Film Review: MR. NICE (2010)

Director: Bernard Rose
Writers: Howard Marks (book), Bernard Rose (screenplay)
Running time: 121 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Biography/Comedy/Drama
UK Release date: 8^th October 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 9^th February 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I can’t claim to have known too much about this one before giving it a look; I have seen/heard Rhys Ifans interviewed quite a few times and this is one of his films that gets a lot of mentions. On the strength of this I decided to give it the once over. Not the best production ever, but quite a compelling (true) story nonetheless. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Based on his book, we are told the story of Mr. Nice; a.k.a. Howard Marks (Rhys Ifans). From his humble beginnings in a small town in Wales, on to Oxford University and then into the world of international drug smuggling. On the way he meets his wife, Judy (Chloë Sevigny) and is involved with an IRA arms dealer, Jim McCann (David Thewlis). He is recruited by MI6, lies in court but is eventually brought to justice. It’s quite an enthralling tale but one I ultimately found was very unbalanced (more on that later).

I don’t know whether it was deliberate or not, but I found the picture quality very poor. It may have been to make it look more like a period piece, but more likely it was the best the budget would allow. I thought Rhys Ifans did an excellent job, although he never seems to age all through the film! I loved the small part David Thewlis played; the mad-cap Irishman was just brilliant. As to the plot; well I found it far too sympathetic to Marks; not surprising since it was based on his book I hear you say. But I would have thought the filmmakers would have put a little balance in there; what effect did all the drugs he sold all over the world have? How many innocent lives were affected? All this seemed inconsequential and probably explains why, despite some excellent performances, the film didn’t perform very well both at the box office and also critically. For me, whilst I enjoyed the performances, I found it a little too self-indulgent.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (…Just)

My score: 5.8/10.

IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 3,571 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1183911/?ref_=sr_1

MetaScore: 60/100: (Based on 14 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 55/100 (based on 44 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 43/100 (based on 3,776 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_nice/

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

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Howard Marks: A dealer is really just someone who buys more dope than he can smoke. And I have to say, I'm ashamed, I tried to smoke it all. There was just too fuckin' much of it.

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

Film Review: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)

Director: Marc Webb
Writers: James Vanderbilt (screenplay/story), Alvin Sargent (screenplay), Steve Kloves (screenplay), Stan Lee (Marvel comic book), Steve Ditko (Marvel comic book)
Running time: 136 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12A

Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
UK Release date: 3^rd July 2012

Watched at the Picture House (K-town) Sunday 7^th July 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

It’s Saturday afternoon and the new Spider-Man film is out; what’s a man to do? Well, why not pop down to the Picture House in K-Town and catch said movie; which is what I did. It was showing on the small screen upstairs and, with it being a Saturday, there were plenty of dads with their youngsters in tow. I’ll admit I was slightly in fear of tantrums and flying popcorn, but I managed to behave myself all the way through… the kids weren’t too bad either. But I digress; here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Peter Parker, whose parents disappeared when he was young, has been brought up by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. A quiet lad who always had a bent for science, he one day stumbles on an old brief case that once belonged to his father. This leads him to a company called Oscorp and his father’s former colleague, Dr Curt Connors. Whilst there he is bitten by a spider, a very special spider developed by his father who had been working on cross-species genetics. Dr Connors has also been working on a similar project but with little success. A girl that Peter knows from school, Gwen Stacy, also works as an intern for Dr. Connors and they find themselves drawn together as the effects of the spider bite become apparent. He finds he has great strength and agility and he designs and makes some web-slingers. But then tragedy strikes and he feels he must go out and clean up the city. Meanwhile Dr Connors experiments on himself and the results are quite horrific; a monster is now stalking the city and it’s up to Spider-Man to stop him! I’ve probably said too much already but I’ll leave it there or the Spoiler Police (Spidy Division) will have me hosing used webs off all the buildings in Manhattan (again).

I found it quite hard to look at this film without drawing parallels with Sam Raimi’s 2002 film Spider-Man. The two are very similar in many ways although this one did try to stay a little more grounded. As far as performances go, well everyone did a decent job; Andrew Garfield coped well with the dual role of Spider-Man and Peter Parker and Emma Stone did a decent job as Gwen Stacey. I thought Rhys Ifans did a very decent job as The Lizard/Dr. Curt Connors and Denis Leary was fine as the cop Captain Stacey (Gwen’s dad). But I must give a special mention for Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben and Sally Field as Aunt May; a masterful piece of casting; both were perfect (IMO).

Comparing the two films (it’s hard not to), I felt that this one didn’t really add anything that the original did. Yes, it’s a slightly different take on it, but essentially the same. There are long periods spent setting up dramatic plot points that don’t always pay off and I also felt it was far too long. The CGI is all very well done and the fight sequences are also well executed but I did have the nagging feeling I had seen it all before. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good film, but (IMO) not different enough from Sam Raimi’s effort to be a great film. Even so… Recommended, especially if you haven’t seen the original 2002 movie.

My score: 6.8/10

IMDb Score: 7.8/10 (based on 29,271 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0948470/

MetaScore: 66/100: (Based on 42 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 72/100 (based on 228 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 84/100 ‘Liked it’ (based on 291,053 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_amazing_spider_man/

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

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[Peter finds an old satchel in a closet]
Ben Parker: I forgot all about that thing. It was your dad's...

[at Oscorp]
Gwen Stacy: [to Peter] Don't get me into trouble. Do NOT touch anything!

Peter Parker: We all have secrets: the ones we keep... and the ones that are kept from us.

Peter Parker: Ahem, you know, if you're going to steal cars, don't dress like a car thief.
Car Thief: You a cop?
Peter Parker: You seriously think I'm a cop in a skin-tight red and blue suit?

Gwen Stacy: How did you get up here?
Peter Parker: The fire escape.
Gwen Stacy: That's twenty stories.
Peter Parker: Your doorman's intimidating.

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