Review: Shame

Shame

Dir. Steve McQueen

Country: UK

Aus Rating: R18+

Running Time: 101mins

Look, let’s just get this out of the way from the get go: Yes, the first five minutes of Shame are all about giving audiences the bug eyes as Michael Fassbender strolls around his apartment completely starkers. All the nudity may have given Shame notoriety and more attention than Steve McQueen’s sophomore film may have otherwise received, but it’s far from its only virtue.

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Yes, I wrote that Shame is "too horny for its own good", what's it to ya? Still a good movie though!

Review: Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go
Dir. Mark Romanek
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 103mins

In a countryside boarding school named Hailsham, three children – Kathy, Tommy and Ruth – form a triangle of love and jealousy that they will continue to navigate many years later, long after they realise their tragic fates. Such are the beginnings of Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed novel directed by Mark Romanek. A visually arresting mood piece that unfortunately doesn’t deliver the devastating punch its plot desperately craves.

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Never Let Me Go, or as I like to call it: An Ode to Sea-Green, Beige and Brown.

Review: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Dir. Oliver Stone
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: M
Running Time: 133mins

Twenty-three years is a long time in any business- but in the stock market, just like Hollywood, it can be an eternity. In the years since Oliver Stone’s Wall Street so much has happened to the world of business that you have to admire Stone’s restraint in not producing a ten hour miniseries instead of the surprisingly brisk 133 minutes Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps that is now reaching cinemas. Unfortunately, whether Stone admits it or not, the 1987 original is not a good movie – Michael Douglas’ iconic Oscar-winning performance notwithstanding – and this sequel, timely as it is, suffers from similar issues.

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You know, if I had more words to utilise for this review I probably could have spent an entire paragraph discussing how much fun Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, but It Does Nap was for me since I think Shia LaBeouf is a bit of all right and I tend to have a bit of a thing (some might say "fetish") for men in suits. Back in March I said that the "only reason I am going to see Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps is for Shia LeBeouf wearing suits" and he didn't disappointing since the entire movie is basically Shia LaBeouf in formal attire for over 2 hours. Well, no that's not true. There is a scene where he walks around in boxer briefs, and another where he's dressed up in tight-fitting motorcycle gear.


Uh-oh! Shia's found my blog and is now calling his lawyer about a cease and desist. Oops.
The film also gets points for having Thompson Twins on the soundtrack ("This Must be the Place"!), having the balls to show Michael Douglas with his slicked back hair again (!!!) and for having the common sense to not ask Daryl Hannah back for a cameo (I love her and wish she had a career still, but yikes!) It loses points for being so bleating obvious (be prepared for an essay on "fusion energy"), Susan Sarandon (she's from another planet) and for not having the common sense to not ask Charlie Sheen back for a cameo (he plays his character from Two and a Half Men, it seems).