Film Shapes

Seberg follows a couple of years in the life of Jean Seberg, the American actress most known for A Bout de Souffle and, arguably, being more revered in France than the US. She lived most of her adult life in France and was a prominent supporter of civil rights groups including the Black Panthers. This earned her the attention of the FBI and that's where the film kicks off. I admit to not really knowing much about Jean Seberg, considering that the above mentioned film is in my all-time top ten. But that lack of knowledge actually made the (mostly) factual events more maddening. The fucking horrid surveillance system the FBI used on Seberg and others is detailed here and its consequences leave an empty rage in the gut. Seberg gives a presser at one point and her ripping of the 'two dangerous bodies' - media and government - have murky modern echoes. The film is directed by Australian theatre director, Benedict Andrews and he shows his nous at working with dialogue ...

Here are the films that I didn't think too much of last year. Some obvious duds (really, it's my own fault) and one surprising one. 10. Terminator: Genysis (2015) Muddled, forgettable story with some wooden acting. Notably, not the worst in the series, though. 9. Ip Man (2008) Faux-sombre, anti-Japanese piffle about the creator of martial art Wing Chun. Dull nonsense, albeit, with some ok fight scenes. 8. Rio (2011) Overly colourful yet boring animation about an annoying bird and other animals. Jemaine Clement is the only saving grace. 7. Peterloo (2018) Mike Leigh, what happened here? Preponderously talky, stuffy crap with cliches coming out of its peter and its loo. Just goes to show even great directors can lay steamers if the mood takes them. 6. The Commuter (2018) Instantly forgettable train-based 'thriller'. Neeson can do much better but usually doesn't. 5. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) Wet sequel to that other wor...

Evening all. Here are my favourite ten films of 2019. As usual, some may be from earlier years but all are first time viewings. 10. Diego Maradona (2019) A searching dive into the dualism of the man, Diego and the myth, Maradona. Some great pitch-side footage cut with Naples street life. 9. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Rollicking set-pieces and matured performances almost put this at the top of the trilogy. Driver and Ridley take plaudits but it's an assured hand from Abrams that delivers it. 8. The Sisters Brothers (2018) A weird, slow-paced, Old West, English language debut from my favourite director, Jacques Audiard. It's filled with restrained performances and odd shit. Not everyone's cup of gold-finding chemical formula. 7. Avengers: Endgame (2019) Not much more to be said about this. Amazing coda to a mostly cracking series of films. 6. The Irishman (2019) Scorsese's ode to the mob/union/politics links in the post war U.S.  Excellent...

So here's the final part of the Skywalker saga. Or the third film in this trilogy. Or the ninth film in the Star Wars series. Or the eleventh film in the franchise. Let's be realistic - in the coming years there will be titles like 'Star Wars: The Yield of Lucre' or 'Star Wars: Hutt River Province' or 'Star Wars: The Something of Boris' (apologies to Adam & Joe). It's never going to finish and it may very well repeat the formula over and over until film becomes an obsolete medium. But people (me included) will still buy tickets. It's a cultural blind spot that no matter how bad these films get, folk will flock (even Attack of the Clones made north of half a billion USD). In saying that, The Rise of Skywalker is a really fun film and it goes at a clip. J.J. Abrams had a look at what Rian Johnson did with The Last Jedi and mini-retconned most of it. In fairness, Johnson did pretty much the same after Abrams The Force Awakens so, even ...

Saw this with the wife and kids. Safe to say only the small humans enjoyed it with reckless abandon. Try as I might, I just couldn't abandon my reck. A few months back, I succumbed to the juggernaut and watched the first Frozen with the family. I was mildly impressed, especially with the re-jigging of storybook tropes and the filmmakers' ability to 'un-princess' the leads while at the same time making them gold for toy manufacturers. Nifty trick. But ultimately, that film wound me up with its singing, constant chatter, irritating voice work and its singing. Oh, I mentioned the singing? Well, as dire as it was in Frozen , it lowered the bar for Frozen 2 . This is where I can't square things. These films would be fun kids' films, were it not for the fucking INTERMINABLE SINGING. There's even an 80s power ballad that's eerily similar to Peter Cetera's 'Glory of Love'. And that's the best one! The plot is worthy but pretty redundant...