Les Miserables

I've spoken to those greatly interested and informed on musicals and have been given an implicit warning - if you don't know what your talking about, don't pretend. So, I'll do my best to review this film constantly with that in the back of my mind, and encourage anyone to tell me when I'm just being ignorant in relation to the art.

Les Miserables is a bit of everything. We have a constant chase, a character study, a love story, a story of triumph, of an uprising and a revolution. It's a story about class, and comedy, morality, legality, death and song. We follow Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman, The Prestige) from his stand off with the jailer Jarvet  (Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind) on ending his imprisonment through to forming another identity and trying to live his life with his new found faith in God. His story intersects with that of Fantine (Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises), a woman desperately attempting to feed her child anyway possible now the child's father has left them. Oh yeah, and this all happens around the 1832 Paris uprising.

Let's start with the cast, as far as I'm concerned, it was perfect. Hugh Jackman belongs on a stage, he should always be singing and dancing. Anne Hathaway, with her rendition of "I Dreamed A Dream" had me welling up - and not many songs or films for that matter can do that. It was heart-wrenching and seemed honestly distraught and defeated. Russell Crowe has been slated for his performance, but I see no problem their at all. He was reserved, but riling when he needed to be. Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Eddie Redmayne also put in fantastic performances. Helena Bonham Carter is also not half as annoying as usual! Hats off to the casting department, is all I can say.

Now, the singing and the direction of the musical pieces. Wonderfully Tom Hooper's (The King's Speech) choice to use on-set singing paid off. You could hear in each note that the actor's weren't just mimed, but were felt and made in the moment. The ability of the camera to get into the faces of each character just added to this, notably on the bearded and broken Valjean. The scene where he is troubled by his calling to God, and is pacing in front of a church's alter just allows every nuance of his face to be realized in a way even the greatest stage presence could not portray. Subtlety is key.

I don't know if the build up and the praise rather showed my hand, in that there is a huge "But..." coming. I want to use this, otherwise fantastic, film of the year quality film to make a point. Can we stop using CGI for entire sets and backdrops, please? Why does anyone think this is a good idea? It looks tacky, and it looks silly. It pretty much ruined this movie, just making it seem cheap, modern and silly. The scenes on the barricades looked iconic, and looked beautiful in parts; it just makes you wonder why it couldn't all look that way. If it can be done on a stage, it does not need these tremendously terrible, computer generated, scenic shots. Just Stop It.

Over all, I really enjoyed the film, even when it was being silly, and even when it didn't make sense, well that didn't matter. I can imagine such a better film, and all it needed was for some cost cutting on CGI. It doesn't seem much, but really it is a major problem in this film, and in general.

Go and see it. Make your mind up for yourself, but I must say I'll be watching it again. And again. And again.

Jack Reacher

There's something about Tom Cruise!
I have no idea what it is but every time I see that self-satisfied looking grin I get shivers down my spine. I think this is mainly because it's not really smug, or arrogant, or anything. It's a fake smile. Just look at the hollow eye. The man has no joy. Ever.
Basically, he's perfect for this part.

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise, Top Gun) is an ex-army cop who discovers how easy it is to just disappear into America, and becomes addicted to no one knowing where he is (Okay, Dead-Behind-The-Eyes Cruise is perfect for this). Then two years after the last trace he left, he turns up apparently to the aid of cut-and-dry mass murdering sniper who opened fire on 5 random people on the street. Along the way, Reacher has to deal with the fantastical The Zec (Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man) - that means "The Prisoner", by the way.

Problems?
Bad story, badly told. Had nothing interesting to say, no real connection to the characters, not much fun either. Really, it wasn't the worst movie ever, but it was no where near good. It also wasn't nasty or cynical, so there's no need to scream about it. It's just adding to the increasing decline in cinema..........

Due to this film's incredibly below average story line, however there are several scenes I think must have been picked out of an entirely different movie. To begin with, the first section of the movie is pretty horrible. The sniping sequence in an other movie would receive horrified applause from critics. Along with that, there were lots of fight scenes, and every one was hard, slow and sore. No background music and no over the top sound effects. Not good enough to move the film above a four out of ten, but somethings I like to see when I go to cinema.

Not a recommendation Not at all. But, then again, not all bad.

Coming Soon...

2012 was great fun for movies and it looks like we might get the same come 2013.

Here's the Top 5 Movies I'm looking forward to in the coming year:
(In no particular order)

1. The World's End - For me, this film has been a long time coming. After Edgar Wright's absence from the trio that brought us Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz we finally have the closing peice of the Corneto Trilogy. A Horror, a Buddy-Cop movie and now a pub crawl. I'm sure (hoping like hell) they will not disappoint.

2. Now You See Me - This film was tailor made for me, we have magicians using "magic" to pull off a fantastic heist. The Prestige meets Leverage? I hope so. Plus, a pretty impressive cast calls in, fronted by the all-grown-up looking Jesse Eisenberg.

3. Star Trek Into Darkness - Very much hoping for as good a fun film as the original. We've got a good cast now joined by the joyful Benedict Cumberbatch and hopefully a nice engaging story (though I'm doing my best not to hear what that is.)

4. Les Miserables - I know nothing of this film, but I know it is a classic novel, so just looking forward to learning the story.

5. Zero Dark Thirty - A ten year hunt for the most wanted criminal (possibly of all time) who orchestrated the killings of hundreds of Americans ended in his death last year. I'm actually surprised it took this long for the film to come out. I really want it to be interesting, and I really want it to be good.

Other than that there is a list of films that I simply can't wait for. In hope, here's my list.

The Impossible, Gangster Squad, Django Unchained, The Sessions, Lincoln, Bullet In The Head, Warm Heart, Hitchcock, A Good Day To Die Hard, Cloud Atlas, Carrie (remake), Evil Dead (remake), The Great Gatsby, Man of Steel, Kick Ass 2, The Wolverine, White House Down, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Hopefully this year will see as many of these films as possible reviewed in full on the blog. All in all, I'm sure some will be better than others, but hey, with that selection there ought be some great trips to the cinema in 2013.

December Update and High Fidelity Nonsense

If anyone's out there, the reason for no reviews has been due to a very busy and lowly funded December. Mainly without a train ticket. Anyway, this is just a wee post to say I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and that I look forward to pushing up and posting more views and reviews in the New Year. Have a good one, while I leave you with this:


Top 5 Best Cinema Releases of 2012 (Not seen nearly enough, apologies)

5. Ginger and Rosa - Very well put together, interesting character drama with some great central performances
4. To Rome With Love - As witty, charming and overall funny as you would expect after Midnight in Paris. This Woody Allen guy shows a wee bit of promise.
3. The Dark Knight Rises - Tom Hardy was great, Christian Bale was great, everyone did their job well, but it didn't have the interest or the structure of the previous two. Still a very well made movie, and one of the best of the year.
2. This Is Not A Film - A fantastic documentary about the need to film. When an Iranian film maker is banned from directing anything all he can do is sit in his house and allow a friend to film him. A really great and interesting movie.
1. Skyfall - Really, see below! It was a very well made apology for the crime that was Quantum of Solace. Worth seeing it, again and again and again.


Top 5 Worst Cinema Releases of 2012 (non of which are really worthy of comment)

5. Argo
4. The Possession
3. Men In Black 3D
2. The Watch
1. End of Watch


Top 5 Pleasant Cinematic Surprises of 2012 (to look out for on DVD)

5. Red Lights - Cillian Murphy gives a really good performance in this silly fun and "super rational" movie. Friday night in? Looking for a movie? You could do a hell of a lot worse.
4. Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows - This film makes an appearance because the film for which it is a sequel. The original showed some great promise and as a sequel, Ritchie really delivered. Never thought I'd say that, but hey. In fact, get the two of them - watch 'em back to back.
3. The Expendables 2 - I'm not crazy, no. Hear me out... There's one film I would relate this too, and that is the horror classic Scream. This is a film which knows it's camp and silly and ridiculously violent, and it revels in it all. It knows exactly what makes an average action movies, and hits it up to eleven. Good, good fun.
2. Ruby Sparks - Although there are holes in it, and it's a fraction too long we have a creepy and interesting fairy tale. Half silly, teen rom-com, half freaky Grimm tale.
1. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Great teen movie. Fun and right on the edge of being a little too quirky. The correct amount of quirk, in fact, to warm your heart. For all outsiders and wallflowers who wish to be taken in with a crowd of misfits - or have maybe already found one of their own - you'll love it.


Thanks for a good movie year, and for keeping up to date with the blog. Hope to see you back for more of the same in January.

Alex Cross

Based on James Patterson's novel "Cross", we see Matthew Fox (Vantage Point) and Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman) playing the psychopathic sadist Picassso and the psychological profiler Alex Cross, respectively. Picasso is a hired hand assassin taking out high level banking executive, and Cross is tasked with stopping him, but after foiling one of the killer's hits and hurting his pride - it becomes far more personal for everyone involved.

My major thoughts when watching this film? It probably was a good genre book. Everything about it seemed like it was so faithful to an original text, that in places that made it a bit creeky. What works in a book in the way of dialogue and plot device can look and sound a little silly when it's seen on the screen. The same problem comes up in casting, mainly in the form of Richard Brookwell, the head of the Police Unit played by the majestic John C. McGinley (Point Break). Basically, Brookwell seems to be a well meaning, if a little naive police inspector. John C. McGinley, may be well meaning in most cases, but he's also a bad-ass. He should always be the badass.

To be fair, these are my few criticisms of the film. After the tirade of cool-psychopathy in End of Watch, I was very pleased to see some dumb, and silly action with no over pushing of crazy, horrifying agendas. This was just telling a basic police chase story, and that, for me at least, is good fun. Might have made an interesting TV series along the same vain as 24 or Lie to Me, that way we could know the characters a little more.

Finally, is this film worth seeing?
If you want to have a bit of a laugh at chunky dialogue, and genuinely quite tense action sequences - go for it. There are problems, and it's no where near a great film, but it does exactly what it says on the tin. If you like the look of the trailer, you wont waste your time going to see it.

End of Watch

Never has a film been more aptly named. I was checking my watch and begging for it to end.

Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal, Donnie Darko) and Mike Zavala (Michael Pena, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done) are LAPD's finest thugs. They run riot, breaking the rules and, as they boast, killing loads of people! That's about as much plot as you need. If you watch the trailer, in fact, you'll see the entire film.

Frankly, I was disgusted by this film. This was a cynical piece of advertisement for police brutality. The message of the film seems to be, "We would just kill everyone who broke the law, if it weren't for the damn paper work!" And it portrayed two thugs in Taylor and Zavala, who are supposed to look "cool" while basically advocating psychopathy. There was even a scene where Zavala takes off his badge and gun to fist fight a gangster, while Taylor looks on, films the fight and laughs manically. And we're supposed to watch this and say "God, wouldn't it be cool if police were actually like that." No. No it wouldn't. So, that's the major message you're supposed to take away.

Awk well, at least it looks good, right? Well, no. I think there's a lot to be said for found footage films and for hand held cameras. This film wanted to use the motif, but clearly decided one or two cameras weren't enough and so went through the totally useless plot of Taylor needing to film everything, while occasionally just using auxiliary camera. It's totally pointless and ridiculous, and probably entirely for advertising purposes, as it features heavily in the trailer.

Then there was the dialogue. I've heard it praised, from the point of view of Taylor and Zavala, but did these people who spoke so highly of it hear the other characters. There was one gangster in the film who I'm sure must never have learned a single line of his script, and was told, no bother, if you can't think of what to say, just punctuate your language with any old swear word you please. CONSTANT swearing. I'm sorry, no one speaks like that. Not realistic at all. Some may say, hang on, the cops talk like people, right. Just talking about life and family and such, and that's realistic, isn't it? Yup, it was. I'll give you that. It made me hate the characters even more because they were racist, homophobic and sexist, and I wouldn't want to spend a second in any of their company, but I'm sure some people speak like that.

I'm sorry, but this film genuinely made me angry. It was horrible. I wont say this often, but do not go and see this film. You're just encouraging this type of disgusting, lazy and cynical film making. Normally I would want other people's opinions on films, and welcome people to tell me I'm wrong, but PLEASE, do not fund this horror of cinema by paying money to see it.

Gambit

A tale of three performances.

Harry Deane (Colin Firth, Love Actually) wants to get one over on his foul-mouthed, soul-destroying boss Lionel Shabandar (Alan Rickman, Die Hard) and to retire early - as the Coen Brothers write. Deane intends to con the billionaire using his love of fine art, a crafty forger and the grand-daughter of a historical figure (Cameron Diaz, There's Something About Mary). Turns out, it's not as simple as all that. Hilarity ensues.

And boy, do I mean it. One of the funniest new films I've seen a while. The film goes through phases of smiles and chuckles and then you end up almost on the sticky floors of the cinema, laughing like hell. Colin Firth's fantastic physical acting and Alan Rickman's fantastic voice just knocked me down. The two of them make a great pair, and the Coen's seem to have written the parts with them in mind.

If you want a good fun cinema going experience, this is for you. Not get many like this, very few and far between.