Moonlight

There are films that make you think for days after you’ve experienced them, Moonlight is one such film.

The film is based in three parts, each representing a time, and the corresponding name, in Chiron’s life. The first part is named ‘Little’ where Chiron (Alex Hibbert) is hiding from fellow schoolkids where he is found by local drug-dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali). Taking pity on the boy, Juan takes him back to his home and with his girlfriend Teresa (Janelle Monáe), feeds him and tries to learn more about him. The next day he returns Chiron to his mother, Paula (Naomie Harris) and it transpires that Paula is a drug addict and that Juan is her dealer. 

The second part is named ‘Chiron’ and focuses on Chiron (Ashton Sanders) as a teenager where bullying is taking place, he’s dealing with his seriously unstable mother and is developing a relationship with classmate Kevin (Jharrel Jerome) that becomes a catalyst for significant turning point in Chiron’s life.

The final part is called ‘Black’ and this is a much hardened Chiron (Trevante Rhodes) that is presented to us. A successful drug-dealer in the mould of Juan, he receives a call from Kevin (André Holland) out of the blue apologising for his actions and inviting him to visit. 

I’ve waited a few days before writing this review because this is a film that deserves the time and space to take it all in. It’s an exquisitely beautiful film. It has depth, it has soul and it weaves its stories like a tapestry. The acting is great, and although Ali is only in the first part, his influence continues strongly throughout. This is a film that thoroughly deserves all of the plaudits received and I eagerly await to see what director Barry Jenkins does next.

Verdict: A stunning, gripping and sensuous film dealing with a difficult subject with beauty and sensitivity. I agree with Mark Kermode when he says ‘I doubt that I will see a better film than Moonlight this year’.

Hidden Figures

A film about maths and computers doesn’t really sound too appealing, but add to it a significant historical event, a momentous step forward for racial and gender equality and some standout performances and you have something worth watching.

The film focuses on three women's stories who all work for NASA. Katherine Jackson (Taraji P Henson) is a mathematician whose talents sees her promoted to a role in the Space Task Group which is trying to get the first American to orbit the earth. Working with director Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), she has to deal with blatant racism and sexism from her colleagues, in particular from head engineer, Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons). 

Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) is an unofficial supervisor in the computer section who is denied the appropriate pay and job title by her condescending boss Vivian Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst). A threat to her and her team’s roles from the new IBM 7090 computer implores Dorothy to study and teach her team a computer programme language to assure their futures at NASA. 

Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe) is their colleague who aspires to be the first black female engineer at NASA, only to be told she can’t participate in the training because she can’t take night classes at a local segregated school. With the support of influential NASA engineer Karl Zielinski (Olek Krupa), she takes the case to a local judge to allow her to attend the night classes.

Although all three stories feature in the film, the Katherine story is given the most prominence which, I can understand why given that her story was the most closely linked with the first US astronaut to orbit the earth. But I do think that the other two were equally as deserving of the screen time, I would have liked to have seen more about the court case brought by Mary for example.

My other concern is that this does feel like a light TV film, albeit a very good one.

That said, this is a great film. Full of fun, verve, pace, humour and some brilliant one-liners, it presents a serious subject in a light, easy and relatable way. I loved the outfits and the general look of the film and all of the performances are excellent, fully deserving of the accolades awarded.

Verdict: A film that will be shown in schools for years to come, for very good reason, but I can’t help thinking that this subject and this particular story needed a film with a little more depth and gravitas.

The Lego Batman Movie

The Lego Movie was the big surprise hit film of 2014 for me. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much but loved the story, the incredible animation and, of course, that song, so I had very high hopes for The Lego Batman Movie…

And it did not disappoint at all. From the first sarcastic observation about opening scenes in a film to the satisfying ending, this is a film that delivers on all fronts. With an excellent Will Arnott channeling his inner Christian Bale to great effect and Zach Galifianakis clearly loving voicing The Joker, this film was actioned-packed, full of great gags and one-liners.

This particular Batman doesn’t do relationships so finds it challenging when he inadvertently takes on a young orphan Dick Grayson/Robin (Michael Cera) and is encouraged by his butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) to spend time with the boy. Alongside this, he has to work with the new Police Commissioner of Gotham, Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) to try to defeat The Joker and his veritable rogues gallery of villains and save Gotham from being blown up.

The film is full of references to previous onscreen Batmans, especially the campy 60s version which was a delight to see. The music was a pastiche of every Batman soundtrack you can think of (particularly The Dark Knight Rises) and the film takes great pleasure at poking fun at other DC characters and particularly at previous Batmans.

Verdict: Although it doesn’t have the catchy song of The Lego Movie, this is a fun, hilarious and brilliantly done film that will please adults and kids alike.

Lion

I tend to write my reviews usually straight after having seen the film, but occasionally a film requires more thought and time to process. Lion is such a film.

The film focusses on a young Indian boy, Saroo (Sunny Pawar) who along with his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate) spend their days trying to earn money for their mother Kamla (Priyanka Bose). 

After convincing Guddu to let him accompany him as he works overnight, five-year old Saroo is separated from his brother and ends up on a train going some 1600km away from his home town.

After trying to make himself understood and struggling to work out how to get home, Saroo ends up in an orphanage and is eventually adopted by Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham) and is taken to Tasmania in Australia to start a new life.

Fast forward twenty years and Saroo (Dev Patel) is about to embark on a new chapter in his life as he moves to Melbourne to study hotel management where he falls for Lucy (Rooney Mara).  

Saroo begins to start questioning his identity and is haunted by the fact that he has such a privileged life in comparison with his biological family. Overwhelmed with thoughts of the family he left behind,  Saroo strives to find out where he came from and how to get back there.

First of all, this is a wonderful film. All of the performances are fantastic, particularly both of the actors playing Saroo. The younger Saroo is just an absolute joy to watch, so engaging, endearing, charming and wonderful. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the strength, depth and quality of Dev Patel’s performance, having only seen him in Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel previously, I was not expecting very much. But he was excellent and really portrayed the dilemma and struggle that this young man went through with aplomb.

This was definitely Nicole Kidman’s best film for a very long time and her portrayal of Sue was sympathetic and powerful and I was genuinely moved by her character’s motives for adoption.

Verdict: A beautifully shot and acted film about a truly beautiful uplifting, true story. A genuine Oscar contender and I would love to see it win big this year. Please go and see.

Gold

Oh Matthew, Matthew, Matthew…

After the excellent Dallas Buyers Club and brilliant True Detective, I thought we’d put the rubbish films of the 2000’s behind us and I was really looking forward to seeing what McConaughey did next…

Gold is loosely based on a 1990’s mining scandal and tells the story of a struggling Nevada hustler and alcoholic Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) who teams up with geologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramírez) to mine for gold in Indonesia. 

The finding of gold leads to huge financial success for Wells and Acosta and as his company is floated on the stock market, Wells has to deal with corporations and businessmen who are after his success. As the story moves on, it appears that Acosta may have been lying to everyone about the gold.

Let’s start with the good things: Ramírez is good as the charismatic, cool and committed Acosta. Whilst there’s no chemistry at all between him and McConaughey (I’m assuming it was supposed to be some kind of bromance), he played his part very well. Bryce Dallas Howard is lovely as Well’s longterm partner, Kay, which is played with a real sweetness and genuine likability.

That’s the good bits, now onto the bad…

The overweight and balding McConaughey is awful and it's the combination of his hammy, trying-too-hard acting and the fact that this character is so, so, so unlikeable. So over-the-top, lacking in charm and with zero engagement with the audience.

Another weak element is the story, the writers tried to turn a financial scandal into a fairytale and it is actually quite insulting to the audience that they are expected to go along with this.

Verdict: A flat, dull mediocre-at-best film with a ridiculously over-the-top performance from McConaughey. Best avoided. 

Hacksaw Ridge

I’m generally not a fan of war films, endless battles, gung-ho Americans and plucky Brits don’t tend to float my boat. That and the fact that my Dad used to make me watch Where Eagles Dare on a regular basis as a child means that war films are not my bag.

That said, I was fascinated by the story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, who was the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty in the Second World War. 

The film starts with Doss’s (Andrew Garfield) childhood and shows the event that convinced him to never bear arms and reinforces his belief of the commandment Thou shalt not kill. We see the troubled relationship between his First World War veteran father Tom (Hugo Weaving) and the rest of the family which is only exacerbated when both Doss and his brother decide to enlist into the Army. Before doing so, Doss meets and falls in love with Dorothy (Teresa Palmer) who inspires him to study medicine so that he can become an army medic.

Problems begin when Doss arrives at Fort Jackson for training and quickly isolates himself from his fellow soldiers when he refuses to handle a rifle or train on Saturdays. His commander, Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) and his captain, Captain Glover (Sam Worthington) try to coerce Doss into leaving after they fail to get him discharged on psychiatric grounds. Doss continues to train and is eventually able serve his country as an army medic.

The film goes onto follow the troop at the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific where Doss makes his name. 

The battle scenes are gruesome and incredibly realistic (at least how I would imagine them to be), they are beautifully shot, choreographed and while I felt they lasted longer than necessary, they are unflinching in detail, more so than any other war film I’ve seen.  Some reviewers have commented that the battle scenes are ultra violent so to show Doss’s non-violence which I think is a fair point.

Some viewers may have issues with the blood, gore and severed body parts on screen, it was even too much for me at some points and I did have to look away on several occasions. 

Garfield is excellent as Doss and gives a strong, sympathetic performance of a man who cannot understand why he is being vilified for his beliefs and is worthy of his Oscar nomination. Vaughn was miscast as Sergeant Howell in my opinion, he just did not have the gravitas of a leader either in the training or battle scenes. 

Verdict: A gruesome, unflinching if slightly formulaic war film, but worth seeing. Lovely touch right at the very end which is worth sticking around for. The big question is, of course, has Hollywood forgiven Mel Gibson enough to give him the Best Director award? 

Denial

Before starting this review, I should probably reveal that I am the type of person who will spend months reading about a particular subject. Its a quirk of my personality that I actually quite like and make no apologies for. 

The reason that its important to state this before this review is that one of the subjects I have read almost obsessively about is the Holocaust from an ordinary Jewish person’s perspective. I openly wept at Primo Levi and Władysław Szpilman’s memoirs and find it very difficult to comprehend how anyone could deny such a horrific event.

So Denial was an obvious choice for a Tuesday night film viewing…

The film is based on the true-life libel court case that David Irving (Timothy Spall), a notorious Houlocaust denier and Hitler apologist, brought against Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz), a respected academic specialising in Jewish history. The suit was brought because Lipstadt had stated in her book Denying the Holocaust that Irving’s writings and public statements were Houlocast denial. 

As the trial is to take place in London, Lipstadt engages solicitor Anthony Julius (Andrew Scott) and barrister Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson) to fight the case whereas Irving decides to represent himself. 

The film takes us on a journey through the complex English legal system, differences between what feels right and what is the best way to win, via an emotional visit to Auschwitz, and ends up in the high court in a tense, eloquent and fascinating battle between Irving and Rampton.

Some people may find this film a touch stagey, but personally I thought it was excellent. All the main characters were played brilliantly with the battle of intellects between Irving and Rampton as thrilling as any action film I’ve seen.  

Verdict: An excellent, moving and inspired courtroom drama with real punch and particular relevance in today’s new ‘alternative facts’ world.