Series 7: The Contenders (Daniel Minahan, USA, 2001) August 15, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 2000s, Drama, Film reviews, Thriller/Suspense, Crime , add a commentDir. Daniel Minahan; screenplay by Daniel Minahan; starring Brooke Smith
Series 7: The Contenders is at times a deeply unsettling film that frequently piques the audience’s interest, but in the same token it’s a deeply flawed satire with a muddled script and some awful acting.
Minahan takes his satire of reality television to the extreme, painting a bleak view of a narcissistic world where life and death is so sanitised, committing murder is like stealing the victims favourite teddy bear. The film’s major problem is what makes reality television so fake are the motives of those that take part. Their desperation to become famous feeds their taste to be the basis of voyeuristic desire. In Monahan’s film the motives of the contestants are confused, as if to protect their lives is the only motive they need. The film is so obsessed with sanitising life, this becomes nothing more than a means to an end. Can we as an audience believe that these characters would simply accept their situation without question? The director seems to think so, which really examples a close-mindedness on his part. His characters are either stereotypes (the rebellious, pseudo-intellectual artist, and the teenager with family problems) or caricatures (the psychotic old nurse). The nurse even says that people often ask her if the Emergency Room is exactly like what they see of television, to which she replies that it is, but more bloody. It’s very doubtful that good looking nurses will go around wondering if George Clooney has caught their gaze, and even more doubtful television hospitals closely mimic their real life counterparts. Minahan takes reality television too seriously so his film becomes nothing more than a caricature of the genre, in effect, parodying the very notions it attempts to satirise.
Many have criticised the film’s ending but I believe it’s the most successful part of the film. It’s tinged in over-the-top melodrama, filmed to look like a reconstruction of events that we do not see. It is rather inventive how Minahan self-references his own film to show some of the genre’s more glaring deficiencies, like for example, the ambiguity of what ‘reality’ means when it comes to this sort of television.
The mere fact Series 7: The Contenders throws up so many interesting questions, shows that the idea is a good one. However, while horror films My Little Eye and Kolobos faired worse, The Truman Show and EdTV were much better examples of the theme. Given that Minahan both wrote and directed the film, his problems at script level are never addressed, and his amateurish direction leaves a lot to be desired (his changes of tone are jarring, his lack of focus alienating the viewer). There is of course the other problem concerning his less than stellar cast, none of who really embrace their roles.
Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, USA, 1993) August 13, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 1990s, Film reviews, Action/Adventure, Thriller/Suspense, Sci-fi/Fantasy , add a commentDir. Steven Spielberg; screenplay by Michael Crichton, David Koepp; starring Sam Niell, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Having not seen the film for many years what struck me most was the postmodernist and self-reflexive attitude of the film, almost parodying the ‘event’ movie that Spielberg had helped create in the first place. The character of Hammond, constantly alluding to the fact no expense was spared could be the mantra of Jurassic Park’s producers and Spielberg himself, but couple this with the film’s blatant product placement and the idea of a theme park ride (Jurassic Park clothing, lunch boxes, t-shirts, etc., were readily available to the public when the film was released; the theme park ride would come a little later), and you discover a rather interesting aside to the film. Spielberg’s left-wing critics would argue he was cashing in on total commercialism through audience manipulation, whilst others might argue he was wryly satirising mainstream, big-budget blockbusters - the phenomenon he’d help create.
Nevertheless, Jurassic Park is a crowd-pleaser that set a benchmark for special-effects in 1993. The performances could have been better (evidenced with the sequel’s much better acting), but the film’s sense of humour, some excellent set-pieces, and terrific production values, make for a frequently entertaining adventure story.
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1958)
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 1950s, Drama, Film reviews, Thriller/Suspense, Crime , add a commentDir. Alfred Hitchcock; screenplay by Samuel Taylor; starring James Stewart, Kim Novak
Vertigo is many people’s favourite Hitchcock film and it’s easy to see why - the everyman played by James Stewart, caught up in a web of mystery while falling in love with the beautiful Kim Novak. It’s the set-up many of Hitchcock’s films were built on, but in Vertigo, widely regarded as the director’s most personal film, he brilliantly fuses the two ideas that inspired the iconic Englishman most – fear and obsession.
There is a deeply troubling theme throughout the film, perhaps why it flopped during its first release, as Hitchcock paints the San Francisco backdrop in glorious colour, tinged with a dreamy ambience that connotes the movie’s more ethereal ideas. Yet Hitchcock knows his audience so well, making us privy to the twist thirty minutes before the end (a narrative technique even accomplished directors wouldn’t dare to do), leaving us watching Jimmy Stewart’s Scottie Ferguson losing himself more and more in guilt. By pulling the carpet from under the audience so early, it leaves the film open to the idea that anything could happen next, making for some heady suspense.
Identity (James Mangold, USA, 2003) August 11, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Horror, 2000s, Drama, Film reviews, Action/Adventure, Thriller/Suspense, Crime , add a commentDir. James Mangold; screenplay by Micheal Cooney; starring John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, Clea Duvall
One of the better thrillers to come out of Hollywood in the last few years, John Cusack plays an ex-cop who gets himself into a little trouble when a storm leaves him and ten others stranded at a remote Motel. The trouble is: someone is killing them one by one.
The problem with Identity is that it does lose something on repeat viewings because for its ending to work satisfactorily it relies on the surprise of the twist. When you know what’s coming, the ending can seem like a let down. Nevertheless, the photography is superb, and John Cusack and Ray Liotta are their usual dependable selves.
Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1946)
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 1940s, Drama, Film reviews, Thriller/Suspense, Crime , add a commentDir. Alfred Hitchcock; screenplay by Ben Hecht; starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
One of Hitchcock’s simpler stories is pure cinematic entertainment from start to finish. He somehow seamlessly draws together the tale of love-torn couple Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman with Claude Rains’ Nazi mastermind and Bergman’s introduction to the world of espionage and intrigue, as if it was a perfectly natural experience we all have to go through. Who else could turn an ice-box with gradually decreasing numbers of Champagne bottles into dramatic narrative, underpinning it with Grant and Bergman sneaking around like naughty teenagers looking for a secret place to make out? This is certainly one of Hitchcock’s finest movies.
Driver, The (Walter Hill, 1978) August 8, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 1970s, Drama, Film reviews, Action/Adventure, Thriller/Suspense, Crime , add a commentDir. Walter Hill; screenplay by Walter Hill; starring Ryan O’Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabella Adjani
Walter Hill’s 1978 film-noir is fascinating in its depiction of Bruce Dern’s desperate attempts to catch the illusive ‘Driver’. The great thing about this film is how the criminal becomes the anti-hero. Hill plays with western, film-noir and action movie genre conventions to great effect, but it’s his two main characters that draw the viewer’s attention. Ryan O’Neal as The Driver is ‘all cool’, while Dern is tired, pissed off and at the end of his tether. There’s some excellent car chases while Dern and O’Neal carry the film with strong performances. I particularly liked how the crook is less corrupt than the cop – it made for an interesting dynamic between the two characters.
Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, 2005) August 7, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Horror, 2000s, Film reviews, Thriller/Suspense , add a commentDir. Greg McLean; screenplay by Greg McLean; starring John Jarrett, Cassandra Magrath, Kestie Morassi, Gordon Poole
The biggest compliment you can give Greg McLean’s debut is that it leaves you with a taste in your mouth you never thought could ever get there. Long after the credits have rolled, this film will have you thinking about it. It’s a ballsy little low-budget horror movie that appears to have one intention – that being, sending viewers back behind the sofas (a place we haven’t been for a good long while). Terrifically paced, shot and edited with some excellent central performances and a script that steers away from cliché, the film is one of the best horror films of recent times.
A History Of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : 2000s, Drama, Film reviews, Thriller/Suspense, Crime , add a commentDir. David Cronenberg; screenplay by Josh Olsen; starring Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt
Cronenberg’s brilliant 2005 film is about fine lines. There’s a fine line between someone who can hate and someone who can love, shown in the film’s major twist, as well as in the way Cronenberg draws an indistinct division between sex and violence.
The opening shot – one continuous take that lasts several minutes – is masterful in both execution and in the way it seamlessly builds audience expectation before shredding that expectation to pieces.
The performances are solid but it’s Cronenberg and the source material that is the treat here. He questions where one extreme ends and another begins, and shows just how we can all fall into their trap.