I Know What Film You Saw Last Summer

So I noticed that I haven't been round these here parts for a while. Blame work, some uninteresting turns at the cinema, work, and my attempts to write a television series about superheroes and quarter-life crises. And work.

I'm trying to remember all the films I've seen since my last post. Here's as many as will roll off the top of my head onto the computer screen:

127 Hours
Wild Target
I Spit on Your Grave remake
Saw: The Final Chapter
Paranormal Activity
Going the Distance
I'm Still Here
Food, Inc
Somewhere
The Green Hornet
Sucker Punch
Hoodwinked Too!
X-Men: First Class
The Hangover 2
Bridesmaids


I'm sure I've watched more than these for the first time this year, but my mind is weak and slow like my computer. The highlights will be discussed below:

127 Hours
I honestly think Danny Boyle is one of the best filmmakers working today. He is so able and willing to turn his attention to any genre, and I believe it's because the kind of stories that interest him are about human frailty and survival. If you think about his most recent films, the central theme is our ability to fight for what we want, no matter how pointless or futile it seems. He makes films about hope, even when all hope is lost. It sounds really lame, but it makes for some compelling films and 127 Hours is no exception. The story of mountain climber Aron Ralston and his ordeal is amazing and perfectly realised. James Franco is absolutely incredible as Ralston and the film's success hinges on his performance. Much was made of that scene; Ralston had to cut his own arm off to survive after being trapped by a boulder in the caves of Bluejohn Mountain in Utah and the film doesn't shy away from the moment Ralston freed himself. I was on edge for much of the film, waiting for this moment and it's excruciating. But when you think about Ralston actually doing it, and Franco's performance making the experience brutally real, you realise Ralston's will to survive and you wonder if you could ever do the same. I for one, probably couldn't. Although I have been able to repierce my own ear before, so maybe I could if it was required?

Paranormal Activity
I was pretty late to the party on this one, but after an exhausting day at work I sat down (on my own) to watch this film people had been telling me was the scariest shit they'd ever seen for two years. And let me tell ya, they were dead on. It really is one of the scariest films I've ever seen. Horror films don't really affect me - if they're slasher films I get bored with the misogyny and annoying variations of the Final Girl (Jamie-Lee Curtis is the best - accept no substitute), and if they're zombies flicks, well, I love them so much they don't really scare me. But this film was 90 minutes of that feeling of hairs standing up on the back of your neck. An extreme metaphor for those times when you hear something weird, but don't want to investigate, so instead you stay in bed and imagine a ghost/rapist/murderer lurking in your room. I've been meaning to write about the films that scare me the most, because they're usually films with an incredibly simple storyline in which the monster is never revealed or defeated, low budget, and documentary aesthetic. Look for it, it'll be called Cinema Scarity (as in cinema verite. Preetttty clever, huh?). I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the sequel. I am hoping it's so rubbish that I question the artistic abilities of the original. Like the Blair Witch Project and it's awful sequel. Though the original is still pretty terrifying...

The Green Hornet
I have to admit this superhero flick was slightly disappointing, but all the same it was an example of the interesting path a lot of superhero flicks and television series are making. A friend told me that the best part of superhero films are the moments in which the superhero demonstrates his skills on people she or he is clearly no match for. Everyone loves when Spider-Man beats up that idiotic robber more than watching him getting his arse handed to him by Green Goblin or similar. And the Green Hornet takes this moment and makes it a whole film. Not only that, but it's a clear case of the sidekick being the true hero. And Seth Rogen is just poured into that suit. It's literally a nice, 3-piece suit. And it's never looked better on him.

Somewhere
Sofia Coppola is one of my favourite directors and whatever problems I may have with parts of her films, what she excels in is character studies at an almost pure visual level. She uses dialogue sparingly, and relies on landscape as metaphor internal struggle. Somewhere is some of her best work to date, especially because it's a mirror held up to a troubled star and his more troubled family life. Whether it's in any way autobiographical is to miss the point. This is the story of a man who doesn't know where he needs to go and by the end of the film he's figured it out - it doesn't matter. He just needs to go somewhere. For too long he's had no direction and the mere realisation of a need for direction is enough.

X-Men: First Class
I had the pleasure of viewing this film at a Drive-In for the first time in my life. Despite not being able to see the screen properly for the rearview mirror in the way, and having to fold myself into a pretzel and rearrange my organs in the process in my bid to successfully watch a film from the backseat of a car, this film made it all worthwhile. After the dire X-Men: The Final Stand and the utterly ridiculous X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I was not looking forward to this obvious excuse to draw more cash from a rapidly deteriorating franchise. But I forgot one important detail; it was produced by Brian Singer and directed by Matthew Vaughn. These two men on board meant that not only was it a spectacular action flick, but one about relationships, and the way a person's upbringing can affect their worldview. Charles Xavier and Erik Lensher should be on the same side. They each have a gift that they believe makes them special, not freakish. They believe in harnessing those gifts and standing up for themselves. It's unfortunate, then, that one is Professor X, mentor and trainer of the X-Men, and the other is Magneto, a villain seemingly hellbent on bringing humankind to its knees. And their worldviews are completely changed by their upbringing; Charles's family is incredibly wealthy, and so his status as being different was always seen as better. Erik, on the other hand, was a Polish Jew enslaved by the Nazis in WWII. His status in society has meant losing everything he has. Yes, this is a superhero movie. But it's a superhero movie that uses superpowers as a metaphor for acceptance vs intolerance, identity and struggle. And it was a welcome return of James McAvoy to my life. I now face an impossible choice; Professor X or Magneto? One is James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart and the other is Michael Fassbender and Sir Ian McKellen. So hard to choose who's sexier!

Bridesmaids
Anyone involved in a wedding will tell you it's a wonderful experience. Like mothers informing the newly pregnant woman on the birthing process, they're lying. If you've ever been a bridesmaid, you'll know it's the worst thing in the world. The only thing worse than being asked to be a bridesmaid is, well, not being asked to be a bridesmaid. Over the last few years, films featuring men going through an identity crisis only to have it solved by a woman who's hardly featured in the film (or if she is, she's either a bitch or a stripper)have been pretty sucessful; Knocked Up, the 40 Year Old Virgin, the Hangover, all these films are about men figuring out who they are. That these films are comedies makes them all the more endearing. Women, on the other hand, have had slim pickings. It's either a story of a middle-aged woman getting dumped, or getting a terminal illness, or losing their mother, or leaving their husband and going to India or whatever. We've never really been able to make a sex joke, or swear at each other. And if we have, it hasn't had the success of the guys' films. Good news, ladies; for here is the film to change all that. Yes it's a fairly female premise; a single woman in her thirties is asked to be maid of honour for her childhood best friend at a time when her life is in shambles and attempts to corrall a ragtag bunch of girls; the cousin who shares too much, the scary sister-in-law, the boring religious coworker, and the boss's wife who loves to make everything about herself. That her efforts don't really pay off says something about the women who've written this film and the women who will go to see it. And take their boyfriends and husbands with them. A friend or sibling's wedding usually reminds us of all the things wrong with our own lives and Annie Walker is a perfect protagonist for us to relate to. That she gets to have sex with John Hamm and Chris O'Dowd is just icing on the cake. Means we can all bag a handsome television actor even at our worst. Or something like that. And get ready to admit to dancing badly to Hold On by Wilson-Phillips. It's now a pop culture reference, not sad and desperate.

I've also discovered two amazing British television series recently and they are worth some note.

Misfits
As I've mentioned above, I'm trying to write an unconventional superhero series. Well actually, it's sort of conventional because superhero stories use the device of extraordinary powers to explore contemporary society and provide a commentary on it while being entertaining, with the power usually linked to some inner turmoil within the characters and...yes. Well. Given that I'm trying to write a genre piece for television that's a little different, I wondered that I hadn't heard of this series earlier. It's storyline is thus: five ASBOs doing community service get caught in a freak storm, are struck by powerful lightning and develop powers. These unlikely heroes continue to live their lives, but struggle with all the problems their powers present them. They'll probably destroy the world before they'll save it, but it's an interesting look at how real people might react to something extraordinary. Would it be the life-changing even they have us believe it is? Does having extraordinary gifts make you a good person willing to fight for others? This series presents these questions every episodes. And a lot of swearing.

Grandma's House
I must admit that I have a rather large crush on former Never Mind the Buzzcocks host Simon Amstell. So when I heard he was writing a series I was incredibly happy. Then I forgot about it. Then I saw an ad for it on UKTV. Grandma's House is, funnily enough, a show about Simon, a former music television presenter who has to put up with his odd family on a regular basis. His bitchy aunt Liz, his stage mother Tanya and her new boyfriend Clive, his grandma and grandpa, and his cousin Adam happily interrupt his attempts to find new purpose, wallow in depression, forgive his controlling father, and a boyfriend in the form of a painfully shy actor named Ben Theodore. It's awkward Jewish family comedy and it's a series that deserves much more attention than it has. As with Misfits, I cannot wait for the second series of this incredibly well-written show. And not just because I think Amstell's adorable.

Right. Off to watch more television. 30 Rock series 4 or Parks and Recreation series 2? Oh, too many choices, too many internal struggles, too many dilemmas, oh the humanity!