Archive for Film Reviews by Tim Hayes

  • “Inception – Round Two: Life is but a dream” by Tim Hayes

    July 29th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Inception – Round Two: Life is but a dream

    “Inception” rolls on, to the tune of $142 million in the US and $220 worldwide. And people’s theories about what it all means are rolling on too, like the one that says it’s a big metaphor for the things directors have to do to get their movies made.

    Since Christopher Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio look like they were separated at birth, there might be some mileage in that one.

    I’m sticking with last week’s explanation, that Christopher Nolan – intellectual, cultured, likes his film noir – also enjoys watching Michael Bay films where big guys shout at each other and leggy brunettes blow things up. Actually that’s not a theory, Wally Pfister said so weeks before “Inception” opened.

    Bottom line: “Inception” is a meaty, ambiguous movie, and whether or not it’s actually about capital-I ideas it’s still got a few of them in its head. And before it opened, people were already hoping it would “save the summer of 2010″ from mediocrity.

    So how do the next few months shape up for movie-goers who have acquired a test for this kind of intellectual challenge?

    AUGUST

    “The Expendables”. Sylvester Stallone and a queue of other hard-nuts from Jason Statham on down are hired to infiltrate a South American country and overthrow its ruthless dictator.

    Could it be a dream: Stallone may be hoping to wake up and find it’s still 1985.

    Chances of passing the Bechdel test: You’d have to guess it’s unlikely.

    Intellectual challenge: Wondering if the plot will require Charisma Carpenter to take a shower.

    SEPTEMBER

    “Resident Evil: Afterlife”. Zombies, viruses and Milla Jovovich in some couture rags seem guaranteed.

    Could it be a dream: More of a nightmare.

    Chances of passing the Bechdel test: Jovovich, Ali Larter and Sienna Guillory are all back from earlier instalments. They may discuss high-caliber weaponry, so it’s possible.

    Intellectual challenge: To bear in mind that Milla Jovovich was the highest paid model in the world in 2004 and is one smart cookie.

    OCTOBER

    “Saw 3D”. Jigsaw, still the main character even though he’s been dead for four movies, is again played by Tobin Bell and continues to control the lives of other poor saps. Apparently they form a self-help group.

    Could it be a dream: Tobin Bell’s agent is probably dreaming he has gone to agent-heaven.

    Chances of passing the Bechdel test: Every single conversation in “Saw” is about Jigsaw. Slim.

    Intellectual challenge: Guessing which body part will be thrown towards the camera in slow motion next.

    NOVEMBER

    “Red Dawn”. China attempts to invade America but may have reckoned without those pesky kids.

    Could it be a dream: MGM, the company attempting to release this film, may go bankrupt first so the film’s very existence may yet be an illusion.

    Chances of passing the Bechdel test: The People’s Liberation Army is nearly 50% female, so maybe.

    Intellectual challenge: Admitting just how weird and wonderful the original was, while also being dreadful.

    On the whole I’m pinning my hopes on “Piranha 3D”.



    July 29th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments

  • Inception review by Tim Hayes

    July 22nd, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Inception dir. Christopher Nolan

    Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
    Screenwriter: Christopher Nolan
    Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine
    Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
    MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action throughout)
    Official Website: Inceptionmovie.com

    (Spoilers are inevitable. Whatever happens in the next 400 words or so, you should watch “Inception”. See you in the comments.)

    With big films still lashed to superheroes and video games, “Inception” spends a few hundred million bucks gazing in a different direction, towards 1970s heist movies and 1960s super-spies, and cool guys with sharp suits and guilty secrets. Just when movies are queueing up to dig deeper into Jack Kirby’s imagination, “Inception” is more interested in Jim Steranko and kudos to it for that.

    If we get into the plot we’ll still be here in 4000 words, but you’ve heard the gist: Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) assembles a team to go into the dreams of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy) and plant an idea in his skull, a plan that ends up involving dreams within dreams within dreams. Already dangerous enough, the enterprise is at risk from Dom’s own subconscious and especially the shade of his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), who crops up without warning and seems anything but stable.

    The bad news is that the film has problems and they’re not chicken feed. Show-don’t-Tell is out of fashion, but “Inception”‘s wish to over-explain is a bit nuts. It’s nothing but Tell for 140 minutes of non-stop exposition, and heavy-handed with it. Its dreams are the least dream-like dreams ever, not just because they’re strictly direct A-to-B affairs, but because they’re all filled with the sound of people explaining stuff to each other. Compared to the night-terrors of “Mulholland Drive”, “Inception” is a cartoon doodled in a dream diary.

    But quite a cartoon. Christopher Nolan’s cunning plan is to forget about the philosophy lesson and create a plausible way for four or five different Saturday-night movies to come in the same wrapper and play all at once. It’s an audacious trick, the kind only someone with a love of the popcorn stuff would try. Only a writer with the hours clocked up in the dark would build the opening sequence, and have Marion Cotillard stalk across a collapsing dreamscape like the most fatale femme in this or any other cosmos.

    Somewhere between the Jason Bourne dream and the James Bond dream, “Inception” shrugs and decides it just wants to be a slice of big dumb fun – you may or may not find this to be a let-down. The good news is that the level between the Bourne and the Bond is occupied by Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s solo mission, a thing of wonder. The film’s dodgy logic has sprung a leak by then, but in return you get a punch-up in a hotel built by MC Escher and some business with five bodies lashed together in zero gravity which really is nightmarish. Finally in a position to scene-steal in the mainstream, JGL pockets the whole thing while fighting upside down on the ceiling and plummeting down a lift shaft.

    July 22nd,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

  • The Bigelow Effect: Women Filmmakers at EIFF by Tim Hayes

    July 15th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    The Bigelow Effect: Women Filmmakers at EIFF

    One thread stood out loud and clear in the program of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival: A batch of strong films made by women filmmakers. “The Runaways” and “Winter’s Bone” have been reviewed here already, but there were several more.

    Very appropriate then that Birds Eye View, the UK-based organization that champions and supports women in film, gathered together a group of women director
    s attending the festival for a roundtable chat to discuss their experiences and the challenges they faced getting their films made.

    Moderated by Amy Mole, Managing Director of Birds Eye View, the conversation’s title reflected the big news from earlier this year: The award of the Best Director Oscar to a woman for the first time.

    Here’s what they had to say about The Bigelow Effect.

    Photo courtesy of Birds Eye View. L-R: Amy Mole, Kit Hui, Stephanie Argy, Debra Granik

    Amy Mole (Birds Eye View): It’s been a landmark year for women in film. Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for “The Hurt Locker”, Andrea Arnold won a Bafta for “Fish Tank”…and then came Cannes where there wasn’t a single film directed by a woman in competition. Do you think Kathryn Bigelow’s success changes anything in the long run?

    Kit Hui (dire
    ctor of “Fog”): When Kathryn won I was very happy, but also a little sad at the same time. Sad that in order to win, a director has to conform to making that particular kind of film. It just feels to me like that’s the wrong way round.

    Stephanie Argy (director of “The Red Machine”): Actually I think that it was the other way round. I love that she won for that film, and threw herself into that kind of movie. Not having an obvious gender identity in a film is ultimately a worthy goal.

    Kit Hui: Well let me stress it’s fine that “The Hurt Locker” doesn’t automatically carry a female identity just because it has a female director! But I don’t think that the Oscars alone has changed anything.


    Debra Granik (director of
    “Winter’s Bone”): My hero was always documentary maker Barbara Kopple. When she was asked “Why do you make films about men?” she said “It’s what I know.” It seemed to me as if Kathryn Bigelow was actually given more license precisely because she was outside of the system. Ultimately, true diversity won’t be achieved through butting heads but through that kind of infiltration.

    Amy Mole: Can you describe your backgrounds, and what led you to becoming a director?

    Debra Granik: My training came from being around cable access channels and women documentary filmmakers, especially political activist filmmakers, in the 1980s. It was very common to see women with cameras in those kinds of circles at that time. When I got to NYU in 1995 it was actually the first year of male/female parity in the class, and I found that my women classmates were almost embarrassed by the word feminism…almost.

    Stephanie Argy: I started out as an editor in Los Angeles, and then got a masters in journalism at Columbia University. So no film school for me. But I did join the American Society of Cinematographers, which in practice became my film school. And there are very few lines for the ladies room in the ASC.

    Kit Hui: I was born in Hong Kong, ca
    me to the US and received a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program. At university my mentors were people like Kelly Reichardt and Tom Kalin – so mostly either women or gay men. I think that when your mentors don’t come from majority groups, you learn a lot about when to be assertive and when not.
    Stephanie Argy: And it’s interesting that we all came through New York. The indie film community is more welcoming to women there.

    Amy Mole: Statistics say that women are p
    aid less than men and leave the film industry in greater numbers. In 2009, 700 men quit the business – and 5000 women. Why is it more difficult for women to stay in the industry and make films? What kind of barriers have you come up against?

    Debra Granik: Any personal friction tends to come from people in positions of power higher up the chain, rather than the attitudes of the person I’m actually dealing with at the time. But the subject matter is usually more of an issue than my gender. The stories I want to make are deemed non-commercial, so it’s assumed that they will lose money and there is a reluctance to film them. My tactic was to point out that my stories didn’t need a big budget or lots of equipment, but that seemed to work better on the East Coast of America than the West.
    Kit Hui: My name is gender-neutral, so once or twice people have assumed I’m male. But I’ve still had the predictable comments like “Why are there no guns in your script? Why no kung-fu fighting?”, after which the doors all close.

    Amy Mole: So finally, what advice would you give to women who want to break in to film making?

    Stephanie Argy: All the tools of film making are now so readily available that you should just try and direct everything you can. And keep in mind that gender is just one part of who you are: I’m a woman director, sure, but I’m also a nerd with parents from Chicago…that’s all part of my identity as well.

    Kit Hui: Don’t lose faith in what you’re trying to do. Try and gather a core team of people that you trust around you, since once that’s in place you can help to protect each other.
    Stephanie Argy: …but be aware that there are very few jobs that are as lonely as a film director.

    Check out Birds Eye View’s website to read more about them and their support for women in film.


    July 15th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

  • Winter’s Bone review by Tim Hayes

    July 9th, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    Winter’s Bone (2010) dir. Debra Granik

    Screenwriter: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini
    Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Kevin Breznaha, Isaiah Stone, Shelley Waggener, Ashlee Thompson, William White, Casey MacLaren
    Genre: Drama
    MPAA Rating: R (for some drug material, language and violent content)
    Official Website: wintersbonemovie.com

    “Winter’s Bone” won big at this year’s Sundance festival, where according to the cliche only grim indie films about miserable people in trouble go down well. And at first glance this one fits the bill: It is indeed a dour story of a determined young woman stuck in a jam with hardly a friend in sight. But it’s also tense, full of atmosphere, very well acted, and tough to forget. As downbeat and menacing character studies go, it’s one of the best.

    The young woman is Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), whose teenage life in the bleak Ozark hills consists mostly of looking after her mother and being a surrogate parent to her younger brother and sister, so it’s already no stroll in the park. Then an eviction notice arrives, and Ree really needs to find her absent dad in a hurry. But he, like most of the neighbors, is practically an outlaw, and finding him means asking a lot of very dangerous people about things they really don’t want to talk about.

    This is not the action-packed kind of thriller, but the sort that works up a head of unstoppable slow-burn tension and then just keeps going. Ree is unstoppable too, sticking to her guns and refusing to stop asking questions, even as the folks she’s asking get bigger, scarier, angrier, and more heavily armed. She’s ignored, warned off and casually beaten up, and that’s just by the wives of the local hard men. But it’s the wives who ultimately point Ree towards her goal and a grisly midnight discovery.

    That and Ree’s wish to put herself in harm’s way to protect her kids give the film a strong feminine aspect alongside its hard edges, and director Debra Granik has no trouble keeping “Winter’s Bone” firmly in position as a woman’s picture without giving up an inch of toughness. Jennifer Lawrence makes Ree seem like a thoroughly normal teenager from the school of hard knocks, tough and self-reliant, whose problems suddenly include her in-laws discussing whether to feed her to the hogs.

    READ THE FULL REVIEW AT The Critic’s Notebook

    July 9th,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

  • The Runaways Review by Tim Hayes

    July 1st, 2010

    Mr. Hayes is not only the ALMT publicist and lead editor,
    but also contributes film journalism and reviews to Critic’s Notebook and Cinemattraction.

    Tim Hayes on Theatrical Thursdays

    The Runaways (2010) dir. Floria Sigismondi

    Studio: Apparition
    Screenwriter: Floria Sigismondi
    Starring: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon, Danielle Riley Keough, Scout Taylor-Compton, Stella Maeve, Tatum O’Neal
    Genre: Biography, Drama, Music
    MPAA Rating: R (for language, drug use and sexual content – all involving teens)
    Official Website: Runawaysmovie.com

    As if the dripping cherry on the poster wasn’t a big enough pointer, the first shot in “The Runaways” is of menstrual flow. Don’t be fooled. Yes, the hormone levels start off high and rise higher as the film charges through the formation of the famous band by young women going through all sorts of self-discovery. But it’s also a terrifically well-made fable of what happens when the right people meet in just the right places, a film that knows the difference between passion and sleaze.


    Visually the film is a knock-out. Director Floria Sigismondi has a track record of borderline-disturbing music videos for people like Marilyn Manson and Bjork, but in “The Runaways” she uses color as a weapon. Every shot is a riot of bold colorful textures and electric hues, but the style never comes close to pop-art or an ice-cream headache. Instead it energizes the film right off the screen, a visual echo of the sparks that start flying when The Runaways form.


    On top of that the acting is uniformly awesome. Kim Fowley, the moderately unhinged producer who put the band together, is played by the always brilliant Michael Shannon as a hyper-camp madman, fully able to deal with a musical crisis while banging a passing secretary or hanging upside-down from the ceiling. The fun Shannon is having can only be guessed at.


    Kristen Stewart gets top billing as Joan Jett and she’s a good physical match with the guitarist, especially when copying Jett’s head-down loping stride. But the film is based on singer Cherie Currie’s book, so it’s Dakota Fanning who gets to plot a character arc and unleash her wild-child.


    The results could burn the paint off a door frame. In perfect sync with her (female) director, Fanning cavorts in her underwear, revels in the character’s jail-bait sex appeal and flies straight off the rails, without once being demeaned by the camera or turned into a cliche. Fanning was 15 years old when this was filmed – bear that in mind when she climbs into fishnets. Bear it in mind again when the character’s mournful, fierce eyes are still with you the following day.

    July 1st,2010 Blogging, Film Reviews by Tim Hayes, Theatrical Thursdays, Video | Sections: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments
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