What I did in December: Took a train ride across India and witnessed the end of the world (twice)

I haven't seen that many films in December. Mainly due to Christmas and all the time that takes up. Plus I seem to be ill with cold/cough once a week which limits me to the sofa or bed for a couple of days. However I did see a couple of interesting things to finish out the year.

The Darjeeling Limited: Out of all the films by Wes Anderson so far, my favorite is The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I know I am in a minority here but its just the one that I had the most fun with. The Darjeeling Limited has been hailed by some as his best work so far which I wouldn't agree with. Its a very well made and touching story of three brothers who travel across India in the titular train to see their mother after their father passes away. Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman play the brothers and all give great performances. I liked this film I just prefer The Life Aquatic and The Royal Tennenbaums. I think due to the critical acclaim I expected something more. ***1/2

Southland Tales: Let me get something out of the way first, Donnie Darko is one of my favorite films of the decade so far and I have been anxious to see what Richard Kelly would come up with next. However I am not biased and predisposed to love anything he does unconditionally. This film has had a troubled history after its debut at Cannes in 2006 and to be honest although I like the film I can see why it was so slated. Unless you have read the three prequel graphic novels its pretty impenetrable. The newly added prologue which supposedly explains what preceded in the books doesn't help much as there is a moment towards the end where its supposedly a big A-HA! moment. However you wont get this unless you have read the books. The first cut didn't even have the prologue so no wonder everyone was so baffled. The books also reveal more details about a prophetic screenplay written by the porn star Krysta Now which is missing from the film and makes the ending make more sense. Now this is the films major flaw and it doesn't make sense to me that you would rely on everyone reading graphic novels available in comic shops in order to make the movie make sense, why not make the film longer? The film sadly has other flaws. There are too many characters that go nowhere, cute as she is its never clear what Krysta's motivation is and a lot of the performances by the characters playing the Neo-Marxists threaten to go over the top. I really like The Rock in films ( I love Welcome to the Jungle and even liked Doom) and I think he has huge charisma, but he was wrong for the part of Boxer Santaros. To convey the characters confusion and at the same time huge charisma you really needed a stronger actor, someone like a younger Antonio Banderas would have been great. Supposedly the film took a while to be released as it needed extensive effects work. Sadly it doesn't show, the powerful finale is scuppered somewhat by the effects work which was very poor in some shots.

Now what is good about the film and why did I like it overall? If you have read any Philip K Dick and particularly the novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch then you will understand what Kelly was trying to do here. The film takes a lot of Dick's themes such as paranoia, conspiracy and futuristic drugs and puts them into a crazy pop culture blender. Sean William Scott and Justin Timberlake also put in great performances here and have the most moving storyline between their characters as former soldiers in the war on terror. Timberlake in particular is in one of my favorite scenes of the year where he injects some fluid karma and then trips out in a musical setting, the look of sadness on his scarred face as the song fades is very moving. Kelly has also portrayed Los Angeles as a place of chaos and no end of quirky characters which is great and the film is well shot. The soundtrack and score by Moby is one of the best of the year including songs by Blur, The Pixies and The Killers. The prologue also includes footage of the supposed nuclear attack on Texas captured on camcorder and is very haunting. The finale as well is quite powerful as all the plot threads come together and it has one hell of a last line. Since watching the film I have read some theories on the IMDB about what was going on and that the film may well be a re-telling on the Book of Revelation which makes sense in hindsight.So there you are, Its a film I could well like even more the more I watch it or its a film I could absolutely hate after a second viewing. I cant wait to watch it again though. ****

The Simpsons Movie:  I heard so many bad things about this during its cinema release that I decided to wait for DVD. I'll say this: I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in the cinema. Its basically an extended episode that has slightly better animation. That's not necessarily a bad thing you say? No you are right and the film has some genuinely funny moments. I just wish that they had been a bit more imaginative with it. A few years back there was a rumor (that turned out to be an April fools joke) that the Simpsons movie would be made but in three parts. The First would be traditional animated style, the second would be stop motion animation and the third would be live action with the actors wearing prosthetics to get the cartoon look. Now this sounded like a genius idea to me and I was gutted when I heard it was bullshit. Hopefully next time we will get something a bit more imaginative. ***

Black Christmas: I haven't seen the original that this is a remake of so I can't comment on its quality in that department. However this was tons of fun, I rented this at a point where I was just about sick of Christmas. Usually in the run up to Christmas I watch tons of films set at Christmas time. The usual ones being The Nightmare before Christmas, Bad Santa, Gremlins, Deception and er Die Hard. This year as Christmas has been rammed down our throats on TV since the end of October I didn't feel like it. I cant tell you how cathartic it was watching teenagers get there eye balls ripped out on Christmas eve. Its not high art and I probably enjoyed it more than I probably should of. Next year though if you are sick of it and want a few laughs, give it a look. ***

I Am Legend: Possibly the most depressing movie ever released over the Christmas period. I liked this film however as I have read the book I was hoping for a more faithful adaptation. Its always baffled me how before this film came out people would talk about it having a $100 million plus budget. You could probably do a faithful version of the book for about $5 million. The book is mostly psychological terror and is scary due to Richard Matheson's descriptions of the sounds coming through Robert Neville's house at night. Now I think they got the psychological aspect right. Will Smith gives an awesome performance as someone slowly losing their mind, he ditches the usual trademark charm as he goes round a haunting, deserted New York talking to mannequins and his dog. In these scenes the film is great and you could be forgiven for thinking in the first twenty minutes that you are watching a classic in progress. Then when the 'darkseekers' turn up it all goes wrong. The scary vampire like creatures of the novel have been ditched in favor of unconvincing CGI bald fellas. Apart from some good jumps they just aren't scary. Overall the film is worth a watch but not all it could have been. They have been trying to make a new version of I Am Legend for years, maybe in another 30 years we will get a truly great version, maybe.***

And so 2007 comes to an end. 2008 is now here. There are some great films on the way in 2008 including The Dark Knight, Cloverfield and No Country for Old Men. A preview of these films will be on the site at some point. In the meantime happy new year!