Happy New Year and welcome back, hope you’re all well.
I’ve written a long article for Live for Film on monsters in cinema which they’re publishing in two parts today and Wednesday. In the meantime, unsurprisingly under lockdown, we’ve been watching a stack of movies, so here are some quick and dirty highlights.
Wonder Woman 1984.
Well, this is divisive. Some of the reviews are saying we all need this, others are slating it to kingdom come. As I’ve said before though, always give me a contentious movie over something which offends no-one. I can see why some people don’t like it. WW84 feels a little messy in places, and is deliberately excessive in comparison to its predecessor. After a fantastic intro on Themyscira, the first action scene sets the tone of an Eighties superhero film. For me, Patty Jenkins has adopted the ‘up to eleven,’ sensibilities of the decade and drenched the film in it.
The film hit its stride with some brash, fun political commentary, although later portions of the Washington set movie in the context of what happened there on 6th January, are a little disturbing. One thing is for sure, with the recent revelation of where Zack Snyder wanted to take this character (turning her into a bloodthirsty killer), it’s wonderful(!) to have this uplifting, moral take, instead of yet another dreadful, tone-deaf effort which seems written by a teenager who has skim-read the Wikipedia page on Nietzsche. There’s a moment in Hans Zimmer’s great score at the emotional height of the film when the DCEU suddenly makes sense. It never has before. Although, erm, didn’t Hans Zimmer quit the superhero business?
I saw Wonder Woman 1984 on premium streaming.
Parasite
Wow.
Was not a fan of Bong Joon-ho before this. I’d only seen Host which I didn’t enjoy. Snowpiercer I switched off. But this? Well, all the reviews which said for once the best movie of 2020 won the Best Film Oscar were right. The film is another reason to long for an end to lock down so I can talk about it around a pub table with my friends. There’s so much going on in the story and the visuals.
The movie flows around different genres like a shallow stream on a rocky bed. The main thrust is social commentary but never feels forced or preachy. Instead, the film is more like a thriller, perhaps one of those Nineties psycho-thrillers that were all the rage after Single White Female. But Parasite is like a three-course meal at a decent restaurant, while they were more like a sweaty kebab at three o’clock in the morning.
Parasite doesn’t give you any easy answers and doesn’t judge its characters. It presents its story and lets you decide. Who are the parasites?
Parasite is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Every Time I Die
This 2019 thriller currently has a deserved 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It put me in mind of something like The Sixth Sense, that strain of ‘supernatural thriller’ which isn’t a horror movie and doesn’t try to be but uses the paranormal as a part of the plot, in this case, (sort of) instant reincarnation. This is a smart, well-made little thriller which works best once the plot kicks into gear. I guess they slightly fudge the start and end, but if you respond to the story that’s a minor problem.
Every Time I die is on Netflix.
Tenet
The film that was meant to save cinemas and didn’t. The irony is of course, that so many people chose to stay away for safety reasons, it may have been safe to go. Still, the film is streaming now. Your feelings on the movie will depend on your general feelings about Nolan films because this is peak Nolan. Tenet is complicated, it doesn’t wait around for you to catch up and refuses to dumb down. The emotional payoff ties tightly into the plot complexity. And yes, it means that the sound mix is a little heavy – the score is brilliant and VERY LOUD, the dialogue sometimes obscured.
I absolutely loved the film. I loved the scale, the plot, the effects, the jaw-dropping set pieces, the performances – Kenneth Branagh manages to transform his whole face with rage in one scene and he’s bloody terrifying. This is a full-bore Nolan Bond film, with a large dollop of physics thrown in for good measure.
Mark Kermode was spot on in his review in that the complexity is more around the mechanics than the philosophy, and for that reason, I’d say if pushed that Inception is still his greatest work, but come on… Watching a film more than once is simply good value, surely? Nolan himself is right when he says you don’t need to hear all the dialogue; this is a film, there are multiple ways in, multiple ways to understand it. And to be clear, the story is not lost on first viewing, you will understand what’s going on. It’s just that by revisiting you can take more away, like re-reading a fantastic book or wiping up every morsel of a great meal. More than that, watching Tenet again is just as thrilling as the first time… that is the mark of the highest quality cinema. I’m so grateful to be a movie fanatic living while he’s working, it’s a huge privilege.
Tenet is streaming (rental) now.
Calibre
Enjoyed this tense if somewhat formulaic little Netflix thriller. It’s British, from 2018 and debuted that year at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It put me in mind of A Lonely Place to Die, the 2011 Melissa George vehicle, and while it’s not as good as that movie, it matches or even edges it in terms of suspense. The only actor I recognised was Tony Curran (a man who to this day I can’t look at without seeing him enthusiastically shagging Ferdy in the toilets during the climactic wedding in This Life).
Calibre is on Netflix.
Indigo Gaming Cyberpunk Documentary
My buddy recommended this two-part (a third instalment is planned) review of the cyberpunk genre, covering movies, novels, games, and comics. It’s a fun ride through the genre, starting with a good definition (‘Hi-tech, low life’) before looking at how it developed and what the key milestones are. It’s exhaustive, though I’m looking forward to seeing more of the Nineties and later stuff, including Keanu’s journey to becoming a de-facto Cyberpunk messiah. If you’re a fan of the genre it’s well worth checking out, as you may well find some new avenues to explore.
These documentaries are free to view on YouTube.
The Wind in the Willows
I’m reading this, having had it as a Xmas present. Despite knowing the story well, thanks to an audiobook I wore out as a kid, I’ve never actually read it before, and its perfect lockdown material, taking you away from the craptastic early 2020s to a better world where everyone is good-natured. I hadn’t appreciated how beautifully written it was, the language is beautiful, and the characters are such great analogues of our personalities and whims that it’s no surprise there’s a well-reviewed counselling book based on it. This version has an introduction by AA Milne, who says: “The book is a test of character. We can’t criticize it, because it is criticizing us.”
Hope you find something here to entertain you. Until next time…
