Category: Cinema

Nicolas Cage stars in this silly but mindlessly entertaining thriller about a man who can see 2 minutes in to the future.

Based on a short story by Philip K Dick called The Golden Man this covers the same sort of territory as Minority Report and The Matrix but without any of the finesse or brains of those films. With some clumsy dialogue and predictable plotting you might be forgiven for thinking that some scenes border on parody.

Although Cage is an agreeable presence in the leading role the two female characters are wafer thin sterotypes: Julianne Moore is wasted in the grumpy cop role whilst Jessica Biel is given little to do in a flimsy damsel in distress role.

That said the action is slickly handled by Lee Tamahori and the central concept is strong enough to keep the interest even though it deviates wildly from the source novel.

Dick is an author who doesn’t always get the best treatment from Hollywood and this continues that tradition but if you switch your brain off it is something of a guilty pleasure.

> Official site for Next
> IMDb link for Next
> Buy The Golden Man at Amazon UK

Shooter (15)
A slick and surprisingly political thriller from director Antoine Fuqua. It stars Mark Wahlberg as a retired US military sniper named Bob Lee Swagger (and yes that really is his name) who is recruited by a shadowy government agency to help stop an assassination attempt. When he then gets framed for the crime he has to evade the forces of the law and prove his innocence.

There isn’t anything massively original here and the plot goes one act too far, but there is a pleasantly cynical undertone to the proceedings, with plenty of sly digs at the current US administration admidst all the gunfights and explosions.

The Lives Of Others (15)
A moving and expertly crafted drama set in East Germany during the 1980s. In East Berlin, a highly skilled Stasi agent (Ulrich Mühe) is ordered by his superior (Ulrich Tukur) to spy on a playwright (Sebastian Koch) and his lover (Martina Gedeck). As the story progresses the spy and those spied upon slowly become involved with each other in ways they couldn’t have predicted.

Writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck has crafted a remarkable film – not only is it a stunning snapshot of Cold War Berlin but it is also has brains and heart in equal measure. It deservedly won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars back in March (even beating the mighty Pan’s Labyrinth). Easily one of the best films of the year.

The Curse Of The Golden Flower (15)
Chinese director Ziang Yimou has created two stunning martial arts epics in the last few years with Hero (2002) and House of Flying Daggers (2004). The story involves love and betrayal amidst the imperial court of the Later Tang Dynasty in the year 922. The Emperor Ping (Chow Yun Fat) is unhappily married to the Empress Phoenix (Gong Li) and the simmering tensions between them explode into a bloody conflict that splits the kingdom in two.

His latest does contain some remarkable production design and a few interesting ideas but isn’t quite up to the standard of his previous two films. Visually it isn’t as dynamic as Yimou’s previous work, nor is it as emotionally involving. That said Yimou working at half steam is a good deal more watchable than many other directors currently working today.

Wild Hogs (12A)
The turkey of the week arrives with a cast filled with actors with one eye seemingly transfixed to the pay cheque. John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy star as re four middle-aged suburban men in Cincinnati who find themselves frustrated with the pace of daily life. They decise to become bikers nicknamed “The Wild Hogs” and set across the country on their motorcycles in pursuit of adventure.

This leads to a lot of crude and unfunny situations mostly invlving gags about a gay policeman, a rival biker gang and (of course) Easy Rider. At one point I did start laughing, but that was only out of sheer, surreal bemusement at how this grossed over $40 million on its opening weekend in the US.

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AT THE CINEMA

Sunshine (15)
Set fifty years in the future where the sun is dying, a space crew are sent on a mission to reignite it with a nuclear device. Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh and Chris Evans star as some of the crew who begin to question the mission and are forced to deal with events out of their control.

Director Danny Boyle serves up an intelligent and stylish slice of sci-fi from a script by Alex Garland. It stumbles a little in the final act but is still a visually arresting and absorbing piece of work from the director of Trainspotting.

> Official site
> IMDb entry for Sunshine

Blades of Glory (12A)
After the slapstick antics of Anchorman and Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell ventures into the world of ice skating with another goofy comedy. He plays a maverick skater who is forced to team up with his more conservative rival (Jon Header) in order to compete at the Olympics.

Somehow managing to make a virtue out of its own self conscious stupidity, the laughs arrive with surprising regularity. Jenna Fischer, from the US version of The Office, turns up in a sweet supporting role. Daft but funny.

> Official site
> IMDb entry for Blades of Glory

USEFUL LINKS
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There is only really one major release worth checking out this week at UK cinemas.

The Namesake (12A)
Based on the Pulitzer prize winning novel by Jhumpa Lahiri this tells the story of an Indian couple (superbly played by Irfan Khan and Tabu) who settle in New York and start a family. They have a daughter and a son who they name Gogol (after the Russian novelist). The film then charts their struggles to adapt to American culture whilst not losing their traditional Indian ways. Perceptive in its treatment of the immigrant experience touching in how it depicts family relations, director Mira Nair deserves credit for creating a drama of considerable depth and sensitivity.

Mr Bean’s Holiday (PG)
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) returns and the bumbling character goes on his travels to the south of France where mishap and mayhem begin, most notably at the Cannes Film Festival. Bean was never an amusing character to me on TV or in the first movie in 1997. In many ways he is the antithesis of Rowan Atkinson’s other great comic creation – the more cynical and verbally astute Blackadder. You may find it funny if you enjoy laboured gags about miscommunication between the French and a bumbling Englishman, but if you are more discerning you may (like me) find it unnecessary and unfunny. But it is still destined to make money around the world.

The Hills Have Eyes 2 (18)
Another unnecessary sequel (a sequel to a remake no less) sees a group of National Guard trainees fighting for survival against everyone’s favourite group of vicious mutants in the desert. Like a lot of recent horror movies (e.g. Hostel) it indulges in a lot of over the top violence and sadism designed for drooling fanboys rather than delivering any real chills or drama.

FILM OF THE WEEK: The Namesake

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The two major releases at the cinema this week see Sandra Bullock and Sienna Miller go head to head at the box office.

Premonition (15)
After the cinematic disaster zones that were Miss Congeniality 2 and The Lake House, Sandra Bullock appears in yet another dull waste of her talents and our time. The story here is like some bad TV movie – Bullock plays a woman who wakes up one morning to find out her loving husband (Julian McMahon) is dead. Only she wakes the next day and discovers he isn’t. Cue lots of loud melodramatic nonsense, some predictable plot twists, a ridiculously sappy climax and Miss Bullock has even more reasons to fire her agent.

Factory Girl (15)
This is a biopic about Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) who for a period in the 60s became a muse to Andy Warhol (here played by Guy Pearce), girlfriend to Bob Dylan (Hayden Christensen plays a very thinly veiled Dylan figure) and a style icon before her untimely demise at 28. It explores her early years and her collaboration with the man who predicted everyone in the future would be famous for 15 minutes. Miller and Pearce both give solid performances and the subject matter is interesting (and topical in our current fame obsessed culture) but it never quite sparks to life. Ultimately, although the film deals with an interesting time and an intriguing set of characters, it doesn’t have the resonance it should.

Neither of these films get an enthusiastic thumbs but if you have to go see one, Factory Girl isn’t as bad as Premonition.

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It is a busy week at UK cinemas with a decidedly mixed bag of releases that include a silly comedy about a geek, a drama about Jane Austen’s early years, a tacky piece of vigilante nonsense and a stylish war drama that pays homage to the films of the 1940s.

Norbit (12A)
The latest comedy starring Eddie Murphy in multiple roles (after films like Coming to America and The Nutty Professor) is a rather unfunny mess. Norbit (Murphy) is a geek who loves a girl (Thandie Newton) he knew as a child from the orphanage they grew up in. But problems stand in his way: her fiance (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Norbit’s wife (Murphy again). The film is crude, crass and there a precious few laughs here. The only thing to admire is how Murphy juggles the different roles but that loses its novelty after about 15 minutes. In a nutshell it is unfunny and not very clever either.

Becoming Jane (PG)
Like Shakespeare in Love this is another costume drama dealing with the private life of another English writer. Only in this case Jane Austen gets the biopic treatment as Anne Hathaway portrays the young novelist. It tells the story of her early life and her flirtations with the Irishman Thomas Langlois Lefroy (James McAvoy), based on speculation about their relationship together. The production design and acting are all agreeable but the central conceit (how Austen’s own life would inspire her books) is a little laboured and lacks the charm and invention that could have made it something special.

Outlaw (18)
After The Football Factory (2004) and The Business (2005), writer-director Nick Love inflicts another sloppy crime drama upon us. When a former soldier (Sean Bean) returns from Iraq he decides to form a vigilante mob to deal with a criminal who seems above the law. Coming across as an unlikely combination of Munich and Death Wish it tries to tap in to the disillusionment with the state of modern Britain. Unfortunately, like Love’s previous films it is sloppily put together and comes across as some kind of tacky exploitation film. Beware people who label this kind of film “edgy” or “controversial” – it is just a poorly made crime drama that belongs in the DVD bargain bin.

The Good German (15)
Director Steven Soderbergh re-teams with George Clooney in an audacious attempt to make recreate a 1940s style film. It tells the story of a US war correspondent (Clooney) who returns to Berlin during the Potsdam conference and discovers a web of intrigue involving a former lover (Cate Blanchett) and his driver (Tobey Maguire). The film it is shot in black and white and uses plenty of old school tricks but has a modern day approach to content like sex and violence. The acting is also done in the old fashioned style, but the performances are all very engaging as Clooney, Blanchett and Maguire bring a good deal of nuance to what seem to be one dimensional characters. Although it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea Soderbergh deserves a lot of credit for creating a small but perfectly formed experiment.

FILM OF THE WEEK: The Good German

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On my birthday, here are the two big releases at UK cinemas today:

The Illusionist (PG)
After last Autumn’s The Prestige we have another film that deals with a magician at the turn of the century. Written and directed by Neil Burgher it tells the story of a magician named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) who falls for a duchess (Jessica Biel) in Vienna. A police inspector (Paul Giamatti) working for the ruling crown prince (Rufus Sewell) tries to find out more about the enigmatic magician and begins to discover that there is more to him than he first thought. The central performances are all good and the plot has some satisfying twists and turns but it is the visuals which really dazzle. Dick Pope’s cinematography not only give the film a lush and romantic period feel but also seems to referencing the early days of cinema, when films themselves seemed to be magic.

Ghost Rider (12A)
The latest Marvel comic book character to hit the screen is Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) a stunt motorcyclist who has inadvertently made a pact with the Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) when he is young. In exchange for his soul he becomes the Ghost Rider – a supernatural being with a flaming skull and motorcycle who is forced to battle demons trying to take over the earth. Although this isn’t in the same league as other Marvel adaptations such as the Spider-man and X-Men films, it still something of a guilty pleasure. The effects are fairly convincing and there is a surreal rock and roll aspect to it all even if the main villain (a miscast Wes Bentley) is unconvincing and Eva Mendes is wasted in typical girlfriend role.

FILM OF THE WEEK: The Illusionist

> Get cinema times in your area for both these films at Google Movies

Two acting legends – Clint Eastwood and Robert De Niro – have their director’s hat on this week but the honours have to go to Mr Eastwood.  

Letters from Iwo Jima is the ‘companion film’ to Flags of Our Fathers – Clint Eastwood’s other film about the Battle for Iwo Jima. It is a beautifully crafted and moving portrayal of the Japanese soldiers during that conflict. Turning the usual depiction of the Japanese in World War Two on its head, it becomes an affecting mosaic of the different soldiers fighting on the island. Ken Watanabe plays General Kuribayashi – the man charged with defending the island – and he gives a compelling portrait of a man on a doomed mission. Subtle, moving and beautifully shot it is Eastwood’s best work as a director.

The birth of the CIA is the subject of The Good Shepherd – Robert De Niro’s second film as a director. Matt Damon stars as Edward Wilson (loosley based on James Jesus Angleton) a young man recruited by the newly founded Office of Strategic Services. He soon becomes a Cold War warrior and a key member of what becomes the Central Intelligence Agency. Slowly his murky career starts to take over his life, at the expense of his wife (Angelina Jolie) and family as he gets drawn deeper and deeper into the paranoia of the age. Although much of the story is fascinating (and the depiction of US foreign policy is admirably pessimistic) the narrative is too tortured and complex. Shifting between different time periods the core themes of the story get lost amidst a series of unconvincing subplots.  

FILM OF THE WEEK: Letters from Iwo Jima 

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