Every Day I’m Husslin’

I am a huge fan of David O. Russell. And Jennifer Lawrence. And Christian Bale. And Bradley Cooper. And I quite like Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner too. So it’s fair to say that I was rather looking forward to this movie, and thankfully it didn’t disappoint. American Hustle tells the story of con man Irving Rosenfield (Bale) and his partner in crime, Sydney Prosser (Adams), who are forced to work with an ambitious FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Cooper) after one of their cons goes awry.

The film is set in seventies, cue some brilliantly awful (or awfully brilliant) hair and fashion choices. Bale in particular, completes yet another amazing transformation, gaining 40 pounds and donning a hilarious comb over, to become the Jersian swindler. (Incidentally, a great name for a band.) Speaking of music, the movie has a very good, very seventies,  soundtrack and there are some fabulous Breaking Bad-esque montages to enjoy.

The plot is a twisting tale of mind games, love, lust, betrayal, ambition and feels as though it was written as they went along. Although with a large amount of improvisation from the cast, that is true in manner of speaking. It’s predominantly a character-driven drama but it does have its humourous moments, such as Bale adjusting his wig, and it’s darker moments, such as Irving’s somewhat estranged wife, Rosalyn’s borderline alcoholism. I don’t think the film has a particular point to make but it does leave you thinking about a few things.

The main cast, as you might expect, are brilliant. Bale and Lawrence in particular. Two would-be “career bests” if it wasn’t for the fact they  both have such great pedigrees. Not to mention that both have been directed to great effect by David O. Russell before. (If you haven’t seen The Fighter or Silver Linings Playbook then go and watch them now. Like, right now.) Adams and Cooper (both also with O.Rusell history) are superb too. Renner adds a certain amount of warmth a charm to a movie populated predominantly by selfish and somewhat unlikable characters. Louis C.K. is gives surprisingly good support too, as DiMaso’s boss. There is an epic cameo to keep an eye out for as well.

Sticking to the knitting somewhat, David O.Russell focuses completely on character, so if you like a story that pelts forward at a million miles per hour then this film probably isn’t for you. It’s layered, subtle and clever but not in an “ooh, look how smart we are” kind of way. There is a bit of a stutter in rhythm in the third act but all in all it flows pretty well and the performances are more than enough to hold your attention.

Overall then, if you want an example of how to write, direct and cast a character-driven piece of cinema then look no further. This is the next stage of evolution for Russell, combining the spontaneity and intensity of The Fighter with the warmth and heart of Silver Linings Playbook, American Hussle is film about people above all else. 8.5/10

American Hustle at IMDb

American Hustle at Rotten Tomatoes

The Return of The King

“By the hymen of Olivia Newton-John!” Ron’s back, guys.

If you haven’t seen Anchorman then slap yourself really hard in the face and then go and buy the DVD. It’s ten years old now so I’m sure you can pick it up for under a fiver. Done that? Good. The sequel deals with the birth of the 24 hour new channel its impact had on news and journalism as a whole. Although it does make some very interesting and valid points in terms of social commentary – don’t worry – it’s still predominantly just a backdrop for Team Burgundy’s hilarious shenanigans. The film opens with Ron (Will Ferrell) being fired from his job and consequently separating from Veronica (Christina Applegate). At this low point, he is offered a job at a brand new 24 hour news channel owned by the not completely un-Rupert-Murdoch-like media magnate, Kench Allenby (Josh Lawson). Ron sets about getting the news team back together and taking America by storm. Comedy ensues.

I was incredibly dubious about seeing Anchorman 2 because I thought the original was one of the best comedy films of the last fifteen years. Seriously – name some good ones. I mean really good ones. Films that are still funny a year or two after you saw them. Yeah, it’s hard isn’t it? Anyway, I thought a sequel would just be a huge let down, but thankfully I was wrong. Having said that, be under no illusions – it’s good but in my opinion the original is better. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy this one though.

The gang haven’t exactly evolved since we last saw them, and that’s fine by me. Ron is just as pompous and ill-informed as he was before, (“Who the hell is Julius Caesar? You know I don’t follow the NBA!”). Brian (Paul Rudd) is still the Sex Panther scented ladies man, Champ (David Koechner) is still the bible bashing homophobe and Brick (Steve Carell) is still distinctly… erm… Brick. All four of them slip back into their characters so completely and so comfortably that you feel it could have been filmed ten months after their last adventure, as opposed to ten years. They’re as hilarious as ever and the chemistry definitely hasn’t weakened with their time apart.

The gags come pretty thick and fast so even when the occasional one doesn’t land, it doesn’t matter too much because you know another joke will have you chuckling a mere moment later. Although there is a considerable section about a lighthouse that I feel could have been cut without any real detriment and, at nearly two hours long, the movie does feel a bit long for a comedy. I think Ferrell and McKay might have also over played the Brick card. If there’s one character that’s best in small doses, it’s Brick Tamland. We also get a lady version of Brick – a Briquette if you will – in Chani (Kristen Wiig), who isn’t really necessary – not that Wiig doesn’t do a fine job. In fact, the entire supporting cast (too many to list) all do a great job at bringing the funny.

[This has nothing to do with anything but normally when writing these things, I listen to the soundtrack of the film that I’m writing about to get into the same frame of mind I was when I saw it. It also helps jog the ol’ memory. For some reason that didn’t seem appropriate this time so I wound up listening to 30 Seconds to Mars’ latest album. Well I say latest, I think it came out in May, but I didn’t realise they’d done another album after This Is War. Anyway It’s absolutely fantastic – give it a listen if you haven’t already. Ok, end of tangent.)

The film walks a fine line between ‘giving the people what they want’ and ‘just rehashing old gags,’ and I think it does it pretty well, although you’re never going to please everyone. For example, for every person that sighs and mutters “not another cameo-laden battle-royale” at the films climactic set-piece, there is another saying “OH MY GOD, THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME.” If you’re interested, I fall into the latter category.

Overall I think this is a film worthy of the Anchorman name. It’s probably smarter than the first film, and it’s definitely more polished, but there are probably fewer belly laughs. It’s still great fun though. Stay classy, San Diego. 7/10

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues at IMDb

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues at Rotten Tomatoes

It’s A Wonder-ful Life.

 

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is the story of a quiet, unassuming chap called – you guessed it – Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller). Walter finds his life so boring that he constantly ‘zones out’ and imagines himself having fantastical adventures or even just having the guts to say the things that the real him doesn’t. He works at Life magazine, which is in the process of producing its final issue. It’s in the midst of a takeover by an evil Murdochian corporation that plans to make it an online only venture, thereby making a large portion of the current staff redundant. Walter works with the negatives and photos used in the magazine and has been sent the ‘perfect picture’ – The Quintessence of Life to use for the final cover by legendary yet reclusive photographer Sean O’Connell (Sean Penn). The only problem is that the picture is missing and Walter decides to try to track it down in order to impress the girl he is secretly in love with, Cheryl Melhoff  (Kristen Wiig). The journey takes him literally half way around the world.

Ben Stiller hurts my brain. As an actor, he has starred in some great films (Zoolander, Night At The Museum); some decent films (Tower Heist, Night At The Museum 2); some ‘really disappointing because they could have been better than they were’ films; (Tropic Thunder, The Watch); some incredibly bland films (Along Came Polly, Starsky & Hutch); and  some films that people seem to love that I think are shit (There’s Something About Mary, Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Meet The Little Fockers). He’s had a mixed bag as a director too with the aforementioned Zoolander & Tropic Thunder and also The Cable Guy, which to this day is one of the weirdest films I have ever seen.

Thankfully all that experience has merged to create a masterpiece. Ok masterpiece should probably be reserved for the likes of The Godfather, but still, it’s excellent. It’s definitely the biggest movie that Stiller has directed in terms of scale and – I’m assuming, budget – but he does a great job. And not just of the huge fantasy sequences either – although those are great but he does the little things brilliantly too. For example, you need only watch the opening scene of Walter balancing his chequebook for about four seconds and you get Walter. More so than you would with five minutes of boring ‘conversational’ exposition.  There is as much beauty in its simplicity as there is in its stunning Icelandic panoramas.

The film doesn’t really fit into any genre either. It’s will make you laugh a couple of times but it’s not an out-and-out comedy. It has action and adventure but there’s not really any sense of danger. It is grounded with character and real world issues but it feels just a little to light to be a drama. There is romance but it’s certainly not a driving factor – it’s more of a secondary story. In the past when I have seen similarly undefinable films it’s often resulted in a pointless mess. Not here though. Stiller is triumphant – it’s a journey, in every sense of the word and as outrageous as some of its set-pieces are, it all feels honest and true to the characters. If you’re like me, you’ll have a big ol’ smile on your face for virtually the entire movie. Even the opening credits are innovative and entertaining, but not in a way that says “hey look what we can do” but more “sit back guy, this is gonna be fucking fun.”

The cast is all fab as well. Kristen Wiig (who seems to be anything at the moment) is at most her lovable, Sean Penn excels as the deep, pensive nature photographer, Adam Scott is perfect as the ‘dick’ boss and there is solid support from the likes of Jon Daly, Kathryn Hahn and Shirley MacLaine. It’s a stellar Stiller who steals the show though. His Mitty is understated and completely relatable, always giving us someone to root for (you can almost hear people saying “you can do it, Walter” in their head), but never someone to pity. And I think that is one of the reasons that the character, and I guess therefore the film, works so well. Walter isn’t a loser – he’s not desperately lonely or crazy poor or really fat and he doesn’t have behavioral problems or an awful home life – he’s just a guy. An everyman that is actually an everyman.

As I am sure you have deduced by now, I enjoyed this film. A. Lot. Incidentally, it has probably the best soundtrack since Pulp Fiction too. So I shall stop waxing-lyrical now and leave you with a quote from Penn’s character, O’Connel. One which seems apt, considering The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will no doubt be overlooked come awards season because it’s ‘not the right type of film.’

“Beautiful things don’t ask for our attention.” 9/10

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at IMDb

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty at Rotten Tomatoes

Baggins Of Fun

I don’t know where to start with The Hobbit Returns to First Blood Part II in Space with a Vengeance… Or whatever the fuck it’s called. It’s just so big and epiccy – that’s an official cinematic term. I’ll assume that you’ve seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey or else why the hell would you be reading about its sequel? Exactly. Well just in case, basically a wizard (Ian McKellen) persuades a hobbit (Martin Freeman) to accompany 13 dwarves (Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt and eleven other guys you haven’t heard of) to go and kill a dragon (Benedict Cumberbatch) in order to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland. At the end of the first film the group are about half way towards the Lonely Mountain, which is where Smaug the dragon lives. This film picks up where the first left off and chronicles the next chapter of their journey.

One thing this film does very well is to flesh out the rest of the dwarves in terms of character. Thorin, Balin and Bofur we got to know quite well in the first movie but in this one Dwalin, Bifur, Bombur, Ori are all given enough screen time for us to get a feel of their individual personalities, Fili and Kili even more so. All the actors give solid performances too. (I really hope I got all those names right but I’ll settle for 80%.)

Martin Freeman has got them all beat though, with a brilliantly understated style that is the perfect contrast to the massive scale of the fantastical world around him. Saying more with a sigh or a raised eyebrow than most could with a two minute monologue, he pretty much steals the show yet again. Even when paired with the ever-brilliant Ian McKellen as Gandalf.

New characters are introduced in this one too, including Radagast (Sylvester McCoy), Bard (Luke Evans), The Master of Laketown (Steven Fry), Smaug himself and the elven duo of Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom). Admittedly Legolas is arguably not a new character, as he was in the Lord of The Rings, but this is a prequel so I don’t really know if that counts, but he’s in it anyway. Regardless they all meld seamlessly into Peter Jackson’s vision of Middle Earth.

Ah, Peter Jackson. He truly is the master. Whilst the 3D and HFR* help with immersion, it’s Jackson that brings the world to life. From the dark and murky (too obvious?) forests of Mirkwood, to the snowy peak of the Lonely Mountain, everything is beautiful and detailed and exactly how you pictured it in the book, or at least as I pictured it anyway. The action comes thick and fast in the second instalment too, with barely a minute passing between the end of one life-threatening situation and the start of another one. However, just as ‘action fatigue’ appears on the horizon, Jackson stops the journey to focus characters or backstory.
*HFR – High Frame Rate. 48 frames per second as opposed to the standard 24.

All in all it’s a bloody good romp with tonnes of action, a smattering of laughs, a dash of romance, just enough peril and the best CGI “monster” that has ever graced the screen. Having said all that, if you didn’t like the first one, you ain’t gonna like this one neither. Not a problem for this guy though, I loved it. 8/10

A Spoonful of Sugar… With A Pinch of Salt

Before I start the review I’d just like to say that I think this poster is one of the best in recent years. Actually I suppose that was a review in itself so you can ignore the first five words of the first sentence. And all of the words in the second and third sentences too

Saving Mr Banks is the story of how PL Travers (Emma Thompson) finally – after twenty years of him asking – sold the rights of Mary Poppins to Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). Travers’ relationship with her father (Colin Farrel) is also chronicled in the form of flashbacks as we gradually discover why Poppins is so important to her. There is a lot more to it than that, but that’s basically the plot.

This film is either charming or sickening depending on how you chose to experience it. Thankfully for me it was the former. As long as you take the “true story” with a pinch of salt then I think it’s a very sweet, enjoyable movie. Sometimes it does feel a but contrived but if you just relax and remember that it’s just a movie then you will have a smile on your face for 90% of the film.

I’ve read a few reviews and they all say that Thompson dominates the screen, which I suppose is true – she’s magnificent. Despite playing a character who is basically vile, she is actually very likable and you really do root for her throughout. However the highlight for me was her relationship with her Disney-assigned driver, Ralph (the always fantastic Paul Giamatti). Their scenes together are so perfect that I could have literally have watched them just talk for an hour or more. It’s not often that you get to enjoy a the traditional rom-com cycle of a man and woman meeting, bickering, laughing, becoming friends, and so on with absolutely no romantic undercurrent. It feels almost like a relief.

Hanks is brilliant too of course but that just seems like a given these days anyway. The only problem is such an extremely lovable actor playing Walt Disney – a man we know too much about to laugh at his playful banter with his staff, but again just chill out and remember it’s all make-believe and you’ll be fine.

The other fantastic pairing on display is that of B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman playing the Sherman Brothers, who wrote the music and lyrics for Mary Poppins. Again I wished they had more screen time as they are so fun and have real chemistry with each other and the rest of the cast as well.

The story is well paced, with a good balance of “present day” action against flashbacks. The dialogue is tight and witty and expertly delivered at every turn. My only criticism in this regard would be that as a person who hasn’t seen Mary Poppins (!) that occasionally I was thinking ‘wait, what?’ after a comment or interaction that would have probably gotten a wry smile or a knowing nod from someone who had.

John Lee Hancock directs ably as well and while there’s nothing revolutionary, it seems like he’s trying to make every shot beautiful, whether it’s the Australian outback or the Studebaker Lark that Ralph drives. (By the way, I have no way of confirming that so if some car geek reads this and thinks actually it was a… then that’s great and good for you but I don’t care – I’m making a point about aesthetics.)

Overall I would say this is a film that the whole family can enjoy and I could definitely see it becoming a regular Sunday-afternoon-snuggled-under-a-blanket-in-winter type of movie. So just switch of the part of your brain that says thinks like yeah right and that would never happen in real life and sit back and enjoy it. 7/10

Saving Mr Banks at IMDb

Saving Mr Banks at Rotten Tomatoes

Why 2013 Was A Great Year For Cinema…

This morning I emptied my “cinema stub tin” which I have been filling over the past 12 months. I have seen 75 films at the cinema this year. Here is a list of them for your perusal. Please note that this list is only of movies I’ve seen on the big screen between January 1st and December 31st 2013. The list is vaguely sorted by order of preference but I must admit I didn’t labour over it to excessively. Enjoy.

Django Unchained

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Gravity

Iron Man 3

Lincoln

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Rush

Captain Philips

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

Les Miserables

Thor 2: The Dark World

The Butler

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Runner Runner

Prisoners

Saving Mr Banks

Oldboy

Flight

Zero Dark Thirty

Man Of Steel

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

The World’s End

Machete Kills

Filth

2 Guns

The Great Gatsby

Kick Ass 2

Now You See Me

World War Z

Jack Reacher

Don Jon

Gangster Squad

We’re The Millers

Pain & Gain

Hitchcock

Pacific Rim

Springsteen & I

The Place Beyond The Pines

This Is The End

Oblivion

The Fast And The Furious 6

The Hangover Part III

Welcome To The Punch

The Wolverine

Olympus Has Fallen

The Iceman

White House Down

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Monsters University

Broken City

Stoker

GI Joe 2: Retaliation

Jack the Giant Killer

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

The Purge

The Family

The Lone Ranger

Fire With Fire

This Is 40

A Good Day To Die Hard

The Interniship

The Big Wedding

RIPD

The Last Stand

The Counsellor

Parker

21 And Over

Red 2

Identity Thief

Parental Guidance

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D

Bullet to the Head

Jackass Presents: Bad Grampa