Prisoners: Movie Review

Prisoners: Movie Review

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Maria Bello, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis
Director: Denis Villeneuve

From the "What would you do?" file, comes this brand new bleak thriller which is edge of your seat stuff from the moment it begins.

Hugh Jackman stars as blue collar worker Keller Dover whose motto is "Be ready"; his basement is prepped for the worst - be it hurricane or nuclear incident. But Keller and his wife (Maria Bello) are not prepared for what happens when they go to their neighbours Nancy and Franklin (Davis and Howard) on Thanksgiving.

When Keller's daughter Anna and their friends' daughter Joy go missing, their worlds are thrown into utter disarray. The only lead is a ramshackle RV seen lurking around the neighbourhood prior to their disappearance. But when the police, lead by detective Loki (Gyllenhaal in commanding form) have to let go their only suspect, the mentally retarded Alex (a creepy Paul Dano), Keller goes into overdrive, vowing to do whatever it takes to rescue his daughter.

But Keller discovers desperation has a price - is he willing to pay it?

Prisoners is without a doubt, a film of dread and utter creepiness. Proffering up suspense, masterful acting and unbelievably mysterious twists as the tale is told, it's gripping in a sickening way as it unfurls. Mainly it's due to Hugh Jackman's Keller Dover; his character is pushed to the very edge and the film begins with him reciting the Lord's Prayer, seeking guidance for the day. When it's repeated again later in the film, it's to bear witness to a man on the edge, about to make a monumental defining move, but one which feels completely understandable and horrifically relatable. Jackman brings to the screen a soaring rage-filled performance which has set the standard for the wronged man and the man seeking vengeance. But it's never a showy turn merely one that shines due to its intensity and one which fills the screen with realism.

Likewise Gyllenhaal and Dano; their performances are more dialled down than Jackman but they don't lack any less of the intensity. Certainly Dano's quiet performance as the man child accused of the abduction is totally memorable and disturbing; Gyllenhaal brings a steely yet subtle determination to the rural cop uncovering a world of horror as he tackles every parents' worst nightmare. It's also an exploration of evil begetting evil as all involved spiral deeper down into the abyss.

So it's a shame to note that despite all this praise for a grim and gritty thriller that's relentless and captivating as it unspools in Mid-America that there comes a caveat to the film - its ending. Despite the suspense that's been built up over the 140 minutes of running time, a Hollywoodesque ending which sees the normal procedures jettisoned in favour of forced drama; likewise, a final sequence which would have ended the movie on a formidably downbeat and realistic moment is tossed out (no doubt on the whim of a test audience) to satiate the Hollywood machine.

Overall, Prisoners represents a crime thriller film which owes a debt to the darkness of the likes of The Killing and The Vanishing and its ilk - it sickens as it tightens its grip on you as the emotional complexity builds to fever pitch, leaving you clenched to the edge of your seat as its powerful yet realistic story reveals its twists and turns with unnerving yet breath-taking intensity.

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The Company You Keep: DVD Review

The Company You Keep: DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Madman Home Entertainment

Based on the novel by Neil Gordon, Robert Redford directs and stars in this film about the Weather Underground, a radical protest group in America back in the late 60s plotted to overthrow the government.

When a former member of the group, Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon) hands herself into the FBI after 30 years in hiding following a bank robbery in which one person was murdered, local journalist Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) finds his interest piqued. A series of clues and a tip off from the FBI leads Shepard to uncover Jim Grant (Robert Redford) a former Weatherman who's wanted for murder. But when the web starts to get closer to netting Grant, he goes on the run.

However, Shepard doesn't believe he's guilty of the crime he's accused of...

The Company You Keep is a solid, if unspectacular thriller which benefits from a truly great ensemble cast. The likes of Stanley Tucci, Richard Jenkins, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick, Sarandon, Brendan Gleeson and Nick Nolte to name but a few show the depth of the cast which can give a story the venerability and reliance it needs as it unspools. It's a mix of putting 1960s idealism into a modern day setting while muddying the waters with old age - and it works well with the likes of Robert Redford at the helm. Occasionally though, it feels like these actors are simply rolled out, with little to work with - a series of extended cameos if you will. Certainly, Howard's Cornelius, an agent in charge of the hunt, seems to do little other than bark out traditional FBI cliches - and Anna Kendrick is woefully underused.

And yet, it never fully seems to grasp the mettle of thriller and give you as much tension or suspense as you'd expect as it chops and changes back and forth to Redford being on the run and Shepard doing the research. There's a real lack of suspense as the story unfolds despite some killer scenes. Restrained and reasonable, The Company You Keep is a great movie for an afternoon's viewing indoors on the small screen with its knotty conundrum of moral principles years down the line. While not quintessentially gripping Redford, it's just a shame that the source material hasn't transcribed better to the big screen, given the fact there's such a stunning cast involved.

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Doctor Who - The Green Death: Special Edition: DVD Review

Doctor Who - The Green Death: Special Edition: DVD Review

Rating: PG
Released by BBC and Roadshow Home Entertainment

The one with the maggots gets a special edition release in this latest from the 1970s cupboard of Classic Doctor Who.

Starring Jon Pertwee as the Doc, it's an eco-tale of mining gone wrong in a Welsh village, where the miners have been turned green. On his companion Jo's insistence (Katy Manning in fine form), he sets out to investigate.

Doctor Who - The Green Death: Special Edition is a good solid release with a fan favourite story forming the backbone of it. But it's the extras which have been bundled onto the special edition which make this such a quality release. A documentary looking at the return of the series in 2005 is the main piece, with Russell T Davies is a fascinating watch - the Sarah Jane Adventures episodes where Jo Grant returned are thrown on too; and a making of doco add a lot to the package.

It may not be the most robust of classic Who but it is popular and does showcase a show in its stride - and its sad ending is one of the most iconic in the show.

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Storage Wars: S4 DVD Review

Storage Wars: S4 DVD Review

Rating: M
Released by Magna Home Entertainment

Jarrod, Brandi, Dave, Darrell, and Barry - along with Laura and Dan - are all back for another year of Storage Wars.

The show, where they bid against each other for the possessions within storage lockers is an addictive and totally guilty pleasure. Sure, you could argue this is a reality show in some ways with some of it feeling scripted in parts as they spar off each other.

There's a lack of Dave in this latest batch of episodes - while I know he had a big spat with the show's producers, it seems like he's being sidelined in these - but thankfully, a few other characters crop up here and there to fill some of the void.

But the fun of this show is predominantly what's unearthed in the lockers - be it hidden treasures or collectable trash - the fun is in the guessing and the estimating so on that front, the show scores as an education and an entertaining one at that.

While I'm not sure how much mileage is left in the show, this latest series is a welcome addition.

Extras: Extra scenes - a nice touch here and there.

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Thale: DVD Review

Thale: DVD Review

Rating: 13
Released by Vendetta Films

Thale is a Norwegian folklore horror film.

It recalls a mix of early X Files spookiness and Norwegian bleakness as proffered up by way of Rare Exports. 

A duo, Leo and Elvis, who clean crime scenes, end up at a seemingly deserted cabin in the woods (always with the cabins) cleaning up after an old man goes missing and half his body remains. 

When the duo discover a huldra, a sacred forest creature in the basement, it all goes a bit haywire. 

Mixing a few scares and some relative low budget horror, Thale is a short and relatively creepy sweet treat. It pulls together a good atmosphere, some nice lo-fi thrills and shocks and is a curious mix of spooky and weird nature.

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Mood Indigo: Movie Review

Mood Indigo: Movie Review

Cast: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Omar Sy
Director: Michel Gondry

L'ecume des Jours is the latest from acclaimed video director Michel Gondry whose distinctive visual style has its lovers and its haters.

Starring Romain Duris as Colin, it's the story of his doomed romance with Audrey Tautou's Chloe. Colin is desperate to meet the love of his life as all his friends are loved up; he loves the food from his cook, whom he lives with (Intouchables' Omar Sy) and his friend Chick (Gad Elmaleh) has also found someone. As he intones: "I demand to fall in love too".

So, when Colin goes to a party and falls head over heels with Audrey Tautou's Chloe, their whirlwind romance kicks in. But problems develop on the honeymoon when Chloe falls sick after inhaling a waterlily seed which grows on her lung - and the romance begins to wither for Chick too.

Initially, Mood Indigo is hardly about plot and more about visuals as it brings the 1947 novel Froth on the Daydream to the screen.

In fact, to start off with, it's all too much of a quirkiness overload as all kinds of visuals jump around the place in a manner similar to Peter Gabriel's iconic music video Sledgehammer. Fruit moves all over the place in stop motion frames, and the screen creaks with visual overload as Gondry piles layer upon layer upon layer of quirk - a doorbell rings but instead of staying motionless, it sprouts legs and scuttles like a beetle around the doorframe; a piano when played spouts cocktails as well as notes, there's just no stopping to the endless assault on the eyeballs.

In fact, the initial overload is nearly all too much and quite off putting as the world around Colin begins to grow, but you become accustomed to it or mentally check out. Those who endure the film and its rather free-forming narrative will be rewarded in parts with a tragedy but also a film which frustrates as it attempts to fulfil.

The current release has lost 35 minutes from the film festival release, and while there's some discussion among critics as to whether that's any better, the latest cut of Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo feels a lot like two tonally different films harshly jammed together. Mood Indigo starts out bright, breezy and colourful but as the romance between Colin et Chloe starts to flounder, the colour of the film drains, and a reeking decay settles literally and metaphorically over it. The narrative and threads appear to end abruptly and characters suffer fates which materialise out of left-field and leave you feeling cheated as it heads towards its end.

While Mood Indigo, with its quirky visual symphony, is really a film of two halves. Neither are terrible and both have their merits. If anything, this version of Mood Indigo, with its cuts imposed for reasons unknown, represents a tantalising peek into a piece which is surreal, nonsensical and utterly original.

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The Family: Movie Review

The Family: Movie Review

Cast: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, Tommy Lee Jones, John D'Leo
Director: Luc Besson

The mobster genre gets another shot with this dark dramedy, The Family.

A bearded greying Robert De Niro is Mob Boss, Giovanni Manzoni, a notorious mafioso who, along with his family has been forced into the witness protection programme after snitching on the powers that be within the family. But, despite being undercover, Giovanni, his wife Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), daughter Belle (Glee's Dianna Agron) and son Warren (D'Leo), are constantly having to move from one home to the next.

This time, the family find themselves relocated to Normandy, along with grizzled handler Robert Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) in another attempt to settle in to a life undercover. However, Giovanni is having trouble staying within the confines of their house and decides to reinvent himself as a writer and that he will write his memoirs.

But Giovanni's unable to control his sadistic violent streak and finds his patience stretched by the French attitude to life; meanwhile, the rest of his family are trying to settle into the humdrum life - Belle's obsessed with her older Maths tutor, Maggie's bored with the snobby French attitudes and Warren's running a series of rackets within school because that's all he knows.

Thanks to one minor slip (and major coincidence) the Mob discovers where the Manzonis are hiding....

The Family is an odd mess of a film.

The mafia fish out of water plots are pitched as comedy initially, and seem to play heavily on the fact that De Niro's spent most of his life playing something to do with the mob. But there are scant laughs along the way that it makes it difficult to latch onto what exactly Besson is pitching for - sure, there are some smart, sly digs at the stereotypes of the French and the American ways of life and sensibilities that just hit the mark but they are largely sidelined after the opening 20 minutes.

And then there's the extreme violence - the brutal beatings dished out by Giovanni to a plumber who doesn't show on time and who disrespects him, Belle's psychotic smackdown of one kid who steals her pencil case despite looking like Britney Spears, Maggie's destruction of a supermarket - it's all quite jarring within the confines of what's trying to be done and adds to the confusion of the overall tone of the film.

Robert De Niro though, shows some real life in his acting, which has not been seen for years - and the meta moment when his character is invited to the local film club and ends up watching Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas suggest the film which has been struggling for a direction is about to go somewhere original. But it doesn't - it settles in for playing out all the cliches and offering no twists in its slightly overlong plot. It all results in a Besson style gun fight at the end and adds to the overall unbalanced feeling of the film.

All in all, The Family aims for dysfunctionally dark and doesn't quite go far enough; likewise, with its subtle comedy and commentary, it's guilty of holding back rather than fully going for it. Which means all in all that the tonally inconsistent mafia film The Family just needs to fuhgeddaboudit.

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