Movie Review: Fight Club (1999)

A drama about rediscovering masculinity in all the wrong places, Fight Club releases demons from the darkest recesses of the male psyche.

Suffering from insomnia, the narrator "Jack" (Edward Norton) is stuck in a soulless job he hates, assessing the need for auto recalls on behalf of a car manufacturer. He discovers that by joining support groups and pretending to suffer from ailments, he can release his emotions and sleep better. But this new habit is disrupted when he bumps into Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter), another impostor pulling the same stunt.

Jack meets cool and ebullient soap salesperson Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), and soon thereafter Jack's apartment blows up. He crashes at Tyler's place, a derelict house in an isolated part of town. Jack and Tyler start a fistfight and enjoy the experience of releasing their manliness. Soon Tyler is gaining a mythical reputation for organizing secretive underground fistfights among a growing group of men. Similar clubs sprout up across the country, and Marla re-emerges as Tyler's energetic sex partner. But as Tyler pushes towards more extremes of carnage, Jack starts to question their bond.

An adaptation of the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club is an anti-consumerism, anti-domestication diatribe. David Fincher directs the Jim Uhls script as a journey to the bottom, Jack following Tyler's lead and stripping life down to the nothingness of pain, apathy, and the rejection of social constructs. The movie is hard-hitting, dark, grungy and sometimes acidly funny, but also overlong and repetitive.

The theme of freedom through rediscovery of base male instincts is tackled with a wink. Tyler and Jack embark upon a journey where happiness in a purposeless world is found in an anarchic fondness for destroying things (starting with themselves and other men) and demonstrating sexual prowess with incredible, long-stamina sex. Masculinity's peak is also a nadir, a potential-filled starting point celebrated as a destination where nothing is accomplished. The men who accept the fight club rules and achieve the promised freedom from society's shackles are reduced to subservient slaves, incapable of thinking for themselves.

The film's pacing is uneven. Once the characters are established and the fight club instigated, Fincher frequently punches the same ticket, lingering at numerous basement brawls between interchangeable and half-naked sweaty men knocking the stuffing out of each other. The message of men finding an escape from their dull lives by releasing their medieval selves is delivered with repeated blows to the head and eventually starts to lose impact.

Which is a cue for more dangerous pranks, property destruction, and sabotage to bring down a society promoting male de-clawing. Tyler's unleashing of his knucklehead army to instigate large-scale mayhem is also Jack's prompt to finally question where his new and unconstrained friend is headed. The plot twist is not difficult to spot, the insomnia and weasel traits introduced as gateways to a new paradigm. Although filled with vivid images of crude deconstruction, Fight Club does stage its most potent struggle in a lonely place.

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Movie Review: Howards End (1992)

A romantic drama, Howard End is a sly story of love, scheming, charity and social chasms colliding in savory mayhem.

The setting is England in the early 1900s. Romantic Helen Schlegel (Helena Bonham-Cater) has a short-lived fling with Paul Wilcox (Joseph Bennett) while staying at the Wilcox's Howards End country home. Back in London, Paul's dying mother Ruth (Vanessa Redgrave) forges a strong emotional bond with Helen's older sister Meg (Emma Thompson), and on her deathbed Ruth wills the Howards End estate to Meg, having learned the Schlegels will soon be forced to move from their family home.

Meanwhile, a chance encounter introduces the Schlegel sisters to Leonard and Jacky Bast (Samuel West and Nicola Duffett), a poor couple from the wrong side of the tracks. Leonard is a lowly clerk but avid reader, while Jacky is an unrefined ex-tart.

Ruth's husband Henry (Anthony Hopkins) along with materialistic daughter Evie (Jemma Redgrave) and spineless son Charles (James Wilby) decide to ignore Ruth's final wish. But Henry is lonely and perhaps suffering tinges of guilt. He is gradually attracted to Meg, finally proposing marriage. Meanwhile Helen adopts the cause of the Basts, doing her best to help them steer towards a better life, causing unpredictable outcomes.

Far from a stodgy costume period piece, Howards End is a conspiracy-rich, irony-filled and brisk drama. The E.M. Forster book is breezily adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and director James Ivory fills the 142 minutes of running time with plenty of character details, lavish sets and outdoor cinematography, bringing to life the people and places of England in the early 20th century across the social spectrum.

The film tackles remarkably current topics. The gap between rich and poor is an overarching theme, in particular the rub points where their disparate worlds interact. The Basts live in a cramped apartment a few feet from rumbling trains, and yet an innocuous umbrella incident brings Leonard into the orbit of the Schlegels, forever changing his world. Another and potentially more calamitous connection between the Basts and the world of wealth is revealed later on.

The pragmatic Meg is caught in the middle between her future husband and loving sister. Henry represents the dismissive rich-are-rich, poor-are-poor and isn't-that-too-bad mainstream thinking, while Helen is a passionate social justice warrior of her era. She simply refuses to let the Basts drift off into their life of misery, and advocates with increasing fervor for the haves to help the have-nots. As with all the story arcs in Howards End, good intentions can have unintended consequences, and individual quests are laced with the irony of fate's playful hands charting an invisible long-term course.

Despite the long length Howards End suffers from some annoying loose threads in content and tone, the gaps materializing somewhere between Jhabvala's script and the film's final edit. Helen's fiery dedication to the cause of the Basts almost sideswipes the film in its decontextualized vigor. One previously pivotal character just disappears in the final 20 minutes, while the Schlegel's Aunt Juley (Prunella Scales) and Henry's son Paul (Joseph Bennett) oscillate from essential to immaterial.

But the quality performances ride out the rough patches, Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins particular standouts portraying two strong and adept but different characters orbiting each other. And as the pensive matriarch Vanessa Redgrave is unforgettable setting events in motion by creating a deserved moral conundrum for her family.

Howards End is picturesque and idyllic, but also churns with absorbing domestic turmoil.

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Movie Review: Ocean's Eight (2018)

A heist thriller, Ocean's Eight features an all-women gang plotting a daring diamond heist at the dressy gala event of the year. The female perspective is empowering, but the plot and characters are middling.

Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), sister of the infamous Danny, is released from prison after serving more than five years for theft and fraud. She sets about assembling a team of women for her next big job. Lou (Cate Blanchett) is Debbie's frequent partner-in-crime, Tammy (Sarah Paulson) is a fence hiding behind a suburban family facade, Nine Ball (Rihanna) is a top-notch hacker, Constance (Awkwafina) is a light-fingered thief, and Amita (Mindy Kaling) is a jewelry maker.

Their target is the New York Metropolitan Museum of Arts annual fundraising gala. The event's star attraction is actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), and Debbie recruits fashion designer Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter) to ensure Daphne wears a precious Cartier necklace worth $150m for the evening. The plot to steal the necklace involves spiked soup, security camera blind spots and a special role for Debbie's former partner, smarmy art dealer Claude Becker (Richard Armitage).

While there is merit in re-imagining familiar stories with women in lead roles, the inherent added value can be limited. Ocean's Eight is slick, vivid and sparkly, but other than featuring women as instigators, barely adds anything new to the heist genre. Indeed, the details of the theft are less clever than most. A security camera nudged into a blindspot is not the most thrilling innovation, and becomes essentially ridiculous when the full extent of the plan is later revealed.

The film is sprinkled with wit and some humour, but also lacks character depth and any sense of genuine surprise. Other than Debbie and her spectral bond with Danny (presumed dead, but she has her suspicions) and grizzled friendship with Lou, the other characters threaten to be interesting but are singularly defined by their expertise and receive precious little opportunity to evolve.

As for attempts at unexpected delights, Ocean's Eight introduces a late and unnecessary twist that lands flat and only serves to underline the script's lack of confidence in its own core narrative.

Director and co-writer Gary Ross twiddles the style knobs and recognizes the value of a star-studded cast willing to have some fun, and the film rides their energy. Bullock (determined), Blanchett (circumspect) and an especially ditzy Hathaway generate their own momentum, almost independent of the plot details.

Helena Bonham Carter is unfortunately saddled with a caricature representation of an eccentric fashion designer, while Sarah Paulson's Tammy is bland enough to be instantly forgettable. Rihanna, Awkwafina and Mindy Kaling add diversity but are strictly confined to stereotypes of hacker, thief and jewel maker respectively.

On the positive side, the final act features an intervention by insurance investigator John Frazier (James Corden), an acid-tongued Brit capable of seeing through every conceivable lie. His presence adds a jolt of cheeky electricity as he skewers everyone to determine the fate of the precious necklace. He's a man navigating a maze carefully constructed by a group of sharp women, a welcome reversal of fortune even if the content is familiar for any gender.

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Movie Review: Suffragette (2015)

A historical drama, Suffragette is the harrowing story of women's struggle to win the right to vote in England of the early 1900s.

It's 1912 in London, and 24 year old Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) is a laundry worker married to Sonny (Ben Whishaw) and caring for a young son. On the streets, the movement to allow women to vote is gaining steam, led by the reclusive Mrs. Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), who is mostly in hiding to avoid arrest. Adopting a "deeds not words" slogan, she advocates acts of civil disobedience. Maud starts to interact with the suffragettes, including coworker Violet (Anne-Marie Duff), pharmacist Edith (Helena Bonham Carter) and activist Emily Davison (Natalie Press).

Maud witnesses political indifference to the cause and police brutality against the women. After a raucous protest she serves a stint in jail, and starts to drift away from the humiliated Sonny. Inspector Arthur Steed (Brendan Gleeson) is assigned to conduct surveillance to try and stop the women's activities, and Maud is drawn deeper into a movement increasingly flirting with danger.

A mostly fictionalized account but drawing on the real stories of Mrs. Pankhurst and Emily Davison, Suffragette is a jarring reminder of how recently women were treated as second class citizens in supposedly civilized democracies. Even in a country ruled over by queens since the 1500s, it was early in the twentieth century that the movement to allow women to vote spilled into the open in an attempt to force change.

Directed by Sarah Gavron and written by Abi Morgan, the film takes an unblinking look at the consequences of dedication to a just cause. Gavron succeeds in conveying the enormity of the challenge inherent in standing up to an entrenched patriarchy. In a society run by men and according to laws written by men, the suffragettes are imprisoned, fired, humiliated, and cast aside by their employers, husbands and politicians. And when they go on hunger strikes as political prisoners, they are brutally forced fed using medieval methods.

Suffragettes takes care to portray the women not as remarkable heroines, but rather as normal wives and mothers forced into action. Maud is the entry point to the story, and her path to becoming a suffragette stems from an awakening to her horrid working conditions once she observes the sexual abuse heaped on Violet's daughter. Maud herself had uncomplainingly tolerated similar treatment at a younger age. Now the inequity in how men and women are treated and paid, women's limited work and education opportunities, the inability for women to have political advocacy and Pankhurst's calls for deeds come together to nudge Maud towards activism.

As the campaign drags on the mostly leaderless women argue about strategy and how far to push actions that damage property and cause potential harm, at the same time as they pay an exceptionally  high price in their private lives and health.

Carey Mulligan is the warm heart of the film, her controlled and affecting performance allowing Maud to credibly evolve from meek worker and wife to spirited and respected activist, a woman who literally finds her voice in front of both men and women.

The film recreates early 1900s London, and particularly the working class East End, with the brown and grey hues of the second industrial age. The aesthetic is a suitably grim reflection of the women's plight, as the world stands at the threshold of a great war. Nations are about to enter a massive conflict, but the guns will not be louder than the voices of courageous women.

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Movie Review: Cinderella (2015)

A fairy tale fantasy romance, Cinderella hits perfectly pure notes in retelling the story of one woman overcoming hate with kindness.

Ella (Lily James) is simple rural girl brought up by kindly parents. Her mother dies when Ella is still a child, and on her death bed she pleads with Ella to always have courage and be kind. Her father (Ben Chaplin) remarries, but Ella's new Stepmother (Cate Blanchett) is an evil and selfish woman, while her two step sisters Drisella and Anastasia are conceited and rude. When Ella's father dies, her Stepmother reduces her to the status of a maid and the stepsisters nickname her Cinderella. Her only friends are a group of house mice, but still Ella does not lose her commitment to kindness.

On a ride through the forest Ella has a brief encounter with the charming Prince (Richard Madden), and the two are immediately enchanted with each other. The Prince is about to succeed his ailing father the King (Derek Jacobi), and a grand ball is arranged for the Prince to choose a wife, with all the maidens in the land invited. Stepmother and the two stepsisters get themselves ready, but cruelly prevent Ella from attending the ball -- until Cinderella's Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) intervenes.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Disney's live action non-musical remake of the 1950 animated classic creates magic of its own. Targeting a family audience with a laser focus on story rather than sarcasm, irony, or gimmicks, Cinderella is a throwback to simpler times, and yet effortlessly succeeds in updating the message of tolerance and hope in the face of animosity and antagonism.

Recognizing the inherent magic of the story, the film steers well clear of silly cutesiness. There are no talking animals and the few friendly mice and one mean cat are deployed in just the right amount. Otherwise Branagh allows the film to breathe deeply from the magical fantasy elements. A particular highlight is the centerpiece palace ball scene, starting with the Fairy Godmother's arrival all the way through to the carriage turning back into a pumpkin. The CGI is seamlessly woven into the action, with editing smooth enough for eyes young and old to appreciate the wizardry.

It's not easy updating the character of a genuine Ella for a more modern audience, but the Chris Weitz screenplay focuses on virtues of tolerance and kindness reinforced with steely determination, and Lily James pulls off the role with glowing restraint. The Stepmother tests the limits of Cinderella's compassion, Cate Blanchett amplifying the character's hateful attributes while just hinting at a woman gone stone cold due to a stream of broken expectations.

The film looks rich and magnificent, with colours often subdued around Ella to allow her to literally shine. The sets are grand and imposing, Branagh finding impressive perspectives to fill the screen with activity and detail. The story may be familiar, but with charm and ambition, this Cinderella earns her own place as an inspiration for young hearts and minds.

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The Movies Of Helena Bonham Carter

All movies starring Helena Bonham Carter and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

A Room With A View (1985)





Howards End (1992)

Fight Club (1999)

Big Fish (2003)





Terminator Salvation (2009)





The King's Speech (2010)





Les Misérables (2012)





Cinderella (2015)





Suffragette (2015)

Ocean's Eight (2018)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: A Room With A View (1985)

An adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel about a young British woman falling in love with a free-spirited man, A Room With A View is a gorgeous coffee-table movie, with beautiful costumes, scenery and performances making up for a thin plot and slow pacing.

It's the early 1900s. On a trip to Florence with her chaperon and older cousin Charlotte (Maggie Smith), the young and curious Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) meets fellow British vacationer George Emerson (Julian Sands), a rather strange and passionate young man traveling with his talkative father Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott). Lucy and George witness a scuffle between two local men that turns into a murder, and George comes to Lucy's assistance when she faints from the excitement. They are gradually attracted to each other, and on a subsequent trip to the Italian countryside they share a spontaneous and sexy kiss, much to Charlotte's horror.

Upon returning home to the English countryside, Lucy has a suitor waiting in the stuffy form of Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis). Lucy is content to go down the road of marrying Cecil, until fate intervenes and the Emersons move in as tenants at a nearby house in Lucy's neighbourhood, reigniting the potential for romance between Lucy and George.

One of the biggest successes for the duo of director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, A Room With A View is a lush exercise in visually rich romance. Ivory makes almost every scene an idyllic painting to remember, with opulent colours, breathtaking views and lavish costumes. From the plazas of Florence to the fields of rural Italy and onto the English countryside, A Room With A View is as much an artistic feast for the eyes as it is a narrative for the heart.

The plot itself is slight, and unfolds at a leisurely pace. The romance between Lucy and George is based on little except coincidence and the thrill of the illicit, and there is nothing in the script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala to explain why the feisty Lucy and the rather distracted George should actually enjoy each other's company.

More interesting are the three secondary characters. Charlotte carries a look of perpetual mild panic, unable to control Lucy and witnessing an eruption of lust. The senior Mr. Emerson always has something to say and is never shy about saying it, occupying the centre of every conversation. And Cecil Vyse is the definition of stuffiness, the antithesis of Lucy and an easy man to discard in the chase for adventurous romance.

With an undercurrent of dry humour, A Room With A View pokes fun at Victorian attitudes towards morality lingering in the early part of the 20th century. Lucy and Charlotte agree to never mention the kiss between Lucy and George, no so much to protect Lucy's character but rather Charlotte's reputation for allowing the kiss to happen. And the film outlines British haughtiness towards Italians, who are perceived by Charlotte and her fellow older aged travellers as little better than wild natives.

The performances are note perfect, Helena Bonham Carter providing a bright spark of rebellion for Lucy to play with, while Maggie Smith finds every possible expression of worry, given that Charlotte needs them all. Judi Dench makes a relatively brief appearance as English author Eleanor Lavish, touring Italy for inspiration.

A Room With A View is distinguished entertainment, making up with decorum what it lacks in excitement.

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Movie Review: Les Misérables (2012)

The adaptation to the screen of a most enduring stage musical is a resounding triumph. Director Tom Hooper succeeds in adding the necessary intimacy that a film demands without losing the grandeur of the production. Les Misérables on screen is a ravishingly refreshed, yet comfortably familiar, experience.

It's the early 1800s in a France wracked by widespread poverty and misery, and convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) has just finished serving 19 years of hard labour for stealing a loaf of bread. Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) believes in the supreme rule of law, and is intent on keeping an eye on Valjean, who possesses enormous physical strength but is now on probation for life. With a record as an ex-convict, Valjean has trouble supporting himself with any means of employment. In desperation he steals silverware from a Bishop and is promptly caught. When the Bishop forgives Valjean and allows him to keep the silver, Valjean commits to changing his life for the better.

Eight years layer, Valjean has become a kind and respected factory owner, employer of hundreds, and a local town mayor. With Javert once again pursuing him for breaking probation, Valjean takes pity on Fantine (Anne Hathaway), a desperate and dying prostitute, and commits to looking after her young daughter Cosette. He buys Cosette's freedom from despicable innkeepers the Thénardiers (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) and brings her up as his own daughter.

Nine years later, the grown Cosette (Amanda Seyfried) falls in love with revolutionary student Marius (Eddie Redmayne), a romance facilitated by Eponine (Samantha Barks), the daughter of the Thénardiers and herself harbouring an unrequited crush on Marius. With Javert still hoping to capture Valjean, a violent but short-lived student revolt erupts on the streets of Paris, with Valjean an unwilling participant trying to save Marius' life for the sake of Cosette's future happiness.

The film is a faithful adaptation of the stage musical, a generous 160 minutes on a steep emotional roller coaster. The Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg show is based on Victor Hugo's classic novel and designed to expertly tug at the most tender of heart strings. With powerful source material, Hooper's challenge was to expand the visuals of Les Misérables without losing its impassioned strength. The inspired decision to have the actors perform the songs live while filming, rather than relying on dubbing, results in a raw, almost devastatingly emotional experience.

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in particular make the most of the immediacy of the material, and deliver heartbreaking performances. Valjean's Soliloquy, after his reprieve by the Bishop, is one man questioning all he knows about life, and reorienting his future in a new direction. Hathaway's overwhelming I Dreamed A Dream is delivered in one exceptional take, a woman in close-up plundered by life and left with nothing but despair and a memory of long-lost hope. It's a career-defining highlight for Hathaway, and a rare moment when an actress radiates by tenderly baring her soul.

Seyfried, Baron Cohen, Bonham Carter, and Barks deliver their songs with plenty of heart if not as much conviction, and it is Eddie Redmayne who emerges as the third powerful voice in Les Misérables, providing Marius with a romantic vitality that resonates with a struggle for a better future. Aaron Tveit as the student leader Enjolras, makes an enthusiastic impression with a small but committed role. Russell Crowe noticeably struggles with the singing in the key role of Javert, although his imposing physical presence helps to compensate. His singing does improve as the movie progresses, either as a function of improved delivery or reduced expectations.

The set-design and visual style of Les Misérables recreate a Paris darkened by grime, oppression, and anguish. There is no middle-class, no in-between the rich and the poor, the oppressed and oppressors. Cinematographer Danny Cohen translates Hooper's vision into an extraordinarily dynamic environment, bringing to life the streets, the taverns, and the dingiest corners of a city wallowing in damp and aphotic misery.  More so than the stage could ever do, the film is a reminder of how Hugo came up with his title. And when necessary, Cohen's cameras move in to capture the intimate gestures, expressions and details of the destitute, a reminder that misery only exists through the reflection of its victims.

Despite the pervasive gloom, Les Misérables is ultimately a story of love, hope and redemption. The screen version is a celebration of the human spirit's unrelenting resolve to rise above the mire and into a better future.

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Movie Review: The King's Speech (2010)

A period drama that peels one layer of mystique away from the British Royal Family, The King's Speech is a captivating, multi-dimensional period piece, and easily among the best films of 2010.

It's 1925, and Albert, the Duke of York (Colin Firth), is second in line to the British throne. But Albert suffers from a terrible stammer, and embarrasses himself and the nation with every attempted speech. With no traditional doctors able to help, Albert's wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) seeks the help of speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). An Australian with unconventional methods, Logue agrees to treat Albert, but Albert has deep reservations and insists that the treatment focus only on speech mechanics, and not the causes of the stammer.

Albert's father King George V eventually passes away; Albert's brother Edward (Guy Pearce) assumes the throne, but is embroiled in a scandal with divorcee Wallis Simpson. With Albert suddenly much more likely to become King, he needs Lionel's help more than ever, and the two start to delve into the psychological reasons for Albert's stammer.  But they have a serious falling-out when Lionel appears to push Albert to prematurely think of himself as a King, colliding with Albert's feelings of loyalty to his brother.

Edward does abdicate; and Albert is indeed King. He again turns to Lionel for help, and this time the speeches that Albert needs to deliver are not meaningless royal engagements but the words of the leader of the world's greatest Empire. As war flares across Europe and the menace of Nazi Germany needs to be confronted, Lionel guides Albert, now King George VI, as he delivers his first speech of the war, preparing his people and his Empire for the long struggle that lays ahead.

The King's Speech gently but deeply probes several intricate themes. A loveless childhood, stern paternal expectations, and a domineering older brother are not unexpectedly revealed to be the cause of Albert's impediment. The Royal Family only amplified what was the expected method of treating British children in the early 20th century, and the movie asks at what price was the legendary British stiff upper lip earned.

The non-existent opportunities for the Royals to interact with their subjects is another thread running through the movie. How can the Royals be the symbols for people they never talk to?

Most interesting is the role of Albert's wife Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother). She is portrayed as both strong-willed yet kind; determined yet respectful; patient yet persistent; supportive of her husband as he is, yet willing to help him in any way possible; majestically royal yet able to communicate with commoners.  Helena Bonham Carter is superb in portraying the emergence of the modern woman, and The King's Speech wholeheartedly agrees that behind every great man is a much greater woman.

Both Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush deliver memorable performances. Firth as the stammering Albert, Duke of York and later King George VI is magnificent, carrying in his face the shame of the stammer, the pride of the Royals, the agony of a miserable childhood, and at the end the expectations of a nation at war. Rush has a relatively simpler, steadier and sometimes comic role: the Australian speech therapist with unconventional treatments and unshakable belief in his approach, even in the face of royal, religious, and academic scrutiny and doubt. In their scenes together, Firth and Rush capture the stages of a slowly emerging friendship that bridges an enormous gulf in status and wealth, and grows to be strong enough to survive serious mis-steps and doubts.

Director Tom Hooper follows up the excellent The Damned United (2009) by recreating an even earlier era: the Britain of the 1920s and 1930s comes to life in The King's Speech, Hooper surrounding his actors with plenty of fog, early 20th century streetscapes, and royal lavishness.  The film looks as good as the performances deserve.

The King's Speech is ultimately a tribute to the power of good intentions to overcome the significant damage caused by past failures, and the message of optimism that lies within hard-earned friendship is refreshingly daring.

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