Prime Time: Sound Of Metal (2019)

I am not sure what I was expecting from Sound Of Metal, a film summarized best as being about a rock drummer who loses his hearing, and I have to say that I remained free of expectations as I watched the plot unfold. And yet, annoyingly enough, by the time the end scene occurred, everything felt inevitable and satisfying. I should have seen it coming from near the very start. But I didn’t, and I was happy to have been taken on such an interesting and thought-provoking journey.

Riz Ahmed plays Ruben, the central character. He plays in a band with his partner/manager, Lou (Olivia Cooke). When Ruben starts to lose his hearing, it happens very quickly. Thinking he might be able to get by until it returns, Ruben soon gets a reality check from a doctor. The main solution is implants, but they’re costly. In the meantime, Ruben ends up staying at a small community for the deaf, headed up by Joe (Paul Raci), where people are taught the communicaton skills and attitude required to live a life without hearing.

Directed by Darius Marder, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Abraham Marder, reworking a documentary project by Derek Cianfrance into a standard narrative feature, Sound Of Metal is well-handled by everyone involved, but viewers will think of two main aspects as the end credits roll. First is the sound design, and second is the cast.

The sound design throughout is phenomenal, placing viewers inside the headspace of Ruben, whether he is thrashing away on his drum kit or struggling to hear what anyone is saying to him. It also feels like a valuable reminder to people to make use of as many communication tools as possible, whether that is via technology, via art, or via ASL.

Ahmed is as great as ever in the lead role, spiked attitude matching his spiked blonde hair, and his anger and frustration are completely understandable, even while viewers can see the moments in which he makes choices that aren’t in his best interests. Cooke is also very good, although she benefits from the later scenes in which she can show a very different side to her character. Raci is the typical sage for this kind of tale, and he fits the bill well, constantly trying to motivate Ahmed’s character with tough love and valuable lessons. His last scene in the film is a brilliant display of both his strength and his earnest consideration for others. Mathieu Amalric and Lauren Ridloff add to the main cast, both coming into the story at different times in order to really help open the eyes of our lead, albeit in very different ways.

Not an easy watch, and maybe not one that will prove immediately satisfying (this is a film that I think you need to spend some time mulling over after having just watched it), Sound Of Metal is a sweet and soft-centered lesson wrapped in layers of intimidating armour. Although specifically about loss of hearing, it could be about any number of things that affect our lives. Sometimes we spend hours, days, years even, trying to fix parts of ourselves when maybe it would give us more peace and happiness to just figure out a way to accept how we are.

8/10

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Ready Player One (2018)

I had a lot of fun when I read the book of Ready Player One (written by Ernest Cline, who also worked on the screenplay to this movie with Zak Penn) but I didn't rate it as a GOOD piece of writing. If asked to describe it by anyone, or if I decided that I should discuss it with other people, I mentioned the style of American Psycho, but instead of lots of brand names and designer labels it was overstuffed with pop culture references, mostly from the 1980s.

When I started to hear about Steven Spielberg directing the movie version of the movie, I had an optimistic view of what we might get. Spielberg knows that world. He gave us a hell of a lot of it. And he has proven, on more than one occasion, that he can take a flawed novel and pare away the worst parts to give us a real cinematic treat.

I bought my ticket, I bought my treats, and I eagerly waited to be transported to a world full of recognisable characters, moments, and cinephile-friendly easter eggs.

Basically, I got what I wanted. Sometimes.

Sadly, the film isn't the improvement on the book that I hoped it would be. It works in some ways (the casting of the main "baddie" being a big plus point, for example) and then falls down in other ways.

The basic plot, for those still unaware, is as follows. Most people spend their days living in a virtual world called the OASIS. You can do anything you want, and also build up kudos and credit that could help you in the real world. The creator of the OASIS left a number of easter eggs in the world, revealing in a video that automatically played to everyone after his death that the person to find three hidden keys would become the owner of the OASIS, which would make them the most envied individual on the planet. Tye Sheridan is Wade, who spends his time in the OASIS as Parzival, and he thinks he has what it takes to win. He also doesn't mind helping a girl that he is quite taken with, Art3mis (AKA Samantha in the real world, played by Olivia Cooke), and his best friend, Aech. But as they start to make progress on their quest, corporate bad guy Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) becomes more determined to put a stop to them, either in the OASIS or by dealing with them outside the relative safety of virtual reality.

Almost every aspect of Ready Player One has both good and bad aspects to it. Sheridan is a disappointingly bland lead, but that's okay when you get more of his scenes featuring Cooke. Mendehlson and T. J. Miller are both very good, but I can't say the same for Mark Rylance and Simon Pegg, which is very unusual for the former. And Lena Waithe, Philip Zhao, and Win Morasaki do fine, but aren't half as memorable as the hordes of CGI cameos worth keeping your eyes peeled for (which I understand is almost the driving force for the whole thing anyway).

The script does well at explaining ideas and plot points, it doesn't do so well at giving the characters any decent dialogue in between explaining ideas and plot points.

The visuals are impressive, as you'd expect, but most scenes are far too busy, either with the ongoing action or the multitude of easter eggs. What I expected to be fun onscreen actually ends up quickly becoming quite tiresome and irritating. I may change my mind when able to view the film at home and rewind certain moments, and it at least improves things structurally compared to the sloppiness of the source material, but this is very much a dual-layered experience. As an actual piece of cinema it's a hot mess, yet as a hot mess it's kind of easy to pick and choose various moments to enjoy.

Even the soundtrack falters. The score by Alan Silvestri isn't very memorable and the pop hits used throughout are just background noise when they could have been lined up with better moments to create some movie magic. Hell, the film starts with Van Halen's "Jump" blasting and then just fades it out as you get the initial info dump. High energy potential is just left to sizzle and dry up.

This should have been a home run for Spielberg. He's been back on excellent form over the past few years, he's comfortable working with all of the new industray toys, and movie nerdiness is in his blood. The fact that it isn't proves how hard it must have been to translate the story to screen. So perhaps we should just be glad that this project fell to him, rather than someone who could have made it so much worse.

6/10

The Blu-ray will be available here.
Americans can pick it up here.

The Limehouse Golem (2016)

Bill Nighy has, let's face it, been making a lot of people happy by playing what we all consider a version of Bill Nighy onscreen for the past couple of decades. He's the elderly gent with a wry sense of humour, ready to give us a wink before heading off to the dancefloor with a crowd of youngsters who have embraced his good company. He's basically the cool uncle at a wedding party, although that means you sometimes roll your eyes when he shows up because you know he's going to be there a bit too long, might still be wearing jeans when they don't suit him, and will probably ask the DJ for a bit of Whigfield near the end of the night. Some people will always enjoy those moments, whereas some people will start to feel bitter about him. I am in the former camp, but I can see why people may start falling into the latter camp.

Why have I started this review with that rambling, poor, analogy about an uncle at a wedding party? Well, The Limehouse Golem is an interesting and surprising film for many reasons, but the main one may be what a great lead role it hands to Bill Nighy. And he does so well with it that you are reminded of how talented the man is. Like meeting that cool uncle during the week, when he is in between meetings during a typically busy work day. The fun aspect of him is just that, one aspect.

Anyway, let me get to the film itself. Directed by Juan Carlos Medina, who previously gave us Painless AKA Insensibles, this is a very dark murder mystery, so bloody on the odd occasion that most horror fans should be kept happy enough, set during a time in London not that far removed from the exploits of Jack The Ripper. Indeed, this feels very much like a Jack The Ripper film in all but name. It's based on a book by Peter Ackroyd, and the script was written by Jane Goldman (possibly her best work), but I have no idea if the source material tries to make things more or less . . . "Ripper-esque".

Nighy plays John Kildare, a lawman tasked with solving the series of murders perpetrated by a mysterious figure people have taken to referring to as The Limehouse Golem. Kildare is a man who has already had his reputation questioned, due to his perceived aversion to female company, and he knows that he has been given this case as a pretty hopeless endeavour. He will take the expected fall if no culprit is caught. Olivia Cooke plays Lizzie Cree, a woman put on trial for the crime of poisoning her husband, and the two tales quickly intertwine as Kildare starts to suspect that helping Lizzie may actually help him solve the case. He believes that she knows something she doesn't want to reveal to the public, a secret she may end up taking to the grave if she is found guilty, and he wants to gain her trust, learn her full story, and kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Nighy is just great in all of his scenes here. He doesn't overdo things, this isn't a role looking to squeeze comedy out of his usual demeanour and mannerisms, and viewers get to stick close to him and his appointed assistant (Daniel Mays) as clues are uncovered and witnesses questioned. Cooke is also excellent, allowed much more screentime as the investigation delves deeper and deeper into her life story. Douglas Booth and Sam Reid both do well, playing men in Lizzie's life, and also suspects in the case (the latter is the murdered husband - no spoiler, that is how the film begins), and you also get enjoyable performances from Eddie Marsan and Maria Valverde.

Every aspect of this production is polished and handled with care. Medina brings everything together beautifully, with impressive camerawork throughout allowing viewers to be fully immersed in the world depicted onscreen. It's grimy and gorgeous at the same time, with impressive sound design and an effective score also helping, yet none of the details or flourishes ever detract from the performances that sell every scene. The structure may disappoint some - shock opener, a hefty middle section full of characterisation and details, fairly swift resolution - but it will work well for those who don't need jumps or set-pieces every 10-15 minutes. Sometimes the joy is in the destination, sometimes in the journey. The joy here is in both.

Goldman deserves a decent amount of praise for her script. It's masterful in the handling of the characters, with plenty of ambiguity throughout to keep viewers guessing the identity of the killer, alongside Kildare. And I must say, as slow as I can sometimes be with movies like this, I was very impressed by the finale.

I am sure that many sharper viewers will be unsurprised by anything the film delivers, and it does enough to allow you to be one or two steps ahead of the main characters, but I loved how it was put together, and I was also surprised by one or two moments throughout. Highly recommended.

9/10

You can get The Limehouse Golem here on bluray.
Or here, Americanos.

The Quiet Ones (2014)

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. The Quiet Ones is another in the long line of movies that people can point to and use as an example of all that is wrong with modern horror. There are, of course, many fine examples to counterbalance this awfulness, but it can often be easier to remember the bad than the good.

Jared Harris is Professor Joseph Coupland, a man convinced that if people can cure one person who seems to be affected by supernatural forces then that could lead to a cure for the masses. He aims to test his theory on a troubled young girl named Jane (Olivia Cooke), and enlists some students to help him. Harry (Rory Fleck-Byrne) and Krissi (Erin Richards) are there to, apparently, help with the scientific side of things, while Brian (Sam Claflin) is asked to document everything on film.

It's hard for me not to use this review as an excuse to string together a lot of expletives. Hammer have gone from being "the studio that dripped blood" to "the studio that dripfed audiences jump scares" and those responsible for dross like this are, as far as I'm concerned, tarnishing a good name that was once, despite some ups and downs, synonymous with fine British horror.

The script by Oren Moverman, Craig Rosenberg and John Pogue (who also directed) alternates between uninteresting moments, horribly unbelievable moments, and those jump scares that I just mentioned. It's based on an original screenplay by Tom de Ville, although with all the rewriting done I can only imagine how far removed this is from the original work. As for Pogue's direction, it's mediocre at best.

Claflin tries hard in his role, at least remaining earnest in most of his scenes, but he can't do enough to make up for the lack of presence that Fleck-Byrne and Richards have. He also can't distract viewers from the fact that Harris and Cooke end up desperately overacting to make up for the fact that their characters are so poorly written.

Basically, nobody comes out of this looking good. I would feel sorry for the cast if most of them didn't seem to be compounding the script problems. And I haven't even mentioned the ridiculous finale, another insult that throws in a couple of "twists/revelations" that will only come as a surprise to the youngest, and most naive, horror fans. And I actually mean pre-teens.

Technically competent is about the nicest thing I can say in my attempt to end this review on a positive note. But it's definitely not worth your time.

3/10

http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Ones-Blu-ray-Jared-Harris/dp/B00KOBUO42/ref=sr_1_2_twi_2_twi_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420668107&sr=8-2&keywords=the+quiet+ones

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Bonus Review: Ouija (2014)

Thank goodness for movies like Ouija, because sometimes I want to rattle off a review with little thought and/or effort. This kind of film, that seems to have taken no thought or effort to make, encourages me to do that. Putting too much energy into this review would be ridiculous, considering the laziness shown onscreen.

After a prologue that sets up the rules of playing with a Ouija board, the film moves forward to the here and now. Debbie (Shelley Hennig) is looking quite nervy. It seems to be due to the Ouija board that she throws in the fire. It's not long until the board reappears, leading to a death that upsets the rest of the cast, all of them completely interchangeable rent-a-teens. Everyone decides to do the sensible thing, of course. Yes, they all use the Ouija board to contact the spirit of their recently-deceased friend, but they end up instead allowing an evil force to have some chatty time with them. And then more deaths start to occur.

Stiles White and Juliet Snowden did a good job recently with their script for The Possession. It was slick horror for the masses, but it was nicely put together. Unfortunately, they also wrote the screenplay for Boogeyman, which this is more in line with. Boogeyman is, in fact, the slightly better film. The weak screenplay is hampered further by the unimaginative direction from White, trying out the big chair for the first time. Jump scares are predictable and unearned, shots of anyone around the Ouija board are as dull as ditchwater, and the one decent scene in the whole film feels as if it's ripping off Final Destination.

Although I'm pretty dismissive of the entire cast - Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff, Bianca A. Santos, and a few others - I'm not blaming them for the dull mess that unfolds during the 80+ minutes. They are, after all, just doing their job. Okay, they don't do very well, but they don't exactly have the best material to work with. And when Lin Shaye appears, the whole thing starts to feel like one big joke at the expense of audiences who have bought enough tickets over the years to show that horror films can often provide a decent return on very little investment. Not that Shaye does anything wrong. She just happens to have appeared in some of the better horror movies in the past couple of years, and is now placed slap bang in the middle of one of the worst.

The only thing that Ouija is good for is allowing itself to be held up as an example of all the worst traits of mainstream horror movies from America. No intelligence in the script whatsoever, no originality, no charm or charisma found in any of the leads, and no reason to care about what happens to any of the characters. All you end up with are some jumps and half-decent CGI.

Perhaps it was a deliberate move to make this film so dull. Perhaps the original tagline was - "Ouija - you'll be board to death". Sadly, I doubt the film-makers would even be that imaginative.

3/10

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