News: Pixar's Brave emerges

Pixar, one of the world's most reliably brilliant studios, are facing some unfamiliarly bad buzz for this year's output, Cars 2. For the first time, it seems they're making a film purely for the money rather than some sort of artistic ambition. (Cars is their most profitable film in terms of merchandise sales.) I'm in the apparent minority of grown-ups who really liked Cars, but even I can't see much reason for a sequel.

Next year, however, their once-a-year-release schedule brings us the much more intriguing-sounding Brave, formerly titled The Bear and the Bow. Official Disney synopsis: "Set in Scotland in a rugged and mythical time, "Brave" features Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty. Merida makes a reckless choice that unleashes unintended peril and forces her to spring into action to set things right."

Sounds great, and a welcome return to original material after (the admittedly brilliant) Toy Story 3 and this year's automobile-flavoured outing.

Entertainment Weekly have just got the scoop on the film's official teaser poster...

Very interesting art design style there. The first trailer will no doubt hit soon and gives us a proper taste of what to expect from this promising beginning.

Blu-ray Review: Barney's Version (2010)

Paul Giamatti is brilliant. It's safe to say that's a widely accepted fact by now; from Sideways to John Adams, he's proved he's one of the most capable, versatile and endearing character actors working today. "Character actor" being Hollywoodese for "unattractive", however, he's not the sort of actor you'd expect to play a thrice-married lothario. That's exactly the role he embodies in Barney's Version - he's the titular Barney, the protagonist in this somewhat picaresque recounting of his romantic misadventures. Opening in Barney's late middle age, the film then flashes back to his first, short-lived, marriage (instigated by an unplanned pregnancy rather than true love), before quickly moving on to his second dalliance with wedded "bliss". It's at this, his second wedding reception, when he finally falls in love - and the target of his affections is not his new wife.

Barney's Version occupies a sort of middle-ground between drama and romantic comedy; the brief synopsis above sounds like the latter but mostly the film plays it straight. It's not afraid to go to some darker places either, to its credit, but the film never quite lends such moments the weight that they should have. It's hampered by a lack of empathy with the main character. Despite Giamatti's best efforts, Barney remains unlikeable throughout. Basically, he's a thoroughly unpleasant person: selfish, jealous, and dishonest. It's difficult to buy that three different women would be willing to marry him, but that's nothing to do with his looks - there's just never any justification why they fall for him, the script never granting him any great wit or redeeming traits. When he finally meets the love of his life, played by Rosamund Pike, he chases after her like a puppy, which is mildly charming but undercut by the fact that he's just jilted his new wife, practically at the altar. Pike's Miriam has the good sense to turn him down at first, but before long they do soon hook up, which never convinces despite the actors' solid chemistry. Pike is luminous, but her character's unflinching saintliness is simply too one-note.

Some drama is injected by a mysterious death that occurs around the half-way point, which does help to sustain a level of intrigue: is Barney a murderer? The film never quite spells it out, although the ending does provide narrative closure. Sadly this incident is ignored for long stretches, leaving the unlikely romance to carry the film. Its main strength is that it is certainly offbeat and appealingly different from the normal romantic template, rendering the outcome rather unpredictable for a change. The acting is solid across the board, and the passage of time (the story spans at least thirty years) is very well conveyed through the actors' physicality and some remarkably effective but subtle make-up effects. When Barney is in his 70s, it barely looks like Giamatti is wearing any make-up, yet when the film cuts to decades earlier the supposed difference of years is clearly apparent and wholly believable.

As an independent Canadian effort, Barney's Version deserves plaudits for its willingness to buck accepted conventions and also to delicately weave between some major tonal shifts. It isn't a complete success, though, as its emotional ambitions are scuppered by an inability to really care for the central character.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: B (unconfirmed) / Version: N/A / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Universal

Presentation
Barney's Version looks and sounds as good as you'd hope for a new film with a dual-layered disc and high bitrate. Solid detailing and colours that err towards subdued natural hues make for a satisfying image, ably accompanied by the customary DTS-HD audio.

Extras
A 10-minute featurette, presented in (non-anamorphic!) standard def, is the only bonus on offer. It's fine for a behind the scenes glimpse, but hardly in-depth. The Sony US Blu-ray comes with more, including a commentary.



Summary
Giamatti delivers the goods again, but the material slightly lets him down. Barney's Version is diverting but never particularly gripping or moving.

Blu-ray Review: Se7en (1995)

Se7en boasts quite possibly one of the greatest endings in film history. That’s quite a claim, admittedly, and of course is impossible to quantify, but it stacks up against any others you could care to mention. For the film’s first 90 minutes, it follows the conventions of the police procedural thriller: serial killer on the loose, numerous crime scenes where the killer seems to be playing games with the cops, even the combination of a hotheaded rookie detective and a weathered old pro on One Last Case™. It’s certainly a very well constructed, intelligently written, meticulously designed example of the genre, but beyond the spectacular grisliness of its crime scenes features little to distinguish it from the merely excellent. Then, though, the third act takes a dramatic left turn into something altogether more chilling, profound and indelible. The genius of writer Andrew Kevin Walker’s climax was spotted at an early stage by Brad Pitt; his proviso for coming on board was that the ending not be changed by studio executives, nervous about its bleakness. David Fincher saw it as the calling card that could reset his feature film career after his troubles with 20th Century Fox on Alien3. Sixteen years later, it amongst his best work.

The premise is novel, but more of a high concept than a framework for potential greatness: this serial killer is murdering his victims according to the seven deadly sins. The dynamic between our two detectives - the week-away-from-retirement Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and the new kid on the block, Mills (Pitt) - is fairly familiar but well-handled, and Pitt's potentially one-note firebrand is given added depth by the exploration of his married life (his wife is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, who does a lot with not very much screen time). The way the detectives' working relationship develops over the course of the week in which the events take place is convincingly handled without need for pseudo-Lethal Weapon wisecracks or anything of the sort; they simply convey a growing mutual respect as they become more deeply embroiled in their case.

Fincher adds a layer of almost mythic resonance with his setting. Is impossible to pinpoint where the unnamed city where it always rains, and yet is an hour's drive from fairly barren desert, actually is (it was shot in LA but any landmarks are avoided). The lack of geographical precision somehow makes the story seem more universal, lending it the quality of an urban legend. Of course it also gives the film an unbeatable atmosphere - a sort of modern noir with added grunge. The depth of cinematographer Darius Khondji's shadows is practically bottomless, but never does that translate into stultifying drabness; rather, it further enhances the oppressiveness of the detectives' grim discoveries, as well as the suspense in certain memorable moments (one word: sloth).

As Somerset delves into reading about the seven circles of Hell, Dante's Inferno, and the like, in an attempt to gain an insight into the killer's mind, Fincher's aesthetic choices seem to be suggesting they already are in some sort of twisted purgatory, the only possible exit from which is compassion and decency - traits that Somerset possesses, but Mills less so. It's from this that the stunning ending arises, which rejects an action finale in favour of an immeasurably more intense impossible moral conundrum. It's brutal, but also an exercise in restraint: very little is actually shown, but it once again proves that the viewer's imagination is far more powerful than anything that can be shown on screen.



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

Presentation
For a film known for its seedy, grimy look (which Fincher says was inspired by Nine Inch Nails music videos), it's remarkable how crisp and clean this new HD master is. Given the subject matter, one hesitates to call it beautiful, but it really is, in its own depraved way. The subtleties in the texturing and colour palette of the sets and cinematography really shine through as they never have before.

The already healthy DTS 6.1 of the old DVD is expanded still further to full DTS-HD 7.1, and this is one beast of a track. The emphasis is on atmospherics, particularly the rain; it's a full-blooded, pull-no-punches, totally enveloping affair. Occasionally voices from the centre speaker can get a bit lost amidst all the competing noise from the surrounds, but in these instances it's probably a deliberate choice on Fincher's part.

Extras
Replicated from the stone age 2-disc DVD version, the bonus material on offer seems strangely lopsided. On the one hand, you get more commentaries than you can shake a rotting severed hand at: four for the feature, and more for the deleted scenes, production galleries, storyboards, the design of the main title sequence, the soundtrack, and so on. You almost expect to find that the commentaries have commentaries. They're worth wading through, though one's familiarity with the film may exceed healthy levels if you watch the four commentaries back to back. They're divided into categories grouped as "The Shoot", "The Writing", "The Look" and "The Sound", involving people from the relevant departments, with Fincher showing up in all of them. The first is an affable track with Freeman and Pitt alongside their director (Freeman seems recorded separately); the others are a bit drier, but packed with insight. Welcome scholarly insight is offered by Richard Dyer, who features in the tracks for both the writing and the look.

For those less commentary-inclined, there are relatively slim pickings. The deleted scenes are worth seeing, but barring an interesting alternate opening to the film, are mainly extensions of or variations on what remains in the final cut. The only typical behind the scenes doc is a 12-minute EPK featurette. There are detailed examinations of the killer's notebooks - works of art in themselves - and several galleries, as well as a (now outdated) featurette looking at the mastering of the original DVD, specifically how the image and sound were tweaked for the release.



Summary
A stunningly powerful climax elevates Se7en to true classic status. It's no surprise that it has proven influential in the years since; it's as compelling - and as horrifying - as thrillers get, and the Blu-ray shows off all its grim splendour.

Cinema Review: Senna (2011)

To condense the days of Ayrton Senna da Silva, the greatest ever Formula One pilot whose talent ignited observers, whose turmoil ignited ratings, and whose love for his country ignited Brazil itself was indisputably difficult for brilliant young British director Asif Kapadia. Creating a documentary simply with voiceovers and footage found from over 15,000 hours of archival film without face-to-face interviews is a huge undertaking and the perfect platform for a complex star to take centre stage. With this BAFTA winning effort though, the Londoner has pulled off a thoroughly watchable examination of such a gifted soul. Senna has been painted as an intense and rapid illustration of a true master, reflecting the great Brazilian’s excellent skills on the Formula One track without ever suffocating the viewer with motor racing mumbo-jumbo. The director, in only his fourth feature film, has created a welcome bittersweet tale of a true genius instead of a melancholic take on a life taken too young.

It would be a challenge to contain the full and complete life of even a moderately interesting man in just a few brief cinematic minutes. If a man has lived in more than two cities, held more than three jobs and dated more than four women, the gift of that man’s life probably cannot be wrapped in a hundred and four minutes of celluloid. Yes, some biopics are extremely rewarding but normally they’re given more time and breathing space. Senna canters along at the speed of one of Senna’s six Monaco victories yet seems so effortless because of silky smooth editing and a great structure.

While the film does not cover everything, what Kapadia does reveal about dreaming, stubbornness, tenacity, fallibility, talent and death is something you will certainly wish to see. Senna showcases three of the qualities Senna brought to Formula One: massive talent in good conditions that became ethereal aptitude in the wet; total devotion to winning; and an intimate connection to God. These three subjects are thoroughly explored and even though the focus is firmly on one man, the people around him – including the doctor who befriends him and then has to watch him die – are given just enough room to feed into the story without getting in the way and creating unnecessary subplots.

Like James Cameron’s Titanic, everyone going to see Senna will know how the story ends. But in terms of tension, humanity, passion and plot Senna blows the huge ship out of the water. Sometimes it’s the commentary, sometimes it’s a close up shot of Senna’s face conveying what actors spend years trying to mimic, sometimes it’s archive footage. Then sometimes it’s watching Senna race around the track and getting to see just what an incredible driver he was. Not that you have to have even the faintest interest in motor racing (although there’s a high chance you’ll be hooked by the end of the film). Knowing how it ends only adds poignancy to the scenes where he talks about his faith in God and about a hoped-for future that we know will not be his.

Senna was a man’s man who just wanted to race cars and to do it well – sadly a far cry from the monotony of today’s races. He didn’t want to get involved in the politics of Formula One, but was pulled into it just the same, and more often than not he got the raw end of the deal. He was single minded, in that his aim was to win and never to accept second best. But unlike his clinical adversary Alain Prost, you never doubt there’s a sensitive person trapped inside his competitive nature.

Prost and former FIA President Jean-Marie Balestre are portrayed as arrogant, brash and full of hot air bravado, controlling the system against the maverick smaller man. The great rivalry between Senna and Prost plays a huge part in proceedings and, while the Frenchman may feel aggrieved that he is portrayed as such an antagonist, it is hardly surprising in a film about the Brazilian superstar. Also though, the footage doesn’t lie and his past actions firmly entrench him as a villainous weasel among the audience. The arc of their relationship and how it ends between the two however is well done by Kapadia and by Prost and Senna – above all their respect for each other never faded. In regards to Balestre and his apparent dislike of Senna, our hero may have got caught up in the big-money Formula One political machine, he may have spent his career sitting in a state of the art racing machine, but he was no machine himself, and when he doesn’t follow unjustified orders, we can only feel sympathy for him because he’s not being egotistical – he’s just following his own divine self-belief and morals and not disobeying biased authority.

There are no weak points in Senna but moments stand out, such as when he squirms while getting chatted up on live Brazilian TV by his future girlfriend; the primal scream he emits when he wins a gruelling race on home territory for the first time; when he has to find every bit of strength he possesses to lift a hard-won trophy; when he watches the death of fellow racing driver Roland Ratzinburger just one day before his own untimely death on the same racetrack at San Marino in 1994. He has to turn away from the screen – you won’t be able to.

The scenes leading up to Senna’s death are chilling. We’re shown shots of those close to him. Unlike the viewer of this film, they’re unaware of what’s about to happen. The footage of him shaking his head as he sits in a racing car he’s not happy with, moments from death, might make you think that he sensed something was about to go very badly wrong.

While Schumacher and Prost have more championships and grand prix wins, Senna was the champion of the people, always exciting to watch and a true racing driver sometimes not even in a tremendously competitive car. Even though he could never match the former two names’ statistics because of his shorter career, the great Brazilian still leads many of the percentage charts regarding pole positions converted to race wins etc. Faster than any other driver of his era, as his 41 grand prix wins and three world titles proved, Senna also had a ruthless streak but he was never malicious, just more determined than any other. With Senna, there is just one disappointment – that the man himself didn’t have a longer career and isn’t around now to enjoy this brilliant celebration of his brilliant life.



Summary
An emotional and poignant ode to one of sport’s greatest ever talents. Even for people who are not fans of motor sport this is an unmissable tribute to a true genius.

 

Website Notice

Please be aware that I am currently in the process of transferring hosting providers for Filmverdict. You may come accross errors or technical problems during this time. I apologise for any issues that occur and will do my best to fix them as quickly as possible! (My technical skills are sadly limited, so some trial and error will be involved.)

If you can't access the site via the usual method (i.e. filmverdict.co.uk), try filmverdict.zxq.net, www.filmverdict.zxq.net/cinema.html or, for the section hosted by Blogger, filmverdict.blogspot.com.

Hopefully, if all runs smoothly, you won't even notice!

Cinema Review: The Hangover Part II (2011)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s what Warner Bros., the people behind The Hangover decided to do with The Hangover Part II. They know there’s a reason the first film became the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. So they gave us more of the same with the Wolf Pack waking up after a wild night they can’t remember. Somehow, Stu has disfigured himself again. Somehow, there’s a random animal in their room. And somehow, another wedding is in jeopardy because of a disappearance and a case of mistaken identity. Instead of Las Vegas, Nevada however, director Todd Phillips has changed the locale to Bangkok, Thailand which is the only noticeable difference.

It’s rare to encounter a sequel that’s more rewarding when you haven’t seen the original but Phillips has created an enigma of sorts in the next incarnation of his 2009 smash hit. It may be under the sequel moniker, but The Hangover Part II (unlike The Godfather: Part II there’s no colon) does nothing to advance ‘the world’ of the original or the characters that inhabit it. Sure, it isn’t a comic book film or an evolving franchise, but the sheer lack of inventiveness makes this one of the laziest films you are ever likely to see, let alone this summer.

The film is littered with re-run gags, and it is not preposterous to claim one may have a better experience if they have no knowledge of what has occurred previously. By using an identical structure, beat-for-beat, the element of surprise is gone. A crazy Asian man jumping out of an ice box instead of a car trunk, masturbation/penis jokes with a monkey instead of a baby, waking up in a trashed Bangkok hotel room instead of within the confines of The Strip; the list goes on and on from the first to last scene. Yes, even the credits many loved from the original don’t have the same impact here.

The opening credits shots even match, as we see ‘A Todd Phillips Movie’ over the identically framed push-in shot of the wedding ceremony being set up. In a world where audiences connect with the awful Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer films that simply re-enact scenes from popular films without any re-imagination, Phillips and screenwriters Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong were mistaken that they can copy that formula here and achieve similar results using their own blueprint.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering the original Hangover screenwriters, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, had nothing to do with this film. When the writers of Due Date, School for Scoundrels, The Heartbreak Kid, Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4 and Superhero Movie team up on a screenplay, originality is not exactly the superior ingredient. Ironically though the whole experiment in the Far East is funny.

Luckily for everyone involved and the franchise’s legions of fans, the rehash works. The characterisations are not to be congratulated though. Phil (Cooper) has gone from being an amusing pretty boy to a truly unpleasant one, while Alan’s (Galifianakis) stupidity is annoying more often than it is funny. After three films (he played almost the exact same character in Due Date and television show Bored to Death), Galifianakis’s borderline retarded shtick has lost all of its charm; the actor needs to find something new or risk becoming truly unbearable. Ed Helms’ Stu is the only likeable one of the trio, so naturally he suffers the most disgusting fate.

The plaudits should go to the second unit team for creating some great set pieces (a good car chase in particular), Ken Jeong for getting even funnier in his extended cameo role as Mr Chow and ultimately to Phillips for pushing the envelope. Realising the plot lacked originality he made the action ballsier than any mainstream comedy in recent memory. The venture into the extreme pays off and the target demographic will find the jokes extremely funny.



Summary
Viewing The Hangover Part II is like spending a night in a Bangkok brothel. Sure, it’s fun while it lasts. Maybe you’ll even recommend the experience to your friends. But in the cold light of day, it will just as likely leave you feeling vaguely cheated and a little bit unfulfilled. Maybe this is a harsh critique because the outing is hilarious at times, just a complete carbon copy of its predecessor.

Blu-ray Review: Shutter Island (2010)

A hallmark of many a great film is that it rewards repeat viewings and even grows in stature in hindsight. Shutter Island proves to be one such film that is a different experience on repeat viewing. The first paragraph below is a condensed version of my original review, and the rest details my new perspective having revisited it on Blu-ray. Spoilers will still be avoided as much as possible.

Martin Scorsese's deepest excursion into genre filmmaking yet is lathered in suspense and unease. The setting is prime horror/thriller material: an asylum for the criminally insane on a rocky islet a few miles from Boston. Two US Marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are sent there to investigate the inexplicable disappearance of a female patient/prisoner, but before long a hurricane-force storm approaches, cutting off the asylum from the outside world. Isolation and confined spaces are naturally conducive to suspense, and it proves to be the case again here. The film is a classy, cerebral affair with a strong central performance, DiCaprio becoming increasingly unhinged as the story progresses. The source of his apparent psychosis is revealed in intriguing flashback-dreams: as a US soldier, he witnessed the liberation of Dachau concentration camp in World War 2 (the main narrative takes place in 1954); an unspecified amount of time later, his wife was killed in a tenement fire. With such an engrossing set-up, and a compelling air of mystery for much of the running time, it's a shame that the ending of the film is so rote and predictable. In fact, so many hints are dropped about the twist to come that at times it seems that it may be an attempt at misdirection. Alas, it proves not to be the case, although it must be said that the "twist" does make sense; it works, but it's just slightly anticlimactic. Regardless, Shutter Island is still an excellently constructed, gripping and beautifully made excursion into the macabre.

With foreknowledge of the somewhat contentious ending, Shutter Island becomes a more involving and moving watch. When you're no longer trying to figure out where the plot is going, it's far easier to concentrate on the masterful construction. Scorsese is exercising filmmaking muscles that he rarely employs - this is far more melodramatic and, perhaps, overwrought than his normal stock-in-trade - and seems to revel in the freedom and stylistic flourishes that the genre playground affords him. On one hand, you'd hardly call it subtle: in the first few minutes, booming ominous music and conspicuously sinister angles and lightning seem to be laying on the atmosphere with a spade. (For the record, I love the baroque excesses, particularly the brilliantly prominent music.) Conversely, Scorsese's hints towards the inevitable twist ending are often insignificant enough to pass you by on first viewing. More impressively, his handling and measured unveiling of Daniels' backstory is gripping and sensitively unfurled at precise intervals.

The impact of the ending differs markedly second time round. The overwhelming feeling that comes across this time is heartfelt sadness; the story is in many ways a tragedy and becomes ever more moving and poignant. The flashback that occurs at the ending is beautifully directed and played by the actors, particularly DiCaprio, who has rarely had to plumb such shocking emotional depths. Flashback aside, I still have some quibbles with the delivery: the fact that the 'twist' is just revealed through a lengthy monologue is unimaginative, as its the scene's static staging in a slightly dull interior. Nevertheless the resolution is incredibly powerful on reflection. Brilliantly, Scorsese leaves a lingering sense of ambiguity with the final scene, which accommodates two equally valid readings.

In one of the disc's featurettes, Scorsese discusses how he had to consider repeat viewings during the whole filmmaking process, knowing that one's perspective on practically every scene changes with prior knowledge of the eventual outcome. The result is massively impressive: like the director says, it's almost like watching two different films. At any moment the charade could dip into the absurd or ridiculous, but it never does, achieving an emotional resonance that elevates it beyond its supposed genre limitations.



Release Information
Country: UK / Region: Free / Version: N/A / Discs: 1 / Distributor: Paramount

Presentation
Continuing Paramount’s excellent track record, the transfer is spot on. Lush, bold colours give the image real pop (especially in the fascinating dream/flashback sequences) and overall clarity and depth is just exceptional. The DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack is brilliant at adding to the atmosphere, be it distant moans of patients or the swirling wind and rain in the storm. Cleverly, when Teddy is hallucinating, the voices of the people he talks to seem to come from all directions at once. It’s a subtle but powerful way of indicating the off-kilter nature of the scenes and Teddy’s fractured mental state.

Extras
There’s disappointingly little bonus material. By maximising the bitrate for the feature Paramount have apparently left little room for extras, but the 37 minutes (all in 1080p, mind) on offer still seems skimpy. It’s divided into two featurettes, the first - "Behind the Shutters" - being not much more than your typical “he was so great to work with” love-in, and the second, "Into the Lighthouse", looking more deeply at the real life inspiration for the film and the treatment of medical conditions it depicts, with contributions from author Dennis Lehane. Given that Scorsese is such a great talker, and the film shows him on fine form, the lack of commentary or further insight is a missed opportunity.



Summary
Despite a few quibbles abound the plot resolution, this is one island well worth visiting more than once. Scorsese manipulates the emotions and plays with suspense like the maestro he is, and Paramount's Blu-ray transfer is impeccable.

News: Fincher's Dragon Tattoo gets a trailer

"The feel bad movie of Christmas" is what the trailer actually sells this movie as. The movie in question? David Fincher's version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the English-language adaptation of Steig Larsson's monumentally best-selling thriller novel.

The trailer can be found here at Apple.

If you ask me, it's a pretty stunning, very effective teaser. And it definitely is just a teaser - comprising a succession of fast cuts to a cover of Immigrant Song. It's reminiscent of the teaser for Fincher's last outing, the rather well received The Social Network.

Is Fincher "respectable" now? It seems that way, with his last two movies - Network and Benjamin Button, having been in the race for Best Picture. Up to and including Zodiac (which I still insist is one of the best films of the last decade), his work was generally not embraced by the awards crowd. You could say that his more awards-recognised films since then have coincided with a softening of his previously severe styling, which is partly what made his earlier films so good. Could Dragon Tattoo be Fincher's return to dark, amazing thriller territory that he made his name with in Se7en?

Dragon Tattoo, of course, has already been made into a Swedish movie (a trilogy, indeed, encompassing Larsson's whole series), which I've been meaning to see. I haven't read the books either. I might just wait until Christmas, so I can see this new Fincher outing fresh. It certainly has me intrigued.