Heartbreaker

This is another addition to the growing canon of Hollywood flavoured French romantic comedies. And as my girlfriend consumes rom-coms voraciously and often with scant regard to quality, long may this trend continue. I enjoyed Priceless, the last film in the genre I have reviewed, and in the familiar setting of Monaco (both films take place in the adult fantasy land) Heartbreaker has, at its heart, two leads that heroically carry the film through the ridiculous turns in plot. This is so often missing in many Hollywood rom-coms, yet it is absolutely essential for the genre to work. 

Black Death

For a lot of this film I was caught up in it as the story took some interesting and unexpected turns. The theme of religion and mass hysteria in the face of an inescapable plague was promising, especially when set in a time of superstition and witch burning. But then, it just never amounted to anything. Ideas lied splayed and disconnected like the limbs of the fallen in Black Death. I'm sure it will find a cult following as a sort of 70's horror throwback (Deliverance in the 1700's), although for me, it was a disappointing culmination of promising ideas. 

Kick Ass

As the film started and the Universal logo appeared I was gripped by an intense impatience for the film to be mine on the screen. I also felt  a less helpful anxiety about that never happening. I blame this on watching two old school cinematic movies almost back to back. This, like Robin Hood, is cinema on a big canvas. The screen was filled with the frame, which is becoming almost exclusive to films with huge budgets nowadays, but was the norm for the 80's films I grew up watching, such as Die Hard or Ghostbusters. 


Kick Ass is completely different to all other comic book movies. The film (and graphic novels by Mark Millar) is undeniably rooted more in truth and personal experience than most superhero films. I've never seen Batman have a solitary cry in front of a mirror after a particularly savage beating. I've also never seen Clark Kent pretend he is gay to fire into Lois Lane. Kick Ass is partly about how bad an idea it would be if you actually became a masked vigilante. Especially if you become an efficient crime fighter, as you turn into a mass murdering psychopath. (The film does not shy away from the brutality of killing eight or so foes, no matter how imaginatively they are dispatched). It took me a while to figure out why the violence was so surprising, and then I realised that most superheroes don't kill, they just injure. Hit Girl, the best superhero ever created, is a rampaging, lethal, 13 year old. Even more shockingly according to the press uproar, she has 'cunt' in her vocabulary. .


Matthew Vaughn's film has everything that superhero films should not have: a sense of humour; changes in tone; real life tragedy; and alter ego's that fake being homosexual to spread fake tan over a girl they fancy. This is a brilliant, original and daring film, mostly because of the creation of Hit Girl. 

Robin Hood

This is Ridley Scott in less showy mode. Style yields to story: this is of a most masculine variety of hollywood blockbuster, with no time to lament in slow motion mid-battle. There is a dignified and heroic performance from Russell Crowe which reminded me of a good, old fashioned, Clint Eastwood. This is how men should be. Lesser men are either French, liars or effeminate weaklings. 


Scott makes directing a film of this scale look breathlessly easy. The two hours soar by, and its only in the last half hour you realise that it becomes a more traditional Robin Hood film. Co-incidentally, it is the poorest section of the film - where a strong Maid Marian takes feminism and realism for a ride and crashes into historical common sense. It has a 21st century sensibility, with nods to contemporary events such as a war in the east (Robin openly criticises the massacre of muslims in the crusades) and a bankrupt country. 


There is no doubt this was made as a prequel with an eye to a lucrative franchise. However, some bold decisions were made (such as the casting of relatively old leading actors in Cate Blanchett and Russell Crowe) that makes this forgivable. I'm even looking forward to the next one, so we'll see how much money it makes to ensure the sequel. Presumably directed by Michael Bay and starring a Megan Fox as Maid Marian. 

8 1/2

Federico Fellini has a lot to answer for the cult of the director. He successfully brought the troubled artist image from other mediums to cinema, and its debatable how productive this is in an art form that is dependent on collaboration. Guido, the fictional director in 8 1/2 is just to stylish. The bars and hotels are to beautiful. No wonder this inspired many directors. The life is great! But then this reminds me of what Jean-Pierre Jeunet asked at the Glasgow Film Festival: Do you want to be a film director or a film maker?

Effortlessly cool, still, but a little hard work to watch. The camerawork is always smooth and the lighting beautiful. No idea what its about, and I wonder how much of this is an elaborate exercise in style, as well as commentary on the debate of 'what is cinema?' A question Bernando Bertolucci said should be re-addressed when talking about The Dreamers in 2004.

I Love you Phillip Morris

I am guilty of an inconsistent theory that any film with a voiceover is cheating. Its to easy to get into a character's head if you simply say what they're thinking. I've never written a film with a voiceover. The inconsistency is that some of my favourite films have voiceovers, such as Fight Club, American Beauty and Goodfellas. 


This film starts in the clouds with Jim Carrey's voice describing the emotional ups and downs and revelations of Steven Russell, the real life character he plays. I thought the film was hilarious, the voiceover worked, and that some scenes were a lot more graphic than I imagined A list hollywood stars would agree to. Its a very brave film, in that it resists becoming issue led and simply exists as a gay movie, with no excuses or qualifications. Even 5 years ago (pre Brokeback Mountain) I can't imagine this film existing. You would think this is a testament to a modern American society, before the film reveals at the end that Steven Russell has been sentenced to life (for fraud) in solitary confinement. 

Watchmen

From this adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel Watchmen, I can only guess that the writer is a very, very, bitter hippy. The story is a paen to pre-70's America, the death of the 60's and, as one character points out, the American dream. 


Zack Snyder's clever use of 60's music are the sounds that you imagine these aged heroes listening to as they break the bones of infinite bad guys. Its interesting to hear the most familiar songs from Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen played in the most unfamiliar of territories: the comic book movie. 


It is a paradox of a film, at once cynical and idealistic, and this is best illustrated in  having one of the hero's themselves assassinate JFK. The film can come across as contrived, yet earnestly enthusiastic. With all the references to parody and humanity being a practical joke, Watchmen is a strange mix of being tongue in cheek and unapologetically American. Sometimes it comes over ironic, and then the next scene is set in Mars, testing the limits of my suspended disbelief. In all the confusion though its never more than greatly entertaining, and is one of the most creative and interesting comic book movie's i've seen.