#74: NUREMBERG

 

STARRING: Russell Crowe, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant, Leo Woodall, John Slattery, Mark O'Brien, Colin Hanks, Wrenn Schmidt and Lydia Peckham. Written and directed by James Vanderbilt. Running time 148 minutes.

Based on the book, The Nazi and the Psychiatrist. The film chronicles the efforts of U.S. Army psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) to psychoanalysis and keep safe Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and 10 other high-ranking members of the Nazi party long enough so they can stand trial for war crimes in Nuremberg. 

The film is earnestly and seriously made and the actors, all save one, do a damn fine job, Crowe eats the cast for dinner, hence his enormous girth and give the film its true menace and power. the film starts by following Michael Shannon's Robert H. Jackson as he fights to have the War Crimes Trials set up in the first place, and then later in the third act as the leader of the prosecution, and his work with Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) to land a conviction against Göring. The second and main thread follows Rami Malek's Douglas Kelley as he interviews Göring and the other Nazis, and his relationship with his German-born Jewish American translator and US Army solider Sgt Howie Triest (Leo Woodall). And finally in the final act the court case itself.  

This is an earnest and deeply sincere work whose only fly in the ointment is the dashing Hollywood star who's as wooden as he is stiff, Rami Malek who stands out like a massive sore thumb. While the rest of the cast easily breeze through their roles, Malik screams "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT MY CRAFT! GOD, I'M A GREAT ACTOR!" He spends most of the time posing in doorways, or smoking, or turning around to deliver lines facing us, or dressed in a T-shirt, which feels so anachronistic for the time. He's all twitches, pouts and teeth and never feels comfortable in the role, while in complete contrast Russell Crowe just fucking smashes it like a gladiator. 

The film's course sees the preparations of the trial and Kelley's numerous interviews with Göring, then cuts to Kelley racing off for lunch with Göring's wife and daughter before racing back for more interviews, before the classic third act drama of him being dismissed from the military and sent home, but staying long enough to deliver the evidence that will convict Göring, and everyone stands and nod their approval of him. 

The trial is the most profound element of the film and the use of the actual footage from the Nazi death camps that were shown at the trial still have the unbelievable power to shock, even today.

The film has an unhurried, thoughtful and powerful feel which makes you realise how if left unchecked certain current world leaders aren't a million miles away for the horrors of Hitler and his despicable ilk.

7/10

#73: WICKED FOR GOOD

 

                                                 

STARRING: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum. Screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, based on Wicked by Stephen Schwartz and the 'book' Wicked by Winnie Holzman. Directed by Jon M. Chu. Budget $150 million. Running time 137 minutes.

11 months have passed since Wicked first sung and danced its way into the collective subconscious of the world through the medium of cinema. 11 months since I gave up 160 minutes of my life to listen to one continuous song and I've not seen it since. I remember hating it with a passion until the characters got on the emerald train and travelled to the Emerald City, which is when I finally engaged with the film and where it  finally came alive. But that bit set in that hateful school filled with a bingo card of memes and stereotypes just baked my biscuits and left me seething with a deep, unending loathing for all those hideous emotionally stunted and oppressively needy twats.

Anyway, 11 months has passed, all memory erased and so I went back with my daughter, whom I saw the first with, to experience this - the second and concluding chapter.  The story set after the events of the first film sees Elphaba Thropp aka THe Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo) waging her absolutely useless and pointless war on behalf of animal rights, meanwhile her best buddy Glinda Upland, aka Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande-latte) flies around in her big pink bubble spreading good cheer. While back in the Emerald City the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) and Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) sort of do things, like imprison the magical animals, build the yellow brick road and ban the Munchins from travelling. leaving the remaining talking animals to escape Oz for an unknown realm. Then there's Winkie prince, Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey) who secretly pines for Thropp but pretends to love Glinda, while Thropp's paraplegic sister Nessarose Thropp (Marissa Bode) governs Munchkinland and believes her assistant, Bog Woodsman (Ethan Slater) loves her, while he only has eyes for Glinda. Anyway, Madame Borrible gets Fiyero to ask Galinda to marry him and everyone gets ready for the big day. Meanwhile Elphaba tries to get the rest of Oz to realise the Wizard is up to no good, but he's convinced everyone that she's the one up to no good. Then Galinda convinces her that the Wizard is good and for about thirty seconds, the three agree to team up and make Oz a better place, but then the Wizard reveals he's up to no good and Elphaba gate-crashes the wedding and all hell breaks loose. Then a tornado turns up, from the original film and does what it does sending Dorothy off on an adventure and Galinda, Elphaba, Woodsman and Fiyero are forced to do something to save the day. 

Look, there's a lot going on and it's hard to sumarise the whole film in a concise manor. But the end result is there's a lot of talking, a lot of songs and a lot of emotions flying round. 

Overall I'm surprised to say I quite enjoyed this, it's mercifully shorter than the first film by 30 minutes, the production values are outstanding - the attention to detail in the costumes and the art direction are excellent. The performances, particularly from the two leads is great, including their singing. Indeed everything except for the story is utterly top notch, it's only because this film lacks any bite and the story is very floopy robs this from being a rip-roaring success. There are many questions left unanswered and to much of this is just toothless and far too gentle for the likes of me. The Wicked Witch of the West spends a considerable amount of screen time moping about the forest and committing half-arsed acts of sedition before running away following harsh words. Madam Torrible is revealled to be almost utterly powerless and despite showing some serious magical chops in the first film here is only able to sum up one tornado, and the Wizard (Goldblum) who shines isn't given enough to do and sort of drifts away from the story. 

Not remotely hateful and rather enjoyable. I didn't leave the cinema wishing everyone involved a horrible and painful death, so you know, winner, winner chicken dinner.

8/10 for the production values but only 6/10 for the lacklustre script for a final score of 7/10. 

#72: SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE

 

STARRING: Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang and Richard Brake. Written and directed by Jalmari Helander. Budget $12.2 million. Running time 89 minutes.

Two years ago the original Sisu movie, Sisu exploded onto cinema screens in a 93 minute orgy of unrelenting uber-violence against a battalion of fleeing Nazis in the dying days of World War II. 

This one, Sisu: Road to Revenge sees our death-proof one-man-killing machine, Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) the Sisu of the title, do the same thing, but this time, to the might of the Soviet Union's Red Army. 

WWII is over and our hero, Aatami, a gold-miner and Finnish ex-commando sets out in his huge truck into Soviet occupied Finland to return to his home - a log cabin. There he dismantles it log-by-log and attempts to transport it back to free Finland so he can rebuild it in honour of his family who were butchered by Red Army commander, Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang). For reasons never really explained, the Soviets unleash Draganov, who's been imprisoned in a Siberian gulag to kill Aatami by any means possible. 

To save time, I've used parts of my review of the first film, since the only thing that's changed is brand of enemy that Aatami faces, so just replace the other 'N' word with 'Soviet Conscript'. 

"What follows is a relentless and brutal battle that doesn't let up as Aatmai takes on them all on in a no-holds barred fight to the death and seemingly beyond as, with the power of Sisu, he manages to survive death at every turn, with almost supernatural power. This is savage, brutal and unrepentant. The Nazis die in violent gouts of bloody gore, and as the death toll rises so does the inventiveness of the kills." 

And that's the main problem with this film. While watching Nazi scumbags being slaughtered in ultra-violent acts of pure barbarity is always a delight, watching the same treatment ditched out to a silent army of Soviet Conscripts doesn't carry the same levity and most certainly doesn't feel justified. Watching a train's worth of young Soviet Conscripts hacked-to-death, shot-to-death, stabbed-to-death, beaten-to-death or stamped-to-death becomes an uncomfortable watch.

Stephen Lang's Igor Draganov is a very one-note character whose most used word of vocabulary is 'Fuck', or variations of. He's there to give us a showdown and the obligatory fight to the death, although his demise is one of the hi-lights of the film.

What makes this watchable is the fact it's not a Hollywood movie, because it is Finnish it has a quality, look and style that makes it engaging, the staging of the action is freed from shaky-cam and frenzied editing of its US counterparts and the added gore and blood gouts elevates this, last week's The Running Man has the same body count, more or less, but hides its shame behind a feeble 12A certificate. This comes with a full-blooded 15 certificate and rightly so. Violence shouldn't be glamourised or homogenised and this is fully unpasturised violence.

This, like the first, as moments of outrageous intentional humour and some spectacular deaths but I find that I can also reuse my summing-up of the first film with just a couple of tweaks for this one. 

"[Not as] Funny, [but just as] brutal and savage. Not everyone's cup of tea but this is every WWII film crossed with Rambo and Friday 13th with Jason Voorhees as the hero.

8/10

#71: EBIRAH: HORROR OF THE DEEP

 

STARRING: Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Chotaro Togin, Hideo Sunazuka, Haruo Nakajima and Hiroshi Sekita. Screenplay by Shinichi Sekizawa. Special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa. Directed by Jun Fukuda. Originally released in 1966. Running time 86 minutes.

This is was the first Godzilla film I ever saw, when it was shown way back in 1982 on Channel Four back when it showed eclectic movies. I'd been a fan of Godzilla for far longer, ever since I'd seen pictures in my various Octopus published books about science fiction and horror films, but this was the first time I got to see him in action and boy what a treat!

The story sees five random people drawn to a remote and mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific, each with their own reasons, for one it's the chance to look for his lost at sea big brother, for another, an attempt to hide out following a successful bank heist, for another to escape a press-ganged slave gang, while the last two are just lug-headed friends who somehow got drawn into the whole crazy adventure. When the first four arrive on the island they find themselves hunted by a super-secret society hellbent on destroying the world and preparing to unleash atomic armageddon on an unsuspecting world. It turns out the island is the secret base of an environmental terrorist gang called: The Red Bamboo. As luck would have it again, the island just so happens to be the bedroom of Godzilla who's currently kipping under a mountain. Meanwhile off the coast lives a giant red lobster called Ebirah, who just so happens to be the Horror of the Deep and he's controlled by the Red Bamboo who use a special yellow liquid to keep it under control. Anyway, things lead to other things and before you can say, 'Oops, that wasn't very smart' Godzilla has been awoken and all hells broken loose, all culminating in the greatest film trope of all times, the activation of a self destruct mechanism that's going to sink the island, while Godzilla goes toe to claw with Ebirah. And that's before Mothra turns up late in the third act.  

What follows is 86 minutes of pure delight, an utterly guileless romp that's not ashamed for one second to be pure pantomine one second, brutal monster smackdowns the next, with elements of James Bond thrown in for good measure, and a jungle-based adventure romp! And when Godzilla and Ebirah finally get together for the first of their two massive battles the screen positively bounces from the sight of these humungous leviathans dishing out the smackdowns. The scale of the island and the ocean works well with the beasties and helps to sell the conceit perfectly. And the final utter annihilation of the island through atomic explosion in the climax is a sight to behold.

This utterly cemented my love of all things Godzilla when I first saw it all those years ago and watching it again 44 years later up on a big screen was a treat I never thought I'd get to enjoy. What an utter joyess experience, from the outrageously bonkers script and over exaggerated acting, to the peerless man-in-a-rubber-suit special effects and beautiful model work, and the bat-shit bonkers tonal shifts in story, pacing and action. Featuring four Kaiju monsters, an army of gun-crazy goons, an evil secret organisation hell-bent on destroying the world with home-made atomic weapons and the added pleasure of the Cosmo Twins, this was an utter and wonderful delight from beginning to end and I loved every single sodding second of it. 

The phrase 'They don't make films like that anymore' could not be any more truer and this film proves without a shadow of a doubt that when a man has become bored of watching another man in a rubber suit destroying scale models of cities of secret bases he is bored with life.

I love, love, loved this wonderful little film and simply cannot fault it. A note-perfect gem of a movie that should be seen on the big screen whenever possible. 

Godzilla thy name is perfection. 10/10

70: PREDATOR: BADLANDS

 

STARRING: Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Screenplay by Patrick Aison, story by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg. Budget $105 million. Running time 107 minutes. 

Well, that was a surprise. Who would have thought that the 7th entry in a series that wasn't needed should have been so goddam enjoyable. Hell, I'm not embarrassed to say that I bloody enjoyed this quite a bit. Finally, an attempt to do something different with the Predator franchise, very much like the last outing, Predator Prey. This new dollop of Predator mayhem doesn't drop popular lines from the mother-source, like: 'Get to the chopper', or 'Stick around.', or repeat popular visual tropes, instead it just tries to come up with something different and as a result is quite arguably the fourth best Predator film. Although that said, it's not exactly a high bar. And I'm including both AVP films and excluding the animated TV show.

PREDATOR (1987)
PREDATOR 2 (1990)
PREDATOR:PREY (2022)
PREDATOR: BADLANDS 
AVP (2004)
PREDATORS (2010)
THE PREDATOR (2018)
AVP 2: REQUIEM (2007)

The story sees our hero Predator, Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) cast out of his clan by his father cos he's the runt of the litter. To earn honour and respect he sets out to the planet Genna  aka 'Death Planet' there to kill the legendary Kalisk, a seemingly unstoppable apex predator who's been known to eat Predators, or Yautja as they're known in this film, for breakfast. Crash landing on Genna, Dek is quickly robbed of all his high tech weaponery and very nearly eaten by every single thing on the planet. As luck would have it, Dek stumbles across the top half of a torn-in-two Weylan-Yutani Corporation android called Thia (Elle Fanning). Dek and Thia form a partnership and set out to kill the Kalisk. Along the way the unlikely duo become a trio when they befriend a bug-eyed alien critter Thia nicknames Bud, and together they set off on a quest to kill the beastie. So far so Jabberwocky. Meanwhile Thia's old bestie, Tessa (also Fanning) who's also a Weyland-Yutani cyborg has been ordered to capture the Kalisk and she too sets out on a quest, which will bring her in direct conflict with her synthetic sister. And that's sort of the plot. 

What follows is a thoroughly enjoyable and action packed little sci-fi pic. With great effects both practical and CG and some lovely makeup. The film has a heart and the relationship between Dek and Thia gives the film it's heart and soul. There's something quite endearing about their banter and slowly the Predator begins to see the benefit of, if not a friendship, then a union of sorts. This rips along at a fair pace and features some excellent action beats. The weird thing is this didn't have to be a Predator film, cos it's only Predator in name, Dek looks so different from the usual and has been softened to make him look more human. The relationship between not just him and her is strengthened by the arrival of Bud. And it won't take a rocket scientist to work out it's relationship to the big bad beastie. 

This builds to two great showdowns, one on Genna the other back on Yautja Prime and ends with the mother of all sequel bates, if you'll pardon the expression.

Went in hoping to hate this but was won over and found myself entirely satisfied by it. One of the few films from this year I intend to buy and own, which will bring my grand total of 2025 films to three.

8/10 

69: THE RUNNING MAN

 

STARRING: Glen Powell, William H.Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin. Written by Michael Bacall and Edgar Wright. Directed by Edgar Wright. Budget $130 million. Running time 133 minutes. 

How strange in the same week two films turn up both based on original films made in 1987 and in both cases the originals directed by Paul Michael Glazer and John McTiernan were vastly superior. Although, that said both of these films, this and Predator Badlands, on which more in the next review, ain't so bad. Although of the two, this one is by far the weakest and most forgettable. 

It sees Ben Richards (Glen Powell), the Running Man of the title sign up for a brutal TV show called The Running Man that sees contestants trying to survive on the run for 30 days while they're tracked down by five hunters and the entire population of these United States of America. Ben is a good father to a very poorly daughter, and whose wife is forced to work triple shifts in a hostess bar to make ends meet. Ben been blacklisted for caring too much about his co-workers and is convinced by Josh Brolin's Dan Killian to take part in the show. And so begins the running. It's obvious that Glen is being positioned as the next Tom Cruise, whom he resembles, even if his eyes are too close together, so it's no wonder we get to see how well he runs, and run well he does. From one over the top action scene to the next in an escalating series of encounters with the show's Hunters, lead by Lee Pace. All the time, Ben is portrayed to the baying audience is the villain of the piece with no compassion for the multitude of collateral damage he leaves in his wake.

However the longer he runs the more popular he becomes and although once hated he becomes the face of a growing ground swell of rebellion that threatens to bring the establishment to its knees in fiery retribution. 

And that's in really. It's good fun, it's more satirical than the original and the sense of growing rebellion works well. Also because it doesn't have to make its lead character a super-bad-ass action hero it feels a little more grounded. Along the way Ben runs into several characters who help him run and survive until the enviable final act showdown with Gillian on live TV. 

This doesn't quite nail the ending but it's entertaining enough, although it features almost none of the glorious visual flair that Edgar Wright is known for and is rather pedestrian to be honest. That said, Powell is entertaining as the lead, and so is Michael Cera who really seems to relish the role he's given.

All that said, this won't be round for long, making a dreadful $17 million in its opening weekend, so if you want to see this on the bigscreen don't leave it too long. 

7/10 

68: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III

 

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Laurence Fishburne and Simon Pegg. Written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and J.J. Abrams. Directed by J.J. Abrams. Originally released in 2006. Budget $150 million. Box office $398.5 million. Running time 126 minutes.

Super-agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), now retired from active service, spends his days training future Impossible Mission agents and his evenings with his super-nurse fiancee Julia Meade (Michelle Monaghan). However when one of his favourite agents Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) is abducted by super-baddy Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) while on a mission, Ethan is coxed back into active service by his boss Declan Gormley (Billy Crudup) to lead a rescue mission and bring her back alive. 

Sadly Ethan fails and Lindsey is killed remotely by a tiny bomb hidden in her head, which in turns a series of events that will see Ethan run his little socks off across the globe, from Berlin to Rome, South Korea and China, to abduct Davian, capture something called the Rabbit's Foot, rescue his kidnapped super-nurse fiancee and clear his name and avoid Laurence Fishburne (I.M.F boss)'s army of 'not quite as good as Ethan' spies.

After the awfulness of Mission: Impossible II film, which had been directed into the ground by John Woo whose overuse of white doves, ludicrous motor cycle stunts and Dougray Scott really screwed the pouch, even if the film did become the highest grossing film of 2000 with a world wide gross of $546 million.

ANYWAY, I:M2, as it was known was shit and I hated it. This outing, however, I absolutely bloody loved! It's packed with superb stunts, great action beats, a tightly written and gripping script, and most importantly the best villain of the entire series in Owen Davian played with perfection by Philip Seymour Hoffman. If I had a quibble, and it's a minor one, then it would be Simon Pegg who sticks out like a dirty great big sore thumb. What bugs me mainly is that he goes on to appear in all of the following I:M outings and he's too much the comedy foil.

There are so many excellent action sequences in this film it's hard to pick a favourite, but the Florida Keys attack is outstanding, as is the brilliant Vatican extraction. Oh, and the attack on the disused Berlin factory is also great. Damn it, the whole film is knock-out!

I was lucky to see it on the big screen a couple of weeks ago but sadly it's gone already so if you didn't see it then maybe it'll come back, if it does go and track it down, it's damn fine!

10/10 



  

#67: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER - TAKE 2

 STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hally, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Budget $175 million. Running time 162 minutes.

When Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti) goes missing following a police raid on the night of her high school prom, her permanently stoned single-parent father and ex-revolutionary, Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) races off on a relentless search to rescue her from Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) an obsessive, psychotic hard-core marine who's convinced that Willa is his daughter. With only Willa's sensei, Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro) to help him, Pat sets forth on a rescue mission whose outcome is anything but certain. 

Here's a link to the original review. 

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/474873268835444248/3915445226366393064

Went to watch this again, before it disappears from our screens. It's often a very rewarding experience to rewatch a film you've enjoyed, sometimes you become aware of a film's flaws and faults and dramatically revise your original score, like Die Another Day when you realise, much to your shame, that rather than being a thrilling and fantastic spectacle worthy of a 9/10 it is in actuality a rather piss-poor, badly plotted, over-the-top, piece of crap worthy of probably a 7/10.

I should point out that for me, a 7/10 is a middling film. I realise that some of you might consider a 5/10 to be middling. But I think all films should aim for a 7/10 as their basic minimum score. 

ANYWAY. What of One Battle After Another? I took Petra who'd I'd tried to take when it first opened but she was reluctant, she seems to have taken against my film suggestions and so it took the combined might of her entire office telling her she should see it to finally make her agree to experience it. 

I was suprised how much of it I had forgotten, or how my brain had editorially broken it down and subtly restructured it. I was immediately stuck by the music, which starts before the opening credits and before the film proper has even begun, both the choice of classic rock and pop music tracks, and later the unsettling discordant strings are used throughout this are simply fantastic. 

The acting too is outstanding, that's across the board, it goes without saying for the likes of del Toro, Sean Penn and DiCaprio, who are acting royalty, but it's Chase Infiniti who deserves special attention. She is the real revelation, she holds our attention and her performance easily matches the three male leads, which considering this is her first film role is astonishing. I think the future is bright for her, I bloody hope so! 

The action throughout is superbly handled and the intense car chase in the final act is truly inspirational. Likewise, the humour is spot-on and although some critics have complained about the Christmas Adventurers Club I think it was perfect. At the end of the day, this film is a social commentary of the utterly corrupt and abhorrent Trump administration, and as such it nails it perfectly. 

The story, simply structured in nevertheless deeply engaging and the 162 minutes speed past and I was completely captivated. I simply can not fault it and watching it again made me realise this is quite possibly The Film of the Year, although you'll have to wait to the end of December to find out if it managed to  finally knock The Phoenician Scheme off the top spot. No spoilers.

Once again this scores a 10/10 from me, and from Petra, who loved every second. Maybe she'll start trusting me again, when it comes to film recommendations. 

#66: TRON ARES

STARRING: Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Jodie Turner-Smith, Hasan Minhaj, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges.  Story by David DiGilio and Jesse Wigutow. Screenplay by Jesse Wigutow. Directed by Joachim Rønning. Music by Nine Inch Nails (NIN). Budget $200 million. Running time 119 minutes.

So, 15 years have passed since Tron Legacy and in the present Jared Leto plays Ares – a programe who dreams of being human, imagine a digital Pinocchio who's also a one man killing machine. He's a program created by the Grandson of David Warner's Dillinger from the first Tron movie, and he's found a way to 3D print digital weapons and soldiers, but they only have a life span of 29 minutes. Meanwhile there's this scientist lady called Eve who's the owner of all of Kevin Flynn's, played by Jeff Bridges in the original, company and tech and she and Dillinger are mortal enemies. Anyway she finds this old Flynn code that will make all the 3-D printed stuff last indefinitely. Dillinger and his mum, played by Gillian Anderson want it, girl genius wants it and so does Ares. But when Ares escapes into the real world he teams up with genius girl, and Dillinger sends another digital warrior after Ares to get it back. And then there's this big chase and battle somewhere in an American city and Ares ends up in the original Tron world and chats with Jeff Bridges and then more stuff happens and it ends, with a post credit sequel bait sequence and there you have the synopsis for the most unnecessary sequel, since the three Star Wars prequels and sequels, the three Matrix ones and all the Terminator and Alien ones after the second. 

I left the cinema less than an hour ago and I'm desperate to get my thoughts down before I forget I've ever saw this. Interestingly enough the four other members of the audience for this film walked out after ten minutes, while I stayed to the very end and I'm rather glad i did, because I rather enjoyed it. 

Just make sure to switch your brain to neutral, disable your critical facilities, and lower your firewall and just enjoy the visual and audio spectacle because this was a mostly entertaining and exciting little romp that didn't outstay its welcome and didn't offer a world threatening global extinction event. Jared Leto, an actor I have very little enthusiasm for, did well and offered up a mostly reserved and likeable character in Ares, the effects all reds and blacks were very well done, but the highlight of the whole event was a return to the original world of Tron in a most unexpected way, I wish we could have stayed there longer, seeing the original light bike was a total delight and worth the admission price alone. The music by NIN is very good, powerful and raw and very much suited the visuals. The pacing is good, the direction won't win any Oscars but was very competent and there's a very funny bit about 1980s music which had me laughing. The great thing about being the only one in the audience is not only can you whoop and cheer with impunity, but you can also sit there in your underpants and string vest as if you were at home. 

The original Tron came out in 1982 and beyond its ground-breaking special effects had very little less to offer, the story was bog-standard and very Disney-esque. Tron Legacy arrived 28 years later and was an overblown affair mostly remembered for the terrible CGI de-aging of Jeff Bridges. This new sequel, which if it is to be believed has been in development since 2010 makes no effort to resolve the ending of the last film, which saw Sam Flynn and Kiora the female program drive off into the sunrise, or sunset, although their existence is hinted at in this and their possible involvement should there be another installment. That possibility seems very likely since for some inexplicable reason, despite their poor box-office returns, Hollywood just keeps on producing more Tron films. 

To sum up, this wasn't totally ch-TRON-ic, and it did sort of ARES-ise above expectations.

7/10

#65: GOLDENEYE

 

STARRING: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Alan Cummings, Dame Judi Dench and Samatha Bond. Story by Michael France. Screenplay by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein. Directed by Martin Campbell. Music by Eric Serra. Special effects by Derek Meddings. Running time 130 minutes. Budget $60 million. Boxoffice £356.4 million. Originally released in 1995.

And so it came to pass that after a six-year absence James Bond did return for his 17th cinematic outing, in the guise of Irish actor Pierce Brosnan. Featuring a new Miss Moneypenny, now played by Samatha Bond and a new female M played by the superlative Dame Judi Dench, this was the Bond franchise Rejuvenated and invigorated. It was also the first Bond film not be based, in any small part on the works of Ian Flemming, the first without Cubby Broccoli's involvement and with a new director replacing long-time stalwart John Glenn. It marked a new beginning for series and was the first to seriously try and update the whole template of Bond. There was a lot riding on this one and its success would herald a new era of Bond which would go on to see some of the best entries of the entire series and also some of the absolute worst. 

The story sees little Jimmy Bond going up against the Huge Janus crime syndicate run by Sean 'Bastard' Bean's in a post Soviet Union collapse (rather amusing in this day and age) he's got his hands on the Goldeneye EMP device and Jimmy's keen to get it back before his old work buddy Alec Trevelyan 006 can steal loads of stuff from his super-duper secret satellite dish complex in Cuba. Along for the ride and to be his reward for a job well done is Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), a Goldeneye computer game programmer. 

Actually, come to think about it, this film is very female-centric, what with Dench's M, Samantha Bond's Miss Moneypenny who's not tolerating any of Bond's leery innuendo, Trevelyan's henchwomen Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) who gets sexually aroused by murder and killing and the aforementioned Natalya. See, strong female characters. 

Despite the reboot, this new Bond film still features many of the tropes that made the series so successful, the visit to Q Branch and its head Q (Desmond Llewelyn), the gun barrel, the iconic Bond March, the gadgets, guns and cars. 

And where as time seems to have been rather kind to Goldeneye, it's not a perfect film. The music by newbie to the series Eric Serra is, in a word, shit. Ghastly 'whaa-waa' twanged disco funk that sits badly with the action and makes you crave a good-old meaty John Barry score. 

I've not seen this up on the big screen since 1995 so it's a nice coincidence that the screening I saw just so happened to be the 30th anniversary of Goldeneye! What a nice surprise.  

This starts extremely well, with one of the best pre-credit sequences ever, that valiantly tries to out-do sublime The Spy Who Loved Me and fails. It introduces the new Bond perfectly even if Bronson doesn't quite feel comfortable in the role and he brings some lovely little tweaks to the mythos of Bond, the straightening of his tie, the way he pouts when peeved and some youthful energy. However he's also a rather seedy, tad creepy and rather predatory Bond and some of his innuendo schtick is rather icky. Martin Campbell, who directs, brings some much needed energy to the proceedings, and helped to kickstart this post-Berlin wall Bond. Special mention also to the special effects of Derek Medding and his crew. using models and practical effects, the film action set pieces are downright superb and some of the best of the series.

While this is definitely not my favourite Bond film, that honour belongs to The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldfinger and Casino Royale, this is my favourite Pierce Bronson Bond and it was an absolute treat to see it writ large on the silver screen again. 

8/10

#64:GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE

STARRING: Kenpachiro Satsuma, Masashi Takegumi, Kunihiko Mitamura, Yoshiko Tanaka, Masanobu Takashima, Megumi Odaka, Konaiji Toyota, Toru Minegishi, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Yoshiko Kuga, Ryunosuke Kaneda and Koji Takahashi. Written and directed by Kazuki Ōmori. Story by Shinichirō Kobayashi. Special effects by Kōichi Kawakita. Budget $10.7. Boxoffice $9.14 million. Originally released in 1989.

A direct sequel to the truly sublime 1984 The Return of Godzilla, this one sees Godzilla (Kenpachiro Satsuma) emerge from the volcano he fell into at the climax of that one and, feeling a bit peckish, set off for a spot of radioactive fast food. However, mankind has not rested while Godzie slept, no far from it! Using Godzilla cells secretly harvested by the Saradia Institue of Technology and Science who hope to use the celles to transform Saradian deserts into fertile land, their pet scientist Dr. Genshiro Shiragami (Kōji Takahashi) and his daughter, Erika have created an anti-nuclear energy bacteria vaccine. However a terrorist attack leaves her dead and him deeply aggrieved. Five years later, Godzie is out and the Doctor is encouraged to join the fight in defeating him. The good doctor hasn't been idle and has managed to merge the Godzilla cells with a rose bush DNA and his daughter's soul resulting in the creation of Biollante leading to an epic fight between the two titans! Add to that a subplot about secret agents, elite assassins and a race against time to save the world and you have one of the best made Godzilla films!

As I've previously stated I am an avid Godzilla fan and simply love the films of the Big Guy to such an extent that I am critically blind to the alleged failings of the Toho franchise, not so to the Legendary efforts which have been a mixed bag. 

ANYWAY, this one. Well, it's not my favourite, it's not as good as Godzilla Vs Megalon, but it's still a delightful and exhilarating rampage. It takes too long to get up and running, and let's be honest, what we want from a Godzilla film is for our titular hero to stomp the living shit out of Tokyo before going head-to-head with another monster(s) of equal or better power. GVB delivers the destruction fantastically and the return of the spectacular Super X flying platform, now remotely controlled like a drone is fantastic! The levels of destruction on display, all done practically and with models and actual explosives, are off the fricking chart, and deliver in nothing but spades! 

The human story at the centre of all the Godzilla films is usually the weakest part of the films, but not so here. Infusing the plot not only with secret agents, gun battles and super assassins but also our various heroes racing around trying to rally the troops really helps to make a gripping and exciting romp of a film. The whole approach was devoid of any humour or comedy and presented very earnestly, however as is often the case with Japanese cinema, that approach can offen elicit hoots of laughter, as was the case with this!

The version presented at the Barbican Cinema 1 screening was part of their Kaiju season and was subtitled not dubbed and was packed, which was a delight, how wonderful to see this time of film with an audience of fans. I count myself blessed that I was able to see both of these Godzilla films on the big screen and am eagerly looking forward to Ebirah, Horror of the Deep in November!

Mixing Godzilla levels of destruction and mayhem with a healthy dose of James Bond for a big, meaty no-holds-barred heavyweight bout of big monster smack downs! 
 
9/10

#63: ALIENS: DIRECTOR'S CUT

Starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Carrie Henn, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Ricco Ross, Al Matthews, Jenette Goldstein, Mark Rolston and Daniel Kash. Written and directed by James Cameron, from a story by Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill. Music by James Horner. Budget $18.5 million. Running Time 154 minutes. Originally released in 1986. BOX OFFICE HAUL $183,291,256.

57 years after the events of Alien, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is found drifting in her life pod in deep suspension and revived to take the blame for the destruction on the Nostromo and the death of its crew. Meanwhile LV427 is in the process of being terraformed and the contents of the derelict alien spaceship have been unleashed on the unsuspecting terraformists causing untold mayhem. When the colony goes silent, Earth sends a Marine troop to investigate and Ripley tags along for some more shits and giggles, although this time with the action ratcheted up to 11.

As soon as Ripley and the Marines lands on LV427 the film explodes into action and doesn't let up for one instant. 

I saw this, the Director's Cut just two years ago back up on the big screen, the first time since it was originally released in the cinema. I loved it the first time I saw it in 1986 at a Preview and I've never stopped loving it, if anything as time goes on my love for it grows, cos they just don't make films like this anymore.
This is a fantastic sequel and a damn good film in its own right, utilising optical and practical effects and superb model work from John Richardson and his hand-picked crew. Actually, isn't it funny how old CGI dates horribly but not well done old practical effects. This film is just so inventive, the script is so tight, so well written, the cast and the characters all acting as adults and not making stupid plot choices just to propel the story along. 

Anyway, yet again witnessing this on the big screen was just an utter treat and one you should never give up the opportunity of seeing. It reigns supreme up, twenty feet high. It doesn't need saying but it's lost none of its power, drama or scope. It's superbly paced, and edited, and this is yet another Cameron film that really is a note-perfect, it's amazing to think this was his third film as director. 

You can see why every film in the franchise after this just screwed the pooch, after the sublime genius of Ridley Scott and Cameron there really was no way to go. If only they'd left well enough alone. Oh well. Nothing that has come since has damaged this ones reputation.  

Loved it then. Love it now. Can't fault it. 10/10 

#62: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

 

STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hally, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Budget $175 million. Running time 162 minutes.

When Willa Ferguson (Chase Infiniti) goes missing following a police raid on the night of her high school prom, her permanently stoned single-parent father and ex-revolutionary, Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) races off on a relentless search to rescue her from Colonel Lockjaw (Sean Penn) an obsessive, psychotic hard-core marine who's convinced that Willa is his daughter. With only Willa's sensei, Sergio St. Carlos (Benicio del Toro) to help him, Pat sets forth on a rescue mission whose outcome is anything but certain. 

Directed by the 'good' Paul Anderson, you can tell cause he's got a 'Thomas' in this name, this is a startlingly good film, goddam, perhaps one of the films of the year. It's a breakneck, relentless screwball black comedy whose humour is deep and deeply nuanced. This is nevertheless an action-packed and genuinely thrilling movie that beautifully builds the tension and suspense to a gripping and fantastically satisfying conclusion. 

Its politics resonate with the fascistic America we're all currently living through thanks to the orange one, aka Dozy Donnie Dump, and it's easy to see actions of the heavily armoured police force featured in the film as nothing more than 'ICE' in all but name and the theme of a underground railway helping Mexican illegal immigrants seems terribly prescient.

The acting is fantastic, Sean Penn, is superb as Lockjaw filled with menace, ticks and rage and yet at his core is a raw lust for his adversary which is quite extraordinary to witness. Similarly DiCaprio utterly inhabits the role of Pat, a single father doing everything he can to save his daughter. Willa, played by Chase Infiniti is equally as excellent and she brings a real sense of vulnerability and youthful defiance to the role, her first. I don't think this is the last we'll see of her, she's superb.   

And the music by Jonny Greenwood, fits like a glove! It's never intrusive, never anything less than a perfect. On top of that, the film looks stunning, you can practically taste the sand and the cinematography is as beautiful as the scenery. Anderson directs with true skill and his framing is delightful. Overall this is a thrilling and gripping experience that just builds and builds in threat, menace and action until the conclusion, which is followed by a coda that just seals the whole film with a satisfying and meaty thunk. And aided by humour as dry as the desert. Damn it, I can't fault it. 

10/10

#61: GODZILLA VS MEGALON

 

STARRING: Godzilla, Megalon, Jet Jaguar and Gigan as performed by Hinji Takagi as Godzilla, Hideto Date as Megalon, Kenpachiro Satsuma as Gigan, and Tsugutoshi Komada as Jet Jaguar. Human actors: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Hiroyuki Kawase, Yutaka Hayashi, Robert Dunham, Kotaro Tomita, Wolf Ohtuski and Gentaro Nakajima. Story by Shinichi Sekizawa, screenplay and directed by Jun Fukuda. Budget $1.2 million. Boxoffice take $20 million. Running time 81 minutes. Originally released in 1973.

When a series of nuclear tests cause massive earthquakes and destruction severely damaging not only Monster Island, home of Godzilla, but also the highly advanced underground empire of Seatopia its ruler Emperor Antonio sends two crack secret agents upstairs to Earth to kidnap the inventor of Jet Jaguar, Goro Ibuki, his little brother Rokuro and his best friend Hiroshi Jinkawa and sieze control of their man-sized robot. Meanwhile Antonio unleashes Megalon, the god of the Seatopian people to destroy Tokyo. But when Jet becomes sentient and grows to gigantic size he recruits Godzilla to help him fight the cockroach-inspired Megalon. Concerned his plan for world domination is beginning to falter, Antonio sends for reinforcements from outerspace and gets sent Gigan and so the stage is set for the biggest tag-team monster fight of all time as the four titans of destruction do battle, but only once the combined might of the Japanese military complex has been laid waste. 

Whilst it isn't big or clever it is nevertheless immensely entertaining and delightfully funny, this was the subtitled version and not the notorious sublime dub-version, which I have to say I was rather looking forward to. I've been a Godzilla fan ever since I first glimpsed a picture of him in my Octopus Book of Horror and a screening of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep back in the early days of Channel Four. And he's played a significant role in my imagination ever since and as such I have no critical facilities for the films of Godzilla, the Toho era. This was shot in three weeks, with a production time of six months, it reused footage from previous Godzilla films and introduced the Godzilla tail slide attack. Some of the practical monster and model effects are simply terrific, particularly the dam destruction caused by Megalon. 

It's on as part of a season of Godzilla films at the Barbican until Dec 10th and I can't wait to see both Son of Godzilla and Ebirah, which I'm predicting will both be 10/10s and I hate Minja, Godzilla's son. 

No room for discussion. This was 81 minutes of pure cinematic heaven 10/10 FACT!  

#60: DIE HARD 2: DIE HARDER

STARRING: Bruce Willis, William Sadler, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, Reginald VelJohnson, Franco Nero, Robert Patrick and John Amos. Screenplay by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson. Directed by Renny Harlin. Budget $60-70 million. Running time 124 minutes. 

It's Christmas Eve and John McClane (Bruce Willis) is at Dulles airport to pick up his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia)who's flying in just ahead of a really big storm. Unfortunately for them, and all the passengers and crew of the Air Windsor flight, US Colonel William Stuart (William Sadler) has other ideas. He and his private personal army of ex-marines have taken over the airport's air traffic control to facilitate the rescue of corrupt South American military leader, General Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), who's being flown in to face drug charges. Now it's up to one plucky, NYPD cop to save the day.

What follows is a bombastic, loud, furious, action-packed and deeply violent action film of the sort that Hollywood used to do with great aplomb. Originally released in 1990 when action films weren't the shaky-cam blurs of frantic editing they sadly became. It was fantastically successful at the boxoffice, earning over $240 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the original film.

This is an utterly un-apologetic, un-reconstructed two-gun action film whose only crime was being a sequel, because while it's clearly not as good as the note-perfect 1988 Die Hard directed by John McTierran it's never-the-less a bloody good thrill ride.

Directed by Renny Harlin who made a name for himself with Prison and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 before making this, and then rising to prominence thanks to Cliffhanger before crash and burning his bridges with one of the biggest boxoffice bombs of all times - Cutthroat Island. He'd go on to make both The Long Kiss Goodnight and Deep Blue Sea before a slow gradual decline into mediocrity with a series of low budget action films.

With fantastic action sequences, the Skybridge shoot-out being the standout. Die Hard 2 upped the violence but sadly lost the humanity of McClane. Bullets are spewed at a rate that would humble John Wick, and blood squibs explode with glee in slow motion that would shame Zack Snyder. William Sadler makes a fantastic foil for McClane and his nude introduction is legendary. At the end of the day this was just an absolutely fun and very satisfying and visceral romp that delivered in spades. 

1990 was a great year for action films. Tremors, Hard to Kill, Revenge, The Hunt for Red October, Blind Fury, Blue Steel, Nuns on the Run, Total Recall, Another 48 Hours, Dick Tracy, Gremlins 2, Robocop 2, Wild at Heart, Darkman, I Come in Peace, King of New York, Marked for Death, Predator 2, and Robo Jox to name but a handful. It's sad to read a list of the films released in that year and compare them to the dreck we get these days, there was so much variety back then, and not just in action films. 

8/10

#59: THE LONG WALK

 

STARRING: Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Garrett Wareing, Tut Nyuot, Charlie Plummer, Ben Wang, Roman Griffin Davis, Josh Hamilton, Judy Greer and Mark Hamill. Based on the book The Long Walk by Stephen King. Screenplay by JT Mollner. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Budget £20 million. Walking time 108 minutes.

Get ready for the funniest film of the summer! A film of hope, laughter, tears, and the strength of friendship. 

In the near future, America is struggling from the effects of a civil war that plunged it into financial ruin and poverty and under the boot-heel of a fascistic state that suppresses free-speech and liberty, so just a couple of years from now then. To distract the unwashed masses, an annual tournament is held that sees 50 randomly chosen young men set out on 'The Long Walk', a race with no end run until only one boy survives, his prize - untold wealth and the granting of one wish. There are few rules, the main one being don't walk slower than 3 miles an hour. You have three lives and if you lose all three you get shot in the head right there in the road and then and left to rot on the tarmac. Like I said, an hilarious laugh riot of a film filled with shits and giggles, seriously, and literally. The film follows the young men focusing on five in particular and over the course of the next 108 minutes you'll get to watch each and every one of them die at the hands of an indifferent, nameless gun-totting military escort lead by 'The Major' (Mark Hamill). 

And that's it. Friendships are made and young men die as they walk for five days and over 300 miles. Laugh, I nearly cried.

Bleak, nasty, relentless and depressing. It's a hard watch and yet again reminds me that Hollywood really hate the young. What is it about post apocalyptic fiction that features so many young people getting killed for the pleasure of the old? 

Another 'not a bad film', far from it, but it's a hard watch, well acted and staged but one of those films that you'll watch once and never again. Unless of course you're a masochist. 

7/10

#58: SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES

 

WRITTEN AND STARRING: Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Rob Reiner. Also starring: Valerie Franco, Fran Drescher, Don Lake, Nina Conti, Kerry Godliman and Chris Addison. Directed by Rob Reiner. Budget $22.6 million. Running time 84 minutes.

What is it with these legacy sequels? This one arrives 41 years after the original, ready and raring to go, filled with the vim and vigour that only men in the 70s can muster. 

Director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) narrates and guides us along as he embarks on another rockumentary showcasing the exploits of the legendary heavy metal band Spinal Tap, this time charting and recording their reunion and last ever gig. No one is spared Marty's mellow, non-threatening interview techniques as he visits each of the three surviving members of the band, Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer), their manager Hope Faith (Kerry Goldliman), daughter of the band's original manager and an assortment of secondary characters and we catch up with what they've all been doing since the band last broke up.

Then it's a very sedate stroll to New Orleons session studio as the band rehearse for their final show and audition a new drummer, DiDi (Valerie Franco). Then a series of somewhat amusing incidents happen that elicit a laugh, or smirk, or chortle, although these decrease as the music increases. The whole film poots along like a mobility scooter for four until the stadium show and a performance of Stonehenge brings the house crashing down. Along the way, the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Lars Ulrich, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Questlove and Chad Smith pop up for some shits and giggles.

This starts well, as we meet the lead characters, now all engaged in new activities be it running a cheese and guitar shop, curating a glue museum or writing music for murder podcasts, and all the surviving characters from the original film are interviewed, the jokes are funny, and amusing, easy jibes about age are avoided as the trio try to get the mojo back, but something's stopping them, and it's an unspoken feud between Nigel and David, although its revelation later in the proceedings arrives with all the fanfare of a silent fart. Sadly the film seems far more concerned with watching the band perform and that's when this sort of loses it's verve, the sad fact is, they're just not that good and the lengthy musical interludes drains the film of it's humour. 

Luckily things pick up when during their final gig, Elton John emerges from the floor of the stage to take on lead vocals on Stonehenge and the henge itself is lowered from the ceiling, this time full size. 

This is by no means a bad film, and it's certainly not terrible, it's just a little too sedate, Harry Shearer seems to have been shortchanged and it's left mostly to Guest and McKean to hog the limelight. If only it had focused more on the humour and a little less on the music. It's amusing rather than hilarious and mumbles when it should have roared. 

6/10

 

#57: CAUGHT STEALING

STARRING: Austin Butler, Rgina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Benito Bartinez, Ocasio, Griffen Dunne. Movie score by Rob Simonsen and Idles. Screenplay by Charlie Huston. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. Budget $40 million. Running time 107 minutes.

Billed as a dark comedy crime thriller, this has all the hallmarks of a 1970's thriller but as envisioned by Darren Aronofsky and as such it's about as funny as a positive cancer diagnosis. Set in the 1990s and featuring a furious punk score  and a magnificent soundtrack and featuring a truly impressive cast of actors this was an intense, vicious, nasty and deeply mean-spirited thriller.

Austin Butler is Henry 'Hank' Thompson a high school baseball star with a future as a professional in the majors, but a drunken car crash obliterates his right knee (not that you'd know it) and catapultes his best friend face-first into a telegraph pole. 11 years later and Henry's now a border-line alcoholic bartender working in New York bar and in good relationship with EMT nurse, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz). However one day Hank's next door neighbour, Russ Binder (Matt Smith) - a British ex-pat punk rocker dumps his cat, and litter tray on him and jets back to London to look after his father who's had a stroke. The next day, the Russian mafia come calling looking for Russ and kick Hank almost to death, rupturing one of his kidneys in the process. Then the police in the guise of Det. Elise Roman (Regina King) come calling and disregard Hank's protestations he's an innocent man. Two days after having his kidney removed he's running for his life from two orthodox Jewish gangsters, Shmully Drucker and Lipa Drucker (Vincent D'Onofrio and Liev Schreiber), the Russian mafia AND an ultra corrupt police office who all believe Hank has something of great value, which is news to him. From there on things go from bad to much much worse, horrifically worse, almost to the point of ridiculousness for Hank, and that's probably enough for the plot.

I was fully engaged with this up until the killing started, the violence which is never anything less than full-on, builds and makes the whole film deeply uncomfortable, Hank's dilemma just keeps growing and to a degree which is frankly laughable (perhaps that's what 'they' meant by 'dark comedy'?) but which leaves you feeling there would be no way he'd ever be free, add to that the sense that if only he, at times would just try and explain what was going on then things wouldn't have gotten so bad. I also had some issues with the horrific knee injury that Hank sustains, which we witness repeatedly throughout the film. As some one who has suffered two major knee injuries that resulted in surgery the film lost me once Hank is seen doing a full-on Tom Cruise run, not once but twice and suffering not one single jolt of pain, and just days after he's had a kidney removed too! 

I can't fault the acting, the direction and the look, but I just couldn't get behind the utter mean-spiritedness of this and the death of one of the main characters was just gratuitous and callous and not remotely warranted that the film totally lost me. This starts strongly, but starts to telegraph its ending and the keen-eyed of you should be able to work out the conclusion. 

It's by no means a bad film, far from it, but its nihilistic, bleak, and relentless viciousness lost me as a fan, but boy is it well made.

7/10  

#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