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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.