At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
Rating: M Released by Sony Home Ent It's off to the deep dark world of indie for this emotionally rich piece about a pair of estranged siblings, whose concurrent suicide attempts brings them back together.
In The Skeleton Twins, Kristen Wiig is Maggie, a dental hygienist , married to Luke Wilson's Lance, a loveable guy who clearly dotes on his wife and the idea of becoming a father. But unbeknownst to him, Maggie's wrestling with some big secrets behind the veneer of suburbia.
Into their lives comes Milo (Hader), unhappy and suicidal - his initial attempt forms one of the starkest images of the film as red blood seeps up through clear water in an opening shocker.
As the two gradually open up to each other after years apart, the bonds are re-strengthened and tested once again in this darkly tragic yet bittersweet piece.
Hader and Wiig have great comedic chemistry together and comedic timing (as shown in a lip synching sequence) but also have dramatic depth as the emotions start to rain down.
Director Luke Johnson drives the film well, juggling a sensitive line between dark and deliciously funny as the lies we often tell to each other are exposed. But there's an air of sadness that hangs heavy on The Skeleton Twins that's inescapable (aside from a depressingly cliched Hollywood and improbable ending that somewhat sours the experience) and provides fertile ground to explore the relationships.
Poignant, warm, effective and heartbreaking, indie The Skeleton Twins provides hidden depths to these comedic actors and delivers a uniquely skewed view on life that feels all too real and engaging. You could say there's some dramatic meat on these here bones... Rating:
Cast: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald
Director: Laura Poitras
Whistleblower, patriot, traitor, hero.
All of these have been levelled at the subject of the Oscar nominated documentary, CitizenFour, Edward Snowden.
Whether you believe the information or whether you back the theory that if there's nothing to hide then there's nothing to fear, there can be nothing more incendiary than the Edward Snowden revelations.
The disclosure that the Obama adminstration was deeper into invading personal privacy than was believed forms the basis of CitizenFour - and more specifically, the unspooling on screen of the instigator of the leaks, Edward Snowden.
Film-maker Laura Poitras has captured lightning in a bottle in some ways with this, her third doco about personal freedoms and reporting in post 9/11 America, as she manages to chronicle the real time unspooling of Snowden's claims and the releasing of them into the international conscience.
Central to CitizenFour is the eight day hotel siege in June 2013 when Snowden unleashed his claims anonymously via Glenn Greenwald and first stunned the incumbent adminstrations. You could be forgiven for thinking Snowden was some kind of Machievellan plotter lurking in the shadows, rubbing his hands in glee at the unveiling of such bombshells, but Poitras' doco is at pains to show the man as he is, with no histrionics and OTT editing in place to either canonise or demonise the man in any way shape or form.
In fact, the simple unveiling of facts (a lot of facts, almost too much for those not in the least bit au fait with the claims) is the basis of this calm doco, which simply follows events rather than shaping them or fuelling any kind of sentiment.
On that front, CitizenFour is an interesting piece, one which will lead to hyperbolic claims that it's one of the most important documentaries of our time, because of the subject matter.
It's perhaps more interesting that the film itself does little to reveal too much more of the man or those around him - the government is always a shady presence in the piece, seen to be acting off camera with malice aforethough and Snowden himself is a man caught up in a potential maelstrom that he's not fully considered the implications of.
Occasionally though, Poitras peppers her relatively dry piece with some personality and humour; Snowden himself types his password while cloaked under a veil (to prevent over-analysis and digital interpretation of keystrokes); equally, a series of fire alarm tests in the building provoke Snowden to unplug the phone. These could be the actions of a true paranoid man but with calm presentation, Poitras grounds Snowden in a humanity that's relatable and perhaps, sympathetic.
Claims at the end that POTUS is possibly implicated by a new source hang without any follow up (a frustrating symptomatic fact of this doco is that it doesn't reward the casual viewer at all); it's technically well put together, relatively focussed on the global implications of the bombshells, but fails to fully follow up anything; in that way, CitizenFour feels a like a "Day in the life of" piece, which gives you the context of what transpires and why it's happening but with a cold detachedness that's distinctly obvious throughout - even though Snowden's reasoning for not being the story are valid in the context, to make him the subject of the doco and not fully explore that isn't totally seizing on what's available.
While CitizenFour is likely to take the Best documentary category at the Oscars this year, it feels like the documentary adheres very strictly to the codes of its genre which is to its detriment; there's little other than a documenting of facts which makes this feel a little too aloof to be the incendiary bombshell it clearly wants to be.
Ever since TellTale Games set the click and play world afire with The Walking Dead, Fables and now Game Of Thrones, the question has always been when would other studios come to the party?
Well, the Dontnod studio (who developed the much underrated Remember Me) is the first to try and capitalise on the craze with this story set in an American high school (and which utilises some of the rewind technology and ideas you saw in Remember Me).
It's the story of Max Caulfield, a quiet withdrawn teen who has a fascination with a Polaroid camera and who one day experiences a vivid dream with a twister while dosing off in class. Waking up, Max discovers she can rewind time now she's back in her home town of Arcadia Bay. Which is curious for her, but also fortunate as it gives her a chance to help answer the tough questions in class (she's able to retain vital information when she rewinds time) as well as stopping someone from being shot in a bathroom.
Chrysalis is the first part of Life Is Strange and to be honest,it's more about set up than anything else.
It's a typical high school kind of mini movie in a way - all the usual issues are there from catty girls to social awkwardness and exclusion, no familiar trope is left unturned. And yet, it's intriguing more than it is fully engaging.
Max's dialogue occasionally feels a little forced as you wander round exploring everything and sometimes the graphics (such as Max trying to brush her fingers through her hair) don't always work, but it's worth sticking with Life Is Strange. Rewinding gives her a chance to relive it all again and do things differently, but the extra prompting from Max afterwards makes you doubt your choices - it's interesting as they'll all play out in future episodes I guess, but it felt like there wasn't quite as much in terms of consequence as you'd expect (although to be fair, this is only Chapter One).
Arcadia Bay feels like it's something out of Veronica Mars and Buffy meshed together - there's mystery ( a disappeared girl), high school bullying and ostracism and a whole heap of hokum as the time travel is left fully unexplored (though it's a great hook - who wouldn't want to do it all again as a troubled teen?)
All in all, Life Is Strange is a good intriguing start to the five part series. I'm interested to see where it goes and if the emotional pay off is as solid as you'd hope for, given some of the themes explored in Chrysalis.
Cast: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson
Director: Sam Taylor- Johnson
The phrase goes that there's no pleasure without pain.
Sadly, in the film adaptation of EL James' soft-core mummy porn erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey, there's very little actual pleasure and a reasonable amount of cinematic pain.
For those uninitiated in the twisted love story of Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey and unaware of the push and pull of the "romance" and story of the dominant and submissive, the story goes a little like this:
Steele (a mousy, lip-biting Dakota Johnson) finds her life upended when she meets the young billionaire head of a telecommunications corporation Christian Grey (The Fall star Jamie Dornan). There's an attraction between the pair and Grey pursues Steele in manner that many would consider creepy and a cause for a restraining order - but when Steele decides to give him a chance (to which many sensible minded people would scream "Why?") she finds his world is about the BDSM and control rather than love and relationships.
Determined to change him, Steele ploughs on and opens up her virgin world to the pursuit of other pleasures, despite her conflicted views...
It's tempting to simply dismiss the Fifty Shades of Grey series as nothing more than a male fantasy written by a woman (a submissive woman willing to do everything the man wants) and I suspect there's probably a good reason why the book series have been so perennially popular with the imagination and escapism proving a large part of their appeal.
But it can't disguise the fact that the film version of the steamiest book around, which has sent conservative groups into a frenzy of fear that civilisation will end, is so mind-crushingly boring and so terrifically unsexy. (Even if you argue that the core audience will lap it up without question)
To be fair, the cinematography is stunning; pristine business vistas, Grey's world is all staunch regimented colours and some wonderful lighting and shots are peppered throughout; even Dakota Johnson brings a rounded humanity to the relatively one-note virginal Steele that's surprising - and there are even dashes of humour throughout that prove unexpected and welcome.
But in between the push and pull of the romantic tussle (Steele's continual argument is that she doesn't want to do this relationship, then she does and then she she doesn't), the terrible dialogue is endlessly distracting and unintentionally hilarious.
Lines like "If you were mine, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week" or "I'm not going to touch you until I have your written consent" as well as scenes of butt-naked Jamie Dornan aka Grey playing a piano as he's troubled elicit more titters on the screen than the dreaming that potentially they'd garner on a small page.
Equally, there is so much talking about contracts, submission and what it entails, the back and forth of deliberations, that the apparently inherent deviant sexiness of the book is completely lost in the execution on the screen - and is certainly not the MO of those likely to whip themselves up into an outraged frenzy.
None more so than the actual softcore overly scored sex scenes, which are so technically brought to life, it's like watching an unerotic manual enacted by robots whose slightest interaction and touch elicits OTT deep breathing and ecstatic moans.
Films like 9 1/2 Weeks, Unfaithful, Nymphomaniac and Basic Instinct may have shocked and been derided over the years but at least they had a degree of sensuality and danger that struck a chord (even if people wouldn't admit it).
Also, a relative lack of chemistry between the leads doesn't help matters - sure, there are scenes of Steele biting her lip and Grey looking lustfully on and plenty of those breathless moments when they're in each other's arms, but the crippling lack of any kind of sizzling intensity makes it nigh on unwatchable. Dornan doesn't help with committed wooden delivery in the film which starts off with rom-com trappings and then moves into long winded melodrama that belie its fan-fiction origins.
I'm sure all of this won't matter, though - the ticket sales are already through the roof and the fans are already crying that the critics don't understand (a claim levelled at so many of us during the Twilight Saga releases), with the phenomenon likely to be massive at the box office and relatively bullet-proof.
Fifty Shades of Grey may be an attempt at a twisted love story, but it's so engrossed in its own seriousness and execution that it ends up being tied up in knots of its own as it works slavishly to satiate its trembling audience, rather than attract new recruits to the cause.
Terribly boring, terrifically unsexy and with a cliffhanger ending that's laughable, this series is likely to be style over substance; a damp squib of an R18 film that's afraid to shows its wares or get its sizzle on.
In fact, it's in dire need of some cinematic viagra for the following two movies.
German movie Wetlands is likely to outrage the more conservative with its opening 10 minutes which involve masturbation with vegetables, extremely dirty toilets and more frank talk than you'd expect in an Irvine Welsh novel.
It's the story of Helen, an outsider who explores all her sexual taboos and society's no-nos with a joie de vivre and shocking simplicity. When she ends up in hospital, she and a nurse end up forming a relationship - and Helen's life starts to change.
There's a punky vibe to this film, and there's no denying the energy, day glo colours and energy of the lead help it propel along, making the shocking seem relatively ordinary and all part of daily life, as well as acceptable. Essentially a coming of age tale (in more ways than one) stick with Wetlands past its bold opening section - it's rewarding but in ways you may not expect.
Rating: M Released by Sony Home Ent Based on the SJ Watson novel and from the writer / director of the underrated The American and Brighton Rock, comes this mind games/ head trip high concept thriller. Kidman is Christine, a severe amnesiac, who wakes every day having had the last 24 hours of her life wiped out after a traumatic car accident, which left her battered and beaten. She wakes up each day with her husband Ben (Colin Firth), who patiently explains what's going on.
But each day, unbeknownst to Ben, Christine gets a call from a Dr Nash (soft spoken Mark Strong) who tells her to find a camera in her closet which has videos on explaining what's been happening. Along with these video diaries, Christine begins to get memories come flooding back - as the truth starts to slowly unfurl.
Recalling Memento to begin with thanks to its wall of photographs and written post-it notes around the house, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it was a case of similar territory.
Essentially a three-hander, Joffe opts for a psychological build up where the pendulum of truth and mistrust swings back and forth on Ben as Christine delves deeper into her own past and makes discoveries she's not prepared for.
Kidman delivers a variety of wide-eyed and horrified and shocked looks as the various situations demand of her but just manages to convince of the emotional rollercoaster she's boarded daily. Equally, Firth goes from fully supportive to fully shifty and back again in as many turns as the movie spins on its axis. And Strong is his usual solid self as the doctor who offers help to Christine, unasked for and therefore inviting questions over his motive. But none of the actors really ever shine through; they're solid enough, but don't dazzle.
The problem comes with the denouement of this movie (don't worry, no spoiler ahead) which is somewhat inevitable given how nobody really shows their hand until late in the piece. As it's a three-hander, and based on a book, whereas the twist may be slightly more plausible on the page, it's difficult to execute on screen given that a late in the day addition would throw implausibility into the mix.
In among the maudlin and melancholic tone, Before I Go To Sleep works on the mind games front and does keep you guessing throughout, before its totally OTT ending throws any sensibility out of the window. It's a shame because the suspense built up and the back-and-forth questions are quite effective during the thriller; sadly though, the moment it ends, you're suffering from the same affliction as Christine, because it's relatively unmemorable.
Rating: M Released by Universal Home Ent another re-imagining of the origins of the Dracula story in time for Hallowe'en.
It's 1442 Transylvania and Hobbit star Luke Evans is hunky-but-troubled Prince Vlad, who's forced into taking terrible measures to protect his people from the oncoming might of the Turkish army, led by warlord Mehmud (Dominic Cooper, all guy-liner and one note).
After discovering an immortal devil atop a mountain cave, Vlad the impaler makes a pact with the creature to save his family from death and slavery and his kingdom from slaughter. But that deal with Charles Dance's Faust-like demon means that Vlad has 3 days to resist the urge to drink human blood or forever be changed into a creature of the night.
Dracula Untold is more a medieval fantasy fight film than a full on blood-sucking Dracula flick.
Moping and brooding, the troubled Luke Evans as Vlad the Impaler does the best he can with a fairly anaemic script that's more about family, fathers and sons, reincarnation and destined tragedy than seeking out scantily clad ladies and biting them.
It's surprisingly bloodless too, with most of the proceedings being taken up by some very impressive FX shots from heat seeking infra red vision for the Dracula creatures watching from the dark, peeling off of skin when struck by sunlight, some smart CGI bat work as they swirl like an out of control twister to an opening 3D freeze frame shot which shows off the stylistic vision of first time director Gary Shore. As well as the FX frenzy (and the usual Dracula horror cliches - millions of bats flying out of mountains), the main thrust of this revision is an attempt to give Dracula more of a tortured almost emo-like conflict and make his ascent to what he is a more internal moral struggle as he battles with the monsters within, trying not to become the monster himself.
Which is perhaps a good thing, because a lack of any real solid antagonist during the muddy proceedings to face off with is somewhat crippling. Cooper's Mehmud is bereft of screen time, character development and consequently is as little a threat as you'd ever encounter, with his sole machinations being to get 1,000 boys conscripted into his army. Likewise, his wife (played byEnemy star Sarah Gadon) has little to do and is subsequently wasted.
That said, there are some pleasing touches and references to theDracula mythology; a believer in Dracula who wants to be his servant raises a few nostalgic smiles (including the iconic "Yes Master" deference line) but the desire to fill the movie with darkly lit battle scenes where the Turkish hordes are covered with bats makes for somewhat eye-crippling viewing.
Along with a frankly ludicrously tacked on final sequence, and so much wood at times that it's almost fatal for a man troubled by stakes, this Dracula is somewhat of a muddled outing with some bad dialogue riddled through the script. It lacks the bite of the start of a franchise, but should be applauded for trying to humanise the monstrous myth as this movie tries to Bat-ter your heart as well as the senses.
It's off to the deep dark world of indie for this emotionally rich piece about a pair of estranged siblings, whose concurrent suicide attempts brings them back together.
