MyFilms

The Return

2011-11-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

So, after a lengthy absence I have decided to resurrect MyFilms.

In an effort to make up for the lack of activity in recent months I have decided to set a target of one new review every two days between now and the end of the year.

If anyone is still reading please spread the word about the blog.

Many thanks to those of you who have emailed and called to urge me to get things going again.

13 Assassins - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 7/5/11

2011-05-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

I've started writing this review five times now.

I'm not normally one to find himself at a loss for words.

I pride myself on being able to churn out a suitably pretentious, snooty or irritating review at the drop of a hat.

I'm stuck here though.

Look, I tell you what...you go and see it, send me your reviews and I'll tell you if you're right.

OK?

I'll give you just one piece of advice...don't bother sending in a review unless it is explicit in hailing this as one of the best films you've ever seen.

OK?

Good.

Off you go.

Insidious - Cineworld - 30/4/11

2011-05-14T07:59:00.000-07:00

a powerful studio executive sits alone in his office. he is surrounded by piles of scripts. he has a haunted look on his face. in front of him sits a junior executive who looks equally haunted.

Studio Exec: We're screwed.

Junior: We can't be screwed JC...we ARE Hollywood. We're the dream factory. There must be something...

Studio Exec: Listen kid, I've been in this town for a long time. I've seen bad times before. Hell, I was the guy who green lit "True Lies" and "Waterworld"...both enormous pieces of crap that everybody hated and that cost a shit-load of money to make and yet we just kept on rockin' and rollin'. You gotta trust me when I tell you that this is different.

Junior: It's only a recession boss, the economy will turn around...things will get better, you'll see. We'll be back.

Studio Exec: We're screwed kid. Screwed.

Junior: What about a remake? They're cheap, stupid people like 'em and we can churn it out in double-quick time. Hell, even the critics bought "True Grit".

Studio Exec: Ha ha ha ha ha ha...they sure did kid, they sure did. But the thing is...the public have had enough, they want something "new" and "new" costs money and money we don't got.

Junior: What about a "re-imagining"...it's like a remake but we can cut out anything expensive and pitch it as "art-house"?

Studio Exec: God bless ya kid, you got hope in your heart but I'm telling you that we won't get that past the public no more. They've seen through it...they can smell marketing bullshit from a hundred paces.

Junior: Wait...wait...I think...yeah, yeah this might just...I GOT IT!

Studio Exec: What? What have you got?

Junior: How about I give you something that looks new, that we can sell as new, that won't cost us big bucks but is in fact a whole lot of ideas from other movies that we will do with less quality?

Studio Exec: I'm listening...

Junior: OK. We take bits of old horror movies that haven't yet been remade, we shoe-horn in some truly shitty "special effects", throw in a bit of "Paranormal Activity" and BINGO-BANGO we are BACK!

Studio Exec: You think you can pull it off?

Junior: Of course...look, what about this for starters..."Poltergeist"; we take a kid, a cute kid, have it disappear and then have a medium show up to tell the family the kid is on the "other side"?

Studio Exec: Isn't this just a remake?

Junior: No, because we don't call it "Poltergeist" and we make the medium wear a gas mask!

Studio Exec: Kid, you are either a genius or a madman...either way I dig it! What else you got?

Junior: Boss, I got a whole load of second hand, stolen and ill thought out ideas that we can wrap up in 90 minutes of movie and with a trailer that doesn't show any of that and plays on the "Paranormal Activity" angle we could get away with it!

Studio Exec: You remind me a lot of me when I was you're age. I like you kid. Which is why you're fired. Get the hell out of here. Now, somebody get me Patrick Wilsons number...

Thor - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 30/4/11

2011-05-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

Confused.

Pretentious.

Not as good as people tell you.

Tired.

Lacking real evidence of talent or originality.

Hollow.

But enough about Kenneth Branagh...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ahem.

Seriously though folks, doesn't anyone else agree with me about Branagh?

I've been hearing for years about how great he is, how talented he is...but I haven't seen any evidence of it. He's like the Tim Henman of British acting/directing; good if you define good as "not very good" but with nothing to show for all the positive press he receives.

A luvvy of the worst sort.

As for this, this...film well it really is cast in its makers image.

Awful CGI, a ludicrous script, performances so hammy they make "Babe" look like a Linda McCartney veggie sausage ad.

Don't waste your time.

This is thunderously bad.

Linda Linda Linda - Filmhouse - 5/2/11

2011-04-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

I was in a band once.

I was.

Oh, you can laugh and crack jokes but the fact remains that I was in a band.

We wrote our own songs, we didn't do covers, we played gigs.

What did I do?

Singer.

Frontman.

Leader.

I mean, I say "singer" but that is stretching things a little...what I actually did was to honk like a seal doing an impersonation of Morrissey if Morrissey was tone-deaf (no jokes about Morrissey actually being tone-deaf please).

It was fun.

I had all the delusions that everyone else who has been in a band has...stardom, fame, women, front cover of the NME, spokesman for a generation.

It all ended quite badly and I haven't spoken to anyone in the band for over 15 years.

I'm a man who knows how to hold a grudge.

"Linda Linda Linda" is a Japanese film that captures perfectly what it is like to be young and in a band. It's not achingly cool, it's not knowing, it isn't "dark", there aren't "layers"...it's just a film about four girls who form a band and who play at the end of term show.

It's uplifting and it is, at times, hilarious.

The title comes from the name of a song played by Japanese punks "The Blue Hearts" which is the song the girls decide to cover as part of their set. It's a fabulous pop-punk song and when sung by adolescent girls it is given a glorious shot of emotion.

The girls in the band are not stereotypes...yes, one of the girls is a Korean who struggles with Japanese but she isn't geeky or awkward, there isn't a Spice Girls parade of sporty, ginger, baby, scary or dopey! What you get instead is four girls dealing with the reality of being teenagers and chasing a simple dream.

Quite possibly the best film about being a teenager I have ever seen.

Waste Land - Filmhouse - 5/3/11

2011-04-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

These are difficult and challenging times.

War, revolution, violence, depression, recession, repression.

Soaring unemployment.

Cuts, cuts and more cuts.

There isn't a lot of good news.

Cinema offers an escape from reality...it can also reflect that reality.

"Waste Land" paints a picture of a reality that is, on the surface, more depressing and challenging than the one we in the "developed" world are experiencing but then reminds us that there is hope.

Phew.

Artist Vik Muniz was born in Brazil but was offered a chance to study in New York.

He became a very successful artist and a very wealthy man.

"Waste Land" follows Muniz as he returns to Brazil to work with the catadores of Jardim Gramacho, the worlds largest land fill site. The catadores are pickers...they spend long hours on the Gramacho picking out recyclable materials which are then sold on to large corporations who can then use them in their manufacturing work. The pickers are, in the main, poor and working in terrible conditions.

As the people behind the "picker" are revealed we learn of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends of struggles, heartaches and pain. Slowly they begin to work with Muniz to create art from the garbage they live in and on. Ultimately they are offered a way out of the life they know and hope bursts into a world which had seemed hopeless.

The art created by Muniz is stunning, moving and powerful.

The stories of the catadores are equally stunning, moving and powerful.

This isn't an environmental film (despite the strong message that many in the environmental movement will pounce on for their own ends) this is a film about people with a message for people who are struggling all over the world.

Cure - Filmhouse - 4/3/11

2011-04-13T09:04:00.000-07:00

The first in this years Japan Foundation season is a bona fide cult classic.

Unavailable on DVD in the UK this serial killer, horror, thriller from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa was the first in what was to become a glut of J-Horror to flood the UK market and to spawn myriad remakes and re-imaginings. While that period (starting in 1998, one year after "Cure" with "Ringu") brought a handful of brilliant films including "Ringu", "Ju-On", "Dark Water" and "Audition" alongside some films that didn't feature girls with long dark hair like "Gohatto", "Ichi the Killer" and "Zatoichi" it soon became formulaic as J-Horror and East Asian cinema ate itself...at least it did here in the UK as uninspired media types bought the same film over and over again (give thanks to Third Window Films for bucking that trend!).

"Cure" is deliciously dark, deranged and demented while never straying too far away from being convincing. A trail of dead bodies all killed in the same gruesome manner, but all at the hands of otherwise normal and completely unconnected people, begin to pile up in Tokyo leaving the police completely baffled.

Each body is mutilated with a bloody x carved into the chest and each of the perpetrators is found in close proximity to the victim but utterly unaware of why they have committed the crime.

When the police discover the link that ties the murders together it is a young drifter with a neat line in amnesia and all round weird things shift from serial killer flick to supernatural/horror and things move from horrible to weird.

Kurosawa manages to juggle the various elements of the story beautifully and each of his characters is given room to develop where other directors may well have sacrificed character for cliche and fake blood. Perhaps this is because the film is based on a novel written by Kurosawa himself and so his relationship with the characters is more intimate than it would have been in the hands of someone else.

Koji Yakusho delivers a brilliant performance as the put upon detective charged with solving the case and his role in the films chilling finale is crucial. Unlike many Japanese stars Yakusho will be familiar to Western audiences thanks to his performances in "Babel" and "Memoirs of a Geisha".

There is no doubt that "Cure" is a very dark film and one that will leave you feeling unsettled long after the final credits role but it is also beautifully shot, wonderfully scripted and brilliantly directed...what more do you want from any film?

Cold Fish - Third Window Films

2011-04-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

Truth is stranger than fiction.

Unless the truth is then filtered by director Sion Sono.

What Sono delivers with "Cold Fish" is a deeply disturbing, shocking, amusing and twisted slice of cinema that will leave you utterly breathless when the final credits roll.

Based on the true story of Gen Sekine, a dog breeder from Urawa, who murdered and disposed of the bodies of four people with the help of his wife. Sekine poisoned his victims after a disagreement over money in the early 1990's. After poisoning their victims they took the bodies to a dog breeding ground where they cut them up, burned them and then scattered the remains. An employee from Sekine's pet shop was also arrested for helping the couple dispose of the bodies.

"Cold Fish" presents the tale through the eyes of miserable Shamoto, a fish breeder and fish shop owner who is loathed by both his beautiful second wife and his wild child teenage daughter. His life is empty and hollow...Shamoto seems to be similarly empty and hollow. He is, absolutely, ordinary. When his daughter is caught shoplifting he is brought into contact with fellow fish shop owner Murata who acts as peacemaker between the daughter and the store manager. This simple act of kindness brings Murata and Shamoto into close proximity and soon his daughter is a live-in help at Muratas store and his wife is having an affair with him.

When Murata summons Shamoto to a business meeting it isn't because he values the downtrodden mans opionion but because he wants him to witness a murder. Using poison Murata wipes out a business rival and then drags Shamoto into a world of violence, sex and darkness that may well be unmatched in cinema. Murata and his wife take Shamoto and the dead body deep into the woods to a ramshackle residence where the husband and wife team slice, dice, burn and dump the dead body...lauging, joking and becoming aroused along the way.

From this point on Sono takes us deep into a twisted hell on earth that will leave even the most hardened of film lovers flinching and wincing right up until the bloody, brutal and blacker than black finale. Make no mistake about it this is visceral cinema. What sets it apart from the likes of the grubby shocking for the sake of being shocking "A Serbian Film" is that Sono has crafted characters who are believable and, particularly in the case of Shamoto, likeable. Additionally Sono refuses to play by the "rules" films like this...redemption and a happy ending are not to be found which makes this a more satisfying film.

"Cold Fish" is not for everyone. It is upsetting and genuinely shocking in places...even for those who may have spent many a long hour watching extreme Asian cinema or the gore soaked video nasties of the eighties. However, this is also a rewarding film with incredible performances from all the performers and direction from Sono that marks him out as a man to watch.

"Cold Fish" is showing at cinemas across the UK please visit Third Window Films for details of a screening near you.

Images used in this review were obtained from Third Window Films

The Adjustment Bureau - Cineworld, Edinburgh, 12/3/11

2011-04-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

Sinister forces are at work in the world.

Your freedom to choose is defined not by the choices you make but the freedom you have to make those choices.

Look around you.

Are you free?

Are you a number?

How much choice do you really have?

It's not paranoia if you know they are out to get you.

Matt Damon plays a handsome, man-of-the-people, politician on the brink of making it to the US Senate. Unfortunately his man-of-the-people schtick extends to "mooning" innocent passers by on drunken nights out and so he is thwarted at the eleventh hour. Before making his concession speech he has a brief encounter with a beautiful woman in the mens room that turns his life upside down.

Unfortunately for Damon he was never meant to meet this woman and if the forces who control our lives have anything to do with it he never will again. When Damon uncovers the fact that men in hats are, in fact, agents/angels acting on behalf of an unseen "higher power" his life is plunged further into chaos.

Determined to meet the woman of his dreams again he is aided by a rogue agent/angel and a battle of will and wills begins that will lead to happily ever after or misery.

With a glaringly obvious religious/spiritual slant that might leave you feeling like you've been hit in the face with a copy of the Watchtower "The Adjustment Bureau" never quite manages to move from preachy to philosophical. Despite that it features another strong performance from Matt Damon and it is an enjoyable, feel good movie that is worth a bit of your time and attention.

Confessions - Third Window Films

2011-03-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

When a young female teacher uncovers the truth about the murder of her daughter a chain of events is set in motion that will have devastating effects on everyone involved.

The film begins with an opening monologue from the teacher, Yuko Moriguchi, which is delivered to her pupils as they cat-call, text and treat her with less respect than they do each other. The classroom is a zoo and the animals have taken control. Moriguchi remains calm and never raises her voice as she tells the story of the murder of her young daughter. Slowly, surely, the class begins to pay attention as she reveals that the murderers are in the room. Towards the end of her tale she reveals that she has extracted blood from her HIV positive former partner and injected it into the milk of the perpetrators. It is a shocking revelation made more so by how poised the person responsible is while delivering it.

In a world where awards were given based on talent and not on the amount of money being spent by publicists then Takako Matsu would be looking forward to her shelves heaving under the weight of Oscars, BAFTAs and Globes. Her performance during this period of the film is incredible. It will leave you reeling. Matsu is little known here in the West but anyone who sees "Confessions" will never forget her.

Following on from this stunning opening act the film follows the intertwined lives of everyone involved with a particular emphasis on the Leopold and Loeb like murderers. Lives unravel, revenge is served hot and cold, hopes and dreams are dashed, lives are cut short and a truly apocalyptic ending literally explodes across the screen to bring things to a terrible end.

There are hints of the twisted, lost, teens of "Battle Royale" and the dark, troubled teens of "Heathers" here but, in truth, "Confessions" is unlike any other film dealing with adolescence I have ever seen. Questions are posed about the nature of family in the modern world and what impact the combined influences of economic meltdown, family breakdown and mass media will have on young people. No answers, certainly no easy answers, are offered and instead director Tetsuya Nakashima simply allows the story to unfold before us and then leaves us to think about what we have experienced.

One of the adolescent murderers has been left to raise himself following his abandonment by his academic mother while the other is suffocated by a mother who can see no wrong in him even when confronted with the truth of his actions. Dark reflections of each other and both cope with their newly found HIV positive status in violently different ways; much like Brandon and Phillip in Hitchcocks own Leopold and Lobe tale; "Rope".

Nakashima has previously delivered two very different films (Kamikaze Girls and Memories of Matsuko) which also deal with similar themes but neither has the sort of darkness that is present in "Confessions". It is a difficult and challenging film to watch but the rewards are myriad; great performances, strong, original, intelligent storytelling and some beautiful imagery being just three examples.

"Confessions" is showing at the Filmhouse, Edinburgh from 29th March until 31st March.

Images in this article supplied by Third Window Films

Elizabeth Taylor

2011-03-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

Icon.

Legend.

Actress.

Elizabeth Taylor has, today, passed away.

While for many she is famous for her multiple marriages others will remember her as one of the most beautiful women ever to appear on the silver screen and, at her best, one of the great actresses.

"Cleopatra", "National Velvet" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?" are all worthy of a place on any "must see" or "classic" list and her work in them rightly affords Taylor a place in the movie hall of fame.

MyFilms send their sincere condolences to her friends and family and share with her millions of fans a sense of sadness and loss.

Confessions of a Dog - Third Window Films

2011-03-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

When asked why he had made a film that serves as a damning indictment of the level of corruption in the Japanese police force director Gen Takahashi's response was short and to the point; "Because" he said "I hate the police."

For young men, like me, who grew up in less than affluent homes and who have spent a fair bit of time at football grounds across the country Takahashis explanation is one that makes perfect sense. Few of us would be able to motivate ourselves to turn to the police even when we were in need of the service they are meant to provide. Faith in the officers of the law is not something I have an abundance of. I'm fairly sure that there are many, many fine men and women who are police officers but I am equally sure that as an organisation it is corrupt in ways that few of us could comprehend.

According to Takahashi, who is also a freelance journalist operating outside of the constraints of the mainstream media (an organisation he holds responsible, in part, for the corruption inside the Japanese police force) he has ample evidence to support the claims he makes in "Confessions of a Dog". That the film was banned in Japan stands as a testament to the veracity of the directors work.

Telling the story of a police officer, Takeda (played by the awesome Shun Sugata), who is promoted quickly through the ranks thanks to his willingness to follow orders alongside his ability to ignore the obvious corruption that surrounds him Takahashi delivers a sprawling cinematic masterpiece that can genuinely be hailed as visceral, brilliant and unique. From such a simple starting point he has constructed a layered expose of the sort of dishonesty and disregard for justice that renders the Japanese police impotent if there is even a shred of truth in what is portrayed.

Officers on the beat construct situations where they will be able to make arrests in order to make themselves look good; a bicycle is left, by the officers, unattended in order to ensure an arrest for theft. While, technically, a crime is committed and a perpetrator is apprehended one cannot escape the fact that no such crime could have taken place without the police.

Further up the foodchain senior officers are involved in the supply of drugs and use their powers to protect their interests. At the same time they present a display for the benefit of the public...regularly arresting those who have crossed them, those who are no longer of value to them or simply those who have been chosen as sacrificial lambs. The illusion of justice.

This premise lies at the heart of Takahashis work...the police are as responsible as the criminals for crime.

The biggest crooks on the screen are not the drug dealers, the pimps or the low level hoods on the street but the officers on the beat, their superiors and the media who fail to properly challenge what they know is happening. A secret world of violence, corruption and collusion has built up inside the police force who wear their uniforms in place of the tattoos of the Yakuza. For many young men the police force offers the chance of a career when they have failed at school...they quickly realise that the route to a better salary and a promotion is to follow orders and do the very things they are meant to be preventing. It is a depressing story precisely because we know that there is, at least, an element of truth in it and that we suspect the same actions are being repeated in our own police force.

Running alongside all of this is reporter Kusama (Junichi Kawamoto) who acts as the moral heart of the film. With the information he has about the extent of the corruption in the force he could cause the entire system to collapse in on itself. Isolated and mocked by others in the media he is forced to wrestle with his conscience and decide what, if anything he should do. Kusama is the closest thing "Confessions of a Dog" has to a hero; he is not without flaw or fear but the enormity of what he has discovered and what the consequences of going public could mean weigh heavily on his shoulders.

While their will, inevitably, be comparisons with Western directors and films like Scorcese, Coppola and the likes of "The Godfather" or "The Departed" it is worth noting that this is not a case of East immitating West. Takahashi has crafted a film that is uniquely his and uniquely Japanese. None of the things we associate with gangster chic in the West are present; no car chases and explosions, no glamour, no reliance on a period soundtrack and in their place a film that turns its eye on the issue that lie at its heart and then refuses to blink for three hours.

The destruction of good men by forces greater than they are and the lack of a fairytale ending combine to leave you stunned and breathless at the conclusion...a moment of cinema that is Shakespearean in its poetry and ability to say something about the human condition. This is a film quite unlike anything else you will see this year...or in any other year. We should be thankful that a film-maker like Takahashi exists and that he was brave enough to deliver a film like this.

I Am Number Four - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 12/3/11

2011-03-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm.

"Twilight" but with aliens?

The thing about this is that I can't quite decide whether this was hideous or a tiny bit fabulous.

I mean, the whole thing is utter bunkum...handsome alien "boy" arrives on earth along with several others after their home planet is destroyed by horrible, ugly, aliens. He has, naturally, some superpowers and a weird amulet around his neck. He is protected by another alien, equally handsome but a bit older, who doesn't have superpowers (something to do with his status on the home planet or something) and he constantly on the move to avoid being detected by some of the ugly aliens who have arrived on earth to kill him and his friends.

When he arrives in "Paradise" he meets and falls in love with former "it" girl turned moody photographer and befriends a boy who is obsessed with aliens and who suspects his father may have been abducted by some. He also manages to hack off the star quarterback at the school and generally makes himself far too visible for a "boy" who is meant to be keeping a low profile.

Things build to a climax with a huge fight between the "boy", one of the other superpowered aliens (a "girl") who arrives on a motorbike, skin tight clothes and with an Australian accent and the band of ugly aliens who want to kill them. They win, of course, and head off into the sunset determined to find their peers in order to protect themselves and the earth.

I say "boy" and "girl" because, as with most Hollywood "teen" films the "teens" are played by people in their late twenties and behave like people in their late-twenties pretending to be teenagers. That isn't the biggest problem with "I Am Number Four"...that honor goes to the script which is clunky and charmless. That is a shame because the story, while nonsense, is, potentially, fun and loaded with sequel possibilities. Another problem is that it takes almost two thirds of the film before anything even remotely resembling being exciting happens...that is the big battle which, I'm afraid, isn't worth waiting over an hour and a bit for.

The performances are no less cliched and wooden than those in "Twilight" and unlike the likes of the odious "R-Pat" (more like cow pat...ba-boom-tish!) they appear to be having fun and enjoying things. With more time spent on the script and a greater urgency on the action front the, inevitable, sequel to this may be a lot more fun.

Hideous?

Tiny bit fabulous?

I'm going to plump for a tiny bit fabulous...but only a tiny, tiny bit.

Battle Los Angeles - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 11/3/11

2011-03-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

Have you ever thought about a career in the military?

No?

Neither had I...until I saw "Battle Los Angeles".

It is clear from this that being a US Marine is the best job in the world.

Of course it is fraught with danger and it takes a certain type of person to be able to go to a country you couldn't locate on a map in order to then kill people you have more in common with than not just because a politician tells you it is the right thing to do BUT...there are big guns and way cool explosions too.

Additionally you will also be the earths first line of defence should aliens from another planet arrive with hostile intent.

Somebody should have taken one of the Marines really big guns and used it to force director Jonathan Liebesman (who also brought us the classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Beginnings"...urgh) and writer Chris Bertolini to deliver a movie that wasn't; a recruitment ad for the Marines and a mash-up of "Independence Day", "Signs", "Speed" (I'm not joking) and a million other films that weren't very good. Think about what would have happened to you at school if you had delivered, as an original piece, a script or essay that told a story about an alien invasion ("Independence Day") from aliens who want access to our water supply ("Signs") and where some soldiers ride a bus to the freeway only to find the ramp gone ("Speed"). You would have been hauled over the coals for plagiarism faster than you could say "THIEF".

Like the awful "Inception" this also suffers from a soundtrack that is so LOUD that it is, at times, impossible to hear what anyone is saying. However, that may be a blessing in disguise as one characters main contribution to events is to declare that "I'm a veterinarian"...before using this skill-set to perform an autopsy on an alien.

Quite what an actor like Aaron Eckhart was doing in this tosh is anyones guess but he should be ashamed. Paying the bills is one thing but to do that by performing in a movie that would be perfect for Bill O'Reilly and Anne Coulter on a date is quite another.

Horrible, right wing, derivative, dull piffle.

The Rite - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 4/3/11

2011-03-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen "The Exorcist"?

Of course you have.

It's a wonderful film.

Beautifully shot, terrific performances, big questions about faith, the meaning of life, loss of innocence, who are we, what does it mean to be good, is there a God, is there evil in the world and it stands as a metaphor for the USA at the time of its production.

If you haven't seen it you should.

A young girl falls foul of demonic possession after she plays with a ouija board and what follows is truly horrific and terrifying. Slowly but surely innocence is replaced by vulgarity and wickedness. The impact on the girls mother, a famous Hollywood actress, is equally shocking as she physically and emotionally collapses...unable to understand what is happening to her daughter and then ultimately turning to a Catholic priest for help.

The priest is experiencing a crisis of faith. He is haunted by his failings as a son and by the knowledge that he no longer possesses the faith necessary to serve God, the Church or those who look to him for spiritual support. When he is eventually convinced that what is happening to the girl is more than a psychotic episode he is forced to confront the fact that evil is real and that only faith can save him and the girl.

The priest is supported in performing the exorcism by an older, experienced priest who we know has already confronted evil thanks to an astonishing opening scene when we are introduced to this priest as he supervises an archaeological dig in Iraq. This priest leads the exorcism and guides the younger, doubt ridden, priest through the ritual.

It isn't just that "The Exorcist" is filled with horrifying images and shocking scenes that makes it one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, horror films of all time that makes it special; it is the fact that it is driven by serious questions and themes, features fabulous performances from everyone involved and has a script that is the equal of many more, supposedly, serious films that make it one of the the greatest films in any genre.

I have watched "The Exorcist" more times than any other film.

Each time it leaves me speechless.

It is, simply, brilliant.

It's power to shock, stun and provoke never diminishes.

It is a film about faith.

It is a film about family.

It is a film about the transition from childhood innocence to the awful state of adolescence and adulthood.

Read Mark Kermodes fabulous book on the film and then watch it again...you will be thrilled and delighted as much as you are shocked and scared.

What?

"The Rite"?

Hmmm.

A steaming, stinking, awful turd of a film that is unworthy of your time.

Animal Kingdom - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 28/2/11

2011-03-05T02:55:00.000-08:00

Ring-ring

Ring-ring

Ring-ring

Ring-

Operator: Hello, "dial-a-cliche" can I help?

MyFilm: Yes, hello, my name is Mozzer. I write film reviews and I've just been to see Australian crime thriller "Animal Kingdom".

Operator: Yes?

MyFilm: Well, the thing is, I try really hard not to read other reviews of films I'm writing about so that what I write is absolutely, 100%, my thoughts on things.

Operator: Yes, so how can "dial-a-cliche" help Mozzer?

MyFilm: Right. So, the problem is that I'm fairly sure that every other reviewer will have enjoyed "Animal Kingdom" because it was, well, to be honest, bloody fantastic. Have you seen it?

Operator: No, no I haven't. Good was it?

MyFilm: Oh, you have no idea. This was the sort of film that can wash away the foul stench of a million James Cameron movies or the ghastly sight of yet another Waylans movie cluttering up the screens of your local cinema.

Operator: Sounds good. What was it about?

MyFilm: Oh, right. Well, it's a Godfather style tale of a crime family but stripped bare. No fancy cars, big houses and tailor made suits. Just a, seemingly, normal Australian family who happen to be bank robbers and drug dealers. They go to the shops, they are married, they hang out together but they are public enemy number one in the eyes of the police.

Operator: So, it's another crime movie?

MyFilm: No, no it's much more than that. The crime element is important because it carries the film but this is really a film about family, love and the ties that bind us to other people. So, for example, the key character is a teenage boy, J, who is forced into the arms of his grandmother after his mother dies from a heroin overdose. His grandmother is the matriarch of a family of violent and dangerous bank robbers and drug dealers. She wraps a loving arm around J but at the same time does nothing to prevent him being dragged into a violent and dangerous world with his uncles. The whole idea of "blood is thicker than water" and "loyalty" is laid bare here.

Operator: Thought provoking stuff Mozzer. I don't understand how we can help though.

MyFilm: Well, I just wanted a load of cliches I could throw into the review because I'm a bit tired to be honest and I can't be bothered writing about how following on from Warwick Thorntons incredible "Samson and Delilah" at about the same time last year this is further evidence of a renaissance in Australian cinema and signals a shift away from the sweet and tender comedies of "Strictly Ballroom" and "Muriels Wedding" say to something more dramatic and visceral.

Operator: OK. Well, let me see what we've got for you...um, hold on...how about this; "Animal Kingdom" is a dark and gritty contemporary crime drama that will have you gasping for breath.

MyFilm: Brilliant. Thanks a lot.

Operator: Not a problem. Thanks for calling "dial-a-cliche"

MyFilm: Bye.

Operator: Bye.

Oscars 2011 - Winners

2011-02-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

Here are this years Oscar winners and, in brackets, my choices from the list of nominees;

Best Film - The Kings Speech (Winters Bone)

Best Actor - Colin Firth (Javier Bardem)

Best Actress - Natalie Portman (Jennifer Lawrence)

Director - Tom Hooper (David Fincher)

Actor in a Supporting Role - Christian Bale (John Hawkes)

Actress in a Supporting Role - Melissa Leo (Melissa Leo)

Adapted Screenplay - The Social Network (The Social Network)

Original Screenplay - The Kings Speech (The Fighter)

Foreign Language Film - In a Better World (Biutiful)

Never Let Me Go - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 24/2/11

2011-02-27T06:26:00.000-08:00

"Never Let Me Go" is, genuinely, thought provoking moving.

Moral, philosophical and ethical questions like; what does it mean to be human? What is a soul? Is cloning inevitable? Is there any price that isn't worth paying to extend human life? Is it ever justifiable for society to sanction the killing of another human?

These are serious questions that deserve to be given serious thought and consideration.

Kazuo Ishigiro is a writer skilled enough and human enough to be able to handle these questions with the requisite sensitivity and honesty. We should be thankful that there is a writer like him. He may well be the greatest living author; that's not a question for an oaf like me to even attempt to answer.

Thanks to the power of Ishigiros writing and the work of the gifted Alex Garland in adapting the novel for the screen it isn't possible to view this film without being left moved by the story, the themes and the questions being asked of you.

The characters of Cathy H, Tommy and Ruth are three dimensional on the page and are reduced to sugar coated puffs of air on screen. That isn't because the writing isn't good...Garland has done a fine job with the script. It isn't the fault of the director, Mark Romanek, he is a talented director...just one look at the deliciously dark "One Hour Photo" should prove that (he also directed Morrissey in "The More You Ignore Me..." so he is faultless for me!).

Where then does the fault lie?

How can it be that with such credible source material, adaptation from a gifted writer and direction from a genuine talent that "Never Let Me Go" is never convincing, that it falls flat, that it fails to connect with its audience?

The problem lies in the casting.

People say it is easy to have a go at Keira Knightley, that she is an "easy" target, that it's just lazy to attack her on the page...the reason for that is that she is unique. Unlike every other actor or actress currently working who are more than capable of giving bad performances that make you question their ability, Knightley NEVER gives a good performance that makes you more kindly disposed towards the myriad awful performances. She is, quite simply, a terrible performer.

She conveys none of the emotional depth required of her character and, at times, the character is so under-developed as to appear even thinner than the ghostly Knightley herself. Honestly. At times it is painful to watch and listen to her. She is beyond hammy, she is stiffer than wooden and she is more shallow than a swimming pool filled with one tear. She is where she is by virtue of her own unfathomable self-belief...this is a person, lest we forget, who demanded an agent at the age of three. She is the stage school brat who has made it only because of who her parents are and who they know.

As "Ruth" she is meant to be a woman possessed by a desperate desire to live, who will stop at nothing to achieve a few years more on earth, who is beastly enough to rob a friend of happiness in pursuit of her own goals...in the hands of Knightley this becomes simply another performance of a posh, simpering girl being posh and simpering.

Her doppelganger Carey Mulligan manages to spend the entire duration of the film with only one expression on her face. It never changes. Ever. Happy? Sad? Desperate? Angry? Lustful? Same face. I want to believe that this is because Mulligan is playing a clone and that she has decided to strip her character of emotion in order to suggest that something less than human may lie at her core...but I really don't think so. I think that she is, like her dear friend Kiera, not a very good actress. Do you know who she starred alongside in her first major role? Hmmm? You at the back? That's right, well done, Keira Knightley. Incest? The game the whole family can play.

Andrew Garfield transforms the character of Tommy from a complex, anxious, angry and desirable man into Dustin Hoffmans "Rain Man" thus rendering the desire felt for him by both Ruth and Cathy H utterly unbelievable. He is all ticks, twitches and vulnerability...it's a performance that makes you think that his casting as the next "Spiderman" may well see the worlds first autistic superhero hit the multiplexes.

I know, I know...you want the plot and a review of the film but trust me...you don't need it. You just need to be warned about this unholy trinity of talentless but privileged non-entities taking a film that could have been something remarkable and instead making it the sort of luvvy fest that makes the British film industry look ridiculous on the world stage. Just look at Rinko Kikuchi in "Norwegian Wood" in a few weeks and see what a genuinely talented actress can do with a script and great source material and then look at what Mulliknight have managed to do and tell me I'm wrong.

GFF 2011 - Cell 211

2011-02-25T06:11:00.000-08:00

"Cell 211" is the second great Spanish film I've seen this year.

The first, of course, was "Biutiful" with its towering central performance from Javier Bardem.

"Cell 211" is tense, violent, shocking and built on a genuinely thrilling premise.

Juan Oliver arrives one day early to start his new job as a prison guard. On his tour of the prison he finds himself falling foul of some loose masonry that knocks him unconscious at exactly the same moment as a riot breaks out. His two companions, unable to carry him to safety, leave him inside cell 211 and make their escape. Dressed still in his non-work clothes Juan comes to and sets about convincing the prisoners that he is one of them.

Simple but brilliantly so.

As the story unfolds Juan is dragged deeper and deeper into the world of the prisoners and further and further away from who he was at the start of the day. Forced to make difficult decisions from the very start he finds those decisions easier and easier by the films end.

Their are two key relationships in Juans life; the first is with his pregnant wife and the second is with the prisons "top dog" and resident psychopath Malamadre. At home, with the beautiful Elena, Juan is shown as a gentle, loving, tender man who loves his wife so much that he is prepared to take on board the dangerous job of prison guard. He bemoans his lack of education and can't understand why a woman like her would choose to be with him. It is this very self-doubt and humility that he must cast aside in order to bond with Malamadre.

Malamadre is dangerous. A man without any meaningful family ties and with no hope of release he, literally, has nothing to lose. Life, even his own, is cheap and all that concerns him is the world of the prison and his dominant position within it. Surrounded by goons and lunatics he is the dark heart of the prison. He is also possessed of a native intelligence that makes him even more threatening...he may be unable to read and write but he can smell danger and is prepared to do things seemingly normal people, like Juan, would never even dream of.

On their first meeting Juan is forced to strip naked in front of a group of baying prisoners in order to prove that he is not wearing a wire. With this simple test out of the way Juan proves himself to be a useful tool in the riot by suggesting that they keep one of the CCTV cameras intact in order to be able to control what the guards see and to facilitate negotiation. Of course, at this point, Juan is acting out of self interest and self preservation...he knows that without the eyes of his colleagues monitoring him he is more vulnerable.

An interesting political dimension is introduced at this point as three ETA terrorists are revealed as inmates. They are valuable bargaining chips for Malamadre and his cohorts. Knowing that the powers that be will never risk the terrorists being killed for fear of reprisals the upper hand lies with the prisoners. The soft voice of Juan helps guide Malamadre in this direction but again it is in order to protect himself and not to help the prisoners.

As the riot enters a lull news of it breaks amongst the general population and soon relatives have gathered at the prison gates demanding news of their loved ones behind bars. Among them is Juans wife, Elena, who finds herself caught up in a mini-riot and being bludgeoned by a prison guard sent to break up the horde. Caught on TV and soon relayed to Juan inside the prison the film takes a step towards its conclusion and to the conversion of Juan from wrong man in the wrong place to the right man in the right place. His transformation is a remarkable thing to watch.

This is the sort of plot driven, original and exciting film that the British film industry seems reluctant, or incapable, of making (outside of Shane Meadows). Football hooligans, Lahn-dahn gangsters, rom-coms and Richard Curtis movies regularly fill up the multiplexes before moving on to fill up the bargain bins in Blockbuster but something as good as "Cell 211" may well find a limited, art-house, release only and never even make it onto the shelves of any rental/purchase outlet. Like last years "A Congregation of Ghosts" (a British film that was similarly driven by originality and plot) "Cell 211" may escape the audience that exists for it...that would be criminal.

GFF 2011 - Of Love and Other Demons

2011-02-20T05:28:00.000-08:00

Passion, desire, obsession, love, life, death, religion, faith and family...what more are you looking for in a film?

Based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez the basic story is of Sierva, daughter of Spanish nobility, living in a South American seaport and being raised by servants as her father attends to his affairs and her ailing mother lies physically and mentally exhausted in her chambers. During a visit to the local market Sierva is bitten by a rabid dog and is sent to a local convent by the Bishop of the diocese as he fears that rabies is simply the devils means of entering a body.

The Bishop assigns a young priest, Father Delaura, to oversee the girls "treatment". During the course of his visits with Sierva Delaura becomes obsessed by the beautiful young girl; haunted by visions of her he is unable to seperate his dreams from reality. His devotion to God is replaced by his desire for the girl.

The clash of cultures between the locals, with whom Sierva relates, and the Catholic Church is played out against a backdrop of ritual, superstition, nature, science, repression and guilt. All of this is encapsulated in the increasingly dangerous relationship between Delaura and Sierva. The latter is played brilliantly by Eliza Triana in her film debut. She beautifully captures the innocence and blossoming sexuality of the adolescent girl. Her flowing red hair acting as a warning to those who fall under her spell and yet it also serves as a reminder of her innocence as she has vowed never to cut her hair until marriage. Delaura is played by Pablo Derqui and like Father Karras in "The Exoricist" he is a bundle of conflicting desires; to serve God, to advance the Church from the dark ages and yet filled with a longing for Sierva that he is unable to control.

First time director Hilda Hidalgo also adopted the novel by Marquez and has created a beautiful film, rich in colour, filled with passion and containing many memorable scenes. The success of the book should ensure an audience for this film and, with luck, that will happen before the inevitable Hollywood remake with Sierva now a 21 year old college girl who is pursued by a handsome young theology student...don't laugh, it could happen.

Glasgow Film Festival...Begins!

2011-02-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

It's he-ere!

The GFF begins this weekend and for those of you who are based in Scotland I BEG you to get along to see something...anything...from a collection of films that genuinely provides something for everyone.

The GFF is now the third biggest film festival in Britain (I wouldn't bet against it overtaking the EIFF within three years) and remains customer centred and not industry obsessed. As an Edinburgh boy I have a deep connection with the EIFF but, much as it might pain me, the GFF offers an experience that isn't easily beat...despite the huge range of films and activities on offer it still manages to feel intimate and cosy.

I'll be taking in as many films as I can over the next three days before the demands of work will force me into returning to Edinburgh but I hope that some of you manage to do the same thing over the course of the festival.

Visit the official site here and buy some tickets...you won't regret it.

A Sense of Freedom - Filmhouse - 15/2/11

2011-02-16T03:30:00.000-08:00

Screening as part of a short series of films about the representation of gangs in film this made for TV movie tells the story of infamous Glasgow gangster Jimmy Boyle; money lender, murderer and Scotlands most dangerous man for many years but also a man who found redemption in art.

The film delivers plenty of emotional punch and shocks with violence and scatalogical behaviour taking up much of the running time. Even now some thirty years after its release the film manages to be difficult viewing at times, most especially during the prison scenes where Boyles own brutality is matched by the prison guards. It's an old story...Glasgow is, notoriously, "no mean city" and one that has a long history of hard men but it is Boyles transformation from bad boy to establishment figure that sets him apart.

It isn't possible to watch "A Sense of Freedom" without asking questions about Boyle, the prison system and the type of society that creates a person capable of some of the things Boyle has done. Nature versus nurture...was Boyle born bad? Is he/was he evil? Who or what was to blame? Is it possible for a man like him to change?

Boyles name and his success as a writer and artist is enough to have some people foaming at the mouth...they are enraged by his new life and fame but surely he is the embodiment of what society claims to want; for people to become better, to change and to take a different path.

The role of Boyle is played by David Hayman who manages to convey a sense of danger whenever he is on screen and his hatred of the guards inside the various prisons he is detained in is worryingly realistic. His ability to go from the life and soul of the party with his gangland chums to a screaming, ranting, shit flinging psychopath is a terrifying thing to watch. Alongside a who's who of other Scottish stage and screen luminaries the film manages to give a sense of what Boyles life was like inside prison and how terrifying it must have been to be around him.

True Grit - Cineworld Edinburgh - 15/2/11

2011-02-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

Have you seen this yet?

No?

OK.

My advice would be...don't.

It's not very good.

Seriously.

I know you will have read reviews from "real" journalists who have ranted and raved about this but I promise you...they are lying. Either they are laboring under the weight of their memories of the original or they have received a goody bag from the PR bods that was so wonderful that it would be rude to do anything other than give a glowing review.

I haven't seen the original and PR companies don't give me any freebies so I can give it to you straight.

This was yet another awful film from the Coen Brothers that can sit proudly alongside "Burn After Reading", "A Serious Man", "Tuileries" (from "Paris J'Taime"), "The Ladykillers", "Intolerable Cruelty", "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "The Hudsucker Proxy" (a film so awful that some people have convinced themselves it must be brilliant...it's not).

With each film that passes it looks more and more likely that the Coens are lucky as opposed to talented...sometimes what they conjure up works brilliantly but more often than not the whole thing is amateurish at best and dreadful at worst.

"True Grit" should have been brilliant.

A great story.

Like "No Country For Old Men" it is a Western revenge thriller.

Jeff Bridges.

Matt Damon.

An Oscar winning original film as a template.

A pulp novel much loved by people who like that sort of thing as the source.

Sadly all of that counts for nothing as messy editing, ridiculously over the top performances and a delivery from Bridges that is, literally, impossible to understand all combine to leave you with the cinematic equivalent of finding out that the beautiful girl you are meeting from the online dating service has used a photograph from ten years and four stone ago as her profile pic. Disappointed, frustrated and yearning for what could have been.

BAFTA 2011

2011-02-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

"The Kings Speech" won everything.

Who would have guessed?

I haven't seen it and I don't intend to see it so if you are interested you need to see it for yourself or read any one of the hundreds of positive reviews for a film that features dozens of posh luvvies playing even posher people in fancy costumes.

I went to see "The Mechanic" instead.

The Mechanic - Cineworld Edinburgh - 13/2/11

2011-02-14T02:54:00.000-08:00

Expensive designer watches? Check.

Impossibly beautiful women? Check.

Very fast cars? Check.

Naughty sex scenes? Check.

Shot of "The Stath" without his shirt on? Check.

Very high body count? Check.

A script that nobody really cares about? Check.

Yes...it's another Jason Statham movie.

There isn't anything else to say.

The plot?

Really?

OK.

Jason kills people for a living.

He has to kill his own mentor.

It turns out he didn't have to kill his own mentor.

He takes revenge by killing the man who had him kill his own mentor.

He trains his own mentors son.

He then kills his own mentors son.

He lives happily ever after.

Honestly.

Don't Look Now - DVD - 11/2/11

2011-02-14T02:27:00.000-08:00

You may remember at the start of the year I confessed that I hadn't seen "Taxi Driver".

Now I have to admit that I hadn't ever seen "Don't Look Now".

I can hear you you know.

"Calls himself a film buff, ha!"

Look, it's not my fault.

I can't find time to see everything.

While "real" film journalists and critics are busy writing up lengthy essays on the new wave of new wave of new Spanish film or discussing the relative merits of Polish post-modern cinema I was out there watching "Megamind" and interviewing Alex Zane.

You tell me which side has more value.

What?

Oh, shut up.

In director Nic Roegs adaptation of Daphne Du Mauriers story we are taken into a dark, twisted, demented, hallucinatory and bizarre world where nothing is as it seems and everything must be treated with suspicion.

Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are the parents of a child who dies when she falls into the pond in their garden and drowns. Their grief and desire to leave it behind takes them to Venice where Sutherland works for the Catholic Church as the supervising architect on a restoration project on a chapel. While there Christie is confronted by a blind psychic who tells her that their child is happy on the "other side" and at the same time Sutherland is haunted by visions of a child in a red coat in the alleys of Venice...exactly the clothing that their child was wearing when she drowned.

The film is soaked in red, from the childs red plastic mac to the red coat of the figure haunting Sutherland. There is not a scene where the colour red is not found, clothing, posters, shop signs, wine, paint...without their ever being any blood on screen it is impossible not to see blood everywhere. Is it symbolic of the death of their child and the fact that they cannot escape it or a sign that life continues?

As important is the fact that the film is also drenched in water. From the pond where the little girl drowns to the canals of Venice. Does it offer evidence of the parents being washed clean of their sin in not supervising their child or is it a reminder that death is all around us?

Reflections, reflective surfaces and mirrors are also everywhere...pointing at a life after this one or a parallel world? "Don't Look Now" is not a simple or straightforward film, it is complex and unsettling despite its relatively simple storyline. It is a horror film that credits its audience with greater intelligence than most in that genre and is another example of why many believe the 1970's to have been the decade when cinema was at its peak.

Worlds Greatest Dad - DVD - 6/2/11

2011-02-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

As you read these words you can feel your eye lids becoming heavy.

With each passing sentence it becomes more and more difficult to keep your eyes open.

You are feeling very sleepy now.

Very sleepy.

Sleepy.

Sleep.

Now you are under my spell and as you read these words (I know you're sleeping but just play along will you?) you will obey my instructions.

You will forget the following films;

"Hook"

"Fern Gully The Last Rain Forest"

"Being Human"

"Nine Months"

"Jumanji"

"The Bird Cage"

"Jack"

"Fathers Day"

"Flubber"

"What Dreams May Come"

"Patch Adams"

"Bi-Centennial Man"

"AI: Artificial Intelligence"

"Man of the Year"

"Night at the Museum"

"License to Wed"

Phew!

None of those films have ever been made.

You have no memory of them.

No memory.

When I command it you will awake from this slumber with the Robin Williams part of your memory extending only as far as "Dead Poets Society", "Insomnia", "One Hour Photo" and "Good Will Hunting"; you will not remember anything else...except "Mork and Mindy" because that was a lot of fun when you were a kid.

I will now type back from five and when I reach one you will be awake with a mind that only knows of Robin Williams as a stand up comedian turned actor who has made some excellent and very dark films.

Five...you have no memory even of "Mrs Doubtfire"

Four...there goes "Good Morning Vietnam"

Three...not even "Aladdin" remains

Two...you love Robin Williams

One...wake!

This film from Bobcat Goldthwait features yet another amazing performance from Robin Williams; an actor who has proven time and again that he has an ability to select only projects of the highest quality. Not for him the career lows that so many other actors appear incapable of avoiding. Williams has a "class" magnet that attracts him to projects that are golden. Just look at his filmography; "Insomnia", "Good Will Hunting", "One Hour Photo" and "Dead Poets Society"...not a wrong move throughout his career.

It's remarkable.

Here he plays the father of the worlds most vulgar, obnoxious and irritating adolescents ever to appear on screen; foul mouthed, aggressive, a bully and, quite literally, an enormous wanker. No matter what Williams says or does he is met with a tirade of abuse.

To compound the situation Williams is also a teacher at his sons school...he's not the cool, down with the kids teacher either; he's a total loser who runs a poetry class that doesn't even manage to attract enough emo kids for it to be a viable course in the next academic year. Can I apologise for the hideously out of touch use of "emo" as some sort of cultural/pop-cultural reference? I can't? Damn.

When his son manages to kill himself during a bout of auto erotic asphyxiation Williams sees it as a chance to re-write his own miserable history. He crafts a beautiful, poignant suicide note for his son that casts him as a misunderstood, intelligent, lonely and afraid young man instead of the shit he actually was. The result is...messy, ultimately very messy, and a level of awkwardness last felt in front of a movie unheard of since Goldthwaits "Sleeping Dogs".

"Worlds Greatest Dad" isn't a film that will worm its way onto a gift list for Fathers Day...if it did both you and your father would be in for a very uncomfortable afternoon in front of the TV...but is deliciously funny and features yet another great performance from Robin Williams; this man can do no wrong.

Biutiful - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 29/1/11

2011-02-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

In "Biutiful" Bardem plays Uxbal a man who has the ability to aid the dead on their passage from this life to the next. He is also a gangster; running a group of illegal African immigrants who sell their wares on the streets of Barcelona, providing illegal Chinese immigrants to the building trade and helping out the man who runs a warehouse which produces fake goods made by an army of Chinese workers who are kept locked in the basement of the warehouse to stop them from escaping.

At the same time Uxbal is also raising his two children alone. His bipolar wife is an upsetting presence and she is also sleeping with Uxbals brother. When he does eventually allow her back into his life and the life of the children it ends badly for everyone.

This is a film that ponders on the things that make this life worth living; family, love, relationships as well as the things that make it so difficult; death, pain, suffering, heartache and loss. It is, often, a bleak and difficult film to watch but thanks to the enormous presence of Bardem it is never anything other than compelling. He is a mass of contradictions; spiritual yet obsessed with the pursuit of money, kind and loving but willing to buy and sell people at the drop of a hat, blessed with a gift that should bring comfort to people in need which he uses to raise a few extra euros.

This is director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus first Spanish language film since "Amores Perros" in 2000. In between time he has brought us "21 Grams", "Babel" as English language pieces and while both are wonderful films it is obvious that working in his "native" language as both writer and director has allowed him to create something truly wonderful.

Inarritu and Bardem are two towering names in Spanish language film and here, together, they combine to leave the audience reflecting on their own lives and the things that matter most to them. No easy, trite or glib solutions to the conflicts we all face in life but instead a look deep inside the soul of a man.

Glasgow Film Festival News

2011-02-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

Legendary director Ken Loach will be in attendance at a screening of his new film "Route Irish" on February 23rd and will take part in a Q&A afterwards. A wonderful opportunity to question and hear from a director who has a body of work that places him firmly in the "greats" category.

Also confirmed for the festival is another legend from the British arts scene, Creation records guru Alan McGee. McGee will be in attendance at the screening of "Upside Down: The Creation Records Story" from directory Danny O'Connor. The film will be shown on 22nd February at 9pm.

Are you excited yet?

You should be.

Glasgow Film Festival News

2011-01-26T12:13:00.000-08:00

GFF today announced that Richard Ayoade (above) will be in attendance at the screening of his hugely anticipated new film (his first as director) "Submarine" on Friday 18th February at 20:30. Also in attendance will be two of the films stars Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige.

With starring roles in everything from "Spinal Tap" to "The Simpsons" Harry Shearer (above) isn't someone you would want to miss and thanks to the GFF you don't have to as he will be in attendance at the screening of his new documentary "The Big Uneasy" which takes a look at the story of Hurricane Katrina and the communities affected by it.

NEDS - Cineworld - 21/1/11

2011-01-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

"Tongs Ya Bass" was the unofficial motto of 1960's Glasgow. When young gang members from Calton watched the Hammer film "Terror of the Tongs" about the Chinese gangsters of that name it was adopted as the gangs own moniker. The "Bass" part wasn't, despite what some people will tell you, an abbreviation of bastard but was taken from the Gaelic war cry "aigh bas"...battle and die.

Cumbie, Toi, Fleet, Shamrock and many more provided myriad headlines for tabloid writers and struck fear into the hearts of young men from further afield too. My own father, no stranger to gang culture in Edinburgh, found himself isolated from his friends and being hunted by a group of Tongs who had decided to visit the capital...the end result was a land speed record from my father who was not known for avoiding a "pagger" or "square go" but the reputation of the Glasgow gangs and their propensity for using "blades" meant running was a much safer option.

Gangs have been part of Glasgow culture since the 1800s but it was in the 1960s with Mod culture and on into the 1970s that they enjoyed their most memorable and terrifying era. The combination of the classic working class obsessions with fashion and music alongisde the uniquely divided nature of the city and its "hard because they had to be" attitude led to the creation of a gang culture during those two decades that still leaves scars across many communities today.

There has been at least one attempt to cover gang culture from this period already in Gillies MacKinnons flawed "Small Faces" but with "NEDS" director Peter Mullan gets much closer to the truth and the reality of life for many young men growing up in Glasgow during that period and, sadly, for many living there today. Unlike the gangster chic of the likes of Guy Ritchie or the entire career of Danny Dyer there is no attempt at presenting this life as glamorous or desirable, instead the truth, the brutal truth, of what gangs offer, what drives young men and women to behave in such violent and destructive ways and the toll on the communities they inhabit is laid bare. What we are given is an, at times, depressing, shocking, hilarious and uncomfortable experience that will resonate long after you leave the cinema.

In "NEDS" Mullan takes us into the life of John McGill (Conor McCarron), a bright, hard working young man who has to contend with a drunken, abusive father and the burden of his elder brothers reputation as one of the top boys in the local gang, the Car-D. Finishing top of his class and looking forward to life at high school and beyond John has a chance encounter with an older boy that acts as the catalyst for his descent into gang life and that gives the audience its first taste of the random nature of the violence to come. Threatened by this older boy as he walks home John turns to his big brother for help which arrives in the shape of a beating and humiliation that will scar the boy for a long while to come and which gives John a taste of the power associated with position inside the gang.

At school John is forced to join a lower set due to his brothers reputation but manages to focus on his studies and climb into the top set. On his way home one day John is confronted by a small group of boys who take his money, threaten him and humiliate him...during this one of the attackers recognises him as the younger brother of one of the most violent boys in the estate and John is welcomed into the body of the kirk.

From this point on John begins his journey into a life of violence, fear and loathing. Drink, fighting, girls, clothes and music are brewed into an explosive cocktail that allows some terrifying set pieces to take place, most noticably when John finds himself deep inside enemy territory, running for his life and finally taking refuge in a place that proves to be potentially very dangerous...the home of one of his would-be attackers.

In the background lurks the presence of Mullan himself as the drunken father, shouting obscenities, abusing his wife and creating an atmosphere of tension that is palpable inside the cinema itself. He is a booze soaked, foul mouthed, vicious character who is, I have no doubt, the birthplace of the alpha-male attitude and actions of both John and his brother. Thankfully Mullan doesn't overstate the case here, NEDS isn't a film that attempts to offer glib answers to these social problems and it is all the better for that.

The young cast are, in the main, untried and untested but they are all magnificent. Each of them has the right air of desperation, nihilism and aggression required to carry a film like this. McCarron is particularly impressive in his portrait of a young man drowning. His physical presence is menacing but it is in his low, rough, Glasgow burr and in his eyes that the real power of his performance lies. This isn't a young man play-acting, this is a young man living and breathing what he is presenting.

It isn't for nothing that Glasgow "enjoys" a reputation as no mean city, recent research shows that 9 out of 10 of the most violent streets in Scotland are to be found there. Unemployment is higher, life expectancy is lower. It is a tough place and, consequently, the people are tough. It's easy to take the moral high ground over anti-social behaviour of the sort presented here but, in truth, when there is no hope and when life is cheap it is understandable, if not excusable, that people behave this way. Mullan knows this only too well and in "NEDS" he has managed to create a film that, without ever preaching, conveys that message very clearly.

Black Swan - Cineworld - 21/1/11

2011-01-22T12:17:00.000-08:00

Beautiful young woman is turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer, handsome prince discovers beautiful swan, prince falls for wrong swan, beautiful young woman discovers the prince falling for the wrong swan and promptly kills herself soon to be followed by the prince.

Darren Aronofsky isn't a director who is afraid to take chances or to follow his own vision...from the highs of "Pi" and "The Wrestler" to the twisted, dark, arresting "Requiem for a Dream" and then to the universally derided "The Fountain" this is a director who has done it his way. He makes films that are driven by story and performance...he isn't a CGI freak or a man who requires a budget that could wipe out third world debt to make films that are interesting, disturbing, upsetting, inspiring and different. With "Black Swan" he has excelled himself, this is a film that combines the weird and wonderful of "Requiem for a Dream" and "Pi" with the glorious storytelling of "The Wrestler". It is as close to perfect as it may be possible to get.

Nina (Natalie Portman) is a ballet dancer who is short on confidence, nervous, uneasy and uncomfortable in her own skin. The significance of her skin should not be understated as it is the source of much discomfort for her throughout the film. When she is chosen by company director Thomas (Vincent Cassel) for the lead in "Swan Lake" it should be the cue for a new dawn, happiness and fulfillment but is, instead, the starting point of a hysterical dive into a schizophrenic hell that ultimately sees her follow the Swan Queen literally as well as metaphorically.

Nina is haunted by nightmarish visions of her own body changing, driven to the edge of despair and to the heights of ecstasy by her nemesis and friend Lily (Mila Kunis) and thrust into sheer desperation by Thomas and her feelings for him. It is an unravelling and descent that is truly hypnotic...it simply isn't possible to take your eyes off of Portman as she delivers a performance that will stand as a career high in an already impressive career.

Throughout the film Aronofsky makes use of and reference to reflection...mirrors, windows, doppelgangers, portraits, look-a-likes all feature prominently as Nina unravels. At times it is very difficult to tell what, or who, we are really looking at. Is what we are seeing real or a mirror image? Is Nina herself simply a reflection of herself within her own fragmenting subconscious? On occasion Aronofsky even managed to tap into my own greatest fear...my reflection refusing to reflect and acting independently of me. Barely a scene passes without some sort of mirroring or reflection...the enormous mirrors inside the dance studio, dark windows on the subway, dancers mirroring one anothers movements and, of course, the dark reflection of the Black Swan herself.

Metamorphosis is another key element within the film as Nina transforms, both literally and metaphorically, into the Black Swan. But it is not only Nina who is shifting shape and transforming; her mother has changed from dancer to mother, Lily is desperately trying to become Nina, former prima ballerina Beth (played superbly by Winona Ryder) is transformed from "little princess" to cripple. Nobody is who they appear to be and nothing is what it seems to be.

Much of the discussion on "Black Swan" has, naturally, centered on the dance...most importantly on Portmans ability to dance. I have some experience in this field having appeared on stage with the Kirov and have actually appeared in "Swan Lake". Admittedly I wasn't dancing and was simply an extra body used to "pad out" certain moments but it's closer than you've come to being a professional bloody dancer so...so...there! I don't know how good or bad Portman was but I found the dance scenes to be convincing and beautiful.

I have a very close friend who has never forgiven Aronofsky for "The Fountain" which he described as "...a load of mince". To that friend I say "Bobby, forgive Aronofsky, forgive him then see the Black Swan and have your faith in him restored".

Season of the Witch - Cineworld - 20/1/11

2011-01-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

Audioboo

Did you know that there were Americans fighting in the crusades?

Neither did I.

In this historically accurate...

No, wait.

Let me just check my notes.

Ah!

In this hysterically inaccurate romp Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman desert the crusades, head for home and end up escorting a young woman accused of being a witch who has brought plague to the land to a castle full of monks who will determine her guilt or innocence. On the way they pick up a guide in the shape of Combo from "This is England" who has, for reasons I don't really understand, decided to play the part with a New Yoik accent. En route to the castle of monks they encounter a pack of zombie wolves, hallucinations and a rope bridge that makes the one Indiana Jones has to cross in "Temple of Doom" look like the Golden Gate Bridge.

When they eventually make it to the monkhouse they discover all the monks are dead from plague and, worse, the witch isn't a witch...she's the devil! Satan! Beelzebub! Lucifer! He who walks backwards! The beast! Seriously...he's got horns and wings and everything. Unable to take care of Nic Cage, Ron Perlman and a pre-pubescent altar boy on his own the devil re-animates the monks and a battle between the living and the dead takes place for no real reason other than it gives everyone the chance to look grim faced while lopping off the heads of undead monks.

Quite clearly this is the greatest film ever made.

Sorry.

Let me check my notes again...

Um...

Oh, yes.

No.

Quite clearly this is a load of old tosh.

But, dear, dear reader, it was also gloriously, brilliantly, dementedly, wonderfully, awfully entertaining. It can't all be Ozu and black and white Polish realist cinema you know. Occasionally it does you no harm at all to simply sit back and let the pretty pictures entertain you. "Season of the Witch" is, I think, knowingly camp and fabulously ridiculous...nobody involved would make any claim for "art" or a case for it being a film loaded with hidden meaning; it's a chance for Nicolas Cage to do, well, Nicolas Cage and for everyone else to enjoy getting dressed up and fight monks, devils and zombie wolves.

Glasgow Film Festival

2011-01-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's back...

The GFF launched its programme for this year and what a programme it is.

With the return of "Fright Fest" (8 horror beauties), "Beyond Bollywood" (taking a look at the best in Indian cinema), a world cinema strand "It's A Wonderful World", independent cinema, Scottish film and much more it promises to be a really memorable festival.

Director Allison Gardner is keen that the festival offers "...something for all tastes" and this year seems set to do exactly that.

Roll on the GFF!

Get Low

2011-01-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

This review originally appeared on MyFilms during the 2010 EIFF. "Get Low" is given a cinema release from 21/1/11.

OK.

If I was a film-maker and I was going into see a studio executive with a pitch for a film there are certain things that would make me feel very confident about the meeting ending positively for me;

1) a good script

2) a great story

Those two things should be enough on their own but we all know the executive is looking at the Benjamins and not the Art.

Imagine though if I was able to go into the pitch with one and two as well as;

3) Robert Duvall.

4) Bill Murray.

5) Sissy Spacek

I would bet everything I had on the executive biting my hand off for my good script and great story on the back of a cast like that.

I mean seriously boys and girls we are talking about acting royalty here.

Robert Duvall?

Bill Murray?

Sissy Spacek?

I would crawl naked over broken glass to see a film with even one of those people in it.

To get all three together is just...well, it's just too much.

You could get the three of these people to star in "Avatar" and it would elevate it from ridiculous, pompous, overblown, cynical cash cow, cinema misery to high art.

Seriously.

Let's look at the type of people we are talking about..."The Road", "The Godfather", "The Godfather Part II", "Sling Blade", "Lonesome Dove", "Apocalypse Now", "Ghostbusters", "Lost in Translation", "Rushmore", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "Broken Flowers", "Groundhog Day", "The Straight Story", "Carrie", "Badlands".

What a list.

When you throw in some of the most beautiful cinematography, a sizzling script and a story that practically bleeds honesty and purity of purpose from its heart then you have a film that deserves to be seen by anyone who has even a casual interest in cinema.

This was, without a doubt, one of the best films I have seen...not this year, not at the EIFF, not in the last few years, just one of the best films I have seen. It oozes class. It's a film that will take its place on "favourites" lists of everyone who sees it.

Duvall plays hermit and local legend Felix Bush, a man with no friends, no family and, apparently, no interest in either. When he comes into town to plan his own funeral with a bundle of dollar bills that could make a rich man jump for joy local funeral director Frank Quinn (Murray) grabs the opportunity to arrange the funeral despite knowing that Bush won't make that easy.

Bush wants to arrange his funeral with one difference...he will be in attendance. He wants to hear what everyone has to say about him, to hear the myriad stories and legends that have sprung up around him during his years of self imposed exile. As the plans take shape it becomes clear that something from the past is haunting Bush and that his real purpose in organising his funeral isn't the one he has presented to Quinn.

A touching and totally convincing relationship between Bush and Mattie Darrow (Spacek) lends emotional depth and deeper tones to a film that is already full of emotion and that has been constructed with love and affection by director Aaron Schneider. When the truth comes out it is achingly painful but also uplifting as we see the tortured soul of Bush freed from the shackles of what has been haunting him.

It isn't possible to say enough good things about a film like this.

See it.

Then go and see it again.

Then take a friend to see it.

Perfect.

Outcast - Filmhouse - 17/1/11

2011-01-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

"The most original horror since "Let the Right One In" screams the poster for "Outcast"...trust me, that is further away from the truth than my declaring myself the best looking man in Scotland. That is to say...pretty bloody far away from the truth. I'm not even the best looking man in my flat and I live alone.

Lurking within Colm McCarthys script lies a really novel and interesting gothic horror tale.

All the right parts are present; black magic, ritual, gypsy traveller folk, legend, myth, an unGodly beast, urban backdrop...yet despite all of that "Outcast" never really delivers or convinces. In part this is to do with the writing, McCarthy appears to think that in order for his Edinburgh setting to be convincing that all of the Scottish characters should end every sentence with "like" or "ken". The cast appear to be aware of the limitations of the script because at times they appear genuinely uncomfortable in delivering them...James Cosmo in particular seems to know that, at best, the dialect is poorly researched and, at worst, is patronising and a bit daft.

Sadly some of the acting isn't good enough either...I'm well aware that that is an easy thing for someone like me to say, sitting here behind a keyboard without ever having appeared on screen but I don't think I would be alone in thinking that, at times, some of the performances were not much beyond am-dram level. In particular Hanna Stanbridge is, at times, uncomfortably awful in her attempt at portraying the sort of school of hard knocks girl that Katie Jarvis played so brilliantly in "Fish Tank". If Stanbridge was the best of those who turned up at the auditions then the state of acting in Scotland is in a perilous condition.

As a counter to the near balsa like performance of Stanbridge was the ever brilliant Kate Dickie who was, again, perfection. Even during scenes that would have been ludicrous in the hands of lesser talents are played brilliantly by Dickie. Proof of this comes during a scene when Dickie has to battle through the ether against James Nesbitt...miles apart and attempting to outsmart one another they each sit naked before a naked flame; Nesbitt looks like a middle-aged man pleasuring himself while his wife is in the other room, shuddering, groaning and grunting but Dickie seems to be genuinely in touch with something outside of herself. It's the perfect example of why she is, without doubt, the finest actress working in Scotland...and possibly the UK.

There are things to enjoy in "Outcast"...the story of a young man being hunted in connection with some dark secret, some of the special effects, the performance of Dickie and the backdrop of a never more sinister Edinburgh the truth is that you are left feeling disappointed and not mesmerised. A missed opportunity for all concerned.

An Interview with Paul Heaton

2011-01-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

When I was sixteen I managed to convince a girl in my class called Emma to go out on a date with me. I’d adored her from a distance for a long while. I couldn’t believe it when she agreed to go out with me. What a date I had line up for us...tickets to see The Beautiful South at the Playhouse theatre in Edinburgh. The Beautiful South had only just released their first album “Welcome To...” and they were big news thanks, in part, to their being the new project of Paul Heaton, former lead singer of The Housemartins. Oh, by the by, I had got good seats too...three rows from the stage. It was a great gig and I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of the train journey home; surely Emma would be as happy as I was and would reward me for my efforts with a kiss and a cuddle at the back of a deserted carriage.

Now, 22 years later Emma and I are still together and as happy...

No, not really.

The magic of the “South” wasn’t potent enough to see true love bloom...outside of the venue Emma met her big sister who, unbeknown to me, had also attended the gig and the two of them made their way to the station without me and I was left alone. It’s a bit sad that isn’t it?

I wonder what Paul Heaton would make of this I thought to myself that night back in 1989. I wondered, too, if he had ever taken a girl to the movies on a date, had he had more success than me in the dark of the back row?

“You should’ve known with a name like Emma” says the man who has provided the soundtrack to more moments in my life than almost anyone else “No, I never chose to take a girl to the cinema. One of my first dates was taking a girl to Sheaf Valley Simming Baths in Sheffield. I couldn’t swim and, unfortunately, my mum noticed me walking out the door with a towel. She stopped me from taking trunks or a towel so I had to watch from the public balcony as my “date” slipped off to the other end with another boy. Not a great start.”

There is something truly comforting about that story but I don’t know what it is...maybe it’s just the knowledge that one of my heroes was as much of a loser as I was when I was a kid?

There won’t be too many people who aren’t aware of Paul Heatons music, from The Housemartins and their chart bothering hits like “Happy Hour”, “Caravan of Love” and “Me and the Farmer” to the enormous success of The Beautiful South who had more hits than The Beatles, Elvis and Westlife combined...or something. I wonder if you could have written a song for a film, any film from any time, what film would it be and why?

“Probably Easy Rider. I would've liked to have sat down with someone like Chip Taylor and say 'let's give this rebellion some direction'. So much of 50's and 60's White America was rebellion against short hair or Mom and Dad or soft music or whatever meaningless argument they'd had with their girlfriends that week. 1969 was a time when North American white rebellion was on the verge of being politicised. What America got was the banal words to 'Born to be Wild'. Another narcissists anthem.”

Sticking with the idea of music for films let’s start thinking about the soundtrack for “Heato: From the Beautiful North to the Beautiful South” which is going to be a gritty tale of one young Northerners rise to stardom. Who would play the role of Heaton and what music would you choose for the opening and closing scenes?

“I would probably like Tom Courtenay to play me. I think he could do my voice. Or Rob Brydon. As for the music; Scene 1] Courtenay is looking up and down the shelves of a local off licence comparing can prices to alcohol volume. In the background Karine Polwart's Holy Moses plays quietly. As Courtenay steps out into the dazzling Hull sunshine and opens his first can, Karine's voice bellows out 'Here's a thing you cannot do. He did it anyway just to prove it was not true'.

Last scene] As the Biopic is in reverse, this features Heaton as a 6 year old boy on his back, on a park's merryground. Facing the stars and eventually reaching out to them he sings along to Laura Cantrell's 'Oh so many years'. I chose the latter because in the film, when referring to the different loves of his life, he constantly says 'I don't think I've ever loved anybody like I've loved this earth'. The former because it sets the scene.”

That answer provides the answer to the question “What’s the difference between Paul Heaton and me, I mean his first “date” ended in disaster and embarrassment just like mine so what’s he got that I haven’t?” Well, clearly, he’s got the ability to give an answer like that to a, lets be honest, fairly bland question. Bit frustrating that...I liked it better when we were on the common ground of adolescent loser.

I see you as a songwriter who has a particularly British view of things, not in any parochial sense, but your songs still manage to have a universal appeal. Are there any British films or directors that you particularly enjoy?

“Paddy Considine I like and, of course, Shane Meadows. Further back I like John Schlesinger. I’m not so sure if I have a particularly British view of things. I just look out my window and write what I see as opposed to looking through some “Transatlantic Kaleidoscope”

Football has always been a big part of your life and it’s always been a popular backdrop for films. Are there any football films that you enjoy and, as an aside, what would make you happier; the Blades in the Premier League or Wednesday going bust?

“As a genre I don’t think it really works. Neither of those things would make me happy. I don’t like the sort of supporters that the Premier League attracts and if the Piggies went bust who we going to hate? Rotherham? Barnsely? Forget it. Rivalry, no matter how bitter or divisive is the reason your a supporter of that team”

If I could take you back to the day you first signed for Go! Discs and offered you a professional contract for Sheffield United at the same time which would you have chosen?

“Go! Discs. I would never have had the discipline to play professional football.”

If Dante is right and there is a Hell and at the bottom of it is poor old Judas trapped in ice for all eternity which film would you choose to play on a loop to further his misery?

“I think probably one of those awful 'Invader as Victim' films that Hollywood made after the Vietnam war. Full Jacket Potato, A bag of crisps now, Veggieburger Hill, Born on the 1st of April, The Beer Hunter. I've never seen such a crude, pathetic, self pitying load of shite in all my life.”

If I were to create a film festival that was going to be curated in the same way as the “Meltdown” music festival what films would you choose?

“They’re not going to ask someone like me to curate anything like Meltdown are they? At Meltdown I’d pick the “Free Willy” trilogy and at your alternative film festival I’d probably pick “Il Postino”, “The Killing of Fred Hampton” and a John Pilger documentary.”

You have been a big influence in my life and one of the things your responsible for is introducing me to gospel music. I’d always listened to soul, because my mum and dad were both Mods in the 1960’s, but I’d never heard gospel until I started listening to The Housemartins. Who were the influences on you as a young man?

“Strummer, Rotten, Richard Brewis (English teacher), Alfred Wirth (a German friend) and Al Green. Oh, and me mum and dad”

Now we’re back on common ground Heaton and I...my mum and dad are the biggest influence on my life, I had an English teacher who was just so significant (Dave Ewing) and you could substitute Heaton and Morrissey for Strummer and Rotten. I didn’t have a German friend though...which is a shame.

I remember discovering the motif “Take Jesus, Take Marx, Take Hope” on the inner sleeve of, I think, “The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death” album. I didn’t know what that meant and so it started me thinking and investigating. Really, I think, it was the start of my developing an interest in politics and it informed my political stance. As a socialist I wonder how you feel now about the “New Labour” government/experiment and what’s happened to the Left in Britain?

“One of the things I am most proud of is having the vision to not vote Labour in 1997 and vote Socialist Labour. It was SO obvious when people were saying let's just get back into power and then we'll go to the left. From the 80's I was aware of the Militant Tendency in the Labour Party. They were frighteningly dull but nowhere near as undemocratic and shifty as the lot who turned up in the mid 90's. New Labour are a free market, deregulating bunch of libertarian assassins. The left need to decide what it is to be left in Britain and then challenge or leave behind the afore mentioned doctrine. It needs almost dictatorial socialism of the party first and then it needs to present that to the country fairly and squarely. Unfortunately the Miliband Tendency, that is the 3rd choice in One Party State Britain, has a pretty firm stranglehold on any debate.”

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that Paul Heaton has been one of the most significant influences on my life; music, politics and even fashion have all been touched by the hand of Heato! Listening to what he has to say about films, music, football and politics I’m sure it’s not difficult to see why...and he was right; I should have known with a name like Emma.

The Next Three Days - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 13/1/11

2011-01-13T11:32:00.000-08:00

Russell Crowe is John Brennan.

John is a pretty nice guy.

He teaches at a community college.

John is married to Laura...she is beautiful and has a good job but doesn't get along with her boss.

John and Laura have a lovely little boy called Luke.

One day the police come to John and Laura's home and arrest Laura for killing her boss with a fire extinguisher.

Laura goes to prison.

When John takes Luke to visit Laura in prison Luke will not kiss Laura.

Laura wonders "Will he ever kiss me again?"

John goes a bit mental and decides that because his wife is innocent (he knows this, he just does) that he will help her to escape.

John goes to see Liam Neeson.

Liam Neeson is a man who has escaped from prison and written books about it.

Liam Neeson has a scar.

John asks Liam Neeson about how he escaped and foolishly reveals his true agenda.

Liam Neeson tells John everything he needs to know about escaping from prison.

John helps Laura to escape from prison and they go to Venezuela with Luke.

Luke kisses Laura.

Back in America the police start to think Laura might have been innocent.

In the cinema an audience member is so enraged by how predictable, formulaic and just plain awful this film is that he sets fire to the screen, breaks into the projection room, burns the master copy of the film, drives to every other cinema in the country that is showing it and burns their copies, kidnaps Russell Crowe (you don't need to know how) and holds him for ransom...he threatens to keep Russell captive unless the writer, director and studio executive who green lit this project promise never, ever to make another film.

Sadly the most exciting bit of this review is the last paragraph and it is the only bit of the review that isn't true...except for the bit about "The Next Three Days" being predictable, formulaic and just plain awful.

An Interview with Rona Mark

2011-01-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Rona Mark is a director.

Rona Mark is a writer.

Rona Mark writes scripts and directs films.

Rona Mark is a writer/director.

Rona Mark has made two feature films.

Rona Mark wrote and directed “Strange Girls”

Rona Mark wrote and directed “The Crab”

You have probably never heard of Rona Mark.

It is not your fault that you have never heard of Rona Mark.

Rona Mark, however, really deserves for you to see her films and to know her name.

Rona Mark.

People often say that they would like to see something “different”, something “new”, something “clever” or something that is worth their time and money. The strange thing is that despite their being a lot of people who want those things the film industry is reluctant to give it to them. Rather than give us what they want though they give us what we don’t want safe in the knowledge that enough of us will go and see it anyway. This is the only explanation for things like “Meet the Parents: Little Fockers” and, controversially, “Inception”.

Her first film “Strange Girls” offered a script and a vision that was, very clearly, her own. It wasn’t like anything else that screened during the 2008 EIFF. It was dark (telling the tale of two murderous twin girls), it was funny and it was, really, strange. It was the sort of film that really connected with the people who saw it (and a lot of people did) and yet three years later we are no closer to seeing it in the local multiplex or on DVD.

Last year Mark brought “The Crab” to the EIFF and while it was still dark, funny and strange it also represented a giant leap forward in technical terms. It features a performance from Guy Whitney, as the eponymous “Crab”, that is brilliantly, gloriously, defiantly scabrous. The character, “Levi”, is hideously but fabulously unpleasant. With a script that is full of rage and blistering attacks on all manner of targets (not all of them justified) it is the sort of film that rewards you in so many ways.

A quick look at the trailer reveals exactly how terrible a human being Levi is; immoral, angry, unpleasnt, profane and he has some bad qualities too. So it seemed obvious to ask where in the world does Levi come from?

“Largely, of course, he comes from my brain...Levi is me at my nasty, male alter-ego worst, mixed in with 20% of an old boyfriend and 20% of a fantasy character and maybe 5% Grady Stiles who was the lobster boy. The 20% that was the old boyfriend was the part of Levi who refuses to put citations into his final dissertation and so never got his degree...at least that’s what he says and I think it’s probably true”

Levi suffers from ectrodactyly and his physical disability is used by him as a means to justify some awful behaviour; womanising, drunkeness, drug abuse...the list is almost endless. Despite that his brutal honesty and refusal to “play the game” is inspiring and a cause for celebration. That Mark has been able to create a character who is so vulgar and yet so beautiful is testament to her talents as a writer.

Levi is also convinced of his own brilliance and is sure that it’s everyone elses fault that this hasn’t been recognised. Of course, his refusal to insert citations in his dissertation ensures that he cannot be recognised and I wonder if that is a defence mechanism on his part, a means to ensure that he can’t be criticised?

“That’s definitely true and it’s that part of him that sees the difference between us because I went ahead and finished my film (Strange Girls) and put it out there. I paid a high price for that, I took a lot of beating, emotionally, for that film...people here (Edinburgh) really seemed to appreciate it but I got a lot of rejection, a lot of stupid reviews, people don’t get it. I mortgaged my life away to make that film, I’m still paying for it. It’s a good film, you know, it’s not perfect but it’s a good film that doesn’t have distribution yet. You put so much into something and then it goes nowhere...and I’m pissed. Everyone I know has kids and property, I’ve made sacrifices to make films.”

At this point there is laughter but you get the sense that there is a part of her that really does feel angry that something that she has invested so much in has been ignored while films that have so much less emotional investment are given so much attention. Of course there are many examples of people creating work that is filled with their own drive and ambition that doesn’t equate to art (“The Room” anyone?) but in this case we are talking about someone who is creating films that have value and meaning.

Both “Strange Girls” and “The Crab” feature characters who have a genetic condition that sets them apart from the “herd”. The attraction for most of us to these conditions is the opportunity it affords us to be shamed voyeurs, with our necks distended looking at the freaks. Is there something about the “otherness’ of these conditions that attracts you?

“Well, I guess I feel like a freak. A great way to dramatise that feeling is to make it physical in some way. I think that’s the connection between both of the films. That feeling of being “different” but without having anything to mark it out.”

Something that struck me about both films was the shift in that physical manifestation of the outsider...in “Strange Girls” the condition of twins is something quite common, most of us know twins or have met twins so there is a connection there but in “The Crab” Levis condition isn’t all that common, indeed it is a much more violent demonstration of being an outsider. Was that purposeful? Has there been some emotional journey you have gone on that has made you feel more of a “freak”?

“Yeah, like I said, the production of “Strange Girls” was brutal. It was a real struggle and it left me broken and in pieces. I didn’t ever expect it to make money or anything like that but I thought it might open doors and make it easier to make films...but it didn’t do shit for me. That, I think, is the base of it. This is the professional side of my personal failures. There are others but I’m not going to get into that.”

If “Strange Girls” didn’t open those doors and make things easier do you think that “The Crab” will?

“I don’t. I don’t. Here’s the thing, I got a great response to the film in Edinburgh but I don’t think an American audience is going to respond in the same way. That’s just a feeling I get. It’s all about America in a way...they have a kind of mindset about how films should be, how they work out. I wouldn’t say that they are any more or less sophisticated because I don’t think that’s true. Part of the problem is that Levi doesn’t learn anything in the film and when things don’t fit into a certain paradigm for American audiences they don’t like that. I think there will be a lot of people who will dig it but the question is can I get it to them? Can I get it through festival people, the people who are programming so that the people who would “get it” can see it. It didn’t happen with “Strange Girls” so I’m sceptical that it will happen with this.”

I have spent a lot of time in the States and I find the idea that American audiences are less sophisticated as offensive as Rona clearly does. When I am in America I find a lot of intelligent, urbane, sophisticated and interesting people...who would have thought it. The problem clearly lies at the door of the people who decide what we get to see. That’s a difficult thing to cope with as a viewer...heaven knows how miserable it must make the artist.

“It’s a hard film (The Crab) to market, it’s not a straight up horror film, it’s too “low brow” for the indie thing, it doesn’t have anyone famous so those are all things that close doors on us.”

One of the things that is most compelling about “The Crab” and about Levi is that he is the sort of person that a lot of men, I think, wish they could be. He says and does exactly what he wants to, he has a boorish charm that means he is never short of female company, he is witty and intelligent as well as caustic and angry. At the risk of being sexist I wonder how a female writer creates such an, apparently, alien character?

“A friend once told me I had a very androgynous brain. I think that Levi gives expression to that and also to my own anger. The thing is though that women are not allowed to be angry. If you’re a woman and you are angry then you are somehow less of a woman. I always thought that if I was thinking these things then other women must be thinking them too. Unlike Levi I don’t want to destroy myself physically but on screen it has to be that way...when I am angry or depressed I sit at home crying but who wants to watch that?”

The person I am reminded of as I sit in Rona Marks company is Patti Smith. Rona, like Patti, is, in person, charming, funny, intelligent and passionate. There is also, however, a very definite passion, fire and anger burning inside of her that is tangible in her work but isn’t off putting.

“I’m sorry if this has been grim” she says “But the thing I’m most proud of is that despite my films not having distribution and despite the struggles I’m still doing it, you know?”

I do know and I’m really glad that she is. Hopefully, one day, you will be too.

Y Tu Mama Tambien - DVD - 10/1/11

2011-01-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Glorious.

Joyous.

Poingnant.

Painful.

Clever.

Vibrant.

Rude.

More sex than you could shake a stick at.

No, really...there is a lot of sex!

Alfonso Cuaron wrote and directed this brilliantly raunchy coming of age tale meets sex as political methaphor and introduced Western audiences to Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. It's a fairly potent calling card and given that Cuaron went straight from this to directing the much less raunchy "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" it certainly seemed to work for him.

"Y Tu Mama Tambien" isn't a film that you would comfortably watch with your mum and dad, unless your mum and dad are Janice Dickinson and Peter Stringfellow, but it is a film that is about much more than the sex. Despite the graphic nature of the sex scenes it is never, as Mary Whitehouse would say, unnecessary, but is, instead, always absolutely essential.

Luna and Bernal are both fabulous as the adolescent, sex crazed, mixed up, muddled up, shook up boys who find themselves enjoying the company of the mature Luisa (Maribel Verdu) on a road trip to a mythical beach. As she seduces both boys it soon becomes clear that something isn't quite right with Luisa and that despite the carnal rewards afforded them the boys may well have been better off without her.

A film that fizzes, whooshes and pops with all the energy of a teenage boy on speed. If that's your sort of thing then you'll adore this...if that sounds like your idea of hell probably best to avoid!

Rudo y Cursi - DVD - 8/1/11

2011-01-09T09:02:00.000-08:00

"A while back a friend told me that the most beautiful game ever invented began with the severed head of a soldier. And his enemy's brutal kick, the first goal ever - unofficially - scored, as the head flew between two trees. "Dreadful" I said, "That depends" said my friend, "Dreadful for the goalkeeper but for the striker, twas glorious!"

Any film that starts with such a searing insight into what lies at the heart of the "beautiful game" and in the heart of most supporters must be high on the list of football films to see before you die.

The eponymous Rudo and Cursi are brothers, whose real names are Beto and Tato, who play football in a rural league on the sort of pitches that would make the red gravel graveyards many of us played on look like the San Siro. Rudo (slang for hard) is the elder brother who plays in goal while Cursi (pretentious) is the flamboyant striker whose real passion is singing. A chance encounter with a football agent, the Baton, who tells the brothers that while he likes them both he can only take one with him to Mexico City. To decide which brother will take the chance they decide to face off with a penalty. Rudo tells his brother to put it to the right and Cursi obliges because he really doesn't care...sadly for both Cursi puts it to his own right and not his brothers and so it is he who ends up in Mexico City, signed to Amaranto and heading for the big time.

A few months later Rudo is given the chance by the Baton to sign for second division side Nopaleros and is reunited with his brother. At the same time Cursi begins to increasingly resemble David Beckham...highlights in the hair, outrageous clothing and a beautiful celebrity girlfriend Maya (played by the outrageously glamorous Jessica Mas). With the goals flowing and money in the bank everything looks rosy for him, so much so that he is also able to pursue his dreams of being a singing sensation (his singing wouldn't be out of place coming from one of the more deranged X-Factor auditionees!) and he decides to propose to Maya. Rudo has managed to take his team into the top flight and is chasing the shut-out record but has also managed to develop a serious gambling addiction which has plunged him into dangerous levels of debt. With the mob leaning on him for repayment of loans Rudo is in serious danger of having his life ended prematurely.

Cursi meanwhile is suffering from a major dip in form, thanks in large part to his celebrity lifestyle and as the fans turn on him, he is dropped to the bench and he finds out that Maya has moved on to the latest soccer sensation...leaving him alone and desperate. Salvation for both men comes in the shape of their agent who tells Rudo that he will pay off his gambling debts if he makes sure that his team lose their next match...which just happens to be against Cursi and his side! The stage is set for Rudo to save his brothers career, pay off his debts and ensure that everyone lives happily ever after...but this isn't "The Great Escape" and this isn't Hollywood so a happy ending doesn't arrive in the way you would expect.

"Rudo y Cursi" is a terrific look at the sort of issues we all suspect might lurk in the background of professional football and that occasionally slip onto the front pages of the newspapers but it's also a film that has something to say about family, friendship, loyalty and the sort of poverty that forces many young men in the developing world to see sport as the only way out for them and their families. With great performances from Diego Luna (Cursi) and Gael Garcia Bernal (Rudo) who many of you may have seen in "Y Tu Mama Tambien" which was a big hit a few years back as well as some very realistic football and footballing politics this is a comedy-sports-drama that really deserves to be seen by football fans everywhere.

An Interview With Mark Collicott

2011-01-07T11:15:00.000-08:00

At the GFF in 2010 I decided to catch “A Congregation of Ghosts” only because it was the last film role of Edward Woodward. I didn’t know anything about the film or its director Mark Collicott. I didn’t have any expectations and I certainly didn’t know that I was going to see a film that would leave me absolutely breathless by its end. What I saw was a beautiful, tender, moving and brilliantly crafted ghost story that wasn’t a ghost story...a film that in a perfect world would have catapulted director Mark Collicott into the public conscious. The fact that we are a year on and very few people have seen the film is a comment only on a world that continues to mistake a big budget and special effects for art. Make no mistake “A Congregation of Ghosts” is a genuinely brilliant film and is one that deserves to be seen by a much wider audience.

“It’s a thoughtful and thought provoking story” is how Collicott describes his films and he is right. Telling the true story of Reverend Frederick Densham, a pious minister who took up post in the small Cornish village of Warleggan in 1932 and proceeded to upset and alienate the bulk of his congregation and who ultimately preached his sermons, faithfully, to rows and rows of empty pews which, in the film, he fills with haunting scarecrow figures. Ostracised by his community Densham died a lonely and tortured figure in 1953. The film intertwines the life of Densham with the lives of a young couple who move into his home and who slowly fall under the spell of the old minister. Thoughtful and thought provoking is exactly what this is.

“It’s not a blood and guts movie, Danny Dyer doesn’t pop up in a gunfight at any point. It’s an intelligent British film, driven by a great story and featuring some great acting. It’s also a serious film which isn’t all that common...when you look at something like “Sherlock Holmes” or “Burke and Hare” they’re played for laughs but “A Congregation of Ghosts” isn’t.”

It is sad that a British film driven by story can’t find distribution or an audience and yet something like “Pimp” can get a cinema release and, no doubt, pride of place in the DVD section of HMV. What’s wrong with the film industry in Britain? “There is interest from various European countries, which may seem strange, but I think that’s because of where it is set...the picturesque background, the Englishness of it may well be attractive to a foreign audience” says Collicott. What struck me most about the film was that it bore a striking resemblance to the work of Powell and Pressburger, particularly to “A Matter of Life and Death”. “You’re exactly right, I think that this film, while it may not be on that level, is certainly very true to the likes of “Black Narcissus”, “A Matter of Life and Death” and maybe even “Peeping Tom”. The film captures the period really well I think and that may be why there is a similarity to the feel of Powell and Pressburger.”

Collicott himself has a background in photography including a spell working on the New Musical Express. Looking at the film it would appear that that has influenced your style as a film-maker. There are several moments when what is on screen could pass for a photographic image. Has your background influenced your approach or am I reading too much into things? “I also worked in advertising at Saatchi and Saatchi and I do think that I try to work in a very visual way. Because of my background I think I try to direct the actors and not the action which is what helped Edward to give the performance he did. I guess that my background aids the process of making a film.”

“Despite coming from the area where Densham lived I wasn’t aware of his story until a few years ago when a friend of mine who lived on Bodmin Moor told me about it. I thought it was an amazing story. The idea that this man, Densham, could live the life he did; working as a missionary in India, being inspired by Gandhi, then ending his life completely alone and ignored by his congregation and having met people like John Betjeman and Daphne du Maurier, who wrote about him, it was just incredible to me.”

The film features an incredible performance from Edward Woodward, a fine actor who never really got the roles he deserved. Best known for “The Wicker Man” in which he plays another pious, God-fearing man cast adrift in a community who have anything but his best interests at heart this performance acts as a fitting tribute to his talent.

“Edward had a memorial service after his passing and at that the last clip they showed was from “A Congregation of Ghosts” and that was very emotional for me. With the British film industry in the doldrums Edward went to the States where he was very successful...he won Golden Globes and Emmys. The workload, I think, began to take its toll on his health and that might be why he never became a “big” name in movies. He is a brilliant actor and I think that this performance will remind people of that.”

What Mark Collicott has crafted is a very beautiful film and yet distribution remains elusive. If it were me I would throw my toys out of the pram and head off to a dark room to cry about it. Thankfully he has other projects already underway and with a little luck other people will see “A Congregation of Ghosts” and other people will understand that in Mark Collicott the British film industry has a director who wants to deliver films and stories not “product”.

“It’s very hard to get distribution in cinemas but I stand by the film. Maybe we should have had Danny Dyer and blood and guts but that isn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a film that would mean something to people but it seems that people are frightened to take a risk. I’m not downhearted and it hasn’t put me off in anyway.” That’s something we should all be grateful for.

Abel - Filmhouse - 7/1/11

2011-01-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Much was made about the performances of Chloe Moretz, Elle Fanning, Codie Smits McPhee and other young actors in big budget Hollywood movies last year...rightly so as they gave fine, fine performances in, at times, very challenging films. However, the performance of Christopher Ruiz-Esparza will, in all likelihood, pass by without a mention which is a crime as he is easily the match of his English language peers. Playing the eponymous "Abel" he is totally convincing as the young boy who returns home a mute after two years in a psychiatric hospital, two years that coincide with the disappearance of his drunken father. Upon returning home he decides to become the patriarch in the home; chastising his siblings Paul and Selene, admonishing his mother (who he now believes to be his wife), signing report cards, grilling boyfriends and more.

There are many laughs to be had from this scenario and first time director Diego Luna isn't afraid to deliver them but he never takes the easy option. What I mean is that in the hands of some Hollywood hack this would be a gross out comedy with the "joke" being incest but Luna instead delivers something warmer, more natural, more honest and more convincing. Set in a run down Mexican village where poverty is very real there is a gritty realism at play here too and Luna has done a wonderful job in marrying the humour and the reality.

When the families real father, Anselmo, returns the scene is set for things to return to "normal" but instead Abel asserts his new found authority and instead of an airbrushed happy families ending we are plunged into a world where ugly confrontation looms large. When that confrontation eventually arrives it leads to the lives of all the central players returning to where they had been at the films start; Abel is back in hospital and mute, his mother is at home raising two children and trying to support them, his father returns to his mistress. Despite the laughs there is an air of hopelessness at the films end.

At its heart "Abel" is really a film about fathers. That young Abel makes a better fist of being the man about the house than his errant father says much about a world where it isn't uncommon to see young men fathering myriad children but being a father to none of them. Through a childs eyes we also see what really makes a "relationship" work; being there and being consistent. It is this ability of a child to make a better job of being an adult that elevates "Abel" from being a comedy drama and into the position of being a social manifesto.

127 Hours - Cineworld, Edinburgh - 5/1/11

2011-01-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know...

Aron Ralston was a 28 year old adrenalin junkie who, in 2003, decided to head off to Moab, Utah, for a spot of canyoneering. During that trip he became trapped in a canyon when a rock fell against his right arm. 127 hours later he was free...but only after using his penknife to cut off the trapped arm.

127 hours.

Five days.

Alone.

Cold.

Without food or water.

Afraid.

In pain.

What would you do to get yourself out of a situation like that?

Would you be able to break your own arm and then hack through the skin, muscle and tissue in order to set yourself free?

I don't think I would.

I think I would have given up the ghost and accepted my fate.

That Ralston didn't says as much about his strength of character as his foolish choices that led to his predicament do about the type of person he was previously...selfish and, one could argue, more than a little stupid.

Director Danny Boyle manages to make good use of several familiar motifs from his other works in telling the tale of one man in a hole. Water, hallucination, split screen are all employed to allow Boyle to create something universal and inspiring out of source material that could, quite easily, be described as confined and horrific.

James Franco plays Ralston and, thanks to the video messages that he recorded during his ordeal, we get an accurate portrait of the man. More importantly though Franco manages to take us deep inside the mind of the man...the fear, frustration and fatal nature of the situation is all disquietingly real. It's a terrific performance from an actor who, until now, has been best known as the son of the Green Goblin in the Spiderman franchise.

Much of the discussion around "127 Hours" centres around "that" scene. Tales of people running screaming and shrieking from the cinema are, I think, the work of over-eager publicists; the same sort of people who billed "Slumdog Millionaire" as the "feel good movie of the year". The scene is bloody and achingly real but it isn't something that would look out of place in an episode of "Casualty"!

A quieter and more intimate film than "Slumdog" this is, nevertheless, classic Danny Boyle; awkward young men who find themselves in difficult and uncomfortable situations but who ultimately find some sort of redemption or salvation...it's there in "Shallow Grave", it's there in "Trainspotting" and "The Beach" and again in "Slumdog". This time the isolation of the central player is reflected in his physical surroundings as well as in his mental and emotional state.

Collapse - 4/1/11

2011-01-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

A horror film unlike any other.

No ghosts, no blood, no guts, no zombies, no vampires, no serial killers...

Well, there are the ghosts of those who have warned us.

There is the bloodshed to come.

The guts on display are of the courage type.

Zombies and vampires are killers that none of us really believe in but there are other unbelievable sources of death on show here.

Serial killers? Our governments.

This is 82 minutes in the company of Michael Ruppert; former LAPD officer turned peak oil theorist. Described as "batshit insane" by some and dismissed as a prophet of doom by others what isn't in question is that Ruppert sees an unavoidable future for mankind; and it isn't pretty.

Peak oil theory is the theory that at some point, a point we may well have passed, the amount of oil we can produce will fall into terminal decline...when one considers that everything from our toothpaste to our toothbrush is made from oil, that the food in our supermarkets gets there thanks to oil and is grown with pesticides made from oil then the idea of a world without enough oil is a frightening one.

At times during Rupperts incredible monologue I felt genuinely fearful. My stomach was churning and my own consumerism made me sick. As his initial rage and prophecies of doom subside they are replaced by an even more terrifying onscreen collapse from Ruppert...a man clearly burdened by what he perceives to be more than just an inconvenient truth. There are, of course, counter-arguments to what Ruppert and the other peak oilers say but what isn't up for debate is the power of "Collapse" to invoke terror into the viewer.

2011 Preview - 3/1/11

2011-01-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

I've received one or two requests for a "heads up" on what lies ahead this year.

As I'm not a "real" journalist and I don't read the film magazines for fear of being influenced by the writings or others I'm not really in the loop...thankfully The Guardians Peter Bradshaw has listed the nine films he is most excited about for 2011.

His list can be read here.

Of the films he mentions I am keen to catch "127 Hours" this week; gruelling and gruesome it may well but I do want to see it.

"True Grit" is receiving a lot of positive press and is being talked about for an Oscar nod or two.

"Black Swan" is the one I am most excited about as I love Natalie Portman and Aronofsky always delivers something...unexpected.

Others to look out for include; "Biutiful" which is director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus first Spanish language film since his two English language features (21 Grammes and Babel). Starring Javier Bardem it looks like it will be a hard hitting and powerful movie.

Another Spanish language feature arrives in the shape of Diego Lunas directorial debut "Abel" and it also promises to be powerful and engaging stuff.

An interesting documentary "Waiting For Superman" about the failings of the American education system should prove depressingly interesting!

Most of these arrive early this year, many this month so it promises to be a good start to the year. As ever though, I suspect that the real treasures will be found outside of the multiplex.

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers - DVD - 3/1/11

2011-01-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm.

Christian film-maker Dan Merchant sets out to discover why it is that people who claim to be "Christians" seem not to be particularly Christ-like.

He makes a compelling case for greater understanding between people of faith, people of different faiths and people of no faith. There are few people (Jew, Christian, Muslim, Atheist and more) who would not agree that being "like" the Christ of the New Testament isn't a good idea. Why more people don't do that, particularly those who are happy to loudly proclaim pieces of the Christian message to suit there own political, moral and philosophical positions, is a mystery and not one that Merchant is able to answer.

There are plenty of laughs here and much to think about...it would be an interesting evening to watch it back-to-back with Bill Mahers "Religulous".

Pete Postlethwaite 1946-2011

2011-01-03T05:40:00.000-08:00

Pete Postlethwaite has died aged 64 after a long battle with cancer.

I can vividly remember the first time I saw Postlethwaite on the big screen.

It was 1996 and I had gone to see "Brassed Off" at the Odeon Cinema in Glasgow. A low budget British comedy/drama based on the true story of a brass band attached to a coal mine in the North of England and that made a series of visceral attacks on the policies of the Thatcher government of the 1980's in relation to the coal industry, trade unions and the communities that depended on both. At the films end Postlethwaite delivers an impassioned speech...

I could tell that this meant something to Postlethwaite, that he wasn't just reading lines from a page and that he was doing something more meaningful than "method"...he believe what he was saying. He was using his "name" to deliver a message that he hoped people would heed. In short, the man had principles.

There are other examples of such principles throughout his life, both on screen and off it but today I think it fitting that we remember too that he was a terrific actor who lit up the screen in a variety of films from the likes of "In The Name of the Father" where his more natural and realistic style highlighted the failings in the performance of Daniel Day Lewis to his performance as Kobayashi in "The Usual Suspects" which despite, or because of, a fabulously over the top accent managed to see him hold his own against every other big name on the screen.

MyFilms would like to send sincere condolences to his wife, children, family and friends. He made a lot of people very happy and he will be missed.

Rest in Peace Pete.

Alice in Wonderland - DVD - 2/1/11

2011-01-02T05:18:00.000-08:00

Johnny Depp eh?

Great actor.

Lot of great movies.

He was in the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" which isn't a bad way to announce your arrival in movies. He played the lead in "Cry Baby" which was an early hint at his willingness to step outside the comfort zone of straight Hollywood fare. "Edward Scissorhands" was his first role with director Tim Burton and it stands up as a cult classic. In playing "Ed Wood" he gave a performance that really should have brought him an Oscar. "Donnie Brasco" was an intelligent homage to the gangster movies of the seventies that saw him stand toe to toe with Al Pacino and match the master. "Chocolat" wasn't my cup of hot chocolate but it gave him the chance to play the sort of dreamy leading man that he had always managed to avoid. Even something as flawed as "From Hell" showed that Depp was willing to take risks and do things that other actors wouldn't.

Then came his decision to appear as Keith Richards in a film based on a fun fair ride...as well as two sequels and a third on the way. To appear in one such film is unfortunate but to appear in four stinks of a man who has lost his quality compass. Throw in "Sweeney Todd", "Public Enemies", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Finding Neverland" and one can only conclude that this is an actor who has, quite simply, given up.

Proof that Depps career is in terminal decline arrived, for me, with a viewing of last years "Alice in Wonderland". A re-imagining of the classic story that took the joy, the beauty, the oddness of it and chose instead to use the pages as toilet paper and make, instead, a steaming turd of a film that has all the charm of N-Dubz. I don't often take such a negative approach to films as I am well aware that the people who make them are more talented and dedicated than I am but on this occasion it isn't possible to say anything even remotely positive. Depp, in particular, is just hideous...almost too awful. It is always difficult when people that you admire, respect or love do something to disappoint you and in this instance Depp goes beyond just disappointing and plumbs new depths of awfulness.

You may have missed "Alice in Wonderland" and if you did I cannot tell you how envious I am of you. I have seen it and nothing will ever change that. I have to live with the knowledge that any point in any day I may well remember some image, line or performance and that my day will be ruined. Everyone involved in this should hang their heads in shame and vow never, ever to make another film. Sadly every single one of them will.

Taxi Driver - DVD - 01/01/11

2011-01-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking; "I thought MyFims only reviewed films that it hadn't seen before. What on earth is "Taxi Driver" doing as the first review of 2011? Oh, maybe it's a "classic" review...looking back on a favourite movie."

No.

This isn't a look back at an old favourite.

Look, I have a confession to make.

I'm not proud of this and it kind of flies in the face of the image I may have given you of the sort of film blog I am but, well, I've never...you see, the thing is, what with work and the bills and...listen, I just don't want you to judge me too harshly. The truth is...

I haven't ever seen "Taxi Driver".

No, no, wait...come back.

Please.

I'm sorry.

I'm only human and there are only so many hours in the day...think about all the other movies I've seen and written about. Can't you just, I don't know, forgive me? I'll work harder if you just stay...I won't let you down again.

Let's just get all of our skeletons out of the closet at the start of the year.

I haven't seen everything...OK? It's not possible. I try to see as much as I can and I know I give off this air of "Oh, I'm MyFilms and I know all about movies" but the truth is I don't...I'm just a man with a blog trying to do his best in a world full of distractions.

If you stick with me you'll see that there are other classics that I haven't seen..."Citizen Kane"? Never seen it. "Casablanca"? Never seen it. "Grease"? Never seen it. I will, I promise...I will and I'll write about them. Well, not "Grease"...I'm not watching that but the others I will.

OK?

Can we move on?

Good.

I'm glad.

I don't want for us to fall out.

"Taxi Driver" is a film that all of you will have seen already I'm sure.

Directed by Scorsese, written by Schrader, scored by Herrmann, starring De Niro...this is a film that is truly deserving of the "classic" tag. During a decade when American directors were pushing boundaries and making films that could really be called groundbreaking "Taxi Driver" manages to stand out as something even more significant and important than the likes of "The Godfather", "The Conversation" or "The French Connection".

De Niro as "Travis Bickle" is simply astonishing. A mess of emotions and contradictions...a prophet lost in a wilderness of pornography, crime, drugs, violence and corruption he exposes himself as being as flawed as the very people he despises. Like a shamed voyeur he watches his city from behind the safety of his windscreen until a broken heart forces him into action. His role as saviour of a pre-pubescent prostitute though is accidental...his first choice of action is to assassinate a Presidential candidate who he believes to be a phoney. Like Holden Caulfield, Travis is alone, frightened and confused but unlike Salingers anti-hero he is also armed and dangerous.

Support for De Niro comes from an angelic Cybil Shepherd and babe in the woods Jodie Foster. These two women appear to have been cast in the wrong roles with Shepherd, the adult female, a bastion of morality and Foster, the child, a streetwise, drug addicted whore. It is the innocence of Fosters youth that makes casting her in this role a masterstroke by Scorsese; watching her ply her trade on the mean streets mere months after she was playing lead in the likes of Disneys "The Parent Trap" forces us to confront the reality of the world around us. When Travis makes his first desperate attempt to save her he is shocked by her casual attitude and approach to the selling of her body...she appears, if not happy, then resigned to the life she is leading.

Shepherd however is shocked by Bickles decision to take her to see an "adult" movie and despite being intrigued by him it is this one bad decision that forces him out of her life. She is all soft focus and repressed sexuality. When one considers the reputation of the real life Shepherd it highlights, again, the genius of Scorsese in casting her in this role. "I want the one I can't have" appears to be running through Travis like "Blackpool" through a stick of rock and it is this frustration that sends him over the edge from angry loner to deranged man of action.

Writer Paul Schrader alongside Scorsese created a world that was simply too awful but was also sickeningly real. Into this cesspit they drop De Niro as a damaged Vietnam veteran with difficulty sleeping and making relationships. The result was always going to be explosive and so it proves. Long after its initial release I was stunned by how relevant "Taxi Driver" felt. It is possible that in the face of the current economic crisis, government cuts, rising unemployment and growing crime rates that "Taxi Driver" is now not only a glimpse into a world that is past but a prophetic vision of a world that is to come.

MyFilms Awards 2010

2010-12-31T16:41:00.000-08:00

Here then are the winners of the MyFilms Awards for 2010...

Best Film - Samson and Delilah (dir: Warwick Thornton)

Best Actor - Guy Whitney (The Crab, dir: Rona Mark)

Best Actress - Jennifer Lawrence (Winters Bone, dir: Debra Granik)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Kayvan Novak (Four Lions, dir: Chris Morris)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Sissy Spacek (Get Low, dir: Aaron Schneider)

Best Original Screenplay - Rona Mark (The Crab, dir: Rona Mark)

Best Adapted Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, dir: David Fincher)

Best Director - Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah)

Best Animated Film - Toy Story 3 (dir: Lee Unkrich)

Best Documentary Film - Out of the Ashes (dir: Tim Albone, Lucy Martens, Leslie Knott)

Best Cinematography - Alamar (Pedro Gonzalez Rubio, dir: Pedro Gonzalez Rubio)

Thanks to all involved in all of the films and thanks to all of you for reading throughout the year.

2010 Interviews

2010-12-31T02:26:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to meet and speak with a lot of really fabulous people this year; actors, directors, musicians and industry types. Quite why they agreed is still beyond me but I'm very grateful that they did! Here, in all their glory, are the interviews conducted on MyFilms this year.

In April the head of programming for Filmhouse in Edinburgh, Rod White spoke with us about all sorts of things including the "ghettoisation" of film at awards ceremonies and which films he would use to punish wrong-doers!

Kim Newman author and film journalist also dropped by in April to speak with MyFilms and despite our disagreement over The Smiths being the greatest English band of all time he was everything you would expect him to be...interesting, articulate and informed.

The BMX Bandits are one of the best groups ever to come out of Scotland which makes Duglas T. Stewart one of the greatest Scots! Having been an inspiration to all manner of bands from Nirvana to Franz Ferdinand his thoughts on film were equally interesting.

One of the most exciting bands to have emerged from Scotland in recent years are "Sons and Daughters" and their lead singer Adele Bethel showed that her degree in Film and Television/English Lit made her a good choice of interviewee. With a new album set for 2011 it's well worth finding the time to listen to the rest of her back catalogue...you won't be disappointed!

During the FAB Fest I managed to spend a bit of time with director Darren Ward and two of the stars of his film "A Day of Violence"; Nick Rendell and cult star Giovanni Lombardo Radice. All three gave a great insight into what is involved in making a film with almost no budget but with a huge amount of desire.

DJ, journalist, comedian and television personality Alex Zane answered some questions in June and proved himself to be utterly charming and incredibly funny with his answers. His anecdote about Burt Reynolds is reason enough to read this.

Ben Miller is comedy royalty here in the UK and with a directorial debut ("Huge") looming I conducted a rather soggy interview with him during the EIFF this year.

A very quick-fire Q&A with Boz Boorer gave us an insight into the cinematic tastes of the longest serving musician in the career of the Pope of Mope, Morrissey.

As director of the EIFF Hannah McGill has presided over four years of great films and bold decisions (most notably seperating the EIFF from the other festivals in Edinburgh to ensure a seperate identity and audience). Her willingness to speak with a small film blog like MyFilms speaks volumes about her love of film and desire to promote it.

With a role in the most exciting new drama on television this year and a whole heap of new projects looming it was a real treat to get to chat with Jo Hartley who was as accommodating and interesting a human being as you could wish for. Sadly our plans for a wedding never got much beyond the fantasy stage!

Vicky McClure gave one of the most astonishing performances of the year in "This is England '86" and with several films with Shane Meadows I was delighted when she agreed to speak with MyFilms. If you don't know her name yet...you will.

Another star of "This is England '86", Johnny Harris, managed to squeeze us in for a chat and was as delightful as his two female co-stars. A real gent.

A very good friend and a supremely talented chap, Alain Whyte, answered some of my probing questions this year and was, as ever, great value.

The last interview of the year was a corker! A genuine musical icon, a personal hero and one of the most gifted singer/songwriters of her generation...Kristen Hersh proved herself to be everything I had ever hoped she would be!

Many, many thanks to all of these very talented individuals for agreeing to speak with MyFilms...the pleasure, the privilege was all mine.

2010 Complete Filmography

2010-12-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

MyFilms 2010 Complete Filmography

Tokyo Story

Serious Man, A

Last Days

Fermats Room

Queen of Spades, The

Daybreakers

Fracture

Anvil: The Story of Anvil

Did You Hear About the Morgans

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Road, The

Cloverfield

Mugabe and the White African

Another 48 Hours

Sherlock Holmes

I Was Born, But...

Savage Eye, The

Departures

All About Steve

44 Inch Chest

Mid-August Lunch

Last House on the Left (1972)

Aileen: Selling of a Serial Killer

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

Up in the Air

Un Prophete (A Prophet)

Rabid

Glorious 39

Ping Pong

Ninja Assassin

Brothers

Late Spring

Book of Eli, The

Bone Collector, The

Early Summer

Edge of Darkness, The

Late Autumn

Visible Secret

Criminals

Firm, The

Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice, The

Precious

Early Spring

Treeless Mountain

Food Inc.

Dogging: A Love Story

Tony

Single Man, A

Fish Tank

Suspiria

An Education

Princess and the Frog, The

Rookies

Savage

Congregation of Ghosts, A

Con Artist

American: The Bill Hicks Story

Adventureland

Your Fathers Murderer: A Letter to Zachary

Still Walking

Crazies, The

Witch Who Came From the Sea, The

Sandman, The

Hausu

Equinox Flower

Crazy Heart

Mum and Dad

FIT

Non-Ko

Asyle

Dead Snow

Frozen River

Father of my Children, The

Shutter Island

Grey Gardens (2009)

Cove, The

No Distance Left To Run

Headless Women, The

Scouting Book For Boys, The

Samson and Delilah

Kick-Ass

Transporter 3

Gerry

I Love You Phillip Morris

Drugstore Cowboy

Paranoid Park

My Own Private Idaho

Lourdes

No One Knows About Persian Cats

Blind Side, The

No Greater Love

Don’t Worry About Me

Role Models

Humpday

Cemetery Junction

Sons of Cuba

Psycho

Blacks, The

Lions Den

Repo Men

American Movie

Dogtooth

Office Space

She, A Chinese

Idiocracy

Erasing David

High Lane

Merantau

End, The

Day of Violence, A

City of the Living Dead

Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

Combat Shock

Reel Zombies

Neighbor

Disappearance of Alice Creed, The

Nightmare on Elm Street, A

Date Night

Double-Take

Consequences of Love, The

Four Lions

Run Lola Run

Vincere

Eyes Wide Open

City of Life and Death

Vagabond

Black Narcissus

Killer Inside Me, The

Death of a President

Bad Lieutenant

Greenberg

Two Eyes Staring

Last Rites of Ransom Pride, The

Toy Story 3

Chase The Slut

Crab, The

Superhero Me

Runaways, The

Barry Munday

brilliantlove

HIGH School

Small Act, A

Good Heart, The

Kid, The

Man Next Door, The

Mark

Secrets in Their Eyes, The

Postales

Shorts: Growing Pains

Soul Boy

Soulboy

Get Low

Third Star

La Pantera Negra (The Black Panther)

Hard Way, The

Rashomon

Telstar

Heartbreakers

Spoorloos (The Vanishing)

Blue Beard

Inception

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The

Splice

Gainsbourg

Sleeping Dogs

Green Zone

Please Give

There Will Be Blood

Nine Queens

Bronco Bullfrog

Refuge, The

Illusionist, The

This Is England ’86 (episode one)

Swimming With Sharks

Salt

Dinner For Schmucks

Last Exorcism, The

Cyrus

Human Centipede, The

Winters Bone

Alamar

Hole, The (3-D)

Devil

Buried

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Rapt

Cropsey

Crying With Laughter

Unloved, The

Get Him To The Greek

Cabinet of Dr Caligari, The

Paranormal Activity 2

Collector, The

Exam

Easy A

Black Death

Cherry Tree Lane

Witchfinder General, The

Let Me In

Donkeys

Out of the Ashes

Hunter, The

L’Enfant (Child, The)

Skyline

Jackass 3-D

Little Nicholas

We Are What We Are

Chaser, The

Social Network, The

American, The

Megamind

Of Gods And Men

Somewhere

Monsters

Orphan, The

Catfish

MyFilms Review of the Year 2010

2010-12-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

"MyFilms" started as a result of my keeping a "Little Otsu" film diary over the course of 2009.

During that year I saw 140 films at the cinema and got a real thrill out of writing down what I thought about them. It provided a nice little snapshot of my year...the fact that the diary included space for who had accompanied you to the cinema meant I was able to keep a track of not only where I had seen certain films (from London to Utah), what I had seen but also who had come with me. At the years end I thought that it might be interesting to set myself a few film related goals for the coming year;

To see more films than I had in 2009
To write a review of every film I saw
To get a press pass for the Edinburgh International Film Festival

The first two seemed manageable and the third was a complete fantasy rooted in my love of, not only, film but of the EIFF. So I logged into blogspot and created MyFilms. During the month of January I decided to watch one film I hadn't seen before every day...despite the fact this meant I watched "Another 48 Hours" from start to finish it also meant that the year got off to a hectic start and I was forced to get into the habit of writing reviews quickly. As the weeks then months progressed I found that I was gaining "followers" and that people were actually reading the blog...this was a huge surprise to me and, if I am being honest, very humbling. I'm not (clearly) a journalist, a writer or anyone who really knows anything about films...I'm a movie fan, I like going to the cinema and I love seeing the work of people who are infinitely more talented than I am.

January

The year started with, possibly, the high point of Japanese cinema with a showing of the Ozu masterpiece "Tokyo Story" which, despite my love of Japan and Japanese cinema, I had managed never to see. Sitting in the Filmhouse (the best cinema in Britain and, quite possibly, the world) I was struck by how beautiful the film was...a look at a world that is, sadly, disappearing; a world of honor, love and humility as well as order and tradition. Later in the month I caught the Oscar winning "Departures" which highlighted the fact that the very world being mourned by Ozu was still alive in Japan. Telling the story of a failed musician turned funeral director "Departures" was funny, poignant and very, very Japanese.

Oscar nominated "Un Prophete" was another highlight of the month and until I caught the winner of the Oscar for best foreign language film ("The Secret In Their Eyes") later in the year I felt sure that the Academy had made entirely the wrong decision. I'm still not sure that "Un Prophete" didn't deserve the Oscar but even without that recognition it managed to find an audience outside of the arthouse crowd and it stands up as one of the finest films of the year.

George Clooney starred in one of my favourite films of the year... "Up In The Air" was a brilliantly cool and prescient comedy drama that showed us all the reality of the current economic crisis (despite the fact the source material pre-dated the recession by years) and it also highlighted just how good Clooney can be. Playing a self-centred professional who is tasked with firing people from jobs where their own boss is too afraid to do it he was terrifyingly convincing...cool, detached and totally shallow.

February

February brought MyFilms to its first film festival...the GFF (Glasgow Film Festival). Too late for press accreditation the kind souls in the West instead gave me tickets to a selection of films and with work to contend with I took residence in a hotel for a weekend of movie going. "Rookies" was a Japanese comic book adaptation about a high school baseball team, "Savage" was exactly that, "Con Artist" was a great documentary, "American: The Bill Hicks Story" screened in front of a sell out crowd and was as brilliant as its subject matter but the highlight of the weekend for me was Mark Collicotts fabulous "A Congregation of Ghosts" which was also Edward Woodwards last ever film. The GFF is a wonderful festival and I'm really excited about next years already.

An unexpected treat arrived in the shape of a documentary that screened on More4; "Your Fathers Murderer: A Letter to Zachary" which was one of the most moving and impressive documentaries I have seen. As far as I know it isn't available for purchase but if you see it in your TV listings then please find the time to catch it.

March

"Kick Ass" and "Shutter Island" were the headline grabbers in March...rightly so as both were terrific films. A more left-field hit came with "The Headless Woman". The highlight of the month though (and possibly of the year) was Warwick Thorntons debut feature "Samson and Delilah" which has to be one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking films, well, ever. It didn't make it to the multiplexes but it deserves an audience so please find it, watch it and then thank me for recommending it to you.

It wasn't all good news though as we were also subjected to the awful "I Love You Phillip Morris" where Jim Carey and the inexplicably still working Ewan McGregor made a desperate bid for an Oscar nod by playing gay men. Gosh! Look...they're kissing and everything! Trust me...this was just dreadful. If I were gay this may well have had me considering fighting my natural state to give heterosexuality a shot.

April

The big event in April was the FAB Fest, three days (which spilled over into May) of horror, cult and genre cinema run by FAB Press and held in the Filmhouse. With appearances from all sorts of really interesting directors, writers, actors and producers FAB Fest was a terrific event. With a rare screening of "Combat Shock" the cult Vietnam war commentary from Buddy Giovinazzo, Darren Wards "A Day of Violence" and an Indonesian martial arts kapow-athon in the shape of "Merantau" all featuring there was a something for everyone...if by everyone you mean the sort of people who enjoy really violent and disturbing cinema. The two films that really stood out for me during the weekend were "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle" which was as brilliantly weird as the title and "Neighbour" which has to be one of the most stomach churning films I've seen.

This month also brought three outstanding foreign language films; "Dogtooth" a Greek psycho-sexual, tragi-comedy about the worlds most unusual family, "Lions Den" which took us deep inside the world of a female prison in Argentina and "She, A Chinese" which did exactly what it said on the tin by telling the story of she, a chinese.

May

May was a very quiet month for MyFilms but two films that provoked a lot of discussion were "Vincere" which the critics fell over themselves to praise and "City of Life and Death" which was also lavished with praise. Both films were historical dramas with "Vincere" telling the story of Mussolini's private life and "City of Life and Death" the horrific events of the rape of Nanjing. Very strong performances from the key players made "Vincere" worth watching but, really, it was just a bit, well, meh. "City of Life and Death" was terrifying but beautiful.

May also brought the sad news that Dennis Hopper had died. A true legend and a powerhouse of an actor Hopper will be missed by film fans the world over but the joy of cinema is that those favourite actors never really leave us...one click of the play button on our DVD player and we can enjoy them again and again.

June

June is all about one thing for a film blog based in Edinburgh and that's the EIFF, This year turned out to be the last with Hannah McGill as director and her departure will be a huge loss to the festival. This years festival included some truly memorable films and performances but the highlights for me were Rona Marks twisted treasure "The Crab", Ryan Denmarks gloriously left-field rom-com "Chase The Slut", Brian Cox in "The Good Heart" and the towering "Get Low" which featured Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray and a career best performance from Bobby Duvall...which is really saying something.

As ever with festival programming it wasn't all good news and I had the misfortune of having to sit through one of the worst films I have ever seen in the shape of "brilliantlove" which stands head and shoulders above any other film you can imagine for sheer artlessness.

July

Bonjour!

France delivered us from the worst excesses of Hollywood in July with a trio of wonderful films.

"Barbe Bleue"from director Catherine Breillat was a modern telling of a classic French fairy tale and was magnificently dark, delerious and deranged. Made on a shoe string budget it was also proof positive that you don't need the power of a major studio behind you in order to make films.

"Gainsbourg" was a delicious telling of the life and loves of Serge Gainsbourg...from his childhood to his wild love affairs with a variety of beauties and his groundbreaking musical legacy to his demise and battles with inner demons. Using puppetry and fantasy to flesh out the biopic genre this was truly original cinema.

"Heartbreaker" featured a fabulous performance from Romain Duris who managed to be both dizzyingly good looking and brilliantly funny as the man who can break up a relationship with a simple flash of his smile and the twinkle in his eye...for a fee. A rom-com that breathed new life into a genre that Hollywood has done it's very best to destroy.

Oh...this was also the month that saw the hideous "Inception" hit the screen. Beyond awful. Trust me...this isn't one of those "Oh, everyone else liked it so I'm going to be all contrary" moments this is one of those "Sometimes the fact that everyone says they liked it is simply evidence of mass hysteria provoked by a multi-million pound advertising campaign and the paying off of journalists" things!

August

A very quiet month for MyFilms but one film really stood out and that was "Please Give" which was a really great American indie movie with the ever magnificent Catherine Keener playing the wife of Oliver Platt...the two of them own a furniture store which specialises in quirky and vintage pieces. This was sweet, poignant, realistic and moving. A real hidden gem which really deserved a bigger audience.

The television festival brought a preview screening of Shane Meadows "This is England '86"; a follow up to his film "This is England". A four part made for TV drama this was the show that heralded the dawning of Channel 4's post-Big Brother era. The preview was of episode one which re-introduced many of the characters but that also showed that the focal point of this time would be rude girl Lol (Vicky McClure). Interviews with three of the shows main actors, Jo Hartley, Vicky McClure and Johnny Harris gave a great insight into the people behind the characters.

September

M. Night Shyamalan returned this month with "Devil" and immediately audiences remembered why they had forgotten all about him! Has there ever been such a dramatic collapse in a directors career as Shyamalan? From "The Sixth Sense" and "Unbreakable" he has simply disappeared deeper and deeper inside his own anus. It's horrible!

At the other end of the horror spectrum came "The Last Exorcism" which combined "Blair Witch" reality with a "Rosemarys Baby" sense of hokum and managed to deliver a really frightening movie.

The real highlight of this month though was "Winters Bone" which was a brutal, realistic and shocking American drama. With a performance from Jennifer Lawrence as "Ree" which should, in a perfect world, ensure her a career and an Oscar alongside a script that was totally convincing this was serious film-making.

October

Halloween and the release of "Let Me In" was the event that had MyFilms trembling with fear...how could Hollywood possibly do anything other than ruin one of the finest horror films of all time? Well, they managed not to do that and instead delivered a film that was, if not the equal of its older sibling, certainly a very fine horror film. Special mention should be made of the frighteningly talented Chloe Moretz who will, surely, become one of the greats with a little luck and the right choices along the way.

The appearance of "Paranormal Activity 2" was another treat for horror fans and for those who enjoy a bit of German, Expressionist psycho-horror the Filmhouse gave a screening of "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari".

November

George Clooney popped up on UK television screens in an advert for a coffee making machine...that was immeasurably better than "The American" which gets my nod for most disappointing film of the year and possibly for the worst film of the year too.

Much more enjoyable was "The Social Network" which is receiving a lot of "buzz" about possible Oscar nominations and wins for director David Fincher, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and maybe, just maybe, a best supporting actor nod for Justin Timberlake. For me it must win best screenplay because, well, it was!

December

The year ends on a sombre note with, yet another, French film; "Of Gods and Men" which tells the true story of a group of monks who were caught up in the violence in Algeria in the early part of the nineties and who, ultimately, were murdered. Without a doubt the most beautiful film of the year and certainly the most thought provoking.

Controversial documentary "Catfish" was another film that prompted much thought and debate. Is it real? Is it fake? Is it a bit of both? Does it matter? Produced by Andrew Jarecki ("Capturing the Friedmans") what is absolutely certain is that it is entertaining and provocative.

So with 215 movies viewed in total and reviews of all bar "Greenberg" and "Gainsbourg" (I don't know why!) it has been a busy year for someone who only does this for his own amusement and certainly not for any financial reward!

A huge thanks to all those people with infinitely more talent than me who agreed to be interviewed over the year; Rod White (Head of Programming at the worlds best cinema, the Filmhouse), Hannah McGill (the then director of the EIFF), Alain Whyte (musician), Duglas T Stewart (BMX Bandits), Adele Bethel (Sons and Daughters), Vicky McClure, Jo Hartley and Johnny Harris ("This is England '86"), Kristin Hersh (musician), Boz Boorer (musician), Darren Ward (director) as well as several others who have been interviewed but who haven't yet been published.

Thanks too to all of you for reading the blog, registering as followers, making comments and emailing...I'm genuinely very grateful to you all and hope that you will carry on reading next year and beyond.

The biggest thanks must go to Kitch and my dad for attending so many of these films with me...thank you so much!

January 2011 will bring the much anticipated "MyFilms Awards" where the winners (and losers) of 2010 will be announced and I am already looking forward to another year of blogging about film. See you in the Filmhouse bar!

Catfish - Cameo - 19/12/10

2010-12-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

Ever had a friend request on facebook from someone you didn't know?

Maybe they were a friend of a friend?

Do you have any "friends" that you haven't ever actually met in "real" life?

Online dating?

Ever done that?

Did they measure up to the photograph on their profile?

"Catfish" is a deliciously dark look at a side of a world that is becoming ever more virtual and worryingly less real. It is also a film that has managed to stoke up a fair amount of controversy over how real it is...much online discussion can be found that claims to highlight how "fake" it is; as if that even matters. Film should be about provoking some sort of reaction or feeling from its audience and "Catfish" manages that in fine style.

When photographer Nev Schulman receives a painting of one of his photographs from an eight year old girl he strikes up a friendship (via Facebook) with her mother, her father and, most intriguingly, her elder sister . Over the course of several weeks of online chatting and text messaging (as well as one or two real conversations) Nev is convinced that he may well have found...well, if not the one then certainly one of the ones! Megan (the elder sister) is beautiful, talented and interested in him...everything is perfectly set up for a meeting and then romance.

Of course there isn't much mileage in a film that tells such a simple story in such a simple way and there is indeed a twist in "Catfish"...a twist that I can't really say anything about without ruining the entire point of watching the film but what I will say is that the catfish of the title refers to the sort of people in life we all need, for good or bad, to keep us alive and constantly aware.

"Catfish" is produced by Andrew Jarecki of "Capturing the Friedmans" fame and it shares much in common with that film...you won't leave the cinema feeling anything other than confused and conflicted. It is also a film that has a real heart, there isn't any hint of mockery or manipulation here and the film-makers are to be commended for that. It's a film that is worth finding...especially if you have ever fallen foul of the darker side of the internet. You are not alone.

The Orphan - DVD - 18/12/10

2010-12-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

I know this came out ages ago and I know you have all probably seen it but I hadn't.

This is gloriously, fabulously demented!

Evil child runs amok in seeming perfect but secretly damaged family.

Evil child turns out to be...

(stop reading now if you haven't seen it)

A THIRTY THREE YEAR OLD WOMAN WHO HAS ESCAPED FROM A RUSSIAN MENTAL INSTITUTION!

I kid you not!

What's not to like here?

Monsters - Cineworld - 17/12/10

2010-12-18T13:40:00.000-08:00

Mmmmmmonsters.

"Monsters"

M-O-N-S-T-E-R-S

MON-STERS.

We are inside the office of a leading Hollywood studio executive. Gareth Edwards is pitching his script "Monsters"

Studio Exec: OK, so Gareth, I see from the title of this project that it is called..."MONSTERS". Tell me more.

Gareth Edwards: Great. Right, well...the film is about the environment, it's about foreign policy, it's about the bloated greed of America and the UK and the other developed nations...

SE: Stop. Gareth. You are a well respected "effects" kinda guy. You seem very nice. However, I have to tell you that right now I am less than ten seconds away from gouging out my own eyes with the severed foot of a dead monkey.

GE: Oh. Really? This is an intellig...

SE: Gareth. Gareth. I promise you that if you do not tell me something to make me interested in this I will physically hurt you. Speak.

GE: Ah, right...well, it's also about the common bonds between us all...love and...

SE:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHDo you know what that noise is Gareth?

GE: Um, no, no I don't.

SE: That is the noise that you will make when I take this decorative letter opener from my desk and use it to carve my name into your lungs.

GE: Right, right, right...well there are monsters in the movie.

SE: OK. OK. Gareth. Baby! We love monsters. Tell me more...what do they look like? Tell me they have tentacles!

GE: Yes, yes, they do have tentacles!

SE: You just got yourself a cheque! So...we have a monster movie. Tentacles! Aliens! Blood! Gore! Pack the kids into the megaplex. YEAH! Go make your movie kid.

GE: Ye-es. OK.

Sadly, on this occasion I wish that the studio had been successful and Edwards had been forced to make a movie about monsters. There are no monsters in monsters. Well, there are but only for about a minute of screen time...for the rest of the film we have to endure a pitiful relationship between two pitiful excuses for human beings.

Spoilt rich girl Samantha has to get home to her spoilt rich father and her spoilt rich fiance. She is in Mexico where aliens have landed and are being kept in an "infected zone" close to the US border...clever stuff there huh? Everyone in Mexico is poor, desolate and desperate...Samantha towers over them with her beautiful hair and teeth, patronising them with her pigeon Spanish. We are meant to care about Samantha because she is a girl and because she speaks pigeon Spanish. We do not care about Samantha because she is awful.

Boring knob Kaulder (he's so cool he uses a K at the start of a name that should, clearly, have a C) is a struggling photographer trying to find photo opportunities of poor Mexican children...preferably dead ones and, ideally, dead ones as a result of alien attacks. He is a total git. We are supposed to care about him because...I can't even imagine why, seriously he has absolutely no redeeming qualities. I know he isn't real but I hate him.

We watch in stunned silence as hour after hour goes by with absolutely NOTHING happening...oh, that's not true actually because there is this amazing bit where we see glow in the dark mushrooms that live inside trees that are really the embryos of aliens. It doesn't sound amazing? Well, after eight hours of nothing else happening and with that nothing else happening in the company of the awful Kaulder and Samantha you will hail the glow in the dark mushrooms as the greatest moment in the history of cinema.

Look up "turgid" in the thesaurus and then use any of the alternatives you find to describe this to your friends.

Somewhere - Cineworld - 10/12/10

2010-12-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Sofia Coppola.

First American woman to be nominated for an Oscar for directing...and the American woman who should have been the first to receive the Oscar for directing. The fact that she wasn't says everything about the Academy and nothing about Coppola. The woman who did win was, of course, Kathryn Bigelow who won for making a "manly" film about war...and guns...and bombs...with MEN. Coppola is an entirely different beast...she makes films about the small, intimate, personal and life changing whether that is in "The Virgin Suicides" the most unlikely of odes to adolescence or in "Marie Antoinette" where it is the struggle for identity in the face of enormous pressure she stays true to a consistent personal vision without compromise.

"Somewhere" shares most in common with "Lost In Translation" which was a film that I went to see at the cinema 6 nights in a row and that I have watched dozens more times on DVD because it speaks to me in a way that almost no other film ever has. I realise how awful that sounds; "Oh yeah, I just love Coppola because, like, her work speaks to me on so many different levels yeah? Yeah." I'm not apologising though because it's true, "Lost in Translation" made me feel like, oh I'm about to make it worse, there was someone who understood me. Will someone take me outside and shoot me before I disappear up my own backside?

"Somewhere" takes us inside the life of Johnny Marco; handsome, successful and cool Hollywood actor who, from a distance, has it all; wild parties inside his hipster bohemian hotel room, pole dancing twins on tap, sex with myriad beautiful women but upon closer inspection his life is absolutely empty and the things he does to fill his time do that but leave his soul, whatever that might mean, ever more hollow. At one point Johnny is called back to the studio to be fitted for a new, old, face...the process involves Johnnys face being covered in layers of latex and then being left alone for forty minutes while it sets. Coppola takes the camera closer and closer as Marco sits in the chair, alone and waits...as he does we are able to pick out his now blind eyes and his mouth is twisted and speechless; it is a haunting image and one that says much about Marco. It is also a scene that perfectly captures Coppola as a film-maker...quiet, subtle and intelligent.

This empty life of Marco is blown apart when his daughter, Cleo, arrives. Suddenly there is light, hope, genuine emotion and honesty where before there was only darkness, hopelessness, phoneyism (it's not a real word, I know, I'm a terrible writer) and lies. She offers Johnny redemption, she is the escape hatch from the locked basement of his life. She breathes life into him where before he had been a hollow carcass. Everyone should have a Cleo!

There is nothing as obvious as a plot or a story here, instead Coppola presents...she presents us with a window into two lives that, one imagines, she is all too familiar with. As the daughter of Hollywood royalty and as a "star" in her own right she is perfectly placed to show both Johnny and Cleo.

Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning would both, in a perfect world, win Oscars for their performances here. Dorff reminds everyone that he is an actor and not a "bad boy" or "pretty face" and Fanning shows that her sister may not be the first Fanning to win a little gold man after all. Both are totally convincing throughout and the bond between them seems absolutely real. With Dorff playing a Peter Pan figure who only really has to worry about the next party and the next role Fanning plays Wendy by caring for him and forcing him to accept some responsibility.

There will be people who will find nothing to praise in "Somewhere"; they will complain about the minimal script, the lack of "action" of any sort but that is to miss the point completely. Coppola is, it would appear, happy for the likes of Bigelow to play with the boys...she will just get on with creating and crafting films that have meaning.

So there.

Of Gods and Men - Filmhouse - 8/12/10

2010-12-11T05:39:00.000-08:00

"Of Gods and Men" is, without exaggeration, one of the most beautiful films you are likely to see this year, or indeed in any other year. It is also a film that will prove difficult and challenging as it addresses major issues including what it means to have faith, the importance or otherwise of religion and the battle between Christianity and Islam. There is a stillness and quiet about this film that is as important as anything that is said or done on screen.

Telling the true story of a group of Cistercian monks in Algeria who were murdered by...either a group of Islamic fundamentalists or forces within the Algerian army depending on who you listen to or which version of the story you read, director Xavier Beauvois takes us inside the monastery, inside the community they serve and, ultimately, inside the hearts and minds of the monks themselves. Beauvois has made a film of incredible beauty but also one that never shies away from the true horror of what befell these men.

The major question that confronts the monks and that confounds the audience is whether or not they should stay even when they are made aware that to do so will mean, inevitably, their death. Is it noble and dignified? Are they martyrs? Is it the ultimate sacrifice? Or is it foolhardy, selfish and, frankly, stupid? To my mind there is nothing noble in the actions of these men; it appears to me to be absolutely at odds with the notion of Christianity and, given their position as Catholics, I wonder how what they did is any different to committing suicide? Indeed, for me the very notion of a monastic life is at odds with a belief in the God of the bible...who did, let us not forget, instruct His children to go forth, multiply and replenish the earth!

Those with more faith and belief than me may view it very differently and laud the "bravery" of the monks. They are perfectly entitled to do so but it isn't a view of what happened that I can share. However, there is no doubt that Beauvois presents the story in a clear, honest and delicate fashion. My feeling is that he himself sees something admirable in the men and this is evidenced by the films most fantastic moment; the last supper scene (as it will no doubt be remembered) when the monks gather and break bread, drink wine and contemplate their lives. With Tchaikovsky rising and roaring in the background (the only time that music is used) the camera presents each of the men in close up...beatific smiles across their lips, a serene twinkle in their eyes the sense that they are in the world but not of it is palpable.

Set against the backdrop of rising religious and political tensions in Algeria during the 1990's it is easy to see the parallels with the current situation across Europe with tensions between Islam, Christianity and secularists. Those responsible for the murders were never found and in that too there are parallels with the pursuit of those responsible for the events of 9/11. A film set inside an intimate community in a country far away and detailing events that happened 14 years ago may not, on paper, seem a film about our times but Beauvois has managed to create exactly that.

Megamind - Cineworld - 3/12/10

2010-12-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

Holoooh.

Are you feeling a little melonkolly?

Do you ever wish you had a black cloak you could wear called the Black Mambaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?

Are you sick to death of good triumphing over evil but don't fancy living in the sort of world where evil reigns (just think about how many jokes I could have made about America here if Bush were still President...damn you Obama!)?

"Megamind" is the sort of wonderfully, gloriously, ridiculously silly childrens film that appeals to the child in all of us without feeling the need to shoehorn in references to adult topics. This is old fashioned, slapstick heavy, daftness that is guaranteed to bring a smile to all but the most miserable of faces.

Megamind is the supervillain who haunts the citizens of Metro-City (he pronounces it "metrocity") with his evil plans for world domination and desperate attempts to woo (via kidnapping) local TV news reporter Roxanne Richie. He is thwarted at every turn by superhero Metroman (like Superman but with a better quiff). The two rivals have been feuding since pre-school days when the blue skinned Megamind found himself cast in the role of ambitious outsider while Metroman enjoyed the status of goody-two-shoes-cum-class hearthrob.

When Megamind succeeds in destroying Metroman he is plunged into a world of doubt, guilt and has to start to question his purpose in life. With no Metroman what use is a Megamind? He decides that the only way to give his life meaning again is to resurrect Metroman using his dandruff (I know but it's funny, I promise you) to recreate his DNA (or something) and then injecting it into a lonely loser who instantly becomes TITAN. Sadly for Megamind Titan doesn't much like the work involved in being a superhero and instead opts to use his powers for evil purposes!

Featuring the voices of Will Ferrel (a fabulously deranged anti-villain) as Megamind, Brad Pitt (giving his best performance in an age) as superhero Metroman, Tina Fey as the Louis Lane love interest Roxanne Richie and Jonah Hill as Titan (nerd turned hero turned super-villain) this is heavy on A-list credibility and it doesn't fail to deliver. A great script from Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons ensures that everyone, including the cast, are kept entertained from start to finish.

If you don't like this I will have my REVAAAAAANGE!

The American - Cineworld - 28/11/10

2010-12-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Oh dear.

I mean, really, this was just embarrassing.

Honestly.

At the end of this a chap in the row in front of me turned to his girlfriend and said "There was more corn in that than there was in your popcorn". Now, that might not be the wittiest thing you've ever read and it may not really make much sense but the sentiment is spot on. There are films, like "Avatar", which are horrid because they have no real purpose other than making money...they are glorified merchandise advertisments and don't pretend to be anything else (despite what you might think if you listen to James Cameron blubbering on about "imperialism")...but something like "The American" is trying really hard to be "meaningful" and "artistic"despite being utterly bereft of meaning and completely artless.

What makes this particularly painful is that it was directed by Anton Cobijn.

Anton bloody Corbijn!

This is the man who was responsible for some of the most perfect photographs in the history of pop music...just look at his images of Joy Division and then try to disagree with me.

He also directed some of the most gorgeous music videos ever with Depeche Mode.

All of that might not have meant much in terms of making a film were it not for the fact that his directorial debut was "Control" which is one of the most visually arresting and emotionally brutal films you are ever likely to see.

How a director can go from something as perfect as "Control" to something as flawed as "The American" is beyond me.

This film has a lovely cast...George Clooney, Irina Bjorklund and Paulo Bonacelli are all fine performers but they are bogged down in a deathly slow plot; there is a difference between serious, delicately paced and just boring when it comes to pacing and Corbijn has stepped over the line. They are also hindered by Corbijns desire to mimic the serious seventies thrillers like "The Conversation" which is admirable but in his mind seems to simply mean myriad shots of mounds of pubic hair, hideously stereotyped women and "philosophical" discussions between a flawed priest and a hitman.

Oh...the butterflies!

How could I forget the butterflies?

So, Clooney is pictured asleep with a book of butterflies on his chest...then he spots an endangered butterfly...then we see that he has a butterfly tattoo...then the prostitute that he falls in love with (seriously) starts calling him, can you guess? YES! MR BUTTERFLY!

It's all very deep and meaningful you see...butterflies, priests, assassins, pubic hair.

This is so depressing.

There are people, I have no doubt, who will try to defend this but really there is no defense; it's a horrible, horrible, mistake of a film that everyone involved should just apologise for.

If you want to see a film about a tortured gun for hire then look out for "The Hard Way" starring Patrick McGoohan which is icy cool, suspenseful and, unlike "The American" doesn't trade in cliche or stereotypes. Trust me on this, your life is too short for "The American"...spend your time more wisely.

The Social Network - Cineworld - 28/11/10

2010-12-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been poked?

What's your status?

Tagged anyone today?

Farmville?

Does any of this mean anything to you?

If it does then you have a facebook account and alongside 500 million others you are a part of the empire of Mark Zuckerberg...the creator and CEO (bitch) of Facebook.

Facebook could be one of the greatest forms of mass communication ever, it could be a sinister means of monitoring the activities of friends/former friends/ex-lovers/current lovers/employees or it could even be the brainchild of the CIA; it all depends on who you want to believe and what you want to believe.

What isn't open to debate is that Zuckerberg is one of the most interesting .commers in the history of www. or that he is the youngest billionaire ever. It is this remarkable success along with the murky story of who really created the facebook that makes "The Social Network" a fascinating character study and not the sort of vanity project that most biopics are.

Directed by David Fincher (7even, Fight Club, Zodiac) and based on the book by Ben Mezrich (a million selling author) one would expect this film to be good...what elevates it beyond being a good film though is the screenplay from Aaron Sorkin which is surely the only possible winner of the best screenplay award at the next Oscars. Sorkins script is fast, furious, intelligent, witty, caustic and always believable. To sit down with a copy and read it would be more enjoyable and illuminating than forcing oneself to wade through the nominees for the Booker.

With a great central performance from Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg; all twisted neuroses and "Rainman" autism it is his best performance to date and could well land him an Oscar nod early next year. Support from the likes of Armie Hammer (playing both Winklevoss twins) and Justin Timberlake as Napster creator Sean Parker ensure that the screen is always alive.

The Chaser - DVD - 28/11/10

2010-12-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

When one of his girls goes missing former detective turned pimp Joong-ho sets out to find who is responsible and finds himself dragged into a nightmarish journey into the sort of Hell on earth that David Fincher gave us in "7even" as he discovers that the girl in question has fallen victim to the twisted machinations of serial killer Young Min-jee.

Young Min-jee has been murdering prostitutes across the city and burying them in the garden of another of his victims for many months. He is the sort of cocky, arrogant but childlike and innocent serial killer who could sit comfortably alongside Hannibal Lecter or John Doe. At times the sense of dread and evil whenever he is on screen is almost palpable. His targets bring to mind the myriad, real life serial killers both here in the UK and elsewhere who have selected prostitutes as easy victims and the lack of interest in the whereabouts of the girls in the film by pimps or police also echoes the attitude of society in general.

While there are many disturbing and shocking scenes (possibly none more so than when Min-jee is crudely attempting to use a chisel to murder a girl) "The Chaser" also reminded me of "Beat" Takeshis "Kikujiro" as both films feature adults unsure of how to "manage" a young child who they suddenly find themselves accompanying on a journey to find their mother. While "Kikujiro" is short on the dark elements of "The Chaser" both films manage to provoke laughter from the unsuitability of the substitute
"fathers" and their desperate attempts to cope with a child.

It is also clear that "The Chaser" has had an influence on the similarly brutal "Breathless" with both films featuring violent, unstable male leads who work in the underworld (in "Breathless" the lead is a debt collector) and who both bond with a younger female who offer the chance of redemption. Watching both films side by side also highlights a shared aesthetic from each director with shadows, cramped interiors and a focus on the seedier side of society.

There is an English language remake of "The Chaser" in the pipeline and one can only hope that it follows the example of "The Departed" (a remake of "Infernal Affairs") and stays true to the original films dark, violent and bloody vision.