Paul Haine | Tales from the city
Film & TV
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Review of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
I never read Tintin as a child as Tintin was quite obviously for the squares, for children whose parents made you take your shoes off at the door, who wouldn’t let you watch Your Mother Wouldn’t Like It and who owned a BBC Micro. I read Asterix instead. I was pretty uncool, but at least I knew it and was making an effort to improve myself.
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Review of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows isn’t much of a Sherlock Holmes film, but it’s an attractive action flick unhindered by 3D gimmickry nonetheless. Robert Downey Jr. continues doing that thing that Robert Downey Jr. does, and he does it well; I don’t know of anyone who does Robert Downey Jr. better than Robert Downey Jr.
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Review of Guy Moshe’s Bunraku
When did Woody Harrelson become one of those actors that adds instant gravitas to any scene they’re in? As he gets older and craggier he seems to have solidified into this wall of character, with every line he reads sounding more meaningful than it has any right to. In Bunraku he happily takes on the “philosophical barman” trope, the linchpin in a film with so many stylistic influences that it’s a wonder everything holds together.
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Trailer for Guy Moshe’s Bunraku
Guy Moshe’s Bunraku. Ignore the low ratings you may have seen elsewhere, this turned out to be one of my favourite film’s of 2011.
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Review of Pan Am
I have to be careful criticising Pan Am because the last time I watched something ironically it was Spartacus, and that grew into something very special; what appeared at first to be a po-faced, poor-man’s 300 ended up with drama, pathos and Lucy Lawless having sex with other ladies.
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Review of Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy slow-burning, balletic adaptation is rich in atmosphere, dripping with character and repressed emotion.
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Review of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor
Kenneth Branagh’s Thor always seemed like it would be the hardest comic adaptation to fit convincingly into the shared universe Marvel have been piecing together for a few years now. Despite lacking the same level of public recognition as some of the other heroes, and having a magical background that could have felt out of kilter with the rest of the technology-borne ensemble, Thor has turned out to be one of the more solid and enjoyable Marvel films so far.
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Review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes
The endless slew of remakes, reboots and prequels only gets more complicated with every year. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is, as far as I can tell, a remake of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel to an as-yet unmade remake of the original Planet of the Apes (or perhaps an as-yet unmade remake of the remake of the original Planet of the Apes) and a reboot of the entire Apes series, all of which was based on a book. We live in confusing times.
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Reaper
I’m thinking of a new policy of only watching TV shows after they’ve been cancelled, so I know the level of commitment expected of me. Lexx, an occasionally-brilliant, mostly-awful show ended after four seasons; easy to get through them despite the rapidly-plummeting quality because the finish line was always visible. Lost, on the other hand, I watched as it was broadcast and I abandoned the show in the third season because with no end in sight it was starting to feel like I was in purgatory.
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Review of Captain America
Captain America: The First Avenger is a mildly enjoyable period romp where some staid action and the tawdry whiff of prequel is just about held together by a decent script and likeable characters. Very much a popcorn film; you might enjoy it at the time but you’re probably not going to reminisce about it later.
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Trailer for David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
I’ve no real interest in the books, the original films or David Fincher’s remake, but this is an excellent trailer nonetheless.
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Trailer for Ed Gass-Donnelly’s Small Town Murder Songs
Hard to beat a bit of Southern Gothic.
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Trailer for Leon Ford’s Griff the Invisible
With Defendor, Kick-Ass and Super the fake superhero genre may already be saturated, but Griff the Invisible, starring True Blood‘s Ryan Kwanten, looks like it has some charm.
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Review of X-Men: First Class
Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class is a welcome return to form for the X-Men franchise after the risible X-Men: Last Stand and the sloppy Wolverine origins story. The ’60s setting allows for a lighter tone than previous instalments but Michael Fassbender’s intensity as Erik Lehnsherr takes the film to some dark places.
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Trailer for The Artist
I love the look of this: a brand new black and white, French, silent film filmed in EYE-POPPING 2D! Both Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo were in the excellent spy spoof OSS-117: Cairo, Nest of Spies which Michel Hazanavicius directed, so this has a lot of potential.
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Review of Little White Lies
A follow-up to the well-received thriller Tell No One, Little White Lies is unfortunately smug, tedious drivel that overstays its welcome for at least an hour. This review contains spoilers, but if you haven’t seen it then that’s ok because it means you’ll be able to leave the cinema after only 90 minutes instead of the full, gruelling 150.
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Trailer for Elijah Wood TV show Wilfred
This had me giggling like a loon, and I don’t do that lightly.
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Trailer for Nick Tomnay’s The Perfect Host
This film looks like it exists purely so that David Hyde Pierce can have fun. Also impossible to watch the trailer without thinking it’s Ray Liotta as the criminal.
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Trailer for Mitch Glazer’s Passion Play
Some nice looking film noir here, and I don’t think Bill Murray has ever looked cooler.
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Duncan Jones’ Source Code
In Duncan Jones’ Source Code, Air force pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) has to work out who bombed a train but only has the same eight-minute period to live through each time, a bit like Murder on the Orient Express if Poirot was knifed in the chest at the end of every chapter.