Film Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Director: David Fincher

Adapting one of the bestselling books of a generation into a film is always going to be a tall order. Everyone has their own thoughts and ideas about the locations and themes within the book, which means that when they are portrayed on the big screen they quite often disagree with how things are done. Steven Zaillian wrote the adapted screenplay and David Fincher was tasked with directing the English speaking version of the book. The second problem they had was that there is already a Swedish language version of the book which received very positive reviews on release. Even before the film was out many people were saying they wouldn't be watching it as they liked the Swedish version and didn't see the need for an English speaking version.

The trailer for the movie which came out last year is superb and is one of the best I have seen in recent years. With so many people having read the book you didn't need to give too much way in terms of plot but visually it looks great and the music is a perfect accompaniment. If you haven't seen it or want to watch it again you can play it below:

Fincher and Zaillian are very faithful to the book whilst trying to streamline it as the film could easily run up to 4 hours if you tried to include every element of the book. This was crucial in getting fans of Larsson's books onside as major changes to the plot would have made the film's success so much more difficult to achieve. This is the way it is meant to be seen but it does mean that there is only so much that can be added in the writing and directing of the movie.

The snowy back drop used as Hedestad and Hedeby Island is Hofsta Sateri in Sweden. It is remarkably similar to what I envisioned the Vanger estate being like and I think Fincher as well as Jeff Cronenweth did an amazing job in choosing the location. There is always something about the snow and cold locations that makes everything seem a lot more tense and sinister, which is also captured brilliantly within this film. A lot of scenes the camera seems to dull any distinct colours so that all you are left with is an unending sea of grey and dark colours, it represents a dark and unsavoury side to the Island that Vagners call home.

Vanger estate on Hedeby Island

Daniel Craig plays disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist. He was unconvincing in the early parts of the film but once he appears at the door of Salander's (amazingly accurate portrayal by Rooney Mara) apartment, and talks to her about the case after forcing his way in, there are no doubts that he impresses. But Rooney Mara is the real hero of this movie as is her character, the hacking genius Lisbeth Salander. She plays her with all the social awkwardness portrayed in the book but makes us believe that she can be cold and calculating when she needs to be. At no point in the film does Mara or Fincher let you try to feel sympathy for Salander.

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander

Stellan Skarsgard plays Martin Vanger to brilliant effect, the normal and compassionate head of a failing corporation but a totally messed up and warped mind underneath. His was a performance that really impressed alongside the main duo. An amazing effect that was only pointed out to me after I had originally watched the movie, when Blomkvist is having dinner at Martin Vanger's house with him and his wife you can hear the wind echoing which sounds eerily like a girl screaming. Only later in the film do you realise the true reason why it sounded like this, it was a brilliant yet very subtle addition.

The title sequence at the start featuring the same music from the trailer was a weird touch that seemed to last far too long, I was really unsure as to why this was included within the film especially at such length. The liquid monochrome looked good but surely could have been compacted down, maybe Fincher felt this was the only section he would be given free rein on. My main criticism though is that I never believed in Salander and Blomkvist as a couple when they were lying with each other in bed or making love. Blomkvist interrupting during intercourse to state his thoughts on the case was a bizarre moment to say the least.

3/4 a great reflection on the book but hard to gauge whether I really liked them film because of the story or because of what they did with it.

This week's releases

Here is a look at this weeks film releases in the UK:

A Dangerous Method: An all star cast featuring Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen & Vincent Cassel tells the story of Sigmund Freud and the birth of psychoanalysis. Freud (Mortensen) constantly clashes with Carl Jung (Fassebender) over their theories and the relationship they have with Spielrein (Knightley). With Cronenberg directing as well, big things are to be expected from this film.

The Muppets: The much loved muppets return to the big screen as they look to save their Muppet Theatre from destruction by a greedy oil baron. The Muppets all have different careers after going in seperate directions but all re-unite with the help of their biggest fan Walter to try and raise the money. Expect the usual wackiness for the ever popular Muppets.

PS Jason Segel's suit is awesome

Big Miracle: Inspirational family movie starring John Krasinski and Drew Barrymore where they try to save a family of grey whales that are trapped in the Arctic ice. It is based on a true story of the effort of people to save the whales and the barriers that stood in their way as they tried to free them. The story growing throughout the world as the media and governments become involved.

The Vow: Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum (seems to be playing the same character in all of his recent movies) star in this romantic drama about a married couple who have to start again after a serious car accidents means that Paige (McAdams) has amnesia. This means husband Leo (Tatum) has to help her regain her memory as well as win her affection again.

The Woman in Black:  Daniel Radcliffe returns to the big screen looking like a different man as he is Arthur Kipps, a lawyer who is settling the estate of a recently deceased woman. Unfortunately it leads him to a remote village where 'the woman in black' terrorises the local people and he must find a way to finally lay the spectre's spirit to rest.

Film Preview: The Last Fall

Director: Matthew A. Cherry

I saw an article regarding 'The Last Fall' which instantly intrigued me as an NFL fan. The movie follows an NFL player who is about to retire but is far from the world famous millionaire players that are often depicted in the movies. Lance Gross plays the journeyman player struggling to deal with life after the game as he is cut by his fourth team in three years. Nicole Beharie plays his old high school sweetheart who he meets on his return to his hometown. The latest trailer is embedded below:

It's good to see a sports film looking at an aspect of the game that is quite often forgotten. Every summer hundreds of NFL players turn up at training camps hoping to earn a spot on an NFL roster for the season, most cases see players return year on year without success until they finally can't afford to do it anymore and have to get a normal job. Lets hope this film delivers and more importantly gets screened in the UK!

Film Review: Like Crazy

Director: Drake Doremus

I think if you speak to anybody around the age of 30 about long distance relationships, they will tell you about their experiences of their friend's experiences of it and the negative effect it normally has. The missing one another, the feeling that you are moving on with your life without them and the temptations that can arise. Drake Doremus tries to take us through his own experience of this as this film is loosely based around the issues he had with his ex-wife when she had immigrations problems moving from to the US from Austria. The whole film was shot using a cheap Canon camera and the whole budget came in under $250,000.

Anton Yelchin as Jacob and Felicity Jones as Anna

It follows Jacob who is a furniture designer and Anna as they meet at University in LA but plan on how to stay together after they graduate as Anna's student visa is about to expire and she has to go back to England. She finds herself fighting bureaucracy over her ban to visit the USA whilst trying to keep the connection going with Jacob. But rest assured this isn't the formulaic chick flick that some people might believe it to be.

One of my favourite scenes was their summer being shown as numerous different shots of them lying asleep in bed together cycled through really quickly and a shot of Anna standing at the airport terminal as Jacob leaves with the world going past her in fast forward while she waits for him to return. Neither are original concepts but both were well done within this movie, in the second case it portrayed that Anna's life was standing still for the month's whilst Jacob was away. The ending to the movie is also quite clever and will naturally catch you a bit off-guard.

Director Drake Doremus

I've still not been able to quite place my finger on what I didn't like about the two main actors together in the film, they were both very believable in the characters they played but not as the two halves of the couple they made up. It was something that played on my mind as the movie progressed. There were a couple of moments in the film where sections of the story seemed to be in fast forward and you weren't quite sure how we got there. My girlfriend actually had to ask me whether a scene was looking back at something from before the previous scene or whether the film had continued into the future, the latter being true, but I didn't really see why such a distinct jump in time was needed. All it seemed to do was confuse the viewer and leave us wondering where are we up to now?

2/4 bittersweet tale of long distance romance that sometimes leaves you lost in between.

This week's releases

If you're planning a quiet weekend away from the arctic temperatures we are experiencing then you may be interested in what is coming out at the cinema today. The aim is to give you an idea of what the movies are about without pushing my opinions upon you which is more difficult this week in two cases.

Chronicle: Three high school students gain incredible powers after a startling discovery and soon learn to control the powers they possess to their advantage. But dark powers start to take over and all their powers aren't necessarily being used for good. It's a different twist on the lonely nerdy guy getting superpowers and is another of the more recently popular found footage films using first person filming. 

Jack & Jill: An Adam Sandler movie means you already have a pretty good idea of what you are going to get. Sandler plays Jack who has a great life as an Advertising executive except for the annual Thanksgiving day visit of his twin sister who is also played by Sandler. Cue the expected mayhem that she brings with her and presumably some reason for him to feel bad at the end for hating her. May be interesting to see why Al Pacino is in this movie!

Man on a Ledge: An ex policeman threatens to jump from a tall building and causes a huge scene in downtown New York but it's all a cover to divert attention away from the biggest diamond heist ever. Sam Worthington plays the cop who is threatening to jump and delay the police as long as possible in this tense thriller. The plot is reasonably familiar to some that have been before so I'm hoping for a suprising twist somewhere.

Young Adult: I've never been a big fan of Diablo Cody and didn't like Juno (awaiting complaints) but this is the latest film she has written starring Charlize Theron as Mavis Gary who returns to her hometown intent on reclaiming her high school sweetheart. This is despite the fact he is happily married with a kid but she forms an unusual friendship with an ex-classmate who doesn't seem to be over high school either.

Martha Marcy May Marlene: This is a film that only came on to my radar recently, it follows Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) as she tries to escape an abusive cult that over time has just become more violent and disturbing. It's a story of her paranoia as she believes she's being followed as she tries to adjust to normal family life again.

Kevin Smith

Regardless of what happened after the success of 'Clerks', you had to respect Kevin Smith for following his dream by maxing out 10 credit cards and loaning money from friends just to make this movie. The total budget was an incredibly modest $27,575 and was largely filmed in the convenience store where Smith worked but at night when it was closed. This meant they had to close the shutters otherwise it would have been dark outside during scenes that were supposed to be in the daytime. In an age of multi-million pound blockbusters like the Transformers series which spend millions on special effects but little effort on actual plot lines and characters it shows what good writing can do.

Clerks follows a day at the Quick Stop run by conscientious Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) who is called in by his boss on his day off because another employee is sick. This starts the on-running gag in this film and others in the View Askewniverse (fictional world in which the films Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back & Clerks II exist) about how ''I'm not even supposed to be here today''. His friend Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson) works at the video store next door although he turns up 2 hours late for work then spends most of the day in the Quick Stop with Dante discussing numerous topics including the end of Return of the Jedi.

Randal Graves and Dante Hicks at the Quick Stop

Both characters play off each other brilliantly and feel very natural in their roles which makes the whole film much more believable. The film also captures the sheer frustration of two young guys who are bored with their current jobs and, more so in Dante's case, bored with their lives. This is a story that so many people across the world can relate to, being stuck in a dead end job wishing there was more to life than this. Dante also has to deal with Randal annoying and offending the customers on a regular basis sometimes just to prove his ideas right (he may have been right about innocent people being killed on the Death Star in 'Return of the Jedi'). Adding to his woes is his private life which he also makes a mess of with the help of Randal. It's the realism in the film and the situations that many people relate to, as well as the comedy, that made people fall in love with it.

Smith's second film is Mallrats which is set one day before the events in Clerks and follows T.S Quint (Jeremy London) and Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee who is superb) after they get dumped by their respective girlfriends. They find solace in the local mall where they find look at different ways to get back together with their girlfriends as well as arguing about whether a cookie stand is part of the food court or ''an autonomous unit for mid-mall snacking''. Quint and Bruce share a similar chemistry as Randal and Dante from Mallrats but is less claustrophobic than a convenience store.

 The film was derided by critics upon release (what do they know) but is worth seeing for many reasons but the main one being Bruce's one man destruction of the character Gill Hicks (Brian O'Halloran again) during the gameshow. The film also starred an unknown Ben Affleck as Shannon Hamilton who runs a fashionable clothing shop who is most known for having sex with women in ''a very uncomfortable place''.I remember watching this film before Clerks and still have no idea what possessed me to buy it at the time but I certainly don't regret it. The humour is more obvious in this film than with Clerks but for me Jason Lee will always be remembered as Brodie Bruce.

Ben Affleck and Jason Lee bring us straight onto Chasing Amy, which is the third film by Smith, where they star as Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards respectively. Best friends who work as artists for comic books and have their friendship turned upside down by Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) when Holden falls in love with her. Alyssa is a lesbian which makes things complicated and Banky doesn't help matters due to his dislike of Alyssa. This is Smith's story of romance and sexual relations which was very well received by critics after Mallrats but many fans I speak to tend to favour Mallrats as the better film.

Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards

 It certainly is the most mature of the first three films and delves deeper into friendships and the dynamics that exist within them. A three-way conversation at the end between the trio reveals some slightly startling revelations which I will not reveal here in case you haven't seen the film (shame on you).

Dogma, his fourth film, represents a step-up in budget for Smith and had more established movie stars in the cast. Matt Damon had become very popular following the success of Good Will Hunting which also featured Ben Affleck. Alan Rickman was another big name in the film which prompted Smith to make sure that Jason Mewes was ready for the role of playing Jay. He said this film had 'real actors' in so he needed to make sure he learnt his lines and in the end Mewes memorized everybody's lines for the entire film.

Damon and Affleck star as two fallen angels called Loki and Bartleby respectively, who have been banished from heaven after resigning as the Angel of Death when drunk. The only way back into heaven is to pass through the doors of the Red Bank church in New Jersey but unknown to them this will over rule God and destroy existence. Bethany Sloane (Linda Fiorentino) is tasked by the Voice of God to stop this happening and his helped by Jay & Silent Bob. Smith has never been one to shy away from controversy in his film making especially with regards to religion which is also shown in his recent film Red State. Although not many people can argue with Alanis Morrisette being casted as God.

Jay and Silent Bob strike back is finally the film that casts the two stoners as the main characters and has the story revolve around them rather than have them acting in the background. The comic book based on their likeness has been made into a film by Miramax but they have not been paid the royalties that they are entitled to, the film follows a road-trip as they first visit Holden McNeil who sold his half to Banky Edwards and then on to Hollywood to stop the film (so people will stop writing bad things about them on the internet). The film features some well-known names in smaller roles like Seann William Scott, Eliza Dushku & a superb cameo by Chris Rock as the film director who is making the movie.

As a film, it has quite a few funny moments and a lot of 'in' jokes for fans who have seen the previous four films in the View Askewniverse. Despite this, there is a lot going on in this film that there aren't many moments to catch up with all that is happening. Fans of more random comedies will certainly appreciate this film more but still manages to take a swipe at the movie industry itself.


Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran return in Clerks II

Clerks II rounds off the list (for now) which re-visits Randal Graves and Dante Hicks 10 years after the first film. They now work at Mooby's fast food restaurant after the Quick Stop burns down (due to Randal leaving the coffee pot on overnight) and follow a similar pattern in managing to annoy customers whilst discussing Star Wars and other movies. This time Dante is preparing to move to Florida with his fiancée Emma which Randal is unhappy about as this will leave him on his own but there are also lingering feelings between Dante and his boss Becky.

This film tries to re-capture the magic of the first by placing Randal & Dante in a very similar situation which in the large part it succeeds in doing. Don't expect too much in the way of subtlety in some of the jokes but then that's never been Randal's style (may want to avoid the donkey scene). It is the ultimate middle finger to people in the rat race and proves that a film can be entertaining even if the characters aren't doing much more than just hanging around and talking. But in the end it shows that we all have to grow up at some point and that sometimes even people who have no ambition to succeed find a way to do so.

I think these films represent what Kevin Smith is about as a director in his ability to write great scripts and characters that you care about as well as entertain you. My main aim with this post is to push people who have never seen these films into watching them and seeing what all the fuss is about!

Film Review: Downfall (Der Untergang)

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Making a film that deals with the issue of Hitler and the Nazi's is always going to be a controversial. This film it appears upon release was no exception as some critics didn't agree with the humanizing of Hitler within the film and could aid the Nazi movement that still exists in small numbers. But this surely isn't the case in Downfall; Hitler is shown ranting at his officers for the countries failing's in the war and that the German people should not survive for being weak.

"In this war, there are no civilians"

They were the ranting's of a man who completely lost sense of reality when it became obvious that the war was lost and his reign or power/terror was over. Even when it was obvious they were beaten he still believed General Wenck and his army would attack the Russians to start the fight back. It was the desperate belief of a man clinging to power and is shown to be almost grotesque. I think some people objected because the film is in German making Bruno Ganz (actually Swiss) all the more believable as Hitler himself. There may be more spoilers than normal in the rest of the review if you haven't had chance to see this film yet.

Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler

The film starts by showing how Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) is given the job as Hitler's secretary despite mistakes during dictation, from here the film fast forwards to Hitler's 56th birthday in April 1945 when everyone in Berlin is shocked to hear Soviet artillery nearby. It's at this point most of the officers within the Nazi party realise that the end of the war is quiet near and that it is only a matter of time before the Soviet's take Berlin. Hitler declares that he will never surrender Berlin and will go down with it if needs be.

For me the shocking elements to the film didn't involve Hitler himself but others around him. I still don't know whether to admire and denounce the loyalty shown by some people to Hitler and his ideologies. The Hitler Youth movement fighting with anti-tank missiles rather than flee the city with their families is a disturbing sight but nothing compares to the scene of Magda Goebbels poisoning her six children in their sleep which is a scene that will stay with me for a very long time.

Traudl Junge speaks before and after the film about her experience of working for the Hitler and the Nazi's as she stayed in Berlin till near the very end. In reality after escaping she had to go back to Berlin and was eventually arrested by the Soviet's where she finally learnt what happened in the war in the east as before she only knew what the Nazi propaganda had told her. She speaks about being naive and not interested in politics but ignored her family and friends pleas not to work for them. Her sense of loyalty is for an entirely different reason to the officers around her.

Traudl Junge played by Alexandra Maria Lara

The only issue I had throughout the movie was trying to keep up with who all the Nazi Officers were as they came down to the bunker to see Hitler. This may have been down to me not knowing that much about the different people aside from 3 or 4 of the more well-known officers but it wasn't always easy to keep pace. It's a hard film to necessarily say that you like due to the content but there's no denying the conflicting emotions brought up by the actions of different people within the film. But it is still a very good film in trying to chronicle what happened in those last few fateful days of the Reich which, until now, many wouldn't have known about.

3/4 Ganz is truly unsettling as Hitler; it provides a grim realistic view of the end of the Nazi's.