c-kelsall Reviews

Willow (2022–2023)

A mixed bag, but it might grow on you

[7/10 · 2 February 2024]

Willow is a curious fantasy franchise; George Lucas' film from the '80's was a compote of the good, the bad and the ugly, and not particularly original. I was young when it was released, and I mostly loved it at the time. The rose-tinted specs haven't stood the test of time. Despite that, I retain fond memories, and awaited the TV series with mixed feelings.

The TV series begins a generation after the end of the film, with only Willow himself (Warwick Davis) and Sorscha (Joanne Whalley). The film took itself moderately seriously, with comic relief in the form of Madmartigan the sword-wielding hero, and Willow's inept use of magic. The TV series, however, is playing it for fun from the outset, with pretty much all the new characters wisecracking their way through the dialogue. This formula took some time to bed in - I was a good 30 min into the first episode before I started to lose the feeling I was going to hate it. Either I just needed an adjustment period, or the material got better, or probably a combination of the two, but by the time it ended I was thinking "Okay, I can actually contemplate more". By episode 3 I was hooked.

One of the puzzling things about this show is the random allocation of accents. Most of the adult characters are British (which in the case of Sorscha and Willow that's how it has to be be, in continuity with the film), but most of the young characters have American accents, even children of the British-accented characters. Perhaps a conscious choice of casting, or even a generation-separating trait, except the 'serious one' of the youngsters has a British accent, while Elora Dannon (grown up now, obviously) is played with an American accent by an English actress (Ellie Bamber). All a bit of a mishmash, much like the show. Somehow, though, the disparate elements of the production come together to make an unlikely adventure which mostly works.

The dialogue, which I found mostly intensely irritating in the first episode, seems to have settled into a groove where most of the jokes land quite well. The humorous characters are well cast, and the actors know what to do with the material, although I must admit that the original actors who survived from the film seem a little lost with the material in the TV series. Warwick Davis at times appears to be phoning in his delivery off an autocue, it's so wooden, but it wouldn't be Willow without him. In truth, I'm not convinced his acting has ever been great.

The pacing is bang on, the villains are interesting and suitably dangerous, and the digital effects are a cut above most of what was dealt out in the film. I know it was the '80's, but really... All in all, four episodes in, I quite like what I'm getting, and could hope for more in the future.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

MCU equivalent of a bag of Revels

[6/10 · 18 May 2023]

I agree wholeheartedly with those reviewers who cite Vol 3 as the weakest of the GotG trilogy, which is a shame, because it could have been great.

There was much to enjoy here, but equally there were elements that left me frustrated over what were, in my view, some poor choices of tone and direction.

The main problems I had with this outing were two-fold: too much shouting (like being subjected to an episode of a cheap soap opera); and some horrendously mawkish sentimentality, which frankly made me want to vomit.

I found the principal villain to lack depth of character. I don't believe it was the fault of the actor, having seen him in other things, rather the character's motivations were largely ignored by the script and direction. There is a moment between Rocket and the Evolutionary which could have acted as a trigger of a personality change, for example, but the Evolutionary seemed just as depraved and heartless before as after. Actually, this is a common complaint I have with villains in general - if they're unremittingly cruel and horrible to everyone, why does anyone follow them?

Having laid out what I didn't like, there were some things which worked. I personally had no expectations of newer characters like the Space Dog or Adam Warlock (these are things which seem to preoccupy comic fanboys on the whole), but they were entertaining additions to the canon. The Guardian who amused me most consistently was Drax (he certainly did a lot less angry shouting than the others), and Groot was reliably entertaining. You might be forgiven for thinking that I am a person who lacks emotional depth, whereas in fact I found a lot to applaud in the way Rocket's back story was handled, but for me it got unnecessarily over-sentimental at times, and it would have been much more effective if that particular instinct had been reigned in.

On a final note, I think the 2.5h run time was in danger of outstaying its welcome, which I would never say of a film I thoroughly enjoyed. A slightly trimmer and more tightly scripted and story-boarded film would probably have served the franchise better.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Did someone put drugs in my beer?

[9/10 · 23 May 2022]

I'm still reeling from having seen EEAAO. There's almost certainly a parallel universe somewhere where Old McDonald had a film called EEAAO, as the old nursery rhyme has it. If I had ever taken mind-altering drugs before, I might have been on familiar ground, but as it was I think the film makers took those drugs for me. I don't know they were on something at the time, but how else do you explain this incredible concoction?

One of the things I liked best about it was the unashamed willingness to be a vehicle for monumental silliness. If you don't like ridiculous humour, this film might wear thin very quickly. Luckily, I do enjoy it when done well, and for much of the middle act of the story the ludicrous spectacle was relentless, and hilarious. You just never know what's coming next.

But happily for some there's much more to EEAAO than absurdity and comedy. It's also quite touching, and charming, and has a few serious points to make about life, which avoids being mawkish or overly sentimental (just), thanks in part to leavening with the aforementioned silliness.

It's also incredibly imaginative. To combine the mind-expanding elements with the utter mundanity of a woman struggling with her taxes, and make a coherent story that ultimately pulls all the loose threads together for a surprisingly satisfying conclusion, is quite an achievement.

There's also quite a lot of subtitled Chinese dialogue, which switches back and forth from Mandarin to English and back to Mandarin again, because the main characters are all Chinese living in America, and speak both languages. This can make it hard on the brain at times, but stick with it; it helps to expand the mind!

Oh god, I've just had another flashback! Excuse me while I try to explain why I'm pissing myself laughing out of the blue again.....

The Northman (2022)

Bloody marvellous!

[9/10 · 22 April 2022]

We are not worthy! At least not in Robert Eggers' personal Valhalla, anyway. The man is a certified genius, in my opinion. I feel certain he must have Viking blood in his heritage, so lifelike is The Northman. You can almost smell the livestock, sweat, blood and brimstone in the air.

The Northman tells a fairly simple tale of treachery and revenge in 914 AD Iceland. These themes are familiar tropes; if you're looking for an original plot here, you've come to the wrong place. Where The Northman excels is in blending these ordinary themes with prophecy, fate and spiritual power from Norse mythology. The vengeful hero lives in an age when there is true belief in the magic of the world, as do all those around him, and the film immerses us in that mythology without ever losing touch with reality.

This is a historical world ruled by violence and chaos, a time when the only path to avoiding Hel after death was to die in battle.

Alexander Skarsgard, as Amleth, a Viking prince robbed of his family, home and destiny, is the very embodiment of a Viking warrior. No danger of him failing to attain Valhalla! Excellent casting all round, with many of Eggers' favourites punching in their cards once again. Virtually the entire cast of The Witch is to be found here, but they earn their place.

The Northman is understandably an extremely violent film, but not excessively so; much of the violence is inferred rather than seen in full technicolour, and the film is all the better for it. The same goes for the rape and pillage; no unnecessary lingering shots of pain and suffering, except that which Amleth endures himself in pursuit of his revenge.

The scenery is incredibly beautiful, and is used to full effect. The run time is just about perfect to tell the story without losing any of the essential cultural elements so necessary to gaining a fuller understanding of the motivations of the characters.

This is only Robert Eggers' third feature film, but he's already attained greatness in my eyes. He busts genres open like ripe fruit and makes something new and wholesome with the ingredients. Long may he reign on earth before he must find his seat in Odin's longhouse!

Morbius (2022)

Why didn't I check the rating first?!

[4/10 · 5 April 2022]

Dear God, what a mess. If I'd seen Morbius had an average rating of 5.2, I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole. Now it all makes sense. Please, I beg you, don't make the same mistake I did and waste your precious money and time watching this moribund specimen, on the big screen or otherwise. I swear if I had been watching it at home on freeview, I'd have turned over to another channel to watch something else. I haven't been so disappointed by a film of this kind since I saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; yes, it's almost that bad.

There really are no redeeming features to this. The plot is paper thin, character development perfunctory, the effects are not special (just a bit irritating), and it's not even cool. I counted two lines of dialogue which raised a hint of a smile, and it's so predictable. That I can forgive if I'm entertained, but Morbius failed by every measure. The casting wasn't terrible - I've enjoyed work by all the main actors before - but they really had nothing to get their teeth into. The kindest thing I can say is that it was less than 2 hours long, giving me time to write this review when I got home. If someone did away with the director and the script writer, I dare say no one would miss them.

Peninsula (2020)

Mad Max meets Zombieland

[6/10 · 14 November 2021]

On the face of it, this seems like an odd choice for a sequel, and in some circles its known as Train to Busan 2, even though there isn't a train and no one goes to or from Busan. However, it is definitely a sequel to Train to Busan, as it starts more or less where the first film left off. The narrative quickly segues forward 4 years, which gives it the opportunity to be its own thing.

I described it as Mad Max meets Zombieland, but tonally it is very much like the film that spawned it. The protagonists have been rescued from South Korea, but are living as second class citizens in Hong Kong. They are persuaded by a Hong Kong crime syndicate to undertake a dangerous heist back in South Korea.

Being a zombie film, there are of course plenty of zombies, and very good zombies they are too. This outing, however, also involves a lot of highway action requiring copious effects; it would be impossible to do much of it as live action because of the post-apocalyptic cityscape backdrops and crazy stunts. Unfortunately, there are several scenes which look like scenes from a driving game (like Need For Speed or Carmageddon); the effects just aren't real enough, and it stops you from suspending your disbelief.

The climax was a little annoying because the survivors stood about hugging each other instead of damn well getting on the chopper and making good their escape! By rights they should have been drowned by a sea of frenzied zombies, but those were conveniently set aside while the heroes had a sentimental moment together.

To cap it off, I enjoyed this latest slice of zombie mayhem, but there are some fairly serious flaws which it is hard to overlook at times. It was perhaps just a trifle too ambitious for its budget.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Twisted love letter to the '60's

[9/10 · 8 November 2021]

Last Night In Soho is without doubt the most mature and accomplished film writer/director Edgar Wright has come up with yet, and it also happens to be one of the best films of any year you care to mention, be it 2021 or 1965.

This is an exceptionally well-crafted film; even if you're not sold on the topic or flavour of the story-telling, you might just be wowed sufficiently by the cinematography and in-camera effects, which are dazzling. The performances are universally solid to outstanding, especially the female leads Thomasin MacKenzie as aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Ellie to her friends), and Anya Taylor-Joy as 'Sandie'. Both of these actors are in my opinion among the very best young talents in the business; I haven't seen either of them do anything less than excellent work.

Matt Smith is also very good as Sandie's manager, and the national treasure that is Diana Rigg in her final screen performance as Ellie's landlady.

Last Night in Soho is a genre-bending delightful mystery of a film. It starts out with Eloise Turner from Redruth in Cornwall, wannabe fashion designer with a penchant for (nay, obsession with) 60's music and clothes, accepting an offer from the prestigious University of the Arts London to study fashion design. We find out very early on that Ellie lives with her gran, her mum having died. Ellie moves to London and settles into her student digs, only to discover that the company is awful, so she finds herself a room in an old house in Soho as quickly as possible. Her fateful choice pitches her headlong into a phantasmagorical otherworld. By day she is an increasingly lonely and unhappy student, by night she escapes into a newly discovered dream world at the heart of the Swinging 60's. However, the dream soon turns to nightmare from which she struggles to escape.

As with Edgar Wright's previous film Baby Driver, the soundtrack drives this film too. Every hit from the 60's is perfectly chosen and carefully placed to propel the narrative. The sense of time and place in Ellie's dreams is vivid. I'm no goof-hound, but the fact that there isn't a goofs section for this film on IMDb tells me either it's flawless (unlikely) or it absorbs its audience to the extent that they forget to look out for mistakes. In these cynical times, I think that is as good a testament to successful film-making as anything.

Perhaps the most important facet of the 60's setting from a narrative point of view is the portrayal of the mores of the time. Like many an other era, there were good people and bad people, users and the used, and while everything appears shiny and beautiful on the surface, just underneath the veneer is a cesspit of vice and ugliness.

For much of this film you will inevitably be sitting there wondering why it was given an 18 certificate, but it does earn its stripes later on, as the vistas are bathed in blood, and serenity gives way to violence.

There is a good twist at the end. I won't say great, because it is predictable before it arrives, but I view this in a positive light because it is more of a fateful inevitability, almost necessary for a full appreciation of the unfolding story.

To conclude, this an artful and inventive film which transcends constraints of genre and effortlessly conducts shifts of mood from light-hearted and playful to dark and ever so slightly terrifying.

Men & Chicken (2015)

Dark comedy genius

[8/10 · 30 August 2021]

Anders Thomas Jensen has quite rightly garnered himself a good reputation in Danish cinema. He strikes me as an auteur with a distinctive vision which is also instantly accessible. I love his brand of dark skewed humour.

Men and Chicken tells the tale of a small island community with a history darkened by the secluded and eccentric behaviour of a mad genius scientist. His old sanatorium hideaway is now run by his adult sons, who are physically mature men but who live more like wild adolescents, never having been formally educated or socialised.

Enter two dysfunctional brothers with their own personal problems, who travel to the island in search of answers to questions about their heritage, raised by revelations from their adoptive father from beyond the grave.

What ensues is a clash of cultures and personalities, but it turns out these five men all have a lot more in common than they know.

All of the leads are excellent, every one of them displaying a distinct individualism. No strangers to Danish film here, if you know the usual suspects - Mads Mikkelsen, David Dencik, Soren Malling, Nicolas Bro and Nikolaj Lie Kass; working with such familiar and reliable actors helps the director get the performances he's looking for, which is the most important part of his style.

The first 30 minutes in particular had me rolling in the proverbial aisles (I watched it on my TV at home), but the laughs kept on coming throughout the film. I imagine there are some people (perhaps many) who will find some of the material too twisted to be funny, but if you have an off-kilter and skewed sense of humour, you'll love it. It's observational comedy, on the whole, invoked by the endearingly eccentric behaviour of the main characters, and the crazy and frequently inappropriate things they say.

I definitely look forward to more films from this stable, not least Riders of Justice, also starring Mads Mikkelsen.

Free Guy (2021)

Top quality popcorn

[8/10 · 19 August 2021]

Is Free Guy best described as a popcorn movie? Of course it is! But there's pocorn, and really great, satisfying popcorn that begs for a second helping. No, I'm not saying there should be a sequel (the originality of Free Guy, at least on the surface, shouldn't be eroded by money-grabbing sequels), but you might want to catch the same movie more than once.

This is a pop culture vehicle which gently pokes fun at gamers and gaming. Now, I'm not, and never have been, an inveterate gamer, but I tried them out in the early arcade days, and was still dabbling when the modern complex gaming platforms like Unreal started to appear. Elements of numerous gaming styles appear in Free Guy, and it all seems to hang together quite well.

Another thing for which Free Guy is a vehicle is Ryan Reynolds himself; he was born for this kind of role and could probably do it in his sleep. I wasn't so keen on his best friend Buddy (yet another comedian becoming an actor, who seemed to be channeling Kevin Hart the whole time - I'm not a fan of his either), but thankfully he wasn't a dominant character.

Guy's romantic interest, played by Jodie Comer, was great, and the pair had very good chemistry, a factor which lifted this from an enjoyable couple of hours to something just a bit more interesting.

Taika Waititi was also very good as the soulless corporate boss from hell, masquerading as a cool hipster with the heart of a gamer. What I wasn't expecting was that, funny though Taika Waititi is, his character here is jarringly off, like he's trying to be funny but not succeeding. I reckon it's deliberate, though, because it reflects the character he's playing - trying to create the impression he's a gamer, but actually it's obvious that's he's only interested in the bottom line. It would have been very easy for Waititi to have created a caricature villain who is likeable, but what we get instead is a finely crafted creation which is neither sympathetic nor seriously evil. He sits somewhere in the middle of a sliding scale of Waititi's imaginary Hitler from beginning to end in Jojo Rabbit.

Free Guy has parallels with Ready Player One, but while RPO is an action sci-fi film with humour, Free Guy is a comedy with action. Both are full of pop culture references, and both play with the gamer stereotypes and cliches, but perhaps the most obvious thing they have in common is that both move the action effortlessly between the real world and the gaming world.

There's a noticeably large dollop of personnel from Stranger Things included (who all do solid work, by the way), but it only occurred to me afterwards why that is - Shawn Levy directed several episodes of ST. I was particularly amused by the socially awkward man-child gaming a much better looking avatar (cameo'd excellently by Channing Tatum) from his mother's house. The same actor (Matty Cardarople) graces ST as a socially awkward man-child who runs a gaming arcade. I'm not seeing he lacks range, but he fits the part perfectly.

I felt the weakest thing about Free Guy was a slightly straggly and untidy ending, but it wasn't a major part of the run time, and I had so much fun with the rest of it that I didn't mind.

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Another nail in poor Dracula's luxurious coffin

[4/10 · 21 May 2021]

Hammer used to make some fairly edgy and creepy horror films (for the time, anyway), but by the time Scars of Dracula was made their stock was failing. Always low budget, this effort awkwardly plays it for half-laughs. The film is tonally all over the place - it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to stretch into Carry On territory or scare people. Oddly, though, the biggest laughs in the film by far are to be had every single time the awful animatronic bat appears, but it's not meant to be funny.

Not quite full marks for an original opening - Dracula resurrected by his pet bat dribbling a bit of blood on its master's remains, but otherwise the plot is largely unimaginative.

Christopher Lee must have had his hands tied by a contract to agree to this weak effort. He tries gamely to raise the standard, but he's not ably supported by a mostly average or even second-rate cast. However, Patrick Troughton puts in a respectable turn as Dracula's human servant, and Dennis Waterman makes a reasonably likeable and charismatic hero, playing against type here, before he became recognised for gritty urban characters in The Sweeney and Minder.

There's one great scene where Dracula scuttles up the wall of his own castle like a spider, but it's hard to justify wading through the entire film just for that.

I know this is a low budget film, but the lighting engineer and director should've been executed at dawn for doing such a bad job of night time forest scenes - it was perfectly obvious they were filming in bright sunshine, with a dark filter over the camera in a vague and wholly unconvincing attempt to make us believe it was night.

I was all too briefly diverted by the Bergermeister's winsome daughter, but again I can't recommend watching this film just for her.

Finally, Dracula had probably his most feeble death scene in any film of the genre I've yet witnessed. It's a good thing there are many better vampire films than this one, or I might have set the genre aside in despair.

Stranger Things (2016–2025)

Be a cultural attache to the 80's with the Duffer Brothers!

[9/10 · 10 May 2021]

Ah, Stranger Things. How is it so damn good? There are so many ways in which this show could've gone wrong, but somehow it just keeps on delivering. It's a gigantic homage to the cultural mileu of the 80's, made with a huge amount of genuine affection for the period and everything that came with it, but others have tried and failed when the love just wasn't enough. Think John Carter, for example. I happen to quite like it, but it's certainly flawed, despite the fanboy enthusiasm of its director. The amusingly named Duffer Brothers have tapped effortlessly into the zeitgeist of what it meant to be a teenager in the 80's. The music, the clothes, the entertainment, and more pop culture references woven into the fabric of the plot than you can shake a stick at. It could (perhaps ought) to have fallen flat on its face, but I find it impossible to fault.

The cast are great, from young to adult. I don't know where Winona Ryder has been, but her performance in this as a distraught mother driven to the edge of sanity reminds me what we've been missing from her for too long. Millie Bobby Brown has used her role in ST to propel herself to pretty much global stardom at a very young age. She is so good, she could probably carry the show on her own if she had to.

Some people might say the plot is massively derivative of so many films and perhaps a few TV shows from the period, and of course it is - that's the whole point. It wouldn't be much of an homage to the 80's if it wasn't. It's the carefully considered blending of those elements into a vaguely cohesive whole which is critical to its success. So really I suppose what they have done is transport us back to a certain kind of American 80's, with specific antennae for the things that interested them, and if you're not on board I suppose you might not really recognize it as your 80's at all. But hey, it's certainly familiar to me, despite the fact I'm not American, and I like it A LOT!

Oh, and by the way, it does not lose the plot and become all 'woke' and whatever after season 1. What a load of ordure. If you're invested in the characters, rather than just skimming along the surface with the basic storyline, I fail to see why you would lose interest along the way.

The New Mutants (2020)

Much better than IMDb reviews led me to expect

[7/10 · 19 February 2021]

The negativity around The New Mutants is absolutely extraordinary. It's simply baffling. Maybe I would have to be a comic/graphic novel fanboy to get it. It is well known that this film had a troubled genesis and took a long time to get a release, so if anything I think we should cut it some slack, rather than rip it to shreds. Some people just love to kick you when you're down. The New Mutants is loosely connected to the X-Men franchise, but only by reference in the dialogue. It tells the story of a 16-year-old Cheyenne girl who's reservation comes under mysterious attack from some terrifying power. She passes out, and comes to in a strange place, chained to a hospital bed. She has become the latest of a small group of latent mutants who, for their own safety, have been institutionalized and studied to help them come to terms with their new-found abilities. It soon becomes apparent that she is the only one of the group who does not yet know what her power is. In my balanced opinion (I have no agenda or axe to grind), The New Mutants is an entertaining 94 minutes of film. Is it award-worthy? No. Is it utter garbage? Absolutely not. Some criticism is justified, as with pretty much any film or TV show ever made, but it didn't annoy me in any way. Apart from Magik's unexplained inability or disinclination to leave the facility at will, the story stood up quite well in terms of its own internal logic. I was slightly bothered by the lack of explanation as to how Dani arrived at the facility, but it wasn't necessary to know in terms of the story being told. The characters were mostly quite well rounded and developed, which was necessary for the narrative. The most inscrutable character was the facility's doctor - we were not given to understand what made her tick, which I imagine was done deliberately. In a way, I think there might have been a greater payoff if her character's motivations had been clearer. I worked out fairly quickly what was going on, but it didn't bother me that there wasn't a well-disguised twist. For that reason, I think it will stand up to repeat viewing. I thought all the actors did good work, especially Anya Taylor-Joy (Magik). I imagine there was a certain amount of infantile rejection of the lesbian love interest angle, or the fact the main character was American Indian, by some viewers. Of course they won't admit their prejudice, so they trash the film in other ways. More fool them, I say. To sum up, if you view this without encumbering it with preconceived ideas about what an X-Men film should be, you just might enjoy it.

The Witcher (2019– )

Entertainment maximus

[10/10 · 17 February 2021]

I am not familiar with the books upon which this series is based (the author is a creative consultant on the show), nor the computer games that were inspired by the books. However, I ache for good fantasy, and this is definitely worthy of the tag. The people who made the unutterably awful Shannara Chronicles, take note: THIS is what a great fantasy adaptation looks like! A friend of mine who knows the books and games tells me there is a strong combination of humour and pathos; thankfully this has translated, I suggest reasonably well, into the show. I can't speak for faithfulness of content, but it is undeniably entertaining. Henry Cavill makes a splendid Witcher - he has really worked hard on this role; many of his roles require him to be in good physical shape, but he's never looked more pumped than he does in this. The fight sequences are to die for; choreographed and performed superbly. The supporting cast are good too, especially Anya Chalotra as the mage Yennefer, and Joey Batey as Jaskier the itinerant bard. The effects are mostly pretty special, and the pacing is spot on. In the first episode I was initially concerned by the relatively poor dialogue - people seemed to be saying things which seemed entirely out of keeping with a 'medieval' fantasy world - but that aspect improved quite quickly; either that or I became inured to it, but I don't think so. My tolerance for such things is very low. Another aspect which took some getting used to is the differing timelines - for very good plot reasons, there are intertwining events taking place which are decades apart, but there is little indication of the time difference; the viewer is left to work it out for themselves, which is fine once you realize what's going on. This series is a great introduction to the Witcher's world, which has left me a) wanting more, and b) wanting to read the books!

The Mandalorian (2019– )

Heaven in small screen celluloid

[10/10 · 2 February 2021]

Jon Favreau, I salute you! For those of you who may have been helping to set up a moon base or something for the last 20 years, Mr Favreau is perhaps best known for adapting Marvel's Iron Man to the big screen, and a very fine job he did of that too. The Mandalorian is better. In fact, I say with some confidence that it is the best thing Jon Favreau has ever done. It's the best thing an awful lot of people have done, for that matter. For a fact, he seems to be at his best working with existing sci-fi universes, but I'm certainly not about to accuse him of not having any good ideas of his own. The Mandalorian is set in the Star Wars universe, somewhere between movies Episode VI and Episode VII. The New Republic is presumably still finding its feet, there are remnants of the Empire hanging around, and things are generally quite lawless. Fertile territory for bounty hunters, therefore, among the very best of which are members of a rarely encountered 'tribe' called Mandalorians. I love everything about this show - it never outstays its welcome (at 40 min per episode, it invariably leaves you wanting more, in its capacity as the most bingeworthy TV show around); the opening credits are perfunctory so you can get into the story straight away, but the closing credits are awesome (superb catchy theme tune, amazing 'storyboard' artwork depicting scenes from the episode you've just watched); the narrative never jars with Star Wars lore (in fact it nicely fills in some gaps you probably never noticed were there, and makes good use of some old favourite critters and worlds). Perhaps because of the illustrious production team, and the undoubted spending power of Disney, the show has been able to attract some top actors to support The Mandalorian (played by Pedro Pascal of Game of Thrones fame) - often these lauded thesps are only providing a voice, or are heavily disguised under prostheses or makeup, but it all helps to make the show ooze quality. I'm not going to throw in any spoilers, but unless you've been on that aforementioned moon base, you'll have heard about The Child. I guess he's animatronic, or animated to appear so, but in any case he's a vital character and a huge part of the appeal of the series. So, enough from me - I've got to go now and binge the last two episodes of season 1.

Sea Fever (2019)

They're Oirish, Jim, but not as we know it

[5/10 · 31 January 2021]

Sea Fever is a small budget Euro horror film set on an Irish trawler. The premise is quite original and interesting, and the acting is okay, but the dialogue is pedestrian, the pacing a little off and the plotting needed work. I didn't find any of the characters sufficiently well developed to make me care about them, but the knowing irony of your average frathouse slasher film, for example, wasn't there to redeem the disposable characters. The thing I found most distracting from the essential immersion in the film's atmosphere was Dougray Scott's terrible, terrible Oirish accent. I'm not even Irish, so goodness knows what the Irish crew thought about it. I can only assume the director (Irish) didn't have the courage to call him out on it, or rewrite the character to make him Scottish (which would have been a perfectly reasonable solution - nothing particularly odd about a Scot marrying an Irish woman and fishing the waters of Ireland with her). Honestly the worst accent I've heard a professional actor deploying in quite a long time. I swear he thought he was meant to be Jamaican, or maybe Croatian? Having said that, his wife played by Connie Nielsen wasn't demonstrably more Irish sounding much of the time. The other thing I couldn't quite reconcile was the squiffy logic on the part of the main character. Supposedly a scientist, she thought she and a crewman could heat a gigantic tank filled with ballast water, from only the top, with a blowtorch. Given the heat capacity of water, that would have taken a very, very, very long time. All in all, I think this was a bit of a missed opportunity. It didn't fall down on anything expensive, so far as I could tell, so with a bit more care with the screenwriting and the casting, it could've been a fairly decent horror film.

Enola Holmes (2020)

Delightful

[9/10 · 28 January 2021]

Enola Holmes is a literary creation of American author Nancy Springer - who, incidentally, is better known to me as an author of fantasy novels; an addendum to the Holmes family created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Think Young Sherlock Holmes, except in this case the youth in question is a younger sister to the famous detective. Enola has been raised alone by her spirited, independent widowed mother, while her much older brothers have long since left the family home in the country and established their own well-known careers. Enola is therefore raised to think as her mother does, without reference to male or patriarchal influences. Mother and daughter enjoy puzzles and intellectually challenging and physical pursuits, and definitely not any of the things respectable ladies of the period are expected to do. Enola is very intelligent, but not worldy. Then, when Enola turns 16, her mother vanishes without a word. Why has she left, where has she gone, and can Enola find her? I personally found Enola Holmes to be a delightful film. Millie Bobby Brown is an absolute star, and she shines very brightly in a role which could easily have been written for her. Perhaps it was, since she also has a producer credit for this film. I saw an interview with her on-screen mum Helena Bonham-Carter, who said MBB is an absolute powerhouse; I didn't quite get what she meant at the time, but now I think I do. MBB is ably supported by a fairly starry cast - Henry Cavill (Sherlock), Burn Gorman, Fiona Shaw (who is always good value), the aforementioned HB-C, Sam Claflin (Mycroft), Frances de la Tour, David Bamber, Hattie Morahan and Adeel Akhtar - who all do good work. The young chap who plays the Marquis of Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) is also very good. The pacing of the film is pretty much perfect, it kept me engaged throughout. MBB is such an engaging presence on screen, and there are very few scenes where she is not present because the story is told very much from her point of view. It is, after all, her story; a coming-of-age story wrapped up in a mystery with clues to be solved. Anyone who doesn't appreciate Enola will not enjoy this film. The only criticism I might levy is that there are obviously historical inaccuracies (unlikely 'colour-blind' casting in some small roles; the reform bill in the House of Lords to give women the vote did not in fact occur until 1918, while the Reform Act of 1832 to give ordinary men the vote in the UK had already occurred prior to the setting of this story), but it is fiction, not history. For similar reasons some might bridle at the blurring of class boundaries and the incipient emancipation of women (the women's Judo class, for example), but to my mind the whole point of those elements was that Enola was raised not to accept the established precepts of society. In summary, Enola Holmes is a family film which is not intended to be taken seriously, but there's a wholesome, positive message about the human condition there if you want it.

Labor Day (2013)

A man with a sore leg cooks for a mother and son

[6/10 · 4 December 2020]

A prisoner escapes custody while in hospital. In doing so he hurts his leg. The man approaches a woman and her son at a supermarket. The woman is troubled, her son teenaged but helpful. The man is desperate, the woman is desperate. Their desperation stems from mutually exclusive causes. However, they become romantically entangled in an improbably short three days. The woman is forced to take the man into her home. The man cooks chilli con carne, on the same night I cooked chilli con carne. What are the chances? The woman has nosy neighbours. Not helpful, just nosy. They could have helped the desperate woman before, but didn't. The neighbours smell trouble. The man is arrested before he can leave. The woman is accused of harbouring a criminal. The man is caring and ensures no blame will fall on the woman. The man goes back to prison. The woman writes letters to the man, but receives none in reply. Even so, when his sentence is finished he tracks down the woman. The man and the woman are reunited in a state of bliss. Ergo, it is never to late to be happy. The end.

The Expanse (2015–2022)

Top-notch space opera

[9/10 · 18 July 2020]

Let me start off by saying I'm a huge sci-fi nerd, and I love good sci-fi. I also really don't love bad sci-fi, because it does a big disservice to the genre. However, The Expanse is definitely at the good end of the spectrum. In fact, I'd go as far as to suggest that it's great sci-fi, especially for a TV show. The material demands the room to develop which TV provides, but so rarely is TV sci-fi product expensively made. I don't know how the budget compares with, say, Game of Thrones, which had legendary budgets for a TV show, but The Expanse at least looks and feels luxurious. On the surface, The Expanse recalls Outland - a Sean Connery vehicle from 1980 or thereabouts in which his cop character is sent to investigate a murderous conspiracy on a mining operation off Io. There is a lot more going on in The Expanse, though; it has an operatic grandeur which easily fills several seasons. I'm currently half way through season 2, and it feels like things are still developing. The source material is actually a collaboration between two authors; I haven't read any of the books in the series, but form a literary perspective there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of originality in that. It could be that these stories were always going to find their home on the screen. The producers of the show have undoubtedly saved a bit of money by casting largely obscure actors. The only star of the big screen is Thomas Jane, who I haven't really seen in anything since The Punisher. He and all the other principal cast do good work, and there is able support from Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) as a complicated politician on Earth. The action spans most of the Solar System, and is clearly set several hundred years in our future. Earth and Mars have gone their separate ways politically and territorially, and their relationship is in a sort of cold war state. Various space stations and mining concerns are divided up among the two planetary powers, but are home to people known as Belters (people born within The Asteroid Belt), people who view themselves as being under the yolk of the planets, and yearn for autonomy, egged on by a 'terrorist' organisation known as the OPA. These 3 arms of the Solar System conflict form the backdrop to the story, with a new and deadly element appearing and threatening to irrevocably disrupt the uneasy peace and change the destiny of the human race. One of the great things about The Expanse is that, although there is a fairly significant need for special effects to tell the story, they are used very effectively, and generally add to the immersive experience. The only detail I find slightly unconvincing is that the Belters have their own language and accent; not intrinsically daft, but it does sound a bit of a mishmash, and some of the characters who are pure Belter (you see what I did there, Geordies?) don't speak with a Belter accent at all. I can overlook that, because the plot, pacing, acting, character development, and continuity are all great. Syfy don't have a great rep for quality historically, but of this they should be very proud.

Leave No Trace (2018)

Unpretentiously powerful drama

[8/10 · 8 June 2020]

Leave No Trace is based on a book. It tells the modern tale of an ex-military man and his teenage daughter living initially in a public forest park in Portland, Oregon. It quickly becomes apparent that the father is probably suffering from PTSD, and that he and his daughter have been living off the land in a makeshift camp for years. Suddenly, their life is turned upside down when the authorities become aware that the pair are illegally living in a public park, and they are forcibly removed to sheltered accommodation. The film has a mostly straightforward narrative, simply told, so the power of the drama is conveyed by the acting performances of the two main leads - Ben Foster as Will, and Tomasin Mackenzie as his daughter, Tom. Both are excellent. The PTSD aspect of the story is played down to little more than inferences from dialogue, and the pain and bewilderment of trying to cope with 'normal' life evident in every aspect of Will's behaviour. Despite his personal misery, Will has a strong relationship with his daughter, a bond of mutual love and respect. Apparently, there are some areas of the story where the film deviates from the book; not having read the source material, I am not able to expand on that, but in any case it was reported that the author liked the finished film. This is not the sort of film I spend my days watching, as a rule, but when a drama is as thoughtful, heartfelt and well-crafted as this, it deserves my attention, and that of everyone else as well, in my opinion.

The Last Dragonslayer (2016 TV Movie)

Charming family fantasy

[7/10 · 18 April 2020]

I thought The Last Dragonslayer was surprisingly good, considering the ridiculously mediocre average rating. Okay, it's obviously low budget for an effects film, and doesn't have any A-list actors in it, but it has wit and charm aplenty. I would much rather watch this again than a fairly long list of tediously average fare with much bigger budgets. Maybe I'm prejudiced because I'm British and so is this film (yes, I'm looking at you again, Hollywood), but I'm mightily bored of identikit LA feisty/angsty/hormonal teens dressed up with some special effects to let us all know we're watching a fantasy film, and The Last Dragonslayer at least looks and feels different from that. It feels like an adaptation of a children's book, with its bright colour palate, gentle humour and slightly pantomimish characterisation. The acting isn't outstanding, but it's perfectly acceptable for this type of film, and none of the characters jarred me out of the story. If you don't want to watch a 'family' film, then don't watch this; you're liable to slate it unfairly for not being what you want it to be. If, however, you like family films, I see no reason why you wouldn't like this one. It has a good pace as far as I'm concerned, but if you have the attention span of a goldfish and require something to explode every 5 seconds or so, or endless quick-fire dialogue and slick, snappy rejoiners, then maybe give it a miss. I note one reviewer in particular (not naming any names) who had a braindead list of supposedly unanswered questions pertaining to the plot (which is fairly simple and not entirely unpredictable, but that didn't bother me), all of which were, so far as I could see, answered by the conclusion of the film. Ergo, don't be a massive root vegetable and knock plot holes in a film you can't even be bothered to watch! :-)

The Invaders (1967–1968)

Bad Wicked World

[8/10 · 26 March 2020]

Here I go again, referencing Frank Black in my review. It's probably something to do with an overlap of cultural tastes; it's obvious from his song lyrics. Bad Wicked World is all about The Invaders, and about how no one believed an architect named David Vincent. About once a week, another story is leaked and he's on it... I love The Invaders. I first saw it on TV when I was a child, and it really thrilled me back then. I was a bit worried it might not have the same hold on me as an adult, but thankfully I'm still enjoying it a lot, and probably appreciating nuances which were lost on me when I was young. Although The Invaders was made in the late 60's, the sense of paranoia which pervades the show and looms constantly over David Vincent (played superbly by Roy Thinnes) is straight from the 1950's at the height of the Cold War. Obviously the thaw hadn't quite set in by the late 60's, since the Cuban missile crisis was yet to come, so perhaps the feel of the show was as prophetic as it was nostalgic. There is a satisfyingly impressive line-up of guest actors on most episodes; I have no idea who most of them were, but they often did an excellent job riffing off David Vincent, either as an inscrutable antagonist (alien, yes or no?) or a similarly beleaguered human trying to make sense of it. Stand-out appearances from the likes of a relatively young Gene Hackman and Michael Rennie (The Day The Earth Stood Still) made it apparent that The Invaders was quickly gathering increasing respect from its relatively humble origins. Being the 60's, the one area where the show has not fared so well with the passage of time is special effects. Thankfully they had the sense (but probably not the budget) to keep things simple, so there are only a few bits that make me cringe or laugh when I see them now; by far the creakiest, laughably bad effect is in an episode from season 1 where the aliens somehow manage to turn all insects into flesh-eaters, and David Vincent watches as a pack of voracious butterflies devour a steak faster than a pack of piranhas could. Almost as cranky is a scene from 'The Prophet' (season 2) when a broken car rear window effect wobbles about while the car is perfectly still. Even so, the unintentional humour of those moments actually adds to my enjoyment; there isn't really any intended humour in the show, I suppose because Quinn Martin (producer) felt it would detract from the creeping paranoia, which at times still manages to touch me and give me a little shiver. Parallels with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) are inescapable, and indeed there is a nod to it in the episode guest-starring Gene Hackman. Even though we live in much more cynical times now, or perhaps because we do, I think a lot of people who've never seen it would enjoy The Invaders.

The Lighthouse (I) (2019)

An incomparable vision of Hell on Earth

[9/10 · 2 March 2020]

Robert Eggers' second (?) feature is a superb piece of mind-bending cinema. There are parallels with his earlier film, The Witch, elements of psychological horror which Eggers clearly finds interesting and hopefully hasn't finished exploring just yet. The decision to film in black and white is a stroke of genius. Every scene is filled with ominous portent and obscuring shadows. The film plays with our perceptions and moods throughout. There are moments of comedy amongst the gloom, the two men stranded on the rock endure a tumultuous relationship, by turns suspicious, angry and even savage, then there are unexpected moments of comradeship fuelled by alcohol. We are forced to question constantly who is mad, or perhaps madder? Are they in the grip of a storm, or are they in Hell? And the soundtrack! No one I can think of uses sound to create atmosphere quite like Eggers. Foghorns, the relentlessly howling wind, the seagulls; is it any wonder if they were as mad as a box of frogs? Willem Dafoe is absolutely fantastic in The Lighthouse. He really should be considered for an Oscar for his turn as the saltiest of old seadogs, spouting rage-filled Melville-esque invective straight from Davey Jones' locker, at sporadic intervals. I don't think there are many actors who could've pulled off that performance with such aplomb. He chews the scenery mercilessly, but it is exactly what the role requires; his Thomas Wake is a force of nature in human form. The Lighthouse won't be to everyone's taste, and it would be a mistake to view it as a moody twin sister of The Witch (which was a genuine horror); but I found it to be mesmerising and intriguing, and a fabulously well-crafted psychological drama with trimmings of horror.

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Close to perfection

[9/10 · 13 January 2020]

I knew I was going to love Jojo Rabbit when I saw the trailer and read about the premise, and I was even more certain when I realised it was directed by Taika Waititi. How long does he have to wait for some Oscars or something? The man is a borderline genius. I suppose some people will never accept that Nazism and the Holocaust can ever be used to get laughs, but what this film does so well is ridicule their hateful ideology and show it up for the absurdity that it was. That must go in no small measure to the book upon which the film is based, but it still had to be adapted, and in fine style too. The horrors of the latter days of WWII are portrayed unflinchingly, and in those moments of course the humour gives way to pathos. The way in which these two elements of the film are balanced is particularly clever; at no point did I feel like my emotions were being cynically manipulated for kudos. The acting in Jojo Rabbit is superb. Scarlett Johansson thoroughly deserves her Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Jojo's struggling mother, determined to remain independent and hopeful of an end to the war, despite Nazism and her own son's insistence on being a staunch Hitler Youth. The child actors are also very good (although I'm not sure the Jewish girl Elsa could be said to be played by a child actor, since Thomasin McKenzie is 19), and the supporting cast do good work with their various and peculiar characters - the jolly yet creepy Gestapo man (Stephen Merchant), the cavalier but comradely commander of the local Hitler Youth (Sam Rockwell) and his limp sidekick (Alfie Allen), and of course the significant presence of Waititi himself as Jojo's imaginary friend Adolf Hitler! He did a great job of portraying Hitler as Jojo imagined him to be, and I liked the way the Hitler persona changes as Jojo grows up a bit and becomes acquainted with harsh reality. The one character which I didn't relate to and couldn't see the point of was Rebel Wilson's Nazi instructor with the Hitler Youth. I'm not a fan of Rebel Wilson, but I don't think it was her spoiling the role, just that the character was superfluous. In pretty much every other respect I thought Jojo Rabbit was beautifully satirical and poignant in equal measure, and I urge everyone to see it!

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

It's a tough gig, but someone had to do it!

[8/10 · 5 January 2020]

Well, what a lot of fuss about nothing much. I think Bambi just got shot all over again, folks, judging by the more extreme perspectives on RoS. I mean come on, it's entertainment, not an actual religion. A lot of people really need to go and get a life, because they've obviously got way too much time on their hands. Okay, my tuppence happeny's worth (not that anyone probably cares for a balanced opinion nowadays)...... Rise of Skywalker is good light entertainment. It sometimes thinks it's weightier than it actually is (a pointless nod to the preciousness of the franchise), and the plotting/storyboarding is fairly weak. It does rather smack of the "How are we going to finish off the franchise, guys?" question having been posed at the end of Ep VIII, post-production. Having said that, the characterisation is consistent with the previous films, the effects and action sequences are of a very high standard, the acting is decent and, the story is finished off quite neatly within the framework of RoS itself. Some story ideas do feel like they were developed through the last three films (Rey's origins, the malign influence of the Emperor in the background), though I suspect that was an illusion created by the kind of open-ended planning which features heavily in TV shows these days; JJ Abrams has plenty of experience in that regard. If there was no such thing as the Star Wars franchise, I'd have watched RoS and thought to myself "the story could've used some work, it was confusing at times, but fine entertainment and top sci-fi action all the same. I'd happily watch it again".

Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

Let's play 'Name That Zombie'!

[7/10 · 31 October 2019]

A lot of people might wonder whether Zombieland needed a sequel, 10 years on. That's a fair question for most movie franchises, and maybe the long gap was needed to come up with sufficiently fresh material. Did they succeed? Mostly, I'd say they did. A sequel is a tricky beast to get right, because it has to bring something new, but it can't tear up the formula and throw it out of the window. I enjoyed Double Tap as much as the first film, although a few of the jokes were a little over-used in DT, and I don't remember getting that feeling from Zombieland. However, there were some good new additions to the Zombieverse in the form of evolved zombies, much more dangerous than the originals, and some amusing characters not seen before. Zoey Deutch was note-perfect as the airhead Californian girl, Madison. It's scary that people like her really exist! The whole thing is, of course, played for laughs, and I was kept entertained for the full run time, except for the (in my opinion) entirely superfluous peri-credits flashback sequence in a media studio. I like Bill Murray as much as anyone, but DT really didn't need him; it was a long time to wait for not very much in that respect.