Criminal
starring: John C Reilly, Diego Luna, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Dir: Gregory Jacobs
When I watched this recently at the flicks it was only afterwards I became aware that it was a remake, probably good in the sense that I didn't prejudged the film. John C Reilly plays con-man Richard Gaddis, a con-man with so much ice in his veins he sees 'everyone' as marks, even his own family (Gyllenhall plays Gaddis sister Valerie) are no more than nuisances to be avoided unless they can help him with his latest score. Luna's Rodrigo gets dragged in as Gaddis spots potential in his 2-bit casino room con and embark on a day of conjobs in downtown Beverly Hills before an old accomplice offers Gaddis a 6-figure mark...
Reilly is excellent here, dominating every scene of the film with his hulking presence and consistently cold, calculating and scheming con-man. Luna gamely keeps up although neither his acting, or his character, have the same conviction. Nicely paced, inventive film which, unless you've seen the original Nine Queens manages to take twists and turn that make for an enjoyable ride. Good support work from Gyllenhaal and a very effective display of brevity by Peter Mullan who plays Hannigan, Gaddis' latest and biggest mark...
Well worth catching.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Sunday, February 20, 2005
In Good Company
In Good Company
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Scarlett Johannson
Dir: Paul Weisz (American Pie, About a Boy)
Having enjoyed Weisz 'human' touch he brought the otherwise irredeemable teen-sex genre - he actually cared about characters as much as he did the requisite rude gags in American Pie, and also being a big fan of his treatment of Nick Hornby's About a Boy I was anticipating his next movie a lot.
Quaid is excellent as the middle-aged veteran Ad Sales Manager for Sports America, juggling managing his team of ad sales executives and his role as a family man. All this changes when 26 year old Topher Grace replaces him as top man when he is installed as part of a corporate take-over. Grace espousing a neat line in corporate bullshit and hi-powered office insincerity - a little boy lost but faking it well with a nice line in patter )almost a modern day version of Malcolm McDowell's Mick Travis - well the Travis from the first two reels of Lindsay Anderson's seminal satire O Lucky Man!) - it's a bit of a casting in-joke that the marvellous McDowell gets a cameo as the Owner and CEO of the huge global mulitnational corporation that buys out Quaid's magazine.
Scarlett Johannson appears as Quaid's university going daughter and, whilst I feel playing a supporting role as Quaid's teenage daughter is a step back for her after her mature, spellblinding work in Lost in Translation she still manages to dominate the screen both with her ability and in her disarming, fine charm and beauty. To say I love her just for her acting ability would be a bit of a lie.... (If the missus is reading this, two words: Viggo Mortensen)!
Weisz keeps the cinematography intimate and simple, allowing the characters to come to the foreground but I just couldn't warm to Grace, I think he may be better suited to comic roles - whilst I appreciate his character is meant to be shallow and lost he does not really nuance his protrayl in order to convey the lost, nicer guy struggling to get out. Actually, I was kinda hoping that Malcolm McDowell, in his uncredited cameo, would go into mad-Professor mode and rip his head off his yuppie shoulders! I suppose he does redeem himself eventually.
For the most part a satisfying, fairly well rounded movie with realistic characters which bears up well on repeat viewing. I reckon Weisz is shaping up to be the next Woody Allen but he needs a slightly more balanced script although there were some good belly laughs from the row next to mine whereas I found it humorous rather than laugh out loud. Maybe I should have had what they had instead of popcorn?
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, Scarlett Johannson
Dir: Paul Weisz (American Pie, About a Boy)
Having enjoyed Weisz 'human' touch he brought the otherwise irredeemable teen-sex genre - he actually cared about characters as much as he did the requisite rude gags in American Pie, and also being a big fan of his treatment of Nick Hornby's About a Boy I was anticipating his next movie a lot.
Quaid is excellent as the middle-aged veteran Ad Sales Manager for Sports America, juggling managing his team of ad sales executives and his role as a family man. All this changes when 26 year old Topher Grace replaces him as top man when he is installed as part of a corporate take-over. Grace espousing a neat line in corporate bullshit and hi-powered office insincerity - a little boy lost but faking it well with a nice line in patter )almost a modern day version of Malcolm McDowell's Mick Travis - well the Travis from the first two reels of Lindsay Anderson's seminal satire O Lucky Man!) - it's a bit of a casting in-joke that the marvellous McDowell gets a cameo as the Owner and CEO of the huge global mulitnational corporation that buys out Quaid's magazine.
Scarlett Johannson appears as Quaid's university going daughter and, whilst I feel playing a supporting role as Quaid's teenage daughter is a step back for her after her mature, spellblinding work in Lost in Translation she still manages to dominate the screen both with her ability and in her disarming, fine charm and beauty. To say I love her just for her acting ability would be a bit of a lie.... (If the missus is reading this, two words: Viggo Mortensen)!
Weisz keeps the cinematography intimate and simple, allowing the characters to come to the foreground but I just couldn't warm to Grace, I think he may be better suited to comic roles - whilst I appreciate his character is meant to be shallow and lost he does not really nuance his protrayl in order to convey the lost, nicer guy struggling to get out. Actually, I was kinda hoping that Malcolm McDowell, in his uncredited cameo, would go into mad-Professor mode and rip his head off his yuppie shoulders! I suppose he does redeem himself eventually.
For the most part a satisfying, fairly well rounded movie with realistic characters which bears up well on repeat viewing. I reckon Weisz is shaping up to be the next Woody Allen but he needs a slightly more balanced script although there were some good belly laughs from the row next to mine whereas I found it humorous rather than laugh out loud. Maybe I should have had what they had instead of popcorn?
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Octopussy
Octopussy
dir John Glen,
starring Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Steven Berkoff
This is one of the lesser regarded 007 adventures, and I'm slightly at a loss to know why. There's an effective, if convoluted, plot involving a renegade Soviet Union General, treasure smuggling, a circus and an atomic bomb! Louis Jourdan makes a good, if effette, baddie and Steven Berkoff overacts to marvellous effect as a renegade Russian army General hell bent on bringing Nato to it's knees even if it means nuking half of West Berlin to do so.
There is, it has to be said, some cheesyness in the film ("fill her up please") and despite the fantastic setting of the Summer Palace in India the script uses a lot of lazy stereotypes in this portion of the film - Vijay playing the 007 theme on his snake chanter, the comments about curry etc coming over as a little xenophobic . But there's a lot to enjoy, the plot never relents, there is always a prevailing sense of threat that is built from the first scenes when 008 is ruthlessly knifed in the back by one of the two kinfe-throwing twins from Octopussy's circus and it builds right until the 'bomb' scene, there's a brilliant stand-off between Bond and General Orlov, a very exciting fight on top of the speeding circus train and the car chase/race to defuse a bomb with a brilliant car chase in which Bond nicks a local's Alfasud and hangs the back end out something lovely whilst being pursued by what seems like half the West Berlin police (I've loved that car ever since that scene- "Nein, meine automobile").
The stunts performed in the end scenes boggle belief, frankly, and would probably never be done by live actors in this age of cgi. My belief is that the Bond series can continue to stand-out by ignoring cgi actors for stunt work - when you know a stunt was really performed it gives it a lot more impact (for an example how not to do it, see the cgi work on Die Another Day particularly the surfing scene).
Moore does look his age in this one and was perhaps right to hang up his PPK after this - only to be coaxed out of retirement by EON for one last film....
dir John Glen,
starring Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Steven Berkoff
This is one of the lesser regarded 007 adventures, and I'm slightly at a loss to know why. There's an effective, if convoluted, plot involving a renegade Soviet Union General, treasure smuggling, a circus and an atomic bomb! Louis Jourdan makes a good, if effette, baddie and Steven Berkoff overacts to marvellous effect as a renegade Russian army General hell bent on bringing Nato to it's knees even if it means nuking half of West Berlin to do so.
There is, it has to be said, some cheesyness in the film ("fill her up please") and despite the fantastic setting of the Summer Palace in India the script uses a lot of lazy stereotypes in this portion of the film - Vijay playing the 007 theme on his snake chanter, the comments about curry etc coming over as a little xenophobic . But there's a lot to enjoy, the plot never relents, there is always a prevailing sense of threat that is built from the first scenes when 008 is ruthlessly knifed in the back by one of the two kinfe-throwing twins from Octopussy's circus and it builds right until the 'bomb' scene, there's a brilliant stand-off between Bond and General Orlov, a very exciting fight on top of the speeding circus train and the car chase/race to defuse a bomb with a brilliant car chase in which Bond nicks a local's Alfasud and hangs the back end out something lovely whilst being pursued by what seems like half the West Berlin police (I've loved that car ever since that scene- "Nein, meine automobile").
The stunts performed in the end scenes boggle belief, frankly, and would probably never be done by live actors in this age of cgi. My belief is that the Bond series can continue to stand-out by ignoring cgi actors for stunt work - when you know a stunt was really performed it gives it a lot more impact (for an example how not to do it, see the cgi work on Die Another Day particularly the surfing scene).
Moore does look his age in this one and was perhaps right to hang up his PPK after this - only to be coaxed out of retirement by EON for one last film....
Moonraker
Moonraker
dir Lewis Gilbert
starring Roger Moore, Michael Lonsdale, Lois Chiles
I have to confess that I first saw this movie when I was 11 years old at a cinema on a holiday camp and was enraptured - I think it was probably my first big screen Bond (of course, I'd seen several on the telly on Christmas/Boxing day.
Having rewatched it recently, I have to say I still enjoy it. For although it does have some grating, high camp moments (Bond's gondola/car contraption, Jaws 'falling in love) it has some brilliant set-pieces, captures the then pioneering spirit of the NASA Space Shuttle launches and ties them into the plot. Bond, for once, has to do some actual detective work and manages to visit some stunning locations - Venice and Rio de Janiero amongst them. Bond's appeal being so universal that EON were able to convince the Rio inhabitants to put on an early carnival dress rehearsal as a memorable backdrop to the warehouse/Jaws setpiece.
On first viewing, I honestly did not guess what Drax (brilliantly underplayed by the marvellous screen presence of Michael Lonsdale) was planning so the end reel of the film was quite a surprise. Mention must be given to Derek Meddings special effects - done without motion-stop computer cameras, and by shoving the negative back through the camera umpteen times, the model work is both convincing and effective. Little wonder Meddings got an Oscar nomination for it.
A little Camp, but a marvellously entertaining yarn.
DVD quality is good, excellent extras including, as with all 007 dvd's, a feature length making of.
dir Lewis Gilbert
starring Roger Moore, Michael Lonsdale, Lois Chiles
I have to confess that I first saw this movie when I was 11 years old at a cinema on a holiday camp and was enraptured - I think it was probably my first big screen Bond (of course, I'd seen several on the telly on Christmas/Boxing day.
Having rewatched it recently, I have to say I still enjoy it. For although it does have some grating, high camp moments (Bond's gondola/car contraption, Jaws 'falling in love) it has some brilliant set-pieces, captures the then pioneering spirit of the NASA Space Shuttle launches and ties them into the plot. Bond, for once, has to do some actual detective work and manages to visit some stunning locations - Venice and Rio de Janiero amongst them. Bond's appeal being so universal that EON were able to convince the Rio inhabitants to put on an early carnival dress rehearsal as a memorable backdrop to the warehouse/Jaws setpiece.
On first viewing, I honestly did not guess what Drax (brilliantly underplayed by the marvellous screen presence of Michael Lonsdale) was planning so the end reel of the film was quite a surprise. Mention must be given to Derek Meddings special effects - done without motion-stop computer cameras, and by shoving the negative back through the camera umpteen times, the model work is both convincing and effective. Little wonder Meddings got an Oscar nomination for it.
A little Camp, but a marvellously entertaining yarn.
DVD quality is good, excellent extras including, as with all 007 dvd's, a feature length making of.
Racing Stripes
Racing Stripes
Voices of Franki Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Snoop Dog et al.
This tale is basically Babe but with a Zebra who wants to be a race horse as opposed to a Pig who wants to be a sheep dog!
Set on a farm next to a race-horse training complex, Stripes the Zebra wants to grow up into a race-horse but must overcome the prejudice of the racing stallions and the reservations of his human rescuer/owner. As in Babe the human characters take a back seat to the collection of farm animals who help Stripes in his quest - amongst others Dustin Hoffman as a weary old pony, Whoopi Goldberg as a knowing goat and Joe Pantoliano in a brilliant turn as a would-be goodfella pelican who thinks he's a goose. The bairn thought the two cg animated flies were absolutely hilarious. Good family fare, albeit not terribly original, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome too long.
Voices of Franki Muniz, Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg, Snoop Dog et al.
This tale is basically Babe but with a Zebra who wants to be a race horse as opposed to a Pig who wants to be a sheep dog!
Set on a farm next to a race-horse training complex, Stripes the Zebra wants to grow up into a race-horse but must overcome the prejudice of the racing stallions and the reservations of his human rescuer/owner. As in Babe the human characters take a back seat to the collection of farm animals who help Stripes in his quest - amongst others Dustin Hoffman as a weary old pony, Whoopi Goldberg as a knowing goat and Joe Pantoliano in a brilliant turn as a would-be goodfella pelican who thinks he's a goose. The bairn thought the two cg animated flies were absolutely hilarious. Good family fare, albeit not terribly original, and it doesn't overstay it's welcome too long.
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