Film Shapes

This is a neat little 'Is he or isn't he?' comedy-drama about an elderly Jewish man living in the Colombian countryside who comes to believe that Adolf Hitler has moved in next door. Director (and co-writer) Leon Prudovsky opens this Israeli/Polish co-production in Germany in 1934, then swiftly time-jumps to 1960, just after the capture of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.  The premise is faintly ridiculous but mixing potential farce with holocaust themes is brave, to say the least. Mr. Plonsky lives a fairly ascetic lifestyle, and crucially, alone (the flashback opening shows him with a large family), when he is made aware of a buyer, a Mr. Herzog, for the rundown house next to his rundown house. He's a proper misery-guts, the only thing he seems to care about are the black roses in his patchy garden - a nice visual link to the past. Imagine then, the shit that hits the fan (well, hand) when he finds that his new neighbour's dog (German Shepherd, obviously) has been mes...

This film is proof that the romantic comedy genre doesn't always need to be insufferable Hollywood shite, if indeed The Innocent can even be classified as a rom-com. It's about a young bloke, his best friend, his mum and her new hubby. There's pathos, mild threat, humour and romance, all balanced and pitched just about right.  Director and co-writer, Louis Garrel also stars as Abel, widower and perhaps the innocent of the title. His best friend (and also best friend of his late wife) is Clémence, played by a stellar Noémie Merlant, and while their relationship is a potential for juice, the story actually revolves around Abel's mum's new partner, and his status as an ex-con. Mum Sylvie (Anouk Grinberg) teaches theatre in prisons, where she has met and fallen in love with Michel (Roschdy Zem), and upon his release - they've said the vows in prison - they start a new life, and business together. Abel, meanwhile, doesn't trust Michel and therefore starts tailin...

Ohhhhh, the humanity! I try not to pile on a film, especially if the people behind it mean well, and sure, everyone's entitled to a 5 nil drubbing now and then, but this one severely tested my patience. I haven't seen Hereditary or Midsommar , writer/director Ari Aster's previous two features, so I didn't know what to expect. Beau is Afraid is based on one of the director's shorts, Beau , from 2011, and how he went from a 7 minute runtime to an eyeball-burning 180 (or near enough) is pretty astounding. Possibly the most egregious issue is that it starts so well. The first quarter (and a smidge) of the film is darkly funny, clever and brutally promising. At the natural break point between the first and second acts, a thought popped into my noggin *There's nowhere to go from here* and I was unfortunately bang on. Oddly, it looks like there are four acts in the film, each one exponentially decreasing in quality. Joaquin Phoenix does his best with the material but...

This tautly directed police procedural is based on the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, specifically how the anti-terror squad dealt with the investigation and a potential follow-up bombing. Director (and co-writer with Olivier Demangel and number of 'scenario consultants'), Cedric Jimenez is carving a niche for himself in the 'no nonsense, muscular but cool crime/terror' genre, with films like The Connection , BAC Nord and Under Watch , as well as an adaptation of the Laurent Binet book, HHhH , The Man with the Iron Heart .  As with many films of this ilk, it's full of impassioned phone conversations, whippy camera movements indicating a melee of barking activity, and tension-raising scenes where something goes momentarily wrong, only to be saved at the last minute. The performances are suitably stoic, to the point of near parody (honestly, there's a rizla paper between Jean Dujardin's work here and his great turn in Deerskin ), but on the ...

I was expecting a celluloid headache from this 'content venture' but only the rainbow Bifrost was an optical assault, the rest was simply bright animation. It should be noted that the content creators have shoe-horned the word 'movie' into the title. I've been trying to avoid any reference to it being a 'film' but that's perhaps a little unfair. Let's face it, this is a cash grab that will most likely succeed, where the live action version from 1993, starring Bob Hoskins, didn't. The target market - children - will gobble it up, if the audience I saw it with is anything to go by. Now, if you're familiar with the Mario Bros. Nintendo game or any derivation thereof, you'll recognise elements from those irritating seizure-events. There are many of the characters from the games, so my kids tell me, such as Bowser, Toad, Princess Peach and Donkey Kong (even I know that last one). These big-eyed attempts at cuteness are voiced by (in order) Jac...

Full disclosure - I know bugger all about the game on which this film is based, except that it's loved by nerds all over the world. Well, nerds rejoice, because this is the start of a franchise that will likely peak around film number three and peter out slowly until the money dries up. But let's not think about the future, this first one is a great lark. Plot contrivances aside, it's a breezy little number that didn't outstay it welcome (it's just over 2 hours) and it doesn't try to be anything more than a jokey, charming action fantasy. There are numerous rip-offs or homages - Lord of the Rings , The Princess Bride , even Serenity , at a pinch, and it's all held together by Chris Pine's endearingly failure-laden chancer, Edgin. The opening hammers through the backstory, introduces the main characters and antagonists, and positions the heroes' journey, all in a functional, albeit slightly muddled manner (I didn't quite catch the reasoning for th...