65 (2023)

Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have worked together for a number of years now. They share the directing and writing duties on this sci-fi action movie that pits Adam Driver against a bunch of dinosaurs, and they have to share the blame for such an underwhelming end result. Because 65 isn't very good, and it had the potential to be a lot of fun.

Driver plays Mills, a man who ends up on a space expedition in the hope of earning enough money to cure his daughter (Chloe Coleman) of an illness that has been slowly getting worse for a while now. One asteroid-related incident later, Mills is on a strange planet with a young girl, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), he cannot understand. The strange planet is actually Earth, but it's the Earth of 65 million years ago. When dinosaurs were at the top of the food chain. Mills and Koa need to make their way to another crashed part of the spaceship if they stand any chance of getting back off the planet. They have limited tools and weaponry to help them, that communication barrier creating another obstacle, and the fact that we can assume they haven't seen even just one of the Jurassic Park movies means they are woefully unprepared for the danger of their environment.

I like Adam Driver. A lot. He's not the best person for the lead role here, but he's not terrible either. Greenblatt holds her own alongside him, and their relationship at the heart of the story is the best thing about the movie. In fact, it's probably the only thing worthwhile about the movie, and the fact that the film-makers at least managed to cast two not-inconsiderable talents in the lead roles is a stroke of luck for them, because nothing else works.

Okay, there's one more plus. This clocks in at around the 90-minute mark. That's a rare treat nowadays. It's just a shame that the runtime feels like a bit more than that, mainly due to the sluggish nature of the film in between the infrequent, and far too brief, set-pieces.

It's as if Beck and Woods had the core idea first ("what if we make a sci-fi movie about a guy fending off aliens . . . but the aliens are dinosaurs . . . and the guy is actually on Earth?") and then didn't know how to really make the most of it. Even the structure of the thing, with viewers being given the set-up during the opening titles, is a misfire. This should have been a fun film that kept viewers entertained, threw around plenty of wild creature design, and then capped everything off at the very end with a sign to indicate "oh, by the way, the adventure you just enjoyed was all taking place on . . . Earth, boooooooom". While not without a handful of decent moments, they are too few and far between. And I defy most people to actually care about the fate of the main characters as things move into the third act.

The visual style is horrible and dull, the special effects suffer in comparison to many superior dinosaur movies we've seen over the past few decades (including the first Jurassic Park movie, which holds up brilliantly to this day), and even the music is immediately forgettable and unable to feel like a good enough fit for the whole experience.

This didn't make me angry enough to want it wiped out by an Extinction Level Event, but I definitely won't be rushing to rewatch it. And I would recommend that most people just give it a miss. It's really not worth your time, and it's certainly not worth the talents of Driver and Greenblatt.

4/10

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Mubi Monday: Annette (2021)

Although very much a film from director Leos Carax, Annette is also very much a film from the minds of writers Ron and Russell Mael (AKA Sparks). A strangely antagonistic and defiantly non-traditional musical about performing, about the relationship between performers and audiences, this is also a look at strong passions running between people who may view themselves as separate from the masses who flock to appreciate their talents.

Adam Driver plays an acerbic and dark comedian named Henry McHenry, a man who seems to find his unique talent dissipating when he falls in love with, and marries, an opera singer named Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard). Things are further complicated when they have a daughter, Annette, who shows signs of inheriting her mother's talent.

Deceptively light and amusing at the start of the whole thing, with the wonderful "So May We Start" a musical highlight the rest of the film never quite equals, Annette soon drags viewers into the surreal and strange style of the modern opera it hews close to. Nothing here is subtle, although a number of moments in the first half initially feel more ambiguous than anything in the second half, and almost every moment is delivered in song, even if it veers away from musicality for a while before veering back.

Carax is in his element, clearly relishing the opportunity to stage those Sparks songs in unusual settings and situations, and actually makes a lot of correct decisions for the material, including the use of a “puppet” for most of Annette’s screentime. There are one or two ingredients that feel extraneous (a sequence about women coming forward with some accusations ultimately goes nowhere, disappointingly, and one character gets to bemoan a missed chance at love in a way that doesn’t really make any impact), but he mostly delivers something that feels like the perfect result of this collaboration.

Whether you will enjoy it or not is an entirely separate thing. I was on board, willing it to challenge and impress me, then it lost me for quite some time, and then I got back on board during the third act.

Although it is both Driver and Cotillard in the lead roles, and both are more than up to the task, the film is largely carried by Driver, who is excellent and completely trusting in how the director will use his raw performance. Simon Helberg has some screentime, playing that character who missed out on love, and he does just fine, but I would have preferred the whole thing to focus simply on McHenry, Defrasnoux, and Annette.

For the performance from Driver, for the creativity from Sparks, and for the audacious staging, I cannot rate this as a bad movie. It’s not average either. But the bad onscreen almost outweighs the good, which is why I ultimately rate it only just above average.

6/10

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The Dead Don't Die (2019)

Well, for better or worse, The Dead Don't Die is a zombie comedy from the wonderfully quirky Jim Jarmusch. There's a superb cast, a whole lot of potential, and, well, that's all it ends up having. I had heard a lot of the negative talk about it, it seems very hard to find any reviews that are actually positive, but I still held out hope that it would work for me. It didn't.

The plot is simple. A small town police department finds that they face a unique problem when the dead start rising. It could be worse though, maybe. Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) may not know what is going on, but Officer Ronnie Peterson (Adam Driver) seems to immediately recognise the beginnings of a potential zombie apocalypse. Officer Mindy Morrison (Chloë Sevigny) tries to follow the lead of her colleagues, while local mortician Zelda Winston (Tilda Swinton) catches on very quickly, and is handy with a sharp sword.

Very odd, but not in the right ways, The Dead Don't Die is even more disappointing as the Jarmusch take on the zombie film following on so soon after the Jarmusch take on the vampire film (the super Only Lovers Left Alive). Unlike that film, which managed to provide a fresh spin on vampires while also utilising so many familiar beats, The Dead Don't Die sees Jarmusch delivering a zombie film that shows him very disinterested in the actual zombies. There are some fun scenes, intermittently, with the shambling undead acting on whatever main purpose they had in life, and a few wonderful little meta moments, mostly delivered by Driver, but the overall feeling is one of carelessness and laziness.

The cast works though, even if they're not given material worthy of their talents, and at least Jarmusch got everyone together to at least attempt to live up to the advertising line of "the greatest zombie cast ever disassembled". Murray and Driver work very well together, both deadpan and dry in different ways, and Sevigny works well alongside them, despite being given very little to do. Swinton is very amusing, Caleb Landry Jones is a horror movie fan who also ends up realising early on what is happening, and you also have fun little turns from Danny Glover, Steve Buscemi, Selena Gomez, Carol Kane, and Tom Waits.

There's no denying that it's a bad film though. I tried to be charitable, and I HAVE, but it's hard to think about this after the end credits have rolled and not feel more and more disappointed with the final result. I think it would be unfair to ever expect anything more standard from Jarmusch, that's not really his style, but it would have been nice to have something that just decided to cut loose and go wild, either providing a lot more zombie activity throughout or just leaning so much more into the meta madness.

The dead may not die, but your sense of enjoyment will as this sedately meanders along from start to finish.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: Marriage Story (2019)

Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story is the tale of Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver), a married couple who are also parents to one young son, Henry (Azhy Robertson). Marriage Story sounds much nicer than Divorce Story, but the latter title would be a better  description. This is, in many ways, a Kramer Vs. Kramer for the 21st century, showing how the most well-intentioned journey from marriage to amicable divorce can lead to ugliness, point-scoring, and a feeling akin to being scraped away, layer by layer, like the walls in an old house that are having years of different wallpapers removed. It cuts down to the bone at times, mainly because who can hurt you best more effectively than someone who once loved you the most? That hurt doesn't have to be intentional, it can come from watching your partner manage to get up and go about a normal day with you no longer in it, it isn't even always intended when it comes out in the form of some hateful speech vomited out by someone lashing out while feeling backed further into a corner.

Driver and Johansson are both superb in their roles here, and I would have been happy to see both of them showered with awards for their performances. Both have moments that will reverberate with anyone who has been in, or close to, the painful circumstances on display. And I would say that Driver has one moment of raw, childish, rage, both thoughtless and yet constructed to cause maximum damage, that holds up as a small movie moment that will be seared into your memory. Alan Alda and Ray Liotta are two very different types of lawyers who end up helping Driver, and both do excellent work, and Laura Dern is the formidable lawyer hired by Johansson, a role she clearly sets about with relish from her very first appearance in the movie. Small roles for Julie Hagerty and Wallace Shawn help to lighten the material, with Hagerty a real delight as the mother-in-law who cannot just put an end to a friendship with her son-in-law, despite what her daughter would prefer.

This isn't a review in which I feel the need to go on about the score, camerawork, production design, etc. Baumbach puts everything in the right place, allowing the main characters to feel like real people in our world, but the material feels like it could work just as easily in play form, with the focus always on the dialogue and the acting above any potential cinematic flourishes.

This is not an easy watch. What may seem slick and out of touch with most people (Driver is a successful director of stage plays, Johansson is an actress, these are not your everyday working class folk trying to navigate these waters) actually contains a lot of honest moments that many will be able to identify with, whether that's good or bad. Considering the timing of my viewing, I don't think I'll be rushing to watch it again. But, trust me, that is just a testament to how much it gets right.

9/10

Mubi Monday: Paterson (2016)

I have absolutely no idea how I am going to recommend this to other people, or even what I may end up actually having to say about it, but let me make clear from the very beginning that Paterson is an absolute delight from start to finish, largely thanks to the captivating presence of Adam Driver in a lead role that allows him to once again show why his career has gone from strength to strength over the last decade.

Driver plays Paterson, a bus driver who lives in the town of Paterson, New Jersey. He has a routine that seems to work for him. Work, catching up with his wife (Golshifteh Farahani), walking the dog, and enjoying a beer or two at a local bar. He also works on a variety of poems, influenced by the work of local poet, William Carlos Williams.

Directed by Jim Jarmusch, who also wrote the script, based on work by William Carlos Williams and Ron Padgett, Paterson is one of those slight films that feels about nothing while paradoxically feeling as if it may just hold secrets to the best way to get through modern life. If you take anything away from the film then perhaps it is how easy it can be to make the everyday and mundane into something poetic and worth taking note of. Even a matchstick is made into something beautiful and memorable here.

Although it wouldn't be half the film it is without Driver in the lead role (I could close my eyes and listen to that man read the phone book, but his ability to remain deadpan and calm despite whatever happens around him is also a big plus), Paterson also boasts a talented selection of supporting players. Farahani does well in her role, helping to make something more of a flighty character who could easily have come across as more annoying. Because it's hard to stay onside with someone who dreams of increasing their cupcake sales while trying to become a . . . country music artist. Barry Shabaka Henley is Doc, the owner of the local bar, and Chasten Harmon and William Jackson Harper are a couple of people who aren't in a relationship, despite how much Harper wants them to be in a relationship. Sterling Jerins is a young girl who shares a lovely little poem with our lead, and Masatoshi Nagase pops up to share a moment of appreciation for William Carlos Williams.

This is absolutely a film that you can go without seeing, it doesn't really say anything new or say it in a completely original way. Yet it's a rewarding and worthwhile experience, and one of my favourite viewings from the past month or so. Sometimes you don't need a story telling you something new, sometimes you don't need innovation in the storytelling techniques. A reminder of things buried away in the recesses of our mind can be just as good, a nudge to get us willing to look at things from a slightly different angle, be it a matchstick or time spent without a mobile phone (Paterson doesn't have one, which is perhaps what enables him to spend more time capturing imagery more poetically).

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Based on an incredible true story, one of those truth is stranger than fiction deals, BlackKklansman tells the story of an officer named Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) who managed to become a well-regarded and respected member of the Ku Klux Klan, as part of a major undercover operation. That's not so strange in itself. The strange part is, as the title suggests, Stallworth being an African American. Having won people over with his telephone manner, Stallworth gets permission to work with his colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to create a composite Ron Stallworth. The man himself will continue to have the phone conversations, Zimmerman will act the part of Stallworth in person, at great personal risk. As things start to gather momentum, Stallworth finds out about a major plot being brewed up that might be even more dangerous than the Klan meetings and cross-burnings.

Directed by Spike Lee, who also helped to co-write the script along with three other writers (from the book written by Stallworth - a book I need to buy soon), BlackKklansman is a sensational piece of work. It's both a testament to some incredible, and brave, police work and a damning critique of the state of the world around us today, a world that has not moved on as far as we'd like to think, despite the best efforts of people like Stallworth and Zimmerman. The script has some great lines in almost every scene, and there's a lightness of tone throughout making it easier to enjoy everything in a fairly straightforward manner (more on that later), but it's really that incredible central idea that makes this a riveting watch from start to finish, helped by lively direction from Lee that seems to convey how energised he was while bringing this tale to the cinema screen.

The acting from all involved is super. Washington plays a sharp young man who is confident in himself, no matter how others want to pigeonhole him (be they fellow officers, racist assholes - who are also sometimes fellow officers, or fellow African Americans who view him as an enemy because he's a police officer). He's a hugely charismatic lead, and his mannerisms and ability to move between personas helps to sell the core of the story. Driver, as the other half of his fictional Stallworth creation, is equally brilliant. And, although not relevant to any other part of the film whatsoever, he does one of my favourite evr "slow, surprised, turns" here. There are times when his character seems a bit too smart and confident for the Klan, but that's what makes him a more appealing new member. Laura Harrier is a socially-conscious young woman named Patrice, and she plays her character with passion and wit. It's easy to see why Washington's character is drawn to her, and also why things won't go smoothly as truths eventually have to come out. Topher Grace gives a wonderful turn as David Duke, the (now former) Grand Wizard of the KKK. He's perfectly pleasant and charming and easy to laugh at, and evil in a form that is acceptable to those around him. I've supported Grace for many years, always been a fan of his work, but know that it takes just the right roles to bring out the best in him. This is one of those roles. Elsewhere, Ryan Eggold, Jasper Pääkkönen, and Paul Walter Hauser play the main KKK members who welcome Stallworth into their fold, and Ashlie Atkinson is the wife of Pääkkönen's character, welcoming people into her home with snacks, beverages, and cosy soundbites about how to maintain whites as the superior race. Robert John Burke, Ken Garito, Frederick Weller, and Michael Joseph Buscemi also do great work, portraying a variety of law enforcement officials who either help or hinder the investigation at various times.

But let's get back to that light tone I mentioned earlier. I admit that I was slightly uncomfortable at times while watching BlackKklansman, worried that Lee was minimising the threat, downplaying tension in many scenes that could have really started to have people on the edge of their seat. It was easy to laugh at Klan members, easy to view them as fools that no reasonable people would want to be stuck alongside. And that's another main point that Lee is making, emphasised by everything that happens in the third act. It IS easy to laugh at these people, it IS easy to dismiss them as ignorant idiots looking to blame the wrong people for situations they don't understand, and it IS easy to be bemused by meetings of racist assholes being catered by caring loved ones, discussions of potential acts of racial hatred right beside a full plate of biscuits and a nice cup of tea. We laugh, we ignore, we don't think that anyone else takes notice, and then others DO take notice, some get swept up in the hyperbole and the vitriol, many start to feel that if nobody is taking them to task (because a lot of us are just ignoring them) then they can become more emboldened in their words and deeds, and it builds and builds, until we have "tiki torch" marches in present-day America, we have a media gullibly seduced into thinking that showing a lack of bias also means giving platforms to those who spew their vile hatred whenever they are given the opportunity, and we have peaceful protests marred by violence and death, a fatal backlash from that endangered section of society known as the, ummmm, white male (typically).

BlackKklansman doesn't address every wrong that has, is, and will be perpetuated on black people around the world. Today, off the top of my head, you could look at reports on racial profiling, you could look at the links between various crimes and jail sentences, you could start to count the number of police shootings of African Americans in the USA, and you could go on and on and on. BlackKklansman addresses the complacency that allows all of those wrongs to continue, largely unchecked, and serves as a stark warning that you ignore idiots at your peril. Because idiots can end up being more dangerous than the smarter men who try to stir them up. Why? Because they're idiots. You will rarely convince a smart man to sacrifice himself in an attempt to strike a blow for a cause that is built on nothing more than insecurity, cowardice, and absolute ignorance.

8/10

Here is a link to the main Black Lives Matter page.
Here is a link to the NAACP page.

The disc can be bought here.
Americans can get it here.

The Last Jedi (2017)

It's the same old story when it comes to beloved film franchise instalments. Fans complain if something feels too beholden to everything that has come before it and then you also get an outcry if they think something has made too many changes to the characters or material they have grown with over a number of years.

I can just imagine writer/director Rian Johnson rubbing his hands together in glee as he clicked everything into place for this film, undoubtedly under the watchful eyes of many people with a vested interest in what is probably the most profitable moneymakers in cinema history, in terms of combined box office and merchandising. This is a film that manages to emulate the feeling of devastation and insurmountable odds that featured in The Empire Strikes Back while also still managing to do enough to stand out as something surprisingly unique.

A lot of that comes from the visual design, with a number of set-pieces making the most of the colour red, either alone or as it contrasts with the environment (in much the same way that gunfights and swordfights can be elevated when blood is spattering on to crisp, white snow). More of that unique feeling comes from the ways in which the main characters are shown to have been transformed by their experiences, be they recent or years in the past. Luke is very different from when we last saw him (something that Mark Hamill famously, initially, disagreed with Johnson on). Leia is even more of a military leader than ever before. Kylo Ren continues to try to find a way forward that will give him both notoriety and some personal satisfaction, Rey may or may not be destined to be a Jedi, and heroic pilot Poe Dameron may have to accept the fact that his rash actions are costing too many lives for him to keep careening forward without enough consideration of the risks and reward.

I guess I should mention the plot, although I feel like I already have. Sort of. The Last Jedi is a character piece, it's a war film, it's a sci-fi epic showing entertaining fights that also manages to show people starting to fully realise the consequences of their actions, be they small or huge. That's what it's all about, and the various twists and turns of the plot are largely redundant "filler", in some ways, if you consider how the whole thing begins and ends (wait and see).

Most of the main players from The Force Awakens return, and they're all still very good in their roles. Daisy Ridley and John Boyega remain two sides of a coin depicting unlikely heroes, with the former wondering if she can ever learn to use the force and the latter doing whatever he can physically to give allies time and space. Oscar Isaac continues to be a hugely likable presence as Dameron, which is more essential this time as his character makes a couple of dubious judgment calls. Hamill is very good, darker than we've ever seen him before, Fisher gets a fitting final turn as Leia, and both Adam Driver and Domnhall Gleeson are as entertaining in their evil roles as they were the first time around. Benicio Del Toro and Laura Dern are two of the main newcomers, both do well but it's Dern who is given the better character.

You also get to see BB-8 again, Kelly Marie Tan (another newcomer) is pretty great as Rose Tico, someone else willing to keep doing their part for the war even as the odds become more and more overwhelming, there's a small amount of screentime for Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), Andy Serkis portrays the mysterious Snoke, there's a near-overdose of cuteness in the shape of little creatures called porgs, a near-overdose of CGI in a completely superfluous chase sequence reminiscent of the overstuffed prequel trilogy, plenty of cameo appearances (both obvious and really not so obvious - hard to see faces under those trooper helmets), and another fantastic score from John Williams.

Some will hate it, some will love it. I love it, and I hope that eventually even those who were so up in arms about the decisions made will recognise that Johnson did what needed to be done in order to keep the franchise from fading out before this new story arc was completed.

8/10

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Logan Lucky (2017)

Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring a cast of many familiar faces. Focusing on a big robbery. You could easily forgive the many reviewers who decided to describe this film as a blue-collar take on Ocean's Eleven. That's, basically, what it is.

Channing Tatum plays Jimmy Logan, a working Joe who finds out that he has to be let go by his employers, currently working on a job at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He's also upset by the news that his ex is about to move further away, making it tougher for him to have time with his daughter. So he visits the bar run by his brother (Adam Driver, his character is also a veteran who lost a hand in the war) and starts to formulate a plan to rob the Speedway. The plan relies on a number of skilled individuals, including a safecracker (Daniel Craig) who is currently serving time in prison. Do they actually have a chance of pulling this thing off?

Considering this is the kind of thing that Soderbergh has mastered over the past couple of decades, Logan Lucky is enjoyable enough, but also not as enjoyable as it could be. Unlike other Soderbergh ensemble films, few of the supporting characters make as good an impression as you'd expect. It's a major plus that Tatum, Driver and Craig make a very entertaining trio of leads, otherwise this might have been a complete bust.

The main problem lies with the script, written by a Rebecca Blunt (although the identity of the writer has been question by people who think it may be a pseudonym), which is never that funny, and also doesn't really feel that neat when it comes to the mechanics of the robbery. That may be the point, this isn't a group of smooth operators doing what comes naturally, but a heist movie still needs you to believe in the skill of those performing the main act, which doesn't happen here.

As well as the cast members already mentioned, who do great work, you also get performances from Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Seth MacFarlane, and quite a few others. Keough and Holmes do as well as they can with their characters, while MacFarlane struggles to make his unnecessary character work at all (not his fault).

There's fun to be had here, in the performances and some of the dialogue. You just can't help feeling that, especially considering everyone involved on both sides of the camera, it should be a lot more fun.

6/10

Logan Lucky is available to buy here.
Or, if you're in America, get it here.