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View from the Couch
You are in: surefish > faith > DVD reviews Date: 05 March, 2007
Steve Couch reviews The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, Hoodwinked and Children of Men, as well as a few other films just released on DVD. Click on the orange title or cover image to buy the DVD from amazon.co.uk and Christian Aid receives some money from the sale.
The Departed struck gold for its director Martin Scorsese at the Oscars. I’m not saying that this is the best film of this year’s contenders, but it’s certainly in the nominations on merit rather than merely on the basis of the director’s previously neglected body of work. The Departed is based on acclaimed Chinese thriller Infernal Affairs, which is reset into the underworld of the Boston Irish gangland. Jack Nicholson is chillingly malevolent as ruthless gang leader Frank Costello, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Billy Cortigan, a young undercover cop charged with infiltrating his mob. At the same time Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is working his way into a position of influence within the Police department, while secretly reporting to Costello. The respective progress of the two moles are set against each other, and the dramatic tension arises from the race to see which one can be first to uncover the other’s identity. The dialogue is whip-crack smart, the soundtrack judiciously adds to the sense of menace, and the tension and dramatic pacing is note perfect. The violence, when it comes is abrupt and brutal – but never glamorised or gratuitous. At one point one character upbraids another ‘don’t you know any Shakespeare?’, and there is something of the Bard – if not his near contemporary John Webster – in the final reckoning here. If you don’t have the stomach for spraying blood, violent beatings, or copious swearing, then this really isn’t the movie for you. Nobody should feel obliged to watch what they don’t want to, but know that in this instance the blood and bullets are part of an expertly-crafted mature and intelligent crime thriller from, arguably, the true master of the genre. The extras are towards the slight side – there’s no commentary track, and you can sit through everything in a little less than an hour. But what there is punches well above its weight. Scorsese himself provides introductions to a clutch of deleted scenes, and also features in both of the excellent and informative featurettes. These – one of which focuses on Scorsese’s gangster movies and the major influences on them, the other on the real life Boston gangster that inspired the creation of Frank Costello – are long enough (20 minutes or so) to hold the attention and provide insight, without outstaying their welcome. Movie buffs looking for the inside line on technical tricks will be disappointed, but for my money these extras do exactly what bonus features of should do: entertain and add to your appreciation of the main feature. I wish I got to review more like this.
From the disarmingly bittersweet opening montage introducing us to the Hoover family, Little Miss Sunshine sets its stall out as an independent-spirited movie in the tradition of The Royal Tenenbaums or Sideways. Essentially this is a road movie, following the whole family as they pile into a camper van and take youngest daughter Olive (the excellent Abigail Breslan) to compete in the junior beauty pageant that provides the film’s title. The trials, tribulations and hilarious antics along the way lead each member of the family to reflect on their lot and come to a better understanding of themselves. But that sounds incredibly po-faced and worthy – and Little Miss Sunshine is so much more than that. This is a rare delight of a comedy. Heart warming without being sentimental, and thoroughly funny. Steve Carell is a revelation of self-restraint as a depressed academic who we meet after a failed suicide attempt. In a film full of quirky eccentrics, nobody overplays or attempts to upstage. This is a genuine ensemble piece with the beautifully mismatched family combining to wonderful effect. Nobody puts a foot wrong in the acting stakes, and although the film builds your expectations as it approaches its big set-piece finale, it also effortlessly and gloriously surpasses them. This is impeccable, deliciously funny film-making. The extras are poor – apart from the commentary track from the two directors, there are four alternative endings, and nothing more. Despite that Little Miss Sunshine is the first great movie on DVD this year. Buy it, watch it, love it. Click here for the Damaris study guide for Little Miss Sunshine.
When the words ‘favourite fairy tale’, ‘reinvented’ and ‘comedy caper’ all grace the blurb on the back of DVD box, it’s usually wise to approach with some caution. Hoodwinked peels back the layers of Little Red Riding Hood and delivers a flawless family comedy. Put your fears away, get past your prejudices and watch this film. Let me say that again: this is on a par with the best animated comedies around. And once again in words of one syllable, lest there be any misunderstanding: This. Is. Great. Fun. The basic premise is that a Poirot-like master detective (a frog, by the way) is trying to discover exactly what happened in Grandma’s cottage. He questions Red Riding Hood (a perky Anne Hathaway), the Wolf, the Woodsman and Grandma herself. Through his interrogation we are presented with four overlapping and contradictory accounts of what happened, before the true story finally becomes clear. Suffice to say that nothing is as it seems, and there are many opportunities (all taken) for comedy, spectacle and songs along the way. I could reel off countless examples of comic genius – the consistently incompetent police, for one – but suffice to say that the movie is stuffed full of delightful asides and set pieces which reward repeat viewings. The songs are winningly cheery and amusing, with Japeth the singing goat a particular delight from the moment he first appears. The extras are moderate to poor, although the deleted and extended scenes do offer a few delights that you sense the directors were loath to leave out of the final edit. In any case, Hoodwinked is a wonderful, wonderful addition to the realm of animated family comedies. It is perhaps a little sophisticated in its humour and storytelling for very young children, but that quibble notwithstanding, it provides a splendid hour and a quarter of good, clean, imaginative fun.
Clive Owen stars in Alfonso Cuaron’s gritty, dystopian thriller. Set twenty years in the future, Cuaron presents a world that combines the familiar and futuristic in a frighteningly plausible way. The world is still in conflict; the illegal immigrant situation is prompting heavy-handed police responses and the closure of Britain’s borders; terrorists abound (refreshingly, not exclusively Arabic ones), and there’s one other big problem: no children have been born on planet Earth for the last eighteen years. Theo (Clive Owen) gets drawn into a murky conspiracy concerning an inexplicably pregnant woman, and his resulting quest-like journey puts him in danger on all sides. As you would expect, Owen is excellent, along with a fine supporting cast who are well served by the director’s naturalistic willingness to let scenes flow. In spite of the cheering presence of Michael Caine as an amiable aging hippy, this isn’t a cheery film. It’s gritty and grim, and what measure of hope it offers is not without reservation. Nevertheless, Children of Men is an engrossing watch that combines genuine tension with longer, more reflective, passages without any sense of the film dragging its heels. The lack of children in the world of the film is mirrored by the lack of bonus material. A solitary featurette offers seven and a half minutes on the technical demands of two of the set-piece scenes, and that’s your lot. There’s no commentary track, which is a shame for one of the most thought provoking releases of the year so far. Less surprising, there’s no gag reel. It’s not that kind of film. Click here for the Damaris Study Guide for Children of Men Also out since last time: World Trade Center Lady In the Water The Devil Wears Prada Maltese Falcon Volver Thank You For Smoking Snakes On A Plane • Other DVD recommendations Steve Couch is a writer for Damaris Trust.
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