When in Scotland...

Centurion (2010)

This British film is loosely based on the legend of the disappearance of the 9th legion of Rome in Britain around 117AD. Several journeymen British actors star as the survivors of the legion trying to get back to Roman controlled territory after a disastrous battle against the Picts.

While this is not an especially original tale, similar to many chase films, and someone in the special effects department seems to have a fascination with decapitations this still manages to be a fairly good effort. Unlike the director's last film Doomsday (2008) which had some rather odd use of South African landscape allegedly doubling for Scotland this film was shot in the UK and has some amazing scenery for back drops. Most of the film is unimpressive without being bad an on the whole it adds up to a watchable if unremarkable film. It would have been interesting to see Roman attempts to pacify a hostile nation in terms of a metaphor for more recent history but this is largely over looked here.

3/5 a good genre entry.

Robin Hood and old age

Robin and Marian (1976)

Sean Connery, Robert Shaw and Audrey Hepburn star in this film from director Richard Lester about the well known title characters. Robin returns home after years away fighting for King Richard when the king dies and he does not know what else to do with himself.

There are a ton of Robin Hood films and stories out there so it is refreshing to see a different angle on these characters rather than an attempt to do something new with the basic story of Robin Hood. What the film is about is growing old and specifically what happens to our heroes in old age, Robin finds himself to be a legend and seeks to regain his youth while the Sheriff maybe a little wiser in his methods and patient in his execution but he is still obsessed with defeating Robin. What the film has going for it is a great cast as well as supporting cast (including Richard Harris and Ronnie Barker) as well as a really good melancholy look back at what might have happened to Robin and Marian. The film was shot in Spain and while the locations are mostly good the French based ones do see fairly off.

4/5 well worth watching.

Head cases

Shrink (2009)

Kevin Spacey stars in this LA based film with a supporting cast including Saffron Burrows and an uncredited Robin Williams. A number of interconnected characters orbit round psychologist Henry Carter who is trying to deal with his wife's suicide.

My problem with this film is I am not sure what story if any it is telling. There are some interesting characters who all have problems but these issues are rarely looked at in any detail and for the large part go unexplained. If there is any core to the film it is dealing with the loss of a loved one to suicide but even then when the title character finally gets over his loss it does not appear to be for any specific reason and offers little insight for the viewer.

3/5 not a bad watch but it goes nowhere and says nothing.

Exile

Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964)

Yul Brynner stars in this western set in New Mexico just after the end of the American Civil War. A confederate soldier returns to his home town that was on the Union side to find his farm has been sold and the locals end up hiring Yul Brynner to come and get rid of him.

As with many westerns we again have the theme of outsiders and their conflict with the community, it is also hard not to look at the plot in terms of the black listing going on in Hollywood at the time much as with High Noon (1952). Ultimately it turns out that the sort of people that would hire a killer to get rid of someone for their political beliefs are not very nice people either. This is a well written piece with different groups and they all have their own motivations even if it is not the most action filled or best paced film ever it does end up being a good political allegory.

4/5 worth watching.

Clue, so?

Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)

Peter Sellers returns for the sixth pink panther film, the last made before his death. This time it seems some drug cartel is trying to kill our hero in an attempt to show off to potential clients from America.

The plot for this film has some nods to The French Connection (1971) in it's set up details but otherwise is fairly thin on the ground at best and just an excuse to wheel out Sellers again. There are some funny moments, especially the finale in the firework factory but in general this is not what you would call a riotous affair. It also appears that there is a fair amount of racism to Asians, particularly in the final third with plenty of references to “thinking yellow” and the like.

3/5 not bad but just about holds together.

Boldly going

Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (1982)

In 1979 Paramount spent over $45mil on the first Star Trek film which received mixed reactions at best, following this the budget for the sequel was cut to just $11mil and Gene Roddenberry was sidelined as much as possible. While the original cast was retained Nicholas Meyer was added as director and uncredited as the writer of this film under the stewardship of producer Harve Bennett.

There are many things that make this a great film but the first and most obvious is the title character Khan himself, he is a great villain consumed by desire for revenge against Kirk and armed with some great literary quotes. One a basic level the revenge tale and conflict between Khan and Kirk works really well and echoes Moby Dick, the classic story of whale based obsession. The battle sequences have a great sense of tension, atmosphere and a feeling that space is a vast and lonely place where these two titans are duelling it out, the final battle in the nebula is especially impressive. Although there may have been a cut in budget the special effects still stand up really well.

While the film is great as a space action adventure there is also a lot more going on below the surface. As well as the general theme of revenge the film also looks at the ideas of life, death and the ageing of Kirk himself. Using Kirk and Spock to show the different facets of the traditional hero and exploring the idea of the no win scenario work really well. The genesis device also helps bring out the ideas of rebirth which are explored even further in the third film in the series.

The film is not without it's flaws however as some of Shatner's acting is fairly open to parody at best in some portions of the film. It can also be argued that with in the trek cannon that this film does not really fit with the idea of a utopian future that Roddenberry had in mind however this does not detract from the film itself.

5/5

Jury rigged

MacGruber (2010)

This MacGyver parody is based on a character created for Saturday Night Live and stars Will Forte with Val Kilmer as the bad guy. The bad guy steals a Russian nuke and the good guy has to come out of retirement to save the day.

While MacGyver was a was a massive hit I have to wonder if waiting nearly twenty years since the series ended to knock out a parody is really the best timing. I remember watching some of the original series as a kid and we all know the basic idea behind MacGyver but it's really hard to build a quality parody on something that the views have likely forgotten most of the details of.

As a comedy there are some funny moments but this is not really a funny film. There is little from the films plot to help it stand on it's own and it is not like there are tons of moments you can pick out as a great parody of X or Y. Maybe if you are a big fan of the SNL character this is worth watching but otherwise I would not bother.

2/5

Game for a laugh

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

It is always with a sense of trepidation that I end up viewing films based on video games as they do not exactly have the best track record. Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley star in this action adventure where a young orphan adopted by the king has to prove he did not kill the king and save the world as well as get the girl.

As you might expect it is probably best to turn off your brain before watching this film as the plot really has no depth, the characters are not amazingly interesting and for some reason everyone in ancient Persia has a British accent and is white. Given the huge budget spent on the film the production quality is good but not remarkable and this is clearly your standard cash in that you often get from the Bruckheimer stable. The best thing you can say about this film is that while you do not need a brain to watch it the film does manage not to fall into the category of mind numbing stupidity some blockbusters do.

3/5

Shiney

The Tin Star (1957)

Anthony Mann directs Henry Fonda in this low budget western that picked up an Oscar nomination for screenplay. An old bounty hunter helps a young sheriff learn his job and gain control of the town he lives in.

This is one of the archetypal westerns setting the community against various outsiders, some of which are only trying to help, some through racism and some through their nefarious activities. The key themes of the piece are law and order, what will people accept to keep the peace and do they really care about what happens outside of their lives. This is a well made if slightly dated effort but it does hold up well to modern viewers.

4/5

Cruise control

The Last Samurai (2003)

Tom Cruise stars in this drama set in late 1800s Japan that was filmed largely in New Zealand and features a supporting cast including Ken Watanabe and Billy Connolly. An American cavalry captain goes to Japan to train the emperor’s new army against a samurai rebellion.

A lot of the plot of this film is similar to other efforts you will see, the hero goes to fight one side of “savages” and ends up switching sides but like a lot of similar films is also very well made despite it's derivative nature. In short this is exactly the sort of film Hollywood likes to churn out in various settings and does well. The film is well directed with some excellent locations, good acting and decent characters and the action sequences and sword play are good.

When it comes to the source material for the film it does appear that history has been pillaged fairly heavily to provide a romanised view of the samurai way of life that does not reflect real events especially well. It is also disappointing that there is no consideration of the possible negatives of the samurai way of life given that the system seems to rely heavily on caste/class and it's possibility for abuse of certain elements as was done by the WW2 era Japanese government for propaganda purposes.

4/5 as pure entertainment but not to be taken seriously.

Ragged?

9 (2009)

Shane Acker converts his own animated short to a full length film with voice talent from Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly and Christopher Plumber. In a post apocalyptic world a scientist creates nine mechanical rag dolls to fight the last machine that survived the war against the humans.

This is a pretty short film coming in at only 79 minutes and it does feel like there is some padding in the middle to stretch it out so it is not hard to tell that this is an extension of an originally shorter work. Like many stories this film is about the nature of man kind and apart from the aforementioned problem it is a really well imagined and executed effort. The vision for the world is great and you can see why Tim Burton got involved. There is a sad undertone to the film and the ending is really good in my opinion.

4/5 not with out it's flaws but a good first effort from the director.

Star couple

Date Night (2010)

American TV comedy unleashes it's dream team onto the big screen with Tina Fey and Steve Carell staring in this $55mil budget offering. A married couple want to break out of the rut their lives are in by going to dinner in the big city for a change, misunderstandings and criminal shenanigans ensue.

When you bring out the big guns to star in your film not only do you guarantee an audience but people are also going to expect a certain level of comedy and in my opinion this film falls short. While there are some laughs along the way this is not an especially funny film and that is a real disappoint given the talent on show. There are some decent cameos from the supporting cast and the film is generally well made but has nothing to make it stand out from a number of similar films.

3/5 acceptable but not much more.

Damn dirty apes

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Charlton Heston stars in this classic science fiction based on the French novel of the same name that has so far spawned four sequels with another in the works and one remake. Three astronauts crash land on a strange planet where apes are the dominant spices and humans are mute beasts hunted and enslaved by the apes.

It took a while for this film to get made due to budgetary concerns and worries about the ability to make up people as convincing apes, when the film was finally made it won an Oscar for make up. The story does take a little while to get to the actual human/ape interaction but the early parts are shot in the stunning landscape of Arizona and Utah which does seem fairly alien to those of us used to greener landscapes.

What the story is really about is the question of if man is violent by nature and this is what concerns the apes about a talking human and reflects the protagonists reasons for leaving earth in the first place. Being somewhat departed from the cold war not it is sometimes hard for us to remember the spectre of global apocalypse that seemed to hang over earth at the time but it is important to put the film with in the context of the time it was conceived.

4/5 a classic with one of the all time great endings (not to be spoiled).

Girls just wanna have fun

Whip It (2009)

Once upon a time there was a little girl that made friends with an alien and when she grew up she decided she wanted to direct films as well as act in them, this is the directorial début from Drew Barrymore. This is another coming of age tale where Ellen Page stars as a girl that finds her place in a roller derby team.

Much like yesterdays entry this is another well made effort that is not especially remarkable. There are good performances from the cast and the derby sequences are easy enough to follow for those of us that have no understanding of roller derby before watching this film. The central character goes through the usual trials and tribulations of being a teenage girl without offering us anything particularly that is a revelation.

3/5

Dead end?

Cemetery Junction (2010)

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant team up again to write and direct this coming of age film set in the town Gervais grew up in. It is the 1970s and three friends are trying to find their place in the world as they become adults.

The film itself is well made with good direction, performances from the cast and some funny moments along the way however the plot does little to make it stand out from the raft of similar films. While the film does show something of the transition from “angry young men” to “confused young men” as the trend in youth it offers little in the way of unique answers or insights.

As someone that lives in roughly the same area that the film is set it was to see how things have changed and spot some of the local area names. Even though Cemetery Junction is a real place you have to wonder is a reference to the dead end that the main characters feel they face. It is also interesting to note that the area the new house builds are in that one of the characters aspires to live in is now the same sort of place he seeks to escape.

3/5 decent effort.

Not five out of five

Five Guns West (1955)

Roger Corman directs this western staring John Lund and Dorothy Malone. At the end of the American Civil War the South is so short of men it is releasing people from jail and sending them off on missions such as this one to stop a top Southern spy defecting to the North.

There is a decent idea for a film in here but unfortunately this is a pretty terrible effort with large parts of the film where nothing much happens, as well as poor dialogue and acting. It should be noted that this was only Corman's second film and does look like it was knocked out on a small budget. What is interesting about Corman is that he went on to give breaks to film makers such as James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese which is not a bad trio to have discovered!

2/5 not worth watching.

Minor miner

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

While being best known for his Westerns John Ford won one of his Oscar (against Citizen Kane) for this adaptation of the novel of the same name set in a Welsh coal mining valley. A young boy comes of age in a large family of Welsh miners during the Victorian era.

The plot of the film follows the destruction of not only the narrators family but also the way of life for miners of the time. Coal mining is a destructive process and the negative affect it has on the valley is a metaphor for what happens to the families of the valley themselves. Even the local church is not immune to the toxic nature of the mine as the deacons of the church use their power to shame local girls.

Due to the war it was impossible to film in Wales and supposedly there is only one Welshman in the cast but overall Ford does a very good job of reconstructing a small Welsh valley and the film is very well made. There are decent performances from the cast and not too many dodgy attempts at Welsh accents.

4/5 a great snap shot of a lost time and way of living.

Splice the main sail

Against All Flags (1952)

Today we have a pirate adventure film on offer staring well known swashbuckler Errol Flynn with support from Maureen O'Hara and Anthony Quinn. A British naval officer is sent to spy on a pirate held port in Madagascar so that the navy can rid the Indian Ocean of this pirate menace to the East India company trade routes.

While this is largely a par for the course action adventure what is interesting is that O'Hara's character is not just another damsel in distress but rather a pirate captain in her own right who is more than happy to go toe to toe in a sword fight. Even today there are still a lot of female roles in films that serve to be little more than rescue bait for the hero so it is some what surprising to see such a strong female character in an older film when the sexual revolution of the 60s is yet to kick off.

The film itself has decent set pieces with good production values, although a lot of the costumes do seem fairly garish. While the miniature work is not completely invisible it is at least as good enough to hold up to modern eyes. Overall it is a well made effort but is not above anything else you are likely to see in the genre.

3/5

Crime with a stiff upper lip

League of Gentlemen (1960)

A large cast of familiar faces from post war British cinema including Richard Attenborough star in this crime caper. After reading a crime novel a former British Army officer brings together a collection of scoundrels that were all dismissed from the army and they set about trying to rob a bank.

While this is not an especially tense crime film it is fairly well made and has a light hearted tone that helps soften the viewers feelings towards what is essentially a group of rather nasty individuals. These days you would get a film about a group of cockney wide boys so it is a refreshing change of pace for the film to be about a slightly higher class of criminal for once even if the protagonists are all have thoroughly disgraced pasts.

3/5 solid if not out standing effort.

Hell on earth

Legion (2010)

British actor Paul Bettany stars in this apocalyptic movie whose cast includes Dennis Quaid. Apparently God has had enough and decided to wipe out all the humans but one of his angels disagrees and wants to save some pregnant waitress from the coming onslaught.

There is a good idea for a film in here somewhere, unfortunately it got lost in clichéd characters, bad acting and poor direction. Dennis Quaid is particularly terrible with the only good performance coming from Bettany. The plot is thin to say the least and fleshed out with action sequences that are mostly incoherent flashes of guns being fired and bullets expended. A group of stock characters are wheeled out to fill out the cast and given little depth. All in all it is very hard to say anything good about this film.

2/5 just do not bother watching.

McMovie

The Blind Side (2009)

Sandra Bullock wins an Oscar for her role in this sports movie based on the story of real life NFL player Michael Oher. A boy in his late teens from an impoverished back ground is adopted by a rich family and makes his way as American football player at a private Christian school.

As a cynic you could say this is exactly the sort of film that the Academy loves to give people Oscars for, over coming hardship and life affirming happy endings. This film is like the American fast food of cinema, you have seen this type of thing before and know what is going to happen but it is well made and is something of a guilty pleasure. It does seem that some liberties have been taken with the plot and the film provides no real answers to the questions posed on how to help impoverished youth in general.

4/5 the usual feel good cheese from Hollywood.

Low

Greenberg (2010)

Ben Stiller and Greta Gerwig star in this film written by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Noah Baumbach (who also directs). Ben Stiller has just got out of the mental hospital after having a nervous break down and house sits for his brothers family while starting a relationship with his brother's personal assistant.

This film fits well into the genre of low budget films about people where nothing much happens. The title character is nice person and while this is not necessarily a bad thing there is no real character development. There are some good performances from the cast but ultimately you neither feel informed or entertained by the end of the film which is a real shame given all the talent involved.

2/5 not worth seeking out.

Getting the job done

The Guns of Navarone (1961)

There is an all star cast in this adaptation of Alistair MacLean's novel of the same name which is produced by Carl Foreman and is one of the rare occasions of a film being better than it's source material. A German naval gun emplacement on a Greek island in World War Two must be destroyed by a small commando to allow the British navy to pick up 2000 soldiers stranded on a near by island.

With a cast including Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn and Anthony Quayle it would have been hard to go wrong (there is even an early cameo by Richard Harris) but very early in production the original director was replaced. Thanks to the great cast and great characters who have to battle not only against the Germans but also the elements and tension between each other we end up with one of the classic war time adventure films. There are some iconic action sequences including the scaling of the cliffs at night in the pouring rain and the climatic finale which has plenty of tension.

Carl Foreman (at the time blacklisted by Hollywood) deserves a lot of credit for bringing together the best elements of the original novel and adding in much deeper characters with more complex relationships. While in part this is a boys own style adventure this is not just a jingoistic war film as there are questions on how a war should be conducted through the actions and history of the characters.

5/5 an all time classic.

Pinned

The Wrestler (2008)

Darren Aronofsky directs Mickey Rourke in an Oscar nominated performance as the title character. “The Ram” is an ageing former professional wrestler trying to fix his life after a heart attack.

The plot for this film is not massively original but is told in an excellent way which avoids the usual melodrama, sentimentality and clichés of weaker film makers. While wrestling is a subject that I have little interest in this film manages to rise above the subject matter thanks to the great characterisation of The Ram.

What the film is really about what happens to our heroes when they grow old and we do not care about them any more. The Ram loses the only thing he knows how to do and finds his obsession with his profession has left him with an empty and damaged existence. In the end the tragedy is that The Ram has to carry on wrestling because that is all he has.

4/5 more than wrestling.

What's on?

Pursuit to Algers(1945)

This is the twelfth entry in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes films and while it makes no direct references to the second world war clearly has it in mind when considering the plot. The King of a made up European country is assassinated and Holmes has the task of escorting his heir to his home country unharmed.

There is little detective work on offer for Holmes here and the film functions more of a lightweight spy film really. Despite being trapped on a ship with possible enemy agents everywhere there is little tension to the film and does run rather slowly despite the short run time. While this is not really what you would expect of a Holmes story it is fairly well made and not necessarily a bad film.

3/5 another average entry into the franchise.

Orbit

Agora (2009)

Rachel Weisz stars in this historical drama set in Roman Egypt in the 4th century. Greek philosopher and astronomer Hypatia is trying to solve the problem of the Ptolemaic system while religious trouble is kicking off in her home town of Alexandria.

It is hard to pin down what this film is really about as the scientific portion involving Weisz has little historical evidence to back up her specific discoveries and the religious portions are largely about the Christians pushing out first the polytheists and then the Jews which has nothing to do with astronomy. The religious turmoil does not even act as a juxtaposition for scientific turmoil over a new and radical theory as there is no depiction of any scientific turmoil or debate of Hypatia's theories.

There is some great cinematography and clearly a large amount has been spent on making this film the inability to be one thing or another does hinder the film some what. What the film does most is provide a good snap shot of the troubles facing Alexandria and presumably other areas of the Roman Empire at the time but the central characters are an awkward fit in my opinion.

3/5 a well made if confused film.

Gold?

The Train Robbers (1973)

John Wayne plays his usual character in this western from director Burt Kennedy who had a number of collaborations with Wayne's production company. A widow wants to clear her husband's name by returning the gold he stole and hid to the railway company and John Wayne and friends are helping her for the reward (as well as “something to do”).

With John Wayne you know what you are getting and this is another solid if not especially good entry into his large body of work. There are some really nice sections of scenery, particularly as a back drop the to the travelling portions, which include a train buried upside down in the desert. The light hearted tone of the film replaces any serious depth and there is an eventual explanation as to why a nice young widow would have any interest in the ageing John Wayne which clears up the slightly unbelievable portion of the story.

3/5 the usual Wayne fare.

Shooting

From Paris With Love (2010)

John Travolta stars in this European based film from the Luc Besson stable of action films. An American embassy aide ends on a roller-coaster of action and violence when he gets a new partner on a mission to do something or other.

This film rockets a long at a fairly fast pace from one action sequence to another which is fairly important because if you have time to stop and think you are going to realise that the plot does not seem to make much sense. We lurch from one shoot out to the next with out much reason seeming to connect them, it does feel like several scenes were lost on the cutting room floor that would link up the film much better. While the action sequences are fairly average the direction and performance of Travolta manage to keep moving the plot along in such a way as to cover over the cracks fairly well.

2/5 standard mindless action movie.

Bubbles

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

John Cusack stars in this comedy about time travelling hot tub and related misadventures. Four guys go to visit a ski resort for the weekend and end up stuck in their past trying to make their lives turn out better.

There are some funny moments in this film but really it is hard to find much to say about it. A lot of comedies get made like this, “gross out” humour with an allegedly sentimental plot underpinning it and there is nothing that really separates this effort from the pack. The cast is decent enough and the jokes manage to cover up the silly but weak plot but without being numerous enough to keep you laughing all the way through.

3/5 nothing special.

A small hitch?

Saboteur (1942)

Alfred Hitchcock directs this World War Two film about fifth columnists trying to sabotage the American war industry. A young man is falsely accused of starting a fire at the air plane plant he works at and goes on the run to catch the real culprit.

As with many films of the era there are some pretty obvious propaganda speeches during the film and nods towards enemy ideologies some of which are hammered home more obviously than others. History will show that the plot is a fair bit unrealistic as there was very little sabotage by axis sympathisers during World War Two in the US but the film is largely well made, which is to be expected given the director, but very little about the film stands out and it is not without it's overly patriotic flaws.

3/5 not vintage Hitchcock.