Movie review

by Danielle niDhighe Danielle Ni Dhighe ( http://scanandpan.blogspot.com/ ) reviews....

"Beowulf"

The past (an Old English heroic epic poem) meets thefuture (digital animation) in an entertaining fantasy film.Denmark in the sixth century: King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) iscelebrating the construction of his new mead hall when it's suddenlyattacked by the monstrous giant Grendel (Crispin Glover), who killsmany of Hrothgar's subjects. Hrothgar offers half of his gold to anyhero who can slay Grendel. Every man who takes up the challenge dies.Enter Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a boastful warrior who vows to slayGrendel and bring peace to the kingdom once more. To achieve hisgoals, he must contend not only with Grendel, but also with Grendel'sdemonic mother (Angelina Jolie).The classic poem is reinterpreted for the 21st century byscreenwriters Neil Gaiman ("Neverwhere", "MirrorMask") and Roger Avary("Pulp Fiction", "The Rules of Attraction"). The film covers thethree major events in the life of the titular hero--the slaying ofGrendel, the encounter with Grendel's mother, and the slaying of adragon--while cleverly expanding on the source material to transformit into a more complete and emotionally involving story whilemaintaining its heroic epic qualities. In the poem, Beowulf is a onedimensional archetypal hero, but here he becomes a more interestingcharacter with emotional conflicts and better definition as anindividual. There's also a fine sense of humor that keeps it frombecoming too grim.The film's weakness is the choice made by director Robert Zemeckis(best known for "Back to the Future" and "Forrest Gump") to use motioncapture and digital animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks to bring thestory to life, just as he did for 2004's "The Polar Express". Itlooks like a fancy video game rather than an epic film, and you maywell wonder where your game controller is at times. There are otherways to do a film like this. For example, using live actors and realsets enhanced by visual effects ("Lord of the Rings"), or using liveactors and digital backgrounds ("300").Call me old fashioned, but when I plunk myself down in a cinema seat,I want to see something that looks like a film instead of an oversizedvideo game. As good as the animation may be, the motion capturesimply can't quite fully render facial expressions and complex motionswithout looking fake. However, Gaiman and Avary's screenplay isstrong enough to mostly overcome the problems with the animation andsuck the audience into the story. It must also be noted that thisfilm would have been pushing an R rating if it had been filmed liveaction, and the unreality of the animation may have allowed it to getby with a PG-13 rating instead.Production designer Doug Chiang ("The Polar Express") and costumedesigner Gabriella Pescucci ("Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "TheBrothers Grimm") provide the film with a strong visual sensibilitythat looks at once historical and fantastical. Longtime Zemeckiscollaborator Alan Silvestri contributes an epic sounding score, alongwith some songs co-written by Glen Ballard that are hauntingly beautiful.Because of the motion capture and animation, it's difficult to judgethe actors on anything except their voice work, which is of topquality. Hopkins' rich voice is perfectly suited to Hrothgar,Winstone is appropriately heroic while bringing some depth to the roleof Beowulf, Glover is strangely sympathetic as Grendel, and Jolie isperfectly cast as a seductive demoness who can make a man lose hispowers of reason. The rest of the talented cast includes JohnMalkovich as Hrothgar's sharp-tongued advisor Unferth, Brendan Gleesonas Beowulf's friend and sidekick, Robin Wright Penn as Hrothgar'squeen, and Alison Lohman as Beowulf's mistress.Literary purists might not approve of some of the changes wrought bythe screenwriters, but "Beowulf" the film is a good epic fantasy witha conflicted hero, a sense of humor, and a wonderfully ambiguousending. Those qualities allow it to transcend the limitations ofmotion capture and digital animation, and by the end the story willwin you over and you'll forget that it looks like a video game.[4 out of 5 stars]

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30 Days of Night...

Danielle Ni Dhighe ( http://scanandpan.blogspot.com/ ) reviews the new Sam Raimi vehicle -

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/30daysofnight/

"30 Days of Night" - In 2002, IDW Publishing published a comic book
miniseries by writer Steve Niles and artist Ben Templesmith that
reinvigorated the vampire genre. Unfortunately, the much anticipated
film adaptation produced by Sam Raimi (director of the "Evil Dead" and
"Spider-Man" films) is a big disappointment.

Barrow, Alaska. A town so far north that it's in complete darkness
for thirty days every year. A group of vampires led by Marlow (Danny
Huston) decide to make a feast of its residents during those thirty
days, and so the carnage begins. Can Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh
Hartnett) and his estranged wife Stella (Melissa George) save
themselves and the town?

Director David Slade ("Hard Candy") delivers impressive visuals and
some effective scenes of the town being decimated, but as a whole
fails to create much in the way of suspense or emotional connection to
the plight of the characters. Never mind vampires draining people of
blood, the life's been drained right out of this film. Scenes that
are meant to scare the audience are flatly directed. Scenes that are
meant to make us care about the characters are uninteresting.

The screenplay credited to Niles, Stuart Beattie ("Pirates of the
Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"), and Brian Nelson ("Hard
Candy") is generally faithful to the story in the miniseries, but
where the source material offered originality and well-realized
characters, the screen version is predictable and surprisingly thin on
characterization.

Cinematographer Jo Willems ("Hard Candy"), production designer Paul
Denham Austerberry ("Resident Evil: Apocalypse"), and costume designer
Jane Holland ("Riverworld") do a remarkable job of translating
Templesmith's art onto the big screen. It literally looks like you
stepped into the panels of the comic book, right down to the Max
Schreck by way of a shark look of the vampires, who are impressively
realized with makeup and visual effects. The visuals are the best
thing about this film. The discordant score by Brian Reitzell
("Stranger Than Fiction") effectively conveys a creepy mood.

The cast is solid. There are no great performances, but no bad ones,
either. Besides Hartnett, George, and Huston, the cast includes Ben
Foster as a human who does the dirty work of the vampires before the
sun sets, Mark Rendall as Eben's teenaged brother, Mark Boone Junior
as the rugged loner Beau, Manu Bennett as the deputy sheriff, Megan
Franich as one of the vampires, and Amber Sainsbury, Joel Tobeck,
Elizabeth Hawthorne, Nathaniel Lees, Craig Hall, and Chic Littlewood
as the principal survivors of the first night.

"30 Days of Night" is visually pleasing and technically well made, but
as a dramatic presentation it's all rather anemic. A story about
people facing unthinkable horror and trapped in an isolated setting
simply shouldn't be this dull.

[2 out of 5 stars]

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Review - Michael Clayton

Danielle Ni Dhighe ( http://scanandpan.blogspot.com/ ) reviews the new George Clooney Film...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465538/

"Michael Clayton" - Despite the unassuming title, this is a smashinglygood thriller made with skill and conviction, and sure to garner someOscar nominations.Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is a fixer for a prestigious lawfirm. After the firm's top litigator, Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson),suffers a manic episode and damages an important case, Clayton iscalled in to clean things up. He learns that Edens was defending acorporation against a class action lawsuit brought over a toxicchemical that killed hundreds of people when his conscience caught upto him, triggering his manic episode. Karen Crowder (Tilda Swinton),the corporation's general counsel, hires her own fixers (RobertPrescott, Terry Serpico) of a more deadly kind to ensure that thetruth remains buried.Writer and first time director Tony Gilroy, who previously wrote orco-wrote the screenplays for all three "Bourne" films, makes animpressive debut at the helm with a smart, character driven thrillerthat sleekly unfolds like a cleverly planned maze. Several times Ithought the film was headed in one direction only to discover it wasactually bound for a much different destination. The rhythm of thefilm is that of a slow burn, but the slower pace serves to heightenthe suspense. Instead of relying on numerous action scenes, Gilroyturns to characterization, dialog, and a carefully plotted story tobuild and sustain interest. It's a throwback to the intelligentthrillers of the 1970s like "Three Days of the Condor", and thedirector of that film (Sydney Pollack) is one of the producers of thisfilm (as well as a member of its cast).Cinematographer Robert Elswit ("Good Night, and Good Luck", "Syriana")contributes low key lighting that neatly balances realism and style,while James Newton Howard ("Batman Begins", "Blood Diamond")contributes an atmospheric, almost ambient, score that plays a bigpart in setting the mood for the film. Film editor John Gilroy (thedirector's brother, who previously worked on "Narc" and "First Born")keeps the pacing tight, and the two hour film never once feels padded.Clooney combines his movie star charisma with a performance from thegut to deliver a strong portrayal of the title character, a man wearyof cleaning up the messes of others, whether they're clients orrelatives. Clayton seemingly lives on auto-pilot, doing what he doesbecause he doesn't know what else to do. Wilkinson is compelling asthe bipolar attorney whose conscience finally gets the best of him,and his manic rants ring with intensity. Swinton is sublime as KarenCrowder, from practicing an interview to chillingly ordering murdersin a way that gives her full deniability to what she does in the finalscene. Her desperation and ambition are palpable.This is a well-cast film from top to bottom with good performances bythe entire cast, including Sydney Pollack as the ruthless head of thelaw firm, Michael O'Keefe as one of the firm's partners, Prescott andSerpico as the other fixers, Merritt Wever as a young woman Edens istrying to help, Sean Cullen as Clayton's police officer brother, DavidLansbury as Clayton's gambling addict brother, Denis O'Hare as one ofClayton's clients, and Austin Williams as Clayton's young son.The basic plot of a corporation trying to subvert justice isn't a newone, but writer/director Tony Gilroy finds a fresh approach and playsit out with well-drawn characters, smart dialog, and a great cast. From the very first frame to the very last, I was completely engrossedin the story of "Michael Clayton".[4.5 out of 5 stars]

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"Across the Universe" Film review

Danielle Ni Dhighe ( http://scanandpan.blogspot.com/ ) reviews the new Beatles musical...

http://www.acrosstheuniverse.com/

"Across the Universe" - The story of the 1960s told as a musical based on the songs of the Beatles. It's a concept that could only result in a film that's either totally brilliant or totally pretentious. In the hands of visionary screen and stage director Julie Taymor ("Titus", "Frida", Broadway's "The Lion King"), it's the former, and it immediately ranks as one of the great films of 2007.

Jude (Jim Sturgess) is a young dock worker from Liverpool who travels to the United States in the mid-1960s to find the American G.I. father (Robert Clohessy) he never knew. He befriends the privileged Max (Joe Anderson) and his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Jude and Lucy fall in love, and their relationship develops against the turbulent backdrop of the Vietnam War, student protests, and societal upheaval.

Although Taymor's background is in stage productions, all of her films are intensely visual in a way that can only be described as mainlining pure cinema directly into the veins of an audience. She's one of the rare filmmakers who knows how to use all the tools of the visual arts to expand the horizons of cinema. "Across the Universe" is no different. Taymor and screenwriters Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais ("The Commitments", "Flushed Away") craft a cleverly complex story told as a series of interconnected vignettes around the songs of the Beatles to explore the 1960s through the eyes of the characters. It never feels anachronistic because its themes are directly relevant to contemporary society. Taymor translates the screenplay into a film that's visually literate, highly metaphorical, and an emotionally powerful artistic statement.

Some controversy arose during post-production after Revolution Studios chairman Joe Roth decided to make his own edit without informing Taymor, cutting out nearly a third of the film. After months of conflict between Taymor and Roth, the studio relented and released
Taymor's 131 minute cut. The film's structure is so intricately woven that it's hard to imagine a radically shortened version working at all. Thankfully, Taymor's vision prevailed.

Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel ("Amélie"), production designer Mark Friedberg ("The Ice Storm", "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"), and veteran costume designer Albert Wolsky ("Grease", "All That Jazz") bring Taymor's vision to vivid life in a sense stunning fashion,
delicately treading a fine line between realism and artifice. Elliot Goldenthal ("Titus", "Frida") contributes some original music and is also one of the people responsible for the song arrangements. You've never heard the Beatles quite like this.

There are thirty-four Beatles songs used in the film, mostly compositions of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but also three from George Harrison and one credited to all four band members. As if any further proof is really necessary, it once again shows why Lennon and
McCartney were two of the greatest writers of popular music in the 20th century. The musical numbers are brilliantly staged by Taymor and choreographer Daniel Ezralow ("Earth Girls Are Easy"), and they all work perfectly in the context of the story.

Taymor gets great acting and singing performances out of her cast, including the McCartney-esque Sturgess as Jude, Wood as Lucy, Anderson as the Vietnam-bound Max, Dana Fuchs as the Janis Jopin-inspired singer Sadie, Martin Luther McCoy as guitarist/singer JoJo (inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Marvin Gaye), T.V. Carpio as yearning runaway
Prudence, Clohessy as Jude's long lost father, U2 frontman Bono as the charismatic Dr. Robert (his performance of "I Am the Walrus" is outstanding), Eddie Izzard as the circus ringmaster Mr. Kite, Salma Hayek as a nurse, and Joe Cocker in three different roles.

It's not often that a piece of cinema raises itself to the sublime level of a work of art, but "Across the Universe" is one of those rare examples. It's mind-blowing in all the right ways and very highly recommended. It's only the second film this year (the other was "The Wind That Shakes the Barley") that I feel is worthy of a full five stars.

[5 out of 5 stars]

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