For Your Consideration: Possible Contenders For Awards Season 2020

It's beginning to look a lot like awards season. That's come around quick, hasn't it? 

For me, it officially kicks off tomorrow (Thursday 21st November) with the announcement of this year's Film Independent Spirit Awards. Those of you who are not fans of this self-congratulatory flim-flam will be pleased to know that it's a shorter awards season for 2020, as the main event- the 92nd Academy Awards- are at the start of February (Sunday 9th February) rather than the end as has been usual over the last years. So it's approximately three weeks shorter. I'm sure that'll be cold comfort for some...

As has been my custom, I've had a look through this year's major festivals and have rounded up a list of films that you might be hearing a lot about over the next few months.

Awards bodies liking movies about movies and movie-making? As Hans Landa says in Inglourious Basterds, 'that's a bingo!' Expect to see Once Upon A Time In Hollywood being a big part of awards season 2020, with nominations for Best Picture, as well as nods for Quentin Tarantino (for writing and directing), Leonardo DiCaprio (for playing faded TV actor Rick Dalton), Brad Pitt (for playing Dalton's stunt double Cliff Booth) and Margot Robbie (for playing real-life actress Sharon Tate). Early rumour has it that DiCaprio will be put forward in the Lead Actor categories, whilst Pitt will compete for Supporting Actor awards. It pulls the same historical revision schtick that Inglourious Basterds does, but that probably won't put too many people off. 

Inspired by director Noah Baumbach's own divorce from actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, Marriage Story tells the tale of Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie Barber (Adam Driver), an actress and theatre director respectively, whose relationship fails and they navigate the emotional waters of divorce whilst trying to do right by their child. Both Johansson and Driver have been given rave reviews for their performances, and films that show divorce are rare. There's able support by Laura Dern and Alan Alda and the script has been praised as being insightful and compassionate. It also won People's Choice Award (First Runner-Up) at Toronto, which means it's one to watch. 

Scorsese. De Niro. Pacino. Pesci. Feels like The Irishman was positively made to be an awards magnet. De Niro plays former mob hitman Frank Sheeran who may (or may not) have had something to do with the disappearance of labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa (played by Pacino), who vanished  in 1975 and has never been found. It's one of those weighty biographical crime dramas much beloved of awards bodies; but will the fact that it's made for Netflix scupper its chances? 

Clint Eastwood's biopic Richard Jewell might also do well (so long as it is eligible). Jewell's story is one of those that would seem farfetched if it didn't actually happen: Jewell was working as a security guard at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and got wind of a plot to bomb the Centennieal Olympic Park. When the bomb detonated, Jewell saved lives... and was then accused of planting the bomb himself. This kind of story is awards catnip, so there may be nods for Eastwood, Paul Walter Hauser (who plays Jewell), Sam Rockwell (who plays Jewell's lawyer) and Kathy Bates (who plays Jewell's mother Bobi).

A black-comedy thriller, Parasite [Gisaengchung] won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and is also South Korea's entry for the Academy's Best International Feature. It also won People's Choice Award (Second Runner-Up) at Toronto, so it's getting a lot of notice over and above the foreign language market. A twisted tale of a lower-class family insinuating themselves into a middle-class family's life, it may well follow Roma's lead and be nominated for awards outside of just foreign language films.  

Sticking with foreign language films for the moment, Pain And Glory [Dolor Y Gloria] is Pedro Almodóvar's latest (and most personal) film. Antonio Banderas won the Best Actor award at Cannes for playing film director Salvador Mallo (a facsimile for Almodóvar himself) as he remembers his past and tries to break a creative impasse. Penélope Cruz has also been praised for her performance as the younger version of Salvador's mother Jacinta. Almodóvar has been nominated for a Best Director Oscar previously (for Talk To Her [Hable Con Ella] in 2003) so may get his second here. 

1917 may well get nominations, especially in the technical categories, due to the amount of technical expertise used to make the film look like one single long take which plays out in real time. Two young British privates during the First World War are given an impossible mission: deliver a message deep in enemy territory that will stop 1600 men, and one of the soldier's brothers, from walking straight into a deadly trap. Directed by Sam Mendes, this should be an unusual (but worthwhile) experience.

Who doesn't love a good old whodunit? Rian Johnson gets behind the lens for Knives Out, a murder mystery in which a gentleman detective (played by Daniel Craig) investigates the mysterious death of successful mystery writer Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). But with a house-load of suspects and motives aplenty, anyone could have done it... a starry cast including Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, and Ana de Armas makes this an intriguing proposition. 

Right... you're just going to have to go with me on this one. Jojo Rabbit won the People's Choice Award at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which is usually a good barometer of awards success, which is why I've included it in this round-up. But do awards bodies have the stones to nominate a World War II film in which a young German boy (whose imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler [played by the film's director Taika Waititi]) learns his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic? Without having seen the film, I can't make any judgement on whether it is satire or just in incredibly poor taste. Expect that debate to rage on. 

Adam Sandler could get nominated for an Oscar. I'll take 'sentences I never thought I'd write with any sincerity' or 'there's a better chance of Satan ice-skating to work than this happening' for $500, Alex. But... strange as it may seen, Sandler is getting some of the best notices of his career for his role in the Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems, playing a charismatic New York jeweller pursuing his next big score. If nothing else, he might end up with the Razzie Redeemer next year!

Le Mans '66 [previously titled Ford V Ferrari] might also see some awards love (as with 1917, potentially in the technical fields) for its recreations of the 1966 Le Mans 24hr race which saw Ford- who had developed a revolutionary new car- challenge Ferrari for the title. So far, does what it says on the tin. Matt Damon and Christian Bale play American designer Carroll Shelby and British driver Ken Miles who help to build the mean machine. High-octane racing, true-life story? Should see this mentioned quite a bit. 

Edward Norton pulls double-duty in Motherless Brooklyn, both directing and starring in this 1950s-set crime drama based on a novel by Jonathan Lethem. Norton plays a private detective, who has Tourette's, as he investigates the murder of his mentor and friend. Other cast members include Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, and Willem Dafoe. Dafoe also appears in The Lighthouse, directed by Robert Eggers, about two lighthouse keepers who try to keep their sanity whilst living on a remote New England island in the 1890s. Dafoe's co-star is Robert Pattinson, clearly getting the independent movie itch out of his system before he plays Batman. The Lighthouse is moody, black-and-white, and apparently weird as all get-out. It might be too rich for the blood of most awards bodies, but is worth mentioning nonetheless.

Legal thrillers and courtroom dramas also do well at awards times, so you might see Just Mercy and Dark Waters being mentioned too (subject to them meeting any eligibility criteria). Just Mercy stars Michael B. Jordan as lawyer Bryan Stevenson, as he attempts to overturn the conviction of a man sentenced to die for a crime he didn't commit. Dark Waters stars Mark Ruffalo as corporate defence attorney Robert Bilott who takes on an environmental lawsuit which exposes a company's long history of pollution. 

Literary adaptations tend to do well at awards time, so there's two that you might be hearing a lot of. First is The Personal History Of David Copperfield, directed by Armando Iannucci with Dev Patel in the title role, supported by a starry cast including Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi, Hugh Laurie, Ben Whishaw, and Gwendoline Christie. The second is Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women, with Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep. Previous film adaptations of Little Women have done the business at awards time, so this may well do the same. 

You might think that Cats is a bit of a shoo-in for some awards love. Big musical adaptations do tend to do well. But there's a bit of a fly in the ointment here: the deadlines for eligibility for several major awards bodies pass in early December, and- as yet- there have been no planned showings prior to its release around Christmas. Although I can see one silver lining if it misses the window - at least we won't get subjected to bloody 'Memory' over and over again...

Biopics also do well at awards season, so here are several that might get nods

- The Two Popes: directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener), this film documents a meeting between Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins) and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) who would go on to succeed Benedict as Pope Francis when Benedict resigned in 2013. Both actors have been praised, with particular attention given to Pryce who might get his first Oscar nomination at the ripe age of 73.

- A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood: if you were going to cast someone to play Fred Rogers (a.k.a. The Nicest Man Who's Ever Lived), Tom Hanks would surely be a no-brainer. Well, that's exactly what Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) did. Rumour has it, though, that Hanks has been submitted in the Supporting Actor category with co-star Matthew Rhys in the main. Either way, I'd expect to see Hanks mentioned a lot.  

- Rocketman: Taron Egerton's performance in this raucous, musical fantasia about the life of Elton John is committed and superb, and he deserves (and may well get) a lot of awards love for it, not least because he does all his own singing too. Also, a massive shout-out to the costume design because it is immense and incredibly detailed!

- Judy: Renée Zellweger is uncanny as the late, great Judy Garland in this biopic about the screen legend's latter days in London. It goes beyond mimicry to find the soul of the woman behind and, even if the film itself is a bit by-the-numbers, Zellweger's emotive performance is just superb. 

- Bombshell: this timely look at the exposé into the "alleged" harrassment of several female Fox News staff by its late founder Roger Ailes has been garnering a lot of love for several members of the cast, including Charlize Theron as news anchor Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as commentator Gretchen Carlson. 

- Harriet: Odd to think, with all the films that have been made on the subject of the abolition of slavery in the US, that this is the first film made about the extraordinary life of Harriet Tubman. She helped dozens of slaves get to freedom via a network of activists and safe-houses also known as the Underground Railroad. Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Bad Times At The El Royale) takes the title role and her performance has been highly praised, so expect to see her named.  

Will Joker see any awards love? Honestly... maybe. I don't know whether it'll be to the scale of Black Panther last year, but I'm certain it's going to get noticed. For all of its flaws (of which there are many), there's no denying that Joaquin Phoenix's performance is committed and intense, and his physical transformation is something that awards bodies tend to like. I wouldn't be surprised to see his name in some of the Best Actor categories- and the film winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (a prize that usually goes to foreign-language auteur films) is an interesting sign. I've long said that awards bodies need to get over the sniffiness towards genre movies, and Black Panther's nominations last year seem to be a watershed in that tide changing, so who knows?

I thought I'd leave this question til last, as is my wont. Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (or Episode IX, or whatever we're calling it) is- without hyperbole- one of the most hotly-anticipated films of the year, if not the decade. Could we see a Return Of The King-style awards jamboree for the final instalment, to celebrate the entire trilogy (and, the whole Skywalker saga as a whole)? I think (given the less-than-warm reception The Last Jedi has had in some quarters), it would have to be virtually perfect for that to happen. But stranger things have occurred. What's most likely is that it'll get a couple of token technical nods. It'll also depend on whether it makes the eligibility windows for this season. Speaking of which...

The timetable for the major awards in 2020 is as follows:

Film Independent Spirit Awards
Nominations announced: 21st November 2019
Awards ceremony: 8th February 2020

Critics' Choice Awards
Nominations announced: 8th December 2019
Awards ceremony: 12th January 2020

Golden Globes
Nominations announced: 9th December 2019
Awards ceremony: 5th January 2020

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards
Nominations announced: 11th December 2019
Awards ceremony: 26th January 2020

Writers' Guild Of America (WGA) Award
Nominations announced: 6th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 1st February 2020

Producers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award
Nominations announced: 7th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 18th January 2020

Directors' Guild Of America (DGA) Award
Nominations announced: 7th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 25th January 2020

BAFTA Film Awards
Nominations announced: 7th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 2nd February 2020

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)
Nominations announced: 12th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 8th February 2020

Academy Awards (Oscars)
Nominations announced: 13th January 2020
Awards ceremony: 9th February 2020

So a busy couple of months ahead - only one thing for it...

Review: Terminator: Dark Fate (UK Cert 15)

When Sarah Connor prevented Judgment Day, she changed the future and re-wrote the fate of humanity. Two decades on from that fateful day, a young Mexican woman called Daniella Ramos has her life upended when a ruthless new Terminator travels back in time to hunt and kill her. Luckily, she's got some help in the form of an augmented human (who has also travelled back in time) and Sarah herself...

Directed by Tiim Miller (Deadpool) and with a story co-written by James Cameron, there was anticipation that Cameron's return to the Terminatorverse would provide the much-needed spark to lift the franchise from the doldrums it's found itself in. Honestly, I saw the film more than a week ago and it's taken me this long to formulate what I think about it (and muster up the required enthusiasm to write about it). That should tell you something.

The first third of the film is strong, well-paced, and intermittently thrilling (a few very obvious CGI moments aside). Mackenzie Davis gives a decent turn as Grace, the augmented human from the future sent back to protect Dani. There's a couple of interesting choices made with Grace's character- such as her needing a cocktail of medicine to survive- even if it's a bit predictable as to how she is the one to be sent back. Natalia Reyes is also pretty strong as Dani, starting off as a normal girl whose life gets thrown into chaos (and I'm glad the script didn't go down the expected route that Dani is the mother of the next hero, reducing her agency and character to that of an incubator). Also, there's a great thrill in seeing Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor - battle-hardened, haunted, but still a bad-ass. So far, so good. 

But, ironically, the wheels fall off it once Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his appearance as the retired T-800 who now goes by the name of Carl. When the uneasy alliance between him and the trio forms, that's when the film loses its shine and becomes another painfully generic middle-of-the-road actioner. 

Schwarzenegger is serviceable, even if the backstory that 'Carl' has been given is all sorts of ridiculous. I was bothered less about that than others (hi, Rhys!) as there's a bizarre kind of narrative sense to it (at least, the beginning of it). But once he comes into the film, it devolves into set-piece after set-piece, and also the CGI starts to get really dodgy and really noticeable. Characterisation seems to go for a burtons as well, and the tension between Sarah and T-800 isn't played to its full strength.

When we talked about it, Matt joked that the film could have been called Terminator: The Force Awakens in that there's the passing of the torch to a new generation (with the old guard in the background). With the film bombing at the box office, it's unlikely that this will now happen. This is the fourth attempt to reboot/restart/reimagine the Terminator franchise and none of them have been successful (which is a shame as Salvation is a pretty strong start). Maybe they should leave it alone?

In conclusion, I realise it's damning the film with faint praise, but I went into the cinema with incredibly low expectations (after the dumpster fire that was Terminator: Genisys) and came out pleasantly surprised in some respects. There were bits I liked, but overall it's just very bland. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Tez

Watchers Productions Presents... Strange Tales: Epimetheus

Happy Halloween everyone!

We are delighted to announce the release of our next Strange Tale:

EPIMETHEUS

Screenplay by Xander Grant (from a story by Rhys Jones & Xander Grant) and directed by Rhys Jones

Starring: Lucas Eisele (Peter), with the voices of Bethan Leyshon, Matthew Doman, and Hannah Celyn Griffiths


Peter hosts his weekly Un-Boxing Streaming Channel. This week, he has been sent something very special - but would you open the box?

Watch here!


For more information about the project and the other films already released and those currently in production, please see the Watchers Productions website.

Review: Midsommar (UK Cert 18)

Ari Aster's second film (after the gutwrenching Hereditary) ventures into Wicker Man territory with a nasty but guiltily pleasurable folk horror. 

Dani (Florence Pugh) and Christian's (Jack Reynor) relationship is foundering, but- just as Christian gets the nerve to end it- Dani suffers a horrific family tragedy. Lost and grieving, Dani goes with Christian and two of his friends- Josh (William Jackson Harper) and Mark (Will Poulter)- to Sweden, along with their friend Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) for his home village's once-in-a-lifetime midsummer festival. But what should be a summer of fun soon descends into a nightmare as the festivities reveal a darker motive...

This isn't a traditional horror movie. There are several shocking moments of gore and intense violence, but if you're looking for a more jump-scary film, this might not be for you. The film is also slow, deliberate, and takes a long time to get going (which sounds like a criticism, but it isn't). We spend a long time with the characters before they get transplanted into Sweden, which is good- it establishes the characters effectively so, when they do get to Pelle's village and things really start to kick off, the audience has got a sense of who they are and- more crucially- what they may do. 

Florence Pugh's performance is visceral, authentic, and intense. She bears the emotional heavy lifting of the piece, if you will, and is utterly compelling. As tragedy piles on tragedy, she is undoubtedly the one character you're meant to root for and her emotional arc (whilst somewhat predictable) is still satisfying. By the utterly batshit bonkers finale (which again, sounds like a criticism but isn't), Dani isn't the same girl who entered the village at the start and you can't help but have a little twinge of pleasure seeing her change. I believe the word I'm looking for is schadenfreude...

Christian could easily have just come across as an unfeeling douchebag, so it's to Reynor's credit that the character isn't just an absolute tool (which could easily have been the case). True, he's emotionally distant and there are times you wonder how the hell this relationship ever got as far as it did (it's telling that there's no scenes of intimacy between the two; not even a kiss). But in a hamfisted and desultory way, he's trying to be there for Dani. It's just not enough. Again, there's a perverse kind of pleasure seeing what happens to Christian: even if it does involve one of the most bizarre and- frankly- unerotic sex scenes I've seen in a while.

Will Poulter plays Mark as an abrasive asshole who totally disrespects the village, and does it well; such is the performance that you're just waiting for Mark to get his comeuppance (which, of course, does come). If you're used to seeing William Jackson Harper as the nervy Chidi in the frankly brilliant The Good Place, you'll see a different side to him here: Josh is much more laidback, although even he can't resist crossing some lines (for which he duly pays the price). Blomgren's nice-guy Pelle is a lovely contrast to the Americans and never comes off as creepy or deranged. He also seems to genuinely care for Dani, although there's never a hint of impropriety. Whilst the outsiders see barbarity in the festival, he sees it as natural, what they do. There's also some strong performances by Henrik Norlén and Gunnel Fred as village elders Ulf and Siv, who lead the festivities. 

The cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski is sublime. The village and its environs look beautiful and it's interesting to have events that (in traditional horror) would take place in dark places out in the bright sunshine. The script also does something that I like; when the villagers are speaking Swedish to one another, it's not subtitled. We, like the outside characters, are left to intuit what's being said. 

I think I've said more than once on the blog that The Wicker Man (1973) is one of my favourite films, and there's a definite vibe of that film in Midsommar. Outsiders to an otherwise insular community who have their own ways of doing things which seem unusual to those not from there, charismatic leaders, seductive maidens, and a striking ending where things go up in flames... but Midsommar has a style of its own and isn't just a pale rip-off of a superior film. Yes, there are moments where the plot gets predictable but that doesn't really matter as the performances carry those moments. 

A cerebral and visceral horror film, perfect for Halloween. 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tez

Cardiff On Film

Cardiff is abuzz at the moment with news that a major thoroughfare in the city has been closed off to allow filming of a feature film. Mark Wahlberg's latest film Infinite has been able to close off a portion of Newport Road for a couple of days in order to film a car-chase sequence. 

Cardiff is becoming very well known as a filming location. Several big-budget TV shows (including Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock, and Merlin) have utilised the city onscreen and films are starting to follow suit. 

Here are ten films that have been shot in the Welsh capital.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)

Opened in 1999, Cardiff's Millennium [now Principality] Stadium is one of Europe's finest sporting arenas (although I might be biased). It's hosted everything from international rugby fixtures and massive concerts, to speedway and monster trucks. Unsurprisingly, it's also in demand as a filming location. The second Kingsman film used the stadium as a holding ground for cages of those infected by Poppy's (Julianne Moore) deadly drugs.

28 Weeks Later (2007)

The Millennium Stadium also appeared in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's sequel to 28 Days Later..., doubling for Wembley Stadium.

Yesterday (2019)

Danny Boyle's musical fantasy, in which aspiring musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) wakes up one day to find he's the only person on Earth that remembers the Beatles, also used the Principality Stadium as a venue for filming, during Ed Sheeran's record-breaking four-night residency there in June 2018 (Sheeran appears as "himself" in the film)

The Contractor (2007)

The former British Gas offices at Helmont House on Churchill Way (in Cardiff's city centre) have been used on TV a few times (in both Doctor Who and Torchwood), and are used in this Wesley Snipes action thriller. Tez used to work for British Gas and says it was an incredibly surreal day to look out of the window and see Wesley Snipes standing outside work doing fight choreography!

Sword Of The Valiant: The Legend Of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight (1984)

Cardiff has not one, but two castles, in the city: there's a large one in the centre of town (home to the Bute family) and there's a smaller one- Castell Coch [the Red Castle], known for its fairytale turrets- on the outskirts of the city at Tongwynlais. Both castles were used for this ripping tale of sword-and-sorcery starring Miles O'Keeffe as Sir Gawain and Sean Connery as the Green Knight. 

A Kiss Before Dying (1991)

Much like some of the other films on this list, you might not expect it to have a Welsh connection. The opening sequence to this crime drama, starring Matt Dillon as a murderous student and Sean Young as both his girlfriend and her twin sister, is set in a steel mill - and was filmed in Cardiff! 

Human Traffic (1999)

OK, so the film is actually set in Cardiff and isn't pretending to be anywhere else - but I couldn't leave it off the list. Justin Kerrigan's cult flick about five friends on a massive weekend features many of Cardiff's pubs and clubs (including the Philharmonic, Club X, Emporium, and what used to be the Firedrake and Firkin [and is now Gassy Jacks]) as their backdrops. 

Solomon & Gaenor (1999)

One of two Welsh-language films to date to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (the other being Hedd Wyn, the 1992 biopic of the eponymous Welsh poet), this romantic drama set in 1911, about a young Jewish man (Ioan Gruffudd) and a young Welsh girl (Nia Roberts) who fall in love, was shot throughout Cardiff. 

Flick (2008)

A one-armed detective is on the track of a 1950s Teddy Boy who was murdered and has been brought back from the dead in the modern day and is out for revenge. Now I've got your attention... this is (believe it or not) the basic premise of David Howard's comedy-horror Flick. And as if this wasn't surreal enough, the one-armed detective is played by Faye Dunaway. Yes, that Faye Dunaway. The film was shot throughout South Wales, including Cardiff. 

Killer Elite (2011)

Dubai, Marrakech, Melbourne... Cardiff? The globetrotting cast of Killer Elite certainly got around! They filmed in the Welsh capital in July 2010, with stars Robert De Niro and Jason Statham seen filming on Windsor Place in the city centre. Filming also took place in the Pontcanna area of the city.

Review: Joker (UK Cert 15)

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.

Afflicted with a condition which causes sudden and uncontrollable laughter, Arthur Fleck makes his living as a clown, although he aspires to be a stand-up comedian. However, when he is sacked from his job then gets into an altercation with three Wall Street douchebags on the subway, Arthur begins a spiral to becoming... the Joker.  

This film was always going to be a tough sell for me. As I've said in previous reviews, I'm not a massive fan of Joaquin Phoenix so the film already had that going against it. Also, I was wary about any kind of origin story for the character, as the Joker always works better as an enigma, an agent of chaos and anarchy, rather than there being a man with a past behind it (the obvious exception to that is The Killing Joke, but even that's not definitive). So, the film had a bit of an uphill climb before it even started. But I suppose director and co-writer Todd Phillips (The Hangover, Due Date) and co-writer Scott Silver should be congratulated. They've done something I never thought possible: they've made the Joker dull. 

I'll give Phoenix this: his performance as Arthur/Joker is certainly committed. Losing over 50lbs, his body looks ravaged, angular, and frankly unwell. It's a physical transformation up there with Christian Bale's in The Machinist, and it does make for a striking visual image. But the script is bland, tedious, self-important, and over-reliant on Phoenix's tics and tricks which (had they been used sparingly) would have been more effective. Take the laughter, for instance. The first time you hear it, it's unnerving. Not so much, the fifth or sixth. It loses its impact quickly. Similarly with all the dancing; the first time it happens, it's quite striking (although goes on too long). But that is used and overused to the point of absurdity. 

Arthur/Joker describes himself as a "mentally ill loner" but the illness is never specified, and frankly the screenwriters are playing a dangerous game tying mental illness to villainy. Jesus, as if it needs saying, but not everyone with a mental illness is an unhinged obsessive with a streak of sadistic violence lurking just under the surface. See? You've made me go all 'Not all men...' on this issue, Phillips! Similarly, the script goes for the most low-hanging fruit to give some kind of explanation for Arthur's mindset (child abuse), which is frankly insulting. At least they (sort of) undo the 'Arthur-is-Thomas-Wayne's-illegitimate-son' angle which had more than one audience member scoffing with derision (although there's still a maddening hint at the end that it could still be true) and they don't pull a Batman (1989) with having Arthur as the Waynes' killer which looked glaringly like the case at one point.

The main problem I have is that Arthur never feels like the Joker. If you look back at other versions of the character (specifically Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson), there's a tension, a menace, every time they're on the screen. At any moment, they could erupt into an act of hideous violence then continue as if nothing had happened. That danger makes them enthralling. Not once, never once, did I feel that about Phoenix. There was a hint of it in the final scene when he gets on to Murray Franklin's chat-show, but by that point it was too little too late. Phoenix does a better job at the character than Jared Leto did in Suicide Squad, but if that isn't damning him with faint praise, I don't know what is. 

In the press interviews for Joker, one of the main influences that has been talked about a lot is late 70s/early 80s Scorsese, specifically Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, and The King Of Comedy. So it's no surprise that Robert De Niro turns up to try and give the film a bit of legitimacy by having him as talk-show host Murray Franklin who initially mocks Arthur (and even gives him the name 'Joker', although not as a compliment). It's a solid turn by De Niro, but the role of Murray Franklin could have been played by literally any other actor. 

Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2) gets massively underused as Sophie, a nascent love interest for Arthur, but there's a clue from the off that things aren't quite right; when Sophie goes to Arthur's door to ask whether he had been following her to work (because nothing says romance like stalking, am I right?), she decides to forgive him this massively creepy behaviour because he's 'funny'. Frances Conroy- another great character actress- is wasted as Arthur's overbearing mother Penny, although she does get one or two good lines, especially one where she asks Arthur 'don't you have to be funny?' to do stand-up. 

The film isn't a complete let-down: there were some bits I liked. The scene where you see why Arthur gets fired (for bringing a gun to a performance at a children's hospital) is well done. I liked Brett Cullen's unexpectedly hard-man turn as Thomas Wayne; Thomas always seems to be presented as a kind of wimpy milquetoast, but here he's got some guts. The Modern Times sequence (where Arthur infiltrates a gala showing of the Chaplin film then confronts Thomas in the men's room) is strong. Plus the sequence towards the end, where he's driven through the rioting streets of Gotham, surveying the madness that he's wrought, is pretty effective. It's just a shame that the 'Kill The Rich'/us-v-them/destroy the 1% now feels a bit like going over old ground; had the film been released a few years ago, say around the time of the Occupy Wall Street movement, it might have felt a bit more relevant.

All said, Joker was a letdown. A few interesting moment shine through amidst the self-indulgent claptrap but they're few and far between. There was no real need for this film to be made at all, and even less need for a sequel. Let this end here. For the love of God, please.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Tez

News From Comic-Con 2019

San Diego Comic-Con celebrated its 50th birthday this year, running from July 18-21 for four days of geeky goodness. Here's some highlights of this year's event.

MARVEL PHASE 4 - AND BEYOND?

Having missed out last year's Comic-Con, Marvel Studios made a triumphant return to Hall H on Saturday evening, as studio head Kevin Feige (along with some guest stars) detailed the forthcoming MCU movies and TV shows (for Disney+) which will be released over the next couple of years.

Some things that had been rumoured were confirmed, a few things were announced that sent fans into a frenzy, and a couple of things were teased which could be interesting down the line. They also shared the rather stunning news that Avengers: Endgame has become the top-grossing film of all time at the worldwide box office, not adjusted for inflation, ending Avatar's decade-long reign.

So buckle up, here's the scoop on Phase 4 (or whatever the hell we're meant to be calling it now).

BLACK WIDOW
Directed by Cate Shortland
Release date: May 1, 2020

Scarlett Johansson was on hand to show the first footage from Black Widow (which is currently in production and has shot for 30 days so far). The teaser shows Johansson and Florence Pugh (who's playing Yelena Belova, a 'sister' to Natasha) knocking the hell out of each other, before ending with a shot of one of the film's major antagonists: Taskmaster. No word on who is under the mask, though.

It could potentially be David Harbour. The Hellboy and Stranger Things star is playing Alexi, part of the Soviet Union's Red Guardian project (think a Russian Captain America). Oscar winner Rachel Weisz will be playing Melina Vostokoff (aka Iron Maiden), a veteran of the Red Room training, whilst O.T. Fagbenle (The Handmaid's Tale) will be playing Natasha's fixer, Mason.

One thing that has been clarified is exactly WHEN this film takes place. Many thought that it might be a prequel/origin story, but it's since been announced that the action of the film takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. This'll fill in some of the gaps in Natasha's story as she went on the run after helping Captain America and Bucky escape. Plus part of the film takes place in Budapest. Wonder if we'll end up remembering Budapest very differently afterwards?

ETERNALS
Directed by Chloé Zhao
Release date: November 6, 2020

After months of speculation, leaks, rumours, and theories, the panel confirmed that Angelina Jolie would indeed be joining the MCU as part of the cast of Eternals. She'll be playing Thena, one of the immortal aliens sent to Earth by the Celestials to protect humankind from the Deviants. Sounds epic. And with a timeline set to span eons, epic might be the right word.

Joining Jolie- who was making her Comic-Con debut at the panel- are Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari (who'll be playing the first Deaf hero in the MCU), Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak (the leader of the group), Lia McHugh as Sprite, and Don Lee as Gilgamesh. A very diverse cast for a very epic movie. As someone who knows absolutely nothing about the Eternals, I'm very excited to see this come to life

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Release date: February 12, 2021

This project had been previously announced (well, that there would be a Shang-Chi movie coming) but we had the announcement of the full title and some major casting, including the leading man. Chinese-Canadian actor and stunt performer Simu Liu (Kim's Convenience, Taken) will be taking the lead role as Shang-Chi. Apparently, the ink may still be a little wet on Liu's contract as he was only signed last week!

Shang-Chi (created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin) first hit the comicbooks in 1973 and is the son of Fu Manchu, trained in martial arts by his father then sent into the world to do his bidding. There'll be some updating of the character to avoid any of those pesky 1970s Asian stereotypes. 

Comicbook aficionados may also have had their interest piqued by the 'Legend of the Ten Rings' part of the title. The villainous Mandarin is known to use the Ten Rings in his nefarious plots. But, hang on, we've already seen the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. Well, no. Ben Kingsley's character was an actor hired as a front. But Shang-Chi will introduce the real Mandarin- and he'll be played by veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung (Infernal Affairs, Lust, Caution and Chungking Express). They'll also be joined by Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, Ocean's Eight) in an as-yet-unannounced role. Interesting times ahead.

DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
Directed by Scott Derrickson
Release date: May 7, 2021

Scott Derrickson (who directed the first Doctor Strange movie) started his film career in horror movies: The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Sinister, and Deliver Us From Evil were all directed by him. And it sounds like he's going back to his roots- and Strange's roots- for the next film, using 'the gothic and the horror and the horrific' of the original comicbooks to make 'the first scary MCU film'.

Sounds as if Benedict Cumberbatch might need a helping hand as the Sorceror Supreme goes to places unknown... luckily, Scarlet Witch will be there for him (as Elizabeth Olsen has confirmed she'll be appearing as Wanda, and that the Disney+ show WandaVision links to the film). No other details were given, but there's still plenty of time as it's nearly two years away.

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
Directed by Taika Waititi
Release date: November 5, 2021

Natalie Portman is back in the MCU. I repeat: NATALIE PORTMAN IS BACK IN THE MCU. For me, this was one of the biggest surprises of the panel (if not Comic-Con as a whole). Earlier last week, it had been rumoured that Taika Waititi had signed on to direct a fourth Thor film (after his success with Thor: Ragnarok). So, to have it confirmed was no surprise. But to have Portman back is major, given her less-than-enthusiastic response in the past. But maybe the idea of playing Thor was enough to get her back?

No, I've not gone mad. Natalie Portman will play the Mighty Thor. This is based on a 2014 comicbook storyline where Thor loses his powers and Jane Foster is deemed worthy to wield Mjolnir, so takes on the mantle of the God(dess?) of Thunder. Alongside Portman and Chris Hemsworth (naturally), Tessa Thompson will also be back, reprising her role as Valkyrie (who, at the end of Avengers: Endgame, became the ruler of New Asgard). No word on whether Tom Hiddleston will pop up, but you never know...


ONE MORE THING...

As if all of this wasn't enough, Feige couldn't help but tease a few more ongoing projects: sequels to Black Panther and Captain Marvel are in development (no surprise to either of those), as is James Gunn's Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3. But there's also going to be a Fantastic Four movie and a movie about... mutants (read: X-Men). Then to REALLY end things on a high, they announced this....

BLADE!

Well, not only did they announce the project - they also announced the new leading man. Double Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Green Book) will be playing the vampire hunter (previously played on screen by the utter legend that is Wesley Snipes). No confirmed release date but a very exciting announcement.

So there we have it! As if this wasn't enough, there's still this year's Disney expo (D23) in August - so there might be more news then!

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OTHER FILM NEWS

IT: CHAPTER TWO

One of the first trailers to hit from SDCC this year was the frankly nerve-jangling one for It: Chapter Two:

Set 27 years after the events of the first film, the now adult Losers Club (played by Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Hader amongst others) return to Derry to face off with the evil Pennywise for the last time. Bill Skarsgård still looks absolutely terrifying as the demonic clown, and you can even see a glimpse of the scene which apparently uses the most amount of fake blood ever in the movies. Poor Jessica Chastain...

HALLOWEEN

Sticking with horror for the moment, it was announced that- due to the success of last year's Halloween reboot- two more films are on their way. Entitled Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, they'll be released in 2020 and 2021 respectively.  

TOP GUN MAVERICK

A trailer dropped for next year's Top Gun: Maverick. 34 years since the first film, Maverick still has that need for speed:

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE

At the Terminator: Dark Fate panel, it was revealed that Edward Furlong would be returning to his iconic role as John Connor for the first time since Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was 28 years ago. What's interesting is that Dark Fate is essentially a direct sequel to Judgment Day (thus disregarding Rise Of The Machines, Salvation, and Genisys). Considering the critical drubbing Genisys got, a reboot of it mightn't be too bad an idea.  

JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT

I didn't know this was in the works, so it tickled me immensely to see that Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes were reuniting for another Jay and Silent Bob movie. Taking a satirical look at reboots, remakes, and sequels, the film will see Jay and Silent Bob return to Hollywood to stop a reboot of the Bluntman And Chronic movie from getting made. Trailer is here (it's Not exactly Suitable For Work, but would you expect anything less?)

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TV NEWS

It's rare that Comic-Con will give me more TV stuff to be excited about than movies, but that was definitely the case this year. There's a lot of really good TV stuff on its way. 

STAR TREK: PICARD

Sir Patrick Stewart got an absolutely storming reception when he appeared to talk about Star Trek: Picard. Since the project was announced, fans have been foaming at the mouth for more information, and we were not left disappointed. The fact that several familiar old faces popped up in the trailer was the icing on the cake.

HIS DARK MATERIALS

A rather lavish trailer for the new HBO/BBC co-production of His Dark Materials, based on the best-selling and award-winning novels by Philip Pullman. It's got a fantastic cast, headed by James McAvoy, Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Logan's Dafne Keen as Lyra. With the scope and range of a TV show, hopefully it'll do the source material justice.

WATCHMEN

It's rare that you'll hear me say this, but I admire Zack Snyder for his work on Watchmen. Famously thought unfilmable, he made a decent fist of it back in 2009 and- whilst it was never going to please everyone- it was as faithful as it could be (up to a point, of course). 

Ten years on, HBO have greenlit a new Watchmen series. However, this is a continuation of the acclaimed graphic novel (rather than a remake). Set in contemporary America, costumed heroes are outlawed and the doomsday clock continues to tick. With a cast including Jeremy Irons, Regina King, Frances Fisher, Louis Gossett Jr, and Tim Blake Nelson, it definitely looks worth a watch!  

THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

I was chuffed when this project was announced. With a star-studded voice cast (Helena Bonham Carter, Mark Hamill, Taron Egerton, and Alicia Vikander to name but a few) and the same attention to detail and craftsmanship that made the original film such a beloved classic, August 30th can't come quickly enough for me.

THE WITCHER

For those looking for their next sword-and-sorcery fix, The Witcher looks to deliver that in spades. Henry Cavill stars as Geralt of Rivia, and he's supported by Freya Allan, MyAnna Buring, Lars Mikkelsen, and Jodhi May. 

This show will be based on the novels and short stories by Andrzej Sapkowski, rather than the video games (in fact, showrunner Lauren Schmidt has said the show will not be adapting the video games). Henry Cavill was on hand during the panel to talk about the project: 

Sorry... where was I? 

OTHER TV NEWS 

Other bits of interesting TV news: 

• It's been confirmed (to nobody's great surprise) that Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. will conclude its run after Season 7.

• FX's spy cartoon series Archer has been renewed for an eleventh season! For the past few years, they've played with genre as the main character has been in a coma but, for Season 11, we're back to the real world- and Archer will be waking up! 

• Rick Grimes' spin-off movie (from The Walking Dead) will be released in cinemas only. Maybe that should have come under movie news instead?

So, there we go. Lots to look forward to in the coming year!