rio bravo

hey, sheriff, you forgot your pants...



when sheriff john t. chance (john wayne) locks up joe burdette (claude akins), for killing a man in cold blood, he is more than aware that his brother, nathan (john russell), is going to try and bust him out. it'll be several days until the u.s. marshals can arrive and, until then, the sheriff, must do what he can to hold up. still, he's not quite alone; there's dude (dean martin), a drunk, who's just beginning to sober up; stumpy (walter brennan), a cantankerous old cripple; and, colorado (ricky nelson), a young gun-slinger, who seems to have a good head on his shoulders. oh, and then there's feathers (angie dickinson)...

an all round great film. after the initial flurry of action; narrative, atmosphere, character and tension are allowed to develop and build up in a most enjoyable fashion. wayne is perfect as the super-straight-talking sheriff, remaining unfazed by almost everything apart from feathers (i can't blame him). dean martin is a great foil for him and angie dickinson is a delight. oh, and ricky nelson is good enough to not stick out like a sore thumb...

great stuff.

the dvd is £5.99 from hmv.com

tampopo

i would love to eat that with you....



goro (tsutomu yamazaki) and gun (ken watanabe) are truckers; one night they stop at a small noodle bar, run by tampopo (nobuko miyamoto). after a fight with a local drunk, goro ends up sleeping in the noodle bar and eating breakfast with tampopo. he compliments the breakfast, but he and gun are less complimentary about her noodles. after giving her a few tips, goro is persuaded by tampopo to help her develop her skills, so she can produce the perfect bowl of noodles...

wow, it's such a long time since i've watched this, having seen it on tv, probably when i was still at school. i'm please to say that i enjoyed it just as much, many years later. writer / director juzo itami crafts a wonderful tale, that is as normal as it is surreal, at times magical and filled with a cast of great characters. the film is a comedy with the feel of a western, despite it's focus on ramen / noodles. the main narrative thread, of tampopo's quest is great enough, but this is then punctuated with several vignettes, all of which focus on food; the love of it's taste, feel and of sharing it with others.

i'm off out for dinner...

great stuff...

the dvd can be picked up for less than €8 from amazon.de

inglorious bastards

that's 'bastards', not 'basterds'...



as the allied troops make their way through europe, towards the end of the second world war, a bunch of soldiers are making a different journey. charged with various crimes, a truck full of murderers, thieves, deserters and other reprobates are setting out to be court marshalled. en route, they are attacked and, when the officer in command is killed, the survivors decide to head for the safety of switzerland. still, that's over one hundred miles away and that's a long way in wartime...

so, yeah, this is the original enzo g castellari film, not mr tarantino's forthcoming feature. and, as far as i can tell, barring the fact that they're both war films, there is next to nothing to connect them.

the film is a fun war romp, which is very entertaining despite (an sometimes because of) its minuscule budget. there's a whole heap of dreadful dialogue, some cheapo special effects and almost reasonable acting; all wrapped around a narrative which is actually pretty strong. if tarantino had taken the plot and dressed it up with a bit of a budget and some fine tuning, it would probably end up being a pretty good flick...

fun...

the dvd is $17.94 from dvdpacific.com

quantum of solace

i guess tosca isn't for everyone...



during an interrogation, the existence of an underground criminal organisation is revealed. no, not spectre; quantum! bond (daniel craig), still reeling from his betrayal by vespa, sets out to find out more, which leads him to dominic greene (mathieu amalric)...

well, the first thing to say is that i enjoyed this about one thousand times more than crappy 'casino royale'. the narrative moves swiftly and evenly, even if it is a little sparse and there's plenty of running around, fighting, fast cars and killing. it's like the bastard off-spring of bourne (including shaky-can) and and old school bond: strangely minimalistic, with a dastardly big plot.

there's a big evil villain, a secret organisation, dastardly plots, double-agents and nice big buildings with fancy wall-coverings. what more could you ask for? craig is good, as is the platonic bond girl, olga kurylenko, who fooled me with her spanish accent. dench is dench an amalric is a nicely understated, nicely weedy, villian.

surprisingly good fun...

the dvd is £12.99 from hmv.com

revolutionary road

plenty of people are onto the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness...



suburbia. america. the 1950s. april (kate winslett) and frank (leonardo di caprio) wheeler are married with a couple of young children and live in a sweet little house on revolutionary road. when they met, april held aspirations of being an actress, whilst frank was a longshoreman with no real aspirations of being anything.

a couple of years down the line and april isn't enjoying being a housewife and has a disastrous turn in a bit of local am-dram. meanwhile, frank is working for the same company his dad worked for, hating it and, as he turns thirty, has an early-mid-life crisis. in the form of maureen (zoe kazan), a new member of the secretarial pool...

in an attempt to bring their marriage, and themselves, back to life, april comes up with a plan: the wheelers shall relocate to paris. still, things aren't always as easy as they seem...

so, sam mendes in film about troubled middle-class relationships in american suburbia shocker! right, that's out of the way, without me even mentioning that 'american beauty' is a bit crap, really.

any how, based on the much lauded novel, of the same name, 'revolutionary road' is a rather interesting film. one, which apart from miss winslett's best actress nominations, i knew nothing about. it is a film that i ended up rather enjoying, but it was a tricky road to get to this point. the first third of the film is a little messy; it flings itself around and takes a while to settle into any kind of rhythm, the same seemed to be true of winslett and di caprio, both as an on-screen pairing and as individual performers. still, by the film's climax, i had warmed to it and to them.

the americana-melodrama quality of the film certainly allows winslett to cut her acting chops and she probably deserves the nod, accordingly. still, it was the adult di caprio, who surprised me; i didn't think i've seen him in a role where he appears to be a bona fide adult, and not some odd man-child creature. he was good. additional mentions / praise for michael shannon, who cropped up a couple of times as the "certified lunatic" son of some neighbours and provided some rather big laughs, also for dylan baker, kathy bates, richard easton and zoe kazan; with whom, some kind of mid-life crisis would be nice...

watching the film with someone who had, literally, just finished reading the book, was also interesting. "an excellent adaptation" was their learned verdict. i commented that knowing the characters already probably helped the first third of the film a lot. i'm wondering if a second viewing may help it: i wouldn't be averse to watching it again in the future...

oh, and as much as deakins seems to have a very good habit of making things look pretty when he points his camera at them, i'm delighted to see kristi zea and debra schutt get several nominations, including one for the best achievement in art direction oscar. if you're a fan of the decorative arts of the 1950s, this film is an absolute treat. all good.

in the end, it's pretty good stuff...

the film is currently on general release.

the curious case of benjamin button

looks the same, smells the same, feels the same.



benjamin (brad pitt) was born in new orleans, on the day the first world war ended. his mother, caroline (julia ormond), died during the birth and his father, thomas button (jason flemyng), disturbed by the infant benjamin's bizarre appearance, leaves the child on the steps of a house and flees. benjamin is discovered and taken in by queenie (taraji henson), the proprietor (?) of an old people's home, who easily forgives him his oddities and loves him as her own.

benjamin, despite being but a few days old, is riddled with arthritis, deaf, blinded by cataracts and has the skin of a man in his nineties. still, instead of dying after a few weeks of life he begins to grow; as he grows, instead of ageing further, he gets younger...

so, i thought i'd hate this. i find mr pitt to be decidedly hit and miss, and i'm no real fan of mr fincher. well, i didn't hate it, which is a start...

now, what i find interesting is that the two biggest films of the moment - 'the curious case of benjamin button' and 'slumdog millionaire' - are films with a finite narrative structure attached to them. with 'slumdog'; we know jamal's answering twelve (or however many there are; oh, the irony...) questions and we're getting to see how his life supplied him with the answers. with 'button', we know he's born as an old man and ages in reverse until he dies as a baby. they also share a big-budget-'tales of the unexpected' quality or enjoy the influence of 'the wonderful story of henry sugar' (another dahl creation); both in their magical realism and story within a story elements...

with both films, i would say, that i ended up watching them just to see them run their course. hardly glow praise, really. still, i'd say that i enjoyed watching 'button' more than 'slumdog'. despite dod mantle's work on the latter, 'button' is a much nicer film to look at; even with it being the usual muted, washed out, colour palette that fincher always seems to adhere to. then there's the make up and special effects trickery that allow brad pitt to be transformed into the tiny, crooked, old man of benjamin's youth, through to the teenage (?) incarnation who is seen towards the end of the film. very good it is too. top marks. oh, and there's also another nice soundtrack from, the increasingly prolific, alexandre desplat.

pitt does some reasonably good work, mainly when aided by special effects and make up, whilst cate blanchett, who plays the love of benjamin's life, is also reasonable. and, it's always nice to see jason flemyng...

all in all, for it's two hours and forty minutes, it is a relatively entertaining watch, that's pretty to look and doesn't drag. the narrative is a little twee and a little silly (even barring the obvious, ageing in reverse motif), whilst a lot of the humour, drama and emotion seems a little forced. another triumph of the utterly mediocre...

the film is currently on general release.

i not stupid

because they care...



terry (huang po ju), kok pin (shawn lee) and boon hock (joshua ang) are twelve years old and find themselves in the 'em3' class at school. this is a bad thing; people look down their noses at them and consider them to be stupid or lazy. terry is, in all actuality, lazy; he's spoiled by his rich parents and unswervingly obedient to his over-bearing mother (selena tan). kok pin tries hard, but consistently fails, even though he shows a great aptitude for art. boon hock is from a poor family and has to juggle school with working at his family's noodle stand, which isn't easy. whilst the kids struggle at school, their parents seem to have just as much to cope with in their daily life...

there's times when 'i not stupid' is quite good fun, there's other times when it's a little annoying and there's times when it is just too obviously preaching at you or trying to highlight a social issue which exists in the state of singapore. unfortunately, the over-riding impression, left with me, was not one of fun. for a slightly less obvious, still with faults, but much more fun to watch slice of singaporean cinema, i'd recommend 'rice rhapsody'. especially as it has the wonderful sylvia chang and the less wonderful, but super fun, martin yan...

this, though, is reasonable at best...

the film hk$29 from buyoyo.com

the virgin queen

you are dead to me...



a four part bbc series, looking at four periods in the life of queen elizabeth I (anne-marie duff). starting with her life as lady elizabeth, moving through her relationship with the earl of leicester (tom hardy), the bothwell conspiracy and, finally, her relationship with the earl of essex (hans matheson) and death.

i've not watched either 'elizabeth I' (the helen mirren mini-series) or 'elizabeth' / 'elizabeth: the golden age' (the cate blanchett films), but when i free copy of this came my way i thought i'd give it ago.

being a series about elizabeth, following her from her early twenties, as she moved towards the thone, to her deathbed, when she was sixty-nine, a lot hinges on anne-marie duff. luckily, duff, aided by costume and make-up, is rather splendid as elizabeth. as a bright-eyed, zestful youth, a powerful middle-age and a decrepit, ailing final few years, she carries the role of with aplomb, managing to exude larger than life characteristics, when stately matters require it and showing herself as a vulnerable human in her personal relationships.

as for the rest of the performers, the slightly blinging nature of both leicester and essex (hardy and matheson, respectively) may irk some viewers, but i eventually warmed to them. the likes of dexter fletcher, tara fitzgerald, ian hart, ewan bremner, daniel evans, derek riddell and neil stuke, amogst others, flesh out a very strong supporting cast. the costume design, sets and dressings are also all noteworthy, with special mention going to make-up and special make up, which occasionally make the likes of elizabeth and kat ashley (fitzgerald) appear as rather frightening and ungodly creatures...

if i had to criticise, i'd say that there's a few moments where the soundtrack is a little intrusive but, by the same measure, there are also times when it works rather well.

good stuff...

the dvd is £14.99 from play.com

transsiberian

kill off all my demons, and my angels might die too...



roy (woody harrelson) and jessie (emily mortimer) have been in china, helping roy's church on a humanitarian project. now, they're having a bit of a break before returning home; a trip from beijing to moscow on the trans-siberian rail road. they soon find themselves sharing their cabin with carlos (eduardo noriega) and abby (kate mara). whilst roy and jane are thinking of settling down, carlos and abby seem to be travelling from place to place with no detectable plan of action but, when roy misses the train at one of its frequent stops, jessie finds herself alone with her new companions, waiting for roy in a small russian town...

yeah, so there's a lot more to the beginning of the film than that, but one doesn't want to signpost the events and developments which are quite obvious to spot, once you start watching it. still, despite the predictable nature of some elements of the film, just like with director brad anderson's rather good 'session 9', the fact that these narrative turns are backed up with twists that are less easy to spot, make for a pretty good watch. also, as with 'session 9', anderson shows that he's more than competent when it comes to building up tension, creating an atmosphere and drawing you in to a narrative.

emily mortimer is, as usual, rather splendid; making the once wild, now almost ready to settle down, jessie appear as a well-rounded character. praise is also forthcoming for mr harrelson, who is rather fine as the naive, loving, train enthusiast. noriega, mara and ben kingsley, who plays a russian detective, provide solid support.

the film itself is an engaging watch, with plenty of tension, a few twists and only minor shortcomings, which can be quite easily forgiven as they're usually bookended by something quite good. the film also made me quite fancy taking the trip from beijing to moscow or vice versa...

good stuff...

the dvd is $12.65 from dvd pacific.com

bigger stronger faster*

the side effects of being american...



chris bell grew up in poughkeepsie, with his two brothers, mike ("mad dog") and mark ("smelly"). it was the mid-eighties and the three bell boys idolised hulk hogan, sylvester stallone and arnold schwarzenegger. embracing the advice of the former, the boys began to train hard, eat their vitamins and say their prayers, practising wrestling in their basement and lifting weights. by the time he'd left school, chris was one of the strongest kids in america and found himself being accused of using steroids. chris hadn't used steroids; the way he saw it, was that if his heroes didn't use them, then neither should he...

however, chris was soon to discover that the hulkster, sly and arnie had all used steroids to get their bodies into peak condition. and, it wouldn't be long before mike and mark, feeling the pressure of college football and in the arena of pro-wrestling, began to take steroids. chris tried them, but didn't feel right; he wanted to be the best he could be, without the steroids, but soon discovered that he just couldn't keep up with those who did. now, chris takes a look at the use and vilification of steroids within various sporting arenas, and wonders why he isn't comfortable using them, when his two brothers are...

what follows is a fascinating, amusing, scary and moving documentary, where chris bell looks at the politics of steroids, the truth and lies that surround their use and the impact that they have had on america and the bell family. from speaking with the coach of the first american olympic weight-lifting team who used steroids (something they learnt from a drunken russian coach), through the likes of ben johnson (perhaps the most vilified of all steroid users) and carl lewis (who has a less than pristine background in this area than one might think), to many people who have been using steroids for decades, medical and sporting professionals, politicians and members of the bell family, bell provides an enlightening look at the culture of wanting everything to be bigger, stronger and faster...

an excellent film.

the dvd is $19.24 from dvdpacific.com

the bank job

fish fingers tonight, eh?



london, 1971. terry (jason "the stath" statham) is a used car salesman, with a less than pristine past behind him. and, when an old friend, martine (saffron burrows), comes back into his life and offers him information about a opportunity to rob a bank, it looks like his future won't be whiter than white either. what terry doesn't know is that martine was recently arrested for trafficking drugs and has been given the opportunity to get off the charge by working with mi5 (or was it mi6?). apparently there's some compromising photographs of princess margaret in a safety deposit box, owned by the decidedly unsavoury, black activist and criminal, michael x (peter de jersey). mi-whoever want these pictures retrieved with the minimum of fuss and nothing to connect them with their retrieval...

now, i like a good, solid, old school, heist movie, not the kind of slick, guy ritchie, 'oceans eleven' kinda junk which has been doing the rounds in recent years. luckily, this is more 'hot rock', than 'lock, stock...'.

the film is, in essence, an amalgamation of several real life events, urban legend, speculation and fiction, which works pretty well. despite a couple of o.t.t. moments (usually dialogue and reactions, rather than the narrative), 'the bank job' manages to create a pretty intriguing piece of cinema. set in a london which swings nicely between the echelons of working, upper and criminal classes, it manages to create a credible enough and surprisingly tense narrative.

good stuff...

the dvd is £5.99 from hmv.com

the house bunny

eyes are the nipples of the face...



shelley (anna faris) is a bunny who lives at the playboy mansion and dreams of, one day, becoming a centrefold; her heart is set on being miss november. however, after hitting the grand old age of twenty-seven ("that's fifty-nine in bunny years"), shelley is asked to leave the sanctuary of heff's mansion. after sleeping in her car, being arrested and finding herself lost in a world she doesn't really understand, she stumbles on to a university campus and feels at home again. after discovering that sorority houses employ "house mothers" to guide the female students safely through the trials and tribulations of college social life, shelley joins the struggling zeta alpha zeta house.

zeta alpha zeta house has around half a dozen residents and is the house everyone looks down their noses at; especially those snooty girls over at phi iota mu and their house mother (beverly d'angelo). now, shelley must whip the socially inept zetas into shape so they can attract enough new pledgers to their house, whilst they school shelley in the ways of the real world...

don't judge me!!!

yeah, i was in the mood for something ultra-light and this totally suited the bill. the script is a pretty classic 'revenge of the nerds' style of college movie, and manages to have a good enough mixture of silliness, fun and funniness to allow it to wash over you in a generally pleasing and entertaining fashion. don't get me wrong, this is by no means a great film, it's just a very acceptable piece of fluff, if that's what you're after. and, that was what i was after...

anna faris does a pretty good job; managing to play the bunny with just the right amount of ditz and the occasional touch of the surreal, which adds a nicely odd edge at times. emma stone, kat dennings and mr hefner himself flesh out the cast, along with d'angelo, who doesn't seem to have aged in the last ten years.

more enjoyable than it should be...

the dvd is £10.99 from play.com

step brothers

you don't have to talk like that, you can just say it's nice...



when dr robert doback (richard jenkins) and nancy huff (mary steenburgen) catch each other's eye, at a conference, sparks fly and it isn't too long before they're tying the knot. the thing is nancy has a spoiled, fourty year old son, brennan (will ferrell) who does very little apart from sitting around the house; then again, robert has dale (john c. reilly); a spoiled, unemployed, thirty-nine year old son. now, after the marriage, nancy and brennan are moving in with robert and dale: will the step brothers hit it off or will it be a recipe for disaster?

so, i'm not a huge fan of will ferrell comedies, but the trailer for this looked pretty funny and i do like a bit of john c. reilly; who doesn't? any how, this didn't actually disappoint and i rather enjoyed it. essentially, it is a film about two grown men who are clearly stunted, in terms of social growth and, in a sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious way, a darkly comedic film emerges.

ferrell and reilly work very well together, and apart, and are the undoubted star attractions of the film. the mixture of physical and observational comedy is nicely balanced and darker underbelly of the film make it a fun watch.

pretty good...

the dvd is £10.99 from play.com