Showing posts with label Bradley Cooper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradley Cooper. Show all posts
Saturday, May 25, 2013
I've only just realised I was unable to put up last week's review with everything Eurovision in my face. It will be posted tomorrow night.
The Hangover Part III (MA 15+)
A HANGOVER: feeling like a train travelling at 150km/h has hit your head. Really bad hangovers leave you practically immobile. Thankfully, the body recovers and you eventually return to yourself. In the case of the Wolfpack though, we know well and truly by now (if not after the first film) the rules never apply.
The third instalment of their story is akin to the final part of the hangover where you feel you've truly learned from your lesson and promise to never drink again. But for them, it's not before they've been dragged back into a state of limbo as Doug (Justin Bartha) once again finds himself a victim and consequence of the group's actions.
Doug, Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Stu (Ed Helms) and Phil (Bradley Cooper) are given an ultimatum by Marshall (John Goodman) to find Chow (Ken Jeong) after his escape from prison. Marshall takes Doug, leaving the other three to seek out trouble they never want to have to find.
Returning director Todd Phillips takes the boys out of the US to Tijuana, Mexico, and then full circle to Las Vegas. The return, like the film itself, presents itself as necessary rather than a reason to get excited. They're seasoned pros (for amateur dealing-with-kidnapper folk anyway); they have a job to do and they're over it before it begins.
Stu is bitter and wants Vegas burned to the ground. Phil decides he's the one to take charge of the situation. Alan is still as amazingly stupid as he ever was; someone who could now possibly be called one of cinema's biggest idiots. And Chow... well, he gets to do more in this instalment. We see a different side to him, but he's still the same crazed criminal.
A less carefree attitude than its predecessors makes for a trip not as comical and not as outrageous. Whether a reflection of the real grown-up attitudes (most of) the Wolfpack try to uphold or merely Phillips' and Craig Mazin's way of winding it down, we're given a less comedy/more action wrap-up that's fulfilling in its purpose but not executed as enticingly as it could have been.
Old characters return and new ones make their mark. There is a betrayal, a grown-up baby Carlos and a moment between Alan and pawn shop clerk Cassandra (Melissa McCarthy) to represent the weirdness of romance.
Of the Wolfpack, this is really Galifianakis' film. Alan is the last remaining bachelor, a 42-year-old man still sheltered and living at home. He still has social communication issues and being off his medication doesn't help his situation. But his set-in-stone ways begin to waver as he realises so very slowly how to change his attitude towards life.
The story arc doesn't sit well with that message. The first film told us people do crazy shit in Vegas and what happens there stays there, while the second was a near repeat in Thailand (with possibly worse consequences). To have a moral undertow to the final act may be acceptable in reflecting life, but it's not necessarily what the audience is after.
An afterthought to counter this at the film's end doesn't achieve anything in rectifying what we already know. The best has been done. Our hangover is long over.
Rating: 2.5/5
MISSED THE LAST REVIEW? See what I thought of Star Trek Into Darkness.
*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 25/5/2013
MISSED THE LAST REVIEW? See what I thought of Star Trek Into Darkness.
Saturday, February 02, 2013
Silver Linings
Playbook (M)
MENTAL illness in film is usually of the serious kind;
characters without a grip on their complete sense of self are ones that need
help and find it hard to come by as they face day-to-day life. It’s a common
part of life that has at least an indirect effect on most people, but to put it
with comedy is rare. No doubt the likeability of difference against other films
on the subject is something the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
voters have taken note of.
Bipolar disorder is a wide-reaching mental illness and the
drive behind Matthew Quick’s novel. David O Russell acts as director and
screenwriter in the adaptation where Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper) is released
from a mental health institution to his happy parents Dolores (Jacki Weaver)
and Pat Sr (Robert De Niro). It’s been a long eight months where he hasn’t
played by all the rules, but he’s home.
As the reasons behind his time become known, Pat is shown as
a straight shooter on top of his ability to bluff his way through a lot of
situations. He very much knows what is wrong with his situation and believes he
has the willpower to push past it and succeed. However, his prolonged refusal
to take medication is reflective of the views of many mental illness sufferers
who feel stifled by taking it.
Pat meets one of those by chance. Tiffany (Jennifer
Lawrence) is a mess, retreating to defensive conversation and other antisocial
behaviour in the time following her husband’s death. But a mutual attraction
from the two sparks an unlikely friendship centred on looking out for their own
wellbeing.It’s the opposite to most boy-girl stories in that sense, rejecting the notion of devoting yourself to someone else. There is no love lost between Pat and Tiffany as they try to find their silver lining through a warped understanding of each other and the neighbourhood they find themselves in.
The people Pat and Tiffany are surrounded by add to the story. Pat Sr is a bookmaker convinced his son’s return home has sparked a Philadelphia Eagles winning streak in the NFL; his friend Randy (Paul Herman) the dodgy friend always looking for the better bet. Then there’s Danny (Chris Tucker), Pat’s friend from the institution with his misguided positivity.
It’s a man’s world, spearheaded by the inclusion of a NFL rivalry sub-plot. The film feels very North American as a result, their pride for gridiron unlike those from any other sport’s fans, but Tiffany taps into that zone and bring it to its knees in a pivotal moment.
The screenplay displays the shouting ability of most of the cast as much of the story centres around arguments. Pat, Tiffany and those around them are fraught with confusion as they are all forced to consider what defines importance and happiness. Russell’s cast is excellent, Jennifer Lawrence mesmerising as a very troubled young lady.
Russell, an executive producer on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, injects potentially flirtatious moments with deadpan sarcasm. It’s less risky than what it should seem, and the effect is paramount as laughs that should feel awkward don’t. This latest award season favourite mixes the young and old in presenting some of the best performers Hollywood has to offer.
Rating: 4/5
*Published in the Daily Liberal (Dubbo), Western Advocate (Bathurst), Parkes Champion Post and Midstate Observer (Orange) from Saturday 2/2/2013
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Chinatown (1974)
Roman Polanski didn’t make many films on US soil, but the ones he did, Rosemary’s Baby and this film, were the stepping stone to a strong Hollywood career. While that was not to be after a conviction, jail time and then fleeing to Europe in exile where he remains to this day, it hasn’t hurt fans that still revere his stories.
Chinatown is about a web of lies and hurt, a reflection of the years following the death of his actress wife Sharon Tate. The Polish director was extremely tense on set, arguing with almost everyone, and it mirrored the content of the story being filmed. It’s an uncomfortable film where a situation arises completely different to expectations.
Detective Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired to determine whether water and power department employee Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling) is having an affair. But after Hollis’ wife Evelyn (Faye Dunaway) says it was a set-up and Hollis is then found dead, a set of connected occurrences have Gittes and his team delving deeper into the mystery.
Corruption surrounding councils and water is still a touchy topic today in some places, Polanski using that theme to his advantage by adding dark characters that don’t want to give much away. Nicholson is a straight shooter as Gittes, prying for answers that he sometimes cant get, and adds gravitas to an unnerving tale.
*Published in the Mailbox Shopper (Dubbo) on Wednesday 30/1/2013.
MISSED LAST WEEK'S REVIEWS? See what I thought of Django Unchained and Good Morning, Vietnam.
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