#57: CONFESS, FLETCH

 

Starring Jon Hammm Lorenza Izzo, Marcia Gay Harden, Kyle MacLachlan, Roy Wood Jr. John Slattery, Ayden Mayeri and Annie Mumolo. Screenplay by Zev Borow and Greg Mottola, based on the Fletch books by Gregory Mcdonald. Directed by Greg Mottola. Music by David Arnold. Budget $21 million, running time 98 minutes.

The great thing about the success of Knives Out and to a much lesser extent those two woeful Poirot films is that once again light-hearted crime capers and murder mysteries are back in vogue with Hollywood. 

Confess, Fletch sees the return of the amateur sleuth and criminal investigator, Fletch in his first film since Fletch Lives in 1989, which itself was a sequel to the first Fletch film, Fletch in 1985 both of which starred Chevy Chase.

This time it's Jon Hamm in the title role bringing a huge dollop of charisma to the role of the sleuth as he's caught up in a kidnapping, murder and a missing Picasso, which sees him framed for murder. So laid back, he's almost horizontal, Hamm makes this Fletch far more likeable than Chase's version, and wisely dumps the multiple disguise shtick of his predecessor, along with the comedic styling of Chase and his character's rather creepy obsessive flirting. Instead we get a Fletch more mellow, relatable, and not as unpleasant.

With a great supporting cast to back him up, from Fletch's Italian girlfriend, Lorenzo Izzo, to Roy Wood Jr and Ayden Mayeri as detectives convinced of Fletch's guilt, to a next-door-neighbour as played by Annie Mumolo, and Fletch's old boss, John Slattery, all there bring a wealth of levity, although this is Hamm's film to carry or drop and it's pleasing to report that this is a thoroughly funny and entertaining little flick that quite wisely doesn't outstay its welcome, coming in at a deeply satisfying 98 minutes. What we get is a complicated whodunnit that keeps you guessing as to what the hell is going on. With lovely locations, an energetic soundtrack and a terrific cast this is an enjoyable film, which sadly loses its way in the final act but luckily not enough to derail it, and there's a somewhat casual and flippant attitude to the murder victim, which under minds proceedings a little. 

Still it's a witty and fun film and I hope we'll see more of Hamm's Fletch.

8/10

#56: LIVING

 

Starring Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Tom Bruke, Adrian Rawlins, Oliver Chris, Michael Cochrane, Zoe Boyle, LIa Williams, Patsy Ferran and Nichola McAuliffe. Based on the Akira Kurosawa movie Ikiru. Screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro. Directed by Oliver Hermanus. Music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch. Running time 102 minutes.

The plot isn't what's important in this wonderful and deeply moving movie, it concerns Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy), a late-middle-aged civil servant and widow who discovers he only has six to nine months to live and sets out to live a little before he dies. This he does not in a wacky sex, alcohol or drug filled orgy of excess or through a series of Hollywood-style bucket-list type comedic japes but rather with humility and dignity, as he sets out to get planning permission approved on a small playground in a run down area of town.   

Set in a 1953 London, that's not been ethnically homogenised like the similarly set but utterly woeful Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, Instead, Living just presents London as it was, not ethnically diverse, not a glorious melting pot of culture, nor a bingo card of diversity, and leaves it at that, rather it explores the nature of class system in the post war era of the UK, and focuses on a world repressed by unspoken rules and standards, where a young man, new to the world of work, waits his turn to speak to their elders and betters, and the gossip of prim housewives can have a devastating impact on those not conforming to social norms. As a result you're gifted with a simply wonderfully moving and emotional film that doesn't attempt to push your buttons or exploit you with mawkish sentimentality. Nighy plays a prim and proper man, who realises his childhood dreams of being a gentleman has robbed him of a chance to live. 

Bill Nighy is brilliant in the lead role and carries the film with grace and consummate skill. The dignity and humanity he brings to his role is exceptional. And the rest of the cast are likewise a delight, Aimee Lou Wood plays Miss Harris whom sparks in Williams an urge to live, and provides him an opportunity for a deeply moving speech where he explains his motives in befriending her. Similarly the other buttoned up men in his life, his son and office staff are also changed by Williams's final days. But this isn't a film where the hero stands on a desk and delivers a moving speech to rally those around him, rather it's the study of a truly gentle man who strives to leave his mark just one time before it's too late.  

The film shows us the impact his buttoned up life has on those he works with, as well as his son and daughter-in-law who all know nothing about the real Mr. Williams.

 
Set in and around County Hall and some brilliantly sourced locations, the film also uses some amazing vintage footage of London to great effect to bring 1950's London to vivid life.

A total delight and joy. 9/10

#55: BLACK PANTHER: WANKAS FOREVER

 

Starring: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thoren, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta, Marting Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Angela Bassett. Written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole. Directed by Ryan Coogler. Running time ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE MINUTES! Budget $250 million dollars. 

T'Challa, King of Wakanda is dead and the 'erb that gave him his superhuman power is gone, the super-secret nation state of Wakanda is in mourning and the world wants its' hands on the Vibranium. Luckily a new source of it is discovered at the bottom of the sea. Unluckily, there's this mutant called Namor who uses it to power his super-secret underwater nationstate of Talokan and he doesn't want the upstairs people (us) to have it.

Gotta say, right off the bat that if these two incredibly selfish and greedy super-secret nation states shared the vibranium with the rest of the world, then we'd all be living in an utopia, but oh no. These two wanka nations just want it for themselves. Hence the subtitle of this movie. Wankas Forever. Greedy bastards. 

Anyway, when Namor finds out a young, sassy, wise-ass-talking teenage girl from up there (us) has built  device to find vibranium and located his source of totally unguarded Vibranium just lying about in the open, at the bottom of the sea, he throws a hissy fit and threatens to kill everybody in Wanka unless they bring the girl to him. 

Queue a long and rather tedious adventure that sees people abducted to propel the plot, repeatedly, that's when they're not acting like arseholes to each other, which is all of the time, or spending an insane amount of time just moping about talking about their feelings, and dealing with grief for about ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY MINUTES, leaving just 30 minutes for any, you know, action. And when after about ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY MINUTES Black Panther 2 finally turns up for the big old fight with Namor, you sort of wave your hands in a hooray kind of way. Shame it's not really worth waiting for. The fight has no stakes, no drama and no tension, just you know bloodless stabbing and slashing with knives, swords and spears, but at least there's no spinning vortex of doom, and the fights take place in broad day light.

Also, for a race apparently insanely smart, the Wankandas sure are idiots when it comes to military strategy. I mean, seriously? You're going to attack a race of underwater people from a really large boat in the middle of the ocean, where the race of underwater people get their power from, you know water. The blue stuff that covers the Earth and where Namor's bunch of grumps live. Yeah, smart move brainiacs. Why not lure them on land. 

Most of the film, I'd say a good 95% of its running time is spent waiting for Letitia Wright put on the new Black Panther suit and when it finally happens you're sort of left deeply underwhelmed by it. I wish these movies would lose the trope of having heroes not wanting to put on the mask. It's been done to death. 

However before then there's lots of earnest discussions about honour, responsibility, grief, family, and oodles of emotion, which really helps to fill out the ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE MINUTES.

I find the whole idea behind Wanka really annoying. What a selfish bunch of tossers, hiding away from the world and acting like their shit don't stink. The Western world are presented here as a useless bunch of greedy tossers and only the Wankas and Tapioca people are worthy of respect or our time.

And yet another MCU superhero movie where none of the other heroes are featured or mentioned, nor is the dead Eternal sticking out of the Earth is talked about. Added to that is yet another genius tech wizard creating Iron Man suits from literal balls of string and sticky back plastic and you have a Marvel cash-cow movie just created to suck as much filthy lucre from a gullible audience as it can.

I found the whole film dull and tedious to be honest. Doubt I'll ever watch it again. Nothing worth going back for. But it's not all bad news, at least it's not as bad or dull as The Eternals, but it's pretty damn close race. 

Not as bad as a DCU movie or Morbius, or Venom, although this is still a rather dull, boring and dreary plod of a movie and it does elevate mopping to truly gargantuan  proportions. A film more interested in lionising, nay deifying Chadwick Boseman than in actually having an interesting or exciting story to tell.  6/10

#54: BLACK ADAM

 

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bhodhi Sabongui and Pierce Brosnan. Written by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Budget $195 million. Running time 124 minutes.

This is the role of Dwayne Johnson's life, he's been campaigning for it for the past 15 years, he's perhaps the second most charismatic person on the planet and he's built like a brick shit house. It's had 195 million dollar thrown at it, it's got Jimmy Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in it too and it's being hailed at the film to put DC movies back on the map! What could possibly go wrong?

How about the following 124 minutes? From the minute this starts to the second it finally drags its tedious, boring carcass across the finishing line. 

The plot to this has been plucked from the generic super hero playbook and offers nothing new, the characters are all, every single one of them shit, super, human and villain alike. The plot holes are so numerous that you could use this film to sieve rice. It steals from far better super hero films, and indeed during the film, the X-Men rang and asked for the Lockheed jet back, and Professor X asked for his mansion. The Ant Man called in to get his growth doo-hickey back, Storm her wind control powers and Spartacus his origin. 

And through it all smashes Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson showing all the range of a rock. Normally a throughly likeable actor in this he's reduced to acting only through his eyebrows and biceps. His character emerges from 5000 years of sleep speaking perfect English, it's never explained why, and embarks on a campaign of destruction, we learn his backstory, sorry typo, we guess his back story right from the get go and you can spend some time playing plot/dialogue bingo.  

Often in these sort of films you're left wondering where all the other heroes are, the ones who could deal with Black Adam with one hand tied behind their backs, you know Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, or Fishman, or even Cyborg, but apparently they were all out when Amanda Wallis from the Suicidal Squad called up to ask for their help, so instead we get Atom Smasher and some girl who has super wind. Although sadly it's not the bum kind of wind. It's a question that comes back repeatedly throughout this crushingly boring film, and where as Dr Fate (Brosnan) and Hawkman (Aldis Hodge) are fine they really do seem stupidly under powered to deal with Captain Egghead. Come to think about it, where the hell is Shazam himself, Captain Marvel?

The generic baddies cum cannon fodder in this film called Intergang are so inept it's staggering, luckily they all  speak in broad cockney accents, that is when they're not whizzing about on flying bikes. They are legion in number and die in their hundreds, while the inhabitants of the fictitious country of Kahndaq die in their thousands, mostly through collateral damage during the utterly generic final boss level showdown, which features our old friend from DC movies, the Spinning Vortex of Doom (soon to get his own comic). 

It's not just the story that's shit. The effects are pretty box standard too, the lack of gravity niggling, the repetitive overly violent action nasty, the endless debates about justice and good versus evil are crushingly amateurish, although it's the soundtrack that deserves a special mention. It's never lets up, not for a single second, when it's not mawkish full orchestra, with strings, it's dropping snippets of classic rock songs into the mix or the latest from Canyard West. It's intrusive, bland and oh so generic.

Apparently this steaming pile of cinematic feces heralds a new beginning for the DCU and if this is the case god help us all. Recently Warner Bros who were purchased by Discovery, cancelled the Batgirl movie days from complication because it wasn't good enough. Having seen this piece of crap the mind boggles at how bad it must have been.

You'll come for Dwayne Johnson and you'll leave muttering about how you've just lost 124 minutes of your precious life you're never getting back and how that's it for you and super hero movies, you're not going to see another one. Well, first off I don't want to depress you further, but it's actually more like 180 minutes when you factor in the ads and trailers, and secondly all that shit about you not going to see another one of these terrible films is just bunkum. You'll all be out in force for next month's Wanker Forever movie, cos that one's Marvel and they're always good!
Well don't say I didn't warn you.

So, m'lord in summing up, this was boring, generic, stuffed full of plot holes, stupid inane dialogue, tedious action and featuring a pantheon of second tier heroes you've never heard of but who all remind you of Marvel characters. 

God, it's taken me almost as long to write this as watch it so I'm stopping now.

3/10 This is for the first fight Black Adam has with the Intergang out in the desert, which despite 'borrowing' from Quicksilver and The Flash, still manages to be exciting. Plus it name checks C.C. Beck and Bill Parker, the creators of Shazam and Black Adam. 

It seems some folks are excited by the prospect of the post credit teaser, well it's not worth sitting through 124 minutes to get to, mostly because it makes all of what's gone before seem like nothing more than a boring prologue. 

#53: THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

 

Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan, music by Carter Burwell, Pat Shortt, JOn Kenny, Gary Lydon, Shelia Flitton and David Pearse. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh. Running time 114 minutes.

It's 1923 and the Irish civil war is in full swing on the mainland, while on a small island off the coast of Ireland two men's friendship comes to a sudden dramatic end, when folk musician Colm Doherty (Brendan Glesson) tells his life-long friend and drinking buddy, nice but dull, Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) that he no longer wants to be his friend. Colm explains that he wants to spend what life he has left having interesting conversations and creating music, something to mark his existence, and not wasting it listening to Pádraic's increasingly boring conversations about, among other things, the things he found in his pigmy donkey's shit. To prove he's not larking about, Colm threatens to cut off a finger each time Pádraic tries talking to him. 

This is an extraordinary film that aches with sadness, a film about loss, loneliness, and love both lost and longed for. Visually breathtaking, from the first overhead shot of the cloud covered unnamed desolate and wind swept, yet beautiful, island to the last when the camera flies away the way it came, everything about this film is a delight, every performance and every line of dialogue. 

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh whose previous films include Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and In Bruge, Banshees really is one of the best films I've seen all year. Farrrell, who is the main focus of the film is superb bringing a real sense of bewilderment and confusion to the role as he struggles to understand what has happened to the most important relationship in his life. While Glesson brings true depth and sorrow to the role of his ex-friend who yearns for something more from life, and yet neither character is a cypher, or stereotypical. Neither are perfect, and both men have real depth to their characters, Colm is a snob and Pádraic shows he has a mean streak when pushed. The chemistry between the two men is palpable and gives the film its beating heart. 

Wrapped around these two men are the other inhabitants of this tiny island whose lives are effected, quite profoundly, by their falling out. Pádraic's sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon), a young, self educated woman whose whole life has been spent on the island and too yearns to live, then there's Dominic Kearney (Barry Keoghan) the sexually and physically abused son of the island's only police man, a young man desperate for love. And through all of this there's a mysterious hint of the magical at work, strange portents and hints of what is to come, that only become apparent once the film has ended.

Trailed at the cinema for what seems like months, it's a relief that the trailer doesn't try and overplay the humour of this wonderful film, doesn't try to hint at sinister or mysterious forces at play, it's a film hard to define but perhaps that's part of its undeniable charm.

The ending arrives all too soon and leaves no pat answers or conclusion, there's a resolution of sorts, but as in life, it's neither tidy or conclusive.

It is a brilliantly written black comedy with the humour, as black as coal, wrapped up in expertly written dialogue and well-rounded characters. I loved each and every second of it and this will be one of the few films of this year I'll be buying to keep on blu-ray.

Without a shadow of a doubt a 10/10.

#52 BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA

Starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Sadie Frost, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Tom Waites, Monica Bellucci and Billy Campbell. Written by James V. Hart. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
Music by Mojciech Kilar. budget $40 million. Running time 128 minutes.

When Vlad Dracula the Impaler returns from a holy war against the Turks to discover the love of his life and wife is dead, having taken her own life, when she was misinformed that he was dead, he is somewhat crestfallen. However when his head priest tells him she's going straight to hell he proper loses his rag, desecrates the alter, renounces God and curses the almighty right to his stupid face, thus cursing himself to roam world looking to revenge his wife. 

Sticking closely to the book in terms of its plot, this film is as theatrical as the title. it's a glorious, over-egged delight of a movie, heavily stylised, art directed and lit and embracing as much Victorian melodrama as it can. Filmed using only practical effects and in shot trickery and also studio bound except for a few location shots all helps it achieve a wonderful 'other-wordly' quality. Gary Oldman is brilliant in this channelling his own personal real-life demons to bring some real passion and humanity to the role of Dracula. Likewise Winona Ryder positively pants under the weight of Victorian repressed sexuality as Mina Harker and Elisabeta, Drac's long dead wife. No one brings anything other than an 11 to the proceedings and the film is a wonder because of that. Even poor Keanu Reeves forever ridiculed for his role as Jonathan Harker is good and after all this time, it's hard to remember why he was vilified as much as he was. 

Sadie Frost as Lucy Westenra brings some real raunch to the role of the staggering horny heiress with three suitors - Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes and Bill Campbell. And her transformation into a vampire is deeply chilling.

It's been 30 years since this last graced the big screen and definitely that long since I've last seen it on the big screen and boy did I enjoy it. So satisfying to see a film made by one man and his obsessive-driven drive and I realise that many craftsmen and artist worked on this, but it was Coppola's baby all along. 

This is a wonderfully over-the-top production, filmed on a studio backlot somewhere without a single optical or digital effect. With a cast as wonderous and a script that never slows down this was a wonderful and delightful movie! 

9/10

#51: THE WOMAN KING

 

Starring Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim and John Boyega, John Boyega, Jimmy Odukoya). Directed by Gina Prince_Bythewood, written by Dana Stevens from a story by Maria Bello and Dana Stevens. Music by Terence Blanchard. Budget $50 million. Running time 135 minutes.

It's 1823 and people of the state of Dahomean, under the benevolent rule of their King Ghezo (John Boyega), are at war with the Oyo Empire and their warlord leader General Oba Ade (Jimmy Odukoya), with villages on both sides being raided and the prisoners raped by the other and sold into slavery to the white Europeans.

However this does not sit well with General Nanisca (Viola Davis) leader of the all-female group of warriors known as the Agojie who wants an end to the slavery.

The film follows the recruiting of a new warrior to the ranks of the Agojie in the guise of a fiesty, firey, speak her mind, orphan called Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) and most of the action revolves around her as she embarks on her training, falls in love with a half-Dahomean called Malik, and takes part in an extraordinary battle that sees her captured along with Lashana Lynch's Izogie and sold to the white slavers. Thus forcing Viola who shares a past with the girl, to defy her king and launch a dangerous attack against the European compound to free the last of the slaves.

This is a truly impressive film that avoids the usual Hollywood cliche and delivers a satisfying, violent and dramatic movie, Viola Davis delivers a career defining performance that roars with power, while Lashana Lynch is superb as fellow Izogie brings real heft to her role. The film cleverly avoids an excess of bloodshed and gore but does not skimp on the violence, and the choice of ignoring Hollywood's hateful practice of shaky cam for filming action in favour of well edited battles is a welcome relief.

Overall this is a gripping, intense and satisfyingly dramatic movie, featuring some wonderful cinematography and excellent performances. It's also a very female centric film from its production to its subject matter and is infinitely stronger because of it. 

Well worth two hours of your life. 9/10