Robin Hood: Film Review

Robin Hood: Film Review

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Jamie Dornan, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin
Director: Otto Bathurst

This is not the story you know.

So intones the voiceover that bookends the 2018 version of Robin Hood, a quite frankly baffling piece of film that seems intent on making a Call Of Duty version of the myth, and setting it against a backdrop of 80s rock video pyrotechnics.

Egerton is Robin of Loxley, a Lord of the manor of Nottingham, whose life is changed when he's drafted up to the crusades and torn from the love of his life Marian (Hewson, at times channelling a younger Emily Blunt). On returning injured from the Crusades, Robin (Rob to his mates, bizarrely) finds he's been declared dead - and teaming up with Foxx's John, he begins to rob from the Sheriff of Nottingham's war taxes to help.

But John advises him the best way to upset the apple cart, is to cosy up to the sheriff...

The 2018 version of Robin Hood is a film that's more about the fast cuts, and action than the subtlety and nuance of other versions.

Mixing comedy as well, Robin Hood feels like a hybrid of so many different elements from its Iraq war style Crusades opening through to its death-metal pyrotechnics; nothing quite gels as it should.

And while Egerton delivers a variant of his Kingsman character, and gives The Hood some vigilante justice elements that wouldn't feel out of place in a CW series, there's very much a feeling of Foxx playing Alfred to Egerton's Bruce Wayne in the start of Batman Begins.

There's a hint of Bathurst playing fast and loose with style here and trying to set up a sort of Robin Hood cinematic universe (implied by its end), but what transpires is a film that flounders for any identity of its own, other than a downpat action wannabe.

It's set up well as an idea, but Robin Hood fails to hit the mark as much as it should, making it feel like a splendid misfire more than anything else.

Eighth Grade: Film Review

Eighth Grade: Film Review

Cast: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton
Director: Bo Burnham

Riddled with acne, and with the constant fluorescent glow of either her phone or her computer screen, Elsie Fisher's Kayla is on the cusp of high school.

Voted the "Most Quiet" in the end-of-school awards, Kayla is an aspiring vlogger, whose views are pitiful to non-existent, and whose existence goes largely unnoticed by others.

Pontificating on topics such as "being yourself" and signing off with a faux Gucci emblem, Kayla is lacking in confidence in real life, and embarrassed by others. But realising she's needs to come out of herself more as she readies herself for the move to a new school, Kayla's journey begins with herself making the first step.

Documentary in feel, and intimate yet universal in scope, Eighth Grade is adolescent awkwardness pushed through an excruciating prism.

Burnham intricately details the day-to-day routines of the teens obsessed by phones and Instagram culture; whether it's batting off the endless matey chat of her father at the dinner table when she'd rather be connected to the aspirational online life of others or trying to fit in around the teen cliques, there's much insight into the pressures of teen life nowadays.

Ennui laces high school shooting drills, and Fisher brings a degree of recognisable empathy to Kayla, grounded largely in the fact that we've all been there, and all done it.

Extended scenes feel like they pile on the awkwardness as teens try to connect to each other, scrabbling for conversations that mark them out as cool or worthy of interaction. This is a teen film for all ages, and does have humour in unexpected places, as well as themes that are more redolent in such a socially aware age.

But Burnham never makes Eighth Grade preachy. It feels in many ways, like a chronicling of what teens face - from pressures to conform to an endless parade of adult embarrassments; there's a deadpan touch to much of this, but it's verite rather than Napoleon Dynamite.

In fact, this is why Eighth Grade succeeds and doesn't outstay its welcome.

Restrained and grounded, the film's fine observations will ring true in audiences of all ages; it's a small intricate piece that is as fine a debut as you'd expect. It's not a film where anything major happens, but manages to get you into the mindset of how everything that happens is potentially devastating for Kayla's state of mind and place in the world.

Ultimately, Eighth Grade is about a quest for acceptance, and all the awkwardness that comes with it - it's a fairly haunting portrayal of growing up, and a quiet triumph of the pressures faced by teenagers everywhere.

The Nun: DVD Review

The Nun: DVD Review

The Conjuring universe gets its own Cloisters Encounters of the Interred Kind with this latest spin-off from the series, following on from the success of spooky doll Annabelle.

A priest with a haunted past (Bichir) and a novice (American Horror Story's Farmiga) on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the apparent suicide of a young nun in Romania.

When they arrive, they hear tales from local delivery boy Frenchie (Bloquet) of what's happened, but are forced to confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun. (Which will be familiar to those of James Wan's Conjuring films.)

You know what you're in for with The Nun.

Though in fairness, most of what transpires feels derivative and all-too familiar to really stand out on its own.

Essentially building a religious Mulder and Scully in the leads, and throwing in elements of The Exorcist, Buffy The Vampire Slayer's Hellmouth and spooky goings on in smoky cemeteries, The Nun does well to build an atmosphere of unease, and tensions with some sequences feeling like they've been dragged to the absolute edge of what suspense can do.

However, it becomes clear that what's being touted as "the darkest chapter of The Conjuring universe" doesn't quite believe in its own hype, with a series of corny dialogue moments mixed in with some truly awful comedy, which combine to puncture any kind of horror you may be feeling in your stomach.

It's a shame because the weighty issue of the sin of suicide at the start really sets a darker tone for the Transylvanian shot film - and it's a welcome one, but one sadly dispatched with for some jump scares and some horror punchlines which fall flat.

As the film progresses the wildly veering tone does more to unnerve than any horrors could do, and no amount of fleeting-out-of-the-corner-of-your-eye moments can rebuild what's being torn down.

Every horror works when the fear is primal, the boogeyman is lurking in the shadows to grab you - and it's here that Hardy works some cinematic magic, using corridors to great effect and pushing you as far as you can go.

But ultimately, The Nun doesn't quite capture its premise; its habit of providing some solid sequences (which look ripped from storyboards and writ large) don't quite gel together because of the sabotaging of its own narrative, and the film dissolves into a catacomb-set finale that's less climactic than it ought to be.

All in all, The Nun's penchant for unevenness is its undoing; it may offer a few moments of terror, but its proclivity for puncturing its own smarter edges make this one spinoff that doesn't quite prove to be as haunting or as much an atmospheric carny ride of terror as it ought to be. 

Ladies In Black: DVD Review

Ladies In Black: DVD Review

Pleasingly gentle and relentlessly pleasant, Bruce Beresford's period drama Ladies In Black is one of those cautionary films that feels contemporary with its message that refugees add much to the country mix.

Set in 1950s Sydney in a downtown department store, Goodes, it's the tale of Lesley (Rice, in bookish form, who takes up a summer job with the ladies working there.

On the cusp of moving away from being a child and into womanhood, Rice's Lesley yearns to be at university and a poet or actress, but her desire to embrace a new life is met with indifference from most of her uncultured co-workers and indignation from her father who's not sure he wants his daughter at uni.

But taken under the wing of Julia Ormond's refugee haute couture dresser Magda, Lesley begins to flourish...

Ladies In Black doesn't do conflict.

There are elements of it hinted within the kind of fluffiness that an older generation will enjoy, but its messages of female empowerment and of refugees adding much to the cultural mix come in easy to swallow doses, with nary a hint of major drama anywhere.

A side-plot involving one of the shop staff losing her husband is bizarre at best; but there are some nice touches throughout the frothiness that hint at more below. Shots of various members of staff at Christmas add a soupcon of something undisturbed and unexpanded, because Ladies In Black isn't interested in spinning anything other than a slightly rose-coloured tinted look at life in 50s Sydney.

It's not exactly a shame, and it's clear Beresford and his capable direction is not looking to rock the apple cart, but when a film is best described as gentle and pleasant, you can tell there is more that could have been done.

Ormond, Rice and Taylor give creditable performances, and the rest of the ensemble works well, but ultimately Ladies In Black isn't interested in doing much more than delivering a film that keeps an older generation amused.

The storylines don't challenge, the threats don't mount up and the denouements can be predicted a mile off - but in terms of today's cinematic offerings, its desire to play safe and unswerving from predictable is possibly to be commended - as this is easily a film you can take your mum and your nan too, and not worry about a thing. 

Instant Family: Film Review

Instant Family: Film Review

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, Isabella Moner, Octavia Spencer
Director: Sean Anders

It's easy to be cynical in the face of Instant Family, a Hollywood movie about fostering that ends up in a gloop of manufactured sentiment and predictability that underscores its premise.

And yet, much like The Big Sick drew deep from the well of personal experience for Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, Instant Family's vein of veracity comes from director Sean Anders' autobiographical input into the script.

Byrne and Wahlberg and Ellie and Pete, a couple who decide fostering is the way to go to help them out of the rut of their lives. Believing their house flipping mentality will help with parenting (fix them up, move them on), the couple find themselves drawn to teen Lizzie (Dora The Explorer's Moner).

However, social workers warn them that Lizzie comes with two younger siblings and a mother who's a drug addict, and in and out of their lives.

But, Ellie and Pete are determined to press on with the adoption - no matter what it may bring.

Instant Family deserves kudos for putting a face on adoption, so rarely seen in movies of this type, where the kids are usually portrayed as kooky and the system is a breeze.

In the first third of the film, Instant Family's commitment to a heart-breaking truth is to be duly applauded, with much of the movie doing a lot to break stereotypes and introduce some kind of complexities to what actually transpires. Its honesty will resonate with those caught within, and will open eyes for others unaware of how the reality of the system can be.

It's largely due to the reality of what Anders went through, but by keeping the core cast of characters real and grounded, Instant Family may open a lot of doors to the idea of fostering, and provide some harsh truths that are often glossed over. It's rare to see such honesty in a broad studio product, and while Instant Family strays away from too much didacticism, its commitment to honesty, punctuated with humour, is extremely commendable.

It helps that Byrne - and believe it or not, Wahlberg - are genuinely likeable, with their neuroses and foibles feeling greatly relatable, and helping the audience through some of the more sentimental edges that creep in as the inevitabilities of going through the Hollywood machine mount up.

Broad as it needs to be (and not always to its credit, thanks to populating some of the outer characters as kooks), Instant Family's pleasantries make it a dramedy that's worth enduring, even if the ending can be seen a mile off.

It may be a touch manipulative, and be mocked for being so by those unaware of the complexities of being a part of the system, but Instant Family more than delivers on its promise to sell a message.

That's no bad thing, but given the film has laughs when it needs to and has a receptive audience onside because of it, this is actually a family worth hanging out with over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Wife: DVD Review

The Wife: DVD Review

Slow-burning and blessed with two powerhouse leads, the adaptation of Meg Wolitzer's 2003 novel, The Wife is definitely a film for those older in years looking to reflect.

Close and Pryce are husband and wife Joan and Joe Castleman, whose lives are irrevocably changed when Joe gets a call offering him a Nobel peace prize, to be awarded in Stockholm for his writing.

As they head off to the ceremony for the literary award, Joe's agog at what's ahead and Joan is the supportive long-suffering wife who sits in the background, happy to keep him on schedule and out of the limelight.

But as the ceremony nears, tensions rear between the two as their history is thrown into the spotlight.

The Wife is a perfectly fine piece of drama, that bogs itself down with its flashbacks and exposition.

The desire to explore this blowhard husband and the stoic wife stutters as it jump between the past and now, with the best part of the work coming in the present as the powderkeg nears explosion.

It helps that Close and Pryce spar well, and equally gel; their portrayal of a long marriage and of decisions made in the past help anchor the piece as it chops and changes. If Close is strong in her delivery, stoic and still in her building rage and regret, Pryce is equally dismissive and oblivious to what's around him.

Close is very much the patient glue which holds the drama together, a nuanced turn that anchors proceedings as the reflections play out. The wry delivery of some of the lines also provide plenty of barbs as well, with the screenplay built very much on the three-act play approach.

Ultimately, The Wife soars when it deals its hand of the present day fallout of the past. And a clever examination of some of the final wording proves delicious in many ways as well.

But The Wife flounders in its execution of the past, and confuses the reasoning adopted by some of the lead characters; it remains enigmatic and like a stageplay in its execution - though overall, that's no bad thing. 

Cold War: Film Review

Cold War: Film Review

Cast: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot
Director: Pawel Pawlikoswki

Ending with a truly extraordinary final shot, Pawlikoswki's love story Cold War is a paean to the golden age of cinema and the universality of a romantic tale.

Shot in black and white and set in post-war Poland, it's the tale of composer Wiktor (Kot) and auditionee Zula (Kulig) who are attracted to each other, even though their fates should not be intertwined.

Landing a role in his troupe, Zula bewitches Wiktor, and as they cross Eastern Europe touring, their lines become more blurred, and their roles in each other's lives stronger than expected.

Cold War opens with local villagers singing and proceeds to let the cameras linger on the musical numbers and the committed performances of the singers. In fact, as it progresses, you could almost feel that Pawlikoski's more determined to archive local folk music and lore, before the story of Wiktor and Zula kicks in.

It is transcendantly shot; every frame oozes class as the black and white gives an eternal veneer to what plays out, but equally, the leads demand your attention to.

Kot channels inherent tragedy and frustration as Wiktor, the man for whom circumstance proves ruinous. Equally, Kulig has the kind of charm that lights up a love story throughout the years, and gives more than enough clout to the arc as it plays out.

Ultimately, Cold War will thaw even the most hardened of hearts as it dances the line between wondrously shot musical moments on stage and then veers toward the emotional intimacy of a relationship that shouldn't be.

Steeped in pathos, and riddled with seductive tones, Cold War is a luminous film that possesses a timelessness which is hard to deny.