Film Review: Recount

Director: Jay Roach

An HBO film released in 2008 direct to their own TV channel, the film follows the 2000 US Presidential election and specifically the battle for the state of Florida that took place for over a month after the polls closed. The film was seen as controversial by some for depicting the Democrats in a positive light whilst showing the Republicans as ruthless and unethical in their pursuit of victory.

In 2000, the presidential election was a tight affair between George W. Bush and Al Gore with many analysts saying that whomever wins Florida will take the election. With Florida being given to Bush by a margin of less than 2,000 votes, Gore phones Bush to concede but then retracts his concession after allegations of voting irregularities are raised in the state. From there a legal battle is fought by both sides over the recount of votes in certain county's within the state.

Michael Whouley (Denis Leary) and Ron Klain (Kevin Spacey)

Many critics felt the film was biased but in depicting such a controversial and hotly debated topic it's impossible for a film to be impartial, in many cases certain scenes that were seen as showing the Republicans in a bad light for one person was construed as something very different by somebody else. In reality it shows that both were willing to do whatever it takes to get their man elected even if it wasn't strictly ethical. The over-riding theme is that the Republicans were very strong willed and organised while the Democrats were too worried about PR in the beginning and we're too self centered in thinking of their own careers (Joe Lieberman for example).

The acting in the film is incredibly sharp, especially from the likes of Kevin Spacey, Tom Wilkinson and Laura Dern. Both Spacey and Wilkinson play the incredibly driven leaders of each parties battle in Florida as they both look at ways of getting exactly what they want, from lawsuits to delaying the voting re-count. In the end, despite everything there is a begrudging respect displayed in one of the final scenes. It's a drama thats hard to look away from despite us all already knowing the result, I think as the film develops it almost scares you to remember that this actually happened and was the deciding factor in a US presidential election despite being an absolute farce.

3.5/4 Engrossing and beautifully pitched political drama

Film Preview: Lost River

The directorial debut of actor Ryan Gosling who also wrote and produced the film that was released earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival. It is a fantasy neo-noir film which features many people he has worked with before in his acting career with Christina Hendricks and Eva Mendes both starring. Unfortunately though for Gosling the film opened to poor critical reviews from the audience at the Cannes Festival so expectations are quite low ahead of the films cinematic release at the end of the year.

A single mother struggling for money gets into trouble whilst her son falls foul of the local bully which leads him to find a road to a strange underwater town in this fantasy drama.

Lost River is released in the UK on 30th November 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Flightplan

Director: Robert Schwentke

A tense thriller which is based around a missing child inside an aeroplane where it is seemingly impossible for somebody to go missing. Released in 2005, it was co-written by Billy Ray who also worked on films like Shattered Glass before being a screenwriter for hugely successful films like The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips. It is loosely based on the 1938 movie The Lady Vanishes by Alfred Hitchcock. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants called for an official boycott of the film, which they say depicts flight attendants as rude, uncaring and indifferent (truly proving they have nothing better to do with their time).

Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) is flying back to America from Germany after her husband has died, she leaves with her daughter Julia (Marlene Lawston). On the large luxurious plane they settled down for the journey and then find some free seats at the back so they both fall asleep, when Kyle wakes up she realises that Julia is gone and can't find her as she searches the cabin. She informs the flight crew who fetch the captain but she still cannot be found and is now certain there is a conspiracy to kidnap her daughter.

Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) and Captain Marcus Rich (Sean Bean)

The initial idea is an intriguing one, how can Kyle's daughter disappear when she was clearly on board with her when the plane took off. It's impossible for her to have left the plane so what has happened? The film plays with different ideas of what has really happened and for a while it is a truly engrossing thriller. But as it progresses it struggles to stretch this thin plot over the running time required for a feature film and then produces a highly disappointing final act where we see what is truly happening. Jodie Foster becomes very irritating as the film progresses and has proven herself to be a better actress than this whilst Peter Sarsgaard is impressive in the sort of role he is renowned for.

1.5/4 Promising plot nosedives from the half way point

Best films from 2014 so far

With 6 months of the year already gone it's time for a look back at the best 5 films that have been released in the UK in 2014 so far. With many of the Oscar nominated films not released on this side of the pond until January it means that narrowing down the field can be quite tricky but only two Oscar nominated movies actually made the cut in the end, honourable mentions go to 22 Jump Street and The Edge of Tomorrow as good films that were close in consideration.

5. The LEGO Movie

An incredibly fun movie with easily the most catchy soundtrack of any film released this year. The comedy in the film is both clever and completely odd but it finds a way to make you really like it, a real surprise hit film of 2014.

4. Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

As the Avengers series rumbles on towards the next big assemble type film with all the heroes in one film, Captain America produced a genuinely impressive sequel to the rather average opening film in the series. With an intense but intriguing storyline and some fantastic fighting scenes, we finally have an Avengers individual series to take over from Ironman. 

3. Inside Llewyn Davis

The Coen brothers latest film didn't make the waves many expected it to with it being mostly shunned during awards season but a beautiful soundtrack gives it a lovely folky feel. The story of a struggling singer still dealing with the death of his playing partner is sweetly yet oddly funny as it plays out and of course there's always room for a cameo from John Goodman.

2. Her

Spike Jonze takes a tale of love and loss but gives it a very futuristic feel as Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), who is s computer operating system. Throughout the film Theodore tries to discover what love real is and its a uniquely bittersweet view on love in an everchanging world.

1. The Raid 2: Berendal

The original film was a real surprise hit back in 2012 with a small budget but Gareth Evans finally got his wish to make a bigger film on a grander scale off the back of the original. Rama (Iko Uwais) returns after surviving the tower block and is enlisted to infiltrate a criminal gang in Jakarta with the intention of rooting out the corrupt cops in the city. The action is even more impressive than the original with some incredible martial-arts fighting and a brutal fight to the death in a kitchen is right up there as one of my favourite fighting scenes of all-time (alongside the brutal fight in the corridor scene from Oldboy). The plot is maybe slightly simplistic but everything else about the film is truly magnificent.

Film Review: Mistaken for Strangers

Director: Tom Berninger

For many years, the indie band The National were well favoured by the critics but struggled to match that success commercially. Following the 2010 album High Violet that appeared to change and as they embarked on a big tour, lead singer Matt Berninger agreed to lets his brother come on tour as a member of the crew to film the experience. Tom describes Matt appreciation of their music and the genre as "pretentious bullshit" so its a new experience for both brothers as Tom rarely spends time with the band.

It's a typically quirky look at a band touring, The National have never been a particularly conventional band and naturally this documentary of their tour is equally different. It's very much the sort of documentary that requires you to be a fan of the band itself so you are intrigued in the personalities behind the music. Despite a few interview with the lesser known band members, it's very much about the immature younger brother Tom and the older lead singer Matt.

Movie Poster

The filming itself by Tom is very poor which to be fair he admits as much but it gives you a decent idea of what happens behind the scenes on the days in the lead up to the gigs that we all see. The stress and strains of the constant travelling and logistical nightmare of everything that goes with the band everywhere they go. It's the side we often don't see or consider to any band's tour. You do often get the feel that Matt ended up filming a lot of the more random and inane moments rather than the more important scenes (although an interview with Aaron Dessner reveals a bust-up with Matt over the song Apartment Story). I was hoping for more actual band footage on stage but there are still some great small bits of footage.

2.5/4 Very much for hardcore fans of The National 

This week's releases

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: The sequel to the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the current re-booting of the franchise is enjoying the best reviews and box office figures of any re-incarnation of the original films. Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke stars as the humans Dreyfus and Malcolm whilst Andy Serkis is Caesar the leader of the apes.

And so it goes: Romantic comedy starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton. Douglas plays a selfish and unpopular estate agent is helped by his neighbour, played by Keaton, when he suddenly is lumbered with a granddaughter he never knew about.

Pudsey the Dog: A typical British movie about a stray dog in London who manages to escape his sad life for a more exciting adventure out in the countryside. The film stars the dog from Britain's Got Talent as well as a British cast including Olivia Colman.

Film Preview: Gone Girl

Gone Girl is an upcoming American mystery-thriller film based on the 2012 novel of same name written by Gillian Flynn, the film is being directed by David Fincher whose had great success recently with the TV series House of Cards. Aside from the main cast of Ben Affleck, Rosemund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris, Reese Witherspoon showed a big interest in the project from the outset and is one of the producers for the film. Trent Reznor announced that he and Atticus Ross would once again work with Fincher to provide the score much like they did in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network. 

Ben Affleck as Nick Dunne

On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) finds out that his wife, Amy (Rosamund Pike), has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?

Gone Girl is released in the UK on 3rd October 2014 and the trailer is embedded below: