“I’m my best self today and I think she’s her best self”

Hello Everyone :-)

The Oscars are coming! Sunday 24^th February will see the red carpet rolled out for the good and great of the western film world at the 85^th Academy Awards. Last time we had a look at ‘Argo’ the brilliant ‘Best Picture’ offering from Ben Affleck. Today we’re going to cast an eye over ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ directed by David O’Russell.

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ follows Pat (Bradley Cooper) who suffers from bipolar disorder. At the beginning of the film Pat is released from a mental health facility into the care of his parents after eight months of treatment following a violent incident brought on by Pat’s discovery of his wife’s affair. During his first few weeks back in society Pat meets Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence) a young widow also suffering from mental health problems and the two come to an arrangement whereby Tiffany will pass letters from Pat to his estranged wife if he agrees to partner Tiffany in an upcoming amateur dance competition. We watch Pat as he tries to work out his commitment to his family, his relationship with his ex-wife and his feelings for Tiffany.

If I was a cynic (which, it will come as no surprise, I can be sometimes) I would say that this kind of film is genetically modified to appeal to Academy voters. It features some big name stars that have been uglied up (relatively speaking… I don’t think Jennifer Lawrence could be ugly if she tried), it deals with big issues (in this case mental health ones) and it ties everything up in a very life affirming sort of way. So far so Academy friendly. What sets ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ apart is its lack of pretension and how it embraces its spiky lead characters.

The key to the film is its two lead characters. Pat and Tiffany are a socially awkward match made in heaven and this film works because you want them to get together.
Cooper gives his best performance to date by some considerable margin. Pat isn’t exactly likeable but he is a compelling character and Cooper gives him a brilliant, frenetic energy. Cooper is nominated for Best Actor at this year’s Oscars and, although I don’t think he’ll win (Daniel Day Lewis is a shoo-in), based on his efforts here things are about to get very interesting for Bradley Cooper.
Jennifer Lawrence makes me sick. The girl is stunningly beautiful, comes across like a really nice person in interviews and is supremely talented. She has impressed me in every film that in which I’ve seen her appear and ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is no exception. Tiffany is lots of things; awkward, fragile, angry, sweet; I really liked her and that’s entirely down to Lawrence.

One criticism is that I think this film has been mis-sold by the trailer and some of the reviews I’ve read. It is awkwardly funny but not laugh-out-loud hilarious as the trailer suggests, I don’t have a problem with this subtler humor but I thought it was worth pointing out.

The look of the film is nice and simple which is good. It’s quite a wordy film and Pat has a tendency to talk quickly so the fact most scenes take place in the middle of a ridiculously quiet road is pretty helpful.

Some detractors have said that the film writes off various characters’ mental illnesses as simple personality quirks but I don’t think that’s the case. Yes, some of the sufferers have less difficultly with their disorders than others and yes, the characters seem to cope better in the latter stages of the film than in the first, but isn’t that called resolving (or at least partially resolving) the story? At the beginning of ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ Pat’s affliction is seen to be destructive and something from which he wants to get better, definitely not just a little foible of his. Speaking as someone who has known people with mental illnesses I think this is a perfectly fair depiction, sometimes they have good days, sometimes they have bad days, sometimes they get obsessive about things, sometimes they say inappropriate things, sometimes you’re allowed to laugh and other times you’re not; it all chimed with my experiences.

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is marred slightly in its third act. There is a downright daft plot contrivance which means that all of the characters end up in the same place at the same time and all have reasons to care about the outcome of Pat and Tiffany’s dance competition. It’s also in these scenes that the improvised dialogue becomes clunkier which is a real pet peeve of mine. These, thankfully, are minor things and don’t detract too much from the overarching loveliness of it all.

Maybe you could say that the ‘dance fixes everything’ message is a little bit ridiculous, especially when you’re taking on an issue as complex as mental illness but for me ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is a sweet story about a family helping each other cope with the hands they’ve been dealt. An uplifting story that’s enhanced by two brilliant lead performances, ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ comes highly recommended.

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ is out on Blu-Ray and DVD on 1^st April.

Now lets have some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)
1. ‘Man of Steel’ trailer! I’ve been in two minds about this because of the involvement of Zack Snyder of whom I’m not particularly a fan but it doesn’t look too bad! It looks very visually stylish (which is a given for Snyder) and Henry Cavill looks like a perfect physical fit for Superman. What I’m most excited about is the always watchable Michael Shannon as General Zod and my ultimate girl crush Amy Adams playing Lois Lane. While I still have reservations, I’m looking forward to it.

2. Any of you that have been reading my inane ramblings will know that I am a massive fan of the Hunger Games books and really loved the first film. Now we have some set photos from the second film ‘TheHunger Games: Catching Fire’! The inclusion of Philip Seymour Hoffman in the cast is enough to push me over the edge into full on fever pitch so seeing him as Plutarch Heavensbee for the first time is crazy exciting :-)

That’s all I’ve got for you today!

Goodbye till next time :-)
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"If I'm gonna make a fake movie, it's gonna be a fake hit"

Hello Everyone :-)

It’s awards season! Yay!

I like awards season. I know it’s all film people giving themselves a pat on the back and every year we ask ourselves if ceremonies like the Oscars are relevant anymore (My Twitter friend Ross wrote an article on the subject last year on the Huffington Post, read it and follow him, he’s lovely). However I’m the kind of girl that gets distracted by sparkle and giddy at glitz so I always enjoy watching awards ceremonies, especially when you’ve recorded them and can whizz all the boring bits. And… there’s always the possibility that someone might swear.

So the other week was the BAFTAs and I think we gave as good as our American counterparts in terms of pomp and circumstance. The big winner of the night was ‘Argo’ that walked away with Best Editing, Best Director and Best Picture (You can see all the winners here).

‘Argo’ centres on the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. During this conflict 6 US embassy workers escaped capture and were forced into hiding at the Canadian embassy. The US State department explores options for "exfiltrating" the 6 from Iran. Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), a CIA specialist, is brought in for consultation and comes up with the idea of pretending that the escaped embassy workers are a Canadian film crew looking for a filming location for their next movie. Tony then enlists the help of industry insiders Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin) and John Chambers (John Goodman) to help him make his fake film seem as real as possible.

This is a topic about which I knew nothing prior to seeing this film. I don’t just mean the immediate story (which was kept classified until 1997), I mean the entire hostage situation (history is really not my strong suit). That said my lack of knowledge didn’t impede my enjoyment of the film at all, in fact I think it enhanced it. The good Doctor Kermode always refers to an incident when he was watching a press screening of ‘Apollo 13’ and a fellow critic was on the edge of their seat because they were didn’t know whether everyone made it out alive, despite the fact it was based on a well-documented historical event. The same is true for me and ‘Argo’.

What stuck me first off was the 70’s-ness of it all. It looks great. Second thing that struck me was the sense of authenticity. There are multiple scenes of rioting and civil unrest that look like they could have bee taken from the footage of the ongoing Arab Spring uprisings. The film has a palpable tension that really impressed me.

Ben Affleck stars as well as directs in ‘Argo’ and acquits himself well on both counts.

Affleck plays Tony as a very subdued, pensive man which works well. However, what I’m most impressed by is his directorial prowess. One of the main strengths of ‘Argo’ is its ability to weave seamlessly between comedy and tension. There is a scene where Tony, Lester and John are hosting a press junket to promote their (unbeknownst to the press) fake movie and it’s all quite jovial. This is inter-cut with scenes from the US embassy in Iran where hostages are being tormented by their captors. It’s a brilliant piece of cinema that really gave me an insight into the talent working behind this film.

That’s not the only talent involved in this venture either. John Goodman and Alan Arkin are brilliant as the two movie makers. They are a necessary comic relief and bounce off each other effortlessly.

The roles of the 6 escapees could have been a bit of a ‘tab A into slot A’ exercise but was impressed by how much the characters were fleshed out. Scoot McNairy and Rory Cochrane particularly stood out for me.



I don’t really know what I was expecting when I went to see ‘Argo’. Considering the period in which it’s set I’d half expect younger audiences to switch off but the screening I was at was solely attended by under-30’s and, like me, they were all laughing and perched on the edge on the edge of their seats throughout.

It may not have the grandeur of ‘Les Miserables’, the historical significance of ‘Lincoln’ or the emotional resonance of ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ but it it’s own, quiet way I think ‘Argo’ deserves its place in this year’s awards roster.

Showcase cinemas are re-showing ‘Argo’ prior to this year’s Academy awards; catch it while it’s there!

After all that awards talk lets have some…

Reasons to be cheerful

1. I don’t know how this has escaped my attention but the god-like genius that is Guillermo Del Toro has a film out this year. 12th July will see the release of the CGI-laden ‘Pacific Rim’ to our silver screens. It looks like it could be seven shades of hideous ‘Transformers’ rip off but knowing that Del Toro has had a hand in proceedings calms my nerves. I’m looking forward to it.

2. STAR TREK!!!!! So much ‘Star Trek’ news so little time! Here is the official trailer for ‘Into Darkness’ with the beautiful and bulked up Benedict Cumberbatch being all sexy and badass. Also… Photos! I actually could not be more excited about this if I tried!

That’s enough wittering from me.

Goodbye till next time :-)

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