#70: SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY

 

STARRING: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal, Florence Pugh, Tramell Tillman, Michael Mando and Mark (I'm not the Gruffalo) Ruffalo, Marisa Tomei and Liza Colón-Zayas. Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers (not the brother of Scott Sommers, who spells his name Summers). Based on the comic strip created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Budget $225 million. Running time 145 minutes. 

Set four years after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw Spider-Man, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) forced to cast Dr. Strange's spell that robbed the whole of the world of the knowledge that he was Spider-man, including love of his life MJ (Zendaya) and bestest friend in the world, Ned (Jacob Batalon). This Spider-Man has been fully accepted as NY's masked avenger and rightly feted by its populace, there's no J.J. Jameson to sully his name, so he can concentrate on dealing with a seemingly never-ending wave of street level villains from Scorpion, to name but one, as I don't want to spoil anything for you here. That said, there's one wonderful homage to a comic that had me squeaking in sheer delight, and on the Amazing-o-meter it rated a solid 15! He's got a friend in the NYPD, detective Jean DeWolff (Liza Colón-Zayas), acting as his Commission Gordon, and a love/hate relationship going on with Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) aka The Punisher. Parker lives an almost monastic life from his attic, alone and mourning his lost relationships. Then, one day an audacious attack on Damage Control HQ by a little old lady in an armoured tank, brings Spider-Man face-to-face with a mysterious villain who can leap into the minds of people and take control, but who are they and what does it have to do with Damage Control?

There is a lot of plot, characters and incident to shoehorn into this film, no wonder it's so long, at its core the loneliness of Peter Parker - still grieving for the loss of Aunt May and MJ, but there's also the sense of hope, of a 'brand new day' as Parker goes about trying to build new relationships, like the unlikely one between Parker and Castle, or Detective DeWolff, as well his feeble attempts to somehow reconnect with Ned and MJ. 

The action aspect often takes a sidestep, which isn't necessarily a bad thing although it certainly spoiled a lot of the younger kids in the audience's enjoyment, this is a 12A film, it's quite sophisticated in its language, plus it's not a live-action animated film, there's a lot of talking and I think younger kids are going to be bored by this, one such tyke in the audience last night started playing with his pinging tablet last night and his mother couldn't seem to care less, till several people around her told her to shut it off. 

ANYWAY, the film itself. It was surprising to see so much of Spider-Man in full costume talking and interacting with people, it felt strange, but in a good way and soon became quite believable, he's a very likeable character perhaps the most relatable of all the superheroes. The action is jawdropping, the Hulk, revealed in the trailer so there's no spoiling to mention him here, is great, brief but great, and when he finally goes full Hulk it's fantastic! Likewise the relationship between Parker and The Punisher is funny and rewarding too, but the Punisher struggles to work in a 12 A universe, ultimately his superpower is just shooting guns, but there's a connection between the two that reminds me of Superman Vs Batman, but done better. In fact all of the relationships at play in this film are deeply rewarding, perhaps none more so than the final one between Ned and Parker which really choked me up.

The phrase Super Hero Fatigue gets thrown around a lot these days, but I can tell you there's no such think as Spider-Man Fatigue, judging from the crowd I saw this with. I think the fatigue comes from a hideous glut of truly mediocre superhero fare with generic off the peg stories, and threats too big to comprehend. Not so this, the story at it's core is the important sauce. Give the audience a strong story with a proper emotional core and some stakes they can relate to will win the day.

This isn't a perfect Spider-Man film, for me that would be Spider-Man Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). This is a tad too long, and the effects are a little soft and murky at times, the direction by Destin Daniel Cretton is very perfunctory and pedestrian and lacks the visual flair of Sam Raimi, he's just a safe pair of hands. Plus the villain, as surprising as they start out to be is, if I'm being honest, a tad disappointing by the end. The soundtrack, which seems to be mostly pop songs doesn't really register and this feels like a TV movie rather than a spectacle and doesn't quite have that gloss of a big Hollywood blockbuster, which at a price tag of $225 million it should have.

Anyway, exceedingly fun and entertaining and filled with some simply excellent Spider-Man moments, with plenty of action and emotional resonance, but sadly not quite firing on all cylinders. It flew but just didn't quite soar.

So this gets an Amazing Fantasy rating of Tim Boo Ba, or 9/10 if you don't know your comics.

#69: RAGING BULL

 

STARRING: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Cathy Moriarty. Screenplay by Paul Schrader adn Mardik Martin. Based on Raging Bull: My Story by Jake LaMotta, Joseph Carter and Peter Savage. Cinematoraphy by Michael Chapman. Edited by Thelma Schoonmaker. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Budget $18 million. Box office $23. 4 million. Originally released in 1980. Running time 129 minutes.

For a film that garnished a lacklustre boxoffice haul of just $23.4 million off of a budget of $18 million, and mixed reviews at the time, this black and white biopic certainly packs a punch. It went on to become the first film selected into the Library of Congress's National Film Registry for being 'culturally historically, or aesthetically significant'. It was ranked in 2007 by the American Film Institute as the fourth-greatest American movie of all time. Robert De Niro would win an Oscar for Best Actor and Thelma Schoonmaker one for Best Editing. It was nomitated a further six times by the academy and went on to win a further 16 International film awards. Three more of Scorsese's films would go on to be selected for the the National Film Registry including Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Goodfellas. 

The plot is simplicity itself, it's the biopic of Jake LaMotta, his rise and fall, or knock down, and based on his own autobiography tracking his career from king of the ring to nightclub owner and stand-up comic of sorts.  

What stands out is De Niro's commitment to the role, perhaps no other actor with the exception of Daniel Day Lewis commits so much to a role. In De Niro that commitment saw him pile on a legendary 60 lbs or 27 kg to portray the older post fighting Ray LaMotta. This is not an easy film to watch, it's savage, aggressively so, in fact on its release the sheer violence of the film damaged it with the movie going audience not used to the sort of savagery Scorsese filled his screen with. But it's necessary, Jake was a very violent man inside and outside the ring, he's a man that only ever seemed happy beating another man half to death, his jealousy made him a monster outside the ring and the brutality meted out to his brother, Joey (Joe Pesci) and wife, Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) makes for deeply uncomfortable viewing, but isn't that a good thing? We grow up with films that glorify violence, how many times the noble hero who stabs to death an opponent or shots another with impunity, but when it's on a human level, a domestic one then the violence becomes ugly, and hateful and deeply uncomfortable. Once again, Thelma Schoonmaker's editing is an utter masterclass, as is the cinematography by Michael Chapman, which reminded me of Elephant Man and Eraser Head.  And as always, Scorsese uses music and popular music to powerfully create tension, mood and drama. This truly is a superbly made film and it leaves you emotionally drained. De Niro is mesmerising in the role, his self-made transformation into the bloated LaMotta is genuinely astonishing and you do literally forget you're watching De Niro. Similarly, both Pesci and Moriarty give their roles depth and nuance.

10/10 A profoundly powerful experience.  



 



   

#68: GOODFELLAS

 

STARRING: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco and Paul Sorvino. Screenplay by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese. Based on Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Edited by Thelma Schoonmaker. Budget $25 million. Box office $47.1 million. Originally released 1990. Running time 146 minutes.

God bless Cineworld for showing a short Martin Scorsese season, with eight films in total ranging from King of Comedy, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull to Casino and I intend to see them all except for Shutter Island, which although I enjoyed I don't feel the urge to revisit. This one however, Goodfellas was an absolute no-brainer to see again. It's a film I've watched a dozen or more times since it was first released 36 years ago and I never tire of rewatching it. 

A critical and commercial success, it was deemed 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant' and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry. Nominated for six academy awards it won one for Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci) it would go on to win 28 International film awards. And today it is widely considered to be one of the best films ever made.

Based on the true life story of Henry Hill, the plot told from his point of view of Henry Hill (a career defining Ray Liotta) and narrated too, follows Hill's life from school boy to gangster in the New York Mafia run by Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) along side Tommy Devito (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro). Spanning several decades as the three lead crimbos work their way up the pole to the top, robbing trucks, clubs, airports and anything else they can, while also manufacturing and selling drugs, and killing if it'll help, there's nothing these wiseguys won't do to make a dishonest buck. 

This is Scorsese firing on all cylinders, or all chambers if you want a gun reference, from the direction, to the performances, the music, the cinematography, the visual look and the astounding three-minutes single-take camera shot of Henry Hill and Karen arriving at the Cococoba Club, this is a film to be savoured like a fine wine, it needs to be viewed on the big screen without interruptions, writ large where it can soar. It is a timeless film that will still seem as fresh in 50 or a 100 years from now. It feels like the flip side of a coin where the other face is The Godfather, this in contrast is the grubby blue-colar world of organised crime, where the only honour exists for as long as money holds out. Where lifelong friendships can be exterminated over a mink coat, but you never grass to the feds, unless you're Henry Hill. It plays a clever trick on the viewer, at first it seems to almost glamourise the lifestyle it presents, an apparent  victimless world with the adage of take what you want with impunity. It's a close knit community among the gangsters they seem to live in each others' pockets offering a family of sorts, gathering for birthdays, weddings and weekend BBQs and while the men conduct their business the wives ignore the truth and live a pampered life. Then slowly as the film progresses and the greed and pursuit of money takes over the veneer and glamour of their world wears off and the ugly truth is revealed and it's genuinely horrifying. And that makes this whole film so gripping, it's a dirty, grubby world and its sheer power is a joy to behold. A film so filled with incident but never feels rushed, you are whisked along with a soundtrack of superb pop music that's matched to the year and ends with The Sex Pistols. 

A stone cold classic. A brilliant, gripping, dramatic and very brutal film filled with incredible acts of cinematic genius and moments of unbelievable savagery. A film worthy of all the praise and adoration and it is in a word, simply magnificent.

10/10  

#67: TAXI DRIVER

 

STARRING: Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris and Albert Brooks. Written by Paul Schrader. Produced by Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips. Cinematography by Michael Chapman. Music by Bernard Herrmann. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Budget $1.9 million. Original box office take: $29 million. Running time 114 minutes. Originally released in 1976.

I was 13 when this first came out and had to wait until I was 15 before I got to see it in a double bill with Midnight Express. And whereas I enjoyed Midnight Express, I was, very much like Harvey Keitel's character, blown away by Taxi Driver. That said, it's not a film I've rewatched that many times since, it sort of stays with you and so I've probably only seen it once or twice since 1978. So the chance to revisit it up on the big screen as part of Cineworld's Scorsese Season was an opportunity to good to miss. 

The story is nothing that special, it sort of meanders long, a bit like Vietnam vet Travis Bickle's (Robert DeNiro) life as he fills his days and nights driving a taxi, visiting porno cinemas and obsessing about a young woman, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) whom when she rejects his naive and awkward advances determines to rescue a young teenage prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster) from her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel) in a triumphant display of violence and thereby redeem himself.

My god, what an extraordinary film, it's haunting and intense, DeNiro is an utter revelation his performance is nothing short of astonishing. But then, just singling him out does a massive disservice to everyone associated with this film. It is a remarkable cinematic achievement and one of the greatest films ever made. Starting with the music by Bernard Herrmann, which acts as the film's actual beating heart, it throbs with menace, with a soulful saxaphone and jarring strings. The cinematography captures a lost era of New York City, all dazzling neon reds and yellows of the streets and crumbling decayed interiors of cheap hotels. This is a snapshot of social history whose real life details reward the careful viewer, and the performances from the rest of the cast from Jodie Foster to Harvey Keitel, Cybill Sherherd, Peter Boyle and Albert Brooks is brilliant, Jodie Foster just 12 when she made this shows a maturity and still that staggers belief. Then there's the amazing special effects of a young Dick Smith that help to make the insanely violent ending so realistic.

I utterly loved this film, it has lost not one iota of its power or its majesty. If you get a chance to see this at the cinema do yourself a favour and see it. You will not be disappointed. 

A peerless, note perfect 10/10

Trivia.

• Martins Scorsese has two cameos, the first as a bystander watching Betsy arrive at work and the second as a cuckold husband fantasying about killing his adulterous wife. 
• Two of the films that appear on cinema hoardings in the background are Charles Bronson's Mr. Majestix and Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction. 
• George Lucas named the Emperor Palpatine after Senator Charles Palantine.
• This was Bernard Herrmann's last musical score he died within hours of finishing it.  

#66 & 71: THE ODYSSEY (TAKE 2)

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

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

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

This is an adaptation of Homer's epic ancient poem The Odyssey and apparently the Emily Wilson translation. The plot follows a non-linear path cutting between Odysseus (Matt Damon) on the worst work outing in history as he and military faction of the Greece Empire turn up in Troy on a pub crawl, while 8 years later, his missus, Penelope (Ann Hathaway) and their son, Telemachus (Tom Holland) fend off the amorous advances of a bunch of randy suitors lead by Antinous (Robert Paterson), while wondering where their husband and father is. Meanwhile, Odysseus, who's been held prisoner by the nymph Calypso (Charlize Theron)on a desert island paradise and fed a memory robbing lotus flower, struggles to regain his memory and find his way back to his wife and family before the 'people from the sea' arrive and destroy his world.

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

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

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

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

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

TAKE 2
Well, it's still a magnificent film, and deeply engrossing. However, it takes too long to get going, but when it does, boy does it motor. However, just like Oppenheimer before it, this suffers from too much going on all the time, there's no let up, just a relentless onslaught, no time to breathe, but then perhaps that works in its favour, since it means you lose a sense of how long it is. 

As always second time round you get to look around and explore the detail and this is full of them. A still very satisfying and powerful film, and it occurred to me that I can't remember the last time two huge blockbuster movies came out that featured the same three actors in both. 

Still deeply satisfying, powerful and engrossing and still a well deserved--

10/10 

#65: THE MARTIAN

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

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

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

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

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

Go and see it and enjoy.

10/10 

2026 revisit.

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

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

STILL 10/10

 

#64: MINIONS & MONSTERS

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

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

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

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

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

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

#63: THE INVITE

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

#62: JACKASS: BEST AND LAST

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

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

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

A great send off for a brilliantly funny comedy franchise.

9/10 

#61: EDGE OF TOMORROW

 

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

12 years later...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9/10

2026 VERDICT.

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

9/10

#60: SUPERGIRL

 

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

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

See you in 108 minutes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5/10

#60: ARMAGEDDON

STARRING: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, William Fichtner, Micahael Clarke Duncan, Jason Issacs, Peter Stormare, Keith David, Owen Wilson, Steve Buscemi and Ken Campbell. Story by Robert Roy Pool and Jonathan Hensleigh, adaptation by Tony Gilroy and Shane Saleron, screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams. Directed by Michael Bay. Budget $140 million. Running time 150 minutes. Originally released in 1998. Box office haul $553.7 million.

Back in the day, competing Hollywood studios would often release conflicting films based round the same idea and back in 1998 it was asteroids, there was this and my personal favourite Deep Impact. But of the two, this one, the Michael Bay one was by far the most stoopidist and outrageous, with ridiculous overblown performances, action excesses and insanely bombastic action set-pieces. Released at Cannes of that year, the howls of derision that greeted its screening by the assembled critics of the day prompted a very peeved Bruce Willis to growl, "Well I'm glad you all find the end of the world so amusing." Watched today 28 years later it transcended mere ridicule to become a overblown, over-wraught and expert rollercoaster of pure excess, Michael Bay's OTT direction style is perfect for this film, filled with patriotic sepia tinted slow-motion shots of space-suited heroes, or explosions, or Norman Rockwell middle-America huddled round bakerlite radios and montagues of famous foreign cities and monuments getting obliterated by chunks of sky rocks. All accompanied by a blistering rock soundtrack. This is a world where women are all big breasted and stunning and don't have a lot to do except for being trophies to be won. This is a film that starts with the destruction of the dinosaurs and just keeps getting bigger and louder till the never-in-doubt ending when Bruce Willis saves the whole goddam world, thank you very much!

The plot, as if you need telling, sees the world threatened by an asteroid 30 x bigger than the pissant little pebble that took out the dinos 150 millions years ago, as Charlton Heston, no less, informs us at the beginning. Cut to the present and a space shuttle and crew are shredded alerting the Earth to its impending fate in just 17 days. This forces Nasa, lead by Billy Bob Thornton, to recruit the best-of-the-best oil-rig men in the world on a suicide mission to the asteroid to drill 800 feet into core and detonate an atom bomb, just the sort of thing oil-rig men are trained for. Well, lucky for NASA the best goddam oil-man in the business Harry (Bruce Willis), his daughter Liv Tyler, and his misfit gang of loveable rough-neck work men that includes Ben Affleck (who's in love with Harry's daughter), Will Patton, Owen Wilson, Michael Clarke Duncan while back on Earth Billy Bob Thornton and Willaim Fichtner do their damndest to save them from the attentions of Keith David who's the President's main general. 

Look it doesn't matter what the plot is, this film isn't about plot it's about bombastic, over-blown action delivered in a glossy box of cutting edge effects, well cutting edge at the time, and more explosions and car crashes than you can shake a shitty stick at. It's directed by Michael Bay who wrote the book on explosions and would go on to make some of the most awful action films in history, including too many of the Transformers movies, Bad Boys I & II, The Ambulance, Pearl Harbour and The Rock (his only good film). But when you consider that he's fifth-most commercially successful director in history and his films have taken over $6.6 billion dollars worldwide shows that I know nothing about film.

Watched as a full-blown comedy action caper this was a mindless, ridiculous and unbelievably silly romp that entertained and didn't outstay its welcome, despite being over 2 1/2 hours long. Bruce Willis fully commits to his role as the world's greatest dad and hero and you can see he truly believes in the role. The effects are terrific and the sense of American jingoistic fervour drips from the screen. 

A hoot to see it up there on the big screen again and a reminder that Hollywood just doesn't make this sort of thing any more.

All that said, I still preferred Deep Impact.

When I first saw this back in 1998 I was far less forgiving and slated this with a brutal 4/10.

This time round, 28 years later, I enjoyed it far more and perhaps because of its ridiculous earnestness and OTT excesses I feel a bombastic score of 8/10 is more worthy. 

#59: TOY STORY 5

 

STARRING: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Conan O'brient, Scarlet Spears, Greta Lee, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris and Craig Robinson. Story by Andrew Stanton, screenplay by Andrew Stanton. Directed by Andrew Stanton. Budget $250 million. Running time 102 minutes. 

It's been 31 years since the very first Toy Story film arrived and changed absolutely everything about animation and heralded a new era that spelled the end of full-length hand-drawn feature films. It created the standard look for all CGI animated films for a decade to come and made Pixar the greatest animation force in the world. With it's battle cry of 'Story is King!' and the declaration that they'd never do a sequel, Pixar ruled the roost and each film in its canon roared and zinged. Then Disney took over and 'Greed is Good' became its mantra and they started out churning out sequels to successful animated films. However in the case of Toy Story, this wasn't a bad thing and both Toy Story 2 and 3 set new benchmarks in both the skill of animation and the strength of the stories. And if they'd left it there then those first three films would heralded as the greatest trilogy of all-times. However Disney needed to squeeze more money out of the franchise and did TS4, which while not being a bad film, wasn't that memorable. It came out in 2019 and all I can remember of it is that Keanu Reeves was one of the voice actors. And then in 2022 we were given Buzz Lightyear, an animated film based on the character of Buzz and that was truly bad.

And so we arrive here for the fifth in the series, but has it learned from from those past two miss-fires and returned to the dream of story first or is it yet another soulless, cash-grab?

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean an cargo container washes up on a desert island and disgorges a literally ship load of hi-tech Buzz Lightyears who promptly set off in search of Star Command, not knowing they are toys. Meanwhile thousands of miles away little eight-year old Bonnie, the little girl who inherited Andy's toys, longs to make friends but still plays with old fashioned toys, like Jessie and Buzz, and the rest is gifted the latest 'tech-toy' called Lilypad, who promptly takes over Bonnie's life leading to an existential drama as the toys are left behind and Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Bullseye is forced to go on a complicated and multi-layered quest that sees her taken back to her very first home and the loving hands of another lonely girl called Blaze. Into the complicated mix drops Woody who sets off with Buzz to try and rescue Jessie, thinking she's in trouble. Leading all to a dramatic and emotional ending which will leave you with moistened eyes and a lump in your throat. 

My god, a month ago I was slagging off the last Pixar film, Hoppers as a cluttered, over-complicated and needlessly messy affair that seemed more determined to teach a valuable lesson than to entertain. Coupled with the fear that Pixar had lost its way of late with a series of films that utterly failed to ignite my enthusiasm that I approached this one with a sense of trepidation. Luckily the fact this was co-written and co-directed by Andrew Stanton made me give it a go and I'm bloody glad I did!

Toy Story 5's main focus is Jessie, who takes the lead role leaving Woody and Buzz to more secondary roles as they play catch up and try to help the mostly female cast, With both Bonnie and Blaze providing the  emotional core of the film, Toy Story 5 explores themes of legacy, social media and its effects upon a generation of children who live by the screen, and idenity. And through it all march the army of Buzz Lightyear super toys set on getting to Star Command, which just so happens to be in the back garden of Blazes house. 

Animation wise, this was first class, the lighting is so good it looks utterly natural, which is also its main failing. This looks so realistic that it stops looking like animation and becomes something different, it almost looks like AI cartoons, everything too smooth and perfect. Call me old fashioned but I want my animation a little bit rougher than this. But that is the only failing of this wonderfully joyous and emotional rollercoaster of a film, a film I'm not ashamed to admit left me silently weeping tears. It's at turns funny, emotional and thrilling and for once it doesn't push your buttons and seems to organically arrive at it's central message. By the end I was smiling ear to ear.

I loved it and it's gone a long way to restore my faith in Pixar and to redeem them their recent past digressions of the likes of Hopper, and the woeful Buzz Lightyear. 

9/10

#58: INTER-STELLA!!!! TAKE 2

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, Bill Irwin, Ben Affleck, John Lithgow and Matt Damon. Music by Hans Zimmer. Written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, directed by Christopher Nolan. Budget $165 million. Box office takings so far $774.7 million. Running time 169 minutes long. Originally released in 2014.

INTER-STELLA!!!!!

One hundred and sixty nine minutes long! That's bum numbing and no mistake and it certainly cost this re-release several punters, but that's over shadowed by just how packed the screen was for this 12 year-old film, it's was practically packed, and since you weren't there you'll have to take my word for it. 

ANYWAY, 12 years ago I gave this 9/10 but what was my take this time round? Before I get to my reconsidered score I thought I'd share my review from that original screening. 

In the near future, although when exactly is never stated, the world is slowly dying and mankind is in danger of meekly going into the night. With dust storms sweeping the world (or atleast the US, cos let's face it, that's all the world we need to see) to the death of crops due to the 'Blight', things aren't looking all that rosey for mankind and in particular, ex NASA astronaut and engineer, widower, parent of two, Cooper (McConaughey) whose life and farm is slowly becoming entombed in the ever-encroaching sand. One day, while following mysterious magnetic signals he is lead to a secret NASA underground complex and offered the chance to pilot a mission to a universe on the other side of a newly discovered worm hole in orbit around Jupiter. That universe seems to offer a choice of 12 different planets for mankind to relocate to and our plucky, huge-headed, hero takes it like a randy sheep herder left to gaurd a flock of ridiculously attractive young spring lambs. Alas he must leave behind the one thing he loves most in the world, his young brilliantly precocious daughter, Murphy. Oh and his son, Thingie. (not me, that's actually his name.) And to make matters worse he has no idea how long he'll be gone...

What follows is a serious, intense drama that's the true definition of a Marmite experience and no mistake. Loved or loathed and not much in the middle.

It's interesting to note that in the lead up to this film, the expectations of the online film community and its ilk was insanely high and now that the film is out, most of those eager and excited film sites have laid into it with a passion, sighting each and every slight and error, berating it from the sound design to the IMAX ratio to the introduction of the battling banjo sequence during the post credit sequence and most bizarrely the physics behind the science fiction. They delight in pointing out each and everything wrong with it. The trouble is, I think they're missing the point. This is an astonishing film of great scope and superb craft, Nolan is perhaps, the finest and most technically accomplished director of his generation and I'm hard pressed to think of another director with the same scope the same ambition. He might even be the next Kubrick, or at least a Kubrick cut with a healthy dose of Speilberg.

This is a film that reminds you of previous movies, most particularly 2001: A Space Odyssey and Contact, but that isn't a negative comment it's just cut from the same cloth. It feels like a brave film to make in the 21st century and it's amazing that Nolan was able to get an industry obsessed with franchises and super-hero movies to make a one-of-a-kind science fiction flick with no chance of a sequel.

I could sit here and winge on about all the minor plot holes and petty things that niggled me but the truth is that once the film had had finished I felt awed by what I had see, touched by aspects and emotionally satisfied.

I can't remember the last time I saw a meaty, solid, adult science fiction film without a single laser gun, battle fleet or explosion, well okay, one explosion or one that so engrossed me and yet i listen to the haters and I fully understand their frustrations and I even agree with many of the nit-pickers but it didn't matter to me, I was lost in the scope of the thing. It is a spectacle that deserves to be seen. Just don't blame me if you hate it.

9/10 

So, what now 12 years later has my opinion changed, do I see through it like the Emperor's New Clothing or am I still in the thrall of the Cult of Nolan? Well, truth be told a bit of both. On one hand it's a delight to see Hollywood making these sorts of films and it laid the path for films like The Martian, Terry and Dune 1 & 2, Project: Hail Mary and even this year's  Disclosure Day. It's a poe-faced serious science fiction film without space battles, robots and all that stuff, even if it does have robots, a fight in space suits and a frantic space battle, but it's also one of those SF movies that suffers from Star Trek:TOS-itous, that of 'love' saving the day. I went into this bemused by the memory of it ending up with McConaughey in a 5-dimensional library throwing books at his young daughter but wasn't that bothered by it this time. I had more problems with the plot contriving a trip to NASA through a morse code signal, that seems a little plotty for me. That plus the massive concrete spaceship, which similarly made no sense, but beneath it all there was some good stuff here and I found my self engrossed and falling for it again. It's not perfect, there are still things I struggle with plot wise, but once the drama starts it doesn't let up and it's enthralling. Plus this time round I found Hans Zimmer soundtrack extremely effective. Overall this was still satisfying and even a little heart tugging at times. I glad I resaw it and judging by the number of people in the screening I wasn't alone. And once again, how great to see it up there on the big screen again.

This still gets a solid 9/10

#57: DISCLOSURE DAY

 

STARRING: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and Elizabeth Marvel. Screenplay by David Koepp. Music by John Williams. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Budget $115 million. Running time 145 minutes. 

Cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) is on the run with his ex-nun girlfriend Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) from Wardex Corp's Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) and his private army of storm troopers and tech team. It turns out that Daniel has stolen a vast cache of UFO data and is threatening to expose it. Meanwhile Kansas City TV weather girl, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) seems to be having a nervous breakdown, when live on TV she starts talking in guttural clicks and whistles, not only that but she can talk fluently in foreign languages she couldn't speak before and she can read minds too! Anyway, these two crazy kids are on the lame and being chased by Noah and his gang of corporate thugs and desperate to meet up with Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo) who used to work with Noah at Wardex, that is till he defected and set up a force to combat his old boss and expose the secrets of alien visitations. 

Now, against the backdrop of an impending World War, our two plucky heroes must dodge pursuit, meet up, unlock their shared childhood traumas and somehow find out what the ruddy hell is going on!

And such is the plot of Steven Spielbergs' 37th feature film. It reminds one of the infinitely better One Battle After Another, but regardless, this was an exciting science fiction thriller that starts brilliantly well but slowly runs out of steam in the third act, there's no way it couldn't. There'san odd moment late in the third act  which stymied it for me, although not enough to ruin it completely. Emily Blunt is the 100% the film's MVP, she is mesmerising, engaging and simply superb in the role of the Weather girl coming to terms with mysterious powers. Similarly, lug-eared Josh, rumoured to be in contention for the coveted role of Bond (God, I hope he doesn't get it), also delivers in the acting dept, his role, which starts as the main focus of the film, but slowly gives way to Emily Blunt as her significance becomes apparent. Leaving Colin Firth as the villain who brings a genuine sense of sinister intent to the role, even if he too feels mostly underwhelming by the end.

Even an averagely made Spielberg film still looks good, boy does that man know how to stage action set-pieces and how to block dialogue heavy exposition scenes. John Williams soundtrack sounds fresh and easily melts into the background becoming almost unheard and yet at the same time increasing the emotional pull of the film. A true master class in soundtracks. The script by David Koepp, from a story by Spielberg, keeps on upping the ante and building to an almost satisfactory ending, the only fly in the ointment being the sudden and almost total disappearance of the bad guys in the final reveal, but that's the script's fault not Spielberg's. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this and those two hours and 25 minutes flew by like an Unexplained Arial Phenomenon.

8/10

  

#56: SCARY MOVIE 6

 

STARRING: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris and Regina Hall, there are many more actors but I can't be arsed to name them. Shat out by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans and Rick Alverez. Directed by Michael Tiddes. Budget $30 million. Running time 96 minutes. 

This was the first Scary Movie I have ever seen and it will be the last. A more shit-stain of a film I cannot remember seeing in a very long time. I smiled twice at two 'jokes' and emitted a single 'ha' at another third joke about the film Ballerina. It is lazy, badly written, badly acted, badly directed, this not Ballerina. Although if you find the use of the 'N' word hilarious then this will be the film for you. Similarly if you like references to horror films from nine years ago then rest assured you'll be laughing yourself horse at this one. Likewise, if you find knife crime funny then oh boy are you in for a treat, it's the weapon of choice for all of the killings in the film and watching people getting stabbed to death is always funny. God. How I laughed. 

Taking references from not just horror films but also from another Wayan comedy from 2004 White Chicks, the Wayan brothers leave no stone unturned in their desperate search for something, anything, funny and they fail spectacularly, in fact they should be ashamed of what they have produced. It is grubby, ugly, and so packed full of feces that you can actually smell the stench of its achievements, it has not one ounce of merit in its far too long 96 minute running time. Long gone now the joys of the Airplane! movies that heralded the birth of the spoof film, of which this is supposedly one. Likewise gone the skill of the jokes and writing of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker who knew how to make a spoof. This is ghastly, shouty, crass, sloppy, and utterly inept. It is one second sleazy, then unnecessarily crude, then stupid, then racist or at least reverse racist, then just shit, the jokes are all cheap and, to coin a word like Trump - shit. Actually, so shit is this piece of crap that it is nothing more than an actual visual interpretation of the Bristol Stool chart - which is a medical poster that, through the use of images shows the viewer all the different types of shit a human can produce. I wouldn't be surprised if that chart didn't get updated with the poster of this film added to the pantheon of shit types, so utterly fecal this is. 

There is nothing, not one thing good to say about this shitty, crappy, film. It is made by talentless cretins for cretins. It has nothing, not one iota, to recommend it. In fact I feel more stupid for having seen it.

This might well be the worst comedy film I have ever seen. It most certainly is the second worst film of the year, the first being Melania. A bigger bag of utter shite I cannot remember seeing, this not that, although it's a close run thing. However, my mother always said that if you have nothing good to say then say nothing. So, I'm going to end my review with one good note, one I hope will be used on the poster.

This is an actual visual interpretation of a putrid toilet bowl of overflowing excrement. 

1/10
 

#55: SAVAGE HOUSE

 

STARRING: Richard E. Grant, Claire Foy, Reginald Halifax, Dorothy Neville, Kila Lord Cassidy,  Richard McCabe, Vicki Pepperdine,  Pip Torrens and Miles Jupp. Written by Peter Glanz. Directed by Peter Glanz. Produced by Peter Glanz. Edited by Peter Glanz. Music by Peter Glanz. Oh, and also produced by Oliver Roskill, Mark Hopkins, Dylan Maranda and Phillip Thomas. Cinematography by Adriano Goldman. Running time 114 minutes. 

During a pox outbreak and Jacobite uprising, whatever that means, in 1715, hideous social climber, cheating gambler, drunk and unbridled fornicator, Sir Chauncey Savage (Richard E. Grant) and his titled wife, Lady Savage (Claire Foy) spend their days in decadent excess shagging their staff, and squandering what little remains of her family fortune. Chauncey, once a begger has somehow managed to claw his way into the aristocracy, mostly by marrying her and has no intention of going back, sadly they're down to peddling the last of her jewels and antiques trying to keep Savage House going. With creditors and swindled business men hammering at their door, the future of Savage House rests on a letter sent by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire inviting themselves to dinner, which sets in motion a relentless string of incidents that includes murder, duels, amputations, deception, embezzlement, gout, greed, shagging, mice and surgical procedures.

In a nutshell imagine Barry Lyndon crossed with Draftsman's Contract by way of The Favourite and you'd still be no closer to whatever this is. Saved entirely by the cast, lead by the peerless coupling of Grant and Foy, whose film this is, and featuring a game cast of plucky English actors who are well up for a laff. 

Sadly, despite all that this film is a mess, with an ending so clumsy, anti-climatic and mishandled that it actually harms the film and robs it of a solid 8/10. There's just far too many plot points left unanswered, and far too many questions. Plot points arrive and lead one to imagine the film is going in one direction only for that plot point to be dropped in favour of another, and another, and another. Important incidents are hinted at and when they arrive they do so with all the drama of a dropped balloon. The film tries hard to be the next Barry Lyndon, with its use of candle lit scenes, or the pretence of, that it makes most of this look like a murky sepia stained shadow. That coupled with a truly invasive soundtrack, also by Peter Glanz that consists of the overuse of a crescendo of screening strings that drowns out the dialogue and feel more at home in a horror film, it conveys a sense of terrible foreboding and horror that just doesn't exist in this film, and is so intrusive that it pulled me out of the film entirely each time it's used, and it's used a lot.

For a long portion of the running time of the film I was fully onboard and invested but after just one too many plot misdirects and the bad ending my patience just snapped. 

I think the main problem lies exclusively in the hands of Peter Glanz, who wrote, directed, produced and edited this, as well as provided the music. And all that does it make it feel like the only voice heard on this film was Glanz, you can't help but think that if only someone else was there to say 'no' to some of his ridiculous plot points it might have made for a vastly more superior movie. 

Because there's something fantastic in this film, it's Grant and Foy, I've not seen Grant act this well in ages, and whereas he could have just reused the portrayal of Withnail, he instead opts to create an entirely new and truly unique and deeply unpleasant character in Chauncey. Likewise Foy shows some simply brilliant comedic chops and shows us she's not just the Queen. Special mention too to Jack Farthing as Chauncey's scheming man-service and valet, Reginald Halifax and Bel Powley as Lady Savage's Lady in Waiting, Dorothy Neville, who both bring some great performances. 

The thing is I bet there was a far better film that was left on the cutting room floor, because the cast are having the time of their lives and the number of forementioned undeveloped plot points.

Ultimately this gets a 7/10, but could have so easily have scored an 8 or 9 if only it had been better structured. 

#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