... about programming, growing up in the 1970's and 80's, games, science fiction, working in a charity book shop, films, spending too much time watching television, living in Basildon and Essex, and whatever else emerges from my fevered imagination. If you're reading this, it's your fault you clicked on the link: I am not responsible for your actions.
(Sorry, but it was too good to resist). Two films about three directors from my Amazon subscription.
First up, Hitchcock/Truffaut. In 1962, the French new wave film director, François Truffaut, went to Hollywood to interview Alfred Hitchcock, who had just finished filming The Birds.
What appears at first to be a complete mismatch turns out to be something of an homage as Hitchcock films and techniques had been feted for some time by Truffaut and his collegues. The film details their initial conversation, and subsequent friendship until Hitchcock's death in 1980. Truffaut produced a book based on the interview and his analysis of the films and this influenced many later directors, including Wes Anderson and Martin Scorsese. The film, however, doesn't reveal much other than some basic details, understandable given the subject matter and that the opinions of other directors had to be included to give it a broader appeal. It's an interesting piece of cinema history, nontheless, and the book might be worth a read.
Next a film about a director driven to make movies despite a clear handicap (No, not the cross-dressing: the lack of talent). Ed Wood Jr. (Johnny Depp) inspired by Orson Welles to realise his own vision of the movie business, whatever it takes, struggles to find backers and encounters failed horror actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau)
Made with genuine warmth and sympathy about the subject matter, Tim Burton makes a classic Hollywood-on-Hollywood movie and in such a way that makes the weird and strange look normal, which may well be Hollywood. It compares well with Bowfinger, which has a similar subject matter.
It's been a while since I wrote about the films I've been watching, so here goes. First up, a comment on modern news media.
Nightcrawler
Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a petty thief and hustler in Los Angeles, encounters a freelance news crew at the scene of an accident.
An update of Network with a central character that makes Tony Curtis's Sidney Falco look compassionate and altruistic, Gyllenhaal gives a strange and chilling performance as the amoral anti-hero Bloom. The plot and direction are excellent, and he's ably supported by Rene Russo, as the news director who encourages him, and Riz Ahmed, as his gullible assistant. Both the movie and Gyllenhaal's performance are Oscar material, in my view, and the film is highly recommended.
The Equaliser
Next, a remake of the 80's TV series with Denzel Washington. Working in a hardware super-store, Robert McCall (Washington) lives a quiet, unassuming life until he tries to help a young prostitute.
Although it nods to the original TV series, this film is really a copy of an earlier Denzel movie, Man on Fire. Washington adds class to what would otherwise be another addition to the vigilante genre (Taken, Three Days, etc.), and there's been a bit more thought put into the plot and characters than normal, Marton Csokas as his Russian nemesis is particularly sinister. It is just a pizza movie at heart, however, just not a bad one.
Transcendence
This is Johnny Depp's attempt to make a serious science fiction movie. After being assassinated by an anti-technology terrorist group, Dr. Will Caster (Depp), an A.I. expert, has his consciousness uploaded into a computer.
Although the special effects are good, the film is let down by the plot, which lacks pace and energy at critical points. This is probably because it's trying to deal with philosophical issues (human identity and the singularity) in a medium that doesn't easily support their discussion. The acting is okay, if a bit pedestrian, which reflects the dull dialogue, and there's a few A-Listers to fill in, but overall I felt that it was just a little too slow.
A Walk Among The Tombstones
The latest vehicle for Liam Neeson, he plays a retired policeman hired by a drug dealer to investigate the disappearance his girlfriend.
From a novel by Lawrence Block, Neeson does well as the recovering alcoholic Matt Scudder (the start of a possible series). The plot is well conceived and translates well onto the screen, although Scudder's teenage sidekick T.J. (Brian Bradley) could have done with being older. After seeing Neeson in worse films, it was nice to see him in something decent. This was also the second film with David Harbour in a supporting role (he played a crooked cop in The Equalizer)
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Yup, Tom Clancy's hero gets a reboot. After recovering from his injuries in Afghanistan, former marine Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) becomes a financial analyst working secretly for the C.I.A. when he comes across a plot by Russian intelligence to collapse the American economy.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also plays Ryan's nemesis, the plot is reasonably good, if a bit cartoon, and the acting more than adequate, given that Pine is supported by Kevin Costner (much better cast than in the previous movie), as his boss, and Keira Knightley as his wife. Not a bad pizza movie, if a bit predictable.
The Naked City
A classic not-quite-noire from the 1940's, New York police detectives Lt. Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) and James Halloran (Don Taylor) investigate the murder of a good-time girl.
The acting is a bit wooden and there's not a bad cop in sight, but the real gem is seeing New York, New York in the 1940's (some of the sound is bad because they were filming in people's apartments and houses). The director, Jules Dassin, was one of the more adventurous in America, but was eventually blacklisted for his communist sympathies and moved to Europe. There are a thousand stories in the Naked City, and this was one of them.
Through my LoveFilm subscription, after his brother is killed in an ambush, and left for dead, John Reid (Armie Hammer) seeks revenge with the help of Tonto (Johnny Depp), a Commanche outcast.
A superior pizza movie, Depp is a likeable and sympathetic Tonto, unrecognisable in old age, and is well supported, especially by William Fitchner giving it both barrels as the despicable Butch Cavendish, but also by Hammer, as the rube transformed into a western hero, Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter. The film isn't too overwheled by the special effects and the plot zips along, so why it wasn't a box-office success I don't know. Maybe it was a Depp too far for some people. As the reporter at the end of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" says, "This is the West, sir: when the legend becomes fact, print the legend!".
I got this from the shop last week. Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returns to London to seek murderous revenge on the men, and the city, who betrayed him.
Who knew making pies could be such a cut-throat business?
It's an incredibly bloodthirsty film, but a very suitable subject for both Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton, who pull out all the stops. The supporting cast are excellent, although Alan Rickman doesn't get to be villainous enough. I don't usually like musicals, and it's difficult to warm to this one given the subject, but I can respect the art when it's done this well. It's amazing how well everyone sings.
Oh, a little detail. Tower Bridge was finished in 1894, about fifty years after the original story came out and twenty years after Charles Dickens died, so if you see Oliver Twist or David Copperfield with Tower Bridge in the background, as here, it's a continuity error.
