Inside Llewyn Davis

The title of the Coen brother's latest film doesn't appear on screen (at least, not in the traditional sense) throughout it's run time, but frankly, even if it did, I'd suggest you'd be hard pressed to remember it's name anyway further down the line. There's a theory that the Coen's output is either "one for them" (i.e the audience) or "one for us", with the "us" usually belonging amongst the weaker of their films. Inside Llewyn Davis doesn't break that trend, though in terms of its cinematic quality it's not bad at all. The acting and production values are spot on, but the film has a major hurdle to overcome in the fact that the main character is incredibly difficult to like. Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a down on his luck folk singer in early 1960's New York, but as the Coen's spend the entire film basically showing us what a complete selfish arsehole he is, you'll just be thinking that he deserves all he gets. Though based on the real life story of folk singer Dave Van Rook, the film itself doesn't really have much of a plot and it's more of a mood piece. Plot lines that do show promise (the suicide of Davis' musical partner) are not really explored and all that happens is we just go from scene to scene watching Davis give effrontery a bad name. On the plus side there are a few decent one-liners and a mix up with a cat ("Where's his scrotum?") provides a chuckle. Overall though, much like John Goodman's part as an odious jazz musician, it's all just a bit pointless. Plus, if the Coen's think people will warm to a character that abandons an injured cat, well, good luck with that. Rating: 5/10.

Non-Stop

In years to come I think it's unlikely they'll be releasing retrospective box-sets regarding Jaume Collet-Sera cannon of films. However, from his short career so far he's proved he's a safe pair of hands when it comes to productions where the plots revolve around hidden or mysterious elements. So he's in his comfort zone here as, on a flight from New York to London, air marshall Bill Marks (Liam Neeson) receives a text from a passenger informing him that someone on the plane will be killed every 20 minutes unless a ransom is paid. The problem is Marks can't find the culprit and when the bodies start piling up his employees on the ground and the passengers and crew begin to suspect Marks himself is up to something. It's as ludicrous as it sounds. For example, though Marks is an air marshall he, get this, doesn't like flying! Always a pre-requisite qualification for that kind of job I've always thought. Crucially though, the film is a big pile of dumb fun. Collet-Sera has form when it comes to hiding plot twists (see the whammy reveal at the end of Orphan) and here he does it in the form of highlighting so many people (in the form of a cross section of society) as possible suspects, that you can't really spend much time thinking about who the culprit could be (though if you know your B-list actors you might have a fair clue about what's going down). Neeson can do this type of action malarkey in his sleep now (imagine you told someone that ten years ago), but Michelle Dockery looks in shock before anything has actually happened and Julianne Moore just looks like death warmed up. If you're not going to suspend your disbelief then don't bother checking in. For the rest of us, our first entrant in the stupidly fun Friday night film award of the year has touched down. I mean, how many films do you get where the co-pilot screams at his airplane, "Come on, you wanker!". Rating: 7/10.

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

Though not synonymous outside of the US, you've probably heard someone described as a "Walter Mitty type character", the inference being that person is a bit of a dreamer who imagines a fantasy life which they could never possibly lead. Ben Stiller's new film (his first as director in five years) pretty much follows this fantastical template, though it's only loosely based on James Thurber's original short story from the 1930's. In this version Mitty (Stiller) works in the photography department of a soon to be closed magazine and finds himself on a mission to locate a missing photo negative that has been mooted to be the front cover of the last ever issue. Before long Mitty is day dreaming of adventures that take him far and wide in pursuit of said negative. The film has plenty of entertaining moments (look out for the great scene where Mitty pulls off a series of cracking tricks on a skateboard whilst love interest Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) keeps looking away at the most inopportune moments), but when its all said and done there really isn't much substance behind all the spectacle. In addition, with the exception of the portrayal of the downsizing managers (all young, bearded and coffee drinkers) this lacks the satire and the darkness of the original material, settling instead on a much lighter concoction. Whether this works or not is hard to say as I'm not sure who the target audience for this is meant to be. You can look at this film two ways I suppose. One is that its a bit of a waste of your time as, in effect, we have a film that utilises a MacGuffin within a MacGuffin. Alternatively you could say this is a silly bit of entertaining nonsense, capped off with one of the most moving and heart warming denouements of the year. As for the actual direction, this is easily Stiller's most impressive film thus far. Rating: 7/10.

12 Years A Slave

I've always thought that I would have enjoyed Steve McQueen's previous films (Hunger and Shame) a lot more if he had dropped the pretentiousness, reeled in the drawn out scenes and realised that what he thinks is "art" the majority of the public would describe as "arse". Thankfully, 12 Years A Slave is affectation less McQueen, though with the subject matter of this film being slave era America, it's safe to say that even McQueen knows that this is no time for self indulgence. Adapted from the 1853 memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, the film focuses on Northup's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) ordeal as he's kidnapped as a free man and sold into slavery. This is an impressive film, which McQueen doing justice to Northup's story with as meticulous an eye to detail as the productions research could uncover, ranging from the historically accurate clothes to the employment of dialogue coaches to capture the intonations of the time. In effect this is a documentary of a person's life and with minutiae such as this we're a long way from Tarantino's bombastic approach in Django Unchained and the somewhat shameful grandstanding of Spielberg's Lincoln. Ejiofor is one of the best actors around when it comes to portraying dignity in the most inhuman situations and with a Scrabble winning support cast made up from Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch and Lupita Nyong'o the thesping is solid across the board. Arguably it's actually Sarah Paulson as the wife of Fassbender's unhinged plantation owner who is the most memorable character of all, smugly enjoying the trappings that were afforded to the fomenters of the slavery system, whilst also taking wicked pleasure in the mental and physical torture going on around her. You'll know from McQueens previous work (including his short films) that he isn't shy when it comes to showing the form of the human body and the abuses put upon it by ourselves and others and he doesn't hold back here with a number of near unbearable to watch whipping scenes. These scenes of brutality are a tough watch, though it's actually the sideways glances at the era that are the most disturbing at all (one moment has Northup stumble across a lynching in a woods which is portrayed as a simple daily run of the mill occurrence). The film isn't without it's faults though. Sometimes the more belligerent players veer towards caricatures and Hans Zimmer's score is one of his most unmemorable for a long time. Also, though this is now being put forward as a touchstone film that everyone should see in order to understand the history of that time, this does actually lack quite a bit of scope and, though it's always up to the individual person to investigate more themselves, the film could have been improved by touching more on the full scale of the slavery system at that time. Overall though this is what mainstream adult film making is all about, impressively achieved with a budget of under 20 million dollars as well. Rating: 8/10.

The Wolf Of Wall Street

There are two films with the title The Wolf Of Wall Street. One is a black and white, mainly silent drama from the 1920’s. The other is Martin Scorsese’s new film. You’re unlikely to get the two mixed up. Telling the story of Jordan Belfort’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) life as a stockbroker, Scorsese doesn’t hold back with his portrayal of Belfort’s rise and fall amid a cacophony of drugs, sex and swearing (this sets a record for the F-word) that has had the censors having a field day the world over. As a depiction of the excesses that can be bought on by wealth it works. However, as a film it doesn’t really work. The plus points first. Terence Winter’s screenplay has a number of witty scenes of memorable dialogue and there’s some great acting from the cast that make up Belfont’s cronies (Jonah Hill as the quasi second lead is miles better than DiCaprio – the comedy teeth are pointless, mind). The whole package is just too repetitive though and at three hours long you need something more than just scene after scene of debauchery. The film would have been vastly improved if the depravity had been trimmed and more time was spent on explaining what scams Belfort and chums were getting away with (in the film whenever an explanation begins DiCaprio just breaks it off with a shrug of the shoulders and a swear word before he disappears into more vice) and a proper focus on the detective side of things as the FBI track down their man. Scene after scene of DiCaprio addressing his animalistic trading floor troops gets tired very quickly and, with the exception of Belfort’s first wife’s eighties hair do, whether it’s meant to be 1987 or the late 1990’s, production wise it all just pretty much looks the same. Accusations of misogyny against Scorsese don’t really hold much water (this is a portrayal of a certain lifestyle after all), but he can’t deny the film glamorises Belfort’s actions and the denouement suggests little has been learnt by the main protagonist. This lacks the cutting satirical edge of something like American Psycho and if you want a film that explores hedonism to the extreme just watch Jon S Baird's Filth instead, which does a better job engaging the audience, developing characters and asking moral questions in half the running time. Rating: 5/10.

Best and Worst Films of 2013

A bit tricky doing the lists this year due to there being quite an overlap in respect of release dates and whether a film is classified as being 2013 or 2014. Basically, I've gone along the lines of when it had its mainstream UK release and left it at that. Anyway, after my surprise number one choices of the last couple of years, things are a bit more back to normal this year with the best film being helmed by the mighty Paul Greengrass which means that since I started this blog, three Brits, a German and a Swede have topped the best film list in terms of who was the director of said production. In fact my top ten list for 2013 arguably only has a couple of films that you would call US productions, with the rest a mixture from Ireland, the UK, Australia and Japan. Each to their own of course, but with Hollywood seemingly running out of ideas unless its remakes, cookie cutter rom-coms or same old same old superhero movies, it appears the more discerning viewer needs to looks elsewhere for their thrills these days. My usual caveat re the top ten best films applies - I go for an eclectic mix in which there should be something in there for most people to enjoy and (though I feel Captain Phillips was the standout) you can mix them all up and have them in any order you want really. As usual the list of worst films has about thirty films all fighting for the "honour" of being included and no, that's not a typo, a film starring Halle Berry did make it into my favourites of the year.....

Best Films of 2013
1) Captain Phillips
2) Rush
3) The Great Passage
4) In Fear
5) Mystery Road
6) Gravity
7) The Call
8) Prisoners
9) Filth
10) Philomena

Worst Films of 2013
1) Kick Ass 2
2) The Counsellor
3) The Great Gatsby
4) G.I.Joe: Retaliation
5) After Earth
6) Despicable Me 2
7) A Good Day To Die Hard
8) 11.6
9) Runner Runner
10) Iron Man 3

In Fear

One of the plus points about the UK having only minimal funds when it comes to producing films is that we produce many high quality horror films. In Fear can be added to this roll call of honour. Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) have only been dating for a couple of weeks when Tom invites her to a romantic weekend in Ireland, including a stay in a hotel located in the remote countryside. However, as the weather closes in and with the signs to the hotel sending them around in circles, the bonhomie between the couple quickly starts to dissipate. Then things turn even more serious when it appears that the (unseen) locals are preparing to turn a situation of helplessness into something a lot more serious indeed. First time director Jeremy Lovering makes the most of the minimal resources to hand, helping to tighten the screw from scene to scene with his use of tight facial close-ups, a score that goes from silent to thumping and mastering the art of what you can't see is psychologically more terrifying than what you can. Lovering helmed this in a smart manner, shooting chronologically and only providing his young cast with the script scene by scene. It pays off in spades with De Caestecker and Englert looking both physically and mentally lost, especially in a superb moment where Lucy suspects that Tom might be behind all the mayhem. It's clear that even Englert herself doesn't know who this man she's only just starting dating really is. This is (literally for the characters themselves) a white knuckle ride, but its the way Lovering builds that suspense which makes this such a cracking watch. From its subtle comments on relationships (everyone will be able to relate to the couples gentle bantering over map reading which soon turns into blatant annoyance) to a twist at the end which is a nasty surprise, this slowly engulfs you. On the minus side, if you go back and scrutinise the script you'll no doubt find plot holes galore and the ending defers to the modern approach of leaving things up in the air. At 85 minutes though you can't really go wrong and this high intensity thriller hints that in the form of Lovering we could another young star in the making behind the camera. Rating: 8/10.