Film

Guardians of the Galaxy

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09/08/14

The creators of Guardians of the Galaxy would probably like to think that their film is a cut above your average space opera – and indeed, there is much about it that I absolutely loved. But I would also have to admit that there are several elements that seem horribly cliched. The plus points: an unusual cast that includes a talking racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a monosyllabic talking tree (Vin Deisel). Hero Chris Pratt’s nicely sardonic patter neatly undercuts the film’s more pompous passages, and for once here’s a kick-ass heroine (Zoe Saldana) who has a bit more depth than your average green-skinned alien. And then there’s that sublime soundtrack of 80’s classics…

But there are several not so good points. A needlessly complicated plot. Everyone seems to be chasing a metal orb with the power to destroy the galaxy, but at times, it’s hard to fathom anyone’s motivation. The inevitable evil villain (Lee Pace as Ronan) who talks as though he’s just swallowed a bottle of rohypnol and spends most of his time smiting his enemies. The occasional walk-on megastar – Glenn Close and Beniccio Del Toro, dressed up to the nines but given very little to do. And one of those huge special effect climactic battles where the ‘Guardians’ seem to destroy half of a city in their attempts to save it. (See Team America: World Police.)

Of course, the runaway success of this first instalment means that the series will have a sequel and it will probably be even bigger, louder and just as prone to cliche. For me, this is a film in opposition with itself and the score reflects that imbalance.

3.8 stars

Philip Caveney

Begin Again

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13/07/14

Writer/director John Carney is, of course, the man who created the phenomenon that is Once. Begin Again, is basically a better-heeled version of the same story. Man meets woman, they make a record together, the lyrics of the songs reflect on the story.

So, not exactly a stellar jump for Carney but one that nonetheless has charms of its own. Mark Ruffalo is Dan, an independent record producer who’s career has taken a nosedive after the breakup of his marriage to Miriam (Catherine Keener). One night, drunk in a club, he witnesses a song by singer/songwriter Greta (Keira Knightly) and decides he wants to make an album with her. But she too is damaged goods, having recently been dumped by her partner, Dave (Adam Levine) a self-centred musician currently making a meteoric breakthrough into the big time. Against all the odds, Dan and Greta manage to record their record live on the streets of New York…

OK, leaving aside the sheer impossibility of actually doing that, this is an entertaining movie that demonstrates a real understanding of the current music industry. Knightly makes more than a decent fist of performing the songs (anyone who saw her in the Edge of Love will already know that she can carry a tune) and the ‘will they. won’t they?’ relationship with Ruffalo cooks up some fair chemistry. The scene where Ruffalo visualises the production he’s going to do of Greta’s song is fabulous and probably worth the price of admission alone. This is a entertaining film, but next time out, Carney is definitely going to have to spread his net a little wider.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

Boyhood

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11/7/14

Richard Linklater is what used to be known, in the classic days of Hollywood, as a maverick director. Which pretty much means that you never know what to expect from him next. From his assured debut with Dazed and Confused, through School of Rock and the various animated experiments he’s done, he’s kept his viewing public well and truly unbalanced. But who could have anticipated Boyhood?

The USP of this movie is that Linklater filmed his scenes over a twelve year period, using the same cast. The boy of the title is Mason (Ellar Coltrane). When we first meet him he’s a six year old, desperately trying to come to terms with the breakup of his parent’s marriage. Mom, is Patricia Arquette, an independent woman who longs for a career but is hampered by her unerring ability to choose the wrong man every time. Dad is Ethan Hawke, wild, feckless but incredibly likeable. And Mason’s sister is Samantha (Lorelei Linklater, the director’s own daughter). Storywise, what we get is a series of episodic vignettes that follows Mason and his extended family across the years, seeing everyone literally age 12 years in the process. The result is as delicious and it is extraordinarily magical. How many times have we seen three different kids brought in to represent one character? And how often have we seen actors buried under layers of latex to indicate the passing years.

Boyhood is a triumphant film, one that elicits genuine emotions, following as it does the (quite literal) rites of passage as a boy passes from childhood into manhood. And what a superbly eclectic soundtrack! After a recent drought in the cinema, this comes as a much needed drink of cool, refreshing water. Absolutely unmissable.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Theatre Of Blood

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22/08/14

Many people have a favourite Vincent Price movie and for me, it’s always been his 1973 horror-romp, Theatre of Blood. Price plays veteran actor, Edward Lionheart, seemingly returned from the dead to enact grisly vengeance upon the critics who derided his performances, each murder enacted in the style of a Shakespeare play. With a witty screenplay by Anthony Greville-Bell and suitably quirky direction from Douglas Hickcox, the movie serves as a spiritual boost for every artist who has ever suffered at the hands of critics.

A superb seventies ensemble cast includes Ian Hendry, Diana Rigg (as Lionheart’s equally unhinged daughter, Edwina) Robert Morley, Arthur Lowe, Coral Browne (or Mrs Price, as she was sometimes known), Michael Hordern and many more, while Price has great fun hamming up some of the immortal bards best-known lines. Newly released on DVD, this is too good to miss, but be warned. The scene where one character chokes to death on a pie containing his own pet poodles is not for the faint-hearted.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Ace In The Hole

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22/08/14

In 1951, writer/director Billy Wilder was riding the crest of the wave he’d generated with Sunset Boulevarde, a critically acclaimed and very successful movie. But his next film, Ace In The Hole, featured a story so vitriolic and poisonous that it almost sank his career forever.

Now rereleased in a spanking new black and white print, it couldn’t be more prescient and thoroughly deserves re-evaluation. Kirk Douglas, at the height of his considerable powers plays Chuck Tatum, a former big shot reporter who finds himself all washed up in Alberqurque and forced to take a post on a local newspaper. He’s constantly on the lookout for the big story that will propel him back to former glories and thinks he’s found it when he chances upon an accident in an old Indian mine where a luckless restaurant owner, Leo Minosa has been trapped by a cave-in. Chuck sets about creating a ‘human interest’ story about the attempt to rescue Leo and proceeds to milk it for all its worth, even taking steps to ensure that the process takes longer than it needs to.

Though nominated for an Oscar, the American public didn’t take kindly to a film that suggested that newspapers sold lies, that the general public would flock like vultures to a catastrophe and that the lure of easy money will always win out over common decency. Tatum is a vile creation, a man who will stop at nothing to further his career and pretty much every other character around him is revealed as a self-serving, gutless wonder, including Leo’s shrewish wife, Lorraine (Jan Sterling). Despite it’s 1950’s setting, this is a film that still resonates today and ranks amongst Wilder’s finest achievements.

5 stars

Philip Caveney