#56: THE LIFE OF CHUCK

STARRING: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay and Mark Hamill, and narrated by Nick Offerman. Based on The Life of Chuck by Stephen King. Screenplay and directed by Mike Flanagan. Running time 116 minutes.

Told in reverse order this is the life of Chuck, hence the title. Told in three chapters - 'Thanks, Chuck', 'Buskers Forever' and 'I Contain Multitudes'  and charting Chuck's (Tom Hiddleston) life from his death from a brain tumour to his life as an orphan living with his grandparents - Albie (Mark Hamill) and Sarah (Mia Sara) in a supposed haunted house. 

Of the three chapters, the first: Thanks, Chuck is by far the most satisfying and emotional, offering up, as it does, the end of the world, but not in a Roland Emmerich stylee, this is an altogether more slow burn affair, with California slipping, unseen, into the sea, the death of the internet, massive sink holes, and the stars in the firmament literally popping out of existence, but what does that have to do mysterious billboards and TV adverts declaring "Charles Krantz: 39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck!"? And yet, somehow rather than be depressing this sequence is genuinely touching, told from the point of view of a newly divorced couple, teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and nurse Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan) who reunite to watch the world end, while other lost souls find solace in each other's company, it's rather and profoundly moving.

The second chapter follows the aforementioned accountant Chuck taking an evening off from a convention, when the music of a busker playing the drums inspires him to leap into an impromptu dance routine with a perfect stranger that nets the drummer a tidy tin of tips. Here we learn a little bit more about Chuck, before he returns to the status quo of his life and then the final chapter begins  and we witness the boyhood Chuck living with his grandparents in an old Victorian town-house that may, or may not be haunted and if you've been paying attention the whole film's hidden centre reveals itself to you.

This is an emotional film, beautifully performed by the cast from a witty literate script by Mike Flanagan who also directs, from a Stephen King short story, incidentally this is his third King adaptation after Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep. This near two hour run time flies by and engages you on a deep emotional level, you come to like these characters and feel for them, and as the ending draws near, their fates come into focus. To help us on the journey, and this film is ALL about the journey, it's narrated by the excellent Nick Offerman offering us the voice of the writer, which gives this film a whole new level and it makes you wish that more films had narration. 

Playing like a 21st Century It's a Wonderful Life, this feels like a Frank Capra film to its core and the cast are exceptional, and how great to see Mark Hamill acting again, it's been too long.

Despite winning some major awards The Life of Chuck has been sadly dumped on audiences almost unannounced, too early for Oscar Season and with little or no fanfare. The chances are you won't get to see this at the cinema, which is a shame, but when it finally lands on TV do yourself a favour and watch it, it's a bitter-sweet, heart warming and life affirming film that will leave you moist eyed and smiling. Well, it did me.

10/10   

#55: THE ROSES

 

STARRING: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon. Screenplay by Tony McNamara. Directed by Jay Roach. Budget $60 million. Running time 105 minutes.

Theo and Ivy (Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman) meet up, fall in love and move to America to pursue their dreams, he to become a renowned architect and she too maybe, one day, open up a little restaurant, but until then she's happy to be the stay-at-home mum bring up their two twins on her own. Theo quickly becomes successful and buys his wife a down-on-its-heels seafront establishment she renames "We've Got Crabs" and he builds an eccentric and cutting edge maritime museum which promptly collapses during a hurricane, on the same night Ivy's restaurant gets rave reviews and their fortunes change in one night. He becomes unemployable and she becomes the toast of the town. He stays at home bringing up their insufferable children to become fitness obsessed freaks, while she's flying around the world building an empire of fast-food establishments. After 10 years, he's a weak useless and failed husk of a man and she's the brightest star in the culinary firmament. Desperate for her husband to rekindle his passion she bank rolls his dream of creating a cutting edge family home overlooking the sea and that's where the rot sets in...

This is a remake of the vastly superior 1989 War of the Roses movie starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas and directed by Danny DeVito.

Although it starts very strongly, it sadly doesn't have the teeth to nail its landing. The film wins brownie-points for its cast, and for also taking time to show the life of Ivy and Theo's marriage but it doesn't seem prepared to go the whole hog when it comes to the nastiness of their marital decline. It sadly lacks the bite needed to elevate this to something more savage, something the original film did brilliantly. Here you laugh politely at the couple's antics but you don't recoil from their bile or hate. Indeed, there's never a real sense that they ever truly hate each other, they just seem a little peeved. That said, it's an absolute delight to watch Colman and Cumberbatch acting together. 

I wish the film had been able to play up the nasty aspects of the breakup, but it feels unsure how far it can go, something the original had no qualms about. This lacks the misery, the wanton vandalism, and glorious escalating violence of the former. And it's another of these modern so-called 'black-comedies', that's more a  sort of subtle charcoal grey amusement. 

The film also has a strange visual quality that feels artificial and despite being set in the US, the landscape feels more like Devon, plus the use of CGI backdrops makes the whole feel very fake. 

In the 1989 version, Jonathan and Barbara (the original couple) fight over the house and its contents of valuable antiques and because it, the house, plays such a dominant role throughout their lives together you understood and accepted the stakes, and you brought into the drama, sadly not so in this. The house doesn't even get built until the third act and as such it never feels as if means that much to them both, her in particular. When they finally confront each other over the arbitration table, I found myself thinking the only reason that Ivy wanted the house wasn't because she'd invested anything of her self in it beyond her money, it was just to deny him any ownership. In contrast, all he wants is the house, he's not after her multi-million dollar business empire and yet she refuses to accept the deal and that just doesn't make any sense to me, she openly hates the house, and save the vintage Julia Childs oven she installs in the kitchen she has nothing of herself invested in it at all.

Despite all that, I enjoyed the film I just didn't love it. It has some genuinely funny laugh-out-loud moments, but sadly not enough, The supporting cast is amusing, and I loved the performances, and enjoyed the breakdown antics, but I just wanted more of that, I wanted the japes to get darker and more dangerous, I wanted the stakes to keep rising and sadly they didn't and so when the ending arrived it just sort of  rolled to a halt, while the original crashed to it's conclusion.

7/10 needs arbitration.

     

#54: JAWS

 

STARRING: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton. Screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Edited by Verna Fields. Produced by Richard R. Zanuck and David Brown. Music by John Williams. Running time 124 minutes. Budget $9 million. Box office $486 million.

The father of the Summer Blockbuster and one of the greatest films ever made. Directed to perfection by a 29 year-old Steven Spielberg and edited by the legendary Verna Fields who would go on to win an Oscar for her work on Jaws. Indeed it's her masterful editing that helps to elevate this film to the level of a masterpiece. 

The film, whose plot must be known by every living person in the world, sees the New England island of Amity terrorised by a 25ft, three tonne Great White shark over the course of an Independence Day weekend, forcing the town's ocean-phobic sherif Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) team up with an oceanographer Matt Hopper (Richard Dreyfuss) and professional shark hunter, Captain Quint (Robert Shaw) to set sail on a rickety old boat called the Orca and hunt down that smiling "son-of-a-bitch" and kill it. What follows is a two-hour masterclass in suspense, drama and tension. It's a film that manages to not only give our characters story arcs, but in the case of Brody, create a very moving and utterly believable portrait of a family man desperately trying to do his best in the face of powerful opposition. In between the shark attacks the film still has time to offer moments of humour and introspection and the scene at the dinner table between Brody and his son is very moving. There is one scene in particular, that even today, still has me holding my breathe in anticipation and tense, and it's when the two fishermen thrown an uncooked Sunday joint off the the pier in an attempt to catch the shark.

I have lost count of the number of times I've watched this, I first saw it in the ABC Cinema in Ealing with my family at the age of 12 and was traumatised, particulary by the death of Robert Shaw's 'Quint', and genuinely believed that he had actually been killed by that shark. It always been a part of my top ten films of all times and despite knowing each and every line of dialogue and what's about to happen next, I'm not ashamed to admit that both my daughter and I jumped in our seats when Ben Gardener's head bobs into view. I seriously cannot think of a single thing that I don't like about this film and consider that if this was ever remade, it would be an hour longer and we'd get not only the back story of Brody, Quint and Hopper, but also the shark who we'd discover is just trying to protect its family.

The film has a visual quality which is not only unmatched, but helps to make this film utterly timeless, it might be set in the 1970s but manages to look as fresh as a daisy today. Spielberg's choice of avoiding big name actors in casting of the lead roles and of using actual inhabitants of Marta's Vineyard to fill the cast helped to create a convincing air of believability, add to that John William's deeply iconic soundtrack and you simply what is one of the greatest films ever made. 

This weekend in America Jaws took over $8 million and claimed the number #2 slot at the boxoffice beating out three new releases. Not bad for a film celebrating it's 50th anniversary. 

Let's raise our glasses and toast a timeless classic that has lost none of its bite. 10/10

#53: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

 

STARRING: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Oliver Platt and Kevin Bacon. Screenplay by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. Directed by Matthew Vaughn. Budget $160 million, boxoffice gross: $353 million. Running time 132 minutes. Originally released in 2011.

Thank god Hollywood aren't producing as many films as they used to so that cinemas have to reissue old films, this month Cineworld are doing both the X-Men and the Batman trilogy as part of the Nolan retrospective they're running. 

After the awfulness of 2006's X-Men: Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009 the future wasn't looking rosy for the X-Men, that was until Matthew Vaughn stepped in to replace Bryan Singer, rewrote the script with Jane Goldman and showed the world the X-Men had more to offer.

Set in the swinging 60s and showing the origin of the first X-Men as well as Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Professor X (James McAvoy) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) this is an absolute delight, Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw is a fantastic villain. Using the Cuban missile crisis as its backdrop this as a deeply impressively mounted action romp, with a likeable cast of loveable characters and a deeply satisfying climax. Good effects, and with a surprising amount of raunch which was much appreciated.

Gloriously good fun!

8/10



 

#52: WEAPONS

STARRING: Josh brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong and Amy Madigan. Written, produced and directed by Zach Cregger. Budget $38 million. Running time 128 minutes.

When a classroom's worth of children, save one, Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher) all get out of bed at 2.17am in the morning and run off into the night never to be seen again, suspicion falls on their teacher Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) and the parents of the missing kids all turn on her. 

And that's all I'm going to tell you about the plot. The film unfurls its story through six different character's perspective, the surviving child Alex, his teacher Justine, her ex boyfriend Alden (Paul Morgan), her boss headmaster Marcus Miller (Benedict Wong), a young drug addict called James (Austin Abrams), and the father of one of the missing children Archer Graff (Josh Brolin).

Telling the story from six different character's perspective is an excellent conceit and works brilliantly, building the plot with each tale. You'll try to second guess the story, but you'll do it without success, the film leads you along but each time rips the rug from under you, creating a deeply unsettling and scary experience. The film is filled with jump scares and some genuinely frightening imagery, it's also got some extremely gory sequences that had the audience I saw this with shrieking in response. The direction from Cregger is very assured and he is shaping up to be a deeply original horror director. The music also works perfectly creating an atmosphere of clawing naked dread.  

However, a film like this only works if it nails its landing and it's a delight to report that this does it with absolute precision and you will not be disappointed. 

It think this was one of the most original and chilling horror films I've seen in a very long time and I bloody loved it! And for once, I didn't groan or laugh at some ludicrous plot hole.

Drop whatever you're doing and go and see this now, before someone spoils it for you.

9/10

 

#51: X-MEN

 

STARRING: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davidon, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park and Anna Paquin. Screenplay by David Hayter from a story by Tom DeSanto and Bryan Singer, based on x-Men by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Directed by Bryan Singer. Budget $75 million. Box office $296.3 million. Running time 104 minutes. Origianlly released in 2000.

Was amazed to realise that this is 25 years old, how is that possible I mused until I realised that my daughter was born the previous year and she's 26. This glorious movie predated the MCU first effort, Iron Man by 8 years, which amazed me even more. 

What an absolute treat it was to see this up on the big screen, I don't think I've seen it that way since it was first released. It has a great cast, a confident script and a great look. The way the source material is handled is respectful, as is the way the characters are introduced, no more so than the introduction of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who simply owns the screen everytime he's on it. The actors all bring a splendid sense of believability to their characters and the effects, which for the most part seem very practical enhance the experience even more. It honours the comics it's based on, and it looks as if every penny of its budget is on display.

It's not perfect, the final third act showdown between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants looks and feels cheap, but the build up is glorious. This is a film with a story to tell, and not a message to sell and I doubt we'd have seen the MCU if this hadn't been successful. Obviously it created an initial triology, of which the least said about the third, Last Stand the better! It's a terrible film, but not as terrible as the franchise of mutant themed movies it spawned. 

With a great beginning, a solid middle and a disappointing ending this was a excellent and exciting evening and well worth rewatching. 

8/10

#50: THE NAKED GUN

STARRING: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand & Danny Huston. Written by Dan Gregor, Doug Mand and Akiva Schaffer. Directed by Akiva Schaffer. Produced by Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins. Budget $42 million. Running time 85 minutes. 

The film opens with a bank robbery in progress where an item called 'P.L.O.T. DEVICE' is stolen from a vault box by Kevin Durand's Sig Gustafson, henchman to Richard Cane (Danny Huston). Soon after a wrecked car turns up with a dead body and Lt Frank Drebin Jnr (Liam Neeson) is assigned both cases. When Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), the sister of the dead body in the car turns up widowed Drebin is drawn into a passionate romance that intertwines with a sinister conspiracy involving Richard Cane which might just end up causing the end of the world.

The stakes, both literally and literally, have never been higher for a Naked Gun movie, and this new one, a 'legacy sequel' to 1994's Naked Gun 33 1/3 starring the last, great Leslie Neilson as Lt. Frank Drebin is a daring effort. Will this film resonate with the youth of today who, it seems, find comedies where farting is funny problematic and where jokes about sex with dogs are considered tasteless?

Packed to the gill with jokes both verbal and visual, the film never lets up and the sense of utter stupidity and silliness is so thick you could cut it with a knife. No stupid pun or smutty joke is left unturned or said and the success rate, oddly enough is rather high. I laughed out loud many times and Liam shows off some powerful comedy chops. Similarly, proving she's also a game gal is Pamela Anderson who has some great comedic timing, and in one scene alone, the superb jazz club she dazzles singing a staggering ridiculous song. And Danny Huston is an utter delight, his villainous Cane is brilliant, his climactic fight with Drebin is worth the admission price alone. There's also an excellent back and forth about the Black Eyed Peas which had me almost weeping with laughter. 

This film is the very definition of 'it isn't big and it isn't clever', and it's a delight because of it. There's an over abundance of innuendo gags, which delighted me immensely, and it's been so long since any so called comedy produced by Hollywood has been this cravenly and openly childish and I laughed myself horse. There are two standout jokes which I'm still laughing about the first when Drebin says to Beth as she gazes out of the window over hollywood, "UCLA?" to which she replies, "Yes, Frank everyday, I live there." and the second was how he described her bottom in a voice over. For once this film wasn't ruined by the trailer. Everybody seemed wildly game. 

All that said, it's not perfect, even with a running time of just 85 minutes the second half dragged and there's a sequence with an owl that goes on way too long. And oddly enough some of it seems too police procedural at times. This is also one of those films that defies critical appreciation. So I reviewed it from the point of vierw that it made me laugh. A lot. But mostly because it's just so goddam silly and deeply childish. 

In fact I haven't laughed this much since Jackass IV. 

7/10