What I've Been Watching - Films on DVD - January

Sunshine Cleaning (2009)
Sunshine Cleaning is a film by the producers that brought you 2006's Little Miss Sunshine. It tells the story of two sisters, played by Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, who start their own company cleaning houses after suicides, murders, or generally gruesome deaths.

The film very much sticks to the same formula that made Little Miss Sunshine a success: humour, darkness, family, and Alan Arkin. The problem is it's not as good. If you're going to market a movie on the success of the first, you need to either make it different enough that it's not fair to compare them, or so great that it doesn't matter.

It's a pity, because there is a lot to like. The performances of Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are superb, and they give a lot of depth to the two leads. It's well written and it's also nice to see a movie with female leads that's not a romantic comedy/horror. The balance between dark subject matter and humour is well navigated, and the idea of death being difficult to clean-up works as a good metaphor for what's happened in each of the characters' lives.

In summation: "a difficult second album".

Pi (1998)
Pi is directed by Darren Aronofsky and is his first foray into the world of film. The main character, Max, is a mathematician who believes patterns exist not only in nature, but society. He aims to prove this by finding a pattern in the stock market.

It's impossible to talk about the film without mentioning the way it's shot. Told entirely from the lead's point of view: it's in black and white, uses strange camera angles, slow frame rates, and dream sequences with brains. All of this is designed to show us how the main character sees the world: distorted, intense but with an underlying order he can't quite grasp.

The movie does a good job of showing the madness and obsession of genius: the protagonist can be viewed as either entirely delusional or as someone who is really close to grasping a reality no one else can see.

The movie succeeds in a lot of ways, however, as someone who knows a bit about maths, it annoyed me that the maths used was so broad and da-Vinci-code-like. As a consequence, the film failed to convince me of the protagonist's genius, and allowed me only to see his madness and obsession. It almost pains me to say that a much less ambitious film, A Beautiful Mind, did a better job of keeping this balance.

Sideways (2006)
Sideways stars Paul Giamatti as a middle-aged divorcee who is going to be best man for his old college friend, played by Thomas Hayden Church. Before Giamatti gets married, they go off for a weekend together in Tuscan, where one wants to drink wine and play golf, and the other to "sow his wild oats" while he still can.

Sideways is a movie which has a lot going for it: the script, characters and story are all work together to produce a believable world that's easy to become invested in. Giamatti gives a faultless performance of pain, regret and longing as he allows us to root for his character despite the idiosyncrasies and pretension he displays.

If the film has any faults, it's that it's best scene is half-way through the movie. Those of you who have seen the movie will remember the point where Giamatti compares himself to Pinot Noir. After that, I felt as though the film almost ran out of things to say - That scene gives us everything we need to know about his character, and tells us everything about the relationship that is about to develop. Action movies normally save their best set-piece until last, given this is a 'conversation' movie, it's a pity it didn't do the same.

Despite what I considered a mis-step, I still really enjoyed the movie, and I'm sure I'll revisit its rich, developed characters at some point in the future.

2009: Movie Review of the Year

Before posting my now traditional Top Five Films of the Year I'm going to do a quick review of the year.

The year opened, as always in the UK, with Oscar movies: The Wrestler, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, Gran Torino, Milk, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and of course Slumdog Millionaire gave fans of serious drama plenty to feed upon.

After that, the much anticipated Watchmen movie was solid without being spectacular. I'm not really sure how you could have made that movie any better. Unfortunately, its reverence for the source material meant I felt like I was merely reading the ground-breaking graphic novel again rather than watching something inspirational.

Star Trek opened the summer's blockbusters, and nothing managed to match it quality-wise after that. Transformers 2 was a huge disappointment for audiences, but not for the studio: who raked in one of the best opening weekends for a movie ever.

Finally, Harry Potter managed to be the year's biggest film: proof Warner Bros was right to split the final book into two and get double their money.

Later in the year Twilight outdid everyone's expectations at the box office, despite only appealing to 50% of the cinema-going population. Expect to see more movies like this try and captivate the teen-girl market over the next few years.

Finally, Avatar set new standards for visuals taking us to a new world like no other movie has. I hope its a taste of things to come. I fear, however, it will take the rest of the industry many years to catch up.

2009 will be remembered for a number of things. Some critics have noted the successes of films without known leads, and conversely the failure of films with previously bankable stars.

Many of the year's biggest films: District 9, Star Trek, Paranormal Activity, and the Hangover had no big stars to attract movie-goers to the cinema. Conversely, Land of the Lost; Funny People; and Year One were all box office losers despite starring household names in Ferrell, Sandler and Black respectively.

I also think the quality of animations this year has been very high: Coraline; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs; Up; Monsters vs Aliens; Fantastic Mr Fox and Bolt were all very enjoyable movies. The Academy seems to have taken note of this, and for only the second time since the award was introduced in 2001, there will now be five nominees instead of three.

Finally, it was the year 3-D hit the mainstream: starting with My Bloody Valentine and ending with Avatar, movie-goers have come to expect animations and slashers to reach that extra dimension. Expect movies with explosions and probably super-hero movies to follow suit in the succeeding years.

Coming up tomorrow: My Top 5 Movies of the Year. If you're pining for Top 5 lists, why not have a look at my 2007 and 2008 lists

Review of the Decade: Movies

I've decided to split this review into three parts:
1) The Most Important Trends of the decade
2) My top five directors of the decade
3) My top five movies of the decade

Part 1: The Most Important Trends
When looking back on the noughties, it's cool to see how things have changed since the 90s. How will this decade be remembered? What films or genres will sum up how things have changed? Here's some things I've noticed. Feel free to contribute your own below.

Foreign-language movies
Name a foreign-language movie you watched in the cinema before 2000? Foreign movies existed, they just weren't very popular, and the few anime movies that did get released over here were dubbed in English anyway. In 2000, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon showed foreign-language movies could do well in the box office. Since them we've had films like Amelie, Pan's Labyrinth, Slumdog Millionaire, and Babel using subtitles in their movies, yet being very well received by English-speaking audiences. Such movies are great for the industry, since foreign-language films are free from Hollywood's clutches, often producing a more creative and exciting experience for the audience.

The replacement of hand-drawn animation by CGI
The late 80s/early 90s was surely the golden age of hand-drawn animation. Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King are all modern classics in the truest sense of the term. In 1995 Toy Story changed the industry. Using the story-telling techniques of Disney classics, but with computer-generated graphics with which to tell their story. Disney's never recovered. And since then Pixar have ruled the animation roost with every film (with the possible exception of Cars) being of a very high quality. Since the turn of the century, the industry has very much run with CGI. However, as we reach the end of the century, we're seeing a certain nostalgia towards the ways of the past. Hits like Coraline and Disney's The Princess Frog mean we'll probably have a much more diverse range of techniques within the medium. Meaning the noughties may well be remembered as the decade of CGI.

Super-hero movies
In the 90s we had Batman... and not a lot else. Superheroes were relegated to animated shows on Saturday morning, and very much seen as a genre for kids. In the noughties two movies changed all that: X-Men and Spiderman. The former showed how to bring characters invented 40+ years ago into the 21st century. The latter showed how to do it and make shedloads of money. Now, we have more superhero movies than you can shake a cape at. So much so that Marvel, which almost went bust in the 90s, now has its own movie studio. There was talk in the mid-noughties of Marvel/DC running out of good characters to adapt. However, Iron Man showed how a relatively unknown character could make millions at the box office. Therefore I don't see the superhero movie phenomenon stopping anytime soon.

3-D movies
Since Beowulf in 2007, 3-D movies have taken box offices my storm. Films like My Bloody Valentine and Final Destination have shown that by adding 3-D to the title, you can suddenly make a whole lot of extra cash (especially because of the extra levy cinemas are charging for the privilege) I personally think 3-D adds little to the movie going experience. I feel Avatar would have been just as breathtaking on a normal screen. However, I think horror and animated movies will continue to do well using this format for the next five years or so. After that, unless cinemas charge the same for both 2-D and 3-D, it'll die a second death at cineplexes.

Please post your own comments below, whether viewing this on facebook, or blogger.

Review of the Decade: My Top Five Comedy/Drama TV Shows

I think the noughties will be fondly remembered "The Renaissance of Television" in much the same way as the seventies in film is referred to as "The Hollywood Renaissance" (or more commonly "The New Hollywood). This decade has redefined what a good TV series is about. The evidence for this is in many different forms:

Budgets
In the 90s having a $10 million dollar pilot would have seemed ludicrous. Lost changed all that. As a result, we've come to expect movie-quality special effects, and haven't been disappointed. Even a show like Battlestar Galactica was able to impress viewers with its visuals, despite not being on a major network channel, or attracting a particularly high viewership.

It's not television, it's HBO
HBO has produced a great number of TV dramas this decade (Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, etc.) However, it's slogan kind of sums up the shift in attitude from viewers/critics towards television. Television is no longer about soap-standard storylines. Now we get the type of stories/drama one expects from medium like films and books. Aside from adaptations of classic books, viewers rarely got that quality of drama before the turn of the century.

The talent TV attracts (both on and behind the camera)
Arguably, the best writers are now in television. If movies are a director's medium, then television is most certainly a writer's. As such, oscar-winning writers like Diablo Cody (Juno) and Alan Ball (American Beauty) have chosen to do their own TV shows. TV affords writers both the freedom and volume of work movies never will. Also, shows like 24 and Damages allow writers to tell stories that would be impossible to tell in a movie.
In front of the camera, we're seeing more and more famous actors star in their on TV shows. Martin Sheen, most famously, but also Glenn Close, Hugh Jackman, Christian Slater, Tim Roth and Steve Carell.

The sales of boxsets
Networks are notoriously bad for publishing how much they make from boxsets. What we do know is that both Family Guy and Futurama were resurrected because of them. It's also likely high-budget Band of Brothers was given a spiritual sequel (The Pacific [2010]) because of them. Aside from extra revenue, boxsets have transformed the way viewers watch television series. Shows like The Wire are better experienced over a short period of time, since it allows viewers to get references to specific lines and events they would struggle to remember had they watched the show 2 weeks previous.

Top Fives
Now comes the tough bit: naming my top 5 TV shows in drama and comedy. This comes with a few disclaimers. Firstly, I haven't seen The Sopranos, Deadwood, or Six Feet Under. I also haven't seen enough of Curb Your Enthusiasm to judge it fairly.
Secondly, I'm leaving Buffy off the list since it started in 1997, and was half-way through its run at the turn of the century. Needless to say, if I had have included it, it would have been top.
Finally, I've left a myriad of shows off the drama list people who know me might expect to see. All I would say is that each show on the list offered me an emotion or experience no other show could. Appearance in the top five is purely subjective to me as a viewer, and doesn't mean I don't appreciate the overall quality of those shows that are missing.

Comedy
5. Harry Hill's TV Burp
This show should never be as good/funny as it is. It's perfectly aware most of the comedy comes from clever editing and silly costumes yet I find the mix strangely appealing. Random without being 'wacky', and satirical without ever being mean. Harry Hill is a genius. Either that or high on every drug known to man.

4. Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Amstell years)
Buzzcocks was always known for taking the mick out of it's guests. However, Amstell managed to make that role his own. The way he managed to dismantle his celebrity guests was always worth viewing, whether they went along with it (Josh Grobin) or not (Preston). The show's lost a lot without him, here's hoping he changes his mind and comes back to where he belongs.

3. Arrested Development
More jokes per second than any other comedy series in history. Arrested Development had a style like no other show before or after. Impossible to sum-up why its unique or even funny without under-selling it. However, the scene when Tobias describes himself as the world's first analysist/therapist is probably the funniest/wittiest/silliest visual jokes I've ever seen.

2. The Office
The most influential comedy show of the decade by far. It created its own way of shooting comedy, with fewer laugh-out-loud moments, and more ways to make the audience feel uncomfortable. However, it also created characters more real and believable than most comedies have ever managed to do. People could see aspects of their old boss in Brent, or knew a co-worker like Gareth. For my money, the final scene between Tim and Dawn is one of the greats in television history. Much better than anything a show like Friends (or even Frasier) produced in its 10 year run.

1.The Daily Show
John Stewart presents this show about politics where guests are often academics with the most mind-numbing books known to man. Sounds like fun, huh? Thankfully his brand of wit, intelligence and one-liners make for an incredibly funny show that has also had a pretty big influence on young voters. (Apparently it's the main source of news for a fairly large percentage of 18-34 males). Given the soft nature of most American TV journalists, it's great they have someone willing to bring them to account. It probably tells you something about American culture that it takes a comedian on a cable channel to take on that role.

Drama
5. Lost
The show that more or less sums up big-budget network drama this decade. Brave and unique in its use of flashbacks and character-centric episodes. Also distinct in the way it managed to infuriate viewers (especially in seasons 1-3) with more mysteries that Agatha Christie's entire back catalogue. However, the reason I like it so much is that its had a vision from the start, and has stuck with it. Polar Bears, The Numbers, The Dharma Initiative, Oceanic Flight 815, and so on. Lost's influence on television will remain long after it has finished. Despite other shows having better characters and tighter plots, the one thing that makes Lost unique is that it's never predictable. And for any show to have that quality after five seasons, it must be doing something right.

4. Doctor Who
Trying to resurrect (or perhaps more accurately regenerate) Doctor Who was always considered a poison chalice this time ten years ago. The only people that wanted it were DW fanboys, who were notoriously difficult to please. In getting Russell T Davies to take on the series, the BBC took a huge risk. His most successful series was Queer as Folk, hardly Saturday-night family viewing. He then hired Billie Piper, best known for singing one of the most annoying songs of the 90s (and no I'm not referring to "Honey to the Bee", which let's be honest is a pop classic). The cards were stacked against him, and yet remarkably he came through.
There's a number of reasons it works: The Doctor is a true original character: the mix of brains, arrogance and eccentricity always make for compelling drama. And the companion acts as the voice of the viewer, questioning the seemingly all-knowing Doctor and making sure he maintains the humanity he's developed over the years. Finally it works because RTD understands that to make an episode compelling you don't ask 'what monster is most terrifying to the viewer' but rather 'what monster is most terrifying to The Doctor/Companion'? And trust the viewer to come along for the ride.

3. Band of Brothers
This show is unique in the sense it only lasted ten episodes, and yet I feel I know the characters just a well most series that last ten times that. BoB takes you on an adventure with one company in the 2nd World War from boot camp to VJ day. Based on real accounts, the drama allows you to feel and experience what it was like for these young men to fight for their country. What you come out of it with is an intense emotional connection to the men of the company: the pain of losing their best friend, the fear of battle, the elation of victory, and so on. A truly ground-breaking series. Can't wait for 'The Pacific' next year.

2. Friday Night Lights
Attachment to characters is something all TV producers hope to deliver but rarely achieve. Do we really care that much about the fate of Joey in Friends or Jack Bauer in 24? Or are they just tools to allow for a great one-liner or a compelling piece of action?
However, in FNL I really, actually care about the fate of its leads: I have cried watching this show more often than any other. The moments that bring tears feel real because as far as I'm concerned Matt Saracen and Coach Taylor are real people. Even though I know they're not.
The show's premise is that it's about an American High School Football Team. In reality, it's about Dillon, Texas and the characters that live in that place, and the way football allows their lives to interweave. It does for teen drama what 'The Wire' did for police procedurals (i.e. shows you how rubbish everything up to then has been in comparison).

1. The Wire
According to The Guardian there are two types of people: "Those who love The Wire and those who haven't seen it." Quite a claim, but then again this is quite a show. Unyielding in its vision, this is anti-CSI at its finest. A single episode has few resolutions, and few arcs. Instead, the creators describe each episode as a chapter of the book that is that season. This allows for an incredibly compelling and involving show. Where every little detail is picked up in a later episode, and we come more attached to every character for every extra scene we spend with them. Another show which will be looked back upon as a masterpiece of the medium. My hope is over the next ten years "The Wire" is the TV show writers look to as the gold-standard in serialised story-telling.