Films round-up

[rich_jacko]

The Accountant - Characters with ASD are a growing trend. It used to be that you'd have to point to Rain Man, or later Curious Incident, to find one, but recently we've had Sherlock, Saga Noren, Sheldon Cooper, and now Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) as the titular accountant. Organising the books for several criminal masterminds, he has the FBI on his tail when he takes on an apparently more above-board job. But his work uncovers sinister goings-on and makes him further enemies. Luckily, Christian also happens to be a highly effective killer. Uh-huh. Not exactly a positive depiction of autism, which made me slightly uneasy, but it's a damn fine thriller. Anna Kendrick and JK Simmons also star.

American Pastoral - I saw this as it's Ewan McGregor's directorial debut and I was intrigued. It's a very good film, but so utterly miserable that I couldn't enjoy it much. It's a no-holds-barred portrait of 1960s America, torn apart by racial tensions and the controversy of the Vietnam war. McGregor stars as a man whose American dream falls apart when his teenage daughter (Dakota Fanning) falls in with an anarchist crowd, leading to tragedy and the break-up of his family. It's bleak, and there's no happy ending.

Arrival - I liked this a lot. It's a rare alien invasion movie which isn't all guns and explosions. Well, there are guns and one explosion, but mostly this is a film about how we might practically establish communication if giant alien spaceships showed up all over Earth. It's also about how our society, with its disparate nations might realistically react to arrivals with an unknown agenda. Amy Adams stars as the linguistics professor and Jeremy Renner as the physicist who head up the US team whose efforts gradually lead them to understand the aliens' message. There's shades of Contact, and what the film lacks in pacing and character development, it more than makes up for in a captivating and very clever story.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - I was initially sceptical of this "Search for More Money" spin-off (the first of five), but it works well. The 1930s New York setting gives the Harry Potter world a fresh twist, and there's just enough connections to the main series to work without it feeling stretched. The characters are likeable and their attempts to keep the wizarding world under wraps from "no-majs" (aka muggles) while fantastic beasts are on the loose is a concept which works very well. The trailers were deceptive though - I was expecting a light-hearted romp in search of mischievous creatures. While it certainly starts off that way, the film turns into something much darker. I suppose that's par for the course these days, but it feels unnecessary and the earlier scenes were much more fun. It also suffers from a ridiculously over-powered "boss monster". I guessed the plot twists, but they still worked well.

A United Kingdom - Good old BBC. This is a terrificly good film about the real-life romance between Prince Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) of Bechuanaland and London office worker Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) in the post-WW2 dying days of the British Empire. With a very traditionally-minded uncle and tribe, apartheid on the rise in neighbouring South Africa, a British Government determined to hold onto its colonies, and prejudice in England as well as Africa, the odds are stacked heavily against Seretse and Ruth's marriage. But this is a triumphant film, in which the couple's determination, humanity, and devotion to duty and each other conquer all in good old-fashioned Hollywood tradition. This isn't cheesy though; it's very well-written and acted. The only downside is that some of the Government types fall slightly into the one-dimensional pantomime villain category, but not enough to seriously detract from a film which I highly recommend.

Moana - Very much a Disney-by-the-numbers film, this time tapping into South Pacific island folklore and turning it into the now-traditional exercise in girl power. The songs are bouncy but, (with the exception of "You're Welcome!") aren't especially memorable either. But it is extremely pretty, stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as a narcissistic demigod, and features a gang of coconut pirates, a giant lava demon and the world's stupidest chicken. These go a long way to making it a better film. There's also a touch of Studio Ghibli about it, particularly in its characterisations of the various gods and spirits. It's bright, colourful and entertaining enough, but won't be remembered as one of Disney's greats. Stay to the end of the credits.