There is nothing like a good screenplay, and Diablo Cody has done it again. She is like a young female Tarantino, but with her own hip voice. And she puts it to great effect in Jennifer's Body. A horror film without too much gore, even film critic Mark Kermode, a horror fan and expert, admitted Cody knew her stuff. Well directed by Karyn Kusama, the female dominated movie also has Megan Fox in the title role (great casting and probably the best thing she has done, although other actresses may still have done better) and Amanda Seyfried, excellent as her "best" friend. Very enjoyable. And the soundtrack is brilliant. I wish I could say that I would love the album, but the songs fit the film, but not on their own.
Although the critics have panned 2012, I think they are missing the point. This is up there with all the massive disaster movies where the plot and script hardly matter. What you get is a story of survival whilst all hell breaks loose. Our heroes (or most of them) escape death by fractions of a second or millimeters, whilst the rest of the world is destroyed. OK, there is a flimsy premise to why the earth is suddenly breaking up, but it is the staging of the carnage by way of CGI, and the resulting peril the main characters are under, that is impressive. It is a long film, two and a half hours, and the action becomes a little tiresome after a while. But it is wonderfully shot with great lighting, and the sound should get an Oscar nomination even though it wont. If only Roland Emmerich had cut it to a decent length, we could have gone home happy.
Stephen Poliakoff has always been one of my favourite writer/directors, although over the last decade he has concentrated on TV drama where all his films have been fabulous. So does his transfer back to the big screen work? Only just. As always, what you get is a slow (some say plodding) storyline but with great dialogue. And originality, there is just not enough good original drama around. Glorious 39 is beautifully filmed, lovely colours and scenery, it captures the period of the title in wonderful clarity. The one problem is that Poliakoff cannot make up his mind if it as a drama or a thriller. Unfortunately, he is no Hitchcock as he fails to ramp up the tension of his heroine in danger. So the movie works best in the dramatic sections. Romola Garai is exquisite in the lead role as Anne, the one adopted daughter of parents Bill Nighy and Jenny Seagrove. The whole cast is excellent, but it is Garai that stands out.
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