The Aviator (2004) Film Review

What did I know about Howard Hughes? Only that he was famously germaphobic and reclusive and rich. In all honesty, I didn’t even know why I knew of him. In this biopic of his early life, Leonardo DiCaprio the playboy, the film producer and the aviation pioneer. And it’s fabulous. DiCaprio was fabulous, as was Cate Blanchette and Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Alan Alda, Jude Law… the list goes on.

I shouldn’t be surprised at how good it is as it is a Scorsese film. He is a master, even though I often find that I don’t like his films. But this, to me, is really as good as a film can be. Great pacing, and the cinematography is brilliant, capturing that kind of technicolour look of films from this era. Just fabulous.

The Aviator won awards for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Cate Blanchett), Best Achievement in Cinematography, Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Costume Design and was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Alan Alda), Best Achievement in Directing, Best Writing – Original Screenplay and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Film Review

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) was abducted from Earth as a small boy and as an adult travels the galaxy stealing stuff for money. Stealing an orb turns out to be a bad idea, as he ends up with some nasties after him, led by Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is a genetic creation – essentially a talking racoon and has a mate who is mostly tree, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and they kidnap people for cash, and end up after Peter too. Things go bad, they end up in jail and then escape with one more hanger on – Drax (Dave Bautista). And they have to fight together to find freedom. And friendship.

And it is that corny, but it is also extremely funny and clever and not so cheesy, with loads of fights and cool crazy special effects and really bright coloured creatures, and Glenn Close and John C. Reilly and Benicio Del Toro and Peter Seranfinowicz and I think I may be a little too excited over this one so I am going to go lie down for a while.

Guardians of the Galaxy was nominated for Oscars for Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Achievement in Special Effects and for BAFTAs for Best Make Up and Hair and Best Special Visual Effects/

 

The Hours (2002) Film Review

 

Virginia Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is battling her mental health issues and attempting to write Mrs Dalloway. Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a mother of a small child, pregnant to a second in the 1950s, reading Mrs Dalloway and struggling with depression. Her doting husband Dan (John C Reilly) seems to not notice how much she is struggling, even though her small child, Richie (Jack Rovello) seems acutely aware of it. Clarissa Vaughan (Meryl Streep) is a woman living in present-day New York who is throwing a party for her closest friend, Richard (Ed Harris) who has just won a literary award. He is ill with AIDS and between the illness and the medication, he is not mentally all that aware of what is happening around him. A long-standing joke between them is that he refers to her as Mrs Dalloway.

The film is beautiful and tragic and wonderful and only ruined by one thing – that nose. Nicole Kidman has a prosthetic nose, presumably because she is considered to beautiful to portray the plain Virginia Woolf. Bullshit. She does some decent acting here, but it is all taken away by the constant staring at that stupid lump on her face. If they really couldn’t handle having her with her normal face playing the role (and hey, if they wanted to make her Hollywood ugly, doesn’t she just need a frumpy dress, bad hair and glasses?), then perhaps they should have cast someone plainer. The whole nose thing made me so angry, because it treats the audience like morons. Grrr.

If you can get past the nose, do. Oh, and the unrelenting, too loud and melodramatic soundtrack. All three storylines have pain and sadness and so much depth in a short amount of time. The supporting cast is pretty fabulous as well, but it is the three main women who carry the weight of this heavy film.

The Hours won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Nicole Kidman) and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ed Harris), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Julianne Moore), Best Director (Stephen Daldry), Best Writing Adapted Screenplay (David Hare), Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Score.

 

The Dictator (2012) Film Review

 

Sacha Baron Cohen is Aladeen, dictator of a small, fictional country in Northern Africa. He ends up in the US, where he is ousted by his brother (played by Ben Kingsley… seeing him in this makes me feel like the great have fallen) and an idiot body double. He has to rely on the kindness of a man he had executed (don’t ask) and a girl who is smart enough to have a large ecologically friendly co-op in New York yet is too stupid to run in efficiently or to tell this offensive creep to bugger off (Anna Ferris as the extremely offensive to all women character, Zoey).

Yup. I didn’t like it. I have memories of Ali G being an amazing television show, of going to the film of Borat and laughing (although I walked out of the cinema feeling that I’d watched something pretty crappy), but I have avoided Cohen’s more recent work. I watched this because I’d heard the review on Plato’s Cave (this is a RRR film criticism podcast which I thoroughly enjoy. I don’t always agree; sometimes I vehemently disagree, but I always like what they have to say) and Thomas Caldwell had said some surprisingly good things about it.

Perhaps I’m over poo, torture and rape jokes. Perhaps I just like humour that is clever (though I do love slapstick). Whatever. The Dictator did not even raise a smile from me.

 

Never Been Kissed (1999) Film Review

Josie Gellar (Drew Barrymore) works at a newspaper as a fact checker-type person, but dreams of being a journalist. She is sent into a school by her boss Gus (John C. Reilly) to compile an investigative report into kids of today, however, she gets caught up in life and trying to be cool. She’s helped by her idiot brother Rob (David Arquette) who uses this as a chance to relive his cool past. And then there is the dreamy teacher, Sam Coulson (Michael Vartan).

And here’s where I have a real issue. I just have a problem with teacher/student love affairs. Regardless of who starts it or how successful that relationship may go on to be, it still starts with an older person in position of trust who, in today’s society and with today’s values, needs to be better. So, the fact that Sam in this case did not actually act on his feelings, he believed her to be a minor and he overstepped the line a few times. And no-one found this a bit creepy?

I really wanted to like this film, I just couldn’t get past the creep factor. And there was a bit too much suspension of belief for me.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993) Film Review

Small town America. When Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is not working at the small grocery store, he is taking care of his severely obese mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates) and his mentally disabled younger brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio). But when Becky (Juliette Lewis) comes into his life, things seem to change.

I think this has to go down as one of my favourite films. Certainly, I have had a crush on Johnny Depp since 21 Jump Street days (the TV show, not the film), and perhaps this was one of the main reasons I loved the film when I was a teenager. But seeing it again recently, I recalled just how good it is. Strong story, excellent performances, some humour and a lot of emotion. The sense of a small town, of people who are very set in their ways, of being trapped by circumstance is strong in many of the characters, but none more than Gilbert. He has no sense of futre; only a claustrophobic present.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Chicago (2002) Film Review

Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) wants to be on the stage, but is in a tedious life married to a boring mechanic, Amos (John C Reilly). When she discovers the man she is having an affair with is not only unable to get her an audition, but is going to leave her, she shoots him and is quickly arrested for murder. She joins Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a famous singer and dancer who killed her husband and sister after she caught them in bed together. The two use Mama Morton (Queen Latifah) to obtain the legal services of Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) to set them free. And all this whilst singing and dancing.

I have no idea if this is a good film or not. It certainly is a very interesting interpretation of a stage show to film, with it flowing from cabaret performances in a club to scenes of reality. What I know is the music is fabulous. The other thing is that we did Chicago as a high-school performance long before the recent stage (and then film) revival and I still know pretty much every word of every song. It was just as well that there was no one home at my place and my neighbours were away, because I watched the film singing at the top of my lungs. And no one needs to hear that.

Chicago won Oscar for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Catherine Zeta-Jones), Best Art Direction – Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Sound. Chicago was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Renee Zellweger), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (John C. Reilly), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Queen Latifah), Best Director (Rob Marshall), Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Bill Condon), Best Cinematography and Best Music, Original Song (I Move On).

Talledega Nights – The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) Film Review

 

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is the top NASCAR driver, rising to fame with the assistance of his wingman, Cal Naughton Jnr (John C Reilly). But then, after his first, fairly uneventful accident, he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and cannot drive. His wife leaves him for his best friend, and it is only the assistance of his absent father, Reese Bobby (Gary Cole) that he can get back on track.

This is one of those dumb Will Ferrell/John C Reilly films. Heaps of people love these films. Not me. I found it such a yawn fest. The characters are so ridiculous that there is no empathy for them. Possibly, they would make good characters for a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch, but a whole film? Whatever.

Step Brothers (2008) Film Review

Watching this in the cinema back in 2008, I spent the first half of the film laughing my butt off and then, very suddenly, I found it totally not funny. It was a very strange experience. I had to revisit, and what did I find? I didn’t laugh at all. Well, not until the musical number at the end, which did give me a few giggles.

The plot is that there are two men, Brennan (Will Ferrell) and Dale (John C Reilly) both in their late 30s, both unemployed and living with their single parents. The parents (Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins) fall in love and marry and the two brothers have to learn to share.

There are some pretty funny lines, and some ridiculous slapstick scenes, but essentially, it didn’t work for me. I find that both John C Reilly and Will Ferrell do a variety of different comedy, but it is the really dumb ones like this that I just don’t like.

Boogie Nights (1997) Film Review

It had been so long since I’d seen the film. All I could remember was that it was fabulous. It did not disappoint – such magnificent performances, excellent scripting, wonderful costume and set designs. It is amazing.

Boogie Nights is the story of the rise of Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) a young and extremely well-endowed man who forged a career in the adult film industry. Led by one of the top producers in the field, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds in one of the film world’s greatest comeback roles) and taken under the wing of actress Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), Diggler achieves stardom in the porn world. But, for all of the players, the partying, drugs and money have a finite life. Especially when the industry is turned on its head with the introduction of video.

I’m such a whinger about long films – I truly believe that most film stories can be told in ninety to a hundred minutes, and that going above this is rarely worth it. Boogie nights is two-and-a-half hours long, and not a moment is wasted. If every long movie was as good as this, I’d stop complaining. I promise.