burn after reading (2008)

the coen brother's most recent film is more in the vein of "the ladykillers'' than it is "no country for old men", which is hardly a good thing. at times i felt like screaming at the tv, and while it was fairly inoffensive and fairly free-wheeling, one cant help but be of the attitude that the talent on screen would have been better utilised in an alternative film. brad pitt is great tho, as is richard jenkins in a supporting role. frances mcdormand is beyond annoying tho, and while i understand that this was the intention she still grates beyond belief. john malkovich once again proves that no one can do angry quite as well as him, with tilda swinton great as his wife and george clooney as affable as usual as her lover.

all in all it was ok, but ok isnt really expected or downright good enough coming off of the back of "no country for old men".

the curious case of benjamin button (2009)

at first glance, "the curious case of benjamin button" may seem like an odd direction for the director of "fight club" "se7en" to go in, but rest assured that "the curious case of benjamin button" is very much a david fincher film.

the bittersweet story of a man who ages backwards, whom falls in love with a woman aging in the opposite direction at roughly the same time is told with a beautiful conviction that keeps a film that may usually head into "forrest gump"-territory feeling fresh and inventive. brad pitt is on top form as benjamin, providing much more than simply the award-fodder performance that the role requires. cate blanchett in a role much more forthright than expected is also outstanding. the real star of the film (and not one that usually interests me) is the special effects. the aging technique used on benjamin (in reverse) and daisy (traditionally) is awe-inspiring. i genuinely havent been so impressed with a special effect since first seeing gollum in 2002. the obvious benchmarks for the techniques are when the characters are aged to their most extreme, i.e infant and elderly, but for me the effects that stood out the most were those of the characters in their late teens and early 20's. to see cate blanchett with the body of a 17 year old girl ballet dancing truly is an incredible sight, as are the scenes of benjamin travelling throughout india. with brad pitt in the public eye for much of his twenties we are only too familiar with how he looked, and for this reason alone i think that many will not give these scenes credit enough. its a shame because they do look genuinely great, at one point i couldve sworn that brad pitt circa-"meet joe black" was actually on screen!

while a long film at 2 hours and 40 minutes, the film doesnt ever seem to not work, which is a testament to fincher. the opening tale of gateau the blind clockmaker sets the audience into the required pace at hand, and the film doesnt ever get too sentimental. in fact i was reminded of the work of powell and pressburger in many ways. they too dealt with situations that could easily have come across as too emphatic or overdone, yet manage a control that keeps everything in check. this is the closest we will ever see fincher come to doing a "disney" film, and a chance that one should savour.

se7en (1995)

david fincher's creative debut (some of us dont like to talk about alien3!) represents, for this viewer at least, one of the highlights of the cinema of the 1990's. the pacing, the style, the performances all represent what i would consider to be the ultimate in cinematic expectation. stylistically the film shows the streets and locations of the unknown city to be a hellhole lit starkly by rain (rain features in every external scene with the sole exception being the desert-set finale), with the editing matching the pitch and tone of the onscreen interaction subtly but aptly.

in terms of performances ''se7en'' hinges on the transitionary period between morgan freeman's 'william somerset' and brad pitt's 'david mills'. the concept of the transitionary nature of their relationship hints at far more than what is on screen, with the subtext being reminiscent of this relationship in a way. morgan freeman as the grizzled detective who's seen too much and had enough performs in his own unique manner before it became cliche, while pitt as the rookie of sorts follows his work in twelve monkeys with another assured performance. gwyneth paltrow underperforms as pitt's wife, an act which is only a positive thing, as its easily the performance of her career. kevin spacey, unbilled as john doe practically reinvents the psychopath in one foul swoop. the role is reminiscent of a witless hannibal lector, minus the unintentional self deprecation-providing sequels and overt performance, and unbelievably the character still manages to completely shock and disturb almost 15 years on.

brad pitt would later go on to work with fincher on ''fight club'' five years later, and again in this years "the curious case of benjamin button'', with the partnership proving incredibly fruitful. i see their relationship as akin to one of the classic director/actor pairings, along the lines of scorsese/de niro or huston/bogart, and feel that both compliment each other hugely.

twelve monkeys (1998)

terry gilliam's first foray into science fiction since 1985's "brazil" marked the biggest success of his career (thus far at least). bruce willis is wonderfully overshadowed by a young brad pitt, in his pre-fight club days showing off the depths of his potential. indeed his turn as mental patient turned animal activist jeffrey goines proved that he wasnt just a pretty face, in a turn that is both full of humour and terror in equal measures. thats not to say that bruce willis isnt great either, his performance as jailbird turned human saviour james cole is the performance of his career, and probably the best thing to come out of any of the resurrected careers of pulp fiction.

the world of the future portrayed in "twelve monkeys" is that of a dystopian one, wherein a virus has ravaged the human race. its up to james cole to go back in time to prevent the terrorist attack that caused the decline in civilization. "twelve monkeys" is one of the films from the late nineties that deals with the subject of terrorism in the way in which it existed prior to the events of 9/11 and as such is an interesting take on the subject.

the film deals with the familiar gilliam themes of memory, time and perceived madness. in this case the most obvious comparison would be "brazil", but i think that the nature of the issues are far less ambiguous in "twelve monkeys" than that film.

for me, "twelve monkeys" sits alongside "brazil" as gilliam's finest film. its strange considering that "twelve monkeys" may actually be his most commercial feature, but i just think it works so well.