Frankenstein (1931)
Loosely based on the Mary Shelley novel this classic Universal monster film stars Boris Karloff as the monster. A young scientists leaves his university and fiancée to dabble in the dark arts of creating life with monstrous results.
This film is relatively short and does not stick especially closely to the original novel, in it's time it was far more shocking than a modern audience would find it leading to heavy censorship in some states. While the film does lack a lot of the depth of the novel it is probably decent enough to frighten young children although older viewers will probably find it fairly weak.
3/5
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Status
The Remains of the Day (1993)
Producer/Director team Merchant Ivory adapt the novel of the same name for screen staring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. During the inter war period the lord of the manor tries to secure peace for Britain with Germany while the butler and housekeeper have an unrequited relationship.
What this film is mainly about is the constraints of social status and position, because of his professional role the butler has become unable to express his feelings either to the housekeeper or to the lord of the house on politics. The script and story are really well crafted and work well without being melodramatic, where the film falls down is I honestly have no idea what the housekeeper sees in the butler. If you can suspend your disbelief on that issue though this is a really good film.
4/5
Producer/Director team Merchant Ivory adapt the novel of the same name for screen staring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. During the inter war period the lord of the manor tries to secure peace for Britain with Germany while the butler and housekeeper have an unrequited relationship.
What this film is mainly about is the constraints of social status and position, because of his professional role the butler has become unable to express his feelings either to the housekeeper or to the lord of the house on politics. The script and story are really well crafted and work well without being melodramatic, where the film falls down is I honestly have no idea what the housekeeper sees in the butler. If you can suspend your disbelief on that issue though this is a really good film.
4/5
Monday, 12 September 2011
Punches
The Kid (2010)
This British biopic from actor/director Nick Moran stars Rupert Friend, Natasha McElhone, Ioan Gruffudd and Bernard Hill. A young boy deals with abusive parents and tries to find his way in the world.
This film could really have done with a longer run time as it does feel like some of the early parts of the story are giving fairly short shrift with Bernard Hill and Ioan Gruffudd in particular having small parts. What is impressive is how well Natasha McElhone skanks up, I thought her performance was a real departure from the usual roles she takes. Obviously the story of abused boy comes good is not a nice one in places the film is well made and does an adequate job telling the story.
3/5
This British biopic from actor/director Nick Moran stars Rupert Friend, Natasha McElhone, Ioan Gruffudd and Bernard Hill. A young boy deals with abusive parents and tries to find his way in the world.
This film could really have done with a longer run time as it does feel like some of the early parts of the story are giving fairly short shrift with Bernard Hill and Ioan Gruffudd in particular having small parts. What is impressive is how well Natasha McElhone skanks up, I thought her performance was a real departure from the usual roles she takes. Obviously the story of abused boy comes good is not a nice one in places the film is well made and does an adequate job telling the story.
3/5
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Sucks?
Vampires Suck (2010)
Serial producers of parody Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer turn their attention to the latest series of angsty vampire films. A girl moves to a new town and falls in love with the local vampire boy.
Not being a teenage girl I have not seen any of the Twilight films or read any of the books so this parody is facing a bit of an up hill struggle to begin with. There are some funny moments and this film is not as bad as I expected but having said that it is probably too specific in what it is parodying rather than focusing on being a more rounded out general comedy. This is not as bad as some of the other films from the same team but in the end that is not exactly a ringing endorsement.
2/5
Serial producers of parody Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer turn their attention to the latest series of angsty vampire films. A girl moves to a new town and falls in love with the local vampire boy.
Not being a teenage girl I have not seen any of the Twilight films or read any of the books so this parody is facing a bit of an up hill struggle to begin with. There are some funny moments and this film is not as bad as I expected but having said that it is probably too specific in what it is parodying rather than focusing on being a more rounded out general comedy. This is not as bad as some of the other films from the same team but in the end that is not exactly a ringing endorsement.
2/5
Saturday, 10 September 2011
That facebook film
The Social Network (2010)
Jesse Eisenberg stars in this real life story from director David Fincher that was nominated for 8 Oscars. A student at Harvard creates the worlds most popular stalking website and gets sued a bunch.
The genius of this film is clearly in it's execution, a film about a website and law suits does not jump out as the easiest topic for a film. Managing to create a film that is consistently entertaining and does not get lost in the dryness of the details is certainly an achievement. It really helps that the script retains a lot of humour and the main character has a strong personality to carry the various deposition scenes.
Where this film does fall down is in the murky world between fantasy and reality. We know this film is based on true events but it does appear to take a decent amount of liberties with actual events. John Ford was a proponent of “When the legend becomes fact print the legend” to mitigate for artistic licence but when you are the one having the first say then you do have some responsibility to the truth in my opinion. You can still make a good fictional tale with a basis in reality without having to pass off fantasy as reality, Citizen Kane (1941) is a prime example of this.
4/5
Jesse Eisenberg stars in this real life story from director David Fincher that was nominated for 8 Oscars. A student at Harvard creates the worlds most popular stalking website and gets sued a bunch.
The genius of this film is clearly in it's execution, a film about a website and law suits does not jump out as the easiest topic for a film. Managing to create a film that is consistently entertaining and does not get lost in the dryness of the details is certainly an achievement. It really helps that the script retains a lot of humour and the main character has a strong personality to carry the various deposition scenes.
Where this film does fall down is in the murky world between fantasy and reality. We know this film is based on true events but it does appear to take a decent amount of liberties with actual events. John Ford was a proponent of “When the legend becomes fact print the legend” to mitigate for artistic licence but when you are the one having the first say then you do have some responsibility to the truth in my opinion. You can still make a good fictional tale with a basis in reality without having to pass off fantasy as reality, Citizen Kane (1941) is a prime example of this.
4/5
Friday, 9 September 2011
dun dun dun!
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
This is the sixth Basil Rathbone film as Holmes and is based on the story “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual”. Doctor Watson is working at a stately home that has been converted to treat patients suffering from shell shock when there is an attempted murder.
Compared to the three preceding films in the series made during WW2 this one involves the least propaganda and is much more what you would expect from a Holmes story in terms of being a murder mystery. The plot itself is not especially unique but is acceptable and the family riddle/chess puzzle works fairly well. In the end this is a fairly average film but one of the better in it's series.
3/5
This is the sixth Basil Rathbone film as Holmes and is based on the story “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual”. Doctor Watson is working at a stately home that has been converted to treat patients suffering from shell shock when there is an attempted murder.
Compared to the three preceding films in the series made during WW2 this one involves the least propaganda and is much more what you would expect from a Holmes story in terms of being a murder mystery. The plot itself is not especially unique but is acceptable and the family riddle/chess puzzle works fairly well. In the end this is a fairly average film but one of the better in it's series.
3/5
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Bull headed
Raging Bull (1980)
Based on the true story of boxer Jake LaMotta this film stars Robert De Niro and was directed by Martin Scorsese. A fighter struggles with his demons and the Mafia while trying to get a championship fight.
There are a whole host of boxing films out there and plenty that deal with similar plots, the link between organised crime and boxing especially. What this film does differently is get the camera up into the boxing ring rather than leaving it stuck out in the crowd like it's predecessors. As a character LaMotta is certainly dominated by his dark side but we have no explanation for how he became so controlled by his insecurities, inclusion of some of LaMotta's childhood would have really helped round out this film as a biopic.
4/5
Based on the true story of boxer Jake LaMotta this film stars Robert De Niro and was directed by Martin Scorsese. A fighter struggles with his demons and the Mafia while trying to get a championship fight.
There are a whole host of boxing films out there and plenty that deal with similar plots, the link between organised crime and boxing especially. What this film does differently is get the camera up into the boxing ring rather than leaving it stuck out in the crowd like it's predecessors. As a character LaMotta is certainly dominated by his dark side but we have no explanation for how he became so controlled by his insecurities, inclusion of some of LaMotta's childhood would have really helped round out this film as a biopic.
4/5
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