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.118: Rock of Ages

So as it's my birthday today I thought I didn't want anything too taxing, though as you'll see later I changed my mind, so I opted to watch the film adaptation of the sell-out jukebox musical Rock of Ages. The film is set in 1987 California and follows the exploits of a small-town girl, Julianne Hough's Sherrie, who comes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune but instead ends up working as a waitress in the notorious Bourbon Rooms. There she meets Drew a city boy, I think you can see where this is going, who is an aspiring rock star and its not long before the two start dating with him writing a song about her which isn't completed till the end of the film. The owner of the Bourbon Rooms Dennis Dupree, played by Alec Baldwin who is the best thing by far in this film, manages to get top rock group Arsenal to play their final gig at his venue before lead singer Stacee Jaxx goes solo. Jaxx, played by an incredibly game Tom Cruise, hooks up with a Rolling Stone reporter before he goes on stage however Drew believes it is Sheree who has slept with him so abandons her with the two going their separate ways. Jaxx's manager Paul Gill sees potential in Drew so decides to try and make him a star however when the record executives inform him that rock is dead he ends up adding Drew to a cheesy boyband. Meanwhile Sheree ends up stripping at a club run by Mary J Blige she considers going back home however a chance encounter with Drew encourages her to not 'Stop Believin'. Other stories in the film involve Catherine Zeta Jones' mayor's wife wanting to clean up the town by shutting down The Bourbon Rooms and Dennis realising that he is in love with one of his staff members Lonni, who is played by Russell Brand donning a very odd Brummie accent. All these stories come to a head as Stacie performs his first solo gig at The Bourbon Rooms with Drew's boyband in attendance and Sherrie in the audience, I just wonder if he'll play the song he's been writing throughout the movie?

I have to say I was looking forward to Rock of Ages in a sort of a cheesy way and I am a fan of a lot of these songs however after I finished watching it I was angry that they'd butchered some of the guilty pleasure classics I use to listen to when I went out regularly in my youth. The main problem is that the two leads are just awful and their relationship isn't convincing for one minute mainly because Julianne Hough, best known for her work on the American version of Strictly Come Dancing, is a better stripper than a singer while Diego Boneta as Drew can barely see what Sheree looks like over his enormous crop of hair. While Baldwin tries his best in The Bourbon Rooms scenes he's hampered by Brand's odd choice of Birmingham accent and when the two finally confess their love for each other, during an awkward duet of 'I Can't Fight This Feeling' it is incredibly uncomfortable. A lot of the cast members seem to be purely there for the money, step forward Catherine Zeta Jones, or just to have a laugh like Paul Giamatti. The only stand-out moments are from Tom Cruise channelling his obnoxious persona from Magnolia, only this time with added monkeys, he is a convincing aging rock star but maybe that's art imitating life in a way. Though some of the set pieces are enjoyable I felt there were far too many performances and not as many scenes to develop characters which is needed especially in a film with as many plot strands as Rock of Ages has. I have to say overall I'm bitterly disappointed as I was hoping for another Mamma Mia type movie but, and I never thought I'd say this, I miss Pierce Brosnan's awful singing voice.

Verdict: While there are some enjoyable set pieces and Tom Cruise is on top form overall this is a disappointing mess so that's why it's getting 3/10

Review No.108: Red Tails

It seems these days that George Lucas only wants to tweak with films he's already had hand in for example his constant alterations to the Star Wars franchise however it seems that he does have other ideas up his sleeve. Take Red Tails, an film that Lucas has been wanting to make since the late 1980s, which focuses on the work of African American airmen towards the end of World War 2. The film, which Lucas has produced as well as directing some of the post-production re-shoots, introduces us to the Tuskegee Airmen who are being used for simple ground attack missions against freight trains and enemy ground transport. The group include the alcoholic 'Easy', the risk-taking Lightning who ends up romancing an Italian woman, 'Ray Gun' who is often referred to as Junior by his colleagues as well as the wise-cracking Joker. The men are led by the pipe-smoking Major Stance and the inspirational Col Bullard, played by Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard respectively, it is the latter who is able to secure the men more important missions escorting bombers during their mission. The men are given better planes which are given painted red tails to mark them out as different from the rest of the airmen however it isn't all plain flying when Ray Gun is captured and taken to a prisoner of war camp. As you would imagine before the end of the day some of the 'Red Tails' die while others become heroes but what seems most important to Lucas is to put in as many scenes of the airmen flying as humanly possible which is a shame as these are some of the dullest parts of the film.

Being nasty about a film as good-natured Red Tails and its clear that this is a passionate project for Lucas who at least is able to get across the good job that these men did and why they deserved to be honoured. Of the cast I thought Howard was a stand-out however David Oyelowo as Lightning was fairly compelling in his subplot where he romanced the beautiful Sofia despite the fact neither spoke the other's language. The problem is that there are far too many characters that no-one really gets a chance to shine and I felt there was far too much time devoted to some of the aerial sequences and it was as if Lucas was trying to make his own Saving Private Ryan. To me at least the whole thing felt a bit like a TV movie of the week from the cheap-looking opening title sequence to some of the initial dialogue such as one airman yells out, 'German, Let's Get him.' The Italian locations, most of which were shot in Prague, makes the film look more like an Olive Oil commercial while Cuba Gooding Jr.'s instance of his character smoking a pipe seems like something Joey would do in Friends so I couldn't help but laugh every time I saw him. I can't say the film was poorly directed by Anthony Hemmingway, whose most famous for directing episodes of The Wire, and indeed one of the joys is spotting how many former cast members of the Baltimore show are in Red Tails such as Andre 'Bubbles' Royo, Tristain 'Michael' Wilds and Michael 'Wallace' B. Jordan. Overall this was an undemanding film was overly long aerial sequences with far too many characters and subplots to take on but I feel that Lucas has still created a very worthy historical film which does at least paint these men as the heroes they were.



Verdict: A very worthy film with a smattering of good performances is ruined by overly long aerial sequences, far too many characters and an overall sense of smugness so for those reasons I can only give it 5.5/10

Review No.100: John Carter

So we've reached the halfway stage earlier than expected so break open that champagne and release those party poppers however first maybe you'll want to read my review of John Carter. Yes for my 100th film I thought I'd choose one of the most talked about films of the year so far as this family space-set adventure has lost Disney approximately 150 million dollars. Starting off in Civil War Virginia it sees Carter trying to escape being enlisted by some weird army dudes led by Bryan Cranston only to escape from the Indians into a cave and ends up in space thanks to a magic medallion. Carter is transported to Mars, however just to confuse everybody Mars here is known as Barsoom, and quickly discovers the fights between two warring cities Helium and Zodanga one of which has loads of green dudes while the other has men who have tattoos all ove their faces. John is heralded by all of the people of Barsoom for his ability to jump very high and punch people quite hard in the face, essentially possessing the qualities of an early 1990s video game character, this earns him respect but also makes some people distrust him. There's obviously a love interest for Carter in the form of Lynn Collins' Dejah Thoris the Princess of Helium, that doesn't mean she has a high voice, who is engaged to Dominic West's Zodanga prince as their wedding would hopefully unite all of Barsoom. Obviously Carter won't let that happen so after fleeing from a gladiatorial space arena and then becoming the leader of Helium he heads over to stop the wedding and overthrow the evil men with tattoos on their faces. If this weren't confusing enough all of this is being narrated by Carter through diaries written to his nephew the novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs who at the end of the story becomes one of the characters in his own right because that's just the way this film works.

Headache. That's really my one word review of John Carter a film that obviously started as a labour of love for director Andrew Stanton but turned into a nightmare when Disney got its hand on it. Of course the big issue was the loss of the words Of Mars after John Carter as the marketing people didn't want audiences who weren't sci-fi fans to be put off by those words despite the poster featuring actor Taylor Kitsch being framed behind a red planet. Stanton, famous for his work directing Pixar films such as Wall-E and Finding Nemo, does bring a cartoonish sensibility here however these characters don't feel as real as the animated ones he's directed in the past. There are some generally interesting set pieces, such as the gladiator scenes and the final battle, as well as some very hammy acting but there are far too many problems to look at this film in a favourable light. For one thing there are just too many odd character and place names to get your head around Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were easy names to remember Tars Takas and Kantos Kan role off the tongue less easily. The effects generally aren't that special with the Tharks, the green alien beings, not looking all that impressive unless Stanton really wanted a retro vibe for his film and if he wanted he certainly got it. As a lead character Carter is exactly a hero often running away from problems, trying to steal gold or punching people in the face while Kitsch is such a charmless actor that he really can't pull off being a loveable rogue or for that matter create any convincible chemistry with female lead Collins. It's up to the veteran British actors to do some hammy performances as the evil doers with Dominic West and Ciaran Hinds doing a reasonable job however for the second film in a row it is Mark Strong who has the best time doing his evil face. So that's film 100 for you and as I embark on the second half of my voyage I can be safe in the knowledge that I'll never have to watch John Carter again.

Verdict: A few decent flourishes save this film from being utter rubbish so I feel I'm being overly generous by giving this a 4/10