film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Rosalynn Try-Hane

  • Game Of Thrones: Season 2 #GoTNOWTV #MarchMarathon

    Game Of Thrones: Season 2 #GoTNOWTV #MarchMarathon

    The night is dark and full of terrors so says Redlay Melisandre.  Are you confused? Season 1 was all winter and now Game of Thrones has taken a sharp turn and it’s night. Winter isn’t yet upon us but a darkness has settled over Westeros. The hand to the King Ned Stark was executed just like the previous Hand because he had learnt the secret. However so has everyone else at the very beginning of season 2 – Joffrey is not the rightful heir and should not be sitting on the Iron Throne. He’s the bastard child a  product of incestous love between Cersei and her brother Jaime. There are more kings springing up all over Westeros and a number of them wish to claim their “rightful” place as the one true king and sit on the Iron Throne.

    A central theme to season 2 is love in it’s main forms: familial, parental, incestous, forbidden and romantic. Rob Stark has won 3 battles against the Lannisters and he wants the North to be independent from the South. Catelyn Stark now a widow just wants her two girls back from the devious and cunning hands of the Lannisters and her maternal love is her weakness when she allows Jaime Lannister to be transported back by Brienne of Tarth.  Another mother is born in the renaissance of Daenerys and her dragons – really – the mother of dragons. But what of Arya and Sansa. Treachrous betrayal by Theon Greyjoy when he chooses his love of his father over the fraternal love that was once so strong between himself and Rob Stark.

    And what of the terror: the slaughtering of all the remaining bastard children of the late King Robert Baratheon by a fearful Joffrey and the dark powers of Redlay Melisandre to kill from a distance and her new god of fire and light.

    The mysterious Jon Snow who finally meets and captures a Wildling and the spark of forbidden love ignites between him and Ygrette. Look out for the White Walkers, yes they do exist, spoken of in hushed tones in season 1.

    Survival is everything now for those who remain and fear is strong – the fear of losing power. Cersei wants to do everything to protect her child but fears her hold over him is slipping. He is after all King and that was her doing. The master of survival Tyrion Lannister is still going strong and is now hand of the king, although that position does appear to be a sure path to a premature death – will he keep his head?

    George RR Martin’s second book “A song of ice and fire” is the basis for season 2 of Game of Thrones.  Some series on such an epic scale as Game of Thrones might of played it safe and done everything to save major characters. Yet the power and refreshing authenticity of Game of Thrones is that nobody is safe: two major characters were killed off in season 1 – Ned Stark and Khal Drogo. Nobody is safe and with survival and love at the centre of season 2 who will you be hoping survives and which house should triumph: Lannister, Stark, Baratheon, Arryn, Greyjoy and Targaryen?

    As well as every episode of Game of Thrones, NOW TV offers no contract access to the best in movies, sports, and entertainment. Whether you want to dip in and catch up on the latest shows, watch your favourite Sports team or entertain the family over the holidays, the NOW TV Passes put great entertainment at your fingertips –  just like magic. Simply put: NOW TV gives you the TV you really want, without any of the stuff you don’t.

    nowtv.com

    In the run up to the launch of Season 5, NOW TV will be celebrating each Season by watching one per week before Season 5 airs on 13th April. So whether you’re a fan already or have never seen the show, there’s still time to catch up on the show that everyone will be talking about come April. Join NOW TV on the sofa from 10am each Saturday and midday each Sunday and make sure to follow @NOWTV, they’ll be giving away prizes each day. And to make the weekend of marathon Game of Thrones watching more bearable, NOW TV have given us x5 catch up kits to give away which include NOW TV Entertainment month passes, Game of Thrones official merchandise, a mug and snacks galore!

    All you have to do to win one is follow us on twitter @brwc and tell us your fave GoT episode and why with the hashtag #GoTNOWTV.  Easy!

    Don’t forget to join the conversation with #GoTNOWTV

     

  • Review: Listen Up Philip

    Review: Listen Up Philip

    Listen Up Philip – you’re a narcisstic, self indulgent human devoid of empathy yet you’re acerbic humour and unshakeable self-confidence make you a delight to watch for most of the 108 minutes.

    The film centres on Philip Lewis Friendman played in usual deadpan manner by Jason Schwartzman who is awaiting publication of his second novel. His relationship with his photographer girlfriend is rapidly going downhill and even his publisher is exasperated with him and his hubris and own self importance. He takes refuge in the summer house of his literary idol Ike Zimmermann (played by Jonathan Pyrce in excellent form). Philip starts to consider isolation, idolisation and his own greatness.

    Listen Up Philip is the third feature film to be written and directed by Alex Ross Perry. Whilst the director says his motivation was to make films that portray the New York life that he knows and “to make a film that spoke to the brutality of the city, to the painful conflict that comes from living in a highly competitive and anxiety inducing place.” From the opening credits and the narration (Eric Bogosian) it has the feel of a Woody Allen film and the director and director of photography state that they loved Woody Allen’s films and in particular Husbands and Wives. This film feels like a homage despite the blisteringly funny dialogue. The first 45 minutes are really intelligent, laugh out loud funny. However, rather than keep that indifference the film became too self aware, introspective and was stifled like cold air in a hot sticky apartment in a New York City summer without air conditioning. Having said all that Eric Bogosian’s wonderful, humorous and ironic narration as well as Elizabeth Moss playing Ashley Kane, Philip’s girlfriend, kept me engaged and when neither of them were present I felt my attention waning.

    Listen Up Philip will be released in cinemas in UK and Ireland from 5 June 2015. If you are a fan of Jason Schwartzman and think Woody Allen early films with narration excite you then go and watch Listen Up Philip, if not then avoid.

  • Game Of Thrones: Season 1 #GoTNOWTV #MarchMarathon

    Game Of Thrones: Season 1 #GoTNOWTV #MarchMarathon

    Greed, betrayal, love – sometimes unrequited, duty, sex, family ties, loneliness as well as laughter and are all universe truths that we can identify with. When these universal truths are woven into a fantasy world made up of seven kingdoms, tales of those beyond the wall, dragons and a battle to the death to see who will sit on the Iron Throne and rule it all you have officially entered The Game of Thrones.

    HBO took storytelling through the medium of television to a whole new level when screenwriters David Benioff and D.B Weiss wrote 10 episodes of The Game of Thrones based on the first book in the series, A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin. The size of the book is enough to rival that of Lord of the Rings but they took the book and turned it into an accessible and thoroughly enjoyable television viewing. Added to incredible writing was a stellar cast of award winning stage and screen actors including Charles Dance, Sean Bean, Conleth Hall, Lena Headey, Iain Glen and new comers Kit Harington, Jack Gleeson, Emilia Clarke and Maisie Williams

    In a world where summer can last a few years and winter a lifetime, loyalty is everything and even the viewer’s loyalty is tested to its’ limits. In season 1 we are introduced to the different families or Houses as they are known: Lannister, Stark, Baratheon, Arryn, Greyjoy and Targaryen and at first it appears, superficially as least, easy to decide who is good and who is bad or even treacherous.

    Briefly, the main story arc of season 1 concerns Lord Ned Stark leaving his family at Winterfell to head to Kings Landing to take up the role of Hand of the King or Chief Advisor to King Robert Baratheon and also  find out who killed the previous Hand of the King, John Arryn. Ned Stark on the surface seems noble – a good master, husband and father with a bastard son Jon Snow.  Indeed a bastard son so not such a good husband after all and who is Jon Snow’s mother is one of the many sub-plots in season 1. Others include the incestious relationship between Cersei Lannister and her brother Jaime. The mysterious Varys who will stop at nothing to keep the equilibrium and peace at Kings Landing. Then there are the Brothers of the Night Watch that guard the Wall. Yes the mysterious Wall that protects the North from the fabled Wildlings: are they just a myth or does something still exist beyond the Wall. An individual who shouldn’t really be a favourite character but shone through is that of Tyrion Lannister. His father wanted to kill him as he was born a dwarf and is a terrible warrior yet has some how managed to survive the external as well as internal battles that have engulfed him through sheer ingenuity and treachery and sometimes betrayal. Tyrion is brought to life by Peter Dinklage who won an Emmy for his role and it is not hard to see why.

    The Games of Thrones season 1 is a prism in which one can look at it as a simple fantasy story with different kingdoms, kings, lords and even tales of dragons or  it can be seen as an examination of the unbreakable human spirit. Even if fantasy isn’t really something you are interested in, I defy you not to get hooked on the Game of Thrones – the snappy dialogue, humour and laughter woven into every episode will have you questioning whether you are watching a fantasy drama or a modern day soap opera.

    Excellent writing peppered with high drama and it should be noted rather a lot of nudity together with sub-plots to keep even the most fickle viewer hooked along with the ominous warning that winter is coming. The various plots and sub plots of Game of Thrones season 1 will remain with you long after the end of the 10 episodes.

    As well as every episode of Game of Thrones, NOW TV offers no contract access to the best in movies, sports, and entertainment. Whether you want to dip in and catch up on the latest shows, watch your favourite Sports team or entertain the family over the holidays, the NOW TV Passes put great entertainment at your fingertips –  just like magic. Simply put: NOW TV gives you the TV you really want, without any of the stuff you don’t.

    nowtv.com

    In the run up to the launch of Season 5, NOW TV will be celebrating each Season by watching one per week before Season 5 airs on 13th April. So whether you’re a fan already or have never seen the show, there’s still time to catch up on the show that everyone will be talking about come April. Join NOW TV on the sofa from 10am each Saturday and midday each Sunday and make sure to follow @NOWTV, they’ll be giving away prizes each day. And to make the weekend of marathon Game of Thrones watching more bearable, NOW TV have given us x5 catch up kits to give away which include NOW TV Entertainment month passes, Game of Thrones official merchandise, a mug and snacks galore! 

    All you have to do to win one is follow us on twitter @brwc and tell us your fave GoT episode and why with the hashtag #GoTNOWTV.  Easy!

    Don’t forget to join the conversation with #GoTNOWTV

     

  • Review: The Life Of Riley

    Review: The Life Of Riley

    The Life of Riley (Aimer, Boire et Chanter) the last film by cinema great Alain Resnais. It’s a film adaptation of the play by Alan Ayckbourn that is bereft of laughs or joy and just tries too hard.

    The Life of Riley centres on the mysterious George who is never seen but spoken of by all the other characters. He’s dying of cancer, a fact inadvertently disclosed by his doctor to his wife and then all the members of the amateur dramatic company learn of George’s status. It transpires that George has been out with the three principal women and the remaining question is who will George take to Tenerife with him on his final holiday.

    Resnais takes the idea of a play within a play told through the medium of film to a whole new level which fails to engage and seems so forced never more so than when the characters are filmed against a black and white background. Even by French standards this mixture of French actors pretending to be in Yorkshire and speaking in French but trying to pronounce English names is just painful to watch.

    The Life of Riley is for die hard Resnais fans who want to see the last film by the late, great French director. It is in cinemas in the UK and Ireland from 6 March 2015. Otherwise if you really want to see an incredible film by Resnais then hunt down a copy of the 1959 Hiroshima Mon Amour.

  • Review: Cake

    Review: Cake

    Cake is well a little plain without icing and this film lacked the icing.

    Jennifer Aniston stars as Claire Bennett who is suffering from chronic pain after suffering a catastrophic and fatal accident in which her son died and she has been suffering ever since both physically and emotionally. The fall-out from the accident leads to her dependance on pharmaceutical drugs, reckless sex, breakdown of her marriage and bizarre behaviour at her survivors support group.

    This is Jennifer Aniston as we have not seen for a long long time well not since The Good Girl (2002). Her performance in this film is solid and she is believable as someone suffering from chronic pain and delivers as the anti-hero. However the script is flat and rather than be daring it takes an easy path to show her as a drugged up chronic pain sufferer which is so predictable.

    The supporting cast made up of Sam Worthington, Felicity Huffman and Anna Kendrick does a fine job. However, the standout performance is by Adriana Barraza, as Silvana the housekeeper, that adds much needed lift and draws more out of Aniston from what can sometimes feel like an earnest performance.

    Although on general release at cinemas in the UK Cake in my opinion is a dvd Sunday afternoon style film – good but not worth heading to the cinema for.