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Flashy and dashing, old sport.

The fifth cinematic outing for F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel about the American dream leaves one gasping for breath by its closing arguments, dazzled and dazed by director Baz Luhrmann’s glitterati style and non-stop camerawork. While he may have his detractors, there’s little arguing that Luhrmann can certainly put together a film of color and excitement, with overt histrionics and passionate emotion bubbling away beneath the veneer of beauty; some might also argue that his films seem to exist as examples of high fantasy, nether-worlds of reality that traverse believability and convention, eschewing depth and character for a glossy theatricality (Luhrmann comes from the world of theater) that ends up alienating a large segment of his audience. Although I’m thoroughly unfamiliar with The Great Gatsby’s literary history aside from its impact on the world stage of writing, and at this point have yet to venture to view any other version of the story on film, I’m inclined to think that Luhrmann’s Gatsby is as close as we’re likely to get to a real “entertainment” edition of this American Dream fable, even if it does journey about 30 minutes too long, and becomes too elegiac for its own good. So what to make of Luhrmann’s Gatsby, a film so breathless and gee-whizz that it takes some getting used to, and a film led by a delightfully smooth Leonardo DiCaprio? Is Gatsby another Luhrmann circle-jerk, or is it a film worthy of the nomenclature “great”?

Click for more Gatsby, old sport.

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Fee Fi Fo Fail.

In the words of the immortal Maxwell Smart: “missed it by that much.” Jack The Giant Slayer has pedigree behind it, money behind it, terrific casting and a director capable of some solid cinematic storytelling. Which makes the end result something of a surprise (actually, not really) when all’s said and done. The film was intended as some kind of adventure blockbuster, fitting into the fantasy sub-genre now also containing Snow White & The Huntsman, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and Mirror Mirror. Films based on fairy stories have largely been mined out by Hollywood now, and after watching Jack The Giant Slayer, I’m kinda hoping to be spared the dreaded film version of Three Little Pigs. Anyways….  It comes as no surprise to learn that this Slayer is hardly a bloody as the title might suggest, thanks to a PG rating and some “mild” violence – I say mild, because this is the least explicit adventure film I’ve seen since the 1980′s. That’s not to say Slayer isn’t entertaining, because in many ways it’s quite the journey, but that recommendation comes with a multitude of caveats that are hard to overlook when sitting down to write a critical evaluation of the movie. So what are the problems with the film, you ask? Easy enough to explain: read on, dear friend.

Click for more giant action!!

Joan Fontaine – 1917-2013

Acclaimed screen actress Joan Fontaine has died.

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All the rivers run.

I’m always wary of dipping my toes into Hollywood “classics” of the kind The African Queen represents. Like those who delve into classic cars, or vinyl albums (records, we called them when I was a kid, in the days before CD and mp3), some people appreciate the old stuff, and others – and I include myself here – do not. That’s not to say that I believe pre-1960′s Hollywood is without merit, rather that it takes a lot for me to get “into” these films purely because of their vintage. Films such as Lawrence Of Arabia, for example, transcend the era in which they are produced, namely through story and character, albeit I often find this to be the exception rather than the norm. Classic Hollywood holds less lure to me than it does to others, much like those vinyl albums are total head-scratchers to the youth of today. So I approach films deemed “classics” with a respective, yet expectantly underwhelming feeling of trepidation; I want to be impressed, but appreciate that these films don’t appeal to me like they do others, and thus I respect them not to impress me like they probably should. After reading a highly appreciative review by Alyson, over at The Best Picture Project, I figured it was about time I had a look at this oft-quoted “masterpiece” from acclaimed director John Huston. How, then, does The African Queen pass my horribly low tolerance for stagey, clunky Old Hollywood? Do Hepburn and Bogart still have the screen rapport to transport me completely to the African jungle, passing time away on their riverboat adventure?

Click for more Qeening about in Africa.

Peter O’Toole – 1932-2013

Legendary stage and screen actor, and one of my personal heroes, Peter O’Toole, has passed away.

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I live, I love, I slay. And I am content.

Anybody growing up through the 80′s would be aware of the original film version of Conan The Barbarian, essayed by the utterly convincing Arnold Schwarzenegger, and its cultural legacy. Children of the 80′s should be shattered to learn that not only does Marcus Nispel’s reboot/remake/re-imagining of said franchise does little to commend itself as anything other than a standard, cookie-cutter Hollywood actioner, replete with blood, monsters and the hint of nudity which will no doubt earn it a higher censorship rating than the film might otherwise deserve. New Zealand native Jason Momoa is barely up to Schwarzenegger’s iconic portrayal, a comparison which, while uninvited, is almost certainly inevitable, and although Momoa has the look and physique the role requires, he’s let down by an equally wooden, badly handled script that fumbles the pulp aspects of the story where it should soar. Folks coming into Conan for the first time might ask themselves what all the fuss is about – the film never strives for anything subtle or fresh – and fans of the character might feel a little let down that, when all is said and done, this Conan is barbaric almost entirely in name only.

  Click for more Conan!!!

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In the early 2000′s, WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was making a name for himself outside the wrestling ring in feature films – his small role in The Mummy Returns, where he played the villainous Scorpion King, was followed by reprising the role for the lead part in 2002′s The Scorpion King, before he starred alongside American Pie’s Stifler, Seann William Scott, in The Rundown. In what was effectively only his second full feature film role, Johnson (still only known as The Rock back then) showed that he had a genuine screen presence, and in many ways heralded the changing of the guard in Action Cinema of the time; a small cameo by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the opening sequence was something of a “handover” of the baton, as it were. Johnson certainly fit the mold of an action star – he was huge, imposing, filled the screen and could deliver a line with precision and wry humor; in many ways, he was an Arnie or a Stallone for the new millennium, only this time, with the ability to speak English. And, it seemed, audiences were able to accept him as a leading action star as well; in saying that, The Rundown was a commercial failure (grossing barely it’s $81m budget back) but was generally received well by critics, in one of those rare instances where the result of an action film is inversely slanted. In looking at The Rundown now (in some territories, it’s known as Welcome To The Jungle), Dwayne Johnson’s talent to magnify his hulking screen presence and genuine likeability in leading roles is never more raw and fresh than it is here. While the Scorpion King might have put him on the map, The Rundown (and a series of action films to follow – Walking Tall, Doom, and Gridiron Gang among them) laid the foundation for a successful film career for the former WWE champ.

Click to be rundown!!!

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Like many a Hollywood duo of films before it, such as Armageddon and Deep Impact, or Antz and A Bugs Life, or even competing Robin Hood films back in the 90′s, it was something of a coincidence that 2012 saw the release of two films about Snow White. The second, Snow White & The Huntsman, starred Kristen Stewart as Snow and one of those Hemsworth boys as the Hunstman, as well as Oscar winning actress Charlize Theron as the evil Queen. The first, Mirror Mirror, had Abduction starlet Lily Collins as Snow, Oscar winning actress Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen, and….. well, Nathan Lane as the hunstman….. er…. yeah. Whereas Hunstman played as an outright action film with touches of fantasy, Mirror Mirror is definitively a fantasy film first, with action and emotional depth coming a distant, distant last. Lily Collins, whose first major film was the Sandra Bullock football flick The Blind Side, stars as Snow here, and delivers a vastly more presentable version than Kristen Stewart’s glum, sword-wielding video-game variant. Julia Roberts, as the Evil Queen, has vastly more to do than Theron’s glum, angsty, petulant version, while Nathan Lane does his best bumbling idiot version of a “huntsman” in lieu of an actual huntsman when required. If Huntsman was the Michael Bay version of Snow White, what then, are we to make of Indian director Tarsem Singh’s gorgeously photographed, stunningly mounted try?

Click here for more Snow White action!!!

Hot on the back of the SAG Award nominations yesterday, today come the nominations for the Golden Globes!  Check out all the action after the jump!

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The wonderful wizard.

There are classic films, and then, there are classic films. The 1939 Hollywood masterpiece, The Wizard of Oz, has entertained young and old alike since its debut, generations of people falling under its unique, mental-as-monkey spell. Disney’s attempt to revamp the Oz franchise came and went with Return To Oz in the 80′s, a critical and commercial flop (I admit, I hated it as a kid) which spelled the end of the line for the series of once-popular books being turned into movies. However, some smart suit at Disney must have dusted off the old Frank L Baum book series recently, and figured the time was right to once more try and recapture the magic of Oz’s allure, probably on the back of the success of popular stage musical Wicked, and thus, Oz: The Great and Powerful came into being. At first, I was somewhat aghast that Hollywood would try and modernize the classic story somehow, before realizing that not only could current effects technology and modern storytelling methods bring the world Baum created to life in a way unheard of back when Dorothy murdered the Wicked Witch Of The East, but that its was probably needed in this social-media-run society in which we now live. Sam Raimi, one-time Spider-Man visionary and geek God, was brought on to direct the film, from a script borne out of Baum’s original book, The Emerald City Of Oz. Could he capture the magic once again, and transport folks back to Oz in a way modern audiences hoped he could? Would this Oz truly be great, and powerful?

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The betting agencies are probably working overtime right now, as the nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards for 2013 have been announced. Check out who is up for what, after the jump!

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We are no longer an effective team.

Regardless of what you may think of his couch-jumping, Scientology-spruiking, Katie Holmes-divorcing antics, there’s no denying that Tom Cruise is one of the gradually diminishing number of legitimate movie stars currently getting working today. In an age when fame and stardom is as transient as a Kardashian wedding, and the A-List ranking changes almost weekly, Cruise remains a powerhouse in the Hollywood firmament, mainly thanks to canny decisions in which projects he takes on, and an unwavering commitment to providing a top-tier performance regardless of the material. The missteps along the journey have largely been minor (save for Far & Away, perhaps) and the Cruiser’s personal life doesn’t appear to really have had too much of a bearing on the success of his films. Mostly. I’m not a Cruise apologist – I think the Scientology religion to be an evil, corrupting influence on many fine people who would otherwise be completely normal – and nominally I tend to overlook the tabloid junk in favor of a bias-free look at whatever films people choose to make (Mel Gibson might be a complete f@ckwit, but his films remain compelling), so I approached Oblivion not with the rambling, ranting Cruise in front of mind, but the committed, top-flight screen star he’s spent his career becoming. Is Oblivion a misstep in that career? Or is it a quality genre film that will stand the test of time, outlasting even Cruise’s Ikea-couch fame?

Click to enter Oblivion!!!

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“Where would you be without me?”

“Back home.”

I’ve tried to remain as impartial in this review as I possibly can, but the hold Enemy Mine has over me does, I fear, threaten to overwhelm my critique with a verbosity of positive eloquence that might mask any negativeness I find as I go. The reason for my restraint is that this film – alongside The Last Starfighter and Labyrinth – are the Holy Trinity of my Childhood Film Education: Enemy Mine was recorded off free-to-air TV in about 1987 and replayed over, over, and over again on a dodgy old VHS tape until the tape jammed, shredded, and became unplayable. When it came out in 1985, I was ten years old, and never saw it in the cinema. I had to wait some two or three years (memory fail…. I was eleven, guys!) to eventually see this one on television, and I was entranced. It was a far cry from the old episodes of Doctor Who that had, until then, captured my imagination, and Enemy Mine was the first film to really, really transport me to outer space where life could be tough (this wasn’t Star Wars or Star Trek, no sir!) and death was a near-certainty. Its classic story of two enemies having to come together to survive wasn’t a new one, but what Petersen did (that fascinated me as a youngster) was set it off-world, and heighten the inhospitable environment to ensure it became something of a survival-thriller as well as a social commentary on tolerance and understanding. Enemy Mine isn’t a revelation of a film, nor is it a definitive classic in the vein of Star Wars, but it is a classic of 80′s cinema, and it is most assuredly one of my all-time favorite films. With that in mind, let’s have a wander through my rose-tinted glasses to see how the film holds up after nearly three decades.

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Eleanor Parker – 1922-2013

Eleanor Parker, the three-time Oscar nominated actress who would co-star alongside Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in The Sound Of Music, has passed away.

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For a generation or more, people have tried to fathom the unquantifiable mysteries of the Rubick’s Cube. Some can solve the puzzle easily, while others, such as myself, are reduced to peeling the colored stickers off and reattaching them “correctly”, albeit through cheating. Annual competitions are held to find those who can do so the fastest. Imagine being the dude who designed the Rubick’s Cube, knowing the complexities of such a puzzle would reverberate down from father to son, mother to daughter, as if it were a primal rite of passage to be given one of the tiny cubes as a test. Now, imagine a film designed like a Rubick’s Cube: Cloud Atlas is one such film. It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma etc etc, a mystery which bears repeated viewings in order to capture its full magnificence. Much like the Rubick’s Cube, some will “get” Cloud Atlas, and some will not. It’s not a problem if you don’t find anything wonderful about Cloud Atlas as a film, and I’ve a fair bet going that a lot of people – probably casual film fans who despise things like “creativity” and “intelligence” in their movies – will outright hate it. Ostensibly, it’s a confusing narrative trying to achieve something that might just confuse a bunch of folks. But for those willing to invest some time and patience, to have a shot at understanding what the film is trying to say about you and I – humanity – then there’s some nuggets of gold to be found within the opening and closing credits of this magnificent, achingly beautiful film.

Click to enter the world of Cloud Atlas!!