Prince of Persia film review

I'm not sure what possessed me to watch this film to be honest. I'll go with the production design - I wanted to see ancient Persia come to life. Yeah, that will do. *This is no one way reflects any thoughts on the popular video game on which this is based and is no doubt superior in every way).

Lord, though this was an appalling film on many accounts. Shall I list them? For starters, it appeared Mike Newell and Bruckheimer had thrown out storytelling and basic filmmaking 101 out of the window. (Should I be surprised? Newell's version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' was an epic fail). The story was dreadful, the pacing all over the place, the characters were characterless, the whole thing was a mess.

The script appeared to be vomited out by someone and then there we are, listening to Gemma Arterton's insanely annoying whining and 'Persians' all in English accents. Here comes another tirade - Has Hollywood moved on from the times when Cleopatra was played by Elizabeth Taylor or white actors darkened themselves to play black characters? Er no, no it hasn't because we have white people playing Asians. This alone should have caused huge outrage. No amount of ridiculous tan is going to make Jake Gyllenhaal look remotely Persian, nor does putting thick eyeliner on everyone denote Asian-ness. It's so maddening - Arterton couldn't get more European looking, so why cast her at all? Her character was pathetic, any corpse would have done for it. If they had cast an Asian actress, at least it would have smacked of some credibility. Goodness, does no one in Hollywood have any shame? Clearly not and Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina don't get out of the firing line either. I mean, seriously, these two are more than decent actors, they know their craft brilliantly and here they are without any decency, parading as baseless fools. I got the distinct impression that Kingsley knew the material to be below him so committed to one takes, all of which lacked gravitas. Situation on set: Director: 'Great Sir Ben, could you perhaps go again with a little bit more feeling?' Kingsley: 'Nope, I'm off my trailer.' (mutters something about integrity and being tricked by Newell).  

Review on 'An Education'

The other weekend I watched 'An Education' which I was excited about viewing. I had read the screenplay a few weeks back and simply fell in love with it. You could tell it would draw upon the performances and would have no need for too much cinematic flair that seems to saturate a lot of productions these days. This would be honest, straight forward film.

And it was. The production design team and costume did a superb job of recreating early 60s London with a slightly washed out colour palette whenever Jenny was inhabiting her 'boring world' sans David, no doubt a good nod to the bleached out life she believes she is living at that point. The scene where Jenny is taken to a jazz bar is splendid, it definitely had me yearning for an experience like that, the place was so lush and extraordinary; it's no wonder you feel the wonder that Jenny experiences on being in such environments. Carey Mulligan gives a strong performance, particularly alongside Alfred Molina as her father Jack. She has one of those faces that can long older than her years and then transform to that of a naive girl, which is precisely the point to a lot of the narrative, so hats off to the casting director in that regard. Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike were adequate in the supporting roles, in fact I found Cooper not in the least bit annoying and rather credible.