Vanilla Sky - film review

Cameron Crowe's 2001 film Vanilla Sky boasts an impressive cast, led by Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz. For good measure, Timothy Spall is cast as a British lawyer; I've recently watched Spall making a superb job of the title role in Mike Leigh's interesting, if possibly over-long film about my favourite artist, Turner: he really is a fine actor.

This film is hard to classify: some describe it as a psychological thriller, but it also veers into sci-fi territory as the plot thickens. It certainly has a touch of originality about it, and that's always welcome. Cruise plays David Aames, a fabulously wealthy young publisher, who has inherited control of a vast business empire, but is menaced by a group of seven grumpy old board members. Cruise is involved with Diaz, who is much more serious about their relationship than he is, and soon he takes a shine to his best friend's new girl (Cruz). Intercut with these sequences are later scenes which reveal that Cruise has been disfigured in an accident, and stands accused of murder. What on earth happened to turn his world upside down?

I found this premise intriguing, but although there were quite a few plot twists, (and several rather creepy moments) I became rather frustrated by the sluggish narrative pace. If Turner was arguably over-long, then I don''t think there's much doubt in this case - Vanilla Sky, it seems to me, would be much more gripping if cut by at least half an hour. Probably three-quarters of an hour. There's a portentousness about the script, it seems to me, which isn't entirely justified, much though I admire ambitious writing. Overall, I felt that the "psychology" was not as sophisticated as the film-makers seemed to believe; nor was the story as consistently thrilling as I'd hoped.

But that can happen when you dare to do something different. Perhaps the excellence of the cast gave me unreasonably high expectations. Despite my reservations, Vanilla Sky is well-made, and well worth watching, not least for a very good soundtrack featuring Nancy Wilson, Paul McCartney,the Beach Boys et al.

Wake Wood - movie review

It's a long time since I read much horror fiction, although in my teens I devoured a number of the short story collections published by Pan, Faber and Fontana. As for horror films, many of them seem obsessed with gore and violence, so I usually give them a miss. But fictional horror at its best can be terrific, as Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson and others have shown.

My favourite horror movie is The Wicker Man, and the very recent film Wake Wood does have some echoes of its brilliant predecessor. The only daughter of a vet and pharmacist is mauled to death by a dog, and in an attempt to cope with their overwhelming grief, the couple move to a small and remote village where they can try to rebuild their life together.

However, it soon becomes clear that there are dark goings-on in the nearby woods. Somehow, the villagers have discovered the secret of bringing a person who has died within the last 12 months back to life – but for three days only. And there are some rather spooky conditions to be met by anyone who wants to avail themselves of this chance to say goodbye for the last time.

Needless to say, the couple cannot resist temptation, and enter into a sort of Faustian pact, which has foreseeably terrible consequences. It's hokum, of course, but done surprisingly well, and the final scene is genuinely memorable and chilling. Much of the power of the film derives from the performances of Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle as the bereaved couple, and of Timothy Spall, who presides over the village's rituals with a mixture of geniality and menace that avoids the risk of over-acting the part into absurdity. Although there are some graphic scenes, I would recommend this film to horror fans. It isn't in the same league as The Wicker Man, but it's still a pretty good example of its kind.

The Damned United

David Peace is known for a number of dark books with crime themes, but The Damned United is something rather different. It’s about the 44 days that the controversial football manager Brian Clough spent in charge of Leeds United. I haven’t read the book, but I recently watched Tom Hooper’s 2009 film of the story, and much enjoyed it.

Brian Clough was a larger than life individual, and a very suitable character for fictional interpretation. He was both brilliant and deeply flawed (as so many brilliant people are deeply flawed) and his vanity led him into many disastrous errors. Prime among them was the decision to accept the job as manager of Leeds, a club which he despised. He also had a long-running vendetta with Don Revie, his predecessor at Leeds. When things go badly for Clough at Leeds, Revie finds it impossible not to gloat. In later years, Clough and Revie suffered ill-health and died relatively young, but in their hey-day they were truly formidable figures.

I was interested in the various changes made to the real life sequence of events for the purpose of making the story (and the rivalry with Revie) more dramatic. It’s a reminder that one has to take the ‘factual’ basis of most fact-based stories with a large pinch of salt. But, for the most part, the inventions seemed to be true to the spirit of the story.

Michael Sheen’s performance of Clough is superb; he really is an impressive performer. Timothy Spall does his usual great job as Peter Taylor, Clough’s long-suffering sidekick, and Colm Meaney is terrific as Revie. A very enjoyable film, even if you don’t like football.