All Consuming : Jonathan Tanner

Awake

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:13:49 GMT

Awake is complete and utter nonsense. The most excellent Friday night with nothing to do nonsense. Hayden Christensen plays the son and heir of a very rich family who suffers from a dicky heart and is awaiting a heart transplant. Of course to make things even worse he has a strange blood type so has to wait for ages for a suitable donor heart. His (over-bearing) mother wants a world renowned heart surgeon to carry out the procedure but Hayden wants his mate from the local cheapo hospital to do the swap (how hard can it be? It’s not brain surgery!)

Somehow a suitable heart becomes available and then it all goes belly up (literally). There is intrigue gallore and cross and double crossing like mad. The main conceit that some people stay concious during general anaesthetic is kind of tenuous but adds to the crazy fun.

This is in essence an old fashioned thriller reminiscent of an old TV series – maybe a souped old cop show but it whips along and hold ones attention to th end. Just don’t start picking it to pieces we know at the beginning that it’s a bunch of nonsense. Well Jessica Alba is in it…

Into the Wild (rated 1 star)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:14:29 GMT

Into the Wild

by Sean Penn

This movie looks very good. The cinematography is excellent. That’s the upside. The downside is that the people in it are distant. unknowable and unsympathetic.

Watching this film one gets no real sense of the childhood trauma that is mentioned in the sisters (tedious) back story so it’s very difficult to see the main character as nothing more than a self-obsessed slightly mentally unstable person who found it impossible to understand human relationships.

Whenever he is drawn in by someone he rejects any possibility of a relationship and remains a loner – but why? The film makes a big deal of his burning all his money ($24,000) but clearly this was not a big deal when his father is a multimillionaire.

I could not understand what he expected to find in Alaska apart from snow. He seemed to suggest at one point that he would stay there alone for a few months and then he would be sorted out. Obviously this plan was (literally) fatally flawed.

Penn’s direction is all self absorbed and portentous. Basically it comes across as one big vanity project. I got half way through and turned it off. You may fare better of course.

You , The Living

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:27:43 GMT

Du Levande (You, The Living)

by Roy Andersson

This movie is great fun a series of short almost cartoon like stories linked together at the end of one and the beginning of another. The plotting and characterisation is paired down but never at the expense of interest in either. Look out for the psychiatrist’s story and of course the great Micke Larsson. The wedding scene between Anna and Micke is stunning.

The film has been described as surreal which I suppose it is but whatever it is is it definitely worth at least one viewing. It’s the kind of film you could watch bits of every now and then without getting bored with it. Highly recommended.

Here is a link to the film on the IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0445336/

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:12:32 GMT

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

by Tim Burton

Silly me I did not realise that this movie is a straight lift of the Stephen Sondheim stage musical. For some reason I thought it would be dialogue based with the occasional bit of singing. But no, it’s nearly all musical but that should not necessarily be a bad thing. The main problem with this movie is the Sondheim music.

After about 15 minutes it starts to get very, very irritating and even worse it becomes apparent that many of the cast including J Depp cannot sing to save their lives. The big problem with this apart from the fact that it sounds bad is you can’t understand what the actors (for this is what they are) are singing about. This is a bit unfortunate when the songs make up the main dialogue. After a while it starts to become tedious. I have to admit I did not watch much more than the first half hour and that was more than enough. On the positive side the film does look really good almost animated in some scenes and the art direction is second to none.

I know there are some who love Sondheim maybe this movie should be ring fenced only for them.

Paranoid Park (rated 2 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:09:44 GMT

Paranoid Park [Theatrical Release]

Begs the question what’s the point?

Southland Tales (rated 1 star)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:03:59 GMT

Southland Tales

by Richard Kelly

Terrible

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:00:52 GMT

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

by Andrew Dominik

The movie starts toward the end of Jesse James’ career as an outlaw and his increasing paranoia with his own gang and the increasing impatience of the authorities for the James Gang to be captured and put out of business.

The plot follows Jesse’s attempts to find out which of his gang members are plotting against him and also focuses on the need for him and his family to constantly move house in order to evade the Pinkerton detectives and others out to claim the reward that had been put on his head.

The main story is about the relationship between Jesse and his cousin Robert Ford. Ford had spent his life hero worshipping Jesse but eventually falls under the influence of the Missouri governor Thomas T. Crittenden. Crittenden presses Ford to assassinate Jesse.

The story is slow moving but full of portent and tension as the date of the assassination gets nearer. The cinematography is excellent and the acting especially of Casey Affleck as Ford is superb. Brad Pitt plays Jesse as a complex character troubled by his past, untrusting and knowing that there is no future for him as the world moves on around him.

This is a film that is definitely worth seeing. Great acting and great direction.

Ratatouille (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:17:39 GMT

Ratatouille

Great animation. The movie is about 20 minutes too long though. It’s definitely worth watching.

The Savages

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:03:05 GMT

The Savages

In a word…dull.

This film looks like it has been cloned from one of the increasing number of ‘writer has old parent and dysfunctional family but they all get sorted out in the end’ genre.

We don’t care about the characters, we don’t care about the plot and we don’t care about their dysfunctions.

As with previous versions of this film the main character is a writer struggling to get his magnum opus completed. He has a dysfunctional relationship with a Polish woman (a non-character) and he teaches in a university. His sister is a writer trying to get a play performed but in the mean time temps in offices to pay the bills. The siblings have been competing with each other most of their lives but both live under the shadow of bad parenting and this has clouded their ability to be successes. He’s overweight (loser?) and she is having a relationship with a married man (loser?)

The father is losing his marbles and is placed in a (cheap) old people’s home. The place is funded by Medicare so you expect the worse but the orderlies turn out to be very nice and caring.

Through the trials and tribulations of being old and dying the children learn how to turn their lives around and become less dysfunctional.

If you want to see this film in another guise watch one of these:

About Schmidt (old man film)
Little Miss Sunshine (writer/old man)
The Squid and the Whale (writer/old man/dysfunctional family)
Running with Scissors (writer/old man/dysfunctional family)
Wonder Boys (writer/dysfunctional people)

zzzzzz…

The Counterfeiters (rated 4 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:43:07 GMT

The Counterfeiters

This movie is well worth watching. I had not heard about the German plot to flood the British and American economies with counterfeit bank notes. It is really interesting to see how people react in the most extreme circumstances and even try to achieve the seeming impossible in the most difficult of circumstances because of the challenge.

The characters are well developed and complex in their motivations. The film looks like it could have been based on a play or could be produced as a theatrical play as the action is based around a small number of people in a confined place.

The story takes place in a concentration camp but the characters are kept in segregated buildings behind a high wooden fence and work under the camp commandant almost as his employees. The only clue to what is happening on the other side comes from the sounds of shouting, shootings and screams.

Inside the counterfeiting ‘workshops’ the prisoners live in relative luxury and work on creating the perfect Dollar bill although death is an ever present threat it is also their motivation to get the job done.

Rescue Dawn (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:33:13 GMT

Rescue Dawn

by Werner Herzog

The early part of this movie does nothing to develop any of the characters. There is no back story there is no explanation of anything much just a short pilot briefing and then the pilots take off on a mission into Laos. The mission is top secret as Laos is not officially at war and in fact Vietnama and the USA are not fully at war at this point in history.

Even after Christian Bale gets shot down, captured and put in a prison camp the characters feel distant and it’s hard to care for any of them. The interesting point for me was viewing this 30 years after the Vietnam war and seeing the Viet Cong in a completely different light.

You can see why they treated the American servicemen so poorly in fact everyone is brutal. It is interesting to realise how effective the propaganda of the 60’s and 70’s was (even in the UK) and how our political perceptions and sympathies have changed especially over the time that the Iraq war has been on.

The story gets more interesting in the second half where Bale starts to plan for a breakout. By the end of the movie I felt that it is worth watching and by the end quite enjoyable.

30 Days of Night

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:26:40 GMT

30 Days of Night

I was not expecting much from this movie but it was lot better than I thought it was going to be. It’s kind of an old fashioned vampire movie but with the 30 days of night twist where the hero has to survive for a month in freezing Alaska while being stalked and chased by a band of nasties.

I am not a big fan of Josh (wooden acting) Hartnett but he seemed to fit in well here as the laid back Sheriff of a small Alaskan town (the most northerly town in America).

The vampires are scary enough and have all the usual characteristics (can’t go out during the day, drink blood etc.) They are a tough bunch though and not easy to dispatch – an axe comes in handy about half way through the film.

If you like traditional (non-slasher) horror films that have a reasonable plot and better than average acting then this is worth a look in.

Breach

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:22:56 GMT

Breach (Widescreen Edition)

by Billy Ray

Breach is an interesting understated movie and worthy of a wider audience. It seems to have bypassed the production company’s marketing department, personally I can’t remember it being released.

The plot revolves around a tracking and capture of the most damaging mole incident in the history of the US secret service. The movie starts with an announcement of the arrest so you know immediately the outcome but then flashes back two months.

Ryan Phillippe plays a newly appointed low level FBI operative who is assigned to baby-sitting the main suspect played by Chris Cooper (in a stunning performance). The movie plots the development of the relationship between Phillipe and Coper until arrest.

For a lot of time the movie plays like a two handed stage play, well written and with well developed characters. I would thoroughly recommend this movie.

Weirdsville

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Tue, 06 May 2008 07:11:20 GMT

Weirdsville (Ws Sub)

This is a movie about three drug addicts who owe their dealer $8000 and have to pay it back quickly, try to rob a house to get the money, bury their dead friend, escape from a satanist cult, get rescued by dwarves and get eveything cleared up in 88 minutes. The characters are funny and you like them from the start of the film. This kind of film has been done a few times but at least this one is funny and however stupid the plot gets you manage to go along with it.

It’s a good Sunday night with nothing to watch on TV. Give it a go you might like it more than you think…

Man Without a Past: A Good Movie (rated 4 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:47:54 GMT

The Man Without a Past

by Aki Kaurismäki

Man without a past is a great little movie from Finland. The Finnish language is really quite strange which is something I not thought about before. The basic plot centres around a man who gets off a train in and is attacked by a group of skinheads. He wakes in hospital some time later with no memory of who he is and what has happened.

He ends up living rough in a container lot by the sea and gets involved with a lot of colourful and strange characters. He finds it difficult to get work as he has no name or insurance number so end up working for the Salvation Army. He gets the SA band to start playing rock and roll and becomes the band manager.

There are all sorts of encounters and adventures before his past finally catches up with him.

This is a well crafted film with great performances all round. Well worth watching.

American Gangster: A Good Movie

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:12:49 GMT

American Gangster (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]

American Gangster is a film in the style of The Godfather. The pacing is good, the plot coherent and well structured and the acting throughout and by all actors is excellent. Russel Crowe plays the character of the lead investigator with a lot of restraint (for a change) and actually does not try to mug his way through, he even injects a fair amount of subtlety to the part.

Denzil Washington is great as the top gangster with the right amount of smooth charm balanced with moments of crazy madness. The art direction is really excellent with scenes depicting the late 60’s and early 70’s with all the right colours, cars and fashion styles but all looking a bit worse for wear. Even the colour of the sky looked right – from my childhood memory of 1968/69.

I would throughly recommend this film even though it is quite long it is well worth a few loo and tea breaks.

The Good German: A Good Film (rated 4 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:17:39 GMT

Good German

A thoughtful well plotted movie with interesting characters and good performances. The sets with scenes from the 1940’s are blended into the one’s with the modern actors almost seemlessly. The pacing is slow but it had an old fashioned feel about it that I liked probably because I have been brought up on a diet of old black and white WWII movies! Geogre Clooney was excellent in the part of the news reporter getting in over his head (how many times does he get hit with a chair?)

Tobey Maguire is very sleezy and played the part of the soldier on the make really well. I always thought his Spiderman was on the verge of psychotic and this role seemed an extension of this part.

All-in-all I would recommend this film even though it has a reputation for being slow and maybe even boring. I would have a couple of coffee’s and watch it to the end it IS worth it.

Heima - an excellent movie

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:36:18 GMT

Heima

For a film about a pop group Heima is quite an excellent movie. The locations are beautiful and the guys in the band grow on you as their personalities are slowly revealed. The scenes where the drummer was selecting rocks and then makes an instrument from them is very evocative of how the music is built up and reflects the professionalism of the band.

I also liked the scene with the 100 year old rhubarb patch! If you are considering going to Iceland I would recommend watching this movie as an introduction to the country, it’s people and the music that is inspired by it’s phenomenal strangeness.

A great movie (rated 5 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:08:49 GMT

Control (The Miriam Collection)

by Anton Corbijn

Control is a great movie. I was in too minds about watching this one but it is really well made, the performances are superb especially the lead playing Ian Curtiss. I was not a fan of Joy Division and had not heard many of their songs but I did not find it necessary to know anything about the band.

The director treats the audience with intelligence and for a UK based movie this is a real breath of fresh air. There are no in depth explanations of the transitions in the life of the band and main characters. It’s very slick and well worth watching. If you have not seen this one get it ASAP you won’t regret it.

2 Days in Paris

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:14:29 GMT

2 days in paris

by Julie Delpy

I was thinking about popping over to Paris on the Eurostar sometime but this movie slightly put me off. Some of the issues raised:
– the food (Lapin)
– the taxi drivers (fascist, racist, speak only French)
– the nightlife (noisy)
– the neighbourhoods (dangerous)

Apart from all that Paris looked great. The relationship between the two main characters is sparky and there is definite chemistry between them (according to the IMDB they did date).

My favourite characters are Julie Delpy’s (real) father and mother.

The plot is pretty obvious from the first few seconds – trip to Paris on the way back to the US from their European vacation the couple stay with her parents for two days and along the way meet her ex-boyfriends and suitably middleclass and arty mates. Along the way there are all sorts of funny moments around language – he speaks no French and the French speak little or no English.

Their relationship strained to breaking point by the end due to what they find out about each other.

It feels like a Woody Allen film at times and even seems to borrow some scenes from films such as Manhattan and Annie Hall.

It is funny and inoffensive and worth seeing if you are stuck for something else to watch.

Well packaged but lacks the human touch (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Jonathan Tanner) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:02:17 GMT

Atonement

This movie is excellently directed and edited. In fact the editing is crisp and used intelligently to build the story. The flash-back scenes are well done and give good insights into alternative perspectives about what a child understands of complex adult relationships.

There are some serious flaws though. This film follows in the footsteps of other modern (or post-modern) films in that it seems to hold the audience at arms length. There is a clear distance between the story and the viewer that results in a lack of any feelings of compassion for the main characters.

The end feels like an anti-climax but the scenes with Vanessa Redgrave lift the film just at the right moment. She clearly shines as someone who knows the craft of acting inside out and for a brief moment you feel something for the story.