For It Is Man's Number: musical

Showing posts with label musical. Show all posts

Tuesday, 6 January 2026

Wicked: For Good (2025)

Here we are, it's the end point for a fantastical tale, the end point for a fervent fandom, and the end point (or maybe just a pause) on a friendship that we've seen blossom both onscreen and off. Everyone seemed to be keeping their expectations in check for the release of Wicked: For Good, and that caution was justified, considering the general consensus of the first half ending on such an unsurpassable high point with "Defying Gravity".

We join the action almost where we left off at the end of the first movie. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is leaning fully into her "Wicked Witch" image as she attempts to get people to see what a fraud The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) really is. Glinda (Ariana Grande) remains an ally to the Wizard, being used by both him and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) to feed a specific narrative to the people of Oz. Despite this, however, Glinda secretly remains a friend to Elphaba, although that looks set to come to an end when Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) confesses that he is in love with Elphaba. Meanwhile, Elphaba's sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode) has taken on a role in politics that sees her at odds with her sibling, but also allows her to put rules and restrictions in place to keep Boq (Ethan Slater) close to her. Big changes seem to be inevitable, and it may be in the shape of a tornado-relocated house.

If you liked the first instalment of this epic tale of friendship, betrayal, and yellow road-building materials then you're unlikely to be disappointed by this. Filming both films concurrently allows for an easy continuity and consistency from writers Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, as well as director Jon M. Chu. Everyone knew what a hot property this was, but the dream pairing of Erivo and Grande managed to somehow take everything to another level (as much to do with their wonderful press tour moments that went viral as to do with their superb onscreen work). While the visuals can sometimes appear a bit too busy and bright, it's all in line with the vision of a land shaped and manipulated by a charlatan looking to distract and placate the people who look up to him. Would I have liked some more inventive staging and choreography with some of the musical numbers? Absolutely, but there's also a satisfaction to be moved by the simple emotion and powerful voices of the leads when singing the likes of "For Good" and "No Good Deed". And at least both "Wonderful" and "The Girl In The Bubble" try to make up for things with a great selection of tricks and flourishes.

I feel as if I've already said everything I needed to say about Erivo, Grande, Goldblum, and Yeoh, as well as Bailey. They all deliver performances here that are in line with their performances from the first film, although arguably a bit better while freed from having to do all of the establishing scenes that brought them all together. Bode and Slater definitely have a bit more to do, in terms of how their characters affect the main storyline anyway, and it's a good decision to show us fleeting glimpses of a never-fully-visible Dorothy that we can continue to imagine is the iconic Judy Garland version of the character.

This was very enjoyable, especially if you're already familiar with other Oz tales, the Gregory Maguire novel, and the live stage show. Watching the pieces come together in time for the expected finale is a delight, although, as mentioned at the very start of this review, the film can't ever reach the heights that were reached in the first instalment. Die-hard fans can probably add a point or two to my own rating, and I can only imagine the many themed singalong evenings and fancy-dress parties being planned now that this has hit home viewing platforms. I might even plan my own mega Oz-a-thon one day soon. I have tended to love every cinematic adventure set in this world.

7/10

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Thursday, 25 December 2025

Christmas Karma (2025)

While there are good and bad things in Christmas Karma, one of my favourite things wasn't really to do with the film itself. I was most amused the the potential reaction to the film by red-faced "patriots" who might find their noses put out of joint as they started to moan about "bloody foreigners, coming over here, and repurposing our classic Dickensian Christmas tales." Considering the constant attempts to get everyone worked up over some (non-existent) war on Christmas, and considering the recent extra toxicity surrounding discussions on immigration, asylum seekers, and national identity, Christmas Karma feels almost deliciously well-timed.

You know the story, which means I can just go through the main players. Kunal Nayyar plays Eshaan Sood (uttering "Bakwaas!" as the Hindi/Urdu equivalent of "Bah, humbug!"). Leo Suter and Pixie Lott are Bob and Mary Cratchit, respectively, complete with a set of children that includes a Tiny Tim (Freddie Marshall-Ellis). Danny Dyer is a black cab driver who helps to bookend things, Eva Longoria is the Ghost Of Christmas Past, Billy Porter is the Ghost Of Christmas Present, and, ummmm, Boy George is the Karma Chamel . . . I mean . . . the Ghost Of Christmas Future. Hugh Bonneville is hard to recognise as Marley, Allan Corduner is Mr. Fezzywig, and Charithra Chandran is a lost love named Bea Fernandez.

Adapted from the source material and directed by Gurinder Chadha, Christmas Karma doesn't get off to the best start. It feels a bit clumsy, and may well make others cringe as I did. The songs aren't great, which is an extra stumbling block for a musical, despite the whole thing being worked on by Gary Barlow, Shaznay Lewis (also onscreen very briefly), and Nitin Sawhney, and there are some major weak spots in the casting of the supporting players. Things pick up once Sood is whisked away by the Ghost Of Christmas Past though, and the use of the familiar tale to explore the immigrant experience, as well as wealth disparity, allows for everything to feel like a very worthwhile wander back through this well-trodden path. Then it sadly gets stuck again when Boy George appears and just looks as if he's loitering around until enough people notice that he's sulking.

It's always clear to see what Chadha is aiming for, which makes it even more of a shame when a few of the sequences just don't work, either due to the cast, the staging of a musical number, or just the familiarity of certain moments working against it. While I don't remember any of the tunes right now, there is at least one decent number in the beginning, middle, and end of this. That helps, and it's interesting that it's the more uplifting and celebratory songs that work best, perhaps due to them requiring some more choreography and . . . fun.

It's a bit jarring to see Nayyar playing older than his actual age, and he is unsteady in the earliest scenes when he has to be miserly and mean without viewers seeing any of the background, but the performance really starts to work better once Sood is free of normal laws of space and time. Suter, Lott, and Marshall-Ellis aren't very good, I'm sorry to say, and that makes this particular incarnation of the Cratchit family a bit harder to care for than many others we've seen over the years. Longoria is fun, Porter brings some essential colour and joie de vivre to his role, and Dyer at least feels like a standard cheeky London cab driver. Chandran is very good in her role, aka the one who got away, and there are a lot of cast members with less screentime delivering very good work as they help to show a backstory that involves our lead being forcibly wrenched from his home in Uganda to start life anew here in Britain.

This isn't a new classic, compared to other Christmas movies and compared to other interpretations of A Christmas Carol, but it's a good attempt to mix the old and the new, and the way it reworks the backstory of the main character is admirable. I would rewatch it, but only if others had decided to hijack my TV for a couple of hours.

6/10

Friday, 21 November 2025

Noir-vember: Chicago (2002)

The fact that Chicago is as good as it is seems to be a testament to the songs, the staging, and some of the casting. I don't think Renée Zellweger feels right in the main role, and I never have, but she does well enough to try and keep up with absolutely superb turns from Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah, Richard Gere, and John C. Reilly.

Things start with Zeta-Jones, playing Velma Kelly. We see her performing a routine, "All That Jazz", that she used to perform with her sister. She's now a solo act, having murdered her sister. She hopes to do alright in the long run though, having the allure of celebrity on her side, as well as a smooth and brilliant lawyer, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). She ends up begrudgingly moved out of the spotlight, however, when Roxie Hart (Zellweger) is jailed for the killing of her lover. Roxie may not have had any profile before the crime, but she sure knows how to create one now, especially with a little help from Matron Mama Morton (Latifah). Cold-blooded and ambitious, Roxie not only wants to escape an appointment with the hangman, she wants to turn her celebrity status into something that lasts after she gets out of prison. But getting out of prison will also depend on, yes, the suave Billy Flynn.

Adapted for the screen by Bill Condon, who has the benefit of great source material to work from, Chicago holds up as one of the best musicals of the 21st century, and, despite the period setting, works very well as a look at the constant allure of celebrity and the way famous people can take advantage of their position to manipulate a narrative. Director Rob Marshall does a hell of a job with his first cinematic release, arguably delivering a debut that he never bettered (although I am saying that before having seen absolutely everything in his filmography).

I don't want to feel as if I'm being overly rude so I'll just say that Zellweger remains the weakest part of the movie, albeit perfectly fine when supported by the many others doing much better work. Zeta-Jones loves every minute of her vamp character, and the film sizzles when she's onscreen, Latifah is a lot of fun, and gets a great number that introduces her character, and Gere is such a perfect fit for his role that it's unsurprising that he ends up involved in the two of the most well-staged numbers in the film. Reilly plays a wonderful sap, somehow making you feel sorry for him every time he is used and betrayed, and there's also room for enjoyable moments that involve Taye Diggs, Dominic West, Colm Feore, Lucy Liu, and the inimitable Christine Baranski.

But let's face it, a musical lives or dies by the musical numbers. This is what makes Chicago such a satisfying watch. The songs are catchy, the choreography is inventive and fun, and it's very rewatchable. "All That Jazz" might be the one that everyone knows, and was the only one I was familiar with when I first watched the film, but "When You're Good To Mama", "Cell Block Tango", "We Both Reached For The Gun", "I Can't Do It Alone", "Mr. Cellophane", and "Razzle Dazzle" are all brilliant in different ways, not to mention the other numbers that help to make up the runtime.

It really is a shame about that bit of mis-casting, but the rest of the film is so good that it still comes very close to being a bit of a modern classic. Maybe one day I'll be able to overlook my biggest problem with it. Not today though.

8/10

Sunday, 8 June 2025

Netflix And Chill: Tick, Tick . . . Boom! (2021)

I have made the same mistake too many times already, but I am sure that I will continue to make it every year for the rest of my life. Some movies just don't seem to grab me, despite the fact that I like any of the main players involved, and despite some praise being thrown around. Tick, Tick . . . Boom! was another one of those films. I'm a big fan of Andrew Garfield, but I wasn't all that excited by the idea of a musical biopic about the famous Jonathan Larson (a musical theatre figure best known for the phenomenan that is Rent). More fool me.

It's the early 1990s. Larson (Garfield) takes to the stage to perform "Tick, Tick . . . Boom!". It's based on his struggles to keep himself motivated, keep himself from alienating his loved ones (mainly his girlfriend, Susan, played here by Alexandra Shipp, and a very good friend, Michael, played by Robin de Jesús), and try to make some kind of impact on the musical theatre world as he senses the titular tick tick reminding him of time marching ever onward. There's also the constant shadow of the AIDS crisis adding a sense of fear and urgency to things.

Based on the work of Larson, which was the kind of semi-autobiographical tale you suspect added plenty of creative liberties around a constant core of naked truth and raw pain running through it, this is turned into a satisfying and entertaining movie experience by writer Steven Levenson and director Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda has some experience with musicals, of course (I'm jokingly understating his own success), and he seems to be a perfect choice to helm this, constantly moving around Larson to show him from various angles, and various distances, as he tries to balance out his selfishness, his creative drive, and the love that he has for others he wants to keep in his life.

Garfield is fantastic in the lead role. He's great with both the seriously dramatic moments and also the moments of humour, but he's also really good with the scenes that require him to sing and dance. And I would argue that nobody does a better damp-eyed sad face than that man, who could star in yet another remake of The Heartbreak Kid that would just be footage of him walking up to people in the street and wobbling his tear ducts ever so slightly until they are in floods of tears. Shipp and Jesús are also very good, and they show our main character the different life options available without becoming ridiculously paper-thin stereotypes. Vanessa Hudgens is a good fit for the role of Karessa, a stage performer who helps to deliver Larson's full creative vision, and there's fun to be had from seeing Bradley Whitford portray the famous Stephen Sondheim, particularly in a scene that has him disagreeing with the opinion of Walter Bloom (head of a musical theatre workshop, played by the one and only Richard Kind). Others worth mentioning are Jonathan Marc Sherman (as Ira Weitzman), Joshua Henry (as Roger), Ben Levi Ross (as Freddy), and Judith Light playing an agent who doesn't seem a million miles away from the comic creation we used to see struggling to get work for Joey Tribbiani in Friends.

Considering my ignorance of Larson's work, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Tick, Tick . . . Boom! was able to quickly win me over with the wit and energy of the lyrics and staging of the musical numbers. It's not up there with the very best, but it succeeded in getting me to occasionally tap my feet and enjoy songs I was hearing for the very first time. That's no mean feat, and I'm sure that those who already know Larson's work will find more treats and get even more from this.

Now, excuse me, I'm off to listen to "Therapy" (which was my favourite song from this) and convince myself that I really should eventually watch Rent at some point.

8/10

Friday, 14 March 2025

Better Man (2024)

I was as bemused as everyone else when I heard that we were getting a Robbie Williams biopic, doubly so when it was revealed that Robbie himself would be presented in the form of a monkey. It’s no surprise to see how poorly this performed outside the UK, certainly not now I am aware of how relatively unknown the central figure is outwith the UK, but it is a pleasant surprise to find out that a) this is really good, and b) the whole gimmick really works in service of how the story is told.

The film has input from Robbie Williams himself, but also boasts a fine vocal performance from Jonno Davies (who, for the most part, gives us a singing monkey perfectly in line with how Robbie sounded in his heyday). We see most of his life, from his early days living with his gran (Alison Steadman) and being taught a dangerous lesson about the “gift” of celebrity by his father (Steve Pemberton) to his time in Take That, a time when he achieved huge fame at a very young age, to that difficult journey of re-establishing himself as a solo performer. And all through this rollercoaster, Robbie finds himself coping with a mix of excessive alcohol and numbing drug use.

Directed by Michael Gracey (helmer of the very successful The Greatest Showman), who also co-wrote the screenplay with Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, based on the tale as told by Williams, this is an enjoyably wild and turbulent ride through the funhouse that is celebrity life. Viewers get to see the poisoned chalice handed to Williams, arguably tainted by his own father shaping his need for constant attention and validation, and the many familiar moments, for those who have followed even some of Williams’ career, are balanced with scenes of depth and darkness that were hidden away from the public eye while the singer was seriously spiraling. He has since been very open and honest about his lowest lows, but it is still shocking to see them displayed onscreen, even (especially?) with the main character being depicted in simian form.

The effects department do fantastic work, and that “casting” makes it easier for moments in which our lead glimpses various past incarnations of himself, but it’s still worth praising both Williams and Davies for their vocal turns. Steadman and Pemberton are also deserving of equal praise, playing the people who end up casting huge shadows over the life of Robbie. Where the film stumbles is in some of the other casting. I somehow didn’t mind the casting of Take That, or manager Nigel Martin Smith, perhaps because I could more easily accept them as one organic mass, but I was taken out of the movie slightly when a few scenes featured the likes of Nicole Appleton and the Gallagher brothers (the latter portrayed by actors who seem to be doing poor impressions rather than proper portrayals, although that is probably just down to the Gallagher brothers being just as constantly laughable as they have always appeared to me).

What really disappoints is the lack of impressive musical numbers though. Some of the expected Robbie hits do make an appearance, and they are suitably rearranged to match the visuals they are accompanying, but there are only one or two sequences that come close to fully realising the potential of the material. Rock DJ ends up being a highlight that is never matched, but there are some unexpectedly beautiful and moving moments soundtracked by ballads that could have easily been eye-rollingly cheesy.

I would risk saying that, whether you are familiar with the main character or not, this is worth a watch. Fans, both past and present, will get a bit more out of it, but it does enough cinematically to make it interesting enough for those who might even just assume it is pure fiction. It’s kind of like those dark (and forgotten?) David Essex movies from the 1970s. But with a monkey.

7/10

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Sunday, 12 January 2025

Netflix And Chill: Emilia Pérez (2024)

I assure you that I had this scheduled for a viewing for some time before it came away as the big winner at the 2025 Golden Globes ceremony. Emilia Pérez ended up on my radar when it started to garner praise in the second half of last year, but I wasn't sure when I would get a chance to finally see it. That chance came around when it dropped on Netflix, but I ended up waiting a while as other feature films from 2024 continued to vie for my attention.

This is the story of the titular Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón), who starts the movie as a cartel kingpin known as Manitas. Manitas wants to disappear, wants a whole new life, and wants their family to be safe. They enlist the help of a lawyer named Rita (Zoe Saldaña), and everything soon falls into place. Years pass, and Rita ends up working for her former employer once more, this time ensuring that her wife (Jessi, played by Selene Gomez) and children move in with her, offering the explanation that Emilia is a caring cousin of the apparently-dead Manitas. Emilia also looks to use her ill-gotten money to start helping those who have had their lives destroyed by crime and cartels, but things grow more complicated as she watches Jessi start moving on with her own life in a way that could lead to the family moving away.

There are a number of different elements here that are worthy of consideration. First of all, writer-director Jacques Audiard (although there are a number of other names involved here throughout the writing process) is someone who hasn't really made a bad movie yet, from the seven or eight that I have seen by now. Secondly, this is a musical. Third, and arguably the most important, is . . . well, I think I should use a whole new paragraph to discuss that.

As women try to make progress in Hollywood, and as other people start to push for representation in films and on TV, there's a reasonable argument made about leaving room for them to make mistakes. Equality will only be real when all film-makers have the same time and space as white male film-makers, who all tend to get another chance after delivering something that either under-performs or outright stinks. I would say that this also applies to the LGBTQ+ community, in general, and, to get to my point as it relates to this film, the portrayal of transgender characters. I wasn't really sure if Emilia Pérez really was about a trans woman, or whether it was about a criminal going to extreme lengths to move on from an old life. Both of those things could be true, or neither. Either way, Emilia Pérez isn't actually, from my own limited perspective, a film featuring a transgender lead character that stays focused on the transgender experience. It's actually very familiar territory, but that territory looks different with this main character at the heart of it. I would also say that it's not really that great a film, but I hope that it becomes one of many such films that keep pushing for equality and representation of those who would have previously not been so celebrated for their involvement, on either side of the camera, with these kinds of stories.

I cannot fault the cast, and particular praise should go to both Gascón and Saldaña. The former does a great job of showing how her new life provides a real mix of regret and relief, the latter goes through a very similarly turbulent journey for very different reasons. Gomez is also very good, but fares better when her character isn't as central to things as she becomes in the third act. Adriana Paz is the last person I have to mention, making a strong impression with her few scenes, showing a brilliant mix of vulnerability and self-protection that Emilia admires, and is moved by, and there's also a role for Édgar Ramírez that doesn't really let him do much.

The pacing works quite well for the 132-minute runtime, and the performances ensure that every scene has something compelling in it, but the songs never feel strong enough, moments of real creativity and visual flair are few and far between, and anyone who has seen more than a handful of films will know where things are going by the time we get to the halfway point (if not before).

Maybe that's why Emilia Pérez is worth celebrating though. Maybe it's a film with a transgender character at the heart of it that is happy to not be any kind of super-sharp and super-smart modern classic. Maybe it's progress to have a film like this that is just okay. Or maybe I'll need to revisit it one day, and perhaps see something more worthwhile in it.

6/10

Friday, 5 April 2024

Mean Girls (2024)

Maybe it is my brain refusing to accept the passage of time, maybe it is the idea that turning Mean Girls into a musical isn’t a very good idea (although this was already a stage show before being turned into this film), but I was not looking forward to seeing this. The cast of the original movie were all so perfect, the script was consistently brilliant, and it hasn’t exactly faded away into irrelevance since it first hit our screens. Despite my major misgivings, and an extra Spidey-sense tingle when they advertised this without letting people know it was a musical, I tried to stay open-minded. I needn’t have bothered. This is pretty dire.

Angourie Rice plays Cady Heron, a teenage girl who ends up experiencing the ups and downs of high school when she finally gets a chance to attend one after time spent being home-schooled by her mother (Jenna Fischer) while they lived in Africa. Cady struggles, but is soon befriended by Janis (Aul’i’ Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey). After Janis and Damian explain the school cliques to Cady, and then see her unexpectedly befriended by “the plastics”, they come up with a plan to destabilize and break down the established heirarchy. It all relies on taking down the top mean girl, Regina George (Reneé Rapp), and her two main confidants (Karen, played by Avantika, and Gretchen, played by Bebe Wood).

With Tina Fey still in charge of the writing, having adapted Rosalind Wiseman’s book for the original movie and then worked on the musical, it’s impossible to call this a completely laugh-free zone. Unfortunately, the funniest lines are the lines that worked so well in the first film, and were arguably all delivered better by that original cast (with no offence intended to the players here).

Married co-directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. feel locked in by the script, and they aren’t helped by the weak selection of songs, all of which lack energy and creative staging. The production design, wardrobe choices, etc. all work very well, but the script and direction stumble in between each one of the unwelcome songs.

The cast try hard, and it is because of them that I kept willing this to improve before the ending rolled along. Rice is a decent lead, although she does better with the wide-eyed innocence than she does in the third act of the film, and Rapp is such a great Regina that a better film around her would show her to be equal to the Regina played by Rachel McAdams. Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles, but somehow don’t do quite as well, Fischer is sweet in her few scenes, and Busy Philipps is fun as the wannabe-cool mom this time around. Sadly, the rest of the cast have to settle for being lesser replacements for their original counterparts. Cravalho, Spivey, Avantika, and Wood are all good. They just aren’t as good as those who made the roles their own the first time around. The same can be said of Christopher Briney (playing the young man who catches Cady’s eye) and Mahi Alam (head of the mathletes).

If you love the original Mean Girls then I don’t imagine you will love this. If you have yet to see it then I don’t imaging you will love this. It is hard to think of who will get the most from it, especially when the original film is just so much better, and isn’t punctuated by unmemorable and unnecessary songs.

3/10

Monday, 19 February 2024

Mubi Monday: Love Songs (2007)

I have generally enjoyed the films of writer-director Christophe Honoré, although there are one or two that are far below the usual standard of his other explorations of love and other emotions, often messy ones. Love Songs is a good one, and it's interesting to see it so soon after my recent rewatch of Past Lives, a film I noted as being all about a specific kind of grief. Love Songs is also about grief, but it's a more traditional grief, even if it is intertwined with love and sex.

Louis Garrel plays Ismaël, a young man in a relationship with Julie (Ludivine Sagnier). Julie ends up leading them into a playful love triangle with Alice (Clotilde Hesme), which seems like a win-win situation for all involved, until the whole thing is broken up by circumstances outwith their control. Ismaël struggles to deal with the best way to move forward, as do those who end up caring from her, whether close to him or standing a bit further away.

A film full of punctuation, in terms of both main plot points and occasional songs that the characters break into (hence the title), Love Songs is an engrossing and well-handled study of someone processing a whole load of conflicting feelings that are all hitting him from different directions at the same time. Garrel doesn’t so much play a young man as he does an actual buoy, staying in place as the choppy waters around him make him bob and shift around without being able to drag him under.

Honoré makes use of the chosen format to lighten what could have been a very draining viewing experience. The songs are sometimes rough, and you get no dazzling choreography or super-witty wordplay here, but they successfully show people bursting out emotions that they simply cannot keep to themselves any longer. What could have been tiresome and pretentious works brilliantly thanks to the committed cast and the juxtaposition of the form and content.

Garrel is very good in his main role, but the rest of the cast are just as good, and all cast a large shadow over his life. Sagnier and Hesme are both sweet and interestingly connected with different kinds of energy, Chiara Mastroianni is excellent in the role of Jeanne, Julie’s sister, and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet is a good addition when he comes into the movie in the second half to provide some extra potential confusion and/or comfort.

It’s hard to think of who else will enjoy this as much as I did. I guess those who are familiar with other films from Honoré will get plenty from it, especially as he is using a few people he has worked with numerous times before, but some may be frustrated by it tip-toeing between darker themes and scenes often played out with some positivity being put on display for the benefit of others around the central character. It worked for me though, and if I end up being the only one who loved it . . . so be it. I hope that isn’t the case though.

8/10

Friday, 2 February 2024

The Color Purple (2023)

I was worried about making this my first full experience of The Color Purple, but I felt that my experience of the story was long overdue. Having not read the book by Alice Walker, nor seen the previous film adaptation by Steven Spielberg (I have to be in just the right headspace to watch something I anticipate being so heavy-going, which is why I have STILL yet to watch Schindler’s List), I was vaguely aware of the fact that it had also been turned into a successful musical, but I had no idea how that would work with the disturbing content. Having now watched this film, an adaptation that uses numbers from the musical, u still have no idea how the two elements are supposed to work together. Because they don’t, not for me anyway, but some others disagree.

Here’s a very basic plot summary. Celie (Fantasia Barrino) has been abused by her father, and has subsequently given birth to children that were almost immediately taken away from her. She is then handed over to be married to Mister (Colman Domingo), an abusive and horrid man who just wants a woman to look after his older children and keep the house in order. Mister is angered when his son, Harpo (Corey Hawkins), becomes involved in a serious relationship with the confident and outspoken Sofia (Danielle Brooks), but his mood is lifted by the arrival of a woman he obviously prefers to his own mistreated wife, a singer named Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson).

With writer Marcus Gardley translating Marsha Norman’s stage version of the material into movie form, it’s hard to be overly critical of a film that has the hurdle of such a strange mix at the heart of it. The script has moments that still work, powerful moments that remain as effective and shocking today as they did when they were first written, but viewers know that the tone and flow of the narrative will eventually be spoiled by some musical numbers. Which is easy to accept if the musical numbers are memorable and impressive enough. With perhaps one exception, these are not.

Director Blitz Bazawule hasn’t done anything else that I’m familiar with, but his relatively small filmography has at least a couple of entries pointing towards the reason for putting him at the head of this production. He does well enough, although I do wish the visuals throughout had been more interesting, if they had made a stronger choice on how to depict the world we’re taken into, but is as hampered as the writer by the source material.

The cast, thankfully, do great work with what they are given. Barrino may be depressingly passive for most of her journey, at least until she finds even deeper reserves of courage amidst the ongoing abuse and indignities, but she remains sweet and easy to root for throughout, showing someone trying to make the best of a situation that is seemingly destined to never improve. Domingo plays a loathsome figure, supported in his choices by his own father (Louis Gossett Jr.) in one or two scenes, and he doesn’t try to sugar-coat his brutishness, for the most part. Hawkins is good, playing an entitled young man who seems to be very much poised between turning out good or bad, and a number of other supporting cast members do solid work. But it’s Brooks and Henson who stand out, both portraying women who refuse to stay in whatever pigeonhole the world wants to put them in. The film rises up whenever one of these two women appears onscreen, and they ultimately make the whole thing feel bearable. They let the viewers remember that things can change in much the same way that they inspire hope in our lead character.

It’s all put together well enough, this certainly doesn’t feel lazy or careless, but The Color Purple still remains, for me, a powerful story that shouldn’t be rudely interrupted by occasional songs. I look forward to anything that these cast and main crew members do next. I just really hope that it’s not another musical.

5/10

Thursday, 1 December 2022

Spirited (2022)

It’s not the worst thing to have a new version of A Christmas Carol made available to audiences every few years, even if no newer version can ever hope to do a better job than The Muppets. Spirited is a musical comedy that places Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer in the lead roles, playing characters very familiar to anyone with even a passing acquaintance of the classic Dickens Christmas tale. Which is pretty much everyone.

Reynolds is Clint Briggs, a man who has built a career on playing the public like a violin. He manufactures outrage, knows how to manipulate everyone around him, and doesn’t have time for anything in his life outwith his work and ego. Ferrell is the Ghost Of Christmas Present, tasked alongside the Ghost Of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani) and the Ghost Of Christmas Yet To Come (Tracy Morgan) to change the ways of Briggs. That could be tough though. He is labelled an “irredeemable”. But there was one other famous character transformed by ghosts who was once considered “irredeemable”, and he might be the person in the eBay position to help Briggs change his ways.

Directed by Sean Anders, who also co-wrote the film with frequent collaborator John Morris, Spirited is enjoyable enough for those who like the leads (including Octavia Spencer, playing Kimberly, the main assistant to Briggs, and currently having her own journey towards what she views as damnation or redemption). Sadly, there’s little else here to make it worth recommending.

What you get is a musical without decent musical numbers (with the exception of a fun number called “Good Afternoon”), a comedy without enough great laughs, and a riff on a classic tale that insists on breaking the fourth wall as characters remind you that they are all as aware of the plot and characters as viewers are. Give me a Deadpool riff on A Christmas Carol and I would be very happy, but this half-arsed attempt to be all things to everyone ends up just disappointing all but the most undemanding viewers. It’s a hard film to absolutely hate, but even those who enjoy it would probably admit that it could have been tweaked and improved in a number of different ways.

The cast are trying to do good work, and end up impressing most when they have moments they can play with what feels like genuine earnestness. Ferrell and Spencer have some lovely scenes together, and Reynolds almost gets a chance to show some of his actual acting chops during times when his character is being genuinely moved while revisiting the worst moment of his life. The laughs actually come more readily from the supporting cast, with both Mani and Morgan working well with what they’re given, and the likes of Patrick Page, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, and Andrea Anders do decent work in the less comedic/super-serious roles.

I am not sure what would have helped make this a better film. A less smug script, I suppose. Pushing both Ferrell and Reynolds further out of their comfort zones. And better song and dance routines. Definitely better song and dance routines. Despite the budget and special effects, there’s also a constant feeling of this being staged very much like a theatre show. That is something I would enjoy, if I was watching it IN a theatre. Cinematically, it feels a lot less satisfying.

You cannot really go wrong with any version of A Christmas Carol. It’s a tale that ensures for good reason. It’s the main reason that Spirited works at all. It’s just a shame that so many other elements drag it down, like the heavy chains carried around in death by Jacob Marley.

5/10

Monday, 6 September 2021

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

Sunday, 9 May 2021

Netflix And Chill: Rocketman (2019)

Okay, here's the thing about my review of Rocketman. I had to decide early on whether I wanted to mention Bohemian Rhapsody. Part of me thought it was unfair to do a piece comparing and contrasting the two. Another part of me realised that this film highlights just how much was wrong with the other film, and they do have a lot of connective tissue (from the onscreen subject matter to the use of Dexter Fletcher behind the camera).

This is the story of how Elton John became Elton John, from his humble and quite difficult childhood years, as Reginald Dwight, through a number of years blurred by a quest for love that also saw him embracing excess in every part of his life, from his stage presence to his problems with alcohol and drugs. That's about all you need to know about this musical journey through the life of Elton John. And it obviously helps if you like at least some of his songs . . . and who doesn't like at least some of his songs?

The best decisions made by director Dexter Fletcher and writer Lee Hall involve the staging of this material. What you get is a proper musical, with a proper feeling of artifice at every turn. Hall has a solid background in films that either make great use of music or adapt stage work to screen (having worked on the likes of Billy Elliot, War Horse, and, errrrr, Cats). And Fletcher had a big hit with the film adaptation of Sunshine On Leith, of course, and seems to have a knack for creating rousing moments that prove to be easy audience-pleasers. It helps that Elton himself is the kind of figure you can imagine seeing the world in such an overdone and stylish way, working for many years with a hazy filter of booze and drugs over his trademark spectacles.

Taron Egerton is superb in the lead role, very much a believable combination of the tortured artist and the constant showman. It's a superb transformation, and arguably his best onscreen performance to date (which comes after a burgeoning career already full of pretty great turns). Jamie Bell is Bernie Taupin, a vital figure in Elton's life, and he's okay, left to be the one really decent figure in a sea of people who seem to be either manipulating or using our lead, or both. Bryce Dallas Howard and Steven Mackintosh are fairly horrible parents, but both are outshone by the deliberate coldness and cruelty of John Reid, which allows Richard Madden to impress in a performance that paints him in a very unflattering light, both physically and in terms of his character.

Although there are moments in which Elton John licks his wounds and indulges in a session or two of self-pity, deservedly so, the other big plus about the film is the self-awareness. We're not being shown a saint, at times we're not even being shown someone being very nice at all. We're shown someone with a huge amount of talent who took a long time to find the coping mechanisms required to maintain some kind of mental equilibrium. And he's often mistreated by those who should have been there to help him.

It's a happy film, overall, but there's plenty of unhappiness to wade through on the way to the ending we all know is waiting. The songs help to offset the darker moments, as do the wardrobe choices and the cutting wit of the dialogue at times. It's also deceptively inspiring. I hope anyone who has spent time trying to maintain toxic relationships can look at this and realise that cutting those people from your life can absolutely complement any attempt to cut out any health-endangering vice that you may have. As the life of Elton John proves, you can start to focus on your health and true happiness at any age. You may stumble, you may not always have the focus or motivation, but making that start is the best thing you can do. And it may just lead to a whole new lease of life for you. It did for him.

And one last testament to the film, I wrote this review while listening to a playlist of Elton John songs. Because I was reminded of how many of them I really like.

8/10

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Friday, 5 February 2021

Moonwalker (1988)

Cast your mind back, if you can, to the late 1980s. Michael Jackson, as yet untainted by any serious allegations, was massive. I really don't think there was anyone more famous at that time. He was certainly the biggest pop star on the planet, and arguably the most famous person in the world. His appearance had changed considerably, he had a pet chimp named Bubbles, there were rumours of him sleeping in an oxygen tank, and his eccentricity peaked, without any dark clouds gathered overhead (to our knowledge). I was allowed to pick my two main presents when I turned thirteen. I was becoming a teenager, almost an adult by then (to my mind). I picked up the Star Wars RPG manual (a superb tome that I absolutely loved reading through, even if I never did play the thing). And I HAD to get "Bad", on cassette, with a notebook and pencil packaged alongside it. That birthday is one of the clearest memories I have from my childhood years, and was one of my best birthdays ever.

Then came Moonwalker, the movie that Michael Jackson made, based on a story by Michael Jackson, and starring Michael Jackson. Jerry Kramer and Colin Chilvers may be the directors, but this is a Michael Jackson movie. David Newman may be the writer, but this is a Michael Jackson movie. In fact, in 1988 it was THE Michael Jackson movie that any Michael Jackson fan could have wanted. Looking at it nowadays . . . it's a very different experience.

There's an extended opening montage sequence, mashing up a number of Jackson hits (both with the Jackson Five and on his own), and then you get a slim plot. Michael has to spend some time avoiding some very excited fans, and he then becomes the guardian figure to three children (played by Sean Lennon, Kelley Parker, and Brandon Adams), allowing them to see some of his major dance sequences, a la "Smooth Criminal", and protecting them from the evils of drug-dealing Mr. Big (Joe Pesci), who wants to get every kid in the world hooked on his product.

Fascinating for a number of reasons, Moonwalker may be one of the most interesting vanity projects of all time, not only because of the music and visuals, but also because of the way it shows Jackson and his worldview. He wants to be cute and innocent one minute, he wants to be raunchy and sexy the next. He can make anything possible through the power of his dance moves. He likes to transform into different forms. And, most interesting of all, he views a large section of his fanbase as voracious animals who want to tear various strips off him, feeding their hunger while Jackson gives and gives all he can.

Is this a great movie when compared to other proper movies? No. Is it a fascinating and entertaining movie that celebrates someone at the peak of their powers? Yes. Unfortunately, it has an earnestness and lack of self-awareness that helps other star vehicles to be more enjoyable (yes, I'm going to mention Spice World again). Whether or not you can watch it now without considering the accusations made against its star, to simply view it as the time capsule it is and to enjoy the soundtrack, that's up to you. I can. But I also have the strength of that thirteenth birthday memory to boost my opinion of the whole thing.

6/10

Friday, 26 April 2019

Anna And The Apocalypse (2017)

Written by Alan McDonald and the late Ryan McHenry (expanding upon his 2011 short, Zombie Musical), Anna And The Apocalypse is a fun time for people who can accept that it mixes some gore gags with teen drama, a bit of comedy, some musical numbers, and a wee bit of added Scottishness. It's a good film, almost a great one (and many have already showered it with love as they watch and rewatch it while singing along with the songs), and one I was happy to finally see a little while ago, and then buy on DVD. Some of the goodwill towards it MAY have been built up by some of that special film festival atmosphere and the attitudes of those involved (having heard director John McPhail in conversation a few times now, I find the guy hilarious and wonderful) but I don't think that should take away from the fact that the film still had to be good enough to win people round when it started to "do the rounds".

Anna Shepherd (Ella Hunt) is the Anna of the title, which means she's going to be right there in the middle of a horrible zombie epidemic. At Christmas. It breaks out around her before she realises what is happening, leading to her initially seeking shelter in her workplace, the local bowling alley. But she won't be alone. Alongside her will be her best friend, John (Malcolm Cumming), and an assorted mixed bag of characters including Steph (Sarah Swire), Chris (Christopher Leveaux), and eventually Nick (Ben Wiggins). All of them have different ways of dealing with the situation and different motivations. Some just want to survive, some seem to have fun killing zombies, and some still hope to be reunited with loved ones. Mark Benton is Anna's father, who ends up stuck in her school with a horrible headmaster (played by Paul Kaye) and other survivors, including Lisa (Chris's partner, played by Marli Siu).

Considering the relatively small budget that this must have had, Anna And The Apocalypse is a film that looks and feels very nicely put together. The quality of the sound and camerawork is excellent throughout, if sometimes a bit rough around the edges when it comes to some of the FX work and the cheats used to imply a bigger picture just offscreen, and the only major gripe I have with is the lack of choreography that feels creative enough in many of the musical numbers. Even then, I understand the time and money needed to work on these things so it's not something I find unforgivable. Don't expect this to be The Greatest Showman with zombies and you should be okay.

For most of my movie reviews I tend to work through the various performances from the main cast members to highlight any great, or very poor, work. I'm not going to do that here. It feels as if it would be unfair. Not everyone is on quite the same level, that's all I will say, but most at least get a moment in which they shine, or have a way of working with the others that shows why they were picked for their role. Okay, I'll say that Hunt is great in the lead role, and that Cumming is so likeable that it's almost sickening, dammit, but you'll just have to see how you feel about everyone else when you watch the movie.

I'm also not going to grade every song on the soundtrack. I wish a few of them were a bit catchier but, as I have said before, an original musical is bloody hard to get right. The fact that this film includes such varied joys as "Hollywood Ending" (the standout, I think most people would agree), "Turning My Life Around", "Soldier At War", "It's That Time Of Year" and "The Fish Wrap" (the latter two both make me laugh hard) proves that it's got enough to have you tapping your toes and singing along, once you learn the words.

The script may not be as jam-packed or hilarious as it could be, especially if you don't have the penchant for cheesy gags that I do, but it admirably weaves together everything that it makes time for, scatters plenty of references throughout (probably deliberately, but one or two may be coincidental), and unabashedly aims for some emotional punches that most other movies in this bracket wouldn't even attempt. It also makes great use of Christmas elements without making every single scene bright red and green and overstuffed with Santas and elves.

Will you love this? Maybe, maybe not. I hope you will at least enjoy it, especially if you're a British viewer after something home-grown. It's a film that you have to meet halfway, that's the way I see it. The opening scenes may put some off but once it gets going then you're in for a good time, and then you start to grow attached to the characters, the humour starts to work, and it ends up being a little gem that everyone involved can feel rightly proud of.

7/10

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Friday, 26 October 2018

Filmstruck Friday: The Lure (2015)

If I told you that The Lure was a film about killer mermaids then you'd not be bothered by me reviewing it as a horror movie, I assume. You might even be unphased if I told you that it uses the mermaids as proxies for many people in the world around us who are exploited, shaped into something else, and then left in a state that doesn't allow them to just slip back into their former life. But if I told you that it was also a musical, didn't really have many moments of tension or scares, and is basically a strange and cool updating of The Little Mermaid (the Hans Christian Andersen tale, not the Disney animated film), then I can understand that you might balk at the idea of me including it as a horror viewing. Well, I'm counting it.

Marta Mazurek and Michalina Olszanska play the two mermaids, Silver and Golden. They encounter a band singing on a beach one evening and end up going along with them to a nightclub, where they are eventually turned into part of the act. They become singers, stripping as well, and seem to go down well with the clientele. Unfortunately, Silver can't control the urge to go out at night and find someone to eat while Golden finds herself falling in love with the bass player of the band (Jakub Gierszal). Things start to turn sour.

Written by Robert Bolesto, The Lure is quite the entertaining genre mash up. After a very brief prologue that sets up the meeting of the characters, things become very cool and pop-tastic, staying that way for a little while before showing the struggle that the two leads will face (one due to love, one due to staying true to her own nature). It's a smooth transition, allowing viewers to accept the central idea well enough before playing around with it and introducing all of the other main plot points. The dialogue may not be the best you will hear but this is a film more interested in using the fantastical to explore issues that affect people every day.

Director Agnieszka Smoczynska does a fantastic job, moving on from a selection of shorts and TV work to her debut feature with a good eye and plenty of confidence required to handle the imagery, tone, and performances. Even during the busiest, and strangest, moments, she never loses her eye on the focus of the tale. And she's also very good at handling the musical moments (there are some enjoyable, lively, tunes here).

Mazurek and Olszanska both do well in their roles, expressing plenty with just a look as they sometimes communicate telepathically, and comfortable in the fact that they have to be fairly nude for most of the runtime. Geirszal is also good, Marcin Kowalczyk makes a good impression as another land-living creature from the sea (he is, in fact, playing an incarnation of Triton), and Kinga Preis and Magdalena Cielecka are both very good as performers affected by the introduction of the mermaids into their lives/performing group.

If you go into The Lure expecting a standard horror movie then you're going to be VERY disappointed, despite the fact that it is tagged in that way. That is just one part of it (and you get a few moments of bloodshed and quick violence to warrant that). But the horror here stems from mistreatment and abuse that may feel over the top here, because of the main environments and the central characters, but is actually not too many steps away from a version of reality that many victims suffer through. That's what makes The Lure so effective and powerful, once you realise that the sheen of fantasy is just sugar-coating a very bitter pill.

8/10
You can buy the movie here.
Americans can get it here.

Monday, 10 September 2018

Mubi Monday: Cry-Baby (1990)

Johnny Depp plays Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker, a young, rocking rebel who tries to do something that will make him shed one tear a day in memory of his dead parents. He's the leader of a gang of delinquent youths, although they aren't really too bad once you get to know them, and things get all shook up when he falls in live with a "square" named Allison (Amy Locane). This sets in motion a chain of events that will lead to fights, character smears, and even prison. All set to a fantastic soundtrack of classic songs and new toe-tappers in the style of the era it is set (1950s).

Coming along immediately after Hairspray, Cry-Baby has a similar formula, but perhaps didn't work so well with audiences because of the much less significant subject matter. Whereas the former movie lightheartedly depicted teens helping to fight against racism in their world, this film just shows that being a square isn't the best way to live your life.

Waters unsurprisingly sides with those that society views with wariness, and often disdain, and he provides the usual entertaining selection. Alongside Depp you get Rikki Lake as a horny teen (two kids already, one on the way), Traci Lords, Darren E. Burrows, and Kim McGuire as "Hatchet-Face".

What is more surprising, although it shouldn't be to those familiar with Hairspray, is the absolutely perfect way in which the song and dance numbers feel authentic to the period. I already enjoyed the tunes that I was familiar with ("SH-Boom" and "Mr. Sandman") but also immediately loved all of the new songs, even with their added cheese and over the top outpouring of emotions.

Depp is superb in his role, playing it just in the sweet spot between melodrama and ridiculous. The script is as hilarious as you would expect, made all the better by Depp and co. playing it all quite straight. Locane also does well as the lady who captures his heart, and as a wild spirit trapped in the form of a square. Lake, Lords, Burrows, and McGuire are all a lot of fun, especially the first and the last, and you get more fun turns from Susan Tyrrell and Iggy Pop (as the family of Depp and Lake's character), Polly Bergen is the protective relative of Locane's character, and Stephen Mailer is hilarious as the main square, also in love with the leading lady (of course).

Perhaps not quite as funny as his best work, and perhaps just hewing so close to the form that he's emulating that it's only an inch away from being a straightforward '50s drama transplanted to the cinema screens of the 1990s, Cry-Baby holds up as well today as almost every other film that Waters has bestowed upon us over the past few decades. It's not quite up there with Hairspray and Serial Mom but few films are.

8/10

You can see some tears being shed here.
Americans can cry over the movie here.

Thursday, 2 August 2018

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

I was quite unimpressed when I first saw Mamma Mia! I wasn't exactly the target audience for it, I didn't think the songs were always as well worked into the plot as they could have been, and I found the antics of Meryl Streep and her friends just a little bit cringe-inducing. But it still sits on my shelf, surrounded by many better (and a few worse) movies. Why? Because it was one of the free blu rays that came with my first player, and I rarely throw out a film, especially a freebie.

You can already surmise that I wasn't keen to rush out and see the sequel, but see the sequel I did. I am a married man and that can mean compromising sometimes. My wife was going to join me for the latest Mission: Impossible movie so I could put a brave face on and accompany her to this movie. I did my duty.

The plot this time around sees Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) getting ready to open the hotel that she wants to make a success in honour of her deceased mother, Donna (Meryl Streep). Viewers also get to see the early years of Donna (played by Lily James) and how exactly she got herself in the predicament that eventually led to the events of the first film. There are some new faces, mainly in the scenes showing the younger incarnations of the men and women we already got to know as adults, another mix of ABBA hits, of course, and plenty of sea, sunshine, and sanitised -or-family-viewing sexual shenanigans.

Here's what happened when I watched Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. I had quite a good time. Not only that, I realised that I had been a BIT harsh in my judgement of the first film. I didn't enjoy it when I sat there, watching it in the comfort of my own home, even if I could singalong to the ABBA tunes. But that situation wasn't the best way to view it. It's a shared experience. It's fun for everyone, and the sequel aims for exactly the same end result.

And it achieves it. The songs may be, for the most part, lesser choices but the laughs are more frequent, and simply better. Which makes this a slight improvement over the original. That wasn't clear from the beginning. The first 15 minutes or so had me rolling my eyes on a number of occasions, thanks to the sentimental moments and the poor musical number that feels shoehorned in to the first scenes featuring Lily James (as well as Alexa Davies and Jessica Keenan Wynn, playing her friends). James is good in her role, but things start to pick up when Julie Walters and Christine Baranski come onscreen, and then it's all a surprisingly consistent crowdpleaser as we move back and forth between the past and the present, with lots more fun coming from Hugh Skinner/Colin Firth, Josh Dylan/Stellan Skarsgard, and Jeremy Irvine/Pierce Brosnan. Andy Garcia is also very good, Omid Djalili steals his all-too-brief scenes, and Cher takes the baton from Djalili and almost walks off with the entire film.

Writer-director Ol Parker, helped by Richard Curtis and Catherine Johnson, shows that he knows exactly what the audience wants, and he builds everything to a completely predictable and enjoyable finale that will have even the most cynical viewers grinning. I'm not completely converted, not quite yet, but I WILL rewatch the first film at some point, and I may even let my wife persuade me to endure/enjoy a double-bill one day in the future.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a film that it is easy to turn your nose up at. It is a safe viewing choice, one or two risque lines of dialogue aside, and it suffers from an overabundance of sweetness in almost every character. It will also have you leaving the cinema with a big smile on your face, despite how hard you might fight against it.

6/10

This is the shiny disc version.
Americans can get it here.

Wednesday, 21 March 2018

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Released in a glorious year that also saw my shining soul gifted to the world, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the film that you already know all about. Initially a stage show, the success of the film started to grow and grow when it became an adored audience participation event.

I have walked by theatres that were putting on a production of the show, admiring all of the audience members in their variety of costumes (wearing everyday clothes to one of the shows would surely leave you sticking out like a sore thumb), and I am aware of the various cues that get the audience involved with the unfolding events on stage/screen. It looks as if every fan has a bloody good time, letting their hair down and just enjoying the company of kindred spirits who are all there for the full experience.

This is why I have watched the movie about three times now, with this being my third viewing. And, I'm sorry for those who are about to be upset with me, I still don't enjoy it.

Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) are a pair of young lovebirds who end up stranded on a dark and stormy night, leading to them asking for help at the home of Dr Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry). It's a very special night for the doctor and his friends, and Brad and Janet may wish they had never crossed over his doorstep.

Okay, I wasn't entirely honest when I said that I don't enjoy this movie. There are parts of it that I enjoy. The first 4-5 songs are great. In fact, the film maintains a decent amount of momentum right up until Tim Curry sings the last notes of "Sweet Transvestite". It then dips, before lifting back up again with both "I Can Make You A Man" and "Hot Patootie - Bless My Soul". And then it dips again. And just keeps dipping, slumping further and further down towards a whimper of a finale.

The cast all do well enough, with the three leads all fantastic and nice turns from Richard O' Brien (who wrote the show, and adapted it to the screen with director Jim Sharman), Patricia Quinn, Charles Gray, Nell Campbell, and Meatloaf. Everyone stands in the mighty shadow of Curry, who gives one of his most iconic performances, performing every line with great gusto and a sense that he is savouring the taste of every single syllable.

The big problem here is the material. While it's often said that The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical parody tribute to the b-movies that all came before it, I have never found enough here to put it in line with those films. Yes, the silly plot and individual elements here and there will ring a bell to anyone who has watched sci-fi and horror films, particularly from the '50s and '60s, but it's all TOO silly and slapdash to feel like a well-crafted homage. The opening title song and details of the closing sequence aside, there's very little in the main body of the film that feels affectionate or indebted enough to the wealth of source material that O'Brien had to draw on.

Everyone will rush to tell me that I am missing out by not watching this with the intended audience, and it's something I will happily try out one day, but a film should also work as, well, a film. This doesn't. It's not absolutely awful, thanks to a few good songs and that amazing turn from Curry, but I have never thought it as anything great. Which didn't stop me buying it, AND Shock Treatment (an odd sorta-sequel that I will be checking out in the next few weeks, hopefully).

Fans can buy the film here.
American fans can buy it here.

Monday, 13 November 2017

Baby Driver (2017)

Okay, let's address the supporting elephant in the soundbooth, metaphorically speaking. As a movie-related blog, there will be things mentioned here that involve people who have been guilty of very heinous acts. That includes both stars from the past and stars from the present. I will still watch movies starring these people. I still really want to see House Of Cards (I wonder if Netflix will keep it available). And I still hope to enjoy Baby Driver when I next watch it, despite the presence of Kevin Spacey in a supporting role. Different people have taken very different stances recently, in light of events that seem to have led to a dozen revelations a day, with major accusations being levelled against the likes of Harvey Weinstein, Spacey, Louis C. K., Brett Ratner, Bryan Singer, and more. If you want to try and avoid ALL of these people then you do what you have to do. I am still going to be watching as many movies as ever, and playing catch up (the default position of any cinephile), so I am sure that this won't be the only film to feature someone who turned out to be a real piece of shit offscreen. And I am still going to do my own part to help anyone around me feel and stay as safe and unthreatened as they should be, in both the workplace and just in day to day life. Call people out on their behaviour, speak up if a situation is taking a turn for the worse, remove any level of acceptability for the mindset that has led to this world of poisonous clouds and booby-trapped environments that women have had to navigate for FAR too long. What I won't ever do is, for example, buy an autobiography written by Kevin Spacey entitled: "How To Make A Non-Apology And Distract People With Gayness." That will not be happening. If we're all on the same page . . . then we'll begin.

Written and directed by Edgar Wright, who had certainly been thinking about the idea since he made the above music video for Mint Royale, Baby Driver is an astonishingly well-crafted mix of audio and action. If, like me, you have ever wandered around with an iPod soundtracking your day, or just waited for the right tune to get you motivated and moving, then this is a film for you.

The story is fairly standard stuff, and we've seen it all before. It's the "good" criminal (Ansel Elgort, playing Baby) aiming for that one last job that will free him from the clutches of a very bad criminal (Kevin Spacey). But will the last job go smoothly, and will Baby actually be allowed to go free?

The cast are all great here. Elgort is as naive and quiet as he needs to be, livened up when he has his music on, and selling all of the moves and rhythms of his character. Spacey is fine in his role, but Jon Hamm is the best of the supporting players, despite solid turns from Jamie Foxx, Eiza González, and Jon Benthal. Lily James doesn't make as good an impression as she should, but that is the fault of Wright more than anything to do with her performance.

But how does it fare as a car flick? Well, the driving stunts are damn impressive, with some practical work that showcases precision and style in exactly the way that should be the norm for this kind of thing (*cough* F8 *cough*). Wright shows that he can hande the action unsurprisingly, but that is only half the story. Lest we forget, Baby Driver is also a piece of musical entertainment. It's not traditional, but you could argue the case for this film to sit alongside the likes of The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, All That Jazz, and even La La Land (the most traditional of those three, funnily enough). If you disagree, watch the film while paying particular attention to the choreography, be it of the characters, the editing, every mis en scene element, and then feel free to tell me if you still think I am talking nonsense.

The whole thing is a marvellous conceit, but it's also makes for a film that won't have too many people just thinking it is okay. I suspect most will love it or absolutely hate it. For me, Wright has crafted yet another winner, even if it doesn't have the rapid-fire gag delivery of his previous works (which is no great loss when it allows him to show that he has more than one string to his bow). It will be very interesting, however, to see if he can use his next film to move even further away from what has been his fairly established bag of tricks.

8/10.

Now let's end with a song/the opening scene.

Buy Baby Driver here (UK) or here (USA).
Catch up with me and some other guys talking movies at Raiders Of The Podcast (here).