Bright (Netflix Originals) - review

In my first big change for review writing for 2018, it is time to recognise streaming services original content as part of the film release calendar and review them accordingly.
After all last year brought the likes of the excellent Gerald's Game, Cannes Film Festival competitor Okja and Amazon Studios Oscar-winning Manchester By The Sea.
Following on from the Oscar-nominated Mudbound, December brought Netflix's most expensive original production Bright, at a cool $90 million. Although this has now been surpassed by Scorsese's The Irishman at a budget of $100 million.
It wouldn't have been a Netflix original release with a little bit of controversy and Bright dutifully supplied it. Many critics called it one of the worst films of 2017 and Netflix fired back claiming it was their most popular original release with 11 million views in its first three days.
While its true that 11 million views on Netflix, which is a paid subscription, is not equal to 11 million people paying $15 to watch a film in a cinema during its opening weekend, it was certainly enough for Netflix to greenlight a sequel. Clearly they are banking on a large percentage of those views being people who enjoyed it and not just clicking on it to see if it was as bad as the reviews made out.
This reviewer was certainly in the latter category to begin with but it is not anywhere near as bad as 2017 films such as Transformers: The Last Knight and The Snowman.
Just like Ayer's Suicide Squad, this is a case of poor execution and wasted potential. For there is something at the heart of Bright that could have made for a great limited series with a new spin on the procedural detective/mismatched buddy cop drama.
Instead the result is an End of Watch retread with two police partners forced to work through their own issues with each other whilst trying to stop the end of the world... Oh, that's right, Bright is set in a world where Humans, Orcs and Elves live side by side.
Imagine if Lord Of The Rings had ended with Sauron being destroyed and all the different armies called an uneasy truce until the modern day.
The film begins with very little in the way of world building, instead focusing on Will Smith's police officer returning to duty after being shot while on duty with the very first Orc police officer Nick Jacoby (played with humour and pathos by Joel Edgerton). The rest of the department want Jacoby gone because he doesn't fit in, and before you say it, yes it does feel very similar to the plot of Zootropolis at this point.
There are bigoted fellow cops and underhanded schemes to frame the Orc but before you can say Internal Affairs, the two partners are called to a disturbance where they discover the one ring that will rule them all... wait, no, they find a magic wand which is wanted by every single criminal in the city and it turns into a fight to survive the night.
From here it is a very generic, straight up action film that lacks the wit and charm needed to sell the more ridiculous aspects of the story. For example, at no point does Will Smith witness something crazy and shout "Awwww hell no!". Missed opportunities!
There remains untapped potential that could turn the sequel into something special but Bright is sadly a dim and dull affair with the risk that as it is on Netflix, audiences may not get to the end of their watch.

2 stars

Mudbound (Netflix Originals) - review

2017 was quite the year for Netflix. Not only was it the year that it broke through with its original film programming, it was the year I finally discovered that "Netflix and Chill" was not just about watching movies on the sofa!
They had quality genre hits such as The Babysitter and the excellent Gerald's Game that caused several people, including me, to do this...

But 2017 was the year that Netflix decided that they wanted to compete with the big boys and be taken seriously. Could they do it? "Yes we Cannes!" and Netflix went to France to compete in the Cannes Film Festival with Book Jong-Ho's Okja and Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories.
Did it go as planned? Not quite. The French in particular were against the idea of films playing in competition that would not receive a cinematic release, head judge Pedro Almodovar said that the films would never win a prize and the controversy overshadowed two good films and a very rare thing... a great Adam Sandler performance.
Netflix decided they were not going to let that stop them and have doubled down on their original programming; organising a deal with Curzon for limited runs of the films to appear on their screens, financing $100 million for Martin Scorsese's The Irishman starring DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci and now they have gone legit are entered the Oscar race with Mudbound.
Amazon Studios were the first to the podium last year with Manchester By The Sea but Mudbound is the sole streaming film in the race this year and received 4 Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Best Song, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
The cinematography nomination is well deserved, and history making as Rachel Morrison became the first female cinematographer to be ever receive one. The film looks stunning and every shot captures the feeling of the Deep South in Forties America.
Mudbound tells the story of two families, the Macallan's and the Jackson's. Linked by land, the film explores their relationships defined by race, class and the fall out of WWII with both families giving their men to the war but find they are treated differently upon their return.
Performances across the board are as strong as the liquor and tensions that brewed in Mississippi, with particular standouts being Garret Hedlund, Jason Mitchell and Jonathan Banks as the deeply racist Pappy.
The film really comes into its own once the war is over and it explores the friendship between Hedlund's Jamie and Mitchell's Ronzell, which will ultimately come to define both families.
The main issue with the storytelling is the decision of director Dee Rees and screenwriter Virgil Williams is the over-reliance on voice-over narration.
Given it is adapted from a novel and this was the structure of the book, it is understandable however as Robert McKee in Adaptation would scream "...and God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character."
So not only does the audience get one voice-over, it gets six different characters narrating their own parts of the story and at times, the narrative becomes as clear as mud.
Thankfully the narration does not overshadow the performances and the result is a film that shows that if the commissioning team at Netflix continue to fund films and stories like this, they are Bound for glory.

3 stars

Early Man - review

One minute into Nick Park's new Aardman animation Early Man, a meteor hits the Earth killing off the dinosaurs yet leaving cavemen alive and miraculously unharmed with a football shaped meteorite to covet and play games with.
Not only does that meteor wipe out two dinosaurs (revealed in the end credits to be called Ray and Harry, in one of the film's few deft touches) but any chances of a fish-out-of-water storyline where a Stone Age Caveman must struggle to interact with the dawning of a new Bronze Age are also gone in sixty seconds.
For Early Man is actually nothing more than a prehistoric tribute to the Beautiful Game. It's no coincidence that the film lasts 90 minutes, the same length as a match.
Even if the takeaway from the first couple of minutes could be that the only people interested in football are neanderthals, it is clear that Park has an affection for football. One can even deduce his favourite team is probably Arsenal given that the characters who is the most proficient at the sport is called Goona.
There was certainly huge potential here. The primitive Stone Age vs the wealth of the Bronze Age in a match for the valley? It's an underdog story as strong as Leicester City's in the Premiership.
An early scene in the Bronze Age market with shops like Flint Eastwood and food stalls like Jurassic Pork showcased gags are sharp as flint and potential for jokes about the early men adapting to this new age but they are shown the red card in a game of two halves in favour of tropes such as training montages and bad sports puns as tired and old as the savages playing the game.
Talented voices like Tom Hiddleston (doing his best French Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail) give it their best shot but they are in a league of their own and let down by a script that is second division at best.
Aardman had a open goal in front of them. Instead Early Man is sent for an early bath!

1 star

Downsizing - review

There is a great movie somewhere in Downsizing. You just have to go looking for it... with a magnifying glass because it is buried deep in the heart of it and it does get overwhelmed and lost by the magnitude of the film's sci-fi proposition.
Downsizing does start very strongly indeed, with very big ideas as scientists discovering the technological process to reduce organic matter is size, with an eye to solving the problem of the world's overpopulation and consumption of natural resources.
Miniaturised colonies start springing up all over the world with humans "downsizing" to live a higher quality of life, as their money goes a lot further down there.
Matt Damon & Kristen Wiig play an a-typical American mid-western couple, struggling to get on the housing ladder in the "real" world. After visiting a high school reunion, they meet a couple of friends who made the move and discover they can live like millionaires and retire in LeisureLand: a Disneyland-style version of the perfect life. It IS a Small World after all!
The film is at its best during the first half of the movie as it deals with Damon and Wiig making the decision to change their lives (and bodies) forever.
There is a great deal of mileage to be run out of the social and economic satire provided by the scenario. The salespeople paint the image of a perfect lifestyle that helps the environment and doing their part to save the world but on the flip side, blue collar Americans chastise them for not providing enough to the US economy and should they retain the same rights if they are only 5 inches tall?
So it is disappointing that following a plot development at the mid-way point (sadly given away in the trailers) that could have provided the drive for the second half of the movie is forgotten in favour for staying in the downsized world.
Think about it. All of the great movies that have featured miniaturised people; Honey I Shrunk The Kids, Innerspace, Ant-Man, etc. The most memorable and exciting parts of the films have been seeing the tiny people interacting with the oversized environment around them.
It is admirable that Payne wanted to do something different, but it ultimately becomes another story about a man trying to find his place in the world and discovering that that brave new world is just like the real one. There is love, pain and despite the brochures painting the idyllic existence, the rich life the high life while the help live in poverty on the other side of a very tall wall (did Trump build Leisureland?).
Damon is nicely understated as everyman Paul Safranek to balance out Hong Chau's bold, brash Vietnamese refugee and the larger-than-life performance of Christoph Waltz as his new neighbour who introduces them to the hedonistic lifestyle afforded to them.
The final third of the film takes a drastic shift in plot and tone that while is somewhat in keeping with the big ideas set out at the beginning of the concept, it does little to advance the characters.
Ultimately the film is very much like the Downsizing procedure. Big on ideas and potential but the end product comes up short.

2 stars

Top Ten Things To See At Glasgow Film Festival 2018

Last night Glasgow Film Festival announced the full line up for this year and boy have that delivered once again.
Not only does the festival feature five of my 18 Most Anticipated Films of 2018 but over 330 events and screenings will take place in a variety of venues across the city including 13 World and European premieres, 77 UK premieres, 52 Scottish premieres and some incredibly special  event screenings.
The full brochure can be viewed and downloaded here but for now, here are my top ten screenings you should grab a ticket for when they go on sale at 10.00am on Monday 29th January*

*NB - not including the Opening Gala of Isle of Dogs as it is completely sold out!

Dawn Of The Dead

Sunday 25th February

1978's Dawn Of The Dead helped to define the zombie genre as we know it, as well as being a prescient social satire on consumerism. Glasgow Film Festival pride themselves on delivering some of the very best pop-up and interactive Event Cinema experiences each year and you can enjoy a 40th anniversary screening of this horror classic after evading zombies around the city centre in an interactive treasure hunt towards the film's secret location.

Die Hard

Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th February

The greatest Christmas film ever made is so good, you can even enjoy it in an office building in Glasgow in the middle of February. Welcome to the party pal!

Ghost Stories

Thursday 1st March

Frightfest returns to GFT for another two days of heart-pounding horror on the 2nd & 3rd March but it kicks off on the Thursday with the Scottish premiere of Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson's terrifying screen adaptation of their chilling stage show Ghost Stories. Nyman & Dyson will be there to introduce the film and take part in a Q&A following the screening.

Groundhog Day

Thursday 22nd February - Saturday 3rd March

One of the most frustrating things about a festival is that a film will generally only have one or two screenings and the times may clash with something else so you will inevitably miss something you really want to see. Well #GFF18 have thought of a genius and elegant solution to seeing a classic film during the festival. Because Groundhog Day will play every day from 22nd February to 3rd March at same time in the same place!

In Person: Ben Wheatley

Sunday 4th March

GFF favourite Ben Wheatley returns to the festival where he has debuted Down Terrace, High-Rise and Free Fire. This year he doesn't have a film to premiere so instead expect a hugely entertaining interview and Q&A as he talks about his career to date.

Lucky

Sunday 25th & Monday 26th February

Star of Alien, Repo Man and Pretty In Pink, Harry Dean Stanton was one of the finest character actors to ever grace the silver screen. Lucky is his final big screen performance and a fitting swansong to his immense talents and starring with his longtime collaborator David Lynch.

Sicilian Ghost Story

Thursday 1st & Friday 2nd March

A real-life Mafia kidnapping is transformed into a gothic, supernatural fantasy with echoes of Pan's Labyrinth as a young girl Luna attempts to find out what happened to her classmate Giuseppe when he is kidnapped by the Mafia to silence his father.

Surprise Film

Wednesday 28th February

Let the speculation begin! The annual surprise film screening always has people chipping in their two cents worth of opinions over what people might see. In the past the surprises have included The Voices, Love & Friendship and The Lost City Of Z. Personally, this year I'm thinking I, Tonya or The Leisure Seeker.

The Party's Just Beginning

Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th Febuary

Between filming the huge box office blockbusters Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and Avengers: Infinity War, the incredibly busy and talented Karen Gillan has found the time to write and direct her first feature film set in her hometown of Inverness. The story of a young woman coming to terms with the loss of a friend will debut at the festival with Gillan taking to the red carpet to introduce the film.

You Were Never Really Here

Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th February

Director Lynne Ramsay will receive a hero's welcome when she returns to her home town with her hard-boiled, brutal tale of Joaquin Phoenix's avenger Joe tasked with rescuing a Senator's daughter from the sex trade... by any means necessary.

Also bonus points for calling a strand of Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian film Pure Baltic!

When it comes to the Oscars, there is no such thing as a snub...

There is something that always bothers me about the 24 hour period after the Oscar nominations are announced. It happens every single year and this year is no different. Within hours of the announcements being made, the internet was awash with articles listing the "biggest snubs and surprises" of this year's nominations and it is the word snub that always riles me up.
The dictionary definition of snub is as follows:

Snub - "rebuff, ignore or spurn disdainfully" or "an act of rebuffing or ignoring someone or something"; "to insult someone by not giving them any attention or treating them as if they are not important"

This implies that a wilful intent to deliberately ignore the merits of a film or individual's contribution to that film but when it comes to the Oscars this is not really the case.
People do not go out of their way to actively campaign against someone getting a nomination and the system does not ask for members to vote against a person's performance.
If you want to look for something that cruelly mocks and rebuffs the efforts of filmmakers, then look no further than the Razzies e.g. mother! being nominated for multiple "awards".

Academy members are given one vote in each category to choose the single performance or work they were most impressed with. In certain categories, only members working in the same field may vote for their counterparts, as they are the most qualified to judge the work.

With 6687 members across a number of disciplines, it is an inevitability that some people will be overlooked or not even seen by everyone. No matter how much publicity certain films may receive or how many screeners are sent out.

So when a certain name is not read out during the nominations, it is not a snub. It is simply down to the fact they did not receive enough votes.

The more appropriate word would be "surprise" or "disappointment".

For example, it is deeply disappointing that Michael Stuhlbarg was not nominated for Call Me By Your Name. Particularly when you consider that he is in three of the nine nominated films for Best Picture. His monologue at the end of the film is beautiful and moving and the very definition of a supporting performance. Sadly he was up against strong performances from the five eventual nominees but also his co-star Armie Hammer who is the co-lead but placed in supporting category to avoid competing against Chalamet. Ultimately both missed out, potentially due to their votes being split between them.

Some of the names mentioned when it comes to the issue of today's "snubs" include Tom Hanks, The Florida Project, Wonder Woman, Martin McDonagh and James Franco.

Of these, the only one that could be considered a legitimate snub would be Franco. It is possible the negative news stories surrounding his sexual conduct put voters off, with the Academy keen to avoid any potential embarrassment on the night.
For everyone else, to complain about their omission from the list, implies that someone else who made the cut is not worthy of their spot. Can you say that, for example, Paul Thomas Anderson is not deserving of his Director nomination?

So when we talk about the Oscars, which is meant to be a celebration of film, let's stick to the positives and not the negatives.

Roll on March the 4th.

Oscars 2018 - Predicting the Nominations!

The Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow Tuesday 23rd January at 1:22pm and I thought it would be fun to try and predict who will be nominated in the main categories.

Best Picture

Best Picture is always a difficult one to accurately predict correctly ever since 2008 when The Dark Knight was shockingly left out of the nominations due to only having five nominees. I think we can all agree that it is a better film than all the nominees that year (Benjamin Button, The Reader, Frost/Nixon, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire).
Ever since then there has been anywhere between 5 and 10 nominees depending on the number of votes received. Then when it comes to the final vote once the nominees are announced, the ballot is done on a preferential vote system with the films ranked by choice by the voter.

So, given this year's Awards race. Here are my thoughts on what will appear on the final list:

Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Post
The Shape Of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


Best Director

Del Toro, McDonagh and Nolan are all locks in this category. Given the current climate in Hollywood, there will be a riot if a woman isn't nominated given the fact that the likes of Bigelow, Coppola and Jenkins all produced quality films and so Gerwig's indie darling so produce a nomination.
The only question mark is Jordan Peele who might end up making way for a more established name like Steven Spielberg or Denis Villeneuve.

Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape Of Water
Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
Jordan Peele - Get Out

Best Actress

As far as this category goes, there are four guaranteed names on the list with the fifth and final place up for grabs (even if this is still going to be a slam dunk for Frances McDormand this year).
With her pedigree and role in The Post, it would surprise no one to see another nomination for Meryl Streep but the acting categories often throw up a wild card and I'm going out on a limb and say it will be Jessica Chastain for Molly's Game.

Jessica Chastain - Molly's Game
Sally Hawkins - The Shape Of Water
Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
Saiorse Ronan - Lady Bird


Best Actor

Even though personally I wasn't that big a fan of his performance, the people of the Academy are pretty much already engraving Gary Oldman's name onto the Best Actor Oscar.
Chalamet's place is pretty much confirmed as well as he has been present and gracious runner up every step of the way. The Academy will not miss the opportunity to give Day Lewis a nomination for his final film. Although this must be the first time he will not be the favourite to win.
That leaves two places still to play for. Daniel Kaluuya has been consistently nominated for Get Out but I worry his performance is not "showy" enough for the academy and he might just miss out, opening the door for someone like Hanks or Washington. Similarly, having been a sure thing with the Globe win, Franco's place is on shaky ground given the recent new stories. However this was probably too late for the nomination process so expect his name to be read out.

Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name
Daniel Day Lewis - Phantom Thread
James Franco - The Disaster Artist
Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out
Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour



Best Supporting Actress

This the Oscar season where Mommy knows best with Janney and Metcalf's turns as the protagonist's mother guaranteed to be nominated and, given the SAG nomination, Hunter is likely to join them.
There is potential for a Wild Card entry in the form of Tiffany Haddish for Girls Trip. By all accounts it is a breakout star making performance and Melissa McCarthy was similarly nominated for Bridesmaids so there is form in this category.

Tiffany Haddish - Girls Trip
Holly Hunter - The Big Sick
Alison Janney - I, Tonya
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer - The Shape Of Water


Best Supporting Actor

The Oscar is Rockwell or Dafoe's to lose at this point but this is probably the most wide open category going into the nominations as the other three spots have varied from award to award. It is likely that Plummer's last minute replacement on All The Money In The World will score a nod.
That leaves the final two places as a fight between Woody Harrelson and the two men classified as Supporting Actor for Call Me By Your Name. Armie Hammer is one of the two lead characters in the film but placed here to avoid competing with Chalamet. This means that Stuhlbarg's pivotal supporting performance could potentially go unrewarded (which is a shame as his monologue at the end was one of the standout moments from 2017). He is also starring in 3 potential Best Picture nominees which hasn't happened since John C. Reilly in 2003.

Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Plummer - All The Money In The World
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Michael Stuhlbarg - Call Me By Your Name


Best Original Screenplay

The Big Sick
Get Out
Lady Bird
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


Best Adapted Screenplay

Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Logan
Molly's Game
Mudbound