Django Unchained

I honestly don't know where to start with this review.

Having sat down to watch 'Django Unchained' last night I was excited to finally see the film I'd heard so much about. Such was my excitement for this project that I even read the script when it was leaked long before production began and thought it was a stellar story and, back then, Will Smith was rumoured to be taking the title role, so what's not to love!

Unfortunately, my excitement was undeserved and Tarantino seems to have made a bit of a mistake out of the entire film, I feel, and didn't treat it with any of the usual style or panache he usually puts into his projects. There's very little in the way of heart, virtually nothing in its use of cinematic style and, in place of a sense of humour, there seems to be a cynical bitterness we're supposed to laugh along with.

The Basterds with Tarantino.

My ex-girlfriend got me into the works of Tarantino, and I'm honestly glad she did. My initial forays into his filmography featured 'Inglorious Basterds' (which I adored at the time, and still do), 'Kill Bill Vol 1' and its' sister film, 'Kill Bill Vol 2', (which I moderately enjoyed) and, of course, 'Pulp Fiction' which I think is a modern classic to say the least.

Now, the one thing these films all have in common, to my mind, is the style and the unashamed "fuck you"
nature that they all possess. They're ballsy and in your face and I loved that about them, because, while they flipped you the Vs, they maintained a certain sense of complicité with the audience; you felt like you were going along for the ride. While Tarantino's previous films (the ones I've seen, anyway) had a sense of humour to go along with the gruesome elements, 'Django' lacks everything from honesty to hilarity.

Imagine the dry-cleaning...

Aside from the lack of soul, the film also deals with dicey issues for any film-maker, let alone when handled by the ever emotionally ham-fisted Quentin Tarantino. If we're going to sit back and wave the, frankly, gratuitous use of the infamous 'N' word as historically accurate, fair enough, I'll leave that be, but the fact of the matter is even his trademark violence is either underplayed or laughably absurd... and not in a good way.

While, usually, his violence is grotesque turned up to 11, it is at least stylish and truthful to the characters inflicting said violence. However, in 'Django' Tarantino seems to have thrown away all understanding of basic biology and taken human beings to be pressurised sacks full of blood which explode in a crimson shower of goo whenever a bullet gets anywhere close to them. This, at first, is entertaining but quickly loses its' charm and becomes awkwardly stagnant. If left as one or two examples of 'spray' this would've been effective, however, its' overuse allows us to see how truly ridiculous it looks in, what Tarantino seems to have intended to be, his masterpiece.

Lack of Chemistry: Waltz & Foxx.

Even if we ignore these problems the cast works on only the most basic level in that they all turned up on the
day. It's very difficult to see any semblance of chemistry between the usually magnetic Waltz (I particularly enjoyed him in the Polanski adaptation of the Yasmina Reza play 'Carnage') and the oft-entertaining Foxx. Now, I feel that Foxx is, at best, believable as Django, but at worst he is just a talking head whose pitiful task it is to deliver some real clunkers which only seem to be in the script to satisfy Tarantino's own desire to produce a nostalgia filled homage to the spaghetti western.

DiCaprio.

Most disappointingly of all was the under-used and under-written character of resident big-bad 'Calvin Candie'. DiCaprio is usually luminous in his roles, (excluding 'Titanic') and I often watch his
performances with glee and utter abandonment of time or place. Unfortunately, the victim of a two-dimensional character, DiCaprio gurns and flails his way through the film and leaves one feeling a little bit cheated.

Tarantino.

While the title song and other new compositions for the film make a nice pairing with the on-screen visuals, I feel that some of the other choices of music were a little bit clumsy and jarring. The use of rap and hip-hop throughout is distracting and left this particular viewer annoyed. When Tarantino used modern music in 'Inglorious' it worked for its absolute brazen stylishness, in 'Django' it just happens to fall short of the mark.

As if all of this weren't bad enough, Tarantino's own quote/unquote 'cameo' was
arse-tighteningly cringe-worthy to say the least, not to mention self-indulgent, unbelievable and overly long.

Now that I mention it, that seems to sum up the entire film.

Until next time.

Brick in the Wall presents Jim Cartwright's "Road"

Sean Abbs as Brink.

Hello dear reader!

It's recently come to light that the other set of drama students at my university have, for one of their modules,
formed a theatre group and are performing, as the title states, 'Road' by Jim Cartwright.

Now, I'm not a fan of Cartwright, I often find his works bleak to the point of absurdity however, 'Road' offers a slightly different take on usually dystopian views of the North.

Rowan Andrew-Smith.

The play, unsurprisingly is set on a nondescript street in Lancashire and offers the audience some unique visions of the lives of the residents which reside there. The cast, made up of talented 20-somethings handle the text deftly, often turning their hands to more than one role each. Serial multi-roller, (and David Tennant lookalike/Gangle-Tron), Sean Abbs had this to say on how he approaches his characters; "I erm... What's the word... immersed myself in the parts; embracing the Stanislavski system to truly embody the characters I'm playing."

The sheer depth of thought and preparation involved in an actors' performance is also applied to every other area of the production, of the play, the resident director, the no-nonsense Hannah

Wood says "This is my directorial début so lets hope it's a good one! I chose 'Road' as I believe it is an excellently realistic portrayal of life in the 1980's with many of the issues reflecting our lives today." when asked how her personal style is shown through the production she states plainly that "the text just spoke for itself."

With such a deeply layered and complex source material, this surely makes sense. When invited to rehearsal today it was exciting to see the team hard at work, plugging away in the last few days before their opening night on Tuesday (the show starts at 7:30, for bookings email brickinthewall87@hotmail.co.uk).

Jade Bayley & Liam Applegate

When I sat down to have a brief chat with actress Amber Dewey (who also forms part of the costume design team) she told me that envisioning the characters for the time-period was the most challenging part of the job, "it's easy as a modern reader to transplant these characters into a modern day setting, or, as often happens when we set theatre in the past, to create a mock-version of the events, what the costume did was to try and create a more honest vision of 1987 which reflects the economic state of the road in which we find the characters."

These production values, incorporating accurate historical details with Cartwright's sense of bleak sense absurd reality, help the cast and crew find their way through the intricately woven story lines of the characters, all tied together by the homeless, drunken narrator, Scullery played with deft ability by Liam Applegate. It's this performance which proves a gateway into the lives, homes and stories of the characters; some are tragic, some funny, and some make no sense but what is always apparent is the love and skill which goes into every aspect of this production.

The first performance was last night and was a truly stellar showing from the group. The run continues tonight at 7:30 and runs through to tomorrow at 2:30 at The Venue (formerly Bishop Greaves Theatre) on the Bishop Grosseteste University campus. Tickets are £3.

James Dean

Dean at home.

As some of you know, I'm a big fan of James Dean. The man, the myth the legend and the icon.

But most importantly, the actor.

Is my fandom justified though?

I've read blogs in the past on the internet in which people voice the opinion that James Dean was, at best, a capable actor who is only remembered because of is early and tragic death. I'm not saying these people are wrong, obviously, everyone's entitled to their own opinions, I'm just of the mindset that he was, in places, a truly exceptional actor.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think he was (as some people claim) the be all and end all of acting, a messianic figure who could do no wrong and whose mere presence on screen lead to a near obsessive following. He made mistakes, as all actors do, that's just part of doing the job.

On the set of 'Giant'.

Speaking as a drama student, I've probably done more cock-ups on stage that I have remarkable performances, but that's part of learning the trade and for Dean, who wasn't much older than I when he died, he hadn't had that long to get to the standards he would almost certainly have reached.

I honestly believe that's why he's so revered to this day, not just because of his embodying of the mantra 'live
fast, die young'. I truly think that it was untapped potential that make people rave about how good he was. Yes he was good, but he wasn't great. One just has to look at the three-hour dull-fest that is 'Giant' to see how, in places, his instincts as an actor could be wrong.

What he could've been, however, is remarkable. People often state that Dean is of the Marlon Brando school of acting, and indeed, that's true, it's on record that Dean was a fanatic Brando fan, (after all, Brando's early performances really were worthy of the praise they receive), however, I feel that while Brando started of excellent and deteriorated (for the most part, his performance in 'The Godfather' was sublime, his performance in 'Superman'... not so much.) I feel that Jimmy would have done the opposite and his starring roles would probably be forgotten today, if not cited as a jumping board to get him where he could well be today.

Dean and the 'Little Bastard'.

Maybe he would've gone down the Clint Eastwood road and become a director, after all, it's well documented that Dean pretty much helmed 'Rebel Without a Cause' (the film he's most famous for and one of my favourite films of all time), so it would've been interesting to see what he could've done if given the chance to officially take charge of a film. Who knows, it could well have been disastrous, especially in light of the fact that Dean is reported to have been a diva of the highest degree; he may well have thrown all his toys out of the pram, as he very nearly did while filming 'Giant' but I guess we'll never know.

Of course, I honestly believe that Dean would've continued his racing career and become more famous as a driver than an actor, and going by the records of the few races he participated in before that fateful day in 1955, he could well have made it as a professional racing driver.

All this is speculation, of course, and thank you for indulging me while I rambled about it. The truth is, no-one  knows what James Dean would've done or achieved if he hadn't passed on so tragically earlier, what we do know is we have one remarkable performance from him, one okay performance and one poor one. On top of all that we have an enduring image and a fanatic memory of a man that could've been, and at the end of the day, if anyone of us leaves a mark like that on human culture, then hey, more power to them.

"If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, . if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man."
-
James Dean

Reliving The Magic: The Philosopher's Stone

"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love."

"Oi, Potter!" - I get that a lot.

Well then, that was a bit of bloody good fun, wasn't it?!

This was literally the second time I've read this book and, when I was younger it was my favourite (I've always been a big fan of origin stories) so this was a real treat for me.

What surprised me was how little of the detail I actually remember, within the book we learn about Uncle Vernon's job and Harry's school life before Hogwarts, whereas in the film a lot of these smaller details are, (understandably), omitted. It was, however, in light of my decade's worth of knowledge and wisdom, an incredibly easy read. Unsurprisingly, the language is stripped down and simple and, given that Rowling, throughout the series, allows her readers to grow up with the characters, it's easy to see why she started on such a basic level.

With this in mind, however, I must stress that while the language is fairly primitive, (a niggle I found even at the age of 11 or 12), it is still, to this day, one of the most gripping and original books I've ever read. From the moment Harry starts receiving his letters from Hogwarts I felt that familiar stirring in my stomach that meant we were in for a ruddy good ride.

And that's true, from Hagrid finding the Dursley's on the little island in the middle of the ocean, to their trip to Diagon Alley and the vaults of Gringotts, it's a warm, enchanting and thrilling experience.

When we get to Hogwarts, of course, not much changes, only now we have the added level of danger and
the wonderful ability to loathe Draco Malfoy who, thanks to 'A Very Potter Musical', I couldn't help but imagine, not as Tom Felton, but as the wonderful and hilarious Lauren Lopez.

Lauren Lopez as Draco Malfoy.

It was intriguing to see how quickly the story moves and, as a result, how quickly I read it. I'm currently very busy with dissertation writing and all that lark, but even then it took me just a few days to power through it. As a child I think it took me a lot longer, mainly because I wasn't as well-read and verbose as I am now, and probably because I was often because I was quite lazy when it came to reading. A few pages would often constitute 'a lot' of reading for me, but ho hum.

If anybody is considering restarting the Potter books, I'd strongly recommend it, now it's a great time to do
it, especially as the films are over and if you are, like myself, part of the original generation, it'll be a warm and happy experience still full of excitement and wonder, even now I'm 21 and graduating from university in a couple of months, I couldn't help but be transported, time-turner-esque back to those wonderful, seemingly sunny days when I couldn't want to join Harry and the gang back at Hogwarts for a game of Quidditch.

I'm still hoping for that ruddy Hogwarts letter. Maybe I can do an MA there? I'm sure I'd be great at potions!

See you next 'term'!

(500) Days of Summer

Before we go anywhere with this, I just want to state for the record, that I may, may, MAY be a tiny bit madly in love with Zooey Deschanel, and thus, any attempt to be critical of her work simply fails me and, thus, this will be a bit of a gush fest, but not without cause! Honest.

Got it? Good, glad that's sorted.

Gordon-Levitt & Deschanel - Elevator Scene

I first saw the film years ago and enjoyed it, but I didn't think too much of it. It was only after subsequent viewings that I began to notice all the wonderful layers of detail and humour that lay deep within the heart of the narrative.

And that's what separates this film from other romantic-indy-comedies, (I'm sure that's a thing); the narrative. The story is unique and beguiling in ways that I, a humble male, couldn't possibly have anticipated. In fact, the only reason I agreed to watch it the first time was because of my desire to see Zooey in action.

Luckily, the story, gags and show stopping moments left me utterly speechless and Joseph Gordon-Levitt wormed his way into my heart alongside Deschanel. His mastery of the understated performance is unparalleled. He knows precisely at which moment to twitch his lip or avert his gaze in order to turn the audience into putty in his hands.

Expectations/Reality.

Which is interesting because, ultimately, both the character of Summer and of Tom are inherently unlike-able  He, a cloying, desperate 'Ted Mosby'esque metro-sexual, and she a stone-hearted commitment-phobe that toys with his emotions.

As I said, both are unlike-able, yet it is the incredible deftness of the performances by these two talented actors that allow the audience to empathise and, eventually, warm to these characters. So much so that when we finally come back to where the story starts, on that bench in Angelus Plaza that we're able to feel so much for the non-couple. Finally we understand that image of them both, older and wiser, and we know the utterly heart-shattering events that lead there.

Angelus Plaza.

That's what sets this apart from other romance films.

Whenever I hear people say that they've seen the film for the first time, it's always interesting to hear what they honestly thought of it, most love it, some merely enjoyed it and a few really can't stand it. All, I'm sure, are perfectly valid reactions. It's only when, I feel, you've seen it a few times and understand the depth of craftsmanship that goes into this, that you can truly appreciate it for what it is.

Of course, I could be wrong, it could just be another artsy, indy, romantic comedy.

But then again, there's nothing wrong with that.

Reliving The Magic: Prologue

“There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.” 

This coming week I'll turn 21.

This means, officially, I'll be a grown up. I mean, I've been like a grumpy old man for as long as I remember, but on paper, I'll finally be classed as a proper grown up. With bills and responsibilities and keys.

So, it's only natural, as I begin the earnest and encroaching march towards the grave, that I look back upon something that formed a strong and important part of my childhood and that is why I'm embarking upon this project; 'Reliving The Magic' - Starting today I'll begin rereading the Harry Potter series and blogging about each book as I finish it.

Now, I won't be rereading each book in succession, unfortunately, I lack the appetite or the resolve to read each book one after the other, so naturally there'll be periods of time between each post where I'm doing other things, but don't panic, even if this project takes an absurd amount of time, they will be read and blogged about, and, if you fancy it, read along too.

I will, naturally, be blogging about other things in the meantime, however, do know that I'm starting this now and I'll almost certainly be tweeting about my progress.

See you at Platform 9 & 3/4s!

Cry-Baby

Allison & Cry-Baby get their shots.

Now if any of you fancy a darker version of 'Grease' this might be for you.

'Cry-Baby' starring Johnny Depp as the titular bad-boy is a strange film. It took me three viewings to understand it and shake the unsettling feeling I had with my initial perusals. However, during the third play of this I finally clicked with the style, tone and narrative, and obviously, from the first viewing I knew there was something there to like, otherwise I wouldn't have stuck with it a further two times.

Set during the 1950's, we see an archetypal story unfold; a good girl , Allison, finds herself pining for a life

Johnny Depp as Cry-Baby.

other than the one her uptight aunt will allow her. Enter 'drape' and all round bad egg, 'Cry-Baby' Walker. When Allison spies Cry-Baby across the street, she states in a moment of cheesy  plot driven dialogue, "I'm so tired of being good." and the rest is just as stereotypical as this brief description depicts.

However, that isn't meant as a negative criticism, rather, a praising of the wondrous job the team behind the film did of emulating and honouring the teen driven fifties film it's so desperate to be. It's easy to picture the cast of 'Rebel Without a Cause' performing some of the roles within 'Cry-Baby' with, of course, James Dean as the titular hero and Natalie Wood filling, once again, the good girl role.

As a vision of the nineteen-fifties, 'Cry-Baby' comes off leaps and bounds ahead of say, 'Grease' or, the frankly appalling, 'Deuces Wild'. The costumes, cars and sets are subtly detailed, leading to an outright excellence, and while the characters verge on the edge of caricature, it's note-worthy that each performer does an admirable job of keeping it grounded and entertaining.

Amy Locane as good girl Allison Vernon-Williams

The unsettling feeling I had, as mentioned before, during my first two screenings of this film is probably due to the fact that at some points it feels as though it's a drama, other times it feels as thought it might be a sugar-coated piece of nostalgia, such as Tom Hanks' "That Thing You Do!" (one of my favourite pop-movies, by the way), and at other moments it turns into a full musical. I've always been uneasy when I don't know what to expect in terms of the form of a film. However, it's not unpleasant, just disconcerting if you approach this film expecting one thing or another, the simple fact of the matter is that it's a bit of everything.

And that's what makes it so enjoyable. It's well worth a watch if you fancy watching Johnny Depp out Zuko John Travolta.

Until next time, keep on rockin'.