Bigger Stronger Faster* : The Side Effects of Being American (2008) 90/100

Posted on August 19, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 90/100 105 Min

When I first came across this film I thought to myself ‘What in the name of God is this?’, I almost turned it off, but it was amusing in an ironic sort of way so I hesitated awhile. Good job I did as, of course, it was meant to be ironic, and what unfolds quickly becomes a very, very well put together and fascinating documentary about the use of performance enhancing drugs in the world of sports in America, particularly in the field of weight lifting, but also athletics and baseball. The film is fast paced, fitting in a ton of information – every bit of which is relevant, advances our grasp of the subject, and also manages to deepen the interest level, as the interviews progress from members of the filmmaker’s family, to members of congress and top level athletes like Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis.

It is the fruit of many hours work, and the brainchild of Chris Bell – and for an inexperienced feature filmmaker it’s a sterling production. The footage and interviews with his family over a period of what seems to be a couple of years add a very human relevance and emotional connection to the film, as we see the wide reaching implications of the story unfold. The scope continues to widen as it fits in the big business world of sports supplements, the tales of poster boy stars like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and it even manages to sneak in an interview with Stan Lee, of Marvel Comics fame, to talk about the popular appeal of the idea of superhuman strength. The asterisk in the title refers to the ones used to mar an athletes record if they are found to be using anything illegal. Sadly, one of the brothers in the film, Mike, died shortly after the film was completed (click here for the details).

A must see movie for anyone who likes well researched, balanced and eye opening documentaries.

Before Midnight (2013) 72/100

Posted on June 22, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 72/100 109 Min

The continuation of a story focusing on a relationship under the microscope, in this case all before midnight on a certain day, and previously ‘Before Sunrise’ in 95 and ‘Before Sunset’ in 2004. The couple are Jesse and Celine, played respectively by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, both of whom helped write the screenplay along with the director Richard Linklater. The vast majority of the film is a dialogue between the two characters, whilst they holiday in Greece with their two twin daughters, with the only real notable exception being a dinner table scene with friends, but even if you haven’t seen the previous two films and are unfamiliar with the characters, as I was, this is still easily accessible. Both central performances are engaging, and though there are shades of whiny melodrama, the story touches on just enough common relationship issues and overarching themes of transience and mortal companionship to keep us interested. It’s not Bergman (Ingmar), but it is charming and involving, with a decidedly bittersweet aftertaste.

Behind the Candelabra (2013) 80/100

Posted on June 8, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 80/100 118 Min

Michael Douglas gives what may very well be the crowning performance of his illustrious career, as the secretly, but very obviously, homosexual pianist and entertainer Liberace. Matt Damon plays his young love toy, and he appears on the scene looking like a groomed and buff Prince Adam as both he and Douglas prove committed to the full, giving emotional and engaging performances replete with physical alterations to match their character’s changes over time (Rob Lowe is also good in support). The film focuses on the evolution of the relationship between the pair, with the emphasis naturally leaning toward Liberace, though the story is based on the memoir of Scott Thorsen, Damon’s character, and I think I’d put down Michael Douglas as the heaviest contender so far this year for Oscar nomination in the winter (he has one previous best actor win for portraying Gordon ‘greed is good’ Gekko in Oliver Stone’s 1987 ‘Wall Street’).

At time of writing this is set to be the last feature film from director Steven Soderbergh as he takes a break of undetermined length (not ‘Side Effects‘, as was originally reported, although they were likely filmed around the same time) and it would be a ‘fabulous’ way to bow out of cinema, featuring as it does many refinements to his craft, especially the use of music in the narrative, with here the sound never imposing a viewpoint and yet still driving the story forward – with that of the ensuing scene repeatedly preempting the transition by appearing in the current one, and also the subtle thread of devilish comedy (see his excellent ‘The Informant’ (09) for more along that vein, again with Matt Damon). Filmed not long after Michael Douglas’ was given the all clear regarding his throat cancer, you can be sure this will be work he will never forget, as you can tell by his heartfelt press release below. (Incidentally, his cancer was caused by the sexually transmitted HPV virus, of which there are many strains, so much so that many cannot currently be detected and those that can be are often not tested for at health clinics, in many senses it’s assumed that if you’re sexually active, you are probably carrying some version of it. Worth reading here for more, albeit succinct, info).

(As a further aside, in a fantastic strategic move, a couple of years ago researchers looking to solve a genetic problem in the search for an AIDS cure, sent the real life puzzle out to gamers on Second Life, and one of the many thousands of players actually did solve it. Creatively using the computer game trained minds of gamers to help solve humanity’s problems was a great idea, and indeed it remains so for the future)

Byzantium (2012) 52/100

Posted on June 2, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 52/100 118 Min

Easily the two best things in this film are Gemma Arterton’s breasts jumping gallantly around for most of the film, occasionally winking out of their hopeful constraints toward us like two giant, mischievous mountains, whilst lesser beings gravitate around them and, as soon as they prove to be no visual challenge to Arterton’s alluring curves, are promptly killed. This is because the lady in question plays a vampire, Clara, quite fully endowed to helm the film solo she is nevertheless enjoined by her moody vampire daughter Eleanor, played by Saoirse Ronan. The two both began as human and despite both being around two hundred years old, Eleanor picks this particular moment to enter her teenage rebellious phase, queue lots of staring meaningfully into the distance, capriciousness and melancholy pangs of no one else understanding her, and pops at her mother’s guardianship and choice of vocation.

This is one of the many faults of the film, but the list is rather a long one. Said mother’s vocation, for example, is harlotry. Now, given we’re told they never forget anything and have been around for two centuries it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to consider she could have come up with something better to do than offer shaft maintenance at fifty pounds a go. In fact, since we also find out her and her daughter, who does not turn tricks incidentally (at least, not so far as we are aware), are the only female vampires in existence, she must effectively be the best prostitute the world has ever known. I mean, her pelvic floor muscles must be so damn powerful that she can prevent ejaculation at all times, maintain erections indefinitely, and she’s immune to disease. Together with her eternal beauty, she should be sleeping with world premiers not moaning and mumping about how she’s so hard up and she’s simply doing what she can to support her family, as if she’s some washed up dockland missy with broken teeth, whose closest friends are crawling around in her undergarments. She blatantly enjoys what she does, why can’t the writer (Moira Buffini, based on her play) just be honest with her characters?

Eleanor promptly finds a young male to chow over teenage angst ridden romance with, and naturally she is torn by whether or not she should tell him she’s dead, although she’s already decided she will of course, she just wants to dramatise the wait as much as possible, and frankly the male character she chooses is way creepier than any of the vampires are. As the only female vamps, they are being pursued by some of the ruling male hierarchy who wish to ‘have words’ with them. Among their number is Sam Riley playing Darvell, and he is pretty convincing in the role, until he starts to do his gravelly voice thing that he used to such bad effect in ‘On the Road’. For goodness sake, you are a vampire, your character does not need to pretend to be hard.

A vampire film daring to be released into the saturated market nowadays really has to have something original and compelling about it – this doesn’t. It doesn’t make any sense, the characters are unreal in more ways than one, I sort of got into the back story that’s told throughout the film but even that is done in a very awkward and disjointed manner. Indeed, with Ronan’s character there are shades of her last release, ‘The Host’, and the final film is just as lackluster – a major disappointment from director Neil Jordan, amongst whose past credits lies the very fine indeed ‘Interview with the Vampire’ (94). Incidentally, the title comes primarily from the name of the guest house Clara sets up business in, though there is a brief reference to the city – Byzantium was of course the precursor of what would later become Constantinople, and then, later still, Istanbul in modern day Turkey.

Bernie (2011) 33/100

Posted on April 29, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Review : 33/100 104 Min

Based on a true story and from respected director Richard Linklater ( ‘A Scanner Darkly’ 06, ‘Me and Orson Welles’ 08 ) this looks slick enough, has good performances from the central players Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey, and the real events are reasonably interesting. The problem is, it’s put together in such a long winded way that, not only can we see a mile off what’s coming, it becomes very difficult indeed to remain attentive enough to really care. This is a fairly serious role for Black, and as shown by several previous divergences from his normal genre (see ‘Margot at the Wedding’ 07 for another memorable one), he is good in this, garnering a Golden Globe nomination for his depiction of the titular Bernie, a mortician who is well loved by everyone in the small town of Carthage Texas that he moves to after graduation, bowling them over with niceness and showering the elderly residents with attention and gifts, in particular Marjorie Nugent played by Ms Beatty (Shirley MacLaine is Warren Beatty’s sister, in case you didn’t know).

Bernie is so nice, however, he is not particularly luminous as the central character in a movie, something which it has perhaps been attempted to accommodate for by having most of the story told in the past tense via interviews from many of the town residents, some real, some actors, including district attorney McConaughey wearing very familiar cinematic boots, and our view continually switches between these interviews, with the interviewer silent, to the events that they are talking about, and since they talk about Bernie himself in the past tense, we are to wonder what happened to him…

It’s just not engaging at all, the constant flitting between interviews begins to drag really quickly, and there is an ambiguity over the ego and motivation of ‘Bernie’, and indeed the actor playing him; he constantly sings in the church for example, and there is an element of Ok we all know Jack Black can sing, but is this really adding anything to the film? A stronger comedic vein running parallel to the story might have actually helped a lot (it’s listed as black comedy, but I think black is a synonym for absent here). The film does have the distinction of being one of only two that I’ve ever seen to have received a chorus of applause from the audience at events mid film, which is admittedly impressive ( the other was Frank Darabont’s ‘The Mist’ 07 ).

11.05.14 For a very interesting recent update on the true story involved, have a gander at this article from The Guardian. RD

Beowulf (2007) 71/100

Posted on March 20, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 71/100 115 Min

The Red Dragon has a very definite soft spot for this reimagining of the classic Old English tale, written sometime between the eighth and eleventh century. This is an enigmatic version, due in no small measure to a thundering score by Alan Silvestri and a powerful central performance by Ray Winstone as the titular epic hero himself (the etymology of his name has been ascribed to various possible sources, from the common bear, to ‘war wolf’ and even possibly a type of Scandinavian woodpecker). The casting of Winstone is not without a humorous irony in that at the time of filming he was in his fifties and, arguably, not in the best shape of his life, and of course here he is playing a buff, quintessential hero archetype. This was made possible by the animation of the entire film using motion capture technology, the same technique used by director Robert Zemeckis on his previous film ‘The Polar Express’ (04).

That technology has been updated, and here for the first time ever special electrodes were used that detected the electrical impulses controlling all of the visual responses within each actor’s body, and these signals were then used by computers to mirror realistic eye movements on screen, making an enormous difference to the believability of the 3D renderings as people, and to providing engrossing performances. It was one of the first films released in many theatres using the new 3D technology that we are all now familiar with, and it remains one of the best uses of it. Transferred onto a regular screen some of the graphics of the human characters don’t hold up too well, the queen, played by Robin Wright, for some reason looks particularly pallid and slightly eerie, but in general it still works, and the artistry, details and effects that make up the rest of the environment more than compensate for the, at times, lacking in realism rendering technology. Indeed, even on 2D there is a scene where a warrior on horseback thrusts his spear towards the screen, and it looks a lot more three dimensional than some of the purportedly 3D films out there.

The two disc DVD version is worth getting for a variety of behind the scenes featurettes showing how they actually made the film. The whole shoot was done within an open ‘cube’ inside a studio that was lined with infrared cameras firing relentless beams at the actors, with all the props being hand crafted wire meshes so that unnecessary interference with the beams was kept to a minimum. It seems to have been a hit with cast and crew alike, as scenes that may have taken hours to do on a location shoot could be wrapped in a fraction of the time. Indeed, John Malkovich who appears in a supporting role here (along with Anthony Hopkins, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, and Brendan Gleeson, all really bringing their characters to life) tells of his frustration, partly due to his thespian roots, of so often having to simply hang around on sets waiting for hours to act for only a few moments, and how this method of filming is in many ways a Godsend for professional actors – he has something similar to say on the subject of digital filming in general in ‘Side by Side’.

The script is from screenwriter Roger Avary (who perhaps most famously shared the best original screenplay Oscar win with Quentin Tarantino for their collaboration on Pulp Fiction) and novelist Neil Gaiman. Not short on writing talent then, they decided to take large liberties with the original poem, very much at the bequest of Robert Zemeckis who had strongly negative memories of being forced to study the original in his school days. Without having similarly studied the virgin text, it seems their additions are really the points that anchor the whole story for this version, and in their view have raised it above what otherwise would have been a simple hack and slash bloodfest. The big alterations are with regards to the relationships of the monsters with the humans, and indeed the somewhat human relationships of the monsters, as well as the increasing role of Christianity in their landscape, a landscape which remains in Denmark rather than returning to the homestead of the Geats in Sweden, as in the poem. However, the final act in their original script continued these points through scenes that were mainly dialogue heavy, but when they were granted a larger budget than previously thought, Zemeckis told them to go wild. So, instead, we have over the top action replacing story, which is an enormous waste and it just becomes silly for that segment, with arrows being deflected by sword stroke and horses only just making the final jump over burning bridges etc. etc. At least the animation of a certain mythic beast in this section is fairly impressive…

A lot of subtlety has gone into the production, in fact some of it is perhaps too subtle to really notice, but the idea was to have some of it sink in subconsciously. The music plays a critical role, and it’s spot on, with some live singing from Robin Wright in there too. This is a Warner Brothers film, and, just as they have done with the Dark Knight trilogy and several of their other films, they set the tone with the music amidst the opening shots of their logo rather than waiting for the film proper, which is a very good idea. Much better than a lot of companies who have their insignias show accompanied with complete silence, resulting in either palpable awkwardness in the cinema, or irritation at those still chomping away on popcorn. Bear in mind there is a bit of a let down toward the end of the film, and a further indulgence with the ‘claws’ of Angelina Jolie’s character, but otherwise this is a very fine film.

Also, if you can’t make out some of the dialogue then fret not – several sentences of Old English were deliberately written into the script.

Quotes

“Men, build another pyre. There’s dry wood behind the stables. Then burn the dead. And seal the hall. Close the doors and the windows. And by the king’s order, there shall be no singing or merrymaking of any kind. This place reeks of death. The skops are singing the shame of Herot as far south as the middle kingdom and as far north as the ice-lands. I’ve let it be known that I will give half the gold in my kingdom to any man who can rid us of Grendel. … No. Unferth, no. No, the gods will do nothing for us that we will not do for ourselves. What we need is a hero.” Anthony Hopkins/Hrothgar

“Demon! Your bloodletting days are finished… It speaks. It speaks!… I am ripper, tearer, slasher, gouger. I am the teeth in the darkness, the talons in the night. Mine is strength. And lust. And power. I, am, Beowulf!” Ray Winstone/Beowulf

“This is not battle Wiglaf. This is slaughter. … We men are the monsters now. The time of heroes is dead, Wiglaf. The Christ God has killed it, leaving humankind with nothing but weeping martyrs, fear, and shame…. Leave him! You think it’s sport to mock your opponents in this fashion? Let him die quickly, with some honour still intact. … Stop! Let him up. You want your name in ‘The song of Beowulf’? You think it should end with me killed by some Frisian raider with no name? … Only if you kill me. Otherwise, you’re nothing. You think you’re the first to try to kill me, or the hundredth? Well, let me tell you something, Frisian. The gods will not allow my death by your feeble blade. The gods will not allow me to die by a sword or be taken by the sea. The gods will not let me pass in my sleep, ripe with age. Plant your axe here, Finn of Fresia. Take my life. .. You’ll what? Kill me? Well, kill me! Do it! Kill me! Kill me! You know why you can’t kill me, my friend? Because I died many, many years ago when I was young. Give him a gold piece and send him home. He has a story to tell.” Ray Winstone/Beowulf

Broken (2012) 82/100

Posted on March 13, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 82/100 91 Min

For anyone familiar with British cinema, the opening of this film will place you in very familiar territory. A happy young girl stops in her street to say hi to the teenage boy next door who has some kind of mental disability. We assume that a certain type of darkness is about to descend on the pair. Now, whether or not that assumption is borne out I won’t say, but from the title henceforth this film makes no attempt to hide the direction it is unwaveringly heading in. We know things are going to go bad, we just don’t know in which of the myriad possible directions the trajectory will be.

The girl in question is the main character and the focus of our attention, brought to life by a masterful performance from Eloise Laurence in her film debut. She lives in a town in England with her brother, her father (played by Tim Roth), and a live in nanny who’s dating her soon to be schoolteacher played by Cillian Murphy. Her family, together with that of the aforementioned teenage boy and the perforated powder keg family from hell across the street, form the crux of the drama. A lot of the plot doesn’t make much sense, especially when it comes to the role of the police, who seem to be particularly docile and hapless throughout. Interestingly, at one point they ask someone if they want to press charges. Here the law in England and Wales may differ from that in Scotland – north of the border it’s the police who decide if action is taken against the perpetrator of a crime, rather than a citizen pressing charges. At least, that is the case for the types of crime we see take place here.

Surprisingly, despite its downfalls, including some fairly ropey choices of music, the film manages to be both hard hitting and down right amusing, predictable and yet moving – all at the same time, which makes it somewhat stylistically unique. There are a lot of nice touches too, such as a scene when we just see Cillian Murphy walking to his car, but the real focus of the shot is on one of his kids cheerfully, and amusingly, dancing away in the car park beside him. The whole film acts like a sort of tornado of destruction, but one full of life and energy and fast changing events – it knowingly plays to the comedic nature of its melodrama but balances it with just the right amount of empathy. Rare and unique, perhaps not in some ways fully deserving of the high rating The Red Dragon has given it, but nevertheless a diamond in the rough desert of gritty British suburban dramas.

Broken City (2013) 62/100

Posted on March 4, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 62/100 109 Min

Mark Wahlberg plays Billy Taggart, an ex cop working as a private eye who’s hired by the mayor of New York (Russel Crowe) to take snaps capturing the adultery of his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones). It shapes up well, but ultimately begins to lose ground about half way through, with the twists and turns, and the interlinking of the characters with the story, feeling a little trite and forced. Wahlberg has carved out a niche for these kind of roles, and he fits them well with his incredulous looks of ‘are you kidding, this is seriously happening to me?’ as he stares off to the side before facing forward again to finish delivering his lines in his trademark stance. It’s a shame the promise of the first half isn’t matched by the second.

Beautiful Creatures (2013) 63/100

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 63/100 124 Min

The latest offering in the teen fantasy romance genre focuses on witches rather than vampires or werewolves, but retains many familiar elements; such as a young attractive female soon to be the centre of everyone’s attention, and pretty much bad news for everyone else in the middle of nowhere dead-end town where she is the newcomer, cue polarised clashes of good versus evil. It’s not too bad though, despite featuring nothing terribly original, and the leads played by Alice Englert (daughter of ‘The Piano’ 93 director Jane Campion) as Lena Duchannes, and Alden Ehrenreich as Ethan Wate are good enough to hold interest until the end, with Emma Thompson, Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons, and Emmy Rossum in support for extra gravitas and sex appeal.

It’s based on the 2009 book by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and in their universe curiously the female witches, unlike their male counterparts, do not get to choose whether or not they take the path of good or evil, but rather fate (represented here by the moon) chooses for them on their sixteenth birthday. An odd, pseudo sexist, splicing of age of consent and menstrual cycle, implying teenage girls are creatures of sanguine whimsy rather than will, although the main character is at least projected as vague counterpoint to that notion.

Bullet to the head (2012) 65/100

Posted on February 2, 2013 by The Red Dragon

Rating : 65/100 92 Min

It is impossible not to think of Rage Against the Machine when reading the title of this film, but unfortunately it misses a trick by not having their song of the same name play at any point. Nonetheless, based on the French graphic novel by Alexis Nolent, this is a fun, no nonsense action flick from director Walter Hill (of ‘The Warriors’, 1979, fame) with the sound effects heavily augmented for extra brutality. Sylvester Stallone is the wronged hitman (with a conscience of course) forced to buddy up with Korean cop Sung Kang to take on the bad guys, primarily in the guise of ‘Conan the Barbarian’ (11) and ‘Game of Thrones’ star Jason Momoa, who stalks around like a solid, skulking chunk of evil (he really is much better suited to play the baddie). Expect stylised violence and one-liners. Good stuff.

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