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Reviews
Poison Pen (2014)
A low-budget romantic comedy that hits the sweet spot
Although this is written by Eoin Colfer (most famous for his fantasy-adventure series, Artemis Fowl), this is a romantic-comedy and it works surprisingly well. It is set in London's world of gossip magazines and it is into such a cesspit that snobby but struggling author PC Molloy finds himself. He starts off at loggerheads with the magazine's editor, April Devereaux but being a romantic comedy, it's never a case of where they end up but how they get there. The characters are nicely drawn, the dialogue is good and there's some lovely performances from Lochlainn O'Mearain, Aoibhinn McGinnity, Lauryn Canny and Mary Murray. But the scene stealer has got to be Aaron Heffernan (watch out for his Matthew McConaughey joke).
This is a low-budget romantic comedy that hits the sweet spot, which is ripe for a Hollywood remake.
Luciano Serra, pilota (1938)
Fascist nonsense
From from first frame to last, this film is complete and utter Fascist propaganda. How anyone could say otherwise is beyond me. The reviewer above calls it a character study. Well, only in so far as the central character typifies the 'virtuous' and 'heroic' Italian male as espoused by the Mussolini's Blackshirts. The plot is absurdly contrived and bloated to the point of parody and it would be funny if it were not the reflection of a murderous, tyrannical regime who were at the time, at war with Ethiopia.
The only reason why it is remembered today is because it shared first prize (with Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia) at the 1938 Venice Film Festival. The film that everyone thought should have won that year was Jean Renoir's masterpiece, La Grande Illusion.
Luciano Serra, Pilota won because the film was made under the supervision of Mussolini's son.
Avoid.
The Shooting Party (1984)
Very poor film... utterly overrated
This is an extremely poor film. It is awfully self-conscious, with stilted dialogue that barely advances the plot and does even less in fleshing out the characters. The performances, for the most part, suffer from being restricted to stilted mannerism or speechifying and the whole thing lacks the sort of vigor needed to provide dramatic momentum. The photography is never more than functional, and at best the editing denies the film much needed energy, while at worst, it has all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer (note the scene in the dining room when one the characters says he thinks that a civilization is coming to an end and there is a cut to a log breaking in the fire). The score meanwhile, seems to have been lifted from a temp track and poorly mixed, and while the locations and costumes are absolutely authentic, you can only wonder what the likes of Merchant-Ivory would have done had they gotten their hands on it.
But then, perhaps they would have passed. The whole story is so precious about itself and the passing of an age, it lacks the one crucial element that would have allowed the film to endure at least beyond its own age: a sense of humor. And I don't mean exclusively comedy. I mean a range of emotions: a SENSE of humor. The whole thing is so relentlessly and self-indulgently maudlin. It needed a lightness of touch, verbal wit, satire... in terms of cinema, what it needed to study was Renoir's masterpiece The Rules of the Game. That movie had everything: wit, motion, a sense of cinema, fully fleshed out and contradictory characters, each one of them flawed in their own unique but understandable way. What is more, Renoir made his film in 1939 as a contemporary commentary... and somehow, the comedic strain is one of the reason why that film is still considered a masterpiece.
The Shooting Party is a film (based on a book) that appears to have taken at least part of Renoir's plot and then, although written in 1980, decides to push its time frame back to the eve of WW1. But even with that added view of history, it adds nothing to what Renoir achieved. On the bonus material for the DVD, we are told that it is a classic, one of the greatest British films ever made. Says who? The producer of the film? Claims are made that it broke all sorts of box-office records across the globe and was festooned with awards left, right and centre. It appears to me that the makers of that particular DVD documentary are almost as delusional and pompous as the characters in the film. At least when Julian Fellowes wrote Gosford Park, there was a self-awareness about the proceedings and so, the film has the confidence to send itself up at the same time. LIke all great Altman films, Gosford Park captures a moment when a culture shifted... and leaves you both regretful and grateful that the shift occurred. The Shooting Party leaves you wondering how on earth some people lavish it with such praise.
Peeping Tom (1960)
Goof in opening sequence (just like Hallowe'en)
The biggest goof of the film is the manner in which the first murder is filmed. When Mark Lewis hides the camera under his coat and then switches it on, the camera is at chest height. But when we cut to the point of view of the camera, it is evidently at head height. A similar gaff marks the opening sequence in Hallowe'en when Michael Myers runs amok with the kitchen knife; he is a six year old boy but the camera's height (his p.o.v.) is that of an adult. That is all that I need to say about the film in terms of goofs. And what I am typing now is merely an attempt to fill out the required 10 lines to "fix the problem". I know it is necessary (personally I can not figure it out but it isn't my website so I shan't complain) so I will dully oblige by your request.
In America (2002)
Re: Bad Title
As far as I am aware, the working title of "In America" was "East of Harlem". I have no idea why they changed the title but it is a pity it was changed. East of Harlem is a far more poetic title. Think about it; if you leave Harlem and head east you are heading to ... Ireland. I think "In America" says a lot less than "East of Harlem." Apparently, Jim Sheridan had been knocking around with the idea for the screenplay for a long time (I remember thumbing through editions of the trade magazine, Screen International in the early to mid-1990s and seeing it listed as "in development" under that title. That and an adaptation of Robert Graves' "I, Claudius".
Beyond the Sea (2004)
Howling continuity error!
Whoever oversaw the choice of music in this film really ought to have their credentials examined. After one of the arguments Darin has with his wife, Sandra Dee, we see him smashing up the house and on the soundtrack we hear the song "Let It Loose" by The Rolling Stones. The film places this scene as occurring prior to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy who was shot on June 5th, 1968. The song is from the album "Exile on Main Street," which The Rolling Stones did not release until 1972.
Given that this is a biopic of a singer, you think they would have at least gotten that much right. I don't think much else in the movie worked either, not the writing (are we really expected to believe that Sandra Dee, who has been trained by her mother her whole life to be a star, was not even aware of some place, any place, called the Copacabana ... and even if that were true, it is delivered in such a false way, I got the impression that they were trying to tell the audience what the Copa was rather than Sandra Dee), not the cinematography, not the costumes, not the acting and certainly not the casting (Spacey is, right now, 45 almost ten years older than Darin when he died [36]... and he plays him from the age of about 20 and his intimate scenes with Kate Bosworth were cringe inducing ... how old is she? 19!). The only moments the movie works are when Spacey sings. And he sings very well.