Films round-up
Nov. 1st, 2018 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rich_jackoAmerican Animals - This was a weird one. Part documentary, part drama, it tells the true-life story of four students who try to get rich by stealing rare books from their university library. The thing is, none of them knows how to pull off a heist, and a series of amateurish cock-ups show us what would go wrong if you or I tried this sort of thing for real, and why heists don't go like they usually do in the movies. The humour sits uneasily against the interviews with the real life people involved. It's an intriguing film, well made and well acted, but overall it doesn't work particularly well.
Crazy Rich Asians - I don't usually do rom-coms, but this one looked a bit different and had had a lot of hype. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Rachel (Constance Wu) is drawn into fabulously weatlhy Singapore circles as she meets boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding)'s family, who unbeknownst to her are billionnaires. It's a flimsy premise, and the set-up for stereotypical class war bitchiness. But it kind of works, thanks to the likeable leads and a strong performance from Michelle Yeoh as Nick's mother (When did she become old enough to play the lead's mother???), who is by far the most interesting character in the film. The scenery and big budget set-pieces help liven things up too.
A Simple Favour - This absolutely should not work. A Gone Girl type missing person mystery as a brash black comedy? That it does is mainly down to a smart, true-to-life performance from Anna Kendrick as single mom vlogger, Stephanie, who befriends rich businesswoman, Emily (Blake Lively), only for her to disappear. Did she run away? Was she murdered? Stephanie investigates and gets drawn ever deeper into Emily's strange and secretive life. The mystery itself is fairly clichéd, but it doesn't matter. The performances are great and the yo-yoing between serious drama and broad comedy works surprisingly well. A lot of fun.
The House With A Clock In Its Walls - An orphaned boy goes to live with his uncle (Jack Black), who just so happens to be an eccentric wizard. He and his frosty neigbour (Cate Blanchett) guard a deadly secret hidden within his house. Spielberg's name is attached - There's some evidence of his style, and fun to be had with the sniping between the adult leads, but otherwise this is pretty by-the-numbers kids' fantasy stuff. Not worth bothering with.
Bad Times At The El Royale - Drew "Cabin in the Woods" Goddard writes and directs a mystery set in a run-down motel. Without Joss Whedon on board, this is less over the top than CitW, but shares a few of its traits. There's more than a hint of Pulp Fiction and Lost about it too. The chapter-based plot jumps around in time, and every character has a secret (when Jeff Bridges is playing a priest, you just know something's up!), some of which are connected, others not. Very bloody, completely bonkers, and just a little bit brilliant. I enjoyed it a lot, but it won't be everyone's cup of tea.
First Man - A surprisingly downbeat and small-scale biopic of Neil Armstrong. It focuses just as much on Neil (Ryan Gosling)'s grief over the death of his daughter, and the impact that has on his family life, as it does over the mission to the moon. Like the man himself, it's quiet and introspective, with much left unsaid. The NASA parts of the story are a fascinating insight that hammers home the limited technology they had at the time and the fragility of what they were doing - very much "floating in a tin can". I'm not generally a fan of shakycam, but in this it really does make you feel like you're in the cockpit. A worthwhile watch, but perhaps not what you might expect.
The Breadwinner - I had to watch this one on DVD as the cinema release was very limited. It's an animation about Parvana, an 11-year-old girl growing up in Afghanistan under the Taliban. When her father is arrested, she disguises herself as a boy in order to support her family. It's a sensitive portrait of life under a harsh regime, and carefully researched to accurately represent Afghan culture. The "real world" events are intercut with a stylised folk tale, which is slightly reminiscent of "Kubo". While there's a definite story arc, it doesn't wrap up neatly. Parvana's daily struggle goes on. Thought-provoking.
Bohemian Rhapsody - As a Queen fan, I loved this. Okay, it's not exactly revelatory or hard-hitting, but there is drama in there - whether it be Freddie and his fiancée coming to terms with his sexuality, ructions within the band, escaping a self-destructive spiral, or learning of Freddie's terminal illness. This is an affectionate celebration rather than a tragedy, though - as Freddie says, he doesn't want to be an AIDS poster boy, but to carry on entertaining with his music. The film certainly honours that, ticking off all the essential hits. The insights into the song-writing feel true to life, and help make four rock legends feel like regular people. Ultimately, of course, it's the music that lifts it. The show must go on.
Crazy Rich Asians - I don't usually do rom-coms, but this one looked a bit different and had had a lot of hype. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Rachel (Constance Wu) is drawn into fabulously weatlhy Singapore circles as she meets boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding)'s family, who unbeknownst to her are billionnaires. It's a flimsy premise, and the set-up for stereotypical class war bitchiness. But it kind of works, thanks to the likeable leads and a strong performance from Michelle Yeoh as Nick's mother (When did she become old enough to play the lead's mother???), who is by far the most interesting character in the film. The scenery and big budget set-pieces help liven things up too.
A Simple Favour - This absolutely should not work. A Gone Girl type missing person mystery as a brash black comedy? That it does is mainly down to a smart, true-to-life performance from Anna Kendrick as single mom vlogger, Stephanie, who befriends rich businesswoman, Emily (Blake Lively), only for her to disappear. Did she run away? Was she murdered? Stephanie investigates and gets drawn ever deeper into Emily's strange and secretive life. The mystery itself is fairly clichéd, but it doesn't matter. The performances are great and the yo-yoing between serious drama and broad comedy works surprisingly well. A lot of fun.
The House With A Clock In Its Walls - An orphaned boy goes to live with his uncle (Jack Black), who just so happens to be an eccentric wizard. He and his frosty neigbour (Cate Blanchett) guard a deadly secret hidden within his house. Spielberg's name is attached - There's some evidence of his style, and fun to be had with the sniping between the adult leads, but otherwise this is pretty by-the-numbers kids' fantasy stuff. Not worth bothering with.
Bad Times At The El Royale - Drew "Cabin in the Woods" Goddard writes and directs a mystery set in a run-down motel. Without Joss Whedon on board, this is less over the top than CitW, but shares a few of its traits. There's more than a hint of Pulp Fiction and Lost about it too. The chapter-based plot jumps around in time, and every character has a secret (when Jeff Bridges is playing a priest, you just know something's up!), some of which are connected, others not. Very bloody, completely bonkers, and just a little bit brilliant. I enjoyed it a lot, but it won't be everyone's cup of tea.
First Man - A surprisingly downbeat and small-scale biopic of Neil Armstrong. It focuses just as much on Neil (Ryan Gosling)'s grief over the death of his daughter, and the impact that has on his family life, as it does over the mission to the moon. Like the man himself, it's quiet and introspective, with much left unsaid. The NASA parts of the story are a fascinating insight that hammers home the limited technology they had at the time and the fragility of what they were doing - very much "floating in a tin can". I'm not generally a fan of shakycam, but in this it really does make you feel like you're in the cockpit. A worthwhile watch, but perhaps not what you might expect.
The Breadwinner - I had to watch this one on DVD as the cinema release was very limited. It's an animation about Parvana, an 11-year-old girl growing up in Afghanistan under the Taliban. When her father is arrested, she disguises herself as a boy in order to support her family. It's a sensitive portrait of life under a harsh regime, and carefully researched to accurately represent Afghan culture. The "real world" events are intercut with a stylised folk tale, which is slightly reminiscent of "Kubo". While there's a definite story arc, it doesn't wrap up neatly. Parvana's daily struggle goes on. Thought-provoking.
Bohemian Rhapsody - As a Queen fan, I loved this. Okay, it's not exactly revelatory or hard-hitting, but there is drama in there - whether it be Freddie and his fiancée coming to terms with his sexuality, ructions within the band, escaping a self-destructive spiral, or learning of Freddie's terminal illness. This is an affectionate celebration rather than a tragedy, though - as Freddie says, he doesn't want to be an AIDS poster boy, but to carry on entertaining with his music. The film certainly honours that, ticking off all the essential hits. The insights into the song-writing feel true to life, and help make four rock legends feel like regular people. Ultimately, of course, it's the music that lifts it. The show must go on.
