For A Few Movies More

True Grit was an interesting experience for me, as I love pretty much everything the Coen Brothers have done (except maybe Burn After Reading, which was a little questionable). After their success at the Oscars a few years ago with No Country For Old Men, their latest feature was a must see. On the other hand, I’ve always thought that if a filmmaker is to adapt a novel, then they have to do it right; that is to either shoot the film verbatim with style, or to create a whole new story using just the basic premise (akin to what P.T. Anderson did with There Will Be Blood).

Another interesting factor was that this film is the second adaptation of the Charles Portis novel of the same name; so for the Coen Brothers to go for it was very risky, especially since John Wayne was loved for his performance as Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 original – earning him his only Best Actor Oscar that came towards the end of an illustrious career shooting a large number of Westerns… But you know what, I think that they may have just pulled it off!

Best Movie Poster Of The Week: Black Swan

Simple, striking and instantly eye-catching. The Black Swan poster grabs your attention while simultaneously hinting that there may be something sinister simmering below the surface of an otherwise perfect facade.

Worst Movie Poster Of The Week: Takers

Is this the most photoshopped film poster in history? Without doing any research I’m going to go right ahead and say yes, yes it it is. Seriously, could it possibly be made any more obvious that none of these actors were even in the same room? 

Every now and then you come across a film that really gets to you. Fictional or real-life, some stories — regardless of whether you have some direct, personal connection to them or not — simply grab you by the neck, and demand you to “Pay attention!” Shut Up and Sing is one of those movies for me. I kind of knew about the film but never really felt a huge desire to see it. I vaguely knew that the Dixie Chicks at one point in time had said something supposedly unpatriotic, and a bunch of rednecks got their panties in a twist. I barely knew their music (apart from it being in the Country genre) let alone being able to pick them out of a line-up. But sometimes, knowing nothing about a movie can be a good thing (we’re big fans of that here at For a Few Movies More).

Before I discuss this though, I feel kind of obligated to mention up-front that politically, I am firmly in the (so-called) left. I’ve been called a ‘Greenie’, and I don’t support wars of any kind. The reason I mention this is to be open about myself and who I am as the person who watched this, because it is such a polarising subject (well, mostly if you’re American!). Chances are that depending on what your beliefs are, they will influence how much you enjoy this film. I can praise or criticise it until I’m red in the face, but I honestly think that your opinion of the subject matter (or even if you watch the film in the first place) will ultimately decide what you think of this doco.

I was a little puzzled by the title of this film at first…American. Would Bill Hicks really want to be remembered as an American? More than anything else, America was what angered him most. An American is supposed to love and honor their country; they will fight for it and die for it; give everything to defend its values. Bill Hicks spent the majority of his comedy career criticizing the great nation. He challenged the overbearing governments, the archaic religion and the sad standards of social convention. But despite his aggressive disposition, he was fighting for America. He spent his life on the back roads of the country founded on liberty and justice, preaching his views on freedom and truth. He was unflinching when it came to these values. He lived true to his heart and perhaps suffered more than he needed to in his short 32 years, but he did it for the country he loved, the home of his friends and his family, and that is what makes him a true American.

Despite a general anonymity around most of the United States, Bill Hicks was a living legend in the comedy world. He started out at a very young age. He knew he was meant to be a comedian; to be seen and heard on a stage, and he was not mistaken. His earliest recorded sets show a fresh faced youth cracking jokes about his family with natural confidence and flair. He was young but the jokes were of the highest standard at the time. It reminded me of seeing the early footage of The Beatles as they burst onto the music scene already at the level of top acts, and, like The Beatles and their music, Bill was able to evolve his comedy over a very short span of time. He set new standards and styles for other comics to aim for.

In Movie Pet Hates I will be bitching about things that I hate in movies. OK, so it sounds really stupid when I put it like that, but so many posts on our site (Guilty Pleasures for example) do already address what we love about them — even against our own better judgement! Half of the Internet is made up of people whining, whinging and complaining about something and everything, so I thought I might as well get in on it too. As Henry Rollins said, “Nothing brings people together more, than mutual hatred.”

….Th- (pause)…The King’s Speech…is another…r-…r-…wrare fium fwom this year…in that…it…it…it……it is vewy…agood.

We recently posted some top 5s for the year of 2010 and it was a pretty dire bunch of movies to choose from. There were, however, some gems mixed in and The King’s Speech was unlucky not to be in mine. The movie reminded me of another great movie this year, The Social Network, not for any likeness in style or subject matter but simply because it is a movie that seems to be good, if not great, in every aspect.

It is the kind…of movie…that has you…that has you…that-has-you-gwipped…fwom the opening shot…and…adoes not let you…ago…un-til-the-vewy…end.

The film tells the true story of Prince Albert, second son of King George V and heir to the throne, and the struggle that old Bertie has with his speech impediment. He stutters and stammers through his personal relationships and can barely talk during public engagements; it is a terrible state of affairs for a royal, who has ample public speaking obligations, to basically fear his main duty most among all other things. The Prince even stresses that if he were a normal person he could live his life in peace and noone would bother him, but it is this struggle and his relationship with the cheeky Australian speech therapist that makes the movie so entertaining, able to bounce freely between drama and comedy and keep a smooth pace the whole way.

If ever a film has begged for the reboot/remake/whatever term is hip in Hollywood right now, it’s Tron. The 1982 film may have blown people’s minds back in the day with its breakthrough use of special effects, but I don’t think it comes to anybody’s surprise that these effects have dated, badly. I mean, the graphics on an Atari look like Avatar in comparison to those effects used in the original film (warning: extreme sarcasm). Plus the use of an ugly colour palette that wasn’t exactly easy on the eyes didn’t help matters either. Although thanks to its cult status, the film still has a massive fan base that looks upon it with fond feelings. So it’s a smart move on Disney’s behalf in seeing the potential in taking this dated film and repackaging it for modern audiences, while at the same time pleasing the original’s built-in fan base.

The plot kicks into gear twenty years after the events of the original Tron, with Sam Flynn (Garret Hedlund) setting out in an attempt to track down his missing father who mysteriously disappeared years earlier. Sam’s trail of clues pays off in a sense when he’s unwittingly sucked into a virtual reality computer universe that has been his father’s prison for the last twenty years. Now reunited, Sam and his father Kevin (Jeff Bridges) need to join forces to put an end to the tyrannical living computer program, Clu. You see, Clu was created by Kevin Flynn to….. You know what, the story isn’t all the important in Tron Legacy. Since if you really stop to think about the finer points of the plot, it really doesn’t make any sense. I mean can somebody please tell me where that succulent cooked pig came from? Am I missing something here? Anyway, what really matters is the pure sensory delight that your eyes and ears will be treated to, and in that regard, prepare to be blown away…

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, looking back upon it, 2010 was not a good year for movies. The majority of releases fit in one of three categories. Either acceptably enjoyable, a sound disappointment, or simply not worth your time. However, littered throughout the year were some genuinely great titles that more than made up for the relative lack of quality elsewhere. I don’t think anyone can deny that a number of films released this year will be lauded as must-see classics in the years to come (Inception anybody?). But as is always the way, with the good must come the bad. And 2010 harbored some real stinkers (Last Airbender anybody?). So with no further delay, the For A Few Movies More team has banded together to create a comprehensive list comprising of our favorite films of the year along with our picks for the worst of the year. Have a safe and happy New Year and we’ll see you in 2011!