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  • Review: Rust and Bone (2012)

    On the surface Rust and Bone is a less frivolous, lower-key approach to the same plot we recently saw in Untouchable: the friendship that emerges between a settled, comfortably well off person who is suddenly struck down with a severe disability, and a drifter on the fringes of society who shows them that life can go on. But where Untouchable was unafraid to tug at the heartstrings and stay largely up tempo, Rust and Bone takes a different tack. Its measured, thoughtful pacing and carefully rounded characters make this much the more powerful of the two, even if there is little you won’t have seen before.

    Full review: Rust and Bone | Cinema Review | Film @ The Digital Fix

  • Review: Skyfall (2012)

    Arriving amidst a blizzard of marketing and publicity the likes of which has rarely been seen, it’s some sort of miracle that Skyfall delivers the goods. Despite worrying surface similarities with Die Another Day – Bond put out of action during the pre-credits sequence, overt nods to earlier films in the franchise – this film doesn’t make the same mistake of thinking bigger is better. Skyfall is arguably the most personal entry yet in Daniel Craig’s run, and perhaps (with the possible exception of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) the series as a whole. Director Sam Mendes brings a gently melancholic perspective to cinema’s most famous spy, where Bond is on the backfoot for much of the time and only has drink and an old-fashioned sense of duty to keep him company.

    Full review: Skyfall | Cinema Review | Film @ The Digital Fix

  • Review: Dredd 3D (2012)

    The ranks of fan-pleasing comic book movies swells further with Dredd 3D, a modestly-budgeted but surprisingly effective adaptation of 2000 AD’s cult futuristic law enforcer. Wisely ignoring the unloved 1995 blockbuster starring Sylvester Stallone, the producers get back to basics, replacing CGI spectacle and star power with a notably stripped back production, a lean plot (largely confined to a tower block), and more emphasis on violent action – surely the major draw for most fans. The gamble largely works, with the film’s brief 96 minutes offering plenty of down and dirty mayhem.

    Karl Urban makes for a fine Judge Dredd, physically imposing, with a suitably growling voice (and yes, his face remains entirely obscured throughout).  Director Pete Travis provides plenty of noisy action, but keeps the focus on Dredd and villainess Ma-Ma (Lena Headey, equally good). Though it’s an entertaining ride, it remains rather conventional; there are no outstanding moments or set-pieces that might have helped the film move outside of its rather niche target audience and in to wider cult waters. A braver director might have taken a few more risks to help the film punch above its weight. But no matter; this is a decent effort that deserves  a bigger and better sequel.

    [xrr rating=3/5]

  • Review: Frankenweenie (2012)

    Tim Burton scratches a long-standing itch with Frankenweenie, his third light-hearted stop-motion horror after The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. Returning to a short film he made back in the 1980s at Disney before he was fired, he has logically expanded the story out to feature length without compromising the original’s charm. It’s as Burton-esque as they come, which means there’s nothing here that will convert those who haven’t got on with his characteristic preoccupations with gothic gloom and fairytale horror in the past. But for those who do, it’s a true return to form. After the ravishing but hollow Alice in Wonderland, the director’s journey back to his roots sees him rediscover the simple joys of a childhood obsessed with darkness.

    Full review: Frankenweenie | Cinema Review | Film @ The Digital Fix

  • Review: Looper (2012)

    Looper is probably the second greatest Bruce Willis time travel movie ever made. The comparison is an unfair one of course; unlike Terry Gilliam’s bleakly apocalyptic Twelve Monkeys, writer-director Rian Johnson’s entertaining blend of The Terminator and – curiously – the western genre has much broader appeal. Simply put, it is an action-packed chase thriller involving both the present and future versions of an assassin (played by Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) battling it out with each other, until Emily Blunt’s arrival around the halfway point when the film throttles back and moves in to darker, more emotional waters. It’s to Johnson’s credit that the switch feels organic, but even as it dishes out the twists and violence while straddling different genres, there’s not much you won’t have seen before.

    Full review: Looper | Cinema Review | Film @ The Digital Fix

     

  • Review: Holy Motors (2012)

    My review of the closing night film at the Cambridge Film Festival:

    One of those films that appears to exist solely to divide audiences, Holy Motors is an audacious and bewildering experience that reminds you how fun and versatile cinema can be. Regardless of whether director Leos Carax intended the film to be indecipherable or not, he has fashioned a work that will delight as many as it will disappoint. For those who enjoy a walk on cinema’s wild side and are happy to go along with a film whose narrative makes very little sense at all, then a treasure trove of curiosities awaits them; scenes that serve no other function than to play with the medium and bounce ideas around onscreen, or try to tell a story all on their own. Those seeking a conventional story, or even one that eventually reveals its agenda, will go away disappointed.

    Full review: Holy Motors | Cinema Review | Film @ The Digital Fix

  • CamFilmFest Diary: Day 11

    Date: Sunday 23 September

    Films: 3 – The Extraordinary Voyage/A Trip to the Moon; Marnie; Holy Motors

    Beverages: 1 cappuccino, 1 water, 1 tea, 1 peppermint tea, 1 Carlsberg; 1 Strongbow

    Biscuits: 2

    Verdict: A great final day of the festival. First up was The Extraordinary Voyage, a documentary about the importance and restoration of a rare colour version of Georges Méliès’ A Trip to the Moon. One of the highlights of this year’s festival has been the strength of the silent movie presence, following on from the British Silent Film Festival earlier this year. The documentary gave a very accessible and entertaining overview of Méliès career and how the restoration took place over more than a decade. It was preceded by a showing of the end result, the fully restored film (including elements I hadn’t seen before in other surviving versions) along with a jarring new electronic soundtrack, which initially brought back horrible memories of the Giorgio Moroder version of Metropolis, but improved as it went along.

    The last entry in the Hitchcock Revisited strand was Marnie, one of his later works which I hadn’t seen before. Plenty to like and admire – a couple of good suspense sequences in particular – but its attitude towards the psychologically damaged Marnie (Tippi Hedren) and her treatment at the hands of Sean Connery’s aggressive lover has dated it in some unfortunate and uncomfortable ways. It’s also a touch overlong, but as compensation it does feature a splendidly lush Bernard Herrmann score.

    Finally, the closing night film was Holy Motors, a bewildering tour-de-force of whimsical nonsense, with a plot that is deliberately impenetrable but entertains and challenges in any number of ways. It’s a Rubik’s Cube of a film: a pointless puzzle so beautifully contrived that attempting to solve it seems futile, but doesn’t stop you trying anyway.

    After that it was back to the bar at the Arts Picturehouse for celebratory drinks and the obligatory photos. I had a fantastic time as part of the Take One team at this year’s festival, and I can only hope I’ll be there to do it all again next year.

  • CamFilmFest Diary: Day 10

    Date: Saturday 22 September

    Films: 3.5 – Not-So-Silent Movies; The Birds; The Ring; Thundercrack!

    Beverages: 2 teas, 1 water, 1 peppermint tea, 1 Guinness

    Biscuits: None

    Verdict: Today started brilliantly with the Not-So-Silent Movies session led by Neil Brand, introducing families and kids to the world of silent cinema. So we had clips from shorts like The (?) Motorist, The Fatal Sneeze, The Great Train Robbery, and Laurel and Hardy. The latter went down brilliantly with the children, who squealed with laughter as they hit each other and ripped people’s trousers off. Joyous.

    Then it was straight in to The Birds, Hitchcock’s freaky horror from 1963. It was a revelation on the big screen, with surprising levels of tension and feathery violence. The fact there is no musical soundtrack only amplifies the suspense. Another Hitch classic.

    It was the big man again later on with The Ring, his 1927 silent drama about a love triangle between two boxers and a girl who can’t choose between them. Surprisingly long – almost two hours – yet the time flew by. Neil Brand on the piano again no doubt was instrumental in this. Lightweight compared to his later works it might be, but well worth revisiting.

    Finally I tried to make it through Thundercrack!, a bizarre cult item showing in the Scala Beyond strand, but despite some unintentionally hilarious dialogue and performances, I had to bail. Sleep beckoned, and there’s only so much sleaze a guy can take.

  • CamFilmFest Diary: Day 9

    Date: Friday 21 September

    Films: 2 – The Mattei Affair; Blackmail

    Beverages: 1 tea, 1 glass of red wine

    Biscuits: 1, plus one large smartie cookie (just because)

    Verdict: Not as productive as I would have liked in the end – had hoped to catch a morning screening – but both movies were very good. The Mattei Affair was the first film I’ve caught in the Francesco Rosi season, in a brand new restoration that was apparently premièring for the first time outside of Venice. A fascinating drama-documentary (mostly drama though) about an infamous incident in Italian post-war history, which beats its political drum very loudly but is no less gripping for it. This at least had subtitles showing, which an earlier screening apparently did not.

    Hitchcock’s Blackmail was yet another of his restored silent movies, this time with piano accompaniment from John Sweeney. As funny, exciting and inventive as you would expect from the Master of Suspense; only the vaguely unsatisfactory ending disappoints. The Hitchcock strand at this year’s festival has been truly brilliant.

  • CamFilmFest Diary: Day 8

    Date: Thursday 20 September

    Films: 1 – Vertigo (plus a Hitchcock talk given by George Perry)

    Beverages: 2 teas

    Biscuits: One large banoffee cookie (purely for medicinal purposes)

    Verdict: A quiet day today before the final three days of the festival. Just the one film, but a biggie: Hitchcock’s Vertigo, in a brand new restored print on the massive Screen 1 at Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. I’ve only seen it once before, so I was keen to reacquaint myself with the film recently voted as the greatest ever in Sight and Sound’s esteemed decennial poll. Inevitably it failed to live up to such massive hype; it’s surprisingly un-Hitchcockian in some ways, being rather slow-paced and with a central character who becomes increasingly disturbed and unsympathetic as the story progresses. Yet I wanted to see it again almost immediately after it finished, which clearly suggests that Vertigo not only invites repeated viewings but demands it. One can easily see why it’s been re-examined over the years; the ideas about recapturing or escaping the past, about love and obsession, about history repeating itself clearly make it a film student’s dream. It doesn’t entertain like the best of his films – there’s none of the subversive fun of Rear Window, say – but it is clearly the work of a master.