Catch Up

You wait months for a post and then they all come together.

I've just realised I've seen a few films that I never reviewed. Some have probably already left the cinema (making the review useful for the DVD release perhaps? No? Fuck yourself!) It's something of a cheat I know but here is a very brief roundup of the films of the last few weeks.

A PROPHET

Best film of the year so far, a gripping, tense thriller that demands your full attention for its considerable running time but rewards you with an adult story that respects your intelligence. Boasting a phenomenol central performance, you watch Malik enter prison a wet behind the ears petty crook and finish the film a criminal boss. Playing alongside this is the decline of the current boss who seems to be played by celebrity TV chef Anthony Wirral Thompson. Despite this minor distraction, A Prophet is a cracking film that's well worth watching... on DVD...

8.5/10

SHUTTER ISLAND

Oh I just don't know... I listened to Mark Kermode's review and he liked it and I understand why but I'm really not sure. It's okay but the ending is so visible, so transparent that I sat there for 2 hours waiting for it to come rather than be engaged by a good story. It's a great setting, a great time period, well acted and Scorsese is clearly having fun behind the camera. I have a problem with much of Denis Lehane's writing and Shutter Island is no exception. In a weird way, it almost isn't pulpy or shlocky enough. That's the territory it's in and seems to be going for but it also feels like it wants to be a legitimate thriller too. I'm just not sure.

5/10

I LOVE YOU PHILIP MORRIS

Low expectations may have helped with this one but I really quite enjoyed I Love You Philip Morris. Jim Carrey is Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor doesn't completely destroy his scenes which, after a run of terrible performances, is a victory. I don't believe either of them are gay and I don't believe them as a couple which should be major stumbling blocks but weirdly I found I was able to go with the film. Also, the film features some pretty egregious gay stereotyping, the best example of which being when Jim Carrey first comes out and we see him dressed in a ludicrous outfit, mincing down the street, latino lover in tow, walking his Paris Hilton-esque dog. As a gay guy, watching scenes like this in films is usually pretty disheartening but I actually don't think the film is being malicious. The story is so ridiculous, so hard to believe (despite being true) that the film makers have gone incredibly broad in their tone so as to sell it to audiences and the the representations of the gay characters is just another example of this. This over the top tone is actually a good ploy and for the most part works. The only down side is a loss of depth of character, so we never really know what drives Carrey to do the outrageous things he does. But the film is very, very funny and has a few surprisingly touching moments.

6.5/10

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

I'm sure you've all read the book and will be completely unphazed by what I'm about to say but I haven't read the book and so I was really taken aback by how harsh, dark and, well, lurid and mysoginistic the story is. Are we allowed to be mysoginistic again? When did that happen? Whenever you see everyone reading the same book on the tube it's always something very reader-friendly. But this pulls no punches. The story is reasonably engaging, although it goes on for a good 20 minutes after the story has reached its natural conclusion, you can't have better bad guys than the nazis and it confirms one of my longest held beliefs which is that lesbians are terrifying!!! Worth a look but I can't imagine ever going back to it.

5.5/10

A SINGLE MAN

Watching this I thought it's okay but, like a crap soufle, A Single Man disintegrated with one prod of examination. Hmmm.... maybe cooking metaphors aren't for me. Any film that takes gay characters and their relationships seriously is to be applauded but that doesn't necessarily make a good film and I really feel that A Single Man has nowhere near as much depth or significance as it thinks it does. It boasts great performances that lift the film but the fact that every scene is shot like a perfume ad serves to undercut the drama at every turn. Style over substance.

4.5/10

GREEN ZONE

Shit I've seen alot of films I haven't reviewed...

Green Zone was touted as Bourne In Iraq and it kind of is but is no worse off because of it. Paul Greengrass is famous for tearing up the script and with Green Zone he hasn't just torn up the script he has torn up the book the script was based on. Gone is the journalistic polemic of Imperial Life In The Emerald City and in its place is a fast paced thriller that boasts all of Greengrass' "shaky cam" work mixed with his political interests. It's a tough mix but he gets it right and, as the pace of the film never flags, neither do the political points of intrigue and interest. Damon is Damon and is absolutely fine. Brendan Gleeson is a welcome presence in any film, even though he REALLY can't do accents but the star here is Greengrass. Engaging, exciting, just a good, solid thriller.

7/10

And I think that's it. I'll never go so long without reviewing again!

Also, in box office news, I just read that Uma Thurman's new film Motherhood grossed a staggering £88 in England last weekend. Congratulations to all concerned.