Trumbo

It's not often that Hollywood explores the darker side of it's past. There's films like The Player and Bowfinger, but they're comedies satirising, rather than narrating. This is a biopic of Dalton Trumbo, played by Bryan Cranston, a screen writer who was blacklisted in the late forties for being a communist, but who continued to work under pseudonoms for B-Movie studios, eventually earning two Oscars for Roman Holiday and The Brave One. He finally recieved credit for Spartacus, breaking the blacklist and allowing him to work again under his own name.

A brilliant film, well acted by Cranston and an excellent supporting cast including Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper, the gossip columnist and anti-communist, and Diane Lane as his wife Cleo. Recommended.

A Man Who Wants Nothing Cannot be Bought - Hercules and Godzilla

A few more films from my Amazon subscription, both based on legends old and new.

The first is based on one of the oldest Greek legends. After completing his twelve labours, a war-weary and haunted Hercules (Dwayne Johnson) and his companions Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), Atalanta (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and his nephew Iolaus (Reece Ritchie), are hired by King Cotys of Thrace (John Hurt) to defend his kingdom from ruthless bandits.

Despite a slightly shaky start, this turns out to be quite a good film. It's a good story and deceptive enough to keep you second guessing almost until the end; the special effects aren't too bad; and the acting is more than adequate, the effect of all the class British thesps in supporting roles encouraging Dwayne to raise his game above previous attempts. Recommended as an above average pizza movie.

In contrast we have as my second film, Godzilla: a remake of a remake of a modern Japanese legend. Fifteen years after his wife dies in a mysterious accident at a Japanese nuclear power plant, engineer Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) breaks into the quarantined area with his estranged son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) to get answers.

I suppose that if you like the original Japanese movies, this will be quite a good experience, even nostalgic. For me, however, it was a little tedious. Most of the "A" listers had gone by the time the movie got going and all that was left was three huge monsters slugging it out in San Fransisco. In the dark.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Back to the movies, this is an adaption of the bestseller by Michael Connelly starring current hot property Matthew McConaughey. Defence Lawyer Mickey Haller (McConaughey), used to dealing with orinary criminals, is suddenly hired to defend Beverly Hills playboy and heir Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe).

A very good plot and good script, combined with McConaughey's southern style makes this a superior film and an excellent Friday night pizza movie. McConaughey is excellent, as is the supporting cast, although they are somewhat underused, especially William H. Macy and Bryan Cranston, although it's good to see John Leguizamo and Michael Peña in something, as well as Marisa Tomei as Haller's ex-wife. Recommended.

Total Recall

This is the remake of the 1990 Arnie film through my LoveFilm subscription. In a world devastated by chemical warfare, Doug Quaid finds his life torn apart when he goes to Rekall to have new memories implanted.

Despite the fantastic special effects (lots of car chases through the sky and an amazing shootout in a labyrinthine lift shaft), and the hints at Bladerunner, I don't think it compares too well to the original movie. Mainly this is because the supporting actors in the original were so strong: Beckinsdale is no Sharon Stone, and the Michael Ironside character isn't there to chew the scenery. Bryan Cranston is good as the villain, but Bill Nighy looks as if he's just got out of bed (and why does he have an American accent if it's supposed to be Britain?). There doesn't seem to be any real energy in the film, which is a shame.