Vacancy

Ever Since Norman Bates’ family issues were worked out onscreen in Psycho back in the 1960s the humble motel room has become a staple of the horror/thriller genre. The notion of being stranded in the middle of nowhere and having to stay in a strange and lets face it, usually rather grotty room surrounded by strangers is a familiar one and it’s a formula that Vacancy takes full advantage of. Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson play a bickering couple whose relationship has fallen apart since the death of their son. Driving home one night their car breaks down, forcing them to stay in aforementioned creepy hotel. The film then quickly ticks off the appropriate genre boxes of dodgy gas station attendant, creepy receptionist guy and unsettling room which makes you feel that the couple would be better suited sleeping in their car. Or in the middle of the forest surrounded by poisonous snakes for that matter. Still making the best of a bad situation they decide to see the night out, through this we find out more about the couples past which is quite effectively done, both actors play it well and Wilson in particularly impresses, managing to shake most of his typical comedy stylings for the role. Things turn bad though when they, for no particular reason, decide to check out the rooms supply of video tapes, all of which show couple being tortured and killed in the very room they are watching the videos from. From the here the tensions ranks up the film enters its most effective section. There are some genuinely tense and scary moments as the room comes under attack and they have to find ways of escaping. However it soon becomes apparent that the filmmakers’ bag of tricks is quickly exhumed, simple nagging logic questions start to raise in the mind, and the believability slips. Unfortunately this is a state that continues to the end as the situation gets more fantastical, the lynchpin moment when you sense it all fall apart comes about an hour in where, separated and alone Kate Beckinsale’s character decided to lie down and have a nap in the ventilation duct while her husband is missing and there are people out to kill her. Seriously. It’s a shame though that what could have been a taught little thriller so frequently gives in to these dramatic devices that pull you out of the moment, and with underdeveloped bad guys with no clear motivation it is merely the attachment to the main couple that pulls you through. Still even this is not enough to save the film at the end of the day, and whilst is not a terrible film by any means, it is one that fails to live up to its effective, if derivative, opening half hour. A mish mash of horror cliché’s that never quite gel, the tension filled opening impresses but even with the short runtime this feels stretched out beyond credibility leaving it a bit of a mess. A shame.

The yearly Re-boot

Woah, just managed to get in something for February. As you may have told from the tumbleweed that have been passing through this space things have been rather hectic lately. Along with that has come a bit of refocusing on what I want the blog to be. Going forward it will become a bit more streamlined and focused on opinion pieces or articles on a wider range of subjects and hopefully more regularly. I will also try and link to interesting pieces around the net and have more general random posts as well. I will cut out the sections about football and daily life as they were sparodic at best and of limited appeal, this way the blog becomes an outlet for my views and interests. As for the film reviews, despite my huge backlog I do not want to back down from my pledge to review all the films I see this year, this will mean some major catch up in March but it's something I'm up for! There will be a bit of a change to the format with some smaller reviews appearing, most likely during this catch up period and also a change to my scoring. At the moment I mark out of 10 but am changing to the totally unique and not ripped off every review site ever, system of stars. It may be hackneyed but there is a reason for it, marking becomes easier and rather then being faced with the prospect of the 'perfect 10' score you have the 5 star option which rather less implies perfection, but can be used to represent those films that truly stand out. I will also update my old reviews to conform to this system so for an idea of how it will work check them out soon! So with February behind us I will hopefully get back on track in March and see you on the other side! As usual comments, suggestions and general chattery (it's a word... maybe) are appreciated and welcome. - Dave

Enchanted

There was a time, back in the early to mid-90’s when Disney still stood for great family entertainment, their run of classic animated films was peerless with the likes of Aladdin and The Lion King. Since then their stock has dropped considerably with lazy sequels and tie-ins and an undeniable drop in quality as they have stumbled into the world of computer animation to find themselves playing catch-up. Enchanted begins in classic Disney stile with old fashioned animation, it tells the story of Giselle, a princess who waits her prince so that she may be married. Sure enough they meet, but before they can say their vows her evil mother-in-law to be intervenes, sending Gisele tumbling down a massive well, on the other side of which she emerges in the real New York. This fish out of water set up is the basis this clever and witty homage and tribute to those classic Disney films. Giselle’s cartoon character nature threatens to get her into trouble, until she is taken in by cynical but kind hearted Robert Phillip played by Patrick Dempsey with just enough edge to avoid over sentimentality. The rest of the film concerns itself with the rest of the animated characters coming to rescue Gisele, or in the case of Timothy Spall’s henchman Nathanial prevent her from coming back at all. Pure and simply this film is a joy to watch, it is filled with a wonderfully sweet innocence and this is largely down to its very game cast. Amy Adams is the stand out with one of the greatest performances of the year, hands down. Her Giselle is not of this world, and manages to convey the luminance of classic Disney animated heroine’s without overselling it or verging into parody. She walks a tightrope and gets every moment spot on, she brightens up the screen and you can’t help but fall in lover with her. Equally James Marsden finds himself surprisingly at home in the world of comedy with his Prince Edward coming off wonderfully over the top and perpetually bamboozled by the real world. The few songs there are in the film are very atypical and yet wonderfully catchy, you will be humming them for days and the way they are built and performed somehow fit into the film without feeling trite. The only real mis-step in the film lies with the ending and the last 10 minutes or so when the fantasy world threatens to overtake the more grounded aspects of the film, it’s something that will bug some and that others will have no problem with but for me it was a twist too far. That said this is still a great film, charming and knowing and just instantly watchable it breathes new life into Disney and I’m sure it will become something of a traditional film to watch at Christmases in the future. If you can embrace your inner child and lose some modern cynicism then this could be just the pick-me-up so many of us need sometimes and a potent reminder of the magic that lies at the heart of the best stories. Inventive, funny and charming this is a very easy film to love and one filled with enough in-jokes and satire to entertain adults as well as children. A reminder of the importance of Disney and hopefully a sign that an age of revival is upon us.

Mass Defect

When it comes to the mainstream media the events of this past week have proven more than ever that as a medium there is a long way to go before video-games become acceptable and talked about with the same level of criticism and knowledge that movies and music currently enjoy. In case you missed it the whole furore involves the game Mass Effect, Bioware’s epic sci-fi role playing game which sees you create a character and move through a huge and detailed universe building relationships, solving puzzles and becoming immersed in one of the most well crafted and involving stories yet found in a videogame. Oh and yes there is a short two minute non-controllable sex scene which can be a part of the story. The horror. Never mind the fact that the scene in question is far more tasteful than 90% of even pre-watershed TV, or that it is a scene crucial to the plot and characters, or the mere fact that it is something that has to be worked towards through genuine affection and relationships between characters, the media has chosen to side with the usual uneducated ‘video-games are corrupting our children’ line of enquiry, the typical knee jerk reaction to something they have little experience of or understand, and which leads to these scare mongering stories. This little debacle started out a couple of weeks ago with an extremely uneducated and alarmist post from political blogger Kevin McCullough who posted an article on the net basically condemning mass effect as videogame porn and condemning videogames in general, his post containing so many inaccuracies it was almost laughable. He later posted an apology of sorts for the misinformation (after the massive gamer backlash) but never fully rescinded his position. Naturally such an inflammatory piece garnered much attention in the media and gaming sites, however things dies down a bit until the other night when a fox special news report was broadcast focusing once again on Mass Effect, the staggering fact being that this national news broadcaster chose to re-iterate many of Kevin McCullough’s inaccuracies in a fluff piece that soon become clear had no bearing on reality. Videogame expert Geoff Keighley was brought in to bring some facts to the proceedings but that the piece itself made it to air or warranted such attention boggles the mind. You can watch the whole exchange here and there is a much better analysis and transcript of the piece over at Bill Harris’s blog here, it’s an excellent read and sums up my feelings 100% (but in better words.) Thankfully today EA have issued a statement and a letter to Fox news stating their disappointment and seeking an apology, whilst they are often seen as the corporate baddies of the videogame world this time I am right behind them, this kind of misinformed tripe needs to be monitored and corrected and the people responsible held accountable. All such news pieces do are bring the industry into disrepute and add more stains to an already blotchy history, and of course peddle misinformation to the general public who, shockingly, rely on the national news for information. If such blatant untruths were spoken about a book or film there would be an outrage, but somehow gathering people who have played the game in question to host a debate on it is acceptable and normal? I am glad however at the storm that the games playing public has caused around this issue and can only hope that it leads to sensible and well reasoned discussion in the future, there may well need to be questions raised about targeting games to children and the content of such titles, but with more violence and sexuality than ever before available on the internet and on TV it seems mightily hypocritical, not to mention ironic, that the finger ends up pointing at one of the few modern games to really try and push the medium as an art form and whose structure and ambition should be lauded as one of the best example of recent years of videogames finally growing up.

The English Patient

Winner of 9 Oscars and one of the most highly regarded British films of recent years the English Patient comes with a requisite amount of critical baggage. Adapted from the supposedly unfilmable novel by Michael Ondaatje it tells the story of the mysterious Count Almásy (Ralph Fiennes), a Hungarian map maker who is injured in a plane crash in the Sahara desert during the war. As he is cared for in an abandoned monastery by his nurse Hana (Juliette Binoche) he recounts his story, a tale of a doomed love triangle, the result of which led him to his accident. Beautifully shot and with a poise and elegance this is a classy film, filled with classy performances that moves at its own pace, and whose ultimate restraint may be its biggest failing. The film starts out slow, seemingly disconnected scenes detail Almásy’s plane crash and care, but there is nothing to really draw you into the story from the off and the sense of disconnection follows throughout. Once we are established and the flashbacks begin the film comes alive. Fiennes and Kristin Scott-Thomas have great chemistry and the complex nature of their characters make them interesting to watch, however the nature of their affair make them unsympathetic and there is never enough romance or genuine affection between them to fully disguise the selfish nature of their affair. That said Fiennes gives a fantastic performance throughout, half of it through some heavy make up, his unlikeable and hard nosed character hints at depths and a past we are never told about, it is an intense display but his prickly nature and selfish desire lead to him becoming unsympathetic, something that results in a more emotional coldness towards the end, when it really should be at its most affecting. Binoche however is radiant as always and some of her scenes with the local security force officer Kip (Naveen Andrews) are great examples of creating emotional attachment with little time, and in fact one scene towards the end of the film is almost unbearably tense and involving, purely down to their chemistry and characters. The film as a whole is overlong and slightly overwrought, its build up to the climax feels overworked and the final revelations are not as interesting as we may have been led to believe. However there is a bittersweet sadness to the tale and the acting and direction elevate it above most other productions. At the end of the day this is a technically accomplished and well acted drama whose only main critical failing is its failure to properly connect to the audience through its main characters. Many I’m sure would disagree but personally it failed to have the resonance I would have expected. So a landmark film it remains and a good example of British film no doubt, but one whose sense of importance seems unjustified or at least overestimated. Accomplished and elegant with a hatful of great performances, but let down by its refusal to dig deeper into its characters leaving a disconnect that can leave the viewer cold. The supporting cast redeem this to an extent but the serious drama and slow pace hold this back from the film it maybe could have been.