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Films round-up
Feb. 21st, 2019 07:05 pmThe Favourite - This is currently getting a lot of awards season praise, and deservedly so. It's a viciously black comedy that tells the at-least-partially-true story of the rivalry between Abigail (Emma Stone) and Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) for Queen Anne (Olivia Colman)'s affections. Personal rivalry, politics and backstabbing abound. Absurd and outrageously rude, while being surprisingly historically accurate, this is not a normal period drama. I loved it and laughed like a drain. Any film which includes in its cast list "Fastest Duck in the City" and "Naked Pomegranate Tory" has got to intrigue you at the very least...
Mary, Queen of Scots - This, on the other hand, was a disappointment. Billed as the story of the rivalry between Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) and Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), unfortunately both queens come across as being somewhat adrift on the seas of surrounding events and constantly manipulated by the men around them. They only meet once in the film, and it's a rather unsatisfactory scene in which I couldn't help but want to tell them both to get a grip. It's a meandering film that doesn't really go anywhere, glosses past a lot of the more interesting parts of Mary and Elizabeth's stories and is, on the whole, just a bit dull. Don't bother.
Glass - The third in M. Night Shyamalan's 'Unbreakable' trilogy. David Dunn (Bruce Willis), Kevin Wendall Crumb (James McAvoy) and Mr Glass himself (Samuel L. Jackson) all find themselves trapped in a psychiatric hospital, where Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) tries to convince them their supposed superpowers are all a delusion. It's very much what you'd expect from Shyamalan - lots of clever connections with previous films, multiple plot threads and twists (some more obvious than others), and somewhat up its own arse. It's clever, and I like all the lead characters, but ultimately never quite hits the mark. If you saw the others, you might want to see this for completeness, but it won't win over any new fans.
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - The third, and definitely final, HTTYD film. Our gang of vikings, led by Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Astrid (America Ferrera), are in search of a new home, safe from new-to-the-franchise dragon hunter, Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham). Meanwhile, Hiccup and Astrid have commitment issues, Toothless gets a girlfriend (Is this a kissing movie?) and starts to grow apart from Hiccup. Unfortunately, at times the film is too obsessed with bringing everything to a conclusion to remember to have fun. Ruff and Tuff are still a hoot, but they are the highlight. There's way too much human melodrama and not nearly enough of the sense of adrenaline and pure joy you got from the dragon-riding sequences of the earlier films. It's still enjoyable, but definitely the weakest of the three.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part - Lego have very much hit a formula about families learning to "play well" together. This time around, it's the kid from the first film (Jadon Sand, now a teenager) and his younger sister (Brooklynn Prince) trying to get along. Translated into the Lego world, this means Emmet (Chris Pratt) and Lucy (Elizabeth Banks)'s gritty, battle-scarred, teen-angsty Apocalypseburg being invaded by the glittery alien forces of General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz), Queen Watevra (Tiffany Haddish) and their vampire heartthrob DJs. This does everything a sequel should - build on the strengths of the first film while taking it in enough of a new direction to be a worthwhile film in its own right. It may not feel as fresh, but it's a league above the Batman and Ninjago spin-offs. All the inventive silliness, self-reverential humour, pop culture gags and catchy songs are as good as the first time around. Everything is still awesome. :o)
Alita: Battle Angel - Robert Rodriguez: a director famous for making a $20 million movie look like a $200 million movie. So, when you pair him with James Cameron and give him an actual $200 million budget, you know it's going to look spectacular. Alita (Rosa Salazar) is an impressively-out-of-the-uncanny-valley cyborg, with no memory, found in a junk pile and brought back to life by Ido (Christoph Waltz) into a cyberpunk dystopia that's literally straight out of a mange comic. A centuries-ago war casts a long shadow, as does the mysterious flying city of Zalem. The story is bonkers and only half-told, with a lot of unexplained backstory and unresolved conflict left for sequels. But it's essentially about Alita working out what type of person she is. Plus cyborgs smashing the hell out of each other. The characters and action are strong enough to make it work. It's also a great IMAX experience, especially the Motorball sequences. Now this is podracing! ;o)
Mary, Queen of Scots - This, on the other hand, was a disappointment. Billed as the story of the rivalry between Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) and Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), unfortunately both queens come across as being somewhat adrift on the seas of surrounding events and constantly manipulated by the men around them. They only meet once in the film, and it's a rather unsatisfactory scene in which I couldn't help but want to tell them both to get a grip. It's a meandering film that doesn't really go anywhere, glosses past a lot of the more interesting parts of Mary and Elizabeth's stories and is, on the whole, just a bit dull. Don't bother.
Glass - The third in M. Night Shyamalan's 'Unbreakable' trilogy. David Dunn (Bruce Willis), Kevin Wendall Crumb (James McAvoy) and Mr Glass himself (Samuel L. Jackson) all find themselves trapped in a psychiatric hospital, where Dr Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) tries to convince them their supposed superpowers are all a delusion. It's very much what you'd expect from Shyamalan - lots of clever connections with previous films, multiple plot threads and twists (some more obvious than others), and somewhat up its own arse. It's clever, and I like all the lead characters, but ultimately never quite hits the mark. If you saw the others, you might want to see this for completeness, but it won't win over any new fans.
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - The third, and definitely final, HTTYD film. Our gang of vikings, led by Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Astrid (America Ferrera), are in search of a new home, safe from new-to-the-franchise dragon hunter, Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham). Meanwhile, Hiccup and Astrid have commitment issues, Toothless gets a girlfriend (Is this a kissing movie?) and starts to grow apart from Hiccup. Unfortunately, at times the film is too obsessed with bringing everything to a conclusion to remember to have fun. Ruff and Tuff are still a hoot, but they are the highlight. There's way too much human melodrama and not nearly enough of the sense of adrenaline and pure joy you got from the dragon-riding sequences of the earlier films. It's still enjoyable, but definitely the weakest of the three.
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part - Lego have very much hit a formula about families learning to "play well" together. This time around, it's the kid from the first film (Jadon Sand, now a teenager) and his younger sister (Brooklynn Prince) trying to get along. Translated into the Lego world, this means Emmet (Chris Pratt) and Lucy (Elizabeth Banks)'s gritty, battle-scarred, teen-angsty Apocalypseburg being invaded by the glittery alien forces of General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz), Queen Watevra (Tiffany Haddish) and their vampire heartthrob DJs. This does everything a sequel should - build on the strengths of the first film while taking it in enough of a new direction to be a worthwhile film in its own right. It may not feel as fresh, but it's a league above the Batman and Ninjago spin-offs. All the inventive silliness, self-reverential humour, pop culture gags and catchy songs are as good as the first time around. Everything is still awesome. :o)
Alita: Battle Angel - Robert Rodriguez: a director famous for making a $20 million movie look like a $200 million movie. So, when you pair him with James Cameron and give him an actual $200 million budget, you know it's going to look spectacular. Alita (Rosa Salazar) is an impressively-out-of-the-uncanny-valley cyborg, with no memory, found in a junk pile and brought back to life by Ido (Christoph Waltz) into a cyberpunk dystopia that's literally straight out of a mange comic. A centuries-ago war casts a long shadow, as does the mysterious flying city of Zalem. The story is bonkers and only half-told, with a lot of unexplained backstory and unresolved conflict left for sequels. But it's essentially about Alita working out what type of person she is. Plus cyborgs smashing the hell out of each other. The characters and action are strong enough to make it work. It's also a great IMAX experience, especially the Motorball sequences. Now this is podracing! ;o)
