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What Jeannie Did - ★★★

Kirsten Sheridan’s third feature film tells the story of five young troubled Dubliners who break into a salubrious property facing the Irish Sea and set about “wrecking the gaff” but inadvertently learn a few things about themselves and each other.

Leading the troop are Johnny Ward’s skin-headed terror Eanna and Kate Brennan’s pulled-back ponytail wearing Denise. The two are flanked by two under-developed characters (Shane Curry’s Shane and Ciaran McCabe’s Darren) and the more mysterious Jeannie (Seána Kerslake) who it quickly transpires is much more familiar with the property than she is letting on. Midway through the night they’re joined by What Richard Did’s Jack Reynor who plays much the same privileged southsider role as he did in Lenny Abrahamson’s film; his real purpose to try and spark a bit of a class war and create a  juxtaposition between youths on two ends of society.

Dollhouse’s dialogue feels largely improvised and, unusually for an production dealing with Dublin’s youth *cough* Fair City *cough*, you do feel that people are actually talking the way that they would in the real world. What a novelty. The film was made with just a 15-page outline with Sheridan opting to shoot the film sequentially giving the actors new scene outlines day by day. This gives the film a distinctive and edgy energy but does also mean that it feels a little disjointed as we bob along with tensions raising sharply and then dropping as each threat is navigated and avoided.

| o | – I just asked for a euro for a hostel!

While Sheridan’s direction is largely competent, she also edited the film and is definitely at her best when putting together some of the film’s musical sequences. There are three or four of these which really stand out as high points in the film – Jeannie’s “bath breakdown” in particular – and if the scenes linking them together were structured a bit better we’d have a stand-out piece of work on our hands.

Dollhouse is a product of the Ringsend film facility known as “The Factory”, which aims to give a creative space to film-makers and is headed up by Sheridan,  Lance Daly (Kisses), and Once director John Carney whose latest project The Rafters should see a release next year. The Factory is set up to allow Irish films to go through the full production process from script-writing right through to post-production.

Despite a mass of reservations following an incredibly dodgy trailer which hinted at a film that has more in common with MTV’s Jersey Shore than the final feature, it’s a relief to report that Sheridan has actually put together a pretty decent film. Despite a disjointed feeling, a pretty out-there final act and some problems with the characters, Dollhouse still deserves to sit alongside Abrahamson’s What Richard Did as one of the two society-defining Irish films of the year.

Ireland  /  Directed By: Kirsten Sheridan  /  Written By: Kirsten Sheridan  /  Starring:  Seána Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Jack Reynor, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe  /  95min  /   Drama   /  Release: 7 December 2012 (Ireland)

Comic Book Guy – ★★½

A young adult dying from cancer doesn’t seem like a laugh a minute but with Death of a Superhero it’s the humour that makes the piece worthwhile. Donald Clarke (not the Irish Times film critic) is played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster and finds it harder to carry on with the illness feeling devoid of any control in his life. With what looks like attempted suicide, Donald’s parents call in the services of Dr. Adrian King (Gollum, sorry Andy Serkis) in an effort to get Donald to cope with his inevitable end.

One of Donald’s coping mechanisms is drawing his own comic book character; a nameless hooded figure and his nemesis The Glove, a representation of the cancer eating away at Donald. These are interesting segues into the film, making it more palatable to the audience and easily conveying the workings of Donald’s brain. Enter Shelly (Aishling Loftus) as the brilliantly smart and sexy new girl in school and we have the love interest. A concern of Donald’s is his virginity and the fact he still has it. This results in one of the funnier sides to the film when his friends embark on a quest to find a women to satisfy their friend. So when the first female to show an interest in him and not be scared off by his disease agrees to go out with him, things are starting to look up.

The supporting cast are good, we have Sharon Horgan and Michael McElhatton as the lost parents trying to fathom what is going to happen while remaining positive for their son. It’s nice to see Serkis in a recognisable form instead of as a CGI creation and we realise it was his acting ability that brought Gollum to life 11 years ago. Loftus puts in a good performance in spite of it being the most clichéd character in the film. Brodie-Sangster does an amicable job at conveying the frustrations bottled up within all teenagers and certainly earns our sympathy

The main flaw is it disappears into a cloud of cliché and imitations of films seen so many times before. Serkis is a mish-mash of the Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting.

Ian Fitzgibbon has submitted a well put together piece with no real flare and isn’t able to or doesn’t want to get into the meat of the issue which is understandable. However in doing so we lose any real weight and are left with a safe, at times touching but ultimately lost opportunity to look at teenage cancer.

Germany, Ireland  /  Directed By: Ian Fitzgibbon  /  Written By: Anthony McCarten  /  Starring:   Andy Serkis, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Aisling Loftus  /  97min  /   Drama   /  Release: 30 November 2012 (UK/Ireland)

Peace, love and understanding – ★★★

Everyone’s a psychopath or so Martin McDonagh would have you believe in his latest offering to the silver screen; Seven Psychopaths. Colin Farrell is Marty, the successful screenwriter with writer’s block and his only friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) is hell-bent on inspiring him no matter what it takes. 

Billy is in the dog kidnapping business with his good friend Hans (Christopher Walken) but when they kidnap Charlie’s dog (Woody Harrelson, the dog isn’t played by Woody, the film isn’t that odd) it unleashes (geddit!?) a scenario that just so happens to make for an enjoyable two hours. With Marty unable to pin down the bones (I’ll stop now) of his latest script the events unfolding in front of his eyes means the story writes itself.

The film jumps around a lot which is understandable due to the nature of its premise. There are cuts to scenes of Colin’s film with voice overs and pieces are revisited with small variations, leaving it open to being called disjointed. Much is foretold in the opening half of the piece which is a clever trick and often lends a film to a second watch. Parts are outstanding; Rockwell’s monologue on how the film should end and another one from Walken on the notion of hate and remorse are the stand out segments. It’s always good to see Harry Dean Stanton and what film doesn’t benefit from Tom Waits?

| o | – Waiting for revenge

What McDonagh seems to be grappling with is the concept that there is violence within all of us and all around us and how we choose to deal with this notion. We can choose the path of non-violence like Walken’s character or embrace it fully like Rockwell’s. Many of the perceived psychos all have some moral compass with most of them acting out of loyalty or some form of love no matter how deluded. To make so many believable characters is no easy achievement. The weakest character is Farrell’s. You would imagine with him being a proclaimed alcoholic he could have brought more of this to the character but he seems out of his depth at times amongst the imposing figures of Rockwell, Walken and Harrelson. Marty is clearly an incarnation of McDonagh and having penned the script himself, perhaps the character was too close for comfort making him unable to give it any real sustenance.

McDonagh is an accomplished playwright, “The Beauty Queen of Leenane” and “The Cripple of Inishmaan” being just two of his works which both contain strong, funny and believable female characters. This makes you feel that with Seven Psychopaths he is making a point about how women are portrayed terribly in most action Hollywood films  and not merely using it as a get out of jail free card. His notion of how women are easily disposed of while God forbid you try and kill an animal is well noted. This said there is always a danger that a message can be lost on the intended audience and you merely end up preaching to the choir. Therefore in future he should return to his former glory with characters such as Maureen Folan from Leenane.

Psychopaths is very enjoyable and will no doubt enter the cult canon in years to come. So heavily reliant on those who have gone before, most notably Quentin Tarantino, and with the story of a struggling screenwriter not being the most original (Barton Fink anyone ?) one would hope that McDonagh doesn’t disappear into the murky world of tinsel town.

UK  /  Directed By: Martin McDonagh  /  Written By: Martin McDonagh  /  Starring: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Abbie Cornish, Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Waits  /  110min  /   Comedy, Crime  /  Release: 12 October 2012 (US), 5 December 2012 (UK/Ireland)

A winter witch-hunt – ★★★★½

Films dealing with child abuse are never to be comfortable viewing. But what if the real tragedy of a story was that a man was wrongly accused of abusing a child and thrown to the edges of society?

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt tackles just that scenario. At the centre of his film is Mads Mikkelsen’s Lucas, a kindergarten teacher whose marriage has fallen apart and he is struggling to put together a new life with a girlfriend and custody of his son. A disagreement/misunderstanding with Klara, one of the children in his care who happens to be the daughter of his best friend, allows the powers that be to jump to conclusions and brand Lucas a paedophile. As the days and weeks go by, Lucas’ inner circle shrinks as the entire village turns on him without offering any opportunity to prove his innocence.

The film raises a lot of big questions about society and how we deal with claims like this. Klara’s initial statement is so vague but the scenes between her and the nursery’s principal (pictured above) pull out more and more details for a false accusation and show just how easy it is to allow a seed of doubt to grow into a full-on set of dangerous accusations. Klara’s parents and teachers are all baying for blood and want Lucas to be guilty, even when Klara protests and says he did nothing to her it’s not enough to stem the tide of contempt toward him. The audience is given next to no information about the police investigation in play with Vinterberg and Thomas Bo Larsen’s script instead allowing the village community to be the real jury – just like any witch-hunt from the last 1000 years.

| o | – ‘I get knocked down, but I get up again…’

Mikkelsen’s performance was honoured at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival with an award for Best Actor. It really is a remarkable piece of work as he conveys so much about his plight simply through his eyes. He has a natural chemistry with Annika Wedderkopp (Klara) which makes the scenario they find themselves in all the more compelling. On some level Lucas must truly hate Klara for making the initial claim against him but instead we see only compassion with the real vitriol reserved for those who are supposed to be protecting her.

Similarities with David Fincher’s take on the Steig Larsson novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo are unintentional but the Scandinavian Christmas setting and “we don’t want you here” draws to mind that film’s big marketing slogan of “The feel bad movie of Christmas” applies just as much, if not more to Vinterberg’s film. The Hunt is a thrillingly uncomfortable film that with a few minor tweaks could have been set in any small town at any time in the last fifty years.

The film isn’t perfect by any means with an unnecessary epilogue, some predictable moments (the dog) and obvious metaphors like the uber-male activity of deer-hunting in play. But it’s easy enough to put these aside when the direction and compelling performances are this good – thanks Denmark!

Denmark  /  Directed By: Thomas Vinterberg  /  Written By: Thomas Vinterberg, Tobias Lindholm  /  Starring:  Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp  /  115min  /   Drama   /  Release: 30 November 2012 (UK/Ireland)

Some larks but no depth – ★★½

Into the West Director Mike Newell has turned his hand to Dickens and although he’s got the look and feel right, he seems to have forgotten the heart. Style over substance leaves you wanting more after an already long running time.

What follows is a two line summation of Great Expectations; Pip (Jeremy Irvine or Toby Irvine as Pip the younger and also Jeremy’s little brother) is taken in by Lady Havisham (Helena Bonham Carter) to play with Estella (Holliday Grainger or Helena Barlow as Estella the younger). Having sampled wealth Pip is distraught at having to return back to work with Joe (Jason Flemyng) as a blacksmith’s apprentice. When Pip discovers he is to become a gentleman due to an inheritance he is delighted and under the guidance of Jaggers (Robbie Coltrane) embarks for London.

The film contains much more twists and turns but for anyone who hasn’t read the novel or seen previous adaptations there is certainly enough here to wet the appetite. It is always an arduous task to try and make a novel for the silver screen, especially one as loved and revered as Great Expectations. Countless film and TV series have all dealt with Dickens’ work before so do we really need another one? Perhaps, if it shows a new side or is modernised in some way but with Newell’s version we are left with a pretty bog standard period piece.

| o | – Ms. Havisham missed the returns deadline for her wedding dress

Much is rushed in order to try and fit in the revelations and character connections and when these occur on screen it feels as if we are watching some “previously on Great Expectations” summation. No time is given for characters to fully develop or earn our sympathy, leaving us cold and unconnected. The actors seem bored, Bonham Carter is doing kooky and looks like she is killing time before her next Burton project and you feel Ralph Fiennes could have phoned his performance in. The child versions of both Pip and Estella are possibly the best of the lot charged with the tough task of making you believe their love for one another. Coltraine is solid as ever with his role as Jaggers emerging from many a shadow throughout the film and Olly Alexander as Herbert Pocket makes you warm to him much more effectively than his best friend Pip.

For a film dealing with the whole raft of human emotions none of these seem to come across on screen thanks mainly to wooden performances and slick styling. It is only Joe the blacksmith who commands any sympathy or semblance of a real person. It would appear Newell has devoted his time to the look, which is without fault especially the Finches of the Grove gentlemen’s club seeming to be an early Elvis appreciation society. None the less with so many versions already committed to the screen both big and small I can’t imagine this most recent take being many peoples favourite.

UK  /  Directed By: Mike Newell  /  Written By: David Nicholls  /  Starring:  Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane  /  128min  /   Drama   /  Release: 30 November 2012 (UK/Ireland)

Trying for the best of both worlds – ★★★

Celeste and Jesse Forever is built on an impossible dream. A break-up where the two participants remain the best of friends and go about all the usual social functions of a relationship except for the really coupley stuff like sleeping together and arguing.

The dreamers in question, Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg), were together for over six years and at Celeste’s request opt to separate. Jesse moves out to the pool house but despite this, they still spend every spare moment with each other, much to the bemusement of their friends. Cracks quickly start to form as the stress of not being together becomes as much of a burden as the strains which originally broke up their marriage. Things completely unravel when they start dating other people, with neither party really able to start afresh with someone new while still remaining friends with their ex.

Jones co-wrote the script and does OK, but is really on top of her game in front of the camera. She plays a self-assured “cultural trend predictor” who recently published a book with the delightful name of “Shitegeist”. Jones’ interplay with everyone’s favourite hobbit Elijah Wood who plays her gay publishing partner is great and once again makes us yearn for more Elijah. “Quincy Jones’ daughter” has really been on the cusp of a break-through for some time now with numerous strong supporting roles in work as varied as The Social Network and NBC’s Thursday-night fixture Parks and Recreation but perhaps this film will open her up to followers of independent American cinema.

| o | – It was like… this big.

Samberg recently left Saturday Night Live after eight years and so his summer double-bill of That’s My Boy and Celeste and Jesse Forever was always going to be an interesting marker for where his future lies in Hollywood. It’s regretful to say that he’s not really at home in the more emotionally-demanding scenes just yet and despite great chemistry with Jones, his lack of range is repeatedly exposed. I’m not saying he needs to do more movies with Adam Sandler (please god no), but he’ll need a lot of hard work and a little luck to end up with a future akin to someone like Seth Rogen, as this is not a Knocked Up-style game-changer for him.

While there’s plenty of laughs, the most unsettling thing about the film is just how disjointed it is. Supporting characters and narrative threads come and go without explanation and the film repeatedly pulls the viewer in different directions, which wouldn’t usually be a complaint but there are just too many switcheroos to keep a count of. Nobody likes when we’re stuck with the conventional “together, not together, together” formula favoured by many American rom-coms (most recently in The Five-Year Engagement), but you can’t just have a couple arguing one moment and then bezzies the next without any logic or direction.

In short Celeste and Jesse Forever is as frustrating as it is compelling, but the central idea of a best friend evolving into a lover and vice versa is sure to resonate with lots of dreamers. Kudos to all involved for not following the rulebook and attempting something new, it’s just a pity that it all got a little jumbled in the process.

USA  /  Directed By: Lee Toland Krieger  /  Written By: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack  /  Starring:   Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Elijah Wood, Will McCormack, Emma Roberts  /  91min  /   Comedy, Drama, Romance  /  Release: 3rd August 2012 (US/Canada)

We’re all going on a summer holiday – ★★★★

The latest film from Ben Wheatley (alas no relation) returns to the black-as-night humour showcased in his feature debut Down Terrace while sprinkling in a few of the sickos that featured in so well in last year’s Kill List.

Chris (Steve Oram) and Tina (Alice Lowe) are going on their first holiday together. As they depart from Tina’s domineeringly barmy mother, there’s a brilliantly weird sense of anticipation building. The couple are going on a caravan trip through England’s midlands with plans to visit such national treasures as the Ribblehead Viaduct, the Crich Tramway Museum and the Kensington Pencil Museum, but there’s something more sinister bubbling below the surface. When Chris inadvertently reverses over another tourist (who was littering it should be added), the wheels are set in motion for a wonderfully sedate and hilarious killing rampage for two twisted lovers.

Oram and Lowe built up these serial-killing characters over the course of five years and it’s very obvious from the off, with this depth and the actors’ natural chemistry making everything they say and do very believable, despite the absurdity of the situation.

| o | – Would you invite them into your caravan for a coffee?

With his recent films Wheatley has shown himself to be adept at the challenging combination of humour and horror. The film has a very distinct look with the country-side looking alluringly grim at all times, though the chances of this being used as advertising tool by the National Trust or Visit Britain are pretty slim.

There are endless laughs, and anyone who claims it isn’t one of the of the funniest films of the year is just plain daft. Edgar Wright came onboard early on as an executive producer and his influence is felt with lots of nods to the rural weirdness showcased in Hot Fuzz mixed in with the blunt Northern charm of the BBC series “The Royle Family”.

The only place where the film falls down is with the plot and pacing; it does just feel like a trip from A to B with little bits of deaths dotted throughout. But with such loveable characters, an ample laugh quota and a cracking ending it’s hard to linger on these shortcomings.

UK  /  Directed By: Ben Wheatley  /  Written By: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram  /  Starring: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davies, Jonathan Aris, Richard Glover, Monica Dolan  /  89min  /   Comedy, Drama   /  Release: 30 November 2012 (UK/Ireland)

Read all our TIFF 2012 coverage here.

December reminds us just how much everybody loves a good list (especially Santa), and we’re no different. We’ll bring you a new Spooool.ie (December 17th is set-in-stone launch day, we promise) with our favourites from 2012 along with some other bits and pieces to round up the year in cinema.

Here’s our list from 2011 in case you missed it.

Martin and John Michael McDonagh.

And finally to get you in a listy mood why not take at look at the brothers McDonagh’s submissions to Sight and Sound magazine’s greatest film of all time poll. There are a lot of similarities between the two and might give us an insight into what we can expect from Martin’s upcoming Seven Psychopaths.

Martin McDonagh’s votes…

John Michael McDonagh’s vote…

Crazy Love – ★★★★½

David O’Russell’s latest film is a story of two lost souls, swimming in a fish bowl, year after year, running over the same old ground. Hold on now… No… that’s a Pink Floyd song… Eh

Bradley Cooper plays Pat Solatano, a man who lost everything after attacking the schmuck who was having an affair with his wife. He escaped prison with a plea bargain that saw him spend eight months in a mental institution. His mother and father (Animal Kingdom’s Jacki Weaver and Little Fockers’ Bobby de Niro) take him in as he fixates on reuniting with his wife, despite her holding a restraining order against him. That is until the arrival of Jennifer Lawrence’s Tiffany, a recently widowed young woman with issues of her own…

So far, so Hollywood, right? Well with this being a David O. Russell of Three Kings, I ♥ Huckabees and The Fighter fame, we were never going to get a flat or formulaic rom-com. Instead he injects the film with a sense of chaos that never really subsides for two hours. It’s helped by a strong performance from Cooper in his most watchable role since the irrepressible Sack Lodge in Wedding Crashers. I’ve often wondered what trajectory his career might have taken if he hadn’t taken the part in The Hangover and become People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive 2011. But between this film and next year’s The Place Beyond the Pines (Derek Cianfrance’s follow-up to Blue Valentine which puts Cooper alongside Ryan Gosling), Cooper should be given some credit for taking on more challenging roles than one would expect from a guy who could just enter cruise control for the next five years if he wanted (*cough* Ryan Reynolds *cough*).

Despite Bradley’s best efforts the centre-piece of the film is shaped like Jennifer Lawrence. The new front runner for next February’s Best Actress Oscar is impossible to take your eyes off. It’s become a cliché to discuss actors “doing crazy” in order to snatch a few awards, but Lawrence’s performance here is so subtly detailed, derailed and natural that you find yourself wondering how the 22-year-old can top this and her work in Winter’s Bone. The fact she seems to have found a balance between smaller pictures like this and being a centre-piece of two huge Hollywood franchises (The Hungry Hippo Games and X-Men) is to be seriously admired.

| o | – Meet the parents

A quick word for three of the supporting players. Incredibly it has been 15 years since Chris Tucker was in a film without the words “rush” or “hour” in the title and on the strength of his small “fellow patient” role here, you realise that it may well now be OK to admit that it’s time we had more Chris Tucker in our lives. Who would have said that a decade ago… Weaver’s American accent and awesome hair-do holds up well and she’s a perfect foil for Robert De Niro’s bookmaking Daddy.

As film fans and wannabe-critics we spend a lot of time ripping apart modern day De Niro for taking a lot of “easy” parts but a quick look through his recent filmography actually reveals a constant need to challenge himself. He will turn 70 next year and shows no signs of slowing down with six films on the slate for 2013. If you can forget about “ROBERT DE NIRO – he who re-defined acting in the 70s and 80s” for a moment, you will take a lot from his trying, fatherly presence on screen. Expect him to be nominated for best supporting actor next year and with the Academy being renowned for sentimentality, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him take home the top prize even when up against a ridiculously crowded field of names like Seymour-Hoffman, Goodman, Arkin and Lee Jones.

Silver Linings Playbook is a distinctly American picture, with NFL Sundays being the centre-piece of the week. Whether you know about the Philadelphia Eagles or DeSean Jackson is irrelevant though with football simply acting as a device to bring a family together. Things do get a little schmaltzy at times (there are dance numbers and montages, shock horror) and those with an aversion to sentimentality and happy endings should avoid at all costs. However it’s that chaotic, central relationship between Pat and Tiffany that blends the fast-talking screwball comedies of the 1950s with Nora Ephron’s rom-coms of the 1990s that will have fans returning to the film time and time again. WELL DONE D.O.R.

USA  /  Directed By: David O. Russell  /  Written By: David O. Russell  /  Starring:  Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Anupam Kher, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker  /  122min  /   Comedy, Drama   /  Release: 21 November 2012 (UK/Ireland/US/Canada)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5_FhLaaQQ