Vice - Review

Adam McKay actually foreshadowed his work on Vice back in 2004 with his breakout comedy classic Anchorman. In the final moments of the film, the narrator informs the audience that Brick Tamland would go on to become one of the top political advisors... to the Bush administration.
Fast forward to 2019 and we have Steve Carell playing Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense for George W. Bush. Now that is one hell of a long game payoff for a gag.
That is just one small way of indicating to the audience that this is not going to be your standard rags-to-riches, rise and fall Oscar bait biopic (albeit one that has been nominated for 8 Oscars).
What McKay attempts instead is to try and give audiences some understanding of who Dick Cheney was as a person and the circumstances that led to him becoming, arguably, the most powerful man in the world and the puppet master behind Dubya.
This is achieved using a similar style to his Oscar-winning The Big Short, which tried to explain how the 2008 financial crisis occurred. There is narration from a third party, cutaways, flashbacks, Shakespearean soliloquies and even a wonderful premature end credit sequence where Cheney lived happily ever after and never entered politics again... before Bush calls him to be VP.
Compared to The Big Short, Vice comes up a little short in terms of the visual impact of its storytelling but what it does have is a true powerhouse of a performance from Christian Bale "channeling Satan" to become Dick Cheney.
Propped up by his devoted wife Lynne (Amy Adams), they are like a real life Frank and Claire Underwood as they plot and scheme their way to absolute power.
Bale is so good in the role that he simply disappears and becomes Cheney, and goes as far to make this reviewer doubt himself and nearly come away thinking, "well at least Cheney did have one redeeming quality, he was a devoted, loyal family man"... but then right at the end he shows his true colours!
Cheney might not have ever had the top job in US politics but there is a very good chance that Bale will take top honours on Oscar night.
Vice, like a drug, shows that power is an addiction but just like narcotics, it lures you in, gets you hooked but ultimately needing and wanting more from it.

3 stars

A Star Is Born - Review

“Music is essentially 12 notes between any octave - 12 notes and the octave repeats. It’s the same story told over and over, forever. All any artist can offer this world is how they see those 12 notes. That’s it”
If you boil it right down, the argument is that there are only seven types of story that are told (comedy, tragedy, etc), and one of them is A Star Is Born. That is why Hollywood continues to make this timeless story and ultimately it is down to the director and stars to put their own unique spin on the material.
What Bradley Cooper has done here in his directorial debut, and one hates to be cliche but it is like Simon Cowell on the X Factor would say, “You’ve taken that song that we all know and made it your own”.
For those who have not seen any of the previous versions and unfamiliar with the story, it centres around an established artist whose star is slowly fading due to age and troubles with alcohol. They meet an amazing talent who they fall in love with and help turn into a superstar. A star that threatens to burn so bright that they will be caught up in the blaze.
In this version it is country rock star Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), who discovers Ally (Lady Gaga) singing in a drag bar one night after a show. He is utterly bewitched, much as the audience will be, by her talent. After a soulful and heartfelt “meet-cute” night, he invites her up on stage to sing one of her songs which he has arranged and the proverbial star is duly born.
Not only does Cooper’s character do this in the film but also in real life because with this film, Cooper is showcasing Lady Gaga’s incredible talent to the world.
Now I know what you’re thinking. We already know who Lady Gaga is. Well, you have never seen her like this.
It would not have been all that surprising if Lady Gaga had used her real name Stefani Gerrmanotta because this is an artist stripped of everything that made her “Lady Gaga”.
Gone are the catchy pop hits, the choreographed dance routines, the dresses made of meat. This is Gaga Unplugged In New York and she is utterly spellbinding and magnetic on screen.
A lot of the praise for the movie will focus on Gaga and in a case of life imitating art, it will be at the expense of B-Coop but nothing should take away what, for him, is a career-best performance.
I will admit that in the past I haven’t really got the praise for Cooper that has led to him being nominated for four Academy Awards. I mean this is “the guy from The Hangover”.
However he is superb as the grizzled veteran with the gravely voice who is destined to burn out rather than fade away.
During the opening scenes, his deep, gravelled voice was slightly disconcerting. It sounded so familiar, it was difficult to place. That was until his brother appeared, played by Sam Elliot. Cooper is doing Elliot’s voice, who accuses him of stealing his voice, and you can totally visualise him as a younger version of The Stranger in The Big Lebowski. You just keep waiting for him to call some “Dude”.
Not only is his performance on point but Cooper's direction is fantastic. He gives the musical performances (captured at real music festivals including Glastonbury and Coachella) an authenticity and intimacy. Traits that carry through to the relationship and chemistry between the leads.

There is also a wise decision to not rely on the social media narrative too heavily in the meteoric rise to fame of Ally.

It would have been too easy to have segments with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and TMZ commenting on "Who is she?", "Who is Ally?" etc along the fallout from the Grammys.

The absence of this keeps the narrative on how the ascension and decline of the star-crossed lovers affects their relationship. It also helps to avoid prematurely ageing the film, keeping some of its timeless quality.
The only bum note in the whole production is Rafi Gavron as Ally’s manager. It is understandable that they want to have a younger face, given the music industry as it is, however Gavron never truly comes across as credible and is certainly not imposing or threatening enough in the scenes where he tries to convince Jackson that he is finished with Ally. Cooper could floor him with one punch.
The end result is a near perfect cover version that is as good if not better than the original song.
Having remade A Star Is Born once, one hopes that if Cooper and Gaga take the stage at the Oscars next year, that they don’t recreate the James Mason/Judy Garland version as well.

4 stars

Annihilation (Netflix Originals) - review

Annihilation is a film about a team of scientists who enter "the Shimmer", an environmental disaster area of unknown origin, unsure if they will emerge from the other side.
Writer-Director Alex Garland must have felt a bit like that during the post-production process, wondering if the finished film would ever see the light of day.
The much publicised studio stories claim executives at Paramount felt the film was "too intellectual" and wanted Garland to make changes.
He refused and this resulted in them giving it a small, short theatrical run in America but giving Netflix the international rights.
Now this once again opens up the argument over the audience benefits of a non-theatrical release. 

Some are outraged that they cannot watch it on a cinema screen as the director intended. Others claim that by releasing on the streaming service, more people will watch it there than ever would in a cinematic environment.
Who is right? Well, in this particular case, both are right in some ways.
Following his Oscar-winning Ex_Machina, Garland has moved up in terms of scale from a theatrical three-way chamber piece on what it means to be human, to a much grander (wo)men on a mission story where a group of people (possibly literally) meet their maker.
Natalie Portman plays Lena, a biologist who's soldier husband (Oscar Isaac) has been missing in action for over a year. Consumed by grief, she is all but lost when one day he returns to her dazed and confused. Falling ill he is taking to a military base where she learns he is the only person to have returned from "the Shimmer". Wanting to know what happened to her husband, Lena volunteers to join a team heading in to find the source of the Phenomenon.
Inside the all-female team find plant and animal life that should not exist in nature, along with very real and dangerous threats to their existence, including each other. For the deeper they venture in to the area, the more their connection to reality starts to slip.
Annihilation is a film that was shot to be experienced on the big screen. It has some of the most stunning and visually arresting images you will see all year and some of the impact will understandably be lost if watching it on a laptop or iPhone for example. But its power is in no way diminished and the film's imagery and story will stay with audiences days after watching it.
It is certainly not a film that everyone will appreciate on an initial viewing. The trailer entices audiences in with a brief set up of the story and focuses on certain moments of action and horror but in reality the film has much more in common with films like Arrival and Under The Skin, with a hint of Event Horizon.
That is music to the ears of some film fans to be sure. Arrival and Under The Skin are both five star classics (even if Skin took a few viewings to truly appreciate) and Event Horizon is now a cult classic. However these are not instantly accessible films that found big audiences at the cinema. For Event Horizon in particular, it was the home video market where it truly came alive and that is where Annihilation has the opportunity to grow its potential fanbase.
While there will be some people who just don't get it, there will be some who find it akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey in its themes and messages about humanity. They will spread the word and build up its cult status for years to come. Potentially even organising underground guerilla screenings.
It's legacy on the science fiction genre certainly won't be annihilated. If anything, this is just the beginning!

5 stars

Lady Bird - review

For many years, possibly unfairly, thanks to films such as Damsels In Distress, Frances Ha and Mistress America, Gerwig became synonymous as many cinemagoers idea of the a-typical New York generation X hipster who would live in an loft-style apartment in Brooklyn and be more concerned with going out and putting their dinner on Instagram than having a proper job.
However, with her debut feature film as writer-director Greta Gerwig proves that a beautiful Lady Bird is just waiting to emerge from the cocoon of the cover girl for manic, hipster pixie girls.
Being a 38 year old man from Aberdeen, Scotland, this reviewer had no idea what it would have been like for an 18 year old girl growing up in a Catholic school in Sacramento, California but having watched this honest and heartfelt coming-of-age story, they do know.
A large part of this comes from Saoirse Ronan's award worthy performance as the fiercely independent, eponymous Lady Bird and the rest from Gerwig's direction and script based partly on her own experiences of growing up in Sacramento.
The film has a truthfulness and honesty that is enhanced by the attention to detail that successfully creates a period film set in 2002 (which is incredibly depressing for this formerly young reviewer who also would know all the words to Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill album. But then again who didn't back then?).
While Lady Bird provides the wit and warmth, the real heart comes from the relationship between her and her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf). It has an authenticity to it where you believe every interaction between whether it comes from anger or love, all tempered by the quietly calming influence of Tracy Letts as the father. In fact it is probably the best example of a cinematic parent/daughter relationship since Olive, Rosemary and Dill Penderghast in Easy A.
At one point Marion tells Lady Bird, "I just want you to be the very best version of yourself you can be" and she replies "What if this is the best version?".
Well if this is the best version of Greta Gerwig, then she certainly has a long and successful career in front of her... and not just as a t-shirt!

4 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

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

Darkest Hour - review

That Dunkirk spirit is well and truly alive and in full force at the moment in the UK. Following 2017's Their Finest and Christopher Nolan's cinematic masterpiece Dunkirk last July, it seems that filmmakers are not heeding Basil Fawlty's advice and can stop mentioning the war!
For Darkest Hour which shows what was happening across the channel as the men waited, and waited, for their salvation and evacuation.
Not only is Dunkirk the flavour of the month but this is the third screen characterisation of Winston Churchill in the last 12 months, following Brian Cox's Churchill and John Lithgow's portrayal in The Crown.
Churchill is so popular at the moment, don't be surprised if you see a feature length adaptation of the Churchill nodding dog put into production by the end of the week!
Director Joe Wright also returns to the issue of Dunkirk, 10 years on from filming that incredible single take tracking shot of James McAvoy and the troops on the beach in Atonement. However there is very little of that inventiveness and bravura filmmaking style on show here. It sadly falls into the trap that many biopics of British subjects and heroes can fall into, in that it feels more like a Sunday night BBC drama than a film destined to be enjoyed on the big screen. Yes, I'm talking about you The King's Speech (and on that topic, I much preferred Ben Mendelsohn's take on George VI than Firth's).
The only time the visual flair exhibited in the dance sequence in Pride & Prejudice and every frame of Atonement and Anna Karenina came into view was the shots of Churchill in lifts surrounding by darkness or peering through windows, slowly increasing his sense of isolation from the cabinet and imprisonment within his belief to do what he believes is right for the British people.
The film does capture how alone Churchill was in his stance against the impending pressures of Nazi Germany, feeling like he was one man against the world.
The film is perhaps too effective at this however as ultimately Darkest Hour is a two hour drama built on the foundation of one performance of bluster and bravado by Gary Oldman.
From the first time we see Churchill, Oldman disappears beneath the prosthetics and costume to completely embody the British Bulldog, and stomps, shouts and chews as much scenery as he does cigars that no one else can barely register an impact on screen. Even the great Kristin Scott Thomas gets left in the shadows as his wife Clemmie.
Rather than a big screen adaptation, Oldman's Churchill might have been better suited to a one man show on the West End where he performed some of his greatest speeches to a captive audience.
While there is no denying Winston's impact and legacy on British history, the Darkest Hour is unlikely to be the brightest moment in the history books of Oldman and British cinema. Even if it does bring him a shiny golden Oscar.

2 stars

All The Money In The World - review

In 1973, J. Paul Getty, the richest man in the world, was faced with a scandal - his grandson Paul was kidnapped by a gang of Italian criminals and held to ransom - and when asked what he would pay to solve the problem, he simply replied "nothing".

The film All The Money In The World, follows the trials and tribulations of Paul's mother Abigail (played with sympathy and strength by Michelle Williams) as she spent months battling an empire and the mob when all she wanted was her son back.

In November of last year, Sir Ridley Scott was put in a similar position when his film was rocked by the Kevin Spacey scandal. Threatened with having a film that would be tarnished by his reputation, that could be pulled from distribution and ruining the hard work of thousands of people on the production, Scott wasted no time in declaring his intent to save his film, whatever the cost. For Scott would attempt the impossible, with a release date of 18th December, he would reshoot all the scenes with original choice for Getty, Christopher Plummer, re-edit the film and release it on date - in just four weeks.

And he only went and delivered on his promise!

It is safe to say that for many people in the industry and those who follow the news, All The Money In The World is now less of a film and more of a statement. A cautionary tale to everyone in Hollywood during the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements, that there is a shift in attitudes now and that people will be held accountable for their actions and that even after filming, you can and will be replaced if necessary.

But what of the finished film? Is it any good? Or does that even matter any more? Is anyone going to see the movie for the story or are they now just going to see if they can spot the joins, for a chance to see if they can spot the man behind the curtain frantically trying to hold it all together?

Well, early reports of the figure of Getty playing a minor role were false, as he is an integral character to the plot and even when not on screen, his presence looms over everyone, driving their every move and motivation.

Even with only nine days to prepare, Christopher Plummer seems like he was always meant to play Getty. He has a charisma, charm and menace that make it, ironically, impossible to imagine anyone else in the role and for the most part, his inclusion in the film is seamless.

The only time the switch is really visible is some slightly sub-par CGI during the Saudi desert scenes where Plummer has clearly been placed over Spacey, but to be fair that would have been the most expensive to reshoot.

It is easy to see why he has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor awards recently. While he is unlikely to win given he is up against stronger performances in the category from the likes of Dafoe and Rockwell, to deliver what he did in nine days (at the age of 88) under the circumstances, it is a great story and Hollywood loves a drama and the ability to spin it to its own ends.

As you would come to expect from a Ridley Scott film, it looks like a million bucks (or should that be a billion dollars?), sadly however the film plods along rather undramatically. Like Getty and his negotiations, the film takes its time and it approaches the end of its 132 minutes, you can’t help but feel like Paul Getty and his mother Abigail would have done and wish that the whole ordeal was over and done with.

So ultimately an unremarkable film was provided with a truly remarkable behind-the-scenes story which will ultimately guarantee it a wider audience and a fair share of awards and nominations which ironically proves that All The Money In The World can buy you success!

3 stars

Golden Globe Predictions 2018

The Golden Globes are this Sunday and it is time for my annual attempt at predicting the winners. This year more than any will be difficult to do as the majority of the films have not yet received a UK release, which means that I will have to rely on guess work rather than actual opinion in most cases... although public opinion and critics views often can amount to nothing when it comes to the Globes!

Expect the ceremony and speeches to be more important and talked about than the actual results.

Best Picture - Drama

• Call Me By Your Name
• Dunkirk
• The Post
• The Shape Of Water - WINNER
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The Post is the most topical film but The Shape Of The Water is the most nominated film on the night so my vote goes to Del Toro's unconventional love story.

Best Picture - Comedy or Musical

• The Disaster Artist
• Get Out - WINNER
• The Greatest Showman
• I, Tonya
• Lady Bird

The Globe will come down to two of the best reviewed films Lady Bird and Get Out. Get Out is "The Martian" of the category and this could tip the odds in its favour so expect it to win on the night.

Best Actress - Drama

• Jessica Chastain - Molly's Game
• Sally Hawkins - The Shape Of Water
• Frances McDormand - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - WINNER
• Meryl Streep - The Post
• Michelle Williams - All The Money In The World

Hawkins is the front runner on paper but expect McDormand's foulmouthed tour-de-force performance to scoop the gong.

Best Actress - Comedy or Musical

• Judi Dench - Victoria & Abdul
• Margot Robbie - I, Tonya - WINNER
• Saiorse Ronan - Lady Bird
• Emma Stone - Battle Of The Sexes
• Helen Mirren - The Leisure Seeker

Dames Mirren and Dench don't stand a chance but receive their obligatory nominations anyway. The odds are in favour of Saiorse Ronan but I have a feeling Margot Robbie will sweep in with a crowbar and take the victory from under Ronan's feet.

Best Actor - Drama

• Timothee Chalamet - Call Me By Your Name
• Daniel Day-Lewis - Phantom Thread
• Tom Hanks - The Post
• Gary Oldman - The Darkest Hour - WINNER
• Denzel Washington - Roman J. Israel, Esq

I could see the Globes giving the award to Day-Lewis as a glorious farewell, if the rumours of retirement are true, but the money seems to be on Oldman's cigar and scenery-chewing turn as Churchill which wins the bonus points of playing a real life person.

Best Actor - Comedy or Musical

• Steve Carell - Battle Of The Sexes
• Ansel Elgort - Baby Driver
• James Franco - The Disaster Artist - WINNER
• Hugh Jackman - The Greatest Showman
• Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out

Can't see anyone but Franco taking this one due to his total commitment of transforming into Tommy Wiseau.

Best Director

• Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape Of Water - WINNER
• Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
• Ridley Scott - All The Money In The World
• Steven Spielberg - The Post

Given the current political climate in Hollywood, it would be tempting for them to award Ridley Scott for managing to recast and reshoot Spacey's role in just a few weeks before release, but I think that Del Toro will take the prize.

Best Supporting Actress

• Mary J. Blige - Mudbound
• Hong Chau - Downsizing
• Alison Janney - I, Tonya
• Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird - WINNER
• Octavia Spencer - The Shape Of Water

I haven't seen any of these films so going to have to go with the popular opinion on this one with Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird but Janney could run her close from what I have seen in the trailers for I, Tonya.

Best Supporting Actor

• Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
• Armie Hammer - Call Me By Your Name
• Richard Jenkins - The Shape Of Water
• Christopher Plummer - All The Money In The World - WINNER
• Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

This is a year where Dafoe, Rockwell or Hammer could easily win and be worthy winners but I can't see anyone but Plummer winning due to the incredible story that goes with his late replacement taking over from Spacey.

Best Original Score

• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
• The Shape Of Water
• Phantom Thread
• The Post
• Dunkirk - WINNER

Fully expect Hans Zimmer's score that drives the entire movie forward and had audiences' knuckles turning white with tension to win.

Best Screenplay

• The Shape Of Water
• Lady Bird
• The Post
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - WINNER
• Molly's Game

Not surprised to see Sorkin nominated but McDonagh's scripts are always incredibly quotable so Three Billboards will win One Globe.

Best Foreign Language Film

• A Fantastic Woman
• First They Killed My Father
• In The Fade
• Loveless
• The Square - WINNER

Having not seen any of the nominated films, picking the winner of the Palme D'Or The Square.

Best Animated Film

• The Boss Baby
• The Breadwinner
• Ferdinand
• Coco
• Loving Vincent - WINNER

Going for a punt with Loving Vincent. Not your traditional nominee but would be a worthy winner.

Glasgow Film Festival: Closing Gala - Force Majeure

The 2015 Glasgow Film Festival drew to a close this evening with their Gala film premiere of the Oscar-nominated Swedish film Force Majeure.

Described by Festival Co-Director Allan Gardner as "Bergman on skis", this is a darkly comic story that sees a family nearly torn apart due to the actions (or inactions) of the father during a crisis.

While on a skiing holiday in France, a family witness an avalanche. As it rolls towards them, the dad makes a run for it while the mother protects the children.

No one is hurt but the damage is done as the relationship between Tomas and Ebba begins to crack and fracture when Tomas is unwilling to admit that he ran away.

It becomes a battle of the sexes with a rich vein of black humour running through its heart as family arguments broaden out to bring in friends and they are forced to pick sides.

For a while, it looked like the film was snowballing towards a bleak ambiguous ending with no real resolution (because let's face it, sometimes an argument is never really finished. How many times has something you've done in the past been brought up against you?) but the optimists out there will see potential for redemption.

It is a film that is guaranteed to generate debate/discussion/arguments on leaving the screen as to what you would do or what you think others would do in that situation.

Snow joking around, Force Majeure is a darkly comic force to be reckoned with.

4 stars

Whiplash - review

Back at school, we all had that one teacher that took a particular shine to us (not in that way) and encouraged us to be better and achieve our goals, and in Whiplash a promising young drummer finds that person in the form of music professor Fletcher, played by J.K. Simmons.

But be warned, this is no Dead Poets Society. There is no "Carpe Diem" or "Oh Captain my captain" to be found here.

Simmons is a shoe in for an Oscar nomination as the tyrannical teacher who terrorises his students both physically, emotionally and verbally in order to force them to fulfill their potential and elevate his band. He spits out insults at a rapid tempo that are simultaneously obscene yet have a rhythmic musicality that build towards a combustible crescendo and he emerges as the most eloquent executioner of profanity since Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker.

This film is what would have happened if R. Lee Emrey's drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket had pursued a career in music instead of the armed forces.

Miles Teller (who performed all of his own drumming) is equally impressive as the ambitious student who is put through the proverbial wringer and following in the footsteps of other films which deal with performance and obsession (Birdman, The Wrestler, Black Swan), it is not certain whether or not there will be a happy outcome for Andrew.

At times it might seem like a horror or psychological thriller but at its heart, Whiplash is a love story... it's just that Andrew is confused as to what is his true love.

Is it Nicole, the cute girl at his local cinema? Is it the drums? Or in a case of a quote from Birdman, "you confuse love with admiration", is it actually Fletcher?

There is enough homoerotic insults and symbolism (or should that be "cymbalism") being thrown around to argue this point. Fletcher certainly seems to take a sado-masochistic pleasure in watching Andrew violently beating his four skins.

Damien Chazelle has written and directed an incredible film that simply crackles and fizzes with energy and passion, and this is nowhere more apparent than in the finale where the editing is exemplary as Andrew and Fletcher prepare for a final showdown.

So don't drag your heels. Rush out and catch this film that is destined to win BAFTAs, Oscars and all that jazz.

5 stars

The Rewrite - review

For a movie about screenwriting and teaching its rules and conventions, The Rewrite is so cliched and conventional that it desperately needed a few rewrites of its own to help it break away and stand out from of the dozens of Hugh Grant starring rom-coms already out there.

Indeed it could be seen as a reflection of Grant's own career.

A man striving to recapture the highs of the beginning of his career (Four Weddings And Funeral) but finds that an unexpected career change (fighting the tabloids) brings him the peace and happiness he has been searching for.

Recently his film roles have been few and far between, seeming like Grant had almost given up and at the beginning of the film he appears to be sleepwalking through the first act as he reproduces his About A Boy-schtick; behaving like a petulant child, sleeping with young women and doing as little as possible to coast through life but once he has his Dead Poet's Society moment of inspiration, Grant threatens to look like he might be enjoying himself on screen again.

Grant's Keith Michaels at one point claims screenwriting can't be taught and its certainly true with The Rewrite as anyone who has ever watched a movie could write the ending to this movie after reading a 30 page draft which takes its star for Granted,

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...

American Hustle - review

David O. Russell reunites with Oscar-winner Bale and nominee Adams from The Fighter and Oscar-winner Lawrence and nominee Cooper from Silver Linings Playbook for this outrageous tale of comments, corruption, cleavage and combovers in the Seventies.

With the addition of Jeremy Renner, O. Russell has assembled himself an ensemble cast of superhero proportions with the movie becoming an unofficial Marvel/D.C. crossover featuring Batman, Lois Lane, Hawkeye, Mystique and Rocket Raccoon.

Partly based on the real-life ABSCAM scandals, Bale & Adams play a couple of small time hustlers who are forced into running an entrapment con on Renner's sympathetic mark, the Mayor of New Jersey Carmine Polito.

Starting out as a relatively simple con, Cooper's over-ambitious and quick-tempered FBI agent keeps expanding the reach of the investigation and things soon spiral out of control thanks to the involvement of Bale's wife played by Jennifer Lawrence and a mobster connection with a rather familiar face.

From Bale's committed turn as Irving, with a combover as complicated and elaborate as the cons he's running and Adams's fake English accent and dresses that are so low-cut her cleavage probably deserved its own screen credit, down to Alessandro Nivola's crazy Christopher Walken impression as an FBI boss, there is not a weak link in the whole cast.

However if it was possible to single one standout performance from an entire movie of standouts, it would have to be Jennifer Lawrence.

Lawrence doesn't even bother to pull any type of con, rather she straight up, brazingly steals every scene she is in.
Whether it is cleaning the house while singing Live And Let Die or making sure audiences will be referring to their microwave as "Science Oven" from now on, as younger, unstable New Jersey housewife, it's a role that is likely to bag her another Oscar nomination if not another gold statue.

Despite the fantastic recreation of the period, with particular mention going to Michael Wilkinson's costume design and the hair and makeup team, the film does tend to lose its way as the con becomes increasingly more complicated.

Rumour has it that a lot of the dialogue was improvised from the cast which had an influence on the plot, which has led to a lack of overall cohesiveness.

What it resulted in however is an unexpectedly hilarious movie with much of the comedy coming from Cooper's character and the one of the best running gags in years where he tries to find out the end of his boss's story about ice fishing and its relation to the case.

Like any good con, the performances are top notch and while you'll initially leave satisfied you might be left with the feeling that you've been had.

3 stars