DVD--Cemetery Junction

or: Coming-of-age, Britain, 1973

One word to sum it up: Light

Out of the four movies which I endeavoured to watch last week, I was least looking forward to watching Cemetery Junction. However, out of those four movies, Cemetery Junction was definitely the best. For anyone who has doubts about Ricky Gervais trying to make his way into the film industry, then watch this one. His previous efforts, The Invention of Lying and Ghost Town left little to be desired, and marked a failure on the usually funny man's part. However, taking a more serious turn and co-directing with Stephen Merchant, Cemetery Junction is his success. And what a success it is.

It's 1973 in Cemetery Junction, a Reading suburb. Three working class lads, best friends, are coming of age. Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to rise above his station, taking a job selling life insurance, wearing a suit and tie. Snork (Jack Doolan) works at the railway station and wants a girlfriend some day. Bruce (Tom Hughes) talks of leaving but seems on track to work at a factory, drink and fight, and become like his dad, in front of the telly with beer on hand; and he's trying the patience of the police officer who gets him out of jams. Freddie's job leads the lads toward a few small changes. He runs across a childhood friend, Julie (Felicity Jones), his boss's daughter who's engaged to the firm's top seller. Can the lads break out?

I did have a feeling that I had seen a film like Cemetery Junction before, as it adopted several cliches usually seen in a coming of age film. However, it's the clear dedication from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant which tops everything else. The script is quite serious, but has the added humour from Gervais coming through which helps make the movie flow. Any child of the 70s, or anyone who is growing up, will understand this movie. It's a poignant tale, but really engages in the theme of following your heart. No, it doesn't get too soppy. Instead, I couldn't help but feel somewhat liberated after watching it.

The three main characters, Freddie, Snork and Bruce, all represent different aspects of growing up. Freddie wants to be someone, even if that means selling life insurance to people who don't need nor want it. He's the epitome of someone who wants to be good, but just can't be good enough, because of the people surrounding him. Snork, on the other hand, just wants a girlfriend. He's the kind of character you could see in real life, perhaps without that rather disturbing tattoo. Bruce, is the thug, with a sort of detached relationship with his father, which all of us can relate to in one way or another. I think his behaviour comes out of being so in need or attention, which seems to be the case these days. Using the three characters to portray becoming adults was not only a good choice, but a clever and very realistic way to tell the story.

Along with the three young leads, Cemetery Junction has an appearance from Ricky Gervais. Ralph Fiennes, however, steals the show with his scintillating and fierce performance as Freddie's boss. Matthew Goode is like his little shadow. Felicity Jones, the fragile and cute faced up and coming actress, is perfect as Freddie's love interest. If anything, Cemetery Junction is a largely character based dark comedy which has the 70's downpat. The costumes, set design and soundtrack produce a fantastic backdrop to a very enjoyable movie. Doesn't demand too much, but it made me really happy in the long run.


THE VERDICT: A fantastic job by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Delightful and poignant, I'd definitely go for this one again.

8/10

DVD--Leap Year

or: Another reason as to why I love Amy Adams.

One word to sum it up: *sighs* (I realize that's not a word, but...)

Author's note: The following was written in the last hour of a social studies exam on the back of a wordfind about fishes. Don't worry, I did do the exam (and the wordfind).

I am very proud to say that I have watched nearly every Amy Adams movie in existence, and plan to continue to watch all of her movies until she retires. Why? Because I fell in love with her in Enchanted, and no matter what she does, she always lights up the screen with her charming and bubbling nature. This is evident in her recent (and largely unknown) film Leap Year, where she and dashing co-star Matthew Goode practically give us a tour of Ireland.

A successful woman, Anna (Amy Adams) who has an elaborate scheme to propose to her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) on Leap Day, an Irish tradition which occurs every time the date February 29 rolls around, faces a major setback when bad weather threatens to derail her planned trip to Dublin. With the help of an innkeeper, Declan (Matthew Goode), however, her cross-country odyssey just might result in her getting engaged.

No, Leap Year isn't great, and it doesn't try to recreate the romance genre. However, from the very beginning, it doesn't set out to be a normal fluffed up romantic comedy, as it doesn't have pop music blaring out in the most inappropriate scenes and doesn't attempt to make the film glossy in any way. That may be a good thing, but without those factors the film feels kinda dull and mediocre, and puts a constant shadow of the films amiable funny parts. It comes out like a bit of a black and white photocopy of other romantic comedies, and did give me a serious case of deja vu. It's about as gooder film as Letters to Juliet, but has some certain merits which elevate it from generic rom-com material.

Amy Adams eliminates the dullness by charming her way into our hearts and making this film somewhat worth while. Though she isn't playing a totally flamboyant character a la Delysia Lafosse, she gives the material her best shot and wins us all over. Matthew Goode, too, completes the perfect couple we actually like to watch on screen. And he can actually act too, which is a little strange looking at past male rom-com figures. They save the film from it's flatness, and thank God they are there too. Leap Year is quite frankly really predictable, and is written by a person who probably hasn't ever seen a romatic comedy (because all of the cliches), but Amy Adams, Matthew Goode and a great supporting performance from Ireland's scenery makes it worth the 90 minutes. If you can handle it.


THE VERDICT: It's predictability, cliche ridden script and mediocre direction let it down, but Amy Adams and Matthew Goode don't.

5/10

Rewind--The Lookout

or: Memento with Joseph Gordon-Levitt

One word to sum it up: Twisty

Here I am, writing this review more than a week after I saw it, and catching up with a queue of blogging now I have faster internet that actually works properly. If this review is a little scratchy, it's because The Lookout isn't that fresh in my mind. But maybe this will give me a chance to randomly ramble about the amazingness of Joseph Gordon-Levitt??

An admired high school hockey player with a bright future, Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a part of a car crash, which leaves him with a brain injury that prevents him from remembering many things for extended periods of time. To compensate, he keeps notes in a small notebook to aid him in remembering what he is to do. He also lives with a blind friend, Lewis (Jeff Daniels). Obviously, with the mental incapacitation, he is unable to have meaningful work, so he cleans a bank. It is there he comes under the scrutiny of a gang planning to rob the bank. The leader, Gary (Matthew Goode) befriends him and gets him involved with a young woman, Luvlee (Isla Fisher) who further reels him in. After they get close and after reeling him in with his own failures, the bank plan unfolds. Confused but wanting to escape his current existence, he initially goes along with the scheme. After realizing he is being used, he attempts to stop the robbery, which of course immediately goes wrong.

The Lookout sets out to be a clever heist movie, mixed with a psychological mind flip thriller, but ultimately comes across as an intricate modern day film noir. It draws plenty of valid comparisons to an earlier noir called Brick, which also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This is because, like Brick, The Lookout has some amazing, yet very realistic characters. The Pin always haunts the back of my mind, as does Gary Spargo from this movie. The script never lets down on these characters, and seems to make sure that we know how well developed they are and that some of these people could be in our lives. At some points, these characters become a little too well-focussed on and we kind of lose the story, but Scott Frank's assured direction makes sure we never lose sight of the film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt again proves that he has everything a leading man needs, even though this is a small independent thriller of sorts. Oozing with talent and a real emotional connection, he kinda reminded me of a Leonardo DiCaprio-in-training...I mean, you saw Inception, right? JGL totally owned in that movie, just as Leo does in most of his movies. If more movies could be clever modern film noir like this one, and all starring JGL, then we would have a very happy film industry, wouldn't we? Also, I can't go on without mentioning a fantastic Isla Fisher, who, in my mind, is a bubbly natural comedienne, but did extremely well in a dramatic role. More of these and Isla might be able to rustle up some awards for her efforts.


THE VERDICT: A fantastic independent film noir, which is made great thanks to it's realistic and colourful ensemble of characters. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stands out in a film similar to his previous work Brick.

7/10