Wayne's World

Day 16/192-Wayne's World: Starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey

I am not sure if there is a film that I have seen more times than Wayne's World. Possibly Wayne's World 2. That is for so many reasons and I would defend this film to the hilt. While I will be the first to admit that Mike Myers has completely lost it (The Love Guru is my least favourite film of all time) here is an example of him in his prime, alongside the long forgotten Dana Carvey (who went on to make Master of Disguise, my number two least favourite film) he has managed to produce a film that, 18 years on, is still hilarious.

Wayne's World is a crappy public access TV show that idiot friends Wayne and Garth (Myers and Carvey) run from Wayne's parents' basement. When TV-Exec Benjamin Kane (Rob Lowe) spots them, he sees an opportunity to exploit them for advertising and ruin the magic of Wayne's World.

On top of that Wayne is fighting to keep his relationship with mega-hot bass player Cassandra alive amid increasing pressures from around them.



Not that any of that really matters. This is just an excuse to provide opportunities for Wayne and Garth to clown around, which they do to great effect. Such a quotable film with many things you will miss on first viewing. Even now about 10 years from when I first saw it, it yields rewards for watching again.

If I'm going to be negative about Wayne's World I'm going to say that it does look like they ran out of ideas in the last 10 minutes or so, but it's probably supposed to look like that in-keeping with the ridiculous style they have established so far.



I'm not sure in terms of the time that it came out what it did for comedy. But as far as I can tell many comedies have used this template since, some better, some worse, but Wayne's World is a classic example of how to do a buddy comedy. Get the right characters in there and let them tell jokes for the duration. It doesn't fall down Bill & Ted's pitfalls of having two idiots as main characters, Wayne and Garth are prone to rare moments of brilliance, it doesn't take the overly crude path of Jay and Silent Bob and that is why Wayne's World is a winner for me.

9/10

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