News: Superman assembles

The announcements and rumours keep on materialising regarding Zack Snyder's still-mysterious forthcoming rebirth of Superman.

2012 is shaping up to be quite a year for the apparently neverendingly popular superhero genre.* Next year may represent the apex of the genre, with The Avengers facing off with The Dark Knight Rises in summer (well, separated by a couple of months) and Superman scheduled to return again in December.

Yesterday the latest element to slot into place in the Superman puzzle is the essential casting of Lois Lane. Amy Adams is going to play the plucky reporter. A brilliant bit of casting, I think - Adams has the cute girl-next-door looks combined with evident acting ability (Oscar nominated three times) and even past experience with comic timing (Talladega Nights) - important in delivering some, hopefully, witty exchanges with Clark Kent. Adams has a great chance to be the first really excellent Lois - no-one, not even Margot Kidder, has really done the part justice, and Kate Bosworth was practically a charisma vacuum in Superman Returns.

So, to prevent this article from ballooning even more than it's already going to, here I'll summarise in handy bullet point form the rest of what we know - or think we know - about Zack Snyder's Superman so far...

• Announced a while back, Henry Cavill is playing Supes/Clark. The Jersey native (that's the Channel Island, not the US state New Jersey) is probably best known for playing a lord with a knack with the ladies in TV's The Tudors. Apparently his audition was excellent. I just hope he can pull off an American accent.
• Zack Snyder is directing, as mentioned already - the recent poisonous reception of the just-released Sucker Punch may have given Warner Bros. execs some concern - and Christopher Nolan is apparently "overseeing", but with no actual say in creative choices, which he's leaving up to others.
• The specific direction of the plot is still unclear, but it does seem to be some sort of origin story. This is a reboot, folks - they are deliberately distancing themselves from the poorly received Superman Returns. Supposedly, writer David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Blade) pitched an innovative new take on the material. Probably means they're not going to use John Williams' theme music. Shame.
• Superman's earthbound foster parents - Jonathan and Martha Kent - are being played by Kevin Costner and Diane Lane. More Smallville than Superman: The Movie in the age department, then, but some surprisingly big names. Wonder if Costner will make it to the end credits alive?
• It's heavily rumoured (or assumed) that the main villain is going to be none other than General Zod. Some have grumbled that they should be using a brand new villain from Superman's extensive roster, but I'm not against the idea - Zod's a classic villain, the evil opposite to Boy Blue Kal-El, and the thought of a Superman II-style battle with modern effects has me salivating. Better still, the casting rumours are tantalising: Viggo Mortensen. It seems unlikely to me that he'd say yes to it, but I could think of nobody better, and Viggo has just pulled out of the upcoming Snow White and the Woodsman.
• The presence of Zod means, probably, Ursa and Non too. Heresay a while back had Diane Kruger and Rosamund Pike in the frame for the former. Lately, Michael Shannon has emerged as a candidate for a villain and people have guessed it might be the mute Non.
• No confirmed title yet, but Superman: Man of Steel seems all but certain.

It's all pretty intriguing if you ask me, and so far I'm optimistic about everything we've heard (especially Adams' casting). I grew up with Superman - the Christopher Reeve era - so it holds a lot of personal meaning to me, though I freely admit we still haven't had a truly great film with the character. It's a big opportunity.

Once the dust has settled on 2012, though, where does the superhero film go from there? Nolan's Batman cycle will be over, the Avengers will have assembled, and, barring anything calamitous, Superman will have flown again. Perhaps it will be time for a change.

*I may have ranted rather negatively about the genre the other day, specifically the ubiquitous origin stories, but I don't hold any contempt for it - just the over-reliance on familiar plot beats.

Source: Chud.com for Amy Adams story.

Blu-ray Review: The Informant! (2009)

The Informant! - exclamation mark and all - is certainly a bit of an oddity. Recounting the true story of Mark Whitacre, a corporate bigwig in the world of maize production who became an FBI whistle blower, in the form of an absurdist comedy seems like a curious move. But we've come to expect the unexpected from the eclectic Steven Soderbergh, a director evidently keen to try out as many genres as possible during his career (this was his follow-up to the Spanish-language guerilla warfare epic Che). If his ratio of successes to misfires is perhaps not as good as some of his more celebrated contemporaries, few currently working directors produce output that is so consistently interesting. You wouldn't get a film like The Informant! from anyone else.

Setting the tone immediately is an onscreen text that appears before the opening logos. Paraphrasing, it states that the film is based on real events but elements of it have been dramatised and altered - "so there." (Yes, the words "so there" are actually there on the screen.) It's a sign of things to come. At any given point The Informant! could be a serious drama in the vein of Michael Mann's The Insider (which Soderbergh states in the commentary that he was keen to avoid crossover with, hence the comedic angle), but serious events are continually undercut by humorous asides. In fact, little of what occurs is funny in itself, but the way it is delivered highlights its inherent silliness. In some ways it looks at times that the decision to make a comedy was made in the edit suite, because the two elements that are mainly relied upon to inject the laughs both the sort that slot into place during post-production: the musical score, and the main character's voiceover narration.

Soderbergh's decision to recruit Marvin Hamlisch to compose the music proves to be inspired. Hamlisch, who has done little of note in films since the 1980s, contributes a jazzy, energetic score that is at least half responsible for creating The Informant!'s sense of fun. It continually works in counterpoint to the image, emphasising what's going on in its deluded main character's head rather than reality. It's easy to spot, for example, Hamlisch's playful riff on a James Bond-esque theme, which reflects Whitacre's belief that he's a secret agent (he calls himself 0014, because he's twice as smart as 007). It's a reminder that Hamlisch did score an actual Bond film himself, 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. The emphasis on Whitacre's inner delusions is continued in the voiceover, which is hilariously off-topic; it rambles on and on, often about nothing remotely relevant to the on-screen action. Without these two critical components, The Informant! may not even operate as a comedy at all.

Matt Damon's performance in the central role is commendably self-deprecating. He continues to prove himself an actor willing to try experimental projects, not concerned with their apparent box office value or their consequential effects on his paycheque. His ever-watchable presence holds the film together as its human core. Really, the film is not a complete success; there are no real belly laughs of the sort that would be expected of an effective comedy, but conversely, the continual chuckles undermine the build-up of much suspense or intrigue. Neither is it a failure, however, as it remains a diverting, likeable, and unbelievably true(ish) tale that few will regret spending 100 minutes with.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: N/A / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Warner Bros.

Presentation
Shot on Soderbergh's favoured Red One cameras, with which he filmed Che, this Blu-ray presentation does not share its predecessor's visual verve. It's a stylistic choice; Soderbergh films with softening diffusion filters, going for a 1970s feel (despite the film being set in the '90s), and with the events mostly comprising scenes in offices and boardrooms, there's little eye candy to show off. Still, it's appreciably high-def, the warm colour palette coming through strongly and some crisp detail in outdoor daylight scenes. The Dolby TrueHD soundtrack is rather restrained too - no surprise given the content - but dialogue is clear and the music is lively.

Extras
The engaging and talkative commentary, involving Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns, is Blu-ray exclusive. The only other bonus is a set of forgettable but by no means poor deleted scenes.



Summary
An entertaining, if not wholly engrossing, curiosity, The Informant! is worth giving a go with an open mind, mainly for the contributions of Damon and Hamlisch. The Blu-ray probably isn't worth spending the extra price for, given its A/V limitations, but I found it going cheap. So there.

Editorial: The problem with origin stories

The first full trailer for Captain America has been unleashed on us, and, well, it looks OK. Cap is one of a slew of superheroes getting introduced to a cinemagoing audience this summer - the other major ones being Thor and Green Lantern - and this is the final of the headline three to get its own trailer. There have been murmurs of reshoots, which are always seen as a sign of certain doom, but actually are common, although the delay in the promotion of the film has been a bit surprising. Anyway, here it is:

So, it's set in World War II, which is a bit of a change from the normal superhero yarn, and the miniature Chris Evans looks funny, but really, doesn't this just look exactly the same as every other damn origin story we've seen over the last 10 years? I'm now getting totally bored of all these identikit narratives.

Sure, they each have their own variations, such as this one's period setting, but in terms of story beats and framework they are all exactly the same movie. How dull is that? There's always the first act showing the origin, the second as they get used to their new abilities, and the third where some villain arises and our new man in tights has to save to day.

Even Iron Man - held up as one of the best of the bunch - is achingly formulaic, and I actually quite like that one (it's grown on me a bit on home viewings, and I of course love Robert Downey Jr.). They all share the same flaws - i.e. the start is a bit slow as you're just waiting for the title character to show up, and the villain is poor because there's not enough time devoted to his evil schemes. Really, think back: name a superhero origin movie where the villain has been any good: Iron Man, Hulk, Spider-Man, Batman Begins, even Superman: The Movie had dull antagonists. (The original 1989 Batman wasn't an origin movie and hugely benefited from that in the villain stakes.)

Not all of those movies listed above are poor, by any means. I have a soft spot for Ang Lee's Hulk - it tries to do something different and mostly works - and Batman Begins is brilliant, while Superman is heavily flawed but still iconic. Of those, only Batman's origin section is truly compelling, however; the other films are only interesting for different reasons.

The fact is, by their very nature, origin films violate that old storytelling maxim, "start as far into the plot as you can". Cutting to the chase has led to many a great film, e.g. Star Wars, while doing the opposite can have dire consequences (Star Wars Episode I). These films all start right at the beginning, meaning that a lot of exposition that could be delivered much more efficiently (just see the opening of Avatar, say, for an example delivering essential character information quickly) is slowly, predictably dumped into your lap.

What's more, origin stories are never set up to be standalone films, and therefore are rarely completely satisfying on their own terms. They always just a great big tease for the planned sequel, which may or may not ultimately materialise (based on box office takings). It's symptomatic of the curse of blockbuster filmmaking nowadays - the studios are always seeking the next big franchise, and so every story has to be open-ended. The rare exceptions like Inception - which doesn't ask for a sequel and shouldn't get one - are the only films that will have long term shelf lives.

Never has this obvious setting-up-for-a-sequel been more transparent than with Captain America - full title Captain America: The First Avenger - as its main task is purely to introduce the character for superhero team-up The Avengers, due next year. The same is true of Thor. Can these films really hope to have their own identity, when their Marvel overlords are so intent to knit together a big cinematic mythos that apes the comics' labyrinthine interconnections? At least they've been confident enough to make interesting directorial choices - Joe Johnston directs Cap, Kenneth Branagh Thor. (Meanwhile, Martin Campbell of GoldenEye and Casino Royale fame helms DC Comics' competing Green Lantern, which from its trailer looks like a bizarre sci-fi take.)

Yes, I'll probably still watch all these movies, and hopefully I'll like at least some of them. Mainly I hope they manage stand out from the overpopulated superhero origin crowd.

Captain America is out 22 July in the US, 29 July in the UK; Thor 6 May/27 April in UK (yes, earlier!); and Green Lantern 17 June on both sides of the pond.

Blu-ray Review: The Expendables (2010)

In the months during their early production, there were mutterings of competition between The Expendables and Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, mainly because both had been touted as straightforward men-on-a-mission movies. Ultimately the films are profoundly different and any such competition was probably a media-concocted fiction anyway, but it is true to say that writer-director Stallone well and truly sticks to his convictions: this is almost the ultimate expression of the men-on-a-mission template. Stallone is a seasoned enough professional, though, to know that a simple barrage of action is not enough to satisfy (something probably learned from past experience), and he does include several moments of downtime between his extravagant carnage which feel earned and worthwhile.

He's also wise enough to make the reason for the journey more than just a revenge/save the damsel mission. There's a scene between Stallone and Mickey Rourke - pegged by Sly as the most important scene in the film - where the former is convinced to act through the desire for redemption, to regain (or try to hold onto) a vestige of honour that his being a mercenary has stripped from him over the years. Little more than a token attempt at substance it may be, but the gesture is appreciated. There's even a hint of topicality, as the opening sequence involves Somali pirates.

Clearly one of the film's big selling points is its cast list, an impressive who's who of superstar machismo spanning the generations from Stallone to Statham. The poster is confident enough just to list them all by surname alone. Enjoyably, Stallone doesn't just trot out all their usual personas, casting a few of them slightly against type. Jet Li is a family man who makes fun of his own small stature, while the normally monotone Dolph Lundgren is something of a one-liner-dropping wiseass. Both Stallone and Statham's characters - Barney Ross and Lee Christmas - share a certain sense of world-weariness that helps to soften their potentially off-putting bubble of chiselled (if slightly leathery, in Sly's case) manhood. That same world-weariness manifests itself in the tone of the film, which is more interesting for its reluctance to simply celebrate the one-man-army syndrome that Stallone was perhaps partly guilty of popularising in the first place.

That's not to say that the film doesn't have a blast in the action scenes. Anything but, in fact. Stallone puts every dollar of his apparently relatively small-for-a-blockbuster budget on screen, making sure to do everything for real if at all possible - resulting in many a minor and not so minor injury for its cast. Said scenes are brilliantly executed, escalating in scale all the way to the conclusion. Stallone cuts the scenes down to the bone, emphasising pacing above all else, and while his preference for camera shaking may threaten to overwhelm at times, the physical geography of each sequence is importantly never lost. In instances like this where the overused filming style is married to a fundamental understanding of how to construct action, its impact can actually be enhanced, as proven most emphatically by Steven Spielberg in Saving Private Ryan or Paul Greengrass's Bourne films and endlessly imitated since. They also share a reluctance to resort to CGI, which gives the action a tangible sense of heft that markedly increases the stakes.

There are few concessions to anyone who might not be interested in the central conceit - the romantic subplot, for example, is relegated to a grand total of three scenes and about an equal number of minutes in screen time - but a relatively narrow audience niche, starved of similar fare in recent years, led the film to healthy box office returns, vindicating its director's convictions. Sylvester Stallone evidently doesn't believe in the crisis of masculinity.

(Read Joel's cinema review for more - his opinions closely resemble my own.)



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: B / Version: 'Bullet Proof' Limited Edition Collector's Set / Discs: 1 BD, 2 DVDs / Distributor: Lionsgate

Presentation
The image is excellent - not quite the sharpest you'll find but with good rendering of texture and colour. Impressively, even in dark scenes, which comprise a lot of the film, there's no increase in noise or grain, and black levels are resolutely consistent. The audio track, in thunderous 7.1 (but also sounding great on a 5.1 system), is extraordinary, partly down to Stallone's desires (subtlety is not one of his watchwords) and also some brilliant, precise sound design. No wonder that upon starting the film, the first thing you see is an animated DTS-HD logo: this is an advert for the technology. Out of the Blu-ray soundtracks I've heard, this ranks a close second behind Inception.

Extras
Firstly, let's address what separates this Bullet Proof Limited Edition Collector's Set from its standard cousin: the 90-minute documentary "Inferno", which is truly worth paying the extra for this edition. It's simply outstanding, a frank and honest documentary narrated throughout by extensive snippets from Stallone interviews, giving it a sort of stream of consciousness style. It is given its own disc, a regular DVD. (Strangely, it is included in HD on the same Blu-ray disc as the film in the US. There's no technical reason why that has been changed for the UK release - perhaps simply so Lionsgate can charge more for this special edition.)

It's recommended that you watch "Inferno" before the featurette included on the Blu-ray dedicated to the post-production, which is equally fascinating. Then there's the Ultimate Recon Mode - a Picture-in-Picture feature that runs alongside the whole film, with numerous on-screen appearances from Stallone and others. It's very similar to Maximum Movie Mode but perhaps even better, as it fills any gaps between the PiP segments with Stallone's excellent commentary. You can listen to his regular commentary separately too, and it's worth checking out both. A solitary 45-second deleted scene features a wisely chopped bit of Lundgren wisecracking, and the gag reel is what you'd expect. This is a fantastic set, making it clear that Sly really values his fans. The UK version is missing the Comic-Con panel - no huge loss.



Summary
It's not exactly high art, but The Expendables achieves exactly what it sets out to do, in some style. A few clunky moments never prevent it from being an absolute blast from start to finish.

News: Elizabeth Taylor - An Obituary

Elizabeth Taylor, hailed as one of the most beautiful screen actresses of the 20th century, has died of congestive heart failure at the age of 79 in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in 1932 in the wealthy London district of Hampstead, her father an American art dealer and her mother a former actress. The family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1939 to avoid the hostilities of World War II.

Thanks to her mother’s determined efforts she got her first film contract in 1941 after executives at Universal Pictures were wowed by her beauty. Even though Taylor starred in several unremarkable films as a young teen, it was her captivating performance in 1944’s National Velvet that propelled her to world stardom as a girl who trains and rides her horse to victory in the Grand National. Ironically, her role in the film also had a negative legacy - Taylor was plagued by back problems for the rest of her life after falling from a horse during filming.

Taylor enjoyed a string of moderate successes as an adolescent star until 1949, when as a 16-year-old she played a 21-year-old social debutante in the flop Conspirator. She was now earning over $2,000 a week but it was only in 1950 that she enjoyed her first success in an adult role when she starred with Spencer Tracy in the romantic comedy Father of the Bride. A year later Taylor showed the world that she wasn't just a pretty face, starring in the acclaimed A Place In The Sun as a spoiled socialite.

She still found it hard to attract Oscar-worthy roles until a trio of nominations in the late 1950s for Raintree County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer. She failed to win but her enhanced reputation helped her make history in Cleopatra (shot in 1960, released in 1963) when she was the first actor or actress to earn $1 million for a performance. It was also on the Rome set of the infamously expensive Cleopatra that she met and fell in love with Welshman Richard Burton - sparking a huge scandal and a condemnation from the Vatican since both were married at the time.

The high point of her acting career came with her two Oscar wins for Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), in which she co-starred with Burton. Their relationship was tumultuous, but of all her seven husbands it was her love for Burton that was the defining romance of her life, as revealed in their love letters.

Their first marriage lasted from 1962 to 1974. They remarried again a year later before breaking up for the second time in July 1976.

Her AIDS work, spurred on by her good friend Rock Hudson's death from the disease, brought her the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian award, in 1987 and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1993. In 2000, Queen Elizabeth made her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire - the equivalent of a knighthood.

During a career which spanned six decades, the legendary beauty with lavender eyes won two Oscars and made more than fifty films, performing alongside such fabled leading men as Spencer Tracy, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and, of course, the aforementioned Richard Burton. She took her cues from a dream list of directors, including George Cukor, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, George Stevens, Vincente Minnelli and Mike Nichols.

Long after she faded from the screen, she remained a mesmerizing figure, blessed and cursed by the extraordinary celebrity that moulded her life through its many phases: she was a child star who bloomed gracefully into an ingénue (like her good friend Michael Jackson); a femme fatale on the screen and in life; a canny peddler of high-priced perfume; a pioneering activist in the fight against AIDS.

Some actresses, such as Katharine Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman, won more awards and critical plaudits, but none matched Taylor’s hold on the collective imagination. In the public's mind, she was the dark goddess for whom playing Cleopatra, as she did with such notoriety, required no great leap from reality.

News: The Hobbit is a go

After what seemed like an age of legal wrangling, production delays, a director dropping out (Guillermo del Toro), and a studio going belly up, the day has finally arrived: The Hobbit has started shooting, under the direction of the Middle-earth Maestro himself, Peter Jackson.

The Hobbit was always going to be shot sooner or later, given the success of The Lord of the Rings, but for some time it seemed that all the fans' hopes may not be answered. I covered the early Hobbit rumours waaaaay back in 2006. I'll dredge up what I wrote here (26 November 2006 to be precise):

I've been waiting a little while to report on this news to see how it pans out, but here it is: theonering.net has posted an email that Peter Jackson recently sent them which makes it sound pretty certain that PJ won't be directing The Hobbit. Needless to say, my immediate reaction was something along the lines of "Noooooooooooooooo" (with more expletives). It all hinges on the fact that PJ has an ongoing lawsuit with New Line Cinema about profits owed to him for LOTR. Neither is willing to work with each other until it's sorted, which I can understand, but New Line has a time limit on its Hobbit rights, so they've said they're going to find a new director. I cannot see The Hobbit feeling like anything more than a soulless cash-in unless they get PJ to do it, or a really top-drawer director. Certainly some hack would never do it justice. I'm not saying that PJ is a perfect director, but he OWNS the cinematic Middle-Earth, plus the passion that went into LOTR really showed on screen. Intriguingly, New Line want to make both The Hobbit and a LOTR "prequel" not based on a specific book. The prequel idea is horrible. I don't mind them splitting The Hobbit into two parts, like I'd heard was the intention, but manufacturing a new narrative and tacking it onto the saga is a baaaad idea. Anywho, all is not lost, it seems. MGM, who share the rights to The Hobbit, say they're insistent on Jackson directing. Also, Saul Zaentz, who owns all the Tolkien property, has said that Jackson absolutely will direct it. Here's hoping (and praying).

Seems that all my praying may have paid off! In the intervening time since my diatribe, Guillermo del Toro was brought onboard, a development that I was not unhappy with - I like his Hellboy movies, and Jackson was still set to produce and help write it. The endless delays thrown up by MGM's collapse meant that Guillermo chose to depart, and, as always seemed destined, PJ stepped back into the fold.

My only concern is this: is Peter really invested in this project? He said in interviews when GDT was on board that he felt he had nothing more to contribute to the topic, and fresh eyes were needed. (You can understand how spending 8 years on LOTR was knackering.) I hope his decision to take the reigns was at least partly down to the fact that he wants to make The Hobbit, rather than just because a load of people in New Zealand had already been employed.

Still, as one of the biggest LOTR fans there is (it's probably what got me into films in the first place), I absolutely can't wait. The Hobbit will be released in two parts - in December 2012 and 2013. Recent gossip has suggested that the parts will be called An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again. Sounds good to me.

In the meantime, enjoy these first official photos from the set.

Source: JoBlo.com

Cinema Review: True Grit (2010)

There was a suggestion, back when the Coen brothers were in their "slump" of 2003-4, that the reason they'd apparently lost their mojo was that they were no longer working from their own imagination: Intolerable Cruelty was the first time they'd worked with an existing script, and The Ladykillers was a remake. As if they had a point to prove - that they could put their trademark Coen stamp even on material they didn't originate - their two most acclaimed movies since then have both been adapted from novels. Their version of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men was heralded as their masterpiece, and now they've turned to Charles Portis' True Grit to almost equal critical, and even greater commercial, success. Indeed, not only has Grit become the brothers' highest-grossing film, it has also become the most popular Western since Clint Eastwood lay down his spurs with Unforgiven.

Of course, Portis' novel is not alien to the silver screen - John Wayne rode off with his only Best Actor Oscar under Henry Hathaway's direction in the 1969 incarnation. The Coens have been keen to stress that this is not a remake, though; it is, instead, a new adaptation of the novel. Rooster Cogburn may be the story's most famous character - Jeff Bridges steps into the shoes previously occupied by Wayne - but the protagonist is clearly Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl who's hunting for her father's killer, and recruits Cogburn to that end. Despite being categorised as a supporting actress for the Academy voting system, newcomer Hailee Steinfeld carries the weight of the film on her shoulders, and never once stumbles under the strain. Her performance is mannered and rather stiff but it's clear that was the Coens' intent, and the way Steinfeld masters her writer-directors' arcane dialogue is most impressive.

Bridges, meanwhile, is his usual laconic self, given a few additional layers of alcoholism, unkemptness and untrustworthiness. It's remarkable how Bridges never seems like he's acting and never even looks like he's putting in much effort, but simply to give that impression must take the utmost professionalism and skill. There is a third member that makes a central triumvirate, Matt Damon's LaBoeuf, and while he's an entertaining presence, his character never quite seems to emerge as whole; his early bluster and boastfulness never quite develops into much of an arc. Humorously, though, at one point an injury gives him something of a speech impediment, forming quite a pair with the already rather unintelligible Cogburn. Subtitles would occasionally come in handy!

In truth, the film as a whole does promise slightly more than it delivers. The first act is superb, introducing us to the main characters with style and elegance. The typical Coen wit is never far from displaying itself either, be it of the blackly comedic kind (a scene of a triple hanging elicits a laugh) or through verbal repartee (Mattie's bartering with a local storekeeper). Once the elements are in place for the trek through the wilderness, however, proceedings become rather more conventional, barring the odd bit of trademark Coen absurdity, and a measured pace sorely misses the constant suspense of No Country. The banter between the frank Mattie and the rambling Cogburn remains a joy, though, and some tense set-pieces are extremely well handled. Finally, an unexpected epilogue provides a moving, wistful coda, ending the tale on a perfect note.



Summary
They've done neo-Western already; now the Coens have turned their considerable talents to the traditional sort, and deliver an excellent, character-driven entry in the enduring genre.

Blu-ray Review: The White Ribbon (2009)

Winning the Cannes Palme d'Or as well as numerous other accolades brings with it a certain level of expectation that history has shown can be difficult to live up to. Looking at the list of Cannes winners, for example, gives you a catalogue of many fine films, but also several that have made little wider or long-term impact outside the festival circuit (though admittedly the Palme d'Or is no less reliable a sign of quality than the Best Picture Oscar). There can be no doubt however that The White Ribbon is a truly deserving recipient, and its widespread acclaim since its release - although still limited, in English-speaking countries, to the relatively small World Cinema niche - is fully justified. It's a superbly judged drama that engrosses and chills in equal measure; its director has a point to make but that never obstructs the graceful unfolding of an intricate narrative tapestry. There's no other way to describe it: this is filmmaking as art.

Michael Haneke is the director in question (also writing the script), who has proven to be a divisive craftsman in the past. True to form, The White Ribbon is indeed a challenging work - pleasant and easygoing are not going to be well-used adjectives regarding the film. Yet neither is it too aloof or distancing, nor does it signify any of the more stuffy connotations of the word "art". Certainly Haneke's direction is calculated and precise; the same has been said about the Coen brothers. It's not a style that lends itself to a mass audience, but those with the patience and attention to details will find themselves richly rewarded. In fact, the direction is somewhat reminiscent of Godfather-era Coppola in its restraint and unobtrusive, yet clearly purposeful, shot composition.

To specifics. The White Ribbon is set in a superficially idyllic village in rural Germany in 1913-14. Its peace is shattered by a series of shocking and brutal events that, given their apparent malicious intent, cannot be just accidents. The unease permeates the lives of every villager, from the schoolteacher to the baron (the landowner). The investigation of these crimes provides a backbone for the film, around which Haneke tells many individual stories. None of the families in the village are as content as they first appear, with one thread emerging as common: parents ruling over their children with an iron fist. When not being punished by their elders, the unfortunate children stalk the village in groups, always mysterious in their intent. While Haneke never strays into any sort of Village of the Damned-style supernaturalism, the atmosphere he creates is certainly one of dread and suspense, without ever showing very much at all.

One of the more remarkable attributes of the film is the performances, in particular those of the aforementioned younger cast members. Their ages range from single digits to late teens, and all are exceptional and breathtakingly natural in front of the camera. One memorable scene, involving a young boy asking his older sister about death, is quietly devastating and brilliantly played. The performers themselves, Haneke, and the casting directors all deserve copious credit. The other immediately striking element is the decision to shoot in black and white, which proves perfectly suited to the material and makes for a unique visual style. The contrast of modern film stock allows for whites that gleam and incredibly crisp detail - a deliberate choice intended to emulate vintage photographs.

Many of the criticisms that the film has faced will, to others, be its virtues. The subject matter is inherently disturbing and the masterfully controlled direction uses mere suggestion to the reach heights (or depths) of horror that outright depiction never could. Also the film is reluctant to offer any hard answers, which may frustrate those who are unprepared but also allows for a greater degree of individual interpretation, engendering the sort of discussion and debate that only special films merit.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: B / Version: N/A / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Artificial Eye

Presentation
Crisp, striking, and bold, the transfer here is sometimes so realistic that I found it caused a degree of eye strain at times (such as when looking at a blanket of freshly fallen snow). I even turned down the backlight on my LCD TV. Such a faithful rendering can't exactly be called a flaw, though! The look is integral to the film and one suspects that this is precisely what the director wanted. DVD couldn't do it justice.

The soundtrack is one of the most undemonstrative DTS-HD mixes I've heard. The material doesn't call for bombast. A little more activity in the surrounds may not have gone amiss, but everything is perfectly clear and well defined.

Extras
A very good and enlightening set of extras provides, to a degree, the sort of answers that the film doesn't. Watching the 15-minute Haneke interview (the only HD extra), it's hard not to reach a conclusion to the central mystery. The 40-minute Making Of is mostly shot in a fly on the wall style, and is an intriguingly unvarnished look behind the scenes. The 50-minute "Portrait" doc is an overview of the director's career with the participation of many of his previous collaborators, and is worth a look even for those not so familiar with Haneke as it does focus on Ribbon. You can also watch the Cannes press conference.



Summary
A difficult, at times oppressive watch, The White Ribbon is nevertheless a deeply personal and engaging work.

Cinema Review: The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

The Adjustment Bureau, with its morose grey tones, quick-paced chase scenes and pseudo-spiritual focus, is doomed to be compared with Christopher Nolan's Inception, though the plot actually has little in common with 2010's extravaganza. Instead of a staid, defeated Leonardo DiCaprio, we have Matt Damon, his co-star from The Departed, as David, a bullish, up-and-coming politician, who stumbles onto the knowledge that his entire life has been engineered by a group of men who claim to work for someone called The Chairman. They alert him that the big man's 'Plan' entails that he not hook up with a feisty ballerina (the wonderful Emily Blunt) which would derail him from his career and ruin hers.

From the get-go, it's made clear who/what The Chairman is, as well as his workers. These are bureaucrats from the Other Side, who fascinatingly seem to have the same type of business hierarchy as a large government office and are very fond of snappy fedora hats. It's a strange, slightly silly conceit, but perhaps that's what makes it brilliant. (It also gives an excuse to quote perhaps the most unintentionally hilarious line of the year: "The most important thing to remember is that everyone wearing a hat is a threat!")

Director George Nolfi is clever not pretending that Philip K. Dick's source material isn't a little silly, and he actually embraces it. Consequently the chase scenes, with Damon being followed by ten men in sharp suits, flips between being a charming Hitchcock pastiche and actually a little frightening. Indeed, the director isn't afraid of fun - something Christopher Nolan could maybe take a lesson from.

Damon and Blunt display some of the best chemistry on-screen you are likely to see post-Golden Age Hollywood. Though their relationship is based on only three chance meetings, their slow-burning yet jovial banter makes it seem credible that they would be willing to take on God to keep it intact. John Slattery (famous for portraying silver fox Roger Sterling in Mad Men) is also terrific as a cosmic middle manager. And as David's case worker, Anthony Mackie takes what could be a small, exposition-heavy character, and turns him into a melancholic, disillusioned soul with every turn of phrase.

The man at the helm of the project, first-time director and long-time screenwriter, Nolfi makes more than a solid debut behind the camera and the whole film is smoothly shot, with numerous moments of standout cinematography. Considering where the film is based (New York), and the events that occur, there isn't a huge amount of scope to produce impressive visuals, and as such Nolfi should be very satisfied with his input. One aspect that works well is the handling of the Bureau's agents' supernatural movements. They have the ability to alter the location that appears when they step through a door, thus being able to create portals to practically anywhere they like; this is handled very slickly and never appears clunky.

Nolfi also understands that this is an entertainment commodity and he never tries to make bold political and ideological statements, perhaps barring the one time Damon refers to the people "running the country" as "idiots". The correct way to approach The Adjustment Bureau is not to put much serious thought into it. This is not the new Blade Runner; it is a long way from a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller of that particular depth although the film offers many interpretations regarding predestination. Rather, it is a romance story, juxtaposed with elements of sci-fi.

The thematic impulse behind The Adjustment Bureau is a familiar one, that true love is worth more than anything else this life has to offer. The keys to Nolfi putting it over effectively in this real world but quasi-sci-fi context are his great success in making the connection between Damon and Blunt so convincing and worth fighting for.



Summary
Lightness of touch is not what one expects in fictional portrayals of monolithic entities bent on world domination, so the subtle tone George Nolfi maintains here represents something fresh and welcome. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt are sublime.

Blu-ray Review: The Pacific (2010)

Let's address the elephant in the room first: The Pacific is no Band of Brothers. Clearly spiritual siblings from HBO and the same executive-producing team of Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the two miniseries, separated by almost a decade, are quite different animals, due to more than just the fact that they deal with the Pacific and European theatres of conflict respectively. Band of Brothers - effectively Saving Private Ryan the series - was an action-packed, fast-paced affair spanning the final year of the war from D-Day to the surrender of Nazi Germany. Meanwhile The Pacific, although covering roughly the same time period, deals with a more fragmented, often less purposeful campaign in which the troops had to deal with suffocating heat, energy-sapping humidity, tropical disease, and the sometimes inhuman actions of their Japanese enemies.

The European conflict has often been romanticised as to an almost mythic degree. The Pacific campaign, meanwhile, was in many ways more brutal - an exhausting war of attrition rather than a race to the finish line. It doesn't make for an easy watch, but it is intermittently gripping. There is an ample amount of action, much of it epic in scale and shattering in impact, and brilliantly portrayed on screen. The series largely alternates between the island assaults and the downtime experienced by the troops between them. Instead of focusing on one unit like Band of Brothers' 101st Airborne, The Pacific picks out three men - John Basilone (Jon Seda), Scott Leckie (James Badge Dale) and Eugene Sledge (Joseph Mazzello) - between whom it divides most of its attention. The main character of each episode changes between these three, at first focusing mainly on Leckie, then Basilone, and finally Sledge in the final desperate months of the war.

The structure works for the most part despite lacking the focus of Band of Brothers; it just leads to a different tempo and character of series. One also has to wonder whether the current political climate and attitude to war affected the tone, which is generally sombre, downbeat and respectful rather than jingoistic. To its credit, it also completely avoids sentimentality. It's therefore less brazenly patriotic and stirring than its slightly more populist brethren, and accordingly it achieved much lower viewing figures. Nevertheless, as a tribute to those who fell and those who survived in fighting the Japanese army, The Pacific is certainly a worthwhile endeavour. A few episodes dawdle slightly, hampered by there being less of a personal connection established with the characters than there could be, but the high points are many. To cap it all, the epilogue to the final episode is beautifully judged: a succession of text captions detail what happened to all the participants depicted in the series, making it the most moving few minutes of the whole 10 hours.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: Collector's Edition Tin / Discs: 6 / Distributor: HBO (Warner Bros).

Presentation
The image is strikingly clean, colourful and almost grain-free - virtually the opposite of the gritty Saving Private Ryan style - and looks magnificent. Particularly the early episodes, in the lush green jungles, show off the transfer well; the later, bleaker, episodes set amongst rocky and muddy terrain are expectantly murkier. The DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack is simply superb, as expected - prepare to flinch when a few stray bullets go whizzing past your ears. The mid-series beach landing is a sequence to savour.

Extras
All the episodes have an optional historical introduction narrated by Tom Hanks - all worth a watch to give context - and two 'Enhanced Viewing' modes. One is a very good picture-in-picture track (helpfully, pressing left and right on your remote skips to the next piece, so you don't have to watch any of the downtime) with contributions from veterans and historians. The second, the "Field Guide", gives access to all sorts of historical information and video content, and will perhaps be too exhaustive for all but the most ardent enthusiast to completely devour.

The rest of the extras are granted their own disc, perhaps over-generously as their scope is not quite as encompassing as may be hoped. There's only a brief Making Of (22 minutes), some profiles of the real men depicted in the series (combined 48 minutes), and a 10-minute historical featurette called "Anatomy of the Pacific War". They're all interesting, but don't add up to much. Overall, while the historical side is thoroughly covered, the set would really benefit from far more production-related material.



Summary
It's not as good as Band of Brothers, but what is? The Pacific remains a brilliantly mounted miniseries, thoughtfully told. The audiovisual presentation on Blu-ray is outstanding.