Year: 2021 Director: Pablo Larraín

What I was expecting:

1.) A solid biopic with a decent-enough performance from the Pope of Mope, Kristen Stewart — basically a big-screen version of The Crown.

What I got:

1.) An intense, claustrophobic, hallucinatory psychodrama, more Mulholland Drive than The Crown.

2.) A prowling camera that turns Sandringham into The Overlook Hotel and the Royal family into the sinister, watchful islanders from The Wicker Man.

3.) A performance from Kristen Stewart that is definitely excellent and intuitively leans into the unexpected weirdness of the whole thing, but still didn’t impress me quite as much as Emma Corrin in The Crown.

4.) A film that often gets in its own way, conveniently forgetting Diana’s own aristocratic roots in its rush to emphasise her outlier credentials, overlooking the fact that she spends almost no time – over Christmas! – with the two boys to whom she is supposedly devoted, and inadvertently inviting you to share the Royal family’s frustration at her frankly flaky behaviour.

5.) A sublimely skronky score from Jonny Greenwood.

6.) Beautiful, understated supporting turns from Sally Hawkins, Sean Harris And Timothy Spall.

7.) A film that, impressive though it often is and » Continue Reading.

Year: 2021 Director: Dennis Villeneuve

I am surprised that no-one has yet reviewed Dune, so here we go. We saw it at the IMAX in Birmingham and would certainly recommend that you see it on the biggest screen possible. It’s an utterly immersive visual and sound experience. It will be no surprise, and has been much noted, that Villeneuve can craft a visual world like no-one else currently in film. Whatever you thought of the plot of Bladerunner 2049, it looked amazing from start to finish, as did Arrival in turn before it. There’s very little actual outer space , and the visuals of the movies are dominated by the vast open sand and rock scapes of Arrakis, appearing even dryer by contrast with the lush Northern European grasslands of the Atriedes homeworld, and the murky storm and rain of the Harkonnens. Moving through these three worlds are armies, medieval in feel, transported by enormous spaceships whose weight is so oppressive they appear to be sculpted from stone rather than metal. By contrast the ornithopthers hop, buzz and flit around the world.

In terms of plot Dune is so well known that there’s perhaps not much to add here. I » Continue Reading.

Year: 2021 Director: Thomas Vinterberg

This is a mighty, marvellous film starring the mighty, marvellous Mads Mikkelsen. I was going off movies a bit recently, with no real motivation to get back to the cinema, so I’m glad I made an exception for this.

Mr Mikkelsen stars as one of a group of four middle aged pals, all school teachers in Denmark, who decide (in the throes of a shared midlife crisis they only seem to be dimly aware of) to try out an experiment. The human man, the theory goes, has evolved with 0.05% too little alcohol in his bloodstream. So what would happen if you decided to constantly drink, just enough that you make up that 0.05% level, in your daily life?

The film then follows the ups and downs of this experiment as they start carrying around vodka to swig from in secret, and as the events play out it is as comical as it is touching.

It’s actually impressive just as much for what it avoids as what it includes. For a very bloke-y film, it’s admirably free of any real bawdiness (it’s a 12A) or leeriness. You can imagine that in a UK or » Continue Reading.

Year: 2021 Director: Garret Price

I knew prior to this documentary that Woodstock 99 was a bit of a shitfest, but I had no idea just how big a shitfest it was. To paraphrase Marilyn Manson (who amazingly was not on the bill) I wasn’t born with enough capital letters to emphasise just how much of a SHITFEST Woodstock 99 turned out to be. We’ll go easy on the details, because much of the pleasure of the film lies in staring at your TV open-mouthed with incredulity for an hour and 50 mins. Let’s just say that in terms of WTF moments it really is the gift that keeps on giving. Think the Fyre documentary turned up to 11. Think Lord of the Flies with boobs and backwards baseball caps. Apocalypse Now where Willard is dispatched to kill Colonel Fred Durst.

But there’s a Hepworthian ‘here’s the thing’ here, because this is a festival that from your place on the sofa looks like an actual vision of hell on earth. Women are being mauled. People are dropping like flies. The place is clearly a cesspit, literally and metaphorically. And yet where is all the footage of traumatised and shell-shocked festival-goers? » Continue Reading.

Year: 2021 Director: Mick Fleetwood

Like live shows add an extra dynamic, so too does seeing a movie of a concert in a cinema rather than at home on the box. Alas for most of you streaming or the soon to be released DVd are the only option. But for us ”down here” it had a very short run at the cinemas. So twenty or so of us sat in a cinema on a glorious Melbourne afternoon to watch this guitar heavy tribute to the music of Peter Green, the guitar hero and driving force behind Fleetwood Mac Mark 1. His legend heightened by his dramatic fall, head blown by acid, eventually returning to the stage a pale shadow of his former self.

The concert before a smallish audience took place in early 2020. Fleetwood assembled an interesting line up. The core band was Mick on drums plus Zac Starkey – not sure he needed him but it certainly biggened the sound. Dave Bronze on bass, Ricky Peterson on keys and musical director and a strong line up of guitar /vocals – Rick Vito, Jonny Lang and Andy Fairweather-Low. They played plenty of songs as a unit and with varous » Continue Reading.

Year: 2020 Director: Rob Reed and Paul Harris

Definitely not for everyone, this. But thought it was worth flagging here for people who are interested.

Basically, it’s a four hour (!) documentary about the making of Tubular Bells and the establishment of Virgin Records and their Manor Studio. You’ll know instantly if that’s something that appeals to you or not.

There was an excellent BBC documentary about six or seven years ago which told the story of the album very nicely. But it was only about fifty minutes long, and left the more rabid fans (like me) desperate for more detail and context. This new documentary, from de facto unofficial Mike Oldfield curators Rob Reed and Paul Harris, fills that gap very nicely.

There is nothing groundbreaking about the documentary style itself. It’s a perfectly efficient talking heads style piece, with just about every main character in the story giving lengthy and revealing interviews. The two most missed contributors are obviously Mike Oldfield and Richard Branson themselves, which is a shame, but would be too much to expect from an unofficial documentary like this.

But to be honest there is very little to distinguish this from a big budget BBC » Continue Reading.

Year: 1951 Director: Elia Kazan

Damn. My NY resolution is to consume more of the classics in one form or another, and the project began strongly with films of A Man For All Seasons (1966), The Crucible (1996), Cleopatra (1963), The Scarlet Letter (1995) and Far From the Madding Crowd (2015), all of which I’ve got a kick out of for one reason or another.

Things came to a screeching halt with Streetcar. I always thought I liked Tennessee Williams and remember enjoying the play at Leicester Haymarket in the early 1990s, but this? Non merci. Could I really dig the Demi Moore box-office poison of The Scarlet Letter more than a movie commonly considered to be one of the greatest ever made, a film Woody Allen calls ‘total artistic perfection’?

Yes. Perhaps it coming so soon after the latest lockdown announcement was to blame, but two hours of Vivien Leigh’s nails-down-a-blackboard screeching and Marlon Brando breaking things proved a stressful and exhausting experience, offering no insight into the human condition other than ‘these people really need to calm down’. Having recognised a chunk of sampled dialogue, I paused the film in order to locate and play the » Continue Reading.

Year: 2020 Director: Spike Lee

Stop Making Sense directed by Jonathon Demme is on many people’s list of best music concert films. Mine too. This is different to SMS but it is still rather excellent. It was filmed during a season at the Hudson theatre in New York which ran after their world tour. So the whole band is as tight as a fish’s arsehole, as we say down here. Back to the concert. I reviewed it for the blog so you can track it down if you want. I was mightily impressed by the staging, the lack of amps, leads and all the other usual stage paraphernalia. A bare stage with long, I thought ropes, but after seeing the film they are revealed to be chains. Long chains, heaps of them and highly effective as a backdrop, for use with lights and with their movement.The photo I have posted here from the Melbourne show is a good example. So I was expecting the usual front of house view of the stage all perfectly recorded. But no -this was filmed from on stage , up, down, around and behind. So up close that I started taking a ,possibly unhealthy, interest » Continue Reading.

Year: 2020 Director: Emer Reynolds

I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a film about Phil Lynott made before now. There are a fair few documentaries on Thin Lizzy but there was certainly room for the story to be told. In ‘Songs For While I’m Away’ we hear of the struggles of growing up in Dublin after Phillip is brought to live with his grandparents by his mother who has had to make the awful decision to leave her son and return to England to work. Phillip does indeed learn to look after himself from an early age. He turns to music and soon meets Brian Downey(Thin Lizzy drummer). Eric Bell(guitarist) introduces himself to the pair and Thin Lizzy(version one) is on the road.

The film mixes the words and music of Phillip with interviews that include one of his ex-girlfriends, his ex-wife, and his daughters all of whom have remained away from the spotlight in the years since Phillip died. There are also interviews with Brush Shiels/Brian Downey/Scot Gorham/Adam Clayton/James Hetfield/Suzi Quatro/Midge Ure and others. The film paints a portrait of Phillip the poet, boyfriend, husband, father. The Phil Lynott that’s not always portrayed or remembered when we think » Continue Reading.

Year: 2020 Director: Mike Figgis

Is there a more cheery, affable figure in the world of rock than Ronnie Wood? This film would certainly suggest not, lauded by friends, family and fellow musicians alike, no one has a bad word to say about him. The film dips in and out of his life, covering family, music, painting, and of course drink and drugs. Along the way we hear from some of the key artists he’s worked with over the years – Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart and various Stones among others. Oddly, there’s just the one clip of him performing with the Stones, although it’s apparent from comments by Keith Richards and Charlie Watts just how functional as an alcoholic and an addict Wood still was. Even Jagger concedes the band became much more ‘good-timey’ after his arrival in their ranks in the mid seventies. His personal life also gets its fair share of screen time, including his well documented run in with cancer, although his previous wives and their children don’t merit so much as a mention. A shortish film that’s interesting to watch once, but that you’re unlikely to return to too often. The DVD is rounded out with » Continue Reading.

Year: 2020 Director: Dean Parisot

*Mild Spoilers ahead*

Anyone who rejoices in youth, optimism and companionship will feel a warm glow when they remember the triumphant final scene of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, in which the two teenage Californian slackers, with the aid of persons of historical significance gathered from all ages, triumph in their history report and and are hence able to stay together so that Wyld Stallyns can create the music which will unite mankind. It’s one of the most joyous scenes in film, guaranteed to leave the hardest bitten cynic with a wide grin. The second film, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, in which robot doppelgängers are sent to thwart their future, had its moments but lacked the first film’s charm, as well as its uplifting final scene.

Now Bill and Ted are back, as middle aged losers, still married to the medieval princesses from the first film and with a daughter apiece. Bill S Preston’s daughter is called Theodora, and Ted Theodore Logan’s daughter is called Billie. Age has not been kind to Wyld Stallyns. They start the film playing the latest wedding of Missie, Bill’s step mother in the first film, Ted’s in the » Continue Reading.

Year: 2020 Director: Christopher Nolan

* Mild Spoilers *

If you are like me and you like to see a new Christopher Nolan film totally cold without knowing anything about it, then please don’t read on if you haven’t seen this yet! I won’t spoil the plot as such but I will go into a bit of detail about the overall themes and some of the action.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The first thing to say is that anyone who watches this and says they understand it all the first time is just lying. I don’t care who you are. This film just isn’t made to be understood on first viewing.

That might annoy you, and if it does then you might want to avoid this. But there’s actually plenty to enjoy even if you can’t get your head round it.

I heard that Christopher Nolan didn’t want to make a Bond film, but wanted to make a film that makes you feel like you felt watching the Bond films for the first time. Crucial difference. I think in that he has succeeded. I remember at the age of 10, » Continue Reading.

Year: 2019 Director: Mariel Weller

I was thinking about seeing the film 1917 then I read a tweet where the poster said they felt like they had had the shit kicked out of them by Connor McGregor after seeing it.Hmmm.Then I read an interview with Tom Hanks about this film. He explained it as largely being about men, their feelings and their in/ability to express them. The vehicle for this theme is interview by a cynical,invrstigative journalist for Esquire magazine and Fred Rogers – Mr Rogers. I had never heard of him but I understand him to be an iconic figure in the proper sense of the world, for American children who had been brought up on his TV programme, A beautiful day in the neighbourhood.

So I watched some videos of him. Gentle, soft, twee, naive, hokey, lame. A range of reactions were felt and yes even a bit of distate in this sick paedophilic world. In looks he reminded me of Pee Wee Herman sans makeup and avec cardigan. If you decide to see the movie and are unfamiliar with the man and the show then having a look at some YouTube clips before you go. That’s » Continue Reading.

Year: 2019 Director: The Safdie Brothers

This is latest film from the Safdie Brothers about whom I have to say I knew nothing before this. It’s in the cinemas but also available on Netflix which is how we watched it last night. There’s been generally really top reviews but having seen the trailer in the cinema the other week I was unsure as to whether it was going to my cup of tea (to quote Spike Lee). So we strapped ourselves in and it was an absolute thrill ride.

The basic premise is that Howard Ratner (must be a pun) is both a jeweler and compulsive gambler – possibly not a good combination you would think and so it proves. Without giving the plot away, the basic premise is that he procures a rare uncut opal from Africa which he is hoping to auction for a mighty profit but at the same time he is being hounded by several low lifes to whom he owes money.

The dialogue is basically people shouting and swearing at each other (the ‘fuck’ count was off the scale) with Howard generally having at least two conversations going on at the same time » Continue Reading.

Year: 2019 Director: Sam Mendes

“From the director of Skyfall” yells the poster and the trailer, which is true but not the point.

The story is simple enough, though I won’t go into much detail because it’s hard to avoid spoilers (steer clear of Wikipedia and the trailer, come to that). Two lance-corporals are given the job of slogging their way over nine miles of what may or may not be no man’s land to deliver a message to a Colonel who is due to lead his men over the top in the morning to chase what he thinks is the Germans in retreat. In fact, it’s a cunning German tactical withdrawal and he’s leading his men to certain death.

The much noted “one continuous take” is a bit of a misnomer. What it actually means is that there are no cutaways back to base, or back to Blighty – the story starts at A and continues uninterrupted to Z, where it ends. The action of the film takes, at a guess, 12 hours, so QED. No matter, it’s a brilliant, continually absorbing and gruelling two hours. There were times I just wanted it all to stop, thoroughly gruelled, not » Continue Reading.

Year: 2019 Director: Martin Scorsese

Am I the first to have found the necessary 3 plus hours to devour this prime piece of gorgonzola? Scorsese rounding up his dream team of de Niro, Pacino and Pesci, along with Harvey Keitel and numerous other ‘was that so and so’ cameos. Of course, as much the hype has been the cost of the computer electrickery to de-age the cast into an approximation of how they may have looked in their prime, which requires remembering the prime of mobsters tends to be a burly high waisted trouser middle age. Tackling that first, I thought it OK, the images sometimes akin to the fake colouring of a B&W film. It didn’t bother me but Mrs Path found their eyebrows annoying. In truth, and it is no dealbreaker to say the film follows de Niro, ‘the’ Irishman, from these high waists to bathchair aged reflection, the make-up to age him was less successful. The clamour and clatter of the press suggests this is a work of genius. Well, that depends. If you like this sort of thing, sure, it is a fabulous ride and seldom falters. If these guys and gangsters are your bag, you’ll » Continue Reading.

Year: 2019 Director: James Gray

Brad Pitt’s interstellar epic has received mostly laudatory reviews, I’m more in two minds about it. Let’s start with the positive shall we, as in these dark times we need all the cheer we can get. The whole thing looks fantastic. The opening sequence, where Pitt is knocked off a space elevator stretching from the earth’s surface into space, is one any Bond movie would be proud of. From there we get a series of sharply-realised environments – a moonbase which looks and sounds like Luton Airport; a grimly functional government facility on Mars; and spaceship interiors which look credible and claustrophobic. Pitt’s face, on which much of the movie rests, is entering its craggy hard-bitten phase like some planetary surface after one too many orbits. Space is quiet, mysterious and empty – with humans and craft small fragile particles of light and warmth.

There’s lots to say about our obsession with wellbeing, Pitt is constantly being checked for his psychological stability and someone proudly proclaims that his heart-rate has never risen over 80 (calling to mind ‘Jerome, Jerome the metronome’ from one of our favourite movies Gattaca. Criminally passed over.). Those who fail are » Continue Reading.

Year: 2019 Director: Olivia Lichtenstein

The story of a black singer with a beautiful soulful voice, who rose to fame in the Philly soul scene in the mid seventies, had a terrible car crash which left him in a wheelchair but still able to sing.

That’s the short version. The long detailed version is in this doco, which is brilliant. Utilising the now familiar documentary techniques of interviewing everyone still alive who remembers the artist, getting the original band back together, and doing accurate and respectful reconstructions of key events – this is a great film.

I have to say I’m not a huge fan of Philly soul, a few great classic hits notwithstanding. It often seems to me like the showbiz end of black music. But seeing Teddy’s life laid out here and what he went through, it gave me a bit more appreciation of what was going on. And you see Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff reminiscing like the old gentlemen they are.

Might appeal to people who enjoyed:

Philly soul, Sigma Sound Studios, Young Americans

Year: 2019 Director: Quentin Tarantino

This seems to have gathered quite a buzz around it, which I find strange. I feel that all these people drawn to the irresistible bromance pairing of Leo and Brad are going to be ever-so-slightly disappointed. In fact there were a few walkouts in Cineworld tonight.

Just be warned that this is a meandering, languid film with little sense of forward momentum for the majority of its two-and-a-half hour running time. At times it (seriously) resembles a game of Grand Theft Auto. (Is there a GTA 1969 edition?) Brad driving around Los Angeles on a dreamy sunny afternoon, listening to cool music, carrying out odd jobs and picking up hippy chick hitchhikers.

I’d also compare the overall feel to Robert Altman’s Shortcuts or PT Anderson’s Inherent Vice. Good films, but both the kinds of films where you can doze off in the middle for half an hour and not miss much. There’s very little of Tarantino’s trademark snappy dialogue and pop philosophising.

I won’t spoil the plot, but it’s no secret that it’s set against the shadow of the Manson murders. A firm awareness of that grisly moment in history will be most helpful when » Continue Reading.