rich_jacko (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rich_jacko) wrote2019-10-08 09:30 pm
rich_jacko) wrote2019-10-08 09:30 pm
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An overdue films round-up
I've got a very long way behind with my film reviews lately. The last time I reviewed any was the end of April, so this is quite a big catch-up:
Detective Pikachu - I saw this against my better judgment, and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It may be dressed up as a film noir mystery, but this is shamelessly a live-action Pokémon cartoon. Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) teams up with a Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds, giving us a PG version of Deadpool) belonging to his estranged father, who has mysteriously gone missing. Journeying across a thinly-disguised London - sorry, Ryme City - they form an unlikely team-up with aspiring reporter, Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton) and encounter all the well-known Pokémon you could hope for, and a very hammy Bill Nighy. It's not a challenging mystery - once the film gives you enough information, it's pretty easy to see the twists coming, but it doesn't matter. The technicolour action works, the gags work, even Pikachu's fur works. Special mention for the inspired dark comedy of the Mr Mime scene.
Rocketman - What's that? Dexter Fletcher directing a biopic of a decadent 1970s/80s British rock legend? This is even better than "Boh Rap", though, being less of a straightforward biopic and more of an out-and-out musical. Songs match scenes, people dance in the street, there are flights of fantasy, and it jumps back and forth in time. Obviously made with a lot of warmth and devotion for its subject, it nevertheless tackles Elton's drug-addiction and depression side head-on. The whole film is framed by scenes of him talking to an addiction group. The ever-versatile Taron Egerton and the equally versatile Jamie Bell shine as Elton John and Bernie Taupin respectively.
Ma - Two reasons I saw this: Blumhouse's track record with pschological horror ("Get Out") and the brilliant Octavia Spencer playing wholly against type. Sadly, it doesn't live up to expectations. Spencer plays Sue Ann (or "Ma"), a lonely woman who befriends a bunch of teens by giving them a place to drink and party at her house. Of course, it all gets more sinister. And violent. The problem is that this is a film which relies almost entirely on the performance of its lead actress. And while this is as strong as you'd expect, treading a perfect balance between sympathetic, disturbing and darkly comic, little things like the plot, script and other characters needed to be better. They're not particularly bad, and it's not a bad film, just so-so and forgettable.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix - The fourth, and supposedly final, installment with the current X-Men cast, before they're rebooted into the MCU in a few years' time. I have a soft spot for the X-men. They are archetypal outsiders, flawed heroes and sympathetic villains, and I've enjoyed most of the films to date. Dark Phoenix is a big let-down though. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) absorbs a celestial entity that drives her doolally, leaving Xavier (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and the rest to try to bring her round, all while nasty alien Vuk (Jessica Chastain) is egging her on. It's not as bad as X3's attempt at the Dark Phoenix storyline, and the cast all gamely put in their best efforts, but the material is badly lacking in both substance and entertainment value. I'm not keen on just how far this alternate timeline has diverged from the original films either.
Booksmart - This is billed as a nerds' version of a gross-out teen comedy, but it isn't particularly gross and is actually kind of sweet. It is funny though. On the eve of their high school graduation, nerdy best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) realise that partying hard hasn't stopped their classmates getting into good universities and decide they have one night to make up for lost party time. Cue a wild night of drink, drugs, love, arguments, disastrous sexual encounters, a yacht, a swimming pool, a serial killer, and a surreal Barbie doll scene. Will their friendship survive, and what will their classmates make of them by the end? It's light, undemanding entertainment - sometimes that's all you want from a movie, and this does it well.
Brightburn - An alien child (Jackson A. Dunn) crash-lands on Earth. He is adopted by a couple (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) in a small town in Kansas, who give him an alliterative name. As he grows up, he develops super-strength, the ability to fly, is able to shoot laser beams from his eyesand has a really big gun (Actually, his dad confiscates the gun). But wait, this isn't what you think. Despite being produced by James Gunn (of Guardians Of The Galaxy fame), Brightburn is less Superman and more a "creepy kid" horror movie in the vein of The Omen. Brandon gets increasingly out of control, with increasingly gruesome consequences. Elizabeth Banks lifts this to a solid three-star rating with her performance as a mother wrestling with her love for her son and the dawning realisation of his true nature. One feature it does take from superhero movies is the end credits sequences - and they are astounding.
Toy Story 4 - I feel conflicted about this film. Yes, the animation is gorgeous, the characters are charming, the gags are inventive and funny and it's Toy Story as we know and love it, but... Did we really need this film? Toy Story 3 had such a perfect ending that I can't help but feel they should have left it there. Tonally, there's nothing particularly new and Woody (Tom Hanks)'s neuroses are getting quite grating now. This is also very much the Woody show. Although Bo Peep (Annie Potts) kicks some serious ass and there's a few amusing new characters (such as Keanu Reeves' Duke Caboom), the rest of the familiar cast have little more than cameo roles. Even Buzz (Tim Allen) only gets a sub-plot based around a single recurring joke. There's no short cartoon beforehand but there are some brilliant credit cookie moments at the end to make up for it. The ending that precedes them is... well, it kind of wraps things up, in a very different way to Toy Story 3, but I wasn't convinced by it and I fear we might still get inflicted with a Toy Story 5.
Yesterday - Something unexplained happens, and now struggling musician Jack Malik (Himish Patel) is the only person in the world who can remember the Beatles. Feeling the world needs to know their music, he claims their songs as his own. That's the concept behind this feel-good film by Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis - and those two names on the credits should give you a good idea of what to expect. It's a stylish, well-written and slightly soppy comedy drama, with lots of character development and a built-in excuse for singing lots of Beatles tracks. Yep, that works for me. Lily James co-stats as Jack's definitely-not-a-girlfriend Ellie, Kate McKinnon as psychotic US music producer Debra, and Ed Sheeran as... er, Ed Sheeran. Try not to let that last one put you off though. This is great fun and has a lot of affection for its source material.
Spider-Man: Far From Home - The events of Endgame cast a long shadow over MCU film #23 (For spoilers' sake, don't watch this if you haven't seen Endgame yet!), but don't stop it being a bit of much-needed light relief. Peter (Tom Holland) is on a school trip around Europe, where he hopes to summon up the courage to finally ask MJ (Zendaya) out. Which would be great if Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhall) didn't keep risking his secret identity and forcing him into helping save the world. It's not one of the stronger Marvel films - some of the humour is cringe-worthy and some of the twists and turns are a bit mind-bending, but it's still a lot of fun and gets by on charm.
Apollo 11 - Not a prequel to Apollo 13, obviously, or really a movie. This is 90 minutes of NASA archive footage, much of it captured by the astronauts themselves, released to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. And it's a must-see. There's nothing dry about it. It's fly-on-the-wall stuff, without any voice-over commentary or interviews. You get to know Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins very well and see their journey as they saw it. It's well-edited and scored to give it a real sense of story. There's also plenty of techincal detail to appeal to the nerd angle. You will learn things and be wowed at the same time - what more could you want? A must-see for any space fans.
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw - I don't normally watch this series, but Hobbs & Shaw (Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham respectively) looked like big, dumb fun. And it is big, dumb fun. Though it really should be called Hobbes & Shaw & Shaw, since Vanessa Kirby kicks as much (if not more) ass as the two male leads. Maybe they figured three ampersands in the title was one too many. Idris Elba is the cybernetically enhanced bad guy and Helen Mirren has a memorable cameo. I don't know how much of the backstory comes from previous films, but it hardly matters. This is two hours of mayhem that very much carries on in the same vein as the trailer throughout, culminating in a helicopter chase scene that is so completely ludicrous that the entire cinema was laughing hysterically. In a good way.
Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans - I have a lot of affection for this series. It doesn't work quite so well as a 90-minute movie than as a series of quickfire sketches, and there's a soppy teenage romance plot that doesn't do it any favours, but the jokes still come thick and fast. The comedy, as always, comes mainly from juxtaposing the ancient with the modern, but there's no shortage of toilet humour either. The songs are well done, even if they're not all new. Nick Frost, Lee Mack and Rupert Graves steal the show, but all the cast (who are mostly different from the TV show) do a good job. Stay for the credit gags.
Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino needs to find a more ruthless editor. "The Ninth Film" has all his trademark qualities, and there were a lot of individual scenes I really enjoyed, but it clocks in at well over 2½ hours and the overall story is rather aimless. Rick Dalton (Leo DiCaprio) is a cowboy star looking to revive his flagging career; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is his former stunt double, now drifting through middle age, causing trouble. Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) is on her way up in the industry. Meanwhile the Manson family are out for blood. It all (sort-of) comes together at the end, but by then it's a bit late. It's getting rave reviews, but overall I found this a slight let-down compared with Tarantino's other films.
It: Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 was brilliant, more as a coming-of-age film than a horror. Fast-forward 27 years, and the Losers have all grown up into Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone and Andy Bean. But Pannywise (Bill Skarsgård) is back, and they must return to their childhood home town to finish him off or all die. Not only do they have to face not the killer clown, but other demons from their past (cue lots of flashback scenes with the Chapter 1 cast, fleshing out the backstory). Chapter 2 is pretty good, but it all feels a bit over-elaborate and 3 hours for a horror film really is stretching it. There are some very tense and inventive set-pieces, though the final showdown with Pennywise riffs on what they did in Chapter 1, without being anywhere near as terrifying or as strong on character. It's a decent enough conclusion, but the first part was better.
The Farewell - A strange one, this. Billi (Awkwafina) is a young Chinese woman living in New York, who returns to China to say goodbye to her grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who is dying of cancer. The problem is, no one has actually told Nai Nai she is dying as they feel she is better off not knowing, so they have concocted a family wedding as an excuse to all get together. It's billed as a comedy, but while there are comic moments in it, it feels more true-to-life than that. The family are warm, caring, funny, stubborn, infuriating, and all those other things that families are. It's very relatable and a real hidden gem - watch it if you can. Just one warning, there are an awful lot of mealtime scenes and it will make you hungry!
Joker - Two killer clown films in quick succession? Joker, though, is less a comic fantasy and more a gritty, serious character study. I don't believe the controversy around this film is really about the violence (While there are some very violent moments, they are few and far-between), but because it cuts too close to the bone for comfort. Arthur Fleck (Joaquim Phoenix) is shaped into an all-too-believable monster by an uncaring society in which strangers rarely have a kind word for each other, figures you rely on for support are more likely to make fun of you or punch you in the face, welfare and mental health support are cut, and the wealthy preach to the poor that they have only themselves to blame for their troubles. Is it any wonder (to quote another Joker film) some men just want to watch the world burn? The film offers no easy answer as to how much Arthur is a victim of circumstances and how much he is really a monster; the audience is made to sympathise with him and revile him at the same time. It's an uncomfortable watch, but brilliant, especially Phoenix's performance. Robert de Niro also stars.
Detective Pikachu - I saw this against my better judgment, and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It may be dressed up as a film noir mystery, but this is shamelessly a live-action Pokémon cartoon. Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) teams up with a Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds, giving us a PG version of Deadpool) belonging to his estranged father, who has mysteriously gone missing. Journeying across a thinly-disguised London - sorry, Ryme City - they form an unlikely team-up with aspiring reporter, Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton) and encounter all the well-known Pokémon you could hope for, and a very hammy Bill Nighy. It's not a challenging mystery - once the film gives you enough information, it's pretty easy to see the twists coming, but it doesn't matter. The technicolour action works, the gags work, even Pikachu's fur works. Special mention for the inspired dark comedy of the Mr Mime scene.
Rocketman - What's that? Dexter Fletcher directing a biopic of a decadent 1970s/80s British rock legend? This is even better than "Boh Rap", though, being less of a straightforward biopic and more of an out-and-out musical. Songs match scenes, people dance in the street, there are flights of fantasy, and it jumps back and forth in time. Obviously made with a lot of warmth and devotion for its subject, it nevertheless tackles Elton's drug-addiction and depression side head-on. The whole film is framed by scenes of him talking to an addiction group. The ever-versatile Taron Egerton and the equally versatile Jamie Bell shine as Elton John and Bernie Taupin respectively.
Ma - Two reasons I saw this: Blumhouse's track record with pschological horror ("Get Out") and the brilliant Octavia Spencer playing wholly against type. Sadly, it doesn't live up to expectations. Spencer plays Sue Ann (or "Ma"), a lonely woman who befriends a bunch of teens by giving them a place to drink and party at her house. Of course, it all gets more sinister. And violent. The problem is that this is a film which relies almost entirely on the performance of its lead actress. And while this is as strong as you'd expect, treading a perfect balance between sympathetic, disturbing and darkly comic, little things like the plot, script and other characters needed to be better. They're not particularly bad, and it's not a bad film, just so-so and forgettable.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix - The fourth, and supposedly final, installment with the current X-Men cast, before they're rebooted into the MCU in a few years' time. I have a soft spot for the X-men. They are archetypal outsiders, flawed heroes and sympathetic villains, and I've enjoyed most of the films to date. Dark Phoenix is a big let-down though. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) absorbs a celestial entity that drives her doolally, leaving Xavier (James McAvoy), Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and the rest to try to bring her round, all while nasty alien Vuk (Jessica Chastain) is egging her on. It's not as bad as X3's attempt at the Dark Phoenix storyline, and the cast all gamely put in their best efforts, but the material is badly lacking in both substance and entertainment value. I'm not keen on just how far this alternate timeline has diverged from the original films either.
Booksmart - This is billed as a nerds' version of a gross-out teen comedy, but it isn't particularly gross and is actually kind of sweet. It is funny though. On the eve of their high school graduation, nerdy best friends Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein) realise that partying hard hasn't stopped their classmates getting into good universities and decide they have one night to make up for lost party time. Cue a wild night of drink, drugs, love, arguments, disastrous sexual encounters, a yacht, a swimming pool, a serial killer, and a surreal Barbie doll scene. Will their friendship survive, and what will their classmates make of them by the end? It's light, undemanding entertainment - sometimes that's all you want from a movie, and this does it well.
Brightburn - An alien child (Jackson A. Dunn) crash-lands on Earth. He is adopted by a couple (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) in a small town in Kansas, who give him an alliterative name. As he grows up, he develops super-strength, the ability to fly, is able to shoot laser beams from his eyes
Toy Story 4 - I feel conflicted about this film. Yes, the animation is gorgeous, the characters are charming, the gags are inventive and funny and it's Toy Story as we know and love it, but... Did we really need this film? Toy Story 3 had such a perfect ending that I can't help but feel they should have left it there. Tonally, there's nothing particularly new and Woody (Tom Hanks)'s neuroses are getting quite grating now. This is also very much the Woody show. Although Bo Peep (Annie Potts) kicks some serious ass and there's a few amusing new characters (such as Keanu Reeves' Duke Caboom), the rest of the familiar cast have little more than cameo roles. Even Buzz (Tim Allen) only gets a sub-plot based around a single recurring joke. There's no short cartoon beforehand but there are some brilliant credit cookie moments at the end to make up for it. The ending that precedes them is... well, it kind of wraps things up, in a very different way to Toy Story 3, but I wasn't convinced by it and I fear we might still get inflicted with a Toy Story 5.
Yesterday - Something unexplained happens, and now struggling musician Jack Malik (Himish Patel) is the only person in the world who can remember the Beatles. Feeling the world needs to know their music, he claims their songs as his own. That's the concept behind this feel-good film by Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis - and those two names on the credits should give you a good idea of what to expect. It's a stylish, well-written and slightly soppy comedy drama, with lots of character development and a built-in excuse for singing lots of Beatles tracks. Yep, that works for me. Lily James co-stats as Jack's definitely-not-a-girlfriend Ellie, Kate McKinnon as psychotic US music producer Debra, and Ed Sheeran as... er, Ed Sheeran. Try not to let that last one put you off though. This is great fun and has a lot of affection for its source material.
Spider-Man: Far From Home - The events of Endgame cast a long shadow over MCU film #23 (For spoilers' sake, don't watch this if you haven't seen Endgame yet!), but don't stop it being a bit of much-needed light relief. Peter (Tom Holland) is on a school trip around Europe, where he hopes to summon up the courage to finally ask MJ (Zendaya) out. Which would be great if Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhall) didn't keep risking his secret identity and forcing him into helping save the world. It's not one of the stronger Marvel films - some of the humour is cringe-worthy and some of the twists and turns are a bit mind-bending, but it's still a lot of fun and gets by on charm.
Apollo 11 - Not a prequel to Apollo 13, obviously, or really a movie. This is 90 minutes of NASA archive footage, much of it captured by the astronauts themselves, released to mark the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. And it's a must-see. There's nothing dry about it. It's fly-on-the-wall stuff, without any voice-over commentary or interviews. You get to know Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins very well and see their journey as they saw it. It's well-edited and scored to give it a real sense of story. There's also plenty of techincal detail to appeal to the nerd angle. You will learn things and be wowed at the same time - what more could you want? A must-see for any space fans.
Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw - I don't normally watch this series, but Hobbs & Shaw (Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham respectively) looked like big, dumb fun. And it is big, dumb fun. Though it really should be called Hobbes & Shaw & Shaw, since Vanessa Kirby kicks as much (if not more) ass as the two male leads. Maybe they figured three ampersands in the title was one too many. Idris Elba is the cybernetically enhanced bad guy and Helen Mirren has a memorable cameo. I don't know how much of the backstory comes from previous films, but it hardly matters. This is two hours of mayhem that very much carries on in the same vein as the trailer throughout, culminating in a helicopter chase scene that is so completely ludicrous that the entire cinema was laughing hysterically. In a good way.
Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans - I have a lot of affection for this series. It doesn't work quite so well as a 90-minute movie than as a series of quickfire sketches, and there's a soppy teenage romance plot that doesn't do it any favours, but the jokes still come thick and fast. The comedy, as always, comes mainly from juxtaposing the ancient with the modern, but there's no shortage of toilet humour either. The songs are well done, even if they're not all new. Nick Frost, Lee Mack and Rupert Graves steal the show, but all the cast (who are mostly different from the TV show) do a good job. Stay for the credit gags.
Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino needs to find a more ruthless editor. "The Ninth Film" has all his trademark qualities, and there were a lot of individual scenes I really enjoyed, but it clocks in at well over 2½ hours and the overall story is rather aimless. Rick Dalton (Leo DiCaprio) is a cowboy star looking to revive his flagging career; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is his former stunt double, now drifting through middle age, causing trouble. Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) is on her way up in the industry. Meanwhile the Manson family are out for blood. It all (sort-of) comes together at the end, but by then it's a bit late. It's getting rave reviews, but overall I found this a slight let-down compared with Tarantino's other films.
It: Chapter 2 - Chapter 1 was brilliant, more as a coming-of-age film than a horror. Fast-forward 27 years, and the Losers have all grown up into Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone and Andy Bean. But Pannywise (Bill Skarsgård) is back, and they must return to their childhood home town to finish him off or all die. Not only do they have to face not the killer clown, but other demons from their past (cue lots of flashback scenes with the Chapter 1 cast, fleshing out the backstory). Chapter 2 is pretty good, but it all feels a bit over-elaborate and 3 hours for a horror film really is stretching it. There are some very tense and inventive set-pieces, though the final showdown with Pennywise riffs on what they did in Chapter 1, without being anywhere near as terrifying or as strong on character. It's a decent enough conclusion, but the first part was better.
The Farewell - A strange one, this. Billi (Awkwafina) is a young Chinese woman living in New York, who returns to China to say goodbye to her grandmother, Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen), who is dying of cancer. The problem is, no one has actually told Nai Nai she is dying as they feel she is better off not knowing, so they have concocted a family wedding as an excuse to all get together. It's billed as a comedy, but while there are comic moments in it, it feels more true-to-life than that. The family are warm, caring, funny, stubborn, infuriating, and all those other things that families are. It's very relatable and a real hidden gem - watch it if you can. Just one warning, there are an awful lot of mealtime scenes and it will make you hungry!
Joker - Two killer clown films in quick succession? Joker, though, is less a comic fantasy and more a gritty, serious character study. I don't believe the controversy around this film is really about the violence (While there are some very violent moments, they are few and far-between), but because it cuts too close to the bone for comfort. Arthur Fleck (Joaquim Phoenix) is shaped into an all-too-believable monster by an uncaring society in which strangers rarely have a kind word for each other, figures you rely on for support are more likely to make fun of you or punch you in the face, welfare and mental health support are cut, and the wealthy preach to the poor that they have only themselves to blame for their troubles. Is it any wonder (to quote another Joker film) some men just want to watch the world burn? The film offers no easy answer as to how much Arthur is a victim of circumstances and how much he is really a monster; the audience is made to sympathise with him and revile him at the same time. It's an uncomfortable watch, but brilliant, especially Phoenix's performance. Robert de Niro also stars.