Reviews - 2001

Ali

Michael Mann's biopic of Muhammad Ali is rather redundant I feel, because not so long ago Muhammad Ali (who of course is still alive) was the most well-known and frequently filmed person on the planet. Subsequently everything in this film has already been seen on television or video by anyone interested before now, and is available in the public archive to all that were too young at the time. More to the point all this stuff that's avaialable features the original cast, not some pale lookalikes in a semi-fictional setting.

A Beautiful Mind

Do not believe the hype. As with all Ron Howard's work there is absolutely nothing reamarkable about this film. Mostly all of the important concepts he tries to convey he does by way of cliche and stolen ideas from better filmmakers. Russel Crowe is okay as troubled genius John Forbes Nash, and Jennifer Connelly is okay as his suffering wife. This is conventional, no-risk filmmaking at it's most dull and predictable.

Donnie Darko

Life sucks and then you die. Or maybe you just dreamt it. Anyway life sucks, according to disturbed teenager Donnie Darko, who sees dirty great scabby rabbits in his back yard who tells him to do things, not all of which are healthy. This film appeals more to the kind of teenagers it depicts, but it has some merit in and of itself too. Sometimes it's a bit MTV for my taste but generally it's a solid enough film with a more interesting teen protagonist than usual.

Enemy At The Gates

Jean Jacques Annaud's new film nominally about two snipers on opposite sides in the battle of Stalingrad is visually very impressive. It's a little cheesy most of the time, but done so well you may be swept away by it all. Jude Law plays the Russian Vassily Zaitsef and makes for a believable hero, while Ed Harris, as the calculating Nazi Major Koenig seems suitably detached. The film falls down however by trying to appeal to the widest possible audience by lapsing into a standard love story format.

Gosford Park

Like a cross between 'Upstairs Downstairs' and an Agatha Christie 'Cluedo' type murder mystery, Robert Altman's new film concentrates on the details of the period and the differences between the upper classes and the servant class. It boasts excellent performances from a seasoned cast, but the subject matter probably won't appeal to a wide range of cinema-goer.

Hannibal

Third outing for Hannibal Lecter, (after Manhunter and Silence of The Lambs). We join him in Florence, with everyone hot on his trail. Ridley Scott is brimming with confidence after the success of Gladiator, and it shows. This is a dark, macabre piece, about psychological motivations rather than action. It's also a lot of fun. The scenes in Florence are thick with a rich gothic atmosphere. Anthony Hopkins, as Lecter, is having a ball, and Gary Oldman, as the vengeful Mason Verger hams it up a treat. The ending is still somewhat unsatisfactory but a big improvement over the book's.

Heist

The new film by writer/director David Mamet. It's another top notch character piece with lots of plot twists and double-crosses. Gene Hackman heads up an excellent cast and, as you would expect from Mamet the script is very tasty. My only criticism is this: If you are a fan of Mamet, as I am, you'll find it's very unpredictability is predictable, because you'll know that in a Mamet film nothing is to be taken at face value except the last shot before the credits.

I Am Sam

How this film got a cinema release is beyond me. It's an horrifically sentimental tear-jerking chick flick. Sean Penn stars as a retarded single father fighting to retain custody of his daughter, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his lawyer. This has tv movie stamped all over it, and should only show it's face between the Oprah Winfrey Show and Judge Judy. As far as I'm concerned this film has nothing going for it whatsoever. Incidentally, if you're a Beatles fan don't go near this film, even if you like chick-flick weepies because the whole soundtrack comprises popular Beatles songs murdered by contemporary music stars.

Iris

Pretty depressing portrait of the Author Iris Murdoch who was afflicted with Alzheimer's disease. Yes it's ironic that someone who in their youth relished the written word and language should be afflicted with a degenerative brain disease, but it's really not much fun to sit through, and the film didn't seem to have much more to say about it's subject than 'isn't it a shame?'.

K-Pax

Both Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges shine in this film from British director Iain Softly. Bridges plays a psychiatrist presented with a patient (Spacey) who maintains he is an alien from the planet K-Pax, and is so convincing in the details that he convinces all those around him, including Bridges, that he is telling the truth. Kevin Spacey delivers yet another brilliant performance as Prott the alien, and Jeff Bridges anchors everything in a laid back, convincingly down to earth turn as the bewildered shrink.

Lord of The Rings - The Fellowship of The Ring

Yes, it's very impressive. Yes, it's big and the special effects are amazing. Yes, it's faithful to the book, but there are things about the book that are annoying: As in the book Frodo's friend Sam Gamgees is almost embarrassing in his childlike devotion to 'Master Frodo' (said in a faux Cornish accent), and I for one was praying for him to be slain in every battle situation. Merry and Pippin are also extremely irritating, and I could have done without the first half hour of the film where all the precious hobbits have their 'quaint' little party. All in all, though, it's hard to find major fault with. A great achievement.

The Man Who Wasn't There

The new Coen Brothers film. Billy Bob Thornton plays a barber in a small town in this black and white film noir. The film is full of deception and murder, and the atmosphere is terrific. All the performances from Thornton on down are excellent, as we've come to expect from the Coens' films. Not only is the noir aspect of the film spot on, but watch out for some flying saucers too!

Monster's Ball

This is a thoughtful film about two people from very different backgrounds whose lives intersect, mesh and kind of bounce back off again. Really, the story isn't as important as the acting, with a quiet, intense performance from Billy Bob Thornton and an Oscar winning one from Halle Berry.

Monsters Inc.

The new Pixar film - the alternative to this year's Shrek. John Goodman is Sully, Scarey Monster extrordinaire, and Billy Crystal is Mike his eyeball monster buddy. The two work in a sort of scare factory, bottling children's screams as an alternative energy source. The problem with the film though, is it's too cutesy, with Sully trying to rescue a gurgling toddler through most of the film. Excellent animation and great voice characterisations let down badly by a lame story.

Mulholland Drive

Cracking return home for David Lynch after the wonderful but more conventional 'Straight Story' with a tale of murder, perversion and mystery in Hollywood. Not much point in trying to summarise the plot because it's more like a strange dream than a film. Even if the film doesn't appeal it's worthing seeing for the nightclub scene where a run-down Spanish diva sings Roy Orbison's 'Crying' acappella.

The Mummy Returns

Sequel to the mildly entertaining Mummy is more of the same, but bigger, dumber, and louder. Much louder. The filmmakers seem to think if you turn the volume up it's more enjoyable. Some of the special effects are very good, and some are truly awful. However, special effects can't make a bad film good.

Planet of The Apes

The new film by Tim Burton is a 're-imagining' of the original Planet Of The Apes and is very silly and, worse, intensely dull. Burton commits one of the worst sins in filmmaking in that he treats the audience like a bunch of five year olds, ramming home the lesson of being kinder to our simian cousins with all the subtlety of a jackhammer. The script is awful, and consequently so is the acting, which must have been difficult enough for the actors, under a ton of latex. Mark Wahlberg is as wooden as Pinocchio, and Tim Roth, as the lead baddie General Thade hams it up so badly he makes Porky Pig look like Marlon Brando. Come to think of it, Brando looks a lot like Porky Pig these days.

The Royal Tenenbaums

This is Wes Anderson's first film after the very good Rushmore and it's one of those films that improves in the memory after seeing it. Gene Hackman is about as good as he's ever been (and he's been one of the best actors around) as Royal Tenenbaum, the absentee father of a fairly dysfunctional family whom he left to be brought up by their mother and with whom he would like to be reconciled when he falls on hard times. Anderson has an engaging, easy style of direction and the cast, who are all obviously enjoying working with such a good script, turn in excellent performances.

The Shipping News

Kevin Spacey plays Quoyle in Lasse Hallstrom's new film about a man trying to sort his life out in a new country with his daughter after his wife is killed in a car accident. This would have been quite a moving film were it not for the fact that the wife was such a bitch that I was left wondering why Quoyle wasn't dancing a jig at her funeral rather than moping around in the bleak NewFoundland countryside. Kevin Spacey once again pulls off a magnificent performance as the confused Quoyle and Judy Dench is good in what really only amounts to a cameo, playing the aunt who shows him the ropes in his new homeland.

Tape

I don't know if this is a stage play brought to the big screen, but I suspect it is. The whole film takes place in a motel room and there are only the two main characters for the majority of the film. The dialogue is snappy and believable with only occasional lapses into staginess but overall the actors have a great time delivering their lines back and forth. Ethan Hawke just steals it for me.