Movieblaze

Starring (the voices of): Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, Ron Perlman, M.C. Gainey, Jeffrey Tambor

Director(s): Nathan Greno, Byron Howard

Writer(s): Dan Fogelman, Jacob & Willhelm Grimm (novel)

Cinematography: N/A

Original Score: Alan Menken

Running Time: 100 Mins.

Disney’s 50th animated feature, Tangled, is not its first CGI effort (Chicken Little, Bolt and Meet the Robinsons count) it does however mark the first time they have tackled a fairytale in CGI, returning to the Brothers Grimm for inspiration once more in adapting Rapunzel for the modern audience changing the name, a change which reflects both the slight tonal shift and a broader an appeal, with Disney execs deeming Rapunzel a girls story while Tangled has more all round appeal.

Title quibbles aside this adheres to the Disney fairytale formula to a T, there’s  the head-strong princess (who initially needs saving), a handsome prince, the evil step-mother villain and some side-kick thugs as well as that all important merchandise seller and source of comedy, the cute animals, which are here (rather oddly) a chameleon and (more traditionally) a horse. Oddly this perfect balance of the out of the expected (for a Disney fairytale) and traditionally loved elements mark Tangled out as something more than just another Disney effort, last years The Princess and the Frog demonstrated that Lasseter (Pixar and now Disney animation head) knows what he’s doing stopping the studio short of becoming an off-shoot of Pixar and keeping with the aesthetic we all know and love.

Plot wise this is Rapunzel in all but name, with a young girl with magic hair confined to a tower awaiting her savior, the twist is that the story is handled with a post-modern twist, though not with a sledgehammer like the Shrek films which means there are thankfully no pop culture reference, instead there are subtle nudges that are inter-woven within the sincere and expected plotting. Opening with a knowing voice-over by Flynn Rider (Levi) who is without a doubt our knight-in-shining armour though he is in fact a thief, pursued by a horse who seems to think he’s a dog and (post-tower-breakout) flung around by the heroine’s magic locks.

As an animated feature and a CGI effort it doesn’t push any boundaries, and is unlikely to go down as a “classic” in the same way as Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King but that is one hell of a benchmark, hindered somewhat by oddly placed and un-memorable if not lacklustre songs the good never fails to outweigh anything that may be lacking. For example the villain’s song is a little on the generic side, however the villain herself is far from generic. Taking in elements of all the best Disney villains over the last 60+ years while adding something new, this is one scary lady but hiding beneath an even more creepy pretence. This approach can be applied to everyone with Flynn taking in just like a latter-day Aladdin by way of every other handsome Disney prince, this though is a good thing adding dimensions to everyone we have more right to expect from a (potentially linear fairytale.

The key to Tangled’s success ultimately lay with the expert handling of such material, these are people who know their inspiration and are savvy enough to spin it enough to make it relevant whilst holding strong to the all important roots. Much funnier than their other recent CGI efforts (bolt et al.) and with heart to match the best fairy tales going right back to Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, I’d hope that Tangled combined with The Princess and the Frog mark the arrival of a new Golden age of Disney animation, one that embraces the old and nudges in the new, a post-modern fairytale that won’t age badly…unlike a certain Dreamworks ogre.

VERDICT

This is how to do the post-modern fairytale, keeping true to the original source and giving you a fresh twist making it funny and relevant, Tangled, simply put, proves that “Classic” Disney still has the crown when it comes to “traditional” animation.

Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn, Christa Campbell

Director: Simon West

Writer(s): Richard Wenk, Lewis John Carlino,

Cinematography: Eric Schmidt

Original Score: Mark Isham

Running Time: 92 Mins.

So there’s this film, it’s a remake of a Charles Bronson starrer from the 70′s, its about a hitman who grows a conscience after he is set up and has ended up killing his mentor, and there is action aplenty. If ever there was a vehicle made to star Jason Statham, the latter-day Bruce Willis, it is The Mechanic, so low-and-behold here he is spattered all over buses and billboards sporting (who’d have guessed…) a gun and his usual shaven Barnet looking more than a little peeved.

Thankfully, after his down-right cringe-worthy turn in the equally cringe-worthy film known as The Expendables, Statham is back to taking centre stage and growling his lines in that American accent that only the Stath seems to adopt in a film that veers a little further from formula than we had any right to expect, well in terms of approaching the material if not in the cliché ridden plot itself though in the writers defence a couple of nice twists do get thrown up to pep up an all to linear plot, but then again did you expect any less…or indeed more.

To give Statham his due the one-liners have been lost and the premise is played more for tense drama than over-blown action with a slow-burn first third that allows us to get to know Arthur (Statham) as he shares a handful of great scenes with an old master and mentor Harry (Sutherland, classy) and his, eventual,  protegé and Harry’s grieving son Steve (Foster, crazy and considered). It is in the scenes with Foster that the film manages to rise above the generic and forges ahead with a story, if not more, equally concerned with character as it is with action.

The scene setting and slow burn training of Steve offers brief assassination scenes that are played for sheer brutality with short sharp bursts rather than the overblown and all too oft parodied action of the Transporter films, while the annoying frenetic non-stop mess that is Crank 2: High Voltage is a log forgotten mis-step. The crescendo slides towards expectation a little too much but resists the urge to ramp the action up too much in the name of basing the story in a more real and gritty world, and all this from the man that gave us Lara Croft: Tomb Raider!

There are flaws, but too few to be overly critical given such a pedestrian story which becomes more than it should have in the first place, Tony Goldwyn (director of Conviction and The Last Kiss) is pure cut out villain yet he isn’t nearly menacing enough to have any impact though this is really about the eventual blow between Arthur and Steve, again hardly unpredictable but after their relationship has been so meticulously worked at the outcome is all the more shocking, on the downside it does mean the probably eventual Mechanic 2 is unlikely to be nearly as interesting…or fun, lacking that crazy that one character brings!

VERDICT

The Mechanic sits above the Crank and The Transporter sequels in the Stath’s movie pecking order thanks to a sombre tone and a focus of characters (that are thankfully fun and more than simply 2D) and some intense parred down action scenes played for tension rather than over-blown gasps.

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins

Director: Mark Romanek

Writer: Alex Garland, Kazuo Ishiguro (novel)

Cinematography: Adam Kimmel

Original Score: Rachel Portman

Running Time: 103 Mins.

Films have been blurring genre boundaries for years, so to hear that a film is essentially The Island meets Atonement is hardly a shock in itself but the way in which Never Let Me Go bends expectations s and utilises its sci-fi trappings are quite frankly ingenious. In fact forget that this is about clones built for organ donation, it is almost a moot point in a film that uses this fact a the underlying thrust for the film without ever actually seeming that way, crafting a story like this is not an easy feat and that it was oft deemed an unfilmable novel (like so many) makes the film all the more impressive in its achievement as both entertainment of the highest order and a haunting piece that will stay with you.

Beginning in Hailsham, a strict but idyllic boarding school in the English countryside (or that’s how it appears) we focus on three children, Ruth, Tommy and Kathy the school life is seemingly good but the outer grounds a forbidden amidst stories of children having left being found with severed limbs (these sinister undertones of physical damage are only ever spoken of), they take part in art classes and interact with one another as any child would yet something un-nerving lay beneath this happy veneer… fast forward some years and the children have grown into adults, Tommy is with Ruth while Kathy is the one he does, and has always, loved. As they near their preordained destiny (which they unquestionably accept) the tone grows more intimate and though the sad fact remains the focus is on the relationship between the trio.

Another ten years pass, and there has been another shift, Kathy is now a carer while Ruth and Tommy have begun their donations, will true love prevail to save these people from their preordained destIny? Many questions are raised over the course of Never Let Me Go, existential questions, questions about love, they flow freely bubbling under the surface that hides what how sinister the premise really is. That we find ourselves wrapped up in the lives on these people is down to to three things that work so well in conjunction, a fantastic script, a director with a knack for crafting both beautiful imagery and performances and the acting from Garfield and Mulligan in particular, while Knightley is not too shabby either, though she is given the more enviable task of playing the most unlikeable character.

Romanek shoots as if the camera were his paintbrush, everything occurs as if it were under the directors spell and every scene manages to be at once dream-like and ethereal yet truly believable. Flashes of light humour help us stop sliding in wallowing territory, in particular there is a sojourn to the seaside that sees the trio try and “fit in” in a cafe, though for some reason, and I can’t put my finger on how, the emotions you will feel throughout are unique, much like the film itself. One thing I can be certain of is that the score goes some way to helping marry Romanek’s visuals to our psyche, if nothing else the music alone will keep you hooked from beginning to end.

This sure is a hard sell, there’s no doubt about it, and the delay in release from US to Uk is an odd one, if anything this is quintessentially British and demonstrates (if further proof were needed) that Andrew Garfield is a talent to watch, I can only assume that post Social Network Fox have figured his stock is on the rise. It’s not all perfect however and occasionally a few to many ideas are thrown up but not addressed fully, if ever a film were to benefit from a little more room to breathe this is it, I could quite happily have daydreamed (in the best possible way)  through countless minutes of the directors vision.

VERDICT

Never Let Me Go is a dream-like experience, sweeping you along by way of the masterly direction that evokes all kinds of emotions, it is a film that feels although its an old friend, familiar yet fresh I would imagine everyone will garner different things from a very different film.

Starring: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied

Director: Darren Aronovsky

Writer: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John McLaughlin

Cinematography: Matthew Libatique

Original Score: Clint Mansell

Running Time: 108 Mins.

Darren Aronovsky has a unique style, some may even go as far as to say he has a vision, one that is distinct and could quite rightly mark him out as an auteur, being a director who has similar themes, visual stylings (or trappings?), a way of coaxing very harsh and “real” performances from his actors, Pi and Requiem for a Dream saw him positioned in indie territory but with The Wrestler he broke into the mainstream, albeit unintentionally, garnering awards talk for his directing and a win for his lead actor Mickey Rourke.

The Wrestler tackled an extreme sport, one that he exposed as unforgiving with an ultimately fragile man (emotionally) at its heart and with that there was little doubt Aronovsky could craft a realistic and touching turn from an actor. With Black Swan what it would appear he has attempted to do is marry both the character study of The Wrestler with the paranoia and visual intensity of his earlier films, for me all this simply does is create a messy and over-blown spectacle that reaches some kind of stride in the final 30 minutes, by which time my patience had been well and truly spent.

Portman is a fine actress, this we know from Leon through to Brothers (which should have been awards bait) but in Black Swan she is saddled with an oddly two-dimensional character, yes she has lost a lot of weight, and yes she looks stunning when performing ballet but beyond this the character of Nina Sayers is simply swept along by her supposed mental breakdown in a plot that sees her cast as the swan queen (both the white and black swans) in a production of Swan Lake. The white swan she has nailed, graceful, calm, perfect however her director Thomas (Cassel, playing the equally two-dimensional sleazy French-man, yet at least having some fun with it) pushes Nina over the edge as she is pushed to extreme both physically and mentally.

Like The Wrestler before it no holds are barred in the scenes of physical torture these people put themselves through for their art, except this time the gore does not seem to be for dramatic effect but for cheap jumps, like a high-brow Saw film! These moments though provide the only brief scenes of shock tactics in a slow and laborious first hour where very little happens, one can only imagine that the idea was to ramp up the tension for the final payoff, great in theory but when you are on a road to  very little the audience will get lost along the way through sheer lack of interest.

When the finale arrives the shock and gore is taken up a notch, Winona Ryder in the final of only a handful of brief scenes is afforded the embarrassment of pointlessly stabbing her face with a nail file while each scene serves to up the ante where we just know Nina is going to crack. The final scene itself comes as no surprise given the end of Swan Lake itself (retold for us in the opening throws), yet upon the end the main question i had on my lips is what exactly was Aronovsky trying to achieve in a film that seems to be nothing more than his folly, wavering between drama, character study, horror, erotic thriller and worst of all a big dramatic horror replete with the type of honking score Shutter Island and Inception utilised so well. Not pigeon-holing a film into genres is not bad thing, but there needs to be some coherence of intention to garner admiration, or at the very least, enjoyment!

VERDICT

Black Swan is visually arresting in parts, yet beyond this there is little to recommend in a rather messed up effort, quite how Portman has received acting plaudits remains a mystery…unless we are judging on ballet prowess, where she would undoubtedly win hands down.

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton, Harrison Ford, Noah Bean, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum

Director: Roger Michell

Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna

Cinematography: Alwin H. Kuchler

Original Score: David Arnold

Running Time: 107 Mins.

You have to feel sorry for Paramount, Morning Glory was a hard sell, perhaps this is why it hardly set the box-office alight stateside and arrives on our shores without a great deal of enthusiasm, this is a great shame for those very reasons. For a start Americans appear to be un-accepting of a film unless it can sit nicely in a little box marked “comedy”, “drama” or any other generic genre which is a great shame given that not being able to categorise something often screams of originality! Secondly is the ability of those Yanks to “get” sarcasm, something which Morning Glory has in spades, all thanks to the one and only Harrison Ford.

Morning Glory sees Becky Fuller (McAdams), Executive producer of morning TV show Day Break,attempting to improve ratings so that said show doesn’t end up with the axe in favour of quiz shows and nature programmes, in an effort to pep up the viewing figures she hires esteemed news reporter Mike Pomperoy (Ford) unfortunately Mike finds the fluff pieces of morning TV below him but is forced into it anyway due to cntractual obligations, add to this a diva-esque co-host in the form of Diane Keaton’s Colleen Peck, a burgeoning romance with feature producer Adam (Wilson, reliably … reliable) and a demanding boss (Goldblum, stern rather than kooky for a change), all of which means Becky has her hands full.

Despite the presence of Wilson as the romantic interest the focus is well and truly on Becky’s job, yes this affects her ability to hold down a relationship (the film opens in standard rom-com territory with a disasterous date) but it seems to be there to highlight how dedicated she is to the task at hand, and how that in itself can be as deeply rewarding as finding “true love”. Plot wise there is little to surprise, linear and with the usual last minute revelation that sets a chain of events in motion to save the day but it is in the performances that the enjoyment is offered, Morning Glory is entertainment pure and simple.

There are two reasons for this, firstly is in the two central turns, Ford is a joy and could well prove to be the comedy performance of the year spitting out his lines to the point where you think he really doesn’t want to be in the film let alone his character be on morning television. It’s not a deep attempt to show the layers of a man deemed “the third worst in the world” but he is someone who is at once likeable to watch with a warm centre “natch” however its nice that come the end he hasn’t gone through a big “seen the light” transformation into Mr. Nice Guy. Equally as good but for differing reasons is McAdams, she has sat on the edge of superstardom for years now and hopefully this will take her to the top of the casting tree. A damn sight better than many of her peers, Katherine Heigl take a bow, she is also hugely likeable and you feel for her as she attempts to control the uncontrollable in Ford.

Of the rest of the support Keaton comes out on top purely by playing Ford at his own game, their banter is the comic highlight and I for one could have watched a whole film filled with it, if I had to level a criticism it was that there isn’t enough of Keaton onscreen. Wilson is much more likeable than he has been of late and  despite a rather thankless role he takes the supportive boyfriend part on the chin, matched well to McAdams to make for a believable fling if nothing else. Though as I said before this is a film about the throes of working hard and the comedy that comes from characters eccentricities rather than cheap visual gags, the kind Becky hoists upon her unsuspecting viewers!

VERDICT

Ford and McAdams are the stars here, with a strong contender for comedy performance of the year amongst a warm and likeable film. it won’t set the world alight but very few films are genunely “feel-good”, something Morning Glory achieves with aplomb.

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman, Faith Wladyka, Mike Vogel

Director: Derek Clanfrance

Writer(s): Derek Clanfrance, Joey Curtis, Cami Delavigne

Cinematography: Andrij Parekh

Original Score: Grizzly Bear

Running Time: 114 Mins.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are no strangers to intimate, and often raw, character studies favouring the brutal reality of life over cinematic story-telling, one need look no further than Half Nelson or I’m Not There for evidence of this. They are awards baiting roles for a reason, there are few actors who are capable of playing emotional wrecks quite as convincingly as Williams and Reynolds whether that be in an external or internal sense there is a feeling of harsh truth behind their eyes which makes them perfect to play a couple experiencing the highs, and more pertinently the lows, of love.

Blue Valentine is THAT film, story is put on the back-burner in favour of lingering scenes that simply allow the audience to enter the lives of a couple, like you or I, that are simultaneously enjoying the highs and lows of life. Raising question such as what does it mean to be in love? Should the hard times be worked through? What does it mean to remain faithful in a loveless marriage? And in the case of Dean (Gosling) is simply being a husband and father enough or should one aspire for more? All questions that weigh heavily on the minds of many of us but usually not so openly, that Blue Valentine dares to raise such questions is where the intensity and brutal reality is found.

Very few films cut this close to “true love”, dispensing with the fairytale conceit Cindy (Williams) herself initially holds dear we see what it is like to fall in love, convincingly for a change on celluloid, and then see that love weigh and crack under pressures of life, not big issues such as money or fidelity but the seemingly smaller ones that are ultimately the more dangerous and destructive, eating away at a couple slowly from the inside we feel Dean and Cindy’s pain. Neither are bad or good party’s of blame, Cindy could be accused of taking Dean’s affections for granted and seeming almost cold while Dean himself appears to be a drunken lay about though not in the clichéd sense, he doesn’t beat his wife, or cheat and he is an good father.

Taking place over two different time periods, the end of a relationship and the beginning of it helps highlight the aforementioned highs and lows in an easy to digest way despite chopping and cutting back and forth. The early sections are more filmic, colourful and melancholy suggesting hope and fresh vibrancy while the latter sections are all handheld DV, every scene a close up to highlight the angst on the couples faces catching every tear, frown and tic, it is here that awards buzz is rightly earned as Gosling segue from being actors to representations of something more real than real, likely forged as they spent months together prior to filming getting to know each other from top to bottom.

This is arguably not new ground, many a small independent film has covered similar ground to varying degrees, some for laughs and some for tears, I neither cried nor laughed during Blue Valentine but I did ponder, that age-old question as to what love actually means, and that I feel is the film-makers goal even if it still defies a cosy answer that can be put in a greeting card.

VERDICT

Blue Valentine is not a film to be enjoyed rather it is one to consume and ponder over simply because the performance is that good that it transcends beyond acting, to a place where you could almost be watching real life, and love, unfurl before your very eyes.

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Channing Tatum

Director: Ron Howard

Writer: Allan Loeb

Cinematography: Salvatore Totino

Original Score: Lorne Balfe, Hans Zimmer

Running Time: 118 Mins.

Comedy-dramas are an iffy hybrid, very few directors (let alone actors) are able to carry of both of these genres suitably marrying them together, in fact the difficulty in actually succeeding in creating one that works is often rewarded with awards glory (see Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, The Kids Are Alright) and quite rightly so as it can be one of the most touching and rewarding film experiences. Alas all too often the balls of the juggling act are well and truly dropped by many an un-seasoned director, so given the pedigree of Ron Howard (returning to the genre for the first time since 1999 with EDTV) you would expect something really rather good, sadly The Dilemma has become quite literally a film of two halves and one that is never able to marry the two in a convincing way.

So The Dilemma careers from Vince Vaughn/Kevin James knock about comedy to attempts at relationship drama that over-eggs the theme of trust and honesty, the upside is that this isn’t in the realms that some of Vaughn’s recent efforts have slumped to, Couples Retreat and Four Christmases to name but two, but there is little to make it stand out in the crowd amongst comedies, or dramas for that matter. Fans of Vaughn aren’t short-changed however, he is (like most comics) an acquired taste and the chances are if you weren’t a fan before The Dilemma it will do little to convert you but he can do his “Vince Vaughn” flustered turn in his sleep and does so here with aplomb attempting to act a little as well, though he and Connelly cannot convince as a couple at least the bromance element hits home as he spars with Kevin James.

While I’m on the subject of James it’s nice to see he is able to emote and do more than a silly dance, even though he still seems incapable of escaping the affable loser role that has become his staple in film since a star turn in Hitch. The Dilemma in question sees James wife (Ryder) cheating on him with a tattooed druggie (Tatum), alas Vaughn witnesses said affair by chance and is faced with the titular problem, to tell his best-mate and break his heart or not? to complicate matters we discover James isn’t quite so innocent himself, in fact nobody is and in both couples relationships there are attempts to add a little edge by having some rather unsavoury issued touched on, massage parlours, gambling problems etc. these add little to the story as a whole but do pep proceedings up a little.

The biggest revelation is Tatum, who’d have thought the often leaden and sombre performer was capable of comedy, in his scenes with Vaughn there is great sparring (both physical and verbal) but they seem to have slipped in from yet another film, a better comedy perhaps? Add to this an obscure framing plot-line that sees Vaughn and James trying to push a new car engine to Dodge and the totally out-of-kilter appearance by Queen Latifah (“lady-wood”…say no more!) who seems to have come in from yet another comedy in the Tyler Perry mould and you have the ingredients for a rather uneven yet oddly admirable film in terms of  its intention.

VERDICT

Those seeking a dose of Vaughn inspired comedy will likely be happy, anyone expecting a well crafted comedy-drama will be baffled as The Dilemma veers between genres, and seemingly even different films, sporadically and unevenly making for an interesting but not particularly good watch, such a shame from as seasoned a director as Ron Howard.

Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, Tom Wilkinson, Edward James Olmos

Director: Michel Gondry

Writer(s): Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg

Cinematography: John Schwartzman

Original Score: James Newton Howard

Running Time: 118 Mins.

The Green Hornet’s issues in finding its way to the silver screen have been oft reported over the last couple of years, though the one constant that has remained is the involvement of it’s star and co-writer Seth Rogen, clearly fancying himself a piece of the superhero pie Rogen has plucked one of the lesser know members of the genre (the original was best known for the involvement of Bruce Lee) to turn his Apatow-like comedy stylings too while throwing up some action flavoured set-pieces, oh, and theres a love interest that is as forgettable as can be in the form of Cameron Diaz.

The crux of The Green Hornet is that he is not actually super at all, simply put Britt Reid (Rogen) is an affable loser who decides to don a mask and fight crime (albeit while masquerading as a villain) with the help of his martial arts skilled partner Kato (Asian superstar Jay Chou in the Lee role) to take down the crime syndicate that is dragging the city into the gutter through his general bad guy antics, oh and said crime syndicate is headed up by a guy who has anger issues (Christoph Waltz of Inglourious Basterds). Hmm you may be thinking this sounds familiar, and you’d be right…it is, think Kick-Ass but not with the same level of ingenuity or originality.

To this end it is likely The Green Hornet will never quite hit the heights it aims for, with too much similarity to a much better film and a weak plot-line that never escapes formula or surprises in any way, something of a surprise given it is helmed by king of quirk Michel Gondry  (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind). These are issues but only in the sense that it won’t stand the test of time, but many films don’t, what The Green Hornet does do however is entertain, something which is achievement enough after a rather messy inception and (now) underwhelming premise.

That it is a funny film helps no end, those expecting Superbad-style laughs will likely be left wanting but for gentle giggles look no further than the trailer which demonstrates misunderstandings between east and west (Rogen and Chou), Rogen and fellow writer Goldberg play on the bromance aspects for all they are worth, a tactic which works well and offers the interplay between the central duo some genuine warmth and laughs that aren’t forced but flow naturally. Not every joke hits home however, Waltz is short-changed in terms of scenes and laugh quota, we know the man can do menacing better than most but he needed something a little more challenging and is even denied a good demise…

Lest we forget this is an action-comedy, and the action itself manages to find some flair via the director, the only time in fact you would know Gondry ws nvolved at all, the Kato-vision sections are inspired and give a thrilling crash-bang edge to a film that floats a long a little too softly for the majority of its runtime never really being as ingenious as you would expect from Rogen or Gondry. I suspect in an effort to be as generically pleasing as possible the studio kept the creators on a short-leash, a great shame given the promise of a Rogen/Gondry superhero film.

VERDICT

The Green Hornet is not the folly many expected from Rogen, and nor is it a quirky superhero curiosity as expected from Gondry, all of which means it sits as a solid yet mediocre action-comedy, both of which elements it manages without too much fuss or surprise, this is a film that will entertain but no more and no less.

Starring: Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Melissa Leo, Thomas D. Mahard, Owen Campbell, Minnie Driver, Connor Donovan

Director: Tony Goldwyn

Writer: Pamela Gray

Cinematography: Adriano Goldman

Original Score: Paul Cantelon

Running Time: 107 mins.

In Conviction the premise is at once a stunning story of injustice following the imprisonment of Kenny Waters, convicted of brutally murdering a neighbour and his sister’s, Betty-Anne, crusade to have him freed after she is convinced of his innocence, putting herself through law school and finally sitting the Bar exam to then uncover the cracks in a seemingly flawed case. On the flip side one could very well see Conviction as pure TV-movie-of-the-week plotting, a real tear-jerker wrung for all its hammy worth…which begs the question, where do director Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss) and writer Adriano Goldman find their efforts falling?

Thankfully I can safely say there is much more of the former with the latter only ever creeping in when Swank veers into over-acting at times, as fine an actress as she is this is one woman who doesn’t quite know when to rein it in, crossing the line between convincing and melodramatic though arguably the script has as much blame on this front as she. But to the good, and there is much to enjoy including another convincing turn from Swank (aside from the previously mentioned blips) as a strong-willed woman with trailer trash roots (think Million Dollar Baby, albeit marginally less depressing!), however it is Sam Rockwell as Kenny who really strikes a chord.

Rockwell is a great actor, one of the best of the current crop, and deserves some real accolades, he has been making a big impression on me since The Green Mile where he made a despicably vile character into a charismatic one, though it is more recently in Moon (acting opposite himself) and Iron Man 2 where he stole the show from Mickey Rourke and Robert Downey Jr (no mean feat) that he has really become a force to be reckoned with, and hopefully noticed, clearly this is a award-baiting film and if anyone should get a nod it is he. Presenting Kenny as a likeable yet rough around the edges “scoundrel” the years prison puts on him are felt in every scene, even in the clichéd prison scenes that are apparently a must in this type of film, the fights, the lost temper, the despair leading to suicide…each beat is hit upon but is done so convincingly.

The plot itself, though a well-worn one in some respects, is structured very well and resists juggling too many side plots (as the similar the Next Three Days fell down in doing), those that do exist are connected integrally to the stories main thrust, the love between siblings (oddly an under-used narrative drive) is simply put a moving one thanks to the leads with a touch of humour going a long way to adding warmth to a potentially clinical a-to-b story. Flash-backs to happier time of childhood and their younger  years are interwoven very well and add an extra dimension to build on the relationship, even if familiar notes are hit in the useless-mother role and the trailer trash girlfriends. Though as a deeply trashy woman Juliette Lewis is better than she has been in quite some time in only two brief scenes, immersed into a role that is quite frankly detestable.

The lingering possibility that Kenny could be guilty helps keep the tension bubbling along even if the outcome is never really in doubt, and a late in the day introduction of Kenny’s daughter may seem a little heavy handed, though it does add another sounding board for Rockwell to bounce off, something which can only be a good thing in anyone’s book, here’s hoping he gets that star-making turn soon…

VERDICT

Conviction is solid entertainment on the story side of things getting so much more to its premise than is to be expected, though it is in the relationship between brother and sister rather than in the legal side of things that the film edges into “great” rather than merely  ”good” territory, thank you Mr. Rockwell!

Starring: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Olivia Wilde, RZA, Michael Bule, Daniel Stern, Jason Beghe

Director: Paul Haggis

Writer: Paul Haggis

Cinematography: Stephane Fontaine

Original Score: Danny Elfman, Alberto Iglesias

Running Time: 132 mins.

Russell Crowe is an actor who operates at his very best when playing “normal” men, that is to say under-played parts where he is a member of the public such as Jeffrey Wigand in The Insider and more recently Cal McCaffrey in State of Play. We can now add to that list John Brennan, a husband and father going to extreme lengths to free his wrongly? imprisoned wife from jail, though not in the sense that he goes to law school to become a lawyer (that story has been left to Conviction, starring Hilary Swank, which is out later this month) rather by illegal means, which includes robbing local drug dealers, fraternising with Liam Neeson’s escapee and acquiring fake ID’s from a deaf biker!

If this all sounds a tad far-fetched, it is, though under the steady and assured hand of Paul Haggis it is hugely involving though not quite as gripping as one might hope in its attempts to seat itself as more of a true story than the OTT thriller it could easily have become. Haggis is an award-winning director known for the excellent In the Valley of Elah and Crash, he also wrote these films along with the last two Bond films so is placed well to tackle a drama with thriller elements, sadly one of these elements fares better than the other with the shift from planning the breakout to actually implementing it not quite as seamless as it should be, coming on all too suddenly and not really reaching the edge-of-your-seat moments that were sorely needed to pep up the characters plight.

Genre boxes are ticked in the planning phase, the plan mapped out on the wall, the gruff escapee (Liam Neeson in a rather pointless cameo), the blips in the plan, and so on and so forth, thankfully the character work built into the script stops this all seeming as arbitrary as it is and bolstered by Crowe’s committed turn you will never get bored. Slightly less convincing is the relationship between Elizabeth Banks, as the convicted wife, and Crowe, both actually looking like “normal people” rather than glamorous film stars helps with the authentic tone but the chemistry between the two in non-existent, something not helped by an odd opening scene used to place doubt in our minds as to Bank’s innocence.

Oddly along with this opening is the “so what” ending, one which aims for poignancy but just seems to hit a flat note, maybe owing to the late-in-the-day introduction of generic detectives a and b, who just so happen to stagger upon what may actually have happened, but don’t quite. Though i may seem a little “down” on The Next Three Days it is far from a bad film, in fact it is one of the better ones in recent weeks it is just that after In the Valley of Elah I had come to expect so much more from Haggis in his follow-up, though in all fairness the knack he has for coaxing convincing performances remains (with Crowe) but the flawless perfection of tone and emotion has become a little jaded perhaps owing to this being a remake of a french film, Anything For Her.

Carried over from the original version are a number of sub-plots that add little to the film as a whole, the nature of the film dictates you need a police presence but it is a shame that here it is so hackneyed and feels half-hearted at best, as well as this are a potential relationship with one of Brennan’s son’s friends mother ( now there’s a mouthful!) and a strained relationship between Brennan and his father which is never explained and only ever sketched out to provide a “nuanced” farewell scene where they finally connect, cliché like this really should be beyond Haggis.

VERDICT

The Next Three Days gives us a great performance from Crowe raises this above being just entertaining, though the tone is uneven and some elements fail to convince there are still marks that Haggis may yet reach the heights of In the Valley of Elah once again.