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Cinema Voyage - Akito Hirata, Filmhunter

 

Cinema Voyage - May 2009

Orphan

May 29th 2009 03:32
Children are not as innocent as they seem and I guess those that watch Orphan, the soon to be released movie starring Vera Farmiga (The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas) and Peter Sarsgaard (In The Electric Mist) will agree.


Orphan is the story of a couple who adopt a 9 year old girl named Esther after the loss of their unborn child.

Almost as soon as they welcome Esther into their home, an alarming series of events begins to unfold, leading Kate to believe that there may be something wrong with Esther. Concerned for the safety of her family, Kate tries to get her husband John to see past Esther's sweet facade. Her warnings unfortunately go unheeded.

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Review - JCVD

May 27th 2009 09:43
JCVD is short for - if you haven't already guessed it - Jean-Claude Van Damme. To be honest I can't even remember the last movie I saw that featured Van Damme - maybe Hard Target (1993) - the dvd cover looks familiar or possibly Double Impact (1991) - the twin storyline is ringing some vague bells. So it is with great surprise that I am find myself reviewing a movie featuring Mr Van Damme.

JCVD stars Jean-Claude as himself, a washed up action star who cannot get a decent studio-backed script in order to revive his flagging career. On top of his career woes, his ex-wife is taking him to court in order to fight for the custody of their only daughter (Saskia Flanders) who is embarrassed that her father does action films for a living.

Having just flown in to Brussels, a taxi drops him off outside a dvd store. He allows the clerks in the dvd store to take some photographs as a souvenir and he enters a nearby post office. We hear gun shots. A nearby policeman rushes to the scene to see Jean-Claude blocking an open window and assumes that he is responsible for the shots. The report back to headquarters - "Central to Unit 27. Jean-Claude Van Damme's robbing a post office. I need back-up."

This initial sequence creates the premise on which the movie is based and we see how the situation occurs through discontinuous scenes and differing points of view. Jean-Claude, as it unfolds, is not responsible for the gun shots nor is he responsible for the hostage situation inside the post office. The criminals running the bungled operation decide to use the misinformation and continue to use Van Damme to fool the police into believing that he is the perpetrator. In order to safeguard the lives of those inside, Jean-Claude even goes so far as to assist the criminals by giving them tips on how to make it seem that he is responsible for the robbery.

Of course being as popular as he is - particularly in his hometown - a large crowd amasses outside the post office and the story hits the television networks as a live event. The bigger the story becomes, the more support and publicity is offered for Jean-Claude. Even his parents are called to the scene to try to talk him down and persuade him to let the hostages go. As difficult as it is for him to carry on the pretence, he maintains the farce that he is the ringleader in order to keep the safety of those involved.

Any actor who can poke fun of their persona is a big person indeed and at one stage the movie makes way for a monologue where Van Damme discusses the ups and downs of being a celebrity and how this affected his real life identity. As much as it was interesting to watch from an acting point of view, the monologue didn't sit well with me, as it seemed to interrupt the events that were going on around him.

This film has a great opening sequence and an unpredictable ending and that is a rare quality in most films I seem to catch these days. Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri (Virgil 2005), there are some clever scenes and subtleties to the way the movie plays out.

Filmed in JCVD's native tongue, Jean-Claude plays himself very well and despite the fact that he may be getting a little old in the tooth to continue with the roles that made him so famous (he himself states this in the film), this film has certainly given me a new appreciation for his talents.

Voyage Review: 3.5/5

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Review - In Tranzit

May 26th 2009 02:02
Vera Farmiga seems to be flavour of the month since her role as Oana in Anthony Minghella's Breaking and Entering alongside Jude Law. Since the release of The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas and Nothing But The Truth where she capably holds her own, I was interested to catch In Tranzit, also starring John Malkovich (The Great Buck Howard).

Shot in extreme conditions in St Petersburg, the movie was directed by Emmy-award winning documentary director Tom Roberts. A dispute between the producers delayed the release date seeing the film head straight for dvd, where in my opinion, it is more well suited.

Based on a true story, In Tranzit is set in the aftermath of WWII at a female-run Soviet prison camp. A group of male German POWs are accidentally sent to the camp and the female guards are given the task of weeding out the SS officers.

Vera Farmiga is Natalia, a compassionate camp doctor who works under the command of Pavlov, a high ranking Russian officer. Natalia's mentally unstable husband Andrei (Yevgeni Mironov) is allowed to stay at the camp where Natalia can monitor him, but only in exchange for assistance in Pavlov's cause. While Natalia and fellow worker Zina (Natalie Press) are sympathetic to the prisoner's plight, the majority of the other guards treat the prisoners with disdain, largely due to the death and suffering inflicted on them and their families.

During their incarceration the guards allow the prisoners to start a band and form relationships with women outside of the prison. Natalia herself finds herself drawn to Max (Thomas Kretschmann) although inevitably the relationships will be short lived as soon as the prisoners are reallocated to prison or sent back to Germany.

This is not a blockbuster film by any means. This is a small independent indie film that manages to capture an interesting and relatively unknown part of history around the WWII period. The script however struggles to create any real tension although the actors, on the whole, create an interesting drama portraying the interaction between that of the prisoners and guards.

In Tranzit also stars Daniel Bruhl (The Inglourious Basterds) and Thekla Reuten (In Bruges).

Voyage Review: 3/5

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Review - The Horsemen

May 24th 2009 02:30
Not to be confused with Omar Sharif's 1971 movie of the same name, The Horsemen stars Dennis Quaid as Detective Aiden Breslin (Vantage Point, Smart People) heading up a series of murder investigations based on biblical prophecies.

In the book of Revelations, it is said that Jesus takes the first four of seven seals off a scroll. As each of the seals are removed, a horse appears, the last with Death as the rider. These horsemen (War, Famine, Pestilence and Death) are known as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. An interesting premise for a horror/thriller but unfortunately the concept falls flat due to an undeveloped script penned by Doom writer, Dave Callaham


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Is Anybody There?

May 22nd 2009 03:32
Starring film veteran Michael Caine (The Dark Knight, Sleuth) and Bill Milner (Son of Rambow), Is Anybody There? is set in a seaside English town in the late 80s. It charts the unlikely friendship that develops between Clarence (Caine), a veteran performer and the afterlife-obsessed young son (Milner) of a nursing home's overwhelmed owners (Anne-Marie Duff and David Morrissey).

Directed by Irish theatre director John Crowley (A Boy, Intermission), this charming film was written and based on the true to life experiences of Peter Harness as he grew up in a nursing home


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Review - Two Lovers

May 22nd 2009 02:46
Two Lovers was written and directed by James Gray and is the third pairing between that of the director and actor Joaquin Phoenix – previously having partnered for We Own The Night (2007) and The Yards (2000). Two Lovers takes its inspiration from a Dostoyevsky novella entitled White Nights and gave Gray the springboard he needed to write the screenplay specifically with Phoenix in mind.

We are first introduced to Leonard Kraditor (Joaquin Phoenix) at a particularly low point in his life – an attempt at suicide by drowning. After having had second thoughts about killing himself, he struggles to the surface slightly embarrassed about having been witnessed jumping into the water. Snippets of conversations from onlookers and his parents start to build upon the flawed individual – he works in a drycleaners and this is not his first attempt at suicide


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(500) Days Of Summer

May 17th 2009 11:01
Zooey Deschanel's (Yes Man, The Happening) name seems to be synonamous with quirky movies and the September release of (500) Days Of Summer proves to be no different. Starring Zooey as Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Killshot, Stoploss) as Tom, the movie follows a year and a half period upon which the two main leads get to know one another.

Summer does not believe true love exists although Tom has a different take on this as he falls heavily for his colleague on her first day of work. The film jumps back and forth during this set 500 day period giving you glimpses of their relationship in the future and seems to be more creative than the usual boy meets girl story


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Review - Nothing But The Truth

May 16th 2009 06:20
Nothing But The Truth is another movie which has largely avoided the cinema route and headed straight for dvd. Luckily for the film, it will gain a good following by doing so as it is a competent drama with excellent performances from the leads concerned. Heading the cast is Vera Farmiga (The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas), Kate Beckinsale (Winged Creatures), Matt Dillon (You, Me And Dupree) and Alan Alda (Flash Of Genius) with supporting roles played by Noah Wyle, Angela Bassett and David Schwimmer.

Inspired by reporter Judith Miller and the Valerie Plume affair in which Judith was sent to prison for not naming her source, the movie presents an interesting presentation of events


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Brothers Bloom

May 15th 2009 02:33
Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo are an interesting mix for a crime comedy and for this reason, Brothers Bloom looks like it will be a lot of fun.

The world's greatest con men, the Brothers Bloom, have made a living from swindling millionaires with complex scenarios. Stephen (Ruffalo) and Bloom (Brody), and their sidekick Bang-Bang (Rinko Kikuchi) team up for one last job, conning an eccentric heiress (Weisz) by taking her on a tour of the world and relieving her of $2.5 million. Complications arise for Bloom and the team when he finds himeself falling for the beautiful heiress


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Review - The Great Buck Howard

May 12th 2009 14:08
The Great Buck Howard (John Malkovich) is a Mentalist who was popular decades ago and featured on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson an amazing 61 times. But what happens when the tv appearances dry up? Well he, and other old school entertainers like him, are left touring the community theatres wowing half filled auditoriums.

The Great Buck Howard is loosely based on The Amazing Kreskin, an American mentalist and hypnotist who even today offers “$50,000 to anybody that can prove that he employs paid secret assistants or confederates in any phase of his program". Such is his success - no one has ever laid claim to this money and he has been performing since the early 70's


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Review: Paul Blart: Mall Cop

May 10th 2009 02:22
Paul Blart: Mall Cop is indeed a curious mix. It is a slapstick comedy reminiscent of both Die Hard and Kung-Fu Panda starring Kevin James (The King Of Queens). Paul is a nice guy trying to raise his daughter Maya (Raini Rodriguez) with the help of his mother (Shirley Knight) ever since his Mexican bride ran off after her green card came through.

He may only be a mall cop riding around on his Segway but he takes his job very seriously much to the annoyance of his fellow mall cops. He is also not adverse to pulling over senior citizens if they are found to be speeding in their wheelchairs. Paul is pleased when new rookie Veck (Keir O'Donnell) is presented to him to train. Veck however it seems does not share Paul's enthusiasm


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Review - Frost/Nixon

May 7th 2009 08:05
Directed by Ron Howard (The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind) Frost/Nixon was always going to be surrounded by attention of some kind. Interestingly enough, this movie was originally a screenplay written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Other Boleyn Girl) and starred both Michael Sheen (Blood Diamond, The Queen) and Frank Langella (The Caller, Good Night and Good Luck) - the two stars in Howard's movie version. It is no wonder that the two men managed to portray the two identities with such believability.

Familiar of course with Richard Nixon and Watergate, I was however unfamiliar with David Frost (Michael Sheen) and the interviews which caused so much publicity. And for this reason I gained a lot of enjoyment from the movie as it was a subject which I was not so familiar with. As movies go, I was not so much concerned with the fact that this was or was not 100% true as all biographies or stories seemed to be based on a theme or person these days with much dramatical license taken. It did however seem that the storyline and characterisations were very much solidified in truth and the movie had me gripped for the most part from start to end


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Review - The Last Word

May 4th 2009 16:46
I quite enjoy watching Winona Ryder on screen - she seems to command the camera's attention and is not as dull as many of the female leads gracing our screens in romantic comedies these days. Admittedly the last time I saw her in anything was in the animated drama A Scanner Darkly (2006) and prior to that, S1m0ne (2002), so it was great to see her heading the cast in last year's release of The Last Word. Luckily for her she had a strong start in her career (Age of Innocence, Edward Scissorhands, Girl Interrupted, Little Women) otherwise her absence from the screen would've meant she was destined for a career elsewhere - truly a shame for someone who was nominated twice for an Academy Award so early in her acting career.

The Last Word casts Ryder against Wes Bentley who is possibly most well remembered for his role in American Beauty although he has appeared in a number of movies since including The Four Feathers and Ghost Rider. Here Wes is Evan Merck, a writer penning last words for people looking to end their lives. A strange vocation admittedly and even stranger is the fact that he attends the funerals of the victims looking to see how his words may have affected those attending. It is at one of his client's funerals that he meets Charlotte, sister to the deceased. Charlotte confronts Evan at the funeral and this takes them down the path to a relationship based on untruths as Evan is unwilling to tell Charlotte the truth.
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Whatever Works

May 3rd 2009 05:45
Woody Allen's latest comedy Whatever Works stars “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Larry David alongside Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler) and Patricia Clarkson (Married Life, Vicky Cristina Barcelona).

Having had a premiere last month at the Tribeca Film Festival, the movie centres on an eccentric man, Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David), from Greenwich Village who gets caught up in a series of love stories which get him in tangled up with a young girl named Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood) and her parents (Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jnr).
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Review - The International

May 1st 2009 04:08
I penned my interest to see this film back in January and I must admit I came away feeling a bit empty after the experience.

Starring Clive Owen as Interpol Agent Louis Salinger and Naomi Watts as US Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman, both are working hand in hand to investigate the goings on behind international banking. Taking international law into their own hands at times, they uncover arms trading plots, murder and involvement in terrorism - not the usual goings on behind your local Commonwealth Bank admittedly!
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