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Films round-up
Sep. 4th, 2017 04:33 pmWar for the Planet of the Apes - This feels like the last of the PotA prequels. That's probably a good thing. 'Rise' was a great film, full of intriguing ideas and story, but its two sequels have felt a bit unnecessary, and are just coasting off the success of the first. On the other hand, they are very well made. The characters are good, the effects are astonishing, and the stories are perfectly competent. I don't know; they just seem a bit lacking. Anyway, this time round it's a concentration camp film, with Andy Serkis's ape leader Caesar pitted against a slightly unhinged colonel played by Woody Harrelson. If you've seen the other two, you may as well watch this. If you haven't seen any, just watch the first one.
Dunkirk - Oh my word, Chris Nolan's depiction of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation is spectacular. I cannot emphasise enough how much you need to see this on the biggest screen you can find, preferably on IMAX. It just won't have the same impact at home. Filmed with real Spitfires, minimal CGI, and a near-constant ticking stopwatch, this is raw and visceral. It gives as strong an impression as we're ever likely to get as to what it must have been like to actually be there. The three interlocking storylines (one week / one day / one hour) are a little confusing at first, but you don't really need to work out the exact chronology to appreciate it. There are so many personal tales of bravery and cowardice (sometimes from the same person), resilience and self-sacrifice. Watch it at the cinema before it's too late.
The Big Sick - The true story of how a Pakistani comic (Kumail Nanjiani, playing himself) met his wife Emily (Zoe Hazen). As she is a white American, his highly conservative family do not approve of the match. Boy meets girl, girl breaks up with boy, girl falls into a coma, boy remains hopelessly devoted to girl. Billed as a rom-com, there are certainly funny moments in it, but it's far from an out-and-out comedy. It's clearly a heartfelt and very personal story by Kumail. Perhaps it doesn't focus enough on what works in a film, but on the other hand, it wouldn't then ring true. As it is, the story is quite unlike anything else in its genre. Some bits work, others not so well, but its sweet and uplifting.
Atomic Blonde - Don't be fooled into thinking this is another strike for feminist action heroes, a la Wonder Woman. This is an exploitation movie, pure and simple. Set around the fall of the Berlin Wall, it follows MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) as she navigates intrigue and assassinations while trying to recover state secrets from shadowy agents in East Berlin. James McAvoy, John Goodman and Toby Jones also star. It's a lot of fun. The action sequences are both cool and brutal; the soundtrack is great; and the story moves at quite a pace. It's far from political correct, and it is complete trash, but it's fun, well-made trash.
The Dark Tower - The signs weren't great for this loose adaptation / spin-off of Stephen King's elaborate fantasy series. Beset by a troubled production and panned by the critics, it's nevertheless an intriguing film, crossing back and forth between modern New York and a world of gods and high fantasy. Imagine Narnia meets Marvel. Idris Elba's gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey's man in black bring the heavyweight acting creds, and the teenage lead doesn't do a bad job. It's an impressively efficient film as well, clocking in at just over 90 minutes and not bothering with unnecessary exposition. It just about makes sense, though it seems to barely scratch the surface of a much larger world. Okay, but hardly great.
Detroit - A harrowing yet compelling depiction of real life police brutality during the race riots of 1967. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Hurt Locker / Zero Dark Thirty fame, you know it's going to be gritty and uncompromising. The story follows the events leading up to, during, and after the 'Algiers Motel incident', in which three young black men were killed. Algee Smith and Will Poulter head up a gripping cast as victim and oppressor. Special mention too for Star Wars' John Boyega, excellent in a minor role as a security guard caught up in the events. Difficult viewing, and a depiction of the dark side of America; it's a must-see film, but you'll probably only want to see it once.
The Limehouse Golem - Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke and Daniel Mays star in an atmospheric murder mystery set in the seedy underbelly of Victorian society. Beginning at the end, we follow Nighy's Inspector Kildare as he gradually pieces together the clues to try to find the serial killer, while simultaneously trying to clear the name of Lizzie (Cooke), a former music hall girl accused of poisoning her husband. Are the two cases linked? The convoluted flashbacks, in which the facts and faces change as Kildare discovers more details, make the plot seem more complicated than it is. You can work out the twists, but it doesn't really matter. This is an entertaining slice of the macabre, with a very strong cast at the top of their game.
Dunkirk - Oh my word, Chris Nolan's depiction of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation is spectacular. I cannot emphasise enough how much you need to see this on the biggest screen you can find, preferably on IMAX. It just won't have the same impact at home. Filmed with real Spitfires, minimal CGI, and a near-constant ticking stopwatch, this is raw and visceral. It gives as strong an impression as we're ever likely to get as to what it must have been like to actually be there. The three interlocking storylines (one week / one day / one hour) are a little confusing at first, but you don't really need to work out the exact chronology to appreciate it. There are so many personal tales of bravery and cowardice (sometimes from the same person), resilience and self-sacrifice. Watch it at the cinema before it's too late.
The Big Sick - The true story of how a Pakistani comic (Kumail Nanjiani, playing himself) met his wife Emily (Zoe Hazen). As she is a white American, his highly conservative family do not approve of the match. Boy meets girl, girl breaks up with boy, girl falls into a coma, boy remains hopelessly devoted to girl. Billed as a rom-com, there are certainly funny moments in it, but it's far from an out-and-out comedy. It's clearly a heartfelt and very personal story by Kumail. Perhaps it doesn't focus enough on what works in a film, but on the other hand, it wouldn't then ring true. As it is, the story is quite unlike anything else in its genre. Some bits work, others not so well, but its sweet and uplifting.
Atomic Blonde - Don't be fooled into thinking this is another strike for feminist action heroes, a la Wonder Woman. This is an exploitation movie, pure and simple. Set around the fall of the Berlin Wall, it follows MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) as she navigates intrigue and assassinations while trying to recover state secrets from shadowy agents in East Berlin. James McAvoy, John Goodman and Toby Jones also star. It's a lot of fun. The action sequences are both cool and brutal; the soundtrack is great; and the story moves at quite a pace. It's far from political correct, and it is complete trash, but it's fun, well-made trash.
The Dark Tower - The signs weren't great for this loose adaptation / spin-off of Stephen King's elaborate fantasy series. Beset by a troubled production and panned by the critics, it's nevertheless an intriguing film, crossing back and forth between modern New York and a world of gods and high fantasy. Imagine Narnia meets Marvel. Idris Elba's gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey's man in black bring the heavyweight acting creds, and the teenage lead doesn't do a bad job. It's an impressively efficient film as well, clocking in at just over 90 minutes and not bothering with unnecessary exposition. It just about makes sense, though it seems to barely scratch the surface of a much larger world. Okay, but hardly great.
Detroit - A harrowing yet compelling depiction of real life police brutality during the race riots of 1967. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Hurt Locker / Zero Dark Thirty fame, you know it's going to be gritty and uncompromising. The story follows the events leading up to, during, and after the 'Algiers Motel incident', in which three young black men were killed. Algee Smith and Will Poulter head up a gripping cast as victim and oppressor. Special mention too for Star Wars' John Boyega, excellent in a minor role as a security guard caught up in the events. Difficult viewing, and a depiction of the dark side of America; it's a must-see film, but you'll probably only want to see it once.
The Limehouse Golem - Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke and Daniel Mays star in an atmospheric murder mystery set in the seedy underbelly of Victorian society. Beginning at the end, we follow Nighy's Inspector Kildare as he gradually pieces together the clues to try to find the serial killer, while simultaneously trying to clear the name of Lizzie (Cooke), a former music hall girl accused of poisoning her husband. Are the two cases linked? The convoluted flashbacks, in which the facts and faces change as Kildare discovers more details, make the plot seem more complicated than it is. You can work out the twists, but it doesn't really matter. This is an entertaining slice of the macabre, with a very strong cast at the top of their game.
