The Road

"If there is a god up there he would have turned his back on us by now. Whoever made humanity will find no humanity here. No sir, so beware" Old Man
Running time: 111 minutes (1hour51minutes)

In a post-apocalyptic America in the not so distant future, when humanity has been pushed to the best and worst of its existence; a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) travel south hoping for salvation. With just a trolley of scavenged belongings, the clothes they are wearing and a pistol with two shells, reserved for if the time comes when they can no longer carry on. The road on which they travel is treacherous, prowled by lawless cannibals, forcing the father and son to keep moving south in their unrelenting fight for survival.
 
The chemistry between Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee is nothing like I have ever seen before, the two are truly something to behold. Viggo holds the story together acting with sentiment and wiseness beyond his years, as demonstrated in Lord of the Rings, he exudes raw emotion in this severely underrated performance. And for an actor of such a young age, thirteen to be precise, Kodi demonstrates great maturity and understanding of the role, I wouldn't be surprised if we will be seeing him again in the near future.

Musically, The Far Road and The Mother distinctly stick out in my mind for being particularly poignant and reminding me of a beckoning call from home, composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Enter: trailer

Veteran actor, Robert Duvall, must also be applauded for his portrayal of the destitute 'old man' travelling along the road, whom the pair cautiously approach before determining he is no threat. As well as this, he has one of the greatest lines of the film, displayed with a hyper-linked video of the scene at the top of the page.

A puzzle for some is why Cormac McCarthy unconventionally chose not to give any of the characters a name in The Road. While there are numerous theories as to why this is, I personally believe that in this harrowing tale characters a person's actions communicates who he or she is. Making their names inconsequential and unnecessary, because these people do not need identities, they could be anyone, the everyman/woman characters

"All I know is the child is my warrant, and if he is not the word of God, then God never spoke," man. Turning Cormac McCarthy's beautiful literature must have been no easy task for director John Hillcoat, but it's recreated gloriously. The sets resembles the literary descriptions in the book and despite the story being so far beyond our physical comprehension, there is a genuine sense of reality, unlike other films where it's quite easily to alienate an audience. While I wouldn't say that this is an everyday watch, due to it being a little melancholic, I'd argue it's definitely a must see.

Rating:           Not a-so bad

500 Days of Summer

"Here's something that you wrote last week. Roses are red, violets of blue. Fuck you whore" Tom's boss
Running time: 95 minutes (1hour35mins)

Boy meets girl, they fall for one another, have many babies and the token pet, normally a dog, normally this is what happens in your typical love story. But this is not your average rom-com. After it looks like as if the love of Tom's life has left for good he reflects on his relationship with Summer.

Tom Henson (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a greeting card writer, is deeply dissatisfied with life, convinced that he will never truly be happy until he has found a woman who he can spend the rest of his life with. Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) doesn't believe in true love or relationships, and has just moved to the same company. As soon as Tom first notices Summer hes knows that she is the one woman for him, they fall into a situation where they are more than friends yet not a relationship.

United by their worshipping of The Smiths (the magic of Morrissey continues), Summer and Tom epitomize idealistic young love, from casual browsing vinyls at a record store, to a scene in IKEA which I imagine has been recreated by crockery and bedroom furniture hunting couples everywhere.

An uplifting track by Daryl Hall & John Oates (yes, the 80s was a unusual time for hair) also features as Tom, who is overjoyed from his night of passion with Summer, travels to work accompanied by his acquired army of musical enthusiasts.

The scene in question, will either make you want to cringe in disgust OR join in the melodic 'child who eat too had too many e-numbers' dance. For me I guiltily admit that it was indeed the latter.  


Enter: Trailer 

 

Yet again, it's another gem from the Sundance festival (perhaps this is developing into a bit of an obsession), but from it the actors have gone on to climb the acting ladder, with Tom's sister (Chloe Moretz) who acts as the voice of reason taking a lead female role in Kick-Ass and Joseph Gordon-Levitt featuring in Inception.

A soundtrack can quite often make or break a film. And in the case of 500 Days of Summer the music definitely reiterates how great the film is, allowing to ascend into the heavenly DVD rack in the sky saved only for the best films. 

Doves, Feist, Mumm-Ra, Regina Spektor, Temper Trap, and more, also not forgetting The Smiths of course, all of whom are undeniably great and perfect Summer-time music. Careful considered tracks captures the mood and enhances the emotions portrayed on screen. Kudos.

I personally believe that Marc Webb (director) has created a emotional masterpiece. The film has the capability of uplifting and overwhelming you with how wonderful life is to leaving you with tears trickling down your cheek. This is one of those films that you will watch over and over again. Unfortunately I don't think I can ever do this film justice in words, hopefully I've intrigued you enough to watch it, as it really is one of those cases where you have to 'see it to believe it'.

Rating:          Fantastico