Mubi Monday: Orphan (2016)

Not to be confused with the “killer kid” movie from some years previously, Orphan is a drama about the female experience, represented by a number of very talented actresses playing the same character at four different points in her life. Although that could seem tricky, and arguably unnecessary, viewers can take or leave the central conceit as they wish. What really matters is the time spent exploring facets of the female experience.

Director Arnaud des Pallières, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Christelle Berthevas, makes use of connective tissue to show moments in a life shaped by the actions of men, various types of oppression (whether physical, financial, or the pressure on women to have a child), and one or two bad decisions. Shown in a non-chronological way, viewers are drawn to the characters thanks to the excellent cast and the idea that we’re watching someone on sliding on an inexorably downhill trajectory.

There isn’t much point in giving a full summary here. It’s enough to say that one little girl grows into a young woman in a difficult situation, who subsequently grows into a young woman exuding an air of confidence that gives the impression of her being more in control, and some time later lives her life as a woman striving to maintain a content and normal life. The central character is portrayed, at her different ages, by Vega Cuzytek, Solène Rigot, Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Adèle Haenel.

As well as everyone just mentioned, and both Exarchopoulos and Haenel are usually enough to get me to watch anything (particularly the former, one of the best actresses of the last decade, and STILL not being given the recognition she deserves), there are performances here from Gemma Arterton, Jalil Lespert, and  Robert Hunger-Bühler. Each person onscreen, including the many not mentioned here, feels important for their impact on the central character, and the acting is as excellent across the board as it needs to be, and as you would expect from most of these names.

Moving between moments of calm and moments of freneticism, and often showing sex and submission in place of real care and love, as well as how those things can get mixed up and melted together in one big puddle of gooey emotions, Orphan may not cover any new ground, but it retreads a well-worn path with the aim of underlining the many small hurts and wounds that add up to damage that reverberates through an entire lifetime. The script and direction are both top notch, but it’s the acting that really makes this so rewarding.

8/10

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The King's Man (2021)

I am very well aware that I am in the minority for the fact that I enjoyed Kingsman: The Golden Circle a bit more than Kingsman: The Secret Service. But I think I was pretty much in agreement with everyone else when I was seriously underwhelmed by the trailer for The King's Man, a prequel to the other movies that didn't have any of the charismatic leads we'd already enjoyed accompanying on two adventures. It did still have Matthew Vaughn in the director's chair though, and roles for Ralph Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Charles Dance, and Matthew Goode, so maybe it would be alright.

It wasn't.

Set during the first half of the 20th century, The King's Man shows events that lead up to the creation of a new kind of British agent. A soldier that can help win wars without all of the bloodshed and death of a full war. In theory. Fiennes plays Orlando Oxford, a man who wants to help the world avoid further conflict while he also keeps his son (Conrad, played by Harris Dickinson) as safe as possible. This proves very difficult. There's a shadowy super-villain moving pawns into place, including a certain individual named Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), and the stormclouds of war start to gather apace.

Co-written by Vaughn and Karl Gajdusek, based once again on the comic books by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, The King's Man feels like a step back in a film series that should have continued to stride onwards and upwards. What would you rather see, Ralph Fiennes being as good as ever while also being allowed to kick ass, or Eggsy on another ridiculous plot that inevitably leads him into space a la Moonraker? I know which I would prefer.

The cast is too much of a mixed bag to really help. Fiennes plays his part well, but also brings to mind his steely cool and gentlemanly approach to his starring role in The Avengers (which I don’t think anyone really wants brought to mind). Ifans is a real highlight, attacking his larger-than-life character with relish. Artery on and Hounsou are both good, but sadly underused, as is Dance, and the younger cast members are a bit too bland, whether it’s Goode being completely unsubtle or Dickinson being a bit of a wet blanket. I didn’t even mind the dodgy accent from Aaron Taylor-Johnson, considering it was a very small role, because he was a slightly more interesting character than the young man being played by Dickinson.

There are a couple of set-pieces here that are moderately enjoyable, with the best being an lengthy fight with the famously-difficult-to-kill Rasputin, but this is often as disappointing and weak as the trailer implied. The action is rarely impressive, the tone veers all over the place, and the sense of something cool and fun is completely lost.

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: Murder Mystery (2019)

A comedy that throws together Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston for a second time (after they were paired up in the enjoyable Just Go With It), Murder Mystery is a fairly enjoyable comedy thriller that allows the leads to work together just as well as they did the first time around. A lot of people will already be dismissive of it, Sandler's name nowadays is enough to make many steer clear, but this is a perfectly fine way to spend just over an hour and a half.

Sandler is Nick Spitz, a New York police officer who keeps failing the detective exam. He's really good at the detection part, sometimes, but is a lousy shot. Aniston is his wife, Audrey, and she is delighted to hear the "good news" when her husband cannot bring himself to admit that he failed the exam once more. As their wedding anniversary is coming up, it seems like the perfect time for that trip to Europe that had been delayed for years and years. And that's where they meet Charles Cavendish (Luke Evans), who ends up inviting him to a private party on a large and lavish yacht, which is when someone is murdered. And Mr & Mrs Spitz turn out to be very prime suspects in the eyes of Inspector de la Croix (Dany Boon).

Directed by Kyle Newacheck (who I am now familiar with after enduring Game Over, Man!) and written by James Vanderbilt (who has a filmography that includes the high of Zodiac and the low of something like Independence Day: Resurgence), I have to admit that my hopes weren't high for this. As much as I have tried to maintain my positivity when it comes to Sandler movies, his work over the past 10-15 years has been far from his best, to put it mildly. The fact that everyone pulls together to make something moderately entertaining is a very pleasant surprise indeed. Newacheck may not have the best eye, or any sense of style, but he does fine when it comes to keeping the energy building from scene to scene, allowing small gags to pile up in between the attempted bigger laughs (which don't work as well), and generally giving the leads room to play around with their interplay and physical comedy.

Vanderbilt hasn't crafted any kind of comedy classic here but he plays to the strengths of the cast. Sandler and Aniston have great chemistry together, Evans gets to be completely charming with almost every line he utters, and there is fun to be had with Terence Stamp being gruff, David Walliams being a bit catty, Gemma Arterton being a gorgeous actress, and, well, you can see what I mean.

The performances are all decent too, with the not-inconsiderate plus point of Sandler not putting on a "funny" voice for his main character. Everyone I've already mentioned does a good job, and there's also room for fun with John Kaji and Adeel Akhtar, as well as one or two others.

If you're a cynic then you could look at Murder Mystery and say that the thriller aspect isn't as good as it could be, the laughs aren't as prolific, and the set-pieces aren't anywhere near as ambitious as they could be. But that doesn't mean that any of those things are actually bad. They are all enjoyable, without reaching a level of greatness. And I know the fact that many aspects of this film are enjoyable makes the end result a lot better than most of you were expecting.

6/10

You could get yourself a boxset of Sandler movies here.
Americans can get a comedy collection here.

Mubi Monday: Tamara Drewe (2010)

As is mentioned in almost every discussion of Tamara Drewe, it is a film based on a graphic novel (by Posy Simmonds) that is itself loosely, although not too loosely, based on "Far From The Madding Crowd", by Thomas Hardy. The Hardy novel is namechecked just a minute or two into the film, just in case people weren't aware of the connection, and I am sure that fans of his work will have extra fun spotting the similarities in this modernised riff on his work.

I must confess that my knowledge of Hardy extends to knowing of his name and seeing a couple of movies based on his works. I have not, as yet, ever made my way through one of his novels, and the chance of me changing that situation soon looks very unlikely, as my "to watch" and "to read" piles grow in inverse relation to the spare time I have available. I don't say this in an attempt to boast of my ignorance, because I really do wish that I had the time to get through more classic literature, but am rather hoping to acknowledge that others may enjoy Tamara Drewe more than I did.

This film just didn't work for me, which is surprising when you consider the wonderful cast. Gemma Arterton, Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Tamsin Greig, John Allam, and Bill Camp all give good performances, and they are all people I have enjoyed in other roles, but they just can't do enough to overcome the biggest problem; it's hard to care about most of the main characters.

Arterton is Tamara Drewe, a young woman who returns to the small village she grew up in, aiming to renovate the family home and sell it. She's blossomed during her time away, and also had a nose job. The main people taking interest in her return are a farmhand who used to be in love with here (Luke Evans), and maybe still is, a philandering writer (Roger Allam), the long-suffering wife of the philandering writer (Tamsin Greig), and a couple of young girls who spend their time being generally nosey and up to mischief. There's also a rock band playing nearby, which leads to Tamara getting involved with the drummer (Dominic Cooper), who is on the rebound after a very recent and public separation from his partner.

Director Stephen Frears has given us some great films over the years, including at least one personal favourite of mine (The Grifters), so I was pleased to see his name attached to this, along with that great cast. I'm not sure what went wrong here, and maybe other people would argue that nothing at all went wrong anyway, but it feels like he doesn't have a good handle on the material. The script, by Moira Buffini, doesn't help at all, and I am not sure if that is mostly her fault or a fault with the source material, but it creates a number of situations that could have been played out in a number of different ways and then, for me, picks the worst possible variant. The drama doesn't work because of the characters being largely impossible to care about, the comedy doesn't work because it's just not funny enough to make up for the more serious elements, it's not an enjoyable romance, and there aren't even any major consequences for MOST of the main players.

It looks nice enough throughout, the lovely rural setting helps to make this a comfortable vewing experience, it's technically all well and good, and the cast all do what's asked of them, but this is a disappointing film that could have worked better as a 6-part BBC series, in my opinion.

4/10

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Byzantium (2012)

Director Neil Jordan is no stranger to the vampire movie. He did, quite famously, bring Interview With The Vampire to the big screen, somehow managing to craft a brilliant film despite the death of one of the original cast members (River Phoenix), criticism from author Anne Rice (who eventually recanted when she saw the final result), and ridicule from everyone who thought Tom Cruise incapable of effectively portraying the vampire Lestat. Well, Byzantium may not be quite the achievement that Interview With The Vampire is/was, but it's another very good film from a director who provides viewers with consistently interesting works, barring one or two mis-steps.

Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan are the two young women being a bit vampiric. They seem to be able to walk about in daylight, and don't sleep in coffins or anything, but when it comes time to label their characters . . . . . . . . . vampire is the most suitable title. Struggling to make ends meet and avoid scrutiny from the authorities, the two seem stuck in a vicious cycle, with Arterton's character using sex to make money and help her look after the youngster. But things are complicated by a young man (Caleb Landry Jones) who takes more than a passing interest in Ronan's character. As things build up to a climax, viewers are also told more and more of the main backstory to the characters, a tale that allows Jordan to once again refresh and play with the mythology of vampirism.

Not quite as interesting or thought-provoking as it could be, Byzantium is nevertheless a solid entry into the vampire movie subgenre. Written by Moira Buffini, adapting from her own play (and, admirably, the film never feels stagey at any time), there are some very interesting ideas toyed with, including a theory about vampirism being quite a "men only" club, but not enough time given to any of them.

Jordan does his usual great work as director, but his work here is often downplaying anything that would make the story too pretty or evocative of past horror work. This is the life of a vampire shown in all of its mundanity. Sitting between the fangs-out fun of films such as The Lost Boys, and Vamp, and the grimy, downbeat likes of Martin and The Addiction, Byzantium shows just how boring eternal life can be when it means always having to move along every few years and never being able to get close to anyone.

Arterton and Ronan are both fantastic in the lead roles, with the former really making it easy to believe how men could be won over by her, and the latter doing a great job of being an old head on young shoulders. Caleb Landry Jones overdoes the strangeness of his character, and his accent/mumbling doesn't help, but there are better supporting turns from Daniel Mays, as a very sweet man who becomes smitten, Sam Riley, Uri Gavriel, Tom Hollander, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Jonny Lee Miller, having great fun as a complete bastard.

Although this is the weakest of the recent crop of vampire movies from the past few years (fans of fangs will most certainly want to check out We Are The Night and Kiss Of The Damned), it's still well worth a watch thanks to most of the main performances, a few great visual moments, and a thoughtful script.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Byzantium-Blu-ray-Gemma-Arterton/dp/B00BJ0RLMK/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1390686045&sr=1-1&keywords=byzantium+blu