Mr Nice Blu-Ray Review

The rights to make a film of Mr. Nice were sold to the BBC by Howard Marks when the landmark autobiography of perhaps the most sophisticated drug baron of all time topped the best seller lists in 1996. 15 years later and his vivid memoir has finally been brought to the big screen by the iconic writer/director Bernard Rose (Immortal Beloved) who faithfully captures the rambling, often comic, nature of the original book aided by an outstanding performance from Rhys Ifans in the title role.

In researching this article I have found many prominent discrepancies between the reported facts, their fictionalised account in the original Marks book and the way in which they are presented by Rose in his screenplay. This opaque concept of reality has helped to give "Mr. Nice" his legendary outlaw status with comparisons drawn to Robin Hood and Butch Cassidy to name but two. Whilst this lack of absolute veracity might irritate some, to my mind it only serves to heighten the movie as a work of art in its own right.

In trying to echo the essence of an autobiography Bernard Rose elected to take on most of the important technical roles behind the camera, not content with writing the script and directing the performances, he is also the cinematographer (operating a handheld 35mm camera to capture the requisite period look) as well as being the film's editor. This singular vision provides a necessary counterpoint to the force of nature that is Rhys Ifans who dominates almost every scene in the movie.

Ifans actually got to know Marks back in the day when he was singing with the fledgling Welsh psychedelic rock combo Super Furry Animals, prior to the huge success of the book the two became firm friends and a deal was struck that Rhys should play Howard if a film was ever made of his life. This long standing amicable association provides the movie with a heart that would have most likely been missing with anyone else in the lead role, Ifans admiration for Marks is demonstrable as is his compassion, particularly in the Terre Haute Penitentiary scenes.

The film opens from behind theatrical curtains with Howard Marks addressing a favourable crowd during one of his live shows, after the book's success he became a popular speaker on the raconteur circuit. It then flashes back to his early life in a small Welsh coal-mining village near Bridgend, the black and white film stock shrinks to a 4:3 ratio giving the feeling of a kitchen sink drama of the period, the young Howard is also played by Rhys Ifans; a surreal device recollecting the televised plays of Dennis Potter.

Marks was the first of his family to attend university after earning a scholarship to study at Balliol College, Oxford, in the mid-1960s. Like many of his generation during his undergraduate years he was exposed to a variety of recreational drugs including LSD but his drug of choice was cannabis, in particular hashish; as he takes his first toke the scope of the picture widens and dramatically shifts from monochrome to vivid colour, reminiscent of Dorothy's entrance into Oz.

After Howard graduates from Oxford with a degree in Nuclear Physics, he heads back to Wales, gets married and starts a family, this is the version of events unique to Rose's film as this is not how Marks recalls it in his book nor is it true to documented accounts but it makes perfect dramatic sense. He takes a steady teaching job to make ends meet and for a while leads a sober yet boring existence, until he attends a party thrown by his old college chum Graham (Jack Huston) who seems to be doing incredibly well for himself by selling hash. Howard is readily seduced back into the hippy culture when he meets and shares a joint with Judy (Chloe Sevigny), embarking on a long love affair with her and the weed.

When Graham is arrested while attempting to smuggle a large haul out of Germany, Howard agrees to courier the remaining stash back to the UK where he is quickly baptised into the machinations of big time drug dealing; turning a quick profit and agreeing to collect further shipments from the Pakistani supplier, Saleem Malik (Omid Djalili). This whirlwind period in Howard's life brings him into contact with the colourful character of Jim McCann, the Irish freedom fighter allegedly kicked out of the IRA for drug trafficking played full tilt by David Thewlis. Marks engages McCann's Provo contacts at Shannon Airport to covertly import drugs from the European mainland.

In a surreal twist straight out of the pages of Ian Fleming or John le Carre, Howard is approached by another old chum from Baillol, Hamilton "Mac" McMillan, played by the wonderful Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles), who now works for MI6 and wishes to recruit Marks as his eyes and ears in various cases relating to narcotics or terrorism in return for a level of protection from the law.

Between the late 70s and early 80s Howard Marks amassed a complex network of connections controlling at one point 10% of the global hashish market and by the mid-80s he had 43 aliases, 89 phone lines, and 25 companies trading throughout the world. True to the book the film tries to suggest that his fateful decision to move into the American market was his ultimate undoing and that Judy, who by this time he had 3 childen with, tried to discourage the US expansion and pull Howard back to reality and the commitment of family life but the temptation to make even greater piles of cash proved too much.

Bernard Rose employs a clever stylistic device to convey the 25 year time period covered in the course of movie, he takes actual filmed stock footage backgrounds and then digitally superimposes Marks over the top matching the grain, whilst the effect is an obvious artifice dismissed by some critics as simply amateurish and cheap it actually serves as a striking visual quirk that reflects Howard's constant state of expanded consciousness. It also reminds me of the back projection shots favoured by Alfred Hitchcock in his golden Hollywood period, notably Marnie in 1964.

The original soundtrack by minimalist composer Philip Glass amounts to nothing more than incidental mood music echoing the sort of thing he did for the Errol Morris documentaries of the 80s starting with The Thin Blue Line, nonetheless it does help to bring about a sense of cohesion to the piece. For this level of attentive detail Rose should be commended, he has managed to make a visually unique movie and a wonderful star vehicle for Rhys Ifans out of a stoned shaggy dog story that will help maintain Howard Marks' mythic stature as he continues his vigorous campaign for the legalisation of recreational drugs.

Steve Exeter is a passionate cinephile and screenwriter, he edits and regularly contributes to the Online-Inquirer blog site.

View the original article here

The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray Review

Finally, after a highly anticipated waiting period, the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray is available for us rabid Tolkien fans of Middle-earth! If there was ever a trilogy just begging to be upgraded to Blu-ray it would have to be the Lord of the Rings trilogy hands down. The brilliant cinematography of Peter Jackson's films are nothing short of breathtakingly spectacular, and that is without Blu-ray! Viewing them in this fantastic technology is simply a treat that is almost too good to be true.

Why Is the Lord of the Rings Extended Trilogy So Sought After?

With the extended versions of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies, comes the greatest trilogy in film history, bar-none. A dearly beloved tale of gutsy determination, undeniable perseverance, undying friendship and eternal love, the Lord of the Rings resonates, in one way or another, with the imagination of the human spirit... and that is what has made it an instant classic since the days the brilliant tale-weaving, high-fantasy, words of J.R.R. Tolkien were published back in 1954. To experience the brilliance of J.R.R. Tolkien's magic story-telling brought to life with the wizardry of Peter Jackson's cinematography, is a wonder to behold, and with the added Blu-ray, it is a fascinating technological delight for the senses! I grew up reading Tolkien and was absolutely blown away when these epics hit the big screen. To now be able to own the Lord of the Rings Blu-ray extended edition is something that absolutely thrills me.

The Lord of the Rings extended edition gives a much fuller element to the entire unfolding of the story by expanding the characters a lot more. After viewing the extended version you will wonder how you were ever even satisfied with the theatrical editions. The characters are developed to such a greater degree where you get to know their background, their "stories", or who they are, and many other scenes that bring such fullness and completeness that you just don't get from the original non-extended versions. After viewing the extended version the story just makes so much more sense. Poor Peter Jackson... he must have fought through anxiety attacks, as he had to cut so many shots out of the films in order for them to fit onto the theatres when they were first released.

The first movie, "The Fellowship of the Ring" has an additional thirty minutes of extra footage included and brings this film to a close after three-an-a-half hours. The second movie, "The Two Towers" is extended by 43 minutes and concludes after 3 hours and 42 minutes. The last and "grand finale" movie, "The Return of the King" is stretched by a mind-boggling fifty minutes and keeps one, literally, spell-bound in their seats for a senses-tingling ending to the much-loved Tolkien trilogy after 4 hours and 11 minutes! Adding it all up you have eleven hours of masterfully created entertainment pleasure and in Blu-ray to boot! This is by no stretch of the imagination and with no other even close competition the greatest trilogy of all time.

But these are the types of epics that you get lost in, and were they to be 5 or 6 hours long, they would still end too quickly and we would be wishing for extended versions of them!

Giving this awe-inspiring trilogy 5 out of 5 stars feels like I am doing it an injustice in some form... it IS simply THAT good!

Here are a few answers to questions that people are asking about the Lord of the Rings extended Blu-ray:

Official release date is June 28, 2011 There are 6 Blu-ray discs with 3 movies. The movies are delivered on 2 discs each. There is an additional "Special Features" disc for each movie. The extended Lord of the Rings Blu-ray edition includes downloadable digital copies for each movie. There are subtitles available in: Croatian, Czech, English, French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish.

So where can you find this classic Tolkien trilogy?

I know you're probably quivering all over, with anticipation at this point, and wondering how much longer you're going to have to wait to get your hands on the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray. Well, they have just been released! Read on to discover where you can purchase them...

To get an incredible deal on The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray please visit the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blog and get this high-fantasy epic trilogy in your movie library today!

View the original article here

Sucker Punch Blu-Ray Review

It infuriates me that Sucker Punch has been universally demonised in the mainstream press for being the one thing that it clearly isn't and anyone with a modicum of intelligence will appreciate that this is not a movie that sets out to further objectify or exploit women. Unfortunately such vehement negative press will undoubtedly put a lot of people off seeing it and drawing their own conclusions and this worrying trend in film criticism is tantamount to censorship in my opinion.

So why was Sucker Punch so reviled? I think the main reason is that people expect a Zack Snyder film to be a throw-away experience, they're not looking for anything other than escapist action and they certainly aren't expecting a frank and disturbing allegory on gender politics. Whilst there are plenty of fantasy battle sequences that can be watched purely as disposable fun there is an overarching subtext that deals with the rape, prostitution and psychological abuse of women that would be more at home in a David Lynch movie.

Despite its popcorn-friendly packaging Sucker Punch is full of unflinching feminist themes depicting the gamut of women's experience throughout the course of the 20th century that the average viewer didn't sign up for and were unprepared to take on-board in this context so they rail against the movie accusing its writer / director of the exploitation they're witnessing, rather than recognise they are part of the society ultimately responsible; Zack Snyder is merely holding a mirror up to it.

The film opens with a montage backed by a new recording of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) to set up the back story of Babydoll (Emily Browning) the film's protagonist. When her mother dies Babydoll and her younger sister become wards of their stepfather who's physical and sexual abuse escalates to the point where she tries to shoot him but misses accidentally killing her sister for which she is committed to an insane asylum. Sucker Punch takes place in a stylised version of the 1960s, a period where many women were institutionalised usually as the result of an unquestioned accusation of insanity from a significant male relation and, like Babydoll, were threatened with irreversible lobotomy as the final solution to their supposed mental illness.

The resident psychiatrist at Lennox House for the Mentally Insane is Dr. Vera Gorski (Carla Gugino) who practices the methods of Freud and Jung, encouraging her female patients to re-enact the circumstances of their abuse in order to confront their shadow selves. This focus on the subconscious allows the film's layered fantasy structure to emerge, Babydoll retreats into a dreamlike state where the austere asylum is replaced by the image of a louche bordello in which she and her inmates are transformed into dancers in the employ of the club's owner / pimp, Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac) who in reality is the head orderly who accepted a large bribe from Babydoll's stepfather to forge Dr. Gorski signature to authorise her lobotomy.

In the brothel fantasy Vera Gorski is transformed into a choreographer-cum-madam figure that encourages the virginal, porcelain like Babydoll to muster up the courage to express herself through a highly personal erotic dance, this triggers the second layer of fantasy sequences in which she becomes a Warrior Princess who, under the guidance of the Wise Man (Scott Glenn), accepts a quest to retrieve 4 talismans that will lead her to understand the identity of the mysterious 5th object that will secure her freedom.

This mystical scavenger hunt enables Zack Snyder to film 4 equally incredible stylised battle scenes against many disparate foes such as giant Samurai, steam-powered Nazi zombies, a baby dragon and its protective mother, and a horde of killer glass robots. The individual sequences are stunningly rendered and impeccably executed with the precision of a frenetic modern ballet and with each battle the camaraderie between Babydoll and her cohorts, Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), her sister Rocket (Jena Malone), Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens) and Amber (Jamie Chung) grows and you get the impression of a genuine bond between the friends as they fight for their lives.

The central conceit of the film is that these women are forced to use their sexuality as the only weapon available to them in order to manipulate the men who control their miserable existences and that this "empowers" them, yet they spend the entire film scantily clad which gives rise to the charges of objectification. The theatrical cut of the film was given a 12 certificate but many critics claimed it ought to have been rated 18, why? There is no nudity, no sex scenes, little bad language, stylised violence and no bloodletting; what seems to upset the largely conservative critics is the implied rape and pervasive subtext which depicts the harsh reality of being a woman in a man's world.

The appalling thing about this attempt to censor Sucker Punch is the outright hypocrisy of it all, as if this film is the only current example of female exploitation and objectification, as if it isn't apparent in every music video shown throughout the day on MTV, as if it's not omnipresent in every reality TV show, not to mention that only recently we've seen the return of Burlesque as an acceptable form of mainstream entertainment. It would appear that the film's critics are saying we're absolutely fine with scantily clad, gun toting girls and we'll even buy into this myth of "empowerment" but don't then ruin it all by making us conscious of the fact that ultimately these women are the victims of deplorable acts of sexual violence.

As the west continues to fight a war against Islamic fundamentalism often in the name of freeing repressed women from the burqa or the yashmak, it seems ironic that the supposed free women on the western world are equally imprisoned behind their fetishized painted faces, parading in hot pants or micro skirts. This irony is not lost on Zack Snyder or the cast of Sucker Punch, the film doesn't degrade women or explicitly claim to be "empowering" them but, along with a recent spate of movies that acknowledge feminism's third wave (Black Swan, the remake of True Grit, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), it shines a light on a dark aspect of the human condition and is clearly one of the most original and challenging movies in recent memory; Babydoll will, in no doubt, eventually emerge as a cult figure in cinema history.

Steve Exeter is a passionate cinephile and screenwriter, he edits and regularly contributes to the Online-Inquirer blog site.

View the original article here

The Baader Meinhof Complex Blu-Ray Review

The Baader Meinhof Complex attempts to chronicle in its 150 minute running time the entire decade which saw the rise and fall of the Red Army Faction (RAF), Germany's most notorious terrorist group. The film is produced and co-written by Bernd Eichinger whose Constantin Film company was also responsible for the excellent Downfall the study of Hitler's final days for which he also furnished the screenplay.

Director Uli Edel shares the writing credit although the film is based on the book of the same name by the former Der Spiegel editor-in-chief Stefan Aust, first published in 1985 and now considered to be the definitive text on the subject. Consequently the movie is somewhat of a hybrid and the two styles often seem at odds with each other, whilst striving for documentary realism it also presents a lot of the film's violence in the style of a Hollywood action thriller.

The film opens amidst the much publicised visit of the Shah of Iran, his wife and entourage of goons, to the Deutsche Opera in West Berlin, a large group of left-wing students have turned out to protest against the oppressive Iranian regime and the Shah's henchmen attack the youths with sticks; in the resulting riot one student, Benno Ohnesorg is shot and killed by a German police officer without incitement. This incident became a rallying point for the socialist movement and political journalists like Ulrike Meinhof (Martina Gedeck) were so outraged by the events of 2nd June 1967 that she wrote a condemnatory open letter to the Shah's wife in left-wing Konkret magazine.

11th April 1968 (less than a year later) the assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, the leader of the student union who's outspoken protest against West Germany's support of American foreign policy in particular the use of local U.S. Air Force Bases to escalate the carpet bombing of Vietnam, served as a further catalyst for the left-wing youth movement who felt that their parents' generation passively sat back and let Adolf Hitler seize power; keenly aware that many former Nazis held prominent positions in the current western imperialist government.

Whilst Ulrike Meinhof practices the maxim that the pen is mightier than the sword, Andreas Baader (Moritz Bleibtreu) and his girlfriend Gudrun Ensslin (Johanna Wokalek) believe in direct action and retaliate to the Ohnesorg murder by fire-bombing a department store in Frankfurt for which they are prosecuted. Meinhof, who is covering their trial, interviews Ensslin and is impressed by her radical principles and activist zeal. Whilst on parole the couple flee to Italy to avoid a prison sentence but are tracked down by their left-wing lawyer who urges them to return to Germany because he has access to funds that will allow them to start a revolutionary organisation.

In one of the film's less authentic sequences we see Baader and Ensslin seducing a group of youths into joining the fledgling RAF by cruising in stolen cars backed by The Who's My Generation in a sexed-up scene reminiscent of George Lucas' American Graffiti which espouses the very ethos we're supposed to believe they're railing against. However, it's not long before Baader is pulled over for speeding and sent straight to jail.

At this point Ulrike Meinhof has become disillusioned with the power of journalism to bring about real political change and is enticed by Ensslin into a plan to spring Baader from prison; this involves Meinhof pretending to research a book on the RAF and for Ensslin to pose as her publisher to avoid detection. It is in this breakout that the group take their first blood and that Meinhof's fate becomes forever entwined with the Bonnie and Clyde-esque Baader and Ensslin.

Despite some military training arranged for them by their lawyer with Palestinian rebels in Jordan, Baader's approach remains undisciplined his focus seems to be on robbing a series of banks to appropriate funds for the group. In a spectacular Butch and Sundance style shoot-out during one such escapade Baader and fellow RAF member Holger Meins are captured and soon after Ensslin, Meinhof and Jan-Carl Raspe are also arrested and held in custody at the austere, maximum security Stammhein Prison in Stuttgart awaiting a high profile show trial.

The film's tone shifts at this point, the first act strived to show the persuasive charisma that the founding young members of the RAF had in order to recruit both respectable left-wing figures like Ulrike Meinhof as well as radicalising the disenfranchised student movement. The second act is more solemn and introduces the character of Horst Herold, the head of the West German Police Force who has been tasked with eradicating the RAF who along with splinter groups like Black September are conducting various acts of terrorism, including the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics and subsequent plane hijacking, in attempts to get the founding members released. Herold (Bruno Ganz) realises the need to psychologically profile the terrorists in order to understand their motivation, there is a danger of the imprisoned members becoming martyrs when Holger Meins dies from hunger strike and Ulrike Meinhof hangs herself in her cell.

The Baader Meinhof Complex is an electrifying film, impeccably performed by a passionate cast and directed with incredible attention to period detail by Uli Edel; for the most part it succeeds in presenting a highly inflammatory period of recent history where heinous atrocities were regularly carried out by people who ostensibly believed they were acting both morally and for the good of the human race but through the escalation of the violent, bloody process tragically lost their own humanity.

Steve Exeter is a passionate cinephile and screenwriter, he edits and regularly contributes to the Online-Inquirer blog site.

View the original article here

Gainsbourg Blu-Ray Review

To be honest I wasn't quite sure what the movie Gainsbourg was going to be like, surprisingly it's not the straight forward, reverential biopic that I was half expecting. In fact it's a startling work of originality as it's the debut feature of Joann Sfar, the renowned graphic artist of the Franco-Belgian comic new wave, as with his notable comic series The Rabbi's Cat he has worked in his shared Jewish heritage to tell the story of Lucien Ginsburg's rise to fame, the world would come to know him as the popular singer songwriter and the hugely influential 1960s cultural icon Serge Gainsbourg; played uncannily by Eric Elmosnino.

The film opens with the young Lucien Ginsburg growing up in Nazi-occupied Paris, his Russian-Jewish parents hailed from a musical background and his father taught him to play the piano, giving him a grounding in the classical repertoire but Lucien was less interested in music but passionate about drawing and he is sent to study at the Montmartre College of Art. Clearly Lucien's childhood experiences deeply affected him, not least the stigma of being forcibly labelled a Jew by having to wear a yellow star but also the appearance of his outsized ears and nose which made him painfully self-conscious.

The film is based on director Joann Sfar's own graphic novel Gainsbourg (Vie heroique) and he obviously identifies closely with the subject both culturally and artistically; cleverly blending animated fantasy sequences depicting Gainsbourg's early paintings and the visualisation of a dark character who figured in a gothic fairy story that Lucien would tell to his school chums as a way of transcending his complex about his looks; the creepy "Professor Flipus" who emerges when a Freudian projection of his immense head with exaggerated features explodes leaving behind this Nosferatu-esque puppet figure who becomes Gainsbourg's alter ego, embodying all of his least desirable characteristics from that moment on.

Professor Flipus is convincingly brought to life by the performer Doug Jones (Pan's Labyrinth) engaging the adult Lucien Ginsburg in a Faustian pact, promising in exchange for abandoning art and concentrating solely on music to make him a massive star, and so "Serge Gainsbourg" is born; this devilish doppelganger is a convenient device allowing him to elude any real blame for his erratic and irresponsible behaviour, particularly the poor treatment of the many women who come and go throughout his life; he abandons his first wife and their 2 children early on in the movie.

At the height of his fame Gainsbourg had a celebrated affair with starlet Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta) who was married to the playboy Gunther Sachs at the time, they collaborated together and he wrote Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus for her which they recorded but wasn't heard until 1986; instead the controversial original release featured Gainsbourg's next big romance who went on to become his longest-suffering wife, the English actress Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon). They were together for almost 20 years and during that time Gainsbourg was to sink deeper into drug and alcohol dependency, reinventing himself as a counter-culture figure notorious for burning a 500 Franc note on stage and recording an ironic reggae version of La Marseillaise; drawing attention to the barbaric lyrics which enthusiastically encourage the patriotic slaughter of women and children.

The Blu-ray edition provides a showcase for the film's highly stylised visual design. The picture is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with a full 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encode boasting a wonderfully vibrant colour palette which evokes both the spirit of the swinging 60s and the internal musings of Gainsbourg's wandering imagination, best illustrated by the ever-present glowing eyes of the surreal Professor Flipus. The DTS-HD master audio soundtrack encapsulates the informal moments of Gainsbourg's piano tinkering in smokey nightclubs as well as the iconically lush orchestrated hit recordings and maintains dialogue clarity throughout.

The very brief extras are the only disappointment in this package; it seems Optimum Home Entertainment missed a massive opportunity by not including a documentary featuring film footage and interviews with the real life Gainsbourg by way of a comparison. Nethertheless, Joann Sfar has created a breathtaking film debut which seems far less concerned with presenting facts or telling truths about his hero than creating a bizarre, whimsical world for him to inhabit; existing at arm's length from his destructive demons and leaving space for Eric Elmosnino's towering central performance to dominate the movie, he portrays both the essence of Lucien Ginsburg and the mannerisms of his mercurial stage creation Serge Gainsbourg effortlessly.

Steve Exeter is a passionate cinephile and screenwriter, he edits and regularly contributes to the Online-Inquirer blog site.

View the original article here

True Grit (2010) Blu-Ray Review

It's uncertain whether Joel and Ethan Coen set out to make their most commercially successful film in a 30 year career by electing to remake the classic John Wayne Western True Grit as their 15th feature, however it has been by far their biggest grossing domestic picture to date, taking twice as much at the box office than their previous Oscar winner No Country For Old Men which kick-started their partnership with Paramount producer Scott Rudin a few years back.

Having never been much of a Western fan, aside from the superior 'Spaghetti' variety of Sergio Leone especially the "Dollars Trilogy" which propelled Clint Eastwood to international stardom, I wasn't the first in line to see this new version despite it being the latest offering from the Coen Brothers. Admittedly, I tend to prefer their original comedies but I was intrigued to see this primarily for the acclaimed performances of Jeff Bridges as 'Rooster' Cogburn and Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross both of whom earned Academy Award nominations.

When her father is brutally murdered in Fort Smith, Arkansas by the cowardly outlaw Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), 14 year old Mattie Ross comes to town to collect his body and hire a U.S. Marshal to track down the killer and bring him to justice. Out of the Sheriff's recommendations she selects 'Rooster' Cogburn as he has the reputation of being the most ruthless. Mattie is exceptionally astute for her years and has a commanding knowledge of the laws of business enabling her to run rings around the local inhabitants outwitting them in a series of trades over her late father's effects, raising sufficient money to bankroll her revenge.

There aren't that many structural differences from the Hal Wallis production, both are true to the spirit of the Charles Portis novel. Jeff Bridge's Cogburn is clearly a cold-blooded slayer and a broken man; much less avuncular or amusingly soused than John Wayne and without his immediate warmth or charm. Hailee Steinfeld is the same age as her character and despite her smarts she is obviously still a vulnerable young girl, whereas Kim Darby was 21 when she played a hardier, tomboyish Mattie Ross in the 1969 original.

Although the biggest difference in casting is Matt Damon in the role of the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf who hopes to claim the bounty out on Chaney for killing a State Senator. The part initially played by country singer Glenn Campbell was very much a cameo whereas the Coens have transferred a lot of the affability from the Duke's take on Cogburn to Damon's LaBoeuf making him more sympathetic thus transforming the story from a basic two-hander into a more complex triangle.

The Blu-ray edition reveals the huge visual accomplishment achieved by the Coen Brother's regular cinematographer Roger Deakins. The colour palette is distinctly different to the previous version which was bathed in California sunshine so typical of Westerns made at the time; instead we have bitter cold, steely blue skies starkly contrasted with delicate snowflakes. The 1080p picture sports faultless clarity and high detail particularly noticeable in hair and skin tones, whilst the DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack crackles with the ambient sounds of the great outdoors, wind and water are well represented and the surprisingly few gunshots deeply resonate.

It's also worth mentioning Carter Burwell's disarmingly simplistic score which riffs around the two spiritual tunes "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and "Lean On Jesus" which were first used to striking effect in Charles Laughton's classic film noir The Night of the Hunter, clearly a massive influence on the Coen Brothers. There is a small selection of fairly standard extras the one exception being the 30 minute documentary Charles Portis: The Greatest Writer You've Never Heard Of... which profiles the life and work of the author and compares both film versions to the original text.

True Grit is a milestone picture for the Coen Brothers that not only provides them with their first unabashed box office hit but demonstrates an assured maturity and artistic commitment which is no longer confined to the low budget obscurity that prevented so many of their significant early films from reaching justifiably larger audiences.

Steve Exeter is a passionate cinephile and screenwriter, he edits and regularly contributes to the Online-Inquirer blog site.

View the original article here

Paul Blu-Ray Review

There is little doubt that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost intended Paul to be an enjoyable romp through the collective memory of all the classic Science Fiction feature films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and if nothing else it succeeds in being a heartfelt love letter to the extra-terrestrial, however as an original comedy from the pedigree of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz it does feel a little underwhelming.

That's not to say that it isn't enjoyable or that it doesn't play to its strengths; it does, although there is such a sense of prevailing familiarity about the whole proceedings that it fails to totally grip you or draw you in. Still, you're more than happy to take the proverbial ride over again because the leads are so amiable and the swift moving plot never attempts to be taxing.

Illustrator Graeme Willy (Pegg) along with his childhood friend and collaborator 'the writer' Clive Gollings (Frost) have decided to round off their visit to San Diego's Comic-Con convention by taking a road trip navigating America's most famous UFO hotspots, including Area 51, The Black Mailbox and Roswell. Whilst driving their RV through the night a car pulls out, swerves off the road and explodes right in front of them. The duo stop to help and are confronted by 'Paul' (Seth Rogen), an extremely laid-back and uncouth alien who convinces them that he's been held prisoner on Earth for the last 60 years and needs their assistance to get home.

In hot pursuit is Special Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) aided by two inept FBI tenderfoots (Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio) who track them down at the 'Pearly Gates RV' park where they learn that the trio have absconded with the proprietor's daughter Ruth (Kristen Wiig), a devout, one-eyed, Creationist Christian who believes that the Earth is 4000 years old and could only have been created by intelligent design. It transpires that during Paul's captivity he has been aiding the government in a wide variety of scientific endeavours; he's even influenced popular culture, and in an amusing telephone cameo Steven Spielberg enthusiastically receives research material to develop E.T. from him.

It appears that Paul has imparted all his otherworldly secrets and that the government were planning to dispose of him before he escaped, what they don't know is that he has a series of special abilities including thought transference and the power of healing. In a key scene he restores Ruth's bad eye and then telepathically shares all of his experiences with her thus bringing about the sudden shattering of her faith and amusing transformation as she learns to curse and do all the naughty things her zealous father had hitherto forbidden; this evolutional debate is as meaty as Paul gets and given the otherwise broad nature of the humour it feels somewhat at odds with the tone of the picture.

The last reel directly parodies E.T. as Paul arranges to meet the Mothership that's taking him home near the landmark Devil's Tower featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind; it also unmasks the guest villain of the piece, the 'Big Guy' (Sigourney Weaver) who Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil (groan) reports to. Paul mockingly remarks as he boards the spacecraft that everyone has learnt something from the experience, "Be yourself, speak from the heart, some shit like that?" and the lads nonchalantly admit that they do feel "a bit different" but the coda which plays out over the closing credits is far more telling. It shows Willy and Gollings being heralded by their hero, the Sci-Fi novelist Adam Shadowchild (Jeffrey Tambor) as the creators of the award winning book "Paul" based upon their exploits and it would seem that this desire for a popular and commercial success is what the movie Paul is ultimately all about.

Regrettably Paul is the victim of its own budgetary requirements in order to create the extremely convincing computer generated titular character the film caves in to the necessary surfeit of titty, pot and fart gags at the cost of genuine wit, real suspense and authentic mystery. Having said that I can't blame Pegg and Frost for wanting a big box office hit to cement their Hollywood careers and despite the script's short comings their onscreen chemistry is undeniable.

The Universal Pictures Blu-ray release is presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with a full 1080p AVC/MPEG-4 transfer. Not only is there an incredible amount of detail in Paul's eyes and elongated fingertips but the high definition brings great depth to the wide American landscapes that set the backdrop. The DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack is as crisp and dynamic as you'd expect from a modern Sci-Fi movie, the sound really travels most notably when Paul displays his special ability of thought transference. There is also a mass of extra material which we've come to expect from previous Big Talk Productions, the best of which is Between the Lightning Strikes: The Making of 'Paul' which contains extensive interviews with the principal cast and creative team.

Paul isn't a bad film but given Pegg and Frost's track record it could have been a truly great one. I don't mean to detract from the solid work of either director Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland) or diminish David Arnold's (current James Bond composer) original score, nevertheless one just can't help imagining how much better it could have been with the team's regular director Edgar Wright behind the camera and a lovingly tongue-in-cheek John Williams theme tune!

Steve Exeter is a passionate cinephile and screenwriter, he edits and regularly contributes to the Online-Inquirer blog site.

View the original article here