Disappointing dvds

Recent viewings have been disappointing to say the least as follows

Paul (Directed by Greg Mottola)


When does a movie go from paying homage to its favourite sci fi films to just ripping them off every five minutes? The answer is Paul.

Paul is the bloated, self indulgent offspring of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, a film about two sci fi geeks who encounter an alien on their way across America's outback of Paranormal hotspots. There is no denying Pegg and Frosts love for the films of Spielberg, Lucas et all and their in joke tributes to them have worked well in the past in the series Spaced. However over the course of an entire film it feels lazy, unfunny and unoriginal (apart from a Star Wars bar reference which is a doozy). The script is predictable and not up to the standard of previous efforts and one cant help wonder that perhaps the duo's secret ingredient is really Edgar Wright who is absence on directing duties, after Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. The lovely Kristen Wiig is wasted in a role that does not play to her strengths and Jason Bateman is well Jason Bateman. It seems left to their own devices, the boys don't know when to reign it in, Paul at times feels like a film just made for themselves. Wish they had included the audience a little more.

Best left assigned to a galaxy far far away......

The Adjustment Bureau (directed by Gregg Nolfi)

Grrr, this film makes me a little mad. It could have been so much better. It had the pedigree for pity's sake. Based on a Phillip K Dick story, starring the reliable Matt Damon, it has Mad Men's Roger Stirling! (ok so it's John Slattery but he will always be Roger Stirling to me) and an intriguing premise of how we are not in control of our destiny and everything is in fact pre ordained by a shady organisation The Adjustment Bureau.
What emerges from this sci fi thriller is a very bland, dull pointless film. The plot revolves around Matt Damons politician and Emily Blunts dancer falling for each other and then being kept apart by the forces on high, as they were not supposed to be for one another and for some inexplicable reason, the Bureau is intent on keeping them apart. Cue clever plot devices, involving romance and edge of your seat tension, guess again. Instead it's a series of meandering scenes, silly code breakers (Hats, really is that all it takes and a few twists of a doorknob?) and half hearted relationships entwined in a narrative that might as well not bothered. Damon is wasted paired with the comatose Blunt who looks like she is falling asleep in every scene (that she is a dancer is laughable given her languid performance). The fact that she doesn't even seem interested in Damon for three quarters of the film means that you care little that this pair even get together which leaves the film at a loss with the audience and you almost wish that Damon is caught and lobotomised (Blunt looks like she already has been).

Ladies and Gentlemen please adjust your sets.

Movie of the Month

My movie of the month is Spanish thriller Julia's eyes. Check out newempressmagazine.com for my review.

Why the Movies made me want to Roller-skate

A young girl sits on a living room carpet, idly playing with a Barbie doll, whilst her Dad pops a VHS into the tape player. The film begins and the girl’s attention is drawn to the TV screen, to the images that dance before her. A glamorous cornucopia of women on roller-skates appear out of walls and begin gliding around in a sea of colour beams and big hair. The girl becomes transfixed. The girl was me and the film was Xanadu. From that moment on, all I wanted to do was pick up a pair of skates and hit the pavement in a blaze of Technicolor glory, such was the passion instilled from witnessing this movie. Perhaps Xanadu could be considered to be one of the influences of my love of film, purely for the reason that it made me feel at that time and age that anything was possible, that I could burst through walls and induce a flushed frenzy in my wake. (Though if anyone asks me what I consider influential films I will of course, say something more intellectual like Citizen Kane).

Xanadu stars Olivia Newton-John as an all singing, all wheel rolling floaty muse, sent to reinvigorate the life and creativity of a struggling artist with whom she ends up falling in love with. She also hangs out with Gene Kelly! who she inspired years previously and he opens a roller skating disco in a gloriously glitter infused extravaganza.
The film did not make any sense to me at the time and on a repeat viewing recently some 20 odd years later, still doesn’t make much sense. The plot is slight, some of the acting borders on woeful and features incredibly dated cheesy graphics (though the ELO soundtrack still rocks) yet the film is enjoyable and entertaining. Perhaps this is due to the feeling of nostalgic bliss it leaves on me, remembering the first time I experienced its headily camp enchantment as a small girl. Film touches and inspires us in many different ways and sometimes even the guiltiest of pleasures can stay with us, if it stirs such unadulterated revelry. And so I donned a pair of roller skates, Barbie printed as I recall, and set about recreating Xanadu in my back garden, with varying degrees of un-success and me being of an age and mentality where I didn’t stick to things that I didn’t pick up straight away, left the roller-skate obsession to flourish and then fade out in my day dreams until......

On an overcast April day last year, myself and my sister took a trip to the cinema to see Whip It! a film about a teenage girl finding a love and solace in the sport of Roller Derby. Now I knew there would be skating involved in this film, that was a given, but at this point I felt I was past my roller fantasy and was more drawn to the impressive cast and the promise of a feisty female orientated narrative. However as soon as the lights went down, in and on the screen for the first scene of derby mayhem, I was hooked. The giddy excitement came rushing to the forefront again, my feet began dancing under my seat, my body wanted to hurtle out into the open as I was hit by the overwhelming desire to hit the streets on a pair of wheels.

Whip It! tells the story of Bliss Cavendish (Ellen Page) an awkward teen whose pushy mother (Marcia Gay Harden) makes her compete in Beauty Pageants but longs for something different. That something different comes in the form of Roller Derby in the neighbouring town. Bliss finds herself drawn to this tough girl sport and taking on the alias of Babe Ruthless, becomes the newest and fastest member of the Hurl Scouts team, but the ride is bumpy as she drifts apart from her best friend, has a brief flirtation with a muso crush and traverses her domineering home life. As Bliss/Babe Ruthless discovers her way in the Roller derby arena and in turn, her place in life, she tells her mother ‘I am in love with this’ and my own heart sang with the refreshing declaration of worship for something other than a mans affection (this is second fiddle in the film compared to Derby), which is the usual fare for a ‘chick flick’. The strong female vibe, funky monikers and skating action, embellished with eyeliner war-paint and coloured hair was an intoxicating combination and I left the cinema trying to use my feet as skates and coming up with my own derby name, Disgrace Kelly. Since watching Whip It! I have contemplated purchasing a pair of skates again (sans Barbie who doesn’t fit the pro female image), held my own Whip It! themed party (try it, its oodles of fun) and downloaded the soundtrack to motivate me as I jog. I have also researched into roller derby possibilities in my area as this past-time has taken off in the UK since the release of the film and has recently been recognized as a sport by the British Roller Sports Federation with a Great Yorkshire showdown taking place annually right on my doorstep! As the coach of the hurl scouts Razor declares in training ‘There is a lot more to Roller Derby than picking a tough girl name’ I will have to wait and see if this reignited zeal actually bears fruition but whether I don those skates or not, it does not take away the fact that I am constantly delighted and amazed at cinema’s power to evoke a myriad of emotions in people and instill this girl with the glee and musings of a secret life as a Derby queen.


Hmm now wheres's that website with the roller boots again...........

An ode to Harold and Maude

You know you really love a film when you put it in your top 5 list of all time greats. You know you really love a film when the mere mention of its name, be it in someones conversation or a magazine article, makes your heart skip a beat and pulls at your emotions. You know you really love a film when you name your cat after one of the main characters.

I have such a love for the film Harold and Maude, which has been called something of a cult film, though most people I have met have never seen or heard of it (this I have tried to rectify in my own small way by forcing copies of those nearest and dearest who I believe will dig its individual charms).

The movie bombed upon its release in 1971 and a sufficient dent in the reputation of director Hal Ashby, as cinema goers were not tempted by the (slightly misguided) premise of a romantic comedy between a nineteen year old boy and a seventy nine year old woman.

Though there is an element of romance to their relationship, to me Harold and Maude is more about friendship and how this has no age bounds when two people truly connect. Harold is a sombre young man obsessed with death, who daydreams of suicide plots and frequents funerals. It is at a funeral that he meets Maude, an effervescent old lady who turns his world upside down with life's simple quirky pleasures such as stealing trees from roadsides to give them a better, more dignified life. And yes the film is quirky (though this was in the days when the term had not been overused and thrown at every other film to make it seem 'cool') with singalongs, fake death sequences and a one armed Army General but the film out rides all the kookiness to deliver a genuine heartfelt love letter to two outsiders finding their soul mates.

The influence of Harold and Maude can been seen in many contemporary works, particularly on Cameron Crowe who lists the soundtrack (composed entirely by Cat Stevens) as one of the greatest ever in movie history. The sequence which uses the song 'Trouble' is in my opinion one of the best uses of music and image in a movie, cutting together the unfolding story and heightening the mood that the film has taken.

If this review encourages others to seek out this little gem, then it would make this fan very happy. If not, it has made this fan very happy to simply reminisce about one of my favourite movies.

Oh and I named my cat Maude.

Things I have learnt this week

No news is not always good news, its sometimes just plain rude. A simple story of a girl losing her dog can bring heartbreaking results (see Wendy and Lucy). You may have the imagination of a great film director but this is hard to put into practice with a poundland budget. Jason Schwartzman's mum is Talia Shire aka Adrian in the Rocky films!!

Rubber (Quentin Dupieux) Film Review

Ah a film the world has been waiting for, Rubber tyre comes to life and forms telekinetic powers thus enabling 'it' to kill people as it stalks across the desert land.

I was attracted to this film by the cheeky trailer and the trashy but fun premise, enticing the viewer with the tag line 'Are you tired of the expected'. This film is in some ways nothing anyone could expect. If the above plot was not barmy enough the film adds eccentric layer upon layer with its interwoven segments of 'spectators' watching the film unfold as we the audience do (though they do this with binoculars and the aid of a very dubious accountant).

From the opening gambit, we are told , straight to camera, by the lieutenant overseeing the tyre's crime spree, that things happen in movie land for 'no reason', he confirms this with references to other films that leave us with accepted yet unexplained details. Thus this allows Rubber a celluloid get out of jail free card, to go about its merry strange way without having to justify the actions. The film also seems intent to address the minor audience that Rubber may find, as the spectators/audience are systematically killed off, bar one, thus the film somewhat grudgingly has to continue.

And yet, despite its limited appeal and left field execution, Rubber is an intriguing, oddball gem. Those wanting a killer tyre movie that simply delivers a large body count and B movie nastiness might want to drive on by as the film may have a selection of exploding heads and animal body parts but it is not primarily concerned with generating cheap thrills.

The star of the show is Robert, the murderous tyre with anger issues, he is shot in such a way, that we are drawn to him and every simple action he takes, from his first tentative steps, like those of a newborn child, to his breathing as he rests from a hard days rolling, the tyre takes on full dimension as an actual character (so much so that when he comes across a pile of tyres being burned in the wasteland, we can almost feel his silent pain).

Rubber defiantly lies somewhere to the left, a well crafted, expertly shot, pseudo oddity that will be too much for most but took this viewer on a bumpy but entertainingly bonkers ride.

No news is not so good news

Finally got round to watching the Oscars last Friday (even though we all know by now who the winners were), as I like to watch the whole ceremony. My highlights included

James Franco- It has been well documented that Mr Franco was not the most popular of hosts, somewhat mismatched with Anne Hathaway and portraying an air of detachment to the whole proceedings, but his facial expressions were a treat and his almost stoner like presence was a welcome relief from Hathaway's try hard giddy girl routine. That and seeing him in a white leotard during their skit of Black Swan was a hoot.

Luke Matheny- The director and winner of Best short film for God of Love gave the sweetest most genuinely excited speech of the evening.

Kirk Douglas- It was slightly awkward watching him try to move around the stage but the old timer still showed a cheeky charm.

Cate Blanchett's dress- Best of the evening for me, just the right side of quirky.

It is the Bradford Film Festival this week and there are many screenings and talks going on. I missed out on going to the Terry Gilliam talk, however tomorrow I will console myself with the screening of the classic 'Labyrinth' which they are showing on the big screen in all its glory. Expect Graham and I will be singing "You remind me of the babe" all the way home.....