Friday, 14 November 2008

Latest screening: Dean Spanley


A pleasant Sunday afternoon diversion type film, this is one to see with no knowledge of what it's about and watch on a screener.
I'm not going to go into what it's about because i knew nothing going in and that helped. The first half of the film if slow and starts to seem a bit ludicrous and i was thinking this is going to be shit, but found myself won over by the whimsy of it all by the end. Of course if you don't like whimsy then this isn't for you. It is completely mad.
The performances, production design are all fine but nothing stands out and it seems to me the only reason for even bothering with awards season screenings is to try and get O'Toole another shot at the elusive prize! He won't get it here though. He is good, though this again comes through in the second half. For the first half he seems to be just classic cantankerous O'Toole, enjoyable but not remarkable. Like the film he gets better but this is too instantial overall.
Awards chances: O'Toole is a long shot nomination but given he's been nominated 8 times before i suppose it's possible. I'd rule out anything else though. If they send screeners though it is a pleasant diversion.

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