The Florida Project: Film Review

The Florida Project: Film Review

Cast: Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Caleb Landry Jones, Macon Blair
Director: Sean Baker

Film-maker Sean Baker has always found the camaraderie in verite.

Whether it's the friendship between Dree Hemingway's 21 year old and elderly Sadie in Starlet or the bond between those screeching on the street in Tangerine, the reality of friendships, along with their ebbs and flows, have been central to his catalogue.

Expanding that out for The Florida Project, Baker widens his view to the residents of a crummy motel run by Willem Dafoe's patient and paternal Bobby.

The purple motel sits near Orlando's Disney World, its hint of promise and dreams so close by - a place where the rich and families go to fulfill their dreams and inhabit an escapist world of fantasy.

But for the residents of said purple pastel motel escapism is also on their minds - but their form of escapism is to hope for an end to a desperate scrabble for money and to ensure their motel rent is paid.

It's into this world that Baker thrusts us - but from the viewpoint of a clutch of rambunctious kids who hurtle around the motel and its nearby tourist haunts with varying degrees of boredom.

Whether it's conning those visiting the local vendors for ice cream money (because they claim, they have asthma and the doctor's ordered it) or playing in the motel and turning off the power, their lives are about the freedom of escapism, the pursuit of naivete, unaware of the cruelties of the world around them.

Chief among these is Moonee (breakout star Brooklynn Prince, both vulnerable and brassy and up there with Beasts Of The Southern Wild's child actor Quvenzhané Wallis) whose mother Halley (Bria Vinaite, discovered on Instagram by Baker) is scaling the walls of desperation to feed her child and earn money.

While more a freewheeling tale than a specifically strong narrative story, The Florida Project's exploration of the socio-economic damage done in America is as compelling as it is depressingly vibrant.

With a young cast of unknown actors filling out the leads more than admirably thanks to their natural performances, the film's strength comes from its trajectory of uncertainty. There are moments you can see what's coming and much like most of Baker's work, there's a breaking point that pushes it all to the extreme.

There's an irony in the fact The Florida Project was the original name for Disney World and now the reality of the disparity of the wealth means motels like Bobby's are more like projects and slums - there's heartache to be had here.

Whether it's in a child being forced to leave with his dad and having to give away all his toys for space in the car, or the begging of Halley from a friend for the basics like food, the film's unflinching in its world view.

But here's the crux with The Florida Project - it's never, ever judgemental.

Baker has a way of imbuing both his characters and his situations with a sense of propriety. He swerves from judgement on actions, merely presenting the facts of any given situation and the potential devastation it could cause.

And while the ultimate ending doesn't exactly feel like it's being true to its subjects, shifting from reality to fantasy, there's a lot to love on the journey itself.

It's a crucial difference in this film-making - and while he's slowly becoming the deliverer of the less fortunate or the world less-oft glimpsed, he's also becoming their champion.

Thanks to restraint, heart and sensible heads on all, The Florida Project emerges as both a free-falling descent into reality and an ultimately inspiring and grounding eye-opener to all.

Captain Underpants movie: DVD Review

Captain Underpants movie: DVD Review

Vocal Cast: Ed Helms, Thomas Middleditch, Kevin Hart
Director: David Soren

Based on Dave Pilkey's phenomenally successful book series, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie actually proves to be the best offering this school holiday period for those looking for a bit of inconsequential fun.

Director David Soren guides this computer-animated outing from Dreamworks into the same kind of territory as the Peanuts Movie in terms of look and feel, with the rounder animation looking squishy and enticing, and enveloping its whole outlook in a familiar and welcoming vibe.

For those unfamiliar with the Captain Underpants book series, the film centres on the inter-racial friendship of a pair of eternal school pranksters George and Harold (comedian Hart and Silicon Valley star Middleditch) and their eternal fight with their school prinicpal (Ed Helms).

When George hypnotises the principal one day into believing he's their mythical hero Captain Underpants, it all gets out of hand. And things are further complicated when a new science teacher comes in, threatening to rid the world of laughter.

Set purely on the madcap scale, with some great interludes that encompass traditional pencil animation to sock puppetry, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is only interested in providing a good time for those watching.

With poop jokes, fart noises and a noteable silliness permeating most of the run, this is actually terrifically zippy fun that skirts with zaniness as much as it tries to push a "laughter is the best medicine" mantra to all of life's ills.

While there are a few moments in the 89 minute run time that lull (predominantly when the message is rammed home a little), most of the target audience will fully get its issues of dealing with school problems, feeling alienated from any but your best friend and the daily grind and living for the weekend.

It helps the writing doesn't dwell too much on any of its more serious edges and there are always amusing moments just seconds away from what transpires. Reverence to the books helps greatly and the general desire to ensure that the audience is amused, while the hearts are occasionally hit by some solid vocal work from Hart, Helms and Middleditch.

You can't help but leave the animated Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie with a smile on your face. It's certainly enough of a success creatively to ensure that a sequel should be on the way, and while you may be uncertain to see what else could be mined a second time around, this is actually first class straight-down-the-line animated fare that deserves your time and money.

Paddington 2: Film Review

Paddington 2: Film Review

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Peter Capaldi
Director: Paul King

Those looking for deeper meaning in Paddington 2, the sequel to the thoroughly charming first outing in 2014, could argue it's a tale of tolerance and the difference made by an immigrant in pre-Brexit Britain viewed with post-Brexit eyes.

But those looking for a familial romp, ripped and slightly bastardised from Michael Bond's original writings will also be deeply satiated too.

Loosely this magical tale, with its deft visuals and genuinely naïve Whishaw lilting vocals, concerns itself with Paddington's desire to get his Aunt Lucy the perfect birthday present.

Settling on a pop-up book in the local antiques shop, the bear takes a series of jobs to obtain the right amount of cash.

But when he sees the book stolen one night, he's framed for the crime he didn't commit, jailed and left hoping the Brown family can save the day.

It's easy to dismiss the likes of Paddington in the cynical CGI world we currently live in, but the fact that it takes the simple things and does them well is very much to the film's credit and definitely not to its detriment.

With its raft of cameos (perhaps more familiar to British audiences than international ones) and its simple tale brilliantly executed, it's the ultimate family fare in more ways than one.

There's a great heart to Paddington 2 - and the director's smart enough to ensure that there are plenty of laughs as well.

From pratfalling Paddington (channeling his very best CGI Chaplin in early scenes) to Brendan Gleeson gleefully delivering lines that are amusingly written and fall shy of stereotypes, there's a feel-good air which permeates Paddington 2 and makes it thoroughly charismatic.

As well as Whishaw's heartfelt delivery of the innocent bear's lines, much of the credit has to go to Hugh Grant, the villain of the piece. Playing a luvvie who's fallen from grace, and who's got a tendency to drop into other characters at the drop of a hat, Grant's deft delivery and definitively hammy (but not overly so)'s Phoenix Buchanan is as much a villain as a misunderstood hero.

Throughout, Paddington 2 treads a fine line between reverence and going its own way - it's to King's credit that it all emerges and blurs into one generally well-intentioned final product. It may be sentimental in many ways, but Paddington 2's view of a fantasy Britain where everyone gets along has both a basis in reality and the dreamworld.

Ultimately, Paddington 2 is perfect family holiday entertainment.

Bathed in a warm glow of fun, with a generous helping of holiday heart, this bear is likely to offer you a big cinematic hug from beginning to end.

Wonder: Film Review

Wonder: Film Review

Cast: Jacob Tremblay, Owen Wilson, Julia Roberts, Izabela Vidovic, Mandy Patinkin
Director: Stephen Chbosky

That Wonder's desire is solely aimed at feel good fare is easy to scoff at.

In the adaptation of RJ Palacio's book of the same name, Room's Jacob Tremblay plays Auggie, a young boy with a congenital condition that has necessitated 27 surgeries and still left him scarred.

Living life under an astronaut's helmet, Auggie, despite protestations, is joining his local school at the cautious urging of his parents (played with empathy, warmth and heart by Roberts and Wilson).

Trepidacious at what lies ahead, Auggie's journey begins.

Wonder is occasionally nothing more than a series of perfectly timed sentiment bombs, each calculated to detonate with maximum impact.

From time to time, it's easy to be cynical about their deployment and to dismiss the mawkishness that lurks below the surface.

Much like Mask, but distinctly lacking the same edge, Wonder, with its Star Wars predilection, has much to say about tolerance and acceptance. Auggie becomes a mirror for those to be what they want to be and to face their own fears.

Tremblay delivers a subtle turn that falls on cutesy sometimes but also reveals the frustrations of life within. Much more potential is shown to those who inhabit and orbit his world - but only some of it is explored in his sister, Via (Vidovic) whose life is pushed to the edges by Auggie's constant attention.

But, and unfortunately so, Wonder is not interested in bringing edge to the drama. 

Consequently it can at times feel a little shallow and undeveloped as it seeks never to fully blame and push only positives in its bullying message. Everyone is a victim in some shape or other, and while the message's reason is that everyone has a story to tell, it does feel like a bit of a cop-out at times.

That message of tolerance may be important and a vital one to send to its audience in the times we live in but it doesn't always make for coherent drama. There is a feeling as the film chops and changes between varying narratives that not all of what happens feels as developed as could be, and certainly it's a crying shame given the insights that are given into different characters.

That said, all the themes of Wonder are admirable ones - themes of friendship, trust, living life, dealing with and to bullies, all very beneficial messages to get across. And while the mantra of Choosing Kind is also a good one and one occasionally overlooked, Wonder's power emerges from the smaller moments rather than the overly-milked mawkish ones.

It's easy to be cynical in the face of films like this, but Wonder's conviction and desire to hold its nerve on its course mean even the toughest of hearts may find tears emerging when least expected - and even when every emotional moment is signposted and mined for all it can be.

Win a double pass to see THE FLORIDA PROJECT

Win a double pass to see THE FLORIDA PROJECT

THE FLORIDA PROJECT is the story of precocious six year-old Moonee (Brooklyn Prince) and her ragtag group of friends whose summer break is filled with childhood wonder, possibility and a sense of adventure.

Living at a motel in the shadow of Disney World, Moonee is seemingly oblivious to the struggles of adults around her, including mother Halley (Bria Vinaite), and motel manager/father-figure Bobby (Willem Dafoe).

A vibrant yet heartbreaking portrait of life on the fringe, the film garnered critical acclaim at both the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT is in cinemas December 21st.

To win a copy, all you have to do is email  your details to this  address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Include your name and address and title your email FLORIDA!
Competition closes December 21st

Victoria and Abdul: DVD Review

Victoria and Abdul: DVD Review

Cast: Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Olivia Williams, Adeel Akhtar, Tim Piggott-Smith
Director: Stephen Frears

You've seen Victoria and Abdul before.

Not just in the fact that it's the usual, unchallenging Brit BBC Films crowd-pleasing fare put out to soothe the masses, but also because it's 20 years since Mrs Brown was released.

In that film, Billy Connolly shared an unconventional friendship with Judi Dench's Queen Victoria after the death of her husband.

This time, 2 decades on, substitute Brown for an unassuming, twinkle-in-his-eye Indian servant called Abdul, who breaks the rules when looking the Queen in her eyes during his act of state-sponsored supplication.

Enamoured with the daring nature of his action and what she sees as a kindred defiance to being trapped in societal expectations, Victoria makes Abdul a confidant. That's much to the chagrin of the household and the generally blustered (and slightly racist) echelons of government as embodied by Michael Gambon's prime minister and Eddie Izzard's haughty and belligerent prince Bertie.

But defying convention, Victoria grows closer to Abdul as the rift threatens to tear apart the Royal Household.

It's not that Victoria and Abdul is a clanger by any means.

It's simply that it's all so familiar and so incredibly formulaic in its desire to not challenge audiences that it becomes increasingly bland in its execution as it heads into its tear-jerking final section.

While Fazal's initial boundless enthusiasm and naïveté gives Abdul a feeling of once-over-lightly and makes the household members united in their anger feel more caricature than character, Dench's dive deeper below the surface for Victoria marks her turn out from the oh-so-familiar fare of the film.

Whether it's speeding through a state meal to get away from insufferable strangulations of reigning or softly revealing her anguish that others die while she just goes on, Dench's heart and subtleties of performance bring life where elsewhere there is nothing but mawkish predictability and borderline unoriginality.

There's solid support in the wings though.

Notably from the much underrated and slightly cliched use of the brilliant Akhtar (Utopia) whose comic timing and well-worn use of a weary eyebrow is deftly exercised, but who becomes sadly more sidelined as the film goes on.

Equally Izzard gives good exasperated as Bertie, the man who would be king were it not for the stubbornness of his mother.

Victoria and Abdul is one for the twin-set older generation, who pander to the whims of the easier film-going fare. 

It's a prestige picture, make no mistake, but its target audience is looking to be placated rather than challenged. A celebration of a Britain at the height of its Indian empire (and a post-Brexit nod to an England of more certain times) Victoria and Abdul is nothing more than soul-soothing sap, a kind of comfy slippers cinema that is the very definition of forgettable middle of the road, occasionally award-baiting feel-good fare. 

Dead Rising 4 :PS4 Review

Dead Rising 4 :PS4 Review

Published by Capcom
Platform: PS4

Guess who's back, back again?

Frank West is back - tell a friend.

This time, in the fourth outing for the franchise, he's putting the Slay into Sleigh Bells as Dead Rising 4 has a Christmas tinge all the way throughout.

(And a light jazzy series of interludes when you place it on pause... just in case you're anti the festive season).

The cocky, blase photographer from the first game is finally back where he belongs in this zombie fuelled blast of festive silliness that's as gory as it is goofy.

Once again, it's back to Willamette, Colorado the place of the undead (all touches of subtlety and mocking of small town life are once again to the fore) and the scene of Frank's previous encounters.

This time, he's tricked into heading back to the mall after one of his proteges alerts him to a conspiracy at the heart of Willamette - and it's once again back into the Mall for another bloody rampage.

With a mysterious outbreak fuelling the fire this time around, there's a little feeling of deja vu, but thankfully the developers have realised that Frank's fractious and frivolously unPC take on things is the way to breathe some life into the undead.

A lot of the game just feels fun - it's not an in-depth precis and expose or satire of small town life - and while there's a bit more to the just zombie outbreak story line, the bare bones of this hack and slash beat-em-up is in the way it embraces its gory MO and runs with it.

Smacking down a stack of zombies builds up a bloody combo for Frank to unleash on his prey - usually in the form of a gory cut-scene that's as tongue in cheek in its splattery execution as it is bloody. But there's also variety here - whichever weapon you choose to rack the combo up will ultimately dish out the death. Early on, Frank can be transformed into a whirling dervish of an executioner when the tank's full - so there's plenty of variety on show here.

Night vision and spectrum analyser vision have turned Frank's camera into more than just a machine of snapping shots - this pap's got powers now in a weird way that help dig deeper into the mystery of Willamette and give you a new way to play the game.

It's worth taking a hat off to Capcom and acknowledging they've found a way to keep this latest fresh, while simultaneously engaging with what made it so popular in the first place. Along with an EXO suit to power up Frank, Fresh zombies (newly reanimated undead who race at you and rip you apart) and Evo zombies (cunning killers), there's plenty to keep it weird.

The Xbox also coped with an extraordinary amount of the undead on screen for Frank to unleash his combo weapons on - one section alone saw around 200 plus of them hacked and smashed by Frank's blood lust - it's almost as if Sam Raimi's gone beserk in the gaming world and we're all benefiting from the final result.

At the end of the day, Dead Rising 4 deserves major kudos for its execution, for giving us Frank back after the disappearance in the 2 previous games and for really throwing some life back into the undead apocalypse.