#66: THE ODYSSEY

STARRING: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Charlize Theron and John Leguizamo. Based on the poem by Homer. Music by Ludwig Goransson. Written by Christopher Nolan. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Budget $250 million. Running time 173 minutes. 

It's been three years since Nolan unleashed his last movie, Oppenheimer on the world, in fact he seems to release a film every three years. Each one hailed as a masterpiece by the critic-arti and Nolan declared the new Kubrick. He is worshipped and adored and it's considered rude to point out any faults with his films. One can't but admire this approach, apart from the Battyman trilogy, Nolan makes his own IP and like Kubrick before him, he tends to jump from genre to genre making films he wants to make and the studios indulge him. Often on repeated views, unlike Kubrick, his films tend to reveal their faults - laborious ridiculous plotting of Dark Knight and Dark Knight Rises, or OVERLY LOUD BOMBASTIC AND IMPOSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO SOUNDTRACKS, woeful sound mix, like Oppenheimer, relentless, non-stop explosion of plotpoints that pummel you into submission, Tenet or ridiculous left turns into stupid-land, like Interstellar. That said he also made the utterly superb Inception, The Prestige, Batman Begins and Memento, so you know swings and roundabouts.

Whatever you think of Nolan you can't fault his vision, drive or ambition. And so it is with this, The Odyssey a project he's been noodling about for the past twenty years since he walked away from the 2004 Brad Pitt movie, Troy.

The plot to this not that, is an adaptation of Homer's epic ancient poem The Odyssey although it follows a non-linear path cutting between Odysseus (Matt Damon) on the worst work outing in history as he and military faction of the Greece Empire turn up in Troy on a pub crawl, while 8 years later, his missus, Penelope (Ann Hathaway) and their son, Telemachus (Tom Holland) fend off the amorous advances of a bunch of randy suitors lead by Antinous (Robert Paterson), while wondering where their husband and father is. Meanwhile, Odysseus, who's been held prisoner by the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron)on a desert island paradise and fed a memory robbing lotus flower, struggles to regain his memory and find his way back to his wife and family before the 'people from the sea' arrive and destroy his world.

This is an extraordinary movie, powerful, satisfying, and adult, brilliantly acted by all, especially Matt Damon who is exceptional in the lead role. Nolan directs with consummate skill and the soundtrack by Ludwig Goransson helps to build drama and tension with genuine skill. Similarly the cinematography and production design are top notch. At its core a deeply engrossing story, with action that is brutal, savage and intense, and featuring seamless special effects, as witnessed by Nolan's version of the cyclops which is exceedingly clever in its design, indeed  the sequence with Odysseus and his men trapped in the cyclops's cave was one of the highlights and also surprisingly frightening. Similarly there's a fight in a forest with an army of silent giants that just makes you tense up in alarm. And the attack on Troy really conveyed the true horror of war and the commentary from Odysseus, "I opened the gate and unleashed ten years of hate." really hit home. God, I can't fault this film, it was so engrossing, so satisfying and so complete. And that's before we get to the scene with Samantha Morton that took this to a whole other level.

There's a sequence late in the film where Odysseus realises the true extent of what he has unleashed and the enormity of his actions and the impact it will have on his world. It's powerful and deeply emotional and it left me a little dazed. In fact it makes you wonder if the whole film isn't just the fever dream of someone suffering from PTSD.

It's deeply refreshing that Hollywood is still producing films as unique as this one and I think it's the first Nolan film I've seen which doesn't scream 'Kubrick' at me and this also feels the most grounded and personal of all his films, indeed it might be my favourite of his. I look forward to seeing this again and possibly again on the big screen.

My only criticism is the use of the word, 'dad'. Telemachus uses it all the time and I found it oddly jarring, it feels too 20th Century. But that's as far as it goes for negatives.  

At the end of the day I say see it on the biggest screen you can find and loose yourself in a tale as old as time. 10/10 

#65: THE MARTIAN

STARRING: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kata Mara, Jeff Daniels, Chitwetel Ejiofor, Kirsten Wiig, Sean Bean and Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Sean, Donald Glover, Benedict Wung, Mackenzie Davis and Aksel Hennie. Written by Drew Goddard. Based on The Martian by Andy Weir. Cinematography by Dariusz Wolski. Directed by Ridley Scott. Budget $108 million. Originally released in 2015. Original box office haul $630 million. 141 minutes long. 

(I saw this at the cinema 11 years ago, back then I wrote the following review. let's see how I fee about it now.)

30 days into a mission to Mars, poor old astronaut and botanist, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is accidentally marooned and left for dead following a violent Martian storm, while his crew mates piss off home. What follows is Mark's battle to survive for four years with just enough food for 50 odd days, while NASA fight to bring him home any way they can. And that's the story in a nutshell, or should that be space helmet?

And what a fantastic story this is, by god, the time just flew by, seriously I had no idea this film ran for 2 hours and twenty minutes, I was so engrossed that I would have been just as happy if it had been on for another 2 hours. It's beautiful to look at, gripping, enthralling and uplifting. I have to say that despite enjoying Gravity greatly, I was left a little flat by it, not so with The Martian. This is just fantastic from beginning to end and I utterly loved every single second!

Also, huge kudos to Ridley Scott who just directs the shit out of this film! No one does science fiction like him, it looks so real it's staggering!

Go and see it and enjoy.

10/10 

2026 revisit.

Nope, can't find a single goddam thing to change about the above review. I've seen this at least six times since it was first released, it's become a feelgood Sunday movie and I've already seen it this year at home. But back on the big screen, this just comes to life, it sings, it soars, it's an utter delight. Visually breath-taking, Old Ridders, as he likes to be called, sure can mount a damn fine little movie. And a huge big up to Matt Damon who just nails this perfectly. It still brings a tear to the eye! It's such a deeply satisfying watch, all the performances mell together, the story is gripping and the building tension is wonderful.

Just do yourself a favour and go and see it, seriously it's a sheer delight. 

STILL 10/10

 

#64: MINIONS & MONSTERS

STARRING, VOCALLY: Pierre Coffin, Trey Paker, Christoph Waltz, Allison Janney, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan and Phil LaMarr. Written by Brian Lynch and Pierre Coffin. Directed by Pierre Coffin. Budget $85 million. Running time 90 minutes. 

The 3rd Minions entry in the prequel category and the 7th in the Despicable Me franchise finds a group of Minions searching the globe for a evil genius for whom they can minion for who end up in Hollywood of the 1920s and the advent of sound, there, through a ludicrous set of circumstances, they find themselves the toast of Hollywood and making of movie of their own. And naturally because this is the Minions, they accidentally summon up Cthulu, and his girlfriend, Irene -a multi-eyed orange blob, thwart an alien invasion and inadvertently create the greatest monster film of all times. And if that doesn't make you drop whatever it is you're doing and race down to your local cinema to watch this, then take it from me, you're dead inside.

O.M.G. hands down the funniest animated film I've seen all year. A huge 90 minute love letter to the bygone era of silent cinema, black and white movies, and the legends of yesteryear, with nods to Orson Welles, Bruce Lee, Universal's The Mummy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and so many more I couldn't keep count. Plus an hilarious cameo from George Lucas. The opening 20 minutes are pure genius. Sadly the film can't keep the sheer momentum going and the need for a romantic subplot and an alien invasion robs this of a perfect 10/10.

That said, I can't fault this, it looks superb, and better than that it looks like it's own thing, it's not a Pixar rip off, the world of Illumination is quite unique and different from it's American counterpart, and I would say that they've found a visual style that easily outdoes Pixar's recent Toy Story 5 and Hoppers. Illumantion's character design is fantastic, and the whole visual look of this is perfection. There are so many visual gags and jokes that you'll want to watch this a second time just so you can check out all the shop names, movie titles and references that litter the backgrounds. Plus an hilarious Citizen Kane reference that's bound to get all the ankle biters cheering.

And above all that, it's the sheer energy, fun and delight that power the Minions films and this one, in my humble opinion, is the best of the bunch. I've not laughed this much at a kid's animated film in years, maybe decades and as a cinema and film lover this utterly delighted me!

A resounding, glorious, heart-felt 9/10!   

#63: THE INVITE

 

STARRING: Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. Written by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. Based The People Upstairs by Cesc Gay. Directed by Olivia Wilde. Musice Devonte Hynes. Cinematography Adam Newport-Berra. Running time 107 minutes.

This has been a good year for relationship comedy/dramas what with the utterly superb Splitsville and the divisive The Drama before it, meaning that The Invite has a lot to live up to and it's a delight to report this delivers in spades, despite having the overbearing presence of Seth Rogen to mug and snort through the whole thing. I really don't like his schtick and his mock nasal laugh really gets my goat. 

Anyway, the plot sees Joe (Seth Rogen) as a miserable failed popstar with a bad back now teaching music in a third-rate college while his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) fills her life buying expensive rugs and ornaments for the spacious double sized San Franscisco flat, while caring for their young daughter. Their marriage is in the doldrums and they spend their time bickering and sniping at each other over anything and everything, they no longer have sex and seem to put all their energy into staying miserable, or at least he does. When Joe comes home after work one night he's mortified to find out Angela has invited their neighbours over for the evening. Joe is mightly pissed and makes no bones about his displeasure when said neighbours, Pína (Penelope Cruz) and Hawk (Edward Norton) arrive bang on time. Pína and Hawk everything Joe and Angela aren't, they're vibrant, vital and supremely confident. He's an ex-fire captain and she's a psychologist and sex therapist and they easily dominate their hosts. As the evening progresses, the four connect and when at last Joe and Angela are relaxed Hawk and Pína reveal their hidden secret and agenda, they're swingers and invite Joe and Angela to join them in a foursome. Then the fireworks really begin and one couple are forced to accept the truth of their relationship.

Beautifully acted, this in turns makes you squirm in discomfort, laugh-out-loud, and ponder the sadness that lurks beneath the surface. Thanks to four actors of this calibre, the film brilliantly soars, they aren't cliches or cyphers, these are real characters with real back stories and story arcs and the power struggle between them ebb and flows. This isn't a film with a huge twist in it's conclusion, just a sense of perhaps of hope. 

With a superb soundtrack and some excellent cinematography, this is a damn good looking film. And for me the icing on the cake was the use of demo tape of I'll Light The Fire, one of my favourite songs, over the closing credits. 

A very enjoyable, very adult, and very sophisticated comedy drama, this gets a very satisfied 9/10

#62: JACKASS: BEST AND LAST

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Wee Man, Danger Ehren, Preston Lacy, Sean ‘Poopies’ McInerney, Zach Holmes, Jasper Dolphin, Rachel Wolfson, Eric Manaka, and Compston ‘Dark Shark’ Wilson. Written by Andrew Weinberg, Colton Dunn, Derrick Beckes, Eric Andre, Knate Gwaltney, Nick Kreiss, Sarah Shermona, Johnny Knoxville, Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze. Directed by Jeff Tremaine.  Budget $10 million. Running time: 96 minutes.

Apparently the last in the series, and judging by their ages, it's perhaps not a bad thing, apart from Chris Pontius who clearly has a hideous portrait in his attic the rest of the original cast are beginning to look their years. This is a mix of talking head interviews as the cast reveal important moments in the Jackass history along with vintage, unseen and new material from a still game, if not slower, bunch of menboys who are still willing to get the asses, dicks, bumholes and bodies beaten, kicked, punched, electrocuted and doused in human excrement all in the name of amusement. There's a genuine sense of connection between them all which is infectious and charming and Johnny Knoxville's affable manner is a delight.  

If you didn't laugh at the last four Jackass films it's highly unlikely you're going to find this outing funny, however I did, even if this outing did rely on far more scatalogical matter that I wanted. I had to look away for fear of vomiting. 

A great send off for a brilliantly funny comedy franchise.

9/10 

#61: EDGE OF TOMORROW

 

Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson. Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. Based on All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Cinematography by Dion Beebe. Directed by Doug Liman. Budget $178 million. Worldwide Box office take: $381 million. Originally released in 2014. Running time: 113 minutes.

12 years later...

I saw this twice back in 2014 and then at least four times since then. It blew me away then and my only major criticism was the title. Oh, if only they'd use the tagline. But that's beside the point. What's the plot Mr. Leach?

The world has been invaded by a mysterious alien threat called Mimics and is slowly losing the war. In a last ditch, desperate fight back, Earth launches a huge counterstrike on the beaches of France and American PR expert, Major John Cage (played by Tom Cruise) is an ex-ad man and professional coward is press-ganged into the big assault, only to die, horribly, minutes after landing on the beach, doused in the steaming blood of one of the terrifying, lighting-fast, multi-tentacled beasties, which he kills with a claymore mine, but then he awakens on the morning of the day before and finds himself reliving the same day again, each time he dies - reliving the day before, slowly he begins to avoid his deaths as he learns the times and starts to solve the mystery of what's happened to him and how to defeat the aliens. Along the way he encounters  Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) who was also once doused in the blood of a Mimic and relived the same day until she lost the ability, together they fight they way off the beach and towards Paris in search of the Mimic's hidden home-base, codenamed 'Omega' and the means of ending the war.

Back then I described this as 'The most interesting and original summer blockbuster [of the year].' And I stand by that, infact I'd say it's still one of the most original and interesting science fiction films I've seen.  

It's got a superb cast, with note-perfect performances from Cruise, as the cowardly John Cage and Emily Blunt as the 'Iron Arch of Verdun', for once a truly believable kick-ass female warrior, who schools Cage in the art of bloody warfare. Limen directs the massive chaotic film with great skill, and from a script co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, who would go on to collaborate with Cruise on the Mission Impossible films. The special effects are superb, as is the cinematogaphy and music. There's no other way of saying it, but Edge of Tomorrow is a hell of a movie.

Sure, it's a mash up of Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers meets Saving Private Ryan but it's one of those rare films that once it gets its claws into you it doesn't let up. I completely forgot I was in a cinema so engrossed did I become. The opening battle scene on the beach is visceral, noisy, chaotic and exhilarating and forms the backbone of the film. Doug Liman also manages to seed the film with some much needed gallow humours.

Despite the fact the film deals with a character reliving the same day over and over again, it never becomes repetitive and Liman does a superb job keeping this engrossing and involving throughout its entire running time.

Blunt and Cruise work extremely well together and their unique relationship is what lies at the centre of this film, Cruise excels in his role and give one of his strongest performances in ages.

This is Cruise's fourth science fiction film and arguably his best so far.

9/10

2026 VERDICT.

12 years later and this still thrills and excites in equal measure. A totally satisfying film and well worth a repeat view. 

9/10

#60: SUPERGIRL

 

STARRING: Milly Alcock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, David Corenswet and Jason Momoa. Written by Ana Hogueira. Produced by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Directed by Craig Gillespie. Budget $170 million. Running time 108 minutes.

Coming in at just short of two hours this is one of the most anticipated and trailed films in living memory, trailers seem to have been on our screens all year and it's only in the past week that we've finally been given a new one. Nowadays, unless I avoid social media entirely I run the risk of knowing the entire story, outcome, major plot points, and all the big bombastic beats before I've even sat down in my seat. Supergirl is a case in point. I'm going in pretty blind and with my expectations set to low, despite the number of features, click baits and rumours I've seen hinted at on the internet, so far I've avoided them all and read none of reviews so I'm going in with no preconceptions other than my own. I like the trailers, the character looks fun, I'm excited by Lobo and we get to see some more of David Corenswet's excellent Superman, so I'm looking forward to this one. 

See you in 108 minutes.

And I'm back in the room having sat through Supergirl. The plot sees 23 year-old Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl, Superman's cousin, in the middle of an intergalactic pub-crawl and bender with her dog, Krypto staggering from one red sun planet bar to the next just so she can get shit-faced, turns out red run rays mean she can get pissed, and boy is she doing her best to fuck up her liver. ANYWAY, on one of those planets a generic group of brigands from the film Serenity led by the lead baddie Kerm of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts) who looks, and acts like a cross between Charlie Day and Vivian from The Young Ones arrive at the home of a blacksmith and sword-maker, kill him, the wife and their eldest son but leave the daugther, Ruthye Marye Knoll (Eve Ridley) alive for the plot to work, big up to 1982's Conan The Barbarian for the plot point. SO Ruthye doing her best Little Needle from Game of Thrones goes on a quest to find a warrior to help her track Kerm down, thanks to True Grit  for the plot point. She finds Kara, pissed in a bar and the two team up. However, Kara has no skin in the game so Kerm shoots Krypto with a poison that takes three days to work and steals her space ship, so now Supergirl and Ruthye have to take the space bus to chase Kerm to another planet where a chance encounter with the immortal bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) brings the final member of the gang to the party, and off they go chasing after the brigands who are stealing women to be their wives, thanks to Mad Max: Fury Road for the plot point. From then on, people die, get killed, Kara finally accepts her destiny and becomes Supergirl, thanks to every superhero origin film ever made for the plot point and saves the day, stopping Ruthye from killing Kerm herself for, you know, karma shit and stabs him to death herself, once in the gut and then once up through his throat into his brain. And this isn't the only person Kara kills and the film ends with Kara, now Supergirl returning to Superman back on Earth, but only after she's finished her intergalactic pub-crawl with Ruthye. 

What a throughly wholesome and life-affirming little film this isn't. Within the first ten minutes we are introduced to Kara, a pissed young woman who constantly wakes up unconscious after an all-night dinking session, which usually ends up in extreme violence, and her lying in a tatty spaceship camper van with her untrained dog who pisses wherever he likes. Later on we'll get to see her have a piss on the toilet before falling asleep, then she'll stab an opponent in the gut with a bloody great knife with no consequences, it would seem that knife crime in outer space is absolutely fine. And whereas we once watched Superman forced to take a life to save a planet, his cousin doesn't give a shit about life, human or not, and murders her way through the cast of villains with utter impunity and disregard and it ends up making the whole spectacle a little bit unpleasant. Rated 12A for a reason I would not take young kids to see this and how sad is that? To think the studio and DC couldn't be arsed to make a film aimed at kids opting instead for a nihilistic, suicidal and borderline alcoholic heroine to showcase this all-new 21st Century Supergirl. 

Despite how unpleasant and mean spirited this is, Milly Alcock is great and deserves so much better than this slop. This is yet another film aimed squarely at a female audience following on from last week's Toy Story 5, where the women and female characters are all strong, heroic and uber pro-active while the men or males are either villains or bungling sidekicks there mostly for comic relief. 

Owing a lot to Star Wars  for it's look and intergalactic drinking establishments, this has no unique look or style of its own and borrows liberally from all that's come before it. There's nothing new to see here. It's just a Frankenstein film built from plot points and parts from other movies with knowing winks and featuring strangely anachronistic musical choices, alien bands playing their versions of The Girl From Ipanema for example.    

The film builds to its never-in-doubt conclusion where Supergirl kills every single member of the brigands in quite a brutal fashion, but it's alright as they're all bad. And then it ends.

This was a bog-standard trainwreck rather than a spectacular derailment, it's nowhere near as bad as Morbius, Madame Webb, Blue Beetle, Black Adam to name but four, and sadly that's its only saving grace, and it's only blessing and those are in short supply. Another plus is there's no post credit or mid credit scene so sit through 5 minutes of credits for so you can get up and leave as soon as the film ends without missing anything. 

The audience for this left briskly and silently, there was no chatting to overhear afterwards. It's not a dreadful film, just not dreadfully good. And that's that.

6/10