Archive for the 'Movie Of The Week' Category

Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop

Published on May 25, 2010 in Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Banksy's Exit Through The Gift Shop

I was fortunate enough to catch an early preview screening of Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop movie courtesy of Desktop magazine.

Fellow Desktop blogger Gerrard Elson and myself filed in our combined review.

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JOHN: Well after conquering the street-art world and practically becoming a household name the world over, it wasn’t long before the legendary Banksy would try his hand at film. Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop is his first foray into celluloid and like all things Banksy – the film is shrouded in mystery, intrigue and probably leaves the viewer asking more questions than having them answered.

Two of us Desktop bloggers were fortunate enough to see a special screening last night and I must say, I did enjoy the film.

For me, being a fan of the street art ethos – it was great seeing the who, what, where and why of artists such as Shepard Fairey, Invader and of course – Banksy in the first half of the movie but it all took a strange turn towards the middle…

GERARD: Strange is right! Which brings us to the amiable enigma at the centre of Exit Through the Gift Shop: Theirry Guetta, AKA Mr Brainwash.

From the out, we’re told the film has been assembled from unpolished footage captured by Guetta, an obsessive dilettante videographer and burgeoning street art enthusiast. Ingraining himself into the furtive world of street art by virtue of sheer persistency, Guetta, with thousands of hours of video committed to tape and unparalleled access to the artists themselves, vows to make the definitive street art documentary. But one elusive subject remains beyond his grasp: Banksy.

In a twist of fate that might be too neat to be true, Guetta miraculously finds himself playing chaperone/documentarian to Banksy during the artist’s trip to LA. The pair form a mutual trust—Banksy even calls it a friendship—but it’s not long before Guetta begins to show his “true” colours, and it’s here where Exit Through the Gift Shop gets really interesting…

JOHN: And therein the Banksy modus operandi is in full force for all to see. That is, if we just scratch at the surface that little bit. Surely this is all another Banksy ruse. Another Banksy stunt. Is Guetta/Mr Brainwash doing just that on the unsuspecting public? Are we to believe that this bumbling, clumsy documentarian is let in deep within the Banksy inner sanctum and in time, become an artist in his own right?

Surely not.

GERARD: And that’s all part of the film’s enormous appeal. If everything is to be taken at face value, we’re given a hugely entertaining portrait of a restless soul whose proximity to true talent in the form of Banksy impels him to reach beyond his own means in a facile pitch for credibility, desecrating in the process the very philosophies that power the artists he’s so long admired. Ostensibly, Guetta and his ill-earned, overnight success is totemic of the increasing commodification of the once galvanising voice of the fringe. On the other hand, if Guetta and his success as Mr Brainwash is indeed a ploy orchestrated by Banksy, then Exit, by my count, tips into the realm of out-and-out greatness. It becomes a scathing satire of our communal lust to lionise the individual prodigy, as well as a facetious critique of people’s unthinking readiness to buy whole-hog into the hype machine.

JOHN: Banksy has stood out from the pack because underneath the legality and criminality of one taking a brush to a public space – his work is incredibly smart, succinct and cuts to the bone of the mundane and drab walls he paints on. It is that nouse and sublime smarts which leads me to firmly believe that Banksy’s finest creation is Thierry Guetta himself. And who can really tell how long this creature will be left to roam the streets of LA. Guetta is nothing more than an inspired forgery, just like Banksy’s Princess Diana £10 notes.

Exit Through The Gift Shop is a thoroughly entertaining voyeuristic look into the world of an artist that TIME magazine lists as one of the 100 most influential people alive today. The veil of mystery is always omnipresent and deep and one can’t help but feel that Banksy has pulled the wool over our eyes once again.

I don’t know about you Gerard, but I enjoyed every single minute of this supposed expose. Whether what unfolds before us is real or not, seems to be beside the point. We are presented with a multi-faceted work that could very well stand-alone as yet another Banksy piece of art (albeit in celluloid form) or as a very real documentary that once can take and accept at face value.

Brilliant! 4 stars from me!

GERARD: It seems the only thing we (slightly) disagree on is the extent to which we enjoyed this. As far as I’m concerned, this is the comedy to beat in 2010 – no other film has made me laugh harder this year – and its wealth of genuine cultural insight, factual line-blurring and agile use of subversive wit to underscore its very pertinent point make it that rarest of things in the internet age: a cinematic Trojan horse. It’s not often you leave the cinema flummoxed as to the extent of the authenticity of what you’ve just seen, and for pulling off that particular prestige, I award Exit Through the Gift Shop its extra half star.

4.5 from me!

Read it at Desktop.

Until The Light Takes Us

Published on April 4, 2010 in Cinema, Movie Of The Week, Music and Occult. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Until The Light Takes Us

The Norwegian Black Metal scene has always been one of pure fascination and one surrounded in a veil of intrigue, violence, savagery and murder.

Marry all that with a sound that is so raw, malevolent, and brutal in its structure, timbre and delivery and you have a movement that was destined to remain ostensibly underground yet always, controversial.

Directed by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell Until The Light Takes Us is as raw, lo-fi and underproduced as the musical genre itself. The film features interviews with the key perpetrators of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, Darkthrone’s Gylve Nagell and the imprisoned Varg Vikernes, incarcerated over the murder of a fellow bandmate.

It isn’t a new story. The Norwegian scene had been covered extensively in the 1998 book Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground where this bastard genre spawned from the tail end of the Thrash Metal movement of the early 80′s.

The entire Norwegian scene gained notoriety moreso from the church burnings, Satanic vandalism and murder than from the deliberately awful musical stylings. Let’s face it, as musicians the entire scene was pretty naff, but as arsonists, now that’s where these temper-tantrum tough guys excelled at.

The film explores a grim world of art, music, arson, murder, religious and cultural rebellion. The streets of Oslo are permeated with every modern American gaudy icon you can imagine from McDonalds to Levis. And centuries ago, another invasion stripped the nation of its Nordic culture and history as Christianity’s stranglehold took hold and has yet to let go.

It’s a fascinating insight into the genre and director’s Aites and Ewell pretty much let the protagonists of the movement relay their views throughout the course of the film without any sort of rebuttal or counter argument. And it works.

Screening at ACMI
Friday April 2 9.30pm
Friday April 9 9.30pm

Antichrist

Published on February 9, 2010 in Article By Steph Dyhin, Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 0 Comments Tags: .

Antichrist

I missed Antichrist at the film festival and in its limited cinematic release. I admit that a few times I had occasion to see it but was scared off by what I’d read. So it was from the safety of the couch that I approached writer/director Lars von Trier’s (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark) polarising, scandalous work. It is the first DVD I’ve ever seen with a warning across the top in addition to the R rating for high impact violence and sexual activity emblazoned across the bottom.

It has been reported that von Trier wrote the film during a period of deep depression. The result is a melancholy meditation on guilt and grief, explored through only two characters. The subject matter is intense in its own right, and is magnified by the chemistry between the leads – Charlotte Gainsbourg (The Science of Sleep, 21 Grams) as the grieving mother (or Eve/Madonna according to some readings); and Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire, eXistenZ) her therapist husband (Man/Mankind) who seeks to console her. Von Trier uses only their interactions, visceral and confronting as they are, to explore his subject.

The prologue contains no dialogue and is presented in slow motion. The alarming juxtaposition of events is portrayed like a dance set to a Handel Aria and sets the tone for a film as beautiful as it is disturbing. The limited focus of the story takes us on a very personal journey through these raw emotions and is highly effective in doing so.

The brutality for which the film is famous is an extension of this journey and is not out of place. Shocking, yes and difficult to watch, yet quite brief. It is the motivation for and outcome of the acts that are more important. From the uproar it received I was expecting misogynistic violence for its own sake, drawn out and gratuitous. Instead von Trier forces us to question our morals, guilt and the limits of our acceptance.

Far from the ‘torture porn’ of films such as Eden Lake or the Saw franchise, the savagery of Antichrist serves only to emphasise von Trier’s point and ensure that we grasp its gravity. Like the narrative itself, only key moments of violence are shown. This technique endears me greatly and makes the film far more powerful. Rather than wade through the mundanity of the couple’s quotidian, it’s all killer, no filler. The sweeping photography and artistic mood soften the pace just enough so as to keep the audience enthralled.

The film will certainly not be to everyone’s taste. Its brutality is not something to which Hollywood audiences have been desensitised. These moments are however brief enough to make the film quite watchable and commendable in fact for successfully crossing these lines in a palatable fashion.

Antichrist engages various weighty subjects including Christian guilt and the creation myth, anti/feminism, gynocide, and society’s preoccupation with therapy. An essay could be written on each of these and it is for this that I am so intrigued by von Trier’s work. He has effectively produced a film that can be appreciated on many levels, the least of which is a beautiful but terrifying thriller.

Sherlock Holmes

Published on January 4, 2010 in Article By Steph Dyhin, Authors, Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is Guy Ritchie’s welcome return to form. I loved Snatch (2000), a snappier, funnier, post-modern improvement on his 1998 Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which he also wrote and directed. As the gangster flicks rolled out (Revolver was ok, RocknRolla pretty terrible) it was presumed Ritchie was a one trick pony.

Although finally free of Madonna’s apron strings, Ritchie has not strayed far from these familiar themes. He has however wisely left the screen play to newcomer Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham (Don’t Say a Word 2001 and Invictus 2009, the Clint Eastwood directed Nelson Mandela story released this year); who have penned a beautifully original adaptation of Conan Doyle’s well-known characters.

In a cinematic landscape where originality is thin on the ground (especially in crowd-pleasing blockbusters) it is so refreshing to have our hero written as quirky, unassuming and lacking Hollywood hyper-sexuality. Johnson and Peckham have resisted tarring Holmes with the cliché brush and have instead unpacked the literature to make him three dimensional and irresistible.

The irresistibility is no doubt aided by my favourite nearly-crashed-and-burned-in-the-90s born again sex symbol, Robert Downey Jr. The man who began his infamy in April 1996, arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine and an unloaded .357-caliber Magnum handgun, while speeding down Sunset Boulevard (how cool?!), RDJ struggled until 2001 to kick his habits. From there he’s emerged the brooding hero, sneaking back to fame via indie hits A Scanner Darkly (2006) and Zodiac (2007) to last years smouldering Iron Man.

RDJ’s performance is perfectly offbeat. I wish he’d given us a little more but it is, after all, a detective story not the romance it is in my head. Perhaps in the sequel. A lovely complement both aesthetically and in pace is Jude Law, whose absence of sugary pretty-boy cheese makes him likeable for a change. He is instead mildly conflicted, reasonably intelligent and pleasantly tolerable. The pair bounce scrumptious dialogue off each other and Ritchie makes the most of it, revisiting the fantastic rollicking pace that made Snatch the most-watched DVD in my collection. Actually the pace doesn’t really let up – there is barely any sorbet between the courses – but I hardly noticed I was so immersed in the richly drawn world.

Ritchie remains the only director who makes me enjoy watching violence. Gracefully choreographed as in Snatch (the scene where Brad Pitt loses the boxing match is one of my favourites) he this time explores the forethought in slow motion before smacking you with a deliciously satisfying denouement. This is entertainment!

While the world wows at Avatar I was thrilled at the lack of CGI in Sherlock Holmes. The film does contain a fair amount of digital magic but it’s portrayed with restraint, in a tone that matches the film’s setting. The characters believe what is happening and so do we. In fact, Ritchie is a paragon of restraint in his clever use of narrative devices as well – voice over and flash backs both just enough to keep us interested but not so much as to become tiresome or overstated.

Also worth a mention is the music, composed by the ridiculously prolific Hans Zimmer. The instrumentation in particular adds another dimension of enjoyment to the film. It subtly complements the narrative – accordions at the entrance of the French character; discordant clock chimes building suspense as Big Ben looms over the action. Superb.

I loved this film. It’s exactly what I want when I go to the movies to relax. Something that assumes I am intelligent and quick witted, yet still indulges my id. Thinking person’s light entertainment.

The Lovely Bones

Published on December 31, 2009 in Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The Lovely Bones

Based on the award-winning and best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Alice Sebold, ‘The Lovely Bones’ is a remarkable, moving and ambitious movie that I found absolutely enthralling. And in a movie which confronts two worlds divided – the world of the living and the world of the dead, division has been strong amongst critics who either love or hate this film. There seems to be very little middle ground. And I find that incredibly puzzling. Granted, a movie is never going to fully capture the depth and intensity of any book – particularly one that is based on author Sebold’s own personal tragedy of being raped by a rapist whose previous victim had died. Heavy stuff!

There are some amazing performances on offer here, Stanley Tucci as the murderous George Harvey is unsettling, disturbing and creepy beyond belief. Saoirse Ronan, as Susie Salmon, is positively enchanting and puts in a mesmerising performance throughout. A stellar support cast featuring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and Sopranos’ star Michael Imperioli round things off in a movie that also features a musical score by Brian Eno.

Directed by Peter Jackson, who returns to the ‘suburban murder’ schtick after a lengthy absence – (he directed ‘Heavenly Creatures’ in 1994 – a film about two homicidal girls) and deals with an afterlife devoid of any religious overtones (thank fuck for that!) – but an afterlife as interpreted by a young teenage girl. Fanciful, free and confusing – just like teenage life itself.

Critics of the film have commented that the movie is ‘scared’ to look the horror in the face and skips the gory details of the rape, murder and subsequent dismemberment. But do we really need to see that? No we don’t. The horror is all there, permeating under the surface and brimming with sadness and pain as the family splinters into mourning and Susie is left wandering the afterlife looking for some sort of peace – and vengeance.

Inglourious Basterds

Published on August 23, 2009 in Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Inglourious Basterds

It is Quentin Tarantino’s meticulous attention into every minute aspect of his craft that makes me such a fan.

To me, his movies are more than just movies. They transcend all boundaries and become a complete and total package. Every nuance of his actors carries a profound Tarantino influence. Every word of that glorious dialogue that peppers all his movies always leaves a lasting impression years after a film’s release.

And here we are. Inglourious Basterds (SIC) is upon us.

The sparse rolling hills of Nazi-occupied France greets us in what is known as ‘Chapter 1′ in the film and we are quickly presented with a movie villain that defines the word ‘Nazi’. Colonel Hans Landa, so brilliantly played by Christoph Waltz, oozes gregarious sinister spunk and is indeed – evil personified. Meticulous in presentation, blessed with multilingual skills and sheer cunning he is a known as ‘Jew Hunter’. Behind the smile and immaculate presentation (geez, the Nazi’s had the coolest uniforms and regalia huh?) – you just know from the outset that this is one sick individual. Christoph Waltz steals nearly every scene he is in and puts in a performance that is screaming for an Oscar nomination. Utterly brilliant and yeah, you will just love to hate this guy!

Some people might be turned off by listening to Tarantino’s characters go on and on, but I for one find the dialogue in all his films to be the strongest asset. And here in a film which is largely in subtitles, the dialogue still shines and what we have here is the best script since Pulp Fiction. And boy, is that saying something.

Brad Pitt shines as he always does. As Lieutenant Aldo Raine, with a southern drawl that almost needs subtitles itself, he is the leader of these Basterd Nazi killers who mercilessly slay each and every Nazi they encounter. There are some incredibly violent scenes throughout… baseball bats and scalping will make many wince.

But along with the violence, the dialogue, the Tarantino trademarks and such, is a suspenseful, engrossing and rewarding movie-going experience and an interpretation of World War II that has never been committed to film before.

Magnificent!

Moon

Published on August 2, 2009 in Article By Steph Dyhin, Cinema, Movie Of The Week and Sci-Fi. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Moon

‘Moon’ is the debut feature for writer/director Duncan Jones, who would probably like to be known in his own right rather than as the son of David Bowie. He has certainly earned his own notoriety with this stunning sci-fi – a wonderfully unique, character-driven story set on the dark side of the moon.

Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon, Choke) gives a lovely, understated portrayal of Sam Bell, a contractor harvesting Helium 3 to supply the world’s energy needs. Nearing the end of his three-year stint with only GERTY the computer for company (voiced perfectly by Kevin Spacey), Bell begins to question both his identity and his sanity as life on the base becomes a little less ordinary.

Rockwell again proves his versatility in this convincing performance that has us empathising both with his exhaustingly lonely situation and his existential dilemmas. It’s difficult to explain the details of Rockwell’s achievement in this film without any spoilers, so suffice to say he’s a delight to watch. And Spacey provides a great sounding board, allowing depth and interest for a minimalist cast.

As with most genres, originality is scarce in sci-fi these days. Accordingly, there are many elements of ‘Moon’ with which the sci-fi fan will be very familiar. Jones however takes these elements and, more importantly our expectations of them, shakes them up, turns them inside out and rearranges them in a way that is completely unexpected, and wonderfully effective. After watching the trailer, armed with my knowledge of sci-fi canon, I thought I knew what I was in for with ‘Moon’. I couldn’t have been further from the truth, nor more delighted by it.

Filmed in just 33 days during the writers strike, Jones has said that he was able to use top-class effects people on the crew because of the lull. Given the recent trend of did-he-film-that-on-his-mobile-phone? digital effects, it’s great to see something with solid production values, especially important when there’s not a lot going on. Yet they’re downplayed, and serve to support the story rather than overwhelm it. I can’t wait to see what Jones does next – said to be another sci-fi, but more akin to ‘Blade Runner’ – hopefully this is the start of a refreshingly original, passionate contribution to modern cinema.

‘Moon’ has just shown at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and is slated for general release in October.

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

Published on July 17, 2009 in Article By Steph Dyhin, Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 0 Comments Tags: .

Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince

Firstly, disclosure – Yes I am a little Harry Potter mad, and yes, magical realism is my favourite genre. But I’m fairly certain that bias aside, The Half-Blood Prince is both a great film and by far the best in the series.

The most sinister Potter film yet, The Half-Blood Prince features few magical creatures, only a handful of classes and barely a Quidditch match to speak of. Instead we are treated to 153 minutes of human drama, anticipation and despair as Harry, Hermione and Ron face a dark, adult world.

Yates does a great job of balancing out the tension with beautifully funny moments of teen angst that had the sell-out crowd alternately squirming in horror and laughing uproariously. The great part about this being the sixth instalment is that we have grown up with the characters and know them intimately. This means we can feel heartbreaking empathy at just a subtle glance from Hermione to Ron, and desperate horror at the look on Molly Weasely’s face. Yates treats us as Harry Potter fans eagre to get down to the business of the story and the result is all killer no filler. The only sound in the theatre at the poignant climax of the film was a few tell-tale sniffles. Magic.

It has been a few years since I’ve read the novel so I’m fairly confident that my wonder at the film is not too influenced by my knowledge of the story. Instead I think that these young actors have matured into fine thespians before our eyes and can each now hold their own and draw us into their magical world. And what a breathtakingly beautiful world! The stunningly detailed sets are eye-popping in 3D IMAX. It really does feel like you’re right there with Harry and Dumbledore and no Potter fan should miss it.

The Half-Blood Prince is a tense drama peppered with jump-scary frights and touching humour. Those who are not devotees of the books will enjoy it as a film in its own right but aficionados of Rowling’s work will be blown away.

The Watchmen

Published on March 5, 2009 in Cinema, Comic Books, Geek, Movie Of The Week and Superhero. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

Watchmen

God! How does one even begin to review this. I’m blown away! I’m in geekboy/fanboy ubergeek nirvana! I saw Watchmen last night. Watchmen!!! I first read the graphic novel back in the late 80′s. It was a time in my life where in terms of comic-book reading, I was looking to move on from the standard Marvel/DC superhero-fare.

The comic book industry was about to be turned upside down. The birth of the internet was about to hit and many of the leading artists and writers from the big two (Marvel & DC) were about to split and form their own companies. Comic books became more about multiple covers and gimmicks. Fellow fanboys were being sucked in to buying a bazillion copies of each issue no matter how dire and crap the stories were. (I know this first hand. Anyone wanna buy a copy of the 5 different versions of X-Men that were released? I have 30 copies! Howzabout Todd McFarlane’s Spiderman title? Several available!)

I digress.

In short, I was growing up and needed more than the normal superhero schlock that was being offered.

Titles such as V For Vendetta, The Dark Knight Returns, Killing Joke were books I was beginning to gravitate to, and later the brilliant Vertigo imprint hit me hard with titles such as Preacher, Sandman, Swamp Thing, and of course Hellblazer becoming my constant companion.

But the title that turned it all upside down for me, the title that left me with my mouth agape and blew me to hell and back – was Watchmen. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I digested each page as if my life depended on it. I was hooked beyond belief.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect that masterpiece to ever translate on screen.

Last night, from beginning to end, I witnessed an adaption of the Watchmen that reminded me so much of the first time I read it. I was transfixed at the beauty and majesty before me. Each character was so beautifully portrayed by by their respective actors. Scenes from the comic book were perfectly translated to film and many times throughout the movie, I had flashbacks to twenty years ago when I first laid eyes on it all.

So is it as masterful as the Alan Moore’s graphic novel? (Moore who has publicly and vocally disassociated himself from the film) – well, yes and no. There is no way one can totally and faithfully recreate such a vastly dense and intricate tale. Impossible. But it comes close in a ‘edited’ ‘outline’ kinda way. I would have liked to have seen the characters fleshed out more, but with a running time of two hours and forty one minutes… how much longer can one make a commercial release these days?

It is a visual treat but please, please, please – grab a copy of the graphic novel and see for yourself – just how amazingly good the medium can be.

4.5 STARS

The Wrestler

Published on December 19, 2008 in Cinema and Movie Of The Week. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The Wrestler

I was fortunate enough to score a double-pass for an advance screening of ‘The Wrestler’ (thank you Penny!)

Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson had it all. An All American wrestling superstar from the 80′s – he now lives a solitary, lonely and empty existence. He’s been battered from pillar to post and carries the scars and pain of a bygone era. An era in which he was king when the sport of Wrestling was an international phenomenon. Sold out nights at stadiums with crowds of 20,000 plus have now been replaced by dingy little mess halls with 50 people in attendance.

It’s all past tense in Randy’s life. When fans greet him at makeshift and empty conventions, he signs 80′s posters for them with the fans telling him “You were the greatest!”

He was. But he is no more.

Barely able to pay the rent in a grungy trailer park. Barely able to be there for his estranged daughter, ‘The Ram’ is literally a shell of a man that carries physical and mental scars through the remainder of his damaged life.

Brilliantly portrayed by Mickey Rourke, ‘The Wrestler’ could quite easily be interpreting Rourke’s very own life. Rourke IS ‘The Ram’. Quite simply an amazing acting performance from the enigmatic Rourke and I couldn’t imagine another actor in this role – even though Nicolas Cage was originally cast in the lead role.

Director Darren Aronofsky has created an almost like documentary world. Grimey, gritty, grey, blue and cold. Whilst the plot doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen before a hundred times, the real joy and majesty of this film is seeing actors deliver some brilliant, poignant and astounding performances.

I adored this movie. I loved the 80′s references and the soundtrack featuring all the cock rocking hair Metal bands that I still listen to.

Brilliant!

***** 5 Star!

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