The Bridge (Series 1; 2011)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Bridge (Series 1; 2011) – M. Mårlind, H. Rosenfeldt, & B. Stein

In search of a series that I can watch in the limited time between when the kids go to bed and when I need to get some shut-eye before work the next day, I turned to yet another cop drama/serial killer thriller. This one did come highly recommended – from Sweden/Denmark. We begin with a dead body found on the bridge between Copenhagen and Malmo, neatly placed exactly halfway across the border. Swedish detective Saga Norén (Sofia Helin) takes charge of the investigation – she has an unusual way of interacting with people, let’s say she is neurodivergent – but she is an excellent detective. She is partnered with Danish investigator Martin Rohde (Kim Bodnia) who is bemused by her behaviour but comes to feel affection for her. His family life is complicated – his 20 year old son from a former marriage has just started living with him and his wife and their young children. As the case unfolds, the writers deftly weave the lives of the detectives into the fabric of the mystery – is the killer someone they’ve known or worked with? What is his motive? The 10-part series is gripping enough and the characters are rich and charismatic – it might lead to binge watching.  But, in the end, it's just another in a long line of similar thrillers, enjoyable while it lasts, but evaporating soon after. I’m not sure I’m ready for the second series just yet, but maybe someday.

  

The Innkeepers (2011)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Innkeepers (2011) – T. West

Billed as an old-school haunted house tale (eschewing gore and CGI, I guess), this is another one of those films where you end up thinking that you yourself could probably have done better. I mean you’ve got the location (an old inn that apparently is “really” haunted) and the genre with all its trappings – you just need a respectable plot and then direction/editing skills to make it work.  So, it seems that director/editor Ti West is lacking in that department. When they say “slow build”, I think it should mean the gradual introduction of suspense – but instead we just see a couple of bored hospitality workers (Sara Paxton and Pat Healy) making time pass with some idle chatter for 20+ minutes. It might be authentic but it sure is boring.  Kelly McGillis shows up as a retired actress, now new age psychic.  It’s a fine turn but she doesn’t really get much to do other than to say, “Don’t go into the basement!”  And, of course, they do.  Perhaps the scares are okay from that point on, but no one bothered to really fill in the holes in the plot. This is a common issue with horror films but here, where everything is bare bones, there isn’t much to counterbalance the absence, to make the film worth recommending. However, if you are scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for old-school ghost stories, then here is one.

 

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011) – A. Stapleton

Fun doco that surely benefits from a better-than-usual assortment of talking heads and, of course, the crazy clips drawn from the films of exploitation maestro Roger Corman. Corman (who is still producing films in 2021 at age 95) also served as mentor to a generation of filmmakers who made their early works with him before graduating to become the leading lights of the New Hollywood of the 1970s: directors Scorsese, Bogdanovich, Demme, Coppola, Dante, and Bartel, alongside actors Nicholson, De Niro, P. Fonda, B. Dern, Hopper, and D. Carradine, most of whom make an appearance here.  Corman’s role in producing films that have provided (and still provide?) a training ground for Hollywood stalwarts should not be underestimated. Although I haven’t seen a lot of his output (IMDb lists 56 directorial credits and a whopping 515 for producer), I can heartily recommend his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations (especially House of Usher, 1960; The Pit and the Pendulum, 1961; The Haunted Palace, 1963; The Mask of the Red Death, 1964; and The Tomb of Ligeia, 1964), most of which starred Vincent Price.  What I did not know about Corman is that he and his brother produced and directed a film about integration in the South (The Intruder, 1962, starring William Shatner) that was something of a moral crusade for them (and met with opposition from locals); because his usual producers American International Pictures wouldn’t back the film, he also became an early champion of independent film. He also had his head on straight:  when asked what he thought about film budgets in the age of the blockbuster/franchise, he suggested they were obscene and the money could be better spent dealing with poverty and other social ills. So, here’s to the cheap but fun (drive-in) movies he gave to us!  

Attack the Block (2011)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Attack the Block (2011) – J. Cornish

A young John Boyega (pre-Star Wars) plays the leader of a gang of kids in a housing estate block in South London who have to fight off some “alien gorilla wolf MFs”.  I’m maybe not the right demographic for this (which would seem to be young stoners?) but there’s no denying that it gets right to the action and doesn’t really flag. That might also be a weakness (i.e. no time for character development) but if you think so, you’re watching the wrong picture. Billed as an action-comedy, I guess it could be funny but I didn’t laugh; however, the non-CGI aliens are pretty effective. Overall, I think it wins because of its warmth toward its characters, pushing past the initial semi-stereotypical presentation to treat them more humanely.  We also get a nod to racial and class harmony with the inclusion of Jodi Whittaker who is first mugged by the kids and then ends up fighting the monsters with them.  A bit of a feel-good finale for you but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way for this one.  

  

The Adventures of Tintin (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Adventures of Tintin (2011) – S. Spielberg

After reading a couple of Hergé’s Tintin comics from Ayako’s collection, Amon chose this Spielberg film from amongst those available to stream from the university library.  We did not see it in 3D and, to be honest, I didn’t notice that it was designed for that format until close to the end when some giant cranes seemed to be rather obviously pointing right at the screen.  Although the plot is somewhat complicated (having to do with three model ships and the hidden parchments inside them that combine to offer the coordinates for hidden treasure when held up to the sun), this did not quite matter to Amon who declared the film “action-packed!” Indeed, given that it is animated (despite the use of motion capture for the many characters), the physical limitations of reality are not always honoured – the characters do seem to careen and carom pell-mell on land, air, and sea.  This is the adventure where Tintin first meets Captain Haddock who is an unrepentant drunk (somewhat weird for a kid’s movie) and they end up fast friends as they solve the mystery together – not sure if Tintin ever writes the story (he’s a journalist) but the bad guys (also chasing the model ships in an echo of Raiders of the Lost Ark) do end up in jail.  Thumbs up from Amon!

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) – B. Furman

Looking back, was this film the start of the “McConaissance”?  McConaughey is certainly on his game, playing a charismatic but unscrupulous lawyer (named Mick Haller) who is happy to bend or break the rules for a buck, sometimes at the expense of the criminal clients he defends.  The movie begins as he takes on Louis Roulet’s (Ryan Phillippe) defence against a charge of grievous bodily harm (beating up a prostitute).  Philippe plays the spoiled heir to a real estate magnate (Frances Farmer).  Marisa Tomei is McConaughey’s ex-wife and a public prosecutor (who has to stand aside when he takes the case but still casually helps him) – Tomei is always good value.  We see a bit of their divorced life sharing custody of a young daughter.  But the film is mostly a generic courthouse drama, as Haller and his investigator (William H. Macy) uncover clues that make them question Roulet’s innocence.  Roulet is unsavoury enough that even Haller starts to develop a conscience.  The clues tie back to an older case and a convicted man who may really be innocent.  You know the story.  In the end, there’s not much here save some solid acting that boosts this from being just another Law & Order knock-off into something a bit more.  But it is only passable fare and Netflix Australia still seems like a wasteland (at least for movies).

  

Take Shelter (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆

Take Shelter (2011) – J. Nichols

A movie as full of pregnant moments as any I have seen.  Curtis (Michael Shannon) begins to have ominous visions of an impending storm which leads him to get a loan to expand the family’s underground storm shelter, complete with gas masks).  But all is not as it seems, Curtis’ mother has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (years earlier) and Michael fears that the same terror is descending upon him.  Shannon and Jessica Chastain as his wife demonstrate their strong acting chops as calamity sets in; coping with mental illness isn’t easy and even more so when you have a deaf child (played by Tova Stewart who is actually deaf).  But everything is portentous, looming in the future, and the movie takes its time showing Curtis unravelling in the small Ohio town where they live (destroying the important relationships they have with others).  The trick that director Jeff Nichols is trying to pull off is to treat this heavy material as a thriller – with its foreboding tone – and it works all the way up until it doesn’t. I mean WTF was that ending?  The screenplay invalidates itself in the final moments, undercutting the experiences of everyone onscreen, and concluding with no denouement.  I guess we still witnessed great acting tackling a real social problem but alas.

Unknown (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆

Unknown (2011) – J. Collet-Serra

There seem to be so many of these grim Liam Neeson thrillers around that I thought I should see one to see why Hollywood thinks they are worth it.  My reaction (to this one at least) is that these are by-the-numbers movies that try to include the main ingredients of other successful thrillers in order to win the box office jackpot.  However, something this formulaic and generic probably will never go down in the annals of film history as one of the greats because it is just too calculated (methinks).  Here, Neeson is a biotechnology professor who is in a car accident in Berlin that results in a four-day coma; when he awakes, without his passport, no one recognises him, even his wife, and there is some other dude claiming to be him.  In order to unravel this mystery, he finds the taxi driver, an illegal immigrant played by Diane Kruger, who was driving when he crashed, and also gains the help of a former East German Stasi official played by Bruno Ganz (Wings of Desire).  Naturally, there are a few car chases, some hand-to-hand fighting, and a lot of dodging of bad guys who are stalking him.  And, a twist, a movie like this has to have a twist these days.  I’m not sure I’ll watch another of these Neeson thrillers – even when I’m too tired for a challenge, this just seemed too rote, or average, at best.

  

The Raid: Redemption (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Raid: Redemption (2011) – G. Evans

As close to a video game as you can probably get.  We follow an Indonesian SWAT team as they break into a fortress-like tenement building that is home to a notorious criminal/drug dealer.  Once the action starts, it never lets up – hundreds of baddies pour out of every doorway and stream down every hall.  The ultra-violence quotient is cranked up impossibly high – blood spurts and squirts everywhere and the martial arts fighting (Pencak Silat) is rough and brutal; this film is not for the squeamish.  However, you’ll probably find yourself thinking more about the stunt coordinator and the mechanics of making the action look realistic than worrying about the real hurts involved.  Still, the ruthlessness is a downside for me, as I much prefer the Jacky Chan-style of fighting film with some comic relief thrown in for good measure.  Then I can enjoy the choreography without grimacing too much.  Here, the relentlessness can be rather grinding (and the thumping soundtrack heightens the effect); you also have to wonder (and worry?) whether there are people who get off on the violence of it all.  Nevertheless, if you are looking for a visceral rush and can look past the broken bones and machetes to the throat, this is a taut action film.

The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Whisperer in Darkness (2011) – S. Branney

Another adaptation of an H. P. Lovecraft short story from the H. P. L. Historical Society, following their short silent version of “Call of Cthulhu”.  Again, you can see the loving care that has gone into the production, fashioned in the spirit of the Universal horror films of the 1930s (when Lovecraft was still alive; he died in ’37 at age 46).  Having read this story earlier this year, I can attest to the fact that this is a very faithful rendition – to a point:  after the first hour, the screenwriters have concocted their own conclusion to the story which actually ends at a fully horrifying point, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions about what happens next).  Basically, we follow a sceptical professor as he travels to Vermont to meet with a local who claims to have seen flying crab-like creatures from outer space.  Initially afraid, this man now has changed his mind to suggest that his new alien friends actually come in peace.  But do they really? Much of the spookiness of the story remains intact and the stylized production works well but things do seem to drag – this would have been tighter as a short (as with the previous HPLHS effort).  Let’s hope they have the chance to make some more films!

  

The Turin Horse (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Turin Horse (2011) – B. Tarr

Perhaps if this were your very first Béla Tarr film (and he suggests that it is his very last), then this would be a more intense and compelling experience -- as I had when I saw Sátántangó as my introduction.  Tarr revisits the tone and style of that earlier seven hour film in this shorter one (only 2 ½ hours but composed of just 30 long shots).  That is to say, this is a bleak but beautiful, slow and hypnotizing, high contrast black and white stare at repetitive peasant life in the midst of an endless possibly apocalyptic windstorm.  Tarr famously refuses to be drawn as to whether there is any deeper meanings to his films, although we are told it is based on an anti-theology and this is an anti-creation film – in the six days of the story, the world fades to black (let there be dark, indeed).  If the starting point of this entire script is the question of what happened to the horse that Nietzsche famously saved from flogging, you might think that his philosophy is somehow a key to unlocking things here – and a visitor seeking palinka (Hungarian fruit brandy) does spout some “beyond good and evil” beliefs – but our lead character calls them “bullshit”.  This may be an example of Tarr’s sense of humor, if he has one.  The horse dies anyway.