The Iron Lady

I quite like the odd political film here and there, and so I was quietly looking forward to watching The Iron Lady. I thought, given that it is about Margaret Thatcher it will probably be a rousing controversial look at her time in office. Instead it focused much more on her decline and basically consisted of her letting go of the memory of her late husband. It’s quite a sad film, but one that keeps you interested with a glance back at her political life and some dazzling acting.

In the form of a series of flashbacks we are shown Thatcher’s life from the start to the end of her political career. From the first scene of the film, the title ‘The Iron Lady’ is put firmly to the test. She goes down to the shop to buy some milk and is not recognised by anyone. Throughout the film we see a completely different side to Thatcher where she is much more vulnerable and dependent on others for help. The past and the present is blurred for Thatcher, and she continually talks to her late husband, Denis, whom is present for much of the film.

Meryl Streep stars as Thatcher and is frankly phenomenal. Now it’s not hard to play an old woman who is struggling with Alzheimer’s, letting go of her past and adapting to her new life. However, Meryl Streep does such a fantastic job of becoming Thatcher. Right down to her accent, everything about Streep’s performance screams of the diligence and ability that marks her out as one of the best actresses of our time. Thatcher’s accent and tone are both very difficult to perfect, and yet Meryl Streep does so to great effect. Given the controversial nature of the first female Prime Minister, I’m sure there will be a number of films made about her, and I’m sure that Streep’s performance will be the benchmark for the actresses who take the role. Despite not being British, she excels in the role and in many ways, completely becomes the character that she is portraying. This is as much a credit to the makeup team as it is to her, and both thoroughly deserve the Academy Awards they won for this.

There is a wealth of supporting cast who deserve a mention. Jim Broadbent completely excels as the older Denis Thatcher. There seems to be something about Broadbent playing a slightly eccentric character, and he does so here to great effect. Equally enjoyable were Alexandra Roach and Harry Lloyd who played the younger Margaret and Denis. These two do brilliantly to convey the relatively care-free attitude of the two young politicians. Olivia Colman is also excellent as Carol Thatcher. This performance is another credit to both the actress and the makeup department. Now I haven’t seen much of Carol Thatcher, and I really don’t know that much about her, but I think Colman does an excellent job of playing both Thatcher’s daughter and the primary caregiver of someone with dementia. There are also a number of actors who comprise Thatcher’s government such as Anthony Head and Nicholas Farrell, however they don’t shine as much as the other cast.

However, despite the cast being fantastic, the film has met with much criticism. Thatcher’s two children have criticised the way the film depicts Thatcher. In many ways this is true, but ultimately there is a tendency for modern films to take a prominent figure who suffered from an illness and explore the illness around their character rather than the other way round. I would have liked The Iron Lady to be more of a biopic which presented the immensely influential yet controversial figure of Thatcher in the context of her political prominence. Instead, Thatcher has descended into neutrality and the filmmakers make her character largely uncontroversial and unlikely to divide the opinions of many. I think that instead of presenting a film about an old woman who can’t let go of her husband’s memory, I would have enjoyed an analysis of Thatcher’s time in office much more.

However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy The Iron Lady because I did. It was a good film and I found it very easy to watch. It is also very uncontroversial and is unlikely to provoke strong feelings about Thatcher. However, I think this is to the slight detriment of the film. While a neutral film is more likely to appeal to the masses in that it won’t immediately dissuade either side of the Thatcher opinion polls. The neutrality of the film could be intended to reflect Thatcher’s life when she was out of the public eye. Anyway, you don’t need to be politically aware to enjoy this film. I would recommend it if you are interested in Thatcher, and if nothing else, just for Meryl Streep’s performance.

Hot Fuzz

Hot Fuzz is the second film in the Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright ‘ice cream and blood’ trilogy, and follows much the same pattern as Shaun of the Dead except there is a totally different storyline. In Hot Fuzz, Nicholas Angel is a dedicated and hard working police officer who is sent to the countryside village of Sandford. Here two different worlds collide and Angel uncovers a village-wide murderous rampage all motivated by a desire to win the Village of the Year Award.

It sounds pretty funny already doesn't it? It is quite difficult to know whether or not to describe it as a sequel. It has many of the same running jokes as were in Shaun of the Dead, such as crossing gardens by jumping over fences and the ‘do you want anything from the shop’ line. However the completely different storyline makes it more of a second collaboration than a sequel. With several of the same actors and actresses from Shaun of the Dead making a re-appearance in various roles, this is definitely a very similar film to Shaun of the Dead. However, it is good because it avoids following the same pattern too exactly. While there are obvious similarities, they are incorporated into the film rather than being relied upon.

So once again Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are hilarious in their role as best friends. Simon Pegg is the hardworking Nicholas Angel who finds the policing methods used in the countryside completely foreign to him. Nick Frost is the young police officer in Sandford who tries to help Nicholas switch off once in a while. Their onscreen chemistry is as perfect as it was in Shaun of the Dead and as I mentioned in the last post, this can only be aided by the fact that they are so close offscreen.

However, for me this film isn’t as focused on Pegg and Frost in the same way that Shaun of the Dead was. Hot Fuzz focuses more on the supporting cast who play a bigger role than previously. Jim Broadbent plays Inspector Frank Butterman, who is leading the murderous rampage in Sandford. As ever, he is thoroughly enjoyable in this role, and delivers his more comedic lines with a serious and deadpan manner which makes them much more amusing. There are a number of other actors and actresses who play the residents of Sandford who you swear you have seen before somewhere. The most notable of these is Anne Reid, who has appeared in quite a lot of television series. I was astounded to find out that Simon Skinner was played by Timothy Dalton, who I just did not recognise from his James Bond days. I haven’t seen much else that he has been in since Bond, and so was pleasantly surprised to see him in the cast. I also loved Olivia Colman in this film. She is such a versatile actress and seems capable of adapting her style to perfectly suit the role she is in.

As with Shaun of the Dead, a lot of the quality of Hot Fuzz can be found in the writing and direction, which Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright excel at for a film of this type. Instead of a Hollywood blockbuster which tries to seep laughs out of the audience, Hot Fuzz (and Shaun of the Dead) feel like two films that are simply the work of Pegg and Wright enjoying themselves with a series of actors and actresses.

Hot Fuzz is much more gruesome than Shaun of the Dead in many ways, and although there are some pretty grim scenes in Shaun of the Dead, you sort of expect it because it is a Zombie film. With Hot Fuzz, the blood is more spread out, and comes in much higher quantities. The scene where the segment of the church roof falls onto Tim Messenger is the most gruesome of the film, and yet the script writing for the film makes this potentially disturbing scene into a good laugh for the audience.

In much the same way as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz seems to engage the audience. You find yourself entirely captivated by the story you are presented with and cannot help but enjoy yourself as you watch it. It is a film in a very similar mould to Shaun of the Dead, but it stands as an individual film as well because it is quite different. It is no less funny than Shaun of the Dead though, and if you liked Shaun of the Dead and haven’t seen Hot Fuzz then I strongly suggest that you do before you see The World’s End.

You may also like:

Shaun of the Dead - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/shaun-of-dead.html

Paul - http://mattsthoughtsonmovies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/paul.html

The Damned United

The Damned United is a film about the legendary British football manager Brian Clough and his time as manager of Leeds United, which only lasted 44 days. It is adapted from the book of the same name by David Pearce and is an interesting insight into the history of football.

Before moving to Leeds United, Brian Clough had worked with Derby County, alongside Peter Taylor, and had enjoyed enormous success. Before he took over, Derby were at the bottom of the old Second Division and Clough helped them to win the First Division and play in the European Cup. The film (and book) present Clough as obsessed with Leeds United and their manager, Don Revie, since they played each other in the FA Cup and Revie ignored him. Brian Clough was a very outspoken man and frequently made comments in the press against Leeds United. However, after he left Derby County and agreed to join Brighton & Hove Albion with Taylor, Leeds United made him an offer because Revie had taken the England job. Clough goes to Leeds without Taylor and things very quickly fall apart. His unique style of management was foreign to everything the Leeds players had known under Revie, and is sacked after 44 days.

Michael Sheen is fantastic as Brian Clough. He does very well to get the tone and speaking style of Brian Clough very near to perfect. His mannerisms in television interviews are also fantastically detailed. Sheen does an excellent job of conveying the character of Clough as well. He comes across as a man who just wants to win. His short temper and hunger for victory is seen continually throughout the film, and the audience often feels a bit sorry for Clough as his reign at Leeds seems doomed before it even began. Sheen has a bit of a knack for playing famous men with such skill and ability that you almost forget who the actor is.

Timothy Spall plays Clough’s assistant manager Peter Taylor. Personally I think he does very well and is exceptionally likeable. Both Clough and Taylor come across as exceptionally good friends in this film, which of course they were, and both Sheen and Spall do a good job to present this so enjoyably. There are a number of minor characters who do very well. Jim Broadbent is thoroughly dislikable as the chairman of Derby County, and this is fantastic acting from Broadbent. I don’t think I've seen a film in which I've disliked Broadbent’s character too much, but The Damned United is definitely him at his most despicable. The actors who play the Leeds United team do very well too. They feel like a strong unit of players and come across as a small family for the parts of the film when they are on-screen. The flashbacks to the past with Don Revie as manager only serve to reinforce this, and when Clough arrives at Elland Road (Leeds United’s home ground) he never fits in. From the first image of the players standing around looking at their new celebrity manager it is apparent that Clough’s time at Leeds will be short-lived. These actors do very well to convey such hostility as a group.

The Damned United book is very gripping and fantastically entertaining because of the way it is laid out chronologically. The film does a fantastic job of translating this exciting story to the screen. In both the book and the film Clough’s time at Leeds is interspersed with his success at Derby so that by the time he is sacked as Leeds manager he is also leaving Derby. This serves to make the book seem very cyclical, and while the film missed out on this slightly, the scene at the end where Clough and Taylor make up serves to complete the notion that all is well again. Indeed the little montage at the end shows just how successful this partnership would be. However, the Clough family, who are largely critical of the book, maintain that neither the book nor the film truly represent what actually happened. Many people in football have said that the film isn't a great representation of the truth, and some have said that the film plays up the friendship between Clough and Taylor.

I don’t think that this is a massive problem though, because regardless of whether the film is a detailed historical account or not, the basic ideas are there. Clough was critical of Leeds, and then became their manager. The more recent example of Rafael Benitez as Chelsea manager shows just how difficult this can make your job. The filmmakers wanted to focus on the ideas of jealousy and betrayal more than historical accuracy, and for the purposes of cinematic entertainment, this works perfectly. It’s a very enjoyable film and serves to inform people about the ups and downs of football.

Personally, as a massive football fan, I really enjoyed The Damned United, and it should definitely appeal to other football fans. If you are not a football fan though, this doesn't mean that you won’t enjoy it. I watched this with my girlfriend, who is very apathetic when it comes to all things football, and she really enjoyed it as well. It is a very entertaining film and, despite some historical inaccuracies, has fantastic actors playing fantastic characters. All round, The Damned United is sure to provide some entertainment.