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

The Haunted Mansion (2003)

Based on the popular Disneyland attraction (Disneyland? Walt Disney World? Pardon me if I've picked the wrong park, I've not been to either and I bitterly regret the loss to my childhood), The Haunted Mansion is a fun family horror movie that will entertain children for the duration. Unfortunately, it's not enough fun for anyone older.

Eddie Murphy and Marsha Thomason play Jim and Sara Evers, a married couple who are also successful realtors. Work has been getting in the way of their married life lately, but they plan to make amends for that with a nice weekend away. Just the two of them, plus their two children (Marc John Jefferies and Aree Davis). The start of their weekend away is interrupted, however, when Sara is invited along to a mansion that the owner wishes to put up for sale. Determined to just make a quick stop en route to their weekend destination, the family soon find out that they may be stuck in the mansion for longer than planned. A LOT longer.

With plenty of little touches that will be recognisable to those who have experienced the real-life attraction (which doesn't include me . . . . hmmph . . . . sorry, I'll try to leave my bitterness here) and lots of spooky spectacles in every scene that occurs after the mansion reveals its true colours, this is an easy film to sit back and enjoy, from an aesthetic point of view. The quality of the production design here can't really be faulted, even if some viewers may be as disappointed as I was by the lack of actual kid-friendly scares. There are a few, especially during the initial sequence in which most of the Evers family discover that the mansion is haunted, but those are soon abandoned in favour of standard escapades that could take place in any Disney movie.

Director Rob Minkoff does an okay job, it's certainly all pitched perfectly towards younger viewers, and David Berenbaum's script draws everything together nicely in a way that gives everyone a decent part in the unfolding mystery (yes, of course there's a mystery). Yet, it's strange that the leading man isn't allowed to get more laughs, and it's even stranger that so many moments don't feel as if they make the most of the setting.

Murphy is fun in his role, and Thomason makes for a lovely leading lady, but the supporting cast provides the most enjoyment. Terence Stamp is a delight as a creepy butler, Dina Waters and Wallace Shawn are both wonderful as some deceased servants, and Jennifer Tilly has some fun in a small role, playing a character who simply appears as a head in a crystal ball. Nathaniel Parker has a bit of a thankless role, he's the master of the mansion (and mourning a lost love), but he does fine with it, I guess, and young Jefferies and Davies are both likable enough as young Michael and Megan, respectively, with both adapting surprisingly well to the ghostly activity.

Not really worth your time if you're an adult, but it's a perfectly fine choice if you want to introduce young kids to the pleasures of ghosts 'n' ghouls and things that can go bump in the night. Because it's not always advisable to sit them down in front of The Exorcist. Baby steps are required, baby steps.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Haunted-Mansion-Full-Screen-Edition/dp/B0001A79EO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413713646&sr=8-1&keywords=the+haunted+mansion

For another, more adult, movie choice for today (and most days in October) do get yourself over to this great blog written by Christianne Benedict. I am often bad at sharing the love for other writers, but Christianne is often very good at it, and it's about damn time I returned the favour. Even if she's a much better writer than I am.

Ani-MAY-tion Month: Toy Story (1995)

It's strange now to think of the many, many years before Pixar were such a huge success in the realm of animated movies, but Toy Story certainly announced their arrival in the best way possible. Smart, packed with great gags and characters, a visual delight (although Pixar would develop and improve with each subsequent movie), and benefiting from a premise that will appeal to any child, and anyone who can remember their childhood.

Woody (Tom Hanks) is a cowboy, and he's also young Andy's favourite toy. He loves his life. When nobody else is around, the toys are all able to live the lives that they keep secret from all of us humans. But things change when Andy receives a shiny new toy for his birthday. A Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) action figure. Buzz has a laser, wings, better audio speakers, the lot. He's a super duper, shiny spaceman, and his presence threatens Woody's position as the number one toy in the room. And to add to the frustration, Buzz doesn't realise that he is a toy. He thinks that he is THE Buzz Lightyear.

Directed by John Lasseter, who also developed the story idea with Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft, Toy Story remains not just one of Pixar's best movies, but also a statement of intent. It showed just how in tune they were with audiences, mixing fresh ideas and animation with enough jokes and nostalgia to keep adults happy. The script is packed full of great lines, written by Stanton, Alec Sokolow, Joel Cohen, and one Joss Whedon, and the world of the toys is rendered in a creative, colourful, and brilliantly believable, way by the team of talented animators.

The voice cast is the icing on the cake. Hanks and Allen are both superb as Woody and Buzz, but the film is given even more plus points thanks to the involvement of Don Rickles, Jim Varney, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, R. Lee Ermey, Annie Potts, and, well, basically everyone who lends their voice to any character (including Erik von Detten, who does great work as Sid, the nasty kid who lives next door, and spends a lot of his time damaging toys).

The original, and still the best, Toy Story is an object lesson in how to make a modern movie for the whole family. The tools are used to realise the story, as opposed to being overused just because they're available, the film talks directly to children without ever talking down to them, and both the script and visuals provide enough gags and details to keep boredom at bay, no matter how many times you've already seen it.

10/10

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Chicken Little (2005)

Unjustly overlooked by fans of fun animation, Chicken Little remains a firm favourite of mine and provides a great mix of cute, wacky and outright crazy.

The basic story is all about our titular character (voiced by Zach Braff), an innocent chicken who finds himself the butt of many jokes when he mistakenly tries to warn people that the sky is falling after something hits him on the head. The crowd that gathers around him assumes that it was just an acorn. It wasn't, but just how will Chicken Little manage to convince everyone that he is the only one who knows the worrying truth. Perhaps his friends - Runt Of The Litter (Steve Zahn), Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack) and Fish Out Of Water (Dan Molina) - can be of some use. Perhaps.

Rattling along at a great pace, Chicken Little marries lovely visuals to a multitude of great gags, big and small, and also throws in the usual Disney life lesson. Thankfully, the life lesson part isn't overdone and plays perfectly for the intended audience while the laughs keep coming thick and fast.

The voice cast also includes people like Patrick Warburton, Harry Shearer, Wallace Shawn, Fred Willard, Patrick Stewart, Don Knotts, Amy Sedaris and even Adam West. Which means that it's brilliant.

Lots of people had a hand in forming the screenplay and adding dialogue, including director Mark Dindal, but this doesn't leave the movie feeling overcrowded. On the contrary, Dindal in his directorial role makes sure that everything feels perfectly paced and balanced.

A film that doesn't deserve to be so easily forgotten and/or dismissed - give Chicken Little a viewing and find out how enjoyable it is for yourself.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chicken-Little-Blu-ray-Mark-Dindal/dp/B000MR8SRI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388664621&sr=8-2&keywords=chicken+little