The Ghost – Roman Polanski
Recently I’ve been having trouble with really recognising when a film will be shit or not, and considering i rarely read other people’s reviews, only that of certain people i trust, The Ghost or The Ghost Writer, depending on where you’re from, didn’t seem to jump out at me when i heard about it. It has Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and not many other people. It’s a small cast with recognisable faces like Tom Wilkinson but it doesn’t have the presence you’d suspect from a really great thriller suspense film that clearly deserves more recognition. It’s artistic, it’s humorous, it’s interesting and it draws you in from the get go. Your never force fed information, your never drawn away from the plot and the main characters but at the same time it feels new, it feels different, mainly to do with the plot surrounding a recent ex-prime minister who is being charged for offensives he may not have done, horrible war crimes. The new ghost writer, Ewan appears and is given the task to finish Brosnan book full of secret memoirs, so secret that he has relocated to a deserted island, only reachable by ferry. In this secret house, Ewan is given the task to go through the manuscript and find out for himself what is true or not and after digging around, finds information that doesn’t connect, leading to a satisfying and interesting end which i never saw coming. And that rarely happens for me, as i normally can tell “who did it” or “who will die”.
Ranging from some great performances, to a lush cinematography and being directed by, somewhat controversy and somewhat legendary visionary Roman Polanski, it shows the great flair and style that many directors don’t have. With lingering establishing shots and a mix of up close and personal shots, the pace is slow throughout but picks up when needed to. This defiantly is a well crafted film with a great script and subtle enough not to make you annoyed. The suspense and thriller aspects of the film are well done and i can’t really find fault with it. It’s not your typical successful film, but it does the job and i thoroughly surprised by how much i enjoyed it, it was a change from the usual shit i have to watch from the boring, unfunny comedies to the over-the-top senseless action epics which rely too much on camerawork instead of story and script. So i recommend checking this out for an adult watch.
7/10
Simon Childs
Robin Hood – Ridley Scott
The latest incarnation of the Robin character, yeah that bloke from Nottingham sees the rough and tough actor Russell Crowe attempt a shocking accent along with direction by the legendary director Ridley Scott. Does this match up to past Robin Hood films or does it just blow so hard that you wish you was in Nottingham forest meeting a couple of eager doggers waiting for the latest “hotties” to arrive. Maybe not that drastic because certain aspects of the film are likeable, it isn’t a major turd fest, sure it’s over two hours long and sure it features annoying characters, with a poor script, action sequences that lack any action and a confusing plot which isn’t something you want to want to solve or understand, it’s just annoying and you soon become bored of it. You’ll have your avid fans of Scott and his work, and i happen to love some of his past flicks, don’t get me wrong, he’s a visionary director, but here, he suffers from a poor lack of direction in the script and story and it shows. He fills most of the time looking for beauty and realism with the setting and the scenes around Robin. The actors don’t do much justice either, with Cate Blanchet playing possibly the most annoying character of all time, seriously, she bugs the fuck out of me in this whole film, i would of been happy just to completely cut her role and have the film it way it is, it probably would of made more sense and not been about the people around Robin rather than Robin himself. It’s like how Superman never threw a punch in Superman Returns, i want to see Robin in his archery god status and kill shit. I wanna see him steal from the rich, see him do death defying things, like shit you see in characters that reference him or are inspired by him. You wanna see the original, be the original.
A story so tightly wound, an origins story with not much origins, Robin Hood, a man who was in the army of England, and after losing their latest King, an arrogant young Prince becomes the new owner of the people and with betrayal by a close friend who joins the French, Robin must help the new King in defeating the troublemakers. Along the way through in a rough love story, a group of merry men who follow Robin, having side adventures, troubles with the land and tax, and also a few parts involving fighting and over throwing certain areas of England. It seems such a lot, and it does make it right to have a 2 and a half hour film to fit all of this nonsense, but you really don’t need it. You know there will be a number 2 in the next couple of years with the ending they had. It’s obvious; it’s just a shame that no one really wants it. I don’t.
5/10
Simon Childs
Paper Man – Kieran and Michele Mulroney
A man made of paper sounds like the shittest idea for a superhero doesn’t it? Or maybe the Paper Man fires paper at people giving them really annoying paper cuts. Maybe he uses different types of paper like crate or see-through to give off different affects. Sadly the Paper Man film starring Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone and the ever amazing Ryan Reynolds doesn’t feature a superhero that has paper based powers, but it does feature an imaginary superhero in the mind of the character of Jeff Daniels played by Reynolds. A seemingly lost writer, Daniels, goes to a small village to live in a shack for a few months to write a new book and he soon finds it’s not as easy as he thought, as his imagination runs wild, having an imagery person crash into his life and causing havoc by telling him what’s wrong and right about his life. Whilst living in this small shack, he finds a new attraction to a local girl, played by Stone, who soon begin an unlikely friendship which borders on the strange and could possibly go further, but never does. Daniels is married to Lisa Kudrow and their marriage is also a major factor in the film, showing the slow decline of their distance from each other. But the major performance here is both Daniels and incredibly Kieran Culkin who plays Stone’s friend who seems to be in love with her. The two performances make the film with Daniels commanding the film bringing some subtle humour and a real sadness that will deeply affect you when you watch it, it really shows his range and his true capability as an actor, something which is also seen in one my favourite films The Squid and The Whale. Culkin, only seen as a bit part to the story is amazing, truly is, and shows that the brother of the famous Culkin can act and his relationship with Stone’s character is deeply upsetting and full of raw emotion. Sure he has the same face for most of it, but the way he stands, the posture, the way he walks, it seems as though, the little details matter more.
With this being a shorter review than normal because i have nothing bad to say about it, it may seem that i really love this film, it’s a great film but i wouldn’t say it’s the best I’ve seen this year. It entertained me but in a different way to anything I’ve seen this year. It’s more about the human emotions and the realness of the whole scenario. It’s chilling and depressing, but sometimes that’s what you want.
7/10
Simon Childs
Date Night – Shawn Levy
The latest comedy offering from the wonderfully funny Steve Carell and the newest addition to the television to the film apartment: the hilarious Tina Fey. Tina Fey’s been great on a little show called 30 Rock and was one of the best whilst on Saturday Night Live and this is one of, hopefully, many new films she gets to headline and drive, especially in the limelight instead of being in the background. The chemistry of the two fits perfectly with the film and they are two of the funniest people on TV and now film. Well i say that, but the film isn’t as good as you’d hope it to be. It’s been hyped a lot, but unfortunately it lacks a good idea and a good script for it to work, sure the ad-lib by both of them is very good and everything, but it just doesn’t feel right, it just feels like an hour long sketch from SNL. Featuring a smattering of cameos from Mark Wahlberg, Ray Liotta, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, Common and Will.i.am, all of them playing the stereotypical characters they portray in most of their films and it working for some of them and others just seem to be there for their star value. Sure they make a few laughs here and there, but it just doesn’t really fit with the whole story. And again, as mentioned above, it feels like an hour long SNL sketch.
Directed by Shawn Levy, the man behind Night of the Museum, brings the story of the Fosters, played by Carell and Fey, who after being in a seemingly simple marriage decide to go on a date where they steal a reservation and are suddenly thrown into the deep end and begin a wild goose chase around the city as they try to figure out why they are being chased and use people they know to help them. The people chasing them seem to be corrupt police officers so it makes it doubly as difficult to figure out what’s going on for the couple. The couple first go to the couple whose reservation it was and find out they are the ones wanted by the corrupt officers and they are played by Franco and Kunis, who play the role relatively well and bring about some humour to the film. You can tell it has the same vibe as Night at the Museum with different cameos and the lead guy being stupid but loveable at the same time.
It’s a film to have in the background or to something to watch at Christmas. It’s a decent family film which all the family can watch with the parents getting the adult jokes and the children liking the slapstick parts.
5/10
Simon Childs
The Ghost – Roman Polanski
