Films round-up
Apr. 30th, 2019 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rich_jackoCapernaum - There are echoes of City of God in this frighteningly vivid Lebanese film about a young boy's struggle for survival on the streets of Beirut. The title means "chaos" and there's plenty of that. Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) runs away from home after a terrible betrayal. Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) is an undocumented migrant from Ethiopia. Their lives come together but are abruptly torn apart, leaving both struggling to survive. The film drives home the ease with which vulnerable people can fall into desperate measures and become exploited. But it isn't all bleak. There's humour and humanity, and a tremendous sense of energy and life throughout. Not the easiest film to watch, but a rewarding one.
Captain Marvel - 21 films into the MCU, and we finally get one with a female lead. Consequently, I really wanted to like Captain Marvel. Unfortunately the first 20 minutes or so were disappointing - Vers (Brie Larson) and Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) are Kree warriors fighting anonymous alien forces in a rather bland and generic space fantasy. But then we get a massive "WTF?" moment, Vers falls to Earth, Agents Fury and Coulson ("digitally de-aged" Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg) show up, and it gets a whole lot more interesting. I'm not sure when the 1990s became a historical setting, but the film makes the most of it with lots of references and gags. We start to dig into Vers's backstory, meeting the face of the Supreme Intelligence (Anette Benning) and a pilot (Lashana Lynch) who seems to know Vers very well. It's an origin story told almost in reverse, and it just keeps getting better and better as it goes on. So I'm pleased to say that, in the end, I really did like Captain Marvel! :o)
Us - This is more obviously a straight horror flick than the genre-bending Get Out (the previous film by Jordan Peele). It's not quite as clever or politically insightful, but that's setting the bar very high - If you haven't yet seen Get Out, you should. Us is nontheless a superbly written and made horror film. It seems something has been stewing beneath America for many years. As a child, Adelaide has a chilling encounter with a doppelgänger in an abandoned funhouse. Years later, Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) and her family return to the area and encounter a whole family of duplicates, who are murderous and speak in whispers. Things rapidly spiral into chaos. It's full of tension and brutality, but also pitch-black comedy. The answers to the mystery, when they come, if not completely satisfactory, are certainly weird and original.
Fighting With My Family - I've never been into WWE wrestling, but this film got such good reviews I thought I'd give it a go. Those reviews were completely justified; I loved this film! There's obviously a double-meaning to the title, with the WWE-obsessed family (an impressive Florence Pugh, her brother Jack Lowden and parents Nick Frost and Lena Headey) squabbling amongst themselves about their future as much as they fight in the ring. This is a labour of love from Stephen Merchant and Dwayne Johnson, based on the true story of a small-time wrestling family from Norwich who dream of making the big league in America. There's obvious comedy to be had from the culture clash but, whenever you think the film is pandering to stereotypes, it surprises you with characters that are much more rounded than they first appear. It's surprisingly charming and engaging, while also being very, very funny. Definitely recommended.
Dumbo - I'm not convinced about Disney's live-action/CGI re-makes, if they're just slavish recreations of the original animation. Fortunately Dumbo takes a different approach. While there are brief nods to many of the set-pieces from the original, there's a whole new story involving Colin Farrell returning from the war and trying to settle back into family life and work, all while their little circus run by Danny DeVito is in the process of being taken over by a villainous Michael Keaton. And whose side is Eva Green on? Sometimes there's so much drama it seems as if there's barely room for a flying elephant. The film starts out as a slightly uneasy marriage between scenes of pure Disney cutesiness and moments that are pure Tim Burton gothic. As the film goes on, it gets progressively less and less Disney, and more and more Tim Burton. This is a joy to watch unfold. I wonder what Uncle Walt would have made of "Nightmare Island"?
Pet Sematary - It was good; Dark Tower was dreadful. Stephen King novels do not always make great films, which is sadly the case with Pet Sematary [sic]. The set-up is decent - family with a haunted past moves to a small town; small town has strangely sinister traditions; John Lithgow knows more than he's letting on; dead pets sometimes come back to life; tragedy strikes. Unfortunately, the execution isn't as clever as the concept. The early scares are mainly cheap "make-you-jump" moments and towards the end it turns into a tedious by-the-numbers slasher flick. As with many film adaptations, I got the impression there's a lot more depth in the book. The film certainly introduces a lot of ideas that it doesn't have time to explore properly. The short running time also meant that the third act felt very rushed indeed (though perhaps that was a blessing). Not worth it.
Missing Link - I like Laika. There's something pleasingly old-fashioned and hand-made about stop-motion animation, and their films (Coraline, ParaNorman, Boxtrolls and Kubo) have all been full of Aardman-like charm that extends beyond merely using the same medium. The same's true of this latest offering, in which Hugh Jackman's Victorian explorer teams up with Zach Galifianakis's Sasquatch and Zoe Saldana's Lady Fortnight in a bid to discover Yetis at Shangri-La. There's plenty of comedy and high stakes and Around the World in 80 Days-type adventure and Stephen Fry as a dastardly villain, but it somehow fails to live up to Laika's previous efforts. It's entertaining enough, but not a must-see.
Avengers: Endgame (no spoilers!) - The secret to Marvel's success is, no matter how bonkers the concepts or the plots, they give us characters we really engage with and care about. The focus this time is (rightly) on the main heroes we've known all the way since "Phase 1", but along the way the story takes in more characters and references to previous films than you probably expect. Pretty much every entry in the 22-film saga is covered, so you'll need to have done your homework with this one! The first act sees our heroes dealing with the ramifications of Infinity War and struggling with what to do next. Act 2 kicks up a gear and spans many locations in a whirlwind of twists and surprises, from the heart-felt to the hilarious. If Act 3 is an indulgently over-the-top finale, boy, have they earned it and boy, is it a crowd-pleaser! What Marvel have achieved with this series is astonishing. Endgame is a satisfying, thrilling and emotional conclusion to so many story arcs, from the personal to the galaxy-spanning. I often feel some films are too long, but there's so much packed into this one that three hours flies past in no time at all. Event movies don't come any bigger or better than this.
Captain Marvel - 21 films into the MCU, and we finally get one with a female lead. Consequently, I really wanted to like Captain Marvel. Unfortunately the first 20 minutes or so were disappointing - Vers (Brie Larson) and Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) are Kree warriors fighting anonymous alien forces in a rather bland and generic space fantasy. But then we get a massive "WTF?" moment, Vers falls to Earth, Agents Fury and Coulson ("digitally de-aged" Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg) show up, and it gets a whole lot more interesting. I'm not sure when the 1990s became a historical setting, but the film makes the most of it with lots of references and gags. We start to dig into Vers's backstory, meeting the face of the Supreme Intelligence (Anette Benning) and a pilot (Lashana Lynch) who seems to know Vers very well. It's an origin story told almost in reverse, and it just keeps getting better and better as it goes on. So I'm pleased to say that, in the end, I really did like Captain Marvel! :o)
Us - This is more obviously a straight horror flick than the genre-bending Get Out (the previous film by Jordan Peele). It's not quite as clever or politically insightful, but that's setting the bar very high - If you haven't yet seen Get Out, you should. Us is nontheless a superbly written and made horror film. It seems something has been stewing beneath America for many years. As a child, Adelaide has a chilling encounter with a doppelgänger in an abandoned funhouse. Years later, Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) and her family return to the area and encounter a whole family of duplicates, who are murderous and speak in whispers. Things rapidly spiral into chaos. It's full of tension and brutality, but also pitch-black comedy. The answers to the mystery, when they come, if not completely satisfactory, are certainly weird and original.
Fighting With My Family - I've never been into WWE wrestling, but this film got such good reviews I thought I'd give it a go. Those reviews were completely justified; I loved this film! There's obviously a double-meaning to the title, with the WWE-obsessed family (an impressive Florence Pugh, her brother Jack Lowden and parents Nick Frost and Lena Headey) squabbling amongst themselves about their future as much as they fight in the ring. This is a labour of love from Stephen Merchant and Dwayne Johnson, based on the true story of a small-time wrestling family from Norwich who dream of making the big league in America. There's obvious comedy to be had from the culture clash but, whenever you think the film is pandering to stereotypes, it surprises you with characters that are much more rounded than they first appear. It's surprisingly charming and engaging, while also being very, very funny. Definitely recommended.
Dumbo - I'm not convinced about Disney's live-action/CGI re-makes, if they're just slavish recreations of the original animation. Fortunately Dumbo takes a different approach. While there are brief nods to many of the set-pieces from the original, there's a whole new story involving Colin Farrell returning from the war and trying to settle back into family life and work, all while their little circus run by Danny DeVito is in the process of being taken over by a villainous Michael Keaton. And whose side is Eva Green on? Sometimes there's so much drama it seems as if there's barely room for a flying elephant. The film starts out as a slightly uneasy marriage between scenes of pure Disney cutesiness and moments that are pure Tim Burton gothic. As the film goes on, it gets progressively less and less Disney, and more and more Tim Burton. This is a joy to watch unfold. I wonder what Uncle Walt would have made of "Nightmare Island"?
Pet Sematary - It was good; Dark Tower was dreadful. Stephen King novels do not always make great films, which is sadly the case with Pet Sematary [sic]. The set-up is decent - family with a haunted past moves to a small town; small town has strangely sinister traditions; John Lithgow knows more than he's letting on; dead pets sometimes come back to life; tragedy strikes. Unfortunately, the execution isn't as clever as the concept. The early scares are mainly cheap "make-you-jump" moments and towards the end it turns into a tedious by-the-numbers slasher flick. As with many film adaptations, I got the impression there's a lot more depth in the book. The film certainly introduces a lot of ideas that it doesn't have time to explore properly. The short running time also meant that the third act felt very rushed indeed (though perhaps that was a blessing). Not worth it.
Missing Link - I like Laika. There's something pleasingly old-fashioned and hand-made about stop-motion animation, and their films (Coraline, ParaNorman, Boxtrolls and Kubo) have all been full of Aardman-like charm that extends beyond merely using the same medium. The same's true of this latest offering, in which Hugh Jackman's Victorian explorer teams up with Zach Galifianakis's Sasquatch and Zoe Saldana's Lady Fortnight in a bid to discover Yetis at Shangri-La. There's plenty of comedy and high stakes and Around the World in 80 Days-type adventure and Stephen Fry as a dastardly villain, but it somehow fails to live up to Laika's previous efforts. It's entertaining enough, but not a must-see.
Avengers: Endgame (no spoilers!) - The secret to Marvel's success is, no matter how bonkers the concepts or the plots, they give us characters we really engage with and care about. The focus this time is (rightly) on the main heroes we've known all the way since "Phase 1", but along the way the story takes in more characters and references to previous films than you probably expect. Pretty much every entry in the 22-film saga is covered, so you'll need to have done your homework with this one! The first act sees our heroes dealing with the ramifications of Infinity War and struggling with what to do next. Act 2 kicks up a gear and spans many locations in a whirlwind of twists and surprises, from the heart-felt to the hilarious. If Act 3 is an indulgently over-the-top finale, boy, have they earned it and boy, is it a crowd-pleaser! What Marvel have achieved with this series is astonishing. Endgame is a satisfying, thrilling and emotional conclusion to so many story arcs, from the personal to the galaxy-spanning. I often feel some films are too long, but there's so much packed into this one that three hours flies past in no time at all. Event movies don't come any bigger or better than this.
