We Don't Need Two Metaphors

(This review contains spoilers) Films about middle class white people and their first world problems are so difficult to get right; the audience’s tolerance of the characters is perilously low to begin with and one false move could lose their sympathy. Woody Allen has both won and lost this particular battle many times over his career. Frances Ha is most definitely a victory for creative team Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig; a charming but unmistakable sad film about a floundering woman approaching her thirties. Frances’ world is sent spinning when her best friend and flat mate Sophie decides to move to a trendier part of New York with another friend. Frances can’t afford to keep their flat and has an uncertain future as a modern dancer. She’s fallen into an early-to-mid life crisis; just about holding on to her teenage years with proper adulthood fast approaching. She’s reached the stage where she should have a clear path of where she wants to go in life. She hasn’t, but ev...

“I think we just wanted to be part of the lifestyle. The lifestyle that everybody kinda wants.” (This review contains spoilers) Inspired by the true events and the subsequent Vanity Fair article, The Bling Ring recounts the story of a group of privileged Californian teenagers who stole $3million worth of clothing and jewelry from the houses of Hollywood celebrities. What’s particularly extraordinary about The Bling Ring is how Coppola has managed to create a film that is on the surface as shallow as its protagonists, but also thoughtful and mildly angry in its subtext. It would have been all too easy for Coppola to take a seat above her subjects and beat us over the head with the notion that these kids are a bunch of deluded narcissists. Instead she observes quietly from the wings whilst the gang gleefully raids through the material wealth of these Hollywood celebrities. By just observing, Coppola allows the inherently risible nature of the material to shine through all b...

After his cargo ship is boarded by Somali pirates, Captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) enters into a battle of bravado and patience with the pirate captain Muse (Barkhad Abdi). Phillips wants to protect his crew, but Muse isn't leaving until his pockets are filled with riches. It should come as no surprise to hear that a new Paul Greengrass film is nail-bitingly tense. The tension builds from the moment Hanks' Captain Phillips lands in Oman (after a brief setup back in the USA, more on that later) and steps on board the Maersk Alabama. Whilst the action may never reach the heights of the frantic Tangier chase in The Bourne Ultimatum or the destructive car chase at the end of The Bourne Supremacy, the sense of jeopardy never lets up. Even in the film's quieter moments, there's an ever present restlessness that gives greater relevance to every word that Phillips chooses to utter.

Throughout 2013, I shall be watching all of Stanley Kubrick's 13 feature films in chronological order. I'll discuss each film on here along with a handful of documentaries and short films. To read all the posts so far, click on the "Stanley Kubrick" tag at the end of this post. Stanley Kubrick returned to the cinema screen, after the unfavourable experience of making Fear & Desire , with Killer's Kiss : a film noir about an ageing boxer who falls in love with his neighbour. Technically, the film is a vast improvement on the amateurish Fear & Desire , but there is sadly little else to recommend about Killer's Kiss . The main problem is that there is nothing remotely interesting about the characters or the story. For all of its faults, Fear And Desire  at least attempted to tell an interesting story; something that Killer's Kiss  just doesn't do. Davey Gordon has little in his life worth fighting for; his modest boxing career is on a downwa...

It's Monsters vs Machines in Guillermo del Toro's delightful big screen spectacle We're over half way through the relentless onslaught of the summer blockbuster season. So far, Hollywood's multi-billion dollar bag o' tricks has produced one worthy conqueror ( Iron Man 3 ), one crushing disappointment ( Star Trek Into Darkness ) and a mix of the usual mediocre franchises that are populating cinema screens year after year. The cinema screens need a saviour, someone or something to remind us how the term "blockbuster" was created. Wholeheartedly embracing that challenge are Guillermo del Toro and the giant humanoid machines of Pacific Rim . Planet Earth is being terrorized by extra-dimensional monsters known as Kaiju who emerge from a portal at the bottom of the ocean. Faced with this unfathomable threat, humans build hulking humanoid machines known as Jaegers to battle the Kaiju. When it appears that the Kaiju have been temporarily defeated, the Jaege...

Throughout 2013, I shall be watching all of Stanley Kubrick's 13 feature films in chronological order. I'll discuss each film on here along with a handful of documentaries and short films. To read all the posts so far, click on the "Stanley Kubrick" tag at the end of this post. Prior to his death, Stanley Kubrick had attempted to keep Fear And Desire film out of circulation. He described it as the work of an amateur and reportedly acquired as many copies of the film as he could. In many ways, he was right to distance himself from this film; it demonstrates his inexperience and often descends in a pretentious mess. However, there are a handful of interesting things about it and it is arguably one of his most important films. A fighter plane has crashed behind enemy lines and the four surviving soldiers must make their way  out of the hostile territory. Their plans are sidetracked when a young girl stumbles upon the group.

I have quite a few notable gaps in my film viewing. Fight Club, Schindler's List, Goodfellas, Apocalypse Now; just a handful of films that any self-respecting film fan should have seen. I've also yet to see any film of many notable directors; Kurosawa, Hawks, Altman, Fellini, Bergman. I'm constantly trying to fill in the gaps, but there are only so many hours in the day. One of the most prominent omissions in my opinion is that I have seen so few of Stanley Kubrick's films. Widely regarded as one of the most gifted and talented directors, Kubrick could not be pigeonholed and left behind an incredibly varied filmography. Yet despite this status, I have only seen one of his sixteen films: The Shining . I also watched a lot of Spartacus  during Latin lessons at school (one of the the benefits of a classical education). This was not due to any specific reason; the right opportunity had never presented itself (as a film fan, it's no easy feat to keep up with modern rel...

The Doctor and Clara's latest adventure is thematically rich despite a thin plot Last week's installment ended with Clara describing the leaf in the pages of her book as "page 1"; the comment went unexplained. I eventually thought nothing of it and was pleasantly surprised to see it brought up again so quickly. The Rings of Akhaten  not only allowed Clara to demonstrate her worthiness as a companion, but explored themes of fear, loss and religion. The Rings of Akhaten  (or Indiana Jones and The Sunshine X-Factor as it could be called) started with a sweet prologue which charted the story of the leaf and its importance. The leaf brought together Clara's mother (originally named Ellie Ravenwood. Ravenwood as in Marion Ravenwood from Indiana Jones) and father, and is of significant emotional value to Clara. Not only does this help to develop Clara as a character,  but plays a pivotal role in the episode's conclusion. The Doctor and Clara explore the...

The Doctor makes his return to our screens with a new TARDIS, a new look and a new companion So here we are; part two of season 7 of the reboot of Doctor Who. Got that? Good. Whilst season 6 was a season of 2 halves, season 7 is very much two mini seasons. As such, The Bells Of St. John  should be seen as a season opener, and whilst they never tend to be the best of episodes; their main aim is to successfully introduce the new companion or Doctor. I'm pleased to say that The Bells Of St. John  worked very well indeed. Only Doctor Who  could follow a teaser about the dangers of Wi-fi with a trip to 13th century Cumbria. Here we find The Doctor contemplating the impossible girl, Clara Oswin Oswald. Moments later the TARDIS phone begins to ring and The Doctor has found his impossible girl once again. Jenna Lousie Coleman as Clara Oswald After 2 and a half seasons of Amy Pond, or Amy and Rory, it was important to establish Clara as a sufficiently different comp...

My final predictions for tonight's ceremony This year's awards race has been one of the most open and encompassing of recent years. You only have to look back at last year's race, when it was obvious from a very early stage that The Artist  was going to win, to see how uneventful the annual awards race can be. This year, most of the major films have had their ups and downs. Things have settled in the past few weeks but the unpredictability of past few months means that many awards aren't pinned down. So I shall be making my picks in each of the categories based on what I think will win, what I think might win, what I think should win and what I think should've been nominated. I'll only make picks for should win and should've been nominated where I've seen enough of the nominees. Best Film Will Win: Argo Could Win: Lincoln Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty Not even nominated: Skyfall Best Director Will Win: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) ...