This page contains movie reviews of
Nichola
Raper.
O Brother Where Art Thou?
The Gift
O Brother,
Where Art Thou?
Directed by The Coen Borthers (2000) Cert: 15
This is a great film.
Everett (George Clooney), a voluble, garrulous
chancer, ill-suited to life in a chain gang,
escapes with two fellow convicts - Pete (John
Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) - to
seek treasure. They have four days before the
valley in which it's buried is flooded, so time
is of the essence. Portentously, a blind prophet
predicts "you shall find a fortune, but it shall
not be the fortune you seek", so starting an
epic journey filled with lots of laughs, high-spirits,
colourful characters and a fantastic score,
the gang lurching from one crisis to another
in their search.
Whereas there isn't one thing that makes this
film so good, it's the consistent high quality
of the acting, fluid story-line, scene composition
and symbolism, subtle humour and the ultimate
feel-good factor which combine so well. The
characters range from evil to stupid to rogueish,
but it's good old George who shines through
and underpinning the whole tone (okay, he's
my fave, along with Keanu Reeves.)
Highly recommended, and I bet you'll be singing
the great country and western hit that was sung
into a tin can for days to come.
Nicky's Rating: 5/5
The Gift
Directed by Sam Raimi (2000) Cert: 15
Cate Blanchett is very good as the small-town
psychic Annie Wilson in the south of America,
even if her face nearly always looks like she
knows something BAD is about to happen. She
is struggling to raise her family after her
husband has died the previous year in a work-related
accident, eking out a living giving advice to
the local townsfolk on their personal problems.
The usual range of characters are wheeled out
to illustrate her ability and compassion - the
man who's got an embarrassing health problem
which she handles sensitively, the mentally
disturbed half-wit no-one else wants to know
who she is supportive towards and the doormat
woman whose husband beats her up. This husband
is none other than Keanu Reeves, not normally
known for his ability to speak convincingly
in front of a camera and unusually playing a
baddie, but who is pleasantly surprising as
the menacing Donnie Barksdale. The relationship
between Donnie and his wife could just be portrayed
as another Tammy-Wynette-like instance, but
here it appears fresh, underpinned by some excellent
single-shot scenes giving a new twist on this
most hackneyed of themes.
The film's atmosphere builds up nicely, introducing
the obligatory range of characters who will
all become the audience's suspects later on
and providing them with a reason for possibly
having something to do with the disappearance
of a young, beautiful but slutty local girl.
The lighting is excellent and there are some
fairly scary scenes of Annie's visions (bear
in mind I'm scared quite easily - this is no
Exorcist) which are helped by this, the clever
background incidentals and the suspense-building
editing. You're not sure who's a red-herring,
who's actually done it and whether the suspense
will get any worse.
And then, after all this promise, you're let
down. The film gets less scary instead of more,
the supposed twist in the plot towards the end
is a blatant desire to try and outdo the twist
on a twist but actually comes across as very
mundane and about 20 minutes before the end
you've worked everything out leaving no real
need to watch any more. However, stay glued
for the final twist just near the end - a nice,
if schmaltzy - touch. There's nothing new to
be found in the usual set of characters, although
the acting is great throughout, and there are
a few anomalies which illustrates the continuity
people haven't been doing their job perfectly.
Some themes and plot threads end abruptly with
no explanation or expansion of their relevance,
but the music's lovely and overall it is definitely
worth a viewing, even if it leaves you feeling
unsatisfied. Shame really, it had the potential
to be excellent.
Nicky's rating: 4/5
More movies will be reviewed by Nicky soon.
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Thanks
- Jim
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