Persepolis review

Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s story of growing during the Iranian revolution and ultimately moving to France. It’s very much a coming of age story, however the setting isn’t typical.

It’s set, for the most part, in Iran and it’s animated mostly in black and white. Based on a graphic novel of the same name it came out in France in May 2007 but were didn’t get it until now.

The film itself is pretty good, there are funny moments, like the music black market and the nude drawing. It’s set during a time where everyone was losing their personal liberties and many people were being imprisoned, often never to return.

The way the people in Iran were being treated was very much reminiscent of Nazi Germany, but the victims in this case were their own poeple. Persepolis however is a very personal story and politics isn’t at the forefront although it’s a very important aspect.

When Marjane’s home changes so much so can no longer be herself she is forced into exile in Austria and then ultimately France. As coming of age stories go, it’s very good and I enjoyed it. However because of the perspective it was quite a light story, despite the war going on around here and it didn’t explore the more interesting aspects. Worth seeing just for the different perspective.

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Iron Man review

Marvel comics have been churning them out for sometime now. It’s not surprising to see yet another comic being made into a film. The trick is to cast it right, and with Robert Downey Jr. I think they did pretty well. I don’t remember the comics that well so I can’t be too sure.

The pace of the movie was really good and it started with the action, which was pretty much the trailer played back. The main character Tony Stark is a super-rich arms dealer who is intelligent, charismatic, but gives little thought to where his money is coming from and is extremely vain.

The love interest is played by Gywneth Paltrow and she does well enough to keep it strictly PG while hinting at further romance. Which may mean more films?

It had the comic feel to it because there were a few parts where you’d expect more broken bones. The bad guys were introduced very well and it was kept fairly up to date, it didn’t feel like an old idea.

It’s one of the few comic films that I’ve been impressed with and it’s hard to find a lot wrong with it. Very good film and plenty of action to enjoy.

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In Bruges review

Black comedies are hard to do well and political incorrectness is few and far between. Luckily Martin McDonagh’s new film has both of those and he throws in a bit of slapstick humour among the slew of drugs, violence and midgets. Starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as believable hitmen with a crisis of conscience.

Martin McDonagh is primarily a playwright, his first feature film is In Bruges. He had some interesting things to say on the Film Weekly Podcast from the Guardian.

It was really interesting to hear how he came up with the screenplay. Like all good stories it started with the characters, and like all good films it moved to a beautiful location, this time it’s Bruges (in Belgium). Then what do they do? They’re hitmen. What are they there? They’re hiding out. And so on, until you have this…

I don’t want to give away any of the plot, because I don’t want to spoil it. The story unravels very well and keeps with the over arching joke that, “Bruges is a shithole” while still keeping it funny. This is very much because of the superb acting performances and the black humour really works well.

Most surprising of all is Ray Fiennes who is unrecognisable as a mob boss. It’s like his face has been altered with surgery, that’s how good he plays his character.

This film has humour, love, guilt, violence and a fair bit of swearing. It ticks a lot of the political correctness no-no’s and perhaps that’s why we laugh so. One of my favorite films of the year so far, go see it!

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There Will Be Blood Review

I Drink Your Milkshake! I Drink It Up! has to be one of the more odd lines in a movie. The context is pretty dramatic and it’s delivery just goes to show how MENTAL D Day-Lewis’ character becomes.

To be fair he’s not exactly sane to start with. The movie start with around 20 minutes without dialogue, just well digging… grunting… and fuck all else. There seems to be something missing from this movie, but it’s probably the lighter side of the main character. He does everything to make himself the winner, which unfortunately he spills to in one scene. Sometimes it’s better to leave the audience to work it out, but there is not enough substance to work with.

Parts of it are very dark, brooding and unintentionally comical. Back to the Oscar it got, I’m assuming Mr Day-Lewis didn’t have one so they felt sorry for him and made sure he got his own little statue for his mantlepiece. Although to be fair there wasn’t much competition in his category. Only really good for the line at the start of the article.

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27 Dresses review

Claire (Heigel) has a weird smile, it’s almost as if it’s trying to escape her face. As soon as Kevin (Marsden) turns up it pretty obvious how it’s going to end. I won’t spoilt the surprise, except to say it’s a movie about weddings.

The trailer, as usual, has all the funny bits. Despite my cynicism there was a lot to laugh at in this movie, it’s one of a host of wedding related movies out in the last few years which goes in a slightly more believable direction.

27 dresses has a few holes which irked me, in particular the amount of money she must spend and she seems to be a PA, which isn’t really inline with her lifestyle. And also that she wouldn’t have any problem finding a boyfriend but didn’t seem to have one. Worth a watch with the missus..

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