Weeks 27-28

Introduction

My quest to see 100 films that I've never seen before by the end of 2007 rolls on into its second half. I've done really pathetically in the last couple of months -- my average number of films per week has dropped from 2.7 for weeks 1 to 18 to just 1.5 for weeks 19 to 26! I ain't gonna get to the end that way... actually, I'd hit exactly 100 by the end of the year if I carried on that way! But still, reaching 'only' 100 when I was more on track to hit 150 does seem like a slight disappointment.

Anyway, things do continue, and I think I've seen a pretty respectable number of films for these two weeks. Will the giddy heights of six films each in weeks 8, 12, 13 and 14 ever be reproduced? (And, by-the-by, that's six films on average across 12 and 13 -- the exact number from 13 was higher, but I can't remember what it was. Though I'm sure no one else cares for such boring information...)

So, that said:


Weeks Twenty-Seven and Twenty-Eight

A couple of Oscar-winners crop up this time round, as we move through the first few weeks of July (the 2nd to the 15th, to be precise).


61) Capote (2005, Bennett Miller, DVD) 4/5
It is, unsurprisingly, Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning lead performance that dominates this movie. While the title might suggest a biopic, the film actually concentrates on the five year period in which Truman Capote researched and wrote his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. While this process forms the structure of the plot, the title gives away what the movie is actually 'about' -- in and around the mechanics of the murder investigation and Capote's work process, it's the character of the man, and how it's affected, that is really revealed to the viewer (in a subtler way than my blatant highlighting of it here would suggest).

62) Ocean's Twelve (2004, Steven Soderbergh, DVD) 3/5
This all-star sequel to the 2001 Rat Pack re-make received a thorough slating from critics on release, mainly thanks to its New Wave influences (which are only clear if you're familiar with said cinematic trend), grittier approach (it's less shiny-glossy more grainy-film-stock -- hardly Bourne-compared-to-Bond gritty) and the feeling that the cast are having more fun than the audience (this one I'll allow). Aside from a few steps too far in the final act (such as Julia Roberts playing Tess playing Julia Roberts (funnier if it hadn't been so specified) and the frankly irritating twist denouement) it's still a pretty enjoyable film. But it's true that the first is better.

63) Monster (2003, Patty Jenkins, TV) 4/5
Charlize Theron uglies up (and wins an Oscar) portraying Aileen Wuornos, one of America's first female serial killers, in this 'true crime' biopic. The film focuses on her 9-month relationship with Selby, played by Christina Ricci, which is also the period in which she killed several men (many of them, especially initially, not undeserving of their fate). Theron gives a truly transformative performance that, with the obvious aid of the script, helps you understand Aileen, her actions and her motivations, and reveals a lot about her character without resorting to tacky flashbacks or unwieldy info-dumps.

64) Ringers: Lord of the Fans (2005, Carlene Cordova, DVD) 3/5
Made by the people behind the large Lord of the Rings fansite TheOneRing.net, you'd expect this documentary to focus itself on Lord of the Rings fandom. To a degree it does, but it also encompasses a history of the books and their popularity, as well as various thematic issues contained within them, and also takes in the various adaptations (though, criminally, doesn't even mention the BBC radio version). It's a bit unfocussed, sometimes coming across as a selection of featurettes strung together with occasionally random linking interviews. There's stuff of interest in here, but certainly not to everyone -- only fans need apply.

65) The Woodsman (2004, Nicole Kassell, DVD) 4/5
Kevin Bacon stars in this compelling drama. If anyone saw Channel 4's recent Secret Life, this treads very similar ground -- recently released paedophile struggles to fit back into the world and avoid recommitting former crimes. But whereas C4's drama was issue-driven this is character-based; it doesn't necessarily make it better, but it does make it different. Bacon manages the tricky task of eliciting sympathy and understanding as the paedophile (though perhaps not as much as Matthew Macfadyen did). A relatively intelligent look at what is usually a mindlessly treated subject.