The Help

Films that are set in times when cigarettes were considered healthy always have quips towards the future that make me laugh, in the case of The Help it was a character being sure that one day cigarettes would kill us. How right you were. The main issue being discussed in this feature is racism, especially towards black maids in white homes and is set in the times of Martin Luther King Jnr. and JFK. However, other issues are brought to light when we discover that Minnie (Octavia Spencer) is being beaten by her husband. The villain of the piece is no longer just the white housewife (the heroine is in fact white) but the belligerent husband as well. Along with this underlying theme, there is the issue of feminism; if our main character Skeeter (Emma Stone) didn't have a job, she'd spend her life waiting for a man who has cancelled several dinner dates before even meeting her. In the eyes of her mother and friends, her only job should be finding a husband.
Emma Stone's Skeeter could have come across as self-righteous but she played down the character to help emphasise the real heroes of the piece (the maids) without losing her own voice. Job well done. I think the main message from this film is that slavery may have been dead at this time but they all still felt like slaves.

Midnight In Paris

I must admit, I was excited to see Woody Allen's latest flick and thankfully, it didn't disappoint. The opening sequence was a beautiful introduction, more like a tourist video for Paris but perfectly fitting, followed by the awkward moments that Allen shows so well. Although Rachel McAdams is one of my favourite actresses of this time, let's face it she was a bit of a bourgeoise bitch, playing the character very well as it made me hate her a little. The meeting of the many artists in the film is fantastic, with Hemmingway being shown as the bigot we know him to be and Dali being shown as a surrealist nutcase. It became somewhat of a game, trying to guess who the artists were before they introduced themselves on screen (I won at guessing Dali by the way).

The story in itself is surreal, but Paris is made out to be such a magical city that anything seems possible. I love a film that teaches me something and in this case it is that any age is golden to the generation that comes after it.

Johnny English Reborn

Well this week, it was definitely slim pickings in terms of viewing options, so slim in fact, they were anorexic. First things first, the titles sequence was so 80s Bond, it wasn't just a homage, it was pathetic. The "homage" continued into a free-runner scene that was reminiscent of Casino Royal, then again in the form of Batman Begins with the Tibetan training.
Sadly, the sequel of Johnny English has gone the same way as Rowan Atkinson's sequel to Bean. The first of the two were funny with things maybe teetering on the edge of ridiculous, then with the second of the two going so far over the edge of ridiculous it was annoying (with some mildly funny moments). It's slightly depressing to think of all of Rowan Atkinson's wit and ingenuity and then about this crap that he turns out. Instead of 007, it's double oh no.

The Debt

Although The Debt has a stirling British cast with the likes of Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Sam Worthington, it lacks the emotion it would take for it to be a stirling film as well. The audience can never really relate to the characters, well why would they? They are all Mossad secret agents, but the intimate relationships that are shown in the film are also hard to relate to. It may also be the fact that you somehow feel that the protagonists are the villains of the piece. Not to say that you can't feel compassion towards a villain, I've always felt sorry for Norman Bates. This is more to do with the fact that they made a mistake and then have sculpted they're whole lives around it.
Ciaran Hinds' character suggests a sinister story, where things may twist and turn, this isn't necessarily fulfilled and I was left feeling unsatisfied with the revelations. The conclusion to the film left a lot to be desired, it could have led to an impressive resolution, but instead turned out to be an OAP lightweight championship, resembling Mirren's recent crime caper RED. Yet this one wasn't supposed to be funny. My mistake.

Drive

This weeks film, and first, was Drive starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. First of all, the leading players were good, but were made even better by the supporting cast; Christina Hendricks' role, however short, was impressive and Gosling's relationship with the little boy (Kaden Leos) was convincing. Determining where the film is going from the start is not difficult, a shock change of character sets the audience up for other shocks later on. Determining how these shocks are going to be played out is the difficult part, you really don't see a lot of them coming. Although Gosling has few lines, his character has so many levels. His facial expressions do all the work, down to him having staring contests with the boy.
This isn't your everyday car chase flick, it's logical and strategic. So pretty much everything a car flick isn't. Fasten your seat belts, you really won't know what's coming.