Hail, Caesar! Review

A Serious Mannix 

Released : March 4th 2016

Certificate : 12A

Director : Ethan Cohen, Joel Cohen

Cast : Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ralph Fiennes

Plot : In 1950’s America, Capitol Pictures is one of the largest production companies in the world, and at the centre of its running is Eddie Mannix (Brolin). While working on the company’s biggest release of the year, Hail, Caesar! the lead actor, Baird Whitlock (Clooney) is kidnapped and held for $100,000.

Another Coen brothers come around, this time the duo share the directing load, an emerging pattern, as Ethan has been only officially credited with co-directing Inside Llewyn  Davis, A Serious Man, Burn After Reading, No Country for Old Men and The Ladykillers. Returning to lead their film is Josh Brolin and creating a hatrick for Clooney with the Coen Brothers. To use Coen terminology, Hail, Caesar! is definitely a toned down Burn After Reading as far as tone or vibe is concerned. So expect quirky humour in abundnace, as for this film the Coens have really let their hair down to fool around with their comedy still, retaining the surreal but losing the blunt violent nature they can pack. And along they way they pay homage to the 50’s cinematic scene, bursting with reference to the golden days of Hollywood that only the biggest of cinema geeks will notice all, but some are plainly there. So we interrupt this review to present the list of all reference that you can see in the trailer (to avoid spoilers), remember on what source you check these results may vary, but here are the references for those who didn’t pick up on them or are curious before seeing the film. Only the names will be given, allowing you to do your own research, and if the character’s name is the same as the real life person, they will not feature (e.g. Tilda Swinton and Josh Brolin character).

Hail, Caesar! (the fictions film within this film) is Ben-Hur. Scarlet Johansson’s character is an on screen (and possible off) impersonation of Esther Williams, with a scene from the film Million Dollar Mermaid recreated but from the view of shooting it. Tatum alike Johansson’s recreates Gene Kelly, specifically within On The Town, not as scene for scene as MDM. Ralph Fiennes plays George Cukor, who struggles with a Roy Rogers alike character played by Ehrenreich. George Clooney’s character has more debate around, but many seem to think its a summary of numerous actors of that time, but Charlton Heston and Cary Grant stand out. And the mighty capital pictures are MGM productions.

Straight away from the presence of such obscure, apart from Ben-Hur, reference’s within the film can give an insight as to the vibe of the rest of the film, which is essentially that the Coens do not care or make films for a large audience. As such the humour, and overall story line may either go straight over the heads of audience members or not be fully grounded.

As to direct the direction of the film (leaving the substance of the film for last due to its polysemic nature) is pitch perfect in accompanying the mood of each scene they are trying to achieve, making for great comedy directing that isn’t present much recently in the genre, which is the director doing hardly anything outside of relying on dialogue or on screen action codes, making directing creativeness less of a priority. It was refreshing excellent to see the Coen’s do the very opposite of this genre stagnation, as they did in Burn After Reading, however, due to the quirky nature of the humour, the directing ‘play’ that is present may be lost in audiences and possible critics disappointment as to nature of humour in comparisons to previous works. These directing techniques are in a way alike the scenes from previous films that are recreated, in the sense that they are conventionally reminiscent. Most obviously with the revealing of the villains obscured shot through a door from high angle and shadows used to blot our a character face. As well as this their own brilliant presentation of the quirky scenes, which are impeccable personified to create character driven humour. Joined with this is the entertainment recreation of obscure, all be it brilliant past film scenes.

As for the acting of the film, either by the Coen’s advice giving, or the actors own intuition, each actor presents his character with the correct degree of satire. Again to use Coen’s terminology, the character are more Fargo than No Country for Old Men, meaning that any depth or realism that the characters have is done so humorously, these are characters made to serve the vibe of the story and period place. Just as like the minor characters of Fargo all are cookie cut to help build the stereotypical polite Canadian representation. The characters of Hail, Casear! may not be quiet the comedic quality of Fargo, but there is a point where quantity overcomes quality, as the number of crazy Hollywood stooges in the film make it full enough of comically flawed characters. This helps with both the humour of the film and also for the recreation of past films. To pick out favourites would have to be Alden Ehrenreich for his portrayal of dimwitted low quality western actor in over his head in a serious drama and George Clooney for his third embodiment of a Coen comedic character which expertly captures the atmosphere that the Coens are going for, making him a truly valuable and cemented collaborator.

Overall, for the final use of Coen terminology, Hail,Caesar! is most similar to A Serious Man, in both undeniable odd nature and humour style. As A Serious Man, was a Marmite film among both critics and audiences (with some even calling ASM a modern classic) this film will likely do the same, not quiet to the same level as it lacking in the hidden meaning that ASM did. But for all the critical and high brow attention and expectation that may come with a new Coen Brothers release, this is another outing of them having silly fun, but hell it is fun.

Verdict : Its will be a hit and miss among fans of the Coens, critics and causal cinema goers alike. But the humour that is attempted to be created here is done perfectly and creatively, while many may not get all the jokes. And the reconstructions are a nice treat too.

Verdict : 4/5

Quote : “Would that it were so simple.”

Chappie DVD Review

RoboCop 

Released : March 6th 2015

Certificate : 15

Director : Neill Blomkamp

Cast : Sharlto Copley, Hugh Jackman, Dev Patel, Yolandi Visser, Watkin Tudor Jones, Sigourney Weaver

Plot : South Africa has become the leading county for crime fighting, as the chaotic gang crime and high murder rates have been tamed by a division of robotic police force. But conflict ensues when the creator of the robots (Dev Patel) gifts one robot with a coded consciousness.

Neill Blomkamp returns for his third South African based violent sci-fi flick, and this time its more South African than very before, as joining the South African talent Sharlto Copley (present in all three Blomkamp outings) is now South African rap duo Die Antwoord, staring and generating the soundtrack of the film (along with the help of Hans Zimmer) . For this feature, since Blomkamp has dealt with aliens, and spaceships, he now rests his sights on robots and artificial intelligence, with a script he has written (as he did with Elysium and District 9). With his third film the promises of talnet that were earned with Best Picture nominionee District 9 are still present, despite the modest critical reception of Elysium which was deemed to be lacking in the creativity and heart that its predecessor had. Perhaps the complex plot point that come with aritifical intelligence be ale to bring back some level of heart, to balance out Bloomkamp reliance for big cgi effects and extensiveness violent action sequences to allow for a film of better praise by critics who are looking for more than the average sci-fi shoot em up film type, despite the gripping and skillfully nature behind many of these films.

To address Blomkamps writing for this feature, which was completed with the help of co-writer Terri Tatchell, who also co-wrote District 9, there is undeniable aspects for dispute. This isn’t held within the largely 2d supporting characters (tipified by the villains of Blomkapms films) but more the set of a generic formula of the film. Despite the creative settings that both Elyusim and Chappie presented, there is the obvious generic rivalry in the film, you can see from the opening who is pitted against who and that the film for all of its development will boil down to and extravagant (all be it entertaining) closing action sequence. Good vs evil which is set up and set in a predictable direction to pay off for the big scale crash and bash (not that this isn’t well done, but makes for an uninventive story, rapped up in inventive premise). Secondly to this is and ending that may have outreached the bounds of imagination for many audience members, despite it being for the reason to make a profound ending to the film (bringing in some of that heart) it does so with a stretch too far, even for the world of sci-fi.

But for the positive attributes of Blomkamps, it is a joy to see his trade marks return to the screen, with noticeable trade marks making as repetitive (in a good stylistic way) as Zac Synder, but for sci-fi. Blomkamps iconography is as always, brilliant and beautiful, helped by the addition of Trent Opaloch, cinematographer for Blomkamps previous films (as well as the equally visually stunning Captain America: Winter Solider). There work together helps to create worlds and characters that are truly a visual feast that are underrated in this respect, as are the action sequences they produce which due to their bloody nature with Blomkamp get slightly smeared. This is what makes Blomkamp much more alike Zac Synder than Michael Bay, for his signature trade mark visual nature to his films. With this in mind as to the artful choreography of his action scenes, Chappie is lacking in them in comparison to Blomkamps previous work, making for a film with a slight lack of pace in some scenes, but doesn’t lose their visual appeal with a strong opening and closing display of bullets flying. Although it could easily be argued that like Synder, there is sometimes a tendency to rely on slow motion action too frequently.

As for the acting talent on offer, we have a voice performance by Sharlto Copley, making for an odd but effective robot with a South Africa accent, a very brutish and 2d Hugh Jackman as the badie veteran, and the interesting addition of a rap duo trying their chops at acting. Copley is able to create more of an interesting character than previously in Elysium, as he was burdened with the 2d villain role (which he performed with impressive conviction, but ultimately wasted on the character), how much of the voice was genuine or altered in post production is unknown but the end effect is impressive. To a large degree Yolandi Visser and Watkin Tudor Jones suit their roles like a glove, due to a degree them playing watered down versions of their on stage music personas, odd ball and gangster. Helping to create a ‘family’ dynamic with Chappie that is convincing and brings a level of emotion and conviction which is surprising for rap artists, and the addition of their songs in the sound track suit every aspect of the film pitch perfectly. The addition of Dev Partel is good type casting as is Hugh Jackmen, to embody the nerdy moral aware programmer and the hard headed ruthless solider, hence the actors are sutied to their roles to make performances with good conviction and help to anchor the beautiful and believable world created by Blomkamp and Opaloch.

Unfortunately it might have to be said that Chappie is the worst of Blomkamps sci-fi trilogy, but this doesn’t change it from being a Blomkamp film, and that means there is an inherent high quality, it just dropped a bit for this installment. The main falling point of this film is the potential that comes with the artificial intelligence genre and the interesting concepts that this holds, and why the film quickly and early finds direction, the final third loses it self in a generic good versus evil followed by an slightly outlandish stab at a profound ending. But along the way the audience will be rewarded with laughs, thrills and awe of Blomkamps eye for making the cgi effects artistic rather than gratuitous, this with his continuing imagination maintains him as one of the leading lights of the sci-fi genre. He will continually suffer from his first outing be so strong and everything being compared to this, but Chappie is by no means anything close to a bomb, just not as unique as the premise and director/writer could have been. A thrilling outing that may not be as memorable, but is a fast burning rush, that might stumble at the final hurdle, but this doesn’t smear the overall experience.

Verdict : No sci-fi classic, but its a tasteful rehash of old genre concepts and Blomkamps finger prints are all over it, making it an cut above the rest of yearly sci-fi entries.

Verdict : 3/5

Quote : “Why did you build me to die maker?”

Mini review: Deadpool

Year: 2016

Certificate: 15

Director: Tim Miller

Screenwriters: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, TJ Miller, Gina Carano, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic

Ryan Reynolds finally finds his metier as Wade Wilson, a smart-mouthed thug for hire turned superhuman on the hunt for revenge against the man who tortured and disfigured him. Fast-paced, sharp and hyperbolically violent, Deadpool explodes out of the gate with a slow-mo car-crash fight sequence set to the strains of Juice Newton’s Angel of the Morning, and proceeds to flash back, forwards and sideways to fill in the recent history of its vengeful protagonist. Reynolds- who, despite his considerable aptitude as an actor, has heretofore been pushed from pillar to post in Hollywood- is a revelation here, his physicality and voice acting adding up to a magnetic performance underneath Deadpool’s bright red and black mask. Director Tim Miller does an admirable job of keeping a firm hand on the tiller while driving the action forward at such a pace that it’s easy not to notice until afterwards how generic the story actually is. Disappointingly, despite Deadpool’s eagerness to poke fun at the foibles of superhero movies (quips about green spandex and the straight-lacedness of the X-Men abound), it makes little effort to subvert that genre’s underlying tropes. A case in point is Wade’s girlfriend Vanessa (Morenna Baccarin), whose ‘dream girl/ damsel in distress/ prize for the hero’ story arc couldn’t be more clichéd, a fact not quite remedied by her sharp tongue and Baccarin’s admittedly strong performance.

Verdict: 4/5

Image credit: foxmovies.com

Triple 9 Review

Natural Born Robbers

Released : February 19th 2016

Certificate : 15

Director : John Hillcoat

Cast : Kate Winslet, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie

Plot : A ex military crew paired with some dirty cops pull a bank robbery to gain information from a security box for the Russian mob. Forced into another job after payments withheld by the mob, the crew lead by Michael Atwood (Ejiofor) must figure out a way to rob a highly secure federal building. The crew relaises that they need a distraction, and decide on a triple 9, police code for killing a cop.

John Hillcoat returns after making moderate success with Lawless, another violent and big cast fuelled crime film. Now he takes on modern crime with one of the best cast assembles this year (due to early release) in the thriller genre, with a cat and mouse cops and robbers film about betrayal, desperateness and neighbourhood violence. Hillcoat general vibe set after Lawless was that he was a big fan of the blood and guts and had the ability to develop solid character drama to make an entertaining enough thriller, but many reviewers found that there was something holding it back narrative wise, a slight lack of originality that kept it in the realms of seen before violent cops and robber’s thrillers. Triple 9 script has some similarities to Lawless with the robbers having a strong team dynamic, but now we have goodies on the robber’s side to and a heightened dealing with morality within the story. But does Triple 9 have the suspense, thrills and acting quality able to make another modern robber squad thriller stand out alike The Town in recent years. Acting talent is certainly present within the film and the trailer alone boasted large scale uses of the city (no quiet at Heat level) there is promise.

Firstly, the films story will be one that was bound to come under fire from highbrow critics due to obvious decisions within the narrative. There are cheap shots that can be made at obvious features, such as the racial profiling that occurs in the film, with great amount of crime and hatred for the police residing within the Mexicans depicted in the film. There is the lack of female representation that is of a positive light, either sexualised or negative characters. But more than many others are the teasing nature of which it deals with the violence in the film, having clear reference to violence and crimes effect on a bigger scale than just the cops and robbers. For example, there is the child and his uncle (Harrelson) playing with a toy gun, and the brief scene showing parallel action between the Russian mob mother and child reading a book and the police mother and child reading together, while the father prepares his gun for work out of sight of the child. This final point teases the idea that the film will address the violence occurring in a profound or conclusive way, but the film never does, and in the minds of many critics this means it can’t justify its use.

Directorial work from Hillcoat had one opening issue, the film opens with a big bank robbery which is polluted by the presence of some credits on screen, distracting from a poignant bit of thrilling, reduced from the moment. From an overview of Hillcoat’s work it is much like the writing of the film, as in it doesn’t give you much extra in the way of poignant shoot choice or particular inventiveness, but this doesn’t mean that his work doesn’t function. The majority of the film could fit into this pattern of giving you high quality rehash of past crime thrillers conventions, with little added to it to make it more memorable, but that doesn’t make it thrilling while it last, simple doesn’t get it into any halls of fame. Following this line of argument Hillcoat does prove himself as before capable to use a combination of brutal violence and tense construct to keep you enthralled in the scenes. The actions sequences are more frequent and better constructed than in his previous work, as he deals with a script dealing with less character driven drama. The ending act, as it should be in a film of this type is particularly well built together for genuine adrenalin.

For the performances to build the film, there is a diversity in quality of talent. Winslet plays a rather two dimensional villains, but perhaps the dialogue of a Russian mobster didn’t have the design of character development. Paul plays as always with great conviction and realism, unfortunately there are striking similarities between this role and his most famous. The same to an extent can be said for Harrelson role, and while such a character with charisma and sarcasm may not be taken overly seriously, it still is achieved with great talent, with one of the most captivating performances of the film. Ejiofor being to many the heavy weight on the set still having the aura of 12 Years a Slave lingering about him, in this less serious role he plays the head of the robber gang, much alike its disciplining father, who also happens to be desperately attempting to claim a life back with his own son from the Russian mob. Unfortunately, he doesn’t spread his wings as much as his best work, nor is he expected to for this type of film, with a driven more by the interaction of the characters than any specific set piece of acting, which the actors achieve to keeping the films world believable and engaging, rather than create memorable performances.

The standards of Hillcoat second outing as a director create a film with standards to matching quality of his first outing, but maybe Lawless wins due to the added entertainment of period piece setting. Much of the same pros and cons come with Triple 9 as Lawless, which can be summarise into the fact that there is high quality enjoyment here, but to pack such a big cast into a famous genre there is always the hope that a new classic will be born. Let it not be forgotten the huge amounts of skill involved to create a new gem within an old genre, it is not an everyday occurrence. So with Triple 9 do not expect to be blown away, but you have a skilful rehash of conventions and codes from the greats, in particular it took its inspiration from The French Connection and Heat claims Hillcoat. Well it’s definitely more Heat than French Connection, but its lacking the directorial and acting excellence to place it in the same league as its inspiration. It’s got great action, and surprisingly hooking story, adequate acting and satisfactory directing to generate a fast burner full of twists and turns and bullets, but it’s over in a flash.

Verdict : Falling just short of the over the top fun of Lawless, Triple 9 has a the same mood and ingredients. Definitely more thrilling that Hillcoats previous work, but the thrills and the mostly unpredictable character interaction does quiet pack enough punch for an as memorable experience as Lawless. Lacking in originality within story and execution, meaning people will be quick to critic its violent, political incorrect nature, unfairly so.

Verdict : 3/5

Quote : “Out monster the monster.”