"State Of Play" is a new feature in cinemas adapted from the BBC mini-series from earlier this decade. I don't think you need to feel like you have to see the television show for you to enjoy this one, as this comes with a lot of entry points in which to find yourself thrilled and curious as to what is unravelling here. Perhaps the films' leading strength is a top class performance from leading man Russell Crowe as a weathered old-school crime reporter at a Washington DC newspaper. Crowe really plays the part well, as does the rest of the cast which includes Ben Affleck as the Congressman involved in the scandal that Crowe's reporter is investigating, and Rachel McAdams - an on-line journalist, Robin Wright Penn - Affleck's wife, and Helen Mirren - the newspaper editor, round out what is a classy cast. I felt that it is with much thanks to this cast as well as director Kevin McDonald, who made "Last King of Scotland" and "Touching The Void", that this film is as slick and tantalising as it is, as the labrinthine and coincidence laden plot is not altogether satisfactory.
But is very good and I give it 4 out of 5.
"What Just Happened?" stars Robert De Niro as a busy Hollywood producer who is juggling a film starring Sean Penn that the studio won't accept, Bruce Willis with a beard that he won't shave off, two ex-wives - namely Robin Wright Penn again, and then there's his agent, a crazy director, and whoever else can complicate his life. Barry Levinson directs and this is pretty good entertainment without setting the world on fire.
3 and a half out of 5.
Its time to update what's on show around town, and I'll begin with "Star Trek". This is apparently the eleventh Star Trek film made, but J J Abrams film is more of a reboot or reimagining of the space saga that just won't go away. The film does look spectacular and the new young sexy cast bring the quality that audiences are after as this film is doing well as I write. I can confidently say that this film is a crowd pleaser, although this viewer did not love it a lot. There is fun to be had with Star Trek, but it just didn't cut to the bone with me like some films can.
It gets 3 out of 5.
Australian film "Samson and Delilah", which has been showing at Cannes, on the other hand is one to really recommend. It doesn't compare to the likes of Star Trek as it comes with totally different values and that doesn't just mean production wise. Writer-director-cinematograph er Warwick Thornton is making his feature debut here and he has hit out a winner. It's a sad picture he paints here, of two Aboriginal youths (played by first timers) in Central Australia just getting by when circumstance brings them together which might be their saviour. The film is frighteningly realistic, the antidote really to Baz Lurhman's "Australia", where real questions are asked but no easy answers revealed.
This film is the right stuff and I'm giving it 4 out of 5.
Until next time.
Welcome back to "Saturday..." folks and the blockbuster season is upon us, which means that that there's the usual slew of the good and the bad.
Today I saw "Defiance", another true WWII set story, but this starring James Bond himself Daniel Craig as one third of the Polish Bielski brothers, the others played by Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell, who hide out in the Belarussian forest where they become leaders of a resistance and a cold and chilly fight to survive. With a series of films set amongst or against the backdrop of World War 2, this one does the job most effectively for me. Director and co-writer Edward Zwick is a consummate with this sort of material and it feels like a pretty well-rounded affair.
It can have 3 and a half out of 5.
Also seen was "Wolverine". No doubt people will be seeing this in their droves, but I saw it somewhat reluctantly. South African director Gavin Hood made the respectable "Tsotsi" and then "Rendition", but this spin off of the popular "X-Men" films is an undemanding watch, however, not really a satisfactory one. I'd say certain forces here have insisted upon a formula and while I hoped more story could have played out with this character, I will concede that it did entertain.
Just 2 and a half.
The German film "The Baader Meinhof Complex" is definately on the demanding side, and I'd say all the better for it. Keeping up with this one tested this viewer and its racy subject matter, the plight of a gang of left-wing terrorists in West Germany beginning in the late sixties, is very good stuff.
However I'm just going to give it 3 out of 5.
Enjoyed all the way was "The Boat That Rocked". Writer-Director Richard Curtis who last did "Love Actually" is en song with this top notch entertaining romp set upon a pirate radio boat in the Atlantic. Performances, soundtrack, script and all else pretty much rock and it can damn well get 4 out of 5.
Ciao for now.
Showing in cinemas in Oz at present his Oliver Stone's third film about a US president, following "JFK" and "Nixon". W. essays the life and times of the mighty George W. Bush, US president 2000-2008. As played by Josh Brolin, and surrounded by a name cast as the figures in his life, W. charts the rise of the delinquent and arrogant young son of Texas aristocracy to the pressure and expectation to be fulfilled as the most powerful man in the world. The film shifts from the board rooms and grounds of the President's meetings with his staff to back in time to when Bush was the errant son who worked his way to power.
The thing with this film is it feels like a lot of details are missing, and it could easily been two films. However, what we have is a very entertaining and interesting flick which is nicely done. I'd definitely recommend this to most people, conservative and liberal alike. Brolin is really fine as Bush, and I think that it gets away with giving us a story which is the sort of thing we all like to chew on.
3 and a half out of 5.
William Arnott
Comments (2)
Add Comments
Read More
