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Built around a magnificent central performance from Julia Roberts Erin Brockovich tells its true story with humour and humanity. The script seamlessly develops Erin's character from loud mouth unemployable single mother to hard-nosed legal professional taking on corporate America. Soderbergh directs with style, clearly relishing the opportunity to tell a conventional story in his own way. He avoids cliche by focusing on Erin's perspective, seeing the case through her eyes. Albert Finney gives great support as Erin's boss , head of the small law firm fighting PG & E on behalf of the local residents, whose water has been poisoned. The quality of the film lies in its attempt to understand its characters and the care it shows for them. Psychological and emotional nuances are fleshed out in each carefully constructed scene, leaving the viewer with a genuine attachment to the people involved.
From the opening sequence onwards Three Kings delivers well-crafted entertainment with intelligence and wit. The premise is a mixture of Kelly's Heroes and Salvador, with the central trio of soldiers on the make getting caught up in the harsh realities of post-Gulf War Iraq. The politics is generally well handled, with only a few irritating speeches. David O Russell directs the action with verve and style and elicits fine performances from his three main actors. Wahlberg is particular good as the young soldier looking to make some extra cash for his family back home, desperate to keep out of trouble, but inevitably drawn right into the centre of the conflict. The characters feel genuine and draw the right amount of sympathy to keep the plot on the rails. Three Kings is a bona fide rarity - an action film which deals with a potentially tricky subject, yet remains both entertaining and intelligent. Check it out.
As one would expect from Michael Mann The Insider is intelligent, well acted and superbly directed. However, all this quality is wasted on a film which does not tell us anything new about the power of capitalism or the individual against the system. Pacino's crusading journalist is an off-the-peg caricature, unbelievable from the first scene onwards. He unbalances the film and looks particularly out of place in the scenes with Crowe, who broods convincingly throughout, giving us an excellent portrait of a complex man caught up in a horrific situation. Knowing that the film is based on fact you find yourself forgiving it some of its more unlikely twists. But afterwards I was left thinking that Mann would have used the characters differently if he did not have to keep to the facts. Heroes should always be scrutinised and these two just don't add up. Worth a look if only for the brilliance of the filming and Crowe's understated performance, but overall a huge disappointment from a director of Mann's class.
A hugely entertaining, well acted slice of cinema. Nothing original in the story, but executed about as well as possible. Made by Spielberg's Dreamworks studio, it attempts to mimic what good US independent film-makers have been doing for years. However, it cannot get away from its big studio roots. If you want to see a truly radical take on American family life check out Happiness, a far superior film. That said, I really enjoyed American Beauty and would recommend it. Kevin Spacey is brilliant as usual and Annette Bening is good (though nowhere near as good as the hype would have us believe). The young supporting cast show real promise. Only Chris Carter is wasted as the retired army man - the most cliched character in the film.
After the slight disappointment of A Bugs Life, Pixar return to form with the truly outstanding Toy Story 2. Based around a deviously simple central plot about Woody being kidnapped by a greedy toy store owner the writers weave numerous incidents and character developments. The set pieces are stunning, especially the opening sequence, and the animation throughout is brilliantly conceived and superbly executed. There are plenty of laughs, including a few well chosen sexual innuendoes, and numerous cleverly selected film references to spot. The only flaws are the couple of sentimental scenes, which seem tacked on by Disney's executives. They are embarassing and unnecessary. Like the first Toy Story this film can truly be enjoyed by adults and children alike. See it soon.
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