Hustlers: Film Review

Hustlers: Film Review

Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Julia Stiles, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer
Director: Lorene Scafaria

Based on a New York magazine article, Hustlers' tale of empowerment of ladies and taking back what's theirs should in theory, be a home run.

Set against a backdrop of a group of strippers headed up by matriarch Ramona (JLo, in no nonsense taking mood) Constance Wu stars as Destiny, a new-to-town stripper, who's taken under Ramona's wing.

When the financial crisis of 2008 hits the strip clubs and stops the ladies from earning the coin as the businessmen stay away, Ramona and Destiny hit upon a new scam to make money when times get tough....

Hustlers is a fine film in parts (specifically its aesthetics), but one that fails to fully seize on what makes a story like this soar.

While it could be seen as a female POV counterpoint piece to Martin Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street, Hustlers' prime failure is in fully setting up the friendships and family elements early on which would inform the emotional bond you feel to the characters when times get tough.

It's a relatively fatal flaw, in among the incessant gyrations and tasteful nudity that never once falls into male gaze territory (thankfully).

The shallow skin-deep approach informs much of the aesthetics of the club, as well as the approach to the characters - motivations are about as fleshed-out as the fully-covered ladies and Scafaria's failure to demonise anyone makes for an intriguing lack of moral compass as the movie plays out.

It's particularly noticeable and pertinent in the final third of the film, which meanders and drifts into duller territory as the narrative framing devices push the story into a she said, she said approach necessary for the magazine interview format to play out.

Wu is fairly solid in this, but talk of Lopez for Oscar glory for her role as Ramona is misplaced at best - her Ramona is a variation of any strong women role she's had before, but unfortunately, there's not enough dramatic meat in the Hustlers' bones to really justify it.

When the end comes, you may be surprised how hollow it feels and how emotionally lacking it is - if anything, this is the ultimate scam perpetrated by Hustlers, a film so wrapped up in all its own take on capitalism and family that it falls apart under any kind of prolonged scrutiny.

Spider-Man: Far From Home: Blu Ray Review

Spider-Man: Far From Home: Blu Ray Review

More a film about fallout and fallen heroes, as well as father figures, Spider-Man: Far From Home thwips and zips around Europe as it unleashes the concluding picture in Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Peter Parker (Holland, lithe and offering depth in whatever's commanded of him) is grieving the loss of Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame and fielding calls to become the next Iron Man.

With the world reeling from the replacement of everyone who disappeared from Thanos' snap, and the social problems it poses, Parker just wants to concentrate on being a teen, go on holiday and tell MJ (Zendaya, nicely awkward and giving some resonance to their relationship) how he feels.

But when a new threat emerges, Nick Fury (a petulant and off-key Jackson) is determined to get Spider-Man to man up - however, even with the arrival of Jake Gyllenhaal's fatherly Quentin Blake (aka Mysterio), Parker has to deal once again with the fact that with great power, comes great responsibility.

While Spider-Man: Far From Home will proffer little surprises to those well-versed with their Spider-lore, what Watts and the team does is provide a wrap up capper that leans on the humour, builds on the heart and goes heavy on the action when it's needed.

The tone feels right for Spider-Man, and while the relationship between Peter and Jacob Batalon's Ned is sidelined when it sparkled in Homecoming, Far From Home is more interested in giving Parker surrogate father figure options to replace Stark's cold hard mentoring.

From Favreau's Happy via Jackson's sharp Fury to Gyllenhaal's soft and open-to-listening Blake, and taking in Parker's interactions with MJ as he struggles to say what matters, the human touches are welcome ones, as the film zips around its European settings before ending with an action-packed London finale that shows the CGI off to its highest capabilities. It's these moments which help Spider-Man: Far From Home soar to the heights it's trying to achieve.

Deftly being thrown around the screen, and leaping where necessary and pratfalling when required, Tom Holland's take on Parker now feels essential, both in the context of Spider-Man and in returning him to more high school related woes as he juggles his conscience and his desire to be normal.

The CGI shows no signs of creaking as the screen occasionally overfills with the action - something the biggest screen is required for. Some nightmarish scenes offer the kind of head trips last experienced by Doctor Strange, but never lose their intimate scope and subject in the mix as the film deftly dances around people's beliefs.

In many ways, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a fairly disposable, but supremely enjoyable piece of superhero fare.

It proffers an alternative to the heavy-laced edges of Avengers: Endgame and the doom-laden films it's led up to, but never loses sight of its place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It may conclude in the usual fashion with the expected CGI carnage, but thanks to the work done by Holland, it feels like it's light and lithe on its feet, a web-slinger that embraces its canon and identity but isn't afraid to play fast and loose with expectations.

(Oh, and it scores extra points for embracing one of the best parts of last year's Spider-Man PS4 game.)

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir: DVD Review

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir: DVD Review

Cast: Dhanush, Berenice Bejo, Erin Moriarty, Barkhad Abdi
Director: Ken Scott

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir is a light and fluffy film which looks to the refugee crisis for inspiration, but strays from anything too serious.

Bollywood star Dhanush is Aja, a street performer and criminal in and around India, who dreams of escaping Mumbai and ends up in Paris. Meeting Moriarty's Marie in an IKEA store, there's an obvious connection between the pair.

But love is not to blossom properly under the Eiffel Tower after Aja ends up whisked away by accident, trapped in a refugee situation and then thrown into a bizarre orbit around Bejo's Nelly Marnay.

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir is as slight and flouncy as they come.

It's clear its aims are about ensuring that Dhanush gets his time to shine in this European flight-of-fancy and he seizes on it with relish at every opportunity, exuding energy and generally mining each situation for as much infectious glee as he can muster.

So, it's no surprise that the rest of the film kind of feels inconsequential, and other characters feel underwritten, as the tropes of the various genres are hit, the romcom elements roasted and the bizarre comedy moments thrust into the world unexpectedly.

The end result is that The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir is as forgettable as it is fanciful fun. Its quirks just about stay on the right side of non-grating, but it's a slight victory that the cynical will dismiss and those after crowd-pleasing will lap up.

NBA 2K20 PS4 Review

NBA 2K20 PS4 Review

Released by 2K Games
Platform: PS4

The annual iteration of the basketball sim is here.

And once again 2K Games proves that it largely knows what it's doing with these sims and gives the audience what it wants.

As well as providing teams from the WNBA that have not been part of the series prior to this release, NBA 2K20 builds on its foundations as a sim that's for all-comers. Though, as ever, anyone with a previous knowledge and skillset will find much to get ahead with straight away.

With MyCareer story mode, and voice work from Idris Elba, 2K have, as they say, got game. But there is an element of microtransactions which make matters a little blurry and muddies some of the water done by the franchise.

Yet, on the positive side, the game looks incredible, the players are wonderfully and stylistically rendered to ensure if you're a fan, you can get the best out of what's on offer.

A buggy AI occasionally keeps the game on its toes, but confounds the player, and while there's much to keep the hardcore fan of the NBA happy, the casual player may prefer to sink time into the three-pointers and odd games rather than pile in hours-upon-hours of playing.

There may be an argument to say these games potentially need a year off and a reason to continually exist, but it can be said that for its foibles, and its use of microtransactions, NBA 2K20 does enough to justify its place off the starting bench.

Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock

Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock

Take a look at the all new short film, Jurassic World: Battle at Big Rock.

Men in Black: International: DVD Review

Men in Black: International: DVD Review

It's easy to forget the Men In Black series was a franchise of goofy aliens versus straight laced G-men, dour faced, suited and booted.

Yet the original film with Will Smith fast talking his way into stone-faced Tommy Lee Jones' world was a blast of family entertainment, propped up with a peppy rap song that lived on for years.

The latest, Men in Black International, is the final nail in the franchise coffin, a film that should neuralise its entire audience after its car-sponsored credits have ended. It would be the only decent thing to do.

Hemsworth and Neeson are the original Men in Black, H and T, who back in 2016, saved the world by ridding it of the threat of the Hive atop the Eiffel Tower. Two decades earlier Tessa Thompson's science-smart and ferociously intelligent Molly had a run-in with the MIBs and has been determined to join their ranks, but has been rebuffed repeatedly.

When Molly and H cross paths, they're put on a mission to investigate whether MIB's been infiltrated, and once again, save the world.

The depressing thing about Men in Black International is that the potential's so inherently there.

Both Thompson and Hemsworth have a good rapport, as Thor and Valkyrie can attest. Yet, a weak script, with twists that can be seen coming from literally the opening minutes do nothing to exploit their chemistry, and in fact, choke it in a cloud of lame weak gags that fall flat.

Once again, the script lazily points to Hemsworth's necessity to derobe, and while an Avengers-inspired gag is amusing, its weak execution sees it fall flat. Hemsworth's done comedy well, as Ghostbusters can prove, but essentially, it's a boorish himbo in parts that outstays its welcome long before 15 minutes is up.

Tessa Thompson is more successful, giving her Agent M a more rounded feel, even if she spends most of the film seeking validation from a male. (Seriously, this film with its female needing approval and two middle Eastern villains feels like a queasy throwback at times.) And Emma Thompson's snarky boss is wasted in a book-ending turn that feels like it could have had the spark and spunk the script so desperately needed.

While Men in Black International is a family film, its commitment to the kids comes in the form of Kumail Nanjiani's Pawny, a CGI character that irritates initially, but is soon saddled with the lion's share of the and best lines. To be honest though, he's no Frank, and pales weakly in comparison.

Ultimately, at a sagging two hours, the film doesn't proffer nearly enough - it may be positioned as a comedy action movie, but it offers up little enough of either, and is a depressing end to the franchise that began with such bluster 22 years ago.

When it goes goofy (as it does towards the end) and cuts loose with its script, Men in Black International offers up a good reason to exist. Sadly, it's too late in the piece, and as the depressing Lexus car product placement shots pile up, the feeling is one of utter despair, and wasted opportunity.

Joker: Film Review

Joker: Film Review

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix. Robert de Niro, Zazie Beetz, Marc Maron, Frances Conroy
Director: Todd Phillips

Intense, haunting, disturbing, unsettling, uncomfortable, uncompromising, deeply indebted to Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and King of Comedy, Hangover director Todd Phillips' take on Joker is nothing without Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck.

An alienated clown who's trying to get by in a struggling Gotham that's grappling with a descent into garbage strikes and class divides, Fleck is hanging on by the skin of his teeth, scrabbling from day-to-day with a world he's growing ever-more distant from and from humanity on every level.

Fleck's grip on reality is further tested by his relationship with his ailing mother (Conroy) - though there's some light in the form of a neighbour (Deadpool's Beetz) and in local talkshow host Murray Franklin (De Niro riffing on his own Murray Pupkin), both offering Fleck a connection to life and a future.

But as the class war and societal concerns strike, Fleck finds himself at a personal profound crossroads...

Joker is less a comic book film, more an intensely choreographed dance into madness and destruction, that forces you into sympathies for the devil.

Central to the maelstrom is an emaciated Phoenix, his whole frame racked by the condition that forces him to laugh when it's less than ideal, and whose laughs teeter dangerously close to sobs of desperation. Lithe, lissom and genuinely haunting, the incendiary Phoenix owns the screen from the moment the film starts to the time it ends.

While there are nods to the wider universe, Joker is less about the clown prince, more a damning indictment of a man falling apart with parallels to the politically uncertain times we currently live in.

It's here that Phillips and Phoenix team up to make something that's an unravelling in our narcissistic times, a dangerous mirror to edges of our society that may galvanise some more than it should or ought to. There are plenty of scenes of Phoenix's Fleck struggling - be it up endless flights of stairs, or sitting in empty rooms, Phillips doesn't scrimp on the visual imagery.

It's not all perfect - some of the supporting characters feel underused in the extreme slow burn of Phoenix's spotlight; much of the feel of the film is ripped from Scorsese's grimy playbook and there are questions over the mental health portrayal within.

But Joker is visceral and uncomfortable in the way cinema can get under your skin; this character study is one of the year's compelling best, a sickening portrait that's unsettling and unnerving.