At The Pictures: A Prophet (Un Prophete)

I thought A Prophet was a really solid example of its genre, a good film worth seeing, but not the masterpiece attributed 5 stars by the broadsheets. It’s excellently filmed, a couple of scenes in particular stand out for their brutality, and I really enjoyed a couple of ‘neat’ flourishes that added to your understanding of the characters (I won't spoil them though). Speaking of which, there’s a couple of great performances at the heart of the film; Malik’s ascension from juvenile delinquent to hardened crim, and the jail’s Corsican kingpin Cesar’s story-arc are both excellently portrayed.

Ultimately though the film felt a bit over-long at 2.5 hours, and Malik’s rise through the prison ranks reminded me of the early stages of a Grand Theft Auto game – running missions for various unsavoury types, earning your own money and power etc. These scenes could have been cut down a bit and amalgamated more to give the film a slightly punchier pace. The more surreal flourishes felt really peripheral to the rest of the film and should have either been left out entirely or expanded to have more of an impact.

Can I please nominate Sir Tony ‘Opkins for the role of Cesar in the probably inevitable US remake? Cheers.

At The Pictures: Avatar

Nothing much I can say about this. Saw it at the new “Imax” screen in Cardiff Bay (which isn’t anywhere near the size of the proper IMAX screen at London’s BFI Southbank cinema). The visuals were amazing and papered over any cracks in the plot (which was a bit clunky it’s fair to say). The worst bit was the hippy rave scene, it looked a bit like a Mass actually. The best bit is when a dragon grabs a helicopter in mid-flight and throws it at another helicopter. That was chuffing awesome.

At The Pictures: Where The Wild Things Are

Finally got around to seeing Where The Wild Things Are the other day. Used my new Chapter membership card and claimed my complimentary free ticket. The film was a bit of a mixed bag. Visually it was amazing, and the way the Wild Things were written to encapsulate various personality aspects of Max and his mother was really clever. Great performances from all involved, but James Gandolfini’s voice work is worth particular mention. Overall though it was slightly depressing for what should have been a children’s film, and the middle section drags a bit. Too many scenes of them playing various games etc. I know it has its own (not bad) soundtrack from Karen O et al, but I thought the acoustic version of Arcade Fire’s Wake Up that they used in the trailers worked so well with the imagery that it was a shame they couldn’t have worked it into the film in some way. Ah well.