Yo Cinema!

Yo Denzel,

Glad you could take some time out from phoning it in Tony Scott movies to phone it in this piece of crap. I mean sure two oscars should be enough for anyone but does that mean you have to stop trying all together? There’s little worse than a boring action film. Safe House starts out ok but as the film goes on the plot gets simultaneously thinner and more drawn out. They’ve gone for ‘realistic’ fight scenes which you would think would be a good thing but it makes the fights seem more like chip shop brawls (or UFC) all grappling and holds. Bruce lee it ain’t. Well shot, lame story, lame Denzel, I love Ryan Reynolds but even one of the kings of likeability can’t save this one, not terrible but terribly pointless.

**

EF

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Plopper) gets all scared in this thrill fest from Hammer Horror. By no means a spectacular film it does however manage a fright or two along the way. Couldn’t help but find Radcliffe too young for the lead though. A widowed man with a young child? Come on he is only 12 right?

***

Cronenberg, Mortnesen, Fassbender and…Knightley? Shoot the casting director on this one, they were doing such a great job and then they mucked it. There goes my veto of all things Knightley. That said her performance was surprisingly watchable in this thought fest (shabby Russian accent aside). The big stand out for me here was Mortensen’s take on Freud. Great performance and a real show stealer. Also great in a support slot was Cassel as a man with reckless abandon at his core. In a nutshell I’d say: good round the edges; little frayed at the centre. 

****

I watched Douglas Sirk’s ‘Imitation of Life’ last night. I can only describe it as a soap opera on a very grand scale. Watch the highs, lows, and dizzyingly quick relationships form and crumble. Blink and you’ll miss the character development but there is no missing the emotional tension that hangs in the air. Rarely do you see emotions (some non sensical it must be said) given so much screen time. In such a way this film is somewhat unique and stands apart - for this reason there is merit in the melodrama. That doesn’t mean you’ll enjoy it though. 

***