Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

As 2017 ends, and closes, it's time to both reflect and look to the future.

Whether you're spending the new year bingeing the new series of Black Mirror or reflecting on Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who exit, all the very best for 2018.

Happy New Year to you all - and remember, be kind to each other.

And even kinder to those you don't know....

20th Century Women: DVD Review

20th Century Women: DVD Review

One of the titles much requested for this year's festival and one of the earliest to be revealed, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women is a relatively joyous memoir of 1 boy growing up under the thrall of 3 women.

Set in 1970s California, the film zig-zags around the daily life of 15-year-old fatherless Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) who lives with his mother (Annette Bening) who runs a boarding house. Other inhabitants in this house include Abbie (red haired Greta Gerwig) and handyman William (Billy Crudup).

Also dropping by, unbeknownst to Jamie's mother, is best friend Julia (Fanning)  whom Jamie has a crush on but whose advances are continually rejected.

Worried that Jamie's not getting the full life experience he needs, his mother asks the house guests to help impart their life wisdom - but it doesn't quite go to plan.

Reflexive, warm and gentle, 20th Century Women is a nostalgia blast about the coming of age, gaining of new insights and pushing against the times.

Most of the push and pull of the film comes from the interaction between the characters and how living and coping together shapes many of us in ways we don't appreciate until later in life. Bening's ease of presence and way with quick one-liners throughout give this an edge early on, but later, a more mournful tone means the kaleidoscope of life feels a bit more poignant than you'd first expect.

Ruminations on life through various eyes come easily throughout, but what 20th Century Women actually does is spin a web that's entrancing and engaging, if slightly forgettable - it's a reflection of the signs of the times, but also a salutation to the wisdom of those around us. 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Film Review

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Film Review

Cast: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones, Abbie Cornish, Zeljko Ivanek
Director: Martin McDonagh

Revelling in the kind of dark and comedic touches that were in 2008's In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a tale for our times, and a reflection on the world we live in.

McDormand stars as Mildred, the emotionally battered and destroyed mother of a girl killed in her small town.

With justice having eluded her seven months later and fearing her daughter's case is going unnoticed by the police as time goes by, Mildred deploys a triumvirate of provocative billboards, aimed at keeping the unsolved murder at the front of everyone's mind.

Naming and shaming the local police chief (played with mournful touches by Harrelson), Mildred finds herself in opposition with the town and in the line of the racist drunk sheriff Dixon (a brilliant Rockwell, playing fast, dastardly and loose, yet surprisingly engaging and emotional).

It's hard to give more away of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as part of the satisfaction of McDonagh's film is in the journey and the devilish edges of the dialogue.

Whilst there are a few frustrations here and there (from the film's resolution to a few scenes such as the disrespecting of a Catholic priest for no reason other than to launch a diatribe), there is a lot to perversely revel and reflect on in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Chiefly, it's the triumvirate of performances from McDormand, Harrelson and Rockwell that hit a series of dizzying highs.

McDormand manages to tread a fine line between perseverance, bringing heartbreak and hard resolve to Mildred. There's never any doubt that you're on your side, and McDormand delivers a controlled pitch perfect performance that aches with loss, and teeters on extreme sadness. Harrelson and Rockwell surprise too, particularly as their law enforcement attitudes are as poles apart as you could expect.

However, Rockwell's racist drunkard, wrapped up in his momma's boy hillbilly outlook and his Archie comics, proves to be the film's surprising emotional touchstone for reasons that would spoil too much here.

In many ways, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri deals with a lot of issues currently around - a sexual predator and murderer who appears to be above the law, the inherent seething racist underbelly in the police and the innocent wronged and left hanging outside of a justice system which appears to be skewed in favour of the criminals.

And yet, deep within Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and its penchant for potty-mouth moments, there's a lot of humanity and love on show; of people coming together when divides seem too immense and of the one thing that unites us all - sadness.

McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is being touted for awards, and while parts of its heart are black beyond recognition, thanks to McDormand and Rockwell's powerfully compelling performances, this at times jaw-dropping spectacle has all the compulsion you'd need to be carried along on the darkest of rides.

Ferdinand: Film Review

Ferdinand: Film Review

Cast: John Cena, Kate MacKinnon, Anthony Anderson, Bobby Cannavale, Peyton Manning, Gina Rodriguez, David Tennant
Director: Carlos Saldanha

Based on the Munro Leaf 1936 novel The Story of Ferdinand, Blue Sky's latest animated fare is squarely aimed at pushing an anti-conformist message to kids viewing.

Cena plays Ferdinand, a bull who'd rather smell the flowers than fight even though that goes against the grain of the farm where's he's being raised as a bull to take on a matador.

However, when Ferdinand's father is taken to the arena and doesn't return, Ferdy makes a break for it, finding a new owner in  a little girl and her flower-growing father. But one day when Ferdinand's stopped from going to the annual flower festival and despite the warnings from his owners, he makes his way into town.

Seen as a monster, captured and returned to the bull-rearing farm, it looks like destiny's taking its course - unless Ferdinand and his new goat friend Lupe (MacKinnon) can turn it around.

Lacking some of the zanier edges to keep the younger audiences amused, Ferdinand flirts with darkness as it explores some of the reality of what happens to animals and in particular, what happens in the bull-fighting ring.

While Cena makes for an affable big-lug of a character, complete with softer edges, Ferdinand's adventure never fully embraces the wacky until late in the day when it heads to Madrid, and a chase sequence which has vitality, joie de vivre and great sight gags.

But it's a long road to this point - and the filmmakers' desire to not go too dark (for obvious reasons, it's a kids' film) means they flirt with moments that consequently feel under-developed. There's a meat factory near to the bull-rearing farm, there's some shots of a matador threatening Ferdinand (in a badly edited final sequence that loses some coherency) and there's plenty of indication of how meat is murder.

Yet, despite that, Ferdinand never quite finds its feet - it knows that to keep the younger audience in check it needs some lunacy, which it gets with a bull/ horse dance-off, but it's few and far in between.

It's all perfectly affable and solidly animated, but Ferdinand lacks the wow factor, or a stronger emotional trajectory to carry it along.

Not exactly terri-bull, but a no-bull attempt at doing something worthy, Ferdinand's mixed approach to the subject means it never quite hits the marks it should do - but it will keep the kids amused, for some of its duration at least.

Mary and The Witch's Flower: Film Review

Mary and The Witch's Flower: Film Review

Cast: Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent, Ruby Barnhill
Director:Hiromasa "Maro" Yonebayashi 

Likely to appeal to those who felt Harry Potter was too male-led, Mary and The Witch's Flower's the first film from the Japanese Studio Ponoc.

It's the story of Mary, a young girl who's finding life in the countryside a little dull while she waits for her parents to move across to be with her. On the cusp of starting school, one day Mary heads into the nearby woods following a cat - despite her great aunt Mary's insistence on staying away from the woods.

Finding some strange flowers and a broomstick that comes to life, Mary is whisked above the clouds to a magical school, Endor College, where she's welcomed as the latest witch apprentice.

But Mary's flower discovery puts her in peril and at odds with those running the college - as well as discovering a threat to all life.

It's fair to say that Mary and The Witch's Flower wears its Potter influence deep on its sleeve.

Whilst it may lack some of the warmth and emotion of the Potter series (there's not as much heart on display here sadly), the central story of Mary, with her outcast red hair and quirky ways, will give some girls a heroine they need.

However, Mary's prone to pratfalls, to mess ups and to bursting into tears which weakens the argument a little and disappoints.

In terms of the animation it's perfectly fine, but for a new studio, it unfortunately lacks the wow factor to help them set out their stall with their debut feature.

The backdrops are nicely painted and tend to fade into the background rather than stand out, and while there are some well-executed set pieces, there's little which truly jumps from the screen.

If anything, the copy of the Hogwarts style school is solidly executed - from a menagerie of creatures and critters to a Scottish groundskeeper, there's a lot here that feels familiar. And, because of that, it's a shame as Mary and The Witch's Flower has some real potential to cast some magic.

As it is, it's a fairly enchanting sort of tale for 90 minutes, but its bucolic edges and Potter-familiarity (as well as dashes of Howl's Moving Castle) prevent it from truly weaving a magic spell.

Flatliners: DVD Review

Flatliners: DVD Review

Cast: Ellen Page, James Norton, Nina Dobrev, Diego Luna, Kiersey Clemons, Kiefer Sutherland
Director: Niels Arden Oplev

27 years ago, a couple of fresh faced Brat Packers made a sci-fi film that was pure hokum, but tapped into something that troubles many - and in the resulting film formed something of a cult.

Now, mixing a cast and one original together, the resultant toothless Flatliners remake is dramatically and creatively dead on arrival, feeling like a CW drama that doesn't even bother to really pack in the jump scare moments.

Centring on a group of interns, it's the same story.

Page plays Courtney, who decides to embark on an experiment to see what lies beyond this world by stopping her heart and technically dying for a few minutes, before being brought back.

Dragging along Clemons and Norton's fellow students, the experiment initially promises a heady high, but soon delivers them all various nightmares.

Full of pretty people and a terrible American accent from Happy Valley ruffian Norton, Flatliners is frankly a mess.

It lacks any edge and is as flat as the ECGs in the film itself. Relying on wet bus ticket jump scares, the 2017 remake of Flatliners is creatively limp and narratively weak.

Page takes it all too seriously and becomes the science exposition nerd of the group, setting up the premise and presenting the calm in the ensuing laughable panic that sets in.

There's just nothing that fires any of the neural synapses here whatsoever, and while Oplev manages to make some of the afterlife visuals feel hyperreal, it can't quite shake off the fact that it all seems like a music video for the MTV and teen-loving CW generation.

Maybe needlessly glamourising suicide and self-harm, the 2017 Flatliners is a waste of everyone's time from the cast to the audience. Slapped with a cinematic Do Not Resuscitate would be a kindness, because there's little here to engage anything of the cinema-going audience - be it in this life or the next.

The Emoji Movie: DVD Review

The Emoji Movie: DVD Review

In theory, it's easy to understand why The Emoji Movie has been hailed as the second cimematic coming of the Anti-Christ.

Set inside a smart phone and with a plethora of product placement (Spotify, Katy Perry, Instagram) it's fair to say that perhaps the film's vision is more on the merchandise than the execution of the story.

Talking of which, The Emoji Movie centres on Meh emoji Gene (voiced with usual laconic deadpan by former Silicon Valley star TJ Miller) who's eager to impress on the first day on the job.

Gene is one of those who lives in Textopolis, a digital city inside their user Alex's phone. Despite being pigeonholed as a Meh, he can make plenty of other faces and frequently does so.

But by breaking out his panicked faces when Alex chooses to send his crush an emoji, Gene threatens the future of Textopolis as Alex plans to wipe his phone.

Facing persecution as a malfunction by the ruthless smiler icon (Rudolph), Gene begins a journey of discovery across the phone to ensure his future survival.

It's easy to be cynical about The Emoji Movie, a corporate by-the-numbers animation that reeks more of potential downloads than sizzling script or witty moments.

In fairness, it's actually a solid animation that squanders both its Inside Out bastardisation and its chance to mock and meta-comment on its premise.

However, there are a few moments which garner laughs.

From the mocking the elderly emoticons to ripping in to Facebook's popularity algorithm, there are some moments which really engender you to the film, but ultimately leave you wishing it could have been much more subversive than it actually is.

But that's the problem with The Emoji Movie - its tone is so bland that despite the solid animated work and the great voice cast (James Corden as the formerly popular Hi-5 emoji brings much energy and chutzpah to the digital table and it's a thrill to hear Steven Wright's weary tones on the screen as Gene's father), nothing ever really soars as it should and many scenes end in flatness.

Piling on product placement like Candy Crush and Just Dance does nothing to endear the film too - and while youngsters may get a sugar rush from the overload of products and apps that they force their parents to buy, it's hard to justify any reaction other than that of Gene's stock and trade to the Emoji Movie.

Meh.