Life and time

Cloud Atlas (2012)

Directed by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer this adaptation of the novel of the same name stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess and Jim Broadbent. Six stories spread over six hundred years chart the interconnection of life and humanity.

Generally this film is impressive all round, managing to get the complicated narrative structure onto the screen in a way that makes sense is no small feat. The idea of life being interconnected and the most important things being who we spend our time with are not especially new ideas but they add depth to the story here and are handed well. The film is well made blending different genres admirably and there are some nice Easter eggs buried through out.

5/5

Genesis of a killer

Halloween (1978)

Directed by John Carpenter this film stars Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P. J. Soles and Nancy Loomis. A six year old boy stabs his sister to death then fifteen years later he escapes from a mental home to kill once more on Halloween.

For a film that had such a big effect on it's genre this is a surprisingly average effort in retrospect. The story has little real depth to it, never really goes into how the antagonist became evil and few of the characters have any real personality either. Where you have to give the film credit is in the direction which unlike all the slasher films that followed it this film does not rely on blood and gore but is a bit more subtle in making it's scares.

3/5

Who Goes There Again?

The Thing (2011)

Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. this film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Norwegian scientists discover a crashed alien space craft with a frozen survivor in the Antarctic.

By being a prequel the plot of this film is fairly heavily boxed in by John Carpenter's earlier film and the story here essentially a retreat of that film. What this film lacks compared to it's predecessor is a protagonist with more personality and maybe a little more speculation about the team's amazing find. Over all the film is well made with better special effects but really this film does little better or different from the original.

3/5

Defective

The Defector (1966)

Directed by Raoul Levy this film based on the novel “The Spy” stars Montgomery Cliff, Hardy Kruger and Roddy McDowall. An American scientist is sent to East Germany by the CIA to retrieve a microfilm from a Russian scientist.

The plot of this spy film is not the most realistic you will run into as both sides indulge in amateurish behaviour. You can find plenty of films with a similar premise but are better done so it is hard to find a reason to recommend this film. Montgomery Clift made his final appearance in this film shortly before his death and you can tell he is not well as his hands are shaking in most scenes.

2/5

The Original Santa

Miracle on 34^th Street (1947)

Written and directed by George Seaton this film stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gween. Is an old man working as a department shot Santa Clause the real Santa Clause or is he mentally ill?

At times this often remake film pushes the barriers on being sappy but for the most part is a really well made film that while aimed at a younger audience holds up to older viewers too. The film may not completely divulge itself of materialism in favour of “the real Christmas spirit” but does a pretty good job otherwise. Largely the film is well made and Edmund Gwenn is excellently cast as Kris Kringle.

4/5

A voyage into slumber

Dreams (1990)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa this film stars Akira Terao, Martin Scorsese and Chishu Ryu. We explore a number of short films inspired by Kurosawa's own dreams.

Like many films of collected shorts this film is a bit of a mixed bag with varying quality of the individual parts. Some are interesting insights and broadly sketch the different stages of life although some seem a little disconnected from the general theme. As with anything by Kurosawa there are parts which are excellently shot but Scorsese seems an odd choice to play Vincent van Gogh.

4/5

Four ways to fail

Timecode (2000)

Written and directed by Mike Figgis this film has a large cast including Salma Hayek, Stellan Staksgard, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Saffron Burrows. Four continuous 90 minute takes, shot simultaneously are presented at the same time to tell the a story at an LA film production company.

This may be an experimental film but there is much to be impressed with here in the staging, filming and acting of this film which must have been some effort in logistics. Unfortunately all the hard work is for little as the final product is confusing and plenty of the story ends up being lost in the execution. It is hard to decide where I stand on this film as it is as impressively made as it is disappointing in it's final form.

2/5