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Reviews
Fury (2014)
Another fine mess
A frustrating film. Much of it is one of the most realistic depictions of war I've seen - up there with "Cross of iron" and "Come and see". Heads and limbs are blown off, rotting corpses are flattened in mud, and the chaos and brutality of the last days of Nazi Germany are also unflinchingly portrayed. Civilians hanging from trees and lampposts; snipers revealed as terrified schoolchildren in uniform; a grizzly tableau of bodies slumped round a table - Nazis unable to face defeat. There's also a graphic display of tank/infantry tactics which leaves nothing to the imagination.
The last third of the film sadly descends into cliché as the tank platoon makes a suicidal last stand against a 300 strong SS regiment. An odd decision by Brad Pitt as he's spent most of the film vowing to keep his platoon alive now that the war is almost over. Even odder is the platoon's decision to stay with him. A more appropriate response would be something along the lines of 'This is a fine mess you've gotten me into....' As you'd expect almost everyone perishes in a blaze of pyrotechnics, expertly staged but in terms of raw realism a damp squib compared with what's gone before.
Blind Spot (1958)
Weak leads
Enjoyable enough British B film, which would have been even more enjoyable if the two leads weren't so colourless. (The female lead - Anne Sharp - was married to one of the producers, so that explains her presence.) A convoluted plot with some interesting location shooting - a West London petrol station and air freight depot, for example. A number of recognisable character actors also brighten up proceedings - Ronan O'Casey (known to me as David Kossof's Canadian son-in-law in "The Larkins" but here playing a convincing heavy); Andrew Faulds in his pre- RSC and Labour MP days making heavy weather as a police inspector; Gordon Jackson reduced to B films playing "Chalky" White (sic) and - in a nod to "The Big Sleep" - being forced through a door by the hero to meet a fate intended for said hero (run down by a car rather than gunned down by a hail of bullets); and biggest name of all, Michael Caine - revealed as the chief villain in the last few minutes before meeting a fiery doom in a car crash. Of interest to "Dad's Army" fans, the film also features John Le Mesurier and Arthur Lowe (though not together), the latter in an unusually proletarian role (garage mechanic) quite unlike Captain Mainwaring.
The Equalizer (2014)
Silent but deadly
Some films are a triumph of style over content. This isn't exactly a triumph but Antoine Fuqua directs with a panache that the ludicrous plot and risible dialogue don't merit. There's a highly enjoyable showdown in the US equivalent of Homebase, with nail guns, electric drills, strimmers and a variety of power tools being used to murderous effect. The heavies are a mix of corrupt Boston cops and assorted Russian mafia, the latter sporting villainous facial hair and scary tattoos. They're no match for Denzel Washington, however, even though he's looking a little on the paunchy side. In a finale that manages to be more unlikely than what's gone before, he takes a short trip to Moscow to finish off the main heavy, one Vladimir Pushkin, no less. Daft but highly watchable.
Gone Girl (2014)
Amazing Amy
A film of two halves. The first half is a quite gripping police procedural narrative with frequent flashbacks, all of which turn out to be untrue . (Shades of Hitchcock's "Stage Fright", although that only had a single lying flashback. ) The second half - still highly watchable - is not as convincing, with a succession of unlikely events, characters and coincidences. The film becomes less and less plausible and by the time it finishes, belief is completely suspended. It's well acted by all concerned, although the two leads are hampered by minimal characterisation. Ben Affleck is handsome but naive and fairly dumb. Rosamund Pike is attractive but homicidally devious - a near relative of the Sharon Stone character in "Fatal Attraction", perhaps, though she favours a boxcutter over an ice pick...
The film's publicity has made much play of the source novel's great length, pointing out that some 300 pages had to be cut. The missing pages presumably would resolve some of the implausibilities - Amy's ability to gain access to both her husband's office and her sister-in- law's woodshed in order to plant incriminating clues without either of them noticing, for example. A mini TV series might have been more satisfactory for the audience and done the book more justice.
'71 (2014)
Not a good year
Some stunning action sequences and a glimpse into the dirty tricks carried out by the British Army in Northern Ireland during the start of The Troubles make this a memorable viewing experience. Of particular note is the build up to a riot as a platoon of raw squaddies journey through the mean streets of Belfast, with stone throwing and catwalks from the local youth replaced by hostility and violence as the residents of a street react to the RUC's brutal house searches.Equally impressive is the blowing up of a pub by cack-handed Loyalists presumably mishandling a bomb intended for a Catholic bar. (Or were the Loyalists set up by an undercover Army NCO seen helping them assemble the device before conveniently exiting the premises?) The final sequence (Sheffield's Park Hill Flats standing in for Belfast's Divis) is well staged but slightly overlong. But overall an impressive piece of work.
Ambush in Leopard Street (1962)
Poverty Row
Poverty Row film making at its most poverty stricken. Everything from script, direction, sets, and acting reeks of desperation. However, it's not entirely without interest. One of the actors is Norman Rodway, a few years before making his Royal Shakespeare Company debut and achieving cinematic immortality as Hotspur in "Chimes at midnight". (A future wife, Pauline Delaney, is also in the cast). Another performer is Michael Brennan, usually way down the cast list, but this time making the most of his chance at a leading role, even if it is a C picture. Visibly less happy are Bruce Seton and James Kenney, both wondering why they are here.... A couple of interesting names behind the camera - literally in the case of DoP Stephen Dade who shortly after this would be climaxing his career with the Technicolor and Technirama glories of "Zulu". Slightly less memorable is editor Norman Cohen, who went onto direct respectable versions of "Dad's Army" and "Till death us do part" before his early death. One other intriguing point - why was a very cheap film ostensibly set in London filmed at Ardmore Studios in Ireland?
The Case of Charles Peace (1949)
Peace be with you
Factually accurate but very plodding and pedestrian telling of the criminal life of the notorious Victorian burglar and murderer, Charles Peace. Performances are out of amateur hour in many instances, although stalwarts such as Valentine Dyall and Ronald Adam manage to rise above the lacklustre script. Michael Martin-Harvey enjoys himself as Peace and brings the film to life despite, or because of, his uncanny resemblance to Frank Randle in one of his more manic phases. Unlikely to be of much interest unless, like me, you hail from Sheffield, Peace's home town. If you do hail from Sheffield, you may also note that the film seems to have been shot in the Home Counties rather than the industrial north...
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
NY noir
Highly accomplished 90s film noir, consistently gripping despite the occasional lapse. There's a superbly staged opening shootout, although a later one in a rain-drenched cemetery doesn't have quite the same impact. A persistent sense of gloom and menace pervades the film, helped by the formidable array of seedy characters that crossing the screen. Performances are uniformly excellent, with Dan Stevens shaking off his "Downton Abbey" poshness once again (an even less wholesome character than he played in "The Guest"). On the downside, I could have done without the streetwise urchin adopted(?) by Liam Neeson, and the final sequence in a blood soaked basement almost descends into the mad-killer-who-can't-be-killed syndrome. But these are minor quibbles and don't detract from the overall power of the film.
The Riot Club (2014)
Toffs behaving badly
A truly awful film with the most tedious and repellent set of characters this side of "The Wolf of Wall Street". Unlike that film,however, this doesn't have a Scorsese to lessen the boredom. It starts - sadly - as it means to go on, with a prologue depicting the origins of the Riot Club. This can only be described as being in the style of a "Carry on..." film, but without that series' style and wit. All the Club members are uniformly nasty, with the marginal exception of one waverer who possibly sees the error of his ways but doesn't benefit from this revelation. None of them are remotely believable. Neither are the token members of the lower orders. Clichés abound. The waverer's girlfriend is obviously working class as she has a northern accent you could cut with a bread knife. When the unfortunate pub landlord who hires out his hostelry to the toffs for one of their posh dinners is seen proudly admiring his collection of ceramics and delicately adjusting one of his prized framed prints, you just know that the ceramics and prints are not going to survive the evening. And so it comes to pass. Not only are they and the rest of the furniture and fittings irredeemably smashed to bits, the landlord himself receives a near fatal beating. One should sympaphise with him, but the sequence reminded me of Basil Fawlty's ill-fated gourmet night ("none of your riff-raff here..."). There's an interesting film to be made of the UK's current trashing by Oxbridge educated Posh Boys - a latterday "If..." perhaps. This sorry farrago isn't it.
Night Moves (2013)
Night moves fails to move
One of those films where the main character (Jesse Eisenberg) stares at the camera or just off camera for what seem like minutes on end. Presumably he's suffering some form of angst but it's difficult to discern exactly what. By the end of the film it's also difficult to care. Having said that, the film is quite watchable and there's a fair bit of tension every so often. But I kept asking myself how did the two drop-outs get the money to pay for the boat - apparently the Dakota Fanning character is (apart from irritating) from a monied background, but it's not made clear. Another bit of sloppy exposition shows Dakota trying to buy nitrogen fertilizer without the proper ID. At the end of the scene she appears to be unsuccessful (unless I missed something) but the following scene shows her and her compatriots hard at work loading the said nitrogen fertilizer into sacks. So what happened to make her lucky? The most ludicrous scene, however, occurs towards the end when Eisenberg throttles Fanning. He could be said to have good reason to, as her loose tongue is causing concern. But from what we've seen of him earlier in the film, such violence seems improbable. Almost as improbable as the ease with which Fanning succumbs.
Eight O'Clock Walk (1954)
Courtroom melodrama
Highly watchable courtroom drama set in London during Coronation year. In fact the trial that takes up the bulk of the film's running time begins on 8 June 1953 (shown in a close-up of the Court listings), a week after the Queen was crowned. Occasional glimpses of ornamental arches celebrating the event can be seen in the background of the film's many location shots. The film also gives an insight into post-war Britain - a land where young married couples (Attenborough and O'Donnell) live in cramped lodgings whilst waiting to qualify for their own house; where children play truant on derelict bombsites; and where the legal system looks down on - or at best, patronises - the lower orders. The plot veers to the melodramatic in the closing minutes, but entertainingly so. However, the detailed portrayal of court procedure is fascinating to watch. It probably hasn't changed that much, either....
Meet Mr. Lucifer (1953)
What the devil?
One of the Ealing comedies that doesn't get written about very often and not one of the best. However, it does offer an insight into the film industry's fear of television in the early 1950s, with some fairly barbed satire at the expense of the "box in the corner" and its uncritical audience. Th plot seems to be a hybrid of the stage play on which the film was based - television wreaks various degrees of havoc on three households - and a surreal narrative link showing that the Devil (aka Mr Lucifer) is behind television's growth. Apparently he likes to invent something new to make each generation miserable. Television in the 1950s and - if a sequel threatens - mobile phones for the 2000s. Incidental pleasures include an appallingly tatty Christmas pantomime, with desperate performers facing a meagre and hostile audience, and a square dance involving television dancers, friends and neighbours gathered round the television, and a bunch of street urchins and ragamuffins, some of whom look uncannily like Margaret O'Brien in the Halloween sequence of "Meet Me in St Louis". It also convincingly depicts the grime and dilapidation of post-war London, with characters forced to live in cramped basements and seedy bedsits.
Piccadilly Third Stop (1960)
Down the tube
Intrersing British B film containing not a single likable character. The plot is somewhat hackneyed, thieves falling out in the final reel with disastrous consequences for all concerned. One critic has pointed out similarities with "Asphalt Jungle" - William Hartnell's safe-cracker paying homage to Sam Jaffe's character, both of them finding it hard not to indulge in leering at the fairer sex. With its background chorus of upper class toffs, hints of homosexuality (what's the exact relationship between Terence Morgan and Charles Kay?) and general seediness, the film could have been made by Joseph Losey in one of is more strapped-for-cash periods, though he would have completely re-written the script. On a more basic level there's a reasonably tense finale in Belgravia underground station (probably filmed at Aldwych underground as there's no such station as Belgravia). And for collectors of trivia I'm pretty sure that James Villiers can be briefly seen (uncredited) swanning superciliously (as was his wont) across the screen in the opening party sequence.
God's Pocket (2014)
Grimness
Some films are enjoyably bad. Some films are just bad. Sadly, "God's Pocket", with its ludicrous plotting, ham-fisted direction and inept script falls into the latter category. Sadly because its one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films, and he's the only element that makes it worth watching at all. I'm not sure if it's meant to be a black comedy - the sincerity of Hoffman even when he's lugging a corpse around indicates that it's not. The unspeakable dialogue that Richard Jenkins has to contend with could be a parody, but I'm giving the film the benefit of the doubt here. There are distractions - in some closeups the otherwise catatonic Christina Hendricks looks not unlike Kate Bush in her prime; John Turturro brings back memories of "Barton Fink", and the film - with its patronising view of the lower orders - could be one of his screenplays if he had gotten rid of his writer's block. Grim.
Lucy (2014)
Lucid Lucy
Highly watchable sci-fi/crime film with pretensions, which would make an intriguing double bill with "Under the skin". (Scarlet Johannseen uses her unearthly powers in a fairly negative way in "Under the skin but puts them to more socially acceptable use - ie killing a lot of bad guys - in "Lucy".) The sci-fi elements are more interesting than the crime elements, the latter consisting of Korean(?) drug pushers using naive foreign tourists as mules. As is the nature of these gangs, they have an inexhaustible supply of men, guns and bullets, coupled with an ability to storm public buildings, gunning down everyone in sight at the drop of a hat. No match for Lucy's mind-bending skills, however... The film goes a little transcendental towards the end, but its journey into oblivion includes a sequence in which the heroine experiences Times Square going back into time, ultimately revealing its earlier life as a primeval swamp. Fascinating stuff.
Into the Storm (2014)
Just blown in from the windy city....
Above average disaster movie skilfully amalgamating straight filming with "found footage" from professional video cameras, surveillance cameras, camcorders, TV news channels, and cellphones. It attempts a documentary feel - characters are identified on-screen with name and role - but is lumbered with fairly naff dialog (not all the time - some humour seeps through on occasion)and a hackneyed last minute/nick of time rescue. However, the film is redeemed by its special effects which are truly spectacular. Of particular note are: the best God's-eye view of small-town mayhem since the gulls swooped down on Bodega Bay; the interior of the eye of the storm (more like the calm within the storm); and a fiery tornado that sucks one of the characters to his doom (said character played by Jeremy Sumpter, famous for playing a happier flyer, Peter Pan).
Smokescreen (1964)
Brighton rocks
Above average British B film with excellent performances by all concerned, Peter Vaughan in particular. Script laced with wry understated humour, with the cast appearing to enjoy themselves. Most of the interiors seem to have been filmed in real locations - the lobby and bar of a Brighton hotel, for example. The guilty party is not revealed until the final minutes and I was kept guessing almost until the end... Also notable for the appearances of Barbara Hicks and Damaris Hayman - two spinsterish actresses who could have been separated at birth. First time I've noticed them in the same film, although not in the same scenes. Future ace cinematographer Anthony Richmond was the clapper loader.