He's gonna Hex you up

Jonah Hex

Based on the DC comics character and comic of the same name, Jonah Hex is a big budget, supernatural, sci fi, revenge western that was meddled with by the studio, trimmed down to just over seventy minutes, and then dropped in to the 2010 summer movie season…only to land with a leaden thud before quickly disappearing in to obscurity. The critics derided it and audiences avoided it.

Gotta say...I thought it was pretty good fun, some perfectly enjoyable hokum.

Sure, the script was unoriginal but it flowed well enough and mostly made sense. Mostly. Josh Brolin was pretty good, all gruff and growly as the damaged and vengeance seeking Jonah while Megan Fox was hot and spunky as Lilah, the hooker with a soft spot for him (though her role serves no real purpose other than eye candy to be rescued). Michael Fassbender was a suitably nasty-but-charming henchman and John Malkovich, who came in for a lot of stick for being over the top with plenty of scene chewery was also perfectly fine in what was in reality a fairly standard Malkovich bad guy role. The action was standard fare with the usual build up to a big show down and explosions at the finale but it was watchable with some reasonably good FX. And any film with a horse armed with dual gatling guns you gotta give props to.

Jonah Hex’s biggest problem is that it is light weight and utterly unoriginal drawing on all sorts of movies and comic books while adding nothing much of its own. Still, it’s brisk and reasonably entertaining and was far, far better than the intensely dull tedium of Resident Evil: Afterlife, the film I watched immediately prior. In contrast, the experience of watching Jonah Hex was like watching Toy Story 3. Bliss. (3/5)

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - trailer 2. Woo Hoo!

Love, love, love this new trailer. It looks like some whacked out crazy shenanigans from Edgar Wright. Dunno the comic but the film looks like a bonkers blast. Can't. Wait. :D

Some tales never grow old...

Dorian Gray stars Colin Firth (A Single Man) with Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian) in the title role and is based upon the 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

The film tells the tale of a young man, Dorian Gray, who comes to London after inheriting his family estate. He is naive and innocent and also exceptionally attractive and charismatic yet unaware of the effect he can have on people. Dorian is taken under the wing of Lord Henry Wotton who imbues the impressionable young man with his own hedonistic worldview: the unfettered guilt free pursuit of pleasure. At the same time Dorian has his portrait painted by Basil Hallward, a talented artist who has become besotted with his young model. Dorian succumbs to Lord Henry’s temptations of unadulterated pleasure seeking and enjoys himself so much he makes an unwitting Faustian pact to always keep what according to Sir Henry are “the only two things in life that mean anything…youth and beauty.” And so begins a story of corruption, vanity, morality and murder that ultimately leads to Sir Henry having to confront the monster that he has made to protect his grown up daughter who, now twenty years later, has fallen for the still youthful Dorian just returned from years spent travelling.

I’ve never read Wilde’s novel nor seen any of the previous adaptations (except for Stuart Townsend in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) but I was familiar with the story as I expect many are. It is a classic fable of corrupted youth, of unhinged vanity and absent morality. I’m told by people who know that this film version directed by Oliver Parker remains pretty faithful to Wilde’s original novel and its themes. It certainly shows the overt and quite graphic sexuality that Wilde had to tone down in his revised 1891 edition. The film is handsomely mounted with convincing art direction and very fine cinematography by the great Roger Pratt (Brazil, Batman, The Fisher King, Chocolat, Harry Potter.) The use of subtle digital effects to recreate Victorian London also works well as they do in creating Dorian’s monstrous true self. In the title role Ben Barnes looks the part and does a reasonable job in showing the transformation of a young innocent who gradually strips away all conscience and morality to begin enjoying the wild times, before, many years later, realising he is living a hollow, haunted, pointless life. Barnes is okay, but to me he doesn’t have the charisma to make you believe that all these men and women would be so easily in awe of him. On the other hand, Colin Firth, an actor I’ve never really cared for, is excellent as the corrupting older man/monster maker who ultimately comes to realise what he has created when his own daughter falls under Dorian’s spell. They are well supported by a strong cast including Rachel Hurd-Wood, Ben Chaplin and one time Bond girl Maryam D’Abo. Parker directs in an unflashy manner just telling the story through the actors and the solid script using no great flourishes of style, which is a smart move. Wilde’s brilliant story simply doesn’t need any flash, as such things would only detract from its power.

Watching Dorian Gray I was reminded a great deal of Interview with the Vampire, one of my fave books and films. I wouldn’t be surprised if Anne Rice is a fan as they share many of the same themes. The attraction of eternal youth and beauty and its almost hypnotic power over others, the deliberate moral corruption of another, the idea of freedom being achieved when released from conscience, guilt and consequence. The eventual hollowness, loneliness, stagnation of never changing or growing. And the ultimate realisation of the price that has to be paid for ones actions and decisions. For there is always a price to be paid sooner or later. And then of course there is the strong homoerotic subtext in both works with Dorian Gray’s being rather more overt – at least in this version.

A solid, good looking, entertaining fable with strong production values and a simply brilliant story to tell, Dorian Gray is worth seeking out even though you won’t be quite as entranced by his power as you should be.

Lording it over the Rings: Part 3 – Kings, Rings and All Good Things

The Return of the King

We come to it at last, the great battle of our time.

Where do you begin with The Return of the King? There is so much going on here, so many disparate and complex threads to be drawn together, so many character journeys figuratively and literally coming to an end. So much huge scope, epic conflicts and intimate emotions. And yet Peter Jackson weaves it all together in to a spellbinding and effortless narrative filled with so many incredible moments, sights, images and instances that it is almost overwhelming. Any one story thread or battle would be enough for just the one movie but here we have five threads – Frodo, Sam and Gollum in Mordor, Gandalf and Pippin at Minas Tirith, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli at the Paths of the Dead and Theoden leading the Rohirrim. And within the Rohirrim there is the separate story of Eowyn and Merry. And everything is now coming to a head. Gollum’s plan to retake the ring and kill the hobbits almost succeeds by his successfully separating Sam from Frodo and then leading Frodo in to the lair of the horrific giant spider Shelob. But he didn’t count on the unswerving loyalty of Samwise the Brave. In many ways Sam is the heart and the real hero of this story. He has no real reason to be on this journey except that he is a good friend and he made a promise. And it is his strength and his determination and his good cheer that makes it possible for Frodo to do what he has to do.

At the same time the armies of men are gathering to go to the aid of Gondor as its capital Minas Tirith is being besieged by tens of thousands of orcs and other nasties from Mordor. But even the large army Theoden and the Rohirrim have managed to assemble won’t be enough for the awesome task at hand. And as usual in this tale all seems hopeless. And it is at this point that another of Tolkien’s eucatastrophies occurs. Lord Elrond arrives with the broken sword Narsil reforged as Andúril – the symbol of kingship for Aragorn and the final sign that he must now accept his destiny as Isildur's heir, the one true king of men. And Aragorn finally does. And to prove it to himself and to the world he goes in to the paths of the dead and does what only the true king of Gondor could do.

The Battle of Pelennor Fields is the great military showdown between the race of men and the forces of Mordor. And it is a huge, wonderful, terrible, thrilling war beginning with the siege of Minas Tirith and then its invasion, which is eventually halted by the arrival of the Rohirrim and their gobsmackingly amazing charge led by King Theoden. But just when the men of Rohan and Gondor think the day is won…the second, even more terrifying wave of enemy forces arrive with the charge of the enormous elephant-like mûmakil. The moment King Theoden first sees them and realises what is happening is fantastic. That almost ‘what the f***k?’ look he gives before he gathers his senses and orders a reformed charge. Pelennor Fields is a stunning battle that lasts for a good portion of the movie but is always broken down in to smaller fights and personal stories within the huge mayhem. The best and most important of these being Eowyn and Merry and their confrontation with the Witch King, the leader of the Nazgul. This comes after the Nazgul sweeps down and plucks Theoden from the ground hurling him through the air to be pinned beneath his dead horse. Eowyn, armoured and helmeted, dives in to protect her king and uncle from the approaching Witch King. They do battle, seemingly one sided and – again - hopeless. The Witch King taunts Eowyn with the old prophecy that: “…no man can kill me!” After Merry distracts the villain with a knife in the leg, Eowyn pulls off her helmet, says, “I am no man” and stabs him in the face, killing him. YEAH!!! That is simply one of THE greatest cheer and punch the air moments in cinema history. What a woman! Of course it is followed by sadness as Theoden dies in her arms but he fulfilled his destiny and did the right thing for his people and the world entire, completing a wonderful character journey in the noblest of ways.

There is so much to talk about and wonder over in this film that I can’t possibly do it all here. But in the end Frodo gets to Mount Doom. And through an act of faith in his hobbit friends, Aragorn leads a last ditch attempt at distracting Sauron in order to give Frodo a chance to succeed in destroying the ring. Aragorn marches an army to the Black Gates and openly challenges the Dark Lord. And as the dread forces of Sauron emerge and surround our smaller army of heroes, the whispered, tender words of Aragorn as he glances back at Gandalf before charging the enemy come forth. “For Frodo.” *Sniff* The distraction works…but not before Frodo finally succumbs to the ring and Gollum tries one last time to take it from him. Both ringbearers, driven mad by its power, wrestle over possession and then tumble over the edge. And Gollum falls to his death happy to be reunited with his precious once more. Eventually, after seeming to threaten not to, the ring finally sinks in the lava of the crack of doom and is destroyed once and for all.

This finale is incredibly powerful and so emotionally charged with all the pieces coming together – chiefly Gollum’s part in the story finally proving to be so crucial. Gandalf always said he had some part to play but didn’t know what. Now we do. For Gollum was fundamental to the ring being destroyed. It was his obsession and love for it that finally made it possible. Like Isildur before, Frodo also fails at the last step and is taken by the ring. And in the end it is both Gollum’s and now Frodo’s blind greed and obsession that leads to the rings end. A moral there if ever I saw one.

The film then goes in to its most controversial stage – the multiple endings. I know these annoyed lots of people at the time. But they never did me. These scenes are crucial. We have invested hours and hours and - at the time of release - three years in this story and these people. We need…we deserve to see them through to their proper ends. Aragorn meets his destiny and is coronated as king and reunited with Arwen. The moment where he says to the hobbits “My friends…you bow to no one.” And then he and everyone else kneel before them just gets me every time. The arrival back in the Shire is important to the story as we have to be reminded what the hobbits have been fighting for, what Frodo ultimately sacrificed himself for. And then we go on to the Grey Havens where the last of the Elves, Bilbo, Gandalf and Frodo will depart Middle Earth for good, sailing for Valinor, the eternal world across the sea. This is where Frodo informs Sam and Merry and Pippin that his life is now over with nothing left for him in this world anymore. It is sad and yet comforting in a way as Frodo hands his story i.e. life to Sam who gets to finish it, to live life as Frodo couldn’t. This is shown perfectly at films end, just as Tolkien did in the book, with Sam arriving back home, back to the unchanged and lovely Shire to be greeted by his wife Rosie and their little children. And it is right there in that perfect moment that this huge millennia spanning saga of good and evil, of war and sacrifice ends with the simplest of happy words from Master Samwise. “Well, I’m back.”

The Return of the King is a powerful, stunning and emotional film and a perfect crowning (pun intended) finale to this story. It is crammed full of incredible moments both huge and tiny. Of images and acts that make you want to cheer and with words and deeds and sacrifices that make you want to shed a tear. It is full of dread and terror and carnage yet also hope and light and love. All the characters shine and the ones we have come to care about get to complete their journeys in the most appropriate and fitting of ways. Technically it is a stupendous effort. The filmmaking talents involved were firing on all cylinders with a special shout out to Howard Shore for his gorgeous trilogy of music that culminated in a well-deserved Oscar. The scale of this production and of the story being told is massive with the siege of Minas Tirith and the Pelennor Fields battle being jaw dropping and ridiculously thrilling. But the telling is truly in the characters and through the timeless themes of friendship, loyalty, helping those in need and never giving in to despair. Of living with the natural world and not trying to control and dominate it, of being stewards of our (middle) earth and not its masters. Similar tales and themes and ideas are ingrained in our collective consciousness and told and retold throughout generations – most recently with Avatar. And as much as I love Avatar, the complexity, the emotional depth and the genius of character and storytelling shown in Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is second to none. I can’t wait to see what Jackson and Del Toro give us with The Hobbit.

Here are just some of my favourite moments in this film in no particular order:

The lighting of the beacons - an epic rousing sequence consisting of only visuals and music that ends with Aragorn rushing to tell Theoden that Gondor calls for aid. And Theoden replying “And Rohan will answer.” YES!

Eowyn in disguise grabbing Merry to head to battle

Faramir’s hopeless charge to Osgilieth

Gandalf’s beautiful speech to Pippin about how death is not the end

The Witch King perching on Minas Morgul as the hordes of Sauron begin to march forth

Gandalf riding out to save the surviving Gondorian soldiers with his beacon of light

Aragorn taking Andúril from Elrond

Gimli nudging Legolas’ bow as he fires an arrow at the Corsairs - accidentally killing Peter Jackson

Theoden’s speech to his men and the charge of the Rohirrim – one of the greatest sequences in movie history

Sam vs. Shelob

Theoden sees the second wave approaching

Eowyn vs. the Witch King “I AM NO MAN!”

Faramir’s loving gaze at Eowyn

“For Frodo.”

The surviving Fellowship coming in to Frodo’s room and Frodo’s look as Sam comes in last

“My friends, you bow to no one.”

“We set out to save the Shire, Sam. And it has been saved - but not for me.”

“Well, I’m back.”

And…

The beautiful drawings under the end credits and Annie Lennox’s equally beautiful and fitting closing song ‘In to the West’

Lording it over the Rings: Part 2 - Lots of Horses and a CGI Wretch

The Two Towers


The Two Towers was always my least favourite of the three films. Not because I didn’t think it was great or that I didn’t love it, I did. I think I just missed the simple linear story and the more magical feel of The Fellowship of the Ring. Plus it had one storyline that, frankly, just rather bored me.

The Two Towers is that tricky middle act of a story where you can almost feel as if you are treading water until the big stuff happens later on. This is something Lucas managed to avoid with The Empire Strikes Back, making that the best film of the Star Wars saga. It is something Peter Jackson almost avoids with The Two Towers. What these middle films can do is devote more time to character building and moving story elements in to new and often darker places. And this is what happens here. Basically The Two Towers is a war film. It is a grim story of an attempted genocide against an entire people, the people of Rohan by the industrialised forces of Isengard. It is a story of the destruction of nature in an attempt to dominate the world with iron. This war against nature is shown through the third of three separate story threads, the destruction of Fangorn Forest and the awakening of the Ents, tree-like beings who live in the forest, and their eventual furious rise against Isengard and the now evil wizard Saruman. It has to be said that the whole Ent plot is my least favourite thing about this film. To be honest I don’t much care for Treebeard or the story of Merry and Pippin who are with him and the other Ents. I know it is important thematically and plotwise for the story, but I just get rather bored by slow moving, talking trees. Every time they cut to Merry and Pippin and Treebeard I just want to be back with Aragorn and the Rohirrim or with Frodo, Sam and Gollum. It is in those two stories that The Two Towers shines.

Firstly, the people of Rohan, the Rohirrim. They are a marvellous creation by Tolkien and brought to the screen wonderfully by Peter Jackson and co. They are basically a throwback to the Anglo Saxons if they had developed a horse-based culture and a history not interrupted by the Norman invasion. The realisation of their capital, Edoras, a city of wood and thatch built around a huge jagged hill with the great hall of Meduseld crowning its top, is fabulous. From the moment we get there the culture feels real and old and authentic. The people of Rohan are great with some wonderful characters and actors bringing them to life – none more so than Bernard Hill as King Theoden. Theoden is possibly my favourite character in these films. Hill gives him such world-weary depth. He is full of sadness and doubt over his role and ability as king, yet he is also filled with such bravery, sense of honour and genuine love for his lost son and for his lovely niece Eowyn. His story is fantastic. From first seeing him as the puppet of Saruman, controlled by the vile Wormtongue (a splendid Brad Dourif) then to grieving father, to doubt ridden king, to fearless and noble leader who accepts his fate as a part of how things should be, he is truly captivating. This is my favourite character journey in the films. I just adore Theoden’s simple, quiet and forlorn line to Aragorn, as the forces of Isengard are about to overrun his keep: “What can men do against such reckless hate?” This is so simple and so true and sadly relates so well to our world today. What indeed can we do? And then there is Eowyn. Ah, lovely Eowyn. She was always my favourite female character in the films…not that there are many to choose from. And she is probably my second favourite character after Theoden in terms of character journey. She encompasses everything that is good and true while being desperate to actually fight for what she loves and believes in. She is resilient and brave – emotionally as well as in battle. Her handling of her affection for Aragorn is heartfelt and mature, never letting it consume her. Her defiance of tradition and her belief in anyone being able to fight for what they love is beautiful stuff. And of course it pays off handsomely in The Return of the King in one of the best moments of the entire trilogy. Miranda Otto is perfect in the role. She has a fragile porcelain beauty about her, yet also a tough indomitable spirit. She’s lovely and she kicks some major ass. Watching her again as Eowyn I fell in love a little bit.

The war story comes to a head with the siege and battle of Helms Deep, the mountain fortress the Rohirrim go to in times of need. And the battle is spectacular in a grim, horrific, dirty and violent way. The action is built up slowly and purposefully; plenty of dread and hopelessness abounds as the people of Rohan await the awesome and horrific might of ten thousand orcs and uruk-hai. This is wonderfully shown in the tension between Aragorn and Legolas over the hopelessness of the cause and Aragorn teaching a young boy how to wield his sword and - more importantly - about hope, which is a major theme of The Lord of the Rings. Hope is always there no matter what. Never give up. Never lie down and die for you have no idea what may be waiting around the next corner, something that may arrive unexpected to turn your ill fortunes to good. Tolkien termed this concept the eucatastrophe, the opposite of catastrophe. And this eucatastrophe happens twice at Helms Deep, although one is invented by the filmmakers (the arrival of the elves) with the other being Gandalf and Eomer’s arrival out of the rising sun in the east to save the day. This is brilliant, elegant and deeply stirring stuff. The charge of the Rohirrim led by Gandalf down the steep hill with the sun blazing behind them is truly magnificent.

The other story strand of the film is of course Frodo and Sam’s journey to Mordor. This is where they hook up with Gollum who offers to lead them to Mordor through secret ways. Gollum is amazing. The CGI still looks fantastic even after the likes of Avatar. But it is the performance by Andy Serkis that really sells him. He is utterly believable and truly a wretched thing yet also pitiable. You can’t help but dislike Sam for always having a go despite knowing full well that Sam is right. When Frodo and Sam meet up with Faramir, Boromir’s brother, things get even more interesting. Faramir is the younger brother living in his older brother’s shadow, always seeking to please his dismissive father. So when the opportunity to do what Boromir failed to do – take the one ring to Gondor - comes his way he goes with it. This leads to the siege of Osgiliath and Faramir’s realisation that to really be strong and be right he must let Frodo go and resist the rings’ temptation. Which is what he does. And the film ends with Sam, Frodo and Gollum making their way closer to Mordor with Gollum secretly deciding to lead them to their deaths and reclaim the ring for himself.

The Two Towers is fantastic and plays a lot better than I remembered it. Even the Treebeard stuff, which I still don’t much like, I can cope with better now. But it is the wonderful Rohirrim and Theoden and Eowyn, the grim and brutal Helms Deep battle and the brilliance of Gollum that makes this stand out as the classic it is. The extended edition also gives us the fate if Saruman too. Any excuse to see the always-awesome Christopher Lee is fine by me.

The story concludes…

A Little Princess is a little gem

You might think this is an odd film for a bloke in his late thirties who's a horror and sci fi geek to love. But it isn’t. At heart I’m a big softy who also loves films and stories in general that can make an emotional connection – as long as the themes and ideas strike a chord. And they most certainly do in this film.

I hadn’t watched A Little Princess for a long time. But today I was looking through my DVD’s and for some reason it just leapt out at me. I’m glad it did. I remembered it as being a very good film but had forgotten just how beautiful it is both thematically and artistically. It was originally recommended to me not long after it first came out in cinemas back in 1996, but back them I didn’t bother, dismissing it as just another boring kids film. It took me a while to finally see it, catching up with it on TV one Christmas. And I was instantly captivated. In the hands of Oscar nominated Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón who made Y Tu Mamá También, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men, A Little Princess is a shining gem.

The story goes like this: It is 1914 and young Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews), an imaginative and kind-hearted girl, is brought from India to New York by Captain Crewe (Liam Cunningham), her British Army officer father. She is enrolled in the same private boarding school her mother attended as a child. Her father then departs for Europe to rejoin the British Army to fight in the trenches of the First World War. Sara quickly becomes popular with her schoolmates, capturing their imaginations with colourful, magical tales of India and of its gods and goddesses. But tragedy eventually intervenes, which leaves Sara destitute and at the mercy of the schools nasty headmistress, Miss Minchen (a truly hissable Eleanor Bron.) To cope with her grief and her new station in life, Sara becomes a close friend of the schools child servant Becky. Along with Becky, Sara escapes her horrible new life by going further in to her world of stories and fantasy.

A Little Princess is adapted from the classic 1904 novel of the same name written by Frances Hodgson Burnett who also wrote The Secret Garden. This film version from 1995 changes several elements of the original novel including moving the school from England to America, moving the time period forward to the outbreak of the First World War and reinventing the entire resolution of Sara’s story. I haven’t read the book but the story as told here works perfectly. Thematically this film also works perfectly, at least for me. The exploration of childhood and what it means to be constrained as a child by often stupid seeming rules that quash an exhuberant and vivid imagination, a gift to be treasured and one that most of us will eventually lose once we've grown up. To allow imagination to soar is a wonderful thing as is encouraging freedom of expression and creativity for its own sake. The ability to imagine, to dream, to wonder…it is fundamental to who we are. And sometimes, for some of us, it can be our only means of escape, a way to freedom.

And then there is the look and the design of this film. It is simply gorgeous with detailed and lavish sets that were built almost entirely on a studio back lot in Burbank, California. The cinematography by Cuarón’s regular DP Emmanuel Lubezki is sumptuous and elegant. For the Indian/fantasy scenes it is dreamily colourful while being suitably crisp and grim for the reality of the dirty streets and alleys of New York.

The cast is excellent with young Liesel Matthews imbuing Sara with an inner strength, warm hearted kindness and an open honesty that never lets you think of her as being remotely spoiled or silly. Eleanor Bron is wonderfully cold and cruel as Miss Minchen. You can sense in her a real sadness and bitterness that comes out as a kind of jealousy towards poor Sara. All the young actresses playing the girls in the school are great especially the little one who plays Lottie, the ‘possessed’ girl with the screaming fits. She made me laugh.

A Little Princess is a carefully crafted, beautifully rendered piece of work coming from a top-notch filmmaker. Like the best films of Pixar it is too good to just label as a children's film, it trancends that. It is a film that deserves a place on the shelf of every family and of every genuine film lover.

Trailer:

A Little Princess 1995 (Trailer) - MyVideo