NZFF Mini-Reviews: Frank, Locke, Maps to the Stars, Boyhood

Good things about going to university: having a cinema about five minutes away instead of 45 minutes away. Bad things about university: everything had to be due on the week when the New Zealand International Film Festival hit town, but through some pretty intense time management skills gained last year I managed to get everything done while escaping to the cinemas on four different occasions. Which, of course, is better than having to very selectively choose one film to beg my parents to drive me over for. Still, some pretty selective choosing went on here and I ended up seeing a very interesting selection of films: Frank, Locke, Maps to the Stars and Boyhood. I won't bore you with too many more details, so here's what I thought about them here:

I must admit, it has been a little while since a film really 'clicked' for me. Not really a fault of all the films I've been watching, it has just been a little hard for me to really escape into a film. Frank was the one that changed it all, though. To be honest, I thought it was going to be a little jarring watching a film where Michael Fassbender has a giant head over his head, but it really didn't take anything way from his performance. He was so fascinating to watch, particularly in the film's final act. However, you can tell that he really let himself go when he was wearing the mask, owning his craziness which fit in perfectly with the way the film unfolds.
The film zips and zaps from one extreme to the other with dizzying speed, becoming one of the darkest comedies I've seen in quite some time. It is made of all the tropes that would make your typical band road movie, but it is also a pretty interesting look at the connection between creativity and madness. While many have called out the fact that having the film centred on plain, wannabe musician Jon (played by the charming Domhall Gleeson who should probably be in everything), I thought it was a great way of grounding the material and always keeping the film in check. It isn't just Frank who is the eccentric one - his entire band is filled up with some pretty crazy characters who don't seem to be filtered. Jon provides a lens for keeping the film centred, and also, his reliance on social media is one of the better depictions I've seen of the internet in film (not sure why, but everyone always manages to get it wrong).
Basically, I had a really good time with Frank. It was so dark in some places, so light in other places, and just generally a pretty strange film that wore its heart on its sleeve. And again: Michael Fassbender is everything. Best performance from him I've seen this side of Shame, I'd say.

"I just missed your heart."

Film: Hanna
Year: 2011
Director: Joe Wright
Written by: Seth Lochead and David Farr
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander, Olivia Williams, Jason Flemyng, Jessica Barden, Vicky Krieps.
Running time: 111 min.

Imagine living out in the forest with your father, away from everything. Wouldn't it be so hard? Being so far away from civilisation, living in something similar to a cave, and having to fetch your own deer as some food to last for maybe a week or two. Now imagine being a teenager stuck in a forest. No Facebook, cellphones or iPods...THAT WOULD BE SO HARD! Well, for most of the teenagers who grace the Earth these days. Take a look at Hanna (Saoirse Ronan). She was brought up living in a forest with her father (Eric Bana), without ever hearing the sound of music, being taught stuff by her father. She didn't turn out so bad. Oh, and she could probably beat your ass in five seconds. Now, she's off to get out of the forest and into the big world...all at the flick of a switch. Her mission in the big wide world is to kill Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), but this seemingly easy task turns out a little harder than expected. Oh well, once Hanna thinks she has killed Marissa (she only really killed someone trying to be Marissa), Hanna finds herself in Morocco and tries to deal with the real world. The real world that she never knew existed.

The X-Men Trilogy - X-Men, X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand

Yes, I was one of the ones who watched X-Men: First Class before seeing the rest. But you know how much I love Nicholas Hoult. In fact, I actually watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine before I watched the rest. This was like two years ago, and I can't offer an explanation as to why I chose that one first. So I finally decided that I'd pick up the actually trilogy (which we only just got at the shop...useless or what?), and give them a mini-review each.

X-Men

I'm a big fan of finding out how people came to be who they are. Sure, this was done, to a degree, in X-Men: First Class. In fact, when this began with the exact same concentration camp scene, I thought I was in for something similar. But no, instead of that stylish 60's theme, we have a movie that comes to the start of the big mutant/human fiasco, and we have one of those typical comic book movie themes. It's shiny, filled with lots of action and basically everything I hoped to see from a movie made in 2000 (I'm uneasy about this year...I have no idea why). Here, the audience, along with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Rogue (Anna Paquin), is introduced to the school that Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) has created for mutants with special powers. And through this, we are introduced to the disagreement between Magneto (Ian McKellen), who thinks that humans and mutants could never co-exist, and Xavier, who believes they can. Now this is the kind of story that begs for a sequel, in order to fully understand this war and get the rather large cast all sorted out. This film does really well at introducing the several characters without allowing them to become two-dimensional. It requires a bit of work to do this, but I didn't really mind at all. To back this up there were some good visual effects that never became too cheesy, and it was frequently funny as it was thrilling. All in all, it was a solid start to the series - probably my favourite in the trilogy. That's probably because I'm big on having character dynamics actually working.

What I got:

X2: X-Men United

A lot of people like this entry the most, and I don't blame them. The mutants come back, and they're bigger and meaner. Plus, now the characters are all set-up nicely, they can just have an all out action flick with nothing else to worry about. However, one of the reasons why I didn't like this movie as much is because I felt it was too long. And with that came the unnecessary amount of loudness. That's not all that bad, though, because in it's longness and loudness, there are some great action sequences, a really good story and some really good acting - which is sometimes a rarity in such big action ensembles like this. The climax was exceptional and definitely rewarding, which makes you think that the series probably would have been right without a sequel. But in the last few moments, the film begs for a sequel, with a question that really can't go unanswered. This could be perceived as one of the film's biggest downfalls. Despite that, X2 is mammoth entertainment, with many layers providing enough to have a fully enriching time with a superhero movie. Even if the idea of trying to exterminate all mutants is really just a stupid idea to begin with.

What I got:

X-Men: The Last Stand

Well, everyone pretty much hates this one. Me? I didn't see what was so wrong with it. I actually enjoyed it just as much as any of the other ones, and thought it was a fitting end to the trilogy. However, the flaws are as plain as the nose on Owen Wilson's face. Brett Ratner replaced Matthew Vaughn who replaced Brian Singer in the directing job. First of all, had Singer continued, he would have had a really great trilogy. Matthew Vaughn did phenomenally well with X-Men: First Class. Ratner? He got a bit trigger happy. Instead of having the heart and emotion of the last two, this film is angry and through that anger comes lots of action...that pretty much doesn't mean anything. It wasn't done with the love that Singer had for the project. The story was very simple compared to the other two at well, further pushing it's status as a brainless blockbuster. Another thing that the film did wrong was having Olivia Williams play Moira MacTaggert for all of a minute. You don't just have Olivia Williams in a film for a minute...because that becomes both the highlight and the great disappointment of this film. However, with all it's flaws, I still enjoyed it enough. It was cool being introduced to some more characters, even if they were severely underdone (like Beast, whose makeup was simply atrocious). I can't decide whether I liked the way Jean Grey was changed from such a good person to that evil force...it seemed really strange and misplaced, but Famke Janssen was really good in her bad side. So yeah, I didn't love this entry like I did the others, but I didn't hate it, as everyone else did.

What I got:

And here's my ranking of all the X-Men movies:
1) X-Men: First Class
2) X-Men
3) X2: X-Men United
4) X-Men: The Last Stand
5) X-Men Origins: The Last Stand

What do you think of the X-Men trilogy? What's your favourite out of the lot?

Classic - Rushmore

or: Private schooler in public school.

One word to sum it up: Whimsical.

There are two types of over-achievers at high school: the ones who spend their life studying and know everything, even if it won't ever help them in the future; and then there are the people who have to be involved with everything. The people who have to head the school productions, but usually have to also be playing a sport or organizing a certain club...you know the ones. Now, if I were to have my pick out of the two, I'd be the kid who joins in with everything...but, living where I live, there aren't funny little clubs to join with. Instead, I'm just taking part in Stage Challenge, but if I had enough talent, I wouldn't keep pretending to be smart when I'm actually really dumb. I would be like Max (Jason Schwartzman), the protagonist in Wes Anderson's early classic feature Rushmore. I would direct really flash looking plays with names like 'Serpico' and I would do fencing. Okay, fencing kinda scares me, so we'll take that off the list...

Anyway, Max is a prime example of why you can only be either an over-achiever at school or an over-achiever at extra-curricular activities, not both at the same time. He's in every club possible, in fact, he founded most of the clubs, and he also writes and directs his own intricate school plays which give him a wide reputation. But he's not so good with his school work, and of course, school is more important than everything else. So Max tries desperately to stay in the safety of his private school by trying desperately to up his grades. As he tries to do this, he is introduced to two substantial figures in his life. The first is an industrialist named Herman Blume (Bill Murray), who is disillusioned with life and becomes a good friend to Max. The second is Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams), a first grade teacher who lost her husband and is clinging on to his memory, even though she becomes the object of both Max and Blume's affection.

Rushmore is an indeed an odd film. But it's exactly what you would expect from Wes Anderson, a film filled with originality and a look at the stranger side of life. That's a very good place to be. However, you can't be too strange without having believable characters, and that's exactly where Rushmore succeeds. Max is a character who we all feel we have known at one point in our lives. He's cocky, the very example of what some private schoolers are actually like, and, well, he's hopelessly in love with someone he can't have. Jason Schwartzman, in his first feature film, seems to take this character from being an annoying arrogant prick to being someone who you wish would just steer clear of trouble. But like most film characters, he doesn't listen. Sometimes you have to wonder why he was so in love with Rosemary. She isn't exactly the type of woman who would be the object of a young teenage boy's affection. Yes, she's pretty and she is really lovely, but she was so caught up in loving her dead husband that she cut herself off from the world. My dear Olivia Williams does a tremendous job of playing her, though, so you can see why Max fell for her.

Adding Bill Murray to the mix is always a win. His character is a strange, almost dark figure in Max's life. You can't really figure out whether he is good for Max or not, because he may take an active interest in Max because he is so bored with his own life, but he steals Max's 'true love'. So he's really the villain who just wants to be friends, which is an interesting mix, to say the least. However, Murray is as enjoyable ever, and remains a stand-out in this film. While Rushmore is clever and realistic, I felt like I never really got into it. It was cool watching a teenager heralding a revolutionary story and winning in life, but I just felt so distant from it. I don't know how that emptiness came about, because this film really has everything covered. It's funny, emotional and exciting, but it's just not there. Which is a shame, but it's even more annoying that I don't know why I didn't feel for it.

THE VERDICT: Rushmore is a charming tale of being a teenage boy who's good at everything that doesn't matter, and just about what you could expect from Wes Anderson.

What I hoped for:

What I got:

Due to technical difficulties...

...my review of The Woman in the Window for tonight's instalment to the Classic Movie Marathon will have to be postponed. It's a complicated story, really. The version I have of the movie is a different zone to what we have here in NZ, therefore I can't play it on my laptop. So I brought out my trusty old portable DVD player to watch it on, but it turns out that I can't actually hear the movie on that. My only other option is to watch it in the lounge on the TV, but since my Dad isn't the movie type of person, I'll have to wait until tomorrow when he's at work before I can have the TV all to myself. So the schedule is pushed back a day, mainly coz I'm having a little trouble keeping up with these movies...I'm sadly more happy rewatching movies I've already seen fifty times before coz I just can't think straight.

In place of tonight's review, I'll just give you a photo of Jeremy Renner. Because he is my new nerd obsession at the moment. After all, he's in the new Bourne movie, bitches!

And while we're on the subject of Jeremy...here's a cute pic of he and Jon Hamm...

And on the subject of Jon, here's a pic of he and the beautiful Rebecca Hall...

And for no reason at all, just the fact that I watched the marvellous The Ghost Writer again a couple of nights back, here's an interesting premiere photo of stars Ewan McGregor, Olivia Williams, and Pierce Brosnan. I swear, Olivia Williams' performance in this movie was the best (male or female) performance of 2010. I have absolutely no doubt about that.

Ha, technical difficulties have never turned out to be so good looking.

My Top 10 Favourite (modern) Actresses

Of course, yesterday I made a list of my favourite actors. Today, as promised, I am going to list my favourite actresses. So, without further ado (I don't even know what that means), here is my list of favourite women in the movies:

Honorable mentions: Kate Winslet, Carey Mulligan, Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Williams, Meryl Streep, Chloe Moretz, Carrie-Anne Moss, Michelle Monaghan, Abbie Cornish, Ellen Page, Saoirse Ronan.


10. Rachel McAdams (in Morning Glory)

Probably not the most predictable choice, but I have been a long time fan of the lovely Rachel McAdams. She totally owned as high school bitch-of-all-bitches Regina George in Mean Girls, even though she was in her late 20s when she took the role. And no, she's not just my favourite actress coz she's in that really 'sweet' movie The Notebook. As time has gone on, Rachel has been outstanding in such films as The Time Traveller's Wife, Morning Glory, Sherlock Holmes, Red Eye, State of Play and Wedding Crashers. By the looks of her upcoming films, she's going to hit it really big in the future.
Favourite performance: Mean Girls
Favourite film: Mean Girls

9. Emma Stone (in Zombieland)

She's still a star on the rise, but Emma Stone has never failed to amaze me. Before her star turn in Easy A, she was the best thing about bad movies, like The House Bunny and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. In 2009, she managed to star in a couple of good movies - Paper Man and Zombieland - and be completely astounding. But hey, it all comes down to her first lead role in Easy A, where she makes that movie even better than it is. I can't wait to see her dramatic turn in The Help and her with Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man.
Favourite performance: Easy A
Favourite film: Zombieland

8. Marion Cotillard (in Public Enemies)

Whoever has seen La Vie En Rose will probably agree...Marion Cotillard is one damn good actress. I don't know how she did it, but role just fit her like a glove. Since that star turn she's been taking many supporting roles, all of which she has been scene-stealing in. She was perfect in Public Enemies as Johnny Depp's girlfriend. I don't even know how Penelope Cruz got nominated for an Oscar for Nine, Marion was no doubt the stand out in that. And in Inception, Marion performed probably the best out of that amazing ensemble cast. Anything she does, I'll be there.
Favourite performance: La Vie En Rose
Favourite film: Inception

7. Olivia Williams (in The Ghost Writer)

Olivia Williams is quite a new entry, but ever since I saw her performance in The Ghost Writer, I've become more and more interested in her body of work. British actresses always seem to do amazing things on screen, and none of them more so than Olivia. She seems effortlessly resigned to her work, and the fact that she is largely underrated makes me like her even more, too.
Favourite performance: The Ghost Writer
Favourite film: An Education

6. Julianne Moore (in The Hours)

Who doesn't love Julianne Moore? She seems like such a cool person. And she's a fantastic actress. Her resume is proof of that. But how is it that she can keep starring in all these great films with great performances and not getting an Oscar for it? It's beyond me. Her appearances in the recent A Single Man and The Kids Are All Right should have gotten her an Oscar nomination, but sadly not so. However, I will always remember her for her beautiful performance in The Hours.
Favourite performance: The Hours
Favourite film: A Single Man

5. Anne Hathaway (in The Devil Wears Prada)

Ever since I first saw Brokeback Mountain, I've been in love with Anne Hathaway, and have worked my way through her entire resume. She's had her highs and her lows (during that princess phase of hers), but since she's all grown up she's really come into her own; she's feisty, sweet and courageous. If her Oscar nominated performance in Rachel Getting Married is anything to go by, Anne may just become one of the greater actresses of our future. Well, at least I hope she does.
Favourite performance: Rachel Getting Married
Favourite film: The Devil Wears Prada

4. Cate Blanchett (in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Again, who doesn't love Cate Blanchett? Coz if you don't, you ought to leave. Now. She's so brilliant. Every movie she is in, even if it is as dull as Robin Hood, she is amazing in. You know if you're going to watch a Cate film there is a large chance that it will be great. Many of my favourite memories of Cate come from her luminous beauty on display in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Aviator, the later getting her a much deserved Oscar. How is it that she is so great? I will never know.
Favourite performance: The Aviator
Favourite film: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

3. Rebecca Hall (in The Town)

If you've never heard of Rebecca Hall, then shame on you. But I can understand if you haven't. She just fades into the background for most people. However, every time I see a movie with her in it, I am so impressed. She is such a great actress. Greater than people give her credit for. She did some amazing stuff in the lacklustre Vicky Cristina Barcelona (which earned her a Golden Globe nomination), The Prestige for Master Nolan, and recently The Town, where she brings a fresh take on an otherwise flat love interest. Rebecca Hall is just awesome. And really pretty, too.

Favourite performance: The Town

Favourite film: The Prestige



2. Vera Farmiga (in Up in the Air)

Anything that says Vera Farmiga and I'm in. She's such a chill person. And such a marvellous actress. Sure, she's had her highs and lows, but her resume shows diversity and a particular love towards those indie films. I'm a sucker for them. She's probably best known for her Oscar nominated turn in Up in the Air, and that's fair enough. She's absolutely amazing in that. Hell, she was even good in Orphan, which was hated by everyone else but me (hey, don't judge, I thought it was clever). I can't wait to see her directorial debut in Higher Ground. I hope she can direct as well as she can act.
Favourite performance: Up in the Air
Favourite film: The Departed 


1. Amy Adams (in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day)

Amy Adams must be the sweetest person alive. Every time I see her all I can picture are unicorns dancing over rainbows made out of marshmallows...in short, she makes me really happy. Not to mention she's been nominated for an Oscar three times. And she could have gotten a fourth nomination for playing a princess in a Disney movie. I kid you not, her performance in Enchanted is one of the best I have ever seen. In fact, any performance of hers is great. I personally think she was better than Melissa Leo in The Fighter. And at least she wouldn't have said a naughty word in her acceptance speech.
Favourite performance: Enchanted
Favourite film: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Righty-ho...next week I'm gonna go all old-school on you and reveal my ten favourite actors and actresses from the classics. Any objections to this list?

DVD--The Ghost Writer

or: The Ghost who uncovers things.

One word to sum it up: Intriguing.

If I were to say 'Roman Polanski', people not so up with the film world (and his classics such as Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown) would probably only know one thing about him: that infamous rape scandal. In a way, that thing alone makes The Ghost Writer, his latest film, an even stronger one. You see, during the making of this film, he was put under arrest. He finished editing the film from a Swiss prison and continued making all the artistic decisions while he was under house arrest. And even though Polanski wasn't able to set foot in America due to extradition, he made this film look as American as it possibly could have been. With all these problems, Polanski managed to make a pretty flawless looking film, and perhaps one of the best films from last year.

It's based on Robert Harris' novel 'The Ghost', but it's also been called for the several similarities it has with the story of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. An unremarkable ghost-writer (Ewan McGregor) has landed a contract to shape the memoirs of Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, Lang has retired with his wife (Olivia Williams) to the USA. He lives on an island, in luxurious, isolated premises complete with a security detail and a secretarial staff. Soon, Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal that reveals how far he was ready to go in order to nurture UK's "special relationship" with the USA. But before this controversy has started, before even he has closed the deal with the publisher, the ghost-writer gets unmistakable signs that the draft he is tasked to put into shape mysteriously forms highly sensitive material.

I admit, political thrillers aren't really my cup of tea. When I see those words, it's like someone hit the snooze button in my brain. The Ghost Writer, on the flipside, gave my brain a good rattling. While it could be a bore for someone, I found this movie rich and intense, directed by a guy who knows how to make a good thriller. What makes me mad is the fact that this film was completely ignored come Oscar time. For example, Alexandre Desplat did a far better job with the music in this one, but he got all the acclaim for his work in The King's Speech. His music here contributed to an old-style kind of theme that makes this a suspense nearly in the league of Hitchcock. It's the kind of movie that will keep you guessing until the very end. And the tension just builds and builds. Slowly, but surely. The final shot, to me, is an absolute killer.

Leading the film is Ewan McGregor, who has had a spot in my heart since he was Christian in Moulin Rouge!...and what a great leading man he is. He plays a character simply known as 'The Ghost', but he anchors the film with his likability and vulnerability. And he was a far better choice for the role than Nicolas Cage. Pierce Brosnan made amends for his singing abilities in Mamma Mia! by playing the PM figure Adam Lang just the way a good actor should. Kim Cattrall takes a break from Sex and the City to do what she was born to do: be a good actress. It was strange seeing her in a dramatic role, but she did it well. Even if her American/Irish/Scottish/British accent was a little off the mark. The standout of the movie? Olivia Williams, by miles. Gosh, I loved her in this movie. She was so quietly horrible, and she just stole the show with her characterization and skill. She's the second biggest reason to watch this film after the all-round awesomeness that makes this film a definitive must-see.

THE VERDICT: The Ghost Writer is an excellently made thriller which is both intriguing and intense, with some great performances from it's cast and brilliant direction from Roman Polanski.

What I hoped for:

What I got: