Moon

Finally, finally I got around to watching Moon last Wednesday. Lauded by all as the best science fiction film of 2009 and a throwback to the pensive and introspective science fiction films of the 1970s - it was impossible to not be excited.

There were so many things about this film that I loved. The background music sent me straight into that world of 1970s science fiction like Dark Star or Westworld. The throwback special effects that use actual models for the station and rovers on the moon reminded me of Red Dwarf and an age when science fiction had to rely on stories and characters over whiz-bang CGI. Most of all though, I was captivated by the performance of Sam Rockwell; who plays a man running a mineral production facility on the moon all by himself. It is a lonely job but one in which he is kept sane by the promise of a fat pay cheque and imminent return to Earth when we will be re-united with his wife. It is also a necessary job, made so by the Earth’s endless demand for new and cheap energy sources.

It's a simple premise, one which allows a quite brilliant story to shine. It is hardly a spoiler to state it - since it happens only 20 minutes into the film - so I shall reveal that the science fiction revolves around the main character discovering a second person identical to himself on the moon base. In lesser films this would have been a 'big reveal' moment that required orchestral music and a montage of flashbacks, here though it is an open invitation to explore the psychology of a character who has to deal with this insane situation - and slowly realise what his discovery means for his own life.

The film has a chillingly creepy performance by Kevin Spacey as the voice of the robot that wanders around the moon base helping Sam out (the character played by Rockwell is conveniently called Sam). There was something about the simplicity of the smiley / sad face that this robot uses to express 'emotions' that gave it equal parts terrifying machine-like efficiency and touchingly humanity - a great touch by the set designers. The ease with which the robot keeps Sam in the dark about certain truths while at the same time seeming to genuinely care for his welfare is reminiscent of some king of Orwellian nanny state - all needs accounted for, all fears and emotions mollified.

The film ends up being about sacrifice, secrets and facing up to an untimely unwanted future. Sam Rockwell acts his socks off in scenes where he is talking to himself. Watching the DVD extras afterwards revealed to me that he used to memorise each performance listening to himself on headphones before running through the scene again as the 'other' him. The result is genuinely affecting.

On my original friedgold.co.uk website (still up and running if you fancy a glimpse into my fairly recent past) I used a rating system in which good films got 6/10 and great films got 8/10. I would reserve the hallowed 10/10 for films that were genuine classics, genre-defining or otherwise notable beyond the normal situation in which one would label a film 'great'. I think I only gave a handful of films 10/10 over the course of about 5 years.

Moon - 10/10

The Road - bleak

Old Viggo Mortensen has to be applauded for what he has done to his career since Lord of the Rings. It would have been so easy to go down the Orlando Bloom route of using his new-found stardom to earn piles of cash in a series of god-awful Holywood action tripe-fests; instead he is using his currency as a star earn himself roles in a series intelligent modern mini classics. 'Eastern Promises', 'Good' and now 'The Road' - all films in which the ability to act has been a requirement rather than an added bonus. Viggo has shown himself to fit into the roles demanded of him with ease.

So we know that Viggo's awesome, what of this new film. It's the story of a man and his son, and their journey across an apocalypse-ravaged landscape in search of survival. It's a bleak place with no animals, few plants and where a simple can of coke is a luxury to be treasured. In flashbacks we see glimpses of the man's life before the end of civilisation, moments with his wife and their son before they were separated for good.

The flashbacks posed more questions than they answered though. For example Viggo runs a bath of water when he hears noises and fires outside their house. Now, any survivalist worth his salt will tell you that the first thing you do when the end comes is to horde as much water as you can before the pumps stop working - clever Viggo. But then literally all that's happened to prompt him is some noises and a fire outside his house. Does he react like this every time there's something unsettling going on in his street? Must be a nightmare for the neighbours. So perhaps his character had prior knowledge that the end might be coming? Perhaps that's why he seems to have survived so long after the end? Perhaps there's a sordid back story? Answers to these questions are never forthcoming.

This is a grim film, one in which there clearly isn't going to be a satisfying or overtly 'happily ever after' ending. We don't get anywhere near finding out how much hope is left in the world, indeed we don't even get to find out what it is that caused the apocalypse (although the possible effects of a nuclear holocaust are hinted at). This was satisfying, since it meant that the film focussed entirely on the drama of the man, his son and the people they encounter on their travels, rather than looking at the bigger picture of what was going on in the world. Everything that happens is a picture of hopelessness, of how humanity could turn in on itself if the thin veneer of civilisation was suddenly no longer present.

But then, after all that there is an ever-so-slight glimmer of hope at the end of the film. It's almost as if the cynicism of the past is being washed away by the cleansing affect of the apocalypse. An odd sentiment I know, but it's difficult to describe what I thought about the ending without giving too much away (not that there's much in the way of a twist of course). Probably not essential that you see it in the cinema, but certainly worth a 100 minute investment to see a couple of fantastic acting performances.

Paranormal Activity - Things that go bump...

The hype surrounding this film has been claiming that it is the scariest of all time. Reviews and reviewers are clambering over each other to tell us how they've been unable to sleep since watching the film and that they were literally falling out of their chairs with terror while it was on. Pretty strong stuff, so I went into the cinema with a little trepidation. I rarely jump or get overly frightened by horror films, so I was naturally worried that I might get all wussy with this one – it's a macho thing I think.

Paranormal Activity is a very effective movie, one in which sound and subtle changes in character and ambiance create a terrifying atmosphere. The plot revolves around a couple who live in a house and live with night terrors, the boyfriend decides to film their experiences to record and document the paranormal activity. The girlfriend tells stories of her past in which she has been haunted by demons and calls in a psychic to diagnose her problems. As her boyfriend starts to take matters seriously and begins to call the demon out, the paranormal activity gets worse. From noises to footprints and then to physical presences, we never get to see what's causing the hauntings, but it's impact is constantly present and terrifying.

'Paranormal Activity' is only 80 minutes long, but it has no need to be any longer. The payoff at the end of the film is suitably subtle and unnerving, a fitting end to a film that has been made in the same vein.

It didn't stop me sleeping or have me jumping out of my seat, but 'Paranormal Activity' certainly is one of the most unsettling and effective horror films I have seen in a long time.

The Best Films of 2009

I was going to do this ages ago, but various things got in the way and so it has had to wait until I am at a loose end. A snowy day when I'm 'working at home' is about as loose an end as I can muster, so here it is - my top 5 films of 2009...

5 - An Education
A young girl comes of age at the start of the swinging sixties and learns a lot about life, people, men and her own future in a short space of time. A brilliant performance from Carey Mulligan underlines this touching drama - although the ending could have been a little tighter.

4 - Zombieland
Comedy of the year is Zombieland. Daftness and poignancy go together so well when the script is right, such as it is here. Plus there's the bit with Bill Murray - officially very funny.

3 - Slumdog Millionaire
It may be 12 months now since I saw Slumdog, but the vibrancy of the direction in the film is still with me. I can still remember the moment when I was in the cinema and realised that all the co-incidences that allow Jamal to know all the answers to the show's questions were not irritating plot points - rather they were part of some wonderful fairy tale. The answer to the film's final question - how come this Slumdog can know all the answers to these questions - gives me a warm glow every time I remember it; the answer is 'D: It is written'.

2 - District 9
Sadly I have didn't get around to seeing 'Moon' in 2009 (I have the DVD now though), so Sci Fi of the year goes deservedly to 'District 9'. It is filled with metaphors for South Africa's apartheid past and the difficulties the nation faces in the modern age, as such the film gets away with being part action blockbuster, part documentary and part political satire.

1 - In The Loop
It was a tough call, but for me 'In The Loop's' mix of sweary comedy and biting satire had enough to make it stand out as my film of the year. It pointed out that political conspiracies do not imply smoke-filled rooms of people trying to fake the moon landings, rather they can be real things in which people are simply trying to further their careers by doing what they think their bosses expect. Plus there's all the swearing, here's a quick clip just in case you've forgotten.



So that's 3 out of 5 British films (well, Slumdog was directed by a Briton), who says the British film industry is dead?!

Goodfellas - Robert De Niro's eyes

Don't know what got me thinking about this scene this morning, but I suddenly felt the need to remind myself what a great actor Robert De Niro is. In this 30 second clip from Goodfellas Jimmy (De Niro) observes his gang post-robbery and makes the decision to kill them all and keep the money for himself.



I'm not sure what direction Scorsese gave to De Niro for this scene - something like "appear evil while sitting at the bar" I guess. Whatever it was, De Niro somehow conveys the calculating mind of a criminal deciding to murder his associates in cold blood - all by moving his eyes and smoking. Legend.

And, of course, the music is awesome.

Avatar

I guess you all know this, but it snowed on Friday last week. This minor meteorological phenomenon persuaded me that I really couldn't be bothered going into work (imagine all that potential for falling off my bike) and that I should kick it back old school, relive the heady days of my PhD and head down to the cinema for a matinee showing of whatever the latest exciting release is.

Turns out that the big release of the week is Avatar, James Cameron's first film for ages, a 3D extravaganza, a film decades in the making - and a load of other jazz making it sound pretty bloody exciting. This was my first 3D film experience, so I paid my £9.60 (!), donned my special glasses when instructed by the disembodied voice and watched half an hour of adverts. 3D adverts, but HALF AN HOUR of adverts none-the-less. For £9.60 they should really be making enough money already, bloody Capitalism.

Anyway, the film is neatly divided into two parts. Not the film itself, rather my opinions of it. There's the graphics and the plot. Let's start with the good stuff, the graphics. This was one of the most visually stunning films I have ever seen. The level of detail in the computer-generated environments and sets was beyond anything I've encountered before. How much of this was a result of the 3D aspect of the film is unclear, if I had seen the 2D version I could well have been underwhelmed.

The impact of the 3D technology was significant though. I struggled to follow the opening 20 minutes of the story; such was my wonder at what I was seeing. I kept looking around the screen and focussing on different parts to the test this new technology out. When Sigourney Weaver first appeared on screen I got a momentary shock as I thought she had somehow arrived in the cinema in person. A favourite moment of mine was the 3D representation of a see-through computer screen - rendered in luscious detail. This alone was probably worth the price tag.

I mentioned the word 'plot' above. Since I had gone to the cinema rather than a 3D art gallery I was expecting some kind of plot. It is here that Avatar turns into something of a sham as its paper-thin morality tale about tree-huggers fighting the big bad corporation falls apart under even the slightest scrutiny. Zero-dimensional characters and extravagant plot contrivances do nothing to help the thought that much of the plot is in fact an expensive advert for toys and computer games based on the gadgets, monsters, vehicles and weapons of the film. There isn't enough time spent at the start of the film setting anything up, the main character is someone we don't care about, the natives and planet of Pandora is a place we are barely introduced to. For a film that is 160 minutes long that is totally unforgivable.

And don't even get me started on the mineral the evil corporation are meant to be mining - Unobtainium? For fuck's sake.

However; there are moments in cinema history when I think that certain lapses are forgivable. James Cameron has created a slice of cinema history here, Avatar could yet be looked back upon as the moment when 3D cinema came into its own as more than just a gimmick. Or of course 3D cinema could remain in the confines of big budget blockbusters that can afford to splash the cash. Whichever way it goes, Avatar is a visual masterpiece that you need to see in the cinema in 3D.

Films of the Decade

There are a lot of blogs and film sites doing this at the moment, so I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring. I've decided to limit myself to one per year (and one special mention), so it has been really hard leaving stuff out. So without further faff, here are my films of the decade:

2000 - Memento
There were a bunch of films I wanted to put in this category, and was upset to discover that they came out in 1999. Turns out that both the Matrix and South Park the movie were both in the 90s, although I'm fairly convinced I didn't see them until after the millennium. Anyway, after a search through the annals of movie history there was only really one winner for me, 'Memento' tells a tale backwards - using the conceit that its main character is a man who has no long-term memory. Scenes are shown in reverse order, slowly revealing a twisting plot in which a man's disability is being used against him by those he trusts. It's a great idea and one that rewards re-watching.

Special mention - Amor Es Perros. A brutal and chilling film that launched the career of Gael Garcia Bernal.

2001 - Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
There can only be one winner of the best film of 2001. Peter Jackson's epic, special-effects laden adaptation of the classic fantasy novel of the same name managed to retain the magic of the original without putting off mainstream cinema-goers. There was nothing more special than seeing the epic scale of this story on screen for the first time, from the wonderful sets of the opening scenes in Bagshot to the unbelievable scenery as the fellowship travel to Mordor, it's a visual feast.

Special Mention - Donnie Darko. A proper genre-bender of a science fiction film that rips up conventions.

2002 - 28 Days Later
Part-filmed at the place where I work, '28 Days Later' is a modern post-apocalyptic horror in which a biological experiment gone wrong has turned Britain into a nightmare land filled with flesh-eating super-fast zombies. Cillian Murphy - quality actor - is a man who wakes up from a coma while this happens and struggles to find his sanity in the brave new world. There's nothing more terrifying to me than the collapse of civilisation, the idea that humanity as we know it is about to disappear into the night as a result of our own pig-headed abuse of science. The film has a couple of distinct acts, each of which deals with the confusion, then terror and then false hope of the situation. Admittedly the story is very similar to the classic novel ‘Day of the Triffids’, but then you can’t complain too much as the source material is first class.

Special Mention - The Man Who Wasn't There. One of my favourite Coen Brothers films which is often overlooked by others. Also it is possible that this was released in 2001 (there is conflicting information on the internet).

2003 - Goodbye Lenin
As an unashamed leftie I was taken in by 'Goodbye Lenin!' almost from the moment I heard about it. It's a wonderfully touching film about a young man who lives through the fall of DDR and his mother's stroke at the same time, then feels the need to pretend that the Eastern block is still as 'strong' as ever to make her feel better in her final days. It's a funny film too, mainly about family but at the same time managing to make a few clever political points without ever getting in the way of the main story.

Special mention - Touching the Void. A re-enactment of a true story of daring, endeavour, disaster and humanity; as two ice climbers discuss how they nearly lost their lives on a remote mountain in South America.

2004 - Shaun of the Dead
Well it was about time that a comedy film got into my films of the decade. As a massive fan of the TV series Spaced I was shaking with excitement when I went to see 'Shaun of the Dead' at the cinema, I can still remember going on the London Underground and seeing the posters of Simon Pegg crammed into a tube train with a load of zombies (see the film poster left). Thankfully it didn't disappoint; the film dragged British comedy into a new age with its self-styled rom-zom-com formula, making stars of Pegg and Nick Frost on the way and proving that the horror genre doesn’t just have to be about blood, guts and monsters chasing people around.

Special mention - Vera Drake. This tough drama about the working class in East London had a big effect on me when I saw it. A superb performance from Immelda Staunton.

2005 - Hidden
A small French film that pits a middle class family man against an outside unknown person who is spying on him, 'Hidden' is a clever story that challenges the typical conventions of film thrillers. By setting up the premise - a man is anonymously sent tapes showing his everyday life filmed from afar - and following through to a realistic conclusion it makes you think about what might happen in real life if something disturbing and inexplicable happened to an ordinary person. How would that person react? How long would it be before the terrorised became the terroriser? This might sounds all a little artsy, and to be honest it is, but in a good way!

Special Mention - The Descent. My favourite horror film of the decade, by setting a monster movie in underground caves the horror is generated in equal parts by the claustrophobia of the rocky interior and the terror of monsters in the dark. The bit at the end where the heroine jumps out of a lake of blood and brains a monster - awesome.

2006 - United 93
Tough year, very tough year, so many good films, 'V for Vendetta', 'Red Road', 'Casino Royale', 'Notes on a Scandal', 'The Lives of Others', the list could go on. However, I have gone for the definitive film on 9-11. Directed by Paul Greengrass, 'United 93' captures the confusion, disorientation and horror that the world felt when the World Trade Centre was destroyed. By following the lives of people on the ground who lacked an overall picture of what was happening and relied on images from CNN to work out what they were involved in, the film recreates the feeling that the world had – that we were and are bit-part players in a political game that has claimed the lives of countless thousands on and since 9-11. I was utterly speechless when I left the cinema after watching it, and the power it has doesn't lessen on DVD either.

Special Mention - Children of Men. Possibly the best-directed film I have seen in a very long time, it has genuinely touching storyline that brings a tear to my eye at the end.

2007 - Eastern Promises
Vigo Mortgenssen been involved in a number of interesting and artistic project since the Lord of the Rings trilogy finished (what a difference from the tripe that Orlando Bloom has ended up in), Eastern Promises is one of these. It's a film about Russian gangsters in London, where Mortgenssen is a driver who struggles to stand by while they run all kinds of illegal criminal rings. Naomi Watts demonstrates having an awesome English accent as she plays a nurse who tries to save a girl involved unwillingly in the mob’s business. I love films about London and the dark underbelly that the city might hold, and I also think Mortgensen is a brilliant actor. Plus the film has a visceral naked fight scene between two wicked-tough gangsters - if you're into that sort of thing of course.

Special Mention - Juno. Ellen Page is a fantastic actress, she stars in 'Juno' - a witty and heart-warming film about growing up with supportive parents and making the right choices for the right reasons (it sounds so tacky - but it's really not).

2008 - In Bruges
In Bruges has a great combination of quality actors, good dialogue, funny moments and gangsters that make it into the kind of film that Guy Richie clearly wants to make but can't quite work out how. Brendon Gleeson and Colin Farrell are Irish gangsters who are sent to Bruges by their boss with orders to lay low. There their contrasting personalities provide entertainment while the reason they have been sent to lie low is hinted and then revealed. Their boss - played by a Ralph Fiennes who is clearly relishing the role - is a psychotic Cockney who eventually turns up to create a three-way stand-off. It’s funny and touching, just about the best film of 2008.

Special mention - There Will Be Blood. It's about oil, religion, money, power and pretty much everything in between. Daniel Day Lewis is peerless in his Oscar-winning performance - a landmark film.

2009?
Well, I'll have a run-down of my favourite films from this year next week...