Having spent the last two weeks staring blankly at word documents trying to find some inspiration to write on the representation of a beachscapes within Rohmer's Le rayon Vert and to do a sequence analysis on Le Jour se Leve (which I would hugely recommend you watch) I relished the opportunity to go to the cinema a few times and forget about the afroementioned tedium of essay writing.
Exeter's Picturehouse cinema is running an amazing programme at the moment in conjuncture with E4 called 'Slackers', look out at your nearby cinemas for this-it is flawless. You can sign up for free, every month the cinema will run a free advanced screening of either a film or a new Tv series coming out. If this didn't already sound good you get a free bottle of stella with every screening. Hubba hubba. Needless to say I lapped up the oppurtunity to attend the first free screening. I was even more pleased to hear that the first film to be screened was Ang Lee's latest Taking Woodstock. I like Ang Lee as a director but am not really a big fan. Brokeback mountain was really good (if you smirk as you read this and think I am gay, we can no longer be friends) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is absolutely stunning. I don't want to talk about The Hulk because it doesn't deserve any form of criticism, we should all just forget it ever happened.
ANYWAY, I went in with fairly meek expectations for the film- hoping for the occasional laugh and a mildly engaging narrative. In this respect it surpassed my expectations. I casually chuckled my way through the film form scene to scene, particularly thanks to Eugene Levy playing a transexual bodyguard. the thing that impressed me most about this film was how well the scope of the size of Woodstock was portrayed. The enormity of the project is conveyed really effectively through the use of split screen which makes the frame so busy at times it gives you a bit of a headache. Lee really effectively chose to splice together archive footage from the real Woodstock festival against his own footage, often this does not work at all (watch Bravo Two Zero if you disagree with this statement, I am right) bu he managed to pull it off with surprising grace.
One of my big worries with this film was the inevitable 'drug trip' sequence which are without fail nauseatingly put together, with characters going 'whooooaaaaa' and other miscellaneous hippy noises. The only thing worse than this is when people who have not taken drugs before take drugs and the only thing worse that that is when those aforementioned people are the protagonist's parents. Lo and Behold taking Woodstock ticked all of these hellish boxes. Suffice it to say when the parents get stoned it is stupid-they are seen giggling and dancing, i was cringing. HOWEVER, when Demetri Martin takes Acid/LSD (cannot remember which) the 'trip' was put together really effectively. At once feeling claustophobic and quite suffocating it manages to convey a feeling of euphoric curiosity throughout (most notably through the use of P.O.V shots). The best part of the film in my opinion is when he leaves the campervan he has been "tripping" in and looks out at the absolutely vast crowd and onto the arena below. The huge panoramr of the crowd on the hills starts to move up and down like a broiling ocean-it looks incredible.
I don't really have much of an opinion on this film because it is very inoffensive yet not particularly impressive. If you have an oppurtunity to watch it I would recommend it for a casual night in. This is nothing groundbreaking, I know Ang can do better but he can certainly do worse. The film was released this weekend-I would recommend it if you are at al loss on a Wednesday night and want a cheap piece of easy entertainment.
Having said this I just realised that The Men Who Stare At Goats would be a much better film to go and see on a Wednesday for an easily digestable chunk of fun.
First things First-my review of this will without doubt be biased because I love Jeff Bridges unconditionally. The Dude can do no wrong. He basically plays an older and more military version of The Dude in this film so I was completely satisfied. I am also a huge Kevin Spacey fan and George Clooney also ticks alot of boxes for me. All three of these actors made the film, Kevin Spacey had me crying with laughter twice (a big accomplishment I would say).
The quirky sense of humour workls well in keeping you as an audience member engaged and smiling alot as opposed to openly laughing throughout. As my friend Callum pointed out it is a film that aimed for a Coen brothers tone, it succeeded in achieving this but failed in conveying it as well as the Coen brothers do.
The characters were fleshed out nicely, with an emotional core present in all the main characters so you could sufficiently equate to all of their situations. The narrative progression was odd in my opinion. I think it would have worked better if it played out more linearly and they scrapped the use of flashback. I am getting a bit sick of film's pointlessly adopting a fractured narrative structure just to make themselves seem a little bit more intelligent, it contributes nothing to the emotional core of the film and is becoming tiresome.
Interestingly there is a drug trip sequence in this as well, even more interestingly I wasn't that offended by this one either. It was definitely stupid, but fitted in well with the off-beat, slightly slapstick style of the film. Let's hope future releases represent hallucinogenics in an equally less irritating manner.
Again, I don't really have anything that insightful to say about this. Some films are made simply to be enjoyed on a very simplistic level. In the best way possible this is one of those-the humour is intelligent yet broad enough to appeal to all audiences, the plot is simple and engaging, the direction is competent and the acting is all good. Definitely go and see this if you fancy something entertaining with a quirky edge. A really enjoyable film.
ANYWAY, I went in with fairly meek expectations for the film- hoping for the occasional laugh and a mildly engaging narrative. In this respect it surpassed my expectations. I casually chuckled my way through the film form scene to scene, particularly thanks to Eugene Levy playing a transexual bodyguard. the thing that impressed me most about this film was how well the scope of the size of Woodstock was portrayed. The enormity of the project is conveyed really effectively through the use of split screen which makes the frame so busy at times it gives you a bit of a headache. Lee really effectively chose to splice together archive footage from the real Woodstock festival against his own footage, often this does not work at all (watch Bravo Two Zero if you disagree with this statement, I am right) bu he managed to pull it off with surprising grace.
One of my big worries with this film was the inevitable 'drug trip' sequence which are without fail nauseatingly put together, with characters going 'whooooaaaaa' and other miscellaneous hippy noises. The only thing worse than this is when people who have not taken drugs before take drugs and the only thing worse that that is when those aforementioned people are the protagonist's parents. Lo and Behold taking Woodstock ticked all of these hellish boxes. Suffice it to say when the parents get stoned it is stupid-they are seen giggling and dancing, i was cringing. HOWEVER, when Demetri Martin takes Acid/LSD (cannot remember which) the 'trip' was put together really effectively. At once feeling claustophobic and quite suffocating it manages to convey a feeling of euphoric curiosity throughout (most notably through the use of P.O.V shots). The best part of the film in my opinion is when he leaves the campervan he has been "tripping" in and looks out at the absolutely vast crowd and onto the arena below. The huge panoramr of the crowd on the hills starts to move up and down like a broiling ocean-it looks incredible.
I don't really have much of an opinion on this film because it is very inoffensive yet not particularly impressive. If you have an oppurtunity to watch it I would recommend it for a casual night in. This is nothing groundbreaking, I know Ang can do better but he can certainly do worse. The film was released this weekend-I would recommend it if you are at al loss on a Wednesday night and want a cheap piece of easy entertainment.
Having said this I just realised that The Men Who Stare At Goats would be a much better film to go and see on a Wednesday for an easily digestable chunk of fun.
First things First-my review of this will without doubt be biased because I love Jeff Bridges unconditionally. The Dude can do no wrong. He basically plays an older and more military version of The Dude in this film so I was completely satisfied. I am also a huge Kevin Spacey fan and George Clooney also ticks alot of boxes for me. All three of these actors made the film, Kevin Spacey had me crying with laughter twice (a big accomplishment I would say).
The quirky sense of humour workls well in keeping you as an audience member engaged and smiling alot as opposed to openly laughing throughout. As my friend Callum pointed out it is a film that aimed for a Coen brothers tone, it succeeded in achieving this but failed in conveying it as well as the Coen brothers do.
The characters were fleshed out nicely, with an emotional core present in all the main characters so you could sufficiently equate to all of their situations. The narrative progression was odd in my opinion. I think it would have worked better if it played out more linearly and they scrapped the use of flashback. I am getting a bit sick of film's pointlessly adopting a fractured narrative structure just to make themselves seem a little bit more intelligent, it contributes nothing to the emotional core of the film and is becoming tiresome.
Interestingly there is a drug trip sequence in this as well, even more interestingly I wasn't that offended by this one either. It was definitely stupid, but fitted in well with the off-beat, slightly slapstick style of the film. Let's hope future releases represent hallucinogenics in an equally less irritating manner.
Again, I don't really have anything that insightful to say about this. Some films are made simply to be enjoyed on a very simplistic level. In the best way possible this is one of those-the humour is intelligent yet broad enough to appeal to all audiences, the plot is simple and engaging, the direction is competent and the acting is all good. Definitely go and see this if you fancy something entertaining with a quirky edge. A really enjoyable film.
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