14/1/11 - Ghost

Review coming soon...

10/1/11 – Robin Hood

This was another film which passed me by in 2010, but which I was keen to see, if only for the furore and hype surround the allegedly ridiculous accent of Russell of the Crowe. Being a big fan of all things Robin Hood since as far back as I can remember, I popped it in the DVD player with a sense of wonder and apprehension, hoping against hope that this would conjure memories of Errol Flynn, Bryan Adams, Disney foxes and even Tony Robinson on the TV of my youth.

After ten minutes I reached for the remote and fumbled to switch on the subtitles, a little baffled at why I couldn’t understand what that familiar looking archer was saying.

Reams have been written and spoken in defence of and against Crowe’s strangely fluctuating accent in this film, so I won’t go into the details of the linguistic journey he takes – suffice to say that he is less than consistent. Actually, after a few scenes you start to accept what he’s offering and are once again free to enjoy an engaging, exciting and innovative telling of a fantastic story. It brings a fresh imagining to the tale, which just about hangs together and sets us up nicely for the inevitable sequel. The one thing I hope, if and when that sequel happens, is that Matthew McFadden holds onto the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham. He steals every scene he is in throughout this film, and left me wanting more. Oh and Cate Blanchett is great – ballsy, strong and flawlessly accented. Mark Addy must return too. End.

9/1/11 – The Men Who Stare at Goats

George Clooney is not a good actor. He has an engaging screen presence, a twinkle in his eye and is very handsome, but think back over the major roles he has played. The Oceans films? Twinkly. Up in the Air? Slimy and twinkly. The Perfect Storm? Michael Clayton? In danger and twinkly. Oh Brother…? Dirty and twinkly, and outshone by his co-stars. In fact, he is outshone in most of his roles, except perhaps for Batman, where he is just terrible. In this film, he must contend with Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges, and even though none of them are at their best, they all knock him off the screen.

The plot is too bizarre to explain here, but my overall feeling is that it is more entertaining that the movie shows. It’s difficult to put my finger on exactly why, but this strikes me as an excellent concept for a movie, badly realised by the Hollywood machine. Shame really.

8/1/11 – The King’s Speech

My first cinema visit of 2011, to a sold-out six-o’clock screening at a packed Plymouth Vue to see this hotly anticipated Oscar-bait. The story revolves around the man who would never be king – Albert Windsor – and his attempts to deal with his life-long stammer through speech therapy sessions with the maverick Lionel Logue. So far, so predictable, but this film succeeds on the back of two factors. First, the story, which on the surface is a simple tale of human struggle against adversity, is given depth by having the biggest royal scandal of the 20^th Century as its backdrop, not to mention the outbreak of war (slightly historically inaccurate, but not enough to matter). The second factor is the strong ensemble playing, led by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Firth is clearly an Academy Award favourite this year, and I think on the basis of this performance, coupled with his excellent performance in the beautiful A Single Man last year, he probably deserves to win.

Overall, Hooper’s gentle story telling style means that the warmth and courage of the central characters is allowed to emerge in The King’s Speech, but I’ve got a feeling the film will be remembered more as the vehicle which finally brought Colin Firth his Oscar.

7/1/11 – Wall-E

Every so often a film comes along which warms your heart and brightens your day. Over the last ten years, most of these films have come from Pixar Animation Studios, and Wall-E is one of the very best.

The premise is at the same time both wonderfully simple and ludicrously complicated. A small waste collecting robot is plying his trade on the abandoned post-apocalyptic Earth. Along comes a scanning probe which, as it turns out is from the remains of the human race, monitoring the earth for signs of photosynthesis. The robots fall in beautifully realised, magically understated, expertly paced love. Then all is ripped apart and an epic journey through space ensues.

The strength of this film comes from Pixar’s incredible ability to convey a full range of emotions in inhuman characters. I was drawn into the central relationship, instantly forgetting that they were robots and were not speaking, and effortlessly following the meaning of each gesture, bleep and action. I rooted for Wall-E on his quest, I admired Eve for her devotion to duty, and I laughed and cried in almost equal measure. I hate sequels, but I am starting a petition for one here and now. Who’s with me?

6/1/11 – Big Momma’s House

Although this project is about catching up with cinema classics old and new, occasionally there’s not going to be anything good on. I didn’t expect my options to run out as early as day six, but time pressures meant this was the only film I could catch today.

Mark Kermode has a theory that to qualify as a comedy, a film must provide a minimum of six laughs. I chuckled twice and grimaced an awful lot more during this formulaic, boring, clichéd and oft-offensive movie. The plot is improbable, the performances are phoned in and the set piece slapstick jokes are poorly conceived and executed. I’m fully aware that I am not part of the target audience for this film, and that children may find parts of it funny, but my 11 month old nephew makes me laugh more often and in a more intelligent way, and personally I’d rather change him every day than watch this again.

5/1/11 – Iron Man 2

Review coming soon. I may be sleeping...