Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2016, Part 2

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Sam S-P

Here are the very best, and the very worst films I’ve seen this year. MOONLIGHT, LA LA LAND and MANCHESTER BY THE SEA aren’t out in the UK for another few weeks, so don’t look for them here. Absent also from the best are most of the blockbusters, and none (bar animation) rank among my best. No not even ROGUE ONE quite made it (FANTASTIC BEASTS and DOCTOR STRANGE were better anyway). So without further ado…

The Best:

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Adult Life Skills (2016): Pico Pictures

5. ADULT LIFE SKILLS A lot of people will have missed this little gem. It’s charming and genuine and doesn’t sugar coat how profoundly losing a family member affects people. There are cute little finger puppet film pastiches scattered throughout, but the focus is always on telling an honest story of real, rough-around-the-edges people going through difficult times.

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Hell or High Water (2016): Film 44

4. HELL OR HIGH WATER Between black-as-pitch jokes, a humanist worldview and stunning scenery, David Mackenzie’s contemporary cowboys ‘n’ outlaws allegory is a bit of a stunner. Jeff Bridges gets to play a little with one of his go-to personas and Chris Pine shows his hitherto untested range as an idealistic criminal.

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Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016): Vertigo

3. HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE A very New Zealand take on a road movie. It’s keen to be self-deprecating but also shows great pride in its setting and is director Taika Waititi refuses to stigmatise those with difficult upbringings or unconventional lifestyles. What could have been a heavy social drama becomes uplifting, bittersweet and hugely enjoyable. Sam Neill and Julian Dennison make for a perfect pairing.

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Nina Forever (2015): Jeva Films

2. NINA FOREVER Another little indie that deserved a wider release, but may well become a cult classic, is one of the beautiful and creative meditations on grief I’ve ever seen. Abigail Hardingham and Cian Barry are talents to watch, as are the Blaine Brothers who thought up this whole sexy, funny and twisted comic-romance-horror affair. It profoundy affected me and may well stay with you too for a long time.

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Zootropolis (2016): Disney

1. ZOOTROPOLIS The best script of the year and perhaps the film that captured the mood of early 2016 the most succinctly (sadly things got even worse as the year went on) came from Disney, and followed a bunny in a uniform. It’s one of the best-looking things Disney has ever produced, and has plenty to keep kids glued to the screen, but it also has more food for thought and enlightening real-world commentary than any other major studio release this year.

The Worst:

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Get a Job (2016): CBS Films

5. GET A JOB I’m not surprised it took three years for this to be released straight to video in most countries. There’s probably an interesting film to be made exploring the challenges of a graduate wanting to break into online content production along with everyone else if his generation, but this is not it. The characters are repellent or dull, the jokes baseline and everything about it smacks of “that’ll do” filmmaking.

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Suicide Squad (2016): Warner Bros

4. SUICIDE SQUAD I think I said in my original review that this wasn’t quite as bad as DC’s other 2016 superhero movie. Having seen it again, I take that back. On some very basic filmmaking levels (sound, editing, acting) SUICIDE SQUAD is worse. It’s also so miscalculated and stylistically mangled, generic and boring following an ad campaign promising vibrancy and anarchy. But it retains the #4 worst spot on this list slightly above the next movie for one reason above all others.

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Batman v Superman (2016): Warner Bros

3. BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE That reason is that Suicide Squad cost around $175 million. BATMAN V SUPERMAN cost at least $250 million. Hollywood filmmaking can’t carry on like this; it can’t keep exponentially growing outwards and leaving a howling void at its centre. I don’t mind mega-budget blockbusters when they justify their existence, but when they’re this wasteful, this dour, monotone and downright depressing, when I’m looking to get nearly three hours of my life back I have to wonder when it will end.

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Grimsby (2016): Columbia

2. GRIMSBY Sacha Baron Cohen is perhaps one of the best out there at mean comedy. In addition to being mean though, he’s usually entertaining and with a point to make. This is him on autopilot, taking jabs at easy targets, putting the bare minimum of effort into creating a work made up only of ugly stereotypes and doing horrible things with elephants. it’s even worse when it tries to be an action movie or be uplifting. Cohen’s career choices can be hit-and-miss, but what was Mark Strong thinking degrading himself to this?

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The Do-Over (2016): Netflix

1. THE DO-OVER Stop giving Adam Sandler work. Stop encouraging him. He needs to understand that he can’t keep getting paid for bringing us cinematic detritus. Netflix actually gave him a four film deal of which this is only the second (imagine where he’s going with the other two). Sandler of course plays his idea of the coolest guy in the world and David Spade gets all the jokes Sandler thinks he’s above. Lowlights include gags about how scary gay guys are, how dementia is snicker-worthy and how the easiest way to make an impression on a woman is to hit her with your car. You actually feel ashamed of yourself for sitting through the whole thing, and Sandler should feel likewise for making it.

I already anticipate next year to be a far better one at the movies. Judging by this year’s releases from Warner Bros, WONDER WOMAN could go either way, but I do sincerely hope it turns out great. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 looks like a safer bet, and even the risks like a long-awaited TRAINSPOTTING sequel promise to be interesting at the very least. For me I’m most looking forward to WAR FOR THE PLANET IF THE APES, which follows on from one of my absolute favourite films of 2014, and of course STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII, helmed by one of my all-time favourite directors Rian Johnson. Happy New Year everybody. SSP

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Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2016, Part 1

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Sam S-P

2016 has been a terrible year in the multiplexes, not to mention a particularly black one for art and entertainment in general. Blockbusters have rarely been so lacklustre or downright awful. Mercifully the indie film scene has had a far more successful time of it over the past 12 months, proving that there is still hope yet. Take as evidence my list of favourites of 2016, with nary a blockbuster in sight. Want more? Check out my full reviews for each film and of course let me know what you think of my choices.

The Best:

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Arrival (2016): FilmNation

10. ARRIVAL Clever stuff with emotional weight behind it to keep it firmly rooted to the earth even as it shoots for the stars on a conceptual level. Another effortless success from Denis Villeneuve and Amy Adams’ best turn since THE FIGHTER. It doesn’t matter if you don’t fully understand it; you’ll be talking about it for a while.

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Under the Shadow (2016): Vertigo

9. UNDER THE SHADOW Between this and A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, it’s been a killer couple of years for Iranian horror. Whereas the aforementioned vamp pic was intentionally disembodied, in its own twisted world, this is firmly rooted in its time and place, and the real-world horrors of war remain for scarier than a malevolent djin.

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The Neon Demon (2016): Icon

8. THE NEON DEMON The most beautiful ugly film of the year, possibly of the decade. Nicolas Winding Refn can do little wrong in my eyes. He’s out to provoke you in style, and by golly does he with this bold and disturbing film that wouldn’t look out of place projected onto a gallery wall. Not an easy watch, but a thought-provoking and occasionally bewildering one.

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My Beautiful Broken Brain (2016): Netflix

7. MY BEAUTIFUL BROKEN BRAIN The most moving film of the year is an unflinching and beautiful journey alongside a young woman, Lotje Sodderland, as she battles to keep herself herself following a sudden stroke. The fact that the subject is a filmmaker herself lends this story immediacy and a style all its own, and eventually getting Lotje’s hero David Lynch’s backing didn’t hurt either.

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10 Cloverfield Lane (2016): Paramount

6. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE The pleasant surprise of the year. This works precisely because it refuses to be limited by the film it shares a tenuous connection to. The only limitations are those that Dan Trachtenberg and his writers put in place to create a taut three-hander of a chamber piece exploring paranoia and delusion.

The Worst:

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Special Correspondents (2016): Netflix

10. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS Ricky Gervais should not direct, and he needs to stop writing himself as some kind of a catch for women just because he’s British. This one had a good concept exploring media and truth, it just wasn’t followed through. The characters are detestable (which is fine) but they’re not interesting (which isn’t fine).

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The Fundamentals of Caring (2016): Netflix

9. THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING The intentions behind it, of exploring the difficulty of of being a carer, and receiving care, were pure, but the execution was misjudged and the end result patronising. The performances almost save it, but a solid cast lead by Paul Rudd and Craig Roberts just aren’t enough on their own. Something so earnest shouldn’t come across as so simplistic and borderline mean.

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Ratchet & Clank (2016): Vertigo

8. RATCHET & CLANK There’s little for anyone here aside from bright lights and colour. The game’s style of humour doesn’t work long-form, in-jokes are either mishandled or fleeting, the animation is sub-par and out of an impressive cast on paper, only Jim Ward’s vocal performance as once and future green space berk Quark brings any joy.

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Dad’s Army (2016): Universal

7. DAD’S ARMY The TV show was rarely laugh-out-loud funny, but it had wit and warmth. This film seldom even raises a smile. It’s another case of putting together a good cast and giving them practically nothing to work with. Nobody comes out unscathed, but at least Bill Nighy got to try out a slightly different character to his usual. It’s a waste of actors and not a fitting tribute to the real Home Guard or their previous portrayers.

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Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016): Fox

6. MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES This manages to be insulting to both genders and not all that funny. Putting aside the trashy (potentially entertaining) premise of advertising for “nice” wedding dates, movies like this need to be carried by the charisma of their performers. But even Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick can’t elevate such weak, charmless material. No comedy film’s funniest moments should be the outtakes over the credits.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of this list. Please join me next time for Part 2, where I will discuss my best of the best, worst of the worst and what we have to look forward to in 2017. SSP

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Review: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Sam S-P
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I rebel, therefore I am: Lucasfilm/Allison Shearmur Productions

Was the emotionally bereft GODZILLA remake just a blip for Gareth Edwards? Thankfully yes it was. There is more genuine humanity, imagination and enjoyment to ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY than there was not only in the ill-advised giant lizard retread, but also in the vast majority of the blockbusters released in 2016. It’s a bit of a treat for STAR WARS fans too, both fleshing out a gap in the timeline and providing new sights to behold.

Born rebel Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is recruited by the Alliance in their fight against the tyrannical Galactic Empire. Her long lost weapons designer father (Mads Mikkelsen) may hold the key to the destruction of the Empire’s superweapon, The Death Star, and Jyn must lead a team of spies, assassins and outcasts to retrieve this information before time runs out for the Rebels and for the galaxy. 

Finally someone plays with the style of Star Wars. We’re straight into the story sans opening crawl, scene transitions are liberated from the archaic wipe edit (finally Star Wars is edited according to the action rather than the action working around the edit) and character-fleshing flashbacks are incorporated. This was the perfect time to do this: we’re in mostly uncharted waters here, and if Lucasfilm will continue to hire distinct directors to helm these spin-offs, they should be free to make them their own and make every film it’s own thing. Edwards brings with him a more hard-edged documentarian aesthetic, following our heroes a pace behind through crowded and sweaty alien markets and throwing us in the thick of frenetic, brutal battle scenes. I said the opening of THE FORCE AWAKENS was like Star Wars meets SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, Rogue One is more Star Wars meets PLATOON. Edwards gets just the right balance with paying heed to what has come before as well, with chunky, grimy technology and pleasingly terrible 1970s hairstyles.

Felicity Jones as Jyn is a grounded and empathetic lead who kicks some serous ass without any force gimmicks. Alan Tudyk playing towering reprogrammed Imperial droid K-2SO as a mix between deadpan comedian and passive-aggressive child was a master stroke (thoughts out loud on Jyn: “I find her answers vague and unconvincing”, “Do you want to know the odds of her betraying us? They’re high…Very high!”). Ben Mendelsohn’s cold and brutal autocrat Krennic is often undone by his frustration at not receiving credit for his hard work, and sees straight through a deception early on (“Oh look, you wife: back from the dead!”). I wouldn’t say the whole cast are given much to do, with rebel leader Cassian’s (Diego Luna) edginess dropped by the wayside quickly and Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen acting as glorified (admittedly well performed) plot devices. What I can’t deny is that a certain dark lord’s brief appearance will give you chills and thrills.

Here’s the thing: massive space battles rendered with next-gen special effects are stunning, but bringing a long-gone actor from A NEW HOPE back from beyond the grave with the same? I’m not so sure. It’s undoubtedly a very sophisticated effect, but it’s almost too good, too detailed, and something certainly triggers the uncanny valley sense. I found myself not really listening to the dialogue in these important to the plot scenes, which was an issue. Elsewhere archive footage and outtakes from the original film are used, which work perfectly fine for brief shots.

The plot moves well, even if it doesn’t deviate much from the Star Wars formula. It meets and sometimes exceeds your expectations of action and spectacle, but being a Star Wars film the finale is of course a race against time to destroy something in space. Joining the Rebel Alliance also seems to be a large part about who you know as well as you heart and resolve, as the Rebellion top brass don’t seem much interested in Jyn aside from how they can exploit her familial connections. It’s a galaxy of coincidence, but we’ve always known that. Rogue One hits the right notes, throws in some surprises and gives us time enough to spend with a compelling new group of characters. As another spin-off/prequel in an industry seemingly producing little but, it’s certainly out in front of the pack. SSP

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15 Years On: The Fellowship of the Ring 

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Sam S-P
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The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001): New Line/WingNut/Saul Zaentz

There are three film franchises that have impacted me above all others. First, there came STAR WARS, which kept me happy throughout my first decade (on VHS – sadly I’m too young to have seen the original trilogy on the big screen). Then, in winter 2001 the way fantasy films looked, sounded and felt was changed forever with the releases of HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING in close succession. There’s no denying the impact of these touchstones, particularly of the veritable mountain climbed in adapting Tolkien into a blockbuster, but just how well have they aged? Without further ado, let’s take a look back at the opening chapter of Peter Jackson’s ambitious fantasy epic on its fifteenth anniversary.

In the first chapter of the granddaddy of grand fantasy storytelling, nine companions quest across Middle Earth to return the banished Dark Lord Sauron’s Ring of Power to the land of Mordor and destroy it. The ring bearer Frodo’s (Elijah Wood) burden is great, and many dark forces are drawn to the power of the One Ring, but the quest must succeed for Middle Earth to survive. 

Getting all your exposition out of the way at the beginning can really save you, and your audience, an almighty headache further down the line. The prologue to Fellowship is about as elegant and attention-grabbing as such world-building sequences can be. The themes, the scale and the stakes are established from the off and the later Council of Elrond scene is much less drawn out without the need to reestablish the treat and the concerns of the various races when it’s done so cleanly in the first ten minutes.

As thrilling as the sweeping action scenes accompanied by Howard Shore’s soaring score can be (Balin’s Tomb especially still holds up today), it is some of the littler moments that are the most satisfying. This is one of the well-realised cast of characters ever assembled, and it’s all down to the harmonious ensemble. Look to Gandalf (Ian McKellan) uttering that famously ominous rhyme to Frodo by firelight; Bilbo’s (Ian Holm) sobbing apology to his nephew “for everything”; the Fellowship’s pain in grief at the apparent demise of their guide; Sam’s (Sean Astin) unwavering loyalty to his friend.

The special effects still look pretty good, with only the forced perspective used for making similar-sized actors look a different scale to each other starting to look ropey to the modern SFX-trained eye. Real locations and hard graft from Weta Workshop and the art department win the day and give the film staying power that the more CG-ed THE HOBBIT surely won’t have when as many years have passed.

The casting couldn’t have been better, and every member of the Fellowship inhabits their role completely. I’ll admit that I was never especially convinced by Aragorn and Arwen’s forbidden romance, and this has not changed over time, particularly with Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler turning in far more accomplished performances since. If there’s a real love story in Lord of the Rings, as we all know, it’s between Frodo and Sam. Sadly, we had to wait until the concluding chapters of Rings before we’re given a compelling female character at all (Cate Blanchett’s Galadriel is more of a plot device), which is clearly why Jackson and his writers created Tauriel for the Hobbit: an attempt at balance.

Fellowship has aged remarkably well midway through its second decade. Every time I revisit this towering tale I’m very hard-pressed not to see it through to the end. For me it still holds wonder and its lasting effect on the shape of the contemporary film industry can’t be disputed. Pretty much every fantasy post-2001 that wasn’t Potter tried to be Lord of the Rings, which wasn’t always a bonus. Fair enough to bring back the impressive locations of New Zealand and Weta’s army of armourers for NARNIA, but SNOW WHITE and ALICE IN WONDERLAND never needed battle scenes or grand themes. Nor did The Hobbit, for that matter… SSP

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Review: Spotlight (2015)

Posted on December 13, 2016 by Sam S-P

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Spotlight (2015): Participant Media/First Look Media/Anonymous Content

For many, SPOTLIGHT was the surprise winner at last year’s Oscars. The true events the film is based on might be ripe for dramatic adaptation, but with its low-key performance and style, and actors that did not subject themselves to physical extremes, it was still a dark horse. And yet it was by quite a way the most deserving, the only, winner.

In 2002, journalists from the Boston Globe’s daring and prestigious Spotlight team broke one of the most earth-shattering and shocking stories to ever be printed. This is the story of a decades-old coverup and the efforts by a group of brave and unrelenting reporters to expose the truth of just how much the Catholic Church and their army of lawyers were hiding. 

The screenplay of Spotlight (by director Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer) isn’t showy, with people talking how real people talk aside from byline-worthy proclamations such as warning that “The Church thinks in terms of Centuries”, a story about “a bunch of lawyers turning child abuse into a cottage industry”. Most people, even those who write for a living, aren’t eloquent and reversed in their day-to-day. They make mistakes, act overly on emotion and even journalist I’ll wager struggle to remain impartial.

“How do you say no to God?” What a question. It makes the atrocities committed by the modern Catholic Church all the more inexcusable when you realise that those whose faith is an integral part of who they are had very little power to fight back against abuses of power. Sometimes all you really need is a good story. The best journalists know this well. With the story that Spotlight uncovered, you have scandal, you have human interest, horror, and a race against time. The victims’ grief and state of being isn’t in the least sensationalised, but dealt with sensitively and as a fact of life.

The film doesn’t glamorise or exaggerate the profession of journalism. Tempting as it might be to turn this into a thriller, it remains a slow exposé. It’s two hours of watching people gathering research, doing shorthand and resisting the temptation to break a big story before they have all the facts. Arduous as this sounds, it’s riveting stuff brought to life by a terrific cast, chiefly Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Brian d’Arcy James. I never thought trying to convince lawyers to release key sealed files in a time frame could be so tense.

While I am completely against the publication of names of perpetrators until there is a reason to do so (the number of celebrities and normal people wrongly accused among those rightly convicted in the past few years is testament to this) the film does get across the need for stories to break in order to give more victims courage to come forward. The blame is clearly mostly at the Catholic Church’s feet, but lawyers and journalists also come under fire; the former for serving evil when it suits them and the latter for not acting quickly enough. It’s a low-key film throughout and there’s no real late-game twists, but there is a revelation that certainly changes your perspective of the situation.

Of the Best Picture nominees last year, none other than Spotlight should have won. THE REVENANT dazzled on a technical level, ROOM hit me right in the soul and THE BIG SHORT was really smart and really knew it (I just realise now I never reviewed it. Short version: glossy, rapid-fire and with amusing cameo-led vignettes to explain financial complexities. I still don’t understand financial complexities). Spotlight tells the story that needed to be told and does it with dignity. SSP

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Review: Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Sam S-P
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Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016): Disney/Roth Films/Team Todd

Six years ago it seemed like Tim Burton had found the perfect material to marry with his distinctive visuals and irreverent take on the world: Lewis Carroll’s Alice books. The resulting film, ALICE IN WONDERLAND, may have been colourful but it was also misjudged, overblown and not all that nonesensical. Half a decade on and a sequel directed by James Bobin has appeared. Who actually wanted this?

Alice Kingsleigh (Mia Wasikowska) is brought back from her globe-spanning trade mission to Victorian patriarchal society with a thump. As her influence and her freedom dwindles in our world, things are no rosier on the other side of the looking glass, where in Wonderland her friend the Hatter (Johnny Depp) is dying. Alice must pay a visit to the embodiment of Time (Sacha Baron Cohen) to find a way to save Hatter and change Wonderland at large for the better.

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS opens on an action scene that is flashy but brings with it deeply uncomfortable imperialist implications. There’s only one reason why an English trade ship with noble patronage would be running afoul of Chinese pursuers in this time period, and it sure as hell wasn’t for exceeding their luggage allowance.

In a case of sledgehammer symbolism, Alice goes from being a real-life sailor to a sailor on an ocean of time when the plot kicks in in earnest. Time has a nice quip about mortality and living in the moment that is at odds with the rest of the leaden script,”Everyone lets go of everything eventually”. At one point Time’s minions combine for added strength, as we see seconds become minutes and become hours. I liked the visualisation of all of Time’s realm, from his clockwork castle to his very Terry Pratchett’s Death take on observing the living and patiently awaiting their demise and the way the dead are consumed by clouds of rust.

Just as Through the Looking Glass becomes more about time rather than nonsense, it owes far more to HG Wells than Lewis Carroll. It’s a time travel adventure rather than a nonsensical romp. It works on a level of spectacle for what it is, but doesn’t deliver on some pretty basic levels. Alice spends most of the film trying to find out what is the matter with the Hatter, and to a lesser extent the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), but both turn out to be very ordinary answers. Unfortunately, whereas THE TIME MACHINE explored the themes and story potential of the rapid passage of time to great dramatic effect, you really can’t understand why Alice is prepared to break time to save her friend, especially when every scene that is supposed to build character through exploring their shrouded past is painfully uninteresting. The Hatter has daddy issues and the Queen harbours a grudge; are either if these really revelations?

Johnny Depp has extenuated his speech impediment to make up for his lack of character. His makeup seems to have gotten worse since last time too. At least seeing the Hatter family photo with their orange wing hair gave me a laugh and he’s more a plot device than a big player in this one. Mia Wasikowska needs to move on and continue to pick braver and more challenging projects that stretch her. Sacha Baron Cohen has a lot of fun with a thick German accent and time puns, and the character design of Time as a clockwork cyborg with mutton chops is memorable and pleasingly offbeat.

It’s slightly better than the first one, but aside from inventive visuals and a token effort to make Alice an early champion of women’s rights, Through the Looking Glass is not really worth your time. Or as Cohen’s character would say, this movie is not worth your Me. SSP

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Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Sam S-P
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Fine figure of a man: Dark Horse Entertainment/Jerry Weintraub Productions/Village Roadshow Pictures et al.

If there’s a film I never expected THE LEGEND OF TARZAN to remind me of, it was THE LONE RANGER. Both films are beautiful looking genre pieces with entertaining set pieces and shudder-inducing cultural insensitivity. Johnny Depp should never have been allowed to play a Native American and you’re never going to get around the Colonial awkwardness of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ wise saviour of Africa being white. There is no good way to tell that story today.

John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, otherwise known as Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard) is called back to Africa to look into a sinister operation to replenish the Belgian Empire’s coffers. Together with Jane (Margot Robbie) and George Washington Williams (Samuel L Jackson), Tarzan must find out who is behind the devastation of the Congo and lead the natural world to fight back.

I’ll give them credit for this: they finally get past the ridiculousness of the loincloth by not having a loincloth. In the flashbacks Tarzan is naked ( used for comic effect, but as a man raised by apes would be) and in the present he wears trousers because he’s been part of the Western world for a while by then. The Victorian London we are shown along with the portrayal of Africa is a rough outline at best. Brits, Americans and certain Congolese tribes are nice, principled people (politicians aside), the Belgians and more violent Congolese tribes are cartoony baddies. I wasn’t asking for subtlety in a Tarzan story, but some shades of grey would have been beneficial.

Alexander Skarsgard does a lot better with the primal, animalistic behaviour (highlight: his display of kitten-like affection with a pride of lions) than he does with any truly human behaviour. When he’s not being an ape-man, he’s just some muscles shoved into hilariously small suits. Samuel L Jackson plays a fascinating real person who should not have been relegated to a supporting player/comic relief in a Tarzan movie. There’s a gag that is completely beneath Jackson and the remarkable man he is portraying. Jane is American now for some reason, so I don’t really understand why they didn’t allow Margot Robbie to use her natural Australian accent. Speaking of Jane, pointing out the damsel in distress convention does not make you not a damsel in distress when you spend 80% of the film captured. Christoph Waltz and Djimon Honsou are given criminally little to work with beyond props (including some rather insulting religious icon appropriation).

The visuals are nice, if a little hamstrung by the usual in-house Warner Bros grim and grey filter. Tarzan brutally battles an alpha gorilla in the film’s stand-out action sequence, and the animals and environments are all pretty convincingly realised.

The film’s finale is completely unnecessary. It’s like LORD OF THE RINGS meets the end of Guy Ritchie’s SHERLOCK HOLMES. You get an enemy army charged by unexpected reinforcements, ridiculous man-on-animal action and the demolition of Colonial architecture by the forces of nature.

Uncomfortable historical context, iffy acting and unnecessary action ramping aside, the thing that kills The Legend of Tarzan is that you can’t be made to care. The flashbacks to Jane’s first encounter with the Ape Man try to flesh out their relationship and add some poignancy, but when we’re brought back to the present the characters have become bland and completely lacking in chemistry. I can only imagine that director David Yates, usually such a reliable pair of hands, was already looking towards FANTASTIC BEASTS and was unable to give this project his undivided attention, because I can’t imagine why else this ended up so mediocre. We all have our off days, and that’s what The Legend of Tarzan is: a $180 million off day. SSP

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Review: Arrival (2016)

Posted on November 29, 2016 by Sam S-P
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Arrival (2016): 21 Laps Entertainment/FilmNation Entertainment/Lava Bear Films

ARRIVAL is nothing like the way it was marketed (though you can’t blame the marketing guys for trying to get people through the door by making it out to be a disaster movie). Denis Villeneuve’s latest is a razor-sharp conceptual thriller that makes up for a modest budget with a clever use of resources from lighting to sound and pure performance. In short, it’s something special.

Linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is recruited by the American military to find a way to communicate with an alien race, who have just appeared in UFOs stationed around the world. What do the visitors want and how will their arrival change us as a species?

Arrival has you by the heartstrings from the off (think the opening of Pixar’s UP but rawer and less cute) and we’re eventually brought full circle to a heartbreaking and yet life-affirming ending. From the start Louise is shown to be a fallible, ordinary woman with a particular area of expertise. Adams goes on to carry the film almost single-handedly with a taut and impassioned performance that is among her very best. Jeremy Renner is reliable in support as physicist Ian Donnelly, but he is mostly there to provide timely explanations of scientific principles and this is definitely not his story.

It’s only when you watch a film like Arrival you realise how lazy some other films really are. You could count on one hand the number of sci-fi movies that acknowledge the realities here, the difficulties of changing gravity, alien atmosphere and extraterrestrials a) speaking our language and b) not being able to make their motives clear without a method to communicate with humanity. A huge amount of the story is dedicated to the slow development of a way to communicate with the aliens. Said aliens, the Heptapods, who as their name suggests are seven-legged and completely non-humanoid, don’t even have mouths. So comes the idea of communication through interpretation of writing and symbols, and the inky hieroglyphs our extraterrestrial visitors produce are shaped thematically appropriately to say the least. If the meaning of that last sentence didn’t leap out at you, don’t worry, just watch the film.

This quest for understanding comes about through the exploration of some pretty massive sci-fi themes, from our interpretation of time to emotion surpassing speech and body language as a method of expression. It’s certainly a talking point of a movie and the ending and its implications will have you discussing the meaning of most of the movie for the foreseeable future. I’m not going to be any more specific than that about the place the characters and this world ends up, just watch the film.

It’s another layered and sonically interesting soundtrack from Jóhann Jóhannsson, re-teaming with Villeneuve and making the score for this sci-fi as beautiful as SICARIO was oppressive. The same could be said for the film in general really: beautiful and positive sci-fi with some cool-looking UFOs (which are always shot from just the right angle to be an attractive shape). They’re a killer combination, both well-versed in tweaking the recognisable to make something original and vibrant. Screenwriter Eric Heisserer’s contribution can’t be overlooked either, though I’m still struggling to reconcile this work with the guy who wrote the remakes of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and THE THING.

I didn’t need a wall of screens with a representative of each nation confined to a square for the tactical briefing scenes. Whereas pretty much everything else in the film is convincing and creative, this rings so falsely and just comes across as ridiculous in contrast to the rest of the film. I also wouldn’t have minded seeing Louise making more explicit use of her multi-lingual skills (perhaps in the just mentioned ridiculous briefings with the world leaders) rather than doing most of her work from an iPad. These are of course very minor gripes in a pretty flawless lake.

Arrival is one of the films of the year; brainy, soulful and ripe for debate. Adams drives everything and Villeneuve has come up with a striking new way to look at our species’ place in the grand scheme of things. I’ve said enough. Just watch the film. SSP

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Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Sam S-P
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016): Heyday Films/Warner Bros

I was just the right age for HARRY POTTER. The books were coming out in the years when I was really into my reading and I’ve grown up simultaneously with the cast of the films. Even with the involvement of JK Rowling and director David Yates, FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM could have gone either way, but I’m extremely happy to report that it’s a colourful and thrilling ride.

Magizoologist Newt Skamander (Eddie Redmayne) arrives in New York carrying a case full of magical creatures and wouldn’t you know it? Some of them get loose. Newt finds himself on the run from the authorities with an unlikely group of allies as he chases his escaped beasts across the city and dark magical forces begin to gather…

As attached as so many of us were to Harry, Ron, Hermione et al, JK Rowling has come up with a compelling new group of characters to follow. Eddie Redmayne is a perfect fit for Newt Skamander; wide-eyed and keen but concealing a deeply buried melancholy.  Dan Fogler is a revelation as Kowalski, not just thankless comic relief and audience surrogate but instead serving as the film’s grounding point and beating heart. He has an adorable chemistry with flirty psychic Queenie (Alison Sudol) and the endearingly awkward and duty-bound Tina (Katherine Waterston) rounds out the quartet.

Rowling has gone town on the real-world subtext behind the spell-casting, but it never feels forced or out of place. The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA)’s obsession with keeping the muggle/no-maj world segregated from the wizarding one lends the film some staggeringly dark socio-political implications, especially considering the rise of certain real-world powers a decade after this film is set. It will be interesting to see how heavily allegorical Rowling chooses to make this new story as we march on towards real human conflicts.

Until the final reel, the film wisely doesn’t try to be an action movie, giving viewers time to process the magic and the imagination of a range of creatures evading capture. The production design team are amongst the most talented in the industry, with eye-catching and imposing physical sets and convincing and dynamic realisation of creatures and concepts in CGI. The central set piece of the film is not a special effect destroying a city (though that does unfortunately make an appearance) but is a scene following Newt and Kowalski wandering through the magizoologist’s vast nature preserve watching its inhabitants living harmoniously in their respective habitats. I was pleasantly surprised that this key sequence which places you in the middle of the environment as the camera steadily explores searching for the colourful residents worked particularly well in 3-D.

The key message here is always that animals aren’t dangerous; only people. Just like HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2, Beasts preaches respect for, and understanding of, the power of nature and warns of the arrogance of mankind thinking it can control and subjugate the natural world. At a key point Newt’s anguished wails of “They’re not dangerous! Leave them alone!” fall on deaf ears as the agents of the Magical Congress prepare to act with extreme prejudice to preserve the peace.

It’s hard to top some of the moments from Harry Potter, but the new setting for Fantastic Beasts provides ample opportunities. Newt’s visit to the gleaming multi-leveled gantries of MACUSA, detouring to a goblin-run speakeasy (complete with toe-tapping jazz lounge number) and the adorable kleptomaniac Niffler running amock in a bank vault rank alongside some of the strongest images from Potter, wondrous Hogwarts reveal and chilling Dementor introduction included. By the way, I really want my own Niffler (I mean, just look at it!) and I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who does.

By taking us to strange new places and populating this expansion of the wizards game world with weird and wonderful sights, Yates and Rowling have ensured a new lease of life in this beloved franchise. Personally I can’t wait for the next one, as long as they get the casting right for a young Dumbledore. SSP

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We Need to Talk About Warner Bros

Posted on November 19, 2016 by Sam S-P

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016): Heyday Films/Warner Bros

Warner Brothers have not had a good year at the movies. Between steadily disintegrating franchises like their relentlessly grim take on DC superheroes, villains and anti-heroes and complete non-starters like LEGEND OF TARZAN, it’s been ludicrously expensive with nowhere near enough to show for it.

Just look at the way the biggest movies Warners makes are marketed. I think SUICIDE SQUAD had one of my favourite movie trailers of all time: well-edited sonically and visually, entertaining and intriguing and showing just enough without ruining the surprise. Sadly the end product was clumsy and about as grim as the rest and every trailer for a blockbuster since has been “we can be funny like Marvel, honest!” Look at the ads for JUSTICE LEAGUE or KONG: SKULL ISLAND for evidence that they just want to be liked. They build trailers around (some admittedly good) gags, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the sole evidence of levity when the final films are released.

With their inability to effectively compete with Marvel (even by copying their formula) I wouldn’t be surprised if Warners started shifting focus onto the next best thing. After BATMAN their next most profitable franchise is easily HARRY POTTER, and wouldn’t you know it they just announced FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM (a spinoff/prequel based on a glorified pamphlet) will now be five films.

We obviously don’t know yet how WONDER WOMAN or Justice League will be received, but if they turn out as terrible, over-stuffed and misjudged as BATMAN V SUPERMAN then there will have to be a Plan B. Fantastic Beasts and the exploration of the wider JK Rowling wizarding universe is Warner Bros’ backup mega franchise. Upcoming spectacle will apparently include a still uncast younger Dumbledore (has to be Jared Harris surely?) fighting Johnny Depp as dark wizard Grindelwald, which could be interesting. As long as the studio doesn’t keep mandating the release of sub-par cuts of the films to facilitate the cynical and greedy release of (just about) superior extended cuts further down the line, I don’t have much of an objection to seeing fewer miserable superheroes and more plucky wizards. SSP

 

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