Into the Wild

Director: Sean Penn
Starring: Emile Hirsch


This adaptation of Jon Krakauer's book of the same name tells the true story of Christopher McCandless (spoilers), who on graduating from university in 1990, gave away his $24,000 savings and began to travel across America as a tramp.


The film marks actor Sean Penn's latest excursion into direction, and here he's mostly up to the task. Although the direction is slow and ponderous at times, the scenes are very well constructed and look great, with some really epic, sweeping shots of the American countryside. Penn also manages to coax a stellar performance out of the film's young lead, Emile Hirsch, who acts alone for long segments of the film. With so much screen time to himself, the film was obviously going to live or die by his performance and thankfully he proves a captivating and extremely likeable lead. The support is also excellent, especially Vince Vaughn, who really proves his serious acting credentials here.


This film is not without its flaws. Some scenes are overly sentimental, feeling far too "Hollywood" for a film based on a serious non-fiction book. The film is also extremely slow moving, excusable for long periods on account of it's sheer grandiosity but intermittently frustrating. And despite the admittedly awe-inspiring nature of the cinematography (the aforementioned sweeping shots really do the business), the cynic in me couldn't help feeling I was watching an advert for the USA tourist board.


Despite its pervading flaws, the film succeeds on most levels; it has a kind of unabashed, well-meaning ambition and a moving story that help to paper over its apparent cracks. At well over two hours, and with protracted periods of little action or dialogue, those looking for popcorn fodder should avoid this like the plague. Those looking for a film with some real emotional payoff, however, will be hard pressed to find a better film. Satisfying


3.5/5

30 Days of Night.

Director: David Slade
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George

This vampire movie (based on a graphic novel of the same name) was part of the usual batch of horrors out around Halloween this year and was released on November 1. With strong source material and horror supremo Sam Raimi on board as producer, there were reasons to be optimistic about this one.


The premise is interesting; a small Alaskan town is thrown into darkness for one month every year as a result of it's geographical vicinity. Resultantly, a canny bunch of vampires sees an opportunity for 30 days of uninterrupted killing and cuts off the town from the outside world before getting down to business.


It's hard to know where to start with this one, so i'll begin at the beginning, which is excellent. The opening is suitably eerie, and certainly looks the part. The film is, in fact, beautiful to look at for its duration, its muted pallet of whites, blacks and greys lit by halogen lamps making for a convincingly understated but slick aesthetic. The panoramic shots of the lifeless arctic wasteland surrounding the town that open the film work very well, unsettling straight from the off. So far so good then...


Until the film actually starts. Then it's all downhill...


This film has one of the most depressingly bone-headed scripts in recent memory, insulting it's audiences intelligence at every corner, with a penchant for stating the obvious and a lack of any internal logic that aggravates from the word go. The characters are all terrible, with the exception of Ben Foster's "Stranger", who has a go, but only offers some unintentional comic relief - he tries his best with the severely slack script but falls short of the turning-shit-into-gold-esque feat that would have been required to eke some entertainment from the thing. The Protagonist, local lawman Eben (played by the tirelessly maladroit Josh Hartnett) has all the likeability of Hitler circa 1940 and the antagonistic head vampire looks like Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys (and is about half as scary). The dialogue is relentlessly po-faced to boot, with not one hint of irony.


The film's biggest weakness however, lies in its seemingly solid premise. It sounds interesting and original, but in practice just falls apart - setting a horror film over 30 days was always going to make it impossible to sustain any tension and really messes round with the narrative, making it cumbersome and uneven. The direction, whilst marginally satisfying during some of the action scenes, is also an irritation, with a proliferation of protracted close-ups on Hartnett's face as he "acts". At nearly 2 hours, it's also tortuously long


This was a real turkey. I soon forgot about the admittedly good looks as I slowly descended into the miasma of shit that was unfolding infront of me....


And if you think I'm laying it on a bit thick, go and see it, you'll understand.


0.5/5

Death at a Funeral

Director: Frank Oz
Starring: Matthew Macfayden, Keeley Hawes, Andy Nyman
Cert. 15


I was looking forward to this, the trailer looked great and I had gotten up my hopes that this would maybe be the film to end the recent slump in British film comedy that, over the last half-century, has: A) seen high-profile offerings like Magicians, Keeping Mum, Blackball and Sex Lives of the Potato Men all falter critically and commercially. And B) Some of the industry's dependable old guard (Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith etc.) really struggling to make a decent flick.


It was with optimism, then, that I viewed the film - experienced yank director helms relatively fresh-faced cast and untried screenwriter - this could be the film to give big screen Britcom the kick up the rear it so sorely needs.



It wasn't.


The premise is good - a young man with an extremely dysfunctional family is in charge of his father's funeral, which obviously goes terribly. This premise is the perfect setup for some old-style black comedy, but said comedy never eally arises. The script misses completely, trying to do too many things at once. It was also chronically uneven, with the only decent subplot (a sibling rivalry between the protagonist and his prodigal brother) given next to no attention. Every joke is signposted several miles off, the humour totally unsophisticated, especially one drug-themed section, which was just insultingly childish. There are a few laughs, but they're just tame. The cast is also a downside, completely mismatched, with the only comedy talent (the ever-reliable Daisy Donovan and My Family's Kris Marshall) completely wasted and the protagonists just not funny.



This film is just one massive missed opportunity, with such a promising premise completely wasted by some hamfisted execution. This film markets itself as an outrageous black comedy, but really it's just sheep is very poorly made wolf's clothing. With a bit more courage in it's comedic convictions, this could have been great, as it stands however, it isn't. Far from it.


1.5/5