Ron Plasma Reviews

Precious (II) (2009)

Precious Stones

[8/10 · 22 June 2010]

This was a fantastic smack of realism for me. Quentin Tarentino with fat people. And no sunshine.

Can't ignore it. What I remember is the wonderful Gabourey Sidibe. To say she had presence would be to underestimate her worth by several stone, yet her unflickering, unsmiling stoicism was wonderful to behold. She seemed on another planet. How strange, how delightful to encounter.

How harrowing.

OK. I give in. This film really worked for me in a really unexpected way. And that's why I like the cinema. Keep it up.

As a postscript, I was never quite sure why this had to be 1987, and all credit to Maria Carey. No hint of Divadom. But there again. No hint of stairs.

Ron

(Viewed 2Feb10)

A Prophet (2009)

What Happens Next?

[7/10 · 9 February 2010]

This was OK. This came with all sorts of baggage, each bag filled with a festival award statuette. The deep and wise gurus at Slightly Sound named this as the best film of 2009 – a bit of a kick in the teeth to us poor mortals who only count films with a theatrical release in their judgements. Was it going to live up to expectation?

Let's be fair. Yes.

This was a fine caper which kept me largely on the edge of my seat, but significantly, wishing for a sofa to hide behind in a Doctor Who fashion for at least one scene. It was good. It was great. Watching it, you start to compare it with great films such as ... ah ... The Godfather.

Yes, it was The Godfather ... but ...

My fault as a monoglot, I imagine there is great resonance in the jumps between French, Corsican, and Arabic. Lost in sub-titles. And there seemed an awful lot of superfluous sub-plot. Never the case in The Godfather, but there again that had a wider canvas. Not an option for Jacques Audiard.

An excellent prison drama.

Ron

(Viewed 26Jan10)

Up in the Air (I) (2009)

Tie Me Up

[7/10 · 9 February 2010]

It's back. After seven long years in the wilderness I can now look back and shudder at those devil may care, bohemian Vodafone days. The tie is back! Who says? Well me initially, then the God-like George Clooney, who I thought was going to appear in a new tie for every scene of this film, (not quite), seemed right on message. But when Vera Farmiga endorsed the trend by wearing one as her entire ensemble, (double Windsor around the waist, the rest coquettishly draped over her backside), it was back where it belonged.

Do I digress? This was a fabulous jolly, several in fact, with George Clooney charming the pants of everyone. Isn't it strange to see GC playing someone you actually want to be? Was there a moral? Who cares. Great.

Ron

(Viewed 21Jan10)

The Road (I) (2009)

One more for my Baby

[6/10 · 2 February 2010]

It was three-o'clock. There was hardly anybody in the place. Not sure the ticket seller was called Joe, but hey! One for "The Road" please.

John Hillcoat's post apocalypse trudge was certainly consistent, in that I felt it had no beginning, not an actual end, but heavy on the middle. A splendid palette and a haunting soundtrack made it feel very real, but what would I know.

Unfortunately, nerd that I am, I was looking for faults in what I have said is a very flat film. Were those leaves on the trees? I quibble. There were some fabulous locations. (If they were CGI – well done!) However, I felt there was too little detail of how Viggo Mortensen and his annoyingly whining son, Kodi Smit-McPheed, survived, (ate), for what we are led to believe had been years, whilst there was almost too much detail on how others coped.

Strange that. The whole piece was depressing, yet interspersed with an even worse horrors.

Well done. But no fun.

Ron (Viewed 12Jan10)

A Serious Man (2009)

(Insert John McEnroe quote here)

[7/10 · 2 February 2010]

I often look for "sparkle" in lighter films, that drive that keeps the smile planted firmly on my face throughout. I can't say A Serious Man sparkles, but my great anticipation was rewarded with a fascinating film. Fascinating – but what did it all mean? Another one of those Coen brother films, all very episodic, puzzling, yet throughout this outing my furrowed brow repeatedly gave way to a cathartic belly laugh.

Was this really a Biblical epic – set in suburban Minneapolis? If so it deserves to be wrapped up as a boxed set with "The Life Of Brian".

Ron

(Viewed 6Dec09)

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

Supernanny

[7/10 · 2 February 2010]

The Men Who Stare At Goats was a bright, sparkly affair, stuffed absolutely full of nonsense, but nonsense brought to life by an earnest delivery from George Clooney. How I admire the way this man goes about the idiot beauty roles.

Can't say quite the same for Ewan McGregor, who always strikes me not so much as versatile, rather searching for a new Renton.

Not to worry. In the end I found the real star of this fluff to be the wonderful Jeff Bridges. A triumph in military regalia and pony-tail.

Sign me up!

Ron

(Viewed 1Dec09)

The White Ribbon (2009)

Best In Show

[7/10 · 24 January 2010]

The White Ribbon was dark, mysterious, labyrinthine, a real puzzle. Doesn't sound a barrel of laughs does it?

Nor was it. But it was a wonderful film. How can this be? My only suggestion is the remarkable balance brought to the screen. An excellent cast deliver a complex story challenging even my enormous brain to fathom out out exactly what's going on. But time and time again I "lost the plot" because I was transfixed by a fabulous shot of – a wall. Or – a field. Or – a road. Seriously. And no mind altering drugs involved.

All my pretensions tell me this was the best film of 2009. I find it hard to argue.

Ron

(Viewed 17Nov09)

Bright Star (2009)

A Joy For 119 Minutes

[6/10 · 24 January 2010]

Imagine she says she likes poetry. You don't want to appear a dullard so when she suggests you go along to a poetry reading you have to smile and traipse along. Remarkably, at the end, you realise you have actually enjoyed it.

I was expecting something light and fluffy from Bright Star, and initially felt that was what was being delivered, particularly I think in the shape of the blunt crudeness coming out of Paul Schneidner's Charles Brown. Then some histrionics from Ben Wishaw. Now my Mother always used to say I would catch my death if I went out without my coat. Keats does just that. And dies. (Blimey! She was right all that time!) So you now realize that this isn't going to be an all action movie, and you begin to tune into the verse. And get hooked.

Only as I left the cinema did I realize that for the first time in a long time I had stayed until all the credits had rolled, as had the whole audience. The reason? To hear Endymion (?) being read. (Must check that out!)

Ron

(Viewed 11Nov09)

Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee (2009)

Off Beat

[6/10 · 17 January 2010]

As you might imagine, I had great expectations of this film, indeed I have great expectations of any film starring Britain's scariest actor Paddy Considine. But this was yet another sleight outing from Shane Meadows who had the semi-eponymous Mr Considine giving a fine performance, but, mysteriously, as David Brent!

Nevermind, I found his companion-in-title Scor-Zay-Zee fascinating, all the more so when I contemplate he is actually a rapper! Extra marks were on offer if Shane had turned his camera across the road at the final Arctic Monkeys gig for a quick shot of my old school.

All in all, an opportunity missed!

Ron

(Viewed 10Oct09)

Creation (I) (2009)

Nothing Bright Or Beautiful

[6/10 · 29 September 2009]

When you go to see a film called Creation you expect – well – some kind of spark. I'm sorry to say Jon Amiel's piece doesn't ignite. In fact, I came away with the feeling that the greatest thought mankind has ever kindled had landed in the brain of Alan Titchmarch. I went home to a BBC documentary on Darwin which was far more enlightening. I may once again have missed the point, but I'm afraid this film left me not so much inspired but in deep misery, the likes which I haven't endured since Doctor Who played "Jude".

Films which employ subtle time shift often do this to me so perhaps I should give credit to the real-or-not scenes between Paul Bettany and his screen daughter Martha West which were enchanting. Indeed to me the film's best scene, the last, is the one in which Bettany and West – not noticeably facially similar – walk off in perfectly synchronised gait.

Ron

Viewed 27Sep09)

Kisses (2008)

Positively Ramsey Street

[7/10 · 19 August 2009]

All very Ken Loach, (before he discovered FC United!), but nevertheless a charming, short film. Dylan & Kylie, (a fabulous, if mismatching pair of character names), were sweet in their own brow-beaten way, and all credit to Lance Daly for sticking with the sometime impenetrable dialogue.

Never mind. Credit also to Kelly O'Neill (especially) and Shane Curry for demonstrating that acting is much more than just words. But what I loved was the fact that the whole feel-good aspect of the film could be attributable to …. Heelys! ("They don't come cheap you know!")

Yup, Keely floating through the Dublin shopping arcades was as graceful as anything seen in a (South) West coast surfer movie – and made me infinitely more jealous. And then, just as this fairytale turns dark, the Heelys come to the rescue in a magnificent cinematic moment. Extra marks for that!

Ron

(Viewed 26Jul09)

Looking for Eric (2009)

The team is FCUM

[8/10 · 19 August 2009]

Upfront. For those of you who didn't pick it up, naming no names, the heroes follow FC United of Manchester - a REAL club. If "Looking For Eric" uplifted you, search out FCUM on t'internet.

Continuing. There is a team in my native Stretford who dropped "Football" and "Club" from their franchise badge some time ago. Discuss. (Non-British – "franchise" is a word of contempt in football.)

Season tickets, (OK a "room"), for £250,000? FC 'em.

Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous film. I'm biased. But I was told not to shout in my summary.

FCUM

FCUM

FCUM

Ron (Viewed 13Jun09 and 16Jun09 and 28Jun09 and waiting for the FC United DVD.)

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Big

[7/10 · 19 August 2009]

This is a strange film, which could have easily descended into self indulgence, but magically held its own, probably due to the now superb, (passim), Philip Seymour Hoffman and perhaps to the ever hubba hubba Christine Keener.

I myself felt captured by the sadness of a missing daughter, but this evaporated ever so quickly as the film, and the set, mushroomed. No going back. No standing still. A new adventure at every corner.

Weird. (I can spell it Nigel), but pretty damn good.

Ron (Viewed 26May09)

Hi IMDb. This is a filler line. Total boocksll (anag).

Coraline (2009)

Sweet

[6/10 · 26 June 2009]

Sometimes it's just curiosity.

A quick diversion. I'm currently in Belfast, and loving it. I've had a strange fascination with this city's history over the last forty years and it's somewhat strange to be amongst names I remember so vividly from my past. As evocative as "I counted them out.." to me is "after another night of violence in …".

One reason I'm enjoying myself so much is I'm staying smack bang in the centre of the city, walking distance of the recently rebranded QFT as well as two multiplexes. And this city centre is so familiar, yet so not English. (I probably mean not American.) Customary eating chains are not to be seen, or are at least few and far between.

But now we have Victoria Square. A cathedral of glass and shopping topped by an Odeon in all its smelly popcorn stickiness, and surrounded by all the usual food simulating suspects. (I won't name them.)

I'm nearly there. Hang on.

Admission price fairly hefty, but I do get a fancy pair of spectacles. For this is Coraline 3-D. Only … not wow. For in the interminable pre-show there are trailers for any number of coming-soons – all in 3-D. I'm 58 now. I've seen it all before, but there's no denying, 3-D is here to stay.

The film? It was OK. Not really for me.

Ron (Viewed 26May09)

Is Anybody There? (2008)

One trick thoroughbred

[6/10 · 26 June 2009]

A pleasant sort of film, and I'm never really going to criticise anything with Michael Caine in it am I? Likewise I'll never hear a word against the lovely Anne-Marie Duff, who always gives Gromit a run for his money in the acting-by-eyebrows-alone stakes. How she finds time to write all those poems I'll never know.

But I just can't get a theme together for my review other than some shot at "if you ever wondered where all old actors go – it's a film about an old folks' home in Yorkshire". Yes, so soon after Clint's moribund hero I now have Michael's grey-stubble–and-all retired magician. Do you think I am being drawn to them?

Seriously though, this is undemanding stuff, yet somehow uplifting to see all the where-are-they-nows. But – and if for no other reason, this is why you must see this film at some point – prepare yourself for an excellent centrepiece scene with a stage guillotine.

Ron (Viewed 12May09)

In the Loop (2009)

Kinross

[8/10 · 26 June 2009]

Now this is going to be a trial! I've fallen foul of the IMDb rude word police several times in the past. How on earth, (and that was may second choice of phrase), am I going to review "In The Loop"? It was funny. It was laugh out loud funny. It was jam packed with memorable quotes, or rather quotes I wish I could remember and use where appropriate. Quotes mostly uttered by the perfection that is Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker, the greatest comedy creation of the millennium Ably supported of course, but unlike the characters of Chris Addison et al, I eagerly awaited his appearance on screen in those scary moments when you didn't know where he was. (A fabulous piece of timing had Addison and Tom Hollander languishing over the minutiae of travel to Washington only to find Capaldi/Tucker magically appearing, leaping 3000 miles in an instant.) I can only quote the cotton wool / Playboy Bunny line at will now, but it's gone into my repertoire as firmly as the iPod shuffle remark from the TV series.

Fabulous stuff.

Ron (Viewed 23Apr09)

(Kinross? I saw Chris Addison doing stand-up in Manchester years ago. The young man had just been to Scotland and had aspirations to be the Tourism Manager for Kinross on the back of his wonderful slogan. "Kinross? - 'kin great!" My sentiments about this film.)

The Damned United (2009)

Somewhere in the top . ?

[7/10 · 2 May 2009]

Guilty pleasures. A very enjoyable film but I guess that's largely a personal opinion.

Like Coronation Street, predictable, unchallenging, but perfectly executed. A fascinated story even more remarkable from the distance of the Sky TV and Premier league years.

I'll admit some cute cutting between the mid seventies and late sixties (I'm digging for some obvious praiseworthy content.) An excellent performance by the chameleon that is Michael Sheen and I really do need to hug Timothy Spall myself.

But the rest, with the possible exception of Colm Meaney as Don Revie, reminded me of the John Goodman et al Flintstones, bravely facing camera as cartoon embodiments.

Still. Marvellous fun and a chance to relive some real muddy football passion.

Ron

(Viewed 27Apr09)

Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008)

Far from the Best

[5/10 · 2 May 2009]

Amazingly I'm going to struggle to fill the ten-line minimum on this one.

None of the art of Hunger. More of the harsh realities of 80s Belfast but demonstrated mostly by crap cars, coarse armour plating, and even coarser police and army foot soldiers. And this is where it went wrong for me. No real character depth in the middle of extraordinary times.

This was an OK gangster film which gets an extra point for its location.

(I saw this film in the middle of fabulous modern day Belfast.)

Ron (Viewed 21Apr09)

The Boat That Rocked (2009)

Carry On Climbing Up The Ladder

[3/10 · 2 May 2009]

My God this was an awful film.

And I was looking for every once of delight as without thinking too deeply, this seemed a rich area for a feel good film. (Yes I have. See my review in January.) I had heard some excruciating reviews, but to be fair, there have been any number of Richard Curtis films post 4W&AF which struck me as mawkish at the time, but now feel quite pleasant in a nothing else on the telly sort of way.

Thus the precise perfection of sub-three minute ground-breaking distorted guitar that was The Kinks, against an exploding background of unself-consciously happy, dancing people boded ever so well. You Really Had Me from "Girl".

But then what? A succession of mind-numbing excuses for plots/laughs that drift away without the slightest effort of context, culminating in PSH and Rhys Ifans seeing how far they can climb up a ladder. Laugh? No.

A slow word rate and general lassitude meant I had the Carry On references in my mind before the sad news about Peter Rogers. My condolences.

Ron (Viewed 7Apr09)

Gran Torino (2008)

Il buono, il buono, il buono

[8/10 · 2 May 2009]

You have to admire him. This was Clint Eastwood playing yet another Clint Eastwood and deservedly raking in the Dollars – so familiar, so new. I loved it! Perhaps it's the self awareness again, self awareness of the cowboy hero, then the cowboy anti-hero, then the cop anti-hero. And, brilliantly we now have the old man anti-hero. No-one could do it better.

And of course long after the film ends you realise that after all the wry smiles, Mr Eastwood has put Clint in a coffin. If this was Clint's exit from the bright side of the camera it will be a pity, but what an exit!

Ron (Viewed 20Feb09)

The Class (2008)

It was all going so well

[7/10 · 11 March 2009]

Another Wella film – all head & shoulders – but you have to admire the machine gun wit from both the eponymous youngsters and, notably, Francois Begaudeau on the front line, succeeding so well in this fascinating film until a minor lapse. This was an eye opener.

And an eye opener not in the same way that the fantasy world of Waterloo Road currently grabs many a male eye with its short, tight skirts and teen-age pouts. No. The Class brushed all these well walked school corridors aside to deliver a battle of words fought with next to no physical action or emotional back story. Like I say, Waterloo Road it ain't. But Avoir et Etre it ain't either.

Good film.

Ron

(Viewed 3Mar09)

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Smokin'!

[6/10 · 2 March 2009]

You can't ignore him, this Woody Allen bloke. Gone is the succession of one liners. Long gone. Gone is Allen himself in his annual outing. Gone is an addiction to New York. So what do we have left?

Well, we have a European tour which now reaches Catalonia, and quite pleasant it is too. Pleasant. I think I found Match Point "pleasant", but I may have been in the minority there. I think we may have to get used to this. The older ones, you know, … Distant memories, but enough to grant Woody leeway. I think we now have very much a Ronnie Corbett arm-chair joke – cosy, familiar, and professionally executed. But forgettable.

So just in case that turns out to be the memory let's mention some interesting contribution from Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall; a new side to Javier Bardem; and an outstanding performance from Penelope Cruz who I suspect has set the anti-smoking lobby back thirty years and in fact may even have caused Operation Trident a headache or two. Excellent stuff

Ron

(Viewed 17Feb09)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Time flies by when you're the driver of a train

[6/10 · 18 February 2009]

The curious thing about Benjamin Button is that he is born an old man and dies a baby. Born old. Dies young. Geddit?

This sets the scene for Brad Pitt to deliver such lines as "I'm seven, but I look a lot older", and "will you still love me when I get acne?". And am reading too much of a Mrs Robinson into it when a latterly older Cate Blanchett dismisses Brad Pitt with an off-hand "Good-night Benjamin"? Need more? I thought not.

I found this a wearisome film which perversely aged me disproportionately throughout its 166 minutes. Just how many times can the Daisy or Benjamin characters "return"? I lost count. And interest. This was a short story for heavens sake. Did we really need the trail through U-boats, Presidents, and hurricanes?

This isn't going to be a popular review I'm sure. I apologise in advance. But it's Awards season, and I'm reeling from a barrage of big guns. Oh for a summer of quietly considered films.

Ron

(Viewed 8Feb09)

Frost/Nixon (2008)

That Was The Sixties That Was

[6/10 · 3 February 2009]

I'm sort of pleased that such an esoteric confrontation as Frost/Nixon achieved a theatrical stage and I suppose an extension of that is that I'm pleased that such a narrow tail be brought to the wider cinema audience. (Those of us in the sticks have little opportunity for "theatreland".) My pleasure I suppose must spring from the times, the morals. David Frost to me was the clever one (!) amongst the Cambridge Alumni who brought buffoonery and satire to 60s TV. Apparently his star waned in the early 70s, a fact lost of those of us who spent those years isolated at "University" when this meant something so very different.

And Nixon. To be fair, his VP days escaped me as well, (too young), but he was the fag-end of the 60s as much as "Gimme Shelter", (or Altamont for the statistically few who were there.) Again. I learnt about Watergate through Computer Science academic journals. Don't ask me why.

Bring them together.

A good early start, even though Tony Blair seemed to have been drafted in to play Frost. Some light introductions to Nixon as avarice and Frost as archetypical TV presenter. But soon Martin Sheen as Frost seems all Froth. Frank Langella as Nixon, however grows darker and darker. Deeper and deeper.

Then somehow Frost triumphs. I'm sorry. I missed the ascendance. The all important on camera turnaround was lame. And I'm afraid that affects my overall view.

Ron (Viewed 25Jan09)

The Reader (2008)

Hard Lines

[6/10 · 23 January 2009]

A hard beauty. A joy to behold. Unadorned, utilitarian, purposeful. Cold as steel, and maintaining a firm line constantly. What man could resist? Yes those 1950s trams were things of great wonder.

Kate Winslett was OK too, but my problem is that I always find Kate's characters slightly annoying. Unfortunately, I feel the same about Ralph Fiennes. And believe it or not, Bruno Ganz as a Robin Williamsesque university lecture , and Lena Olin as the Manhattan based gallery something-or-other, (who ARE these people?), surpassed them both. Ganz in particular. Shudder.

The film itself I felt started slowly with no real meat to the cold romance depicted. The jolt around midway woke me up but as is normal with films around this subject the big picture drowns the personal tale.

Sorry.

Ron (Viewed 14Jan09)