The Black Dahlia (2006)

Josh Hartnett seems to get a lot of flack for being too bland, too dull, too boring to play the role of Hollywood leading man. It seems not too many people are interested in seeing a male version of Gwyneth Paltrow perform, and most of the films he's starred in appear to have under-performed as a result.

The Black Dahlia seems to be another of those films, although this time around the role plays to Hartnett's strengths (there's no emotion required for his role as film noir detective Bucky Bleichert) rather than his weaknesses, and my guess is that it's the overly-elaborate and extremely confusing plot that appear to have resulted in poor critical reviews and lack of bums on seats when the film was theatrically released. Undoubtedly this is the fault of the original source material. Sometimes books should just be left as books!

Set in late 40's Hollywood, The Black Dahlia is the usual fictionalised, but based on a true story, account of the brutal murder of a Hollywood wannabe-actress. Unfortunately, before we get to the main story, with all its twists and turns, the setting up of the partnership of Hartnett's cop with his more emotional colleague, Lee Blanchard (played by Aaron Eckhart) has to take place. This revolves around several other sub-plots, making things very confusing as to what the real story is to be, right from the get-go.

The two partners are ex-boxers who fight each other to help promote their police department and become friends. Things get messy when Blanchard's girlfriend shows romantic interest in Blanchard's new best friend, who also has feelings for her. Add in a brutally murdered Hollywood starlet, and a back story that reveals Blanchard's younger sister was brutally murdered when he was younger, and you have the settings for a violent, emotional roller-coaster ride that you know isn't going to end happily for everyone involved.

Despite many problems with the script, there's a lot to like about the movie. Most importantly, the film noir feeling is captured beautifully by Brian de Palma, although as the screencaps on this page hopefully show, the full colour pictures shown on the DVD sleeve are a total misrepresentation of the sepia-toned, colour-drained picture that you're going to see. I've complained before about this ridiculous obsession with desaturating all colour from a film to give it a 'period' or 'mood' feel, but here it's taken to ridiculous extremes.

The cast are generally impressive too. Hartnett is perhaps the weakest link - he's fairly convincing in the title role, but is really too young for the character he plays. Fortunately he is supported by such a strong set of actors, you can forgive the makers this slight mis-step in casting.

Aaron Eckhart more than delivers in his role as the impetuous Blanchard, and is particularly impressive given the rather clichéd period lines he has to deliver. He's well matched by Scarlett Johansson as the woman with a dark past but now turned good, torn between two men she loves equally. Hilary Swank surprises in a femme fatale role that show she really should be given more in the way of sexy, glamorous roles. So if there's a problem with the film, it's certainly not with the cast.

Brian de Palma is a veteran film-maker and has the experience to turn out a good movie. Unfortunately, what he produces here is an extremely pedestrian one. Too often the camera-work complicates what is already a confusing scene, where it should be used to illuminate and make up for the shortcomings of the over-elaborate plot. There are some nice touches here and there, but the cutting and rapid-fire explanations all-too-often leave the viewer totally confused. By mid-picture you start to wonder if you really know likes who, who's done what to who in the past, and who's likely to be the main protagonist for good or evil in the story. Even the relationship between the two detectives gets muddied and seems so inconsistent at different points of the story I started to wonder if I was watching a cut of the movie which had accidentally edited the scenes out of sequence.

While most of the blame for this being a fairly average film rather than a good one lies with the script, I can't help feeling that a better director (or, rather, a different director) would have done a better job of removing or covering up those failures, or at the very least making the plot more understandable. Certainly he, or she, could have made the film feel more like entertainment and less like the hard work we're presented with here.

Colour issues aside, the transfer is nothing to complain about. Alas, the extra's are a little on the thin side: there's no director's commentary, or any other commentary for that matter, and the three featurettes included are nothing but lightweight puff pieces.

If you like film noir, or complex novels that form the basis for many a film noir, and can concentrate hard for the full 120 minute running time, then there's a lot to enjoy here. But one wishes De Palma and his writers had stripped out some of the exposition, and sub-plots to give a more coherent and less confusing story. I suspect the rewind button is going to be much used by those renting or purchasing this DVD, trying to work out who all the different characters are, what their relationship to each other is, and which conversations give the clues that you need to follow the trail to the film's conclusion. If you can cope with all that, then The Black Dahlia is certainly worth a rental, but I doubt it's a film you're going to want to watch and re-watch once you've grasped the complexities of the plot.

Volver (2006)

Alzheimer's disease, incest, death, murder and rape hardly sound like the subject matter for a 'feel good' optimistic movie, but then we are talking Pedro Almodovar here!

Almadovar, who wrote and directed the screenplay for Volver, gives us an enchanting tale about a family of strong women, all battling with demons of different guises. It is at times sad, funny and intensely moving, but it's the good humour and the resilience of the women that stays with you after the closing credits have rolled. The film is sub-titled, which is normally a turn-off for most cinema-goers, and yet it has has done great business at the box office. It's not hard to see why - there's something here for everyone but most importantly, Almodovar hasn't resorted to the cloying sentimentalism that a Hollywood studio would have insisted upon.

The catalyst for the story is the seeming return of the ghost of the family's dead mother, shortly after the death of an aunt who had been suffering from Alzheimer's for many years. It goes without saying, for those who've seen Almodovar's other films, that this is a story written and directed by a man who loves women, no matter what their size, shape or form. Not that men don't figure, but when they do, they're undoubtedly the 'bad guys' of the film, and quickly dispensed with. What's different this time round is that the film is far more mainstream than the director's previous, frequently very quirky, efforts.

Penelope Cruz plays the female lead, a cheerful, if oppressed and over-worked mother with a good-for-nothing husband and a daughter who seems happy to spend all her time running up bills on her mobile phone. Struggling to look after her own family, she also has to deal with an ailing aunt who brought her up as if she were her own child, but who lives some distance from the family home.

A tragic accident, following a depraved attack on Cruz's daughter by her step-father, enforces a change in direction for the over-worked mother, and the importance of truth, the family, and your friends and neighbours is the backdrop to a tale full of tears, but plenty of laughs too.

Almodovar applies a light touch to some potentially very dark subject matter, which works wonderfully, thanks to a truly impressive cast. For many Cruz will be seen as stealing the show, and she certainly dominates the screen in terms of running time, whilst also delivering a performance that feels totally natural and unforced, despite the bizarre goings-on around her. But without her strong supporting cast her light may not have shone so brightly, and it's small wonder that the Cannes Film Jury last year gave the 'Best Actress' award to the entire female cast of the movie, even if the oscars have chosen only to celebrate Cruz's performance.

The transfer is excellent, as is thankfully becoming the norm these days of mass-market DVD, and it's a pleasure to see a film made in 2006 that doesn't resort to desaturated colours, or artificial colour grading in some sort of bizarre attempt to convey an atmosphere. The film is full of colourful characters and the natural colour of everyday life - if only more movies could say the same!

This has been given a double-disk release, and is presented in a nice embossed slip-case, although I'm not convinced it really needed a second disk just for the extra's. On the main disc there is a commentary track by the director and his lead actress, which I have to confess I didn't get around to listening to, but will at some stage when the 'DVDs waiting to be watched' pile isn't quite so high!

The second disc has a documentary on the director that is rather light and fluffy. A conversation with the director and the female cast is more interesting, seemingly shot around a table in Almodovar's offices, but is embarrassingly awkward at times. One feels the actresses struggling to say the right thing and there are scenes where one of Almodovar's long-time actresses tells the director she's never seen him so passionate as he is when he's around Penelope Cruz that become toe-curlingly embarrassing as Almodovar turns into a love-sick boy of six, and Cruz tries to maintain a professional distance with over-gushing praise for her 'mentor'.

A short 'home movie' featurette on the Cannes Film Festival 2006 is a nice souvenir of what it's like to tout your wares at such an event (showing it's a nightmare for those involved on both sides of the camera, despite all the perceived glamour and glitz) but gives little information about the film itself. Separate marketing junket interviews with the director and two of the actresses are spoilt by the poor level of questions, asked by a journalist who clearly doesn't have English as her first language, coupled with poor unedited camerawork. There's little here that hasn't already been explained in the other featurettes.

Slightly disappointing extra's aside, Volver is a joyous, life-affirming, 'feel good' movie, and one that can withstand repeated viewings. As such it's a purchase rather than a rental. Highly recommended.

Hollywoodland (2006)

Hollywoodland gets a Region 2 release on 19th March, but is already availabe as an import on HD-DVD. You can read my review of the HD-DVD over on my HD-DVD Review blog.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Tuesday's free morning commuter newspaper, Metro, carried a review of John Tucker Must Die which I reviewed on DVD last week. Awarding it a lowly one star, the paper's reviewer dismissed it as unbelievable, unrealistic, juvenile tripe. The review might have carried more weight if the same issue hadn't also carried a review of The Devil Wears Prada, an equally unbelievable, unrealistic, juvenile film, which received a five star rating. Go figure!

It really does seem like there's one rule for a film that stars a himbo from a TV soap, and another completely different one that applies when the film stars an established, well-liked actress!

That being said, I have to admit that Meryl Streep is very good in The Devil Wears Prada - I just wish she'd been given a better script to play with. Not only is the whole story about the fashion industry even more unconvincing than that of John Tucker Must Die, there just aren't anywhere near as many laughs, partly because the film seems to want to poke fun at the fashion industry, whilst also promoting it. Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it too (although presumably, given the subject matter here, it's more a case of wanting to eat your cake and
then throw it up too!)

The always likeable Anne Hathaway plays Andy Sachs, a recently graduated journalist looking for her first job, and forced to take on a role as chief gofer and doormat for a fashion magazine editor who's the primadonna monster from hell (played by Streep). Somehow Hathaway's character manages to survive her boss' ridiculous demands (including a demand for the latest unpublished Harry Potter novel for her kids - riiiiiiiight!) and turns from ugly fashion virgin into stunning fashion obsessive, losing her friends and boyfriend on the way, only coming to realise what's really important in life in the final moments of the film.

To say clichés abound here would be an insult to a cliché! We have the incredibly attractive Hathaway being treated as the 'poor kid with no looks or dress sense'. I mean, come on! Ugly Betty she isn't! The amazingly quick transformation into fashion goddess is just plain silly, as is her sudden personality change when it comes to prioritising the right things in her life. Then we get her nemesis, the girl out to do for her. She's mean! She's nasty! She's neurotic! I wonder what nationality they'll get to play her! Oh, quelle suprise - she's a Brit! One Hollywood cliché follows another to the point that one is watching the equivalent of a Size 0 screenplay filled out to a Size 6 with all the excess fat from every other 'safe' film that's been made.

There's nothing much to complain about in terms of direction, the characters, or the way things keep moving along, it's just that that's all they ever do - move along, without any real sense of purpose, direction or even a proper story. But Streep IS entertaining, and Hathaway is very easy on the eye.

I think it was Five Live film critic Mark Kermode who described the film as having been 'made for thirteen year old girls' and I think he's about got the measure of it. The film is bland, safe, predictable and just too 'nice' to be the witty satire it wants to be. Why the film should have received quite so much hype (earning itself a ridiculous amount of money at the box office), while other, similar films (like John Tucker Must Die) languish in 'dissed by the critics' hell I just don't understand.

This is another excellent transfer, and the extra's are pretty generous too, although someone really should tell the female producer who's featured that she's appearing in a documentary and not meant to be doing a send-up of an overly gushing, pretentious fashion magazine editor. As is becoming the norm with DVDs these days a single decent-length Making of feature is split into several mini-featurettes to make it appear the disc is jam-packed with goodies. Unfortunately the featurettes err far too much towards the 'marketing fluff' rather than genuinely informative side of things, and the same few tired clips, featured in endless TV ads and trailers, get repeated over and over again.

There's a generous 20 minutes of Deleted Scenes which are finished to the same high standard as the main feature itself and include optional director commentary, together with a five minute gag reel which isn't as shabby as most gag reels tend to be, and a theatrical trailer. There's also a Commentary track from the film's costume designer, director, writer, editor and photographer, but I'm afraid I just didn't have the patience or interest to listen to it.

This is an OK rental, and it's not a bad film for the middle of the road audience it's aimed at. It's certainly better than the likes of Mrs Henderson Presents, but there are so many better movies out there that unless you're a Streep fan who has to see everything she does, this is not a film you need to actively seek out to make a point of seeing. Streep's performance and Hathaway's cheery girl-next-door one are probably worth the price of admission, but it feels such a wasted opportunity that they haven't been given a better, more original script to work with. It's hard to imagine anybody wanting to see this more than once, so it's definitely a rental rather than a
purchase.

John Tucker Must Die (2006)

From the sublime to the ridiculous: after reviewing DVDs about mental illness (Keane) and autism (Snow Cake) comes John Tucker Must Die, a teen-oriented flick with a lead actor known only for a mostly non-speaking part as 'hunky gardener' on the ridiculously over-the-top TV soap Desperate Housewives. Can Hollywood 'cash in and cash up' films get much worse than this?

Well actually, Yes! Given the extremely negative reviews the film has had you’d be forgiven for thinking that all a movie needs to get green-lit these days is a bunch of pretty faces that are well known to the public. But while there are plenty of pretty faces and bodies here – far too many to make the basic premise in any way believable – there are also plenty of laughs too.

John Tucker Must Die is a pretty meaningless piece of fluff. But it’s fun for all that, and for those moments when you just want to kick off your shoes, sit back and watch a brainless, popcorn, make-believe movie it's perfect, especially if you're of the Buffy/The O.C. TV generation.

The afore-mentioned hunky gardener (Jesse Metcalfe - I wonder if Jesse has the same sexual connotation in the States as it does over here!) plays John, the school jock who has beautiful girls falling at his feet left, right and centre. Monogamy isn’t in the guy’s vocabulary but he gets away with his endless lies and cheating ways through a mixture of bluff, good looks and cheeky charm. Accuse him of being shallow and you'll get a quick rebuttal: "How can you say I’m not deep when I’m dating all of the Poetry Society?!".

When three different girls find out he’s been lying and cheating to all of them, it’s newcomer Kate SPencer (Brittany Snow) who opens their eyes and suggests the best way to get back is to get even. Kate actually has a thing for John’s brother, the much more honest and introverted Scott (Penn Badgley who fortunately feels the same way about her, but she’s never had a boyfriend before and the two seem destined to never get their act together – particularly when her new friends set her up to become John’s new girlfriend so she can crush him when he falls in love with her. The hardly surprising result of course is that not only does he fall for her, but she finds herself falling for him too.

Essentially this is an old-fashioned morality tale about being honest, saving yourself for your one true love, ya da ya da ya da! Set almost completely in a school comprising students who are all unfeasibly attractive (with the single exception being the obligatory 'black, fat homie' comic relief character) and seemingly in their late 20’s you need to suspend belief on admission, particularly with the leads' every appearance seeming to advertise the fact that they've just stepped out of a four hour session at a manicure, health and beauty spa - and that's just the MALE leads! However, if you CAN suspend belief it’s a fun ride, with some unexpected twists and turns along the way, and a surprisingly fast-moving and witty script.

The cast are clearly enjoying themselves, and although there’s not a lot of 'real acting' required, the two main leads are engaging and likeable enough to carry you along on the journey.

The transfer from film to DVD is excellent, as you would expect for a release as recent as this. The extra’s are less so, and appear to have been constructed primarily so that the packaging can give the false impression that there’s a lot more here than is actually included.

The commentary from director Betty Thomas and editor Matt Friedman are fine enough, but there are several references to deleted scenes which sound interesting but haven’t been included. If you do click on the advertised Deleted Scenes featurette you get two pitifully short scenes that clock in at under a minute and a half in total.

The four, much-heralded featurettes follow a similar pattern with the longest clocking in at less than four minutes and the shortest at not much over a minute! These include a quick marketing ‘Making of’ featurette, a haphazard tour of the set by male lead Metcalfe (consisting mainly of him admiring another crew member’s bike and his mother phoning half way through the 'tour' - ahh bless!), and a very quick synopsis of the main characters. Two pop items (one performed live on set, but barely used in the film; the other being a pop record promotionm tie-in) complete the package. The extra’s are cheap and cheerful enough, but there’s really not much here.

If you want a fun night in with the girlfriend/boyfriend this is worth a rental, and the critics who've pooh-poohed it need to lighten up. However if you're looking for something deep and meaningful this one is probably best avoided.