The Bondurant brothers of Franklin County, Virginia. Famous for their Moonshine and infamous for their brutality. Three men who became legends among bootleggers for being willing to go further then anyone else to achieve their goals. The brothers are Jack(Shia LaBeouf) the youngest of the three, Howard(Jason Clarke) the oldest and a drunk who drinks more then his fair share of the supply, and finally Forrest(Tom Hardy) the muscle of the group, a hulking beast of a man who walks slowly and mumbles his words but when it comes to violence you see he is just a tightly wrapped spring ready to pounce at any minute.
The brothers have a very successful business in producing and selling Moonshine during the prohibition era, this all changes when Charlie Rakes(Guy Pierce) of Chicago comes to put a stop to the brothers lucrative business. He is a special deputy (a point which he makes clear several times throughout the film) and he too wants a cut of the towns illegal gains, unlike the rest of the towns bootleggers Forrest refuses to conform to Rakes demands because of the principal.
This starts a chain reaction which results in the spilling of much blood on either side of the law.
This is director John Hillcoat's third film and his second with singer-songwriter Nick Cave on script duties after their 2005 western masterpiece 'The Proposition'. Hillcoat is a very talented director, he brings a rough, physical edge to all his features and has gotten together another great cast to film 'Lawless'.
All of these positives point to Hillcoat going three for three in terms of his filmography, but 'Lawless' never reaches the stunning heights of 'The Proposition' or 'The Road', most of the blame for this has to go to Cave who spends to much time on the cliche ridden romance between Jack and local girl Bertha(Mia Wasikowska), these portions feel like the type of film we've seen thousands of times before. Cave should instead have focused on the complicated but always interesting relationship between Jack and Forrest, with the former wanting his brothers admiration and the older worried he will fall into the same cycle of violence that he has.
Jessica Chastain is brought into the film as a mediator and a potential love interest but is severely underused, an actress of her considerable talents should not be given such light-weight materiel when we have seen her in tough but brilliant roles like 'Take Shelter', but the most shocking use of any actor of the whole year has to be Gary Oldman who shows up for a pitiful two scenes in the first half and is never seen again.
'Lawless' does have a several good performances, especially notable are Shia LaBeouf who gives his best performance in years and reminds us that he can actually act, another star here is Tom Hardy an actor who has yet to disappoint and proves himself once again to be one of the most compelling actors of his generation with his performance as Forrest, a conflicted, tortured man who see's violence as the only way to resolve his problems. The real star of the show here is Pierce who plays Rakes to perfection by not overstepping the line and falling into pantomime. Rakes is a despicable creature, with his shaved eyebrows and parted hair he always keeps up a tangible air of creepiness, you know this a man who is willing to commit horrible deeds in order to satisfy himself.
'Lawless' is a brutally violent, well acted western. A film which is quite similar in style to HBO's 'Boardwalk Empire' but does not match up in substance. Its let down by a week ending which serves to undo all the good work which came before it. A good but flawed third feature from Hillcoat.
Sunday 30 December 2012
Monday 24 December 2012
END OF WATCH: My Review
'End Of Watch' is David Ayer's third feature as a director and most definitely his best. After cutting his teeth writing tough cop films like 'Training Day' he finally made his way behind the camera with the interesting but not very memorable 'Harsh Time's' a film which is best known for its great performance from Christian Bale in the lead role.
'Watch' is a very different beast to Ayers first two films, it follows the lives of two cops working the beat in mean streets of South Central, California. The two cops are officer Taylor and officer Zavala, the former is played by Jake Gyllenhaal and the latter is played by Michael Peña.
The two men are best friends and feel like they have known each other for decades. Their relationship is key to the success of the movie because their fantastic chemistry helps them perform some of the funniest dialogue of the year which helps this to be funnier then any big-studio comedy out this year. This chemistry is also crucial in the films more dramatic scenes.
In most cop movies along these lines the main driving force of the plot is the grey area which exists were police officers are forced to act like criminals in order to fulfill their duties. In 'Watch' the line is split down the middle CopsVSCriminals is GoodVSBad. There is never any doubt about whether our antagonists actions are honorable our not, they are simply doing their job in the best of their ability, in the worst environment imaginable.
The only blunder Ayer has made is by choosing to shoot all of the film in the style of found footage, this is explained at the start by Taylor proclaiming to the camera that he is taking a film studies and that is why he is documenting everything. That is fine as an explanation but it falls apart when the same POV style is used in shots would be impossible for Taylor to film. This style can become irritating when all you is a viewer want do is watch the performances and not be distracted by the consistently changing point of view.
The movie also spends too much time on a gang of wannabe gangsters who develop an unhealthy interest in our two anti-heroes. These are the only parts of the feature that fall into the land of stereo-types and detract from the grittily-realistic tone of the rest of the film.
'End Of Watch' is the type of cop film we don't get anymore, it manages to combine sections of genuine humor with moments of scarily real humanity. Its gut punch of an ending is heartbreaking cinema that will leave you stunned and satisfied. Ayer has made fantastic film with this and has gotten two of the years best performance out of his leads and despite a few niggles has created a mini-masterpiece.
'Watch' is a very different beast to Ayers first two films, it follows the lives of two cops working the beat in mean streets of South Central, California. The two cops are officer Taylor and officer Zavala, the former is played by Jake Gyllenhaal and the latter is played by Michael Peña.
The two men are best friends and feel like they have known each other for decades. Their relationship is key to the success of the movie because their fantastic chemistry helps them perform some of the funniest dialogue of the year which helps this to be funnier then any big-studio comedy out this year. This chemistry is also crucial in the films more dramatic scenes.
In most cop movies along these lines the main driving force of the plot is the grey area which exists were police officers are forced to act like criminals in order to fulfill their duties. In 'Watch' the line is split down the middle CopsVSCriminals is GoodVSBad. There is never any doubt about whether our antagonists actions are honorable our not, they are simply doing their job in the best of their ability, in the worst environment imaginable.
The only blunder Ayer has made is by choosing to shoot all of the film in the style of found footage, this is explained at the start by Taylor proclaiming to the camera that he is taking a film studies and that is why he is documenting everything. That is fine as an explanation but it falls apart when the same POV style is used in shots would be impossible for Taylor to film. This style can become irritating when all you is a viewer want do is watch the performances and not be distracted by the consistently changing point of view.
The movie also spends too much time on a gang of wannabe gangsters who develop an unhealthy interest in our two anti-heroes. These are the only parts of the feature that fall into the land of stereo-types and detract from the grittily-realistic tone of the rest of the film.
'End Of Watch' is the type of cop film we don't get anymore, it manages to combine sections of genuine humor with moments of scarily real humanity. Its gut punch of an ending is heartbreaking cinema that will leave you stunned and satisfied. Ayer has made fantastic film with this and has gotten two of the years best performance out of his leads and despite a few niggles has created a mini-masterpiece.
Monday 17 December 2012
Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.d City: My Review
Kendrick Lamar is different, that's simply a fact.He started pretty normally, free-styling with his friends then moving on to recording his first mixtape.Then last year he dropped "Section 80", an "ITunes" only release which generated plenty of buzz for the 25 year old.In the same year he signed with "Dr Dre's" "Aftermath" records and started to gain the attention of big names in the industry.
Fast forward to 2012 and the Compton-born rapper is releasing his full length debut album, and its a keeper.Lamar has made a rap record different to any other this year, this is concept album through and through.In an age where the paying public dismiss any record that doesn't satisfy them on a completely superficial level. The southern rapper "2Chainz" also released his debut this year, and by putting the albums side-by-side you really start to notice a difference.
Where "2Chainz" is a all about the image, Kendrick is all about the storytelling.The former relies upon immature punchlines while the latter builds a three-dimensional living breathing world around the listener."2Chainz" is stuck in the dinosaur age of rap, his three most common topics are 'Money,Weed and Bitches' but enough about him.
This is Kendrick's show he deserves every five-star review he gets because G.K.M.C. is simply a masterpiece, be it sonically or lyrically, he excels at both. He can make a song featuring "Drake" not sound commercial and a 12 minute epic approachable.He writes realistic characters doing sometimes painfully realistic things.
This is a Hip-Hop album at its most interesting, fantastic production backed up by even better lyrics.Lamar is the listeners eyes and ears as he paints a disturbingly real portrait of Compton, a place where Kendrick and his friends ride around in his moms beat up Mini-Van, looking for houses to rob and girls to screw. They live there lives in the constant haze of weed and alcohol, and only worry about their next blunt.
This is where Lamar excels, describing himself as the one good kid caught up in a very "Maad" city.He constantly changes the tone of his voice and speed of his rapping to give the listener a better understanding of the emotions.
With G.K.M.C, Kendrick has done the impossible, he created a genuinely interesting Hip-Hop record in year saturated with crushingly shallow records by half-assed so called artists.Make no mistake, if you only pick up one rap record this year, make it this.
Fast forward to 2012 and the Compton-born rapper is releasing his full length debut album, and its a keeper.Lamar has made a rap record different to any other this year, this is concept album through and through.In an age where the paying public dismiss any record that doesn't satisfy them on a completely superficial level. The southern rapper "2Chainz" also released his debut this year, and by putting the albums side-by-side you really start to notice a difference.
Where "2Chainz" is a all about the image, Kendrick is all about the storytelling.The former relies upon immature punchlines while the latter builds a three-dimensional living breathing world around the listener."2Chainz" is stuck in the dinosaur age of rap, his three most common topics are 'Money,Weed and Bitches' but enough about him.
This is Kendrick's show he deserves every five-star review he gets because G.K.M.C. is simply a masterpiece, be it sonically or lyrically, he excels at both. He can make a song featuring "Drake" not sound commercial and a 12 minute epic approachable.He writes realistic characters doing sometimes painfully realistic things.
This is a Hip-Hop album at its most interesting, fantastic production backed up by even better lyrics.Lamar is the listeners eyes and ears as he paints a disturbingly real portrait of Compton, a place where Kendrick and his friends ride around in his moms beat up Mini-Van, looking for houses to rob and girls to screw. They live there lives in the constant haze of weed and alcohol, and only worry about their next blunt.
This is where Lamar excels, describing himself as the one good kid caught up in a very "Maad" city.He constantly changes the tone of his voice and speed of his rapping to give the listener a better understanding of the emotions.
With G.K.M.C, Kendrick has done the impossible, he created a genuinely interesting Hip-Hop record in year saturated with crushingly shallow records by half-assed so called artists.Make no mistake, if you only pick up one rap record this year, make it this.
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