Because Everybody Else Has One

OK, by this time, "couple of weeks" is probably something of an understatement. Still, there's some good stuff that I haven't touched on yet... as well as one or two serious stinkers, of course. Starting off with what is probably my favourite of the films I haven't reviewed yet this month, Begin Again (8/10)   is John Carney's spiritual followup to his wonderful breakthrough film, Once: a serious charmer of a film that came out of nowhere and won over audiences, award ceremonies, critics and other filmmakers, before becoming a highly successful Broadway play. Begin Again isn't quite in the same league as its predecessor but it is certainly in a similar vain. Originally titled, Can a Song Save Your Life, Begin Again is about two lost souls finding each other through music and plays out basically like a more fully produced (and therefore somewhat less charming) remake of Once - but with enough differences to make it worthwhile on its own terms. Even i...

Zzzzzzzhmmmmmmwhoa - This movie in a nutshell... This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about Jep Gambardella is a lothario who has lived the high life in Rome for most of his sixty-five years thanks to the success of his one novel and his affluent social circle. After he finds out that his first love has died and that she had carried a torch for him throughout her life, Jep finds himself taking stock of a life lived in high society but one without much substance behind it. What we thought The Great Beauty won the best foreign language Oscar at last year's Academy Awards but, unlike some of the more approachable fare that has won that particular award over the years, it's a film that is clearly aimed at an arthouse crowd. Forget the fact that it's a subtitled Italian movie – because, seriously, is it really that hard to read subtitles? – it's a 122 minute film that takes its sweet time getting to any sort of point and is filled with a c...

Denzel Washington is back in a very Denzel Washington-y kinda movie. Take that as you will... This review is also up at Channel 24 . What it's about Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) seems like an ordinary blue-collar worker but when a young prostitute (Chloe Grace-Moretz) he befriended is viciously beaten up, his mysterious past comes to the fore as he finds himself up against a ruthless organized crime ring. What we thought Antoine Fuqua is a director who spends his time alternating between grity and quite serious dramas (Training Day, Tears of the Sun) and disposable action movies (Olympus Has Fallen, Shooter) and despite the fact that his last film was the underwhelming shoot-em-up Olympus Has Fallen, it's interesting to see him diving so soon into another glorified b-movie – especially as he has brought along Denzel Washington, the star of his most acclaimed film, along for the ride. The Equalizer is apparently based on an '80s TV show (nope...

The Faultier in Our Stars, perhaps? This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about Mia Hall is your average teenage girl about to graduate high school: juggling boy problems, trying to get into the college of her dreams and figuring out where she, a classical-music-loving cellist fits into her hip, punk-rock family. After being involved in a major car crash and with her life hanging in the balance, she has is suddenly confronted with the most crucial question of all. What we thought It's all but impossible not compare If I Stay with The Fault in our Stars when the two films, separated by a mere couple of months, have so much in common - at least on the surface. Both films are based on highly successful young adult novels, both feature the struggles of a teenage girl at their centre and both deal with themes of love and loss, when superimposed against life and death. They're also both, as it so happens, the work of newcomer directors as Fault'...

I'll have a review up soon of the other really worthwhile movie to come out this week, but I can safely say that if you're going to see one film this week, definitely make it this one. And I don't say this lightly but Calvary may well beat Boyhood as being THE movie to see this month. This review is also up at Channel 24 . What it's about The good, well-liked Catholic priest (Brendan Gleeson) of a small town in Ireland is marked for death by a disturbed congregant, who swears to make him pay for the entirely unrelated actions of a paedophilic priest who abused him as a child. With what may be one week left to live, the priest is forced to confront an increasingly belligerent community and a daughter who had just attempted to end her own life, all the while being racked by doubts about his faith, about his role as a Catholic priest and about the decision in his life leading that lead him up to that point. What we thought John Michael McDonagh bla...

It's a pretty big week for quality movies but, sadly, despite it's promise Mr Morgan's Last Love isn't really one of them. This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine) is a widower living in Paris, lost after the death of his wife two years ago. When he meets the slightly odd, but vivacious young French dance instructor, Pauline (Clemence Poesy), however, his life is given a renewed energy – an energy that he's going to need to deal with his (both literally and figuratively) distant children. What we thought Everything was in place to make Mr Morgan's Last Love something quite special. It has a killer cast, including Michael Caine in a lead role; an “exotic” locale and a story that may never have had a chance at being original but should have provided the sort of simple pleasures that this kind of family drama usually thrives on. Unfortunately, it never really manages to get off the ground. Wr...

That 100% Metacritic rating don't like, folks... This review is also up at Channel 24 - with one or two more typos. What it's about Twelve years in the life of an extraordinarily ordinary young man, Mason, from childhood to young adulthood. What we thought Shot over a few days each year for twelve years, it would be all too easy to write off Boyhood as little more than an admittedly very impressive gimmick, but the truly wondrous thing about Richard Linklater's latest and perhaps greatest film is the way he uses this “gimmick” to tell a story that perfectly and accurately captures the process of growing up. More than just a twelve-year process, however, Boyhood is pretty much the film that Linklater has spent his entire career working towards. The actual plot, as you may have noticed, is beyond threadbare and, though it may technically be classified as a “drama”, there's actually very little about the film that is particularly dramatic. Rathe...

Rather stay in and wait for the cavalry. Wait, did I say "cavalry"? I meant Calvary... This review is also up at Chanel 24 . What it's about A group of over-stressed mothers try to have a girl's night out but things don't go quite as planned. What we thought I hate to once again bemoan the sorry state of Hollywood comedy movies but Mom's Night Out is a particularly troublesome offender. Not only is it a wretched, thoroughly unfunny comedy but it's one that's mixed with large dollops of lame Christian sermonizing. It's not quite as preachy as the worst Christian movies tend to be but it's still pretty cloying. Mom's Night Out is pretty much Touched By an Angel meets the worst, schlocky sitcom you can imagine and, though I'm sure it's Church-approved, one has to wonder just which side the makers of Mom's Night Out are really playing for. There's definitely the sense that this film is aimed squarely a...

It's probably not even 10% scientifically accurate but this bonkers, high-octane sci-fi flick is still easily worth your time.  Lucy marks the third arty science fiction movie of the year to feature the prodigious talents of Scarlett Johansson (and, come to think of it, if you also factor in the espionage-superheroics of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there's even less place to doubt that Ms. Johansson is pretty clearly the reigning queen of genre cinema) and, though Lucy is certainly more low-brow than either Her or Under The Skin, it actually compliments both films quite brilliantly. Even more importantly, Lucy is the genuine, long-awaited return of maverick filmmaker, Luc Besson. Not that Besson himself has been away, you understand, it's just that generic thrillers like Taken and austere biopics like The Lady are a far cry from the sort of deranged, audacious genre films on which he made his name. Lucy is very much the Besson of Leon: The Professional and t...