INHERENT VICE (full review at The Reel Word)

In 1970 Los Angeles, Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a perma-stoned private detective, hired to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, a wealthy, married property mogul. At the same time, Doc is hired to find a recently released ex-con and a woman’s missing, presumed dead, husband. By accident or design, these cases intersect and Doc must work to resolve them, all whilst being hassled by Detective ‘Bigfoot’ Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), and the stridently anti-hippy LAPD.
Read the rest of the review at The Reel Word:
http://www.thereelword.net/inherent-vice-review/

IMDB: Inherent Vice

THE REEL WORD

Since the beginning of the year, I have been submitting writing to some other websites and publications and in some fun news, I am going to be writing some reviews for a film website (which confusingly shares a very similar name to my own blog) The Reel Word. I'll be linking to my reviews with posts on here, and I'll still be trying to update Reel Important at least semi regularly, but it may be a little less frequent for a while.

You can visit The Reel Word at the following address:
http://www.thereelword.net/

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

Nicolas Winding Refn's divisive follow up to Drive is a curious, but problematic picture. Like Drive, its basic plot line is trashy pulp, and I mean that as praise. But what makes Only God Forgives interesting is that it seems to emanate art-house nous when at its core it is a seedy, violent revenge movie. Refn is a hugely interesting film maker but Only God Forgives, however stylish, is flawed and ultimately empty.

Julian (Ryan Gosling) runs a boxing club in Bankok with his brother Billy (Tom Burke) as a front for his family's lucrative drug operation. When Billy is arrested and killed for the rape and murder of a young girl, their mother Crystal (Kristen Scott Thomas) hastily arrives to oversee revenge. On the side of the law, they are pitted against Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), a ruthless detective whose methods of interrogation and justice are as brutal and merciless as the criminals he is pursuing.

Only God Forgives is a neon drenched fever dream unfolding with a fascinating initial 20 minutes that is virtually dialogue free. It is also terrifically violent. As it descends into the madness of a quid pro quo revenge flick, it features a protracted, almost unwatchable torture sequence, made all the more unbearable by the blankness of the characters involved. It's mean and nasty and features the grimmest set piece since Kill List's kitchen table encounter.

However the real problems arise when it comes to the characters, or rather the lack thereof. Stoicism becomes a practiced art form as Gosling and Pansringarm forgo depth in favour of machine-like automaton brutality.  We learn things about Gosling's back story in passing, through reference and insinuation, but we know nothing of him as a character. In fact Gosling himself has likened Julian to an avatar. A vehicle through which to experience the movie. The other characters lurk on the periphery, drifting in and out of the feint story with an economy of dialogue. The only one who cuts loose to any degree is Kristen Scott Thomas's feral mother, Crystal, abusing every human being she comes into contact with and saddling Julian with some deranged Oedipal blackmail.

The police officer,  Chang,  dispenses brutal street justice, answering to no one, and then unwinds by singing ballads in a karaoke bar as the only mitigation to his ferocity. It brings to mind Chow Yun Fat's melancholy, clarinet playing Inspector Tequila from John Woo's action masterpiece Hard Boiled, smooth jazz-ing his guilt away. But that's as close as we get to any humanity from Chang. Another stoic hero/villain in a movie awash with them.

That's not to say Only God Forgives is without merit. It's hard nosed and bleak, and much like Drive it's stylish and assured.  And when Julian and Chang face each other down at the gym, the resultant pummelling is a mesmerising, bone crunching punch up straight out of a top drawer martial arts movie.

Ultimately even the loose characters could be overlooked in the bigger scheme of things for the sake of its art and general non-verbal nature, were it not for the deeply unsatisfying ending. Meaning that while Only God Forgives is undeniably interesting, its sum total is a film that's very light on both plot and character. Without one concession to the audience, giving us some closure, we're not left with very much at the end of the movie. Only God Forgives' stylish pomp offers only a confounding glimpse at what might have been a great film, but is instead a disappointing one.

IMDB: Only God Forgives

by Randy Ortiz

GONE GIRL

Nick (Ben Affleck) and Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) are a not-so-happily married couple. Their five year marriage is seemingly on the verge of divorce.  Nick returns home one afternoon to discover evidence of a struggle in their house, and that Amy is missing. He contacts the police and as the investigation proceeds, further details of their rocky marriage are revealed and the finger of suspicion begins to point toward Nick himself. He must fight not only the charges against him, but also a PR battle against a merciless, judgmental media. As our opinions of Nick oscillate between guilty and innocent, it soon becomes apparent that perhaps all is not as it seems.

Gone Girl is David Fincher's adaptation of Gillian Flynn's popular novel of the same name. Its baffling critical acclaim contrasting starkly with the simple fact it is one of the stupidest films ever made. The plot is utterly, maddeningly absurd. There is of course,  nothing wrong with stupidity in context, but with Gone Girl being compared to Hitchcock and championed as a razor sharp satire, it is asking you to take it seriously. There comes a point at which ridiculous plotting starts to become annoying, and the two and a half hour run time asks you to endure a lot.

In fairness, it is well acted and the cast do well with what they are given, but it is hamstrung by cliche and is alarmingly clunky. The media,  whom it supposedly satirises, are portrayed as one dimensional, reactionary and straight out of The Simpsons. I half expected Godfrey Jones to appear at any second.  Nick's lawyer, the crazily named Tanner Bolt (Tyler Perry) is no more a character than Seinfeld's Johnny Cochran parody,  Jackie Chiles. Nick's proposal to Amy, told via flashback, is cringeworthy and soap opera-level naff.  The whole movie is Fincher on autopilot.

Ultimately Gone Girl feels idiotic.  It relies on dumb luck, logic-defying plot holes and character leaps that belie any pretext of reality. The world these characters inhabit has about as much to do with ours as Star Wars. As outlandish trash, Gone Girl might find a niche - or as a movie you might watch on a plane, alongside the novel you might buy in the airport. But as stylish noir or Hitchcockian thriller it's got serious delusions of grandeur.

IMDB: Gone Girl

by Ben Holmes

by Matt Needle

by Fernando Reza

THE ONE

Jet Li's mind bending, high concept, sci-fi, martial arts actioner The One is another addition to the underrated list. Lost to many people in the post-matrix deluge of slow-mo, CGI heavy bullet-time movies of the early 00s, The One deserves reassessment. Bestowed with an intriguing, albeit loopy concept, The One delivers an interesting meld of science fiction and action movie joy.

The bonkers concept essentially sees Jet Li trying to kill all the other Jet Li's across various dimensions, so that he can absorb their strength and become the most powerful Jet Li in the Universe! As his evil bastard alter ago, Gabriel Yulaw, he attempts a spot of interdimensional homicide, but just as Yulaw (Jet Li) gets stronger with each assassination, so too does good guy cop Gabe Law (Jet Li). As the number of interdimensional Jet Li's dwindle, it falls to Gabe and a pair of agents from a parallel universe police force called the Multiverse Authority (MVA) to stop him.

Generally you go into a Jet Li movie wanting to see Jet Li hand some bad guys their ass, but in The One Jet Li hands himself his own ass! Through a variety of  gravity defying action scenes and super pumped fisticuffs, The One's effects have held up well. The wire work fight scenes are convincing as Gabe battles both himself and battalions of cops, and there is an awesome set piece where a powered-up Yulaw attacks a motorcycle plod with a vehicle in each hand!

The One also has a pretty great cast going for it. Veteran character actor Delroy Lindo provides the acting chops, as World-weary MVA Agent Harry Roedecker.  Dean Norris from Breaking Bad also features; and it has an early appearance by Jason Statham who stomps around with another dicey accent, but gives the film cred by playing it totally straight and taking the material seriously. In fact, Crank aside, this might very well be The Stath's finest hour, despite the fact he doesn't really get to show off his fighting prowess.

Director James Wong and writer Glen Morgan have a notable back catalogue in the form of the first, surprisingly enjoyable, Final Destination movie, alongside consistent work on both Millennium and The X Files.  I doubt there are that many folk who are enamoured enough with this movie to sit down with the director’s commentary on, but let the record show I am that person. In an enlightening talk track we learn that one of the characters in the hospital morgue scene is played by none other than Mark Borchardt from the incredible against-the-odds movie making documentary American Movie. We’re then hit with the revelation that Jonathan Ke Quan aka Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Data from The Goonies, assisted on the fight choreography! Much is made of the fact the production was hit with budget constraints and a studio desperate for a PG13 rating, resulting in the elimination of a spectacular souped-up car chase, and a planned Statham versus Li dust up.  We are therefore left to only imagine the lofty heights The One might have soared to, were its wings not clipped by a reduced budget and a concession to tone down the violence.

Critics have accused The One of being too similar to Highlander, but ultimately that's a little lazy and unfair. That assertion overlooks one crucial fact... Highlander is cack. If there are a couple of negatives it's that the excellent Carla Gugino is wasted in a generic-wife role, and I could have done without the Nu Metal on the soundtrack.

Otherwise, there is plenty of fun to be had with The One. It does everything you want it to, and it’s just a tall, frosty glass of enjoyment.

IMDB: The One

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) follows - quite literally - Riggan Thompson (Michael Keaton), the ex-star of Hollywood's hugely successful Birdman franchise, as he courts legitimacy with a Broadway production of the Raymond Carver story ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Love’.  Riggan is staking everything - his financial stability, his professional reputation, his sanity - on the success of  his play, as he encounters problems with his cast and his own brittle metal state. His internal monologue, personified by his famous Birdman character, is constantly questioning whether he wants critical acclaim or global celebrity.

Alejandro González Iñárritu has crafted a strange and enigmatic movie. Birdman's two hour duration is presented as one long, glorious tracking shot. It's an inventive device that succeeds in depicting the whole movie almost as if it were itself a play; and it lends itself to some very inventive problem solving when faced with the progression of time and location. Likewise, the superhero motif of Riggan's past glory is used to illustrate the movie's bigger, art v commercialism pondering, and creatively sketches Riggan's mental unravelling.

It's Keaton's show, and no mistake, but he's ably abetted by the likes of Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis testing their acting mettle here. But for all its great performances, it does over-egg itself at times. Emma Stone's grandstanding,  wide eyed gesticulating is a gnats cock away from being Jack Nicholson on the stairs in The Shining shrieking "gimme the bat", and even Keaton himself ramps up the 'actor face' a bit much.  Edward Norton excels above all others as Mike Shiner, the best actor in the production, which has one wondering if this is intentional - if the actors in the movie are supposed to be mimicking the skills and qualities of the actors in the theatre production - or if that's reading too much into it?

Birdman is a weird,  interesting cinema experience, but is ultimately a little unsatisfying.  Is Birdman just musing on relevance in the digital age, and creative success versus commercial success  like it's conflicted protagonist? Or is there a message in the madness? Perhaps it is merely asking questions of itself and its audience, despite feeling like it has a point to make. On the one hand Birdman is taking pot shots at Hollywood and comic book movies, while on the other, it rails against the critic who dismisses Riggan outright for his celebrity and populist career. It's message therefore, IF it has one, is left feeling a little inscrutable.

Nonetheless, Birdman is an absorbing watch. I'm not sure if it is quite the challenging piece of cinema it is being held up to be. Nor is it perhaps fully deserving of all its attendant hyperbole.  But it is certainly an intriguing curiosity, with a very pleasing oddness about it. And that alone makes it worth a look.

IMDB: Birdman 

NIGHTCRAWLER

Nightcrawler follows the story of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhall), a small-time petty thief and nominal jobhunter eeking his way around Los Angeles trying to make ends meet. Whilst driving home one evening Lou chances upon a dramatic road traffic accident and, stopping to investigate, becomes aware of the career potential in 'nightcrawling' Nightcrawling is the practice of trawling the police band radio every night for juicy accidents and crimes to film, translating into lucrative sales to the ratings hungry, morally abject local TV news stations. Lou gets a lucky break and manages to sell a graphic, but poor-quality video of a fatal carjacking to local news chief Nina (Rene Russo), who recognises a crude talent.  Nina encourages Lou to bring her further footage, and so he gets his foot in the door of a seedy news industry, where the grimmer the tragedy, the bigger the paycheck. Lou hires an assistant, Rick (Riz Ahmed), to help him navigate the labyrinthine Los Angeles streets and decipher the coded police calls they track from the car. As Lou's career ascends, so too do the lengths he will go to frame a good shot or best his competition.

Lacking in any sort of moral compass, Lou manipulates everything and everyone he comes into contact with, from his assistant Rick, to the bodies at a crime scene. Nothing is off-limits and everything is a 'sale'. A gaunt looking Jake Gyllenhaal is super creepy as Lou, superficially earnest and hardworking, but underlying it all he is a sociopathic void. Lou is constantly spouting weird business platitudes as he gives it the bug-eye. Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed are excellent as the closest thing Lou has to friends, and it's fantastic to see Bill Paxton as a sleazy nightcrawling competitor. Note: it is scientifically impossible for Bill Paxton to be bad in anything. He rules.

On the face of it, Nightcrawler might sound like a grim ride, and although it feels OTT at times, it is no less compelling for it. It's grimly amusing in its own way. The absurdity of Lou Bloom's detachment and  lack of empathy, combined with his self-help book motivational creed, lend themselves to some darkly comic scenarios. If you've ever pondered whether ambitious people are dangerous, then Nightcrawler is going to give you some bad dreams. It's a stylish yet seedy study of what happens when blind ambition and moral ambiguity collide. An extreme portrait of aspiration as a weapon.

IMDB: Nightcrawler