Film Review: A CAT IN PARIS (2010)

[Original Title: UNE VIE DE CHAT]

Directors: Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol
Writers: Alain Gagnol (dialogue/screenplay), Jacques-Rémy Girerd (dialogue)
Running Time: 65 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Animation/Crime/Comedy
UK Release Date: 6^th April 2012

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 12^th August 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

As I was checking the TV listings this afternoon I came across this little gem. I noticed it had been nominated for an Oscar and so decided to give it a look. I have to say I was impressed with many things about it, although I thought the choices for the voices were a bit odd (I saw the English language dubbed version). But more of that later, here’s a very brief summary first.

Zoe is a mute; she lives with her cat, Dino, and her mother, Jeanne, who is a Superintendant in the Paris police force. Her father, also a policeman had been killed by a man called Victor Costa. A woman, Claudine, looks after Zoe during the day. The cat lives a double life, by day with Zoe, but by night he joins local cat-burglar Lucas to prowl the rooftops of Paris, looking for plunder. Curious about what Dino gets up to at night, Zoe decides to follow him; she disturbs Victor Costa and his men making plans to steal a valuable artefact. They try to catch her but she’s saved by Lucas. Can they get to her mother and get her to believe them before it’s too late? Of course I’m not going to tell you here or the Spoiler Police (Paris Division) will have me sweeping the Champs-Élysées (again).

I really like the hand-drawn animation with great attention to detail. I also very much enjoyed the musical score by Serge Besset. All the performances were good (if a little odd in places… more on that later) so honourable mentions go to the voice talents of; Marcia Gay Harden as Jeanne, JB Blanc as Victor Costa, Anjelica Huston as Claudine and Matthew Modine as Lucas.

I guess the filmmakers were trying to please everyone by making the accents of the characters quite international. Of course the bad guy has an English accent, with one of his henchmen being German. There’s an old lady with a very American accent; to be honest, it’s all a bit confusing! Even so, I did find it entertaining with nods to Hitchcock (amongst others), this one managed to do much more right than wrong. It’s funny (in parts) too, there’s one recurring gag with a barking dog that had me in stitches! Over all, it’s one I don’t mind giving my seal of approval to.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED.

My Score 6.5/10

IMDb Score: 6.8/10 (based on 2,310 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1673702/

MetaScore: 63/100: (Based on 19 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 82/100 (based on 55 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 72/100 ‘Liked It’ (based on 3,299 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_cat_in_paris/

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

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
None available (sorry).

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Site (US): http://www.catinparis.com/
Official Facebook (US): https://www.facebook.com/acatinparis
Trailer:

Film Review: WHIP IT (2009)

Director: Drew Barrymore
Running Time: 107 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Drama/Comedy/Sports
UK Release Date: 7th April 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 16th April 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I have been wanting to see this one for a while, I was interested to see just how Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut would turn out. Not too bad is the answer, a little rough around the edges, but not a bad first effort all in all. It’s entertaining, very funny, in places, and I found it a laudable effort. Here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts (summary haters, and those that don’t wish to know about the plot, please lace up those skates while I write the next paragraph).

Bliss Cavendar is a teenage girl living in Bodeen, a small town in Texas. Her mother, Brooke, encourages her to take part in beauty pageants, but you can tell her heart isn’t really in it. She works at a diner with her friend Pash and one night they decide to go out to a Roller Derby in Austin. They discover the team are having try-outs and so Bliss decides to give it a go. She’s under age and so tells them that she’s 21. At first she’s not very good, but with practice she gets better. Of course she has to lie to her parents about where she’s going and what she’s doing. All the players have pseudonyms and Bliss chooses ‘Babe Ruthless’ as her moniker. She eventually gets good enough to take part in a match and, after a baptism of fire, she soon finds her feet. Their coach, Razor, discovers that Bliss is a very good player; she’s small, agile and can score them lots of points… If only he could get them to use his playbook! Eventually it comes down to the play-off game and Bliss must face her nemesis, Iron Maven. Add to this the turmoil at home and a love interest, a boy from a band, Oliver, (of course there’s got to be a love story) and that’s a potted version of the film. No more, or the Spoiler Police will be after me.

I really enjoyed this one, yes, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but you can see they had a lot of fun making it. The performances are all very good, especially Ellen Page as Bliss and Marcia Gay Harden as her mother Brooke Cavendar, both were very good. Both Kristen Wiig as Maggie Mayhem and Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson did a good job as Bliss’s teammates. Also Juliette Lewis put in a good shift as Iron Maven. Honourable mentions go to Alia Shawkat as Pash, Jimmy Fallon as 'Hot Tub' Johnny Rocket, Andrew Wilson as Razor and Landon Pigg (great name!) as Oliver.

Credit goes to all the stunt people, this must have been a tough one to pull off, but they did a very good job. I also enjoyed the soundtrack, some good tracks are used, mostly indie stuff, but if you include ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’ by The Ramones then you’re always going to get my vote! It’s not prefect, as I’ve already mentioned, but I did find it pretty entertaining, and so… Recommended.

My Score: 7.9/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1172233/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/whip_it/
Official Site: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/whipit/
Trailer:

Film Review: MILLER’S CROSSING (1990)

Writers/Directors: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Running time: 110 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
UK Release date: 18th January 1991

Watched on Sky+ Tuesday 15th March 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This DVD was lent to me some time ago and I decided it’s time to get it returned… but I thought I’d better watch it first! I quite like the Coens’ work, but this is one that has escaped me thus far, hence the borrowing of said DVD. It’s very definitely a Coen brothers script with some excellent dialogue and plenty of plot twists. I’ll give you my thoughts later, but here’s a brief summary first (summary haters and those that don’t wish to know anything about the plot please take that guy out into the woods & deal with him while I write the next paragraph).

Tom Reagan is advisor to Leo, the mob boss who runs things around here. Rival boss, Johnny Caspar wants Leo to give him permission to have Bernie Bernbaum killed because he’s making problems for his gambling syndicate. Now Bernie’s sister, Verna is seeing Leo and so Leo is reluctant to upset the apple cart (if you know what I mean). Also, Verna is seeing Tom on the side and if Leo ever found out about that there was gonna be some big trouble for him. Add to this the fact that, Tom is also a bit of a gambler and has run up quite a debt, but insists on paying it off without any help. So, one day Casper makes Tom an offer and, as you can probably guess, this is where all the fun starts… I hope you understand that lot! I’m gonna leave it there so as not to enrage the spoiler police too much.

As I said at the beginning, this film has a truly excellent script with some great dialogue and clever plot twists. It’s a very well made film with a very appropriate soundtrack (you’ll know what I mean if you’ve seen it). All the main cast put in very good performances; Gabriel Byrne as Tom Regan, Marcia Gay Harden as Verna, John Turturro as Bernie Bernbaum, Jon Polito I particularly liked as Johnny Caspar, Albert Finney as Leo and it was nice to see a cameo for Steve Buscemi as Mink.

Although it has a great script, I found it didn’t grab my attention the way other Coen brothers films have. Or maybe films have been made since that do what this does, but better. I don’t quite know what it is, but this one seems to lack the punch that other Coen brothers films have. I felt that, although he is very good, Gabriel Byrne seems very subdued all the way through and this appears out of character for someone in his position. But aside from that, it’s well worth seeing… Recommended (if only for Albert Finney wielding a Thompson Machine Gun to great effect).

My score: 7.5/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0100150/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/millers_crossing/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3650486553/