Set the bar low, enjoy the surprise, a movie review of Kingsman
One of the inevitable outcomes of living in a polite, democracy, and many social commentators seem to gloss over this, is that one often finds oneself watching a film which would not have been ones first choice.
So it was that I found myself, my wife and some really decisive friends watching a class cast, Michael Caine, Mark Strong, Colin Firth and Samuel L Jackson hamming it up in Kingsman. I was not looking forward to this, the spy parody has been done badly (The execrable Avengers) and very well, Austin Powers and True Lies leap to mind.
I feared the former based on reviews and trailers.
However, as it went on I started to enjoy it, the lead character played by Taron Egerton developed in a predictable but well-judged way, Colin Firth never looked comfortable but kept on trouping, manfully. There are some nice touches, the blade-runner assassin played by Sofia Boutelle is a great concept, I bet the James Bond producers are kicking themselves for not thinking of her.
The violence was cartoonish but hey, that's what one expects from Vaughn and Goldman. I particularly enjoyed the Busby Berkely-like fireworks, I'll not spoil it for you but you'll see what I mean,
Kingsman doesn't take itself too seriously and I'd caution anyone who sees it to take a similar relaxed approach. I think the message is that it's surprising how low expectations can set the scene for a surprisingly enjoyable experience.
A parodical paradoxical Haiku
Justice is dealt out
With colour, style and panache
Foolish,fancy fun
Labels: Blade runner, Colin Firth, Films haiku Stuffy critic, Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Movies Stuffy Kingsman, Oakwood, parody, review, Sofia Boutelle, spy
Movie Review - Moonrise kingdom, is a strangely wonderful tale, extraordinarily well told
In 2009 I was blown away by the surreal, stop-motion treatment of the Fantastic
Mr Fox (despite the predations of the real thing on my sad little flock)
delivered by Wes Anderson. Three years on and Mrs Stuffy (who'd
caught a trailer for this movie, Moonrise Kingdom) was keen to see it
As regular readers will know Mrs Stuffy's word is law so hey-ho to the
multiplex. I'd seen no reviews and apart from passing familiarity with
the aforementioned foxy-tale had no preconceptions. I was immediately
struck by the similarity of technique the director employed in the
opening sequences but this time with actors rather than animated
farmyard folk. The opening scenes, the seamless editing and the
intelligent use of music introduced us to the family at the heart of
this tale and set a number of clues for what was to come, it's a gentle
tale, a fine collection of slightly damaged, eccentric, dysfunctional
folk, played by a really strong cast and directed by a writer/director
with a very individual way of seeing, and portraying, his world.
.
It's very hard to describe the story, the beauty of this film is in the very oddness, the quaintness, the gentle (mostly) handling of personalities, relationships and the way characters react to each other and the bizarre situations which curiously seems both very odd but absolutely right at the same time. The young leads, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward are delightful, the adult characters without exception consistently and coherently weird and the location in Newport, Rhode Island, looks idyllic.
If you'd enjoy an evening of great unusualityness I'd strongly recommend this film, I'm tempted to watch it a second time as I know I missed lots of subtle goodness going on.
Mrs Stuffy, was alert, pillow-less, mostly coherent and mildly amused throughout... which was nice.
An eccentric haiku
Old hands and young love
deliver likeable Lord
of the (butter)Flies*
*did you see what I did there ? No, go see the film then ...Labels: Bill Murray, Brice Willis, Films haiku Stuffy critic, Francois Mcdormand, Harvey Keitel, Moonrise Kingdom, Mrs Stuffy, oakwood stuffy, Tilda Swinton, Wes Anderson
Watching the watchmen................................ Movie Review
It's fair to say that Mrs Stuffy did not share my enthusiasm for sitting through 3 hours of dystopian Sci Fi, based on a comic (I refuse to play the "graphic novel" card, it's a comic!).
The first few bone-crunching minutes did little to reassure her but, as the tale unfolded both of us were neatly lassoed and drawn into the very human world of the Watchmen. It's a tough tale to tell and the story skips around in time and place like a time-travelling skippy thing but despite this and (contrary to the opinions of some other reviewers) we had no problem keeping on track, and intrigued.
I was astounded by the visual impact, (shades of Blade Runner in the city-scapes) and captivated by the dialogue, particularly the Rorshach segments, painfully well played by Jackie Earle Haley (with echoes of Bogart's Phillip Marlowe, or Marv in Sin City).
The acting was good throughout and occasionally great, Billy Crudup deserves a mention as does the aforementioned Jackie Earle Haley who, on losing his mask, turned in a compelling performance. I loved the cruel humour of the prison scenes, the sheer imagination and beauty of the CGI on Mars, the wit and twists of the montage showing how history moved away from our own familiar timeline.
It's a hell of a story, beautifully told with a sad inevitability about it's resolution. I understand that the author, Alan Moore, has distanced himself from the film, that's a shame, based on our reaction it's his loss.
I commend it to your eyes and minds.
Would you like a haiku?
A tale for dark times
Sweeping, brave and intense
black, bloody and bold
Labels: Films haiku Stuffy critic, Oakwood, Watchmen
Slumdog Millionaire, the definitive haiku movie review
It's been a little while my loyal army of blogees, my apologies. It appears that our political Laurel and Hardy, (Messrs Darling and Brown) have decided to pay banks for incompetence which means sadly that I've had to do lots of work to generate the tax income to fund this farcical exercise.
However it's not all bad news
Slumdog Millionaire, the definitive haiku movie review .
From rags to riches ?
a tale told, so very well
I'm lost, for once, for ...
Labels: Films haiku Stuffy critic, slumdog
Movie reviews in the form of Haiku*
I noticed how verbose were some of my comments on movies that Mrs S and I had enjoyed recently, so I thought, since I had a few to catch up on, that I'd try and critique them in an abbreviated form... not sure it works but it's very hard to do.
Bourne Ultimatum
Stunning and frenetic
Great action, shaky camera
my poor seasick wife
Run Fatboy Run
Load of good fun gags
Nice movie, happy ending
Yay for podgy Brits
3:10 to Yuma
Old style cowboy film
Good acting by Crowe and Bale
Sleepy Mrs S, shame !
*A 17 syllable form of Japanese poetry that consists of three un-rhymed lines of five, seven and five syllables
Labels: Films haiku Stuffy critic
