I am a huge huge fan of Sofia Coppola. Not because I've seen everything she's ever made, I've consciously avoided Marie Antoinette, but because she made Lost in Translation and I think that is perhaps one my most favourite films ever.
Somewhere is very similar to LiT in that it uses long scenes of quiet, minimal dialogue (no wasted words with Copolla), great actors and a pretty fabulous soundtrack.
Stephen Dorff plays an actor, Johnny, who lives in a hotel (but not in a sad way), and generally does what he pleases. He is visited on occasion by his bright and bubbly 11 year old Cleo, played by the lovely Elle Fanning. When she visits it brings him out of his selfish bubble and he notices what she does and takes care of her needs (mostly) above his own. Then during one visit the mother of Cleo calls to say she is 'going away' as is wont to happen in films of father-daughter bonding.
The subsequent journey of the two of them, not getting used to each other because they already had a pretty great relationship, shows Johnny how fantastic his daughter is, and how much he needs her in his life.
It so frigging CUTE. I loved it.
You have to like Lost In Translation to like this movie, I firmly believe that. Anyone who disagrees please do comment me back and say so, but to me they are so similar in style (unsurprising when it comes to writer/directors) that if you disliked the quiet of Johansson and Murray then Dorff and Fanning are not going to win you over either.
Dorff was really very good. I don't know him from anything except the Britney Spears video for Everytime and so I didn't have any expectations piled on him, but he impressed me. He has an easy charm as Johnny but also this wonderful and caring look in his eye as he interacts with Fanning.
Fanning is a sweet actress who hasn't quite gotten the same acting chops as her big sister, but as Cleo she is charming and lovely and you wonder at her ability to be such an adult at only 11. But then kids from broken homes often are.
The two together are brilliant and they light up the screen. Films like this only work if the chemistry is there and it was there in spades, they really could have been father and daughter.
Copolla is a sturdy hand with a film like this, her words are chosen carefully and they are not said with any lack of emotion or believability. She has the corner on the quiet indie film market and I hope there are more Lost in Translations and Somewheres to come our way.
So finally, as I have said before, I loved it. I hope if you haven't tried out a Coppola movie this inspires you to do so, and that you enjoy them and take as much from them as I do.
Saturday, 16 March 2013
Sunday, 17 February 2013
A Good Day to Die Hard ☆☆☆☆½
Considering all the terrible reviews for this film you may be surprised at my four and a half stars. Why have been so generous? Because it was f-ing AWESOME.
I went in with the lowest expectations but these were blown away. After all, what do I actually want from a Die Hard movie?
Bruce Willis as John McClane: check.
Good special effects: check.
Extravagant and ridiculous car chases or final battle: double check.
Bonus eye candy (as well as Mr Willis): huge fat tick in the form of John McClane Jr, aka Jai Courtney.
The plot was beyond ridiculous, it involved Russia and the Chernobyl disaster, the CIA and the twisted Russian political system. But we don't watch Die Hards for the intricate plots and depth do we? No. We watch them for Bruce Willis to get beaten up beyond belief but still be able to bring down a helicopter in the most ridiculous way. And this time they threw in a kick ass son for Willis to buddy up with.
Jai Courtney is an unknown to me but has been in a series of Spartacus and was in Jack Reacher last year. He has arms I just wanted to curl up and die in. He is also not a bad action hero, certainly in the realm of Bruce Willis who has acting talent along with being able to pull off crackers stunts (I'm not a fan of Arnie or Stallone who really cannot act their way out of a paper bag). They have a great chemistry actually, Willis and Courtney, and the whole father-son bond thing works well for the film. Its similar to Lucy in the previous film where she starts calling him John but by the end she realises what a goddam hero her father is.
Because that is why I go to see a Die Hard film, and why I will definitely go see the sixth instalment, because Bruce Willis is a bona-fide hero. Last time round we saw him jumping around on top of fighter jets - this time he creates the biggest car pile up in Russian cinema history AND brings down a helicopter using a truck. And I LOVED it.
Be prepared to laugh at the ridiculousness, enjoy the stunts, brush off the weakness of the plot, and just set your expectations through the floor because I can guarantee if you enjoy Die Hard movies as much as I do (with the exception of Die Harder - no one likes that one) you'll have a great time watching this movie.
I went in with the lowest expectations but these were blown away. After all, what do I actually want from a Die Hard movie?
Bruce Willis as John McClane: check.
Good special effects: check.
Extravagant and ridiculous car chases or final battle: double check.
Bonus eye candy (as well as Mr Willis): huge fat tick in the form of John McClane Jr, aka Jai Courtney.
The plot was beyond ridiculous, it involved Russia and the Chernobyl disaster, the CIA and the twisted Russian political system. But we don't watch Die Hards for the intricate plots and depth do we? No. We watch them for Bruce Willis to get beaten up beyond belief but still be able to bring down a helicopter in the most ridiculous way. And this time they threw in a kick ass son for Willis to buddy up with.
Jai Courtney is an unknown to me but has been in a series of Spartacus and was in Jack Reacher last year. He has arms I just wanted to curl up and die in. He is also not a bad action hero, certainly in the realm of Bruce Willis who has acting talent along with being able to pull off crackers stunts (I'm not a fan of Arnie or Stallone who really cannot act their way out of a paper bag). They have a great chemistry actually, Willis and Courtney, and the whole father-son bond thing works well for the film. Its similar to Lucy in the previous film where she starts calling him John but by the end she realises what a goddam hero her father is.
Because that is why I go to see a Die Hard film, and why I will definitely go see the sixth instalment, because Bruce Willis is a bona-fide hero. Last time round we saw him jumping around on top of fighter jets - this time he creates the biggest car pile up in Russian cinema history AND brings down a helicopter using a truck. And I LOVED it.
Be prepared to laugh at the ridiculousness, enjoy the stunts, brush off the weakness of the plot, and just set your expectations through the floor because I can guarantee if you enjoy Die Hard movies as much as I do (with the exception of Die Harder - no one likes that one) you'll have a great time watching this movie.
Warm Bodies ☆☆☆☆
As far as book to film adaptations go Warm Bodies is up there with the best. I actually reviewed the book here last year when I first saw the trailer for Warm Bodies, having had no interest in the book previously despite knowing that Simon Pegg was a fan.
The film version has many positives, the zombies, the scenery, the tinting of the colours to be this washed out grey to reflect the militirised state of the humans and the one dimensional lives of the zombies. There are also Boneys who are so far gone into their zombie state that they are walking/running skeletons. Scary things.
So for those who haven't read the book or failed to click on my helpfully supplied link to my review above, this is a love story between a zombie called R and a girl called Julie (getting the Shakespeare reference?) who he rescues from being eaten, handily after eating her boyfriends brains. Their connection sparks a revolution in the zombies and it is up to the pair to change the world, fighting boneys and parents along the way.
There are changes to the story to make the film an easy to watch hour and a half, it is a little sappy to be any longer and the things they cut - a 'marriage' between R and another zombie and their 'children', communication between R and Perry (the boyfriend) through the recently deceased's memories - made the film more workable. They did change the ending which was disappointing as it would have been amazing for John Malkovich to really sink his teeth into the character of General Grigio, Julie's father, and...well I'm not going to spoil the book now am I?
So story wise I approved (mostly) of the changes and it flowed really well. As for the characters, much like the book R is the most captivating of them all and the use of his narrative was excellent, there are moments where I was frustrated by the hand-on-heart great to be alive and American moments and then Nicholas Hoult's zombie voice would cut through the syrup and make you laugh as he struggled to communicate but sounded so happy to get the smallest sentence out.
Hoult (About A Boy, X-Men) really deserves a full star of his own - he is what made the film brilliant to me. In a recent interview with Graham Norton he said that he had this thought that zombies wouldn't blink, and so Jonathan Levine pounced upon the idea and so Hoult did not blink. Not once. Okay maybe he did but it was for good reason. And it was really effective so kudos to you Nick Hoult.
Hoult transformed and became R, confused about himself but unable to express it beyond grunts and shrugging. His relationship with his best friend, played fantastically by Rob Corddry (What Happens in Vegas, Hot Tub Time Machine), is communicated through their eyes mostly, but then through the sentences they manage to cobble together. It was another of the great aspects of the book that translated really well onto screen.
Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) lived up to the Julie of the book, a bit flat and annoying, but at least she could handle a weapon so was a bit more kick ass than the Bella Swans of the supernatural world.
John Malkovich should have had so much more to play with than what he had, and he half suited the role because of the changes - had they not changed so much he would have been f-ing awesome.
Levine did a great job as director, having previously been responsible for All The Boys Love Mandy Lane and 50/50 he has shown he can handle horror and romance with equal strength. The plotline was solid, it kept to a story that was easily followed by the viewer and retained the humour from the book. The casting of Hoult was beyond brilliant and only he, in my humble opinion, could convey the struggle of R to the screen with such spirit, you know, for a walking corpse.
SIDENOTE: Forgot to put this in earlier, but the soundtrack is fantastic and those who love vinyl will appreciate its use and the sentiment attached through the film.
The film version has many positives, the zombies, the scenery, the tinting of the colours to be this washed out grey to reflect the militirised state of the humans and the one dimensional lives of the zombies. There are also Boneys who are so far gone into their zombie state that they are walking/running skeletons. Scary things.
So for those who haven't read the book or failed to click on my helpfully supplied link to my review above, this is a love story between a zombie called R and a girl called Julie (getting the Shakespeare reference?) who he rescues from being eaten, handily after eating her boyfriends brains. Their connection sparks a revolution in the zombies and it is up to the pair to change the world, fighting boneys and parents along the way.
There are changes to the story to make the film an easy to watch hour and a half, it is a little sappy to be any longer and the things they cut - a 'marriage' between R and another zombie and their 'children', communication between R and Perry (the boyfriend) through the recently deceased's memories - made the film more workable. They did change the ending which was disappointing as it would have been amazing for John Malkovich to really sink his teeth into the character of General Grigio, Julie's father, and...well I'm not going to spoil the book now am I?
So story wise I approved (mostly) of the changes and it flowed really well. As for the characters, much like the book R is the most captivating of them all and the use of his narrative was excellent, there are moments where I was frustrated by the hand-on-heart great to be alive and American moments and then Nicholas Hoult's zombie voice would cut through the syrup and make you laugh as he struggled to communicate but sounded so happy to get the smallest sentence out.
Hoult (About A Boy, X-Men) really deserves a full star of his own - he is what made the film brilliant to me. In a recent interview with Graham Norton he said that he had this thought that zombies wouldn't blink, and so Jonathan Levine pounced upon the idea and so Hoult did not blink. Not once. Okay maybe he did but it was for good reason. And it was really effective so kudos to you Nick Hoult.
Hoult transformed and became R, confused about himself but unable to express it beyond grunts and shrugging. His relationship with his best friend, played fantastically by Rob Corddry (What Happens in Vegas, Hot Tub Time Machine), is communicated through their eyes mostly, but then through the sentences they manage to cobble together. It was another of the great aspects of the book that translated really well onto screen.
Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) lived up to the Julie of the book, a bit flat and annoying, but at least she could handle a weapon so was a bit more kick ass than the Bella Swans of the supernatural world.
John Malkovich should have had so much more to play with than what he had, and he half suited the role because of the changes - had they not changed so much he would have been f-ing awesome.
Levine did a great job as director, having previously been responsible for All The Boys Love Mandy Lane and 50/50 he has shown he can handle horror and romance with equal strength. The plotline was solid, it kept to a story that was easily followed by the viewer and retained the humour from the book. The casting of Hoult was beyond brilliant and only he, in my humble opinion, could convey the struggle of R to the screen with such spirit, you know, for a walking corpse.
SIDENOTE: Forgot to put this in earlier, but the soundtrack is fantastic and those who love vinyl will appreciate its use and the sentiment attached through the film.
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