The Brothers Bloom (2008)

I can only think of one reason to watch The Brothers Bloom.

I'd love to say i loved Rian Johnson's debut Brick but i didn't. Rachel Weisz and Adrian Brody are usually good in... stuff. But this was about the Ruffalo for me. Love me some Ruffalo. The ruffley buffalo- Mark Ruffalo. I'd seen the trailer for The Brothers Bloom, so i knew it was an adventure romp dealy but it's would need more than Mark Ruffalo to make a good film. Cause i presume there will be scenes without him in it. Can't be all him.

That would be awesome though....

Found on Chas Andrews Movie Blog
http://bit.ly/fgDo72

Okay, 3days into this thing and i'm already struggling to write a review. It was easy to write the last 2 because one i loved and the other i hated. The Brothers Bloom was hard for me to feel strongly about. It started off well with a riproaring opening - a prologue about the young orphan brothers, where they develop their craft of the 'con' and then you see them at the end of a recent job. After that the brothers initiate their final ('final?' 'Final, i promise this time'.) FINAL job to scam gazzilionairess Rachel Weisz, with Asian pixie dream girl/explosions expert Rinko Kikuchi in tow.

Stylistically, I caught myself finding similarities in The Brothers Bloom with Wes Anderson's stuff and there are. They have characters that hide their insecurities in big plans and plots but more obviously, there's scrummy 70's style European phototography and they're all wearing these beautiful vintage costumes. The difference being that Wes Anderson characters look like they wear Comme des Garçons because they probably do because they know what Comme des Garçons is; The Brothers Bloom only look like they do because they probably don't.   

What Rian Johnson has set out to do here is make a Conman movie, not really about the 'Con' but a character study in the con-men and the victim and i can understand why he would think that's a good idea but... I'm not sure it's possible because conman movies have to be fast-moving by their nature; you can't really stop and think about what going on cos... that's.. what you do in character studies? Hmm.

Maybe I'm being short-sighted. A film i'm pouring over this week is Inception, not strictly a Conman movie perhaps but confidence-tricks are a massive part of that film (as well as dreams, drugs, memories, consciousness, death, security- i could go on, it's got a lot on its docket...) But despite dealing with these weighty topics plus a plot, Inception's not bogged down by them- It moves very quickly not because the character's are running around while giving exposition. No, it's just that 80% of the dialogue furthers the plot or the viewer's understanding about the film's characters or devices. I've gone off on an Inception tangent, haven't i? Sorry. I just BLOODY LOVE Inception. I'm currently watching it an hour at a time, a night, like a mini-series(!?). 

So if Inception constantly working for the viewer to communicate and inform, The Brothers Bloom takes little breaks. Like the 2nd act.

I don't want to rag on the film- Everyone is great in it, especially Rinko Kikuchi playing a cartoonish, goofy, mischievous Rambo and it's very fun because everybody’s having a laugh. But then nobody's actually messing-over anyone else in this 'Conman' movie really, and i know it must seem like a bit of a tired convention to Rian Johnson, to have characters double-crossing each other, but i think that's one you should probably stick to.

I watched the Comme des Garçons Fall collection/Incepti-ahem-The Brothers Bloom on DVD, rented from LoveFilm. http://bit.ly/grnxhm

My 2011 in Movies will return with Chloe (2008)...

Love and Other Drugs (2010)

Ed Zwick's Love and Other Drugs is not a film I should be interested seeing. 

From the way it has been marketed to Ed Zwick's previous films like The Last Samurai, The Siege- 2 films so worthy and boring but I’m drawn to it because the actors, Hathaway and Gyllenhaal who are infinitely likable as well as Hank Azaria and Oliver Platt, especially. So I’m giving this film my time, as it's a departure in genre for Zwick (Not really, Codes.) and romantic comedy can be a great gamble; an audience knows the drill in terms of plot, so expectations are naturally low but a success can be magical should it happen…

Even the most diplomatic viewer would have to say that this film is mess. It's a film at war with where its set- is it the soundtrack and time-line of the 90's or the script and visual-style of the 80's? Can i find much fault with a film that opens joyously with Two Princes by Spin Doctors?

Well, that is a solid place to start but it's really down hill from there. Oliver Platt, Judy Greer and the amazing Hank Azaria are doing great work here but that was to be expected. My main issue (there are too many little ones to mention: Josh Gad doing a poor man's Jonah Hill schtick, George Segal being completely underused, etc.) with Love and Other Drugs is the issue of likeability in it's stars.

Based on their previous work, I really like Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal. I can't say either has been in any of my favourite films but I’ve always liked them in whatever they were in or in interviews. I'm not likely to ever watch Prince of Persia or The Devil Wears Prada again but they come across very well in these films. A perfect example is Brokeback Mountain.

In that film, Hathaway and Gyllenhaal play a (sham) married couple but despite the fact, that she's in the film for a short time, they really succeed in portraying people while not IN love,that have a loving relationship based on mutual respect.

So it's bewildering to me that I hated them in this film. (Or is that testament to their acting skills (?!)

Gyllenhaal plays a distasteful drugs sales rep/lady-killer/all-round douche dipper. All i could do was concentrate hate at him for the 20-30mins before Hathaway turns up.

Because then my loathing for Jake, paled in comparison to how much i wanted Anne's character to die.

'It's okay, Cody-she's got a disease- she won't survive the credits.... Shit- it's just Parkinson's-Rats!'
The character she plays suffers from extreme self-loathing- the Parkinson's seems like mild discomfort.

If she didn't suffer from that, she'd probably try to get a toe-reduction 'to allow herself to be happy with herself' or some shit. Christ.
I even was disgusted by Anne Hathaway's boobs. Boobs. Who is I to be disgusted by boobs?

Meanwhile- Jake Gyllenhaal's character is becoming more successful in his work due to the invention of Viagra because he's works for Pfizer. Oh, i forgot to mention this was based on the life of a real cock-sweet-salesman. Well that's cos so does the film- it's not really that concerned with that stuff once Hathaway's character arrives and when it goes back to see how Gyllenhaal's work-life is ticking over, it seems really miscellaneous and plodding.

But i was surprised that after the 1st hour, the film really improved. (If 30mins of something can redeem the previous 1hr of shit.) It starts saying insightful things about what builds relationships. Like if Hathaway and Gyllenhaal's characters are dicks (They are.) and their relationship is held together with the glue of great sex (Sex glue.) and it's not like they have many redeeming features or seek humanitarian endeavours (They really don't-when Hathaway sorts out bus trips to Canada for cheap drugs for oldies, you know it's just for the climatic chase. Actually, there's a great throwaway line, where Gyllenhaal asks if they leave a cafe *sigh* for steamy sex, before being served, does he have to tip!) What is it that they do like about each other? Why are they attracted to each other?

Hathaway asks around the 80min point (would have saved a lot of time if she'd brought it up 40mins before...) 'God knows I’m a hideous yeast infection of a bitch, I am rarely nice to you, It's not even clear what i do while you're at work selling penis pills. (Artist? Waitress? Grey market pharmaceutical travel agent?) - I mean what is it about me that you could possibly like?'

Gyllenhaal answers ''Look… i don't know but when we're together, we make each other happy and… maybe that's enough.' (It is.) 
That personally resonates volumes with me but it doesn't make for a 90mins in the cinema. I'm certain i wouldn't have given this film my full concentration at home on TV or DVD.

I watched Love and Other Drugs at the cinema, on its UK opening day.
My 2011 in Movies will return with The Brothers Bloom (2009)...

The Pilot - Hollywood Shuffle (1987)

The inaugural/test post of my new blog, My 2011 in Movies and I'm gonna start with Hollywood Shuffle.



I've looked forward to watching this movie, for a while. 
I love Black American comedy. I love Chappelle's Show and The Boondocks. I was weaned on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The most entertaining film i saw in 2010 was Black Dynamite (Dyna-mite, Dyna-mite!); I love Blazing Saddles and even the Wayans Bros have a sparkling gem in their shitty output, 'Don't be a Menace...'; so went into this movie with high expectations, not knowing much about the writer/director Robert Townsend or cast except hearing that the film is a cult classic...


You know when you listen to a piece of music or see a movie and realise, 'Oh, so this is what that comes from...' or 'ohh-that was based on this...' This is was the feeling impossible to shake while watching Townsend's not-quite-linear/not-quite sketch-movie satire about the role of Black actors in Hollywood. I wrote the previous paragraph before watching the movie and with the exception of Blazing Saddles (because it pre-dates it), everything i mentioned would not be here without Hollywood Shuffle (Also there also shades of Gervais & Merchant's 'Extras'). In hindsight, this movie was made by a supergroup of Afro-American comedy makers:-  from Keenan Ivory Wayans to Rusty Cundieff who later went on work on Chappelle's Show as well as John Witherspoon and Paul Mooney. I had noticed that the film was co-written by Keenan Ivory Wayans, during the start titles and it made me make a mental *hurm*. To be fair, as I mentioned he did make 'Don't Be a Menace...' and also I'm Gonna Git You Sucka but he also made the abhorrent first 2 'Scary Movie's' and White Chicks. They're horrible because they lack any subtlety. Hollywood Shuffle is a masterclass in crediting it's audience's intelligence with sketches like this pearl, Black Acting School (FFWD to 3.40mins)-

I know i suggested fast-forwarding to the broader/jokey'er second-half of the video above but really it's the first-half that illustrates my point because it makes reference to 'Roots/Color Purple' style fare:- it's satirising well-made culturally-defining stuff. Today, movies spoof You-Tube memes. As we know, Scary Movie was a spoof of Scream which was a satire of horror films in the first place!
Anchoring the film, is the story of Townsend's protagonist, an actor working fast-food and the audition circuit while waiting for his big break, which of it's self is nothing new but since being black, the only avenue open to our hero is auditioning to play pimps or slaves or thieves which is the internal conflict going on in the movie- Do you really you really want to work in an industry where you only get to protract negative stereotypes/images? or can you really be improving your lifestyle, if you're damaging your culture?
And if that wasn't confusing enough, there's a moment in a sketch based on a urban-version of Siskel and Ebert's 'At The Movies' where the 2 'street' film critics actually make a crappy non-sensical flick called  'Attack of the Killer Street Pimps' their movie of the week(?!) - Begging the question, do they like it because they're so indoctrinated by crap or that there's absolutely nothing better in the marketplace... or both?


This was such a great movie to start my blog. I really liked it. It didn't blow me away and it only really suffers in the respect that it kinda lacks memorable set-pieces but it's great 4star/80%/A- stuff


Hollywood Shuffle is not available on DVD in the UK but in their gracious wisdom, LoveFilm are streaming it free on their website to their subscribers here- http://bit.ly/gChV0x


My 2011 in Movies will return with Love and Other Drugs...