Category: REVIEWS

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#BRWC10: Brogan’s 3 Favourite Films Of 2013

Reposted from the archives, to help celebrate #BRWC10.

By Brogan Ord Staunton.

Every year all of the 2013 “favourite movie” lists start with the same old, “this year was a great/the best year for film” and this year shall be no different. 2013 was a fantastic year for film and so, it was hard to make this list. Somehow, I feel an honorable mention should be appointed to Anchorman 2. After seeing it on the day of release, though I had some quims about it, one can not deny it was a solid contender if not just for the cameos alone, but so as not to spoil it, I will say nothing else on the matter.

Another mention must go to the fact I have left a few marvel favourites out of the list. Though Thor 2 and Iron man 3 were released this year, I feel that this list more defines 2013, as if any year will be Marvels year, it’s going to be 2015.

So with no further or do, here are my favourite films of 2013 starting with number 3 and I am going to start with the one and only, Alan Partridge.

Now, growing up, I had never been privy “The Alan Partridge Show”, so going into the cinema, I did not have a clue what to expect. Though within 10 minutes, I had realized I had most definitely been deprived of something great.

It reminds me the joy of British humour, though I realize he is an acquired taste though you one cannot deny is endlessly quotable and definitely one of the most humorous films of 2013. An accessible film for any Partridge novice.

He truly is the biggest thing to come out of Norwich, in my eyes anyway.

As a fan of the original, I feel like the one of the few who appreciate the 2013 reboot of the Evil Dead, for what it is, a good old fashioned gore-fest. It is as if people forget that it is a continuation, not a remake. Also, in terms of style, with technology we have today, consider this film was made 22 years ago, that is not going to be the same no matter how it is tackled. Though personally, I enjoyed it. It was one of the few times I could watch a horror and enjoy it for the story instead of hiding behind my hands. The gore was beautifully done, well, as beautifully as any gore can be, but it wasn’t in excess and the bits say for instance involving a chainsaw, though in most movies that would have been unwatchable, I could enjoy it for what it was. To me, the story made a lot more sense. Obviously, nothing can beat the original, or more so Evil Dead 2, but it is up there in my eyes as a contender in the series.

And so we come to the last movie on my list. Seth Rogen and co were most definitely the highlight of my 2013, containing some the most humorous scenes of the year. Also, for those of who have seen it, the end is most definitely my favourite movie moment of the entire year, more so because of my guilty love for boybands than anything. But that is all I shall say on the matter of the Backstreet Boy, the film itself was simply hilarious from start to finish and in my eyes, completely original. Other than the Backstreet Boys, there are endless moments which I could choose as my favourite, which are only emphasized by the self-deprecated humour. Goldberg and Rogen are a writing match to be reckoned with. This is definitely a film that will forever be a firm stander in my top 10 favourite films of all time.

13th August 2018
#BRWC10: 10 Things I Hate About You – Review

10 Things I Hate About You. Shakespeare in the 90s, Heath Ledger and a tender Joseph Gordon-Levitt. What’s not to love? This classic movie is a sleepover staple and a feelgood 90s legend. If you’re planning on celebrating #BRWC10 in style, this is how to do it.

Shrewish Kat Stratford (this isn’t where the Shakespeare references end) is a razor sharp senior at Padua High, whose father has one rule: her younger sister (the popular, gorgeous, inevitably conceited Bianca) can not date until Kat does. Kat, who has sworn off high school boys, makes this a bit of a problem.

Enter Gordon-Levitt. He convinced mysterious burnout Ledger to court Katherine in the hopes of getting his chance with her younger sister. What follows is a movie with all the classic staples – teen angst, artsy kids clashing with jocks and burnouts, and a high school dance to boot. But this movie goes above and beyond and doesn’t just give us what we want, but what we need. Yes we do need Heath Ledger running along the bleachers serenading the girls’ football team, yes we do need Allison Janney writing erotica in between counselling sessions. This feel good, tense and touchingly tender romantic comedy captures the essence of youthful recklessness and the burning hope of first love. Get some popcorn, get your PJs on and settle in.

13th August 2018
#BRWC10: 2008 In Film – Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

There’s no better way to celebrate ten years than looking back…

Few films series have ever cemented themselves within pop culture as successfully as Indiana Jones has. Directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas, both at the peak of their careers, the original trilogy of Jones films are all classics. Like many others, I consider Raiders of the Lost Ark to be one of my absolute favourite films. The fun, the adventure, the characters, the action, the story, it all played together so well. The script by Lawrence Kasdan gave us the perfect balance of suspenseful action and engaging drama. While not perfect, particularly in its final moments, it’s a great film and unquestionably is one of Spielberg’s best films – not something to be said lightly.

Following Raider’s success, Spielberg and Lucas gave us The Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade. Both of which are flawed masterpieces. Neither quite matched the success of the original and were both – albeit not by much – inferior to Raiders. Temple is a fun adventure film that takes a turn for the dark, and even horrifying in the middle. It’s oddly meanspirited and did, admittedly, give me weeks of nightmares when eight-year-old me saw monkey brains, human-skin tapestries and the famous heart-ripping scene. For this, it took me a while to warm up to it – but I’ve come to appreciate it more in the years. Crusade is far sillier, and until the zeppelin scene, was a little too childish for most. Now hailed as a classic, I love it as much as the other two, even if it does lack their bite.

Crusade ended on a perfect note, something Spielberg agreed on. But that didn’t stop people from wanting more from their favourite archaeologist. Then, in 2008, the world was treated to the release of a new Indiana Jones film. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had the promise of greatness that everybody was wishing for. It looked familiar, yet new. Our favourites were back, and what new characters there were looked to be as strong as those that came before. With new effects, an entertaining trailer and a poster that captured the spirit of the films we had come to love, Skull was a guaranteed box office success. It became one of the highest grossing films of 2008 and was met with mostly positive critical reviews. Unfortunately, when audiences watched the film, all they could say was ‘What did I just watch?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12GHDme2h-o

The CGI was horrible. The new characters were forgettable, despite being played by some excellent character actors. Shia LaBeouf played Jones son, in one of the most misguided casting and character choices in recent memory. Somebody thought that Jones surviving a nuclear explosion in a fridge was scientifically sound. And there were aliens in it…need I say more? Skull felt like many things – most of which were bad – but one thing it did not feel like was an Indiana Jones film. What this gave us was similar to the Star Wars prequels in how it was received. With a lot of people trying to like it, but then years later just accepting that it was a bad film.

Of course, in defence of the film, it isn’t all bad. Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time, it’s not like he forgot how to make a film here. The cinematography and editing are still what we’d expect from such a film. There are some great shots here and there throughout. The sets, when they are actual sets, are very nice and well utilised. I even think that the Cold War Era setting was a wise choice and would fit with the age that Harrison Ford was at the time with that of the character. I thought that the opening in the warehouse was a lot of fun and there’s one or two other fun action scenes. The music by John Williams is still great and some of the humour is genuine. It’s just pretty much everything else that lets the film down.

By now it’s well documented that Spielberg had no interest in a fourth Jones film. It was only with the pestering of Lucas and later Harrison Ford that he decided to direct it. While Spielberg’s dedication to the film and enthusiasm as the project was underway can’t be faulted, it’s clear that his heart was no longer in it. It’s also apparent that sometime during production, Harrison Ford found himself frustrated with the film. His performance is dry, and his usually quick wit was coming in off que – so jokes and witty one-liners felt out of place or forced. Script writer David Koepp – who wrote Spider-Man, co-wrote Jurassic Park and directed A Stir of Echoes – was going through a rough spot too. His script here is one of his worst, falling as low as his scripts to War of the Worlds, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Secret Window (which he also directed). Then we have George Lucas. At this point, Lucas was content to make whatever film he wanted – thanks to the poor reaction to the Star Wars prequels, he had learned how to shut out criticism and had accepted that people would likely reject what stories he came up with. Lucas is the man we have to thank for Jones meeting aliens and believe it or not, the film we got was better than the one he had planned originally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x653T60OqnE

An issue that stood out though, one that plagued the film and was its ultimate downfall was not the story. It wasn’t the horrible overuse of poorly rendered CGI. It wasn’t even the bizarre performances from the likes of acclaimed actors – such as Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent. Nor the horrible casting of Shia LaBeouf as greaser son of Jones, Mutt. It was that Spielberg and Lucas had grown from the days of the original trilogy. They had become fathers, they had found a nice place to settle with their well-earned success. They had simply grown up. Lucas typically stayed away from the directing chair and had become an exceptional business man, helping filmmaking friends and newcomers alike find their place in the filmmaking world. Spielberg now only occasionally made the action oriented or family friendly fare that made him famous. Jurassic Park, Minority Report and War of the Worlds were projects that he made between productions of films like Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, Amistad and Munich.

Having grown up, they found elements of the previous three films to be a little inappropriate now. Sadly, these things are what gave the original trilogy its teeth. Jones was an almost Bond like character, he was killing bad-guys and henchmen, visiting exotic locations and getting a different woman every movie. While the locations are still enjoyably exotic, we now have a returning Jones-girl and their son – again, which makes sense to add when you’re a father yourself. The issue is that they don’t play off each other nearly as well the second time, with a lot of their screen time dedicated to fan-service. The son element feels like they’re deliberately trying to pass down the torch to a very poor character – not to mention that it was done better before with The Last Crusade.

Throughout the film, Jones is only responsible for the deaths of two characters, with other characters deaths being either self-inflicted or coincidental. This takes away from the tension. It just feels like a censored down version of the films that came before. The moment where Indiana is fighting the big guy as a horde of flesh-eating ants surround them is a good example of why this bite is needed. It’s a good action scene, and not just because it’s well shot. It’s tense, the action carries weight, every punch is felt, and we feel like Jones could be the one who dies here. I want to feel that with every action scene, not just one! I know that the thought of making a family friendly film was on their minds. But the other three, even the unpleasant Temple of Doom, work as family films, and have been enjoyed by families for decades now. They will last forever; Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has been forgotten by many for the past ten years now.

I’ll always remember when, for a birthday I received all four films and decided to watch all of them in order. But when I got to Skull, I realised that I couldn’t be bothered with it. That is very telling of this film. There are elements I like, but it’s overall forgettable and overly tame. It is treated as one of the worst blockbusters ever made nowadays, whether or not that is deserved is certainly down for debate, but I think that title gives it too much credit. It’s not awful, it’s just aggressively mediocre. Perhaps that’s worse, but for me it doesn’t linger on the mind long enough to be insulting.

12th August 2018
What Happened To Evie: Review

This new short film from director Kate Cheeseman (Roadkiller, Love Somehow) follows the young character of Evie, the new girl at school, who one day suffers an attack on her walk home. It tells the story via the use of flashbacks and flash-forwards as we slowly discover the truth surrounding the assault.

The film has been making some noise on the festival circuit in recent months, picking up awards at Cannes and Galway Fleadh, among others, and it isn’t difficult to see how the film has impacted so many.

The key factor behind its success isn’t so much in the story itself, but rather the way it’s being told to the audience. In the opening minutes, the intertwining sequences and shots may appear to be somewhat jarring, but as the film continues everything begins to come together rather beautifully. The editing neatly works alongside Carol Younghusband’s script, with the film’s continuity creating a mystery that engages the viewer throughout. What appears at first to be a fairly straight-forward story actually proves fairly unpredictable.

By the end, the story’s relatively short timeline all knits together with apparent ease, and we as an audience have grown attached to this character without even realising it. We feel sympathy for Evie thanks not only to the film’s script, but also the terrific central performance from newcomer Bessie Coates. She’s given very little dialogue to work with here, so it really shows great skill at such a young age to be able to convey such emotion so convincingly. Younghusband’s screenplay is terrific, but it is Coates who makes Evie feel like a real person. Her innocence, confusion, fears and self-doubt is never in question, and it’ll be interesting to see where this performance leads her.

Michael Jibson is perhaps better known for his theatrical work, and his performance as Evie’s teacher is certainly slightly different to what we’ve seen from him before, but the Olivier Award-winning actor plays his role with conviction, as does Sian Reeves, who offers a great deal as Evie’s mother, in spite of her minimal screen time. Her concern for her daughter is exceptionally convincing, and is never melodramatic, as if often the case with stories such as these. At no point do any of these performers overplay their roles. The held-back performances only help bring the story to life.

The film’s strengths lie in its subtleties. Nothing in the film is exaggerated. Words aren’t spoken when they’re not needed, the music isn’t overbearing, and we aren’t shown anything at any point without meaning. Cheeseman and Younghusband rely on their performers to sell their story, and it proves very successful, with the film’s standout moment being its poignant final scene, in which not a single word is spoken but the audience can feel everything the filmmakers want them to feel.

Sarah Warne’s score must also be praised, for its significant role in the final film mustn’t be understated. In a film with such little dialogue, the responsibility is on the composer to bring the audience in, and Warne’s hauntingly beautiful piano does exactly that. We feel uncomfortable at points, intrigued in others, and sad throughout, and the music captures the tone consistently, with Warne never overplaying her role, much like everybody else involved.

It’s really remarkable what this film is able to achieve in its brief 10-minute run time. It tells a successful mystery, hooking the viewer right up until the credits roll, but that never detracts from the emotional significance of a story like this. We not only see how this affects Evie, but also how it changes the lives of everyone around her. The long-term impact of something like this is felt in the final minutes, and at no point does it feel like it’s preaching.

The most impressive thing of all isn’t simply that it achieves everything it intends to in such a short space of time, but that it manages to do so while at no point becoming messy. It’s truly terrifying how many mega-budget productions aren’t able to structure a cohesive story in several hours, and the reason ‘What Happened To Evie’ never suffers the same fate is thanks to a well-constructed screenplay, some minimal yet convincing performances, and some very neat editing. It’s surprising how much effort can go into something that appears at first glance to be fairly simple, but that effort is never in doubt here, and it’s precisely why the film hits all the notes that it does. It’s one that demands to be seen, made by people who we need to see more from.

1st August 2018
The Wrestler: Analysis

By Anthony Reyes.

In 2008, while still in my wrestling watching phase, I asked my brother to buy me a movie that I had heard of called The Wrestler. In my head, I thought I was going to see another Ready to Rumble, or something that would have me high flying off cabinets or practicing wrestling moves on my little sister after watching it. I was a fan of wrestling because I loved watching the primal body to body fighting, but I never thought about what each individual put on the line for my reactions. I knew wrestling was fake, but the real emotion and heart these men and women put into this grind was something I couldn’t even imagine. I truly don’t remember what my first reaction was to the film. Years later after I’ve grown a bigger admiration for film and Darren Aronofsky, I revisited The Wrestler to see what I could have missed the first time around. What I discovered was a story that deeply wounded me, and the wound stings every time I think about loneliness and the human desire to be loved.

At the center of the story, we have Randy “the Ram”, a washed up old man who have a spectacular wrestling career in the 1980s. The highlights of his eccentric glory days are given within the first few minutes of the film, as we hear how popular his character was and how many people loved him. That is one of the few moments throughout The Wrestler where the Ram, played by Mickey Rourke, is praised. He gets a few moments here and there from old fans, the new up and comers who look up to him. But other than that, the Ram spends most of the film getting his ass kicked. In the ring. At his low paying part time job. By his daughter or the stripper Cassidy that he’s grown close to. I remember the second time I watched The Wrestler, years after I first experienced it, I became aware of how much time we spent looking at Randy the Ram from behind. For the first couple of scenes, the camera constantly tracks behind Randy, never giving us a good look of his face. It was as if the filmmakers were communicating to the audience that the man was beneath our own gaze, broken and lost from the person he once was. There is another specific scene where Randy is asking for his boss for more hours, and his boss is standing on a ladder a couple of feet above Randy. When we get the reverse shot, we’re looking directly down to him. We’re looking at this figure that we know back in the day used to rule the world, and he is so small and puny. Darren Aronofsky put a lot of thought to blocking these scenes and understood that our pity and sympathy was going to come from how we looked at Randy, from the camera angles to the ways he lets himself and his body be abused physically and emotionally. When we reach those extreme low points in life as Randy is for the majority of the film, we feel two inches tall. Life knocks us down so far, we have nothing more to offer anyone. But for the Ram, his only saving grace was his body and wrestling. The few people in the crowds that cheered him on as he risked his health and life ironically were the very things that saved it.

As the words of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Wrestler” say as the film’s closing credits crawl though the screen, “If you’ve ever seen a one trick pony then you’ve seen me.” Springsteen wrote the song for the film after Rourke asked him to, and it’s impossible to separate the person Springsteen is singing about from Randy the Ram. It’s obvious throughout the film that Randy is not a shockingly smart person. He is not a good father. He does not have any technical skills to have a good paying job. He doesn’t have much to offer to the world. The only thing he has to give is his body and his threshold for pain. At the point of his life where The Wrestler takes place, Randy has accepted that his body is all anybody wants from him, and he’s willing to give it to them for the love they show him. It’s an agreement that wrestlers and all sorts of entertainers make when they decide their vocation in life. Specifically speaking, there is a scene where all the wrestlers are talking and planning out their respective matches. People were arranging how their movements and telling their opponents to kick their ass. They know what the crowd will go crazy for the action and the wrestlers love the idea of giving it to them. Their bodies are pure objects of entertainment, but for these folks, they would not have it any other way. When I was a young wrestling fan, my older cousin who liked to tease me told me that when wrestlers bled, it was because they would cut themselves with a blade that the referee would give them off camera. I scoffed and laughed because I believed in the drama and adrenaline of what I was watching. Plus I couldn’t believe that a person would literally put a blade to their temple for the sake of a wrestling match. But Randy the Ram is stronger than my imagination. He knows that the crowd expects blood, and he gives it to them without a second thought. Every piece of Randy the Ram is for them.

One day when I was young, my father was walking around the house with his shirt off like he often did on a hot day. He’s a welder and has been for almost forty years. In that time, this man has been through a lot of work place accidents that have left scars over his body. I remember asking him about the burns and scars, and he gave me a small anecdote for each wound. “This is when a piece of hot metal fell on my arm.” “This is from the time I stuck my hand with a rusty nail.” The man’s eyes are weak from not properly wearing a mask as he welded. I kept giving him this look of “Didn’t it hurt?”, but he just told me that it is what he has to do, for the family and to make a living because he loves us. So, it blew my mind when in the film, Randy and Cassidy, played by Marisa Tomei, have a conversation about Randy’s scars and the many times he put his body on the line for the crowd. It proved that Randy had authentic, genuine love for the crowd, but also for how they made him feel. They made him valued, loved. After a while, we start to understand why he bled and sweated so much for them. Which is why when his body, or heart, starts failing him, he has nowhere to turn to. The life he’s led for so long, all the dedication he’s has put into putting his body on the line weekend after weekend has turned on him. His heart can’t take the physical abuse anymore, he has to quit. It’s like losing a member of the Ram’s self-proclaimed family.

During one of the intimate scenes between Randy and his estranged daughter Stephanie, played by Evan Rachel Wood, she tells her father, “I guess I was a glutton for punishment.” I imagine that that’s an attribute her and her father share because Randy the Ram put his body through so much. It is all he had. Pain is inevitable, one of the harshest truths of life. But as human beings, many times we get to choose who or what we hurt for. My father used his body and labor for us. Randy the Ram, as a person who was too selfish to put his daughter ahead of himself, used his body for the glory of the crowd. He jumped off the top ropes for them. He went through tables and cut scars in his head for them. But when he could not do it any longer, he had to face life. Randy tried to make things work his daughter. He tried to find a pure, human connection with Cassidy, or Pam. But things never work out for Randy in the real world like they did in the ring. His heart is broken physically and emotionally for the hurt that he’s brought on the people who love him. And in the end, he’s alone. The way he knows that he deserves to be. As much as he wants to be forgiven for his sins even though he hasn’t earned that forgiveness, he knows that the only place he really belongs, and where people care for him, is in the ring. “The only place I get hurt is out there.” The man stuck his thumb in a meat slicer and it did not hurt as much as his daughter telling him that she never wants to see him again. Because he was so close to having it all, but he understood that it was too late.

In the final moments of the film, Randy delivers a heartfelt speech to the crowd. Displayed with his huge scar in the middle of his chest from when he had a heart attack earlier in the film, in front of all his fans and Cassidy who has come to convince to miss the fight and not put his heart at risk, Randy makes a declaration that only his fans will tell him when his time is up in the ring. Cassidy sees it for a second, the love people have for Randy. For a split second, she understands the sacrifice that Randy is making, the abuse he has put his body through. Once Randy starts getting beaten down on and thrown around the ring, she leaves, knowing that she’s lost him to the crowd. Little by little, Randy’s predicted demise comes true. His heart starts to disorient him. At one point, it stops him mid sprint and he drops like a brick onto his knees. He feels it coming but he has accepted that this is the way he wants to go. Before he goes on the top rope, he looks for Cassidy but sees that she has left. The expression on his face is of true defeat, even more than when he was getting his ass kicked a few seconds ago. “The world don’t give a shit about me.”

Finally, his moment has come. He struggles to stand on the top robe. He slowly extends his leg so that he is fully above the ring and the crowd. His body only has a few seconds left. We’re looking at him from a low angle, backlit by a spotlight on the ceiling. He is glorious. This is his element. This is where he belongs. This is where he is on top of the world. Not as when we were looking at him from behind. Not like when his boss was looking down at him, the small-time manager of a supermarket. Here, Randy is the Ram. He pauses. He takes in the crowd, silently thanking them for all those years they love him. With a final breath and dive, the Ram throws himself out of frame. The film ends on a bittersweet note.

Bitter because Randy couldn’t make it work in the real world. Sweet because he got to go out on his own terms, as the Ram.

31st July 2018