For It Is Man's Number

Sunday, 16 November 2014

Noir November: The Killing (1956)

An early film in the career of one Mr. Stanley Kubrick, The Killing may be a relatively low-budget, low-key movie compared to some of his later works, but it's no less enjoyable for it. Based on a novel ("Clean Break") by Lionel White, this is a tense, unhurried look at a group of criminals planning a major heist.

The main players are: Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), the man with the plan, a corrupt cop named Randy Kennan (Ted De Corsia), a teller who works at the racecourse they're planning to rob (Elisha Cook Jr), a sharpshooter (Timothy Carey), and a couple of other guys who will help to distract people while the robbery occurs. Everything is planned out precisely, and onscreen details, as well as narration, help viewers to keep track of just how all of the pieces fall into place. But no plan is foolproof, is it?

Kubrick may be working on a smaller scale here, compared to his more famous works, but he shows the same attention to detail and clinical approach to the material that cinema fans would respond so well to. The script, with dialogue by Jim Thompson, nicely balances things out between the specifics of the job and the drama derived from the fluctuating dynamic of the group.

Performances are pretty great across the board, especially for a film that many would consider as nothing more than a b-movie (I guess). Hayden, Corsia, Carey and the others all do well, but I have to admit that Cook Jr. is someone I have always loved seeing onscreen, and his role here is a great one. Coleen Gray and Marie Windsor also do well, being the two main women in a film that focuses very much on the men. The fact that two make such a memorable impression, for very different reasons, is further testament to the script and their performances.

I'm not sure how audiences would have reacted to the content back in 1956, when this was first released, but it seems to have enough darker elements in there to make some people uncomfortable. There are some moments of violence, as expected from a film about an armed robbery, a healthy dollop of cynicism coating everything, and at least one outburst that uses a racial slur to shocking, though also brilliant, effect.

With it being so slight, however, it's hard to push this forward as an essential noir viewing. Yet it's easy to see how influential it has been, at least on certain people (Tarantino, I'm looking at you). It's also simply an excellent little movie that doesn't outstay its welcome. Give it a watch soon, if you've not seen it already.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B005152C78/ref=sr_1_10?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415885702&sr=1-10&keywords=the+killing

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Saturday, 15 November 2014

Noir November: Killing Them Softly (2012)

A fun cast liven up this darkly comedic crime thriller, helping to elevate material that we've all seen a hundred times before, with everything underscored by a message that reminds people of how life is cheap, and how much cheaper it can get during times of economic recession.

The whole thing centres on a plan to knock off a crook (Markie, played by Ray Liotta) who runs a well-known card game in town. Knocking off any card game is usually a death sentence, but this particular crook once confessed that the only previous time he was robbed was an inside job that he arranged. That means that this time around the blame should fall squarely on his shoulders. Right? Well, that's supposed to be how it all works out, but the two robbers (Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn) are too incompetent to keep everything a secret, and the main man brought into town to clear up the mess (Jackie, played by Brad Pitt) knows that Markie wouldn't be THAT stupid. But things have to be done to restore confidence, whether Markie is guilty or not.

McNairy and Mendelsohn both do well with their roles here, but Killing Them Softly steps up a gear whenever Pitt is onscreen, his character always quick to clear away any confusing distractions and pinpoint what is needed to please bosses and get people making money again. It then steps up another gear when James Gandolfini appears, playing another body brought in to help fix the situation. Liotta is always good value, in my opinion, and Richard Jenkins provides a lot of amusement as the man relaying to Pitt's character just what action is deemed necessary to make things right.

Adapting the novel "Cogan's Trade", by George V. Higgins, writer-director Andrew Dominik may not do enough to let the film stand out from the many other crime flicks to have cropped up over the years, but he realises that the strength of the film lies in a few of the main characters and affords them some great moments. Whether it's Gandolfini throwing back Martinis as he tries to hold in a burning ball of resentment and anger or the last lines of dialogue spat out by a character summing up the entire theme of the film, every one of the leads has at least one memorable scene.

As expected, there are some moments of harsh violence. This isn't a world inhabited by girl scouts selling cookies, however, so the violence shouldn't come as a shock to any viewers, although some of it IS impressively shocking. There's also plenty of humour, as black as it is. All in all, this is a good, though unspectacular, crime flick. Not necessarily one to prioritise, but worth watching if the chance arises.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Bly-ray-Digital-UltraViolet-Blu-ray/dp/B009AMALBM/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415878346&sr=1-2&keywords=killing+them+softly

Friday, 14 November 2014

Bonus Review: Into The Storm (2014)

Even dumber than you probably expect it to be, Into The Storm is, funnily enough, a weather-related disaster movie, with the extra gimmick of many scenes presented in the style of real footage captured by those in the middle of events.

Pete (Matt Walsh) is a storm chaser. He's got a team working with him (including a meteorologist, played by Sarah Wayne Callies), a vehicle that can withstand MAJOR winds, and the willingness to endanger everyone around him for the sake of some great footage. Unfortunately, he's not been getting close to any storms. That all changes when a number of tornadoes spring up, causing a lot of damage and signalling some even worse weather heading their way. Oh, and there also happens to be a graduation ceremony at a local high school, meaning that a lot of teenagers could also find themselves in peril.

Taking a formulaic plot structure, Into The Storm has occasional moments of spectacle to make it worth a watch, but very little else to recommend it. The direction from Steven Quale is pedestrian, at best, and the script by John Swetnam is ridiculously underdone, even for this kind of stuff. One or two characters stand out, but they're not necessarily the ones that you're rooting for. And as for the schoolkids, just forget it. Even the two or three that are given the chance to be the focus of the movie for a number of scenes are eminently forgettable.

Nathan Kress and Max Deacon are the two young actors stuck with characters that the audience won't really care for, Alycia Debnam Carey is the young actress also stuck with someone that nobody will really care about, and Richard Armitage plays a Vice Principal who also happens to be the father of the two boys. Yes, you guessed it, it's hard to care about him either. Callies does better in her role, but even she plays a character that it's hard to care too much about. It's not her fault, it's just an automatic reaction to a script that goes for the most obvious tricks in a heavy-handed manner, causing some (well, me, at the very least) to dislike the characters as they should be warming to them. Prime example - the scene with her talking on the phone to her daughter. The young daughter that misses her lots. See, you can't possibly want her to be endangered by freak meteorological events because SHE HAS A YOUNG DAUGHTER. If that doesn't make you care more for her then you're a heartless bastard, I guess. That's what people call me anyway. Walsh is the most fun, but as he's playing a bit of a selfish ass it's also difficult to care too much about his fate, particularly when so much of the third act is highlighted, underscored and covered in neon lighting during the first act of the movie. Mind you, at least that obvious foreshadowing is fun. I'll give 'em that.

There are some great special effects on display here, and viewers should be kept relatively entertained if they view the film as nothing more than a chance to see how well a computer can create tornadoes onscreen (which was obviously the whole raison d'être of the thing anyway). Given the choice, however, I would rush to rewatch The Day After Tomorrow instead. Heck, I'd probably put up with 2012 over this.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Blu-ray-Digital-UltraViolet-Combo/dp/B00MJANW40/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415977337&sr=1-2&keywords=into+the+storm

Noir November: Touch Of Evil (1958)

Written (well, he rewrote a script so much that he received credit) and directed by Orson Welles, based on the novel "Badge Of Evil" by Whit Masterson, Touch Of Evil is dark and disturbing stuff indeed. Yet it also remains highly entertaining, brilliantly cinematic, and mesmerising from start to finish.

The basic story concerns a death in a Mexican border town that sees Mexican Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) clashing with revered Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Welles). The two men want to get to the bottom of the crime, but both have very different approaches. The former, also a target of some Mexican crime syndicates that he's been helping to break up and imprison, wants to investigate with due diligence and care, while Quinlan believes that he already knows who did it, and has a case that will stick. Meanwhile, some nasty types are hoping to get to Vargas through his pretty, new wife (Janet Leigh).

The biggest mistake that Touch Of Evil makes is having Charlton Heston cast as a Mexican. It just doesn't work well, and he doesn't look the part. However, viewing the film with the inclusion of Heston as a necessary evil (no pun intended) makes it easier. His name carried a lot of weight, he ended up inadvertently getting Welles on board as director, and kudos to him for taking such an interest in a film with such a discomforting premise (something he would do, intentionally or not, with a number of other movies in his career).

Despite not being believable as a Mexican, Heston does invest his main character with that stalwart nobility that he would bring to so many of his roles. This really works well in highlighting that central friction between Vargas and Quinlan, with Welles happy to paint himself in many darker shades. As soon as Quinlan appears we start to discover that he's not the nicest man to be around, but he gets results. But at what cost? Leigh puts in one of her best performances as the sweet young woman who looks set to be most damaged by the unfolding events, Joseph Calleia is very good as Police Sergeant Pete Menzies (who looks up to Quinlan, to a point), Akim Tamiroff does well as a devious crime boss, Dennis Weaver is a little bit too on edge, although enjoyable enough, as the night manager of a motel, and Joanna Moore and Marlene Dietrich do well with their small roles. Dietrich is particularly good in a role that seems to carry within it the many ghosts of her past.

There's a memorable score by Henry Mancini, direction from Welles that's damn near flawless, and a script full of some great moments of dialogue. The design of each sequence, from lighting to camera angles to shot duration, makes this a prime example of a movie that can be both enjoyed in terms of sheer cinematic pleasure and also studied as a masterclass in film-making.

If only they hadn't tried to pass Heston off as a Mexican, it would have been perfect.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Touch-Evil-Limited-Blu-ray-UltraViolet/dp/B00I3C1T1Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415565266&sr=8-2&keywords=touch+of+evil

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Bonus Review: Willow Creek (2013)

After mulling it over for a while, I have decided that Willow Creek isn't the worst film I've seen in some time. There are positives to note. Unfortunately, much like the Bigfoot-hunters it takes a cue from, you really have to dig around until you uncover those positives.

Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait, this is a found footage film about a couple who are looking for Bigfoot. They're not completely obsessed. Jim (Bryce Johnson) believes that he could look for some interesting evidence at a well-known hotspot, whereas his girlfriend, Kelly (Alexie Gilmore), just goes along with him for the fun of it. But the fun doesn't last for the whole journey. In fact, a night spent in their tent might just prove to be more terrifying than they could have ever imagined.

Unfortunately, what I've just described above doesn't necessarily translate into an exciting, tense experience for viewers. The biggest problem with Willow Creek is that it's just so damn boring. Anyone who thought The Blair Witch Project was dull needs to steer well clear of this. Goldthwait, to his credit, does his best to maintain consistency of style throughout, and he also sprinkles a few nice details and moments of foreshadowing here and there, but there's very little he can do to compensate for the many scenes that just feel unnecessary and drawn out.

The sequence showing Jim and Kelly reacting to activity around their tent is very well done, with all of the tension created by noise and suggestion. Sadly, it can also be viewed as a bit of a cop out by someone who seems to be enjoying stretching a dollar way beyond breaking point.

Johnson and Gilmore both do well in the main roles, and it's refreshing to see this kind of movie that doesn't just name the characters after the main actors, and they're likeable and believable enough, for the most part. A few other faces pop up onscreen to provide more backstory/context, but it's mostly down to the two leads to carry the whole thing, which they try their best to do.

That's about all I can say about this film, however, because it's about as paper-thin as you can get. As well as the usual flaws that so often crop up in found footage films - with the biggest being a sense of amazement at anyone who keeps a camera filming during any of the more stressful moments - we get a real lack of anything that feels like a reward for viewers having such patience. Perhaps this is deliberate, maybe the entire movie is delivering an experience akin to being an actual Bigfoot hunter, with all of the frustration and disappointment that entails.

Or maybe it's just a bad movie.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Willow-Creek-Blu-ray-Bryce-Johnson/dp/B00L22H39G/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415788999&sr=1-2&keywords=willow+creek

Noir November: Masquerade (1988)

I guess it could be easily forgotten among many other slick thrillers from the past few decades, but Masquerade is a very enjoyable piece of fun. Any experienced viewer should be able to tell where the twists and turns are going to appear, yet that doesn't detract from the experience. In fact, seeing how the pieces are put in place to create the winding path of the plot is one of the main attractions, with another being the decent cast.

Rob Lowe stars as Tim Whalen, a young man who is gaining quite a reputation for his work in the sailing world. He's also getting to sleep with Kim Cattrall (who plays the wife of his boss), so it seems like a sweet life. But when he meets the lovely Olivia Lawrence (Meg Tilly) he falls in love. It maybe helps to know that she's megarich, which immediately casts aspersions on Tim's intentions. The couple find themselves under quite a bit of scrutiny, from Cattrall's character, from Olivia's horrible stepfather (John Glover), and from a local police officer (Doug Savant) who still holds a candle for Olivia. It's not long until some treachery is afoot.

Written by Dick Wolf, the script for Masquerade is clever enough to deliver information, both overtly and covertly, to the viewer, while never seeming too clever for its own good. It's both Hitchcockian and also enjoyable, polished nonsense.

Director Bob Swaim knows how to handle the material, and cuts his workload in half by getting the right people in the right roles. Using the attractive location, the attractive leads, and a very good score from John Barry, he keeps everything light and entertaining throughout, with most of the fun stemming from figuring out just who is due to get one over on who.

Lowe is excellent in the lead role, all charm and confidence. He also remains pretty likeable, even when his motives are called into question. Tilly is as lovely as ever, and she had quite a run of movies at this time that made the most of her fragile beauty (also check out Psycho II and Impulse if you can). Glover is always worth watching, in my opinion, as is Cattrall, although I admittedly like to see both onscreen for different reasons, and Savant does a decent enough job with his character, even if he is the weakest of the leads. Dana Delany and Erik Holland provide solid support, and the Long Island location is the perfect setting for such potential soap opera shenanigans.

This isn't a film that wants to take you down too many dark alleyways. It's not a film that will shock you with the revelations that it lines up, mainly throughout the last two thirds of the runtime. It's just a decent bit of entertainment, and it does exactly what it sets out to do.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Influence-Masquerade-Rob-Lowe/dp/B008FYZHDI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415565747&sr=8-2&keywords=masquerade+movie

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Bonus Review: Her Name Was Torment (2014)

I've known of writer/director/madman Dustin Wayde Mills since seeing the irreverent and enjoyable The Puppet Monster Massacre at Dead By Dawn a few years ago. Since then I have discovered that the man likes to try and be prolific as he is warped. For fans who can get on his wavelength, that can only be a good thing.

Her Name Was Torment is a very nasty piece of work, only to be recommended to those with strong stomachs. No, that's not a challenge. That's the truth. A short runtime, only about 50 minutes, helps to make the whole thing more endurable, as does the smart editing, and the fact that it's a black and white movie.

The slight plot concerns a woman (Allison Egan) who is being interviewed by an offscreen doctor (Mills) after she has been declared unfit to stand trial for multiple murders that she committed. The victims were mutilated so badly that identifying them has been virtually impossible. What would make her commit such atrocities? Well, luckily for the viewers (sort of), the film decides to show just how this woman tortured one of her victims. There's a lot of mutilation, "fun" with teeth and nails, a bit of necrophilia, and more.

And that's all there is to it. Actually, not really. There is an interesting layer to the movie that provides further motivation for the main character, but to say any more would be spoiling things for viewers. Suffice it to say, Mills actually does well to build up what could have been a paper-thin excuse for gore and torture into something with a hint of intrigue and thoughtfulness. It even has a little kicker at the very end that should leave viewers with a wry grin.

There are one or two other people onscreen (including Brandon Salkil as the unfortunate victim), but it's really only necessary to talk about Egan. Perhaps helped by being able to hide behind a mask, perhaps deciding to trust completely in her director, or most likely a bit of both, Egan gives a pretty fearless performance, featuring nudity, violence and some required fake necrophilia (I know I already mentioned necrophilia, but it's always worth mentioning again, right?).

If you're a fan of the more extreme kind of horrors that some people irritatingly continue to label "torture porn" then you should lap up what Mills provides. It may not be as nasty as Red Room, it's not as polished and padded as something like Hostel, but this is a lean, mean movie made on a budget that probably wouldn't cover the cost of waxing Eli Roth's forearms. And, yes, I somehow thought that last sentence would end this view on a note of recommendation.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Her-Name-Torment-Allison-Egan/dp/B00MQ6NHRO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415810036&sr=8-1&keywords=her+name+was+torment

Noir November: The Lost Weekend (1945)

Adapted from the novel by Charles R. Jackson, The Lost Weekend is a sensationalistic noir from director Billy Wilder, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Brackett. It's about alcoholism, focusing on a man who already seems to know that he's happiest when at the bottom of a bottle, and there are plenty of obvious touches throughout the film, but when it hits the nail on the head, particularly during the final reel, it remains one of the best studies of alcoholism/addiction fuelled by disappointment and self-destruction that I can think of. Pair this up with Leaving Las Vegas and you'll never be tempted by the demon drink ever again.

Ray Milland is on top form as Don Birnam, the man who has almost everything that his heart could desire, were it not for the fact that his heart always desires one more drink, and then one more, and another one to chase it down. His brother (Phillip Terry) is set to take him away for a weekend that should help him dry out and recover, and the woman in his life (Helen St. James, played by Jane Wyman) is also supportive as he tries to mend his ways, but a thristy stubborn streak turns the whole plan on its head. While his brother and Helen head out for a while, Don takes the opportunity to purchase some alcohol and spend some time in a nearby bar. And then he just tries to keep swimming further and further into whatever pool of alcohol he can get his hands on.

What starts off as a relatively light, fun movie soon turns into something extremely dark, yet Wilder uses the dimmer switch so expertly that many viewers may not feel the true impact of the whole thing until they've had the room lightened again. The script and cast are both a huge help, but there's a lot to be said for his perfect balancing act. Too dark and the whole thing becomes unbearable, too light and it's meaningless.

Milland may show off all the tics and twitches that you'd expect in his role, but he excels in the scenes that show his desperation for another drink, at any cost. This is a character who can pretty much justify every action, no matter how far back he has to stretch, and Milland mixes in cruelty, remorse, cunning, and a healthy dose of pathetic. Wyman, on the other hand, is simply sweetness throughout. The relationship between the two may seem unlikely, yet it never seems completely false, especially as flashbacks show Milland hiding away his drinking habit in the early stages. Terry is very good, Howard Da Silva is a bartender who gives Milland a justifiable bit of attitude, and Doris Dowling is extremely likeable as a happy-go-lucky gal who has a bit of a crush on a man she doesn't see as he really is.

Powerful, at times uncomfortable, incisive and thought-provoking, The Lost Weekend shows just what a slippery slope any major addiction can be, somehow managing to avoid sensationalism and clumsy shock moments for the majority of the runtime. I consider it pretty much essential viewing, especially as a sobering (pun intended) look at the potential dangers of alcohol dependence.

9/10

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Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Noir November: The Night Of The Hunter (1955)

Let me start with a sentence that some may view as slightly contentious. I've never viewed The Night Of The Hunter as a flawless classic. It's a fantastic film, certainly, and an absolutely stunning work of art, but there are just too many minor niggles that stop it from being a perfect movie experience, in my view. The child actors aren't the best, especially in the first half of the movie, there are a number of moments that don't feel right, even within the fairytale construction of the film, and the end coda is a clumsy way of sending viewers away without too many troubles plaguing their thoughts.

Once everyone has stopped scowling at me for that opening paragraph we can move swiftly along. Trust me, the rest of this review is pretty glowing, which is why I wanted to get those negative comments out of the way right at the beginning (like ripping off a band-aid).

A man (Peter Graves) commits a robbery, killing two men in the process, and gets home to his two children (John, played by Billy Chapin, and the younger Pearl, played by Sally Jane Bruce) just before the authorities catch up to him. He doesn't have much time, but he's able to hide the stolen loot and swear the kids to secrecy. While spending time in prison, awaiting his execution, the criminal lets slip one or two words in his sleep that give his cellmate, a "preacher" named Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), the seed of an idea. When released, Powell heads out to befriend Graves' widow (Shelley Winters), thinking that he can find out where that money was put. If only things were that easy. She really has no idea where the money is, but it's not long until Powell realises that the kids might. And so begins a battle of wills between one mean sonofabitch and two children who want to keep a promise that they made to their father.

The one and only movie directed by Charles Laughton alone (although he directed some scenes in The Man On The Eiffel Tower),The Night Of The Hunter takes a number of separate elements that shouldn't work and brings them together to make something truly beautiful and haunting. More a series of gorgeous tableaux than traditional movie moments, light and shadow are controlled to illustrate this twisted Grimm-like story in a way not unlike shadow puppet theatre, or even deceptively simple illustrations in a book for children (the kind that hide horrible details in the background, available to all who look closely enough). A lot of praise must go to cinematographer Stanley Cortez for the overall look of the thing.

Adapted from the novel by Davis Grubb, the screenplay by James Agee is uneven, yet full of a number of quotable moments. Laughton helped to whip the script into final shape, but this is also a film in which the words are given more import by the actors speaking them, and the context of each line.

So let me get back to those actors. I'm not going to spend too much time discussing the supporting cast, although Lillian Gish, Evelyn Varden, Don Beddoe, James Gleason and the aforementioned Graves all do just fine, and I'm not going to discuss the kids either, who do much better when reacting than they do when trying to simply act. Winters is very good, especially considering that her role is perhaps the most difficult one to get right. She's a caring mother, yet also a woman needing comfort. She begins to be changed by Powell as soon as they start a relationship together, and although that passage of time is slightly rushed it still remains fairly convincing, mainly thanks to the performance from Winters. But the film belongs to Mitchum, clearly revelling in a turn that could easily be argued as the best in his entire career. Whether he's explaining his LOVE/HATE tattoos, charming people with lies and tales of morality, or just threatening small children without a second thought, he's consistently great, and certainly one of the greatest onscreen villains in cinema history.

There are many people who will give this movie the extra point that I have denied it. While I myself hold off from classifying it as an outright flawless classic, it's hard to argue too strenuously against those that do. Whether you like, love, or REALLY love it, this is a film that fully deserves the reputation it has gained over the years.

9/10

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Monday, 10 November 2014

Bonus Review: Interstellar (2014)

It sounds like a cliche, it's the kind of thing that all fans seem to say at one point about their cinematic heroes, but I really wish Christopher Nolan would move back to the smaller movies that he showed so much promise with years ago. Because I DO really like the guy, he always puts moments onscreen that make for great cinema, but he's in danger of taking away every ounce of goodwill that I have left for him. Interstellar is his most unsatisfying movie yet. Like the wildly overpraised The Dark Knight Rises, it suffers from an excessive runtime, a selection of ideas that are never treated as well as they could be, and a real lack of actual entertainment value.

The place is Earth. It's the future. There have been wars. There are environmental problems that affect the growth of crops. It doesn't look good for the future of the human race. One man (Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey) ends up piloting a spaceship on a mission that everyone hopes will provide a solution, or at least provide an alternative home for the general population. Cooper is accompanied on the mission by Brand (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley), Romilly (David Gyasi), and a couple of smartass robots. As they venture further into their mission, travelling through a wormhole and dangerously close to a black hole, it soon becomes clear that the most important resource they have is one that they can do very little to manage: time.

Where to begin? Where, where, where? Perhaps I should start by clarifying that my biggest problems with Interstellar don't lie with the science, which many are quick to state is considered to be quite sound. I'm no scientist, so I'm not going to fight that fight, even if I have my doubts about some of the speculation. I will, however, say that the ideas presented here are never explored to anywhere near their full potential, which left this particular viewer frustrated and wishing that Nolan had at least created a film with the full courage of his convictions. He didn't. He sets up what could be an interesting tale of the human spirit flying into the unknown abyss of outer space and then simply neuters the whole thing. Which is a great shame.

Perhaps I'm skipping ahead. My first problems with this movie cropped up within the first few scenes. First of all, Nolan set up a world that I didn't believe in. An Earth blighted by such problems (no military, extra health issues, the potential for mass hunger) shouldn't, in my view, seem like our Earth as it is now, albeit with an extra coating of dust over everything. But this is the world that we're presented with. Then I started to get an idea, an inkling that I knew how things were going to pan out. This was within minutes of the movie starting, mind you. For a movie that clocks in at just under three hours, that's not a good thing. It's even worse when the whole thing plays out exactly as envisioned.

Are there ANY surprises? Yes. Well, it may be better to say that there are one or two decent diversions. I can't go into any more detail because they feature people and situations that you'll enjoy more if you have no advance notice. It's just a shame that those good moments are adrift in a sea of horribly manipulative codswallop, surprisingly lacklustre special effects, and an audio mix that ranks among the very worst I've had to endure from a blockbuster cinema release. Seriously, Hans Zimmer may have enjoyed being given so much screentime to score by Mr. Nolan, but there were times when I would have much preferred to hear what the main characters were actually saying. You may think I'm joking, but there were at least one or two moments when I strained to hear dialogue that was obscured by Zimmer's ruckus.

The film never falls below average, which is unsurprising when you consider just how good at the technical stuff Nolan is. He's also helped by a decent cast, all doing their best to distract viewers from the clumsier elements of the script. McConaughey continues his hot streak, giving a performance that distils all of the best of humanity into one strong-willed protagonist. Hathaway is also very good, somehow able to waver between supporting McConaughey and trying to equal him. Bentley and Gyasi may be given less to do, but both men acquit themselves capably. Michael Caine and John Lithgow both make the most of their supporting turns, while Jessica Chastain once again proves that she'll never stop ACTING her heart out to show you how hard she is ACTING. She could take some notes from Mackenzie Foy, a young actress who steals every scene that she's in.

Many people will love Interstellar. It seems that every film Nolan makes nowadays is able to find a large, loyal fanbase. Who wouldn't want such bankability? I certainly didn't love it, and there were many times when I didn't even like it. It's a mess. It never feels plausible, despite the science all being as accurate as possible (allegedly). It's massively self-indulgent. Worst of all, it never feels like great cinema, even as it clearly strives to prove that it is.

Maybe, just maybe, Christopher Nolan should come back down to Earth. And soon.

5/10

Here's the science part - http://www.amazon.com/Science-Interstellar-Kip-Thorne/dp/0393351378/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1415650031&sr=8-4&keywords=interstellar+movie

Noir November: Bad Influence (1990)

"It's only a matter of time... get in bed with the devil... sooner or later you have to fuck!"

Bad Influence is your standard neo-noir/psychosexual thriller movie. One suave young man is caught under the spell of a gorgeous creature, starts to act out of turn, is transformed, and finds himself going down a very dark path. It just so happens that the man being transformes is James Spader, and the gorgeous creature bewitching him is Rob Lowe. Yes, Rob Lowe is, essentially, a femme fatale in this slick, enjoyable thriller from the very start of the 1990s.

Spader plays Michael, a young man who is just about keeping everything together. He has a good job, but it's one that sees him constantly being usurped by his main colleague (Tony Maggio). He has a lovely fiance (Marcia Cross), despite not being sure about the whole marriage thing. And he has a brother (Christian Clemenson) who keeps turning up whenever he needs helped. Basically, Michael is a bit of a doormat. That all starts to change when he meets Alex (Lowe), a young man who goes through life intent on breaking rules and doing whatever he feels like. As the two seem to grow closer, Alex decides to help Michael out. He just doesn't let Michael know in advance, and his methods are far from traditional. It's hard to imagine the two being able to stay friends. It's even harder to imagine Alex not being allowed to do whatever he wants any more.

Written by David Koepp and directed by Curtis Hanson, this remains a daft, glossy product of its time. I'm not going to pretend that it's an incisive, deep, intricate piece of work, that's not what it aims to be, but I will say that it sketches out everything nicely enough, has some fun taking potshots at the kind of people and lifestyles that would be so brilliantly targeted in American Psycho, and isn't afraid to get darker and darker on the way to a satisfying final act.

Spader does his slightly nervy act again, growing in confidence as the movie plays out, and he's as good at it as ever. Lowe gets to have the most fun, however, as he uses his perfect, handsome face to hide the cold, calculating mind of a dangerous sociopath. Cross does well in a pretty thankless role, Maggio is an enjoyable douchebag, Lisa Zane is an attractive woman who ends up caught up with Michael and Alex at a very unfortunate time, and Clemenson is fine in a role full of easy tics and beats.

It's almost completely predictable from start to finish, but sometimes that's the fun with movies that set out to simply entertain us. Watching how things unfold (and, don't get me wrong, there ARE one or two surprises) is no less enjoyable just because we know the main plot points that will crop up. Will you remember Bad Influence years after you watch it, and will it become a steadfast favourite? That's unlikely. You will, however, enjoy the movie while it's on, and perhaps even revisit it further down the line. Maybe.

7/10

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Influence-Masquerade-Rob-Lowe/dp/B008FYZHDI/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415402397&sr=1-2&keywords=bad+influence

'tis my regular book advert again.

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Bonus Review: Ouija (2014)

Thank goodness for movies like Ouija, because sometimes I want to rattle off a review with little thought and/or effort. This kind of film, that seems to have taken no thought or effort to make, encourages me to do that. Putting too much energy into this review would be ridiculous, considering the laziness shown onscreen.

After a prologue that sets up the rules of playing with a Ouija board, the film moves forward to the here and now. Debbie (Shelley Hennig) is looking quite nervy. It seems to be due to the Ouija board that she throws in the fire. It's not long until the board reappears, leading to a death that upsets the rest of the cast, all of them completely interchangeable rent-a-teens. Everyone decides to do the sensible thing, of course. Yes, they all use the Ouija board to contact the spirit of their recently-deceased friend, but they end up instead allowing an evil force to have some chatty time with them. And then more deaths start to occur.

Stiles White and Juliet Snowden did a good job recently with their script for The Possession. It was slick horror for the masses, but it was nicely put together. Unfortunately, they also wrote the screenplay for Boogeyman, which this is more in line with. Boogeyman is, in fact, the slightly better film. The weak screenplay is hampered further by the unimaginative direction from White, trying out the big chair for the first time. Jump scares are predictable and unearned, shots of anyone around the Ouija board are as dull as ditchwater, and the one decent scene in the whole film feels as if it's ripping off Final Destination.

Although I'm pretty dismissive of the entire cast - Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff, Bianca A. Santos, and a few others - I'm not blaming them for the dull mess that unfolds during the 80+ minutes. They are, after all, just doing their job. Okay, they don't do very well, but they don't exactly have the best material to work with. And when Lin Shaye appears, the whole thing starts to feel like one big joke at the expense of audiences who have bought enough tickets over the years to show that horror films can often provide a decent return on very little investment. Not that Shaye does anything wrong. She just happens to have appeared in some of the better horror movies in the past couple of years, and is now placed slap bang in the middle of one of the worst.

The only thing that Ouija is good for is allowing itself to be held up as an example of all the worst traits of mainstream horror movies from America. No intelligence in the script whatsoever, no originality, no charm or charisma found in any of the leads, and no reason to care about what happens to any of the characters. All you end up with are some jumps and half-decent CGI.

Perhaps it was a deliberate move to make this film so dull. Perhaps the original tagline was - "Ouija - you'll be board to death". Sadly, I doubt the film-makers would even be that imaginative.

3/10

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Noir November: Chinatown (1974)

One of many classic movies that I start to review with both glee and immense trepidation, Chinatown is a film that you can't help thinking everyone already knows plenty about. Yet there's also the hope that some people either haven't heard of it or somehow haven't heard enough praise for it, and if any extra review added on to the mountain of glowing praise already out there can help then I'm all for that. Of course, it's unlikely, but I like to dream such little dreams.

On the surface, Chinatown is all about a detective named Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) hired to follow a man (Darrell Zwerling) and report on his actions. He believes that he was hired by the man's wife, but things start to twist and turn when he meets people who dispute his take on the situation. As Jake tries to figure out why he may have been set up, he gets deeper and deeper into a mystery that could end up getting him in some big trouble, at the very least. He could even lose his nose.

Dammit. Just looking at the vague paragraph above has made me sigh, realising that I'll never be able to summarise the sheer brilliance of this movie in standard review form. The beauty comes from the details, but those same details must be avoided here for the sake of people who have yet to discover the film. So ignore my attempt to sketch out the plot in the broadest strokes possible and let's just move on.

The direction from Roman Polanski is spot on, with every sequence playing out as a masterclass in how to make a gorgeous film about unpleasantness, but he's helped immensely by a perfect script from Robert Towne. Perhaps things weren't fully locked into place in earlier drafts, but Polanski himself crafted the final reel, which ended up being for the best. The two men are, as becomes clear throughout the movie, working at the top of their game, allowing them to craft what could be considered the best film either has been involved with (despite stiff competition from many other great movies).

Of course, it's a testament to the quality of the film, and the craft on display, that it could also be considered a career-best movie for many of the cast members. Nicholson is on his best form throughout, tempering that famous grin and demeanour with moments of clarity and incisiveness showing why Gittes is such a great detective. Faye Dunaway is a fragile delight, and John Huston is the overbearing polar opposite (playing Noah Cross, a man who can afford to have anyone in his pocket, if he so wishes it). Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, Burt Young, Bruce Glover and Joe Mantell also do great work. In fact, the standard of the acting across the board is so fantastic that I just want to reel off the entire cast list. But I won't.

Chinatown is one of those pure movie experiences that you can watch repeatedly and rarely grow tired of. It's one of those films that you will always want to watch to from start to finish, with no interruptions (or, at least, as few as possible). The cinematography, the Jerry Goldsmith score, the dialogue, the characters, THAT ending. Every single aspect of the movie is, for my money, perfect. Anyone wanting to disagree with me? Forget it . . . . . . it's Chinatown.

10/10

http://www.amazon.com/Chinatown-Blu-ray-Faye-Dunaway/dp/B00AEFXN46/ref=tmm_blu_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-2&qid=1415399781

Saturday, 8 November 2014

Bonus Review: Annabelle (2014)

A horror spin-off from The Conjuring, this is a film that shows just how easy it can be to put together a polished final product without it feeling too obviously designed for the masses, even though it IS. I didn't love The Conjuring, but I did enjoy aspects of it. Annabelle is absolutely on a par with that film, although I was perhaps a little more receptive to it because of going in with lower expectations. There are less scares here, but those that are here are executed as perfectly as you could wish them to be.

For those who didn't see The Conjuring, Annabelle was a periphary character/prop used to show just what the main characters - the Warrens - had to do in their battles against evil forces. The start of this movie reprises those moments from The Conjuring, before moving backwards in time to show viewers the origin of the malevolent power that came to be contained within the doll. Well, that's the rough idea. What happens, instead, is that the audience is given another modern horror movie that replaces ghosts with demons before hitting many similar beats to the grand horrors of the late 1970s. Annabelle Wallis and Ward Horton play the young couple, Mian and John, who end up with a doll in their home who appears to be far from lifeless, and it's not long until they start freaking out (understandably). A priest (Tony Amendola) may be able to help them out, but it all depends on just how powerful the evil is.

While not directly comparable to films such as The Omen, The Amityville Horror and The Sentinel, this is very much the territory that Annabelle traverses. The main characters are fairly mature adults, the potential ridiculousness of the whole thing is overlooked in favour of brow-furrowing and serious talk about real good and evil, and the glossiness of the whole thing still allows for moments of real darkness (literally, in the case of one nail-biting sequence).

Director John R. Leonetti certainly takes a more serious approach to the material than he did when directing The Butterfly Effect 2. It looks like his years of working as Director Of Photography for James Wan have paid off, and this is never more apparent than in those precisely-engineered jump scares. The script by Gary Dauberman may be weak, with fairly uninteresting characters and a surprising lack of focus, but it does enough to keep you interested in between the more memorable set-pieces.

Wallis, Horton and Amendola all do okay, but after the end credits roll it's only Annabelle who will linger in your mind. That's as it should be, obviously. It is, after all, "her" film. It's just a shame that none of the actual human characters stood out at all, although Alfre Woodard tries the hardest (playing Evelyn, a woman who becomes concerned for the couple as she sees what they're going through).

If I call the film competent then you may think I'm damning it with faint praise, but I don't mean to. It IS competent, which means that I tentatively recommend it to fans of mainstream horror movies like all of those mentioned above. As for the hardcore horror fans who sneer at anything made in America, with any kind of decent budget and studio backing, they can either give it a chance or not. They might just end up agreeing with me that it's . . . . . . competent.

6/10

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Noir November: Fatal Instinct (1993)

It's hard to think of any reason why writer-director Carl Reiner would want to put another comedic spin on film noirs after hitting such a home run with the brilliant Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Well, perhaps he was happy to be working from a script by someone else (David O'Malley) this time, or maybe he just liked how this referenced a lot of classics while also skewering a number of neo-noirs in every scene. Either way, just enjoy the end result. It has a game cast all providing plenty of laughs.

Splicing a plot together from Double Indemnity, Body Heat (so . . . . . . Double Indemnity twice), Fatal Attraction, Sleeping With The Enemy and Cape Fear, the movie follows Ned Ravine (Armand Assante), a cop who also happens to be a lawyer, as he deals with the potentially dangerous Lola Caine (Sean Young), fails to notice the crush that his assistant (Sherilyn Fenn) has on him, and ends up an unwitting potential victim in a deadly scheme cooked up by his wife (Kate Nelligan) and her lover (Christopher McDonald). And then, to make matters worse, there's the release of Max Shady (James Remar), who also wants to see Ned bumped off.

While it's not the kind of parody that nails every tic and trick of the material it's spoofing, this is a comedy that knows where the easy laughs are and starts to build them up nicely. It's more interested in being silly than being clever, but it throws everything into the mix in a way that should please fans of Zucker/Abrams/Zucker fare. O'Malley hasn't, from what I can see, written anything else in this vein. Some will think that's a good thing, yet I think he has a good success rate with the number of gags that at least raise a smirk.

Reiner knows how to direct comedy, of course, and does his usual good work here. Despite the broad strokes being used, he has fun lifting some major sequences from other movies and filtering them through his skewed vision. The fact that he also knows how to easily steep each scene in the appropriate noir atmosphere is a big plus, whether he's showing sexual chemistry between characters or making sure that the saxophone player is always available to pop onscreen while playing the background tune.

Assante is very funny in the lead role, admirably keeping a straight face even as he's asked to act in more and more ridiculous situations, and the same goes for Young, Fenn, Nelligan, McDonald and Remar. McDonald is probably the one who gives a performance close enough to many of his other acting turns throughout the '90s, but that's no big deal when he's always such good fun to watch. There are also cameo roles for Eartha Kitt and Rosie O'Donnell, which you can view as a good or bad thing, and at least one scene is stolen by an adorable, and all-too-fake, skunk.

I've gathered that I am, once again, well within the minority with my love for this one, but that's no problem. I'll just keep enjoying it, and I'll keep recommending it to people until at least one or two others come around to my way of thinking.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Fatal-Instinct-Armand-Assante/dp/B00008972V/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415205575&sr=1-2&keywords=fatal+instinct

Friday, 7 November 2014

Bonus Review: Sex Tape (2014)

Sex Tape is mildly amusing. The main stars, Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel, pretty much guarantee that, thanks to their willingness to help each other look stupid, and a supporting cast, including Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper and Rob Lowe, also helps to at least supply a few chuckles. Unfortunately, the risque plot and set-pieces provide more groans than chuckles, especially when you realise that this is the kid of comedy that thinks it's being fun AND rude, yet seems designed to provoke titters and/or blushes purely from the middle-aged and middle-class. If you have any doubt about that, please pay careful attention whenever you see a clip from the sex tape of the title.

That's the whole plot, by the way. Segel and Diaz decide to spice up their sex life with a bit of recording shenanigans, which proves disastrous when Segel synchs their escapade with a number of iPads that he's giving away as gifts. Yes, these people give away iPads as gifts, even throwing one to the mailman. Segel doesn't realise his major mistake until he receives a cryptic text, and then it's a race to retrieve the iPads and wipe the video from them all. They enlist the help of their friends - Corddry and Kemper - and head off into a long, dark night of the soul.

Written by Segel, Nicholas Stoller and Kate Angelo, Sex Tape could have been a great comedy. The premise is simple, yet effective, and the potential for the big laughs is easy to see. Yet it does nothing to get anywhere near that potential. Instead, it just meanders around, refusing to push things towards any area that may actually, god forbid, offend anyone. This is shocking stuff for those who, to use a musical equivalent, think the Scissor Sisters are the height of melodic anarchy.

Jake Kasdan is happy to direct in the same, safe manner. Everyone seems to be having a good time, or at least all seem pleased with themselves, and he doesn't do anything to interrupt that vibe. Do I sound like this is a pet peeve of mine? Well, that's because it is. Not because there's anything inherently wrong with the actual content here, but because it's all been tweaked and polished to remove it that touch too far from what it could have been, all the while allowing the stars to mug their way through the whole thing as if they're helping to veritably push at the boundaries of common decency and good taste.

Segel and Diaz are decent enough in the lead roles, although both have been better in at least a dozen movies I could think of, just off the top of my head. Corddry and Kemper do better, perhaps due to the fact that their scenes mean they don't really have to pretend to be involved in something edgy and sexy, and Rob Lowe is quite funny as a straight-laced guy who really likes to let his hair down when he can. Jack Black appears for a scene or two, and is enjoyable enough in a standard Jack Black turn, and a young man named Harrison Holzer gets to play an amusing irritant.

All in all, this has too few laughs, too few risque moments, and absolutely no surprises. And that's just not good enough for a film entitled Sex Tape.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Tape-Blu-ray-Jason-Segel/dp/B00LU7JB66/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415390153&sr=8-2&keywords=sex+tape

Noir November: Sea Of Love (1989)

Sex sells. Everyone knows that. So adding eroticism to thrillers was always a way to spice things up, grab the attention of viewers, and make a moderate film into a moderate success. Add one or two big names (in this case, Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin) and you had a winning formula. Until, of course, it started to lose. Because there's not really any such thing as a winning formula in the movie business, unless you count the two main ways to make profit: either spend so little that profit is guaranteed or spend so much that the movie gets to eventually make profit by the sheer inescapability of the brand.

Harold Becker directs this slick slice of hokum, and the premise is as fun as it is silly. There's a killer on the loose, someone targeting men who have advertised in a lonely hearts column. Al Pacino teams up with John Goodman to catch the killer, and they decide that the best way to get their perp is to, yep, put an ad in the same lonely hearts column. A number of women reply to the ad, with Ellen Barkin being one of them. Pacino starts to warm to Barkin, even as it becomes more and more obvious that she's the best suspect they've had since starting the investigation.

Writer Richard Price really just goes through the motions here, as does director Harold Becker, but viewers are lucky enough to have the material lifted, ever so slightly, by the great cast. Pacino and Barkin may not be the top two people on your list of folks you wanted to see make out with one another, but they don't do too bad in the sexual chemistry department. In fact, the two central characters really make a good couple, with all of the baggage and cynicism that they have. The rest is all as you'd expect it to be. There's the kind of soundtrack that you'd expect, with the title song making frequent appearances, and one or two decent red herrings on the way to the relatively tense finale. Well, when I say "relatively tense" I actually mean "not tense at all, but still entertaining enough nonetheless".

As for the rest of the cast, Goodman puts in the kind of solid supporting turn that he's been doing for most of his career. He doesn't really steal all of his scenes, but he certainly leaves an impression. John Spencer and Richard Jenkins are both fellow members of the police force, with the latter involved in a couple of great run-ins with Pacino, due to the tension caused by him now living with Al's ex-wife. William Hickey and Michael Rooker do well with fairly small roles, and Christine Estabrook and Patricia Barry also make the most of their screentime, both playing different women putting themselves out there in the world of dating.

Certainly not as good as more delightfully sleazy entries in the subgenre, Sea Of Love is passable enough, mainly thanks to the cast, and I'm sure Pacino completists will be able to stomach it on their way through his filmography.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-Love-Collectors-Al-Pacino/dp/B00008CMRK/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415133173&sr=1-1&keywords=sea+of+love

Thursday, 6 November 2014

Bonus review: The Babadook (2014)

When I watched the trailer for The Babadook I was worried that I'd figured out what the whole film was about. In fact, I thought the trailer was just one big spoiler for those who could figure out one or two possible directions for the movie. I was slightly wrong, but only because writer-director Jennifer Kent never seems sure of what direction to take the movie in, at any point.

The film focuses on a struggling mother, Amelia (Essie Davis), and her difficult son, Samuel (Noah Wiseman). Amelia lost her husband, Samuel's father, in a car crash that occurred before Samuel was born, which has led to her grieving ever since. Samuel realises this, of course, and veers between unconditionally loving his mum and also mourning for a father that he never knew. So when the two start being spooked by the titular babadook, it doesn't take long for their fragile minds to look ready to crack wide open.

Lots and lots of people will line up to tell you that The Babadook is one of the best horror movies to be released in recent years. I'd certainly advise at least giving it a watch, because I seem to be in a minority with my dislike of the thing. For me, the main characters never felt even remotely likable (not always a necessity, but helpful when dealing with such dark material), the scares weren't all that scary, and the psychological layering just didn't do enough right to make up for so many wrongs.

Davis and Wiseman are both very good in their roles, with the latter particularly impressive, especially during the second half of the movie, but they're given very little to work with. Davis has to act like a woman getting down to her last frayed nerve, and she does, while Wiseman is either wandering around like a grimy orphan or being as aggravating as possible. Whatever explanation you go with, and the film indulges itself in allowing for pretty much any interpretation, the actions of the main characters just don't seem to make sense. Daniel Henshall has a few scenes, and is a welcome presence, and there are some other peripheral characters, but this is mainly about Amelia, Samuel and the babadook.

Kent shows that she's got talent, especially in the many scenes overtly showing the effects of deteriorating mental health, and it's always good to see another rare horror movie released that seems aimed squarely at adults, yet that also makes it more disappointing that the end result is such a squandered opportunity. The visuals are impressively dark and messy, as is the tone. Unfortunately, both start to work against one another, grinding up the thin characters in between them.

Worth your time? Yes it is. The modern masterpiece that many are calling it? Not for me, obviously, but you may find yourself agreeing with them. I'll just stand in a corner, glaring at people, muttering, and making rude hand gestures. As usual.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Babadook/dp/B00O20UHDO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415020282&sr=8-1&keywords=the+babadook

Noir November: Night And The City (1950)

The great thing about the classic film noirs, from my limited experience, is that so few of them seem to be awful. They were movies that could really make the most of their resources, and often had numerous character actors giving some of their best performances. I'm not naive enough to think that every one is a winner, but the hit ratio seems to be a lot higher than other types of movies from this era. And many remain near-perfect viewing experiences. Night And The City is one of the greats.

Richard Widmark stars as Harry Fabian, one of the classic schmucks of film noir. Fabian is a small-time hustler with dreams of the big time. He has a lovely woman in his life (Gene Tierney), who puts up with more than most women would, and he has a network of people who could end up helping him out, if only he'd put his energies to better use. But he knows better, of course, and soon comes up with a scheme to make himself the biggest name in the local wrestling scene. Not by becoming a wrestler, you understand, but by poaching some big names to draw in crowds. He'll put on the best shows, once he sorts out the initial capital investment, which he hopes he can acquire from either Helen (Googie Withers) or her husband, Philip (Francis L. Sullivan). Whoever helps him is going to be upsetting someone else.

Based on a novel by Gerald Kersh, Night And The City is both a painful character study and also, as the title suggests, a look at how the world can be a very different place for those who don't stick to the 9-5 daytime hours that so many others aim for. Director Jules Dassin keeps things balanced between bleak and mesmerising, helped in no small part by the great cast, and also the script by Jo Eisinger. Fabian is a central character who seems destined to fail from the opening scenes, yet he's someone that you can still root for when the odds start to really stack up against him. He's a hustler and a con artist, but he's often honest about it. Certainly more honest than some who end up resenting his ambition.

Widmark is superb in the central role, not exactly oozing charm but certainly putting a positive spin on his own failings until he starts to get more desperate. Tierney's role is a relatively small one, but she's as great as ever. And the sweetest person in the whole movie. Withers and Sullivan are both pretty fantastic, always turning things up a notch whenever they appear to continue the secret game of chess that they're playing against one another, and Herbert Lom is a credible threat as the powerful man that Fabian ends up butting heads with. The great performances don't stop there, however, and I need to also praise Hugh Marlowe, Stanislaus Zbyszko, Mike Mazurki, Charles Farrell, Ada Reeve and Ken Richmond. I think that covers all of the main players.

If you're new to film noir then there are many other classics that are easier to enjoy, films that make for more comfortable starting points, but this remains a real gem. Not just a look at one unsavoury character, it takes viewers on a journey into a world where the unsavoury characters hide and thrive. Fantastic stuff.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Criterion-Collection-Richard-Widmark/dp/B0006Z2NE0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415130541&sr=1-1&keywords=night+and+the+city

Wednesday, 5 November 2014

Noir November: The Set-Up (1949)

Based on a lengthy noir poem by Joseph Moncure March, The Set-Up is one of the first films that I ever saw to make use of that well-worn trope, the boxer due to throw a fight. It's not, however, the very first. Trust me, I checked with people who know a lot more than I do. But it holds up as an early example already showing how perfect the idea is, even in such a simple, stripped-down, form.

Robert Ryan plays Stoker, the boxer past his prime who thinks he still has at least one good fight left in him. Unfortunately, his handlers think different, which is why they've taken money from a tough guy to ensure that Stoker loses the fight when he's supposed to. But they don't let Stoker in on the plan, assuming that they won't ever have to let him know. That all changes when the boxer really remembers how to box, and his co-operation is needed to keep everyone safe. But he has his pride, and a real shot at victory.

It's hard for me to talk at length about The Set-Up without feeling as if I'm stretching everything out too far. The film itself is such a fine example of economical brilliance that rambling on about it would almost seem like a slight insult. Suffice it to say, the script by Art Cohn is sharp and full of heart, as befits the central character that viewers are rooting for, and the direction by Robert Wise is a reminder of why his name is attached to so many classics in so many different genres. The fight scenes remain tense and impactful, while the character beats outside the ring really flesh out a world that could have just as easily been full of blank faces rolling by until the bell rang for the main event.

Ryan is fantastic in the main role, one that requires him to be credible in the ring and also readable in his thoughts - the pride, the doubt, the determination, etc. Audrey Totter also does well, playing the woman who wants to stand by his side but who also feels that any answers to their problems are unlikely to lie in boxing. George Tobias and Percy Helton are the men who are apparently in Stoker's corner, and Alan Baxter overshadows the proceedings as the menacing figure who wants the fight to end just as he's "predicted" it would.

I really want to discuss the third act in more detail, but I'll refrain. That ruins films for those who've yet to see them, and it's something that would be more involving in an actual conversation anyway, as opposed to just me describing my own reaction to how things turn out. Instead, I'll just encourage as many people as possible to check this one out. Then we can chat about it for a long time if we ever meet up and share a beverage or two. It's short enough that if, by some chance, you dislike it then you won't have wasted too much of your day. But, trust me, it's not one I can imagine film fans disliking.

9/10

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Collection-Asphalt-Jungle-Murder/dp/B000244F2S/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1415107385&sr=1-2&keywords=the+set-up