Owen's Reviews

LIke so many movies these days, notably Lars von Trier's 'Dogville' and Zack Snyder's '300', this movie suffers from 'Style over Substance'. In all art forms, be it a film, a painting, a piece of writing or music, if the technique used to create it is so noticeable, that it prevents us from engaging with the subject matter, to any great degree, then the work has failed as a piece of art. All the way through this fragmented and confusing movie, I was too busy trying to figure out what I was watching had to do either with Bob Dylan, or to any of the other stories, to be able to engage with any of the characters. While I'm no authority on Bob Dylan, I have a feeling that even those who are, would be baffled by this movie. I came away not knowing any more about Dylan than I did before watching it. Maybe that wasn't the Director's intention, but if it wasn't, what was it? If there was some 'thread' connecting the various stories together, then I'm afraid I didn't pick it up. Not even Cate Blanchett worked for me and Christian Bale's strange accent was just plain annoying. Heath Ledger was interesting (as always), but you didn't see much of him. Very disappointing movie. A good example of a movie that uses a very different way of telling a story that WORKS, is Richard Linklater's 'A Scanner Darkly' . Check it out.

Anyone who has seen 'Passion of the Christ' and 'Braveheart', will know that Mel Gibson pulls no punches when he's in the Director's chair, and 'Apocalypto' is no exception. This brutal story of a brutal people, the Maya, is totally believable from opening scene to closing credits. You are instantly drawn in and totally unaware you are watching actors. None of the leading cast were known to me and I thought that Gibson was taking a page out of Werner Hertzog's book, and had casted 'unknown locals', as Hertzog did for both 'Fitzcarraldo' and 'Aguerre, Wrath of God' although both these movies had a well known actor, Klaus Kinsky, in the lead roles. But in Apocalypto, this appears not to be the case. All the cast are totally believable however, and the fact that the dialogue is subtitled (as it was for 'Passion') with the characters speaking what I assume is the language the Maya spoke, adds to the believability. The production design, costumes and makeup are flawless and obviously highly researched. When it would have been easier to use cgi for some of the locations, like the temple, Gibson chose instead to actually build them, and this was a masterstroke. It's basically a 'chase' movie, but how the chase is resolved is totally unexpected, but works brilliantly. While not being particualrly impressed with Gibson's 'off screen' antics, nor his opinions, you have to give him credit here for this tour de force. Not for the squeamish, but it IS a story about the Maya, after all. The Extras are also worth watching as they give a real insight into just how much effort went into the making of this amazing movie.

I wasn't aware of the graphic novel this movie is based on, but seeing it was directed by Terry Zwigoff, who worked with '60's comic artist extraordinaire, Robert Crumb, I just knew it had to be great, even though Crumb didn't create the original story (it was Daniel Clowes). It's odd that this movie went more or less un-noticed on release, seeing as both Scarlett Johansonn and Steve Buscemi play two of the leads, 'Rebecca' and 'Seymour'. I hadn't seen Thora Birch before, but her character Enid is wonderfully quirky and engaging. Check out the footwear! Birch and Johansonn make a great 'double act' with some terrific and sometimes 'surprising' dialogue (Johansonn uses a word rarely heard in movies and only very rarely on tv, and to my knowledge, never by a woman). Buscemi plays the nerdy, reclusive vinyl loving blues freak, Seymour as only Buscemi could, but you can't help but like the guy. Another character to watch out for is the Art teacher. One interesting bit of trivia, for those who don't know much about Zwigoff. In the 'garage sale' scene, Enid is looking though some old LP's Seymour is selling, and pulls out an album 'What about this one?' she asks. Seymour replies 'Nah, you wouldn't like that' and puts it back. What makes this interesting is that the album is by Robert Crumb's string band (sadly defunct) 'The Cheap Suit Serenaders' who only made 3 albums before disbanding. Zwigoff was in the lineup, mostly on vocals. But Seymour is wrong! The album (Chasin' Rainbows') is great! If you like this film, you'll love all three 'Cheap Suits' albums! If you are also a fan of John Hughes' 'Brat Pack' movies, you'll love this. A gem.

Forget 'Magnificent 7' and every other Hollywood movie that's used Kurosawa's masterwork as it's template, and there have been plenty of them (including Star Wars), because it's a GREAT story. Make no mistake, THIS is THE one. It surprises me when people say 'I can't stand subtitles' (see reviews of 'Pan's Labyrinth) because this movie (along with all of Akira Kurosawa's work) supremely demonstrates the fact that if the movie is superbly made, as Kurosawa's are, you don't even notice you are reading them. If you do notice, then you can't be watching a Kurosawa film! Subtitles are far preferable to dubbing which does the orignal movie, especially the actors (and the audience) a disservice. I can't see the problem with subtitles. It's like saying 'I don't like listening to people singing in a foreign language'. If it's amazing music, it doesn't matter if you don't know what the lyrics mean. How many people who enjoy opera, are multilingual? Not many I reckon, yet look at the popularity of Pavarotti et al. So give Toshiro Mifune and his 6 samurai buddies a break!!! The fact that Seven Samurai is also black and white is possibly a turnoff for some as well, but again, they are missing the point. The movie doesn't need color. It would be superfluous. It uses b/w for dramatic effect. Kurosawa didn't shoot it in b/w because he couldn't afford color stock!!! Think of the real 'classic' movies and they are all b/w: 'Citizen Kane', 'Some Like It Hot', 'Casablanca','The Third Man', 'M. Hulot's Holiday', 'Wages of Fear' and more recently, the Coen Bros 'The Man Who Wasn't There'. So don't let the fact that this movie is both subtitled AND b/w put you off. It is a MUST SEE along with all Kurosawa's work. Alongside the likes of 300 for example, you will see there is no contest. Kurosawa rocks!!! But...if you're still not convinced, try Kurosawa's 'Ran'. It's still subtitled, but it IS in COLOR (although it probably didn't need to be!)

My enjoyment of this strange movie was spoilt somewhat by having two faulty discs, both of which froze in the same place (Chapter 9). However, I did manage to see the whole thing ( minus that chapter) eventually and found it both intriguing and disturbing. The mixture of two very different interwoven storylines ( the Spanish Civil War / The Girl's discovery of the Labyrith) was both unexpected and slightly unsettling. I was warned beforehand that 'it's not what you expect' and this is very true. What I certainly wasn't expecting was the gratuitous violence, especially at the beginning, when the Captain dispatches a member of the Resistance, in a frenzied and highly brutal fashion. If the point was being made that the Captain was a sadistic monster, then this could just as easily been achieved if he had shot the man point blank, as he does the other man immediately after. The movie would have worked without this and I had to wonder what demographic it was aimed at, because these highly violent scenes would preclude even older children from watching it without being upset. The performances however, were all excellent and the fx , especially the make up for the 'Faun' character was brilliantly realised. I couldn't tell if it was cgi or an actor in costume...or a combination of both. So it was an ambitous and interesting movie which let itself down by the use of gratuitous violence.

Some years ago I had the job of illustrating a book 'in the style of' Beatrix Potter and got to know a little bit about her as a result of my research. So, I was interested to see what Renee Zelwegger did with the role. As always, she nails the accent, but I couldn't help feeling she was doing a 'Bridget Jones in Victorian costume' at times. Although it was an interesting script, nothing was said of the fact that some of Potter's stories have a slightly sadistic tone, which reflect not only the attitudes of the era in which she lived (and possibly still persist?) but quite possibly her own: Tabitha Twitchet shuts the kittens in a cupboard for being naughty: a hunter shoots off the tail and whiskers of 'the bad rabbit': Mr Bunny beats Benjamin with a 'switch' ... all not only in the text but also illustrated. I think it might have made the character more believable if this could have been touched on in some way. Difficult to do in 2 hours, but possible. The inclusion of some lovely animation, composited very cleverly into the live action, was a very nice touch...but for someone who loves animation as I do, I felt it was a shame there wasn't more. That aside, the performances were all good and it was a touching love story, with some beautiful locations, topped off with some very informative Extras.

Okay, so I'm not a Johnny Cash or June Carter Cash fan, but I was still interested to see what kind of job Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon did with the roles and I think they did an excellent job. The 'flavour' of the era was very well caught and it was nice to learn that 'JR' hung out with the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Waylon Jennings. Even a young Elvis turns up at Sun Records, although the actor playing him didn't really work for me, unlike the guy who played Lewis who was perfect (even better than Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire). Although I never really warmed to the Cash character, I found Phoenix's portrayal very convincing, especially the singing and although I'm not that familiar with Cash's stage persona, I recognised the way he held the guitar (high up) and the way he held his head, his phrasing and general stage posture. Phoenix obviously did his homework and it pays off. In some of the wide angle shots especially, it could easily be the real Cash. Reese Witherspoon is also totally convincing as June Carter Cash and the rest of the cast is also top notch. Even if you're not a Cash fan, it's well worth seeing.

Anything Tim Burton does is excellent and as it usually involved Johnny Depp (as this movie of course does) , you just know you are in for a fun ride every time! I knew little about Ed Wood, apart from the fact that he was responsible for some pretty awful movies, notably 'Plan 9 from Outer Space', but seeing as Burton was at the helm, I knew Wood HAD to be interesting and he is, to put it mildly! Depp, as always has loads of fun with the character and seeing him in an angora sweater, bra and blonde wig is worth watching for alone! Martin Landau (from the original tv series of 'Mission Impossible') also does a great turn as Bela Lugosi. The whole crew must have had a ball making this, as is made evident in the Extras. Makes you want to get hold of 'Plan 9' (available on Quickflix!!!) just to check it out against the Burton version. The scene where Lugosi wrestles the octupus is hilarious and what makes it moreso, is the fact that it actually happened! Tim Burton didn't make this stuff up! Fabulous!

I'm old enough to remember Bobby Darin and the impact he had on the music scene, pre Beatles, and so I was interested to see what kind of job Kevin Spacey did, not only Directing the movie but playing Darin which includes singing the songs and dancing! I had no idea Spacey was a 'song and dance' man and was pleasantly surprsied to see he is great at both! Maybe a tad old for the part, but if you don't know too much about Darin and what he looked like, this probably doesn't matter. The form of the movie which involves Darin interacting with himself as a kid is a bit gimmicky and slightly interferes with the narrative, but the kid playing the role is excellent and the dance routine at the end he does with Spacey is terrific. The Extras are also excellent and give some great insights into Bobby Darin, even for those who already know about him. I was touched to see at the end that his widow Sandra Dee never remarried and is still in love with him. Real 'feelgood' stuff all round and Spacey, as always is great to watch.

At no time during this movie are you aware of the fact that most of it is based on speculation as to what must have happened aboard flight UA93, based as it is, on the data from the black box, conversations via air tarffic control and the pilot and phone messages from the peole on board to their families on the ground. It is totally believable from the opening scene to the credits. What makes it an even more amazing movie is the fact that many of the 'actors' were in fact the real people who were actually involved on the ground on the day, like the guys in Air Traffic Control, where Ben Sliney for example, plays himself and is totally believable as are the rest of the people in those scenes. What really blew me away was the section in the Extras, where some of the actors met the families of the characters they were playing in the movie. Very emotional stuff, as is the 'Honour Roll' which shows pix and gives info on all of the people who were on the plane. Makes you realise just how fragile all the 'systems' we have in place, can be thrown into utter chaos, by a few determined, demented fanatics. The captions at the end, regarding the way the 'situation' was handled, leave you openmouthed. I recommend you watch it TWICE. The first time without the commentary and the second time with it. It's what movie commentaries SHOULD be, not just an excuse for the commentator to bathe in their own hubris or joke around. A must see.

Although one of the main characters is purely fictional, it is a very believable and frightening story. That which is factual, would have made it frightening enough, but the inclusion of the young doctor into the mix, makes it far more personal. As always Forest Whittaker owns the role of Amin, but I have to admit that his 'lazy eye' spooked me a bit. Amin didn't have one, and so this spoilt the portrayal a little for me, but that aside, Whittaker, sucks us in, just as the Doctor was, taking us to a place we really don't want to be. I was amazed to hear in the 'Extras' that some Ugandans still regard Amin as a 'hero', despite him having butchered 300,000 people. There are a couple of notably violent scenes which the squeamish should be aware of, in the second half of the movie. One involving the Doctor and one involving one of Amin's wives, Kay. The first, is of course fictional, but the second, is fact. Truly frightening movie.

Definitely a case of 'style over substance'. Although visually quite stunning, the acting is 'stagey' at best, most of the dialogue being shouted, and the story isn't fleshed out enough. It's basically one long bloodfest, not unlike a video game, and the way Leonidas et al dispatch their opponents reminds me of 'The Bride' seeing off 'The Crazy 88' in Kill Bill....but not as funny. We know virtually nothing about the main characters, except that they all seem to be very angry and shout most of the time! Takes itself far too seriously for it's own good. Maybe Tarantino would have done a better job with it!