The Town (2010)

The Gang.

When Ben Affleck first turned his hand to writing his own film he came up with the amazingly brilliant Good Will Hunting (along with buddy and co-star Matt Damon). Many years later he directs and plays a part in writing The Town (2010), casting himself as the lead Doug MacRay, with Jeremy Renner as his right hand man James (Jem) Coughlin.Rebecca Hall features as Affleck’s current love interest Claire Keesey, whilst Blake Lively takes on the task as his old flame, Krista. The plot – set in Charlestown, Boston (a common area that bothAffleck and Damon find themselves holed up in) sees Doug and his gang of thugs revert to their standard source of income.

Rather than holding down a regular job, they commit bank robberies. Affleck jumps straight into thick of it, as the audience watch his foursome add another robbery to their list of achievements; however the normal get in, get out routine is disrupted when they take the bank manager Claire hostage. Eventually leaving her unharmed near the sea miles away.

The film then delves into MacRay’s life and the relationships he tries to cultivate and sustain. Although knowing he shouldn’t Doug begins to follow Claire around after the robbery, partly to check she hasn’t ratted them out to the police, partly because he is interested in her. A big NO NO in the criminal underworld – never mix business with pleasure. As they begin to date he realises that Hall’s character remembers Jem’s distinctive tattoo, seen underneath the masks they wore. From here on out things start to get progressively wrong, cue the action and violence.

As lie after lie leaves his mouth, Doug begins to hurt the people around him: his friends, Claire and ex lover Krista. Taught by the master of deception (his father) who is currently serving time, his conscience starts to get the better of him. Life is too short to be stuck in a situation that you can change, and with that in mind begins to plan his last ever job. Go big or go home!

Affleck keeps this production fairly low profile with a cast that’s fairly unassuming, he plays everything down. A clever and tactical move that created more interest than blowing the budget would have. Sometimes publicising the film to within a inch of its life is the wrong move. With an interesting take on Charlestown and its infamous reputation of corruption, Affleck uses his wit and understanding to create clever dialogue and rapport between characters. Jeremy Renner outshines Affleck as the star in this edgy crime flick. His performance once again was difficult to fault, and pulled everything together. Without him I am unsure whether it would have reached the success it did.

It’s hard not to compare it to Good Will Hunting, and in that sense it was not as thought provoking, but The Town was mesmerizing in parts. With touch and violent undertones, Affleck should concentrate on directing and writing. The time has come to leave the acting behind.

The Departed (2006)

When Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg and Matt Damon are cast in a film together, you know it’s going to be a first-rate production. Nothing less can be said about The Departed (2006), Martin Scorsese once again hit the nail on the head with his multiple Oscar winner. Set in the tired and troublesome areas of South Boston and Charlestown, Massachusetts. The police are on a constant crack down of ‘gang warfare’ and drug related problems mainly connected with the Irish-American population; where in lies the story.

As a child Colin Sullivan (Damon) grew up idolising crime lord Costello (Nicholson) and how successful he had become. His home life and father had never been anything to be proud of, making him realise he didn’t want to end up in the same position. With the intent of rising up through the ranks in the State Police he finally reaches the top, working alongside foul mouthed Staff Sergeant Dignam (Wahlberg). The one thing no one knows – he is actually a double agent with the sole aim of keeping Costello home free, not dead or behind bars for the rest of his life.

Whilst Sullivan was growing up, he had a counterpart, William Costigan Jr (DiCaprio) that looked up to his father who served as a cop. His goal – to rise up through the ranks of the State Police programme too, being the best he can be, for no other reason than to make his family proud. After being dismissed for being an unsuitable candidate he finds himself being offered the opportunity of becoming an undercover agent. No one will ever know of his achievements or failures; however he would be contributing to the greater good. The task – to infiltrate Costello’s gang and feedback intel on his schemes, with the end result of catching him red handed.

This is where it gets interesting. Now both parties are within their chosen establishments they realise that there are moles within each other’s departments, just not who it is. The film flicks back and forth between their ‘real’ lives and their covert ones. To throw an added complication into the mix, Sullivan meets a lady along the way, falling in love and making plans which is all well and good, until she meets Costigan. Love, which always makes the clear seem opaque.

Whilst sounding like a love story, it is anything but. Scorsese tells a tale of dishonesty, retribution, and loyalty in a way that audiences will be able to understand. The constant twists and turns that keep the audience on the edge of their seats is one of his many talents. The tension is palpable and so are the shocked gasps. When you think it may be over, he flips everything. One of my favourite parts of the film – the tumultuous Irish music played throughout. It’s violent and aggressive much like the characters.

Dicaprio once again takes a character and creates depth and passion. Nicholson as always, is intimidating and forceful (but maybe getting a little too old for these roles) none the less he pulls it off. In one of the first roles where I have detested Damon, I cannot decide if this was Scorsese’s intention or my personal opinion, either way an arrogant a** he is. Wahlberg play’s a character that’s not entirely in the spotlight, but remember him you will, maybe because of the pure ‘maleness’ he embodies in this role, or his foul mouth.

I now have a new love for the Irish culture.

Like Crazy (2012)

Long distance relationships are always difficult, with couples failing to keep in touch, communication inevitably breaks down – out of sight out of mind. Like Crazy (2012) is an art house and ‘stylishly’ made film that tries to test the distance theory. When two people are so deeply in love and devoted to each other, breaking the bond is difficult; oh how naive can one be.  And so what now follows is 90 minutes of depression, cluelessness, an emotional rollercoaster.

Brit, Anna (Felicity Jones) is currently living and studying in California, thousands of miles away from her parents, friends and her life in London. From the beginning we are shown that she has caught the eye of a Teaching Assistant Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and is obviously interested in him too. First contact – a sly note under his window wiper, leading to a phone call. And so it begins – the audience watch as the pair awkwardly try to get to know each other. One word to take complete notice of here is awkward, the cringe worthiness of their first moments together made me want to leave the cinema; however I am persistent.

After an intense few months of the honeymoon period, the couple soon realise they have to face the impending situation of summer break. In which she will go back to London to work and attend her sister’s wedding, then return to be with her beloved. 2 months is all they have to wait; however the day before leaving the US she intelligently decides to overstay her visa. Only returning to the homeland for the wedding. Anna, when finally travelling back to California, is detained in the airport for violating the terms on her student visa – the consequence, deportation and a ban on returning.  

The rest of the film looks at the struggle they go through over the course of four years, as the characters are seen falling in and out of love with each other. One word to describe this film – turbulent. After getting over the awkwardness in the beginning between Anna and Jacob, they decide to see who can ignore and hurt each other the most. Then switching to try and get one another’s attention again. I felt fed up with the pair of them, with one friend commenting that she felt she had just gone through a breakup. I can only imagine the audience (2 other people) felt the same.

Felicity Jones, whilst being natural seemed like she was just being herself and getting paid for it. No effort was put into getting to know Anna and there was nothing going on below the awkward surface. Anton Yelchin is definitely the only one out of the pair with blossoming talent. Experience counts for a lot and having previously starred alongside Colin Farrell he has this; as well as a rough idea of what he is actually doing. The lack of chemistry between the Anna and Jacob was disappointing; not only were they hard to watch together, I just didn’t care what happened either.

Piece of advice – stay in London

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

It's the 40s - World War II to be precise - and Nazi Germany are spreading their fascist views as far across the globe as possible, including France. Cities are infiltrated and countryside havens are terrorized by the Anti-Semites. Hitler is also unaware that his about to get his ass handed to him on a plate in the slightly fictional 'Inglorious Basterds'. Brad Pitt heads the cast as a violent, 100% American leader of the cleverly named gang of 'justice seekers'. With the talented Christopher Waltz featuring as the infamous Colonel Hans Landa otherwise known as the 'Jew-Hunter'.

The film begins with the Colonel perfecting his skills as a Jew Hunter, tracking down a sympathizer living in the countryside. The Milk Man is reported to be hiding a Jewish family on his land somewhere, as this is unacceptable behavior he begins to apply pressure. Eventually he cracks, and all hell breaks loose; but in the midst of madness a young girl fights for her freedom, fleeing from the scene of her family's brutal murder.

Years down the line the 'Inglorious Basterds' form and become a intimidating militia, instilling fear in Nazi's the world over. The eight man team have one goal - to kill as many Nazi's as possible and to retrieve 100 scalps each - Apache style. The means of going about this are ruthless, no restrictions apply. The more they suffer the better - Tarantino's version of retribution for the six millions Jewish lives lost over the WWII period. 

Cut to the young girl Shosanna, who escaped death years ago and has now grown up to become Emmanuelle Mimieux - owner of a cinema in Paris and a 'secret' Jew. We know not of how she manages to survive and make a life for herself but remain safe in the knowledge that she is constantly suspicious and stays isolated with her partner; a black man - never one to stray from the 'controversial'. No longer able to stay inconspicuous due to a famous Nazi solider taking interest in her and her cinema for the premier of his film. She has to fraternize with the enemy; one of the enemy's being the Jew Hunter from years before. Tensions are about to hit boiling point. 

What follows is a fast paced, quirky and witty plot that swiftly sees the various different lives come crashing together in Paris. Although farfetched and highly believable, Tarantino provides entertainment in his usual unusual fashion. Relatives of those affected by the Holocaust or Hitler's reign during WWII, or simply those that take offense easily should not be. True, he trivializes many aspects of the devastating war and suggests that it could have been easier to stop if someone had taken action like these characters but it wasn't, and it was horrific. What needs to be pointed out though is that this film is fictional.

If only we could all live in a world like Quentin Tarantino's...

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

What your about to see isn’t pretty, in fact its rather shambolic. Chevy Chase once again takes to our screens as Clark Griswold in National Lampoons: Christmas Vacation (1989). The Griswold family including a young and fresh Juliette Lewis and Beverly D’Angelo as the mother, attract chaos wherever they go, whatever they do. This time is no exception. Its Christmas time and anything Clark touches goes wrong, like the domino effect. Christmas is about family, and The Griswold’s intend on having the perfect Christmas spent with their loved ones…or so they hoped.

What you see next is an hour and a half of epic fails, tasks that most find easy to complete but not the Griswolds. From choosing a Christmas tree that’s the size of a two storey house, to attaching 25,000 light bulbs to his house with his son (Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory) and “checking” that they all work and the infamous Christmas dinner, are chores that come with the biggest problems. With the slight slapstick element that comes with all Chevy Chase films everything that happens is silly, but laugh out loud funny.

Whilst trying to create the ideal environment to spend Christmas in, Clark also has to deal with his obnoxious and snobbish neighbours who look down on his family with utter disdain. Not only does this begin to cause problems, the in laws come to stay for the special day as well as his hick cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his family of hillbillies. Just the right ingredients for disaster. Clark can handle everything that is thrown his way, none of that matters, as he will receive his Christmas bonus from the firm he has been working for, for 17 years…or will he.

The ‘In laws’ behave as old people do, sleeping at random points during the day, having no tact when talking,  and doing whatever they please. Clearly it’s obvious where the madness comes from. The cousins family are on a whole other level, turning up in their rusty old trailer and 70’s style clothes they clearly bring the sophistication to the picture. Despite these terrible elements, the whole film works as the biggest cheese fest on the Christmas Top 30. Expect nothing less when Chevy Chase is included.

One thing that did work for me, are the parts of the film when characters try to be offensive (in the least offensive way possible). This makes the whole production more entertaining. It proves that you don’t have to have a mouth of a sailor to get your point across or to be “funny”, like many writers think these days. Let’s go back to 1989 when every other word doesn’t need to be edited out of trailers.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

In quite frankly the freakiest animated children’s Christmas film, Tim Burton and Henry Selick have created the world of Halloweentown. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) is unlike any other Christmas film, especially when it contains Burton’s bizarre touch of creativity. Coming from a world of death and obscurity is the character Jack Skellington (Danny Elfman’s voice) – infamous for being long and thin with a pumpkin shaped head. Life has become a bore, being dead and still ‘living’ means an eternity of doing the same thing, every day, for the rest of time.

Jack wonders day and night trying to find something new, whilst his fellow friends carry on living their peculiar lives. Until one day he comes across an area of Halloween town that is undiscovered, consisting of trees with doors. Curious he heads over to the Christmas tree door, something vivid and unusual he has never seen before. What follows is a twisted version of Alice In Wonderland in which he falls down a hole into another dimension, or holiday town. Christmas Town, unbeknown to him is completely different to anything he has experienced. Happy and festive with lights and laughter, instead of misery and depression, life is about to become interesting.

On arrival the snow and cheeriness of Christmas Town bewilders him, can people live in happiness this extreme? Is their hope for him? His heart begins to regain life again, and although he remains dead his attitude to life changes in that instant, he is intrigued.

On a mission, Jack returns to Halloweentown with the intent to discover what Christmas really means, what goes into creating it, and how it has come about? I sometimes wonder the same thing, it’s not a superfluous idea Burton has picked out of thin air. His friends soon begin to realise something has changed and want to understand Christmas too, and the idea spreads. Here in lies the problem; Halloweentown may not be ready for Jack’s interpretation of Christmas in the normal sense of the word and nor is the rest of the world.

Burton’s pure extraordinary talent at creating the unique and twisted is encompassed throughout the film. With a storyline so abnormally creepy for any child to comprehend, this Christmas film, despite being animated and a PG may only be for a certain type of child. A child similar to me, a child that reveals in the weird and wonderful. The scenes and animations are frequently horrifying but also fantastic, exemplified with the musical elements that may seem out of place, but for Burton, are just standard.

The voice’s selected for the roles of Characters such as Jack, Sally (his crush) , The Mayor and all smaller creations, are equally distinctive and fitting which pulls the film together. When feelings of passion, sadness, happiness and anger need to be portrayed through that medium, a typical ‘Hollywood American accent’ would not suffice.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a disturbingly funny and entertaining film, showing Jack trying to do what he thinks will make others happy. Christmas after all, is about bringing happiness to the world. His efforts don’t go unnoticed, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. However as they say, it’s the thought that counts.

Home Along 2: Lost in New York

Alone, on Christmas, in a strange city. It’s the sequel to the classic Christmas caper involving a young boy forgotten by his family when leaving for Christmas vacation in France. Home Alone 2 (1992) follows the same storyline as the original, the McCallister family decide to go away for the 25^th of December again. This time determined not to let anything go wrong they stay stateside and head to Miami for some fun in the sun. Lady luck was not on their side this year either.

Once again Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) finds himself battling his enormous family, resulting in his banishment to the loft room for the night. This time not forgetting to check every member is accounted for the McCallister’s and co head off to the airport in a manic rush hoping to make their flight down south. Amidst the confusion at the airport Kevin finds himself thinking he is following his father onto the plane; however on arriving in New York City he soon finds himself alone, again.

To add more drama to this familiar situation he finds himself in, the two mastermind thieves Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) from the previous escapades find themselves in the same city, at the same time, in the same locale. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year, and equally the best time of the year to go on a ‘shopping’ spree, those presents won’t steal themselves. Only they will have to take down Culkin in the process.

Being a huge fan of the first film meant I expected the sequel to not live up to the first’s quality and originality. I am afraid I was right. Home Alone 2, still being vaguely funny, was not in the same league. The storyline had been recycled and based in New York City instead of Chicago; with the idea of using the same bandits and stunts to fend them off. It just doesn’t work as well because of the plausibility factor. Would this really happen for a second time, would he really get let onto a flight he was not supposed to be on. This was pre 9/11 so I suppose anything goes. Putting that to the side, it just wasn’t as entertaining. The predictability element of what would happen was far too high for my liking.

Culkin fitted into the role just as he did before, playing Kevin expertly with a slight air of maturity. However I felt as though he needed to be given something new and fresh to take part in instead of the same old routine that we have now become familiar with. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern still stole the show as the likable villains Harry and Marv. The terrible twosome play off of each other with a chemistry of friends who have history. Their part in the film works, it’s just a shame that the storyline didn’t do their skills any justice.

Home Alone 2 could have been so much better than it was. Perhaps the expectations were already set too high, but it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be matched. It did not have the same Christmas festive air as the first, that was put on the backburner as the actual idea of him being in NYC took over and not that he was apart from his family during a ‘family’ holiday. Kevin – pay attention next time!

Elf (2003)

That time of the year has come to watch Will Ferrell prance around with the rest of Santa’s little helpers in the silly yet hilarious, Elf (2003). Ferrell plays Buddy, a human who found himself stowed away into Santa’s sack and taken away from his orphanage to the North Pole. Life is about to get very interesting for this human come elf.

Once reaching the ripe old age of 30 he finally discovers that he is not actually an elf (if the height difference didn’t give it away I don’t know what would). His Christmas mission once discovering his roots is to find his biological father James Caan, the head of a publishing house in big bad New York City. Buddy remains positive and excited, even after discovering his father has spent most of his life on the ‘Naughty List’. Shock Horror! Prepared with some very poignant advice from Santa, Buddy heads off into the real world with nothing but the love in his heart to guide him, well that and a snow globe of the Empire State Building.

Witnessing Buddy’s entrance into a city, from the point of view of someone that has never experienced traffic, restaurants and buildings before is eye opening and stomach crampingly comical. Never before had I thought that a Zebra crossing could be mistaken for a game of hop scotch or people flagging taxi’s mistaken for friendly waving strangers. Finally figuring out where his father works, being let in to see him as a ‘Christmasgram’ he manages to freak everyone out and get banned from the building.

After his pathetic attempt at bonding with Walter and the cringe worthy song, he ends up in Gimbles the department store, that’s decked out floor to ceiling in Christmas decorations. The perfect place for him in New York. Will Ferrell then begins a display of mayhem by fighting with the ‘fake’ Santa, rifling the managers feathers by spending an evening elaborately decorating the whole toy floor and spying on women showering. Children’s films need love interests too, and the interest comes in the form of Zooey Deschanel, the quirky sales assistant/singer.

Once Walter (Caan) finally believes that Buddy is his son and is invited into their family home, more chaos descends as he passes along his Christmassy ways. Ferrell doesn’t fit in, his actions are far too weird and wonderful even though everything he does is with a pure heart. Never will you see an adult so full of fun and joy all year round especially at Christmas…if only there were people like this out there the world may be a better place for it.

Will Ferrell, who usually stars in tongue in check comedies such as Old School, Anchorman and Step Brothers, acts completely out of character and defies expectations in this humorous take on the Elf culture; but somehow nails the role.  Throughout the whole film my eyes never strayed in case of missing another ridiculous anecdote or scene. His childlike innocence is thoroughly believable, maybe Ferrell’s acting does not get as much recognition as it should. He seems to find a way of relating with any person he works with, young or old, funny or serious. Zooey Deschanel the other protagonist is fabulous in anything she takes part in, she has an unusual way about her that is evident with every role, even more so when she sings.

The only issue I have with the film is James Caan playing the role of his long lost father, Walter. I understand that he comes across as the tough guy but in his older age it now comes across as tedious and repetitive, another actor may well have suited the part. The role that can’t go unmentioned is the entertaining Gimbles manager, Faizon Love. His small but effective part along with facial expressions made it all the more funny when interacting with Ferrell, the two worked well together.

Elf needs to be watched more often during the year, not only at Christmas, the perfect light comedy for a winter’s afternoon.