Movieblaze

Starring (the voices of): Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson. Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant

Director: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders

Writer(s): Cressida Cowell, Dean DeBlois

Cinematography: Pierre-Olivier Vincent

Original Score: John Powell

Running Time: 98 Mins.

Dreamworks Animation Studios have an Achilles heel, it is something which may well pepper their films with belly laughs on release but it is also something that stops them having the same kind of longevity as anything that their rival, Pixar, produce, the heart might well be in the right place and all the elements there for a classic, Shrek for example, but those goddamn pop culture references just bring the film down within a very short time following the inital release, whether it be in the oh-so hip soundtrack, the in-jokes and the starry voice-cast, it is something which will also see Dreamwork’s efforts never retain the longevity of Toy Story or Snow White.

Thankfully then bringing in some talent from Disney (DeBlois and Sanders) has encouraged this approach to be dropped, out goes the soft-rock/pop soundtrack and the jokes about reality shows and in comes a proper story with warm humour that stems from relationships and incidence, a story that favours character over celebrity voicing and one which, while not quite up there with Toy Story or Wall-E, should stand the test of time and stands up head and shoulders above all Dreamwork’s past animated output as their best yet.

The premise is simple, and the title says it all, young Viking Hiccup is a failure to his father yet in an effort to impress he shoots down a legendary dragon during one of the many sieges by the fiery beasts on his village, rather than kill the fallen beats he trains it and in doing so learns that there is much more to them that meets the eye. Hardly ground-breaking narrative heft but it is one that allows for an expertly executed tale of friendship between boy and dragon with lashings of action for good measure, upon seeing How To Train Your Dragon you would be unsurprised that whilst at Disney DeBlois and Sanders were behind Disney’s last truly great hand-drawn feature (pre Princess and the Frog), Lilo and Stitch.

Easy to draw comparison once you are aware of this fact, heck even the dragon hero Toothless looks like Stitch but this is no bad reflection on How To Train Your Dragon, quite the contrary, simply put some of that Disney magic has found its way into a Dreamworks production. The scope here is much bigger than Lilo and Stitch however and Hiccup himself a much more rounded character than Lilo was, helped no-end by Jay Baruchel’s excellent voice-work Hiccup avoids the clichéd pitfalls of being the reluctant hero for the most part, the realisation of friendship between Hiccup and Toothless is great especially in the scenes where each attempts to gain the others trust.

Thankfully rather than dip in quality as the drive of the film takes a more action orientated thrust the levels of excitement are bolstered by how well we have gotten to know the heroes, not just in the central duo but also in father son relationship between Hiccup and his father (voiced very well by Gerard Butler), if there is a weakness it is in the slap-stick esque attempts at humour between Hiccup’s “friends” during the dragon taming sequences, but this is a mis-step easily over-looked as each has their part to play in the suitable grand-scale battle in the final third as the argument for some films to be shown in 3D is beginning to win me over, it is here when the dragon’s soar that the feeling is one that echoes a roller-coaster ride, immersive as the effect is supposedly meant to be.

VERDICT

How To Train Your Dragon is Dreamwork’s finest, helped by an injection of Disney-esque magic and delivered via the narrative thrust of a believable friendship and exhillerating action not only an early contender for best animated feature of the year but a one-up for the “3D-as-a-good-thing” argument!

Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Writer(s): Jane Goldman, Mark Millar (graphic-novel)

Cinematography: Ben Davis

Original Score: Ilan Eshkeri, Henry Jackman

Running Time: 117 Mins.

Much has been made of the supposed originality of Kick-Ass’ concept, those without powers become superheroes, but I was sceptical, how original could it be for to my mind this is ground covered before from numerous stances. Mystery Men offered a similar premise albeit with more comedic leanings, Watchmen, with the exception of Dr. Manhattan, deals with heroes without powers, even Batman offers a hero bereft of actual powers (though he is name-checked early on in Kick-Ass and written off as “not an everyday man” due to his wealth). What does mark Kick-Ass out as different however is its approach, part comedic parody of super-hero films, part serious super-hero tale replete with a proper villain and origin story it treads the fine line of being an actual film in it’s own right, that can sit along-side Spider-Man, Batman and Iron Man whilst acting as a gentle piss-take. An approach which could have, in the wrong hands, failed spectacularly.

Matthew Vaughn is the director credited with re-booting the fairy-tale in the same way he has with the super-hero film, Stardust, his last film as director, however left me cold and failed on both counts, as a story in its own right proving too weak to sustain the slog of dull characters whilst missing the mark with its comedy pot-shots (De Niro…as a cross dressing pirate!). This time he seems to have learnt his lesson, the comedy is funny, where it needs to be when dealing with the trappings of being a teen looking for a hero, while the pokes at actual superhero’s are gentle and subtle so as not to come across as out-and-out spoof, such as Mystery Men.

Focusing, initially at least, on Aaron Johnson’s titular hero Dave, Jane Goldman’s script, based on a graphic novel, (which was written in tandem) follows him on his origin from plain high school teen to no-quite super-hero who ends up with numerous metal plates in his body via a tragically comic mishap. Dave’s story plods along and acts as the film’s drive but it is the sub-plots that really provide the meat on Kick-Ass/Dave’s bones, one involving a revenge plot and the other an attempt by arch-villain and drug dealer Frank Da’Mico’s (Strong) son (Mintz-Plasse) to impress his father. That these are the section’s that entertain the most goes some way to highlighting that Kick-Ass strengths lay in actually telling a story rather than poking, admittedly amusing, fun at its subject matter.

Though the script and direction are solid it is in the casting that the real flair is to be found, Aaron Johnson provides, like his story arc, a the bones on which the better parts hang, likeable enough he provides something of a Peter Parker demeanour and even in his Kick-Ass alter-ego isn’t given much to play with, an attempt at catch-phrases and one-liners doesn’t seem to sit right, something may just stem from the unfamiliarity with Kick-Ass as a hero against, say, Spider-Man, though I would hazard a guess that come the inevitable sequel he will grow in stature enough to pull it off with much more aplomb. Something which means it is up to Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nic Cage and Mark Strong to provide the real performance gold, though to be fair to Johnson, how often is the hero actually as interesting as his side-kick or the villain!

To reveal too much about the roles that any of the above play would be to rob some of the pleasure from their performances, suffice to say each and every one gets a moment, or several, to shine. Moretz has gained worthy plaudits as Hit-Girl and her chemistry with Cage as Big Daddy brings out the long-lost brilliantly crazy age performance we have long missed, while Mintz-Plasse and, as ever, Strong are a joy avoiding simply replaying their past glories as a geek and gangster respectfully. Thankfully, and to Vaughn’s credit, everyone is allowed time to grow and the usual trap-fall of letting some of the better side-characters have only a moment in the lime-light is avoided.

As each plot-strand is masterfully intertwined a suitably heroic finale is reached, incorporating gun-fights, explosions, people flying! and the inevitable revenge moment echoing Spider-Man, something which highlight’s that despite its credentials as a some-time spoof, Kick-Ass is a much more worthy homage to the genre, embracing rather than mocking.

VERDICT

While not the game-changer many critics would have you believe, Kick-Ass is a brilliant example of using a genre as a platform to tease at it’s outlandish nature, whilst also embracing it to tell your own story.

Starring: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro

Director: Glenn Ficcara, John Requa

Writer(s): John Requa, Glenn Ficcara

Cinematography: Xavier Perez Grobet

Original Score: Nick Urata

Running Time: 102 Mins.

Jim Carrey is an actor often disregarded for playing largely to his strengths (comic mugging, physical comedy), something which seems a touch unfair seeing as firstly he does what he does exceptionally well, and secondly has not simply gone for the mainstream comedy, tackling those films that deal with both topical, controversial and *gasp* intelligent subject matter, it is just unfortunate that the film’s Carrey finds his audience with are the mainstream ones whilst the other’s go largely unnoticed, which is exactly where I Love You Phillip Morris is almost certain to fall, despite the valiant efforts of those attempting to market the film.

To categorise I Love You Phillip Morris imagine a rom com, featuring a gay couple, with shades of Catch Me If You Can, you might just be a tenth of the way there. Proving to be a film that defies classification is no bad thing, it screams originality and considering the lack of it around creatively it’s a blessing, or can be unless your film mistakes a turgid mess of ideas for an original product, see last years The Box being a fine example of that! But I digress, this is a fine example of something left-field working exceptionally well despite some minor sticking points.

Playing Steven Russell, in a tale based unbelievably on real events, Carrey is excellent, one would assume that in playing a gay man (and a con man taking on the guise of policeman, lawyer etc. as well as being in and out of prison!) the actor would use this as a fine way of over-acting and mugging his way through, putting on the most OTT camp performance ever? Not so. He is, while far from restrained, a master at work balancing the frailties of Steven’s character along with the funnier more outlandish aspects while never sinking to the level of parody of camp-ness all to often  exhibited in the portrayal of gay characters. Similarly Ewan McGregor provides the film with its heart as the titular Phillip Morris he is a character required to do little other than serve as the object of Steven’s affection whilst at once showing great fragility and allowing us to empathise with his eventual dismay at Stevens actions and lifestyle.

Not afraid to tackle “big” issues, corruption, true-love, AIDS, prison abuse, it is a film that does so respectfully, in many cases with great poignancy yet they never felt hammered home, Precious this is not! Instead what you get are ideas subtly intertwined into the plot, and while some things are used to comedic effect they are never reduced to such and the seriousness of the issues are always respectfully dealt with in a way that can only be described as hilariously conscientious!

Aside from characterisation most are likely to be bowled over by the plot, rather episodic in structure the through line of Steven’s relationship with Phillip is enough to hold it together as he plans and executes scam after scam as a con man to rival Frank Abagnale, except the ends to which he commits each con are for a rather different purpose and depth is always found in the outcome rather than as a catalyst for cheap laughs meaning that upon the film’s close you are left with the experience of genuine funny moments and something to consider, proving once again that Carrey, when presented with the right material, is as capable as any in the acting stakes.

VERDICT

I Love You Phillip Morris presents us with yet another example of what a fine actor Jim Carrey is, perhaps because of rather than despite his comedic roots he is able to inject both compassion and truth into a film whose plot and scripting are funny enough without comedic mugging.

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quniton Aaron, Kathy Bates, Ray McKinnon

Director: John Lee Hancock

Writer(s): John Lee Hancock, Michael Lewis (novel)

Cinematography: Alar Kivilo

Original Score: Carter Burwell

Running Time: 129 Mins.

The Blind Side arrives on this side of the atlantic amidst a wave of hype, biggest US box office ever for a film with a female star above the title, best actress Oscar for Sandra Bullock, inspirational true life story credentials…whether these sound like enticing factors for you is very much going to be the barometer for how much enjoyment you will reap from The Blind Side, factor in that it features American Football and something tells me it will not see the same levels of success repeated on a worldwide basis as those that have greeted it with open arms in America.

As a fan of the (good) inspirational sport’s story, even those featuring American football, I had little trepidation approaching The Blind Side, a long time, long suffering (Miss. Congeniality, All About Steve) Sandra Bullock fan, as many are, it is always nice to hear she is performing well even if the film isn’t up to scratch on the whole. Meaning all in all for me expectations were, if not high, quite ample, alas sadly this was a case of this years other film starring a Best Actor accolade, Crazy Heart with Jeff Bridges , another example of an actor playing to their strengths and dropped in the middle of a deeply mediocre film, one that without its star turn would have no doubt been lost in lower pantheons of Hallmark true-life tales.

Plot wise the emotional heft is present and corrent, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock) is a head-strong, popular, rich and successful white collar Christian with the perfect family life and equally classy friends and oh so adorable children, on their way home from a church meeting one night the Tuohy’s pick up ”Big” Mike Oher. Mike is a Merican Football prodigy but has no home and is living out of a carrier bag due to his his drug-addicted mother, adopting Mike the Tuohy’s set about helping him get his school grades up so he can play college football and fulfill his sporting potential, whilst connecting with his new family, making new friends, learning to drive and just become an all round good Christian!

If this all sounds rather cloying, it is. Bullock is great, and has her Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich no-nonsense style performance finely tuned to a T. Eminantly watchable and likeable, as ever, to boot, it is the kind of solid female role that doesn’t come along very often and through this you can over-look alot of the misgivings. Equally Quinton Aaron as Mike is very good and holds his own against Bullock for while she is the standout there is anough room left to allow the support cast to have their moments.

Despite the topic of American Football being at the centre of the film very little of the sport is actually shown, a saving grace for most of the UK who either dislike or don’t understand it. Leaving all the action to occur off the field, episodically jumping from Leigh Anne’s mission to gte the best out of Mike, interestingly the film takes a slight suprising turn in the final run and calls into questions Leigh Anne’s motives for helping Mike, it’s something that takes the supposed happy ending and leaves a slightly sour note over the tale, nicely offering some ambiguity it is just a shame that everything in the film is so definitively represented and hammered home.

VERDICT

With The Blind Side Sandra Bullock shines amidst a feel-good tale that has a slight sting in its tale. It’s just a shame that Christian do-good values seem to take precedent over everything else leaving Quinton Aaron’s Mike Oher, whom should be the heart of the story, out in the cold.

Starring: Gerard Butler, Jennifer Aniston, Christine Baranski

Director: Andy Tennant

Writer(s): Sarah Thorp

Cinematography: Oliver Bokelberg

Original Score: George Fenton

Running Time: 106 Mins.

Starring Jennifer Aniston. Starring Gerard Butler. These words are enough to strike a feeling of trepidation into any film fan’s heart, though both are capable of good things they are hardly a mark of filmic quality, rather mediocrity at best so it won’t surprise you to learn I approached The Bounty Hunter, a film which, gasp, stars them both, with a strong sense of dread. This may well be why I actually rather enjoyed it, hardly an endorsement and not really being within the target audience, that would be women/Gerard Butler fans, there was a level of enjoyment to be found in this latest output from Andy Tennant, he behind Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama and Fools Gold…go figure!

So The Bounty Hunter is lazy, predictable, overlong and shallow as a puddle but it is most importantly quite enjoyable, Aniston seems to have found her stride in these kind of gentile rom-com’s lately, which is almost a shame as there is more talent there (The Good Girl was evidence of that), but when she is this damn good-looking and the camera lingers on her perfect figure and she displays that easy Friends charm, which guy is going to complain… Likewise I would imagine Butler’s abs on display won’t raise any issues from the female contingency. Thrust (often literally) together these two have chemistry to spare, which is the make or break of a rom-com, and bounce from one situation to the next with the requisite spark, bickering and falling (back) in love on the journey with just enough restraint to ensure that schmaltz doesn’t take over.

The plot is pure Midnight Run refitted for the formula of a love story rather than a buddy one, but the mis-matched buddy elements remain to enough of an extent that the film doesn’t fall into complete cliché, and despite my reservations leave enough to enjoy for the guys, even if the tacked on corrupt police/missing drugs aspect is the oldest plot in the action movie book. But in the end it is the stars that carry you through, Butler has a natural charm and is laddish enough to stand out from the rom-com leading man crowd, even, dare I say it, a bit closer to reality than all the Hugh Grant’s and Ashton Kutcher’s. As ever Aniston does her Friend’s turn, completely unconvincing as a journalist and unable to look anything other than Jennifer Aniston going through the motions, if you love her you’ll love The Bounty Hunter if you don’t, don’t expect to be endeared to her this time.

As ever the plot id stuffed with the requisite quirky support cast, slimy men, kooky mother, loyal best friend, everyone goes through the motions and if there is a plot strand too many don’t worry too much, it will be liberally dropped and either picked up again at the opportune moment (attempts to collect an out-standing debt from Butler) or discarded altogether (Jen’s other leery admirer), as is the will of Thorp’s script and Tennant pedestrian direction, but if you have seen Hitch, Fools Gold or Sweet Home Alabama you would already know what to expect…for better, or worse!

VERDICT

Far from awful, The Bounty Hunter passes the time in an enjoyable way thanks to two solid leads playing to their strengths, working well toegther and allowing forgiveness of the rest of the uniformly weak points.

Starring: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Durand, Charles S. Dutton 

Director: Scott Stewart

Writer(s): Peter Schink, Scott Stewart

Cinematography: John Lindley

Original Score: John Frizzell

Running Time: 100 Mins.

Now here’s an idea, takethe Terminator films and instead of robots, add angels, that in principle is the plot of Legion, for better or for worse. In truth if you’re going to mimic a plot you may as well make it a good one, and  the idea of one angel standing between God’s decision to decimate humanity, and our only savior lying in an unborn baby sounds like a promising one that could take any number of approaches, all-action, dramatic, philosophical. As it is, special effects maestro turned director Stewart manages to attempt tackling them all and fails on all counts with his cack-handed and leaden approach.

Paul Bettany is a man crying out for a good role, an iconic role, the one that makes him the star he deserves, Legion was clearly his attempt at kick-starting a franchise, heck given the premise and finale this is material ripe for a series especially if the budget went up. However budgetary constraints seem to be half the problem, I couldn’t escape the feeling that Stewart wanted to show the angelic masses swarming to wreak their havoc on earth. However he has to settle for one angel (with wings at least) making an appearance for any more than a matter of seconds, and makes do with other nasty’s consisting of spider-woman OAP’s and ice cream men with elongated legs and arms. The worst thing is that most of this goes unexplained, like why do the supposed weak-willed end up looking like vampires and what do some end up mutated while others explode from their body with pustules of acid.

Though in all fairness what is unexplained is less of a problem than what IS explained, plot wise this is a case of poorly executed action scene followed by a terrible scene designed to further character development, bad idea, for where mindless violence is hard to mess up, and Stewart succeeds with aplomb, supposed emotional scenes are a doozy to flunk, and flunk them he does. Its not a surprise that actors like Black and Gibson can’t spout this unwieldy emotional dialogue but when Bettany is reduced to seemingly a bit parter in his star-vehicle and ends up simply quoting his lines as if they were all Bible lessons the tedium really sets in.

Everything becomes a poor cut and paste from other films, noticeably so as the attempts to recreate are so poor, paced unevenly there is little that can save Legion, only upon the close where Gabriel (Durand) and Bettany face off does the ante get upped ever so slightly, clearly by this point it is too late and any forgiveness you may have felt obliged to offer early on is all but lost, hopefully the next Bettany/Stewart team up will be better, I mean they can’t mess up vampires as well as angels can they?

VERDICT

A fumbled concept, Legion proves a good effects man does not a good director make. Bettany doesn’t so much struggle as drift into the background leaving a bunch of amateurs to attempt to infuse the smattering of badly conceived action scenes with serious thesping, let’s face it, it was never going to happen with the likes of Black and Gibson. Even Dennis Quaid can’t save us!

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Peter Haber, Ewa Froling, Lena Endre

Director: Niels Arden Opley

Writer: Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg, Stieg Larsson (novel)

Cinematography: Jens Fischer

Original Score: Jacob Groth

Running Time: 152 mins.

What with Let the Right One In and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the first in the already shot trilogy based on Stieg Larsson’s critically acclaimed novels, Sweden is seeing something of a high-profile boost in the international market, with good reason for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is one hell of a film, the likes of which rarely find their way out of Hollywood, in fact I would put it on a par with The Silence of the Lambs and David Fincher’s Seven (who is incidentally being lined up to direct the inevitable US remake) in the serial killer thriller stakes, because where those films transcended the boundaries of that genre so too does this.

Opening with a court case that finds Michael Nyqvist’s investigative journalist, Mikael, (wrongly?) guilty of corruption he follows up a cryptic lead that takes him to an offshore town where a 40 year old murder mystery is hoisted upon him by the head of a large and corrupt family business, as this occurs we see a the titular girl, a professional hacker named Lisbeth (Rapace), meet abuse at the hands of her guardian, some time later and the two characters make up the chalk and cheese team that uncover many mysteries on the path to discovering what happened to the missing girl and catching a serial killer in the process.

Writ in this way The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn’t sound particularly exemplary, no more so than say The Bone Collector or any number of Hollywood by the numbers thrillers. But the key to this film’s success is in its perfect combination of elements that make it a thoroughly involving experience.Anchored by Nyqvist and Rapace’s performances we really get to know these characters, the plot allows for us to both discover who these people are, what drives them and what their frailties are whilst furthering story in a unhurried but never slow way.

Lisbeth is clearly a complex character, more obviously so than Mikael, with her gothic looks, all piercings and tattoos, and the damaged persona that demonstrates her strength that just about holds her from cracking. In the scenes where she is tormented by her guardian, that hint at further misery in her past, there is a authenticity that makes the scenes almost unbearable through the impeccable acting, even if Lisbeth’s tormentor is a little pantomime-like. As Lisbeth begins to show a softer side by way of her relationship with Mikael there still lay the underlying issues in her past, that while never fully revealed hint at excellent jumping points for the next films in the trilogy.

As with this months Shutter Island atmosphere is everything and, also like Scorsese’s film, is largely set on the island that becomes a deeply foreboding place, all foggy woods and high cliff set houses that wouldn’t look amiss in a horror film. It’s here that most of the action takes place and as Lisbeth and Mikael edge ever closer to uncovering the truth’s they have sought the tension builds, yet we are always invested in the characters whilst still learning who they are, masterfully the story is wound up in a truly satisfying yet un-cloying way while leaving the perfect set up for future films, as you yearn to spend more time getting to know Lisbeth and Mikael.

VERDICT

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo presents us with a gripping and involving thriller, whilst at once taking time to introduce and familiarise us with two of the most interesting characters of the year, never out-staying its welcome and wrapping up one strand while making us yearn for more of another. The perfect opener to what looks set to be an excellent trilogy.

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Max Von Sydow, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Jackie Earle Haley 

Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer(s): Laeta Kalogridis, Dennis Lehane (novel)

Cinematography: Robert Richardson

Original Score: Various

Running Time: 138 Mins.

Scorsese’s films have always offered a level of homage to the “classic” era of Hollywood, harking back to genres (gangster), films (Vertigo), directors (Hitchcock), actors (Howard Hughes) of the Golden Age, with Shutter Island the focus shifts away from gangsters, glitz and glamour and casts a beady eye on noir, horror and the work of Hitchcock on a much more celebratory level. Opening to an overt and dramatic score as a boat comes creeping, full of  foreboding, out of the fog the stall is set early, atmosphere is the key to Shutter Island and it has it n spades!

Sent to the titular island to uncover a mystery of a missing woman Detective’s Daniels (DiCaprio, in his fourth consecutive Scorsese collaberation) and Aule (Ruffalo) enter a world that is full of intrigue and a strong sense that almost everything they see isn’t as it should be, adding to this heady mix of suspicion are Dr. Cawley (Kingsley) and Dr. Naehring (Von Sydow) doctors who have opposing ideas on how a mental patient should be cured, one favouring medicinal methods while Naehring, with his links to Nazis, takes the more sadistic physical approach. Met with disruption at every turn of their search the detectives are helped and hindered by all manner of cameo names playing an assorted bunch of crazies, patients and guards alike. But as the story unfurl’s it takes in one twist after another as Daniels has his own personal agenda for taking the case.

To reveal any more of the story would be to spoil the strong sense of foreboding Scorsese masterfully builds, we all know what a good director he is, but operating within the bounds of the genre of horror, for only the second time after Cape Fear, and noir with more than just a little rug-pulling this is literally like a carnival ghost train brought to thrilling life. However there is depth beneath the surface shocks and twisty-turny plot, DiCaprio is as intense as ever lending Daniel’s an air of confusion and fragility beneath the hard-cop persona, and Mark Ruffalo proves the perfect foil, down playing to perfection against his partners intense moments.

Surrounding your leads with this amount and level of supporting talent certainly helps and everyone is cast to a T, Kingsley is a joy to watch and leaves you wanting more while Von Sydow provides suitable Nazi-flavoured menace, but it is in the island itself we find a third lead and what a lead it is, brought to life in a way only a master could achieve the changing landscape of the various parts of the island reflecting what occurring onscreen, with other areas on view in the distance creating at once a yearning for the detectives to venture there and a foreboding sense that they shouldn’t venture any further down the rabbit hole!

Unfortunately everything begins to out-stay its welcome a little as there is a lull at the mid-point where the pace should really pick up, and at times on the open there is a sense that the score, that utilises pieces from various composers, can feel a touch intrusive but after the initial 20 minutes it settles in and, as with the intrusiveness of Cape Fear’s score, adds to the heightened tension, offering much more than cheap jumps in its sudden honking moments it portrays the Daniel’s erratic and confused emotions amidst the haunting dream sequences he experiences, and it is in these we find Scorsese at his most artistic, a true master at work.

VERDICT

As Scorsese tackles noir and horror, much more than pastiche shines through. Shutter Island is as atmospheric and daunting experience as you could hope for, while being swept along by the labyrinthine plot that favours cerebral jolts over cheap shock tactics, a nice surprise in the current era!

Starring: Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan

Director: Paul Greengrass

Writer(s): Brian Helgeland, Rajiv Chandrasekaran (novel)

Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd

Original Score: John Powell

Running Time: 115 Mins.

Bourne goes to war, that’s what Green Zone has been unfairly dubbed, it is true that there are common aspects, most notably director and star, but Green Zone offers so much more, not that the Bourne films, particularly Greengrass’s, are a bad barometer but this is a completely different beast, one that has something to say about Iraq and WMD’s in particular, to be fair the closest comparable is this years Best Picture, The Hurt Locker, now that is high praise indeed!

Though where Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar winner invested much more into investigating the psychological implications of war, albeit amidst some truly nail-baiting and testosterone fuelled action, Green Zone takes a different approach giving us the first genuinely action-packed film to approach the Iraq war, something every film on the subject thus far seems to have avoided for fear of belittling the importance of it, often presenting us with overly preachy sombre affairs, and it is in avoiding this that The Hurt Locker comparisons are fully warranted.

Though while Greengrass ramps the action up to a breathless flurry his eye is never off the ball, and there is a serious message here, the WMD’s or lack thereof in Iraq shortly after the fall of Saddam. Heading up the unit searching for the ubiquitous nukes, Damon’s Miller is, like Jason Bourne, out to uncover the truth after his latest raid turns up nothing but toilet parts, to say he smells a rat is putting it mildly! Which leads him on a wild goose chase that takes in raids, shoot outs and lots of clue chasing prompted by shady CIA/government men, Brendan Gleeson and Greg Kinnear, and with Jason Isaacs Briggs, no-fuss military bad-ass, chasing him down it proves no easy task for Miller.

Yes, it does still sound like Bourne goes to war, but let the comparisons slip away and focus on the story Greengrass has to tell, his camera tears around picking up explosions just after they blow, catching glimpses of cross-fire as Miller darts from one building to another, we are put front and centre into the action, this is immersive film-making at its best. The joy of Damon is he lacks the movie star looks of Pitt, Clooney or Depp which means he is an easier man to sympathise with, an often under-rated actor he has the ordinary guy act down to perfection, yet imbues the character with the required, likeability, intensity, or whatever emotion is required, and, this is the important bit, it is convincing!

It can be a hard task to juggle something that deals with “real” issues, especially ones this relevant, with a genuinely exciting and thrilling action film but this is the feat managed quite ably as the right elements fall into place, some of the shots are fantastic and even if the finale has a touch of Black Hawk Down about it the final scenes give great resonance to all that has gone before in a way that the aforementioned film never did with all its gung-ho macho act, maybe it helps that Green Zone is helmed by a Brit but everything just seems to feel that bit more authentic and less Hollywood.

However, if there is one misgiving it’s the evidence of a thrifty cut, some ways helping, for example the pacing is brilliantly frantic, however where enough time is spent establishing some characters, others feel a little underwritten. For Isaacs this proves little problem as Briggs is little more than a soldier doing his job but with  Amy Ryan’s reporter it is a big problem, meaning her plot strand acts as little more than a device to link the issue to the press upon the films close. This though is a minor detail and quite frankly you will be too embroidered in Miller’s mission to notice.

VERDICT

Action packed, thrilling and has something to say (without hammering the point home!) Green Zone is, in a word, excellent. Greengrass takes us on a breakneck journey through the murk of Iraq to stageeringly authentic effect, when a gunshot is fired, you will feel it and when a car explodes you will experience it, so is the talent of director and star.

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell

Director: Scott Cooper

Writer(s): Scott Cooper, Thomas Cobb (novel)

Cinematography: Barry Markowitz

Original Score: Stephen Bruton, T-Bone Burnett

Running Time: 112 Mins.

Opening with a scene set in a bowling alley, at a bar, camera focused on a bearded bedraggled Jeff Bridges, sound familiar? It should do if you are even slightly accustomed with the masterpiece that is The Big Lebowski, and as any Lebowski fan knows whenever you see the wonderful Jeff Bridges onscreen, and off, you can’t help but see “The Dude” to some extent, heck he is “The Dude”. So imagine if you will a slightly older “Dudeness”, one that doesn’t have a penchant for White Russians but is very rarely without a drink of whisky and who can belt out one hell of a country and western tune. That’s Crazy Heart’s first 40 minutes in a nutshell…

Sadly harking back to past excellence can only carry through for a minimum of time and the fact that Crazy Heart is just another washed-up old-timer facing up to his responsibility tale can’t be papered over for long. By this point you will be well aware Bridges has walked away from Crazy Heart with most of the possible ‘Best Actor’ awards, including the Academy Award, and it has also garnered much respect for the songs written by T-Bone Burnett. That it is for these two aspects that the film in gaining recognition is at once a telling sign and fair summation of what to expect from the rest of the production.

Pedestrian at best, the direction, script and the film overall offer nothing new, in fact the comparison’s to last years The Wrestler are fair whilst being a little derogatory to that film which managed to present a new and fresh take on a similar story. However that said the good bits are very good, Bridges is great if not outstanding, and there was much better on offer in the acting stakes this year, but to be fair on the legend he is due some recognition and it was never going to be for The Big Lebowski 2! Supporting him finely are Maggie Gyllenhaal, who really needs a solid lead role and is capable of so much more than the head-strong single mum, and Colin Farrell completes the line up with proof that if he were to ever need another carreer path a country and western singer is a solid possibility!

Shot across the vast plains of Texas Crazy Heart isn’t an ugly film and the desolate landscapes to convey the mood well enough but there needed an injection of life from somewhere, a little soul to go with the serious issues eventually broached, alcoholism, age, lost sons, sadly there isn only so much Bridges can do with the script that doesn’t shy away from delving to the mawkish end of the pool at times. Though the sequences of song pep up proceedings a little they cannot save an ultimately by the book approach to a story that’s as old as it is weary.

VERDICT

Yes, Bridges is good and, heck, so are the songs, it’s just that when it comes to the washed up old timer routine there needs to be a little more life from behind the camera to offer something new and involving. It’s not heart that Crazy Heart needed, it was a little more soul!