skip to main |
skip to sidebar
...
Rating 2
Directed by Simon Fellows
Written by Jayson Rothwell, loosely based on ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll
Starring Maggie Grace (Alice), Danny Dyer (Whitey), Nathaniel Parker (Harry Hunt), Pam Ferris (The Duchess), Matt King (Gonzo), Antony Higgins (Rex), Paul Kaye (Caterpillar), Gary Beadle (Felix Chester), Steve Haze (Midge), Amanda Boxer (Bag Lady) and Bronagh Gallagher (Hattie)
An American student is knocked over by a black cab while being chased by a couple of goons. Although she is not seriously hurt, the collision leaves her suffering from amnesia. Whitey, the taxi driver, puts her in the back of his vehicle and says he will help her, but first he has to collect a gift for a notorious underworld boss and he is already late. Alice is thrown into a surreal after-dark world of crime and bizarre characters as she tries to remember who she is and get home.
...
‘Malice in Wonderland’ is an unusual take on the Lewis Carroll story, played out as a kind of comic version of a Guy Ritchie gangster flick. The film critic Kim Newman, writing in Empire magazine, called it a “genuinely original interpretation”, but in general it was received with far less welcoming words. Ten reviews collected at Rotten Tomatoes result in a 10% rotten rating.
I really wanted to like the film and I was certainly looking forward to watching it. In the event, I cannot pretend that it wasn’t a slight disappointment. The look of the film, all tacky neon and suffused lighting, is effective, but the performances are relentlessly quirky, which can become become rather irritating.
Danny Dyer, who has recently attracted much bad publicity as a result of an ill-informed and badly thought-out ghost-written item in the utterly appalling and reprehensible lads mag ‘Zoo’, plays to type as a small-time crook. He has so far failed to build on the early promise he showed as an actor. Maggie Grace, in the central role, phones in an uninvolved and uninvolving performance. She has been effective in the past, but here she simply seems miscast, all at sea and uninterested. She signed up as a last-minute replacement for Mischa Barton, but she seems to have no great passion for the part. However, in the original story Alice is a largely uninvolved and bemused bystander to the surreal events taking place around her, so perhaps Grace has not approached her performance without giving it at least some thought.
I liked ‘Malice in Wonderland’ enough to watch it twice, but I cannot imagine it is a film I would recommend to anyone else. The film it most reminds me of is Martin Scorsese’s 1985 black comedy ‘After Hours’.
Review posed 23 May 2010
...
...
Rating 2½
Directed by Robin Swicord
Written by Robin Swicord, based on the novel by Karen Jay Fowler
Kathy Baker (Bernadette), Maria Bello (Jocelyn), Hugh Dancy (Grigg Harris), Amy Brenneman (Silvia Avila), Maggie Grace (Allegra Avila), Emily Blunt (Prudie Drummond), Marc Blucas (Dean Drummond), Jimmy Smits (Daniel Aliva), Kevin Zegers (Trey), Lyn Redgrave (Mama Sky), Nancy Travis (Cat), Parisa Fitz-Henley (Corinne), Gwendoline Yeo (Dr Samantha Yip) and Miguel Nájera (Señor Obando)
When Bernadette, who has been married and divorced six times, meets Prudie, a young and somewhat priggish French teacher, at a Jane Austen film festival, she decides they should form a book club devoted exclusively to Jane Austen, with one member for each of Austen’s six novels. She chooses her friends Jocelyn and Silvia – and Silvia’s daughter Allegra, initially coming along with some reluctance, simply to support her mother, who is still coming to terms with the breakdown of her marriage. Hopes that Silvia’s husband Daniel would be the sixth member of the group are dashed when they separate, but Jocelyn brings Grigg, an enthusiastic science fiction fan, to the first meeting, hoping to hook him up with Sylvia. Grigg agrees to read Jane Austen if Jocelyn will, in turn, read the science fiction author Ursula K Le Guin. With each book, the lives and loves of the six members of the club seem to increasingly match those of various characters and stories.
...
Karen Jay Fowler is an author who, prior to the publication of her 2004 novel ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’, was best known for writing science fiction and fantasy with a slant towards feminism. ‘The Jane Austen Book Club’ incorporates the sci-fi theme through the character Grigg Harris, who Jocelyn first encounters in a hotel where a Buffy the Vampire Slayer convention is taking place. The previous writing credits of Robin Swicord, who directed the film and wrote the screenplay, include the films ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, ‘Matilda’ and ‘Practical Magic’, a film that is often derided, but which I like very much.
It was the cast, including Maggie Grace, Marc Blucas and Nancy Travis, all of whom I like a lot, that first pricked my interest in watching this film. I am not unfamiliar with the work of Jane Austen, having read the six novels more than twenty-five years ago, and having seen various film and television adaptations. At least twice in the film reference is made to film adaptations of the novels being no substitute for the real thing, which holds a kind of irony somehow.
The film is very nicely put together and the acting, as might be expected, is excellent. It is an expertly crafted ensemble piece. Of course, it is very contrived and thinking about it afterwards, I have found myself becoming slightly irritated at the memory, more than anything else. While I was watching the film I was struck by the very artificial nature of the dialogue. Do people really conduct conversations like this? Within the constructs and confines of a book club gathering, perhaps, but surely not otherwise.
Prudie is, perhaps, the character I struggled most to understand. She is trapped in an unhappy marriage, not because she and Dean do not love each other, but, so it seems, simply because they have different intellectual needs. Dean is a sports fan who does not read books. Prudie obsesses on a student at the school where she teaches, a good looking boy who is playing the lead role in a school play, and appears to be heading towards having an affair with him. The suggestion that, when it seems their marriage has hit rock bottom and there is no way back, it simply takes Dean reading ‘Persuasion’ in one single all-night session, while Prudie sleeps in his arms, to put everything right, is more far-fetched than any of the science fiction referenced in the film.
It also seems a little odd that Prudie, a scholar of French language, who randomly throws rather pretentious sentences spoken in French into her conversations, and, judging by her appearance, is a follower of French fashion and style, has never been to France, but I guess that is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility.
I am not sure exactly how to interpret the reason for Allegra’s attraction to extreme pursuits (skydiving, wall climbing), usually resulting in injuries requiring hospitalisation, and how, or so it would seem from the way it is presented to us in the film, this relates to the fact that she is a lesbian. What did work very well was her initial barely concealed antipathy towards Prudie and her exasperation at Prudie’s decidely neurotic and precious manner. I am surprised that we don’t see more of Maggie Grace, whose performance here extends beyond the wounded vulnerability that was her stock-in-trade in the television series ‘Lost’ and in the remake of ‘The Fog’.
Jocelyn attempts to play matchmaker and bring Grigg and Sylvia together, despite the fact that it is blatantly obviously from the very first moment they meet that Grigg is strongly attracted to her, something that we seem to be required to believe she doesn’t notice. Grigg thinks she is trying to hook him up with Allegra, something that confuses him even more when he discovers that Allegra is a lesbian. I have no idea how he could possibly have come to this conclusion. Eventually, Jocelyn becomes jealous of the attention she thinks Grigg is giving to Sylvia and she and Grigg spend the book club gatherings sniping at one another. It was, I thought, a little over-cooked and heavy-handed.
These criticisms aside, it was a very enjoyable film. However, the ending was far too neatly sugary and sentimental for me and for that I have lowered my rating from a three to two-an-a-half.
Each of the main six characters in the film is related to one of the six novels. Allegra is ‘Sense and Sensibility’; Bernadette is ‘Pride and Prejudice’; Grigg is ‘Northanger Abbey’ (which is my favourite book of the six); Jocelyn is ‘Emma’; Prudie is ‘Mansfied Park’; Sylvia is ‘Persuasion’. Although I think they can each be related to more than one character and more than one book, Allegra is principally Marianne in ‘Sense and Sensibility’, Bernadette is Mrs Gardiner in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Jocelyn is the title character in ‘Emma’, Prudie is Anne Elliot in ‘Persuasion’ and Sylvia is Fanny Price in ‘Mansfield Park’. Grigg is an amalgamation of several male characters in the books.
‘The Jane Austen Book Club’ has a 65% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes from 109 reviews. The reviews, although more favourable than not, were mixed. Tim Robey, reviewing the film for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, thought it, “Offers a distinctive vision of Hell – a plane of being where there are only six novels that matter, and they’re consulted like all-purpose agony aunts. There’s no relationship crisis in this ensemble comedy-drama that Jane can’t solve, if you buy into the film’s therapeutic brand of chick-lit-crit.”
The film had a worldwide box office gross a little over $7 million.
Review posted 24 July 2009
...
...
Rating 2
Directed by Marc Klein
Written by Marc Klein from the novel by Melissa Bank
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alec Baldwin, Maggie Grace, James Naughton, Jill Eikenberry and Vanessa Branch
This light romantic film, based on two chapters/stories in the Melissa Bank novel ‘The Girls Guide To Hunting and Fishing’ (‘My Old Man’ and ‘The Worst Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine’), is described as a romantic comedy, but that is not what it is. At the same time, it is too frothy to call a drama. It has something of the feel of lightweight 1950s films like ‘Roman Holiday’ and ‘Sabrina’, although this is not my attempt to suggest that Sarah Michelle Gellar should be thought of as the new Audrey Hepburn.
‘Suburban Girl’ had successful screenings at the TriBeCa Film Festival in April and May 2007, but was then released direct to DVD. The film is just about of cinema-release standard, despite the ridiculous wig Gellar is required to wear in the opening scene, but even with her name attached to it I don’t imagine it would have made much of an impact at the box office – and neither is it likely to make enough of an impression to rid us of the on-going misconception that she is typecast as a horror “scream queen”.
Although she is clearly too old for the role, Gellar puts in a perfectly decent performance in the role of Brett Eisenberg, a somewhat insecure and sometimes almost childlike associate editor in a small publishing firm. She is undoubtedly the best thing about the film. Alec Baldwin plays Archie Knox, the older man she falls in love with when he takes her under his wing.
The potential ick factor of the relationship between the young woman and older man is largely held at bay, although I am not sure what qualities Brett sees in Archie to make her fall for him so completely. Presumably, she is looking for a father figure; something the film vaguely touches on in her relationship with her actual father – not to mention Archie’s power, wealth and apparent sophistication. However, I cannot escape the impression that he is persistently borderline condescending and patronising, something that I also felt came across in the book.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is one of the most non-sexual actors I can bring to mind. It’s difficult to put my finger on exactly what it is, but this is something I have always felt about her. It is not intended in any way as a criticism – Gellar is an actress I like very much. However, it could get in the way of a film dealing with a romantic/sexual relationship. In the end, it doesn’t prove to be an obstacle here, even if once again I don’t really see what attracts Brett to Archie so much, although the older man taking the easy route with his young conquest is plain enough.
The film contains every cliché possible. The characters are tissue-thin, with only Brett and Archie given any kind of substance. Maggie Grace is wasted in the role of Brett’s best friend. Vanessa Branch does nothing with the role of Brett’s new, predatory editor, coming off like a caricature out of ‘Ugly Betty’, rather than someone capable of making or breaking a career in the publishing world.
I would have liked to see Brett’s relationship with her father and her family explored in more detail. There was a rather strange publicity still released prior to the DVD that shows Brett sitting in the child seat of a supermarket trolley being wheeled around a store by her father. The story references her father’s view of her as a “child”, but thankfully, this particular piece of decidedly odd imagery did not make it into the film itself.
I think the film in general would have worked better given a more serious approach. Having said that, it was easy enough to watch and I quite enjoyed it, more so in the second half when the story began to adopt a sharper tone. It’s another half-decent addition to Gellar’s portfolio of films, but I hope that one day she finds a film role to genuinely make the most of her quirky screen persona.To put my comments into perspective, my partner thinks the films is a “sack of shit”.
...
...
Rating 3
Directed by Rupert Wainwright
Written by Cooper Layne (based on the 1980 John Carpenter and Debra Hill screenplay)
Starring Tom Welling, Maggie Grace and Selma Blair
The John Carpenter original of this film is my all-time favourite horror film – and that suggests I should hate this decidedly waterlogged remake. However, I might just be the only person in the world who actually likes it.
It hardly needs to be said that it’s not a match for the original, but I think on its own terms it’s a great little film. I’ve watched it close to half-a-dozen times now and quite frankly the antipathy towards it makes no sense to me - apart, I guess, from a general resistance towards remakes.
Tom Welling is an agreeable enough lead actor. He’s bland and easily forgettable rather than charismatic, but he’s not dislikeable. Selma Blair has the impossible task of taking on the Adrienne Barbeau role. Possibly trying the replicate the same sexy purr wasn’t a good idea, but otherwise she brings her usual Selma Blair thing to the film. Maggie Grace is great. The film critic Matthew Turner, reviewing the film for View London, wrote, “Grace employs her trademarked wounded, fragile look (that serves her so well in Lost) to good effect.” I think that’s a pretty good thumbnail description of her screen persona.
‘The Fog’ is no doubt destined to remain forever written off as a woeful turkey, but I see no reason why I won’t continue to like it. I really like the small fishing community setting. I suspect this is also one of the reasons why I like ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ so much. It just seems to be a good setting for horror films....
An American student is knocked over by a black cab while being chased by a couple of goons. Although she is not seriously hurt, the collision leaves her suffering from amnesia. Whitey, the taxi driver, puts her in the back of his vehicle and says he will help her, but first he has to collect a gift for a notorious underworld boss and he is already late. Alice is thrown into a surreal after-dark world of crime and bizarre characters as she tries to remember who she is and get home.
‘Malice in Wonderland’ is an unusual take on the Lewis Carroll story, played out as a kind of comic version of a Guy Ritchie gangster flick. The film critic Kim Newman, writing in Empire magazine, called it a “genuinely original interpretation”, but in general it was received with far less welcoming words. Ten reviews collected at Rotten Tomatoes result in a 10% rotten rating.
Danny Dyer, who has recently attracted much bad publicity as a result of an ill-informed and badly thought-out ghost-written item in the utterly appalling and reprehensible lads mag ‘Zoo’, plays to type as a small-time crook. He has so far failed to build on the early promise he showed as an actor. Maggie Grace, in the central role, phones in an uninvolved and uninvolving performance. She has been effective in the past, but here she simply seems miscast, all at sea and uninterested. She signed up as a last-minute replacement for Mischa Barton, but she seems to have no great passion for the part. However, in the original story Alice is a largely uninvolved and bemused bystander to the surreal events taking place around her, so perhaps Grace has not approached her performance without giving it at least some thought.
