Contraband certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel, but on the other hand, it's such a very nice wheel, perfectly round and with the spokes in exactly the right places. That sort of attitude is eminently respectable, and honestly gratifying, for meat-and-potatoes films like this are a dying breed. Simmons's level best is a shitload better than Lukas Haas's level best, for example), and always treating this grubby genre material as though it really does deserve their respect and effort. They are all Ackroyds, giving their level best, however good that is (it shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that J.K. It's a film that it would be incredibly easy to regard as make-work and to accordingly look down on it, except that not a single person involved appears to have done so. Rather, I am struck by how much the whole of Contraband is basically the exact same thing as the cinematography, over and over again: it is a film made by people who do not seem to notice or care that they are making a crappy mid-winter action film that people only see because there's nothing else out. My point isn't that Barry Ackroyd is a consummate professional and a fine craftsman, although if it was, it still would have been worth the saying. Ackroyd did not have to do this, but he did maybe because he was paid to, maybe because honor drove him to, maybe because he's too good to allow something crappy to come out under his name. And yet, this film does, in fact, boast great cinematography, not the showy noir kind of cinematography that some might have thought to use, but an appealingly rough-hewn mixture of artificial lighting and pointedly graceless handheld camera that magnificently captures the rhythm and texture of the film's unrefined mise en scène. It's quite another to do that in a quiet little Mark Wahlberg vehicle that is not, by any stretch of the imagination, going to end up in the best-of-year conversations next January. But it's not as far off as you might think, and here's why it strike me as important: it's one thing to do great work in a Ken Loach or Paul Greengrass film, or in an Iraq War picture made with enough integrity to eventually dance into a healthy clutch of awards. Not that Contraband is his masterpiece, or something absolutely ridiculous like that. And for all that, I don't think I was ever quite as blown away by just how good Ackroyd is at his job until I'd seen what he made out of Contraband, a working class thriller about smugglers that is the absolute epitome of the words "a January release". To those who care to look, it's been obvious for a while that he's a talented man and his presence a welcome sight, even if he's not the most versatile kid on the block. Jones is currently filming his role as Banshee in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class.Barry Ackroyd, in more than a quarter of a century as a cinematographer, has been responsible for many fine pieces of work, with at least a handful of award-worthy turns in projects like The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Green Zone, and The Hurt Locker (for which he received an Oscar and ASC nomination). He joins Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, and Giovanni Ribisi in the flick, and will play the brother-in-law of a retired smuggler (Wahlberg) who is forced to do one more job after a screw-up. Collins has been busy, as she has Priest with Paul Bettany, and Abduction with Taylor Lautner coming out next year.Īctor Caleb Landry Jones ( The Last Exorcism) has joined the cast of Mark Wahlberg’s Contraband. Lily Collins ( The Blind Side) is set to star in City of Bones, an adaptation of the first installment in the book series, Mortal Instruments. Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha return for the sequel, set in Thailand. Directed by Matthew Arnold, the film centers on a radio talk show host (Roberts), who gets drawn into exploring paranormal activity and crosses paths with Eastwood’s character, who is sent by the Center for Disease Control to investigate a possible virus.Ĭomedian Bryan Callen, who played the owner of the wedding chapel in The Hangover, has joined the cast of the currently-filming The Hangover Part II as a strip club owner. Deadline reports Alison Eastwood (yes, Clint’s daughter) and Dallas Roberts ( 3:10 to Yuma) will star in the psychological thriller The Door.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |