richy blu – Google

Only managed 10 minutes of this, by which time I'd had more than enough of the ohh so witty chatter. It's written like a play, with Beckinsale firmly in the centre of the stage. She's given such a ridiculous stack of lines to deliver, there's no space or time to see if she can actually act. She just has to fire them out, totally out of pace with those around her. We get little from the rest of the ensemble cast...except for a confusing set of crowded introductions stamped across the screen. Hitting the ground running is for athletes and armies, not TV audiences, we need drawn in, given a moment to breathe in the setting...especially with a period piece...and most especially when the tone and humour are so unusual. But this lot just got shoved down the throat. Some such films can grow on you, and even benefit from a second viewing, if they're the work of master craftsmen. This bore no hallmarks of being such a film.

Wow, where to start? The trailer is probably the best place, because it suggested a slick noir thriller, but apparently only handful of the cast recieved a copy of that memo, the rest were playing it for laughs in a half cocked comedy. The first act was the car crash. Parisian Style and American Slapstic fighting over who got to decide genre...and like an overwhelmed kindergarten teacher, the director fled the room and just left them to fight it out amongst themselves. The slapstick won out...and so in fairness the second half was a bit less farcical (irony intended) since some consistency of tone had been established. Still, I'm being generous with two stars. I enjoyed the trailer is the best I can say for it.

'Everyone Hustles To Survive...' Or so says the tagline. I've never been entirely comfortable with this movie, the sense that the two leads, played by Bale and Adams, are somehow moraly ambiguous, that there is a little bit of them in all of us. No. What a hopeless reality that would be. Let's be clear, the characters they play are repugnant scum, who prey on the most weak and desperate in society. In any other film they would be imprisoned for life or shot by the hero and we would cheer. Bale and Adams are sublime though. And the fact that we are persuaded to identify with these bloodsucking hucksters is testament to the wiley brilliance of the screenwriters. So while I may not be comfortable with the where the film leaves my moral compass pointing. I can't help but admire how it transports me there. We may not be morally bankrupt hustlers. But there is no escaping the fact that this is a full on five star film experience. And can I just add a mention for Jennifer Lawrence, I don't believe there's another leading lady in Hollywood who could come remotely close to pulling this role off. Its not that there aren't other great actresses out there, it's that there aren't any who can do gritty, working class, survivors. Just look at Carey Mulligan in Driver, she's a posh persons fantasy of what under-class looks like, an amazing actress but she misses it by a mile. Jennifer Lawrence nails this one...

Absolute top class production of this Cold War classic. Manages to be both quietly understated and utterly gripping throughout, much like Oldman's performance as the enigmatic Smiley, around whom this film pivots, though the supporting cast is all of similar outstanding calibre. Just goes to show, with an intelligent script and some talented people either side of the camera, it's possible to deliver an excellent, immersive movie experience, without having to resort to CGI or car chases and explosions. The ultimate antidote to the tacky, theme-park-style film-rides that Scoresese recently took aim at. I don't hand 5 stars out lightly, but this a real atmospheric gem of a movie...

Steered a course that stayed just far enough ahead of meandering, as to keep me gently hooked. In the scenes when the characters are talking, huddled in the distance, I struggled to quite hear them, before realising that this was deliberate. Tempting the audience into leaning forward and straining their ears to the distant mutterings of discontent. The music, or more accurately the soundscape, works a treat, helping to build a sense of the grinding relentlessness of a journey slowly spiraling towards despair. There are none of those heightened moments of adrenaline fuelled drama that we have come to expect from our blockbuster movies...but a delicately paced and lovingly constructed journey into an unknown and hostile territory.

One of my top movies of all time. Fincher has such an eye for detail, and an ability to constantly propel a story forward. This movie weighs in at well over two and a half hours but there's not a single moment wasted, no drifting off into the second act doldrums. None of the myriad characters are allowed simply to move the plot forward...the reporters, the cops, the boyfriends, the wives, the guy who makes the coffee, the murder victims...they're all dealing with their own day to day issues; they're all fully realised, three-dimensional, relatable people. Even the Zodiac, nutter that he is, gets his own self-delusional arc. But watch carefully, Fincher never once hands him the POV like he does with most everyone else. It's a really easy, sure fire way to generate tension in a drama, watching with the murderer as his unsuspecting victims come within his sights. Puts you right on the edge of your seat, which is why practically every other director would have pulled the trick. But...But it also makes you complicit, leaves you feeling just a little bit tawdry. Fincher doesn't shy away from the acts of violence, or the build up to them, but not as viewed by the Zodiac, we see it from the perspective of the people who became his victims, and because of that it doesn't feel as though they're being exploited all over again. If anything, the director attempts to hand them back some of their humanity. He's a master craftsman, Fincher, with a cannie knack for taking a great script and wringing every last ounce of drama out of it. And this, for my money, is him at his very, very best...

Highly original thriller gets bogged-down by tired storytelling. On first viewing, this complex, multi-layered film draws you in, demanding your attention. Trouble is, behind that cerebral facade it's all a little unconvincing. Exactly how many times did that white van get shot...without vehicle or occupants sustaining any damage? A massive bullet count just can't compensate for a lack of genuine suspence. And I'm still baffled by how the mark, Fischer, was so easily duped into completely re-imagining his relationship with his father!? Don't get me wrong, it's another wonderfull trip from the imaginarium of Christopher Nolan. Unfortunately, it's like going to a restaurant where, on first sitting, the food blows your mind...but when you go back you just end up feeling a bit sick and disappointed.

A really delightful, beautifully crafted film. The whole cast deliver, though special mention to Rosamund Pike, who's range most actors can only dream of, including the excellent Mulligan. Exceptional work all round from the otherside of the lens too. As always, the foundation for all great films is a great script, and Hornby's adaption of the original short story is, for my money, just about perfect...