Screening log 10/01/11-16/10/11
I watched three films this week, all 2010 releases, two set in Boston, one set in between a rock.
127 Hours (Danny Boyle, 2010)
You’ve seen the trailer, you’ve heard the hype, you know what it’s about. While I don't treat IMDb scores as gospel, the film received a notably high rating on the site, so truth be told, I expected more. Instead, I found 127 Hours to be fairly boring at points. What we have here is about 60 minutes of material dragged out into a cinema release with the help of some fancy digital effects.
On the bright side, James Franco is excellent; he almost makes the film worth watching. Although his character seems fairly generic and I found it hard to care about his “flashbacks” to past mistakes, his survival strategies when stuck made for compelling viewing.
Needless to say, I was more than a little grossed out by that infamous arm amputation scene, but Franco’s dedication to the role and all-round performance was brilliant. He, and he alone, ensures that this film was not a total bust.
Must try harder Danny Boyle; Slumdog Millionaire and Sunshine this most certainly ain’t.
3/10
The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010)
Oh yes, I enjoyed The Social Network a fair bit. I didn’t think the story of how the smug anti-social nerd who invented Facebook would be of interest to me, but I got extremely engrossed in it.
Jesse Eisenberg did a fantastic job in the lead role, making a deeply unlikeable character compelling to watch and occasionally evening bringing pathos towards him, and his on-screen chemistry with wingman Andrew Garfield felt authentic. I loved Andrew Garfield in this; his iconic “you’d better lawyer up, asshole” speech was mega, and his character gives the film its moral grounding.
On the other hand, Justin Timberlake was an embarrassment, I can only imagine Fincher cast him in the film to get teenage girls to watch (a similar strategy that is employed by Ben Affleck with Blake Lively in The Town, more on that debacle later) and there were various other supporting actors who didn’t cut it for me.
But overall, I found the story of the origins of Facebook just about justified a two-hour screentime, with some moments of comic relief courtesy of the Winklevoss twins and Max Minghella’s character.
Also, I detected tones of Citizen Kane throughout, especially in the ending. Zuckerberg, having built his empire and lost some money in the settlement (but what’s a few million for the creator of Facebook?) just sits there and refreshes the page constantly after adding his ex-girlfriend on Facebook.
The message could not be clearer: he wanted to be a billionaire so badly, but money couldn't buy him the one connection he actually wanted. That, right there, is Mark Zuckerberg’s very own Rosebud moment.
8.5/10
The Town (Ben Affleck, 2010)
From the trailers, I was all over this film, and was deeply disappointed when I couldn’t go see it with my housemates, due to time constraints.
However, I managed to watch it on a sleepless night this week, and I’m still in two minds about it.
On one hand, you’ve got a perfectly engaging heist movie with a glittering A-list cast and some tense, gripping scenes - most notably when Jem surprises Doug when he's on a date with Claire, the very woman they took hostage when carrying out the first bank robbery. On the other, the film as a whole just didn’t really do it for me.
One of my main problems with The Town was Blake Lively’s acting, or lack thereof. Obviously, as a non-Bostonian I can’t rip her too hard for the accent, but from watching the likes of Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River, I have a vague idea about how it’s supposed to sound. I think she caught the vibe and just turned it up to 20.
Her acting was also just terribly over the top and all-round cringe inducing. I totally get that her character is clutching at the straws and realising that the one asset she has left – her beauty – isn’t enough anymore. That’s a terribly sad revelation, but instead of making Krista a tragic icon, she was just, well hilarious, with her half-drunk stagger and mumble mouth.
Ben Affleck was tolerable, Jon Hamm has the blandest of characters but does well with him, and I’m undecided about whether Jeremy Renner’s surly, borderline psychopathic turn as Jem was genius or ridiculous. Meanwhile, the late Pete Postlethwaite, is fairly terrifying in one of his last onscreen performances.
But the one standout performance from the film comes from Rebecca Hall, who completely she lights every scene she’s in. It’s her and her alone that makes The Town worth watching; Claire is just about the only character I didn’t find totally deplorable and the audience, like Affleck's character, find ourselves falling in love with her.
And, whilst the whole “bad-guy-gone-good due to his love for a beautiful woman” trope isn’t exactly new, I did like the romantic arc of The Town. I found myself caught in the middle; half-rooting for the Affleck/Hall romance, half wanting Rebecca Hall to get with John Hamm for some reason.
The score irked me. A joint effort by David Buckley and Harry Gregson-Williams, it was clearly a case of “too many cooks … decided to plagiarize Thomas Newman”; I distinctly heard shades of the Cinderella Man and Shawshank Redemption scores throughout.
Furthermore, the ending, that was all a bit Shawshank-y, but, unlike Tim Robbins in The Shawshank Redemption, I didn’t find myself ever wanting Ben Affleck to have a happy ending. Plus, I don't take too well to having my favourite film plagiarized, funny that.
Thus, I have very mixed feelings towards this film. If there were any justice in the world, Rebecca Hall ought to be garnishing awards buzz for her turn. The rest of the movie? I can honestly live without it.
4.5/10
As for TV, this week I've been watching Not Going Out, which makes me chuckle. The banter is strong!
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