FAN THE FIRE Magazine #36 - October 2010

8/8/2019 FAN THE FIRE Magazine #36 - October 2010

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ISSUE #36 // OCTOBER 2

FAN THE FIRENEON INDIAN INTERV

KINGS OF LEON CHROMEO ALBUM REVI

THE DEBT RESTLESS PREVI

WALL STREET: MONEVER SLEEPS REV

LET ME IN REVART BY ANTHONY AUSG

STYLBARRIE HULL

OLIVIA LORRAINE TRANGOES ABIT SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ON US

VEILEDIN GREY


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0 0 2 FAN THE FIRE OCTOBER 2010

EDITORS LETTER

Bar a couple still let to premiere(most notably AMCs Te Walk-ing Dead), the rst round o

new all US V shows have all madetheir debuts, but unortunately thebiggest news so ar is the rapid demiseo the most promising series.

With new shows, the rst weekis all-important. Its all well and good

wowing critics and the public alike,but unless enough o them tune in onweek one, theres little hope or recov-ery. About a conman trying to turn hislie around and stay the right side othe law, Robert Allen leads a doublelie in two states, hes in love with twowomen and the lies hes told along theway are starting to catch up with him.

Te premise is intriguing enough,but it took the rst episode or Lone

Star to really show its potential. Tepilot was mature and heartelt, won-derully directed by Marc Webb andater the rst 45 minutes you alreadyelt amiliar with, and connected to,James Wolk in the lead role. Unortu-nately little over 4m viewers tuned into see it.

For a show to not lose viewers

in its second week is rare. o pick upmore, is almost unheard o, but thatswhat Lone Star needed to do. For us tosurvive were going to have to pull o aminor miracle. Statistically, new showstend to lose viewers in their secondweek. Were aiming to gain them. Inact, screw it, lets just double our audi-ence. Te good news is, our audiencewas so small that i my mom ANDmy dad watch it well pretty much be

there, joked series creator Kyle Killen.Week two it did 3.2m, and sadly Foxcancelled it very shortly ater.

Hopeully Killen is given moreopportunities even i Lone Star isdeemed a ailure, but its unortunatein todays entertainment industry howquickly success or ailure is judged.Cross your ngers the likes oNo Ordi-

nary Family and Undercovers are giventhe time they need to nd an audienceotherwise entertaining new dramaswill be very light on the ground thisyear, while dreary comedies like Run-ning Wilde and more standard ayreChase andBlue Bloodwill rules thewaves without remotely pushing theboundaries o what a great V seriescan do.

Sam Bathe

Pilotfever


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Season round-ups, extensive previews andnew show critique

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Newly announced titles, the latest releasesand genre round-ups

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OCTOBER 2010 FAN THE FIRE 0 0 5

MUSIC

INTERVIEWNeon Indian

FEATURESL.E.D. Festival 2010Jamaica

ALBUM REVIEWSAlbum round-up, including Kings O Leon, Chromeo,Te Young Veins, Fenech-Soler and Gold Panda

FILM

PREVIEWSTe DebtMonte CarloJackass 3-DLove And Other DrugsRestless

FEATUREUnsung Heroes O Te Decade: Part One

REVIEWSWall Street: Money

Never SleepsMonstersLet Me InInvoluntaryBuried

DVD REVIEWSDVD round-up, including Fanboys, Te DisappearanceO Alice Creed, Chuck: Season Tree and Te Evil Dead

ART

FEATURES

Post AcidLost In Your ToughtsAter HoursLe Mans 54

STYLE

FEATURESI Am Te NightriderLost In ranslationEnvy On Te InsideOne Month O

12

1624

26

3032333435

36

40

42434445

52

56667696

110118130140

OCT 2010

PAGE 12PAGE 40

PAGE 56PAGE 130

CONTENTS

46

4748495051

Eat Prey Love

Im Still HereDespicable MeCharlie St. CloudConuciusLie As We Know It


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EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Sam Bathe

FEATURES WRITERS

Nick DeigmanNathan May

STAFF WRITERS

Kat Bishop, Jon Bye, Andrew Dex, Anna Felix, Amy Giardiniere, Rob Henneberry,

Dan Hopchet, Mansoor Iqbal, Patrice Jackson, Eva Alexandra Liu, Laura Vevers, Asher Wren

SUB-EDITOR

Chris Dempsey

ART DIRECTOR

Sam Bathe

COLOUR MANAGEMENT

Robin Sloan

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTLateef Joseph-Maynard

ADVERTISING

For further details and pricing, contact us [email protected]

OPERATIONS ASSISTANT

Michael Evans

CONTRIBUTORS

Anthony Ausgang, Olivia Caligiore, Henrietta Harris, Barrie Hullegie, Damir Hurtic, Maria JuanesTamara Lichtenstein, So Me, Laurent Nivalle, Tejal Patni, Igor Termenon, Olivia Lorraine Tran

COVER BY

OLIVIA LORRAINE TRAN

ONLINE: FANTHEFIREMAGAZINE.COMBACK ISSUES: FANTHEFIREMAGAZINE.COM/BACKISSUES

FAN THE FIRE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED MONTHLY ONLINE, ON IPHONE AND ON IPAD USING THE FAN THE FIRE PUBLISHING PLATFORMFOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT [email protected]

CONTENT MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM FAN THE FIRE MAGAZINE. FAN THE FIRE MEDIA LTD 2010

MUSIC EDITOR

Alex BrammerFILM EDITOR

Martin Roberts

FAN THE [email protected]
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TWEET US. TWITTER.COM/FANTHEFIRE
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LOVE

THE INCREASING HYPE AROUND THE WALKING DEADWE BARBARIANS HEADING BACK INTO THE STUDIO

OUR FIFTH BIRTHDAYLOOKING BACK AT OUR FIRST EVER ISSUE90210 (THE ZIP CODE AND THE TV SHOW)

SHAKEN UDDER MILKSHAKESOUR FIRST HOSTED GIG STATESIDE (WE BARBARIANS IN COSTA MESA, CA, 16/10/10)

DELTA SPIRITS APPEARANCE ON LATER WITH JOOLS HOLLANDFROZEN YOGURT, EVEN ON A COLD LONDON NIGHTPRINCI BAKERY

UPCOMING PRINT EDITIONS OF FAN THE FIRE THROUGH MAGCLOUD.COMNUDIE JEANS

FRENCH PLAYBOY, WE BUY IT FOR THE ART DESIGN

THIS MONTH WE...


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HATE

BOSES HEADPHONE CUSTOMER SERVICERAIN

THE AMOUNT OF TIME IT WILL BE UNTIL DELTA SPIRIT ARE BACK IN THE UKFOX CANCELLING NEW SERIES LONE STAR AFTER TWO EPISODESIMPENDING LAUGHTER AT BORDER CONTROL FOR OLD PASSPORT PHOTOS

GOSSIP GIRLS EPISODES BASED IN PARISBOUNCERS

PRINT FILM CRITICS CONTINUED SELF-APPOINTED AIR OF SUPERIORITY AND ARROGANCESWCP PR AGENCYRIMS NEW BLACKBERRY PLAYBOOK TABLET

PEOPLE THINKING MARK RONSON IS A TREND-SETTERTHAT MANIC STREET PREACHERS ARE STILL TOGETHER AS A BAND

ADOBE FLASH STILL BE USED FOR INTERNET VIDEO


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MUSIC


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DEADBEAT

SUMMER

FAN THE FIRE: So whats been going

on or Neon Indian recently?ALAN PALOMO: We DJd with HotChip in Copenhagen last week thenwe went up to Sweden and played thePropaganda Festival, which was handsdown the most intense crowd wevehad on the tour thus ar. Its interest-ing, right now it eels like playing inEurope is a bit o a time warp or usbecause its similar circumstances towhen the record was coming out in theUS a year ago. Its kind o interesting

to have this long process o buildingin the US and then starting a new, ina certain sense, but at the same timeits kind o great you know because wecome out here without any associa-tions and people are just evaluatingit at ace value. So its kind o cool orthat, but the shows have denitelybeen a little more intimate, I thinkwould be a kind way o putting it[laughs]. But Propaganda was the com-

plete opposite; it was a really rowdy,

debaucherous, un crowd which was agreat morale booster mid-way throughthe tour.FTF: So is this your second time inEurope as Neon Indian?AP: Actually its our third, I meanweve never done a proper ull Euro-pean tour, much less a ull UK tour,whenever we do stu in England itsalways like clusters o two or threeshows so its been interesting to behere or a solid two and hal weeks

playing anywhere in the UK that willhave us. But yeah this has been therst proper ully orchestrated tourwhich is great because Psychic Chasmsis being released and thats an entirelyindependently unded release overhere which has been paid or by whatweve been doing or the last yearwhich is touring, touring, touring. Soit eels nice to come out here andhave more o a home-spun eort.

For lack o a better term, coming up

in the US was a bit o a cluster *ckbecause Neon Indian went rom abedroom project to a live project tothis complete band entity, and it wentthrough all these dierent evolutions.

You almost kind o tailor it to whatpeoples expectations are, I mean Inever even thought about perormingit live when I was recording it whichwas almost better or it because I neverhad to think about certain limitationslike what I could pull o and what I

couldnt. So I just recorded the wholething then I had to ask mysel: I I wasgoing to see a Neon Indian show, whatkind o crazy sh*t would I want to seeon stage? And what would ull thatantasy o what I hear when I listen tothe record? So we kind o just threw ittogether and one o our rst showsever was at Cargo and Bary in Lon-don. I remember that one at Bary, wehad never been to the UK beore,

RIDING A CHILLWAVE STRAIGHT OUT OF THE STATES COMES THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONOF ALAN PALOMOS PSYCHEDELIC BEDROOM PROJECT, NEON INDIAN. THEIR DEBUT ALBUMRECEIVED RAVE REVIEWS FROM PITCHFORK AND THE AMERICAN INDIE PRESS LAST YEAR

AND NOW THEYRE CELEBRATING ITS EUROPEAN RELEASE.

SON OF A MEXICAN POP STAR, PALOMO IS PROBABLY BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORK INFORMER PROJECTS VEGA AND GHOSTHUSTLER. ALEX BRAMMER CAUGHT UP WITH HIMOVER BREAKFAST AT EAST LONDONS ROUTEMASTER CAFE TO DISCUSS THE STATE OF

MUSIC, THE INTERNET AGE AND THE NEXT HOT GENRE TO LOOK OUT FOR... NU-HELSINKI.

NEON INDIAN


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L.E.D.

FESTIVAL2010


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WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BYANNA FELIX AND ALEX BRAMMER


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L.E.D. FESTIVAL 2010


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L.E.D. FESTIVAL 2010


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JAMAICA

Ooh la la! Jamaica are the lat-est oddly-named indie pop-sters to emerge rom France.

Formerly known as Poney Poney, theParisian duo have shied away rom theinevitability o synth on their debut

albumNo Problem, instead relying onsuper-catchy guitar-led choruses andsolid beats. Te record was producedby Xavier de Rosnay o Justice, and itshows. Pretty much every track is apotential danceoor burner, and thelyrics are smart too.

Witty and pretty like Te eenag-ers and provoking inevitable compari-sons with ellow French indie ensem-ble Phoenix, Antoine Hilaire and Flo

Lynonnet look set or similar levels oacclaim. But do we really need anothermoustachioed hipster outt invad-ing the playlists o every East LondonDJ, inevitably heading or the dizzyheights o the NME Channel chart

show? Apparently so, and in airness,like Phoenix, Jamaica can deliver.

Te aptly named Short And En-tertainingis a three minute inectiouspop gem that was recently eaturedon KitsunsMaison 9, and the supercuteI Tink I Like U 2 has already beensubjected to hundreds o bangingelectro remixes, rom the inspired tothe headache-inducing. Hilaire and Ly-nonnet have also been working some

DJ magic o their own. Teir remix oHurtsBetter Tan Love manages to doaway completely with the sobriety othe original track, replacing it with akind o circus-like electro romp. Per-haps not or purists, then.

But we have denitely been wonover by Jamaicas Gallic charms, andwill be interested to see what theydo next. Currently on a whirlwindworld tour, one cant help but wonderwhether this band will achieve any-thing like the longevity and anbaseboasted by Phoenix, or i their time inthe spotlight will be short, but (erm),very entertaining...Debut album No Problem is out now

WORDS LAURA VEVERS

CROSS THE

FADERBORN OUT OF THE ASHES OF PONEY PONEY, JAMAICA ARE MAKINGPOP COOL AGAIN, ABOUT TO INVADE CHARTS ALL OVER THE WORLD


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ALBUM REVIEWS

I Te xx experimented with samples andbeats, theyd pretty much sound like GoldPanda. Which is a compliment to both.

Another producer to put out his ownmaterial, Lucky Shiner eatures none o GoldPandas own lyrics or vocals, instead itslargely instrumental. Varying rom eclectican oriental touch on You to more danceyvibes on Vanilla Minus and more acousticand experimental styles onBeore We alkedandAter We alked, Lucky Shiner oersmuch more than you would think rom such

an unexpected package.Tough Gold Pandas debut takes in

many styles and inuences, chopping andchanging as it moves through, it still eelstogether as an album, and certainly arrom disjointed. You get a sense o expanse,movement and the story hes trying to tell.It might take a while or the name to reallyspread, but Gold Panda deserves to be as bigas Te xx, i not bigger.

RELEASED OCTOBER 11

Splitting away rom the enviably popu-lar Panic! At Te Disco, when RyanRoss and Jon Walker announced theirnew project its obvious that whenthey cited creative dierences, theycertainly werent lying. Panic!s debutwas an unrelenting pop-punk roller-coaster, 100mph rom the get go andunlike anything really available at thetime. Sophomore Pretty. Odd. was justthat, pretty odd. Tough you could stilleel some o the youthul exuberanceand the our-pieces boundless creativ-

ity was certainly there or all to see, itwas a big departure or their ans to

get used to. It was olky, with tingeso rock, with pretty much no electroinuence. Given ake A Vacation!, itspretty clear the olk was Ross andWalkers inuence.

See Te Young Veins live and itslike going back to the 60s. o say RyanRoss wishes he was in Te Beatles is anunderstatement. From the bands aes-thetic to their olky, psychedelic pop, iteels awkward and orced, and noth-ing like the orce o Ross and Walkersormer stu. Even Pretty. Odd.

On record, at least, Te YoungVeins are much better. While itscertainly not natural, and ake AVacation! still eels like something o ahack record copying Te Beatles styledown to a tee, yet it still has some o

its own merits. With Ross now takingcentre stage, his vocals cope with the

demands and his smooth, subtler suitsthe music, meaning theres no doubt-ing his talents as a musician.

Te openers in particular arestrong, rom Change to ake A Vaca-tion! and the clichd Cape own, its

just with the 60s crooning, it doesnthave the excitement it needs and prob-ably wont win over most Panic! ansbecause o it.

ake A Vacation! is undoubtedlyRyan Ross baby and while it may takea while to get into, or its own qualityand get beyond the copycat style, itscertainly worth your time. Betweenthis and his work on Panic! though,I hope Ross continues to experimentand nd his true music calling. Hesgot brilliance ahead o him, he just

hasnt hit it just yet.

RELEASED OUT NOW

MARK RONSON & THE BUSINESS INTL.RECORD COLLECTION

With the Mark Ronson PR machine in ullow now or a couple o months, you mightbe surprised to nd out that his third album,Record Collection, is only just hitting stores.Tis time ditching the brass heavy cover tracks

that brought him public acclaim, instead writing his ownmaterial (with a lot o help rom some o the biggest andbrightest names in music), while he was once regarded as atrend-setter, this album proves he is anything but.

Lead singleBang Bang Banghas an energy to it thateven i theres little depth o production behind the churpysynth chords, Ronson just about gets away with it in the

pop sphere. Really, however, Record Collection eels like thelimit o Ronsons abilities when he has to start with a blankpage, and the results certainly arent enough to justiy hisbountiul reputation. Record Collection doesnt really eellike an album, more an amalgamation o songs collated overthe years, but even individually, there isnt anything special.Mark Ronsons third LP is unspectacular electro-pop music,spectacular when you scroll through the collaborators on theback but lacking any real quality to back it up when you popin the disc. He certainly cant sing either.

RELEASED OUT NOW

THE YOUNG VEINSTAKE A VACATION!

GOLD PANDALUCKY SHINER


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ALBUM REVIEWS

Had Fenech-Solerreleased theiralbum last year,

they might havereally been onto

something. 2009 was the yearo electro, still, dont write theour-piece o just yet. Comingto prominence with previoussingle Lies, wonderully remixedby the imitable Alex Metric (oBloc Partys One More Chanceremix ame), their sparkly electrohas been turning heads and just

about teased the music sceneinto giving the genre another go.

Fenech-Solers debut cer-tainly borrows a ew ideas andthe organisation rom a lot owhat came beore it but it stilleels resh enough, and trackslike Stop And Stare andBattle-felds are catchy enough to keep

you coming back or more, whilei you delve deeper, Contenderand Demons are primed or theradio. Its just a pity then, thatthe album loses steam towardsthe end. Teres a lot o prom-ise, but Fenech-Soler cant quitedown Friendly Fire or Klaxons

just yet. Teyll pick up a air ewans while having a go though.

I you thought Arctic Monkeys were swit at turning aroundnew albums, Kings O Leon might have something to sayabout taking the crown. Putting their rst two stellar LPs in2003 and 2004, ater a three year break they released com-mercial breakthroughsBecause O Te imes and Only By Te

Night in 2007 and 2008, respectively, and just two years ontheyre back once again.

Somehow writing and recording the 13 new tracks thatmake up Come Around Sundown in between extensive touringschedules, their th studio album pleasingly pushes beyondthe 45-minute mark, and its pleasure to delve into.

Te tone varies rom un and upbeat to Kings O Leonstrademark sombre material, but old ans will be able to getinto it almost instantly. Teir stadium rock eels purposeul,perhaps a little less explorative than they have been beore,though overall more spacey. Tere are inclinations to bluesand the same old spirit youd expect with Jacquire King (witha little extra help) again sitting in the producer chair.

Come Around Sundown doesnt oer up another Sex OnFire, but in Radioactive, Pickup ruck and especially Pyro, theystill have some huge new songs on their hands. Te ennes-see bands latest eort isnt as classic as the last couple o LPsbut its still a antastic oering or new and old ans alike.

Tere arent many bands or whom you can justsay more o the same please and never getbored with what they put out. Chromeos sultrysynth-unk has allure to it you dont nd any-where else in music these days. Making a nameor themselves with advert riendly 2007 albumFancy Footwork,Business Casual marks their ma-

jor label debut, but theyve ar rom sold out.Business Casual doesnt reinvent the

Chromeo wheel but its another dreamy release,sucking you in with the seductive synths beorea devilish bass and mesmeric eects close thedeal. Tere are a couple o llers but up un-

til the last track or so Chromeos swagger onHot Mess andNight By Night pulls the albumthrough. Teres no doubting their sound couldhave been construed a novelty but they pull ito again, and while it isnt quite as original thistime, dont expect their an base to dwindle anytime soon.

RELEASED OUT NOW

CHROMEOBUSINESS CASUAL

KINGS OF LEONCOME AROUND SUNDOWN

RELEASED OCTOBER 18

RELEASED OUT NOW

FENECH-SOLERFENECH-SOLER

Breaking onto the scene at remarkable speedater ex-Poney Poney duo Antoine Hilaire andFlorent Lyonnet teamed up again under newmoniker Jamaica,No Problem is how all popmusic should sound. Splaying out spritelyelectro-pop, sounding not too dis-similar to2010 breakthroughs wo Door Cinema Club,Jamaicas guitar hooks are sweet, high-pitchedand orever resurgent, capturing the energy

and passion o the talented French duo.Tough by the end their style can eel a

little samey,I Tink I Like U 2, Short And Enter-taining, Gentlemen and Jericho are as irresist-ibly inectious as anything youll have heardrecently, and though most credit obviously goesto the band themselves, it is also wonderullyproduced by Justices Xavier de Rosnay andDat Punks sound engineer, Peter Franco, too.Im excited or Jamaicas sophomore already.

JAMAICA

NO PROBLEMRELEASED OUT NOW


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FILM


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PREVIEWS

Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn seem to be nurturing apartnership that is bearing ruit. o date they have co-writtenStardust and Kick-Ass (both directed by Vaughn) and are set tocollaborate again onX-Men: First Class and soon to be releasedTe Debt, on which they share the screenwriter credit with PeterStraughan (Te Men Who Stare at Goats). Te Debt, starring theever-prolic om Wilkinson, is a remake o the 2007 Israeli thrillero the same name by Assa Bernstein.

Director John Madden, who last directed Killshot (a straight-to-DVD Mickey Rourke thriller), will be hoping that Te Debt canemulate the success he had in 1999 with Shakespeare In Love, the

lm or which he was nominated or the best director Oscar. Hispedigree, and the acting talent on display Wilkinson is support-ed by Helen Mirren and man-o-the-moment Sam Worthington should be sucient reason to elevate expectation.

Te lm ollows three central protagonists all Mossadagents who are sent on a mission to assassinate a Nazi warcriminal in 1965. Te lms structure will jump between extendedashbacks o the mission itsel and thirty years later, when a manclaiming to be the same Nazi criminal has resuraced in Ukraine.Tis project is currently showing a lot o promise. Hopeully thetalent assembled in ront o and behind the camera is enough tolit this above standard thriller are.

THE DEBTRELEASED DECEMBER 29 (USA) TBC (UK)



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Te gross-out hi-jinks o the Jackass team have always beensomething o a marmite-esque experience, and as suchthe, third entry in the spin-o lm ranchise, which prom-ises new levels o mayhem projected in 3-D, will probablyinspire either excitement or indierence. Its becoming aclich, but has 3-D ound the (next) genre it was made or?

Je remaine is returning to direct, while all the amil-iar aces will return on screen, ronted by Johnny Knoxville.It would be oolish, perhaps, to assume this will be revolu-tionary, that it will be anything other than the next entryin the series, but that is clearly what the lmmakers areaiming or. Teres a large market out there or this masoch-istic mania, and the lm will certainly satisy on that level.

Te trailer promises exactly what you would expect,with stunts both big and small carried out with boyishenthusiasm and inectious immaturity, and it does raise aew laughs. Teres evidence o larger scale madness and

more elaborate stunts, meaning there ought to be enoughon show to warrant Jackass die-hards paying the price oanother ticket, even with the extra 3-D charge.


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LOVEAND

OTHERDRUGS

RELEASENOVEMBER 24 (USA

DECEMBER 29 (UK


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PREVIEWS

When you think o Edward Zwick, comedy-drama is not the rst genre thatcomes to mind. His most recent work has taken the orm o action epics and warlms, with his trilogy oTe Last Samurai,Blood Diamondand Defance earninghim varying degrees and critical and commercial success. His orthcoming proj-ect Love and Other Drugs, is a return to a genre he last explored in 1986sAboutLast Night..., and marks a denite change in direction or the director.

Te lm is based on the novel Hard Sell: Te Evolution o a Viagra Salesman

by Jamie Reidy, a title which shouldnt need too much elaboration. Te lmstars Jake Gyllenhaal (continuing his streak o unpredictable leading roles) asJamie, a successul, yet arrogant, salesman who runs into Maggie Murdock(Anne Hathaway) on a job and nds his outlook on lie is beginning to change.

Te strengths o the lm will probably stem rom these two leads, whoseem to having plenty o un in the trailer with roles that are ostensibly play-ul but seem to oer a little more depth than usual. Elsewhere Josh Gad adds abuddy-comedy element as Jamies roommate and theres also a supporting turnrom Gabriel Macht, perhaps best known or his role Te Spirit in the FrankMillers misjudged lm o the same name. Zwick and co. will be hoping that, un-like the title o novel upon which the lm is based, this will not be a hard sell.

Based on a play by JasonLew, Restless ocuses on aterminally ill girl playedby rising Aussie actressMia Wasikowska (Alice InWonderland) who meets aboy who likes to attend u-nerals. Already the Richterscale o weirdness is begin-ning to tingle, but add tothis concoction the ghost oa Japanese kamikaze pilot,and you have a mixture

heading squarely towardsthe strange.

But thats OK, becauseat the helm is Gus Van Sant(this is his rst eature since2008s critically acclaimed

Milk) who should be ableto hold the lms conceptstogether. Despite the lmsslightly oddball setup, itis not yet quite clear whattone the project will beaiming or. Te synopsisseems to suggest somethingdarkly comic (evidenced inthe odd-couple dynamic othe two lead characters) butthis could end up going in avariety o directions.

Te lm has an inter-esting team o producers behind it that includes ather-daughter combination Ron

and Bryce Dallas Howard,which hopeully suggeststhe script has some genuineweight to it. Given that VanSant will be on a high aterthe success o his last lm,and taking into the accountthe intriguing setup othe project, Restless couldpotentially become a sleeperhit come 2011.

RESTLESSRELEASED JANUARY 28, 2011


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The decade is drawing to aclose, so what better time tolook back and appreciate an-

other ten years o varied, provocativecinema? Unsung Heroes is a series o

orthcoming eatures aiming to shinea light on some o the lms releasedin the past decade that perhapsdidnt get the exposure, or success,that they deserved.

No one is claiming that all thelms included are masterpieces(although some o them are), oreven that they were the best lmsreleased in their respective years; thisis simply an exercise in acknowledge-ment or projects that may have beencritically acclaimed but didnt, orwhatever reason (be it limited releaseor the curse o subtitles), reach awider audience.

Without urther ado, lets getstarted by going back just a singleyear, to 2009, the year in which

Avatar dominated box oce records.Avatar is a good reerence point be-cause, aside rom being the most

nancially lucrative lm o all time,it also represents the top end o thebudget scale, whereas the two lmssingled out here are distinctly at theopposite end.

2009 was a mixed year or hor-ror. Whilst, at one end o the spec-trum, there were comic lms such as

Zombielandmaking headway in thecharts, and Sam Raimis long-awaited(although rankly overrated) return tothe genre, at the other end there wasthe usual standard dross (Saw VI) andplenty o Hollywood remakes/reboots(Halloween 2, Friday Te 13th). Some-where amidst all that were a numbero interesting projects, many o whichcould have been selected as unsungheroes, but havent been or a varietyo reasons. Honourable mentions tolms such as Tirst (which, despiteits small budget, came bearing ParkChan-Wooks name) and rick r reat,a playul horror homage that, whilstludicrously heading straight-to-DVD,managed to nd a devoted ollowingonline. Tere are countless others,

but Christopher Smiths riangle(right) is our point o ocus or today.

A small budget, psychologicalhorror lm starring an excellentMelissa George as the troubled young

mother o an autistic son, Christo-pher Smith made a huge leap orwardrom previous projects such as Sever-ance and Creep to give us somethingdelightully twisty and ar moreintelligent than your standard horrorare. It grossed just over hal a mil-lion at the UK box oce, primarilydue to a lack o media coverage and adistinctly limited release, but criticalacclaim was never ar away.

Te lm olds in on itsel clev-erly as the narrative progresses, pro-ducing a number o bravado horrorimages that deserve to be seen with-out being spoiled here. Meanwhile,the gun-toting antagonist carries amysterious threat, and occasionalbursts o well staged horror violenceare integrated with adeptness, orgo-ing the current trend or sadisticlevels o violence that ultimately

U N S U N G

HEROESO F T H E D E C A D E :

P A R T O N EWORDS BY MARTIN ROBERTS

UNSUNG HEROES: PART ONE


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carries no weight or meaning. riangle loves to entangle its audience in a loopingmystery in which answers are perpetually just out o reach, but the recurring imageryand Melissa Georges perormance ensure that it never eels like its cheating you, andthat the conclusion is suitably aecting.

We mentionedZombielandabove, and its a lm with the same sux (and shar-ing the same lead actor, Jesse Eisenberg) that also makes our list: Greg Mottolas

Adventureland(let and above). Whilst the biggest commercial comedy smash o theyear was undoubtedly Te Hangover, Mottolas lm is innitely more rened.

Genuinely heart warming as well as being unny, the lm garnered much lessattention than Mottolas previous eort, 2007s Superbad, but is a superior lm inevery sense. In the lead role, Eisenberg (soon to be seen in David Finchers Te Social

Network) carries the coming-o-age story with aplomb, bouncing o his well-cast col-leagues so eortlessly that it wont be long beore the lm wins you over.

Te lm is mature enough to deal with real issues whilst also managing to getlaughs out o people being hit in the groin; it casts Ryan Reynolds against type as anostensibly cool janitor who actually might be a bit o a loser, and Kristen wilightStewart absolutely nails her conicted love interest and proves that she certainly isa burgeoning talent. As i that wasnt enough, the lm makes wonderul use o anexcellent and varied jukebox soundtrack which complements the story, and the air-ground setting, to a tee.Adventurelandis another lm that suered under a limitedrelease, but one that will hopeully grow in popularity over time.

So there you have it. wo great lms released little more than a year ago thatare worthy o your attention i you havent seen them already. Stay tuned or moreunsung heroes in the coming weeks.

UNSUNG HEROES: PART ONEADVENTURELAND


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Lets get one thing straight right romthe o:Monsters is not Cloverfeld. A

lot o people who have seen the lmhave been surprised by just how dier-ent it actually is rom what it seems topurport to be. Im not accusing any-body o alse advertising, mind you;it just eels like a dierent lm to theone you might expect, because, to allintents and purposes, this looks like aCloverfeld-esque adventure, sure to berie with action and big scary mon-sters. It really isnt a spoiler (or i it is,then its the most minor sort) to reveal

that there are hardly any monsters inthis lm. Almost none at all. Look pastthat slightly deating revelation, how-ever, and you will be able to relax intoa lm that may not be what it seems,but is still airly good at what it does.

Te lm does not eel restrainedby its budget. When a lm such as thisone is released having been made un-der obvious nancial constraints (obvi-ous in the sense that we know about

them prior to viewing, rather than anymaniestation on camera) it is tempt-ing to say the lmmakers were heldback, but there isnt really a senseo that. Sure, a massive Hollywoodbudget would have provided moreopportunities or crashing helicoptersand bloody battles, but one gets theimpression Gareth Edwards (director)would not have taken them even i hedhad the chance.

What the lm does do is make

good use o what its got its nicelyshot and when the monsters dobriey appear, sensible use o light(or lack o it) and minimal visual e-ects combine to ensure that the lmdoesnt eel hampered in any way. Telm plays more like a science ction(though we use the term loosely) roadmovie, with our two protagonistsmaking their way through the inectedzone in Mexico, where the alien lieorms, which emerged rom a crashed

NASA probe six years prior to on-screen events, are rampant. It actu-ally ends up eeling rather analogous,devoting more time to commenting onwar-time photography than to battlingwith aliens. Te lms most strikingimage (which I wont spoil here) ishardly subtle symbolism (just in casewe hadnt guessed what they were try-ing to say, our hero spells it out or us)but is certainly aecting, conjuring an

idea that is ar more widespread thanthe connes o this lm.Tere is also a lot o ootage that

purposeully eels quite languid andree roaming, as i the cameraman hadsimply been caught up in the eventshe is documenting which, given thelms history (many o the on-locationshooting was lmed without priorpermission), is not untting. In actualact, the underlying sense o docu-mentary lmmaking ends up being

ar more subtle that something likeCloverfeld, or example, which relieson the audiences knowledge that whattheyre seeing is amateur, accidentalootage.

Monsters slightly bewilderingtone (given the expectations manywill go in with) is initially bafing buteventually quite pleasant, its sparseenvironments working well with thesubject matter. Te act that nothingmajor really happens, and that the

monsters are almost entirely o-screen, ends up being less o a problemthan it may initially appear to be. It allends up eeling a little inconsequen-tial, but that isnt entirely intended asa derogatory statement. Its strippeddown and uniquely unwilling to pandeto a baying action sensibility, whichmakes it uniquely enjoyable, but neverbrilliant.

RELEASED OCTOBER 29 (USA) DECEMBER 3 (UK)

DIRECTED BY GARETH EDWARDS STARRING SCOOTMCNAIRY, WHITNEY ABLE, ANNALEE JEFFERIES, JUSTINHALL, RICKY CATTER & JAVIER ACOSTA RODRIGUEZ

MONSTERS


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Unorthodox and peculiar in all theright ways,Involuntary is the sort o

art house lm we used to see a lotmore o, but now you have to reallysearch to nd anywhere other than inlm estivals.

Swapping between ve dier-ent, and entirely unconnected stories,

Involuntary explores the Swedishmentality through the lie o two teen-age girls, a drinking session betweenriends, a grade-school teachers day atwork, a long distance bus journey and

a good old ashioned party.Teres really nothing more to

the narrative than that.Involuntaryis anything but structured, it cutsbetween stories without a word owarning and even by the close doesntnecessarily provide a payo or each othe characters, and yet somehow, itsstrangely captivating. Sadly at aroundthe 70-minute mark, it really startsto stick though, and instantly movesrom compelling to boring as the story

strands dont ever really develop.Involuntary is an interesting,

well-made lm but perhaps would havebeen better as a 30-40 minute short,although thats not to say you stillcant enjoy the majority o it. Te lmeels lielike, more like a documentarythan a work o ction, which is at thegreat credit o the cast. Its wonder-ully written and the dialogue eelsnatural, like youre sitting in the room

with characters on screen.WhileInvoluntary is worth seek-

ing out, it isnt the powerhouse itneeded to be to really make a real im-pact on the horizon. Te lm garnereda lot o hype on the estival circuit,which while certainly not unjustied,

Involuntary eels somewhat unnishedand a little too unpolished or all thepraise its getting. wo-thirds a greatlm, Involuntary misses the narrativestructure that made the likes oAmeri-

can een or Paper Heart stand out. Tenal act eels sel indulgent, discardingthe ullness o a story even the mostindie o releases need.

Tere is undoubted potentialin director Ruben stlund, and on

Involuntary, he revels in the awkwardatmosphere created between every dayolk, it just doesnt eel like the n-ished product yet.

RELEASED OCTOBER 29 (UK) TBC (USA)

DIRECTED BY RUBEN STLUND STARRING VILLMAR BJRK-MAN, LINNEA CART-LAMY, LEIF EDLUND, SARA ERIKSSON,LOLA EWERLUND, OLLE LILJAS & MARIA LUNDQVIST

INVOLUNTARY


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When Joaquin Phoenix announced hewas to quit acting to launch a music ca-reer as a hip-hop artist, the entertain-ment world didnt really know what tomake o the whole situation. It came

as such a shock rom the Oscar-nomi-nated actor, whether it was all a rouseor his genuine ambition didnt reallycome into it, everyone was so taken-a-back, their thought process didnt getonto the analysis stage.

In time, however, and ater itemerged brother-in-law Casey A-eck would lm Phoenixs transitionto make a documentary, the rumoursbegan. Anonymous sources werequoted in various publications that the

project was all a con, and the result-ing mockumentary hit the cinemaworld as something o a mix between

Borat and Tis Is Spinal ap. What wasJoaquin Phoenixs true intention? Noone really knew, though since his rstannouncement in late 2008, he hasmaintained his change o direction tobe an entirely serious venture.

Im Still Here is the resulting re-lease, and i nothing else, its a power-

ul lm, brutally harsh and eels hon-est to the core. Tough we never really

see Joaquin song-write, it glimpsesinstead into his tracks and set-up ashe tries to track down Sean DiddyCombs to produce his debut album andprepare or live appearances in Las Ve-gas and Miami. Plus a bunch o party-ing and wasting away in between.

Even ater watching the lm, itsar rom clear whether weve all allenprey to one elaborate trick, or i Phoe-nixs steps into hip-hop where romthe heart as he genuinely grew trapped

by lie as an actor. Whichever is thetruth, it doesnt really aectIm StillHere, and its so easy to get wrappedup in the events, youll orget aboutquestioning him airly early on.

Te lm depicts roughly a year,jumping airly seamlessly rom eventto event, with drips and drops oeveryday lie ticking it all along. o

Afecks praise it ows nicely, with theawkward and slight stutter you eel inthe narrative only adding to the tone

and atmosphere o the lm. It doesnteel scripted and the rough and readystyle was necessarily to make it notlook set up. It eel like a home movie,but its sophisticatedly put together, ata pace allowing the audience to digestthe shocking events without growingtired or questioning how much is ake,and how much reality.

At timesIm Still Here is as ridicu-lous asBorat, which certainly adds

weight to the naysayers arguments,and yet even through the multiple

shots o male nudity, drug taking andhuman desecration, everything eelsorganic.

Tough its unny at times, mucho the events are both shocking andheartbreaking in equal measure, as aman alls rom grace and sel-controlwith such visible and remarkableresults. Would such a high prole actorput himsel through so much obviousstress and pain, all or an intricatehoax and ambitious documentary

project? It eels real, which is eitherwonderul acting or means the plighto Phoenix is a remarkable waste otalent, devastating or his ans. Toughperhaps what is more shocking is thereaction he gets along the way, and thecomplete lack o respect he is shown athis perormances and in daily lie willhaunt any young musician.

Ten again, you dont want to bethe ool that believed it all or Afeckand Phoenix to turn around at the end

and say haha, got you!, and or thatreason, Joaquins music career wasmaybe always doomed, real or ake.

Only time will tell what happensto Joaquin, but taken at ace valuethis is a airly brilliant documentary, apowerul insight into a tortured mind,or or believers that the whole thingis a hoax, one o the greatest pieces operormance art in cinematic history.

RELEASED OUT NOW

DIRECTED BY CASEY AFFLECK STARRING JOAQUINPHOENIX, ANTONY LANGDON, SEAN COMBS & BEN STILLERIM STILL HERE


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Not on the same level as Pixar (and notnecessarily trying to be), Despicable

Me has though proven itsel to be aworthy adversary in the US box oce,chalking up almost $250m rom abudget o just under $70m. Tis yearssurprise CGI hit, like Cloudy With AChance O Meatballs in 2009, but thenthe Shrek lms have made a bucketload in their lie time too, so is Despic-

able Me actually any good?Gru (Carell) is a master criminal

who likes to think hes the most das-tardly and clever man on the planet.He invented his own reeze ray andpiranha-ring weapons, has stolenthe Eiel ower, rom Las Vegas, andleads an army o Minions, tiny pillshaped workers, who ollow his everyword. But theres a new kid on theblock, and hes already taken Grus

crown. Stealing the Great Pyramid oGiza without anyone noticing until atourist accidentally catapults himselonto it, Vector (Segel) is the envy oGru, which is something o a giganticunderstatement.

Gru needs a new plan to take thelead back in the mastermind stakes,

but luckily hes already got some-thing underway. Planning to steal theMoon rom under the worlds nose,his scheme is complex, but gets allthe more complicated when threecute orphaned girls walk into his lie.Tinking he can use them to help himcomplete his wicked scheme, the girlsquickly work their way into all areas oGrus existence, and beore he knowsit hes taking them out to the carnivaland or ice-cream. Its certainly not

the lie he was expecting, but starts toenjoy the un that they bring, meaningin the end he must decide whats moreimportant, his new ound care orthree adopted daughters, or his never-ending battle to be the most renownedcriminal mastermind the planet haseven known.

Despicable Me eels a little likePixar-lite, and though it is surprisinglyheartelt at times, doesnt have the

real character development or crat theEmeryville studio oer. Once youvelet the cinemas its surprising justhow much o a throwaway experiencethe lm becomes, as the emotionalside doesnt really stick with you. How-ever, thats not to say you wont havehad a lot o un along the way.

Te lm is action packed, andthanks to a quietly clever script, oersa bunch o unny asides, similar to theaorementionedMeatballs, that, eachor dierent reasons, will put a smileon the aces o the whole amily, romtoddler to grandparent.

Te story sticks a little in the sec-ond and third acts as the high conceptlead character struggle to really moveorward and the youngest orphanedgirl is a carbon copy oMonsters, Inc.s

Boo, but the vocal perormances aregood with a great double cameo rom30 Rocks Jack McBrayer.

I you look hard enough, certainlythere are problems to nd with Despic-able Me, but its a enjoyable and unSunday aternoon movie, primed ormultiple viewings even i you dont getanything else out o second the secondand third times around.

RELEASED OUT NOW (USA) OCTOBER 15 (UK)

DIRECTED BY PIERRE COFFIN & CHRIS RENAUD STARRINGSTEVE CARELL, JASON SEGEL, RUSSELL BRAND, KRISTEN

WIIG, JULIE ANDREWS, WILL ARNETT & JACK MACBRAYER

DESPICABLE ME


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Charlie St. Cloudis a lm almost exclu-sively or lovers o Zac Eron. Tem,and their boyriends or amilies who

have been dragged along or the ride.Or atleast thats what youll likely be-lieve i youve seen any o the promo.

His ace spans much o the posterand the trailer concentrates heavily onhis apparent swoon-worthy looks. Butbelieve it or not, and perhaps embar-rassingly or my lm taste, I walkedin heavily unconvinced that CharlieSt. Cloudcould ever be anything otherthan awul, and came out having,mostly, enjoyed it.

Te lm is about recent highschool graduate Charlie St. Cloud(Eron). About to head o or col-lege on a sailing scholarship, hes gota promising uture ahead o him,chomping at the bit to really make hismark on the world. But one night hiswhole lie is turned upside down.

Heading out quite late to meetsome riend, about to drop his brotherSam o along the way, their car is hit

by a truck, and though Charlie walksaway ne, Sam isnt so lucky. Aterpromising his brother theyll practicebaseball every day until he leaves orcollege, Charlie runs out o Sams

uneral to the place they were meant tomeet, and expecting an empty clearingin the orest, instead nds Sams spirit,and they practice the ball game all thesame.

Five years later, and ve deer-rals, down the line, Charlie is still inhis hometown, picking up pay as thecaretaker or the graveyard where hisbrother is buried. Every day he stillmeets Sam or practice, reluctant tolet go o his brothers memory, but

hes about to have someone new ghtor a share o his time. When his highschool crush comes back to town toprepare or an around the world sailingrace, he eels himsel alling or her,but at the expense o meeting Sam,and is let to decide whether he shouldlast move orward with his lie and goater a burgeoning love or the beauti-ul ess, or remain in the comort ohis daily lie and keeping a promisehe made to his now long passed away

brother.Bar the nal ew scenes at the

end, somewhat surprisingly Charlie St.Cloudmanages to steer clear o the cli-chd and twee dialogue and plot pointsyou might have expected. Te lm isquite heartelt and charming along theway, and to its credit, doesnt eel halas ake as is made out by the trailer.

It might take a bit o eort to dis-card your preconceptions, but like the

recent Step-Up 3-D, i you can go alongwith some o the nonsense and enjoythe sections that are well crated, cer-tainly theres enough to make CharlieSt. Cloudan enjoyable experience.

Based on the 2004 novel by BenSherwood, the lm is directed in theusual amily-riendly, Disney lm sorto way by Burr Steers, very similarto the lmic adaptations o NicholasSparks; Te Notebook, Te Last Song,Dear John, et al, but its lot less limp,even though it doesnt possess a greatdeal o depth itsel.

Te cast did an adequate job, anditll entertain amilies no doubt, i notbeing a classic, with Augustus Prew

providing a ew laughs as Charlies bestriend, boasting a remarkably mis-placed East London accent.

Eron himsel does a reasonablejob in what is essentially just a vehicleto get him on screen. While its an-other dramatical turn away rom HighSchool Musical, he needs to try some-thing with a lot more bite next i hereally wants to branch out and name aname or himsel as a serious actor.

Certainly ar rom perect, and

you might not be too inclined or asecond viewing unless you enjoy star-ing at the lead actors chops, CharlieSt. Cloudis surprisingly enjoyable i analmost entirely throwaway lm. Guyscertainly should throw their dignityout o the window to go see it alone,but i their girls are dragging themalong, they might just enjoy it a lotmore than they expected.

RELEASED OUT NOW (USA) OCTOBER 8 (UK)

DIRECTED BY BURR STEERS STARRING ZAC EFRON, CHARLIETAHAN, AMANDA CREW, AUGUSTUS PREW, DONAL LOGUE,KIM BASINGER, RAY LIOTTA, DAVE FRANCO & MATT WARD

CHARLIE ST.

CLOUD


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Conucius is an epic Chinese biopic

rom Hu Mei, director o, amongst oth-er things, Far From War and YongzhengWangchao, a popular historical series inChina. Detailing the lie o the reveredChinese philosopher, Meis lm aimshigh but nds it dicult to articulateConucius intriguing story.

Te historical setting itsel is therst o many problems. In her deter-mination to give a grand context toConucius dealings, Mei chooses to in-troduce a great deal o characters very

quickly, some o whom will turn out tobe ar less important than others, ina rather uddled rst act that throwstoo much on screen too quickly. Asa result, the narrative leaps betweenkingdoms, aristocratic houses andpoliticians so much that it becomeso-putting. It isnt so clustered as toorgo narrative sense, but one eelsa bit more editing and streamliningwould have helped this section hang

together better.Ten we come to Conucius exile,

which removes him rom the politicallandscape o the rst hal o the lmand dilutes some o the lms ocus.Kingdoms and territories ash by inthe blink o an eye as Conucius andhis band move around, whilst peopleroutinely turn up to tell him how badthings are in the wider world, thoughwe rarely see any o it. Likewise, a sec-

tion in the kingdom o Wei (where therulers concubine appears to hold morepower than the man himsel) movespast too quickly to make good on itsinitial promise, with Zhou Xuns cun-ning Nanzi ultimately underused. Tissecond hal also maintains the lmshabit o having characters travel hun-dreds o miles in single cuts, admitted-ly something which the story demandsrather than the narrative chooses.

Te lms ew concessions to on-

screen violence (this is not an actionlm by any stretch) unortunatelyend up being distracting rather thanexciting, probably as a result o thelms ocus on Conucius teachings(which are ar more interesting) andsome throwaway CGI that dampensthe eect when massive armies gatheron screen. When Chow Yun-Fat wasinitially cast as Conucius, many earedthat it would turn the lm into an

action extravaganza. Tat hasnt hap-pened. Te lm wisely decides to spendmore time on politics and philosophis-ing rather than on ghting, which ocourse reects its main characters ownbelies.

Flaws aside, and despite its un-even pacing, Conucius does have posi-tives. Whilst it could hardly be called atowering perormance, Chow Yun-Fatcarries the lm strongly as the ageing

philosopher, managing to establishgood relationships with a host o sub-sidiary characters. Ren Quan, as YanHui, adds some emotional depth andgets a good scene on a rozen ice lakethat is one o the lms more eectivesymbolic moments. It looks good too,Peter Paus imagery coming acrossmost strongly when it isnt trying toohard; there are a couple o slightly tweemoments, and the sub-standard (andunnecessary) CGI doesnt help, but

overall the lm is visually arresting.Conucius is a sweeping, sumptu-

ous biopic that succeeds in makingan interesting character out o a keyhistorical gure, but it is by no meansa complete success. Te narrative eelsunocused at times and the pace ischangeable, but give it a chance andthe presence o Chow Yun-Fat, at leastwill win you over.

RELEASED SEPTEMBER 24 (UK) TBC (USA)

DIRECTED BY HU MEI STARRING CHOW YUN-FAT, ZHOUXUN, LU YI, CHEN JIANBIN, YAO LU, QIAO ZHENYU, RENQUAN, JIAO HUANG, WANG BAN & ZHANG KAILI

CONFUCIUS


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Ever watched a lm that, just ve min-utes in, you have planned out entirelyin your head? And when you get to theend o the lm, you realise that, give ortake a little plot machination here or asubtle twist there, you were basically

100% correct? Im sure we all have. Buthow many o those lms do we comeout o eeling that it doesnt reallymatter? Far ewer, Id venture to guess.

Lie as We Know It opens in thatashion and, aside rom an unexpectedturn o events airly early on (the e-ects o which we shall come to in duecourse) proceeds more or less alongamiliar paths. In other words itsclichd, ormulaic and, with the excep-tion o said event, predictable. Why

then, do I not hate it?Its an interesting question. o

avoid running the risk o ruining peo-ples enjoyment o the lm, the detailso the event in question shall not begiven; suce it say, something unex-pectedly tragic happens which deneshow the lm pans out (those wishingto remain entirely in the dark shouldread no urther). It is remarkable, inact, that this development somehow

ails to scupper the lms intent: to bea light hearted romantic comedy. Whatactually happens is that, at the mo-ment o tragedy, the lms jovial tonetakes a swit, sharp leap into weepi-ness and struggles valiantly to get outagain as quickly as possible. Ater all,it wouldnt do any good to oend the

date-movie crowd looking or a goodtime. Te eect, however, is jarringand, rankly, not handled with a greatdeal o panache. One scene in particu-lar involving a lawyer, undoubtedly in-tended to re-establish the lms comictract, is particularly cringe-worthy.

But somehow the lm manages toovercome this jolt in tone and returnsto the way it had started, except thatthe shadow o the event now hangsover everything. Te act that the lm

rigidly ollows many o the genresstaples in spite o this is occasionallyproblematic but mostly ignorable, be-cause the lm has enough going or itbeyond the script to keep us involved.Katherine Heigl gives a good peror-mance as Holly, and whilst playingsexy and sweet is clearly not too di-cult or her, she also gets a couple ochances to show a bit more range. JoshDuhamel as her co-lead is airly genericbut does enough not to be annoying,

all thats every really asked o him.Te presence o Sophie, the child

our two protagonists are charged withlooking ater, gives the lm its edgeand its emotional core. Risky business,having the plot revolve undamentallyaround a third party in the relation-ship, but this ends up being a positivedecision and works in the lms avour,because whenever it strays into bland-ness it can quickly recover.

Te lm is a romantic comedywhich isnt hugely romantic (thoughthere is enough to satisy rom-comanatics) and is only sporadicallyunny, although that is a hell o a lotmore than can be said or most Hol-lywood entries in this genre. Te actuacomic tone is variable. At times the

larger than lie supporting charactersget some good lines and the two leadsdeal with the script well, although ithas to be said that the lms ew oraysinto slapstick (mainly in the rst halo the lm) all down quite spectacu-larly, though one incident involving anappy-changing debacle does conjurean amusing one liner. Elsewhere, thereis a rather misjudged scene in whichour hero chats-up the child in a comi-cal ashion that ought to cause some

grimacing in the audience.But thankully the lms underly-

ing tone o emotional maturity (how-ever hidden it may be) manages toshine through here and there, comingacross strongly enough to overshadowany slapstick and missed beats; actu-ally one moment towards the lmsconclusion is genuinely aecting, andpretty much raises this above standardare on its own.

Te lm, by its very nature, is

dealing with dark, serious ideas ina playul, comic way, which to somemight eel orced and unnecessary.Certainly the story is contrived inplaces and the tone only just managesto resurace ater that early plunge,but i youre willing to go along with itand get involved, youd have to have aheart o stone not to be at least a littlecharmed.

RELEASED OCTOBER 8

DIRECTED BY GREG BERLANTI STARRING KATHERINE HEIGL,JOSH DUHAMEL, JOSH LUCAS, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS,JEAN SMART, FAIZON LOVE & MELISSA MCCARTHY

LIFE AS WEKNOW IT


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ILLUSTRATIONS ANTHONY AUSGANG (AUSGANGART.COM)

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ILLUSTRATIONS HENRIETTA HARRIS (SCAREDYCAT.CO.NZ)

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PHOTOGRAPHY IGOR TERMENON(THERAINWILLREMAIN.BLOGSPOT.COM)PHOTO ASSISTANT MARIA JUANES

MODEL AND STYLING ANDREA DELGADO

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PHOTOGRAPHY OLIVIA LORRAINE TRAN(OLIVIAPHOTOGRAFIC.BLOGSPOT.COM)

STYLIST IZABEL CALIGIOREMAKE-UP PHOEBE GOULDING

MODEL ANNIE CALLANAN

Envy on

the inside

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Documents

FAN THE FIRE Magazine #36 - October 2010