Sliding Doors

I saw this last Sunday when it was on. Stayed up to 1.50am on a schoolnight too. Tsk tsk.

I don't know why I've never seen this before. I guess I always thought it wasn't my kind of film. Well it turns out, this is exactly my sort of film. I'll try to explain.

I don't mind if a film is shown to preview audiences and changed accordingly. What I don't like is when a film is changed beyond it's original intention because of the preview audience's comments. It's akin to "decision by committee" and we all know why that's always a bad idea. This is a reason that Hitch¹ always irritated me. I love the film, but the ending and one scene that sets up the ending feel like they've been tacked on, and badly at that. They're out of character for the film, as it were.

This film, in some ways, is the polar opposite to that kind of movie. Almost sending it up, in a subtle, intellectual way. Films like How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days always have to be balanced, like the makers are scared of offending half the audience. If the female lead is shown to be nasty and ruthless in love, then the male lead must also be shown to be that way. If one of them is "dating the nerd for a bet", then either the other person needs to be doing something similar, or there has to be the "big redemption scene" at the end.

Sliding Doors breaks away from this trap with the two versions of Gwyneth running about. Each of them encounters different disasters and different joys. And the ending is superb, and quite a shock. No happily ever after, but a nice 'maybe, just maybe...'

Score B+ Entertaining. Good for comedy/entertainment value, worth seeing. Possible contender for the DVD collection.

OQ 'You know what the Monty Python fellows always say...'

¹I don't know if Hitch was shown to preview audiences and changed, but the two scenes just feel like that's what happened.

Good Night, and Good Luck

Wow.

Just...just...

...wow.

First off, a big BIG thank you to Katharine and Symon for their recommendation. I never would have seen this otherwise.

This film is impossibly difficult to categorise. It's not a political thriller, but it does have political elements. It's not a biographical drama, but it does have elements of that too. I'd say it's docu-tainment, which is a word I've just made up. Story This is a story about journalists at CBS (specifically Ed Murrow), and their decision to do a story on Senator McCarthy. This is a risky thing to do, since anyone who attacks McCarthy automatically becomes a target for investigation. It starts with an airman in the US Air Force Reserves being, in effect, fired for communist sympathies. Nothing noteworthy there. But as they look at the story in more detail, they realise that the whole case is ridiculous, that he had no possible way to defend himself in court, that the Air Force acted unreasonably, and that the communist witch hunts in the country have finally descended into a farce.

It's about how no-one is neutral. Everyone has an agenda, from the studio boss who doesn't want to rock the boat for fear of losing his sponsors, to the journalist team who want to get McCarthy, for various reasons.

It's also about the Constitution, and more importantly about integrity, both of journalistic nature and of government. I can't actually say any more on this without really spoiling it for you.

There are a few laughs in there. Not for the hell of it, and not to break up the story, but simply because they are appropriate and in character.

This is not a bleak film. Far from it, it shows how people with the courage to stand up can change the world. But it also shows that there is always a price to pay for that.

It's not really until the last fifteen minutes that all the jigsaw pieces fall into place, the last nail is hammered in and you think "My god...." as it all finally comes together. That's not to say this film is disjointed, it's not. It's very linear. It's just that up to that point you think it's an interesting historical drama. And then suddenly, it's not...

Score A+
Truly outstanding. The sort of film that makes you ask "Oh my god, how did I live before seeing this film?"

I'm afraid the Saxon Film Classification system has failed at this point. A+ isn't enough for this film. Not because it will entertain you, but because it will make you think. Everyone should see this film. Hell, it should be required viewing in schools, particularly in the United States.

OQ "A man can stand upright..."

Final Thought Here, in my Jerry Springer section, I offer a final thought. Please, for the love of god, go and see this film! If you have even a slight passing interest in politics and/or history you will not be disappointed. I promise you.

Aeon Flux

This was recommended to me by my flatmate using the phrase "It's got Charlize Theron running about wearing not very much."

Fair enough I thought.

Plot 400 years in the future, only one human city has survived a global plague. The citizens are happy in their utopia, but keep disappearing. There's a bunch of rebels trying to overthrow the government.

Charlize Theron plays Aeon Flux, the best agent the rebels have.

Score I'll be scoring this using the new Saxon Film Grade, because I've become increasingly disillusioned with rating a film X/10. I never know what to give a film, and usually end up guessing. So here's a breakdown of the new film grading system:

A+ Truly outstanding. The sort of film that makes you ask "Oh my god, how did I live before seeing this film?"
A Must see. Definitely one for the DVD collection. Highly recommended.
B Entertaining. Good for comedy/entertainment value, worth seeing. Possible contender for the DVD collection.
C Average. Not a great film, but not terrible either.
D A bad film. Bad script/acting, implausible plot or huge gaping plot holes.
E Failed to meet even basic entertainment value, not worth seeing.
F So bad that it makes me feel I've just wasted two hours of my life.

So, as you can see, most films will fall between the B - D grades.

I give this film a C. It's not a bad film, it's quite entertaining, but it's not great and by no means a modern classic of sci-fi.

Breakdown
Entertainment vs Annoyances

+2 for Ms Theron running about wearing not very much.
-1 for a line in the trailer that doesn't appear in the film.
+1 for a decent twist about who the enemy really is.
-1 for symbolic re-incarnation crap.
+3 for the excellent fight scenes.
-1 for the dreadful scientific 'twist'
+1 for the stunts and the huge explosion
-1 for yet again missing the naked exhibitionist who lives across the street from me¹
+1 for some very nifty tech on display

Which gives a 4. Probably a 5 if you ignore the exhibitionist bit. So overall, it's a winner. (Zero would mean the film breaks even on the entertainment vs annoyances factor. A negative number would be bad).

¹HEY! Don't get started. I've not seen her once (not that I've been looking), whereas my flatmate and his girlfriend have seen her on several occasions. And she doesn't seem shy either. She's well aware that people can see her. I'm starting to suspect that she's not real and is some sort of cruel joke my flatmate is playing on me.

Apollo 13

My favourite of all the Apollo movies, and the butt of the many of my jokes. The first time I saw "Apollo 11" in HMV, I said to my friend at the time "Oh god! He's done a Lucas and made a prequel!"

It's a Tom Hanks movie, and as we all know, Hank does not make bad films. It's like an un-written rule in Hollywood.

The problem is: How the hell do you create suspense, drama and make the audience believe and feel the angst of the families when we all know it turned out all right in the end. Woops! Is that a spoiler?

If you have a problem, if no other director can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire....Ron Howard.

With his attention to detail, high technical standards and love of the boom-cam, Howard has managed to turn an extraordinary story with a known outcome, into a masterpiece of suspense and tension.

First was his intimate attention to detail. With only about 50 men on the planet who can fly the Apollo spacecraft, the ones who watched the film were amazed that Hanks, Pullman and Bacon were actually hitting the right buttons. Who else would give you that much detail? Who else would care that much about the finished product?

Then came the technical excellence. Building a set in the "vomit comet" and flying his actors in zero-gravity. No "pen on a fishing line" for Howard. Oh no. In fact, there's only one other movie that's been filmed in zero-gravity that springs to mind. But it's, erm...not the sort of movie that Jackie would want me talking about here...

And finally, the boom-cam. Ron Howard's favourite toy. He's said on several occasions that he would have filmed the whole movie on it, if he could. His preferred method was to swing it into a crowd. Look closely in super slo-mo on the DVD and you can see people diving for cover as it whizzes over their head.

We all know the story, Lovell, Haise and Swaggert all swear they never had a bust up in the lunar module, and the schmaltzy loss of Marilyn's ring in the shower actually happened.

I first owned this on VHS, and some of the DVD features were added at the end of the tape, which was the first time I'd seen anything like that.

This film also spawned the excellent "From the Earth to the Moon" series. Each episode was introduced by Tom Hanks and it told the entire Apollo story, including how Neil Armstrong nearly died two weeks before launch when the lunar lander simulator fell apart in mid air, how he let Buzz fly the lander on the far side of the moon with the immortal phrase

"Were on the dark side of the moon Buzz. Who's gonna know?"

and how Pete Conrad (Apollo 12 commander) and his lunar pilot were forced to strip off and enter the command module naked after his moon walk, because the command pilot saw the state their moon dust covered clothes were in and didn't want them messing up his ship. His phrase still makes me chuckle:

"So I was thinking. If something goes wrong when we jettison the lunar module, and this hatch blows, and thousands of years from now some aliens find this capsule drifting in space with two naked astronauts strapped into it; they're going to wonder just what we were doing up here...."

Score: 8/10

OQ: "Looks like we just had our glitch for this mission."

Apollo 13

My favourite of all the Apollo movies, and the butt of the many of my jokes. The first time I saw "Apollo 11" in HMV, I said to my friend at the time "Oh god! He's done a Lucas and made a prequel!"

It's a Tom Hanks movie, and as we all know, Hank does not make bad films. It's like an un-written rule in Hollywood.

The problem is: How the hell do you create suspense, drama and make the audience believe and feel the angst of the families when we all know it turned out all right in the end. Woops! Is that a spoiler?

If you have a problem, if no other director can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire....Ron Howard.

With his attention to detail, high technical standards and love of the boom-cam, Howard has managed to turn an extraordinary story with a known outcome, into a masterpiece of suspense and tension.

First was his intimate attention to detail. With only about 50 men on the planet who can fly the Apollo spacecraft, the ones who watched the film were amazed that Hanks, Pullman and Bacon were actually hitting the right buttons. Who else would give you that much detail? Who else would care that much about the finished product?

Then came the technical excellence. Building a set in the "vomit comet" and flying his actors in zero-gravity. No "pen on a fishing line" for Howard. Oh no. In fact, there's only one other movie that's been filmed in zero-gravity that springs to mind. But it's, erm...not the sort of movie that Jackie would want me talking about here...

And finally, the boom-cam. Ron Howard's favourite toy. He's said on several occasions that he would have filmed the whole movie on it, if he could. His preferred method was to swing it into a crowd. Look closely in super slo-mo on the DVD and you can see people diving for cover as it whizzes over their head.

We all know the story, Lovell, Haise and Swaggert all swear they never had a bust up in the lunar module, and the schmaltzy loss of Marilyn's ring in the shower actually happened.

I first owned this on VHS, and some of the DVD features were added at the end of the tape, which was the first time I'd seen anything like that.

This film also spawned the excellent "From the Earth to the Moon" series. Each episode was introduced by Tom Hanks and it told the entire Apollo story, including how Neil Armstrong nearly died two weeks before launch when the lunar lander simulator fell apart in mid air, how he let Buzz fly the lander on the far side of the moon with the immortal phrase

"Were on the dark side of the moon Buzz. Who's gonna know?"

and how Pete Conrad (Apollo 12 commander) and his lunar pilot were forced to strip off and enter the command module naked after his moon walk, because the command pilot saw the state their moon dust covered clothes were in and didn't want them messing up his ship. His phrase still makes me chuckle:

"So I was thinking. If something goes wrong when we jettison the lunar module, and this hatch blows, and thousands of years from now some aliens find this capsule drifting in space with two naked astronauts strapped into it; they're going to wonder just what we were doing up here...."

Score: 8/10

OQ: "Looks like we just had our glitch for this mission."

The Adventures of Pluto Nash

OK, let me get the bad stuff out of the way first. This film holds a record. That record is "The Biggest Box Office Loss In Cinematic History."

Read that sentence again. I'll wait for you.

Done? OK, good. Oh, you need more information? Well it lost $98 million at the US box office, a loss so great it was never released in the cinema in the UK and went straight to DVD. I bought it because I had three of my "4 for £30" in HMV and needed another. You ever noticed that? You get three for a four offer (or two for a three offer) and just can't find anything you want that's in the offer and you don't already own. I suspect a conspiracy, but that's for another day.

So I took a chance. I like Eddie Murphy's films and thought: How bad could it be? I didn't know about the record it held at this point.

I have to say, I like this film. It's one of my favourites, not least because it's first on my DVD shelf.¹

Plot: In the not too distant future the moon has been colonised and has become like Vegas, since gambling is outlawed everywhere else. Naturally this means you've got gangsters, lounge singers, hustlers, heavies and club owners being pressured to sell up. In space!

The story is not original by any means, but somehow setting it in space makes it fresh and original. There's some great jokes, good action scenes and great looking sets.

There's a good (an unexpected) twist at the end, one of the best fight scenes of it's type² and the obligatory over the top bad guy death.

Production: The score is (as far as I can tell) original and the special effects are special. It sticks to the second rule of sci-fi: never break the known laws of physics. There's actually some clever ideas in there, like rill-hopping - an old smuggler's trick, and a lot of futuristic-retro like the design of the laser guns which resemble closely berettas used in the 40s Chicago films we've all seen. However it never suffers from looking "too clever for it's own good" as you might expect from a film trying to show modern style designs for futuristic gadgets.

Cast: Eddie Murphy is .....Eddie Murphy. In space! Randy Quaid steals every scene he's in as Murphy's robotic bodyguard Bruno. Not easy given his co-star's on screen magnetism. Look out for John Cleese's cameo. It's brief, but doubly funny because he's playing his stereotypically English character, and not, at the same time.

Reasons to see it: It's bloody funny. It's well made. It's got Eddie Murphy and Randy Quaid. It's got explosions, guns, robots, spacesuits and hovercars.

Don't let it's record put you off. Just because the Americans didn't like it, shouldn't put you off. We all know Americans have no taste when it comes to movies³.

Score: Hard to score really: 8.3/10

OQ: "Oh great! So I'll just sit here and blow up shall I?"

¹A prize to the first person who can tell me why it's first on the shelf.
²Which type, I can't tell you without giving the ending away.
³This is, of course a joke. I have friends and family in the US and their taste is excellent. Even if they did elect George W Bush. Twice.