Sanctum

 It isn't Thursday night but there really isn't anything that is going to be released tomorrow that I want to see. So I headed over to Hastings to see Sanctum. I wasn't really fussed on seeing this film, it was just a feeling and after having seen it my hunch was confimed.

 All the fuss over James Cameron's involvement is nonsense. His input really is minimal and it is just a ploy to get bums on seats. It is becoming an annoying practise to do this, and I find it is insulting to my intelligence. So gripe number one is out of the way.
 Number two is that this film has got the most appaling acting in it since I saw The Last Airbender in October of  last year. To say the acting is wooden is to be kind! One critic has called the cast 'lifeless', and that about sums it up. I just couldn't help but groan at some it and sure other patrons could hear me.
 I'm not a fan of 3-D and consider it over rated. No cinemas in the Bay are 3-D equiped so 2-D it is for me.  But no matter what fancy film making gimmick you used on this film it wouldn't save it. There is nothing here that is original. There is no suspense, tautness, and no  physical or emotional engagement, in fact it was a relief that it ended so I could escape the carnage on my eyes and ears.
 I find it no coincidence that this film has been made. It is supposed to be direct competition to 127 Hours. But believe me 127 Hours has nothing to fear and is by far the superior film in everyway. 127 Hours was beautifully filmed, where as Sanctum doesn't have any awe inspiring camera work or scenery at all. It is just flat. One scene sums it up. A group of people are flying in a chopper over New Guinea but it is in a studio with a jungle back ground. I mean how lame is that??!!
 This film is just straight out awful and could have been so much more and provided serious competion to 127 Hours. It is a total failure and about as bad a film as you can get for all the hype.
 In a word, don't bother, see the far superior 127 hours. Not only a very good accident/drama/adventure type film, but a great film in the process.
Click here for more if you are even remotely considering wasting two hours of your life:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881320/
And here for more that just re-confirms my impressions:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sanctum/
And here for the waste of bandwidth that is the official site:
http://www.sanctummovie.com/

Eastern Promises

 Well if you been following my blog you will no doubt have found a recurring theme. Her name is Naomi Watts! Mmmmmm...Naomi!! I'm an unabashed fan and think she is one of Hollywood's premium actresses.

 Possibly the thing that impresses me most about her ( besides the fact she is a mega-babe! ) is she seems to pick her parts very well. So far she hasn't appeared in any clangers. Compare Charlize Theron who is brilliant in Monster but also appears in rubbish like Aeon Flux. The Ring movies certainly didn't challenge Watts's acting skills and yet they are still fine horrors. She gives them credibility through her talent.

 But wait! Anyone would think that she is the only person in this film! Excuse me for my Naomi ramblings! The very talented Viggo Moretensen also appears and this will make the ladies happy as he gets to fight and roll around naked in a sauna naked. And yes girls we see IT all!!

 This is not Watt's best performance or role. But Mortensen is outstanding as a Russian mobster who is not all he seems. In fact he is so good he was nominated for an Oscar.  Here is a long way from Aragon of The Lord of the Rings.

 The film centres around a young girl who dies after delivering a baby and the nurse, Watts, who finds her diary. It leads her into the dark world of the Russian mafia and enforced prostitution, or more commonly, the sex slave trade.

 Even though this is a film of fiction its content isn't pleasant. The young girl turns out to have been fourteen and a virgin when she was raped by the head of the mafia. He manipulates the incriminating diary from Watts and destroys it.

 Mortensen's character is not all he seems. Even as he is initiated into the mafia with a series of tattoos it is revealed he is working for Scotland Yard. Turn takes turn and the head of the mafia is brought down after a blood sample is skillfully taken from him and compared to the baby's to prove he is the father. Of course with the girl having been only fourteen he is convicted of statutory rape.

 There are some brutal moments in this film as throats are slit and a girl is seen to be having unwilling sex with Mortensen. The throat cuttings are unconvincing as the blood is too thick and red. A minor quibble but noticeable. But really it is a film focusing on the sex slave trade and the promises made to Russian girls that lead them into it. Of course once out of Russia and without a passport they find themselves trapped in it.

 The film of course is based on fact and is not nice because of it. It certainly brings this highly odious practise to the viewers attention in a convincing way. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the second of the Millennium trilogy also has this trade as a backdrop within Sweden. I like the fact that two films have been made bringing this practise to the worlds attention.

 In many respects they are better platforms than a documentary. People will pay to see thier favorite movie stars in a film, and if that can be combined with real life, factual scenarios then the message gets a better and wider audience. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but I hope the producers of Eastern Promises had this as a goal in making this film.

 Overall it is not in the great film realm. But it is certainly well above average to. Mortensen is very good and keeps his Russian accent believable right throughout. Watts is very solid and the film is very watchable. But it is film about a highly unplesant trade and I hope that the films whole intention was to bring this practise to the eyes of the world. A well made effort in using real practises within a fictional film.

Click here for a synopsis and facts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_promises

Here for more:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0765443/

For more:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eastern_promises/

Mulholland Drive

 Well after having read so much about this film from other blogs I decided to hire this film from my local video store. It is unusual in that I didn't see this on the big screen. I pretty much see everything that is played at our local cinemas so maybe this didn't play.
 It is fair to say that this is a film that has devided audiences like no other within the last ten years. My initial reason for wanting to see this film is because of Naomi Watts. Not only because she is a babe!! ( Liev Schreiber you lucky so and so!), but beacause she is such an outstanding actress. This was of course her break through role in Hollywood.
 It is interesting here because I saw 21 Grams only a matter of a few nights ago. I think she was far superior in 21 Grams. But her Mulholland role is very good to. I like the way her character changes from intially being a sweet, somewhat wide eyed innocent, to the woman who slides into insanity at the end. Two different people played by the same actress within the same movie. Great skill Naomi, and a joy to watch!
 Acting aside this film has been described as 'weird'. For me personally, it isn't weird it is dis-jointed, and gets lost in too many irrelevant sub-plots that go no-where. When I did  a bit of reading up on this film I found it had been initially been filmed as a pilot for a television series. David Lynch had filmed the bulk of the pilot but it was canned before filming was finished. So really, to be honest, this is film footage from an initial and unfinished project, with scenes filmed afterwards in an attempt to knit it all togehter.
 Unfotunately it is glaringly obvious. I admire his attempt to do so and I genuinely feel he could have done much, much better and turned a confusing, sub-plot heavy film, into a genuine masterpiece of non-lineal film making. He attempted it with too much initial film and tryed to make the most of it without really giving it the thought needed to get the best from it. It is a film of wasted potential.
 I can critise this film to kingdom come and the sad thing is I don't really won't to. I really want to like it.  But it's flaws keep getting in the way and I feel frustrated at the so many lost opportunities of this film. The film has too many joining scenes. The Silencio scene is unnecesary and plainly out of place. It is just joining two scenes together without adding to the plot. If Lynch had cut out the sub-plots that go nowhere, he could have skillfully weaved together this film much better. He has overly confused it and taken away so much from what it could have been.
 One other critism is right throughout the film there is an air of sinisterism. It is well done and I kept expecting right to end something extraordinary. It left me unsatisfied and wondering what all the sinister air was about. Again it was something palpable that led to nothing. Sure I've read of the dream scenario and hypothisis, but hey, the recent Inception was a dream movie and it felt just like that, a dream.
 To what I did like, because there is much to like, as much as there is to be confused and disappointed with. The acting is very good. Naomi Watts being the stand out. It is well filmed. It has a non-lineal plot that is a style I particularly like. It keeps you guessing.......but , and again we come back to this very simple problem, but.
 Believe me I have tried very hard to like this film after watching it last night. It is not that I don't like it because I do. It is unfortunately a film that has left me frustrated as it had the potential to be absoltuely incredible but instead subsides into confusion which destroys the ability for me to accept it as a great one. When I first saw Pulp Fiction I was absolutely gob smacked and left the theatre reeling wondering what had hit me. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before and that feeling has never left me. Mulholland tries to achieve the same thing but trips up over its own feet. Overly plotted and confusing, it is a film that ultimately leaves you unsatisfied because you know it should have been better.
 I am a believer of first impressions counting. I  absolutely love eccentric, off-beat, quirky films, but I doubt no matter how many times I see this film my feelings would change. They in fact would probably only deepen. This is a frustratingly flawed film that overly complicates itself and the viewer is left rueing what could have been. Simply, the chance to be a true masterpiece of non lineal film-noir that could have Pulp Fiction in its place.
 Watch, be dazzled, but ulimately be disappointed at what could have been.

 PS. It makes me laugh that people make so much of Lynch's silence over speaking about or clarifying this film. To me it shows he knows it is a cobbled together mess. He must be laughing behind his back at how he has pulled the wool over cinema goers eyes world wide and insulted their intelligence!! He is getting praise that he himself knows isn't justified.
 Click here for a synopsis...if you can possibly do so with such a jumbled mess!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/
And here for a site that attempts to justify this films existence!!
http://mulholland-drive.net/home.htm
And more self justification!
http://www.lynchnet.com/mdrive/

Russian Ark

 This is a film from Russia and only one of two I have ever seen. The other was a fine film called The Italian. Russian films are so rare in New Zealand cinemas and to have only seen two in all my cinema going years is somewhat diasppointing. But what anyone who takes the time to read this must take into account is New Zealand is a small country of only four million people. It has a very small cinema going patron base compared to the amount of films that are made world wide each year. We only get to see a fraction of them.

 I am a big fan of foreign language films and have stated so in some of my earlier posts. I suppose with Hollywood being the biggest kid on the block it is natural that its films flood our cinemas. Luckily I have the Century Cinema here in Napier that caters for people like me. It has only one screen and again can only cope with a certain amount of films per year. 

 I envy some of the other blogs I have visited for the array of films they have had access to. Some really obscure stuff is out there and I just can't get my hands on any of it. I think a country like America say, is quite lucky in that it has a population base that can have cinemas that soley play the classics of bygone eras. Great stuff! I could live in a cinema like that!!

 But to Russian Ark!! Sorry for the rambling but hopefully someone may find it interesting and understand why I review a film such as this. I saw this film way back in 2004. I still have the ticket stub and it is the first stub I kept after deciding I would keep every one from every film I saw from that point on. You can imagine how many I have, hundreds! I now sorely wish I had one for every movie I have seen from childhood, as it would be an impressive number. 

 This film had a one only screening and it surprised me in that the theatre was almost full. The Century holds 330 people so this was quite impressive. What got me is this was a film with no promotion in New Zealand what so ever. So how it drew that sort of crowd is beyond me. I've seen films promoted heavily that people have stayed away from. I suppose that is the vagaries of the industry.
 It is an amazing film is scope, detail and ambition. I have read that it was shot in one complete take, but I find that hard to believe. It is just too big and busy with a cast of 2,000, so I'm sure that with that amount of people something was bound to go wrong at some stage. It takes place in the St. Petersburg museum, it starts at a side door into a kitchen and then finally exists down its main staircase. We follow a man who is also narrating, and the films main purpose is take the viewer through a quick tour of the museum. 
 But it does it in a very unique fashion. Instead of making a walk along documentary the makers have used a series of historical flash backs in each room the camera enters (33 in all). Certain periods of St. Petersburg's, and the then Leningrads, history are played out. In one scene a wall of the museum has been hit by German artillery fire and there is snow coming in and a Leningrader making a coffin. Of course this is reference to the 900 day siege of Leningrad during the Second World War.
 It is historical scenes like this set against the museum's backdrop that make it so remarkable and clever in execution. The cinematography is beautifully done and when the camera enters each room it is hard not to be stunned . The museum is an amazing building, and the film work captures it magnificently. It is one of those films that HAS to be seen on the big screen to be believed. It is just dazzling, and the small screen will just not portray the awe that the big screen would.
 It is perfect in every way and every detail. As the camera moves from one room to another there is no cut in the film. The camera moves seemlessly from room to room giving the viewer the impression they are actually there walking the museum and not watching it on film. It is an amazing cinematic experience. The museum is beautiful in every room and on the big screen it overwhlems you and you are left breathless by the end (which it does with a big historical ball and the guests leaving by the main staircase).
 Our narrater, who walks us throught he museum, is based on a Frenchman who visited Russia in the 19th century and wrote a widely read book on his travels. The multi layering of this film is incredible and I can't express enough the skill in turning what could have been a drab, dry , documentary style film into a visually sumptuous and technically rewarding piece of filmmaking. It is cleverly and skillfully made and a film whose physical beauty you will never forget.
 Try and see this film. The small screen will do it no justice but you will still get a feel of the museum's majesty and the film making that brought it too life in such a masterful way. Superb viewing.
 Click here for a brief synopsis and a few facts;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Ark
Here for more:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318034/

Kung Fu Panda

 Awesome!! I've decided to review one of most favorite animated films, Kung Fu Panda. Can you believe that this film is the 49th highest grossing film of all time! Surely it is an indication of how popular animation is and that it is a very valid film genre.

 I saw this on its release in 2008. In fact I saw it twice on the big screen. Both times I was surprised at the amount of adults present. Not parents as such but singles and couples who had come to see it. I have found this quite rare in animated films.

 This is one of the abundantly clear things about Kung Fu Panda as a film. It is very popular across all spectrums and ages of society. I recommended this film to many people who took my advice and told me later how much they loved it. I think adults have forgotten that when animation first hit the big screen with Snow White etc it was not specifically aimed at children. 
 It is a mistake that is slowly fading as I find more adults going to animated films at later sessions to avoid children and have an exclusive adult audience.
 Well this is a review of a film, and not a social commentary, so I had better get back to it!

 I, in a nut shell, loved Kung Fu Panda. It had me laughing from the opening scenes, which were animation within animation. you have to see it to understand what I mean there. Dreamworks along with Pixar, and to a lesser extent now, Disney, are one of the premimum animated film producers. I like their style of animation and it is always of a high quality. 

 This is one of the better films they have released recently. A sequel is due to be released soon , and it is fair to say it has big shoes to fill!. It is also a film that has spawned several short half hour television specials that have aired over the last few Christmases. My nephews ( and I!) particuarly liked the more recent one where Po had to provide an annual Christmas banquet for the kung-fu masters. Very funny, with a suicidal bunny who wanted to 'die with honour' for disgracing his village. We then see him trying to get Po to help him using various kitchen utensils. It has a moral, namely Christmas is for family and there is nothing more important at that time of year. 

  The film has, of course, its moral message. Here it is basically be all you can be, and be happy with yourself. Po is a wonderful character and is cleverly portayed by a Panda bear as the film is based in China. Who can not resist a Panda bear?! Very clever indeed. He loves to eat and is somewhat over weight but this does not preclude him, through some hilarious escapades from being chosen as 'The Dragon Warrior'.

 He then has to train with his idols who are all kung fu experts. At first they, and their resentful master, are sceptical of Po, but as the film progresses they find them liking and accepting him for all his faults. The film overall is one the funniest I've seen. I honestly had tears running down my face at times. The highlight of the film was when Po and master Chey fu are training in the mountains and are chasing the last dumpling to eat. Very, very funny and shows the incredible and seemingly inexhaustable imagination that goes into a film like this.  It ends with Po defeating an evil Kung Fu master and in the process discovering himself.

 Overall this film is as good as it gets. It is hard to credit that such a fine film can be bettered, and it was by the lovely Pixar film Wall-e, that won the Oscar for best animated feature film off 2008. But to be honest Wall-e deserved it. But this does not mean Kung Fu Panda is inferior to Wall-e as it certainly is not.

 This is a film for all. Animated films are slowly being recognised again by adults as a valid and entertaining genre. For me it is a shame that Kung Fu Panda didn't win the Oscar but it shows the quality of the opposition. Wall-e was just too good. Film companies also recognise the money maker they have and this opposition brings out the best in them to produce better and better films.

 Kung Fu Panda is one of the very best. A lovely story, superb animation, and wonderful characters make this a film you must see. Believe me you will enjoy it, for as Po would say, it is  'Awesome'!!!
Click here for a synopsis and some interesting facts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Panda
Here for more:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/
For more:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/kung_fu_panda/
For a specific animated site:
http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/cartoon.cgi?film=65706/
And here for the official site:
http://www.kungfupanda.com/

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

 I started to watch this after Monster two nights ago but started to nod off after half an hour. Well it was 3.00 am! So I sat up until the small hours of this morning and finished watching it.

 The film is based on the book by Ron Hansen, which I read last November. It isn't a book I can say I enjoyed, but I didn't dislike it either. The only way I can describe it is as strange, odd even. I struggled to finish it as it was difficult reading. I found there was no flow to it and Hansen's writing style made it hard to enjoy.

 The film mirrors the book in this way. It is a movie people either love or straight out hate judging from some reviews I have read. It does help if you have read the book. Strange and odd is how I described it and the film is the same, odd, odd, odd. And like the book I'm unsure how I feel about it. 

 One thing I have found is it is a very easy film to criticise. Here are some film critics examples, 'too long and too slow', 'a chore to sit through', 'a long, empty excersise in style'. I fully agree with each of those assessments. The first notable criticism is the length. It IS just too long. The problem is the film moves at a very slow, ponderous pace, and I did find it becoming more and more of a 'chore' to watch. ( The White Ribbon as a film suffered from this too). It should easily have lost forty minutes without losing anything from the plot.

 Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck put in superb performances, but Affleck becomes annoying and difficult to watch. Again the length is the problem.Too much of Affleck became just that, too much. He has got inside the character but the books oddness comes through in the film and it, with Afflek, overwhelm the viewer and ultimately numb their senses . Affleck's character annoyed me so much I wanted the film to end, but it just seemed to go on and on like a bad migraine.

 The cinematography though is beautiful, and quite simply stunning. It is some of the best I have ever seen in a film. It is a travesty that I had to watch it on the small screen where the majesty of it was so diminshed. This is the highlight of the film. Every scene whether outdoors or not is perfectly realised. Long after the details are forgotten to me the cinematography is what will stay with me most about this film. 

 One critic I have read called the film,' one of the most wrongfully neglected masterpieces of its era'. While I have criticised the film I tend to agree with this statement. It is a masterpiece. It is beautifully filmed, and acted in everyway. It is the clique of cinema as art, and it is art. 

 It is just unfortunate for everything that is good about this film it will  devide your opinions.  The book suffers the same fate. It is an unusual book and the film has followed that. There is so much I liked about this film. The cinematography I will praise profusely, as it is good as it gets. The acting is superb BUT, and here comes the crux of this film, it is far too long. 

 For me this film mirrors the book in being strange, and odd. It is a film I am having difficulty in deciding how I feel about. Do I like it or not? There are things I do like about it, but possibly after 160 minutes Casey Affleck's character got too much for me and I was relieved that it was all over. And I suppose that is my feeling. While stylish, beautifully filmed, and with some superb acting, it is a film that by the end you will give a sigh of relief that it has FINALLY ended.

 A difficult and strange film, and hard to recommend or not. A film that leaves you feeling ambiguous. Satisfying and yet........
Click here for a synopsis and more detailed facts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Assassination_of_Jesse_James_by_the_Coward_Robert_Ford
Here for the official site:
http://jessejamesmovie.warnerbros.com/
Here for more:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443680/
And here for more:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10005911-assassination_of_jesse_james_by_the_coward_robert_ford/

The Wave ( Die Walle )

 This is a film I had seen several years ago at the Centurty Cinema here in Napier. It is a cinema in a museum and it plays all the film-noir, classics and films aimed at a more intellectual audience. I've been going there for twenty years, but unfortunately it has shut as the museum is getting an upgrade and won't re-open until 2012.

 Every year the Century has a film festival about every August/ September annually, and they play about 25 films from around the world.

This is when I saw The Wave in 2008. I wanted to review it as I alluded to it in my review of The White Ribbon. It is one of the few German films I have seen, and the most thought provoking. Downfall was brilliant but the story of Hitler's final days are well known, but I still admire it as a film that  attempts to come with Germany's recent history.

 The Wave is a film based on a real experiment conducted in an American university in the late eighties. At its core is the seduction of fascism and its ultimate ugliness. I found this a brave movie for a German to make considering the Nazi era is so fresh in our collective memories. It is one of a raft of films that has been produced recentley from within Germany dealing with this era. The eighties were a time when American film makers made films on the Vietnam War that attempted to come to terms with that war on America. German film makers are now attempting the same type of thing and they are producing some fine cinema.

 The Wave is one of the best. Even though it is based on an American experiment the message isn't lost in the fact that this is a German film. And surely fascism never reared its ugly head so badly as it did in Nazi Germany? Sure there was Franco's Spain and Mussolini's Italy, but fascist Germany is what people associate most with when they think of fascism.

 It is interesting how a group of students can tell a teacher in his class on autocracy, 'We get it, the Nazi's sucked", and yet fall into the same seduction. It is the very point their teacher was making and yet the students still miss it. But not all. As in Nazi Germany there are dissenters who disagree with what is happening and protest, but they are ignored and swept away in the euporia of feeling better than those who don't join with them.

 And, like Nazi Germany, it starts out so well but then goes tragically wrong. It is so poignant that this is a German made film. In trying to come to terms with its past Germans have had to try and understand one fundamental point. How could it have happened? This film brilliantly exposes how easily it did. But it is not only aimed at Germans but all people. Fascism looks good, but it is in fact is a seductive evil that leaves nothing but a trail of tragedy, destruction and despair.

 I personally can not say enough about this film. It's message is crystal clear and is all the more powerful for being a German film with the German past hovering over it. It is thought provoking in the highest degree and very intelligent in its delivery. This is the sort of film I truely love. Not only because, above any other historical period interesting me more than Nazi Germany's, it delivers a message without compromise and judgement, but issues a warning.

 With German film makers who delve into this dark past of their country the key is to make a film that doesn't point the finger or blame. It is to expalin and enlighten and The Wave is an exceptional film that goes a long way in doing  this.

 Superb in its intelligent delivery of a still touchy subject, and hence unforgettable.

 Click here for a synopsis and more;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Welle

And here for more:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/

And here for more:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10009389-the_wave/