Film Review: Conviction

Conviction. Rated M (mature themes, violence and coarse language). 124 minutes. Directed by Tony Goldwyn. Screenplay by Pamela Gray.

Defined by Julia Roberts’ Oscar-winning turn in the title role of the feisty heroine in Erin Brockovich (2000), the genre of films about determined, single-minded (and absolutely unstoppable) women taking on ‘the system’ to ensure justice is done can make for powerful and engrossing cinematic storytelling. Sally Field, too, romped home to Oscar glory with her star turn as unionist Norma Rae (1979), while Meryl Streep and Cher’s performances in Silkwood (1983) are right up there amongst the best of their respective careers.

In Conviction, Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don’t Cry) takes on the role of Betty Anne Waters who, in 1983, took on the legal system to prove that her brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) was innocent of a murder he had spent 18 years in prison for apparently committing.

There are lots of fascinating aspects to this true story, and it is a real shame that none of them are explored in this film. If, for example, Kenny didn’t murder Katharina Brow, then who did? And what does local cop Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo) have to hide? Instead, what we get is an incredibly ordinary ‘by-the-numbers’ telling of a fairly predictable story that, peculiarly given the talent involved, ends up feeling like a second-rate telemovie or a really long episode of CSI-Somewhere.

Swank (channelling Ms Roberts) and Rockwell (channelling Al Pacino) are, as one might imagine, perfectly fine in the lead roles, while Leo (who won this year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in The Fighter) works wonders with the little she gets to do. Minnie Driver has a little too much fun with her annoying, pop-up best friend ‘Abra Rice’, while Juliette Lewis sails right over the top in her cameo as one of Kenny’s ex-girlfriends.

No-one is helped by Adriano Goldman’s (City of Men) mood-less cinematography or Goldwyn’s lack of directorial ambition for Ms Gray’s (Music of the Heart) drama-free screenplay. Given the extraordinary lengths that Ms Waters went to in order to prove her brother’s innocence, one might have imagined there could have been an interesting film to come out of it all. Regrettably, that’s not the case.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.

DVD Review: Everybody's Fine

Everybody's Fine. 96 minutes. Rated M. Written and directed by Kirk Jones.

Films about the paradoxical relationships fathers share with their children are rare beasts in Hollywood's 'big picture' output. The grand-parents of them all – films like The Godfather, Father of The Bride and Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? – successfully reached into the dim, dark vault of family drama. And while the circumstances that give meaning and purpose to these values differ dramatically, audiences can't help but bring their own unique and very personal experiences of family to films that dare to take the subject on.

With Everybody's Fine, Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine, Nanny McPhee), with the help of an arresting performance from a perfect Robert De Niro, has risen to meet this challenge and has delivered a heartfelt, unforgettable film of genuine emotional authority.

Frank Goode (De Niro) has been left alone after the death of his beloved wife, who (as wives and mums so often do), has nurtured and attended to every finite detail of family life. When, at the last minute, each of his four adult children suddenly become unavailable to attend a reunion at the family home (the first since their mother's passing), a wary and suspicious Frank sets out on a journey across America to surprise each of them with a visit instead. What he learns in the process will challenge his life's experience of being a hard-working father and husband.

Based on the 1990 Italian film Stanno Tutti Bene (Everybody's Fine) starring the incomparable Marcello Mastroianni, Kirk Jones's English-language adaptation bucks the trend of Hollywood feeding like piranha on the jewels of European cinema with a distinct lack of respect. The result is a perfectly-structured story that gently unravels, before all the various strands unite in a marvellously inventive sequence – played to the hilt by De Niro – around an outdoor dining table.

Beautifully and insightfully directed, Everybody's Fine is helped considerably by the work of Cinematographer Henry Braham (who was cinematographer on Jones's earlier films as well as the ravishing The Golden Compass). Braham ensures that the photographic essence of the film perfectly matches the incandescent, searching qualities of De Niro's central performance. Drew Broughton's (House of Sand and Fog) art direction and Andrew Jackness's production design combined to create the film's stunning visual aura which enhances the story, and the compelling performances, at every turn.

And if there is such a thing as the perfect cast, then this film has it in spades. The performances from the first-class ensemble of Hollywood stars (Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale and Austin Lysy play the siblings) are flawless. But ultimately, it is De Niro that anchors this film in the purest of reality – resulting in a film of intricately layered, intimate detail. Just be ready to tell your dad how much you love him … and have the box of tissues handy.

Everybody's Fine will be available on DVD from 2 June, 2010.

Film Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2. 124 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Jon Favreau. Written by Justin Theroux. Based on the Marvel comic books by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

The art of making sequels to immensely popular films is a complicated affair. It can be extremely difficult to define precisely what it was that captured the imaginations of audiences around the world the first time, and, more often than not, it will be the filmmakers' blind faith in expecting it all to work equally as well the second time around that can leave a sequel struggling to make its own unique impact. While Iron Man 2 works well on a number of levels (chiefly the spirited performances and its abundant tongue-in-cheek humour), its failure to advance the story or the visual imaginings in meaningful ways (like the Superman, Spider Man and Batman franchises did), renders it immediately second-rate, before it eventually goes on to drown in its own conceit.

The main problem, as is so often the case, is the script. Actor/writer Theroux (who has one other screenplay, Tropic Thunder, to his credit), simply fails to elevate the story beyond this messy, derivative and imagination-starved incarnation. There are certainly hints of some interesting possibilities (such as the fact that the element that keeps Tony Stark/Iron Man alive is rapidly killing him by poisoning his blood stream), but they are abandoned within minutes. This is, after all, a determinedly 'feel-good' popcorn crunching affair. Sadly though, all we're left with is an incredibly old-fashioned 'might of the US Armed Forces' analogy that manages to not only deflate our expectations, but also to slide into an awkward, mind-numbing slump at the critical half-way mark from which it fails to recover.

Billionaire businessman Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr) is on top of the world. Stark Industries has created the 'Stark Expo' – a year-round technology expo which, apart from providing him with his own personal playground, allows Tony Stark to shamelessly flout his wealth and success. His Iron Man suit is now the envy of the US Government, and his fiercely competitive rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), is beside himself with jealousy. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke, pictured) – whose father worked in collaboration with Stark's in the engineering of the Iron Man's arc reactor technology – is using the identical blueprints to create his own version of the suit. Once it is complete, Vanko is determined to use it to avenge his father's treatment at the hands of Stark Snr, while destroying Stark Jnr and everything he stands for.

Problematically, the sequel never lets us know what it is, exactly, that Tony Stark stands for. Downey Jnr continues along on the same playful route as he did in the first instalment which, over the course of two hours, just becomes boring. With the exception of some cute interaction with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), there's nothing to either dislike or like about him. In a film about him, in which we're supposed to acknowledge him as the champion we all cheer for, it renders the whole thing kind of pointless. Fatefully, Favreau (who directed Iron Man) fails to bring new cinematic vigour (other than a fantastic Monaco Grand Prix sequence and some impressive Stark Expo action) to the whole affair. The climactic sequences only serve to remind us how much better Iron Man was. The camera ends up just being too far away from the action – resulting in Iron Man appearing to be nothing more than Tinkerbell on steroids.

Ultimately, though, Iron Man 2's final conceit is that we wish we were having as good a time watching it as everyone obviously was making it. That we actually don't, and by a long shot, just doesn't seem all that fair. Let's hope they spare us from Iron Man 3 which, if you hang around until the end of the credits, seems highly unlikely.

DVD Review: Moon

Moon. 93 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Duncan Jones. Written by Nathan Parker from an original story by Duncan Jones.

All too rarely, a movie comes along that, on the surface at least, is apparently incredibly simple and understated. But as it slowly begins to unfold, it reveals itself to be fantastically original and complex, and before long, you somewhat unexpectedly find yourself under its spell. Moon is one such film. Directed by Duncan Jones (the son of David Bowie), Moon is a mesmerising little masterpiece that slowly hypnotises you with its nihilistic vision of not only the future of lunar exploration and the possible exploitation of the planet's resources, but also the very essence of our human identity, fallibility, beliefs and values.

Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is employed by Lunar Industries to oversee giant harvesters that extract helium-3 from the moon's surface. With only his computer assistant GERTY (superbly voiced by Kevin Spacey) for company, Sam must ensure that once the machines have harvested a certain quota of the precious element, it is jettisoned safely back to earth in canisters where it will aid the development of our planet's clean energy programs. But with only two weeks to go before his three-year contract expires and his replacement arrives, a near-fatal accident involving one of the harvesters threatens his return to earth.

As the lonely engineer who appears to be slowly losing his mind, Rockwell is magnificent. It is a tour de force performance of such immense skill and craftsmanship, that you practically forget that this is, essentially, a film with only one actor in it. He is helped enormously by Parker's marvellously engrossing, lean, mean and inventive script from Jones's fact-based story (the scientific community are actually researching ways to harvest Helium-3 from lunar soil and the film was screened privately for NASA's scientists).

While it lovingly references previous films of the sci-fi genre (particularly Soylent Green, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running and Blade Runner), Moon's modest special effects are less concerned with flashy explosions and random space-based exotica, and consist of exemplary model and miniature work (supervised by Alien and Casino Royale Model Master Bill Pearson). And like director Ridley Scott, Jones has the ability to employ the services of his gifted special effects crew to serve his vision and drive the story forward – not distract from it.

But it is Rockwell (who was the voice of guinea pig Darwin in G-Force and who is also starring in Iron Man 2) whose virtuoso performance brings this extraordinary film to life. For those film-lovers who are more than a little fatigued by big expensive flashy epics and want a film that will have you thinking and contemplating the very nature of our existence for days afterwards – Moon is the film for you.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.