Movie Review: SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN

SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN

2012
PG-13


"We need a good news story from the Middle East. A big one. Get on with it.
 -- Patricia Maxwell

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a 2012 romantic drama directed by Lasse Hallström that's based off the Paul Torday novel of the same name that tells the story of a group of people trying to introduce the sport of salmon fishing into the Yemen. The idea started with Sheikh Muhammed (Amr Waked), a very wealthy oil industrialist as well as fishing enthusiast, who not only wants to fish in his native homeland but also wants to bring life and fertility to an area that has seen drought and poverty destroy his people's way of life. The Sheikh enlists the help of his personal assistant Harriet (Emily Blunt) to find a way to make his plan take flight. Her search finds fisheries expert Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor), who immediately rejects the idea as ludicrous. At the same time, the British government suffers a massive PR disaster after a battalion in Afghanistan is wiped out. In response, the Prime Minister's Press Secretary Patricia Maxwell (Kristin Scott Thomas) tries to find a "good news story" from the Middle East, and when she stumbles upon the salmon fishing idea, she does everything in her power to push the project forward.

I had heard about this film a few months ago, and although the trailer didn't strike a "must-see" chord with me, I never really counted it out as a possibility. The idea seemed interesting and fresh, and I thought we might be getting an effective film. And, after the film started to garner generally positive reviews (it currently holds a 68% approval rating on Rottentomatoes.com), I figured it'd be worth a shot. I saw the film as a family outing on Easter, and I'd have to say it proved to be an enjoyable experience.

Let's start with the screenplay. It's coming from Simon Beaufoy, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter who brought us films like 2008's Slumdog Millionaire and 2010's 127 Hours, so you know the credentials are sound. And while this screenplay doesn't necessarily measure up to those aforementioned films, I do have to say that Beaufoy brought forth a story that proves entertaining throughout. Although the story delves into a slew of predictability throughout the film, I still found a way to keep myself engaged with the storyline, but I think that may have been a result of the characters moreso than the storyline itself. Beaufoy has managed to craft some well-rounded characters in the past, and Salmon Fishing offers a similar spectacle.

While well-crafted characters can portray themselves well on paper, it ultimately comes down to the actors to bring those characters to life on-screen. Fortunately, we're getting a pretty good cast in Salmon Fishing, and each actor succeeds in bringing their character into a reasonable level of believability. Still, I found it difficult to center on any character in particular, and that proves a bit of a problem for the film. McGregor and Blunt are the film's stars, but at times I was more fascinated by the supporting characters - most often, by Thomas's performance - that our two leads sort of faded into the background. Despite this, I do think the cast is rather well-rounded, and they each played their parts well, but there really isn't anyone who stood out so far above the rest that they truly deserve special mention. It's just a solid cast all around.

A quick side note: for those of you big on film scores and the music used in movies, be on the listen for this particular score, which was composed by Academy Award-winner Dario Marianelli. Although it's not really his best work, I thought his score complemented the film rather well.

At the end of the day, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a predictable but enjoyable adventure that delves into romance and politics and war. Is it going to be a film you'll remember for a while? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it while it lasts.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: C
1 Thumb Up

Happy Birthday, Ewan McGregor!

Today, we're celebrating the 41st birthday of actor Ewan McGregor. His acting career began in the early 1990s with a series of television performances, but it wasn't until 1994 that he made his feature film debut in Shallow Grave. He garnered acclaim for his performance in 1996's Trainspotting, but McGregor burst onto the worldwide movie scene in 1999 when he first portrayed the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first of the Star Wars prequels, The Phantom Menace; he would go on to reprise the role in both of the film's subsequent sequels. Ewan has continued to have consistent work throughout the 2000s, appearing in such big-time films as 2001's Moulin Rouge and Black Hawk Down, 2003's Big Fish and 2010's The Ghost Writer. Most recently, McGregor appeared in the 2012 film Haywire, and he will next appear in the 2012 film The Impossible opposite Naomi Watts. And so, to celebrate his birthday, I've listed my five favorite of McGregor's performances and have found videos offering clips from those films. Once again, happy birthday, Ewan!

5. Grimes
Black Hawk Down (2001)


*****

4. Oliver Fields
Beginners (2011)


*****

3. Camerlengo Patrick McKenna
Angels & Demons (2009)


*****

2. Ed Bloom
Big Fish (2003)


*****

1. Christian
Moulin Rouge! (2001)

Movie Review: BEGINNERS

BEGINNERS

2011
R


"Our good fortune allowed us to feel a sadness our parents never had the time for."
-- Oliver Fields

Beginners is a 2011 dramatic comedy directed by Mike Mills that tells a non-linear story of two generations of romance. The story moves back and forth between flashbacks and present day as Oliver Fields (Ewan McGregor) comes to terms with two major life events: his 75-year-old father Hal (Christopher Plummer) coming out as a homosexual, and his father's ultimate death at the hands of a cancerous tumor. In the aftermath of his father's death, Oliver meets a young actress named Anna (Mélanie Laurent) with whom he starts a relationship despite the fact that he has been less than successful in past romances. The audience learns about Oliver's father through Oliver's memories and the stories he tells Anna, all while they both try to cope with their own life struggles.

I've been meaning to watch Beginners since it made its initial theatrical run last June, and after it scored some early praise, I had a feeling it might resurface come awards season. After nabbing an Academy Award nomination for Plummer in his supporting role, I knew I had to give it a view before the ceremony. It seemed quirky and offbeat, and I'm generally a sucker for films like that.

While I don't have overwhelming praise for this film, I do have to say that it was incredibly well-made and offers quite the experience for the viewer. The non-linear screenplay is going to be hit-or-miss with most viewers - you're either going to love it or hate it depending on your personal preferences. When the film isn't telling the main character stories, it's delving into a series of compare-and-contrast moments between Oliver's present-day livelihood and either his father's, his mother's or Anna's past. It may seem a little off-putting at first, but it also brings a little bit of charm and originality to this story, as well as adds another dimension to the Oliver character. In a way, this film works more as a character study than a story-oriented movie. We're given three principal characters - Oliver, Anna and Hal - each of whom has their own quirks and oddities that ultimately create who they are. All of them have issues with which to deal, and in a way, that's what makes them all the more interesting. I can honestly say I can't remember the last time I've related as much to a character as I did with the Oliver character in this film, though I haven't decided whether that's good or bad just yet. We're getting very thorough character studies with beautiful arcs; if that isn't reason enough to watch this one, then I don't know what is.

Because the characters are so well-written, it stands to say that the acting should be just as fantastic. While I wasn't exactly blown away by the performances, I did think that our three main actors all did their best with how the screenplay was written. Most of the praise has been for Plummer's supporting role: he's already won at the BAFTAs, the SAG Awards and the Golden Globes, and we're still waiting for the Oscar ceremony. Despite this, I personally wasn't sure why he deserved all this hoopla. Yes, he's great in the role, but a part of me wonders whether all these ceremonies are simply trying to honor an older actor who hasn't won much during his career. He didn't nab his first Oscar nomination until his performance in 2009's The Last Station, and after losing that, one could make the argument that the awarding parties may want to throw Plummer a bone this time around. And I'm not pulling this idea out of thin air: a lot of people assumed Colin Firth would win last year's Best Actor race at the Oscars for The King's Speech after he lost the previous year for his performance in A Single Man. But I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. I thought McGregor was very good in his role, and Laurent does a fine job with the limited amount of screentime she actually receives despite being the central female character in the film.

Still, despite the misgivings I've just mentioned, Beginners still manages to strike quite the emotional chord, for me at least. Having only recently laid my grandfather to his eternal rest, the sentiments of losing an aging loved one resonate quite strongly with me. And my ability to relate with the Oliver character was rather eye-opening, so that only fueled the emotions I felt throughout the film. Will you have the same emotional reaction? Who knows. Maybe I'm just an anomaly, and everyone else simply thought it was a well-made film. You be your own judge.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: B+
1.5 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: HAYWIRE

HAYWIRE

2012
R


"You shouldn't think of her as being a woman. That would be a mistake."
-- Kenneth

Haywire is a 2012 action film directed by Steven Soderbergh that features women's wrestling star Gina Carano in her first starring role in a feature film. After completing a routine mission, special ops agent Mallory (Carano) hopes to come home and take a break from her job as a type of hitman-for-hire for the government. However, Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), the head of her firm, comes to her and pleads her to take a simple, two-day mission in Dublin and accompany a British agent (Michael Fassbender) and pose as his wife. Mallory soon realizes that the entire mission has been a set-up, and she quickly tries to make her way back to the United States in order to determine how she got caught up in the mess.

When I first started hearing about Haywire, I thought it might be another experimental venture for Soderbergh after he had some moderate critical success with his 2009 film, The Girlfriend Experience, which featured former porn star Sasha Grey. This time, he decided to take women's wrestling star Gina Carano and create a film around her ability to fight rather than her ability to act. Perhaps you can see where my initial reservations may have lied. Despite this, the film opened to fantastic critical reviews - it currently holds an 80% approval rating on Rottentomatoes.com, where it has received the following consensus:

Haywire is a fast and spare thriller, with cleanly staged set pieces that immerse you in the action.

So, with such high accolades, I figured I'd give the film a shot of my own.

I have to say, I'm a tad bit disappointed with the final product. While Carano's acting ability, albeit shallow, is not enough to slow this movie down on its own, there's definitely something lacking here. A lot of the positive reviews I've read have cited a strong and clever screenplay, but I'm not really getting that from this particular film. All I see is your basic plotline: great covert agent is set-up by their agency, and they have to fight their way for survival and for revenge. How many films can we list that have the same basic storyline? I feel as though I've seen it a dozen times before, and while we do get a couple of interesting twists and turns here and there, we don't get enough to set Haywire apart from any other film in the genre. At the same time, the film just seems to move relatively slowly. While the action sequences are well-choreographed and prove to be fast-paced, each individual scene ultimately drags on much longer than is necessary. The movie started out as quite a bore, and it never really revved its engines for me. And considering the action is where the real treats should have lied, I'd have to say that the film's screenplay is one of its biggest detractors.

We have a very interesting cast list for this particular film, and I have to chalk it up to Soderbergh's name to have brought in some of the talent here. There isn't much to say about Carano's performance except that, with a little bit of time, she might make a decent action star. However, some of the big-name stars in this film just seem a little out of place. McGregor is pretty good as one of the central characters, and I thought Fassbender was decent with the time he was given, even if it was much less time than he deserved. Also be on the lookout for the likes of Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas and Michael Angarano, all of whom fall victim to the less-than-stellar screenplay. It's interesting to see them in a film like this, but their presence doesn't necessarily enhance or detract from the movie in any way. It almost feels like they were only there as a favor for Soderbergh himself.

At the end of the day, the reason Haywire fails is that it proves to be a bit of a bore when it could have been a high-octane, action-packed thrill ride. Sure, the acting's a little shoddy, but I think a lot of that is the result of a lackluster screenplay that didn't offer the actors any room to expand on their characters. Still, if you're looking for a couple good fight scenes, this might be right up your alley. Just know that the fights are few and far in between, so you may just want to look somewhere else.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: D-
2 Thumbs Down

Movie Review: BLACK HAWK DOWN

BLACK HAWK DOWN

2001
R

I'd like to consider myself a bit of a movie buff. Most of my friends come to me for advice when picking what flick they should watch over the weekend. I can uncannily tell you the year that quite a few movies were released in a heartbeat. I'm not saying I'm the biggest movie fan, but I do have a bit of an obsession. Despite this, there are obviously quite a few movies that I have yet to see. I mean, I'm only twenty-two, and in the course of cinematic history, I find it difficult to think that anyone could have possibly seen every movie ever made. However, I had one friend who wouldn't take my critiques seriously until I saw The Godfather (which now rests at #18 all time for me), and I still get a lot of "How have you not seen that movie?" for any number of films. Black Hawk Down was one such movie, and I know I'm going to take a lot of flack for waiting this long to give it a gander, but worry no more, for I have finally seen it.

Black Hawk Down is a Ridley Scott film that tells the true story of the Battle of Mogadishu, which was a raid aimed at capturing two high-ranking officials serving warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in Somalia. The film follows the ensemble cast that comprises a group of Army Rangers as well as Delta Force operatives who attempt to make the capture but are pinned inside the city when one of their Black Hawk choppers is shot down. The rest of the movie shows the frantic efforts of the soldiers and the higher-ranking officers to get all of their men out of the hostile area of the city.

The filmmakers placed some lofty expectations on this film by having the opening title card read the following quote from the Greek philosopher Plato: "Only the dead have seen the end of war." That's a rather deep and thought-provoking quote to start a war movie, don't you think? I think it sets the stage for the hope that Black Hawk Down will be a war movie with something more. It was a gutsy call, essentially making the audience say, "Alright, now you better back it up and give us something good." And boy, do they ever back it up.

The first thing you're going to notice about the movie, especially if you're watching it now in 2011, is the huge amount of familiar faces. When the film was released in 2001, a lot of these guys hadn't yet made a name for themselves, but now, we've got some heavy-hitters and A-listers giving fine performances all the way around. To give you an idea of how deep of a cast we've got, let me list the men you should recognize most easily (and why you'll recognize them):

Eric Bana (from Hulk and Troy)
Ewan McGregor (as Obi-Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars prequels)
Ioan Gruffudd (as Mr. Incredible from the Fantastic Four films)
Jason Isaacs (as Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter franchise)
Jeremy Piven (as Ari Gold from "Entourage")
Josh Hartnett (from Pearl Harbor and 40 Days and 40 Nights)
Orlando Bloom (from The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean)
Tom Sizemore (from Heat and Saving Private Ryan)
William Fichtner (from Armageddon and The Longest Yard)

Now, I recognized quite a few more people, but they're probably not actors you'd recognize instantly like the ones listed above. Normally, I'd be against having so many recognizable actors in a movie (although that wasn't the problem ten years ago, it left open the possibility for Black Hawk Down to age poorly with too many big-names shoved into one flick), but somehow, it works this time around. We never get a huge, get-to-know-you stage for any one of the characters although some get a little more than others. In a way, the film's screenplay keeps the audience at arm's length from the action, the carnage and the pain, which you can either take or leave. However, the fact that it was written that way helps to counter the fact that we've got a big, big cast and doesn't let the individual stars take over the ensemble piece. That's a huge plus.

The pacing of Black Hawk Down is fantastic as well. For the first hour of the battle, we're nearly going along in real-time with the soldiers while they fight their way to the downed chopper. After that, we have to take jumps in time - otherwise we'd be watching a fifteen-hour movie. Ridley Scott does a great job with directing, never taking his foot off the gas once he's slammed it to the floor. The end result is a high-speed, ultra-realistic war movie that leaves you utterly breathless.

It's difficult to make a war movie that's more than just a glorified action flick. A lot of times, we end up with movies that start out well but simply fall into the same rote shoot-em-ups. Black Hawk Down, however, carries an aura of something more, and I think, going in, the filmmakers knew exactly what they had. Perhaps that Plato quote wasn't as gutsy a call as we would have thought in the beginning.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: A-
Current All-Time Rank: Best - #121
2 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: THE GHOST WRITER

THE GHOST WRITER

2010
PG-13

You can watch the trailer here

The Ghost Writer follows a young, well, ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) who lands a job crafting the memoirs of Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), a former prime minister of Great Britain. From the start, the writer feels a bit of concern with the job, and his nervousness isn't aided by the fact that accusations of war crimes soon surface against Lang. The writer travels to the United States (where Lang is staying/hiding) to work on the book, but he soon becomes engrossed with discovering the secrets uncovered by the previous ghostwriter who had mysteriously drowned only days earlier.

Honestly, the plot is much more intricate than what I've laid out, but if you really want a full synopsis, look it up on Wikipedia. I try not to give everything away. As excited as I was about watching this movie, I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed. It's not that there were holes in the story, although I'm sure I could name a few; instead, it was that this political thriller left me rather bored fairly quickly. Sure, it picked up in the last thirty minutes or so, but the film just didn't have that thrilling of a quality about it. I just felt like everyone was trudging along, going through the motions. There just seemed to be too much information being thrown at me all at once, and maybe I couldn't keep up with it, but who knows. I did, however, like the fact that McGregor's character was never named - it accentuated the fact that he was a ghostwriter. A little lame, but I liked it.

The acting is good, but it's definitely nothing to rave about. McGregor is decent as our lead, but it's nowhere near his best work. Considering he's on-screen for most of the film, I wish he would've given a little bit more. Brosnan was grossly under-used - all I'd heard was that he was fantastic in his supporting role (and he is very good), but he's barely in the movie. Out of the two hours, I'd be surprised if he's actually on-screen for more than ten minutes. Hell, that's usually not enough to get your picture on the poster, but I guess that's marketing for you. The best acting in the film probably belongs to Olivia Williams who plays Lang's neglected wife.

To be fair, most of the film's press came from the fact that it was directed by the troubled Roman Polanski who's still dealing with all of his legal issues. I don't have many Polanski films in my repertoire (the only other film is 2002's The Pianist), so I can't really compare it to the rest of his filmography, but I can tell you that The Ghost Writer has been very well-received by critics. It's also worth mentioning that Brosnan's character is apparently a near-perfect analogue for the real-life former prime minister Tony Blair, but I'm also not well-versed in the particulars of his life. Maybe Polanski fans or people with knowledge of Tony Blair will appreciate this film more than I did, but for me, The Ghost Writer was just a bore.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: C-
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