Because Everybody Else Has One

I'll have the rest of my review of the films of the year up within the next few days but, in the meantime, a word or two about the latest Woody Allen film.  Midnight in Paris Ever since Match Point, it seems like every other film released by Woody Allen is hailed as a comeback or "his best film since...", to the point that it has become hard to take any of these claims all together seriously. Nonetheless, that doesn't change the fact that Midnight in Paris simply is Woody's best film since at least Everybody Says I Love You back in the mid 90s. If nothing else, it's unquestionably one of the most gentle, most nostalgic and most romantic films in his long and storied career. 

With Tower Heist out of the way, there are only a further two films that I need to take a look at from last week. I do want to catch up with Attack the Block at some point but, for now, here's my thoughts on the first of two fairly noteworthy films. The tagline on the poster kind of says it all but Anonymous explores a fairly simple conceit in a rather convoluted way: did William Shakespeare actually write all the plays and sonnets that bare his name or was William Shakespeare simply an actor who used his name as a way of protecting the reputation of the works' true author, an aristocrat named Edward De Vere, The Earl of Oxford, in an ultra-puritanical England? It's a very interesting conceit that the film does its best to make a strong case for its validity but the more you think about it, the more it shows itself to be nothing but silly, utterly unprovable conjecture. More interestingly still, is the way the film explores the way Shakespeare-or-whoever's pla...

While seemingly the entirety of Johannesburg's population under the age of 35 were attending Coldplay's massive one-night-only stadium concert, I found myself enjoying a rather different concert experience. Cine 2 at Sandton City's multiplex is normally host to press screenings that Ster Kinekor hold for their 3D releases but last night that by now very familiar - and, it has to be said, rather nice - cinema offered up something a whole lot more interesting than a pointless stereoscopic conversion of The Lion King. I don't want to speak ill of what I'm sure was a great concert-going experience for Coldplay fans (personally, I could take them or leave them) but I can't imagine it being more electrifying than this woefully under-attended showing of a previously unreleased concert film that caught The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band in one of their most interesting, not to say best, creative periods. Sadly, this was only one of a small handful of showings f...

Before getting to a roundup of the rest of the week's releases, I want to shine a spotlight on Terence Malick's Tree of Life. As the work of one of cinema's great perfectionists, it's clearly a very important work but does that mean I have to like it? What follows is as much my reaction to the reaction of the film as it is to the film itself and, I must warn you, this will go on a bit and will, undoubtedly, be more than a little rambly and self-indulgent. But then, considering the film, that seems oddly appropriate. Also posted as Artslink . Terence Malick's latest film, Tree of Life, has gotten probably more gushing, five-star reviews than any other release this year. Most critics simply absolutely adore this film. Me? I don't get it.

After some less than stellar weeks, this is a pretty good week for films. We not only have an excellent but harrowing art film, we even get a genuinely good courtroom drama starring Matthew McConaughey! Best of all, though, is this week's big blockbuster, X-Men: First Class. Honestly, between this, Stardust and Kick Ass can we please get Matthew Vaughn to direct the new Superman. It's not too late is it? Also posted at Artlink When you consider just how many BIG superhero movies will be/ have been coming out over 2011 and 2012, it's not that hard to understand why X-Men: First Class has fallen somewhat between the cracks. Certainly in terms of fan expectations. This year we have Marvel's Thor and Captain America as the build up to next year's Avengers reaches its climax, while DC offers its first film to be based on a major superhero that's not Superman or Batman with Green Lantern. Next year is even more exciting as we have reboots of Superman...

The biggie this week: The return of the "Wolfpack " in a new adventure that's almost exactly the same as the first one. Needless to say, though, it's far from the best film of the week. From Artslink (Originally posted 27 May 2011) If the first Hangover film was – and bear with me for a moment here – a steaming hot pizza straight out of the oven, then its follow up is that same pizza warmed up the next day. It's edible enough but it kind of makes you forget what was so great about it in the first place. If you think this culinary metaphor is pushing it a bit then you clearly haven't seen The Hangover Part II. The Hangover Redux more like it. It's not a particularly terrible film or anything but it is so unnervingly similar to the original (and, it has to be said, to the various R-rated men-behaving-badly comedies that have come out since) that it can't help but feel tired, worn out and, frankly, really rather unnecessary. Yes, the se...

As promised, here's a bonus review this week of Let Me In, the somewhat controversial remake of Swedish vampire film, Let The Right One In. Also posted at Artslink . Does Let Me In need to exist? Whatever one thinks of the film itself, it's hard to get past that question. Let Me In does exist, in the first place, only because a huge part of the English-speaking world simply refuses to read subtitles. No matter how strongly it may have been embraced by both critics and (small) audiences alike, Swedish vampire chiller, Let The Right One In , simply never had a hope in hell of conquering that all-important US market. Indeed, here in South Africa, Let The Right One In didn't even make an appearance on our local Cinema Nouveau art circuit, instead heading straight for some scattered independent cinemas and, most damningly, the shelves of a video store near you - and even then, only the good ones. Is it really such a wonder then that, as has become the norm in...

This one is slightly controversial in that the general opinion of most other critics is that this is a truly wonderful piece of work. Me, I think it's good but nowhere near as great as some might say. From Artslink.co.za (Originally posted 6 May 2011) Type “Jane Eyre” into the Internet Movie Database and you'll get no less than 22 exact matches of films/ TV projects with that title. The oldest with the almost unbelievable date of 1910, the latest – our film at hand – dated a good 101 years later. The source text by Charlotte Bronte is also one of the most popular classic romance novels ever written, being right up there with the best work of Jane Austen as far as must read “chick-lit” goes. And yet I had never read the book nor seen any of its near-two-dozen screen adaptations before stepping, about a month ago, into the press screening of this most recent attempt. I was familiar with the novel, of course, (who isn't?) but, while I do enjoy dipping my toe...