Category: Reviews

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Post author By Mark
Post date October 31, 2020

It’s been 14 years since Sacha Baron Cohen’s intrepid Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev invaded America in an effort to learn about the powerhouse country and steal their secrets for the great nation of Kazakhstan. Borat’s trip, of course, goes awry in the most spectacular fashion, in a way some might say that is similar to the current state of the United States under the presidency of one Donald Trump (or McDonald Trump if you were raised in Kazakhstan). This similarity is not lost on Baron Cohen who dives deep into his bag of crude humour and over-the-top political satire to deliver a film with real bite in its condemnation of the current American administration, but also with a surprising amount of heart in the relationship between Borat and his estranged daughter. While it may not have the staying power of the original film due to the narrow focus of its themes on the current election, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is still a hilarious, if sometimes overly crude return to form for Sacha Baron Cohen and a welcome comeback for one of comedy’s biggest modern icons.

What makes Borat Subsequent Moviefilm so effective in today’s climate is just how closely Baron Cohen has his finger on the pulse of what is going on in the world at the moment. Filmed in secret in 2019 and 2020, the film feels extremely timely and fresh, tackling the most recent allegations of inappropriateness against Trump and even the Coronavirus pandemic, with Borat learning the ins and out of the virus, including that it can’t be beaten to death with a frying pan. There is no questioning Baron Cohen’s commitment to his characters and art, clearly risking extreme punishment as he barges into Republic conferences and rallies in deep, inflammatory cover; risking death from the more fanatic, gun-toting members of Trump’s followers. It adds an extra layer of respect from the audience that endears you even more to Borat and allows him to get away with the crassness of the character. Who else in 2020 could get away with playing a character who genuinely and openly supports the Holocaust?

Balancing out that crassness is the addition of relatively unknown Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova, making her English language debut as Borat’s daughter Tutar. Her character is central to the plot, which sees Borat making his way across the States to gift Tutar to vice-president Mike Pence in an effort to mend fences between the two countries and prevent Borat’s execution. Tutar’ s presence not only allows for the obvious jokes and commentary to be made about Trump and Pence’s penchant for using women but also provides an unexpected and welcome dose of heart to the proceedings, as we watch Borat develop unexpected feelings of pride and a protectiveness for his daughter. Bakalova is excellent in the role, clearly game for the same stunts as Baron Cohen as she puts herself in several awkward situations opposite unsuspecting, real-life politicians like former New York Mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani. That interaction has recently inflamed the internet with allegations that Giuliani attempted to seduce the undercover actress and although it certainly seems that way from the footage, Baron Cohen and Bakalova are actively trying to draw these responses from their subjects. This doesn’t lessen the impact of seeing these questionable events, but for the sake of fairness viewers should understand the political leanings of Baron Cohen going in.

While it may seem that Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is only interested in Trump commentary, there are also bundles of gags that tackle other issues, such as abortion and a woman’s right to choose. The set-ups may be ridiculous, but Baron Cohen does obtain very interesting responses from his subjects, as good journalists should, with some surprising and downright bizarre admissions from people on-camera, seemingly unaware of the absurdness of the situation or the character of Borat. Then there are the crass jokes. Fans of the first film shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Judaism bashing and jokes about the inferiority of women return, with some truly vulgar set-pieces throughout. What does surprise, however, is the fact that Borat actually learns from his adventures and changes his views, something that may upset viewers looking for a third Jew hating film but which fits in with Baron Cohen’s agenda of changing viewers outlooks ahead of the historic US elections.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is a surprisingly consistently hilarious return to form for Sacha Baron Cohen’s beloved Kazakh character; a film that works as well as a comedy as it does as a political tool for Baron Cohen to bring light to major US issues from his point of view. If you aren’t invested in the elections and are sick of the constant Trump news cycles then this may not be the most enjoyable experience, but for those that have even a passing understanding of Trump’s misadventures through American politics and are willing to sit through some fairly obvious jokes, this is an extremely effective sequel that rarely falls short in the laughs department. Time will tell if the film loses its potency once these current issues begin to fade from memory but for now this is an extremely timely and effective comedy that you should get onto quickly before McDonald Trump launches his nukes at Amazon Prime headquarters.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm stars Sacha Baron Cohen & Maria Bakalova – Streaming on Amazon Prime now.

Tags Amazon, Borat, Borat 2, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Maria Bakalova, Sacha Baron Cohen

TV & Streaming Reviews

The Boys – Season 2

Post author By Mark
Post date October 21, 2020

Amazon struck gold with the breakout success of The Boys; turning the superhero genre on its head with a unique blend of balls-to-the-wall violence, extremely crude humour and stark social commentary. If you thought it would be impossible for Amazon to improve on their winning formula then I’m happy to report that you’re dead wrong. The sophomore season of the superhero satire proves it has not lost any of its edge or shock factor; moving from strength to strength as exciting new characters are revealed, the extensive, twisted history of the villainous Vought corporation is laid bare and the relationships between that core band of loveable misfits are tested and strengthened time and time again. The writing continues to be razor sharp as the show dives into a myriad of timely political and social issues, offsetting it all with some truly insane set pieces and jokes that push the boundaries of what a television budget can produce.

Picking up right where Season 1 left off we find Hughie (Jack Quaid) and the rest of the Boys laying low after their climactic confrontation with A-Train (Jesse T. Usher); directionless without Butcher (Karl Urban) to lead them and fearing their imminent death at the hands of the Vought corporation. Once Butcher returns from his solo mission the crew set out to expose the recently discovered “Compound V” – the serum secretly used to create all superheroes – encountering obstacle after obstacle on their way to deliver the truth and disband the superhero system once and for all. Meanwhile we find Homelander (Antony Starr) struggling to maintain his place as leader of the Seven after the death of his former handler, Madelyn Stillwell (Elisabeth Shue). The unannounced arrival of new hero Stormfront (Aya Cash) not only shakes up Homelander’s world, but the larger American community; with her outspoken, unfiltered speeches radicalising a large portion of the community (remind you of anyone) and tipping the country towards the implementation of a full scale super-powered military force commanded by Vought. Stormfront’s presence only further complicates things for the Boys, and the violence once again gets dialled to eleven as they attempt to infiltrate Vought and bring the organisation down once and for all, leaving a mountain of bodies in their wake.

Let’s get one thing straight. The Boys had a great first season, with excellent character development and some solid world-building that really ingratiated you into this universe of corrupt superheroes being held accountable by a bunch of scoundrels. This season, however, vaults it into the conversation for best show currently airing, worthy of Game of Thrones level hype (hopefully they can stick the landing better). Everything comes together here in a much more compelling package, with a tighter narrative focus that expands and twists and turns towards an unexpected, yet on-brand finale that not only gets the ball in the goal, but blows the whole goal up. Sure no show is perfect, and there is room for improvement with some fat to trim. The Deep’s (Chace Crawford) storyline never really gets going and fails to hit that payoff it constantly seems to be building towards, with the late inclusion of A-Train into his arc suggesting that the show-runners don’t really know what to do with Jesse T. Usher’s disgraced speedster. Yet when a show juggles as many characters as this one does, it is hard to begrudge them a few flaws.

The highlight of the season is undoubtedly Aya Cash’s star-making turn as Stormfront. She is absolutely phenomenal in the role, crafting a chilling portrayal of someone so tapped into the cultural zeitgeist and able to play off the country’s fears to such a convincing degree that she ultimately surpasses Homelander in popularity and threaten’s to overthrow his leadership of the Seven. Her interplay and scenes with the Superman stand-in are equal parts hilarious and terrifying with her wise-cracks and crude social media references disguising a level of cunning so advanced and calculated that she is playing in another mental league to the child-like Homelander. Subtle things like the glint of fear in her eyes when she has sensed she has pushed the big man too far do so much to flesh out the performance and when things get truly unhinged towards the finale Cash goes all-out, rivalling the supervillain hissy-fits of the likes of Loki and Lex Luthor.

That’s not to say that the original cast are outshone, all delivering stellar performances that further their respective arcs with moments that give the audience an insight into their personal lives and what makes them tick. The fleshing out of Frenchie’s (Tomer Capon) backstory is a particular highlight, transforming him from slightly unhinged, weapons obsessed maniac to a tortured soul who buries himself in his work to disguise the terrible guilt he feels over past mistakes. The bond Frenchie develops with Karen Fukuhara’s mute, face-smashing Kimiko is one of the more endearing relationships I have seen in the superhero medium in a long time, with each episode deepening their connection as the two uncover each other’s past and share intimate details, often without any dialogue at all. Kimiko presents the guilt-ridden Frenchie with a path of redemption, by helping someone recover from a terrible tragedy, whilst Frenchie represents a new start for Kimiko, free from her past mistakes and away from her life of violence. It’s these powerful and quiet moments and connections which completely contrast the insanity of the violence and jokes that make you feel like you’re watching something with a voice, a message that goes beyond the sometimes shallowness of other superhero projects.

As with the first season that message is loud and clear this time, with a particular focus on the current commander-in-chief and his recent associations with certain white supremacists. Whilst this might induce a certain weariness from some audience members (Alec Baldwin and his SNL pay checks not withstanding), The Boys presents it in a way that is both fun and easily digestible. You know exactly what the show is alluding to and they all but use the man’s name in pointing out his stupidity, but it never feels heavy-handed and the humour of the situation always lands, even when it is simply a roll of Homelander’s eyes at some absolute rubbish Stormfront is spewing. The social commentary isn’t isolated to Trump roasting though, with side story-lines touching on everything from Scientology-like religious institutions for disgraced super-heroes (AKA #MeToo aggressors) to get their careers back on track to equal rights for the LGBTQ community. It’s all dealt with with a steady stream of curse-word and very NFSW jokes, with a hell of a lot of blood and gore when the action hits to boot. A scene involving a speedboat and a whale is a particular favourite, just make sure you have a strong stomach.

The second season of The Boys not only surpasses the first, but really anything that Amazon has put onto their streaming service. This is an absolute must-watch show and something that absolutely warrants you picking up a subscription ASAP. From the jokes and violence to the social commentary to the powerhouse performances from the entire cast, this is a superhero show that feels so utterly and completely fresh; uncompromising in its commitment to over-the-top, unrelenting entertainment where other big studio superhero shows and films can seem hamstrung by their commitment to bringing in the biggest possible box-office return. What other superhero show have you seen that features heads popping like candy, 20 foot super-powered penises and speedboats punching wholes through aquatic mammals?

The Boys – Season 2 stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Aya Cash, Chace Crawford, Laz Alonso, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, Jessie T. Usher & Giancarlo Esposito – Streaming on Amazon Prime now.

Tags Amazon Studios, Antony Starr, Aya Cash, Chace Crawford, Erin Moriarty, Giancarlo Esposito, Jack Quaid, Jessie T. Usher, Karen Fukuhara, Karl Urban, Laz Alonso, The Boys, Tomer Capon

Movie Reviews

The Devil All the Time

Post author By Mark
Post date October 7, 2020

On paper the cast of Antonio Campos’ new film The Devil All the Time is a slam dunk. A who’s who of up and coming talent and recently established superstars alike featuring Spider-Man himself Tom Holland in the lead, surrounded by Robert Pattinson, Jason Clarke, Sebastian Stan, Riley Keough, Haley Bennett, Eliza Scanlen and Bill Skarsgard. The ridiculousness of the cast is understandable when you realise it’s a Netflix production, who can’t resist splashing their cash around these days, yet it can’t be understated when the performances within are as good as they are here. Performances alone don’t make a film work however, and The Devil All the Time is a prime example of how elements of a novel don’t necessarily translate to the movies, undermining the excellent work of the cast by attempting to cram too much into an already complex film and relying on narration instead of its actors to tell the story.

Let’s start with the main character here, who oddly enough is never actually on screen: the narrator and author of the original book Donald Ray Pollock. It is barely an exaggeration to say that his voice is heard on-screen more than any of the actors, with his husky Southern drawl explaining just about every plot development in the film. Granted this is a fairly complex film with an ensemble of characters and various interweaving storylines, but if your story doesn’t work without the need to explain each and every scene, then maybe you should take another look at the screenplay. Explaining someone’s emotions right before the moment of death is never going to be as engaging as simply watching the actor express those emotions through their movements and facial expression and the narration puts the audience on the outside, never allowing for any interpretation of a scene because everything is unpacked and told directly to you. It’s a strange device that seems to show Pollock’s overprotectiveness over his work and distrust in the actors, made even more annoying by the fact that majority of the things he is describing are being portrayed excellently by the A-list cast.

Performance wise this is a masterclass in dramatic character acting, with every actor fully committing to their character and the embodiment of some sort of evil. The Devil All the Time is a story about truly horrific people. This is not an easy watch in any sense of the word but it is a fascinating one that digs into the depths of human depravity and the manipulation of others through social constructs like gender roles and religion. While it won’t be for everyone, those that stick it out will be rewarded with a rich exploration of the violence of the human condition. Tom Holland leads the ensemble as Arvin, the son of tormented and fervently religious World War II veteran Willard (Bill Skarsgard), whose traumatic upbringing has left him a hardened, good intentioned man with an unwanted penchant for violence. Arvin’s desire to protect those around him, particularly adopted sister Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), inadvertently puts him on a collision course with a host of despicable people including depraved pastor Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), husband and wife serial killers Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough) and Sandy’s corrupt lawman brother Deputy Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan).

Everyone in this West Virginian backwoods town is damaged and has been broken in some way by the world around them, giving Arvin’s character an almost anti-hero quality; he is not above these people but simply desires to leave this place and ensure those he loves are looked after. The violence is simply a bi-product of his desire to do good and Holland does an amazing job of portraying this internal struggle in Arvin. It may seem almost impossible to separate the young actor from his role as Spider-Man but Holland manages to shift your perspective, with his Southern drawl and calm and measured demeanour. It is a risky move on Holland’s part but one that definitely pays off and shows his outstanding range as one of Britain’s brightest young talents.

That inherent goodness cannot be applied to the other members of the cast however, with Robert Pattinson almost stealing the entire film as the mesmerising Pastor who has hoodwinked the town into worshipping him as their connection to God, all the while lying to them and wreaking havoc on young girls around town. He is a character you absolutely loathe and it is a testament to Pattinson’s performance that he draws this kind of emotional response from the audience. His monologue about people’s “delusions” leading them to sin is truly spellbinding and will have you glued to the screen as you realise how well this man can twist the townspeople into accepting his word as the truth.

As is the case with any film of this nature with multiple storylines, there are those that simply aren’t as engaging as the others. The serial killer storyline seems to plod along as a sidepiece with no real relevance, apart from an early interaction with a key player, ultimately falling flat and failing to carry as much impact as it should. By far the least interesting however, is that of Deputy Bodecker. Sebastian Stan is great in the role, transforming himself into the grimy overweight policeman in debt to the mob and working as an enforcer while he polices, but ultimately his storyline just does not really matter. His place in Arvin’s narrative is never really solidified and ultimately doesn’t carry the weight that the film thinks it does, leading to something of an anticlimactic finale that doesn’t quite reach the dramatic highs that have come before.

The Devil All the Time is one of the most bold and risky films that Netflix has put out; a dark and violent exploration of the depravity that the human condition can extend to. While its subject matter certainly won’t appeal to a broad audience and the constant narration can be incredibly annoying, the excellence of the A-list cast’s performances cannot be overstated, with Holland and Pattinson in particular delivering awards worthy turns. This isn’t a casual watch by any means but if you find yourself in the mood for a good drama and something that will make you think then give The Devil All the Time a chance. I haven’t stopped thinking about it for almost a month and the more I do the more I am convinced that this is one of the best films of 2020.

The Devil All the Time stars Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke, Eliza Scanlen, Haley Bennett, Mia Wasikowska, Harry Melling, Donald Ray Pollock and Bill Skarsgard – Streaming on Netflix now.

Tags Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen, Haley Bennett, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska, Netflix, Riley Keough, Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, The Devil All the Time, Tom Holland

Movie Reviews

Enola Holmes

Post author By Mark
Post date September 29, 2020

Sixteen year old star Millie Bobby Brown is arguably one of Netflix’s most important assets, having risen to superstardom with the smash hit Stranger Things and cementing herself as a teen celebrity powerhouse outside of the show. As her adventures in Hawkins continue to chug along season after season, Brown has attempted to branch out into movies, with a supporting turn in last year’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters and now a starring role in Netflix’s own Enola Holmes. The film follows the relatively family-friendly adventures of the infamous Sherlock Holmes’ little sister – created by author Nancy Springer years after the works of original author Arthur Conan Doyle – as she travels across England in search of her mother, crossing paths with her famous family and a host of characters on the way. In a year deprived of summer blockbusters, Enola Holmes just might be the closest we’ll get to replicating that unbridled fun and joy of going to the movies, even if it is rather disposable at the end of the day.

Enola Holmes’ biggest strength and weakness lies in its tone. The film clearly owes a lot to the likes of Deadpool and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, with the youngest Holmes sibling constantly breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly. It works for the film’s opening scenes when it is used as a clever device to humorously breeze through mountains of exposition and establish all the key players in the case to follow, but it quickly devolves into tedium when Enola starts shooting you looks every five minutes as if she’s checking to make sure you haven’t drifted off. At some points it gets so bad that it almost feels like a Victorian episode of Dora the Explorer with Holmes asking us the audience how we should navigate the plot of the film. The annoyance of these scenes is alleviated greatly by Bobby Brown’s natural charisma and charm as Enola and the fact that the film spends a good chunk of its opening minutes establishing the impact of the mystery on the young detective and getting you along for the ride.

The ride in question isn’t a terribly interesting one to be fair and functions as a sort of light version of a classic Sherlock Holmes case as Enola must unravel the mystery of her mother Eudoria’s (Helena Bonham Carter) sudden disappearance whilst on the run from her oppressive older brother Mycroft (Sam Claflin), who wishes to send her to boarding school to receive a traditional education. Along the way, Enola is entangled with the young Viscount Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), who is hesitant about taking his father’s position in the House of Lords in order to pass an ambiguous bill that will “change the future of England”. What begins as an intriguing mystery with puzzles and clues for Enola to solve takes a shift into the mundane once Tewkesbury’s involvement becomes more prominent and the film becomes a more generic whodunnit investigation into a mysterious assassination plot on the young politician. It is a shame given the rather interesting mix between Deadpool and the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes films that is established early on, which wraps you up and makes you think you’re about to experience something truly different. As it devolves into more generic action set-pieces, the film does retain its sense of fun – arguably shedding its family friendly image with some pretty intense late game violence – but that twinkling of something special is missing and it never really manages to recover, stumbling towards a fairly messy and abrupt conclusion that wraps everything up far too conveniently.

Once again Netflix has spared no expense with their original content, bringing in an absolute smorgasbord of great British talent, from Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin to Harry Potter veterans Fiona Shaw and Helena Bonham Carter. Cavill in particular shines as the legendary detective; giving Sherlock Holmes a far more laidback, less idiosyncratic feel than previous iterations as he watches Enola slowly unravel the clues laid before her, doling out sage wisdom where necessary. It’s such an interesting performance in fact, that I would happily sit through an entire film of Cavill as the sleuth, provided Sam Claflin also returns as his uptight, hilarious brother Mycroft. Claflin, like a lot of the cast, really hams it up as the high-class aristocrat with some serious self-doubts, screaming and carrying on about Enola’s lack of ladylike behaviour in stark contrast to Cavill’s quietness. It’s a brilliant pairing which really serves to flesh out the supporting cast and take some of the weight off of Bobby Brown’s shoulders – not that she can’t carry it. If Stranger Things hadn’t already done it then Enola Holmes certainly establishes Millie Bobby Brown as one of the finest young talents working today, carrying this giant studio picture with ease, hitting all the right emotional beats and really making you care about her, to the point where I welcome the inevitable sequel just on the promise of seeing her on-screen again as Enola.

Enola Holmes might not be the best or most memorable film of the year, but it is a whole lot of fun and that is something that is in high demand during the pandemic this year. It easily stands above the vast majority of content Netflix has released this year, with Millie Bobbie Brown cementing her status as a teen acting powerhouse in the fun, if sometimes uneven romp. Surrounding her with an eclectic British cast with brilliant turns from Sam Claflin and Henry Cavill really adds to the fun factor here and if you find yourself in search of a quick jolt of energy and enjoyment then turn to Enola Holmes for some solid sleuthing adventures.

Enola Holmes stars Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Louis Partridge, Fiona Shaw, Burn Gorman & Helena Bonham Carter – Streaming on Netflix now.

Tags Enola Holmes, Helena Bonham-Carter, Henry Cavill, Millie Bobby Brown, Netflix, Sam Claflin

Movie Reviews

The Broken Hearts Gallery

Post author By Mark
Post date September 25, 2020

Romantic comedies are a dime a dozen. Different spins on the genre are released into cinemas every year with only the rare few tweaking the formula enough to stand out from the pack. The Broken Hearts Gallery may just be the only film to do so in a year almost completely devoid of new releases (apart from a few of those pesky generic rom-coms); bringing side-splitting humour and genuine heart to the tried and tested formula that has plagued the genre for years. With a star-making performance from up and comer Geraldine Viswanathan, this is easily one of the best films released in 2020 and, if it is safe to do so, an easy recommendation for a trip to the cinemas.

Viswanathan plays Lucy, a bright and bubbly millennial without a filter who moves from relationship to relationship without much success, amassing a collection of mementos from her past suitors which adorn the apartment she shares with roommates Amanda (Molly Gordon) and Nadine (Phillip Soo). When her latest boyfriend and boss Max (Utkarsh Ambudkar) dumps her for his ex, Lucy’s latest spiral into depression leads her to meet the down-to-earth Nick (Dacre Montgomery), who she strikes up an unlikely friendship with. When Nick confides in Lucy about his incredibly hipster dream of opening up a boutique hotel, Lucy sees this as an opportunity for catharsis and begins to bring the mementos from her past to put on display in Nick’s construction zone of a hotel – AKA the titular Broken Hearts Gallery – garnering viral fame and a string of lonely lovers whose sob stories force Lucy and Nick to evaluate their own views on life and love.

Sounds cheesy doesn’t it? The premise is inherently silly and might make even the most strong stomached of audiences gag at times, but when it is packed full of as much charm and heart as The Broken Hearts Gallery is, it’s hard to be too upset about anything you’re seeing for too long. This really comes down to Geraldine Viswanathan, who is the heart and soul of the film, which without her would plunge into mediocrity. She brings such an energy and likability to the character of Lucy; an endlessly effervescent sense of joy and wonder at the world that constantly keeps a smile on your face as she attempts to impart this positivity on the all-business Nick. That isn’t to say that Lucy is a one-dimensional character however, and Viswanathan hits all the right notes in making her relatable, in her vulnerability to the men she is pulled towards and the hurt she has bottled up from constant rejection. Add to that her impeccable comedic timing, which she has honed in films like Blockers, and you have easily the film’s greatest weapon, ensuring the laughs are coming a mile a minute.

Surrounding Lucy is a mostly solid supporting cast with Molly Gordon and Phillipa Soo (of Hamilton fame) delivering big laughs and showing a great chemistry between the trio. Their banter is a constant delight and although the jokes don’t always land, there are a few in there that deliver some of the biggest laughs in the film. Arturo Castro does good work as Nick’s friend Marcos, helping to make Nick into something of a three dimensional character (more on that later) and Utkarsh Ambudkar also shines as the completely oblivious and self-absorbed Max. Unfortunately the weak link in The Broken Hearts Gallery comes in the form of leading man Dacre Montgomery as Nick. Montgomery’s performance doesn’t derail the film but he just doesn’t seem to be performing at a high enough level as those around him here, playing Nick extremely straight-laced and not leaving much room for the comedy to flow organically; relying on Geraldine Viswanathan to carry their funnier scenes. It’s somewhat surprising considering his stellar performance in Stranger Things and when the inevitable dramatic moments hit he is excellent and delivers the required gravitas but in a movie as fun as this, which will be remembered for its levity and humour, you really would benefit more from a leading man that can handle the comedy and maybe falters on the dramatic side, rather than the other way around.

The Broken Hearts Gallery is a blast from start to finish, even if it is a fairly predictable one. If you’re expecting a romantic comedy that completely shifts the genre on its head then keep looking, but I’m willing to guess that if you’ve got your eye on this film and have seen a poster or trailer then you know what to expect and will not be disappointed. Geraldine Viswanathan’s performance elevates the typical genre material to something special and the commitment from the entire cast to the comedy (Dacre Montgomery excluded) ensures that you will leave the cinema having shed a tear or two, whether that be from the constant laughter or the emotional rollercoaster that comes with the rom-com territory.

The Broken Hearts Gallery stars Geraldine Viswanathan, Dacre Montgomery, Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo, Arturo Castro and Utkarsh Ambudkar – in cinemas now.

Tags Dacre Montgomery, Geraldine Viswanathan, The Broken Hearts Gallery

Movie Reviews

Tenet

Post author By Mark
Post date August 25, 2020

Watching Christopher Nolan’s latest film Tenet was one of the most frustrating cinematic experiences I’ve ever had. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad film by any stretch; spinning a nail-bitingly tense story of high-tech underground arms dealings and the special unit tasked with putting a stop to them around a typically complex sci-fi conceit: the inversion of time around objects causing them to move backwards. Tenet has so much going for it in the right direction – a top-tier cast with stand-out performances from John David Washington and Batman-to-be Robert Pattinson, stunning cinematography, breathtaking visual effects and a suitably epic score from Ludwig Gorranson. So the fact that something as minor (in the grand scheme of things) as sound mixing almost derails the entire thing is a huge blow. As is always the case with Nolan’s work, spoilers are a huge issue – but worry not, this will be as spoiler-free as possible.

That spoiler-free promise becomes immediately difficult to uphold when you have to try and explain the concept of Tenet, but the basic premise involves John David Washington’s “Protagonist” being recruited by a shadowy organisation to investigate a potentially world-ending discovery: the reversal of an item’s entropy causing it to flow backwards through time. Think a bullet exiting the wall it had been lodged in and flying backwards through the air to land back in the chamber of the gun or a car chase flowing in reverse. It’s difficult to visualise when you read it but rest assured Nolan does his best at capturing the mind boggling and making it visually plausible. There are a few spots where this device begins to strain that plausibility, but by the time you reach these moments you’ll likely be far too confused to worry much about them. The journey of the “Protagonist” eventually puts him on a path towards Russian billionaire Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), a man who may know the most about this mysterious technology, and his wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), forcing him to enlist the help of colleague Neil (Robert Pattinson) to infiltrate the shadowy organisation Sator controls and unlock the secret to time inversion.

As with all of Nolan’s work, Tenet is incredibly well made, from the set designs and costuming which gives the whole affair a real spy movie flair – like some kind of sci-fi-tinged James Bond film – right through to the top tier effects, a lot of which are practical this time around. Where the film does employ special effects to render its time inverted sequences, it does so to jaw dropping effect. Buildings that have exploded piece themselves back together from the wreckage with rubble flying upwards and flames shooting back into explosions, freezing instead of burning in their reversed state. It should come as no surprise to anyone that has seen a Nolan film before and while the effects never reach the spellbinding highs of Inception, there are some incredibly inventive scenes that deserve a spot in Nolan’s highlight real. Another central pillar to any Nolan film is the score and in-demand composer Ludwig Goransson (known for his work on Black Panther and The Mandalorian) does not disappoint, delivering a pulse pounding soundtrack worthy of frequent Nolan collaborator Hans Zimmer’s lofty standards. Hitting all the right highs and lows, with those blaring horns that Nolan’s films have become synonymous with, Goransson’s score adds that epic flare to almost every scene and will give your eardrums the rattling they have been missing from trips to the cinema.

Unfortunately for Tenet this fantastic score works as something of a double-edged sword. Nolan and his team seem to have made the downright bizarre choice to mix the score in heavily whenever anybody on-screen is talking to maddening effect. It’s not an exaggeration to say that by the halfway point of this meaty epic I had only been able to understand about a quarter of the dialogue that had been spoken. In a film already so complex and exposition-heavy (Nolan has clearly done his homework and wants us to know about all the scientific theories that explain this time inversion concept), it seems like an obvious thing to go quiet on the background noise and music in scenes where facts and theorems that are central to our understanding of the plot are rattled off. Those Inception horns I mentioned earlier are blared constantly during these scenes, leaving you clueless as to what was said to the point where when someone in the film references a piece of dialogue said earlier you’ll have no clue what they are talking about, you just have to take it on faith.

This wouldn’t be the glaring issue that it is if Nolan didn’t feel the need to complicate the story of Tenet to a frankly ridiculous degree. If you’ve seen any time travel film you’ll be fairly well equipped to grasp what you’re about to see. Nevertheless Nolan seems convinced that his take on the concept is something completely groundbreaking when the reality is – apart from some of these inverted action scenes – it is all pretty standard time travel fare. Twisting the story beyond its already confusing time travel elements is the editing, with choppy cuts that don’t seem to blend very well together failing to give you a proper idea of where our characters are in their globe spanning adventure; one minute we’re in India before a quick trip to Italy and then right back to India. It’s something very atypical for Nolan and along with the sound mixing debacle mentioned earlier it’s quite perplexing that these issues weren’t called to attention in the editing bay, especially given the extended delay during the pandemic that would have given ample time to fix these gripes.

Fortunately these issues are mitigated somewhat by excellent performances across the board. John David Washington cements his status as a leading man following a brilliant turn in BlacKkKlansman; as a man thrust into this extremely covert world spy scenario and completely out of his depth, with nothing to rely on but his own wits and judgement over who he chooses to trust. As a surrogate for the audience, the somewhat clueless nature of his character allows Nolan to unload mountains of exposition in a way that doesn’t seem too boring but there’s only so much you can take before it starts to get a little overwhelming. Beyond that, Washington shows a command over the screen reminiscent of his father Denzel, and with a long career ahead of him Tenet will be remembered as one of his best early performances that showcased the promise of this young talent. Pattinson and Debicki both do great with the roles they are given, with Debicki given a bit more to work with as the beaten-down wife of Kenneth Branagh’s tyrannical criminal mastermind. Her exploration of domestic abuse and the burden of not being able to escape Sator as it means leaving her son behind is especially powerful and one of the most engaging emotional relationships throughout the film thanks to her stellar performance. The real highlight here is Branagh, putting on a wild and deranged display as the unhinged Russian with too much confidence in his status for his own good. Branagh steals every scene he is in, playing the character dangerously close to an 80’s action movie villain stereotype but pulling it back in the quieter moments where Sator gets a chance to show his intellect. This is a man three steps ahead of anyone else in the room and in a film so complex the simplicity of the threat he represents is a welcome counterpoint.

Tenet is not Christopher Nolan’s best film, in fact it might not even be in the top 5; but as with his entire filmography it is still an exceptionally well made movie, from its visual flair to its technical impressiveness. The frustrating complexity of the story and the bizarre decision to mix the dialogue in with the score forces the audience to trust the fact that they know where Nolan is taking the story, even if they do not know themselves. Given Nolan’s track record, this isn’t a huge gamble and I won’t exaggerate and say that the sound mixing completely derails the film as the addition of subtitles on future home viewings will likely fix the issue. Nevertheless if you’re going to pay to see this in the cinema – and for a lot of people this will be their first big post-quarantine viewing – you’ll want to understand what you are watching. For a director as precise as Nolan to overlook this, or even worse to do it intentionally is bizarre but Tenet is still an incredibly engaging, inventive film featuring terrific performances from its entire cast that more than earns its spot in Nolan’s incredible body of work.

Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Himesh Patel, Michael Caine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson & Kenneth Branagh – In cinemas now.

Tags Christopher Nolan, Elizabeth Debicki, John David Washington, Kenneth Branagh, Robert Pattinson, Tenet, Warner Bros

Movie Reviews

Project Power

Post author By Mark
Post date August 20, 2020

Netflix is thriving in the current pandemic-ridden environment, capitalising on the closure of cinemas worldwide to secure millions of eyeballs on their seemingly endless torrent of original content. Within the myriad of original films that have hit the service during the pandemic, a curious little sub-genre has emerged: the Netflix action movie. First we had Chris Hemsworth’s Extraction; a relatively straightforward hostage thriller with some extraordinarily choreographed fight scenes and mind-blowing action. This was followed by the Charlize Theron led The Old Guard: an absolute waste of a promising sci-fi premise which devolved into tedium with middling action scenes which failed to excite alongside endless streams of exposition. The latest of these is the Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring Project Power, a somewhat inventive spin on the sci-fi genre which falls somewhere in between these two films with only its star power to rely on to get you through the poorly paced plot and boring set-pieces. Despite a solid performance from newcomer Dominique Fishback, Project Power is an utterly forgetful film which may offer a few hours of relief from crippling boredom, but does nothing to spark excitement or a desire to ever go back and explore this world.

Fishback plays Robin, a high-school teenager forced into slinging a particularly powerful drug in order to care for her ailing mother and ultimately pay for a life-saving surgery. The drug in question is “Power”, a pill that grants the user 5 minutes of superhuman abilities specific to that person. What powers does the person get? Well that’s the risk with “Power”; you don’t know until you try it. Maybe you’ll become a Human Torch-like walking wall of flame or maybe you’ll explode instantly and paint the walls red. Needless to say the drug appeals to a vast majority of criminal personalities and Robin has been working undercover with local New Orleans police detective Frank (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to identify the source of the drug and put a stop to its spread. Elsewhere in New Orleans is Art (Jamie Foxx), a mysterious man hell bent on finding his kidnapped daughter, whose fate is inexplicably tied to the creation of “Power”. When the trio’s paths cross, they are forced into joining together to find Art’s daughter and put an end to the spread of “Power”.

On paper the plot of Project Power sounds pretty compelling. It’s a relatively original concept for a superhero film; something of a cross between the Bradley Cooper film Limitless and recent Netflix hit Code 8. It’s reasonably well produced and shot, not coming close to anything Marvel or DC have come out with, but with a decent amount of polish to pass it off as a mid-tier summer blockbuster in regular pre-COVID times. The chief problem with Project Power – and one that I’m starting to realise stretches to most of these Netflix films – is that it is so ridiculously unremarkable and forgettable. The somewhat interesting premise is completely wasted, with the film devolving into a series of cookie cutter set-pieces before culminating in a finale that resembles the Scooby Doo scene where the gang is chased through a series of doors. So intense was the blandness that I found myself forgetting what I had seen only minutes before, and don’t even get me started on trying to remember the plot a few days later to write this review. Netflix is throwing increasingly large sums of money at these sub-par scripts without actually caring about the final product and my mental exercise to try and list all the memorable quality films in the service’s catalogue took far too long to came up with barely a handful of titles. That’s not what you want to hear after attracting top-tier talent to the service and investing hundreds of millions of dollars on films that no one will remember existing after a week. Perhaps that is the business move? Make the films so utterly forgettable that you forget you’ve seen them and rewatch them over and over again. It’s not a particularly consumer friendly approach but hey as long as it increases Netflix’s bottom line, right?

Bringing in A-list stars to these projects almost acts as a double-edge sword in a sense, as the lead trio are quite literally the only good thing about Project Power and their natural charisma carries the audience through the film; not because their characters are well developed (they aren’t) but because you know Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and you like them in other things. Having said that, simply having Jamie Foxx in your movie doesn’t make it good. I should care about Art because his character is appealing and his motivations make sense to me and make me care about his plight, not because he is played by the man who sang “Gold Digger” and I love that song and therefore him in the film. This is a man who has had his daughter ripped away from him and doesn’t really seem all that concerned about it whatsoever. Sure he keeps telling you he’s going to rip through New Orleans to get her back, but then seems perfectly content to sit back and listen to Dominique Fishback’s character rap for what felt like an eternity. This little rapping sub-plot is just one of many that stop the film’s momentum dead in its tracks and while they provide a laugh every now and then; in a film that is struggling to keep my attention as is, any break from the main plot just makes you forget things faster. Despite the film’s problems, Fishback does give a fairly compelling turn as the down-on-her-luck Robin and has the only complete story-arc in the film. She is clearly a talent destined for a bright future, hopefully away from films like this that threaten to waste that talent.

You may be thinking from what I’ve written that I don’t care for Netflix. This isn’t true; I feel it is an amazingly powerful service that gives often unheard talents a platform to have their stories told. There are some truly wonderfully films on the service; just look at last year alone with Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Noah Baumbach’s superb Marriage Story. Clearly the service is capable of putting out good products. When it comes to this particular action genre however, Netflix needs to pick up their game severely and give some proper care and attention to genuinely good scripts, not just interesting ideas. Extraction worked with its limited scope and focus on action and choreography; it knew what it was and did it well. The Old Guard and now Project Power do not. Simply attracting A-List talent to a potentially solid idea without fully fleshing it into a script that takes advantage of that talent is a giant waste. Sure Project Power will be seen by millions of viewers around the world (not recommending you be one of them) but if nobody remembers it even exists, then what is the point of making it?

Project Power stars Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dominique Fishback, Rodrigo Santoro, Amy Landecker, Machine Gun Kelly & Courtney B. Vance – Available to stream on Netflix now.

Tags Dominique Fishback, Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Netflix, Project Power

TV & Streaming Reviews

The Boys – Season 1

Post author By Mark
Post date August 9, 2020

Picture the most crude, irreverent, balls-to-the-wall insane versions of your favourite superheroes and multiply that by a thousand and you’re still not likely to come close to the absolute craziness that is Amazon’s original series The Boys. A riff on the stereotypes of modern superhero movies – which seem to be releasing in a steady torrent these days – The Boys is a breath of fresh air within the genre; poking fun at the character archetypes and superhero mythology that we have become accustomed to in brilliantly inventive, funny and dark ways, whilst maintaining a captivating storyline in a world where superheroes are worshipped as celebrities and the job of fighting crime has been privatised to wring every possible cent out of civilians. With a standout cast of deeply developed characters who are a joy to watch and constantly subvert your expectations The Boys is an absolute win for Amazon and a must-watch for anyone who likes their superheroes with some serious attitude.

In a world where fame is everything (not unlike our own), superheroes are at the top of the pecking order; none more-so than “The Seven” – a Justice League-like group complete with movie deals, merchandising endorsements and reality television shows which capture their heroic deeds and everyday lives. Yes, they’re the super-powered Kardashians. The heroes that make up the Seven are all delightfully over-the-top riffs on established classic heroes including leader of the group, Homelander (Antony Starr) (essentially Superman complete with flight, strength and laser eyes), super-fast A-Train (Jesse T. Usher), Aquaman-lite “The Deep” (Chase Crawford) and newcomer Starlight (Erin Moriarty) – a wide-eyed new recruit who comes to learn the dark price that this level of fame can cost and the moral bankruptcy that it has entranced her fellow heroes. The fame has gone to the Sevens’ heads so completely that they barely blink when A-Train plows through the girlfriend of ordinary citizen Hughie (Jack Quaid) at super-speed, obliterating her in his hands. This minor inconvenience to the Seven and life-altering catastrophe to Hughie sends him on a dark path of revenge and when he is approached by superhero hunter Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), the pair gradually begin to uncover the darker side to this world of superheroes – think enhanced drug rings and covered-up allegations of sexual assault – steadily building their team of misfits as they head towards a showdown with the Seven.

What makes The Boys so special is just how deftly it weaves timely social commentary and hilarious jokes together within the superhero genre without ever coming across as pandering or a cheap spoof. This is a show that clearly owes a lot to the superhero genre as a whole, being based off the comic series written by Garth Ennis, and has a lot of love for those characters and stories, and infuses these classic tropes and characters with overemphasised and extreme traits to make a compelling statement about just how much absolute power can corrupt an individual and warp their originally good intentions. Homelander’s arc in this way is one of the most interesting explorations of the character of Superman without him actually being called that. The man is essentially a God and the constant panhandling and press that he must carry out in order to make the executives of the Vought Company (the Seven’s managing organisation) happy has twisted and corrupted his desire to be seen as a hero so badly that he engages in some truly awful activities to achieve this goal. Similarly, Hughie is plucked from obscurity and forced to learn some hard truths about the world in order to really stand up for himself and make a difference in the superhero-dominated society. Some of the most hilarious (and gruesome) moments in the whole season come from just how completely out of his depth Hughie is in the company of Butcher and his friends and his struggle to adopt the violent methods of the team. Seriously, this show is not for the weak stomached.

The Boys constantly has its finger on the pulse when it comes to these social issues, whether it be its exploration of addiction and the dependency it can cause or the recent #MeToo movement. None of these storylines are ever preachy or purely there for shock value but rather serve to further character’s motivations and story arcs. They’re also subtle when they have to be. There is an initial inciting incident that sparks the #MeToo sub-plot and it is very obvious what has occurred, but the show takes its time bringing up the ways this encounter has wreaked havoc on that character’s mental state and overall self-confidence. When push comes to shove and the season’s conflicts come to a head, the responses of this character feel justified and not shoehorned in; a constant struggle rather than a “remember this scene from episode 1” moment. This kind of background storytelling is constant in The Boys with a number of blink and you’ll miss it references and details that add to the overall storyline of these characters. Despite the Wonder Woman-esque character of Maeve (Dominique McElligott) having a minimal amount of screen-time, I understood her character and her precarious place within the Seven perfectly well based on the subtle cues to her performance and little side comments that other characters make. These are just small little touches but they really go a long way to elevating the show beyond regular, generic superhero fare and making this feel like a lived in world.

Something that can’t be overstated but that will somehow be overlooked by a lot of people is the way that The Boys is presented. The aspect ratio and overall colour grading of the film are far more cinematic than most television shows (superhero or not); so much so that it could stand toe-to-toe against top-tier Marvel and DC films in the overall quality and presentation. It goes that extra step further towards making the whole experience more immersive and imitating that feel of a big-budget blockbuster through camera techniques is an excellent way of hiding the fact that you may not have the budget to match those films. What isn’t going unnoticed in The Boys however, is the performances. The show is full of great ones, with almost no weak links apart from Jesse T Usher’s somewhat varied performance. It’s hard to pick his motivations sometimes and Usher doesn’t always nail the nuance needed to portray A-Train’s fragile mental state. The highlights (hard to pick just a few) here are the always phenomenal Karl Urban as Billy Butcher – a man whose fairly one-note motivation of hatred for superheroes is explored as you spend more time with him and the emotional walls are broken down to reveal a tortured, devastating past – and Antony Starr as Homelander – a man as equally, if not more tortured than Butcher, but who has chosen to see only the negative from his position of power and look past the plights of the people he is meant to be saving. Jack Quaid, the son of veteran actor Dennis Quaid, also gives a phenomenal performance as the new kid on the block Hughie, and the humour he lends to the role keeps it from dipping into the stereotypical “new guy” area that first season storyline’s so often slip into.

The Boys is one of the best, most downright enjoyable shows of recent memory and an absolute triumph for Amazon Studios. An excellent subversion of superhero genre tropes combined with insightful social commentary without ever losing that sense of fun and excitement, the series absolutely sings when it is at its gory best and makes you think during those quieter moments, with thoughtful, well rounded performances from the entire cast which will have you begging for that second season to come sooner. This is one of the rare examples where one show is absolutely worth subscribing to a streaming service (Fleabag is also great if you’re on the fence) but it is hard to imagine the team losing any of the series’ momentum and fun in the second season and if you haven’t seen it, now is the perfect time to go back and experience The Boys for the first time.

The Boys – Season 1 stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Karen Fukuyama, Tomer Capon, Dominique McElligott, Chace Crawford, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg & Elisabeth Shue – Streaming on Amazon Prime and available to purchase on iTunes now.

Tags Amazon Studios, Antony Starr, Chace Crawford, Elisabeth Shue, Erin Moriarty, Giancarlo Esposito, Jack Quaid, Jessie T. Usher, Karen Fukuyama, Karl Urban, Laz Alonso, Simon Pegg, The Boys

Movie Reviews

The King of Staten Island

Post author By Mark
Post date July 24, 2020

Some might say that, at this point in his career, Pete Davidson is known more for his public persona than anything he has done on Saturday Night Live. If his new Judd Apatow directed film The King of Staten Island does anything, it shows that he is fully aware of it. Serving as less of a true comedy and more of a character study that attempts to demystify the man behind the public relationships and nervous breakdowns, the film gives you an insight into what makes him tick in a semi-biographical tale of his life, warts and all. It’s a brave pursuit and it’s clear that Davidson has put his heart and soul into writing the film and playing himself, showing just how devastating an effect the death of his father has had on his psyche. It does, however, suffer in the joke department – with only a handful of scenes offering more than a weak chuckle. The film feels like something of a hoodwink, luring you in with the prospect of an exciting young comedic talent and then failing to deliver. If you go in knowing that this is a deep dive into Davidson’s life then you are likely to get more out of it but at this point so long after his popularity has peaked it is hard to believe that the audience is really starving for this introspective look.

Davidson plays Scott, a 20-something stoner who lives at home and spends his days hanging around his friends’ shady basements and local Staten Island parks contemplating his future and dreaming of bigger things. The untimely death of his firefighter father as a child (a fact pulled from Davidson’s real life – his father passed away rescuing civilians in 9/11) has haunted Scott for his whole life, causing some severe mental and behavioural issues that he has struggled to deal with and has numbed through drugs. With his sister Claire (Maude Apatow) graduating, Scott finds himself at something of a crossroads, forced to consider his future and whether he should pursue his dream of opening up a tattoo parlour restaurant, whilst also juggling his casual relationship with lifelong friend Kelsey (Bel Powley) and the arrival of his widowed mother’s (Maria Tomei) new boyfriend Ray (Bill Burr). Whilst navigating this perfect storm of personal problems Scott must also deal with a resurgence of his mental illness, causing him to doubt the right decisions he makes while still managing a number of exceedingly irrational ones.

The key question I have for The King of Staten Island and Pete Davidson in particular is what is the purpose of it? The film’s biggest flaw seems to be that the message is so jumbled and confused that I’m not really sure what the overall themes at play are and to try and get to the bottom of the problem I believe it’s necessary to look at Davidson’s real story. The most understandable part of Davidson’s real-life narrative is his sudden and dramatic rise to fame through his personal life. He was never one of the biggest players on Saturday Night Live during his tenure and it was easy to empathise and feel slightly bad for someone thrust into the limelight because of a relationship with one of the biggest pop stars on the planet in Ariana Grande; it’s essentially the plot of Notting Hill come to life. Davidson’s decision to make the character of Scott so hopeless and almost unlikeable is baffling, especially when the arc to really dig deep into his public persona and the exacerbation of his mental illnesses is seemingly so obvious. The real Davidson likes to portray his image as this slacker loser but in reality has obviously put in a lot of hard work to get to the position he is in today.

Scott, on the other hand, is utterly useless and blames everyone around him for his inability to make decisions. The character’s motivations are woefully underdeveloped, with the storyline around Scott’s desire to open up a tattoo parlour only cropping up when the other, more interesting plot-lines around his mother’s boyfriend or his sister’s inability to move on with her life because of him seems to grind to a halt or run out of steam. It doesn’t ever feel like Scott ever really wants to pursue tattooing as a full time career and as a result it becomes hard to see the admittedly sweet character moments between Davidson and Bill Burr that stem from this plot-line as anything more than a joke. It is unclear if Davidson and co-writers Judd Apatow and Dave Sirus have threaded the storylines in the film together in such a jumbled way as some kind of a visual representation of the scattered thoughts and mental clouding that Scott’s depression causes, but if that is the goal then they have achieved it. The constant switching of Scott’s motivations doesn’t actually work towards building any empathy for the character from the audience, and it’s hard to really get invested in Scott’s love-life with Kelsey when he constantly treats her terribly as he does similarly to his sister. It plays as a straight up drama rather than a comedy, focusing on the devastating ripple effects that a traumatic event can have on a child; following them through to adulthood. It’s just a pity that you have to dig so far into it to really understand what they were going for (even then I’m not so sure; this is just me trying to make sense of it all) and the billing of this as a comedy may be misleading to audiences.

If it seems like I’m drawing too many similarities between Davidson and his character and paying too much attention to his real life, it is because Davidson has given the impression that this is his story. In interviews he has made it clear that he hopes this will help audiences understand him and he has gone so far as to shoot the production in his native Staten Island, with many of his friends in supporting roles including rappers Machine Gun Kelly and Action Bronson as well as his childhood friend and co-writer Dave Sirus. Therefore I think that it is fair to draw comparisons between the real narrative and the film, and in many ways this is an excellent look at mental illness and the harm it can cause someone. What it isn’t, however, is particularly funny, which is a shame given Davidson’s track record. He’s excellent in the role, particularly the dramatic scenes and there are a handful of laugh-out-loud moments, but for the most part the jokes fall flat and don’t showcase anything particularly different from the standard fare on Davidson’s irregular “Weekly Update” segments on Saturday Night Live. The real star of the show here is stand-up comedian Bill Burr as Ray, the potential step-father to Scott who isn’t afraid to show him some tough loving in order to stir him into getting his life in order. Burr has always been a phenomenal stand-up comedian and one of the best working today, but his transition here to a key supporting, if not lead role, is wonderful. It isn’t the most joke-heavy role in the film but Burr never fails to make an impact and at the very least brings a chuckle to every scene, even if only through his delivery of a line. I hope that we get to see him in more comedies going forward because the man oozes talent and can clearly translate his stand-up persona to the screen in the right roles.

My experience with The King of Staten Island was an interesting one. I went in expecting a comedy. That is what the trailers and talent in-front of and behind the camera sold me on. As a comedy I can say that The King of Staten Island isn’t a particularly funny one and ranks towards the bottom of Judd Apatow’s filmography; but as a dramatic study of a young man learning to embrace the trauma of his past and accept it as a part of himself in order to move on with his life the film absolutely delivers, with a commanding lead performance from Pete Davidson and excellent supporting work from Bill Burr. While I think the story could have benefitted greatly from making the character of Scott more empathetic and likeable, his story still made me reflect on just how difficult Davidson has had it and I can only imagine how rough it must have been for the guy being thrust into the spotlight. At the end of the day however, the demand for that deep introspective look into Davidson’s psyche probably isn’t as high today as it may have been a few years ago, and I can’t really recommend that this heavy, rarely funny comedy is anything you need to flock to the newly reopened cinemas (in Australia at least) to see.

The King of Staten Island stars Pete Davidson, Bill Burr, Maude Apatow, Bel Powley, Ricky Velez & Marisa Tomei – Available to rent on VOD in America and in Australian cinemas now.

Tags Bill Burr, Judd Apatow, Marisa Tomei, Maude Apatow, Pete Davidson, The King of Staten Island

Movie Reviews

Greyhound

Post author By Mark
Post date July 16, 2020

Tom Hanks is one of, if not the finest living actors today. The veteran actor, star of classics such as Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan, is also a huge box-office draw, headlining some of the most successful films of all time. As such, it will come as no surprise to anyone that Apple payed a pretty penny to get their hands on Hanks’ latest film Greyhound, a naval war film taking place during WWII that he both stars in and co-wrote. So did Apple’s investment pay off in terms of the quality of the film? It’s not as straightforward a question as it might seem. Greyhound is an engaging battle film with a typically excellent performance from Hanks which does a great job of building an atmosphere of tension and dread. It does however suffer from a distinct lack of characterisation of anyone other than Hanks and a story that is essentially several battle scenes stitched together over the course of one very long voyage between Britain and America. It is not a bad film by any stretch and I was fully engaged the whole time, but it isn’t the next huge classic war film that Apple was hoping for, and definitely is not the content that will draw large amounts of people to the service.

Greyhound follows U.S. Navy Captain Krause (Hanks) on his maiden voyage as commanding officer of the Greyhound destroyer, travelling across the North Atlantic in 1942 as an escort to merchant ships carrying troops and supplies for the war effort on the Front. Once the convoy enters the area of the Atlantic known as “The Black Pit”, their Air Force escort is forced to turn back and the Greyhound is thrown into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a number of German U-Boats stalking the depths. With 72 hours before they enter another patrolled stretch of sea, Commander Krause must rally the other naval ships and ensure as many merchant ships get through to the other side in one piece. It’s a barebones plot, to put it mildly, but director Aaron Schneider gets a surprising amount out of it, steadily building the tension as you anticipate the unseen U-Boat’s first strike, and never letting that go until the 72 hours are through once things kick off. It’s just the right length too, clocking in at a breezy 90 minutes without feeling rushed, letting you sit with the situation and feel the increasingly mounting pressure on the Captain for the full ride, only realising you were holding your breath once the credits roll.

Hanks’ last few projects (The Post, Sully, Bridge of Spies) have seen him lean into his age in films I like to call “Dad movies”. You know the type: true stories that feature an older man in a position of great importance and leadership who use a lot of job specific words and make incredibly difficult, stressful decisions in order to save people or deliver an important message. Greyhound is the latest in this trend and its war-time setting thrusts it even deeper into that “Dad movie” category than those other titles I mentioned. Hanks clearly has a fondness for this time period and the script demonstrates his level of knowledge and understanding of the era, with a heavy use of military jargon and naval vernacular that can be a bit daunting for the casual viewer to grasp when you start. However it does an excellent job of really grounding you in the time period and immersing you in the situation, as the reliance on this technical vocabulary from the outset makes it even more noticeable when the situation becomes increasingly dire and people start slipping up and speaking out of turn and without the proper levels of hierarchy. It’s just another way that Hanks and Schneider build tension and make the film feel almost like horror along with Blake Neely’s great score and the terrifying threat of the constantly lurking enemy.

The issues start to show in Hanks’ script when you take a look at the characters in Greyhound. There’s really only one and that’s Hank’s Captain Krause. Again, he’s great in the role and really sells this man who trusts in his principles, God and his training to get the job done and is tested at every turn. There’s lots of subtle movements and facial expressions that convey the tiredness and the impact the lack of sleep is having on the Captain’s decisions and he is acutely aware that his every decision is taken with a grain of salt as he starts to become more erratic to combat the enemy. The problem is, Hanks is the only person that gets a story arc. Literally nobody else is given anything close to a normal supporting role except for Stephen Graham’s Lieutenant Cole, Krause’s right hand man and the only other actor who gets more than a few lines. Although his performance is solid, even Hanks’ character is severely underwritten as we only ever learn the basics about him. I’m not sure if that was Hanks’ intention, to have you learn what type of man this Commander is through his actions, but there just isn’t anything to him and the audience ends up rooting for him simply because he is Tom Hanks. There is an attempt to give the Commander something of a backstory with one flashback scene introducing his sweetheart back in America – played by the woefully underused Elisabeth Shue – but again, this doesn’t go anywhere and is just a bare minimum device to get you to care for this man, without success.

Ultimately the lack of characterisation stops Greyhound from becoming anything more than a competently executed and well researched representation of one of the lesser known battles of World War II. It is certainly an engaging watch and the devices Schneider and Hanks employ keep you at a heightened level of stress only add to the experience, but at the end of the day when you don’t really care for the characters it’s hard for the film to have much emotional impact. Despite this, any time watching Tom Hanks on-screen is going to be a good time and I can confidently recommend Greyhound as a fun nautical action film. Just don’t expect to be blown away by the next great war picture – 1917 this is not.

Grehound stars Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham & Elizabeth Shue – Available to stream on Apple TV+ now.

Tags Apple TV+, Elizabeth Shue, Greyhound, Stephen Graham, Tom Hanks