LEAVE NO TRACE is a small story with big themes and emotions. Nothing quite matches the film’s first act with father and daughter living in the wilderness, surviving, getting on but not really communicating before we’re hit with the stark contrast between the tranquility of nature and the excess noise of civilisation. Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) is young enough to adjust to a new life, being curious and optimistic by nature, whereas her dad Will will always be a damaged and vulnerable man who will never feel safe among others again. Who are we to judge what is the right way to live? The look of utter bafflement on Will’s face as he is tested by psychological profiling programme (which very quickly leaps to asking if he’s dong it “for The Prophet”) says it all really. The final act feels less organic and relies on a few too many coincidences, but the film remains a showcase for director Debra Granik and her talented actors. SSP
Review in Brief: Leave No Trace (2018)
Review: Bumblebee (2018)
Never gonna give you up… : Allspark Pictures/Bay Films
Finally, a decent TRANSFORMERS movie. Was that really so hard? Something you should know about me is that I’m a Transformers guy, that next to STAR WARS it’s the franchise of my childhood (one day I’ll post my BEAST WARS retrospective…). I’ve never done a full-length review of any of the previous movies on this blog because, frankly, there wasn’t enough to talk about. BUMBLEBEE cost about half what the previous two Michael Bay joints did, and it’s at least twice as good. They get the basics right for a start, always asking, why should we care about what happens to these characters?
Grieving for her dearly departed dad and drifting through life, teen Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) stumbles across Transformer hero Bumblebee hiding in a scrapyard. The pair form a bond quickly, but before long are being pursued by enemies both human and alien.
They definitely hired based on the eyes for this one. Who better to befriend the Transformer with the biggest eyes than the young actor with the most expressive eyes in Hollywood? Charlie and Bee’s relationship is simply charming. Their relationship being a tactile one makes a big difference as well; Steinfeld was presumably always acting to the air or to a ball on a stick, but she’s always physically connecting with her big yellow robot bud and Bee saying everything he needs to in response all without the speech he has lost. Rarely after their initial meeting are they not sharing the same shot and interacting, which goes a big way toward selling both the effect and their bond-at-first-sight. It’s also refreshing to see the tag-along for the adventure not forced straight into the role of the love interest. There’s chemistry certainly, but as Charlie says gently to Memo (Jorge Lindeborg Jr) towards the end, “We’re not there yet”.
The robo-brawling is still big and loud but isn’t it nice to always be able to tell what is going on? It’s great to see the momentum of transformation being used in fights with a strong sense of space too, giving them weight and avoiding the two indistinct-special-effects -fighting-each-other problem. There’s also only three Transformers with a major part to play in the movie; one goodie and two baddies, which is enough really.
I’ve never really understood why the Transformers still need to transform on their home planet Cybertron. Wasn’t the whole point to be Robots in Disguise to blend in among the humans and more easily traverse Earth? Also having John Cena (I didn’t know they made military uniforms in his size…) point out that the baddies have very obviously evil bad guy names doesn’t make the stupidity of the film’s American government any easier to swallow.
Not only are the period details very 80s, but so is the style of the film at large. It’s a sun-dappled teen coming-of-age movie with well-meaning but annoying parents, hissable authority figures and cheery musical montages, of course. It’s a bit John Hughes, a bit Spielberg and a bit Zemeckis basically. It’s this sameness that holds the film back a bit to be honest. Yes, it’s different to the other Transformers movies, but it’s so similar to so many other genre movies from 30 years ago, which probably knowingly is when the story is set. Still, if a formula works, it works.
We may have seen many of the beats and this shape of story before, but it is the emotional resonance and the character relationships that make Bumblebee border on special. I had a tear in my eye at the end of this film about this awkward girl and her robot bestie who turns into a car, and nothing Michael Bay has ever done really made me feel anything. Travis Knight’s (KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS) live-action debut cements his position as a storyteller gifted in both presentation and human connection (or humanoid robot, or humanoid animal representations of your parents….). SSP
Review in Brief: Happy New Year, Colin Burstead (2018)
The only implausible thing about Ben Wheatley’s latest jet-black dramedy is that any family would willingly submit to everyone being in the same location at the same time for anything other than a wedding or a funeral. We are sent drifting through this massive house, catching snippets of overlapping, interrupted conversations, the tail ends of arguments and bad blood aplenty bubbling to the surface. The semi-improvised or improvisation embellished script along with some particularly fraught moments helps the whole thing come across as real, and perhaps suggests COLIN BURSTEAD as an interesting double feature with Thomas Vinterberg’s FESTEN (you’d watch this one second as its if not more cheerful, certainly funnier). Everyone’s on their game and play off each other in a believably petty fashion, but Ben Wheatley’s lucky charm Neil Maskell (KILL LIST), Hayley Squires (I, DANIEL BLAKE) and the ever-reliable, and unusually vulnerable-feeling Charles Dance are undoubted highlights. SSP
Review: Aquaman (2018)
Insert fish pun here: DC Entertainment/Warner Bros
How do you make the oft-mocked “silly” member of the Justice League work? You embrace the more out-there elements of the mythology and combine it with tried-and-tested tropes of the day. Someone’s been watching GAME OF THRONES intently. And HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. And JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. And a whole host of others. Admittedly, it’s an attractive genre smorgasbord that’s served up, grab-bag that it is.
Arthur Curry (Jason Mamoa), the son of a human lighthouse keeper (Temuera Morrison) and an Atlantean queen (Nicole Kidman) reluctantly returns home to reclaim his birthright, not before battling his devious half-brother (Patrick Wilson) and reclaiming a powerful artifact.
Straight out of the dock they dismiss the events of JUSTICE LEAGUE almost entirely with a disinterested shrug of Arthur’s massive tattooed shoulders. It’s probably for the best that director James Wan and his writers started from scratch with their story and had Aquaman operate in his own self-contained world.
I got a distinct STAR WARS Prequel Trilogy vibe from pretty early on. It’s not so much the convoluted fantasy political machinations (of which there are plenty) but more the feeling that, if the technology had been available, George Lucas would have made the Gungan capital city Otah Gunga look as bright and busy as Atlantis does here. It’s a really good-looking film but there’s almost too much visual information to process at once in some shots. The smaller-scale battles work a little better because of this; you’ll remember more of King Orm (Wilson) fending off a submarine attack on an Atlantean diplomatic meeting than you will the later full-on war between about five different armies and their chosen sub-aquatic mounts because your brain doesn’t go into shutdown.
After ANT-MAN AND THE WASP‘s almost-there de-ageing, the Aquaman team seem to have taken a step backwards. Yes, we’re back in the smooth-all-flaws-out-of-the-face school of making someone look 20 years younger. And the actors they try this on, it’s ridiculous – Willem Dafoe and Temuera Morrison were always craggy! It’s a good job they’re all good actors giving solid performances or this might be more distracting. All the wet hair effects are very nice though.
There’s a fair smattering of funny moments, both intentional and unintentional, I think. Yes it’s amusing that Arthur isn’t the sharpest forked weapon in the treasure chest (Mamoa plays good-natured dumbness well) and a fair amount of more capable people have to help him get to where he needs to be. But the neon stat sheet for Arthur and Orm that pops up before their duel for the benefit of the arena audience is an…interesting choice that’ll either make or break the film for you.
King Orm is admittedly the stronger of the film’s two antagonists; cruel, egotistical, permanently slicked like an authoritarian barracuda (never does he look more angry than when he is thrown on land and his hair bounces back to boyish golden curls). Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is pretty dull with a predictable vengeance arc, and pretty ineffective opponent for the big guy with the trident.
I’m so pleased they got Aquaman riding a seahorse, kicking ass. Nobody kicks quite as much ass as Amber Heard’s Mera though, demonstrating her aquakenesis to a variety of creative and deadly effects. Speaking of Mera, for much of the plot she’s far more useful and level-headed than her bulging Bro-seidon, yet she has to defer to him because it’s a Chosen One / Divine Right of Kings story. They even ask at one point, “What could be better than a king?” Even underwater civilisations completely and utterly removed from humanity apparently don’t value female rulers as highly, which is depressing.
Aquaman doesn’t quite make landfall with this standard origin story weighed down by plot flotsam. But it’s got enough visual dazzle, momentum and enjoyable performances to make it worth a quick dip. By the way, I don’t think I got enough sea creature jokes in this review. SSP
Review in Brief: Tomb Raider (2018)
The quest for the great, even good video game movie (as opposed to a few decent examples of movies about video gaming) continues. The latest TOMB RAIDER is unengaging, lifeless and features a depressing amount of obviously fake jungle sets. At one point someone actually shouts “Quick! Check the other prayer wheels!”. It’s the new Tom Hanks exclaiming “I need to find a library!”. Lara (Alicia Vikander) is a massive disappointment even at the character conception stage: refusing to touch a fortune she hasn’t earned but still wanting the free and easy hipster life and with daddy issues as her only real trait beyond tenacity. All the more interesting characters either disappear for over half the film (Daniel Wu’s rusty captain Lu Ren) or are built up for a hypothetical sequel (Kristen Scott Thomas’s Machiavellian CEO Ana Miller). The film even stops dead to promise a more interesting adventure next time rather than wrapping up this story properly. SSP
Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2018, Part 2
Before I get down to looking at the very best and the very worst films of 2018 (Part 1 of this list can be found here) I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a couple more that weren’t necessarily my favourites but stood out from the pack.
Honourable Mentions:
Marvel
The Miraculous One: AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Marvel pulled off their 10 year gambit. All that setup, the knowing references, the leaving something for next time and the post credit stings that have hamstrung lesser studio imitators resulted in a thematically evocative and emotionally devastating epic. Surely they can’t do it again next year? They might, and don’t call me Shirley. Full review here.
SpectreVision
The Beautifully Demented One: MANDY I never knew just how much I wanted to see Nicolas Cage downing a bottle of vodka and screaming in his tighty whiteys. It’s probably the most sedate scene in this sanguine-soaked fever dream full of prog-rock trappings, portentous monologues and borderline-fetishy violence. Review in Brief to follow.
Blumhouse
The One That Matters Now: BLACKKKLANSMAN Whatever your opinion on Spike Lee, when he’s got the biggest, most relevant contemporary topic to get really and justifiably livid at, he shines. It’s ferocious, uncompromising and mischievous – the kick up the arse 2018 needed. John David Washington and Adam Driver need recognition come awards season. Full review here.
Best of 2018:
See-Saw Films
5. WIDOWS Never underestimate anybody, but know that relying on underestimation can only take you so far. The only Steve McQueen film likely to prompt voluntary repeat viewings is completely captivating, flawlessly performed and gearing up to shake up the status quo. Full review here.
Trustees of IWM
4. THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD Get a copy into every museum and every school. Make sure these men and their stories are not forgotten in another 100 years. Peter Jackson has made something more than a documentary to mark an anniversary, but something remarkable and soulful, an artifact with an emphasis on the “art”. Full review here.
Fuji Television Network
3. SHOPLIFTERS Family is family, and that’s the key theme of most of my favourite films this year. This is sedate and naturalistic and beautiful, leading with emotion but backing it up with some pretty cutting social commentary and great acting from veterans and newcomers alike. I challenge you to not feel a tear on your cheek in its final moments. Full review here.
Sony
2. SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE What an absolute joy from start to finish. It just gets the character so completely and presents a new and ambitious story in dazzlingly animated fashion. It made my heart race, it overwhelmed my senses, it made me guffaw – it was the most fun I’ve had at the cinema this year. Full review here.
Netflix
1. PRIVATE LIFE Some films just connect, even if you can’t directly relate to the experiences on screen. I’m not a parent, am unlikely to be any time soon but this funny, honest and unglamorous little film brought it all home to me, grabbed hold of my heart and wouldn’t let go. The quietly beautiful humanity of the script and Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti’s tender performances made it truly special. Full review here.
Worst of 2018:
Netflix
5. EXTINCTION Netflix have had a good year but a couple of stinkers as well to keep them humble. This sci-fi wastes good ideas and drains Michael Peña of any charisma. If you think the story’s going to some interesting places from the setup, you’re wrong: it’s taking a far duller path than you can imagine. Review in Brief here.
Henson Alternative
4. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS Sometimes your enticing premise just doesn’t pay off. You can hire all the talented production designers and performers – both with and without felt characters to operate – that you like. Sometimes all your hard work is let down by a crude, first-draft script. Sometimes you should just watch MEET THE FEEBLES again. Full review here.
Sony
3. VENOM I can’t say I didn’t have some fun here, but it was all accidental. I’d suggest you just watch one of what I’m sure are many Tom Hardy supercuts on YouTube then use what remains of the two hours you could have wasted on this elsewhere. It’s tonally wonky, retrograde in its action and edited to near incomprehension. Full review here.
Netflix
2. THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX Look again at number 5 and imagine you’ve just dropped something heavy on your foot as well. An interesting cast wasted, plot strands dropped at random and zero reason for this to be a CLOVERFIELD film except for cynical brand recognition. Review in Brief here.
Warner Bros
1. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD This could have just been overblown, messy (which it actually is) but harmless (which it actually isn’t). Instead we’ve ended up with JK Rowling and David Yates presenting us with a blockbuster that not only trips up over itself to throw in twist after twist but also proclaims Wizard Hitler is preferable to actual Hitler. Of course he is, because wizard Hitler isn’t real! Full review here.
Let me know your thoughts on my thoughts, how did our best and worst movie experiences of 2018 compare? Happy New Year, here’s hoping for a better one! SSP
Review in Brief: Thoroughbreds (2017/18)
THOROUGHBREDS is made in its script. It’s deliciously dark and full of wittily pragmatic musings on humanity like “I have a perfectly healthy brain, it just doesn’t contain feelings”, and “The sawdust smells fantastic, but you’re still in a hamster cage”. Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy both play twisted human beings, two troubled teens gearing up to do something horrific, but they’re beguiling, even sympathetic in their reasoning for committing monstrous acts. Their strength of character and confidence in the screenplay shines through in the number of scenes where the camera just sits back and lets the scene play out in a single take, coming across as improvised but presumably heavily choreographed. Your heart breaks all the more for Anton Yelchin’s early passing seeing the ease in which he brings depth to a character who could easily be another one-note stoner. Thoroughbreds is an entertainingly warped character piece and an attention-grabbing calling card for writer-director Cory Finley. SSP
Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2018, Part 1
Where did 2018 go? For me it’s been a funny year of highs and lows, beginnings and ends and other summing-up-the-year clichés as well. In film, the year started well, then flagged a bit in the middle before picking up again at the end, a bit like Peter Parker’s arc in INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE. So let’s take a look back at the first crop of what made it and what didn’t, in my opinion…
Best of 2018:
B Story
10. THOROUGHBREDS Not your average tale of teen friendship. Twisted, hilarious and for the most part a skilled two-hander between Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy, this one blindsided me, in a good way. Review in Brief here.
Marvel
9. BLACK PANTHER Some films just catch the zeitgeist. Marvel’s support of (most) distinctive filmmakers bears fruit with this vivid and resonant spy-superhero spectacular. This could be an awards season shaker, and fully deserves to be. Full review here.
BFI
8. BEAST Creepy, tricky and extremely well-acted, this was one of the most unique British films I’ve seen this year and well worth the time of anyone (read: most people) who didn’t get round to seeing it on its limited release. All the key players have bright futures ahead. Full review here.
June Pictures
7. WILDLIFE Some of the best films of 2018 have been about family, but they’re never happy because happy families aren’t interesting. Some people are annoyingly talented at whatever they turn their hand to, and Paul Dano makes first-time directing look easy. He’s already proving to be a real actor’s director with a keen eye. Full review here.
BFI
6. DARK RIVER Families, eh? Who’d have ’em? Clio Barnard needs to make more films; her style is rooted in her home turf, emotionally raw and visually evocative. Ruth Wilson is always excellent, but this may be her finest performance yet as an abuse survivor locking horns with an abuse denier who also happens to be her brother. Full review here.
Worst of 2018:
Dishonourable mention:
Thin Man Films
PETERLOO Were there worse films I saw this year? Yes, but despite being far from technically inept (it actually looks quite good) Mike Leigh’s latest was one of my biggest disappointments of 2018. Aside from the film being clunky, laboured and misjudged, respected directors shouldn’t get away with coasting, with showing contempt for their captive audience, whatever political message they are promoting. Full review here.
Square Enix
10. TOMB RAIDER And the award for blandest film of the year goes to the latest misguided effort to bring video games to the big screen. There’s a lot of talent involved in this (not least Alicia Vikander), but no passion, no excitement and no character that makes any sense. Review in Brief to follow.
Netflix
9. THE OPEN HOUSE Netflix’s first of many appearances on this list (not all low) is just plain uninspiring. Decent performances aside there’s nothing to recommend; we’ve seen it all before and we can see exactly where it’s going and how. How many times do horror movie characters need to go into dark basements alone before they’ll learn? Full review here.
Imaginarium Productions
8. MOWGLI It’s got the title it has because Disney said so. Andy Serkis probably should have just left this as a proof of concept for his mo-cap house Imaginarium. The finished product still feels very much like a work in progress, and making your story darker and more violent doesn’t necessarily make the meaning any deeper. Review in Brief here.
Netflix
7. HOLD THE DARK Be wary of films with “dark” in the title; some people thinks it’s a synonym for “interesting”. Jeremy Saulnier is a good filmmaker unafraid of tackling the ugliness of humanity, but there’s no substance here, just relentless misery. Also turn some lights on, I’m struggling to see people’s outlines, never mind what motivates them! Review in Brief here.
Netflix
6. MUTE Yes, Duncan Jones, I too saw BLADE RUNNER and no, I don’t think it would have been improved with much less intrigue or if it had no idea what it was trying to say. You know all that goodwill you banked from MOON? It’s starting to wain. I really hope you’ve got another good, or at least consistent, one in you at some point. Review in Brief here.
Join me next time for my very best and very worst films of 2018. SSP
Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
They’re all the odd one out: Avi Arad Productions/Lord Miller
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE is awesome. An awesome animated feature, an awesome superhero movie, an awesome coming-of-age story, an awesome film. Did I mention it was awesome?
When a extra-dimensional portal is opened in New York, recently superpowered Spider-Man Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) bands together with the web-slinging heroes from several alternate realities to save his world, their worlds and the multiverse itself.
I can’t recall the last time I saw something completely new in animation. Spider-Verse’s kinetic, textured and graphically dynamic style can feel like visual information overload at first, but once you get your eye in it’s truly something to behold. If pressed to find an easy descriptor I’d call it Pop Arty, frequently thinking as I did of Roy Lichtenstein’s making a feature of comic printing techniques in his work. Every scene of character interaction pulses with life, every action scene takes turns that surprise, thrill and make you grin like an idiot with their sheer creativity.
I don’t think I’ve laughed as much this year as I did at Miles’s first bungling pigeon-inhibited use of his powers. Well, it’s between that and the saloon fight in BUSTER SCRUGGS. This take is self-aware without cheapening the source material, or wants you to have fun but also for the moments that matter to carry weight.
SPIDER-MAN 2 might still edge it as a stronger individual story, but Spider-Verse is undoubtedly the best film ever about what Spider-Man represents: even when superpowered he is the kid on the street. His origin is so well known they can fast forward through, or cut short each universe’s iteration telling their story as a gag.
Anyone can be Spider-Man (or women, or porcine) given the time. These Spider-People are ordinary, grounded and human, their paths to superherodom only altered by the nature of their personal tragedy and the length of time they have spent in tights. Miles’s only stumbling block is inexperience, once he’s been out there doing whatever a spider can for a while he could be more powerful than any of them.
Something they touched upon in Marvel’s latest Spider-reboot is how excited a younger version of the character would be to become a superhero. Shameik Moore’s vocals as Miles perfectly encapsulate youthful enthusiasm coupled with teenage uncertainty and awkwardness and he builds an endearing chemistry with Gwen Stacey (Hailee Steinfeld). Miles wants all the cool experiences, to make a difference and save his loved ones but knows he’s still really an out-of-his-depth kid. Which is why he needs a mentor, and because it’s a teenager-who-needs-training story that mentor has to be jaded, past it and with questionable fashion sense. That mentor is a Peter Parker pushing 40 (Jake Johnson) who upsettingly wears jogging trousers over his Spider-tights.
Other highlights include Nic Cage’s Spider-Man Noir (“Is he in black-and-white?”) and John Mulaney’s Spider-Ham (“Do animals talk in this dimension? ‘Cause I don’t wanna freak anyone out”). These eclectic characters from far-flung dimensions are used to their worlds operating by a certain set of rules, and often we don’t know what these rules are until it comes out organically in dialogue, like Noir’s colour-blindedness not being apparent until he is dumfounded by a Rubik’s Cube. The intentionally clashing animation styles bouncing off and interacting with each other again add to the film’s vivid individualism and make you marvel at what an impressive feat the three animation directors have achieved.
Miles Morales’s big screen debut is important. So few heroes could give under-represented minorities such a presence on a big stage. Visibility is a start, and it leads to recognition and eventually lasting change. That said, Into the Spider-Verse is not a film with an agenda, and everyone creatively involved simply wanted to tell a good story in the most vibrant, joyous and affecting manner possible. So I implore you to swing on to your nearest, biggest screen and fall in love not only with a new Spider-Man but the very idea of Spider-Man all over again. SSP
