AICN-DOWNUNDER: Iron Man, Cactus, and a croc attack in Black Water!
Published at: May 10, 2008, 9:28 a.m. CST by quint
Let's be honest; this isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing.
AICN-DOWNUNDER
Well, I'm turning 27 in a few hours, so I'm off to get incontinently drunk. In the meantime, enjoy the latest installment of this thing.
NEWS
According to Flicks.co.nz, THE LOVELY BONES has been put on a hiatus due to a rift between Peter Jackson and one of the art directors over how they should depict heaven. With the majority of the film shot, this shouldn't cause too massive a problem (and I should point out that I'm unfamiliar with flicks.co.nz, so I can't speak to its history of accuracy or otherwise), but they do claim the crew has all gone on a break while the disagreement is sorted out.
On a more positive note, Guillermo's doing THE HOBBIT! Woo! Yes, I know it's been mentioned here already, but who doesn't want to be reminded of this? Only a week before the official announcement, a contact in New Zealand told me that everybody at Weta had their fingers crossed that Del Toro would get the gig, so it bodes well that there's a good vibe about the project before it even begins. Me, I just want to know what the second film -- the one that bridges THE HOBBIT to LORD OF THE RINGS -- entails. This is my new special project, finding out what they're going to be putting into that one...
Those who read my IRON MAN review will notice I made special mention of the fact that Samuel L Jackson doesn't appear in a cameo. What I didn't fully realise (until Moviehole published this) was that it was just press screenings that didn't feature the scene with Nick Fury. I suspect this was in order to keep it a secret, even though the secret had been revealed on this very site about a year ago. So instead of keeping it from everybody, it was so widely-known that I felt obligated to add a special note warning people that it wasn't on there. And I'm not one for spoilers, but I do feel as if I should now amend what I said beforehand, and strongly suggest you remain in the cinema until after the end credits. As for me, I'm just happy I have a reasonable excuse to go watch it again...
AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS
61ST CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
According to Inside Film, the Oscar nominated director of JASPER MORELLO, Anthony Lucas, is off to Cannes with MY RABBIT HOPPY, a film he made in his back yard with his two children (who also star). The film will play at the St Kilda Film Festival before heading to the south of France later this month. Also playing will be Julius Avery's JERRYCAN.
Australian film manages to do the opposite of sucking, haven't they made this already?, hey -- they told me this was coming out next week!, Favreau plumbs the depths of perfection, this is the best title since MAID IN MANHATTAN, see review below for opinion, yet another film about French 17th Century playwrights, Rodrigo Garcia shows us a film containing Things You Can Tell Just By Watching It, Naomi tells Edward it's just Norton (lolz!!!), Ellen Page lends watchability to a film otherwise devoid of it, to hell with anyone who sees this film, after years of begging we finally get the team up of Akshay Kumar and Saif Ali Khan in a Vijay Krishna Acharya Joint, Pepe Danquart makes a film about mountain climbers because they're there, the police tell you that they've traced the killer's posts... they're coming from the forum you're in! Get out of there! Run!, and for the love of God let it stay in Vegas.
CACTUS
THE COUNTERFEITERS
DECEPTION IRON MAN
MADE OF HONOUR
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY
MOLIERE
NINE LIVES
THE PAINTED VEIL SMART PEOPLE
SMOTHER
TASHAN
TO THE LIMIT
UNTRACEABLE
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
REVIEWS
Don't forget to check out my pre-release IRON MAN review right here. Just saw it for a second time last night. How is it possible the film got better on a second viewing? Also remember, in the Box Office and New Release sections above, whenever a film has a link under it, click on it to read my original review. Hey, we provide a real service here. Use it!
CACTUS
The other day, I had two revelations in the space of about five seconds. The first was that Australian films carry such a burden, as each of them is judged not only on its own merits, but how it contributes to the narrative of our struggling industry. The second revelation was that judging every local film thusly is actually a sign of lazy critiquing, and so the fault probably lies with me.
The reality actually lies somewhere in-between, but I'm going to eschew all of that and, shockingly, discuss the film without the overpowering weight that decades of bad decisions has wrought.
CACTUS is mildly frustrating to me, because it comes so close to greatness, and misses by just a little bit. I've talked about films that do this before. Like them, CACTUS is very, very, very good, and only a few moments here and there prevent it from being something we shout about from the rooftops.
It's essentially a roadtrip-in-outback story. Before you roll your eyes, it does avoid standard cliche by (a) making one character a kidnapper and the other a kidnappee, and (b) not featuring cloyingly annoying Australiania. Okay, the first point has been done a fair bit in the past, and the second point isn't entirely true, but when you're actually watching the film, it doesn't feel like something you've seen a million times before, and that's saying something.
It's a film that's very reminiscent of Stephen Frears's THE HIT, a film I didn't even know existed until a friend played it for me recently. These films would, in fact, go quite well in a double together. Like THE HIT, CACTUS raises just the right number of questions to keep it interesting, but not so many so as to render it laughable. It gives you some answers, but mostly just provides you with enough information to figure it out on your own.
Aussie films are frequently let down by the score and the cinematography, so it's worth pointing out that both are utterly superb here. World-class, in fact. The acting, too, is very good. I've never seen either of the leads before, but they both have tremendous screen presence.
The only place I felt let down was in parts of the script. I have a tremendous amount of praise for writer/director Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan (this is her first film), and it's because her script is so good that the bits that don't quite work stand out. The character of Eli, the kidnappee, feels wrong somehow, not a strong enough character. I'm still trying to place my finger on what didn't work about him, but he doesn't really come alive until the last third of the film. With kidnapper John being such a strong, silent imposing figure, I think it would have worked well to go in a very different direction with Eli. As it stands, I felt the two were a bit too similar. Also, some of the conversations don't work. They just feel too written, as if you're attending a script reading instead of a performance... but again, those rare moments stand out because everything else works.
It really works. Bryan Brown and Shane Jacobson do some terrific supporting work (their scenes are amongst the best in the film), and Yeun-Currucan's direction is, for the most part, masterful.
So close to being great, CACTUS is a film I really enjoyed, and have no hesitation in recommending.
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY
Holy crap, somebody made a screwball comedy! I mean, it's a frigging screwball comedy!
I can't even tell you how good it is to go into a film knowing as little as possible. If the film is good, you get an enhanced experience because of the pleasant surprise. If the film is bad, at least you don't know where it's going, and you can enjoy the surprise on some level.
MISS PETTIGREW is a film more in the tradition of MY MAN GODFREY than, say, HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Hey, I just got the title similarities there. Sweet. But as I watched the film, I couldn't shake the memory of the brilliant William Powell/Carole Lombard comedy. I wondered if the similarities was on purpose, and then realised that they'd name-dropped Lombard a dozen times during the film. Surely, the comparison was invited.
But forget about that. If you're a fan of 30s screwball comedies, then you're going to be very happy with this film. If you're not, then don't worry about it; I think this is a very difficult film not to love.
It's one of my favourite casts in recent memory. Frances McDormand is better than she's been in any non-Coen Brothers film. Amy Adams has perfected her OTT mannerisms, and has the potential to be the biggest star in the world within about five years... though I suspect her attraction to more interesting parts (rather than "star" parts) may hinder this. In a good way. Shirley Henderson is, once again, brilliant, and all the men are charming and handsome; although it must be said, none of them have quite the edge that Powell had, so all the best material seems geared towards the girls. Nice change to see a film where all the best parts are given to the women (so to speak).
A disarmingly hilarious film that manages to be sexy and old-fashioned at the same time. Definitely one to see.
BLACK WATER
More like this, please.
I never got around to seeing ROGUE, so anyone hoping for a blow-by-blow comparison of the two major Australian croc movies has come to the wrong place. All I can do is talk about the one I did see (BLACK WATER, obviously), and proclaim its utter awesomeness.
Superficially, the film's structure resembles WOLF CREEK: two girls and a guy go on holiday and end up getting menaced by a reptilian dinosaur. On a visceral level, it's much more OPEN WATER; the idea of being trapped somewhere and becoming prey for a predator that can move about you. Of course, as all good creature features, this one is less about the homage -- I only use the movie comparisons to aid my own lazy writing -- than it is about doing its own thing.
It helps that the three central characters are fascinating, and that they're pretty easy on the eyes... but not in an over-the-top way. These aren't jeans models crammed into a role because they look good; they look and act like real people. Naturalistic acting is a difficult thing to achieve in Australian films because I don't think most writers (Australian writers, that is) fully understand our own speech patterns. It's always surprising to see realistic performances pop up in local films, and even more surprising when they happen during crocodile attacks.
Diana Glenn is the perfect type of actor for a film like this. She plays her character in a manner that suggests she's too good for this. I do actually mean that in a good way; in so many horror films, you feel like the characters are all people who either watch horror films, or can adapt instantly to their extraordinary surroundings. Glenn's Grace feels like she should be in a psychological drama or a coming of age road trip tale, and just happened to find herself in a horror film. I always love seeing characters who really look like they shouldn't be there trying to deal with a situation that's a long way out of their comfort zone. Not that fighting crocodiles is in anybody's comfort zone, but it does seem like something that's more suited to, say, Ben Oxenbould's Jim. I've never been a huge fan of Oxenbould in the past (he played Nudge's replacement on "Hey Dad!" and more recently appeared on the curiously unfunny sketch program "Comedy Inc"), but here he actually gives a really naturalistic, understated performance that's completely in tune with the style of the film.
The other two leads are Grace's boyfriend Adam (Andy Rodoreda) and her sister Lee (Maeve Dermody), and I can't say enough good things about these two. Rodoreda is terrific as the guy who knows he should be taking charge, but clearly doubts his own decisions. Dermody is probably the film's highlight, as the central victim who has to serve, after a fashion, as protector. I'm not trying to describe these guys as if they're the first characters of their kind to appear in a film such as this; they're clearly archetypes, but what's important is knowing what to do with the archetypes. This is a big part of why the film succeeds.
The movie is not a splatterfest, though there are some pretty decent moments of gore. It's more of a tension ramp-up, with several moments of utter brilliance (the thunderstorm sequence is a particular highlight). Co-writers and co-directors David Nerlich and Andrew Traucki know exactly what to show and when, and their simple, brilliant monster movie never outstays its welcome.
As fun as it is to write searingly negative reviews of films, it's such a joy to be able to review three films in a row that I can enthusiastically recommend. And hey, two of them are Australian! Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to talk about the broader industry, but to hell with it. Between CACTUS and BLACK WATER, my faith in Australian movies has been resolutely restored.
21
For some reason, there's been a recent narrative in film criticism -- and yes, I must be going through some sort of reviewer's mid-life crisis to open two reviews by discussing the habits of critics -- regarding films that are too long. "If a film is more than ninety minutes long, it had better justify itself!" I frequently hear them say, and occasionally hear myself say. At times, I generally agree with the statement; at others, I think it's rubbish. Well, 21 exceeds its welcome by about half an hour or so, which would actually get it down to the ninety minute mark.
It's not a bad film, by the way. There are many moments of visual flair, and some of the performances are pretty good, but it came at just the wrong time. By that I mean that the last four films I've seen have been awesome... seeing something mediocre means that I'm struggling to find the energy to actually write about it.
It's apparently all based on a true story, and it gives me the same feeling I had when I read "Catch Me If You Can". If you've ever read that book, it feels like a team of writers and producers have barged their way through it and flattened out into a pre-screenplay format. Feels a lot like any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental. Likewise, the proclamations of 21 that it's based on a true story undercuts what could be an enjoyable Hollywood-esque blast in the tradition of an OCEAN'S 11. Trying to have it both ways gives the film a complete lack of identity, and it's impossible to enjoy a film that doesn't know how to enjoy itself.
But, like I said, it's not all bad, and there are certainly a lot of moments I really liked. The problem is that they were pretty disconnected, and took place in a film that is, at minimum, half an hour too long.
NEXT WEEK
- Dame Judi Dench to reprise her role as a high society lady who decides to fund a theatre for hip-hop artists in MRS HENDERSON REPRESENTS
- Trent Reznor to play an adventurer in the largely-inappropriate children's movie NIN'S ISLAND
- Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins to appear in THE BEAR, where they must band together after a plane crash in order to fight a giant Irish guitarist
