Somers Town

Day 15/192-Somers Town: Starring Thomas Turgoose and Piotr Jagiello

Fresh from the excellent This is England, we have another collaboration from director Shane Meadows and actor Thomas Turgoose in the all black and white effort, Somers Town.

Somers Town follows Tomo(Turgoose), who has traveled to London to get away from a difficult home life, as he struggles to get by with no money or clothes after an unfortunate first night in the capital. A chance meeting in a cafe introduces Tomo to Marek,(Jagiello) a Polish boy living in London with his dad. The two form an unlikely friendship which is hard not to be taken in by.

Tomo is the upstart, stealing clothes from a dry-cleaners and lying to the beautiful girl from the cafe. Marek is the sensible one, always taking photographs and making dinner for his dad. When the two meet, the change in their characters, though subtle, is what makes this film so beautiful.

Marek, stuck in his house all day while his dad works, finally has someone to run around with. He even lets Tomo sleep in his room without his dad's permission, mainly because of Tomo's powers of persuasion.



Turgoose has once again taken many plaudits for his performance in this film, rightly so. I think a special mention must go to Piotr Jagiello as well, he plays with Marek with such an excellent sense of humour and the right level of maturity, especially in the transition when Tomo gets a hold of him. This minimal cast lends itself to some very understated performances and even Perry Benson's brash neighbour, who is close to being out of place, lends a bit of colour to Somers Town.

The film really finds its feet when the boys meet Maria, it is so much fun to watch Tomo run his mouth while Marek keeps cool, but lets out a little smile every now and then. And the scene where they take her home from the cafe is a real high point for the film.



The film is a little on the short side, but that is part of the beauty of it. Somers Town is one of those films where you feel like you've just opened a window into a little time in some people's lives. And though they are not the most interesting or exciting people, they are real and honest and when it's all over you find yourself really hoping that everything will work out for them both, despite their inadequacies.

Somers Town does a good job of avoiding incidents of huge drama. Even in one scene where you are expecting a vicious reaction from Marek's dad, he keeps his cool. There are no sell-out moments, this is just a good portrayal of being young and to a certain extent, in love.

8/10

The Wackness

Day 14/192-The Wackness: Starring Josh Peck and Ben Kingsley

Josh Peck is the fat one from Drake and Josh. Only he's not fat anymore, or goofy, he's a mad cool drug dealer with wicked cool patter. So basically he ain't gonna be typecast no more. This is The Wackness, where Luke Shapiro (Peck) is a bit of a loser, deals pot, has no friends, except for his shrink Dr. Squires (Kingsley) the catch being that Squires is a bit mental.

Luke is chillin' through summer after finishing high school when he meets Stephanie, the step-daughter of Dr. Squires and begins to fall in love.

You may have heard this story before and it's certainly nothing hugely original. But it is fun, funny, a bit sad and very grounded in the reality of what it was like to grow up in the 1990s.

The Wackness is a film that takes a little while to find its feet. In the first 15-20 minutes we remain unsure about Luke as a character as we struggle to understand him but long-term he is worth the ride. Ben Kingsley too seems to wriggle around before eventually becoming attached to the character of Dr. Squires but this could just be the director's way of making the film about those two chracters and their journey together.

Not only that but it tails of a bit in the last 15-20 minutes as well. So in a film that lasts 99 minutes and at least 30 minutes are so-so, is it worth watching for the rest?


I would say yes. As soon as Olivia Thirlby enters the fray this film galvanizes its talented cast into the performances they should and indeed do deliver, so that the coolness of the characters can come through, while their motivation is questioned and explained all through the presence of a central figure in the form of Stephanie.

She embodies everything you can remember about that girl from school that was just too good to be true and she pulls it off with every turn of her head and flick of her hair and then as soon as she's gone you find yourself saying "well, she wasn't that good anyway."

More than that, the film soars in the middle section. There are some brilliant moments of comedy and emotion and as the love story begins to develop so does the film, but it does unfortunately lose its way.



All in all, The Wackness is a surprisingly involving film. The film jams three completely flawed characters together and sees if they can bring the best out in each other and it is very satisfying as an audience to watch that happen for a time. Even the fact that it all goes a bit off in the end isn't too important because the middle part is as good as I've seen this year and I would gladly watch that again rather than some of the other things I have seen.

7/10

Grizzly Man

Day 13/192-Grizzly Man: Starring Timothy Treadwater and Werner Herzog

Sorry to anyone who actually reads this, I've been at T in the Park so have got some catching up to do. The catching up began last night with 2005 documentary Grizzly Man, a look at Timothy Treadwater, who was so fed up with the disappointment of his own life and filled with anger at humankind that he spent months at a time studying bears on an island in Alaska. The resulting documentary is heartbreaking, beautiful and devastating in equal measures.

One of the first things we learn while watching is that Timothy and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed in 2003 after an expedition went wrong. We are then given the different viewpoints of many of the people involved in his trips concerning the morality of Timothy's actions and his own mental state.

The story is sort of two-pronged. There is Timothy's story, where we learn about his unhappy life, struggles with drugs and alcohol and a failed attempt at an acting career that lead him to start his expeditions and his growing obsession with the bears and foxes in what he calls the Grizzly Maze. Then there is the other story of how he behaved in an unacceptable manner, breaking down boundaries with dangerous animals and which eventually cost him his life and that of his girlfriend Amie. Or maybe it is all the same story and it just depends on how you read it.



The only negative thing I could find to say about this film is that Herzog's input, though at times interesting, is sometimes superfluous. As a human story about an unhappy and emotionally unstable man it is beautiful, but when Herzog adds in information about the similarities between him and Treadwater in their film-making exploits, it becomes more about the two of them and less about our relationship with Timothy.

Everyone who contributes to this film obviously cares deeply about the subject matter and when that is combined with a unique and interesting story, with a brilliantly entertaining protagonist, it is easy to give yourself over to Timothy completely and as he begins to lose it (particularly in one scene where a fox steals his hat) though his actions and motives are very unsavoury, his enthusiasm is always prevalent, though misplaced.



Grizzly Man is made in such a way that you can leave with your own thoughts on Timothy Treadwater and his descent into what some have called "suicide by bear." It is thought-provoking and emotionally-involving and one you will be thinking of long after it is finished.

8/10

The Royal Tenenbaums

Day 12/192-The Royal Tenenbaums: Starring Gene Hackman and Luke Wilson

NOW! This is a film. So many excellent actors, such a great plot, amazing characters, great ideas, wonderful script and I am now very interested in the work of Wes Anderson.

The Royal Tenenbaums has a massive ensemble cast and no-one under performs. As a comedy it is plenty funny and it has enough of an entertaining story (or several sub-stories) that interest is kept from beginning to end.

If I had my way, each character would be given their own spin-off movie.

The film follows the Tenenbaum family, in particular the children, who have failed to live up to the promise they have showed in earlier years. Chas (Ben Stiller) has become very tightly-wound following the death of his wife and concentrates solely on keeping his kids from harm (with late-night fire drills and such.)

Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) has stopped writing plays and spends much of her time watching TV in the bathroom and Richie's (Luke Wilson) tennis career has ended in shame.

Worst of all, their father, Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) a succesful litigator in his time, has been disbarred, largely thanks to Chas and is now (apparently) dying.



I can't praise the cast enough, or pick a favourite, each one brings something necessary to the film, from Danny Glover's love rival to Owen Wilson's wannabe Tenenbaum. Nothing hugely dramatic happens in The Royal Tenenbaums but it is removed from reality very slightly by a few components (Royal Tenenbaum's little man-servant Pagoda for example.) This makes for a very unique type of film that allows itself to be funny while letting you build up enough care for the characters before it gives way to any drama.

Arrested Development is one of my favourite TV shows and I would say having seen The Royal Tenenbaums now, that Mitchell Hurwitz must have taken some influence from this film. And why not? Every single character, even the morally corrupt Royal, is both entertaining and emotionally-involving. Margot who seems a million miles away and uninterested still earns a place in our heart as her inner-turmoil is so well portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Well the picture uploader is broken for the timebeing so I will end with this sentiment. The Royal Tenenbaums is great and like Owen Wilson, I now wish I was one. I thought I would like this film but I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.

10/10

Cool Runnings

Day 11/192-Cool Runnings: Starring John Candy and Leon Robinson

For a long time Cool Runnings was a film that eluded me. I remember being around 5 years old when I went to see it in the cinema, fell asleep and had never got round to seeing it fully. People I told this story would stop and shout "You haven't seen COOL RUNNINGS?!" I really do not understand why.

As one of many films that I have only recently seen and therefore been unable to fully appreciate (Ghostbusters, Aliens, Back to the Future, etc.) Cool Runnings was one I particularly didn't understand.

I know Cool Runnings is silly and daft but it is lacking in most humour throughout. And just relies on Sanka, who is a bit of an idiot, for laughs.


The storyline being that a group of lads, who have missed out on being sprinters for Jamaica at the Olympics, decide to form a bob-sled team instead. Cue much hilarity in this fish-out-of-water setting.

I can't really be bothered spending any time on this because it was just a bit rubbish and I didn't feel particularly strongly in any way I just would rather not have watched it. So I'll just give it 4/10 and move on to the next film.

4/10

Star Trek

Day 10/192-Star Trek: Starring Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine

I had really wanted to see this when it first came out. Circumstances aligned against me as is often the case and I missed my chance. However, Sky Anytime has redeemed itself from the debacle of Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus with this sci-fi spectacular which I thought was everything a blockbuster could, and should be.

Star Trek that is, not MSvGO.

This is basically an origin story of the early days of the Enterprise, centred around James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his rise from annoying upstart to captain material. Meanwhile the Remulons (fronted by Eric Bana) are out for revenge against Spock (Quinto) for destroying their planet.

There is also some time-travel alternate universe stuff going on (this is helmed by JJ Abrams after all) and a really pathetic almost non-attempt at a love story.


I'm aiming to keep things short on this one as I'm aiming to head out on this fine Saturday evening, and that is easy to do as this is a very straightforward film.

Spock lends himself to some great comedy with his Vulcan character trait of all logic and no emotion being perfect for deadpan gag after another and it doesn't wear thin. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk plays the cocky rookie to perfection with just the right level of humble and confidence in equal measures. Eric Bana hams it up quite nicely as Nero and Zoe Saldana gives way to some early promise to become a pretty-face in the background (albeit a very pretty one.)

All I would say is that this film suffers in its nature of being an origin story. Too many characters jammed in and not explored properly with Simon Pegg's Scotty no more than a cameo, this is somewhat of a letdown. But the other side of that is that, as was the case with Batman Begins, we could be in store for a very high quality sequel and I for one, based on the huge promise of this showing, am very excited about that.

7/10

(500) Days of Summer

Day 9/192-(500) Days of Summer: Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

(500) Days of Summer begins by telling us that this is not a love story, but a story about love, which is very fitting. This film, through an excellent script and superb performances by Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel, may be enough to dispel all romantic notions you may still hold on to. Or it may reinforce them further, it is a film that lets you make a choice.

The story follows Tom Hansen (Gordon-Levitt) a romantic by nature, who believes that there is a "one" out there for him. When he meets Summer (Deschanel) he is convinced that she is the one and falls head over heels. But Summer is the child of a broken marriage and doesn't believe in love or "ones" or even relationships. So Tom sets about trying to change her mind, or at least enjoying the ride while he is there.

The (500) in the title refers to the timespan of their time together, some good,some bad, but an excellent storytelling device. By jumping back and forth through time, we can see in an instant where things have gone sour and the contrast from the beginning of their relationship, to when things have gone off the boil.



The dialogue at times is fantastic, particularly from Tom's little sister, who tells him Summer isn't the one "just because she likes all the same weird crap as him." Tom's romantic delusions are very realistic, as any romantic man will tell you, and every time his feelings for Summer are dealt a blow, you will feel like you are right there next to him, which is a credit to all involved.

Summer herself at times comes across as cold, but it is impossible to hold her feelings against her as she is very clear about how she feels and from being in the audience we have the benefit of being able to see that everything isn't quite clicking in the way that Tom imagines. This is made perfectly clear in a brilliant scene where the screen is split into Tom's expectations on one side, and the reality on the other.



I think this is a great film and one I will watch many times again, it is funny enough to be considered good comedy and the love-story is unique and entertaining. The corresponding scenes where Tom talks about his thoughts on Summer's hair, teeth and birth-marks will resonate with anyone who has been in a doomed relationship and the complete sense of injustice you will leave with as Tom meets Summer on a bench on day 500 will take you back to certain points in your own life.

And that is what makes this film such a success, it comes from the heart and is so real it is impossible not to feel some sense of attachment. In depicting an almost, but not-quite perfect relationship, they have captured a very human story with just the right level of kitsch and at no point do we stop caring about what happens to the characters.

9/10