Whitney: DVD Review

Whitney: DVD Review

At first glance, there's no reason why Kevin Macdonald's Whitney doco should work.
Whitney Houston's demons were more or less covered in Nick Broomfield's 2017 documentary Whitney: Can I Be Me, leading the casual viewer to the feeling that another couldn't really add much more to the mix.

But what Macdonald's doco has is more access to family archives, in among the inevitable talking heads, and it's made the world of difference in the 120 minute running time.

The chronicles of Whitney's problems are not new, and while Macdonald's addition to her story is accusations of sexual abuse of Whitney in her childhood, a lot of the ground covered will be familiar to those who've seen the prior doco.

That said, what Macdonald (Last King of Scotland, State of Play) does is craft together a biographical piece that gleams in the spotlight of familiarity. Assembling together a veritable trove of archive material and interviews only of the closest members of Houston's remaining clan, Macdonald creates a portrait of a woman whose dreams and desires were gradually eroded by the industry and familial greed.

From the success of Houston's trailblazing musical ways in the mid 80s to the nondescript demise in a bathtub in 2012, Macdonald's packed the 2 hours with more than enough material to offer a full picture, and with a view to tautly editing proceedings, he's ensured there's never anything less than compelling material on screen.

The drugs Whitney fell into are widely discussed in the latter part of the piece, but Bobby Brown shuts down any talk of this in one of the few moments that frustrates. Macdonald prods further, but a lack of any level of engagement makes it difficult, and also demonstrates some of the problems Whitney Houston faced, with no one really willing or able to discuss her demons for fear of derailing her pop train.

Several scenes have Houston's soulful voice ring out, and it still provides goosebumps, even to the non-fans. Earlier insights such as Houston's nickname Nippy, and mother Cissy Houston's discussions add much to the doco's joie de vivre before the inevitable maudlin last 20 minutes or so kick in.

Macdonald keeps proceedings simple, letting others do the talking - but there are moments of flair. 

Montages of Houston's music are intercut with 80s pop culture references (from Pepsi ads to space shuttle launches, presidents and fellow pop stars), an intermingling reminder of how of the time Houston was and how prevalent her music was in the cultural collective consciousness.

Aside from all of that, what Whitney does, and does exceedingly well, is provide a compellingly complete portrait of what happened, and how it happened. Occasionally, the why becomes a little lost in the telling of the story, and the intuitive touches Macdonald brings helps lift the weaker touches out of any mire.

Willing to explore both the good and bad of Houston, the personal and the all-American tragedy, 

Whitney is a fascinating narrative, a warts-and-all exploration of where the dream went wrong, a distillation of a clutch of complex issues that all collided in one person.

Whitney is a thrilling and deeply engaging documentary that deserves to be up there with the best of the genre - a true exploration of a troubled genius, and an at times, damning indictment of the greed and abuse of others within the industry, and more upsettingly, within the should-be-safe circle of family. 

Shoplifters: Film Review

Shoplifters: Film Review

Shoplifters' tale of a Japanese family living in the slum downtrodden house is meant to shock from its beginning.

With the opening seeing a father and son stealing from a supermarket in a co-ordinated military style set of precision manoeuvres, we're thrown into the family world of the Shibatas.

Living in low income and scraping by, the family's world is changed when the father brings home a little girl he sees living outside a house with no apparent parents nearby. As the girl doesn't want to go home and shows signs of abuse, despite the strain on the family, they keep her within their walls, a family giving love to an unknown.

However, that decision could prove as fateful as it will fruitful.

Subtle and perhaps aiming to provoke empathy throughout, without ever being manipulative Kore-eda's social eye on the affliction of some Japanese families is also a salutation to uncompromising love.

With her big eyes, and cute haircut, the abused little girl is never anything more than a tool to win over the audience, and to cast light on the insidious ways of abuse, so redolent worldwide that it hurts.

While there's humour in this social tale, there's also an undercurrent of anger that Kore-eda provokes in you that this family have to go through so much to just get by. But presented under a sunnier outlook, Kore-eda manages to make proceedings warmer than they perhaps should be, a chance to push a message in ways that could otherwise not work.

The Palmes D'Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu's Shoplifting is a story that may move you, but ultimately, its last reel reveal feels cheap and easy, a narrative rug-pull aimed to disorientate and reassess.

What it actually does is make you question why some of the characters you've invested in over the past two hours don't do the one thing you'd expect them to. It's a unsettling turn and leaves an after-taste which is hard to shift (and which is too spoilery to discuss here).

While Kore-eda Hirokazu may wish to be saluting love and family in all its forms, and present a world similar to one glimpsed in Sean Baker's The Florida Project by centring on the children, Shoplifters' strength lies in its interactions within the family.

Some threads may go undernourished, and while the reveals at the end may pull together some of the looser ends, there are similar themes of family that Kore-eda has pursued before. Granted, this latest may see a more broken family than previously, but the social realism captured within is nonetheless heartbreaking throughout. And certainly the burst of consciousness and guilt is never belaboured throughout.

A thoughtful piece, but a flawed masterpiece to some, Shoplifters' strength lies in its willingness to expose the double standards of Japanese society - and ultimately, the hypocrisies and selfishness of us all. 

The Happytime Murders: DVD Review

The Happytime Murders: DVD Review

On paper, The Happytime Murders should kill it.

A foul fuzzy felted mix of raunchy gags, meshed with the adult arm of the Henson Muppet Company, and a take on the buddy cop genre, it should in theory have worked.

But Brian Henson's attempt at muppet mayhem falls short in terms of its gag ratio, with perhaps the best of them used in the trailer, leaving the film lacking in prime content.

Set in a world where muppets and humans co-exist, but with lashings of discrimination against puppet-kind, Barretta is Phil Philips, a muppet former-detective-turned-PI, (who looks similar to David Boreanaz's Angel when he was turned into a puppet in Joss Whedon's show) who's called in to investigate a series of murders involving the puppets of a once popular TV show The Happytime Gang.

Forced to team up with his former partner Connie Edwards (McCarthy, who generates some reasonable chemistry with the forlorn Philips), the duo set out to solve the case...

The Happytime Murders meshes both buddy cop movie tropes with gumshoe shenanigans - but to middling effect in large sections.

Unsure of whether to fully embrace the foulness seen in the likes of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Avenue Q and Meet The Feebles, what actually emerges in The Happytime Murders is a tame and tepid, occasionally funny slice of homage that lacks the requisite humour.

That's not to say there aren't the giggles - presumably more if you've indulged / not seen the red band trailer, but The Happytime Murders falls short on several fronts.

McCarthy and Barretta actually gel well, and the dynamic, while overly familiar, hits the notes it should, with McCarthy dialling it down in parts. Better still are the moments where Rudolph and 
McCarthy riff off each other, bringing genuine comedy chemistry to the fore - and simultaneously reminding you what's really missing here. And it's galling as it slowly beats the fuzzy felted stuffing out of you.

Less Meet The Feebles, more just Feeble, with side order of squandered potential, The Happytime Murders is a killer for all the wrong reasons. 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Film Review

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: Film Review

Cast: Mackenzie Foy, Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Matthew McFadyen, Jayden Fowora-Knight
Director: Lasse Hallstrom, Joe Johnston

Possibly the best-looking film of the year, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms' fairytale approach is the one thing strongly in its favour.

Foy plays Clara, whose life is staccato following the death of her mother; with her father trying to ensure Christmas still happens, even though nobody is interested, Clara's given a gift from her departed mother - a locked egg that says everything she seeks is within.

During attending an annual festive ball, Clara finds herself pulled into the magical world that's facing danger from Mother Ginger (Mirren). Recruited by Sugar Plum (Knightley in Marilyn Monroe squeaky voice territory) to help, Clara finds her loyalties torn as she tries to save the realms from falling into war.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms's production aesthetic is second-to-none, and is Oscar-worthy in extremis.

Every sequence oozes with sumptuous details, with figures from fantasy tales standing out and with each scene dripping with colour and attention to detail. It's almost overwhelming, but does go some way to setting the fantasy tone needed for the film, whose plot sadly falls flat and feels uninspired and underwhelming at best.

The message is easy to decipher from early on, and even though Foy tries, she can't quite summon enough of the depth needed to sell the lighter story to an audience. Knightley's flouncy Sugar Plum is a joy to behold, although Mirren's baddie Mother Ginger feels underwritten and inconsequential.

Ultimately, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms feels more shallow than a tale as old as time should.

Its fantastical visual images may capture the audience of a younger generation, but in truth, they may get restless later on with the film as it ploughs a furrow between whimsy and empowerment message.

It may have some elements of visual pleasure, but The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is more a confectionary headrush than a nourishing lasting pleasure.

The Equalizer 2: DVD Review

The Equalizer 2: DVD Review

Denzel's back with a sequel to the surprisingly effective at times, but under-the-radar The Equalizer about a vigilante roaming the streets, showering justice on those who need it.

This time, Denzel's Robert McCall is on the case after a crime becomes a little too personal - how far will he go to exact justice when his past comes calling?

The sequel to the 2014 film sees Washington carrying on his zen-like turn as McCall - but whereas the first granted him a victim who was a child, this second sees his familial edges pushed by the crime he's investigating and also a budding mentorship of Ashton Sanders' Miles, a resident teen in his building on the edge of making a wrong decision.

Like the first film, the sequel feels like a self-contained episode of the 1980s series it was spun off from, with brutal action sequences that are not elongated or extended, merely sharp and to the point.

Denzel channels again his measured approach to McCall as he puts out an intensely brooding version of his Man On Fire routine, with each take down he enacts being characterised by a gloomy stare as he visualises how it'll all go down and an over-reliance on choreographed slow-mo shots. Fuqua's really followed the template of the first in parts, and it shows, with the action impressive, but certainly not feeling fresh. Washington has the necessary charisma to carry it throughout, but occasionally his dead-eyed stare is perhaps reflected in the audience watching this play out.

Once again, there's little call for Washington to be anything other than emotionless and completely invincible throughout; and unfortunately, this time round the lack of subtlety is jarring, with inserted exposition or overly used hints of what's ahead repeatedly being jammed down the viewers' throats. It helps little that the plot feels rote in some ways, and McCall never feels anything like a from-the-projects superhero, and there's rarely any chance he's on the backfoot.

But that said, there are a couple of brutally impressive and tautly executed set pieces, unswervingly put in motion by Fuqua.

From a great inside-a-taxi fight as McCall's Lyft driver is menaced by a goon to a final set piece inside a hurricane (that again taps some of the trappings of the warehouse confined conclusion of the first), the action works well when it flies.

The problem with the at times grim and dour The Equalizer 2 is that its plot feels uninteresting and unengaging, a conspiracy that feels tenuous more than intriguing and which doesn't really push much on even when the connection is personal.

The Equalizer 2's commitment to brutality and the pushing of the older man as a superhero makes it feel different, but Fuqua's almost templated retreading of the first in this sequel-not-sequel makes the case for a return outing (3Qualizer anyone?) difficult to justify.

While the TV Series followed an inevitable pattern, it's to be hoped any further outings may see this vigilante pushed to the edge a bit more, and the stakes made to feel a little more uncertain.

Otherwise, bizarrely, The Equalizer risks becoming the geriatric version of a superhero franchise.

Win a double pass to see ROBIN HOOD

Win a double pass to see ROBIN HOOD

To celebrate the release of the new movie, ROBIN HOOD, in cinemas November 22nd you can win a double pass!

About ROBIN HOOD

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Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx and Ben Mendelsohn, ROBIN HOOD flies into cinemas November 22nd!

To win all you have to do is email your details and the word ROBIN HOOD to this address: darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com or CLICK HERE NOW!

Competition closes November 26th

Widows: Film Review

Widows: Film Review

Cast: Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Liam Neeson, Daniel Kaluuya, Cynthia Erivo
Director: Steve McQueen

Ripped from a Lynda LaPlante UK TV series from the mid-80s, the contemporary US update of Widows is startling in its recreation of the power of money, the corruption of wealth, and the power of women to rise above what's been dealt to them.

A searing Viola Davis plays Veronica, the wife of known career criminal Harry Rawlins (Neeson, mixing tenderness and harshness in flashbacks) who finds herself widowed after a heist goes wrong.

Visited by the local crime boss and informed that Harry had stolen $2 million from him, Veronica's given a month to return the cash - or pay the consequences.

So, in order to escape the hand she's been unwillingly and unwittingly dealt, Veronica goes to the also-widowed women of Harry's associates Linda and Alice (Rodriguez and Debicki respectively) to enlist them into the job.

Widows is the antithesis to Ocean's 8 - and so much the better for it, trading darkness and depth for Oceans' sleight of hand and smoke-and-mirrors routine.

Director Steve McQueen, who brought such pain and pathos to the likes of Hunger and 12 Years A Slave, gives himself more of a contemporary pat setting with Chicago's seedy underbelly, politicking and dirty money and deceit forming the backbone of a sickeningly compelling movie.

It begins with a heist gone wrong, before weaving complex threads of destroyed relationships, power, and of desperate lives trying to reset and survive.

Set against the politicking of Colin Farrell's incumbent alderman wanting to stay in power, along with the exposure of all that entails, and how deep the corruption goes, Widows could collapse under the weight of its darker themes.

But along with McQueen's flashy director touches, and anchored by a gripping central turn from Davis, the pieces of this at-times slow-moving chess board trundle inexorably and inevitably to their tragic ends.

Yet, it's also empowering (and a breakthrough role) for Debicki's Alice, a beaten wife whose life has seen her repeatedly slapped around by different generations; and for Davis, whose commanding presence on screen brings nuance and uncertainty to the woman who was happy to enjoy the benefits of her husband's ill-gotten gains but negotiates murky waters when it comes to availing herself of any guilt.

It helps that McQueen's underpinned his film (from Gone Girl's Gillian Flynn's script) with none of the usual tropes of a heist and grounded it in a humanity that gives it an emotional core to cling to - certainly, in its actual heist sequence, it's nothing short of electrifying, urgent and riveting, a set piece par excellence that's swift, brutal and suspenseful.

Essentially Davis and Debicki's time to shine, Widows is a powerfully pared back film and engrossing drama that hides layers behind its themes of societal corruption, political heft, and anger at a system.

It's being touted for awards, and quite frankly, much like some of the power of Denzel Washington's Fences, Widows is a film that you can't fire enough superlatives at.