DVD: This Boy's Life

Recently released on DVD here in the UK by Second Sight this 1993 film serves as a stark reminder of just how good Robert DeNiro can be.

This is the true tale of the childhood of author Tobias Wolff who moves town to live with his Mother’s new husband, the seemingly affable Dwight (DeNiro).

Dwight’s true obnoxious personality soon emerges and Tobias is subjected to mental and physical abuse while his Mother (Ellen Barkin) looks on.

This is an acting masterclass from DeNiro, he absolutely nails his portrayal of the deluded Dwight, who is convinced that he has the boy’s best interests at heart. Leonardo DiCaprio is fantastic too as Tobias, a young man still trying to find his way while dealing with a horrendous family life.

Never having seen this before I was completely captivated from the beginning and even if you’ve already seen it it’s worth another look. The 1950s setting ensures that there is no dated feel and the snippets of information at the end provide suitable closure on all the characters involved.

Ric’s Rating: 89%

Film: Inception

The man who brought us the classic mindbender Memento (Christopher Nolan) covers somewhat similar ground here.

I also noticed elements from Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Flatliners and Total Recall as Leonardo Di Caprio and his team delve into the world of dreams to extract secrets and plant ideas. This is by no means an original story.

Di Caprio agrees to penetrate the mind of Cillian Murphy (in his best Hollywood showing yet) who is about to inherit a global energy company but Leo's own guilt issues creep dangerously into the dreams jeopardising the mission and his fellow team members.

Great idea, reasonably well excecuted but two big problems. There is a severe lack of character development, other than DiCaprio we get zero background on the team and, it's a bit boring at times.

As the film drifted into dreams within dreams I often found my own mind wandering to subjects like what I should have for tea, or if I really should have had that hot dog. Others obviously felt the same, two people left after about 40 minutes and at that stage I couldn't blame them.

Fortunately it all kicks off in the final third when we eventually get some action, including the neat gravity twists and it does come to a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

Funnily enough I do have a nagging feeling that it might be better second time around.
Maybe that's just a dream.

Ric's Rating: 56%

Film: Shutter Island

Someone Is Missing declares the tagline to this film, I think it's
Martin Scorsese.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play Federal Marshalls sent to investigate an apparent escape from a formidable mental institution.

From the get go I suspected this would be a bit ropey as the boat ride to the island was so cheaply filmed you could almost see the set wobbling. Then we have DiCaprio in a part that he is still too fresh faced for, I couldn't get on board with him playing this grisled war veteran tortured by his past. Ben Kingsly and Max Von Sydow collect their paychecks playing doctors but both have no decent material so maybe it's harsh to blame them for the shoddy performances they produce.

This film also suffers from The Sixth Sense Syndrome where I guessed the twist about 90 minutes before I was supposed to rendering the remainder of the film pointless.

All a bit boring so nothing much to recommend unless you are easily pleased or want to watch DiCaprio just for the sake of it.

Along with The Wolfman this enters the all new 2010 Turkey category.

Ric's Rating: 21%