Trifecta of Filmic Gooditude

Been catching up on recent and not-so-recent films lately, here’s a quick summaview.

Confetti: British. Funny. Fake documentary. Stars lots of familiar faces from the small screen. Jessica Stevenson (Spaced), Martin Freeman (The Office), Rob Webb (That Mitchell and Webb Look), Olivia Coleman (also Mitchell and Webb), Jimmy Carr (Distraction) and Mark Heap (Spaced) to name more than a few. It’s an iffy premise – three couples compete to be named Confetti Magazine’s Most Original Wedding of the Year. Some of the characters are great – the two gay wedding planners, Mark Heap’s holy man – but most of them are kind of forgettable, such as the Billy-Baldwin-in-Squid-and-the-Whale-lite tennis coach, the estranged dad, and, and… I’ve forgotten. It’s an enjoyable film, that I really wanted to love because of the really strong cast, but it really lagged in parts, most notably when following the couple who are really into tennis. There’s one great line about the Flaming Lips that I can’t remember, and a really sweet emotional scene between the couple who are into Broadway, but overall there was a little too much of Rob Webb’s penis (his numberwang?) and not enough of the heart, or indeed of the laughs.

V for Vendetta: Slightly older, and I finally got around to seeing it. By pure coincidence, I also just rediscovered ‘The Day that Thatcher Dies’ by Hefner. The imagery and cinematography alone are really powerful, and Natalie P’s patchy accent doesn’t overshadow how pretty the film looks. The flashbacks are really well handled, the visuals are just incredible. V’s dialogue is great, too. He’s a very verbose villain. Eh? Eh? So yes, see it if you haven’t already, and there are no longer prizes available for watching the film and thinking “Hey! It’s just like our society!” so don’t try and claim that.

The Departed: Until today, it was the best reviewed major-label film of the year, but a certain ubiquitous fake journalist is overtaking it. That doesn’t matter. The Departed is indeed fantastic. The plot is brilliantly tense, Leo and Matt Damon are on the top of their games, Jack hams it up more than usual but I definitely prefer overacting psycho Jack to wishy-washy romantic comedy Jack. In the bit parts, Alec Baldwin and Marky Mark are funny and tough and just right. The soundtrack is solid, and what can you say about Scorsese? It’s surprising to me that critics keep calling this film a return to form, as if ‘Gangs of New York’ and ‘The Aviator’ weren’t any good. Regardless, this film is a must-see, so long as you don’t mind a lot of people getting shot in the head. Go see it!

"I don't wanna be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me."