Stranger than Fiction

Director: Marc Foster
Cast: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal

Hollywood hasn't been known for its risk-taking in recent years. Between the remakes, sequels (and prequels), literary classic adaptations and comic book movies all the truly original films get passed over, only to be snapped up by the more visionary independents. Some of the more savvy studios have created their own indie divisions, realising there is money to be made (art doesn't usually come into the equation), but from the safety of distribution deals. It's thanks to this that we got to see some original, off-beat films like Donnie Darko, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. Stranger than Fiction is another movie of that ilk.


Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is a tax inspector. His life is dull and routine, bordering on the obsessive/compulsive. He has no real friends, and a few work acquaintances. One morning he hears a woman's voice narrating his life, describing in eloquent detail the minutiae of his boring existence. Naturally, this causes him some concern.


Elsewhere in the city, renowned and reclusive author Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) is struggling with her latest novel, Death and Taxes, about a tax man called Harold Crick. Although she won't admit to writer's block, she can't find a way to kill off the main character because in her books the protagonists always die.


The trouble starts when Harold hears the words, "Little did he know that events had been set in motion that would lead to his imminent death". Harold figures out that what he is hearing is a story being narrated so enlists the aid of an eminent professor of literature (Dustin Hoffman) to try and discover what the story is about.


Added to this mix, Harold is auditing Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a feisty young woman who runs a small bakery. In an unlikely turn of events the pair fall for each other, as Harold tries to break out of his routines and have a life, while he still can. He is also trying to track down the author to convince her to alter the ending of the story.

At the risk of sounding clichéd, this really is a great feel-good movie. It has romance, it has comedy and it is surreal enough not to make them cloying. Ferrell is brilliant, managing to get both laughter and tears from the audience as the put-upon everyman, playing it with just the right amount of deadpan. Hoffman seems to be building up a body of work playing intellectuals or pseudo-intellectuals. Gyllenhaal is vivacious as Ana, giving another mesmerising performance without overdoing the theatrics. Thompson's hand-wringing, chain-smoking author is just the right side of manic eccentric, without going over the top, which could be quite easy to do, turning Eiffel into a caricature rather than a character.

It helps that the cast has a great script to work with. Zach Helm has written a screenplay that is as surreal as Charlie Kaufman, but with a lot more love and laughter.

Highly recommended off-beat rom-com that even blokes can enjoy. On general release from December 1.

Official website

Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny

Director: Liam Lynch
Cast: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Jason Reed, Tim Robbins, Dave Grohl, Ben Stiller

Tenacious D (Jack Black and Kyle Gass) have always tried to assert their claim to being the greatest band on earth since the release of their first song< Tribute. However, even at their most deluded, they cannot claim this to be the greatest movie on earth. It is a frippery that could never be called a vanity project because it is far too self-mocking. According to the duo, it is a chance to answer the perennial question of how "The D" got started.


From the opening credits of an animated "D" farting around, it starts like a Jim Steinman musical, complete with Meat Loaf as the young JB's dad. Following guidance from Ronnie James Dio, one of his rock gods, the young JB heads off to Hollywood. Here, a chance meeting with boardwalk troubadour, KG, sees JB taken is as a rock 'n' roll apprentice, having to pay his dues in KG's apartment. With no money to the rent, the duo decides to enter a local talent contest but need a winning song. Studying pictures of their heroes on the covers of Rolling Stone, they discover they one thing in common, a peculiar-shaped guitar pick, a pick that was carved from the Devil's tooth. So they begin a quest to get The Pick for themselves from the Rock and Roll History Museum and the final showdown with Lucifer himself.


If you are familiar with Black's performances in HIGH FIDELITY and SCHOOL OF ROCK, can expect more of the same manic mannerisms. There is nothing fresh or original in his performance, after all he is playing an exaggerated version of himself, but it is what he does best. Gass's performance is a lot more subdued, as befits the character. As a comedy duo they do have that all-important chemistry that makes their gags work, no matter how puerile they are, and believe me they do get quite juvenile – the type of humour that appeals to teenage boys in particular. Not that there's anything wrong with that, the Farrelly Brothers have made a career of it. There are some great sight gags and humorous uses of film references. There are some great cameos from Ben Stiller and Tim Robbins, who are both almost unrecognisable. Stiller is Executive Producer and Black and Gass met at Robbins' Actor's Gang theatre troupe.


Of course, for most fans of The D, it's all about the music, and there's plenty of it as the duo deliver their own brand of Rock, with all its influences from the classics, but with lots of gratuitous swearing. If Kevin Smith had been brought up in California and played the guitar, this is the movie would have made.

It's not the most profound film of the year but it entertains and the 95 minutes pass so quickly you are left wanting more.

TENACIOUS D AND THE PICK OF DESTINY is on general release now.

The Prestige

Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Hugh Jackman. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, Andy Serkis, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall


The 2005 Hugo Award for Best Novel went to a book about two rival magicians, set in 19th Century London. It was called Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and although there are some parallels with Christopher Priest's novel, The Prestige, they definitely should not be confused. For a start Clarke's story is about 'real' magicians, as in wizards and the supernatural, while Priest's is about stage magicians, illusionists and conjurors. Clarke's story may well get made into a movie, and no doubt has already been optioned as cast into development hell, where neither wizards nor magicians dare enter.

The Prestige, on the other hand, has seen the light of day thanks to the talents of prodigious British director Chris Nolan (of Memento and Batman Begins fame). With the help of his screenwriter brother, Jonathon, Nolan has created a stunning movie with the gothic look of Batman Begins and the twists and turns of Memento.


It is the tale of two young magicians in Victorian England; Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), a very talented, if somewhat rough-edged, magician capable of creating the most spectacular illusions; and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman), the consummate showman. They start off as friends, protégés of a famous illusionist, under the watchful eye of Cutter (Michael Caine, in yet another archetypal mentor role), the magician's ingeneur (the one who looks after the technicalities of the illusions). When a trick goes horribly wrong Angier blames Borden and they go their separate ways, becoming bitter rivals always trying to discover the other's professional secrets and sabotage the shows, which takes a heavy physical, and emotional, toll on the both of them.

Being a Nolan picture, it jumps around the timeline so, from the beginning, we know that Borden is accused of killing Angier. It then flips backwards and forwards, as the whole story is revealed through the journals of the rivals. In fact the movie's three acts are divided into the three parts of the magic trick: The Pledge, where the audience is shown something ordinary, even if it isn't; The Turn, where the ordinary object does something extraordinary; and The Prestige, the part with the twists and turns that amaze and stun the audience. Nolan certainly pulls off a great trick, some of which you see coming while others are clearly shown but so well misdirected that they are all the more surprising at the end.


Apart from the rivalries between the two magicians, both professionally and domestically (wives and lovers), one of the highlights of the film, at least for me, was the first major feature film screen appearance of Nikola Tesla. For those not familiar with him, he was the greatest genius of modern times, whose inventions and discoveries are commonplace and yet he is rarely credited for them, for example – radio. During his lifetime his work was so advanced the he was widely known as the Wizard. In a sublime bit of casting, Nolan managed to convince David Bowie to play the part. If you want to find out more about Tesla click here.


This is a great looking movie that doesn't emphasise the fact that it is a period piece. There is plenty of attention to detail but it never dominates the action or character development. While it is almost impossible to convincingly portray magic on screen, because we are all aware of the tricks the camera can play, the film quite openly shows how the tricks are done, or may be done. It is Tesla's science that is the most mind boggling, although some creative licence has been taken with some of it. Caine, Jackman and Bale are all excellent, with Bale's cockney accent sounding as genuine as Caine's natural voice. The female supports are great and Rebecca Hall, as Borden's wife, is a revelation in her first major screen role. (She is also in Starter for Ten, which is in cinemas on the same day as The Prestige.)

Chris Nolan is definitely one of the finest young filmmakers to come out of this country in a long time, able to create movies that are intelligent, well-crafted and enjoyed by audiences and critics alike. Definitely one to see, just don't tell your friends how the trick was done.

Official site