The Mesmerising Mr. Nolan Works His Magic

Another masterful directorial outing for Christopher Nolan who has not put a foot wrong yet, The Prestige is sandwiched between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and serves to once again highlight the wonderful diversity of his work. That he was overlooked for a directorial nomination for 'Inception' is to the eternal shame of the Academy.

The rivalry between Jackman and Bale's characters is loaded with intrigue at every mesmerising twist and turn, and they are supported by a superb cast of characters each presented with an engaging part that the audience cannot fail but invest in. But it is the story that is the true star, brought to life by Nolan, but beautifully imagined by author Christopher Priest.

The tricks are all explained but will enthral you nonetheless, as will this excellent film.

What's That Coming Over the Hill?

Superb debut from writer and director Gareth Edwards, this is the kind of work that should give us all reassurance that there are some safe hands on the rise that will offer alternatives to the output of Hollywood that have great artistic integrity, genuine invention and will provide some new vocabulary for the language of modern cinema. Edwards beautifully captures the sombre and confused mood of a fictional near-future where aliens have arrived on Earth. The journey of his characters across this disorienting landscape is totally compelling due to Edwards’ deft touch with situations and dialog, and due to engagingly believable performances from his leads McNairy and Able. In these aspects ‘Monsters’ is in stark contrast to something like the effects heavy ‘Skyline’. Edward’s meagre budget and (necessarily) inventive filmmaking methods, and the wonderful outcome of his process, should be a lesson to big-bankroll directors and studios that truly substantive creation needs no budget to demonstrate its value. Superb filmmaking that you really should see if you have any interest in the future of cinema, well worth the rental.

The Definition of Shift

I think that if you are going to try to create art with a camera the end result needs to be something that the eye cannot see unaided. As a result, pointing the camera and releasing the shutter is not enough in itself. Also, I've always been drawn to abstract images and so have, for some years, been trying to put these elements together. What I've come up with is not particularly clever in a technical sense, I'm no great technician when it comes to photography, I don't have the patience, but I think the results of my experimenting with movement of the camera are quite interesting.

This first image was taken in the Cannaregio area in northern Venice with my Sony, f/4, 1 second, ISO 320 (equivalent) and -0.7 step exposure bias.

The second image was taken on Olympiastrasse in Seefeld, Austria, Sony again, f/2.8, 1 second, ISO 320 (equivalent).

The Right One

Don’t let yourself be put off if you think that this is a vampire film, it most certainly is not. There may be some bloodletting involved and it could be considered to have horrific elements, but these are incidental, ‘Let The Right One In’ is so much more than what some of its constituent parts might suggest. A glowing recommendation from Guillermo del Toro should tell you what territory we are in here, and that Tomas Alfredson has crafted a thoughtful, intelligent, near perfect film from the source novel. The central performances from Kare Hedebrant, but particularly Lina Leandersson, are enthralling, beautifully capturing the tenderness and hesitancy of the relationship at the heart of the film. That Alfredson went on to create a definitive work like 2011’s ‘Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy’ will not have surprised devotees of ‘Let The Right One In’, there can only be great things to come from this superlative filmmaker. If you are not overly sensitive, treat yourself to a delightful and moving filmic experience.

In The Camera Eye

How do you review a film about your all-time favourite band? Probably not very impartially, I think you would have to be a fan of Rush to seek this out, but it’s also well worth seeing for music fans who don’t know them. Rush and their music might be considered somewhat eccentric by some, but in my view Rush have, over the decades, conducted themselves with absolute decorum, through good times and hard times, concentrating on delivering the most stimulating, challenging and enthralling rock music that I have ever heard and (I strongly suspect) will ever hear. No one can do what they do, the power, the virtuosity, the insight, the passion, the sensitivity.

Intellectualism; compassion; virtuosity; heart; mind; soul; poetry; science; history; Earth; galaxy; universe; The Big Bang - Rush's canvas is the entirety of human existence. No theme is too big or too small. They are truly masters of the possible and the impossible. How well does this film capture that, well I think it is clearly an act of heart-felt tribute by the filmmakers, and the talking heads who have contributed are very impressive indeed. In the end it’s a pretty standard documentary about an extraordinary band, as a piece of archive work it is excellent, well worth seeing for those who know Rush and those who want to know them.

Keep Calm and Carry On, Watson

After a good, solid first outing by Guy Ritchie featuring excellent cut-and-thrust chemistry between Downey Jr. and Law, and a suitably mysterious and involving plot, I was unsure what to expect from the sequel, but there is no dip in form here, ‘A Game of Shadows’ is excellent, its canvas is the whole of Europe, Moriarty is on the move and the game is afoot! The action is well-paced, Holmes and Watson’s relationship is under strain and darkness and daring abound as a spate of bombings shakes Europe.

The introduction of Stephen Fry is inspired; he provides an excellent second foil for Downey Jr. and also a degree of gravitas that was missing before. Noomi Rapace is superbly cast, a pity she was not given more to do, but excellent to see her in a big circulation movie, hopefully more to come. The stand-out performance however is Jared Harris, oh how different from his meek and mild-mannered role as Lane Pryce in ‘Mad Men’, his Moriarty is superb; not a blustering caricature of evil, thank goodness, but the best kind of villain, a super-intelligent man of strong desires and no morality. The scenes that he shares with Holmes are riveting, none more so than the last one, which is superb cinema.

To conclude, despite the very tacky strap line ‘A Game of Shadows’ IS bigger, it IS better and it IS funnier, but not at the expense of an excellent Gothic action thriller with a tremendous denouement. Go and see it on the big screen NOW, TODAY! then see it again online and as a rental, fantastic stuff.

Absolutely Dire

As a child of the 60's, my musical hey day was in the early 80's. I've always had eclectic tastes, but it was the power and to some extent the bravado of Heavy Metal that called the loudest (literally) to me, I was too well behaved to be a punk, and only discovered the joys of The Clash and The Jam much later. Motorhead, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Saxon, Scorpions were the staples, Black Sabbath, Rainbow were venerated high priests (oh yes, Judas Priest too).

Metalheads were sworn enemies of the New Romantics, I mean with a name like that, and those haircuts, it was a rivalry forged in the fires of hell. For that reason it was much (much) later before I could admit that Human League, OMD, Soft Cell, Duran Duran et al had some great songs too.

Amongst all this battle-of-the-charts nonsense (wasn't it great?) were certain artists that transcended genre, and none was greater in the early 80's than Dire Straits. Mark Knopfler had that skill that all truly great artists have, of melding supreme instrumental skill with peerless storytelling and making the whole thing seem effortless. I'm moved to write this as I listen to DS best of, 'Sultans of Swing' which my 17-year-old daughter requested for her Christmas (one of my greatest joys is that she has musical tastes every bit as eclectic as mine.) Knopfler's achievement is written clearly in the track list of that superb collection, but even more eloquently in the songs that there is no room for.

'Love Over Gold' was always my favourite Dire Straits record, DS songs were never short, but by 1982 Knopfler was unconstrained by the niceties of commercial songwriting. The shortest track was 5:49 (the poppy, radio friendly 'Industrial Disease'), and 'Telegraph Road' was a tour de force at a magnificent 14:21, but it is the album's book end 'It Never Rains' that was, for me, the most poignant and heartfelt on that record. Okay the riff is a bit repetitive and the song peters out through a solo that is not Knopfler's most inspiring, but the first 4 minutes are an emotional return to the fairground landscape of 'Tunnel of Love' - magnificent stuff, and he was born in Glasgow.

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