, this is a pretty great rom-com and you’d be hard pressed to find a better one that’s come out this year, or probably last year too for that matter.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

Rather than rising this film falls under the weight of its own implausibility.

Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: James Franco
About: A genetically altered ape leads a revolution against its human oppressors, a revolution that will eventually lead to the 1968 classic apocalyptic Planet of the Apes.

In a nutshell: While the film works very hard to come off as intelligent (much of the slowly paced first act gives way to movie-scientific explanations) little effort is given to the human characters, besides some rather lazy character traits that refuse to scratch beneath the surface (“I’m abusing these monkeys for the good of humanity” “I’m abusing these monkeys so I can get rich” “I’m abusing these monkeys because I’m just plain evil and take great glee in electrocuting helpless animals”). James Franco is especially wooden, delivering lines like someone stuck in a school play. The ape characters on the other hand are quite fascinating, especially Andy Serkis’ Caesar. Plus there are some very clever references to the original 1968 film to keep the fanboys satisfied. However, Apes seems quite unsure about what it precisely wants to be, it’s not smart enough to be true sci-fi (the reason apes can’t talk is because they have differently designed vocal tracts, not because they’re unintelligent), and it doesn’t have enough spectacular set-pieces to be an action film (even the Golden Gate Bridge scene came straight out of X-Men 3, only with monkeys). When the third act begins some serious plot holes become apparent, namely just how many apes are there in San Francisco? Somehow I don’t think they reach the swelling numbers depicted. When the end finally comes there is absolutely no resolution, just because the apes made it to the forest doesn’t mean they can’t get shot again, and a few apes escaping from zoos and labs hardly constitute a “rise of the planet of the apes”. The sequel bait is enormous. Then again, I don’t exactly know what I was expecting. Sure Apes isn’t as dumb as Fast Five, but does that mean it should be lauded up as the intelligent summer blockbuster of the year? I don’t know why Hollywood is so scared to challenge its audience a little bit more and move beyond such two dimensional characters that really just weaken the potential of this Prometheus plot.

Bad Teacher Review

Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel, Justin Timberlake
About: A middle school teacher (Diaz) plots to get herself a new sugar daddy by raising enough money for a boob job.

In a nutshell: Funnier than most critics would have you believe, Diaz goes all in with her performance of the selfish teacher from hell, and it really works. The problems arise more with the script, which loses momentum around the film’s mid point. It’s hard for Bad Teacher not to feel derivative, after all it does seem as though it was modelled off of Bad Santa, and several scenes - such as the car washing segment -  give the impression of something we’ve watched a million times before. The film certainly has guts, and is at times ferociously funny, but if it’s true comedy you’re after stick with the TV (such shows as 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Community) where all the wit appears to have migrated.

DVD Review: Cairo Time (2009)

Directed by: Ruba Nadda
Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Alexander Siddig
About: Juliette (Clarkson) flies to Cairo to meet her husband who is working at the UN, but he is detained in Gaza. While she waits Tareq (Siddig), her husband’s friend, shows her around the ancient city, an unlikely love affair blossoms between the two.

In a nutshell: Cairo Time will catch you off guard with its astounding beauty and deeply effecting poignancy. Moving at a graceful, defined pace Juliette’s emotional affair grounds itself in realism: there never is any hollywood-style melodrama, desperate declarations of love, or even a single kiss. So rare is it to find a film that so respects and understands its characters; the love that grows between the two is never acknowledged or consummated and for that it is all the more powerful. With its little dialogue (Juliette and Tareq are at first awkward and polite, as almost every friendship starts off as) and slow unwrapping one cannot help but draw parallels to Lost in Translation. Cairo Time is profound and moving, an unexpected gem.

DVD Review: Wild Target (2010)

Starring: Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt and Rupert Grint.

Plot: A contract killer tries to retire but a beautiful thief changes his plans.

In a nutshell: French films can somehow carry off comedic characters with little-to-no motivation, but this British film flounders at its own unbelievability, struggling (and failing) to make sense of its femme fatale’s drastic change of heart as well as with the task of creating a likable contract killer. A humorous premise and talented cast is wasted in lackluster pacing, unnecessary side plots and lazy characterization. None of this helped by dialogue that all too often falls flat on its face (some particularly rusty lines stick out so much as cliched rom-com sign posts you half expect to see the screenwriters off in the distance filling in their script paint-by-numbers as they go).

X-Men: First Class Review

In a nutshell: An improvement on the third film, First Class benefits from its reboot freshness, elegant cast, and a newfound sense of humour (Hugh Jackman’s cameo was quite clever). The action set pieces are exciting and visually stunning, and Michael Fassbender as Magneto shines (except for the strange accent slip in the film’s closing act). However, it still cannot escape the ties of being a Hollywood blockbuster and as such suffers from typical pitfalls: minimal characterisation, clunky scripting, and an abundant of cliches. It’s good (and quite entertaining) yet one can’t help but feel had the franchise been left in Bryan Singer’s capable directorial hands it would be in a lot better shape.

The Hangover Part II Review

In a nutshell: Enjoyable enough if you can let go of any kind of critical judgement - especially if you like that kind of gross out humor - but as a film it just lazily rehashes the original. At times it is often hard to tell whether this is a sequel or a remake and it relies too heavily on gags that shock instead of character humour that is genuinely funny.