Brightburn: Film Review

Brightburn: Film Review

Cast: Elizabeth Banks, David Denham, Jackson A Dunn
Director: David Yarovesky

More than just its idea of what if Superman was bad one shot comic foundations, horror Brightburn is a slow-burning claustrophobic film that plays with the puberty tropes and chilling edges.

Banks and Denham are Tori and Kyle Breyer, haunted by infertility and proffered hope when a spaceship crashes to Earth at the back of their farmyard. (So far, so Smallville).

Growing up loved, Brandon (Dunn, at times distant, and other times intense and unsettling) takes a turn for the worse on the cusp of his 12th birthday with something awakening deep inside of him.

Brightburn's a taut and occasionally frightening film, with jumps coming from the atmosphere of unease spun by Yarovesky.

Sure, it mixes edges of The Omen with Chronicle, flirts with the Smallville origins, and plays a little too close with its core small cast of characters, but within its 90 minute run time, it offers up something that's a mix of originality with a dash of We Need to Talk About Kal-El than anything.

It messes with the innocence of boys, and plays on the fact their nature can turn, regardless of whether the love is there or not. It's a nice twist on the concept, and Banks sells it well, always wanting to believe the best of their gift from the skies.

While Yarovesky's to be applauded for being less interested in setting up the mythology of where Brandon's from, and concentrating more on the jolts and creepier edges, there's definitely a feeling that Brightburn could expand further (though a final reel moment seems misjudged in the wash) and provide more than just a take on skewed adolescence.

Ultimately, Brightburn delivers on its premise within a brisk run time and works well due to the mother / son relationship, as well as the Take The World storyline that develops.

It may be criticised for some of its more open edges, but in truth, what's laid out on the screen is smartly executed, and riveting, in spite of some minor narrative flaws.

Aladdin: Film Review

Aladdin: Film Review

Cast: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari
Director: Guy Ritchie

As the House of Mouse continues to plunder its own back catalogue for a seemingly never-ending list of live-action remakes, Guy Ritchie's Aladdin emerges as the latest contender.

Following the 1992 story down to a tee, it's the tale of street rat Aladdin (Massoud, largely wooden other than in interactions with the genie) who parkours through the bazaars picking up goods where he can to exchange for food.

When Aladdin meets Princess Jasmine (Scott, given a moment of empowerment towards the end) he's smitten. But before he can act on this, he's stolen away by the villainous Jafar (Kenzari, muted, but for reasons that are obvious next to Smith's genie) to steal a lamp from a mysterious cavern....

Guy Ritchie and the team behind Aladdin don't do anything to radically tamper with the formula, instead adding embellishments and Ritchie's patented slow-mo action sequences to street escapes.

The slowing down and speeding up of portions of the action (such as it is) adds to a sense of style and individuality that 2019's Aladdin has. The arrival of Prince Ali is more OTT Bollywood reveal now, and the costuming pops with colours and vibrancy.

But the film's nothing without its genie. And in truth, Will Smith delivers a different performance than Robin Williams' iconic and much-loved Genie. Less Williams, more Fresh Prince-cum-Big Willy style, Smith's charismatic in the role, and cartoony when needed. He elevates every scene he's in, and certainly Massoud, while looking the part, sparkles more in his interactions with the genie than through the rest of the film.

It's not damning Aladdin's 2019 iteration to say it's all right - while some may lament Jafar's apparently less villainous outing this time around, it's hard to go up against the energy of Will Smith's genie and not suffer. Anything OTT for the villain would have rendered this cartoon-like and that's not what the live-action films need to be - they need to have their own individuality.

At its heart though, Aladdin is a family film that hits the fun needed and is never better than its original songs like Friend in Me, which have stood the test of time.

It may not be a Whole New World for the audience familiar with the original, but it does offer a chance for a new audience to engage with it and while it's a little overlong at 2 hours, it's largely entertaining popcorn family fare throughout.

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote: Film Review

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote: Film Review 

Cast: Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce, Olga Kurylenko
Director: Terry Gilliam

Once upon a time, Terry Gilliam was creatively ruined by this film, a stuck in production hell piece about Don Quixote.

Finally, it sees the light of air.

Adapted from Miguel de Cervantes classic novel, and starting with the phrase, "25 years in the making and in the unmaking", it's the story of Adam Driver's Toby, a cynical advertising director, who finds himself trapped in the outrageous delusions of an old Spanish shoe-maker who believes himself to be Don Quixote (Jonathan Pryce).

As he negotiates the relationship, his grip on reality comes and goes.

There's a large degree of folly in The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a movie that meanders and rambles as much as it crumbles with the weight of expectation.

It starts off well, with Driver's Toby losing command of a shoot bringing parallels to Gilliam's problems with shooting the film. And Pryce delivers a masterful turn as a man whose grip of what's going on is simply lost.

There are many parallels here - it's almost as if Pryce's Quixote is the perfect film, lurching back and forth from the grasp of Toby's director, hinting at what could be and sucking him in with his delusions. Maybe Gilliam was too close to this for too long, but The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a film that's bathed in pretensions and threatens to get too close to delirium.

There are moments of humour throughout, and Driver's a likeable enough lead to pursue this film down the rabbit hole, but ultimately, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a film that just tests the patience rather than fully embracing what it could have been.

Rocketman: Film Review

Rocketman: Film Review

Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Richard Madden
Director: Dexter Fletcher

The musical biopic is so hot right now.

On the coat-tails of Bohemian Rhapsody, its global success and its unexpected awards success, it's no surprise that Rocketman arrives in cinemas with a weight of expectation.

With its more verite approach thanks to singing actors, rather than a performer miming, Dexter Fletcher re-teams with his Eddie The Eagle co-star Taron Egerton to take on the story of one Reg Dwight.

Beginning with the neglect in his childhood from his father and distant mother, to the discovery of his piano skills through to the tales of excess and stardom, Fletcher weaves an interesting tapestry of Elton John's life from the early years.

It's crowd-pleasing, conventional, and in the latter stages, somewhat camp, but never anything less than a spectacle.

Fletcher knows what the tropes of the genre are (early childhood adversity, self-doubt, midlife adversity, lovers adversity and ultimately self-acceptance) and skirts through them with ease.

At times, this is both a good and a bad thing for Rocketman, with the film feeling very much like outside of Elton John himself, it  skirts over some character edges, which is much to its detriment. (The only female character of note is John's grandmother).

Even the darkness of Elton John's life are given a light touch, but are never shied away from, as Fletcher pulls what could easily be a stage show, framed as it is with John's AA group confessional, into something that becomes a jukebox piece tale of acceptance, dishing out the hits when the energy hits a lull (as it does in the final third).

In truth, Rocketman is never better than when it's a balls-to-the-wall brazen musical.

From the younger version of Elton John bursting through a pub and segueing into Egerton's look to Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, to John's Troubador club appearance in the US where the music literally lifts the audience through euphoria, via Pinball Wizard's swirling piano as the film shuffles through numerous outfits and John's need to be his on-stage persona cycles through, Fletcher's smart enough to deploy some visual flourishes to keep the film engaging as the energy levels teeter dangerously high to exuberant.

It's less successful in some of the more human elements - but not because of Egerton's efforts as Elton John.

Moments when Elton interacts with his stifled father desperate for love are given a tremendous resonance in their brief outings. And while Richard Madden brings a dangerous smouldering to his manager-cum-lover, it's Egerton who sells the relationship with the most subtle of touches.

Ultimately, much like Bohemian Rhapsody, it won't matter what critics make of Rocketman.

In places, it soars, a spectacle of a tried-and-tested story of acceptance; elsewhere, it's grounded. But audiences will adore its commitment to being crowd-pleasing, its desire to entertain and its salutation to the early part of the Elton John legacy.

The Guilty: DVD Review

The Guilty: DVD Review

Taut, terrific and twisty, The Guilty's captive setting and lead man make director Gustav Möller's claustrophobic call centre flick one of the most compelling of the festival.

Nearing the end of his potentially last shift, Jakob Cedergren's policeman Asger Holm is a troubled man. With a court appearance the next day, press hounding him, and colleagues clearly less than enamoured with him, Asger appears to simply want to get it done, and move on.

A series of emergency calls come in - each more mundane than the next in his eyes, but each vital to those dialling for the help. Then a call comes in that sets his senses off - an apparent kidnapping.

With the clock ticking in real-time, Asger decides to go back to his policeman roots and try and solve the case....

To say much about The Guilty's reveals is to spoil the elements carefully placed together by Cedergren and director Möller.

Background pieces are trickled through, each dripfed when needed and each naturally inserted into the narrative rather than shoe-horned in. As Asger tries to piece together the kidnapping, the audience is left piecing together him - it's a fascinatingly compelling touch from Möller and one which is wonderfully played by Cedergren's subtleties. The smallest of looks here, the slightest of twitches of behaviour there reveal more than screeds of exposition ever could - and The Guilty sells it right down the line.

Möller also delivers some directorial flair into the setting as well - he refuses initially to show anyone other than Asger in focus, hinting at Asger's perception that others around him are worthy of his time and temperament. Asger himself is never pictured in anything other than close up until it starts to unravel for him - all demonstrating more about character than dialogue would ever achieve.

As a result The Guilty becomes a film that looks like it's destined for a Hollywood remake. Sure, it's got touches of Locke and Buried, but it's also got a panache that's all its own and a sleekness which sets it above many other entries.

Clever, compelling, and character-led, The Guilty is a festival must-see - a stripped back, pared down character piece that's almost Shakespearean in its tragedy. See it now, preferably Hollywood miscasts its lead in its remake. 

First look: Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood

First look: Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood

The first trailer for the much-awaited new film from director Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood has arrived.

“In this town, it can all change…like that.”

Watch the new #OnceUponATimeInHollywood trailer - In cinemas August 15.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore.  

 The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age. 

First look: Downton Abbey movie trailer

First look: Downton Abbey movie trailer

A celebration of royal proportions is to be had this morning! 

The trailer for the highly anticipated Downton Abbey movie is here ahead of release on September 12, 2019.

CAST & CREW

Directed by: Michael Engler (The Chaperone)

Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Allen Leech, Joanne Froggatt, Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Sophie McShera, Leslie Nichol, Robert James-Collier, Penelope Wilton, Harry Hadden-Paton, Imelda Staunton, Tuppence Middleton, Matthew Goode.