This week I made not one, but two cinema trips on the weekend. The first was the all-important “Shame”, don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you down on that front. The second was “Mission Impossible 4”, requested by Jim, but which I was also very happy to see. But first and foremost, I must discuss “Shame”:
To give a brief overview, which I think is actually quite important in a review but which I rarely do, it is the story of Brandon (Fassbender), a successful 30-something New Yorker with a strong sex addiction. He has a lot of sex, reads and watches a lot of porn, and... helps himself, we’ll say, frequently. His sister, Sissy (Carey Mulligan), who is as addicted to love and relationships as he is to sex and who has a suicidal history, comes to stay with him, having no home of her own and wanting to become a singer in the Big Apple. Her problems exacerbate his problems and remind him of a difficult childhood which is hinted at throughout. While watching it I thought I sensed some sexual feelings towards Sissy on Brandon’s part, but Jim – whom I see almost all of these films with - disagreed with me and I can find nothing on the internet to support my belief so I shall drop this for now.
The film itself was just as brilliant as I expected it to be. McQueen (the director) refrains from placing too many gratuitous sex scenes in a film about a nymphomaniac - I counted roughly 6 with Michael's character Brandon, having bet with Jim that there would be 10 -, not just using them to shock and be sexy, not making them excessively graphic, but using these scenes to depict the effects Brandon's addiction has on him. The camera rarely often focuses on Brandon’s face during these scenes. Though don’t worry, within the first 5 minutes we have seen several shots of ALL of Brandon. I was told of a brilliant quote in the Guide, which I don't know the direct wording of, but was something along the lines of "Shame uses many close ups of Fassbender's face, luckily he has a face that looks good in a close up". This is true for so many reasons. Michael is a beautiful man, he was on the front cover of last weekend Guardian Weekend magazine – yes, I have saved it – and the interview inside contained the quote that “[Fassbender has] a habit of ducking his chin in a way that acknowledges both how pretty he is and how vaguely embarrassing he finds it”. I loved this. That said, close-ups of his face are also effective because Michael is able to act physically, without the use of many words, which I have read is similar to the way McQueen used him in "Hunger", which is definitely on my “must see” list. Like Emma Watson’s eyebrows in the Harry Potter films, Fassbender can use his face to depict many heavy emotions. One sex scene nearing the end of the film in which Brandon visits two prostitutes (I presume) contains a close-up shot of his face near the climax and the sadness and despair there is heartbreaking and hard to watch. McQueen clearly has a talent for depicting a story through images, without too much need for words. It is all about Brandon's looks, whether he is staring across the room at a dancing woman and seducing her with his eyes - something Fassbender was clearly going to be good at, have you seen his eyelashes?! -, or feelings of anger and frustration at his sister or shame at himself, the audience can see how he is feeling and what is going on through his mind. The scenes where he feels he can't handle life anymore and goes on a late night/early morning run through New York or breaks down in the rain near the river - it is all filmed beautifully, with bleak, gray colours to show the bleak, loveless life he lives. The end is not hopeless or too hopeful, it does not even feel particularly like the end, we have just been allowed a peak into the life of a sex addict, at a turning point, but your guess is as good as mine as to where Brandon will go next.
Carey Mulligan is also fantastic in this film. There is much talk of Fassbender receiving best actor nominations for this and possibly his performance in "A Dangerous Method" and I think his amazing performance as the central character will overshadow how moving and natural Mulligan is. One of her earliest scenes when she is on the phone to a boyfriend, crying and telling him she loves him, is astounding. Desperation, fear and misery are heavy emotions which are often overdone and artificial, especially in horror films, but you really believe everything she does.
McQueen clearly has a talent for depicting a story through images, without too much need for words. It is all about Brandon's looks, whether it be staring across the room at a dancing woman and wanting and seducing her with his eyes - something Fassbender was clearly going to be good at, have you seen his eyelashes?! -, feelings of anger and frustration at his sister or shame at himself. Scenes where he can't handle things anymore and goes on a late night/early morning run through New York or breaks down in the rain near the.... river - it is all filmed beautifully, with bleak, gray colours to show the bleak, loveless life he lives.
"Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" as it is actually called was just what an MI film should be. It was fun and full of impressive looking stunts and locations, full of tension and variations on the famous Mission Impossible theme tune. The basic plot - though it's so flakey it's hard to explain really - is that Ethan Hunt and his team are framed for blowing up the Kremlin by a Swedish maniac bent on starting a nuclear war. They have to stop him and prove their innocence. The plot is very loose, you end up asking yourself "Why would he do that?", "Would that really work?", "Where's the logic behind that?", but as well all know with this sort of film, if you're going to watch it, these inner questions should be ignored. Despite his crazy ways, I do quite like Tom Cruise in films. He's a decent actor - see "Interview with a Vampire" - and, ignoring his personal life, he's a cool dude on screen, the guy's got presence. The highlight of the film for me was a sequence in which Ethan and his crew are in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world, and Ethan must climb 11 stories on the outside of the building, aka climbing the windows. It looks amazing and it's so tense, it's exactly what you expect from an MI film, Tom Cruise climbing and falling with style.
Michael Nyqvist is the baddy, aka Blomkvist in the Swedish "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", aka the Swedish Daniel Craig. I swear he's turning up everywhere at the moment, but I think he's just got a generic European face. He's perfectly fine as the bad guy, he's not really in it that much but he does creepy well and I just have to say that his pronunciation of English is fantastic. I could almost be convinced that he were English. I'm hoping that both he and Noomi Rapace have successful careers, as they're both good actors and it's rare for Swedish actors - woo, go Stellan! - to find success in Hollywood.
I also finally got around to watching "the Incredible Hulk" this weekend - the version with Edward Norton, not Eric Bana -, which I felt needed to be seen considering the upcoming "Avengers" film. I have never really liked the Hulk as a superhero, he seems a bit dull, lacks any complexities to his powers, but then really, I could say the same of many of the Marvel heroes being turned into franchises at the moment, including Iron Man, whose films I really enjoy. Having been presently surprised by "Thor", I am more open minded now to the various heroes. "The Incredible Hulk" was by no means bad, it was an enjoyable superhero film with decent special effects and which was the right length for such an action film. Many action-adventure films these days seem to surpass the necessary length for such a genre. A film should be incredibly entertaining and have a fantastic plot to exceed 2 1/2 or even 2 hours in my books. The plot is pretty basic, there's no interesting origin story for the Hulk - though to be fair, this would be repeating much of what happened in Ang Lee's "The Hulk" or even for the villain. Like in many of these superhero films, the love story is pretty gratuitous. One can criticise the fact that the villain (Tim Roth super-enhanced to Hulk form) is just an evil version of the hero, but the again, it's exactly the same with the vilains of many of these films, such as in "Iron Man" 1 and 2 (the almighty Jeff Bridges and Mickey Rourke) or Thor (with Tom Hiddleston as Thor's brother Loki). I didn't enjoy it as much as any of the other Marvel films, but to be fair, I did see most of the others on the big screen.
Goodness, these posts are getting bigger and bigger. I shall try to be brief with this week's top 5, which I figured, considering the above review, would be my Top 5 Superhero films (the list has been a little altered so that I do not repeat myself too much on passed discussed films, but these are definitely some of my favourites):
1. The Dark Knight
Could it be any other? Christopher Nolan has become one of my favourite directors recently, especially as I have realised that I have seen all of his feature-length films and all have been good if not great! "The Dark Knight" is easily my favourite. I love that he has turned a superhero film into something not camp, but gritty and realistic. "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" could be regular films about crime in New York, except the vigilante detective has loads of money and gadgets. This sets them apart from the others. The latter is superior because of the more detailed plot and the fantastic performance by Heath Ledger as who I consider to be the greatest comic villain ever created. Heath is one of the few actors who can adopt completely new mannerisms, new hand gestures, a new walk, new facial ticks, a completely new voice for each character he adopts. This - despite many other fine performances - may have been his masterpiece.
2. Spider-Man 1 (2002)
I love this film, and if it weren't for the awesome advert and the presence of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, I'd be a bit miffed about the soon-ness of "the Amazing Spider-Man" (2012). Tobey Maguire does the difficult task of nerdy to buff convincingly and is a genuinely good actor. Spider-Man is my favourite comic book hero, because of his beautiful and cool suit and his powers, which, though not as flawless as Superman's, are interesting and unique to him. The shots in the film where Spider-Man is swinging through New York city still send chills down my spine.
3. Batman (1989)
Tim Burton has pretty much been my favourite director since I was like 6 and I'm pretty sure he was born to make a Batman film. Their gothic styles match perfectly. Plus Jack Nicholson as the Joker? He doesn't have the Oscar-winning depth of Heath Ledger, but man does he have style! The scene where he enters the museum holding up the boombox is hilarious and cool as!
4. X-Men 2: X-Men United
As I have said, I may well prefer "X-Men: First Class" to this installment, but it is amazing nonetheless. The casting for these films was mostly brilliant, I love Wolverine, I love Storm, I love Xavier, I love Magneto (almost as much as Fassbender Magneto), though I do have an issue with Famke Jansen in whatever she's in. It's tense, funny, sad and beautifully shot. An exciting plot through to the end.
5. Blade
Is anyone cooler than Wesley Snipe as Blade? Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost comes close. This films seeps cool. The first scene in the vampire club with the blood sprinklers, Blade's massacre of all the vampires, is still one of the best films I've ever seen in any film.
"Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" as it is actually called was just what an MI film should be. It was fun and full of impressive looking stunts and locations, full of tension and variations on the famous Mission Impossible theme tune. The basic plot - though it's so flakey it's hard to explain really - is that Ethan Hunt and his team are framed for blowing up the Kremlin by a Swedish maniac bent on starting a nuclear war. They have to stop him and prove their innocence. The plot is very loose, you end up asking yourself "Why would he do that?", "Would that really work?", "Where's the logic behind that?", but as well all know with this sort of film, if you're going to watch it, these inner questions should be ignored. Despite his crazy ways, I do quite like Tom Cruise in films. He's a decent actor - see "Interview with a Vampire" - and, ignoring his personal life, he's a cool dude on screen, the guy's got presence. The highlight of the film for me was a sequence in which Ethan and his crew are in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world, and Ethan must climb 11 stories on the outside of the building, aka climbing the windows. It looks amazing and it's so tense, it's exactly what you expect from an MI film, Tom Cruise climbing and falling with style.
Michael Nyqvist is the baddy, aka Blomkvist in the Swedish "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", aka the Swedish Daniel Craig. I swear he's turning up everywhere at the moment, but I think he's just got a generic European face. He's perfectly fine as the bad guy, he's not really in it that much but he does creepy well and I just have to say that his pronunciation of English is fantastic. I could almost be convinced that he were English. I'm hoping that both he and Noomi Rapace have successful careers, as they're both good actors and it's rare for Swedish actors - woo, go Stellan! - to find success in Hollywood.
I also finally got around to watching "the Incredible Hulk" this weekend - the version with Edward Norton, not Eric Bana -, which I felt needed to be seen considering the upcoming "Avengers" film. I have never really liked the Hulk as a superhero, he seems a bit dull, lacks any complexities to his powers, but then really, I could say the same of many of the Marvel heroes being turned into franchises at the moment, including Iron Man, whose films I really enjoy. Having been presently surprised by "Thor", I am more open minded now to the various heroes. "The Incredible Hulk" was by no means bad, it was an enjoyable superhero film with decent special effects and which was the right length for such an action film. Many action-adventure films these days seem to surpass the necessary length for such a genre. A film should be incredibly entertaining and have a fantastic plot to exceed 2 1/2 or even 2 hours in my books. The plot is pretty basic, there's no interesting origin story for the Hulk - though to be fair, this would be repeating much of what happened in Ang Lee's "The Hulk" or even for the villain. Like in many of these superhero films, the love story is pretty gratuitous. One can criticise the fact that the villain (Tim Roth super-enhanced to Hulk form) is just an evil version of the hero, but the again, it's exactly the same with the vilains of many of these films, such as in "Iron Man" 1 and 2 (the almighty Jeff Bridges and Mickey Rourke) or Thor (with Tom Hiddleston as Thor's brother Loki). I didn't enjoy it as much as any of the other Marvel films, but to be fair, I did see most of the others on the big screen.Goodness, these posts are getting bigger and bigger. I shall try to be brief with this week's top 5, which I figured, considering the above review, would be my Top 5 Superhero films (the list has been a little altered so that I do not repeat myself too much on passed discussed films, but these are definitely some of my favourites):
1. The Dark Knight
Could it be any other? Christopher Nolan has become one of my favourite directors recently, especially as I have realised that I have seen all of his feature-length films and all have been good if not great! "The Dark Knight" is easily my favourite. I love that he has turned a superhero film into something not camp, but gritty and realistic. "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" could be regular films about crime in New York, except the vigilante detective has loads of money and gadgets. This sets them apart from the others. The latter is superior because of the more detailed plot and the fantastic performance by Heath Ledger as who I consider to be the greatest comic villain ever created. Heath is one of the few actors who can adopt completely new mannerisms, new hand gestures, a new walk, new facial ticks, a completely new voice for each character he adopts. This - despite many other fine performances - may have been his masterpiece.
2. Spider-Man 1 (2002)
I love this film, and if it weren't for the awesome advert and the presence of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, I'd be a bit miffed about the soon-ness of "the Amazing Spider-Man" (2012). Tobey Maguire does the difficult task of nerdy to buff convincingly and is a genuinely good actor. Spider-Man is my favourite comic book hero, because of his beautiful and cool suit and his powers, which, though not as flawless as Superman's, are interesting and unique to him. The shots in the film where Spider-Man is swinging through New York city still send chills down my spine.
3. Batman (1989)
Tim Burton has pretty much been my favourite director since I was like 6 and I'm pretty sure he was born to make a Batman film. Their gothic styles match perfectly. Plus Jack Nicholson as the Joker? He doesn't have the Oscar-winning depth of Heath Ledger, but man does he have style! The scene where he enters the museum holding up the boombox is hilarious and cool as!
4. X-Men 2: X-Men United
As I have said, I may well prefer "X-Men: First Class" to this installment, but it is amazing nonetheless. The casting for these films was mostly brilliant, I love Wolverine, I love Storm, I love Xavier, I love Magneto (almost as much as Fassbender Magneto), though I do have an issue with Famke Jansen in whatever she's in. It's tense, funny, sad and beautifully shot. An exciting plot through to the end.
5. Blade
Is anyone cooler than Wesley Snipe as Blade? Stephen Dorff as Deacon Frost comes close. This films seeps cool. The first scene in the vampire club with the blood sprinklers, Blade's massacre of all the vampires, is still one of the best films I've ever seen in any film.
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