2016 is the centenary of Roald Dahl's birth so it's entirely apt that this year sees the release of an adaptation of one of his best-loved books: The BFG. A live-action version of Dahl's 1982 book has been in development for almost twenty-five years- there was a Cosgrove Hall animated version released on TV in 1989- but it's Steven Spielberg who has managed to get it onto the big screen.
It's perhaps no accident that one of the production companies logos that appears before the film is Amblin Entertainment - known for producing some of the best childrens' films of the 1980s (such as ET, The Goonies, *batteries not included and Who Framed Roger Rabbit). The tone of the film is reminiscent of some of Amblin's best films, which makes for a strangely nostalgic feel to the film.
The film follows the story of a young orphan girl called Sophie who, one night, comes across a giant walking the streets of London. Afraid that Sophie will tell the world about him, the giant grabs her and takes her off to Giant Country. Soon, Sophie realises that this giant is very different to the others- he's smaller and is bullied by the bigger giants, he doesn't eat humans (preferring to eat slimy vegetables known as snozzcumbers) and he likes to go collecting dreams. Sophie then decides she's going to call him the Big Friendly Giant- or BFG for short. Between them, they come up with a plan to get rid of the other giants but they're going to need some help- from none other than the Queen of England!
It's a combination of live action and motion capture, with some of the most beautiful visual effects you'll see in cinema this year and a truly warm and wonderful lead performance by Mark Rylance as the BFG.
Reuniting with his Bridge Of Spies director, Rylance puts in a lovely and very gentle performance as the BFG, handling the mangled form of speech like a pro- there's never a truer word spoken when he says 'what I says and what I means is two different things'- and providing a very believable empathy with Sophie. Similarly, Jemaine Clement is clearly having a ball as the villainous Fleshlumpeater, main antagonist and bully of the BFG (although I did at times think it may have been Sacha Baron Cohen).
Ruby Barnhill's performance as Sophie mostly eschews the annoying precocious child-actor cliches and- considering she would have been playing against a man in a motion capture suit- does well to convey the sense of size and scale. Penelope Wilton is mostly dignified as the Queen- the rather bizarre Blazing Saddles-esque fart scene notwithstanding-, and there's lovely support by Rafe Spall and Rebecca Hall as members of the Queen's household.
Visually, it's an absolute treat- and may even be worth catching in 3D if you can (although I saw it in 2D). The cinematography of Janusz Kaminski and the visual effects by Weta Digital are truly sublime; the BFG's foray into Dream Country is especially stunning. Even the dark, rainy, cobbled streets of early morning London have a real charm to them. John Williams' magical, whimsical and balletic score is the cherry on top of the cake.
Adaptations of Roald Dahl's books have, for me, been a bit patchy. However, The BFG is an absolute triumph. Gloriumptious, as the big man himself might say,
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tez
SPOILER WARNING! This review discusses and/or mentions a few important plot points. If you would prefer not to have these spoiled, please stop reading now and come back once you've seen the film.
Set after the events of Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Suicide Squad tells the tale of Task Force X- a clandestine group of the worst of the worst- brought together to combat any further metahuman attacks. These include sharpshooting sniper Deadshot (Will Smith), Australian criminal Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), the deformed Killer Croc (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Latino firestarter El Diablo (Jay Hernandez), ancient witch Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) and the unhinged Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). However, when a member of their own team turns against them, the squad is forced into action to save Midway City from destruction.
First off, let me say this: I enjoyed Suicide Squad more than I enjoyed Batman V Superman. Suicide Squad has several moments of levity and humour which were sorely lacking from the previous film. The camerawork has improved as well- not so much reliance on kinetic shakycam which is always a plus in my books- and there are a lot of decent performances. That said, there's still a lot that I disliked about the film.
My main gripe? An over-reliance on 'tell, don't show'- a cardinal error in any form of screenwriting- and far too many characters. A lot of characters get stiffed as far as characterisation goes (for instance, the character Slipknot is introduced only to be killed off a few minutes later). We are told about Katana's soul-sucking sword but don't really get to see it in action. We are told about the relationship between Harley and the Joker but only get to see snippets. Aside from one bit at the end where he swims beneath a flooded chamber, Killer Croc has very little to do (and that bit could have been reworked to accommodate a different character). Fewer characters would have meant a bit more time fleshing out the ones we're supposed to care about and empathise with.
The acting is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some superb performances and some pretty wooden ones. Several characters get lumbered with some pretty clunky dialogue, which it's difficult to make sound interesting or natural. The main victim of this is Joel Kinnaman. Rick Flag has a permascowl and major antagonism with Deadshot which tends to revolve around dialogue which goes 'I don't like you', 'Well, I don't like you' and... that's about it. You never once believe in his relationship with Dr. June Moone- Enchantress' alter ego and hands-down the worst archaeologist in the world- which is his primary motivation to be onboard with this crazy scheme (again, I think it doesn't work because it once again falls under 'tell, don't show'.)
Cara Delevingne is frankly miscast as Enchantress; she doesn't have the screen presence or the acting chops to pull off playing the main villain- all she has to do prior to the big showdown is spout some cod philosophy and gyrate on the spot. And whilst we are on the subject of villains, Jared Leto's Joker- who has featured very heavily in pre-release marketing and advertising- is maybe on screen for about 15 minutes, but that's more than enough as his mannered tics started to grate on me a little. Bizarrely, it felt like watching the Joker being played by Johnny Depp in a later Tim Burton movie. Leto's look is quite something- I can see cosplayers having a ball with it- but the substance is not quite there. Leto is reportedly upset with the amount of his material excised from the final cut and has distanced himself from the project somewhat.
But it's not all bad- Will Smith is at his wise-cracking best as Deadshot (it's probably his best performance in years) whilst Jay Hernandez gives a decent turn as a man desperate to keep his powers under control for fear of letting loose and hurting people again. However, my favourite performances come from Margot Robbie- who gets the lion's share of the laughs and is quirky without being annoying- and Viola Davis who is steely and strong as the Squad's boss Amanda Waller, a woman you disobey at your peril.
Stylistically, it's interesting- the introduction to the various members of the squad is done with some funky on-screen visuals. However, it falls foul of Batman V Superman syndrome in shooting the majority of the final scene in poor lighting, making it difficult to see what's going on. There's also some kind of shoddy CG work on the mindless bubble-headed creatures that Enchantress spawns towards the end. The Batman and Flash cameos work without being too intrusive and the mid-credits scene- between Bruce Wayne and Amanda Waller- hints at some interesting things to come. But, just as with Batman V Superman, it does feel as if DCEU are trying too hard to create an ongoing linked cinema franchise. A little more subtlety wouldn't go amiss.
One thing I do want to highlight is the use of music. There's an eclectic soundtrack ranging from 'Sympathy For The Devil' to Eminem's 'Without Me' with pitstops for Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid', The White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army' and a sadly pared down 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. It's frenetic and constantly chopping and changing but provides an interesting backdrop. But where was 'Ballroom Blitz'?
My gold standard for deciding how much I enjoyed a film is: do I want to see the film again in the cinema and do I want to own it on DVD? Sadly, when it comes to Suicide Squad, the answer is no. There's a lot I enjoyed about it but I don't see me coming back for repeated viewings.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Tez
It's a banner year for the Star Trek franchise as it celebrates 50 years since the original TV show started airing. So how better to commemorate this than to release another Star Trek movie?
The crew of the Enterprise are well into their five-year mission, but Captain James T. Kirk is starting to feel a little disillusioned and is thinking of moving on. When they dock on Starbase Yorktown, an unknown alien ship in distress hails the base. Their crew has been taken to a nearby planet by the villainous Krall and the Enterprise is the only ship that can make it through an unstable nebula to help rescue them. But things are never quite what they seem and the planet- and Krall- are more dangerous than the crew could imagine...
Written by Simon Pegg (also reprising the role of Scotty and therefore giving himself a bigger part) and Doug Jung (who cameos as Sulu's husband Ben- more of that later) and directed by Justin Lin (the Fast and Furious franchise), Star Trek Beyond is big, bombastic and a lot of fun. It makes for very easy watching.
Lin is very much at home with the action sequences- including a very stylish distraction involving Kirk and a vintage motorcycle- although there's an over-reliance on shakycam which is annoying and, yet again, a major Hollywood blockbuster skimps on the lighting budget to its detriment with some scenes (noticeably one fight scene between Jaylah and Krall's minion Manas) almost bordering on the unwatchable. One thing to Lin's credit, however- there's minimal lens flare. A few lighting and camera issues aside, the visual effects are- as you would expect- superb with the reveal and exploration of Starbase Yorktown particularly stunning.
Performance-wise, it's all pretty solid. The main returning cast all fit back into their roles well (although having Scotty call Jaylah 'lassie' every few minutes got annoying really quickly). They know these characters well by now so there's no questions there. What the script does, which is interesting, is play around with the usual dynamics by splitting the Enterprise team and pairing disparate characters up. Pairing Bones and Spock up is inspired and both Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto seem to be enjoying their odd-couple bickering. Idris Elba makes for an imposing villain in Krall- even if the back-story felt a little rushed and bolted on. There's a really impressive performance by Sofia Boutella as the alien Jaylah who helps the crew out on the planet.
Some people may be wondering what I made of the decision to make Sulu gay (a decision which dismayed original Sulu actor George Takei). To be honest, whilst I probably would have preferred them to create a new character, I wasn't massively bothered by it. The scene between Ben and Sulu was played very nicely- it's a bit of a blink-and-you-miss-it moment to be fair- and it wasn't really mentioned again, although Ben does appear again at the end. It certainly wasn't sensationalised or felt lurid or done just for shock value. I can appreciate that it sometimes feels like tokenism but you can create a LGBT character and not let their sexuality be their only defining feature; for me, it's the difference between having a gay character (where it is) and a character that is gay (where it isn't).
The film pays a touching tribute not only to the late Leonard Nimoy- whose death is directly addressed and provides one of the more poignant scenes between Spock and Kirk- but also to the original crew of the Enterprise who started the journey off half a century ago. It also pays tribute in the end credits to Anton Yelchin, the Chekhov actor who passed away earlier this year. I couldn't help but feel a little pang of sadness every time the excitable Russian navigator appeared on screen. He has left a big hole in the Star Trek family.
I went to this film to be entertained, to turn my brain off for a few hours and just let the sci-fi silliness wash over me. Whilst it delivers that in spades, don't be surprised if you feel a little emotional throughout it too.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Tez
So 2016 continues its sadistic streak by taking some of the best-loved and respected culture personalities whilst allowing some absolute wastes of perfectly good internal organs to thrive.
Kenny Baker, who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars franchise, has sadly passed away at the age of 81 after a long illness.
The latest passing is, for many of us, a very sad one and a lot of people of our age (mid-to-late 30s) will feel as if a part of their childhood has gone.
Born in Birmingham, Baker- who stood at 3ft 8ins- was approached at the age of 16 to join a theatrical troupe which specialised in dwarves and midgets. He joined a circus, learned to ice skate, appeared in pantomime and formed a very successful comedy duo with fellow small person Jack Purvis called The Minitones.
When he was approached to appear in Star Wars, Baker initially turned the role down. He did accept after finding out Alec Guinness was going to appear in the film. Star Wars was Baker's first film role and he went on to play R2-D2 in six of the seven movies, acting as a consultant on The Force Awakens (with Jimmy Vee already confirmed as Baker's replacement for Episode VIII). In Return Of The Jedi, Baker also plays Paploo, the Ewok who steals an Imperial speeder bike.
Whilst Baker will forever be known as R2-D2, his own personal favourite screen role was as Fidgit in Terry Gilliam's 1981 comic fantasy romp Time Bandits. He was frequently cast in fantasy films, appearing in Flash Gordon (1980), Labyrinth (1986) and in an uncredited role in Willow (1988).
He also appeared in more serious films such as The Elephant Man (1980), Amadeus (1984) and Mona Lisa (1986).
He was a regular attendee at conventions and comic-cons around the world and was always very warm and enthusiastic when meeting fans.
Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time.
