Movie review - Unknown - or (and here be spoilers) generic amnesiac assassin movie no 7
Once upon a time there was a movie about a highly skilled assassin who'd been brainwashed and this was called the Manchurian Candidate, it was remade, not terribly well with Denzel Washington, and then, once upon another time Geena Davis and Samuel l Jackson made a movie called the Long Kiss Goodnight, (which I enjoyed) about a highly skilled assassin who got a bump on the head and lost her memory and then Matt Damon made the Bourne Identity based on a really good novel about, (and you might need to brace yourself here if you're hard of thinking), a highly skilled assassin who lost his memory.
Now I hope I'm not going to spoil Unknown for you but I am a bit curious as to why someone felt it necessary to remake the Bourne Identity but did not feel the need to do such a good job. This is an OK thriller and has some good moments, Liam Neeson is fine for the role and it's always nice to see Frank Langella, don't know why, it just is. Although the film starts sluggishly and builds to a lumber the real issue is the story.
There are a heck of a lot of inconsistencies, where does he get the money from? Why don't the forces of evil spirit him away from the hospital while he's lying in a four-day coma, or just kill him, that's got to be easier than waiting for him to wake up? If they've bee
n planning this for a year what's stopping the noble scientist from producing his results earlier, the baddies know about it, what's he waiting for?
Hang on, they spent a year planning a data heist that hinged upon a scientist agreeing to hang his laptop on a coat rack for 5 minutes? They've had a year, is that the best they could do? It just doesn't make sense.
Sadly for me this sense of not hanging together-ness is pervasive and un-ignorable, and of course, it prevented the suspension of disbelief necessary to enjoy the movie. It did feel like a tribute movie to the excellent Bourne films, and inevitably it failed to measure up, the characterisation was worse, the plot riddled with holes, the car chase good but not good enough.
In a thriller where you're supposed to feel for the central character you need scary villains, the baddies in this work were, however, not competent enough to be menacing, the master spy and his henchman dismissed by a poor bit of parking by the lady taxi driver, the villainess negated through a textbook bomb-disposal error, (hint - don't use the keypad, cut the red wire, or maybe the blue) the climax was rushed through and the final fight predictable and weak. Could we see our hero and heroine going off together, of course we could, we've seen the Bourne Identity.
I almost forget to craft a haiku
You could see this film
or re-watch Matt or Geena
and save the petrol
A supremely silly way to spend the Sabbath.
Yesterday, Sunday, was quite a challenge for the blessed Mrs Stuffy. Instead of a leisurely breakfast and a desperate hunt through the Sunday papers to find something of substance she embarked upon her first half-marathon. She's always been a recreational runner but around 5 miles has been her comfort zone, in preparation for the Belfast Marathon in May she's been steadily building up her mileage and the Reading half-marathon was timely as part of that process.
So up early, a cup of tea and a jelly baby and I ferried her and Thandi off to join 18,000 other nutters. They both did very well, Thandi hitting 2.05 and her ladyship sprinting for the finish line for a respectable 2.24 pretty much as planned. She's a little stiff this morning but was up at 6:00 today as usual and off to (enjoy?) a spin class with me.
I'm very, very proud of the current Mrs Stuffy.
For those friends and family who haven't been email-bombed by the team Julie and Thandi are running the Belfast Marathon in May in Memory of Ian, (Thandi's husband, Julie's brother and a man I was proud to call a friend) and to support the Mourne Mountain Rescue team. If you can take a minute to check out the justgiving sponsorship site click here
I'd really appreciate it.
Movie review - the adjustment bureau
Well this is a tough one, it's rare for me to come out of a cinema without a firm opinion on the value of the previous 90 minutes of precious life. But I did find myself less than definitive as Mrs Stuffy sleepily (tiny clue there) demanded my opinion. Is this film, as promoted, " a mix of Bourne and Inception"? Well, not Inception for sure, the story is simpler, less layered, less rooted in faux science and more studded with cod theology. Not Bourne either, the studied realism of the Bourne action was notably absent as magic and old-school mystery held sway.
Was it a thriller? Not really, as it played to it's finale it was pretty apparent how it would end, and the fact that I found myself hoping that I was right and that it would be all right for Damon and Blunt and that they would live happily ever after made it clear, it's a love story.
It's not a deep and meaningful love story, it's not a sad love story, like er, Love Story, there's no real sense of tragedy, no real sense of risk and no real risk of tears at the end. It's not a frothy chick flick either, you have to pay attention and you have to stay awake, and it helps if you've read the Phillip K Dick short story on which it's based, although not much.
So who's it aimed at? Scarily it might be me, I enjoyed it, I loved, (and frankly found vaguely desirable) the Emily Blunt characte
r and I resonated with the Matt Damon politico, I enjoyed their interplay, the wordplay, the humour and I delighted in a brief visit by the blessed Terence Stamp doing angelic menacing thug, inevitably though, there's a but.
You knew there would be didn't you? I think it's lazy to use God, however framed, as an off-screen character.
If you're going to offer a story based around an omniscient,omnipotent being served by minions who obey unquestioningly, you can't get away with making the final twist, "oh well, God got it wrong, but he's still there making sure we're all OK"...
Woah there, he got it wrong!, ,you can't have your deity having his (angel) cake and eating it.
Not fair.
So I guess that's spoiled it for you, never mind, it's not a bad movie, but don't expect miracles.
Adjust this Haiku until it works...
What rhymes with bureau?
Emily and her fine beau
But Destiny? poor show
Movie Review - True Grit and our heroic critic gets a little heretical
So, the blessed John Wayne won a well deserved Oscar for his Rooster Cogburn back in 1969 and Jeff Bridges didn't for his reprise of the role in the Coen Brothers remake in 2011. Is that fair. probably not, does it matter? Not to me, but it did set me a'thinking.
Not about individual performances but about the evolution of film-making. The fact is that, as with so many things, improved technology and technique have made today's movie makers better, by and large than their forebears. It makes sense, people evolve, we learn, we adapt, we improve, indeed we strive to improve, and very few films from 40 years ago (if we're honest) truly stand the test of time.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the original True Grit but I'm not scared to utter this heretical th
ought, I think I enjoyed this one more. The camera work is better, the characterisation is better, my expectations are higher, the lass playing Mattie (Hailee Steinfeld) is truly excellent and Matt Damon is in a role which could have gone very badly for him, however, he plays it really well.
The Coen brothers make great movies, they're better directors than Henry Hathawey, not necessarily through natural talent but because they've 40 years and many thousands of movie man-hours of experience to tap into and use. Technology is better too. We look with affection and nostalgia at the cars, planes and trains of 40 years ago but we'd not really want to go far in them, stuff is generally better today and, in my humble opinion, this film is better.
There, I said it, and I enjoyed it. I used to enjoy the clean and shiny cowboy world of Rawhide, the Virginian, the High Chaparaal, the Big Country, the Magnificent Seven and High Noon but the gritty, smelly,grubby, snaggle-toothed, brutal, violent and unpleasant representation of a frontier reality (which peaked with Unforgiven) is very real here and absolutely works for me.
To be fair though, it's not for everyone and the delightfully dozy somnambulist who claims the role of current Mrs Stuffy did drift off during one of the critical scenes but if you like a classic western set in beautiful scenery and you like good writing and you enjoy great direction and you appreciate talented acting then...
1. You're not my wife, (lucky you) and
2. You'll enjoy True Grit
A gritty, grubby,grimy, grand haiku
Oscar also-ran
But Stuffy's a Coen fan
So "Ned, fill your hand"
n planning this for a year what's stopping the noble scientist from producing his results earlier, the baddies know about it, what's he waiting for?
