The week in brief (27 August - 2 September)

This week's list of movies watched:

The Bourne Legacy (2012): 8/10
The Last Boy Scout (1991): 5/10
Get Him to the Greek (2010): 7/10
The Men Who Stare At Goats (2009): 7/10
Possession (1981): 4/10
Shadow Dancer (2012): 8/10

As it turned, my two picks of the week for this edition of the blog were the two new releases I saw at the cinema: The Bourne Legacy and Shadow Dancer. The Bourne Legacy was an unexpectedly enjoyable experience - my desire to see the picture had been somewhat diminished by a number of unfavourable reviews, but from my point of view, the movie was about as good as it could possibly have been, given that this latest installment in the franchise was lacking previous director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon. Tony Gilroy (who has written the scripts for all of the Bourne movies) makes the step up to director very succesfully, broadening the scope of the story from the exploits of just one man to reveal a massive operation of Bourne-like super spies. As we join the story, Bourne's actions in the previous movies have threatened to expose the CIA's top secret programme, and the Agency decides that the only solution is to eliminate all of its remaining operatives and any other loose ends. These loose ends include agent Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner) and scientist Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz), who are forced to go on the run from their former employers. All in all, the movie feels like one of the better episodes of The X Files, dealing as it does with a conspiracy which reaches to the highest levels of government. Renner steps in the shoes of Matt Damon admirably, and he's ably assisted by Rachel Weisz and Ed Norton (as a senior CIA director). It's definitely up there with the best of the Hollywood movies I've seen this summer.

Shadow Dancer is a similarly tense tale of secret service operations, though told in a rather more low key manner. Andre Riseborough stars as Colette McVeigh, a failed IRA tube bomber who is persuaded by an MI5 officer (played by Clive Owen) to turn informant against members of her own family. The movie is notable for the convincing portrait it paints of Belfast during the Troubles, with a particularly impressive scene set during the funeral of an IRA assassin. Above all, Riseborough gives a fantastic lead performance as a haunted young woman living in constant fear of being revealed as an informant and of being betrayed by different factions within the British intelligence community who are operating at odds with one another.

A couple of films this week stood out for the wrong reasons. Firstly, The Last Boy Scout, a pretty lame action thriller with Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. It seems that idea was to transplant the wisecracking private eye routine of Philip Marlowe into early '90s LA, the execution of the idea isn't carried out too well. Shane Black's script goes through just about every cop movie cliche in the book - the mismatched partners, angry police chief, slimy and sadistic villain - and attempts to hide the fact that he's got nothing new to say by adding in plenty of explosions, gunfights and foulmouthed children. I'm going to be fairly generous, and award the film half marks, as some of Bruce Willis' one liners (particularly in the early going) were fairly amusing. Still, I can't see myself returning to this one in a hurry.

Secondly, we have Possession, which has to be the strangest film I've seen in months. I don't even know where to begin in describing this one - all I can say is that it's an exploration of the breakdown in the relationship of a married couple, played by Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani. After a relatively sedate opening forty five minutes, the movie jumps into full-on bizarro mode as it is revealed that the reason for the marital break down is that Adjani has been sleeping with a weird human-octopus hybrid type thing on the side. This octo-man apparently has a strange hold over her, as she becomes compelled to kill anybody who will stand in the path of her disgusting new love affair. At least, I think that's what was going on; the final half of the film was almost entirely incomprehensible to me. Now, I've been known to enjoy a crazy, inexplicable film in the past (see, for example Naked Lunch and Inland Empire), but being confusing is the least of this movie's problems. The script seems to have been fed into Google translated Norwegian and back out again, as nothing anybody says over the course of the two hours comes even close to resembling human speech. Subplots in the movie drift in and out, apparently at random and the actors all seem to be having a competition as to who can act in the least naturalistic manner (for the record, Isabelle Adjani wins). Despite all of the above problems, I wouldn't say watching it was a complete waste of time - there are some highly memorable and macabre images within the film which will stay with me for a long time. It's just a shame that the director wasn't able to create a coherent structure in which to fit those images.

 
Kirk's Quote of the Week

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)


"General 'Buck' Turgidson: Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks."

Listorama! My Top Ten Kubrick Movies

Well, it's time for another list; this time I'm going to be doing a run down of ten of the best from one of my favourite directors, Stanley Kubrick. Throughout his career, Kubrick covered a diverse range of genres, from historical epics to comedies, war movies to science fiction, but just about every film he made was a success.

There are two Kubrick films which are ineligible for this list (because I haven't seen them): his first film, Fear and Desire (1953) and his final film Eyes Wide Shut (1999). It's tricky to get hold of the first of those films, but I really don't have much of an excuse for not watching the second one - other than a strong desire not to see Tom Cruise running around in his pants. Despite that reservation, it is now on my LOVEFiLM list, and if I like it, I may have to make room for it on this list at some point in the future.

That leaves eleven Kubrick movies to rank, so one of them couldn't make the cut. That film is Barry Lyndon, which I've previously reviewed here. I found it to be a little over long and rather ponderously paced, but it's certainly not a bad film.

Anyway, here's the remainder of Mr Kubrick's movies, ranked from worst (10) to best (1):

10. Killer's Kiss (1955)

An early, minor work from Kubrick, this '50s film noir tells the story of a punchdrunk boxer (Jamie Smith) who resolves to save the life of a dancer (played by Irene Kane) from the murderous attentions of her evil employer (Frank Silvera). This is a film made very early on in Kubrick's career, was shot on a shoestring budget, and barely qualifies at feature length (it clocks in at 67 minutes). Nevertheless, it's an entertaining story, economically told and showing early signs of brilliance.

 9. Spartacus (1960)

This sprawling historical epic featured a cast full of heavyweight thespians of the era, including the likes of Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov and Charles Laughton. We follow the heroic Spartacus, as he leads a slaves' revolt against ancient Rome. While it's a fine film, it was made by Kubrick as a 'gun for hire', and lacks the personal touch of some of his later masterpieces.

8. Lolita (1962)

(Previously reviewed here). Given the censor's restrictions which he was under at the time, it seems remarkable that Kubrick was able to create any kind of film out of the controversial novel. That he was able to do so successfully is a mark of the fine filmmaker he is. Less focus is placed on the relationship between seedy academic Humbert Humbert and Dolores Haze, the object of his affections; instead, the film hinges on the rivalry between Humbert and his even more odious counterpart, Clare Quilty. Peter Sellers steals the show as the villainous Quilty, a master of disguise with absolutely no moral compass.

7. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

If anything, this movie was even more controversial than Lolita, and was withdrawn from distribution in the UK (at the director's request) between 1972 and 1999.  Now widely available, it's a very good adaptation of Anthony Burgess' book, in which a sociopathic thug (or 'droog') undergoes a radical treatment to 'cure him' of his violent impulses. If the film does have a flaw, it's that feels rather dated at times - the future world created in this film seems to be very much a product of the '70s. Despite that, it's a highly inventive, disturbing film, anchored by a career best performance by Malcolm McDowell as head droog Alex.

6. Paths of Glory (1957)

(Previously reviewed here). An incredibly effective anti-war movie set during the First World War, this one has Kirk Douglas portraying a heroic Colonel in the French army, who is determined to save the lives of a number of his men who have wrongly been accused of insubordination. Few movies have been as savage about the madness of war, or as cutting about the disdain which certain high ranking members of the military hold for the lives of those in the lower orders.

5. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Another fantastic anti-war film, this time following the progress of a platoon of recruits from basic training until they see action in the Vietnam War. The first hour of this one is hard to beat - we see the way in which the grunts are transformed from raw, fresh faced boys into dead eyed killing machines by a sadistic drill sergeant (played brilliantly by R. Lee Ermey). While the second half of the film isn't quite as effective, Kubrick is still able to effectively portray the insanity of the conflict in Vietnam (despite shooting the entire movie in England).

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

An incredibly ambitious sci-fi epic, 2001 documents our relationship with technology: from our ape-like ancestors using crude tools through to their descendants entering the space age. The film is divided into three distinct segments; the first, set during prehistoric times, is a little slow paced for my tastes. The second, showing a troubled space expedition and the conflict between the crew of a spacecraft and its computer, is wonderfully tense. Then we have final segment, which almost defies description, a mesmerising trip through time and space that has to be seen to be believed.  I'm not normally a huge fan of science fiction, but this is one film from that genre that I couldn't help but be impressed with.

3. Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Kubrick may well be the only filmmaker who can make a film involving an all too plausible nuclear armageddon scenario into something which is laugh out loud funny. As in Lolita, the brilliant Peter Sellers once again steals the show, portraying three different (and hilarious) characters: bumbling RAF Captain Lionel Mandrake, ineffectual President Merkin Muffley and the creepy, sinister nuclear scientist Dr Strangelove. A film which is hilarious and troubling in equal measure.

2. The Killing (1956)

It may raise a few eyebrows to see The Killing beating out the likes of A Clockwork Orange, 2001 and Dr Strangelove to reach second place on my list, but for me, this is just about the perfect heist movie. With this story of a plot to rob a racetrack, Kubrick assembles a motley crew of robbers, who believe they have hatched the perfect plan - though of course, when it comes to putting the plan into practice, not everything runs so smoothly... It's a tautly plotted and scripted film which proves Stanley Kubrick was making wonderful films right from the start of his career.

1. The Shining (1980)

It came out top of my horror films list and has once again emerged victorious - The Shining is my absolute favourite Stanley Kubrick movie. It works as both as a terrifying horror film and as a character study of an isolated man coming apart at the seams. Apparently, Kubrick drove his cast to the brink of madness with his demands to do hundreds and hundreds of takes of certain scenes. In my view, it was worth it - his perfectionism led to the memorably unhinged performances from Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall.  It's an unnerving movie with many secrets, lurking just below the surface, a film I can watch again and again.