But on a more serious note, is there a more standard genre of film than a legal drama? I mean, they’re all just very okay. Put in some story of significance, bring in a couple of good actors and a funny moment, and you’ll be fine in the box office. Add in a couple of dodgy legal moments and a character you allegedly care for, that’s a template movie sorted. That’s the main problem I had with Chicago 7, I just felt like I’d seen it before.
I don’t usually discuss my opinions on Netflix films I haven’t seen in the cinema unless there is a lot I want to say about them or I’m bored on a train journey. Both are true today, so let’s talk about Charlie Kaufman’s film.
We start off this 134 minute film with a car journey as our two protagonists the woman and man are just talking. The woman is monologuing in her mind about how she wants to end the relationship and it’s a little bit creepy as the man almost seems to hear her thoughts. Does he have the shinning (Not the shining, we don’t want to get sued)? Anyway they then go through this long 20 minute conversation about some pretentious shit which is as entertaining as your usual Kenny Jackett brand of football. These characters are pretentious, which means pretentious film snobs might like them because “Oh they’re like me”, but frankly to the rest of the world they’re kind of… you know…
With an opening shot of our protagonist hanging out in a group of 6, with the Gherkin and the city in the background, we get an immediate look into the stark differences that London can offer. It can offer wealth and fortune for some, but poverty and hardship for others, such as many young people in East London. But what it does offer those without much is a real sense of community. It’s that community which makes Rocks such an endearing watch.
It’s thematically similar to the 2012 Tom Hooper musical, but shorter and has no Russel Crowe singing. Therefore, it is fully deserving of its perfect grade: [Grade: A+]
I like the idea that someone who hasn’t read my blog and assumes I summarise my thoughts at the beginning will think “What a waste of time” and click off the website and never read it again as it clearly has no substance. While that may be true, I like to think I’m not that bad and for believing this blog hasn’t totally gone to pot, I reward(?) you with a proper review of the 2019 version of Les Miserables, now out in cinemas, a film which was nominated for best international film at the Oscars.
Named after, and thematically similar to the Victor Hugo book/Tom Hooper musical with Hugh Jackman et al, the plot of Ladj Ly’s debut film is somewhat different to it. Inspired by the Paris riots. the film takes place just after France won the world cup (Why didn’t Kane square it to Sterling?), we are introduced to three policeman, team head Chris, Gwada and the new recruit Greaser. The first half of the film sees a tour of one of Paris’ poor predominantly black neighbourhoods, meeting all of the key characters and seeing increasingly suspect policing methods from Chris and a lion cub going missing. We get a feeling on increased tension, all leading to an arrest going wrong and the resulting fall out of it when the police realise a boy with a drone has been filming.
In a week’s time I will be 24. As a twenty four year old, what have I achieved? What special talents to I have? Why am I having such a terribly existential crisis? Well, that’s because this week’s film Away was written, animated, cinematographed and had a score composed for it by one man, Gints Zibalodis who was 25 when he released Away, a film which has been released across UK Cinemas this week.
Away is a rather unique animated film. Much like The Red Turtle, there is no dialogue at all. The film starts with a boy stuck in a parachute in a tree. We have no context of how he got there. Quickly he is found by this translucent king-kong esque mysterious figure. Sensing the danger, boy runs away and finds himself in a cave where he befriends a small yellow bird who cant fly. Together they will attempt to survive on this island and find civilisation, while the creature ominously follows the boy slowly.
Despite the creeping spectre of death, the film feels really calm. It goes at a slow pace and the moments of mild threat are intermittent compared to the moments of vivid beauty the film offers. The art style is tonally different to other films on the market, playing more like an independent video game. There are few details, which makes the most wonderful moments stand out even more. The limited details almost allow for extra grandeur. The different polygonal shades give a real sense of light and a vivid spectrum of colour.
The lack of expression on the characters faces mean you only gain context and emotion from action and body language. It’s the epitome of look don’t say film making and it works well. You know how to feel and you do feel that way. This is only helped by a fantastically mysterious soundtrack, again produced by Mr Zibalodis, creating an atmospheric world to explore.
Summary
A film for an acquired taste, but if you let Away take you on a journey, you will be transported on a wonderful meditative journey. One of the most unique, stylistic films of the year, it’s well worth a watch. [Grade: B+]
I was talking to some super fans of South West London’s eighteenth best film blog.They said they only really read the beginning and maybe the end, skipping the middle, which in my opinion is actually the only part of the blog with substance. Then I got thinking… What if I started the blog with the middle, then the end, then go back to the beginning, then the end again and then the middle, ending with the beginning. No, that would be convoluted and difficult.
Tenet is a film which starts in the middle, then the end, then goes back to the beginning, then the end again and then the middle, ending with the beginning*. Described very loosely as Inception with time by some people I think it’s an oversimplification, however it catches the style of the film pretty well. The film sees John David Washington’s protagonist sacrifice himself in an epic opening scene, before he survives and is picked up by a mysterious organisation who tell him to use the word “Tenet” sometimes. I mean, he only used it once, so it was hardly important, however it was a palindrome and a convenient mysterious title. Anyway, he must investigate bullets which are inverted, i.e. they travel from the wall they were shot at back into the gun when it’s fired. Soon this escalates and he and Robert Patterson go to save the world with the power of some form of time travel.
Yes, I have seen the film you’re interested in knowing about. I have a train journey on Tuesday so will probably write about it then.
So having only planned one film trip on holiday, mum then said that she had seen the advert for Pinocchio and would like to go. As she’d come to Babyteeth the day before, it only seemed appropriate that I go to her preferred film of choice. This time Emma also joined us meaning a diverse group of opinions could come together, or not.
As you probably know, Pinocchio is a story about a craftsman, Geppetto who wants to create the most wonderful puppet in the world. Once he does, Pinocchio magically comes to life. However, he is soon taken away and wants two things, to find his way back home and to become a real boy.
The cinema release is a dubbed version (english voice actors talking over) of the Italian film. While it took me a while to realise, some character lines were off, and the occasional use of words such as Babo (Father) meant I was wishing the whole film would be in Italian for greater authenticity.
Tonally we see much more variance from the old disney film you know and are indifferent to. Out go the songs and primary colours. In come the darker colour scheme and mild threat. The jolly jingles are replaced by a much grander soundtrack as we see a story more in line with the source material. The film takes some rather dramatic turns, a highlight being the attempted hanging of Pinocchio in order to get gold out of his mouth. It was quite something to see in a kids film.
One of the most spectacular parts of the film was the lack of CGI. Mark Coulier’s (The one who made Freddie’s BoRhap teeth) make up and prosthetics were absolutely fantastic. Each character looked fantastic and really melded in with the aesthetic. The wooden puppets especially were brilliantly unnerving.
The heart and the soul of the film come from Roberto Benigni. The opening 30 minutes with him in were the most smile inducing and once the focus shifted more to Pinocchio exclusively, we lost that warm feeling. While the main villains the cat and the fox provided some level of humour, on an emotional level the film was not quite there.
The pacing was also slightly off. The film came in at 125 minutes, when in reality it didn’t need to be longer than 90 minutes. The trials that Pinocchio overcame never really seemed to develop him, instead leaving the plot feeling much more stagnant.
Summary
A tonally interesting and refreshing take on the story, Pinocchio was definitely a stylistic film. However, much like puppet at times it felt rather wooden and was missing a heart. [Grade: C+]
This week, I’m away on holiday which means many things, firstly it means a couple of weeks without a “What I Watched This Week” post. Secondly, it means I’ll watch less movies as the social obligations kick in. Thirdly, it means when I do go to the cinema, it likely won’t be alone (A common idea for most people, but for some reason, nobody ever wants to go and watch an Indonesian art house drama). This film’s special guest was my mother.
When you go to the cinema with your parents, and the BBFC black card comes up, the awkward fears come true. In amongst the title card description listing the reasons for age rating is that three letter word which you’ve been dreading. The word that if you know it’s coming up in a film at home, you go to the toilet/make a drink. However, in a cinema you can’t leave and just have to sit there awkwardly. However, that’s all in the first ten minutes. Then for the rest of the 2 hours, you can enjoy the film and just feel relieved you’re watching a movie about a girl with terminal cancer instead.
Mediocre films. They are the ones I least enjoy writing about. I don’t love or hate them. I’ll probably never recommend or watch them again. I don’t hate them, but have no affinity towards them. Last week, a good number of the films I discussed were rather mediocre, as you may have been able to tell. However, this week knocked it out of the park. Each one a fresh modern film or a classic and I had something to say.
The first of these is Jurassic Park (1993) which I went to see on Friday night in Odeon, Kingston. I’m not going to rate it because my movie going experience was tainted. So about halfway through this film, as everything was going wrong, I smelt some smoke. Anyway, you think oh shit, I hope this isn’t about to go Cinema Paradiso on us. So, I find the manager and in the least Karen-esque way, I inform him of the smoke. Upon returning to the screening room my face drops as I realise the smell of tobacco. Once I’ve resumed my seat, the lights go up and the film is paused. The manager comes in and realises that somebody has smoked. He gives his lecture about how the tyrants at Odeon shall not stand for this and goes to check everyone and all of the vents to make sure there isn’t a fire hazard. At this point, someone in their finest Nike tracksuit has gone to the toilet, so when their seat is checked, the manager asks his “sister” (I assumed they were partners, wouldn’t be suprised if they were both to be honest), why there was a lighter there. “Oh it’s my brother’s, but it wouldn’t have been him, he doesn’t smoke”. So why does he have a lighter? Thankfully for her, the manager wasn’t a young Mr. Holmes because that truly was the dodgiest excuse since the tourists who went to see Salisbury Cathedral’s world-famous 123m tall spire. To his credit, the manager said that if anyone wanted a refund, they could leave now and get one, or watch the rest of the film. I chose to sit it out, already half way through. However, this probably was the wrong decision. I was out of the zone and so was everyone else in the room. There was light chattering throughout and nobody was really focused. Can’t blame them to be honest, especially as most had kids. I mean, seriously, what absolute tosspot would smoke in an effing KIDS MOVIE. Totally ruined the film and the evening.
Anyway, the movie, you know it. Jurassic Park sees an entrepreneur, buy an island, extract dinosaur blood and make the dinosaurs come back to life despite danger. A couple who are invested in dinosaurs (Sam Neill and Laura Dern), a Jeff Goldblum scientist and the entrepreneur’s grand kids explore the park. However, as Newman from Seinfield (Newman) is paid to steal some dino DNA, he shuts down the systems allowing the dinosaurs to escape, thus reigning havoc and putting everyone in danger.
The score and landscapes were all great. The script was a fun level of cheesy and iconic. There was a lot of fun to be had and the dinosaurs were good for the time. However, now they seem a bit outdated. Some of the child acting left a lot to be desired. If they’d killed off little Timmy, this film would’ve gotten five stars.
I just couldn’t quite get into this film, which I think is mainly due to the experience I had, therefore I will pass judgement until I’ve seen it again. If I wanted to watch it again, I could watch it on both Netflix and Prime.
Boys State (2020) is the big new Apple TV documentary they’ve done along side A24. It focuses on a week long residential camp where young Texans (like Americans but more American) are split into two parties and need to win an election, getting other camp members to change their loyalties.
The whole film is put together really well. It focuses on four main characters, each with their own unique back story and attitude towards politics. It has an exciting underdog story which you hope will win the day. It’s also smart, appearing to parallel with what’s going on in American politics at this moment anyway. The biggest criticism I had with it was that it didn’t look at the emotional impact this intense situation had on its characters quite enough. One character had disappointingly little screen time for what a big part they were, making the thing seem a bit manipulative.
However, on the whole I thought the whole thing was smart, well paced and intense. It’s a documentary worth watching as you will certainly take something away from it. It’s a 4 star film, which is available on Apple TV. You can read my full review here.
2019 was a brilliant year for Shia LaBeouf. As well as starring in Peanut Butter Falcon, he wrote and starred in Honey Boy (2019). A somewhat autobiographical film by him, the film focuses on Otis (older, Lucas Hedges), a stunt double in therapy. In this place, he relives his traumatic childhood. He lived in a motel with his abusive father (played by Shia) as a child actor. His father was a junkie ex-convict who drived him to auditions and rehearsals, but was also manipulative and abusive.
The scenes with younger Otis were incredibly intense. The dialogue and acting was brilliant. I’ve not been overly keen on Noah Jupe in Ford vs Ferrari or the quiet place, but he was absolutely incredible here. Him and Shia had incredible chemistry and you could hear a pin drop in the silence. The cinematography was great as well. The use of light was creative. The dark moments felt so and the magical moments also did.
The Lucas Hedges scenes weren’t as great. They weren’t bad, but they just weren’t as engaging. They may have been better only used at the beginning or the end, but not spliced in as they took away from the momentum. However, the film was still really well made by female director Alma Har’el.
An intense psychological thriller, Honey Boy was a brilliant film tragically overlooked by the Oscars. It wasn’t self-indulgent at all, feeling genuine and made with passion. It’s 4.5 stars good and a good number of weeks would be film of the week. It’s available on Prime.
When it comes to Tarantino, I never rush in. I really liked Pulp Fiction, but wasn’t huge on Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. However, this week I went to see his debut film Reservoir Dogs (1992) in the cinema, and I think it may just be my favourite film of his yet.
The film starts with a group of men having breakfast and talking. There we briefly establish the characters. It was arguably my least favourite scene of the film, mainly because I’m not a fan of Tarantino acting. He wasn’t great in Pulp Fiction, nor was he here. However, he quickly dies. The next scene see’s the characters in a warehouse. One has been shot after their jewel store heist goes wrong. Most of the film takes place in here and is talking as they all try to work out how it went wrong and whether one of the characters is a mole. Each one shows what type of character they are, whether a psychopath, an expert, a long time player or someone who is totally clueless.
The dialogue is intriguing. It’s quick moving and intense. It works brilliantly with the movie. Each line is focused and not a minute of the 100 run time feels wasted. The way we loop back to earlier in the story is fresh and it works so well. The twists and reveals are done really well, each well timed and adding a lot to the story. The stances of the actors and camera shots are some of the most iconic cinema has to offer and the film flows really well. I’m glad I didn’t know how the film would end as it really allowed for me to enjoy it as if it was a new release, despite it having being parodied to death.
The film is unashamedly controversial and violent. However, the camera turns away at the right time to make the violence not unenjoyable. It feels like a stage play, but that’s no bad thing.
Made for a budget of around $2million, this film is a masterclass in independent film making. Tarantino works on ideas and most pay off in a fresh and focused way. I really enjoyed this film and consider it worth watching. It’s 5 stars and is available on Netflix.
But if this 5 star film isn’t film of the week, then something really special must be?
Film Of The Week
Correct Timmy. The first of my cinema trips this week took me to one of the all time greats, one I’d never seen before as I was waiting to watch it on a big screen. This week’s film of the week is Shawshank Redemption (1994).
Banker Andy Dufrense (Tim Robbins) has just been given a life sentence for murdering his wife, a crime he denies. He is sent to Shawshank Prison, an unforgiving corrupt place where he meets and befriends Red (Morgan Freeman), who also narrates the film. It doesn’t seem like some heist or big emotional drama where he tries to clear his name, it’s just a film about him living in prison. He needs to keep away from those who are dangerous and find ways to fill his time. Soon he starts doing the accounts for the prison and helps the warden commit fraud. It’s not a great sell, but it really is a fantastic piece of film.
Each character is fleshed out and you invest in them. They’re not great people, clearly, but they are rooted and human. There is a big theme of freedom and whether these men want it. In the penitentiary system, they’re used to routine and rules and are not ready for the outside world. Each thread of the story is beautifully put together and pays off in brilliant harmony. Some were predictable, because of the parodies out there, but some small details I payed no attention to came back to full effect. It’s like a puzzle box, each time you unlock it there is another layer there ready to reward you. We see a gradual change in Andy as the film is set over decades. The transition between years is smooth and kept in the dialogue. Sure it seems a bit forced maybe, but that’s better than time cards.
There are scenes which transcend the film. The moment where classical music plays out over the prison and the scene near the end which I won’t spoil are both utterly captivating. That is cinema history playing out before your eyes.
One of the best written stories ever, this film keeps you hooked, amps it up at the write time and rewards you for every small detail you’ve watched. It deserves it’s reputation as one of the all time best. A comfortable five star film which is available to buy on most digital platforms and probably pretty cheap second hand.
In a world where it feels like teenage boys are running things, with silly taglines and boisterous behaviour, Boys State gives us a chance to see whether that metaphor is true as we watch what happens when 16 and 17 year olds attempt to run districts and win elections in this relevant documentary.
Run by a legion of veterans, Boys State is a week long residential camp where two make belief parties, the nationalists and federalists elect chairs and decide policies. Set in Austin, Texas, a famously conservative state, the ultimate goal of the parties is to encourage other party members to swap sides and vote for their governor.
The Film Ramble 