DVD review: Flashbacks of a Fool 11/03/2009

This film had been staring at me from the shelves of our local Blockbusters, and it looked like your typical empty-life-leads-to-journey-of-self-discovery movie. After watching it, I wouldn’t call it that.

Firstly, the movie title should drop the pluraliser. The movie is pretty much one long flashback, so much so that you forget it’s actually happening in modern times.

Essentially, it’s about Joe Scott (Daniel Craig) who leads a hedonistic, empty, materialistic existence as an actor (don’t they all?). The death of his childhood friend as well as his rejection from a film for being too old lead him to go to the beach, float poetically and fully clothed out to sea and remember his time growing up in a little British seaside town in the 70s.

This flashback of his teenagerhood is the bulk of the movie. It explores the story of why he eventually left the little seaside town.

At first, I thought it was based on a book because there is so much that isn’t said and so many unanswered questions (like, who exactly is Peggy Tickle anyway?). I thought it would all be clear if I read the source material, but alas. It was an original screenplay.

Perhaps it’s because the writer/director is a music video maker. I guess he’s too used to saying a lot in a short while by implying most of it. But we don’t really engage with the characters of music videos, now do we?

I won’t lie, this film got a tear or two out of me at the end. Perhaps I’m just weak to the effects of the sight of someone crying desperately to a moving soundtrack.

The final verdict? Give this one a skip. If you want a good movie about someone who goes back to their roots after being successful somewhere else, check out As It Is In Heaven.

My rating: 5

IMDb’s rating: 6.8

Directed by Baillie Walsh (Mirror, Mirror and music videos)

Starring Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Layer Cake, The Golden Compass)

Eve (Barbershop, xXx, her TV show Eve)

Claire Forlani (Mallrats, Meet Joe Black, Basquiat)

* The actors mentioned are merely the biggest names in the film, they certainly don’t have the most screen time. That would go to their younger counterparts. Except for Eve, she’s the housekeeper. The only black person in the movie is a housekeeper. Progressive, eh?

Movie review: Slumdog Millionaire 09/03/2009

It may not be worth it for me to review this movie, since it’s been done and talked about to death. But read on and I’ll try to explain what my thoughts were and why I think the hype is a bit misguided.

I never read Q&A or any of the reviews for this film, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. But I saw the trailers and heard the big hoo-ha, and the biggest shock to me was how heavy and hard-to-watch it was at times. All the noise around the movie said how feel-good it is. I was prepared for a warm fuzzy feeling.

I was wrong. It only gets happy at the end. Most of the movie is about the pain of living in poverty and how difficult it is for children to survive alone.

I had seen one of Danny Boyle’s other feel-good movies, Millions, and I thought Slumdog would be similar to that, but it seems to be the bastard child of Millions and Trainspotting: “Fine, we’ll give you joy, but to get there you need to experience pain!”. Granted, had it been so happy it would not have won so many Oscars. The academy seems to like pain, loss, longing etc.

I was on the verge of tears for most of the movie, because it actually starts with a torture scene. Now, this had been called “the feel-good movie of the year” or something like that. A torture scene? Really?!

As misled as I felt, the movie offered more depth than I had expected. And that’s always good. Everyone loves the rags-to-riches underdog stories, and this one is better than the rest of the bunch.

It’s an emotional ride, but a fun one with a happy ending.

My rating: 8

IMDb’s rating: 8.6 (number 42 on the top 250)

Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Millions, Sunshine) and

Loveleen Tandan (her co-directorial debut)

Starring Dev Patel (his feature film debut) and Freida Pinto (her feature film debut)

Movie review: The Wrestler 24/02/2009

This film fits very well with the others by Darren Aronofsky – slow and heartbreaking. Also very gory. It was rather interesting to see a film about professional wrestling, and a meaningful one at that, since it’s such a silly and cartoonish industry, not really quality film fodder.

I’ve never been a fan of professional wrestling, not since the early 90s when my brother practiced wrestling moves on me in a ring constructed of pushing two couches together. But in the film, I found the relationships between the wrestlers fascinating. So I hope that was accurately portrayed. They are obviously hurting each other, although not as badly as we think. They are displaying animosity towards each other, and taking revenge by beating the hell out of each other except… before and after the match, they pat each other on the back and compliment each other. It seems like a very twisted industry.

The film was very slow-moving, especially at the beginning. Much of the movie is taken up by showing how he lives and where he works and most of the early beginning is a tracking shot showing the back of his head.

This movie portrayed the hopelessness and sadness so well. And Mickey Rourke did the washed-up has-been strikingly well. The badly bleached hair, the leathery tan… What I also liked about the film is that while you liked the protagonist, you had very little sympathy when he messed up because, well, he brought it on himself.

He was a very lonely character. His daughter hated him, the only woman in his life was an ageing stripper, his boss was a complete tool and besides his wrestling buddies, his only other friend was a kid in the neighbourhood that politely played an old Nintendo wrestling game to humour him.

It’s a very bleak movie, but I expected nothing less from Aronofsky. No one expected a happy ending, but you kind of hope for one.

It’s not schmaltzy in its emotion, having caused me to only shed two or three tears. And while I appreciated the honesty of the context, it was kind of painful to watch.

So if you feel like something with honest but painful emotions, and you’re willing to live without a happy ending, go watch it.

My rating… 8
IMDb’s rating… 8.5 (number 59 on the top 250)

Directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream, Pi)
Starring Mickey Rourke (Sin City, Nine 1/2 Weeks, Buffalo ’66)
Maria Tomei (My Cousin Vinnie, Untamed Heart, Four Rooms)
Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen, Across the Universe, Running With Scissors)

Movie review: Seven Pounds 17/02/2009

While this is by no means the perfect movie, I went in wanting a good cry, and I got one. As anyone who has watched a movie with me knows, I cry very easily when the emotions are buzzing around. I’m a sucker for it, but I can often resist the cheap schmaltzy emotion.

So, I got a great cry in at the end. Curious looks of fellow movie-goers aside, I had a great time.

The good: it was a wonderfully emotional and pretty-to-look-at movie. There was a great deal of the intense emotion without the my-veins-have-been-ripped-out raw emotion. The music was great. There were funny, sweet, heartwarming moments. Another good point: sociologically, it’s great to see lead characters that aren’t white. Will Smith seems to be the leading man that is changing the typical predominantly white movie. There were main characters that were white, but the majority of characters weren’t. It was refreshing, and felt less cookie-cutter.

The bad: there are some unanswered questions. A lot of background and exploration of the different characters was sacrificed for scenes on the relationship between Ben Thomas (Will Smith) and Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson). Yes, their relationship was important, but she is a character new to Ben Thomas’s life, whereas his relationships with his brother and his best friend were not adequately explored. More in-depth background on these characters, and the rest of the seven that Ben was helping, would have made a larger impact at the end.

The verdict: Watch it if you’re in the mood for something emotional and not too light nor too heavy. Yes, there are cheesy bits, but it’s to be expected. It’s a romantic drama for goodness sake. But it’s not so sweet it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

My rating: 7
IMDb’s rating: 7.6

Directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness, L’Ultimo Baccio)
Starring Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness, Hancock, Independence Day) and
Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Rent, Josie and the Pussycats)

DVD review: Leatherheads 12/02/2009

Dear ol’ George Clooney. When did your directing become so… Coen-esque? This quirky movie set in the 1920s reminded me a little too much of The Hudsucker Proxy. Which, I’m afraid, is better. The premise is the same: sassy go-getter journalist (in this case, Renee Zellweger) is sent to investigate naïve young man (John Krasinski), and in the end, her feelings get in the way.

In this case, it’s sports rather than the invention of the hula hoop, and she doesn’t fall in love with the naïve young man but… it’s a bit similar for my taste.

Still a fun movie though, if you suspend the comparison with the Coen brothers. I know nothing about American football, but the movie wasn’t really heavily focused on that, and the old-timey backdrop is quaint.

So all in all, fun to watch, and quirky and quaint and light. But I’m afraid, George, you are no match for the Coens.

My rating…  6.5
IMDb’s rating… 6.2

Directed by George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck., Confessions of a Dangerous Mind)
Starring George Clooney (Ocean’s 11, Batman & Robin, ER) as Jimmy “Dodge” Connelly
Renee Zellweger (Jerry Maguire, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Miss Potter) as Lexie Littleton
and John Krasinski (Jarhead, The Office, License to Wed) as Carter Rutherford

Movie review: Frost/Nixon 10/02/2009

My, my, but Ron Howard enjoys his based-on-a-true-story movies. The director has an impressive filmography, but seems to win the most acclaim for movies like Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, the second of which won some Oscars. Frost/Nixon, too, has been nominated for an Oscar, but we’ll see how that pans out on the 22nd.

Back to the review. The casting and acting was impeccable, the faux documentary style was engaging but… there was just something missing. The film didn’t absorb me. I just didn’t get lost in the film, which is my favourite part. Many will probably disagree with me, as more than 11 000 people have voted it into the IMDb top 250.

One of my biggest gripes is the trailer. As always, not only did it give everything away (like the climax) but it was also misleading. In the trailer, it seems like David Frost always has the upper hand and causes drama and blindsides Richard Nixon from the beginning. This is not so. Nixon has the upper hand for most of the film.

Watch it, but because the hype has over inflated it, don’t expect to be blown away. But expect a satisfying political movie, well acted and directed.

My rating… 7.2
IMDb’s rating…8.1

Directed by Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, The Da Vinci Code)
Starring Michael Sheen (Blood Diamond, The Queen, Underworld) as David Frost
and Frank Langella (Superman Returns, Good Night and Good Luck, Masters of the Universe) as Richard Nixon