The Avengers

April 29, 2012 at 9:27 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I saw Joss Whedon’s The Avengers this afternoon.

I enjoyed the movie – particularly the scene setting and the introduction all the main characters, at the beginning. There a lots of characters, including: Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), The Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Thor (Chris Helmsworth). Loki and The Black Widow got the most introduction; I presume that the rest, got less time, because they had already appeared in previous Marvel Comics inspired movies.

Scarlett Johansson makes for a believable spy/assassin; it is a role well outside of her normal roles. Tom Hiddleston does the villain very well.

The film picks up from where Captain America: The First Avenger ended. (Captain America, Nick Fury, and the Tesseract were introduced in this film.)

Once more the Tesseract is has fallen into the wrong hands – Loki. And a team of heros is needed to get it back. There is lots of action: the heros battle the many minions of evil. There are some great actions sequences and some great special effects.

The one drawback of the film is that there are so many heros, and I found the scenes with only one hero the most absorbing.

Moneyball

February 28, 2012 at 9:00 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

I went to see Moneyball the other day.

This is an interesting look at the major league baseball.

Unlike most sports films, this film shows very little sporting action. The tension and excitement is created by observing the General Manager of the Oakland A’s. The film rests on Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Billy Beane – the General Manager.

This film is based on the book of the same name, based on the events surrounding the Oakland A’s in their 2002 season. When, without their three top, from the previous year, the A’s won 20 consecutive games (a major league record) and almost made the play-off. All done with the lowest budget in the whole league.

Billy Beane and Peter Brand (his assistant played by Jonah Hill) bring a new perspective to the game of baseball and achieve some amazing results with underrated players.

Beane and Brands’ ideas are not well received at the A’s – nor by the establishment.

The film also explores aspects of management and leadership. How Beane was able to communicate his vision to his players – despite resistance of the team’s manager. It seems in major league baseball, the general manager hires-and-fires and the manager manages the resulting players; there is a separation between player selection and how they play the game.

The YES Men (2003)

December 29, 2011 at 10:20 pm | Posted in DVD Review, Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I never did understand friends’ thumbnail accounts of what a couple of anti-global trade activists were up to; it was always “they turn up and pretend to speak on behalf of the establishment and get thrown out.”

But I finally got to see the documentary/film The Yes Men on DVD the other night.

It’s all about Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum campaign against the against the WTO (World Trade Organisation). Rather than taking to the streets or blogging, they speak on behave of the WTO ! As the documentary explains, Mike-and-Andy were give control of the domain gatt.org, which they turned into a parody of the WTO site. As they say: “On the Internet no one can tell if you are a dog”, and organisations/conferences started to invite representatives from gatt.org (thinking they were inviting an arm of the WTO) to speak.

The documentary/film follows Mike-and-Andy as they impersonate trade experts/strategists from the WTO at a number of conferences. We see Mike-and-Andy’s increasingly unsubtle send up of WTO policy – culminating in a ridiculous gold unitard.

The documentary is definitely sympathetic with Mike-and-Andy’s position. But regardless of your position, the documentary and Mike-and-Andy what do is pretty funny. Mike-and-Andy take stand-up satirical comedy to another level – without the laughter (track). Most of the venues where the guys speak are populated by analysts/accountants/academics/diplomats for whom english is a second-language – so something might be lost in translation. The latter might also explain why the audience never reacts to the ridiculous propositions Mike-and-Andy espouse.

If you like political satire this DVD is for you.

Jig (2011)

December 5, 2011 at 9:35 am | Posted in Dance Review, Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

I missed this at the International Film Festival, and so was keen to catch it when it came on regular release at the Paramount theatre.

Jig, as its name suggests, is about Irish Dancing. It follows a number of contestants as they prepare for the 2010 world championships in 2010. Sue Bourne has done a good job of showing the human side of and the hard work put by dancers. The support and sacrifice of the dancers’ families is also revealed : the mother who works extra to support his son; the mother who has mortgaged her house twice to finance one more year; and the family who moved from California to study with one of best instructors in the world.

The dresses the girls wear are so expensive that one mother went into business making them to cut down on costs.

Joe Bitter’s family moved from sunny California to Birmingham, so Joe could take classes with John Carey – eight times world champion.

Also at John’s school is 10 year old John Whitehurst – who comes from a family of soccer playing boys. It is his mum who works extra hours to pay for the lessons and competitions. It is his dad who sums up the quirky image of Irish Dancing: “it was like a Shirley Temple convention” of their first competition.

Irish dancing is shown as a global activity: New York, Birmingham, Derry, London, Moscow, and Rotterdam. There is the team of dancers with high hopes from Moscow; and the trans-atlantic (friendly) rivalry between two 10 year old girls: Brogan McCay and Julia O’Rourke.

The dancing itself is superb. This style of dance does not use the hands, so many of the bio-mechanical techniques available in other dance styles is not available; dancers must somehow maintain control during turns and jumps with only their legs. This combined with a very turned out foot position and fast percussive moves must be very stressful physically.

Good little documentary. The story is told through the dancers’ perspective – speaking frankly and with a quiet charm.

Agora

July 2, 2011 at 9:41 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I had some spare time and so I went to see Agora ay the Paramount Theatre.

Plot revealed

The film is set in 4th century Alexandria – at the end of the Roman empire, and when the light house (one of the wonders of the ancient world) was still standing. Despite the name, Agora, the film is really about the rising power of the Christians in a part of the declining Roman world.

Most of the action involves Hypatia: mathematician, astronomer, general philosopher, and young women. All qualities that lead her into trouble and an untimely end. Yet her joy in the conic sections is inspiring.

The early Christians are portrayed in a very bad light; the film implies that they were no better than any other clique rising to power – propaganda, intimidation, innuendo, and violence. Hypatia’s non-secular influence on key dignitaries – she taught them – means that the archbishop of Alexandria eventually isolates and eliminates her.

Hypatia, played ably by Rachel Weisz, is portrayed as a moral academic caught up in turbulent political times. Hypatia, in the film, is accredited with modeling the solar system with the sun in the middle orbited by planets in elliptical orbits; reputing the Ptolemaic model and fixing the drawbacks of the Aristarchus/heliocentric model; eliminating the use or circular orbits and planetary epicycle. In some respects the film is a astronomy lesson.

The film is a series of juxtapositions: Hypatia’s questioning philosophical approach versus the dogma driven mob; Hypatia’s tolerance versus the intolerance of the emerging power; and personal integrity versus cynical pragmatism.

Hypatia’s world gradually changes in a series of political events, and through it all she continues to question and to look at the stars and ask why – to seek an elegant simple solution to why the planets move the way they do.

The viewer is at first entranced by the ancient world. Then suffers a series of disappointments as they see riots, pogroms, self-serving politics, murder; and finally the only question is; “will she live?” But even her former slave – Davus, played by Max Minghella – now a foot soldier of Christ cannot save her; he can only provide a quick clean death – so sad.

Worth watching if you are interested in astronomy, geometry, politics and history.

Wintervention

June 11, 2011 at 12:13 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I went to see the latest Warren Millar film last night; and as Emma Lester, the events organiser for the New Zealand leg of the film, said: “It must be the start of winter!”.

Wintervention was filled with the usual amazing skiing and boarding – in amazing places. The film, rather the skiers, went to both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles!

The Antarctic scenery was stunning; seeing people skiing there was both thrilling and a little unsettling – could we not leave one piece of the planet undisturbed? This particular crew, took a ship from Chile and then zodiac-ed to shore. Then it was skins and crampons to the top of some slopes. Then skiing down – not powder but slightly icy snow. No runout at the bottom of the slope – just straight into the Antarctic water.

The Artic scenes were on the island of Spitsbergen. Three intrepid skiers camped for part of the northern summer – skiing whenever they felt like it. There were some amazing shots of the sun going along, constantly above the horizon. There were shots of cute polar bears – on Spitsbergen you must be armed, to defend yourself from cute polar bears!

This year the film had a bit more structure. The narrator, was part of the film – John Moseley played a radio host of a snow oriented show, taking phone calls from listeners.

Every year the places get more amazing and the slope steeper !! This year’s amazing heli-skiing shot, was of a Hughes MD/500 going near vertical hugging a slope! BTW, skiers and borders call helicopters – “hellies”, not the more martial “chopper”.

Great exposure for Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand: great heli-skiing, bungy jumping, jet-boating, crazy Kiwis and normal sheep. Local boy Jossi Wells got two segments in the film!

Source Code

May 15, 2011 at 12:45 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

I went to see Source Code the other day – curious to see how it would handle the central “ground hog day” premise.

Jake Gyllenhaal is Captain Colter Stevens, a US helicopter pilot ‘in Afghanistan’. But who seems to be trapped in a capsule, where the only means of communication is a video link to a mysterious (US Air Force) Captain Goodwin – played by Vera Farma.

The Air Force has some secret project that sends someone’s consciousness backwards in time – Stevens is that someone and Goodwin is his controller. Steven’s mission is to find out the identity of the person who put a bomb on a train. The only catch is that Stevens arrives just eight minutes before the bomb kills everyone on the train (including his ‘host’). But ‘they’ can, and do, send him back as many times as it takes; or until the nuclear bomb, that the train bomber has threaten Chicago with, goes off.

The whole science behind the project is implausible – but the usual suspension of belief gets one through.

Stevens strikes up a relationship with Christina – played by Michelle Monaghan – on the train. Christina is a regular commuter – along with Steven’s host – and Steven eventually falls in love with her.

Stevens must find the identity of the bomber and find a way to save Christina (and all of the people on the train), and spend the rest of his life with Christina. Stevens is very focused on ‘not leaving friends and comrades behind.’ Christina represents something good – someone to spend one’s last moments with (forever).

Goodwin is driven to find the bomber and save Chicago, and she must build a relationship with Stevens to keep him focused on the mission, and along the way they develop a mutual understanding. The film and Goodwin are time constrained as to how to build this relationship, and it ends up with Stevens recalling Hot LZs at night. Farma does a good job in a difficult role.

Stevens dies over and over again, each time he uncovers another clue, or overcomes an obstacle.

As to whether Stevens can save anyone on the train, that depends on whether it is a time machine or a portal to a parallel universe or something else.

The Adjustment Bureau

April 13, 2011 at 8:35 am | Posted in Dance Review, Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

I went to see The Adjustment Bureau the other day, being not sure what to expect, but intrigued by the idea of the an exploration of pre-destiny.

So Matt Damon plays David Norris – a man seemingly set on the road to be the President of the United States – if only he could control his impulses and win a term as a Senator. Then into his life come Elise Sellas, played by Emily Blunt, and he feels fulfilled and wishes to spend the rest of his life with her. But, ‘The Plan’ says that they do not spend their lives together: he becomes senator and eventually President; she becomes the contemporary ballet dancer of her generation and eventuallys the choreographer of the age.

So begins a series of attempts – by the shadowy Adjustment Bureau – to keep them apart. But eventually they end up together.

Terrance Stamp, John Slattery, and Anthony Mackie are members of the bureau who try to keep things to ‘The Plan’. Stamp is the trouble shooter brought in to ‘fix’ things, when Mackie and Slattery are unable to keep things ‘on track’.

Mackie is disallusioned – hints throughout the film that he killed Norris’s father and brother – and ends up helping Norris. This was a concept that was explored: if you ‘believe’ what won’t you do? It is Mackie’s character who helps Norris.

The Adjustment Bureau seems to be a thinly disguised body of angels. And ultimately the film lets the viewer down: there is no confrontation with the ‘Planner’ – no confrontation with God. There is a message from the ‘one who writes the plan’ saying that ‘The Plan’ has been amended to let Norris and Elise stay together. What niggles, is that they were suppose to stay together in all previous iterations of ‘The Plan’: the film sidesteps the ‘infailability of the planner’ corundum. The closing final message is a statement about free-will.

The special effects are very good, and everyone puts in a good performance. There is even some chemistry between Damon and Blunt. I felt Blunt was perfectly cast as Elise; even her dance sequences seemed ‘real’.

Black Swan

February 24, 2011 at 4:53 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I went to see Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan the other week and found it intense.

This is not a ballet movie. It starts out like most ballet movie, with some very nice dancing and the obligatory pointe shoe scene. But, the movie is about one woman’s descent into madness. Had I know this before hand I think I would not have gone – I prefer less depressing and shocking subjects and story lines. The film and Natalie Portman do an excellent job of portraying a ballerina’s mental breakdown during a production of Swan Lake. Ballet and the Swan Lake story merely provide the backdrop.

Natalie Portman reportly spent six months preparing for the role by taking daily ballet lessons. She appears to have done much of her own dance work, and most certainly helped her fit into the part of Nina Sayers – a dancer chosen to play the parts of Odette/Odile in her company’s new production of Swan Lake.

The Film turns the focus of Swan Lake on its head, usually Swan Lake is decribed in terms of the Prince. Instead, the story revolves around the Odette/Odile – white/black swan – perspective. In the film, the artistic director is confident that Nina can portray the Odette, but is not sure that she can portray the darker Odile.

It is the artistic director pushing Nina to access something within herself that is outside her normal controlled emotions that drives Nina slowly mad.

The Film is so well done, that in the last third, I was not sure what was real and was was Nina’s projected self-delusions. The audience not so much sees Nina’s descent into madness, but accompanies her. It got a bit much for me at times.

If you like intense pyschological films this is for you.

The film is an R16, and there are some graphic scenes between Nina and another ballerina. I wondered and still wonder if they were strictly necessary. It is certainly not a film youtake enthusiastic 10 year old ballet pupils to. Nina is shown throwing up, starving herself, and enduring the kind of workplace bullying from the artistic director (dramatically played by Vincent Cassel ) that in any other workplace would lead to court action.

The King’s Speech

February 7, 2011 at 6:53 am | Posted in Film Review | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , ,

I went to see The King’s speech the other day, and really enjoyed it.

This is a film about how a humble speech therapist saved: his friend from a life on the sidelines; the British monarchy; Britain during World War II; and the British Empire!!

Geoffrey Rush does a wonderful job of playing Lionel Logue; and Colin Firth owns the part of Bertie ‘Johnston’ Windsor – aka George VI. Helena Bonham Carter brings the future Queen Mother to life.

Inspirational film, that shows the emergence of a leader, from a man plagued by doubts and his stammer. The film takes you behind the scenes – at a time when the British monarchy was almost bought down.

See it if you have time.

Next Page »

Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.