This Russian tale of a couple on the brink of divorce whose child disappears is certainly very well done in a technical sense. It's deliberately designed to be grim and moody and difficult. My problem with it was that was also, for long stretches, not particularly engaging.
The two parents are the type of people who should never have come together, or had a child, or, indeed, should ever be involved in anybody else. They are entirely selfish creatures (as we see when they're with their new alternative partners) and in all honesty their kid is well rid of them. The only characters who seem at all engaging to me are the various search party members who are altruistically attempting to help a child. And I found it difficult to be drawn into this level of misery when there's nothing even remotely redeeming or interesting about anybody.
This has got critical acclaim elsewhere, and I'm sure if you're in the mood for a slather of misery, this will tick your buttons. But it didn't do it for me at all.
Monday, 14 May 2018
Avengers Infinity War
This is the big blockbuster it's all been leading to. OR at least, mostly been leading to. After 18 Marvel movies over 10 years, here's where everybody comes together to fight the teased-for-six-years intergalactic villain Thanos. Can all this possibly pay off as anything other than a collosal clusterfuck?
Well, yes, it can. Marvel has a base level of skill that ensures that even their worst film still gives a reasonably entertaining time, even if in retrospect sometimes the villains kinda suck and some of the character motivations don't entirely make sense. And this has characters combining in unexpected (and also expected) ways that make this a two-and-a-half epic that rarely feels ridiculously drawn out. Most of our regular heroes are pretty well served (the weakest served is probably Captain America, who just doesn't get anything personally particularly interesting to do beyond do a lot of fighting), and even the big bad Thanos who, coming into this, felt like a cypher, gains gravity, motivation and dimension to him.
I pointed out to someone the title is appropriate as this is a film that doesn't really begin (it's very dependant on at least 16 of those eighteen films to provide character background) and it doesn't really end either (there is a cliffhanger, and it does suffer slightly from comic-book-itis in that it becomes incredibly obvious that the cliffhanging event is going to have to be reversed within the next movie) - but it's a great movie to hang-out with favourite characters (and even a coupla new ones) in a big scale adventure. This serves most of the big comic-book-movie-buttons and serves its audience nicely. I have to kinda withhold some level of judgement as much of my impression of this will be shifted by how they do or don't resolve this next year, but for now ... yeah, as long as I can withold judgement about "the bigger picture", this is pretty darn good.
Well, yes, it can. Marvel has a base level of skill that ensures that even their worst film still gives a reasonably entertaining time, even if in retrospect sometimes the villains kinda suck and some of the character motivations don't entirely make sense. And this has characters combining in unexpected (and also expected) ways that make this a two-and-a-half epic that rarely feels ridiculously drawn out. Most of our regular heroes are pretty well served (the weakest served is probably Captain America, who just doesn't get anything personally particularly interesting to do beyond do a lot of fighting), and even the big bad Thanos who, coming into this, felt like a cypher, gains gravity, motivation and dimension to him.
I pointed out to someone the title is appropriate as this is a film that doesn't really begin (it's very dependant on at least 16 of those eighteen films to provide character background) and it doesn't really end either (there is a cliffhanger, and it does suffer slightly from comic-book-itis in that it becomes incredibly obvious that the cliffhanging event is going to have to be reversed within the next movie) - but it's a great movie to hang-out with favourite characters (and even a coupla new ones) in a big scale adventure. This serves most of the big comic-book-movie-buttons and serves its audience nicely. I have to kinda withhold some level of judgement as much of my impression of this will be shifted by how they do or don't resolve this next year, but for now ... yeah, as long as I can withold judgement about "the bigger picture", this is pretty darn good.
Isle of Dogs
Wes Anderson seems to be considered a divisive figure. Certainly, I can understand his high level of stylisation can be a turnoff to some, and he's arguably mostly written from a fairly middle-upper class Jewish perspective. And taking this to a near-futuristic story set largely in Japan with a cast mostly consisting of dogs is ... different yet familiar - particularly when a large chunk of his familiar supporting cast are back in voice over roles.
I do find there's heart and a bit of grittiness that breaks through the preciousness, though, in all of Anderson's work. And key to the grittiness here is probably Bryan Cranston's Chief, the dog with the least time for humans, the one whose involvement has to be hardest won. There's a rough exterior that is pasted over some very deep inner hurt, and it's his journey we're taking more than anybody else's. Stop-motion animation gives Anderson the precise control that his live-action films so often display accelerated to a highly detailed degree.
There has been criticism that Anderson is indulging in cultural appropriation ... but I must admit I like to see filmmakers tell stories on an international basis, and I don't like the idea that there should be artistic firewalls where they can't use other cultures. There's a large JApanese voice cast, and one of the four writers is a Japanese writer and designer (Kunichi Nomura). I don't find it particularly insulting to the Japanese culture. And I did love this film with its mix of pure Wes Anderson and a Japanese futurism. I hope others do as well.
I do find there's heart and a bit of grittiness that breaks through the preciousness, though, in all of Anderson's work. And key to the grittiness here is probably Bryan Cranston's Chief, the dog with the least time for humans, the one whose involvement has to be hardest won. There's a rough exterior that is pasted over some very deep inner hurt, and it's his journey we're taking more than anybody else's. Stop-motion animation gives Anderson the precise control that his live-action films so often display accelerated to a highly detailed degree.
There has been criticism that Anderson is indulging in cultural appropriation ... but I must admit I like to see filmmakers tell stories on an international basis, and I don't like the idea that there should be artistic firewalls where they can't use other cultures. There's a large JApanese voice cast, and one of the four writers is a Japanese writer and designer (Kunichi Nomura). I don't find it particularly insulting to the Japanese culture. And I did love this film with its mix of pure Wes Anderson and a Japanese futurism. I hope others do as well.
Monday, 30 April 2018
The Party
It's a fairly well established device. Gather some friends who have known each other for years, all with a couple of secrets. Let them settle in among each other. And then have one of them drop a bombshell, and see what results.
Sally Potter's film benefits hugely from a top-of-their game cast - her script is reasonable but perhaps a little familiar, and some of the jokes feel a little over-written and probably wouldn't survive less expert handling. But with performers like Patricia Clarkson, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Bruno Ganz, Cillian Murphy, Emily Mortimer, Cherry Jones and Timothy Spall, this remains pretty damn gripping. The black-and-white photography gives this a speical kind of beauty, even as the people in the film are behaving worse and worse towards each other and the disasters are piling up. And I don't know that this really is anything more than an amusing diversion for those of an educated bent. But it does its job, it's short, tight and amusing.
Sally Potter's film benefits hugely from a top-of-their game cast - her script is reasonable but perhaps a little familiar, and some of the jokes feel a little over-written and probably wouldn't survive less expert handling. But with performers like Patricia Clarkson, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Bruno Ganz, Cillian Murphy, Emily Mortimer, Cherry Jones and Timothy Spall, this remains pretty damn gripping. The black-and-white photography gives this a speical kind of beauty, even as the people in the film are behaving worse and worse towards each other and the disasters are piling up. And I don't know that this really is anything more than an amusing diversion for those of an educated bent. But it does its job, it's short, tight and amusing.
Saturday, 28 April 2018
Early Man
I'm an admirer of the Aardman team - whether it be their various Wallace and Gromit shorts, music videos like "Sledgehammer" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me" or their features like "Chicken Run", "Curse of the Wererabbit", "Pirates: Band of Misfits" or "The Sean the Sheep Movie". But this one's a bit of a dud. The setup of pitting prehistoric man against the bronze age could possibly pay off, but making their field of battle a soccer match and running a series of gags very specifically about soccer gave me little to hang onto. It doesn't help that few of the characters are particularly fleshed out - possibly comic sidekick boar Hognob (voiced by Nick Park) gets the best of it, but everybody else is rather thin. This is particularly disappointing for Maisie Williams, an actress I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of, but who's given pretty much nothing at all to play.
Look, there are one or two decent sight gags here and there, and there is some affection for the Aardman style of big-teethed claymation. But this is pretty flat stuff.
Look, there are one or two decent sight gags here and there, and there is some affection for the Aardman style of big-teethed claymation. But this is pretty flat stuff.
Rampage
Look, I like big smashy stupid fun as much as the next guy (have a look at my reviews of Kong Skull Island or Shin Godzilla). But the important part of that term is "fun", and this .. just isn't. It's a monotonously rote story as an evil corporation whose evil secret formula creates three huge monsters (a gorilla, a wolf and an aligator) who all gather to destroy downtown Chicago, and only the primatologist who used to look after the gorilla when he was merely a regular sized gorilla can possibly stop it, largely because he's played by Dwayne Johnston.
While Johnston is a charming guy, it tends to play here as more overly cocky ego than anything else (there's really no reason why he should be dashing around in the final battle beyond that he's billed over the title of the movie). Of the rest of the humans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets a few decent moment of shiftyness as the government liason, and nobody really embarasses themselves, but nobody really gets a particularly glorious moment either. The fighting is largely pretty rote, perhaps a bit bloodier and less-regarding of casualties than most, but that more plays as if the fights have been chucked at the CGI team without any co-ordinating ideas beyond "let 'em fight".
This is "nobody's trying very hard" cinema, and it's all rather pointless.
While Johnston is a charming guy, it tends to play here as more overly cocky ego than anything else (there's really no reason why he should be dashing around in the final battle beyond that he's billed over the title of the movie). Of the rest of the humans, Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets a few decent moment of shiftyness as the government liason, and nobody really embarasses themselves, but nobody really gets a particularly glorious moment either. The fighting is largely pretty rote, perhaps a bit bloodier and less-regarding of casualties than most, but that more plays as if the fights have been chucked at the CGI team without any co-ordinating ideas beyond "let 'em fight".
This is "nobody's trying very hard" cinema, and it's all rather pointless.
Friday, 27 April 2018
A Quiet Place
In some ways, this film is a minor miracle. It's a film that gets an entire audience, in this modern era when everybody seems to treat a cinema like a loungeroom and mutters to their neighbour, texts away or generally respects none of the rules of civilised cinemagoers - and makes them be completely silent. It's a simple premise - the world is threatened by monsters who track people by sound, and only by being as quiet as possible can one family survive - but it's executed expertly and tensely.
There are certainly things that will make you think "hey, what about..." after the film is done - but this is a machine for producing fear in the cinema, not one for logical deconstruction afterwards. John Krazinski both stars and directs, with his directing showing surprising skill, and his chemistry with his on-and-off-screen-wife is instantly palpable (in a way a lot of real life couples have struggled to maintain). Millicent Simmonds, the American-Sign-Language speaking actress who plays their deaf daughter is strongly convincing, as is Noah Jupe as their son.
There's very little to say except that this is an excellent example of cinema of terror and should be watched preferably with a full cinema of people holding their breaths for about 90 odd minutes.
There are certainly things that will make you think "hey, what about..." after the film is done - but this is a machine for producing fear in the cinema, not one for logical deconstruction afterwards. John Krazinski both stars and directs, with his directing showing surprising skill, and his chemistry with his on-and-off-screen-wife is instantly palpable (in a way a lot of real life couples have struggled to maintain). Millicent Simmonds, the American-Sign-Language speaking actress who plays their deaf daughter is strongly convincing, as is Noah Jupe as their son.
There's very little to say except that this is an excellent example of cinema of terror and should be watched preferably with a full cinema of people holding their breaths for about 90 odd minutes.
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