Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: DVD Review

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie: DVD Review

There is perhaps something commendable about the way the Ab Fab film arrives decades after the show finished.

And given it opened big in wake of the BREXIT decision at the UK Box Office, there's still clearly an audience desperate for the nostalgia, the light-hearted silliness and for the beehived Patsy and the deluded Edina.

Tottering around the semblance of a plot too thin to ultimately bother with (loosely, the duo go on the run after Jennifer Saunders' Edina knocks Kate Moss into the Thames, drowning her), the film's MO is to simply provide a nostalgic blast of Ab Fab, an extended episode of the TV show stuffed full of cameos (some of whom are too young to have remembered the original.)

It's fair to say the jokes are spread pretty thinly from the get go, but Joanna Lumley as Patsy utterly owns her time back on screen with every scene devoured by her snarling, smudged lipstick look. Her opening sequence where she's injecting Botox as part of a morning routine is everything you'd expect from the character

Saunders does her usual pratfalls and selfish antics as Edina, a monstrous mum clinging desperately to the ghost of PR past and unwilling to go into the dark of the night unless she has champagne and her hare-brained friend with her. There's the inevitable sappiness too that always hit parts of the sitcom with the relationship between her and daughter Saffy (Julia Sawalha).

There's no disputing the slapstick caper could do with a swathe more laughs as parts of it feel scrappy and underwhelming, but there's equally no denying that the film is faithful to the show's ethos of excess and no learning policy. 

It carries on wilfully and regardless in gloriously OTT fashion, and while the model cameos may feel reminiscent of Zoolander 2 given their volume, they serve little purpose other than to exist. Perhaps the best of them come towards the end at a swimming pool in Cannes, revelling in the anarchic sense the show used to have and embracing the zaniness of a Brit-com on the continent that fuelled so many 70s TV series' movie outings.

The catch with Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie is that the film's broadness will appeal probably more to fans of the original show; its faithfulness and desire to resurface all the characters from the 90s sitcom is laudable, but its desire to wilfully ignore the satire it could hit in a world where we all do our own PR online is a minor disappointment. (There are several jabs at the UK media obsessions and 24 hours news which provoke a guffaw or two - a scathing admission from Saunders perhaps how times have changed.)

This tale of women behaving badly may be a film of indulgence and cameos, but it lacks the sparkle of a Bolly in many ways. That said though, fans of the original series will adore its reverence to the source material and think it's still Absolutely Fabulous. 

7th Dec

Bridget Jones' Baby: DVD Review

Bridget Jones' Baby: DVD Review

What to expect when Bridget is expecting is perhaps the greatest fear facing many fans of Helen Fielding's titular beloved singleton.

But based on Bridget Jones' Baby which comes some 12 years after The Edge of Reason, there's every need to keep calm and carry on.

In this broad but occasionally bloated crowd pleasing comedy, Renee Zellweger's Bridget Jones's back and negotiating life in her own inimitable fashion.

The world may have changed plenty since we've seen her last - Hugh Grant's caddish Daniel Cleaver is disappeared, Darcy and Bridget have split - but, on her 43rd birthday, Bridget's solo and celebrating all by herself. However, that changes when work colleague Miranda (a scene stealing Sarah Solemani) takes her to a music festival to get laid. 

Stumbling drunkenly into the wrong tent and a sordid tryst, Bridge hooks up with dating guru and dishy Jack (played by ole McDreamy himself Patrick Dempsey). Running off after, she ends up having another unexpected dalliance with Colin Firth's starched Mr Darcy at a christening a few days later.

Things get further complicated when she finds out she's pregnant but with no clue who the father is...

Swathed in an affectionate nostalgic glow for the character and playing up the usual neuroses and tics that made Bridget so relatable to so many, Zellweger steps back into the role - and its clipped English tones - with ease. 

(Let's not dwell on the slight cosmetic change as other media have been wont to do; this is still the same Bridget but slightly tweaked.) She's the perky comedy glue that holds this together and with some flippantly funny one liners, the film zings when she's around. (A line about glamping and Adolf Hitler garners unexpected laughs)

And even though it's not really much of a departure of a film from the usual choices of men that Bridget has to face as well as the predictable playing out of the klutzier edges and hitting a lull at about 80 mins in, the whole thing comes off as funny, warm and surprisingly familiar - and a potentially a saccharine riff on US and UK relations.

By making both males seem normal, the script wisely steers away from making Bridget's choice obvious or one of them kooky and nicely muddies the waters by playing with viewers' affections - even if the gloop and sentiment kicks in toward the end in this time honoured riff on the old trope two women/ one man.

Both Firth and Dempsey play their roles well, with Firth's humour coming off the more effective as he riffs on the social awkwardness that's always been at Darcy's core. Dempsey's a little blander, but still pleasant and helps sell the emotional quandary rather than over-egging it.

In a year that has already seen some middling 90s revivals (from Ab Fab to David Brent), it's refreshing to report that Bridget's latest (and hopefully last, even if a final scene pan teases something else) is both nostalgic and a little forward-looking. 

With its moments of honesty and its continuing depiction of one woman's messy life, Bridget Jones' Baby is no pregnant pause for the franchise. It's better than it could have been and consequently infinitely more enjoyable than you would have remotely expected. If you'll forgive the pun, this baby truly delivers in unexpected ways.

The Rehearsal: DVD Review

The Rehearsal: DVD Review

Eleanor Catton's first book gets the big screen treatment with this Emily Perkins/ Alison McLean cinematic outing, starring national treasure James Rolleston.

Rolleston is Stanley, a naive newcomer to the bright lights of the big city and who's got a desire to end up on the stage. In his innocence, Stanley falls for a 15 year old schoolgirl called Isolde (Ella Edward). But Isolde's sister is part of a national scandal having been seduced by her much older tennis coach.

However, this soon proves to be inspiration for the drama school he attends after they're all chopped up into groups and deconstructed as both actors and at times, human beings. Drawing on his beau's sister's predicament, Stanley finds himself treading a dangerous path. between what's right and what right for his career....

The Rehearsal is a stiffly starch kind of film.

Its coldness is at times, off putting, and there's certainly a lack of engagement with many of the characters around the peripheries. One key moment in the story is supposed to resonate but because it comes so far out of leftfield (and is even remarked on by the brute of the head of the school played by Kerry Fox as coming out of nowhere), you don't feel anything at all - which is somewhat of a fatal move.

While The Rehearsal's swathed in ambiguity, its aloofness at times makes it hard to guess what exactly is going on and why some relationships either flourish or continue.

Consequently, while the audience is made to work for parts of the film's rewards, some may feel the effort is not worth it. Secrets may abound, but in this Lolita in the suburbs story, the opaqueness is almost oppressive.

Fortunately, blessed with a James Rolleston performance that's at both ends of his character's spectrum, there is a slightly commanding presence on screen that makes the Rehearsal worthwhile. Rolleston has the power to know when to dial down the acting and equally when to ramp it back up and makes some of his scenes all the more delicious for it (certainly in one sequence with Kerry Fox's character).

But overall, The Rehearsal is a muddled film of execution and one that may lack the broader appeal despite its oh-so-familiar story. It's not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination, and perhaps its refusal to conform makes it laudable, but by the same token, it makes it less embraceable. 

Chasing Great: DVD Review

Chasing Great: DVD Review

Directors: Justin Pemberton, Michelle Walshe

The ultimate film about rugby in New Zealand has already been made - and that film is The Ground We Won about the team in the heartland of the Bay of Plenty.

But Chasing Great aims to be more a film about the one man some would believe to be New Zealand's greatest ever rugby player - Richie McCaw.

And it faces a major hurdle too - it's not as if Richie himself is not an unknown figure, blessed with enigma and living life in the shadows. Most of what is known about Richie is already there in the media, as he lived the rugby life in the spotlight and in the glare of the camera both on and off the field.

So this is the nature of the challenge facing Pemberton and Walshe who followed McCaw around for a year; and in the run up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup with the hope that the All Blacks would lift the Webb Ellis trophy for the second time in a row and Richie would call time on his career.

With over 700 hours of footage on hand, what emerges in Chasing Great is predominantly more a film about rugby than the man himself - and perhaps is indicative of the fact how synonymous with rugby Richie has become (though whether that makes a great doco is, in this case, extremely subjective).

While there's use of home video footage from the McCaw family, showing a young but big unit Richie on the Otago rugby fields, in the early part of the film, there is plenty of insight into the guy that may surprise and delight his already mountainous number of fans.

From doing exceptionally well at school to capturing the moment when his family sat huddled in the front room around a radio waiting to hear if Richie gets the call up to the All Blacks, there's a degree of personal intimacy that's welcomed and offers a newer side to the man so over-exposed in the media.

But there's no escaping the line uttered at one point  - "We're an unemotional bunch, the McCaws".

And it's a flaw which shatters the second half of the film as it becomes like a sporting autobiography writ large on the big screen, as we are forced to relive the fatal loss to France in 2007, and various other games including the ultimate win in 2015 (itself a foregone conclusion that is still quite recent in our memories).

It's understandable that these moments should feature as it goes some way to explaining McCaw's mindset and shift in mental fortitude with the involvement of psychologist Dr Ceri Evans (shadowy room meetings leading to feelings of a cult-like abduction), but it still feels like a sports highlights package, with edited game moments and pumping music puncturing the changing room scenes and sporting celebrations, as well as talking heads either praising his field performance or criticising it.

There's no further insight into the man, and it's not as if pre-game brief interviews are enough to give a greater reading of McCaw.

To their credit, the directors have committed some truly impressive imagery to celluloid - from shots high over the Otago hills as Richie cruises in his glider to scene setting slow mo track shots across stadia seats, every moment sings quality and aims for epic.

But equally, there are moments writ large from the cinematic sporting cliches shot book - slow mos on the field, slow mo running through corridors et al.

Frustratingly the film ends abruptly after the victory and with the very Kiwi "Yeah I'm done" as Richie flies off in his glider. This is already the story we knew, albeit fleshed out with some younger days Richie insights - and it's tantamount to feeling underwhelming in its denouement.

Ultimately, that is Chasing Great.

If you're after a film that celebrates and mythologises the man on the field as well as wanting to relive some of rugby's spectacular highs and lows, then this is that film for you, delivered just in time for Father's Day and with the release of Richie's book.

But unfortunately, if you're after a warts and all insight into the man who's been dubbed one of the nicest in sport, then you may feel it's somewhat wanting as a rounded picture. 

Ice Age 5: Collision Course: DVD Review

Ice Age 5: Collision Course: DVD Review

There's a moment in the fifth Ice Age movie (yup, not a typo) where woolly mammoth Manny asks "Did I hit my head? What's happening here?".

It's a question that many will face in this latest instalment of the admittedly gorgeously animated tale of the three friends Sid, Manny and Diego (Leguizamo, Romano and Leary respectively).

This time around, the gang's facing extinction after an asteroid meteor is set on a collision course with Earth by Scrat who's up in space still trying to get that elusive acorn. (This time around, Scrat is a propeller of opportunistic plot, rather than a great lunatic aside). With Buck (a brilliant Simon Pegg) along for the ride, the group tries to work on a plan to prevent the inevitable happening and stop them all being wiped out.

But for Manny, there's more terrifying prospect - losing his daughter to perky newcomer Julian (Pitch Perfect and Modern Family star Adam Devine) who's about to marry her....

It's churlish to suggest Ice Age: Collision Course adheres to the law of diminishing returns because to be frank, with its silly puns and zany antics of both Scrat and Buck, there's lots for the younger kids to engage with and keep amused during the upcoming school holidays.

However, any semblance of logic or consistency of narrative's been abandoned this time around for ACME style silliness that defies belief and throws everything at the screen to service anyone who's ever been in previous Ice Age movies.

Despite some clever insertions and throwaway references to 2001, Cocoon and The Planet of The Apes denouement, as well as Neil de Grasse Tyson, Ice Age Collision Course jettisons any kind of smarts for a series of loosely connected moments.

Chief offender among these is Scrat, whose antics up until now, have proven fertile ground for interludes that have been separate to the movie's actual goings on. This time, with Scrat in space, firing around beams that rocket into planets like snooker cues, the charm wears quickly thin. That's not to say that his shenanigans aren't amusing, more that they don't really do much except perfunctorily propel the narrative.

Back on Earth isn't much better either, with far too many characters to be serviced and a narrative that's too cluttered by far. Poor Diego gets badly sidelined with little to except a piecemeal plot involving kids, and even Manny's plight and enforced message of accepting growing up feels a little weary and hoary as the film goes on.

It's perhaps a good sign though the Blue Sky animation work is excellent, with sequences feeling fresher than the plot they're servicing and CGI work that brings depth to all elements of Manny et al's world.

Ultimately, the kids may enjoy the more out there elements of the story of Ice Age Collision Course, and the film was clearly never going to fulfil its potential extinction storyline, but Ice Age Collision Course's story is severely lacking.

If this is the cinematic extinction of the gang, its exit, based on this entry alone, won't be mourned.

Jackie: Film Review

Jackie: Film Review

Cast: Natalie Portman, Billy Crudup, Greta Gerwig, Peter Sarsgaard, John Hurt, Richard E Grant
Director: Pablo Larrain

Natalie Portman shines as Jackie Kennedy in this intriguing and at times, unconventional, biopic about the President's wife after the death of her husband JFK.

In an unusual move, it feels at times like a coming of age film as Jackie negotiates the treachery of life afterwards as people swarm around her suggesting what's best for both her and her husband's immediate legacy.

The film though, begins with Jackie welcoming a reporter (Billy Crudup, based on biographer Theodore H White) to her retreat and who's clearly there to get her side of the story (in perhaps a nod to the article which appeared a week after JFK's death in Life).

But flashbacks, and present day flashes mean that Jackie's also shown gaining her White House legs as well as her exposure to television by bringing cameras into the White House to demonstrate how their home is. In a move that simulates both the desire to be accepted by the public and into the history of the White House, Portman's Jackie tentatively begins a journey into our collective consciousness.

Mixing archival footage along with Portman's powerful vocal affectations (which, admittedly, take time to get accustomed to) as Kennedy proves to be a heady mix for Jackie. With its drained aesthetics and faded looks, Larrain's strength in the film comes from the subtleties of the scenes and the rhythmic feel of the prose played out on the screen.

From blood stains on Jackie's dress to the absolutely earth-shattering visceral sound of the bullet ringing out across the motorcade when the inevitable flashback occurs, everything about this film screams detail.

It's undoubtedly a classy affair, albeit one which takes a little time to adjust to as its groove begins to wash over you with its funereal feel.

As the ebbs and flows of post JFK life come into sharp focus, the initial portrait of a fragile and vulnerable First Lady drains away to present a figure borne of fire, and bereft initially of power but content once again to rise from the ashes.

Portman commits to this wholeheartedly as a mother struggling to tell her kids what's happened, as a stateswoman determined to not be undermined and as a newly crowned widow, fighting to ensure her husband is fairly farewelled (NB - a lot of time is spent on funeral arrangements).

But as she staggers out into the cinematic light and from the screen, Portman emerges as the character building her own myth; it's clear to see why she's been nominated for an award in this almost chameleonic turn.

While there are moments when it feels showy initially, once the bluster is stripped away, the ebbs and flows of the character portrayal are laid down and the bombastic OST silences itself, Jackie becomes a clear portrait of power, led by an utterly commanding turn.

Chilean director Pablo Larrain's film frees itself from the shackles of a conventional biopic and emerges as a hauntingly different and striking way to tell a story that's so familiar to so many. And with a central powerhouse of a performance, it lingers long in the mind after the lights have gone up.

Whisky Galore: Film Review

Whisky Galore: Film Review

Cast: Eddie Izzard, Gregor Fisher, Sean Biggerstaff, Ellie Kendrick
Director: Gillies MacKinnon

A remake of the 1949 Ealing classic of the same name, the 2017 version of Whisky Galore doesn't quite pack the same sweet punch.

At the height of the Second World War on the Scottish island of Eriskay, the islanders are shocked to find they've run dry. With no sign of any more rations of whisky on the way, the island begins to fall apart - but that all changes when a ship runs aground just off the coast. With the postmaster Macroon (Rab C Nesbitt star Gregor Fisher) discovering their cargo is whisky, a devious plot to steal the good stuff is put in place.

But the only thing standing in the islanders' way is the officious Captain Wagget (played by Eddie Izzard) as the battle of wits escalates.

Even though it's based on a true story, Whisky Galore is perhaps more suited to a home viewing than a big screen outing.

With its gentle broad slightly nostalgic humour and occasional am-dram performances, it does feel more like the blue rinse brigade will enjoy it more than a younger audience, who may feel some of its timings and pacings are a little slow at best.

Eddie Izzard's Wagget is extremely reminiscent of Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring in terms of bumbling officiousness and self-pomposity but that's no bad thing.

There's a gentle calmness to proceedings but there's very little edge to what's happening - and some of the sub plot threads about Macroon's daughters getting married off aren't mined for the emotional depth and wistfulness they could provide.

All in all, Whisky Galore puts the dram in Am-dram, but it's not as intoxicating a shot of cinema to anyone other than an older audience, despite beautiful settings and an old school nostalgic vibe.