One huge thumbs up for Roger Ebert

On Thursday the world of cinema lost one of its most distinctive voices Roger Ebert, who passed away after a long fight with cancer.
Roger Ebert was probably the world's most well-known and well-respected film critic. He had been reviewing films for the Chicago Sun Times for over 45 years, becoming the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1974 for his reviews and was half of the hugely popular review show "Siskel & Ebert At The Movies", famous for their "thumbs up, thumbs down" reviews.
Sometimes there is a snobbishness and resentment towards critics within Hollywood. The old adage about teaching of "those who can do, those who can't teach" could be adapted to filmmaking and "those who can - do, those who can't - critique" but that is not an argument that could be levelled at Ebert for he also wrote the screenplay to Russ Meyer's cult classic Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, itself a direct inspiration for Austin Powers.
Certainly the outpouring of affection from Hollywood including the likes as Martin Scorsese, Diablo Cody, Steve Martin and even President Obama was evidence of the high esteem that people held for him and his opinion.
For while you may not have always agreed with his opinions, there was never any argument over the quality of his writing.
Whether it was eloquently scathing thumbs down of Freddy Got Fingered - "This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as barrels."
Or this moving passage from his final published review of To The Wonder: "Why must a film explain everything? Why must every motivation be spelled out? Aren't many films fundamentally the same film, with only the specifics changed? Aren't many of them telling the same story? Seeking perfection, we see what our dreams and hopes may look like. We realise they come as a gift through no power of our own, and if we lose them, isn't that almost worse than never having had them in the first place?"
Ebert had a way with words that could influence a moviegoer's decision on what to watch that weekend and also inspired countless others to become film critics themselves, whether it be professionally or just for fun on their blog, Twitter, etc.
He was one of the first film critics to truly understand and embrace the Internet as a positive tool for the published word and for a forum in which to debate the world of cinema.
Even though suffering from poor health and the recurrence of cancer, Roger Ebert still filed 285 reviews in 2012. That figure made me feel incredibly lazy in comparison. I love going to the movies and loved writing about them but recently I would always be putting off writing reviews because I was "too busy at work" or too much time had passed since I'd watched it for it to be relevant.
However Ebert's death put it into sharp perspective. Yes, his job was reviewing films but he did it because he loved the movies and loved going to see them. More importantly he would go into a film looking to be entertained, looking for the good in it, not as some critics would do and go in sharpening their knives looking to eviscerate it in a witty, mean spirited way.
That's why I'm making a vow to myself to make the time to write a review of every film I see at the cinema, whether it be 140 characters or 1400 words. Hopefully Roger would give that a nice thumbs up.

Glasgow Film Festival Review - Stoker

Stoker is adapted from a script written by Prison Break's Wentworth Miller (the fact he had it tattooed to his body must have made for an interesting cast readthrough) and is the first English language film from director Park Chan-Wook.
The fact that Park directed Oldboy means that he knows a thing or two about, how would one put it, the "unique family dynamics" at the heart of Stoker.
India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) is a rather odd, lonely girl dealing with the death of her father on her 18th birthday. While her mother (Nicole Kidman) is cold and distant, India finds herself developing a curious interest in her mysterious Uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) who turns up at the funeral out of the blue.
With a title like Stoker, one might imagine lots of gothic imagery and references to the classic vampire story however in this particular tale, the name Stoker takes on a more literal interpretation. The word "stoke" means "to encourage or incite" and Charlie's arrival and subsequent actions certainly have this effect on India, to "stoke her" awakening in terms of her sexuality and possible family predilection towards violence.
As the film progresses the acts of sex and violence become intrinsically linked. There is one sequence which starts as a cliched scene of someone trying to wash away their sins that is given a devilish twist that brings to mind the French term for an orgasm "le petit mort", or "little death".
One of the most divisive aspects of the film has been Park Chan-Wook's mise-en-scene. Some critics have argued that the film is a case of style over substance but this is certainly no Terrence Malick film. The director's use of cinematography, sound design and Clint Mansell's score help to build an unsettling atmosphere and sensual beauty that prevent the film from tipping into melodrama and heighten the sporadic moments of ultra-violence.
The influence of Bram Stoker may not have been felt in the way many might have been expecting but there is another rather portly shadow cast over the film in the shape of Alfred Hitchcock, in particular his 1943 film Shadow Of A Doubt, with enough references to rival a Brian De Palma back catalogue.
In that film young Charlie (Teresa Wright) worries that her favourite person in the world Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) is actually a killer.
Where Wright shies away from Cotton, in Stoker the revelations about Uncle Charlie only cause India to become more intrigued and attracted to her enigmatic relative.
This film might reveal it's hand earlier than Hitch would have but times have changed and he was more restricted with what he could and couldn't show. like its predecessor, this film succeeds on the strength of the chemistry between the leads and both deliver career-best performances.
Initially not that impressed with her in Alice In Wonderland, the talent Wasikowska has shown since has led this reviewer to mark that performance down to working within such a sterile CGI environment. Here she creates a complex character that is part Wednesday Addams and part Kevin a la the kind we need to talk about.
Matthew Goode, in the most difficult role, pitches it just right, never giving too much away behind that perfect poker face but oozing charm that lures India, Evelyn (an excellent Kidman) and the audience into wanting more.
Park, like Charlie, knows exactly how to seduce and manipulate his prey (in this case the audience), using every trick and tool at his disposal to cast a spell over them. It might not have the visceral impact or horrific sucker punch of Oldboy but Stoker is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the year's most beautiful and haunting films.

4 stars

My Top Ten Films of 2012

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

A suitably rousing and emotionally fitting end to "The greatest trilogy of all time".
Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight was not the hero that we deserved but the hero that we needed following the Batman and Robin disaster and his films managed to do something that no comic book movie had been able to do, and that was to transcend the genre and be treated as amazing films.
Nolan managed to break the comic curse that saw such franchises as Blade, X-Men and Spider-Man suffer from poor third instalments, instead managing to tie everything together and complete Bruce Wayne's journey from angry orphan to crime fighting legend.
It also gave rise to the year's favourite impression - Bane voices!
My full review of the film can be read here

LOOPER

Ranks up there with Moon and Inception as one of the smartest science fiction films of the last few years.
Some may have been disappointed they didn't get the Bruce Willis sci-fi action adventure they were expecting from the trailers but thankfully this is much more Twelve Monkeys than it is Surrogates!
It is very much a hard-boiled Tech Noir that draws on elements as varied as The Terminator, Akira and Casablanca yet still manages to create something that feels fresh and unique.
"This time travel crap, fries your brain like an egg" and you can expect many hours being lost to conversations with your friends in the pub over the various timelines and continuities that spring up as a result of the plot.
I really hope that the Academy doesn't turn up it's nose as it tends to do with science fiction and rightfully give Looper a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

ARGO

Well who would have thought when Gigli was released that one half of "Bennifer" would go on to direct one of the year's best films and be a leading contender for a Best Director Oscar?
This is one of those stories where the truth is stranger than fiction, where you couldn't make up a story this good if you tried and Affleck excels at moving between a deft Hollywood satire and gripping hostage drama.
It evokes memories of Apollo 13 in that it is so well executed that even if you know the story and the outcome, it makes you doubt that everything is going to turn out ok.
Even my mum loved it, calling it "one of the best films I've seen in years"!

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO

This is easily the film on my list that will have been seen by the fewest people but I urge you to give it a watch when it is released on DVD/Blu Ray on 31st December.
What you will find is a beautiful homage to the Italian Giallo films of the seventies where Toby Jones goes to Italy to work on the sound effects for a horror movie.
What follows is an astounding descent into madness accompanied by some of the best sound mixing and editing of the year.
Seriously, you will not find a better edited film than this. The transitions between scenes are extraordinary.

CABIN IN THE WOODS

The most entertaining horror film set in a cabin in the woods since Evil Dead 2.
It breathed new life into tired, old cliches by challenging everything we know about the genre.
How did it achieve this? Well to go into that here would spoil the surprise wouldn't it.
Just go into it knowing as little as possible and you are in for one wild ride.
It may be the smartest and wittiest horror of the year, but given that it is playing with the rules of the genre, it is not the scariest due to the fact that audiences will know what's coming (except for the opening credits!). For the year's scariest film, check out Sinister.

THE AVENGERS

Adam West was right you know, "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" as Avengers becomes the second film in my top ten to feature a superhero attempting to remove a nuclear weapon from New York City/Gotham.
While I consider The Dark Knight Rises to be the better film and more satisfying on an emotional level, The Avengers is as close to a perfect representation of what a comic book should feel like on the big screen.
The culmination of Marvel Studios Phase 1 could have been a disaster but Joss Whedon went two for two in 2012 and provided the biggest collective nerd-gasm the comic book movie has ever seen.
He survived a terrifying juggling act of giving so many lead characters their moment to shine including Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson and finally gave us the Hulk we were wanting to see.
In other words, The Avengers was a "HULK SMASH" hit!

THE MASTER

Similar to the Scientology that allegedly inspired The Cause, the religious group at the heart of the film, many people dismissed this film as pretentious and for all its ramblings and speeches, having nothing at its core to believe in.
I for one however found the movie to be beautiful, poetic and spellbinding thanks to a career-best performance by Joaquin Phoenix (an actor I've never been that taken with before) and his on-screen relationship with the always-superb Philip Seymour Hoffman. The scene where The Master processes Freddie by making him answer questions without blinking is one of the scenes of the year.
My full review of the film can be found here.

SHAME

I could write a list of superlatives about this film as long as Fassbender's... oh, you know where that was going.
Fassbender delivered the year's bravest performance in a movie that could be seen as a modern day American Psycho albeit one where his obsession isn't murder but sex.
My full review of the film can be found here.

MAGIC MIKE

So much more than the "male Showgirls" Hen night party film the adverts made it look like, showcasing Soderbergh's ability to adapt to any genre thrown at him, Magic Mike stripped off to reveal plenty of heart and soul as well as bulging biceps and rippling abs.
This film also cemented two things in 2012.
One - Alongside a career best turn in Killer Joe, it saw return of Matthew McConaughey from rom-com hell and fulfilling the promise shown back in the early nineties in films like Dazed and Confused and A Time To Kill.
Two - It also marked one of the very few occasions where I've had to admit that I've been wrong in a critical assessment. I had previously written off Channing Tatum as a bit of a meathead following such crap as GI Joe: Rise Of Cobra and the Step Up movies, even describing him in The Vow as "unfortunately having more varieties of chunky knitwear than facial expressions". However he was terrific as Magic Mike and a revelation as he brought the funny in 21 Jump Street.
Channing Tatum, if you are reading this... I'm sorry, you're ace!

LIBERAL ARTS

A Garden State for the thirtysomething's, it is the year's smartest rom-com, features scene-stealing turns from Richard Jenkins and Allison Janney and a bewitching performance from of the years breakout stars Elizabeth Olsen.
It is also the most sentimental pick in my top ten because if it wasn't for this film I wouldn't be back with Picturehouse at The Belmont.
Stopping off in London after a holiday in New York, I found out about a preview of the film with Q&A with Olsen at the lovely Gate Cinema which is part of the Picturehouse group. There I caught up with a couple of folk I hadn't seen since I left, which prompted a visit to head office and within a month this fortuitous series of events led me to being back with the company.
My full review can be found here.

The Master - review

As I emerged from a 70mm screening of The Master on Tuesday, the United States of America was in the midst of going to the polls to elect their President.
During the Presidential election, several topics become focal points of the campaign including the economy, religion, etc.
Back in 2008 (another election year), Paul Thomas Anderson produced a magnificent study of one man's obsession with "the American dream" with There Will Be Blood.
With The Master Anderson turns his attention to another important issue for many Americans, the issue of faith. And in doing so, may well have created a "master-piece" (sorry, had to get that cheap pun out of the way).
Following a tour of duty overseas in World War II, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) is a loner, a drifter and a drunk. Freddie is a lost soul. A soul in need of saving in the eyes of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who himself is a "writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher. But above all, is a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you". If Freddie has questions, Dodd believes that The Cause has the answers.
In one of the films most powerful moments, Freddie undergoes "informal processing" with Dodd. He is forced to keep his eyes open and not blink during questioning for failure will result in the process being repeated. What follows is an intense examination of Freddie's troubled psyche. It is such an exhilarating, cathartic, intimate experience, it is no surprise to see the two share an almost post-coital cigarette upon completion.
One can draw a parallel between Freddie's relationship with The Cause and the experience that audiences may have with the film.
Upon first viewing of The Master it is easy to see why it is so appealing and seductive. Amid a cinematic landscape of never-ending sequels and remakes, this an original film of genuine vision and power. It appears to say and do all the right things and you can be quick to buy into the praise it has received so far from the critics.
The cinematography is breathtaking, creating a hypnotic, poetic beauty that is amplified by Jonny Greenwood's score.
Joaquin Phoenix is mesmerising as Freddie Quell. His hunched body portrays a man uneasy in his own skin, at odds with himself, always tiptoeing the line between rage and serenity.
It is easy to see why Freddie would be drawn to a man like Lancaster, especially when played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He commands the audience's attention with charm, eloquence, humour and just a hint of BS.
But is it all too good to be true? After all blind faith can be dangerous. Naysayers may claim that the pacing moves at a glacial pace or that like The Cause, there is no real validity to the rhetoric and it's simply a case of style over substance.
It is important to ask questions yet the film does not set out to provide easy answers. Sure the Scientology comparisons are there to see but it is much more than that. The notions of faith, religion and their role in society melt away to reveal the heart of the story which is simply about the relationship between two people. They say that opposites attract but when the two people are as strong-minded as these two, something's gotta give.
At one point Dodd tells Freddie "If you figure out a way to live without a master, any master, be sure to let the rest of us know, for you will be the first in the history of the world".
After much consideration, and a few glasses of the kool-aid, I've decided that The Master is one film that I certainly do not want to live without.
I awoke on Wednesday morning to hear Obama's supporters cheering for "four more years". As a Paul Thomas Anderson supporter, I hope that we won't have to wait that long for another film as fabulous as this one.

5 stars

Films watched in November 2012

Room 237 - 3 stars
The Master - 5 stars
Here Comes The Boom - 3 stars
The Sapphires - 3 stars
Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 - 3 stars
Silver Linings Playbook - 3 stars
Amour - 4 stars
Sightseers - 3 stars
Gambit - 1 star
End Of Watch - 3 stars
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan - 3 stars
Trouble With The Curve - 3 stars
The Hunt - 4 stars
Rise Of The Guardians 3D - 2 stars

Number of films watched in November - 14
Total number of films watched in 2012 - 185
Total number of unique films watched in 2012 - 162

Films watched in October 2012

Looper - 5 stars
The Campaign - 2 stars
Looper - 5 stars
Pusher - 3 stars
Sinister - 4 stars
Beasts Of The Southern Wild - 5 stars
Hotel Transylvania - 1 star
Frankenweenie - 4 stars
Ruby Sparks - 4 stars
Taken 2 - 1 star
Holy Motors - 3 stars
Paranormal Activity 4 - 1 star
Madagascar 3 - 3 stars
Argo - 5 stars
Rust & Bone - 4 stars
Skyfall - 3.5 stars
Skyfall - 4 stars
Silent Hill Revelation 3D - 1 star
The Shining (US cut) - 5 stars

Number of films watched in October - 19
Total number of films watched in 2012 - 171
Total number of unique films watched in 2012 - 148

Films watched in September 2012

Lawless - 3 stars
Celeste and Jesse Forever - 4 stars
Raiders Of The Lost Ark - 5 stars
Premium Rush - 3 stars
Liberal Arts - 4 stars
Vertigo - 4 stars
Paranorman - 4 stars
Dredd - 3 stars
The Sweeney - 2 stars
To Rome With Love - 1 star
Berberian Sound Studio - 5 stars
Anna Karenina - 2 stars
The House At The End Of The Street - 2 stars
Killing Them Softly - 3 stars
Looper - 4 stars
Perks Of Being A Wallflower - 4 stars
Resident Evil: Retribution - 1 star

Films watched in September - 17
Total number of films watched in 2012 - 152
Total number of unique films watched in 2012 - 132