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Reviews
The Wolfman (2010)
Johnston's under appreciated visual feast can't make up for superficial storytelling
This remake of the classic Universal horror starring Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolf Man (1941) owes more to the gothic horrors of Hammer Studios and the graphic violence of An American Werewolf in London in style than it does to it's predecessor.
This version is handsomely produced, well designed, nicely shot and competently directed by Joe Johnston who meticulously recreates the 19th century with plenty of atmosphere set in eerie stately homes as he tells the story of Lawrence Talbot who discovers a terrifying family secret when he returns from America to his Father's estate in England and gets forever cursed after getting bitten by a werewolf.
Benicio del Toro does an ok job in the lead but it's the supporting cast of Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Art Malik, Geraldine Chaplin and a number of familiar British character actors that gives it the period authenticity and sinister overtone, however it does tend to drag in places and is not as engaging as the original.
I wanted to empathise more with del Toro's character but the script is somewhat lacking and we don't care as much for his plight as we should so it all becomes a bit superficial and shallow. Johnston ensures the visuals look fantastic and it's good to see make-up effects artist Rick Baker returning to a werewolf movie after winning an Oscar for his ground breaking effects in An American Werewolf in London (1981). CGI effects take over the transformation scenes here which are effective but the overall effect of the werewolf is diminished when we see it run around in unrealistic ways and at exaggerated speeds, typical of relying on too much CGI that unless vastly refined rarely looks natural.
The Wolfman is an under appreciated movie and is not a bad as some would have you believe. I enjoyed the visual delights, the atmosphere and the cast in this remake that comes some 70 years after the original, but for a more engaging storytelling experience at a lean 70 minutes you can't beat Universal's classic The Wolf Man.
Anaconda (1997)
Fun fast paced 90's B-movie blighted by dodgy CGI effects and animatronics
This wants to be Jaws (1975) in style and tension but falls woefully short due to the dumb script, inept direction and inconsistent blending of poor CGI and physical effects of the anaconda that never quite convinces. The opening scene with Danny Trejo is promising but as he gets dispensed with early on it's all downhill from there.
Director Luis Llosa is no Spielberg however Anaconda does have it's moments of gore and thrills which moves at a fast pace but Llosa fails to build adequate tension and characterisation for this to work as well as it could have. Jon Voight seems to be relishing his role as the unscrupulous hunter bent on capturing the largest snake in the Amazon with his over the top performance but because of the lack of characterisation we don't really care who gets bitten, crushed or eaten alive despite an appealing cast of now well known actors Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube and Eric Stoltz.
That said it's a fun, action packed monster B-movie that doesn't take itself too seriously with hokey effects and stereotypical characters being part of it's charm. A similar creature feature Lake Placid (1999) is done a lot better in my opinion but stays in the realm of the B movie.
M3GAN (2022)
Achieves a good Chucky-like creep factor but is hampered by a restrained script
With Jason Blum producing and James Wan writing I had high hopes for M3GAN but was left feeling a little underwhelmed by the end of it. We've seen it all before of course where people fight for their lives at the hands of technology going wrong (Westworld, Jurassic Park) and a toy doll creating havoc by turning evil and going on the rampage (Chucky). Here we get the two combined which works really well at first but doesn't really shift up a gear from the initial idea.
M3GAN is an advanced robot like doll programmed to protect children and be their friend. The designer of the doll Gemma unexpectedly inherits her recently orphaned niece Cady who, after developing a positive relationship with M3GAN, sees huge potential with her employer Funki toys to get the robot to market. However in a rush to get the original but untested doll out to the general public things soon begin to unravel as M3GAN shows signs of malfunctioning and having a mind of her own which turns out to be more than a glitch.
With a combination of physical effects, puppetry and CGI we get an intriguing life-like robot, complete with a sulky know-it-all Millennial inspired attitude, that also achieves a Chucky-like creep factor while delivering a few jump scares and moments of gore that is kept to a minimum. M3GAN would have worked better if the filmmakers hadn't held back as it looks like they filmed a more restrained script to get that PG-13 rating for a wider audience at the expense of some real terror and a more complex story.
Having said that it is thoroughly entertaining with some funny moments, especially where M3GAN bursts into song which just adds to the oddness of the character, and it's a nice twist on the killer doll sub-genre. You are always drawn to the robot whenever she appears on screen so it definitely has potential, let's hope the sequel M3GAN 2.0 can build on this solid foundation and explore the premise much further.
Dan in Real Life (2007)
Pleasant and intelligent romantic comedy with some nice underplay by Carrell
This is a pleasant little romantic comedy with the ever reliable Steve Carell carrying the viewer along as we see Dan trying to cope with raising his three young daughters after the passing of his wife. There's plenty of disdain from the daughters as the over protective Father can't let go to give them the space they need and he starts questioning his parenting skills and life in general.
To get away from it all they take a trip to his parents house for the annual family gathering in Rhode Island where Dan meets the woman of his dreams at a chance meeting in a local bookstore. They swap numbers and he promises to give her a call. Back at his parents house however, and much to his surprise the woman, played with class by Juliette Binoche, appears out of the blue and we soon realise that she is in fact his Brother's girlfriend!
It's a neat plot device to garner plenty of amusement at the awkwardness of the situation and the conflict of relationships. Carell underplays his character wonderfully and the comedy and drama is never forced. However for me it didn't always come together, some scenes worked well while others didn't, so as a whole I found it to be rather uneven but it has a more intelligent and less cliched script than some romantic comedies out there.
Confess, Fletch (2022)
An underwhelming reboot that is underplayed and underlit
If this film proves anything it is this: there is only one Chevy Chase and Jon Hamm is no replacement. I read in the trivia notes that both Hamm, who co-produced, and director Greg Mottola had the script reworked because it read more like a third Fletch movie for Chevy Chase but would that have been such a bad thing? After all the comedy here is so underplayed there's barely a chuckle.
There are some comedic moments courtesy of the support cast, in particular Roy Wood Jr and Ayden Mayeri, as the cops investigating a series of murders where all the evidence points to Fletch being the prime suspect causing him to try to prove his innocence whilst on the trail of some missing paintings.
Hamm is a good actor and I wouldn't expect him to do an impression of Chase, and I understand that the intent here was to get closer in tone to the original book series by Gregory McDonald, but there's not enough of a clever plot to make this a serious thriller and not enough comedic moments to make this a comedy, it sits somewhere uncomfortably in between where the filmmakers are dipping their toes in the water but don't want to tread on the path previously walked on by Chase. This leaves the audience wanting and Fletch is rarely funny on his own, it's only when he interacts with other wacky characters that the film comes alive.
Sam Levy's underlit cinematography doesn't help matters either as it's difficult to see the characters faces at times while Mottola's direction is lacklustre and inconsistent. If you're a fan of the original you will be disappointed by this much delayed reboot which was stuck in development hell for decades, but if you haven't seen Fletch (1985) you might just succumb to Hamm's low energy and overly subtle interpretation.
Strange Behavior (1981)
An offbeat horror that rises above the milieu of 80's slashers
By now slasher movies had been around in the mainstream since Halloween in 1978 but director Michael Laughlin decides to mix things up a little and comes at the 80's slasher from a 1950's B-movie sensibility, so what we end up with is explicit gore alongside schlocky sci-fi, and it's all the more refreshing for it.
Originally titles Dead Kids, Strange Behaviour was to be the first of a trilogy to homage 1950's genre movies but Laughlin only got this and the follow up Strange Invaders (1983) made. Shot in New Zealand but featuring a mainly American cast this also benefits from having a more superior crop of actors in it such as Louise Fletcher, Michael Murphy, Fiona Lewis and Marc McClure than a cast of unknowns that usually permeates these kinds of low budget horrors.
A sleepy University town in Illinois is awakened by a series of brutal killings which the Police suspect are somehow related. However rather than being a suspected serial killer the link could be coming from the University itself as someone is conducting experiments using a mind control drug among the local teenage population.
Co-written by Laughlin, the author and producer of the critically acclaimed road movie Two Lane Blacktop (1971), and Bill Condon who is most notable for writing Gods and Monsters (1997) and Dreamgirls (2006), Strange Behaviour is an odd, intriguing and different 80's horror movie that does get rather ponderous at times but gets an extra star from me for including the classic pop hit Lightning Strikes by Lou Christie, an earworm you won't be able to get out of your head, and a score by electronic pioneers Tangerine Dream.
Bloody Birthday (1981)
A nasty little slasher from the early 80's where children do all the killing
What we have here is a nasty little slasher where a trio of children go on a killing spree on their 10th birthday due to being born at the same time during a solar eclipse, which blocked Saturn causing them to possess a truly evil streak and become little psychopaths. They seem to revel in killing, maiming and strangling as many people as they can in their home town, including members of their own family, with baseball bats, a skipping rope, a bow & arrow and loaded guns to name a few methods, showing no empathy or remorse for their wrong doing at all.
Clearly inspired by the killer twist in Halloween (1978) this arrives in the slasher boom of the early 1980's and is a little different to the masked stalker trope of these type of horror movies by using children to commit horrific acts of violence and murder which still feels wrong watching this more than 40 years after it was released.
Competently directed by Ed Hunt there's a few uncomfortable sadistic kills, a ridiculous scene where the trio try to run someone over in a car through a junkyard and some prerequisite nudity courtesy of a 25 year old Lori Lethin in one of the films more controversially voyeuristic moments. The chill factor comes from the cold blooded killing committed by the trio of children who show no compunction in what they are doing, giving knowing evil smirks to the camera and working in tandem with one another as if it's their life mission to carry out these murderous acts.
Jose Ferrer and Susan Strasberg provide solid support to the three child leads, with Elizabeth Hoy especially chilling as the psychopathic Debbie who exudes evil right up to the final moments of the film. An enjoyable yet simple slasher that feels a little different from others of it's type from this era so well worth checking out.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Takes liberties with the original but gives fans just enough sparkle and exuberance to get away with it
Just when you thought they had used up all of Abba's greatest hits in Mamma Mia (2008) here comes the sequel ten years after the smash hit original, with different songs and a few reprises too. So while it sticks to the same formula they also add a prequel into the narrative to provide some backstory to the main characters.
Written by director Oli Parker, Catherine Johnson and Richard Curtis, with creator Judy Cramer back on board as producer, we get to see a young Donna, played with sparkling gusto by Lily James, as to how she came to be on the Greek island and meet the three men in her life, one of whom is the Father to Sophie, played again by Amanda Seyfried, and how she is coping with running the villa on her own without her Mother, originally played by Meryl Streep, who we learn has sadly passed away. For that reason Meryl doesn't have much screen time in this one but you can feel her presence throughout.
While the premise may seem a little dour this time around we get enough singing, dancing and exuberance from a younger cast in a gorgeous setting to guarantee a great time even if some of the songs are more b-sides and album tracks than hit singles but no matter, such is the skillful songwriting talent of Benny and Bjorn (who feature again in fun cameos) they can make lesser known songs sound great and infectious which once again serve to move the story along which albeit is rather paper thin.
My only gripe is that we're not spared Pierce Brosnan's out of tune singing and embarassing dad dancing, in fact it looks like they've encouraged him, but the surprise inclusion here is the iconic pop star and actress Cher, looking great at 72, who joins the cast as Sophie's grandmother and gives a powerhouse rendition of Fernando against a backdrop of CGI fireworks.
With the addition of Andy Garcia as Fernando and a fun comedy turn by Omid Djalili as a border patrol officer, it's another light and frothy confection with feel good songs and more of the same fans have grown to love. Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again does take liberties with the original story but because it all feels and sounds so familiar it just about gets away with it.
Flood (2007)
A tidal wave of cliche, contrivace, corny dialogue and not so special effects
Flood is a British disaster movie that speculates what would happen to London if a huge tidal wave made it's way up the river and breached the Thames Barrier due to extreme weather conditions.
Based on the best selling novel by British thriller writer Robert Doyle it must have seemed a good idea to turn it into a TV movie, run for more than three hours long, broadcast it over two nights and tap into the climate change debate to make it seem relevant.
Thankfully I saw the edited down version that was released theatrically and is much shorter. The kinetic editing, shaky camera work and regular time stamps that try to instill an immediacy with a countdown to disaster hopes to make up for the lacklustre script, corny dialogue and below par CGI effects but it doesn't, in fact the techniques are used too often and become quite distracting.
Robert Carlyle, Joanne Whalley and David Suchet do their best to look all serious and inject some drama into proceedings but a pre-stardom Tom Hardy and veteran actor Tom Courtney come off the worst in this contrived, cliche ridden thriller that has it's moments but you know the Americans do this type of thing a whole lot better than us Brits with movies like The Day After Tomorrow (2004).
I haven't seen the full TV version but the movie version is only concerned with the impending disaster and showing off it's CGI effects of famous landmarks under water rather than trying to offer a green message against climate change. The script is too broad and too dumb to address such issues. It's a tired effort that fails to excite or create enough edge of your seat tension to make up for it's plentiful shortcomings.
Mother's Day (1980)
This early Troma movie is not as shoddy or as exploitative as you would think
Mother's Day is sick, twisted and demented but this is a Troma movie and they wouldn't want it any other way! Falling somewhere between a regular slasher of the 1980's and early tropes of what a Troma movie has come to represent (exploitation, graphic gore, cartoon violence, surreal ideas, dark humour and of course a very low budget) this early effort from founder and producer Lloyd Kaufman and his kid brother director Charles Kaufman find their way into the horror market with quite a well made and albeit controversial film that I was ready to dislike but found strangely compelling.
Later Troma movies feel more tacky, more self deprecating, silly and shoddy but Mother's Day wants to earn it's horror chops so it's not quite as extreme or as exploitative as later output from the studio however this is still an uncomfortable watch as it effortlessly sucks you into a world of depravity.
A group of girl friends go camping for their annual meet up only to be violently attacked by two strange feral like men who rape, kill and torture just for fun, with the twist here being they are doing it to gain their Mother's approval and for her amusement. The family are clearly insane and should be locked up but they are on the loose for our entertainment and it's up to the group of friends to survive the ordeal and fight back.
Veteran actress Beatrice Pons, best known for being in the 1960's TV sitcom Car 54, Where Are You hams it up to chilling effect as the sick Mother who demands more depravity from her sons who are more than willing to please her every whim. The characters are not as one dimensional as you might expect from a movie like this and it has some shocking moments of gore to keep horror fans happy but the overall feel of hopeless dread, decay and filth is where it's most effective with tense moments and consistent nastiness of the brothers played with terrifying glee by Michael McCleery and Gary Pollard.
Troma would go on to develop cult characters, be more extreme with horror and violence and add a dark cartoonish humour to the likes of The Toxic Avenger (1984), Sgt Kabukiman N. Y. P. D. (1990) and Class of Nuke 'em High (1986) to name of few. Followed by a remake in 2010.
The Initiation (1984)
Zuniga is the sure thing in this otherwise pedestrian 80's slasher
There's no denying that Daphne Zuniga's on-screen presence is the best thing about this otherwise pedestrian 80's slasher film despite a promising start. Known for her later roles in The Sure Thing (1986), Spaceballs (1987) and The Fly II (1989) she carries this film with her first starring role playing Kelly who suffers from recurring nightmares about things that happened in her past.
Whilst at college she gets help from a psychology graduate who agrees to do a sleep study on her under hypnosis. Her Mother, played by Hitchcock veteran actress Vera Miles, forbids it hinting there is more things going on here than meets the eye. Kelly then gets underway with her initiation into her sorority along with several others and as part of the process they must complete several pranks, one of them being breaking into her Father's department store and steal the night porter's uniform. However before they arrive several people including the night porter get brutally murdered and the girls find themselves being stalked by a crazed killer in the store after hours.
It's a threadbare and daft premise with very few scares and like a lot of 80's horror movies it falls into the usual cliche of featuring scantilly clad girls screaming uncontrollably and succumbing to playing the victim without putting up much of a fight, however despite the lack of inventiveness I really liked the twist at the end.
Suffering from a change of director for being too arty this is a straight forward stalk n' slasher movie with veteran TV director Larry Stewart on board who keeps things moving along at a nice pace so it's well worth a look if you're a fan of this kind of movie.
Mamma Mia! (2008)
The most successful, crowd pleasing, feel good musical since Grease
The creative team of director Phyllida Lloyd, writer Catherine Johnson and producer Judy Cramer behind the hugely successful stage musical return for the big screen version of Mamma Mia. The global phenomenon that features the music of ABBA is given a Hollywood makeover but stays true to the spirit of the stage play, whose evergreen songs cleverly serve as the main narrative. Add to that a stellar cast of Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Christine Baranski and Julie Waters and you've got the perfect ingredients for the most successful, crowd pleasing, feel good jukebox musical since Grease (1978).
The wafer thin story centers around Sophie, played by Amanda Seyfried, who lives with her Mum Donna on the fictional Greek Island of Kalokairi, who are preparing her wedding however she wants her Father to attend but neither her or her Mum know who the true Father really is, so she invites all three possible men without her Mum knowing, and this is where all the fun begins.
Whilst Mamma Mia is obviously contrived to fit the music and lyrics of ABBA the way the songs are used feel organic and are there to serve a purpose rather than being shoe horned in to fit the story. Even if you're not an ABBA fan you can't help but be swept away by the wit, charm and energy of the piece, it's the perfect confection.
My only gripe is casting Pierce Brosnan in a musical as he appears to be tone deaf but other than that the music of Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus shine through and you can really appreciate the craft behind the deceptively simple pop songs of this prolific song writing duo that have stood the test of time. Watch closely and you'll spot them making a brief cameo appearance.
If you loved the stage musical, or musicals in general, this is the Dancing Queen of all jukebox musicals which spawned a successful sequel Mamma Mia!" Here We Go Again (2018) using the left over songs from ABBA's back catalogue as well as reprising a few favourites from the original, and several other copycat cash-ins that tried to emulate the success drawing from other music palettes like rock for Rock of Ages (2012), 80's pop in Walking on Sunshine (2014) and the music of Take That with Greatest Days (2023).
This is good light hearted entertainment and a job well done by all to transfer one of the biggest musicals of all time successfully up onto the big screen.
Don't Worry Darling (2022)
The intriguing premise belies the generic title
I love it when you go into a film not knowing what to expect then discovering it's actually a gem of a movie that belies the awful generic and misleading title given to it, as you could be forgiven for thinking this is a romantic comedy or something but it's not.
Feeling like it's taken it's influences from the Stepford Wives (1975) Alice is living the perfect life in 1950's small town America, being subservient to her husband played by pop star Harry Styles, who goes off everyday to work on a top secret job she knows nothing about, similar to all of the other women who live in the community. They are happy not knowing, content with tending to their husbands needs and making the perfect home, that is until cracks start to appear and Alice begins to become paranoid and questions her very existence of domestic bliss and surburbanite paradise.
It's an intriguing premise and I really didn't see the twist in the final act coming. Director Olivia Wilde teams up again with her Booksmart (2019) collaborator Katie Silberman to fashion a highly entertaining and absorbing movie that is part thriller, part science fiction to explore themes of patriarchal dominance that doesn't really go anywhere. It has great cinematography and production design but unfortunately Wilde's direction unravels towards the end and undoes a lot of the good work that went before. Harry Styles doesn't really cut it when he needs to act but provides the requisite eye candy. On the whole this is a really underrated movie and despite it's flaws it is well worth a look.
The Wedding Ringer (2015)
Kevin Hart is the best man and the best thing about this hit and miss comedy
A mediocre comedy that has just enough laughs, crass humour and an interesting premise to make it worthwhile. Josh Gad is about to marry his fiance but knows he is out of his league and with no friends to speak of he hires Hart, a professional 'best man', to assemble some makeshift groomsmen to impress the wedding guests and his fiance.
The humour comes from the unlikely rag tag characters Hart puts together to be his Groomsmen and Gad constantly having to cover up the fact to only sink deeper into a web of lies that Hart, with his likeable quickfire delivery, has to put right. The pairing of Hart and Gad works for the most part but the script doesn't really deliver and everyone tries too hard to compensate. It soon loses sight of the original premise and becomes a rather hit and miss affair.
This is not Kevin Hart's best but he is the best thing about it and there are better buddy movies and romantic comedies about weddings out there but Hart makes it worthwhile and with a change in tone in the last act the crass silliness and cheap gags make way for genuine sentiment to make us want to care about these characters after all.
Bullet Train (2022)
An absolute blast
I thought Bullet Train was going to be a straight forward action thriller until I found out that John Wick (2014) and Deadpool 2 (2018) director David Leitch was at the helm. Here he concocts another a highly entertaining, high octane, stylised actioner with plenty of irreverence, over the top violence and black comedy to throw you off track, so you never quite know what is going to happen next.
Brad Pitt is having a bad day and just wants to quietly get the job done for his employer and leave the train, however he is one of five assassins who have boarded who become unwittingly interconnected with each other while doing different jobs that result in bloody shootouts, ultra violence and witty banter, especially between Lemon and Tangerine, where Leitch clearly takes his cues from Guy Ritchie, as they all speed across Japan to get their respective jobs done.
While the story gets a little convoluted there's never a dull moment as Leitch expertly choreographs the action to perfection. It's a cracking thrill ride with a witty script full of twists and turns, colourful characters and Japanese flourishes, often reminiscent of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) but with more gloss. Bullet Train is an absolute blast that moves along at a breakneck speed, even if there's a little too much CGI for my liking, but the sheer bravura set pieces, wit and style ensures a high likeability factor and it's good to see Brad Pitt clearly enjoying himself here in amongst all the irreverence.
Wham! (2023)
If You Were There...
I came away from this Netflix documentary about Wham totally satisfied, relieved and a little emotional. Filmmaker Chris Smith, known for the excellent docs Jim and Andy (2017), Fyre (2019) and The Tiger King (2020), did a great job with the material and gave George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley the documentary they deserved.
Using Ridgeley's Mum's scrapbooks as a narrative device, that she meticulously compiled of the pop duo from their school years to world mega stardom, we get a great insight into their family background and how the two first met when Ridgeley was asked to look after the new boy Yog (the shortened version of his Greek name Georgios) at school in Bushey, North London.
In this documentary there are plenty of archival footage that fans have never seen before, even of the first band they tried to put together playing Ska music before they formed as a duo. There's also recent interviews from the likes of backing singers Pepsi & Shirley and of course Ridgeley himself but these do not overshadow the archival footage from the 1980's. From getting their big break on Top of the Pops when another band dropped out, their triumphant tour of China as the first Western pop group to perform in the Communist country to the duo racking up hit after hit with their three Platinum selling albums this really is the definitive documentary on the pair who briefly dominated the charts and put the fun back into music.
It was fascinating to see the birth of songs like Wham Rap and George Michael's first solo effort Careless Whisper, one of my all time favourite songs, co-written by Andrew Ridgeley when they were both 14 years old. This however was the sign of things to come as George Michael's extraordinary talent for songwriting soon out grew catchy pop songs and the pair ended Wham in 1986 while they were still on top so Michael could go on to carve out a successful solo career while Ridgeley faded into the background.
Having seen many documentaries about George Michael this was a breath of fresh air to focus in on the early days and the friendship him and Andrew shared. In fact Ridgeley comes off really well here by showing he was more than George's shadow, he made a valuable contribution to the duo's success with his exuberance, helping Michael when he was going through a tough time in his personal life and encouraging the fledgling songwriter to come out of his shell and explore his talent.
I was a teenager when they hit the charts with Young Guns (Go For It) in 1982, they put much needed fun, energy and colour into 80's pop music with songs that have stood the test of time and Smith's documentary captures this and more.
The Full Monty (2023)
Like seeing old friends
The good news is that The Full Monty TV series of 2023 is just as warm, witty and enjoyable as the phenomenally successful 1997 film with all of the original cast members returning 25 years later. Writer and creator Simon Beaufort continues the adventures of his much loved characters from the movie and carries them over into this 6 part TV show.
I was skeptical at first whether this would work but once we see Mark Addy, Robert Carlisle, Paul Barber and the rest of the gang on screen any fears are immediately dispelled by the familiar humour, witty banter and socio-economic observations of life in current day Sheffield. The only depressing thing is that not a lot has changed for the area in all that time, in fact some things have gotten worse due to broken promises and lack of funding in deprived areas of the UK by a string of successive British Governments and Prime Ministers.
Apart from that sad fact the other significant change from the film is that there isn't the same pre-occupation with forming a Chippendales style dance troupe to make ends meet, a plot device that served well for the film and gave it some notoriety but wouldn't work 25 years later. It is referred to in one episode as a nice homage to the original but this isn't what The Full Monty in 2023 is all about, after all getting your kit off again being 25 years older is a big ask and I'm not sure we would want to see that. However the central theme of friendships, relationships and coming together as a community to overcome adversity remains intact.
This show has a big heart, warmth and depth and it feels rather like meeting up with old friends. My only criticism is that Tom Wilkinson isn't given much to do here despite being front and center of things in the movie. New characters are introduced, particularly the younger generation, which makes it feel like Waterloo Road (2006) at times but once you get used to this mix of young and old then you can settle in and enjoy the welcome return of this comedy drama.
Long Weekend (1978)
A slow burn eco thriller that builds in atmosphere and character development
The good thing about Long Weekend is that it takes the time to build an unnerving atmosphere in this slow burn psychological eco-thriller as we follow a feuding couple who go camping on a remote beach in Australia in an effort to rebuild their fractured marriage, however the lack of respect they show for nature, and for each other, causes nature to strike back in subtle and unexpected ways.
The film allows us to get to know the characters and the reasons behind the contempt they have for one another, so while the characters are not particularly likeable we care about what happens to them which is testimony to both John Hargreaves and Briony Behets performances which are compelling throughout.
Aussie director Colin Eggleston takes a leaf out of Alfred Hitchcock's book and fashions an eco thriller along the lines of The Birds (1963) to great affect and although it is slow and does feel longer than it's 92 minute running time it does serve to maintain an atmosphere of unease so when something does happen it makes it much more intense without resorting to jump scares.
Long Weekend is a gem of a horror film and stays with you. A less effective remake was made in 2008.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Important existential cinema on feminism or a self indulgent art house experiment?
I do not wish to be dismissive or flippant about what many critics see as an important masterwork by Belgian filmmaker Chantel Akerman contributing to the feminist movement in her work but for me this was one of the most depressing, frustrating and boring experiences I've ever had watching a movie.
Thankfully it was in my own home and not in the cinema where I could condense 3 hours plus into 30 minutes or so, hitting the fast forward button which is something I rarely do if I'm watching a film, but in this case I refuse to play the director's game with the equivalent of watching paint dry for hours on end just so she could get her point across. If you've got something to say then say it, don't do it in the name of art or by playing the long game and torturing the audience in the process.
On the surface this comes across as pointless, soulless, joyless, self indulgent day-in-the-life-of piece of experimental filmmaking, with excruciatingly long takes, minimal dialogue and no music score. It's either taking advantage of the patience and stamina of the most ardent art house fan or it's so clever, subtle and intellectual it still arouses debate some 48 years after it was made.
The film is emotionally detached, uninspiring and mundane, which is probably the whole point of it all as we see the main character, played with appropriate understatement and mundanity by Delphine Seyrig, going through the motions over 3 days in her life. Is the filmmaker really exploring nuances and subtleties that would usually go unnoticed by the deliberate slow pacing and static camera work or have critics heaped too much praise on Akerman's unapologetic experiment over the years.
Either way for me I could only give it 4 stars for the filmmaker having the courage to make a film where nothing much happens for a majority of the time, apart from the occasional bit of business of the main character to pay the rent, which invites the audience to be voyeurs for 3 hours, to share the dullness, the regularity, the routine of daily life and to just exist in the moment.
Jeanne Dielman, 23, et al came in as the number one film of all time in Sight & Sound's 2022 critics poll as it's definitely one for the art house crowd but there is no desire here to entertain, thrill or win you over, this is not mainstream cinema. It remains defiantly true to itself and shuns the conventional narrative however once you get past the frustration and boredom of the piece you may begin to appreciate the filmmakers intention, unfortunately I didn't, it's just not my thing, no matter how objective I tried to be.
Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)
Caught between a biopic and a jukebox musical this sanitised version of Whitney's life will divide it's audience
This Whitney Houston biopic wants to have it's cake and eat it by touching on the drama of the singers life while maintaining an upbeat movie so fans can enjoy those pop and R&B songs she was most famous for during the 80's and 90's, so what we end up with is a sanitised version of her life and career but for me this was enough. I love her music and with only 11 years since her passing I was pleased it was presented this way.
The real triumph here is the casting of British actress Naomi Ackie as Whitney who does a great job in capturing the essence of this global star, discovered and masterminded by record producer Clive Davis, with Stanley Tucci nicely cast as the mild mannered executive, who serves as one of the Producers on this movie. It's Ackie though who really delivers in portraying both her personal life and her public performances with conviction and authenticity despite a majority of the time being dubbed by the late singers vocals because let's face it who can emulate Whitney Houston's voice, her strength and power in her vocals were unique and that was what made her the phenomenon she became.
Director Kasi Lemmons doesn't want to delve too deep into the complications of her troubled life to undermine the feel good factor of the stage performances and catchy pop songs, so the drama is only touched upon with having a lesbian lover, having to reinvent herself for a public image, being accused of selling out to a white audience, her tumultuous relationship with R&B star Bobby Brown, the birth of her daughter and her ultimate personal decline.
Caught between a biopic drama and a jukebox musical then I Wanna Dance with Somebody will divide audiences but I really enjoyed it despite not gaining much more of an insight into her life than I already knew through the press and media. If you are a fan of the music see it for Ackie's uncanny performance as she recreates those memorable moments in Whitney's career, from making the music video of How Will I Know, her acting stint alongside Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard (1992) to her version of singing the Star Spangled Banner at the American Superbowl, all of these moments are hit and ticked off the list at a rapid rate.
The Witch Who Came from the Sea (1976)
Millie Perkins gives a deeply disturbing central performance in this strange, uneven and unsettling psychological horror
This is certainly one of the strangest films I have seen and it is mainly due to the tone that is constantly shifting throughout. It plays like your average 70's TV movie at first then switches to grindhouse 'video nasty' territory at a moments notice before getting all arty in places with weird montages, flashbacks and a troubling yet committed central performance from Millie Perkins as Molly who played the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) to much acclaim.
Having seen her career take a nose dive in the late 60's Perkins returned in the mid-1970's with a couple of low budget movies working with Mike Climber and her then husband writer Robert Thom, both of whom were responsible for this oddity. Taking a starring role and maybe written with her in mind by the Death Race 2000 (1975) writer, this is a controversial and disturbing 83 minutes which found itself on the DPP video nasty list in the UK and in this case you can see why, although it was unsuccessfully prosecuted.
The moments of graphic violence and gore are surprisingly voyeuristic with the central character seemingly enjoying performing sadomasochism on men, but with her backstory of child abuse at the hands of her Father and her slow but sure psychological degeneration as she recalls moments in her past, the excessive violence doesn't come across as exploitative as it does with other films who use it just for shock effect.
Director Mike Climber came from the theatre directing Off Broadway productions of F. Scott Fitzgerald plays and worked with John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men). He then married Hollywood sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and directed her in Single Room Furnished (1968) proving she could act. In the 1970's he made several low budget blaxploitation films before venturing into the psychological drama, horror and taboo subject matter that is The Witch Who Came from the Sea.
I get the feeling that Climber didn't have a clear enough vision to know how to approach the material but the shifting tone and erratic editing choices do keep you off kilter and you can't deny Perkins strange performance which goes from bright and breezy, to a dream like traumatic state to a crazed killer.
Ecologia del delitto (1971)
Bava's pioneering and masterful slasher movie has influenced a generation of filmmakers
Having been a fan of 80's slasher movies since I was a teenager and embracing Friday the 13th (1980), Halloween (1978) and all the other low budget rip-offs that followed A Bay of Blood is a revelation after finally catching up with it some 50 years after it's initial release.
Mario Bava's controversial and ground breaking classic is often cited as the beginning of the modern slasher with unflinching graphic imagery, violence and blood letting however I hadn't appreciated just how much the Friday the 13th franchise owes to this cult film. Sean S Cunningham was obviously greatly influenced by the Italian filmmaker and even recreates some of Bava's scenes in the first couple of Friday the 13th movies, notably the spear going through a couple making love on the bed, the girl getting undressed and going for a skinny dip in the lake only to be watched and hunted down by the killer, the beheading of a woman and a machete embedded into a victim's face.
Having established himself as a horror filmmaker, firstly with Hammer style Gothic horror movies in the early 1960's then creating the much lauded Italian 'giallo' genre that combined film noir, murder mystery, eroticism and graphic imagery that inspired the likes of Dario Argento, Bava made a further shift in the horror genre with a totally unrestrained, uncompromising and visceral approach to shock audiences with extreme violence, gore and realism that set the template for the American slasher that followed having influenced the likes of John Carpenter, Wes Craven and many others.
The opening murder of a Countess sparks a number of unscrupulous characters, including her daughter played by Bond girl Claudine Auger, to go after her large estate on the bay with a series of brutal killings. People get slashed and slaughtered, including four unsuspecting teenagers (sound familiar), and it's Carlo Rambaldi's impressive makeup effects that help Bava achieve the level of realism not seen before with such brutal killings.
A Bay of Blood is a stylish, intense, visceral, nicely paced and well made film that influenced several generations of filmmakers and although prosecuted by the DPP under the Video Recordings Act of 1984 by people who didn't know what they were talking about, this is nowhere near as amateurish, exploitative or low rent as some of the titles that made it onto the list.
Erik the Viking (1989)
Woefully falls short and never sets sail on the comedy front
Terry Jones brings his Pythonesque humour to the tale of Erik but it woefully falls short of the mark and is therefore a disappointment. Having directed arguably the Python's greatest comedy achievement, the controversial Life of Brian (1979), as well as their other movies The Holy Grail (1974) and The Meaning of Life (1983), Jones should have had his pulse on the irreverent anarchic humour by now but sadly with Erik the Viking he doesn't.
Fellow Python John Cleese pops up in support as Halfdan the Black who plans to scupper Erik played by Tim Robbins who leads his not so merry men across the seas to find the Norse Gods to put an end to Ragnarok. Jones has assembled a nice cast with turns by Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt, John Gordon Sinclair, Antony Sher, Tim McInnerny and Jim Broadbent to name a few but the gags just don't land and the script is rather hit and miss. While it feels more in the spirit of Terry Gilliam's more accomplished Time Bandits what should be funny just isn't under Jones's clunky direction.
Having made a successful leap into serious drama with Personal Services (1987) two years before, albeit laced with dark comedy, he takes a backward step rather than building on that success and goes back into Python territory but fails miserably. The bad special effects on show here certainly doesn't help but if it was funny and engaging then that would be forgiven.
One of the problems lay with casting American actor Tim Robbins who doesn't look that comfortable delivering this kind of British humour as the peace keeping viking who is opposed to rape, pillaging and all things you associate with Vikings in a kind of nice but dim role. This juxtaposition of sensibilities is more or less what the film is about and where Jones seeks to find the humour but it feels fragmented and never really sets sail on the comedy front.
From a story written for his son Terry Jones' book of Erik the Viking bears no relation to the film and he was unhappy with the final cut. It certainly feels like there were problems in the production as there are pacing issues in the editing and maybe budgetary constraints where he couldn't fully realise his vision. For Monty Python fans however there are a few pleasures to be had but on the whole it's a dismal exercise that doesn't inspire a repeat viewing.
Don't Go in the Woods (1981)
Another case of a movie getting an unjustifiably notorious reputation because of being banned
I do like a good low budget 80's slasher movie, but this isn't one of them. Bad acting, shoddy camerawork, a poor script and general inept filmmaking by James Bryan makes Don't Go in the Woods one of the worst examples of the genre and is yet another case of a movie getting an unjustifiably notorious reputation because of being banned by the BBFC and appearing on the DPP 'video nasty' list just for a few seconds worth of severed limbs and gore here and there amongst all the pointless boring bits in-between.
The plot could have been written on the back of a napkin as four backpackers venture into the woods and inadvertently stumble across a feral maniac intent on killing and slashing anyone in his path. It's a familiar device to get people into a vulnerable situation and kill them off one by one however the writer and director have no intent on fleshing out characters, giving any exposition or reasoning for the violence and gore that follows, it just happens.
Cashing in on the success of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980) there was a glut of slashers that were quickly produced around this time so you can understand where this is coming from however it's a lame attempt, especially as the staging of the horror sequences and fake blood are poorly executed with no tension whatsoever and poor pacing throughout. There is a bit of comic relief when the local Sheriff turns up to investigate the murders but he is convinced that a bear is on the loose and responsible for all the carnage. Things do get a little more interesting when the backpackers discover the Maniac's lair and they are forced into survival mode to escape the threat, but that's just being kind.
On the whole it's slapdash opportunist filmmaking that makes little sense. You get a feeling that it was patched together over a series of weekend shoots by a bunch of amateurs and giving this film 3 stars is generous to say the least but no matter how bad it got I still felt compelled to watch to the bitter end, and it's one for horror completists of the genre.
Jubilee (1978)
Jarman's reposte to 70's punk has got more interesting and multi layered over time
I suppose I can understand why Vivienne Westwood, one of the architects of punk in the UK in the mid-1970's along with Malcolm McLaren, got upset by Derek Jarman's apocalyptic vision of a society gone to seed caused by the degenerating morals of the punk era and all that it stood for, compared to the elegance of old England, often contrasting the violence, language and destruction of a future society to the poetry of days gone by with a time travelling Queen Elizabeth I and her sage John Dee.
Westwood didn't want Jarman's Jubilee to represent the punk movement she had partially inspired and looking back on it some 45 years later it doesn't try to do that. The film is much more abstract, surreal and creative than that and uses punk as a vehicle for ideas, satire and art but doesn't claim to represent it. Sure Jarman takes a few side swipes at popular culture and what he saw as bourgeois art students creating a fake street fad which had started to implode by the time Jubilee had come out, but his themes of capitalism, exploitation, gay rights and decaying morals still hold up today in this deliciously bleak low budget dystopian extravaganza full of strange characters, music, violence and raw energy.
Future pop stars Toyah Wilcox and Adam Ant leave their mark in their screen debuts supported by Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleston and Richard O'Brien. I am not a particular fan of punk and I thought this was going to be too arty for my taste but it was a lot more enjoyable and engaging than I had anticipated which has surprisingly got more interesting and multi layered has time has gone on.