Top 10 Worst Films Of 2015

10. Hot Pursuit

Well, first things first, the title. We have a film about a female cop and the partner of a drug lord in the setup to an action-comedy and yet it still seems appropriate to have the title and advertising make sum up as "Ain't they a little too pretty to wind up in this misadventure?". Aren't we more enlightened than that by now? Thankfully the film has a saving grace in the casting of Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon as the leads; two talented actresses with fine comic chops, but the by-the-numbers plot and rather unworthy gags make for a generally disappointing experience.

9. Fantastic Four

Of all of the disasters and flops in Hollywood this past year, it's hard to think of any as spectacular or well-publicised as the failed attempt to reboot the Fantastic Four. Whilst Marvel seemed to have the golden touch (having also this year, managed to rescue the troubled Ant-Man and turned it into one of the franchise's best films), it quickly tainted with this mediocre and ill-judged attempt at resurrection. Conflicts between director, writer and cast are already becoming notorious and it's looks as if the cast had absolutely no guidance on set, with largely detached performances, a plot that really only kicks in right at the very end of the film and some insane casting choices I've ever seen (Jamie Bell is a perfect Tin-Tin, but The Thing? THE THING!?). Sooner or later the bubble had to burst in Marvel, and the Fantastic Four showed that the money-making machine was still fallable.

8. Insurgent

Ms. Winslet, Ms. Woodley, I am so sorry. It just wouldn't be a Top 10 Worst Films Of The Year list without a Young Adult novel adaptation making an appearance and this year, it is the turn of the follow-up to Divergent (2013). In of itself, Divergent was a reasonably enjoyable film. Doubtlessly derivative of The Hunger Games as it was, the film was set out well enough to just about work. Sadly the world-building and the tale of Tris Prior's struggles as one of the "Divergent" group has moved on to just setting up a rebels vs. tyrants plot, coupled with a generic romance and a confusing plot. The films do manage to have a somewhat promising cast (hence my apologies to Kate Winslet and Shailene Woodley, both of whom are usually a good sign in terms of casting) but here I just feel like they could have had better opportunities than this.

7. Jupiter Ascending

Oh, the Wachowskis. I have struggled with the work of this Australian duo. I'll go on record as saying that as influential as it was, I've never been a big fan of The Matrix (1999) and despite reappraisals, I doubt I'll ever develop a fond opinion of Speed Racer (2007) (though partly because I think that a much better film could be made from the source material). I did find myself as a defender of the duo's polarising, ambitious and underrated Cloud Atlas (2012), and then Jupiter Ascending shows up.

Juliter Ascending is a film that never truly settles on what it wants to be. Clearly its influences lie in the realms of space opera, but cannot decide firmly on being a wholesale homage like Star Wars, or an affectionate pastiche like Mike Hodges' adaptation of Flash Gordon. Mixed in with this is the overly-complicated premise, goofy designs and a baffling acting performance from Eddie Redmayne who goes from whispering to insane hollering. As a longtime defender of the Star Wars prequels, I can't shake the feeling that this film is what critics of the prequels see. If that is the case, I understand your rage.

6. The Boy Next Door

Part of me was considering leaving The Boy Next Door off of my list because as bad as the film is, I sort of like it in an inept, ironic Showgirls-esque fashion. Jennifer Lopez plays a middle-aged suburban mother who finds herself falling for her handsome young neighbour...who also happens to be violent psychopath.

Too brash and action-packed for a made-for-TV melodrama and too glossy to be a particularly hard-hitting thriller, The Boy Next Door is still appreciable for being as shamelessly crazy and contrived as it is. It may be fun to watch with friends at a party, but quality cinema it is not.

5. Mortdecai

Can we just reach a common consensus that most of the time spy comedies don’t work? The Austin Powers series constitutes some of the best and they’ve never really been much better than “okay”. Still, Mortdecai arrived and failed to heed the warning of so many failures before. Johnny Depp stars as the moustachioed toff of the title and is at his most buffoonish whilst a supporting cast amble with Depp through a series of poor gags and a running gag about Mortdecai’s nose broom that just…keeps…going. This is low-grade comedy and audiences deserve better.

4. By The Sea

Having already seen her World War II drama Unbroken, I saw Angelina Jolie-Pitt as a director of promise. By The Sea has shaken my faith in her potential slightly. Here she stars opposite her husband Brad Jolie-Pitt as an American couple in a broken marriage holidaying in France, which presents a new twist in their relationship.

Given the prominent roles of Hollywood's power couple "Branjelina", the appearance of a vanity project becomes fairly clear. Both of the Jolie-Pitts are talented and intelligent enough for this to have perhaps not been intentional, but this is a film that wallows in the rarified glamour in which they live. It's the south of France in the time of Bardot, it's wealthy artist types and the high-life. It is also a drama but with these problems of the "beautiful people", there is not much to empathise or sympathise with and not even an atmosphere for which to feel much emotional connection. What results? A solidly dull and pretentious two hours.

3. The Gallows

One of the things that has filled me with hope recently is the arrival of a new crop of decent mainstream horror films that suggest that the doldrums of modern horror may soon be but a memory. The Gallows is a stark reminder that those dark days have not yet passed. Whilst in its barest of elements, The Gallows would be a dumb and forgettable found-footage movie, there are a number of issues that push it beyond forgettable into the memorably poor.

Even for a horror film, the premise seems convoluted and tacked-on, including the found-footage angle (Found-footage has recently become popular as a money-saving device. How high of a budget could you possibly need when you're shooting with unknown actors almost entirely in a dark and empty high school?) and a cast that is either extremely annoying (our initial cameraman is so obnoxious he totally eradicates any sympathy) or spectacularly mis-cast (I don't care how "weird" she seems to be, the lead actress is far too pretty and mostly normal to be an outcast in a high school). One of the worst horror films I have ever seen.

2. Knock Knock

It probably strikes some people as weird that as a male feminist I still have a great appreciation for horror movies. Trashy horror movies at that. These are films often accused of misogyny which I have only partially agreed with, for reasons too long-winded to explain here.

Knock Knock provided a very clear insight into that notion that horror movies could be accused of being anti-woman. Keanu Reeves plays a husband and father who ends up playing host to two young women who proceed to first seduce Keanu before staging a full -blown home invasion. Roth's influences are very much from the 70's grindhouse school and that's all well and good. Thrown up into a modern context however produces something very dark and borderline hateful.

This film's whole purpose seems to be in exploring women as seducers and sadists with no real decent female counterpoint (in effect, the film only has three major cast members) to balance it out. I know Eli Roth is a director who revels in pure exploitation and I actually applaud that he does so, but when the message is as wrong-footed as this seems to be, the urge is to cleanse oneself as soon as this was all over.

1. Fifty Shades Of Grey

Hopes were never going to be high for this adaptation of E.L James' massively successful but equally reviled erotic novel. I went in with no real insight into the source material (though what I did know set up some very low expectations) and I was met with expectedly poor writing and an equally expected despicable main character in Christian Grey (not so much romantic lead as a horrifyingly possessive and self-destructive psycho-in-the-making) but also direction by Sam Taylor-Johnson that was only matched in sterility by the absolute absence of chemistry between Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan.

If the film had been more audacious and shocking, it would have at least had a conviction to commend it, but this less-than-lukewarm turkey was a profoundly unpleasant experience. Worst still, there's still more adaptations coming. I don't see them getting any better, and yet I can't see how they can be much worse.

Awful.

FILM REVIEWS: BLACK MASS, BRIDGE OF SPIES, CAROL, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, THE GOOD DINOSAUR

Black Mass

Famed for his rather chameleonic abilities as an actor, Johnny Depp (complete with blonde hair and blue eyes) plays notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger in this telling of Bulger’s crimes and investigations. It’s telling how much of an influence Martin Scorsese has had on the crime genre that this film sticks so closely to that style a great deal. That isn’t entirely a fault of the film as its own stabs at originality (including the murkier look than your standard Scorsese picture) help give the film its own identity and keeps the action engaging. The problem is more to do with the uneven way Bulger’s life is documented. Whilst much focus is given to the rather shady way in which Bulger started working for the CIA occasional diversions into Bulger’s more direct activities and his relationship with his seemingly straight-and-narrow politician brother played by Benedict Cumberbatch (a subplot that is easily the film’s most interesting element) throw the focus a little too haphazardly and Depp’s heavily made-up features and imposing frame do cut a little from Bulger being a believable character. Not one of Depp’s best moments, but equally (if not more so) not one of his worst. Also features Joel Edgerton, Jesse Plemons, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott, Corey Stoll and Juno Temple.

Bridge Of Spies

It’s hard not to have high hopes for a project that involves director Steven Spielberg, leading actors Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance alongside a screenplay partially written by the Coen brothers so it’s at least reassuring that Bridge Of Spies goes some way to living up to that potential. Hanks plays lawyer James B. Donovan who finds himself defending Soviet agent Rudolf Abel, played by Rylance. Donovan’s work will not only serve to help save Abel’s life from execution but later serve in negotiations to free two young Americans (Will Rogers, Austin Stowell) on the Eastern side of the Berlin Wall. Despite being two renowned actors of different disciplines (Tom Hanks being a veteran of TV and film whilst Mark Rylance’s career has been, until recently, dominated by theatre) it is the two leads that help bring this film to such a high level. As always, Tom Hanks is an assured and warm presence with an idealistic sincerity unmatched most of his contemporaries, recalling Henry Fonda and James Stewart whilst Rylance’s droll but dignified delivery makes a fine counterpoint.

As the film progresses, the slightly off-kilter and humorous approach that is distinctive of the Coens starts to make more of a presence but serves to aid the film even though it would seem at odds with the earnest intentions. There are problems, noticeably in the rather washed-out (if somewhat justified) cinematography and this doesn’t quite deliver the upmost in emotional heft that Spielberg is so masterful at wielding, but this is still something of an endearing and impressive film. **** (pick of the week)

Carol

Todd Haynes directs this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel (originally titled The Price Of Salt) about an affair between two women; the worldly middle-aged Carol (Cate Blanchett) and reserved young Therese (Rooney Mara). Set against the backdrop of 50’s America, Haynes’ direction and Edward Lachman’s cinematography make for a gorgeous combination coupled with the passionate and romantic prose of Highsmith and screenwriter Phylis Nagy. Cate Blanhett is wonderful as always, encapsulating both a poise and a knowing intelligence about the world as Mara’s wide-eyed (literal as well as metaphorical) innocence provides a characterful balance. The high emotional stakes may push the film perhaps a little too close to melodrama at times, but all things considered this is an impressive effort. ****

Doctor Zhivago

Now celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, David Lean’s screen adaptation of Boris Pasternak’s romance epic returns to screens large enough to capture Lean’s panoramic visions in all of their splendour. Omar Sharif plays the physician poet of the title whose affair for the beautiful Lara (Julie Christie)  comes and goes with the turbulence of the dawning Soviet Union. At over three hours and with noticeably sentimentalist bent, Zhivago doesn’t quite reach the heights of Lean’s Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), the film that made Sharif an icon, but the spectacular scenery and a cast of legendary actors giving it their all makes this film’s status as a classic a justifiable one. Amongst the supporting players are Alec Guinness,  Rod Steiger, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine Chaplin, Ralph Richardson, Rita Tushingham and Klaus Kinski to name but a few. ****

The Good Dinosaur

2015 has been a busy year for the folks at Pixar with two theatrical releases. Earlier this year saw Inside Out, possibly one of the most intelligent family films of all time and already established as one of Pixar’s best. Outing number two for the company, The Good Dinosaur, has languished on the shelf and whilst the resulting film has its moments to shine, it definitely falters in Inside Out’s shadow.

Raymond Ochoa is a dinosaur runt named Arlo who finds himself far from home after chasing a wild human child (the film being set in an alternate reality where dinosaurs evolved into sentient creatures rather than become extinct). As Arlo and the human boy, named “Spot”, travel through the wilderness they encounter many traps and here’s a central issue for the film. With its child protagonist and bright, colourful aesthetic (even for Pixar standards) this may seem to appeal to younger children but instead strays into some harsh territory that might be a little rough for very young children alongside other factors (this may be the only Pixar film to have what is essentially an acid trip sequence). Borrowing elements from Lion King (1994) and, of course, The Land Before Time (1986), The Good Dinosaur is not a film to pull its punches, which is commendable, and has some gorgeous animation and ideas, but also laboured writing and the aforementioned inappropriate material for very sensitive viewers. Pixar have done better, but considering their very high standard, this doesn’t make for an altogether bad film. ***

FILM REVIEWS: THE LADY IN THE VAN / STEVE JOBS / TRUE ROMANCE

The Lady In The Van – Alan Bennet’s autobiographical play gets an endearing and charming lift onto the big screen with Alex Jennings and Maggie Smith in the lead roles. Jennings is eerily uncanny at adopting Bennet’s idiosyncratic style of witty, mildly effete and quintessentially northern disposition as the writer finds himself at first aiding and then effectively watching over an eccentric old woman living in a van on his street for a period of fifteen years. Having played the role of the title in Bennet’s play, Maggie Smith has the role down to a t, with the additional advantage of these feisty older women being something of her specialty. She is truly a force to behold and marvel at on screen as is Jennings as Alan Bennet, even though the gimmick of presenting a the writer as two personas (a “writer” version of himself and an active “living” version) can be a slightly confusing conceit over the course of the film. It’s unlikely that the film will become a major British classic, but for those appreciate Alan Bennet’s distinct voice as a writer (such as myself) it’s definitely enjoyable. A solid cast of names also includes bit parts from Roger Allam, James Corden, Dominic Cooper and Russell Tovey. *** (pick of the week)   

Steve Jobs – Having already made waves with his film documenting the rise of Facebook, The Social Network (2010), writer Aaron Sorkin returns to similar territory with Steve Jobs, a film about the titular founder of Apple. Taking a much more distinctly structured approach with Steve Jobs, Sorkin’s script is laid out in three acts, each taking place in essentially real time ahead of the release of one of the computer systems developed by Jobs, here played by Michael Fassbender. Fassbender makes for a magnetic and energetic presence as does his anchoring counterpart of Jobs’ confident Joanna Hoffman played by Kate Winslet (sporting a distinct accent melding Mid-Western with Eastern-European). Directed by Danny Boyle, the film also has Boyle’s visual flair especially in the film’s 80’s-set first act that helps provide the film with a sort of charm in spite of its antagonistic tone.

As much wonderful as his writing is and pointed with its critiques and comments, Sorkin’s screenplay is alas a little harder to swallow given the very dense nature of all three acts. Steve Jobs is, much like the portrayal of its main character, an exhausting and at times a demanding film to get to grips with, which does serve to its detriment. However, more could probably be gleaned from return visits. Also features Jeff Daniels and Seth Rogen.***

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True Romance – Rereleased back into cinemas, True Romance is the Quentin Tarantino-penned tale of star-crossed lovers Clarence (Chrsitian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) on a trip from Detroit to Los Angeles with a suitcase full of cocaine and gangsters on their tail. Directed by the late Tony Scott, Scott’s characteristically glossy direction and Tarantino’s predilection for 70’s kitch and extreme violence make for surprisingly good bedfellows as an ensemble of a-list actors carry the film along with both tension and excitement. A cult classic of the 90’s and a must for any Tarantino fan. Cast also includes Michael Rapaport, Bronson Pinchot, Saul Rubinek, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, James Gandolfini, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt and Samuel L. Jackson. ****

FILM REVIEWS: BROOKLYN/BURNT/HE NAMED ME MALALA

Brooklyn

Saoirse Ronan stars in this trans-Atlantic drama about a young woman who leaves 1950’s small-town Ireland for New York City but finds her past coming back to her door. Brooklyn is an undoubtedly sentimental film, rich in gloss  and polish, but the film has more than enough to its merit to work. Fundamentally is Nick Hormby’s screenplay based off of Colm Tóibín’s novel that is filled with a very Irish sense of wit and warmth that helps give its Irish characters life. Saoirse Ronan sparkles as lead character Eillis whilst Jim Broadbent  and Julie Walters make for memorable supporting cast even with the affected accents. The film’s treatment of Americans is a little blander with Emory Cohen’s turn as Eillis’ Italian-American love interest running a little bit towards stereotype, but the film as a whole is engaging and warm with some memorable performances. *** (pick of the week)

Burnt

Bradley Cooper’s latest film, Burnt has him playing a maverick chef rebuilding his career with a new restaurant in London. What Burnt is built around is its all-star cast with supporting performances from Sienna Miller, Omar Sy, Daniel Brühl, Emma Thompson, Alicia Vikander, Lily James and Uma Thurman. The shame of it is, it is only these performances (of which there are no real displays of actors excelling themselves beyond their admittedly often high abilities) that provide any real interest in a film that takes a lot of the passion and aggression of the life of a chef (and owing a definite debt to the tropes and themes of an underdog sports movie) but with little sense of joy or love of the food, leaving us with Cooper’s occasionally unsympathetic protagonist.

Given that it’s all-star-cast film about cooking, there are inevitable comparisons with John Favreau’s film, Chef (2014). Whilst Chef was not without its flaws and definitely didn’t take itself as seriously as Burnt, it was fun and knew how to entertain without trying to overplay its dramatic sensibilities. All in all, Burnt is a fairly appropriate title because it’s…well…all a bit overdone. **

  

He Named Me Malala

On the heels of Amy (2015), comes another documentary film with widespread mainstream appeal in this film about the story of Malala Yousafzai, the teenage Pakistani education activist who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban. He Named Me Malala lacks Amy’s stylisation and goes for a much more basic approach, even with the regular use of animation sequences. This allows for the message of the film to be unfailingly coherent, even if the film lacks something of a definite structure. It’s an interesting story, especially with tenets that are not often given as much of a voice as Malala’s near-death (such as her father, an extraordinary man in his own right) and there’s definitely some punch to proceedings and even an admittedly half-hearted attempt to hear out some criticism of Malala and the media’s coverage of her. Whilst there’s nothing but good intentions there and a story that definitely needs to be told, as a film He Named Me Malala is good but a little too long even for its short running time and in need of a little more artfulness. ***

FILM REVIEWS (Monty Python And The Holy Grail/Pan/Sicario/Suffragettes/The Walk)

Monty Python & The Holy Grail

Having received a fortieth anniversary sing-along (don’t worry, no-one does) rerelease, this is a great time to go back and revisit this daft surrealist take on Arthurian legend, courtesy of the Monty Python troupe. Graham Chapman leads the cast as King Arthur, sent on a quest to retrieve the Holy Grail. On his way, he and his band of knights must confront one bizarre challenge after another. Not quite a traditional linear plot and not quite a collection of sketches, this is a madcap film packed with memorable scene after memorable scene and has gained something of an endearing charm with age. *****

Pan

Sadly, Pan has already been pipped as a box office disappointment and has garnered a slew of negative reviews for a film that is, in all honesty, not all that bad. Joe Wright’s break from Lean-esque period dramas takes on the Peter Pan mythos with Levi Miller as Peter whisked away to Neverland and prophesised destiny. With definite stylistic influences from Hook (1991) and Stardust (2007) this also has a touch of Baz Luhrmann to it with the vibrant colours and use of contemporary music. Scores of children chanting Nirvana and The Ramones in a Peter Pan film is as clumsy as it sounds, but the film has a sense of swashbuckling, high-spirited adventure that is sadly rare in film these days. Also features Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, Kathy Burke and Amanda Seyfried. ***

Sicario

Following up on his sleeper hit Prisoners (2013) Denis Villeneuve returns with a new crime thriller set amidst the drug-choked streets of Mexico. Emily Blunt stars an idealistic operative sent on a mission to weed out a top drug kingpin, but her colleagues played by Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro seem to have much more secretive intentions. Much like Prisoners, Sicario is a stunningly presented film courtesy of the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins but somewhere along the line, the sense of confusion becomes muddled between intentionally playing games with the viewer and protagonist and just getting lost. The one-note depiction of Mexico also does it little favours, but this is still a film of impressive style and rather raw impact. Fans of Michael Mann’s classic thriller Heat (1995) would particularly love this. ***

Suffragette

Carey Mulligan takes centre stage in this historical drama about the Suffragettes and the movement to get women the vote. Mulligan’s fictitious role of Maud Watts provides something of an audience surrogate but is thankfully far from a passive figure thanks to the writing and Mulligan’s powerful performance. It is a slightly glib take on the Women’s Suffrage movement and doesn’t quite have the emotional impact that a film like this might be expected to have, but it’s still short on compromise and well-presented. Also features Helena Bonham-Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw, Anne-Marie Duff and Meryl Streep. ***

The Walk

Robert Zemeckis has long been one of the best known Hollywood directors for spectacle and his latest film The Walk, is perhaps the film that indulges this the most and also holds its own (despite not surpassing) alongside Zemeckis’ best works like Back To The Future (1985) and Forrest Gump (1994). The story of French high-wire artist Phillipe Petit (played here by Joseph Gordon Levitt) and his walk between the two towers of the World Trade Centre, The Walk has been advertised as a tense nail-biter, in fact it’s a great deal more charming and light-hearted. Levitt’s charismatic enough to carry the potentially troublesome narration and the film’s frequent lapses from French into English (the film explains that Peitit and co are practicing their English for New York, but one has to wonder if it’s not at least partly to concede to those in the audience who dislike reading subtitles).

Ultimately, the film builds to the walk itself and rather than a scene of tension or nerves, it came across (to me, at least) as beautiful magic and art, more moving than heart-stopping. That may not necessarily be to everyone’s liking, but it still makes for a wonderful experience and one of my highlights of the year. **** (pick of the week) 

Reviews: The Intern/Macbeth/The Martian

The Intern

Robert De Niro plays a seventy-year-old retired widow who takes up work at an internet clothing retailers as part of a senior employment incentive, working under flighty boss Anne Hathaway in this unashamedly feel-good film. Of course with two thespianic titans in De Niro and Hathaway, there’s always going to be some value in watching but the film has a distinct problem with characterisation. As nice as De Niro’s character is, his old-fashioned sense of style and etiquette seems something of a charicature whilst Hathaway’s businesswoman has difficulty finding much in the way of defining traits early on and her struggle between business and home life seems patronising at times, albeit slightly and there are good intentions.  There is wit and humour and whilst the film is not particularly memorable, what memories it does recall illicit some fondness. Also features Andy DeVine, Rene Russo, Linda Lavin and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance from Nat Wolff.***

Macbeth

William Shakespeare’s Scottish epic gets another big-screen adaptation, courtesy of Justin Kurzel. Michael Fassbender plays the titular Scottish nobleman who murderously claims the throne of Scotland under the pretense of witchcraft. Macbeth’s not new territory for the screen with such legendary directors as Akira Kurosawa and Roman Polanski having provided their takes on the play in the past. In the case of this adaptation, Kurzel has a fine technical eyes and there’s some magnificent atmosphere and visuals, not least the striking finale. However, the film’s eye for the visuals comes at a loss of plot momentum and the film often becomes listless and tired. That aside, there are some brilliant performances, especially Marion Cotillard as Lady Macbeth, a character who does however seem sadly underutilised here despite her iconic stature on the Shakespeare canon. Also featuring Paddy Considine, Sean Harris, Elizabeth Debicki and David Thewlis. ***  

The Martian

Just when Ridley Scott had been written off by critics and audiences alike, he makes a comeback with this smart yet accessible sci-fi adventure. Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, an astronaut and botanist who, believed to be dead, is stranded on Mars and learns to survive and grow food on the planet until help arrives. Taken from a book by Andy Weir, The Martian also picks up elements from many antecedents. The plot has similarities to Silent Running (1972) and Apollo 13 (1995), the casting recalls Interstellar (2014) and Scott’s own background with Alien (1979) is also evident amongst many other movies.

However, the film more than stands on its own two feet with its sense of effective, almost documentarian, realism a warm and well-crafted screenplay and a strong cast, particularly Matt Damon who brings his charm, charisma and comic skills to Mark Watney. Cynical types may sniff at some elements, especially late in the film, but this is an example of a great sci-fi film and a much-appreciated return to form from Ridley Scott. Also features Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Jeff Daniels, Mackenzie Davis and Sean Bean. **** (pick of the week)

Film Reviews (Everest/Irrational Man/Legend)

Everest – An all-star cast features in this real-life drama about an expedition to reach the higest peak in the world in 1996. Released in IMAX 3D, Everest is an intense and atmospheric journey through arduous terrain and tense drama, even if the constant obsession with the scenery and it’s beauty make you feel like you’re about to wander into a Werner Herzog documentary. Still, for all of the film’s technical merit, it’s the drama that wins out. Whilst not exactly a great film that will last in the memory, it’s still worth experiencing at least once. The high-calibre cast includes Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Keria Knightley and Emily Watson. **** (film of the week)

An Irrational Man – Woody Allen’s latest feature stars Joaquin Phoenix as a burned-out and depressive philosophy professor. His boredom in teaching and life is soon relieved by a budding relationship with a bright young student played by Emma Stone and the possibility of perhaps committing the perfect crime. Woody Allen’s been on something of a roll for the last couple of years with the prolific director’s Blue Jasmine (2013) getting some well-deserved recognition and the charming and rather underrated Magic In The Moonlight last year. This effort, sadly, feels a little lazier and pedestrian. It does enough to keep interest and is one of Allen’s more flippant and irreverent films, clearly not meant to be anything more than just ingested and enjoyed, it’s just a bit of a shame that he’s clearly done better than this as of late. ***

Legend – Tom Hardy stars as London gangster twins Reginald and Ronald Kray in Tom Hildebrand’s 60’s-set crime drama. A very clear influence of Martin Scorsese runs through this picture, but ultimately hinders the production rather than helps it. Throughout there is rather ham-fisted narration (possibly put in for an international audience less aware of the Krays or London’s crime history) and the film takes another Scorsese-influenced route in providing a non-moralistic portrait of the twins. Unfortunately, making them come across mostly as charming and lovable rascals rather than the rather hard thugs that the film also tries to address. Hardy’s lead performance is still a winner however as both the charming and suave Reg and the completely demented Ronnie, but this glossed-up tale of East-End violence feels somewhat inappropriate and struggles to reconcile the Kray twins’ sadistic actions and the rather odd (and difficult to tap into) affection felt towards them. Take with a (significant) grain of salt. Also features Emily Browning, Chris Ecclestone, Taron Egerton, Chazz Palminteri, Paul Bettany and John Sessions. ***

Movie Reviews (L'Eclisse/Straight Outta Compton/The Treatment/We Are Your Friends.

L’Eclisse

Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1962 Italian drama has been given a brand new re-release thanks to the BFI, introducing this work of the Italian New Wave to another generation. Monica Vitti stars as Vittora, an adventurous and newly-single young woman courting  Alain Delon’s Piero, a young stockbroker. Like a lot of the European New Wave, the film is big on experimentation and tipping its hat to the American cinema that inspired it (and in turn took inspiration from the New Wave through the generation of Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg) and is admirable as a technical exercise but sometimes a little too opaque for some (including my own) tastes. Still, the film has some definite moments of entertainment, particularly it’s witty satirical swipe at the stockmarket.

Straight Outta Compton

Musical biopic about the rise and fall of the massively influential gangsta rap group, N.W.A. Focusing mainly on the lives and works of Dr Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy E (Jason Mitchell) and Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), the casting is remarkably on the money, particularly with O’Shea Jackson Jr; Jackson Sr. being Mr. Cube, himself as well as Paul Giamatti playing the group’s manager, a role not too far from his recent turn in Love & Mercy (2014) or Rock Of Ages (2012) before that. The film is best served when it acts as a social document through the gang violence, drug busts and the LA riots that affected Compton and its surrounding Angelino neighbourhoods in late-80’s and early-90’s, especially since it dismisses some vital and controversial parts of the N.W.A’s own history. However, the film still manages to find a tone that is both faithful to the group without getting too bogged down in the necessary nastiness and cruelty of the world that music came from. At its absolute best, this is a film that puts forth a valiant effort to prove the truth that rap is as equal an art form as any other and that voices must not be silenced. (pick of the week)

The Treatment

Tough Belgian detective story about a cop (Gert Van Rampleberg) investigating a sex-related child murder whilst also struggling to come to terms with his own childhood trauma.  Somehow even more bleak than the premise makes its sound,  The Treatment’s sombering subject matter and dim cinematography do get rather wearing. However, this is compensated by some solid acting and a story that eventually becomes rather engaging. The film’s lack of will to soften its message has its merits in brute honesty but its flaws in its sheer unpleasantness but if you want a film that makes you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck for two-and-a-half hours, it’s not too bad.

We Are Your Friends

The other big music-related movie release of the moment, We Are Your Friends stars Zac Efron as an aspiring DJ trying to make it big in the San Fernando Valley. With the film also being touted as the possible breakout role for Emily Ratajkowski (known mostly for Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines music video and Gone Girl (2014)) and with Efron in the lead, the entire film has something of a vacuous image-obsessed annoyance to it, despite Efron’s talent and doubtless charisma, with his supporting cast of friends being a largely unlikable bunch with whom it seems very unclear whether the audience is supposed to find them annoying. What music is offered is rather interesting and the music’s dissection and use to help build the emotion are the film’s main strengths, but the film’s weaknesses just barely manage to outweigh those.

Reviees : Absolutely Anything/The Man From U.N.C.L.E/MIstress America/Trainwreck

Absolutely Anything

The first film from Terry Jones in almost twenty years, the closest thing to a Monty Python film since 1983 and the last film role for the late Robin Williams, Absolutely Anything promises such historically-significance but in the end, the result is rather ho-hum. Simon Pegg stars as a man who is gifted by a race of aliens (played by the surviving members of the Monty Python team) with the omnipotent powers. The premise is hardly a new one and there seems to be a lack of energy to the proceedings not helped by a rather mismatched cast, save for Eddie Izzard (surely the most Python-esque man to not actually be in Monty Python) and Joanna Lumley who hardly makes an appearance. There are a couple of good gags here and there and Python fans may get a kick out of it, but the resulting film that has been many years in the making is just a bit too bland. ***

The Man From U.N.C.L.E

Adapted from the classic 60’s TV series of the same name, Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer play secret agents from opposite sides of the iron curtain forced to work together to track down a nuclear scientist.  Ultimately the premise of The Man From U.N.C.L.E is just flim-flam but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad film. Whilst director Guy Ritchie still has his usual trouble of just being too chaotic for his own good, the film’s impeccable visuals and sharp silver-tongued dialogue make this a film of debonair cool. As trepidatious at the main casting is, (we get a Brit playing an American, an American playing a Russian and a Swede playing a German) for the most part it works. The Man From U.N.C.L.E will probably not be a classic spy film, even if it goes the right way in placing emphasis on the characters and not just on setpieces, but it’s very enjoyable all the same. **** (pick of the week)

Mistress America

Being rather prolific as of late and with an ever-growing audience, Noah Baumbach is back with his latest film, Mistress America starring Lola Kirke as a young college student who uses her older and flakey step-sister to be, played by Greta Gerwig, as inspiration for a piece of non-fiction. Like much of Baumbach’s other work, the film bleeds New York and being fashionable whilst also seemingly mocking its pretentions. To a certain extent, it’s having its hipster cake and eating it but Baumbach’s a gifted enough writer to pull it off, especially given Gerwig’s performance as the irresponsible Brooke who is a rather harsh but more even-handed deconstruction of a carefree free spirit. Mistress America is funny, engaging and intelligent but you need to have patience with it as the film takes time to reach its potential. ***

Trainwreck

Amy Schuler plays a journalist who is terrified of long-term relationships and monogamy who meets and begins a relationship with a good-natured surgeon specialising in sports played by Bill Hader in this Judd Apatow rom-com. Trainwreck belongs more however with Apatow’s more ambitious and slightly more dramatic work like Funny People (2009), rather than the teen comedy of Superbad (2007) and its attempts at depth work as both an asset and a weakness. Problematically, the film is too long and deals with far too much away from the main plot for the film to retain much energy and sometimes just becomes too unusual for its own good (such as the baffling movie-within-a-movie with Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei) but Amy Schuler and Bill Hader are likable enough as performers and as characters to make it work, even if it doesn’t always work spectacularly. Weirdly enough, for all that NBA players may have a poor track record with acting, I actually found LeBron James’ turn as himself to be some of the film’s funniest material. Strange world. *** 

Movie Reviews (Ant Man/The Gallows/Selfless/True Story)

Ant Man

Marvel’s latest release was one to raise the question over whether the studio would finally drop the ball given the film’s chaotic and long production history, usually bad signs. However, this comic book adaptation starring Paul Rudd as a former thief who dons a special shrinking suit to become the titular hero is actually one Marvel’s better efforts to date. With the film originally having Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright attached as writers (Wright was also the first person slated to direct) the film is understandably comedic in tone but that being Rudd’s milieu, he runs with it and the imagination of the film-makers runs along with him. Being more restrained in length than most Marvel offerings (it comes in just under two hours), the hurried pace does make the exposition a little fuzzy at times, but just sit back and enjoy the ride. Also features Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lily, Corey Stoll, Michael Peña, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer and a slew of Marvel-related cameos. **** (Pic Of The Week)

The Gallows

With an advertising campaign that evoked the likes of Friday The 13^th (1980) and Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), The Gallows talked a big game, which it sorely failed to live up to. Twenty years after a stunt failure lead to a student being hanged during a play, a group of teens break into their high school at night only to find spooky goings on. Inexplicably, the film is in the “found footage” subgenre (often seemingly a budget choice but this film really could’ve been done conventionally on a small budget with little difficulty, there’s also no real reason for the use of camcorders in the plot). The characters are bland, gratingly irritating or really bizarrely cast with one character being seen as being one of the less desirable girls being played a noticeably pretty actress. The film reaches for atmosphere but mostly relies too much on jump scares, the fart joke of the horror genre. If the film was more straightforward there may have been something here but this is sadly lacking. *

Self/less

Science-fiction action movie in which a dying Ben Kingsley decides to undergo a process of “shedding”, with his mind going into a replacement body played by Ryan Reynolds. However, seizures and other problems begin to take effect and it becomes clear that there’s a shady side to the shedding process. Drawn from the mould of Christopher Nolan (in particular Inception (2009)), Self/less is pretty by-the-numbers and unremarkable with the central twist being so predictable it barely seems a twist at all. There’s a decent cast who do well with the material and the film is meant to appeal more to the sense of fun than to the brain. Watchable but not exactly memorable. ***

True Story

Jonah Hill plays a journalist who discovers that a man accused of murdering his family (played by James Franco) is using his name and admires his work. Hill spies a writing opportunity and meets the enigmatic Franco and starts to try and figure him out as well as whether he’s guilty or not. There’s an interesting side to True Story, with the duplicity of its characters and their intentions but what is there is greatly let down by what isn’t there. Hill and Franco both do good jobs, even if the novelty of having two actors best known for comedies (three if you count supporting player Ethan Surplee) distracts from their performances. The problem is partly that Hill and Franco don’t have quite the amount of electricity together to aid the direction of the film that goes for atmospheric and sometimes comes off as just staid. Along with the film often being too vague about the actions of the characters and a particularly brutal and unfeeling worldview at times, True Story is a good enough film that could’ve been better. ***

Love & Mercy (2014, Dir. Bill Pohlad, USA) (Cert: 12a/PG-13) ****

Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks

Love & Mercy is an account of the personal life and work of Brian Wilson (Cusack, Dano, Jeff Holman) who achieved international fame and recognition as a member of the Beach Boys. Here, the story centres on two particular periods of Wilson’s personal life; one as a young Wilson struggles to record the albums Pet Sounds and SMiLE whilst slipping into a psychological breakdown, the other showing a middle-aged Wilson and his relationship with a woman named Melinda Leadbetter (Banks) who tries to free a mentally and emotionally fragile Wilson from the influence of his domineering doctor/carer, Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).

Biopics can be a tricky business; the means by which to take a real person’s life story and condense it into a film is difficult because of the sheer amount of experiences and is why biopics tend to be on the lengthier end when it comes to run-time. The idea of doing a film about the history of the Beach Boys, one of the most successful and turbulent pop groups of all time, would be out of the question (even a mini-series would be a stretch) as can be evidenced by Love & Mercy, a two-hour heavily-detailed film about Brian Wilson that only covers two specific periods in his life. It may only be a look at Wilson in two different periods, save for the odd diversion, but through these episodes we see a more elaborate picture of a man whose personal troubles made him something of an enigma, even now.

John Cusack and Paul Dano are the two main players in the role of Brian Wilson and both portray him somewhat differently, even when accounting for the change in personality that naturally comes with age. Paul Dano’s performance as Wilson is very much in Dano’s traditional mould; alternating between brooding and manic, with hyper-emotional freakouts being something of a Dano trademark, but he is clearly giving his all and there’s a vulnerability and naturalism to the portrayal that works. Cusack’s take on the role is equally vulnerable, if not more-so, but more soft-spoken and rather endearing. Both actors stand out but neither is clearly better or worse than the other though Cusack’s nuanced work does overshadow Elizabeth Banks’s love interest which is more of an inherent flaw with how the film works rather than anyone’s particular failing.

Paul Giamatti also stands out as Eugene Landy, Brian Wilson’s manipulative physician. Giamatti is one of the most prolific actors in Hollywood today and in particular has a habit of appearing in films based on real events (he is soon to also appear in Straight Outta Compton, a film about legendary rap group N.W.A), his performance as Landy is fully without sympathy or humanity, bordering on an absurd villain prone to dramatic outbursts and vile behaviour. Landy’s actions did have dire real consequences and feedback on the film from Brian Wilson himself has indicated that the portrayal of Landy was not an exaggeration, but whilst I have no reason to defend Landy (indeed, any semblance to his actions shown here would give no reason for thinking he was a nice guy) the very nature of the character seems one-dimensional. Brian’s abusive father Murry (played by Bill Camp) is similarly slimy but the adversarial nature of the relationship with fellow Beach Boy Mike Love (Jake Abel) seems the most grounded and reasoned.

In addition to the film using different actors to portray the different eras of Brian Wilson’s life, the aesthetic is also different, with the film being treated to look like it comes from the period in which the two separate halves were set (Dano’s half being the 1960’s, Cusack’s being the 1980’s) but also having slight differences in narrative. Whilst most of the film is fairly conventional in how the story is told, the footage of the Beach Boys recording in the studio has a raw pseudo-documentary vibe that is really where the film is at its most interesting.

There’s a lot to love about Love And Mercy; for all that it deals with some very tough subjects it is also something of a celebration of the Beach Boys and the wonderful music that they made, particularly with Pet Sounds (Paul Dano even has a handle on Wilson’s singing voice akin to Val Kilmer’s transformative turn as Jim Morrison in The Doors (1992)). As a portrait of Brian Wilson and his troubles it may be less satisfactory, but that’s a risk that still pays off a little in the film. The real truth is that when you hear the music of the Beach Boys you hear sunshine and joy despite their occasionally painful and tragic story. That may be an example of dissonance, but it also is rather heart-warming in how it gives a sense of cheery determination; a spirit that the film does well to serve.

Ted 2 (2015, Dir. Seth MacFarlane, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ***

After marrying his sweetheart Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth), sentient teddy bear Ted (MacFarlane) slowly begins to find his marriage in trouble and decides to have a baby. Obviously unable to reproduce, Ted finds another obstacle when he realises that according to the government, he is not recognised as a person but as an object and so has no legal rights. Turning to his divorced childhood friend John (Wahlberg) and inexperienced young lawyer Sam Jackson (Seyfried) for help, Ted sets about proving his equal rights in society.

After making his name in television, writer/animator/actor/singer/whatever-takes-his-fancy Seth MacFarlane made the leap towards feature films in 2012 with his gross-out comedy, Ted, about a teddy bear who comes to life and becomes a foul-mouthed stoner. The film was a massive hit and so as logic dictates, MacFarlane follows up (after making another film, A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014)) with Ted 2 and as expected by its title and by a rather sobering element of truth, it’s not that surprising that Ted 2 is in many ways just Ted…again.

That’s not exactly a bad thing, entirely. MacFarlane’s brand of low-brow humour has always been something of 50/50 in terms of success. There’s intelligence and wit enough for it to often work and was a major reason why he was something of a startling young talent when he arrived on the comedy scene in the late-90’s with his animated sit-com, Family Guy. However, shock value in comedy done with wit and intelligence is rare. Shock humour for the sake of getting a cheap laugh is far more commonplace, easy and has slowly become more and more a problem for products associated with MacFarlane.  Ted 2 is no masterclass in humour and I have a feeling that Oscar Wilde would be turning in his grave (after making a catty remark about the lining of his coffin) if he knew of this film.

One common problem in particular is the clear idealism of what is being presented (MacFarlane has always been a staunch and unashamed liberal) being constantly undercut with jokes that are overly-offensive (homophobic in particular) and mean-spirited. A Million Ways To Die In The West spelled it out fairly clearly that MacFarlane seems to be particularly fond of Blazing Saddles (1973). Saddles was very politically incorrect, so much so that it would probably not be made today. However, for all the jokes about racism, it was very clear that the black protagonist was smart, capable and likeable whilst the racists were all a bunch of buffoons. Politically incorrect? Certainly. Racist? Certainly not. MacFarlane has the offense down, not the justification.

However, whilst many of the jokes don’t work there’s still some of the old sparkle that helps lift it and the bravado with which the film is performed and executed does mean that laughs are probably going to happen even if it’s despite yourself. On the subject of the actors, Mark Wahlberg does a good job reprising Ted’s human buddy John Bennett and Seth MacFarlane is reaching for something good in Ted’s occasional moments of sincerity even if the tone of the film means that the film struggles to be taken seriously. With the more earnest characters played by Amanda Seyfried and Morgan Freeman, who barely has a single joke, the performances fare better, even if Seyfried’s role is very predictable and seems to also substitute for Mila Kunis’ conspicuous absence following the first Ted that’s never satisfyingly explained.

If Ted 2 is guilty of anything, it’s not daring to go anywhere really new with its comedy. Yes it’s willing to say and do things that prissy and sensitive souls might tut and disapprove of, but it plays it safe and worse, it does it rather lazily. There are good things here and there with the film actually having some very enjoyable musical moments but with overused gags and no real sense of doing anything else but make people wince, the idea of a Ted 3 seems one that will test patience with worrying thoughts of just the same old gags.

Terminator Genysis (3D) (2015, Dir. Alan Taylor, USA) (Cert: 12a/PG-13) ***

Starring: Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Arnold Schwarzenegger

With the war between humanity and Skynet almost won for the human race, a triumphant group of soldiers including their legendary leader John Connor (Jason Clarke) and brother-in-arms Kyle Reese (Courtney) must now destroy Skynet’s own fail-safe of travelling back in time and cancelling out the events by killing John Connor’s mother, Sarah (E. Clarke) before he is born. Reese volunteers for the mission but Skynet sends its own Terminator back in time, but unlike previous events (from the 1984 Terminator film), Sarah is aware of her destiny and Skynet’s attempts to rule also have an affect on the “future” John Connor as well, who is attacked as Reece goes back in time.

Like the robotic creation that bears the franchise’s name, The Terminator seems to be nigh-indestructible when it comes to producing various instalments across all kinds of media, but especially where it was born, on the silver screen. Terminator Genysis is the fourth feature-length Terminator film and like many long-running movie franchises, the results on a film-to-film basis have been uneven. The 1984 film The Terminator was a stripped-down chase thriller that may not have been all that original (more of an urban take on Westworld (1973) with time machines thrown in) whilst the 1991 sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, largely hailed as the pinnacle of the franchise, was a stunningly intense action movie tour-de-force whose pioneering effects represent a leap forward in computer animation that has been arguably unequalled before or since.

The two subsequent films were spotty. Terminator Rise Of The Machines (2003) was dynamic but not very engaging and often got distracted by its own sense extravagance, whether that be the mindless action scenes or too much focus on the looks of Terminator-de-joure, Kristanna Loken, whilst Terminator Salvation (2010) paid more focus on the post-apocalyptic war with Skynet which is, dare I say, just not that interesting in greater detail.

With Terminator Genysis, the last two films have been largely disregarded. This isn’t the first time such a thing has happened. Superman Begins (2006) completely erased the movies Superman III (1983) and Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987) (not that anyone complained about these being forgotten) but with Terminator, the time-machine element allows for a more convenient ret-con. The events of the third and fourth Terminator films have now seemingly been literally erased from history. A daring move that is partially justified.

Terminator Genisys owes a lot more to the first two Terminator films than its immediate predecessors. Early on, the film is effectively to the first Terminator what Back To The Future: Part II was to its 1985 antecedent. We revisit a slightly-altered vision of the 1984 Terminator and the blending is at times seamless, other times less so (the computer-manipulated younger Arnold Schwarzenegger still proves that we haven’t yet achieved photo-realism) whilst the ever-astounding Terminator model from Judgement Day, here played by Lee Byung-Hun, makes a welcome return. Perhaps inevitably this element of the story has to be left. There simply wouldn’t be enough to sustain interest for a two-hour film, but what comes in to replace it, is far more complex and far less interesting. It seems that the writers understood a lot of what made the first two films so great, but didn’t take away the moral that often less is more.

As far as casting goes, it’s likewise a mixed bag. Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke (no relation) play Sarah and John Connor (actual relation) and make for two of the more polarising casting choices. Emilia Clarke may be the best choice for the respective role out of the whole ensemble. Despite the added trick of having to affect an American accent as Sarah Connor (something she clearly struggles with at times), Clarke’s casting seems almost too obvious, having become famous for playing another surprisingly tough and shrewd survivor as Daenerys Targaryen in Game Of Thrones but it’s obvious for a reason and it pays off expectantly even with the characters being very different in ways of temperament.

As John Connor, Jason Clarke often feels slightly unusual. Large and imposing, he has the look of a great leader but without the element of human frailty that actually strengthens how impressive he is and is such a strong element in other interpretations of the role as well as Sarah Connor. Likewise, Jai Courtney’s tough and muscular look does conflict in a negative way next to the more wiry likes of the original Reese’s Michael Biehn that once again takes away from the same impressive qualities of the Connors. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger does deserve a mention in the role (well, it’s kind of the same role) that made him an icon. Of course Arnie doesn’t get much chance to display a great deal of emotional range, and the plot contrivance to explain his advancing years as a robot is lazy to say the least and probably not that sound, logically speaking. Still Arnie’s charisma is without question and you still take notice of him whenever he’s on screen.

James Cameron, franchise creator and director of the first two Terminator films, has come out in support of Genysis and it’s not that surprising why. This is after all probably the closest a Terminator film he hasn’t directed has come to displaying his vision and when it does that, Genysis works really well. However, when trying to add the inevitable changes, alterations and plot devices, the film falls apart like a T-1000 carrying too many machine guns. It can all get very noisy and even very impressive. It can also, at times, leave a heck of a mess.

Minions (3D) (2015, Dirs. Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, USA) (Cert: U/PG) ***

Starring: Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm

Since the dawn of time, the tiny yellow race of Minions (all voiced by Pierre Coffin) has roamed the Earth, serving the duties of whatever evil master they can find until they were forced to flee into the Arctic, making a home for themselves there. Without anyone to serve, the Minions grew listless until three such Minions; Bob, Kevin and Stuart went in search of a new boss, eventually ending up in 60’s America and serving superstar super-villain, Scarlett Overkill (Bullock).

Although Despicable Me (2010) was expected to be a success upon its initial release, few probably would’ve expected quite the phenomenon that the franchise would become, having come from a young animation studio, Illumination, Despicable Me deserved its success as an intelligent, humorous and surprisingly heartfelt family film with an equally-surprisingly high-profile cast of actors (Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig and so on…) but another factor has to have been the Minions, the playful and mischievous henchmen to the “villainous” Gru. Few were probably shocked that the extremely popular creatures would spawn their own effort and few will be shocked about what the film delivers. It knows its audience and it caters to it, wholesale.

In equal ways a prequel and a spin-off to Despicable Me, Minions delivers a little less in the way of sentiment or the heartfelt even with the Minions being as easy to love as they are, and focuses much more on the comedy. Practically every time a gag finishes, a new one is set up and even though the film is short on belly-laughs, few of the jokes fail to be at least amusing. The Minions are funniest as a group, scurrying about and crying out in unison but our three lead Minions are distinct enough to sustain interest. Kevin is the leader and straight-man, Stuart has the least definition but still has some clowning and musical moments whilst Bob is the most child-like and the most endearing. Director Pierre Coffin voices all of the Minions, but performs them with enough variety to make individuals stand out even with the similar voices.

There are prominent names in the supporting cast but most of them seem rather unnecessary. Often  the voices of the actors aren’t distinctive enough (Jon Hamm) or they’re unrecognisable (Michael Keaton). That isn’t to say that they do a bad job, but it feels like casting well-known actors purely for the sake of publicity. Sandra Bullock, however, does make for a great villainess in Scarlett Overkill and regularly steals the show (not an easy feat in a movie with Minions) and Jennifer Saunders also works well in a supporting role as Queen Elizabeth II.

The plot itself is pleasingly straight-forward and seems to serve more as a vessel for providing the most gags rather than any real investment in the characters. The 1960’s setting could have come off as arbitrary but the bright, colourful and often angular animation style does compliment nicely with the period even if many of the younger ones in the audience wouldn’t be able to pick out the references to a pre-Disney Orlando or a brief musical rendition of Hair. As expected the soundtrack is top-notch, with music by The Doors, The Beatles and The Kinks (although a brief snippet of Van Halen seems rather strange). Visually, the film is available in a 3D format, but beyond the occasional insignificant effect, it’s a completely pointless addition to the film, even one as action-packed and kinetic as Minions is, even to its detriment with a finale that’s way too long.

There are seeds if some very interesting ideas in Minions. The narration of Geoffrey Rush in the trailers and sporadically in the film, gave hints of a nature mockumentary, whilst a montage during the film also showed Minions traversing the globe, both of which would’ve been interesting concepts for a feature film. As is, we get a sci-fi adventure comedy, faithful to the franchise that spawned it but being very tentative and not taking any risks beyond what works. All in all, the major pros and cons of Minions both fall on the same thing. It sticks to what people know and love.

RERELEASE: The Misfits (1961, Dir. John Huston, USA) (Cert: PG/Approved) ***

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Eli Wallach

Recently divorced Roslyn (Monroe) is on a night out at a restaurant when her path crosses with an older charming cowboy named Gay Langland (Gable). Instantly taken with Roslyn, Gay invites her to spend time out in the Nevada wilderness with him. However, their stay is also alongside two friends of Gay’s; Guido (Wallach) a widowed mechanic and Perce (Montgomery Clift) a self-destructive rodeo rider and all three start vying for Rosalyn’s attention whilst she struggles with their way of life.

Sometimes a film’s historical significance behind the scenes can over-shadow the artistic reputation of what has been produced, such is the case with John Huston’s occasionally perplexing pseudo-Western melodrama, The Misfits, that has found notoriety for being the final film of two of the brightest stars ever two shine in Hollywood; Clark Gable (who would suffer a fatal heart attack just two days after filming) and Marilyn Monroe (who would go on to work on George Cukor’s unfinished Something’s Got To Give before being fired and dying a couple of months after her dismissal). As a final testament to the two stars, it works interestingly. Gable, who will probably always be remembered as the charming yet unreliable Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind (1939), still has the charm but his character is also an uncaring and selfish individual with a pretty prominent dark streak. Monroe is still the blonde bombshell that made her an icon and the plot of three men each wanting her is not an unusual set-up for a Monroe movie, but here it’s darker and her character is befitted with more intelligence and depth than the stereotypical Marilyn Monroe part.

This could be attributed to screenwriter Arthur Miller. Primarily famous for his plays such as The Crucible and Death Of A Salesman, Miller also became a well-known figure as the unlikely third husband of Monroe, with jokes being had about the bookish and nerdy Miller marrying a sex symbol like Monroe. Nowadays, it’s well known that Marilyn was in fact far smarter and well-informed than the parts she tended to play and it was probably Miller’s knowledge of this that lead to a more rounded and interesting character than just the beautiful blonde bimbo. The part of Rosalyn is most definitely tied to Monroe portraying her and some of it works (a scene in which she’s ogled in a bar plays much as a scene in one of her earlier films, but given a slightly sinister edge) and some of it doesn’t such as when Eli Wallach spies a number of iconic photos of Monroe which are never again referenced in the plot.

Neither Monroe or Gable look their best here. Being who they are, they’re still attractive looking people but Gable’s age, Monroe’s drug problems and their failing health in both cases make them seem more haggard. Gable is wrinkled and sagging, Monroe is often washed-out and her looks are starting to fade. It may not have been the intention of the film-makers but it adds to the wearying and at times a-romantic nature of the film. Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach turn up in the supporting roles and whilst Clift’s performance is rather inconsistent (he had his own demons and their toll on him is pretty visible here), Eli Wallach provides some great moments, even if the idea of the noticeably less photogenic actor who made his career often playing rogues and bad guys makes for a slightly left-of-field casting choice. Thelma Ritter plays Monroe’s older friend and confident and makes for a likable performance early on in the film but quickly all but disappears once the main plot points start to line up.  

The central problem with The Misfits is that whilst it knows it doesn’t want to be one of those light and breezy romantic comedies that made Marilyn Monroe such a titan on the silver screen, and aside from a nugget of the premise it avoids that like the plague, it doesn’t really seem to be struck on what it wants to be; a deconstruction of the older Monroe image, a revisionist twentieth-century Western that dispels cowboy heroism or even just a really strange experience taking an audience to somewhere unusual. It tries all three in turn, but never settles on one or in a neat balance. The Misfits is a strange film, that owes less to the likes Some Like It Hot (1959) and more to the unnerving civilised-person-far-from-civilised-society themes of the recently-rediscovered and brilliant Wake In Fright (1971) meets Thomas Hardy’s Far From The Madding Crowd. A strange beast of a film, not without being troublingly uneven but also with occasional beauty and often something interesting to offer.

The Falling (2014, Dir. Carol Morley, UK) (Cert: 15/TBC) ***

Starring: Maisie Williams, Maxine Peake, Florence Pugh

It’s 1969 and girl’s school students Lydia (Williams) and Abby (Pugh) share a special bond that grows deeper when Abby reveals that she thinks she’s pregnant. Suffering fainting spells and nausea, Abby’s condition is related to something more mysterious that ultimately kills her. Soon afterwards, Lydia and most of the other girls at the school also begin displaying the same symptoms, with their cause still a mystery.

Eccentric films are nothing new; films that play with an audience’s perception, play with editing and play with mood in ways different to conventional cinema. In fact, nowadays they’re very common if you look in the right places, but The Falling straddles the line between the art house sense of experimentation and a more conventional tale driven by the strength of its actors. In truth, The Falling doesn’t evoke much of a sense of contemporary cinema, but more some of the more artistically-inclined filmmakers of the era in which this film is set.

Comparisons in particular have been made to Nicolas Roeg’s seminal 1974 chiller, Don’t Look Now. The pervading sense of dread, the motif of water, the strange editing and with at least one scene blatantly reproducing a similar scene from Don’t Look Now. There’s something rather telling about the production credit for Luc (son of Nicolas) Roeg. Still there are threads of other influences, in particular a subtler sense of kinship with Carrie (1976), in a tale of adolescent female life, fractured relationships between mothers and daughters, coupled with a sense of foreboding danger and the strangely otherworldly. Perhaps the incidents of The Fallen have their own justification in reality but the film’s obtuse refusal to provide easy answers is what makes it unsettling.

The film does have some solid acting talent behind it, with Maisie Williams (probably best known as Arya Stark in TV’s Game Of Thrones) in the lead and Maxine Peake as her agoraphobic mother, and the two have some good scenes together, particularly Peake whose eyes here look set like burned-out lightbulbs; a sense of distance and something soullessly adrift, but Williams’ performance has an eerie grandeur about it, partly because her frequent fainting spells seems to almost present themselves as some strange ritual dance, most effectively seen when the condition has finally taken hold over most of the school in easily the film’s most chilling scene, one of the most unsettling sequences in recent film memory.

As much as the film’s impressively put together, it also has a great story. On the face of it, it’s a simple, if mysterious, premise but therein lies a number of different themes touching on not just mental illness and adolescence but also incest, ephebophilia, sexism and more. It may not sound cheerful and in truth it isn’t, but it masterfully weaves these ideas together. Understandably the film also lunges too much towards pretention at times. The film’s constant attempts at grasping atmosphere cause the film, at an unremarkable 106 minutes, to still drag a considerable amount, with the film possibly being worth a tiny 75 minute runtime, and the film’s recurring use of songs to break up the story organises and compartmentalises the plot, but also becomes very repetitive as do the recurrent scenes of fainting (I did start to feel sorry for poor Maisie Williams, who takes a lot of spills to the floor throughout this film). Those without the patience for the artsier side of cinema will probably be left frustrated at the film’s refusal to tell its story efficiently, but if you place more emphasis on mood and atmosphere than on clean storytelling, it might be worth checking out.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015, Dir. Joss Wheedon, USA) (Cert: 12a/PG-13) ***

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johannsson, Mark Ruffalo

Having joined forces, the collective of heroes known as The Avengers have become world famous and depended upon to save Earth from the evil grasp of nefarious groups such as Hydra. As a result, the team feel stretched to the limit and in an effort to help, Tony Stark (also known as “Iron Man”) (Downey Jr.) sets about creating Ultron (James Spader), a robot with AI designed to aid the Avengers. However, when Ultron gains “consciousness”, he comes to the conclusion that the only way to save the inherently destructive human race is to destroy them, the Avengers now having to stop their own creation.

In 2012, The Avengers (or “Avengers Assemble” in the UK) busted onto movie screens displaying a culmination of Marvel Studios’ different film projects with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as well Iron Man’s one-time sidekick Black Widow (Scarlett Johannsson), newcomer Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and a “sort of new” Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, though there had been previous attempts at solidifying a Hulk franchise with Eric Bana in 2003 and Edward Norton in 2006). Given the popularity of Marvel’s movie work, this film was a sure-fire smash-hit and in short order we get this sequel which keeps the tone of the first Avengers film, but subtly adds to the existing franchise. What results is, thankfully, not an inferior sequel but not one that massively ups the game, either.

The thing that Age Of Ultron seems to put a lot of stock in is its status as an ensemble movie, and why not? People like these superheroes individually, so teaming them up is just making a good thing better, like ice cream on top of cake. The theory’s simple and is sort of correct. It helps that each of the main group has their own distinct personality and this film helps to build on what makes each of the characters so different, with time especially being devoted to Hawkeye, currently the most under-developed Avenger who wasn’t even expanded on much in the first movie. With the scenes of Hawkeye’s family life being an off-beat departure, it makes for an intriguing change of pace but also slows to an uncomfortable degree as does the over-stretched finale. Where the character development really works is the dialogue. Joss Wheedon has a reputation for brilliantly witty and zippy dialogue and this is a film that desires more to entertain and make you laugh rather than to be dark or brooding.

That being said, Age Of Ultron does go in some darker directions, particularly with the villain of Ultron himself, a genuinely frightening creation and played with severe menace by James Spader. As much as Tom Hiddleston’s performance as Loki from the first Avengers film was also entertaining, it’s nice to see a villain completely unique to The Avengers and not from one of the related franchises as it feels like less of a cast-off and more like the film has more confidence to stand by its own merits. There isn’t much dimension to Ultron (for all of the grandiosity of James Spader’s acting, the character is basically the motives of HAL in the body, or rather bodies, of a Terminator-type figure) but as a one-off, he’s a memorable villain with some occasional sarcastic quips, a nice nod to his origins as a project for the snarky Tony Stark. His two henchmen played by Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson have some cool powers but aren’t as provocative a presence.

Within the Avengers group, there are some character arcs, in particular an emerging romance between Johannsson and Ruffalo that is fairly well written and well-acted but also feels arbitrary. Robert Downey Jr. still takes a lot of the screen-time though here he seems to have less personal motivation before, the film just relying more on Downey’s charisma whilst the Chris duo of Evans and Hemsworth have their own running gags with Hemsworth, whilst still being played up as the big blonde hunk, being more assured and confident on screen then ever even if his Australian accent still flares up from time to time.

 With Age Of Ultron, the idea behind the project seems to have been that people liked the first Avengers movies and so lets give the people more. It’s a sound strategy and there’s plenty of big superhero action to go around, with several lengthy action setpieces and some genuinely thrilling explosions and carnage. It’s not a great revelation for the superhero genre. It’s not even on the same “good old fashioned” superhero mantle as Superman (1978), but it seems mostly concerned with not wanting to disappoint the fans and to be fair, it doesn’t disappoint at all.