11th February 1926 – 28th November 2010
“Doing nothing is very hard to do, you never know when you’re finished.”
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Out Now – 26th November 2010
So many films out today that this post is late. It has nothing to do with red wine and a lie in.
The American
At the Mild Concern London Film Festival Awards 2010 it won most forgettable film. We reviewed it here. What more do you want!? All right, it’s about a former assassin who is in hiding and making a gun to order. Also there’s a prostitute.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
I know so little about this series but they keep coming. I’ll probably be lame and just see the American version when it comes out. Stuff happens that is dark and violent… I think.
London Boulevard
I keep meaning to watch the trailer for this but somehow I can bring myself to care enough to do so. Farrell and Knightley star in a film about gangsters and a movie star.
Machete
Hey that hilarious trailer is now a film and in the cinemas! Nudity, guns and funnies! It’s like a Mexican Black Dynamite… is that racist?
An Ordinary Execution
The Guardian’s film of the week, “A pungently atmospheric chamber piece about the nature and history of Russian political power.” Crikey.
Leap Year (limited release)
Not the horrible Amy Adams comedy but a drama about someone that wants to commit suicide. I hope someone gets confused at HMV and has the most depressing girly night in ever.
The Scar Crow (limited release)
“The 3 Tanner sisters live in fear after their mother is hanged for witchcraft, in her absence their father takes advantage of his daughters leaving the family somewhere between life and death cursed for an eternity.” Take the kids!
Waiting for Superman (limited release)
Oscar nomination short-listed documentary following four youngsters in the American school system. I bet it doesn’t come out well.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – Review
I’m not someone who holds Alfonso Cuarón’s Potter film as the best of the series, those early films were all pretty terrible. The plots were mangled and cut down and the three leads simply couldn’t act. Luckily each film is better than the last and the latest is easily the best.
By splitting the film into two they have the time to really tell the book’s story, including all the slow bits that make it so much more than just a fun adventure film for kids.
With Potter and friends away from Hogwarts the story rests on the three actors shoulders more than ever before and Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have all come on leaps and bounds. Emma Watson no longer overuses her eyebrows, Daniel Radcliffe can show all kinds of emotions and Rupert Grint doesn’t just do comedy reactions any more.
David Yates has done a great job and I only wish he had directed the first four films and they the benefit of knowing how the series was going to end when the first was written. It’s also a shame that the main actors learnt to act while filming a major movie franchise.
Probably not a film for non-Potter fans but I really enjoyed it, and it has the best animated sequence I’ve seen in a long time. Bring on July.
Out Now – 24th November 2010
Thankfully films only come out on two different days this week. Today’s release really doesn’t look as good as Potter.
Unstoppable
OMG a train is hurtling towards a city! And onboard an old engineer and young conductor must overcome their differences to save the day! I have no idea how a train can crash into anything that isn’t already on the track… I’m sure they explain it though.
Sooo…. There’s Going to be a Buffy Film
The rumours of a new Buffy film appear to be true. Written not by Joss Whedon but by Whit Anderson who is… someone apparently.
This is essentially a reboot, something that is happing to franchises much sooner these days with varying degrees of success. Oh Spiderman, how I love you.
I could happily go off on a rant about leaving well enough alone, but this is a particular franchise that I am a little too close to to be objective. Once the film is out I will be judging it, but not before. Here are four reasons I’ll be waiting to judge:
1. Reboots can sometimes be good.
2. Joss Whedon has messed up the franchise himself in the “Season 8” comics.
3. I actually enjoyed the original film, not a lot but it is fun.
4. No matter how bad the film is it can’t stop the original series being my favourite series ever.
Give me a year and I’ll be treating Whit Anderson like she’s James Cameron.
The Kids Are All Right – Review
At last I make the time to go and see The Kids Are All Right, a film with all sorts of praise that I somehow knew very little about. Admittedly I saw it a week ago and have somehow managed not to review it, because it’s hard for some reason.
It is well written, directed and acted. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore make a great natural couple and Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska are just as good as their well adjusted but curious children. Mark Ruffalo makes a wonderful idiot, filled with good intention but no real sense of responsibility.
The film is very funny for the most part but not afraid to pack the emotional punch as the drama starts to flow in a nice, understated way.
Somehow The Kids Are All Right felt like a very tactile experience, everything had texture and lacked too much gloss and glamour. Certainly worth a watch though it is a nice surprise to see Oscar buzz around a more low-key film.
Out Now – 19th November 2010
At last we make it to Friday and the last of these endless posts. The climax of the week brings just one film on general release, and it’s a magical juggernaut.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part I
Harry Potter skips school to find the deathly hallows, and the horcruxes. And at some point the film just ends and we have to wait for the next film to find out if it all turns out OK. Rumour has it Emma Watson can act now and isn’t so eyebrow crazy.
Broken Sun (limited release)
Set in 1944 this film about a WWI veteran features absolutely no wizards. Boo!
Chico & Rita (limited release)
One is a singer, the other a pianist and both are in Cuba in 1948. Neither are battling Voldemort. Boring!
Dream Home (limited release)
It sounds like someone kills their future neighbours to ensure the purchase of a house doesn’t fall through. Chinese and sounds like gory fun. Could do with more Cho Chang.
Fathers of Girls (limited release)
A story about the love between a father and his daughter. I’d rather watch the story of the love between an owl and it’s owner.
Peeping Tom (limited release)
The classic film about a man who films his murders has been remastered and re-released. Guaranteed to have more murder and prostitutes than Potter, but much less butterbeer.
Robinson in Ruins (limited release)
A documentary(?) following a muggle as they travel around the south of England.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (limited release)
It won big at Cannes but has received mixed reviews since then. Sounds a pretty painful watch and does not star Emma Watson.
Out Now – 18th November 2010
Another one! What is going on this week?
Silent Army (limited release)
“Child soldiers in Africa are at the fore in this tale of a white restaurant owner in an African town bordering a conflict zone. When his son’s African friend Abu is abducted, he sets out to find the boy, and walks right into a training camp exploiting children like Abu.” Or a Dutch film with bad review that has had about 20 minutes cut from it before being released internationally. Think I’ll pass.
Your Highness – Trailer
When I first watched the trailer for The Highness below I couldn’t decide whether it was amazing or awful. On reflection I am going with amazing.
Watch it below for busty Deschanel, leggy Portman and Franco and McBride being generally filthy. It’s a fantasy comedy, like The Princess Bride but all dirty. I know there’s no way I won’t be watching in April.
Out Now – 17th November 2010
It’s still not Harry Potter!
Adrift (limited release)
Not about anyone who has been left behind by their boat but rather a foreign film starring Camilla Belle and Vincent Cassel about a teenage girl undergoing a sexual awakening as she discovers her fathers infidelities. Sounds arty and sexy enough for everyone.
Mild Concern 