Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
1981 was one of the most violent years in New York’s history. In a city with the history of New York, that is saying something. A Most Violent Year brings you into that city. It depicts a dark, dank place where violence and corruption are such a normal part of day-to-day life, that they are as common to the people involved as they would be shocking to you or me.
Testament of Youth is based on the First World War memoir of the same name, which was written by Vera Brittain. The novel has been widely proclaimed as a classic, as it represented the one female voice among a plethora of males ones looking at the war. It has previously been presented as a TV production, but this is the first time it has made its way to the big screen, under the direction of James Kent.
Making the leap into the directorial chair has scuppered many respected figures within the film industry. Last year, Wally Pfister made the transition from cinematographer to director with Transcendence, a science fiction film that was universally panned. This year, we see Alex Garland, the writer of films like 28 Days Later and Sunshine, make a similar jump with his debut directorial feature, Ex Machina.
At this early stage of the year, I don’t think it’s a stretch to call American Sniper the most controversial film released so far. It is yet another one based off of a book, this time the autobiography of Chris Kyle, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US History. A title that should probably flash a big red blinking light in the direction of where this film could go wrong.
It would be easy to dismiss Wild by its trailer. It looks like the latest in a long line of self-help films. Movies like Eat, Pray, Vomit, which hide behind some faux spiritualism and in reality are just a load of old shite. Yet, within minutes of this film starting you are quickly stripped of that feeling. As Reese Witherspoon, portraying Cheryl Strayed, pulls the nail off of her big toe, there was an audible gasp around the cinema I was in. For the faint of heart this is not.
I can’t claim to know much about jazz. In fact, I can barely claim to know anything about it. While I have some fleeting knowledge of most musical genres, jazz continues to be a mystery to me. I also doubt I’m alone in that. Jazz isn’t a genre that gets much love in the here and now. However, no one, and I mean no one, should allow that to stop them going to see Whiplash.
Dark fairy tales are all the rage at the moment. With authors like Neil Gaiman proving popular and cinema adaptations of classic Disney fare like Snow White and Maleficient, it seems like the classic stories are back in vogue. Therefore, an adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s musical, Into the Woods, seemed like an inevitability. The musical tells the story of several classic fairy tale characters; Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel, but rather than ending the stories at the traditional time, we go beyond that and see what happens after the happily ever after. Sadly, it’s not quite as happy as you might suppose.
Foxcatcher is a film that gives a lot of people a chance to shine. A look at the lives of David and Mark Schultz, both of whom were Olympic amateur wrestlers and John E. Du Pont, an American millionaire and wrestling fan who runs Foxcatcher Farms on his mansion estate and wishes for it to be the headquarters of the USA’s wrestling program. It’s a true life story and one that I shall not spoil for those of you that are unaware of its outcome, needless to say, there is a reason it has made its way onto film.
The Theory of Everything is the story of Stephen Hawking, a figure that even the most scientifically block headed will be well aware of. Directed by James Marsh and based off the memoir of Hawking’s first wife, Jane Wilde Hawking, it stars Eddie Redmayne as the scientist who goes from a young and hopeful Cambridge PHD student, to a disabled, but world-renowned, scientist. Hawking’s story is fascinating and even if this film occasionally views like a hagiography, it still has a lot in it to recommend.
So we are now over a week into 2015 and the year is setting itself up, whether good or bad, to at least be interesting. In the past I have done musical predictions, which I will continue to do this year, but I have decided to mix them up with film and maybe even a couple of gaming ones.
Ramblings About Wrestling 