Hypnotic. Poetic. Elegiac. Beautiful. Moving. All adjectives that can be used to describe The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Andrew Dominick's follow up to 2000's excellent Chopper. Criminally overlooked in all categories at this years Oscars, this film is so good on so many levels. Firstly, the acting. Two of the greatest performances you are likely to see, from Brad Pitt as the outlaw Jesse James and from Casy Affleck as the coward Robert Ford, stepping out of his brother Ben's shadow to firmly establish his own mark. Add to that great writing and direction from Dominick, stunning cinematography from the Coen's regular cinematographer Roger Deakins (honestly, every frame of this film could be in an art gallery, it's that beautiful), and so much more that deserves all the credit in the world. The slow pace and long running time may detract some from giving this film a go, but I urge you not to be put off by these factors. A stunning and beautiful film, in every way, about the dangers of obsession and celebrity (hmm, wonder what attracted Brad Pitt to this film?). So good
cosmobrown's Reviews
Displaying Review 11 - 15 of 44 in total
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What is the point of Paris Hilton? She is like a scab upon the world. Born with a silver spoon in her mouth (which she has promptly replaced with a succession of dicks), she could just quietly sit back and collect her Hilton fortunes. Instead, she forces herself upon us like a drunk football player. Crappy reality shows (there's a special place in Hell reserved for Paris Hilton's British Best Friend), crappy leaked sex tapes, and now crappy movies. The Hottie and the Nottie is the blandest, most self-involved, insubstantial, offensively bad piece of crap that should never have seen the light of day. Paris Hilton can't act to save her life. House of Wax had the novelty of her being killed. This film has no such novelty. She has one facial expression throughout the whole thing, and it looks like a mixture of being stoned and having to squint up at the sun. Oh yeah, Hilton is the Hottie of the title by the way (although she isn't my idea of one). And she has a Nottie best friend (clearly a good looking girl with a mole stuck on and some bad dentures). The film thinks it has a really sweet message at it's core (inner beauty, not outer beauty!) except it completely undermines that by having the "nottie" have various surgeries before she is noticed by any potential suitors. Yep, shallower than a midget's bathtub. Just an awful film, that isn't funny, isn't sweet and isn't worth your time. Paris Hilton, fuck off.
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Back in 2001, Akiva Goldsman won an Oscar for his A Beautiful Mind screenplay. Now, the right, fair and just thing to do would have been to smelt down that little golden man and use it to reinburse anyone who had to pay to sit through Batman & Robin, for it truly is that awful. The decline of the Batman series started with Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, with it's camp and silly tone and overabundance of villains, but at least it was enjoyable and there were moments to admire from that film. Batman & Robin has nothing. This is where the franchise literally hit rock bottom, not to see the light of day for 8 years, when Christopher Nolan dusted it off with the excellent Batman Begins. The film starts off poorly and never recovers from there. Too many awful, awful puns and one-liners ("now i know why Superman works alone"), and a generally smug, self-parodic and smarmy tone make this fourth Batman instalment hard to connect to or indeed to even like. Nothing from this film feels connected to reality, even in a comic book-style sense. There's too much going on; too many subplots, too many characters vying for attention, that the film never has a core focus. The tone is camp and ridiculous, which makes taking the events in this film seriously an impossibilty, and no one comes out of this with any dignity (minus poor Michael Gough as Alfred, only one of 2 actors who have been in all 4 films). George Clooney just looks bored and embarassed as this series' third different Bruce Wayne/ Batman, while Alicia Silverstone is embarrasingly miscast as a former Oxbridge student (!) who races motorcycles on the side. As the villains of the piece (if you don't count Schumacher himself), Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly having a great time as Mr Freeze but that doesn't mean he's any good. It probably would have helped if his entire dialogue didn't exist solely of bad ice-related puns ("Lets kick some ice!"). Uma Thurman looks hot as heck as Poison Ivy, but again she's so unrestrained and over the top that you can't accept her threat as credible. I must also make a point at how misused Bane is in this film. In the excellent Knightfall comic series, Bane broke Batman physically, mentally and emotionally like no other villain had been able to do, and to see him reduced to a mindless rent-a-thug in this film is just sad. But yes, I think i've ranted enough. Anyone whose seen Batman & Robin knows what a joke it is. Every decision made by the creative team is woefully so far off the mark, from the script to the costumes to visual style. Thank goodness that the Batman franchise is in safe hands now with Christopher Nolan.
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For Ben Stiller's third feature film as a director, he chose to continue the adventures of dim-witted male model Derek Zoolander, a character he originally created for the VH1 Fashion Awards. This was a wise decision, for Zoolander is one of the funniest films in recent memory. Skewering the pomposity, vanity, self-importance and general ridiculousness of modeling and the fashion industry, Zoolander is sharp, funny and very silly. Stiller is excellent as the titular character, charm and likeability shine through his idiotic visage, while he makes an excellent pairing with Owen Wilson's Hansel. Will Ferrell is absurdly funny as Mugutu (just one look at him and your laughing) and the rest of the cast is filled out with awesomely funny people (including Stiller's dad Jerry as Maury Ballstein). Funny lines ("I was bullemic". Zoolander's response- "you can read minds?!"), great moments (the tragic petrol fight, Zoolander's unveiling of his new look Magnum) and a sack full of brilliant cameos (David Bowie! Billy Zane!) all equate to a funny funny film. Simple mathematics.
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Overlooked upon it's theatrical release, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a film I whole-heartedly recommend you pick up on DVD. The entire production oozes class; directed by Sidney Lumet (still making brilliant films at the ripe old age of 84) and starring a dream cast of Phillip Seymour Hoffman (when have you ever seen a bad Phillip Seymour Hoffman performance?), Ethan Hawke, Maris Tomei and Albert Finney. A plot premise that, on face value, could seem a little cliched and hackneyed, two brothers plan a robbery that inevitably goes wrong, becomes so so much more. This is down to a truly fantastic debut screenplay from Kelly Masterson (look out for that name in the future), assured, audacious and accomplished direction from Lumet and the kind of classy performances you'd expect from Hoffman, Hawke, Finney et al. Using a bold non-linear structure, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead is a brilliantly constructed, often bleak but completely engrossing, engaging and entertaining film, a quality of which is hard to find in Hollywood. Just Brilliant.
