Seven Psychopaths * * * *
Cert 15, 110 mins
When British writer/director Martin McDonagh teams up again with his In Bruges star Colin Farrell, you kind of know what to expect.
There will be witty lines, very dark humour, gangsters, people killed without compunction, a spot of philosophising, nice scenery and plenty of violence.
Two people are shot even before the opening credits, by the masked Psychopath Number One, known as the Jack of Diamonds, who leaves a playing card on each body as his signature.
Reading about the killings in the paper, alcoholic screenwriter Marty (Colin Farrell) decides to incorporate them into his latest idea for a movie, called Seven Psychopaths.
Some of the killers we meet are fictional - like the Buddhist/Amish/Quaker psychopath Marty tries to create - and some real.
Unfortunately for Marty's mate Billy (Sam Rockwell), an unemployed actor with a sideline in kidnapping dogs to then claim the rewards, chilling mobster Charlie (Woody Harrelson) is very real.
When Billy and his partner in crime Hans (Christopher Walken) take Charlie's dog, it is only going to end in bloodshed.
There are subplots too - Billy advertises for psychopaths to come forward with their stories to help Marty out, so Tom Waits appears, clutching a rabbit and telling a gruesome tale about "going round the country killing people who go round the country killing people".
Seven Psychopaths benefits from a great cast and fine performances, especially from increasingly unhinged Rockwell. There's one particularly tense and menacing face-off between Charlie and Hans.
There's stunning desert scenery in the second half of the film and a couple of surprising twists, plus a cute and remarkably well-behaved dog.
I liked one amusing and knowing scene where Hans criticises Marty's screenplay for its lack of good female characters, as I'm sure McDonagh knows exactly the same point could be levelled at his work.
Abbie Cornish as Marty's girlfriend barely gets a look-in. It's no surprise when someone says "You can't let the animals die in a movie, just the women".
Seven Psychopaths is a bit too gory for my tastes, and it's not as laugh-out-loud funny or emotional as In Bruges.
But you'll definitely enjoy this film if you like your humour black and bloody. RL
The Oranges * * * *
Cert 15, 90 mins
Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival as long ago as September 2011, The Oranges is clearly one of those films that is so good the distributors didn't know what to do with it.
Despite all the work that goes into making any movie, this bizarre phenomenon happens more often than you would think is possible.
Yet with a cast including Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener on top form, it's almost a case of what's not to like here?
True, the Christmas theme running through the heart of The Oranges will have kept it on the shelf longer than might otherwise have been the case.
But it's still a welcome alternative at this time of the year to any more entries in The Santa Clause series or anything remotely resembling the likes of Surviving Christmas or The Holiday. Here, the Walling and Ostroff families are so close they are often in each other's houses. In a striking central performance, Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester's character Nina hasn't been home for five years, but arrives unexpectedly for Thanksgiving.
Mother Carol Ostroff (Allison Janney) is angry that her daughter's heart has been broken, but delighted that Nina is no longer with her unworthy boyfriend Ethan (Sam Rosen).
Thinking positively, mum recommends the maturing Toby (Adam Brady), the level-headed son of David and Paige Walling (Hugh Laurie / Katherine Keener) and brother of freckle-faced Vanessa (Alia Shawkat).
But Carol's advice that Nina should go out with someone more mature than Ethan rebounds when the youngster's next port of romantic call is with a man old enough to be her dad.
Although The Oranges doesn't quite have the killer instinct to be a dramatic thriller in the class of Danny DeVito's War of the Roses (1989), it is eminently watchable.
Debut directed by TV's Julian Farino, who cut his teeth on Coronation Street 20 years ago before moving on to US series like The Office and Entourage, there are some choice lines about family relationships and some clever observations about how one person's lifestyle choice can rebound on to several others.
What, then, is more important? One person's perceived state of happiness - or the overall, 'keep-things-safe' wellbeing of a larger group? And can it really be possible for the acknowledged wrongdoings of one person to have a positive long-term effect on others - even if they are unable to see it at the time?
The Oranges is beautifully acted, lovingly shot and something of a pre-Christmas treat to enjoy, one segment at a time. GY
Trouble With The Curve * * *
Cert 12A, 111 mins
For the third time in two weeks, here's another film that's worth going to see because it's got an interesting viewpoint about an ailing parent.
The best of them is Michael Haneke's Amour, just voted the third best film of the year in the annual Sight & Sound magazine poll.
Reviewed here last week, it tells the story of what happens to a devoted couple in their 80s when one falls ill.
Ben Wheatley's Sightseers, in contrast, is about a Midland couple who turn serial-killers, with Alice Lowe's downtrodden character Tina shown having to cope early on with a mother who is losing her marbles.
In Trouble With the Curve, screen giant Clint Eastwood returns to the silver screen for the first time since the masterful Gran Torino (2009).
Gus is a baseball scout beginning to suffer with the effects of macular degeneration, but mentally he still has one eye on that old sporting adage of 'earning a new contract... on more money'.
Had this film followed the pattern of Amour, then Gus's relationship with legal-eagle daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) would have been explored in much greater depth.
There would have been absolutely no need to have introduced the workmanlike Justin Timberlake as her potential love interest, Johnny.
And the movie, which already has solid supporting performances from Matthew Lillard (Philip), Robert Patrick (Vince) and John Goodman (Pete) would have been much the better for it.
Instead, debut director Robert Lorenz wastes the opportunity to turn would could yet be 82-year-old Clint's final screen appearance into something better than a decent Sunday afternoon movie.
In the early stages, it's good to see the even more grizzled Clint taking whatever life throws at him, even if it means kicking his own furniture around the room.
There are some classic Clint moments in which he threatens to completely 'lose it', with his underrated talent for comedy the filmic motivation.
But although Amy Adams is one of the best young actresses around and is utterly believable as Clint's daughter, the estranged nature of their relationship is not a core strength.
The plot is like Moneyball-lite, and, in an attempt to broaden the story out, Lorenz introduces a couple of extra themes.
One, of course, is all to do with the condition of macular degeneration which affects thousands of older people, causing them to lose their central vision.
Although Clint does visit an optometrist, not enough is made of the condition and how it might be treated.
The other angle, which is completely left-field but utterly topical in the current climate, is child abuse.
This doesn't sit too well in the wider context of the film and is overlooked in terms of its enduring impact on one of the characters. Child abuse is a subject that you either do properly, or not at all, otherwise you're in danger of trivialising it.
Trouble With the Curve will certainly appeal to more mature filmgoers, particularly when it pops up at a Silver Screen presentation in a few months' time at one of several participating Midland cinemas which screen films for older audiences one morning a week.
It's not in the same sporting league as something like Jeff Bridges' Seabiscuit (2003), but will be worth seeing just to enjoy what could be Clint's last line in the movies.
While the old cowboy isn't exactly seen riding off into the sunset, he does leave with his head held high.
But if he ever wants to belatedly challenge for an acting Oscar - as he so nearly did with Gran Torino - then he needs to take the Amour route and really make us feel for the character.
* Amour is currently showing at the Electric and Warwick Arts Centre (both end today, Thursday) and MAC (ends Sunday); Trouble With The Curve is being retained at Empire Great Park from tomorrow. GY
