Author Archives: Owun Birkett

127 Hours {Film Review}

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Danny Boyle is known to experiment in each different genre. He’s tackled thrillers (Shallow Grave), drama (Trainspotting), horror (28 Days Later), science-fiction (Sunshine) and even a bit of romance (Slumdog Millionaire). He’s also known to experiment in film techniques, always making each of his films different compared to the last.

After the critically acclaimed and award winning Slumdog Millionaire, the director has decided to tackle a personal story – one he’s reportedly wanted to make for 4 years – based on the book by “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” by Aron Ralston. It’s like the Long Way Round, only it leads to a frighteningly jarring result.

The film opens up with varied shots of crowds of people at a stadium, subway, etc. This tells us that this could’ve happened to anyone and at any time. Unfortunately, it happened to Aron Ralston.

James Franco plays our main protagonist, and he’s incredibly likable from the start, though you can tell his daredevil antics would be the cost of the soon-to-be unfortunate accident. Speeding on his mountain bike, he ends up crashing – but it doesn’t stop him. He even laughs about it and takes a picture of himself of the aftermath.

The man is full of energy, and can’t help but be admired for it. Even helping two girls find a specific location, and showing them the ‘cool’ way to go in, it’s all to show you a good time -until his arms gets crushed by a boulder and things get weird and unsettling.

He makes every attempt to get the boulder off, and you start to feel for him for trying. He eventually starts to hallucinate, grow tired, slowly run out of food and water (so much so that clips for certain ads for drinks pop up to empathise how thirsty he is). It gets really emotional and powerful as he starts to record himself from his video camera, even going far as interviewing himself. Then the inevitable scene where he decides to cut his arm off, and it’s teeth-grindingly visceral. It doesn’t show much, but when it does, it’s quite cringing and I advise it’s not for the faint of heart! This is a story about survival, even going to extreme lengths to achieving it.

The cinematography is gorgeous. You admire the scenery as Ralston treks along the rocky landscape, and it even makes you claustrophobic when you’re stuck with him. The music by Slumdog composer, A.R. Rahman, makes the music atmospheric and go with Ralston’s emotions. The camera and editing techniques are relatively simple, but effective, to make sure it didn’t feel fake or Hollywoodised.

The breaking of the narrative with flashbacks only gives depth to the character of Ralston, and Franco really does make his career’s best performance. The only small criticism I would make is, I would’ve liked to see more of Ralston’s back-story, what really drove him to being the person he is. Though as it is, it’s still a great film and Danny Boyle gets top credit for his direction.

Overall: A truly inspiring and uplifting film, in a different sense of the word. It’s like an underdog story, only you’re not rooting for an athlete/boxer etc. but a man who wanted to make the most out of life. A great start for 2011 (even though it did come out last year in USA), and I’m looking forward for the many films to come.

4 stars!

Best Films of 2010. {Entertainment}

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Before I start with my list, I will be honest on something; this year was a relatively weak year for films. I’m not saying it was a disappointing or bad year; it just wasn’t as memorable in comparison with 2009 and 2008. Most of the good films (in my opinion) were far and between from each other. I will also mention that I have not yet seen some of the films that were released this year (Precious and Winter’s Bone as examples) and only going by films released in the UK. So Black Swan, The King’s Speech and True Grit are still yet to come (those in the USA, you’re lucky!). So without further delaying, here are my personal favourite films of 2010:

5) The Road: I immediately loved the book as soon I finished reading it. So when hearing director of The Proposition, John Hillcoat and Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce would star in Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece; I couldn’t be anymore excited. The result was an astounding film and being truly faithful to the source material. Viggo Mortensen makes one of the best performances of his career. Having to be conflicted on looking after his son, and by telling him to carry the fire (humanity). The film looks beautiful, never have you felt emotion or seen a post-apocalyptic film look anything like this. It shows the world had a history, and now it doesn’t matter anymore (hence the characters are known as the Man, Boy, Woman etc.). It has a brutal honesty that most post-apocalyptic films lack, but it also has heart and it cares about the characters. It’s not interested to explain how it started or tries to bring in an action sequence or two to make it entertaining (if that’s what you’re looking for, then Roland Emmerich has no short supply of that with Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012). This film is captivating, heartbreaking and brilliant.

4) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: This film was bold and daring to be more than just a simple action flick within a teen movie. It mixes genres more than your mind can handle; it’s a gamer/movie geeks wet dream and it is done the best way possible. The film takes it to ambitious new heights. It is amazingly creative and shows the best of everyone’s talents. The performances from the cast are top-notch, and the music is very well done. This film features drama and comedy that it doesn’t treat us like idiots and actually gives the movie a brain. Edgar Wright cements himself as the King of Geek (although he already had that title since Spaced).

3) Toy Story 3: If you didn’t cry from watching this film, you have no soul! It’s a kid’s film, but also for grown-ups. This features one of the most heart-aching but soulful pieces of writing this year has to offer. It’s a movie that can be viewed by anyone at any age, and it is one of the best trilogies ever made! As the whole trilogy progresses, the true enemy of our protagonist is time itself. As we all have experiences on having to let go of our own toys when growing up. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return to voice our favourite Pixar characters, and do fantastic jobs as they did the previous two films. Thank you Pixar, for cherishing our childhood but also giving us a timeless classic that will be passed on to future generations.

2) Inception: The best science fiction film of the year and among my top favourite sci-fi films (amongst with Blade Runner etc.). The concept of dreams has probably been explored before, but never has it been immensely intriguing and devilishly exciting. Christopher Nolan has crafted another blockbuster that isn’t shy to bring some intelligence (his Batman films proved to be more adult orientated than to adolescent kids). Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a powerful performance, riddled with guilt and regret (which features Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien” as a plot device) and gives depth to the character. This film features an amazing ensemble cast; listing from Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine and even Tom Berenger (last time I saw him was in Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon). The visual effects and stunt-work should be given top credit as they looked seamless and Nolan delivered something we’ve never seen before.

1) The Social Network: When you have David Fincher directing and Aaron Sorkin being the screenwriter, you know they’re going to deliver something that’s going to be more than being ‘Facebook: The Movie’. This movie is a character study and a docu-drama, it is as exciting and interesting to watch as any action movie this year. Jesse Eisenberg delivers an electrifying performance as Mark Zuckerberg, who’s portrayed as being an ironic but yet tragic character. It’s understandable if some people may find it hard to sympathise with him, but how could you not get pulled in about a geek who made a phenomenon and made a stamp in 21st Century culture? The music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross has my vote for Best Original Score, as it is eerie and atmospheric with the use of string instruments and piano notes mixed with synths all part of Zuckerberg’s computer geek persona. This is drama at its best, and I certainly wasn’t expecting this film to succeed on being my number 1 movie of 2010.

By Owun Birkett

Tron: Legacy {Film Review}

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It has been nearly 30 years since Tron hit the screens, which turned out to be a box-office flop (along with The Thing and Blade Runner that year) but then has become a cult-classic and has been cherished by its fans. Now we have a mega budget sequel, having to please the fans of the first film but also intriguing new fans. It is, unfortunately, not a masterpiece or anything more than just your average sci-fi/adventure movie.

The good points to this film are the visual effects. The Grid feels familiar but up-to-date with our current technology (unfortunately, Tron feels incredibly dated with its visual effects). The suits and light-cycles have been given a 2.0 upgrade, and all look relatively cool and flashy. The action sequences are well done, wide enough to see and intense without being chaotic (again, Michael Bay should take notes). The music by Daft Punk is undeniably awesome. It is atmospheric and makes the film a lot better for it. It feels retro, but being contemporary. The 3D in this movie is very well done, not poorly rendered (Clash of the Titans) or hard to watch (Alice in Wonderland) but it’s more atmospheric 3D (Avatar) and works incredibly to its advantage. The 3D only happens as soon Sam enters The Grid, with the scenes in the real world are filmed in traditional 2D format. Yet all that is far and between to what I have to bring up the bad points.

I don’t want to go into detail about the story, but it is predictable and stupid basically. There’s the Disney cliché’s of Sam growing up to be a rebel, even one night hacks into Encom and escapes by parachuting off from the roof (errrr why? wouldn’t it been better if you gone out the same way you came and not attract yourself even more?). The first film had a simple and easy to follow structure to know what was the purpose of Clu, Tron etc. In this film, however, they mention things but they don’t give enough detail exactly how or what happened (like how did the new ISOs actually exist?). If Clu and Tron are given tasks to do, then what tasks the programs in the crowd do? Olivia Wilde plays the token hot girl, given nothing to do but deliver exposition. Garrett Hedlund is not a particularly interesting protagonist, he’s just a one-dimensional character and not very developed. Michael Sheen as Castor is really wasted in this film, he absolutely chews the scenery and acts like a gay David Bowie/Billy Idol and his character is pointless (same problem I asked earlier; if he’s a program, what is his function?). The only good performance is Jeff Bridges, though he plays him like The Dude in The Big Lebowski. The CGI effects for the young Jeff Bridges/Clu is really off-putting. It’s the definition of uncanny valley; it looks rubbery or plastic and I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief. I won’t say much, but the story is full of plot-holes.

Overall; a hugely disappointing film. Whilst partially entertaining at times, and an amazing score by Daft Punk; I couldn’t help but say to myself “is this the best they could come up with after 30 years?”. It feels more suitable than as a theme park ride than a movie.

3 stars!

By Owun Birkett

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by Owun Birkett {Film review}

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Scott Pilgrim has a mix bag of genres. It’s a comic book movie, it’s an action movie, it’s a martial arts movie, it’s a comedy, it’s a romance, it’s a teen flick etc. But it surprisingly all blends well together! Being Edgar Wright’s first American film, he delivers all the goods and exceeds them.

The movie is based on a series of graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, about a Canadian slacker (Scott Pilgrim) who’s unemployed and plays in a band called Sex Bo-omb (Super Mario Bros. reference) but then falls in love with an American mystery girl (Ramona Flowers) who works for Amazon.ca. He later on finds out, unexpectedly, that Ramona has 7 evil ex’s and he must defeat them in order to go out with her. The idea sounds incredibly silly, but it works for the comic book material. As part of Wright’s trademark, this movie contains cultural references (in this case, 8-bit video games and video games in general). Though you don’t have to be a fan of video games to appreciate this film, it has enough to please anyone. It has a fluid pacing, giving us time to breathe after each fight with some intimate drama between Scott and Ramona. The fact that Wright compact 6 volumes into a 2 hour movie is incredible, never once where you got lost with the plot or the characters. That’s what I call an achievement, and therefore consider this as one of the best graphic novel adaptations ever made.

The casting is top-notch, not one thing do I have a complaint. Michael Cera kind of goes against his type-cast roles, he’s sentimental but he’s also an asshole at times. Though it’s a story of evolving and taking responsibility. Slowly bringing a resolution to the climax and thus brings a revelation to not only for Scott but everyone else. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is sweet and sympathetic, and makes the character interesting and have some back history (especially with her previous relationships). The seven evil ex’s, including Chris Evans and Brandon Routh, pretty much steal the show. You want to know more about them, but we’re given enough to what is already shown. They deliver comic timing perfectly, all credit to the acting/writing/direction. The rest of the cast all do really good jobs, newcomer Ellen Wong as Knives Chau really shines and did remarkably well.

The visual effects and action sequences are astounding, and extremely well done. This has so much vibe and energy, the fight choreography is very exciting to watch. Without becoming a repetition, every fight is different to each ex Scott goes against. As examples; Matthew Patel (Satya Bhabha) does in a style of a Bollywood dance-off at one point, and Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh) duels Scott in the style of Guitar Hero (through my eyes, at least). It’s a mix with real-life drama and fantasy action you’d expect in a video game.

I cannot help but compare to this film to Juno. It’s a teen movie, but it has more depth and intelligence than your average teen flick nowadays. Edgar Wright delivers drama that is touching, sweet but also funny. This is his most ambitious movie he’s made yet, and looking forward to what he’ll do next. Easily one of the best movies of 2010.

Side-note: The fact this is a box-office dud in the USA is shocking. What more do they want?

Film Reviews: Kick Ass

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Kick-Ass (2010) ***** (5 out of 5)

Based on a comic series by Scottish comic book writer, Mark Millar. The simple premise is what if an average joe decided to become a superhero? The result is a hilarious black comedy with character depth and a truly unique superhero movie.
Aaron Johnson plays the movie’s protagonist, Dave Lizewski. He’s your typical geek who’s into comic books and (figuratively) invisible to girls or anyone on that matter. There have been added characteristics that wasn’t featured in the source material, but it works and makes his character. The voice-over by Johnson isn’t entirely needed, but it’s enthusiastic enough to make it a minor criticism. Mark Strong plays Frank D’Amico, a New York gangster who suddenly has a superhero problem and decides to take matters to his own hands. He plays him with such menace that is brooding but also charismatic that could’ve came out from Goodfellas. The two scene stealers are Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl and Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy. Chloe delivers her lines as she was born for this role, but gives a gentle warm feeling that doesn’t come out disturbing. Controversial that she’s given a line many parents will, most likely, complain about (“Okay, you c****. Lets see what you can do now!”) but it comes off hilarious and even then even more darkly hysterical when she starts killing off the drug dealers and the Banana Splits theme tune kicks in. Nicolas Cage plays Hit-Girl’s father, a ex-cop who also dons a costume that looks similar to Batman. What makes his performance stand out is his uncanny impersonation of Adam West from the 60s Batman TV-series. It just reminds us how crazy but damn good Cage can be and it’s about time Matthew Vaughn showed us that. Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris D’Amico/Red Mist reminded me of his McLovin act but also stayed true to the character.
The screenplay by Jane Goldman and director Matthew Vaughn is superb, delivering witty lines and spot on comic timing. This movie isn’t afraid to acknowledge its comic book roots, bringing satire, clichés and homages that make it its own. There’s even a reference to Taxi Driver, which also dealt with vigilantism. It makes sure there’s a fine line between glorifying the violence, and resulting it being negative. Kick-Ass may feature young teenagers killing people, but A) the people that are getting killed are bad guys, so therefore doesn’t make it controversial or morally wrong and B) the heroes don’t fight their way out and get away with it. They too get punished for their actions. Especially when Dave narrates by saying “with no power, comes no responsibility”, and then later realises he will be responsible to what he does. It brings a significant cultural relevance to the YouTube/Facebook/Myspace era, which was used in the original comic book series but it’s executed better in the film. The music fits so well, that it feels exciting and thrilling to watch the action sequences. I also applaud to the choreography and editing, the pacing is set just right and the fight scenes are shot and cut for the viewer to be able to see what’s going on (Michael Bay, take notes).
Overall; maybe not a classic at first glance but it will definitely launch a new set of fans. It’s certainly a must-see movie of 2010 and one of the top best so far. Matthew Vaughn understands the superhero movie aesthetics and conventions, but turns it around to make it stand-alone. It’s Fight Club meets Spider-Man, but also a hint of Watchmen.
Owun Birkett

Film Review: Robin Hood (2010)

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Frost Rating ****

There have been many interpretations of the legendary man himself. Popularly first known by Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and then the Kevin Costner version, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). I’ve only seen the latter, it was all good fun and one of the few films I watched mostly as a kid. I loved the idea of a man standing up corruption and just being an old fashioned swash-buckling adventure. Although Kevin Costner was miscast as the English rebel, only reason for being cast was his big heyday back in the early 90s and winning awards for Dances With Wolves. The only plus side was having a scene-stealing Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham. It has been nearly 20 years since, and Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe have now brought us their version of the story.

We’ve seen the tale of Robin Hood been done to death and it’s actually a sigh of relief to see something fresh to an otherwise adventurous story. Another point to make that it’s more a revisionist take, than a remake or reboot. As many have mentioned, this is a prequel than the typical Robin Hood story we all know. Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is explained, rather than making it a basis of the film. It shows how Robin Hood (known through-out as Robin Longstride) becomes the man we all know and love. It may be not needed, but Ridley Scott pulls it off rather well. Robin is a soldier for the crusades under the rule of King Richard (Danny Huston, a brief but wonderfully played role), and returns back to England from his long fight in France after Richard dies. He comes back finding the country in a total mess, now Prince John (Oscar Isaac) is pronounced King and starts making an example to his rule by using threats to make the whole of England pay the kings taxes. Robin returns a sword to Walter Loxley (Max Von Sydow) as a promise from his dead son, which his wife happens to be Marion (Cate Blanchett). The theme of the story is self-discovery, although it slightly acts as a bit expositional but it doesn’t linger on to make it that much a critique. Meanwhile, the sub-plot is with France preparing to invade England.

Slightly distracts us from the story of Robin and Marion, but it unravels an exciting climactic battle sequence and the reason King John declares out leading hero to be an outlaw. The performances from the entire cast are top notch. Russell Crowe still proves to be a convincing leading man, although his dialect goes a bit off once or twice (although better than Kevin Costner sticking with his American accent). Cate Blanchett is always a treat whenever she’s on-screen, and is the heart of this film. Both Crowe and Blanchett’s chemistry does spark but only so subtle to make the scenes together work. Oscar Isaac is brilliantly juvenile and devilish, practically a scene stealer and one of the best things of this film. Mark Strong delivers a good performance, but unfortunately doesn’t stand out the best of the villains roles he’s played (the best would be as Frank D’Amico in Kick-Ass). Matthew Macfayden plays as the Sheriff of Nottingham, he doesn’t make it as hammy as Alan Rickman did previously but still makes himself being devilishly likeable. Especially when his house is about to get burnt down by the French, and slyly says to a soldier to save his house “I’m half French, on my mothers side!”

The script by Brian Helgeland is also very well done, showing he’s still at his game being a talented writer. Given credit the development of Robin Hood had been going around quite some time, and went through 2-3 stages before they finalised on a story they wanted to make. It’s a story that somehow makes it culturally significant; especially when we’ve just dealt being in the recession. It also brings a strange cultural heritage, having the character and its setting a strange mythical history. Admittedly, the story may mislead people. Given the title ‘Robin Hood’, it should be about Robin Hood and it does. Ridley Scott mentioned he likes to create worlds, and he does so by bringing up events that will revolve around and has Robin involved to make it plausible.

Ridley Scott’s eye for detail is always staggering and beautifully well shown on-screen. The cinematography is gorgeous to look at, shot very well and all around a great looking film. What also strikes me as the film looks it could be plausible in the history books. Although Scott doesn’t treat it as a History Channel documentary, he makes it very clear he mixes with history but also with a bit of fantasy. The action sequences are exciting and thrilling to watch, just shows how much Robin Hood can be an action hero. It also amazes me Ridley Scott is the only filmmaker who’d do these sequences with very little digital effects and make them look spectacular. Also kudos on the wonderful costume design by Janty Yates (who designed costumes for Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven).

The music by Marc Streitenfeld is atmospheric and delivers emotion to every scene being delightful or tragic. Overall; people may expect the conventional Robin Hood tale, but going to a different route can lead to surprising results. This delivers the goods on both story, characters and the visual spectacle. It doesn’t stand along with Scott’s best films (Alien and Blade Runner), but it certainly amongst his really good ones (American Gangster and Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut). I’m very sure there will be a director’s cut version in future. This is epic filmmaking at its best, and no one does it better than Ridley Scott.

Robin Hood is showing at cinemas right now. See the trailer on the official site.

by Owun Birkett