Cinema Rat - by Eileen Johnson

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Cinema Rat - May 2008

No Country For Old Men (2007)

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald
Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen
Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen

Running Time: 122 minutes

All cards on the table – this is hardly going to be an objective review as I am a huge Coen Brothers fan, so you'll have to indulge my excesses in that regard. Once again they deliver in style and it’s no thanks to powerhouse performances by Bardem and Brolin, as well as a smart script well directed by the brothers.

Basic outline: Brolin is trailer trash hunter Llewelyn Moss who stumbles across a wad of cash, heroin and dead bodies in the desert of western Texas - the result of a drug deal gone wrong. He takes the bag filled with cash without initially realising it has a homing device. Understandably the owners of the money want it back so send a hired killer (Bardem) after Moss to retrieve their property and do away with the thief. However, Moss is no pushover and thus the game of cat and mouse begins.
A lot of the kudos surrounding the film was aimed at Bardem’s character Anton Chigurh – a narcisstic, pathological killer who is a contradiction in terms – you think he is a cold-blooded killer with no emotions or mores, only to find he does have a warped sense of morality, which is unfortunate for those that cross his path. But I’d also like to point out that the under rated Brolin also does an outstanding job as the hunted Moss, and Harrelson’s cameo is well executed.

About the only negative aspect of film is the inclusion of Lee Jones’ character, which really doesn’t add much to the story line. His part either needed to be cut altogether or expanded. As pic ended, I was having trouble deciding how much the role brought to the table, but when everything is added up, doesn’t negate from the overall excellence of the pic.

4.5 stars out of 5

Notable Awards: Oscars Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor; BAFTAs Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor

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May 20th 2008 @ 07:16

Posted By: Mike Wheeler - Category: No Category

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Sa Som I Himmelen (As It Is In Heaven) (2004)

Starring: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hellgren, Lennart Jahkel, Ingella Olsson, Niklas Falk, Helen Sjoholm
Director: Kay Pollak
Screenplay: Anders Nyberg, Ola Olsson, Kay Pollak, Carin Pollak, Margaretha Pollak

Running Time: 132 minutes

One of those movies whose intent, I suspect, is to be uplifting, but almost borders on overt sentimentality to get us through to the end.
Nyqvist plays world famous concert maestro Daniel Dareus, whose genius is struck down in its prime by a heart attack, which he survives. Even though he has appearances booked solid for the next eight years, he turns his back on his career to settle in his boyhood home in the cold climes of northern Norway. Cue the local church choir to ask him to “help out”, which he does reluctantly, but soon warms to the task.
What happens next is a case study of how small town pettiness and politics can turn even the most well-intentioned person into a pariah.
Hellgren does well as the love interest, who has had her fair share of frogs and is looking for that prince who will not let her down.
Standout performances are from Falk playing the stuffy padre who at first encourages Dareus to help the church choir, but turns on him when he realises his power is being usurped, and Olsson as Falk’s wife, who is itching for freedom from the biblical constraints her marriage is under.
Ending felt a bit twee – contrived even – but overall, a good watch.

3.5 stars out of 5

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May 20th 2008 @ 00:41

Posted By: Mike Wheeler - Category: No Category

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Amazing Grace (2006)

Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Romola Garai, Michael Gambon, Benedict Cumberbatch, Albert Finney, Rufus Sewell, Youssou N’Dour, Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones
Director: Michael Apted
Screenplay: Steven Knight

Running Time: 117 minutes

WILLIAM Wilberforce was a young man who was responsible for ending slavery in Britain and her dominions. Although it would take the US a civil war and 58 years to follow their lead, when the Wilberforce-sponsored Slave Trade Act passed in the English parliament in 1807, it wasn’t only greeted by loud applause, but sounded the death knell for one of mankind’s most ashamed practices.
Told sporadically in flashback, film starts with the young and idealistic Wilberforce being exposed to the inhumanity and degradation of the slave trade, which was to be at the core of his values for the rest of his life. It follows his hardships and struggles, especially trying to convince a hostile Parliament stacked with merchants and aristocrats who have benefited handsomely from the trade, to follow their conscience and not their bank balances. Helps that his best friend in the House of Commons is William Pitt, who at the tender age of 24, is about to become Prime Minister of Great Britain.
While there are some scratchy patches through the middle, movie is well directed by Apted, with the cast really getting stuck into their roles. Gruffudd especially has expunged the bad memory in his acting repertoire of playing Reed Richards in the Fantastic Four movies, and the oft-seen-lately Hinds makes a great foil to Gruffudd’s moralistic Wilberforce. Only historical hiccup is Apted tends to underplay Wilberforce’s Road to Damascus moment when he took up religion with a fervour usually reserved for the Jerry Falwell’s of this world, and thus reinforced his distaste for slavery.
I love period pieces told well, and this one certainly delivers with a mostly tight script and wonderful photography.

4 stars out of 5

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May 8th 2008 @ 13:16

Posted By: Mike Wheeler - Category: No Category

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The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Starring: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright
Director: Mark Waters
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