The Theory of Everything - Film Review

Director: James Marsh  Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones  Genre: bio-rom drama

"However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do"

Kicking off my 8-film review collection is James Marsh's Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything. Not only does it serve as an insightful and interesting tale of an incredible man's life and his achievements but showcases one of the best performances by an actor I have seen in a long time.

The film itself is primarily about a love story. It follows the complicated relationship of Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde from their meeting as graduate students at the University of Cambridge throughout their thirty-year marriage and to their divorce in 1995. It was a  relationship that was a catalyst for many of the great things Hawking's achieved in his work.

Going into the movie theater I had reasonably mediocre expectations (having seen the work of Redmayne and Jones  and not been overly impressed). However, both were undeniably fantastic portraying Hawking and his devoted wife Jane. It is no surprise to me that Eddie Redmayne recently won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. He simply blows all other nominees out of the water.

Redmayne masters the physicality of Hawking. Not only does he have an uncanny resemblance to the world renowned physicist, but believably depicts his slow deterioration due to Motor Neuron Disease (a.k.a ALS - the charity you all lobbed ice buckets over your head for last summer). He visualizes Hawking's inspiring story - a man with so much potential and ambition is told he has a limit to his life, only to fight through the many obstacles that face him to achieve some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in Science.

Felicity Jones is wonderful as Jane (whose memoir Travelling to Infinity is the basis of the film) and delivers the conflict and struggle she experienced with  grace and humanity. Her character arc alone proves there are many layer to this biopic, The Theory of Everything is more than meets the eye, dealing with issues on life and love relatable to everyone.

The film incorporates the maths and science without being too forceful or intimidating - yet informs the audience of what makes Stephen Hawking an anomaly. I particularly enjoyed the spattering of humour throughout Anthony McCarten's screenplay that displays Hawking's tremendous wit balanced with his intelligence and genius.

There are also superb supporting roles by Harry Lloyd, Maxine Peake and David Thewlis that compliment the performances of the two leads and a delightful score by Johan Johansson that adds an excellence of sound that mirrors the visual.

The cinematography, performances, pacing, score and screenplay are all exemplary. The Theory of Everything is without a doubt one of the best British films around, and a very strong contender for this years Awards Season.

Oscars 2015: Best Picture Nominees Film Review(s)

                                                           

       

This year’s Oscar nominations, released on January 15^th, have been met with an overwhelming amount of criticism for multiple snubs and a lack of diversity within the nominees.

Potential big winners this year include Richard Linklater’s Birdman and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel that have both been given nine nominations.

However, top performances by Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) and Jennifer Aniston (Cake) have all been snubbed by the Academy, despite being shortlisted for numerous other award associations. The films themselves are also up for Academy Awards in other fields. 

The well-received Lego Movie has no nomination for Best Animated Feature. However, it was nominated for Best Original Song for ‘Everything is Awesome’.

Interstellar and Gone Girl were left out major categories, aside from Rosamund Pike’s Best Actress nod.

It is a shame that Matthew McConaughey who has recently emerged from a period of McConissance following his Academy Award-winning role in Byers Dallas Club at the 2014 Oscars hasn’t been recognized by any major Awards ceremonies for his performance in Interstellar. Similar with Christopher Nolan’s latest film, there are no major nominations for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Both films display such incredible achievements in direction and in terms of their sheer scale and skilled craftsmanship. It is disappointing neither has been at least nominated for Best Film. All hope is not lost however, as Interstellar has been nominated for both Best Visual Effects and Best Original Score (for Hans Zimmer) and continues to be a strong contender in those categories.

A number of other notable performances seem to have gone unnoticed this awards season. Scarlett Johansson’s performance in Under the Skin and Jack O’Connell in Unbroken are just a few examples of sound work that have been rebuffed by the Academy.

On another note, the predominant white male attention has also been cause for criticism among the movie-going public.  All twenty nominees in acting categories are white and there are no female nominees for achievement in directing, cinematography or screenplay. There has been an intense reaction to the lack of diversity on social media sites, the hashtag #oscarssowhite being used intently across the Twitter-sphere.

The Martin Luther King biopic Selma is at the forefront of films being snubbed by the Academy. The film itself has been nominated for Best Picture but in terms of individual achievement, the performance of actor David Oyelowo and work of director Ava DuVernay has been completely ignored.

On an equally worrying note, a Los Angeles Times study found that the Academy rates are even less diverse than the movie-watching public with 94% being Caucasian and 71% male.

Strong contenders for awards include Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Redmayne previously won the Golden Globe Award earlier this year for one of the best performances by a young actor since Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook.

Boyhood also has promise being nominated for Best Film, Director and Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette. The film itself has been declared a landmark by many critics and praised for the brave and unique style of film making that follows the life of one family shot over the period of 12 years.

The 87^th Academy Awards hosted by Neil Patrick Stewart will take place on Sunday, February 22^nd at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

The Academy has certainly made the white decision this year. The right one however…that’s debatable.

                                            

Unbroken - Film Review

Unbroken - Review

Director: Angelina Jolie   Starring: Jack O'Connell, Domhnall Gleeson, Miyavi    Genre: War-drama

"A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory"

This Christmas see's the return of the most recent actor-turned-director Angelina Jolie with her ambitious account of the life of Louis Zamperini in Unbroken.

A young Italian immigrant Louis Zamperini pushes his way out of a troubled childhood to become a champion runner who qualifies for the 5000m at the 1939 Berlin Olympics. Following the outbreak of WW2 Zamperini served as a pilot for the United States Army Air Corps. One plane he was flying crashed into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii and was he was left for dead floating upon a raft for 47 days. Surviving off raw albatross and fish for nearly two months Zamperini was only to be immediately captured by Japanese forces and sent to a brutal POW camp for two years.

In what appears (to me) to be an outstanding performance, Zamperini offers a very demanding role for Jack O'Connell previously of Skins fame. (who knew Cook could be so emotionally available?) From the distinct Zamperini-esque running style to the California dialect and O'Connell's emaciated body during the raft sequences he has clearly got his hands of a role that enables him to showcase his diverse acting abilities. O'Connell has the impressive trait of injecting the character with humility and emotion whilst simultaneously having the hard 'man's-man' quality that he is associated with.

During Zamperini's time in the P.O.W camps he endured the cruel reign of camp officer Miyaui  "The Bird" Watanabe played fantastically by Japanese rock star-turned-actor Miyavi. Jolie does not shy away from the violence. One particularly gruesome scene depicts an event where The Bird gets every prisoner in the camp to punch Zamperini in the face until he is left bloody and unconscious on the floor.

Domhnall Gleeson is also exceptional as Russell 'Phil' Phillips and Garrett Hedlund and Luke Treadaway also proved solid supporting characters.

Alexandre Desplat provides a well-rounded adequate score, nothing too fancy that distracts from the screen but one that adds to the tension. However, the random Coldplay song 'Miracles' during the closing credits was rather unexpected.

The only real fault I had with the overall film, is that I would have liked to have seen more of the running. Louis success as an athlete and his time at the Olympics was only a small fraction of the impressive things he managed to achieve throughout his life, and maybe due to time/money some scenes had to be cut out. Nevertheless, I look forward to a directors cut.

The main issue Unbroken may come up against is this. Louis Zamperini's life was so extraordinary, and he survived some of the most unimaginable experiences that he appears to be a superhero. Because of this it is easy to forget everything that happens within the film is based on true life events. Jolie has spoken about certain real life events such as Zamperini punching a shark to death whilst on the raft and his one-to-one meeting with Adolf Hitler at the Olympics (Hitler himself wanted to personally meet Louis) that had to be cut from the script as they were too 'unbelievable'.

The ending sequence explicitly reminds the audience of real-life origins of the film that acts as an emotional reflective device and hones down the films messages of the human spirit and forgiveness.

And that Louis Zamperini's life can be an example for us all.