The Last King of Scotland (2006) June 27, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: Kevin Macdonald
At the most basic level, one could say that this is the story of a normal guy, fresh out of education, looking to get away from his boring home life. Of course, that’s not what everyone is going to remember come the end of the film, and while this account is in fact fictional, it is centred around a very real figure of history: Ugandan president, Idi Amin.
Nicholas Garrigan is an idealistic young doctor from Scotland, who picks Africa as a destination for escape from a life of ‘family doctoring’ alongside his father. While there, he forms a bond with the newly appointed president Amin, through a shared love for Scotland. Amin quickly appoints him as his personal doctor, and Nicholas soon becomes a close advisor to the president. However, as political climates change, Amin becomes more erratic and dangerous, leaving Nicholas no choice but to get out of Africa before he too becomes a target for the president’s wrath.
First off, the performances, which play a big part in the strength of this film - especially from the two leads. Forest Whitaker is almost unrecognisable, but absolutely brilliant, in the Amin role, while James McAvoy stands tall too creating a very relatable central character. There’s a great sense of getting to know these two people over the 121-minute running time, mainly because they are the ones occupying most of the screen time. Even Gillian Anderson only gets a small role in comparison.
The film is very nicely shot by Touching The Void director Kevin Macdonald, although he tends to let the camera wander at times which, though a stylistic choice I’m sure, is kind of distracting – personally, it pulls me out of the moment and reminds me that I’m watching the events through a camera lens. It doesn’t happen often luckily, and forms only a minor failing in what is quite an achievement of a film.
While not wanting to give too much away, I will say that it is surprisingly violent in parts – you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it. It’s worth being aware that although this movie mostly keeps away from actually showing the violent nature of Amin – his brutal killings are only heard about in retrospect – there are still some moments of an unpleasant nature.
The Last King of Scotland is one of those films that really makes the most of its assets. A great story, two fantastic performances, and a realistic script - it’s hard to ask for much more. While it does tend to stick to its own tale rather than detail the events that Amin was actually involved in, whether you find this a good or a bad thing will be a matter of personal opinion. Still, definitely worth a watch regardless of how much you know about this particular period in African history.
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) June 23, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Cinema, Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: Steven Soderbergh
After a slightly lacklustre second outing, the boys set out to give it one more try with a movie that certainly plays closer to the original in terms of story and structure. And it really is ‘the boys’ this time; with Julia Roberts not in attendance it’s solely up to Danny, Rusty and Linus to hold the film together, with a little help from their friends, of course.
This time around, the plot centres on a revenge job for the infamous master criminals, as one of their own, Reuben, is bed-ridden after he is screwed over in a Vegas hotel deal by the ruthless Willy Bank (newcomer to the fold, Al Pacino). A plan is set to ruin the opening night of ‘The Bank’, and humiliate its owner as payback for his betrayal. But this time even Danny Ocean may have bitten off more than he can chew, so when complications arise, the crew are forced to go to an unlikely source for help.
The script comes from Rounders writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who inject the right amount of humour into the proceedings, as well as a story set-up that presents a realistic motivation for the team to get back together. Their heist and its execution is not as clever or involving as in the original though - and this is a problem - but at least the plot is coherent and it takes the time to drop in a few much-needed twists to keep the audience guessing.
One could make the observation that this film is a little too like Eleven, just not as fresh or clever. The narrative structure is exactly as you’d expect – a heist is planned, the team pull some clever turns, they hit some problems, more turns, some good fortune intervenes, problems are resolved and we’re lead into a ‘pulling the job’ third act. It’s all enjoyable stuff, but I have to wonder whether this rigid attentiveness to the formula set out by the Ocean’s movies is a product of wanting to go ‘back to the roots’, or rather, just playing it safe after the reception that Twelve received.
On the plus side, director Steven Soderbergh has had plenty of time to find his groove stylistically and is clearly comfortable controlling the pans and zooms he has made such as staple of the franchise. Meanwhile, the cast show a similar level of comfort, playing the fun side of their characters safe in the knowledge that we’ve already established who they are and what role they perform. It’s
obvious that working on this set was never a chore. And just like in previous instalments the movie gets a chance to play with its own self-awareness, but thankfully it’s back to being hidden in dialogue and exchanges rather than the somewhat forthright ‘Julia Roberts’ sequence from the second movie.
The legacy of Danny Ocean may well have reached a deserved conclusion with this movie, and the subtle callbacks to Eleven are hopefully attempting to round out the trilogy, giving us a sense of full-circle. Having said that, if somebody has the creativity to come up with a cunning new heist and another banter-laden script, I can’t say I’d be adverse to seeing the gang get back together for ‘one last job’.
As for this film, to say that it’s better than Twelve but not as good as Eleven is a little unspecific, since the gap between those two movies is an expansive one. It certainly tries to emulate the original, but falls down by not being anywhere near as intelligent or calculating as its 2001 predecessor. However, it’s still great fun to watch this cast get together, and if you’re willing to go along for the ride then it’s just like getting together with a bunch of old friends.
Blood Diamond (2006) June 18, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: Edward Zwick
When we buy an expensive piece of jewellery or a diamond ring for a loved one, how many of us can admit to passing a thought for where those precious stones came from? To quote the film itself: would you still want to wear a ring if you knew it cost somebody their hand to make it?
This effective action drama tells the tale of conflict diamonds coming out of war-torn Africa. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Danny Archer, a South African smuggler who hears about a rough stone so big that it could end his days living in violence-ridden Sierra Leone. Solomon Vandy (Djimon Hounsou) is the man who hid the diamond, and guides Archer in return for help finding the family he became separated from during a raid on his village. An American journalist (Jennifer Connelly) tags along for the ride, as the group embark on the most dangerous journey of their lives.
The Last Samurai director Edward Zwick handles the film very well, especially during the action shoot-outs which feel genuinely gritty and real. The main characters are well developed and the script, while dropping in the odd obvious exposition line, is mostly true to life and to its characters – especially Danny Archer, who remains a selfish force almost to the very end, sidelining the typical protagonist persona we’re used to seeing in Hollywood pictures.
The cast are excellent with the ever-impressive DiCaprio on great form as the thieving anti-hero of the piece. Some have criticised his South African accent, although I personally thought it was pretty on-target and certainly more of a strength than a weakness. Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou are good too, especially Hounsou actually, who goes through more emotional turmoil than any of the other characters combined, and yet remains a strong screen presence throughout.
If there’s one area where the film falls down it’s that towards the end things do become slightly predictable. I guess the truth is that the narrative leaves itself nowhere to go but the obvious and while the conclusion is still quite powerful, it could seem slightly meaningless in a story which purposefully makes a point of explaining that whatever we do, things will always be as they are. Also, while the plotline tells the plight of these characters effectively, it is Connolly’s idealistic journalist who wields the most power to drive that story home to a Western audience. Unfortunately, she is sidelined until required during the conclusion; helping to make a moral point about the hand the Western world has in conflict diamond trade.
This is still a very strong drama however, with a fantastic sense of adventure, a great cast and compelling performances to boot. It’s well worth catching if you like this kind of thing and at the very least it supports a worthy message about consumer choice, which may just get you thinking about the real price of diamonds.
Smokin’ Aces (2007) June 14, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: Joe Carnahan
There’s something inherently ‘laddish’ about a movie like Smokin’ Aces – a film that explodes onto the screen, all guns blazing (literally), for 110-minutes of relentless testosterone-fuelled excitement. Or so its trailers would have you believe. Of course, real cinema aficionados should know better than to trust a trailer when it comes to determining the quality of a movie, but I won’t lie and say that it didn’t intrigue me – I fell right into the marketing trap: I’m a guy. I like action. This is my kind of flick!
And so to the story, which revolves around one character in particular: Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (Jeremy Piven), a Vegas magician who is about to testify against the mob regarding recent deals he has been privy to. Naturally, the mob boss isn’t too thrilled about this, and so he puts a $1 million price on Buddy’s head. This brings all sorts of bounty hunters and guns-for-hire out of the woodwork, who, along with the two FBI officers assigned to collect him, are all in a race to see who can reach his Lake Tahoe penthouse first. Cue violence.
Or do we? You see, there’s an expectation that this story will build slowly up to a crazy all-action finale, which is exactly what it starts to do. But unfortunately, when the movie finally decides to blow its wad, the result is surprisingly disappointing. Plus, the film then chooses to free-wheel for a while towards the actual conclusion, climaxing in a finale that’s somewhat flat, despite the desperate attempt at a final twist.
The plot is quite difficult to follow, with key dialogue often being explained through mumbles, or via difficult-to-interpret telephone conversations. It’s almost as if the film-makers don’t want you to pay any attention to the plot, which makes me wonder why they then choose to include so much of it as the movie goes on. It can be quite a task to keep up with all the characters too, mainly because there are just so many of them. Each new main character is introduced with his or her name and occupation appearing on the screen, but it quickly gets to the point where you’re thinking: “Another one? Somebody ‘smoke’ this guy already!”.
That’s a lot of negativity though, and the film is not all bad. Joe Carnahan directs with flair, keeping his shots tight for most of the conversational scenes and opening the frame up during the action sequences. There are some nice CG-created shots too, although in the end it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. He also wrote the script, but as already mentioned, much of it is lost in the general happenings and important stuff like people being gunned down.
The cast is quite enjoyable too, although with so many characters some get more involved than others. There are whole roles that probably could’ve been erased from the movie, especially Hollis (played by Martin Henderson) and almost everyone he comes into contact with. I think Jeremy Piven is a great actor and he does the most work, suffering from a nervous breakdown as Buddy, the guy everyone wants dead. Ryan Reynolds and Ray Liotta are also good as the two FBI agents trying to make sure Buddy stays alive.
It might be a bit of a stupid movie, but its unashamed attitude means I really can’t hold that against it. When all is said and done however, while this film has its moments, I’m not exactly crazy about it. Even as a blow-out action flick it’s not overly satisfying, plus the ending the filmmakers try so hard to give the story doesn’t really work on any level. A shame, especially when you consider that Carnahan’s directorial debut was called ‘Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane’. If it really wanted to live up to its marketing, Smokin’ Aces could’ve done with a bit more of all those elements.
Happy Feet (2006) June 10, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , add a commentDirected by: George Miller
Given the slew of computer-animated movies that came out last year it is forgivable if you can’t quite differentiate them all from each other. But if there’s one that stuck out significantly during its winter release, it was Happy Feet – the movie about an all-singing, all-dancing penguin colony.
Babe: Pig in the City director George Miller takes us to the icy habitat of Antarctica, where the latest generation of emperor penguins have just been born. As the newborns get to grips with their heart song so that they can win the affection of a mate, it becomes clear that baby Mumble is different - his singing is terrible and his feet are strangely erratic. On reaching adolescence, Mumble still has no heart song; meanwhile the colony is suffering from a food shortage. So Mumble sets out to discover the source of the famine, so that he can save his species and be accepted by his true love, Gloria.
First of all, the positives. The film can certainly boast some impressive computer animation, and even though feathers, water and the scenery effects have been produced before, they still manage to impress here. It’s almost difficult to believe that we’ve hit this stage in CG animation, and its level of advancement is further highlighted by the film’s effective way of dealing with human characters; actually integrating a live-action cast seamlessly into a small part of the film.
Also, the voice acting adequately fits the bill: Robin Williams is good, as is Hugh Jackman, Hugo Weaving, Nicole Kidman and Brittany Murphy. Elijah Wood is passable, though nothing special in the central role. Most of the humour comes from the obvious comic relief characters, two of which are played by Williams in what seems to be a slightly over-zealous grab at easy laughs. It works though, and there are some chuckles along the way.
Unfortunately, that’s mostly it. From here on in things get a little more difficult and, unfortunately, the movie seems to be its own worst enemy. The choice of music is fine for the most part, but there’s just so much of it (find out for yourself if you can handle the 10-minute credit scroll). On occasion, the choice to go from modern R&B to pop or blues is a tad jarring, and while some may find fun in the musical numbers, they quickly become samey and tiresome.
The story too, suffers from a terrible lack of focus, never quite deciding what the moral of the tale is to the point where it ends up with no moral at all. The writers use the first half to set up an abundance of options, from ‘it’s okay to be different’, to ‘be true to yourself’ and even the classic ‘true love always wins through’. None of these are given a resolution however, with Mumble’s difficulty fitting-in leading to banishment, while his ‘happy feet’ only receive acceptance because they will help save his specifies. He also shuns his love interest at one point (supposedly for her own good), only to never stage a proper reconciliation.
The real nail in the coffin, however, is the completely rushed, under-explained, down-right insulting last 20-minutes, which barely serves to wrap up the story never mind teaches us that we should look after cute animal habitats for inane reasons.
What it comes down to is a nice idea that never got past the brainstorming stage. The first half is quite clever, fitting natural penguin routines and rituals into a story and creating a relatable world for them to live in. Once the plot starts creeping in though, the scriptwriters have already used up all their penguin-isms from the big white board and are left to fumble around, throwing everything in the family-movie book at the screen to try and make it work.
Despite all of this, Happy Feet did extremely well at the box office - something which I can only attribute to the ‘cute-factor’ of penguins. I’ll give it credit where deserved: it does have a nice set-up, there are a few good line readings (mostly from Robin Williams), and the visual effects work is outstanding. Besides that though, it’s a fluff piece. Even taking its vapid moral standpoint aside, there’s little in the way of a believable resolution to its over-long 110-minute running time. At best it’s a film with enough musical content to get your feet tapping, but ultimately it’ll only confuse children about our motivations towards wildlife, and disappoint adults who were hopefully expecting slightly more.
