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Walk The Line
*****
An
award-winning biopic of Johnny Cash and his enduring love June Carter with superb leading performances by Joaquin Phoenix
and Reese Witherspoon. Walk The Line follows Johnny’s story from the death
of his brother from a sawing accident when Johnny was 12 through to his success, unhappy first marriage and decline through
drug addiction. It ends with him proposing to June on stage shortly after
his legendary comeback gig at Folsom Prison.
Phoenix has Cash’s “gunslinger” stage stance down to a tee
and could easily have won an Oscar for his fantastic performance. Witherspoon
went one better and did receive the Academy Award for her brilliant portrayal of the extrovert but caring June. Both had to learn to play instruments in this brilliantly-made warts’n’all biography.
A superb film.
Released: 2005
Seen by me:
5.3.06 (with Naomi)
Wallace
& Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit
****
An
eagerly awaited full length feature film from Aardman starring the award-winning animated duo, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit lives up to expectations by having a good story, humour for kids and knowing wit
for adults. The quintessentially English duo have a job catching and looking
after rabbits to ensure that nothing is spoilt or eaten for the forthcoming annual vegetable show. All is going well till one of Wallace’s eccentric inventions gets into the mix with catastrophic
results though it all, of course, turns out fine in the end. A charming film
with strong characters and Gromit’s silent stares expressing more than any words.
Well worth seeing.
Released: 2005
Seen by me: 14.10.05 (with Naomi and Amy).
War Of The Worlds
**
Disappointing
all-action version of HG Wells’ novel which shows all the signs of having been rushed.
Several loose ends are not tied together and there are also one or two inconsistencies in the plot development. Even worse, the editing is really poor with scenes halting and starting too suddenly
– I can only presume that this bad cutting was due to changes censored for the UK versions though such basic errors
as these are quite appalling in this day and age.
The effects themselves
are of course spectacular and the film does have some saving graces but overall, it's a disappointment. Rushed in ever sense, we have come to expect much better than this from Steven Spielberg.
Released: 2005
Seen by me: 10.7.05 (with Naomi)
What Women Want
**1/2
Below
average romantic comedy starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt. Nick Marshall (Gibson)
is an underachieving sexist executive for a major advertising corporation which brings in the highly regarded Darcy McGuire
(Hunt). Things aren’t looking good for him until he is electrocuted, an
experience which gives him the ability to know what women are thinking. He uses
this power in the office to pinch Darcy’s ideas and all goes well till he realises the downside of his incredible ability. Darcy is no longer considered innovative and is let go then Nick is “cured”
of his gift and rather predictably, they fall in love. What Women Want is too
far fetched to believe, has an improbable romance and doesn’t really hold together well enough nor tie up all loose
ends. There are some memorable scenes though overall, it’s a rather disappointing
comedy.
Released: 2001
Seen by me:
24.4.05 (with Naomi)
Where
Angels Fear To Tread
**1/2
Released between Merchant - Ivory’s versions
of two other EM Forster novels, A Room with A View and Howard’s End, I always thought that WAFTT was also made by the
talented duo but it is a pale imitation of their work. With a story that doesn’t
fit together well and unsympathetic characters who don’t really develop WAFTT is basically not a very well made film. Not terrible but it has some quite basic flaws.
Released: 1991
Seen by me:
5.11.05 (with Naomi)
Wicker Man, The (1973)
****
Classic cult film starring Edward Woodward
as Sergeant Howie, a kind, deeply religious policeman who goes to a remote Scottish island to try to find a missing girl. As Howie continues his stay, the depraved pagan rituals of the islanders shock him
as the locals increasingly seem to be hampering his investigation rather than helping it.
Eventually Howie comes to the terrible conclusion that the missing girl is to be used as a sacrifice after last year’s
poor harvest only for there to be an awful final twist in the tale.
The Wicker Man is a good 70s period piece with a more
thought provoking religious emphasis than its 2006 remake starring Nicholas Cage in Woodward’s rile. Unlike the remake, the islanders, who are led by the charismatic Christopher Lee in what he considers his
finest role, are not unflinchingly terrible and sinister causing the facilitation of possible further religious debate.
Some
of the acting in The Wicker Man is a bit hammy, possibly elevating the film’s cult status as very few cult classics
are perfect. It’s still though an excellent, thought provoking film yet,
despite what the critics say, its remake is well worth seeing too.
Released: 1973
Seen
by me: 14.11.06
Wicker
Man, The (2006)
****
An excellent re-make of the classic 1973 film starring Nicholas Cage as Edward Malus,
a lonely cop on sick leave after witnessing an eerily strange traffic “accident”.
Out of the blue during his recovery, Malus receives a letter from a former girlfriend Willow (Kate Beahan) who
disappeared all too suddenly. He goes to a remote, cult-owned island to which
she has returned to look for her vanished daughter…his daughter!
Efforts to find the girl are seemingly thwarted
by the sinister bee-like cult where females dominate and males are subservient drones.
Malus tells Willow that her daughter has been captured to be offered as a sacrifice after last year’s poor harvest
but there is an even more terrible twist at the end of the film...
The Wicker Man is an excellent, very creepy re-make
which sensibly has marked differences to the original film. Cage is perfectly
cast as the haunted, intense Malus in a picture which is scary and disturbing but well worth seeing.
Released: 2006
Seen by me: 3.9.06
(with Naomi)
Wimbledon
****
Excellent
feel-good romantic comedy set during the Wimbledon fortnight. Wimbledon stars
Paul Bettany as a journeyman British player in his final season and Kirsten Dunst as an unpopular, aggressive and determined
young US star with an over-protective father. Amazingly Bettany gets to win the
tournament and the girl with a few ups and downs on the way. It’s great
to see him elevated to the lead role, though, good as this film is, I hope he doesn’t play too many more roles like
this too soon and gets typecast as the new Hugh Grant – I’m sure he won’t, he’s a much better actor
than Grant anyway.
Wimbledon is made by some of the same people who brought
us Four Weddings & A Funeral and Love Actually - originally I thought that it was (just) the best of all of these films
though on my second viewing, I felt more cynical about it with the product placements, empty London roads and provincial,
idealistic vision of British life for American audiences grating a bit Having said this,
it's still a good, life and love affirming comedy whose various plots hold together well.
Released –
2004
Seen by me: 9.10.04 (with Naomi and Tracy) and 19.11.05 (with Naomi)
Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
***1/2
This 1971 version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie & The Cholcoate Factory
was cannily screended on Channel Five in the UK just as Tim Burton’s 2005 version was about to be released. It reputedly gave the Channel its biggest audince for over a year!
Willy Wonka stars Gene Wilder as
the reclusive, chocolate-making magnate in an excellent performance where he gives his character a sinisiter, cynical edge. The colourful settings inside the factory are excellent and Willy Wonka in many respects
has the slight edge over its 2005 counterpart.
Although this film’s Musical-type interludes are badly dated and,
lets face it, a bit naff, it is well worth watching…for children and adults.
Released: 1971
Seen by me: 24.7.05
(with Naomi)
Wizard Of Oz,
The
****
Magical iconic film which is beyond criticism as a true landmark of
cinema. Judy Garland’s Dorothy is caught up in a Kansas tornado and transported
via her unconsciousness to Oz where she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion who help her seek the Wizard whilst being thwarted
by the evil Witch.
Many of the scenes and characters in The Wizard Of Oz have become benchmarks for later films with Garland’s
trip to Oz seen by many as a metaphor for the wonderful, innocence of childhood to which we can never return. This is of course all the more poignant and powerful given the actress’ tragic and short adult life
after making this film.
The Wizard Of Oz is a classic though still cultish film whose devotees are obsessed to the point
of reading whole books on its making and impact. To those less dedicated souls
like myself, it is still an excellent, surprisingly timeless picture which is well worth seeing or revisiting.
Released:
1939
Seen by me: 24.12.06 (with Naomi)
Woman In Black
**** 1/2
Most of us are
scared of certain things - maybe something emanating from a childhood memory - our fear of which may seem irrational to others.
On the other hand, there are some things which nearly all of us are frightened of. This brilliantly made film belongs to the
latter category.
Woman In Black is superbly edited to create maximum tension and fear. Set in the Edwardian era, it stars
Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps a beleaguered, widowed lawyer sent to the remote, northern village of Cryphin Gifford to
tidy up and sell a lone mansion on an island only accessible in low tide. The surrounding community Arthur finds is somewhat
akin to The Wicker Man - secretive and silent though this is through terrified fear rather than lack of trust. For on the
island there lives a black ghostly figure who lost one of her own children and seemingly has the power to lure the local infants
to their deaths. The figure is glimpsed in this often terrifying film but can Arthur do anything to stop this terrible cycle,
not least before his nanny bring his own son up north to visit.
Woman In Black is a fantastically made horror story with
a fine performance by Radcliffe showing maturity well beyond his years. Highly recommended though don't watch it on your own...
Seen
by me: 20.4.13 (with Naomi)
The World's
End
**** 1/2
The World's End is the third in a
trilogy of UK-based films over the last 10 years made by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It is also special for me
and many around me in that many of the scenes were shot in my home town of Letchworth Garden City - indeed the cinema where
I saw it was pub number 8 in the central story.
The World's End is about a group of
40 year old men who return to their home town of Milford Haven to complete the pub crawl they never quite finished over 20
years ago. Led by the indefatigable Gary King (Pegg), a man who quite hilariously still acts like a teenager, they soon find
that the town is not quite what it seems. What follows is akin to a modern, comic version of The Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers
though with moments of poignancy about not trying to recreate the past amongst the jokes and cartoonish violence. It's still
a comedy though and a fitting end to the trilogy, spoofing and subverting alien films just like predecessors Shaun Of The
Dead did with zombie movies and Hot Fuzz with cop flicks.
The World's End is a zany comedy with
some strong characters yet a thought-provoking aftermath. It is highly recommended - even more so for those like me who are
able to pick out places they know and love.
Seen by me: 31.7.13 (with Naomi)
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