Quick Review: Wild Target (Dir. Jonathan Lynn)

If I'm being honest I didn't have high hopes for this film. I was expecting a drab, long-winded attempt at a dark comedy. However, as is normally the case, this was completely contrary to my original expectation.

In brief, Victor Maynard (played by the consistently brilliant, Bill Nighy) plays a middle aged, single hit-man who's bedside manner leave much to be desired. Victor is hired to kill a promiscuous con artist, Rose (Emily Blunt) who con's a rich business man into buying an incredibly famous painting, which turns out to be fake! The film follows Victor, Rose and their ginger apprentice, the surprisingly talented, Rupert Grint; as they embark on an unforgettable journey of guns, weed, blown off ears, and of course love.

This film epitomises a good, dark british comedy. It's witty, it contains a car chase in a mini and of course we have the guns. I have been a fan of Bill Nighy for a long time. His dry, uncompromising humour makes him loveable and equally hate-able at the same time. And in this it is no different. His elegance, persona and the way in which he portrays his character is brilliant and really makes for an intriguing watch. The journey in which the audience are taken with this character is fascinating. From the beginning we see this ruthless, cold blooded killer who is obviously a genius at what he does, however as the film progresses we see a more delicate a more vulnerable side to this man which allows the audience to somewhat relate to him.

The big surprise for me was Rupert Grint. After never watching any of the Harry Potter films (and nor do I intend to see them, I'd have much more fun stapling my eye balls to a tree) I was expecting this 20 something Ginger to be an irritating, loathsome character who you'd want to punch in the face but much to my surprise he was a character that really brought another dimension to the film. Emily blunt in this film was brilliant. Vibrant, ridiculously good looking and charming it was very easy for the audience to empathise with her character as she also showed a human and vulnerable side to her often troublesome persona.

When comparing it to other black comedies this is no where near In Bruges but it certainly surprises with it's quick wit, fast paced action and brilliant performances from well established actors.

England, Sod's Law & The French

You know, if it wasn't for the thousands of TV adverts, people dressing their houses like BNP headquarters and those horrible vuvuzela's I really wouldn't of known there was a world cup on. That of course is a joke as everything for the next 2 months is world cup and why not, it gives us men an excuse to lounge around, have bbq's, drink inexplicable amounts of beer and watch football, and not feel bad about it because the rest of the world is in fact joining in.

The first topic I wish to address on todays world cup rant is the England team. 11 multi millionaires who have wives that look like barbie dolls dipped in orange paint and from what we've seen thus far, don't really care about playing for their national team. On paper, with the players England have at their disposal we should be world beaters. Champions League winning players, players who have won countless titles and trophy's, and then as soon as they put on an England shirt they turn into league 2 players. (No disrespect to League 2 but come on let's face it, your league's rubbish!) Why is it that every time I watch England play I am constantly advising them how to play, how pathetically useless they are and how they don't deserve to wear the shirt? I will never know the reason, and neither will anyone else because let's face it, the majority of the Brazil squad play in La Liga, Serie A, and they're on 120,000EUR a week so it's not money. Pressure you might say? I'm sure the Spanish are backing their team to win just as much as we are... So as I said, no-one will ever know why England are so poor. But it's for this very reason I love World Cup's because it gives me a chance to have a proper good moan.

And now time for lovely helping of good old Sod's Law!, we beat Slovenia 1 - 0 which is useless in terms of match winning quality that's like Barcelona beating swindon 1 - 0... it wasn't the best, but we got the job done. And what is our just reward for such a shocking start to the campaign. A last 16 meeting with our old friends Germany. With their arrogant swagger, blonde hair, blue eyes, wives with shaved heads and hairy arm pits, I'm quite relieved we're facing Germany, this is because it will give England a wake up call, the fact that we are playing decent opposition and not some weird island off the coast of mexico means we can really get our arses cained so that it will give us a reality check to say that we aren't good enough to lift the world cup. Regardless of what the Sun says or what Nut's magazine predicts, compared to the annoyingly efficient Germans we are simply not good enough.

Talking of not being good enough this brings me onto the French. My somewhat politically correct conscience is telling me to be careful on this next paragraph however come to think of it if we had conducted ourselves the way the French have then they would write exactly the same so here goes... Firstly the manager, Raymond Domenech. Refusing to shake the hand of the South African manager, Carlos Alberto Perrera is an absolute disgrace. Regardless of the match outcome the decent thing to do is to show some respect to your opponents but no it seems for Mr Domenech even a hand shake is deemed irrelevant and unnecessary. Secondly the players refusal to train, Now I can fully understand that your manager is a complete and utter cheese eating surrender monkey who needs a slap or two but if you're getting paid millions to play in a national tournament the least you can do is respect the management team. The fact that you've refused to play like a bunch of pubescent school children is something I hope you tell your grandchildren so that they come to realise how much of an arse clown you really are!.

Quick Review: Robin Hood (Dir. Ridley Scott)

As I entered a busy cinema, popcorn in hand and a million pounds poorer due to the refreshments stand I had this overwhelming sense of, "Here we go again" Crowe and Scott pair up again for a no nonsense, punch you in the face block buster, but sadly I was wrong.

The first thing that did it for me was Crowe's ever changing accent. Part Yorkshire, part Irish, part Australian it seemed he had a new one for each scene and as you can imagine after about 10 minutes this becomes incredibly irritating.

Crowe's portrayal of hood is not bad, it's not ground breaking or oscar winning but it's not awful either. However with dodgy casting and wooden performances from the normally brilliant, Cate Blanchette the connection between the character and the audience is somewhat short lived.

The battle scenes are very much what you'd expect from 12A, and that isn't a compliment by any means.

However there are good points about this film, probably the main one for me being it's technical production. Like gladiator there is some phenomenal cinematography and some of the shots Scott uses are fabulous, they really are.

If I was Ridley Scott I would have gone all out with this adaptation and made it alot more gruesome and raw, maybe give it a 15 or 18 classification because as it is, it kind of feels like Gladiator on a diet. A lack-luster adaptation that looks beautiful but lacks in so many areas.

I refuse to jump on the 3D bandwagon

From a film review to a full on rant, today I want to talk about something that is really getting on my nerves. 3D. Any film enthusiast will tell you that film is story telling. Film has narrative, it has character development and what I like to call the 'Narrative Orgasm' - we follow the protagonist to an ultimate climax and thereafter we see the resolution.

Now it seems people are watching films based entirely on whether it's in 3D. Now I have no problem with good composition, and all the rest of it I just feel film should be first and foremost all about the story and characters. When we take that importance away and start ignoring it for the simple reason it's been shot in 3D, it ruins the whole general purpose behind a film.

For this reason I had very mixed views on Avatar. Yes it looked fantastic but I never felt connected to the characters, there was no real narrative flow and for that reason you came out feeling a little bit cold. For me a film that pays too much attention to it's aesthetics and none to it's narrative is like meeting a supermodel and the finding out later on, after you've met her parents that she is in fact a man.

I really do fear for Hollywood. Soon we will be inundated with rubbish that you have to wear a pair of ridiculously uncomfortable glasses to watch. Oh and on that topic, what if you wear glasses already?

I am all for the ever advancement of technology I just think it might take away the beauty and meaning behind good film.

Quick Review: Four Lions (Dir. Chris Morris)

In a society where political correctness runs riot and freedom of speech & expression is ironically limited and subdued, this film then comes as a breath of much needed fresh air and doesn't hold back in the messages it puts across.

The film, directed by television satirical mastermind, Chris Morris; delves into territories where most have feared to tread and the result is something that can only be described as nothing short of genius.

Quick witted, clever, controversial and powerful Four Lions takes the audience on a journey they will never forget. The main reason I say this is because of how easy it is for the audience to empathise with the characters, especially characters that portray such evil. Their innocence, naivety and humour allows the viewer to connect with the characters and this is enhanced by some brilliant performances, the best one for me being, Nigel Lindsay who plays Islamic convert, Barry.

If I was to criticise this film in any way it would be it's technical production. The establishing shots are often shaky zoom's which are slightly disorientating to say the least. However this slight imperfection does not take away any of the brilliance from the narrative or the characters.

A controversial, fearless, hilarious, powerful film gives me no doubt to believe that Four Lions is probably one of the best films to come out of the UK so far in 2010.