the M's Talk

Heat

This is one of my favorite films. Heat is an ingenious crime sprawling epic crafted by Michael Mann, which in my opinion is his magnum opus. Heat at its core, is a cops and robber story like none other. This crime drama, a poetic-yet-gritty storytelling is elevated by the magnetic cast, the masterful cinematography and the brilliant staging of the action sequences.

The movie spans a little less than three hours but the pacing doesn't falter the entire films runtime. Heat is a movie that can be appreciated on subsequent viewings. There are many layers of detail that viewers will grasp and notice how intricately Mann has woven the story.

Both leads are solid in their roles. DeNiro, here plays a master criminal dealing in high stakes robbery. He is very disciplined, meticulous and ruthless. Pacino, on the other side of the same coin is an obsessive cop, who's edgy and passionate in his work. A high-stakes cat-an-mouse chase between the two characters culminates until the final showdown where only one can emerge in victory.

Part of what makes Heat interesting is the exposition on the characters and a great supporting cast also helps elevate the story. Here with some marvelous performances from Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, and Ashley Judd, just to name a few. The majority of the characters are strong enough to show their own inner reasons for their actions, without needing additional explanation, although there are several players who dart in and out with insufficient attention paid to them. All of these combined leaves an impressive, mostly gripping, character study of near-identical twins.

The main action set piece, the bank heist during midday in Los Angeles is so amazingly orchestrated with such precision and impact that makes you feel immersed as in a documentary style execution. Mann's choice of soundtrack compliments the on screen beautifully, it is powerful but not overwhelming. A staple of Mann's artistic talent.

This is plain and simple one of the best films ever made. Check it out.

Withnail and I

Withnail & I is the tale of a pair of out of work actors in 1969 Camden who decide to get away from it all for a weekend in a country cottage. And that's about it; plot heavy this film is not. It's all about the character of Withnail, played to perfection to a pre-insufferable Richard E. Grant; in fact Grant was a tee-totaler when he made this film, but Bruce Robinson insisted that the leading actors be paralytic during filming, just to make it more authentic! The pair are like a foul-mouthed, drunken version of Laurel & Hardy as they stagger through the ordinary world in much the same way as Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo were in Fear & Loathing, except that this film is very, very British. This film is all about the dialogue, which is hilarious, containing some of the funniest swearing you'll ever hear! It is also, like Gilliam's film, making a comment about the times in which they lived; the end of the sixties. Except in Fear & Loathing, Thompson was bemoaning the loss of power and optimism of the American youth movement, and here Withnail is shown as an endearing but childish and cowardly person, constantly avoiding responsibility and life as a whole, through a cocktail of drink and drugs. He is left behind at the end, like the decade, as "I" gets a haircut and a job, and moves on with his life. Some may think that the "screaming homosexual" uncle Monty is a bit of a caricature and figure of fun, but he is in fact the most sensitive and sympathetic character in the film. it may not translate well to foreign audiences, but it will forever be a firm favourite amongst the British post hippy generation and students alike.

The Dark Knight

When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object - this is the best blockbuster I've seen in the past 8 years. Engagin and idealistic but almost academic, never before has due process, justice and power been discussed this well in a comic hero movie. Ledger's immortal now, while men like me will continue to watch everythin burn. Joker's right you know - people are pathetic.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D)

Very lackin in 3D - drama, dinosaurs and decency. This will never be Jumanji. The Icelandic bird (the woman, not the animal) looks nice though... sorta like a young Nicole Kidman. Anyway, Verne turns in his grave... art is dead and 3D glasses rule the world.

Insomnia

Some Spoilers Here***********************************************************
Insomnia is set in Nightmute, Alaska which is in perpetual daylight due to its location above the Arctic Circle.

Al Pacino stars as Will Dormer, a burnt-out, detached yet dedicated and highly-decorated detective from the LAPD's Robbery/Homicide Division enlisted to assist the local police force of Nightmute, Alaska after the naked body of a young local girl is found brutally battered to death.

Hilary Swank exudes in her role of a fresh rookie detective who virtually hero worships Dormer and is anxiously excited at the opportunity of working alongside him. Swank carries off her role excellently as she struggles to impress Dormer while attempting to decipher his unorthodox methods.

Unsurprisingly, Pacino completely steals the show as he effortlessly portrays the deterioration of Dormer's mental and physical stability due to insomnia as a result of being unaccustomed to the perpetual daylight. Further exacerbating the matter is Dormer being methodically scrutinized by Internal Affairs for the suspicious discrepancies of his past cases.

Robin Williams breaks away from his usual comedic roles and thrusts the viewer into a rarely seen 'darker' side of himself with his portrayal as a shrewd, analytical yet deeply disturbed character who constantly mocks and plagues Dormer's investigations.

The seamless and beautifully woven plot of Insomnia will undeniably leave you unable to tear yourself away from the screen as the film progresses. The film manages to slowly unravel its uniquely articulate neo-noir nature interspersed with Dormer's tainted past steadily catching up with him and Nolan wraps his signature cinematic style around the thought-provoking storyline.

The moment you press Play, be prepared to be unforgivingly sucked into this film and grapple with the stellar quality of acting shown by Pacino, Williams and Swank. The surreal setting of Nightmute's perpetual daylight temporarily alleviates the darkness of the film but progressively shrouds the characters as the investigation intensifies and more unanswered questions turn up. Nolan peppers the film with incredible minute details which serve to entangle you even further.

If your a fan of Nolan's work like me, I have no doubt you will thoroughly enjoy this film but in the event that you're not, this will undoubtedly hermetically seal your respect for him and the one-of-a-kind 'feel' of his movies.

I consider this one of Nolan's finest works and I give it a solid two thumbs up and would highly recommend the average movie junkie to experience the mystifyingly addictive nature of Nolan's films by watching this brilliant masterpiece.

Zombie Strippers

You don't have a right to complain if you read the film title. Get over yourself and stop ratin movies bad because you're too damn sophisticated to enjoy well-constructed rubbish! This was 94mins of fake tits (mostly) and fancy G-strings sandwiching semi-brilliant, tongue-in-cheek philosophical discourses. Honest!

Capricorn One

James Brolin heads a team of astronauts who're pulled from their capsule seconds before the launch and told they must help fake a Mars landing in order to save the space program. Meanwhile Elliot Gould is a reporter whose friend that works in the Houston command centre tells him of a discrepancy in the telemetry. This friend promptly vanishes and he finds someone else living in his apartment, so he sets about discovering the truth. This hugely entertaining conspiracy theory thriller from Peter Hyams delivers an interesting premise told with boy's own panache. Elliot Gould does what he does best as the smart mouthed reporter and gets all the best lines in some witty quickfire banter with his editor and love interest, and the action is provided in the astronaut's escape from the NASA compound. Hyams makes great use of the desert locations and there's an exciting finale in the form of an aerial chase through it's canyons between two black ops helicopters (cleverly given a kind of faceless, malevolent personality through formation flying) and a barnstorming crop duster played by Telly "Kojak" Savalas. Occasionally a little far fetched, but it's funny, intriguing and exciting, and great fun.

Before Flying Back to the Earth (Pries parskrendant i zeme)

The Departed

Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are two cops; one is honest and taking part in appalling crimes while working undercover, the other corrupt acting under the facade of respectability. Soon it becomes necessary for them to discover each other's identity in a cat and mouse game against the clock. Scorsese's pedigree as a director shines through as this is far from the usual clunky Hollywood remake we've all come to revile. In fact, the spirit of the original is so apparent that it feels far more like the kind of Asian cinema influenced picture you'd expect from Tarantino than a Scorsese, and for that reason, anyone expecting the kind of intensity and provocativeness of Goodfellas or Taxi Driver may be disappointed. The cast are uniformly solid (although the kind of heavyweight performance you'd expect from a DeNiro is glaringly absent) and it's perfectly paced, never dragging for a minute of it's not inconsiderable length. The bleak tone, constant foul language and brutally realistic violence may offend those with delicate sensibilities, but it's hugely entertaining and although the screenwriter cheated a little by including character and plot elements from all three Infernal Affairs films, it surpasses the film it was based upon.

There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood follows the rise of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview from his humble beginnings as a prospector working the land with his own two hands through to solitary mansion-bound multi-millionaire. I'm not surprised that this was adapted from a book published in 1927; it has a real old-fashioned feel to it and a palpable sense of authenticity. Therefore anyone used to the constant fast cuts, CGI, pop music soundtracks and wibbly wobbly camera work of modern cinema may find it tough going. It's a character study pure and simple, and Daniel Day Lewis is simply incredible. He is an ACTOR, not a movie star, and at no point to you become aware of the fact that he is just an actor acting; he genuinely brings Plainview to life. Unfortunately for those who like their films with a lovable hero to cheer for, he's a cold, bullying opportunist with a single-minded desire not only to succeed, but to see everyone else fail; if he encounters anyone or anything he can't control, he must destroy it. Not the most likeable protagonist then! And to top it off, I found Paul Dano's evangelist even more disturbing; Plainview may be cold-hearted and ruthless, but at least he had a brutal honesty about him and never pretended to be something he's not. It's also a beautifully shot film with many memorable images and an extremely expressive score from Johnny Greenwood. It's certainly not a cinematic quick fix, and I think the best way to describe it is Citizen Kane meets Michael Corleone. It won't be to everyone's taste but anyone wanting a cerebral character study combined with a powerhouse acting performance should look no further.

Brazil

Terry Gilliam's bizarre and unique vision of an unspecified time in the 20th century stars Johnathon Pryce as a mid level bureaucrat haunted by dreams of a beautiful woman. When an administrative error results in the arrest and death of an innocent man, he actually meets her and takes on the fascistic establishment (in which bureaucracy has literally gone mad) to "save" her from them. This is surely the film that Terry Gilliam was born to make; it's so uniquely "his" that no-one else could possibly have made it. In fact it's so out of the box that the studio only released it under extreme duress. The production design of retro-styled technology combined with war-time era fashions and propaganda is fantastic and is a clear influence on Dark City which itself is often cited as the template for The Matrix. Many of the images seen here are hilarious and bizarre in an extremely similar way to Gilliam's own animations in the Monty Python TV series, and it visually references everything from Battleship Potemkin to The Empire Strikes Back. The criticism that it's a little self-indulgent and a case of style over substance can be leveled at it, but it's style is brilliant and it's perfectly intertwined with social satire and a lot of very funny Pythonesque humour. Add a fantastic supporting cast including Ian Holm, Ian Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Bob Hoskins and Robert DeNiro as a guerilla heating engineer and you have a film like no other.

Letters from Iwo Jima

The story centres on Saigo, a young baker who is conscripted into defending the island of Iwo Jima as the last line of defence against the advancing American forces. The Japanese "forces" are shown as a dishevelled, barely equipped and starving rag tag collection of survivors huddled in underground caves, overwhelmed by the collective might of the US navy and suffering at the hands of fanatical commanding officers who are all too willing to commit "honourable" suicide. In a brave move, Clint Eastwood chooses to show the invasion of Japan from their perspective, and not only that but actually uses Japanese actors speaking in Japanese; the entire film is subtitled which I'm sure went down a treat in Hicksville, USA...This is a very human war story, centering far more on the beautifully written and totally believable characters than individual politics. It's a wonderfully understated film, the performances first rate, the cinematography a stunning blend of documentary and artful visuals and it's accompanied by a haunting but subtle soundtrack. It's a million miles from the button pushing contrivances of most war films; probably because it was made by a member of the "enemy" nation and that's what makes it work so well as a very personal story. Saigo is shown as just another human being, just as the American troops are; some are murderous and selfish, others kind-hearted humanitarians. Which side they were on is irrelevant. But the main thought it raised with me was this; if this was the best "resistance" the Japanese had to offer, it seriously calls into question the strategic value of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Hidden Fortress

A pair of bickering escaped slaves stumble upon the mountain hideout of a defeated general and his princess who are being hunted by the occupying army. They decide to join forces (with the added incentive of a horde of royal gold) to reach friendly territory. Widely acknowledged as the inspiration for Star Wars, it has also influenced a huge number of other stories including TV show Monkey, Hero and everything in between. The imagery is as gorgeous as you'd expect from Kurosawa, the characters brilliantly written and the performances all perfect, from Toshiro Mifune's commanding general, to the striking Misa Uehara as the noble but fiery princess. The two greedy and bad tempered slaves provide the comic relief, and it has everything you could possibly want from an adventure; laughs, action, excitement and heroism. Yet another masterpiece from a true genius.

Hard Times

Charles Bronson plays Chaney, a drifter who chances upon small time bare knuckle boxing manager James Coburn and they form a partnership to make some money in depression era New Orleans. A great sense of period in a similar vein to Bonnie And Clyde permeates this compelling streetfighting drama, directed with the usual no-nonsense approach of boy's own favourite and Peckinpah protege Walter Hill. To be sure, it's a veritable testosterone fest, but it's by no means your typical Van Damme style action nonsense. Bronson has never been better as the laconic fighter who sees his bouts as pure business; there's no malice in him and there's a total absence of the kind of glorification of violence you see in most boxing films. In this way it has far more in common with the likes of Raging Bull or On The Waterfront. Coburn is also excellent as the smart mouthed hustler he befriends and Jill Ireland's unsentimental love interest has never made the down at heel seem more glamorous. A simple but effective story that highlights Bronson's consummate badassery without the usual trashiness that accompanies most male-orientated tough guy films and easily one of Hill's best moments.

Udon

The Udon Pilgrim in ancient robes - absolute classic! Mainstream Japanese movie that doesn't offend. Try it.

Casino Royale

So a new Bond begins a new era, and resets the character back to the beginning. I have to start by saying I thought the previous outing was awful. It was like a cheeseball pastiche of all the worst elements of the worst Bond films; overly formulaic with ludicrous gadgetry, lame innuendo and cliched, 2 dimensional characters. This film is similar, in that it also takes a lot of cues from the previous films (especially from Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service.) Except it takes all of the BEST elements of the BEST Bonds and distills them into almost the perfect 007 outing. An uncomplicated but cleverly written plot, gritty, breathless action sequences, a believable and fleshed out love interest, and a charismatic, brutal and amoral villain (to match an equally charismatic, brutal and amoral Bond!) It was about time Bond was dragged kicking and screaming into the twenty first century, and right from the stylishly animated credits which thankfully replace the tacky soft-core porn formula of the originals, they've done a great job. The action sequences are superbly done with a physicality that Daniel Craig suits down to the ground; unlike recent Bonds he not only looks good in a dinner jacket, but also looks like he can rough house with the best of them. Connery will always be the archetypal 007, but bloody hell Craig is good. Sorry Sean, we have a new winner...