The Commuter: Film Review

The Commuter: Film Review

Cast: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Sam Neill
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Re-teaming with his Unknown director after their 2011 outing, Liam Neeson's supposed retirement from action thrillers sees him taking part in an action thriller.

Neeson is Michael McCauley, a straight and down-the-line insurance seller, whose life is a daily routine.

From the morning commute to the office to the routine of trying to sort money for his son to go to college, McCauley is a straight arrow.

But it all changes one day, when with retirement closing in, McCauley is made redundant.

As he takes the train home, he's approached by a woman (Vera Farmiga) who sits opposite him and offers him a Faustian deal - someone on his train doesn't belong there. Find out who they are before the commuter train terminates its run and net a cool $100K.

Given only a short time to decide, McCauley finds his hand forced as a race against time begins.

The Commuter has a clever premise, one that's ripped from the pages of a pulpy page-turner.

But on screen, Collet-Serra seems unable to bring it to life with a series of coincidences and incredulities crippling parts of what unfurls.

(Let's not even start with the insane concept that perhaps people actually talk to each other on a US train).

Neeson is solid but unspectacular as he rolls out yet another take on a man with a special set of skills.
(Fortunately, his character is an ex-cop this time around). It's easy to see why Neeson would take the gig as it plays on the everyman-forced-to-do-extraordinary schtick that's become his thing.

However, with dialogue that lays everything bare, and a shaky cam ethos, Collet-Serra at times feels like he's beating you across the face with the film, rather than letting the piece breathe naturally and its subsequent rhythms grip and thrill you.

As the script grows ever more ludicrous, with red herrings and a bizarre take down of Goldman Sachs that's supposed to be middle America responding, Collet-Serra orchestrates the whole film into a train-set CGI spectacle that's unfortunately more laughable than laudible.

Muddled and frankly average at best in its stolid lumpiness and old school "charm", The Commuter is an action film and script, ripped straight from 1980.

Unfortunately, it's 2018 - and this kind of thing is possibly best shown either on TV or on a flight on a plane where coherence isn't fully embraced.

For Neeson, it's about time this action train was stopped - and he was allowed the dignity of getting off.

Lady Macbeth: DVD Review

Lady Macbeth: DVD Review

"Do you have any idea the damage you can bring upon this family?"

A star is born in the devilishly sizzling William Oldroyd helmed Lady Macbeth, a reinvention of the Russian novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

Florence Pugh burns up the screen as Katherine, a young bride trapped in the shackles of marriage and in a home of pure hell. With an extremely strict and brutal father-in-law and a husband who has no interest in her other than barking orders, this repressed bride finds life dull and boring.

Coming across a new stablehand Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), Katherine falls into lust - and the inevitable happens. However, plotting to escape the confines of a positively Victorian ethos could lead to dark resolutions.

Make no mistake, Florence Pugh positively owns the screen and burns it up in this chilling tale of desire as her character goes from victim to villainess.

From Katherine's desire for Sebastian to her desire to do whatever is necessary to escape and to live a life that's her own, Pugh uses the simplest of facials and the subtlest of moves to convey this. Whether it's the sheer joy of walking outside on the moors (which she's forbidden to do) as the mist hangs low or leaving buttons undone on her pristine outfit, Pugh brings a level of physicality to the role that's compelling to watch from beginning to end. She finds happiness in the growing moral turpitude and it's unsettling and conflicting to have you root for her every small victory.

Equally, Oldroyd's helming brings a degree of clinical chilliness to proceedings.

With a stripped back soundtrack and simple eye of precision behind the camera, Oldroyd concentrates on the moments which will bring maximum shock to the screen - be warned, there are moments that will stun you as this tale of barbed feminism plays out.

Atmospherically built and viscerally sparse, Lady Macbeth is a truly seminal experience; a peek into feminist politics and a mesmerising lead make it an unmissable and gut-wrenching piece of cinema.

The Shape of Water leads BAFTA nominations

The Shape of Water leads BAFTA nominations

The main list of nominees are as follows:

Best Film:
Dunkirk
Darkest Hour 
Call Me By Your Name 
The Shape of Water 
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Outstanding British Film:
Darkest Hour
The Death of Stalin 
Lady Macbeth 
Paddington 2 
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
God's Own Country 

Best Leading Actor:
Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour
Daniel Day-Lewis – Phantom Thread 
Timothee Chalamet – Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Kaluuya - Get Out 
Jamie Bell - Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool 

Best Leading Actress:
Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water 
Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 
Saoirse Ronan - Lady Bird 
Margot Robbie - I, Tonya
Annette Bening - Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool 

Best Supporting Actor:
Sam Rockwell - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project
Christopher Plummer - All the Money in the World 
Hugh Grant - Paddington 2 
Woody Harrelson - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress:
Laurie Metcalf - Lady Bird
Allison Janney - I, Tonya
Kristin Scott Thomas - Darkest Hour 
Lesley Manville - Phantom Thread 
Octavia Spencer - The Shape of Water

EE Rising Star Award:
Daniel Kaluuya 
Timothee Chalamet 
Josh O'Connor 
Florence Pugh 
Tessa Thompson

Best Director:
Christopher Nolan - Dunkirk
Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Luca Guadagnino - Call Me By Your Name
Denis Villeneuve - Blade Runner 2049

Best Original Screenplay:
Jordan Peele - Get Out
Martin McDonagh - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 
Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird
Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor - The Shape of Water
Steven Rogers - I, Tonya

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, Ian Martin, Peter Fellows - The Death of Stalin
Aaron Sorkin - Molly’s Game
James Ivory - Call Me By Your Name
Matt Greenhalgh - Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool 
Paul King, Simon Farnaby - Paddington 2

Battle of the Sexes: DVD Review

Battle of the Sexes: DVD Review

From the directors of Little Miss Sunshine and the writer of The Full Monty, Battle of the Sexes is the story behind the 1973 tennis match between tennis aces Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

It's hard to imagine the Battle of the Sexes having a more pertinent release time than right now, with the war for equality raging stronger than ever, the message of acceptance and coming out, and with the war against sexist buffoons taking on those in power. In truth, that's possibly the best thing Battle of the Sexes has going for it, because, in truth, it's predominantly the kind of film you've seen before - well presented and acted, but slightly lacking a little depth of character.

Stone is Billie Jean, whose anger at the lack of pay equity when offered a part in a tournament that pays an eighth of what the men receive sees her launch a women's league of her own. Alienated from the boys' club and determined to build credibility for the women's lib front and the the sport, the apparently happily married Billie Jean is also struggling with an attraction to a chance meeting with Marilyn, a hairdresser played with subtlety and warmth by Andrea Riseborough.

At the same time, former Wimbledon ace and compulsive gambler and hustler Bobby Riggs (a wonderfully spot-on likeness from Steve Carell) is looking for his next challenge. Chasing a bet, and with his family life in ruins because of it, the self-styled male chauvinist pig challenges Billie Jean to a game to demonstrate once and for all that men are better than women.

With two storylines that flow and ebb before colliding, Battle of the Sexes manages to mix the hazy 70s cinematography and some firecracker performances from the likes of Silverman as King's agent into a crowd-pleasing affair that lobs and serves as well as those on the field.

But in truth, Carell's Riggs never feels like his sexist bluster is anything other than a push for PR on the pitch, and despite a good solid turn that mixes both comedy and warmth, consequently feels like he's the Austin Powers of the tennis world. (Though it is good to see him reunite with his Crazy, Stupid, Love counterpart again.)

While Stone's King is a bit more of a rounded character, with Stone personifying the internal struggle with non-showy chutzpah, Battle of the Sexes' strength and weakness lies in the fact that it chooses not to vilify any side of the debate. Both portrayals are flattering, neither are damning and the overall result is one of a fairly generic movie whose parts occasionally help it excel and achieve a timely poignancy in the global scale of events.

Decidedly light and breezy, yet never too lightweight not to resonate, Battle of the Sexes is a game of a film that serves, lobs, ducks and weaves like a true sportsperson. It's here to entertain and keep you focussed on the action (such as it is) and it does so with aplomb, thanks to its trio of leads.

The Post: Film Review

The Post: Film Review

Cast: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Matthew Rhys, Alison Brie, Bruce Greenwood
Director: Steven Spielberg

With hot button topics like a President angered by the press doing their job, potential censorship of news and a woman making her place in the patriarchy, it's easy to see why The Post is proving to be such a cinematic firecracker.

But in truth, director Steven Spielberg's take on All the President's Men and to a degree, Spotlight, seems more Mr Hanks Goes To Washington and genial than savage as you'd hope.

Apparently rushed into urgent production to tackle the current US climate and the reaction to President Trump, fake news et al, The Post looks into the cover-up of the Pentagon Papers back in the early 1970s.

When The New York Times took papers from the US government that purported to show the truth of the Vietnam war, they found themselves in the cross hairs not just of the authorities, but also of the provincial new-kid-on-the-block newspaper, The Washington Post.

With an injunction slapped on the Times, The Post, under its editor Ben Bradlee (Hanks, in a dogged and ruthless everyman turn) decides to step in to try and make a name for itself - but battle lines are drawn morally and financially with Meryl Streep's Kay Graham under pressure as she tries to helm the newspaper empire and get it floated to ensure its future success.

The Post is the kind of worthy Oscar-bait drama that thrives on its contemporary themes present in a story from yesteryear as it riffs on All The President's Men and feels bizarrely, like a prequel..

There's never been a more pertinent time to present a film such as this, and even if it does use its ensemble cast to maximum effect, it still can't but help to allow Spielberg to proffer up his trademark over-sentimentalising moments as well.

From a speech of Streep's character decrying the Post is "my company now" after bemoaning the fact it was her father's, her husband's to the reveal of the Court verdict which blatantly emphasises the message that freedom of the press is vital in this day and age, there's a touch of heavy-handedness with which the Post indulges itself.

And there are moments where the film chooses to explain proceedings, rather than present them, that feels a little like it's pandering to the masses.

Yet, despite these moments, it's a superior piece of film-making.

Hanks and Streep deliver strong and solid performances which smack of potential peer recognition, and certainly there's a lit touch paper quality to the stories they deliver.
Despite it all though, their stories are universal and both Hanks and Streep rise to what's needed of them and deliver with panache and verve.

It may be that Spielberg's done his version of Capra and Mr Smith Goes To Washington and hits a few familiar tropes throughout (a typical montage of actual journalism being done being one of them), but he does so engagingly and for the most part, enticingly.

If ever a film about journalism were more pertinent, more timely and more urgent, then it would be a surprise.

Expect to see The Post's jabs rewarded come Oscar season - and even if it had been better had it been a little more subtle, this film, with its love of news, the old school printing presses and the fight for truth and justice, manages to be as compelling as it should.

The Lost City of Z: Blu Ray Review

The Lost City of Z: Blu Ray Review

More a contemplative adventure than a full-on swash-buckling colonial romp, The Lost City of Z sees a quietly soft-spoken Charlie Hunnan taking on the mantle of Brit explorer Percy Fawcett.

Unadorned of medals, and with a father who squandered the familial name, Fawcett is struggling to make his place at the turn of the century in military postings. So, when called up to the Royal Geographical Society in lieu of his mapping skills, and surrounded by fellow explorers making their own names, Fawcett feels the pull of the opportunity to provide a better life and reputation for his wife (Sienna Miller) and young family.

Posted to the Amazonian jungle and teamed with Robert Pattinson's Henry Costin, Fawcett finds his journey is blighted and simultaneously enlivened by the possibility a new civilisation lives deep within. But on returning, his claims are scoffed out, and sensing once again the chance to rid his name of ridicule, he sets out again on a quest that will consume his life.

Director James Gray isn't interested in making The Lost City of Z a thumping adventure of derring-do. In fact, it brings to mind elements of Embrace of The Serpent from a few years back at the festival - which is no bad thing.

In the wash, it's the complete opposite, a slow-moving exploration of what makes the explorer tick and the demons that consume those who've been thwarted for generations.

Frustrations among the fronds of the jungle and realistic problems mark out The Lost City Of Z as something both grand and equally languorous. Hunnam's quiet approach to Fawcett makes his hero feel infinitely more human, and when he's tackling the mores of society and the hypocrisies of belief, Fawcett emerges as a more rounded and infinitely more plausible character. Plus Hunnam's flawed Fawcett as he rails against inequality but forbids his wife from joining them on the trail speaks well to the internal conflict of narrow-minded convictions.

There's a melancholy to this adventure and it seeps through every frame as the journey to capture the feeling or re-capture the belief of what lies unexplored is laid out. Gray consumes his screen with closeness within the jungle, which doesn't lead to claustrophobia but promotes a very real sense of belonging within.

Ultimately, there's a sprawl to The Lost City of Z which seeps through your eyes as you view. Its slow pace may put some off, but its realistic view of the adventure genre is a welcome touch in what could easily have been an overblown post-modern take on colonialism and distant beliefs. 

The Girl With All The Gifts: Blu Ray Review

The Girl With All The Gifts: Blu Ray Review

Released by Universal Home Ent


Mixing the vibe of The Road, 28 Days Later, Schwarzenegger's zombie film and PlayStation game The Last of Us, The Girl With all the gifts is a contemplative piece that perhaps goes a little too long.

In a post-apocalyptic Britain,Gemma Arterton's scientist Helen Justineau is desperately trying to help save children from being experimented on as the search for a cure continues to a plague that's reduced mankind to hordes of hungry cannibalistic masses.

When Justineau goes on the run with Sennia Nanua's Melanie, with the army in tow, all hell breaks loose.

Trading largely on atmospherics and mood, The Girl With All The Gifts is, at times, a veritable ripper of a film that does nearly outstay its welcome.

It riffs on contemplation as well as peeling into some of the horror tropes as well, and with some very assured performances - including Nanua - and a desire to underplay, it works terrifically well.

There will be those who prefer the contemplative prose of the book, but for those looking at what's already an over-busy genre, The Girl With All The Gifts proves to be a shot in the undead arm that film occasionally needs.