Film Review - Four Christmases

Christmas has long offered fertile material for film makers. Every year, Hollywood produces a raft of sleigh-belled, Santa-hatted fare for our delectation, and often the forced jollity of it all fails to entice us.

Last year’s disappointing Fred Claus was a case in point, so it is surprising that its star Vince Vaughn decided to go with another festive film so soon. Four Christmases, however, exceeds expectations by being that rare thing: a Christmas comedy that is genuinely funny.

Brad (Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) love each other very much, but hate to spend Christmas with their families (as Brad puts it, you can’t spell ‘families’ without ‘lies’). Every year since these yuppies met, they’ve gone on a fabulous holiday to avoid traipsing between the four households of their divorced parents. But when all flights are grounded on Christmas Day, they have to do their duty and visit their loved ones.

The couple progress from one parent to the next, each prone to causing major embarrassment and physical injuries to their offspring. There’s Brad’s redneck father and wrestling brothers, his hippy mother and her toy boy, and Kate’s born-again mum. Brad and Kate are confronted with everything they hate about their pasts, but end up seeing what they are missing from their future in a series of very sweet moments that intercut the slapstick.

What really lift this up from your usual romantic comedy mush are the performances. Vaughn and Witherspoon are very convincing as a couple, despite the height difference (they look like they’ve been drawn to different scales), and the parents are all played by Oscar winners (Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek and Mary Steenburgen).

Much of the script was improvised by the actors, and this is where Vince Vaughn really excels, churning out pop culture references and barbs with his cuddly charm. Witherspoon shows the comic timing that gained her so many fans in Legally Blonde and delivers the more serious scenes beautifully.

The director, Seth Gordon, has only one other feature under his belt, the cult documentary King of Kong about obsessive video game players. Four Christmases seems like an odd follow up, but it does touch on a real and universal theme: our families might drive us crazy, but we need them.

We may also need this gentle and hilarious reminder when we are struggling to stay sane in December.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

For Kevin Smith fans, Zack and Miri Make a Porno was a slightly worrying prospect. It’s not set in the same filmic universe as most of Kevin Smith’s films (you can tell this because it’s not set in New Jersey, and Jeff Anderson’s character isn’t called Randal). The only other film that he’s made without Jay and Silent Bob was Jersey Girl, an ok film struck down by the curse of Gigli. There is no need to fear, however, because from the very first scene it is clear that we are in classic Kevin Smith mode; the movie is chock-full of the filthy humour, endearing moments and lack of cinematographic flair that we have come to love.

Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) have been best friends since high school, and share a flat. Faced with major money troubles, they decide to get out of debt by making and starring in a porn film. They find that turning a platonic relationship into a sexual one has consequences.

The script is full of Smith’s trademark dirty discussions and some pretty gross moments. The scenes where the ragtag cast and crew make the film are very amusing and reminiscent of his debut, Clerks¸ shot in the shop where he worked outside of business hours. Porn is an innately funny genre, what with the ridiculous scripts and acting, and this film gets its money’s worth out of the concept.

The cast is eclectic, and all the better for it. It is always nice to see Smith regulars Jeff Anderson and Jason Mewes on screen, this time joined by real porn stars Traci Lords and Katie Morgan. Josh Rogen is cuddly and sweet as Zack (a character obviously based on Kevin Smith) and Elizabeth Banks is charming as Miri, if a little bland. She is definitely flavour of the month in Hollywood, but her face so closely resembles Parker Posey’s that I always have unrealistic expectations of her wackiness and comedic talent, leaving me slightly disappointed.

But it is Justin Long (last seen in Die Hard 4.0 and Ed) who steals the show in a single scene. Using an unnaturally low voice to play a gay porn star, he manages to be at once creepy, cool and hilarious. It is the highlight of a very funny film with a very sweet heart.

Review - Quantum of Solace

I wasn’t as enthused as everyone else by Daniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond in Casino Royale. Although reasonably enjoyable, in my mind Bond does not have sandy hair and a face like a beefy Sid James, and it was all a bit too serious. Quantum of Solace continues in the same vein, as our hero grieves Vespa Lynd by moodily killing people all over the world.

Bond is on the trail of a new, and very secretive, terrorist organisation. One of its members is Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric, playing a slightly more evil version of Jools Holland), a supposed environmentalist who likes staging coups and ruining the lives of poor people. Bond’s determination to stop him, against the wishes of MI6, leaves him a target.

Craig is robotic and emotionless – Bond is still so upset about his girlfriend dying in the last film that he is not allowing himself to feel. It may be intentional, but his ice blue eyes are so cold that it is hard to sustain one’s interest. Judy Dench is suitably matriarchal as M, but I was upset by her incongruous use of a short ‘a’ sound in the word ‘bastard’; she may be from Yorkshire, but that’s not the RP she was taught at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

My main concern is that most of what made Bond films special has gone out the window. The villain, though creepy, is perhaps not quite evil enough, and the Bond girls (Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton) don’t get much screen time or a chance to be glamorous. If it wasn’t ‘cool’ enough, maybe they shouldn’t make them at all. Hopefully, with Casino Royale an origin film and Quantum of Solace about getting over that origin, the next instalment will see Bond emerge as a confident, suave and slightly more cheery fellow.

The action scenes here are gritty, exciting and numerous, almost making up for the shortcomings; this Bond is not averse to getting into fist fights, and looks like he could handle himself. Overall this is solid action fare, with car chases, explosions and plenty of hanging off scaffolding to enjoy, but it will not be anyone’s favourite Bond film.

Review - Gomorrah

As one watches the Godfather or Goodfellas, life in organised crime does look sort of glamorous – until the bullets start flying and the knives start slitting throats, of course. In Gomorrah, it doesn’t seem glamorous for even a second. This brutal Italian film examines the Camorra, Naples’ version of the Sicilian Mafia, and the damage it does. As you watch these men and boys go about their lives in crumbling concrete estates soaked in grey light, you would be forgiven for thinking you were watching a 1980s Mike Leigh film. This is certainly not the sun-drenched Italy of travel brochures, all blue seas and pasta.

Gomorrah follows the lives of disparate people involved with the Camorra, which the viewer learns has its finger in many pies (toxic waste dumping being the most upsetting for someone like me who was brought up on Captain Planet). Young Totò (Salvatore Abruzzese) is a new recruit who we see losing his innocence quite spectacularly. The fact that this boy does so in an England football shirt makes it all the more upsetting. Marco (Marco Macor, a dead ringer for a young Robert De Niro) and Ciro (Ciro Petrone) are two bumbling wannabe gangsters taking on the local Don. Pasquale (Salvatore Contalupo) is a tailor creating haute couture gowns for the Camorra who attempts some very risky moonlighting for a rival, and Don Ciro (Gianfelice Imparato) is a money collector trying to survive as a turf war rages around him. These are just some of the stories woven together to form a picture of a city living in fear of this organisation, and there are none more afraid than those working for it.

The film is based on a book by Roberto Saviano, who now lives under police protection because of the attention he has brought to this secret society. Shot in a grainy, semi-documentary style, everything feels extremely authentic. The lingering shots do slow the pace to a crawl at times and it is not always clear which sides some of the characters are on, but overall this is a bloody and eye-opening introduction to a way of life we don’t often hear about, and one which seems to be without end.

Review - W.

It is perhaps indicative of the quality of this biopic that it is bookended by the most banal of President George W. Bush’s crises: the pretzel in the throat incident. When I heard that the notorious lefty Oliver Stone was going to film the story of the most hated President in living memory, I (like everyone else) expected a savage indictment of the man. In the end this film, like the partial choking, is mildly amusing but ultimately harmless.

The most puzzling thing about this movie is that it completely bypasses the interesting aspects of W.’s life and presidency: the draft dodging, the drinking, the religious epiphany, the wrangling of the 2000 election, September 11th. Instead, Stone and screenwriter Stanley Weiser have chosen to show a few snatches of Yale frat life, a bit of the ‘lost years’ doing various jobs, and then the decision making process leading to the invasion of Iraq. Stone was presumably trying to avoid the ‘controversial’ tag as much as possible by pulling his punches, using the pretence of concentrating on the inner workings of George. Of course, he doesn’t seem to have very interesting inner workings. All we learn is that he has a very good memory, a bad case of sibling rivalry and a rich Daddy who is disappointed in him.

That’s not to say that Stone has portrayed his subject positively. Infamous ‘Bushisms’ are awkwardly shoe-horned into the script to make him look ridiculous. He comes across as an idiot and a rich kid trying to be a good ole boy, but he also seems quite innocent. His advisors, particularly the shadowy figure of Karl Rove, are the ones manipulating his hot head to their advantage.

Josh Brolin plays the current President of the United States with an authentically inauthentic Texan drawl and just the right level of down-home, smirking confidence, and he does well with the material given to him. The rest of the Bush clan are also nicely played. Elizabeth Banks comes across as a very sweet Laura Bush, and James Cromwell is suitably domineering as the elder George. The real let down comes with W.’s inner circle, particularly Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice. These parts are just bad caricatures; the scenes in the Oval Office would resemble an SNL skit if the script was at all witty.

All in all, this is a slow, boring, incomprehensible film. I really do not know what Stone was trying to achieve by rushing out this film in time for the election. Perhaps it would have been understandable in 2004, but as there is no danger of W. getting another term, it doesn’t seem necessary to inflict this upon us. The subject of George W. Bush would be better explored by an out and out comedy or by a serious look at his life and motivations. He probably deserves both. As it is, this is a half-baked take on a few scenes from his life. Like the pretzel, it could have done some real damage, but instead is easily wiped from the memory.

London Film Festival review - Frost/Nixon

Being young as I am, David Frost is the man I used to watch on a Sunday morning before I had Sky and had the power to flick to something interesting. Sitting there seriously in a suit interviewing the Shadow Transport Secretary, to my generation he is pretty indistinguishable from a David or Jonathan Dimbleby. There was Through the Keyhole, or course, which hinted at hidden depths (or should that be hidden shallows?), but he was just another journalist to us.

However, 30 or 40 years ago, Frost was a very big deal. The British satirical sketch show That Was the Week That Was he fronted actually transferred to America, something that nowadays would still be a bit of a coup, and he had chat shows in Britain, America and Australia. Then there are the Nixon interviews. The friend I took to see Frost/Nixon at the London Film Festival had never even heard of them, and I knew very little; Watergate is not the historic touchstone for us that it is to people glued to their television screens at the time. Nevertheless, we found this account of the meetings between Frost and the disgraced ex-President to be absolutely riveting.

Beginning with Nixon’s resignation in 1974, the films follows Frost (Michael Sheen) as he tries to arrange the interview everyone wants but no-one can get. Nixon (Frank Langella) has retired to his California beach house, making ends meet with low-end speaking engagements. He agrees to Frost’s request for an interview because he thinks he’ll be in for an easy ride. With the American television networks not interested, David must raise Nixon’s considerable fee himself. Finally, in 1977, they sit down to talk in front of the cameras.

The tension built up to this point is palpable. The director Ron Howard has managed to make the film as nerve-wracking as Apollo 13, one of his previous efforts. The years of preparation and study on both sides come down to a few hours of filming. This is a battle of wits, and only one person can emerge victorious.

Sheen and Langella are wonderful in their roles, both hitting the right balance between impersonation and characterisation. David Frost comes off as a bit of a berk, really. A man with ambitions bigger than his talents, he seems desperate for success but willing to work to achieve it. Richard Nixon appears to be very complex. Slippery as an eel and sharp as a pin, he also seems very lonely. Of course, his problems are self-inflicted, and the film doesn’t paint him as a victim.

The supporting cast is also excellent. Frost’s team of Oliver Platt, Matthew MacFadyen and Sam Rockwell are funny and charming. Kevin Bacon is quite terrifying as Nixon’s right hand man and Rebecca Hall is adorable in the role of Frost’s girlfriend.

The script they have to work with, based on the successful play, is hilarious, insightful and very, very clever. Everything, in fact, about the production screams 'quality'. This is a classy film about a fascinating subject that will leave you desperate to get home and look at those interviews again on YouTube. David Frost certainly wasn’t this exciting sitting on that sofa every Sunday morning on BBC1.

Review - Righteous Kill

Many people will be excited at the prospect of seeing Al Pacino and Robert De Niro back on screen together. One would expect this dream combination, previously glimpsed only briefly in the over-rated Heat, to only come about when an outstanding project comes along that demands the two hard nuts reunite. It is hard to see how Righteous Kill appeared to be that outstanding project. Al and Bobby must have been paid some serious green to appear in this rather average thriller.

Detectives Turk (De Niro) and Rooster (Pacino) have been partners for a long time (if this was real life, they would surely have retired by now) working the mean streets of New York. While investigating a serial killer that targets scumbags who have escaped jail, suspicion begins to fall on Turk as the bodies pile up.

De Niro and Pacino are, of course, very good, but that doesn’t mean they’re trying particularly hard. An appearance from 50 Cent is passable, but it is perhaps only Carla Gugino as Turk’s experimental love interest who shines,

The film is very claustrophobic, with lots of close ups and tight shots on the characters. I suspect that’s to hide the meagre production values (which look about the same as a mid-level Law & Order episode) rather than for any artistic reason. The script has few memorable lines and the plot will not keep your interest up to the end. This is one to see on DVD rather than in the cinema.

Review - Then She Found Me

Bette Midler is the Queen of the depressing chick flick (Beaches has left many women quivering wrecks, me included), and her latest role sticks to familiar territory. However, Then She Found Me is not some glossy melodrama, but a sensitive and quiet portrayal of relationships with a rough, low-budget edge that makes it feel very real indeed.

Helen Hunt’s directorial debut follows April Epner (played by Hunt herself), a religious, newlywed teacher in her late thirties. In a few short weeks her marriage falls apart, her adoptive mother dies, her birth mother (Midler) finds her, and she meets the delectable-but-troubled Frank (Colin Firth). This gives April and the audience a lot to deal with, but the slow pace allows for many heartbreakingly intimate moments to be played out on screen, allowing the film time to breathe.

The most striking thing about Then She Found Me is the character of April. She is not glamorous, she is not even particularly interesting on the surface, but she has inner strength and doesn’t require continuous approval from others. Everyone knows women like her, but they rarely appear in films. Her character is lovingly captured in details like her cloth shoulder bag and dodgy sandals, small things that build into a real person. Hunt plays her with a great deal of humility and grace.

Bette Midler is wonderful as her feisty and tricksy new mother, who finds her daughter not as welcoming as she’d hoped. Colin Firth is lovely as usual playing a single father who has been terribly hurt in the past, although his character is one of those who is adorable on screen but would be infuriating in real life (like Ally McBeal or Ross Geller).

Then She Found Me is a mature and thoughtful drama that deals with love, loss and family and it has a perfect little ending. It may not be likely to attract a large male following, but Helen Hunt has pulled off the rarest of feats: an intelligent chick flick.

Review - Tropic Thunder

I am pretty obsessed by the Vietnam War, and particularly the films it spawned. I admit that they are not chuckle-fests, though. The Deer Hunter is not known for its one-liners. There is precious little slapstick in Platoon (although in my opinion, it could only have improved things) and Apocalypse Now is more ‘funny strange’ than ‘funny ha-ha’. Ben Stiller has used the innate seriousness of this genre to create the most hilarious film I’ve seen since Superbad.

The story follows a group of egotistical actors trying to make a movie based on the memoirs of a Vietnam vet (the wonderful Nick Nolte). Unfortunately, they end up struggling to survive in the jungle for real, surrounded by a new ‘Charlie’ trying to take them out with real bullets.

The characters are introduced in a series of fake trailers that are worth the price of admission alone: this is scalpel-sharp satire on the contemporary film business and gloriously silly to boot. Stiller is a Bruce Willis-lite action hero trying to be taken seriously, Robert Downey Jr. is a carbon-copy Russell Crowe, totally committed to his role, and Jack Black is a cross-between himself and Eddie Murphy.

Stiller and his writing partner Justin Theroux have left no cliché unturned in the quest for laughs, and they have delivered in spades. Silly situations, characters that ring true and wonderful performances make this one of the comedies of the year. It is a testament to how good it is that the appearance of Tom Cruise in a fat suit (with the fat mostly concentrated on his lower arms) is one of the least funny elements.

Review - Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The first Hellboy film premiered in 2004, and made little impression on the mainstream audience. For an ostensible superhero movie, it had a strange central character, and it was helmed by a Mexican director best known for Blade 2. However, it became a favourite amongst aficionados of the genre, valued for its sense of fun and respect for its source material (a comic by Mike Mignola). Since then, its director Guillermo del Toro has achieved widespread acclaim for his Spanish-language films Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage. His Hellboy sequel is therefore garnering a lot more attention than the original, and expectations are high. Those now following del Toro’s career will not be disappointed, as it delivers his trademarked mix of creepy monsters and loss in a fun package.

Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is a demon who fights supernatural forces for the US government with his girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), who can control fire, and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), a psychic and very polite fish man. In this film they must take on Prince Nuada, the rebellious son of the elf king who wants to restore his people’s kingdom on Earth using the Golden Army, a mechanical fighting force buried under Ireland.

This bonkers plot allows plenty of space for del Toro’s favourite creations: pale and clammy creatures with eyes in surprising places. The various elves, goblins and fairies that feature can be genuinely frightening or strangely beautiful (sometimes both at once). A stunning animated sequence at the start of the film places these strange beings in the fairytales of our childhood, showing how deeply they are engrained on our collective psyche. There are still plenty of laughs, though, as the relationships between the bizarre cast of characters play out like a domestic sitcom. The use of a Barry Manilow song is a particular highlight.

Ron Perlman’s decades spent as a character actor getting bit parts have finally paid off, with the lead role of Hellboy perfectly suited to his strangely shaped head. He really captures the character’s mixture of strength and softness. The biggest casting surprise was Luke Goss, wielding a sword and working a blond wig with graceful malevolence as Prince Nuada. After this and Charlie, perhaps it is time we stopped thinking of him as “that one out of Bros”.

It is Doug Jones who gives the most impressive performance, however. He is totally adorable as his character falls in love for the first time – the emotions shining through the layers of makeup. After playing Silver Surfer in the Fantastic Four sequel and the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth with similar skill, perhaps it is time for him to be seen on screen without latex.

Hellboy II is certainly more fun and full of ideas than the doom-laden Dark Knight, and deserves to get as big an audience. It is clear this is a product of a director totally in love with his characters and the story. Hints dropped suggest more serious challenges ahead for Hellboy and his friends in the next instalment, but for now we can sit back and enjoy this twisted romp through fairyland.

Review - Mamma Mia!

Since premiering in 1999, the Mamma Mia! stage show has broken box office records around the world. Unfortunately, it also started the trend for back catalogue musicals, spawning Ben Elton’s We Will Rock You and the grotesque gold Freddy Mercury, the Colossus of Tottenham Court Road, that accompanies it. The concept no one thought would work proved to be a huge (and repeatable) success, showing that when it comes to musical scores, familiarity breeds moolah. A screen adaptation of this Abba musical was inevitable, and the result is one of the silliest and most fun films of the year.

The plot concerns Donna Sheridan (Meryl Streep), an aging hippie who runs a guesthouse on a Greek island with her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). Despite their idyllic life, Sophie has never felt whole because she doesn’t know who her father is. On the eve of her wedding, she secretly invites the three men who could potentially be her daddy, played by Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård. Much inevitable hilarity ensues, as the past is uncovered and relationships blossom under the Mediterranean sun.

A person’s reaction to this film is likely to be dependent on their feelings towards Abba, so central is their music to proceedings. The plot seems little more than a frame to hang the hits on at times, with songs somewhat shoehorned in. Working in Fernando, the sad lament to defeat in a civil war in Central America, thankfully proved a step too far for Catherine Johnson (the writer of the original play and this script) and it is left out.

Casting non-singers in a musical is always a risk, and here the results are mixed. Amanda Seyfried’s clear voice is the best of the bunch, and her adorable performance marks her as a star in the making. Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgård, on the other hand, are peculiarly awful. Still, their attempts at carrying tunes are amusing, and show that this is not a film meant to be taken seriously. The only other time I can recall seeing Meryl Streep burst into song is at the end of the Deer Hunter, and I am always crying so much that I have failed to register whether or not she can actually sing. It turns out she can; and whilst she may not be technically perfect, she more than makes up for it with her sincerity and conviction in the role.

Mamma Mia! is a ridiculous sun-drenched confection made enjoyable because of the exuberance of the performances and the pop brilliance of the songs. Whatever cruel things critics say about inane lyrics and sequined platform boots, Benny and Björn’s soaring melodies have become the soundtrack to people’s lives. This film gives us an opportunity to experience these songs again, making it a sure-fire hit. Now brace yourself We Will Rock You: The Movie.

Review - Iron Man

One of the lesser-known Marvel superheroes, Iron Man has potentially one of the hardest origin stories to translate into the present day. In most of the other recent film adaptations, “genetic engineering” has been used in place of ‘radiation’ (the science buzzword of the 1960s when these characters were created) as the catch-all cause of superpowers. Iron Man, on the other hand, came into being trying to stop a warlord in Vietnam, and is definitely a product of Cold War concerns.

Under these circumstances, the writing team and director Jon Favreau have done a great job of translating the story to the modern day, although thanks must also go to the Bush administration for giving him another unwinnable guerrilla conflict to substitute for Southeast Asia.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is an uber-wealthy international playboy and genius-level engineer who runs his family weapons company. While demonstrating his latest product to the army in Afghanistan, he is captured by rebels and ordered to make them one of his efficient killing machines. Tony instead builds a robotic suit of armour and escapes the rebels’ clutches, vowing to stop making guns and to start helping people by using his new creation.

Unusually for this genre, the tidy storyline makes complete sense (barring, of course, the technology involved), and allows plenty of time for the performances from Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow to shine through. He is charisma personified and brings warmth and pathos to the role. Paltrow’s Pepper Potts (Stark’s Miss Moneypenny) is upright, organised, strawberry blond and everything you’d want in a secretary.

The effects are excellent, with the Iron Man suit always looking real and never like it’s been stuck on in Photoshop. Action sequences here may not be as exciting as those in Spider-Man, but this is a function of Iron Man’s power being slightly less cool, rather than anything the film-makers have done wrong; fights between robots easily become swirling chunks of metal and can be confusing to follow, as previously seen in Transformers. The rest of the film more than makes up for this, however, satisfying with genuinely charming characters and loads of funny moments.

Review - The Cottage

British film comedy at the moment owes a lot to Shaun of the Dead, which whisked away the cobwebs of soppy Richard Curtis rom-coms and allowed us to show the world that we too are part of the slacker generation and can be geeky and funny at once. The Cottage may not be quite as good as Shaun, but it is certainly up there with its successor Hot Fuzz when it comes to silly spoofery.

The simple plot follows two inept brothers who have kidnapped a rich girl and are holding her to ransom in the middle of nowhere. Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings, here without the motion capture suit) plays David, the hardened criminal mastermind of the pair who unfortunately puts his trust in Peter (Reece Shearsmith, the normal-looking one from the League of Gentleman, but confusingly the one with the least normal name), a snivelling, cowardly family man. After their plan goes wrong, things get very much worse very rapidly, as there is someone else out there in the woods.

Lots of gruesome fun ensues as the characters realise they have stepped straight into a Sussex Chainsaw Massacre. This film has obviously been made on a small budget, but they’ve kept cast and sets to a minimum and concentrated where it matters, on blood and guts. Serkis and Shearsmith make a good double act (although their accents make believing they are brothers difficult), and Jennifer Ellison is wonderful as Tracey, the crotch-kicking, mouthy Scouser who isn’t easy to hold captive. A nice little send up of the horror genre, The Cottage has enough sick belly laughs to leave you smiling on the way out of the cinema.

Review - There Will Be Blood

I am not sure what to say about There Will Be Blood. On the one hand, it is a very beautiful, somewhat disturbing, and certainly epic film with a truly outstanding lead performance by Daniel Day Lewis. On the other, it left me confused, annoyed by that confusion, and having little idea what it was actually about.

Daniel Plainview (Day Lewis) is an oil prospector in the first years of the 20th Century, taking on the dangerous but necessary job of finding wells in California. An intense orator, he easily gets his way, buying up people’s land throughout the state. In one area, however, a young, and similarly intense, preacher called Eli (Paul Dano, the silent teenager in Little Miss Sunshine) makes his life difficult, and Plainview begins to lose his grip.

The scenes of digging for oil are electrifying. It is just so interesting to see it bubble up from ground like that, but the hideous, skull-smashing danger of the process means it is hard to even look at the screen. The film takes its time with such scenes, using long silences and Jonny Greenwood’s brooding, whirring score very effectively.

There is an immense sense of foreboding throughout the whole film, a fearfulness that stems from our fear of Plainview. Day Lewis is a boiling cauldron of violence and ferocity, producing a monumental performance that will surely go down as one of his best; he is an epic character creating an epic story around him from very little. Plainview’s son (Dillon Freasier) is an unnerving silent presence, and Dano’s Eli is an unnerving loud one.

Although I did enjoy my journey through the film, I was interrupted at various intervals as I realised I did not know what was going on. There is an issue surrounding Eli and his brother which, whilst I won’t go into it here so as not to give anything away, is very confusing, and I have still not resolved it in my own mind. It is galling because it is not really an important issue, and one that could have been easily remedied. The director, Paul Thomas Anderson, is obviously not careless, so I suppose this ambiguity must have been intentional, but the bewilderment it produced was very distracting, and I know I am not alone in feeling it.

I am also not sure about the meaning behind the film, apart from that Plainview was a bit of a loony and that greed is bad. Anderson’s previous works like Boogie Nights and Magnolia made instant emotional connections with audiences, but this film’s feelings are hidden behind a veil of both bombast and intense quiet. An outstanding mood-piece, There Will Be Blood is certainly masterful, if not quite a masterpiece.

Review - Cloverfield

The Blair Witch Project was rubbish, and unfortunately for a horror film, it wasn’t even scary rubbish. The producer J.J Abrams took a risk, then, in reusing the ‘found videotape’ device for this film, although as the creator of Lost, he knows he can make low-brow, high-concept stuff work (at least for a while). The risk paid off, for Cloverfield is one of the most enjoyable films I have seen for a long time.

The story follows a group of young, beautiful yuppie-types as they video a leaving party for one of their number, who is moving from New York to Japan. The party is interrupted by a monster attack on the city, and they continue to tape the consequential running, screaming and toppling of buildings as they try to rescue a friend. When the attack begins, it definitely makes for uncomfortable viewing, as it seems eerily close to the events of 2001. Luckily, the monster element comes to the forefront, and the emotional and physical rollercoaster the characters are going through takes your mind off it. This is a genuinely scary film; the use of a hand-held camera throughout makes it seem very real for our YouTube-dominated culture, and means that the much is left unseen and unexplained. When you do see things, they are made using good CGI.

The only problems with it are the characters. Young, happy and successful Americans are very annoying; frat boys don’t suddenly become less heinous just because they get jobs. The only ugly person in this film (excluding the giant amphibious monster) was carefully placed behind the camera, out of sight. As is traditional for horror films, the cast is made up of unknowns. They do their best with what they are working with, but the bland glossiness of the people somewhat detracts from the rest of this otherwise ground-breaking monster movie. This is the same problem I have with Lost, but luckily this film lasts only 85 minutes, rather than years and years, so it’s hardly noticeable. A terrifying tale of survival that puts you right in the action, Cloverfield is a taut thriller that deserves to be seen on the big screen by every horror fan.

Review - No Country for Old Men

This adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel contains the familiar Coen Brothers’ elements of quiet men and crimes gone wrong, but takes them to a much darker place than ever before; there are few of their trademark comic grotesques to offer relief in the unforgiving gloom of the film’s Texas landscape.

Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) disobeys Movie Rule Number One when he takes a suitcase of money that doesn’t belong to him. The resulting game of cat and mouse moves slowly, but is carried along by sudden bursts of violence. The Coens build squirm-inducing tension from the start, so it is a pity that the audience is betrayed by a low-key ending that means less than it thinks it does.

Uniformly excellent performances from the large cast make up for the few narrative faults, however. Brolin impresses as the principled-yet-greedy protagonist, and Scottish Kelly McDonald manages a flawless Texan drawl whilst sweetly playing his young wife, in what will surely be breakthrough roles for both. Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson ably fill parts made for them, but it is Javier Bardem who will live long in the memory as the psychopath on Brolin’s trail, with a terrifying method of killing his victims and an even scarier haircut.