The Man in Iron Suit: Review of Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3

Director: Shane Black

By Alex Watson

Robert Downey Jr is now firmly among Hollywood’s elite and is an actor who seems to be continually excellent in almost every film he appears! But you never would have predicted this at the beginning of this century when his drug and alcohol addictions made him practically unemployable! So it’s fair to say that he owes a great deal to Jon Favreau’s radical decision to cast him as billionaire genius Tony Stark in the Iron Man series- the result has created an superhero icon! Now under the new reins of Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black, Stark returns to do battle with evil and has inner demons in Iron Man 3.

Fresh from saving New York with The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) has returned to his normal and fun filled life back in California. But the strain of his exploits have given way to some serious anxiety attacks which are beginning to cause problems in his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and this concerns his best friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle). But soon a newer and more dangerous threat arrives in the shape of terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) and Stark must put his issue aside to save the world!

Thankfully after the somewhat disappointing sequel Iron Man 2, Shane Black picks the series up again and Iron Man 3 is another wonderfully enjoyable and funny ride. Stark’s trademark wit is present and correct and his putdowns continually hit the spot- particularly when he mocks Rhodes for his choice of system password! Black (who directed Downey Jr in cult film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) fits the film like a glove and skilfully handles the action side; including a thrilling final battle as Stark has his fellow armoured suits go to war with fellow baddie Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce).

But many will be surprised at the emotional core of this film and for once we Tony Stark looking a little out of shape! After narrowly avoiding death against the worm hole in Avengers Assemble, Stark is worrying many people with his post traumatic stress and he seems worried about hurting the most important people in his life and for once we see a human side to him where he seems almost scared by this hero persona he has created for himself worries the consequences of what he could bring. Which is confirmed when a team of heavily armoured helicopters reduce his luxurious mansion to rubble!

Every superhero needs a good villain to bounce off against and with The Mandarin we are guaranteed of that as he seizes the US airwaves with his impressive messages of hate (which are very cleverly polished) broadcasting his various ‘lessons’ he intends to teach the US President! His character immediately conjures up a wonderfully creepy and lurking effect which makes us instantly wonder what his dastardly deed will be. But there is also magnificent and shocking character twist midway through which will guarantee to keep people talking in the coming weeks!

But where The Mandarin excels, fellow baddie Alrich Killian sadly doesn’t and although his villain has a big brain and a snide sense of humour, he lacks any real menace and he square off with Iron Man is largely built on a crushing rejection gave to his young crippled self years earlier.

Robert Downey Jr once again makes Tony Stark his own with another brilliantly charismatic performance, but this one isn’t just built on great one liners and is perhaps one of the more human Stark showings than its predecessors and if this as rumoured proves to be Downey Jr’s final showing as the playboy genius- it’s a great note to go out on!

Gwyneth Paltrow gives her usual excellent support as long suffering Pepper Potts and this one shows her becoming more confidante to her man than previously and together Downey and Paltrow make for a strong on screen couple. Don Cheadle also gets more to do as Rhodes and becomes the perfect verbal jousting partner and Stark continually mocks his squareness! Buts it’s Ben Kingsley who steals the supporting honours with a unique performance as The Mandarin- this is a performance that will be firmly remembered by fans of this franchise for years to come!

Iron Man 3 is our first dosage of big summer blockbuster and it is a great way to start the season and we hope that the other efforts that follow are just as entertaining as this one. Robert Downey Jr is fast becoming one of the better actors of this century and if should he choose to hang up his armour then he will be sadly missed!

In The Right Place: Review of Being There

Classic from the Vault

Being There (1979)

Director: Hal Ashby

By Alex Watson

Peter Sellers will always be remembered to many cinema goers as one of the great comic actors of our time. Through his collaborations with Blake Edwards in the Pink Panther series, his bumbling and accident prone Jacques Clouseau became a legendary character. But this fact continually frustrated Sellers and he was determined to prove his ability to his audience- his final role provided him with a role he had always desired as a simple minded man who falls into the world of big time players in Hal Ashby’s stirring classic, Being There.

Chance the Gardener (Peter Sellers) has lived all his life within the confines of an estate belonging to a wealthy old benefactor and his only knowledge of the outside world comes from the images he sees on television. But when the old man dies, Chance is forced into the wider world and as he does he happens to stumble into the world of rich business man Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas) and his wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine) and very soon he finds himself becoming a rising celebrity within both the business and media worlds as people believe his simple minded rambling to be genius insight into the economy!

Being There is such a simple tale by Ashby but it is one that is incredibly touching and extremely hilarious. When we first meet Chance see a man who is very childlike and it seems the garden is the place he belongs, but when he is forced out his natural surrounding we truly fear for his safety (particularly when he bumps into a dangerous street gang) but from the moment he gets hit by Eve Rand’s car, Chance strikes their world like a comet and he makes terminally ill Ben’s life a lot more interesting!

When Chance meets the US President (Jack Warden), his muttering about planting seeds in a garden is taken as brilliant analysis of the business market and overnight he becomes a sensation- even more so when he appears on national television! But many are perplexed to where this brilliant man comes from and as the various men of the FBI, CIA and various high profile newspaper men scramble for information and come up blank- their conspiracy theories of his background provide many laughs as they figure he is some kind of government operative!

This role provided Peter Sellers with the chance of a life and he took it firmly with both hands and he single handled gives Being There a wide emotional depth and as he bonds with the frail Ben our hearts soar as through his simplicity and gentle nature, he seems to ease his final passage, Eve takes an equally big shine to him to the point where her husband seems willing to line Chance up to be her next partner! But the scene where Chance tells her he “Likes to watch” presents us with one of the most mirthful yet most shocking sexual scenes on film! It is a shame that Sellers lost out to Dustin Hoffman for the Best Actor Oscar in 1979- because on this occasion he fully merited a reward!

Melvyn Douglas firmly holds his own in the supporting department and rings in a powerful turn which is quietly brilliant, for his efforts Douglas deservedly won a Supporting Actor Oscar! Shirley MacLaine also shines in Ashby’s film and her tender hearted turn makes her the perfect partner for both Sellers and Douglas to create an emotional spark.

Being There helped turn Sellers’ career around before his untimely death in 1980 and proved to his critics that he was more than just a funny man. His turn as Chance is one of the most heartfelt and potent portrayals of simplicity you will ever witness on screen and we can only wonder what his career could have been like had he not be continually typecast? Hal Ashby was a great American director and together a comedic class has been born!

The Sunshine State: Review of Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers

Director: Harmony Korine

By Alex Watson

If you watch a Harmony Korine movie then you should be prepared for anything! His screenplay for Larry Clark’s 1995 movie Kids was one of the most hard hitting of the 1990’s and since with his follow ups Mister Lonely and Trash Humpers have each found critical acclaim. This year Korine turns his attention towards the American tradition of Spring Break, but this won’t be any old teenage sex story and we should prepare for things to get dangerous in Spring Breakers.

College students Faith (Selena Gomez), Candy (Vanessa Hudgens), Brit (Ashley Benson) and Cotty (Rachel Korine) are four girls who are bored with life and decide to liven things up by travelling to Florida for spring break- short of money the girls rob a fast food joint and quickly make their way to party central. While they are arrested but are bailed out by gangster Alien (James Franco), but very soon event take a very dark turn.

Spring Breakers is a very stylish thriller by Korine but sadly this doesn’t make up for the fact that it is utterly bizarre! There is a dream like feel to the movie throughout and events start like an overly long advert for a Ministry of Sound Album as we see beaches full of half naked men and women. But as events go on this feeling begins to wear thin and although Korine gives an indication of brutal events to come with the constant clicking of a gun and flash forwards to an aftermath of a scene, this style largely gets in the way of the action and gives the movie a somewhat hollow feel.

When the girls first descend upon St Petersburg, Florida the party is in full flow and from this point the movie has a constant high buzz and the sun washed neon glow suits the film perfectly. But when corn rowed gangster Alien enters the story this is where events take a bizarre turn and the movie turns into darker territory. Here we have a man who has a room filled with guns, a piano by his pool and TV which shows Scarface on “Re-peat”, but this is where the logic gets mangled- Alien is a man so creepy that it would make most girls run a mile, out of them only Faith sees through the facade and wants to run a mile.

From here we don’t quite understand what is drawing the other girls to his lifestyle and in the third act things get increasingly ludicrous as they turn from being party animals to all out vigilantes and contains and ending that will probably leave many people confused as to its meaning? There are some brilliant surreal moments such as a series of slow-mo robberies sound tracked to Britney Spears’ ‘Everytime’ (this song will never be the same again) and an impressive tracking shot as we see the girls chilling rob the fast food place- but these moments aside don’t compensation for the confused narrative.

James Franco gives one of his stranger performances as gangster Alien, who possesses the finest set of metal teeth since Jaws in Moonraker! His jive style speaking and free living ways will irritate some, but Franco is by far the high point of the movie and proves again he is one of the more impressive actors of this century so far! Of the girls only Selena Gomez really impresses as girl with religious roots Faith, because she is the only one who clocks onto the danger they are in! Most men will revel in seeing Vanessa Hudgens shedding her good girl image as a drug abusing party girl Candy and it is an interesting side to her, but the other performance unlike Gomez just don’t fully convince and we find ourselves unable to accept such a drastic change of character!

Spring Breakers is a film will firmly divide people and it will most likely find cult status at some point in the near future, it is a movie that style about it but lacks a certain fluency that would have made it stand out. Korine is a capable director but I feel this is an effort that has slightly missed the mark and isn’t quite the picture we hoped for! Though it is a good showcase for the talents of Franco and Gomez and they will no doubt be talents to watch in future.

After Earth: Review of Oblivion

Oblivion

Director: Joseph Kosinski

By Alex Watson

Numerous times on the big screen we have seen the world threatened by a variety of different means such as alien attacks, nuclear war and most notably- Doctor Evil from Austen Powers! This week, we see Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski show us a world devastated by war and the people who are trying to survive in his follow up movie Oblivion. After the visual feast of his previous effort, expectations will be high for this one and with Tom Cruise’s star power in support, this effort could be interesting! But after seeing this event so many times, is it possible to present a fresh version of these events?

Set in the far future, Earth has been attacked by an unknown alien race and as result has been devastated and the surviving human members have been evacuated to a new home before they settle on the planet Titan. Technician Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is currently based on earth with his lover Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) and their job is to protect and maintain the equipment for the earth’s resources- but Jack is troubled by dreams of an unknown woman (Olga Kurylenko) and starts to wonder is something is wrong with the mission- soon he will come across the mysterious Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman) who will shed more light on his suspicions!

Oblivion is a visually spectacular effort from Kosinski and after his impressive debut in Tron Legacy, his eye for the splendid CGI is well present here and we are shown an earth that is almost in the same vein as Planet of the Apes and as we see various landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State Building we realize the devastation caused. Also his choreography of the action scenes is equally impressive and this will prove to be effects money well spent.

But although everything looks pretty on the surface, it is a shame that more attention wasn’t given to the plot! And it is in this area where Oblivion begins to lose itself because although there are many ideas present, the story feels a little a thin on the ground and the film seems to focus on the big effects, although a starting voiceover from Cruise inform us of attacks and the relocation of humanity- the logic of certain events later in the story become mangled and this will mostly like present more questions than answers as the end credits roll. Kosinski has created a truly stunning world that rings true but his fast paced direction suffers from the same effects as Tron Legacy did where attention was shifted firmly to the effects leaving the story secondary.

Another problem faced is that we never truly get a feel for the characters that are presented to us, Jack Harper’s story is one that has potential and it poses some interesting questions about life after earth- but some of the supporting characters he is given are very one dimensional, particularly Victoria who seems to merely follow protocol at all costs and although Malcolm Beech hints at big mystery, ultimately his character falls at bit flat and feels just like Morgan Freeman’s typical character these days!

Tom Cruise is as solid as ever and makes the most of the material he is given for Jack Harper, but it is not a role that stretches his ability by any means and simply requires him to turn up and look heroic. But his presence does elevate this picture above the average standard and when it comes to blockbusters, he is always the man to turn to. Andrea Riseborough and Olga Kurylenko provide good eye candy but neither really musters a commanding female presence to truly affect the picture, though it is nice to see the talented Riseborough being given a shot in a major flick!

I understand that that this is just entertainment and Oblivion is not a bad picture by any means and give us a solid night’s entertainment, but with its talented cast and director, this film could have been much more than what is given to us. Kosinski is a director for the future; there is no doubt about that and you can feel a definitive picture brewing somewhere. But this picture will make you wonder how life will be spent on earth if the aliens really do turn up someday!

Opposites Attract: Review of Lethal Weapon

Classic from the Vault

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Director: Richard Donner

By Alex Watson

There are some pairings in film history which are the stuff of legend; we have had the effortless charisma of Newman & Redford, the great physical comedy of Laurel & Hardy and finally to the fun and lengthy pairing of real life lovers Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey. But there is one pairing that deserves a mention and they kept audiences easily entertained for four movies from 1987 to 1998 and that pairing is Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon series. The very first Lethal Weapon movie gave us a buddy comedy of the highest order.

Roger Murtagh (Danny Glover) is a veteran Police Sergeant who is close to retirement and is looking forward to having life which is simple and straight forward life. Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) however is a cop who is suicidal due to the death of his wife in a road accident and doesn’t seem to care whether he lives or dies and as a result cops refused to partner him. To Murtagh’s dismay the pair is assigned to together and rather than taking it easy, the pair will home in on a drug ring led by Peter McAllister (Mitchell Ryan) and his psycho enforcer Joshua (Gary Busey).

Lethal Weapon is by far one of the best and most fun action movies the 1980’s produced and its fast pace action keeps the movie on its toes throughout and the comedic touch continuously hits home. But it’s the bonding between cops that proves the main interest and unlike many films before it, Donner’s film scores by including two similar cops rather than duplicating the other tested formulas before it! Riggs is a man on the edge and when we first meet him, he gets a potential roof jumper down by handcuffing him and physically making him jump and keeps a hollow point bullet for his planned suicide!

Murtagh’s suffering with him becomes apparent throughout as he twitches manically to every horrible scenario that presents itself and frequently reminds us “I’m too for this shit!” But as the pair squabbles and avoids death frequently, they become one hell of a partnership due to never say die spirit and despite considerable odds, they are able to make the bad guys sweat, but more importantly Murtagh is able to show Riggs that life if worth living and by the end an everlasting friendship is formed!

The side story of the drug ring led by former US General McAllister isn’t the films strongest point but it does set up an intriguing showdown between former army vets Murtagh and Riggs and pain immune thug Joshua! When we first meet the loyal henchman we see him calmly burn his skin with a Zippo lighter- here we discover this is no ordinary criminal and throughout Lethal Weapon he proves to be a thorn in their sides and a dangerous one at that! The final showdown between Riggs and Joshua provides plenty of excitement as the pair trade blows in the rain and for once we cannot tell who the victor will be and at what cost?

Chemistry wise the pairing of Gibson and Glover is a dream come true and the two bounce off each other magnificently to give us one of cinema’s most entertaining duos. Glover’s authoritarian matched against Gibson’s renegade makes for great viewing and would be ever present throughout the later sequels. Gary Busey makes for a great villain as Joshua, but as we have seen across the 80’s and early 90’s, this man was more than qualified for the task and with his stone cold face and huge set of knashers- a cult hero was born!

Lethal Weapon is a cult action film that has stood the test of time and even today its humour and thrills have not been lost unlike many films that stand alongside it. Although after its equally excellent sequel, the later films were not quite as brilliant story wise- but the same could not be said of Gibson and Glover who have continued to remain excellent throughout the series. Will there be a Lethal Weapon 5 like so many suggest? Well they will have a job making this new ride as fun as this one has proved to be!

Chain of Events: Review of The Place Beyond The Pines

The Place Beyond The Pines

Director: Derek Cianfrance

By Alex Watson

 

Director Derek Cianfrance’s debut effort Blue Valentine was heralded by many as one of the great indie breakouts of recent years as it looked both the charming and horribly ugly side of a failing marriage. His new effort The Place Beyond The Pines has had its fair share of hype lately and many have been tipping for critics end of year lists- it also reunites him with star Ryan Gosling. But will this be the result everyone has been hoping for?

Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a talented motorcycle stunt rider in a circus, one day after performing he comes across old flame Romina(Eva Mendes) and realizes that he is the father to her baby son after their brief fling. Eager to be a good father and to provide for his little one- Luke puts his bike riding skills to use robbing banks- but his wild ways will soon make him cross paths with rookie cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper) which will bring life changing results for all!

The Place Beyond The Pines is a very mixed journey from director Cianfrance and doesn’t all fire on all cylinders when it has the potential to. The film’s first act is one of great charm and as we meet Luke he is the very definition of cool with his devil may care attitude and heavy tattooing, the opening tracking shot as we see him walk from his trailer to the tent where he performs draws us to him immediately. When he rediscovers Romina he sees the chance for turning his life around and becoming something approaching an adult and we yearn for things to come together. But in a moment of madness, the film takes a drastic and ultimately shocking turn and audiences members better be prepared for a sharp jolt!

When the film fires it really fires! The scenes where Luke uses his biking talents to rob a series of banks are ones of sheer adrenaline (no doubt fans of Drive will be delight at this) and with Avery in pursuit of him as he flees in one scene- we can feel lives are about to collide and it doesn’t look like it will end up with them going for a cold pint at the Winchester and waiting for this whole thing to blow over!

But one of The Place Beyond The Pines’ main burden’s comes from the slow cooking storyline, from the very outset it becomes clear that Cianfrance wants to take his time and allow us to get to know the characters and as a result the story begins to feel drastically over stretched and isn’t helped but an unnecessary third act which brings us into the lives of teenagers Jason (Dane DeHaan) and AJ (Emory Cohen) whose lives will become intertwined by fate. Soon we find ourselves begin to lose interest in the characters we have come to love and when we should want to stick with them!

The performance however, are ones of high quality and are led by Ryan Gosling who brings his usual superb mix of raw emotion with a side of teenage coolness and his story holds our attention firmly in the films first act as he struggles to be an honest man. Bradley Cooper is equally strong as educated cop Avery- a rookie struggling in the midst of police corruption and desperately wants to do the right thing. A growing talent in Hollywood, Cooper show us another example of the wide range he is capable of doing.

The result doesn’t quite reach the heights expected, but The Place Beyond The Pines is still a good example of strong direction and Cianfrance makes excellent use of his talented cast and although creaking slightly under its long running time, this film still packs an emotional punch! Just remember when you see, it only takes a moment for lives to change and the events will sometimes stay forever!

Look Around You: Review of Rear Window

Classic from the Vault

Rear Window (1954)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

By Alex Watson

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window is one film that is open to numerous modern day critical opinions. But it is a film that still ranks as one of the great classical Hollywood thrillers of years gone by, Hitchcock was always referred to as the ‘Master of Suspense’ and this one proved to be one of his most gripping films and would show us the dangers of spying on the people we know!

This tells the story of L.B ‘Jeff’ Jefferies (James Stewart), a photographer who is currently housebound with a broken leg after a racing car hit him at high speed during an event was covering. Jeff is a man at the cross roads of life and is wondering whether his girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) is right being with him. Confined to the chair he spends most of his day gazing upon his neighbours and gathering opinions of their present lifestyles. But when he suspects that one of the more interesting neighbours Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife it begins an obsession into proving the crime.

Rear Window can rightly be regarded a classical Hollywood film and this down to Hitchcock’s excellent directing. The audience is presented with a simple but strong narrative where we are presented with facts and it benefits from showing the audience but yet holds us back. Because of this trick we are forced almost like Jeff into becoming reluctant detectives because we want to know the outcome almost as much as he does.

In Hitchcock’s film we are given two basic plot functions in the form of a plot of action and the plot of romance  both are represented through the romance between Jeff and his partner Lisa and the investigation into Thorwald’s murder. Hitchcock also makes use of using other techniques to describe the characters to the audience for instance, the opening sequence scanning through Jeff’s apartment for instance gives us a story of who Jeff he really is, and as the camera glides through his apartment- from the pictures on the wall we are told all we need to know about Jeff and the camera acts a narrator.

Through limiting the action place to one room in Rear Window, this restricts the audiences view on events such as the depiction of Thorwald’s alleged crime. The beauty lies in how the story muddles facts and leaves us with only limited views of the courtyard to gain our views.  It is this restriction knowledge that provides the real interest in the film because we wonder whether Jeff’s theories about his neighbours are correct because the audiences at this point knows about as much he does.

This is one Hitchcock film that brings up moral issue because of the ‘peeping tom’ nature of the story because although Jeff is concerned, he is in some ways violating people’s privacy by spying on them and although Lisa will lecture on him on the dangers involved and says “Whatever happened to love thy neighbour?” But when a neighbour’s dog is brutal killed, Jeff’s suspicions are confirmed as he sees Thorwald sat in darkness with a cigar glowing!

James Stewart gives one of his great performances as LB Jefferies and he is able to give a fantastic paranoid edge to him as he delves further into danger. Jeff seems to be a man who avoids commitment at all cost and is constantly dancing with danger due his assignments in order to be rid of Lisa. Grace Kelly glows on screen and she is able to give top support playing long suffering Lisa. One of cinema’s great beauties, Kelly’s presence was always felt and it is sad that she departed from cinema so early.

Hitchcock has carved out a truly classic example of a Hollywood film and Rear Window gives a simple yet strong story which is part thriller but also a kind of detective film which were popular genres around this period of film making. The film itself uses classic devices such as suspense to build up the tension levels and keep the audience interested. In short this is classic Hitchcock because he was known for never making the same film twice and his style never gave the story away to the audience until it was absolutely necessary. Hitchcock in this case was in keeping the classical Hollywood narrative.

 

Serving Our Nation: Review of GI Joe: Retaliation

GI Joe: Retaliation

Director: Jon M Chu

By Alex Watson

After being reduced to counting explosions and witnessing wrecked cars in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, our compatriots have again returned again this year with GI Joe: Retaliation. After the last ones confusing plot line, this effort boasts a far stronger cast and hopefully a storyline to match it and maybe this will be our first dosage of summer fun before the big players arrive- or will this effort merely be a replication of the first one?

The GI Joe squad face their toughest fight when a Cobra member impersonating the US President (Jonathan Pryce) orders a wipe out of all Joe squad members! During a mass murder by Cobra forces, Duke (Channing Tatum) and Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson) are forced to go into hiding in order to stay alive and they turn to the help of the original GI Joe, General Joseph Colton (Bruce Willis) to help them expose Cobra’s plan and save the world!

Sadly GI Joe: Retaliation fails to become the big and silly blockbuster we were all hoping and this effort is a truly limp one from director Jon M Chu. Its principle problem is that it seems to be a film that takes itself far too seriously for a blockbuster and rather than injecting some laughs and letting it be an easy and daft ride for viewers, the result merely leaves us baffled! With a stronger cast than its predecessor and a great weapon in having The Rock and Willis included in the cast, even they are not able to save this picture from mediocrity.

Jon M Chu’s direction is the heart of the films problems, his action sequences are somewhat confusing rather than exhilarating and whereas the first film had laughs to be found among the carnage, Chu doesn’t even seem to attempt anything approaching humour and his decision to play it straight gives it a flat aftertaste!

But we cannot simply blame the acts of one man; the central story of GI Joe: Retaliation is also a strain on the film. The makers seem to assume to we know the previous film off by heart and the action picks up immediately after the last movie ended- with no recaps or gaps being plugged, the story again gets lost in translation and we find ourselves continuously wondering exactly what is going on? Also many of the Joe characters we got to know last time have just vanished and although Roadblock gives the film life- we are not sure exactly how he got here? And no seems to want to fill us in!

Dwayne Johnson does the best with the material he is given but although he gives some much needed muscle to the film, his character is left without a partner to trade laughs with and although his early scenes with Channing Tatum making for some interesting bromancing, his later scenes are crying out for comedic effect! Bruce Willis also makes a fun cameo appearance as the original GI Joe with a house filled the brim with firepower! But are left wishing his character had been included more because he breathes some fresh air into this effort.

To waste the talents of both Johnson and Willis is criminal because they both have the ability to raise this franchise above the levels it’s currently playing at. GI Joe: Retaliation sadly will not be one of the memorable blockbusters we see this year- but with its open climax, there will no doubt we another effort soon- if only to draw events to a close!  Best watch the first film before you go in- it might make things a bit clearer!

Special Assignment: Review of In The House

In The House

Director: Francois Ozon

By Alex Watson

 

The cinema of Francois Ozon is always a fascinating experience because you are never sure what feelings you will come out the theatre with. His film Swimming Pool left us truly puzzled as we our way home and we were left to wonder about the events we had just witnessed. Last effort Potiche (which UK film audiences will remember for its satire in the Orange Film ads) showed Ozon’s funny bone and that he was capable of playing it straight. This week he returns to the mind being world with his film In The House where he examines a teacher’s relationship with a rather different student!

High school teacher Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is a man who is lacking inspiration in life and his marriage to his wife Jeanne (Kristin Scott-Thomas) is slowly dying. One day while marking an assignment he find himself fascinated by his student Claude’s (Ernst Umhauer) essay about his weekend where he describes at length the inside of his friends house and his observations of his perfect family. Drawn to this Germain strikes up an odd relationship with Claude and encourages him to keep writing about the family, but soon his writings become gradually more uncomfortable to read!

In The House is a truly magnificent effort by Ozon and he once again proves himself to be one of the masters of mind trickery, the film starts with a very innocent setup but a simple essay soon turns into an increasingly awkward scenario as Claude starts to play games upon his hapless classmate and is seemingly try to worm his way into their charms and perhaps into the family picture? The mesmerising thing about Claude is his attentions remain constantly ambiguous but his funny smirk suggests that his plans will have an unpleasant outcome for all concerned!

The relationship between teacher and pupil is what makes Ozon’s film tick, Germain is at first repulsed by what he reads and scolds his student for making such snarky quips about his friends family- but as we progress both seem to go past the point of no return and Germain finds that he is deeply concerned about what will happen but finds Claude’s writing so addictive that he must know what happens next, to find this out he is willing to go great lengths, slowly things between them go from being beyond mentoring and a dangerous obsession develops for both men which could have devastating results!

Perhaps In The House’s greatest quality is Francois Ozon’s skilful weaving between real and imaginary, throughout the film as we see Claude’s writing acted out before us we find our chests gradually closing shut as Claude’s fantasies grow more chilling as events progress we have are forced to keep an open mind but thanks to Ozon’s excellent direction, we find it impossible to distinguish what is genuine and this brilliantly adds to the film psychological edge and makes a more tenser experience than we could ever imagine.

Fabrice Luchini helps bring the film alive with his excellent performance as hapless Germain, Luchini is able to bring across Germain’s reluctant fascination and holds the centre well and he is joined by veteran English actress Kristin Scott-Thomas who gives good support as his troubled wife Jeanne. But it’s Ernst Umhauer who steals the acting honours with his brilliant yet uncomfortable performance as Claude and he is able to bring a brilliant ambiguity to his role which gives him an enthralling presence, this is a talent to keep an eye on in future!

I can predict with confidence In The House will be among the best pieces of world cinema that we will witness in 2013 and it is a enticing yet unbearably edgy ride that we undertake. This film should be compulsory for all teachers to watch because you may want to keep a close eye on any students who take a little too much interest on their friend’s family!