The Men Who Stare At Goats

This film has a great cast but a massive problem - it can't decide if it believes in this stuff or not.

The premise is that Ewen McGregor, an emotionally unstable journalist, has caught on to the idea that there's a New Age psychic division of the army that operate as "Non-Lethal Weapons" and try to resolve conflict by developing their hippie sides.

So...we have Clooney (check), Bridges (check), McGregor (check), Spacey (check)...and yet some kind of a mess. The film spends half the time sending up psychic phenomena, pretending the main protagonists are burned out PTSD hippies, and the other half trying to subtlety suggest that maybe they do have all the answers. 

Bets are hedged the whole way through the film, and that leaves you with a sense of detachment...have they got powers? Are they deluded hippie soldiers? Do I care? 

Watchable (I don't think these actors could avoid being watchable) . But not as funny as it thinks it is, or as clever as it thinks it is, or as satirical as it thinks it is. Or much of anything.

Meh.

Tyrannosaur

I watched this because I'd heard it was harrowing but a great film, and also because I really like Olivia Colman, who has recently started getting the attention she deserves as an actress who brings a warmth and likeability to all her roles. Once it arrived I then avoided watching it for a week or two. Mainly because of the harrowing part.

Peter Mullan plays Joseph. Joseph is a seriously angry man spiralling out of control after the death of his wife. In the aftermath of one of his outbursts he ends up in a charity shop run by Hannah (Colman), who handles the situation by praying for him. Joseph returns the favour by an abusive outburst which upsets Hannah given the severely abusive nature of her marriage. Joseph is remorseful, Hannah needs to matter to someone, and so develops a strange friendship between the two, plausible only because of their mutual isolation and vulnerability.

1) Olivia Colman is great in it.
2) It is harrowing.
3) Not recommended as a pleasant evening's viewing if you are bothered by animal abuse, random unprovoked violence, casual racism on its way to escalating to full-time committed racism, spousal abuse, emotional abuse, child neglect, rape.

Some people have said it's uplifting in the sense that there's a glimmer of hope in Joseph by the end. I think there's a tiny bit of truth in that...this film makes you dig deep to empathise, but empathise you can, though it does test you to the very limits. Joseph is under no illusions about who he is, which just about saved him for me as a lead character. Hannah's lot seems grotesquely unfair, yet it's hard to swallow the idea that the only person she can possibly turn to (or would possibly turn to) is Joseph. The story seems to be told from the point of view of the role she has in bringing some kind of redemption to Joseph - personally speaking, I wondered where the redemption was coming from for her. 

Ultimately there are no great lessons to be drawn from this movie, other than life's shit for a lot of people because men are taking out their anger on whoever they can. I'm not sorry I've seen it, but I can't see myself ever sitting down to watch it again.

The Town

Picked this one up unashamedly on the basis that it features Jon Hamm from Mad Men :) have to say, I don't think I'd ever have heard of it otherwise.

Now then, Ben Affleck...has a mixed reputation, shall we say, and the fact that he directs this as well as stars in it may be enough to put some people off. 

The film is set in Charlestown, Boston and the main premise is that Charlestown has a long tradition of Irish-American criminality. Affleck is a bank robber, and the film begins with a heist. So far, so low-budget Heat.

Things that get you interested:

a) The gang take the bank manager hostage and then release her. One of the gang is all for doing her in (witness and so forth) but Affleck instead takes it upon himself to "keep an eye on her"...with predictable romantic developments. The inevitable tension between Sweetheart Affleck and Criminal Affleck is no surprise, but despite this the scenes in question are cleverly handled and leave you wondering exactly how this is going to play out.

b) Pete Postlethwaite in his last-but-one screen role. He's the mastermind of the operations, but as you come to realise the hold he's had over the gang - and their fathers before them - he emerges as a truly sinister figure. Memorable last scene too - the guy could act.

c) Jon Hamm - plays an FBI agent, smartly enough to let you believe that he can always get there first, right to the final scenes.

More a worth-a-watch than a must-see, but not a bad evening's entertainment.

Confetti

I don't remember there being much fuss about this when it came out, but I was intrigued by the cast first off - Robert Webb, Olivia Colman, Jessica Stevenson, Martin Freeman, Stephen Mangan...how terrible could it possibly be?

The plot is simple enough - a wedding magazine sets a competition for the most interesting themed wedding, and the film follows the couples - the naturists, the obsessively competitive tennis pros and the tone-deaf musical fans.

Well worth a watch as long as you don't object to any of the following, in my opinion:

• Robert Webb spending most of his scenes with his gentleman's apparatus on full public display
• Olivia Colman spending almost as many of her scenes with her lady-regions on full public display
• A gay couple
• Lots of stuff about weddings & wedding politics
• Lots of stuff about how weddings and the "wedding industry" are all a bit daft
• Some cheesy romantic bits

It's quite funny - chuckle rather than spit out your tea - and rather sweet in parts. My favourite characters were the gay wedding planners who in many ways had the warmest relationship of all the couples portrayed. It won't change your life or have you wanting to watch it again and again to memorise the funny bits, but it's a pleasant way to spend an evening.

The Lives of Others

This one's in German. Subtitle haters beware.


It's set in the 80s. The main character is Wiesler, an interrogator in the East German Stasi - and a good one. He's clinical, he's efficient, and he sticks to the letter of the rulebook. 


Wiesler is given an assignment of running surveillance on a playwright. Officially the reason is that he may be subversive, but Wiesler can see through this -  the official that wants the surveillance is infatuated with the playwright's actress girlfriend. The more Wiesler listens, the more he finds his assignment challenged by a growing respect for the man he is supposed to be trying to destroy.


This movie is slow paced and very much character-driven, but the unfolding situation becomes at first intriguing and finally compelling. The sense of the quiet power and threat of the regime grows steadily; no violence is ever shown, just the dawning realisation that this is a state where an individual is given no choice other than to do exactly as they are told. The characters are complex - Wiesler is both the big man and the small man, Sieland (the actress) is being corrupted but always retains some integrity, Dreyman (the playwright) is talented and respected and yet his ignorance of the surveillance makes him vulnerable. This gives the film a crucial element of unpredictability - you are never sure whether the goodness in each character will be able to transcend or be destroyed. What struck me is how beautifully weighted the ending is - no emotional scenes, but a kind of quiet justice. 


If you have the patience, I think you'll find this one satisfying.

The Castle

I actually have no idea why Lovefilm sent me this. I know I must have asked for it at some point, but I can't remember...it's interesting getting a movie that you've heard nothing whatsoever about though.


This Australian comedy is all about the Kerrigan family. They live in a house just a short distance from an airport runway, but as far as they're concerned, life couldn't be better. However, when a decision is taken to expand the airport - onto their land - the family have to fight to hang onto their home.


There's a real warmth to this film, and the family's closeness carries it through. The Kerrigans aren't the sharpest tools in the box, but a lot of the humour and sweetness comes from their blissful lack of awareness of this, and their appreciation and pride in what they have. It's not the kind of film where you're desperate to find out what happens next - more a series of amusing conversations. It's got the same quotable quality as a movie like This Is Spinal Tap or Withnail & I, but without the outrageousness or out-and-out silliness of either film (which could make it more appealing or less essential depending on your P.O.V.). For me it wasn't a classic - entertaining, gentle, big-hearted viewing nonetheless.

Trust the Man

You might think that with David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the cast, this would be worth a watch.


You'd be completely wrong. It's dire.


It's a romantic comedy, but as it's neither romantic nor at any single point in the entire thing remotely point funny, it fails completely. In this kind of movie the characters do need some kind of flaws, but when the flaws make them irritating, unlikeable, whiney and childish, it becomes impossible to care. 


Clean your oven tonight instead.