Film Shapes

Well. Episode VIII.  The Last Jedi . I went to the Orana Cinemas in Busselton with Merv to catch this and his first word to me as we were leaving was 'underwhelming?' (it was said as a question). I usually need a few hours to ruminate on films but I had to nod. Here's why I nodded. First, and most importantly, it seems unsure of what it wants to be.  The Force Awakens  was an unashamedly nostalgic retread, great as it was.  Rogue One  was a brilliant, dark cracker, eschewing the sentiment of its forebears. For me,  The Last Jedi  had a cheek on both stools. I know that  Rogue One  was a stand-alone film but it still showed what a 'new' Star Wars film could be. Kylo Ren's recurring directive of killing everything old and beginning again has merit but the film took its time to realise this (in fact, it didn't quite and maybe won't until the future trilogy). Speaking of Ren, the central theme of  TLJ  is neat and workable. K...

Thor: Ragnarok is the 17th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yep, 17. Considering they started with Iron Man only 9 years ago, that's quite a pace. And this third Thor film is one of the best. It's certainly the most straight-out comedic in tone, even though it deals with death and destruction - 'The Fate of the Gods' in old Norse mythology. The constant subversion of the super-heroic moments are great (though Shane Black did something similar in  Iron Man 3 ). For the most part, Earth is a minor player here with the action split between Asgard and a planet called Sakaar - familiar to comic readers as the setting of 'Planet Hulk'. Two of that comic's characters, Korg and Miek pop up in very different roles. Korg is basically a rock man voiced by the director Taika Waititi, and Miek is a non-speaking insect, obviously. The film doesn't drag at all and things knit neatly, and kind of unexpectedly, at the end but I could have done with more of...

SPOILERS!!! STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN YET!! It's been a week since I saw Blade Runner 2049 and it's proving to be a tricky one to chew over. Initially, I was very impressed by its grandeur and ambition. Then I was slightly numbed by the languid pacing. Finally, I found myself appreciating the links between this and Ridley Scott's original masterpiece from 1982 (or later depending on which cut suits). All this while adjusting my ginger cheeks in the cinema. 2 hours and 45 minutes of adjusting. In the preceding seven days, my brain has been catching snatches of film and replaying it to me - of both films. And I think this is one of the key points. Many sequels of well-known films pale in comparison to their forebears (lets say Crystal Skull and Prometheus as examples - though I didn't hate the latter) but 2049 has done something that these others didn't achieve. It's successfully fused the DNA of its predecessor into its structure and done so with ...

It's been a while since I saw this but I reckon I've made up my mind about it. It shouldn't have taken so long to decide that it's not bad, but there you have it. Of the trilogy, it's probably the weakest in my opinion. None of the character building of ROTPOTA (apes, of course, not humans) and none of the power struggle between Caeser and Koba in DOTPOTA . And for all its nicely shot vistas and the odd battle here and there, the Golden Gate Bridge sequence in Rise is still the best thing across the trilogy. One of the best action sequences ever, I'd venture. But I said this was not bad so some credit must be given. It goes without saying the CGI is first class, improved yet again from the previous two films. As seen in  Rogue One , getting humans out of the 'uncanny valley' is still a hefty task but they've got the apes sorted with this one. There's an interesting way of getting to the Charlton Heston Planet of the Apes. Corneliu...

So I managed to sneak in a viewing of Dunkirk on Friday morning before work. Pretty happy with the decision. So far, it's the best film I've seen all year. Most of this is down to Christopher Nolan and his command of time. The way he interweaves the three strands of the plot - the beach, the sea and the air - is sublimely novel. If you're not careful, you may even be a little confused at the overlapping timelines (it took my penny a few minutes to drop). Nolan has played with time as a character before of course, in Memento , Inception and Interstellar but here he takes it one step further. The 'snowball' effect is used for the entire film - each situation is established unfussily, then the crosscutting between the 'theatres' picks up the pace until they merge at a single point. I can't remember seeing an entire film play this way. Many films do it in the final third or so (Nolan himself uses this technique) but the full film!? As a great man once...

The second day of the double-header brought a slightly more satisfying film (though both were enjoyable). Baby Driver is the film Edgar Wright got stuck into after his Ant Man debacle. Apparently, he's been planning this film for a good while, even before he made the clip for 'Blue Song' by Mint Royale  in 2003 (starring Noel Fielding in the driver role, and Nick Frost, Julian Barrat and Michael Smiley as the bank robbers). It's bags of fun, as technically adept as you'd expect from Wright, full of visual flourishes - the steady-cam coffee run and the foot chase are notable sequences. The pictures almost take a back seat to the soundtrack here, which melds everything together. This is where the energy lies in the film. The titular Baby has tinnitus and needs to listen to his pod most of the time, especially when driving. I have to say, though the system worked well, I didn't like any of the music, aside from the brilliant Queen track, 'Brighton Rock'....

The first of a double header last weekend. This was fine, not outstanding, but better than the other Spider-man films. I reckon this is due to the fact that Marvel have been allowed to bring Peter Parker into their fiefdom though it's a bit of a double-edged sword. Tom Holland is pretty good as the new Spidey but the air is pregnant with the possible entrance of some Marvel icon. In fact, Tony Iron Stark bails out the hero a couple of times and there are one or two other neat cameos. I quite liked the story line of the working stiff - Michael Keaton - getting stiffed, as it were, by the 'higher-ups' and then plotting to get something back. Understandable and nice of Marvel to attempt this foray into critiquing 'disaster capitalism' but ultimately, we all love Stark. Rich white guy - Huzzah! Working class white guy who turns into giant metal bird - Booo! It was a nice touch, though, to surround Spidey by non-white characters, especially as the love interest, ...

This film, Alien: Covenant , takes place around 10 years after Prometheus. I think I get the meaning of the previous title - Greek mythology, creator of mankind, etc, but I wasn't too sure of the significance of the word 'covenant', aside from being a pact or agreement of sorts. So I was slightly disturbed to find this example from a site called the Christian Crier; This was the same covenant which God made with Abraham (Gen 17:2).  In this covenant Abraham asked God “Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”  He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”  And he brought him all these, cut them in half , and laid each half over against the other” And the Lord God said, "What the fuck, Abe?!? I didn't ask you to slaughter them! Fucking sling your hook, you bloodthirsty clungenut!(Gen 15:8-10). This is, more or less, gospel, and without wishing to spoil an...

Rightio, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 at Reading Belmont   with older sister and younger boyfriend (hers, not mine). I was quite calm going in as I KNEW this wouldn't be as good as the original and was therefore only expecting an enjoyable viewing experience. And that's what I got. And not a lot more. The 'cinematic law of diminishing returns' may explain this feeling but I may also be talking out of my arse. It has been known to happen. Anyway, this is, for the most part, a fine follow-up to a surprising hit. The tease of Quill's fatherage (apparently not a word) is revealed and is the tent pole issue of several other relationship explorations throughout the film. The Gamora/Nebula battling sisters sub-plot is interesting (though pretty much emanating from another Daddy issue - Thanos). Drax and Mantis have a nice little dysfunctional friendship blossoming. Rocket and Yondu find similarities in character and even Groot has his growing pains. Yet these are a...

Well, how's this for a comic book movie? It's like Peckinpah re-animated. Taking a cue from the altogether different,  Deadpool  of last year,  Logan  has been made with the letter  R  virtually flashing in the corner of the frame. They've gone as far away from the X franchise as possible, even dropping the name Wolverine from the title and suggesting the comics are mostly bullshit. It's a morosely fatalistic film, with a few of the characters seemingly aware of the reaper behind them and slowing down for him to catch up. Oh, and I think it's a peach. There's a great intro for the third point in the Logan-Xavier triangle, Laura (or X-23). The director, James Mangold, keeps all the initial action hidden, aside from the noise. When we do get to see her in full flow, it's Wolverine on speed - with more blood and gore than previous Marvel films. Pretty ballsy to have a 10 year-old kid deliver a severed head like a bowling ball to the feet of her torment...

My sister and I went to the Luna cinema in Leederville to see  T2 , about 21 years after seeing the first  Trainspotting  at the very same venue. A quick scan of the punters showed a similar demographic - middle aged, probably fans of the first. No surprises really. For me,  Trainspotting  is one of two films (along with  Pulp Fiction ) that epitomise the 1990s, so there was always going to be an audience. Danny Boyle, Andrew McDonald, John Hodge and the principal cast all return and there's a buzz seeing the characters again, in much the same way that people of my generation punched the air when Han Solo appeared in  The Force Awakens . T2  is funny and sad in equal measure (my sister thinks it's funnier than the first but I remember a few chuckles back then too). The 'reunion' scenes are mint - especially Renton and Begbie - and there are loads of Boyle-ish visual flourishes that show how good he can be when he's not making soap. There's o...

A mid-week trip to Busselton allowed us to leave the mini-humans with the ancient ones and take in  Passengers  at the Orana Cinema. And a few days later, I'm still not sure what I thought of this film. It's cheesy, certainly. It's also sweet. It's minimalist and also fairly bloody grandiose. It poses a couple of existential questions and also has a great big misogynistic hurdle to jump. I usually wince when I hear "You'll either love it or hate it", but I reckon I like and dislike  Passengers  in equal measure. It's kind of a Jekyll and Hyde film, actually, in that I enjoyed it while watching but then it's hideous alter ego crept up and dribbled hot spit down my back. The sets up a pretty sweet poser - "Would you choose to 'wake' another human to share your isolation, even if you knew it would be condemning them to death?" I'm guessing most people would say they wouldn't......until they actually experience the situat...

Here we go with the dregs. Actually, that's a bit harsh. Some of these aren't as rubs as recent years. 1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) A boring, muddled mess with too much going on and a typically over-egged, twitchy performance from Jesse Eisenberg. What a cock he is. 2. Grimsby (2016) One giggle and lots of eye rolls. More expected from Sacha Baron Cohen. He can do, and has done, better. 3. Suicide Squad (2016) Like many of the films in this list, it could have been better. Star power in Will Smith, sauce in Margot Robbie, interesting (though dated) concept. But it fell on its arse. 4. Dragon Blade (2015) Bollocks nonsense from Jackie Chan, attempting to be earnest again. In its favour, it has Adrien Brody heavy-hamming through his make-up. To its detriment, it has John Cusack playing straight through his. 5. Man of Steel (2013) Back of the net! That's a hat-trick for DC films. A hat-trick of shite. Admittedly, for me, this is slightly bette...

Once again, time for the ten best films I saw, for the first time, in 2016. Not the best selection, to be fair, but I'm sure I missed some belters. 1. Slow West (2015) As the title says, slow. But somehow, immensely watchable with some great images and memorable characters. 2. A Bigger Splash (2015) Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton are near-perfect in this. I haven't seen Fiennes give a better performance. This is an odd film that kept popping back into my mind months after I'd seen it. 3. Suburra (2015) Glistening, strobing, throbbing. And that's only one scene. Italian mafia tale with added gloss and raunch. 4. High-Rise (2015) Bonkers stab at social strata with Hiddleston in a role suited to his talents. 5. The Revenant (2015) Gruelling and old-fashioned revenge western. Di Caprio earned his biscuits here. 6. Marshland (2014) Spanish murder mystery set in the swamps of Andalucia. A tense and well-paced little gem. 7. Arrival (2016) Smart, th...