Lovelace (2013, Dirs. Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman, USA) (Cert: 18/R) ***

 

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgard, Sharon Stone

 

In the early 1970's, at the height of the Sexual Revolution, a film known as Deep Throat went beyond the obscurity of pornography and became a genuine mainstream hit, making a household name of its star, Linda Lovelace (Seyfried). However, beneath the surface, Lovelace lived a life of fear, abuse and violence under her controlling husband Chuck Traynor (Sarsgard).

 

The story of Linda Lovelace is a fascinating one that says just as much about the times and the environment in which she lived as it does about the woman herself. A starlet in porn with a very brief career (she only had major appearances in two films) who later became a vocal feminist and anti-pornography campaigner. Lovelace mostly deals with those couple of years of her life in the porn industry and handles them well, but the film's lack of insight into her earlier and especially her later life, mean that the film feels rather unfinished.

 

On a technical level, the film mostly does a good job capturing the period. There's archived footage of people of the era (the TV presents us with Walter Kronkite, Johnny Carson and Richard Nixon) although the music is a little dubious, occasionally delving into sons which sound far too modern stylistically, although this is only a minor problem. Seyfried suits the era perfectly on a visual level as well; stills shown in the film make her look eerily like a young Susan Sarandon at times and makes for a great performance, especially opposite her onscreen parents played by Sharon Stone and Robert Patrick. Peter Sarsard also does well, but falters slightly with the more emotional scenes.

 

Far from a film that glorifies pornography, Lovelace presents a dark and harrowing tale of exploitation which, even though some elements are only suspected to have genuinely occurred, there's at least some basis in fact, only for the reality to be supposedly worse still than what is shown here. The later years of Lovelace's life would be worthwhile as a film in their own right, but with the focused shifted so specifically in this film on the Deep Throat era, it works well enough even if it doesn't explore the subject's life as a whole as much as it should.

 

Next time, a family get-together becomes a fight for survival from masked killers in You're Next.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pain & Gain (2013, Dir. Michael Bay, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ***

 

 

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie

 

Personal trainer Dan Lugo (Wahlberg) wants a big piece of the American Dream, inspired by a seminar from motivational speaker Johnny Wu (Ken Jeong) enlisting two of his bodybuilding buddies, Paul (Johnson) an ex-con, recovering addict and devout christian, and Adrian (Mackie) a steroid user. The trio kidnap a wealthy client of Lugo's (Tony Shaloub) but find that simple plans aren't always easy ones.

 

Michael Bay is one of the biggest directors in Hollywood. Having taken on the Transformers film franchise since 2007, Bay's work also includes Armageddon (1998) and Pearl Harbour (2001). His films are big blockbusters filled with explosions and action set-pieces that make millions (and even breaking the rare billion dollar box office mark). However despite his aptitude at making a profit, Bay's reputation as film-maker is that of an extremely superficial film-maker with no skill in the more subtle elements of making movies. Pain & Gain is a crime movie with a comedic slant, about seemingly dim-witted criminals who don't know what they're doing. The plot reads like a Coen brothers film, such as The Big Lebowski (1998) or Fargo (1996), films which enjoy a much higher level of critical appreciation.

 

Ultimately, Pain & Gain does benefit from a fairly intelligent and entertaining script. The film switches between characters in narration, which allows for a little insight, although some of the characterisations seem still a little sketchy in the finer details This is particularly clear in Daniel Lugo, who seems to be somewhere between a ruthlessly ambitious murderer and a largely unlucky dope, who believes that the Godfather trilogy is about success (it isn't). Dwayne Johnson pulls off the likeable villain role much better and often provides one the best performances alongside a rather underused Ed Harris as a detective. However, Michael Bay's problems as a director are still evident here. The extremely frenetic editing can almost make your head spin, even during the quieter moments and women are largely shown to be either figures comic relief or simply bodies to be ogled at (or, in the case of Keili Lefkovitz' Krisztina, both). With a more measured and gentler approach, Pain & Gain could've been a great film, as it stands, it's perhaps betterthan what a lot of people might expect of Michael Bay, but it's really just not much more than okay.

 

Next time, the life of Linda Lovelace and the dark side of the production of the legendary porno film, Deep Throat is explored as Amanda Seyfried in Lovelace.

 

 

 

 

 

We're The Millers (2013, Dir. Rawson Marshall Thurber, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ***

 

 

Starring: Jason Sudekis, Jennifer Aniston, Will Poulter

 

Small-time drug dealer, David (Sudekis) loses his stash of drugs, leading to his boss (Ed Helms) giving David an assignment to pick up a "smidge" (actually a rather large amount) of marijuana from Mexico. Realising that families are far less likely to get searched on the Mexican-US border than lone individuals, he goes south of the border with Rose (Aniston) a stripper, David's nice but extremely naive and awkward neighbour Kenny (Poulter) and tough street kid, Casey (Emma Roberts) all posing as a family, the Millers.

 

We're The Millers knows the marks that it should hit and does with little surprise or defiance from what's expected of a mainstream adult comedy of its kind. That isn't to slate the entire film. Actually, the film hits the right notes a few times comedically and with a couple of very laughable moments. But there was an obvious reason to cast Jennifer Aniston as a stripper and it wasn't based on a character arc. Along the way, the story trundles through various stock gags with few surprises. Most of the performances are decent and the characters are likeable (although Ed Helms's role as a super-rich drug baron seems so over-the-top when he turns up that it clashes with the tone of the rest of the film). As road movies go, it's also enjoyable but lacks variety and ultimately, it's a film that just comes and goes causing little upset or extreme enjoyment. All in all, pretty average.

 

Next time, Mark Wahlberg  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Anthony Mackie play three musclebound criminals who find themselves in over their heads in Michael Bay's latest film, Pain & Gain.

 

 

 

 

The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013, Dir. Harald Zwart, Germany/USA/Canada) (Cert: 12a/PG-13) **

Starring: Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan

 

Seemingly for no reason at all, Clary Fray (Collins) begins seeing the same enigmatic symbol everywhere she goes and even draws it compulsively. The mystery only grows more bizarre when she witnesses a killing in the middle of a night-club, but no-one else notices. Clary soon discovers that she is a "shadowhunter" and teams up with a group of shadowhunters in order to find her abducted mother (Lena Headey).

 

You would have to be living under a rock not to notice the torrent of teen fantasy novel adaptations that have been put up on the silver screen in the last several years and whilst a few have been rather good (last year's The Hunger Games being a rare stellar example) most have been generic and rather poorly written, following the same tropes and ideas to appeal to the fanbase of mostly adolescent girls. The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones does not represent this fantasy subgenre at its best.

 

Originality is not City Of Bones' strong point, containing elements that will be familiar to anyone who's ever even heard of Harry Potter, Twilight or Star Wars to name three franchises that are instantly called to mind with the story elements in this film and in some cases, it's not always the best plot elements that you're reminded of, such as the love interest, Jace, who much like  Twilight's Edward reminds you that what a seemingly large number of women find very attractive, comes across to other people as rather creepy. To the film's credit, the romance angle is given some rather rich development and even given a gay angle, but this is pretty much dismissed almost instantly.

 

The acting levels in the film vary, but Lily Collins at least proves a suitable lead and supporting cast spans various different folklore creatures, making formvariety, but again, this isn't fully explored. The film also has a handle on some strong imagery and the ability to even cause a few jump scares once in a while, showing that the people behind the film have skill and craft, but it's largely the meager source material that's at fault. Based on a book that is the first of six parts, it's altogether possible that this will not be the last installment; hopefully the others will improve.

 

Next time, Jason Sudekis plays a drug dealer posing as a family man hoping to get a large stash of marijuana over the Mexican-US border in comedy, We're The Millers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elysium (2013, Dir. Neill Blomkamp, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ****

 

 

Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley

 

By 2154, a space station known as Elysium orbits the Earth. Its human inhabitants enjoy a utopian existence free from violence, crime and disease. However, down on Earth, pollution and poverty run rampant. After being given a terminal amount of radiation poisoning, Max De Costa (Damon) has five days to reach Elysium for a cure, having to take on work for a local gang in order to travel past the patrols guarding Elysium. However, Max finds himself the target of a ruthless assassin known as Kruger (Copley) and an Elysian senator (Foster) intent on taking over Elysium.

 

In 2009, South African film-maker, Neill Blomkamp broke through into the mainstream with his politicised sci-fi action film, District 9. Now, with Elysium, Blomkamp returns to similar stylistic territory, but invigorates it with enough energy and originality to make it an engaging watch. Whilst District 9 dealt with prejudice (and a not-too-veiled allusion to South Africa's former policies of Apartheid) , Elysium deals with economic disparity. Not an uncommon subject matter for science-fiction (as a major theme it dates back at least as far as 1927 with Metropolis), the real-world parallels are also still rather clear, both in terms of South African politics and in the wider world, especially given the current financial climate.

 

The film also has bares comparisons, deliberate or not, with THX-1138 (1971), Avatar (2009) the body horror of director David Cronenberg and perhaps most clearly with Blade Runner (1982); Max's desperate, and often violent, quest to sustain his quickly diminishing life, mirroring that of Rutger Hauer's Roy Batty in Ridley Scott's classic. Matt Damon captures the panic of such a predicament ably, whilst Sharlto Copley (a former producer turned actor who also broke through with District 9) hams it up as a killer playing his South African accent so thick, you could spread it on toast. Jodie Foster also gives a lively performance, but seems stuck somewhere between American and French with no clear nationality in either direction (perhaps intentionally). The film is so loud and noisy that it does throw itself into the ridiculous constantly. But it's also delivered with enough intelligence and panache that you can go with the madness and end up pretty impressed by the whole thing.

 

Next time, Lily Collins plays a young girl who discovers a secret realm where half-angels battle demons in The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones.

Call Girl (2012, Dir. Mikael Marcimain, Sweden/Finland/Norway/Ireland) (Cert: 18/TBC) ***

 

Starring: Sofia Karemyr, Simon J. Berger, Josefin Asplund

 

In the 1970's, Sweden had earned itself a reputation of a progressive utopia. In the final days of the Sexual Revolution, Sweden's permissive sexual and social policies were admired throughout the world by liberals. Within this environment, troubled teen Iris (Karemyr) and her friend Sonja (Asplund) become prostitutes for a notorious pimp (Pernilla August). John (Berger), an investigator looks into the well-known prostitution ring and discovers prostitutes, even underage prostitutes, have clients even within the ruling government as his and Iris' lives collide.

 

Call Girl is a look into the darker side of the Sexual Revolution and the notoriously progressive culture of Sweden. An intriguing subject matter, Call Girl is filled with good performances and a very effective sense of menace, but is let down by its own ponderous and over-long runtime. The film has a strong handle on style, presenting the world of Sweden's political elite as corrupt and greatly decadent, whilst the film also displays scenes of rather uncomfortable sleaze, helped along by a thumping synth-pop soundtrack. The occasional aesthetic nods towards exploitation cinema, also give the film an interesting flavour, even if the film largely makes a point firmly against exploitation. The plot being so expansive and filled with convolutions, the characterisations get lost in the flow except for that of Pernilla August's Dagmar Glans. Part affable mother-figure, part-heartless monster. Given the film's subject matter this is uncomfortable viewing and it's also too lengthy, with the film possibly benefitting ifnitnwas some thirty minutes shorter, but for good or ill, it will make an impact on viewers.

 

Next time, Matt Damon and Jodie Foster star in the dystopian sci-fi action film, Elysium; from Neill Blomkamp, director of District Nine (2009).

SNEAK PREVIEW: About Time (2013, Dir. Richard Curtis, UK) (Cert: 12a/R) ***

 

 

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy

 

Now that he's 21, Tim (Gleeson) learns a family secret from his eccentric father (Nighy) that all the men in the family have the ability to travel through time, or at least back into their own past. Whilst out on a date, Tim meets Mary (McAdams) and is instantly smitten. Using his newfound abilities to bring them together, Tim eventually learns that time-travelling has its consequences.

 

Since emerging onto the scene in the 1980's, writer (and later director) Richard Curtis has forged his own trademark style, specialising in romantic comedies that focus on very British setting and characters, whether it be in Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (2001) or Love Actually (2003). About Time is more fantastical, given its about time travel. But, there's still no mistaking it for anything but the work of Richard Curtis. Curtis's usual reparatory cast is mostly absent, but Domhnall Gleeson's befuddled shuffling brings Hugh Grant somewhat to mind. Rachel McAdams follows the likes of Andie McDowall and Julia Roberts as the American love interest (okay, McAdams is Canadian, but she plays an American) and in the supporting cast we also have Lydia Wilson as the usual Curtis kooky girl and the lone Curtis regular in the cast, Bill Nighy, at his absolute Bill Nighy-ist.

 

The other obvious comparison that comes with this film is Groundhog Day (1993) given that both films use the idea of revisiting the past and using it to correct faux-pas in courtship, but About Time is fresh enough in its own right not to be completely written off as a clone. Curtis may be playing it fairly safe here but he knows what he's good at and he's sticking to his guns. All the performances are likeable even if they have been mulled over before and the film is undeniably sweet, even if it borders on the saccharine (such as one montage which plays out almost like a music video, complete with close-ups of some performing buskers). As an experiment, it doesn't really stand up because it still sticks much too close to the old formula but regardless it is funny, charming and ultimately forgivable for not straying too far from the well-trodden path.

 

Next time, a drama about the sexual underworld of 1970's Sweden, Sofia Karemyr stars in Call Girl.