Film Preview: Gangster Squad

The film was originally set to be released at the end of this year in the UK, in the US it was slated for early September but in the wake of the Aurora Shootings at the cinema during The Dark Knight Rises they decided to delay the release due to the gun violence contained within the film, but mainly due to a scene that involves a shooting in a cinema. Gangster Squad features an ensemble cast including Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Giovanni Ribisi and Emma Stone.

It has an LA Confidential/ LA Noire feel due to the time period chosen and the subject matter of LAPD cops fighting against the East Coast mafia moving into their city. So expect stylish suits and hats galore.

Gangster Squad is released in the UK on 11th January and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Black Hawk Down

Director: Ridley Scott

A war drama adapted from the book of the same name by Mark Bowden, Ridley Scott directs an enthralling masterpiece with an ensemble cast of male actors playing Delta Force Soldiers and Army Rangers. The cast includes Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, Orlando Bloom, Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor to name just a few.

The Soldiers

*possible spoilers throughout*

The film is set in 1993 in Somalia as the American army fights against the Somali militia who declared war on UN peacekeeping personnel in the region. The civil war has cost the lives of thousands of civilians as the battle for government control of the country continues, Black Hawk Down charts the day of The Battle of Mogadishu. The companies engage in a mission to capture the Somali militia leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid and hope to be back at base within the hour but the local armies are warned of their arrival so a battle ensues after a Black Hawk helicopter is shot down. The US troops battle to secure the crash site and take any casualties back to base.

After a slow opening where many characters are all slowly introduced we are thrown into a tense street battle in Mogadishu, the film becomes more engrossing as the melee unfolds and changes from a standard war movie to a claustrophobic exhibition of modern warfare. The many different characters who are followed through the battle means we see the battle from different viewpoints although a minor criticism is the lack of balance in showing the battle from the Somali side.

Black Hawk over Mogadishu

Despite being an action packed war movie, it subtly conveys an anti-war message as we see the death of many heroic men on both sides as well as the mental effect it has on soldiers. The ambiguity around Eric Bana’s character is superbly crafted and his conversation at the end with Josh Hartnett’s character is intensely chilling.

Unfortunately the film like many of its kind is too pro-American, historical inaccuracies creep in like the story of the Pakistan and Malaysian troops being a glorified taxi service to help the Americans when they were there at the battle as well. Whilst the Somali’s are all seen as the enemy that are just there to be shot by the heroic American soldiers when this isn’t always the case, a lack of background on the conflict in Mogadishu was apparent. Unsurprisingly the film was widely condemned by many for being prejudiced but political points aside this is an intensely thrilling movie.

3.5/4 thrilling and claustrophic war epic.

Film Review: The Counterfeiters

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky

An Austrian made and German language film that follows a group of Jewish counterfeiters who are saved from the concentration camps during the Second World War by the Nazi's to work on 'Operation Bernhard', a plot to flood Britain and America with fake bank notes made by the counterfeiters. The film was a success on its release with the film going onto to win an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film in 2008.

The film specifically follows Salomon Smolianoff (Karl Markovics) who is seen as one of the best criminal counterfeiters in the world when it comes to passports and currency. Although he is caught after unsuccessfully trying to forge American dollars and as a Jew is arrested and sent to a labour camp by the Nazis. As he enjoys a life of luxury compared to the rest of the Jewish prisoners, he is torn between his desire to stay alive by creating the forged currency and his fear that his work may be killing thousands of people in helping the Nazi war effort.


Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics)

The performance of many of the actors but especially Markovics and August Diehl who plays Burger who vehemently opposes creating the fake currency are excellent, they portray the nervousness and desperation of being completely at the mercy of the Nazi officers in charge of the operation. The flaw in the movie is that you quite often find the Holocaust backdrop being downplayed and that the reminders of their situation with deaths of workers and other Jews feel quite forced to make you feel sympathetic to their plight.

The moral question that runs throughout the film on what they are being asked to do and whether they would be killed if they refused is an interesting plot device and manages to maintain the tension throughout the movie. Sorowitsch is well portrayed as a superb counterfeiter but at no points is shown to be a hero, he is very much an average man just wanting to survive in the camp till the end of the war. There have been many films on this subject and The Counterfeiters isn't the best you'll see but is still a good watch.

2.5/4 intriguing Holocaust based plot

Most over-rated movies of the year

As we prepare for awards season just after New Year, I thought we'd look at the buzz surrounding some films that really don't deserve to be included in the shortlists. In no particular order:

Beasts of the Southern Wild: A cute little girl and an incredibly boring yet wacky plot seems to be a hit with critics just because it clearly represents Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, the message behind the story is more rammed down your throat than subtly conveyed. Quvenzhané Wallis does a decent job but Hollywood always hypes up the performance of child actors in films and she really wasn't that impressive. Certainly one to avoid catching up on.

Skyfall: Probably the choice that will get me the most flak, I'm not saying it wasn't a good movie but being honest it really wasn't as good as Casino Royale and had some plot similarities to The Dark Knight Rises in overall structure. The film also went on for far too long at the end but hero action movies like this rarely get much recognition at the awards anyways.

Arbitrage: A film not yet released in the UK but is garnering some praise for Richard Gere who pretty much plays himself as a billionaire hedge fund manager with a huge risk and debt problem. The film itself entwines two stories but places far more emphasis on the hit and run story than the actual financial mismanagement which is a mistake and nobody gets out of second gear in acting terms.

Ted: A frankly unfunny and entirely predictable film with Mark Wahlberg playing a slightly whiney character that he seems to default to when acting. The bear is apparently funny because he is loud, foul-mouted and constantly makes pop references. It is constantly appearing in top 10 lists for 2012 despite being one of my least favourite.

Golden Globe Nominations

Here is the list of Golden Globe nominations (I nearly forgot it was happening till my girlfriend reminded me):

Best Motion Picture — Drama
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Richard Gere, Arbitrage
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The ImpossibleRachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea

 
Best Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Moonrise Kingdom
Salmon Fishing in the YemenSilver Linings Playbook

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
Emily Blunt, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Jennifer Lawrence, Maggie Smith, Quartet
Meryl Streep, Hope Springs

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy Or Musical
Jack Black, Bernie
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bill Murray, Hyde Park on Hudson
Ewan McGregor, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Alan Arkin, Argo
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Best Director — Motion Picture
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Unfortunately quite a few films that have been nominated have not been released in the UK so it's hard to comment on the merit of some nominations. The early reviews for Django Unchained have been very good and films like Argo and Silver Linings Playbook are rightly recognised.

It's only fair to say that a nomination for Richard Gere in Arbitrage is a poor choice, it was a very middling performance in an average movie. Life of Pi seems to be a great visual spectacle but over-rated as an actual story but having not seen it yet I cannot criticise it too much yet.

This week's releases

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Set 60 years before the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman aka Tim from The Office) goes on a quest to retrieve stolen treasure from the dragon Smaug. He is joined by thirteen dwarves as they battle goblins and orcs on their journey.

The Hunt: Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) is recently divorced and is getting his life in order when one of his pupils accuses him of sexual abuse. The tight knit community he lives in quickly turns on him and he is forced to live with the consequences in this tense drama which is directed by Thomas Vinterberg who dealt with a similar topic with the film Festen.

Film Preview: Zero Dark Thirty

The decade long hunt for Osama Bin Laden had been a tough time for Americans, he was the leader al-Qaeda so the Americans would not be happy till he was taken out by the American military. In May 2011, the news appeared out of nowhere that Bin Laden had been shot dead in a house in Pakistan after a secret military operation. Many people around the world but especially Americans rejoiced at the news but also realised that this doesn't necessarily mean the end of International terrorism.

Starring Chris Platt and Jessica Chastain, the film chronicles the 10 years between the September 11th attacks and the death of Osama Bin Laden. The film has created quite a bit of Oscar buzz about the film and the lead performances so big things are expected upon its release.

Zero Dark Thirty is released in the UK on 25th January 2013 and the trailer is embedded below: