The Writers' Resource

Bit of a gruesome week for Hollywood with deaths a-plenty.  Gary Coleman at last expired after a sad life in which he was ill and destitute - yet another child star who was not taught good survival skills as far as his finances went.  Dennis Hopper, star of so many films, at last succumbed to prostate cancer today and there was a man who added colour and movement to every film set!  Just ask Philippe Mora as I know he has a bucket-load of anecdotes.

 

Let's hope that some of what made these two gents great and famous is still floating around in the ether, waiting to make its landing on another human host.  WIthout the anger, perhaps!

 

 

'Shutter Island' is a Clayton's Scorsese film that has an inherent problem with its casting.  I kept thinking to myself that had Scorsese used a more imaginative approach to casting his main character, played by Leonardo di Caprio, the film would have been more credible and the plot twists more exciting.  As well, some of the production design is darn shonky and the paintwork on the stone walls of the main location very fake looking, as are all the .  All this detracts from what could have been an 'edge of the seat' thriller.  The performances are not bad, it's just that they are wrong for this kind of story, or cliché, such as Max von Sydow. 

 

This is a story about inmates of an asylum, set on an escape-proof island and full of grey stone and dreary lighting.  The performances are competent but there are also some lines that completely grate and pull the story into melodrama.

Go along and see it though, if you have time and a bit of cash, as you won't be bored.  There is plenty to involve you for the most part and cinema tickets are good value compared with other forms of entertainment.  It's just that it is disappointing to see yet another book adaptation that doesn't work. 

 

I am thinking that the only adaptation I have ever seen that DID work was 'War and Peace' in 1967 (Dir.: Bondarchuk).

With some trepidation, as I am not a fan of the films directed by Clint Eastwood, I went along to one of Melbourne's comfy theatres (there are many - but among my favourites is the Balwyn Cinema) to see 'Invictus' and was pleasantly surprised at how involving it is.  Despite the trademark Eastwood tinkling piano music that quickly palled (this time by Kyle Eastwood) the strength of Morgan Freeman's performance carried the film way past the usual soapy tale.  I remember clearly the Mandela protests in London, a small group standing outside St. Martin in the Fields church keeping a long vigil which eventually became one of the ingredients in his release from Robben Island.  Our then teenager son was at school in London in those days and would sneak off to join in the protest. He was stunned to think that such a man of peace could have been treated the way he was.  That's 'humanity', eh?  There are thousands of potential Mandela storylines.  The one in 'Invictus' deals with the fall and rise of the national South African Rugby team, the Springboks and while I can't bear rugby as a sport, it was an enthralling and involving journey for the audience.  Matt Damon's understated performance balances Freeman's well and the rest of the cast formed a strong, supportive ensemble.  There were a few clanger lines in usual Eastwood cornball style, but I think that the importance and relevance of the film will stand as a classic for many years.

 

It is long but really didn't feel like that.

 

This is highly recommended as a great way to escape the autumn heat - go on cheapskates' Tuesday in the morning if you can and you will have the extra bonus of being  in an almost empty theatre that does NOT smell of popcorn.  Yaaay for that!

 

If I had to give stars out of five for entertainment, 3.5 would be my pick, nudgng to a 4.

 

 

Where was the producer when the Voice Over chap did the read on the H2O Steam Mop?  It's 'Aitch' chaps not 'Haitch'!!!  No wonder Australia sounds like a nation of uneducated hicks, from the PM and his Deputy down.  Good speech IS actually important.  Communication is vital and the more warped it becomes, the more difficult it is to know what on earth is being said to you.  Very frustrating!