Blue Valentine

Roses Are Red...

Blue Valentine tells two timelines of a couple, Dan and Cindy (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams), as they romance each other and get together, and the dissolution of their marriage several years later. During their relationship, they have a daughter, Frankie, and for fear of raising her in a broken home, Dean tries to reignite his marriage.

The film was absolutely heart-breaking and engrossing in every aspect. It is easy to tell that every look given by the actors and the framing of every shot has been considered and thought over by director Derek Cianfrance, and since the film had been in production since 2003, Cianfrance has had plenty of opportunity. The story is very well-structured and the split storyline, despite being initially confusing, compliments the film increasingly towards the end of the film. For example, Dean plays a song to Cindy as he tries to cheer her up in the present storyline but fails in even making her smile, and a few minutes later, we see the song becoming 'Their Song' in the past storyline, making the significance apparant as well as a tad upsetting.

Even though the story is a large contributor to the film's overall special quality, the impressive main leads help bring the story to life.

Ryan Gosling has got to be one of the finest actors of our generation. Big words I know, but I have yet to see him put in a performance that isn't totally committed. Many females in the audience tonight will mainly remember Gosling for his role as Noah in 2004's The Notebook. However he first grabbed my attention, as well as shot to the forefront of the critical circles, in 2006 when he starred as a drug-addict high school teacher in Half Nelson. He then carried on his impressive resume with Lars and the Real Girl in 2007. His acting style is very muted and realistic and this often-mistaken-for-Ryan Reynolds actor is definitely one to watch when he finally breaks into the mainstream, following the trails of actors such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy.

Michelle Williams on the other hand, I am not so familiar with. I knew of her when I was younger due to my sister's love of Dawson's Creek, but unfortunately recently I knew of her for merely being Heath Ledger's widow. However more recently, she did give an amazingly chilling performance in Scorsese's Shutter Island last year, and she continues on her good form with another impressive Oscar-nominated performance in Valentine. Only a small role, but Faith Wladyka playing the couple's young daughter Frankie was a treat to watch too.

The film may be a tad upsetting and depressing if you choose it as a 'date movie' but the realism is what gives the film such a surprising and refreshing edge. Relationships do break down in real life and anyone who has suffered through a split can identify with one of the main characters, if not both. You live through their lives as they find love and despair, and due to the effective soundtrack, emotive cinematography and brilliant performances by the entire cast, you truly feel for these characters. That is a sign of a carefully-constructed love-story and definitely worth a watch, regardless of your relationship status. Just maybe not on Valentine's Day.

Rating - 9/10

Paul

E.T.: The Exceptionally Tedious

You cannot find a bigger fan of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost than I.

I currently have a signed poster of Hot Fuzz on my bedroom wall, signed by the two men themselves, as well as the film's director, Edgar Wright.

I know virtually every line of their Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, their big-screen debut Shaun of the Dead and the aforementioned Hot Fuzz.  Shaun of the Dead actually sat in my Top Ten Film list for quite some time too.

All of which add to the disappointing fact that I really didn't find Paul funny. Like, at all.

Pegg and Frost play a pair of sci-fi nerds on a tour of America's best-known nerdy and alien hotspots, starting at nerd-travaganza Comic-Con, before travelling through Roswell, New Mexico and past Area 51. Whilst passing Area 51, they encounter the laid-back alien Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) who has escaped from 51 and is in need of a lift to a rendezvous with his spaceship. However, special agents (Jason Bateman, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio) are hot on their tales to retrieve Paul.

Hear all that comedic talent? Not only Pegg and Frost, but Rogen, Bateman, Hader, as well as Kristen Wiig, Jeffrey Tambor, David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver (of all people) making an appearance too! This is pretty much my ideal combining of comedic talent from both sides of the pond, as well as all being under the helm of Superbad's director Greg Mottola! What could go wrong?

19 minutes. That's how long into the film it was before I laughed.

I was so amazed by the first laugh-less 18 minutes that when a joke did make me chuckle, I had to check my watch to note it.

Sigh, I truly need to stop expecting so much from films involving actors I admire. It only results in disappointment. It happened with The Invention of Lying, Couples Retreat, Dinner For Schmucks, and now Paul.

The problem with all of these films is that the jokes were a bit too 'safe' (for lack of a better word) and Paul is no exception. An often-repeated line in the film is that 'sometimes, you have to roll the dice'. Pegg and Frost should listen to their own advice. Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were incredibly funny because they immersed themselves in the genre they were parodying. The amount of zombie/cop film references in both Shaun and Fuzz are staggering but they add to the feel of the world they are in, which is something Paul misses.

Is the film a comedy? A science fiction? Action? Thriller? It doesn't really know, and therefore spreads itself far too thin. It makes sense to try and appeal to the larger audiences since this is Pegg and Frost's first big American-funded film together, but I felt like most of the funniest bits of humour might have been left on the cutting room floor for fear of alienating too much of the American public (no pun intended).

And speaking of alienating the audience, can I have a quick word with liberal comedy writers everywhere?

Hey guys! Can I just say? Please be careful when concerning religion. It's fine when you mock those who take themselves and their religion too seriously, like Chris Morris' Four Lions or Bill Maher's Religulous.  When you start enforcing your beliefs on others, then you're rife for parody. 

But when the message of a large part of your film moves from “Ha, aren't these fundamentalists silly people?” to “No, you are wrong in believing in God, and I, the writer, am right!” it stops being funny and moves to slightly offensive and alienating. Gervais fell into this trap with The Invention of Lying and now Pegg and Frost have done the same. The main diatribe from Lying was that Gervais' character created the first lie, and he ended up inventing the Christian religion: “Har-har! Everyone who believes in religion is believing in a lie!” And that's all the theists in the audience offended and mocked in one fell swoop, bravo! You are perfectly allowed to have your view on the state of religion in the world, but then so are the rest of the world.

Anyway, back to the review! Paul wasn't completely devoid of comedy. Like I said, it might have been 19 minutes into the film, but I did end up laughing and again several times during the film. Bill Hader was the main reason for this, as his delivery and timing had me chuckling for most of the time he was on screen. I was simply hoping for more of them, and therefore, I was left wanting.

I should say that I seem to be in the minority when it comes to this film. Many of my friends have said it's an early candidate for their Film of the Year, so maybe there's just something wrong with me, but all I can give you is my honest tendentious opinion.

Disagree entirely? Agree in parts but not overall? Let me know your thoughts and we can have a nice little discussion.

Rating - 4/10

The Fighter

Boogie Fights

I've never been a fan of boxing films. Sorry, that's an understatement, let me rephrase. Boxing films bore me. They've just never interested me and I don't know why. It's not a hatred of the sport, even though I've never been that interested in that either, but the idea of a film about two guys punching each other just never grabbed me. And that's from a fan of WWE wrestling. To this day, I haven't seen a single Rocky film, and I gave up watching Raging Bull half an hour in. *cue cries of outrage* I know, this is certainly unacceptable since both are held in high regard and have become the benchmark for boxing films ever since.

Therefore when I saw “the best boxing movie since Rocky!” was being released at my nearest cinema, I wasn't that awe-struck. Then I noticed who was starring in The Fighter: Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. They had my attention. Checking the film's background, I read how Marky-Mark had put on a lot of weight for the role; as always, Bale had lost a lot of weight for the role; and the film was going to focus on their relationship and not the sport of boxing. With this new knowledge, along with my New Year's Resolution hanging over my shoulder, I made the decision it was worth a watch.

The Fighter tells the true story of brothers “Irish” Mickey Ward (Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Bale) and their struggle as they try to achieve glory. For Mickey, it's potential glory in the boxing world, but for Dicky, it's former glory as he wastes his life addicted to crack cocaine, trying to kick-start his failed boxing career. As Mickey trains and fights to become champion, he has to cope with personal troubles, embodied by his girlfriend (Amy Adams), his mother (Melissa Leo) and his numerous sisters as they all think they know what's best for him.

The story might be cliched, but this film is driven and held together by the magnificent performances from the entire cast. Bale, Adams and Leo deliver their characters perfectly and create a chaotic world around the otherwise calm Mickey. When it comes to roles like Dicky Eklund, “Ultimate Method Actor” Christian Bale is a safe bet to fully commit to the role and you can see him almost lose himself in the character. You don't really realise how spot on his performance is until the end credits, and you see the real life Ward brothers; it's as if the real life Dicky is imitating Bale's performance! Bale went on to win Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance, and both Adams and Leo got Oscar and BAFTA nominated, with Leo rightfully winning Best Supporting Actress. They capture the often cliched mother-in-law/girlfriend tension superbly as Leo feels Adams is stealing Mickey away from her.

Despite the supporting characters being pitch-perfect, this did bring a flaw to the film. Due to the extroverted characters around him, the self-titled “Fighter” Mickey, was the least interesting character. He was the calm eye of the storm going on around him, but that resulted in more of the action and drama coming from Dicky's storyline of his drug addiction and imprisonment. I felt Wahlberg wasn't given enough material to let him shine as he did in The Departed and I (Heart) Huckabees.

At this point, I feel I must return to my original point from the start of this review. It is true that boxing as a sport doesn't interest me greatly. However, the boxing scenes in this film strangely did grab my attention and had me cheering towards the end of Mickey's journey. They were filmed very authentically, as if the audience is watching a gritty television pay-per-view in a downtown bar. I believe that's what let me get through this film in one piece. The boxing action takes backseat to the drama of the Ward family, and as one brother conquers his demons in the ring, the other conquers them outside the ring as well. The Fighter is more about retribution than boxing. I'm sure that's what people say about Rocky or Raging Bull, and I think The Fighter has shown me that I should maybe broaden my viewing horizons. …..Maybe.