I didn’t entirely get the shower of praise that greeted Joe Cornish’s directorial debut, tower block invasion ATTACK THE BLOCK, but he’s clearly a distinct talent. It’s surprising how little of Arthurian legend he needed to change to make this modern retelling work. A lot of the famous plot points have to be more tongue-in-cheek when your story takes place in carparks rather than castles it’s true, but other than that it’s the same timeless tale of becoming a better person. The tone inevitably skews younger, but this fits the bedtime story feel they’re going for. The young cast are real finds, but unfortunately the adult actors range from generic (Rebecca Ferguson) to completely extraneous (Patrick Stewart). Why would you draw attention away from the perfectly good Merlin you already have (Angus Imrie), a character whose whole deal has always been ageing backwards! Not everything works, but this is a lot of fun and demonstrates a lot of imagination. SSP
Review in Brief: The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)
Review in Brief: Last Breath (2019)
There’s some really good non-fiction on Netflix. I had to watch LAST BREATH in three sittings to avoid bringing on an anxiety attack, it’s that intense. As told by the survivors, this documentary with reconstructed elements follows a 2012 deep sea dive that goes horribly wrong when one of the three man team becomes trapped underwater and the support ship their diving bell is tethered to drifts off course in a violent storm. Do yourself a favour and don’t look up the ending, then you’re guaranteed to be on the edge of your seat and appropriately short of air. Get terrified by the numbers, be amazed at the kind of outlook you’d have to have on life to do this as a career and swept up in the remarkable story of Chris Lemons, Dave Yuasa and Duncan Alcock compellingly recounted by the men themselves. SSP
Review: Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)
Friends or foes?: Pascal Pictures/Columbia Pictures/Marvel
I always feel a bit sorry for the Marvel movies that directly follow an AVENGERS because of the expectation that they’ll be the same scale. They never can or will be, so they have to be different. Unlike last time where being a sort-of Avengers film hamstrung the Spider-fun, FAR FROM HOME neatly ties up any loose ends from ENDGAME in the first ten minutes then just gets on with telling the story at hand.
Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) school trip to Europe and plans to make his feelings for MJ (Zendaya) clear hit a snag as mysterious elemental creatures begin to attack major cities. Enter Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) a powerful potential ally for Spider-Man.
This is arguably most subversive Marvel film since IRON MAN 3. The first half of well-mounted superheroics and awkward teenage relationship stuff gives way to a second half that is an extended deconstruction of the superhero movie factory and its priorities in general. It’s never smug about it though; it’s clever and witty and I appreciated it. That’s not to say the film is stingy on what we’ve all turned up for, far from it in fact as there’s plenty of supersized fun to be found throughout.
The new Spider-Man movies are doing the right thing with regards to their villains (or antagonists if you feel like so far they’ve actually had a point!). Just pick one we haven’t seen yet and do something really interesting with them. Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio is superb, and a take on the character that only an actor with his range and unpredictability could make work: he’s charm itself when he needs to be and…not when he doesn’t. If you’ve got even a passing knowledge of his main “deal” in the comics you’ll likely know the direction they’re going with him, but perhaps not to what extent. His character’s unique powers also allow for some vivid visual flourishes that makes me think the psychedelic madness of DOCTOR STRANGE 2, when it comes, will need to up its game.
Tom Holland is still a great Peter Parker, wrestling not just with great power and great responsibility but with girl troubles and the expectations of being Iron Man’s heir apparent. His party of friends on the most lethal of school trips are all great value for money especially in their reactions to the city-destroying dangers happening around them. Even as Peter is trying to steer them away from disaster hotspots, a recently de-snapped and unusually information-light Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) counter-steers them right back to get Spider-Man where he’s needed with the least amount of fuss. Jake Batalon, Angourie Rice and Zendaya in particular stand out among Peter’s class, the latter reaffirming that she was perfect casting for MJ with heart, attitude and self-awareness.
As entertaining as they both are, they could have probably dialled back on the comic relief teachers (Martin Starr and JB Smoove) a little. I would also hope nobody working in the education sector (not even in a comic book movie) is that trusting of really dodgy-looking bearded men in tactical gear.
The mid-credits scene sets up a giddily exciting next film, throwing Spidey’s world wide open and and putting him in a position we’ve never seen him in before. It also made me ludicrously happy in another regard with one simple act. You’ll know it when you see it.
Spider-Man: Far From Home has all the best aspects of Homecoming (charm, humour, great performances) and none of the drawbacks (extraneous plot, cameos from Avengers). It fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe nicely but is allowed to be its own thing and tell a good standalone story built around character. The propulsive action and next-level reality-blurring visuals are just the webbing on the cake. This Peter Parker is here to stay, and despite being snapped out of existence and back again, his greatest challenges still lie ahead… SSP
Review in Brief: Vice (2018)
Reminder: a compelling protagonist doesn’t have to likeable, or good, they just have to be interesting. Dick Chaney was, and remains, an evil bastard, but he and his rise to power behind the throne is fascinating nonetheless. Adam McKay approaches political biography with the same cheeky glint in his eye as he did the World Financial Crash with THE BIG SHORT, but despite some killer one-liners this is a more serious-minded affair. The performances by Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Steve Carrell carry the film through some serious stylistic and tonal whiplash. For a film based mostly on conjecture and word-of-mouth, you can buy most of this could have happened based on how screwed up the world is now. Worse than any one thing the man did is the political climate he helped perpetuate, as hammered home in a bile-inducing post-credits scene set in a particularly vocal think tank. SSP
60s Review: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Kubrick stare, eat yer heart out: Columbia Pictures/Hawk Films
When author Terry Pratchett wrote about his time working as a publicist for a nuclear plant, he described how he came to realise that there’s no funnier phrase than “two completely independent failsafe systems”. The extent to which everything goes as wrong as it can go because a madman easily exploits a supposedly foolproof system is at the heart of the satirical brilliance of Stanley Kubrick’s DR STRANGELOVE.
When a fanatical and unhinged Air Force officer orders a nuclear strike on the USSR, it’s up to a pushover RAF Captain (Peter Sellers) the President of the United States (Peter Sellers) and a mad scientist (Peter Sellers) to prevent nuclear Armageddon. The only trouble is that the foolproof failsafes put in place do not allow for an active bombing wing to be contacted, let alone recalled…
This is Kubrick at his leanest, punchiest and most mischievous. He exaggerates to ridiculous degrees for comic effect but clearly hit a nerve given the US Government’s overblown response. I’m sure he found being put on a watchlist hilarious, and deeply satisfying.
You might find yourself asking if it’s sexist that the only visible female character is a secretary in a bikini. But then you think about it and realise that of course everyone else in this farce is a man: no woman could be this stupid. Speaking of Miss Scott (Tracy Reed) her scene has her repeat and shout high-end military secrets delivered over the phone to her general/lover in the bathroom.
Absurdist gems are scattered throughout. Bombing wing officer Major Kong’s (Slim Pickens) cowboy hat is kept in the safe next to the military codes. Captain Mandrake doesn’t have enough change to call the president with vital intel to prevent Armageddon, so has to ask the poor operator tasked with connecting him to the White House to reverse the charges. The titular character’s…quirks.
Captain Mandrake might be a character Sellers could have performed in his sleep with the cut glass accent and nervous tics, but the way he plays being forced to humour a psychopath is mesmerising. Dr Strangelove as a character is an excuse for Sellers to explore the art of over-the-topness and President Merkin Muffly is Sellers as his best straight-man, acting with utter incredulity at the escalating situation. His one-sided phone conversations with the (unheard) Soviet Premier play out like Bob Newhart routines with the President faltering and becoming increasingly embarrassed at his own country’s sheer incompetence.
Several key members of the ensemble threaten to steal the show from Sellers, Sellers and even Sellers. Of particular note are Sterling Hayden’s paranoid conspiracy theorist, and main antagonist, General Ripper. Hayden walks that knife-edge of playing madness convincingly, terrifyingly, without turning into a parody of a dangerous and severely mentally ill man. George C Scott is also great as the posturing blowhard, nuke-first-ask-questions-later General Turgidson (see a trend with these names yet?). Considering how much of the film takes place at the American airbase on lockdown or in the war room, you’ll rarely not be entertained by Hayden or Scott playing off one of Sellers’ colourful creations.
This is one of the few films where we’re cheering, nay praying for, the classic war movie heroes not to succeed. The teamwork, camaraderie and improvisation in a tight spot demonstrated, not to mention the matching song played throughout their scenes runs counter to what we know they are trying to achieve. The movie language runs counter to what we’ve learned over the course of the story, it’s mocking our expectations of a war film.
It’s a comedy, and yet everyone dies. We’re destroyed by our unbelievable stupidity. It has to be up there with the bleakest movie endings ever. Kubrick clearly thinks we as a species deserve no better. At least we’ll go out (slightly uncomfortably) laughing. SSP
Chernobyl: Audience Adulation vs Critical Consenus
Nuclear shroud of lies: HBO/Sister Pictures/Sky
According to the IMDb, HBO/Sky’s miniseries CHERNOBYL is now the most critically acclaimed TV show of all time. It’s in all the trailers now: “9.6/10”. This does not matter. I’m not one of those “who cares what the critics think?” viewers – pop cultural criticism has its place. What I’m here to argue is that the success of a show like Chernobyl goes much deeper.
Having a significant, perhaps one of the most significant of all world events as the basis of your TV series helps. Even if you don’t know the ins and outs of what happened, just saying “Chernobyl” to the average person on the street conjures certain phrases – “nuclear meltdown”, “radiation poisoning”, “cancer” – and images of deserted grey tenement blocks. The show presents the evidence for academics and experts to debate and the gut-wrenching real human experience for everyone else.
Word of mouth is far more important to selling a hard-going and upsetting true story than 5* reviews. A guy down the pub telling his mate he gave the show a go, expecting to find simply depressing but instead became completely enraptured by it, contributes far more to people watching, and therefore a show’s actual success, its current place in the public consciousness, than a critic banging on about the performances or the political and thematic subtext.
The thing is, unless you have a prior interest in the subject you likely won’t “feel like” popping on an episode of Chernobyl straight after, say, a long day at the office. But if someone you know and trust has recommended it and you give it a go, then you’re hooked. I’ve spoken to a few friends who were reluctant to start it lest it left them depressed, but they still ended up watching a couple of episodes back-to-back because they had to see what became of these characters they came to care about.
The atmosphere on the show is pervasive, the near-constant soundscape of nuclear hums and Geiger counter clicks envelops you in this world. Once you’re sucked in and the characters and their stories compel you, the real-world injustices hit home. It’ll probably compel even the most history-phobic viewer to do their own reading, to verify just how wrong the “official” story is.
I was told I had to watch Chernobyl by my parents and by a friend. They were right. Three moments in particular will stay with me. When the arrogant Chief Engineer Dyatlov (Paul Ritter) still refuses to accept that the Chernobyl reactor exploded even when presented with incontrovertible evidence – there’s this little moment, a pause as he looks at the photos, a crack in his armour appears dead you realise he’s just a Party Man who’s terrified of what will happen to him if he admits the truth. Then when during the trial Legasov (Jared Harris) repeats a statement given in defence of the actions of the USSR, “Why worry about something that isn’t going to happen? That’s perfect – they should put that on our money”. Finally, as the final episode draws to a close we are presented with some statistics, and the final one left me livid: regarding the death toll, “the official Soviet recording puts the figure at 31”.
Watch Chernobyl because it’s worth seeing, because it’s a story worth passing on. Then tell others to do the same. It’ll stay with you. SSP
Review in Brief: Green Book (2018)
I can’t say GREEN BOOK is a bad film, it’s too competent. But it’s a very ordinary Best Picture winner. To its credit, the realities of being a touring black musician of any calibre during this period are not ignored. A handful of good scenes and the easy chemistry between Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali nearly make it all worth it. But it relies too much on easy stereotypes without saying anything even remotely profound about them, and some of these shortcuts to characterisation are damaging, even if you’re aiming for a lighter tone. Even when you’re bringing class and intellectualism into the mix for your discussion of prejudice you’re always on dodgy ground if your white character gives a black character a lecture on how to be better at being black. Yes, even if by the end of the film he and his family put a pin in being racist for Christmas. SSP
Review: Toy Story 4 (2019)
You gotta be forking kidding me: Disney/Pixar
How many really good fourth movies are there? After STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME and, depending on your 80s tolerance, ROCKY IV, I’m drawing a blank. TOY STORY 4 did not need to be a thing, and yet it I can’t deny that it more than justifies its existence.
When Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) creates a new friend from trash at her first day of kindergarten, it’s up to Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang to teach Forky (Tony Hale) the joys of being a toy. But Forky’s escape attempt during a family road trip leads Woody to question his own place in the world and to reconnect with an old flame.
It might be because it’s more explicit this time round, or maybe I was just too young when I watched the other films, but I’d never really appreciated the toys as parents message before. The toys see their role as supporting their kids, being there for them whenever they need them and for as long as they need them.
I would have never expected a character determined to kill himself to be central in a Toy Story movie. Forky, who from the first teaser trailer looked like a cynical, even lazy creation, is a master stroke. Anything can become a toy if a kid plays with it (I for one was particularly beguiled by empty cardboard boxes and saucepans as a small child) but given sentience, would every object be able to cope with the sudden responsibility of emotional attachment? Forky has an existential crisis when he is no longer thought of as disposable (his favourite thing to say for much of the film is a hopeful “Trash?”). He can’t do his job once well and then sleep forever in the comforting trash: more is expected of him, and he didn’t ask for this.
Woody is again acknowledged as an antique toy, making you wonder how many more Andys there were he perhaps can’t remember anymore. Do toys have perfect recall or do their memories fade and go fuzzy just like ours? Does whatever magic that brings these toys and utensils to life wear off or are they cursed to be alone when their loved ones move on?
A good chunk of the film takes place in a shop called Second Chance Antiques. How on the nose can you get? I also can’t think of a quicker route straight to the heartstrings (that unwanted toy gathering dust is *sob* going to get another chance at being loved). It’s a literal jumble of interesting and mundane objects and the setting allows for talented animated to invent imaginative chase scenes and hide in-jokes in the background.
There’s a fair amount of disturbing horror imagery in the shape of our antagonists, a doll and her retinue of four antique ventriloquist dummies. Scares are not alien to this franchise – just look at Sid and his Franken-toys in the first TOY STORY – but it may catch some younger viewers (and their parents) off-guard. Speaking of Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), you’re gearing yourself up for a Stinky Pete or Lotso-style twist and they refreshingly go in a completely different direction.
It’s Hanks’s movie, mainly Woody’s emotional arc. Tim Allen given noticeably less to do as Buzz, usually just acting as a punchline (was Buzz always this stupid?). I loved Bo Peep-as-Sarah Conner from T2. Annie Potts gives the most layered performance of the ensemble and makes you regret her absence from much of the series. Keanu Reeves gamely sends himself up as Canadian daredevil Duke Kaboom (“Yes…I…Canada!”)
Besides all the usual Pixar big-heartedness, there’s some good one-liners, well-timed slapstick and running gags. There’s an unexpectedly dark suggestion of how to delay Bonnie’s family leaving to give Woody and Forky chance to get back: “Let’s frame the dad and send him to jail!”, new double-act toys Bunny and Ducky (Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele) have a creative solution to every challenging situation that comes their way and the third of a trio of “Combat Carls” (all voiced by an appropriate Carl Weathers) is always left hanging in the celebratory high-five stakes.
The ending to Toy Story 4 may not be as pitch-perfect as those that came before, may not be as much of an outright “weepie” but the implications of it all, where and how we’re leaving these characters has a time delay: it may well floor you by the time you get back home. They’ve tied up this story in an incredibly satisfying manner once again, that is until they come up with an idea for TOY STORY 5 in another ten years. SSP
Review in Brief: See You Yesterday (2019)
SEE YOU YESTERDAY is a minor-key delight. Riffing a lot on BACK TO THE FUTIRE II but with punchy social commentary, the film has a special guest star in an early scene, and his appearance would have been enough, but they have him say his catchphrase as well. The movie is carried by two effortlessly compelling performances from Eden Duncan-Smith and Danté Crichlow as time-jumping BFFs. It manages to be stylish, bright and breezy whilst never losing sight of what matters. It’s far more relevant to what’s going on in the world right now than many bigger-budgeted sci-fis and marks director and co-writer Stefon Bristol out as a a distinct artistic voice. Much like something like WE ARE THE BEST! it would be a shame if more pre-teens (especially black pre-teens) didn’t see this just because of a silly thing like strong language. But it’s on Netflix so who’s stopping them…SSP
