You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Tags

2010's, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Comedy, Drama, Freida Pinto, Gemma Jones, Josh Brolin, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts, Pauline Collins, Woody Allen, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Film Title

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Director

Woody Allen

Starring

• Anthony Hopkins as Alfie
• Gemma Jones as Helena
• Naomi Watts as Sally
• Josh Brolin as Roy
• Antonio Banderas as Greg
• Lucy Punch as Charmaine
• Freida Pinto as Dia
• Pauline Collins as Cristal

Although there is wit and drama to be found, when watching You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, you can’t help but feel that Woody Allen has done better movies over the years. Sure he knows how to write some great characters and situations, but unfortunately this movie isn’t a shining example of his talent.

The film focuses on the tangled love lives and questions of fate within a family living in London. Firstly, we have Alfie who has had an epiphany that time is not on his side and that he needs to relive some of his lost youth. The first step to do this is to divorce his shocked wife Helena, who because of this becomes friendly with fake fortune-teller Cristal, who she begins to trust almost completely. Life then becomes besotted with the much younger Charmaine, who is a former call girl and gold digger. Alfie quickly marries her, but soon enough he looks like he may regret it as her money spending gets out of control and his bank balance plummets. Alfie and Helena’s daughter Sally works in an art gallery, hoping one day to open one of her own yet blighted by the fact that her husband Roy is a washed-up writer. Roy wallows in misery at a lack of inspiration because his first novel was a success, but he has failed to replicate it in the following years. He is currently awaiting the response to his latest submission, but the arrival of Helena talking of cosmic energy does nothing to quell his fears. He finds some form of solace in a growing attraction to Dia, a beautiful music student who lives in the apartment opposite. Sally has grown tired of Roy’s lack of success, moping around and wants to start her own family, which seems out of the question as Roy has no intention. While at work, she begins to develop feelings for her new boss Greg, yet she doesn’t know whether to act on them or not. Let’s just say, entanglements ensue.

While it must be said that Woody Allen still has the ear for dialogue, he isn’t on his finest form here leaving many of the stories feeling tired and exhausted. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger isn’t completely terrible, it is actually quite good in parts. But I can’t help have the nagging feeling that Woody Allen can do so much better than this. One major problem I had with the film was that as certain stories seemed to get going, they were shoved to the back and not focused on a lot. This in turn made You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger a disjointed film, because some stories work a lot better than others and certain characters were more engaging than others. There are positives to the film to be found, despite the flaws that riddle the piece and make it one of his less accomplished efforts. I liked how the theme whether fates holds sway over lives and loves was presented, in the form of a charlatan fortune-teller whose predictions are often quite close to the truth. As is typical with a multi layered film, some parts of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger work better than others. When it does work, the film has a gleefully ironic tone to it that is hard to miss. This is best summed up in the narration that has a mordant view of events and takes swipes at the misfortunes and romantic entanglements the characters find themselves in. A jaunty jazz soundtrack is used well enough to signify the changes in love that everyone goes through.

Anthony Hopkins is on good form(yet again, when he is not anything but excellent?) as Alfie, who thinks the grass is greener on the other side and is in for a rude awakening as it turns out to be not the bed of roses he expected. The delightful Gemma Jones is by turns funny and touching as his former wife, who takes to consulting supposedly clairvoyant forces for answers on her directions in life. Naomi Watts is splendidly overwrought as the frustrated Sally, while Josh Brolin, all scraggly hair and hangdog appearances is suitably pathetic and engulfed in self-pity as the washed-up Roy, desperately wanting success. The main standout within the cast for me is Lucy Punch as the trashy gold digger Charmaine. She helps provide some outrageous humour and crude appeal as Charmaine begins to fleece Alfie for every penny he’s got, despite not being the brightest person there is. Punch just has the necessary humour and attitude for the part that she clearly makes the most of. I myself found that Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto were shortchanged with the material they were given. Both are talented stars, but the script just didn’t have enough flesh on the bones of either character for them to register with me. At least Pauline Collins, despite being only seen sporadically, is very amusing in the part of the fortune-teller who may actually be telling the truth.

With too many loose ends not tied up and some actors wasted in their respective parts, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger just lacks that extra spark that a lot of Allen’s work has. In the end, it resembles something akin to a mess that had potential but somehow squandered it.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Tags

2010's, Bruce Willis, Christopher Lloyd, Christopher Meloni, Crime, Dennis Haysbert, Eva Green, Frank Miller, Jaime King, Jamie Chung, Jeremy Piven, Jessica Alba, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Josh Brolin, Juno Temple, Lady Gaga, Mickey Rourke, Powers Boothe, Ray Liotta, Robert Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Film Title

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

Directors

Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez

Starring

• Mickey Rourke as Marv
• Jessica Alba as Nancy Callahan
• Josh Brolin as Dwight McCarthy
• Eva Green as Ava Lord
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny
• Powers Boothe as Senator Roark
• Rosario Dawson as Gail
• Dennis Haysbert as Manute
• Ray Liotta as Joey
• Bruce Willis as Hartigan
• Jamie Chung as Miho
• Jaime King as Goldie/Wendy
• Jeremy Piven as Bob
• Christopher Meloni as Mort
• Christopher Lloyd as Kroenig
• Juno Temple as Sally
• Lady Gaga as Bertha

Coming almost ten years after the startling original Sin City, this second installment had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, it doesn’t match its predecessor in many ways, but A Dame to Kill For is far from an all-out failure and does have its moments that need praise.

A Dame to Kill For takes the same narrative structure of the first movie, albeit with stories that serve as a prequel to those events that occurred in the original. These stories intertwine at many points along the way of the narrative structure. We first of all have cocky slicker Johnny, who seems to have a lot of luck when it comes to winning in poker games. Arriving in the godforsaken town of the title, he takes on the corrupt Senator Roark in a game that he repeatedly wins. Roark doesn’t take to kindly to this showing of power from the young gambler and has his men violently sort him out. This in turn sets up many more brutal encounters between the two men in a battle of supremacy. The second story and prequel to the first movie, concerns Dwight McCarthy when he was a private detective, intent on not letting violent urges and temptation get in his way. Dwight finds himself caught in a seductive web, spun by the femme fatale Ava Lord. No matter how hard he tries to resist her, he can’t break the spell of the poisonous temptress. She brings him into a plot to kill her husband, by playing the part of the abused wife who needs protecting. Sure enough, the bewitched Dwight agrees and murders her unwitting husband. With her husband dispatched of, the cunning Ava leaves Dwight for dead. Good for Dwight is the fact that he has the brute Marv to help him and take him to the girls of Old Town, lead once again by the kick ass dominatrix Gail. The hookers shelter him and help him through reconstructive surgery alter his appearance, ready for revenge upon the eponymous dame for her betrayal. The last tale focuses on Nancy Callahan, who mourns the death of her protector Hartigan. Knowing that the reason he killed himself was because of the evil Roark, the exotic dancer slips into drunken madness and uncontrollable rage; plagued by hallucinations of Hartigan that warn her not to avenge him. Swearing revenge on the all-powerful Senator, she teams with a willing Marv in her attempt to kill the corrupt leader once and for all.

Visual style is very much on display throughout A Dame to Kill For, it’s just at times it doesn’t feel as fresh as it did in the first film. We do get some nifty visuals mind you( the sinister crimson of Ava’s lips and shining emerald eyes are a particular highlight) and the use of silhouettes is stunning to accentuate the smoky atmosphere of the town. There’s just a feeling of ‘been there done that’ about it that hangs over this movie. Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez both bring style and action to the fray, but the structure isn’t as up to scratch as it once was and the movie suffers as a result. For example, certain parts of the stories are expanded upon enough and other times too much time is spent on one tale. Yet when the action does hit its height, it does deliver in blood-soaked fashion that is still quite electrifying. Once again, a sexy soundtrack that hark back to the shadows of Noir creates a good amount of intensity that provides interest.

Mickey Rourke once again delivers the goods as the brutish Marv, who is more than willing to help out a friend with business, especially if it involves blood, murder and violence. Rourke does get to show a tender side again, this time acting as the helper to the vengeful Nancy in her time of need. Jessica Alba, though often the subject of debate as to her acting credentials, confounds expectations and brings sadness and aggression to the role of Nancy. Rather than just the sexy dancer from the first film, we get to see her as a broken down girl, shorn of hope but thirsty for revenge. Josh Brolin, portraying the character of Dwight before the reconstruction sported in the first movie, gives his part weariness as he navigates his way through violence, yet finds himself ensnared by the manipulative Ava. Eva Green is the definite showstopper in this movie, seductive and sinuous as she traps men with her beauty and brings pain to them. Slinky and cunning, she is a poisonous viper who is adept at making people do her dirty work and then leaving them with the consequences. To say that Eva Green was smouldering and sexy in this movie would be a criminal understatement. Joseph Gordon-Levitt contributes youthful charm and cocky self-assurance as upstart Johnny, who tangles with the wrong man in the form of Senator Roark and pays the price. Power Boothe returning again brings malevolent sneakiness to Roark and exposes his ruthless, power-mad nature that knows no bounds once infuriated by others. Rosario Dawson, although unfortunately used in a reduced capacity, is still fierce and crafty as Gail. Dennis Haysbert has the physical stature and deep voice to make Manute a very physical and dangerous adversary, yet Ray Liotta in a role as another corrupt politician is somewhat wasted. The same can be said about Bruce Willis, who appears as Hartigan in Nancy’s hallucinations. He just isn’t given enough to do to make his appearance here memorable. Jamie Chung doesn’t make for a great replacement as assassin Miho; I believe Devon Aoki did a better job and had the stony faced intensity for the part which Chung lacks. Jaime King returns as twin prostitutes Wendy and Goldie, but scarcely makes an impact this time around. Jeremy Piven and Christopher Meloni make impressions as two cops investigating the murder of Ava’s husband; Piven is the one who is wary of the dame, whereas Meloni is the one who falls under the siren’s spell. Christopher Lloyd gives his part as a sinister doctor who helps Johnny after he is brutalised by Roark’s men. Juno Temple is wasted as a young prostitute saved by Dwight, while music fans should look out for a cameo by pop star Lady Gaga as a sympathetic waitress who takes pity on a wounded Johnny.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was never going to match the heights of the original movie, but it’s not as bad as people make out. It’s just not as thrilling as it could have been, despite its wealth of potential.

 

Planet Terror

Tags

2000's, Action, Freddy Rodriguez, Grindhouse, Horror, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn, Naveen Andrews, Planet Terror, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Rose McGowan

Film Title

Planet Terror

Director

Robert Rodriguez

Starring

• Rose McGowan as Cherry Darling
• Freddy Rodriguez as El Wray
• Josh Brolin as Block
• Jeff Fahey as J T Hague
• Michael Biehn as Sheriff Hague
• Marley Shelton as Dakota Block
• Naveen Andrews as Abby

Robert Rodriguez’s homage to cheap horror movies of the 70’s comes in the form of Planet Terror, which was released as part of Grindhouse, a collaboration between Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. If it’s substance you’re looking for, turn away now. But if it’s zombie horror, a killer soundtrack and action gore galore, Planet Terror is certainly worth sticking around for.

Cherry Darling is a go-go dancer, sick and tired of her job as she dreams of being a comedienne. She quits her job and finds herself one night in the local diner, where she encounters the enigmatic El Wray. He used to be her lover, but their relationship has cooled. Meanwhile in the rural Texas town, a toxin has been released into the air from a military base nearby. At first nothing happens, but then many of the residents begin developing various side effects and subsequently morph into ravenous zombies. The zombies begin to attack the living causing chaos and a fight for survival. Joining forces with El Wray, the local diner owner, the sheriff, a chemical engineer and a doctor, Cherry leads the fight against the infected, even after she has a leg eaten and replaced with a machine gun. Prepare for kick ass action, copious amounts of blood and grainy visuals as Planet Terror emerges as over the top action in the style of B-movies.

From the opening frames, you know what you’re going to get from Rodriguez. He nails the grainy abrasions that popularised the films of his childhood and adds them to this film in homages which come off rather well, especially in the opening scenes of Cherry’s sexy dance. He even throws in a missing reel with apologies and some sleazy trailers for good measure. The soundtrack is killer, from the grungy guitars to the smoking saxophone, it makes for a rocking listen. Rodriguez directs some pretty great scenes of action as the survivors fight back against the encroaching zombie threat. Gore hounds will lap up the various scenes of zombie hunger and believe me there is a lot of bloodshed in Planet Terror. Where Planet Terror falters is the pacing and some of the humour that doesn’t come off to good. Yet, many watching will barely notice these flaws because of the visuals and kick ass action/horror.

Rose McGowan makes for a fierce, sexy heroine as Cherry Darling and delivers an impressive performance of sassy, kick ass attitude and some great comic timing. Freddy Rodriguez makes for an enigmatic presence as the bad boy, gunslinger El Wray. For the rest of the cast, including Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey and Marley Shelton, they really have fun with their roles in this action/zombie horror. The real star of the show is Rodriguez himself, firmly creating a tongue in cheek horror homage that is for the most part entertaining.

Short on substance but high on octane and visual techniques, whilst also boasting some great action, Planet Terror won’t be to everyone’s taste. But its a good way to spend a couple of hours without having to think a lot.