Matt Damon outruns fate with love and a Trilby. After he meets a dancer, Emily Blunt, he falls in love in that Hollywood way. So does she. But a shady group of men that ensure people follow their destiny intervene because love isn't in their plan.
Frequently compared with Inception by lazy press who want to say "it's a little bit sci-fi" a much better comparison would be the much earlier A Matter Of Life And Death which also examines higher powers messing up and love blossoming.
I was surprised how much more romance and less thriller there was in the film. I also wonder if Philip K Dick kept the original short story short because while the idea was interresting, it was too limited for a full novel. This is a fun little diversion which raises more ideas than it explores but ironically for a film about dodging fate, the end is far too predictable.
Tuesday 22 March 2011
True Grit
After No Country For Old Men which was like a Western, the Cohen brothers try their hand at actual western.
Haillee Steinfeld is the precocious centrepoint, setting her fathers affairs in order and seeking justice for his murder. The only sense she's a child in anything but form is conveyed by her treatment from adults.
Jeff Bridges is by turns hilarious and rivetting as the alcoholic deputy Marshall with true grit mumbling away as if missing a drink would harm him more than taking it. Don't be put off by the mumbling. If you pay attention and listen carefully it isn't so hard to follow.
Matt Damon is equally entertaining as Texan Ranger LaBoeuf gradually shifting from braggart to competent as his skills are called upon.
The story is nothing new in the Westwrn canon, indeed, John Wayne won an Oscar in Bridges role, but the wit shot through the script provides a nice counterpoint to the acts of violence and gives a nice rhythm to this surprisingly brief film. I loved it.
As an aside, i have since watched the John Wayne original and was pleasantly surprised how well it held up against the new one. Many of the best lines are here but the characters relationships are not so well developed and the atmosphere more anodyne being aimed at a family audience. Still worth looking up.
Haillee Steinfeld is the precocious centrepoint, setting her fathers affairs in order and seeking justice for his murder. The only sense she's a child in anything but form is conveyed by her treatment from adults.
Jeff Bridges is by turns hilarious and rivetting as the alcoholic deputy Marshall with true grit mumbling away as if missing a drink would harm him more than taking it. Don't be put off by the mumbling. If you pay attention and listen carefully it isn't so hard to follow.
Matt Damon is equally entertaining as Texan Ranger LaBoeuf gradually shifting from braggart to competent as his skills are called upon.
The story is nothing new in the Westwrn canon, indeed, John Wayne won an Oscar in Bridges role, but the wit shot through the script provides a nice counterpoint to the acts of violence and gives a nice rhythm to this surprisingly brief film. I loved it.
As an aside, i have since watched the John Wayne original and was pleasantly surprised how well it held up against the new one. Many of the best lines are here but the characters relationships are not so well developed and the atmosphere more anodyne being aimed at a family audience. Still worth looking up.
Paul
Pegg and Frost recombine without their usual director Wright for writing/starring duties in what is basically Spaced on the American Highway. Their usual buddy buddiness is there with a consitant vein of often puerile humour but it has been interwoven with Hollywood focus group feedback giving an uneven, occasionally heavy handed feel. Definitely better than the trailer suggests I laughed often and enjoyed spotting frequent movie references.
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