Captain America, a bit of a ring doughnut, if you know what I mean,
Captain America, The Winter Soldier, it's a bit of a ring doughnut, if you know what I mean,
You don't?
OK let me explain, it's a veritable coruscating cornucopia of action, car chases, plane rides, jumping, crashing, car crashing, plane crashing, fighting, kicking, bashing, banging and crashing.
It's a Marvel comic book story but, (and here's the analysis during our drive home), the chap who plays Captain America (Chris Evans) is just not engaging.
I'm told he's pleasing to the eye of the ladies but he doesn't have the charisma (or the well-written amusing lines) of Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, Chris Emsworth as Thor or even Christian Bale as Batman, they've all got charisma in bucket-loads but as the key figure he is out-acted and outshone whenever he shares the screen with Samuel L Jackson or Scarlett Johansen.
Hence the analogy, it's a well executed, thickly glazed, satisfying sugar rush, a delicious treat with a bit of a vacancy in the middle.
But still very enjoyable...
A patriotic Haiku
Predictable fun
Americas favourite son,
Delivers, well done...
Labels: blog from the barn, Captain America, Chris Evans, cinema, doughnut, haiku, Marvel, oakwood barn, Robert Redford, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansen, Stan Lee, Stuffy, Winter Soldier
Wes does Grand Budapest, a movie, a madness, a mess? yes and well worth it...
So the film drought has ended and we've emerged, blinking and shaking into the watery spring sunshine, we've stretched, yawned, scratched ourselves and shuffled off to the cinema.
I'm sure you're agog to hear what lured us from our movie hibernation.
Now then O best beloveds, there are movies we (Mrs Stuffy and I) view because we've read a great review, there are some movies that friends are keen to see so we go along from a sense of kinship and fellow-feeling. There are movies that one or other of us are obligated to attend simply for the sake of continuity (why else would one keep indulging the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise?) and there are a few actors and directors who rarely let us down, (there are no bad films with Ed Harris in for example) And there are films that fall into the "we haven't been to the movies in ages and that's the least bad choice" box.
So, guess which category The Grand Budapest Hotel fell into?
Well you're wrong, we like Wes Anderson, we don't necessary understand him, but we like what he does when he's near a camera, I love the stop-motion weirdness of Fantastic Mr Fox, the seemingly un-related and irrelevant bits, I have no idea what was going on in The Darjeeling but it made me care, even if I didn't understand it. We really liked Moonrise Kingdom, the serious kids, the childlike adults, the extraordinary beauty of the filming, the stillness, the frenzy, the retro colours, costumes and scenery, the inexplicable sudden appearance of a narrator, the self-indulgence of the director and (as in all his films) the cast list of assorted stellar mainstream acting talent mixed with the young, fresh, naif, newbies.
I was going to mention that this is an odd offering but it's evident that's to be expected. This film defies pigeonholing, it's a recounting, in flashback, of the extraordinary life of a concierge in an unreal Europe, on the verge of an unreal world war, with unreal totalitarianism raising its ugly head, I'm not sure what, if any, political points are being made.
It's a tale worth telling for whatever reason. It's the visualisation I really love in his films, the way Anderson mixes live-action, broad surreal shots and panoramas with so much detail, so much happening in them, the occasional model, not trying to convince that it's real, it's patently a model but it's charming nonetheless. This movie made me smile throughout and occasionally chuckle, it demanded constant attention, many, small subtle things happen, there's no telling what is or is not significant.
The appearance of a big-name movie star may be hugely significant or a throw-away cameo. There's no telling what might be a red herring and I've come to expect no clear outcome, resolution or meaningful message. It seems to me that Wes Anderson makes very attractive, clever films to amuse and surprise and that's just what they do. Is this a self-indulgent movie? Probably but it's also an indulgent film and I really did enjoy being indulged.
Did you miss the Haikus?
Pastel retro tale
Anderson does not fail to
muse, bemuse, amuse
Labels: blog from the barn, Bruce Willis, cinema, critic, Ed Harris, films, Grand Budapest Hotel, haiku, Harvey Keitel, Moonrise Kingdom, movie review, Mrs Stuffy, Oakwood, Ralph Fiennes, Stuffy, Wes Anderson
Scream Lauda if you want to go faster
I tend to choose movies that have an element of escapism about them, the unreal, the surreal, the hyper-real. I have chums who get annoyed when something takes place in a film that wouldn't work in the real world. Myself, I'm the opposite, I can (often reluctantly, grudgingly and with poorly disguised ill-humour, sit through a rom-com, an historical drama, a heartwarming tale of everyday folk but secretly I'm yearning for the aliens to arrive, for the housewife to be unmasked as an ace assassin with awesome ninja skills.
"Let's go and see 'Rush', that film about James Hunt" she exclaimed, my lovely wife. "Yes let's do that" I replied, feigning enthusiasm whilst inwardly ticking off the pointless counter arguments. I know the story, I lived then, I know what happens, Formula 1 is formulaic, the 70s were tedious, etc. etc.
No matter, we hooked up with some chums for a pre-movie supper and "away my beauties, hie thee to the multiplex".
You'll not hear this often but "I was wrong". Ron Howard has produced a thoughtful, engrossing and entertaining film. It flows well, the storyline, although we already know it, is delivered with precision and pace, the period detail is extraordinarily well captured. The actors are all great, Chris Emsworth plays hunt very well but this is really a film about Nikki Lauda and the actor who plays him, Daniel Bruhl looks very much the man that Lauda was, a driven perfectionist with dodgy social skills but ultimately a man who earned much-deserved real respect for his drive tenacity and ultimately his humanity.
I believe that Lauda was a consultant to the film but it certainly doesn't see him through rose-tinted racing goggles. The closing minutes are real news photos and footage of the actual protagonists and I must admit left me a little misty-eyed and Mrs Stuffy quite moved.
A Hubris Haiku?
The Hunt for success
James drove, and lived, to excess
Lauda was prouder
Labels: blogfromthebarn, chris emsworth, cinema, daniel bruhl, haiku, james hunt, moview, Mrs Stuffy, nikki lauda, Oakwood, ron howard, rush, Stuffy
