Cinema Review: The Love Guru

What could possibly be worse than the site of Ben Kingsley playing a boss-eyed Indian called Guru Tugginmypudha?

How about the fact that you have paid to watch Mike Myers have considerably more fun than you and the creeping realisation that ever since he put Wayne’s World away you have done so time and time again?

Yeah, the second is definitely worse and, unfortunately it’s exactly the sensation that you experience about ten minutes into The Love Guru. It probably wouldn’t be so galling if you didn’t suspect that Myers seems to be all to aware of it as well and has decided to rub your face in it by endowing his latest creation, Guru Pitka, with the rather annoying habit of laughing at his own jokes. That, however, is not where the annoyance stops…

Guru Pitka is hired by the owner of an ice hockey team (Jessica Alba) to restore their star player’s confidence following a marital split. In just that very short description you have two giant targets (the most wishy-washy end of the self help industry and the inflated egos of major sports stars), either of which could have a film in it’s own right, but Myers only teases gently when he should go for broke and saves his biggest jabs for fans of Celine Dion - the recent Dwayne Johnson kid’s comedy The Game Plan has more chops than this.

I have no problem in saying that this is one of the least funny films that I have seen in a long time. I do have a soft spot for Myers (Wayne Campbell was such a nice character) but feel that with The Love Guru he has joined the ranks of Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence in churning out films that have more to do with self satisfaction than actual entertainment.

2/10 - and it only scores that high because of an admittedly catchy cover of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5.

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…and another thing - what is it with The Daily Show alumni that makes them appear in such utter rubbish when they go for the big screen?

I know Jon Stewart is always willing to mock himself for appearing in dribble such as Death To Smoochy but with both John Oliver and Steve Colbert appearing in this it’s starting to look like a curse.

Cinema Review: WALL-E

Well, Pixar have done it again; WALL-E is yet another entertaining film from the people at the forefront of modern studio animation …and everyone else seems to agree, citing it’s similarity to numerous sources ranging from Chaplin to Silent Running but for me the latter is much more in evidence than the former and this points towards the film’s only weak area…

WALL-E himself is the last of numerous droids left behind to clean up Earth when it became too polluted for humans to remain there and unfortunately he is also one of numerous objects that could have filled the central role.  Sure, he is a nice little character but they could substitute him for a puppy dog or a sock puppet without any real complication - he is no E.T. or Gizmo.  It is therefore a testament to the overall quality of the film that, even with this lack at it’s core, it still manages to be a captivating movie.

The world in which the story takes place is simply astonishing both in looks and conception.  The animation is stunning as usual and the film takes in and relays large sci-fi concepts that had me thinking of authors such as Ray Bradbury and Poul Anderson.  Add to this a highly inventive supporting cast of biological and mechanical characters (cleaning robot M-O being my favourite) plus a directorial style that comes closer to mimicking the presence of an actual camera than any other animation I have seen and you have a hugely impressive movie.  Pixar still haven’t topped The Incredibles but this is certainly not far off.

8/10

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Cinema Re-View: The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight has been one of this years big films both with the critics and the audiences - just last week CinemaScream gave it a definite thumbs up, however, it has been pretty boring having the same conversation about just how good the film is, so I was rather pleased when a close associate of mine mentioned how disappointing he found it to be and asked him to write a review…

Ok, I’ll start this by saying that I was never really impressed by Batman Begins. Whilst I thought it was a good re-start for the series, it lacked something which I could not point my finger on. But it made money so, inevitably, a sequel was commissioned with most of the major cast, Bale, Caine, Freeman but no Holmes (replaced here by Gyllenhaal) and no Rutger Hauer (a bit of a disappointment as always as pleasure to see him). As you know by now the film revolves around Batman considering his role within Gotham and The Joker’s reign of terror over the city.

This film is a big disappointment for many reasons. Firstly, Gotham isn’t the same seedy, dirty city of the Tim Burton films - it is a normal American city which just doesn’t feel right. The Gotham we know is an overcrowded cesspit, full of psychos and deviants, ready to fall into anarchy at the click of a finger. Here it is just plain old Chicago/New York/Detroit with your stereotypical bunch of ethnic mob bosses.

Whilst the actions scenes are in no way worse than any other recent film they don’t seem to hold you like a really good film should and I didn’t feel enthralled by them (including one needless sequence that takes place in a foreign country that left me wondering “what’s the point?”. Similarly the use of Kung Fu in the fights seems slightly misplaced - Keaton’s Batman used to punch people in the face and kick them down flights of stairs which was effective in it’s simplicity.

Moving on, Heath Ledger’s performance has been widely praised and whilst you can see that he gave his all it’s nothing exceptional - he is mad when he should be deranged. Every actor would like to play The Joker as it’s a career defining role but to be honest it’s such a rich part that screwing it up would be hard. Bale is solid as Batman (as usual) but why he has to put ‘the voice’ on when suited up is anyone’s guess. Caine, Freeman and Oldman are all on autopilot.

It’s not all bad, the film does have some good stuff to say about not always being the hero and having to do bad things etc ( a wink towards the current world situation) and also delves into Batman’s role within saving Gotham, but it’s too long (30 mins could easily be lost) and various plot decisions left me perplexed…

Overall, I’d say that the film just never grabbed me or got me involved - I just didn’t care about it and ended up bored.

3/10

New DVDs: Monday 4th August 2008

Not much about this week but in fairness it’s a case of quality over quantity.

The two new releases of note both revolve around storytelling.  Vantage Point is a Rashomon- (very) lite affair concerning an assassination attempt and told from multiple perspectives that gets sillier as it goes along but still remains enjoyable if not quite the film one would expect of a cast which includes Forest Whitaker, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Dennis Quaid.

The other tall-tale comes in the form of Fade To Black.  The film sees Orson Welles (played by Danny Houston) arrive in Rome to film Black Magic only to become involved in a murder mystery and some political intrigue.  As this played in about two cinemas (if any) I have not yet had the chance to watch this but it’s premise is ingenious enough to warrant a recommendation.

This week also seems two re-releases that although not linked in theme (’identity’ maybe) both share a love of visuals and the gothic.  David Lynch’s most mainstream film The Elephant Man has been given the ‘Special Edition’ treatment.  It is a masterpiece of cinema in both style and content that really deserves to seen by everyone.  The disc contains new interviews with both Lynch and star John Hurt - it’s just a shame Anthony Hopkins is nowhere to be seen.

DVD of the Week is Dark City: The Director’s Cut.  This is a brilliant package (although you should keep hold of your theatrical cut because it isn’t included) that digs deep into this complex and endlessly re-watchable film.  With contributions from director Alex Proyas, writers Lem Dobbs and David Goyer, star Rufus Sewell and film critic Roger Ebert every base has been covered - great stuff.

The Lost Weekend

Just a quick note to say that CinemaScream will not be updated until Sunday 3rd June.

regards

New DVDs: Monday 28th July 2008

There is no DVD of the Week this week as I can’t honestly say that any one release is better than the rest.

Michael Haneke’s US remake of his own Funny Games is good but not as good as the original, Bernardo Bertolucci’s political epic 1900 is worth the bum numbing runtime but far from perfect and Heroes: Season 2 is great TV but doesn’t quite have the addictive energy of Season 1.

So what else is there that is worth mentioning?

27 Dresses?  The Hottie And The Nottie?  Well the former is just as inane as it looks and I’ll be avoiding the latter as it’s body fetish hypocrisy promises a film just as, if not even more, repulsive than Good Luck Chuck.

So, if you want my advice all of these are worth renting first or just save yourself some cash and watch/tape Re-Animator (1985) on Channel 4, 02:50, Tuesday 29th July.

Cinema Review: The Dark Knight

“What about escalation? … you’re wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy: armed robbery, double homicide. Got a taste for theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card…“

The Dark Knight picks up where Batman Begins left off. Starting with an ingeniously staged bank robbery the film shows Gotham spiral into chaos at the hands of The Joker whilst Bruce Wayne considers hanging up his cloak in light of a new crusader; District Attorney Harvey Dent - I wont reveal any more plot details because I don’t want to spoil it but director Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathon (plus story ideas from David S. Goyer) have put together another great story that is full (bursting even) of incidents without ever falling into the episodic mess that seems to cripple most big blockbusters at the moment. Another big plus that the writers have introduced is the decision to the make Gotham a regular city. Gone are the arches and monorail (although technically it was destroyed in the last film) and any trace of Burton’s Gotham and so the events play out in a real world setting that magnifies the extreme nature of the characters… not that these guys wouldn’t stand out anyway.

With a cast that includes Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman and is happy to have someone as good as William Fichtner pop up for just a couple of minutes, it really is fair to say that the standard of acting in this film is universally high. Of course there are also stand outs but it feels unfair to focus on just one or two of these great actors, however, I will say that Ledger was definitely the man for the job (giving us easily the best Joker so far although not quite the ‘Oscar’ performance being talked about) and one of few niggles I have with the film is that Christian Bale isn’t given as much to do as I would have liked (Bruce Wayne needed a more substantial role in the story) and with all the media focus elsewhere Eckhart and Oldman have been slightly overlooked by many critics.

One thing that isn’t overlooked though is the word ‘dark’. As well as being a summer blockbuster this is a thoughtful film that deals heavily with notions of good versus evil and the nature of chaos and control. In bringing this to the screen Nolan has also enhanced the violent content on display. Gone are the slightly-too-fast edits in the fighting and instead we have solid punches and, in some instances, open displays of sadism and plenty of nasty moments. In fact, this film is such a step up from Begins in terms of violence that I think the BBFC have seriously dropped the ball in granting this a 12A certificate. This is not a ‘kid’s film’ by any measure and a 15 cert. would have been much more appropriate.

The Dark Knight is one of the most satisfying films that I have seen in quite a while and none of the very slight problems that I can rustle up damage it in any way. For once the hype is justified and one can only wonder where the series will go from here.

9/10

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