IR: The Adjustment Bureau

David Norris is a young, handsome up-and-coming politician who apparently cannot lose...except that he does. Before he makes his post-defeat address to his supporters, he meets the enigmatic Elise and falls for her. Then, luckily, he meets her again. This seemingly innocuous event attracts the attention of some mystertious men who are very intent of keeping them apart and will perform the 'adjustments' necessary to see this happens...

The Adjustment Bureau was a pretty good film, with an interesting concept that they didn't milk enough for its pulling power. They could have had Matt Damon dangling from puppet strings for a lot longer for my liking.

Save the scene where he finds out about them, the Adjustment Bureau men weren't very scary or powerful-seeming, and even their threat to wipe his brain never seemed in real danger of being carried out. The conclusion is wimpy and an anticlimax.

I won't tell you how M.D. wins in the end but it's something to do with putting sprinkles and hundreds and thousands and cherries on top of something very pretty.

Rhymes with 'knees'
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In conclusion, good enough film, could have been so much better.

2 stars.

Ever since I saw the trailer a month ago, I have been worried that 'The Adjustment Bureau' would be the spiritual sequel to Richard Kelly's 2009 film 'The Box'. And I was pretty much on track, although The Adjustment Bureau does have a slightly more upbeat feel and I think I liked it better.
I was very disappointed by The Box, mostly because I loved Richard Kelly's previous films (even Southland Tales which everybody else seems to hate with a passion) and I am a sucker for weird paranoid sci-fi.

The set up of the film is a sort of Tales of the Unexpected Twilight Zone affair where people with seemingly godlike powers meddle in the affairs of mere mortals...like 'The Box'. The baddies are dressed in official looking suits and hats and are 'just doing a job'...like in 'The Box'.

Seriously, guys. Seriously.

It is about destiny, choice, love and free will...like 'The Box'. And it is based on a short story by a respected Sci Fi author who has previously had his work adapted into films...like 'The Box'. And due to this last one, it is baggy and clearly padded out in the middle...etcetra.

Although this may seem a little out there for casual cinema goers, its been seen quite a few times in many variants. Even at its most esoteric, it is borrowing from other, better films and even tv shows. I have mentioned Tales and Twilight Zone before, but what about Dark City (my 2nd favourite film of all time) Sapphire and Steel (TV) or the Matrix? In fact as the film drew into its final chapter I realised that I myself had written and filmed something.

It was called 'Gods Dicebox' and also focussed on two not-quite-human troubleshooters who ventured into our realm to make sure things went according to plan AND was also filled with widgety odd-tech not too dissimilar from the 'Marauders Map' style destiny books you will have seen in the trailers.

The concept is smart but ill handled and despite a strong start it shows its hand way too quickly, reducing bad guys who could have been utterly terrifying with better direction to vaguely clown-like sub-Goodfellas workaday schlubs in the space of ten minutes.
The central romance is well played and its impossible not to like Matt Damon and Emily Blunt as the star-crossed leads. There are also some interesting political bits akin to the adaptation of State of Play that popped up last year (with Ben Affleck as a young, dynamic politician...coincidence?!)

Awww, come on!

The film is fun and frolicksome, but I can't help thinking there was a better film struggling to get out. The ending has a weird, incongruous 'Oh, its all okay really!' ending that seems to have been tagged on, with some softly-softly Christian overtones. Granted, that is better than the 'Women are all evil and for that your son will SUFFER!' rubbish at the end of The Box, but I would have preferred something with a little more teeth.

3/5

IR: True Grit

I wasn't really thrilled to be seeing True Grit, since I have the preconception that all Westerns are just about a load of mean ugly men being stand-offish in the dust. However, it was actually really good, and though it did include ugly men and dust, the film made up for it in other ways.


The main character is a girl (!!) of fourteen, who has taken it upon herself to avenge her fathers death since she figures no-one else is up to the task. She reminds me of Tiffany Aching from the Terry Pratchett books, being very brave and resolute and taking on responsibilities that grown men shy away from.

Jim told me she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which is absurd, since she is plainly in the leading role.

The acting is solid, and the locations, costumes and houses look faithful enough. It also reminded me of Carnivale, with the faith and the dirt and the cruelty and the strange people. I think I recognise one of the actors from it even - the clerk at the beginning could be the man in Carnivale who makes the white masks. They managed to source people with actual interesting faces, flobbly chops and skinny noses and the like, which added to the authenticity.

Pictured: Realism
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The storyline had a few poignant moments that I thought would never happen, for instance...

SPOILER ALERT
the girl ends up spending non-fighty time with her fathers killer.
SPOILER OVER.

Only one bit bothered me, which was that Matt Damon at one point has his mouth smashed up being dragged along by a lasso, but a few scenes later his teeth have regrown and it is perfect again. Overall though, brilliant film, and I am looking forward to seeing it again when it comes out on DVD.

4 stars


I can't remember when I last left a cinema feeling so satisfied.
True Grit delivers on every level, striking a great balance between morality and lawlessness, gore and heroics, the real old west and the old west of fantasy.

The central trio of two lawmen and an unbelievably badass 14-year old girl are all very well drawn and well acted. Rooster Cogburn is morally questionable, undeniably filthy but also downright indomitable which makes him worthy of our admiration. Jeff Bridges plays him with a voice like a sack full of gravel being dragged around in a deep well, which I love. Matt Damon(as LeBeouf or 'LaBeef') is wonderfully dandyish and full of high-falutin Texan verbosity. And finally Hailee (eeeee) Steinfeld is amazing as Mattie Ross, who is smarter than a horse-seller, brave as a ranger and considerably tougher than old boots.

Not as tough as Mattie Ross.
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She does more, and more believably, than an actress twice her age generally gets to do in a dozen mainstream films. She rides a horse, shoots a gun, gives everyone a thorough dressing down and of course seeks revenge for her murdered Daddy. The fact that she was not nominated for a best actress Oscar (only best supporting actress) is quite atrocious, especially since she is not only the main actress but the main character.

The settings are impeccable and long term Coen-colloborator DOP Roger Deakins deserves merit for shooting such an authentically western Western.

I could go on for ages deconstructing the costumes, lighting, dialogue, baddies, moral issues, comparisons with other great westerns (not to mention the original John Wayne version which I haven't seen) and so forth, but it would simply end up restating my first point: this film delivers on every level.

You will come out feeling like you want to go and watch it again, and I certainly plan on doing so.

5/5