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| All reviews written by David Brook. |
| One Night at McCool's One Night at McCool's is an entertaining and funny, if not quite hilarious, film. Much like Meet the Parents, this is very watchable and has one or two laugh out loud moments, and there aren't many bad things to say about it, but its just nothing special enough to give it a great review. Michael Douglas is great in his small (but bigger than cameo) role, as an over-the-hill, sleazy, sex-obsessed hitman, sending up his own image as a dirty old man very well. The rest of the cast are pretty decent too, with John Goodman and Matt Dillon pulling in their usual solid comic performances, and Liv Tyler fits her part very well. The 'alternative sides of a story' structure, although its been done many times before, works quite well here, and stops it from getting too conventional, but this is nothing fantastically new, which is the films main problem. Its a laugh while it lasts, but its certainly not going down in the Hollywood history books, or anyone's long term memory for that matter. 6/10 |
| Oceans Eleven Stylish heist caper directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney..... Out of Sight anyone? As well as the concept, this is quite similar in style and content, although I did prefer the earlier film. Oceans Eleven is cool and entertaining, but I just didn't think it was quite as entertaining as it could have been. There were very few strong jokes or big set pieces really to keep it above the level of mildly enjoyable. Most of the cast are good, although none of them are really stretching themselves, and Don Cheadle's British accent is horrendous. It's nicely made with a sort of mix of modern technique with old, working quite well together, especially with the music which functions on a similar level, and like Out of Sight is very well done by David Holmes. It is a good film, but it just felt too light for its own good, and everything goes just a little too smoothly with no real substance. I also thought that Julia Roberts was a waste of space. She did absolutely nothing in this film, and personally I've never really liked her in anything, shes not that attractive, never very funny, and not overbrimming with acting talent at all. Wait for it on video or TV, or just watch Out of Sight, which is a better version of a similar film. 6/10 |
| Once Upon a Time in Mexico The final installment in Robert Rodriegez's (sp?) 'Mariachi Trilogy', the first two films of which I have always been a bit of a fan of, Once Upon a Time in Mexico unfortunately tries to expand the formula of the last two films and fails. Whereas El Mariachi and Desperado were very simple but frenetically paced action films, OUATIM attempts a much more complicated spaghetti western style plot which obviously hasn't been thought through properly as it just comes across as a big mess. Yes some great action set pieces are still here, but they're just so confusingly strung together that you're too puzzled to appreciate half of them. The ever trustworthy Johnny Depp helps to salvage the film however, with another scene-stealing performance, although you never really get what his character is doing half the time. Mickey Rourke (and his trusty Chiuaua) was very good too, although underused - not as underused as Salma Hayek though who gets a headlining poster credit, but appears in the film for all of five minutes. As mentioned earlier, the action is well handled though, and having experienced digital filmmaking myself, I greatly admire the filmic look Rodriegez has achieved using digital cameras, which he uses to great effect. If only he had got someone else to write the script or at least patch it up for him, this could have been a cult action classic. One other problem I had with the film were some really stupid cheesy moments with Antonio Banderas playing his guitar and some dodgy Mexican patriotism. Overall, this is an absolute mess of a film, but has moments that make you think this could have been much better. 6/10 |
| Old Boy Sympathy For Mr Vengeance director Chan-Wook Park returns to our screens with another deeply disturbing but stunningly well made thriller. Much like with Requiem For a Dream I'm having a hard time reviewing this film because although its clearly outstandingly well made its just a bit too difficult to watch at times to totally recommend it. Its not necessarily the violence (although this may be too harsh for a lot of viewers) but its the subject matter and plot twists towards the end which turn what begins as a dark comedy into a very sick and horrific film. As I said at the beginning this a fantastically polished production which is ludicrously stylish and powerfully acted though. The first half especially which is less nasty, is superb, with some wickedly nasty humour nestling among the bristling energy and stunning direction, cinematography and production design. One scene where the 'hero' takes on a horde of bad guys with a hammer in one long tracking shot is an absolute masterpiece of action cinema, but this isn't a film about action, its about revenge, and not in an over-the-top trash cinema Kill-Bill kind of way, but in a more viscous, intelligent almost art-house kind of way. There is a lot to praise in this film, but again its hard to ignore the fact that the final reel is not easy to get through. To many this is admirable though, as its pushing out cinematic boundries, but how far is too far? Well, I think all I can say is see for yourselves, but only if you think you can stomach it. 8/10 |
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