First Man: Blu Ray Review

First Man: Blu Ray Review

The story of the first Man on the Moon is not one that needs to be told.

Everyone knows how it happened and that it happened (unless you subscribe to the conspiracy theories), so Whiplash and La La Land director Damien Chazelle didn't really have his work cut out convincing us of what happened.

However, once again, as he explores the nature of obsession (as with previous films), Chazelle's occasionally slow but neverless than thrilling First Man is the Neil Armstrong film you didn't know you needed.

Gosling's almost automaton-like turn as the pilot turned astronaut anchors the film - though in truth, the connection with family is actually at the core of this space flick. Taking in the years 1961 to 1969 and threading in the death of Armstrong's daughter, First Man looks at the human cost of the space race, the desperation of defeat from the Soviets in parts and those left behind.

It's an interesting concoction, a mix that's slow to brew at times, and that never jettisons pace for necessity of narrative.

But in its space capsule sequences, and its adaption of practical FX (where possible - you'll be hard pressed to find any line), Chazelle, along with sound effects editor Phil Barrie, creates something utterly nerve-shredding.

Clever use of silence (aside from the actual launch for the Moon mission, the one aural misstep where a bombastic OST ruins the atmosphere) and a concentration on the rivets and creaks of the rocket's capsule make the pilot sequences both claustrophobic and thrilling.

Everything rattles - including your teeth - giving you a psychological insight into what the pilots must have felt inside, not knowing what's coming or if this is the end. It's further exacerbated in one sequence where a thump and puff of smoke viewed from outside is utterly devastating.

Simply put, if the use of sound in First Man doesn't secure some kind of award, the system is broken.

Elsewhere, Gosling's touches give Armstong an aloof icy detachedness - you're never quite 100% sure you get to his core, and there are questions about one final sequence on the moon. However, small subtle moments add to the unfolding tension. And Foy's support swerves unnervingly from solid to faltering under the pressure; again, both Foy and Gosling make the best of their slightly under-served arcs. It's not 100% convincing that you leave First Man knowing massively more about the man himself, though it's not entirely clear whether that's the film's MO - and certainly, those who knew Armstrong say they never really knew him.

Equally the politics of space-race are sidelined in favour of the simplicity of the drama; this is not a film where great speeches are dispatched extolling the virtues of why it's important, how small man is etc.

But it's in the thrill and terror of this technically adept biopic that proves to be enthralling; you can understand the joy of what NASA achieved and how they felt, even if the script fails to fully place it into words for you.

And that's perhaps Chazelle's greatest achievement here - a clinical commitment to the nuts and bolts (literally) of NASA and the rush to space that proves First Man is gripping from beginning to rather abrupt end.

First Man is one giant leap for space cinema in many ways. 

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot: DVD Review

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot: DVD Review

A heady mix of life-affirming biography, swirled in with a truly chameleonic performance from Joaquin Phoenix as Oregon slacker John Callahan, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot shouldn't really work.

After all, it's the usual trappings of a illness TV movie of the week - guy wrecks his life, guy tries to put his life back together. But what it is about Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot that works is simply, Phoenix.

Callahan was paralysed after a car accident at the age of 21, in which the driver, a fellow alcholic played with anarchic glee by Jack Black, walked away scot free. Callahan was not so lucky, choosing to go down the path of self-destruction before ultimate redemption, and discovering a penchant for black-humoured cartoons.

A patchwork portmanteau start sees Van Sant messing with timelines, a twitchy holding-you-at-arms-length approach which takes some getting used to. But as the story treads its familiar route, it's peppered with such warmth and disarming moments of humour and reality that its sentiment wins you over (even if it dangerously veers close to overdose at times, and showcases some of the lesser written characters, such as Mara's carer / girlfriend).

Thankfully, Phoenix delivers another stunning performance.

Whether it's Callahan going hell for leather in his wheelchair through the streets, or making his own denials about what his mother did to him, Phoenix takes every moment and makes it his own, overcoming the script's occasional weaknesses and the somewhat sanitised view of life in a wheelchair.

It's impossible not to feel something for Callahan in this, and Phoenix is the main reason why, along with the anarchic tones and touches deployed throughout. Solid support comes from an early unrecognisable Jonah Hill, whose Jesus Christ-like hippy sponsor becomes central to peripherary proceedings.

Never stronger than when it uses some deftly off-kilter touches to develop the film from above its overtly familiar roots, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot trades a careful line between inspiring and irritating.

In the end though, Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot works, and hits a level of affecting which is as surprising as it is moving. 

You Were Never Really Here: DVD Review

You Were Never Really Here: DVD Review

Director Lynne Ramsay's thriller is bathed in brutality, but also beaten down in humanity.

A hooded, hulking and haunted Joaquin Phoenix is Joe, a hitman former veteran, whose specialty is saving children from sex rings.

Aside from the repugnance of his day job, Joe spends the time outside of the job looking after his mother, who's ailing and in need of care.

But when Joe's called in to a kidnapping of a US senator, what he believes is a cut-and-dry job turns into something a lot more personal - and potentially fatal.

Based on the 2013 Jonathan Ames' novel, Ramsay's sparsity with the camera work and the hallucinatory material within works masterfully for You Were Never Really Here.

It's aided by a sterling turn by Phoenix, whose intensity is suited to the anger contained within Joe as he dispatches his law-breakers with a hammer. But Phoenix also makes a case for real tenderness in terms of his interaction with his mother and also the victims of the child sex rings.

It's these touches which lift You Were Never Really Here out of the darkness that it inhabits.

Ramsay (who did We Need To Talk About Kevin) keeps things taut and interesting throughout - rather than fixating on the violent means of despatching, she angles the camera away from proceedings.

When Joe breaks into a hotel to free his victims, CCTV footage shows the scene but cuts just before the method of murder is revealed; equally a desperate fight on the floor is depicted through a ceiling mirror - it's impressive stuff that's not too showy, but very effective.

It helps with the disorientation too, as You Were Never Really Here has an overall feeling of thrilling wooziness as it plays out.

Greatly enhanced by a turn from Phoenix that keeps you riveted as the conspiracy plays out, You Were Never Really Here is as much of a trip for the audience as it is on screen.

It may be a trip to a seedy underbelly, but thanks to Ramsay and Phoenix, it's a trip that's well worth taking.  

Venom: DVD Review

Venom: DVD Review

As tonally schizophrenic as its star talking to its symbiote, Sony’s attempt to bring anti-hero Venom into the 21st century stumbles into cliched exposition land but never fully finds its feet.

Hardy is Eddie Brock, a crusading internet reporter whose show The Eddie Brock Report champions the wronged

But when Brock loses his job and his fiancée (Williams, in a phone-it-in turn) because of his refusal to be a patsy in his interview with Riz Ahmed’s tech giant Carlton Drake, he spirals down.

Offered a chance months later to find out what Drake has been up to at the LIFE institute, Brock’s life is changed when he’s infected with a parasitic alien creature aka Venom.

With the LIFE institute after him to retrieve their “property”, the Brock/ Venom hybrid goes on the run as they try to stop the conspiracy.

Venom feels like a curious hybrid itself - and much like the symbiote struggles with its prospective host, director Fleischer struggles to deliver something that feels nothing more than a garbled, rushed mess.

A hastily assembled opening 20 minutes barely gives any characters chance to breathe and dispenses swathes of emotionally necessary narrative for the hell of it, leaving you gasping to care for what unfolds.

Meshing body horror with a bizarre buddy comedy, Hardy gurns and mumbles his way through the film, giving Brock scant moments of humanity here and there. Plenty of the film sees him pacing and talking to himself before the CGI elements kick into play. It's a shame as Hardy's more than committed to the role, whatever it demands.

The comedic elements are fine and hint at what could have been had the PG bloodless approach been jettisoned for something darker and more twisted. If anything at times, Venom shows a troubled production and hints at a fear of going further than it could.

Some decent FX aside (the twisting rotating creatures are well done, as are scenes of the symbiotes being rejected) much of the action passes by in a blur;, and in parts looks like children flinging and flailing around wet coloured spaghetti; certainly a creature feature finale looks messy and garbled, with neither element standing out, nor the singular triumphant moment emerging at the end.


Ultimately, and sadly, this Venom lacks bite - it's not as bad as you're expecting, but it's not as good either - ironically, this venom is not the cure to the cinematic poison of anti-superhero films.

Mary Queen of Scots: Film Review

Mary Queen of Scots: Film Review

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Gemma Chan, Guy Pearce, David Tennant, Joe Alwym, Jack Lowden

Director: Josie Rourke

Aiming for more than just a period piece, but barely elevating above its ambitions, Mary Queen of Scots takes in the conflict between Elizabeth and Mary in 1569.

North of the border, Mary (Ronan) arrives to a frosty reception as the Queen of the Scots. With a preacher shouting from the hilltops that she is the devil incarnate, Mary tries to negotiate the perils of Scotland rule, and the ambitions of those in her court who would depose her.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she's trying to keep Elizabeth (Robbie) in check as her court whispers that Mary will overthrow her.

There is a lot of politicking within Mary Queen of Scots, and an unbridled amount of talking as well, which holds the film back from fully gripping in the way it should.

It's an interesting take on the power of men in ancient times, and for feminist edges; and certainly, it's beset with tragedy as well as the various power plays take their forms.

But the film rarely grips as it should, teetering dangerously close to being a touch on the stultefyingly dull spectrum as it plods through its two hour run time.

Robbie is excellent - and there's inherent poignancy in the the tragedy of her time on the throne.

Riddled with jealousy at her "sister" Mary's success (good looks, blessed with a child), Robbie reaches deep within to channel some of the inherent fears of a barren woman, struggling to maintain her place as those around the throne plot and deliberate.

Restrained and remarkable, it's Robbie's turn which stands out in Mary Queen of Scots, and the screen's rarely better than when she's on it. Certainly, the fabricated meeting of the two in the final ten minutes of the film is utterly electrifying, and yet only goes to highlight what was missing beforehand.

Ronan deserves plaudits too, but her route and arc is a more traditional one, as she deals with double-crossings, plottings and betrayal. There are definitely signs of Ronan lending life to the character journey, and there's sadness in its ultimate destination which Ronan channels exquisitely and subtly.

There's a feeling that Mary Queen of Scots feels like an episode of Game of Thrones but through the prism of the Lifetime channel, and while there are some shocks, they lack the requisite strength needed to fully land.

Ultimately, Mary Queen of Scots' over-writing does it damage, failing to land a sharpness that's required. It's more than worth though for the final 10 minutes, which stand out as some of the best cinema of the year.

Glass: Film Review

Glass: Film Review

Cast: Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, James McAvoy, Anya Taylor Joy, Sarah Paulson, Spencer Treat Clark
Director: M Night Shyamalan

There's a lot of pseudo-waffle in Glass; there's a lot of pontificating about what superheroes are, if they exist etc and there's a lot of labouring the points as this unexpected trilogy delivers its capper.

Set merely a few weeks after Split ended, Bruce Willis' David Dunn, complete with trenchcoat, is on the heels of the Horde and their monstrous member the Beast (another ferocious turn by McAvoy), following a series of abductions.

But when both the Beast and Dunn are captured and imprisoned in a sanitarium run by Dr Ellie Staple (Paulson, in expositionary mode), they find themselves questioning if they are superheroes or freaks of a medical nature.

Things are further complicated when it's revealed that also staying at the hospital under duress is Samuel L Jackson's Elijah Price aka Mr Glass....

Glass does not deliver what you'd expect, or perhaps what you'd hope for.

In some ways, that's a great thing, but it's also a stumbling block as the film lurches tonally between drama and psychobabble.

Once again McAvoy is resplendent in the role, bringing the physicality and ferocity of Split back to life as he pivots between characters with ease, imbuing the Horde with the subtleties of difference and the scale of screen grandeur that's needed.

Willis is muted, and almost sidelined in the film, adding a requisite level of tragedy to the tortured hero. And Jackson is, to be frank, solid but borderline annoying as he espouses meta-dialogue gifted him by Shyamalan, who's keen to labour each comic book point and make sure you don't miss a single one. Subtlety is not on show here, with exposition heavy scenes dulling the impact of what's gone prior.

Shymalan goes the circuitous route in Glass, fiddling with expectations and wrongfooting you at every turn. He delivers comic book action in a different way, with fights happening from other perspectives rather than the smash and crash you're used to - it's not exactly bravura stuff, but it is notable that someone's trying something different with the genre in a saturated smash-em-up market.

There's creepiness aplenty, and while you may not be emotionally invested in the Glass-half-full-glass-half-empty characters on show, Glass delivers something akin to a muted crescendo of a trilogy ender.

It stymies itself in the asylum sequences and shuts down the excitement of the earlier scenes and also films (Unbreakable and Split) - but it does deliver something which proffers an occasionally more cerebral take on a genre that's now de rigeur.

Spider-Man: Far from Home trailer

Spider-Man: Far from Home trailer

The first trailer for Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Far from Home movie has dropped.

The sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming is out in July 4th.

Peter Parker returns in Spider-Man™: Far From Home, the next chapter of the Spider-Man™: Homecoming series! 

Our friendly neighborhood Super Hero decides to join his best friends Ned, MJ, and the rest of the gang on a European vacation. 

However, Peter’s plan to leave super heroics behind for a few weeks are quickly scrapped when he begrudgingly agrees to help Nick Fury uncover the mystery of several elemental creature attacks, creating havoc across the continent!

Directed by:                                                                    Jon Watts

Screenplay by:                                                               Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers

Based on the MARVEL Comic Book by:                  Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Produced by:                                                                  Kevin Feige

                                                                                          Amy Pascal