Truth.

James Vanderbilt is a highly regarded screenwriter whose credits include Zodiac (2007) and a couple of Spider Man films but his directorial feature film debut turn’s out to be something really special. His skill as a screenwriter goes along way to explain why Truth (2015), a film that has an abundance of dialogue and no real action, is such an excitingly tense and interesting political drama. 

 

Some things you just can't believe

Based on a book Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power by Mary Mapes who was principal producer for CBS News and its prime time TV programme 60 Minutes and was best known for breaking the story of Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal which won her the Peabody Award - both her book and the movie concentrate on what became known as the Killian documents controversy. Not wanting to give too much away I'll only give a basic description of the gripping account of the journalistic scandal that caused the downfall of one of American veteran broadcaster Dan Rather (Robert Redford). 60 Minutes was said to be the last bastion of serious investigative journalism on American television. In 2004 Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) and her team fiercely pursued a story that George W Bush received preferential treatment to avoid the Vietnam draft. The very powerful supporters of the Bush family, and there were plenty of them in corporate and political life of America, retaliated with accusations of political bias. There followed a battle between a group of brave and courageous investigative journalists and America’s right wing elitism.

 

Class acting from both Blanchett and Redford. 

The best way to describe this unmissable political docudrama is that it’s like reading a good book where you can't wait to turn the page to see what will happen next. I've already said how good Vanderbilt's script is but it’s the cast who are really at the top of their game. Not only are there fine performances from Redford and Blanchett but also from Toper Grace as Mike Smith and veteran actors Dennis Quaid who plays Colonel Roger Smith and Stacy Keach as Bill Burkett. The scandal continues to this day with CBS refusing to advertise the movie and right wing commentators putting doubt that Truth is not the truth. I would suggest you grab a chance to see this movie before its hidden away and make up your own mind - as I did.

I Frankenstein

Australian screenwriter Stuart Beattie is responsible for such cinematic delicacies as 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl not the best of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Collateral (2004) and GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) described as “an over-the-top action fest propelled by silly writing”[1] For his second attempt at directing a feature film he has turned to a graphic novel by Kevin Grevioux, who also has a part in the movie.

Beattie’s fantasy action film is just another way of portraying ‘good verses evil’ this time in the guise of Gargoyles (good) and demons (evil). As you have probable gathered from the title the story centres on the Frankenstein legend, first found in Mary Shelley’s novel of the same name published in 1818 and plagiarised ever since, but rarely bettered.   

This latest incarnation, I Frankenstein (2013), stars Aaron Eckhart as the monster, Bill Nighy as Prince Naberius the prime villain and leader of the Demons, Yvonne Stahovski a scientist and the films saccharin love interest along side Miranda Otto as queen of the gargoyles. Good effects can’t disguise a flimsy narrative that finds the monster involved in the ancient battle between Gargoyle’s and Demons. Eckhart tries his best but the rest of the cast aren’t quite up to the task. Unless you’re a glutton for punishment give it a miss. 

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[1] Rotten Tomatoes

The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby.

Disappointing is not how I would normally describe the Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s movies, in fact quite the reverse. His Moulin Rouge! (2001) rates amongst my all time favourite’s, I thoroughly enjoyed the epic Australia (2008) and his debut film Strictly Ballroom (1992) was a comic breath of fresh air.  But his latest cinematic outing The Great Gatsby (2013) is the disappointment I refer too.

 

Daisy Buchanan.

The story, as your probably aware, follows the life of millionaire Jay Gatsby (  As you can probable gather Fitzgerald’s sad and malevolent story concerns wealth and privilege and how life has no meaning unless you have these two commodities. Leonardo DiCaprio) a self made man seeking to emulate high society. Adapted for the screen by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce from F Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel of the same name. It’s narrated by Nick Carraway (a miscast Tobey Mcguire) who when the film opens is resident in a sanatorium where his alcoholism has lead to depression and dissolution with life. Nicks story starts in New York in 1922 and basically tells of a love affair between Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). When the two of them first meet Jay Gatsby is a poor man and asked Daisy to wait for him to make his fortune and then they could be married and live a life of greed and excess.

 

Nick Carraway.

Luhrmann adaptation is as an outlandish spectacle, its beautiful to look at, its got a great soundtrack co-produced by Jay-Z, the acting is not exceptional, all except DiCaprio who plays the enigma that is Gatsby with the indulgence that comes from being an experienced actor. But the story is dull, dull, dull, bordering on the tedious, we’ve got a bunch of nasty people that will do any thing to maintain their wealth and power. The main female character is a woman who can’t be trusted and would only fall in love with a man if he has an abundance of money to shower upon her every whim. Why did Luhrmann choose to film this dreadful tale that’s already been adapted four times? A blemish on the Australian’s oeuvre.

Killer Elite.

When I wrote about The Mechanic (2010) I said that with Jason Statham you get what’s written on the tin, gun battles, explosions, car chases, in short an action adventure for undemanding grown up children, but what you never get is boredom: I lied!!! I’ve now had the dubious pleasure of watching Killer Elite, made later the same year, and what you get with this film is a thriller without the thrills and in fact considering what an interesting story it could have been, its quite boring and uninteresting.

Statham plays an ex-mercenary, Danny, who is brought back from what passes as domestic bliss in a Statham film, well you don’t really expect to see pipe and slippers, by an Dubai oil sheikh to kill three, or was it four, ex-SAS types. The sheikh claims that the soldiers are responsible for killing his sons and in exchange for this wee task he will release Danny’s ex-partner Hunter (Robert De Niro) who for some reason is locked in a cell in the potentate’s basement. The plot, what there is of it, also involves corrupt British government ministers, The Feather Men a group of British businessmen and bankers, lots of villains to chose from in this movie I hear you say, and Clive Owen who plays somebody called Spike who also seems to be ex-forces and I think works for The Feather Men!  I’ll not go on!!!

Although it’s based on the 1991 novel The Feather Men, an alleged fact based book by ex-SAS officer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the movie is totally unconvincing and completely un-engaging, there are plot holes the size of volcanic craters and the acting is abysmal, the terrible dialogue does not help either. Statham doesn’t do romance so why has director Gary McKendry, in his debut feature film, tacked on an amorous liaison between Danny and an Australian girl which adds nothing to the narrative. Spare us all from these lame throwaway movies, I want my two hours back!!!!!!The Mechanic (2011)