Tag Archives: 2012

Ruby Sparks  (2012)    79/100

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Rating :   79/100                                                                     104 Min        15

Wonderful. As conceptually brilliant as it is surprising and multi-faceted. Paul Dano plays Calvin Weir-Fields, a talented writer who begins to write a story about a girl who then comes to life (Ruby Sparks, played by Zoe Kazan who not only makes her debut at screenwriting here, but is also the granddaughter of legendary Oscar winning director Elia Kazan – ‘On the Waterfront’ 54, ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ 47) straight from the pages of his unpublished manuscript. It manages to avoid both painting its message in bold ink and straying too much into making obvious farce, instead offering a joyous expression of romanticism and selling it to us through the looking glass. Not to be missed.

Pusher  (2012)    7/100

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Rating :   31….22….7/100                                                       89 Min        18

No that’s not a misprint. The value of ‘Pusher’ continues to deteriorate in my mind as I struggle to think of any redeeming features. It follows the story of several drug dealing Londoners, mostly with phoney, skin crawling accents, and that of one small fish in particular who takes a little more than he should have done from one of the bigger fish. The rest of the film dances around his mental torment as he attempts to balance the equation of what he owes versus what he has, and continually fails. The inevitable ensues. Awful. A five year old could have written a more interesting screenplay about their trip to the supermarket and the invisible dandelion people who live in their back garden.

Resident Evil : Retribution  (2012)    55/100

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Rating :   55/100                                                                       96 Min        15

If you are like The Red Dragon, you probably have intense difficulty in remembering what happened in Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4, and your memory of the first one is reduced to the outbreak of the T-virus in the beginning, people getting diced in the corridor in the middle, and then some fairly ropey computer graphics at the end. Happily, ‘Resident Evil 5:  Retribution’ begins with not only a recap, but with the end of the last film replaying in slow-mo reverse. With some apt music playing it’s a nice intro. The rest of the film follows very much in the vein of its predecessors, which is precisely its problem. The reason distinguishing the previous incarnations from one another is so difficult, is that they all had precious little point to them.

Here, true to form, interest dwindles as the unrealistic plot is matched by an endless series of unrealistic fight/gunfight sequences. Parts look slick enough, and the characters and actors invest just enough to merit another possible sequel, but the next one must surely have more going for it for the franchise to continue in film.

Hope Springs  (2012)    75/100

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Rating :   75/100                                                                     100 Min        12A

A well put together and nuanced comedy with a great performance from Tommy Lee Jones, proving an equal and apt match for the talents of Meryl Streep who plays his loving wife of 31 years as they enter counselling for their stalled marriage. Just the right amount of seriousness and comedy, or comedic seriousness, for the very real and often intolerably difficult subject matter, it paints in many ways a palatable veneer on the inevitability of death as we watch the two central characters wrench their souls to debate whether a dwindling depreciation is the only thing they can realistically expect from their long extant marriage, or whether the final change of divorce or the equally tough facing up to reality might allow for a reversal of the trend.

Given that the timescale is just over one week in their lives, as the wife strong-arms her husband into a couple’s therapy vacation in Maine, the film deals with the issues at hand ably and you will probably recognise at least one person you know in each of the pair, but the inherent constraints do leave us wondering a little what the post-film prognosis might be. With Steve Carell and, briefly, Elisabeth Shue in support.

Interestingly, a recent scientific study looking at the longterm lifespan of couples found that the ones destined for success and stability were those who worked together constantly to solve the little day to day sundries which are precisely the sort of things that often get put to one side, the humdrum such as fixing a leaky tap or getting the shopping right, whereas those who regarded these constant pop-ups in a relationship as merely trivial were the ones who perished in the fires of deceased relationship hell.

Presumably this is all to do with basic communication, but also the constantly reinforced idea of working together as a well functioning unit and being listened to and taken seriously by your other half and indeed that boost of satisfaction from having solved a problem, even a small one, although I think I’m right in remembering that the study also concluded allowing the male partner to indulge in sexual consort with many libidinous women at the same time was also a normal and healthy way to speed the wheels to everlasting marital bliss. Yup, pretty sure …

That’s my Boy  (2012)    59/100

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Rating :   59/100                                                                     116 Min        15

Adam Sandler’s new film has all the hallmarks of most of his work. That feeling of ‘argh, how many times do we have to see the same thing over and over again, the same hammy characters, the same torrid toilet humour, the same douche bag protagonist that somehow wins everyone over by the end?’, and also ‘hmm, that bit was actually quite funny’. It’s a shame he can’t team up with someone who could shake out the detritus and just leave the good comedy. Which, incidentally, would have completely obliterated ‘Jack and Jill’ (11) from existence (his last effort, which won Razzies in every category). The film certainly deserves kudos for playing Meatloaf’s ‘Everything Louder than Everything Else’ at one point, its use of Vanilla Ice, and the casting of ever beautiful Leighton Meester along with Eva Amurri Martino. It does have some genuine good laughs in there, you just have to survive the eye gauging rest of the film to get to them.

To Rome with Love  (2012)    65/100

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Rating :   65/100                                                                     112 Min        12A

Woody Allen’s latest, and it’s nice to see him in front of the camera again here as he joins a raft of other top billed actors in a multi-vignetted tale, much in the vein of his ‘You will meet a tall dark stranger’ (10). Once again, he successfully infuses everything with the feel and character of his setting, this time Rome. There’s nothing really new here and, although it’s pleasant to watch, there’s no real grit to the whole, with some of the individual stories much more whimsical and less interesting than the others. It’s a little light on the comedy front and largely thanks to the not so interesting stories it feels overly long. It’s unlikely to be a classic, but it shouldn’t be a complete disappointment either.

The Sweeney  (2012)    40/100

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Rating :   40/100                                                                     112 Min        15

Rubbish. Incompetent cops bash their way around London, allowing criminals to engage them in aimless gun battles and to shoot random innocent people for no reason. One of said cops is also Ben Drew. Note that does not say played by Ben Drew, as Ben Drew cannot act. Instead he jumps around dressed like a chav, cocking his head to one side while he pretends to think, and mumbling in his incomprehensible and gutturally nauseating accent. Not the first time he’s sold out after making his ‘social crusade’ statement (see ‘iLL Manors‘), and doubtless it won’t be his last. It would be much better for film fans if he went back to making shit rap music that no one buys.

The Dark Knight Rises  (2012)    80/100

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Rating :   80/100                                                                     165 Min        12A

A satisfying conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman saga. Various issues with plot holes, in fact there’s a lot wrong with the characters, story, and screenplay and yet somehow it’s still a great film. I enjoyed it much more the second time round, and wouldn’t be at all surprised if it became a film that can happily be watched on the big-screen again, and again, and again…

(Incidentally, the aeroplane scene near the start of the movie was filmed near Inverness in Scotland, possibly influenced by similar aerial shots near the beginning of 1980’s ‘Flash Gordon’ filmed over the Isle of Skye …)

The Bourne Legacy  (2012)    73/100

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Rating :   73/100                                                                     135 Min        12A

An excellent continuation of the Bourne film franchise which remains faithful to the elements that made the original trilogy such a huge success. The story takes place chronologically around the same time as the last Bourne film, ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ (07), but focuses on what was happening behind the scenes and also on the story arc of another agent in the program, Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner. The Red Dragon initially had misgivings about Renner’s casting here, as I was getting a little sick of seeing him play yet another soldier/warrior (much like the roles Sam Worthington often unfavourably favours), however he is actually really good here. Also making an appearance, and also very good, is Rachel Weisz, playing I think her first scientist role since ‘Chain Reaction’, whilst Edward Norton takes on a position within the shady confines of the U.S. government.

Easily the best action film on release at the moment, with a high level of intrigue. My main complaint would be that some of the action scenes are shot and cut in such a frenetic way it’s difficult to make out exactly what’s going on. ‘Quantum of Solace’ (08) suffered from similar complaints, and although director Tony Gilroy (who has been involved with the screenplay for all of the Bourne films) does well, it at times lacks the up-close finesse of Paul Greengrass, who helmed both Ultimatum and Supremacy. Nevertheless, worth going to see.