tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87766676309357619512024-03-14T06:24:46.634-07:00E's MiscellanyReviews of films, exhibitions and events with a London-centric focus.Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-59550769864756746352019-02-18T23:41:00.002-08:002019-02-18T23:43:55.431-08:00Oscars 2019 - Best PictureI liked the pick for Best Picture at last year's Oscars. Awards lists are always contentious, and largely I think the Academy made good decisions, although I didn't think Darkest Hour should have been in contention.<br />
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This year, the slate of proposed films is a little less to my taste.<br />
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Black Panther. Not the best Marvel Studios film, in my book, some would argue that it wasn't even the best Marvel Studios film from last year (assuming we're not including the animated Spider-Man film, they're wrong), but it's scored points for its political talking points (both those in the story and those involved in the production).<br />
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It was also a lot of fun, well-made (about five minutes of the whole film was a little dull on a repeat watch, so that's a pretty good ratio), a crowd pleaser, and exactly the sort of film that should be getting nominated for best picture.<br />
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So I'm happy with that choice.<br />
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Next up is BlacKkKlansman. A joint by Spike Lee, that works to keep the dialogue going about race relations in the USA in a way that entertains rather than polemicises, keeping it fairly light considering the subject matter - until the last five minutes of the film, which left the whole audience in stunned silence as the credits rolled.<br />
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Not sure if the rest of the film would justify it, but the ending probably scrapes this one past the finish line for me.<br />
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Bohemian Rhapsody. Fun, well-mounted, songs by Queen, what's not to like? Except it's not a best picture contender by a long-shot.<br />
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There have been plenty of films that have entertained me a lot more this year - Ready Player One I managed to see seven times, so on an entertainment scale, with one viewing and no desire to see it again, Bohemian Rhapsody falls well short. And for anything deeper, look elsewhere.<br />
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The Favourite. As an absurdist black comedy, The Favourite provides an entertaining couple of hours viewing. The performances from the three female leads are superb, there are nice frocks, and some nice period backdrops (courtesy of Hatfield House and Hampton Court). But that doesn't feel enough to qualify it as best picture. The acting nominations are well-deserved, but anything else doesn't feel earned.<br />
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Roma. Lush black and white photography; a small, personal, heart-breaking story, set against a wide backdrop. Roma is the type of film you want to live inside. The only strike against it, is that it's also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, so it seems a bit greedy.<br />
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Green Book. Basically Driving Miss Daisy for the 21st century. It's another tale of a white person realising that people of a different colour are not bad people after all. It's a well-mounted production, with decent performances, but it's a fairly standard (b)rom com plot. I wouldn't have put this one forward.<br />
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A Star is Born. At one time lauded as the most likely winner, I think a bit of time has possible taken some of the sheen off of this one. It's well-directed, convincingly-acted, some great songs - it definitely creates the sense of being out on stage. I found the relationship dynamics troubling, which I think I was supposed to, but the way they were left at the end of the film left me feeling slightly uneasy. It's a better contender than some of the others on the list - and a far better music picture than Bohemian Rhapsody - but I wouldn't want it to win.<br />
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Vice. Brilliant make-up effects (should win the Oscar for that), and an entertainingly told told tale about a horrifying man, but it's too disjointed. The Big Short, writer-director Adam McKay's previous film was far better.<br />
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Shouldn't have been a contender.<br />
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So that's one I completely agree on, three maybes and four nos. <br />
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Here's what I would replace the definite nos with:<br />
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If Beale Street Could Talk. Much better at talking about race than Green Book, and an absolutely beautiful production. Nominated for a few other awards, but stupidly not selected for Best Picture.<br />
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Leave No Trace. Criminally overlooked by the Oscars, Globes and BAFTAs. One of the best reviewed films of the year, and an absolutely wonderful piece of filmmaking.<br />
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First Man. Worth it for the claustrophobic Moon Landing scenes alone.<br />
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. If a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film can make it into the Best Picture shortlist, then so can a nominee for Best Animated Feature Film.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-34632468142954932042019-01-16T23:36:00.000-08:002019-01-16T23:36:15.189-08:00Mary Poppins Returns (2018)There are two things that amaze me about Mary Poppins Returns.<br />
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The first is how the filmmakers managed to make so many good decisions while making the film. Everything from the subtle storytelling, the casting, the songs, the cinematography, the animation creates a film that doesn't stray too far from the formula of the first film, but also manages to feel fresh enough that it isn't a dull retread.<br />
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The second is that there are people out there who disagree with this assessment.<br />
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Not all of the songs hit first time - I initially found opening number of (Underneath the) Lovely London Sky to be okay, but not instantly catchy, but given a bit of time it earwormed itself into my mind - however for the most part, the songs stuck first time.<br />
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Emily Blunt on the other hand sticks the first time she appears in the movie. Trying to take over from Julie Andrews may have seemed like a poisoned chalice, but I found that instead of suffering in the shadow of Andrews' Poppins, the legacy instead worked in Blunt's favour. By not attempting to mimic Andrews, and instead delivering a pricklier, more vain Mary Poppins, Blunt creates sufficient distinction to make the role her own, while benefiting from the audience's familiarity with the character.<br />
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Lin-Manuel Miranda's turn as Jack the Lamplighter is a reasonable replacement for Bert the Chimney Sweep/Screever/One-Man Band. His accent isn't in the same league as Dick Van Dyke's, but with a fairly stagy (yet sufficiently charming) delivery, he's unlikely to be mistaken for a genuine cockney.<br />
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The animated scenes also compare well with the original film. Using hand-drawn animation for the Royal Dalton Ball sequence make the film feel contiguous to Mary Poppins' chalk drawing sequence, although interestingly it uses the opportunity to up the peril factor with a nightmarish chase sequence that felt akin to something out of Disney's Pinocchio or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.<br />
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This twisting of the story beats is something the film does quite frequently. It lends to the familiarity as there seems to be a companion piece for all of the the original's main sequences, but it uses those familiar beats to tell a tale that felt to me to be more focused than the plot of the original film.<br />
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There's talk of a sequel to Mary Poppins Returns. If they manage to maintain the quality, then I'm looking forward to it.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-12038392807821098972019-01-16T05:38:00.000-08:002019-01-16T05:38:01.206-08:00Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)When I first heard about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, my expectations for it were so low the might as well have been the Mariana Trench.<br />
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We'd recently been given a live action Spider-Man film, where Sony had made the wise decision to collaborate with Marvel Studios. Now we were going to get what I expected to be a cheaply animated CGI cartoon that should probably have gone direct to video.<br />
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But then in the months leading up to the film's release, my opinion began to shift. First was the news that Lord and Miller, the responsible parties for The Lego Movie were going to be involved. Then came the trailers, which indicated that not only was the film going to be gifted with reasonable-looking animation, but it looked like it could be properly funny.<br />
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However, trailers all too often lie, so the chances were that my expectations, once low, were now too high. There was no way that the film could meet my expectations.<br />
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Except it met them, shook their hands, and then waved goodbye to them as it far exceeded anything I had thought the film capable of delivering.<br />
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I've now seen Spider-Verse four times (I only stopped because my local cinema took it off to make room for something like Welcome to Marwen). I've bought the soundtrack, the score, the entire run of comic books on which it was based. Out of the 97 films I saw last year, it's in my top two (don't ask me to pick between them).<br />
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I have one issue with the film, which was more of a problem the first time I saw it, and less of one with subsequent viewings. At times the animation in its quest to look edgy and comic book like uses techniques that make the picture look as if you've forgotten to put on your 3D glasses (I was watching in 2D - I have no idea of how confusing this might at a 3D screening).<br />
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Aside from that quibble, there's little else I can complain about. The storytelling is superb - there's not a single scene that bored me by the fourth time I was watching. The city environments have a genuine sense of place to them - it feels like a world the characters inhabit rather than only being a background to the real action. The dialogue is clever, sharp, funny. The characters are compelling - both the principle and the supporting parts. There's a sense of experimentation to the film with its clashing animation styles that hasn't been seen in mainstream western animation for a long time - certainly not to this extent.<br />
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The film's already won a Golden Globe. If it doesn't win an Oscar, I'll be suspecting foul play. It's the best animated film of the year, the best animated superhero film of all time, and it certainly ranks among the best comic book films committed to film.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-44417720163663351222018-12-11T23:25:00.000-08:002018-12-11T23:25:31.617-08:00Mowgli (2018)Mowgli, the second film in recent years to present a human-CGI version of The Jungle Book is far removed from the Disney versions. <div>
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For those wondering if the world needed two versions of The Jungle Book so close together, stop asking stupid questions - of course the world didn't need it. The real question is whether Mowgli tells the story in a sufficiently different way that the audience won't be bored by it - and for my money (or Netflix subscription) the answer is yes.</div>
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Available on Netflix, Mowgli also received a limited cinema release with a 3D version of the film. Disney's retread of The Jungle Book put 3D to stunning use, and is one of the few films where it made a real difference. However, with Mowgli the effect is for the most part fine, but not required.</div>
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The film is a much darker take on the story, which is probably slightly more in keeping with the original Kipling tales than the singing, cartoon version. </div>
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The animal fights in the film bring to mind the saying of 'Nature, red in tooth and claw' - although in terms of violence probably no worse than watching a super-cut of all the animal kills from David Attenborough's documentaries. There is a moment late on in the film though that would probably be enough to traumatise thousands of childhoods.</div>
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There's also a dark mysticism within the film with the roles of Kaa and Hathi taking on a particularly mythic dimension rather than playing the comedy roles that the Disney cartoon foisted upon them.</div>
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There are niggles here and there with the film - it's not perfect, but it is a worthwhile addition to the adaptations of Kipling's stories. It's biggest problem will be with finding an audience - probably too adult for most children, but due to its source material, not so likely to be the first thing on the adults' viewing list either.</div>
Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-2667968732951880032018-11-26T00:25:00.002-08:002018-11-26T00:25:58.047-08:00Quick ReviewsIt's been a while since I last wrote a post, and there have been a few films that I haven't reviewed, so I thought I'd write a brief summary of them.<br />
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<b>First Man (2018)</b><br />
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Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong and Claire Foy as Janet Armstrong. It's been said that it's not a film about the Moon Landing, but rather a film about Neil Armstrong that culminates in the Moon Landing. That's pretty much like saying that Field of Dreams wasn't a film about baseball. First Man has space travel all the way through it - even before Armstrong sets foot inside a space capsule, the film makes it clear that he's already 200,000 miles away from anyone else, isolated in his grief at the death of his daughter.<br />
Emotional drama aside, the film also offers a decent look at the behind-the-scenes events leading up to the landing, and despite knowing the outcome, the depiction of landing is an incredible, nail-biting, claustrophobic sequence.<br />
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<b>Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)</b><br />
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Drenched in atmosphere, a crime thriller that doesn't really hit the mark because the script wasn't really up to scratch. The first act feels very much like a stage play, which opens up a little with a story that's slightly reminiscent of early-Tarantino (characters in love with their own voices; chaptered, non-linear structure). The characters never really gel, and the multiple narratives don't so much entwine as get tangled together messily.<br />
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<b>Columbus (2017)</b><br />
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If you like films where two characters wander about a town talking about modern architecture as they come to terms with grief and life choices then this is absolutely the film for you. Like the previous year's Paterson, it's the cinematic equivalent of taking a pleasant walk.<br />
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<b>The Wife (2018)</b><br />
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Feminist politics and the literary world collide in a drama that looks at the difference between perception an reality in the disintegrating marriage between a Nobel-nominated author and his wife who "doesn't write". Filmed mostly in Glasgow passing for Stockholm, there's a lot to like about the film, but ultimately it didn't feel as if it packed quite enough of a punch.<br />
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<b>The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)</b><br />
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A film that is all over the place. An excellent central performance from MacKenzie Foy, some decent dialogue, a couple of lovely shots of Victorian London that demonstrate some understanding of the basic geography of the city rather than being the usual Disney mash-up, all suggested the film was off to a good start - but then it descends into pseudo-Labyrinth meanderings through an incoherent fantasyland.<br />
It's entertaining enough, particularly if you can see the fun in Keira Knightley's helium-voiced, demented sugarplum fairy - but too incoherent in its internal mythology.<br />
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<b>Widows (2018)</b><br />
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Well-directed, decently plotted, although the surprises are well-worn (they pulled something similar in the first Mission: Impossible film - that's even assuming you didn't see the Widows TV series on which the film was based). Word of warning - the film goes from quiet to very loud very quickly in the early scenes, so probably not for those who are easily startled.<br />
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<b>Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)</b><br />
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Compelling central performance from Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, and a great soundtrack. The rise and fall and rise again narrative is either a (mostly) fun and fascinating look behind the scenes, or a disjointed mess depending on how you want to approach the film.<br />
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<b>Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)</b><br />
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There's either too much going on in this film, or not enough. Some brilliant sequences, some fascinating but too short expansions of Rowling's Wizarding World, versus some overlong, dull talky bits.<br />
Unlike the first in the series, the film suffers from not feeling like it can stand on its own. Although Fantastic Beasts 1 had unfinished business with its villains, it told a complete emotional story for the protagonists. Film number 2 upends all of that and leaves pretty much all of the plot threads dangling. The only piece of business that's actually resolved is the answer to a question that we didn't know needed to be asked, and which didn't really hold any great emotional impact - except perhaps to the die hard fans.<br />
That said, I still enjoyed it and will no doubt go and see it again.<br />
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<b>Robin Hood (2018)</b><br />
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The last version of Robin Hood I had seen (the one with Russell Crowe) left me with very low hopes for this one. Robin Hood is one of those characters whose tale is told and retold so many times, that it's difficult to get excited about what amounts to another cover version of the same old story with each new creative team declaring they have some new way of looking at the character, that usually amounts to the camera lenses being coated with an extra layer of mud.<br />
However, with no pretensions to high-art, the latest version of Robin Hood manages to do something that Crowe's endeavour missed: be fun.<br />
It's completely cheesy, ridiculously contrived, the saccharine opening sequence really doesn't set the mood at all well, but from the Iraqi War-styled Crusades sequence, the film kept me entertained throughout.<br />
It's less a retelling of The Adventures of Robin Hood, and more Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves meets The Mark of Zorro meets Batman Begins with the anachronistic production approach being along the lines of First Knight meets A Knight's Tale with a bit of Lord of the Rings thrown in for good measure.<br />
In other words it's a complete melange of dozens of other influences, which makes it either an unbearable mess, or the best B movies adventure of the year.<br />
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<b>The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)</b><br />
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Nowhere near up to par with the books of the original Millennium Trilogy, the film manages to be a better piece of ScandiNoir than the recent incoherent adaptation of The Snowman, but its James Bond world-threat storyline doesn't feel appropriate for the original character of Lisbeth Salander.<br />
As a 'Girl' story, it doesn't sit right, but as a Scandi-Jason Bourne-style thriller, it's entertaining enough.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-16651942132179468222018-10-07T23:21:00.002-07:002018-10-07T23:21:59.350-07:00Venom (2018)Venom is a film about a man with a symbiote living inside him that occasionally surfaces to give him superpowers and save the day.<br />
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Venom the film is a bad movie with a better movie inside it that occasionally surfaces to save it from being a complete disaster.<br />
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The film is overlong in the first act, underdeveloped in the second, so by the time the third comes along, it's barely kicking into its groove.<br />
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It has the feel of an 80s TV pilot - one that wasn't successful enough to go to air, but had glimpses of something intriguing.<br />
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The good it in it: Tom Hardy's double-act as Eddie Brock and Venom. This is absolutely the selling point of the film, and something that I felt worked really well. But we spend too long getting to it, and then the relationship development takes all of a single line of dialogue.<br />
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There are some action scenes that rather than being an edge of the seat white-knuckle ride, only really make it into the moderately interesting category. There are two things missing for me: emotional heft and decent camera placement. I felt as if I was watching from a distance rather than being in the middle of the action. The scenes aren't terrible, they're just not as good as they should have been.<br />
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The one thing the film managed was to leave me wanting more of the Brock/Venom partnership - only wrapped up in a better film next time, please.<br />
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Assuming there is a next time.Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-44343018750050572562018-09-02T23:50:00.000-07:002018-09-02T23:50:27.554-07:00Cold War (2018)From an aesthetic point of view, Cold War is immaculate. Shot in black and white in the Academy ratio (4:3), it feels like an artifact of the time in which the film was set. Or rather times, as Cold War takes place across a couple of decades. The style of the film, at least to my untrained eye, seemed to be photographed appropriately to each period with the early scenes in a much more primitive, almost documentary-style with the later Parisian scenes feeling much more lush and polished.<br />
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The story is interesting, a relationship between two people that was reminiscent of the uneven romance in La La Land, but told in a more consistent manner. Also with less dancing - but there is quite a bit of singing - mostly variations of the same song as it evolves over the years.<br />
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Ultimately where the movies didn't work for me was that I didn't really invest enough in either of the characters, with the male lead pulling a move about two-thirds through that immediately put my back up, which I assume was the intention: a demonstration of the true state of the relationship. However, it still informed my general disinclination to care about the fate of the character.<br />
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It's a film that's stuck with me after seeing it though - and I feel it probably bears a repeat viewing now that my expectations have been better set.Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-14445426272447708252018-08-27T23:34:00.003-07:002018-08-27T23:34:51.754-07:00BlacKkKlansman (2018)Warning: semi-spoilers within this review.<br />
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For the most part, BlackkKlansman is a mainstream piece of based-on-a-true-story entertainment. Despite being an indictment of racism, it spends at least as much time pointing out the ineptitude of the Ku Klux Klan as it does dealing with racism.<br />
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There's a distinct lack of discomfort that while it may not hammer home the horrors of racism, paints a more nuanced, and potentially more realistic picture of the experience. It also makes the film more palatable to a mainstream audience who are less likely to see a film that's going to make them experience suffering blow-by-blow and more likely to want to watch a film about a black cop who pulls one over on the white supremacists.<br />
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So, a nice safe film - until it hammers home its message at one point with a speech by Harry Belafonte recollecting a lynching from 1916, and then again in the final few minutes when a straight line is drawn between the racist past of the USA straight to present-day events. And it's heartbreaking.<br />
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As well as being a decently crafted piece of cinema, it's a film that people should be talking about. It's probably more important from an American perspective, given that nation's unique history with racism, but the echoes of those attitudes are disturbingly present throughout the rest of the European-centred world, so its relevance is definitely not limited to those shores.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-15962831096383710402018-08-20T00:11:00.002-07:002018-08-20T00:11:22.726-07:00The Escape (2018)For me to sum up The Escape is probably doing the film a disservice, so bear that in mind when I tell you that it's the story of Tara (played by Gemma Arterton) feeling trapped in a marriage to Mark (Dominic Cooper), who is a prime example of toxic masculinity in a nice suit, driving a nice car, living in a nice house in a nice neighbourhood.<br />
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The first part of the film is the examination of this marriage. It's a deeply sad portrayal by Arterton as the women who is yearning for more from a life that is solely defined by being wife (read: cleaner, cook, masturbatory aid, babysitter) and mother.<br />
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Cooper's role is well-drawn too. He's subtly abusive rather than being physically violent - any violence is expressed against inanimate objects rather than hitting Tara - but there's a constant threat, particularly when he manhandles her - and his sexual interactions with her are barely consensual, hanging on the line that would lead to Internet arguments about whether they constitute rape.<br />
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None of his behaviour seems particularly malicious, but rather the environment in which he has been brought up. He cannot understand why his wife is sad, he wants to fix her, but his actions are tainted by an inability to think beyond himself and his tainted understanding of the world.<br />
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By the time the titular escape finally occurs, it's a welcome relief, brilliantly handled by the filmmakers. Sound design, music and cinematography all play as important a part as the superb job done by the actors.<br />
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There's more beyond that as the film doesn't avoid the subsequent consequences and the reality of Tara's situation. The film's ending is not a resolution as such, but it is a step towards one. It's appropriate, thoughtful, and necessarily leaves a dozen questions hanging around afterwards.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-8641605690178635042018-08-19T23:43:00.003-07:002018-08-19T23:45:01.030-07:00Christopher Robin (2018)Christopher Robin, AKA Winnie the Pooh and the Midlife Crisis, is an odd film in that its choice of audience appears to be middle-aged men.<br />
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Being a middle-aged man, this means that I really enjoyed the film. It was fun, funny, and had a nice tinge of nostalgia for someone who grew up with the Pooh stories.<br />
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I'm not sure how well it's going to do with a younger audience. I assume the filmmakers hope that the inclusion of Winnie the Pooh and friends will give it cross-generational appeal. I don't know how true that will be.<br />
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It appears to be trying to emulate Paddington in some regard. It doesn't succeed, in large part because Paddington was completely faithful to its source material, whereas Christopher Robin takes detours into a world that most definitely is not 100 Acre Wood.<br />
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It's not a wholly unsuccessfully detour - the scenes of Pooh and Christopher Robin navigating a London railway terminal were the best part of the film - but it does stray from the Pooh formula.<br />
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I was also not happy to learn in the film that Robin is considered Christopher Robin's surname, rather than a middle-name that is (in childhood) appended with his first name. It doesn't feel right (and is of course historically inaccurate.<br />
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I had a couple of additional minor issues with the film, but overall it was enjoyable, and I came out of the cinema feeling better than when I had gone in, which is enough to recommend it for me.<br />
<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-79031712100581476872018-07-22T23:22:00.002-07:002018-07-23T06:08:48.246-07:00Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018)Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (or MMHWGA as it will henceforth be called), is the film that you need in your life right now.<br />
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MMHWGA is not like other films. Other films can generally be categorised into various flavours of good and bad. MMHWGA defies such mortal definitions. It sneers in the face of quality, laughs at five-star (and one-star ratings).<br />
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You will laugh, you will cry, you will laugh again, and cry again, although not necessarily at the right parts.<br />
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Or perhaps it will be. With MMHWGA, it's impossible to discern the difference between a well-crafted joke and a failed joke that's failed so badly it becomes funny again.<br />
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If you don't walk out of MMHWGA with a smile on your face, then you should probably check your pulse and get a friend to phone an ambulance, or possibly a funeral director.<br />
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If you think MMHWGA is the best film that the universe could possibly deliver, then you may very well be correct.<br />
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If you think that MMHWGA is an attempt to shoehorn a plot out of a bunch of ABBA lyrics, that features hammy acting that wouldn't look out of place in amateur theatre, a group of A-list male actors who stand around looking awkward in the middle of musical scenes only just realising that their dad-dancing skills won't cut it, and some of the most poorly staged comedy sequences this side of 70s sketch shows, then you might also be right.<br />
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But if you don't see that as a good thing, then you are most definitely in the wrong.<br />
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In the future books will be written attempting to dissect the perfect storm that is Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again.<br />
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Very few of them will come close to understanding the truth.Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-91465208094019606162018-07-18T05:06:00.000-07:002018-07-18T05:08:39.034-07:00Incredibles 2 (2018)Almost a week after seeing Incredibles 2, I still haven't made up my mind about how I would rate it.<br />
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Is it as good as the first film, better, worse? The answer is: I DON'T KNOW!!! (cue hysterical sobbing).</div>
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One things for certain is that it's very good. It's funny, heart-felt; stylistically it's a triumph; musically it's exceptional The action scenes are breathtaking, the acting superb, the animation excellent. It tells a fun story. Its use of Jack-Jack, a character who could have been irritating, works brilliantly, it ticks all the right superhero/60s spy movie boxes.</div>
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It doesn't have a volcano, and that lack of such an exceptional set-piece is probably one of the areas where the original movie wins outright.</div>
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But it does have a baby fighting a raccoon, and that might make up for the missing volcano.<br />
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Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-22384587411899835892018-07-17T23:32:00.000-07:002018-07-17T23:32:38.281-07:00The Happy Prince (2018)I almost didn't write this review, but as the critical consensus seems to be generally favourable to the Rupert Everett written-directed-acted film, The Happy Prince, I thought maybe I'd offer a counterpoint.<br />
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Although I knew going in to the film that this was about the end of Wilde's life, and I was therefore expecting a certain amount of bleakness, I wasn't prepared for how much of a slog the film would be.</div>
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Part of the problem was that along with all the squalid wretchedness of the piece, I couldn't find a single character to interest me. I should have been able to feel some sympathy for the state of Everett's Wilde, but the portrait of a self-indulgent man, seemingly uncaring of all the damage he was doing to the lives of those around him, made the character thoroughly unlikeable.</div>
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Not that liking a character is required for a story to be compelling - sometimes awful personalities can be fascinating to watch - but this version of Wilde wasn't even interesting to me.</div>
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The photography looked good at points. The acting was fine from a number of the players, and Everett would have been decent enough if his Wilde had been a minor cast member rather than the main character, but I was seriously tempted to walk out halfway through the film. I only kept watching out of the hope that it would get better.</div>
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It didn't.</div>
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Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-79901265381023550482018-07-16T23:27:00.000-07:002018-07-16T23:27:11.546-07:00Skyscraper (2018)<div>
The film The Towering Inferno was adapted from two books, The Tower, and The Glass Inferno.</div>
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The book Nothing Lasts Forever was apparently written after the author, Roderick Thorpe saw The Towering Inferno and then had a dream about a man being chased through a skyscraper by men with guns. That book was adapted into the movie Die Hard.<br />
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Skyscraper is about a man being chased through a skyscraper by men with guns, while the building is on fire, so we're already on two grandparents and one parent in the family tree of influences.<br />
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Adding to this Frankenstein approach, there are also elements from the TV series 24 thrown in for good measure.</div>
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With all this packed in, the film manages a running time of 100 minutes, which is remarkably short for the modern blockbuster.</div>
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Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, it's pretty much what you would expect from a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson film - a charismatic performance, big, ridiculous action set pieces (although the one that strained my credulity the most involved Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson climbing a ladder), and a substantial amount of cheese.<br />
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Neve Campbell, playing Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's wife in the film at first appears as if she's going to be the stereotypical female-in-distress, but the film manages to give her much more to do than be rescued by her husband (take that Die Hard), which was a pleasant surprise.<br />
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It's also set in Hong Kong, which scores it extra points as it's tied with New York for my second favourite city in the world (London beats both of those in that race).<br />
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It's unlikely to win any Oscars, but as a leave-your-brain-at-home action movie, it does its job in being an entertaining way to spend less than two hours.</div>
Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-65647632408638210512018-07-15T23:25:00.000-07:002018-07-15T23:25:18.522-07:00Mary Shelley (2017)On the strength of its trailer, I nearly didn't see Mary Shelley. I'd also noticed the film was receiving a lot of mediocre reviews, which reinforced my opinion that it would be a dull, self-important, ham-acted film.<br />
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However, there was enough craftsmanship on display that at the very least I thought it might look interesting, so the notion of making my own mind up about it nagged at me for a while.<br />
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My decision to see it over the weekend was made at the last minute - well the last half hour anyway. I had a nagging headache, was too hot and thought if the film was boring, at least I could have a nap in an air-conditioned cinema.<br />
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It took me about five minutes to realise my fears were unwarranted. Instead of being the trudge that I had expected, I found that I was enjoying the story.<br />
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The film is by no means perfect. At times the dialogue indulges in earnest feminist declarations, more concerned with forcing its point rather than letting it be made naturally.<br />
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Perhaps some of that is down to Elle Fanning's delivery. Although she handles the part and the accent well for the most of the time, I was left with the nagging feeling that she was spending too much effort sound 'proper'. At times it worked with her soft spoken delivery working as counterpoint to her physical acting, but it kept reminding me that she was acting rather than allowing me to be swept up in the story.<br />
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Aside from those moments though, I found much to enjoy about the film. Costuming, set design and the score were particular standouts, and minus the less subtle moments of storytelling, I was quite happy with the writing too.Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-36385699142929915272018-07-02T23:41:00.000-07:002018-07-02T23:41:00.349-07:00Sicario 2: Soldado (2018)Warning: vague spoilers ahead.<br />
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There's a general rule to storytelling: you don't use luck to get you out of a hole because it will make the audience groan.<br />
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There's a key moment in Sicario 2 that although plausible relies far too heavily on luck. The director has explained how they went to great pains to make sure it could happen, but whether it could is not really the problem.<br />
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Stick the scene at the beginning of the film and it's not a problem. Place it where they did and it's a moment that can disrupt your audience's suspension of disbelief.<br />
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Of course the thing to realise with Sicario is it's about as realistic as the Dark Knight films. Certainly it carries at time the air of verisimilitude, but this is just a regular action film with more moral ambiguity and better cinematography than most.<br />
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The film plays with the current concerns over the Mexico-USA border, which could have been a valuable subject if it had chosen to examine the situation properly. Instead it's merely serves to bring in the guns and helicopters, and doesn't really gives us much more social commentary than 'gangs are bad, but so are US politicians'.<br />
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Ultimately, the exploitation of the of subject matter, at this time, cheapens the film in my eyes.<br />
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That's not to say I hated the film. The action scenes are very well staged. There's a lovely performance by Isabela Moner as the daughter of a Mexican drug lord, and the scenes between her and Benicio del Toro worked well, and for my money the film would have been better served if it had focused more on that part of the story.<br />
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Visually it looks great too and is definitely worth watching on the big screen. It's just a shame that it missed the opportunity to do something really great.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-76314006422742619172018-07-01T23:31:00.003-07:002018-07-01T23:51:31.907-07:00Leave No Trace (2018)Every so often a film comes along where I want to walk up to people, grab them by their lapels, Eric Morecambe-style, and insist that they put everything else aside and proceed at best speed to the cinema.<br />
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Leave No Trace is one of those films.</div>
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The story of a PTSD sufferer and his teenage daughter living off grid, who are forced back into the 'civilised' world, it's a coming-of-age-tale, as well as a reflective piece about alternative living, and the harm done by well-meaning society.</div>
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As a piece of cinematic craft, it's difficult to see a single flaw with it. There's not a single scene out of place. It looks beautiful, sounds fantastic, and features heartbreaking performances from its leads Thomasin McKenzie and Ben Foster.</div>
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There's a documentary approach to the storytelling, both in the cuts that the film's editor, Jane Rizzo, makes as the characters carry out their day-to-day tasks, and in the acting of McKenzie and Foster, who deliver such naturalistic performances that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should stop looking for anyone else to fill the bill in March 2019.</div>
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Like the look and feel of the film, there's an authenticity to the story being told. It never comes close to falling into melodrama, every action seems right, proportionate. The people who populate it are generally kind, well-meaning, although often misguided. Characters are people, not symbols of the themes of the story, giving the tale the sense that it was recorded, not crafted.</div>
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It's also a film that will stay with you after you've seen it. In terms of thinking about the life lessons, in wondering if you could learn to feather wood, in comparing it with the Fox and the Hound (although that last one might just be me).</div>
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It's a film that deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as possible.</div>
Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-90239127512888547432018-06-25T00:03:00.001-07:002018-06-25T00:03:05.816-07:00Ocean's 8 (2018)In an all-female re-imagining of Ocean's 11, Ocean's 8 is an interesting entry into gender politics with what amounts to a no-boys-allowed club (and rightly so, given the all-male line-up of 11), but ultimately it doesn't bring anything new to the table.<div>
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It was a fun enough film while watching, and has a few scenes that linger in the memory, but I had a nagging sense throughout that someone had done this all before, only better.</div>
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Part of the problem is one inherent to movies with ensemble casts - characters are reduced to sketches rather than being fully realised. There was enough character in each of the main players to get a sense of who they were, but it's only tantalising glimpses that the audience gets. Saying that, what was shown was good for the most part.</div>
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I think one of the major concerns I had was with the character of Debbie Ocean. At times, particularly during the heist, she shines, but for much of the film she acts so inscrutable that she comes across as a blank slate rather than someone with whom the audience can empathise.</div>
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The film also lacks a real villain. Richard Armitage provides the main focus for the audience's ire, but he comes across as a slimy loser rather than a genuine bad guy. The fault lies not with Armitage, who is perfectly capable of being the man everyone loves to hate, but in a shallowness of character in the writing. Perhaps there's a missing scene where he drowns kittens or kicks puppies, but aside from being a louche, there's not enough to hate. There is one act of betrayal that should have been breathtaking when it is shown, but it comes across as too sterile.</div>
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There's a decent enough style to the film, decent-enough heist bits, some (but not enough) funny moments, and likeable performances from most of the cast, including a late-in-the-film-appearance from James Corden being entertaining rather than annoying (it's often a coin toss which version of Corden will appear). It wasn't a bad film; it just wasn't as good as it should have been.</div>
Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-3120051379475825522018-06-21T23:36:00.001-07:002018-06-21T23:36:23.663-07:00Star Wars: The Last Jedi RemakeFor those who aren't avid readers of Star Wars related things on Twitter, you might not be aware that a group of fans are attempting to gain $200 million in funding for a remake of The Last Jedi because as everyone knows, it was an awful movie that destroyed Star Wars and it needs to be erased from history.<br />
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Ideally, a time machine would be a good idea, but as that's not possible, now that Stephen Hawking is dead and has taken all the secrets of the universe to the grave with him, a remake is the best solution. After that, all the copies of the Ryan Johnson-written/directed film will be gathered up and put on a bonfire in Berlin, just like that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.<br />
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The fans intend to write a script with the input of lots of other fans. This will include not only those who hated The Last Jedi, but also those who liked it because they want to bring everyone together so that once the new film had been made, we can all agree that the version-that-shall-not-be-mentioned-ever-again was horrible.<br />
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In light of this, I would like to put my name forward to become one of the hundreds of people who will contribute to this script.<br />
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Of course the advantage to all of us contributing is that we will know how the Star Wars story really continues long before we finish filming it.<br />
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So as Shakespeare said, without further ado, here is my concept for the new and improved Star Wars Chapter VIIIa.<br />
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LAST OF THE JEDIS<br />
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We open with the bit with Poe Dameron facing off against the Star Destroyers and the Dreadnought, but this time there are more pilots with him and there isn't that stupid thing with him trying to distract General Hugs (sorry, Hux) with a prank telephone call. No, we have Lando Calrissian (only he's going to be played by Tom Sellek, not Billy Dee Williams, because Billy Dee Williams is too, um, he's too, oh you know what I mean), and he's with Nien Nunb, and we'll have Wedge Antilles, and his son, who can be played by one of the film's backers.<br />
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And then the bombing raid will happen, and all the ships are being blown up until there's the last one being flown by Paige Tico (we can get Megan Fox for that role), and then the ship gets hit and she's the only survivor, so she goes for the bomb release remote control and drops it ... but it's caught by BB8 because Poe's flown his X-Wing under the bomber. And he rescues Paige and they fly away and BB8 releases the bomb payload.<br />
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We get back to the Rebel fleet and instead of giving him crap, Leia's all 'Poe, you're a goshdarn hero, and you saved the fleet, and here's a medal'. And we can use outtakes from the medal ceremony in Star Wars for Carrie Fisher's part.<br />
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And Finn wakes up from his Bacta bath, but he looks different because the Bacta's turned him back into who he really was before Snoake used the force to change his skin colour and stuff, and he can be played by me.<br />
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Then we cut to Rey and Luke and Luke's explaining to Rey that the real reason she could stand up to Kylo in the last movie without any Jedi training was because he (Luke that is) was secretly puppeting her, and it wasn't her abilities after all, because she's just a stupid girl. But Luke offers to train Chewbacca in the force, because he senses that Chewie is strong in the force.<br />
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Back with the fleet, Kylo and the tie fighters chase after the lead ship, but this time Kylo pulls the trigger on his mother, because he HATES HER for making him clean up his socks from his bedroom floor EVERY GOSHDARN DAY!!!<br />
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And Leia's blown into space like before. And we can still use the bit with Leia floating through space like Mary Poppins, but this time it will be because she is dead and that's her force ghost coming back to the ship. And when she gets back to the ship, she tells me, I mean Finn that he's really a Jedi and he needs to go to the Dagobah system to learn from all the Jedi masters.<br />
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So they escape from the pursuing First Order because there's no such thing as hyperspace tracking (stupid, stupid idea), and Finn goes off to Dagobah. But when he gets there, he finds the island with Luke and Chewbacca (and Rey) because Luke's planet is really Dagobah, where the sea level has risen because of all the rocks that have been falling into it, so there aren't any swamps left.<br />
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And Finn and Chewbacca are taught the ways of the force by Luke and ghost Ben Kenobi and ghost Annakin Skywalker (who's played by the old guy and not Hayden Christensen) and ghost Yoda and ghost Leia (although she just makes the tea and gives people medals) and ghost Samuel L Jackson. And Rey falls in love with Finn and there's kissing and stuff. Then the Jedi go and fight Snoake, who puts Poe into carbonite until the next movie and Chewbacca and Wedge Antilles' son go off to find him on Hoth where a gangster wampa has collected him because it like carbonite sculptures, and Finn has to console both Rey and Megan Fox and the end.<br />
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Oh yeah, and there's a big spaceship battle as well.<br />
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Do you think I'll get the job?Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-47062939502607396042018-06-06T23:35:00.000-07:002018-06-06T23:35:02.258-07:00Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Fallen Kingdom is a different beast to 2015's Jurassic World. If you're looking for another take on The Lost World sub-genre of movies, you're not going to get it.<br />
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Instead of taking its cues from the likes of King Kong, Fallen Kingdom is closer to the Universal horror films of the 1930s and 1940s. Like the hybrid monsters of which the Jurassic World films are so fond, Fallen Kingdom splices DNA from the likes of the Dracula, Wolf Man, and Frankenstein movies.<br />
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There are also strong traces of the Island of Dr Moreau, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes added into the mix.<br />
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There are a couple of nice story choices in the film. There's a degree of predictability - or perhaps that should be inevitability - but that wasn't unwelcome.<br />
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It has a darker feel than the other stories - some of the deaths feel nastier and I wouldn't say it was the dinosaur film you want to take your toddlers to see, but like the previous films it leaves the blood-letting off camera for the most part.<br />
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As to where on the spectrum of the films it sits for me, I still haven't made up my mind. The original Jurassic Park has never been bettered, and it still hasn't, and I have a fondness for the first Jurassic World particularly with the bright optimism of its early scenes that Fallen Kingdom doesn't possess.<br />
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There are elements of the film that some will take issue with - there's a choice made by one of the characters while escaping from a dinosaur that made perfect sense to me, particularly in light of the aesthetics of the story being told, that will probably annoy more than a few. The action is also more of the comic book variety than some of the more grounded stunts of the original Jurassic Park.<br />
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But for doing something different, for me it's a welcome addition to the extended tale. It gives Bryce Douglas Howard a chance to show off her action hero skills. It made me chuckle a few times (particularly with one of the news report's scrolling captions). And I think I might want to see it again.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-22109055237819975382018-06-03T23:51:00.001-07:002018-06-03T23:52:02.305-07:00Jeune Femme / L'Amanat Double (both 2017)Some weekends it's seeing Solo twice, others I end up seeing nothing but French language films.<br />
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C'est la vie, as they say ... somewhere.<br />
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<b>Jeune Femme</b> is also known by the international title of Montparnasse Bienvenue (because Jeune Femme was so difficult for international audiences to pronounce?). It's chiefly a character study of Paula, a young (she would argue with this definition) woman trying to find her place in the world after being dumped out of her cushioned existence by her photographer ex-boyfriend.<br />
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She's introduced to the audience while head-butting a door and screaming at her boyfriend, and she's pretty much full-on from that point.<br />
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Self-absorbed, spoiled, and apparently without a useful survival skill in the world, she doesn't start as the most sympathetic character, but the film peels away at her layers, even as she tries to put more on as she tries out different identities, and with its climax gives a sense of what happened to throw her life so off course in the first decade of her adult life.<br />
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It's a smartly-made film. Definitely won't appeal to all, but it's rewarding to those for whom it will.<br />
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<b>L'Amant Double</b> (the Double Lover) is on a completely different level. A mind-bending, lurid, psychosexual thriller, it's been described by some as Hitchcockian, but I'd call it more De Palma-esque, as it's at least two degrees removed from Hitchock.<br />
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It's a film that probably requires two sittings, just to try and figure out where all the joins are. While I was watching, I developed at least five different theories about what was going on, and in my scattershot approach actually managed to pick-up on some of the clues that were layered into the film.<br />
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Again this definitely doesn't have broad appeal. It's an insane, exploitative, slow-burning piece of cinema with emotionally-distant characters. On the positive side, its completely bonkers execution and twisty-turning plot can be a lot of fun.<br />
<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-7441408860256988102018-05-29T23:30:00.000-07:002018-05-29T23:31:59.922-07:00The Breadwinner (2017)Based on a children's novel by Deborah Ellis, The Breadwinner is the story of a young girl living in Taliban-run Kabul who disguises herself as a boy so that she can support her family after her father is imprisoned.<br />
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The team who have adapted this into an animated movie are responsible for The Secret of the Kells, a film more suitable for a younger audience than The Breadwinner, which was rightly given a 12A certificate (PG-13 in the USA).<br />
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It's not a violent film (although there is violence - mostly off camera), but it's subject matter is quite intense dealing with themes of fanaticism, child marriages, abuse of women, death of children.<br />
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However, along with its heavy subject matter, it also carries a lightness of spirit amid the oppression. It's a story that understands the need or different shades in the telling, so it isn't the relentless grind that it could have been.<br />
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There are parallels to the story of Malala Yousafzaim, as it deals with an educated, literate girl in a world where men forbid women from reading, although there the similarity ends as this is a smaller tale and the lead character's actions are more personal, inspiring in the small struggles, but under a more overtly repressive regime.<br />
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It is also at times a beautiful film, particularly with its landscape shots of Kabul, which would be beautiful pieces of art in their own right.<br />
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Ultimately it's the type of film that deserves to be supported. It's well crafted, tells an essential story, and there need to be more of its kind in the world.Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-9745996137619760132018-05-28T23:26:00.000-07:002018-05-28T23:28:48.524-07:00Solo (2018)As of it's opening weekend, Solo has been under-performing at the box office. There are a number of reasons being given for this: fan hatred of the last film spilling over into this one, too many Star Wars films in too short a time, too much competition (Infinity Wars and Deadpool 2), the lead actor not being a clone of Harrison Ford (although Donald Glover may well be one of Billy Dee Williams).<br />
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I'm guessing that one of the biggest reasons is the feeling that the film was unnecessary. There wasn't a huge cry for a Han Solo origin film in the first place. Did we actually need to see the first meeting of Han and Chewbacca? Did we need to see the Kessel Run? Did we need to see Han winning the Millennium Falcon from Lando?</div>
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The easy answer would be no.</div>
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My answer, on the other hand: if it leads to a fun, entertaining movie, then why not?</div>
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Solo is certainly entertaining. There are decent action set pieces, some gorgeous scenery, laugh-out-loud moments (I'm still smiling about one particular gag), fun characters, nice call-backs (particularly to The Empire Strikes Back), and it offers a broadening of the Star Wars universe that show a little more of what's happening on the ground.</div>
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Alden Ehrenreich performs a decent Han Solo, once you get over the fact that he isn't Harrison Ford. The mannerisms are fairly spot on, given that this is a younger, greener version of the character first encountered in the Mos Eisley cantina. Hopefully it won't be his last big screen outing - there's still scope for a few more Solo adventures before Star Wars in Han's life.</div>
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Directing by Ron Howard is solid. There's a clarity to his filming that tells the story well without resorting to a lost of fancy cutting and showy shots. He also manages to create a film with a consistent look, despite the behind-the-scenes mess that the film found itself in. Hopefully he'll get the chance to do another film in the series that's all his.</div>
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Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-42470590444686935702018-05-21T05:14:00.002-07:002018-05-21T05:15:08.295-07:00Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece (British Museum 26 April - 29 July 2018)Two things that I happen to like, Rodin and Ancient Greece, are currently being combined in the British Museum's latest exhibition.<br />
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His art is fairly represented with bronze casts of The Thinker and the Burghers of Calais and a plaster cast of The Kiss being among the more easily recognisable pieces.<br />
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The exhibition also features a number of pieces from Greece to to show Rodin's influences. Given that he visited the British Museum on a number of occasions, the works on display show his direct inspiration.<br />
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The information presented around the exhibition at times presents informed, interesting details of his life and works, particularly around 'The Gates of Hell' and its various spin-offs (which include both The Kiss and The Thinker).<br />
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At other times, the display cards are less successful offering up "what Rodin must have been thinking", or a critical appraisal of the art, which reports intent and interpretation as if they are facts.<br />
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It's an interesting collection, although not as meaty as some of the previous exhibitions at the British Museum, which starts off well, but seems to lose its way about halfway around the room.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776667630935761951.post-74094021174918685072018-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:002018-05-16T23:34:07.884-07:00Deadpool 2Deadpool 2 is the Monty Python of superhero movies. Not the <i>Monty Python's Flying Circus</i> Monty Python, but the <i>Monty Python and ...</i> Monty Python.<br />
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It's archaic, it's crude, it's rude, it's an inheritor of the theatre of Grand Guignol, it borders on the surreal, and it's very funny.<br />
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It's also a film where the jokes work so much better if you're steeped in comic book lore, have seen every single X-Men film and are familiar with the complaints about superhero films from X-Men Origins: Wolverine to Justice League.<br />
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It's bigger, longer and more expensive than the first Deadpool film - and packed with more meta references and fourth-wall shattering. The film is worth watching for one action scene alone, largely thanks to new arrival Domino (Zazie Beets), who deserves a film of her own.<br />
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Hint to those who are going to watch it: there are mid-credit scenes that you'll want to stay around for, but there's no end credit scene - which disappointed a lot of people who'd hung around while the credits rolled.<br />
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<br />Iainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11510552528067975098noreply@blogger.com0