Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! - Review

Where do you begin with a film like Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again? A film which is critic-proof with a guaranteed audience? Is it possible to hold it up to the same standards as other summer blockbusters?
Will simple things such as plot and characterisation matter when this movie will make a ton of Money, Money, Money?
The simple answer is... No!
Here We Go Again is simultaneously a sequel and a prequel to the unexpected smash hit based on the jukebox musical.
The issue with following that is the musical wasn't planning on any follow ups so they cherry picked the best songs first time round. Once you get through classics like Waterloo and Mamma Mia, you realise that they've exhausted the ABBA Gold album and you are left with the likes of I've Been Waiting For You and, er, Andante, Andante?
However the biggest problem with the film is the giant gaping plot holes visible from space.
For example, Donna's mother is referred to in the past tense in the first film but is alive now. How?
There are multiple references to events between Meryl Streep's character and her three lovers in the original that are forgotten about here. It's as if the screenwriters did not go back and watch it before putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboards).

Instead, all they seemed to focus on was shoehorning in ABBA songs into a back story that explains the origins of Donna's dungarees. So it will surprise absolutely no one that there is a character called Fernando in this.
Then there is the timeline. My word the timeline. If fans have issues with the complicated Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) timeline, they are nothing compared to the Mamma Mia Cinematic Universe (MMCU).
Starting off with Donna and the Dynamos at University in 1979, in which they sing I Just Kissed The Teacher that is an incredibly problematic song in that it implies the abuse of a child and would result in expulsion or jail time for the teacher involved.
If Donna meets the three men in late 1979 and has her baby in early 1980, this would make Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) 38 years old in this film set in 2018.
However, in the original set in 2008, Sophie is said to be 20 years old. Meaning that she was born in 1988.
Bit of a head scratcher huh? But it makes sense in order to cast younger versions of their characters with actors in their mid-twenties.
Of the younglings, particular praise goes to Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies as the young Christine Baranski and Julie Walters, who absolutely nail it.
The rest of them don't fair so well. They are all perfectly capable actors but you never really buy into them becoming their older incarnations. Why cast Josh Dylan as a young Stellan Skarsgard when you could have actually cast one of his sons like Alexander or Bill?
Oh yeah, and let's not forget the Streep shaped elephant in the room. The main talking point from the trailers before the film was released. Yes. It's true. It's all true and thrown away with a minimal amount of dialogue that it is genuinely shocking and you won't believe it is real all the way through.
But in spite of all of these negatives... it is impossible not to get swept along with it all and leaving with a smile on your face and a spring in your step. And a lot of that comes down to one single reason.
Cher.
From the moment she arrives on the Greek island dressed as Lady Gaga, the whole thing shifts up a gear.
Have you ever been at karaoke with a group of friends, all having a laugh and enjoying yourselves, when one friend gets up and takes the whole so seriously that you wonder why you even bothered showing up?
That is exactly how the rest of the cast musty have felt when she started blasting out Fernando.
She is on a whole other level and like the Ronaldo or Messi of the Mamma Mia ensemble.
The whole gang are enjoying themselves though and director Ol Parker gives it a technical flourish with some editing transitions, particularly in the musical number One of Us, that are superb and seem like they are deserving of a better film.
Some critics have called this The Godfather Part II of musicals. Understandable given its prequel/sequel storyline but also because it makes you an toe-tapping, OTT, enjoyable offering you can't refuse.

3 stars

The Post - review

Picture the scene. An angry, irate President of the United States is on his phone, badmouthing and threatening the nation's newspapers for publishing stories that show their decision making, character and government in bad light.

Ah, it's almost too easy isn't it.

Back in 1971, The Pentagon Papers scandal, 7000 pages of classified government documents that proved that a number of administrations had deceived the American people about the Vietnam war, saw the owner and editor of The Washington Post put everything on the line to fight for their rights under the first amendment and freedom of press. Not only to keep their paper going but for the rights of all newspapers.
Astoundingly, this is a fight that is still going on today in the era of "Fake News" and "Alternative Facts". Now, more than ever, the papers still have a duty and an obligation to hold our governments accountable. Because as editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) says "If we don't, who will?"
The decision to publish ultimately lies with the owner of the paper, Katherine "Kay" Graham (Meryl Streep) who has taken over the running of the family business. Originally passed over in favour of her husband, she assumed the role following his tragic death.
The Post might not win the big awards this year but it would certainly win the title of Most Socially Relevant Film of 2018. Even though it is based on historical fact, you couldn't have scripted a more timely and important film for the times we live in. For not only is the integrity and freedom of the press under attack but with the current #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, the role of women in society and business is going through a period of tremendous change.
When the audience is first introduced to Kay, she is not seen as an equal by the entirely male members of the board. She has men talking over her or mansplained to on a constant basis.
Yet she finds the resolve to take ownership of her paper and decides to publish the story, no matter the cost.
Sarah Paulson, as Bradlee's wife, gives an affective and moving speech about Graham's bravery in standing up to the board and choosing to run the paper in her own way and how hard it must have been.
"When you've been told time and time again that you are not there, it's hard to believe that's not true"
It's a quote that is still resonant today and it can be applied to the woman who have courageously chosen to stand up and hold men accountable for their actions.
The most shocking thing about The Post is not the fact that some 46 years on, we are still having the same arguments about the freedom of the press or that men find the idea of a female boss astounding.
No, the most surprising fact about The Post is that it is the first time that Spielberg, Streep and Hanks have worked together. This dream team coasts along, all within their comfort zone, and while they might not be firing on all cylinders, even an average day for this trip is a great day for cinema and ultimately delivers a stirring ode to the power of the press, a wonderful nostalgic look at the old school methods that reporters had to use to find their sources and publish the news (there was no Google and no internet). It's little wonder that there are so many scenes of people anxiously waiting on or receiving phone calls.
One even wonders if Tom Hanks himself supplied all the vintage typewriters used in the Washington Post offices?
It reminds us that we have come on leaps and bounds since the Seventies but there is still a lot of vital work to do. As evidence by the final scenes where a woman is relaying the Supreme Court's verdict that "Freedom of press for the governed not the Governors", only to be shouted over by a man who has received the information by fax!
It is also admirable that Spielberg ends the film with a scene that could have served as a post credit sting setting up the Watergate scandal and a Washington Post Extended Universe linking to All The President's Men.

4 stars

The Giver - review

The Giver is the story of a society that following a non-descriptive event known as "The Ruin" live in a Utopian community where there is no war, pain, suffering or choice due to them erasing the memories of the past and living by a series of rules which include "don't lie" and "use precise language" which presumably means no txt speak.

The eponymous Giver of the title is played by Elder Jeff Bridges who is The Keeper Of Memories, the only one in the community to have knowledge of the past, and is tasked to pass on the truth behind the society and his Dude-like wisdom to The Receiver via a series of unintelligible grumbles and vivid flashbacks.

The film might be based on a 1993 novel but suffers from a lack of originiality as it comes across as an amalgam of other science fiction stories and films like The Island, The Village and Logan's Run.

They say it is always better to give than to receive so it is recommended that you give this film a miss.

2 stars

August: Osage County - review

We've all probably had a family dinner like the one that is the centrepiece of August: Osage County.

Arguments as heated as the roast potatoes, secrets are revealed, dirty laundry is aired, a ruined dish here, spilt drink, spilt blood there, etc, etc.

All bets are off as the Weston family spectacularly implodes over the funeral dinner that brought them all back together.

Based on the play by Tracy Letts (who also wrote Killer Joe); the story, action and resulting fallout take place over a few days however I feel that if it had all taken place in the space of a couple of hours over dinner, then this could have been a great film.

Unfortunately it doesn't really come to life until this moment (ironic being that it is a death that causes this) and then fails to recapture that magic later on (although Julia Roberts does here best with a foul-mouthed tirade about eating the "f*cking fish bitch!").

No mistake about it, this film is all about the Weston Girls (played by Streep, Roberts, Lewis, Nicholson and Martindale), and people claim there are no good roles for women out there. I have no doubt that this particular film would pass the Bechdel Test multiple times over.

Don't get me wrong, they do talk about men but it ain't pretty. Men do not come off well in this story. At all! One dies, one has cheated on his wife, one is possibly slightly mentally retarded and another is a potential drug-taking paedophile.

Each man is there as a plot point or way for Meryl Streep's matriarch Violet to pour scorn on her daughters, which leads to the ultimate showdown between herself and eldest daughter Barb (Roberts).

It is here that Roberts comes into her own, going toe to toe with Streep and delivering an excellent performance which will leave us all asking the same question: are we destined to turn into our parents or can we change our fate?

August, with a mouth-watering buffet of talent on offer might make it seem like a Michelin-star feast awaits yet with some meaty turns on show here it will ultimately leave you slightly in satisfied and hungry for more.

3 stars

P.S. this may seem incredibly harsh given the reasons for her character's appearance but I could not get this image out of my mind after Streep's first appeared on screen...