Flick of The Day: The Guard

Irish cinema has arguably never been any stronger then its current run of form. Gone are the days of producing twee American productions involving Leprachauns and Blarney. Today, a new generation of writers, actors and directors are producing compelling drama and daring genre breaking cinema that play to the strengths of modern Ireland. Actors like Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell are international stars and yet still manage to find work at home while writer-directors like Martin McDonagh are thriving with films like In Bruges becoming big hits. It is a pleasure then to report that today's flick of the day, The Guard, is another Irish set triumph.

The Guard

An inky black comedy from John Michael McDonagh which is filmed on location in the west of Ireland, The Guard is a triumph on all fronts. A superb Brendan Gleeson is Sgt Gerry Boyle, a small town cop who is anything but conventional. From the outset he is profane, racist and without scruple and yet also utterly endearing and always hilarious. It is a darkly humorous performance from Gleeson, but not without nuance. Boyle is no fool and is never played as such. Boyle is on the hunt of a vicious gang of drug smugglers played by Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot and the always entertaining Mark Strong. Before long, Boyle is joined by an American FBI agent, Wendell Everett, played with aplomb by Don Cheadle. There is great chemistry between the two and the interplay drives the film towards its conclusion. The story is at times bleak but still manages to retain humour in even the darkest of scenes.

Gleeson's portrayal is the driving force behind the success of this film. In Gerry Boyle, he has created perhaps the ultimate iconoclast, an Irish action hero. It is a meaty role not some mere cipher, given depth by the scenes examining his relationship with his dying mother played by Fionnula Flanagan. For all the wise cracks, there is a good heart at the core of the film and you know that whatever way the plot pans out, Sgt Gerry Boyle will go his own way, and so it proves. Perhaps this is the role that will finally see Gleeson get the recognition he deserves. In a long career, there have been many highlights but not near enough recognition. 

It helps of course that the cast have a great script to work with and it delivers on all counts. The script is wonderfully profane, without ever being heavy handed. In my humble opinion, it portrays people from the west and the Gardai in general as they are. It isn't condescending or mocking in tone and it would be a mistake to pre judge the film. A great film.

Flick of The Day: Bridesmaids

Producer Judd Apatow and his various disciples have for better or worse dominated the Hollywood comedy genre for the past decade. On the one hand they have produced some of the most original and funny comedic films for years like Superbad, Knocked Up and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy but then they have also fostered the misbegotten trash that was Year One, Drillbit Taylor and Get Him to the Greek. The hits just about outweigh the misses, thankfully then the latest film to hit the screens is a return to form. Today's flick of the day is Bridesmaids.

Bridesmaids

Written by and starring the always brilliant Kristen Wiig as Annie, a single woman on the wrong side of 30. As the film opens Annie is attempting to exit a one night stand with the truly horrid Ted, played by Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame by climbing over a fence. Of course, nothing goes to plan because nothing in this film ever does and its always hilarious. The plot is just something to hang gags around but such as it is involves Annie's best friend Lillian played by Maya Rudolph getting married. Once Annie meets her fellow bridesmaids, the gags start and just keep on coming. Its a great ensemble piece, with particularly fine turns from rich but vain Helen played with vigour by Rose Byrne and perfectly comic Megan played by a wonderful Melissa McCarthy who steals all the best lines. The film moves from one set piece to another at a steady pace and along the way Annie falls apart, hits rock bottom and meets somebody new, a highway patrol officer played by Chris O'Dowd, perhaps best known for The IT Crowd.

At just over two hours running time, it doesn't feel over long and like all the best weddings, it's a pleasant experience that doesn't live too long in the memory. It derives great humour from the awkwardness of personal embarassments. A particular highlight is the wedding dress fitting where all involved get food poisoning. It's that kind of film and while that may not be to everyone's taste, it certainly seems to go down well at the cineplex.

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: You're weird. 

Annie: I'm not weird. OK? 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: Yes, you are. 

Annie: No, I'm not! And you started it. 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: No, you started it! Did you forget to take your Zanax this morning? Annie: Oh, I feel bad for your parents.

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: I feel bad for your face. 

Annie: OK... well, call me when your boobs come in. 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: You call me when yours come in. 

Annie: What do you have, four boyfriends? 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: Exactly. 

Annie: OK... yeah, have fun having a baby at your prom. 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: You look like an old mop. 

Annie: You know, you're not as popular as you think you are. 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: I am very popular.

 Annie: [sticks tongue in cheek and mimics fellatio] Oh, I'm sure you are... very... popular. 

13-Year-Old Girl in Jewelry Store: Well, you're an old, single loser who's never going to have any friends.

Annie: You're a little cunt!

Perhaps the best humour is derived from little throw away exchanges and like all Apatow films marries heartfelt sentiment with raunchy comedy and no punches are pulled.

All in all, an enjoyable way to while away a couple of hours and laugh heartily and indeed for 10 quid, who could ask more? Kristen Wiig has a bright future ahead of her I'm sure.

Flick of The Day: Shadow of a Doubt

As I was reading through the list of 111 movies that have graced the pages of The Daily Flick since I began, I was shocked to see that I had yet to review a single film by Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense. Indeed, I have reviewed two works of Henri-Georges Clouzot, the so called "French Hitchcock", The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques and none from the man himself, Hitch. In that spirit then, today's flick of the day is one of Hitchcock's lesser known classics, Shadow of a Doubt.

Shadow of a Doubt

Starring the brilliant Joseph Cotten, truely one of the most underrated actors of the century as Charles Oakley, a man with a secret. As the film opens, he hides in a boarding house in New York pursued by shady unknown men. As they pursue, Charles decides to head for California to pay a visit to his sister and her family in the kind of idyllic and peaceful pre-war American  town that existed only in the movies. Of course, it is apparent early on that all is not as it seems with Charles. He has the kind of eerie charm that at once disarms and raises alarm bells. As my mother might have put it, there is just something not quite right about him.

On arriving in California, Charles endears himself to all including his impressionable young niece Charlie, played by Teresa Wright. Charlie adores her Uncle however when a pair of detectives turn up, posing as magazine writers and asking questions about Uncle Charles, her suspicions begin to be aroused. Why has he torn a headline from the evening newspaper about the Merry Widow murderer? Why does he refuse to have his photo taken? As the tension mounts and her Uncle's behaviour begins to become more erratic, Charlie is left with only one conclusion.

This is Hitchcock's first great masterpiece and perhaps his most American film, expertly dissecting the vicissitudes of small town life between the wars, as small towns across America were becoming encroached on by the inexorable rise of urbanisation and the automobile. It also plays on that universal fear of the relative who you just don't trust. Every family in the world has a black sheep but what if he was more then that? Hitchcock plays on these fears expertly and Joseph Cotten is excellent as the decidedly odd Charles. Quick to anger and yet endlessly trying to endear himself, it is in short creepy.

Uncle Charlie: The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands, dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking the money, eating the money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women... Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hmm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?

A fascinating psychological study and a film that is as thrilling today as it was upon its release. It is perhaps his darkest work, the worst possible outcome is the ending you get. It is your classic good vs evil tale in small town America. A classic to be sure with well drawn characters and a charming setting that is beautifully shot by Joseph Valentine on location in California. Teresa Wright excels as Charlie, in only her fourth picture. She would go on to have a long career, making her final performance in an adaptation of John Grisham's The Rainmaker opposite a young Matt Damon some 60 years after this film. Quite a career.

The scene above is perhaps my favourite shot of Hitchcock's long and varied career. It is as Uncle Charles train arrives in town, and while the family await his arrival, the youngest boy hangs back transfixed by the great locomotive. His eyes follow it down the platform. It is at once perfectly realistic and yet represents the best of cinema. Well, what more can be said then? It is a classic to be sure and a film that still shines through all these years later. A must see.

Flick of The Day: Buffalo Soldiers

It is funny how in the history of cinema, the relative success or failure of a film has hung on a very simple twist of fate. John Wayne's The Green Berets was a critical and commercial failure upon its release in 1968 due to its pro-soldier depiction of the Vietnam conflict and Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life was never fully appreciated till it was rediscovered on television. Today's flick of the day is another such film, Buffalo Soldiers. A biting satire of American soldiers stationed in Germany in 1989, it had the misfortune of being set for release in September 2001. After the events of 9/11, its cinema release was put back almost two years and whatever success it might have had disappeared.

Buffalo Soldiers

Set in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Buffalo Soldiers is the story of Ray Elwood, a brilliant turn from Joaquin Phoenix, as a conniving and ruthless member of the US Army who views soldiering as an entrepreneurial activity. If he isn't selling drugs, he is profiteering with stolen Army merchandise. Elwood and his colleagues are portrayed as drug addled thieves, and with every scene it becomes more apparent why this film was not suitable for a post 9/11 America. After a military accident, Elwood lucks upon a cache of weaponry which he plans to sell to a local hood for 35 kilos of heroin. Of course, Elwood doesn't have it all his own way. A new Sergeant, Robert Lee played by the very underrated Scott Glenn, is onto Elwood and displays an almost psychotic zeal in his attempts to ruin his life. As the film heads for its grand finale, it becomes apparent that while War maybe hell, peace time can be just as dangerous.

This is a very entertaining and darkly comic look at life in the US Army. It paints a bleak portrayal of the readiness of these troops to fight has the cold war ever become hot and this boldness of direction leaves a lot to admire. Joaquin Phoenix proves once again why he is one of the best actors of his generation. His career choices since then have been well documented, but it is a question worth asking that if this film has garnered him the success it should have, where he might now be. The bitter rivalry between his character Elwood and Scott Glenn is a sight to behold. It is central to the film and its most entertaining aspect.

Ray Elwood: There's basically two types of guys in the army - the motherfuckers and the motherfucked

It helps that there is a decent script at the heart of the film, at times wickedly funny and always memorably quotable.

If the film has a weakness, it is it's overt amorality. Elwood is a ridiculously awful individual and is set up early on for a comeuppance that never arrives. This is a tacit endorsement of his behaviour which deteriorates as the film goes on. His superiors are portrayed as incredibly inept. The always reliable Ed Harris gives a fine turn as Elwood's commanding officer and a cuckolded buffoon desperate for promotion. At every possible opportunity for Elwood to be found out, fate in the form of a scriptwriter's hand steps in to keep him out of harms way.

Ray Elwood: So how come they assigned you here? 

Knoll: I put in for it. My fiancée is here on base, so we arranged for a transfer together. 

Ray Elwood: Oh, how sweet. Who's she? 

Knoll: Margolis, Carol-Anne. Private first class. 

Ray Elwood: You call her by her last name? What do you do, salute in bed?

Overall, this is a worthy film and very entertaining at that. As a satire, it isn't exactly Jonathan Swift but there is much to enjoy. Harris, Phoenix and Glenn deliver strong performances and make the best of a decent script. If the directing is at times heavy handed, it evens out over the course of the picture. Decent if unspectacular but worth a look.

Flick of The Day: Too Big To Fail

Finance is not something that ordinarily makes for interesting viewing. Oliver Stone's Wall Street was very much the exception that proved the rule. Indeed the sequel proved this beyond any doubt. However the crisis which engulfed the global economy in 2008 is to good a tale not to make it to the screen. Based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's bestseller of the same name, today's flick of the day is the best attempt thus far to tell that story.

Directed by Oscar winner Curtis Hanson, whose LA Confidential we reviewed recently, the film focuses on the short few months from the failure of American giant Bear Stearns to the collapse of another banking giant Lehman Brothers as seen through the eyes of the men who experienced those heady days. Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary is played by William Hurt, just one of a star studded cast including Paul Giamatti as Chairman of the Fed Ben Bernanke, James Woods as a maniacal version of the head of Lehman Brothers Dick Fuld. The cast is rounded out by the solid Topher Grace, Billy Crudup, Bill Pullman and Cynthia Nixon. The film manages to make what is a dry topic entertaining and tension filled as the clock counts down to oblivion. The leads are well cast even if it is a stretch to imagine Giamatti as Ben Bernanke. 

The real strength of the film is managing to tell its story without oversimplifying the facts. The decisions made in those few months will have repercussions for years to come. If there is one criticism it is the constant focus on New York ignoring the events in London and Asia which were well covered in Sorkin's book.

Henry Paulson: The Fed can lend to non banks under unusual and exigent circumstances, we're thinking of taking over 80% of the company. 

Jim Wilkinson: Hank we can't! This morning we were lecturing the entire country on morale hazard. 

Henry Paulson: AIG has collateral, they have assets, Lehman didn't, we couldn't lend into a hole, its not the same story! 

Jim Wilkinson: Nobody is going to care, its another bailout, with no legislation, the Hill is gonna go crazy, the country is gonna go crazy. 

Henry Paulson: The plane we flew in on this morning leased from AIG, construction downtown AIG, life insurance 81 million policies with a face value of 1.9 trillion. Billions of dollars in teachers pensions, you want to big to fail here it is! You got a better idea -the suggestion box is wide open!

Another fine production from HBO Films, it is a testament to the quality of that channel's output that Sorkin's book was adapted  there rather then in a large Hollywood studio.

Overall this is a worthy account of a very interesting period in modern history told well by a talented film-maker. Hanson makes good use of an equally talented cast with William Hurt particularly strong as Paulson. Well worth a look for anyone still trying to comprehend the events of those days and has much to offer even those with an interest in the topic.

Flick of The Day: Chinatown

So here we are, my favourite film of all time. Perfection is a strong word but in terms of cinema, today's flick of the day is as close to  perfection as is possible in a full length feature in the modern era. A towering central performance, a director on top form and a legendary screenwriter, this film is the sum of its parts. A dark and disturbing journey into life and corruption in sun drenched 1930's Los Angeles. Forget it Jake, It's Chinatown.

Chinatown (Special Collector's Edition)

Jake Gittes, a superb Jack Nicholson, is a private eye who specialises in catching out cheating spouses. A former cop, he has a sharp eye and a quick tongue. One day he is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to follow her husband Holles, whom she suspects of infidelity. Holles is Chief Engineer in the Water department. As Jake follows Holles around, he is intrigued to find him taking unexplained trips to various reservoirs and water tables. However, when he photographs Holles in the company of a young girl, he figures his job is done. However it quickly becomes apparent that Jake is in over his head when the real Mrs Mulwray, played by Faye Dunaway turns up and had nothing to do with hiring Jake and Holles turns up dead. Going against his own gut, he decides he has to get to the bottom of a tangled web involving shady land deals, corrupt bureaucracy, orange farmers and Evelyn's father, an ageing land baron called Noah Cross, played by the incomparable John Huston. A dark and shocking finale ensues, in which Jake is forced to fight against forces he is powerless to stop and has to confront his own past in Chinatown.

A powerful film even today, the real crux of its success is to marry the kind of classic screen noir of the 1930's and 40's with a pessimistic critique of capitalist and bureaucratic structures that began to seep into American cinema in the post Watergate 70's. A great script from Robert Towne marries these grand themes with a story of corruption and family deceit that is as old as Oedipus. It is packed with great quotable lines.

Jake Gittes: Mulvihill! What are you doing here? 

Mulvihill: They shut my water off. What's it to you? 

Jake Gittes: How'd you find out about it? You don't drink it; you don't take a bath in it... They wrote you a letter. But then you have to be able to read.

It would be a shame if this script were wasted on ropy acting and lazy direction. Thankfully, then these elements are equally strong. Nicholson gives a strong performance in a role that cemented his place as a star. Hollywood legend John Huston is equally adept as the malevolent Noah Crosss and his scenes with Nicholson are a treat. Roman Polanksi's direction is even paced and draws the best out of the cast and the script. Almost flawless.

The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards on its release in 1974, winning just the one for Robert Towne's brilliant script having had the misfortune of being made in the same year as The Godfather Part II. It's reputation has only grown in the intervening years, becoming something of a mythic beast such is the reputation of the likes of Towne, Polanski and Nicholson in terms of the 70's New Hollywood movement. It even spawned a vastly inferior sequel in 1990, The Two Jakes.

Jake Gittes: In Chinatown. 

Evelyn Mulwray: What were you doing there? 

Jake Gittes: Working for the District Attorney. 

Evelyn Mulwray: Doing what? 

Jake Gittes: As little as possible. 

Evelyn Mulwray: The District Attorney gives his men advice like that? 

Jake Gittes: They do in Chinatown.

The film is relentlessly cynical in its outlook, something that is at the heart of film noir but in this case updated for a modern audience. This alone would have made the film memorable but the combination of this with a great story and the aforementioned talents of Nicholson et al raise this to another level.

Well, what else is there to say? This really is my favourite film of all time. It is as good as it gets on all fronts and really a must see for anyone with an interest in great cinema. Check it out.

Flick of The Day: Spy Game

The cold war in general and espionage in particular has been a well that many film-makers have gone to over the years. It is in short a well travelled genre however very few have tried to chart the machinations and manoeuvrings of a life spent in the service of the CIA during this period. Today's flick of the day, Spy Game does so through the eyes of two career spies, who were once friends but now estranged.

Spy Game [Blu-ray]

Set in 1991, the film opens with Nathan Muir, played with unselfconscious cool by Robert Redford, on his last day in the Agency. He is alerted that an old colleague who he has not spoken to for years, Tom Bishop ably played by Brad Pitt, has gone rogue and been captured while trying to break somebody out of a Chinese prison. It quickly becomes apparent that the Agency wish to disassociate themselves from Tom and leave him to rot. Nathan is brought in to give the top brass a run through of Tom's career. Told in flashbacks, the story begins in Vietnam before the final pull out in 1975 and details how Nathan recruited him before moving onto their escapades in the eastern bloc, Berlin and Beirut. In a two hour running time, it packs in a hell of a lot of assassinations  double crosses and political manoeuvring. By the end, Nathan realises he has to act to save his old friend in a poignant finale.

In the hands of director Tony Scott, this is an overly flashy film and at times, it gets in the way of what is a great story. There is enough material here for a better director to fashion a true classic rather then the merely engrossing thriller it is. There is a wonderful feeling of authenticity and a great script really gives the film an air of living history.

Tom Bishop: All right, so what else? What else do I need to know? 

Nathan Muir: Put away some money so you can die someplace warm and don't ever touch it. Not for anyone, ever. 

Tom Bishop: Okay, is that it? 

Nathan Muir: Don't *ever* risk your life for an asset. If it comes down to you or them... send flowers.

That said, this is a well crafted film with much to enjoy. Redford gives a performance better then anything he has delivered in years and Pitt is well cast as the young idealist who gradually gets dragged into the web of international espionage.

If anything, the film doesn't make enough use of some of the talent at its disposal. The likes of Charlotte Rampling and Omid Djalili pop up in blink and you will miss it roles as we move at pace from the Jungles of North Vietnam to the streets of 70's Berlin and the chaos of the war in Beirut. There appears to be genuine chemistry between Pitt and Redford and this is important because this relationship is the crux of the entire film. Is Nathan willing to put himself on the line to save an old friend?

Overall, it is an enjoyable and thoughtful walk through some of the darker days of the cold war. Pitt and Redford give strong performances and the film feels short enough at just over two hours. While the various music video stylings of Tony Scott can grate at times, overall it is well put together. An engrossing well made thriller, worth a look.