GAME WELL AND TRULY OVER

Michael Jackson's This is it

I'm not a huge Michael Jackson fan, but as I've stated here before, I like a lot of his music. So when I heard about the "This is it" movie, I wasn't really interested in seeing it. To be honest, there was something a little unseemly about a documentary being put together so quickly after Jackson's death. And I was also turned off by the "in theatres for a limited time only" claim. So I didn't try to get tickets. And I had no intention of going. But I got sucked into the hype...

"This is it," is approximately 70% rehearsal footage and 30% documentary. The documentary parts are scattered throughout the film, and includes background dancers and musicians talking about how privileged they felt to perform with Jackson. There is also some insight into the planning of the concert, with Kenny Ortega and other head honchos discussing the concept and plans for different sections of the show. At times, Ortega comes across as a bit of an attention seeker, and quite frankly, he didn't need to be in this movie as much as he was. But I'll give him credit, because I suspect that everyone will walk out of this saying "that concert would have been amazing."

The song selection was very good. I can't think of any major omissions off the top of my head. Each song is an amalgamation of different rehearsal days, but it all looks and sounds seamless with the exception of clothing changes. As for Michael, there are no major surprises in terms of his personality. He's definitely a perfectionist, which should surprise no one. His singing was top notch, although he lip-synced a few songs. His dancing wasn't very expansive, although there were a few moonwalks here and there. If you're looking for dancing similar to the Motown 25th anniversary performance, this isn't for you.

The person who will probably benefit most from "This is it" is Orianthi, who was the guitarist who played Eddie Van Halen's part in Beat It, and the guitar melody in Black Or White. And she was excellent.

If you're a massive Michael Jackson fan, you're going to love this. If you're not, there's no real need to see it, though I suspect your curiosity may get the better of you.

The Invention of Lying

When I reviewed Ghost Town, I began by stating that I was incapable of disliking anything featuring Ricky Gervais. And while that statement is still true, it was tested in this movie.

The Invention of Lying is based in a typical US town, with the atypical characteristic that no one lies. Everyone speaks openly, with brutal honesty, which leads to funny set pieces and a promising start. Mark (Gervais) is a script writer of non-fiction movies, and is about to be fired. He goes on a date with Anna (Jennifer Garner) who later turns him down because he doesn't make enough money, and she doesn't want her children to have his physical characteristics. Eventually, Mark figures out that he can get what he wants if he lies, since no one else is familiar with the concept. It's at this point the film goes drastically downhill. The plot is long and drawn out, and the story runs out of steam after the first 40 minutes.

Gervais himself is still hilarious. The self deprecating humour is still there. His interaction with others is still chuckle-inducing. And his acting is solid. Other positives included the music (ELO!), and the cameo by Stephen Merchant and Barry off EastEnders (Shaun Williamson), though the many other cameos seemed contrived and unnecessary, with the exception of Tina Fey who couldn't be unnecessary if she tried.

But the story just stops working over time, and by the end of it, I just didn't care about the fate of the main characters because I was bored. And it's a shame, because I thnk a lot more could be done with the underlying premise.

I've read other reviews which mentioned some other things I missed. One was the so called "invention of religion" which I didn't really bat an eyelid over, though the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rated it as "morally offensive." I'd explain this plot point more, but I don't want to spoil it for you, and quite frankly, I don't think it's a big deal. Other reviews mentioned that the font of the credits was similar the font that Woody Allen uses.

But the one thing that stood out to me was the product placement. I have never seen such blatant product placement, so much so that it affected my enjoyment of the movie. There is one beer brand ever-present throughout, and Gervais asks for it by name in one scene. Even worse was a scene which involved Gervais reading from notes he wrote on two pizza boxes. It's a long scene to begin with, but with the international brand on the other side of the boxes taking up half the screen for an extended period of time, it's impossible to take the scene seriously.

TIOL isn't terrible, but it's really nothing special. A rental at best.

The Damned United

The Damned United tells the story of Brian Clough's ill-fated 44 day spell at Leeds United, and is based on the book of the same name. The story contrasts Clough's period of success with Derby County, with his less than successful stint at Leeds United. It also explores his obsession with his predecessor Don Revie, his relationship with his #2, Peter Taylor, and gives a glimpse into his home life.

First of all, I should mention that the book was amazing. I don't read as much as I should, but when I read this one, I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely gripping, and even if you're not a football fan, or a fan of Leeds United or Derby County, you'll love it. I'd write more about the book, but this is a movie review.

And because of the high standards set by the book, the movie suffers. You could tell that the filmmakers made a concerted attempt not to be as controversial as the book, especially given the Clough family's negative reaction. Michael Sheen's performance was excellent as you would expect, and it was one of those films where the lead actor's performance overshadowed the film itself. There were certain scenes where Sheen's profile was indistinguishable from the real Clough's.

The on-the-field action was a mix of actual highlights and newly filmed footage. So for the 1974 Charity Shield, the teams walking out of the tunnel was new, but the match footage and Bremner-Keegan incident was real. And best of all, Emlyn Hughes lifting the Charity Shield was the real thing. I would also add that in the "where are they now" subtitles at the end, they said that "no manager has won the European Cup two years in a row since" (emphasis added by me), so they didn't make the mistake that many media sources did (Bob Paisley won it twice in a row; '77-'78). I should also mention that the actors playing the Leeds players were a little chunky. The man playing Billy Bremner looked a lot like Sammy Lee.

Overall, the story of this chapter of Clough's career and Michael Sheen's acting make this a must see. But read the book first.

Don't call it a comeback

Yes, I know it's been a while. And yes, I know you're fed-up of seeing a post about Michael Jackson. But I'm back. With some design changes too! I still haven't decided exactly what I want to do here or what the point of this is. But I have 13 fans on Facebook and 155 followers on Twitter and I'll be damned if I allow myself to let them down!

So what has happened since we last spoke?

• Kate Winslet won an oscar. Richly deserved and globally predicted. But as a result, my infatuation with her has waned. If we can't talk about her lack of oscar success, what can we talk about? Titanic? I don't think so.

• I went to an insane Champions League match between Chelsea and Liverpool that finished 4-4, with Chelsea going through on away goals. It must have been great for a neutral, but I wouldn't know.

• Manchester United won the Premier League. Congratulations, but look over your shoulder next season...

• Twitter messed around with @ replies. I have to admit I was really upset on the day. Now I don't care that much.

• T&T hosted the Summit of the Americas. Barack Obama showed up and spoke. Evo Morales played football. One person signed a declaration. And a photo of Barack Obama and Brian Lara made it on to the front page of all three daily newspapers.

• I read and watched The Damned United. Look out for a review of the latter soon.

• 188bet announced shirt sponsorships of Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic. Uh, who the hell are 188bet? I noticed that Bolton are already wearing the new sponsor logo on their shirts.

• @NiceOneRob and I launched #springsteenlyrics Fridays on twitter. It hasn't exactly swept the online world yet, nor has it become a trending topic yet, but just wait until this Friday.

• Donald Peters, CEO of the West Indies Cricket Board, resigned. The West Indies hit a new low on the field. Chris Gayle said he would welcome the end of test cricket, then said he was misquoted.

• Stern John is clubless. I repeat, clubless. Dare I suggest him in a Liverpool shirt partnering El Nino up front? No? Ok. But I hope he finds a new club soon. AND scores many for T&T in the remaining World Cup Qualifiers

• I continue to get Scouting for Girls and Kings of Leon mixed up.

• This morning in the shower, I challenged myself to name as many tracks off Wilson Phillips' debut album as possible. I'm embarrassed to say how many I got right.

• The Central Line on the tube has been reliable (knock on wood). Even when a woman went into labour at St. Paul's station.

Slumdog Millionaire

A lot has been said already about Slumdog Millionaire, and rightly so. It's a big endeavour for a western director (Danny Boyle) to try to capture India properly, and while I've never been to India, I thought the film had a really authentic feel.

I have one major negative about Slumdog, which I'll get out of the way immediately. The story was so far fetched that it actually affected my enjoyment of the movie. And I know that it shouldn't, because fiction allows for a certain amount of crazy coincidences. But come on - if I went on a game show, what are the odds that every single question would have to do with an incident in my life?

But otherwise, I enjoyed it. Probably the most amazing acting performances were by the young children. The central characters were played by separate actors for their lives as children, pre/early-teens, and finally in the present. The young children were absolutely amazing and demonstrated acting ability way beyond their years. The acting of the main characters was good too, but it's no exaggeration to say that they were eclipsed by their younger peers.

The poster for Slumdog calls it the "Feelgood" movie of the decade or century (or some other hyperbole), but it was gritty and hard to watch at certain points, and the level of poverty was not hidden at all. But generally, the cinematography was colourful and vibrant, and the music throughout was fantastic. Even the subtitles were in a great font, with a background colour behind each phrase to make it easier to read.

The movie is based around the central character's appearance on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and I would estimate that I got about 50% of the questions correct. I got the question about cricket wrong though, which hurt badly because I'm sure I read about the statistic in question before and it's a part of cricket folklore.

Definitely worth seeing. And definitely worth seeing on the big screen for the bass of the music.

Che Part 1

"Che" is Steven Soderbergh's bio of Che Guevara, with Benicio del Toro in the lead role. It's broken up into two separate movies: Part 2 opens at the beginning of next month, and Part 1 is in playing now (in London anyway).

I didn't know that much about Che Guevara going in. I knew the basics of his role in the Cuban revolution, and that his face seems to be on every other t-shirt on earth (which is an interesting story actually! You can read about it here). I didn't know that he was Argentine. Shock horror, I know.

My overall review is that I liked it. I didn't love it. I thought it dragged at times, and after certain scenes I wondered what on earth that had to do with the plot (maybe I'll find out in a month). Also, Soderbergh keeps switching from Che in the field plotting to overthrow Batista, to Che much later on being interviewed by the international media, to Che speaking at the United Nations. I don't have anything against switching back and forth between eras in principle, but it really annoyed me in this instance - I can't put my finger on why.

Del Toro was excellent, and while I don't really know the specifics of film photography, I thought it was beautifully shot. While I'm not convinced that Soderbergh couldn't have shortened this movie and combined both parts, I think he's done just enough for me to look forward to Part 2 next month.

W

Before I begin this, I should point out that one of the trailers before the movie was for Frost/Nixon which looks amazing. It opens in the UK on January 9, 2009. Ok, on to the review.

Sometime during the run-up to the 2004 US election, I found myself standing up for George W. Bush in conversations with people. It's not that I liked him, respected him, or even would have voted for him if I was eligible. I was just fed up of everyone pointing out how stupid he was and how he would mispronounce words. Yes, those things were/are terrible, but it got really old after a while, to the point where I wanted to say "Look, if you can't contribute anything more to the debate than the fact that he says "strategery," let's talk about something else."

Walking into this movie, I was afraid that it would be the theatrical version of a "365 Bush-isms" desk calendar, but I'm happy to report that it wasn't, although there were some perfectly places Bush-isms. The movie's time frame is from Bush's college years at Yale, all the way up to his re-election campaign in late 2003. And in between making Bush look like an idiot, director Oliver Stone managed to delve deeper into Bush's early years, his personal and professional relationships, and most notably his relationship with his father.

Josh Brolin is fantastic in the title role, and aged perfectly throughout different time periods. Thandie Newton was a very good Condoleezza Rice (thought she got a little squeaky towards the end), and I'm not convinced that Dick Cheney didn't kidnap Richard Dreyfuss and just play himself (that wasn't some conspiracy theory - Dreyfuss was just really convincing; that's all I'm trying to say). But to me James Cromwell as George H.W. Bush stole the show as a father who became less supportive as his son rose up the political ladder. And he was as stiff and soulless as the George H.W. Bush that history remembers (or at least I do). It even got to the point where I actually felt some sympathy for Dubya. But not too much.

Some other points: Bush says "First is first. Second is nothing" after a failed campaign. That's definitely a Bill Shankly quote, and I felt like shouting "Come on you Reds!" in the cinema. But I didn't. Also, Oliver Stone's son Sean Stone made an appearance as one of the fraternity members in the beginning (according to imdb trivia). Off the top of my head, I think the same son played Gordon Gekko's young son in Wall Street. See the tidbits you pick up from DVD commentaries?

Very good film. I highly recommend it.

Ghost Town

I don't think I'm capable of disliking anything with Ricky Gervais. Plus, with a Beatles track from Rubber Soul over the opening credits, it would be difficult for me to say anything bad about this movie, and luckily I don't have to.

Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, a New York dentist who dies for a few minutes during a routine operation. He survives, but can see and interact with the dead people of Manhattan, most notably, Greg Kinnear and Cameron from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Sorry, his name is Alan Ruck. Poor Alan is probably one of the most typecast people in the world. I wonder if he can walk down the street without someone shouting "Where's your Gordie shirt?" or "Pardon my French, but you're an asshole! Asshole!" But I digress.

Gervais is funny as you would expect, but never goes over the top, and whenever you think he's going to cross the David Brent line, he tones it down. Equally, the romantic aspect of the movie is kept at a reasonable and believable level. But the real strength here is the supporting cast. Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni were convincing, and Kristen Wiig is hilarious as the surgeon. Overall, it's definitely worth seeing.

Man on Wire

Man on Wire (not to be confused with "Bird on a Wire" or "Man on Fire") is a documentary about Philippe Petit, who walks on high wires to get his kicks. The film takes us through the planning and implementation of his walk on a wire connected to the two towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. It also examines his relationships with his family, friends, and partners in the crime. Petit is extremely entertaining in his talking head interviews, although I get the feeling that he would get really annoying after a while.

It's amazing how some movies can have you at the edge of your seat when you already know what happens in the end. "The assassination of Richard Nixon" for example. When I saw it, I almost shouted out "No Sean Penn, don't do it!" even though I knew he wasn't going to. The same thing applies here. We all know that Petit was successful, but when he stands with one foot on the tower and one on a wire, it makes for enthralling viewing.

The elephant in the theatre, 9/11, is never mentioned. But it was so interesting to see footage of the WTC's construction, opening, and handover ceremony. Altogether, it's definitely worth seeing.

Smart People

I saw "Smart People" a few weeks ago, and I've been putting off writing a review of it because I feel like I always say negative things about movies and tend to comment on how crappy they are rather than how good they are. Unfortunately, this isn't the movie to make this leopard change his spots.

My only reason for seeing Smart People was that it was filmed at Carnegie Mellon. Being a good alumnus, seeing it was the right thing to do, and the campus looked as wonderful as I remembered. It hadn't changed that much since I last visited in 2002 (they painted the tennis courts). I was a little peeved that Donner Hall got some much airtime while Morewood and Mudge weren't even mentioned, but I guess I can let that slide. At some point I should grow out of the dorm rivalry thing (E-tower!).

The film itself wasn't terrible, but wasn't anything special either. Dennis Quaid's acting was painful, and Sarah Jessica Parker annoys me. Maybe it was because she was on tv constantly at the time plugging the Sex and the City movie, and I had SJPverload. It could also be that Rachel Weisz was supposed to play the leading lady role, but pulled out for some reason. Rachel Weisz being replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker is a little like U2 being replaced by that strange man who plays the bass outside my tube station.

Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church were excellent. Ellen Page may be typecasting herself as the young girl with clever, snarky comments. But she does it really well, so why not? Unfortunately, nothing in this story is believable, and from about halfway through I stopped caring. In fact, I don't think I mentioned the plot or story in this whole review. You can thank me later.