#54: OBSESSION

 

STARRING: Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless and Andy Richter. Written and directed by Curry Barker. Budget $750,000. Box office to date $167 million. Running time 109 minutes.

Hollywood is in turmoil, all it's big budget epic blockblusters are crashing and burning in spectacular failure or under-performance while two little trains that can, this one, Obsession and Backrooms over performance like it's going out of fashion! In the case of the later it made 8 times it's budget in its opening weekend, while the former has so far taken $167 million off of a $750,000 budget, and that's simply astounding! Now, I'm not a huge fan of horror films, although that said I saw Weapons and Sinners last year and three so-called horror films this year, so far - Send Help, Ready or Not 2 and They Will Kill You. So, perhaps I'm warming to them again. 

So, what's the plot, Doc? Baron 'Bear' Bailey (Michael Johnston) is a nervous, pathetic, grubby wimp of a man working as a shop assistant in a music shop alongside his best friend, Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), Ian's girlfriend Sarah Harper (Megan Lawless) and Nikki Freeman (Inde Navarrette) whom Bear has a deeply felt crush for. Despite practicing asking her out, Bear chickens out when push comes to shove and she tells him she's going to quit the store and go travelling.  In desperation, Bear buys a Make a Wish novelty gift from one of those crystal and hippy shops and wishes that Nikki loves him more than anyone else in the world. Astonishingly his wish comes true and Nikki becomes horrifically and terrifyingly in love with him and his life starts to come apart at the seams as Nikki's truly obsessive love for him impacts every aspect of his life leading to a shocking display of increasing violence, death and brutal, brutal murder and a kicker of a punchline.

Written and directed by first time movie director, Curry Barker, this is a superbly unsettling, scary and vicious little horror film that just keeps upping the anti and keeping us on tender hooks. Full credit has to go to Inde Navarrette as Nikki who is simply incredible in the role. Leaping between love obsessed and frighteningly psychotic, sometimes second by second she brings a fantastic level of obsession to the role and the film works purely because of her. Far less successful is Michael Johnson as the utterly pathetic Bear Bailey who's just an utter and total pathetic waste of space. His decisions control the film and everything that happens is because of him. It doesn't help that he's such a wimp and looks like an even more wimpy Billy Crudup, nor does his lank, greasy, limp-haired topped mop of hair that sits slumped on top of his pasty and permanently sweaty face. You feel for her and hope that he gets his just deserts. Well, I'm not going to tell you here what happens, but believe me it's a doozy!

Well direction, and featuring some good cinematography, and an unsettling soundtrack filled with uncomfortable noises and sounds this was a damn fine horror film, vastly more traditional than the other blockbuster horror film Backrooms, but nevertheless deeply entertaining, oh and bloody gory!

8/10 

#53: MASTERBATORS OF THE UNIVERSE

 

STARRING: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jared Leto. Kirsten Wig and Idris Elba. Story by Aaron Nee, Adam Nee, Alex Litvak and Michael Finch. Screenplay by Chris Butler, Aaron and Adam Nee and David Callaham. Directed by Travis Knight. Budget $200 million. Running time an absolutely bum-numbing 140 minutes long.

Welcome to the cinematic adventures of HE/HIM-MAN, the second film to try and launch a film franchise out of the squat, plastic-muscle-bound lug. The first made in 1987 starred Dolph Lundgren as the hero and Frank Langella as Skeletor, the big bad skull-faced villian. Sadly that one was no masterpiece and so it's disappointing to reveal this ain't that much better, although its production values are vastly superior. 

The plot, and I hate to use that word for a film as lazy as this, sees our plucky hero Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) as a kid growing up in Eternia, but after Skeletor (Jared Leto) arrives with his army and lays waste to everything he's sent to Earth, along with his sword, by his mother to hide out. There 15 years pass in the blink of an eye and he grows up to be a whizz at HR but with an obsession with swords and he has this silly habit of telling everyone he meets he's from another world. Anyway he puts an ad out for the sword that's gone missing, finds it and ends up back in Eternia where he sets about defeating Skeletor. 

That's the plot. Original and radical it's not. Slow, ponderous and dull it is. Not only does this He/Him-Man have to put up with everyone dissing and mocking him both on Earth and Eternia, he's also got an excruciating annoying girl boss, Teela (Camila Mendes) the adoptive daughter of Man-at-Arms, Duncan (Idris Elba) who bosses him round, mocks him, and generally denigrates him and her now alcoholic father, plus he's the classic Woke Princess eager to resolve every confrontation by talking out his feelings, trouble is in this world, all that gets you is punched repeatedly in the face. As is the way with these sorts of films, Adam finally gets the sword and speaks the immortal words - "I have the power" and is finally transformed at the midway mark and then proceeds to beat the living shit out of everyone until he's captured at the end of Act 2 and loses his power and sword leading to the final showdown with Skeletor and one last valuable life lesson learned. 

This film has a strong streak of irony and humour at its core and its tongue firmly wedged in its cheek, but sadly not enough to save it. Not knowing if this is for a new generation of kids or the parents of said kids, the film is far too violent for its own good and both villains and heroes, or innocent bystanders get brutally murdered for a vast majority of this film, people get stabbed to death, crushed, shot or blasted to atoms every few minutes and just because it's all bloodless and consequence free doesn't make it sit any better. 

Tonally it bounces from humour to torture and violence like a pingpong ball and it's uncomfortable. There's plenty of humour mostly aimed at mocking He/Him-Man and that pales quickly. Looking vastly better than Mandy Lorean Groin Goo this at least looks the part and makes a convincing alien planet. Trouble is most of it is a pixelated blur of excess. 

I was struck by just how violent this was and wouldn't have felt comfortable if my boy had seen this when he was 8, which you'd assume was the target audience. 

Plot wise this is a terrible film, there's a ridiculouos scene in the end of the second act that sees He/Him-Boy reconnecting with this father, whose been Skeletor's prisoner for 15 years. He's buried in an avalanche of debris following a fight between the hero and villian and for a good five minutes, He/Him-Man and his dying dad have a long chat while Skeletor just stands there doing absolutely nothing. And in the dying seconds of the film you suddenly realise that Skeletor has no gameplan, no arc and no reason for existing other than to prove something for He/Him-Man to beat to death in the final boss fight portion of the film.

Every now and then it raises a titter of laughter but it's a real shame this film didn't just embrace the notion of He-Man and just launch into a rollicking adventure without shoe-horning in a visit to Earth and a hero reduced to a touchy-feelie emotionally fragile woke princess. 

Plus it's bloody long, which doesn't help. Still the effects are good, the make up great, Jared Leto as Skeletor is terrific and because he's buried beneath all that make up you don't need to see his face, and naturally Idris Elba deserves so much better. 

5/10 

#52: BACKROOMS

STARRING: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Fin Bennett and Lukita Maxwell. Written by Will Soodik. Music by Edo Van Breemen and Kane Parsons. Directed by Kane Parsons. Budget $10 million. Running time 110 minutes.

Kane Parsons was only 19 when he directed this feature film of his YouTube series Backrooms. I've never seen those so I don't know how much like this film they are. That said, if they're anything like this film, I'm going to watch them all. 

Hands down one of the best films of the year so far. Deeply unsettling, deeply deeply unsettling. It's like sliding a needle under the skin in the top of your hand and gradually loosening the skin, this gnaws at you and grates, it uncomfortable and deeply chilling, the music niggles, the look and the feel scratch at your psyche and the overall feel is that of a 1970s horror film directed by David Cronenberg, or Romero. It has that visual feel. It feels small, personal and everso slightly amateurish, but that's not meant as an insult. God, no, far from it. it's a compliment. 

The story sees wannabe failed architect and newly divorced furniture shop owner, Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) seeking help from therapist Dr. Mary Kine (Renate reinsve) for his depression, while said therapist struggles with her traumatic childhood as the daughter of a mentally disturbed agoraphobic mother. With his furniture shop failing and at his wits end, Clark makes an unusual discovery in the basement of his shop of a portal to secret mysterious underground complex of rooms, corridors and doors he calls 'the Backrooms', which are populated by hideously deformed beings and unsettling vistas of half buried furniture or bad 5th generation copies of people and objects. Meanwhile a private corporate is attempting to map the changing geography of the said underground complex but keep losing operatives to something that haunts the endless rooms and corridors. 

Nothing can quite prepare you for this bizarre and fantastically creepy film and I wouldn't dare try to explain more than what I have, it's far better you go in blind to see this. You'll thank me after. There are things you'll see in this that will stay with you and haunt your dreams. The film a mixture of found footage interspersed and standard film as both Clark and Mary share the lead focus, first we follow Clark and he makes his startling discovery and begins to explore with two young members of his staff, and then picks up with Mary when Clark suddenly vanishes one day after he tells her of his discovery and she goes to explore the shop.

The visual style of a look of this film is superb and really feels like those for-mentioned 1970s horror maestros, which coupled with the ever presence sound of faint machinery or whispered voices or uncomfortable music all combine to make this a fantastically compelling and scary horror film that relies on a overwhelming building of dread over gore or jump cuts. I found myself sitting with a fixed grin desperately trying to work out what the heck was going on. 

In the end, the film just about nails its landing, but leaves you, as you'd expect from a film like this, with more questions than answers, but that's not a bad thing in this case. This like Exit 8 another film about liminal spaces, is all about the journey. I doubt that as good as Kane Parsons is that he has any idea at to what is behind all the weirdness in Backrooms that would satisfy us all, but regardless what he shows us is more than enough. You'll leave hoping for a sequel but you know if they do they'll end up creating an unwieldy backstory or pouring on too much lore, or fluffing the landing like Lost. As it is this ends with a final shot that is both compelling and very creepy. 

See it on the big screen, if you dare.

9/10

#51: THE STAR SNORES: MANDY LOREAN'S GROIN GOO

Before we get to the film review part of this blog, here's a quick joke.

WHAT'S GREEN AND GOES RED AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON?

THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S BABY YODA IN A BLENDER. 

And now to the film review section of this blog. 

STARRING: Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White Brendan Wayne, Lateef Crowder and Sigourney Weaver. Written by Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni and Noah Kloor. Directed by Jon Favreau. Budget $165 million. Running time 132 minutes. 

Right, hands down this is without doubt the best Star Wars film of the last seven year. Admittedly by that reckoning it's also the worst, but it's still an achievement. But before we start rip into this, the 12th live action film set in the Star Wars universe, David, could you tell us the plot. Why of course dear reader nothing would give me more pleasure. 

Set in a galaxy far far away, a long time ago, and in the 30 year timeline gap between the original and best Star Wars trilogy and divisive sequel trilogy roars this sequel to the three series TV show, The Mandy Lorean. in that, the titular hero, a tin potted bounty hunter called Darjeeling (Pedro Pascal) rescues a cousin of Sooty and Sweep called Baby Yoda from some baddies and spends the next 24 episodes doing stuff in a Star Wars sort of way, zapping things, killing Storm Troopers and monsters, and whizzing around in a space ship, while dropping fan-baiting references to the canon. There was supposed to be a fourth series but Disney just sort of gave up and told Favreau to make a film instead, it was either this or a sequel to Chef, and not even Favreau wanted that! So, in time honoured fashion he sort of took two episodes and wedged them it to 2 hours and 12 minutes!

We find Darjeeling and Baby Yoda on the lamb, so to speak, as they travel their part of the galaxy hunting ex-Imperial Commanders and executing them and their largely depleted army of Stormtroopers. Mandy has a deck of cards featuring the 52 worst enemies of peace and harmony - the New Republic, and they're hunted down to either be waterboarded or just pain executed without trial. See, they're so much nicer than the old Empire. ANYWAY, Mandy looking for one such Imperial officer and accepts a job given to him by Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) on behalf of Jabba the Hutt's Niece and Nephew. They want Mandy to find Jabba's son, who we're told has been kidnapped and if he does then they'll give him the location of an ex-Imperial commander hiding out in the rim (painful). So, Mandy gets told of the mission by Ripley on another planet then flies to the Hutt's planet before travelling to the planet Hutt Jnr has been kidnapped to. So much time could have been saved if Ripley had just told Mandy to travel to that planet, but then director for hire, Jon Favreau would have to had filled the 20 minutes that all took with yet more mindless and tedious action. ANYWAY. So, Mandy travels to the planet where the kidnapped Jabba Jr has been kidnapped to, finds him instantly, discovers that Jabb Jr is quite happy there, fighting in an arena for money, and not kidnapped. So, Mandy KIDNAPS him anyway and starts to fly him back to the other Hutts, even though they're going to kill Hutt Jr. That is until Jabba Jr tells Mandy that man he seeks is Jabba's old boss back on that planet. So, Mandy goes back kidnaps the Imperial officer and flies him back to Ripley, who's pissed at Mandy because he didn't take Hutt Jr back to the Hutts, even though they'd have killed him. So then Mandy gets kidnapped by the Hutts and discovers they themselves have also kidnapped Hutt Jr. So, then Mandy and Groin Goo go absolutely ape shit and kill absolutely everyone, plain out murderise everybody they can find, women, children, animals, old age pensioners, simply everybody who works for, or knows the Hutts. They even hunt down the Hutts old nextdoor neighbours and kill them, because they once sent the Hutts Christmas Cards. Look, it's a fricking blood bath. Then, in the nick of time, after everyone is dead, Ripley returns and puts on a re-enactment of the end of Star Wars: A New Hope at the head of a fleet of X-Wing fighters which literally blows the utter crap out of the Hutt's castle. Then they all land and together with Mandy and Groin Goo, they all traipse through the swamp and double tap any survivors until everyone connected with the Hutt's operation is dead. Then they take off again and salt the land from air, thereby making sure that nothing will grow there ever again. Finally they take take turns doing huge shits from orbit that fall like meteorites, just like in Return of the Jedi and  and everyone laughs. Mandy high-fives Groin Goo and pats him on the head for being a good pet and the film comes to a merciful end. Actually, Mandy really treats Baby Yoda like a pet, telling him to 'sit', 'stay' and refusing him treats, odd wait to treat your adoptive son, but maybe things are different in the Mandy child-rearing world.

Oh, sorry Spoiler alert. 

Look, I'm not going to lie to you, this was dull and bland, not shit, but not very exciting. It's all so generic. And it's all so very brown and dull. There's no other-wordly wonder. Plus, a large portion takes place at night or in the dark, so much of it looks like any seedy rain-soaked, neon-lit parts of Stoke-on-Trent that it all feels so low key, and bog standard, oh and bleak and miserable. The original Star Wars looked and felt exciting and different and a long way from home. Turns out it's just an hour out of Manchester. The action never lets up, it's relentless, repetitive and by the numbers, it also passes for a plot, which this film doesn't have. Monsters appear to get killed every few minutes. That said, the flying  effects are extremely impressive, particularly the inside cockpit flying bits. But the rest of it just looks so ordinary. The trouble is with the sheer amount of Star Wars I.P. out there to be consumed none of this looks special anymore. Somehow the power that be behind the scene have succeeded in making Star Wars appear very ordinary and generic. 

Also, I object to any motion picture that demands I do homework before I watch it. There are characters and situations that I did not understand because i've not watched the Mandy Lorean TV show since the first season. I've not watched any of the TV shows. For me Star Wars was always a cinematic experience. TV just dilutes it. And this film is a good example. It's not one story it's two episodes tacked together. The first episode actually ends and then the second part begins. 

And don't get me started on the plot holes, like the use of AT ATs on steep mountain roads, or the other glaring inaccuracies. Life's too short and this film doesn't deserve that much attention.  

There is one single saving grace and it's pure fan service, but not film fan service. Back in the day, there used to be a brilliant arcade Star Wars cabinet where you got to fly an X-Wing and destroy the Death Star, it was truly glorious and I held the highscore in my local pub. What's nice is that when the re-enactment of the destruction of the Death Star from the first, and best, Star Wars film: A New Hope happens in this bland generic mess of a flick, they use the exact same vector graphics on their targeting systems. That one head nod gives this film an extra point. 

If this is what we get after a seven year hiatus then I think that Disney would be well advised to pack it all in and put it to rest for at least 10 years, then try again  with something entirely new and, dare I say, 'original'. And maybe ditch the TV shows which have robbed Star Wars of its awe, wonder and splendor. 

Dull, lazy and sadly lacklustre. 5/10

#50: TOP GUN

 

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Meg Ryan and Michael Ironside. Written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. Directed by Tony Scott. Produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. Budget $15 million. Running time 109 minutes. Originally released in May 1986. Box office haul $362.3 million!

The second greatest pilot in the whole United States goddam Navy, Lietenant Pete 'MAVERICK' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) and his radar intercept officer Lieutenant Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) are sent to TOP GUN flight academy as punishment for saving the life of another pilot when said pilot gets a dose of the colly wobbles while attempting to land on an aircraft carrier. As soon as MAVERICK lands at the UNITED STATES NAVY FIGHTER WEAPONS SCHOOL at the Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Californian, he's sweatily locking horns with fellow pilots with call signs like ICE MAN (Val Kilmer), who's actually the best of the best of the best fighter pilot, as well as characters like Slider, Merlin, Sundown, Viper, Jester, Stinger, Wolfman and Hollywood, all of whom are massive, chiselled beefcake, who unlike the former Duke of York, sweat buckets all of the time, even when just having a nice cup of tea and a slice of Battenberg. Anyway, MAVERICK is a hothead who can't help but show off his skills as the second best pilot in the whole world. The testosterone drips from the screen as the muscle-bound MAVERICK and his wingman Goose take part in a series of mock dogfights with the absolute legend that is Michael Ironside's RICK 'JESTER' HEATHERLY Top Gun's best of the best Top Gun instructor under the ever watchful eyes of MIKE 'VIPER' METCALF (Tom Skerritt), Top Gun's Commanding officer and instructor, who just so happened to have flown and fought along side MAVERICK's dead dad during the Vietnam War. Then to set these young men's hearts a flutter (well, one young man) in minces Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis) whose call sign is 'Charlie' to fall in love with MAVERICK. In the third act, a training mission goes bad, Goose dies, MAVERICK blames himself, quits Top Gun, rejoins, goes on a live mission as the second best pilot in the Navy and saves the life of the best, ICE MAN, shots down four jets with a pea shooter (true!) and everyone loves him. And that's it for the plot. 

Actually the plot matters not one jote to this blockbuster mega hit which made an astonishing $362 million off of a $15 million budget. It was produced by two of the greatest names in Hollywood Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer who deserve a film in their own right, the stories of their excesses and exploits are legendary. And directed by the brother of Ridley Scott, Tony Scott who was a fascinating good director in his own right and had a real flair for these sorts of hi-octane action flicks and he directs this brilliantly. 

Shot through a sepia filter, this is an exhilarating, throbbing, and ridiculous romp. The airplane stuff is superb, the soundtrack is all banger and brilliantly synched with the action, which never lets up. Ultimately this is a 109 minute music/recruitment video for the U.S. Navy which gave an unprecedented amount of access to it's fleet and aircraft. The film is only ever three minutes away from a scene where these rugged men are topless having clipped conversations in changing rooms and showers, or playing beach volleyball, dripping with water or sweat, and so close do these hench, buff, young men get to each other, you can't work out if they're going to punch each other or kiss passionately. Then, inbetween all the staggering homo-erotica we have these men thrusting their way through the air in billion-dollar fighter planes, sweating and grunting their way through mock dog fights before we get to the real stuff, in the final act, when these boys finally get to unleash red-tipped rockets at a group of black-leather clad Russian fighter boys in mirrored sunglasses, which burst in glorious spurts of flame and smoke, as fingers grip joysticks and triggers get flicked. It really is one of the gayest films I've ever seen. It's insanely pro-America, it's a love letter to the US Navy and in response, the Navy set up recruitment booths in some American cinemas and claimed that recruitment went up 500%, although that was a bit of a fib, and they later admitted that enlistment rose by 8%.

I wasn't a huge fan of this when it first blasted onto our screens back in 1986, it was too gung-ho, too jingoistic, too butch, but time has been kind to it and now you can watch it with a rye smile, enjoying the ridiculous chaste homo-erotic charge, the pumping soundtrack and the amazing arial footage and special effects, although TOP GUN: MAVERICK, the belated 2022 sequel did it all so much better with some utterly thrilling actual inflight footage. 

This was throbbing, fun, popcorn flick, as empty and tasty as candy floss but stupidly entertaining at the same time. It's great to see it again on the big screen, and easily worth a brief 109 minutes of your life. 

 7/10.

#49: THE SHEEP DETECTIVE

 

STARRING: Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Chris O'Dowd, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey, Brett Goldstein, Hong Chau and Emma Thompson. Written by Craig Mazin. Based on Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Directed by Kyle Balda. Budget $75 million. Running time 109 minutes.

The plot sees a group of sheep set out to solve the murder of their shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman). It's a classic murder mystery, with a cast of likely suspects, all with motives, and if you're eagle-eyed and listen carefully you should be able to solve the murder, I did and it was fun! Anyway, when said shepherd dies, the sheep lead by the brainiest, Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Mopple (Chris O'Dowd) and Sebastian (Bryan Cranston) set out to solve the murder. However, this being a live-action movie and set in the 'real world-ish', the Sheep are really sheep and constrained by sheep logic and rules, they can't talk to humans, can't operate machinery or do things a real sheep couldn't. Indeed the rules of the sheep world are very well laid out and work really well, the film makes sure never to break the rules to advance the plot and I was very moved by their lore and knowledge. The large cast of sheep are voiced by the likes of Patrick Stewart, Brett Goldstein, Chris O'Dowd, Regina Hall, Bella Ramsey and Rhys Darby. While in the human camp we get Nicholas Braun and Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Tosin Cole, Kobna Hodbrook-Smith, Conleth Hill, Mandeep Dhillon and Emma Thompson, who has it in her contract that she must appear in every wacky British film made. Actually watching her in this, she plays Lydia Harbottle a lawyer handling George Hardy's estate, I was struck the notion of another The Devil Wear Prada film where Thompson plays a rival fashion diva, perhaps the editor of a British fashion mag to rival Runway, I haven't worked out the plot yet, but I can already see Thompson and Streep duking it out. 

ANYWAY, what of this film, Leach you idiot?

Well, I won't lie. This, for me anyway was a very mixed bag. This starts off well with George and his flock, it's established he doesn't herd the sheep for meat, just their wool, and he loves his flock deeply, although not carnally, which is a blessing for him and us both. He tends them, nurses them and even reads to them every night at bedtime, mostly crime detective fiction, which is why the sheep set off to solve his murder. This part of the film I loved, a sheer delight, the animation is superb, the characterisation, the voices the looks of the varied breeds of sheep all worked wonderfully. But then the film takes us to the fictional village of Denbrook and my heart sank like the Bismarck. It was a dreadful faux Americanised version of an English village filled with horrible anachronistic details, like great big American trucks, farmers wearing baseball caps, neon signs that hung from every shop including the police station! The uniforms of said policeman, the insanely diverse ethnic mix of the small village that you could easily play Ethnic Bingo with as you tick off all the groups represented here. The representation of the bungling loveable English cove, from dim-witted cop to brutish butcher to angry publican. In fact, if it'd been set in London, I guarantee you'll have had fog bound cobbled streets and a Bobby blowing his whistle. 

All this put my teeth on edge and lost me, it all felt like so desperate trying to be all inclusive to everybody and every age to the detriment of the audience and I found myself hating it, deeply. It was sickingly twee and sweet, the human characters were all panto villains or jolly scallywags, and yet through it all the dogged determination of the sheep and their world to get justice for the beloved murdered shepherd won me over. The way the handled things beyond their realm of understanding, like tarmac was fantastic, their own religion which explained where clouds come from was simply magical and it's because of those four-legged walking roast dinners that I was finally won over and found myself, quite against my intention liking it greatly. I was most satisfied by the solving of the crime and the truth behind the revelations of each of the suspects, the film worked wonderfully as a who-dunnit and as a charming talking animal film. Imagine this existing in the same universe as Babe. 

You'll come for the lamb shank in the Beaujolais reduced Jus and stay for the very satisfying conclusion. 

8/10

#48: TUNER

 

STARRING: Leo Woodall, Havan Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno and Dustin Hoffman. Written by Daniel Roher and Robert Ramsey. Directed by Daniel Roher. Running time 107 minutes.

Piano tuner, Niki White (Leo Woodall) a once gifted piano prodigy who gave up his dreams when he was struck down by chronic hearing condition which makes him acutely susceptible to loud noises is forced to raise $66 thousand dollars when his 'Uncle' and boss, Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) suffers a stroke and ends up in hospital. Niki pursues a secondary career as a safe cracker for Uri (Lior Raz) a security specialist who puts safes into rich people's houses then robs them blind. Niki's sideline in criminality goes well until he meets and falls in love with virtuoso Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), but then goes all Pete Tong when a safe cracking job goes wrong and a man gets killed leaving Niki desperate to find a way out of the criminal life he's embraced.

A well built crime caper pic with a unique take, featuring a man who slips into criminality accidentally to initially help those around him, but then becomes trapped. As the stakes rise, Niki realises he's in too deep and frantically tries to find an out, but at what cost?

Not much more to add, this was a satisfying and entertaining crime caper flick with a good cast and a lead, Leo Woodall, who easily holds his own against the likes of Dustin Hoffman and Jean Reno. The music is lovely and the cinematography matches beautifully. This would have easily scored a 9/10 if it hadn't left so much up in the air. That said, the plot which twists and turns ends with a bitter sweet note and a great final line. 

Satisfying and enjoyable. 8/10