"K-nock, K-nock!"

Haven't been to the cinema for a while so I figured I owed it to myself.
The three films that I decided to take on were "Faster" which I didn't know anything about apart from that it has Dwayne Johnson in it and so was unsure about what to expect. "The Lincoln Lawyer" for which I had seen the trailer numerous times and expected very little from and "Submarine" which I had read about and expected to be something great.

So, "Faster" wasn't entirely terrible. It's not something that you'd watch over and over again but maybe a few times spread out. Pretty much just another badass revenge movie in which Dwayne Johnson's "Driver", on release from his prison sentence sets out to end everyone who aided in the killing of his brother. He's mostly remorseless and walks around offing people with a stern look and not saying much. There's a bit of compassion thrown in to show that even hard mother fuckers can have a bit of humanity about them.

       While I don't generally think that Dwayne is a bad actor (look at The fucking Rock!) I think that only having a small number of lines in this film works for him as The Terminator works for Schwarzenegger.

       I didn't really like seeing Billy Bob Thornton as a dope fiend loser but he earns likeability as the film goes on.

       A fairly enjoyable slice of revenge/action that, considering its story as well as other recent films that fit into this category isn't really all that bad. The ending was a bit stupid but I've seen worse.

3/5

"The Lincoln Lawyer". I think I got this pretty much figured before seeing it. Basically, not that good. Matthew McConnaughey just isn't enjoyable to watch. His character was really smug and generally just unlikeable which I think is good for McConnaughey because the role lends itself to him but bad for everyone else. I didn't find the story all that interesting in itself and the mostly bad acting doesn't help.
       McConnaughey plays Michael Haller, a lawyer who works out of the back of his Lincoln. He takes on a case, defending a young man who claims to be innocent of the crime he stands accused of. Things start to unravel and Haller gets in some shit.
      
       One thing that I think could have been better developed was Haller's relationship with his family. He's broken up with his daughter's mother but they're trying to make it work. It just doesn't come across all that well. This part of the story should have had more screen time.

       So with some underwhelming acting, McConnaughey's generally unpleasant demeanor and a fairly badly told story, the best thing about this film was William H. Macy's hair.

Another generous 2/5


On to "Submarine".
       I'll start by saying that everyone everywhere should watch it. I expected it to be good but I think it was even better. It's what you'd expect coming from Richard Ayoade and yet still pleasantly surprising.
       It's quirky but not in a pretentious, irritating, "Zooey Deshanel" sort of way. In a loveable way. It takes on certain passages of youth and the feeling that everything that happens now will determine the rest of your life but it manages to stay on the right side of the border between relating to the characters & their struggles and despising the characters because they can't possibly have enough life experience to have so much sadness in them.
       The first kisses and the awkward hugging between Oliver (Craig Roberts) and Jordana (Yasmin Paige) are dead on. Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor really sell the "dysfunctional parents" routine and have between them have more than a couple of brilliant interchanges with Roberts. Before this, the most memorable role that I can think of for Paddy Considine was in "Dead Man's Shoes". In "Submarine" he takes on the other side of the spectrum and nails it as a ludicrous mystic hippie type.

       On top of all this, it was showing in screen 11 which I think I've only been in once before. It's small, there's tonnes more leg room and everything looked considerably clearer for some reason. 11 is now my favourite screen. Just so you know.

All in all, this is a fantastic film. One which I plan to see at least a couple more times this week as I'm sure it will be taken off soon for something lame but saleable.

Submarine gets from me as well as many other reviewers, I'm sure, 5/5


A couple of trailers I'd like to mention:

"The Source Code" looks daft. Jake Gyllenhall has lost his appeal. I really can't imagine it being very good and it seems a pretty stupid, "grasping at straws" attempt at a film.

"Your Highness" is looking okay. I don't want to make too much of a judgement just from the trailer because I think that they probably passed up a lot of stuff from the trailer for more obvious laughs. I just wish Zooey Deschannel wasn't in it.

"Arthur" looks appauling. I really can't understand why people like Russel Brand so much. And what is more perplexing is why Helen Mirren is in such a terrible film with Russel Brand. Surely she's above this? I expect I'll be avoiding this one. I'll just have to hope that Brand's role in "Tempest" is much much smaller and easily ignored.

So. There it is.

Bye!