Arts
10
The Siren 23.03.10
Whip it good!
5 Films to get you in the mood for travelling… by Katie Godwin
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas This is a psychedelic movie that you should definitely watch if your planning to embark on one of those crazy (and illegal) holidays this summer. It’s about a whacko journalist and his lawyer and the bizarre adventures they have on their journey to Vegas and during their stay there. They steal a car brokers pen, try to kill a bat with a fly swatter and cause a hitch hiker to jump out of their car in terror but these things are nothing compared to the strange things they see when the drugs really start to kick in… tripping much? Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Whip it
Starring: Ellen Page Directed by: Drew Barrymore Reviewed by: David Ryan
Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a 17 yearold from Bodeen, Texas with a kind of shy, rebellious streak in her. Her mom (Marcia Gay Harden) is a former beauty pageant queen and wants to guide her daughter through societal’s poise contests. Bliss blows one opportunity when she dyes her hair blue and sheepishly goes on stage to give a standard answer about feminine admiration. While her best friend, Pash (Alia Shawkat) is riding good grades to her ticket out of town, Bliss never vocalizes any definitive ideas about her own future. That’s when a flyer for a roller derby exhibition in Austin comes her way. Taken with the kind of carefree punk-like attitude of the all-girls sport, Bliss is hesitant but open to the suggestion of tryouts by one of the
Hurl Scout stars, Malice In Wonderland (Kristen Wiig). Strapping on her old Barbie skates, Bliss gets to practicing and soon becomes the leading speedster on the track, a benefit where lapping your opponents score you points. Earning the name Babe Ruthless, Bliss joins fellow teammates Smashley Simpson (Drew Barrymore), Bloody Holly (Zoe Bell) and Rosa Sparks (Eve) on the Hurl Scouts and almost instantly supplants their satisfaction with being the worst team in the league. Their coach, Razor (Andrew Wilson, brother of Luke & Owen) can’t get them to learn plays. But who cares? It’s all about having fun and those frequent bruises aren’t going to stop them. What might though is rival
A transit van loaded with drag queens, ribbons and ABBA music driving around Australia, what could be any more fun? Three men/ women(?) journey into a homophobic world, performing 80s dance routines and battling those who frown upon them with a powerful, humorous wit as well as a few unexpected punches. Although for these drags it’s more than just a fieldtrip but a journey on which each of them have to combat their loneliness and exclusion. This is a really heart warming movie and captures the closeness that people feel towards each other when holidaying together.
Dinah Might (Juliette Lewis) who sees her team’s undefeated dominance overshadowed by this new poster girl. There’s also the fact that Bliss is lying about her age, lying to her parents and has a new indie rocker boyfriend in Oliver (Landon Pigg) that might strain her relationship with Pash. It’s not nearly as melodramatic as it sounds but you can begin to see how expansive this simple little sports movie gets as it goes along. These complications are what slowly begins to drag Whip It from being a borderline lovable little coming-of-age story for Into the Wild girls into something that needed probably another 45 minutes just to satisfy its own If you feel like your living in a world full of ignorant demands. hypocrites then this movie might inspire you to take a break away from it all and find some peace and quiet like its main character Christopher McCandless did. Christopher is angered by his dishonest parents and seemingly meaningless life and decides to give up everything and try to find himself by journeying to Alaska without money or supplies. While his parents start to miss and truly care about him back home, Christopher meets a string of different characters who shape his life and destiny. Borat
SHUTTER ISLAND Directed by: Martin Scorsese Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo Reviewed by: Ryan Cullen Martin Scorsese is commonly referred to as one of the most prolific film directors to ever grace our screens. His latest installment “Shutter Island”, adapted from a novel by Dennis Lehane, sees the Queens born filmmaker collaborate again with Leonardo DiCaprio, a pairing that have been described as ‘hit and miss’ during the past decade and never hitting the heights of the Scorcese/ DeNiro era. This Re-union may be the finest between the two and certainly hits such heights as ‘The Departed’. Shutter Island is the story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the cost of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a patient from the island’s fortress-
like hospital for the criminally insane. Teddy pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons mixed with his shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising yet confusing lead. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland and leaving the island impossible, Teddy discovers many twisted sinister secrets combined with flashbacks of the traumatic past of his wife making him question and doubt everything from his memory, his partner and even his own sanity. Despite mixed ratings from critics, Shutter Island will be one of the strongest films of the year. Di Caprio plays in his most haunting and emotionally complex performance yet with an impressive performance from Ben Kingsley along with the reliably superb Mark Ruffalo. At times it loses its suspense and the plot becomes a little predictable but some riveting and disturbing scenes, beautiful cinematography and haunting music more than make up for it. A refreshing change and impressive performances from a number of people make this a great addition to the Scorcese collection. tional depth to the story and beautifully depict the idea of a damaged soul finding relief, not in revenge but reconnection with the past and the outside world.
The Bounty Hunter Starring: Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler Directed by: Andy Tennant Reviewed by: Fiona Dunne Milo Boyd (Gerard Butler) is a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, who jumps at the chance to apprehend his ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurly (Jennifer Aniston), who has jumped bail after a traffic infringement. Not only will he earn his $5,000 bounty, he is also looking forward to getting some sweet revenge. But Nicole gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder coverup and things become even more complicated when they both find themselves on the run, chased by criminals. The plot? Who cares! That’s what the script writer probably said as she cobbled together the con-
trived, far-fetched scenarios that form the backdrop for the battle of the sexes between shapely Jennifer Aniston and macho Gerard Butler. It’s pretty much what you would expect, as Aniston and Butler play out their love-hate relationship in a romantic comedy with cop, action and road movie elements, although it reeks of being manufactured and lacks wit, subtlety or imagination. The film’s most sincere moment comes during the dinner scene at Cupid’s Honeymoon Cabin when Nicole and Milo, dressed in borrowed clothes, reveal their true emotions. It’s a charming scene but there’s plenty more fluff before the predictable resolution and the inevitable kiss that does come, but not as you might expect. Fans of the two leads may enjoy the banter and foreplay, but it’s slim pickings for discerning movie lovers and is never smart enough, sexy enough or funny enough to be memorable
Borat may not be the stereotypical holiday-maker movie but it reminds you of the weird and hilarious people and customs you encounter while travelling abroad. The film is a sort of mockumentary which voices, in the extreme sense, stereotypical (and usually incorrect) views people have about foreign culture Borat, a representative from ‘The Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ travels around America, meeting with people who try to teach him how to be ‘civilised’ and teach him American etiquette unfortunately for him, he ends up unintentionally offending everybody that tries to teach him when he voices the stereotypical views of his homeland… chaotic culture-clashing brilliance! How Stella Got Her Groove Back On Beautiful people having sexy fun in Jamaica was never going to make an-Oscar winning picture or give us anything to debate about. What it really tells us is to get our sorrowful selves out of Ireland and go somewhere nice like Stella did. Starting out in the movie as a stockbroker in San Francisco, Stella holidays to Jamaica and begins to revaluate her life and her concepts of love, sex and motherhood after an exotic relationship she has with a toy boy whilst there. As a movie though, it ain’t got much groove.