Saturday 31 October 2020

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

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 best lines and gets a few meaty emotional scenes (see his meeting with his padre brother) that the other guys don't really have. His double act with Eastwood's unruffled straight man is the highlight of a film littered with them.

There are loads of iconic set pieces - Tuco saved from the noose by Blondie in a recurring scam; Tuco and his gang trying to creep up on Blondie while an army marches noisily through town, until it stops; Blondie's desert march; meeting Sentenza in the prison camp; the bridge sequence; and the final Mexican stand-off in the cemetery. The story is constructed with crosses and double crosses and it flows superbly. Much of this is down to Ennio Morricone's legendary score and Leone's penchant for close-ups, though the amoral tone of the film is a big plus too. And I didn't expect to be laughing so much - it might be the funniest western I've seen.

See also:

Though I don't think it's essential to see these prior to TGTBATU, but why not Leone's two preceding 'dollars' films - A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965). Both star Eastwood, Van Cleef joined the second one. Even better is the original of Fistful, Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961).

Thursday 29 October 2020

Honest Thief

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 day would be ruined. Unstrangle that metaphucker! The premise of this film goes that a bank robber meets a woman and after a year, decides to turn himself in to the law and give back his loot. So far, so stretched. The wrinkle is that a jawbone of an FBI agent sees an angle here and tries to keep the dosh and cry crank re: Neeson. But Liam and his wounded expression are having none of that shit. "I will find you. And I will [cliché redacted]"

Here's a poser - why is this film here now? It was probably made on a mid-level budget (can't be more than $30 million?) with only Neeson and maybe Jai Courtney getting big bucks. Throw in some explosions, some car crashes. This would have been a straight to video boiler in the old days - now it's competing at the top of the box office. Is it purely the Covid desert landscape? It appears that in the top ten worldwide box office so far this year, only ONE film, Tenet, was released after March. A concern for cinema's future?

See also:

Arguably, the best thing Neeson has done is a cameo on Warwick Davis, Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais's, Life's Too Short (TV 2011), but Neil Jordan's Michael Collins (1996) was a good example of his talent.

Thursday 22 October 2020

Baby Done


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 shagging and a preggophile who's into plaster casting you may be forgiven for thinking this is a gross-out comedy but it rides those events with style and wit. The end of the threesome sequence, for example, has Zoe and her friend arguing about the environmental impact of having a baby. And the preggophile character, Brian, played by Nic Sampson, isn't strictly played for weirdness value, though he has some of the best (awkward) laughs. There's also a show-stopping gag near the end that I won't spoil, but it almost brought the house down at the screening I attended.

The supporting cast play it as straight as an arrow, with special mention for Rachel House as a deadpan school principal, and the host of the antenatal class (whose name I sadly can't track down). The presence of Taika Waititi as an executive producer shouldn't be understated. It's as though the Kiwis are riding a kind of Taika wave at the moment, similar to the influence Ricky Gervais had on English comedy a few years back. And this is a positive in my book.

See also:

Difficult to choose as I'm a bit out of my element but maybe Jason Reitman's Juno (2007) about another reluctant mother-to-be and Taika Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) for a similar feel.

Saturday 10 October 2020

David Fincher Top Ten

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 lets 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't remember the minutiae of this film but I  recall it being bloody grim and quite dull, even with sharpy tooth, dribbly face popping up in odd places. The cast is packed with British gems like Charles Dance, Pete Postlethwaite and Paul McGann and Weaver is top bins as usual but this might be the weakest of the Alien series.






7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Not a bad stab at adapting the Stieg Larsson novel, with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig playing the two leads, Salander and Blomkvist. This is mostly on a par with the Swedish version of two years previous but Fincher's style nudges it just above for me. Craig is generally underrated as an actor and the supporting cast is fine but it's Mara who drives the film. She's oddly magnetic but also hard to warm to in this role, which creates a pretty memorable balance.






6. Panic Room (2002)

A nicely paced, home invasion thriller full of Finchery touches and well pitched performances from Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart and Forest Whitaker. I reckon I haven't seen this since release but I remember it being pretty nerve-jangling fun.






5. The Social Network (2010)

A film that used Jesse Eisenberg's inherent unlikeability to good effect, this gets in the top five due to Fincher's (and writer Aaron Sorkin's) alchemy of making a dull reality into a sparkling Shakespearean twat-bastard-fest.






4. Se7en (1995)

Fincher's second feature (and the second to use a weird number thing in the title), this was his 'name on the map' turn. Pitt was a bit raw but Freeman and Spacey brought the gravitas to this delicately assembled scunge-pit of a film. Aside from Delicatessen, I can't remember a BROWNER film. Or a more unsettling one.*

*These are both good things in my book.



3. Gone Girl (2014)

This film jumps genres like it's scanning the dial for Jim Maxwell. It takes a stab at thriller, black comedy, satire, even echoing number 2 in this list at times (see below). Fincher seems so assured with Gone Girl, like he's completely comfortable with its ultimate destination. Career-best turns from Affleck and Pike, with top notch support in Kim Dickens and Tyler Perry as well as a creeping sense of dread, make this a superbly landed piece of cinema.






2. Zodiac (2007)

Zodiac is the film that took on Iron Man, Hulk and Mysterio and left them floundering. Immensely watchable, mostly accurate account of the Zodiac serial killer case in California in the 60s and 70s. Fincher pretty much found his opus here and his detailed camerawork, suspenseful editing and control of pace and performance make this one of the best films of the 2000s so far. A flipping belter this.






1. Fight Club (1999)

A South African fella named Shane called me over at the pram repair warehouse and said, "Bru, you have to see this new Brad Pitt film, Fight Club!" I think I dismissed him with an eyebrow and a scoffing, "Pitt". But how wrong I was. This is a deliciously anarchic, bonkers, anti-capitalism tract with a lovely pre-21st century twist and visuals to lick dry. Ending on a Pixies song just popped an allergy free cherry* on top.


*I'm actually allergic to cherries.