THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN

When one legend takes on another legend, you know that one of them is not going to come out of it looking good.  In this instance it’s Steven Spielberg and his encounter with Herge’s Tintin in  a new animated 3D movie where the intrepid boy reporter and his cute white terrier Snowy get out of their depth when Mr Spielberg gives them the whole 'Indiana Jones' treatment.

It’s a manic plot that starts off well and then has the boy wonder pursuing baddies through the city, over oceans and through the desert in search of some lost treasure.  The action is incessant, and towards the end there is a ridiculous frenzied, seemingly never-ending, car chase where Mr. Spielberg loses all restraint, and we are lose our patience.

The movie, stitched together from three Herge books, has a Tintin who is neither fully human nor fully animated but  with clever technology has the actor’s movement and facial gestures transmitted via electrodes to a computer.  The result is weirdly lifelike but totally lacking any emotion or depth as it  has to rely too much on the actor’s voice (in this case the boy who never grew up: Jaime Bell).  The visual look which has a vague 1940’s feel to it in part, is rather wonderful and is by far the best part of the whole movie.

I think my overwhelming perception of the movie as I left the theatre somewhat bored and a little stunned, was that Mr Spielberg essentially failed to give us any inkling that he understood Tintin, or even appreciated the reason why he is so very well loved and has been for decades.  Where was even a hint of the passion he showed for ET?  Or even Mr Jones?

Wait for the DVD, as you will so want to fast-forward.

★★★★★

Tuesday After Christmas

Paul is a middle aged banker, who one can tell by all the nudity in this film, has not been to the gym for some time,  and he is having an affair with Ralucca his daughter’s dentist. He is torn between staying with Adriana his Lawyer wife who he has been married too for 10 years, and wanting to be with his much younger mistress. It is obvious that he is in love with Ralucca and that there is no spark left in his marriage and he is simply just going through the motions of family life.  Paul wants to bring some clarity to the situation and decides that he must make a choice now that Christmas is here, and so confesses all to his unsuspecting wife.

This movie is by Radu Muntean and being part of the Romanian New Wave cinema movement, is very realistic and minimalistic. However like others in this genre it is not bleak and heavy going but rather a tender portrayal of the collapse of a marriage without the usual histrionics and melodrama.  In fact one of the best scenes is where Paul breaks the news to Adriana and it is  both beautifully written and underplayed that it deliberately ensures that we don’t really take sides with either party.

Mr. Muntean, one of the screenwriters too, uses long single scenes with the camera barely moving, that somehow allows one to get closer to the truth and appreciate the developing story.  He is greatly assisted by his three lead actors who put in such full yet understated performances that make the whole piece that much more honest and believable.  (Turns out that the actors playing Paul and Adriana are actually a couple in real-life too).

It’s a sensitive and intimate look at a uncomplicated man dealing with his mid-life crises.  Very touching and completely compelling. A.O. Scott in ''The New York Times'' placed it on his Top 20 List of 2011, which I thought was a tad too generous, but it is rather a splendid wee film nevertheless.   (Available at Amazon)

★★★★★★★★

A FINISHED LIFE : THE GOODBYE & NO REGRETS TOUR

Gregg Cour is a 48 year old  gay man with AIDS who, after being HIV+ for half of his life has decided that he simply does not want to start yet a new regime of different medications.  As he explains, after a while the body comes immune to drugs taken continually and hence the need to change to the next regime of treatments.  Never having got any opportunistic diseases in all this time it is not the virus that has made Gregg sicker and greatly decreased the quality of his life but all the toxic side affects of all the different medications.

Once off all the drugs his Doctors tell him he has approx. six months left to live, and so he gives away all his belongings, and buys an RV and with his dog Cody travels across the United States to say goodbye to all his friends and family.  And then if there is any time left he will take his dream trip of going to see London and Ireland.  Greg called this ‘The Good-Bye and No Regrets Tour’.

This highly emotionally charged journey makes for a powerful impassioned documentary that leaves one feeling totally helpless as this courageous and articulate man finds the strength to not just deal with his own feelings but also with more confused ones of all the people he is taking leave off.  There are times when Gregg is remarkably upbeat about what he considers is simply bringing his life to an earlier close than normal as he plans to do once the tour is over. On other occasions however, he shows that even someone as determined as him, can have regrets.

This movie, by no means a superb piece of filming by newbie filmmakers Barbara Greene and Michelle Boyaner drains you completely, and unavoidably reminds you of the times when you have had to deal with death and grief at such close quarters.  There is no attempt to either edit Greg’s story or to pass any moral judgment on his choices which is how it should be.  He had no desire to suffer a long painful death from a progressing illness that would have taken away his independence and given him no real quality of life at all. The fact that he had the courage to allow the filmmakers unlimited access to document this all, has created a fitting legacy for one very brave man.

Not an easy one to view and half way through I was questioning why I should be so masochistic and even choose to watch this in the first place! But I am so pleased that I did, painful as it was, and to stick right to the inevitable ending.

★★★★★★★★

MAKING THE BOYS

‘Making the Boys’ is a fascinating look at the 1968 groundbreaking play ‘The Boys In The Band’, and a profile on its writer and creator Mart Crowley.  The breakthrough play about a Birthday Party full of funny, but self-hating gay men was the very first off-Broadway play written by an openly gay man which was all about gay man. Pre-dating the Stonewall Riots by some months, the play was a sensational success and ran for an unheard of 5 years.  Whilst everyone applauded its achievement by being a definitive moment for what would become the gay movement, many hated the sad lonely stereotypes it portrayed.  By the time it was made into a movie picture in 1970 the progress that the play had been a part on had moved things in the gay community forward at such a pace, that the plot had already started to look dated.

When Crowley’s play was premiered it shouldered the burden of being the only visible gay thing for the ‘outside world’ to see and clearly earned it’s place in the annals of our history for that alone.  For the actors who ignored the advice of agents and friends there was success and acclaim, but as Crayton Robey’s documentary uncovers, most of their careers suffered as a result.  And there is an extremely touching part of the dialogue when Robey reveals also that many of them died from AIDS too.

Crowley admitted to quickly blowing his new found wealth and when his next play flopped, he retreated to Europe with his tail between hIs legs.  It was only when his good friend Natalie Wood persuaded him to come back to Hollywood to write and produce ‘Hart to Hart', hubby Robert Wagner's new TV series did he return, and she later cajoled him to joining AA, an act he says saved his life.  He comes over as an extremely likable person, possibly lacking the gravitas of other gay writers interviewed here such as Edward Albee and Larry Kramer, and even a tad modest when accepting the fact that ‘The Boys’ was such a defining moment in (gay) history.

If I have one thing to take issue with in this documentary is the fact that amongst the impressive roster of movers and shakers of the gay movement that Robey interviewed, he also included a couple of real lightweights from Reality TV such as Carson Kressley and a boy from Project Runway whose banal and ignorant remarks were verging on being offensive.

I never saw the play and have mixed feelings about the movie  BUT nevertheless am happy to acknowledge that it was part of the start of gay people saying ‘enough is enough’, and seeing this examination of our history reminds us that we should never take our freedom for granted, even now.

★★★★★★★★

 

GLORIOUS 39

The setting for this movie is a vast and rather splendid English country estate on the brink of World War 2 where an aristocratic family are enjoying their very privileged lives.  Anne, the eldest of the three grown up children discovers in an outhouse a record that plays government secrets, and she starts to suspect all is not quite so perfect in their world after all.

What she uncovers is a conspiracy of ultra-conservative British elite who are desperate to stave off war with Germany and will do anything and everything to stop it happening.  Even if it means murdering some of their own. Anne who had been the main ringleader in playing happy families now finds herself trapped in a deadly game where she may be the only innocent one.

The problem with this movie is that what starts out as cloak and dagger story of the dastardly deeds of British upper-class hell bent on appeasement, somehow dissolves into a psychological thriller about Anne thinking she is going mad.  The fast moving but very confusing plot cannot decide which way to turn, which is a great pity after such a promising start.

The movie is written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff who was/is a major figure in serious British TV Drama, and I believe that the whole concept of such a conspiracy actually happening back in 1939 is more than a mere possibility.  Pity then that he didn’t just stick to that aspect especially as he managed to assemble a dream cast of British acting stars that included: Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, Eddie Redmayne, Jeremy Northam, Christopher Lee, Corin Redgrave, David Tennant, Juno Temple, Hugh Bonneville and Charlie Cox.  Anne was played by the beautiful Romola Garai in a first rate performance.

The movie went straight to DVD in the US earlier this year, but is worth looking out for that cast alone.  Not just for Ms Garai, but to see Miss Christie show us that she can be a magnificant snobby aritsicrat every inch as regal as Dame Maggie any day.


★★★★★★

PARIAH

A brilliant coming-of-age story of a butch black highly intelligent teenage girl who struggles to reconcile being gay within the confines of her conservative middle-class home. Her meddlesome bible-thumping mother is in denial of both her husband’s infidelity and her daughter’s sexuality thus creating more angst. 

A thought-provoking film enlivened with some neat touches of humor from first time writer/director Dee Rees.  It shows a tough story in a really refreshing manner and despite the focus on the strains it places on this family, it never gets melodramatic.

★★★★★★★★

WARHORSE

In a small village in Devon, England at the beginning of the last century, Ted Narrowcutt a poor farmer buys a thoroughbred at auction for his son even though he pays far more for it than the plough horse that he really needed.  The decision irks his landlord who wanted the horse himself and now issues threats, and his wife Rose who is convinced that they will now lose everything.  Albert his teenage son however is convinced that he can train the horse and thus save the day and the farm.  And naturally he does, and just in time before WW1 breaks out and Ted sells the horse, now named Joey, against the wishes of the family to an army cavalry captain about to set off for the Front in France.

And thus in this old fashioned epic of a movie the long journey/story of the Warhorse begins. He is captured by the Germans, abandoned by them and becomes the companion of a young French girl, recaptured by the invading forces and made to work really hard, before escaping again just when the German Army is in retreat.  On this last occasion in a panic to get away, the Horse makes a bolt through Enemy Lines and ends up tangled up in barbed wire smack in the middle of no-man’s-land (i.e. the waste ground between the two sets of trenches).  Un-freeing the horse is one of the dramatic highlights of the movie.

The story has been adapted from a children’s novel, which in turn was adapted into an Award Winning Play at the Royal National Theatre in London (then transferring to Broadway) and now it has been given the whole Stephen Spielberg treatment.  Stunningly filmed as only he does, it is visually beautiful and uncompromisingly sentimental complete with a stirring soundtrack by John Williams.  I have only touched briefly on the plot, but let me assure you that it contains more than enough heart wrenching moments to have even the most cynical grabbing for the Kleenex. 

The other thing that Mr. Spielberg is good at is depicting wars, and I must say that these scenes were extremely graphic and showed how barbaric this war was, especially the sections with the cavalry, and I am a tad surprised that for a movie intended for children (or so I thought) that it included so much blood and guts.

There is a sterling cast of British actors in this, such as Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis etc. but they really all pale into insignificance with the real star of this movie.  The Horse.  He was stunning and so deserves an Oscar.

Totally unmissable.


★★★★★★★★★

THE LOOK

I was a little non-plussed when I started watching Angelina Maccarone’s new documentary on actress Charlotte Rampling as instead of the usual career review the movie was in 9 different sections each with an ominous sounding title such as ‘exposure’, ‘desire’, ‘beauty’, ‘resonance’, ‘death’, ‘love’ etc. with Ms. Rampling talking with an interesting array of friends and artists about her life. 

After the first section ‘exposure’, when the conversation was between celebrated fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh and Ms. R, I began to warm up as I enjoyed her engaging viewpoints on aspects of her life that affected her work and her career. Equally fascinating was ‘taboo’ with the photographer Jürgen Teller with whom she had recently participated in a project of very explicit work that one would have not expect from a women of 62, but then again she is Charlotte Rampling.  And 'resonance' was conducted with Barnaby Southcombe her son who was just about to direct his first feature film starring his mother.

Each section was populated with clips of some of her most important roles.  Interestingly enough the best are from opposite ends of her career.  The early work included such iconic roles in ‘Georgy Girl’, ‘The Damned’, and ‘The Night Porter’, and then her stunning resume of the last decade included ‘Under The Sand’, ‘Heading South’ and ‘Swimming Pool’. There are roles in the middle of her career that are best left unspoken about esp. ‘Max Mon Amour’ where she fell in love with a chimpanzee, which for some inexplicable reason was included in this documentary.

Miss Rampling is still a beauty but much more important than that, she still seeks out these quirky challenging roles at which she excels at.  She mentions that if she would never have been a film actress if she had just been offered purely entertaining parts, and we should be so glad that she wasn’t.

This ‘self-portrait by others’ as it is billed is an intriguing insight to an wonderful actress who has continued illuminating our screens despite the fact there is usually a dearth of roles for women of a certain age.  Thank God not for Ms R who can been seen in theaters now in ‘Melancholia’ and very shortly in ‘The Mill and The Cross’. And hopefully for many more years to come.

★★★★★★★

REUNITING THE RUBINS

A frail but very healthy looking Jewish Grandmother claims she is dying and pressures her long-suffering son Lenny to cancel his dream Cruise and bring his disparate grown up children who can’t abide each other together for one last Pesach in her old home that she has blown her retirement fund to but back. One’s an Hassidic Rabbi in Israel, one’s a Buddhist Monk in North London, another is a successful but dodgy businessman, and the only daughter is an environmentalist in Africa: and all of them are sadly awkward stereotype characters that make for too many wince-making moments.

And when they all arrive Granny does die, and Lenny is left to deal with all the high dramas of the feuding siblings.

Ms Blackman as she was......

It is an excruciating embarrassingly unfunny British comedy that cannot even be saved by the presence of the superb Timothy Spall as Lenny.  The Grandmother is played by Honor Blackman a long way from being the leather clad Girl Friday in The Avengers when I was a kid, and she seemed as miscast as a Jewish matriarch as Ms. Rosalind Russell in her infamous attempt at pulling it off as Mrs. Jacoby in  'A Majority of One’ back in 1961.

It’s a total surprise to me how movies such as this ever see the light of day, but you wont have to try too hard to miss it as I would be very surprised if even the DVD surfaces in many places. I'm not going to even bother giving it a Star Rating.

PAUL GOODMAN CHANGED MY LIFE

I can hardly claim the authorship of this title because I must confess that before I sat down to watch this documentary, I have never even heard of Paul Goodman.  Ooops!  But I know now that he was man of many gifts; he was a critic, sociologist, philosopher, poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, practicing psychiatrist, an urban planner and an anarchist (Although Goodman considered anarchism not as a dogma, or a set of principles, or a position but as an attitude.)  His fame was cemented in 1959 with the publication of ‘Growing Up Absurd’ in which he rationalized that juvenile delinquency was the result of alienated youth who were turned off by a society ‘not worthy of human nature’.

Jonathan Lee’s thoughtful movie starts earlier and briefly deals with Goodman’s impoverished upbringing when his father took up with a mistress and  abandoned his young family.  Goodman found his ‘voice’ as student at City College where he was part of the anti World War 2 pacifists and when he first embraced Marxism. but as his literary executer is keen to point out he never became a Communist.  After graduating he began writing for prestigious literary journals such as ‘Commentary' and became part of a clique of New York Jewish Intellectuals.  By the early 60’s his fame was such that we find him debating life with William F. Buckley and Stokey Carmichael on TV.

Goodman, a twice-married man with three children, was also unashamedly and openly gay, no mean feat in those days.  He would spend the mornings at home avidity writing, then cruise the streets and the Piers of New York looking for some fun and company, but always making a point of getting home again by teatime. His close friends, and indeed his wife, acknowledged that he was driven by his sexuality, which featured prominently in his poetry and judging by the couple narrated in this film accounted for some of his very best pieces.   One highly personal piece ends so poignantly by repeating several times ‘happiness is so touch and go.’

He had a brilliant mind and though highly intellectual possessed a remarkable talent for articulating his very forward thinking ideas and principles that others could and did grasp easily. Ned Rorem the Composer (who set some of Goodman’s poems to music) said that Goodman ‘never suffered fools gladly, unless they were physically attractive’. Not a bad principle at all!  One can imagine when Goodman taught that he would have been a wonderful teacher, but that part of his career ended abruptly when he insisted that he had the right to fall in love with his students!

In 1967 his son Mathew died in an accident and very soon after that Goodman had his first heart attack, which was attributed to his profound grief.  His boundless energy dried up and so did his once prolific writing, and in 1972 he died after his 3^rd heartache at only 62 years old.

One of the interviewees in the documentary commented of the great shame that Goodman’s work is unknown to such a vast majority that if they could access it would marvel at both the ideology and the prose.  I have to say that this rather sensitive insight to a fascinating man has made me want to learn more (and I soon will thanks to Amazon).   Paul Goodman may not have changed my life, but I am so very glad that he has enriched it for these past 89 minutes. So far.

★★★★★★★★

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE

These days it seems like everyone wants to be a superhero especially nerds.  Following on from comic actor Rain Wilson’s brave attempt (with a lame script) as the Crimson Bolt in ‘Super’ last year, we have Australian heartthrob actor Ryan Kwanten disguised as a nerd disguised as ‘Griff The Invisible’ out to make the streets of Sydney a safer place.

Griff is a quiet introvert who works as an office clerk by day where he is taunted by a loud mouth bully, but at home, fueled by an over-active imagination he plots and plans to fulfill his dreams of fighting crime on a nightly basis. His straight-laced brother Tim introduces his new girl friend Melody a young scientist who has her own weird ideas on life and she immediately sees Griff as a kindred spirit.  The connection, which leads to a romance between the two (which horrifies Tim, and initially scares Griff to death) becomes the centre focus of the drama, and lifts it from being just another story of a nerd breaking through.

Newbie director/writer Leon Ford has somehow given the area of Sydney he filmed in a very definite feel of Gotham City which gives a great visual impact especially to the night scenes where Griff is rigged up in his Outfit and roaming around looking for ‘baddies’ and helps you forgive (forget?) the somewhat blurred crime fighting storylines.

I have to admit that I liked this unpretentious and easy going comedy that had a real old-fashioned feel to it … and being the only gay man that I know who has never seen Mr. Kwanten in ‘True Blood', I had no preconceived ideas about his talent or other qualities. He and Maeve Dermody (playing Melody) make for a nice loony couple that almost do convince you that walking through a wall is actually possible! 

★★★★★★★

THE ARTIST

I’m still reeling from the shock that I have just left my local Multiplex Theater where the crowds were out in full force for the latest ‘Mission Impossible’ blockbuster and another ‘Sherlock Holmes’ flick, yet my screen had a sold-out house even though it was playing a French Black & White Silent Movie, and as the end credits rolled the entire audience broke out into spontaneous applause.  Its not a question of what have they been putting in my neighbors's Christmas Eggnog, but more the fact that the movie in question is 'The Artist' and is evidently evoking the same response up and down the country.

George Valentin is a good looking, but very hammy, matinee idol that is a big movie star at the peak of his very successful career.  One night at the premiere of his latest movie Peppy Miller a young flapper girl literally falls over him by accident and the picture of the two of them together is all over the newspapers next day inadvertently jump-starting her career as a film extra.   The year is 1927 and movie buffs will know that’s just a couple of years before the ‘talkies’ arrive. George can suddenly hear sound coming from everywhere except his own voice.  Even his dog Uggie, not only his constant companion but also his movie co-star, starts barking.  In the midst of this nightmare the Studio halts production on all silent films to focus on this new trend.

Valentin hopes that it is just a passing fad and his day will come again, so using his savings he finances another silent film to stage his comeback.  Meanwhile young Peppy has worked her way up through the ranks and has her first starring role and when her movie opens to great acclaim the very same day as George’s which bombs, his fate is sealed.   Homeless, penniless, wifeless and with just a bottle of whisky and Uggie for company he is headed on a downward spiral, except we find out that he does have a guardian angel out there after all.

'The Artist' is so totally charming and completely mesmerizing from the word go. It’s a refreshingly bold and delightful romantic comedy that really cannot fail to move everyone. Jean Dujardin as George Valentin gets you from the very first big dazzling smile and is so utterly perfect there are times you can be forgiven for thinking he actually was a Silent Movie Star.  It’s a glorious performance and is a big factor in making this wonderful gem of a film so thoroughly entertaining.  The chemistry between him and Berenice Bejo (Peppy Miller) is electric and greatly enhances her performance too.  Look out too for some stray Americans in the cast: John Goodman as the tough Studio Head, James Cromwell as the loyal chauffer and Penelope Ann-Miller as the neglected wife.  Blink and you will miss Malcolm McDowell playing an Extra.

There are echoes of ‘A Star is Born’ in the plot, and more than a passing resemblance to 'Singing in The Rain' but as the (genius?) writer/director Michel Hazanavicius insisted it is important not to think of 'The Artist' as an old movie.  It very new indeed, and he clamed it’s a neglected format with gave him some exciting options as a storyteller.

R.T.V. The fact that M. Dujarin won a Palme D’Or for this role, and that the movie has already 8 Golden Globes Nominations and 3 SAG ones etc., should not be the main reason you should see this movie.  Go see it because it is a sheer joy.


★★★★★★★★★★

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009)

Mikael Blomkvist is a middle-aged investigative journalist who has 6 months of freedom before a beginning a prison sentence for libel against a Swedish tycoon.  He is hired by an elderly billionaire named Henrik Vanger who inhabits a stark mansion on a remote island and broods about the loss of his beloved niece Harriet.  She vanished one day several years ago when the only access bridge to the mainland was closed and yet her body was never found.  Henrik is therefore convinced that the killer must have been one of his large and greedy family who all seem to hate each other …. especially his two brothers who were big Nazi sympathizers during the war.

Before Henrik commissioned Mikael he had him investigated and the offbeat researcher Lizbeth a whiz-kid computer hacker who provides this, ends up getting totally hooked up with the case, and with Mikael too, although with her young skinny  body covered with piercings and tattoos they make the most unlikely of collaborators let alone lovers.

Everyone in this story comes with baggage from their past, especially Lizbeth and at times when it is revealed it makes for very tough viewing at times. There are scenes involving rape, bondage and assault that are stronger than what I have ever seen before, yet somehow they never seem like exploitation. And I have just discovered that the original Swedish title was the stark "Men Who Hate Women” which makes an awful amount of sense.

That said however this is an extremely powerful and enthralling thriller.  Completely unpredictable to the very end, and what is particularly satisfying is that for once the characters themselves are much more paramount than the plot.

R.T.V. A stunning and amazing movie that captivated me unreservedly, and I would go so far as to say even this at this early stage it will unquestionably end up as one of the best movies of the year.  It is that good.

P.S. I’m horrified to hear talk that Hollywood may re-make this their way with Daniel Craig & Carey Mulligan attached to play the leads.  I urge you to go see this original, you will not be disappointed.  And if you want more, hold on, this was from a trilogy of books by the late Stieg Larsson and they are already filming the second one in Sweden now.
★★★★★★★★★★


(Reprinted from original Blog published in 2009  @ www.rogerwalkerdack.com)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)

Swedish investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist has just lost a high-profile libel case against a corrupt industrialist, which has wiped out both his bank account and probably his reputation. He is approached by the ultra-wealthy Henrik Vanger to solve the mystery of what happened to his niece Harriet who disappeared into thin air almost forty years ago.  Vanger believes someone in his very dysfunctional family is responsible, and as we meet them one by one we can understand why he should harbor such suspicions. Blomkvist disgraced and broke and keen to lay low in the country for a while, accepts the assignment, and during his investigations, he discovers a series of earlier killings that may or may not relate to Harriet’s disappearance. He gets somewhat overwhelmed with all the detail and asks for help and he is given the brilliant and antisocial researcher Lisbeth Salander, who had investigated Blomkvist himself before Vanger would hire him, is brought in to assist him.

As the title suggests Lisbeth is no ordinary looking women and along with her tattoos and body and facial piercings she has a fierce punk hair cut that matches her demeanor.  Because of her criminal past she is still a Ward of Court and her Guardian exploits her sexually before he will dole out her allowance.  Or that’s what he thinks until Lisbeth turned the table after the 2^nd brutal rape scene in the movie, but this time she is the aggressor.  It's also clue that that this powerful gritty story is not for the feint hearted.

It is in fact an enthralling and spellbinding thriller superbly made by the masterful director David Fincher ('Zodiac', 'Fight Club' etc.) and is possibly the best new release in this Christmas week packed full of cinematic treats. It will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat for the entire 158 minutes even if you have read the bestselling novel by Stieg Larsson it was based upon, or seen the original excellent Swedish movie released in 2009   This is where I have to eat my own words as when I blogged the first movie I had got wind that a Hollywood version was already on the cards and I was typically horrified.  I have yet to see a remake that is anything as good as the original.  And I still haven’t, as this was actually much better,  and frankly I think it unfair on Mr. Fincher to even label this such as he has filmed Larsson’s novel in very much his own idiom.  He has tinkered with the original story and made it tauter and tighter that made the plot flow more cohesively, and with the help of his cinematographer, he has directed a really highly dramatically visual treat.

The story is now much more focused on Lisbeth, stunning played by the relatively unknown Rooney Mara (who had a small role in Mr. Fincher's last movie 'The Social Network') and this is definitely going to get her Nominated for Best Actress.  Playing Blomqvist was no tough stretch for Daniel Craig who is used to being cast as the good guy who gets beaten up a bit chasing the bad guys whilst all sorts of women jump into bed with him regardless. The wonderful Christopher Plummer is the patriarchal Vanger and he may possibly pick up a Best Supporting Nomination for this (Trivia point: also in the movie is Goran Visnjic who played Mr. Plummer’s boyfriend in his last movie ‘Beginners’). The mainly Anglo/American cast also includes some acting stalwarts such as Stefan Berkoff, Joely Richardson, Robin Wright, and  Stellan Stargard. The only odd, and slightly annoying, element was that none of them could get a real handle on a Swedish accent .... some of them made brave attempts and failed, and Mr Craig never even bothered.  Thanks God for Mr Stargard who had an inbuilt advantage over them all. 

If you're idea of a  White Christmas is sitting white-knuckled in a movie theater, then don't miss this superb movie.  Its a real treat.

P.S.  Two major critics felt moved to comment on the nudity in this movie. David Denby in 'The New Yorker' wrote that he thought it unfair that Lizbeth bared all whilst Mr Craig 'kept his man panties on', and A O Scott in the 'NY Times' said it this way 'And when Mikael and Lisbeth interrupt their sleuthing for a bit of nonviolent sex, we see all of Ms. Mara and quite a bit less of Mr. Craig, whose naked torso is by now an eyeful of old news. Both of which bought a smile to my face. 

P.P.S. More Trivia: Swedish actor David Dencik acted in both the 2009 and 2011 films.


★★★★★★★★★★