Crazy Stupid Love

You may have gathered that I am a bit of a Ryan Gosling fan after my Drive review.

Well, lets just say that is now magnified ten fold.

Crazy Stupid Love is a love story with a twist.  A long term marriage gone wrong and falls apart mixed with a story of a man without love and never wants it.  The two men help each other to become better men.  And to get laid of course.

Its funny without trying to be funny.  Some of the comedic pieces are very staged of course, but some the natural dialogue between the two men are sublime.  So normal.

I can't tell you the last film I watched where I laughed and cried in equal measure.  And swooned a plenty.  As The Manc calls me The Horny Grandma, she came out that evening!

Go watch it peeps, entertaining, funny and charming.  


And Ryan, call me.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has everything going for it.  Amazing cast, glorious era, lovely soundtrack, great directing.  But it was incredibly boring and should have been a BBC feature length drama.


Oldman is sublime in it and will probably get an Oscar nod, but its nothing to shout about.

Drive

Drive is a high action, full impact, insanely emotional rollercoaster ride of a movie.  AND ITS BRILLIANT.

Drive sees a movie stunt driver get in way too over his head when his illegal extra curricular activities get out of hand.  Ryan Gosling stars as Driver, the no name hero in this drama.  Bit part stunt driver in hollywood films, mechanic in a local garage by day.  But by night, he is a wheelman, getaway driver for hire.  You only get him for 5 minutes.  Not a minute before or after.  If anything happens in those 5 minutes, he will help you get away.  If you are 1 second too late, he is gone.

He lives alone, lives a lonely existence other than the relationship with his adopted father character played skilfully but perhaps a bit typecast by Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad).

Driver sees Irene his neighbour in the building and the tension mounts.  Acted so very subtely by Gosling and Carey Mulligan, their love blossoms and festers, never quite reaching maximum height.  They don't speak much, its all done in looks and subtle body movements.  Driver falls more and more in love with Irene and her son Benicio.  He finds out that her husband who is in prison is about to be released and this puts the kibosh on their blossoming friendship.

Standard, Irene's husband, is out for less than a minute when he is dragged into doing one last heist to pay off his debt to those that protected him inside.  Driver offers to help and thus ending Standard's debt and making life safe for Irene and Benicio.  This doesn't go to plan and what ensues is a set of sequences of extreme violence shot in slow motion stylishly cut to electro pop.

This film is just fantastic.  Not much dialogue is needed, its so well acted with looks and emoting feelings, that you don't need dialogue.  This is a beautiful show piece for Gosling's fine talent.  He is going far and I hope he shoots further than the stars!  Beautifully shot, directed and acted, this is exactly how Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy should have been.  And the second best soundtrack there has been in the past year.

Final Destination 5 3D

Final Destination 5 3D is meant to be the last in the line of the horror franchise with the recurring theme of death by design and not being able to cheat death.

As with the all the films before, we follow 6 characters that manage to walk away from their planned deaths after one character has a premonition.  They get off the bus unscathed, happy to be safe, but unsettled as to how they knew to get off the bus in the first place.

What follows are some insanely inventive death sequences with cartoon gory detail. In 3D, which made all the more cartoon and funny.

Of all the FD films, other than the first (which is the best) this has to be the next best thing.  Its smart, deaths come hard and fast and it appeals to the fun side of the franchise.

I can't tell you how much I laughed throughout this film.  I don't think that was the intention its just that some of it was so ludicrous I couldn't help but crack up.
It does end in a really neat way that gives it the edge over 2, 3 and 4.

Best bit of the whole film is the opening credits.  Great use of 3D and really playing on the horror theme well.

Well worth a watch, and sit next to some old Thai ladies.  Who can't seem to cope with the jumps and scream and laugh throughout. Horror films are always better when there are lots of people screaming in one place.

The Lives of Others

The Lives of Others is a beautiful and sad look at life under the watchful eye of the Stasi in East Germany.

Many novelists, journalists and playwrights were monitored by the Stasi, to check they weren't writing any propaganda material for the anti-government movement.  One particular playwright Georg Dreyman (played wonderfully by Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (played by Martina Gedeck) are monitored by Stasi operative Hauptman Gerd Wiesler (the last role played by the late actor Ulriche Muhe).

Wiesler gets more and more involved in his subjects lives, the arguments, the intricacies of their love, their need to live in a free Germany but towing the line to keep their lives.  When more and more of their peers start to commit suicide, they feel the noose tightening around their necks.   Wiesler knows all the goings in in the couple's lives, and begins to become invested in their safety, a direct violation of his role in the operation.

Dreyman and a couple of his peers decide to write a damning article of the government and get it across the border to be released on the other side of the new defunct Berlin Wall.  All news outlets pick up this story and Wiesler and his team begin to feel the strain and must find the culprit as soon as possible.  Wiesler knowing all this already, decides to take matters into his own hands and protect his new 'friends'.

This story is both bleak and beautiful.  Well acted by all the cast, its like a huge ball rolling slowly towards you but you know you can never out run it.  I came away feeling so sad that many had to live like this not so long ago, but so heartened by the efforts of a few on both sides of the line to try and life better for all.

The Lives of Others is a truly wonderful film and lasting legacy to Ulriche Muhe, who died soon after it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film award in 2006.

One Day

One Day is an adaptation of the world renowned book of the same title.  About a man called Dex and a girl called Emma, we follow their friendships peaks and troughs over the space of 20 years on one particular day of each year.

Classic 'They meet, they fall in love' story it is not.  I loved the book. I mean, I really loved the book.  Romantic comedy with a twist, it had me hooked and I couldn't put the book down.  I was even moved to tears on the train home. Twice.

Many will say that reading the book first will only mean the film will be crap.  We all have our own 'Dex and Em' in our minds and the screen adaptations never fit.  And you would be right with this film.  Jim Sturgess is a great Dex, obnoxious, stupid, more money than sense kind of guy, who only learns his lessons when it is too late.  Anne Hathaway however is no Em.  Not even close.  Emma is brash, Northern, opinionated, real.  Hathaway barely emits any of the 'Em' characteristics and does it with a really, really, REALLY BAD ACCENT.  Carey Mulligan would have been a good Em.  But they chose an American star to sell it to America.  And they will think her accent is really 'authentic'.

The film is style over substance, beautiful scenery, fun titles throughout the film but never really gets the true essence of the love story.   Its not until almost the end do I really see the love story that I had read all those months ago.

Just because a book is popular, doesn't mean a rushed adaptation will make it even better.  Why not wait and pick the right cast, the right approach, the right script?  I worry The Help is going to go the same way.  Directors, take note. The Notebook did it well.  Stick to that formula please.

Film4 FrightFest 2011

I normally go to FrightFest every year, hitting up the biggest scary films and then not being able to sleep afterwards.  Personal torture you might say, but it is quite enjoyable!

This year I had no real plans to attend due to it being the end of Ramadan and tonnes of family dinner invites followed by big party on Eid.  But a phone call on the Thursday afternoon, just hours before the beginning of FrightFest changed everything!

A few weeks back I entered a competition on Total Film's website to win an all expenses paid FrightFest experience including full passes over the 4 days for the best seats in the house and 4 nights stay in the luxury boutique St Martin's Lane Hotel.  The winner they had lined up had to pull out and with only hours to spare before the opening film, they redid the draw and my name popped out.  I didn't care what was happening in my life but I took the prize!  I would get to go to the (FrightFest) ball after all!

The hotel was absolutely amazing!  Only minutes away from the Empire Leicester Sq, luxurious bed, fantastic view of the city and that bed again.....

Now onto the films. Due to the Ramadan/family commitments, I was unable to see as many films as I had hoped like Kill List and The Woman (but will try and see it in the cinema), but I did get to see some good ones.  Here is the list of the films, good and bad.

Tucker and Dale V's Evil
This has to be the best film of the festival for me.  Comedy/Horror with a twist.  
The story follows two hillbilly friends Tucker and Dale as they travel up to their 'summer house' in the secluded forest.  On the way, they encounter some bratty college kids who are out for a boozy and sexy weekend.  Both groups misjudge each other immediately and hilarity ensues.  
Its a Slasher horror with real comedic twists and turns.  Hello Officer, I have had a doozy of a day...


Don't be Afraid of the Dark
Guillermo del Toro's take on a old horror film style, long, lingering and never really gets off the ground sadly. 
A young girl moves into her father's home after her parent's separation but the house has other plans for her.  Scary things start to happen in the house with her getting the blame and no one believing her.  Until lives start to get threatened.
Fans of The Orphanage and Pan's Labyrinth will be disappointed as although there is a lot of the beautiful nuances and spanish style he is so famous for, the story line and plot holes do let the film down.  And any film with Katie Holmes in can't be that good.  There were a couple of jumpy moments and any horror films with kids in always get me.


Fright Night
Fright Night is one big camp ball of horror fun.  Jerry the Vampire (Colin Farrell) moves into a very small town just outside of Vegas.  Charlie (Anton Yelchin) realises that Jerry is bumping off more people than he can chew and decides to take action himself.  But not before recruiting Paranormal expert camp and theatrical Peter Vincent (David Tennant) to help with the madness
Its funny, very camp and full of comedic turns, as well as suspense and a but of gore.  Farrell and Tennant are excellent in this film.  They really know how to take the piss out of themselves and really get into a role! The 3D is not that good though.


The Glass Man
Andy Nyman does a star turn in The Glass Man, a story of a tragic man who floats through life with problems building around him to the point where he might lose everything.  I really liked the intricacies of the film but it didn't fit at FrightFest and shouldn't have been on.  Its a Channel4 movie.


My Sucky Teen Romance
Teen Vampire homage written and directed by 13yr old at the time Emily Hagins (now 18).  This is her third film and first in FrightFest.  Don't watch it.  I hate precocious American kids who write/direct their own horror films where because of their young age, the only real horror references they have is Twilight.  There is an Edward-a-like in this film.  Just seems like Emily gets bored easily and needs to find something else to fill her time with.


Well that was FrightFest for me this year.  I loved it and want to give a big thanks to Total Film for competition win, to Ian Rattray at Film4 Frightfest for checking me into the lovely St Martin's Lane Hotel, Stuart and Jacqui Barr for the film recommendations, Dan Berlinka for some pre and post film chats, Alex Kessie for coming with me to Don't be Afraid of the Dark and get scared together and Mark Manchester for seeing Fright Night with me.  Without you all, I wouldn't have enjoyed myself and loved every minute.  FrightFest 2012 here I come!