Awards Season 2023: Razzies Winners

So, it's Oscars Eve. The great and good of Hollywood will be primping, preening, and preparing for one of the biggest nights of the year. It's also the day that the Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards get handed out, dishonouring the cinematic crapulence of the previous year.  

So here are this year's "winners":

Worst Picture: Blonde

Worst Director: Machine Gun Kelly and Mod Sun (Good Mourning)

Worst Actor: Jared Leto (Morbius)

Worst Actress: The Golden Raspberry Awards

Worst Supporting Actor: Tom Hanks (Elvis)

Worst Supporting Actress: Adria Arjona (Morbius)

Worst Remake, Sequel Or Rip-Off: Disney's Pinocchio

Worst Screen Combo: Tom Hanks and his latex-laden face (and ludicrous accent) (Elvis)

Worst Screenplay: Blonde

Razzie Redeemer: Colin Farrell

You may be wondering "Awards Guru Tez, why are the Golden Raspberry Awards the 'winners' of the Worst Actress award?" Well, gather round, my award fans, and I'll tell ye a tale...

When the nominations were announced on 22nd January, Ryan Kiera Armstrong was included in the Worst Actress category for her performance as Charlie in the 2022 remake of Firestarter; she is 12 years old. 

A little history lesson: the Razzies have previous in nominating child actors: at the 3rd Razzie Awards (1983), they gave the Worst Supporting Actress award to 11-year old Aileen Quinn for her performance in Annie. Other minors who have been nominated include:

• Gary Coleman (Worst Actor for On The Right Track [1981], when he was 13);
• Jake Lloyd (Worst Supporting Actor for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace [1999] when he was 10)
• Macaulay Culkin (a Worst Actor nominee for three films- Getting Even With Dad [1994], The Pagemaster [1994], and Ri¢hie Ri¢h [1994]- all when he was 14); and 
• Olivia d'Abo (nominated for Worst Supporting Actress for her roles in Conan The Destroyer [1984] and Bolero [1984]- in which she appears nude- when she was 15). 

Unsurprisingly (and rightly so), the backlash was quick and fierce. Razzies co-founder John J.B. Wilson made a statement that said "The intent was to be funny. In this particular instance, we seem to have misstepped very badly." No shit, Sherlock. 

Armstrong was subsequently removed from the ballot, and the organisation will no longer allow actors under the age of 18 to be nominated in any category. And, as something of a public mea culpa, the Razzies have given themselves this award. 

Other nominees for the Razzie Redeemer this year- which is given to a former Razzie nominee or winner who has come back from critical and/or commercial failure-  were Val Kilmer (going from The Island Of Dr. Moreau to the subject of acclaimed documentary Val) and Mark Wahlberg (from three-time Worst Actor nominee to biopic Father Stu). 

Blonde, Elvis, and Morbius each won two Razzies apiece. Elvis has the dubious distinction of winning in each category it was nominated for. 

Congratulations to all "winners"!

So, that just leaves the big one: the 95th Academy Awards. I'll be posting my predictions for who will win in six major categories tomorrow afternoon. 

State Of Play: June 2020

Over the past week or so, there have been a lot of changes happening to release schedules and how filming can or might continue in the current climate, so I thought it might be worth doing a quick round-up of where things stand at the moment. 

Of course, given the nature of the world at the moment, this is accurate as of today (15th June) but could well change again.


Release Schedule Changes

This one has come as a bit of a surprise. Tenet, Christopher Nolan’s next mindbender, had- up until last week- been resolutely sticking to its release date of July 17th 2020. This has now changed, albeit only by a few weeks and not months like some other films. Tenet is now due to be released on July 31st 2020, two weeks later than expected. 

Wonder Woman 1984 has been shifted again and will now open on 2nd October 2020 (from its date of August 14th). This is the fifth release date that the film has been given; it was originally due for release in December 2019, then November 2019, then June 5th 2020 before its move to August 14th as the COVID-19 pandemic started to take hold. Hopefully it won’t need to be moved again. 

But with Wonder Woman 1984 being moved back, it has meant that Bill & Ted Face The Music has been brought forward a week, and will now be released- all being well- on August 14th 2020 instead.   

No Time To Die- the twenty-fifth Bond film- will be released slightly earlier than expected- November 12th 2020 in the UK (and November 20th in the US)


Looking forward to 2021, there’s been a little movement with several films changing release dates next year. 

Everybody's Talking About Jamie – the big-screen adaptation of the West End musical about a teenage drag queen- starring Max Harwood as Jamie, with Sarah Lancashire as Jamie’s mum Margaret, and Richard E. Grant as Jamie’s drag mentor Loco Chanelle- will now be released on January 22nd 2021 (instead of October 23rd 2020). Opening post-Christmas, in the traditionally bleak January, might provide "a little bit of glitter in the grey" (as one of the songs says)

Bios – This quirky Tom Hanks-starring sci-fi- about an ailing inventor in a post-apocalyptic Earth who builds an android to look after his beloved dog when he dies- which co-stars Caleb Landry Jones, Samira Wiley, and Skeet Ulrich, and is directed by Miguel Sapochnik will now be released on April 16th 2021 (moved from October 2020)

Godzilla Vs. Kong – The next instalment in what has been termed the Legendary MonsterVerse (after Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, and Godzilla: King Of The Monsters) will now be in cinemas on May 21st 2021 (from November 2020). The cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Demián Bichir, and Zhang Ziyi and two giant CGI monsters knocking seven bells out of each other. 

In The Heights – Another big-screen adaptation of a stage musical, this one by Hamilton supremo Lin-Manuel Miranda, comes to screens on June 18th 2021 (a delay of just over a year). Anthony Ramos takes the lead role of bodega owner Usnavi, with Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, and Jimmy Smits in supporting roles. 

The Beatles: Get Back – Peter Jackson’s documentary, about the making of Let It Be, is moving its release from September 4th 2020 to August 27th 2021. 

The Batman – Matt Reeves’ take on the Caped Crusader with Robert Pattinson under the cowl, aided and abetted by a veritable rogues gallery of actors- including Zoë Kravitz (Catwoman), Paul Dano (The Riddler), Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon), John Turturro (Carmine Falcone), Colin Farrell (The Penguin), and Andy Serkis (Alfred Pennyworth)- will now be released on October 1st 2021 (a shift of a couple of months, from June 25th 2021)

Looking even further forward, the as-yet-untitled fourth Matrix movie- which sees Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss joined by new cast members Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, and Neil Patrick Harris- is now going to be released on April 1st 2022.

When announcing the change to the Matrix sequel, Warner Brothers also dropped Robert Zemeckis’ remake of Roald Dahl’s The Witches from their schedule. Originally due for release in October 2020, the film stars Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci and Chris Rock, with Anne Hathaway taking the role of the Grand High Witch (played memorably and terrifyingly by Anjelica Huston in the 1990 original). Whether the film will see the light of day via a streaming service or if it will get a release date somewhere along the line, who knows?

Streaming Premieres 

On the subject of streaming services, several movies have taken the route of Trolls World Tour, Artemis Fowl, and Scoob!, and are premiering online instead. 

You Should Have Left – this Universal Pictures/Blumhouse Productions supernatural thriller- starring Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried – will launch via premium video-on-demand, starting June 19th (a.k.a. this coming Friday!)

Greyhound – this Tom Hanks war drama debuts on July 10th 2020 exclusively via Apple TV Plus. Set in the early days of World War II, an international convoy of 37 Allied ships, led by Ernest Krause (Hanks), crosses the treacherous North Atlantic while being hotly pursued by wolf packs of Nazi submarines. Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue co-star. 

The One And Only Ivan - directed by Thea Sharrock, this live-action/CGI hybrid about a special gorilla (voiced by Sam Rockwell) will debut exclusively on Disney+ on August 21st 2020. Other cast members include Angelina Jolie, Danny DeVito, Helen Mirren, Chaka Khan, and Bryan Cranston.



Restarting Film Production 

On June 1st, a 22-page "white paper" written by the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee Task Force (comprising representatives from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and the Teamsters labour union) was delivered to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and California Governor Gavin Newsom, detailing how studios could resume filming during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Their recommendations include: 

• Regular, periodic testing of cast and crew
• Physical distancing of cast and crew maintained (whenever possible)
• Make-up artists and hairstylists using personal protective equipment (PPE) and keeping people in close proximity to performers at a minimum 
• Daily symptom monitoring of all cast and crew
• Appointing a COVID-19 Compliance Officer (or officers) who have with specialised training, responsibility and authority for COVID-19 safety compliance and enforcement, available at all times during working hours
• No craft service buffets; instead, providing individually packaged meals and snacks, avoiding communal trays, bowls or utensils
• Eliminating paper scripts and sign-in sheets, using digital alternatives where possible

All of these suggestions sound reasonable and not too onerous. Whilst there’s no news as yet on whether New York is allowing filming to resume (and under what circumstances; although given that Governor Cuomo threatened today to close down Manhattan and the Hamptons due to people not observing social distancing advice, I wouldn’t hold your breath), California officials released state guidelines and announced film and TV productions could resume as early as Friday 12th June.

In addition to those above, the state guidelines also recommend:

• Limiting filming hours to between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.
• Holding remote auditions and discouraging open casting calls
• Hair and makeup services should only be provided for cast members who cannot do it themselves
• Scenes that require a large number of cast members are discouraged, and scenes where cast must be closer than six feet should be kept as brief and as silent as possible
• Before filming any scene, cast are required to wash their hands
• Cast are encouraged to use their own props, such as by using their own cell phones in scenes. 
• Scripts and contracts are recommended to be shared digitally
• During auditions, actors must receive single-use scripts if they are unable to hold remote auditions.
• Face coverings are required for cast and crew when they will be interacting with others, aside from when their work requires them to not have a mask on (e.g., an actor filming a scene)
• Cast and crew must also be regularly tested for COVID-19 and if a producer, director, showrunner or any other manager is aware of three or more COVID-19 cases on their production within a span of 14 days, they must notify the Department of Public Health.
• Shared items must be disinfected between use

Given that there would need to be a fair amount of prep to be done to ensure these guidelines can be followed, it’s unlikely that many studios and productions will be starting up again so soon. 

That said, several productions have restarted, or are preparing to restart in other countries. 

In Australia, Kurt Wimmer’s reimagining of Stephen King’s Children Of The Corn continued filming, using stringent health and safety protocols, and multiple insurance policies. Principal photography began in New South Wales in early March, when the COVID-19 outbreak forced the majority of productions around the world to shut down. The cast includes Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, Callan Mulvey, and Bruce Spence.

James Cameron and producer Jon Landau are preparing to resume filming on the Avatar sequels by returning to New Zealand at the start of June. This will be the first major film series to resume production after the industry-wide pause.

It’s also been reported today that Jurassic World: Dominion will be the first major U.K.-based studio production to start filming again, with cameras set to roll at Pinewood Studios on the second week of July. Universal have been working with the British Film Council and U.S. unions to ensure the production meets required safety standards and have imposed additional measures (to go beyond those standards).


Cinemas in the UK 

So with production tentatively starting again, and release schedules amended, the big question remains: when can we actually go back to the cinema and see a film on the big screen?

Well, it’s a little bit complicated. 

Whilst Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have yet to announce their provisional dates, indoor cinemas in England may be able to open from July 4th 2020 (subject to sufficient progress being made against COVID-19, allowing lockdown measures to be relaxed; a decision about this will not be made until closer to the time). Outdoor cinemas in England (of which there are around 20) are able to open from today.

Cineworld are preparing to open all of its UK cinemas (128 in total) on July 4th, and "have put in place procedures to ensure a safe and enjoyable cinema experience" although they haven't announced what these procedures are. Vue have already announced how the measures they will take if they are allowed to reopen, including "physically isolating family groups through our online booking systems, staggering film times to maintain social distancing and operate responsibly, and introducing enhanced cleaning and employee-protection protocols."

As with everything since lockdown began back in March, we just have to keep our heads down and wait and see what happens. 

Awards Season 2020: Golden Globes Winners

Last night (Sunday 5th January 2020), the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the winners of the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards, for both television and film, in a ceremony hosted by Ricky Gervais for the fifth (and possibly final) time.

Here is the full list of film winners.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): 1917

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood

Best Director: Sam Mendes (1917)

Best Actor (Drama): Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Taron Egerton (Rocketman)

Best Actress (Drama): Renée Zellweger (Judy)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Awkwafina (The Farewell)

Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt (Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood)

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern (Marriage Story)

Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood)

Best Original Score: Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker)

Best Original Song: 'I'm Gonna Love Me Again' (Rocketman)

Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite

Best Animated Feature Film: Missing Link

Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Tom Hanks


Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood was the big winner of the night with three Globes, with 1917, Rocketman and Joker with two apiece. Absolutely nothing for The Irishman, which is interesting. 

A couple of nice surprises- Missing Link winning Animated Feature over Frozen II and Toy Story 4, and Taron Egerton getting the Best Actor (Musical/Comedy) for Rocketman, particularly. Acting awards for Zellweger, Pitt, and Dern shore them up nicely for a potential Oscar win, although it's never actually a guarantee. 

It was an evening of firsts: Parasite became the first Korean movie to win the Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe, whilst Hildur Guðnadóttir becomes the first solo female winner of Best Score, and Awkwafina is the first actress of Asian descent to win the Best Actress (Musical/Comedy).

Congratulations to all winners!

There'll be more awards news a little later today with the announcement of this year's Writers Guild Awards. 

Review: A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (UK Cert PG)

Fred Rogers is a bona fide American hero. From 1968 to 2001, his preschool series Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood ran for 895 episodes and- as well as being educational- helped a generation of children with their emotional and mental well-being, dealing with serious issues such as death, divorce, and war. He even testified before the US Senate in 1969 to help secure the funding for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in what has been called "one of the most powerful pieces of testimony ever offered before Congress".  

Now, being in the UK, I don't ever remember seeing Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood (we did get Sesame Street) but- such is the cultural and social impact the show had in America- that it filtered through in homage, parody, and reference. But you can't underestimate not only the esteem in which Rogers is held but the positivity and kindness he engendered throughout his life and work. Following on from Morgan Neville's superb 2018 documentary about Rogers' life- Won't You Be My Neighbor?- we now have A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, based on an article written for Esquire's edition on heroes by Tom Junod.  

In 1998, magazine writer Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) is assigned to write a 400-word profile about Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks). Vogel is an investigative journalist with a habit of rubbing up people the wrong way; an early scene with his editor shows that Rogers was the only one on their interviewee's list who would agree to talk to him. Initially hesitant to write what he considers a 'puff-piece', Vogel nonetheless travels to Pittsburgh to interview Rogers in an encounter that will have a lasting impression on both men. 

Director Marielle Heller's last film was the brilliant Can You Ever Forgive Me? which took a look at a caustic, bitter, and bizarrely likeably unpleasant character. Here, she takes a person known and revered for their decency and kindness (who- spoiler alert- is actually as nice as he appears to be) and puts them under the spotlight. It's another strong, assured character piece.

Frankly, if you were ever going to cast anyone to play Fred Rogers, Tom Hanks would be at the top of your list (and, interestingly, Hanks and Rogers are related; they are sixth cousins). Hanks gives a warm, empathetic, low-key and utterly engaging performance as the beloved TV host; quiet, thoughtful and disarming, Rogers becomes almost a confessor to Vogel as he helps the frustrated and hurt writer through a long-held family trauma. What could have been mawkish or saccharinely sentimental is instead nicely balanced. Another solid and fine performance from Hanks.

Matthew Rhys reunites with his co-star from The Post and matches his performance, providing the slightly more bitter yin to Rogers' wholesome yang. Vogel is a worn-down, emotionally closed off cynic, whose habit of writing harsh pieces has gained him few friends. His wife Andrea even warns him, when he tells her about the assignment, "don't ruin my childhood". Struggling with new fatherhood, plus a complicated family situation involving his estranged father, Vogel treats the assignment as just another job- but finds himself changing as he spends more time with Rogers. 

Rounding off the main cast are Susan Kelechi Watson, who skilfully provides the emotional anchor as Vogel's wife Andrea (giving life and nuance to a role that could have so easily just been a cardboard cutout), and Chris Cooper, whose brashness and louchness as Vogel's estranged father Jerry provides a nice contrast to the subtle quietness of other characters. There's also a pair of lovely supporting turns by Christine Lahti as Vogel's editor Ellen, and Enrico Colantoni as Bill Isler (Rogers' associate who is fiercely protective of him, and is suspicious of Vogel). 

Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster's script is tight, and nicely structured- it starts with an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and introduces Vogel and his situation through this medium. For people unfamiliar with Rogers' work, it's a nice introduction to it, and those who are will get a nice warm buzz of nostalgia by seeing it. It's also to their credit that Rogers feels like a real person- it would have been easy to have made Rogers an inscrutable, enigmatic figure, but you learn as much about his life as you do about Vogel.

Junod has since been interviewed and has made it clear that certain scenes have been created- the opening fist-fight at Vogel's sister's wedding, for instance- but the film is "inspired by" their meetings rather than a strict biopic. Nonetheless, if you read Junod's superb article, a lot of the vignettes that he saw whilst spending times with Rogers make it in. 

Another aspect of the film that deserves praise is the detailed miniatures work, akin to the miniature work of the original show. Various city skylines and neighbourhoods are rendered in the same slightly shonky but absolutely endearing style as the TV show, which adds another layer of authenticity to the project. 

Ultimately, A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood is a warm, engrossing, thoroughly pleasant film that celebrates decency, kindness, and tolerance. In these divisive times, we need more films like this. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

I saw A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood at an advance screening; the film will be on general release in the UK and Ireland on 31st January 2020

Review: The Post (UK Cert 12A)

In 1971, the New York Times published a series of articles based on 'The Pentagon Papers'- leaked classified reports which demonstrated that successive US administrations (from Truman to Johnson) had in effect lied to the American public about the efficacy of the Vietnam War. When Richard Nixon used his position as President to bar the New York Times from publishing anything further, the Washington Post picked up the baton. 

This forms the basis of The Post, a biographical drama written by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer, and directed by Stephen Spielberg. 

Meryl Streep is superb as Washington Post publisher Katharine 'Kay' Graham. Taking on responsibility for the newspaper after the death of her husband, she is still trying to find her feet when the maelstrom over the Pentagon Papers hits. It's odd seeing Streep in a role where she's mousy or submissive; certainly, she starts that way. Graham is talked over, patronised to, and almost dismissed by some of the men who work for her. So it's a pleasure when she finds her voice and is unequivocal in her support to publish. She also has a powerful scene with Bruce Greenwood (who plays Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara) where Graham confronts McNamara about the lies he's told and the lives that have been lost as a consequence of them. Unsurprisingly, Streep got an unparalleled twenty-first acting Oscar nomination for her performance, and it's well deserved. 

Tom Hanks is good as editor-in-chief Ben Bradlee. Trying to enhance the reputation of the Post (from a 'small family paper'), he seizes on the Papers- and the court injunction against The New York Times, who initially published the first tranche of articles covering the revelations in the Papers- to get ahead of the game. He is the strongest advocate for freedom of the press- essentially 'publish and be damned'- but also realises what's at stake if the White House takes the paper to court. A fine performance.

Other performances of note are Sarah Paulson as Bradlee's wife Tony, who is underused but used to good effect when she is on screen; she gets a strong scene where she tries to explain how Kay would be feeling after being dismissed for so long; there's good work by Bob Odenkirk and Carrie Coon as two members of the editorial team who help to break the Post's coverage of the Papers, and a nice turn by Michael Stuhlbarg who plays New York Times editor A.M. Rosenthal. Bruce Greenwood is great as McNamara, and Matthew Rhys lends an air of defeated disillusionment to Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Papers. 

Like Spotlight and All The President's Men before it, The Post is also a paean to investigative journalism before the days of the Internet. Tracking down leads, going through reams and reams of paper to find their story; there's a great scene at Bradlee's house when the team are literally wading through hundreds of pages of the Papers (none of which are in order) to find what they'll lead with. There's also a real joy in seeing the front page being painstakingly typeset and a wonderful sequence where you see the entire newspaper being printed. 

Spielberg is a master storyteller and he elicits great performances from his cast. Because this is a biopic- and the result is a matter of public record- the whole story is less 'will they publish?' as 'how did it happen?'. There's a wonderful score by John Williams to add to the mood and the cinematography of Janusz Kaminski- from the boardrooms of Washington to the jungles of Vietnam, a swanky party to a busy newsroom- is superb. 

Not only is it a well made film, The Post is an important reminder of the need for freedom of the press to challenge and to hold to account those in positions of power. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Review: Sully: Miracle On The Hudson (UK Cert 12A)

On January 15 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 took off from LaGuardia Airport in New York, travelling to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. Barely minutes into the flight, the flight suffered engine loss due to a bird strike. With 155 lives in the balance, pilots Captain Chesley B. 'Sully' Sullenberger III and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles did the impossible: they performed a water landing on the Hudson River. The whole event- from bird strike to landing- took just 208 seconds, and it was done with no loss of life. This incredible true-life story has now been made into a film, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks as Sullenberger and Aaron Eckhart as Skiles.

I'm sure I've said several times before that I'm not a massive Tom Hanks fan. That said, he's always a safe pair of hands; you can always depend on him to put in a solid, decent performance. That is very true here: he plays Sully as a thoroughly decent and likeable man, humble, self-effacing, thrown into a media storm for doing his job and having to come to terms with that. Unsurprisingly, there are questions to be asked when something like this happens and the film is then set up almost as a courtroom drama as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) begins its investigation. Here's where things start to skew a little; the film shows the NTSB as accusatory and prosecutorial, seeking to disprove Sully's version of events and showing him to have acted wrongly by performing the water landing and that the cause of the crash was pilot error; such a finding would have ended Sully's career. 

Other performances are decent enough; Eckhart is strong as the no-nonsense Skiles, although he's not given a whole lot to do throughout. Similarly, Laura Linney feels wasted as Sully's wife Lorraine, popping up throughout to cry or to harangue Sully (or maybe that's just how I saw it; she didn't exactly feel or seem supportive until the very end). The script attempts to flesh out the stories of some of the passengers- a father-son golfing trip, a wheelchair-using woman and her daughter, a new mother- but it all feels very surface and, crucially, you don't really care about them. Well, I didn't at least. 

Eastwood's direction is solid and the reconstruction of the plane crash and landing is done well. Some scenes play out like an anodyne version of the 2012 Robert Zemeckis film Flight- here, there's no suggestion of impropriety or alcohol/drug misuse- but the investigation scenes play well. It feels a little muddled which, given a relatively short runtime of 96 minutes, is a surprise.

However, the film is, at its core, a paean to 'the human factor'. It is this that Sully points out during the investigation; a computer simulation can only do so much. You need the human factor, its insight and experience, to inform decisions made- for good and bad. In a moment of crisis, humanity can pull together and help those who need it (an end-card gives praise to the coastguards, ferry crews, police and firefighters who helped rescue the passengers from the ditched plane). Given the darkness of our current times, this is a timely message.

All said, solid if unremarkable. 

Rating: 3 out of 5

Tez

Review: Bridge Of Spies (UK Cert 12A)

Inspired by true events, Bridge Of Spies tells the amazing story of James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance lawyer who- during the height of the Cold War- was asked to defend Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy (Mark Rylance) who had been arrested for espionage. Later, Donovan was asked to help negotiate the prisoner exchange of Abel for a captured American pilot (Austin Stowell).

Hanks is always a safe pair of hands. Here, he's an engaging presence as Donovan, a gee-shucks All-American guy, determined to play fair even in the toughest circumstances. It's the kind of role James Stewart would have played if this had been made in the 1950s. He puts his professional reputation on the line, first by defending Abel and then trying to appeal the decision. It puts his family in the firing line (literally, at one point) but he is prepared to go all the way to Berlin- and have to lie to his family- to help facilitate the exchange. It's a solid performance throughout.

Rylance puts in a dignified and measured turn as Abel, his voice barely raising throughout. He's remarkably calm, even in the face of a possible death penalty. When asked if he's nervous or afraid, Abel replies stoically 'would it help?' His accent wanders occasionally, although generally settles on a Scottish burr. He has some great interplay with Hanks and the two make a good pairing. As for the other actors, it's a solid job across the board even if the characters aren't particularly fleshed out. Amy Ryan isn't given much to do as Donovan's wife (although she is a warm and sympathetic presence) whilst Alan Alda feels wasted in the role of Donovan's boss. Stowell does well as the clean-cut All-American boy although his characterisation doesn't really go much beyond that. 

The script- by Matt Charman and Joel & Ethan Coen- is tightly plotted and, in places, surprisingly wry. The threat of nuclear war is ever present and the point comes home in Donovan's young son and his school lessons. Steven Spielberg's direction is as good as you'd expect. It's a long film (141 minutes) but really doesn't feel it; you get swept up in the story. The entire look of the film is just superb - the period detail is spot on and even the bombed out ruins of Berlin look authentic. 

I went into Bridge Of Spies with, admittedly, not very high expectations. I was expecting a solid drama. Instead, I got an exceptional piece of film-making, telling the story of an American hero who very few people will have heard of (and more should). 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Review: Captain Phillips (UK Cert 12A)

In 2009, the US cargo ship Maersk Alabama became the first US cargo ship in two hundred years to be hijacked when it was boarded by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa. The captain, Richard Phillips, was kidnapped but survived his ordeal- and even returned to sea the following year. He wrote a book about his experiences which has now been filmed with Tom Hanks in the lead role. Part base under siege movie, part chase thriller, part psychological drama, Captain Phillips certainly isn't a cheery film but it is a very fine one.

I've never really had much time for Tom Hanks as an actor. I don't dislike him, but he's never exactly got my pulse racing in any of his parts (even the big award-winners, like Philadelphia or Forrest Gump). It's not the most flattering description, but the word that always comes to my mind for Tom Hanks is dependable. He's a safe pair of hands, a reliable actor always giving solid, decent performances. And that's what you get here: a solid, decent performance. Hanks' Phillips is a cautious, principled man, prepared to put himself in the line of fire to save his crew. 

The other standout performance is by Barkhad Abdi as Muse, the captain of the Somali pirates. The script does not simply portray the pirates as pantomime, one-dimensional villains to be smote by the forces of good. There is a judicious use of backstory- as is traditional, there's always someone higher up the chain- and there is a real tension between Muse and the other members of the crew which threatens to spill out at any moment. The scenes in the lifeboat are at times unbearably tense as the pirates argue and bicker.

Paul Greengrass brings the same taut, claustrophobic and tense style to Captain Phillips than he showed in the brilliant but harrowing United 93 (2006). The scenes as the pirates search the Maersk Alabama, whilst the crew wait in darkness, is a real nerve-shredder. There are moments of violence but few and far between and not incredibly graphic.  

It's shot well and the performances are exceptionally good throughout. It's not exactly a feelgood movie but it is a gripping take on a truly remarkable story.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Review: Saving Mr. Banks (UK Cert PG)

The Disney multi-billion pound empire; few people sit on the fence when it comes to Uncle Walt. You either love him, and see Disney as having created some of the finest films of the medium, or you put Disney in the same category as McDonald’s, the Disney brand is, first-and-foremost, out to make money and everything else comes (a miles behind) second. With John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr Banks, Disney has done something surprisingly brave: they have put their business, their legacy, under the microscope.

P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson), author of Mary Poppins, has turned down Walt Disney’s (Tom Hanks) offers to make a film of her beloved children’s book for twenty years. She sees Disney as the “King Midas of Hollywood,” his theme park nothing more than a “moneymaking machine.” Having made a promise to his daughters, Disney is determined to try one last time to persuade the bad-tempered writer to sign over the rights to her book.

Saving Mr Banks could have been a sickly-sweet re-telling of the artistic differences between Travers and Disney, but far from it. Much of this is down to the performances, both Thompson and Hanks being, once again, impossible to find fault with.

If another actress were to play the role of Travers, audiences may have felt detached towards the film’s heroine. Putting down anyone and everyone she comes across, in the wrong hands Travers could have been a cheerless English stereotype. Every minute that Emma Thompson is onscreen is brilliant to watch. Travers’s insults are more out of frustration rather than a vicious streak and, for the most part, her observations are spot on. To be one of the acting greats, it’s not only about delivering assured dialogue; it’s about the mannerisms and expressions. Emma Thompson should run master classes on how to make an audience laugh with a raise of the eyebrows, or conveying pages of backstory solely with a gaze; she makes it look all-too easy.

While most of the film’s praise has been focused on Thompson, Tom Hanks is equally impressive. Rather than the permanently grinning, cheery uncle portrayed in a TV commercial early on in the film, Hanks’s Disney is far more complicated. He is charming, with a glass-half-full approach to life, but he is also a businessman who, one way or the other, gets what he wants. When Travers storms out of meetings, threatening to return to England, or making all sorts of demands, Disney is shaking with rage, refusing to be beaten. Hanks has made a career of delivering spot-on regional American accents, and whatever role he plays, you cannot help but root for him. Hanks gives a well-judged portrayal of Disney: he is the caring father-figure from the intros to his weekly TV cartoons, but Hanks also reminds us that this is a man on a charm offensive and, one way or another, he will bring Mary Poppins to the big screen.

Saving Mr Banks spends half its time showing Travers fighting with her creative team, but also goes back to her childhood to explain why she is so disapproving of herself and others, and why she refuses to let her famous nanny be sprinkled with Disney’s trademark charm. Normally I hate exposition in films; it feels cheap, like the filmmakers are treating their audience like idiots. “In case you don’t get it, here’s why (insert character name here) behaves this way!” For me, very few films have managed to use flashbacks and get away with it. Saving Mr Banks doesn’t just get away with it, Travers’s childhood is part-and-parcel of the film, as well as being gorgeously filmed by John Schwartzman. Travers’s father (played with heart-rending perfection by Colin Farrell) encourages his daughter to use her imagination, to be whoever she wants to be. Yet her father uses his dreams and imagination to escape what is going on around him. He is an alcoholic, unable to hold down a job, committed to his own self destruction.

Disney and Travers are at the opposite ends of the storytelling spectrum. Walt Disney sees life as bleak enough, so why create stories that mirror the worries and problems of everyday lives? P.L. Travers saw writing as a way of facing problems, recovering from them, rather than a form of escapism. Admirably, Saving Mr Banks gives plenty of screen time to both sides of the argument.

For a Disney film about one of Disney’s most successful films, Saving Mr Banks is far from a two hour advert for the Mary Poppins DVD. For the most part, the film avoids the sugary sweetness that Travers loathed about Disney’s films. Screenwriters Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith get the mix of comedy and heartache absolutely right; Travers is razor-sharp right up until the end and, during the film’s poignant moments, at no point do you feel like you are being tricked into shedding a tear.

Like all good “Making of” films, Saving Mr Banks manages to make its source material even more profound than it already was. Mary Poppins is moving enough, but after watching how the Disney film came to be, it’s unlikely you will be able to listen to “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” without welling up.

Saving Mr Banks narrowly misses out on being perfect due to the film’s last ten minutes, when Travers goes to the world premiere and sees her creation, and her father, up there on the cinema screen. The rest of the film is understated and honest. Here this final scene feels like John Lee Hancock is smacking you around the head, making sure you realise that everything you have watched has led to this moment. While the wheels don’t exactly fall off, you feel that this is exactly the kind of candyfloss Travers would have hated.

This is me being picky. Saving Mr Banks is faultless in weaving its two narratives together; Travers’s childhood and her fight with the Disney machine. Other films that have tried the same method generally make you wish one storyline or the other would come back onscreen. The making of Mary Poppins is one of the last great films of 2013.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Matt

The Watchers' Advent Calendar: 19th December

Only six days to go! Today's entry for The Watchers' Advent Calendar is a gallery from one of the first films to utilise full motion capture when creating the computer animation for the various characters. It is...

* * * 

The Polar Express (2004)

Based on a children's book by Chris Van Allsburg, the film tells the story of a young boy who boards the titular train one Christmas Eve for a trip to the North Pole.

'At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. Though I've grown old the bell still rings for me, as it does for all who truly believe'

More family film fun tomorrow! 

Review: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (UK cert. 12A)

Christopher Plummer once described working with Julie Andrews like 'being beaten to death with a Valentine's Card'. There were scenes when watching Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close that I felt like I was being waterboarded with golden syrup. At times, the film is so sickly-sweet, so relentlessly sentimental that you can almost feel yourself drowning in schmaltz. It's also shamelessly emotionally manipulative, which is fair enough as it's dealing with an emotional subject. But it lacks any kind of subtlety.


The plot is fairly straightforward: a year after his father (Tom Hanks) dies in the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, nine year old Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) finds a key in his father's possessions in an envelope with the name 'Black' on it. He decides it is a quest left behind for him by his father and therefore decides to seek out all people with the surname Black who live in New York. Along the way, the hyperintelligent, precocious and very earnest Oskar starts to learn the lesson that sometimes in life there isn't an order to or reason for something happening.


When a film or a novel is told through the eyes of a child, I feel that the success (or otherwise) of the endeavour is directly related to how sympathetic you feel toward the child. Therein lies one of my main problems with the film. There are several moments in which Oskar's behaviour- most notably towards his long-suffering mother (Sandra Bullock)- made me feel incredibly unsympathetic towards him. There is an idea that Oskar may have Asperger's Syndrome- a test proved 'inconclusive'- but even with this condition to ameliorate or excuse or justify some of his behaviour, I still felt that his petulant outbursts undermined what I felt for him, particularly when he tells his mother he wishes she had died in the World Trade Center instead of his father. However, when his father is presented as such a saint (as the film does, and it's in these scenes which the treacly sentiment chiefly presides), his mother is always going to look second-best.


With an occasionally unsympathetic main character, it falls to the supporting characters to stop the film from becoming unwatchable. Luckily, there is a strong supporting cast here (with the exception of Tom Hanks who I found fairly bland). Viola Davis and Jeffrey Wright add some real class as Abby and William Black, who are linked to the mystery of the key. There's also nice support by Zoe Caldwell as Oskar's Teutonic grandmother and Sandra Bullock turns in a nice low-key performance as Oskar's mother. Which leads me on to Max von Sydow, nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for his role as 'The Renter', a mute man who rooms with Oskar's grandmother and who becomes involved in Oskar's quest around New York. Von Sydow doesn't utter a word throughout but he puts in a dignified performance and, whilst the revelation of The Renter's true identity isn't exactly a surprise, he fulfils an important role in helping Oskar come to terms with the noise and the busyness of the city.


I'm going to be honest now, if this film had not been nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, I would not have gone to see it. My main reason for going was to find out what made the Academy voters decide to acknowledge this movie with the top accolade.  Having now seen the film, the decision to put this into the race for Best Picture is a fairly mystifying one and makes the exclusion of better-executed and better-performed films (such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) seem an egregious oversight.


I want to make it clear that I didn't hate this film; I was just very aware of being emotionally manipulated throughout which really isn't my idea of a fun night at the movies.


Rating: 2.5 out of 5


Tez