New stuff

Yep, here we go again. I've got too many to get to so these reviews are going to be short and lazily written, but really what's new there (BURN.... myself?) Anyway...

Moneyball

I'll just come right and out and say that this film kicked all kinds of arse, but with Aaron Sorkin as the scriptwriter (who of course wrote The Social Network) what more what one expect. Based on a true story, Brad Pitt's character (I really can't be stuffed with character's names) is the manager of the Oakland Athletics baseball and employs a fellow working with another team, who is played by Jonah Hill, who has a theory about recruiting players based purely on their stats, thus saving money going after the marquee players and being able to compete with the much richer clubs such as a the New York Yankees.

And that is the basic plot in a nutshell. Where the movie works so well is of course in the script, which is Aaron Sorkin's usual mix of intelligent dialogue and humour, the performances (I think this is probably the best performance I've seen Jonah Hill give) and the character study of Billy Beane (fine I looked the name up.) While it's a sports movie the movie is more concerned with what goes on behind the scenes, and you could say it's a sports movie for people who don't like sport.

 I'd almost go as far as to say this is the Social Network of 2011, not because they have the same scriptwriter, but because both films focus on a man obsessed with an idea. While Mark Zuckerburg was obsessed with the technology and the changes in the way people related to and communicated with each other, Billy Beane was obsessed with changing the way the game of baseball was played. It doesn't have quite the same depth of storytelling as The Social Network, but the added touch of Billy's relationship with his daughter and her final message to him; stop obsessing, "Just enjoy the show" put the icing on one very enjoyable ride.

****1/2 out of *****

The Ides of March

The new directorial effort directed by and staring George Clooney is about two politicians competing to become the Democrats Candidate for an upcoming election. George Clooney falls on the more on the left side of politics while his opponent is more conservatively minded. Ryan Gosling is working on Clooney's campaign, and is wide eyed, optimistic and believes in what he's doing, and you'd be guessing correctly if you thought that didn't attitude didn't last for the whole film.

The film starts at a steady pace but somewhere along the line plats the pedal to the floor and never really lets up to the end. We follow a series of twists, allegiances and betrayals which, along with the loss of innocence of the main character makes this feel less like your average political drama and more like The Godfather, minus the people being whacked of course. I've read a few negative things about this film, mainly over at the cess pit of humanity known as the IMDB message board, and I can't really understand why. This is an intelligently written, edge of your seat style drama, with another brilliant performance from Ryan Gosling and a protagonist that takes us on a journey that may spew forth cynicism regarding politics, but at the same time may be a little closer to reality than we would like to believe.

****1/2 out of *****

Midnight in Paris

I keep hearing that Woody Allen's new films are no good and that he's lost the plot recently, however I must keep seeing the right movies almost all the newer Woody Allen films I've seen have been gold, including this one. It has all the usual Woody Allen charming dialogue, interesting characters and unpredictable plot turns, and plenty of beautiful shots and scenery of central Paris. Midnight in Paris has Owen Wilson playing the typical Woody Allen character, as he continually goes back in time at Midnight (whilst being in Paris - GET IT!) and meets several famous artists from the past such as Pablo Picasso and F Scott Fitzgerald, and gets tips on his writing from Ernest Hemingway. At the same time his fiance, played by Rachel McAdams, seems more taken with a wannabe intellectual friend  of hers with a ten foot poll up his arse.

Even though Owen Wilson is just playing Owen Wilson, like he usually does, for some reason he just fits the Woody Allen character so well. The Woody Allen movie that this probably resembles the most would be the Purple Rose of Cairo, due to the fantasy elements of both movies, and considering the quality of that movie  I think that comparison is a good thing. In Roger Ebert's review he said he considers Allen to be a treasure of the cinema and I couldn't agree more. There's so much whimsical fun to be had here and I hope he never stops making movies, until he, you know, dies.

**** out of *****

Attack the Block

An unusual choice to open the Brisbane International Film Festival this year, this British film sci-fi action film centres around a street gang attempting to stop an alien invasion. Errr... yeah. Don't expect an Independence Dayesque film that's for sure. The aliens look pretty cool and it's a pretty fun action film with the usual British wit mixed in, however the film seems to be trying to elevate itself further by looking at the social problems surrounding street gangs, although I'm not sure this is fully explored enough and kinda doesn't work for me. However, that aside, I enjoyed this alot. And that's all I have to say on this one.

***1/2 out of *****

Inside Man

A Spike Lee film, or "Joint", from a few years ago that's been sitting in my DVD collection for ages and I finally got around to watching, Inside Man is about bank robbers who've taken a group of people hostage. The main bank robber is Clive Owen. Denzel Washington is the cop assigned to negotiate with the robbers. Jodie Foster is a woman hired to protect the interests of the bank manager, who is hiding a dark secret. Willem Dafoe is in there somewhere too. So it's got a good cast, and it moves at a frenetic pace with enough twists to keep the viewer entertained and intrigued. At the same time it attempts to offer social commentary and explore questions of morality, although like the above film these feel a bit tacked on and not like an natural extension of the storyline. Well worth checking out though.

***1/2 out of *****

Limitless

Alright, almost there. The central character is Limitless is played by Bradley Cooper, who has found himself in a bit of a funk until he comes across a drug that allows people to unleash their full potential and his life completely turns around. A cool concept however the full extent to which someone could utilise such a drug is never fully realised, and it descends into a bit of a standard action fare at the end. You could say the film is LIMITED (HAHAHAHAHA!) in it's execution. On the plus side it has Robert De Niro in it.

*** out of  *****

Sanctum

Based on a true story about a bunch of adventurers stuck in a cave, who end up yelling at each other with every cliched line in the book. I guess the moral of the story is not to go into caves? Had it's moments, but ultimately was a waste of time.

** out of *****

And that's that. I currently have Green Lantern, Fast & Furious Five, Battle: Los Angleas and Sleeping Beauty on rental, so those reviews will be up..... sometime.