Film Shapes

There's a very intense mood hanging over this claustrophobic, misery-soaked drama about a depressed English teacher. That first line doesn't paint the rosiest picture, does it? Granted, it's not a barrel but it has a few moments of lightness that trickle through the funk. Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, a fella who has let himself go to obesity, thanks mainly to an earlier trauma. His visual performance is pretty amazing, especially when you remember that this is the dashing beefcake from the Mummy films and...ahhhh.... Encino Man . He's helped by a flubbery prosthetic suit but, even so, every time he struggles to get up, or shoves some food down his neck, there's a noticeable audience reaction. As good as he is, I don't quite understand the adulation that's been following Fraser around regarding this performance. Maybe it's recognition of the troubles he's been having (apparently, many film-related injuries, a messy divorce and even an alleged sexual...

Tár is writer/director Todd Field's third feature after the earnest In the Bedroom and Little Children, and this extends his self-initiated remit of homing in on touchy, difficult subject matter. In this film, Lydia Tár is a famous, and famously headstrong, conductor, who is currently fronting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. She's played by Cate Blanchett in a role that virtually peals, 'Oscar, Oscar, Oscaaaaar.' Blanchett is great, as usual, but she runs very close to, "I'm acting, dahling," at some points - I'm thinking specifically of the on-stage interview session and the lesson at Julliard. That lesson scene is probably where the film sets out it's stall, but I'm still not entirely sure what Field is saying with it. In this awkward conducting workshop class, Lydia gently, then more insultingly, chides a student for not being able to appreciate the music of composers unlike, or antithetical to, themselves - the old 'art' vs ...

Whatever else this film will be remembered for, it can't be denied that this is uber-confident, scintillating filmmaking from Damien Chazelle. It starts with an elephant shitting all over some dude and charges along at a pace that only allows a breath around 45 minutes in. This is a film that does not give one single fuck, and it's not like this Chazelle fella is Nolan or Spielberg or Cameron, or someone who can call the shots. I may be wrong (wouldn't be a first) but it seems like he had nobody to rein him in. Usually, that's a red flag (à la Tarantino) but here it works wonders.  Babylon is set in the early days of Hollywood - 1926 to 1932 for the most part - and it focuses on a wannabe actress, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie); a matinee idol, Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt); and a young Mexican fix-it man, Manny Torres (Diego Calva). These three, and others such as gossip writer, Elinor St. John (Jean Smart), singer, Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) and musician, Sidney Palmer (Jovan ...

Readers of Terry Pratchett will probably be all over this animated adaptation of his Discworld children's novel, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents . For fellow neophytes, let me fill you in. Maurice is a talking cat and he runs a scam akin to the Pied Piper's gig of ridding towns of rats. The rats are also intelligent, but aren't fully aware of Maurice's intentions - basically greed, it seems. They're under the impression that he's trying to help them find their Shangri-La, a magical island where animals and humans coexist in harmony. This chimeric wonderland is in a book that we're introduced to at the start of the film, narrated to us by Malicia, voiced by Emilia Clarke. The rats presumably found this book somewhere and revere it as their holy tome, but they're later sympathetically disabused of this notion of 'rat heaven' (perhaps a nod to Pratchett's own form of benign atheism?). Could it be that what they've been searching...

2022 was a fine year for film...but some stinkers crept through and gummed up the piping (in fairness, many of them were not actually from last year). Enjoy. [Click on the titles of the bottom three for links to full reviews] 10. The Gray Man (2022) The Russo Brothers tried to bring their money-bagging to Netflix and seemed to be doing ok, until the film apparently dropped off a cliff after the first week - though it's very hard to trust the 'box office' returns of streamers. At any rate, this wasn't great, wasting the star wattage of Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling and specifically Ana de Armas and Jessica Henwick. It was positioned as a franchise with an open ending but let's hope they reconsider. Not the worst (obviously, there are nine to come) but a solid disappointment. 8. Moonfall (2022) Nobody should be surprised that Roland Emmerich has made a dud here, but the cast maybe should have known better. Halle Berry is a fine actress and Patrick Wilson is underrated, ...

Sayonara 2022, it's been a pretty good year for film. This top ten list comes from a neat 100 films (80 first time viewings) and 55 trips to the cinema. It's down a touch from last year but it was harder to complete, with some fine films missing out. So here are my favourite 10 films seen in 2022: [Click on the titles for links to full reviews] 10. Paris, 13th District (2021) Jacques Audiard's monochrome ode to the multicultural 13th arrondissement of Paris is light on story but heavy on atmosphere. Lucie Zhang is fantastic in her breakout film - she's one to watch - and Noémie Merlant is top drawer as well. This tale of young Frenchies aimlessly searching connection is probably the most joyously optimistic film on the list. 9. Belfast (2021) Here's a film I figured would be sentimental and a bit dull, but I was happy to be proven wrong. Kenneth Branagh wrote and directed this autobiographical story from the point of view of young Ken/Buddy, played by newcomer Ju...

Park Chan-wook has a fine back catalogue, full of brutal beauty and oddly juxtaposing shots. His 'Vengeance Trilogy' alone ( Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance , Oldboy and Lady Vengeance ) would be enough to give him a seat at the table, but fill that CV out with Thirst , Stoker and The Handmaiden , and there's some heft right there. His latest film, Decision to Leave , won him the best director gong at Cannes back May 2022, and it's a just reward. The film begins quite rapidly, getting a number of things out in a flurry. We meet two detectives, Jang Hae-joon (played by Park Hae-il) and Soo-wan (Go Kyung-Pyo), learn a bit about their cases, their family life and office hierarchies. While attempting to nail one murder case shut, the body of a climber is discovered at the foot of a gnarly-looking peak. Accident? Suicide? Something more tasty? The dead man's young Chinese wife, Song Seo-rae, impeccably played by Tang Wei (from Ang Lee's Lust, Caution and Michael Mann...