Review No.133: God Bless America

Good old social satire a topic that's so easy to tackle in theory however in practice sometimes it all gets a bit muddled which to an extent is what happens in God Bless America. The film is the latest to be directed by Bobcat Goldthwait who in recent years has been responsible for some fairly interesting features, most notably World's Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams, however to most he will always be best known for playing Zed in the Police Academy movies. God Bless America stars Joel Murray, brother of Bill, as Frank a run-of-the-mill insurance salesman whose life starts to disintegrate after he is fired for innocently flirting with a  co-worker before being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. As Frank lives alone, his wife having divorced him and taken their child to live with her new hunky cop boyfriend, he spends most of his time watching bad reality TV while drinking countless beers. Though he has several fantasies about killing people in his life, most notably his horrible white-trash neighbours, he doesn't go through with it until he realises as he's about to die he has nothing left to lose. Frank's real bugbear is the disintegration of American society into a nation of hateful people who are always wanting something which he believes is best exemplified through the kids on My Super Sweet 16 so he decides to finish off a rather nasty spoil teenager who was the focus of one of those programmes. While carrying out this murder he is spied by one of her classmates Roxy  who is in awe of what Frank did and wants to join him on his spree which he eventually agrees to after she tells him that she is regularly abused by her trailer park mum's boyfriend. The film then sees Frank and Roxy form a sort of geekier version of the bond formed by Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in Leon with their prey being the rudest and crudest members of American society. Before the film's end there are revelations about Roxy's parentage and Frank's disease before the predictable final killing venue is decided upon.

The main problem with God Bless America is that it reminded me of about half a dozen films and TV shows that had dealt with the subject matter in a wittier or more insightful manner. In equal parts I found it reminiscent of Natural Born Killers, Office Space, the Hugh Grant film American Dreamz and even Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 serial Black Mirror. That's not to say that God Bless America isn't without it's merit with my favourite parts being the small spoofs of TV shows such as Jersey Shore or the extreme news broadcasts that the yanks get to experience on Fox News. There are also some decent set pieces including one in a cinema as well as the final few scenes which as well as being predictable are actually fairly funny. Though the jokes were obvious I found myself laughing a fair few times at the absurdity of some of the situations that the film set-up and also the believability of the obnoxious nature of some of Roxy and Frank's targets. Talking of Frank it did take me a while to warm to his character due to Joel Murray's detached screen presence however once he hooked up with Roxy the two bounced off each other well and it gave his character a new lease of life almost treating Roxy like the daughter he didn't get to spend nearly enough time with. I wasn't a fan though of the speeches that Goldthwait gives Frank to deliver at random periods throughout the film as they were mainly long-winded and hammered home a lot of the similar points. Though it's targets are broad and its conclusion is fairly predictable there was something likeable about God Bless America that kept me interested throughout. There were enough jokes to justify it being a dark comedy while the chemistry between Murray and Tara Lynne Barr was a winning one so even if it didn't become the great satire it wanted to be.

Verdict: Though a fairly all over the place film there is enough to like about God Bless America to admire it as a film that tries its best so therefore it deserves a score of 7/10

Review No.132: Detachment

As I'm constantly banging on about genres on this blog, because after all that's the first thing they teach you about in Film Studies, I'm going to have a look at a very specific type of film mainly that of the inspirational teacher. From Goodbye Mr Chips to Freedom Writers via Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds these films always see an educator come to a school, usually one where the students can't be bothered, and ends with a case of mutual respect. That's what I thought I was getting from Detachment in which Adrien Brody plays substitute teacher Henry Barthes who comes to teach a class of delinquents in a school which produces the worst figures in the area. As the title suggests though Henry is detached from most of life so swears freely at his pupils and informs them that if they don't want to be in the class then they shouldn't waste his time. Henry's teaching does touch certain students though most notably Betty Kaye's Meredith a rather large girl with a penchant for art photography who is routinely picked on at school and insulted at home. The scenes inside the school also introduce us to teachers all of whom are struggling at their jobs but cope in different ways from James Caan's Mr Seadbolt's pill-popping to Lucy Liu's guidance councillor lashing out at her go-nowhere students we also see the politics of the education system through the eyes of principal Carol played by Marcia Gay Harden. The story though is more about Henry than the school as we see him deal with a childhood trauma and take in a teenage prostitute for no apparent reason. Things come to a head as Henry is about to leave the school and there is a heart-breaking scene before everything is said and done.

Reading around Detachment I found out that the original script didn't include a lot of the in-character interviews that are carried out between director Tony Kaye and Brody. For me these segments were long-winded and were a way out of letting the script provide depth to the character of Henry in addition there are a lot of improvised scenes some that work and others that are little embarrassing to watch. Personally I felt Kaye, who hasn't made a film since the well-received American History X, tries too many different techniques from animation to dimly lit memories to the aforementioned interviews it all seems a bit much. What I would've liked to have scene is more from the school as it it's heart is a very interesting film about school politics and the pressures of being a teacher, as evidenced right from the get-go with interviews by real life educators, however I felt the multiple plot strands involving Henry's personal life got in the way of this. With the exception of Meredith we really didn't get to see a lot of interaction between Henry and his pupils which is a shame as I thought that more could've been made in these classroom scenes. The cast on the whole are great Brody is great in the role of a man who wants to impart knowledge to kids but has become jaded over time due to both his job and his personal life. Harden, Liu and Caan are all brilliant with the latter playing a role very different from the usual stereotypical gangsters he usually portrays while Christina Hendricks also does a good job as a would-be love interest for Henry. There are flashes of what Detachment could've been however I think Kaye tries too many things that just don't add up to a well-made feature film.

Verdict: Some decent performances and flashes of genius don't detract from the fact that Detachment is a bit all over the place however due to the brilliant cast I will award this 6.5/10

Review No.131: 2 Days in New York

Onto something a bit quirkier now as we head to New York with Julie Delpy for the follow-up for her 2007 directorial debut 2 Days in Paris. In the wildly imaginatively titled 2 Days in New York Delpy's Marion and her son now live with her new boyfriend Mingus, played by Chris Rock, and is happy that is until her family descend. As we saw in 2 Days in Paris, Marion doesn't have a brilliant relationship with her sister Rose and things don't seem to have got much better with the two bickering in fairly public rows throughout the film. Marion's former lover Manu, who claims do have given her her first orgasm, is now with Rose however it is never really revealed how close their relationship is though they do get down and dirty with an electric toothbrush at one point. Joining Manu and Rose is the girls' father Jeannot, played by Delpy's real life father Albert, he is a good man but struggles with the language barrier while in edition is mourning the death of his late wife. The film is also based around the fact that Marion has a gallery opening in which her collection, which is essentially photographs of ex-boyfriends asleep, is being revealed to the general public and at the same time she will be selling her soul. The whole thing soon descends into a comedy of errors including some very public pot smoking, a lie about a terminal disease, a limousine being keyed and a cameo from Vincent Gallo building up to a rather beautiful final scene.

When I first saw Delpy's 2 Days in Paris I didn't know quite what to think of it straight away however I decided that she was going for a sort of Woody Allen vibe which is even more evident in the sequel know we're actually in New York. Marion and Mengus represent the average hipster couple she with her art gallery openings and he with his radio show one would imagine they travel to the trendiest clubs and know only the coolest people despite the fact that they are both single parents. That's why it's so amusing when Marion's family come to call as they are the furthest thing away from cool that you could get and right from the off, when Albert is detained by customs for taking cheese ito a foreign country, you know things aren't going to run smoothly. For me I felt the jokes were a little broader than in the first film however 2 Days in New York seemed to be more about growing up and setting a good example for your children. Delpy is great in the lead role however it is Chris Rock who really impresses playing what is essentially the straight role he's the most responsible adult character on screen and often is the voice of reason apart of course from when he's horny. I honestly didn't think that Rock could do anything other than broad comedy or voicing interesting documentaries about womens' hair. For me the most sympathetic character is Albert a large, jolly man who is coping with deep sadness but ultimately is there for his family members. I don't think 2 Days in New York will be everybody's cup of tea as the characters tend to grate occasionally and the humour is a little broad in places however Delpy has really established herself as a quirky directorial voice and I would say that this film is another great example of just how good she can be.

Verdict: Very funny with some great central performances 2 Days in New York is essentially a quirky farce which means not all the jokes and some of the humour is broad but overall I really enjoyed it so I will award it 7.5/10

Review No.130: Cleanskin

In my last review I bemoaned the lack of quality in the horror genre however an equally shoddy type of film so far this year is the British crime/gangster film with recent examples including the mediocre Payback Season and the plain awful Hard Boiled Sweets. Though Cleanskin isn't exactly a gangster film of sorts it is still set in the UK and the level of violence in it suggests to me that at least aspires to be a great entry into the British crime genre. The film stars perrenial British crime favourite and recent Hand of the King Sean Bean as Ewan a secret service agent who is tasked with tracking down a terrorist cell by Charlotte Rampling's imaginatively named 'M' figure Charlotte. Cleanskin obviously tries to capitalise on the 7/7 bombings by showing us several shocking suicide bomb attacks including one in which a cameoing Michelle Ryan is blown-up at a restaurant. Thankfully writer/director Hadi Hajaig doesn't make this a completely one-sided affair showing us how central extremist Ash went from bright law student to suicide bomber. As we see in flashbacks six years ago he was thriving at university however after being recruited by a radical Muslim cleric he joins a terrorist group intent on inflicting harm primarily on ex-soldiers. In a rather bloody scene he is paired with a psychotic man who thrives on killing women and children as well as the soldiers who he believes have done wrong. Of course eventually a showdown occurs between Ewan and Ash, with a rather long-winded suicide video message from Ash recited over the top of the confrontation, however I was slightly surprised to learn that this wasn't the end of the film and there was some more devious tactics afoot on both sides of the law.

When I first started watching Cleanskin I thought I was getting just another crime film however at least this one cared enough about its characters to add a little insight to their motives. Top of the class for me was Abhin Galeya as Ash who really tried his hardest to put across why his character was doing what he was doing and why he believed this was the right thing. I also felt it was a good idea to have Ash in a relationship with a non-Muslim girl, Tuppence Middleton's Kate, as it added another dimension to his character and saw that he was tempted to give up on the mission to which he had been assigned. While Galeya's performance wasn't as convincing as that of Riz Ahmed in Four Lions or Majinder Virk in the excellent Channel 4 drama Britz it was still good to see a little bit of depth in a film of this nature. I also feel that a big screen presence like Sean Bean is always a good bet in a film like this and in the quieter scenes of reflection he does thrive however his role as Ewan is essentially to kill as many people as possible. Apart from the possible exception of Charlotte Rampling the supporting cast, including Ryan and James Fox, are completely wasted as this is all about the ultimate showdown between Ash and Ewan. Cleanskin is definitely at its best when looking at Ash's motives however as Bean is the star of the show he has to have an equal amount of time devoted to his story which in my opinion is no way near as involving as that of his nemesis. So although Hajaig does have some good ideas in his film by the end of the film I hadn't really seen anything that wouldn't appear in an average episode of Spooks however it is still one of the better British crime films of the year so far.

Verdict: Though at times Cleanskin does have some interesting things to say about the motives behind suicide bombers at the end of the day this boils down to just another violent British film however just for not being a one-sided affair I will award it 5/10

Review No.129: Chernobyl Diaries

If there's one genre that is constantly disappointing in the films of 2012 thus far then it has to be that of horror as, with the possible exception of The Woman in Black, they've all been substandard Hollywood fare with the same old situations repeated ad infinitum. I personally blame Paranormal Activity for the quiet-quiet-quiet-loud-quiet-quiet pattern so I wasn't holding out much hope for  Chernobyl Diaries which is co-written and produced by PA director Oren Peli. Chernobyl Diaries wouldn't be an all-American horror film if it didn't feature some beautiful young people in this case handsome brothers Paul and Chris, the latter played by former teen heartthrob Jesse McCartney, along with Chris' girlfriend Natalie and her friend Amanda. As the opening montage of tourist pictures show us the quartet have been touring the generic landmarks of Europe and are currently in the Ukraine ahead of travelling to Moscow where Chris plans to propose to Natalie. In his infinite wisdom Paul proposes a bit of extreme tourism and for some reason the gang stupidly agrees to follow him to Chernobyl the infamous site of the nuclear bomb explosion. The gang's guide is Uri a typically gruff Soviet with no neck who welcomes the foursome along with a couple of clichéd backpackers in the form of Australian Michael and his new Norwegian girlfriend Zoe. With the seven of them now on the road Uri takes them around the deserted tower blocks of Chernobyl as director Bradley Parker at least builds up the spookiness with the random appearance of a wolf however he soon stops his film from being anything more than a generic horror when Uri's van won't start meaning that the gang are momentarily stranded in the middle of a desolate town. From there it's horror city as the more expendable members of the group are picked off and these pretty youngsters make more stupid decisions as the film goes on before the final obvious revekation is heavy-handedly delivered to the last person standing.

Chernobyl Diaries isn't a complete stinker however I've already seen one film in which pretty Americans get picked killed off in  Soviet country that being alien invasion film The Darkest Hour which was fairly boring. To be fair to Chernobyl Diaries there are some moments that took my by surprise early on but they were then spoilt by horror clichés that have been used hundreds of times before. It's a shame as the central concept is an interesting one and the Chernobyl disaster is touched on by Uri obviously to explain it to the film's target audience who are probably too young to remember when it actually happened however I think the fact that radiation looms large in the air isn't really dealt with until the final few scenes in order to explain who is following the gang. I really don't think that Parker goes out of his way to explain why exactly these kids  are being killed other than that they've decided to come to Chernobyl in the first place however if they'd gone to Moscow as originally intended then they would've surely been finished off by the aliens. Peli's script really doesn't call for much character development as right from the start we realise that everybody here is expendable and surely one of the first rules of a horror film is that you don't reveal that you are about to propose to your girlfriend. While the acting isn't terrible nobody really makes a concerted effort to breath any life into their characters while the backpacking couple as well as Uri are just seen as supporting players who are destined to be finished off. If I'm honest I just found Chernobyl Diaries fairly dull, in some parts even more boring than The Darkest Hour, as scene after scene of people looking terrified while walking down dimly lit corridors did nothing for me. So overall I'd have to say that Chernobyl Diaries has unfortunately not raised my expectations for the horror genre in 2012 and I'm still looking for a film to come and truly give me the shivers.

Verdict: Uninteresting characters coupled with clichéd horror dialogue means that Chernobyl Diaries is yet another entry into the dull year of horror that is 2012 so I feel I'm being generous giving it 3.5/10

Review No.128: Bonsai

Occasionally I feel that some films are just too arty for their own good, don't get me wrong I'm a fan of a good art film however I find that some directors think it's good enough to have their characters wistfully stare at each other while talking about important works of literature. Unfoturnately that's the case with Cristián Jiménez's Bonsai which is essentially about a man who lies about the books he's read, or later on those he's writing, in order to get very attractive women to sleep with him. The Man in question is Diego Noguera's Julio who tells us that he will end up alone while his pretty literature student classmate Emilia will end up dead, yes I know it's a cheery start. The young Julio feels inadequate as he is seemingly the only person in his class not to have read any Proust so endeavours to do so however unfortunately the man's work is presented as just too boring for our protagonist so instead he lies to Emilia, says he's read it and then they end up in bed together. Jiménez then takes us eight years into the future where a now-beardy Julio is attempting to secure the job of typing up the work of a famous author who notoriously only works with a pen and paper however he is turned down in favour of a cheaper option. Julio once again starts lying, this time to  his pretty neighbour, reciting to her parts of the book which are in fact his own words with this new story he creates being based on his experiences with Emilia. The film then takes us back and forth following Julio and Emilia's relationship which is tested by her flat-mate Barbara while in the present he struggles to keep up the lie and eventually he takes up looking after bonsai trees which form a part of his new story.

It's sometimes hard exactly to sum up what I thought of a film and I'm finding it really difficult to really put across my feelings about Bonsai. There's nothing particularly wrong with the film, it's well made and on the whole well-acted with Gabriela Arancibia being the stand-out as the awkward Barbara. The main problem with the film is the overall sense of self-satisfaction as these literary types try to convince one another that they're more cultured than they actually are. Our lead for example lies throughout the film to get what he wants and succeeds for the most part if not ultimately getting what he wants more surprisingly the women around him just fall for his charms. Though I felt the film did pick up in its second half there were long sections which were just fairly dull and parts in which Jiménez believed he was being comical when in fact he was the only that got the joke. There seemed to be a whole lot of bare flesh on display which I didn't felt was relevant to the plot, though I didn't mind when it popped, so again it felt as if the director was trying to include as much nudity as possible in order to make the film seem artistic. Bonsai has some interesting ideas about why we feel must lie and how far can we take our deception but at the end of the day these themes are dealt with in  a satisfying way and as you guessed ultimately this film is just far too arty for its own good.

Verdict: Well-made and well-acted but with nothing under the surface Bonsai suffers from being overly arty and not having as much to say as it feels it does so for that reason it gets a 5/10

Review No.127: Joyful Noise

I shall soon be hearing singing everywhere I go as for the third time in a week I'm watching a musical however the performances in Joyful Noise are, on the whole, a lot more organic than the 80s hair metal mess of Rock of Ages or the David Bowie-heavy music of Hunky Dory. The opening scene of the film sees Kris Kristoffesen's choir master suffer a heart attack on stage later dying just as his choir get through to the regional semi-finals of the annual choir contest. His widow G.G., played by Dolly Parton, assumes that she'll take his place however Pastor Dale has other ideas planting Queen Latifah's Vi Rose as the new choir mistress. The obvious clashes between these two divas escalate as G.G.'s wayward grandson Randy arrives in town catching the eye of Vi Rose's daughter Olivia of whom her mother is over-protective and won't let her date boys. Randy tries to ingratiate himself into Vi Rose's good graces by teaching her son Walter, who has Asperger's Syndrome, to play piano however after the two of them get into a fight with Randy's romantic rival Manny he is banned from her house. Randy also tries to inject some new life into the choir, in order to win the contest, however Pastor Dale refuses to sponsor the choir if they deviate from their initial more reverent material. As well as the clash between the women and the romance between the teens there is an on-going storyline about the choir's Georgian hometown going through tough economic times as plenty of local stores are shut down while Vi Rose has to take on two jobs. At the end of the day though the story is all about whether the choir will succeed in the final part of the competition and whether they will stick with what they know or go in a different direction. What do you think?

I suppose Joyful Noise is meant to be predictable and for me it was mostly reminiscent of the two Sister Act movies, which I love, however it's nowhere near as good as either of those. In my opinion Queen Latifah is an under-rated screen presence while Dolly Parton, other than cameos and voice performances, hasn't appeared on screen since 2002's Frank McKlusky CI so you would think writer/director Todd Graff would want to utilise their talents. It's surprising then that they are mostly used as supporting players in the story of the teen romance between Randy and Olivia who aren't nearly as interesting as the two lead matriarchs mainly because, while they can both belt out a tune, neither Broadway star Jeremy Jordan or Children's TV favourite Keke Palmer radiate that much charisma. The best non-singing scene for me was the confrontation in a diner between Vi Rose and G.G., most of which is in the trailer, as Latifah and Parton really let rip here insulting each other mercilessly for great entertainment. Graff also tries to cram too many plot strands in personally I would've taken a chunk from the teen romance story and instead devoted more time to telling the story of this town under financial strain who find solace through the music the choir provide while another story involving a choir member who struggles to find a man seems only to be there to set up the final scene. Thankfully the music performances are all great with the majority of them used in the context of the competition and even those that aren't, such as when G.G. remembers singing with her husband, are done in a way that isn't too far-fetched. Joyful Noise is definitely the best pure musical I've seen all week, due to the way the musical numbers are produced, however for me the teen romance is dull and has too much time devoted to it in the process almost squandering the talents of two captivating screen personas.

Verdict: The brilliant chemistry between Latifah and Parton is squandered in a film which concentrates too much on the teen romance element however when its leading ladies are allowed the chance to shine the film lights up and at the same time the musical numbers are great so for that reason Joyful Noise gets 6/10