milofromtheblock
Joined Mar 2003
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews8
milofromtheblock's rating
It is a true marvel that Moon got made at all when it is so out of step with current film making trends and its all the more remarkable that it turned out to be an excellent film showcasing everything that can be good about low budget independent cinema and announces débutant director Duncan Jones as a real talent to watch in the future. The film stars Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell, the one man crew of a mining station on the dark side of the moon on a three year contract with only an endlessly cheery computer GERTY, voiced with brilliantly creepy calm by Kevin Spacey, for company. While the base is mainly automated Sam is required for maintenance and monitoring. His live communication link to Earth is down and he relies on video messages from his wife and child for comfort as he comes up to the end of the contract and the limits of his sanity. Whilst on a routine repair mission to one of the base's remote harvesters he suffers a bad accident and well, to reveal further would ruin the movie.
Sam is one of Rockwell's best performances in a roller-coaster career, here he is able to constrain the 'zanier' aspects of his performances whilst still portraying someone on the ragged edge of their soul. His character wears the psychological scars of such extreme loneliness with such pitiable sadness that within minutes of the film's opening the audience has to question what kind of man would submit to these conditions, that reveal, when it comes, is a quite brilliant turn. Whilst praising Rockwell's performance I have to mention Spacey's voice acting that uses age old sci fi conventions about thinking computers to twist our expectations and encourages the audience to speculate ad constantly re-evaluate GERTY's motivations. GERTY'S design also evokes sci fi of old with his clunky panels and simple smiley face screen, a facet reflected in the base itself. A sparse and dirty environment, giving the impression of industrial space exploration, not the sleek lines and lens flares of the modern Star Trek but a vision of corporate exploitation. Everything about the base, from its single person crew to its basic food and living quarters and its clunky moon buggies reeks of a company spending as little money as possible for the biggest profit. The whole piece represents a throwback to the paranoia of the 1970's, sci fi's boom years, when space was seen as just another place ripe for exploitation by greedy corporations and authoritarian governments.
When sci fi was created it was typically used as a means with which to examine humanity in extreme circumstances and the universality of the human experience. That has become lost lately, and notably this summer, as it becomes a tool for Hollywood to create ever larger explosions and ever shallower characters. This summer has already seen Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation and Transformers 2 assault the senses to varying degrees of success but with hardly a moment for the audience to catch their breath between them they epitomise the ultra high tempo of modern sci fi film-making. In that context Moon slow, thoughtful approach comes as a real shock to the system, here characters engage and discuss, they contemplate in silence as they try to comprehend the enormity of their discoveries and when the twists come they are slow reveals that the audience are trusted to understand without a flip chart and diagrams. Moon is one of those interesting, neat films that come along every so often to show what sci fi can still achieve and is destined for a long life on DVD. A thoroughly recommend sci fi slow burner on the nature of identity, find it, watch it, discuss it.
Sam is one of Rockwell's best performances in a roller-coaster career, here he is able to constrain the 'zanier' aspects of his performances whilst still portraying someone on the ragged edge of their soul. His character wears the psychological scars of such extreme loneliness with such pitiable sadness that within minutes of the film's opening the audience has to question what kind of man would submit to these conditions, that reveal, when it comes, is a quite brilliant turn. Whilst praising Rockwell's performance I have to mention Spacey's voice acting that uses age old sci fi conventions about thinking computers to twist our expectations and encourages the audience to speculate ad constantly re-evaluate GERTY's motivations. GERTY'S design also evokes sci fi of old with his clunky panels and simple smiley face screen, a facet reflected in the base itself. A sparse and dirty environment, giving the impression of industrial space exploration, not the sleek lines and lens flares of the modern Star Trek but a vision of corporate exploitation. Everything about the base, from its single person crew to its basic food and living quarters and its clunky moon buggies reeks of a company spending as little money as possible for the biggest profit. The whole piece represents a throwback to the paranoia of the 1970's, sci fi's boom years, when space was seen as just another place ripe for exploitation by greedy corporations and authoritarian governments.
When sci fi was created it was typically used as a means with which to examine humanity in extreme circumstances and the universality of the human experience. That has become lost lately, and notably this summer, as it becomes a tool for Hollywood to create ever larger explosions and ever shallower characters. This summer has already seen Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation and Transformers 2 assault the senses to varying degrees of success but with hardly a moment for the audience to catch their breath between them they epitomise the ultra high tempo of modern sci fi film-making. In that context Moon slow, thoughtful approach comes as a real shock to the system, here characters engage and discuss, they contemplate in silence as they try to comprehend the enormity of their discoveries and when the twists come they are slow reveals that the audience are trusted to understand without a flip chart and diagrams. Moon is one of those interesting, neat films that come along every so often to show what sci fi can still achieve and is destined for a long life on DVD. A thoroughly recommend sci fi slow burner on the nature of identity, find it, watch it, discuss it.
Michael Mann returns to the familiar territory of the American Crime drama to explore the life and times of John Dillinger, probably America's most famous bank robber and public enemy number 1. Mann models this as a conflict between the foundations of federal crime fighting and the burgeoning criminal network of the time. Representing the side of law and order is Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, one the FBI's most famous agents, whilst Johnny Depp plays Dillinger. Shooting in digital Mann brings his usual expertise at accuracy, authenticity and lends an epic scale to the story as well as creating a number of thrilling action sequences particularly an elongated shoot out at a country lodge. The acting is generally high calibre and both leads are excellent and Depp is admirably restrained as Dillinger when compared with his more recent wilder roles. He portrays him as a serious bank robber who knows how to foster his own mythology, one scene where Dillinger is questioned by the press allows Depp to loosen his control and play with his audience. However Dillinger's relationship to the press and the public's reaction to Dillinger is one of a number of interesting topics that the film sheds little light on rendering the near two and a half hour running time a little frustrating.
Mann reduces this story to a battle between two men and adds layers of stereotype and cliché where none were needed. Dillinger's romance with Billie Frechette, a solid if unremarkable turn by Marion Cotillard, is given undue focus and portrayed as the traditional doomed romance between gangster and moll. Mann continues to hint at the more interesting aspects of the story, the way Hoover manipulated the pursuit of Dillinger to get press coverage and support for the FBI, the evolution of crime and crime fighting, the public reaction to the criminals of the era. In one scene near the end of the film Dillinger enters a betting racket run by the mob and witnesses the vast sums they are taking the film briefly touches on the idea that this was the end of an era for bank robbery but, again, goes nowhere with the idea. Similarly on the FBI's side there is continued reference to the transition of tactics to a recognisably modern crime fighting outfit but it is never fully explored despite the length of the film. Purvis witnesses escalating police brutality in their attempts to capture Dillinger and is clearly affected by it but little reference is made to the impact it had on the FBI and on police behaviour in America.
Ultimately Mann has the characters, era and time to create a true classic of American crime but clings too close to the well worn confines of the genre and ultimately the film could really be about anyone and set anywhere and have a near identical plot. That is not to say it's a bad film, it's enjoyable and watchable but Mann had the scope and actors to aim so much higher that it is hard not to be disappointed and a little frustrated with the end result.
Mann reduces this story to a battle between two men and adds layers of stereotype and cliché where none were needed. Dillinger's romance with Billie Frechette, a solid if unremarkable turn by Marion Cotillard, is given undue focus and portrayed as the traditional doomed romance between gangster and moll. Mann continues to hint at the more interesting aspects of the story, the way Hoover manipulated the pursuit of Dillinger to get press coverage and support for the FBI, the evolution of crime and crime fighting, the public reaction to the criminals of the era. In one scene near the end of the film Dillinger enters a betting racket run by the mob and witnesses the vast sums they are taking the film briefly touches on the idea that this was the end of an era for bank robbery but, again, goes nowhere with the idea. Similarly on the FBI's side there is continued reference to the transition of tactics to a recognisably modern crime fighting outfit but it is never fully explored despite the length of the film. Purvis witnesses escalating police brutality in their attempts to capture Dillinger and is clearly affected by it but little reference is made to the impact it had on the FBI and on police behaviour in America.
Ultimately Mann has the characters, era and time to create a true classic of American crime but clings too close to the well worn confines of the genre and ultimately the film could really be about anyone and set anywhere and have a near identical plot. That is not to say it's a bad film, it's enjoyable and watchable but Mann had the scope and actors to aim so much higher that it is hard not to be disappointed and a little frustrated with the end result.