My Review: Winter's Tale (4/10)

"Don't know who's more foolish; The horse who won't listen to his master or the master who listens to his horse."

I don't know what was more foolish; the fact that I watched this film knowing it was going to be terrible, or the fact that I'm actually spending time on reviewing it. Considering that the tagline of the film claims "This is not a true story. This is true love," one might expect at least for the romantic elements to be emotionally gripping, but the chemistry between the lead actors isn't even there. This is basically your average chick flick mixed with some classical fairytale elements, and unfortunately neither of them worked. Winter's Tale requires you to stretch your imagination way too far and it just didn't work for me. This is yet another example of a film based on a beloved novel that doesn't quite translate well on the big screen. Since I never had read the book I kind of felt lost trying to understand who the characters were; the story simply didn't translate well on film. This is Akiva Goldsman's first feature film as a director and he disappoints. I've enjoyed some of his screenplays in the past (I Am Legend, A Beautiful Mind, and Cinderella Man), but Winter's Tale is simply poorly directed. Fans of schmaltzy and romantic fairytales might enjoy this, but it definitely doesn't bring anything original or fresh to the genre. 

Adapted from Mark Helprin's novel of the same name, Akiva Goldsman's film takes place in freezing New York City during the early 1900's. The premise is very strange and they never take time to explain the sort of mystical world in which the film is set. We are first introduced to Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) as he is trying to escape from the evil Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), who wants him dead. Apparently Pearly had raised Peter and taught him how to become a great thief, but now Peter wants out. He barely survives from Pearly and his men thanks to a mystical white horse that helps him escape by performing a miraculous jump. Before leaving the city, Peter decides to burglarize a couple homes and in one of those homes he is discovered by the oldest daughter, Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay from Downtown Abby). When he sees her, he instantly falls in love with her. She tells him she suffers from a severe illness and that she only has a few months left. Peter believes he is destined to use his one miracle to save her, but Pearly will do everything in his power to stop Peter from achieving his miracle and thus restoring hope in humanity. Beverly's father, Isaac (William Hurt), approves of his daughter's relationship, but time isn't on their side.

Winter's Tale also counts with the talented Jennifer Connelly and Will Smith, but there isn't much they can do with their characters. The chemistry between Farrell and Brown Findlay is practically nonexistent. Russell Crowe plays a decent villain, although it's hard to understand what he is saying. Well, actually it's hard to make sense of the actual story as well. The blending of the fantastic elements with the romance doesn't work at all and the film tries to be ambitious but it doesn't deliver anything unique. The score by Hans Zimmer is beautiful, but the way they use it in this film is way too manipulative. Since neither the characters nor the story manage to engage the audience, they try to do so by using the emotional score. It's a film you might enjoy more by simply closing your eyes and listening to the score rather than watching the action unfold. It's a shame because a talented ensemble cast is wasted once again for a film that has nothing to offer.

My Review: Saving Mr. Banks (9/10)

"Winds in the east...Mist coming in...Like something is brewing...About to begin...Can't put me finger...On what lies in store...But I feel what's to happen...All happened before."

This was one of the few charming and sentimental films I fell for this year and a great deal has to do with the nostalgic effect that Mary Poppins has on me from my childhood. Yes it is schmaltzy at times and has a manipulative feel good vibe to it while at the same time self promoting itself, but I still was emotionally won over by this great story (and I don't care if most of it was made up, I still loved the film, I don't watch movies for facts). Saving Mr. Banks is smart and upbeat and will have you humming some of the songs from the beloved classic long after the credits have rolled. This is the best marketing Disney has come up with to promote Mary Poppins, and a lot of the success is owed to Emma Thompson for delivering such a powerful performance. Her character could be easily disliked for being so severe and unpleasant to others, but Thompson redeems her by allowing us to see where her pain comes from and how much the novel really meant to her. Tom Hanks is also great as Walt Disney and he would've received more recognition for this film if it weren't for those brilliant last 5 minutes in Captain Phillips that stole all the thunder from his performance here. Supporting roles from Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, and Jason Schwartzman make this an even more powerful film. Credit also must be given to the screenwriters, Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, who managed to deliver a charming story while including engaging flashbacks of Travers' past. 

Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) promised his daughters that he would bring the beloved Mary Poppins novel to the big screen, but it turned out to be a difficult task considering he has spent the last 20 years trying to convince P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to obtain the rights of her novel. Convinced that Disney will ruin her beloved book, she refuses to do so. Travers' agent convinces her to travel to California to meet with Disney and try to come up with an agreement considering she is running out of money. Travers spends the next two weeks working with screenwriters (the Sherman brothers played by Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak) at Disney's facility making sure that the screenplay is written exactly how she wants it. Things get complicated as she refuses to compromise to basic things Disney wants to include in the film. The film also presents flashbacks of Travers' childhood growing up in Australia with her father (Colin Farrell) who she absolutely adored but had a drinking problem that eventually ruined him. Her childhood experiences shaped the book and that is why she is so reluctant to let someone else change her story.

Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for The Blind Side which was John Lee Hancock's prior film to this one and Emma Thompson might be a front runner to win for her performance as Travers. She makes this film much better than it actually is because if it wasn't for her Saving Mr. Banks would just be Disney schmaltz. I found it extremely hard not feel emotional about this film and it engaged me completely despite the lack of interest I had for the subject matter. I loved Mary Poppins as a kid, but that didn't mean I was interested in seeing a movie on how it was made. Despite all I've said about it being self promoting and manipulative I thought that what worked best was the integration of the flashbacks that allowed us to understand where Travers was coming from and reminds us how sometimes art is connected personally to the artist's past. That is why perhaps a film speaks to us in different ways because we too as an audience bring in our personal past and integrate it into a film finding a connection that perhaps others never will. That is the beauty of art, it affects us all in different ways.

My Review: Dead Man Down (5/10)

¨We're not meant to be alone. You know what she said to me? She said that even the most damaged heart can be mended. Even the most damaged heart.¨

Dead Man Down isn`t your typical revenge film; despite using a common plot device, the way the story is told makes it stand out from other familiar revenge plots. This is Niels Arden Oplev`s first english language film, but it is nothing compared to his wonderful Swedish film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It might not be a fair comparison because that film was adapted from a great Swedish novel so the story was much more engaging than this one. In Dead Man Down, Oplev reunites with Noomi Rapace who gives another solid performance here despite not having such a powerful character. The film slowly builds up until the climatic final 20 minutes combining action with a decent -albeit strange- love story. Dead Man Down could`ve been so much more entertaining, but the pressure from Hollywood producers got to Oplev who had to rush the shooting and the editing. The major problem this film has is really the editing considering there are a lot of pacing issues going on. It takes too much time to build up and certain scenes felt out of place. I still think that the chemistry between Farrell and Rapace as two tortured souls drawn to each other is what makes this movie more bearable. The screenplay was written by J.H. Wyman (from the Fringe TV series and The Mexican). There were several twists here that caught me by surprise, and others which didn`t work too well. The trailer for Dead Man Down made us think we were going to get an action thriller, but in reality it is more of a neo-noir film mixing romance with action. This isn`t a bad movie, I really liked the final 20 minutes, but I felt several things were forced at times which didn`t help the overall pacing of the movie. The less you know about this film going into it, the better.

Plot: Victor (Colin Farrell) is working for a kingpin named Alphonse (Terrence Howard) in New York City. Alphonse has been receiving threats and strange messages so Victor and the rest of the crew have been on the lookout. One of their own appears dead with another message for the kingpin. Surprisingly, Victor is the one responsible for these threats. His family was murdered a couple of years ago when they arrived from Hungary by Alphonse's men. After leaving him for dead, Victor quietly climbed up the ranks and has become Alphonse's right hand man. None of these men actually know anything about his past as he has changed his identity but he is waiting for the perfect moment to have his revenge. In the midst of his revenge plan he meets a troubled neighbor, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), who he begins going out with. At first they each have a hidden agenda, but they will realize that they may have more things in common than they thought they had.  

I think this film could have had much more potential if Oplev had worked with his European crew, but things are more difficult in Hollywood and the producers usually have the last say (as they did with the trailer which completely marketed this film for a different target audience). Farrell and Rapace had great chemistry together and this isn't your usual romantic action flick. The romance here slowly builds in a rather realistic fashion as they both find a connection through their hurtful and resentful pasts. The action scenes are nothing out of the ordinary, but Farrell has an onscreen persona as an action star. Dominic Cooper has a supporting role and is probably the stand out in that category since so much is centered on Farrell, Rapace, and Howard. Dead Man Down had a decent story somewhere down the line, but the messy editing and weak pacing hurt this movie and makes it feel too fragmented. 

My Review: Seven Psychopaths (7/10)

¨I´m sick of all these stereotypical Hollywood murderer scumbag type psychopath movies. I don’t want it to be one more film about guys with guns in their hands.¨

This is one weird, strange, unique, and messy movie as the title suggests. At times the film seems to be a masterpiece, at other it simply wonders off too much. I was a bit disappointed with how things turned out, but it was still a great ride. Martin McDonagh is perhaps one of the best contemporary playwriters; I had a blast with his film In Bruges and had huge expectations for this one considering the impressive ensemble cast, but I guess my expectations were set too high because this film didn’t work as well as I would have liked. McDonagh does succeed in creating original characters as he plays around with movie clichés and has fun breaking the genre down and putting his spin on things. We´ve seen other movies about movies before, but not like this one; it never gets generic. This is one funny and quirky dark comedy written with very sharp dialogues and unique characters. You can see some influence from Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese in McDonagh´s work, but it still remains fresh and breaks with generic clichés in a way that it remains unique. This is the second time Colin Farrell works with director McDonagh after In Bruges, and in my opinion these are his best roles. We can only hope these two continue to work together. McDonagh couldn’t have counted on a better ensemble cast than this one; everyone was terrific here.

This dark comedy is about a screenwriter named Marty (Colin Farrell) who is trying to write a screenplay titled Seven Psychopaths. The only problem is that he has only come up with one psychopath so far, and can´t get inspired to write the story. His good friend, Billy (Sam Rockwell), a frustrated actor who makes a living by kidnapping dogs and collecting the ransom, tells him about another psychopath and begins throwing ideas for the script. Billy´s associate in the dog kidnapping business is Hans (Christopher Walken) who is trying to make some extra money to help out his wife, Myra (Linda Bright Clay), who is in a clinic diagnosed with cancer. Billy and Hans end up kidnapping a shih tzu from a dangerous mob boss, Charlie (Woody Harrelson). They´ve messed with the wrong guy, because Charlie begins going all psycho on everyone in order to find his dog. Somehow Marty becomes entangled in this Los Angeles criminal underworld and in a way everyone seems to be pitching in ideas for his movie. The story begins taking some weird and unexpected turns everywhere as the action continues and some of Marty´s characters begin to come to life as not everyone seems to be who we expect.

This dark comedy has some wonderfully written dialogues with some great moments of humor, but at other times I felt the movie was drifting away by trying to break with generic barriers. It is still a fun movie and one I recommend thanks to an excellent and cleverly written script, and a brilliant ensemble cast. Farrell is always great working alongside McDonagh; Sam Rockwell gives another masterful and quirky performance, Woody Harrelson was made for these types of role, and Christopher Walken is just spectacular with his deadpan acting. It is not difficult to give good performances when you have such a great screenwriter creating some memorable and funny dialogues. I had a pleasant time with this film although my expectations were set much higher considering McDonagh´s previous film was much better. I was a huge fan of In Bruges, but Seven Psychopaths didn’t really surprise me as much.

  

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My Review: Total Recall (5/10)

¨The past is a construct of the mind. It blinds us. It fools us into believing it. But the heart wants to live in the present. Look there. You'll find your answer.¨

This new version of Total Recall is better than the original, but that`s not saying much considering I wasn`t very fond of that one either. This remake shares sort of the same problems that the original had considering there is a whole lot of action going around, but hardly any time for character development. The entire movie feels like one big chase scene and by the end instead of feeling the climax you are wishing it would end already. The movie isn`t that long, but it feels like it. What I liked better about this film was the look of it. The dark futuristic vision of the world was engaging and some of my favorite scenes involved this imagery and brilliant futuristic designs. This movie has a much better look and it was also a plus that it took place entirely on Earth instead of Mars like in the original. I also think Colin Farrell is a much better actor than Arnold, but when it comes to action scenes Arnold was the best and in this film Farrell doesn’t have much to work with besides running around from one action scene to another. The action scenes have gotten repetitive and there isn’t anything unique about them in this movie either; director Len Wiseman could have come up with a better plot to engage the audience and not focus as much as he did with the action scenes. The setting was the highlight of the movie for me and I enjoyed some of the devices they imagined in this futuristic world but that was about it. Wiseman, who is better known for directing the Underworld franchise, also hired Kate Beckinsale to play the role Sharon Stone did in the original. I had no problem with the casting, which for me was good, but I wished the characters were given more meat.

Sometime in the future only two countries exist: The United Federation of Britain and the Colony. It is a dark time where most people live in poverty in the Colony and have to travel across the world to Britain to work. There is very few habitable space for the people as a Chemical warfare has destroyed most of the planet. Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) is the Chancellor of UFB who is dealing with a rebellious group from the Colony under the leadership of Matthias (Bill Nighy). Times are unstable and the future doesn’t look bright for the residents of Earth. Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) seems to be living a normal life as a factory worker with a beautiful wife named Lori (Kate Beckinsale), but he feels like escaping from the routine of work and decides to pay a visit to Rekall, a company that specializes in implanting brain memories. At Rekall he asks for an escape from his everyday life and he chooses the option of becoming a spy. Before they implant the memory something goes wrong and Quaid realizes that he is not who he thinks he is. He has special abilities and even his wife seems to turn against him. Quaid suffers an identity crisis and begins picking up clues about his past which involve him working as a spy for the resistance movement. He immediately begins to be chased by Lori and Cohaagen`s people and meets Melina (Jessica Biel) who claims to know him from the past, but with another name. Quaid will have to try to discover whether what he`s experiencing is real or if it`s just a fantasy implanted on him from Rekall.

The main idea is very similar to the original film, except for the fact that the resistance movement is in Earth and not in Mars, although it is a very different planet by now. Colin Farrell plays the same role Arnold did, Kate plays Stone`s role although Kate gets much more screen time as she`s also the main persecutor as well, and Biel plays the role of the heroin who helps unlock Quaid`s past. This film has a better cast in my opinion, but the plot is equally as poor developed. At least in the original version we had some funny one liners (what Arnold did best), but here the film is much darker and serious. I enjoyed this version a little more, but I still didn’t enjoy it very much. Maybe if the final action scene were a little shorter I could`ve enjoyed it a little more. Total Recall shouldn’t of been remade it, it just isn’t that remarkable of a film in my opinion.

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My Review: The Way Back (8/10)

¨Kindness. That will kill you here¨

 The Way Back is a fantastic movie directed by Peter Weir, who made one of my favorite films, The Dead Poets Society. I don’t think any of his movies will live up to that one, but The Way Back is still a great and inspiring movie. The film is based on the novel ¨The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom¨ written by Slavomir Rawicz who claims the book is autobiographical although many skeptics have found flaws in his claims. I don’t care if the events actually happened or not, I still think they made for a great and inspiring story. I`ve seen many films about survival and some are greatly exaggerated (The Grey for example), but this tale is as realistic as it gets. There are several long shots of beautiful scenery where nothing much happens other than long and exhausting walks. I guess that is what a survival film should have: endless walking. I even got tired of seeing these characters walk so much, but Peter Weir adapted the screenplay in such a way that he maintains us interested in the characters and their struggle for survival and their refusal to surrender under such harsh adversities. I also loved the performance from the cast, Jim Sturgess was strong as the lead role and he had a lot of help from the supporting cast including the always reliable Ed Harris (who gave one of the best performances of his career in another Peter Weir movie: The Truman Show), Colin Farrell who may have had a few misses but also has a lot of hits including this one thanks to his great Russian accent, and of course the young and talented Saoirse Ronan who we have seen in Atonement and Hannah. The Way Back is a solid movie with a lot of heart, beautiful scenery, and some strong performances.

The story is pretty simple, it takes place during the early 1940`s in communist URSS during the Second World War. Janusz (Jim Sturgess) is a Polish accused of being a spy by his own wife (after having tortured her) and therefore sent to a Siberian gulag where he meets other innocent and no so innocent prisoners. Some of these prisoners include the reserved American Mr. Smith (Ed Harris), a Russian criminal Valka (Colin Farrell), and Khabarov (Mark Strong) the man who introduces him to the place and befriends him. Janusz knows how to survive in the wild and begins to engineer a plan to escape and walk across Russia to Mongolia. Along with Mr. Smith, Valka, and a few more men they decide to escape in the middle of a snow storm and take their chances in the wild. With little food and fierce weather conditions they begin their struggle for survival in the open. During their journey to Mongolia they face several obstacles but continue to pursue south. On their way they meet a teenage girl who is also trying to flee the country. Irena (Saoirse Ronan) begs the men allow her to accompany them and although they refused at first they begin befriending her and enjoying her company. Together they continue their struggle for survival in search of freedom although many more obstacles are ahead of them.

I really enjoyed Colin Farrell`s performance in this movie. I think he brought the comic relief that was needed in this type of movie and was perfect. His scenes were probably the most interesting ones. Jim Sturgess has a great future ahead of him and he does give a strong performance in this difficult film. Ed Harris is one of the best actors so it was no surprise he was so good in this movie. Saoirse Ronan gives the movie the heart it lacked at the beginning. The movie has an excellent cast; they give great performances and make us care for their characters which are essential in a survival movie like this. Every time the movie seems to be slowing down something exciting or interesting happens that hooks us again. There is also a lot of different and beautiful scenery in the film and the cinematography is great. The film also reminds us of the oppressive regime that the soviets ran and the injustice many had to face. It makes a pretty harsh statement towards this political movement, but in the end it is actually a movie about survival and never giving up.

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