“I will post on this blog once a month” I told myself as I planned all sorts of thrilling days out over the coming weeks (Watford on a Sunday anybody). “I mean, I’ll forget about it. But, whatever”. Then Rebel Wilson fans got their hands on that chemical from Snowpiercer and made everything so cold. This basically meant I had nothing better to do than write. So, let’s talk about the best and worst films I’ve seen this month.

The mediocre

The Lost Boys was a European prison drama about two young gay people who had no personality, looked at each other moodily and fell in love. Whatever, it was fine, just the characters lacked anything which would make you invest in them. A similar and much better film to invest in is Great Freedom on MUBI. Not a bad watch, but not that interesting. Anyway, none of you are ever going to watch it, so lets move on to the film some of you might watch.

Daniel Kaluuya’s directing debut The Kitchen (3/5) also came out and is available on Netflix. Based in a dystopian future in a place representative of Camden, the film is about a man who finds a boy and looks after him. However, the government plans to kick the people out of their homes. Tonally similar to Do The Right Thing, with Ian Wright taking over from Samuel L Jackson’s Mr Senior’s Love Daddy with Lord Kitchener, it’s difficult not to compare the themes of gentrification. The main difference, which is where I think The Kitchen falls into obscurity, is that there is no time taken to love the place. No stakes. In DTRT, Spike Lee introduces us to a wonderful set of oddball characters who make this street home. Meanwhile, Kaluuya just takes us into the plot and it feels a bit empty. When they try such a dramatic ending in this film and it feels flat, it’s never a good sign. It’s on Netflix if you want to watch it though

I’m really divided about how I feel about The Color Purple. Based on the novel, which was turned into a movie in the 1980’s, then a broadway musical, which this film was based on, tonally it feels all over the place. When Celie’s two children are taken and she’s married off to Mister, a physically abusive man life seems to only be going one way. Then singer Shug Avery comes along, and Mister acts nicer, because he wishes he married her. Some other things happen, horrible torture, music number, slapping the wife, music number, racism, music number. It’s just a bit of a mess.

However, the saving grace of this movie is the performances. Every single cast member is on point here. BAFTA nominee Fantasia Barrino leads well with a strong voice and emotive performance. Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks steal all of her scenes. Meanwhile, Colman Domingo as Mister and Tajari P Henson as shug are also larger than life. If only the film were directed a little better, this really could’ve been great. Instead, it’s a bit of a naff film made watchable by some acting heavyweights.

The Good

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to One Life featuring Anthony Hopkins. Based on the life of Nicholas Winton, often dubbed the British Schindler, it shows the story of the man who helped rescue almost 700 Jewish children from the Czech Republic and bring them to the UK. Flipping between that time and the run up to the famous That’s Life clip, the film remains interesting and pertinent to our time. Both Hopkins and Johnny Flynn do a good job of bringing this film to life. With the exception of the famous scene, it never feels too hammy and gratuitous as Hopkins’ character shows guilt in an understated way. My one complaint is that the film feels 20 minutes too short. There is a bit missing where Flynn’s younger character needs to show his guilt in the moment that can linger with Hopkins, otherwise his inner monologue of failure feels flat. While this film doesn’t quite get to the enormous heights of Schindler’s List, it certainly never feels an awful watch.

The Great

Technically released at the back end of December, I will still take time to discuss Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. After a boy loses his mum in a hospital fire, his dad moves him to live with his new mum (who is also his aunt. Turns out war time Japan was just Norwich). When he gets to the new place, he dreams about his mother calling and a pesky heron then comes to lead him to a magical afterlife. Full of fantastic imagery, and a hatred of birds, this movie latches on to the imagination in a pure way. Each frame feels like a piece of art with a good soundtrack to boot. The story may feel convoluted at times, and while this isn’t a top tier Studio Ghibli movie, it remains a very good one, filled with the themes of grief and coming of age that these movies are renowned for.

Society of Snow is based on a true story about a rugby team who’s plane crashes in the Uruguayan mountains. Subjected to brutally cold weather conditions, the remaining survivors have to make it through months of not being found and being assumed dead. The film does a great job of balancing brutal moments with hope. The plane crash itself is visceral, and the survivors have to deal with the guilt of cannibalism as they eat the remains of the dead to survive. Yet, there are warm moments and moments of true against the odds belief that keep this tender film one you remain invested in during its long run time. Some great cinematography and a top level score are enough to elevate this movie into brilliance, even if at times the big cast make it difficult to know who is who and invest in a certain lead set of leads. It’s on Netflix and is definitely worthy of a watch

As it is Oscar season, we really are getting into the good stuff now. The Holdovers was nominated for five Oscars including best picture, screenplay, Actor and Supporting Actress, and deservedly so. The movie focuses on a teacher at a posh boys academy played by Paul Giamatti. Cynical about the world and his privileged students, he’s tasked with supervising the five students who can’t go home for Christmas, including Tully (Dominic Sessa). When the students apart from Tessa have an out, only those two and cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a grieving mother, are left as an unconventional family to celebrate Christmas together, in a sad melancholic way.

This movie isn’t exactly heavy on plot, instead being like films of old, fundamentally focussing on letting the characters breathe, as they all come to terms with a world they think is against them. Truly one of the great future festive movies, we don’t forget this is a Christmas movie, and the film balances the sadness and happiness in an incredibly controlled way. Along with a soundtrack from the 80s and grainy camera footage, this movie tonally feels like a blast from the past and is a real pleasure to watch.

The big film that was apparently snubbed at the Oscars (despite 8 noms) was Barbie. Despite this, there was a film in double digits which felt thematically similar. It wouldn’t be cheap to describe Poor Things as Barbie for weird freaks. Being a bit of a weird freak, I really loved it. When we meet Bella (Emma Stone), she has the brain of an infant, but the body of an adult. Learning more everyday, she remains sheltered by her scientist father figure (Willem Dafoe). As more men meet her, these sleazy individuals start to fall for her. One, played by Mark Ruffalo, takes her on a trip around Europe. Here she starts to really learn about the world, looking to develop her knowledge of philosophy and meet people, while having copious amounts of on-screen sex (So not one to take your aunt to).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl0lv3IVCzI&ab_channel=Fremantle

This is definitely the sort of film where you need to accept you won’t like some characters. The men are all rather scummy, while the women look for empowerment in the pursuit of knowledge. Bella finds beauty and horror in the real world, much like Barbie funnily enough. As well as some fantastic acting, which puts Stone on course for a possible Oscar, the movie looks fantastic. Every place is full of colour, showing a hyper obscurity to match the strangeness of the situation, much like the score which feels electric. It’s an odd gothic Frankenstein-esque story which certainly isn’t for everyone. However, those who can stomach strange cinema will have an enthralling time.

Worst Film of the Month

I have no shame in admitting I love the movie Mean Girls, by which I mean the original. Its level of betrayal and power are almost shakesperian. Throw in horrible characters being horrible to one another in a scathing way, much like many classics such as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and All About Eve. Sprinkle in some great humour and iconic quotes and you have a masterpiece…

then you have Mean Girls (2024).

Based on the theatre adaptation of the movie of the book, the plot is pretty identical to the 2004 film. Cady moves from Africa to a generic American high school where she meets Damian and Janice. They convince Cady to infiltrate the plastics to find out their secrets. Lead by Regina this clique is feared by everyone. Anyway, fetch happens, Cady likes the power, the movie rolls on like a bus the end.

I really disliked this film for a number of reasons. First up is the musical element. This list of generic songs were all autotuned and instantly forgettable. They happen at random points and frankly slow down the film. Any attempt at witty quick dialogue like in the original is blown out of the water along with any sense of authenticity.

Secondly, the film is made for a certain generation. This is really made for a TikTok generation. The film is full of references which will go out of date, much like a theatrical humour where at the end of the night the joke is stale. Any jokes which focus on human nature instead look at buzzwords and the film feels worse for it.

The main problem, however, is that the film loses its bite. The original was brutal, yet honest in its humour. In our increasingly sanitised media, there seems to be a utopic vision that people aren’t really mean. This isn’t mirrored in reality, and the fact this film doesn’t have the characters be hugely mean in a cruel psychotic way just shows the thesis for this film is not on point. Some lines are also changed in a way which seems to go against this cruelty. Most notably, Regina is no longer a fugly slut, but a fugly cow (Come on…). Joining the mathletes is no longer social suicide, but socially ruinous.

I mean, this was always going to be a tough film to get anywhere near right for fans of the original. The dialogue is brilliant in the 2004 version, so when you hear a line from it you thin “nice”. They jump into singing, it’s like “not nice”. Regina says “Get in loser” and finishes the sentence there without “We’re going shopping” and you want to commit ruinous. The first cafeteria scene isn’t there properly. We don’t have jingle bell rock, instead a random musical number which doesn’t show the moment Cady becomes accepted into the team and half the infiltration going missing. Instead, it’s a haphazard rubbish mess which requires its audience to know the plot, but that audience already likes Mean Girls.

Also, why were the head teacher and the drug pusher back?

Don’t waste your time with it.

Film of the Month

Cancel the ASBO’s, cancel film of the year. We have it all wrapped up in January. When I finished watching All of Us Strangers, I turned to my aunt, with red puffy eyes, and said “I can’t remember the last time I watched a film this good”. It was just phenomenal.

Adam (Andrew Scott) is a writer in his forties. Alone in the world, his friends have all moved away from London and had families, while he, as a gay man, never considered that a possibility. His parents died in a car crash when he was twelve. One night, his neighbour Harry (Paul Mescal) knocks on his door to come in, noting that Adam is always alone and may like some company. Adam refuses at first, but later their relationship blossoms. At the same time, while writing about his parents, he goes back to his childhood home, where he finds his parents in an almost ghost like manner, as they’re still the age they were when they died. Adam, now older than them, has the chance to have conversations he never got to have with them.

Is any of this real, or is it all in his head? That’s not important. What’s important is that it’s absolutely devistating.

Every single image in this movie is perfectly planned by director Andrew Haigh and team. Each shot feels like a tapestry. The angle of each shot and the relative position of the characters shows an important perspective or relationship. The characters blend with the scenery, and the use of light, particularly with these spiritual characters is phenomenal, with these moments offset by far darker backgrounds in Adam’s apartment. This movie is just fantastic to look at. Hang it in a gallery.

The actors are all just fantastic as well. Andrew Scott acts with his eyes beautifully. His face shows every emotion under the sun, as we see a hardened person broken back down to their childlike state as they face their vulnerabilities. Paul Mescal is as brooding as ever, playing off against Andrew Scott well. Jamie Bell as the dad is all grown up from his Billy Elliot days, playing a tough man who regrets not being tender. Claire Foy also steals the show as the mother. Her bond with the lead character is clearly there, but time has stretched it.

Meanwhile, the writing is so tight. There is a lot of show don’t tell, which really works in this almost trance like state. However, each conversation feels real and tender. Scott’s conversations where he comes out to his mum, but they’re from two different eras, and his reconciliations with both of his parents are brilliant, while the last 20 minutes are just poetry. The needle drops of the movie are incredible as well. There are wonderfully tender moments with Pet Shop Boys and Frankie Goes to Hollywood which use these songs so beautifully.

The whole film wraps itself up beautifully. There is a point where you wonder what is the point of the parents being here. Is it to help Adam heal? Well, yes, but the narrative unwraps to show so much more. It also looks at how Adam can grow and help those around him, coming to terms with his losses as well as helping them come to terms with theirs. It’s a coming of age story for someone who would commonly be considered too old for such a film. But those considerers are wrong. This movie is fantastic.

Close this tab and find a screening instead. Bye