“You don’t butt in line! You don’t sell drugs! You don’t molest little children! You don’t profit off the misery of others! The rules were set a long time ago! They don’t change!”

I’ve been interested in seeing James Gunn’s ‘Super’ for a while but have read a lot of mixed reviews.  Some of them have focused on its similar plot elements to the much more successful ‘Kick-Ass’ (Released shortly before ‘Super’).  But this is tonaly quite different, if ‘Kick-Ass’ was an evil twisted grin, then ‘Super’ is a disturbing maniacal laugh.  It follows the crushing humiliations and small triumphs in the life of Diner chef Frank D’Arbo (Rainn Wilson) as he sets out Batman style, to quote his characters catchphrase “Shut Up Crime!”.

The film was made on a miniscule budget with the actors agreeing to appear for the minimum SAG wage.  They must have made one hell of pitch as the cast includes stars like Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Nathan Fillion, Kevin Bacon, Michael Rooker and even Andre Royo from HBO’s ‘The Wire’. Ellen Page’s turn as Frank’s all to eager young side-kick is outstanding. The film is worth watching just for the spoof TV ads featuring Nathan Fillion’s performance as the evangelist superhero ‘The Holy Avenger’.

It’s easy to see why it’s garnered a few bad reviews and much scratching of heads.  It leaps all over the place between dark brooding introspection, sweet character comedy, black humour and ultra-violence.  There’s a memorable scene where Frank is irritated by two people who butt in line at the Cinema.  So you are cheering him on as he zips up his ‘Crimson Bolt’ costume and walks up to confront them, and you are expecting lines like “Thanks Crimson Bolt!” and “Only in a days work citizens”.  But then you are shocked when he actually beats the couple so violently that they need an ambulance if not a hearse, and the Film-goers run away screaming.  This and other scenes had me thinking much less about ‘Kick-Ass’ and much more about Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’.  ‘Super’ has left me shocked, confused and itching to watch it again.

Here’s the trailer:

And here’s a little SXSW comedy nugget:

“My sole purpose here is increase my chicken sales”

I couldn’t resist picking up DVDs of Michel Hazanavicius’ last two films, the hit French OSS 117 comedies.  The first is 2006′s ‘OSS 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies’ featuring Jean Dujardin as incompetent yet charming Spy OSS 117.  The movie pokes fun at the spy Genre and satires patronising and ill-informed colonialist views of both the past and unfortunately the present too.

It doesn’t have the emotional power of ‘The Artist’ (It’s a straight comedy) but it has just as many spot on jokes.  The best moments had me howling with laughter, in particular a clever one involving a clichéd camera move and a vase of roses.  The movie is also full of running gags involving squawking chickens and mysterious Veal stews.  But the best running gag is that we the audience can work out the plot in the first 5 minutes but OSS 117 is clueless at every turn.  Like ‘The Artist’, ‘Nest Of Spies’ also co-stars the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Bérénice Bejo playing the straight-woman/love-interest foil to Jean Dujardin’s inept secret-agent.  The disaproving and bewildered looks she gives OSS 117 every time he says something idiotic, are some of the funniest bits.  I’m hoping the sequel ‘OSS 117: Lost In Rio’ is just as good.

“That is no arrow… we just imagine the arrows because we fear them”

1972′s ‘Aguirre, The Wrath Of God’ is the fictionalised story of the Spanish Conquistador expedition deep into the Amazon to find the legendary city of El Dorado.  Klaus Kinski plays the title role Aguirre who instigates a mutiny and is ultimately driven insane by the oppressive darkness of the Jungle.

I was expecting great things from ‘Aguirre, The Wrath Of God’ for a number of reasons.  Namely, I’ve recently watched a fascinating documentary chronicling its turbulent production, people often cite it as one of the greatest films ever, it’s the primary influence on one of my favourite films ‘Apocalypse Now’ and I’ve loved everything else by the director Werner Herzog.  So I was surprised to find the film slow-paced, unengaging and actually aching boring.  Klaus Kinski’s deranged performance is electric but it felt like he was only in it for about 15 mins and he’s the title character!  Most of the running time consisted of obviously first-time actors sitting in silence looking bored.  Portraying a descent in to madness is hampered by the fact that Kinski looks insane from the outset (The same problem that Jack Nicholson has in ‘The Shining’).  I am reserving some judgement as the DVD I watched was an appallingly bad transfer bringing back memories of VHS quality!  When the film is given a proper Blu-Ray based restoration I will definitely give it another go.

“In the past, all a King had to do was look respectable in uniform and not fall off his horse… now we must invade people’s homes and ingratiate ourselves with them… this family is reduced to those lowest, basest of all creatures, we’ve become actors!”

In a contrary way I’ve probably avoided watching ‘The King’s Speech’ until now just because it’s had so, so many awards and so much effusive praise heaped on it, when I thought it looked a little bit over rated from the trailer.  After viewing it I find that my suspicions were bang on.  It’s a film heaving with many flaws yet is a pleasant enough watch and not at all a waste of 2 hrs.

First to the flaws; The usually reliable Timothy Spall is awful as Churchill when there are so many stocky British thesps that could have taken the part (Albert Finney anyone?).  Also Churchill seems awkwardly shoehorned into a number of scenes about the pre-WWII plot even though he isn’t actually Prime Minister at the time the film takes place. Colin Firth looks far older than George VI was at the time, indeed at 50 he is between 10 and 20 years too old depending on the point in the plot.  The cinematography is dreadful featuring garish Digital colour correction (A particular irritant of mine) rendering some shots in cartoonish colours.  The film “Climaxes” with a similarly colour drenched CGI crowd shot from the Royal balcony which betrays its limited budget.  There is a massive plot hole caused by an early scene where the prince instantly pre-records a perfect speech, which leads to questions of why he spends the rest of the film stuttering through a series of needlessly stressful live broadcasts. But, the chief problem I found was that I’d already seen the movie before in 1994 and it was called ‘The Madness of King George’.  The plot is essentially identical, Royal has problems that none of the regular quacks can cure then in walks impudent new physician with quirky ideas who proceeds to cure said Royal and in doing so metaphorically heals the nation.  That Alan Bennett written movie cast a large shadow over almost every moment of ‘The King’s Speech’.

Now to the films good parts; Firth while too old gives one of his finest ever performances as a proud Prince crushed by duty, responsibility and fear.  Guy Pierce’s portrayal of the foppish Edward VIII is so spot on that in some shots it’s almost spooky.  Michael Gambon’s brief cameo as George V is magnificent, Derek Jacobi is excellent (If underused) and Geoffrey Rush is of course brilliant as the Prince’s quirky voice coach.  In the end despite the infuriating mix of faults and virtues it’s a rollicking good watch but hardly worth 7 Baftas.

“I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics”

Up to this point I’ve seen a few of Woody Allen’s zany early pictures and some of his interesting later films but ironically I’ve only seen a few of his most celebrated mid-career works. So I sat down to watch what must be one of his most famous pictures, 1979′s ‘Manhattan’.  The first thing that strikes you is the stunning Black & White cinematography, all the way through its backlit to moody perfection.  The dialogue retains the punchy Groucho-esque one liners from his earliest films but also the script is more focused, rich and thoughtful. The film follows the mixed up love lives of a group of New-Yorkers amidst the hustle and bustle of Manhattan set to evocative George Gershwin music.  The final romantic revelation sneaks up and socks you in the face and then like Allen’s character, you realise it was obvious all along.  At the end, I was left thinking back on all the scenes and what they meant.  A gorgeous and charming film.

“I just want to thank The Artist for not being adapted from a book!”

The 2012 BAFTAs got it nearly right this year with seven awards going to my (And surely any other sane persons) favourite film, Michel Hazanavicius’ ‘The Artist’. It won for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Original Music, Cinematography, Costume Design and Original Screenplay.  Ludovic Bource’s Music was sublime, Guillaume Schiffman’s Cinematography was gorgeous and it was the overall greatest film of the year.

However, while Jean Dujardin’s charming lead performance was nothing short of stunning, he wouldn’t have been my choice.  Gary Oldman’s portrayal of quiet spy George Smiley in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ was on a whole other plain of subtle minimalist acting.  Also Tomas Alfredson’s direction of that same film was similarly masterful and he should have walked away with Best Director. But I’m glad that a film as bold, beautiful and brave as ‘The Artist’ has been recognised by critics, industry and public alike.

I think the Academy made one grievous error by giving the Best Documentary to ‘Senna’.  It was good film but the past year was overspilling with great documentaries, most of which weren’t even nominated.  My pick would’ve been ‘Project Nim’ but ‘TT3D: Closer to the Edge’, ‘Tabloid’ and ‘Bobby Fischer Against The World’ are just a few other delights

Lastly, of course the Best Actress award went to Meryl Streep for ‘The Iron Lady’ (Any other result would’ve been ludicrous!). Now lets see if the Oscars in two weeks time can score a such a terrific ratio of hits to misses.

The ceremony is available to watch on BBC iPlayer for the next week by clicking here.

“Should we remain in Algeria? If you answer yes, then you must accept all the necessary consequences”

Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 film ‘The Battle Of Algiers’ still has a visceral immediacy nearly 50 years later, in part due to it being filmed and released less than 4 years after Algeria gained independence from French colonialists in 1962.  Pontecorvo shot the film based on Resistance leader Saadi Yacef’s memoirs and then actually cast Yacef himself in the film.  ‘The Battle Of Algiers’ is directed and edited in a compelling documentary style leading some distributors at the time to boast “Not one foot of newsreel or documentary film has been used”.  As you watch shocking footage of buildings being bombed, large crowds rioting and tanks rolling down confined streets, you do need to hold on to that thought.

The film chronicles the decent of both sides into nothing more than murder.  But the most shocking scenes concern the slide towards what are sometimes called “Enhanced interrogation techniques”.  The closeup of the broken, tear-stricken face of the unnamed torture victim in the opening scene is one of the most powerful images I’ve ever seen.  The parallels with the recent violent occupation of Iraq are depressingly obvious.  I was also entranced by the incessant heartbeat like drumming and chilling beauty of the musical score.  It was only after the credits rolled that I saw it was by Ennio Morricone, whose music always has a profound effect on me.

Watching this admittedly marvelous looking print on DVD is yet another reason why I’m thinking of getting a region-free Blu-Ray player so I can start importing Criterion Blu-Rays.  I’m sure this would look even better in HD.

“You don’t understand anything, man… leave your stupid comments in your pocket”

Yesterday I finally got to see Tommy Wiseau’s infamous 2003 film ‘The Room’ at the Prince Charles Cinema as part of their The Room Week.  Unfortunately I was a few minutes late to see Tommy himself doing a live Q&A (Although On the way out after, one punter was saying “What kind of Q&A was that?!?! he didn’t even say anything!!”).  The room has been promoted with the line “If The Room is the Citizen Kane of bad movies, that makes Tommy Wiseau the Orson Welles of crap”.  This wonderfully describes how eye-gougingly awful the film is and also the admiration one feels that one man could create a movie that stands head and shoulders below everything else mankind has yet created (Of course I haven’t seen Madonna’s new film ‘W.E.’ yet!).

Tommy Wiseau directed, wrote and starred in the film despite the now obvious fact that he can’t direct, can’t write and his acting is isn’t just bad it’s like his face is trying to channel some hitherto unknown emotions he’s learned from some visiting aliens.  What also impacts on his lead performance is that his face and body is that of a disfigured 1930s Universal Studios monster.  In fact the multiple shots of Tommy’s cadaverous naked buttocks pulsating in front of the camera during the many ill-judged sex scenes are still giving me Vietnam style flashbacks (To quote the Colonel… “The horror, the horror”).  At one point the lead actresses very neck muscles are comically popping out and misbehaving, perhaps in an attempt to get away from this film.

Clearly I’m way behind some of the people who have already been indoctrinated into the cult.  Some audience members knew all the lines and shouted them out, held lighters in the air during a love scene, threw spoons into the air (When a picture of a spoon was shown!) and were even having loud imagined conversations with the characters on the screen.  It was one of those boisterous and hilarious screenings that the PCC is uniquely famous for.  Go see The Room at least once but I guarantee you’ll want to see it again!

Here are the best bits:

“Are you one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?… Yes… yes, I am”

The fact that the new eponymously titled ‘The Muppets’ film came out nearly 3 months ago to rave reviews and blockbuster takings in the USA has left me eagerly waiting for it’s UK release.

In preporation I decided to view (For the first time) their last big screen outing 1999′s ‘Muppets In Space’. Following on from the double-wammy succeses of ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Treasure Island’ the film unexpectedly bombed.  Such is Hollywood financial thinking that despite The Muppets franchise previously raking in hundreds of millions of Dollars it’s been a full 12 years until they’ve been given this new outing. ‘Muppets In Space’ isn’t bad, it’s just not as funny as it should be, plus where are the songs?  Now onto what I thought of the new film…

You will have the same “WTF is this film?!?!” reaction as I did when you view the first few minutes of ‘The Muppets’.  This is intentional but then you will slowly realise that this isn’t a sacharine sweet Disney Rom-Com but a zanny satire of that dire Genre.  In fact watch the spoof trailer (Below) that was used early on to market the film as ‘Green With Envy’:

This isn’t a film aimed at kids, it’s for grownups like me who have fond memories of The Muppets, hence the nostalgic 80s refrencing gags.  The main characters trip along in this “Gee, aww shucks” rainbow dream world which the filmmakers undercut with Police sirens and gunshots in the background.  A world where they burst into melodramatic song and dance numbers but then fall about exhausted afterwards.  The plot is essentially the “Get the old gang back together for one last show” thing from The Blues Brothers.  They drive all over the USA to reunite the team and even drive?!?!? to Paris (A great little satirical gag) to get Miss Piggy who has hilariously forged a new career as Plus-Sized Fashion Editor for Vogue Magazine.  Finally this is the kind of qulaity film that furry felted ones desereve.

“Let’s show him what he’s been missing… No, he’s seen me recently, he knows. But his wife hasn’t seen me in a while”

‘Young Adult’ a deliciously acidic, ashen black comedy from ‘Juno’ writer Diablo Cody. Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a ghost-writer of books for teenagers who decides to return to the small town she grew up in to win back her highschool sweetheart. You may be thinking you’ve seen that movie before (Possibly starring Jennifer Anniston and/or Mathew McConaughey) but the dark twist is that Mavis is a few pages short of a novel (Literary and mentally!) and her highschool sweetheart is actually happily married with a new baby.

The success of the whole movie rests on Theron’s complex central performance but she has great support from Patton Oswalt as Mavis’ unlikely new friend Matt.  Theron manages to make Mavis scary but sadly fragile, full of hidden dark depths when she is outwardly shallow, likeable when she should be unlikable.  It’s a film that had me roaring with laughter with the awful things Mavis says and does, but the end left me with an aftertaste of melancholy.  Powerfully affecting, thoughtful films aren’t usually this much wicked fun!