Film Review: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (2011)

Director: Francis Lawrence
Writers: Richard LaGravenese (screenplay), Sara Gruen (novel)
Running Time: 116 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Drama/Romance
UK Release Date: 4^th May 2011

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 15^th April 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is not the type of film I would usually choose watch, but I decided that since it got a reasonable response from the critics when it came out, I’d give it a look. I guess you have to broaden your horizons every now and then and so here we are with a romantic drama (it made a change). I must admit I did find it all a little too predictable and a little cliché; however, there were one or two good points which I’ll discuss after this very brief summary.

When Jacob, the son of Polish immigrants, finds himself destitute after an accident involving his parents, he sets off to find a place in the world. It is the early 1930’s and the world is in an economic depression which makes it very difficult. Fortunately Jacob jumps on a circus train where he finds work. The owner of the circus, August, is a hard man, but when he discovers that Jacob is a trained vet, he takes him in. Jacob soon finds he is attracted to August’s wife, Marlena, who has an act in the show. After one of her horses has to be put down August must find a new big attraction, and he finds it in the shape of Rosie, an elephant. It is this point that August reveals the cruel and sadistic side and this is also the point that Jacob’s attraction to Marlena begins to grow. I will leave it there or the Spoiler Police (Circus Division) will have me mucking out the elephant (again).

A very well made film with great attention to detail. The cinematography was good, without being particularly spectacular, although I did like the warm feel to the colour palate that was used. As far as performances go, well, the stand-out for me was Christoph Waltz as August; he is really getting some meaty ‘bad-guy’ parts, and (so far) he’s always delivered. Reese Witherspoon did a decent job as Marlena, as did Robert Pattinson as Jacob; it was nice to see him with a little colour in his cheeks! Honourable mentions go to; Paul Schneider as Charlie, Jim Norton as Camel and Hal Holbrook as Old Jacob.

As I said at the beginning, this film does suffer a little from cliché and predictability, although I did like the way Christoph Waltz played the character of August. At times you could almost feel sympathy for him before he’d turn it on its head and show his true colours. The romance did get in the way of a decent drama, but then again I guess that’s what the paying public wanted. For me, it confirmed that romantic dramas aren’t really my thing although it was pretty well made and Christoph Waltz was very good.

My Score: 6.9/10

IMDb Score: 6.9/10 (based on 37,502 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1067583/

MetaScore: 52/100: (Based on 35 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 61/100 (based on 185 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 71/100 (based on 60,395 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/water_for_elephants/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Jacob: I don't know if I picked that circus. But something told me that circus picked me.

August: You do right by me, I'll show you a life most suckers can't even dream of.

August: As long as we can walk, we play.

Jacob: I'm not running away, I'm coming home.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

Director/Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Running time: 153 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 18

UK Release Date: 19th August 2009

Watched on DVD Monday 29th March 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I’ll admit I’m not the greatest fan of Mr Tarantino’s work, for me he can blow hot and cold. He sometimes seems to be more interested in putting in subtle little twists and nods to obscure films that will only be admired by a certain few, rather than making a coherent movie. In this film, however, the twists and nods either too subtle for me, which I suspect, or he’s actually attempted to make a movie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not perfect and it’s very, very long, but it does all tie together quite neatly in the end.

When Shosanna Dreyfus escapes from the Nazis having seen her family shot, she thought she’d never see the man responsible for it, Col. Hans Landa, again. However, fate has a nasty way of playing evil tricks on people like Shosanna. Four years later she owns and runs a cinema in Paris, where, thanks to the attentions of a young German war hero, Pvt. Fredrick Zoller, she is to stage a German film premiere. All the German High Command, including Hitler himself, is to attend. News of this event comes through to Lt. Aldo Raine and his band of Inglorious Basterds, who are behind enemy lines causing havoc and fear in the German ranks. They are to destroy the cinema with the help of a spy, Bridget von Hammersmark, but the newly appointed head of security, Col. Hans Landa has other plans. I think that’s a pretty good summary, without giving too much away (I hope).

Let me first say that as a whole, I really enjoyed watching this film. It’s not Tarantino’s best, that’s still a tie between Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997) in my book. The performances are all outshone by Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa; he quite deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and BAFTA awards (plus quite a few others I see). Honourable mentions go to Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine (loved the accent), Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus, Eli Roth as Sgt. Donny Donowitz, Michael Fassbender as Lt. Archie Hicox, Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark and Daniel Brühl as Pvt. Fredrick Zoller.

Although I’m quite used to watching foreign language films, I found the switching between scenes in English, to scenes in German or French with subtitles quite distracting. Don’t get me wrong, many of the scenes were very well done and quite absorbing to watch, but they didn’t always fit together as well as they might. The music was pretty good too, although I did feel I was watching a Spaghetti Western at a couple of points near the beginning. So, over all it’s quite an engrossing film, if a little difficult to watch in one sitting at nearly two and a half hours in duration. But having said that, I do recommend it, it’s worth seeing if only for the performance of Christoph Waltz and Brad Pitt’s Tennessee accent.

My score: 8.4/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/
Official Site: http://www.inglouriousbasterds-movie.com/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdb/vi3738173977/