She's Out Of My League - Cinema Review

'both leads are charming and Baruchel's comic tendencies are perfectly reigned in by Eve's straight play, but this just served to make the film more frustrating for its failings'

Around an hour in to She's Out Of My League, despite all expectations to the contrary, I was enjoying myself. The film had gone to great pains to characterise Kirk (Jay Baruchel) and Molly (Alice Eve) as a mismatched couple who fall for one another despite their gulf in the looks department and the likable leads were keeping me entertained. Elsewhere, director Jim Field Smith had also gone to great lengths to transform Kirk's friends (T.J. Miller, Mike Vogel and Nate Torrence) from being stereotypically annoying to bizarrely likable and Krysten Ritter had been successfully installed as the kooky best friend, a role which she's done so often, she should apply for a patent.

Then the film makes a quite frankly unjustifiable choice. In what had been, up till this point, a slightly-more bawdy than usual rom-com, Smith decides to take us down a much darker and more twisted path altogether, directly into the none-too-pleasant bowels of the sex comedy.

The change happens in a single scene involving Molly and Kirk having a romantic moment on the couch just before her old-fashioned Father (a criminally underused Trevor Eve) walks in. The scene's handled with all the tact and intelligence of an American Pie sequel and things soon go downhill, with that encounter defining large parts of what remains whilst all the warmth that had been carefully built up quickly evaporates. The jokes dry up, tenderness is replaced with wanton sex drive, set pieces involving bodily organs are formulated. In all this, Nate Torrence describing Mike Vogel as 'like Yoda... sex Yoda' was the only time I laughed in the second half, contrasted with a first that mixed daft, sweary, insults ('go shit in your hand') with Apatow-esque extended rants to generally smirk inducing effect.

This completely bonkers direction change is a real shame, wasting the great moments that went before it and leaving She's Out Of My League with nowhere to go apart from, that is, to lurch to a clumsy double conflict/resolution conclusion which doesn't feel earned and an hour earlier wouldn't have seemed necessary for the plot to function. Baruchel and Eve retained my attention despite this: both are charming and Baruchel's comic tendencies are perfectly reigned in by Eve's straight play, but this just served to make the film more frustrating for its failings and an overall feeling of 'really? That's really where they're going to take this?' definitely pervaded. Works hard to earn the phrase 'missed opportunity', which it owns like very few films before it.

She's Out Of My League is previewing in UK cinemas from Wednesday 2nd June and is on general release from Friday 4th June.

Look further...

'As She’s Out of My League is a romantic comedy, one could come to expect the film to focus more on the love story and use the comedic moments as a backup, but for this movie, it seems like the writers were attempting to put the comedy aspect into the limelight and use the love story as something to build off of… sadly, that method doesn’t work' - Movie Cynics, 5/10

Trailer Of The Week - Week #22

It's nice to every so often find something that's flying under everyone's radar. We're not particularly good at it. But Ashleigh Walmsley is apparently a person who is and earlier in the week he posted this trailer for upcoming film Altitude. Channeling a low-budget horror aesthetic which feels very reminiscent of last years Triangle, Altitude features that most attractive facet of horror films: an unrecognisable cast list. The one person who might have featured on your radar is Jessica Lowndes from 90210, apparently now looking to step out into the feature film arena. There's no confirmed release dates yet but look for this to hit at least the US before the end of the year.



Trailer Of The Week is a regular Film Intel feature which picks a different tasty trailer of delectable goodness every week and presents it on Sunday for your viewing pleasure. Sometimes old, sometimes new, sometimes major, sometimes independent, sometimes brilliant, sometimes a load of old bobbins: always guaranteed to entertain. If you want to make a suggestion for Trailer Of The Week, see the contact us page.

Film Intel's Final Word

What happened this week and why you shouldn't care.



Alice In Wonderland Makes $1 Billion At The Box Office.

Story: /Film




Which makes all of this seem like a touch of an over-reaction. Wouldn't you agree Mr. Cinema Owner?



Lost And 24 Finish Long Runs.

Story: Examiner.com




SPOILER ALERT: Jack Bauer was in purgatory... or something like that.



UK Series Skins To Get Big Screen Treatment.

Story: The Guardian




It's difficult to put into words our feelings on this. Lets just say that it could be as bad as a big screen adaptation of The Hills. And no Hollywood, that is not an invitation.




And finally...

Despite a veritable bevvy of really quite bad reviews, Entertainment Weekly are reporting that Sex And The City 2 has already made an astounding $3 million from midnight screenings. Although we haven't seen the film yet we feel this probably proves that if you build up a huge fanbase for a franchise, you really can push anything you like out, of any quality and you will make money. See also: Shrek.

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time - Cinema Review

'forget what we said about it not being videogame-like - everyone here may as well be a CGI creation'

Videogame adaptations. Resident Evil. Mortal Kombat. Street Fighter. Super Mario Bros. Not great are they? Nor is their plight aided by the fact that they seem to aim directly for mediocrity. I mean, what were the makers of Mario Bros. thinking, casting Bob Hoskins? How did Street Fighter's producers justify its shamelessly low budget sets and Seagal-esque aesthetic? It's difficult to know. But maybe, just maybe, there's a saviour on the rather sandy horizon in Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time, a big budget adaptation with proper actors and Bruckheimer backing.

Initially, on a surface level, the signs are good. If videogames are ever going to be adapted satisfactorily they need a proper plot, not some approximation of the 'go here, get that, kill him' structure of a game. They also need people with wider appeal and more talent than someone who just happens to resemble an obese plumber. Prince Of Persia has both of these things in a plot which mixes the mystical with royal intrigue and a good old love story, all brought together by the star trio of Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley. It bodes well. At least... it does until the film starts.

Because what you actually get with Prince Of Persia is something which most approaches a poor and rather campy Saturday morning series from the fifties (think The Lone Ranger). From the very start, dialogue is split 50/50 between plot exposition and 'funny' one-liners and we'll tell you now, the one-liners aren't funny. What you're left with is a weighty plot, completely devoid of charisma or charm which pauses literally every five minutes for someone to explain what's going on, who they are or why they need to get where they're heading. Forget what we said about it not being videogame-like - everyone here may as well be a CGI creation.

And, unfortunately, neither Gyllenhaal nor Arterton can be excluded from that summary. They're both serviceable sure but they're also as flat as a Persian pancake, lacking the life or vigour that both their characters (so says someone expositing at some point) are apparently blessed with. Kingsley is as reliable as ever but in all this flatness he somehow feels out of place, ditto Alfred Molina's supporting role, which provides a few lighter moments but feels like a clown cameoing at a funeral.

It's left to the action to save it from complete obscurity and some well crafted scary gentlemen in black do just about do that but even here, the film is hampered by uninspired direction from Mike Newell and confusing editing which destroys the choreography.

It's no surprise that the film looks set to have to face claims of 'white washing'. This is a film made by a Hollywood with its head in a bygone age, out of touch with punters and seemingly ignorant on multiple levels.

Look further...

'A highly entertaining blockbuster which pays enough respect to the game it originated from' - Great Expectations, 4/5

Up In The Air - Blu-ray Review

'I was entranced but also beginning to wonder if, when the film was over, I might find myself suffering from clinical depression'

Released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray at the start of this week, I don't think many of the cinema reviews of Up In The Air quite gave me enough warning about the film's content. During an opening forty-five minutes which takes great pains to point out to us just how distant Ryan Bingham's (George Clooney) life is from the rest of humanity, I was entranced but also beginning to wonder if, when the film was over, I might find myself suffering from clinical depression.

In the mode of Lost In Translation (which Up In The Air resembles in themes, if not in tone and style) our story here isn't so much a dramatic narrative, more a portrayal of existence. Bingham works for a company who hire consultants out to fire people at failing businesses. He travels light, collects air miles and generally enjoys his life on the road. That is until, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) turns up with a series of cost-cutting measures to keep him in the office. Swayed by Bingham's arguments to the contrary, his boss (Jason Bateman) pairs the duo up so that Keener can learn the ropes and Bingham can be convinced of the new methods.

The one person missing from all this is Vera Farmiga as Alex Goran, Bingham's love interest and for me, that is where she belongs, on the outside of this story. That's not to say that Farmiga isn't good (she is) but rather that the compelling nature in Bingham's story rests more in his conversations with Natalie than they do with Alex. It isn't a love triangle but it perhaps is a three-sided philosophy conversation and when Natalie and Bingham are discussing life, the universe and everything and Alex and Bingham are discussing mileage cards, my interest was firmly invested in the former.

Part of that , no doubt, is due to Anna Kendrick who, along with Jason Bateman, really stands out and matches up with actors who have been doing this for a lot longer. Hers is a performance that felt theatrical to a tee. What I mean by that is not that it was overly expressive and somewhat hammed but that it felt more like a theatre performance than that of a motion picture. Natalie is intimate and quiet and Kendrick didn't force the character, guaranteeing our investment in her. Bateman is the forgotten man of this movement but he deserves credit too, mainly for taking on a role that is none Bateman-like and annihilating it with admirable restraint and a great dynamic with Clooney.

Which, all in all, speaks for a film with great technical constituents but not one whose story bears a mention. It does. But here again I feel some haven't warned us enough about its contents. It's not a love story or a journey of discovery or one of awakening; it's a story about people who do sometimes stupid, sometimes clever and sometimes inconsequential things and then have to maraud through life with the consequences. It flirts, certainly, with denying any form of narrative satisfaction but wisely remembers its audience in the final frames, giving us a side of Bingham which hint that either because of or in spite of his journey, he's learnt something about distance.

Look further...

'elevated by the star power of the ever so charismatic George Clooney, Up in the Air is a very entertaining, well-crafted but ultimately superficial movie that pretends to be more than it really is' - Anomalous Materials, B+

Hitman - Blu-ray Review

'More breasts = lower quality film. Case for the prosecution: Hitman'

There is a school of thought circulating the Film Intel offices which maintains that a film's quality is directly proportional to the amount of time its lead actresses' breasts spend needlessly on screen. More breasts = lower quality film. Case for the prosecution: Hitman, in which, should we need to spell it out at this stage, we see a rather large amount of Olga Kurylenko.

Not enough though, it would seem, to render Hitman at the bottom end of our scale and therefore, completely worthless, saved as it is by some entertaining scenes and the genius decision to cast Timothy Olyphant in the lead role. Cool and distant, Olyphant is an actor with presence, a required facet in anyone attempting to play an assassin, and whilst his range isn't exactly tested here (direction notes read: hit him, look stoic; run there, look stoic; pick her up, look stoic) his Agent 47 is intriguing enough to keep us at least partially invested in his character. The quiet, dialogue-heavy scenes with Dougray Scott which form the sandwich wrapper around the action filling are interesting if not completely captive and an early movement in a hotel stood out amongst the rest of the pyrotechnics.

Hitman though, is one of those films which takes itself too seriously at times and not seriously enough at others. With Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, Henry Ian Cusick, Scott and Olyphant all doing their level-best to out snarl each other, there's a serious lack of humour or lightness of touch which bogs the film down and moves any respite from the violence on to the chemistry between Olyphant and Kurylenko. Unfortunately, theres is a chemistry which scores nil and pained scenes involving her trying to communicate with him are, well... painful.

Director Xavier Gens shows that, at times, he had a tight handle on this, framing a shot of Agent 47 walking down a hallway to appear like a videogame: a subtle nod that fans will appreciate but which doesn't invade the language of the film à la Doom. Elsewhere though, like the overall tone, he wavers and climatic gun battles with key characters (Henry Ian Cusick's drug dealer vs Agent 47 in particular) don't deliver and are poorly choreographed. In the end, he resorts to more nakedness to satisfy the fan boys, a desperate decision which really shows just how shallow Hitman as a whole sadly is.

Look further...

'the narrative is all over the place and sometimes completely laughable, the story isn’t clear and even the basics are hard to follow, but I was sold by the aesthetic of the movie and by Olyphant in particular' - Row Three (Marina Antunes), 2.5/5

Classic Intel: The Shawshank Redemption - DVD Review

'from the moment you realise you're going to spend just over two hours listening to Morgan Freeman's gently lilting narration, to the Raquel Welch reveal, it draws you in to its story like a hug from a slightly overweight relative'

The Shawshank Redemption has taken a while to justify receiving full marks from me. I think the reason for that is in no small part due to IMDb Top 250, arguably the most definitive list available to measure public opinion in relation to films. There are many problems with the IMDb chart. For instance, it is made by, for and of the Internet generation, meaning films like The Dark Knight enjoy a higher ranking than Casablanca and Citizen Kane, both of which, if the list is to be believed, have been seen by less people.

Shawshank sits atop the list in pole position, sharing an equal rating (9.1) only with The Godfather, which is relegated to second on account of having less votes. For my money Shawshank doesn't deserve to be there and for this reason, the film's always grated me the wrong way; in a child like manner that I probably should have grown out of years ago, I couldn't believe that Shawshank dared to keep favourites like Coppola's epic, The Empire Strikes Back and others off the top spot.

Over time though, like the rest of the population, I've grown to love Shawshank. It's hard not to. From the moment you realise you're going to spend just over two hours listening to Morgan Freeman's gently lilting narration, to the Raquel Welch reveal, it draws you in to its story like a hug from a slightly overweight relative and doesn't let you leave until it's made sure you're entirely, beautifully, happy.

Shawshank has the big gestures (the re-tarring of the rooftop, the poster motif, Tim Robbins' Andy playing classical music to the cons) but it also does the minutiae explosively well. Take Brooks (James Whitmore) for example. In any other film he'd be the sage old con that spouts a bit of wise advice and then probably shuffles off this mortal coil at some point, manipulating an unearned emotional response from the audience in the process. Here though, he's a character. Just like everyone else in the prison he has fears and loves, he acts tenderly and irrationally; he lives through others and others through him. Going to an even smaller level, Frank Darabont leaves nothing to chance. Look at Brooks arriving at the halfway house. The woman who shows him to his rooms can't even look at him as she gives him the key. How can he, a once respected and noble man, adapt to live in an outside world that treats him with such neglect and abandon?

The story in the end though relies on Andy and Red, a double act perfectly cast and wonderfully played by Robbins and Freeman. Again, just like Brooks, these are characters with idiosyncrasies so deep you could write a three volume book on each of them. Darabont avoids the clichéd tale of Andy winning Red's trust (although the roof scene is obviously a part of it), instead opting for something more subtle: from the moment Freeman starts narrating, we feel like these two have been friends for a life time. It's their story to grow and grow it they do, both feeding off each other like the titanic screen presences they are, never forgetting that their responsibility is ultimately to an audience who never feel anything but love for them.

Shawshank isn't the best film of all time but the public have spoken and on a list made by, for and of the Internet generation, it is something remarkable and refreshing that an old-school film with old-school values, performances and ideas, leads, whilst others follow.

Look further...

'a beautiful testament to the value of life, hope and friendship. I can’t remember the last time I cried this much during a film' - The Final Girl Project

Stones In Exile - TV Review

'tries to satisfy as both a 'making of' documentary and a music video but ends up being a watered down mish-mash of both'

Premiering in Cannes this year, Stones In Exile is a Rolling Stones documentary which promises little and delivers less.

Narrowly focusing on the six months or so 'The Stones' spent at Keith Richards' palatial French estate in order to avoid a massive tax bill in the UK, the film starts promising to expand its focus by drawing on the political climate as the reason the band were forced to flee: surely an area rich in material considering the very nature of the band's music and the still-present zeitgeist of the late '60s.

Soon however, this is all abandoned in favour of a film which tries to satisfy as both a 'making of' documentary and a music video but ends up being a watered down mish-mash of both. Attempting to inject some much-needed vigour, director Stephen Kijak plays around with photographs for much of the runtime, whilst the soundtrack blends the dialogue of 'talking heads' interviews and music from the album which resulted from their time there, Exile On Main St..

The effect does nothing to make us more invested in the tale, perhaps instead doing the opposite. Pictures of opulence and decadence are displayed whilst band member after band member decries the 'difficult conditions'. Sure, recording in a cramped basement must have been tough for these multi-millionaire rock stars but all of them and Kijack, who needs more even-handedness if he wants to direct this sort of thing, seem to forget the girls, drugs, booze and extensive grounds waiting for them when they finish, only to talk about how great those parts were in the very next segments. It's hard to sympathise with their gripes.

Perhaps most worryingly in a film produced by several of the band, there's little criticism and a lot of hero worship. Kijack does point out that yes, there were kids present and no, making those kids role joints was probably not a good thing but that's where he stops, quickly changing track onto something a bit more 'rock and roll'. What could have at least been an odd curio for Stones fans to seek out instead ends up being an inconsequential piece of fan memorabilia that insults more than it entertains.

Look further...

'What’s lacking is any real dramatic structure or investigative bite' - Screen Daily

Trailer Of The Week - Week #21

Well, we've put if off for as long as possible, but there's now no avoiding it. We really tried not to join the bandwagon of drum-beaters currently building anticipation levels for Inception up to humongous levels that it surely can't fulfill but, what can we say? We've caved. Below then is one of the best trailers we've seen this year. Released a couple of weeks ago, the full trailer for Inception has a little bit of everything; it reveals more of the plot, shows some more of the gravity-defying imagery, gives us the first glimpses of Cotillard and Hardy and perfectly exemplifies just how far Leonardo DiCaprio's acting has come in the last ten years. Like the rest of the world, we can't wait.



Trailer Of The Week is a regular Film Intel feature which picks a different tasty trailer of delectable goodness every week and presents it on Sunday for your viewing pleasure. Sometimes old, sometimes new, sometimes major, sometimes independent, sometimes brilliant, sometimes a load of old bobbins: always guaranteed to entertain. If you want to make a suggestion for Trailer Of The Week, see the contact us page.

Film Intel's Final Word

What happened this week and why you shouldn't care.



Megan Fox Leaves Transformers. Replacement Announced?

Story: ScreenGeek




Alan Tudyk was cast the week before Megan left and is yet to be assigned a role. Draw your own conclusions.




Men In Black First Casting News Sets The Tone.

Story: Best For Film




At no point will that tone be described as 'serious' or 'sombre'.



Heavy Rain Adaptation Announced. Ex-New Line Guys Complete The Seven Circle.

Story: /Film




Purchasing the rights to another acclaimed game gives Hollywood another chance to get it right. When they don't, we'll be the first ones to tell you.



And finally...

The Huffington Post reports that Lindsay Lohan is facing jail time having lost her passport whilst at the Cannes Film Festival, thus rendering it difficult for her to return to face a court date. Our thoughts about this story, in no particular order, are; 'is this a film story?', 'She's a movie star, surely they don't actually need that sort of thing' and 'who?'.

A Scanner Darkly - Blu-ray Review

'every Reeves performance can be described as a version of Neo and this one sees the uber-dude broken and tipping towards the psychopathic, whilst channelling the relaxed Orange County slacker-vibe in a generally agreeable way'

Following a mixed reception on its release in 2006, A Scanner Darkly now seems to inhabit that particular ring of cult films apparently reserved only for Philip K. Dick adaptations. Adapted from Dick's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by writer/director Richard Linklater, this animated fable appears to have divided all but Dick's core fan base and family, who appear unreserved in their praise of Linklater's adaptation.

It's easy to see why A Scanner Darkly divides. Filmed as live action but presented as animation after a technique called rotoscoping (tracing animation over the live action frames) had been applied, the effect is initially jarring and difficult to come to terms with, particularly as the film starts with a trippy, disconnected scene of a drug addict (Rory Cochrane) imagining bugs crawling all over him. Eventually the technique does bed in to your watching psyche, and gradually guarantees visual investment, but in the beginning it can be hard to adapt to.

Undoubtedly this feeling is both aided and hindered by watching the film in high-definition. Released on Blu-ray last week, the transfer is nothing short of amazing and one of the best advertisements for the system I've seen. Constantly shifting 'scramble suits' and ambiguous backgrounds are all given sharp edges along with some of the more bizarre imagery which looks like it was lifted straight from a Beatles song. The results will make your head spin.

Performance wise there's little to moan about. Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey Jr. are at their manic unleashed best as a pair of drug addicts living with undercover cop Keanu Reeves. Every Reeves performance can be described as a version of Neo and this one sees the uber-dude broken and tipping towards the psychopathic, whilst channelling the relaxed Orange County slacker-vibe in a generally agreeable way which seems to fit the character. Winona Ryder's performance as Donna, Reeves' 'girl', is the only one of the leads which meanders and I found it difficult to get a handle on her character and motivations although these do become more developed as the film begins to draw conclusions.

Where the film really excels is in its punchy and captivating script which channels the energy of the high admirably whilst never shying away from capturing the consequences of the come-down. A conversation between the three leading men in a pick up truck is both funny and tragic whilst our addict from the very beginning's attempt at suicide is both bonkers and terrifying, aided by a mind-bendingly brilliant piece of deadpan narration. Gorgeous, but with scruples, morals and multi-eyed aliens to back up its visual invention.

Look further...

'wouldn't have worked if not for rotoscope, a sense of surrealism, you never know what's real and what's a dream' - Four Of Them

Serenity - DVD Review

'has a playful and methodical approach to the science-fiction genre, without ever heading anywhere close to being disrespectful of it'

People doubting the brilliance of Serenity need pay attention to just one scene.

Our hero Mal (Nathan Fillion) is harbouring a dangerous fugitive (Summer Glau) who is wanted by The Operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a deadly agent of The Alliance. We find Mal walking in to a trap, having been contacted by his estranged partner Inara (Morena Baccarin). Disguised loosely as a woman, Mal has made it to her quarters where he is soon confronted by The Operative. In any other film this would be a stock conversation between good and evil, ending in one of two ways but (writer/director) Joss Whedon is already on to that, having his characters engage in a conversation about how their negotiations should pan out;


THE OPERATIVE: That is a trap. I offer money, you'll play the man of honor and take umbrage; I ask you to do what is right and you'll play the brigand. I have no stomach for games.


So The Operative isn't messing around, he knows all the tricks of the trade, all the clichés of the genre. Instead he goes for Mal's modus operandi: protect what's yours;


THE OPERATIVE: That girl will rain destruction down on you and your ship. She is an albatross, Captain.


Of course, anyone with a generic national education certificate will know this is a reference to a poem (Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). Normal action-spectaculars would leave the reference hanging but, quick as a flash, Whedon (and Mal) are on to it;


MAL: Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it.


A bit of banter between Mal and Inara follows and some more development between The Operative and Mal in a scene which has already started by setting out the fact that The Operative has the brawn but Mal the brains;


THE OPERATIVE: I have a warship in deep orbit, Captain. We locked onto Serenity's pulse beacon the moment you hit atmo. I can speak a word and send a missile to that exact location inside of three minutes.
MAL: You do that, you'd best make peace with your dear and fluffy lord.
[Mal tosses mechanism at the Operative]
THE OPERATIVE: [catching the mechanism] Pulse beacon.


And so, thus follows a fight which Mal has no chance of winning - he has used all of his charm and brain power and The Operative is now going to use all of his brawn and brute force to assert his and The Alliance's authority over the little man... that is, until Whedon decides to play with expectations again;


THE OPERATIVE: [to Mal] You are fooling yourself, Captain. Nothing here is what it seems. You are not the plucky hero, the Alliance is not an evil empire, and this is not the grand arena.
INARA: And that's not incense.
[He turns to look: the incense stick burns away - rather like a fuse - and FLASHES in an explosion of light and sound]


The charm and genius of Serenity, as embodied in that scene, is that it has a playful and methodical approach to the science-fiction genre, without ever heading anywhere close to being disrespectful of it. It is intelligent and witty but not afraid to include violence and problematic imagery that occasionally approaches risqué.

In the end it is let down by some action scenes which don't quite work (the final Reaver battle is a mess) and some acting which borders on awful (Adam Baldwin and Jewel Staite are particularly weak). Having said that, this is a film which entertains gleefully and battles manfully, as well as creating rounded, brilliant characters, such as Mal and River, all held together wonderfully by the smarts of Whedon. A fantastic, hilarious and visually exciting, science-fiction treat with many more scenes just as entertaining as this one.

Look further...

'sci-fi actioners with ingenuity are a rarity and Serenity has it in spades' - Nevermind Popular Film

Why Isn't This A Film? - It's Only A Movie

What have we got here then?

It's Only A Movie: Reel Life Adventures Of A Film Obsessive is the memoir of, arguably, the UK's top film critic, Mark Kermode. It was published just a few months ago during a spell which has seen Kermode's stock continue to rise, in part due to his partnership with Simon Mayo on the 5Live film show.

OK fine. What’s it about?

The book is mainly compiled of feature-length stories of import, loosely related to films (a trip through Russia and the Ukraine whilst trying to find the set of a low budget horror film) and of small anecdotes Kermode has picked up during his years as a critic (his first meeting with Linda Blair).

Interesting. Is there something more?

Erm... not a huge amount no, the above pretty neatly sums up the two categories that everything in the book can be filed under. There is some loose tongue-in-cheek humour about who would play Kermode and his associates in a film of his life but seeing as we're using that to justify the books inclusion here, we better save any extended wonderings on that for later in this article.

Save me the trouble then – is it any good?

If you're a fan of Kermode then yes, it'll certainly be an enjoyable read. It gives a good insight into life as a film critic and establishes how he made his name in the business for those more interested in the autobiographical detail.




But…

The anecdotes are hit and miss. I found the Linda Blair one to be enchanting but others (such as the altercation with Helen Mirren) have been told before and when placed onto the bare page seem less dramatic than Kermode presents them in speech. The same is true of the longer stories. The journey through Russia is entertaining (if not compelling) but anyone familiar with Kermode's work will probably already know about the Werner Herzog shooting incident which has been covered on YouTube and on his own BBC video blog.

What are its chances of being made as a film?

Erm... well, to be honest, slim to none. And we're actually betting on 'none'. I suppose, in fifty years time, some of the stories on display here could be manipulated into a retrospective jaunt around the British Isles and Europe but even that's a long shot. It's interesting and dramatic in places but it's hardly feature film material.

But who'd star in it?

Well (and bearing in mind the above, we're speaking purely hypothetically here), during the course of the book Kermode casts Jason Isaacs as himself (the two were at school together and have become friends in later life), the late Charles Hawtrey as Simon Mayo, The Queen as Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore as Kermode's wife Linda and Udo Kier as the mad Ukrainian driver 'Mr Nyet', which is a difficult cast to beat.

What Kermode is missing though is a younger version of himself. Step forward none other than Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a gentleman who most certainly could resemble a young Kermode and who would almost certainly rock-out an Elvis like quiff. Thank us later Mr. Kermode, thank us later.

Will it be any good?

On the grounds of the above two questions we should really refuse to answer this one this time but for prosperity's sake, we're going with no, it would not be very good.

Anything else I should know about it?

This blog has pointed readers the way of Kermode and Mayo's brilliant podcast before but, for one final time (we promise), it is available on itunes (we believe worldwide) by searching 'Kermode and Mayo'. Alternatively, more information, the latest episode, a link to Kermode's video blog and a direct itunes link can be found on their BBC page.


Why Isn't This A Film? is a regular Film Intel feature which takes a book (you know... one of those things with pages in, doesn't project on to a screen, makes small rustling noises), comic, video game or graphic novel and assesses its adaptation prospects. One day this feature will get something right and we will win something major and valuable. Possibly.

Just Like Heaven - DVD Review

'Ruffalo shows a more typically funny and open rom-com side which had previously been absent in his repertoire'

Just Like Heaven made it into Film Intel's DVD player by virtue of being directed by the same guy who directed Mean Girls, Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past and The Spiderwick Chronicles, all films that we, well... ahem... enjoyed, although if you ever quote us on that during a serious discussion of something like 2001 we will deny all knowledge.

That 'guy' is Mark Waters, a man who no less than Scott Mendelson calls a 'real director', you know, as opposed to a fake one. Initial signs from just reading the cover of Just Like Heaven are good; it stars a couple of 'real' actors (Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon), has a nice easy-to-follow plot (Witherspoon is dead, Ruffalo can see her) and clocks in at a nice and breezy, lemon squeezy, ninety-five minutes.

Happily, having watched the entirety of those ninety-five minutes, there's nothing in Just Like Heaven to suggest that Waters isn't all that he (and Mendelson) claims to be - like his other films there is a lot of fun to be had here in a story that's never bad enough to be offensive or good enough to stand out markedly.

Waters shows his prowess as a director in particular with Ruffalo, an actor undoubtedly more comfortable with much weightier subject matters and scripts. But Waters doesn't give up easily and on occasions (the scene where he performs a medical procedure with some Vodka in particular) Ruffalo shows a more typically funny and open rom-com side which had previously been absent in his repertoire.

There are some obvious failings too though and although there is much laughter to be had at various moments, on several occasions Just Like Heaven also descends into something fast approaching melodrama, if not outright cheese, a hole Waters' other films resolutely and accurately avoided. The pace too is lightning quick, something which the material demands but which Waters seems uninterested in restraining: good for those who like to get on with it but bad for those who would prefer some more advanced character development of anyone outside of the leads.

Of those leads though, Witherspoon can do this sort of thing with her eyes closed and coupled with the re-born Ruffalo, she ensures that Waters delivers another safe bet with enough mad-cap laughs to make you forget you're watching a formulaic rom-com. On this and later evidence, there's certainly enough promise here to ensure this a director you keep an eye on.

Look further...

'aside from the usual romantic comedy problems, it's a really cute and enjoyable movie' - Film Forager, 3.5/5

The Prisoner - Blu-ray Review

'begs the question; what is Gandalf doing here?'

Jim Caviezel must be one of the unluckiest actors around. After taking the starring role from (amongst others) Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, Adrien Brody, Sean Penn and George Clooney in Terrence Malick's brilliant The Thin Red Line, you would have thought that the world was his lobster. And indeed, for a time, it seemed that that might be the case, with this Screen Rant article referencing the fact that Caviezel was actually at one point confirmed as Cyclops in X-Men and then appeared destined for Superman in Bryan Singer's reboot. Those roles however, never emerged and, perhaps more due to one other single role (that small matter of being Jesus) than anything else, Caviezel has slipped almost unnoticed into the world of TV and the remake of The Prisoner.

Which then of course begs the question; what is Gandalf doing here? Although Caviezel probably has his reasons for dipping his toes in the TV arena, Sir Ian McKellen is surely not short of offers. Together though, the presence of two recognisable names gives the 6-part mini series a measure of authority which, thankfully, is borne out as the two clash on screen.

The narrative follows a dual-strand as Caviezel's Number 6 wakes up to find himself in The Village, a mysterious and idealised community in the middle of the desert where everyone has a number rather than a name. Run by the shadowy 2 (McKellan), who seems intent on keeping 6 there, many subplots soon emerge including that of 313 (Ruth Wilson), the village doctor who takes a liking to 6 and 11-12 (Jamie Campbell Bower), 2's son who starts down the road of rebellion. Elsewhere, Michael (also Caivezel) has just resigned from his job in New York only to be confronted by Lucy (Hayley Atwell), a fellow employee who seems to know more than she's letting on about the mysterious company he worked for.

If this sounds like it has the potential to be confusing then it's because it does and choppy editing combined with some detached sound and inconsequential characters coming and going in the first two episodes don't give The Prisoner much chance of overcoming that fact. It is intriguing but, at the start at least, The Prisoner fails to deliver on said intrigue and 6's frustration at his predicament, where no other member of The Village seems to remember 'The Other Place', will be matched by the viewers', who are given precious little to feed on, perhaps in the main due to the lack of balance between the scenes in The Village and those in New York.

After a somewhat bizarre mid-season 'break' in episode 3 (an inconsequential departure into how surveillance works in The Village) episodes 4 and 5 really start to pick up the pace, providing some answers whilst posing some difficult and life-changing questions for many of the protagonists. Jamie Campbell Bower, one of many of the younger members of the cast who are soon set for bigger things, starts to come into his own as both an actor and a character and it's interesting that, come the end, 11-12 might actually have the most control over the narrative.

The finale (episode 6) does a great job of providing enough answers to satisfy an audience starved of narrative completion up to that point but does leave enough open to retain its continuous cult aesthetic. McKellen and Caviezel, happily at this point back to having meaningful conversations, excel with Caviezel showing a different side to 6 and McKellen suggesting there may be more ambiguity beneath the surface of 2 than previous episodes had suggested. Really smart turns by both Hayley Atwell and Ruth Wilson also help to pull a series which looked destined to be mediocre up to something more.

Although never destined for mainstream success, it could be argued that The Prisoner doesn't aim for it, instead happy in its allocated slot as a cult remake of what was already a cult series to begin with. Both frustrating and entertaining in equal measure, with the latter two of those feelings eventually winning out.

Look further...

'If you like movies like Gattaca, Equilibrium, The Truman Show or even TV series, Lost, then The Prisoner is definitely another mysterious story to watch' - HeyUGuys

Trailer Of The Week - Week #20

Are we really in Week 20 of 2010 already? Time flies when you're, erm... watching movies. Ahem. Anyway... Brick seems to be cropping up a lot round the blogosphere recently. Back in February, Univarn picked up on many of the key reasons why it's so successful with his review and just this week Vance over at The Audient gave it a second chance and produced this fantastic article. For my money, Brick is something close to genius. The stylisation extends further than just the dialogue, leading to a very memorable trip into neo-noir that benefits from repeated watching more than many movies I've seen. The red band trailer, which bizarrely replaces the film's awesomely bare, xylophonic score with brass-based music, is embedded below.



Trailer Of The Week is a regular Film Intel feature which picks a different tasty trailer of delectable goodness every week and presents it on Sunday for your viewing pleasure. Sometimes old, sometimes new, sometimes major, sometimes independent, sometimes brilliant, sometimes a load of old bobbins: always guaranteed to entertain. If you want to make a suggestion for Trailer Of The Week, see the contact us page.

Film Intel's Final Word

What happened this week and why you shouldn't care.




Italian's Throw A Strop. Insight Defenders Of Free Speech.

Story: BBC




Berlusconi continues to lose plot. Film educated opponents jump at the chance to invoke The Godfather in political debate.




Speculation Continues Around Joaquin Phoenix 'Documentary'.

Story: Empire




Public, who watched the entire thing unfold in real-time anyway, continue not to care.



After Avoiding The Fountain, Pitt Now Set To Work With Aronofsky.

Story: Variety




Although Pitt has not yet been confirmed as 'in' the film, expect the press to force a denial or elicit a confirmation at some point going forwards. Tiger actually sounds intriguing so we'll refrain from passing 'humouress' comment on this one. For now...




And Finally...

Slash Film, along with a whole host of others, are reporting that the script for the upcoming Kung Fu Panda sequel, The Kaboom Of Doom was given a makeover by none other than existentialist wacko Charlie Kaufman. As SF point out, this doesn't necessarily mean that the film will feature an extreme section of self-doubt realisation but we're not ruling out Kaufman writing himself into the film. Again. Only this time as a miniature animation, as opposed to a self-aggrandising Nicholas Cage.

Bunny And The Bull - Blu-ray Review

'substantial emotional investment is required in Stephen for the film to work but, after over an hour, I couldn't even remember his name'

Because Bunny And The Bull was completely funded in England, it's quite difficult to find out any financial information about it. IMDb has its opening UK weekend at £49,612, having been shown on just 27 screens, a run that was probably never extended. It's reasonable therefore to assume that Bunny's budget wasn't astronomical, a fact borne out within the opening half hour, when you realise that the cheap sets and lacklustre acting aren't going to magically disappear when the second act starts. Like many low budget films, this turns out to be both a part of Bunny's success and a reason why its success is limited.

Unlike some smaller budget independent offerings, Bunny feels beset by technical problems which threaten the viewers involvement in and commitment to, the action on screen. That action surrounds Stephen (Edward Hogg), a young shut-in who, on a day when his routine is strangely broken, finds himself remembering a road trip taken around Europe with his best friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby). The road trip is shown to us on screen by a series of visions Stephen has based on memorabilia he finds from the trip. So, he finds a map and we see Stephen and Bunny driving through paper countryside; a couple of pictures, the duo are in a world created by photographs. The idea behind this is sound but the execution sometimes muddled. The opening trip to a hand-drawn bookies for example, never convinces and the final scenes in a Spain made out of bottle crates and sheets are particularly weak. Sound too sometimes echoes around the place and the lighting is as patchy as the locations.

But, as previously mentioned, the ideas behind the central visions are creative and unique and often (the pictures, a trip inside a clockwork fairground, a snow globe) the setting is so charming that the technical errors fade into the background. In the area of charm, Bunny has a lot going for it, particularly when Eloisa (Verónica Echegui, most obviously comparable to Penélope Cruz) arrives to make the duo a trio. Her presence is one of vicious humour, bubbling sensuality and quiet affection and, although the character conforms perhaps too much to the 'passionate European' stereotype, Echegui's committed performance pulls the film up markedly.

Which is, in a way, veiled criticism because, for me, the central duo weren't engaging enough to sustain my interest all the way through. Substantial emotional investment is required in Stephen for the film to work but, after over an hour, I couldn't even remember his name and had been given little reason to really care for him. Simon Farnaby as Bunny is occasionally hilarious ('you try reasoning with a big fat gypsy at four o'clock in the morning in the nuddy nudd!) but his TV series (and particularly sitcom heavy) background, belies him when something more refined is called for and, again, I struggled to connect or sympathise with him.

For people trying to search out something new and unique, or even for fans of David Lynch-like surrealism, there's plenty here to be interested in but for everyone else, there's only just enough to be engaged by in a film which, at least eventually, has its heart in the right place.

Look further...

'Channeling Monty Python, David Lynch and Gilliam all at the same time, this is a welcome and highly refreshing new entry into the British film cannon' - Darkmatters, 9/10

Tickle My Colon

Movie titles are slowly moving to having so much punctuation in them that I'm eagerly awaiting the upcoming film '(Revenge Of The Brackets): [Return - Of The Hyphenated Squares]'. This can be perturbing for the film reviewer on numerous levels. For example, should X-Men Origins: Wolverine be written like that or maybe X-Men: Origins - Wolverine or perhaps X-Men: Origins: Wolverine. The possibilities are endless but the one common factor in all the above is the colon, long since the darling of punctuation-happy film producers everywhere.

The colon does a very important job in film titles by providing crucial extra information about what we're going to see, information that we mere mortals would otherwise obviously be oblivious to. For example, without its rather negative colon appendage, would we have known that Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 was so bad, or that Borat was a ridiculous parody, or that a film with, you know Wolverine on all its posters was going to focus on, erm... Wolverine.

But kids, grammar can also be fun and Film Intel found itself rather distracted earlier in the week by considering the possibilities of inserting the colon in various places where it shouldn't be. The Alien Colon, if you will. Here's what you do:

1) Take any famous list of films. Good examples include the IMDb Top 250, the current box office chart, Film Intel's own reviews index or anything on iCheckMovies.
2) Scan through the list and pick two movies next to one another
3) Insert a colon between the titles
4) If appropriate add a number because, obviously, this is the big budget sequel
5) Daydream about the possibilities

Sceptical about what brilliant potential blockbusters this exercise can generate? Consider the following, all of which were made using the above method;



The Losers: Sex & The City 2

Alien: Amélie

Gladiator 2: The Great Escape

Star Trek: Amores Perros

Alice In Wonderland 2: Jurassic Park



And my own personal favourite...

The Passion Of The Christ: Mamma Mia!



So Hollywood, next time you're stressing about what's going to provide you with your next 'working lunch' or how you're going to break the box office record all over again, just remember: the colon's always here to help.

Look further...

This Entertainment Weekly article provided a valuable resource to enable Film Intel's amusement and gives out such brilliant punctuation-related awards as 'Best sarcastic use of an exclamation point'.

Classic Intel: Cool Hand Luke - DVD Review

'Luke's rebellion, rather like the film itself, is quiet and contemplative and has therefore, rather been silenced'

Cool Hand Luke is one of those oddities of the IMDb Top 250, in that, despite its lofty perch (#125), rarely will you see it featuring in a top ten list. You only have to look at three out of the five films below it in the list to see what I mean; Donnie Darko, The Sixth Sense and There Will Be Blood each have fan bases that could probably be described as passionate whilst Luke's is something more approaching quiet reverence.

Whilst watching Cool Hand Luke (for the first time no less), I could see why this was the case. Sure, its message of social disenfranchisement and rebellion remains relevant throughout the ages but since its appearance in the 60s we've had other films that have presented the same message in a more stylised way (A Clockwork Orange) and have continued to be gorged on others prior to it that have retained a greater sense of iconicity (Rebel Without A Cause). Luke's rebellion, rather like the film itself, is quiet and contemplative and has therefore, rather been silenced.

Which is a shame because Cool Hand Luke is a wonderful film which perhaps suffers from too quiet of a touch by its director Stuart Rosenberg. What I mean by that is that although Rosenberg is right to shy away from Great Escape-alike 'trips to the cooler', he doesn't give us anything particularly grandiose or memorable to latch on to. The review entitled Sticking It To The Man on IMDb identifies the key scenes as being the car wash (because it is out of place) and the two scenes dealing with Luke's mother. I would agree. But if this is Luke's antithesis then it is not difficult to see why Shawshank's rooftop beers and Rita Hayworth poster or The Great Escape's motorcycle jump or Dean's leather jacket are remembered over it and capture similar ideas or genre conventions to a greater degree.

But to say Rosenberg doesn't have some success would be to not tell the full story. Paul Newman's performance, whilst brilliant in only the way Newman can be, was obviously meticulously teased from him by somebody and for that Rosenberg can take great credit. In the second lengthy scene regarding Luke's mother, both director and star give a masterclass as a quiet and contemplative rebel plucks at his banjo and mouths a simple ditty. Elsewhere too, the characters that populate the ramshackle prison are largely individualised rather than marginalised, never more the case than in Dragline, meatily brought to life with some much needed 'oomph' by George Kennedy.

Despite the obvious enjoyment to be had here, I too found Cool Hand Luke neither openly rebellious, nor unique enough in its disagreement, to embrace it fully and must too fall into the category of quiet reverence, although I am all for people who are willing to wave its flag higher and shout its praise louder.

Look further...

'My number one favorite movie of all-time, boss' - Cut The Crap Movie Reviews, 10/10

Why Isn't This A Film? - Turf

What have we got here then?

Turf is the first comic from UK media and TV personality Jonathan Ross, recently made infamous by the Andrew Sachs prank phone calls fiasco but generally known as host of Film 2010 and Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, amongst other things. It is illustrated by Tommy Lee Edwards.

OK fine. What’s it about?

Set in 1929 New York, Turf focuses on the attempts of a group of vampires to overrun the ruling gang lords and take the city for themselves. Guiding us through this maze is moral compass, Susie Randall who is, in true noir style, an investigative reporter for 'The Herald'. There's also an alien.

Interesting. Is there something more?

Well yes, as we said, there's an alien. It's not clear how he fits in to it yet.

Save me the trouble then – is it any good?

It's a very interesting read indeed and Ross himself has talked of it as being, 'an intelligent popcorn movie. Lots of action, lots of setting, lots of cool ideas, but with an emotional heart to it' which we would agree with. The setting is meticulously developed, character is not forgotten at the expense of action and there are 'layers' built up around what could have been stereotypes (is one of the mob bosses good or evil for example; do all the vampires want to kill?).




But…

Well... there's an alien. Did we mention that? Granted, it's not clear entirely what he's doing yet but it seems like overkill: the story appears to be working just fine without him and it hints that Ross has thrown all of his geekiness at this in the hope that something sticks. It's also very dialogue heavy, occasionally making you wish someone had told Ross to just let Edward's illustrations do the talking for at least part of it. But, this is only issue one of six, so lets not prejudge it.

What are its chances of being made as a film?

Oh, absolutely brilliant, near to a certainty. Ross' wife is Jane Goldman who scripted the recent adaptation of Kick-Ass. Between them, they have a huge amount of industry contacts and it would be more surprising if this didn't happen, rather than hearing it formally announced. Their friend Matthew Vaughn (who directed Kick-Ass) is already circling.

But who'd star in it?

With Vaughn and Goldman almost certain to be attached at some point, don't be surprised when the inevitable story about Aaron Johnson being 'set to star' surfaces. In all fairness, he'd actually make a very good Stefan, the younger and more impetuous of the two vampiric Dragonmir bothers. There's plenty of character roles here too; a charismatic mob boss (a Bobby Cannavale or Giovanni Ribisi perhaps), a star-power leading lady, capable of pulling off a 1920s aesthetic (Renée Zellweger) an alien (ET is free) and a corrupt police officer (Michael Rooker) are all required in staring roles.

Will it be any good?

The initial setup for the story is very promising and Ross has obviously written it with one eye on a film adaptation so it should convert well. We feel we may be over-egging this but, right now, we can't see the alien working.

Anything else I should know about it?

Issue One is out now but has sold out completely after becoming the most pre-ordered comic to date. However, you can still get copies from eBay and look out for issue two which should be in shops this month.





Why Isn't This A Film? is a regular Film Intel feature which takes a book (you know... one of those things with pages in, doesn't project on to a screen, makes small rustling noises), comic, video game or graphic novel and assesses its adaptation prospects. One day this feature will get something right and we will win something major and valuable. Possibly.