Ted (2012): review: 7/10

Suburban Massachussetts: a young man finds a lover: his teddy bear companion is jealous.

Enjoyable, energetic comic piece about male friendship featuring gross-out humour, slapstick, sentimentality, farce.

Rob Roy (1995): review: 7/10

Rob Roy lives in a little house with his wifie Mary and three children, much like any regular suburban couple. His hair is unkempt and somewhat greasy and he is very down to earth and a super with a claymore. Though he's a fighter he's a sensitive guy too and loves his children and has a new-man style relationship with Mary, the red-headed wifie.

He also has capitalistic leanings and so he borrows some money from a local lord to make a cattle deal, but sadly this money is stolen by a vicious, camp wig-wearer (who, despite his sword-fighting abilities turns out to be a really bad egg,: if not bisexual, certainly effeminate with highly dubious taste for wigs and lilac, a rapist, and a liar and and Englishman), who is quite nasty like all the nobs except for the guy from whom he borrowed the money for the cows who is merely supid.

Anyway, after this robbery, and appalled by the general skulduggery around him, Rob turns into a rebel. The film ends with an excellent swordfight.

A poker-faced swashbuckler, the film takes itself rather seriously. The camp fellow does not quite provide light relief tha a good villian should , being wicked in ways which are too vile for amusement and though well made, one does wonder who the film really is for.

Con Air (1997): review: 7/10

Convicts take over a plane which is taking them to some other prison: they behave badly except ex-soldier Cage, who probably shouldn't have been imprisoned in the first place, and a friend of his, who has health issues.

He has a pretty wife whom he has seen and a small daughter whom he i hasn't: he is sentimental about both. Although Cage is terribly dour, he is decent. He also is capabale of extraordinary feats of courage, usually involving hitting other people: in short, he is a fine American. The others on the plane are also often given to acts of violence but seem more or less totally without any consciences whatsoever. Malkovich takes charge in his usual camp-psychopath style.

On the ground, various incompetants struggle first to locate, then to recapture the aircraft: smoothy-boy Cusak manages this eventually after a considerable number of explosions, and much shouting.

All this passes the time enjoyably enough.

Say Anything...(1989): review: 7/10

In the final days of high school in the 80s, a nicey nicey super intelligent girl (who alas is something of a wet sock and who has an excessively close relationship with her widowed father) meets a smooth uninteresting kickboxer with limited intellectual capacity: after many exhausting conversations they fornicate in a motor car.

If the characters are dull, the film is not: Cusak has a certain charm, and portrays the nervousness of early adulthood in an intelligent, understated way.

True Grit (2010): review: 7/10

*

A headstrong girl, having recently lost her father to a thief, hires a marshal to bring him to justice. A second marshal joins them, forming a party spanning three generations They proceed into Indian country to pursue the villain.

Overlong, but with some interesting intergenerational conflicts. As so often, Jeff Bridges overplays his hand.

The Coen's seem to have an ability to make films which mesmerise, usually because of their beauty, but which fade from memory very soon after being watched. 

True Grit contains  considerable violence and cruelty: hangings, shootings, stabbings, a man has a finger cut off. These have a revoting sadistic quality.

City Island (2009): review 7/10

A prison guard brings a convict home to live with his family- an ill-mannered, if amusing collection of Italian New Yorkers which includes his sharp tongued wife, his insolent son (who has a fixation with fat women), and  pole-dancing daughter.

This is a very enjoyable, classic screwball comedy, with much fun arising from the characters' various secrets.

The film begins very promisingly, alternatingly surprisingly between black comedy and pathos, and is very well acted, but it loses its sharpness somehow along the way as the plot works towards its conclusions

There are very poor table manners in this film, with much gesticulating with forks and even food being thrown across a dining table.

Departures (2008): review: 7/10

A 'cellist's orchestra is dissolved: he goes with his girlfriend to live in the house of his deceased mother: he finds work as an assistant to a funeral director.

Apart from making him quite nauseus this seems to cause his superficial girlfriend considerable distress.

This is rather long, but well made, lending interesting insights into Japanese culture.

The King's Speech (2010): review: 7/10

The Duke of York, brother to the heir to the British throne, has a debilitating stammer: his wife, Elizabeth, finds an speech therapist, a lively and perceptive Australian, to help.

The film charts their friendship through the challenges faced by the Duke most notably when, due to the abdication crisis, he unexpectedly becomes King, and when addressing the nation at the onset of the Second World War.

The film has been extravagantly praised. But, as with The Queen (2006), a large part of my time watching this film was passed in embarassment.

In part whis is a specifically British embarassment of seeing a royal figure depicted intimately.

Before, I had seen George VI to be a dignified figure, assured and calm, having seen him elegantly and formally depicted on coins (British coinage is notable for it's excellent portraiture) and oil paintings. Now, I see human failure, an unhappy, sometimes mean-spirited figure, with limited depth or charm, capable of duty, not much more; bossed about by his shrill wife (played almost satirically by Bonham-Carter). His elder brother is worse, of course-  cruel, selfish and silly.

If we are stripped of our illusions are we reft from our ideals, or do we learn compassion? Do you want to feel compassion for kings?

The film is episodical shot, lacking a certain fluency. The scenes of London are interesting, with nicely decorated art deco sets, and there are enjoyable contrasts between the family life of the Australian therapist and that of the Royals.

But the film is less interesting than it might be. It begins to ask questions about the value of duty, of respect for convention and tradition, and how an indvidual should relate to these, but fails to explore them with thoroughness. This is mainly because the hero is lacking in the depth and intelligence required to be a vehicle for such explorations (as the summary description of the British royal family would imply: "German and not too bright").

I Love You, Man (2009): review: 7/10

Recently engaged in LA, our hero lacks a best friend to be his best man: he meets several contenders and forges an unlikely but strong bond with Sydney Fife.

The film is a celebration of male friendship, male companionship, of drinking, Rush and hanging out. These elements of the film, driven by strong acting, are its best parts.

However, it starts badly, trying too hard to be funny with the "gross out" comedy that has become such a staple of Hollywood films. Then it settles into making some cringworthy points about the insincerities demanded of masculine friendship code. Fifteeen minutes later the script calms down a bit, but desperate comedic effort continue to belabour the film.

It is as if the film-makers are ashamed of being sincere- ironically, given that much of the film is about sincerity in the first place, so a film that could happily rival Sideways*, fails to.

Nonetheless, it is hard not to enjoy it.

*There is indeed a similar big man - small man friendship

Wuthering Heights (1939): review: 7/10

In Yorkshire, a foundling is adopted by a family which has a son and a daughter: the first seeks to oppress him, with the second commences a passionate love.

Solidly made, with some excellent photography, and acting, the film is too bound by British politeness to touch the elements of madness than animate Bronte's book.

Frailty (2001): review: 7/10

In Texas, a single parent father brings up two boys in Texas where he recieves messages from God demanding that he massacre some people. He co-opts the assistance of his sons: the elder is reluctant.

Lively and well made with good work from all the actors, but perhaps lacking a certain x-factor of humour.

The Chronicles of Narnia (2010): The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: review: 7/10

Susan has discovered her sex appeal in the USA and is therefore not invited to Narnia (sex not being Mr Lewis's cup of tea): instead brattish Eustace, a cousin with whom the children are staying, is taken on with Prince Caspian's Voyage.

The effects are supurb, and the children not too obnoxious but the narrative is somewhat episodic: this a fault traslated from the original text.

It is also difficult for the film-makers to figure out quite how moralising to make the films: again, this issues from the books themselves. Aslan, with blow-dry mane, makes his occasional appearances to instruct and reassure, quite why and when is never really explained.

Whatever Works (2009): review: 7/10

In New York, an opinionated misanthrope meets and helps a simple young woman from the south.

The piece has the construction of a sitcom, with plain sets and uninteresting photography.

The script is often extremely funny, making a virtue of the -somewhat obvious- set-piece character contrasts that lend it momentum.

Adventureland (2009): review- 7/10

A young man plans to spend his summer travelling in Europe before going to graduate school but, because of his father's demotion works in an Adventure Fairground to save money.

There, he meets two amorous girls and a married philanderer, among others.

This is a elegant coming of age film with fine acting and wit but few real surprises.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987): 7/10

A businessman tries to get from New York to Chicago for Thanksgiving, but suffers many setbacks. Along the way, he meets a salesman.

A good-natured film folding round the contrast between two personality types- the anxious and striving A-type, and the laid back b-type- with strong central performances and an honest take on modern travel.

The Searchers (1956): review- 7/10

Settlers, led by John Wayne, seek to rescue two girls from the dreaded Comanche.

The film focusses largely, and uncomfortably, on racial attitudes towards American Indians, largely through the relationship between Wayne, who has little charm, and his nephew, who is part Comanche.

Indeed, there is an unappealing smugness throughout- this especially apparant in the domestic scenes.

However, the film is well paced and shot.

The Limey (1999): review- 7/10

7/10

Charismatic cockney thug Terence Stamp seeks revenge for daughter's death in LA.

Enjoyable, shallow, violent and efficiently made.

In Bruges (2008): review- 7/10

Two Irish contract killers are sent to Bruges, where they stay in a hotel, awaiting further instructions from their chief

The film begins as a comic double act- later more characters become involved: a love interest, a dwarf and other hoodlums.

It is often very funny: there are appropriately weird "Belgian" elements and is often beautifully shot.

However, the film suffers from an awkwardness of tempo, suffering from occasional languors.

Lord of the Flies (1963): review- 7/10

Children stranded on an island following an air crash fall two "tribes"; the first led by Ralph is thoughtful and democratic; the second is lead by a tyrant, Jack, and is violent and irrational, given to bloodlust and wild celebration.

The film is good but not suburb, because the child actors who are too limited in their emotional range.

Moreover, the film is insufficiently visceral: we really do need to see more graphic images of destruction and violence for the film to work: adept cutting is simply not enough.

However, the film does succeed in maintaining a tension throughout and is admirably economical in method.

Frankie and Johnny (1991): review- 7/10

Johnny is an ex-con with a zeal for self-improvement. While working as a chef in an NY short order restaurant he falls for a waitress with a sour demeanor, Frankie; he pesters her into dating him.

Generally enjoyable.