pathways, December 2009
films:
- A Christmas Carol (out now)
- Avatar (December 17)
- Bright Star (December 26)
- Nowhere Boy (December 26)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
starring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Michael J. Fox.
directed by Robert Zemeckis
rated PG (mild themes and scary scenes). 96 mins.
Walt Disney: out now
reviewed by Peter Malone MSC
Quite an exhilarating experience of Charles Dickens' classic tale of miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, his meanness to his clerk, Bob Cratchit, his unwillingness to celebrate Christmas with his nephew, Fred, and his miserable and lonely life. Though seen many times on screen, the story is always welcome.
What makes this version even more welcome is the amazing technology that has been used to bring Scrooge and Dickens' characters and fantasy to life. The 3D version is well worth seeing for its animation and production designed to display the depth photography all the way through.
While the film stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge (as well as the three Ghosts), the technique used is that of 'performance capture' on which animation is built, using the performances of the cast (who do not have to don period costumes so can concentrate solely on acting; effects will do the rest). Once one gets used to the idea and accepts it, it makes for a different kind of experience, having the benefit, not just of the voices of the cast, but their performances with added enormous visual flair for characters and backgrounds.
Carrey is very good as Scrooge (affecting an accent not unlike that of Alistair Sim in the classic version from the 1950s) but has moments of his familiar body agility and movements.
The version captures the mood of Dickensian London. We are immersed in the life of the city as well as isolated in Scrooge's home and accompany him on his flying journeys into the past and into the future. Zemeckis' screenplay nicely reminds us of the Christian dimension of the feast of Christmas with images of churches and crosses and the singing of many carols. And, of course, Scrooge's meanness reminds us that the celebration is not about money or commercialism -- if only that were true these days.
Fr Peter Malone MSC directs the film desk of SIGNIS: the World Association of Catholic Communicators, and is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.
AVATAR
starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
directed by James Cameron.
rated M (violence). 161 min.
Twentieth Century Fox: out December 17
reviewed by Peter W. Sheehan
This is a sci-fi fantasy that has been long-awaited, and is widely available in 2-D. Interest in its release has been less about its content, than about how was it made.
The movie is a revolutionary rethink of animation know-how and stunningly recasts its story in an entirely new form. It has all the expected elements of fantasy adventure, including warring factions, extravagantly designed production sets, ferocious battle sequences, and some surprising elements of sensuality. All are achieved in a form that expresses a unique integration of fantasy animation and live performance.
What is most notable about this lengthy film, which is a fast moving tale of high adventure, is the radically different technology that lies behind it. Director James Cameron, who gave us "Titanic" and "Aliens", uses synthetic, computer-generated actors, who appear to be real, but who do not exist in any physical sense. Technology allows Cameron to project directly onto a video screen how the actor's virtual characters interact with the digital world in real time, while he adjusts and directs the scenes just as if he is shooting live action. The special cameras are able to transfer human facial expressions to the computer-generated images, and they simulate human sight stereoscopically. The result of the whole process is amazing.
For those steeped in the craft of animation, this movie is something of a mind-blowing experience. It plays fancifully, and intensely, with the dissociation of normal consciousness to make it seem that something else entirely different is happening.
Many aspects of the movie are nightmare material for children; for young children, the dividing line in this movie between reality and the scary unreal is just too thin. But James Cameron, with the help of his special effects team, has delivered a startlingly different movie that offers cutting-edge animation. The film is bound to have great adult appeal.
Peter W. Sheehan is associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.
BRIGHT STAR
starring Ben Wishaw, Abbie Cornish Kerry Fox and Paul Schneider
directed by Jane Campion
rated PG (mild themes). 119 mins.
Hopstoch: out December 26
reviewed by Peter Malone MSC
John Keats' short 25 year life was not filled with excitement and adventure as those of his two Romantic contemporaries, Byron and Shelley (the two 1987 films about them, The Haunted Summer and Gothic, certainly illustrate this). Nor was he as long-lived and influential like the former generation of Romantics, Coleridge and Wordsworth (whose early career was dramatised in the 2001 Pandaemonium).
This background is by way of introducing Jane Campion's rather quiet and intimate portrait of Keats' last years and his love for and engagement to Fanny Brawne. Apart from a glimpse of Keats' coffin being carried across the Spanish Steps in Rome (where his room can be visited still), everything takes place on Hampstead Hill near the London of 1819, the woods at the back of the house in a pretty spring and a snow-clad winter but, mainly, interiors. Keats was a poet of interiors, of musings.
This certainly does not make for a slambang action show for the perpetual-texters or the internet surfers. But, it would not be a bad thing for an audience to slow down if it could and simply be with people who lived at a slower pace and had time to feel and reflect.
For those who do go, I hope they don't make that instant dash for exits as soon as final credits appear as throughout these credits, Ben Wishaw recites Keats' Ode to a Nightingale.
Jane Campion's films are varied but they all take on a female perspective. Fanny Brawne and her love for Keats are the principal focus here.
This is a very refined film, a picture of gentle passion. It is a tribute to the quiet genius of Keats' imagination and love of language.
NOWHERE BOY
starring Aaron Johnson, Anne Marie Duff and Kristin Scott Thomas
directed by Sam Taylor-Wood
rated M (coarse language, mature themes and sex scene). 97 mins.
Icon: out December 26
reviewed by Peter Malone MSC
Nowhere Man was a popular Beatles' song. Nowhere Boy is the story of the boyhood and adolescence of John Lennon. Even if an audience is not attracted by Lennon's life, Nowhere Boy is a serious look at a post-war British family, its trials and the effect on a young boy. But, he did become, both in life and in death, one of the most celebrated of 20th century personalities.
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