Inside Llewyn Davis Review

A Story About A Sad Man, With A Guitar, Going Nowhere…..With A Cat

 Released : January 24 2014

Certificate : 15

Director : Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Cast : Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, Justin Timberlake

Plot : In a bleak winter of 1961, a singer-songwriter called Llewyn Davis (Issac), who’s partner has recently thrown himself off the George Washington Bridge, tries to make his way though life and succeed in folk music, along the way he is irritated by his pregnancy of a one night stand, a run away cat, finical instability and the way that life generally doesn’t go his way.

Well its a Coen brothers film so that makes it a event, but in many ways, this isn’t a Coen brothers film. It was still made by the two heavy weight motion picture duo, but many fans of the Coens  may be very disappointed by the very different film they see in comparison to piratically all there previous work. But that does not make it a poor film, its just not the bizarre, comedic roller coaster that we are used to.Inside Llewyn Davis is more melancholy and bittersweet. Its more A Serious Man, but with less humor. This film is a very different, sad but beautiful work of art. This is summed up well by the grey over cast style of filming, making everything look a little darker for our anti-hero Llewyn Davis.

When we are introduced to him, we find him strumming away at a little folk bar, singing a genuine beautifully, heartfelt song. (which is something that is a real merit of this film, the fact simple fact that it contains great folk songs, from the surprisingly good voice of Isaac, some people may love the film just plainly for that reason) We soon learn the the quality of his songs is not reflected in the decency of the person. If you put aside the fact, that as the film progresses you cant help but learn to love and piety Davis, (this is largely down to the story, if Hitler was playing Davis, you would still like the character) the character is an ass. An example of this would be that he asks for money form a friend (Timberlake), only to then put the money toward the abortion of his child in Timberlakes girlfriends.

This helps the story, because if Davis was a great guy then it would just irritate you if all these negative things happen to him, I got this sort of feeling with A Serous Man. But despite this and many other factors, you just want it to all work out for Davis, but the Coens aren’t interested in what you (the audience) wants, they are interested in making a good film, and so nothing does work out for our folk singer anti-hero. This film is a heartfelt tragedy. The melancholy is help along with the folk music, and by the best cat subplot ever included in a film. Inside Llewyn Davis is not your typical Coen brothers film. It is a beautiful film with beautiful songs, even if its not the enormously entertaining comedies that we have come to expect from the Coen brothers, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was made by the Coen brothers, and with that comes a general level of perfection every time, no matter what type of film them make.

Verdict : So may not be able to appreciate the new style of film from the Coens, as the want more of the usually, but if someone who had seen no other films by the Coens, and saw Inside Llewyn Davis, they would saw it is touching, beautiful and memorable. So that makes it both disappointing for some, but at the same time brilliantly refreshing.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “Wheres his scrotum!”

Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

Released: 17^th January 2014

Certificate: 18

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Matthew McConaughy, Jean DuJardin

In 1987, Jordan Belfort qualified as a stockbroker. In 1998, he was arrested for fraud and money laundering committed while at the helm of his New York brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont.  The Wolf of Wall Street charts Belfort’s (Leonoardo Di Caprio) hedonistic journey from penniless newbie to corporate deity to convicted criminal, and the accompanying tidal wave of sex, drugs and money. All that’s missing is contrition.

DiCaprio, with his steely blue gaze and almost alarmingly youthful energy (I’m sure there’s a portrait festering in an attic somewhere) impressively explores the character of Belfort, playing him as a man hopelessly hypnotised by his own ambition and the adrenaline rush of conjuring money out of thin air. Mark Hanna (a scene-stealing Matthew McConaughy) initially plays Mephistopheles to Belfort’s Faust, saying ‘the name of the game… moving the money from the client’s pocket to your pocket.’ However unlike Goethe’s antihero, Belfort seems more than happy to surrender his soul, plunging headlong into lucrative damnation by selling bad stocks to unsuspecting investors at 50% commission. Jonah Hill provides comic support as obnoxious second-in-command Donnie Azoff, and Rob Reiner embodies Belfort’s conscience in the role of Jordan’s dad, Mad Max. One of the strongest portrayals comes from Margot Robbie as Belfort’s second wife, Naomi. Initially set into a fairly cookie-cutter temptress role, Robbie brings an underlying strength to Naomi, who is burdened with Belfort’s increasingly erratic behaviour as the money piles up.

Scorsese does an accomplished job of directing the action, with sweeping shots of the trading floor providing a visual feast, particularly in the larger set pieces such as the arrival of a naked marching band to celebrate a successful week. Staccato jump-cuts and use of wide angles and occasional slow-motion shots successfully capture the frenetic nature of the bubble that Belfort occupies, and perfectly complement Terence Winter’s sharp, witty and expletive-laden script. However, the handling of Belfort’s character is a little uneven. Although littered with scenes of outrageous behaviour and drug-fuelled depravity, presumably presented so the audience can marvel at the superfluous indulgence of Belfort’s lifestyle, the fact that, for example, the naked bodies of the prostitutes Belfort’s staff copulated with in front of an audience of colleagues are also on display to the audience means Scorsese is indulging in the very voyeurism that the film could be critiquing. This is further evidenced when full frontal female nudity is a regular occurrence during sex scenes, whereas (other than a flash of Jonah Hill’s prosthetic penis for comic effect) the male characters are always seen from the side or back when nude, or are covered. Inclusion of a handful of female traders, and the barest hint of satire (when Belfort surveys his office while declaring ‘this is America!’) does little to remedy this. Belfort’s numerous victims, many of whom are in real life still waiting for compensation, are barely even mentioned, let alone seen. This lack of balance feels like something of a missed opportunity, and ultimately means that despite the robustness of the direction and performances, the whole venture feels at times as shallow as the world it’s set in.

Verdict: 4/5

Quote: ‘Who? Who? What are you, an owl?’

A.E.S

Review: 12 Years a Slave

Released: 10^th January

Certificate: 15

Director: Steve McQueen

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael Fassbender, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Paul Dano

Slavery and issues of race are not comfortable territory for Hollywood, and neither are they stereotypical blockbuster movie material. However, Steve McQueen’s extraordinary adaptation of Solomon Northup’s 1853 account of his kidnapping and subsequent ordeal has bought America’s difficult past back into the public consciousness. 12 Years a Slave centres on Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man living in Saratoga, New York and working as a violinist. While his wife and children are away visiting relatives, he takes up an offer of a temporary touring job with a circus company. However on his first night away his new employers drug him and sell him to slave traders. He serves various masters on plantations in Louisiana, experiencing the full horrors of confederate slavery before his eventual rescue twelve years later.

In 12 Years a Slave, McQueen has produced a work of total immersion. One of the earliest shots is the camera pushing the leaves of sugar cane plants aside as it moves forward to reveal the slaves working beyond, a command to the viewer to discover the atrocities that lurk in history. We push our way in and (although the depictions of violence in the film were restrained enough to retain a UK 15 certificate) consequently the content has an impact which transcends what is actually depicted on screen. That is not to say the violence is shied away from, and lynchings, rapes and whippings – which elicited gasps from the audience in the screening I was present at- are all uncompromisingly featured. 12 Years… is certainly not comfortable viewing, nor should it be. However, neither is it a film to be suffered through, as McQueen perfectly balances the horror of the abuses suffered by Northup with the intrigue and personalities of the characters involved, and while the grave and unforgiveable injustice of slavery is fully communicated, the characters on both sides of the racial divide are imbued with complex weaknesses, desires and motives.

Ejiofor delivers an astonishing performance as Northup, a man trying to honour his resolution to not fall into despair in the face of the most desperate of circumstances. He captures both Northup’s self possession, with the subtlest re-arrangement of facial muscles betraying hidden rage at the Kafkaesque circumstances of his initial incarceration, and his later outbursts, showing the full depth of the emotions seething below when that self-possession gutters. Michael Fassbender’s plantation owner, the mercurial Edwin Epps, is a fascinating antagonist, providing true menace without ever slipping into pantomimic villainy. Patsey, a slave girl who becomes the object of Epps’ destructive obsession, is elegantly played by Lupita Nyong’o, in a role featuring some demanding scenes.

One of the film’s richest features is its use of music. Solomon’s energetic violin playing both decorates the flashbacks to his life before the kidnapping and illustrates the misery of his incarceration, as the tunes he is forced to play by Epps are the same as he played for his friends in New York, a mocking pantomime of his former life. Song also features heavily, once as a tool of oppression when Paul Dano’s sadistic carpenter Tibeats forces the slaves to clap a beat for him to sing a song loaded with racial slurs along to. However it is also a tool of expression, with the slaves singing while working, and while burying their dead. One of the most significant moments for Northup in the film is his surrender to ‘Roll Jordan Roll’ (a poignant and powerful counterpoint to Tibeats’ ‘Run Ni**er Run’) while he attempts to make sense of the impossible pain of standing over the graves of those who’ve suffered the fate he fears most- dying as a slave. Hanz Zimmer’s score is sparse and unobtrusive, and the sounds of work on the plantations: the chirping of crickets, murmurs of voices and crack of the whip produce an effective aural backdrop to the events of the film.

Skilfully written, beautifully acted and directed in a manner which is confrontational but never didactic, 12 Years a Slave is an essential film, both as an excellent work of cinema and a vital retelling of historical events.

Verdict: 5/5

A.E.S.

The Top 13 Films Of 2013

The first Christmas of the blog, and to celebrate we have put together our selections of the best films of the year. Readers will have to take into account that we have been unable to see all the brilliant films that have been released this year, but together we didn’t miss out many. Out of the films that we have been able to see that were released in 2013, these  were our favorites.

13th

The World’s End

The final film in Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy sees Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reverse their respective roles as straight man and goof to allow Pegg to revel in the role of Gary King, whose teenaged antics left friendships tattered in their wake. Years later he reunites his sixth-form chums (Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan) to embark upon a bar crawl left unfinished 20 years previously. The madcap action, exquisite chemistry between the principal actors and confetti-like shower of jokes make The World’s End an exhilarating ride, more than making up for the fact that it really doesn’t make much sense.

12th

The Conjuring

This was the new film by James Wan this year, and he was back on top form, with what might have been his best film since Saw! The Conjuring is based on the “true” case files of the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, as they help a family that is terrorized by a dark presence in their new house. It sounds like a story that has been told a million times before, and it is essentially. But just because a genre has been made so brilliantly and frequently, doesn’t mean it can be done again, with a new air of creepiness and with the help of one of the horror juggernauts of the decade that is James Wan. Wan is able to combine his ability to build an eerie atmosphere and then bring in a genuine jump out of your seat scare better than most. He also has good fun with a particularity suspenseful exorcism as a climax (oops, sorry, spoilers included). What makes this horror film such a chiller is that it deals with all the aspects of modern horror that deal a real scare factor, if you leave out torture porn. As it deals in possessed objects, old dolls, exorcisms, camera recorded scenes, ghosts and the church. James Wan beautifully molds these altogether to make what is in my mind the best horror since Insidious (which is another terrifying film from James Wan). Wan never fails to shock or scare us. Don’t watch alone.  

11th

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

This is the second film adaption of the bestselling book series. (WARNING SPOILERS) This film picks up shortly after the previous ended, with both Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, having outsmarted the system and survived the 74th Hunger Games. Now, after a year of travelling the districts to give speeches, honor the families of dead competitors (and become a unintentional symbol of hope and rebellion), the 75th Hunger Games arrive. And this time an evil plot is devised by President Snow (Donald Sutherland) to remove the infectious symbol of rebellion: this years Hunger Games will be between previous winners. Just by reading this summary, you can tell this film has a lot more story than the previous, but that is down to the superb work of author  Suzanne Collins. Don’t let that fool you into thinking that this means that the quality of the film making is disappointing, its the complete opposite. Unlike most, I found the first Hunger Games boring and shallow. So you can imagine, I was point off by the perfection of the film, when I sat down to watch what I thought would be 146 mins of children stabbing each other and crying. Which in essence that is what the film is, but anyone who has seen Catching Fire will tell you that there is so much more to the film. As the side of the film where Everdeen and Mellark are interpreted by the people as a weakness in the armor of the oppressive government just makes you want to punch the air. Another highlight is still Everdeen and Mellarks relationship, inside and outside the arena of the Hunger Games. So the film moves away from the core subject (of children trying to brutally kill each of to survive ), and focuses with great detail on what Everdeen and Mellark started in the 74th Hunger Games. And in turn what impact the Games had on them and the people. Making you want to really rally behind Everdeen and route for her all the way. The only negative I can think of is that they have decided to make the final book in 2 parts, like all big franchises feel they need to do ever since the Harry Potter series, hopefully they can keep up the good work. They had better after such a brilliant cliffhanger ending.

10th

Much Ado About Nothing

Joss Whedon’s adaptation of the Shakespearian comedy sets the action across a borgeois week-long shindig in modern-day California, complete with party frocks and flowing alcohol. The black and white cinematography and simple camerawork give Shakespeare’s rich language ample room to breathe, while the well thought-out staging and on-point delivery make the material accessible. The cast are all well-suited to their roles, most notably Nathan Fillion as Dogberry displaying comic timing so precise you could set your watch by it, and Sean Maher oozing menace as the villanous Don John. Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof stike a good balance between comedy and pathos as the intellectual rivals who can’t quite seem to stop sniping at one another. A slim 109-minute running time prevents iambic pentameter overload for the uninitiated without compromising on the story.

9th

Wreck-it Ralph

Disney’s early-in-the-year animated offering served up a visual treat as video games past and present, fictional and real, were lovingly rendered in colourful CGI. John C. Reilly voiced the eponymous protagonist, an 8-bit arcade villain who tires of never being invited to the other characters’ parties, and ventures out of his game to become a hero. With visual and verbal gags aplenty and an excellent complement of supporting characters, Wreck-It Ralph is a pleasure to watch. Some standout moments include a videogame villans support group and an inversion of a romance/revenge videogame storyline plot for GI-Jane Calhoun (voiced by the excellent Jane Lynch).

8th 

Philomena 

Philomena is a film (obviously) that tells the true story of spin doctor Martin Sixsmith, who after losing his job tries to return to journalism. The story he decides to write about is Philomena Lee, a woman who had a child 50 years ago who she was seperated from at a very young age. So the unlikely duo set out to find Philomena’s long lost child. This was not only the film that made the most reviewers happy, but was also the most lighthearted film that managed to involve such serious spiritual and moral issues. So for that reason alone it had to make it onto our list is some way. All you have to do to love this film is to watch it, and like Steve Coogan. Which is something that I know a lot of people find hard to do, as he is very much like Marmite. Luckily I am one of the people that love him, which is why I was so pleased with his genuine acting skills and his brilliantly intelligent script that brings a lot to the story, with both emotional punch, and brilliant humor. Without the humor the film would be harder to enjoy and watch as in many scenes the film can be distressing, and also deals with a topic that is overall sad. But with the added humor, which is better than most would expect, (example of this would be Judi Dench playing an old Irish woman who says the word “clitoris”) it makes the film much more enjoyable and an overall more watchable film. With a very faultless performance from Judi Dench as well. This film manages to handle numerous life issues with intelligence and humor, one of the best British films of the year, if not the best British film of the year!

7th 

Les Miserables

Although this film was one of the first of the year for British cinemas, it was still able to remain as one of the most outstanding, also one of the most refreshing and one of the great movie musicals in years (unless there’s a big film I have forgotten). The film was so original and refreshing because of its one big difference to any other films of this type: all the singing was done live on filming (unlike most musicals, where the actor will sing the song in a studio and then will just mouth it during filming). This made it possible for the actors to sing with great emotions and acting skill, which enabled Anne Hathaway her to win an Oscar. Not only is this film very emotional in its story and the songs, the combinations of the striking all around performances, the film really packed emotional punch. The songs are brilliant enough on there own but with contribution from Tom Hopper and a striking cast (Hugh Jackmen, Anne Hathaway, Russel Crowe, ect) the film was really able to to reach perfection, you will be to busy crying to sing along.

6th

Blue is the Warmest Colour

Controversy aside, this year’s Cannes Palm D’or winner is a bold and deeply emotional piece of work that delves into the nature of love, pain and self-knowledge. Newcomer Adèle Exarchopoulos and co-star Léa Seydoux deliver frankly astonishing performances, elegantly captured by director Abdellatif Kechiche’s use of stark close-ups throughout. Food, children and (of course) colour are all used as devices to highlight the difficulty of lead character Adele’s journey of self discovery and the formation and disintegration of her relationship with the enigmatic blue-haired artist Emma.

5th

The Place Beyond the Pines

It was very pleasing when this film turned out to be different to Drive, due to the fact that Ryan rides a bike in this one. But the film might just have matched the perfection of Drive, not only through tense chases and “beautifully” violent hammer scenes, but through a surprising in depth story line and general perfection. The film not only follows the story of a bank robber on a bike who tries to provide for his son, but the impact that he has on the community and how one person can effect so many other lives even after death. With a huge touching story line and great performances its a film that you will recommend even if you cry for a large part of it, always a sign of a good film if you cry.

4th

Django Unchained

This film was the best we had seen from Quentin in a long time. Largely because it was just sheer entertainment and undeniably good fun. Unlike most of his films you weren’t having to cover your eyes at brutal scenes of pure violence and then wonder ‘why am I watching this?’ In this film Tarantino turned his sights on the wild west and made one of the most entertaining cowboy films in a long time. With shoot outs, justices, style, humor and a beautifully written script, this film made for a real treat. Along with a flawless performance from Christoph Waltz and very fun baddie roles from Samuel L Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio.

3rd

Short Term 12

Brie Larson shines in the lead role as a worker at a halfway house for teenagers with unstable family situations. Neatly scripted and shot by Destin Cretton, the film follows Grace (Larson) as she struggles to reconcile her past troubles in the face of an uncertain future, catalysed by the arrival of Jayden (Kaitlyn Drever), an ostensibly snarky teen whose exterior belies a deeper vulnerability which eerily mirrors Grace’s own. Larson’s performance, along with a superlative emotional arc, place this film amongst the very best of the year.

2nd

Captain Phillips

Possibly Greengrass best film. It contained surprisingly good Nigerian actors which brought brilliant character drama between Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi. All three of these men have been outstanding and could be promising contenders for Oscars. One of the best hostage film to date.

1st

Gravity

Perhaps not the most original choice for top spot, but we were very impressed with this tale of survival in the most hostile of places. Director Alfonso Cuarón’s careful management of the 3D effects creates a spectacle of subtelty, with everything looking perfectly in perspective and therfore mind-bogglingly real. The balletic anti-gravity action inside and outside of spacecraft is surprisingly well-anchored in an environment where ‘up’ and ‘down’ have no meaning.  George Clooney delivers a solid performance but Sandra Bullock carries the bulk of the film after a collision with satellite debris leave her rookie spacefarer Ryan Stone isolated with an almighty mission to carry out. A tragic backstory for Stone and a smattering of ambiguously presented religious imagery provide some emotional depth, however this is predominantly a movie for your eyes rather than your brain. But what a feast for the eyes it is!

Review: American Hustle

Released: 1^st January 2014

Certificate: 15

Director: David O Russell

Cast: Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jeremy Renner

David O Russell’s follow-up to 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook follows a pair of confidence tricksters as they attempt to pull off an increasingly elaborate and risky long con in 1970s New Jersey. Bale and Adams play Irving and Sydney, lovers who make their money selling fake loans and stolen art until they’re apprehended by Bradley Cooper’s FBI agent Richie. Blackmailed into helping the FBI make arrests within his criminal network, Irving struggles to control Richie’s spiralling ambition, his own jealousy over Sydney’s attraction to Richie and his wife Rosalyn’s increasingly bizarre behaviour.

Brilliantly played by some of Hollywood’s best, this darkly comic film perfectly captures the heightened emotion and balance of exhilaration and terror that come with adventure, as well as the hypnotic draw of becoming someone other than oneself. Russell’s cinematography enhances the immediacy of the decisions the characters make, as background objects and agents are smoothed to a soft focus blur while the principals loom sharp. The occasional swing of the camera to encompass action previously happening just out of shot or to suddenly focus in on a reaction to an event adds to the feeling of fly-on-the-wall inclusion.

Bale’s Irving provides a compelling spectacle of sweat, hairpiece glue and nervous gestures. Although the ‘there was just something about him’ trope is somewhat overused to allow ostensibly unattractive male (but never female) protagonists to mesmerise beautiful members of the opposite sex, Bale’s performance and Rosalyn and Sydney’s circumstances go a long way towards justifying the arrangement in this case. That’s not to say that the female leads are simply there to be seduced, far from it, in fact, as Adams perfectly illustrates the contradictions present in the passionate, desperate Sydney, who finds solace in Irving but a disturbing amount of simpatico with Richie. Rosalyn also proves to be more than she first appears, and Lawrence does a good job of tempering her petulance with an undercurrent of self-awareness and astuteness (illustrated perfectly in a late-stage confrontation with Sydney in a club toilet) which prevents her from simply fulfilling an ‘annoying wife’ cliché. Cooper rounds out the ensemble by gleefully walking the line between antagonist and sympathetic character as Richie becomes increasingly obsessed with pursuing bigger and bigger marks in the hustle. Screenwriters Russell and Eric Singer’s talents are in evidence here as each of the character’s motivations are fully realised, rendering them endlessly watchable even as they oscillate (and they do) between amenable and detestable. The plot is also well designed to leave the audience guessing until the end, and not just about the resolution of the ice fishing story.

The film is not without flaws, however. The creation of such a full complement of complex characters requires a great deal of illustration, and leaves the film feeling a little overinflated at 138 minutes, as the pace of the action is compromised by some arguably unnecessary interactions. Russell’s fondness for heightened emotions also occasionally makes exhausting viewing as it necessitates a lot of shouting which can feel cartoonish. The sporadic use of voice-over narration also seems a little superfluous, as it doesn’t particularly reveal anything extra about the characters’ motivations, or serve to provide any extra twists.

Criticism aside, American Hustle is a solid effort, and the uneven pace is more than made up for by the hedonistic rush of following well-constructed characters into a world of uncontrollably escalating stakes.

Verdict: 4/5

Quote: ‘I didn’t know life could be like this.’

A.E.S