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Cinema Voyage - Akito Hirata, Filmhunter

City Island

June 1st 2010 17:01

The Rizzo's introduce themselves as cinema's new offbeat family

In the tradition of Little Miss Sunshine, comes Raymond De Felitta’s latest indie offering City Island. In this offbeat comedy, Andy Garcia leads a generally endearing cast as the father of yet another dysfunctional American family.

Set in a sleepy town outside of New York, correctional officer Vince Rizzo (Garcia) leads a relatively normal life with his visiting daughter, flippant son and feisty, Bronx-speaking wife Joyce, acted strongly by television’s The Good Wife’s Julianna Margulies. The family’s comfortable existence is threatened though when Vince happens upon his secret long lost son Tony in prison and unwisely brings him home.

This isn’t the only secret Vince keeps. He’s been leaving his family for what he insists are late night poker games, stirring his wife’s suspicion, when in fact he’s attending an acting class. Here, he hopes to fulfil his dream of becoming the next Marlon Brando, aided by Little Miss Sunshine’s Alan Arkin as his acting coach and an irritating Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island) as his acting partner.

The trickery doesn’t end there. His younger son Vinnie is hiding some hefty passions of his own, besotted with his obese neighbour. Vince’s daughter, who is perhaps somewhat eerily acted by Garcia’s real-life daughter Dominik Garcia-Lorido, has been stripping to pay her way back into college after being suspended with the hope of her parents never finding out.

There is nothing particularly inventive about City Island’s screenplay. It fuses the perverse undercurrent of American Beauty with the sweetness of Little Miss Sunshine. Andy Garcia brings a natural charm to his loveable role as the dim witted but well intentioned father, while Emily Mortimer by contrast gives one of the most unmoving and pathetic performances to hit the screen in a long while.

Ultimately, City Island doesn’t take us anywhere new. Raymond De Felitta has however effectively executed the tired concept of family dramas resolved through soppy confessions and there are some good laughs to be had by the heartfelt performances of the Rizzo family.

3 STARS

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Posted By: Akito Hirata - Category: Comedy

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The Bounty Hunter

April 4th 2010 02:36

Could The Bounty Hunter be the worst film this year? Yes it could.

At first glance, the bus poster for The Bounty Hunter might incline you to believe that it stands out from the overcrowded pool of rom-com mediocrity. For starters, it holds the promise of Jennifer Aniston alongside Gerard Butler. Even the title itself hints at something a touch more daring.

But when no laughter can be heard thirty minutes into its preview screening, and the unrequited urge to be amused festers among a disgruntled audience, you have to wonder what director Andy Tennant was thinking. We know that teaming Aniston with Butler was his idea. We also know that he thought this would equate to magical chemistry onscreen.

It doesn’t.

Butler (300, The Ugly Truth) plays struggling New York bounty hunter Milo, assigned the task of bringing in his sharp-tongued ex-wife reporter Nicole, acted with unendearing commitment by Aniston. Butler puts great effort into his beefy character, but falls short in crafting a male lead that is memorable in any respect. Had this film been made several decades ago, perhaps Robert De Niro might have played the macho Milo to greater effect. In a similar vein, Aniston’s performance does little more than invoke the humour of 1940s screwball comedies, and it’s a poor reimagining at that. Her ten-year stint on Friends demonstrated that she’s a very competent TV star – but not much more.

There’s a barely understandable murder subplot which should serve to drive the film forward, but instead complicates the already predictable reunion of the ex couple. To heighten the tediousness of it all, Christine Baranski (Mamma Mia!) plays the charmless alcoholic mother of Nicole.

The energy brought to the screen by Butler and Anniston is enough to keep audiences in their seats, but they don’t engage us. In many ways, the attributes of this film’s characters reflect accurately the movie at large: hard-working, charmless and witless.

1 STAR

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Posted By: Akito Hirata - Category: Comedy

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A Complete History of My Sexual Failures

March 24th 2010 02:37

Chris Waitt: endearingly daggy star and creator

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures charts the cringe-worthy odyssey of its brave and unashamed British creator Chris Waitt, who is determined to fix his hapless love life.

At the outset, thirty-something filmmaker Waitt declares his mission; to interview his many ex-girlfriends in order to pinpoint the cause of his seemingly inherent inability to build, and then keep, any lasting relationship with a woman.

In the interviews that follow, Waitt is hilariously shot down by his ex-lovers, who harshly and unforgivingly expose his character flaws as well as the unfortunate parts of their bygone periods of intimacy. Forever unreliable and jobless, it’s not hard to see why the film’s endearingly daggy protagonist can’t keep a steady relationship.

Throughout these vastly entertaining reunions, there are moments of excruciating embarrassment and extreme awkwardness for the stubbornly persistent Waitt, which will have audiences either squirming or laughing out loud - or both. Yet, these interviews that have been arranged and set up by Waitt also beg the question of whether or not they are merely that: staged skits.

In the film, we are shown old photographs of Waitt with girlfriends and old love letters. We’re even given motherly anecdotal accounts, all of which supposedly anchor the film’s underlying veracity. However, the question of just how much is actually real may linger in the audience’s mind throughout.

Unfortunately, the film hits a wall midway through and Chris Waitt has very few paths to take except down. The initial embarrassment thrown Waitt’s way by his ex’s is replaced by self-degradation, with a visit to a dominatrix and a Viagra overdose. This increasingly rehearsed nature of the film is disappointing, but Waitt’s courage to turn the camera on his own life proves to be a funny and worthwhile experience.

3 STARS

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Posted By: Akito Hirata - Category: Comedy

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Review - Inglourious Basterds

December 19th 2009 21:09

Well I am not exactly sure what I was expecting from Inglourious Basterds - but what I saw wasn't what I was expecting in the least. In fact it was so much better than I had anticipated. Quentin Tarantino is an imaginative and quirky film maker and while this film will not appeal to everyone, it certainly appealed to my warped sense of humour. And who else has the audacity to rewrite history focussing on Hitler and his downfall and create their very own revenge fantasy film?

The movie is set in Nazi-occupied France and focusses on Col Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) who is responsible for sniffing out hidden Jews and killing them wherever they lie. His reputation precedes him and few ever survive if they come into close contact with Landa. One such survivor is Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) who manages to escape his clutches, although unfortunately for the rest of her family they met with a cruel and unnecessary death

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - 500 Days Of Summer

November 30th 2009 16:01

"This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey, grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one... The girl, Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan, did not share this belief...This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - Whatever Works

November 1st 2009 03:16

Admittedly this movie won't appeal to all but as an avid Woody Allen fan, I enjoyed the return of the bitter Manhattan based Jew waging a personal war against the world.

Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David) considers himself a genius (he tells us at every opportunity he gets) and lets everyone around him know that he was considered for a Nobel prize in Physics. He suffers from anxieties (a la Woody Allen's numerous characters) and after a failed suicide attempt, prefers to live a simpler life free from all the trappings that only further unhappiness and suffering in people's lives

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - The Brothers Bloom

October 16th 2009 04:11

When I initially posted the preview of The Brothers Bloom back in May I stated that I thought it would be a lot of fun. And from the narrated outset of the movie it was. Clever - definitely. However in the end the cleverness wore me out slightly and I had really given up caring about the characters and their future together.

Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody are brothers - Stephen and Bloom. Passed from foster home to foster home, they discover that Stephen has a knack for knowing what people will do in a given set of situations and creating complicated cons to worm money and even love from unsuspecting victims. As the movie develops it soon becomes clear that even the audience are part of the victims as it becomes difficult to determine what is a con and what is real

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

September 27th 2009 03:23

Hamburgers, hotdogs, meatballs and steak falling from the sky wouldn't do much for me as a vegetarian but the township of Swallow Falls laps it all up. Sick of dining on sardines due to a sardine economic crisis, Flint Lockwood inventor extraordinaire comes up with a machine that can manufacture food from water - to order. His unveiling of the machine goes horribly wrong after an encounter with local policeman Earl Devereaux and not only does he manage to upset the entire population of Swallow Falls but his beloved machine is sent hurtling into the clouds.

As an outcast always trying to come up with a great invention, Flint Lockwood has all but given up on being an inventor when it begins to rain. As his machine is lodged in the clouds, it does not rain water as one might expect but hamburgers as his machine was programmed to do

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - Saving Grace

September 18th 2009 16:51

Sometimes you come across a film which didn’t attract a lot of attention when it was released and you have to wonder why. This is one of those films. It is funny and quirky in the way that only the British can do. If you enjoy films like “Waking Ned Devine” then you will love this.

Saving Grace is the story of Grace Trevethen, played by Brenda Blethyn. Grace is a middle-aged, upper class woman living on a large estate in Cornwall. Her husband has just committed suicide and she has been left with the estate which is in need of upkeep as well as a huge debt. Virtually everything has been mortgaged and she has to cope with repossessors knocking on her door as she grieves for her husband. Of course, the grief turns to anger when she finds out that her beloved husband had a mistress on the side! In order to keep her home the bank is insisting that Grace repay her debt and commit to making regular repayments of her mortgage

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - My Geisha

September 1st 2009 14:55

At first sight “My Geisha” looks like just another fluffy Hollywood film from the early 1960’s. Although this is a romantic comedy it has far more depth to it than many films of its genre. It helps that the beautiful music of Madame Butterfly is woven throughout the film.

My Geisha stars Shirley MacLaine as Lucy Dell, a well known comedy actress. Her husband, Paul Robaix who is played by Yves Montand, is a film director. Together they have made many movies and Lucy’s star status has helped Robaix to become successful

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - G-Force

August 22nd 2009 00:56

G-Force is a fun movie about a team of secret agent guinea pigs trying to foil a plot involving the billionaire Leonard Saber (Bill Nighy). At the same time these furry animals are trying to avoid capture by the US government as their department has been forced to disband under the leadership of Kip Killian (Will Arnett).

In order to get their badges and earn the goverment's respect, the guinea pigs along with the help of a fly and a mole and other creatures, show that size is no issue in getting the job done. And just for the record these guinea pigs are no hamsters

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - Confessions Of A Shopaholic

July 5th 2009 03:20

For most of us, Confessions of a Shopaholic is an imaginary tale as we have a firm grip on our shopping habits and credit cards but to some people, the addiction to shopping and spending is ever so real. I recall many years ago seeing a number of women and men on Oprah who had an addiction to spending, racking up thousands of dollars on their credit cards and hiding the bills from their respective partners. So for these people, I am sure Confessions is steeped very heavy in reality.

Isla Fisher is Rebecca Bloomwood, a young women with a penchant for spending money on fashionable items even though she is on the run from an obsessive debt collector and unable to pay rent

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - Happy-Go-Lucky

June 19th 2009 08:44

Mike Leigh has been nominated six times for an Oscar for a number of his movies in either the writing or directing stakes but is yet to take an award home. His latest movie Happy-Go-Lucky was nominated for a writing award at last year's Oscars although the lead actress Sally Hawkins (Cassandra's Dream, Vera Drake) failed to receive a nod even though she won a Golden Globe for her role as the ever-sunny Poppy Cross.

When we meet Poppy she is 30, single and very cheeky. She is a primary school teacher who clearly enjoys her job and loves to live life to the full. Her personality is very over the top and she is always cracking jokes - evidently not always suitable - visions of Ricky Gervais' David Brent sprang to mind at varying intervals. She lives with her longtime flatmate and friend, fellow primary school teacher Zoe (Alexis Zegerman

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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Review - What Just Happened

June 2nd 2009 07:09

What Just Happened is a light hearted romp for those who have an interest in film, movie creation and the whole wacky world of Hollywood. If you do not have a vague interest in the creative or not so creative process of film making, then this film as a whole may not appeal to you.

Ben (Robert De Niro) is a Hollywood producer involved in projects which star such actors as Sean Penn and Bruce Willis (both played mockingly by themselves). Ben and his second ex-wife Kelly (Robin Wright-Penn) are in therapy to try to live happily apart although Ben would sooner jump at a chance for a reunion between the two despite her being involved in a relationship with someone else

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Comedy

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