HUGH AT THE MOVIES 8th October 2015
Each week movie fanatic, raconteur, and all round mad guy Hugh brings us the latest movie releases from the biggest blockbusters to best indie gems
Who the Hell is Hugh?
Hugh Fraser graduated and practiced as an architect. He developed a debilitating addiction for travelling which forced him to travel to about 80 countries and around 390 towns and cities around the world. So far no cure has been found.
What does ease the pain however, is movies. He did his thesis on film and architecture. So when he’s not travelling, he’s watching movies. And he loves to ride bikes!
American Ultra:
Skop, skiet en donner at it’s best. Jesse Eisenberg plays a stoned drop out living in rural somewhere or other. Actually he is a dormant CIA operative. It’s pretty meh and the high light is the climax that takes place in a hardware superstore. Unless you love that kinda stuff, rather stay home. But I have found myself wandering around the Builders Warehouse near me with renewed interest.
The Walk, 3D Imax:
This is the dramatisation of the the documentary which was made a few years ago called ‘Man on Wire’. It deals with the true story of Phillipe Petit’s (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) illegal tightrope walk between the two World Trade Centre towers. This version has 3 iterations. 2D, 3D and 3DiMax. You may vomit if you see the last one.
The is the perfect movie to exploit current technology and it is more horrifying than any horror movie. Interesting the movie was filmed during 2014, 12 years after their collapse. So the CGI and training by G-L by PP adds to the really convincing authenticity of the production. A rare case of a drama exceeding the documentary.
The Prophet:
Kahlil Gibran, an animated version of his book. I saw it at DIFF. But it fails to reach the heights of other animated movies. Good clean fun for kids though.
Pawn Sacrifice:
I had always heard that Bobby Fisher was nuts, but I had no idea, he was this nuts. The movie deals with the lead up to the showdown with Boris Spassky in an era where an ice-cream eating competition could have triggered WW3. I really enjoyed it. It is compelling viewing, it’s well filmed and makes your realise that chess is downright dangerous. He eventually became a vagrant. He played Spassky in 1992 in Belgrade and was put onto a sanctions list by the US. He died in Iceland in 2008.
Dope:
I loved this film. I saw it at Sundance in SLC in January, where it was one of the audience favourites. A young black kid in poor LA, has applied Harvard. He needs a testimonial to get in. He gets caught in a drug deal with tragicomic results. It is very funny and very real. My pick for this week.