Had a relaxed weekend watching (probably too many) movies. Here they are, for your consideration. First, though, I must mention the two-part bonus episode of The Sandman that dropped on Friday, A Dream of a Thousand Cats and Calliope.
Both were of the usual high standard. Calliope was a live-action tale of a blocked writer trapping a Muse in order to ensure his fame and fortune, but it was the shorter, animated story which really blew me away.
The story is both simple and beguiling, but it was the animation itself that completely captured me. As I was watching, I couldn’t help but let out a stream-of-consciousness babble as I worked out how they did it. It appeared rotoscoped, the technique where artists trace over individual frames of film to create the animation, famously used in Ralph Bakshi’s version of Lord of the Rings and to great effect in Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly. However, the stars of this story are cats and as you may have heard, they’re not the easiest to herd, let alone direct. So, sure enough, director Hisko Hulsing had the story created as photo-realistic CGI, then hired a team of writers to paint over each frame. I believe they used oil paint. In any case, the result is superb (and it reminds me I’m yet to see Loving Vincent, where the same technique was used in a biopic of Van Gogh.)
The Sandman is on Netflix.
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Of all the films I watched this weekend, it was the smallest and simplest that I enjoyed the most. The Cider House Rules is a 1999 picture from Lasse Hallström (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolat), based on a literary novel by John Irving, who also wrote the screenplay.
The story begins in an orphanage and is set mostly during the Second World War. Topically, it deals in part with abortions, performed illegally for desperate women by Dr Larch played by Michael Caine. I admit I’m biased… I love Michael Caine. This is the sort of role he can do in his sleep and he’s utterly compelling, by turns avuncular, loving, moral, curmudgeonly, and flawed, but never less than convincing.
If that sounds like heavy subject matter, don’t be put off. It is only part of the story, and the film is heartwarming and life-affirming. It’s a romance and a story about finding your way in the world. The performances throughout are excellent, from Tobey McGuire, Paul Rudd, Delroy Lindo, and Charlize Theron, who amply demonstrates in an early role how much her stardom is deserved and so much more than skin deep.
The Cider House Rules is available on Netflix.
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Next up is The Northman, the third film from Robert Eggers. This was a blind buy on 4k for me, but I was confident, having loved his previous films The Witch and The Lighthouse. I didn’t know much about it, other than it was a Viking story inspired by the same legend of Amleth, which in turn inspired Hamlet.
Former Dracula Claes Bang is perfect as the nominal bad guy of the story (though he should take care to avoid typecasting) and Alexander Skarsgård is as magnetic as ever in the lead role.
If you have any knowledge of Hamlet at all, then you know what’s coming throughout. This is basically, ‘Hamlet: The Action Movie,’ and it sure doesn’t scrimp on the action. An early scene with berserker ‘wolf warriors’ would be at home in a Bernard Cornwell novel or even a game of Dungeons & Dragons, not to mention a later detour for a magical sword.
Most notable is the look of the film. Over at the Films at Home YouTube channel, Jeff Rauseo has argued that this really needs to be seen on a 4k disc to appreciate it at all. Given that most of it seems to be shot using only natural light, I can imagine it would barely be distinguishable at all on streaming, which would be a huge shame, because it is beautiful, in all its bloody, gruey, gut-spilling, windswept glory.
The story has been criticised for doing nothing new and honestly, it doesn’t. It’s Hamlet… vengeance is bad, okay? Nevertheless, this will be all over top ten lists at the end of the year and you’re unlikely to see a more lovingly produced movie.
The Northman is on premium streaming (but do watch it on physical media if you can).
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I bought the Blu-Ray of Belfast for a rewatch (there doesn’t seem to be a 4k of it at this point). I’m not going to rant again about how much I adore this movie. It shares the bittersweet quality of The Cider House Rules, so fans of either should check out the other if they haven’t. Sure, it’s a little sentimental (there’s an alternate ending on the disc that has Kenneth Branagh returning to the city as an adult and I’m glad he decided against it as it feels a step too far down that road) but unless Avatar: The Way of Water hits me as hard as the first movie did, I don’t see anything beating this as my favourite movie of 2022. It spoke to me as a child, as an adult, and as a movie addict.
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Finally, last night we rewatched The Game, the David Fincher-directed, Michael Douglas starring film from 1997.
It’s a fun movie that justifiably holds a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it’s curious, for sure. Plot-wise, it’s somewhere between Total Recall and Fight Club, in the sense of hitting rock bottom to realise who you are and what you value. But in Fincher’s work, it’s probably closer to Panic Room: a simple, high-concept thriller movie, full of plot holes but so well made that you just don’t care.
Michael Douglas is great, as always. No one plays arrogant, entitled assholes quite as well as him and it sometimes makes it too easy to forget how versatile he is. I’m supposed to review Beast, this week, the new Idris Elba versus lions movie, so I’ve ordered a copy of The Ghost and the Darkness for comparison, the 90s thriller starring Douglas and Val Kilmer which I remember being great. With films like The Wonder Boys and his Emmy award-winning turn as Liberace, Douglas has proved there’s a lot more to him than ‘yuppy heading for a fall,’ but that’s what he is here and it’s like putting on a favourite suit for him.
When his estranged brother buys him an experiential birthday gift with a mysterious company called Consumer Recreation Services, so begins a journey into darkness, replete with thrills, Femme Fatales and gunfights.
The Game is available on Netflix.
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Hope you find something worth watching here folks and as always…
Thanks for reading, and thanks for letting me write.
