Review: Amazing Grace (2018/19)

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Sam S-P
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Heart and Soul: 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks/Al’s Records And Tapes

This might be stating the obvious but Aretha Franklin had a voice that made you sit up and take notice. I don’t think I’d ever watched extended footage of her singing live. AMAZING GRACE, the salvaged footage of an abandoned concert movie is a fine old re-introduction to the Queen of Soul.

In 1972, at the height of her fame, Aretha Franklin performed two shows on consecutive nights at a Baptist church in Los Angeles. These performances were filmed but die to a combination of technical problems and Franklin’s own demands the footage never saw the light of day, until now.

Watching Franklin’s clearly nervy start to this unique and very intimate show blossom into a controlled powerhouse performance as the music, the faith and the passion take over is spine-tingling stuff. Her performance stands on its own but seeing her audience, and some of her band and the choir backing her completely overcome with wave after wave of emotion seals the deal.

If it wasn’t Aretha Franklin we’re talking about, you might think the host of this low-key, and yet massive event, one Reverend James Cleveland, would steal the show. He’s just such a magnetic presence, pure charisma and divine showmanship. But after Aretha gets over some early show jitters, there’s no eclipsing her. Reverend Cleveland himself, surely the draw to much of his congregation every Sunday has to take a moment to collect himself when the Queen of Soul reaches transcendence in her gospel delivery.

Playing amateur psychologist, I think Aretha and her dad both loved God more than each other, and it got in the way of their relationship. The mood definitely changes when Reverend Franklin is called down to speak and you can see Aretha retreating back into herself. Thankfully that doesn’t last long and before long she’s belting out gospel once more.

I know a lot of the footage wouldn’t have been usable even after restoration and the Franklin estate had a hand in the edit, but I’d have liked to have seen more outtakes in and amongst this wonderful concert recording. There’s this great moment that cuts between a rehearsal with a diva-ish Aretha and her live performance on the same number and a few more of these would have helped round it out as a film.

Speaking of the estate’s involvement, I am grateful they wanted the grandkids and the world to see Aretha at the height of her powers at such a unique event. I do still think it’s slightly disingenuous to claim in the opening title card that it was just technical problems that prevented the film’s release before this year. It was also about how much Aretha was paid and whether it would open doors for her in Hollywood as well.

It’s the little candid moments that add the essential human texture to the experience. We see members of the audience overcome and carried to another plane by Aretha Franklin, who catch themselves going over-the-top on camera then carry on doing what they’re doing because they’re that happy and fulfilled in that moment. Mick Jagger’s there too, looking very out of place.

Amazing Grace doesn’t have the variety of voices to make it a compelling documentary and the quality of footage and filming is a bit patchy. But as a record of a remarkable concert, a time capsule of 1972 and even as an argument for the beauty of faith and art in relation to it, it works wonderfully. SSP

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Laika Animated Movies Ranked

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Sam S-P

https://www.thefilmagazine.com/laika-animated-movies-ranked/ SSP

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A Few Thoughts More: Endgame

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Sam S-P
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Time of their lives: Marvel/Disney

The following piece contains major spoilers for AVENGERS: ENDGAME.

Alright, are we all caught up? OK then. Endgame is one of those particularly difficult movies to wax lyrical about (and I intend to) without talking about the specific things you loved. My spoiler-free review still holds true, but I’d dearly like to get a bit more in-depth. So let’s crack on.

That opening gut-punch is a statement of intent. No fanfare, no ceremony or recap. Just a guy on a farm with his family one moment, then he turns and they’re gone leaving only an eerie silence. That guy is of course Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, teeming with pain throughout) and he just died by living when his wife and children didn’t.

Grief affects one person very differently to the next, as demonstrated by the surviving Avengers and their various coping mechanisms. Steve tries to stay positive and help others through the bad times, Natasha overworks herself for the smallest of gains, Tony puts all his energy into starting a family. I thought that they maybe dragged out the fat, wasted Thor gag a little too long, but the highly vulnerable state he finds himself in during his stage of their do-or-die mission results in a particularly tender moment of connection with his mother Frigga (Rene Russo, making me wish she wasn’t screwed over by the THOR movies). It also results in a rare moment of level-headedness and emotional maturity from Rocket (Bradley Cooper, nuanced) when Thor suggests saving Frigga from her imminent demise: “I get that you miss your mom. But she’s gone – really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kinda gone. And you can help them”.

“I knew it!”. Despite the fact that I rewatched AGE OF ULTRON the night before I saw Endgame and this is 100% set up , I did not expect them to go here. But what a glorious, inspiring moment it is when, just as our heroes need him the most, Captain America catches Mjolnir and goes to town on Thanos. This is the moment of the movie for me, and I’ve yet to see it not prompt a gasp from an audience.

I think most fans suspected time travel would be involved in putting things right. The “time heist” is a great excuse for a trip down memory lane and that conceit of characters ducking in and out in the background of previous adventures is endlessly entertaining, especially when admiring past selves’ posteriors.

That tracking shot at the finale paired with Alan Silvestri’s (the unsung hero of the Avengers movies) soaring score has got me all three times I’ve watched this movie. How the camera gracefully pendulums in and out of the rows of mourners and how everyone (even kid sidekick Harley from IRON MAN 3 *starts crying again*) is there for Tony and for each other in this moment.

They bring Tony and Steve’s stories full-circle in two distinct and differently beautiful ways. Tony finally got himself a real life in the dark times after The Snap before donning the armour one last time to make sure they had a world to live in. Steve survived but felt like he’d never really lived what with the whole 70 years on ice thing so when the opportunity came to go back and experience decades of normality he took it. After being instrumental in saving everyone he finally gets his happily ever after, finally puts himself first.

Side bar – after all the timey-wimey shenanigans, are there multiple versions of these characters running around now in some of these universes? Is that how the Disney+ series are going to work?

Natasha’s final scene which should be heartbreaking has a weird semi-comic scuffle and she and Clint drop, shock and explode each other in an effort to be the first one to die. It was nice that their true feelings for each other were finally acknowledged but the scene lacked much needed pathos because of the tonal wonkiness.

I can’t see a world where Avengers: Endgame doesn’t end up being very high up my year end list. It not only surpassed but smashed my expectations, drawing to a close a decade of the most ambitious interconnected filmmaking and delivering surprises, spectacle and indelible images throughout. It’s a film so tightly packed with goodness you’ll pick up on some new subtlety amongst the big stuff each time. Seeing every single Avenger and their army of allies forming up behind Captain America as he faces down an alien horde alone is a hugely satisfying moment. Arguably just as impactful are moments like an increasingly human ex-baddy Nebula (Karen Gillan, dark horse MVP) tenderly sitting an unconscious Tony up and covering him with his jacket as they drift, hopelessly through space. It’s the little things on a big canvass that make it. SSP

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Review in Brief: Soni (2018/19)

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Sam S-P

The best thing about Netflix as a service is how it encourages the democratisation of cinema. So many promising new, diverse voices would not have an outlet without the streaming giant. SONI is a hidden gem, and you should all load it up on Netflix right now and watch it. Two female cops in Delhi encounter misogyny to different extents in their day-to-day and deal with it in very different ways. Soni (Geetika Vidya Ohlyan) and her superior Kalpana (Saloni Batra) are mesmerising, empathetic and relatably flawed individuals who refuse to let the bastards grind them down. Most of the film is just us bearing witness to how they handle a series of challenging situations at work and at home, and it’s captivating, thoughtful stuff. The key message, that “They will always try and get the better of you because they know you are stronger than them” is truly one to live by. SSP

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Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Posted on May 12, 2019 by Sam S-P
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The art of stillness: Studio Canal/Paradis Films

Oddly enough, despite its 1970s setting, cold grey rooms and tweed, Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John Le Carré’s TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY feels more relevant and connective than ever. Maybe it’s because the modern world we live in is becoming as ridiculous and paranoia-fuelled as it was at the height of the Cold War. Talk about depressing.

The British Secret Service, known by the euphemism as the Circus, has a mole. An operation in Europe has gone very wrong and whoever has infiltrated the Circus is still sending vital intelligence back to Moscow. With every higher-up working in espionage under suspicion, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) comes out of retirement to flush out the enemy agent before any more lasting damage is inflicted.

Alfredson proved his talent for the creeping tension-build and maintaining a chilly atmosphere in his breakthrough LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, and this talent he puts to extremely good use here in bringing to life the emotionally dead world of Cold War espionage.

The casting is faultless, with Gary Oldman delivering the performance of his career as Smiley – he may not say much, but he doesn’t really need to when he’s got the art of communicating through sitting perfectly still and subtly altering his facial expression down to such a fine art. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone taking off their shoes embody such fragile tension. If we’re being picky he’s probably a bit too in shape and full-haired to be Le Carré’s Smiley, but sometimes an actor is able to communicate a character’s essential essence. Others in the film’s huge ensemble cast all have their moments to impress over the course of the film, but the of particular note are Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch and John Hurt (the latter of which was once considered to play Smiley, but is much better suited as the cantankerous Control).

Though it’s undeniably an exceptional spy film, where Tinker Tailor really hits the mark is as a commentary on the futility of war. It takes Le Carré’s novel, and aside from a bit of streamlining presents things as they were on the page, with the spy-writer-extroadinaire’s treatise on dying superpowers intact. Every character is on edge as the investigation to find the Soviet mole within the British secret service progresses – the paranoia of the Cold War and threat of an enemy gaining the upper hand is perfectly communicated through subtle characterisation, with every member of the Circus looking as through they’re rotting from the inside out.

Alfredson’s directorial style highlights this near-constant sense of unease, keeping us at arms length from everyone we follow, never allowed to really know anybody. We just look on, helpless, at once-powerful men who sit slowly crumbling in bleak, cold offices and dingy hotel rooms. In a lesser film, denying the viewer to really get inside character’s heads would be a drawback, it would be considered shallow, but not so here. We are given just enough information to make our own judgements on which shade of grey the key players are operating in, about what may be going through the heads of this group of decrepit spies, but not quite enough to plot the exact course the film will take. Smiley is always one step ahead of the viewer in his investigations, and marveling at the way his mind works when all the pieces of the puzzle finally slot into place is part of the fun. I’ve seen this film a few times and read the book but I still always find myself struggling to keep up with his powers of deduction and his leaps in logic.

One question remains after watching the latest and best adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Where’s the followup? Come on, Alfredson, Oldman et al, free up your schedules – we’re waiting with baited breath! SSP

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Review in Brief: The Wandering Earth (2019)

Posted on May 9, 2019 by Sam S-P

THE WANDERING EARTH either needed to be a lot smarter or a little bit dumber to really land. It’s fascinating to see China enter the international blockbuster arena in earnest with the killer premise of building monolithic engines on the Earth’s surface to move the whole planet away from our dying sun. Jupiter being a one of the biggest obstacles in the solar system with a gravitational pull to match just adds to the world-ending problems and at a key moment prompts the line, “Come on, let’s ignite Jupiter!”. The sheer magnitude of the concept and the dazzling, terrifying astro imagery makes it worth a look, but can’t disguise the fact that really it’s just another disaster movie with generic characters and action beats. Director Frant Gwo clearly has a natural eye for this scale, though perhaps could be less inclined to crib Hollywood’s tiredest clichés. SSP

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May the Fourth Review: Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

Posted on May 4, 2019 by Sam S-P
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They’re not small, Neeson is far away: Lucasfilm

Yeah, that’s right, for Star Wars Day 2019 I’m reviewing this one. It’s not that bad. Alright it’s bad, but it’s not that bad. George Lucas knew what he wanted to achieve with THE PHANTOM MENACE, his vision remains clear and striking, but he could have definitely done with someone to hold him back every now and then and limit his worst excesses.

A planetary blockade attracts the attention of two Jedi Knights (Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor) who by necessity become bodyguards to a teenage queen (Natalie Portman), find a chosen one (Jake Lloyd) along the way and battle sinister forces who have been gone for a millennia…

Qui-Gon Jinn has a lot to answer for. Yoda (Frank Oz) at least attempted to advise him and Obi-Wan against his risky course of action, putting all his faith in a powerful but untrained and potentially dangerous pre-teen. A lot of people forget that. Yoda saw the danger in Qui-Gon’s misplaced faith from the start, the one outlier on the Jedi Council who disagrees with Obi-Wan training Anakin at the end of the film. Unfortunately for the galaxy, Yoda was outvoted: “Agree with you the council does…agree with their decision I do not”.

It’s not the wooden line readings (which don’t help) or the over-expositionary dialogue (which doesn’t help either) that sucks the life out of this film. It’s all the relentless politicking. It’s people describing what’s going on, who’s where and why and on what side rather than just showing us in interesting ways. The plot lurches from one side of the galaxy to another, lacking the momentum and strong through-line that pretty much every other Star Wars film has. We move from one location or plot development to the next not because of any organic reason to but because we’ve spent enough time on this bit of the story.

Lucas for some reason decided to retroactively explain the Force. The concept of medi-chlorians is like trying to come up with a scientific thesis to support any religion, or spirituality in general. The influence this prequel had on almost all others to do the same, that now nearly every film that leaps backward in an established universe now feels the need to justify every ambiguity, is a lasting damage to the medium.

So, about Jar-Jar Binks (Ahmed Best). I understand Lucas wanting a colourful mascot character, someone to appeal to younger kids in the audience and break the monotony with slapstick humour; that’s a very Star Wars thing to do. What most everyone does understandably object to is his presentation and what that might say about Lucas’s politics. Yes, he’s a big orange space frog-giraffe thing, but pop culture doesn’t exist in a vacuum and the way he speaks, acts and effects the plot is clearly based on some outdated and offensive views of black communities. Let’s not even get started on the stereotypes employed for the other alien races…

Liam Neeson is much better than this material deserves and it’s a shame if he asked to be killed off and not come back as is rumoured, because Qui-Gon’s continued presence in the Prequel Trilogy, even in Force Ghost form might have added another layer, if could have witnessed the fallout of his greatest mistake and perhaps even atoned. Pernilla August absolutely kills in Anakin’s goodbye scene – crueller critics have had a go at her delivery (she’s Swedish and doesn’t generally do English-language films) but she still has that special extra something going on behind her eyes, because she’s a good actor. Senator Palpatine’s subtle sleight-of-hand that gets him well on his way to ultimate power is also extremely well-played. I think Iain McDiarmid got a kick out of playing this characterisation out without having to exert much effort on Shakespearean dialogue (which this isn’t).

The Duel of the Fates is still good. But it’s not great, not anymore. We’ve come a long way in action choreography in 20 years. For years I was convinced Ray Park’s Darth Maul was quite diminutive, forgetting that he’s nearly always fighting the towering Neeson. Judge me by my size, do you? The pod race has aged far better, it’s still exhilarating and fun, the hard work of the effects wizards at ILM and Ben Burtt’s peerless sound design still leaving an indelible impression.

Twenty years on (Jesus, that’s depressing) and I’ll still go back and re-watch The Phantom Menace relatively happily. There’s enough imagination and space opera spectacle to divert even if the dodgy politics, stodgy storytelling and below-par performances still understandably attract derision. We’d have to wait another three years for a truly terrible episode of Star Wars, and maybe next time I’ll tackle that one as well. May the Fourth be with us all. SSP

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Review: Missing Link (2019)

Posted on May 3, 2019 by Sam S-P
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Trust me, I’m an explorer: Annapurna Pictures/Laika Entertainment

By Laika’s incredibly high standards, MISSING LINK isn’t quite up there. Saying that, even bottom-drawer Laika is still top-drawer animation, so there’s still plenty to recommend here.

In an effort to prove himself to a stuck-up explorers’ society, noted man of action Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) journeys to discover the mythical Sasquatch. He only goes and does it, meeting and befriending “Susan” (Zach Galifianakis) and agreeing to guide him to find his Yeti relatives in the Himalayas. With the help of the headstrong widow of a former partner (Zoe Saldana) Sir Lionel and Susan embark on their great quest…

This feels like a movie from another time, like a tale of derring-do on an ambitious scale that a John Huston or a Michael Curtiz might have made half a century ago. It’s an adventure movie and a movie that visits far off and exotic locales and throws our heroes from one mighty challenge to the next. To be honest I thought it was really missing an old-timey “you have been watching” credits sequence at the end.

The level of detail in the far-ranging environments and the animal inhabitants of this world is awe-inspiring. This is a new high-point for combining stop-motion animated characters with CGI effects. From a mud-splattered Victorian London to the American dusty Old West, lush Indian forests and icy Nepal, every location is vivid and eye-catching. We’re only in some of these places for a matter of seconds as part of a traveling montage (months in a stop-motion animator’s life) so it’s a testament to the level of craft on show that we get an immediate feel for them through efficient visual communication.

The scene on the ship tossing and turning in a raging storm eclipses all others in the film by quite a way. The plane of action is inverted again and again and corridors, doors and portholes become unexpected avenues for creative, funny action, like the zero-g hotel fight in INCEPTION only with a funny bone and a clumsy ape-man who refuses to keep his trousers instead of a sharply-suited Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

It could have been darker. It’s the only Laika film thus far without actual, implied or attempted child murder. That’s only because aren’t any children in Missing Link, which is a bit messed up if you think about it. We all know the Victorians liked killing and stuffing new and interesting species, planting flags in countries that weren’t theirs and generally ruining the world in the name of progress, so I think they could have made the villains (Stephen Fry and Timothy Olyphant) properly nasty. Snobbery, pettiness and cheating to win wagers doesn’t really compare to Laika’s previous rogues gallery of child-killers, celestial enslavers and proponents of genocide to earn fancy headwear.

The script could have also been sharper and funnier. Jackman and Galifianakis and later Saldana make an appealing group to spend time with and do their best with the material, but the running gag of a character taking everything completely literally got old pretty fast in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and that goes double here. Susan’s size, shape and capacity to make noise no matter how hard he tries not to admittedly yields a few giggles.

Missing Link is sorely missing that twisted edge of earlier Laika films, but it’s got a personality all of its own and is probably the best-looking film the Oregon-based animators have ever produced. Definitely worth a watch, and if it’s still in a cinema near you please see it there so Laika can carry on making many more twisted dreams. SSP

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Review in Brief: Unicorn Store (2017/19)

Posted on May 1, 2019 by Sam S-P

I don’t really care what more cynical viewers and critics think; I found Brie Larson’s directorial debut UNICORN STORE absolutely charming. Maybe it’s because it’s a story about a woman-child, and I relate to stories like that. Kit (Larson) is a frustrated creative who puts her dreams on hold to get a job…which will allow her to support her childhood dream of owning a real-life unicorn. Growing up to not grow up basically, which is a nice concept. The film could be considered any number of dismissive terms, like “quirky” or “whimsical” but it’s also incredibly heartfelt and a pretty clever take on any artist “adulting”. There’s an incongruous dance number at one point, because of course. Larson is solid in the lead and is well-supported by Mamoudou Athie and Joan Cusack, though I found Samuel L Jackson dressed in shades of candyfloss and a glittery Afro a bit much. SSP

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Review: Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Sam S-P
Endgame

Tony’s had better days: Marvel/Disney

Eleven years ago the Marvel Cinematic Universe was born when Nick Fury turned up at Tony Stark’s house to talk to him about the Avengers Initiative. It’s been a long road to this point, but much like the three-hour AVENGERS: ENDGAME it’s passed in the blink of an eye.

Previously on the MCU, The Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin) united the six reality-altering infinity stones and with a snap of his fingers wiped half of life from the universe, including most of the Avengers. The survivors, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson)  must overcome grief, assemble anew and somehow achieve the impossible.

If there’s a single criticism I’ll give the MCU thus far, it’s that you’re seldom given chance to take stock. The Avengers are always keen to avoid collateral damage, but when they make terrible, damaging mistakes like in AGE OF ULTRON or CIVIL WAR they dust themselves off and move on. Endgame’s extended runtime allows the luxury of a whole first act of registering what Thanos did, what his victory and universal genocide meant for the surviving 50%. Cap now runs a counselling group, Hawkeye goes on a vigilante rampage and Thor becomes a pathetic recluse. Those who were not deleted from existence are the victims more than those who were, because they have to live with it.

Downey has rarely been better than he is here, bringing the raw edge of some of his indie performances to a broken and angry Tony, not to mention finally growing up and living a little outside the Iron Man armour. In MVP contention are Evans who brings a rare note of vulnerability to Cap’s previously infallible persona and Rudd who gets all the funniest one-liners plus getting to have the most human reaction to the cataclysm.

Fear not, the film is by no means a downer. In fact, once the remaining Avengers band together and work out what they need to do to save the world, it becomes deliriously fun. The gag-rate is just as high as in any other Avengers outing and mounting action on this scale and so flawlessly quite frankly makes earlier MCU movies look a bit amateur. Never before have we seen such a perfect recreation of the central splash page of an event comic as in Endgame’s climactic, titanic battle.

It’s almost impossible to talk about how completely the extraordinary team of the Russo Brothers and their writers Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely stick this landing without talking about what actually happens in the film, but I also accept its opening weekend and plenty of people want to go in cold, so I’ll hold off on my detailed analysis for later. Suffice to say our journey takes us to some familiar places and everyone gets their moment, whether in a single shot or an extended action sequence, to do something cool.

Some characters admittedly go on more compelling journeys than others and some players are sidelined even in a film where your principal cast has halved compared to the preceding film. I also didn’t think every joke hit its mark, some are mis-timed to undermine a moment of pathos and others (particularly relating to one key character) just drag on for too long.

I don’t think I can recall another movie that’s so unashamedly fan-service-y and yet doesn’t feel the least bit manipulative. The MCU, and we their audience have earned these final bows and air-punching payoffs to setup from movies ago. Even the cameos are rather well-judged and service, rather than distract from, the larger story.

Avengers: Endgame is without doubt Marvel’s magnum opus, their crowning achievement, the opportunity for every fan to say goodbye. This is the definitive conclusion for some of our heroes, but only the beginning for others. See Endgame in a packed house of Marvel fans and the gasps of awe, the giggles of appreciation and the throaty sobs of hearts breaking will complete the intended experience of an already quite stunning superhero finale. SSP

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