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Reviews
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Review
This was one of the most anticipated movies to be released this year and I had high expectations, which were strengthened by the trailers. Unfortunately I was feel I was let down by the movie itself.
The film begins with a period of peace in Gotham City. Bruce Wayne has retired his cape and become a hermit, mentally and physically scared by his ordeals with the Joker and Two-Face, in the prior movie. Then once Bane begin to implement his forces throughout the sewers of Gotham, Batman must once again rise up.
Bane is introduced in an epic sky kidnapping, which rivals Joker's bank robbery at the beginning of The Dark Knight. The one thing that I did notice that Bane's voice strangely coming from behind you in the cinema, when he was clearly centre screen. I found this confusing and irritating, but other than the weird orientation I thought Bane's voice was effective. Bane did not quite live up to the extremely high pedestal left behind by the Joker, but he was a scary dominating foe. He was Batman's first rival who was both physically and mentally stronger than him, which made it even more disappointing when he was dispensed of so quickly at the end.
Although it made sense for Batman to be broken at the beginning of the movie, I thought it took away the impact from the inevitable crippling by Bane and his then second recovery. It meant that this one was rushed and was unbelievable. Also Alfred Pennyworth is given a long couple of speeches during Batman's first recovery, which were effective but were a bit long for me and forced the rest of the film to be squeezed too tightly into a shorter time frame.
There is not a lot wrong with the movie, the atmosphere and characters remained strong and consistent. The one problem I had with it was the storyline. Bane, like Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, wants to destroy Gotham City, which is a supervillan cliché that I thought we had broken out of. Also as I said earlier a lot of the film felt rushed, in fact the whole second half did and the film ends terribly.
One aspect that this movie did hit the nail on the head with was the character of Sylina Kyle, or Catwoman. From her introduction, where she slinks around Bruce Wayne's manor disguised as a maid. To her betrayal of Batman and then redemption, she remains playful and cunning.
The film really began to fall apart at the seems towards the end. After the final fight between Bane and Batman and the pathetic end of Bane at the hands of Catwoman... A new surprise villain is introduced, completely unnecessarily and ineffectively. Then the film continues along a stream self indulgent clichés that completely ruin the movie.
Overall I did enjoy the film and would still recommend it, but just with the warning that the storyline is a bit askew from where it should be and especially the ending.
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The Imposter (2012)
Review
On June, 13, 1994, Nicolas Barclay went missing. Last seen playing basketball with his friends in San Antonio, Texas. There was no word of his whereabouts for days, weeks, months, years until it was assumed he would be missing forever, the search having long since died out. Then the incredible happened. He was discovered in Linares, Spain.
Or was he? The Nicolas that went missing 3 years earlier had had blue eyes not brown and the new Nicolas had a french accent? This new Nicolas was actually Frederic Bourdin a 22 year old French-Algerian, with an addiction to and talent for deceit and fraud. Nevertheless he managed to fool the Barclay family, US embassy officials, the FBI and most of America, if not the world, into believing that he was indeed Nicolas Barclay. But one man had his doubts. A charismatic Texan private eye, Charlie Parker, originally hired to track down Nicolas for an interview with a local media company, noticed an irregularity between the two Nicolas's ears, which eventually lead to Frederic's discovery and arrest.
This captivating and chilling story is beautifully explored by the director Bart Layton. He blurs the boundaries between a documentary and blockbuster. Even though Layton allows you to be aware that Frederic is not the real Nicholas Barclay from the outset, he teasingly feeds you fragments of the story piece by piece from the perspectives of the family members, the officials and Frederic himself. The product is a gripping thriller, heightened by the knowledge that it is a true story and by the mesmerising stylised cinematography, including some eery moving portraits of the family members accepting an obvious stranger into their home. This is just one of the many striking images in this film that will stay with me for a long time.
Provoking questions about identity, human nature, society and national security, the Imposter our keeps you eager with anticipation while you bathe in the beauty of the images crafted by Layton. It's a brilliant film - one of the best thrillers, let alone documentaries, I have seen.
My Sister's Keeper (2009)
Review
The story behind this film is heartbreaking and it deserves to be a great film. Unfortunately I do not think that it is. All the actors are excellent, especially Cameron Diaz, who is great as the over protective mother of a child with leukaemia, Sofia Vassilieva. She even goes as far as to have a second child, Abigail Breslin, genetically "built" so as to be a perfect match and therefore donor for her daughter.
The film revolves around Abigail suing her mother for medical emancipation, and Sofia as her condition steadily worsens, because without her sister as a donor she will surely die. You may be wondering why or how somebody could leave their sister to die like this, but there is a nice little twist at the end that resolves it.
Starting off with well, each character narrate had a chance to narrate even giving Abigail's lawyer, played by Alec Baldwin, a chance to speak. But this idea was quickly swept aside and the story continued without it, revolving around the two girls. Although the rest of the families reactions and feelings were given ample time in the film, I thought the narrating idea who have given us more depth to each of them. Especially Aunt Kelly, Heather Wahlquist, who seemed to only be there because she was in the original story and has nothing added to her character.
I also thought Evan Ellingson's portrayal of the brother was over acted and horribly stereotypical. At no point did I think he was battling whether to let out the secret, the twist referred to earlier. To me he was just an irritating moody teenager.
The movie did have its high points as I said Cameron Diaz was fantastic as were the two girls and also the father, Jason Patric. A parent often over shadowed by his wife's steal will. You get the idea that he was never in-favour of the method used to concept Abigail, and comes into his own near the finale of the film when he threatens to divorce Cameron if she does not come with the family to the beach.
I personally think the film would have worked better with a structure more similar to that of The Social Network, but rather than revolving around each of the lawsuits, it could follow each of the family members separately. I think I would give this film about a three out of five. A good film but I feel it had more potential.