LONELY HEARTS - everything THE BLACK DAHLIA should've been

LONELY HEARTS is a beautifully put together, well-cast, engaging crime thriller based on gruesome crimes that took place in 1940s America. In fact, it’s everything the fiasco that was THE BLACK DAHLIA should have been.

Jared Leto plays real-life con-man, Ray Fernandez, who charms lonely divorcees and women out of their money. He’s mean but not menacing. He hooks up with Salma Hayek’s psychotic nymphomaniac, Martha Beck, whose jealous temper leads them into a truly twisted relationship. She murders one of their marks in a fit of pique and goads him into other murders. It’s a convincing and petrifying psychological portrait: Leto and Hayek really sell the notion that they are two “crazy lovebirds” – in fact, this may be Hayek’s career-defining performance, second only to her role as Frida Kahlo. The second plot strand sees John Travolta and James Gandolfini play the rozzers on the killers’ tail. Travolta gives a rare and appropriately introverted performance as a man whose conscientiousness a cop drove his wife to suicide. Gandolfini, however, does not move beyond his wise guy persona, and Laura Dern, as Travolta’s new lover, has too little to do. Scott Caan, however, has a nice smaller role. Performances aside, the movie looks fantastic – with all the costumes, locations and incidental details adding to the authenticity. I also love the matter-of-factness of the violence. The opening credits are a case in point. Absolutely class. All in all, despite, the limited release and under-the-radar marketing, LONELY HEARTS is definitely worth checking out.

LONELY HEARTS went on release in the US, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, Israel and Norway in 2006 and in the Netherlands, Serbia & Montenegro, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Greece, France, Spain and Egypt earlier this year. It is currently on release in Mexico and the UK and opens in Argentina on October 4th. It is also available on Region 1 DVD.

THE WALKER - the localised and global consequences of a corrupt political establishment

THE WALKER is the latest film from celebrated writer/director Paul Schrader. As a writer, Schrader gave us the definitive picture of the disenfranchised, angry young man in TAXI DRIVER. And as a director he has given us many iconic images of men who are outside of the establishment but mingle with it and luxuriate in its superficial beauty. Until, of course, they are ensnared in the seamier side of the power structure. AMERICAN GIGOLO is perhaps the apex of this style of thriller cum character exploration.

In THE WALKER we see another exploration of character. This time, the central character is a flamboyant homosexual who precariously balances his lifestyle with his position as scion of a rapaciously Republican, Virginian family. Woody Harrelson's performance as Carter Page III is yet another career-best to rival his perfomance as Larry Flint. He struts through Washington high-society wearing an ill-fitting toupe, and speaks through a near-closed mouth with a broad Southern accent - and have they done something to his nose? His observations on Washington society are rapier-subtle and very, very funny, but he manages to maintain an almost boy-ish innocence and loyalty to his friends.

These friends are rather a different breed. They are the well-heeled wives of Washington power brokers. While their husbands hush up an Enron-style scandal implicating the Vice-President, Carter "walks" them to parties and to the opera - a convenient piece of arm candy to hire. Of the three lead actresses, Lily Tomlin is unusually, ambiguously evil as the wife of a Karl-Rove-style lobbyist. Lauren Bacall is magisterial as a rich widow. And Kristin Scott Thomas gives a rather auto-pilot performance as a philandering wife who happily lets her "friend" Carter get implicated in a murder-scandal on her behalf.

Yes, the witty script and strong performances from Harrelson, Bacall and Tomlin are the highlights of this drama. But there are other strengths. I rather liked the insidious, smooth flowing camera shots that circle and permeate political society. There is a wonderful homage to the infamous AMERICAN GIGOLO scene where Richard Gere gets dressed to go out. This time, the scene is reversed. An ageing, balding Harrelson takes off his vulgar but expensive clothes and the camera hovers lovingly over trays of cuff-links and ties. Then, he takes off his toupe!

I also rather liked the unabashed references to Abu Ghraib through the photography of Carter's boyfriend Emek (Moritz Bleibtrau). I like the idea that the venality of Washington; the unquestioning xenophobia; the sacrifice of constitutional checks and balances in the name of the national interest - all this leads to the relatively localised corruption in which Carter is implicated, but also leads to the wider loss of moral integrity seen in Iraq.

THE WALKER played Berlin 2007 and goes on release in the UK on August 10th and in the UK on December 7th.

KNOCKED UP - best comedy of 2007?

This review is brought to you by guest reviewer Al, who can usually be found here.

This is the kind of movie you'll miss due to it drowning in the inevitable over-hype for other blockbuster films released at the same time (I'm looking at you, Homer,) only for you to watch it on a lazy Saturday afternoon years later after discovering a dvd copy of it by accident somewhere in your house, or actually running out to get one because you're done hearing bloody Al rave endlessly about KNOCKED UP and you want to see for yourself if it's all that good.

As far as comedies go, I usually walk in with relatively low expectations. The usual culprits are uninteresting one-dimensional characters with superficial problems; formulaic, paper-thin stories littered with holes (all overlooked, if only for the sake of a good joke), and aside from the exceptionally hilarious BORAT, I can't think of a comedy I've seen in the past two or three years that's managed to stick in my mind. Things look grim for the comedy genre - the current trend shows a surge of popularity for sick and unfunny parodies (EPIC MOVIE, SCARY MOVIE 1 thr 4), your once-adorable-but-now-deplorable-and-exhaustively-unimaginative-comedy-archetypes: be it another wide-eyed, narcissistic Will Ferrell character or supposedly cute and loveable animated creation carrying with it a script of terminally dull gags (SHREK 3, CHICKEN LITTLE) - all films destined to end up in the massive black hole of forgettable comedies that should've never existed.

Which is why Judd Apatow's new film comes off fresh and genuinely amusing. The characters here are fleshed out and human. The problems they face and situations that occur don't simply function as a disposable platform for the writers to throw in a couple of mild jokes but are actually driving the story forward. The writers are brave enough to introduce and clever enough to delicately manage some pretty mature themes (pregnancy, questions about abortion, marital problems etc.). At the same time, they never abandon the film's persistent spirit of comedy.

More importantly, anyone who's been in a relationship would appreciate and understand how the film deals with both the male & female perspective without seeming biased towards either, and it's interesting to see such things dealt subjectively for once. Likewise, none of the characters are written to be more or less favourable but are three-dimensional. This stands in contrast to how certain comedies tend to label 'good' and 'bad' characters from the get-go. As a result it's not only an immensely enjoyable comedy, but an intelligent story that encourages the audience to think and participate, as opposed to simply turning their brains off the whole time.

Not to say it doesn't stumble a couple of times. For one, all that realism preceding the final 20 minutes is ultimately phased out in favour of a sweet ending that I would personally change. Katherine Heigl has the smile of a goddess but overacts a little and it would've been terrific to give the film a good soundtrack. And I would give Micheal Cera a small cameo at least (as if the fact that half of the now all grown-up cast of Freaks & Geeks is in there isn't cool enough). But those are strictly minor complaints and there were plenty of times I had to catch my breath from laughing so hard. Certainly one of the best comedies I've seen in a long, long, long time.

Jay: I'm going to be there to rear your child.
Jason: You hear that, Ben? Don't let him near the kid, he wants to rear your child!
.....
Ben: Do you want to do it doggie style?
Alison: You're not going to fuck me like a dog.
Ben: It's doggie style. We don't have to go outside or anything.
.....
P.S: Don't try googling 'Knocked Up' without safe search on, unless you have a fetish for pregnant women.

KNOCKED UP is already on release in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Singapore. It opens on August 19th in Russia and on August 17th in Estonia, Norway and Germany and on Augsut 24th in Germany, Mexico and the UK. It opens in September in Denmark, Brazil, Finland, the Netherlands and in Iceland. It opens in October in Hungary, Poland, Belgium, France, Argentina, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and Spain.

P.P.S. Bina007 totally agrees with everything here except that she LOVED the sound-track - chock full of The Fratellis and Mika!

THE BRIDGE - beautifully photographed, morally questionable documentary

THE BRIDGE is a rare example of a documentary that deserves to be seen on the big screen. The photography of the Golden Gate Bridge - from Peters Baldwin and McCandless - is absolutely stunning. It has an eery quality which grows with the realisation that what this footage is capturing is actual people committing suicide by jumping off the bridge. Eric Steel then searches out their families and interviews them, giving the grim footage context. Some people will condemn the film out of hand for showing suicide attempts live. And frankly, you can't help but think that if the camera-men tracked a suicidal man walking up and down the bridge deciding whether or not to jump, they surely could have intervened. Having said this, the sensitive and discreet interviews with the families, lessened my concern. Indeed, the fact that the families chose to participate at all says something.

THE BRIDGE played London 2006 and went on limited release in the US in October 2006 and the UK and Norway in Spring 2007. It is now available on DVD.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE - see it for the genius that is SPIDER-PIG!

This review is brought to you by guest reviewer, Nikolai, who can usually be found here:

The Simpsons Movie is a hugely quotable, laugh-a-minute riot, that'll leave fans of the Simpsons ultimately unsatisfied. Its plot is shallow, weak, barely worthy of a 30 minute episode, and far too focussed on the Simpsons family (and especially Homer) at the unfortunate exclusion of other characters. Those of you expecting some sort of extravaganza - a tour-de-force of the Simpsons - will be disappointed, and left feeling ultimately empty and hollow as I was. That said, it's a very watchable and funny movie - especially for the first half hour - and well worth the tenner you'll be paying to get in.

This film has been 10 years in the making. The Simpsons Movie website was purchased in 1997 - and they've been planning ever since. Given that timescale, it's more than a little disappointing that the movie runs out of genuine ideas and plot only 30 or 40 minutes in. From then on, up until the final 5 or 10 minutes, it relies on rehashed plots and rehashed jokes from the TV series. The film slowly descends in the second half from being a self-referential laugh riot, to a serious family soap opera interspersed with the occasional joke.

But then, who's suprised? The Simpsons franchise has only been occasionally funny for the last 3 or 4 series - with jokes and plots being recycled from a bygone era of success. I'd hoped that the film would come up with some fresh ideas to revitalise the franchise, as had South Park Bigger, Longer, Uncut. But it didn't - rather it amplified the same unseemly trend as its TV counterpart - focussing more and more on Homer Simpson gags - at the expense of the other characters, and other plot lines.

Even Homer's family suffer. The Lisa plotline in the film is totally and completely pointless - and a re-hash from countless other episodes. The Bart plotline is similarly rehashed (from at least 2 episodes) and is, if anything, less believable than Lisa's. Marge doesn't have an independent plotline - and the other characters only get brief cameo nods - without actually contributing substantially to the film. As if to typify this "opportunity missed" theme, the use of Arnie as a character is completely wasted - the scenes in which he appears are neither funny or satirical - they're just bleak, and come across as patronising liberal social comment.

It's strange actually, when I left the cinema I'd expected to be much less critical of this movie. But the more the minutes passed, the more empty I felt about this effort. A film that'd shown so much promise in the first 20 to 30 minutes had ended up delivering only as much plot as a single TV episode - absolutely no character development whatsoever - and less involvement from non-Simpsons characters than your average 7pm slot on Sky One. And even given these constraints, much of the potential within the plot was left unexploited - making way for a series of shallow and unsatisfying gags.

Don't get me wrong - this was, for the most part, a very funny movie. You'll laugh a great deal, especially if you're new to the Simpsons, or not much of a fan, and therefore you haven't seen it all before. And even if you have, it's worth the admission just for having seen it, and for all the genuinely funny one-liners and physical comedy. But if, like me, you've been following the franchise since its inception - you'll find this an ultimately hollow experience, which in many ways typifies what's gone wrong with the show.

This is not the "South Park" style rebirth I was looking for, and unless Groening and co. can find some new and fresh ideas pretty damned quickly - this 90 minute episode could be the long, drawn out death knell for the franchise. That would be a real shame - they deserved to go out with a bang.

THE SIMPSONS MOVIE is on release in the USA, Belgium, Egypt, France, Indonesia, the Philippines, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Malysia, New Zealand, Portugal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, the UK. It opens in Austria, Canada, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Spain and Venezuala. The movie opens on August 3rd on Denmark and Poland and in Hong Kong, Hungary, South Korea on August 9th. It opens in the Netherlands and Russia on August 16th and in Brazil on August 17th. It opens in Greece on August 30th, in Italy on September 14th and in Japan on March 1st 2008, which seems a bit randomly late doesn't it?!

RABBIT FEVER - weak British mockumentary

RABBIT FEVER is a one-joke comedy sketch stretched thin over ninety minutes. The British mockumentary posits a world in which an amazingly good vibrator called "the rabbit" has women addicted, attending "RA" meetings, wrecks marriages and provoking outrage in parliament. The fake doc follows a bunch of middle-class English women in their quest to stay clean and re-build healthy relationships. It is interspersed with talking heads. The movie fails because the dead-pan comedy from the recovering rabbit-holics is very hit and miss. I barely laughed once, in fact. A more damning indictment is that the talking heads mostly consist of well-known British character acters - from Tom Conti to Tom Hollander - so that brings you out of the conceit straight away. The marketing for a certain airline is also a bit annoying. In fact, looking back on it, the only really worthwhile part of this movie is the cameo from Germaine Greer who is totally convincing in her parody of a feminist academic theorising on the role of the rabbit in women's lib.

RABBIT FEVER was released in the UK in September 2006 and is available on DVD.