A lean, mean Hollywood disaster movie with a heavy emphasis
on the technical creation of a reality that most of us will never experience.
It's almost a Ridley Scott movie: scant attention is paid to
the development of characters - George Clooney and Sandra Bullock play shades
of themselves and characters that they've played so many times before. But they do so well.
The technical achievement is marvellous, the views of
the earth from space give an almost spiritual bent to the enterprise, and from
the moment the first debris hits the shuttle, the tension mounts and scene
after scene director Alfonso Cuaron screws the audience to the edge of its
seats ever tighter.
See it on the biggest screen you can find - you will not
regret it. Do not wait for the DVD!
Score: 9/10
The worst things happen at sea! All Is Lost is a companion piece to Gravity, but possibly
more compelling. Robert Redford is superb as the solo yachtsman whose
journey turns perilous within the first few seconds.
The only dialogue is his opening narration, and thereafter there is just one despairing exclamation.
Leaner and meaner even than Gravity, this is hugely engaging
and gripping thanks to Redford's all-American Everyman: while you learn little
about him, because there is only him versus the elements, you cheer him on as
every fresh adversity challenges his skills and ingenuity. And each fresh adversity makes sense and the conclusion is satisfyingly ambiguous.
In many ways this is as towering an achievement as Gravity, especially as this is director JC Chandor's second film after Margin Call.
Score: 8/10
A different type of disaster movie, Parkland focuses on the
96 hours following JFK's assassination and does so via about a dozen
characters' POVs, from hospital surgeons to Secret Service agents, and from Lee
Harvey Oswald's family to Abraham Zapruder filming the horror of Dealey Plaza.
Technical credits are all top notch, especially the
cinematography by Barry Ackroyd and the score by James Netwon Howard.
The ensemble cast is outstanding, with men of the match
trophies going to Paul Giamatti as the despairing Zapruder and to James Badge
Dale as Oswald's incredulous, shocked brother. Also note-worthy is Jackie Weaver's deranged Marguerite Oswald.
First-time director Peter Landesman pulls off a potentially
tricky cocktail of tragedy and melodrama like a seasoned pro: watch out for
whatever he does next.
Score: 9/10
Paul Greengrass recovers from his stumble with Green Zone with this cracking real life thriller.
Tom Hanks should secure his sixth Best Actor Oscar nom and possibly his third win: his performance as Captain Phillips is utterly convincing, and thanks to Greengrass's adherence to the apparent reality of the story, it's not a shamelessly heroic portrayal.
The depiction of the title character hints at his reputation with crews, and certainly, when under real pressure, he is capable of making the wrong decision.
Like Gravity and All Is Lost, this is lean and mean. Every scene has meaning either in terms of character development or heightening the almost unbearable tension - no moment in its two-hour-plus run time is wasted, there is no flab.
But the film's not all about Hanks/Phillips: Barkhad Abdi as the Somali pirate captain that hijacks the ship is equally compelling.
The cinematography is courtesy of Greengrass regular Barry Ackroyd (that man again! Give him an Oscar already), while Henry Jackman's 'school of Hans Zimmer' score is great too.
While not without a sense of everyone's motivations and the socio-political and economic forces that influence and shape its characters lives, the film is not as politicised as one would expect from Greengrass. Arguably A Hijacking analyses this better than Captain Phillips; certainly the two will make great viewing together.
Score: 9/10
