May Film Reviews

Iron Man, Speed Racer, Smart People, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Dangerous Parking, Sex and the City, California Dreaming.

Iron Man
Releases 2 May

Though fans of the Marvel comics universe from which he springs would no doubt disagree, the character of Iron Man has long been one of the lesser-known of the top-tier superheroes.
Little wonder, really, because while all those other characters had something fairly original going for them, the character of Iron Man was – for legal reasons it’s best to phrase it like this – inspired heavily by that of Batman. After all, neither of these superheroes actually has any special powers – unlike Superman’s flight or Spider-Man’s ability to climb walls, both Batman and Iron Man are just ordinary men with an uncanny intelligence and some fancy gadgets. They both also share a secret identity – Bruce Wayne in the case of Batman and Tony Stark in that of Iron Man – who happens to be a billionaire businessman with all the resources to fund the kind of high-priced inventions that are vital in their daily crime fighting activities. In the case of Batman there’s the Batmobile, utility belt and the like; with Iron Man it’s, well, a funky robotic suit of armour.
Yep – a robotic suit of armour. That can fly. And fire missiles. To the minds of countless teenage boys, that’s got to count as one of the coolest things ever – even if said armour is inexplicably painted a rather girly red and yellow, something which in this film version actually seems to work for pretty much the first time ever. Because the production designers and special effects wizards here have done themselves more than proud, creating a lush, highly believable-looking world and main character that should on looks alone secure Iron Man a place up there with the best-loved superhero movies of the last few decades.
The choice of Robert Downey Jr to take the part of Tony Stark was inspired. Yes, he’s an actor who’s been in the press for all the wrong reasons far too often, but when he’s good he’s undoubtedly one of the finest, most likeable actors working today – and of a calibre not often seen taking leads in this kind of film. This dual personality is perfect for playing a character who not only maintains two identities, but is also wracked with deep guilt about the fickle lifestyle he led before a near-fatal accident led to his becoming a superhero.
Yes, it’s standard superhero origin-story, franchise-starting stuff – but with Downey on top form, ably directed by a rapidly improving John Favreau (though Gwyneth Paltrow in support is a bit hit and miss), Stark instead becomes one of those rare comic book heroes where you’re more interested in what’s going on in their head than in who it is they’re going to beat up next. (This must have been what Ang Lee was trying to do with his lacklustre Hulk film.) Combined with some inventive and stylish action, this is a sure-fire winner, and one of the first films of an unusually promising summer season that really should not be missed. Roll on Iron Man 2!

Speed Racer
Releases 9 May

Despite the disappointment felt by many fans of The Matrix when the Wachowski brothers followed up their glossily groundbreaking sci-fi flick with two more or less chaotic sequels, the filmmaking duo undoubtedly have a talent for interesting movie-making, so little wonder that their latest offering has built up so much anticipation among genre fans.
With this latest offering – a live-action adaptation of the cult 1960s Japanese cartoon of the same name – it appears that the sort of intellect that has lain at the heart of the Wachowskis’ previous efforts has been deliberately jettisoned in favour of ever more visually-impressive effects. This is, after all, all about a boy with an uncanny gift as a race car driver, set in a neon-lit future full of gadget-laden vehicles that make James Bond’s cars look run of the mill. Intelligence would hardly have much place in such a high-speed, action-packed environment – especially as this has been designed by the Wachowskis as their first deliberate attempt at a family film.
The end result is not for those who like their films to have much in the way of plot development or characterisation – nor for those who tend to get headaches with too many fast-moving computer-generated images. Shot entirely on digital, with all sets, many of the props and most of the action being computer-generated, this is arguably as much a technical experiment as it is a film – the Wachowskis playing around with the latest in digital technology to see just how impressive and believable a world they can produce.
Heavily stylised and decidedly cartoony, it is unlikely to be to everyone’s tastes – and with bright colours and frenetic action galore, it seems that when they said “family film”, what the Wachowskis really meant was “this is for young children”.

Nonetheless, the impressive cast – including Emile Hirsch, John Goodman, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox and Richard Roundtree – and the movie’s already guaranteed cult status means that many will still be intrigued. It’s just a shame that some of the previous planned versions – with actors like Johnny Depp and Vince Vaughan and directors including Gus Van Sant and Alfonso Cuaron attached – never came to pass.

Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?
Releases 9 May

Morgan Spurlock swiftly became a household name thanks to his 2004 documentary Super Size Me – an investigation of the impact of fast food. Spurlock ate nothing but McDonalds three times a day, every day for a month in an attempt to find out how this would affect his health.
For his follow-up, Spurlock has decided to try and do something the American government has repeatedly failed to do for the last six and a half years. He attempts to track down the supposed mastermind of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks and currently most wanted man in the world, Osama Bin Laden. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t manage to find the bearded cave-dweller during the course of his investigations – if he had, I’m pretty sure it could have been on the news.
It’s hard to tell to what extent Spurlock’s extrovert character is entirely natural and how much it is a persona, adopted to make him seem more like the clichéd, slightly stupid American Everyman as he charges around the Middle East asking random people “do you know where Osama’s at?” Nonetheless, it gets his message across perfectly.
If Spurlock as Everyman is a substitute for the United States itself, his laughably silly mission to root out Bin Laden becomes a metaphor for the United States’ own hunt for the elusive terrorist. Spurlock – like the United States – heads off not knowing quite what it is he’s getting himself in to, failing to appreciate the danger he will be putting himself in as he charges around Islamist hotspots seemingly mocking the Jihadi cause just as much as he is America’s War on Terror. The only difference between Spurlock and the US is, of course, that Spurlock is fully aware from the outset that he has no hope of actually finding Bin Laden – something America seems not yet to have accepted.

The only trouble is that, as entertaining as Spurlock’s escapades may be, his latest film tells us nothing we didn’t already know. After so many years in which the flaws of the current strategies being pursued in an attempt to halt Islamist terrorist violence have been repeatedly revealed – not least by the concurrent rise in precisely that kind of violence, this should come as no surprise. Arguably, however, the same was true with his previous expose of the perils of fast food – and here, as with Super Size Me, it is not so much Spurlock’s message as his target audience that is important. Spurlock’s style and approach appeals to a younger audience than that which reads newspapers and keeps track of current affairs. In a major election year in the US, bringing younger voters up to speed with what their country has been getting up to in an accessible way should only be applauded, even if his approach is hardly nonpartisan.

Smart People
Releases 16 May

This is a film pitched as a romantic comedy, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and a beard-wearing Dennis Quaid (an unlikely coupling in itself, with both actors furthermore repeatedly cursed by box office failures) and directed by a first-timer who’s just made the move from television commercials. Sounds terrible, right? Wrong.

But the real key to success here is not the director – as skilfully created and promising as this first feature from Murro may be. It’s one of the producers, Michael London, and one of the supporting cast, Thomas Hayden Church – both of whom are best known for their work on the Oscar-winning wine-obsessed buddy movie Sideways, back in 2004. Because although the presence of Sarah Jessica Parker – especially in the same month that the Sex and the City movie is being released – ensures that her involvement is being played up in all the publicity, the real relationships at the heart of this film are family ones, with Hayden Church as Quaid’s slacker brother, moving in to help Quaid’s antisocial academic cope with raising his teenage daughter (Juno’s superb Ellen Page).

It may well be the fact that Hayden Church is playing a very similar role here as he did as Paul Giamatti’s best buddy in Sideways (albeit without the narcissism and chauvinism) that the similarities to that tip-top indy flick become so evident. Both Smart People and Sideways are really all about an intelligent man who suddenly realises he’s middle-aged, lonely, and incapable of forming meaningful relationships, and his journey back towards a comfortable, happy life. Yes, the growing relationship with Sarah Jessica Parker’s doctor is a part of that rehabilitation – but the real focus is on the rekindling of the relationship between Quaid and his brother and daughter.

The end result is an intelligent, amusing and – though this may sound like a cliché – uplifting tale with a welcome message at its heart that it’s never too late to turn your life around. Which should surely count as better than yet another bog-standard romantic comedy in anyone’s books.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Releases 22 May

Indiana Jones has become what he was always intended to be – a genuine cinematic icon, a true Hollywood legend, and one of the most successful film-related brands ever created. Many have tried to create the prefect mix of cinematic elements, and many have failed – but in Indy, co-creators George Lucas and Steven Spielberg succeeded perfectly.

No, neither Indy nor the films in which he appeared were overly original – but they were never intended to be, having been deliberately designed as a hybrid of James Bond, the Victorian adventure stories of H Rider Haggard, and the Saturday morning film serials so popular during the 30s, 40s and 50s. The success of this formula speaks for itself – there’s the $1.1 billion the three original films pulled in at the box office during the 1980s, and then (to further rub it in) the untold additional millions that have been generated by the video and DVD sales and rentals, the four theme park rides, the countless toys, the 50-odd books, the comics, the 28 episodes of the epic TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and sundry other pieces of merchandise that have been snapped up by eager fans during his 27-year existence.

Yet, despite this vast success, and despite Indy’s continued place as one of the best-loved film characters of all time, the idea of his return to the big screen has filled his fans with dread.

If you look to the tabloid coverage, this has all been thanks to the return of Harrison Ford in the lead, and the fact that he’s not only now old enough for a bus pass but also, were he British, for a state pension, having hit 65 last year. The world’s most successful film star during his 1980s heyday, he’s also not had a genuine box office hit to his name since 1994’s The Fugitive, and is these days mostly seen sporting an ill-considered earring while chaperoning girlfriend Calista “Ally McBeal” Flockhart down various red carpets. From being two of the coolest film characters of all time – Indiana Jones and Star Wars’ Han Solo – he’s become the epitome of the mid-life crisis, like your dad dancing at a wedding.

And then, of course, there’s George Lucas, an undoubted genius as the man who invented both Indiana Jones and Star Wars. But since his revival of the Star Wars franchise with 1999’s really rather poor The Phantom Menace, Lucas has become a hate figure for an entire generation.

There was a 16-year gap between the last of the original Star Wars films and 1999’s disappointing revival, and it has now been 19 years since the last of the original Indy movies. The similarity in timing, combined with Harrison Ford seeming far too old and uncool for such an action-heavy role, and the fact that many fans of the films hated the early-1990s Young Indiana Jones TV series means it should be little wonder that fans are desperately worried that Lucas may have produced something that will sully yet another batch of nostalgic childhood reminiscences. With the plot and action kept tightly under wraps right up until the release, the only way to find out is to go see for yourself. And let’s face it – you’re going to. This is Indy, after all, and Steven Spielberg’s still in the director’s chair – they surely can’t have mucked it up. Can they?

Dangerous Parking
Releases 23 May

When you hear that this is the latest offering from the writer/director of parallel lives romantic comedy Sliding Doors and Rowan Atkinson starring James Bond spoof Johnny English, you could be forgiven for expecting a whimsical – if not outright silly – comedy. Add in a story in which the main character is a film director, and the fact that the same chap who wrote and directed the movie has also taken the lead role, and you could be forgiven for expecting this to be a vanity project, with all the potential pitfalls that such undertakings so often encounter.

In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only is this an emotion-packed exploration of life, love and relationships up there with the very best, but writer/director/star Peter Howitt also excels in all three of his highly-demanding roles. It’s also worth noting that he picked up a Best Director award at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. This awards ceremony is one of the rising stars of the packed festival scene, increasingly well regarded for its ability to spot interesting indy flicks.

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Stuart Browne, it is easy to see why this story of a film director’s mid-life crisis might have appealed to a middle-aged film director. Although Howitt may well have the career experience to understand the travails of chief protagonist Noah Arkwright, and a good track record in comedy to bring across this difficult character’s dark sense of humour, such a superficial look at the film’s set-up could lead to expectations of a big-screen version of something along the line of sitcoms Curb Your Enthusiasm or Lead Balloon. Yet the main character here, rather than just being a grumpy middle-aged misanthrope with little worse to deal with than a propensity for bad luck, has far, far worse to cope with – he has cancer.

This is where it becomes clear that despite Howitt’s past moviemaking record, this is going to end up very different. While elements of humour remain, these are largely there to provide a respite from a storyline that could otherwise prove far too harrowing for anyone to pay good money to experience. His successful, excessive director suddenly finds death staring him in the face and realises that despite all the drink, drugs and success that his money and career have brought him, the only thing he truly cares about has been slipping from his grasp all along.

And so comes the struggle not just to come to terms with the diagnosis, but to patch up his rocky marriage before it’s too late, as our beleaguered director comes to realise that the one thing he really wants in his life is his wife. Again, the set-up could almost be romantic comedy material – after all, all romantic comedies are based around the concept of building a relationship in unlikely circumstances. It is perhaps this similarity to a genre in which Howitt has excelled that has enabled him so deftly to both defy and build on RomCom conventions, creating an occasionally harrowing drama in the process – albeit a drama with a warm, satisfying glow at its heart.

Despite being surrounded by an impressive supporting cast that includes the likes of Tom Conti, Saffron Burroughs and Sean Pertwee, any fears that Howitt will not be able to cut it as a leading actor (fears compounded by previous credits along the lines of “Homeless Man” and “Cheeky Bloke”) are swiftly dispelled. This is one of those movies for which the phrase tour de force was invented – a masterly display from an entirely unexpected quarter in the kind of restrained British movie one would normally expect from the likes of Mike Leigh. High praise indeed, but well deserved.

Sex and the City
Releases 28 May

So there we were, four girls dealing with being single and thirtysomething in New York City. It was a blast. No real jobs to worry with, just shoes, shopping and sex – all the while wearing fabulous outfits. Life lived to the full – and everyone loved us for it. Never mind the Spice Girls, we were the real pioneers of Girl Power, the true post-feminist ideal of women shaping their own destiny and using men for a change, rather than the other way around. Go us!

Only then, after six seasons as one of the most popular shows on TV, it all came to an end amid tabloid stories of in-fighting and bitchiness. Rather than appearing in magazines as the perfect role-models for aspiring professional clothes-horses, we started being subject to long-lens shots of cellulite and sagginess. The glamour had gone – and so had our careers.

Oh yes, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) may have continued to appear in a few films, but they were all fairly bland stuff, and never troubled the box-office. But what about the rest of us? Sex-mad, sultry Samantha (Kim Cattrall) was last seen playing Harry Potter’s dowdy mum in a period TV movie, and hit her fifties two years ago. Cutesy Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has spent most of the last few years voicing a cartoon spider on a US kids’ TV show when not playing somebody’s mother in bad movies. Sassy lawyer Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has merely been cropping up in guest spots on US TV shows, despite showing some early promise playing Eleanor Roosevelt opposite Kenneth Branagh’s FD Roosevelt in a halfway decent US TV movie.

So despite all being such idols back at the turn of the millennium, it all seems to have gone wrong for us girls. Now fortysomething (and fiftysomething), no matter how much we may have tried to show everyone that you don’t need to be married by thirty to have a good life, and as much as we thought we’d proved that you can be a woman approaching middle age and still be sexy, smart, desirable and in control, it turns out we were wrong. Because in the world of celebrity, if you’re female then age and looks still matter – and after our show came to a close and we had to venture out into the real world without the benefit of expert stylists and make-up artists, the fickle world of film and TV took one look and decided we were pretty much past it.

Hell, if the Spice Girls can do a comeback, why can’t we? Yes, those pop star precursors of the maids from Manhattan may be a decade younger than us, but hell – they all managed to put aside their well-publicised differences and get along long enough to put together a sell-out comeback tour, didn’t they? Surely we can all forget our differences for the few weeks it takes to shoot a movie to fleetingly revive our fame, bring in the old fans, and top up the pension funds?

And so it’s back to more of the same for a while. Carrie still trying to get hitched to Mr Big; Samantha still eyeing up men young enough to be her kids; Miranda still being paranoid about her bartender boyfriend’s fidelity; and Charlotte still trying to get pregnant after all these years. Will it be final closure – or will we all be back again in a few years, now all in our fifties, and all still acting as if we were spoiled teenagers? And, more importantly, will the fans still care?

California Dreamin’
Releases 30 May

It’s a safe bet that there aren’t many people in the world whose first choice of a movie to see on a Friday night is the latest offering from Romania. It’s hardly a country known for its movie industry, after all. Long part of the European backwater – repressed then left to fend for itself by the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the 19th century, largely ignored during the two World Wars, and then isolated in the world after its communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu pulled the country out of the Warsaw Pact during the 1960s – the Romanian sense of national identity has long been shaped by this often forced independence. So little wonder that it is this national spirit that lies at the heart of this fascinating, amusing, and intriguing film.

We all remember the 1999 NATO invasion of Kosovo – a humanitarian bombing campaign and invasion that not only set a precedent for the 2003 invasion of Iraq but which has still not been resolved to this day, with tensions still threatening to bubble over into fresh conflict over Kosovo’s recent unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. Much as with the Iraq war, the military action was not sanctioned by the UN, and so technically illegal – and there were protests about NATO’s action, even if nowhere near on the scale of those we saw in 2003.

It is one such protest that received little coverage that forms the basis of this film – a tiny, hilarious-sounding incident in which a NATO supply train, packed with American soldiers and equipment, was halted en route through Romania to Kosovo by a village official thanks to some missing customs papers. You can just picture the thought process: “Yes, you may be the world’s only superpower on the way to war, and we may only be a bunch of peasants living in the middle of nowhere – but if your paperwork’s not right, you’re not going anywhere.”

It’s a great premise for a film, allowing all sorts of culture-clash moments as the arrogant Americans try to deal with the indignant locals, with both groups naturally coming to learn much of each other along the way. Because of this, it could also have ended up far too predictable and clichéd to provide much of interest.
Thankfully, first-time 26-year-old Romanian director Cristian Nemescu had a glorious talent for avoiding the obvious in his humorous take on the incident, blending just the right amount of genuine resentment and absurd comedy to make this a delightfully sweet exploration of local tensions in a globalising world. I say “had”, because sadly this is Nemescu’s first and last film – he died in a car crash in August 2006 before he had a chance to finish the editing.

The loss of Nemescu, on the evidence of this film, is a genuine tragedy for the nascent Romanian film industry. Combining subtlety with a genuine understanding of both sides in the dispute and a glorious taste for the little details that make this in any case absurd situation feel that much more real and funny, this is the kind of film that would be a joy no matter what country it comes from.

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