Mystery Pic #045

Name the film from the screengrab, put thine answer in the comments!

ETA:

No takers? Tis The Comedians, based on the Graham Greene novel.

A Week In Film #076: Back in the saddle

Matchstick Men
Ridley Scott does a grifter flick, with Nic Cage as a tic-ridden confidence man working with protegé Sam Rockwell who discovers he has a teenage daughter.

Quite watchable, but unfortunately it builds towards a twist climax which is wholly foreseeable to anyone with a passing familiarity to long con films. A shame, because it’s well-crafted.

Le Convoyeur
A very good French number about a mysterious loner (Albert Dupontel) who begins work as a security guard for a shabby armoured car company, directed by Nicolas Boukhrief.

Beautifully, lyrically shot and paced, with nothing spelled out unnecessarily, and many plot points simply implied, which suggests the film makers actually trust their audience.

The Informers
I really enjoyed Bret Easton Ellis’ anthology of interconnected short stories. It was a stopgap book released in the long publishing hiatus between American Psycho and Glamorama, but featured tales that predated all bar his debut novel Less Than Zero.

After the stodgy sub-Brat Pack film adaptation of that, Easton Ellis’ novels seemed to enjoy ever-improving screen versions: Mary Harmon’s take on American Psycho diverged from the text, but proved witty and enjoyable; Roger Avery’s Rules Of Attraction captured much of the essence of his sophomore effort, which focused on unlikeable, overprivileged brats at college in New England.

So it would seem that things were looking up with The Informers – not only had Hollywood seemingly ‘got’ Easton Ellis at last, but there were excellent people on board, with the author contributing to the script, and Buffalo Soldiers director Gregor Jordan on board to helm it.

Except it’s shit, confused, wastes onscreen talent like Brad Renfro, Mickey Rourke and Billy Bob Thornton, strips out some of the most important and memorable elements from the book, and fails to bring things together in a coherent narrative or towards a satisfying climax.

Framom Främsta Linjen
More Finnish war movie business, and this time we’re hanging with a unit from a Swedish-speaking regiment during the Continuation War.

Directed mostly with efficiency by former actor Åke Lindman (the stalwart sergeant in the 1955 classic Tuntematon Sotilas), there are strong performances from Tobias Zilliacus as a respected frontline officer, Harry Järv, and Ilkka Heiskanen as Swedish commander Marttinen. Things do get confused in the last third, though, and the apparently documentary inserts with surviving veterans of the events presented (shades of Tae Guk Gi) that occasionally intrude detract from the drama. On the other hand the still photographs taken by the real Järv help pull things together.

Assassin(s)
Mathieu Kassovitz’s follow-up to La Haine looks at alienation from a different angle. He himself plays a low expectation-having motherfucker, a low-rent thief who hooks up with Michel Serrault, an ageing hitman looking for a protegé to pass on his skills to. Similarly twentysomething Kassovitz only ever hangs with young delinquent teenager Mehdi Benoufa. There’s lots of sitting around watching TV or playing video games, lessons unlearned, impatience, incompetence, lies, arrogance, stupidity.

Not great, and I’m not sure it’s even really that good, but at least Kassovitz tries some creatively interesting choices along the way, and declines to turn it into either a La Haine sequel or into anything transparently polemical. The midpoint features a fine example of the filmmaker’s feint – a real sucker punch. It is a pity that Kassovitz never quite manages to keep the steam up.

Mystery Pic #044

Guess the film from the frame – add your answers to the comments…

ETA:

No takers? It’s William Peter Blatty’s very excellent Legion film, The Exorcist III. Shame on you for not recognising it!

Bristol City Council in asset stripping scandal!

News reaches the BunKRS that there’s a bunfight brewing over a possibly ill-judged decision to hire out of the Council-owned and managed City Museum for the launch party of a modern art showcase – featuring a striptease by noted burlesque star Dita Von Teese!

Furious emails have been bandied back and forth between “independent public policy professional” Helen Mott of the Bristol Fawcett Society and various council officers after she spotted a mention of a less-than-fully-clothed performance in Bristol on Dita’s website (whilst cruising for research purposes, no doubt). Disgruntled ex-council leader and current Labour group gauleiter Helen Holland has already scented the sweet smell of party political catnip and has spent the past few days stirring things up.

Asks Ms Mott, “What will be next, a private party at the Council House where the Black and White Minstrels are invited to perform?” Well, if the Tories’ Bunter Eddy has his way…

The ‘strip show’ – which was to take place on Friday 30th April – appears to have been cancelled, though the exhibition is still set to start on Saturday 15th May. [ETA: It seems that the launch party will still be going ahead, just postponed.]

So far the LibDem leadership seems to have kept themselves out of the firing line, leaving the likes of Paul Taylor (head of the chief executive’s office) and licensing manager Pauline Powell to soak up the bullets, but with general election madness in the air, how long before it turns into another Coconutgate or Astley Fiasco? Especially as Powell has already dropped deputy leader Cllr Simon Cook in the shit by admitting he had been briefed about the issue before the two Helens got on the case…

ETA:

That bloody Barlow got his story up two minutes before mine, the swine! He’s also the one suggesting that Ms von Teese’s performance has been postponed, not cancelled.

Mystery Pic #043

Guess the movie from the picture – add your answers to the comments…

ETA:

Some good guessing, but no one nailed it – it’s video game adaptation DOA: Dead Or Alive.

Young Gifted & Slack #006: Eric Richard

That last Framed Documents post leads neatly into this early screen appearance from Eric Richard (better known as gurn-faced custody sergeant Bob Cryer in long-running filth soap The Bill) as an astronomer having an ‘OMG!1! Starz is in alignment!1! Teh Anti-Christ is comingz!!1!’ moment in Omen III: The Final Conflict.

Framed Documents #108: Damien – Omen II

A suspiciously shiny edition of The Times from devil child sequel Damien: Omen II.

I’m not sure I’m convinced by the odd capitalisation and centring of a single word in the middle of the headline, either:

US Ambassador and Wife

buried

together in Washington

BOOM! #005: Mercenary For Justice

Some of guns-for-hire get blown to buggery whilst trying to hold the French ambassador of a small African island hostage in the lamentable Mercenary For Justice, a vehicle for (alleged) celebrity sex slave enthusiast Steven Seagal.

A Week In Film #075: Eek!

Holy crap, I don’t think I’ve seen any films this week!

ETA:

Just remembered, I did watch some stuff…

Hunger

Sunday

Mystery Pic #042

James got the last one a bit sharpish, like, so here’s another – simply name the movie and place your guesses in the comments, please

ETA:

No one got this – it’s The Molly Maguires.

Mystery Pic #041

Name the movie from the picture! Answers in the comments, please…

ETA:

Young Barlow got it right – it’s Michelle Pfeiffer facing Christopher Walken in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns.

Newby’s numbers 15 and a half MILLION out!

The salad days of research funding riches have failed to materialise at the University of Liverpool – whose estimable vice chancellor Sir Howard Newby (formerly of this parish whilst cost-cutting at the University of the West of England) may be familiar to readers due to his involvement in the silencing of critical blogs – where a deficit of rising £14 million has emerged.

As the Times Higher Education puts it:

The University of Liverpool was more than £15 million out in its financial forecasts for the past academic year, accounts reveal.

The university had expected to end the year to July 2009 with a surplus of £2.3 million. However, when the accounts were collated an overall deficit of £13.2 million emerged.

…Liverpool’s financial statements say most of the deficit was due to lower than budgeted research income.

Of course, heads must roll, so naturally Michael Yuille*, the director of finance on whose watch this occurred, has helpfully fallen on his sword – which should help insulate the capo di tutti capi from the fallout from this… for the time being, at least.

Though, as THE notes “about 200 staff, most of whom were in non-academic positions, took voluntary severance last year at a cost of £3.98 million.”

A spokesman for the University and College Union at Liverpool questioned whether senior staff pay may be partly responsible for the state of the university’s finances.

Some 112 members of staff earned more than £100,000 last year, up from 88 the year before, and the university paid senior staff £324,000 in compensation for loss of office.

As an avid bean counter himself, Sir Howard has continued to exercise the passion for trimming personnel at Liverpool which he first showed such flair for whilst running UWE, though clearly not at the highest reaches of the organisation. Perhaps someone knows of a management consultancy that might be able to help?

* Students will no doubt be ecstatic to learn that the number-troubled Mr Yuille appears to have scored a new job… At the Student Loans Company.

Mystery Pic #040

Can you recognise the film from the screengrab? Stick your answers in the comments…

ETA:

No win no fee: it’s well-photographed but empty-souled nutter biopic Bronson.

A Week In Film #074: No more war

MR 73
Daniel Auteuil is a washed-up Marseilles cop looking for redemption in this downbeat Olivier Marchal policier. Most efficient.

Le Pacte Des Loups
Somewhat silly and unsatisfying period French action thriller about a killer wolf terrorising the countryside in the 18th century. Christophe Gans directs, Samuel Le Bihan and Mark Damascos are the experts drafted in to hunt down the Beast of Gévaudan, Vincent Cassel is a shady local aristo and Monica Bellucci is the mysterious courtesan. Some anachronistic martial arts scenes don’t really make up for the poor storytelling.

Mystery Pic #039

I’m going to try and keep these as a regular Sunday and Wednesday thing from now on – guess the film from the picture, stick your answers in the comments.

ETA:

James has nailed it again – it’s Behind Enemy Lines.