Film review - The Town

When Gone Baby Gone was released, it became easy to say that Ben Affleck is a better director than actor – his directorial debut had an assured quality to it, and at that time the roles really weren’t coming his way. His follow up, The Town, is another serious look at working-class Boston, but this time he is directing and starring. It turns out he’s good at both.

The story follows Doug Macray (Affleck), a man from the Charlestown district of Boston who has followed his father into the profession of bank robbing. Apparently, this is not an uncommon line of work in Charlestown. After a successful job, Doug and his gang discover that the woman they took hostage (Rebecca Hall) lives in the area. Worried that she may be able to identify them, he decides to find out how much she knows.

Then things start to turn romantic, and his life spirals out of control.

Affleck has produced a very tense thriller from Chuck Hogan’s source novel, full of twists, suspense and drama. There’s a lot of action, with brutal robbery scenes and a good old-fashioned car chase. The love story is particularly well handled thanks to Hall’s performance. Her character feels very real – an understated young woman who’s been through trauma and finds comfort in Doug.

The rest of the performances are also excellent, and a special mention must go to Jeremy Renner (last seen in The Hurt Locker) as Doug’s partner in crime. It’s also lovely to see Jon Hamm as an FBI agent, but fans of Mad Men will find it strange to see him in the modern world (at one particularly disturbing point he mentions Skype).

The lead performance from Affleck is by no means stunning, but shows the natural charm that got him noticed by Hollywood in the first place (before it got him noticed by the paparazzi). His character is much like Will from Good Will Hunting: a guy who should be doing great things but sticks around his neighbourhood out of misplaced loyalty. This film shows that when given interesting parts, he isn’t so bad after all.

There are a few negatives to the film – the final shootout goes on a bit, and the criminal fraternity of Charlestown is not paricularly well defined (making the role of Pete Postlethwaite’s boss in the whole affair as hard to understand as the thick Bostonian accents everyone has).

It is likely that The Town will be compared to The Departed. While it seems run of the mill next to Scorsese’s stab at a Boston-set crime film, it is certainly an enjoyable ride and another quality film from Mr Affleck.

Film review - Toy Story 3

Toy Story was the first computer-animated feature, and its second sequel may just be the best. This film about a group of toys is a heartbreaking study of change and loss, but also an accomplished prison escape movie. It’s a comedy, but will make you cry.

Woody, Buzz and the gang have resigned themselves to a quiet life in the attic when they see their owner Andy start packing for college. But when they accidently get donated to a daycare centre, they enter a toy’s paradise full of children to play with and new toys to befriend. However, all is not what it seems at Sunnyside daycare, and they realise they have to get back to Andy.

Every frame of Toy Story 3 is full of invention, and every character a delight (except Jessie, who is as annoying as ever). It is this attention to detail that lifts Pixar films above all others aimed at children. The tight plot is expertly crafted, using genre clichés from horror and thrillers that keep the adults’ attention too. A hilarious script is performed by a wonderful cast, but Ned Beatty needs a special mention for the voice of strawberry-scented Lotso, one of the great film villains of all time.

As well as all the excitement in the story, there is also a lot of sadness. Ultimately this is a tale about growing up and leaving your childhood behind, which means it will probably have more effect on adults than children – they won’t know what they’ve got until it's gone. Only Professor Coldheart wouldn’t be blubbing by the end.

Review - Four Lions

Christopher Morris isn’t exactly a stranger to controversy. His red hot satire seems to have upset as many people as it has made laugh. The Daily Mail set were flabbergasted at Brass Eye as they were told it was making light of paedophiles. Actually, it was making fun of Daily Mail readers. His comedy has always veered between disturbing (like Jam) and supremely silly (The Day Today). Four Lions, his first feature film, deals with serious subjects but is actually one of his silliest pieces of work.

The film follows the most useless group of terrorists since the People’s Front of Judea. Omar (the excellent Riz Ahmed) is a young man who wants to make his mark on the world by blowing himself up. After a disasterous stint at a training camp in Pakistan with friend Waj (Kayvan Novak), Omar and his cell decide to go it alone and organise their own attack on London. Unfortunately for Omar, the idiocy of Waj, Barry (Nigel Lindsay), Hassan (Arsher Ali) and Fessal (Adeel Akhtar) complicate matters at every turn.

The earlier Monty Python reference is very apt, as there is something very Pythonesque about the humour here. The characters are extremely stupid, almost to a surreal level. Even Omar, the brains of the outfit, is stupid by definition – he has a nice life in the Britain with a beautiful wife and son, yet he wants to destroy it. This was Morris’s intention, to show how muddled your thinking must be believe being a suicide bomber is a good idea.

I suppose Daily Mail readers will say that the film is making light of terrorism, of showing suicide bombers being nice people. It is true that by using the template of a heist movie, Morris does make the audience (the real target of the bombs) root for the bombers at some points in the film. This is because the characters are engaging and, yes, not wholly evil. However, they aren’t brain washed – they are aware that what they are doing will lead to mass slaughter. The fact that these “normal” people could be capable of this is perhaps more terrifying than portraying them as classic baddies, and certainly more realistic.

This is a truly hilarious film, but the jokes do not detract from how upsetting much of it is or how tragic for all concerned. Morris has pitched the whole thing about as well as you could have hoped for, walking an extremely thin tightrope the whole way. Like his old mucker Armando Iannucci (co-writer of the In the Loop) he is making comedy that gets to the heart of matters.

Review - Sex and the City 2

The first Sex and the City film was a big disappointment. Most of it was just fashion porn, with some truly hideous mawkish moments (more often than not starring poor Jennifer Hudson). A few genuinely touching bits were cancelled out by the extended wedding fashion shoot cringing.

Now that I have accepted that SATC on the big screen will always be a horrible version of the TV series, I could enjoy the second outing as a mildly amusing romp. The faux-seriousness of their supposed problems aside (you do have it tough, girls – having the children you so desperately craved, the love of your life that eluded you so long, or a demanding job), the film is an enjoyable trip with your four favourite girlfriends, even if they are bastardised versions of people you once loved.

The plot, as it goes, concerns Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte worrying about their lives and going on an all expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi. Compared with the first film, fewer moments stuck in my proverbial craw. Those that did were:

1. The wedding. Given the history of the two characters it felt deeply wrong, even if the ceremony was fabulous.
2. Why did Penelope Cruz have a cameo? What did that bring to the film?
3. What was going on with the accent of Samantha’s “Danish” guy? He sounded like he was from Rotherham.
4. Many outfits were just ludicrous - taffeta and souks do not mix.

Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon are great comedic actresses, outshining their co-stars in a way that wasn’t noticeable in the TV show. Working with a so-so script, they deliver some great lines. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis’s characters are often just annoying.

Generally this is funnier and ten times stupider than the first film. Which means it is a hundred times stupider than the original series. Let it wash over you and, whatever you do, don’t analyse it.

Review - Hot Tub Time Machine

This film follows three 40-somethings and a 20-something as they travel to the 80s in a magic hot tub at a skiing resort. Gritty realism isn’t really what the director Steve Pink is going for. Instead it is very, very stupid and very funny.

The three old friends (John Cusack, Craig Robinson and Rob Corddry) leap into their own teenage bodies and must relive an eventful weekend from their past. The results are very rude and crude, with lots of retro references and general making fun of the past. Everyone apparently had day-glo clothes and very bad hair back then.

This is obviously riding the coat tails of The Hangover, and it just isn’t up to that standard – because it isn’t as funny, but also because it doesn’t have a nugget of sweetness at its centre. It is also a bit smuttier than many “gross-out” comedies of late. As long as you aren’t a prude, it should give you an evening of laughs if nothing else.

Film review - Kick-Ass

This film has predictably caused a tabloid frenzy, but really it is no more violent than many aimed at adults. The only difference is that a little girl takes part in said violence and swears a lot – which sensible people know is hilarious and awesome.

Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a geeky high school student who decides to follow in the footsteps of Peter Parker and be a superhero. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been bitten by a handy radioactive spider, and so is just an ordinary teenager wearing a customised wetsuit. Even more unfortunately, the fake superhero gets mixed up with some real criminals.

Superficially, Kick-Ass deals with similar issues to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, but does not take seriously the question of what would happen if superheroes were real. This is more in the Mystery Men mould of films about stupid superheroes.

Johnson is too bland for the role – not nerdy enough to convincingly play the character or with enough spark to make you care very much. He is out-shone by the supporting players, particularly Christopher Mintz-Plasse as rival fake superhero, the Red Mist, and Nicolas Cage as the real deal, Big Daddy. But it is Chloe Moretz as Hit-Girl who really steals the show. Cute and with killer delivery, she is a little star in the making and what the film will be remembered for.

Written by Jane Goldman and the director Matthew Vaughn, the English roots can be seen in the casting (Dexter Fletcher!) and the liberal sprinkling of art from the YBAs in the rich baddie’s house. The film has pretensions of following Tarantino, but despite the Kill Bill-style violence they don’t quite pull off.

Instead they have crafted a violent thrill-ride which is light on plot, but heavy with laughs. It’s not big, and it’s not clever, but Kick-Ass is a whole lot of fun.

Film review - I Love You Phillip Morris

They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and this certainly applies to the life and times of Steven Russell (here played by Jim Carrey). Once a happily married policeman, he came out and became a conman with a knack for escaping from prison.

His story is portrayed with a light, playful touch by writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who previously brought us Bad Santa (2003). There is something about the film which feels unoriginal – perhaps the wacky tone, hyper-real production design and Texas setting makes it too Coen Brothers-esque – but it is still a hilarious and fascinating tale.

Carrey is brilliant as the audacious protagonist, walking the thin line between his comic and serious acting personas. There are moments of pathos amongst the scams, which he pulls off with aplomb, but he is also happy to partake in a little slapstick. Ewan McGregor seems a little old to be playing Steven’s titular lover – the character is supposed to be an ingénue. However, he gives a very sweet performance.

It is unusual to have a gay romance portrayed in a mainstream film, but this is not a romantic comedy. The focus is on plot, and what a plot it is. See it and be amazed at what one guy got away with.