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Nine hits a wrong note
Stellar cast fails to save Rob Marshall clunker.
YOU would expect a musical with a cast that features Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren – all Oscar winners – to be something special. Wrong!
NINE (12: Entertainment In Video) is a fatally misconceived version of the Broadway hit, which itself was adapted from Federico Fellini's 1963 film 8 1/2.
Scripted by Anthony Minghella – his last work before his death just over a year ago - and directed by Rob Marshall, who was at the helm for Chicago, it's pretentious and emotionally stagnant.
The story revolves around acclaimed Italian film director Guido Contini (a charmless Day-Lewis) who suffers from both writer's block and a midlife crisis as he approaches his 40th birthday, entangling him in a web of romantic difficulties.
Executed in early 1960s 'Cinema Italiano' style (Kate Hudson sings a song of the same name), the movie combines an overblown La Dolce Vita homage with elements of Bob Fosse's All That Jazz.
But the stage musical's elegant simplicity is lost and this is little more than a tedious series of music videos with the women in Contini's life singing of their frustration over his errant ways.
Marion Cottilard is superb as Contini's wife (her heart-rending My Husband Makes Movies lament is a show-stopping highlight) and Loren adds some much-needed Italian authenticity, but the end product is cold and uninvolving.
>> Sometimes male bonding goes too far, as you will see in the fresh, frank and very funny HUMPDAY (15: Momentum).
The pitch for this movie, which picked up the coveted Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, would seem to have something to offend everyone.
Old college pals Ben (Mark Duplass) and Andrew (Joshua Leonard) have drifted apart, with the former settling down and the latter still committed to a freewheeling life.
Then Andrew arrives unnanounced at Ben's place and although both men are straight they decide, after a large amount of alcohol at a party, to try their hand at gay sex, film their efforts and enter the resulting movie in the amateur porn contest of the title. Oh, and they explain to Ben's scptical wife, Anna (Alycia Delmore), that the project is for art's sake.
Writer/director Lynn Shelton's deft script offers a warm-hearted study of male friendship and the performances of the leading players are perfectly judged.
The film's set-up has the potential to be distasteful, but it's ultimately an engaging 'will-they-won't-they' tale.
>> Vibrant biopic TALK TO ME (15: Verve), which puts the spotlight on ex-con Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Greene, who became an iconic radio DJ in 1960s Washington DC, is an emotionally rewarding journey for the viewer.
The reliable Don Cheadle is cast as the shock jock who started by hustling a morning slot at a conservative radio station and later defused street riots in the aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination.
Only when programme director Dewer Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) tries to broaden Greene's appeal and make him a national celebrity does it all come unstuck.
A superb portrait of a self-destructive free spirit set against the turbulent civil rights backdrop of the era, the performances are magnetic and the classic soul music soundtrack couldn't have been bettered.
>> Don't be discouraged by the well-worn premise of CARRIERS (15: Paramount), in which a deadly virus has wiped out much of humanity and a band of survivors tries to fight its way to safety.
Sibling writer/directors Alex and David Pastor have used their tiny budget wisely and instead of concentrating on special effects and extreme gore they opt for a mounting sense of doom and foreboding.
Chris Pine and Lou Taylor Pucci play brothers who, along with their female companions, are desperate to find refuge. They hijack a station wagon, together with its father and daughter inhabitants, in order to hurry up their escape.
The big question posed is how long can our heroes resist the temptation to shed their humanity and do anything to survive? Although the answer is fairly obvious, the convincingly bleak atmosphere and the absence of cheap shocks is impressive.
>> TOP TEN: 1 2012; 2 The Time Traveler's Wife; 3 The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus; 4 Men Who Stare At Goats; 5 Planet 51; 6 Law Abiding Citizen; 7 Twilight Saga: New Moon; 8 Paranormal Activity; 9 Harry Brown; 10 Zombieland. Chart from Blockbuster.
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Tuesday 22 May 2012
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