Brothers

Brothers (2009)
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard

The story of the Prodigal son; a good film, dramatic, a remake that is good but not as taught as the original Danish film. Two diametrically opposed brothers, one a Marine and one a Drop-out fresh out of the slammer are at the center of this story. The young Marine goes off to Afghanistan and goes missing in action, presumed dead, the family have a funeral etc. The drop out brother (gyllenhall) helps out his grieving sister in a law, nurturing her kids, building her a new kitchen to try and win the respect of his father who has always seen him as 2nd best to his younger brother.

The story gets interesting when the brother and the wife get closer, they share a common loss, they are both empty and struggling to come to terms with the death. They like each other after years of misunderstanding. The daughters take a shine to their uncle, who is less strict and more fun than uptight military dad.

The story of Maguire is given a real twist when it's revealed that he is not dead but actually taken as a POW. While a prisoner he is forced to kill one of his own men in a nasty scene, its kill or be killed and so he beats him to death with a pipe, going against all he believes as a soldier and a man - this changes him forever. Soon after he is rescued by an invading platoon of US soldiers and returned to the US and to his stunned and surprised family. He is a different man, the trauma has damaged him for the worse, he is dark and intense. The kids prefer their uncle. Maguire builds to an explosion in his own house, a gun weilding nervous breakdown spawned by his suspiscion of his brother and wife.

It builds to an intense climax, one that we see coming all along but it still delivers. This is Maguire's best acting in years (aside from his cameo in Tropic Thunder). Portman is excellent as usual and Sam Shepard plays the old fashioned dad to a tee. Very enjoyable film, great performances, Maguire is fantastic, worth seeing for his performance alone.

Must Rent DVD

We Live In Public

We Live In Public (2009)
Directed by Ondi Timoner
Starring Josh Harris

Brilliant, fascinating, well worth watching. Winner of the 2009 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, this remarkable documentary details the experiences of Josh Harris 'the greatest internet pioneer you've never heard of'. Amassed from footage shot over 10yrs and cut down from over 5000 hours of material, Timoner paints a fascinating, implosive, portrait, a rags to riches to rags tale of a contemporary genius-madman-artist-svengali.

Harris was an early internet hero, a dot-com boomer, a man who turned his vision of 'the future of online communication' into a practical interactive internet experience 10 years too early. In his process of creative invention Harris's net worth shot up to 80 million dollars. The search for personal fame is what truly motivated Harris and we get to share in the excess and experimentation that big money can bring to someone with wild and brilliant ideas. You have to respect Harris for living his dream and spending his money to execute his grand ideas.

Harris uses riches gained from his Silicon Valley backed internet company (Pseudo) to create a one of kind interactive, big brother type experiment on 'the effects of media and technology on the human identity'. It took place over 30 days in NYC using 100 people. Everyone is locked into a building, a mini society where drugs, food and clothes are provided, alongside a shooting range. The participants wear uniforms and sleep in bed-pods, they are interrogated and constantly filmed. Harris creates this society so that he can call the shots, control people, makes the rules, garner information. Its fascinating to see what goes down and how the experiment affects the participants both positively and negatively. The experiment is shut down by the police on the 1st day of the year 2000.

During all the chaos and problems Harris experiences (with his shut down society experiment) he manages to fall in love. Sadly Harris soon turns the cameras on his own relationship, rigging their nyc loft with 30 cameras and broadcasting the relationship on the internet for all to see. This experiment lasts only 6 months and their relationship of course crumbles. With no money left, Harris gives it all in and disappears only to show up years later as an apple farmer.

Harris was right about a lot of things regarding the internet and in this doc its plain to see that his thoughts and prophecies have come true. Its amazing to watch Harris live fearlessly and implode as he experiments with people and money, his brain trying to find patterns and meaning. He is on a quest for information and understanding, but at what cost, his own sanity. Underneath all the posturing and games is a serious man with serious intellect and brilliant ideas who is willing to put it all on the line, so you gotta respect that. Timoner stuck in there and finally got her story after years, all the fragments come together in her compelling and thought provoking film.

Well worth watching, a must own DVD.

The Blind Side

The Blind Side (2009)
Directed by John Lee Hancock
Starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron

See this incredible film, go rent it. Its clear after seeing this film why Bullock won her AA and GG for this role, this is a powerhouse performance.

The film is based on the true story of Michael Oher; an impoverished homeless teenager (from Memphis) who is taken in and nurtured by a loving wealthy family who eventually adopt him and help him achieve academic and athletic success, leading to him being drafted into the NFL by the Baltimore Ravens. The sport of football as in the title, is the framing device for this story, about teamwork, family, honor and loyalty. Its through football that Michael finds his voice.

The life changing opportunity and experience Michael receives works both ways, the family benefit greatly from having him around. Michael is not typical, regardless of his rough upbringing and abandoned soul, he is a warm loving gentle giant, who in turn helps the family reach a deep spiritual connection as a unit. The film is all about love and how love has the power to heal any trauma, to break any obstacle.

This is Bullock and Aaron's movie, they are magic together, their chemistry is electric. We believe them and how they affect each-other is quite profound. True stories are always the best, so easy to relate and feel the emotion. This film rocked me, make sure you have a box of tissues. Well I have kids so I guess thats to be expected. This is another movie I avoided in theaters and simply loved on dvd. Just goes to show, never judge a book by its cover. Bullock is back with this and The Proposal last year she made two solid blockbuster hits. You go girl..

Shutter Island

Shutter Island (2010)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Max Von Sydow

The previews sold this as a horror, at least thats what I got, but its actually a psychological drama and not one of Scorsese's best. The riveting performances and visual style make up for its average story.

The film reminded me of 'A Beautiful Mind' in many ways, but Ron Howard's film was based in truth and had more weight. To me 'Shutter Island' was exciting and dramatic but over long and convoluted. The set-up and early clues in the dialogue gave away the plot too early in the story, I just sat waiting for it all to unfold. But its always fun to watch DiCaprio in action. The casting is what holds the film together. Kingsley plays his creepy role on the line with such skill he steals the show.

The film is a mystery about a Federal Marshall and his new partner who arrive at an insane asylum to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a patient. Turns out the Marshall has his own dark-past, his wife and child having being killed in a house fire. The investigation of the missing patient reveals connections to the Marshall's own past, fact and fiction get warped on his wild goose chase for the truth.

The rug-pull comes in the form of DiCaprio being revealed to be a patient at the asylum, he is a federal marshall who went crazy and shot his wife after she drowned their three kids. The role playing of detective is revealed to be the asylum's experiment, to let him run role play out his fantasy in the hope of making a breakthrough, to have him realize his own truth. The breakthrough is finally made after two hours, but the light is soon extinguished in a closing scene that I thought was rather un-necessary.

Still this is a compelling movie and there are exciting set pieces and good acting. DiCaprio is brilliant as usual and Ruffalo stands his ground. This not your run of the mill Scorsese movie, its experimental for him. Still worth the money and time to see anything this grand master does.

A must see DVD.

Armored

Armored (2009)
Directed by Nimrod Antal
Starring Matt Dillon, Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Ty Hackett, Skeet Ulrich.

American crime drama featuring a revitalized Matt Dillon opposite excellent newcomer Ty Hackett. The story is a run of the mill Heist about a team of armored-car drivers who rob the company they work for, stealing 42 million from a Federal Reserve transfer.

The framing device for the film is the story of Colombus Short (Hackett), a newly retired veteran Marine from Iraq whose parents both died forcing him to return to the USA to take care of his younger brother. The family house going into foreclosure and Colombus needs to make money and so he is lured into the heist by co-worker Dillon.

The heist goes wrong at the rendezvous point (a stunning abandoned steel mill) when the guards are spotted by a homeless man. Fishburne shoots and kills the homeless man causing Colombus to have a change of heart and go against the team to try and stop the robbery. He sounds the alarm on the armored truck and soon a local cop is patrolling the steel mill. Fishburne shoots this cop and Colombus saves him, dragging him successfully into the armored truck. The bad guys try to get into the truck before the cops send cars out looking for the missing officer. The action builds from there to an inevitable climax.

There are a couple of implausible twists, but its action packed and fun watching Colombus use his military skills to outwit the amateur security guards. Antal does a decent job of framing the action and creating suspense. Skeet Ulrich has a decent role and delivers an edgy performance. The ensemble is very good, it just felt small and shallow emotionally, it moved so fast it was hard to connect to anyone in the story. Hackett saves the film with his vital naivete, his energetic emotional performance, he was surrounded by Lions and stepped up.

Dillon is great in this film, its a different role for him, worth watching just for his performance. He looked lean and mean, years have been taken off him somehow. This is a good popcorn, sofa film; just don't expect to be moved, shocked or enlightened.

The Box

The Box (2009)
Directed by Richard Kelly
Starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella

This was some truly unwatchable rubbish. Convoluted nonsense about a test of human nature, a complete waste of time. This film felt like a bad episode of The Twilight Zone. Its amazing considering the cast they had for this turkey. I turned it off after 20 minutes. I don't even know where to start with this film, so I wont bother. In a phrase, snore-fest. I'd be fascinated to hear from anyone who liked this film and why. Please leave comments

Amelia

Amelia (2009)
Directed by Mira Nair
Starring Hilary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewen McGregor, Christopher Eccleston

This film did not fair well at the box-office or on home video and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it, but I was surprised. This bio-pic starts off a little bumpy, suffering mostly from structural problems with a lot of jumping back and forth in time - but by 30mins in the film is on track and focusing on Earhart's around the world attempt.

Swank is spot-on as Amelia, she looks, talks and moves just like her, as seen in archive footage; its a remarkable transformation. She hams it a little but its the 30's and she's playing a strong independent siren. Gere plays Puttnam her publisher husband and biggest supporter, his loyalty and faith in Amelia are at the core of this tender love story. The ending I wont give away (unless you know your history) but it really moved me, I had no idea of her fate. The end to me almost made the film, it was bitter sweet, just like Earhart.

McGregor plays the love affair interest, a single-parent/aeronautics-genius who helps Amelia gain recognition. She is a person who cant be tied down. Their love affair is short lived and eventually she returns to her husband. This film is a love-story at heart, and we get all the facts of her aeronautical success neatly wrapped in. The films focus is not on the love triangle, the anchor of the story is the undying support of Gere for this remarkable free-spirited woman.

The effects are not so great but not bad enough to take you out of the story. There's not much action in general but the flight sequences are good and capture the risk, the old planes were very dangerous, communication was bad, no satellites, only morse and radio. One cant even imagine doing what Amelia did 8o years ago. The film brings the danger and her heroism to light. The performances hold together a fairly undramatic story. The era is captured well in the visuals, the wardrobe and make-up felt and looked right. The music was also a good fit. Ok some movies aren't for everyone and usually I agree with the mass, but in this case I enjoyed a film most people told me was crap. Rent the DVD to polish up on your history..