Rachel Getting Married: A Review

Rachel Getting Married takes a family wedding and turns it on it's head with the arrival of Kym, the titular character's younger sibling, who comes equipped with a luggage-load of problems.

Oscar nominated Anne Hathaway revels in the role of Kym, who begins the movie by ending a nine month stint in rehab for drug addiction, an addiction which has left her with a traumatic secret. During the beginning act of the film, she comes across as a vaguely unpleasant character, one who is quick to throw out quips and one-liners, at times to disguise her true feelings. If Juno were less pregnant and more of an asshole, this could possibly be the result.

However, it speaks volumes of Hathaway's acting ability that she takes this seemingly unlikeable, narcissistic and attention-seeking character and begs and pleads the audience for every last scrap of sympathy. And it works. As more of Kym's backstory comes to light, set in scenes around the wedding's buildup, we see the reasons for why she acts the way she does, and although it doesn't allow us to feel forgivness for her harrowing secret, we can still feel sympathetic.

The movie carries a very 'indy' feel throughout, with 'live music' (being played around the family home by the wedding musicians) providing the score for certain scenes. Although, if I'm nitpicking, the final act of the wedding goes a little too overboard with its attempt at musical and cultural eclecticism as mishmashes are thrown at us for what seems like an age.

Brilliant Altman-esque camerawork throughout the movie's familial clashes and togetherness really captures the smallest looks and moments of emotion, which when added with Demme's refusal to resort to clichés and standards, really makes for a great film.

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Sunshine: A Review

Danny Boyle's Sunshine is a gorgeous psychological thriller set in the confines of the Icarus II space station, as it makes its way towards the sun to deliver a bomb that will reignite the dieing star.

The eight-strong crew of the Icarus II are instructed to carry out their goal as follows: the ship will fly within reach of the sun and fire its payload of nuclear material, 'equal in mass to Manhattan Island', into its very heart, while propelling themselves away within a four minute deadline. Only, they're met with a myriad of problems along the way.

When they receive a distress beacon from the crew of the Icarus I, the first attempt at such a huge mission, the decision to chance docking with the other ship or continuing with the task at hand is left to Cillian Murphy's Capa, the ship's physics expert and the only person capable of delivering the payload.

Events take a turn for the worse and the movie broadens its outlook as it enters the final act, as it throws in a physical presence (without giving too much away) to add to the overload of tension. The film falters here, at the final hurdle, with a tacked on addition that just doesn't feel needed.

Sunshine gives sometimes unsubtle nods to previous science fiction movies, evoking the paranoia and claustrophobia of Alien and borrowing slithers of ideas from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It also plays, at one point, on the harsh cuts and scrapes of shots from Event Horizon, as the crew board the previous Icarus ship. Pictures and memories of the ship's former crew are interspersed between shots, building a sinister atmosphere.

Stunning visuals throughout the film match a well-crafted story which dabbles in and touches on isolation, depravation and selflessness, and on a bigger scale, religion, global warming and man's intent to take one final shot and risk burning out rather than fading away.

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