Review: Stan & Ollie

It took me a while to fully get into Laurel & Hardy when I was discovering their filmography. I always could see why they were so popular.
But it took a few films for me to discover ones that I would eventually really enjoy instead of appreciate.

So with seeing enough Laurel & Hardy and being a natural of the fan of history, I was pretty excited to see what would come of this biographical drama.

Well, it already had me smiling as the first scene shows the filming of my favourite Laurel & Hardy moment I've seen from their films. So I was certainly felt I was in safe hands.
After that, the story moves along nicely, the pacing is very gentle and the choice of story at this particular point in Laurel & Hardy's lives had me intrigued into the reasoning of this.
While I wasn't really blown away by much on screen, it was all totally and utterly pleasant viewing. Then I think the high point for me was the emotional and teary ending, which certainly moved me and enhanced everything else I had just seen beforehand.

One big aspect that needs to work is the performances of the two titular characters. John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan both did a great job individually as well as a pair. You instantly get a vibe of what you expect on how they work together and how they approach their work. But it was interesting to see how their characters behave off-screen and behind the scenes. Showing I think really helped for that memorable finale.
Despite Reilly and Coogan dominating the screen, there was a good amount of time for some of the supporting cast to shine. Nina Arianda came out well in this and had enough scene-stealing moments that I feel will get noticed by more people then you might expect.
I also have to praise on the efforts of Shirley Henderson and Rufus Jones. It was also great to see Danny Huston be a part of this.

Everything from a production standpoint looked spot on. The period setting was great to look at and the variety of costumes looked stunningly made. It certainly made the lavish side of the early 1950's rather grand and easy on the eye.

No negatives to speak of. But I will say that outside of the leading performances and the pay-off, everything else was good rather than great in my opinion. The script did keep the story moving but was never exceptional, the way it was edited and structured was perfectly fine but never noticeably exceptional.

All of those comments are just me being picky. But this is really a good time. The performances are strong, it looks great and I was particularly happy that my favourite Laurel & Hardy moment were pretty much as bookends for the story which pleased me hugely.
Laurel & Hardy purists I feel will be pleased with how this came out, and this will also be a great introduction to people who are not aware of this iconic comedic duo.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Welcome To Marwen

The anticipation of a new Robert Zemeckis film seems to have almost disappeared as it has been a long time since his last big hit, which I would consider to be Cast Away from 2000.
Since then, he has made some solid hits such as The Polar Express and Flight and some solid critical hits such as The Walk.

But he has come nowhere near matching his efforts from the Back To The Future trilogy, Forrest Gump or Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

For me, I am always still up a new Zemeckis as I can see he is still looking for another timeless classic to add to his back catalogue. I really liked The Polar Express and The Walk and found Beowulf and A Christmas Carol to be decent. However, I do feel he missed the mark with the disappointing Flight and Allied which I felt to be rather flat despite being well-crafted.

With this latest project, we get a pretty strange story to be portrayed on film. To explain it on paper would be tricky. But while I still felt the whole experience to be pretty odd, strange and unique, I managed to rather enjoy once I got on board with the structure.
There's a pretty cool opening sequence and then once the major development happens, I think like myself, most people will try and work out if this unique story is going to work.
After that, I think it's just a matter of seeing if you'll get on board with this or just see it as a bit of a mess.

What I was seeing was an intriguing story that gripped me, with a strong performance by lead Steve Carell, some good CGI sequences in the fantasy part of the film, a strong and memorable score by Zemeckis' regular composer Alan Silvestri and many vintage Zemeckis moments.

As mentioned before I think Steve Carell gives a great performance and gave us a character with great sympathy and a troubled personality that has a lot of content to work with for the writing team.
I felt his chemistry with Leslie Mann was sweet and infectious and Mann herself did a good job as the main support.
There were also noticeable good supporting performances by Gwendoline Christie, Janelle Monae, Eiza Gonzalez and Diane Kruger.

I didn't feel there were any notable negatives from a technical or story-telling aspect. I think the strangeness of this story is what is preventing it from reaching out to a mainstream audience.
It almost feels like an arthouse project being given a budget closer to that of a blockbuster, and those types of films I'm always up for.

So while I don't think the story fully worked, I still managed to enjoy it. It has enough of that Zemeckis film-making magic to get invested in a story that has a charm and heart to it with a strong leading performance with many solid outings from the supporting side of the cast.
If you like the majority of the directors previous films, then I think you can find enough in here to at the very least admire it.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Aquaman

A new film within the DCEU and already I'm fearing another rush project with messy story-telling despite showing a lot of promise.

With this one involving Aquaman, a character that I did not like nor care for after seeing him in Justice League. It's fair to say that I was going into with the lowest of expectations.

It started off surprising well with an action sequence that was filmed in such a tense and exciting way that I rarely see. Seeing that put me in a more comfortable position. As we were being introduced to this world, whilst being totally flawed by the incredible visual effects of this under-water world, the inconsistency in its editing and story-telling was already showing.
But as the film went on, I'm not sure that aspect was getting better, or I was slowly ignoring and appreciating the high fun-factor that this film has.
It moves along at a good pace and the sense of adventure around it all felt to me as the type of film Jules Verne would do if he ever thought of going into film-making if the medium was around when he was alive. All of that had me surprisingly enjoying this and having fun with it despite its problems.

Despite not really liking Jason Mamoa's portrayal of Aquaman in Justice League, I gradually warmed to him. He began with the tropes that was not enjoying. But as his character developed, he seemed to tone it down a bit and concentrate and fulfilling his characters story arch. By then I was invested and rooting for him to succeed and I thought he did a good job overall.
Amber Heard was a perfectly fine support for Mamoa, but was never exceptional. She helped moved the plot along and that's all I saw from her I'm afraid.
I think Willem Dafoe was did as good a job as you could do with a role like his. The entrance his character makes, I bet Dafoe never thought that would happen to him in his career.
Patrick Wilson continues to show how under-rated he is as an actor. His style fitted the tone of the film perfectly and was a good antagonist.
A couple of shocks to see in a film like this was Nicole Kidman and Dolph Lundgren. Kidman did a good job and felt very believable in this world full of CGI and many things that I don't usually see Kidman being part of. As for Lundgren, he was quite the surprise and never felt out of place. 2018 has been quite a year for Lundgren. With this and in my opinion stealing the show in Creed II, Lundgren looks to be saving his best for last.
I also noticed a nice little minor role for Graham McTavish, who I know from TV series Red Dwarf and The Hobbit trilogy.

Easily the films biggest strength is the visual effects. There lots of pressure on this with the film being shown largely under-water. What they managed to do something so spectacular. Going back to Verne, it was as if I was watching something like 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea or the under-watch animated segment in Bedknobs And Broomsticks or an under-water version of Thor Ragnarok. The level of detail, the high amounts of imagination and the lively colour palette made the viewing experience such a feast for the eyes.
The way the action and combat sequences were well executed. The way the camera was placed almost as if it was perched on a person's shoulder and the way the tracked around the people involved made it quite frenetic and almost as if you were part of it.

Sadly despite having lots of fun with this, it still has a lot of similar problems that many other DCEU films have. The way the story is told felt messy throughout to me was rushed in parts. Especially in the opening act or when developing certain characters.
Also, it's way too long. The duration is 2hrs 23mins and there enough that I feel could easily be expendable and get down to 2hrs at the most. There was a section just before the finl act that saw our main characters travel to various places around the world. All of certainly slowed everything down, and a few cuts would have easily benefited the pacing.

But even knowing of its blatant problems, the large amounts of fun I had with this made it a surprisingly good watch. I can see the international appeal this film is getting at the box office and manages to deserve that.
The tone of adventure and the high quality visual effects makes it totally worth your money and seeing on the biggest screen possible. Even when it gets to its most bonkers, I manged to stay on board with it and get invested in this world.
Big credit to James Wan and his team. His popular style is very noticeable in this and I hope he becomes a saviour of sorts for this much trouble franchise.

I'm glad to finally be going into the DCEU film with some promise. It might not be as solid or well-rounded as Wonder Woman, but it's certainly the next best and definitely the most fun.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Mary Poppins Returns

For people who adore and were brought up by the original, a mix of huge excitement and bags of nerves must have been inside everyone ever since the news of this sequel came out.

The excitement of heading back to Cherry Tree Lane and knowing how good this film could be, and the nerves of it not feeling the same or matching the magical experience of the 1964 original.

The beginning already had me getting goosebumps but also a sense of alienation it felt really odd coming back to this story with these beloved characters. I seemed to have the same emotions throughout the film. While there were some amazing sequences including a phenomenal animated one, I noticed so many glaring similarities to the structure of the original with some twists to them. But even recognising them, I could still feel the magic that only a Mary Poppins could conjure. Many of the songs felt pretty catchy, and by the time the final act came round, I eventually become overwhelmed by it by a memorable final scene.

Despite the mounting pressure, I think Emily Blunt did a pretty good job playing Mary Poppins. She was never going to match or beat the powerhouse display by Julie Andrews. But Blunt still felt like Mary had returned and had all the usual quips that we know and love.
I was honestly not too bothered by Lan-Manuel Miranda. Many people seem to be giving him huge praise for effectively playing Bert, but not really. I thought he was fine and he felt moved the story along. But very little of him felt anything more then that.
The child actors of Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and Joel Dawson were all great in my opinion. They felt really committed and felt as if they'd doing it for years. They were funny, sweet and strong when they needed to be.
As for the others, Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer were as good as you would expect and Julie Walters does Julie Walters. Meryl Streep wasn't that memorable, Colin Firth did well playing the villain in broad strokes that work well with similar family films.
There were a couple of lovely surprises at the end that I won't say who was involved. But it will certainly put a smile on your face.

Lots of positives from the technical side. The production, sets and costumes are tip-top and I was pleased to feel that many of the songs were catchy and fitted the tone perfectly.

I think the whole feeling of watching this was like going to watch a tribute band. The magic is there, it has all the similar beats and it reminds us why we love the original. But the rawness and purity of created by the original band members makes the sequel the inferior.
Like I said, there were many parts that gave me goosebumps and there are some set-pieces that were genuinely fantastic and the strength of that is what is helping me give it an strong rating. But I would have liked a new story rather then basically treading over familiar grounds.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Free Solo

It's been a strange path leading up to my viewing of his film documentary set at the infamous cliff face of El Capitan.

I first heard of this back last Autumnand heard nothing but stellar reviews. Then when I got to the Leeds International Film Festival, there was a similar documentary set at El Capitan that they showed called The Dawn Wall, which apparently was made first. If you have read my review of it, then you know how I really enjoyed The Dawn Wall. So unlike most people, I was going in knowing it would be tough to match my enjoyment of The Dawn Wall.

I noticed early on that they actually briefly mentioned the events from The Dawn Wall which made me chuckle, because hardly anyone else would be aware of that. As for the film itself, seeing it on the big screen is essential to make it as thrilling of an experience as possible.
The feat of the achievement is impressive to see develop from its planning to actually doing it. Plus, the views of Yosemite National Park are always a joy. But seeing them from the face of El Capitan certainly enhances them.

But what I think makes The Dawn Wall the superior is the people involved.

The task at hand is being made by a climber called Alex Honnold. His personality is not the kind that you instantly warm to. Once you get to know his personality, I found enough to warm to him and being engaged with. But the charm and show of drive and determination felt more pleasing on the eye from climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgensen in The Dawn Wall.

While I may have come out from my screening straight away and say it was not as good, it is still a highly thrilling experience that will have you on the edge of your seat. The tension certainly mounts as they get closer to attempting this feat. Plus, the sub-plot of the sacrifices our climber is having to make was interesting to see.

But with The Dawn Wall still fresh in the memory, I think the timing of seeing this certainly effected my views. It is a shame that The Dawn Wall hasn't had the same coverage as Free Solo has. The latter will get the plaudits. But I do hope that people discover the former eventually.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Three Identical Strangers

Documentaries as a film genre continue to go from strength to strength. The amount of amazing true stories that emerge onto the big screen the last few years have amazed me. But I think this latest might be the most amazing, strangest and eventually disturbing stories ever put to film.

When you read the synopsis of this story, you think it can't be true. But from the very first scene, they get right into it. Twenty minutes in, and you feel as if that was the story. Where else could go they? After that astonishingly feel good opening, the story gets deeper with some dark and upsetting results. Despite this story getting a lot of media attention in America in the early 90's, I knew nothing of this unique discovery.

The interviews with the people involved that were cut between the archive footage was very compelling and instantly gave you a feel of what they were experiencing and that just beautifully enhanced the whole film.

I am always excited for what documentaries are coming out each year and this one may have the best story. As for the execution, it's very well put together and feels like one of the best of this ever-growing genre.

Whether you are a fan aren't much of one of this genre, you have to see this to believe it.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

The first I heard about this film, I didn't think much of it. But the way it was being marketed, the hype slowly brewing and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as producers of it, I had to see it.

Lord and Miller have always surprised me with whatever they have done. They've contributed to all the Lego Movies, both Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs films, both Jump Street films and were producers on my film of 2017, Brigsby Bear. So with my initial expectations not being that great, I was already on course to be surprised again.

Low and behold, they've done it again with something totally new and fresh to the superhero genre. If anyone feels this genre is restricted and tired, then there is plenty to find in this latest project.
Firstly, the animation is totally original. Whilst looking like the pages of a comic book, there were times where it clashes various other animation styles from various eras and parts of the world and I noticed in some scenes that things that weren't focused were made to like watching something in 3D without the glasses.

With the technical side oozing with positivity, could the story match it? For me, it eventually does. It develops nicely for the first half with a solid amount of laughs with its clever self-referential humor that always wins me over. But when a dramatic revelation takes place with the emergence of new characters, the heart of the story begins to flourish and what we get is a emotional finish whilst still having a laugh along the way.

Everyone in the voice acting department did a pretty good with their characters. Not major exceptions, so all I'll say is great job by Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Harvey, Hailee Steinfeld, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Kathryn Hahn, Liev Schreiber and Nicolas Cage who has had a pretty good 2018 with voice acting.

The only negative I would like to mention is a picky one, but there were times where the pacing was too fast in terms of processing the gags. Also, the animation style at times felt nauseous. The way it moves around can mess with your senses which I feel to also be a good thing in relation to the originality of the animation style. Hence, why these negatives are me being picky.

This was a really fun time, and I think will many agree with and me and call this the best Spider-man film. The choice of story made me remember why I think Spider-man and the world around it. It took me back to the brilliant 90's TV series, especially with the addition of multiple dimensions and the universes. Lord and Miller have once again put everyone on watch and shown what can be done to a much beloved product if you have a laugh with it and aren't afraid to go a bit silly every now and then. When this brilliant duo commit to something, it works beautifully, no matter out of hand it may look. It's such a shame that their work on the most recent Star Wars never got completed with them at the helm.

I hope everyone checks this out as this is not just for the comic books fans. I feel this to be a pretty accessible watch or at the very least something that needs to be experienced due to the original look to it.
It's only a matter of time before we get a sequel, and I cannot wait to see another installment. Films with a lot of joy and fun I find to be a rare find these days, and we should champion this one as much as we can.

Finally, I must mention that there is a post-credits scene and it was very funny. It opens the door to where the sequel could go and what happens in the scene is extremely funny and the icing on the cake to the evolution of the character of Spider-Man.

Rating: 8/10

Review: Mortal Engines

I was pretty excited for this one. The concept sounds like it could be well utilised on screen, and Peter Jackson was involved on the production side of things.

However, the general hype didn't seem to be that big and the reviews coming out from America were sub-par.

So with that in mind, I was still going in hopeful of a fun time at the very least.

It sets you up nicely for the world we're being introduced to, it has cool action set-piece to get us going and there was some nice comedic moments. But whilst I was having fun with it, the execution of the story and character development felt rather average by the end.
So for the rest of the film, I was thinking of what could have been for this film that has a lot of potential with such strong source material.

From the performance side, I think everyone did a satisfactory job but none were exceptional. Hera Hilmer did a pretty good job as the lead considering that she's never done anything this big. The strength of her character was very noticeable in her performance and I would happily see her in more films. It was great to see Robert Sheehan heavily involved as he is more known for British TV work. It's always fantastic to see Hugo Weaving. But sadly this was not a scene-stealing performance. There was nothing wrong with it. But you expect so much more from Weaving, as he always delivers. The only other performance I wanted to mention was Stephen Lang whose character and his story arch was the most compelling part of the film. If the rest of the film was as strong as this portion, then we could be seeing another fantasy franchise being created.

But despite all of the potential, I think this may the only one we'll get. I will give it a pass rating as the whole film is perfectly fine, I'm a sucker for the steampunk genre, the visual effects are very good, there is fun to be had, there's a sense of adventure and the action for the most part is rather thrilling.
But I think like with similar outcomes of Valerian and Jupiter Ascending, it was a missed opportunity to fully fledge.

Rating: 7/10

Review: Roma

A new Alfonso Cuaron film excites multiple groups within the film industry. His back catalogue have impressed the mainstream audiences as well as the schooled experts.

Whether or not I have liked his past work, from a technical standpoint, it is always of a high quality.
I have come to terms with my disappointment for Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by reminding myself of the good stuff about it, Children Of Men is a really enjoyable sci-fi drama and Gravity I feel is his masterpiece and one of the greatest films of the current decade.

With this new release, we have a distribution with Netflix plus a very small cinematic release. Sadly, it's the small screen for me and I was fearing that a part of my experience would be lost as Cuaron's films are certainly to be appreciated at the cinema more than anywhere else.

It certainly has everything you expect in a Cuaron film. It has those long impressive takes that perfectly shot and you can that every shot has been thoroughly prepared in making sure it looks perfect. But I think for the majority of the film, that is all I was noticing.
There is a story in here, but it took me a while to fully get into it. It was probably until a few moving moments in the final act that I fully got what this story is trying to tell. But in the end, the story felt more like it just Cuaron and his team documenting a real-life family during a typical mundane time in their life. That will work from some people, but not always with me. But I will still give props to the Mexican cast, especially the central character played by Yalitza Aparicio.

The film is clearly a technical marvel. It's shot beautifully, the combination of the long tracking shots and the impressive sound design made it quite the atmospheric experience. Some of the scenes that truly show the scale of this production was impressive to watch and a shame that this never got a wide big-screen release.

But for me, the story and characters did not engage me enough to be totally blown away by the film. I like the themes, but the execution of it never felt jaw-dropping and an aspect to this film that had to spread the word about. Maybe not seeing it on the big screen could be the main reason.

However since seeing it, the more time I think about it, I seem to appreciate it more and more. So it while it is on the cusp of an exceptional rating, I might sneak it over that line in a few years time.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Girl In The Spider's Web

The Millenium franchise I would say has had a pretty good time with its film adaptations. The Swedish trilogy starring Noomi Rapace are a great watch, David Fincher's version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a really well made American re-make. So the pressure is certainly on for this latest addition and it is one of the two novels that was not written by original author Steig Larsson.

I wasn't really that excited for it as I don't think we needed another story involving the characters of Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist. Plus, the hype in general wasn't too great either.

I actually ended up enjoying this more than expected. I liked how the story was structured, how the sub-plots eventually crossed over into the main plot and most importantly the action was pretty consistent in their content and execution throughout.

While it is sad not to see Rooney Mara reprise her role as Salander, I was happy to see the brilliant Claire Foy take the reigns. Foy as she seems to do with everything did a great job in the role. I can always see her full commitment to any role she is given and this was no different. I could feel her characters struggles and Foy kept my believability of Salander being a top hacker and someone who could kick some serious ass.
I was pretty disappointed with the way the character of Mikael Bomkvist was used. For someone so integral to the Larsson novels, the inclusion of him in this film seemed pretty pointless. Sverrir Gudnason was given very little to do and felt more in the way than anything else.
However, I was happy with Lakeith Stanfield's contribution. The last year or so has been quite memorable for Stanfield and I felt he did a good job of keeping the film moving along whenever his sub-plot was given some screen-time.
Another performance I feel I should mention is Sylvia Hoek's. While it wasn't exceptional it was completely serviceable and everything you expect. I was more happy to just see her in another film after her strong showing in Blade Runner 2049.

Speaking of strong, the technical side is certainly the films biggest strength. The wintry landscape gives you many wonderful shots to work with and they made the most of it whenever they could. The cinematography was gorgeous to look at and the costume and production design was very noticeable.

Despite all the praise, this for me is the weakest of the film adaptations. Every department was just not as strong as the other films in this series. But I think the biggest reason for it being the weakest is that the plot was lacking in depth and the content not being as dark as its predecessors.

That being said, I still felt this to be a pretty solid and enjoyable crime action-thriller. Foy continues to show how talented she is, the story is interesting and moves along at a nice pace and the action is pretty entertaining and frenetic.

Rating: 7/10

Review: The Kindergarten Teacher

I was originally planning to see this at the Leeds International Film Festival back in November. However, various reasons prevented me from catching the screening I had secured a ticket for.

Having eventually got round to it, my expectations were pretty solid as the hype for this film is solely due to the Oscar buzz surrounding Maggie Gyllenhaal's performance in this. I feel her to be a very talented actor that does not get mentioned enough. But that might be down to the fact that we haven't seen her do a feature film in four years. The last time I saw her was in 2014's Frank.

Gyllenhaal has certainly returned with a bang with a terrific performance. The story starts off well and the route its going down showed great potential with all the right ingredients for an interesting tale. As the performances from everyone enhance, the story manages to get more psychological and almost Hitchcock-like which surprised and disturbed me at the same time. Then we get a pretty strong finale that sees Gyllenhaal shine brightest.

I have to say the hype is real and Gyllenhaal gives a pretty impressive performance. Whilst feeling highly believable, the mentally disturbed side of her character felt beautifully subtle and very realistic. So much so, that you could still feel sympathy for her character even you witness things in this film that you would totally disagree with. To walk that fine line takes great talent.
I also have to mention the great work by child actor Parker Sevak. His chemistry with Gyllenhaal was highly engaging and by himself was a constant scene-stealer. The innocence was oozing out of him and he became and easy character to root for.
I have to mention the casting Gael Garcia Bernal. I have a fair amount of his previous work where he is usually the lead and speaking his native language of Spanish. He is probably Mexico's biggest actor and I was delighted to see him involved in a project like this.

Outside of the writing and the performances, there's very little else to speak of. It's shot really well and the general look of it is perfectly fine but nothing exceptional.
This is certainly a film that is all about the story and its characters.

There's also no real negatives to speak of. If I was being picky, I guess the execution of some parts I felt could have been bettered. But in the end, there was little to downgrade my viewing experience. So it's just a matter of how much I liked it.

I felt this to be a pretty good drama with top performances, especially by Gyllenhaal and Sevak. Their chemistry is what makes or beaks this film when they're on-screen together, I thought it was constantly engaging and therefore a large amount of the film had my heavily invested.
I liked how it wasn't afraid to flirt with its psychological aspect and tease us about potentially taking the story down a dark path. But it never fully went there, and I felt that made the film the strongest it could be. I can't quite see Gyllenhaal get enough awards buzz. But it is certainly one that is worth watching.

Rating: 7/10