This is the End

The world is going to end any minute now. By the time you’re done with this review it could already be over. At least that’s what Hollywood believes. Over the past few years it has churned out countless predictions for how humanity will meet its demise. Whether it’s a Mayan prophecy, alien invasion, zombie attack or a deathly virus Hollywood has been very creative in showing audiences worse case scenarios. But after all this tragedy some comedy relief is not far behind and this year some studios want us to go out on a high note. There is Edgar Wright’s latest Cornetto release (the series of films with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost that all have a different flavour of Cornetto in them) The World’s End as well as This Is a Disaster and Rapture-Palooza. But before them comes celebrity crammed This is the End a film so over the top it will either be an instant hit or a total flop.

In This is the End all the actors play caricatures of themselves. Jay Baruchel, from Knocked Up and How to Train your Dragon, comes to LA to visit his old friend Seth Rogen. After getting high together and playing computer games Rogen persuades Baruchel to go to a party at James Franco’s new house. There Baruchel must socialise with Rogen’s new friends who he’s made since he became a huge star. Then judgement day happens. The righteous are taken up in a blue light and the wicked, including most of the celebrities at the house party, are left on Earth to fend for themselves.

Although this doesn’t sound like this should work it does. It’s a stoner comedy that could have only come from the minds of Rogen and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg, the team that brought us Pineapple Express and Superbad. There is a smorgasbord of talent here that all play up to the public’s perceptions of themselves. Rogen is a weed smoking nice guy; Baruchel is indie kid who hates LA; Franco is a liberal intellectual snob; Danny McBride is a gross partier; Jonah Hill is the new kid who wants to be nice. This leads to a number of extreme and comedic situations-whether it’s Franco painting a picture for Rogen to show his admiration or McBride turning up uninvited to the party. There are also characters that go against perception such as Michael Cera who plays a cocaine snorting sex-pest who receives a duel blowjob his Franco’s bathroom. The audience will laugh right the way through the film at just how ridiculous the characters are. The greatest scene has to be the one which involves Emma Watson using an axe to steal the group’s supplies. The movie should be a hit just for that.

It is possible that This is the End has unseen depths that analyse the concepts of celebrities and how they are not who we perceive them to be and in fact not good people (since most of them were left behind after the rapture). But on the surface it’s a simple buddy movie about sticking with people as they change and remembering to bring your friends with you as life goes on. That is if you were having a friendship crisis during the apocalypse. As all these actors have worked together in the past and enjoy each other’s company the chemistry is all there making the relationships believable. Baruchel is great as the geeky outsider who doesn’t like his best friend’s cooler friends.

About two thirds of the way through the film does drag a little. It probably could have had slightly less Lord of the Flies style examples of animosity growing within the house. It was not necessary to see every way in which the characters possibly fall out. But saying that the end makes up for this issue. With demon attacks, cannibalism and confrontations with the anti-Christ, the final thirty minutes is full of suspense.

This movie may be outrageous and extreme, but that is why it works so well. The cast fully get into their, sometimes self-critical, roles and play them with gusto. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but for those who have enjoy gross-out, dicks-out type comedies this is some of Rogen and Goldberg’s best work.

Degree-2:1

A hilarious film that doesn’t take itself seriously

and is better for it.

 

 

Howl

Guest Writer Dean Newby

Howl is a film concerning the 1957 obscenity trial of Alan Ginsberg’s poem after which the film is named. It is written & directed by film-making partners of over 20 years Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and co-produced by Gus Van Sant (‘Milk’, ‘Good Will Hunting’). It stars James Franco as the now legendary but, at the time, little-known poet, Alan Ginsberg, as well as a host of other well known actors such as Mary-Louise Parker, Jeff Daniels, and Jon Hamm.

I have to admit from the offset, that I am a massive Ginsberg fan. Not just of his work (some of his poems being my favourite of all time), but also of the man, what he stood for and how(l) and why he wrote. With that in mind, I had 3 questions when I entered the cinema to watch ‘Howl’:

1. Will non-Howl/non-Ginsberg fans or those who simply do not know his work like or get anything positive from the film?
2. Will the film remain true to the poem, the trial and the man (Ginsberg)?
3. How can a poem such as ‘Howl’ be successfully portrayed on-screen?

The answers in short, are a resounding: Yes. Yes. Brilliantly & Beautifully.

The film opens in black & white with Franco’s Ginsberg on stage preparing to read his poem. The room is filled with people, with a haze of cigarette smoke hanging in the air. The audience is waiting, some clearly with bated breath.

When Franco begins speaking his voice higher than usual, with a touch of nervousness. His pitch, intenation, and rhythm all contribute to the feeling that at times, one could actually be listening to Ginsberg reading his poetry – as I have courtesy of a ‘Voice of the Poet’ CD of his work. There is a tenderness to Franco’s performance that cements his portrayal as Ginsberg, he deals with the reading of the poem with the same energy and passion as Ginsberg, and his interview with the same calmness and confidence. This shows the two sides to most people: the performer and the ‘real’ person.

We’re soon introduced to scenes of real-life colour, alternating between Ginsberg’s interview and the current trial of 1957. There are also animated sequences which act as a visual interpretation of the poem. Reminiscent of Van Gogh in their swirls of colour, they are juxtaposed with scenes in black and white. In contrast they seem like silent snapshots of memories past.

The film carefully balances several scenes: Ginsberg’s interview with an unidentified interviewer, the trial, his past and the animated poem, and it does so perfectly, which considering the number of scene-changes, is an extremely skilled thing to do. There is enough imagery & speech that the viewer doesn’t get bored or lose interest, but not so much that they are left feeling dazed or lost somewhere between Franco laying in on some steps and animated penises floating through the night sky.

The film is bigger than ‘Howl’, Ginsberg, or the trial. It skillfully delivers the message that art often outlives all of us, and lives eternally in a world beyond time. This is shown beautifully in a scene of the past in which the only object of colour is a painting in a gallery Ginsberg is visiting. If black & white is the past, and colour the present, then this painting displayed in Ginsberg’s past continues into his present, into our present.

Of the many things this film has to offer; superb acting, some of the most beautiful animation I’ve ever seen, and a story of a man who wrote what he saw at a time when many were blinded by anger and fear, I think one of the most important is a renewed interest Ginsberg and his work. That can only be a good thing.

While testifying at the trial, Treat Williams’ character, academic Mark Schorer, states that ‘poetry cannot be translated into prose’, but having watched ‘Howl’ I think it’s fair to say that it can, in this case anyway, indeed be translated into film.

1st

Cinematically beautiful with an honesty and appreciation of history

that is too often overlooked in today’s ‘quick-buck’ film industry.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

127 Hours

This is not really a film that you enjoy while watching it; there is very little enjoyment to get from such a terrible situation.  The film does, however, hook you into watching every single minute, like a slow motion car crash; this just goes to show the talent of Danny Boyle and the magnetism of James Franco that people will actually pay to watch it and then rave about how inspiring it was.

The plot follows the real life tale of how Aron Ralston, an engineer turned climbing enthusiast on weekends who got trapped by a boulder in Robbers Roost Canyon, Utah, and survived. He ends up literally being stuck between a rock and a hard place (ok, I couldn’t resist the pun) and unable to move for over five days. As the audience watch the movie unfold they witness Ralston showing an amazing amount of survival instinct and inventive flare that is impressive to behold. Since this is a true story the ending is quite obvious and many moviegoers go in knowing what will happen, but it is the journey across the 90 minutes that will awe and inspire them. The film certainly has a lot of similarities to ‘Buried’, the Ryan Reynolds film released last summer; they both have ordinary men stuck in one spot for days, they both manage to keep one actor entertaining the audience for the majority of the film, but where ‘127 Hours’ differs is that it is not a thriller like ‘Buried’, but is meant to captivate and shock people, but also give out the message that nothing is too difficult to overcome.

Similarly to ‘Buried’ we only have one individual on screen for the majority of the film who must maintain the audience’s interest throughout. This is certainly a difficult thing to ask any actor, especially when you add the heat of the canyon, plus all the physical and psychological strain that goes on during the filming, but James Franco pulls it all off superbly. Ralston was clearly a confident, cocky individual and Franco is able to portray this in a simple smile and a walk. But Franco can also play the several emotional stages that Ralston goes through as the gravity of his situation slowly dawns on him. Franco was also truly all-alone in many of the scenes and this led to one of the funniest scenes in which Ralston gives himself his own Jerry Springer style talking to during which he brings a lot of underlying issues about how he enjoys pushing people away and being alone. Although this scene is amusing to watch, it is also heart breaking as Ralston realizes a little too late that he should have lived his life differently. Franco takes on this challenge and truly delivers giving great heart and strength to the performance, which was likely significantly helped by having the real Aron Ralston to hand on set. Having the real Ralston on set meant that he came back to where it all began and took his first step onto Robbers Roost since the incident-a further testament to his courage and personal strength.

The film is beautifully shot, but that is what we have come to expect from a Danny Boyle film. His shots of Robbers Roost truly show how stunning the landscape is and this makes Ralston’s fascination with it all the more understandable. While in the canyon, in order to get the heightened feel of claustrophobia there are many tight close up shots where all we see is Franco’s face and the audience begin to understand the conditions he is in. On top of this Boyle also uses wide angled distance shots that reveal how vast Robbers Roost is and so how alone Ralston is. Boyle’s smartest move in the film is to break up the solo shots of Franco with dream sequences that appear due to Ralston’s dehydration. Within these sequences the audience is given glimpses of the life that led Ralston to the boulder; we see his family life, his friends and the girl he loved and lost. Unfortunately we never do get the full story, but simply little snap shots, but in some ways this is quite special as it allows the audience to create their own history for Aron Ralston, and it also means that the real Aron Ralston does not have his privacy invaded world wide.

Now of course all anyone is really interested in is ‘that scene’, so let’s not waste anytime skirting around it. It is more gruesome than you could possibly be prepared for, but like a slow motion car crash you can’t help but watch. It lasts for a good 10 minutes during which Boyle uses a combination of sound and visuals to make you feel as if you are cutting your own arm off. For example when Ralston is tugging at one of the nerves in his arm every touch causes the audiences ears to be bombarded by screeching sounds that reflect the pain he must be feeling. It is almost unbearable to watch, and then suddenly it is all over and you are hit with an overwhelming sense of relief and awe that someone would go through all that for survival. This feeling of awe and relief will stay with you even after you have left the cinema and get home; all you will think is ‘No problem in my life can be so bad that I have to cut my own arm off to survive it’.

Overall it is a good film that never falls into the trap of putting a few too many tension-heightening devices in. It is well shot, emotionally portrayed and enlightening. Ralston now does public speaking and charges thousands of dollars; this is a much cheaper way of getting his message. Just remember if you are a thrill seeker: always take a phone with you.

 

Degree- 2:1

Possibly not a film you will feel you ‘enjoyed’ while you

watch it, but certainly one that will leave its mark

and have you thinking about it for a long time after.

(If you are confused about the rating system please click on the ‘About This Blog Page’ which will explain it all)

127 Hours

After the Oscar, critic and box office acclaimed success of his last film, Slumdog director Danny Boyle’s  new project has a lot to live up to. Fortunately ‘127 hours’ certainly looks on paper as if it will. With James Franco as the leading role and critics at the Toronto Film Festival giving it great write ups, the biopic of Aron Ralston’s remarkable adventure certainly seems to be on its way to more Oscar gold. The movie will show the life changing 5 days of Ralston after a falling boulder crushes his arm and leaves him trapped and isolated in a canyon. The Uk release date is January 7th 2011.