**Gers On Film - Rushes** : A few filums Ive caught up on recently in bite-sized portions. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014) - Wes Anderson has a specific style that can sometimes mislead viewers to thinking that hes essentially re-making the same movie every time he goes out to bat. Not true, certainly, however there is a commonality that runs through everything he does - be it that wickedly dry sense of humour, precisely symmetrical cinematography or a growing troupe of actors that obviously enjoy working with the man. Its all here again in The Grand Budapest Hotel and whilst the elements have come together to be a bit hit-and-miss in the past, Anderson has hit his stride and has made probably his best film to date. The story cleverly criss-crosses time periods in a fictional land that bears a striking resemblance to Europe during the Second World War years and also layers his story with different narrators and aspect ratios, corresponding to the convention of film of the time period in the story. It all sounds very cerebral but Anderson manages to keep us entertained with a warm sense of humour flowing throughout, ably helped by a perfectly cast set of characters. Its great to look at too and will/should be nominated for Art Direction come next years Oscars. 8/10 JACK RYAN : SHADOW RECRUIT (2014) - A re-boot of the Jack Ryan series created in novel form by the late Tom Clancy, it seems the makers were trying a bit of a Casino Royale on the character by bringing us Ryans origin story. Taking us back to 9/11 in Ryans college days then on to his foray into the war on terror and eventually his introduction to the CIA, winding him up in Russia against the villainous Kenneth Branagh (also on directing duties), JR:SR covers ground that nobody really needed or wanted to know. I guess it sounded like a good idea at the time, though its been a long time since the Ryan name had any real brand value. Its pretty bland in the end and the most thrilling set piece ends up with Ryan (Chris Pine) basically doing a bit of low-level computer hacking. Keira Knightley is here too but doesnt add much. Average spy-thriller-action at best. 5/10 HENRYS CRIME (2010) - This one seemed to slip through the cracks back in 2010 and for good reason. Ostensibly about dim-witted Henry(Keanu Reeves), a toll booth attendant on a seemingly forgotten stretch of highway in Buffalo, New York getting caught up with some shady friends in a heist that he eventually takes the fall for. Teaming up with a con he meets on the inside (James Caan) and a stage actor with the accompanying ego (Vera Farmiga) to end up doing the job he wasnt really a part of in the first place. Tonally, this is all over the map and just when you think its starting to finally come together, it falls apart again. There are stabs at comedy that fall flat, inappropriate music choices that erase the mood of what had just come before and some pretty vanilla cinematography. The cast try - they really do - but its a losing battle. 4/10 LOCKE (2013) - A high-concept film if ever there was one : A man hops in his car after a shift on a construction site and drives for an hour-and-a-half, slowly destroying the building blocks of his life via the simple use of his mobile phone. Essentially a one-man stage play, with contributions from actors off-screen, the action remains in his car from go-to-whoah in real time. There are few actors that can pull off this kind of demand, especially on film where it can be challenging to make a feature film also in a single location. As such, Tom Hardy does a fine job, bringing a fully-formed person to the screen. Helped by a slowly revealing screenplay, Hardy manages to keep your attention for the bulk of the film with only occasional breaks to make you wonder how they might have done this or that. Credit to all involved, especially Hardy and writer/director Steven Knight, though a particular device to keep the story flowing in the quieter times doesnt strictly work in the films favour. 6/10 TRICK r TREAT (2007) - As its coming up to Halloween, thought Id throw on this horror-movie recommendation from 2007. Trick r Treat is basically the Pulp Fiction of horror movies: an anthology of creepy stories intertwining throughout the night of All Hallows Eve in a small American town. The usual myths and legends are all here, presented in unashamedly comic-book form, with the writer/director Michael Dougherty (writer of X-Men 2 and Superman Returns) having loads of fun with conventions and messing around with timelines. The reputation of Trick r Treat has grown over the years, having initially been faced with the dumping of it by the studio (Warner Bros.)after a release delay of 2 years. The horror genre is littered with bad re-makes, pale imitations of good horror films and blatant cash grabs, but here is an anomaly - an anthology of all-original tales that actually creates new, memorable characters and stories that manage to creep you out while poking fun at standard horror-movie tropes. In fact, the cult of Trick r Treat has swelled to such a crescendo that a sequel is slated for release in 2015. If youre a fan of the genre, add an extra point. 6/10
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:42:03 +0000