Well recently I picked up Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in 4K and I had heard good things about the 4K disc so I wanted to see it for myself and to my surprise and delight I really enjoyed it, the film plays really well in the home environment maybe better than it did in the cinema environment as watching it on my TV allowed to take in much more the dialogue setpiece/short story structure that is similar to Pulp Fiction while also throwing in a dash of Inglorious Basterds as well.
But while I was rewatching it another movie that is similar but different to it started to come to mind and that film was the Player from 1992 by Robert Altman and I began to think that they would make an interesting double bill at a specialist cinema one day, but why did that feeling come to mind.
Well both movies came at an interesting point in each of their respective directors careers, firstly with the Player Mr Altman was at a point in his career where it had stalled to some extent having had some success in the 1970s and then Popeye in 1980 really setting back his ability to work within the changing studio environment and while he did do some smaller scale work during the 80s the Player was his grand return to mainstream success and that then allowed him to make the movie he tried to make before the Player called Short Cuts.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood meanwhile was Quentin Tarantino for the first time since Reservoir Dogs working without the Hutt esque Weinstein brothers though going back to one of previous studio homes Sony/Columbia who had distributed Django Unchained in 2013 and when watching this movie the freedom flows through each scene as it really feels like Tarantino is able to do his thing while also having a studio that will finally push back to some extent on some of his decisions.
And also both the Player and Once Upon a Time craft something of a fictional narrative within their Hollywood narratives, the Player first and foremost while based off of a novel that Mr Altman helped adapt to the big screen there is a very fun murder mystery at the centre of that story that also allows for a whole lot of great cameos as well as poking fun at the studio executives that populate that story.
The Tarantino film has its element of fiction with its 2 leads Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth played in career best form by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as they try to navigate a changing Hollywood landscape while also telling the story of Sharon Tate a real life person played by Margot Robbie very well which is done in a very interesting direction.
And so that was that column, it was an idea that came to my mind and I decided to write it down in a blog post for everyone and maybe that double bill might happen one day, it would certainly create some interesting discussion if it goes down well enough.
Saturday, December 28, 2019
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Reflections in the Force of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker now out in cinemas, I have been thinking about not only that film on its own but the overall sequel trilogy which consisted of this movie, The Last Jedi and the Force Awakens as a whole and how I feel about it now that the pieces of the puzzle are now in place and we can now see the story in 3 parts instead of just 2.
The Rise of Skywalker on its own was a very disappointing movie and the taste of it felt very bitter when it was over and as it got towards the end I just began to feel sad that this whole trilogy was going to end this way instead of the magnificent ending the original trilogy got with Return of the Jedi in 1983 and the good ending the prequel trilogy got with Revenge of the Sith in 2005.
And as many discuss Rise of Skywalker in the Twittum Realm and the Real World alike, I have increasingly turned my thoughts to the sequel trilogy as a whole and the Force is not with me this time.
For increasingly I feel now that the story of this trilogy has been fully told that Kathleen Kennedy and those in charge at Lucasfilm really had no idea what to do with this trilogy when she was anointed by George Lucas himself in 2012 when George sold Lucasfilm to Disney and Ms Kennedy was chosen to be his successor.
And look I can understand the decision by Disney not to use the treatments for 7, 8 and 9 that George gave them in that sale as I’m certain many had the feeling that the Prequel Trilogy was unpopular, George was very much hated by the fans for those Prequel films and his constant tinkering with the original trilogy while also denying fans a properly restored unaltered original trilogy to go with the revised versions which when adding in his stubborn and inflexible attitude can lead you to why Disney went the direction they did.
But herein lies the problem George for all of his faults and for all of the many faults of the Prequel Trilogy at the very least sat down and had a clear idea of where that trilogy was going and the story those 3 films were going to tell which was essentially the backstory of the original films which Sir Alec Guiness told us all about so memorably in the original Star Wars film.
Same with the original trilogy, George had this crazy idea in his head for a 1930s/40s style Republic Serial movie that thanks to those like Steven Spielberg and Alan Ladd Jr who was running 20th Century Fox when the original film was being made stuck it through and created at that time the biggest movie in history that was ahead of its time and when you got to Empire and Jedi and others came in like Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand and Lawrence Kasdan to take over directing and writing duties there was still a strong sense of cohesion and continuity that makes that trilogy feel like a one big movie told in 3 parts as well as those 2 films now becoming the standard those like it at the time had to reach and that wasn’t easy.
Disney meanwhile just didn’t do that work at all and reflecting back it increasingly feels like they had an idea for one movie (The Force Awakens) and then another movie (The Last Jedi) and then were left with really nothing to think of for the third film (Colin Trevorrow of Jurassic World was going to do it but he ended up being fired and his script was thrown in the bin which left JJ having to start from complete scratch and put a movie out in 2 years.)
Now let’s go back to those previous 2 films as on their own they actually work pretty well, The Force Awakens sets a tone of fun adventure in the style of the original film and borrows very heavily from it while the Last Jedi changes that tone for a more realistic style where good and bad feel much more a shade of grey and goes for some very big and unexpected story and character choices that when melded together as a complete script sadly don’t show the clockwork precision of the writing in Looper and Knives Out.
And when you put the puzzle together it creates this image of a trilogy that was in constant search of a consistent story, idea, tone, vision and characters and their arcs; JJ had his version, Rian had his version and they just to me didn’t fit together at all and just act in reactive panic to each other:
- The Force Awakens going back to the structure and tone of the original Star Wars film to react against the Prequels
- The Force Awakens gets a lot of complaints for doing just that so here’s a new director in Rian Johnson who with the Last Jedi will go his own way with his own style and tone and vision that will subvert all expectations
- The Last Jedi’s subversion of expectations and the more real world tone divides and fractures the fan base so JJ now has to come back and do the same job he did with the Force Awakens all over again
And when you look at it that way you just see this jumping at shadows style of movie making that just does not work and could so easily have been avoided if Ms Kennedy had given the directive to JJ, Kasdan and Michael Arndt who wrote the first script for Force Awakens to come up with a blueprint plan for 7, 8 and 9 much like George had before he sold it off.
And this approach is known to work as the very same studio Walt Disney Pictures put out Avengers: Endgame this year and Avengers: Infinity War the year before, 2 movies that wrapped up 7 years of storytelling by bringing Thanos into the limelight, having all the heroes step up to try and stop him and then end the Infinity Saga in a way that leaves critics and fans satisfied and they fucking well did just that as Kevin Feige had a plan, a vision, a consistent tone all in his head and he hired the people he felt he could work with and trust with his children and who could execute his vision and barring a few missteps along the way they did that very thing.
Sorry to get a bit rambling and long winded with this column but it just felt like the way of the Force to sit down like this and confess into it but before I do wrap up this column fully we have to look forward which as Master Yoda says in Empire is difficult to see as always in motion is the future but I feel there are 2 big things Disney and Lucasfilm must do going forward.
First and foremost is that those in charge if they decide to commit to a new series of films after this have to sit down, come up with a treatment plan for 3 films and commit to that vision and stick with it otherwise we will just end up back where we started where we got a series of reactionary movies that really end up satisfying very few and causing the faith to be tested.
Second and last, I think Disney and Lucasfilm have to commit to doing a 4K restoration of the unaltered original trilogy which I know will be not an easy task given how adamant Lucas was that they never see the light of day again but I feel it has to be done as the fanbase is divided between those who only love the original films and those who love the broader saga and both versions being available will buy peace and bring balance to the Force, it sounds silly I know but this is how I feel.
The Rise of Skywalker on its own was a very disappointing movie and the taste of it felt very bitter when it was over and as it got towards the end I just began to feel sad that this whole trilogy was going to end this way instead of the magnificent ending the original trilogy got with Return of the Jedi in 1983 and the good ending the prequel trilogy got with Revenge of the Sith in 2005.
And as many discuss Rise of Skywalker in the Twittum Realm and the Real World alike, I have increasingly turned my thoughts to the sequel trilogy as a whole and the Force is not with me this time.
For increasingly I feel now that the story of this trilogy has been fully told that Kathleen Kennedy and those in charge at Lucasfilm really had no idea what to do with this trilogy when she was anointed by George Lucas himself in 2012 when George sold Lucasfilm to Disney and Ms Kennedy was chosen to be his successor.
And look I can understand the decision by Disney not to use the treatments for 7, 8 and 9 that George gave them in that sale as I’m certain many had the feeling that the Prequel Trilogy was unpopular, George was very much hated by the fans for those Prequel films and his constant tinkering with the original trilogy while also denying fans a properly restored unaltered original trilogy to go with the revised versions which when adding in his stubborn and inflexible attitude can lead you to why Disney went the direction they did.
But herein lies the problem George for all of his faults and for all of the many faults of the Prequel Trilogy at the very least sat down and had a clear idea of where that trilogy was going and the story those 3 films were going to tell which was essentially the backstory of the original films which Sir Alec Guiness told us all about so memorably in the original Star Wars film.
Same with the original trilogy, George had this crazy idea in his head for a 1930s/40s style Republic Serial movie that thanks to those like Steven Spielberg and Alan Ladd Jr who was running 20th Century Fox when the original film was being made stuck it through and created at that time the biggest movie in history that was ahead of its time and when you got to Empire and Jedi and others came in like Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand and Lawrence Kasdan to take over directing and writing duties there was still a strong sense of cohesion and continuity that makes that trilogy feel like a one big movie told in 3 parts as well as those 2 films now becoming the standard those like it at the time had to reach and that wasn’t easy.
Disney meanwhile just didn’t do that work at all and reflecting back it increasingly feels like they had an idea for one movie (The Force Awakens) and then another movie (The Last Jedi) and then were left with really nothing to think of for the third film (Colin Trevorrow of Jurassic World was going to do it but he ended up being fired and his script was thrown in the bin which left JJ having to start from complete scratch and put a movie out in 2 years.)
Now let’s go back to those previous 2 films as on their own they actually work pretty well, The Force Awakens sets a tone of fun adventure in the style of the original film and borrows very heavily from it while the Last Jedi changes that tone for a more realistic style where good and bad feel much more a shade of grey and goes for some very big and unexpected story and character choices that when melded together as a complete script sadly don’t show the clockwork precision of the writing in Looper and Knives Out.
And when you put the puzzle together it creates this image of a trilogy that was in constant search of a consistent story, idea, tone, vision and characters and their arcs; JJ had his version, Rian had his version and they just to me didn’t fit together at all and just act in reactive panic to each other:
- The Force Awakens going back to the structure and tone of the original Star Wars film to react against the Prequels
- The Force Awakens gets a lot of complaints for doing just that so here’s a new director in Rian Johnson who with the Last Jedi will go his own way with his own style and tone and vision that will subvert all expectations
- The Last Jedi’s subversion of expectations and the more real world tone divides and fractures the fan base so JJ now has to come back and do the same job he did with the Force Awakens all over again
And when you look at it that way you just see this jumping at shadows style of movie making that just does not work and could so easily have been avoided if Ms Kennedy had given the directive to JJ, Kasdan and Michael Arndt who wrote the first script for Force Awakens to come up with a blueprint plan for 7, 8 and 9 much like George had before he sold it off.
And this approach is known to work as the very same studio Walt Disney Pictures put out Avengers: Endgame this year and Avengers: Infinity War the year before, 2 movies that wrapped up 7 years of storytelling by bringing Thanos into the limelight, having all the heroes step up to try and stop him and then end the Infinity Saga in a way that leaves critics and fans satisfied and they fucking well did just that as Kevin Feige had a plan, a vision, a consistent tone all in his head and he hired the people he felt he could work with and trust with his children and who could execute his vision and barring a few missteps along the way they did that very thing.
Sorry to get a bit rambling and long winded with this column but it just felt like the way of the Force to sit down like this and confess into it but before I do wrap up this column fully we have to look forward which as Master Yoda says in Empire is difficult to see as always in motion is the future but I feel there are 2 big things Disney and Lucasfilm must do going forward.
First and foremost is that those in charge if they decide to commit to a new series of films after this have to sit down, come up with a treatment plan for 3 films and commit to that vision and stick with it otherwise we will just end up back where we started where we got a series of reactionary movies that really end up satisfying very few and causing the faith to be tested.
Second and last, I think Disney and Lucasfilm have to commit to doing a 4K restoration of the unaltered original trilogy which I know will be not an easy task given how adamant Lucas was that they never see the light of day again but I feel it has to be done as the fanbase is divided between those who only love the original films and those who love the broader saga and both versions being available will buy peace and bring balance to the Force, it sounds silly I know but this is how I feel.
Friday, December 20, 2019
It's That Time Again: 2019 in Film Part 2
Well here we are again, the 5 films that I found to be my absolute favorites of this year and now that we’ve cooked the turkeys its now time to feast on them by enjoying the favorites so let’s get underway with number 5 and boy was this the hardest spot to fill on this list, the top 4 were pretty much locked into place but 5th place was tough.
But once it was locked in I began to think about the list overall and what I wanted to accomplish with it and what I wanted to do with it was have it reflect as much as possible my own tastes so to speak, what I want out of the movie going experience and have it be a list where people could look at it and go “Oh that’s Simon as close as possible in movie tastes.”
With that disclaimer here is number 5 and it’s:
Ready or Not: Boy was this movie a surprise for while I had enjoyed the trailer for it, I wasn’t sure if I would give it a chance or not but after some strong recommendations and a bit of good timing I was able to give it a watch and boy did I enjoy myself.
Firstly it had a great idea for a horror movie, this rich family that made their name through playing these games and carrying that tradition into whoever marries into their family, secondly it had some terrific MA15 bloody violence that really made me feel all tasty inside as it felt properly gooey and icky in all the best ways and thirdly the look of the film and the use of night photography really added to the mood and tension of the story being told.
And lastly I can’t not mention this movie and not talk about the lead performance by Ms Samara Weaving, she is truly great in this movie as the innocent bride marrying a man she loves only for it all to change over the course of what should be the happiest night of her life her wedding night and she truly rises to the challenge much like Sigourney Weaver did in the first Alien film and she also has a pair of lungs in here as her screams are fantastic, I can’t wait to see more of her in these lead roles in the future.
4. Rocketman: Though Dexter Fletcher had the unhappy task of finishing Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody (a job Singer should have finished himself instead of throwing his actors and crew under the Bus for the sake of his personal ego) Rocketman is his movie through and through and like BoRhap it was for me a terrific time at the movies.
Firstly I loved the way he stages the music in the film, yes the film uses Elton’s songs but they are done in a way that reflect the mood of those songs from the big song and dance routine of Wednesday-sorry-Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting to the soulful slowness of Your Song and Tiny Dancer to the manicness of the Crocodile Rock where the crowd becomes the chorus in that song, it was all done so well where I was singing with my pretend microphone-sorry-Water Bottle in my cinema seat.
Secondly Taron Egerton is fantastic as Sir Elton, the moment you first see him which is during the Saturday Night musical sequence he gives you none of that aggravation and he’s had with that discipline he captures the vocal tone of Sir Elton very well and he in some cases improves upon it where it’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside and its not one of those you can easily hide blue jean Baby, LA Lady seamstress of the band in the case of Your Song and Tiny Dancer and though some of the drugs scenes bothered me he sells the pain very well.
And lastly Fletcher’s direction and editing I feel fixed the primary problem I had with Bohemian Rhapsody which as great the performances and concert scenes were (and they were genuinely great) that film suffered from Singer’s firing before filming wrapped as it showed he wasn’t there to properly edit the film in post production and find the right tempo between the drama scenes and the concert scenes but here Mr Fletcher was there all the way through and he did find that balance and strikes it very very well.
3. Dolemite is My Name: The only non cinema release on this list is the Netflix film Dolemite is My Name which starred Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore who created the character of Dolemite in the hope of advancing his own career only to create a great character that his own community really responds to despite big opposition in his way.
Boy did I love watching this movie and firstly I have to talk about Eddie, as a longtime fan of his going back to my first showing of Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2 in my early 20s the moment I saw him on screen I said to myself “He’s Back” it was just this feeling that came over me he was back, back to his best form and it feels like it has been an eternity since he was this good in a movie (a lot of this due to his own ego getting the better of him) and I just ate up every moment of it.
And secondly I loved the message of this story regarding following a dream and a desire to make that happen and gathering the people around you in pursuit of that goal and yes things can get tense and people don’t always see eye to eye but if the drive and the desire are there then sometimes these things work out and for that community to see something of themselves on a big cinema screen done in a way that felt right to them it was just wonderful to see.
And when it was all over I said to myself “Coming to America 2 is in great hands” as Eddie has got this team making that sequel due late next year and I am very confident that they will deliver the goods.
Now comes my top 2 and it became no question what these 2 films would be and though they briefly went back and forth for a time I have no hesitation in having a clear delineation in second and first place.
2. Ford V Ferrari: Like Dolemite, this was a very late entry that was directed by James Mangold and starred Matt Damon and Christian Bale as designer engineers for Ford who want to build a race car to beat Ferrari at the 24 hours of Le Mans in the 1960s.
And boy did I love this movie when I saw it each of the 3 times I did in the cinema, Mr Mangold has crafted for me a near perfect 2 and a half hour movie that firstly shows the best of people coming together to come up with a challenge and a product that will deliver on its promise and the drama in the film was as riveting to watch as the racing scenes were as like Ron Howard’s criminally underseen and overlooked 2013 film Rush its built on a great rivalry both personally and company wise this time around and its terrific to watch.
Secondly Mangold and his team in those Drama moments are having a bit of fun with the Ford executives characters especially those played by Tracy Letts (who would make a great Gough Whitlam in a biopic about his government one day) and Josh Lucas who come across as versions of the various studio executives Mangold has come across over the years (and he made Cop Land for Miramax during the time of the Weinsteins) and some of the conflicts on show reflect I think to him what its like to make a big movie for a big company and the meddling that can happen for good and for bad.
And lastly it has really made me miss 20th Century Fox as one of the big 6 movie studios that governed the movie industry for most of its lifetime as they were a studio that weren’t afraid to take some big risks in their lifespan be it Star Wars, X-Men, The Abyss, Alien you name it now granted a good chunk of their risk taking didn’t quite work out but they built some of this most iconic brands of the business through that risk taking and crafted such a rich history of movie making over the decades that to see them now just another folder in the spreadsheet of Walt Disney Pictures is heartbreaking to me and I miss them deeply.
But now we end at number 1 the top of the pile, the king of the mountain and for most of the year like in 2018 this has never been in question in my mind and that movie is:
Dragon Ball Super – Broly: Yes this was the one movie I was most looking forward to this year and it was the one movie above all else that I got the most out of.
For while I had some minor complaints that really only reflect critiscisms I’ve had of the Dragon Ball franchise post the Freeza Arc what this movie got right it got so very right.
The fanservice, the animation, the voice acting, the music, the story telling, the way it truly developed Broly into an actual character and not just a one dimensional punching bag, the fight scenes all of it was just operating at the highest levels rarely seen in the franchise in a long long time, you could really tell that this movie was a movie the Dragon Ball team really believed in and they wanted to craft something truly special.
And lastly it has given me a new appreciation for the overall leadership of this franchise since Funimation took direct control of its direction in 1999 working with Toei Animation in Japan, this blend of East and West working together has created a sense of leadership that has been steady, stable and patient in crafting the direction, knowing what stories to tell and then later on dubbing it for Western audiences in a way that feels true to its Japanese source.
And given what a mess most Western franchises have found themselves be it Star Wars, the Wizarding World, DC to name as examples where there has been this ungodly mess with no sense of direction, going from one movie to the next, throwing ideas against the wall in the hope that something will stick and giving huge power to a creator who can’t write a goddamn screenplay the fact that Dragon Ball has been steady and stable for the most part save for a recent hiccup is something I am coming to appreciate more and more.
And that’s it for this year but not the decade and in the third part of this decade I’ll look back at my favourites of this decade.
But once it was locked in I began to think about the list overall and what I wanted to accomplish with it and what I wanted to do with it was have it reflect as much as possible my own tastes so to speak, what I want out of the movie going experience and have it be a list where people could look at it and go “Oh that’s Simon as close as possible in movie tastes.”
With that disclaimer here is number 5 and it’s:
Ready or Not: Boy was this movie a surprise for while I had enjoyed the trailer for it, I wasn’t sure if I would give it a chance or not but after some strong recommendations and a bit of good timing I was able to give it a watch and boy did I enjoy myself.
Firstly it had a great idea for a horror movie, this rich family that made their name through playing these games and carrying that tradition into whoever marries into their family, secondly it had some terrific MA15 bloody violence that really made me feel all tasty inside as it felt properly gooey and icky in all the best ways and thirdly the look of the film and the use of night photography really added to the mood and tension of the story being told.
And lastly I can’t not mention this movie and not talk about the lead performance by Ms Samara Weaving, she is truly great in this movie as the innocent bride marrying a man she loves only for it all to change over the course of what should be the happiest night of her life her wedding night and she truly rises to the challenge much like Sigourney Weaver did in the first Alien film and she also has a pair of lungs in here as her screams are fantastic, I can’t wait to see more of her in these lead roles in the future.
4. Rocketman: Though Dexter Fletcher had the unhappy task of finishing Bryan Singer’s Bohemian Rhapsody (a job Singer should have finished himself instead of throwing his actors and crew under the Bus for the sake of his personal ego) Rocketman is his movie through and through and like BoRhap it was for me a terrific time at the movies.
Firstly I loved the way he stages the music in the film, yes the film uses Elton’s songs but they are done in a way that reflect the mood of those songs from the big song and dance routine of Wednesday-sorry-Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting to the soulful slowness of Your Song and Tiny Dancer to the manicness of the Crocodile Rock where the crowd becomes the chorus in that song, it was all done so well where I was singing with my pretend microphone-sorry-Water Bottle in my cinema seat.
Secondly Taron Egerton is fantastic as Sir Elton, the moment you first see him which is during the Saturday Night musical sequence he gives you none of that aggravation and he’s had with that discipline he captures the vocal tone of Sir Elton very well and he in some cases improves upon it where it’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside and its not one of those you can easily hide blue jean Baby, LA Lady seamstress of the band in the case of Your Song and Tiny Dancer and though some of the drugs scenes bothered me he sells the pain very well.
And lastly Fletcher’s direction and editing I feel fixed the primary problem I had with Bohemian Rhapsody which as great the performances and concert scenes were (and they were genuinely great) that film suffered from Singer’s firing before filming wrapped as it showed he wasn’t there to properly edit the film in post production and find the right tempo between the drama scenes and the concert scenes but here Mr Fletcher was there all the way through and he did find that balance and strikes it very very well.
3. Dolemite is My Name: The only non cinema release on this list is the Netflix film Dolemite is My Name which starred Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore who created the character of Dolemite in the hope of advancing his own career only to create a great character that his own community really responds to despite big opposition in his way.
Boy did I love watching this movie and firstly I have to talk about Eddie, as a longtime fan of his going back to my first showing of Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2 in my early 20s the moment I saw him on screen I said to myself “He’s Back” it was just this feeling that came over me he was back, back to his best form and it feels like it has been an eternity since he was this good in a movie (a lot of this due to his own ego getting the better of him) and I just ate up every moment of it.
And secondly I loved the message of this story regarding following a dream and a desire to make that happen and gathering the people around you in pursuit of that goal and yes things can get tense and people don’t always see eye to eye but if the drive and the desire are there then sometimes these things work out and for that community to see something of themselves on a big cinema screen done in a way that felt right to them it was just wonderful to see.
And when it was all over I said to myself “Coming to America 2 is in great hands” as Eddie has got this team making that sequel due late next year and I am very confident that they will deliver the goods.
Now comes my top 2 and it became no question what these 2 films would be and though they briefly went back and forth for a time I have no hesitation in having a clear delineation in second and first place.
2. Ford V Ferrari: Like Dolemite, this was a very late entry that was directed by James Mangold and starred Matt Damon and Christian Bale as designer engineers for Ford who want to build a race car to beat Ferrari at the 24 hours of Le Mans in the 1960s.
And boy did I love this movie when I saw it each of the 3 times I did in the cinema, Mr Mangold has crafted for me a near perfect 2 and a half hour movie that firstly shows the best of people coming together to come up with a challenge and a product that will deliver on its promise and the drama in the film was as riveting to watch as the racing scenes were as like Ron Howard’s criminally underseen and overlooked 2013 film Rush its built on a great rivalry both personally and company wise this time around and its terrific to watch.
Secondly Mangold and his team in those Drama moments are having a bit of fun with the Ford executives characters especially those played by Tracy Letts (who would make a great Gough Whitlam in a biopic about his government one day) and Josh Lucas who come across as versions of the various studio executives Mangold has come across over the years (and he made Cop Land for Miramax during the time of the Weinsteins) and some of the conflicts on show reflect I think to him what its like to make a big movie for a big company and the meddling that can happen for good and for bad.
And lastly it has really made me miss 20th Century Fox as one of the big 6 movie studios that governed the movie industry for most of its lifetime as they were a studio that weren’t afraid to take some big risks in their lifespan be it Star Wars, X-Men, The Abyss, Alien you name it now granted a good chunk of their risk taking didn’t quite work out but they built some of this most iconic brands of the business through that risk taking and crafted such a rich history of movie making over the decades that to see them now just another folder in the spreadsheet of Walt Disney Pictures is heartbreaking to me and I miss them deeply.
But now we end at number 1 the top of the pile, the king of the mountain and for most of the year like in 2018 this has never been in question in my mind and that movie is:
Dragon Ball Super – Broly: Yes this was the one movie I was most looking forward to this year and it was the one movie above all else that I got the most out of.
For while I had some minor complaints that really only reflect critiscisms I’ve had of the Dragon Ball franchise post the Freeza Arc what this movie got right it got so very right.
The fanservice, the animation, the voice acting, the music, the story telling, the way it truly developed Broly into an actual character and not just a one dimensional punching bag, the fight scenes all of it was just operating at the highest levels rarely seen in the franchise in a long long time, you could really tell that this movie was a movie the Dragon Ball team really believed in and they wanted to craft something truly special.
And lastly it has given me a new appreciation for the overall leadership of this franchise since Funimation took direct control of its direction in 1999 working with Toei Animation in Japan, this blend of East and West working together has created a sense of leadership that has been steady, stable and patient in crafting the direction, knowing what stories to tell and then later on dubbing it for Western audiences in a way that feels true to its Japanese source.
And given what a mess most Western franchises have found themselves be it Star Wars, the Wizarding World, DC to name as examples where there has been this ungodly mess with no sense of direction, going from one movie to the next, throwing ideas against the wall in the hope that something will stick and giving huge power to a creator who can’t write a goddamn screenplay the fact that Dragon Ball has been steady and stable for the most part save for a recent hiccup is something I am coming to appreciate more and more.
And that’s it for this year but not the decade and in the third part of this decade I’ll look back at my favourites of this decade.
Thursday, December 19, 2019
Film Review - Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the third and final film in this sequel trilogy that began with The Force Awakens in 2015 and continued on with The Last Jedi in 2017 and concerns Rey (Daisy Ridley) continuing her Jedi training while the Resistance deals with the return of former Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) who is vowing a new vengeance on the galaxy he once ruled.
The Rise of Skywalker was a movie I held out hope for despite my mixed feelings on the Last Jedi and my meh feeling on the Force Awakens because the trailers had kindled that hope that somehow, someway despite the involvement of Batman V Superman screenwriter Chris Terrio, JJ Abrams’s return would deliver a strong finale like Richard Marquand did with Return of the Jedi in 1983.
But alas Mr Abrams does not deliver a good finale in fact he delivers not only the worst movie in this sequel trilogy but the worst movie since the prequel trilogy for 2 very big reasons:
- The first is sadly that very same screenplay co written by Mr Terrio (he also wrote Argo to be fair but Ben Affleck’s confident and assured direction really saved that film from being a tonal disaster) and much like Batman V Superman, it has such a messy structure to it in terms of its story ideas and comes across as so dour and sullen in its dialogue that no one really seems to be able to shine above it or make this story and dialogue work at all.
And it throws so much at the viewer in such a hurried way that you don’t get the time to really take anything in as it just wants to rush you to the next action sequence so you don’t get bored sitting there in your seat though that only works for so long and also like M Night Shymalan and Glass back in January it never feels like a cohesive script, just a bullet point list of ideas that get thrown against a wall in the hope that something, anything will stick and work and again none of it really does and it made me sad sitting there watching it.
- And secondly the return of the Emperor which has been heavily featured in the trailers and posters for this movie and it really makes little sense right from the opening crawl as I just sat there multiple times going “What the Fuck” and I had suspected that the only real reason he came back was because Supreme Leader Snoke was killed off stupidly in the Last Jedi and watching Palpatine in this movie just made me search my feelings and know it to be true after all and again this just feels like a sad sad and bitter disappointment.
I have had this feeling for some time that Star Wars was doomed to go down the same path as its sister brands from the 70s and 80s like Alien, Predator, Rambo and the Terminator which each had groundbreaking early movies that then gave way to mediocre follow ups and wore out the series welcome and watching the Rise of Skywalker again I ended up searching my feelings and knowing it to be true and bitterness like anger, fear, aggression and hate lead to the Dark Side and I will never turn to the Dark Side but I cannot give this movie a good review or recommendation, 1 out of 5.
The Rise of Skywalker was a movie I held out hope for despite my mixed feelings on the Last Jedi and my meh feeling on the Force Awakens because the trailers had kindled that hope that somehow, someway despite the involvement of Batman V Superman screenwriter Chris Terrio, JJ Abrams’s return would deliver a strong finale like Richard Marquand did with Return of the Jedi in 1983.
But alas Mr Abrams does not deliver a good finale in fact he delivers not only the worst movie in this sequel trilogy but the worst movie since the prequel trilogy for 2 very big reasons:
- The first is sadly that very same screenplay co written by Mr Terrio (he also wrote Argo to be fair but Ben Affleck’s confident and assured direction really saved that film from being a tonal disaster) and much like Batman V Superman, it has such a messy structure to it in terms of its story ideas and comes across as so dour and sullen in its dialogue that no one really seems to be able to shine above it or make this story and dialogue work at all.
And it throws so much at the viewer in such a hurried way that you don’t get the time to really take anything in as it just wants to rush you to the next action sequence so you don’t get bored sitting there in your seat though that only works for so long and also like M Night Shymalan and Glass back in January it never feels like a cohesive script, just a bullet point list of ideas that get thrown against a wall in the hope that something, anything will stick and work and again none of it really does and it made me sad sitting there watching it.
- And secondly the return of the Emperor which has been heavily featured in the trailers and posters for this movie and it really makes little sense right from the opening crawl as I just sat there multiple times going “What the Fuck” and I had suspected that the only real reason he came back was because Supreme Leader Snoke was killed off stupidly in the Last Jedi and watching Palpatine in this movie just made me search my feelings and know it to be true after all and again this just feels like a sad sad and bitter disappointment.
I have had this feeling for some time that Star Wars was doomed to go down the same path as its sister brands from the 70s and 80s like Alien, Predator, Rambo and the Terminator which each had groundbreaking early movies that then gave way to mediocre follow ups and wore out the series welcome and watching the Rise of Skywalker again I ended up searching my feelings and knowing it to be true and bitterness like anger, fear, aggression and hate lead to the Dark Side and I will never turn to the Dark Side but I cannot give this movie a good review or recommendation, 1 out of 5.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Its That Time Again: 2019 in Film Part 1
And thus it was on every December film pundits the world over begin to write up about the year that was in film.
The favorites they watched and the Turkeys they watched, the latter having them wish that they could be cooked like a Turkey for the Christmas Table at least then they could get some enjoyment out of it but alas they just mention 5 of them one last time as they took a combined 12 to 13 hours out of their life that they’ll regret throwing away as their dying.
Speaking of Turkeys its time to talk about those first as they need a well deserved cooking in the oven before I feast on them in the favourites section which will be the focus of Part 2.
With that out of the way coming in as Turkey Number 4 is:
The Lion King: Yes Jon Favreau’s semi live action/animation remake of the classic 1994 animated film is fifth on this list.
But why you ask well like so many of Disney’s live action remakes of their animated classics it has so little understanding of why that animated film was so good and holds up so strongly to this day as like 2016’s the Jungle Book Mr Favreau opts for a more realistic look and feel to the animals and the environments that they live in.
And for the opening of Circle of Life it kinda works but one scene makes not a movie and the rest of the movie that comes afterwards the animals have to actually emote and express themselves and it instantly pulls you out of the film as you just keep replaying the original in your head which had wonderfully expressive eyes and faces on the animals which helped to land the emotional resonance of the story whereas here everything just starts to look dull, lifeless, brown and scorched after a while and I almost got up and walked out.
But that’s only the first sin this King makes, the second is failing utterly in its attempt to recreate key emotional moments from the original and that is most noticeable when it comes to the handling of Mufasa, yes James Earl Jones came back to reprise the role but like in Rogue One his voice sounds very frail and very weak and the filmmakers don’t commit enough to his characters death or ghost scene.
The former is done in a lot of wide shots and without the look Scar gives him before he sends Mufasa to his death which every time I watch it in the original film gives me chills and a big smile on my face whereas the Ghost scene doesn’t “Remember” how the original scene played out and instead “Remembers” how the Simpsons spoof played out between Bleeding Gums Murphy and Lisa and during the redo of this scene I half expected the James Earl Jones heads from the Lisa version to appear.
And if Disney is going to have all of this power and muscle within the industry it has to damn well earn it first and foremost and how its handled the 20th Century Fox library is a disgrace to every movie lover around the world and it has to also justify it by giving audiences quality products which it has done with many of its core brands but these remakes just deserve to be thrown off the proverbial cliff and never be heard or seen again.
2. Mary Queen of Scots: Way way back in late January and early February came this movie with Saiorise Ronan and Margot Robbie as the queens of Scotland and England as the 2 nations tried to come to an arrangement of power.
And if I haven’t said much about the story well its because this movie stunk from top to bottom and it had so much going for it, a story of powerful women played by 2 great actresses, the Scottish Fucking Highlands the home of Connor Macleod of the Clan Macleod, women front and centre making this movie and all the sex, romance and intrigue this type of story lends itself.
And it manages all of these elements very very badly and the more I sat there watching the fucking thing the more I got bored of the film being projected in front of me and the key reason this fell off its throne like a drunk jester is that it has no clue what story to even tell.
Did it want to be a sex and violence power play like Game of Thrones, did it want to be a Costume Drama or did it want to be a “They May Take our Lives BUT THEY’LL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEEDOM!!!!” movie like Braveheart, well dear reader it decided “Ah fuck it let’s just do all 3” and none of them came together in any cohesive or satisfying way as they just got thrown onto a goddamn wall to see what if anything would stick and none of it did.
And now we come to the truly bottom of the barrel when it comes to 2019 in film and well there wasn’t just one major turkey that gave me the same taste of bitter that seeing my mighty West Coast Eagles the reigning premiers finish 5th but they all tie together as my 3 big Turkeys of this year and we start with in 1c:
Glass: M Night Shymalan went back once more to the world of his 2000 film Unbreakable and its 2017 sequel Split and this was my second most anticipated film of this entire year as everyone was back, the trailers were great and the tagline of “You Cannot Contain What You Are” was one that had me very intrigued to know more in the movie itself.
But instead this movie was an awful mess of what felt 3 or 4 separate story ideas for both an Unbreakable and Split sequel and instead of taking the time to pair them down M Night decided to just do all of them through a fucking storytelling blender and what you end up watching is a mess and a half of a film that starts off well and then just grinds to a fucking halt in the mental hospital with Sarah Paulson of all people being handed these mouthfuls of dialogue that just lumber out of her nasily voice like she’s pushing this huge weight up a mountain and I love love love this woman in movies and it still saddens me to say all of this but it has to be done though I take no pleasure at all in doing it.
As for Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson well the former gets a couple of good scenes before being locked in a cage for most of the second act and getting a crummy fight scene at the end while the latter for a movie called Glass barely does anything and for half of his screen time he sits there silent, silent I mean this movie is meant to be about the existence of heroes and the one person to naturally counteract the Dr character doesn’t get to do so and it robs the story of any kind of proper resonance, what a horrible horrible waste of it all.
1b. X-Men Dark Phoenix: Now to be fair many of us well those of us to be precise didn’t really expect much from this movie, we just held out hope, maintained it and kept to that continuing search for hope before seeing this movie well I did at least as this franchise which would’ve turned 20 years old next year has been so instrumental in the evolution of this genre that we wanted to walk out with hope kindled that we hadn’t wasted our time.
Well sadly we did and this is just a nothing movie if there ever was one, Simon Kinberg a man who hadn’t even directed a short movie gets handballed this huge movie and makes every single rookie mistake in the book, he doesn’t know how to handle his villains properly as those scenes could have easily been removed without affecting the movie in any way shape or form, he doesn’t know how to pace the action and character moments and he doesn’t know how to show off these mutant powers in an exciting way like Bryan Singer, Matthew Vaughn, Tim Miller and James Mangold have done in their X-Men movies.
Now again James McAvoy like in Glass is the true saving grace if there ever was one along with Michael Fassbender and I would watch them do anything together on film as they have such magical chemistry but like X-Men Apocalypse the movie pushes them apart for no reason when this greater threat should have brought them together as allies which at the very least Apocalypse did albeit all too briefly.
And lastly this movie just wasn’t about anything regarding the human condition here on Earth, the best X-Men movies (X1, X2, Days of Future Past and Logan) had something to say about that very thing, about racism, bigotry, coming out to your family, the hope for a better tomorrow, the hope that those you love will learn the error of their ways, the hope for humanity to put its pettiness aside for a greater good, death, dying, what you leave behind.
These things were at the core of those films I mentioned above and 3 of those were produced by Lauren Shuler Donner whose extraordinary tweet the weekend this movie opened where she disowned it and Apocalypse said volumes to me, that she the lady who not only got this up and running but engineered the comeback after X3 and Origins: Wolverine scorched it almost beyond repair gets pushed out or leaves and the buffoons of Kinberg and Parker firstly can’t keep Singer in line on Apocalypse and secondly throw the heart away for one made of rusty tin that means nothing, hopefully Marvel Studios can bring it back to life again but we wait we see.
And lastly, we come to 1a:
Rambo Last Blood: Yes Sylvester Stallone not content with reviving Rocky with the 2 Creed films decides to bring back John Rambo for one last adventure that preview wise looked exciting, a Logan/Unforgiven esque film showcasing this Vietnam vet going on one last adventure.
But sadly this movie like Dark Phoenix just had nothing new going for it, it had nothing new in terms of action scenes it just repeats the R18+ rated violence that Rambo 4 from 2008 did first and while some of it was fun it too just got tiresome after a while.
And also it had nothing new to say with this character, the first 2 Rambo movies were born out of the very politically charged environment of the Vietnam War and how the attitude to that conflict in the minds of the American public shifted first with the sobering reality that was portrayed in First Blood and then the Reagan era fantasy of “We Get to Win This Time” that Rambo 2 portrayed whereas here the lead Mexican villain may as well as have been Dick Dastardly as he looked so much like him.
And the story felt so fucking old hat it just came across as Sly dusting off an old Taken esque script written after the surprise success of that film and tweaked it to make it a Rambo movie and kablamo you have a cheap Rambo sequel that feels very cheap in terms of its filmmaking, storytelling and treatment of its fans and this along with Creed 2 last year have me thinking that as reliable as Sly is as a screen presence it was high time he either rode off into the sunset for good or only come back when he has something worthwhile to give to his fans.
Boy did that feel good especially venting about that 3 way Turkey tie but their all cooked now and in Part 2 we can feast on them at the Christmas table and talk about my favourite films of 2019.
See you then.
The favorites they watched and the Turkeys they watched, the latter having them wish that they could be cooked like a Turkey for the Christmas Table at least then they could get some enjoyment out of it but alas they just mention 5 of them one last time as they took a combined 12 to 13 hours out of their life that they’ll regret throwing away as their dying.
Speaking of Turkeys its time to talk about those first as they need a well deserved cooking in the oven before I feast on them in the favourites section which will be the focus of Part 2.
With that out of the way coming in as Turkey Number 4 is:
The Lion King: Yes Jon Favreau’s semi live action/animation remake of the classic 1994 animated film is fifth on this list.
But why you ask well like so many of Disney’s live action remakes of their animated classics it has so little understanding of why that animated film was so good and holds up so strongly to this day as like 2016’s the Jungle Book Mr Favreau opts for a more realistic look and feel to the animals and the environments that they live in.
And for the opening of Circle of Life it kinda works but one scene makes not a movie and the rest of the movie that comes afterwards the animals have to actually emote and express themselves and it instantly pulls you out of the film as you just keep replaying the original in your head which had wonderfully expressive eyes and faces on the animals which helped to land the emotional resonance of the story whereas here everything just starts to look dull, lifeless, brown and scorched after a while and I almost got up and walked out.
But that’s only the first sin this King makes, the second is failing utterly in its attempt to recreate key emotional moments from the original and that is most noticeable when it comes to the handling of Mufasa, yes James Earl Jones came back to reprise the role but like in Rogue One his voice sounds very frail and very weak and the filmmakers don’t commit enough to his characters death or ghost scene.
The former is done in a lot of wide shots and without the look Scar gives him before he sends Mufasa to his death which every time I watch it in the original film gives me chills and a big smile on my face whereas the Ghost scene doesn’t “Remember” how the original scene played out and instead “Remembers” how the Simpsons spoof played out between Bleeding Gums Murphy and Lisa and during the redo of this scene I half expected the James Earl Jones heads from the Lisa version to appear.
And if Disney is going to have all of this power and muscle within the industry it has to damn well earn it first and foremost and how its handled the 20th Century Fox library is a disgrace to every movie lover around the world and it has to also justify it by giving audiences quality products which it has done with many of its core brands but these remakes just deserve to be thrown off the proverbial cliff and never be heard or seen again.
2. Mary Queen of Scots: Way way back in late January and early February came this movie with Saiorise Ronan and Margot Robbie as the queens of Scotland and England as the 2 nations tried to come to an arrangement of power.
And if I haven’t said much about the story well its because this movie stunk from top to bottom and it had so much going for it, a story of powerful women played by 2 great actresses, the Scottish Fucking Highlands the home of Connor Macleod of the Clan Macleod, women front and centre making this movie and all the sex, romance and intrigue this type of story lends itself.
And it manages all of these elements very very badly and the more I sat there watching the fucking thing the more I got bored of the film being projected in front of me and the key reason this fell off its throne like a drunk jester is that it has no clue what story to even tell.
Did it want to be a sex and violence power play like Game of Thrones, did it want to be a Costume Drama or did it want to be a “They May Take our Lives BUT THEY’LL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEEDOM!!!!” movie like Braveheart, well dear reader it decided “Ah fuck it let’s just do all 3” and none of them came together in any cohesive or satisfying way as they just got thrown onto a goddamn wall to see what if anything would stick and none of it did.
And now we come to the truly bottom of the barrel when it comes to 2019 in film and well there wasn’t just one major turkey that gave me the same taste of bitter that seeing my mighty West Coast Eagles the reigning premiers finish 5th but they all tie together as my 3 big Turkeys of this year and we start with in 1c:
Glass: M Night Shymalan went back once more to the world of his 2000 film Unbreakable and its 2017 sequel Split and this was my second most anticipated film of this entire year as everyone was back, the trailers were great and the tagline of “You Cannot Contain What You Are” was one that had me very intrigued to know more in the movie itself.
But instead this movie was an awful mess of what felt 3 or 4 separate story ideas for both an Unbreakable and Split sequel and instead of taking the time to pair them down M Night decided to just do all of them through a fucking storytelling blender and what you end up watching is a mess and a half of a film that starts off well and then just grinds to a fucking halt in the mental hospital with Sarah Paulson of all people being handed these mouthfuls of dialogue that just lumber out of her nasily voice like she’s pushing this huge weight up a mountain and I love love love this woman in movies and it still saddens me to say all of this but it has to be done though I take no pleasure at all in doing it.
As for Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson well the former gets a couple of good scenes before being locked in a cage for most of the second act and getting a crummy fight scene at the end while the latter for a movie called Glass barely does anything and for half of his screen time he sits there silent, silent I mean this movie is meant to be about the existence of heroes and the one person to naturally counteract the Dr character doesn’t get to do so and it robs the story of any kind of proper resonance, what a horrible horrible waste of it all.
1b. X-Men Dark Phoenix: Now to be fair many of us well those of us to be precise didn’t really expect much from this movie, we just held out hope, maintained it and kept to that continuing search for hope before seeing this movie well I did at least as this franchise which would’ve turned 20 years old next year has been so instrumental in the evolution of this genre that we wanted to walk out with hope kindled that we hadn’t wasted our time.
Well sadly we did and this is just a nothing movie if there ever was one, Simon Kinberg a man who hadn’t even directed a short movie gets handballed this huge movie and makes every single rookie mistake in the book, he doesn’t know how to handle his villains properly as those scenes could have easily been removed without affecting the movie in any way shape or form, he doesn’t know how to pace the action and character moments and he doesn’t know how to show off these mutant powers in an exciting way like Bryan Singer, Matthew Vaughn, Tim Miller and James Mangold have done in their X-Men movies.
Now again James McAvoy like in Glass is the true saving grace if there ever was one along with Michael Fassbender and I would watch them do anything together on film as they have such magical chemistry but like X-Men Apocalypse the movie pushes them apart for no reason when this greater threat should have brought them together as allies which at the very least Apocalypse did albeit all too briefly.
And lastly this movie just wasn’t about anything regarding the human condition here on Earth, the best X-Men movies (X1, X2, Days of Future Past and Logan) had something to say about that very thing, about racism, bigotry, coming out to your family, the hope for a better tomorrow, the hope that those you love will learn the error of their ways, the hope for humanity to put its pettiness aside for a greater good, death, dying, what you leave behind.
These things were at the core of those films I mentioned above and 3 of those were produced by Lauren Shuler Donner whose extraordinary tweet the weekend this movie opened where she disowned it and Apocalypse said volumes to me, that she the lady who not only got this up and running but engineered the comeback after X3 and Origins: Wolverine scorched it almost beyond repair gets pushed out or leaves and the buffoons of Kinberg and Parker firstly can’t keep Singer in line on Apocalypse and secondly throw the heart away for one made of rusty tin that means nothing, hopefully Marvel Studios can bring it back to life again but we wait we see.
And lastly, we come to 1a:
Rambo Last Blood: Yes Sylvester Stallone not content with reviving Rocky with the 2 Creed films decides to bring back John Rambo for one last adventure that preview wise looked exciting, a Logan/Unforgiven esque film showcasing this Vietnam vet going on one last adventure.
But sadly this movie like Dark Phoenix just had nothing new going for it, it had nothing new in terms of action scenes it just repeats the R18+ rated violence that Rambo 4 from 2008 did first and while some of it was fun it too just got tiresome after a while.
And also it had nothing new to say with this character, the first 2 Rambo movies were born out of the very politically charged environment of the Vietnam War and how the attitude to that conflict in the minds of the American public shifted first with the sobering reality that was portrayed in First Blood and then the Reagan era fantasy of “We Get to Win This Time” that Rambo 2 portrayed whereas here the lead Mexican villain may as well as have been Dick Dastardly as he looked so much like him.
And the story felt so fucking old hat it just came across as Sly dusting off an old Taken esque script written after the surprise success of that film and tweaked it to make it a Rambo movie and kablamo you have a cheap Rambo sequel that feels very cheap in terms of its filmmaking, storytelling and treatment of its fans and this along with Creed 2 last year have me thinking that as reliable as Sly is as a screen presence it was high time he either rode off into the sunset for good or only come back when he has something worthwhile to give to his fans.
Boy did that feel good especially venting about that 3 way Turkey tie but their all cooked now and in Part 2 we can feast on them at the Christmas table and talk about my favourite films of 2019.
See you then.
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