My Film Diary (Letterboxd)

Letterboxd is a website I recently stumbled upon that is essentially a movie driven social media website. I personally am not one to use social media such as Facebook frequently and have never used twitter or the various other options out there (is myspace still a thing?). None the less I quite like the idea of a movie driven social media website such as Letterboxd.

I have recently set up a letterboxd account and currently plan to use it as a film diary which will have what films I have watched and when I have watched them. If you would like to see my diary it is available on the below link (I shall also be placing a link on the side menu of this blog):

http://letterboxd.com/filmreverie/films/diary/

Even if you do not have any interest in film diaries or similar from my still limited experience I do fell Letterboxd is well worth looking into for any film fan. I may start using the other numerous features at a later time and hopefully it will help me discover films I otherwise may have never heard of or simply dismissed. Only time shall tell.

Sleeping Beauty (2011) Review

Sleeping Beauty is a film by Julia Leigh which follows Lucy, a student who struggles to afford her rent, has a strong relationship of sorts with a suicidal alcoholic and undertakes in prostitution. One may think at first that Lucy is struggling, however it becomes clear that Lucy thrives on her self destructive behavior and her situation seems to be largely a result of her own doing.

Lucy answers an advertisement for work that ultimately sees her working as a 'sleeping beauty', whereby she is drugged and left in a room asleep which is then rented out to (older) men who can do as they please, except have sex. Oddly Lucy never shows interest in being involved for the money, rather her motives are entirely unclear and this is one of the many areas whereby Sleeping Beauty stumbles. In spite of how strong Emily Browning's performance is as Lucy, their is a lack of any depth to the character as motivations are never explored and Lucy is devoid of any personality beyond being self destructive. Likewise the supposed theme 'present' regarding the desires of men is never explored, rather the film fells comfortable with simply pointing out that men can have some questionable 'desires' and never takes it any further which makes for what is and insufferably uninteresting film and one that tries to rely on shock value for the sake of being shocking.

Sleeping Beauty however is meticulously shoot and is generally gorgeous to look at, however the editing is often heavy handed and features far to many unnecessary scenes that ultimately lead no where (much like the film). Initially I thought this may be an analogy for youth, but as the film continued this become continuously less likely. Ultimately Sleeping Beauty is without direction or purpose, this is unfortunate as had their been a more focused narrative, more depth to the characters present and and actual exploration of the ideas and themes present, we could have had a truly unique and interesting film. Sadly as it is Sleeping Beauty is a film that whilst undeniably unique is devoid of anything of interest or anything I could describe as entertaining.

My recommendation, stay far away.

Kick-Ass 2 Review

The first Kick-Ass film was released in 2010 and to my surprise was not only slickly directed, funny and full of unique and engaging action along with fun and interesting characters but has also since become my favorite film based on a comic book (and one of my favorite films period). Three years have since passed and the director from the first Kick Ass (Matthew Vaughn) and the screenplay writers (Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn) have been replaced by Jeff Wadlow who was in charge of both the script and for directing Kick Ass 2. Sadly whilst some parts of Kick Ass 2 prove to be a welcome continuation of the first film, other moments simply fell of out place and are at times poorly done.

As we continue the journey at the start of Kick-Ass 2 Dave has retired from being Kick-Ass and Mindy is skipping school to continue training as Hit Girl. Sure enough Dave gets the urge to become Kick-Ass again and to form a super hero team and thus starts to skip school in favour of being trained by Hit Girl in the hope of becoming a team with her. Oddly though we are left wondering what Davids motivations are to become Kick-Ass again, with the only reasoning given being that he was bored. This in of itself isn't a terrible reason within the scope of this film, but is none the less and area that could have had more attention given to it. This result of Dave training with Mindy is of course Dave getting beaten continuously as he trains and in an obvious but none the less fun homage to the first film shoot by Mindy whilst wearing bullet proof material. This along with the evolving relationship between Dave and Mindy proves to be the films greatest and sadly underutilised asset.

As Mindy and Dave finally appear to be making some progress with the training, the surreal world that Hit Girl inhabited collides with that of the world that Marcus(Mindy's guardian) inhabits. This ultimately results in a Mean Girlsesque scenario whereby Mindy no longer dons the costume or attitude of Hit Girl and attempts to live a normal teen life. This is a point in the film I imagine will be divisive amongst fans, I however found it to be a refreshing change of pace for the character and one that added more depth to an already interesting character. Sadly not all elements in Kick-Ass 2 work as well as this. For instance as this is occurring Chris D'Amico who was Red Mist in the first Kick-Ass becomes 'The Motherfucker' and begins to plan his revenge on Kick-Ass. Unfortunately in this film Chris D'Amico is elevated to being the lead villain but lacks the presence to fell like a genuine threat and has his goons do all the dirty work for him, which leaves the villain nonthreatening at best. For obvious reason this is not ideal and the film had several opportune moments to give The Motherfucker moments that could lead you to genuinely see him as a villain and threat, but the film at each instance attempts to lighten the moment with humour. This humour more often then not is not only out of place and a detriments to what is meant to be the threat in the film but is also profoundly unfunny. Thankfully their is one new inclusion who is simply a joy to watch who comes in the form of Colonel Stars and Stripes played by Jim Carey who Kick-Ass joins along with several other 'super heroes' forming Justice Forever.

The action scenes prove to be rather hit or miss and in general lacked the intensity and originality of the action present in the first film where I found each action scene to feature its own identity and be wildly entertaining. In terms of the action the worst sin present is some middling use of shaky cam. Shaky cam is something that can be used to great effect, but here its only achievement is to disorient and confuse the viewer in a negative manner. This isn't the case for all the action present which makes it all the more confusing that it is present at all and it isn't so prevalent as to ruin any of the action scenes, rather to simply detract from some moments. One highlight of the film and a stupendously fun action scene involves Hit Girl fighting several of 'The Motherfuckers' goons upon a moving van. Sadly despite some spectacular scenes of similar quality to this their is sadly one unforgivably bad scene (more on that soon).

Kick-Ass 2's most egregious of errors is its humor often falls flat, most notable is the humor surrounding the 'new' villain who names himself the Mother Fucker as previously touched on, who comes of as uninspired and as if it assumes it is more amusing then it actually is (it also doesn't help that the Mother Fucker doesn't fell at all threatening throughout the film). Worst of all is Kick-Ass 2 not only uses toilet humor but does so in a way that is anything but funny, which results in easily the worst scene in the film involving stupidly over the top projectile vomit and spectacularly poorly done diarrhea effects. If this wasn't poor enough the film then seems to take such pride in said scene and references it during the climactic battle of the film.

Despite the several faults present the evolving relationships between Mindy and Dave manages to mostly save the film from itself and what it doesn't make up for Jim Carey's brief but scene stealing role as Colonel Stars and Stripes certainly comes close at doing so. Hence whilst I can't say that I wasn't hugely let down by Kick-Ass 2 I am also likely a bigger fan of the first film then most and no doubt had higher hopes and expectations for Kick-Ass 2. Hence whilst Kick-Ass 2 is not as good as the first Kick-Ass it still manages to inject enough quality action, fun characters to come recommended to fans of the original despite some middling use of shaky cam and one truly terrible scene. However if the original didn't wow you as it did me, you may be better of waiting for a rental if not skipping th.

Note: I must mention that whilst the score in Kick-Ass 2 fails to reach the dizzying highs of the first films score, it is none the less more then up to the task and features several well done variations of themes from the first film along with some new well fitting themes.

À bout de souffle (Breathless) Review

À bout de souffle (english name: Breathless) is the first feature film by Jean-Luc Godard and I am somewhat embarrassed to say that I had only somewhat recently seen his first feature film Breathless, which seems to be so often remembered as one of the 'best' films of French New Wave cinema.

Breathless follows Michel Poiccard a character who at first is seemingly a sociopath and early in the film murders a policeman for very little reason. The film quickly cuts to Paris where we see Michel stealing money, cars and anything else he desires. His aim is ultimately to escape and go to Rome with an American named Patricia Franchini, a person whom he had meet only a few weeks earlier and throughout the film the love Michel and Patricia have for one another is highlighted and put into question.

In spite of all of Michel's reckless and at times violent behavior Breathless remains a story about love, youth and the felling of being infallible when in love. It is of course not as simple as that as Breathless not only features several strong performances but also features characters who all have their own unique desires and motivations which throughout the film blurs just how true the two leads love is (and is a questions the characters ask themselves throughout).

In spite of all this to me what is most intriguing is that contradictory to Michel's frequent sociopathic behavior he genuinely seems to care and love Patricia which becomes more evident throughout the films proceedings. The point and purpose of which i'm sure could be debated endlessly, as is the case with many of themes and ideas present in the film.  But suffice to say their is more to the story then is in most films, especially those that are love stories.

Whilst Breathless is inescapably stylish and no doubt groundbreaking their are numerous jump cuts present (whereby the shoot cuts from one angle to another angle that is extremely similar). Whilst i'm sure many will detest the suggestion, but I personally felt that such cuts detracted from the scenes they where present in and I have been left puzzled by the purpose of their inclusion.

Breathless is a film that many will view differently but ultimately is a film that I intend to revisit and left me breathless (pardon the pun).

Highly recommended.