This is 40

Contrary to what the trailers and posters may say, this sort of sequel to Knocked Up really isn’t a sequel at all. It hardly feels like a proper spin-off either. At the risk of sounding like Mufasa, Judd Apatow’s latest offering feels like the third film in what could be deemed the director’s “circle of life” trilogy.

If Knocked Up was about the anxiety of giving birth and Funny People was about confronting our fear of death, then This is 40 deals with the unassuming but very present hardships of everyday life. In fact, despite the presence of bankable comedians in the starring roles, an argument could be made that these titles share more in common with cinéma vérité – in which the focus is less on plot and more on people – than they do with traditional comedy.

Sound a bit too pompous for your taste? Oh, screw it. Here’s the deal: This is 40 is very funny. It has two extremely likeable leads to root for, a couple of cameos from the usual suspects that usually crop up in Apatow’s films and it is, of course, laden with dick jokes and swearing so colourful, you could paint a rainbow if you took the time to list all the profanities.

Ostensibly the story of a married couple turning forty, there is actually very little plot to speak of. To be honest, most of the time it feels like all Apatow’s doing is letting the camera roll while he lets his actors converse, bicker, kiss and make up (sometimes not even in that order), but that is by no means a hindrance. If anything, watching these characters simply go through the daily motions without the need to stick to a narrative structure makes them far more relatable, especially to viewers who happen to be forty year old parents.

No doubt, the fact that it’s Apatow’s real life family in front of the camera definitely helps. Paul Rudd is likeable as ever and he’s a worthy stand-in dad/husband for the director, but it’s Leslie Mann who walks away with the film. Usually seen in kooky supporting roles, here she proves her worth as a leading lady whilst also getting to showcase a tender side that we only glimpsed in Funny People, courtesy of her two daughters Maude and Iris – together, the three of them even manage to make dancing to a Nicki Minaj song look adorable.

It’s not all smooth sailing, mind. Some gags feel a bit forced and over-stretched in places purely for the sake of comedy, such as Melissa McCarthy’s endless tirade at a PTA meeting. Meanwhile, Megan Fox’s shop assistant-cum-escort is every bit as superficial and surplus to requirements as she sounds and is here purely on eye candy duties. It’s a shame, especially when we could’ve benefitted from a bit more of Jason Segel, whose character coins the kind of brilliant expression you will hear bachelors quoting for months on end (“I’m gonna Clooney it”).

The end result is a film that will please fans of Apatow’s lewd yet heartfelt comedy, but is also likely to resonate on a more personal level with couples and parents alike. Or, to put it more succinctly, this is good.

4/5

Hitchcock

The trouble with biopics is that many of them feel like history lessons. Gandhi, Amadeus and Malcolm X are just a few of the old school films to have tried to condense the lives of iconic figures into overlong movies laden with historical heft, but often bereft of substance and characterisation. However, a new wave of sorts has emerged in more recent years, as films like W, Nowhere Boy and My Week with Marilyn have eschewed the old format and adopted instead a more focused approach, by concentrating on a specific period of these individuals’ lives to reveal the man/woman behind the icon.

Hitchcock falls in the latter category of biopics, as John J. McLaughlin’s script keeps the plot strictly confined to the production of Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary thriller that gave birth to the slasher genre. The concept looks undeniably solid on paper and the prospect of peeking into the master of suspense’s psyche via Psycho is rather alluring, but there is something distinctively amiss in Sacha Gervasi’s film.

The most obvious misstep is having Hitch (“hold the Cock”) being confronted on regular intervals by apparitions of Ed Gein, the real life cross-dressing serial killer Norman Bates was originally based on. Gein is clearly supposed to be a manifestation of Hitchcock’s own personal demons, but it’s a baffling plot device which has already been overused in other biopics ad nauseam (see Ray or The Iron Lady). At least had he been visited by Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart, we would’ve had a bit of style to go with Hitch’s dry wit.

The big man himself is also somewhat befuddling. No one’s questioning Anthony Hopkins’ skills as an actor or his ability to put a personal spin on a real life character, as he so ably demonstrated in Nixon. But throughout Hitchcock he looks like he’s having too much fun doing an impersonation of the rotund filmmaker, rather than truly inhabiting him. It’s a spot on impression – he’s got the cadence down pat and the fat suit fits snugly – but little more than that.

Hopkins’ performance is not even the most memorable one in the film, which is a hindrance when you think his character’s name carries not only the film, but also the title. No, that honour goes to Helen Mirren as Alfred’s wife Alma, quietly impressive in the role of a gifted yet dissatisfied writer forced to stand in her husband’s imposing shadow. Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel and James D’Arcy also feature as the cast of Pyscho, although you do wonder whether their contracts stated that all they had to do was show up, considering their remarkably brief screen time.

Coincidentally, Hitchcock’s biggest flaw is indeed its brevity. For a film about what some deem to be the greatest storyteller ever to work in Hollywood, 98 minutes feel like a skimpy running time. As a result, Hitch’s unhealthy obsession with blondes, his difficult relationship with actors and, more importantly, his very own insecurities that informed Pyscho’s themes are all rushed through and barely hinted at. Perhaps a three hour biopic portraying his varied and illustrious career would’ve done Alfred Hitchcock more justice after all.

2/5

Zero Dark Thirty

Here’s the hard-hitting truth: while there have been quite a few classics inspired by the Vietnam War (and yes, we are including Rambo: First Blood Part II on that list), the equally controversial War on Terror has spawned virtually no contenders worthy of going toe to toe with the impressive work churned out by Stone, Cimino and Coppola throughout the 70s and 80s.

But then again, no cocky empirical statement would be complete without the mention of an honourable exception, which in this case is Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, a remarkably well shot film that was bold enough to leave out the politics and focus instead on the psyche of a man who is more at home dismantling bombs than he is at picking out breakfast cereals for his son. Given the amount of acclaim bestowed on Bigelow for her work on Locker, there was never any doubt she was the right director for a film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Zero Dark Thirty is not an easy film to sit through. Apart from the fact that it is bum-achingly long and the characters speak in the kind of register that is bewildering to us non-CIA folk, it’s also unwilling to conform to the traditional conventions of characterization. What that means, essentially, is that in this film the “good guys” are often seen performing the kind of acts we usually associate with the villains, which admittedly makes it difficult for the audience to identify or sympathize with them. The film’s opening scene is unflinching in its depiction of the shockingly methodical torture a prisoner is put through during his interrogation – the fact that it comes at the hands of a likeable officer (Jason Clarke, a little known Australian actor deserving more roles) proves to be all the more disorienting.

Interestingly enough, there are odd moments of unexpected yet contextualised humour too. Jessica Chastain kicking back after a hard day’s work, sipping on a beer but with her burka still on is an amusing sight to behold, while another moment in which two female operatives message one another online like schoolgirls prior to a drop off feels pleasantly light-hearted, considering it precedes the tragic Camp Chapman attack.

Which brings us to the raid on Bin Laden’s hideout compound in Abbottabad, the film’s climax of which we inevitably know the outcome, yet somehow Bigelow manages to keep us gripped and guessing throughout. A combination of spooky night vision and eerie silence intermitted with rattling gunshots and deafening explosions, it’s already a contender for the year’s most thrilling action sequence, made all the more suspenseful every time a white-gowned individual is glimpsed darting behind the US Navy SEALs prowling the compound.      

Anchoring us into the whole proceedings is Jessica Chastain’s Maya. Allegedly based on a real life CIA operative who dedicated almost ten years of her life to locate the world’s most wanted man, we first meet her as a wincing novice during the afore-mentioned torture scene and watch her gradually evolve into a relentless, imperturbable woman who is not afraid to stand up to the male competition and zones in on her target like a shark. A bit like Zero Dark Thirty’s astute director, then.

4/5 

Django Unchained

Over the past two decades Quentin Tarantino’s work has garnered a loyal and enthusiastic following most filmmakers would kill for, but for every new film to be saddled with so much expectation is hardly ever a good thing. After all, for every Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol. 1, there’s a Death Proof and Kill Bill Vol. 2, two films which may be stylish and intriguing in their own right, but feel like crushing disappointments when compared to the ones that preceded them.

By the same token, Django Unchained faces inevitable comparisons with Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino’s alternative take on the WW2 flick which happened to be a big hit with critics, audiences and award shows alike. But ideally every film should be judged on its own merits, and while Basterds does at times cast a giant swastika-shaped shadow on this 21^st century western, it is safe to say Django more than earns its spurs.

In fact, despite all the Stetsons, horses and gun-slinging on show, there’s an appealing fairytale quality to Django Unchained. As pointed out early on by one character, the plot can be viewed as a loose retelling of the Teutonic myth of Siegfried, which sees a legendary warrior battle a monstrous dragon in order to save a damsel in distress. Change the setting to pre-Civil War America, switch Siegfried with a freed black slave and the dragon with a monstrous plantation owner and you’ve pretty much got your movie. Adding further to the straightforward appeal is the fact that Django also happens to be QT’s most linear film to date, with none of the chronological reshuffling we’ve been accustomed to in his previous work.

Much has been made already about the amount of violence and N-bombs dropped throughout the film, but given the historical setting, neither ever feels gratuitous. If anything, Tarantino is shedding light on a sad chapter of history that is seldom portrayed onscreen, especially when compared to the amount of holocaust films that are out there; he’s simply just doing it with his trademark, unapologetic vehemence. If audiences cheered at the sight of Jewish soldiers clubbing Nazis to death with baseball bats, it is only natural African American viewers will feel thrilled and empowered at the sight of Jamie Foxx beating a slave trader with his own whip. It is faux historical gratification, and an entertaining one at that.  

As is the case with Tarantino, it’s the characters that make the movie. Top of the bunch is no doubt the aforementioned plantation owner Calvin Candie, played with repugnant charm by Leonardo DiCaprio. A puerile emperor who takes great pleasure in forcing his slaves into battles like doomed gladiators, Candie is the wicked heart and soul of the film and just goes to show DiCaprio can play show-stealing villains just as well as he plays flawed leading men. What’s more, he proves to be Samuel L. Jackson’s best verbal sparring partner since John Travolta in Pulp Fiction – the scenes between Candie and Jackson’s cranky house slave Stephen truly are the stuff of comedy. Christoph Waltz is enjoyable as Django’s mentor Dr. King Schultz, but his presence is more due to his friendship with Tarantino than the likelihood of crossing a German bounty hunter in Mississippi in 1858.

And what about the titular slave and his damsel in distress? Well, they’re the weak links in the chain. All Kerry Washington gets is a brilliant name and hardly any dialogue as Broomhilda Von Shaft. It's a sore missed opportunity, considering Tarantino usually excels at writing cool female roles - and "Hildie" is no Bride, Shosanna or Mia Wallace. As for Django himself, it’s not that Jamie Foxx is necessarily bad as the stoic protagonist, he just isn’t quite as memorable as his co-stars – which makes you wonder how casting runner-ups Will Smith and The Wire’s Michael K. Williams would have fared in the role. Having said that, Foxx does manage to convey the required amount of virility to portray a convincing western hero; and there’s no denying he’ll get your blood pumping the moment he whips out his pistols and takes on a room full of goons to the triumphant sound of a Tupac/James Brown remix. Now that is quintessential Tarantino for you, right there.

4/5

The Impossible

Countless individuals were irrevocably affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, thus ensuring there was no shortage of accounts on loss and trauma when the time came to portray the event on film. Clearly Juan Bayona doesn’t have the guts to make that kind of film, so instead he takes the Disney route and focuses on a family that managed to walk away from the disaster intact, therefore making The Impossible the most ill-conceived feelgood movie of the year. The tsunami itself is convincingly rendered and Bayona puts his actors through the wringer in the thunderous opening act, yet it feels like a stylised version of a Roland Emmerich disaster flick.

2/5

My Top 10 Films of 2012

10) Argo

Part spy thriller, part Hollywood satire, Argo was the film that proved Ben Affleck still had so much to offer as a director and also allowed the former tabloid scapegoat to give all his detractors the birdie. Gigli suddenly feels like a long, long time ago.

9) The Artist

The year’s riskiest proposition, no doubt. But thanks to Golden Age nostalgia and Jean DuJardin’s irresistible charm, Michael Hazanavicius’ silent film made a big noise at the 84^th Academy Awards, and even went on to nab the Best Picture statuette in the process.

8) Young Adult

A protagonist doesn’t always have to be a goody two shoes – sometimes she can be an irredeemable bitch, as long as she’s an entertaining one to watch. In that retrospect, Mavis Gary may well be Charlize Theron’s greatest role and screenwriter Diablo Cody’s greatest creation, while Jason Reitman refuses to conform to standards by denying his heroine a redemptive arc. There are no lessons learnt here and Young Adult is all the more fascinating because of it.

7) 21 Jump Street

It was a toss-up between this and Ted for the position of funniest film of the year. But while Seth MacFarlane’s teddy-com is little more than a feature length Family Guy skit, 21 Jump Street earns extra brownies points for: a) turning a straight-faced 80s cop show into a riotous laugh-fest; b) revealing that comedy is a surprisingly good fit for Ken doll lookalike Channing Tatum; and c) featuring the most hysterical trip out scene ever committed to film. Throw in one of the best celebrity cameos ever and you’ve got Christmas.

6) Looper

Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been on a helluva roll recently and Rian Johnson’s sci-fi thriller is unquestionably among his best work. Yes, the plot feels like a slightly tweaked version of The Terminator, but it puts a fresh spin on the time travel genre. No, JGL looks nothing like a young Bruce Willis, but it’s all in the mannerisms, not in the dodgy make-up. More importantly, Johnson is not afraid to visit some very dark, nasty places along the way, making Looper not only the most intelligent sci-fi flick of the year, but also one of the ballsiest.

5) Headhunters

Proof that sometimes the best films are found outside of Hollywood, Headhunters hails from Scandinavia but is a very different beast to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Coming off as a Norwegian version of The Fugitive, it pulls off the impressive feat of blending pitch black comedy and breathtaking suspense. It also features an intriguing protagonist in the form of Roger Brown, an insufferable little man who somehow manages to win us over by enduring all sorts of extensive torture, as he flees from flawless alpha male Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Furthermore, it’s not every day you come across a film that has you in tears of laughter at the sight of a dog impaled on a moving forklift. Irked by that last statement? Watch the film and you’ll understand.

4) Skyfall

We knew Sam Mendes had something big planned for 007’s 50^th anniversary, but boy we were never expecting something this good. Gone was the sappy moping over Vesper Lynd and the incomprehensible choppy editing from Quantum of Solace and in were the impressively choreographed set-pieces (the London Underground chase being the stand-out) and a sharp script that expanded the Bond mythology, whilst also paying homage to everything that came before (hello, vintage Aston Martin). But perhaps what was most exciting was to see Daniel Craig finally owning the role of James Bond, much in the same way Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan did in their respective third outings. And as for that ending… well, let’s just say it’ll be exciting to see where Craig & co. will take Bond next.

3) Shame

There is an unwritten rule in Hollywood that states if you want to be taken seriously as an actor, you’re going to have to get naked. But what Michael Fassbender does in Shame, a Manhattan-set tale about a closet sex addict, goes beyond conventional mainstream nudity. It’s a raw, exposed performance that occasionally borders on emotionally bruising, whether it is felt in the vicious exchanges with on-screen sister Carey Mulligan, or during the brutal sex scenes with a string of nameless partners. Fassbender had already impressed in previous roles, but thanks to Steve McQueen’s drama he’s now made an indelible mark on cinema. It’ll be hard to take our eyes off him (or his crotch) from now on.

2) The Imposter    

There’s no arguing that the main aim of documentaries is to inform, but what sets The Imposter apart from its peers is that it also works exceptionally well as a straightforward mystery thriller. Bart Layton’s film focuses on how charming French conman Frederic Bourdin managed to convince a Texan family he was their long lost son Nicholad Barclay, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the mid-nineties. Through the use of re-enacted events, retrieved home footage and a disarmingly honest first person account by Bourdin himself, Layton gives us an insider’s view to a story so twisted and chilling, it’s nigh impossible a screenwriter could ever come up with a mystery thriller that matches its unpredictability. The fact that it all happened for real makes for essential viewing.

1) The Avengers

The Dark Knight Rises was a fitting conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s grounded Batman trilogy and The Amazing Spiderman introduced the world to a superior Spidey/Peter Parker in the form of Andrew Garfield. But both films lacked the fun, humour and epic scale of The Avengers, Marvel’s ambitious pet project that saw comic book heavyweights Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk team up against an almighty common foe.

And to think it could’ve gone all so wrong. Bringing six superheroes and four separate franchises together was a giant gamble and while there was never any doubt people were going to turn up on curiosity alone, nobody expected The Avengers would be such an overwhelming success at the box office AND with critics worldwide.

“The wait was worth it”, USA Today solemnly announced; “The Avengers have been assembled and they fit together superbly”, gushed Empire magazine; “smartly thought out and executed with verve and precision” said the Los Angeles Times of Joss Whedon’s excellent approach to the superhero team dynamic. Even top critic Roger Ebert, who has a reputation for being particularly heavy-handed with blockbusters, couldn’t help but tip his hat to the erstwhile Buffy/Serenity creator.

With $1.3 billion in the bank and a worldwide army of newly-converted fanboys, it truly feels like Marvel has not only created an unstoppable cash cow, but also given us a Star Wars for a new generation.     

The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey

There are occasions when, despite protests from within the American film industry, Hollywood’s reputation as an opportunistic money-making machine is entirely warranted. First we get The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo erroneously remade, then Spiderman is precipitously rebooted and now The Hobbit (a 310 page children’s book by JRR Tolkien) has been split into a trilogy of three hour-long films. Squint hard enough and you might just see the dollar signs in producers’ eyes as they ramble on about creative license and “being faithful to the source material”.

Nevertheless, given that the Lord of the Rings trilogy has a vast cult following that rivals the Star Wars fan base, it seems only fair that Peter Jackson gets to have a go with his very own Phantom Menace, even if just to prove that he can do a big budget prequel properly. And he does in spades, for the The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey is a success on many levels.

The first and most obvious stroke of genius is the casting of Martin Freeman as the titular hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. Like fellow Brit Simon Pegg, there is a charming everyman quality to Freeman, a guarantee that no matter how peculiar the premise or lavish the set-piece, he will always ground the material in familiar territory for the audience. Elijah Wood always looked anxious and even a tad stoned as Frodo Baggins in the Rings films. Freeman instead plays Bilbo as a regular chap who’s unwittingly way in over his head, and therefore comes off as a far more relatable protagonist.

Secondly, the team of screenwriters (which also include Jackson and Pan’s Labyrinth’s Guillermo Del Toro) has been very strategic in selecting what parts of the book to embellish for the big screen adaptation. For instance the White Orc, who hardly features in the original text, has been elevated to chief villain and poses a terrifying rival to head dwarf and Aragorn stand-in Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage, surely onto a big break).

Admittedly, there are times where you get the impression the filmmakers try to stretch the material a little too thin. The early scene in which the company of dwarves raid Bilbo’s home may be amusing and designed to establish character but, like the diminutive guests, risks outstaying its welcome; the section involving Radagast the Brown feels jammed in and, quite frankly, nowhere as funny as it is trying to be; and while the action sequences are impressively crafted and choreographed, their lengthy duration suggests they’re also a convenient device for hitting that much coveted three-hour mark.

Having said that, there is enough action, humour and Gollum (in an extended cameo that is sure to make you feel for the little creep – Andy Serkis, take a bow) to make the time fly by, and once the film fades to black on that ominous, dragon-shaped cliffhanger, you’re likely to be left gagging for more. So Ringers rejoice, for you have something to look forward to for the next two Christmases. Just try not to think about the Hollywood producers cackling all the way to the bank whilst standing in line for your ticket.     

4/5