Glass

M. Night Shaymalan is a divisive figure – his early successes were basically pulp subjects played seriously (sometimes overly so), and … well, he’s still delivering pulp, it’s just that the seriousness seems to have been turned down a tad. This one is a crossover of two of his previous films in what might be called “Unbreakable versus Split”, as the reluctant hero David Dunn (Bruce Willis) from the first fights the villainously multipersonalitied James McAvoy from the second. It’s very definitely a low-mid range budget of the story, and both get captured for treatment in a mental hospital run by Sarah Paulson which examines people who believe they have superhuman powers, spending much of the middle of the film either in conversation with one another or with Paulson, or with the third part of the triangle, Samuel L. Jackson’s brittle-boned genius. But of course there are plans within plans and circles within circles, and a couple of surprises will show up before the end…

Not all of these surprises are going to go down well with everybody – there’s a very definite attempt to tease what the big-budget superhero version of the third act could be before the film instead settles on something far more affordable, and this isn’t necessarily going a place everybody wants to go. And yes, Shaymalan’s not always the one to let a point land subtly when he can hit it heavily with a sledgehammer. But for all that, he tells an interesting tale and, while the film deliberately keeps Samuel L. Jackson muted and low-key for much of the length, when he emerges with full power it’s something to behold. Perhaps it’s also a little in love with McAvoy’s multiple-personality acting (there’s a couple of scenes in the middle which basically exist just to showcase him rather than to progress the plot), but I found this an enjoyable dark-edged pulpy story.

Mary Queen of Scots

While this has all the historical pageantry and glorious costumes that one comes to expect of an historical epic, in the end this becomes kinda shallow. It could be retitled “The Adventures of Mary, the very polite lovely girl who never had any intentions of murdering any protestants, particularly not her lovely cousin Elizabeth” – Mary never comes across as anything more complicated than a impudent girl who keeps on having bad things happen to her, rather than someone actively engaged in the game of power just as much as anybody else. There’s a few messy accents (Saorise Ronan’s natural irish comes through here and there, as does Margot Robbie’s Queenslander, while David Tennant seizes the chance to go full Scottish and takes it to Tim-The-Enchanter-From-Holy Grail levels), some varied ethnic casting mostly in the minor roles (Gemma Chan and Adrian Lester really deserve a whole lot better than what they’re given here – if you’re going to do it, commit to it and give them meaty roles, dammit). Josie Rourke’s direction and Beau Willamon’s script really never get to grips with why Mary’s story continues to have interest, beyond the familiar choice to bring the two women (who never set eyes on each other) face to face. Instead this is clunky history told dully.

The kid who would be King

Writer-Director Joe Cornish’s long awaited return to cinemas after his spectacular debut “Attack the Block” is a film that’s at once a familiar child-centric version of Arthurian legend and a film that’s very aware it takes place in 2019. There’s a simple heart to this as our young hero, Alex, pursues his goals (including a couple of surprise twists), accompanied by both mortal friends (best friend Bedders and school bullies-turned-allies Lance and Kay) and the immortal magician Merlin (who’s carefully doled out both as an exposition device and as a deus ex-machina – he’s not allowed to overwhelm the leads). This does have a very British sensibility (even down to the villainous’ Morgana’s threat being specifically to enslave Britain, not the world) and there’s a surprisingly mordant sense of the general awfulness of the political landscape at the moment, but in general it keeps things fast and fresh and clever. Perhaps it’s a bit more middle-class than “Attack the Block” was, and a little more family friendly, but it’s a fast fun functional family adventure.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

The “How to Train Your Dragon” movies are probably my favourite Dreamworks animated franchise – they feel reasonably committed to making a realistic fantasy world that isn’t thrown overboard for a cheap topical gag, their lead characters aren’t “celebrity voice first, characterisation later”, and they know exactly how to use the lead dragon, the adorably kitten-ish Toothless. The sequels have largely expanded without feeling overly bloated, and this one both continues the tale and brings it to a satisfying end, as the dragon-enhanced village of Berk finds itself besieged by dragon hunters and goes in search of a refuge where dragons can live undisturbed. There’s also an emphasis, perhaps, on fairly traditional “growing up” markers – Hiccup and Astrid’s relationship is directed towards romance and marriage, while Toothless meets his own romantic interest. The titular “Hidden World” perhaps only gets a brief moment to shine visually, and isn’t overly dwelt on (it’s also the biggest case of “fantasy geography” in the entire series), and the story perhaps struggles a little with servicing all of a large supporting cast (a couple of characters do feel a little short-changed), and the ending gets perhaps a little metaphorically messy in an attempt to provide a satisfactory finale. But it's a nice farewell from the series that appears to be going out nicely on its own terms rather than feeling particularly dragged out.

Loro

This look at Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy on the political and cultural landscape of Italy chooses some distinctly odd angles. For one thing, it isn’t a complete life story, concentrating instead on the late 2000s, during which period Berlusconi fell into opposition then reclaimed rulership of Italy, and for another, Berlusconi only enters the film a bit over half an hour into the action. We start with an outsider who tries to gain influence through hosting parties full of attractive under-dressed women and free-flowing MDMA, in a villa near Berlusconi’s place. And while, once Berlusconi enters the story he never really leaves again, there’s not a firm sense of plotline tying things together – director Paulo Sarrentino is more interested in long sequences of debauchery and aimless indulgence in the upper classes rather than any particularly directed political intrigue. And it’s true that, as debaucherous montages go, he can certainly shoot beautiful ones. But there’s just not enough material here to justify the extreme running time (nearly two and a half hours) and for someone who isn’t deeply involved in Italian politics, it’s not particularly illuminating about what went on and why Berlusconi was a uniquely Italian phenomenon – how he got away with being so blatantly corrupt for so long. There’s a certain seductive glamour in the early stages but the longer it goes the emptier it feels, which…. I suppose is partially the point, but never the less it doesn’t wind up being a particularly satisfying narrative.

Aquaman

The DC Universe films have been mostly disappointing, occasionally rising to adequacy (or even, with “Wonder Woman”, quite reasonable), but mostly sitting firmly in the lesser end of the franchise inevitables. However, this eccentric piece that probably wouldn’t have gotten off the ground if it wasn’t for the fact DC wanted to prove they could keep making movies after “Justice League” plopped out onto the table with a “why are we making it again” air has a couple of goofy pleasures in it. Jason Momoa as the lead is part of it – I couldn’t with good conscience call him a good actor, but he’s a nice presence (like Arnold Schwarzanegger or The Rock), a good hearted musclebound doofus who, if he never seems particularly committed to anything like a dramatic character arc, still manages to make the brutish lead more or less likeable. The other major star is some truly insane production design choices (this is a film where an octopus playing war drums is merely the starting point of some of the nuttier choices).

The plot is a bit clunky, particularly in the early-going (all that guff about destiny and kingdoms which nobody particularly gives a flying monkeys about) but once Momoa and Amber Heard as his redheaded sea-princess-companion are off traipsing around the world in search of a mystical thingamabob, they turn out to have decent chemistry and play off each other with fun. And there’s a nice mix of locations and places and creatures including some definitely scary monsters here and there (plus one giant seacreature voiced by Julie Andrews because … well, why not). And the final battle, against the odds, turns out to not just be another case of CGI vs CGI while the leads bellow the themes of the movie at one another, but instead proves to be a bunch of “and also, THIS!” as we get a giant army of increasingly ridiculous sea creatures in battle. And yes, it’s all very loud and bombastic but somehow, possibly due to the fact that Momoa is just plain pretty likable, it never feels too self important, and instead feels like a nicely pleasant diversion. Yes, it’s probably a tad overlong, but it’s a December-January release and people go to movies for Airconditioning, and this provides a good excuse for the aircon.

EIGHTH GRADE

This directorial debut from comedian-poet-songwriter Bo Burnham looks at a girl in her last year of eighth grade, just before she graduates from middle school to high school. She’s highly active  on social media, posting regular youtube tutorials and trying to prepare just the right Instagram face to start the day, but her real life sees her trying to ignore her over-enthusiastic dad and failing to really fit in with any of the other kids around her. A combination of meeting a high-school mentor and an invite to one of her fellow student’s pool party sees her making a few new contacts, but is she really ready for what the rest of the world has in store for her?

A sharp intimate study of a young woman going through the landmines of what modern social media interactions have in store, this is an astonishing debut – performances are throughout natural and superb from a mostly unknown cast (lead Elise Fisher is best known for voicing Agnes, the youngest and cutest orphan in the Despicable Me films, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her face before), and there’s a sure shooting style that combines naturalistic presentation with sophisticated montages and  sudden music-drops immediately communicating what’s going on in Kayla’s head and how out of her depth she feels. Teenage-angst is not exactly an unpopular topic in modern film, but in general there tends to be a sense that the kids are playing out a much older creator’s memories of what the angst was like, compete with references to things that were popular when the writer was a teenager – but this feels very much drawn right from the point of view of a contemporary kid. It’s not a tract against social media so much as it is a clear-eyed look at the new challenges it brings to the new generation, and provides exceptional viewing.