The Shape of Water

(Guillermo del Toro/2017/USA)

A romantic fantasy wrapped up in cold war espionage and military secrets The Shape of Water left me a bit cold. Guillermo del Toro does his best to warm your heart but there’s not enough substance to it. Styled very much in the vein of Jeunet et Caro’s Delicatessen the mood and feel of the film leans to the quirky and surreal and sets you up for the weirdness to come. Sally Hawkins is excellent as Elisa, a master class in exuding emotion without uttering a word. Elisa is mute and we are brought into her world most wonderfully in the first ten to twenty minutes of the movie. However once the plot begins to turn around the mysterious “Asset” that arrives at the military base where Elisa works as a cleaner, things begin the get a bit flakey.

I have no problem with the fantastical, I can readily accept the introduction of a merman into a story and the aspect of non verbal communication, acceptance and love that flourishes between Elisa and Mr. Fish has wider connotations for today’s world but there are questions that kept popping into my head. What would The Shape of Water be like if the fish man character was, say, a Russian spy? Would there be as much fuss about it as a storyline? No, obviously, but this leads me to believe that the creation of the character as a fish is more about being weird for weird’s sake. Ok a merman more readily represents “the other” than a boring old Russian spy but there's a clumsiness to The Shape of Water too. I can’t believe a cleaning lady could manage to siphon the time and access required to develop the relationship we see on screen or the fact that one security camera being put out of action enables an escape route from a military facility. There’s too many drop outs in story logic and they held me back from running with the fantasy of everything else. Del Toro is an excellent film maker but this is a poor outing by his standards in my opinion. It's derivative in style and a bit hokey in execution but I'll give it this much, it's the best movie about falling in love with a fish I've seen in a long time.

(2/5)

The Post

(Steven Spielberg/2017/USA)

Recounting the Pentagon Papers exposé on the Vietnam War in the early 70’s The Post never really goes beyond a historically interesting retelling of events. It’s all about the Washington Post obviously but the New York Times gets short shrift for its part in the revelations. That’s because the focus is on the personalities and relationship between Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee the owner and editor respectively of the Post. Hanks and Streep are in fine fettle but there are a lot of chummy, luvvey type scenes. Maybe I’m misreading things and these were the characters of the people at play but I detected an underlying self satisfaction in the performances. Also the blunted reshaping of Katherine Graham as a sort of feminist hero is a kind of revisionism that works against an honest recounting of history. It’s a bit cack handed to be fair and the plot is not in any way dynamic. The story is spoon fed to you and lacks any real intrigue or political paranoia like All the Presidents Men which is the obvious film to compare it to. Other comparisons with the current administration in America are obvious too but the plot of this film seems to have been moulded to allow these comparisons along with the feminist reading of Graham rather than them being natural by products of the original story. This is the core reason it falls a bit flat for me.

(2.5/5)

Thor: Ragnarok

(Taika Waititi/2017/USA)

I don’t really follow the whole Marvel/DC comics to film universe thing but I used to read comics like X-Men from time to time as a kid so I have a general awareness of most of the superheroes involved. However when I saw Taika Waititi’s name against the latest Thor instalment I didn’t need any further encouragement to give it a watch. Luckily this is a standalone story with enough of a recap that you can dive in without having seen the previous film. The first thing that hits home is the action; it’s full on, high octane and fun. Full of laughs and not afraid to be irreverent this has got Waititi all over it. Style and look wise it nods towards the Guardians of the Galaxy a little bit which is grand. It’s great to see this director get his hands on a big budget franchise and put his stamp on it but without taking away from the source material. Bending it to his slant just enough to create something unique within an established brand. It’s a couple of hours of kick ass fun.

(3/5)

Alone in the Dark

(Jack Sholder/1982/USA)

Early 80's horror flick but with a little more substance than usual, Alone in the Dark has all sorts of questions about what insanity is or means and how we treat those diagnosed as not sane. Sholder lays off the gore in favour of a more cerebral tension. There are some genuinely odd and unsettling moments throughout, the scene with Fatty Elster and the young girl Lyla alone in the house being a stand out one. Apparently Donald Pleasance’s character, Dr. Leo Bain, was based on the radical Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing so the probing of the narrative into the nature of madness makes a lot of sense. The performances from the leads, Palance, Schultz and Pleasance are great and slightly kooky but Martin Landau as “Preacher” and Lee Taylor-Allan as Toni are superb. As a fan of The Fall it was more than interesting to hear the lines of Dr. Leo Bain, “Always remember what the Hindu mystics say: Mind moving fast is crazy, Mind slow is sane, Mind stopped is god” which has to be a direct source for these Mark E. Smith lyrics in the song Craigness, “Mind moving slow is sane, Mind moving fast is mad, Mind left stopped is god.”

(2.5/5)

No Escape

(John Eric Dowdle/2015/USA & Thailand)

A nightmarish scenario of a family stationed in a foreign land for work purposes when a revolt against the government occurs which involves anti-western aggression. If dealt with properly this is a perfectly valid set up and plot line but No Escape deals solely in cheap thrills and the unnamed country and its crazy, rioting rebels, borders on outright racism. There is so little detail given to the back story of the political upheaval and the conceit of the main character as a target for the aggression as a representative of American corporate/colonial power is so flimsy that there really is no escape from this paper thin plot. To sympathise with the central characters is to blithely paintbrush Asian cultures into a mush of potentially crazy left wing rent a mobs, like it’s so unstable over there in generic Asialand country dude, this could so happen. The introduction of white knight super agent Pierce Brosnan takes the biscuit altogether and raises it to a whole other level of shite. Absolute zero effort at creating a believable script. It’s just out and out bad.

(0/5)

Killing Ground

(Damian Power/2016/Australia)

A horrific tale of rape and torture in outback Australia, Killing Ground tries to unsettle a bit too much before devolving into a grim chase to the final moments. Thankfully there are no scenes of the sexual assaults but the aftermath and cruel torture that are shown strays dreadfully close to unnecessary provocation or even what’s called torture porn these days. There’s no reason why the fates of the people onscreen can’t be shown in several split second gruesome flashbacks that could easily jar and shock the audience effectively. In fact there’s no reason we need to see their deaths at all. However the director makes a conscious choice to show an elongated five minute scene of the torture endured. We are subjected to that and it begs the question why? It’s already established that the bad guys are bad and the audience are led into the scene more or less knowing the fate of the people involved. In that sense we are set up to know the outcome and therefore know what’s coming next. So is it titillation? I felt it was too close to the bone and it spoiled the film because otherwise Damian Power creates a menacing tension and carries the viewer along with the terror of the main characters. The flashbacks mentioned lack any subtlety really but then again the current trend in Australian horror thriller films seems to be the more shocking and gory the better.

(2/5)

Coco

(Lee Unkrich/2017/USA) 

After 2016’s Moana, which came in for criticism of its homogenised depiction of Polynesian cultures, Disney/Pixar went the extra mile for Coco, which focuses on Mexico and specifically its traditions around the Day of the Dead. Some care was taken to be respectful and it worked by all accounts as the film has been a great success in Mexico due to its faithful depiction of La Dia Del Muerte. The titular character is an elderly woman who is great grandmother to the hero of the film, Miguel. He gets transported to the land of the dead and discovers the truth about a family secret which leads to greater unity and love within the family. I’ll say no more than that, it’s a beautiful film that combines adventure, comedy and music into a unique cultural perspective that opens up and becomes accessible to all with its message.

(3.5/5)

False Trail

(Kjell Sundvall/2011/Sweden) 

A fairly by the numbers murder mystery flick that really didn’t rise above made for TV production levels for me. It’s obvious from a long way off what’s going on which makes the cat and mouse investigation that develops by turns predictable and a bit frustrating. A couple of good performances in the leads but unless you’re a Nordic crime genre fan this is an inessential affair.

(2/5)

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

(Karel Zeman/1961/Czechoslovakia)

A wonderfully colourful and mesmerising interpretation of the 18^th Century fable of the real not real Baron that utilises an array of animation techniques mixed with live action to great effect. Recounting adventures from the moon to fighting the Turkish army and navy, escapades through the belly of a sea monster to bringing peace to warring nations this fantastical tale is a joy with a love story at its core and a message of hope and wonder at its end. The humour and dry wit of the Baron is well represented but as a foil and competitor to the Baron, the moon man Tony is a little staid and stilted in his performance. However dated it may seem it still has the power to beguile and wile away just over an hour. The score is magnificent throughout too, adding a depth and tone to the film that matches the visuals perfectly.

(3.5/5)

Moana

(Ron Clements & John Musker/2016/USA)

The sorcerers at Disney towers look out from the wastelands of Pixar and train their eye on the Polynesian cultures of the Pacific Ocean, cherry picking bits and pieces from a number of individually distinct tribes and mash them together for a big CGI shit show of fun. This is the problem with Disney, it makes great movies, they really are fun and hugely enjoyable for the family but the level of cultural misappropriation and deliberate, conscious vandalising of indigenous cultures in its movies makes them an extremely guilty pleasure. It can’t be that hard to put in a little more effort and get the films accurate and educationally beneficial as well as entertaining. So capitalist piggery aside this is one of the sinfully good Disney outings. Effortlessly funny, great characterisation and another strong female lead too with brilliant animation. The fact that the legions of Polynesian cultures are presented as a distinct single entity that results in a perfect postcard picture of the Pacific islands is more than just a by the way. Disney was in conversation with Hawaii airlines about deals for routes to the area apparently. So as a parent I’m happy my kids are getting an afternoons entertainment but unhappy they are being subjected to a generalised paintbrush stroke of ancient cultures in some half arsed tourism effort.

(3/5)

Ill Manors

(Ben Drew/2012/UK)

A vehicle for rapper Plan B to showcase 8 songs revolving around the 8 characters whose lives are the focus of the film Ill Manors works in places and not in others. Essentially it captures the sense of frustration and hopelessness in growing up in a particular part of London as well as the community dynamics in those estates and streets too. But it also over eggs the story or stories to the point of soap opera level drama. Far too much happens in a week to stay completely engaged with it as issue after issue is highlighted. It’s a pity because if it had scaled back the script to focus more on 3 or 4 of the main characters it might have resulted in a tighter and more forceful film. The performances can’t be faulted and the setting and characterisations are on point so it really is a case of an overstuffed narrative.

(2.5/5)

Season of the Witch

(Dominic Sena/2011/USA, UK & Australia)

One of the abiding mysteries of the world is how Nicholas Cage could squander the potential and talent he showed early on in his career in a series of big budget ham hocked dribble inducing action flicks. But then again maybe it’s not that mysterious if one looks at the paychecks involved. Anyway this is a big budget ham hocked dribble inducing action flick about a girl accused of being a witch in the plague ridden times of the crusades. Cue Cage and Ron Perlman as retired knights who undertake to escort her across Europe to a remote monastery and a series of escapades on the way ensue. The mood and look of the scenes are the best thing in it, everything and everyone else seems to be a by the numbers on autopilot affair.

(1/5)

The Great Gatsby

(Baz Luhrmann/2013/Australia & USA) 

Luhrmann brings his recognisable flair to F. Scot Fitzgerald’s tale of heartache and woe in 1920’s New York. The heart of the book is put on screen dressed up in gaudy excess; swinging jazz becomes infused with modern rap and hip hop pop and the crass pre crash opulence is perfect fodder for Luhrmann’s eye for pomp and spectacle. Indeed it’s a good marriage of minds and styles. If you like either or both it should go a ways to keeping you entertained. Leonardo Di Caprio more or less sails through his performance as Jay Gatsby without too much fuss, leaving Toby Maguire to shine as the greenhorn Nick Carraway. But the standouts are Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan as the dysfunctional Buchanans whom the plot orbits around.

(2.5/5)

Bunny and the Bull

(Paul King/2009/UK) 

With a very distinctive visual style, which I’m told springs from Kings previous work on TV show The Mighty Boosh, Bunny and the Bull is a part bromance, part romance and part tragic-comedy. With a cast also gathered from his previous projects it all feels a bit cliquey but it manages to get past this due to a good dose of humour and quirkiness. Telling the story of Stephen who is confined to his flat and lives his days in a hyper controlled and structured way, the reason why he is so reclusive and obsessed with routine begins to be revealed in flashback. We see a summer spent backpacking across Europe with his best mate Bunny who is everything Stephen isn’t. Their adventures weave across the map and each one moves closer to the secret of Stephens problems. It’s surreal, funny and very British in humour building in a meandering way to the climax of Stephen’s neurosis and eventual catharsis.

(3/5)

The Raid 2

(Gareth Evans/2014/Indonesia)

It’s hard to imagine Gareth Evans coming close to the action and excitement of his first Raid movie but he does it and even goes beyond it. Picking up right where the The Raid finished we see Rama getting recruited as an undercover agent to infiltrate the Bangun crime gang. There’s a lot more story here and events tip along nicely with building tension and bursts of violence. Unlike the first movie which had a single goal driving the plot this sequel has to open out several different strands and weave them together whilst replicating the momentum and dynamic of the fighting. It does it really well, the story holds together and the fight scenes are a step above the earlier episode using a lot more visual gags and various settings and stunt set ups to elaborate on. If you enjoyed the first Raid you should have no complaint with this one either.

(3.5/5)

Exodus: Gods and Kings

(Ridley Scott/2014/USA, UK & Spain)

Having breathed life back into Roman and Greek classical history genre with 2001’s Gladiator, Ridley Scott tackles the biblical epic here but falls way short of the mark. I’m not sure what the attraction was for an outspoken atheist to make a film about a religious myth but the obvious pitfall of that situation is the lack of connection with the source material. As a result the film is an exercise in big budget action dressed up in historical drama but missing any proper spiritual core which, ultimately, is the point of the story of Moses. The focus is all on effects and battle action and even when the story rolls around to Moses’ spiritual crisis it is without any real religious zeal. The voice of god is embodied in the form of a child, Malak (The Hebrew name for angel), this immediately removes direct contact with the divine being and you have Christian Bale seeking the advice of an invisible child for the remainder of the film. 

 

Exodus is really centred on the rivalry of Moses and Ramesses, his adoptive cousin who becomes King of Egypt and with whom Moses struggles to free the Hebrews from their enslavement. Scott can’t help tinkering with the story instead of playing it straight and as a result it begins to ring hollow. The plagues almost seem as a by the way, over and done within a few minutes so the story can progress to the chase to the Red Sea. And that scene itself has a pompous standoff between Moses and Ramesses in the shadow of the waves of the sea crashing back after the Hebrews have passed through. This is the bible dude, you can’t just start making up shit. The pacing is off kilter at times too and at two and a half hours it’s just not worth the effort. A big budget misfire from Scott and along with Aronofsky’s Noah it looks like 2014 wasn’t a great year for resurrecting the biblical epic in cinema.

(1.5/5)

Force Majeure

(Ruben Östlund/2014/France, Sweden & Norway)

A superbly observed family drama about a Swedish couple on a skiing holiday with their two kids who have a crisis of faith in their relationship. When an incident occurs with a controlled avalanche that comes dangerously close to the restaurant balcony they and other guests are dining at the actions of dad Tomas cause a schism in his marriage to Ebba and a breakdown in personality and self belief. It’s acutely paced, building slowly from Tomas’s refusal to face facts to his eventual implosion of moral doubt. His resolution of character in the penultimate scene sees him regain his confidence but there’s a hint that Ebba has maybe manufactured the scenario to get her husband back on an even keel. The final scene when Ebba more or less replicates Tomas’ questionable actions in a moment of panic is a nice flourish to undercut the rest of the movie. Everyone is capable of mistakes and no one knows for sure how they will react to fight or flight situations. It’s funny, questioning and brilliantly unsettling with a lovely, slightly eccentric ending.

(4/5)

The Connection

(Cédric Jimenez/2014/France & Belgium)

The connection in the title being French as in the 1971 William Friedkin film about drugs smuggling through Marseilles to New York based on real events. The Connection looks at the story from the French side and details the story of Judge Pierre Michel and criminal Tany Zampa who were more or less arch rivals on the side of law and disorder respectively in 1970’s Marseilles. The film is an excellent character study of both the protagonists and has plenty of action and style but it is at the end of the day a gangster film and doesn’t push against or beyond that genre in any way. It’s a good film and a compelling story but there’s nothing spectacular about it in and of itself.

(2.5/5)

Dunkirk

(Christopher Nolan/2017/UK, USA, France, Netherlands)

Eschewing dialogue in favour of telling the story through sound and vision Dunkirk is an ambitious and artistic undertaking that successfully puts you in the midst of the tension and terror of the mass extraction of allied troops from Northern France in 1940. As an added touch it takes three timelines of differing length and viewpoints that cross at a couple of points and weaves them together over the course of two hours. So we have a week at the beach with the troops awaiting transport, a day at sea with civilians aiding the Navy and an hour in the air with a spitfire pilot defending the ships from enemy bombers. It sounds confused and certainly there is jumping back and forth in time but it all makes sense and each narrative unfurls and reveals aspects of the other two with a dawning sense of the scale of the operation involved. It’s a superb movie that blossoms before you like a flower. The minimal dialogue is affecting and the score by Hans Zimmer is brilliant and immersive and relays the rising panic and fear and tension as everyone waits like sitting ducks for either a boat to take them home or a German plane to strike terror from the skies. The desperation of the situation pervades the film like an odour of impending doom and the score is absolutely central to this. It’s a wholly visceral cinematic experience and a film unlike any other I’ve seen from a mainstream director in quite a while. Christopher Nolan has been one to watch for some time now but Dunkirk is an achievement that makes him an essential director to follow.

(4/5)

Moonrise Kingdom

(Wes Anderson/2014/USA)

I’ll come right out and say I’m not a big fan of Wes Anderson’s style of films. The quirkiness seems too contrived and there’s an overabundance of elements that seem to cry out for vindication – “hey look, I know movies!” He certainly knows how to create a cinematic ambience and is adept at kneading the heart strings of the viewer but it’s all too sickly sweet to fully grab me, that aside Moonrise Kingdom is hard not to like. It’s a big adventure tall tale rollercoaster with a cornucopia of big name stars lending their weight to proceedings but at the heart of it are two wonderful performances by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. A couple of 12 year old social misfits fall in love and elope to the woods a day before a bad storm is due to hit the area sending friends and family into panic and a search party ensues. Simple enough story but Anderson litters it with eccentricities of characters and situations. Great performances from Frances McDormund, Bill Murray, Ed Norton and Bruce Willis and a pacing that picks you up and carries you crashing to the end all make this Andersons best film for me. I’m a sucker for a good coming of age flick anyway but he nails it.

(3.5/5)

Noah

(Darren Aronofsky/2014/USA) 

Like a cross between Lord of the Rings and The 10 Commandments this is a religious epic in fantasyland. It is the Old Testament after all and the source material for the Noah story is scarce enough as it is but with angelic “watchers” in the form of stone golems cast from heaven traipsing around Aronofsky goes full scale biblical myth here. He focuses on Noah and the internal struggle of the man who has to carry out the word of God. It’s utterly silly at points and to be honest I struggled to stay with it to the end but there is an arc that Noah’s character traverses. Not that you’d guess from Russell Crowes performance who reduces his range from a bit gruff to very gruff throughout. In the end you have to ask what the point of it is, shrug the shoulders and move on...

(1/5)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

(Rian Johnson/2017/USA) 

Right from the get go Last Jedi lays down a marker that things in the Star Wars universe are changing. Luke Skywalker nonchalantly tosses his old light sabre over his shoulder and storms off past Rey. We aren’t going to be taking things as seriously as before and we are going to have a bit of fun. For the most part it stays true to this throughout the rest of the movie without over egging it on the comedy side of things and also maintaining a decent amount of respect for what’s gone before. But there is a clear message that Star Wars, under Disney, is going to change and break away from the past and it will be done with good humour. There are constant references in dialogue to doing just that, letting go of the past, facing a brave a new future etc but then the entire closing section of the film is a rehash of the Empire Strikes Back scenes on Hoth. This jars a little, especially after two hours of meandering between the light and dark sides of the force. Don’t get me wrong, the story as a whole holds up and engages but it is overlong for a kids movie. I’m all for throwing bones to the kidult nerd fans but Star Wars is a franchise aimed squarely at kids and my nine and seven year olds both agreed it was a long haul. My wife thought it was fine however, just for balance, you know, in the force and all that... It’s not the best Star Wars movie but neither is it the worst. There were a few questions running through my head with it but to be honest, at this point, I’m happy just to watch and enjoy new Star Wars flicks with my family and not trouble over them too much. For what it’s worth my ranking of the episodes goes thus: 5, 4, 6, 7, 3, 8, 1, 2.

(2.5/5)