Film Shapes

  Caught this classic at the Girls' School Cinema in East Perth recently and I'd forgotten how good it was. It's a touch under 3 hours but even sitting on a weird beanbag thing, trying to make the most of the bottomless popcorn (I don't even really like popcorn but it was part of the prize), didn't detract from the fun of Sergio Leone's madness. Like most spaghetti westerns, this was filmed with the actors speaking their own languages - Spanish, Italian and English - with voice actors dubbing over in post. Apparently, even the three leads had to do their own dubbing as the whole film was shot without sound.  Speaking of the leads, the film starts in reverse -  Eli Wallach, as Tuco, is introduced first, then Lee Van Cleef, as Sentenza (or Angel Eyes), and finally Clint Eastwood, as Blondie (or The Man With No Name); so The Ugly, the Bad and the Good . Van Cleef gives good nasty and Eastwood is laconically funny but Wallach is the star for my money. He has all the...

Liam Neeson has had quite an interesting career, hasn't he? The bloke's nearly 70 and in the last 12 years, he's peppered his CV with (mostly) meathead action fare. Yet early on he drifted more towards worthy or political dramas. Consider these disparate titles: The Mission, The Commuter, A Prayer for the Dying, A Walk Among the Tombstones, Schindler's List, The Grey, Rob Roy, Taken, Michael Collins, Taken 2 . I could go on. If Matthew McConaughey has had his 'McConaissance', what do we call Neeson's latter-day path? A Neetrogression? Nah. Neeterioration? Hmmm. Maybe a simple Neescent? Let's go with that. [Copyright Oct 2020]. The thing is, he's a fine actor and a really likeable screen presence. So what's with all the dreck? The above reads kind of like I'm trying to fill a word count. This is possibly due to the puddle that is Honest Thief . When I say puddle, I guess I mean it's shallow enough to be annoying but not so deep that your d...

Baby Done is a film I had my suspicions about going in but it actually surprised me with its odd Kiwi charm and no little humour. This is a maternity comedy/drama from New Zealand, directed by Curtis Vowell (only one other feature to his name) and written by Sophie Henderson (who has a similarly light CV as a writer). But Henderson specifically has to take the bulk of the credit here for splashing a bit of life into this genre and dealing out some great lines and set-ups. The leads, Rose Matafeo and Matthew Lewis (Auckland is a long way from Hogwarts), bounce off each other perfectly well, each having a few golden moments to shine. The tension comes from the fact that Zoe (Matafeo) doesn't really want a baby and would prefer to go to Canada for the International Tree Climbing Championship (yep, apparently it's a thing), yet Tim (Lewis) is super chuffed and ready to settle down. The low key feel to the film is a strong point. If I mention piss, vomit, attempted threesome shagg...

With Fincher's first feature in 6 years, Mank , due soon, I figured I'd do a top ten of his other films. Conveniently, he's only made ten features, on top of dozens of music 'videos', as well as some TV and a few shorts. But let's focus on the films. 10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) Where to start? Well, let me say that  Benjy is the only Fincher film I hated. Full of heart-felt whimsy attempting depth, it misses just about every mark. This is trite bollocks with very little to raise it, save from the unimpeachable Cate Blanchett. Take her out of it and you're left with a certified steamer. 9. The Game (1997) Not a bad film, and made with some late 90s panache, but it just didn't elevate for me. Not much wrong with the cast, Douglas and Penn are usually watchable at worst. There are the requisite reversals and rug-pulls but maybe that's part of the problem - too much of this malarkey? 8. Alien³ (1992) I don...