tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46110438935366378602024-02-07T17:49:10.951+00:00the cellulord is watchingfilm reviews, interviews and miscellaneous movie meanderingsCellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-74300342149359822492018-04-02T22:33:00.000+01:002018-04-03T03:11:52.058+01:00READY PLAYER ONE<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Even though <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ready Player One</i> is all about the insubstantial and the digital - from memories to all-pervasive flickering images on screens - it first saw life in the very substantial and analogue form of a novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On slices of dead tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, it’s worth mentioning, the written word is pretty much the only form of creative media that a person can do on their own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the games and films Cline loves are the expensive products of platoons of creatives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A novel just needs ideas, time and a keyboard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I see why he chose such an outdated medium to create his own fantasy about the power of the individual.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cline grew up in the 80s, marinating in the stew of popular media that was a new and fresh thing in the wake of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> (1977).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movies, music, TV shows and video games of that time formed him, in the way they formed an entire generation of kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And over that landscape of popular fantasies, one figure rose up to fill the sky and blot out the other suns - the monolithic figure of Steven Spielberg.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Cline took a break from writing film scripts to compose his first novel, his love story to the 80s and the media he loved from it, he could have hardly foreseen that -thanks, largely, to a little thing called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Things</i> - a whole new generation of kids were going to become obsessed with the 80s. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor could he have imagined, in his wildest dreams, that Steven Spielberg himself would decide to make his book into a film.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I learned that Spielberg was going to make it, I was delighted because that meant that there was going to be no problem clearing all the Intellectual Property rights for the innumerable Spielbergian references in the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I learned that he would, in effect, cut most of that out and I was hugely disappointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What an act of abject cowardice, I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How precious is he about his own work?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was he making the film simply to stop anyone else making it?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, now I’ve seen what he did with it and can absolutely see why he changed it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was right to!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he had crammed it full of references to his own films, it would be too self-congratulatory, too masturbatory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, Warner Brothers bought the rights to the book, and gave Spielberg free reign to play with their back category, instead of his own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m not going to dwell on the guest appearances and ‘easter eggs’, there are a million places you can go for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My reason for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> doing this, is that there are two particular ‘eggs’ in there that my partner was gob-smacked by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, despite studiously avoiding spoilers, I knew about them both in advance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One from the first trailer, and one from a loose-lipped reviewer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t know, so I got to experience the joy of realisation of those two moments through her - and I don’t want to spoil them for you.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But I will say that, uniquely, ‘easter eggs’ are sewn into the fabric of this film and that isn’t just a gimmick, it’s a necessity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story concerns an easter egg hunt through an infinite virtual world made up of innumerable fictional worlds, so it is only right that it should feature cameos (as we used to call them) by characters from those worlds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wreck It Ralph</i> (2012) did it first, of course, populating its virtual multiverse with countless characters from other Disney movies, and video games various, obscure and obvious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of course, playing spot-the-cameo will get in the way of you paying attention to the film, so Spielberg plugs us in to The Oasis within minutes of the film starting and gives us a quick guided tour positively jam packed with ‘easter eggs’, followed by a race featuring even more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good to get them out of the way early, so we can then concentrate on the plot and characters.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s not an unfair question to wonder if Spielberg’s heart is still in the right place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s now 71, and far less idealistic than he was when he made films about welcoming aliens with open arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His collaboration with his ubiquitous cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski (which began with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schindler’s List</i> and has continued these 25 years as an almost exclusive partnership for both men) is indicative of the turn in Spielberg’s interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The films he makes with Kaminski are visually cold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lots of greys and blues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of ’em, even light-hearted fare like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Catch Me If You Can</i> (2002), have the same serious, depressing colour palette and chilly side-light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where Spielberg’s films in the 80s were warm and colourful and idealistic (sometimes annoyingly so) the influence of the Polish cinematographer seems to have swung him in the opposite direction, hardening him into a more knowing film-maker, with a more cynical vision of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The typically bright and vibrant photography of Janusz Kaminski.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Corrupt and incompetent officials were always a feature of his work (take a bow Murray Hamilton), but that was just a hold-over of his hippie student days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These figures were always in the background and of far less consequence than the vibrant, lively foreground characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that has slowly evolved, so now the authorities are far more central and consequential in his work - from the scheming politicians of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amistad</i> (1997) and the petty-fogging bureaucrats of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Terminal</i> (2004), via the scheming politicians of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lincoln </i>(2012), to the Russians of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bridge of Spies</i> and the, ehm, scheming politicians of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Post</i> (2017).</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This monochrome Kaminski palette is perfectly suited to the seriousness of those grown-up films, but I have long felt that it works against the magic of his fantasy and adventure films.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minority Report</i> (2002) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">War of the Worlds</i> (2005), for example, are particularly brutal in their use of colour and light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is partly why I found <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tintin</i> (2011) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The BFG</i> (2016) so unconvincing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They didn’t radiate joy like his earlier films could.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of course, I complained about the irritating sentimental of films like his story in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Twilight Zone Movie</i> (1983) was, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Always</i> (1989) or ... shudder ... <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hook</i> (1991), so I guess there’s no pleasing some people.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A serious and cynical younger Spielberg, clearly burdened by the fact that The Academy kept ignoring him because he was making too much god-damn money. Oh, the misery of immeasurable popularity.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The upshot of all this was, I was seriously questioning whether Spielberg still had any instinct for fun, family movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once upon a time, serious questions were asked about whether he’d ever be able to make a serious film for adults; now one wonders if he’s forgotten how to make anything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>JJ Abrams has channelled Spielberg’s zeitgeist, most obviously in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Super 8</i> (2011) and, of course, <span class="st">The Duffer Brothers have filed the serial numbers off all of his best ideas and presented them to a new, uncritical audience, as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Things</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stephen Things</i> as it should really be called, since the bits they didn’t take from Spielberg, they took from King!</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But these are just Spielbergian avatars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about the real thing?</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The long, rambling, poorly-focussed point I’m making is that it seemed, for a long time, that Spielberg had lost his box office mojo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If ever there was a vehicle for 21<sup>st</sup> century Steven to remind us of the joys of 1980s Steven, this was it - and he steers it effortlessly.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was surprised by how different from the book these were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ernest Cline, clearly, hasn’t been precious about his creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read his geekgasm book a couple of years ago and, as such, I can tell you that Spielberg’s film version is really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ready Player 2.0</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is very different from the book - but entirely in the same vein.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A big part of the reason for that was the decision to hire Cline as the script-writer and adapter of his own work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Working with veteran scribe Zak Penn, he has, essentially, taken the story and the world of the book and created a branching narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a gaming term for when your character can go off and do different things and (to a limited extent) alter the rest of the game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hark at me, like I know the first thing about games.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here, in the film, we have the same vision, as in the book, of a hellish world 25-30 years hence, where “reality is a bummer” and “we no longer try to fix problems, we just try to outlive them” (sound familiar?).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Politics has ceased to have any meaning (as cyberpunk writers like William Gibson were predicting 35-40 years ago) as every strata of society is overseen by a vast all-pervasive corporation - Innovative Online Industries - or IOI as it is generally known (a nice touch of the 1984s, there) .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yeah, this is all sounding very familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s worth mentioning that, as with a lot of good science fiction, this isn’t really about the future ... It’s about now, a version of now just given a slight satirical twist.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_BhyXp5JIY0gGZNc30DQxFxmIHVzvRSSIVRTJj7GoxPxt34rgiIlQ2tUYEgS0ECpt4duWUpo9jdIk6w8W2QTEzX_18c-S-DPaOmN6pb_PmlJxUjzDedQfaOFzuObVMywBr7C3Hj6vjM/s1600/the+stacks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_BhyXp5JIY0gGZNc30DQxFxmIHVzvRSSIVRTJj7GoxPxt34rgiIlQ2tUYEgS0ECpt4duWUpo9jdIk6w8W2QTEzX_18c-S-DPaOmN6pb_PmlJxUjzDedQfaOFzuObVMywBr7C3Hj6vjM/s640/the+stacks.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>In The Stacks - the only thing that's in colour, is on screen.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wade Watts (<span class="nickname">Tye Sheridan)</span> is our guide through two different environments, firstly the real world of The Stacks, a horrendous world of poverty, injustice and inequality, which Kaminski, shoots in his usual restrained shades of grey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there is the far more colourful place, where who you are and how much money you have is of far less importance than how good your game-playing skills and how deep your knowledge of retro media: the massive on-line virtual reality world of The Oasis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, Wade becomes the elite gamer Parzival.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Were the real world is an all-too-credible <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dystopia</i>, The Oasis is the latest iteration of Thomas More’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">utopia</i>, a place of untold wealth, equality and justice which, by its very nature, can never really exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, of course, short-sighted Renaissance Man that he was, he reckoned without virtual reality.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The creator of The Oasis has died (always a good career move for a virtual celebrity) and has left a trail of clues buried in his virtual world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first person to solve all the riddles and find three hidden keys, will be given absolute control of The Oasis, and the trillion-dollar IOI business behind it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has led to a world-wide gold-rush of people, either individually or in groups, trying to follow the breadcrumbs and win the golden ticket. Yes, it's kinda like <i>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</i> (1971); so much so that I'm surprised they didn't layer any of the songs in there. Maybe they did, maybe I missed 'em.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wonder when Spielberg will announce that the keys to his kingdom at Amblin have been buried in an <i>Indiana Jones</i> film? Sorry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where was I?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Of course, IOI itself is hardly sitting back and watching all this, it has set up a ‘war room’ filled dozens of nameless people in virtual rigs, all striving to get to the prize first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enter Nolan Sorrento, head of IOI, who doesn’t quite click his heels and wax his ’tache to cue the audience’s hisses, but he might as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He informs the board that complete and undisputed ownership of The Oasis will give him free reign to fill up 80% of people’s attention with advertising; demonstrating that the true lords of evil in this technological age, are the ones who sell the ad space.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sorry, did someone just cough the word “Facebook”?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Orwellian IOI is determined to win the game, neither by guile nor expertise, but by sheer weight of numbers.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ready Player One</i> is the old story of free-spirited individuals facing off against a huge, soulless corporation with the free-will of the world at stake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">t’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2112</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>It’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Huge, soulless corporations are fond of telling this story. Maybe it's to taunt us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike Cline’s book, the film isn’t the product of one guy with a good idea, this is the product of thousands of people spending, reputedly, $350 million - including, please note, advertising spend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a very different thing.</div>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film is a multi-layered puzzle in itself, filled with the obvious attention-grabbing 'easter eggs', and the simple dynamics of a hero’s quest narrative, but then, shellacked onto that, is a lot of telling and subtle detail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film addresses the psychology of avatars, of the virtual face we present to the virtual world, and how that mediation can get in the way of actual human emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I'm not convinced it does this particularly well, mind - cos the emotions it's dealing with are kinda simplistic - but it's good that it attempts.</span><br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is some very skilled editing, as we skip back and forth between the real world and virtual, and see how events in the one affect events in the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spielberg knows we can follow this, because he’s seen Nolan do it in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Inception</i> (2010).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the point I feel Spielberg is making here is that, no matter how much you feel you are hiding behind your avatar, it is really translucent, your real identity and real personality leaks through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of the avatars - particularly those of the two leads and main protagonist - look a lot like their real-world selves. That’s an important and fascinating social point in these days of multiple online personas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Programmed into the film’s code is a concern about the relationships that develop in the idealised, highly-selective online world, and the effects they can have on real people in the real world: “Real world consequences ... real life and death type stuff!”</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Part of this desire to bridge the gap between the virtual and the actual is the way that Cline and Penn have souped-up the character of Art3mis<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- real name Samantha, don’t call her Sam - (played by Olivia Cooke), who, pointedly, isn’t a <i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">300 lb</span></i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">. </i>dude named Chuck who lives in his mother's basement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not that it should matter if he was, but still. She’s given far more to do than in the novel, especially when it comes to helping Wade grow up a bit and not be the introverted geek he idolises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> She's not the most pro-active character ever, but at least she gets to do more than trip over things and scream. So she's not an 80s female lead. She's not Willie Scott!</span></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Halliday, the dead designer of The Oasis (played by Spielberg’s latest muse, Mark Rylance), revealed in one of the memories he conveniently archived for anyone to watch, that his greatest fear was kissing a girl, and his greatest regret was not plucking up the nerve to do so. Yes, this is fairly infantile, but isn't that one of the deliberate 80s throwbacks - back to a time when being a geek was <i>not</i> socially acceptable, or cool, or mainstream, as it is now? I think so. And besides, an entire generation of kids have grown up experiencing everything through screens and, I am told, are developing serious social anxieties when they are offline; so, maybe the simple act of plucking up the courage to kiss a girl is <i>not </i>such a lame, insignificant thing.</span><br />
<span class="st"><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> I think the casting of Simon Pegg as Halliday's surviving partner 'Og' feeds into this, because Pegg was a pioneer of being Geek And Proud, with his 90s TV show <i>Spaced</i>. That was the moment when geeks (or 'nerds' as they were more commonly known ... or 'freaks', of course) started to emerge from the stereotypical mother's basement and edge into the limelight and the mainstream - typically through their use of the internet.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdthhgtv3Bs7G25GBAUFkbiShexaVlF4JCoaZIDmF79wL7NHgjISAm4LEHuJZF7YAzXAMTyUz5LjCfxG7EUP9gSPbjLBP7x2qb1LA0WxSVj01xWiDrSQUGPkADYIKfRD3eDRC3ujRIvs/s1600/wade+and+samantha+irl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdthhgtv3Bs7G25GBAUFkbiShexaVlF4JCoaZIDmF79wL7NHgjISAm4LEHuJZF7YAzXAMTyUz5LjCfxG7EUP9gSPbjLBP7x2qb1LA0WxSVj01xWiDrSQUGPkADYIKfRD3eDRC3ujRIvs/s640/wade+and+samantha+irl.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Wade and Samantha AFK. As kids probably don't say anymore.</b></td></tr>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As for the rest of Wade’s gang, the only one who really comes across as a fully-developed character, is Aech - played by Lena </span>Waithe - who is Wade’s best friend in both book and film, even though they’ve never met IRL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(See, see ... I’m down with my homies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a hood).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aech is a useful character to have around, being possessed of the ability to repair virtually anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or should that be ‘repair anything virtual’?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The inevitably spectacular show-down is very different from the much more personal conflict of the novel - But that’s inevitable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Films need spectacle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, the show-down at the end resembles nothing so much as the Battle of Pellenor Fields (a problem I had with the showdown of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Panther</i>, too).</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If you love the book, you might be disappointed at some of the omissions (there’s no walk-through the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">War Games</i> [1983], for example), but there are some delightful additions that make the film a companion piece to the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are sufficiently different that they complement each other, I don’t feel the one is better or worse than the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will note that some of the things that have been added to the show-down will make the film very popular in Japan! It's much less cerebral than the book but, then, it needs to be. Typing code can be made exciting - <i>Mr. Robot </i>has managed it - but that isn't what this film is doing, it's doing spectacle - and, nowadays, that's not done on a human scale, that's cast numbers of large things whacking each other. </div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a joyride of a movie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two and a quarter hours flew past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were laugh out-loud moments, mouth open in awe moments and an overwhelming feel good sense that a lot of spectacle films lack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ben Mendelson isn’t actually scary as Sorrento - his virtual henchman i-Rok (TJ Miller) and real-life henchwoman F'Nale ( Hannah John-Kamen) both come across as more convincing antagonists - so you never really feel that anyone is in danger (after all, you can always respawn if you die), but these were only concerns that dawned on me as I was emerging back into what passes for the real world.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For me, this is the most all-round satisfying film Spielberg has stuck his name to the front of, since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minority Report</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m definitely going to see it again and - in an uncharacteristic move - I think I may even recommend you to go see it in 3D.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If ever there was film that had earned the extra dimension ...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaot7iDnWPYTXS-2q1m1LxdBjIuUX4ci70It_7GM8Y5q3EoM-dzvop0xlaw7Vkq7m-4yIlNlcsYWigS8jz-AqESikzgexmIpGx508VidZst-QFCW-XbyRI19Pu9oWYB43NyG7_3UrFPUY/s1600/research.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="644" data-original-width="1280" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaot7iDnWPYTXS-2q1m1LxdBjIuUX4ci70It_7GM8Y5q3EoM-dzvop0xlaw7Vkq7m-4yIlNlcsYWigS8jz-AqESikzgexmIpGx508VidZst-QFCW-XbyRI19Pu9oWYB43NyG7_3UrFPUY/s640/research.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Where the book valued research and dedication, the film celebrates game-play skills. But that's in-keeping with the needs of the different medium. And the few scenes where Parzival and Art3mis</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> do ask Jeeves, are very entertaining. That's how you dump exposition, guys!</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The idealism at the heart of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ready Player One</i>, is something that it has borrowed from a film which doesn’t actually get a name check - one of the first virtual reality films: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hackers</i> (1995).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That film tells the story of a group of bored, overly-intelligent kids who take on a huge corporation and the FBI.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do it as a group of individuals, using the networks to gather together to ‘hack the planet’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in the early days of the internet, this was the idealistic ambition for the new tool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people saw it as terrifying and dangerous, but other saw it as freeing, empowering, democratising.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly a quarter of a century later, with the reputation of ‘the internet’ (if that is even a phrase that people still use) being batted around between dark net criminals, data mining corporations and pornographers ... and less and less about research, outreach and activism; one wonders who, ultimately, was right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ready Player One</i> is optimistic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It tells us that, no-matter how omniscient the enemy, it will always be possible for the little guy to use the behemoth’s size against it and eventually bring it down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wouldn’t that be nice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To think that a sheer act of will could control Google, or Facebook, or Cambridge Analytica.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, the website you’re reading this review on is owned by Google.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The social media site you linked from, is run by another faceless corporation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And heaven only knows who owns the company that pumps electricity into your house so you can do both.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The message of the film - delivered right at the end, to catch the attention of those who are still in their seats<b> -</b> in case there’s a mid-credits scene - is that we should maybe spend more time in the real world.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fuck that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you seen the real world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s horrible! Think I'll stick with my flickering screens.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzZWRyetfOM-fFzAYa1WXJ-GNm5LvQg-40myHNK4MzTrJKInZ_KHHYG7R8YZA9ivAunhj-NLlgriHEAbPArIBfkcv2yfHZ1yK8EYf2JaXamiPbbUZ41RvFVtLn9Kd5WOJc2uZA-nz6kk/s1600/ready_player_one_anorak_parzival.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzZWRyetfOM-fFzAYa1WXJ-GNm5LvQg-40myHNK4MzTrJKInZ_KHHYG7R8YZA9ivAunhj-NLlgriHEAbPArIBfkcv2yfHZ1yK8EYf2JaXamiPbbUZ41RvFVtLn9Kd5WOJc2uZA-nz6kk/s640/ready_player_one_anorak_parzival.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Are you the Key Master?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Dir: Steven Spielberg</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Script: Ernest Cline & Zak Penn</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Dur: 140 mins<br />Cert 12A</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-34967965812344969462018-03-29T01:00:00.001+01:002018-04-18T02:24:01.220+01:00ANNIHILATION<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFODcj4a0Jw5q5t5LHnRPYV6k_wBsFNVX2fJG66ZeHubwC0vCA6uuU3D7ypdPU6i6BvapXLKeZ_hI4wTwymZl6TI4rqlHos8z0FHRa8zmy8GxQHsbxMUF9qfwNry-DZFN6wp0pccpMCFA/s1600/annihilation-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1026" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFODcj4a0Jw5q5t5LHnRPYV6k_wBsFNVX2fJG66ZeHubwC0vCA6uuU3D7ypdPU6i6BvapXLKeZ_hI4wTwymZl6TI4rqlHos8z0FHRa8zmy8GxQHsbxMUF9qfwNry-DZFN6wp0pccpMCFA/s640/annihilation-poster.jpg" width="410" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although
this is a science fiction film, it would make an interesting double-bill with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ritual</i>, which is unashamedly a
horror film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This concerns a group of
women lost in a savage wilderness, with purpose and motivation; that concerns a
group of men lost in a wilderness, by accident, with no purpose and no clue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s interesting to compare and contrast how
they cope.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, to
establish its enlightened science fiction credentials, before it sinks into the
darkness of horror, the film’s first image is of a cell dividing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Biologist Lena (Natalie Portman) tells us
that four billion years ago, all life began with one cell, alone, utterly by
itself, dividing and doubling, then re-doubling, and so on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All life, she
reminds us, animal and vegetable, is related.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Funny how no film has clocked that before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have had biomechanical monsters, but have
we ever had biovegetable monsters before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I don’t think even Cronenberg - who was obsessed with monsters spreading
and growing like cancer - made that leap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thinking it through, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Invasion
of the Body Snatchers</i> (1956 and again in 1978 ... I ignore the subsequent
versions), those aliens were vegetables, but the films don’t really dwell on
that aspect of the invasion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
concentrate instead on the existential notion of a human being replaced by an
identical copy and the paranoia of not knowing who is or isn’t real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Annihilation</i> also wanders fairly quickly
into that territory, when Lena’s husband returns, but is subtly changed, less
emotional, less human. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s also been
missing for a year and she’d presumed him dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So she had lost the one she loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like Katherine Waterstone’s character in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Alien Covenant</i> (2017).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like
in Amy Adams’ character in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Arrival</i>
(2016).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is it that boy protagonists in
F&SF films <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are </i>lost, but girl
protagonists <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i> lost?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When she
touches her reappeared husband’s hand, we get the first of many subtle visual
metaphors ... Their hands are seen distorted through a glass of water - a
medium which warps and distorts - like The Shimmer, which takes life and alters
it, changes its shape and breaks down its barriers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Shimmer
is an area of disturbed and distorted land around the site of a crashed
meteor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The area is described as
possibly “a higher dimension?” - a veil which passes through to another
dimension, possibly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a notion
that viewers will be familiar with thanks to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Things</i>, but (as with everything else on that show) it
comes from somewhere else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You could
argue that the wardrobe (or the pools) in the Narnia books are gateways to other
dimensions ... But I think it is really H.P. Lovecraft we are leaning towards
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His open doorways are to other
dimensions, and should have been kept shut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because, in those Lovecraft dimensions ... There be monsters!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are told
that the military / scientific garrison encamped next to The Shimmer, have sent
in people and drones - and nothing has come back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the film’s framing device has told us that
Lena gets back - so we know the dénouement of this story going in!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a lot of science fiction, this is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> film, not a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what</i> film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wants us to
think about the underlying cause of what we see, not just to sit and let events
wash over us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It speaks
to the ambition of this film that the scenes of the soldier scientists
travelling through the alien wilderness, are set in broad daylight, and yet are
still deeply creepy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve all seen
groups of male soldiers creeping through wilderness - from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deliverance</i> (1972) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Southern
Comfort</i> (1981), to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Platoon</i> (1986)
and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Predator</i> (1987), but simply
making the soldiers women makes the whole thing seem more unusual and unique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That said, the sequence when one of their number
goes mad and starts brandishing a gun, is undeniably reminiscent of Bill Paxton’s
turn in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aliens </i>(1986).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I think, Garfield is aware of these
precedents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point they find a
mini-gun and one of the soldier scientists (played by Gina Rodriguez) picks it
up, then announces:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This shit is heavy
... Can’t carry this”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She isn’t Vasquez
... She doesn’t feel like she has anything macho to prove.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKB3PhGCg2InZy5HkTMvM6Pi8SRcwnduwBj46HVYGRI0I19CKlg1-EW_H8g-osRSLDf4dQcUw8NJs79bnfDD8epvEf-kU3c5ZBr9ImUU38Gj9Vu4JBdB8M14kZUbnWy9nXx2-buf7oORk/s1600/annihilation-the+team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="947" data-original-width="1420" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKB3PhGCg2InZy5HkTMvM6Pi8SRcwnduwBj46HVYGRI0I19CKlg1-EW_H8g-osRSLDf4dQcUw8NJs79bnfDD8epvEf-kU3c5ZBr9ImUU38Gj9Vu4JBdB8M14kZUbnWy9nXx2-buf7oORk/s640/annihilation-the+team.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The gang's all here: Arnie, Carl Weathers ... Sorry, I mean: Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton ... No, wait: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Natalie Portman, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson and Gina Ridriguez. Lock 'n' load, ladies.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The author
of the original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Annihilation</i> book,
Jeff VanderMeer, says that he hadn’t seen Tarkovsky’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalker</i> (1979) when he wrote his novel, it isn’t a deliberate
influence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think he can lay
claim to being unaware of Lovecraft’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Colour
out of Space</i> (1927), mind; which concerns a meteor which crashes to earth,
bringing alien life with it, which poisons a huge area of farm land known as ‘the
blasted heath’, wherein animals and plants mutate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Roadside Picnic</i>, which <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalker</i>
is loosely based upon, it is made clear (clearer than in the film), that ‘the
zone’ was created by aliens.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, adapter
and director, Alex Garland has clearly seen a lot of Tarkovsky ... Lena’s
flashbacks to happy times with hubby have the feel of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Solaris</i> (1972), and the its flashbacks impinged on the subjective
reality of the present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scenes of
the soldier scientists treading lightly through the wilderness have the feel of
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalker</i> ... Particularly in
terms<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of the eerie sounds that fill the
air. Of course, Tarkovsky’s toxic landscape was real, not created with careful
CGI as here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cancers that grew in
the bodies of Tarkovsky’s crew, including the director, himself, were reputedly
developed because of the exposure to the chemical waste in those corrupt
industrial environments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The notion
of cancer as a simple product of cell reproduction gone wrong, is a thread that
runs through the fabric of this film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During
one of the dreamy flashbacks, we are told that seeing the Moon in the daylight
feels like God made a mistake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her
husband is religious, where she isn’t, and insists that God doesn’t make
mistakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She promptly gives him an
example - telling him that ageing is a mistake that a cell makes - correct the
mistake and we’ll never age!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point
of this story is to plant the notion that our matter, our DNA, is editable,
reprogrammable and, therefore, the stuff of which we’re made can be
altered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is an important idea that underscores
what we are seeing in The Shimmer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Plants are
mutating, different species on the same vine, vivid multi-coloured molds are growing
on the trees. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lena describes the way the
organisms grow on each other as “malignant - like tumours”. The mutations “corruptions
of form ... duplicates of form ... echoes” get more obvious as the scientist
soldiers got closer to the centre of the anomaly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is integral to the movie - down at the
bone-marrow level - for these characters to be women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Shimmer is vibrant with life and, of
course, women are synonymous with the creation of life, so it is only right
that they should explore such a verdant place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
evidence of life changing - one could even say evolving - that they find inside
The Shimmer is both beautiful, in a painterly way, and grotesque.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are traumatising images in thee which
will live with you long after you’ve finished watching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get moments of truly disturbing body
horror, and the evidence of spectacularly horrific events in the past - rather
like MacReady and his team stumbling on the frozen remains in the Norwegian
base, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Thing</i> (1982) - another
unisex film about isolation and duplication, which this movie quietly channels
and challenges.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv__38c-YSFUDqP1JduQiv6I3q22xUTaxQrjoE0Wjs7ZJJkBAAfuL4JrFrmuglG41G8IojLXJmMFMa0Pvg94N_2OIp2XuwZRHFCEdXMU8L-iZbHymXJ64dSyqStVSPzThTVARKOt25q0E/s1600/annihilation-skull+monster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="1200" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv__38c-YSFUDqP1JduQiv6I3q22xUTaxQrjoE0Wjs7ZJJkBAAfuL4JrFrmuglG41G8IojLXJmMFMa0Pvg94N_2OIp2XuwZRHFCEdXMU8L-iZbHymXJ64dSyqStVSPzThTVARKOt25q0E/s640/annihilation-skull+monster.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Natalie Portman, submitting her audition tape, should they ever want to recast Ellen Ripley.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Garland
resists the temptation to bombard us with what John Carpenter calls cattle-prods
(loud bangs to make the audience jump).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The film’s big set-piece is the attack of a skull-faced bear, which is
all the more shocking because there is no musical build-up to warn you it’s
coming ... Just the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalker</i>-like
eerie tone in the air immediately after.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then there are the human voices in the music - umming and droning in a
style not dissimilar to the aliens in the Stargate sequence of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2001</i> (1968).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It all fills the film with unfamiliar life.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
sequence is unbearably tense (if you’ll pardon the pun) with one woman armed
and mad - although completely self-aware of her madness - one monster on the
loose, and three people gagged and tied to chairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very effective film making!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We see
everything with Lena - if she doesn’t see it, we don’t see it - we wake up when
she does, and wonder just how long she has slept, like she does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is subjective film making, from the
point of view of a woman who can no longer trust her own senses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>However, if
we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">are</i> to believe what we see - then
we see that light in The Shimmer diffracts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It bends and splits - like light travelling through a prism, or through
water in a glass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The light of The
Shimmer doesn’t blend into the world - it diffracts - it sits in the air like
oil in water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Imposed upon it, not part
of it.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-j_rQ3t27MHQxPsct3ACiWo8BqNICKSJTUEtOIqJY16Khhj1f8vm0YK4xhOtMhufA8cPZeblihqbkj3BEvBvJhozEzr-9gEKb9NqASdcSnLt2PcXvEqx4f8Sn-utt_3dXfz24awkaULA/s1600/exploded+soldier.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="798" data-original-width="1327" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-j_rQ3t27MHQxPsct3ACiWo8BqNICKSJTUEtOIqJY16Khhj1f8vm0YK4xhOtMhufA8cPZeblihqbkj3BEvBvJhozEzr-9gEKb9NqASdcSnLt2PcXvEqx4f8Sn-utt_3dXfz24awkaULA/s640/exploded+soldier.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The alien's attempts to blend in seamlessly with human life produced some mixed results.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The alien
growths are not integrated into life, they sit upon<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it, or grow through it and destroy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The humanoid plants have human genes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Animal and plant has diffracted but, are they
plants with aspirations to be human, or humans who would prefer to be plants?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Josie, the self-harming Physicist, clearly welcomes
the change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She goes native.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After this,
Lena, who is now alone, despairs and runs into the woods and - suddenly - finds
herself on the beach, by the lighthouse she has been seeking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we to believe this is literally
happening, or another hallucination?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
film doesn’t tell us, it leaves us room to speculate.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjl49mcNZrG0_LDFJORlkAAShGKaNuFsKdlJ308_7qaO9ZHjJ0ZQPULhiICn-AzB1IiAxTRAQzFkQYMcxC_r0APrwF-f1RObeo_soSI23ZsLyeKyJTZwGBDBn3dZnOIWtVUL6LkO_OiBE/s1600/annihilation-flower+people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjl49mcNZrG0_LDFJORlkAAShGKaNuFsKdlJ308_7qaO9ZHjJ0ZQPULhiICn-AzB1IiAxTRAQzFkQYMcxC_r0APrwF-f1RObeo_soSI23ZsLyeKyJTZwGBDBn3dZnOIWtVUL6LkO_OiBE/s640/annihilation-flower+people.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Flower to the people.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, in its
dénouement, we are introduced to the third state of being: mineral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sand of the beach is growing into crystal
trees, suggesting the minerals have memories of, or ambitions to become,
plants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Lena finds her actual
husband - his body has transformed from organic to mineral.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cinder shaped like a man, that maybe
retained memories of once being a man.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Inside the
alien’s chamber (which looks way too much like an extruded egg-chamber from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aliens</i> - one visual reference too many,
methinks), Lena finally meets the alien - and it is truly alien.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a cloud - glowing like a black hole in
reverse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It communicates through music -
deep, disturbing industrial synthetic sounds - after a soundtrack which has,
hitherto, been entirely acoustic and human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The alien creates an avatar of Lena, which doesn’t move independently of
her, it mirrors her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mimicking her, but
not perfectly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It imitates her
physically, where the skull-faced bear imitated its victim audibly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This suggests that the alien influence isn’t
really fundamentally changing life, just mimicking it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Echoing it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When it
touches her, the mimicry becomes complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It stops diffracting her and starts to reflect her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t understand fire - burning is just
another state change to the alien, as with Lena’s husband, who changed from
organic to charcoal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, burning the
alien, isn’t really going to kill it, since it seems to exist at a
sub-molecular level - like Carpenter’s Thing, it will just mutate and evolve
and move on to a new medium.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’ll never
go away, it’ll just go on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a
sufficiently chilling thought, that the film earns its cheesy horror-movie ‘surprise’
ending.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Garland has
humanised the characters as best he can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the novel (as in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalker</i>)
the characters have no names, only job descriptions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, he has named them - even though it’s
easier, in a film, to do away with names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Portman’s Lena is the emotional heart of the film - but she isn’t the
hysterical girl tripping over tree roots, nor is she the hysterical romantic
desperate to rescue her man; she’s a capable scientist and ex-soldier - they
all are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This film is very positive in
its depiction of women as protagonists and as active agents.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The rest of
the cast carry a significant burden - having to impart a lot of exposition,
whilst creating a distinctive and engaging character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Swedish actress <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tuva Novotny is particularly effective as Sheppard, who is the first
trooper to befriend Lena.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a
problem with </span>Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Ventress, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Twenty-five years ago, Leigh was, in my
estimation, the best actress working in Hollywood - in films like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rush</i> (1991), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hudsucker Proxy</i> (1994) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mrs
Parker and the Vicious Circle</i> (1994) there was no-one who could touch her
for intelligent, intense performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She’s still interesting and very watchable - but, here, she just sounds
interminably bored. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I presume that was
an acting choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s almost like she’s
been cloned before the film begins!</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Never-the-less,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Annihilation</i> is the smartest and most
involving film I’ve seen in some time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is visually sumptuous and subtle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
treats the audience with intelligence, and rewards the application of that
intelligence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It benefitted from a
second viewing and I await, with anticipation, the disc release with,
hopefully, a pile of extras from Alex Garland discussing his take on the film.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then I can
watch it back-to-back with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ritual</i>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBLWZIJsYBooq5uSgmUpOGXzP8DpCxq_pHT0NUxh5o3sjA9T2kzdV4b6hsdYO548cLhD9UrJF08nDfDKViVWiyvIKlkDmK6NfPdR4KXHaCTzvG6xkEKp6sDcpMwCx_UwFMfU3-JTYozs/s1600/annihilation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="508" data-original-width="1026" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnBLWZIJsYBooq5uSgmUpOGXzP8DpCxq_pHT0NUxh5o3sjA9T2kzdV4b6hsdYO548cLhD9UrJF08nDfDKViVWiyvIKlkDmK6NfPdR4KXHaCTzvG6xkEKp6sDcpMwCx_UwFMfU3-JTYozs/s640/annihilation.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Writer/Director: Alex Garland</b></div>
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<b>Cert: 15<br />Dur: 115 mins</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-1416996610389058502018-02-28T12:20:00.000+00:002018-04-17T23:54:16.528+01:00BLACK PANTHER<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv8OjFlsZGDLHO6dLe1Xut7Z0l7Mg3M37EG9hDu8VQu8VbZRUi1eaVpIXq7zF7QAnroyBp5B1vBkIF7TiE_6aqRkkR0pzUSc6T9TF8MAcYeERxWO3rKXYYfdJU10mPveQwmyP5zbN8nN0/s1600/latest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv8OjFlsZGDLHO6dLe1Xut7Z0l7Mg3M37EG9hDu8VQu8VbZRUi1eaVpIXq7zF7QAnroyBp5B1vBkIF7TiE_6aqRkkR0pzUSc6T9TF8MAcYeERxWO3rKXYYfdJU10mPveQwmyP5zbN8nN0/s640/latest.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometimes a film receives universal approval, and I’m left wondering if everyone else saw the same film as me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Logan</i> was one such and, to a lesser extent, this year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Panther</i> is, also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, before you start writing those letters - I enjoyed it, it was fine; but it didn’t strike me as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">outstanding</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the response to the film has been euphoric and unprecedented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/marvel-cinematic-universe-movies-by-tomatometer/" target="_blank">Rotten Tomatoes</a> has it at 97%, which is the highest rate given any new Marvel film since the first one, <i>Iron Man</i>, back in 2008. It has also, now, become the highest grossing of all the Marvel films. So the critics love it and the audience loves it. Who am I, then, to gainsay?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <i>Black Panther </i></span>has been claimed as a cultural event of seismic proportions for black culture, mostly because, for the first time, viewers of colour can see superheroic spectacle featuring people who look just like them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The response has been so one-sided and, being the pasty white-boy that I am, I am so unqualified to have an opinion about that, I hesitate to air my reservations, even though they don’t really touch on the core issue of the film - it’s racial identity - instead, my concerns relate more to the familiarity of the story being told and the slow pace at which they are telling it.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, before I begin, to be entirely clear - <i>I enjoyed the film!</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> I went to see it again, just to double-check my response and, on both occasions, found it to be </span>a perfectly adequate contribution to the burgeoning Marvel universe.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I liked the fact that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Panther</i> takes place entirely in Africa (apart from one shoot-out and car-chase in Korea, put there to appeal to the needs of the ever-more-important Far East audience).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I particularly liked the fact that they didn’t feel the need to shoe-horn in any cameos from The Avengers.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOELcQIGPDIxYgDZAY-JtbR_Z8FL-qXJG7VqqcKKpOikxMPdVz4oVpBF2rwGRKfd8l8KUgasqAF1szTmbXVaOzYIlKQCKp_U2syNXuScFEcywNd_x4FNFHEXF7L21YaMrJe89ne5q9J0/s1600/black-panther-trailer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1400" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGOELcQIGPDIxYgDZAY-JtbR_Z8FL-qXJG7VqqcKKpOikxMPdVz4oVpBF2rwGRKfd8l8KUgasqAF1szTmbXVaOzYIlKQCKp_U2syNXuScFEcywNd_x4FNFHEXF7L21YaMrJe89ne5q9J0/s640/black-panther-trailer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>So compelling is the notion of an uncolonised African super-power, that travel agents here in the real world have been turning customers away who want to holiday there.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I loved the design of Wakanda, from its fashion, to its architecture, it has been diligently thought through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have built an entire civilisation which takes its aesthetic cues from Africa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has not been westernised at all, indeed, it has Africanised western notions like the skyscraper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a beautiful thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the opening moments, when T’Challa flies over the city, it is a much science fiction location as the planets we see in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardians of the Galaxy</i> films.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I imagine the fashions, and particularly the face decorations, will have already entered the cosplay pantheon and, if last year’s response to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wonder Woman</i> is anything to go by, I expect every black kid (and some who now <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want </i>to be black) will be wearing Black Panther costumes at fancy dress parties!</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The all-female Wakandan army - the Dora Milaje - ( or, those “Grace Jones looking chicks”) not only have a great look, they are a great idea!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are led by the ferocious Danai Gurira - who is even more impressive with a spear than she was, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Walking Dead</i>, with a sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To have an army that is all female and all black in the era of #metoo and #time’sup is brilliant timing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, they represent just one way that Wakanda is a contrarian nation.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rzWmvJBYvPQyLzfLTzarvipWHVRCL6rGLGYIzWB7vEj9cO16kXVxB5n0Zxv9TOihUGg-owAz5xH0esdOazwf3VFzHd3JHS9hhJ2IuT86nthPBvjNCfBh2N0CL3pTKEHIXnO33g9c-Io/s1600/MLD-24055_R.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="1600" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rzWmvJBYvPQyLzfLTzarvipWHVRCL6rGLGYIzWB7vEj9cO16kXVxB5n0Zxv9TOihUGg-owAz5xH0esdOazwf3VFzHd3JHS9hhJ2IuT86nthPBvjNCfBh2N0CL3pTKEHIXnO33g9c-Io/s640/MLD-24055_R.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>I once heard a story that helicopter pilots in Viet-Nam were often female, because they are more efficient and more ruthless than male pilots. They were less likely to take risks and get their helicopter destroyed, and they were more likely to hit their targets. Don't know if that's true ... But I, for one, wouldn't mess with an army made up of motivated women.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I understand the politics of the film, and can see the appeal, to the ancestors of slaves, of an African super-power which has never been colonised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a fantasy, but one that speaks to the heart of black culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Killmonger (Gawd, what an awful name ... Sorry, but it is), in his opening scene, points out that museums are full of artefacts that the West stole from their rightful owners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this way, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Panther</i> is an unambiguously political film, moreso than any Marvel film to date.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The first problem I had with the film came with T’Challa’s coronation, which is a mix of ultra modern (the technology to stop the waterfall) and traditional (the whole having a fist-fight on a waterfall thing) and mystical (using magic herbs to take away the king’s super powers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This whole ceremony is repeated, later, when Kilmumble challenges for the throne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is dramatically quite weak for the film to repeat itself like this, especially since the betrayal of M’Baku - the first challenger - is simply a red-herring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would have been more dramatic, and less predictable, to combine these two narratives into one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, it would have reduced the significance of M’Baku’s role, slightly, but it would have beefed up Kilwomble’s exponentially.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After the coronation, they bury their king, as you do, and he has a vision lifted bodily from Schrader’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cat People</i> (1982), featuring panthers in the trees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he gets to talk to his dead dad, like Thor did in last year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ragnarok</i>, and like every hero gets to talk to every dead mentor, from Luke Skywalker to Frodo to Harry Potter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s okay, I get it; it’s the first time a black hero has been able to do this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cool.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWN6PYt-n8uEwY0AVP9XfS5F0Q1YvhfjxHDz8fxedPnqSzYGw_vhoelIV-Af3euzLP4g4JNmXYPGc2TkQmEcOn9YHLwT4HRJ3zA5rADZ8kzQTYHo2hu5KWnenw2MQGN1FS20VDjwsZ9M/s1600/panther_tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWN6PYt-n8uEwY0AVP9XfS5F0Q1YvhfjxHDz8fxedPnqSzYGw_vhoelIV-Af3euzLP4g4JNmXYPGc2TkQmEcOn9YHLwT4HRJ3zA5rADZ8kzQTYHo2hu5KWnenw2MQGN1FS20VDjwsZ9M/s640/panther_tree.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Malcolm McDowell shows Nastassja Kinski his pussy, in 1982's <i>Cat People</i>.</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0meUa1g4wMt0qw8al7Kf6TEfV3xpfy4E_eCmKtMgm-5phclDF-xQ1Ofhv1RiU_ZyIiNfTk8uTJH7WIrFu7VTw1KBSCOCRFpWzYUUyiUu-3DWtwpZzprpX8RGX91R1HL_Z7T_Ct8MXqo/s1600/cat+people+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1600" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0meUa1g4wMt0qw8al7Kf6TEfV3xpfy4E_eCmKtMgm-5phclDF-xQ1Ofhv1RiU_ZyIiNfTk8uTJH7WIrFu7VTw1KBSCOCRFpWzYUUyiUu-3DWtwpZzprpX8RGX91R1HL_Z7T_Ct8MXqo/s640/cat+people+tree.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The chosen one has undead daddy issues in <i>Black Panther</i>. Use The Force, T'Challa.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Father does offer one brilliantly tooled nugget of advice: “It is hard for a good man to be king.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not only a great line, and a precursor of the dilemma that T’Challa is about to face, it also lays the foundation for the T’Challla’s discovery of his father’s mistake.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nakia, T’Challa’s girlfriend (played by <span class="nickname">Lupita Nyong'o, taking a break from being mo-capped in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> films)</span> is his Jiminy Cricket - speaking for his conscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their first real conversation has her making her point with some fairly on-the-nose dialogue about why Wakanda should stop hiding behind its cloak of invisibility and use its power to help other nations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, his first scene after he becomes king, she tells him what his character arc will be.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Interesting, when there is a case being made for a black Bond (and, let’s be honest, the success of this film has made that a far more credible possibility) that T’Challa gets equipped with his wonderful toys by his sister, the precocious Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) and her ‘design group’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has, in other words, his very own Q Branch.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The showy pretend-it’s-all-one-shot fight is impressive, but that’s the way these things are done today, after two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kingsman</i> films, one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Atomic Blonde</i> and an entire <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Birdman</i>, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>there’s nothing surprising in it now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The car chase that follows it enjoys a lot of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fast and Furious</i> type physics, although the virtual-reality auto-pilot thing is very desirable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There isn’t a gamer in the world who won’t be wishing for one of those of their very own!</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, of course, Klaue (played, once again, by Andy Serkis, <span class="nickname">taking a break from being mo-capped in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Apes</i> films)</span>, who is the subject of all this sturm und drang, isn’t the real villain,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Killmuppet is, and he doesn’t step forward until we’re an hour in - basically, the half-way point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, when Klaue is done with as a distraction, he is just ignominiously disposed of; tossed away in the trash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is a shame, Serkis is far better than that and deserves better.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This, for me, really undermined that whole first hour - since what action there was, was all for nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fight on the waterfall wasn’t necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fight in the casino didn’t matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The car chase through the streets of Busan was an attempt to capture the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wrong</i> villain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a lot of wasted film time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All very well made and very diverting, but not, ultimately, germane to the plot.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hang on, a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, when Martin Freeman (who's taking a break from selling mobile phones), as Ross, gets shot whilst being all heroic, simply sticking a metal bead in his wound will stabilise him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And how does that work, exactly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Magic?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Vibranium pixies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Midi-clorians?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, it works well enough to ensure that Everett Ross gets to stay in the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bilbo (or “coloniser”, as Shuri calls him) is very much the token white man from here on in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I still can’t get used to Martin Freeman pretending to have an American accent.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so, finally, attention shifts to the main antagonist - who we’ll refer to by his African name, if you don’t mind: N’Jadaka!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The explanation of his motivation is well handled, and helps make him a fully-rounded villain - like Zemo in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Civil War</i> (2016) was, before him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>King T’Chakka handled the matter badly in 1991 and King T’Challa will pay for it now.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtN5RdDTAEbafQoUSZBPP7pvZAve86Guu6uG6CHkilT0ZTNr1vgCP4CnhyphenhyphenOf8JyuK1BrZ14D3E9SDe8mdC6417aY1ZTAEaO9PpgR5dHSH6u2oYSCxA8nClLrGFqS439my45mRCbf_8ER4/s1600/killmonger2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="1600" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtN5RdDTAEbafQoUSZBPP7pvZAve86Guu6uG6CHkilT0ZTNr1vgCP4CnhyphenhyphenOf8JyuK1BrZ14D3E9SDe8mdC6417aY1ZTAEaO9PpgR5dHSH6u2oYSCxA8nClLrGFqS439my45mRCbf_8ER4/s640/killmonger2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Hail to the king, baby.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>N’Jadaka is played with total commitment by Michael B. Jordan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is not surprising, since he’s working again with Ryan Coogler, who gave him his big break in 2015’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creed</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, he’d been working since he was a teen and, yes, he’d even played Johnny Storm in 2015’s ‘troubled’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fantastic Four</i> ... But it was the notices and accolades he got for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creed</i> that have set him up for life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, he was going to give his all for his friend, Coogler.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although N’Jadaka is arrogant - he struts around like a gangsta rapper - and needlessly aggressive - having killed hundreds of innocents in his drive for revenge - he is, essentially, right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i> betrayed by T’Chakka, and Wakanda <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">has</i> abandoned the rest of the African people to slavery and civil war.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so, finally, with N’Jadaka in the throne room throwing down his challenge, the story actually begins - at the end of act two!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, the confrontation between the T’Challa and his new arch nemesis should have been at the end of act one - then we could have had the entire middle act of T’Challa with no powers, fighting back, while N’Jadaka plots to infiltrate the world - and actually does something about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would raise the stakes world-wide - it would make T’Challa’s defeat tragic, and make his inevitable resurrection more triumphant.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As it is, he’s out of the picture barely more than ten minutes.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, my way of doing it, would have made the film more like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark Knight Rises</i> (2012).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that would<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>be okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I probably wouldn’t then mind the d<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">é</span>nouement being two Black Panthers fighting each other, which is becoming the familiar superhero showdown - as we’ve seen variations of it in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Superman III</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spider-Man 3</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iron Man 1</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2 </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">3</i>, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ant-Man</i> and, of course, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Logan</i>.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The final battle - between all the tribes of Wakanda, is suitably spectacular - and, especially when the armoured rhinos appeared (as if rhinos don’t have armour enough already), it reminded me of nothing so much as <span class="st">the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Battle</span><span class="st"> of </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Pelennor Fields from </span><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Return of the King (2003). </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">But, again, that’s fine, because I understand what’s going on here: </span><i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Black Panther </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">mixes </span>together and - one might say - colonises a lot of generic properties - from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fast & Furious</i> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bond</i> to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord of the Rings</i>, as well as visiting some of the more popular superhero tropes.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s a shame, given the huge strides into diversity that the film had made, that the film-makers then felt the need to have a gang of feisty women rescued by M’Baku and his mountain gorilla warriors - doing his best Han Solo impression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this film, of all films, I would have liked to see the women rescue the men.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKOdGWDNF7tJtA83xQ9449lJklb5Tr4HkJkWTHxnX3pdlMDGG8FSPRQoq0oc4FbBigThGwJGHEAIv15CDUsKaXdfkV1Fi8Wb078txjWK5F1VG7UcxXyqZsXY3qE5IiKw-ZZXOIoQ8Vyo/s1600/BlackPanther5a73cb3801d1d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1008" data-original-width="1376" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKOdGWDNF7tJtA83xQ9449lJklb5Tr4HkJkWTHxnX3pdlMDGG8FSPRQoq0oc4FbBigThGwJGHEAIv15CDUsKaXdfkV1Fi8Wb078txjWK5F1VG7UcxXyqZsXY3qE5IiKw-ZZXOIoQ8Vyo/s640/BlackPanther5a73cb3801d1d.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>M’Baku (Winston Duke) - He's the king of the swingers. He's not given much to do but, thankfully, he does it very well. Though, I'm not sure having black men dress as gorillas is entirely politically correct. It certainly wasn't in <i>King Kong</i> (1933).</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, when <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Panther</i> is different from the norm - it’s excellent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When it’s similar to the norm, it’s understandable and well handled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it just misses its own point too much in the first half and then crams too much into the second half - to create any real human drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s a shame.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, yes, I’m fully aware that Marvel, as they count their billion dollars of profit, must be sobbing themselves silly at my humble criticism.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
<b>Dir: Ryan Coogler</b></div>
<b> </b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Script: Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole</b></div>
<b> </b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cert: 12A</b></div>
<b> </b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dur: 134 mins</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-42417690752235768212018-02-13T13:54:00.000+00:002018-02-13T13:57:51.595+00:00THE SHAPE OF WATER<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh161qEFM-zmK40ugCY_FKIauvY6X1HcEDUGov5Iz3di7gb7efSOshyphenhyphenTNmXKeMM5m9e673L4PMhyC1I06ntfKg7g0QprdGgCM6mfROmp6FVj9uZdad-A-H2dzcuFgPKllgW32A-RCPmGVY/s1600/shape+of+water+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh161qEFM-zmK40ugCY_FKIauvY6X1HcEDUGov5Iz3di7gb7efSOshyphenhyphenTNmXKeMM5m9e673L4PMhyC1I06ntfKg7g0QprdGgCM6mfROmp6FVj9uZdad-A-H2dzcuFgPKllgW32A-RCPmGVY/s640/shape+of+water+poster.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Someone is going to write a book about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of Water</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a depth to it, an inundation of meaning and metaphor which, I suspect, is far beyond my powers of perception on a single viewing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll mention what I noticed, and give an indication of the care which co-writer / director Guillermo del Toro has put into this film, and of the issues it touches upon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will be far from definitive, though, I’ll <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i> to go see it again!</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If you saw the grace with which he accepted his Golden Globe for Best Director, you’ll know that Guillermo del Toro has nothing to prove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hasn’t made a bad film in 25 years (yes, even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mimic</i> is better than its reputation suggests).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People who know and love movies, know and love Del Toro.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is, in every significant meaning of the word, an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">auteur</i> of the 21<sup>st</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he hasn’t broken through to that stratum of film-making where Joe and Josephine Public know his name.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s about to change.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> known as one of the ‘Three Amigos’, along with fellow Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu, yet he, unlike they, has not won the Oscar for Best Director.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m going to go out on a limb and say that, with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of Water</i>, that isn’t going to change because, despite the tidal wave of love the film has received, and despite drowning in award nominations from the other awards out there; I feel that the film is a bit too bold<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>for the Oscars.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’ll get the nominations, and he’ll win a lot of the other awards, but I doubt he’ll win the Oscar.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I could be wrong about The Oscars, I hope I am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a night that would be if, on Sunday March the 4<sup>th</sup>, a maker of monster movies stands there with a gold statue, a reward for not selling out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s happened before, with Peter Jackson back in 2004, and what a night <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that </i>was.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, no, Guillermo del Toro certainly isn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trying</i> to go mainstream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“So, my next film is a love story between a woman who doesn’t speak and the Creature from the Black Lagoon”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> old chestnut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, he isn’t courting mainstream acceptance by pushing the Oscar-bait buttons, he just wants to tell the stories that have meaning for him; and he has always had sympathy for the monsters, for the weirdoes, for the people who exist beneath the surface.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of Water</i> tells the story of Eliza (Sally Hawkins), who is a cleaner at a top secret military establishment, in 1962.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the sort of place which, in later years, will host a red man with horns and his explosive girlfriend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Being a cleaner, Eliza is invisible to the scientists and military types busy doing their nefarious deeds all around her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is also mute, which means she is not only not seen, she’s not heard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other cleaner is Zelda, played by Octavia Spenser (in a variation of her excellent turn in last year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hidden Figures</i>), and she’s also doubly invisible because she’s a cleaner and, in a time of open, unchallenged racism, she’s black.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIjVxN0k9T8q9PCQnqj9h99EdAy7sSA_V-mRTPNCMG4wmWfrAngizEH1Ml-7S_6vmBNYbPOdSUQUYFdO5S8B0oV_5nldZtXTXCQ8f7GHgaH-6xyHnuRpMBxal0dBs1KyImoz_W2lmzf8/s1600/shape+of+water+eliza+and+zelda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIIjVxN0k9T8q9PCQnqj9h99EdAy7sSA_V-mRTPNCMG4wmWfrAngizEH1Ml-7S_6vmBNYbPOdSUQUYFdO5S8B0oV_5nldZtXTXCQ8f7GHgaH-6xyHnuRpMBxal0dBs1KyImoz_W2lmzf8/s640/shape+of+water+eliza+and+zelda.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Defiant in their otherness ... Sally Hawkins and the always-impressive Octavia Spenser.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eliza’s gay best friend (played warmly by Richard Jenkins) is Giles, who is also an outsider, because he has no gay friends and, increasingly, is unemployable because he is a commercial artist in a time when photography is taking over from hand-painted adverts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He gets to give us a little bit of voice-over at the beginning (since Eliza can’t) which, although not in so many words, tells us that this is a fairy tale, set once upon a time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It's a fairy tale about 'otherness'. </span>The film’s opening moments also open up the possibility that the whole film might be a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite literally a wet one.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTkMWJklExpsU-hhlLer_bgE7rlA5e6iZoiFh95M1bOMIDWrfP2K_RklSEJH_KmCKgbn4rkh5x6SElTojQEMejz_DoNkijhqL69r1XdZ5AMOO60PE-Y200fl8Ih8rdArxqo5iyvXnc9c/s1600/Shape-of-Water-green+set.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1500" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTkMWJklExpsU-hhlLer_bgE7rlA5e6iZoiFh95M1bOMIDWrfP2K_RklSEJH_KmCKgbn4rkh5x6SElTojQEMejz_DoNkijhqL69r1XdZ5AMOO60PE-Y200fl8Ih8rdArxqo5iyvXnc9c/s640/Shape-of-Water-green+set.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>With echoes of 'Amelie' and 'The Hudsucker Proxy' and the visual stylings of Tim Burton ... Everything is green and submarine.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before the story and characters have had time to get hold of you, the look of the film does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sets are choking on detail, from the clutter on the shelves to, particularly, the use of colour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This reflects the way the film starts under water, aquamarines and greens run throughout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Green is everywhere, from the keylime pie Giles eats, and the Jell-O he paints, to the water the creature sits in, and the walls of the institute and Eliza’s hallway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All shades of green.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Only the briefly glimpsed cinema screen (Eliza lives above a cinema) is in full colour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The TV, which pumps out movies from the past is, of course, in black and white.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giles much prefers the old movies, with their romanticised vision of the world, to the real world of social unrest and political tension he sees on the news.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Del Toro <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">always </i>makes his films with this rich, cluttered production design (go away and look at The Troll Market in 2008’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hellboy II</i> and tell me otherwise) and here he excels himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has even allowed himself a few subtle nods to other film-makers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rich greens and reddish-browns put me in mind of nothing so much as Jeunet & Caro’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Delicatessen</i> (1991) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City of Lost Children</i> (1995), although that could be influenced by the inclusion of a very Gallic accordion on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of Water</i>’s soundtrack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is also a sense of Coen films from the 90s too, most particularly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Barton Fink</i> (1991) and, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hudsucker Proxy</i> (1994).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The two penthouse offices in the Hudsucker building shared half a circular clock-face, here Eliza and Giles’ rooms above the cinema share half of a semi-circular window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a small detail, but hardly likely to be co-incidental.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcC5Ve2gfGBbE61wZD0-ksGzoZpztHKKxp3X21lPGiRM9xtTW4qNy6X-6t5GS-wTWOu9hMmonCpQmNvBWYC9umqsxFSWtGxiMauOzTuyOBHdOTpfbZEQFLjdouOa2qt0qB3-2sCkY5gk/s1600/Shape+of+Water+windows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="1600" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcC5Ve2gfGBbE61wZD0-ksGzoZpztHKKxp3X21lPGiRM9xtTW4qNy6X-6t5GS-wTWOu9hMmonCpQmNvBWYC9umqsxFSWtGxiMauOzTuyOBHdOTpfbZEQFLjdouOa2qt0qB3-2sCkY5gk/s640/Shape+of+Water+windows.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Eliza and Giles, two sides of the same circle. Different in so many ways, yet similar in so many more.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, we get to see a secret government installation at the height of the paranoia of the Cold War, from the point of view of its cleaners, who remain unimpressed as the military uniforms and white coats scuttle back and forth on their ‘important’ business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cleaners are on-hand to mop up the blood when the military’s latest trophy bites the hand of the man trying to torture it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The creature in question, simply referred to as ‘the asset’ is a “South American River God”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, fairly obviously, the eponymous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creature from the Black Lagoon</i> (1954).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Gill Man is played by Del Toro regular, Doug Jones, who performed similar duties as the aquatic Abe Lincoln in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hellboy</i> movies; but here performs entirely in mime, and still manages to make The Gill Man, sympathetic yet alien, vulnerable yet dangerous.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eliza instinctively feels sorry for the creature, in its chains, with its wounds inflicted by its now-eight-fingered torturer, Colonel Strickland (played with typically uncomfortable menace by Michael Shannon).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On her lunch break, she lets herself into the lab (she’s a cleaner, she’s allowed through all the doors) to spend time with the creature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She offers him her eggs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Boiled, you understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She then (rather improbably) brings a record player in and plays him jazz.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She teaches him some basic sign language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They who cannot communicate with others, can communicate with each other.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUMhneq3WJ81lku6Ke2Ae7ZsQkz3hmxesI0p7MAyDvkZjOSdssqwmcpXrMCgtWHjdiZ6Q0Moi83r9YSBBhIoB-ksg6pAnv63lLTMsQxcyFcZUMjGalAwzg-DCXp0I1Ojfxt3n-WtnbTSQ/s1600/shape-of-water+face+to+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUMhneq3WJ81lku6Ke2Ae7ZsQkz3hmxesI0p7MAyDvkZjOSdssqwmcpXrMCgtWHjdiZ6Q0Moi83r9YSBBhIoB-ksg6pAnv63lLTMsQxcyFcZUMjGalAwzg-DCXp0I1Ojfxt3n-WtnbTSQ/s640/shape-of-water+face+to+face.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Everyone in the film feels trapped, in one way or another. The only way to cope is to ignore our differences and celebrate our similarities.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She learns that the creature is to be killed, so decides to act.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She rescues it - in a scene which is all-too reminiscent of the same sequence at the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Splash</i> (1984).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only, this comedic break-out isn’t the climax of the story - it’s the half-way mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s really the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beginning</i> of Eliza’s relationship with The Gill-Man, not its culmination.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sally Hawkins’ central performance is wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She manages to communicate pathos and understanding as well as passion and stubbornness, equally well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It would have been so easy to infantilise this mousy mute woman, but Del Toro doesn’t want that, and Hawkins succeeds in making her a complex, compelling, defiant woman.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was impressed by the way this film barrels along, no scene too long, no line of dialogue wasted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I learned that Del Toro’s co-writer is Vanessa Taylor, who has had a lot of experience in TV, weaving several narratives together, keeping those narratives moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Suddenly the pace of the film made sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t feel rushed, but it does feel like there’s a lot going on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot of that will be down, I suspect, to Taylor.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Everyone sees what they want to see in The Gill Man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The authorities see something to hate and fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scientists see something to study and understand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eliza simply sees someone who, like her, can’t talk and who, like her, is damaged and frightened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The delicate, self-pitying Giles, sees someone who, like himself, is a creature of the past, not the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Maybe we’re both just relics,” he sighs.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a subtext of classical myth which runs through the film, particularly relating to the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film playing in Eliza’s cinema is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Story of Ruth</i> (1960), one of the more obscure Biblical epics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are told that Eliza was a foundling, discovered by a river (the proximity of bull-rushes is not disclosed).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strickland tells Zelda the story of the travails of Samson, after he was betrayed by Delilah, tells of how he tore down the temple and killed himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(He doesn’t mention that the temple in question was dedicated to Dagon, a god who was half-fish, half-man).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also crudely asserts that the ‘asset’ is not human because man was made in God’s image and The Gill Man, despite walking on two legs, doesn’t look human; it doesn’t look like him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is as good as stating that he doesn’t consider the disabled Eliza or the black Zelda to be human either, since they don’t look like him.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmpEn-DV5GJO0kkWE6zuMcVM35M3sO9oP97Pu6OXZD5SMCuTZFkOSj6oSxaTb2Vt2C7wKwZhWDQ4bRi7cTG0SISZqyQmrRymclwpbT7OtBdzvBfTHLyu4vzXISQbKKW1nhrdWK6Qyj0k/s1600/the-shape-of-water-in+the+cinema+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1248" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjmpEn-DV5GJO0kkWE6zuMcVM35M3sO9oP97Pu6OXZD5SMCuTZFkOSj6oSxaTb2Vt2C7wKwZhWDQ4bRi7cTG0SISZqyQmrRymclwpbT7OtBdzvBfTHLyu4vzXISQbKKW1nhrdWK6Qyj0k/s640/the-shape-of-water-in+the+cinema+crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Thickening its mix of myth and metaphor, <i>The Shape of Water</i> also offers us an outsider's view of the Biblical stories that percolate through our culture.</b> </td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Don’t let all the fairy tale imagery and mythic dialogue fool you into thinking that this is not a film with any contact with the real world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What sets it apart from, say, a Tim Burton film (a director who shares this rich visual style) is the fact the Del Toro’s characters are recognisably adult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have the type of grown-up problems and desires that rarely surface in a fantasy film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eliza masturbates in the bath (the same bath in which she later hosts her fantasy man ... make of that what you will) and the one scene we see Strickland at home, demonstrates the crudeness of his relationship with his wife.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of Water </i>clearly states that it is set in 1962.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I always think it takes a couple of years for a decade to find its identity so, you could say, that 1962 was the last year of the 50s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the time when America was confident and conformist, kicking-out Communists and conquering space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But 1962 was the year when things began to change:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Marilyn Monroe, that symbol of 50s innocence and perfection, died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Cuban Missile Crisis happened and, let us not forget, it was the final full year the Kennedy presidency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hollywood studio system was collapsing because (as we see in the few scenes in Eliza’s cinema) movies were playing to empty houses, as everyone stayed home and watched their TVs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>America was on the brink of collapsing into the chaos and confusion of the late 60s and 70s, a time when, as a country, it no longer had any idea what it was.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is a time when the past was turning into the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it wasn’t to be the future America expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strickland’s son talks about burying a time capsule at school, and everyone having jet-packs in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strickland, himself, falls for the hype and buys himself a new Cadillac when he is told he is “the man of the future” (ironic, for a man who is such a throw-back).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The ‘Jell-O’ ad that Giles is painting, bears the strapline ‘The Future is Now’ (another reference to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hudsucker Proxy </i>clock, by the way).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The future is ever-present, yet the mindsets of all the men in the institute are very-much bedded in the past.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2j7zYcsOfMomCxcBHSGQ_lC50b8xPwOpKRmvrmZBQdntqxZdwHsimwIZ4DhWF-MPjtfvoGt2d70DBOFKMoEY24TRxnp873hTwL2eHuugOeLZvSI-h4ET8B3gI2urq3A9autoLb_zeNY/s1600/shape_of_water-michael+shannon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="1293" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB2j7zYcsOfMomCxcBHSGQ_lC50b8xPwOpKRmvrmZBQdntqxZdwHsimwIZ4DhWF-MPjtfvoGt2d70DBOFKMoEY24TRxnp873hTwL2eHuugOeLZvSI-h4ET8B3gI2urq3A9autoLb_zeNY/s640/shape_of_water-michael+shannon.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Michael Shannon gives us another of his chilling studies in toxic masculinity ... Another man whose only skill is sharing his confusion and misery with others.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When Strickland is introduced, he is pissing, marking his territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He carries a phallic electrified cattle-prod, with which he tortures The Gill-Man with no apparent aim in mind, save to make the thing suffer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In reality, he’s simply asserting his superior masculinity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He seems relatively untroubled by having had two fingers bitten off because it doesn’t threaten his masculinity, as he tells his superior officer, General Hoyt, “I still have my trigger finger and my pussy finger”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as you would expect from Michael Shannon, he brings a complexity to the man, letting us see that his aggression disguises how he is haunted by the morbid fear of failure, which drives all such men.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strickland’s story is a parable of destructive, toxic masculinity and, as such, he makes this film surprisingly contemporary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Doctor Hoffstetler (the always-reliable Michael Stuhlbarg ... I guess Johnny Galecki was busy) is the guy who, in a lesser film, would be the villain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is, after all, the most easily-identifiable enemy, being a scientist and Soviet spy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he also has a conscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is deeply uncomfortable at Stickland’s showboating, not to mention his brutality; so has no hesitation in helping Eliza liberate the creature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the Gill Man, he is an alien awaiting extraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Cold War subplot gives the film a greater resonance than the love story between mute girl and mute fish alone would have had.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuok95wIdcoCQBxyyY0GZt7zSB8x1HAITYI6-7FM6s8nJLyhulpnbtK6TMJbtppfBzfQigFPQKV4LESsYAnucOyknKodDtnPFyPOdEFQxRJYBUIGxR4XjyTomFNKVwgWr7AziYEInzry4/s1600/shape+of+water+take+the+key.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="1600" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuok95wIdcoCQBxyyY0GZt7zSB8x1HAITYI6-7FM6s8nJLyhulpnbtK6TMJbtppfBzfQigFPQKV4LESsYAnucOyknKodDtnPFyPOdEFQxRJYBUIGxR4XjyTomFNKVwgWr7AziYEInzry4/s640/shape+of+water+take+the+key.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Michael Stuhlbarg, offers a different, more complex vision of patriotism in a time of paranoia. Despite its very obvious historical trappings, Del Toro's film is very much a warning about today.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>General Hoyt, as effortlessly played by Nick Searcy, represents the other side of the coin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is as American as the stars and stripes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is, as he insists people take note, a five star general, which is to say he’s as high ranking as they come; but he is under no delusions about that flag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells Strickland that America is an illusion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We sell decency ... As an export.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We sell it cos we don’t use it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is fine with the show of brute force this implies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hoyt also, very calmly, informs Strickland that, should he fail to retrieve ‘the asset’, he will find himself in “a different universe, a universe of shit” where Hoyt will make Strickland “unborn, unmade, undone”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s unusually archaic language to use, as though Hoyt were claiming the powers to reverse the work of God.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This does the job, though.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It motivates Strickland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Hoffstetler, he has something in common with the Gill-Man, he is suffering; his fingers have been reattached, but not well, and they’re rotting away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the Gill-Man, he is slowly dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Over in Eliza’s apartment, she puts The Gill Man in her bath, and waits for the rains to come and fill the nearby river, so he can escape into the sea (I guess she can’t drive him to the actual sea).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, she is hesitating because she wants to spend as much time with him as possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a scene which I very much doubt would have found its way even into the script, let alone the finished film, if Del Toro had made this movie with a big studio; she fills the room with water, strips off and joins him for a little underwater bestiality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then, after this, just when you think the film has no more surprises up its sleeve, Eliza gets her own fantasy song and dance routine.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This could all have been so very silly; but the commitment of the cast and the film’s political, social and racial conscience ground it; the crowded <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mise en sc</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">è</span>ne</i> enriches it; and the intelligence of the script elevates it.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is not a simple film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Del Toro’s dénouement reclaims the iconography of the 50s monster movie, it fulfils the promise of its mythical, Biblical subtext and it subverts and analyses its fairy tale origins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a film people will be talking about and writing about for some time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is much more text and subtext to be discovered and understood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I shall be returning to see it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heck, I may even write that book.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4RAHLO7zGk2IlYvW8gw37vYm3nnFlBFczmWk-y8kj8Nbpt_yoWbBj1FE7BmIAojPohjDAnPmfSmy6Oj-A4Jjx8mGT45Dmlphhwn_8oz9jaGkJ50Zbe116C9Wi47WEB0GxKQJuZBrP-E/s1600/green+lagoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY4RAHLO7zGk2IlYvW8gw37vYm3nnFlBFczmWk-y8kj8Nbpt_yoWbBj1FE7BmIAojPohjDAnPmfSmy6Oj-A4Jjx8mGT45Dmlphhwn_8oz9jaGkJ50Zbe116C9Wi47WEB0GxKQJuZBrP-E/s640/green+lagoon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Dir: Guilermo Del Toro</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Script: Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Cert; 15</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<b>Dur: 123 mins</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-55705646556820050852018-01-30T13:21:00.002+00:002018-02-13T13:56:43.070+00:00CHURCHILL & THE DARKEST HOUR<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuOcXW4jaq1AN0qDZRaDTesFUSNxNQrb3ShUay7CfhgCuHSwO2sr70Qrhfo9eppiEwSpzHBkErjB6uXk3zLTsaXPq16FuxNRTdstkwv_BqsFFXkOiCYURnQQHD0QZUcocMJwpH68SMng/s1600/CHURCHILL+VS+CHURCHILL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1107" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJuOcXW4jaq1AN0qDZRaDTesFUSNxNQrb3ShUay7CfhgCuHSwO2sr70Qrhfo9eppiEwSpzHBkErjB6uXk3zLTsaXPq16FuxNRTdstkwv_BqsFFXkOiCYURnQQHD0QZUcocMJwpH68SMng/s640/CHURCHILL+VS+CHURCHILL.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Never, in the field of film reviewing, have so few waited so long for so little. Never-the-less, here are my <i>considered </i>thoughts on why Gary Oldman is going to win an Oscar for playing Churchill ... And Brian Cox isn't.<br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The advance ‘buzz’ about Gary Oldman’s upcoming Oscar for Best Actor began months ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Long before anyone had actually seen the film!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One could easily be cynical about the films which land in the Oscar spotlight, and the films which don’t; and that’s an ongoing issue, year after year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What interested me about this, was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the sharp contrast between the euphoric reception for Oldman’s Churchill in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> and the complete absence of same for Brian Cox’s Churchill in, well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i>.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then there is the whole question of why, suddenly, Churchill has appeared as a presence in popular culture, both on the big screen and on the small.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fear this may have something to do with the present political and social atmosphere, which involves a revisionist view of both the war and of Britain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The zeitgeist of Britain in the twenty-teens, is inextricably interwoven with a mythologised vision of Britain in the nineteen forties.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> begins with the image we all have of the war (if we weren’t actually there), which is that of black and white archival footage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Director Joe Wright doesn’t indulge in the recent fashion for digitally colouring and enhancing WW2 footage to make it more vibrant, more compelling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> is a very traditional film, espousing a very old-fashioned vision of the war and, therefore, the archive footage needs to reflect this.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqh0ee5M7HmUV5_tyRhSoQ81FS4gVYURxoX5MpxDraoe-bHXYRghLgbXxdV2gS1Ggt7Ika_ydjaIHsFuwQrKyuOJytu7AZpW8ZAiG-NqklrJt_0eumT3LlSvkydZ-7jqb2QHeRUPzmSE/s1600/chamberlain+x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="831" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCqh0ee5M7HmUV5_tyRhSoQ81FS4gVYURxoX5MpxDraoe-bHXYRghLgbXxdV2gS1Ggt7Ika_ydjaIHsFuwQrKyuOJytu7AZpW8ZAiG-NqklrJt_0eumT3LlSvkydZ-7jqb2QHeRUPzmSE/s640/chamberlain+x2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>On the left, Ronald Pickup carries the burden of failure - as yesterday's man, Neville Chamberlain. On the right, the real Chamberlain carries the piece of paper he believed signalled 'peace for our time'.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film creates an air of verisimilitude by having its actors look as much as possible like the historical characters they are portraying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is particularly noticeable with Ronald Pickup’s Neville Chamberlain, Stephen Dillane’s Lord Halifax and, of course, with Oldman’s Churchill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wright has said that the decision was made to go with prosthetics because Oldman is too old to safely put on the weight that the role would need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s twelve years younger than Cox, who did put weight on; although, admittedly, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he’s a burly fella, so he wouldn’t have needed to put as much on.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reputedly, Oldman requested Kazuhiro Tsuji be dragged kicking and screaming out of retirement to do the make-up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One assumes this will have been inspired by the extraordinary job Tsuji did on Oldman’s old mucka, Tim Roth, in the otherwise reviled Tim Burton version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Planet of the Apes</i> (2001).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tsuji will be glad he did since he’s obviously going to take an Oscar back into retirement with him.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s interesting that, when Anthony Hopkins donned a similarly impressive prosthetic skin for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hitchcock</i> in 2012, he was ignored by the Academy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Howard Berger, who executed the make-up, wasn’t - he at least got a nomination - but Hopkins’ performance within that makeup was snubbed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I suspect this had more to do with Hitchcock’s reputation in Hollywood than with the actual film itself, which was really rather a sentimental and affectionate tribute to the old man.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hitchcock</i> found itself competing against another biopic, set a few years later, featuring an altogether less sympathetic portrayal of Hitch, namely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Girl</i> with Toby Jones as Hitch (also released in 2012).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Curiously - this is also true of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> (the film) concerns itself with events three years after those seen in the Oldman version, and Cox’s performance as Churchill (the man)<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>is less sentimental and sympathetic.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XJVPswhFP9p0j1GpPsi7TB2-eNuELAk4koQyI9E9F0eJ7Tag9u1r2yNn4Tk00YIQKUp5vayTl7QP40f7dLyybVORqmCr6Z7HyZPfiZEIlQl98wBEwps8x-2gkz-oNKcgxVmcieZhjWU/s1600/hitch+%2526+crow+edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="1471" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1XJVPswhFP9p0j1GpPsi7TB2-eNuELAk4koQyI9E9F0eJ7Tag9u1r2yNn4Tk00YIQKUp5vayTl7QP40f7dLyybVORqmCr6Z7HyZPfiZEIlQl98wBEwps8x-2gkz-oNKcgxVmcieZhjWU/s640/hitch+%2526+crow+edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The real Hitchcock, the real Toby Jones as Hitchcock and the real Anthony Hopkins under a ton of prosthetics, also as Hitchcock. The crow plays himself throughout.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like a Shakespearean hero - Churchill is introduced to us through the words of others, before he takes the stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before they elevate him to the position of Prime Minister (he was never democratically elected) we learn that he is a controversial figure, referred to as ‘an actor in love with the sound of his own voice’, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but one who may, despite all that, unite the parties at a time when the losses in Europe and the mismanagement of the war, threaten to tear parliament (and the country) asunder.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When King George (Ben Mendelsohn) hears of Churchill’s appointment, he rattles off a litany of the man’s past failings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he does this with his famous speech impediment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, most of the key players have a slight problem with speech.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The King, famously, does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Halifax does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Churchill, of course, does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s almost like the film-makers are subtly pointing out the inbred weaknesses of the aristocracy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the film is, otherwise, so unquestioning of their authority, that I can’t see this reflected anywhere else in the film.</div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Darkest Hour</i> trades in stereotypes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Churchy looks at real people out of his car window, there are really only three types out there - women, business men in trilby hats and labourers in flat caps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>London reduced to a limited choice of headwear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(The Blitz hadn’t started, so they weren’t wearing their tin hats yet).</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That simplistic vision runs through the film, which knows the events and the characters it deals with are iconic - so treats them with a great deal of reverence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, Halifax is conspiring, behind the scenes, to orchestrate Churchill’s downfall - By allowing him to take the reins of power - with the understanding that he’ll step into the limelight and save the day after Churchill fails.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may seem like a revelation to those who think there was unquestioning unanimity within Parliament to Churchill’s premiership, but that wound be to forget the real urge to appeasement that existed amongst a lot of the aristocracy who, let’s face it, didn’t profoundly disagree with Hitler’s goals at that early point in the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also worth mentioning that such Machiavellian machinations are standard operating procedure for Tory ministers, then as now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Witness the knives sticking out of Theresa May’s back every time she emerges from Number 10 to make a public pronouncement.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cY20Pzx7PB2_6MZ2hXjT-cGbRWohEP9eLxM7RZxyRMw3OhcSCJcqOLH6S2OaZNWebEX8qH6RmuC6b7fs5ZOJfebisBNdktNn6YKvSuf5XRhOcPfOBS0VFO-nnFHQVpo45n5FmshNL68/s1600/halifax+x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="1086" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cY20Pzx7PB2_6MZ2hXjT-cGbRWohEP9eLxM7RZxyRMw3OhcSCJcqOLH6S2OaZNWebEX8qH6RmuC6b7fs5ZOJfebisBNdktNn6YKvSuf5XRhOcPfOBS0VFO-nnFHQVpo45n5FmshNL68/s640/halifax+x2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Left: Edward Woods - the Earl of Halifax. Right: Stephen Dillane as same. The Michael Gove of his day - a conviction politician who unswervingly believes whatever is in his own best interest.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thing is, there was no will to continue the war at this point - even the most wildly optimistic person couldn’t see any way that our boys - stranded there on the Dunkirk beaches - could survive and make it home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, putting these perfectly reasonable doubts in the mouth of the self-serving, twitchy and patently untrustworthy Halifax, feeds into the myth of the war - that everyone but cowards and traitors were ready for the fight.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was interested by the similarities between these two films, as well as by their differences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> show us the old man’s eccentric mannerisms and thought processes through the POV of his secretary - in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> it’s the historical character Elizabeth Layton (played by Lily James), in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill </i>it’s her fictional equivalent, Helen Garrett (played by Ella Purnell).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We see Churchill’s bombast from this perspective - his eccentricities, such as working in bed, wandering around in his underwear or less, and his sense of humour. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, these scenes are designed to make him endearing; but his sense of humour is both cruel and unashamedly egotistical; and his habit of refusing to call things by their given name, is just an extension of his drive to control and manipulate those around him.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Churchill </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">(the film) is set four years after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, when the Allies (now America has joined in) are poised to storm the beaches of Normandy, and retake the Europe we lost four years before - with the withdrawal from Dunkirk.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Cox’s Churchill (the man) is physically older, wearier, more worn down by four years of leadership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the film begins, he stands on the beach and looks out at the sea, the tide that washes around his feet is red.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is awash with doubt and fear, as he remembers the last time he authorised a full-frontal assault on a beach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was Gallipoli and the death-toll of that WW1 catastrophe haunts him still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first war is a ghost the haunts the shadows of the second.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This version of Churchill (the man) is more complex, more conflicted than Oldman’s and, therefore, his refusal to bend to the will of others seems more like wilful stubbornness than stoical heroism.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although every bit as eccentric as the Oldman version (he is discovered lying on the floor in his nightshirt, rehearsing a speech), Cox doesn’t bring out the whimsy of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His humour </span>is colder and more sarcastic, less reliant on him playing the underdog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> shows Churchill’s mannered eccentricities for what they likely were: self defence.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDu-qyYUb07D1TmwxM_0QwUBCri5SvtqBVq-afVMTVZNH5TWMnTjOjY9nqDDBKL-vbeqF79OzwbwLKIJna5aWvMh4fVTIO2zE990AQMRT1jVqFs21GYDijI-NPMlFfBOTeChMCyRbk2s4/s1600/churchill+winston+%2526+clemmy+x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1520" data-original-width="1216" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDu-qyYUb07D1TmwxM_0QwUBCri5SvtqBVq-afVMTVZNH5TWMnTjOjY9nqDDBKL-vbeqF79OzwbwLKIJna5aWvMh4fVTIO2zE990AQMRT1jVqFs21GYDijI-NPMlFfBOTeChMCyRbk2s4/s640/churchill+winston+%2526+clemmy+x2.jpg" width="512" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Clemmie and Winnie - in the flesh and in the persons of Miranda Richardson and Brian Cox.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The way the two films depict Churchill’s wife, the long-suffering Clementine, is interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have both gone to the trouble of making Kristin Scott-Thomas (in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>) and Miranda Richardson (in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i>) look the part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both versions of Clemmie are fully aware that they are of secondary importance in The Great Man’s life to his work ... The difference is that Richardson’s version isn’t happy about it.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One wonders when someone is going to make a film about Clementine Churchill, who had a life of no small consequence before meeting Churchill, and continued to do so after his death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was so much more than the woman behind the great man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just don’t get much of that in either of these films.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In her first decent speech, Thomas’ Clemmie details how content she and the children are to be of secondary importance to Churchill’s ‘public life’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Richardson’s Clemmie rails against this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, they both have moments of introspection when they look in their dressing-table mirror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In both cases, their affection for the old man is undimmed, but I just found it more credible in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i>, where Richardson’s Clemmie is not unquestioning of her role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as I have mentioned, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> espouses a more traditional vision of the past, a time when women knew their place and accepted it without complaint!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Y’know, those good old days ... the ones that never really existed.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoWXSbSiBg0ObZ8gevkSmNnAe1JGWUSy-XrE4Jaui0NYZzO6wAbkt6H7wV8M8RBM7Aqzn0iiLU6swIIcSYi-HJZqWKmjes4zyIEIXeIFnE4OgJxd5zTS793hyphenhyphenz8sRiiDccGc66SVTnSI/s1600/forehead+x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="662" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoWXSbSiBg0ObZ8gevkSmNnAe1JGWUSy-XrE4Jaui0NYZzO6wAbkt6H7wV8M8RBM7Aqzn0iiLU6swIIcSYi-HJZqWKmjes4zyIEIXeIFnE4OgJxd5zTS793hyphenhyphenz8sRiiDccGc66SVTnSI/s640/forehead+x2.jpg" width="578" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>However different their presentation of Clemmie is, the one thing both films agree on is just how dependent the Great Man was on her, and just how special their relationship was.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another supporting role, for me, where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill </i>won out, was in its depiction of King George.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, he’s played by Ben Mendelsohn, with rigid restraint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Halifax has his ear and has successfully poisoned the King’s opinion of Churchill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, quite out of the blue, the King changes his mind and offers the old man his unconditional support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t feel that this change of heart was warranted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> (the film), the king is played, surprisingly, by James Purefoy (taking a break from the sweaty, southern TV series <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hap and Leonard</i>), whose delicate under-performance makes him<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> man of the match for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His appeal to Churchill to see sense and not go to go haring off to France with Montgomery, is the turning point for the old man, just as the King’s support is in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, but here it feels earned and not artificial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also the best and most moving speech in the film.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">main</i> difference between the two films, however, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Americans</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are a very real presence in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> (the film), and a conspicuous absence in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The only American in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, is President Roosevelt (played <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by David Strathairn, who literally phones in his performance ... ahem).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Churchill phones him up and, essentially, begs for help, which Roosevelt apologetically refuses to offer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been forgotten in the post-war haze of the ‘special relationship’ that - prior to being attacked and becoming actively involved - Americans refused to take sides in WW2 and, instead, they used it as a chance to get Britain massively into their debt.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In his fascinating book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Myth of the Blitz</i>, Angus Calder explains that, by 1941, t<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">he war had bankrupted Britain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to build the weapons we needed, we were buying massive amounts of raw materials from the USA, the only country which would and could supply us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Calder says: “The Chancellor of the Exchequer calculated that Britain would exhaust its gold and dollar reserves by December 1940, then go bankrupt.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In order for this to continue, then, the Americans formulated The Lend Lease Act; which granted us massive supplies throughout the remainder of the war - everything from eggs to warships - at massive discounts (we paid only 10% of the estimated value).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never-the-less, by the end of the war, we owed America over a billion dollars and it took us to 2006 to pay it back.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, the basis of the ‘special relationship’, in reality, was the shift of world power from Britain to America, since they had our IOU.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no denying that the path of the war would have been very different without the involvement of America, but the abiding myth of the war is that they came on their white chargers to save the day because it was the right and noble thing to do when, in reality, they were just protecting their investment.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, this puts a rather different complexion on Churchill’s ranted assertion that “you can’t reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was referring to the German tiger but, in reality, the American tiger was applying just as much pressure - in a different way.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsFUr9EGmq0Mz8ttTutsIEVJH-fv_aEwJjBoHpLK-7TRE8wN03OL7C8VogHaCPplR13exLejJy29TET-_po2GXZ_GUQYNZIAhLRxhEsk_g3rTvertZXEnL0FB_zrF_8J8mJIha8F4sMs/s1600/oldman.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1168" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNsFUr9EGmq0Mz8ttTutsIEVJH-fv_aEwJjBoHpLK-7TRE8wN03OL7C8VogHaCPplR13exLejJy29TET-_po2GXZ_GUQYNZIAhLRxhEsk_g3rTvertZXEnL0FB_zrF_8J8mJIha8F4sMs/s640/oldman.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Lit and shot beautifully by Bruno Debonnel, the war room scenes, particularly, have the feel of a Pre-Raphaelite painting, which only serves to amplify the romanticised vision of the past the film offers.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The visuals of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> are wonderfully, moody.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harsh-lit, narrow-faced men sitting in pools of cold light, discussing capitulation to the German war machine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of the scenes in the war rooms have a lush, painterly quality to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s been some lovely work done by cinematographer Bruno Debonnel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The performances are utterly convincing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The script by Anthony McCarten is, however, manipulative and unashamedly sentimental - like <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">his previous award-garlanded movie <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Theory of Everything</i> (2014).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That wasn’t to my taste, either; but it was very much to America’s taste, which is why the film became such a hit and Eddie Redmayne ended up going home from the Oscars with a statue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>McCarten has succeeded in striking twice with his version of this oft-told tale, as he plays all the stereotypical ‘Brit’ cards those Americans love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A heritage setting, a British protagonist they’ve heard of, a personal mountain to climb, and a smattering of physical disability for good measure.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRV5A8zGnnqpBv3thtxKeqR5PXxwaXUFB8h-kVKlWcBmer0oW-aouH2zUORFzW0CNMYsFSPeHFHXspP52fgV_vRacvqzSdZ45kogvw_HUfRNj5nwr0vmsPYRrCOCz40Y69Bty8SXQ8qtc/s1600/up+yer+bum+x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="443" data-original-width="1251" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRV5A8zGnnqpBv3thtxKeqR5PXxwaXUFB8h-kVKlWcBmer0oW-aouH2zUORFzW0CNMYsFSPeHFHXspP52fgV_vRacvqzSdZ45kogvw_HUfRNj5nwr0vmsPYRrCOCz40Y69Bty8SXQ8qtc/s640/up+yer+bum+x2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>When you're dealing with icons, you need to include everything iconic - including the legendary 'V Sign'. <i>Darkest Hour</i> does have a bit of fun with this, when his political advisors leave it to his young female secretary to explain to him that this particular orientation of the sign mean 'up yer bum'.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ironic that this film does so much to appease an American audience, and yet it shows Churchill having so little success in his own attempts to appease the Americans.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After he fails in begging Roosevelt for aid, Churchill is seen isolated, literally in a box of a room, surrounded by impenetrable black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a technique used earlier, when he is alone in his elevator, a small figure plunging through inky blackness.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is a rather on-the-nail visual metaphor for Britain’s isolation in its literal and metaphorical darkest hour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also led me to the realisation that I wasn’t really watching a film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The way this is staged - mostly involving men sitting round tables talking and looking at maps - this is more of a stage play than a film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get one or two effects shots as the maps coming alive so that we can see glimpses of the actual war - the bombs falling - a moment to appreciate the human cost of the decisions being made in the war-rooms below Whitehall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We even get to see<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the flotilla of ‘little ships’ heading for Dunkirk ... Which is more than we did in the film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunkirk</i> (2017).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, mostly, it’s just men in gloomy rooms, talking.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And here, in the gloom, knowing that Britain is alone, waiting to hear the reports from Dunkirk, waiting to know if Britain still has an army, Churchill experiences his own darkest hour, his moment of self doubt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is here when Oldman’s performance shines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only bit of him you can see under all that silicone, is the eyes - which he uses mercilessly, to let the human being leak out of the monster, to show the doubt and the pain and the childishness of the man in ways that dialogue and action can’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a remarkable synthesis of prosthetic and performance, the one bringing the best out in the other.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoP_kRBilDuoxNY2-gD1tQ63WGcgdfJwCyiouRGZtZgkyX8-xOnBtfCvaNijoOQg-Pa_J8RBFQ7B-wrOfX2hwtUPZWe7ohvN2_zn9l_2TvYdUdojkdDvA0sYsOG-XEeT_l5gE_6ql9XoI/s1600/churchill+address+x2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1179" data-original-width="1347" height="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoP_kRBilDuoxNY2-gD1tQ63WGcgdfJwCyiouRGZtZgkyX8-xOnBtfCvaNijoOQg-Pa_J8RBFQ7B-wrOfX2hwtUPZWe7ohvN2_zn9l_2TvYdUdojkdDvA0sYsOG-XEeT_l5gE_6ql9XoI/s640/churchill+address+x2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Churchill (the man) addresses the nation. In the harsh, stylised lighting of <i>Darkest Hour</i>, at the top and, below, in the more naturalistic - but grander - setting of <i>Churchill </i>(the film).</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The one time Churchill slips the leash and escapes from the dark rooms - is to go to, ironically, a different type of subterranean space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the point where the film deviates most significantly from the facts - when Churchill takes a trip on the Tube to canvas the opinions of some ‘real people’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Churchill was not a man of the people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is actually out of character for him to ‘focus group’ the opinions of those who are most affected by his decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is an essential part of the mythical version of Churchill that they are creating for this film.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A carefully diverse cross-section of Londoners share a carriage with him and, to a man and a woman, tell him to never surrender.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what would come to be known as ‘The Blitz Spirit’, the indomitable British refusal to back down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This myth - for myth it is - sustained Britain during the long hard years of the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It kept us resolute when capitulation and despair were the more obvious responses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, unfortunately, also the myth which informs ‘Brexit’ and the vexed question of Britain’s participation in Europe some 70 years after peace was won.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s worth mentioning Brexit now, because these depictions of events 70 years ago, are feeding into the understanding of events happening today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last summer’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunkirk </i>showed Britain desperately fleeing Europe from the perspective of the men on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> shows it from the perspective of the old men in Whitehall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both films show it as an unambiguously great and noble endeavour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It serves the present government’s purpose to have those stories told now, to evoke that myth at a time of national crisis - when the country is divided almost 50/50 over the Brexit question - just as Churchill evoked the myth of Camelot when he was delivering the ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ speech, that Oldman gets to deliver at the film’s crescendo.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m not suggesting that Christopher Nolan and Joe Wright dashed their films together just so they could present a unified front, wrapped in the union jack, in time to play to the Tory Party Conference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Films take too long to write, finance and make for that to be the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it is an interesting moment in the national zeitgeist that this story is getting revisited now, and is receiving so much press coverage.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill </i>(the film) the dilemma is a different one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old man feels that he (and Britain) has lost control of the war and is now very much at the behest of the Americans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the beginning of the American Imperialism that characterised the second half of the century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It depicts a Britain that is totally dependent upon the largesse of America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I fear that this may, in its own way, be a vision of Britain <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i> Brexit, when we are no longer allied with Europe and are, instead, laid open to American economic predation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s not a story the nation wants to hear right now.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I must confess that, despite my raging cynicism over <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Night</i>, and my awareness of how fast and loose they were playing with the facts, that scene on the Tube train, where they quote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lays of Ancient Rome</i> at each other, was genuinely and deeply moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s not down to the writing which is, frankly, cheesy; it’s not down to the cinematography or the supporting cast; it’s all down to Oldman and those eyes.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oldman is practically guaranteed to receive his Oscar for this role - just as John Lithgow won several awards for his version of Churchill in Netflix’s show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Crown</i> (2016) - just as Brendan Gleeson received his Golden Globe for his portrayal in the TV move <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Into the Storm</i> in 2009 - and just as Albert Finney did in the companion to that film - 2002’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Gathering Storm</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Basically, people win awards for playing Churchill.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Which understanding left me wondering why Cox’s version had been ignored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m forced to conclude that it has more to do with the cult of personality that surrounds Churchill (the man) - which <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> (the film) undermines.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SAmV1medjiIm6chqXb_7KsITCkwnoqoPvzxD3xDFPTq2GchFLg8Wp2z7KMO-Mlley88OVkGHtOJoOrQuUU48Y26gSVZNAG8VdpOubzcjRmZfKAEW0csB6Y3s5DaV2buxAqTfWWZXTck/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6SAmV1medjiIm6chqXb_7KsITCkwnoqoPvzxD3xDFPTq2GchFLg8Wp2z7KMO-Mlley88OVkGHtOJoOrQuUU48Y26gSVZNAG8VdpOubzcjRmZfKAEW0csB6Y3s5DaV2buxAqTfWWZXTck/s640/maxresdefault.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Churchill (the film) uses its icons more thoughtfully. The 'V Sign' is a bitter, hollow gesture now, offered purely to amuse children. Churchill (the man) no longer believes in the indomitability of himself nor of his leadership.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> (the film) more fully explores the turmoil in the heart of Churchill (the man) as he finds himself literally praying that Operation Overlord - the name for the invasion of Normandy - doesn’t go ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather like the Tube scene in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i>, this is a fabrication of the film-makers; but, unlike the Tube scene, it isn’t a moment of mythopoeia, but rather a demonstration of how out of step, how stubbornly, pig-headedly wrong the old man had become. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Director </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jonathan Teplitzky<b> </b></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">is simply not currying the audience’s favour, as Joe Wright does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If Oldman’s Churchill is the perfect film for the year of Brexit; Cox’s Churchill is perfect for the year of Trump.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It shows his fiery temper, his vanity, his scheming and, above all, his unfettered raging ego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not the damp-eyed sentimentalised Oldman Churchill, and that is a problem, because this unvarnished vision of Churchill (the man) is less sympathetic and, therefore, less engaging.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a suspicion that runs through Oldman’s performance in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> - that he was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">trying</i> to get his Oscar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very much as there was, for example, through DiCaprio’s performance in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wolf of Wall Street</i> (2013) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Revenant</i> (2015), that he had his eyes so firmly fixed firmly on the prize that it shows through in the performance and informs the creative decisions made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That wasn’t the case with his George Smiley in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy </i>(2011), which earned him his last Oscar nomination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That distraction is completely absent in Cox’s performance - He just wants to tell the story.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, while the two films inevitably have much in common, what sets them apart is what makes them interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> is a visually sumptuous piece of work, with uniformly excellent performances, but it story suffers for being overly-familiar and uncritical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a puff-piece designed to attract the eye of the American critics and awards bodies and, as such, it has proven phenomenally successful.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Churchill</i> (the film) is a more uneven piece, visually less stylised, which shows the old man as less invulnerable, less endearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also more generous to the characters surrounding Churchill - particularly Clemmie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, ultimately, this film didn’t catch the zeitgeist like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Darkest Hour</i> did, because it isn’t about leaving Europe, it’s about the fight to get back in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s not a story we want to see right now.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Churchill (the film):<span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span>Darkest Hour:</b></div>
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Dir: Jonathan Teplitzky<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>Dir: Joe Wright</div>
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Script: Alex von Tunzelmann<span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>Script: Anthony McCarten</div>
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Dur: 98mins<span style="mso-tab-count: 5;"> </span>Dur: 125mins</div>
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Cert: PG<span style="mso-tab-count: 5;"> </span>Cert: PG</div>
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-19765198198932960122018-01-28T08:08:00.003+00:002018-02-13T13:10:03.192+00:00ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As its title rather cleverly alludes, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All the Money in the World</i> is about impossible wealth and the gravitational force it exerts on everyone around it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It begins rather in the manner of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Citizen Kane</i> (1941), with a patchwork portrait of John Paul Getty the man who - we are told several times - is not only the richest man in the world, but “the richest man in the history of the world” (as though that were something one could reliably calculate).</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Paulo (J.P. Getty’s grandson - played by Charlie Plummer - no relation to Christopher, sadly) provides an introductory voice-over, in which he explains that the ultra-rich “ ... look like you, but we’re not you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an interesting message to receive in 2017, when ten years of global economic mismanagement, manipulation and austerity have created a class of super-rich people who are seemingly entirely oblivious to the suffering their impossible wealth and comfort inflicts upon others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not sure if this film wants us to feel sorry for them, up there on their Mount Olympus of cash, or be scared of them.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Getty Snr. is obsessed with money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He spends his every waking hour alone, in a dark, cold room, watching the ticker-tape as it tells him how his stocks and shares are faring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In hotel rooms, he washes his own underwear in the sink, to save a few dollars on tips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has a pay phone in his mansion - for guests to use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He knows the price of everything ... And the value of nothing.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But this ‘they’re not really human’ description certainly goes some way to explaining the old man’s extraordinary reaction when his grandson is kidnapped and a ransom is demanded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though the sum demanded is pocket money for him, he won’t pay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He won’t capitulate to threats, he is used to having things his own way and the possible death of his grandson is not sufficient motivation for him to yield that position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This, of course, sets him in direct conflict with Paulo’s mother, Gail Harris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s the one person on Earth who doesn’t want his money - has turned it down in the past, in fact - but terrible irony has put her in the position of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">needing</i> his money.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Inevitably, Plummer’s performance dominates the film, he’s magnetic, you literally can’t take your eyes off him when he’s on screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But credit, too, must go to Michelle Williams whose Gail must fight her way through the incomprehensible labyrinth surrounding Getty, then force the monster at the centre to give a damn about events unfolding down here in the real world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Williams doesn’t play the role as a tearful hysteric; instead she is cool and cynical throughout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is resilient and, it turns out, she needs to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can feel the mounting tension, as the days become weeks become months, with her constantly on a knife-edge, teetering on the brink of hysteria but never succumbing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She can’t afford to, as she puts it “I’m fighting an empire”.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyO-oldGXRgzeHypGgDXU6J42NHcepI_F42clvkf_lTZzIBrArfYPzlWhyphenhyphennTIDBP6wjMGl_vW5vA9agGAXTYaheX1om_huo9wZF3mUJcZwCc0LON0G5bY0d4EAdClckRQjUZe676Sn9SA/s1600/AllTheMoneyA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyO-oldGXRgzeHypGgDXU6J42NHcepI_F42clvkf_lTZzIBrArfYPzlWhyphenhyphennTIDBP6wjMGl_vW5vA9agGAXTYaheX1om_huo9wZF3mUJcZwCc0LON0G5bY0d4EAdClckRQjUZe676Sn9SA/s640/AllTheMoneyA.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg facing the press over the short-lived 'reshoots pay' scandal. </b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One has to acknowledge what a monumental achievement Plummer’s performance is, given that he had just a few days of preparation, before performing his entire role in ten frantic days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does one need to mention that Plummer is 88?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you doubtless know, he was brought in to replace the disgraced Kevin Spacey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This decision was made by director Ridley Scott instantly and with total disregard for the seeming impossibility of the proposal and, as such, is one of the most remarkable behind-the-scenes stories of any recent film.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The cast was reassembled at a moment’s notice, locations were re-acquired, sets re-dressed, a crew recalled and a plethora of scenes were re-shot with the new Getty front and centre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shooting additional scenes within the Getty mansion is one thing - one large stately home looks much like another and, once the props and lights are in place, you’re good to go ... But to shoot a sequence in the Coliseum in Rome - and then to shoot it again a few months later ... that will have required some remarkable negotiating and string-pulling on behalf of the production crew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That this is one of the most visually beautiful sequences in the film, speaks volumes about the professionalism of Scott and his crew.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With all of this activity swirling around him and, what’s more, with the eyes of the world now firmly fixed on the film because of the Spacey controversy, Plummer gives a note-perfect performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is utterly convincing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s his role and it always was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The notion of a younger man playing the role with a face full of prosthetics is laughable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Old man Getty is a chilling, loathsome creature, entirely consumed within the madness of his own self-importance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With no trace of irony, he insists that he is a Roman emperor reincarnated and must build himself a grand Roman villa.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMd_HgFexIDA7Ef0ptrJlK6zCHP5voqjFDf8TmXAwNZZ5IbHh3HZ7FoRcxLAuku-oeuNyi0kSnlVjg70lPCAi9XyNbevqYhqctEsGkchmS1LCLgVT077BIv0vxoHhI4pfNfVyw2xtsCs/s1600/paulo+roman+busts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="1200" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfMd_HgFexIDA7Ef0ptrJlK6zCHP5voqjFDf8TmXAwNZZ5IbHh3HZ7FoRcxLAuku-oeuNyi0kSnlVjg70lPCAi9XyNbevqYhqctEsGkchmS1LCLgVT077BIv0vxoHhI4pfNfVyw2xtsCs/s640/paulo+roman+busts.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>When in Rome. Young Paulo coming to terms with his grandfather's obsession with ancient Emperors.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film’s first two acts unfurl at a fairly leisurely pace as Williams jets back and forth trying to negotiate her son’s release and Mark Wahlberg accompanies her, with Getty’s instructions to deal with the matter “as quickly and cheaply as possible”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Paulo is ‘sold’ to a financier, someone who is determined to realise his asset - and the drama picks up a gear.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In order to motivate the Getty’s, young Paulo is mutilated and it becomes increasingly obvious that his fate hangs in the balance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scott manages to ring the maximum dramatic impact out of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Wahlberg’s fixer, Fletcher Chase, comes into his own for a cat-and-mouse d<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">é</span>nouement, which is genuinely exhilarating edge-of-the-seat stuff, mixing high drama with action movie thrills and Shakespearean tragedy.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All the Money in the World</i> could have gone so desperately wrong - but Scott’s control and experience pulls the film through - and brings us Christopher Plummer on searing form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t think anyone would mind losing a gold statue to him on Oscar night - because it wouldn’t be a ‘lifetime achievement’ award, one of those ‘sorry we missed you when you deserved it’ awards; it would be an entirely deserved and fitting recognition of a bravura performance.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjPjYVHkL0gCmWu8IiG-nL2_nnSKihJiAKjauDveeRivftPa0STnJW8Mem4WuJP55I1VbcUQ5VOJlYgHNCXYfvWtpt1yjhxdTSaO7kWalawNZ7lGZXdC31LPA67Z_gXsIEAx7UhWV1hc/s1600/fid18002_trid16296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjPjYVHkL0gCmWu8IiG-nL2_nnSKihJiAKjauDveeRivftPa0STnJW8Mem4WuJP55I1VbcUQ5VOJlYgHNCXYfvWtpt1yjhxdTSaO7kWalawNZ7lGZXdC31LPA67Z_gXsIEAx7UhWV1hc/s640/fid18002_trid16296.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Does this look like the face of everyone's favourite grandad?</b></td></tr>
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<b>Dir: Ridley Scott</b></div>
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<b>Script: David Scarpa</b></div>
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<b>Cert: 15</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dur: 133 mins</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-22519933811525569732018-01-28T07:58:00.000+00:002018-01-30T13:49:33.654+00:00"NATURE NEVER KNEW COLOURS LIKE THAT"<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxe0yrm4-OKYlTN3hD58NND5tCSqJHkxwH9YeIzXPTK3rm2sZUCGKyGVqyLGk-GMT9jPKZOjJZhPiBMnJewPkWqBPpqBW-mgRyS0V1RZ2NXw-mGcVaJlLk_LF5pDikxuC9_FE9qRdkeY/s1600/the-shape-of-water-in+the+cinema+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1248" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsxe0yrm4-OKYlTN3hD58NND5tCSqJHkxwH9YeIzXPTK3rm2sZUCGKyGVqyLGk-GMT9jPKZOjJZhPiBMnJewPkWqBPpqBW-mgRyS0V1RZ2NXw-mGcVaJlLk_LF5pDikxuC9_FE9qRdkeY/s640/the-shape-of-water-in+the+cinema+crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In <i>The Shape of Water</i>, you’ll see a lot of green and aquamarine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s everywhere, from the skin of the mysterious Gill-Man, to the walls of the corridors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's like Cinematographer, Dan Laustsen, ha<b>s </b>deliberately suppressed most of the other colours, to reflect the watery nature of the tale.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Indeed, practically the only time you see a more balanced colour palette, is when Gill-Man goes to see a Deluxe Cinemascope film at the local cinema.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This made me think about the use of colour in recent movies and how, thanks to the efforts of some new kids on the Hollywood block, things seem to be changing.</div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At one point, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Shape of Water</i>, Michael Shannon’s character buys himself a new car. He thinks it’s blue, but the salesman corrects him and advises him that it is <i>teal</i>.</div>
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<![endif]--><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Teal is a colour one sees a lot in films these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amber and teal - or orange and blue, if you prefer - are opposite sides of the colour wheel, which means they complement each other and, therefore, you see them together. A lot.<br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sometimes, in a movie, you’ll get nothing but orange and blue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max Fury Road</i>, for instance.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Mad Max Fury Road</i>: Witness amber and teal! Cinematographer: John Seale.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other films are subtler, less vivid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take down the saturation and the amber and teal look more like brown and grey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take, for example, pretty much every film that Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński has shot for Steven Spielberg, from the moody interiors of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minority Report</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lincoln</i> ...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Moody lighting in 2002's <i>Minority Report</i> (top) and 2012's <i>Lincoln</i> (bottom)<br />serves to make the future more mysterious and the past more serious.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>... To the unforgiving office lights of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Post</i>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>All three films - Cinematographer:</b><b> Janusz Kamiński</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s always been the case that films have altered the colour of the image to create mood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Silent black and white films would ‘tint’ the image, different colours for different locations. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Phantom of the Opera</i> (1925) famously did all of that, and even had a sequence in early Technicolor.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBRcXmcWtDiei5MCHA2IJ5vZ45rnxR4lnouKVouts5N7RNr1k7MLiJRgqOfwibYg9xATecG-Ahwei8ANQgY89M2RiGVs1-QxaeMmu-VzVvbN_bmO6DGHCnIMGUqAcSuuOm3MnNWPT5z8/s1600/phantom+yellow+green+blue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="1600" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOBRcXmcWtDiei5MCHA2IJ5vZ45rnxR4lnouKVouts5N7RNr1k7MLiJRgqOfwibYg9xATecG-Ahwei8ANQgY89M2RiGVs1-QxaeMmu-VzVvbN_bmO6DGHCnIMGUqAcSuuOm3MnNWPT5z8/s640/phantom+yellow+green+blue.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;"><i>Phantom of the Opera</i>: a black and white film with an amber tint for a warm interior,<br />green to imply mystery, and blue for a night-time exterior. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; line-height: 115%;">Cinematographer: Milton Bridenbecker, et al.</span></b></span><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today, these effects are achieved by Colourists, who adjust the tone and saturation of the colour in the image, reducing the vibrancy of the reds, taking down the temperature of the greens, and leaving those oranges and blues behind.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Brown and grey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amber and teal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For almost twenty years, that has been the visual shorthand that a film is to be taken seriously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The colour palette helps the audience understand - immediately - what the mood of the film is, bright and breezy or dark and heavy.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Look at what happened to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harry Potter</i> films; the first two were whimsical in tone, and visually bright and warm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, as the danger to Harry became more serious, the films became <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">much</i> darker and colder.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Warm and friendly <i>Philosopher's Stone</i> on the left (Cinematographer: John Seale).<br />Dark and deadly <i>Deathly Hallows</i> on the right (Cinematographer:</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span class="fn"> Eduardo Serra).</span></span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Most films use this limited palette with great subtlety, to create a natural-looking environment, like Peter Jackson’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyFobmXwp6iE9FOXfP1zjEwlMf6Rz9noP-YxoaknqLGQJUySgLPr6fnAVLnvAZrcr7Jq7Fx1KH_KEDPClxuu5DofjijA-QncUie-jTYBtuqJ15loxiurKNdR-K7Z_jJIY8Cr1qYw7gYE/s1600/lotr+brown+%2526+grey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyFobmXwp6iE9FOXfP1zjEwlMf6Rz9noP-YxoaknqLGQJUySgLPr6fnAVLnvAZrcr7Jq7Fx1KH_KEDPClxuu5DofjijA-QncUie-jTYBtuqJ15loxiurKNdR-K7Z_jJIY8Cr1qYw7gYE/s640/lotr+brown+%2526+grey.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Lord of the Rings</i> (2001 - 2003) </b><b><b>Cinematographer: Andrew Lesnie. </b></b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Other films go just plain mad with the artifice of it. Yes <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tron: Legacy</i>, I’m looking at you:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Tron: Legacy</i> (2010) </b><b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></b><b><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="st"></span>Cinematographer: </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Claudio Miranda</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And that’s been the way of things ever since colour grading became a digital process, allowing the film-makers to control every aspect of the exposure, tone, saturation and, yes, colour that we see.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The first film to make waves with altering its colour grading like this, was the Coen Brothers’ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O Brother Where Art Thou</i>? in the year 2000. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What The Coens (and their Cinematographer, the legendary Roger Deakins) did, was scan the film (they still prefer to use film, even though that is increasingly rare these days) into a computer and tweak the colours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was to turn the lush green trees to an autumnal gold, without affecting the colour of, say, the characters’ skin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As he told the American Society of Cinematographers at the time: “</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I had to find a way to desaturate the greens and give the images we were going to shoot the feeling of old, hand-tinted postcards”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You probably have an app on your phone that can do that now, but 18 years ago, that was a big complicated process - and it introduced Hollywood at large to the notion that the image in a film doesn’t have to stay the colour it was in the real world.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>O Brother</i>, using a limited colour palette to re-create those golden days. </b><br />
<b>Cinematographer: Roger Deakins</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But why did this lead to the constant sorrow of amber and teal?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I’d be interested in hearing back from an actual Colourist on this; but the consensus view seems to be: because skin tones tend to be warm and, since films are about people, their skin will be in the majority of shots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, the warm end of the spectrum will be there, and needs to be contrasted by the cooler end to create colour harmony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s Colour Theory, innit. Warm contrasting with cool: orange with blue.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, here’s a thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few Hollywood newcomers have quietly been ignoring Colour Theory, they’ve broken away from the boring browns and grotty greys, and they’re going mad with - shock, horror - purple and green!</span><br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I recently rewatched <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kong: Skull Island</i> and was struck by the vivid colours used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Legendary Pictures put their own ‘official’ Colour Palette Supercut online (<a href="https://youtu.be/l1gNsh77Qtw" target="_blank">here</a>) for the film, putting the spotlight on, for example, the bar scene, or the fight scene in the green smoke.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: Larry Fong.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Once was the time when, to see colours like that, you were either watching a Nicolas Winding Refn movie, or you were tripping.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nicholas Winding Refn's <i>Only God Forgives</i>. Cinematographer: Larry Smith.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He, of course, with his <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Only God Forgives</i> (2013) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Neon Demon</i> (2016), was channelling the demonic spirit of Dario Argento’s 1977 expressionistic giallo classic, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suspiria</i>. Argento’s Cinematographer, </span>Luciano Tovoli, told <i>American Cinematographer </i>magazine that the intention, with <i>Suspiria</i>, was to make the film look like a ‘gothic fairy tale’, with a visual style inspired by Disney’s <i>Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs</i> (1937).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Suspiria </i>(1977)</b><b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> Cinematographer: </span>Luciano Tovoli.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Forty years on, Argento’s animation-inspired livid, vivid colours are back with a bang.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> John Wick</i> made its secret underworld seem exotic by lighting it in strong neon blues and reds.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>John Wick</i> (2014) Cinematographer: Jonathan Sela.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Its sequel, in 2017, did more of the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David Leitch made an uncredited contribution to that, but got all the credit he deserved for bringing the same aesthetic to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Atomic Blonde</i>. Bad memories of 1980s nightclubs came rushing back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was also some brown and grey in there, but those colours knew their place and served simply as contrast. </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmoUufNkkelcxJXN9L2-INrQdeg3JbBIf03lYzi8EnBw6UwwfS6g2xw3NwAPIpDUgr6kfe9cTIB7mJ9OPDO6ksnaeejowIm5Ub3RKel6C3JWqazxEqGz7DFZL2AXLlKFTXZAFoGuLfbc/s1600/atomic+purple+%2526+green.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCmoUufNkkelcxJXN9L2-INrQdeg3JbBIf03lYzi8EnBw6UwwfS6g2xw3NwAPIpDUgr6kfe9cTIB7mJ9OPDO6ksnaeejowIm5Ub3RKel6C3JWqazxEqGz7DFZL2AXLlKFTXZAFoGuLfbc/s640/atomic+purple+%2526+green.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocDMO8R2U8HpLKPpIr964RZVOWV1btDT7KRYta-NqSDAXTkTiA3sj-dVBVwsewqqB7G0ocA9HkK2-XyDJVFIlsjxO1T3hp1nHqnMRpmk7aTCejBt3EUCTVjV0mnf94jl5iK7hyphenhyphen2KiNro/s1600/atomic+amber+%2526+teal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgocDMO8R2U8HpLKPpIr964RZVOWV1btDT7KRYta-NqSDAXTkTiA3sj-dVBVwsewqqB7G0ocA9HkK2-XyDJVFIlsjxO1T3hp1nHqnMRpmk7aTCejBt3EUCTVjV0mnf94jl5iK7hyphenhyphen2KiNro/s640/atomic+amber+%2526+teal.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer on both <i>John Wick</i> & <i>Atomic Blonde</i>: Jonathan Sela.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, where this reckless abandonment of amber and teal has taken greatest hold is in the MCU.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2017, both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardians Vol. 2</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thor Ragnarok</i> went psychedelic, as befitting the garish colours of the comics from which they take their inspiration.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>First out of the gate, we had James Gunn’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardians</i> sequel, which took the pizzazz of the first film into a whole new galaxy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Planet Ego was, as they say, a visual feast.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYdorGIdzDUb2qo2wlVxO9HQavkA9rr-9ikAHMjzd8b0LoFQCTdbouImYnNrceXnzyvZh90LXnhz79I8ZMB5heehyz2FCfNTkDQHB22XHd8zdT5Iwt3iOwGiTeZ5ul53iay3r3fA1BFA/s1600/ego+purple+%2526+aquamarine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="1120" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmYdorGIdzDUb2qo2wlVxO9HQavkA9rr-9ikAHMjzd8b0LoFQCTdbouImYnNrceXnzyvZh90LXnhz79I8ZMB5heehyz2FCfNTkDQHB22XHd8zdT5Iwt3iOwGiTeZ5ul53iay3r3fA1BFA/s640/ego+purple+%2526+aquamarine.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Guardians of the Galaxy 2 </i>... Kurt Russell's ego is so big, you can see it from space.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, let’s be honest, when James Gunn goes orange and blue, there’s no messing about.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjiy73X3tlRk-Gc8V5H-bWwsjqcdbToCh8Gv_LBRTZ0X0wftZV21la0xdm16hOZwFWQi8xJ2SH-2NgE9EdRbyJn2gxiCKgVNWajC434DOzZr0aJ5J1KtD-8DNMMXv4p8PHoOd43EoVkTo/s1600/guardians+amber+blue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjiy73X3tlRk-Gc8V5H-bWwsjqcdbToCh8Gv_LBRTZ0X0wftZV21la0xdm16hOZwFWQi8xJ2SH-2NgE9EdRbyJn2gxiCKgVNWajC434DOzZr0aJ5J1KtD-8DNMMXv4p8PHoOd43EoVkTo/s640/guardians+amber+blue.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>We're amber and teal, y'all! Cinematographer: Henry Braham.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then, six months later, we got another film heavily inspired by the mad genius of comics maestro, Jack Kirby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Director Taika Waititi<span class="xbe">, taking his cue from what Gunn had done, literally wove Kirby’s artwork into the fabric of his film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check out the extras on the Blu Ray if you don’t believe me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of paying homage to the great man, was to make the film as colourful as those old four-colour comics.</span></div>
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<span class="xbe"> </span> <span class="xbe"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This gave us a lot of red and, inevitably, green.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMko6RcYr8UBhlffby272MEreoKLMpxX2BmPLA3y2QSnGO67KaHRcQXy_RE7X9wDzHBaHqMAzgGjdTITYHQM7XxhOysmWSH95Df5Vc67dc1hi4sl0ggCAkv-S_Wgklwy3HO_D4EWHtOk/s1600/thor+%2526+hulk+red+%2526+green.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHMko6RcYr8UBhlffby272MEreoKLMpxX2BmPLA3y2QSnGO67KaHRcQXy_RE7X9wDzHBaHqMAzgGjdTITYHQM7XxhOysmWSH95Df5Vc67dc1hi4sl0ggCAkv-S_Wgklwy3HO_D4EWHtOk/s640/thor+%2526+hulk+red+%2526+green.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Red and green. The <i>very</i> odd couple.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span class="xbe"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, again, when he goes amber and teal, he does it with a purpose - here to make the flashback to Hela’s defeat of the Valkyrie seem all the more shocking and tragic.</span> </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP72EMy1GC429KnJvjDRF4qDqz-b16xi18N388Z3TNzPAd8GhuLj4yr1E4uhGn24y-tBhvRBabJ7JzGsUqVZ6GIXef7Kevz_hJt3Eh4YSVJIQxswQLwnwlGxX4xn4gHTzYEQ9jmp6blYI/s1600/thor+amber+%2526+teal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP72EMy1GC429KnJvjDRF4qDqz-b16xi18N388Z3TNzPAd8GhuLj4yr1E4uhGn24y-tBhvRBabJ7JzGsUqVZ6GIXef7Kevz_hJt3Eh4YSVJIQxswQLwnwlGxX4xn4gHTzYEQ9jmp6blYI/s640/thor+amber+%2526+teal.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: </b><b>Javier Aguirresarobe</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="xbe"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, can we expect this trend to continue in 2018?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s hard to tell from trailers, because they aren’t finished pieces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final colour timing decisions haven’t been made, so the images in the final film could look very different from those same images in the trailer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we’ll do a little detective work and see what we can find:</span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Dazzling David Leitch and Jonathan Sela are back together with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deadpool 2</i>. <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Expectations are high that it won't just be the language that's colourful.</span><b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b>If the publicity shots are any guide, we’ll be having a lot of orange and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">green</i>. So that’s at least different from orange and blue.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiACMPwROO6_dbCaU36J49OYpd4URVmnOWwjdVSf_Kd5sj7hwCXifds5eEbDHGFgZYrz511BFEm31aeG1fHLxX6eAHR758nJhjvYQvtnvbIzlrZXWZdHlL5n4DVan9tjRVt9S3rTMqMA/s1600/deadpool-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1427" data-original-width="1440" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNiACMPwROO6_dbCaU36J49OYpd4URVmnOWwjdVSf_Kd5sj7hwCXifds5eEbDHGFgZYrz511BFEm31aeG1fHLxX6eAHR758nJhjvYQvtnvbIzlrZXWZdHlL5n4DVan9tjRVt9S3rTMqMA/s640/deadpool-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><b>Cinematographer: Jonathan Sela</b></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="xbe"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Similarly, I’m expecting to see a lot of orange and green in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jurassic World 2</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Green cos it's in a jungle and orange cos, well, y’know ... volcano!</span> </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyGoRm4ZQ3Gk_scz5dh3u3h93Gd4QmESpGizDIyQQFaHQOWOlE1_anSF8GBmX80qgNha0QY3YV8AvaaHOoV_7ZpL03LL2ddBgo2_mKMDxKlk3tE4nYkaW21ZeMY8cQcCltzdzrnwANSk/s1600/jurassic-world-lava.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWyGoRm4ZQ3Gk_scz5dh3u3h93Gd4QmESpGizDIyQQFaHQOWOlE1_anSF8GBmX80qgNha0QY3YV8AvaaHOoV_7ZpL03LL2ddBgo2_mKMDxKlk3tE4nYkaW21ZeMY8cQcCltzdzrnwANSk/s640/jurassic-world-lava.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: </b><b><b>Óscar Faura</b></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; mso-outline-level: 1;">
<span class="xbe"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I think we already know that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Panther</i> is going to be pretty colourful, but I’d expect this to be more restrained and serious than in either of 2017’s cosmic entries.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’ll literally be more down to earth.</span> </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXuBBZcTgzrGAW_C9383x-7x41GBf12O4PE4yG4f15DJqAkBhXwvSTOkUx3l0A2s3wSXuuJK2QVvqg6i8i5T9eCMuWqQdBDiDl4ExaaCsrXTJHC4MamlZgoUGIvEc9lGq40J0UDahx4I4/s1600/black+panther+women.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXuBBZcTgzrGAW_C9383x-7x41GBf12O4PE4yG4f15DJqAkBhXwvSTOkUx3l0A2s3wSXuuJK2QVvqg6i8i5T9eCMuWqQdBDiDl4ExaaCsrXTJHC4MamlZgoUGIvEc9lGq40J0UDahx4I4/s640/black+panther+women.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: </b><b><b>Rachel Morrison</b></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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</xml><![endif]--><span class="xbe"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Francis Lawrence’s latest team-up with Jennifer (no relation) Lawrence, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Red Sparrow</i>, seems to have, as its name suggests, a more vivid colour palette at its disposal. Of course, it's entirely possible we'll quickly get as tired of purple as we already are of orange and blue!</span> </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMPnDBesnzBjxIeJBGlhqy6QHO6tEMA9ZZpO_I3q1Frh45rcS1bI9LKWbL8G9Cq4c4jaynD2j4W73o9zYpoOPet6H8i7xp6iNr4Lfw8R_MW8XipMwM94ULQFnXg2kg2xLaWF3UnwMCtY/s1600/red-sparrow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMPnDBesnzBjxIeJBGlhqy6QHO6tEMA9ZZpO_I3q1Frh45rcS1bI9LKWbL8G9Cq4c4jaynD2j4W73o9zYpoOPet6H8i7xp6iNr4Lfw8R_MW8XipMwM94ULQFnXg2kg2xLaWF3UnwMCtY/s640/red-sparrow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: Jo Willems</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9d9s7tbmnbIA5yqiIRsCIbIlzE2uF0N9cB3F4E6EOa-dAaQv68BImsndYVhhq_PDW4ABy2eDwlng71MWHyYK5gWdzbAj28I_-9RjvkpkMDpRh7BSQJHLuex8ou2MAqAaMiTbTFdR3vQ/s1600/wrinkle+oprah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo9d9s7tbmnbIA5yqiIRsCIbIlzE2uF0N9cB3F4E6EOa-dAaQv68BImsndYVhhq_PDW4ABy2eDwlng71MWHyYK5gWdzbAj28I_-9RjvkpkMDpRh7BSQJHLuex8ou2MAqAaMiTbTFdR3vQ/s640/wrinkle+oprah.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: </b><b><b>Tobias A. Schliessler</b></b></td></tr>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Traditionally, in times of woe, Hollywood steps up with colourful fantasy movies, offering long-suffering people an escape from Recession and war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe, then, this is Hollywood’s latest attempt to divert us from the fresh Hells the news media serve up every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of depicting a dystopian future of harsh blues and greys, which seems oddly unchanged from the world we live in today; maybe Hollywood’s new players are harking back to a time when film was more fun, more vibrant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A time when the world was in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">full</i> colour.<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At the very least, if Dan Laustsen's work on <i>The Shape of Water</i> gets him to take home a gold statue from the Academy Awards ... We can expect to see a lot more green and aquamarine appearing in films from here on in.<br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, if you’re scratching your head over my title ... It’s an Angry Bob quote from the 1990 Richard Stanley film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hardware</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another movie which wasn’t afraid to saturate the screen with colour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Cinematographer: Steven Chivers.</b></td></tr>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-88179150509088797282017-12-15T00:59:00.000+00:002017-12-17T01:47:19.727+00:00STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ7LiX2tJyILwBgqyepj5uXX5j8ptXfNd6sAes-mg1Leo3x7DpGfmpD7uj3MaMBFxwss2JGXbT_xHawyPNE5iaxXzOeH_lo74-XlEpN14fvhjMUDDeljENtALhlETyjREsprpDCs4SD8/s1600/last+jedi+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1096" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpQ7LiX2tJyILwBgqyepj5uXX5j8ptXfNd6sAes-mg1Leo3x7DpGfmpD7uj3MaMBFxwss2JGXbT_xHawyPNE5iaxXzOeH_lo74-XlEpN14fvhjMUDDeljENtALhlETyjREsprpDCs4SD8/s640/last+jedi+poster.jpg" width="438" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Although this gawjuss thing isn't the poster you'll likely have seen - it is an official poster, not fan art. It's by a fella who, if you ask me, is the heir apparent to Drew Struzan ... Paul Shipper, ladies and gentlemen. Find him here: </b><a href="http://paulshipperstudio.com/" target="_blank">http://paulshipperstudio.com/</a></td></tr>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">There’s gonna be some spoilerage in this review.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Serious spoilerage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, if you haven’t seen <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Jedi</i> yet, go away and do so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll see you after ...</b></div>
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These days, the first few moments of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> film make me tense ... Is it going to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Empire</i> good, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Phantom Menace</i> bad, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Force Awakens</i> okay?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first few minutes usually tell.</div>
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Where J.J. had to spend some time, with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i>, introducing a whole new cast of characters and a (slightly) different galaxy - Rian Johnson, in this film, gets to hit the ground running.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Interesting, then, that he sets off by offering us some mixed messages: The opening line is delivered by ... Ade Edmondson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have Sir Adrian Dangerous on a Star Destroyer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What could possibly go wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he’s answerable to Domhnall Gleeson, who’s still playing Hux as an eye-swivelling maniac with a light sabre stuck up his ass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, thankfully, writer/director Rian Johnson takes care to do what J.J. failed to do - and that’s let the audience in on the joke:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hux is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meant</i> to be ridiculous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a relief.</div>
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Throughout this film, there is interplay between genuine humour, knowing nods to the audience, and edge-of-the-seat drama.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s quite a balancing act but, as Luke tells Rey, the secret to The Force is that’s all about balance.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ehm ... Nope. I got nothing.</b></td></tr>
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When Oscar Isaac turns up as Poe Dameron, he’s just one guy in an X-Wing, facing off against an entire Star Destroyer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, when he talks to Gleason, it’s still hard to reconcile these performances with the ones the two actors gave in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ex Machina</i> (2015) ... But that’s good, it shows the range they both have.</div>
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After this comic moment - suddenly there’s flying and shooting and shouting and lots of explosions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The opening ten minutes is frantic seat of the pants stuff during which, they essentially restage the entirety of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rogue One</i> (2016).</div>
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So, after the first few moments - the nerves are singing, the senses tingling - and things are looking good!</div>
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The film manages to successfully balance several tones - from tragic to comic by way of dramatic - and several different plot threads, which proceed at wildly different paces and often in entirely different directions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, it is to the credit of the writing and the editing, that it is all perfectly explicable.</div>
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There are visual and thematic contrasts here ... Snoke’s audience chamber is a sterile red and black affair, while the landscape over which the Rebellion stages its last stand is sterile red and ... white!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last film began with us following Rey, all alone, living life by her own terms, and surviving on her wits - yet full of hope for the return of her parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This film brings her into contact (finally) with Luke Skywalker, who is all alone, living life by his own terms - but full of despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The contrast, and the emotional affect Rey and Skywalker have on each other, is the emotional crux of the story - as Skywalker’s training was the emotional crux of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Empire</i>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>This week on 'Escape to the Country', legendary Jedi, Luke Skywalker and Miss Rey Nosurnameyet have picked out this secluded and detached residence on the planet Ah-Choo. Don't they look happy.</b></td></tr>
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Over in the Rebellion’s part of the story, Dameron’s gung-ho attitude, which a younger Leia tolerated in Han Solo, stretches her patience and she is constantly reining him in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’ve done something interesting with Leia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Firstly, they’ve given her hair which isn’t nearly as silly; but they’ve also given her genuine authority over her troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Secondly, they have created a brilliant and heart-breaking moment for her - which pays homage, wonderfully, to the legacy of Carrie Fisher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It shows the power Leia has been restraining all these years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I actually wept.</div>
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But then, they unravel it all and proceed as though the sequence never happened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was an odd choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They create the perfect send-off for the character, then have her come back from it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Odd. However, this does feed into a motif which runs through this film more obviously than it has through the others (although, it’s really always been there) which is the way in which, for those who are strong with the Force, death is a temporary inconvenience, rather than a permanent state of affairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bear that in mind when you see a certain person cut in half by a light sabre.</div>
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Where <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Force Awakens</i> was, essentially, a tribute remix of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A New Hope</i> - which slavishly reproduced most of the first film’s key elements, from the desert planet beginning, to the Death Star Trench ending - this film mixes in ingredients from both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Empire</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jedi</i>, too many of them, if I’m honest, but does so efficiently and energetically.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8dLNzBUOTzS-7pnzHaJukommeYtWn6N4Tg0zEYe4NaPw3MUzWNL94esuOabc3y2Cv5uE1OLZxM4y_MKwlEAIxNAYTH3fRpY7gSp7yH1g-2mBZ2BKv9C5_wwaEiJwSzpRpAibDi3ajLu4/s1600/Last+Jedi_Walkers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8dLNzBUOTzS-7pnzHaJukommeYtWn6N4Tg0zEYe4NaPw3MUzWNL94esuOabc3y2Cv5uE1OLZxM4y_MKwlEAIxNAYTH3fRpY7gSp7yH1g-2mBZ2BKv9C5_wwaEiJwSzpRpAibDi3ajLu4/s640/Last+Jedi_Walkers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>To the untrained eye, this might appear like a restaging of the Battle for Hoth but, no, nothing could be further from the truth. Oh, okay, yes it is.</b></td></tr>
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There’s two (count ’em) restagings of the attack on Hoth, there’s the Jedi training in a primeval environment, there’s yet another Cantina scene (this time in a casino), there’s the obligatory we-have-to-turn-off-the-transmitter plot from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jedi</i> and even the Millennium Falcon flying through the tunnels whilst pursued by TIE fighters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, y’know, as overly-familiar as these elements were while I was watching them, none of them are on screen long enough to spoil the fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With so many different plotlines rattling along, it’s not possible to get bogged down in any one moment.<br />
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It is ironic, of course, that Ren's major piece of advice to Rey is to abandon the past, because that's the only way to move forward. Maybe that was Johnson subtly nudging J.J.'s elbow, now that Mr. Abrams is back in the director's seat for Episode IX.</div>
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While Kylo Ren, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Force Awakens</i>, was essentially a spoiled brat long over-due a thick ear; here, Adam Driver gives the character some real depth and pathos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a connection between him and Rey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film never explicitly says this, but it seems to be heading in the direction of revealing, in the next film, that they’re related.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brother and sister, maybe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be vintage <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Ren and Rey are conflicted, both trying to find themselves, both being given advice by Jedi masters they don’t entirely trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is being told two narratives - one by Skywalker, one by Ren.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which does she believe ... Or will she synthesise them and make her own mind up?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhKID3QNcuf-dSMzclMu0hEi_HPvSd8yFiIXOgMdrsZVCg3hifJDLm9Wtn14DTDB0nJmksibpfuh-H_vrGOrAsJPuVRkYhInUWu-88kq3mso3yrXRNEE0xK1y-ockrmWnhTCTq1PFsqg/s1600/star-wars-kylo-ren-adam-driver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLhKID3QNcuf-dSMzclMu0hEi_HPvSd8yFiIXOgMdrsZVCg3hifJDLm9Wtn14DTDB0nJmksibpfuh-H_vrGOrAsJPuVRkYhInUWu-88kq3mso3yrXRNEE0xK1y-ockrmWnhTCTq1PFsqg/s640/star-wars-kylo-ren-adam-driver.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Watching Kylo Ren in <i>The Force Awakens</i> just made me want to put him over my knee ... But, here, he is thoughtful and serious and poignant, a really layered and nuanced character.</b></td></tr>
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Ren and Rey's scenes together (even though they’re rarely actually together) are intense and soulful and aren’t full of the meaningless hokum they spouted at each other in <i>Force Awaken</i>s, but actually develop the characters and push the story along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there’s a moment, when they are in Snoke’s chamber together, a moment of epiphany that is the equal, in its grandeur and drama, to the sword-fight between Vader and Skywalker at the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jedi</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Genuine hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck stuff.</div>
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It’s worth mentioning - this year of all years - that the original <i>Star Wars</i> was notorious for the short shrift it gave its female characters (all one of her); well, the new films have done a lot to redress that, now we have the entire Rebellion being run by them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clear eyed and calculating, they are strategic and unemotional in their stewardship of the war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo - offering strong and stable leadership. Ahem.</b></td></tr>
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As Laura Dern's Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo says to Poe “Hope is like the Sun, if you only believe in it when you see it, you’ll never make it through the night”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which is a helluvan important message to soak up in these trying times.</div>
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Over on the side of the First Order, they have an entirely male command structure, and they’re constantly bickering, getting distracted, getting emotional, and trying to get one over on each other. Hope, then, is female, while despair is conspicuously male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, when impetuous fly-boy Poe (briefly) takes over as commander of the Rebellion, his plan - whilst very noble - is really stupid and guaranteed to lead to lots of explosions and dying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is motivated by despair - he feels that he must act <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">now</i> to avert disaster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cooler heads have a plan that will take slightly longer to unravel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s genuinely enlightened to have an alpha male be proven wrong and be sidelined in this way, by an alpha female.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Refreshing!</div>
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Wonder when they’ll let a woman actually <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">direct</i> one of these films?</div>
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Anyway, given the way the plots rattle along, they’ve managed to find time to shoe-horn in a huge amount of fan service - not much of which serves any purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They bring back Yoda (see my previous comments about death not being permanent), so he can offer Luke a few well turned homilies such as “failure is the greatest teacher” (an important lesson all creative artists have to learn the hard way).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>C-3PO is there, of course, taking up room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>R2-D2 shows up for one scene, simply so he can play Luke the original “Help me, Ob-Wan” hologram, which created a lump in Luke’s throat, and mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They even bring Maz Kanata back for about 30 seconds (presumably because Lupita Nyong'o had it in her contract).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_KHS2QwmhoaJibpjLZ-vZl-YDgldinzLcCFT8HcoAgexq8vgZ2BEBdvTV5eqwOrUupeD17K1Z2oxiTjqwAiINlvwDw9L8xnbrJh9C4H7kHmL5jOCrm7mQFkdXlNgj2X3Sz1N7edSwSM/s1600/last-jedi-rose-and-finn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_KHS2QwmhoaJibpjLZ-vZl-YDgldinzLcCFT8HcoAgexq8vgZ2BEBdvTV5eqwOrUupeD17K1Z2oxiTjqwAiINlvwDw9L8xnbrJh9C4H7kHmL5jOCrm7mQFkdXlNgj2X3Sz1N7edSwSM/s640/last-jedi-rose-and-finn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><b>Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) and </b>Finn (John Boyega) blending in perfectly in the billionaire's playground of Canto Bight.</b></td></tr>
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She sends Finn and new-recruit Rose on a side mission to the casino city of Canto Bight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sequence, in the middle of the film, is really just to give Finn something to do. It's his chance to remember that he's supposed to be a hero, shamed into this revelation by Rose, a young woman who has no business giving a damn when it isn't her turn. This whole sequence doesn’t add much to the film, but it is fun and delightful to look at and, of course, provides a plethora of new characters Disney can turn into toys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t really serve the narrative or the characters, but it will certainly serve the Disney coffers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funny, but I typically resent this - creating characters and locations as product placement - but, in this film, it takes up so little screen time, I didn’t really have time to mind.<br />
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Also, importantly, we return to Canto in the film's coda, and we see the impact that Rose and Finn's visit has had; how it has inspired the next generation. Slave children tell each other of the heroics of The Last Jedi, and that will fuel their imagination as they grow to become the hoped-for future. The spark of Episode IX is lit at the end of Episode VIII.</div>
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The character arcs between Ren and Rey intersect with him telling her: “Your parents have no place in this story,.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You come from nothing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is instilling in her a belief that she is self-made, immensely powerful even without tuition - like he is himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, to say the parents are irrelevant, is to fly in the face of The Monomyth, the story that all these epic narratives draw from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I’m going to say that he was either wrong or lying. If he is right, and she <i>isn't</i> any kind of chosen one ... That could be the single most radical creative decision in the whole film!</div>
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But there is an interesting development, when Rey looks into the black pit which represents the pull of The Dark Side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luke warns her that she went straight there, fearing that it might consume her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Might that be a pre-cursor of the direction she chooses to swing in the final film?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More likely, is that she - unlike either Anakin Skywalker or Luke Skywalker before her - can access The Dark Side without being overwhelmed by it. Both she and Ren are pulled by both the Dark and the Light ... And they don't see either of these as being right or wrong, just different. That's the way to not be defined by the past; that's the way to shape your own future.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The story ends as it began, with one man, hopelessly out-gunned, facing down the First Order alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This moment also had tears pricking at my eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the resolution to this sequence is nothing short of genius.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7H6rGIJ9IIYT0giNtsmXGgDtErhB3NOG24N8_JftoEvGJSSvop8_oDrhy4-KUcRb4qLgbs7tVzD81gL259PGOciw40g6-slclrI2rBzX-CAEva0-3-6CIfXSc_yWhmyDnWWxdYlGggiA/s1600/last+jedi+battle+of+crait.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="671" data-original-width="1600" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7H6rGIJ9IIYT0giNtsmXGgDtErhB3NOG24N8_JftoEvGJSSvop8_oDrhy4-KUcRb4qLgbs7tVzD81gL259PGOciw40g6-slclrI2rBzX-CAEva0-3-6CIfXSc_yWhmyDnWWxdYlGggiA/s640/last+jedi+battle+of+crait.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The show-down on planet Crait is visually arresting, because it takes place on a battlefield completely unlike Hoth. See, that's not ice - it's salt. Totally different thing. But, under it, there is a red crystalline substance which may very well be frozen blood. How's<i> that</i> for a gothic <i>Star Wars</i> location?</b></td></tr>
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This film is far from perfect, but then all of the <i>Star Wars</i> films have holes you could fly a Star Destroyer through. It's part of their charm and has nothing to do with how much we love them. Here, the characterisation is compelling, the broad strokes of the story feel right and, overall, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Jedi</i> earns my respect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where Lucas’ prequels earned my contempt and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Force Awakens</i> earned my disappointment, this film earns my trust and my enthusiasm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It doesn’t proceed without a misstep and - clocking in at over two and a half hours - it certainly has a few too many fake endings and plot-reversals; but the wider sweep of the story is overwhelmingly positive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s exciting where it needs to be, emotional where it needs to be and there are even one or two moments which are simply spine-tingling in their perfection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was twelve years old again, having my mind blown again, as I did in January 1978, when I first saw <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s also worth mentioning that John Williams is on barnstorming form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His music for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Force Awakens</i> was ... Okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it lacked the epic heft and the hummable themes that one associates with his greatest work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The music here has the heart that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Force Awakens</i> had, but it also has the drama of the original trilogy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a delight when the old themes for Skywalker and The Force and The Falcon float through, like a memory, fleeting then gone, but leaving a warm sensation behind them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope he is hale and hearty enough to complete his great work - by providing the music for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Episode IX</i>, in two years time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When he’ll be 87.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So, how good is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Jedi</i>?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Empire</i> good?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As inconceivable as this may be ... After just one viewing, I’m pretty sure that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Jedi</i> is not the best <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> film since <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Empire</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s the best <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Wars</i> film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ever.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcvVgeEN79XDVjCwzO-uRaZaEwb8fvPJLAfOv-bJZqLo6jKmtCX1WvOJsYIzDGWM7Qbg2Rx5qj4qhSSzMZsLRNbu-hNV5PTsIdZOoh9dZBQco80AlrpEBHSDqZ5kwS0TGmupO-HfrPQA/s1600/Last-Jedi-leia-luke+annie-leibovitz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1068" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvcvVgeEN79XDVjCwzO-uRaZaEwb8fvPJLAfOv-bJZqLo6jKmtCX1WvOJsYIzDGWM7Qbg2Rx5qj4qhSSzMZsLRNbu-hNV5PTsIdZOoh9dZBQco80AlrpEBHSDqZ5kwS0TGmupO-HfrPQA/s640/Last-Jedi-leia-luke+annie-leibovitz.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Annie Leibowitz' portrait for <i>Vanity Fair</i> is impossibly poignant now.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Written & Directed by Rian Johnson</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dur: 152 mins</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cert: 12A</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-59052762015185495922017-12-15T00:01:00.001+00:002018-01-16T07:55:49.108+00:00THE DISASTER ARTIST<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFsaTvTq1Vm5uUgVGb2v779Ybu9XL7_h70fi7OlhGlV7hVew_eZUw4iSgv0lp2fqckbb8j1_dbER7XREhYQ0PQOIy81egfQRLmUh9W99nFWXMBs1hHm6-0Zlm4h5kyfsUq6OiJDZG0QI/s1600/disaster+artist+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsFsaTvTq1Vm5uUgVGb2v779Ybu9XL7_h70fi7OlhGlV7hVew_eZUw4iSgv0lp2fqckbb8j1_dbER7XREhYQ0PQOIy81egfQRLmUh9W99nFWXMBs1hHm6-0Zlm4h5kyfsUq6OiJDZG0QI/s640/disaster+artist+poster.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Something
very clever is going on with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Disaster
Artist</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s playing around with reality, with the difference between perceived reality and actual reality ... And where
art fits in between those two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before I
saw <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Disaster Artist</i>, I perceived it
as a vanity project by James Franco, directed by him and starring himself and
his brother - where he would be deriding another vanity project, the
legendarily bad film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Room</i>
(2003).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Turns out I
was wrong on both counts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You see,
Franco, for all his tom-foolery in scatological comedy films, is actually
serious about his art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he does
consider film-making an art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, yes,
he is indulging in laughing at the delusions of Tommy Wiseau, the failed actor
who made <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Room</i> simply so he and
his friend, Greg Sestero, could get some screen time; but Franco is also
acknowledging that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> artists are
similarly deluded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of them know if
they are any good, until an audience tells them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all have to risk putting their work out
there, in order to know if they are any good.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The truth
is that Wiseau isn’t good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s a hammy
actor who copies James Dean and Brando without understanding <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">why</i> they acted the way they did - nor
does he understand how mannered and histrionic those performances now appear;
Wiseau is also a lousy script-writer <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i>
he’s a clueless director.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it’s easy
for me to say this, cos I’m not out there doing those things myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Franco is more circumspect about Wiseau’s
plight because he, too, has done work that is personal and niche, and he has
been ridiculed for it - such as the time he appeared in a daytime soap opera.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wiseau’s
perception of himself is actually delusional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He believes he can pass for a teenager, when he’s clearly in his
forties, he believes he has no European accent, when his English is actually
quite poor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He clearly isn’t lying about
any of this - he’s made himself genuinely believe this nonsense.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Franco
respects Wiseau.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s freely willing to
admit that the man has some <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i>
strange personal eccentricities, and a surfeit of confidence over experience; but
that’s hardly a unique skillset in Hollywood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Orson Welles described the making of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Citizen
Kane</i> (1941) as the product of “the confidence of ignorance”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of this being a portrait of ridicule,
Franco allows you to feel sympathy for Wiseau; at least his delusion is
well-meaning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOrjFqZUmTh_qIM83smXmPX7a5aCF_21F6Y3HjASEe9XjpfoWMsDsPaFSKKKqXrObn-WYNxueIO8AHoCHj7rT8pbOPvvXgK9Rcl0ht7knZbY83j4cP1cQ0VVzffL-hDd4TvYqEuzHnJGo/s1600/oh%252C+hi+mark.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="1582" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOrjFqZUmTh_qIM83smXmPX7a5aCF_21F6Y3HjASEe9XjpfoWMsDsPaFSKKKqXrObn-WYNxueIO8AHoCHj7rT8pbOPvvXgK9Rcl0ht7knZbY83j4cP1cQ0VVzffL-hDd4TvYqEuzHnJGo/s640/oh%252C+hi+mark.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Franco channelling his inner Wiseau, channelling his inner Brando.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wiseau is
portrayed, initially, as charismatic and overwhelmingly confident; so much so
that the desperately naive Sestero falls under his spell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A curiously intimate, rather uncomfortable
asexual relationship develops between them (made all the more uncomfortable
when one considers that both participants are, in the real world, brothers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they continue to perceive their talents
as very different from everyone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Wiseau’s abundant self-confidence needs an audience and so, inevitably,
they head for Hollywood.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wiseau
pitches himself - pathetically - at a producer in a restaurant and is told, in
no uncertain terms, “Just because you want it, doesn’t mean it will
happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one in a million if you
have Brando’s talent!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As we spend
more time with him, Franco lets us see that the bravado is really defensive,
hiding deep-rooted self-doubt and a persecution complex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was about this time that I realised why
this story is particularly timely these days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When a charismatic personality with no discernible skills persuades
others to adore him and ignore his many and obvious short-comings, and reacts
furiously to any criticism, both real and imagined ... You get President Trump.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wiseau goes
through his dark night of the soul when he has to stop ignoring the reality and
finally admits that he can’t have things his own way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Sestero suggests that they should make
their own film ... And Wiseau is off again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are
several moments in this first act, where Wiseau and Sestero’s life and
locations mirror those we will later see reproduced in the movie they
make.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we get to see Wiseau’s reality
- through Sestero’s eyes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then, we’re
into the second act - the production of the film - where we get Wiseau’s
‘vision’ - his reality!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also see
behind the scenes of the film production, which is a very different reality -
the reality of film production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here,
actual reality intersects with Wiseau-reality, and there’s friction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wiseau is now rubbing shoulders with cynical,
professional film people who understand that film-making is a magic trick, a
set of techniques and motifs designed to create a certain perception in the
mind of the viewer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5E7m69Rvao8HQfihWXAlDQaV6noGMbZobAY2qzHJHhMS9MywxAIkDoZq48Ij8KAwsfWiEA6L5KRuVlqFTWIy2Opl5m0t0g4jXRaIXvvZKqjG4H7xVu6AyaBB9jy8US5yh1gjZzaoRqoM/s1600/being+all+alfred+hitchock+and+that.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="1303" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5E7m69Rvao8HQfihWXAlDQaV6noGMbZobAY2qzHJHhMS9MywxAIkDoZq48Ij8KAwsfWiEA6L5KRuVlqFTWIy2Opl5m0t0g4jXRaIXvvZKqjG4H7xVu6AyaBB9jy8US5yh1gjZzaoRqoM/s640/being+all+alfred+hitchock+and+that.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Wiseau directing ... Like, y'know, Hitchcock.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This happy
band of film-makers-for-hire are led by the ubiquitous Franco acolyte,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seth Rogan, who begins by pointing out how
Wiseau could make the film better - and more cheaply - but eventually does what
any sane person would do in that situation ... He just shuts up and takes the
money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Constantly
challenged by the limitations of his ability - and the yawning chasm between
his ‘vision’ and the reality of the filming process - Wiseau becomes
increasingly intemperate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is cruel to
his leading lady because he read that Hitchcock was cruel to Tippy Hedren, and
thinks that’s how you get great performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The shooting of the needlessly gratuitous sex scene is, therefore, as
uncomfortable to watch as the finished scene is in the finished film.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The crew
discuss the way that the script is clearly autobiographical - though, if true,
it deals with part of Wiseau’s life from before his first meeting with Sestero
and, therefore, is beyond the remit of the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What the reality of Wiseau is just gets
muddier and muddier.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The third
kind of reality here is the restaging of the scenes from the original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Room</i> film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are curious in themselves because, of
course, Franco has assembled a cast of talented actors who are all pretending
to be bad actors - whereas, in the original film, they’re just bad actors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, acting badly might be a fairer
assessment, since no-one can do anything that Wiseau doesn’t want.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The fourth
kind of reality comes when Wiseau finally watches his finished film with an
audience - and they laugh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gets to
see his work from their perspective, and it hurts him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He feels genuine emotions - for the first
time since he stood on the roof and despaired of ever being an actor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with the previous occasion, Sestero rescues
him from his depression, by altering his perception into accepting their
laughter as a positive response.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The final
challenge to the film’s reality comes during the credits, when they roll the
original scenes side-by-side with the reshot scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One kind of fake reality playing alongside a
pastiche of that fake reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a
moment of pure post-modern irony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then,
at the end, Wiseau turns up, in person, in a cameo in his own biopic.</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finally, of course, the whole film
is filtered through Sestero's perceptions (since he wrote the biography, from
his point of view) which is, in turn, filtered through the film production
process. In terms of acting, Dave Franco gets the tougher job, because his Sestero
is, pretty-much, a regular guy. So he just has to hold on to the audience's sympathy
by being normal. The danger is, that could have become boring. It didn't.
James Franco, on the other hand, has much more with which to work; many more personal
eccentricities, many more characteristics for him to get his actorly teeth
into. It's easier to attract the eye when playing someone who his physically
and demonstrably different from every one else. It's harder to hold your own
when that isn't the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both brothers
make the most of the opportunities offered - and director Franco is careful to
give sufficient emphasis to the performance of brother Franco.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpvnUcvyXnUvhniSKMVuaoHY-ZwsyiJ85fNT21HyH2FLxJ10YzRenRefC15OuXPV52MB5OdUIfm646dYl7d9Y9sOwIBpzMqzUvtqsTFGPLp8WCG_QuNWDqTFxp-UGVp4bxgsdV2OJXzg/s1600/you+have+a+malevolent+presence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="878" data-original-width="1600" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHpvnUcvyXnUvhniSKMVuaoHY-ZwsyiJ85fNT21HyH2FLxJ10YzRenRefC15OuXPV52MB5OdUIfm646dYl7d9Y9sOwIBpzMqzUvtqsTFGPLp8WCG_QuNWDqTFxp-UGVp4bxgsdV2OJXzg/s640/you+have+a+malevolent+presence.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The real Wiseau in the real <i>The Room</i>. Described by one casting agent as having "a malevolent presence".</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, as I
said at the outset, Franco is doing something very clever with perceptions of
reality and the notion of ‘vision’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
is surprisingly sympathetic to his subject - this isn’t the cruel savaging of
Wiseau that the marketing suggested.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
also isn’t as funny as the trailer suggested - but that’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">because</i> it isn’t taking easy pot-shots at its subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, it is an honest and heartfelt
analysis of artistic compulsion (and, I suppose, the American Dream,
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I suspect
they felt that they were making a film akin to Tim Burton’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ed Wood</i> (1994) - indeed, Wiseau
reputedly wanted Depp to play him - but, for me, this film is more in the style
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Movie </i>(1999), which charts the struggles of Mark Borchardt, a young man
with no contacts, little experience, and no budget, trying to make his dream
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As should
we all.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: James Franco</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Script: Scott Neustadter &Michael H. Weber (based on the book by
Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell).</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cert: 15</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dur: 103 mins</b></div>
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-29999159927620113232017-12-14T00:58:00.000+00:002017-12-14T01:20:50.202+00:00ATOMIC BLONDE<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgUFKiGYXBct13bJ-BBG_OBkC5vK26NkTL9SK4eeEJp32Jr38IqLr60sikKbk_-pM27UUmFVzRXIYRSZL9BPYlGjrdqyg3LJNTyZJVrDsZZZwX1Z5SM5W2moiZAygZ3TbIMAoWwPILMc/s1600/atomic-blonde-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="997" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXgUFKiGYXBct13bJ-BBG_OBkC5vK26NkTL9SK4eeEJp32Jr38IqLr60sikKbk_-pM27UUmFVzRXIYRSZL9BPYlGjrdqyg3LJNTyZJVrDsZZZwX1Z5SM5W2moiZAygZ3TbIMAoWwPILMc/s640/atomic-blonde-poster.jpg" width="424" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-outline-level: 1;">
I know it’s not the point, but one of the things which
annoyed me about the TV show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Things</i> was
that the music was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that John
Carpenter-esque analogue synth music was from the late-70s, not 1983, which is
when the show was set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It damaged the
credibility of the show for me, from the get go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It told me that the film-makers had a limited
knowledge of their period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out
they weren’t even born in 1983.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had the same problem with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Atomic Blonde</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are told,
at the beginning, that this film is set in 1989, in the days leading to the
collapse of the Berlin Wall (we are also told that, if you want a film about the
celebrations surrounding the wall coming down, this isn’t that film); yet, in
its first few minutes, its soundtrack gives prominence to David Bowie’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Cat People (Putting Out Fire)</i> and Peter
Schilling’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Major Tom</i>, from 1982 and
1983 respectively.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re going to
create a year, and employ music as part of your mise en sc<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">è</span>ne, at least choose music
from the right year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that really so difficult?</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqUtdcB8m-2Du1Gc-DdTuWn8lRjbbo1CIMQoYlbx1CCdwbhJwp3TjPv0zbeR8xmrEOTbiMwEa2LUjqF7_B_QLezwCWprsImqOr6UFrYgRzojEIYW2RHcUHSxQoU1183xTjOW2J1WCqiA/s1600/atomic-blonde-blue+%2526+purple.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="1600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiqUtdcB8m-2Du1Gc-DdTuWn8lRjbbo1CIMQoYlbx1CCdwbhJwp3TjPv0zbeR8xmrEOTbiMwEa2LUjqF7_B_QLezwCWprsImqOr6UFrYgRzojEIYW2RHcUHSxQoU1183xTjOW2J1WCqiA/s640/atomic-blonde-blue+%2526+purple.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Remember the good old 1980s? No, it seems some people are a bit hazy about the details ...</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The film also has a very punk aesthetic, from the stencil
and spray-can titles to the Mohican-wearing extras in the crowd scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m happy to accept that this late-seventies
look was still a thing in Berlin in the late 80s, and the use of the Ministry
song <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stigmata</i> (albeit in a cover
version featuring Marilyn Manson) is perfectly in-keeping with that look. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also bang-on for the period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As is Depeche Mode’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Behind the Wheel</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are
the sounds that I associate with the wintery days of the late cold war.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Setting this film in that period, and right on the border
between East and West at a moment of crisis, at least makes this action movie
stand out from the crowd - As does director, David Leitch’s visual fingerprint,
which he first planted on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">John Wick</i>
(2014), his (uncredited) directorial debut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here he features chilly 80s blue neons and stop-light reds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The night-time street scenes are bathed in
yellow and the nightclubs are livid with vivid greens and purples.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8UnjHBmQByfgywqhhzuck-EVO7dcNM-93k1ez42TAlTualAm0QNyV7bj-Jua50KIXwfLt1FsRZG27jwEACcU5r_QdYgDDPwbuO-wkrnSTszVyjFVWyRc0PnYljgqLJNTB3cjNK8FEas/s1600/atomic+blonde+mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8UnjHBmQByfgywqhhzuck-EVO7dcNM-93k1ez42TAlTualAm0QNyV7bj-Jua50KIXwfLt1FsRZG27jwEACcU5r_QdYgDDPwbuO-wkrnSTszVyjFVWyRc0PnYljgqLJNTB3cjNK8FEas/s640/atomic+blonde+mask.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>I'm just going to roll my stylish collar up here, to hide my face, so they can't tell it's me. I could be <i>any</i> statuesque blonde with elite martial arts skills.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I suppose the film had to be stylish, as it features
Charlise Theron as the British super-spy, who brings a wardrobe of glamorous
(and occasionally wildly impractical) outfits with her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is frosty and emotionless throughout,
which is not inappropriate, given the subject-matter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as you might expect from a film directed
by an award-winning stunt man, the fight scenes are quite something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most-especially the mammoth sequence which
seems to have no edits, lasting fully ten minutes, and encompassing several
running shoot-outs and fist fights, down three flights of stairs, then out into
the street; and it even includes a car chase - all shot seamlessly so as to create
the illusion of real-time, edit-free verisimilitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, much of the film’s pre-release
publicity told us to look out for that scene - which, as spoilers tend to do,
somewhat reduces its impact.
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnXvaJh1wkHwmyE_MLYfu8EyV5K7AsePfbXWVSYy2azAvr41snWYnKc68j6rregfMFW0ENmfN7M0wYkD_4VAIZ0G0cWPieP3fKKWEOgCt-_kq3u_1E5csH3R6bW506x5YvGHANuejC-o/s1600/atomic+blonde+fight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1070" data-original-width="1600" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnXvaJh1wkHwmyE_MLYfu8EyV5K7AsePfbXWVSYy2azAvr41snWYnKc68j6rregfMFW0ENmfN7M0wYkD_4VAIZ0G0cWPieP3fKKWEOgCt-_kq3u_1E5csH3R6bW506x5YvGHANuejC-o/s640/atomic+blonde+fight.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ms. Theron, kicking ass and not bothering to take names.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theron is magnificent in these fight sequences, one can
barely imagine the amount of work she put into preparing for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, I’m only too happy to see an action film
- a traditional male province - in which a woman gets to be the protagonist and
doesn’t need rescuing by a man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such
films have been far too thin on the ground for far too long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, with the empowerment women have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finally</i> been experiencing in Hollywood
this year, if it is not time for a female action lead now, then when?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not unmindful of the fact that Theron’s
first fight takes place in a kitchen, and she takes out villains with
everything from a frying pan to a freezer door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No one’s keeping this lady in the kitchen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But, when we first meet her, she is lying naked in a
bath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We get to see this several
times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At one point, the camera pans,
penetratingly up her body as she slowly sticks a microphone wire to her Victoria’s
Secrets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i>
necessary?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, Daniel Craig and Matt
Damon both had to get topless as, respectively, Bond and Bourne, to show off
their muscles and give their female fans something to drool over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this is typically quite rare for the men
in action films - beyond the inevitable muscle flexing - yet it is typically
very common for the females in action films.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If we are to accept Theron as a protagonist, a woman who can cope for
herself in the cruel world, do we really need to see her being so vulnerable
and passive and naked?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is that an
essential part of her powerful woman persona?</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VWYrGJqbu68hKw9b7EtJbAVjm0X8LdBW_FqSi3hcAh6-mUbT095L3euTrOj_Lx3j1F6ksjr_Z5cSCjVU1ZWOgVIZBT5cWp287MKkHyJJD-Wb0FgkphmcA_rsnBvjlw4WIYKviPDMiFw/s1600/atomic-blonde-mirror.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6VWYrGJqbu68hKw9b7EtJbAVjm0X8LdBW_FqSi3hcAh6-mUbT095L3euTrOj_Lx3j1F6ksjr_Z5cSCjVU1ZWOgVIZBT5cWp287MKkHyJJD-Wb0FgkphmcA_rsnBvjlw4WIYKviPDMiFw/s640/atomic-blonde-mirror.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>See, John McClane tends to look like this at the <i>end</i> of his adventures ... Ms. Theron starts hers like this, naked, battered and bruised. Girl power, y'all!</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, back at the cunning plot, James McAvoy is having fun
playing against type.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those pretty blue
eyes of his could have ensured a lucrative career as romantic leads and naive
heroes but, instead, he plays far darker and more complex characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you seen his turn in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Filth</i> (2013)?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having shaved his hair off for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">X-Men Apocalypse </i>(2016), he left it off when
playing the fractured psychopath in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Split
</i>(2016).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, with a few weeks’
growth, his ‘Sinead O’Connor hair’, scrubby beard and permanent cigarette-smoke-squint are
part of his disguise as the deep-under-cover English spy who may, or may not,
have gone rogue.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZWwlGEfug0_24MPxF1BhlyVWa9FqZKN_-wLycJobjMLHV-2OiMx2ReowryhhsFbBC7nwqhdIexjAQ9ILaEdDxbRr5ieKu2_xTGeaeOCUlACBsW0RAA2E46LELPY6y_R_B0QHRRq-Z60/s1600/atomic-blonde-mcavoy-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1356" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZWwlGEfug0_24MPxF1BhlyVWa9FqZKN_-wLycJobjMLHV-2OiMx2ReowryhhsFbBC7nwqhdIexjAQ9ILaEdDxbRr5ieKu2_xTGeaeOCUlACBsW0RAA2E46LELPY6y_R_B0QHRRq-Z60/s640/atomic-blonde-mcavoy-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Put your feet up, Jimmers. This role isn't gonna tax you too much.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the unique action scenes, and spectacular visuals, are
out of the way, what we’re left with is a common-or-garden cold war spy film
and, just like every other cold war spy film, everyone is betraying everyone
else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s always a mole betraying
the other spies, and it’s always bleedin’ obvious who that mole is (to everyone
except the other spies, of course).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
would be nice, just once, to see a film where that is not the case; but this
isn’t that film.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRzu1i6FUsi9EMYQQuNvBLXFE1FuDzK5uVIYNj09VKs6DN61xCUWevIyI6AfpJeQKvutx6nmo0zuanQKL20UMEav6w9zz-m_XYt2xTOv-W9VB4BCJ3i4oYey2fK123KxGI692Vu6T7eCc/s1600/atomic-blonde-charlize-theron-john-goodman.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="1600" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRzu1i6FUsi9EMYQQuNvBLXFE1FuDzK5uVIYNj09VKs6DN61xCUWevIyI6AfpJeQKvutx6nmo0zuanQKL20UMEav6w9zz-m_XYt2xTOv-W9VB4BCJ3i4oYey2fK123KxGI692Vu6T7eCc/s640/atomic-blonde-charlize-theron-john-goodman.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Just so we're clear, gentlemen, I'm not Sharon Stone, this isn't my first barn dance, and I won't be uncrossing my legs. Okay?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dir: David Leitch</b><br />
<b>Script: Kurt Johnstadt (based on 'The Coldest City' by Anthony Johnson & Sam Hart</b><br />
<b>Cert: 15</b><br />
<b>Dur: 115 mins</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-88315162990548408202017-12-13T23:58:00.000+00:002017-12-13T23:58:31.358+00:00CELLULORD SHORTS: AMERICAN ASSASSIN<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb_d4Nci-WurzpkJrrkE_NXlIc5OVoVOg14QTX7wcVev4X6tz2XUEVRxfUmKzA22Ju-s4QXEcHCOvijJimKSKUD6BRlRRgdGZrTt0dcN1mCF8VFwE2NdqivVvcjHX8KWX2Q3aRjCkQ-g/s1600/American-Assassin+Poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdb_d4Nci-WurzpkJrrkE_NXlIc5OVoVOg14QTX7wcVev4X6tz2XUEVRxfUmKzA22Ju-s4QXEcHCOvijJimKSKUD6BRlRRgdGZrTt0dcN1mCF8VFwE2NdqivVvcjHX8KWX2Q3aRjCkQ-g/s640/American-Assassin+Poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Assassin</i>
begins with a gut-punch, as innocent holiday-makers are mown-down by Islamic
terrorists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a sequence disturbingly
similar to the Tunisian beach shooting of 2015.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If that was the starting-point of a film which looked seriously and
intelligently at that event and its repercussions, then fair enough, but,
instead, it is used as the inciting incident in the creation of a CIA assassin
(as the title suggests).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m uncomfortable with a real tragedy being used, then
discarded like this, especially as the film goes on to build from this gritty,
uncompromising beginning to become a globe-trotting yarn that builds in scale
to a show-down that dwarfs the ambitions of a Bond movie and would not be out
of place in a Marvel superhero film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bourne</i> films at least had the decency
to make their villains generic and keep their tone realistic. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinegpAIaTGbujd0uxgCqY-PbAKEAY7zFbD8z4CYiPmRGQjnnQovLEjOpZ0aBq55l8nRf3tj85MHYnU_jWZdIVOQSUPTvYdMsfhkqygBfmaNgbB_hGJsHeDivbTxR-g88Hf1WaRJetzIJQ/s1600/american+assassin+VR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="957" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinegpAIaTGbujd0uxgCqY-PbAKEAY7zFbD8z4CYiPmRGQjnnQovLEjOpZ0aBq55l8nRf3tj85MHYnU_jWZdIVOQSUPTvYdMsfhkqygBfmaNgbB_hGJsHeDivbTxR-g88Hf1WaRJetzIJQ/s640/american+assassin+VR.jpg" width="510" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>And what the film certainly has is an inordinate amount of pointing guns to the left.</b></td></tr>
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Once the story proper gets underway, it involves stolen
weapons-grade plutonium from Russia finding its way into the Middle East so,
suddenly, we’re on familiar American paranoid spy-movie territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dylan O’Brien plays Mitch, the
innocent-victim turned angel-of-vengeance, who attracts the attention of the
CIA; he’s very convincing in what is, I suppose, his first adult role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He gets put in for some training with
off-the-leash super-Yoda, Stan Hurley, played by Michael Keaton.</div>
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This training sequence is dealt with quickly, and we’re soon
off to follow him on his first mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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impatient narrative; but this is because the film-makers know that everything
here is familiar, that the audience understands the rules of engagement, so
they don’t need to waste time explaining or introducing things.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>So, Michael, key skill for this role ... Can you point a gun to the left. Okay? Okay.</b></td></tr>
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I was curious why Oscar-dodger Keaton took the role as the humourless,
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a certain age could have played, really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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has put his name back above the title for the first time in 20 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He's not once-famous ... He's just famous. Then we got to the sequence where he meets
his previous prot<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">é</span>g<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">é</span>, Ghost (played by
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As is generally the case with contemporary spy films, this
one doesn’t quite emerge from the overlapping shadows of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bourne</i> or <i>Bond</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fights are impressively brutal, the
camerawork and editing are sufficient to the task, and the special effects are
sufficiently credible - especially during the explosive finale - but it’s all
so very familiar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">American Assassin </i>doesn’t really say or do anything we haven’t seen
before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shame, really, cos a lot of good
work has been done in telling the story well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I look forward to seeing director Michael Cuesta getting to direct
something a bit more inspired and inspiring.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZyJZsYKMVOgckpcaKNM18O6LaZm0FMqwlgAVtUyQkgdk7Bq_yUW0cCVHhbpqxfnlcdwKZopOl7QyOb0I-3laYtK4ELnOREpZDwbPwzxsmo6Y_sZ8pw9DhuqFNQ9HrxhlwiCJr1w5LHY/s1600/american-assassin-taylor+kitsch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCZyJZsYKMVOgckpcaKNM18O6LaZm0FMqwlgAVtUyQkgdk7Bq_yUW0cCVHhbpqxfnlcdwKZopOl7QyOb0I-3laYtK4ELnOREpZDwbPwzxsmo6Y_sZ8pw9DhuqFNQ9HrxhlwiCJr1w5LHY/s640/american-assassin-taylor+kitsch.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Anyone else wanna join in with the -? Ah, Mr. Kitsch. Excellent form, there.</b></td></tr>
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<![endif]--><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-46135159926822276542017-12-13T23:21:00.000+00:002017-12-13T23:22:29.212+00:00CELLULORD SHORTS: DESPICABLE ME 3<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJqLp6N0ENzouEMGxfwYuoQpt2c2zw6DRVLEE9G_eX7KPMi3jM79q4Z9jX4KDRZWmlKDOeXKwwhxtDRpmWKyGelWcm1efuIBkfdXaCC7Wokodp0_t2VP303KwTWPaAHXBqfYPorDGKg8/s1600/Despicable+Me+3+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJqLp6N0ENzouEMGxfwYuoQpt2c2zw6DRVLEE9G_eX7KPMi3jM79q4Z9jX4KDRZWmlKDOeXKwwhxtDRpmWKyGelWcm1efuIBkfdXaCC7Wokodp0_t2VP303KwTWPaAHXBqfYPorDGKg8/s640/Despicable+Me+3+poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">There’s barely a weekend goes by when one of the first two <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Despicable Me</i>s (2010, 2013) doesn’t turn up on TV.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s even more ubiquitous than those <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ice Age</i> films (2002 - 2016).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially, the popularity of the first film perplexed me, since its 80s pastiche was clearly just a pallid impersonation of Pixar’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Incredibles</i> (2004).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The quality of the animation isn’t even in the same league as, say, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kung-Fu Panda </i>(2008); let alone Pixar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its humour doesn’t have the cunning wit of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shrek</i> films (2001 - 2010) and its characters aren’t as cosplayable as Disney’s.</span>
</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So, what does it have?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Charm!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Buckets of charm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are the three girls, each cuter than the next ... There’s Steve Carell’s borderline racist comedy Bond-villain voice ... What else?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, yeah ... The Minions!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Writer/Director Pierre Coffin very quickly realised that they were a potential gold mine, so significantly bolstered their involvement in the second film - they went from Santa’s Little helper types (with a scatological sense of humour) to being a central part of the plot.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Then, of course, there was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Minions Movie</i> (2015) - which achieved the near impossible feat of having its triumvirate of protagonists drive the narrative and sustain the whole movie - whilst still talking gibberish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s worth mentioning that the bulk of the Minion voices are provided by Coffin himself.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So, the first film had charm and mischievous yellow people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The 2<sup>nd</sup> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Despicable Me</i>, predictably, had even more of both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Minions Movie</i> increased their profile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, how was the third film going to up the ante on all this?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJgGdJT9BZazfRKyWS79Loiy5opj6Ze_d6r0W4FWT6tf7_-L-Ye9OJzrzVX9VyPRmbU9_Q1FfyteDSrXYlTDnVVlUqRn0gMvThPS2Fd9N6eUVPYQX10Go6-vHVdCSIlIVtuZCeazPmAk/s1600/despicable+cast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1022" data-original-width="1331" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJgGdJT9BZazfRKyWS79Loiy5opj6Ze_d6r0W4FWT6tf7_-L-Ye9OJzrzVX9VyPRmbU9_Q1FfyteDSrXYlTDnVVlUqRn0gMvThPS2Fd9N6eUVPYQX10Go6-vHVdCSIlIVtuZCeazPmAk/s640/despicable+cast.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Well, they’ve gone with having a script that’s a shapeless mess, featuring several unconnected stories all jostling for screen time. There's the wacky super-villain plot, from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Despicable Me</i> 1 and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Incredibles</i>, there's the Minions-wander-off-by-themselves plot, from the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Minions Movie</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s the teenage-girl-discovers-boys story from ... Well, just about everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh, and there's the 'I suddenly have a brother?' plot from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Addams Family</i> (1991), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Trek V</i> (1989) and, y'know, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Return of the Jedi</i> (1983). </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The film is also peppered with almost as many digs at Disney as it is with over-familiar 80s pop songs, all of which feel very tired now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The whole project feels oddly under-baked. The second film achieved the near impossible, by being better than the first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The spin-off movie (also with Coffin in charge - as co-director) succeeded in being different enough, that it still retained that all-important charm.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But this time, it felt like they really needed to think it through a lot more ... Work the ideas harder ... Come up with something different.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Wiig has fun with her enlarged "momma bear" routine. It’s also worth mentioning that some of the Minions scenes are worth the price of admission alone. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But, over all, this film feels like focus-free film made by a committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And not a very talented committee at that. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Hopefully, for the next one, Coffin will let some of that Gallic weirdness out of the box again and come up with something genuinely unexpected.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">That said:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>here’s something unexpected ... I never thought I’d find myself missing Russell Brand, but the absence of the mostly-incompetent and entirely-pointless Doctor Nefario in this film, was a significant disappointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who knew? </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk3N686kBGa0DQ-au_eOR66m_yrc8K22mpnxvw6_PaTe74qhWGSLz29LHZ5nxd06sna3e57ou6Dxs1XZCk0RfqiaboT7co8NeaGfPEGwqM6VAkPuswdYj1mkHGB_VBNBmdCqBsjlggfjc/s1600/gru+and+bratt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="1280" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk3N686kBGa0DQ-au_eOR66m_yrc8K22mpnxvw6_PaTe74qhWGSLz29LHZ5nxd06sna3e57ou6Dxs1XZCk0RfqiaboT7co8NeaGfPEGwqM6VAkPuswdYj1mkHGB_VBNBmdCqBsjlggfjc/s640/gru+and+bratt.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>No, it's not a Blu-Ray, It's my Deja-Vu-Ray ... It gives you an overwhelming feeling that you've seen this all before.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-45644271280972101492017-11-05T21:00:00.003+00:002017-11-05T21:20:09.842+00:00CELLULORD SHORTS: THE MUMMY<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MGPGjzU1bGors4SkqeFAjgduOK3g1Y7aieLWsMncUa2FRcCISuxE7sxnepAT9-0DW2Qva0PnVpLaTqTPO6SNZLRXrSku80E12yn9Fchr2lTX4uYxA6zFgOJar2NjsSBc-io8KHlT8ps/s1600/the+mummy+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MGPGjzU1bGors4SkqeFAjgduOK3g1Y7aieLWsMncUa2FRcCISuxE7sxnepAT9-0DW2Qva0PnVpLaTqTPO6SNZLRXrSku80E12yn9Fchr2lTX4uYxA6zFgOJar2NjsSBc-io8KHlT8ps/s640/the+mummy+poster.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Gonna try
something new. Well, new to me. It's called Getting To The
Point. Let's see if I write reviews that don't take ninety minutes to
read.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Let's start
with the latest rehash of <i>The Mummy</i>, out now on Bluray and
DVD. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">So,
basically, the pitch for this was something like: We'll take the Indiana Jonesy
feel of the Brendan Fraser <i>Mummy </i>films and add back the good-natured
horror of the original Universal horrors. </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Not the
worst idea ever. Add in the still-likeable-despite-all-that-Scientology-twaddlle
Tom Cruise and you've got a bankable movie idea. After all, with 2013's <i>Oblivion</i>
and 2014's <i>Live, Die, Repeat</i> (!) behind him, he's got form in
off-the-wall SF, why not give off-the-wall horror a whirl? </span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Yes, this
film is supposed to launch the <i>Dark Universe</i> universe ... Cos every
studio has to have its own universe now, thanks to the success of Marvel.
Maybe that’s why the story becomes so convoluted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, and the fact that no fewer than six people
are credited with writing it (which means that far more were likely involved).</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Basically,
Cruise plays a mercenary type out in Iraq, who calls in an airstrike and
unearths the tomb of </span>Ahmanet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
(for, surprisingly, this mummy is a she) isn’t as dead as several millennia
underground would suggest, and curses Cruise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He dies, but that doesn’t stop him causing all kinds of trouble for
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is recruited by The Prodigium, a
group of ghost busters overseen by Dr. Jekyll (yes, that one) - here played by
Russell Crowe.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsn3KKcbMc1gySgspTmJSX00yAmKcs5DyUyXBKfqLpGmTJinMKZVgFd6BMUo6mUlhKuh0ExgNZvb-G7cmKeHbO8GYt40m4wIowKUg-YqXNy6wJRDMms0XCgfj1Ikgc2jztnbJcosszPY/s1600/Tom-Cruise-in-The-Mummy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNsn3KKcbMc1gySgspTmJSX00yAmKcs5DyUyXBKfqLpGmTJinMKZVgFd6BMUo6mUlhKuh0ExgNZvb-G7cmKeHbO8GYt40m4wIowKUg-YqXNy6wJRDMms0XCgfj1Ikgc2jztnbJcosszPY/s640/Tom-Cruise-in-The-Mummy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>No, Tom, we don't know what the hell's going on, either.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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No-matter how crazy things get, Cruise is never less than
100% committed and deadly serious; while Crowe is clearly having a ball taking
the mick out of himself and the whole silly affair.<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span>
</div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Despite
being American through-and-through, this film has a very English feel, and
reminds me more of Hammer horrors than the Universal films it's following on
from. There's also a splash of <i>American Werewolf</i> (1981) and a dash
of <i>Lifeforce</i> (1985). Yeah, I know.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Tommy gets
to do some running too (I think he has that written into his contracts),
Russell Crowe gets to flounce around as a camp Henry Jekyll and then chew the
furniture as evil Eddie Hyde, and London fills up with the medieval
dead. Also, to her credit, Sofia Boutella makes much more of her role as
Ahmanet than Cara Delevingne or Oscar Isaac got to do with their versions of,
essentially, the same villain in last year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suicide Squad</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">X-Men
Apocalypse</i>.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">There are
creepy moments, chucklesome moments, great stunty moments and, to keep
the gamers happy, running zombie moments.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It's big and
it's daft and I have not the first clue what they thought they were
doing. But it's fun watching them find out. <i>The Mummy </i>is a
proper old-fashioned popcorn movie. Put your brain in neutral and enjoy
the ride. </span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-25442172636746860562017-10-30T02:09:00.000+00:002017-10-30T11:30:06.099+00:00THOR RAGNAROK<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3F5j3Y8bAr4CZ0-scljHeBwuftHycAtKyGmYVv8vyZEW5IeNKpVTPQ4HfG0G8ST7W9DSA4NXIdAfXQsZStiltte-Zv_a2A8mC9Pe0gp4ESawqznSBnFHO_EXQYs-Vz3KTjJPU5MxWjlM/s1600/thor-ragnarok-poster-main.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3F5j3Y8bAr4CZ0-scljHeBwuftHycAtKyGmYVv8vyZEW5IeNKpVTPQ4HfG0G8ST7W9DSA4NXIdAfXQsZStiltte-Zv_a2A8mC9Pe0gp4ESawqznSBnFHO_EXQYs-Vz3KTjJPU5MxWjlM/s640/thor-ragnarok-poster-main.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ever since
they put Jon Favreau in the director’s seat for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Iron Man </i>back in 2008, Marvel Studios have enjoyed great success, through letting established comedy directors make their action movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same year they put established action
director Louis Leterrier in charge of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Incredible Hulk</i> and the results were notably less successful - both in
terms of fan love and box office revenue.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
importance of striking that balance between drama and comedy resulted in the hiring
of writer-directors like Joss Whedon, James Gunn and Shane Black, who are all
skilled in both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would, therefore,
characterise the bulk of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films as Action
Comedies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The action is the priority, the
comedy is a bonus.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thor Ragnarok</i> is a bit different:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a Comedy with Action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The emphasis is very much on the yucks, with
the fights and chases just, sort of, added in by contractual obligation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a very different emphasis from the
last Thor film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dark World</i> (2013), which
was criticised for being too po-faced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is interesting, then, that the characters who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i> offer humour last time - namely Darcy, the sarky scientist and Selvig,
the mad scientist - have been ejected from this film, in favour of a new gang
of misfits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The signal
that there would be a significant change of tone with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ragnarok</i>, came with the hiring of director Taika Waititi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, he’s a director with a comedic
track-record and, while his movies, so-far, may have been light on stunts and CGI, they were
heavy on character and eccentricity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a gentle feel-good to his work, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thor Ragnarok</i>, despite all the pomp and circumstance of a Marvel
juggernaut, manages to retain that. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His comedy
is (deliberately) a little bit hesitant and shambolic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Natural, you might say.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He doesn’t seem to want either the
performances or the delivery of the lines to be too polished.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He likes his actors to improvise and, indeed,
does much the same in his own performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This being so, casting Jeff Goldblum as the baddie was a
masterstroke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Goldblum’s eccentric
delivery is never less than delightful, his characters never less than
endearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, that’s a problem when
he’s playing the baddie ... Because he doesn’t really believe he’s evil any
more than we do ... But he’s just so much fun to watch, no-one minds.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijrTChFJMEdf9Hb50ryaYcfJbiYOZb6ZlQzAvcC3KBZuLdFvjZ8y0Pp8Wwaar6_NycDAC569P37C74ik8w-t8PM6CELdrnRgo9aOM3bH50g2IcHHRYl7U0V2vWMFKsjWMxvLYTqABZKzU/s1600/thor+ragnarok+goldblum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1310" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijrTChFJMEdf9Hb50ryaYcfJbiYOZb6ZlQzAvcC3KBZuLdFvjZ8y0Pp8Wwaar6_NycDAC569P37C74ik8w-t8PM6CELdrnRgo9aOM3bH50g2IcHHRYl7U0V2vWMFKsjWMxvLYTqABZKzU/s640/thor+ragnarok+goldblum.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Vintage Goldblum. Did I mention I interviewed him once? When <i>Jurassic Park</i> was out. He offered the lightest, handshake ever, it was like his hand passed through mine. There were three of us interviewing him, for different radio stations; he asked us our names and, when he was answering our questions, used our names, which made us sound more important and him sound more friendly. Lovely bloke.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Otherwise,
there are a few pointless cameos which are mostly played for laughs (not just the inevitable Stan Lee one), Anthony
Hopkins gets to join in the fun by outrageously ripping the piss out of himself, and Chris Hemsworth reminds us of the physical
comedy skills he displayed in the first film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Waititi also gives a mo-cap and vocal performance as a talking pile of rocks called
Korg, who is initially hilarious but, unfortunately, I found quite wearing
quite quickly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Did I
mention Tom Hiddleston?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Okay I
won’t.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
alright, then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s back as Loki, of
course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still wearing his silly long
wig, still wearing the hat with antlers whenever he gets the chance; still very
aware of how silly it all is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s also wearing
a bit too much pancake makeup now, for some reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As usual, he’s sort of a baddie, but not
really.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least Thor is wise to him
now, which makes for lovely interplay between the two actors - who have both
had plenty of chances to settle into these characters by now.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSw6qZFxlO8hyphenhyphenx7sn30vwlyPgZ73kkvqyRgsGchymiUfBCFrvlg2B67vRJ9sVZ5bVX9taVtisjL0EIuHh5eo0VSizrxPQe-5RSlEWZZDGzOMHCj57ViQ3jPTN-efAgIULAnADYkdyUqNI/s1600/hulk-planet-hulk-jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1588" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSw6qZFxlO8hyphenhyphenx7sn30vwlyPgZ73kkvqyRgsGchymiUfBCFrvlg2B67vRJ9sVZ5bVX9taVtisjL0EIuHh5eo0VSizrxPQe-5RSlEWZZDGzOMHCj57ViQ3jPTN-efAgIULAnADYkdyUqNI/s640/hulk-planet-hulk-jpg.jpg" width="412" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Planet
Hulk</i> (2006-7) was a comic which I never found especially convincing, (the <i>World War Hulk</i> story which preceded it was far better, in my estimation) but
it has adapted very well to the screen.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><b> </b> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As you’ll
know from the first trailer, <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>this half of
the film features The Hulk (who crash-landed on this alien world after flying off in the
Quinjet at the end of the last <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Avengers</i>
movie, in 2015) and a short-haired Thor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are matched as gladiators for the entertainment of Goldblum and his
planet of Scavengers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In between bouts, Hulk
and Thor find themselves rooming together, as superherodom’s funniest odd
couple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These scenes are a joy,
providing some great opportunities for Hemsworth and Ruffalo to stretch their
comic muscles.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlyVhv2fLbjhKBSIRXNxjVNXETz1MBsBRw1pJNqqRK2mpSA1y8RO6QDvlpCh1O6n_Neimko0DLfCZPMGcq4b_40gYOdH-I1o8XNS95sWno7X48Hm5rzpCDbKq-ZGO_vyXluUVDrbKstpQ/s1600/thor+muscles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1310" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlyVhv2fLbjhKBSIRXNxjVNXETz1MBsBRw1pJNqqRK2mpSA1y8RO6QDvlpCh1O6n_Neimko0DLfCZPMGcq4b_40gYOdH-I1o8XNS95sWno7X48Hm5rzpCDbKq-ZGO_vyXluUVDrbKstpQ/s640/thor+muscles.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><b>Speaking of
stretching, poor Chris Hemsworth seems to have had an allergic reaction to all
that Australian food, as his arms are massively swollen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poor lamb.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Unfortunately,
the second story - the one from which the film actually takes its title - is
less engaging and less ... Unique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cate
Blanchett is not nearly as well served as Goldblum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She plays the film’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">other</i> baddie, the Goddess of Death, Hela, who invades Asgard while
Thor is off on his jollies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously,
with a name like ‘Goddess of Death’, she’s not going to get many gags.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, it turns out, she’s just your
boiler-plate megalomaniac, who simply wants the world to bow down before her.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then, instead of
leading her army to conquer the nine realms, Hela spends her time fretting
about why the Asgardians aren’t going along with her plans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She worries that no-one remembers her and,
therefore, she has no authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Issues
over middle-management and discipline are not, sadly, the stuff legends are
made on.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixi02FEIqkUDy3yttk_RN9XL4xcY1wvbN6mJ155ySdWwOYWo5aOrcLpukWB6aYJKviRvqbQje2b5GZYV_6h_TszKVwg0xXyU82DJSSwS6Z0M6XtVubT47sUF88K4IEHoDbsH5vwf-p1_Y/s1600/helacrop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1200" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixi02FEIqkUDy3yttk_RN9XL4xcY1wvbN6mJ155ySdWwOYWo5aOrcLpukWB6aYJKviRvqbQje2b5GZYV_6h_TszKVwg0xXyU82DJSSwS6Z0M6XtVubT47sUF88K4IEHoDbsH5vwf-p1_Y/s640/helacrop.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Hela, struggling with the powerpoint projector at another Asgardian staff meeting.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I fear that
this half of the film has suffered from some late tampering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the trailer, the moment where she grabs
Thor’s hammer takes place in a New York alleyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the finished film, it has been moved to a
bleak and indifferently-realised grassy cliff-top, where Odin gets to do some
pointless pontificating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not sure why he
couldn’t do that in New York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway,
this suggests that Hela’s story has undergone some last-minute surgery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether this has made the story better or
worse is something which, I suspect, we’ll never know.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What’s
certain, is that the Ragnarok story hangs together less convincingly than Planet Hulk,
and not just because of the lack of Thor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We never really believe that Asgard is in danger, nor that the fate of
the nine realms is really at stake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is, all too often, the problem with Marvel movies ... Like Bond films before
them ... their villains just aren’t scary enough.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ragnarok
does afford Idris Elba’s Heimdall the chance to do some action man stuff,
saving the Asgardian ‘civilians’ and leading them - Moses like - into the
wilderness which, apparently, surrounds Asgard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But there remains the sense (held over from the previous two films) that
he is a character they could have done much more with, yet have let him slip
through their fingers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Similarly,
Karl Urban is an actor who seems, for some peculiar reason, to have not (yet)
fulfilled his potential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hasn’t found
his niche.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no denying Urban’s
commitment to this film, as he shaved his head and bulked-up for the role, even
though he wears armour throughout, so you can’t really tell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfNIzLEvkp-cI8aPfvBO90rfvyaMDyUWQqqKjeeNjJReDjk8ezFvCYZ0O5c7Awo-p7qQ_BR_X3R04bztCuAIIONzjxAl8vxssQ6i97GIW1-x-796sokiEbnSCaz6cAW9bKDHNgQixHcg/s1600/SkurgeUrban.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="1600" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrfNIzLEvkp-cI8aPfvBO90rfvyaMDyUWQqqKjeeNjJReDjk8ezFvCYZ0O5c7Awo-p7qQ_BR_X3R04bztCuAIIONzjxAl8vxssQ6i97GIW1-x-796sokiEbnSCaz6cAW9bKDHNgQixHcg/s640/SkurgeUrban.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>An almost unrecogniseable Karl Urban is just one of a host of Aussie and Kiwi actors director </b><b>Waititi surrounded himself with. Here, he meets all the gods, aliens, celestials and magic powers with some good old-fashioned hot lead.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those
intense eyes of his shine out in every role he takes (with the exception of
2012’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dredd</i>, naturally), and he’s
able to give us chilling villainy (in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Bourne Supremacy</i> in 2004), lovable comedy (as Bones in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Star Trek</i> films) and be a reliable
leading man (in the criminally undervalued <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dredd</i>),
so quite why he finds himself still playing (albeit very interesting)
supporting roles, is a mystery to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Maybe he likes it that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway -
here he gives a great turn as Skurge, long-term Thor antagonist from the comics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He witnesses the Warriors Three being
despatched off-handedly by Hela, so decides to bend the knee; but his heart
isn’t really in this whole lackey-for-hire business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Heimdall, he’s a diverting character who
deserves more than he gets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Back on
Planet Hulk, Tessa Thompson turns up as another Thor comic favourite:
Valkyrie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I confess, when she first
turned up, her sulky demeanour and bad-assery made me think she was played by Michelle
Rodriguez.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the kind of sass she
brings to Valkyrie - who forms an important bridge between the two
stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The flashback to the last time
the Valkyries met Hela is a startling sequence and proves that Waititi can do
full-on action, with no sense of irony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It’s a shame he didn’t do a little bit more of that, at key moments.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU9l-ku4ROD2dlF11qw2oLAYdsxoEPmSEZ5Xy13vlSxScYJIQ16NiFkGCjaJr3NeQpZ8WK8m85XNu4j3ctHYrpRyHc3GbRcX_BJTaDRIgDM9_mel0vjuNA0wnYkHZagAXXTBRPBHBl_M/s1600/thor+ragnarok+valkyries.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1600" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU9l-ku4ROD2dlF11qw2oLAYdsxoEPmSEZ5Xy13vlSxScYJIQ16NiFkGCjaJr3NeQpZ8WK8m85XNu4j3ctHYrpRyHc3GbRcX_BJTaDRIgDM9_mel0vjuNA0wnYkHZagAXXTBRPBHBl_M/s640/thor+ragnarok+valkyries.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The second best ride of the Valkyries ever put on screen.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They have
come up with an audacious and well-deserved way of tying up all the loose-ends
of this story and, indeed, this three-film story-arc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, the crescendo of both stories - the
Hammer of the Gods moment, if you will - should have been hairs-on-the-back-of-the-neck
filmmaking but, because of the tonal shifts throughout, and because Blanchett
really hasn’t been given material the equal of her skills; this dénouement,
whilst entertaining, lacks the tension it should have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I feel that
cutting back and forth between two seemingly unconnected stories cuts into the
enjoyment of both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Planet Hulk isn’t as
exciting as it could be, Ragnarok isn’t as serious as it could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, the light-hearted tone of the one, defuses
the end-of-the-world threat of the other.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thor Ragnarok</i> is - in parts - a
delight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mark Mothersbaugh’s plinky-plonky
retro music, for example, is suitably eccentric and energetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But,
as a whole, is not a great film. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s
not even a great Marvel film. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s tone
is very inconsistent and its script is very cluttered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the whole messy confection is mixed together in the mighty Marvel manner,
which hasn’t failed us yet.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEMMNvH5N5HMV1Toummgf_jFA_FFIbFvEBDTcpSR7kdqAPtQr9WXRbhEYCpIiTF9JN_r1lj7Rx-x3gppQjDrp03qFLXqfyK2xzJDQoj6HYlG8lLufG0iGiX9TlPEnApjeXAoAx1nwsoc/s1600/thor+hulk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="1280" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEMMNvH5N5HMV1Toummgf_jFA_FFIbFvEBDTcpSR7kdqAPtQr9WXRbhEYCpIiTF9JN_r1lj7Rx-x3gppQjDrp03qFLXqfyK2xzJDQoj6HYlG8lLufG0iGiX9TlPEnApjeXAoAx1nwsoc/s640/thor+hulk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Thor and Hulk as roomies. So, whose turn is it to clean the toilet?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dir: Taika Waititi</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Script: Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dur: 130 mins</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cert: 12A </b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-15671473877457865922017-10-29T18:08:00.003+00:002017-11-08T15:14:33.093+00:00BLADE RUNNER 2049<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDf1HuXGHFBrZ4BfiZD23WvDql-cMhFVCb0Xpuc8j17cmn27uLbvxNkT3QcG4SLxjqM9B1wdjwgIYGucsagBjxZq5uYKB8RCsOaQZc6KB5utBQZCos8Q4lbIASA3PgoaPTiJ_w_Z0p4mQ/s1600/blade+runner+2049+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDf1HuXGHFBrZ4BfiZD23WvDql-cMhFVCb0Xpuc8j17cmn27uLbvxNkT3QcG4SLxjqM9B1wdjwgIYGucsagBjxZq5uYKB8RCsOaQZc6KB5utBQZCos8Q4lbIASA3PgoaPTiJ_w_Z0p4mQ/s640/blade+runner+2049+poster.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember the chorus of overwhelming indifference which welcomed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> upon its release in 1982.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember sitting alone in a chilly 1,500-seater cinema, a faded, dilapidated sepulchre of a building, an edifice from a previous epoch of film exhibition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just me and 1,499 lost opportunities.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">don’t</i> remember if I was aware, at the time, of how fitting a location that was, to watch a film set in a derelict, crumbling world, where the future had become merely an accumulation of accreted pasts, defeated and derelict and haunted by the ghosts of lost glories.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember I went back to see <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> again the following week, but the doors were closed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The returns had been so low, they hadn’t bothered retaining it for a second week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t come back.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I remember, the following year, the VHS came out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How many times did I watch it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I lost count around 50.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> is still my favourite film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I know you can fly a car through the plot holes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I know everyone else hates the voice-over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i> ‘love’ scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even I hate the tacked-on ending.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my love of that film goes beyond rational and intellectual considerations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s one of my safe places.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m fully aware that Scott did not intend the film to be calming and reassuring, to be familiar and friendly; quite the reverse ... he was creating as coherent and convincing a vision of Hell on Earth as he was capable of, at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>35 years later, familiarity has made that Hell seem warmly welcoming.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I was at university, at the end of the ’80s, I would insist that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> was the definitive film of the decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wrote essays defending it as such.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had introduced many of the decade’s fashions - both in women’s clothing and in cinematography - it legitimised the dominance of post-modernism and, by extension, the nostalgia which has brought mainstream cultural progress grinding to a shuddering halt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was right on the cutting edge of literary science fiction (in a way cinema rarely is), visualising all of the technological, political and sociological concerns of Cyberpunk.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Those few benighted fools who believed in it with me, were considered an anarchic fringe for the first decade or so, but time has led to our beliefs being adopted by the mainstream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now everyone loves <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>, even if no-one quite knows why.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All of which is to say that my relationship with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> is long and complicated.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqZ35TeeA_OYh5ob3GLWLlbnVD18th_WhN8Lke94HTei3Xo8TI5cCCXKOTDwadnmaOO-0i-LDS4jaADZM4Z0q8OKtCgOtoAbX0_s5ojHtMnXSdH5SC3pA7Cmd9HL7sqRVMOIeJR8n2nk/s1600/57823_blade-runner-2049-ana-de-armas-ryan-gosling_5120x2880.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTqZ35TeeA_OYh5ob3GLWLlbnVD18th_WhN8Lke94HTei3Xo8TI5cCCXKOTDwadnmaOO-0i-LDS4jaADZM4Z0q8OKtCgOtoAbX0_s5ojHtMnXSdH5SC3pA7Cmd9HL7sqRVMOIeJR8n2nk/s640/57823_blade-runner-2049-ana-de-armas-ryan-gosling_5120x2880.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nostalgia is all about looking back over our shoulder at what we once had, and wishing we still had it. If it's a TV show or a comic book, we can still have it. But, after The Blackout wiped all the computers, that all disappeared. All the people in 2049 have is their memories.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The thought of a belated sequel did not excite me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They so rarely add anything, and they so frequently take away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I wished it well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">have</i> to see it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I deliberately didn’t re-watch the original before turning up a 11am on opening day to the first possible screening ... I was prepared to let <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner 2049</i> be its own thing.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Three hours later, I emerged from that screening confused and conflicted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reviews came flooding in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People were calling it a masterpiece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unusually for me, I reserved my judgement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I read about it, thought about it, and went to see it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About half way through the second viewing, I realised: yes, it’s a masterpiece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also a failure.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A lot of what follows will be in fragments as I am (as a different Scott synthetic would put it) still collating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There will be spoilers, so approach with caution. Now, let’s see if I can make some sense of it all ...</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Chance to Begin Again in a Golden Land of Opportunity and Adventure.</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like proper <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>, it begins with an eye opening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This isn’t K’s eye, because he’s asleep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the dreamy, deliberately paced nature of the film, I suppose this could be implying that the whole story is a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An android’s dream, if you follow me.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, since I’m no lover of the ‘and it was all a dream’ ending, even in kids’ books, let’s just assume that this isn’t the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, while he dozes, K is flying over fields of solar panels, which clearly do little in this permanently overcast world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The only thing that grows now, does so in greenhouses, in nutrient soup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this opening image, director Villeneuve erases, once and for all, the impossible, non-sequiturial <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shining</i> outtakes that cluttered up the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is no longer a land with verdant forests hidden just beyond the borders of the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>city.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Indeed, when K’s Spinner lands in this pallid parody of farmland, he lands next to a tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Except, it’s the ghost of a tree; white and dead and held upright by high tension wires.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Let’s just take a moment to think about his name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t a name, it’s a serial number KD6-3.7, although he generally answers to just ‘K’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, his ‘girlfriend’, Joi, calls him ‘Joe’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, he’s called Joseph K.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>References to Kafka’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Trial</i> (1925) are not obvious in the film, save in the pointlessness of K’s mission, and the soulless bureaucratic labyrinth of the world he navigates.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpR1l3q5AUMrILd6s6171lkVUT9BLekN1R7LciDHgUn4MzVnA7QiafY5cqzCSDapo9R8NjyNEOM0PGvnFnOVLYYfbqpC_UzEo5Q3wU0YI7K1_mBb76tBXLu_7bwbO3ywxpocDulL0xSi4/s1600/blade-runner-2049+dave-bautista-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1600" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpR1l3q5AUMrILd6s6171lkVUT9BLekN1R7LciDHgUn4MzVnA7QiafY5cqzCSDapo9R8NjyNEOM0PGvnFnOVLYYfbqpC_UzEo5Q3wU0YI7K1_mBb76tBXLu_7bwbO3ywxpocDulL0xSi4/s640/blade-runner-2049+dave-bautista-.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>If, like me, you've only really seen Dave Bautista daubed in blue and joking with a CGI racoon; his subtle, melancholic performance as Morton will come as a delightful surprise.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When K checks a serial number, it is in the eye and is revealed by looking up and to the right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, Psychologists tell us, is what we humans do when we’re lying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the way we humans lie, is the way Replicants reveal the truth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s almost like they are a mirror image of us.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K feels that he is different to Dave Bautista’s Sapper Morton, because he is a later model, a Wallace Replicant, one where the bugs have been ironed out, one that obeys; whereas Morton is one of Tyrell’s jittery Nexuses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this case, a Nexus 8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deckard, back in his day, was hunting Nexus 6s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, what happened to Nexus 7?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Was Rachael maybe the only Nexus 7?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her ability to conceive and give birth is certainly the miracle that Morton has spent thirty years in the wilderness, hiding.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0SmTYLmlpQfecXmzvkqseKFBopmSuHwAgPIX7_m4USVYLK_-cYwD_OxvFhrpTdqEM6LZmWmEvI44xnFuR8GwnZv6DGsWrJJ8yUsrcJx4u-L80xWtwu5DjV56jjgqVp2UeABQiXOG4uY/s1600/blade-runner-2049-silhouette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="1600" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0SmTYLmlpQfecXmzvkqseKFBopmSuHwAgPIX7_m4USVYLK_-cYwD_OxvFhrpTdqEM6LZmWmEvI44xnFuR8GwnZv6DGsWrJJ8yUsrcJx4u-L80xWtwu5DjV56jjgqVp2UeABQiXOG4uY/s640/blade-runner-2049-silhouette.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The trailer focused on the similarities between <i>2049</i> and the original <i>Blade Runner</i>, for obvious marketing reasons. But that trench coat with high collar annoyed me, when I saw it. Surely fashion would have changed in thirty years?</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, let’s look at K.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Initially, when I saw the teaser trailer, it annoyed me that the new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>, thirty years on from the original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> (in diegetic film time), carries the same gun, wears the same high-collared coat, even flies the same car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, none of these things are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">exactly</i> the same, but their differences are cosmetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gradually, though, whilst watching <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2049</i>, I realised that progress has pretty much ground to a halt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like the world has devolved to a more primitive state, with toxic clouds in the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As K’s Spinner flies over LA we see, primarily, a flat world where the light and life exists in the cracks and crevices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Morlocks, humans have effectively been driven underground.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where Deckard felt like a private eye (thanks, in no small part, to Scott’s film noir visuals and - you know it’s true - the deadpan voice-over), it is very quickly evident, here, that K is more of a mercenary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lt. Joshi tells him, after he ‘retires’ Morton, that he can collect his bonus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When she sees the beating he has taken, she tells him she’s not paying extra for the wounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oddly, he seems to be the only officer Joshi has, the only Replicant who walks the halls of the LAPD; she certainly relies heavily upon him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She seems quite comfortable with him, but no-one else is, they abuse him in those halls, and they put him through a de-briefing process called a Baseline Test, to prove he still has no emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The authorities clearly remember the Nexus 6s and remember what happened when Tyrell gave his machines real emotions.</div>
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<b>Replicants Weren't Supposed To Have Feelings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither Were Blade Runners.</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, despite the success with which he passes the test, K does have emotions, he loves his girlfriend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, at least, he acts out what he thinks loving a girlfriend must be like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, even if he doesn’t feel love ... He feels the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">need</i> for love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s still an emotion!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The first time we see Joi, she is a 1950s picket-fence mom stereotype.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s a fantasy; shifting and morphing as her mood changes, or as she thinks his mood is changing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is his idealised vision of what a woman should be; because, like all sentient beings, he just wants to be loved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He spends his bonus on her, not on jewellery though, but on an emanator, a little stick which means she becomes portable, so he can take her out of his tiny, bland, functional apartment, for the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0BzADrpDTXomLHHXieCbNkoZZbqSNq0xl9alzpuWXA-E3YA5npRHkqvnqfbtObxdzfY-rsMS_htV1nhCZ9gWolhNmrkHHvbRO7NlDCxwlDr641WmJhIDy7JoALDdbgCVm0xGqLPBmJn0/s1600/blade-runner-2049-ryan-and-joi+in+the+rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0BzADrpDTXomLHHXieCbNkoZZbqSNq0xl9alzpuWXA-E3YA5npRHkqvnqfbtObxdzfY-rsMS_htV1nhCZ9gWolhNmrkHHvbRO7NlDCxwlDr641WmJhIDy7JoALDdbgCVm0xGqLPBmJn0/s640/blade-runner-2049-ryan-and-joi+in+the+rain.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Ordinarily, this would be a supremely romantic moment however, as with the 'love' scene later, Villeneuve undermines the emotion by reminding us that these people are artificial. But, does that make them less important?</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Her first sensual experience of the world is rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s an indoor person; indoor people never feel real rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the water makes her flicker, like a mini short-circuit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, as this romantic moment reaches its emotional peak for K (if not for a cynical viewer like me) it is undermined when she freeze-frames.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has an incoming call, and we are reminded that Joi is really just a glorified smart phone.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When he turns her on (!), Joi’s signature tune is the opening bar of Prokofiev’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peter and the Wolf</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A musical suite which features a lot of animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Possibly this music is used to make the point that there are no real animals left and so, if it’s an animal, it’s a Wallace Replicant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything that looks real, is actually fake.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The music is clearly significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is Russian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As is the book Joi and K share, Nabokov’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pale Fire</i>, a book which purports to be a poem written by one fictional author then annotated and interpreted by another fictional author.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A story about creation, featuring two fake creators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of K’s Baseline Test is taken from this book so, presumably, his liking of it is part of his programming.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, you see, all the elements of K’s life have been carefully assembled to have symbolic significance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no denying the depth of the thought that Hampton Fancher and Michael Green have shoe-horned into this script, nor of the creative ambition to have a film which does far more than simply present spectacular visuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last time a big-budget SF film was put together with this much care, was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max Fury Road</i> (2015).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The difference between these two science fiction dystopias is, of course, a matter of velocity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Max</i>’s narrative hurtles along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>’s dawdles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my second viewing, I realised just how self-indulgent the pace of this film is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really wanted to be swept along with it, to lose myself in the visuals and the sound montage and the mind-boggling mise-en-sc<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">è</span>ne, as I had with the original.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2049</i> doesn’t have the heart of the original nor, more properly, the soul.</div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> was cluttered and emotional and organic, it was exotic and different from the world as we, in the West, understood it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2049</i> is too similar to the original in its look, but too different in its feel - like its main character, and the soil in which nothing now grows - like Wallace's Replicants - this whole movie is sterile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that it snows in Los Angeles is as good a metaphorical representation of this as any.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film is just too cold. </span></div>
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<span class="st"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWtNHM63YVa-IMDmfkfudKnibCkJfwelaufWf4cfUOh53l5m8aUjQWdVmVqhRrSQt2Ecykk6fHrDK_eAbbh1giNdcDnOId4-q26anTP4yFRF3tpbkR3QnHwKG35AnkCXAEdh93QV5TU4/s1600/blade+runner+gosling.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="1296" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWtNHM63YVa-IMDmfkfudKnibCkJfwelaufWf4cfUOh53l5m8aUjQWdVmVqhRrSQt2Ecykk6fHrDK_eAbbh1giNdcDnOId4-q26anTP4yFRF3tpbkR3QnHwKG35AnkCXAEdh93QV5TU4/s640/blade+runner+gosling.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Gosling's blank face is a canvas onto which the viewer can project their own reactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My fear going in to this film was that Gosling would give one of his still, emotionless performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a necessary part of the character - who will be ‘retired’ if he demonstrates emotion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the story develops, he gradually develops more emotions, but, by the time he becomes passionate and reckless, it’s too late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story has taken too long to get going; the narrative has taken too long to become engaging.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gosling is an actor known for his stillness and his emotionlessness on screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look at him in his Refn movies (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Drive</i> from 2011, and 2013’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Only God Forgives</i>), and you’ll see a man who rarely delivers a line of dialogue, who moves slowly, who even blinks slowly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, with this performance, even he seems to be bored by just how slowly this relatively simple plot unravels.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This plot also turns on several contrivances which don’t ring true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first such clanger comes when K, for no clearly discernible reason, takes over the microscope from the Pathologist, and somehow knows to zoom in and reveal the serial number that betrays the body as that of a Replicant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I understand the narrative needs to have a call to action for K, and that his narrative arc is the journey from slave to master of his own destiny; but did it really have to be so literal as to have his hand on the focusing ring, when the bloke whose microscope it is, is standing right there?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Much later, I struggled with quite why his Lieutenant would strip him of his badge and weapon, but leave him with his Spinner - it’s almost like she conveniently knew that he was quit when he came in, now he had his own agenda to pursue, so left him with the only thing he needed to go literally off reservation.</div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“More Human than Human” is our Motto.</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When they learn that Tyrell created a Replicant that could give birth, it’s fair to say that Joshi doesn’t take it well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one of the clangiest lines of the film, she insists that “There’s a wall between kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell people there’s no wall and you bought a war.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I get it, they’re using Replicants as a metaphor for race and this dilemma is a sideways reference to the results of racism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But her overreaction still seems extreme and unwarranted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, she mutters “am I the only one who can see the sunrise?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, at night, in rain-lashed, fog-bound LA ... Yeah, you probably are.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K hesitates when she orders him to kill the Replicant child because, he says, “To be born is to have a soul.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She reminds him that he’s no more significant to her than a toaster when she tells him “You’ve been getting on fine without one.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there’s a single moment when K decides to go against his programming ... It’s then.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His Baseline Test may show that he has no emotions, but his pained expression at that comment indicates otherwise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hence why he fails the next Test!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPziVZpa0WyWoSP-IqbhIvyimAu2XzudNYrkk4r-yUexOC73iCt0Ud_f0J0gLv8LxqUnvVuxtq15kpKHFlfkZdlnve0FgC13UrPBNy5PrzVvmMa1Xz4i5kZwGUHDj8AFuMDuMVoWedwwQ/s1600/blade+runner+statues.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1434" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPziVZpa0WyWoSP-IqbhIvyimAu2XzudNYrkk4r-yUexOC73iCt0Ud_f0J0gLv8LxqUnvVuxtq15kpKHFlfkZdlnve0FgC13UrPBNy5PrzVvmMa1Xz4i5kZwGUHDj8AFuMDuMVoWedwwQ/s640/blade+runner+statues.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Niander Wallace has got wood. If K's little horse could make him rich, what must Wallace's wainscoting be worth?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He goes, as he must, to the heart of the matter, to the archives of the Tyrell Corporation, now taken over by Wallace, whose own building towers over the Tyrell pyramids, which once dominated the skyline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Niander Wallace’s ambitions are, it turns out, far greater than Eldon Tyrell’s were, he wants nothing more than to own the stars.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We’re given lots of lumpy exposition about ‘The Blackout’, which wiped all records in 2022.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is an interesting notion, and possibly explains the lack of technological development since the last film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also the reason that ‘the child’ managed to stay lost.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Luv, in her Right-Hand-Woman role, greets the news of Morton’s retirement with a cool humour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She refers to it the return of “a prodigal serial number”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s all the Replicants are - serial numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, of course, if you think about your credit card, your phone number, your pin number, your customer numbers ... We’re all just serial numbers now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Especially to world-bestriding corporations like Facebook and Google.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They haven’t branched out into creating Replicants yet, but it can only be a matter of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is something that Cyberpunk warned us about when the original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> was fresh. I still remember reading about the terrifying powers of <span class="st" data-hveid="48" data-ved="0ahUKEwil7PyG_q7XAhXLmBoKHQ3AAb8Q4EUIMDAA">the Zaibatsus in William Gibson's novels of the time.<i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K has good instincts; when listening to the recording of Rachel’s Voight-Kampf, he notices that she is provoking Deckard, because she likes him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K also points out that Tyrell gave Rachael a name, rather than a serial number.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, therefore, must have been special.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace, of course, has named Luv.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although that name has a fine sense of irony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She demonstrates emotions by crying when her fellow Replicants are born and die, yet she relentlessly and emotionlessly executes anyone who gets in the way of her pursuit of K and Deckard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She’s one part Replicant to two parts Terminator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk about Beauty and the Beast ... She’s both.</div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How Can It Not Know What It Is?</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Why does Gaff have the same silly beard as thirty years ago?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must be a pain to shave round and he’s old and living in a home, so who would know or care?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a dandy in his day, but that day seems to have gone away. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why does he speak English all of a sudden?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He places an origami sheep on the table - a clear nudge towards the title of the original source novel - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and mutters that he is now retired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this a cunning way of telling us that Gaff is actually a Replicant, or is it underlining the different meanings of the word ‘retired’?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Okay, so, I guess it’s time to deal with artificial elephant in the room ... the whole ‘Deckard Is a Replicant’ thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This idea extends from one shot in the original <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>, where Deckard’s eyes momentarily reflect orange, like Replicant eyes do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve never bought into that notion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Never have, never will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It simply makes no sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdPA1PWjN6-oTDvZlyhTmgHN75m96hvo0R7FHfWqP0R6Xpsh1J2uUOylFiuZpYoPdRt9l-uO9FJ9jl53hI6BubPk3Wmq-ZBTq1lVb531F0nwLOMLTksZ1ioG3VQtEgsf_lbMtIOLeRj0/s1600/blade+runner+-+glowing+eyes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVdPA1PWjN6-oTDvZlyhTmgHN75m96hvo0R7FHfWqP0R6Xpsh1J2uUOylFiuZpYoPdRt9l-uO9FJ9jl53hI6BubPk3Wmq-ZBTq1lVb531F0nwLOMLTksZ1ioG3VQtEgsf_lbMtIOLeRj0/s640/blade+runner+-+glowing+eyes.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>There it is, that moment that launched a thousand discussions.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is nothing in the original film to suggest that Replicants are made as copies of humans, to replace individuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So Deckard can’t have suddenly become one, because Bryant has known him for years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, why replace a private eye with an expensive Replicant?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would be the point?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless Bryant is also a Replicant ... and so on, and so on ... It just makes no sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why create secret Replicants in a world where there are already non-secret Replicants?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep</i> (1968), there is a question mark over Deckard’s humanity and, yes, there is a fake police station entirely peopled by ‘androids’; but there a lot of elements in the book which didn’t make it to the film - such as Deckard’s wife, his Mood Organ, his buying a Replicant goat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If anything, these elements are better represented in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2049</i>, but they are definitely absent from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, more compelling than this, for me, is the fact that - in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> - having Deckard be a Replicant makes no dramatic sense whatsoever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the story of a racist who learns to love the thing he always feared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A hunter who learns to love the thing he hunted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with most Hollywood films, it’s about redemption.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, having discussed it at length for decades, I remain resolute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> be the story of a robot that runs off with another robot, after killing all the other robots ... no ... that’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Transformers</i> you’re thinking of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is to the credit of this new film, that it leaves the muddy waters of that discussion, largely untroubled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace teases Deckard over his love for Rachel: “You were designed to fall for her.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, after the fanboys in the back row have stopped cheering ... Calmly adds: “That is, if you were designed.”</div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It’s Not an Easy Thing to Meet Your Maker</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wallace is an odd creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His rooms have the Zen-like simplicity of Japanese design. At first I thought this might be a visual nod to Gibson's Ziabatsus, the corporations which are so big they have political control of the world, but no, I think this stark, minimalist design has a deeper cause. Wallace is responsible for creating millions of lives and saving billions more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> and this has given him a God Complex, a sense that he is God at the moment of Genesis. He has his rooms filled with water, which he moves upon the face of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He certainly ‘sees’ the world in Biblical terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For him, his Replicants are angels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We make angels in the service of civilisation.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">It is
no surprise that Fancher and Green has layered so much Christian imagery
into their script. Fancher will have brought his romantic, Gothic
ideas about fallen angels over from the first film, all those years
ago. And, as for Green, he's having a phenomenal year, having worked on
<i>Logan, Alien Covenant, </i>and the TV show <i>American Gods; </i>all
of which feature sacrificial, Christ-like characters and all of which
have the rich imagery of angels and demons rumbling just below the
surface. </span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Batty, in the original film, brings with him an angelic subtext.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Fiery the angels fell,” he tells Chew, the Eye Designer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a mis-remembered line (allegedly suggested by Rutger Hauer, who wrote much of Batty’s dialogue), conflating Blake’s “Fiery the angels rose” and Milton’s notion of a fallen angel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Batty was an angel, banished from Heaven, but returning, fallen back to earth, determined to meet his maker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, Wallace’s angels are also fallen, literally falling out of the plastic bag in which they gestate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The process of being born like this is traumatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the first thing a Replicant feels is pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Before we know what we are,” intones Wallace, “we fear to lose it.”</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He speaks in mysterious ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remain in two minds about Jared Leto’s performance here, whether it is just more mannered eccentricity (<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">à</span> la his Joker in last year’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Suicide Squad</i>) or if it is a careful and clever revelation of a mind which functions in a manner which is beyond the comprehension of mere grounded mortals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace also has several eyes, ‘seeing’ through a flock of floating cameras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One presumes he can, similarly, patch into CCTV cameras, etc, which will give him something close to omniscience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His ‘vision’ stretches far beyond what can literally be seen, beyond even the nine worlds of our solar system - all of which are, it seems, now being exploited thanks to his Replicants (as, to be fair, some of them already were thirty years previously, thanks to Tyrell’s Replicants - remember all that “A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies” stuff?)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace imagines a human race of trillions spilling out into the “barren pasture” of interstellar space and, thusly, we can “retake Eden”.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Retake Eden?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who from, exactly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That sounds like the meaningless crowd-pleasing right-wing rhetoric of “Make America Great” or Britain’s own Brexit war-cry of “Take Our Country Back”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>And darkness <i>was</i> upon the face of the deep. And Jared Leto moved upon the face of the waters.</b><span class="p"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He’s also a God who has a very toxic vision for the women he creates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of his artificial women - whether physical Replicants or virtual holograms - are overtly sexualised fantasies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joi is K’s fantasy, quite innocent and twee in its own way; but the hologram advertising hoardings are all naked or semi-naked women (including a giant, naked, submissive Joi).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Replicant women we meet are prostitutes, working out of a translucent brothel, where their humiliation and abuse can be watched from without.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The newborn Replicant which Wallace auditions, drops, in a most undignified manner, out of a plastic bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a striking image, if ludicrously impractical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is female and, of course, naked, dripping in synthetic amniotic surrogate, struggling to breath and stand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace calls her an angel, and you’d think this would be a good thing, but then he focuses on her own barren pasture, her functionless womb, and eviscerates her, for the crime of being exactly how he made her: sterile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is woman reduced to function, and that function is reproduction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If she can’t reproduce, then she has no value and can be cast aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He is a wasteful God, this Wallace, one who will punish his children for being less than he wishes them to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A proper Old Testament God, then, a fascistic God filled with disappointment at the poor mortal materials with which he has to work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where
Tyrell revelled in his creations: “You were made as well as we could
make you”, Wallace is dissatisfied with his, he is God as traditional
Capitalist - for him, enough is never enough, there will always be more
worlds to conquer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literally. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Can The Maker Repair What He Makes?</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Indeed, the only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> female K meets (and, to be fair, I have my doubts about her) is Lt. Joshi, who is also sexualised, insofar as her uniform is redolent of an S&M Dominatrix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K does refer to her as “madam” throughout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is not insignificant that the main prostitute, the one Joi hires for their disturbing ‘threesome’, is called Mariette, merely an ‘on’ away from being a marionette.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although it’s lit and shot like a genuine romance, this scene is immediately followed by our first view of the Joi billboard, featuring K’s woman, naked and available, reciting her submissive mantra “Everything you want to hear, everything you want to see”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a stark reminder that Joi isn’t a person, she’s a mass-produced fantasy who can only ‘touch’ someone through interfacing with another type of mass-produced fantasy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think this speaks volumes about the agency the women in the film experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner 2049</i> does pass the Bechdel Test, by the skin of its teeth, as indicated <a href="https://bechdeltest.com/view/7846/blade_runner_2049/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>It's not just me, is it? When I first saw Mariette, I was convinced it was an uncredited cameo from Emily Blunt. She isn't, she's Mackenzie Davis. But, have they ever been photographed together, hm?</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But one short scene of a Replicant and a hologram talking, hardly compensates for the saturation of exploitative images and ideas throughout the rest of the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a perfectly credible depiction of how the business of creating artificial people would work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sex industry is at the cutting edge of most entertainment technology development so, of course, if we could create designer people, we would create ‘pleasure models’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s inevitable, and the film reflects that idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it doesn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">challenge</i> it, and that’s worrying.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By contrast, there’s real poetry in the scene where K is checking DNA sequences by eye and Joi joins him, looking over his shoulder, then passing through him to look over his other shoulder, being closer than a physical being ever could be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, she points out that humans are made up of an alphabet of just four letters (GATC), where virtual people like her are just two numbers (zero and one, in case you fell asleep in IT class).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the baseline, we’re not so very different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She romanticises the notion of being born for him: “Pushed out into the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wanted.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She is his conscience when it comes to matters of sentiment, his Jiminy Cricket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, when she calls him a “real boy” she makes the Pinocchio reference more overt.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>This is the most heart-breaking moment in the movie; when K, mourning the death of his hope and Joi, is reminded that she was never really his, that their love was an illusion.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He discovers that there are two children with identical DNA, one was obviously a smoke-screen to hide the natural-born-Replicant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other one died of ‘Galatians Syndrome’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Galatians is a book of the Bible which discusses God sending his Son to be born of woman,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>which ties-in with the theme of the importance of birth, as well as Wallace’s obsession with being God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Galatians also mentions the value of human values like Love and Joy (!) as well as Peace, Patience and Kindness, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of these traits have been twisted, repurposed or eliminated in Wallace’s world.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So K goes in search of an orphanage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In San Diego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know if having San Diego be one giant scrap-heap is meant to be an in-joke; but it’s a landscape of rust and abstract shapes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sequence, along with the film’s pedestrian pace, put me in mind of Tarkovsky’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stalker</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K really is going out into The Zone, here, where the desolation leads him to introspection and epiphany.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s worth mentioning: those Peugeot Spinners (product placement - clang), they’re built to last! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K’s is brought down by the Scavengers we saw briefly in the first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> (those dwarves ripping bits off Deckard’s Spinner’s roof), now swollen in size and number to become a small army.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They efficiently leave him powerless and reduce poor Joi to a crackly gif, repeating herself endlessly.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This sequence presents us with the possibility of some genuine conflict - of actual action!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K versus the Scavengers in the kingdom of trash.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Luv brings it all to an end, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deus ex machina</i> style; she reaches down from space and blasts the Scavengers by satellite.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She directs the satellite verbally, just like Deckard directed his computer to look round the corners in a photo in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>, and just like people with too much money direct their Alexabot to dim their lights for them in our overly-commodified real world.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Quite An Experience To Live In Fear, Isn't It? That's What It Is To Be A Slave.</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lennie James gets to give a once-in-a-career performance as Mr, Cotton, the Fagin of the future, running an orphanage in what looks like an upturned giant satellite dish.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he’s really running, of course, is a sweatshop, where his child slaves extract nickel from redundant high-tech salvage, by hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a job with much of a pension plan, I’m guessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Lennie James is reviewing the situation. After a long and varied career on both sides of the Atlantic ... He may have just hit the Hollywood big time.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Also, this sequence highlights a question I had about the population of LA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where has it gone?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Scott version, the streets were teeming with plastic-clad people with glowing umbrellas, you remember.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where are they now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The couple of scenes we have on the streets of LA show them to be surprisingly lacking in extras.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, when I think about it, K doesn’t really meet and speak with many <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> people, so one wonders ... Is the human race dying out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the conceits of the first film was that all the rich people had abandoned earth, so only the poor and unfortunate were left.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are they now dying out?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would not be inconsistent with the general sense of tragic entropy which shrouds the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, suddenly, we are introduced to a factory floor populated by hundreds of shaven-headed children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, the boys are shaven, the girls, pointedly, are not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where did they all come from?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presumably they are human children, because we are shown that Replicants are born fully grown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There would be no point in engineering Replicant children, so these kids <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">must</i> be real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pushed out into the world, unwanted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But by whom?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway, back to the slaves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace contends that we, as a society, have no appetite for slaves, yet, here they are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Cotton states that “Bigger than you” have tried to shut him down, and failed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This suggests some conflict between him and Wallace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, Wallace’s aim is to manufacture the world’s slaves himself, and here’s Cotton with his real slaves, the sons and daughters of LA, functioning in direct competition to Wallace’s philosophy.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Back in LA (courtesy that indestructible Spinner) K goes to see the dream-weaver Dr. Ana Stelline, who offers sweeping exposition instead of dialogue - which immediately flags her as being more significant than the plot would, at that point, have us think.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She lives in a sealed room, a literal bubble, and always has - because, as she cheerfully confesses to this total stranger who has just walked through her door - she has a “compromised immune system”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She, it is, who creates the fake memories that give Wallace’s Replicants the illusion of personality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K wonders what makes her manufactured memories so authentic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a fair question, since she’s lived alone in this featureless bubble since she was 8.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>She insists that it’s all just imagination, not siphoned from her own real memories because “it’s illegal to use real memories”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why is that exactly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can imagine (if you’ll pardon the pun) real people making a decent living by selling their real memories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, is she actually real?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, how does she eat in that bubble?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She could very easily be a hologram, like the hologram we later see of Frank Sinatra, in the glass bubble of a 3D jukebox.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Maybe she’s no more substantial than Joi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe the real memories she surreptitiously feeds into her Replicant subjects (hence K’s confusion over the wooden horse) are just more fakery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, does that really matter?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are our memories reliable, photo-realistic depictions of our past?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, they are fictionalised, edited, compromised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That being so, does having a fake memory make it substantially any different from having a partially imagined real one?</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I Want More Life, Fucker.</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The significance of the wooden horse is that it’s a piece of tree, a real tree, and, as such, is impossibly valuable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its value is in the fact that it was once a living thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Life is the most valuable commodity, in a world largely populated by people who were never born and who have no souls.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When K uploads Joi onto the emanator, and erases her from the mainframe, there is no backup.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, Joi can be deleted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Just like a real girl.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mortality is the state which separates the real from the artificial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And knowledge of this mortality is the thing which inspires nostalgia.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It is pointedly ironic, then, that all the Replicant records are kept on glass slides in huge and innumerable <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wooden</i> chests of drawers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The records of the past, those which exist physically and offline and, therefore, were not erased in The Blackout, are encased in natural wood, a substance which is a memory of life made physical.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The records which catalogue every Replicant who ever lived and, therefore, ever died, are filed away in a substance which was, itself, once alive.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K believes the number carved on the horse (and over the grave on the dead tree) to be his date of birth - just another form of serial number - but one with added significance for a person who believed himself made rather than born. Consequently, K breaks his conditioning, ignores his orders and sets off to investigate, convinced now that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">he</i> is the real child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Seeing this, Luv stops relying on surrogates to do her dirty work for her and steps out from behind her desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The music which accompanies her is reminiscent (deliberately or otherwise) of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Terminator</i> (1984).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she absolutely will not stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She first visits Lt. Joshi, and it becomes apparent that ‘Madam’ has been working for Wallace all along, supervising the mopping up of those prodigal serial numbers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That reinforces my suspicion that Joshi is also a Replicant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe this is why she reacts so strongly to the ‘born’ Replicant, because her programming is to eliminate them all, and now there's suddenly one extra.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ZF6CVozi-ataMSTSwcct4lNuHbdIY7EhBnFp7S4RF-oVwMG39PTIYLy8epDa96cpGd-MD80fIGdC-C4EnMMmd-uFYmH9eWzRWn-EeukwcISmk7yLVbsk1yZn-5rfVfluOAPElL3HmVU/s1600/blade+runner+-+luv+terminator+replicant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ZF6CVozi-ataMSTSwcct4lNuHbdIY7EhBnFp7S4RF-oVwMG39PTIYLy8epDa96cpGd-MD80fIGdC-C4EnMMmd-uFYmH9eWzRWn-EeukwcISmk7yLVbsk1yZn-5rfVfluOAPElL3HmVU/s640/blade+runner+-+luv+terminator+replicant.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><b>Sylvia Hoeks as </b>Luv, with her Genuine People Personality, she's your plastic pal who's fun to be with.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Luv’s judgement of Joshi is emphatic: “In the face of the fabulous new, your only thought is to kill it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace, of course, has far nobler ambitions, his only thought is to monetise and take over the universe with it.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K ventures out into the desert, a world which is the tonal opposite of LA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where that is (relatively) crowded, wet and dark, this is abandoned, wide open and garishly bright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The palette is the reverse of LA, all warm oranges and browns instead of cold greys and blues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whilst it is never named, this is obviously Las Vegas.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This was the moment when the film lit up for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Previously, it had been visually too dreary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you know, I don’t hold with any of that 3D nonsense, but I deliberately went to see a 4K presentation, yet even that was dim and lacking in contrast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was grey characters against grey buildings and a grey sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was so 2D, it was tonally flat!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was such a disappointment after the crackling, vibrant spectacle of Scott’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m used to badly projected 3D being visually dim, but not 2D.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, the Las Vegas scenes show that this was actually a cinematographic choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, I went to see the film again, at a different cinema, in no small part to see if the picture would be more vibrant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Viva Las Vegas.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, anyway, when K arrives in the full colour world of LV, it has pyramids (like LA), and giant sexualised images of women (like LA), only its effigies are statues rather than holograms, a throwback to a more analogue age, maybe?</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">It Doesn't Make Any Difference What Desert, It's Completely Hypothetical.</b></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Out here, in the desert, K sees the first sign of animal life ... Hives of bees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Assuming they’re real bees, this suggests that, somewhere out there, plants are growing and being pollinated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our world - bees are desperately endangered, and their loss will be catastrophic for us and the environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their extinction will bring about exactly the kind of sterile, dead world <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> calls home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To have them still exist in this Hellish world, after the fall, is nothing short of an ironic masterstroke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there’s more: bees are drones, programmed workers, mindless slaves mass produced by a single progenitor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are a metaphor both of what’s been lost in K’s world (nature), and what remains (Replicants).</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K wanders through the haunted splendour of the hotel lobby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is this Heaven, for him?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, he believes he’s come here to meet his maker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A man whose opening words are not some Biblical prognostication but, rather, are taken from Ben Gunn in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Treasure Island</i>, a character who, whilst certainly a survivor, has gone mad failing to find the buried treasure he sought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> It's as though Deckard considers himself marooned on a land-locked desert island. </span>But, Deckard isn’t mad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also doesn’t have the bearing of a man who is looking for something, but rather that of a man who has looked for, found and then lost his heart’s desire.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s interesting that LV is the custodian of nostalgia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In LA, the mediated images are not ones that we recognise, they do not fetishise the past as we do today, possibly because all of our music and movies were lost in The Blackout.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here, in Las Vegas, the past is ever-present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sinatra croons from that domed holographic juke-box (which I desperately want - so, if you’re wondering what to get me for Christmas ...) while life-size holograms of Elvis and Marilyn and Liberace play interminably on repeat, trapped like gifs; all showing that here, at least, 20<sup>th</sup> century culture survived The Blackout. It's not insignificant that the song Elvis is performing is <i>Suspicious Minds</i>, with its repeated refrain "We're caught in a trap, I can't walk out, Because I love you too much, baby".</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh200ZepKsAR2gqtciwSIy78eOyUKYKXTmGyYKmoy-x-bo4NmmjIZA_0jI3Qqw5lVxbNtsEriSxDpB1-kjlRMKV8NSb-iZ1-sPg1-HGfAzNLAEdfCaysrZPkqeuAmc3bFoynBZ2XpgcV8U/s1600/Blade-Runner-2049-I+Used+to+be+a+Movie+Star.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh200ZepKsAR2gqtciwSIy78eOyUKYKXTmGyYKmoy-x-bo4NmmjIZA_0jI3Qqw5lVxbNtsEriSxDpB1-kjlRMKV8NSb-iZ1-sPg1-HGfAzNLAEdfCaysrZPkqeuAmc3bFoynBZ2XpgcV8U/s640/Blade-Runner-2049-I+Used+to+be+a+Movie+Star.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Harrison Ford, still crap at fist fights. If he <i>is</i> a Replicant, he really needs an upgrade!</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here, in the capital of the fake, Deckard has hidden for the bulk of the past 30 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just him and his dawg.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point of the dog, like Deckard himself, is that we don’t know if it’s real or Memorex.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>K doesn’t know that about himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know that about anyone here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Philip K. Dick would, certainly, have approved.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>K asks how Deckard could bear to be separated from his child and he replies “<span class="st">Sometimes<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i></span><i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">to love someone</span></i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>you </span><i><span style="font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">gotta be a stranger</span></i><span class="st">.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, to me, sounds like one of those meaningless aphorisms which clutter up social media, written over photos of Einstein, Churchill or Abe Lincoln.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A line which, whilst it sounds cool, means absolutely bugger-naff-all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finally, after the torturously slow, plodding progress the plot has laboriously made; things hot up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could have milked the tension leading to the arrival of Luv and her flotilla of Spinners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The attack by her forces could have been a massive action set-piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this isn’t that sort of film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a brief moment of aggression in an otherwise still, stately film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of building up to a car-chase or a shoot-out, it builds up to the film’s moment of greatest tragedy - Luv fulfilling the telegraphed inevitability of Joi’s death, killing her by simply stamping on her emanator.</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, the greatest loss of life in this film, is the moment when a fake person’s fake girlfriend is switched off by another fake person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b>It's Too Bad She Won't Live. But Then Again, Who Does?</b><span class="st"></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Where Vangelis’ music, in the original, was exotic and elusive, sensual and unobtrusive; here, </span>from it’s opening moments, the music features ghostly echoes of Vangelis (just as the film features ghostly echoes of Scott) mixed in with<span class="st"> atonal rumbling and thrumming which sounds like nothing so much as recordings of pipes in a wall, or organs in a body.</span><br />
<span class="st"><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> The instruments and the effects that Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch have used are harsh and atonal and certainly synthetic; rather as synths were in the 80s. Vangelis' music, by contrast, was warm and soulful and, despite being played on 80s synths, did <i>not</i> sound cold and mechanical.</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Apart from the extras, and the emotion, the narrative drive, and the exotic music ... the key element <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner 2049</i> lacks, is conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Protagonist and antagonist never meet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wallace is just as poetic and grandiose as Roy Batty was, but less vibrant, less physically dangerous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He doesn’t need to resort to physicality, he has Luv for that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides, his province is that of the mind, rather than the body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To him, bodies are disposable.</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now, I’m not saying we needed to see Wallace running around a leaky building, in his rubber underwear, but we needed to at least see him and K engage in some form of conflict ... Even if it were simply verbal</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> In the absence of that conflict, we find ourselves with a small gathering of lesser villains, the loathsome Cotton, the coolly efficient Luv, the traitorous Mariette and, finally, </span>the inflexible Freysa, the leader of the Replicant Rebel Alliance (!) who has gouged out her own right eye, presumably because its serial number offended her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She tells K that “Dying for the right cause is the most human thing we can do.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There it is again, mortality seen as the defining characteristic of humanity.</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If Replicants <i>are</i> reflections of real people, this scene illustrates that most clearly, as it mirrors that of Deckard’s meeting with Wallace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both take place in flooded rooms, with characters who seem to walk on water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both are filled with reflections.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the Deckard half of this binary, Wallace quotes Genesis “God remembered Rachael ... And opened her womb” and presents Deckard with his fantasy, his memories of Rachael made artificial flesh once more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike him, she isn’t allowed to age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, of course, Wallace doesn’t understand the relationship Deckard had with Rachael, he doesn’t understand that, to Deckard, she was real and unique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She can’t be reproduced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s ironic in a meta-textual way, then, that the CGI version of Rachael, is entirely convincing, except, of course, for the eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As with all of these synthespians, the eyes are dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, in this case, Deckard points out that the eyes are wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are the windows to the soul, and they should reflect orange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re more than just the wrong colour, they’re entirely wrong, because she is entirely wrong.</span><br />
<span class="st"> </span><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> The eyes don't lie; except Wallace's milky blind eyes are impossible to read. His <i>real</i> eyes are floating about the room, watching his (presumably) </span></span><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;">Replicant </span></span>fish. And Freysa, well, she's the one-eyed character who would be king of this kingdom of the blind.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>And between those giant Tyrell pyramids, oh look, it's the uncanny valley.</b></td></tr>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wallace suggests that Deckard was <i>designed</i> to love Rachael, that it is in his programming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s too simple and reductive an explanation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That makes no more sense than Deckard being replaced by a Replicant in the first place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, even if it were true, he proved decades before that he can defeat his programming, just as K has.</span><br />
<span class="st"><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Then Wallace sticks the verbal knife in “Pain reminds you that joy was real.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Joi wasn’t real to Deckard, only to K.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pain K feels at her death, is what makes her real.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She could die, like a real person and he can feel the pain of that loss, like a real person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Standing in the rain, looking at a giant projection of the woman he loved, flirting with him and calling him ‘Joe’, makes him ache inside.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Maybe In Those Last Moments He Loved Life More Than He Ever Had Before.<span class="st"></span></b></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so, finally, K acts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stands in the rain, </span><span class="st"><span class="st">and he's lost everything. He's lost the woman he loved, and </span></span><span class="st"><span class="st"><span class="st"><span class="st">the giant projection of Joi, flirting with him and calling him ‘Joe’</span></span>, just reminds him that he </span></span><span class="st"><span class="st"><span class="st">isn’t real, he isn’t special.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But he knows who is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>He understand loss, and he understands the value of family. He has seen his miracle. </span></span><span class="st"><span class="st"><span class="st"> </span></span></span><br />
<span class="st"><span class="st"><span class="st"><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span>Motivated by the pain of his own lost love, he decides he must reunite father and daughter. Because that love is real. </span></span>This becomes his self-determined mission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He forces Luv’s pod down onto the shore of the Seawall, holding back the raging Pacific (not sure why the pilot suddenly can’t fly and finds himself crash-landing the Spinner, but still ...) and a brief fight ensues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to say, given that the planet is polluted and sterile, and the water K showers in is only 99% decontaminated - that sea water is crystal clear!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, anyway, if the Deckard-is-a-Replicant freaks are right, what we have here is a fake human fighting a fake human over the fate of another fake human ... To protect the whereabouts of yet another fake human.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No real people need apply.</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Despite filling up with that suspiciously clear water, the pod continues to float, allowing K and Luv to have their final fight, before K rescues Deckard - once again the damp damsel in distress, once again snatched from the jaws of death by a sympathetic synthetic, just like at the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they crawl out of the sea and onto the shore, like new life emerging from the oceans for the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This metaphor, then, is evolutionary, rather than Biblical; the ultimate victory of the rational over the superstitious.</span></div>
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<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Or, is it them both passing into the afterlife?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When K drops Deckard off at his daughter’s lab, the world is white over, scoured clean by the snow, almost heavenly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“You should have let me die,”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deckard remarks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I did,” K replies.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4zObVrFmLIEvS3uJ2TwPhpdS6kYAphbGFBCLJ6Le2rr9ra_qNM4XkY8N05AV0aPR9csF45es5XfkeynMefzck5bebAzd7hNWvWdlSbPzHjgJa8xBNu3x4WeIxyXX3Gmjjx0nc0QMqt2M/s1600/Blade-Runner-2049-on+the+beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1031" data-original-width="1600" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4zObVrFmLIEvS3uJ2TwPhpdS6kYAphbGFBCLJ6Le2rr9ra_qNM4XkY8N05AV0aPR9csF45es5XfkeynMefzck5bebAzd7hNWvWdlSbPzHjgJa8xBNu3x4WeIxyXX3Gmjjx0nc0QMqt2M/s640/Blade-Runner-2049-on+the+beach.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="st"><b>A typical midsummer's day on Cleethorpes seafront.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so this is a new life for Deckard.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chance to begin again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He goes in to see his daughter, the child he never thought could be, never thought he would see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The child who was sending out breadcrumbs, by planting her real memories into Replicants' minds, as though waiting for someone to piece everything together.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But, is Stelline real?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is she the product of two Replicants reproducing or - as I believe - a Replicant and a human?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this latter, she proves Joshi wrong; the world didn’t end when the walls fell between kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It ended a long time before that.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, has K’s sacrifice made him real, in every way that matters?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Roy Batty before him, he simply shuts down, lying down peacefully on the steps - a stairway to heaven?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, is he Caesar, stabbed to death on the steps by his own kind?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Either way, he dies gazing up, contentedly, at the real snow while, inside, the (supposed) real girl bathes in fake, imaginary snow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film might end here, but the story doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if she <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is</i> real, Stelline is an indoor person, like Joi was; and Joi only came to harm once she moved out of her natural environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will Deckard take Stelline out of hers, as he did with her mother, all those years before?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will he take K’s Spinner and fly off into the wilderness with her?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How will Wallace respond now he knows, for a certainty, that the child exists?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How long will it take him to realise she was right under his nose all along?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If he comes after them, what will Deckard do, he can’t be a stranger anymore? He'll certain find them because he has eyes everywhere. Literally.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>All Those <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Moments</span> Will Be Lost In Time, Like Tears In Rain.<span class="st"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There isn’t really a sense of closure with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2049</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that, by itself, is okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The torturously slow pace of the investigation is, by itself, okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The elusive and enigmatic subtext, the unanswered questions, the contrived conveniences, these are all very okay, by themselves; but all combined, I felt that they really damaged the film.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I hate films that barrel along, bombarding you with empty images, giving you no time to think about what you’ve seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These films are virtually devoid of signification, it seems to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I love the fact that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">2049</i> is deep enough and complex enough to leave the audience debating hidden meanings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s rare for a big budget Hollywood behemoth to generate so much discussion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still thinking about it, still having moments of revelation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> However, I still feel that i</span>t failed fundamentally as drama, as epic, as a coherent, well-structured narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It failed both at maintaining the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> legacy and at reinventing it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It failed at being entertaining.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy63U2XHIUhJewU95JAFdCa4ElOnH8yIY5uHZJOyWrvZ-ZVEQG9qmmrSr490TMF0SF-yXdsm-wdCq9Gbf00TsF0ACBmkGv69g-zG7ePlnzHLTRfQVBd2v6iDBmYNAkwQDTbzNNprMF91g/s1600/blade-runner-2049-ryan-gosling-spinner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1600" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy63U2XHIUhJewU95JAFdCa4ElOnH8yIY5uHZJOyWrvZ-ZVEQG9qmmrSr490TMF0SF-yXdsm-wdCq9Gbf00TsF0ACBmkGv69g-zG7ePlnzHLTRfQVBd2v6iDBmYNAkwQDTbzNNprMF91g/s640/blade-runner-2049-ryan-gosling-spinner.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>If the Replicants are a reflection of humans, are the holograms a reflection of the Replicants? How many iterations can you go before sentient life ceases to be life? Or is it <i>all</i> life?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’m still disappointed by it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still bored by it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m still infuriated by it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’m also entranced by it and intrigued by it.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><span class="st"> </span> </span>And yet, I still find myself captivated by the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know I’m going to watch it again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m going to continue reading about it and maybe, just maybe, it might soak through my reservations and find its way into my affections.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’ll never be the equal of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> because nothing could be as unique and unprecedented and world<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>changing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> is an incoherent mess, some of the performances are laughable, its hero is a wuss who loses all of his fights (so, no change there), but I love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner</i> always ended when the elevator doors closed, with the possibility of happiness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Blade Runner 2049</i>, however, still hasn’t ended, it’s still alive in my mind, still growing, still evolving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The doors haven’t yet closed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4vNPbvqEUfpfyBCQH6rKuIyRo-ZtG6Wm_SpNsPo3oBpz46DHR0RLTAlhgL0WXUFV5NfqZdgz1eQ1zRm7RxgbUa3QT-4phwtbEA79ixQe9QGJgcvI5gtODTqg3I5CGvET98UQEaxcVoA/s1600/blade+runner+orange.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1600" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4vNPbvqEUfpfyBCQH6rKuIyRo-ZtG6Wm_SpNsPo3oBpz46DHR0RLTAlhgL0WXUFV5NfqZdgz1eQ1zRm7RxgbUa3QT-4phwtbEA79ixQe9QGJgcvI5gtODTqg3I5CGvET98UQEaxcVoA/s640/blade+runner+orange.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Dir: Denis Villeneuve</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Script:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hampton Fancher, Michael Green</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Cert: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>15</span></b></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-65254162145668816572017-10-17T01:12:00.000+01:002017-10-17T08:46:15.894+01:00THE RITUAL<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPWKlFX5VuAtX9pHlMIGBA9YLd-uHkkouDYc5RrMYN0hQzcgrWU32zmnI-4jom0KIwIJvsX0ldW8CEWfjaMShAsidI2UmVvI4D1Z6A__N0Exz6w-TZSubMpc-zQ9shYqupTfGXkiYroVc/s1600/the+ritual+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPWKlFX5VuAtX9pHlMIGBA9YLd-uHkkouDYc5RrMYN0hQzcgrWU32zmnI-4jom0KIwIJvsX0ldW8CEWfjaMShAsidI2UmVvI4D1Z6A__N0Exz6w-TZSubMpc-zQ9shYqupTfGXkiYroVc/s640/the+ritual+poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Adam Nevill is a horror writer; he’s British, he didn’t die decades ago, his books aren’t about posh people in the past, and he isn’t Stephen King ... So the chances of one of his books being made into a film are, let’s be frank, virtually zero.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet still it has happened.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Given how vanishingly rare British films are (that’s films which are financed in Britain - not like your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Harry Potters</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">James Bonds</i> which are American films that are made here), it’s a tragedy when a Brit film actually gets a nationwide cinema release, then turns out to be ... disappointing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, nobody really minds when a Hollywood movie is a flop, cos there’ll be another one along next week ... But British films are far rarer and more precious.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I really didn’t want to have to report back that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Ritual</i> was a letdown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really didn’t.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thankfully, I don’t have to - ’cos it’s excellent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eei3wRGyVU2Za7YdsHmS5yu6IpJznMmFV9Ze23E0h4zFdknszSxFytpqaPeaAkn70_dUmKU8KTlKhjPCo8zYxZ5tW02IkYlV_PikJ0KXwtgDBsHdGPu-pKtYcltlwdWQ9zGKBd6sLPk/s1600/the+ritual+-+not+the+wicker+man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="829" data-original-width="1291" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1eei3wRGyVU2Za7YdsHmS5yu6IpJznMmFV9Ze23E0h4zFdknszSxFytpqaPeaAkn70_dUmKU8KTlKhjPCo8zYxZ5tW02IkYlV_PikJ0KXwtgDBsHdGPu-pKtYcltlwdWQ9zGKBd6sLPk/s640/the+ritual+-+not+the+wicker+man.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>It's to the script's credit that, when someone says "What the fuck is that?", the audience might be thinking "a<span id="goog_720461865"></span><span id="goog_720461866"></span> wicker man" but no-one in the film actually says it!</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a sub-genre within horror fiction which is very on trend at the moment - called ‘Weird’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not a new sub-genre, far from it; it includes works by M.R. James, Arthur Machen and, most conspicuously, H.P. Lovecraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Weird’ fiction tends to be supernatural, featuring an often-unseen thing that preys on the protagonists’ fears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What sets these stories apart, for me, is the inference that the ‘unseen thing’ in the dark is often unfathomably ancient, leading some people to see it as god, while others see it as the devil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the flat-out weirdest of the weird stories I’ve read, was written over a hundred years ago by one Algernon Blackwood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Willows</i>, and concerns a canoeing expedition, where two friends are terrorised in the wilderness by evil spirits that live in the willow trees.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You can listen to a free talking book version of it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN_bbDrW7" target="_blank">here</a>, if you’re interested:</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nevill has mentioned that he was influenced by that story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And by a hiking expedition he and a few friends actually went on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I trust they all made it back, safe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think he was also inspired, at least in part, by those cabin-in-the-woods movies, where a group of American teenagers are picked-off one by one by an axe-wielding maniac who, rather perversely, we’re supposed to root for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tonally, I'd say the book (and the resultant film), also owe something to survival-in-the-wilderness movies like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Deliverance</i> (1972) and <i>Southern Comfort</i> (1981) as well, of course, to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Blair Witch Project</i> (1999), rather than to something like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Friday the 13<sup>th</sup></i> (1980); because the thing doing the slashing here, is a mysterious amorphous presence, hidden in the dense forest.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>You can’t see the weird for the trees.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Inevitably, the film makers have made some key changes, when adapting the written word into the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book begins with a shock - what, in TV circles, they call a ‘cold open’, the thing that is going to grab the viewer’s attention and stop them wandering during the adverts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a technique that has spilled over into film and, to an extent, into publishing - as a way of ensuring readers will buy the book so they can keep reading.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Surprisingly, the film goes a different way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has created a whole new cold open - with the scene featured prominently in the trailer - where Rafe Spall’s Luke hides while his friend, Rob, is murdered in a convenience store.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This moment of cowardice adds a whole new emotional layer to the character, and serves as a wedge that gradually drives apart the group of surviving friends who, six months later, all hike into the wilderness in memoriam of Rob, whose last wish it was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx16rhiFpPU8VpBe1w6mjCGHNTGd7mIm6TXeRyz4XDps0AJnFu7wWH5sdCMXVLW_P0_MuwpmOhSHHm_CvDQd1fseWR2EOzXnZ8W7iMkS5ck29IutTCjMWzeekzD83xxIZ5GorxrASDir8/s1600/the+ritual+-+spall+shop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="1280" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx16rhiFpPU8VpBe1w6mjCGHNTGd7mIm6TXeRyz4XDps0AJnFu7wWH5sdCMXVLW_P0_MuwpmOhSHHm_CvDQd1fseWR2EOzXnZ8W7iMkS5ck29IutTCjMWzeekzD83xxIZ5GorxrASDir8/s640/the+ritual+-+spall+shop.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Spall makes a good job of being the sympathetic everyman. He's not a hero, he's not a villain, he's just conflicted and confused, like the rest of us. If he keeps this up, we might have to forgive him for being in <i>Prometheus</i>!</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>None of this is in the book, but it does serve to create, very swiftly, an understanding of the dynamic between the friends, and explain why four woefully underprepared city boys are trudging through the Swedish woodlands.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Often, when changes are made in the adaptation process, this can alter the tone or the nature of a book; but not here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The feel of oppressive, mounting dread and sudden explosive violence, is maintained faithfully from page to screen.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Director Bruckner worked on both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Signal</i> (2007) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Southbound </i>(2015) - two portmanteau films where different short stories are loosely connected to create one long story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both films were very imaginative, very effective and very unusual.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they weren’t terribly subtle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, he has allowed himself to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very</i> subtle, giving much of the film’s first half hour over to simple character-building.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has, essentially, stepped back to just watch his actors act.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All four of his leads - Phil (played by TV regular, Arsher Ali), Dom (played by Sam Troughton, the latest generation of the Troughton dynasty), Luke (Rafe Spall, ditto the Spall dynasty) and Hutch (Robert James-Collier) - give great, humorous, believable performances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They aren’t stereotypes (as one might expect from a cabin-in-the-woods film) and they all get their moment to shine during the surprisingly long first act, where they just get to bicker and whinge and make jokes at each other’s expense, as they wander further and further from the path.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although he’s been a busy boy, this is the first time I’ve seen Robert James-Collier on screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently he was in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Downton Abbey</i> and, therefore, he can pretty-much name his price over in the States.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet he chose to make this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An ensemble piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With, admittedly, a small ensemble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presumably because it allowed him to show some range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can certainly see him doing a nice line of English badguys in big budget American movies.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His flat no-nonsense Manc delivery makes him the natural leader of the group, the clear alpha male; then, when the weirdness suddenly strikes at the end of that first act, the alpha male goes and pees his pants with fright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the moment when the observant viewer will realise that all the bets are off, this isn’t your standard issue stalk-and-slash and things are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> going to proceed in the expected manner.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkSBs4y7dsJH4pOF13KBgGkEZV3R3mBiDk2p1pxwoxgPosQrIWzMHWlqh5QK-ltd1cDNAlclCshQP_nX9rWQIfAhZ-eXM4ELCRPzizkqt8q-pKM-oKgDcddBAiq8KS-nwSv4OLJxsXhrQ/s1600/the+ritual+-+four+friends.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="639" data-original-width="1280" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkSBs4y7dsJH4pOF13KBgGkEZV3R3mBiDk2p1pxwoxgPosQrIWzMHWlqh5QK-ltd1cDNAlclCshQP_nX9rWQIfAhZ-eXM4ELCRPzizkqt8q-pKM-oKgDcddBAiq8KS-nwSv4OLJxsXhrQ/s640/the+ritual+-+four+friends.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>If you go down in the woods today ... left to right, we have: Robert James-Collier, Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali and Sam Troughton ... all camping it up.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The cinematography makes the best use of the forests, stressing the uniformity of the verticals, the claustrophobia, the gloom and the lack of anything familiar, even sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The chills inherent in the scenario are there to be exploited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re lost, they’re frightened and they can hear something crashing through the undergrowth, tracking them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At times like that, the thin layer of nylon from which your tent is made, can feel pretty bloody thin.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are jump scares in here, to be sure, but they aren't cheap and obvious (there are no black cats jumping out of wardrobes, so fear not). The jumps (<i>cattle-prods</i> as John Carpenter calls them) are earned, and they are used sparingly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, this film is mostly about building a mood of mounting dread, through silences and the impenetrable darkness around torch light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They make good use of those torches, to create both tension, and some starkly beautiful visuals.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">major</i> alteration from the book, which I don’t necessarily think is an improvement, comes when the hikers encounter the locals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, these are a tribal commune, like something out of the middle ages or, more tellingly, like something out of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Hills Have Eyes</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the book, the commune was very different, and something I have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i> seen in a film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still haven’t!</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, at the very least, the book will retain some creepy surprises for you, if you read it after seeing the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which you should.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNlmGApH-rWAp2hyphenhyphenMHEZ5-S-QR3Wdalg3NKPJhHXX8GdRHVeh085ZAyoGJOpOTCwwHFKMZxAjhBAJWPz3BuK5rbOvM5C4N7mgZSnGjgUDJP0YrCBq_qiTy4QXKNM0ba01wRPJnZV05Ws/s1600/the+ritual+-+body+in+tree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="1600" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNlmGApH-rWAp2hyphenhyphenMHEZ5-S-QR3Wdalg3NKPJhHXX8GdRHVeh085ZAyoGJOpOTCwwHFKMZxAjhBAJWPz3BuK5rbOvM5C4N7mgZSnGjgUDJP0YrCBq_qiTy4QXKNM0ba01wRPJnZV05Ws/s640/the+ritual+-+body+in+tree.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>If you can hear a ghostly banjo and someone saying "You ain't from these parts, are ya, stranger?" ... Don't worry, that just proves that you're still sane.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yes, you do eventually get to see the ‘unseen thing’ that’s been hunting them, and the FX which bring it together are particularly effective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are a couple of images, towards the end, which will live with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’re certainly living with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I am delighted to report that they have designed a completely new monster which owes nothing whatsoever to H.R. Giger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Giger’s Alien has cast a long shadow over movie monsters for nearly forty years but, thankfully, this beastie is very different ... very disturbing ... very weird!</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dir: David Bruckner</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Script: Joe Barton</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dur: 94 mins</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Cert: 15</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-15206739959080675312017-09-21T14:00:00.000+01:002017-09-23T00:16:48.555+01:00KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGsuihjRh_vZlMs3Pzo6riX4XQAoCPLSzOCqF3q1CxW4tcLxchvx0XdR5ebNdcpm_ktjOmA5U6jQqksjkNXqUHY7v8iIJ8D3g-Ej6DD0NGUTtCWTD3VwFl2C1VMyYTVdGq8PGrAPwj_T0/s1600/elton+lyrics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGsuihjRh_vZlMs3Pzo6riX4XQAoCPLSzOCqF3q1CxW4tcLxchvx0XdR5ebNdcpm_ktjOmA5U6jQqksjkNXqUHY7v8iIJ8D3g-Ej6DD0NGUTtCWTD3VwFl2C1VMyYTVdGq8PGrAPwj_T0/s640/elton+lyrics.jpg" width="618" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Kingsman: The Golden Circle</i> is the film every Bond movie wishes it were, but never will be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It begins as it means to go on, with a fist fight in a car chase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unlike <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quantum of Solace</i> (2008), which began the same way, you can see exactly what’s happening and actually become engaged in the action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, furthermore, it’s all set to a Prince song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, win-win.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And this sets the tone for the film we are about to see.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scribes Goldman and Vaughn have worked the ideas, so each scene gives more than is strictly necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like they decided what they needed to have happen, then sat down and thought about how to also make it clever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s good film-making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do the creative work when it’s just lines on paper ... The cheapest and most fundamental stage of any film’s production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Re-writes and re-shoots are so much more expensive!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway, back at the plot, when Eggsy gets home, after his fight, we find that he has settled down with his anal-loving princess, Tilde, from the end of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Secret Service</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When did Bond ever hang on to a woman for more than one movie? Indeed, Eggsy is properly romantic with her. So, we even have a bit of a love story woven into this already busy movie tapestry.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Xt3W1soZ9nF4glzd7v8gIWUoMFhJYVSc7ITAxi_X44ig7IuVOp6hLk4UmegM-2vN7TgJr2VYekNHaiVRGOxoCJ-N-l-x2ENOkR4qxgUfoGC-28RgCToEeeuHtiFsDlDz6qnqz_x0Ivk/s1600/Kingsman-2-Golden-Circle-Julianne-Moore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Xt3W1soZ9nF4glzd7v8gIWUoMFhJYVSc7ITAxi_X44ig7IuVOp6hLk4UmegM-2vN7TgJr2VYekNHaiVRGOxoCJ-N-l-x2ENOkR4qxgUfoGC-28RgCToEeeuHtiFsDlDz6qnqz_x0Ivk/s640/Kingsman-2-Golden-Circle-Julianne-Moore.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Julianne Moore's Poppy produces<i> all</i> of the world's narcotics from her 50s-style drug store.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then we meet our super-villain, Poppy (played by Julianne Moore, who is clearly having as much fun as Sam Jackson did in the last film).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her introduction, she explains that she is obsessed with the 50s, back when life was simpler; and her evil lair looks like nothing so much as the town square from <i>Back to the Future</i>, complete with drug store, burger bar and live theatre (in which a kidnapped Elton John has a permanent residency).<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here, she serves up a burger made of human meat (there goes the McDonald’s sponsorship deal) and smiles far too widely, in that way that tells you a person is completely bug-nuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, when we learn what her plan is, it actually makes sense and she becomes a genuinely interesting and engaging character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is also completely bug-nuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take that Ernst Stavro Blohard!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As you’ll know, if you’ve seen any of the posters or trailers, we are also introduced to the Kingsmen’s American counterparts, the Statesmen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They spread their brand all over the world through sales of whisky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interesting that a quintessentially American drinks-based organisation doesn’t sell cola.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(But, maybe that would have been one lost sponsorship deal too many).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These new characters blend in and the dialogue is shot through with spirited exposition which doesn’t leave a sour taste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a neat trick and the proof of good writing from Goldman, who has had the bottle to, once again, set herself a high bar; and it’s all distilled into a film which just barrels along.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>(Okay, I’ll stop now.)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a lot of swearing, here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having a film that looks and sounds like a Bond movie, but with down-to-earth English swearing is fun, at first, but we get so much of it that the typical English response of laughing ’cos it’s embarrassing, actually wears off.<span style="display: none; mso-hide: all;">Hh</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There's also some outrageous humour which, I imagine, will get some voices raised in anger at the film, as happened about the Tilde gag last time. So, they could have shown a bit more restraint with all that, and displayed a bit more of their obvious wit, but these films are not really about restraint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Director Matthew Vaughn layers his film with glorious detail; there are so many clever ideas, so many moments when they indulge in a pun or just have fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay, so the golden circle of the title is, actually, irrelevant; that’s okay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a maguffin, nowt wrong with that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything in the film is presented in a heightened way, with vivid colours, polished surfaces, snappy dialogue and delightfully clever lap-dissolves from scene-to-scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one has had quite so much fun transitioning from one scene to another since Ang Lee made his version of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hulk</i> in 2003.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4rtzge8gxbeMkSDrlQWcapj_kkCxiIYt51-5mL1PVgXV_NsOQesMujcRgxz-EUzIYWWphqQDcwYgM_I2zp6b2IKBh_FkSxijRAJ-GKuGi6Ih0oRSoqi8ws0Jg0bCKHdad8StvMYDK5U/s1600/kingsman+briefcase.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ4rtzge8gxbeMkSDrlQWcapj_kkCxiIYt51-5mL1PVgXV_NsOQesMujcRgxz-EUzIYWWphqQDcwYgM_I2zp6b2IKBh_FkSxijRAJ-GKuGi6Ih0oRSoqi8ws0Jg0bCKHdad8StvMYDK5U/s640/kingsman+briefcase.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Missiles maketh man. Taking a leaf from the Robert Rodriquez' Desperado playbook - Taron Egerton's Eggsy is on the case and dressed to kill.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mark Strong (as Merlin) is even better than he was last time, and gets to sing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, Taron Egerton, (who, I notice, even though it’s his film, still only gets third billing) ably holds his own amongst a growing cast of actors with way more experience than he has, not least Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, who are two of the best actors of their respective generations!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Channing Tatum is in on the gag (in case you hadn’t noticed, he doesn’t take himself at all serious), but is criminally underused in the film (they’re saving him for the next one, no doubt).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This does, however, give an opening for Pedro Pascal to step into the limelight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know Pedro from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Game of Thrones</i>, but here he looks like he’s auditioning for the remake of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Cannonball Run</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, he’s also in on the joke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, all of the Americans look like they can barely deliver their dialogue from giggling too much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thankfully, the viewer is having fun too.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxtiFWpL1VD8saOIOUTLV1iqmPEeYximVCgj50qG9Erf41KypMysVPfj8_6ek_War5ZPQXhuuSjAGsptqHg6xpaANMox9yqXSXwGo2-qDUV5OiWcj__zVGgRSSL2P9yQYO-NY3n3wku0/s1600/Kingsman-Golden-Circle-Pedro-Pascal.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="735" data-original-width="1600" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGxtiFWpL1VD8saOIOUTLV1iqmPEeYximVCgj50qG9Erf41KypMysVPfj8_6ek_War5ZPQXhuuSjAGsptqHg6xpaANMox9yqXSXwGo2-qDUV5OiWcj__zVGgRSSL2P9yQYO-NY3n3wku0/s640/Kingsman-Golden-Circle-Pedro-Pascal.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Any chance we can get Ned Beatty in on the action ... Or Sally Field?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like a Bond film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kingsman</i> does a bit of globe-trotting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no reason, at all, for example, to go to Italy, but they do, for a clever and thrilling stunt-scene involving a cable car which, presumably, couldn’t have been done in America.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don’t like sequels which simply repeat the first film (that’s why you won’t find me writing about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fast and Furious</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Transformers</i>, for example); I like a film to push its concepts and its characters along a bit, like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardians of the Galaxy</i> did, earlier this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, yes, we get some of the signature ingredients of the first film faithfully reproduced:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the henchman with a fake limb, the punch-up in a pub, the protracted fight-scene with no edits; but we also get a lot of new ingredients thrown into the mix.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is an infection being spread, which has three stages; the first is a warning, the second is a mad craziness and the third is suddenly more serious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film has similar sections, with the scene setting of the first act giving way to fun and games with the new characters, before the serious bit which shows, through merciless satire, that the real super-villains of the world aren’t the ones with the secret lairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The really evil people are the politicians.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just take a glance at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> leaders of the world, if you want some context.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Speaking of which, Victor Von Trump’s use, just this week, of the phrase ‘rocket man’ may be the most audacious piece of marketing any motion picture has had the fortune to receive - because this film features the Rocket Man himself, Elton John, in a delightful role (much more than just a cameo) where he too demonstrates and real willingness to parody himself.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYzVIcoTOZOSVpMRHDEw8Zlq7oiRLGjaGBeNPhNxcke0l_8u9zTDFvM-_Zx_PbL6vdbB83hi-0_cv_ksiiQTKGQhkjNGicLkeBWuTgh-F92OLljvUHV9G9FakHOXzYELllcBSmBissIE/s1600/elton-john-kingsman-the-golden-circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="780" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfYzVIcoTOZOSVpMRHDEw8Zlq7oiRLGjaGBeNPhNxcke0l_8u9zTDFvM-_Zx_PbL6vdbB83hi-0_cv_ksiiQTKGQhkjNGicLkeBWuTgh-F92OLljvUHV9G9FakHOXzYELllcBSmBissIE/s640/elton-john-kingsman-the-golden-circle.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Man of the match: Elton John!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now there’s a phrase I never thought I’d type.</b></td></tr>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It
isn't just the presence of Elton John which put me in mind of a Ken Russell film,
when I was watching <i>Kingsman The Golden Circle</i>, no, it the bravura
performances, the riotous colours, the restless creativity and the great music
cues (it's up there with <i>Guardians</i> and <i>Baby Driver</i> as soundtrack
of the year, for me) It’s also the way the film refuses to shy aware from bad
taste, and the characters you enjoy spending time with, no-matter how monstrous
they are. It is fun from beginning to end, with a few serious satirical
points to make along the way</span>.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Part of me is hoping that Eon Productions have the wisdom to tap Vaughn on the shoulder for the next Bond film (he did give <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"></span>Danny Craig his big break with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Layer Cake</i> back in 2004, after all), but a bigger part of me is hoping he stays right where he is and keeps showing the flaccid, self-important Bond franchise how it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should</i> be done.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZfE1dtJtqzJYBLD4tit5M8JYAGu_52iqlgFxEKxL2NRKegNN6ctCc421A1uIpeD4p27KclDTNZJ5G55dPI-7-htievOzLoWonFC93Ovr3CSWNe318SNzO98RtFz9fBbv1G-DD1uhMYM/s1600/kingsman-2-trailer-image-63.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZfE1dtJtqzJYBLD4tit5M8JYAGu_52iqlgFxEKxL2NRKegNN6ctCc421A1uIpeD4p27KclDTNZJ5G55dPI-7-htievOzLoWonFC93Ovr3CSWNe318SNzO98RtFz9fBbv1G-DD1uhMYM/s640/kingsman-2-trailer-image-63.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dir: Matthew Vaughn.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Script: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn.</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dur: 141 mins<br />Cert 15</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-15848838315191188012017-09-20T14:13:00.003+01:002017-09-20T14:32:07.805+01:00'IT' FLOATS<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjiEIdO_WqX2FU6vBa4ALoGUkWq0Lr3Nj1T8hVl1jDfUtf1QL0oOV50mfeCfJvySXhA4Fs8tmdUCFXQTV5T1AcoE9emQK0haOEFYzzGBErFiV4gFEhY1WY8leu73Fluk6XqPDfAx05xVk/s1600/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="716" data-original-width="1600" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjiEIdO_WqX2FU6vBa4ALoGUkWq0Lr3Nj1T8hVl1jDfUtf1QL0oOV50mfeCfJvySXhA4Fs8tmdUCFXQTV5T1AcoE9emQK0haOEFYzzGBErFiV4gFEhY1WY8leu73Fluk6XqPDfAx05xVk/s640/logo.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It all began in 2011, when something that had lain dormant for 21 years was reawakened and stumbled blearily back into the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That monstrous entity was ... ‘The 1980s’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be afraid, kids; be very afraid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This nostalgia, at least in movies, was resurrected by J.J. Abrams’ film <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Super 8</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was a love-letter to Steven Spielberg’s films of the early 80s, those that he made himself, like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">E.T.</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poltergeist</i> (both 1982) and those he produced, like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Goonies, </i>and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Back to the Future</i> (both 1985).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These films had an inner sweetness at their core, a belief in family values, a suburban American setting, and (usually) a gang of kids getting into scrapes whilst being ignored by adults.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulvvFuTx6rO8vsnEU-0Y3xhVXNZd3Nvi5Bs4IeCNEeqRFV5VzoWYCt1MQXCfWKc6fm3D04O0nDO0kMAiR1UYsl-NSXmq-fKAEhIm7p5zJiNY5uW9U55tcmho30jSSqD55ENiPaiJSWLI/s1600/2+scooby+gangs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhulvvFuTx6rO8vsnEU-0Y3xhVXNZd3Nvi5Bs4IeCNEeqRFV5VzoWYCt1MQXCfWKc6fm3D04O0nDO0kMAiR1UYsl-NSXmq-fKAEhIm7p5zJiNY5uW9U55tcmho30jSSqD55ENiPaiJSWLI/s640/2+scooby+gangs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The gang's all here ... There's Fred and Daphne and ... no, wait, my bad: There's Xander and Willow and ... ehm ...</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The TV show <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Things</i> did the same thing in the summer of 2016, and threw just as much of the other Steve into the mix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, this featured obvious influences from Spielberg’s films of the period, as well as Stephen King’s books (most obviously 1980’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Mist</i> and 1986’s<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> It</i>); not to mention a healthy dose of H.P. Lovecraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The show proved to be a phenomenon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Audiences are clearly ready for this nostalgia, especially audiences who weren’t actually there in the 80s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve discussed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stranger Things</i> with a lot of people and the ones who are <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">really</i> enthusiastic about it, are the ones who weren’t born then.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I feel that this is important because this isn’t nostalgia for the actual 80s nor, even, for the films and books themselves but, rather, for the simplified image of the world they project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spielberg, like his buddy George Lucas, was inspired by his own nostalgia for his childhood, back in the 50s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, nostalgia for the films of the 80s is, by extension, nostalgia for the world of the 50s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A time when people knew their place, when the war had been won, the new enemy was a long way away and, so far as kids were concerned, the world could be encircled with a white picket fence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Given the chaos we see in the world every day, pining for simpler, more ignorant times is perfectly understandable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, in a Stephen King book, those white picket fences don’t keep the monster out, because the monster is, like as not, already in.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfwUnOhgHF1ZuaN7fogDgUD5S_C2uRB8G-Q7L17JvJjUy0z4rXbSt_rNAAbVXsZTYNnYbMzuoJ8ifEFNhYK7_vMX_rpdZEWYq0d3_TZNKdw8QivsEyG0lyC2xq8LzJWyFKe6PzQFVfbk/s1600/spielberg+%2526+king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="800" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAfwUnOhgHF1ZuaN7fogDgUD5S_C2uRB8G-Q7L17JvJjUy0z4rXbSt_rNAAbVXsZTYNnYbMzuoJ8ifEFNhYK7_vMX_rpdZEWYq0d3_TZNKdw8QivsEyG0lyC2xq8LzJWyFKe6PzQFVfbk/s640/spielberg+%2526+king.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Steve and Steve, the two men whose imaginations have come to define a particular view of the 80s. One seen through rose-tinted specs, the other through beer goggles. Not surprising, then, that they haven't worked together. But never say never ... stranger things have happened.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Although I have read most of King’s books of the 70s and 80s, I haven’t read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, I know, it’s a phenomenon, it’s his masterpiece; people have been telling me that for thirty years; but it never excited me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can’t explain why, unless it was just the sheer intimidating size of the damn thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a notoriously slow reader and a 1,200 page book would likely take me three months.<br />
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I’ve never seen the 1990 mini-series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, if I have, it made so little impression that I’ve already forgotten it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, I know, it has Tim Curry chewing up the furniture,<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, I could approach the film cold, with no pre-conceived notions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, what I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">couldn’t</i> do, was wipe from my memory all the other horror films I’ve ever seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I hadn’t read the source material or seen the previous adaptation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It</i> suffers from over-familiarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They have followed the template of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nightmare on Elm Street</i> films, those immensely successful horror comedies of the 1980s, which are referenced deliberately and obviously here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The problem with this, though, is that the Freddie Krueger films weren’t scary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were wacky and funny and sometimes a bit gross, but never actually scary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It </i>isn’t scary, either.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtzLq3WOzhiIMPV2QzYeaao9S9ZQJz3jDmTW3qrPWny4o52ytksdA8heriTYCPzVMWmvlQjLQeRuebeSTuAqoD97xDT9YBjTbbgwg1bQC6wcNuzRsdtA6RPLUcsDiXAnCuPehyiBIs5Q/s1600/pennywise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1600" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZtzLq3WOzhiIMPV2QzYeaao9S9ZQJz3jDmTW3qrPWny4o52ytksdA8heriTYCPzVMWmvlQjLQeRuebeSTuAqoD97xDT9YBjTbbgwg1bQC6wcNuzRsdtA6RPLUcsDiXAnCuPehyiBIs5Q/s640/pennywise.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Creepy? Yes. Intriguing? Certainly. Actually scary? No, not even close.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This really is a horror film for beginners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The twenty-or-so-year cycle of media fashion has turned and it’s time, once again, to roll out all those tried and trusted horror tropes that some of us remember from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Halloween</i> (1978), and the next generation got from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scream</i> (1996).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Milennials this film is targeted at have likely never seen this sort of Scooby-Doo caper before and, judging from the film’s astounding box office, they love it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have been watching films since, it feels like, the beginning of time and, for me, a parade of empty jump-scares doesn’t work.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It isn’t scary.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film has no sense of dread; nothing that was unknown or unexpected, which undermines the few potentially unnerving scenes in here, and waters down the few disturbing images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The script relies far too heavily on the gang members going off on their own and, when they’re alone, doing something stupid like following a creepy figure into a dark room.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The gang of kids feel so familiar that they are virtually stereotypes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s the token fat kids, the token black kid, the ill kid, the funny kid and the token girl kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a few others too but, frankly, that’s just too many kids to keep in one’s mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, when they find themselves in a dangerous position, there is a lot of screaming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really painful high-pitched childish screaming that seemingly never ends.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_b2woU4VwIW_qMl_aD0zkhxoYHObo8l6aVr-izE846K5Fs_EFCL7Ayd6HcWMszT_HpcWYTJL4Vru6Y3YjjWU3dnah_EWs2V_6j57sD2Ybq34S13Ek5gjuiK1hAyQnevxeFTv2FCvJuQ/s1600/the+scooby+gang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_b2woU4VwIW_qMl_aD0zkhxoYHObo8l6aVr-izE846K5Fs_EFCL7Ayd6HcWMszT_HpcWYTJL4Vru6Y3YjjWU3dnah_EWs2V_6j57sD2Ybq34S13Ek5gjuiK1hAyQnevxeFTv2FCvJuQ/s640/the+scooby+gang.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>And then there was this creepy clown and he, like, possessed the slide projector and ... Zoiks!</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There’s nothing conspicuously wrong with the film, all of the set-pieces are well handled, the special effects work, the performances are generally good (a couple of the kids are trying too hard, but the others are spot on) and the new improved Pennywise the Clown is an excellent creation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His squeaky, childish voice is properly unnerving in the opening storm-drain scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But it isn’t scary.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And I can feel the scaffolding of the book propping up parts of the script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pennywise hints at his motivation but doesn’t really get any significant dialogue with which he can explain himself, until the end so, for the first two-thirds of the film, you don’t really know what he’s up to nor why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Which makes it difficult to care.</span><br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Structurally, the film is a mess, with too much time being spent on unconnected haunting scenes (each kid has to have his/her own hallucination, his/her own haunting) then, when they decide on some action and attack the monster where it lives; they take some casualties, so promptly give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They go away and the gang breaks up; simply so the film can get them all back together again five minutes later, then they go back into the creature’s lair and finish the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over several hundred pages of sprawling, epic novel, this probably works; but in a lean, linear movie, it really doesn’t.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAt7QFnX837hf7kSTYo3xMdHEWocYX__31wj0ADaQFFGq5U9TTg4360VmG0vvZYRiT_3mufMl07hhLsA_5VyPMNtLk2_7xuKDvKyryc3cusoiyXBfvOT3yIfjw1-ZD_sX-PwS9KkFIZMk/s1600/pennywise+sewer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1280" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAt7QFnX837hf7kSTYo3xMdHEWocYX__31wj0ADaQFFGq5U9TTg4360VmG0vvZYRiT_3mufMl07hhLsA_5VyPMNtLk2_7xuKDvKyryc3cusoiyXBfvOT3yIfjw1-ZD_sX-PwS9KkFIZMk/s640/pennywise+sewer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>They really needed to sit down and squeeze the source novel - to flush away some of the extraneous characters and subplots.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We get hints at some of the characters’ back stories - particularly in relation to their parents - but these whip past too fast to make much impression.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure that King will have filled all this in, in far more detail in the book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, for the film script, I’m thinking they should have either given these elements enough screen-time for them to develop some relevance, or cut them out completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wouldn’t have hurt to cut the size of the gang down, either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The novel will have had time to make a football team of characters distinct and interesting (that is one of king’s great strengths) but movies are best when they are precise and concise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If there had been fewer children, but they had been better developed, I feel I would have cared more about them.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One ingredient I recognise from other King books, is the depiction of the parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their only function in this film is to fuck up their kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One way or another, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> of the parents are weak or venal or violent and, yet, the kids are (with the exception of the one-dimensional school bully) reasonably well-balanced healthy kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For most of the film, however, the parents are an absence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Platoons of kids are being taken from the town by Pennywise, and yet we are barely told about it, nor do we see any of the pain this is causing, except to our little gang. It's there, in the background, fleetingly. But, again, this either needed more screentime, or no screentime at all.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s long been understood (well, it has by me) that short stories and novellas work best as film adaptations, because they tend to be narrower in focus with more economical stories and more manageable cast-lists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a Stephen King book the size of a telephone directory (and with a similar number of characters) this adaptation really could have done with being an ongoing TV series rather than a couple of two-hour movies (oh, yes, things aren’t done yet ... this is just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chapter One</i>).</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Still, the film has been a sudden and resounding success, so expect it to be followed by a plethora of films featuring supernatural adversaries which have their devilish schemes foiled by gangs of meddling kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scooby-dooby-doo!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PmL_Zcn-gKaPw_sPpy9ORTMR36dOgmjpSCMKrO1wZ3wACPIfkV3zE7rg3fKfqvBaIvB2Xr-5MKDyCKFtLdX8mOfGVZxTruxWPW8tegOoRjE4GE61RhYhjO_SBG-OKXv33leqM2IrSUU/s1600/it+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1PmL_Zcn-gKaPw_sPpy9ORTMR36dOgmjpSCMKrO1wZ3wACPIfkV3zE7rg3fKfqvBaIvB2Xr-5MKDyCKFtLdX8mOfGVZxTruxWPW8tegOoRjE4GE61RhYhjO_SBG-OKXv33leqM2IrSUU/s640/it+poster.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dir: Andy Muschetti</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Writers: Chase Palmer, Cary Fukanaga, Gary Dauberman</b></div>
<div class="plainlist">
<b>Dur: 135 mins</b></div>
<div class="plainlist">
<b>Cert: 15</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-24194111171406928592017-09-01T02:11:00.001+01:002017-09-23T00:16:32.340+01:00THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Limehouse Golem</i> concerns a vicious
killer who stalked the East End of 1880s London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It details how the police were dogged by the
press as they went through a long list of suspects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It acknowledges that the crimes were as much
about class as sex, and the police investigation was as much about politics as
justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is doubt even over the
number of victims.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But it
isn’t a Jack the Ripper film.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Inspector
Kildare is a ferociously intelligent detective, with human failings and
questionable morals; who believes he is immune to the whiles of the fairer sex and who,
along with his assistant and sounding board, Flood, chases the clues, works the
evidence and pursues the suspects through the foggy, gas-lit back-streets of old London town.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But this
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Except, of
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The story
takes place eight years before the summer and autumn of the Ripper and begins with
a house full of corpses who have been so brutally murdered one could almost say
they’d been ripped!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Bill Nighy’s
Kildare is given the poison chalice of the ‘golem’ <span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">killings, the house, with the corpses still in situ, is also
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</span>There is nothing we’d recognise as police procedure, but then, this is
set 100 years before the term ‘serial killer’ was coined.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, he is assisted by a bobby called
Flood (played, ably, by Daniel Mays) who, in a departure from the way such
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdf1dAawBRWjV5YyGQqnZVoWF_H5B4BESETapyp9ggygUJoUFnucuT7cHPLpq9U3_qx_GnmHN4EOfb2w31dvMOFbX6WjEPV9hsJqBAeqwffdiyDYDrKhXrr6QFl2x2jxNLrSOByhng08Y/s1600/limehouse+golem+-+nighy+and+mays.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1379" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdf1dAawBRWjV5YyGQqnZVoWF_H5B4BESETapyp9ggygUJoUFnucuT7cHPLpq9U3_qx_GnmHN4EOfb2w31dvMOFbX6WjEPV9hsJqBAeqwffdiyDYDrKhXrr6QFl2x2jxNLrSOByhng08Y/s640/limehouse+golem+-+nighy+and+mays.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nighy and Mays experimenting with one of those evidence boards, most beloved of movie serial killers and TV detectives.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Kildare is trying to uphold justice
at a time when victims were routinely blamed for the crimes inflicted upon
them, the poor were beneath consideration, and women were guilty ... of being
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Elizabeth Cree notes “My
gender becomes inured to injustice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
expect it, until we can greet it merely with a shrug”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through Cree, as played by Olivia
Cooke, the film gives voice to many of the injustices women faced then (and, by
extension, still face today) as well as exploring how the artifice of
theatrical life can offer escape from that injustice, into fantasy; at least to
some extent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, the film is at pains
to point out, even when we aren’t painted and performing on stage, we’re still
pretending to be something we’re not.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPfESRdsi51PWhqPQMhZ089oGIVAgqM2jlc7UJ0ntczTe9_nOw5Wj64_Zq688m3exHniFE8_zMZCdk1m4x0orTeg7qbXetlf4bX590TTuybyvmFXJBAc3ZKadN3kgf6PH8gmgp15jMPw/s1600/kildare+and+cree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJPfESRdsi51PWhqPQMhZ089oGIVAgqM2jlc7UJ0ntczTe9_nOw5Wj64_Zq688m3exHniFE8_zMZCdk1m4x0orTeg7qbXetlf4bX590TTuybyvmFXJBAc3ZKadN3kgf6PH8gmgp15jMPw/s640/kildare+and+cree.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Kildare and Cree. You might be forgiven for thinking this is a romantic moment, were it not for the fact it's in a prison and he's the only man who thinks she's innocent of poisoning her husband.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nighy, whilst remaining a thoroughly
Upper Class Brit in his diction and demeanour, has a deep vein of working-class
dissent running through him, which enables him to bring both humour and
humanity to Kildare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In interview, Nighy
has confessed to finding his own performances mannered and twitchy (not his
exact words, but you get the idea) well, here, he restrains the ticks and
tricks he uses to make his characters loveable in his comedic roles, and
grandiose in his Hollywood villain roles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead, he is dignified and serious; which is what the film needs at
its centre.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> Interestingly, Nighy was a last-minute replacement for Alan Rickman who was unavailable on account of being suddenly dead. This might explain why Kildare is, on the face of it, an unusual role for Nighy. But, for me, this makes him all the more engaging because, like his character, he's out of his comfort zone. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBXKYth7IJQzopzAQ_E0SME-VsGuKEAhTjyksF0qXCeGN6R5bUbsxidhiINdvoeUcYv2Nh_J55cnCls1LNbEWlve5A7g2LwwnOkO3fB-pOK_nL7dxuWJWRJfJMM4fpa_FO03k10Akaf0/s1600/concept+art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1533" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBXKYth7IJQzopzAQ_E0SME-VsGuKEAhTjyksF0qXCeGN6R5bUbsxidhiINdvoeUcYv2Nh_J55cnCls1LNbEWlve5A7g2LwwnOkO3fB-pOK_nL7dxuWJWRJfJMM4fpa_FO03k10Akaf0/s640/concept+art.jpg" width="427" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A moody piece of concept art (which is, frankly, much better than the official poster, below). You'll note that this features the face of Alan Rickman, who was originally cast as Kildare. Nighy does a good job of bringing the intelligence, intensity and brooding darkness that one would expect of Rickman, whilst still making the role very much his own.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The novel on which this film is
based was written by Peter Ackroyd, a historian who has spent much of his
career unearthing the truth about the myths and legends of London.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, few writers would be better qualified to
see the city in all its historical detail, yet filter that through a
contemporary filter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tales of faux
Victorian skirt-lifting are very <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">on trend</i>
at the moment, as are tales featuring unreliable narrators, psychogeography,
the gothic, and mercurial sexual identity; so it’s clear to see why this novel
has found its way to the screen, some 23 years after publication.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The story treads the line between
fact and fiction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I know a
fair bit about Jack the Ripper, I had to research The Golem, to see if he, like
the Ripper, was a historical killer, or one Ackroyd had invented (I’ll let you
do the same research, rather than spoil your fun); what is certain, though, is
that Ackroyd didn’t invent <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everyone</i>
in his cast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dan Leno really was a
celebrated music hall performed (although not at the time the novel is set) and
writers like Karl Marx really did spend time in the British Library reading
room.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Leno is
introduced in full drag, on stage, playing a cheery dollymop, singing a rousing
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">sing-along song about how
she is subjected, daily, to domestic violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All together now:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Baby, hit me
one more time ...”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beyond that, though,
Leno (as portrayed by Douglas Booth) comes across as a calming influence, one
of the few people in the film who is comfortable in his own skin, presumably
because he is one of the few people in the film who doesn’t pretend to be
something he isn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ironic, really.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9kDpvhJpMMJZ5Zuy62EUlDyZd8WWKdgeny_Of4tYThXZjMuNfDzEs3DypRszOINgfii-CnGv_zoUFlgwR_2HQflmWvfuEaSRiiaLsH6VZT3jDKOtgo7thx5BthdNaz8C62ctOVtGpDA/s1600/limehouse+golem+-+dan+leno.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik9kDpvhJpMMJZ5Zuy62EUlDyZd8WWKdgeny_Of4tYThXZjMuNfDzEs3DypRszOINgfii-CnGv_zoUFlgwR_2HQflmWvfuEaSRiiaLsH6VZT3jDKOtgo7thx5BthdNaz8C62ctOVtGpDA/s640/limehouse+golem+-+dan+leno.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Jay Leno. The things he's been reduced to since leaving his chat show.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film has quite an audacious
structure, layering the present with flashbacks which explain motivation and
circumstance; but then, Ackroyd is a writer who, even in his non-fiction, is
fascinated in the way that the past can poke through the skin of the
present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much as the suppressed passions
of late Victorian men and women, such as unspoken homosexuality, unrequited
love, cross-dressing, sexual identity and jealousy, all poke through the thin
veneer of denial.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Added to this subtext, we have the
various scenarios that Kildare imagines as his investigation proceeds, seen
from the point of view of whichever suspect is in his sights at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This form of unreliable narrative helps keep
fresh a story which, despite being set 140 years in the past, feels very
contemporary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQm5ZAER-OggwW8Pb1yGDJeIs1zgWIJM_IyIWH591QXCWzCrJZuSfam9COJ7Fyek8CB9dwOBKWDiiPQCiqWQLBNDfK64rbcqV9fNVOTpfIGV7e85cVcRj8L6gnACIUHDJ9x14eLtvTxM/s1600/the-limehouse-golem-nighy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="862" data-original-width="1571" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQm5ZAER-OggwW8Pb1yGDJeIs1zgWIJM_IyIWH591QXCWzCrJZuSfam9COJ7Fyek8CB9dwOBKWDiiPQCiqWQLBNDfK64rbcqV9fNVOTpfIGV7e85cVcRj8L6gnACIUHDJ9x14eLtvTxM/s640/the-limehouse-golem-nighy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nighy is intense and serious and compelling throughout. A laugh riot, this film certainly is not.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ackroyd understands the sociological
role of the media and his characters do, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We are told, at one point, “<i>People</i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>love to </span><i>see degradation</i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>upon the </span><i>stage</i><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">,</i> it's what they pay for.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t help but think of the tabloid
front pages I walk past every day, the poverty-porn documentaries I flick past
at night, and the endless tirade of social media.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All of this is brought to the screen
with a chilly, gritty visual style by director Medina, who must have put
together a pretty-good pitch, since his IMDB profile doesn’t suggest he had
this film in him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is, of course,
aided and abetted by Jane Goldman (aka Jonathan Ross’ little woman ... ahem)
who continues to make writing excellent, imaginative and compelling scripts
seem effortless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her experiences of
being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated business will, no doubt, have
added some gravel to the issues which underpin this movie.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There is a rage at the iniquities of
Britain’s ingrained class system here, and at the miserable treatment of,
particularly, women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, it seems to
me, is the main purpose of Victorian pastiche these days: to demonstrate what
the entitlement and the immorality of the paternalistic elite once led to, and what
the continued swing to Right in politics will, once again, lead to, for those
unfortunate enough to not be white, rich, able-bodied, straight or male.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Limehouse Golem</i> is a tale of intersecting and overlapping unhappiness, and
what it costs good people to do something about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is literally a misery junction!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwKp_f1MOaIW59DJlVJWomZQhXM43e9X_LCmW_SKw-nfciS420566S9gt3DoQ3WvVR8Xdkb2Ce5IXQDSi8I49XaYyNJhoSRXqxAa_QNwa-bOF9264FUMxfiBudeFkXThuMdD1FDN83LA/s1600/golem+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1083" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYwKp_f1MOaIW59DJlVJWomZQhXM43e9X_LCmW_SKw-nfciS420566S9gt3DoQ3WvVR8Xdkb2Ce5IXQDSi8I49XaYyNJhoSRXqxAa_QNwa-bOF9264FUMxfiBudeFkXThuMdD1FDN83LA/s640/golem+poster.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>So, hang on ... If this film is about the injustices doled out to women, and empowerment, and the evils of a paternalistic society ... Why have I got to stand with my arse to the camera? I'm not Scarlett Johansson, you know!</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dir: Juan Carlos Medina</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Script: Jane Goldman</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cert: 15</span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="st"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dur: 105 mins</span></b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-13375418084896984622017-09-01T02:08:00.003+01:002017-09-01T02:08:42.397+01:00VALERIANPlace Holder<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-88735284795092780952017-07-31T23:30:00.002+01:002017-10-30T22:07:35.770+00:00DUNKIRK<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu2cR3YHcZueQ7RM96EkeNP6uUXPkCGfUZDT-N0FdfftC5Jmi-qdz_Wd1z44JE7yRqIopYWZ2RY1bq4oLQJf3iZs6rxmqqt5AEQj2CEdSYn3gA1TciKThEhnh_5e5MWI8SRdjovOUK_o/s1600/dunkirk+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu2cR3YHcZueQ7RM96EkeNP6uUXPkCGfUZDT-N0FdfftC5Jmi-qdz_Wd1z44JE7yRqIopYWZ2RY1bq4oLQJf3iZs6rxmqqt5AEQj2CEdSYn3gA1TciKThEhnh_5e5MWI8SRdjovOUK_o/s640/dunkirk+poster.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We all
remember the beach scenes in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Saving
Private Ryan</i> (released nearly 20 years ago now, just saying); how kinetic
and traumatic they were.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An explosion of
violence which rattled the bones and scarred the mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That depicted the Allies re-entering
Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Spielberg chose to ignore the
involvement of virtually everyone and gave the cinema-going world the enduring
impression that American soldiers were the only ones storming those beaches,
the only ones facing those guns, the only ones dying face down in the surf.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunkirk</i>, shows us those same beaches (in
essence) three years earlier - when the Allies were leaving Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, the focus is very much on the
suffering of one country’s soldiers; in this case: the Brits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the frantic, panicked pace of those first
twenty minutes of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ryan</i>, is replaced
with a more morose, contemplative take on the folly of war.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Unlike <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ryan</i>, this film’s tone doesn’t vacillate
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that way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunkirk</i> has a very Northern European feel about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like one of those Scandinavian films
filled with miserable, wintery people standing in grey windswept landscapes,
shivering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tarkovsky films are equally
light-hearted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, you wouldn’t know that
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
then, it isn’t a film about a roadside picnic, it’s about the rout of civilisation,
about the thin brown and blue line that stood between Britain and the extinction
of our culture ... And how that line was broken.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are no glorious battles in this film,
just a few ugly skirmishes and a couple of aerial dog-fights - which keep us
close and in the cockpit, so we can feel the claustrophobic vulnerability of
the flyers in their crates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Nolan wants this to feel like a documentary or - better still - like a lived experience.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXuUkc0vUyuIRgW3YdiuM1LzWvhGaZe_U4sf6Cd7HO1XxSoNkC-THde_wVp5O-30EcBKp20MrNkB9BKYnPu6muH1uFcJ5NVXaIOUlUwFZUZrNzAYW7U2m5qd0FyHdBeLuxu_id1mXuxzg/s1600/Dunkirk+Tommy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="1600" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXuUkc0vUyuIRgW3YdiuM1LzWvhGaZe_U4sf6Cd7HO1XxSoNkC-THde_wVp5O-30EcBKp20MrNkB9BKYnPu6muH1uFcJ5NVXaIOUlUwFZUZrNzAYW7U2m5qd0FyHdBeLuxu_id1mXuxzg/s640/Dunkirk+Tommy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<b>Tommy, spending a week along among 400,000 fellow
soldiers. There's no camaraderie, no esprit de corps ... There's just
fear and the ferocious desire to survive.</b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fionn
Whitehead initially takes the lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
character isn’t named in the film, but is generally referred to as ‘Tommy’;
although this, I suspect, is meant to make him appear as an Everyman rather
than a specific real person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From his
first moments, Nolan isn’t interested in making the boy charismatic, nor even sympathetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He spends the first five minutes of the film running
away, and his major preoccupation seems to be in finding a quiet corner for a
shit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not really the intro to a
superhero type!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After this, the boy’s
one and only consideration is getting out of there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has no discipline, no chain of command, no
plan, just a relentless drive to escape.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
nothing Nolan does is accidental.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
wants us, from these opening scenes, to see the soldiers as boys, too young to
be burdened with the responsibilities which have been foisted upon them, too
confused to understand the significance of what is happening, too scared to
think straight.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Lg6fmf2dP7Tn93ZNiwpik6ZmSXn5cB_aQaRDGvxAhZfEvAb0ZHe8Yci70PpmNYd0BqpD3TJEr7rI4Lgmb5jeeOviF16CEbPp7jnBU6uPF0vuJS_wQKYCHQqL9mcBIaNktLByj9QLuA8/s1600/dunkirk+soldiers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Lg6fmf2dP7Tn93ZNiwpik6ZmSXn5cB_aQaRDGvxAhZfEvAb0ZHe8Yci70PpmNYd0BqpD3TJEr7rI4Lgmb5jeeOviF16CEbPp7jnBU6uPF0vuJS_wQKYCHQqL9mcBIaNktLByj9QLuA8/s640/dunkirk+soldiers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Our Boys ... Not wreathed in glory ... Not giving Gerry what for ... They simply want to go home.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
isn’t a war film, in the traditional sense, nor is it an anti-war film ... It’s
a dispassionate depiction of a complicated and clumsy evacuation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coming in at a brisk 106 minutes, the film is terse, one could even say sparse, in its depiction of character and incident. Like the soldiers trying to shelter from the knifing wind on that featureless beach, we viewers are told only what we <i>need</i> to know - and sometimes not even that. Tommy overhears the brass helpfully
discussing the way Churchill expects only one in ten of the troops to be
rescued.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s the reality of the
situation ... The Battle of Europe was lost and the plan was nothing more
sophisticated than to rescue enough soldiers to wage the Battle of Britain.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We are
repeatedly told by Lord Sir Kenny Branagh - as Commander Exposition - that
there are 400,000 men on the beach - are there are certainly a lot ... But that
many?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scenes of long snaking lines
of men, patiently waiting rescue, are iconic (in the real sense of the word)
and epic (especially when you understand that Nolan refused to use CGI to
fill-out his crowd scenes) ... But those big, bleak, empty spaces don’t feel
like they’re hosting almost half a million troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found that strangely distracting ...
Possibly because Nolan had gone to such lengths to give his film the ring of
truth, and this just struck me as a false note.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYuh3POMyDtJGLenrEbQXtlLPA41vhXAwJdHGPZhWoaC9XLX_tQyzCjEuskw53zMxMRxCAjhl7jfr7hgdfGeO3V8zb7SxjJ8RN-Kmsjx7wrVuqiXlf3Srd0WtKe521HiQa5baPDXLDYEQ/s1600/crowd+scenes+the+old+fashioned+way.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYuh3POMyDtJGLenrEbQXtlLPA41vhXAwJdHGPZhWoaC9XLX_tQyzCjEuskw53zMxMRxCAjhl7jfr7hgdfGeO3V8zb7SxjJ8RN-Kmsjx7wrVuqiXlf3Srd0WtKe521HiQa5baPDXLDYEQ/s640/crowd+scenes+the+old+fashioned+way.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Doing things old school. Shooting on film. On location. Letting your extras give wooden performances ...</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nolan
is the heir to the Kubrick “Blank Cheque”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was the unique position that Stanley Kubrick enjoyed at Warner
Brothers in the 70s and 80s, whereby he could spend as much money as he liked,
take as long as he liked, produce whatever he liked; and Warners would
patiently wait until he was good and ready to hand the film over ... No American
film studio that I can think of, at least since the days of Charlie Chaplin,
has invested so heavily in the vision of a single artist, with so little
control over that investment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Given the
billions that Warners earned from Nolan’s <i>Batman</i> films (2005, 2008 and 2012 respectively), they have decided to
extend him a similar consideration.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nolan is
aware of this, so reflects the debt he owes to Kubrick in the odd symmetrical tracking
shot, as well as in the cold efficiency of the story telling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The characters are given no back-story,
sometimes no name, no context and, often, no significant dialogue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The film is really a montage of moments
rather than a coherent narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As a
sensory experience, it is immersive and visceral, the sound effects surround
you - and, unlike <i>Ryan</i>, it’s not just the rattle of the guns and the percussive
thump of the explosions - it’s also the haunting wail of the Stuka sirens, the drumming of a damaged Spitfire motor, the echoing screams of men trapped in a
sinking ship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lack of dialogue for
extended tracts mean that your attention jumps around, taking in everything,
filtering nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It genuinely is a
sensory overload - particularly when seen on the overwhelming size of an IMAX
screen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dunkirk</i> is a masterclass in visual
story-telling - Through careful positioning of the camera, and editing, he
gives us just enough of what we need to follow the various story threads.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without really being given a lot of clues, we can
follow the stories as they overlap at different paces and at different times.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is
experimental film-making - subjective film-making - Nolan constantly gets his
unwieldy IMAX cameras up close and personal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Tom Hardy - as the fighter pilot Farrier - gives his entire performance
in close-up, with only his eyes visible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When Collins, his wingman, ditches, and the cab begins to fill with
water, we experience this in the most intimate, physical way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1eQDfArMLwuD6WVGnN3IuG49JUzra4bMEyB-fKB537kjXdfekYHT9jxi8YySdGJInv4-PUXRCecetDPeiNpbtmOjowkSPy6V3_FH6RR6ZHD_oKX5gt9k0nQuvXbwYng_7ugs_FWy6EiM/s1600/Dunkirk+Tom+Hardy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1eQDfArMLwuD6WVGnN3IuG49JUzra4bMEyB-fKB537kjXdfekYHT9jxi8YySdGJInv4-PUXRCecetDPeiNpbtmOjowkSPy6V3_FH6RR6ZHD_oKX5gt9k0nQuvXbwYng_7ugs_FWy6EiM/s640/Dunkirk+Tom+Hardy.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Nolan keeps asking Tom Hardy to show less and less of himself in each film ... Next time, expect to see just his little finger. Or, maybe, like Michael Caine in this film, he'll be reduced to an uncredited voice-over cameo.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
being a Christopher Nolan film, he couldn’t resist the temptation to tamper
with the timelines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The three stories
take place over a week, a day and an hour respectively and they intercut and
overlap, but not in chronological order.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We see Collins’ crash from two different perspectives, but at two
different points of the narrative and it’s a classy job of writing and editing
that the viewer can still follow this on a single viewing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The editing also extends and amplifies the
drama by cutting away from each story at a tense moment - to extend the tension.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
disjointed structure works with the subjective point of view to make the film
immersive and dizzying and, at points, unbearably tense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hans Zimmer’s music is a relentless ticking
clock - which quickens the pulse and draws the viewer inexorably into the
film’s grip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mark Rylance
is the plucky sailor who answers his country’s call, to sail his little ship
over the Channel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“We aren’t the only
ones to answer”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he tells his son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Cos we don’t see any evidence of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is literally the only civilian ship making the crossing - In
hindsight, I realised that, as Tommy is Everysoldier, Mr. Dawson is Everysailor
- standing in for the dozens, hundreds, who answered the call. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyamWd8gPb5szvuhJl2QUqzbdLp-8mOlMRGicMsoHN4RJjefyI02q2bSOqIyK-1gaCJpt-jfMtpUuaOZwG1KHyuQyCX3PNAV3eKGhkJff1-FzHpYG8tJlrieingX7f2u7WMm830qvOoUc/s1600/dunkirk+rylance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1354" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyamWd8gPb5szvuhJl2QUqzbdLp-8mOlMRGicMsoHN4RJjefyI02q2bSOqIyK-1gaCJpt-jfMtpUuaOZwG1KHyuQyCX3PNAV3eKGhkJff1-FzHpYG8tJlrieingX7f2u7WMm830qvOoUc/s640/dunkirk+rylance.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Mark Rylance bravely leading the flotilla of ... Hang on ... Where are they?</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Despite
Rylance’s typically poignant performance, I felt that this story was the
weakest of the film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is an
unnecessary addition of a melodramatic sub-plot, featuring Cillian Murphy’s unnamed
soldier - this really isn’t needed, it makes the extraordinary more mundane.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
Farrier overflies the beach - the lines are short and few and far between.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It really doesn’t look like 400, 000 men ...
It really doesn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, his plane
flies overhead, silent, engine stilled; this moment is genuinely eerie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, somehow, Farrier manages the physically
impossible - to turn his powerless plane round - without it dropping out of the
air - Just in time to do a Han Solo and kill the Hun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this moment, the film abandons its
documentary tone and ascends to the mythic.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the
film reaches its conclusion, back on English soil, the beaten troops shuffle like
zombies down the sidings to the waiting trains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As articulated by the lad I’m forced to conclude is (in real
life) some kind of pop star, there is a sense of regret, even of survivor guilt ... He looks at the people
outside the train and bemoans: “We let you down.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no cheering, no celebrating, not even
much relief.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUpGUY95pH4ETvKPHwwUDcw4Shrnd39Ch1JuftU3ewB2wTvT1sPJCGoRYJnH3rZyDPWKddVLkF2_0KM8TNLxcY0ABug7GyWM3c7jydyKHavJ6lUvEfQi80DINGiZoYtU00RxBHO42UCo/s1600/Christopher+Nolan+Harry+Styles+Dunkirk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUpGUY95pH4ETvKPHwwUDcw4Shrnd39Ch1JuftU3ewB2wTvT1sPJCGoRYJnH3rZyDPWKddVLkF2_0KM8TNLxcY0ABug7GyWM3c7jydyKHavJ6lUvEfQi80DINGiZoYtU00RxBHO42UCo/s640/Christopher+Nolan+Harry+Styles+Dunkirk.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Christopher Nolan giving Harry Styles ... one direction. Thank-you.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Meanwhile,
still over in France, Farrier, the noble fighter pilot, stands alone on the
windswept beach, warming himself on the burning carcass of his Spitfire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This image serves several purposes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To see the symbol of British victory, the
Spitfire, burning on a foreign shore, this is not an accidental image on which
to close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nolan has not bought into the
simplistic, patriotic narrative of the war, he’s shown it as a tragedy inflicted
on young, confused, terrified men, whose greatest achievement was simply
staying alive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Hardy being surrounded
by the Germans and taken prisoner ... Well, that just offers up the possibility
of Nolan’s next film.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Tom
Hardy starring in the remake of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Great
Escape</i>, anyone?</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96_XscbDpBBiEJQA4mfHTtLHQRoJlCFjspX76_yZK07NltW9_Vg-gVDEPIYSDEe8gJLa8v-lirtIiKZYe96Yjwr_lKi8OwPyj9m5U_2Ra5sIuI7JpvA0QNoTMGf9g0AmHWeDQRrqHSro/s1600/dunkirk+burning+spitfire+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="960" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh96_XscbDpBBiEJQA4mfHTtLHQRoJlCFjspX76_yZK07NltW9_Vg-gVDEPIYSDEe8gJLa8v-lirtIiKZYe96Yjwr_lKi8OwPyj9m5U_2Ra5sIuI7JpvA0QNoTMGf9g0AmHWeDQRrqHSro/s640/dunkirk+burning+spitfire+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>If just one image could sum up Nolan's complex, nuanced, highly critical view of the war ... It could be this one: A British Spitfire, burning on a French beach. Apparently, when this happened for real, the pilot just left the plane there and it became a tourist attraction and playground for the local kids. A fate somewhat lacking in the symbolism of simply torching it!</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dir: Christopher Nolan</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Script: Christopher Nolan</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Dur: 106 mins</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Cert: 12A</b></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-45060841200814076632017-07-16T02:18:00.000+01:002017-07-16T02:20:50.356+01:00WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-64P_TyPEyefpTHyYfFTgEYFAueUawMgSYHzr88jp5ZS48UnLwGA-plfNwJhChs34YPTGmvLJpRO9e0mTDfLJ_A1a-KloJZOB9CsUId_a5s0KUBOkhIcNttdAyWJnsvkXxLq2e-n79hQ/s1600/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1013" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-64P_TyPEyefpTHyYfFTgEYFAueUawMgSYHzr88jp5ZS48UnLwGA-plfNwJhChs34YPTGmvLJpRO9e0mTDfLJ_A1a-KloJZOB9CsUId_a5s0KUBOkhIcNttdAyWJnsvkXxLq2e-n79hQ/s640/war-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-poster.jpg" width="404" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This is the end, beautiful friend.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The end of the re-imagined <i>Planet of the Apes</i> trilogy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Rise of the Planet of the Apes </i>surprised me back in 2011. I feared that a re-hash of 1968’s <i>Planet of the Apes</i> might be terrible (what gave me that idea, eh, Tim Burton?) But they surmounted all my prejudices by bringing a fresh eye to time-worn plot points (scientist tampers with nature ... gets his comeuppance) and made the story delightfully emotional, leading to a well-deserved epic finale.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They followed this with <i>Dawn</i>, which advanced the story, made the characters more complex and compelling, and, again, told an old fashioned story (an underling’s cowardice threatens to scupper their ruler’s good work) in a fresh and diverting way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anticipation, then, for the inevitable final part of the triptych, <i>War</i>, was very high. History is, after all, lousy with examples of trilogies that fell apart with the third film. <i>Aliens</i>, <i>Superman</i>, <i>Godfather</i>, <i>Spider-Man</i>, <i>X-Men</i>, Jurassic Park, <i>Fast and Furious</i> ... <i>The Evil Dead</i> (joking).</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuigm9X1aacyNXASB3sw3GaLPmPdBt-MFbVFufbnau86UIlDAXhyphenhyphen8Nllj4U4YcRr6UJoQctFGPPI1A9nRwA51EkVEuyCpZFNPlUYpmEv_mFe0b0o9mgEhkkrvjPxL8oFwS_WZEq3iQeY/s1600/War_for_the_Planet_of_the_Apes-on+the+beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="1600" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZuigm9X1aacyNXASB3sw3GaLPmPdBt-MFbVFufbnau86UIlDAXhyphenhyphen8Nllj4U4YcRr6UJoQctFGPPI1A9nRwA51EkVEuyCpZFNPlUYpmEv_mFe0b0o9mgEhkkrvjPxL8oFwS_WZEq3iQeY/s640/War_for_the_Planet_of_the_Apes-on+the+beach.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Monkeys mounted. A scene deliberately visually echoing the original Apes films. It's also the only scene where California looks anything like we expect it to look. </b> </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This film is set two years on from <i>Dawn</i>, but the events happen as a direct result of that film. But, for me, this film doesn’t push forward beyond <i>Dawn</i>. That film was shockingly different from the one which preceded; the world had changed, the characters had evolved (literally and emotionally), it even looked different. This film looks very similar to <i>Dawn</i>, damp and dour, cold and getting colder.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Thematically it is similar too, with Caesar (played, once again, by Mr. Mo-Cap, Andy Serkis) trying to maintain the peace and the harmony of his tribe by reiterating his belief that apes together are strong.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But the world beyond the forest has turned against them. A mysterious ‘Colonel’ has declared war on the apes and, as the film’s opening sequence shows, that is a full-on hot war, with massive casualties on both sides.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is to the film’s credit that it show’s this introductory battle as being terrifying and brutal on both sides. This isn’t good-guys versus bad-guys deal. It’s a confused and convoluted war.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Indeed, the soldiers use simian scouts to help them track the wild apes, these are apes who have been tamed and branded and are dubbed ‘donkey’. This immediately put me in mind of pre-Revolutionary Indian wars.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Caesar himself has grown in stature. Whereas he was seen as leader, he has now been elevated to legendary status. It is befitting, then, that the shadow of Charlton Heston is cast across this film, but not Heston the last human in a mad world, this is Heston the living legend. Caesar is whipped and enslaved by someone he swears vengeance on. All very Ben-Hur-like. But Caesar is trying to lead his people to the Promised Land, so he is also Moses to them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">However, this is all played out against a background which is deliberately reminiscent of The Indian wars, as well as the American slave trade, with elements of Nazi concentration camps and prisoner-of-war camps. It’s a confusing mish-mash of allusions.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS_VYjAhYPiPG2QcCUncYScDJXH6mEsrYiDcst9c8ts-QHYcpzevgui-m4OBhcumkJLt6AiV9IeofmpoPxUQuyclBFIesAfylzrd5_8olstu2PdELVn31H3zAZYU_s86FzoLNLrPgGvE/s1600/woody+and+donkey+-+war+for+the+planet+of+the+apes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="1600" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaS_VYjAhYPiPG2QcCUncYScDJXH6mEsrYiDcst9c8ts-QHYcpzevgui-m4OBhcumkJLt6AiV9IeofmpoPxUQuyclBFIesAfylzrd5_8olstu2PdELVn31H3zAZYU_s86FzoLNLrPgGvE/s640/woody+and+donkey+-+war+for+the+planet+of+the+apes.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>One of the most interesting plotlines involves <s>Kurtz</s> </b><span class="st"><b>McCullough's reliance on 'Donkeys', collaborator apes. Here, the gorilla known as Red is a sort of Fletcher Christian to Woody's Bligh.</b></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And this where I started having real difficulty with the film, It lacks clear focus. When we finally meet the enigmatic Colonel, (played well by a very calm, restrained Woody Harrelson), he reels off the names of wartime leaders he admires - Wellington gets a mention, as do both Custer and Sitting Bull. (He doesn’t mention Walter Kurtz, though, just saying). When he gets his big exposition scene, to explain to Caesar when his epiphany happened and why he believes what he believes, it simply doesn’t make sense. His grudge is against the virus that was released in the first film, not with the apes. So, he lacks clear motivation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Caesar’s motivations are much clearer and simpler, he wants revenge. But that’s never a positive driving force for a protagonist. It never ends well. He has lost the vision of a leader and has allowed the battle to become personal. As Colonel <s>Kurtz</s> <span class="st">McCullough</span> mentions, Caesar is <i>very</i> emotional.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The film also has a confused sense of geography. I don’t know the Americas well but, when someone says they’re heading for the Californian border, I don’t expect to see ski-lodges and snow. I’m not saying that’s not right, but I do feel that the audience needs a bit of help understanding the journey(s) the apes make. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also think the film was trying to make a comment about the madness of building walls to keep out foreigners and, I suspect, that the wall in question was between America and Canada (again, I don’t associate Mexico with snow), but the point of this was lost in the plethora of other indiscriminate allusions and symbols on offer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Added to which, director Matt Reeves clearly thinks he’s making a Viet-Nam film. The grunts have messages written on their helmets (like the famous poster for 1987’s <i>Full Metal Jacket</i>). They refer to the apes by the pun ‘Kong’ (as in, Viet-Kong) and Colonel <s>Kurtz</s> <span class="st">McCullough</span> enjoys several similarities with Brando’s similarly spaced-out soldier. There is even a gag, a visual reference to <i>Apocalypse Now</i> (1979), which made me groan out loud. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbBZ2_H7hwnC80z2ddQSf2IbjXTAJzDEzue4GoKWAgHZ3fIKEe1pKf0LxdZ89zuZxD1FCH_Tcr-eXhUFzuwYZR7Qc1NXZyfpMnD9o-d_F0qA3Cuvrt_Cr2c2iggA3zq_utjeZ24ZHTUME/s1600/the+colonels+-+war+for+the+planet+of+the+apes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="1103" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbBZ2_H7hwnC80z2ddQSf2IbjXTAJzDEzue4GoKWAgHZ3fIKEe1pKf0LxdZ89zuZxD1FCH_Tcr-eXhUFzuwYZR7Qc1NXZyfpMnD9o-d_F0qA3Cuvrt_Cr2c2iggA3zq_utjeZ24ZHTUME/s640/the+colonels+-+war+for+the+planet+of+the+apes.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Anyone who thinks they've spotted any stray similarities between The Colonels is clearly mad. As mad as they are.</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One expects to see fan service and popular culture references in a Marvel movie; because they are not typically dealing with issues of slavery and man’s endless history of violence and discrimination. I did not expect, nor welcome, such gags in this film. It should be more seriously-minded than that.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It’s worth mentioning that Serkis’ performance as Caesar continues to be miraculous, shining through the digital mask they have added. I genuinely felt he was robbed when he didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for <i>Dawn</i>. But, of course, the power of his performance was plain to see in <i>both</i> previous films. Part of my disappointment with this chapter is, I think, simply that the miraculous doesn’t feel quite so miraculous third time round.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where Weta Workshop’s CGI works brilliantly is in the new character, who calls himself ‘Bad Ape’ (because that’s the phrase he heard most from the humans). This is a fantastic performance from Steve Zahn; but something troubled ne about him. He’s there to mostly be the comic relief and, as I’ve indicated, that feels out-of-step in a grim film concerning mankind’s inhumanity and vanity. But that wasn’t what niggled me about him. I couldn’t put my finger on it, until the friend I saw the film with hit the nail on the head: “He’s Dobby the House Ape”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That said, the special effects are flawless (one or two of the riding shots look a bit dodgy ... But riding shots often do), and there is a real scope to the visuals. It’s certainly played out on a much larger canvas than the previous two films. It just doesn’t feel like the story-telling has evolved as much as the apes or the technology used to create them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Obviously they have Andy Serkis back as Caesar; cos no one can make a monkey of himself in a mo-cap suit quite like him; apart from stuntman and movement choreographer, Terry Notary; who is playing Rocket, so that's alright.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">They’ve also introduced a silent child with a doll, not simply, one assumes, because she looks like Newt in <i>Aliens</i> (1986) but, presumably, because they wanted someone to exemplify the possible future of human/ape relations. Her silence, which is apparently an inability to talk brought about by the mutating virus, is evidence of the human race devolving, while the ape race is growing ever more sophisticated and complex. That’s a great idea, and one which the original Apes films - particularly <i>Conquest Of</i> (1972) and <i>Battle For</i> (1973) - addressed in various ways. But it isn’t developed here. So, there’s no real purpose in the child being there. Oh, apart from the time she walks through the middle of the heavily-defended military camp and none of the soldiers notice her. Presumably losing the ability to speak also makes one invisible.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGhqk5jvA5kZ1J2J7bFaOTa_UsjAl7Agu0HB0GMfoCHYlA7-2MXXOUAD3RIbofVlGgLoW7PuM5DUk_2-tdNKI3heXwmcrl9MPkiWrstL84y0QzfUL3j9BaArMUU2Ux8nPfbNjq16bLJA/s1600/maurice+and+nova+-+war+for+the+planet+of+the+apes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="755" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGhqk5jvA5kZ1J2J7bFaOTa_UsjAl7Agu0HB0GMfoCHYlA7-2MXXOUAD3RIbofVlGgLoW7PuM5DUk_2-tdNKI3heXwmcrl9MPkiWrstL84y0QzfUL3j9BaArMUU2Ux8nPfbNjq16bLJA/s640/maurice+and+nova+-+war+for+the+planet+of+the+apes.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Maurice, the Orang-Utan, once again serves as Caesar's moral compass. And Nova's baby-sitter.</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That said, these particular soldiers are significantly dumber than the apes they are guarding.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The greatest issue I had with <i>War for the Planet of the Apes</i> came with the actual war itself - which suddenly and conveniently kicks off in the film’s final act, just as all the other business reaches its climax. This war, it turns out, is not really between ape and man, but between two factions of men. </span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">So the characters we care about are not invested in the titular war, they don’t care who wins and, therefore, neither did I. This is not good for my emotional involvement in the culmination of a three-movie-long story arc.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As the first film did, <i>War</i> manages to slide in subtle references to the original Apes films, which most of the audience won’t notice. For example, Colonel <s>Kurtz</s> <span class="st">McCullough’s logo is the </span><span class="st">Δ and Ω used in <i>Beneath the Planet of the Apes</i> (1970), while the horse-riding apes enjoy a canter along the beach, much as Charlton Heston and his Nova did back in the original <i>Planet of the Apes</i>.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="st">We went in to <i>War for the Planet of the Apes</i> filled with childish hope. We came out deflated. We’d had such high expectations for this film. I’d heard rumours that it was scoring massively on Rotten Tomatoes and that maybe, finally, we had a trilogy where the films kept getting better, rather than peaking at number two.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="st">But no. You had your chance, guys, and you blew it. God damn you all to Hell.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="st"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ILZl8-m6kvKAK16TlagZ5k9HbYL-1KMXhlPenibFiehO_BIuczJFIlj6n5ubriQy4oizQugYQCa1buwxTzHyvemxHTPmx9US6-_OU1Aw-1cYOCL1ZEfq9IdIs4Md2OkyVwAVSWWHe8A/s1600/planet+of+the+apes+ending.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="800" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ILZl8-m6kvKAK16TlagZ5k9HbYL-1KMXhlPenibFiehO_BIuczJFIlj6n5ubriQy4oizQugYQCa1buwxTzHyvemxHTPmx9US6-_OU1Aw-1cYOCL1ZEfq9IdIs4Md2OkyVwAVSWWHe8A/s640/planet+of+the+apes+ending.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="st"><br /><b>Dir: Matt Reeves</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span class="st">Scriptwriters: Mark Bomback & Matt Reeves</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span class="st">Cert: 12A</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span class="st"><b>Dur: 140 mins</b></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-89427517368352933312017-07-14T17:21:00.000+01:002017-07-14T17:21:48.124+01:00CHURCHILL vs CHURCHILL<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiygZdxp5-xhlt_S-MZJSVMcNyOZe-GUpIG-4HMfbBgyL2MfN96Ac7XRj_nlQ4YhFDNGT3Sd6MOeRan_sRyQ9y_qpkv4KYlnT5kHJaw0O3PahetkX_qIZN3bRFA3TcjdXFo03zvKJIDbYw/s1600/CHURCHILL+VS+CHURCHILL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="1107" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiygZdxp5-xhlt_S-MZJSVMcNyOZe-GUpIG-4HMfbBgyL2MfN96Ac7XRj_nlQ4YhFDNGT3Sd6MOeRan_sRyQ9y_qpkv4KYlnT5kHJaw0O3PahetkX_qIZN3bRFA3TcjdXFo03zvKJIDbYw/s640/CHURCHILL+VS+CHURCHILL.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Back in 2005, just in time for Oscar consideration, the film <i>Capote</i> was released. It featured Philip Seymour Hoffman as the troubled, effete, prima-donna, Truman Capote, struggling with his inner demons as he endeavoured to write his book 'In Cold Blood'. About nine months later, a film called <i>Infamous</i> was released. It featured Toby Jones as the troubled, effete, prima-donna, Truman Capote, struggling with his inner demons as he endeavoured to write his book 'In Cold Blood'. <br /><br />Hoffmann won the Oscar for his performance, Jones did not.<br />
<br />
Then, in 2012, just in time for Oscar consideration, the film <i>Hitchcock</i> was released. It featured Anthony Hopkins as the troubled, anxious film-director Alfred Hitchcock as he struggled to complete his film 'Psycho'. About a month before this, a film called <i>The Girl </i>had been released. It featured Toby Jones as the cold, controlling film director Alfred Hitchcock as he struggled to complete his film 'The Birds'.<br />
<br />
Jones was nominated for a hatful of awards. Hopkins was not.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-uEi-W5WbLtuQb5U2ifijyiy0KIQlZVJc-NRLR1t0A0dUr9rlHKskyhMwlypVxjE5F2Foj19_SdYHvJb0PLKmiLvufVhWtm4ZTDNgflX-m6HVAn2YIKhM__xcZhfwoHogFaS6WEpD88/s1600/hitch+%2526+crow+edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="407" data-original-width="1471" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY-uEi-W5WbLtuQb5U2ifijyiy0KIQlZVJc-NRLR1t0A0dUr9rlHKskyhMwlypVxjE5F2Foj19_SdYHvJb0PLKmiLvufVhWtm4ZTDNgflX-m6HVAn2YIKhM__xcZhfwoHogFaS6WEpD88/s640/hitch+%2526+crow+edit.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>So that's the real Hitch, the real Toby Jones and the real Anthony Hopkins. I wonder if it's a real crow?</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It happens. Sometimes an idea dawns on several people at once and turns into two very similar films being made at the same time.<br />
<br />
Remember <i>Olympus Has Fallen </i>and <i>White House Down</i> (both 2013)?<br />
<br />
Or the aliens-invade-LA films <i>Skyline </i>and <i>Battle: LA</i> (the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 respectively)? <br />
<br />
Or <i>Deep Impact</i> and <i>Armageddon</i> (both 1998)?<br />
<br />
Or the disastrous movie <i>Volcano</i> and the even worse <i>Dante's Peak</i> (both 1997)?<br />
<br />
Well, it's still happening. Last year saw the story of the assassination of Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich dramatised in the film <i>Anthropoid</i> (featuring, as it happens, Toby Jones in a supporting role). This year will see the release of <i>HHhH</i> (based on the novel of the same name) which dramatises the assassination of Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich.<br /><br />And now, staying with World War Two, we have two biopics of Winston Churchill. And which one is Toby Jones in? Hah - neither!<br /><br />Let's be honest, playing Churchill is probably <i>the</i> role that, outside of Sherlock Holmes and King Lear, actors of a certain age want to have a crack at. Michael Gambon gave us his Churchill last year, in TV's <i>Churchill's Secret</i>, as did John Lithgow in <i>The Crown</i>. Timothy Spall gave us his Churchill in <i>The King's Speech</i> in 2010. Robert Hardy virtually made a living as Churchill in the 80s and 90s. But, let's face it, we all prefer Ian McNiece's rendition in <i>Doctor Who</i> in 2010. That was Churchill and the Daleks, for goodness sake!<br />
<br />
But now we have two new contenders. We have Brian Cox as the titular <i>Churchill</i>. That had a brief run at the cinema last month. You might still be able to find it, if you have decent cinemas in your area. Interest in it may be renewed since, just this week, we have seen the launch of the trailer for <i>Darkest Hour</i>, which is (based purely on the trailer) already getting rumblings about an Oscar for its Churchill - one Gary Oldman.<br />
<br />
Let's have a look at the form, shall we ... First out of the gate was Brian Cox: <br />
<br />
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sVOzMZ4IrMA/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sVOzMZ4IrMA?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<br />And the young pretender ... Gary Oldman:<br /><br />
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<br />Well, I like Brian Cox. But I also like Gary Oldman. But who's best?<br /><br />There's only one way to be sure!<br /><br />
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<br /><br /><br /> <div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-23544386470640966112017-07-06T23:19:00.002+01:002017-07-07T10:42:35.130+01:00SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4DMHfQLwbOcml-ZVAZUEvU8NfsvlaMeEMkmi0bAWq2kgGhDQNAUV5Wwv4FR_0rqZ6b7F2AoWixfqtiHYw5nUkDnYQ1fBSU_l8Ecak8kOuu_uW1f-xBJoaqsoemiCMqVGzUnJ_02cTvk/s1600/Spiderman-poster-6-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1081" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4DMHfQLwbOcml-ZVAZUEvU8NfsvlaMeEMkmi0bAWq2kgGhDQNAUV5Wwv4FR_0rqZ6b7F2AoWixfqtiHYw5nUkDnYQ1fBSU_l8Ecak8kOuu_uW1f-xBJoaqsoemiCMqVGzUnJ_02cTvk/s640/Spiderman-poster-6-large.jpg" width="432" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Well, it was a struggle, but I managed to find a poster for this film, that didn't look like it was put together by the Graphic Designer's 12 year old kid.</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> <i>Spider-Man: Homecoming</i> is so called, not because of the Homecoming Dance that features briefly in it; nor is it so-called because the story features a major “there’s no place like home” revelation. It is called <i>Homecoming</i> as a knowing meta-narrative nod to the audience, that the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man has returned to the Marvel fold after decades in the wilderness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Spider-Man is their Mickey Mouse, he’s their Superman; he’s the flag-bearer for their entire business and, anachronistically, because of difficult financial decisions made decades ago; they haven’t been able to use him. But now they can. This was the chance for Kevin Feige to roll up his sleeves and say “Right, this is how you’re <i>supposed</i> to do a Spidey movie!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> What’s at stake, then, is whether Marvel can weave its magic over its own characters, when they have been damaged whilst on loan. Fox keeps managing to pull the X-Men’s asses out of the fire. For every desperately poor <i>Wolverine</i> (2009), there’s a surprisingly rich <i>First Class</i> (2011), for every <i>Apocalypse</i> (2016), there’s a <i>Logan</i> (2017). And then, of course, there’s Deadpool! But The Fantastic Four, bless them, they have enjoyed no such success; each of Fox’s FF films has dug a deeper hole in the affections of the audience than the one before it. But, despite that, it has become abundantly clear that Fox will never return them to the fold. So, Marvel is moving on without them. Ramping up <i>The Inhumans</i> as replacements for the X-Men; going cosmic without the need for the Negative Zone and Galactus.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> But Spider-Man is different. Apparently, so the story goes, Raimi wanted to continue his old-school approach to Spidey by having his third film feature The Vulture. Along with Doc Ock and Green Goblin, he was one of comic-book Spidey’s longest serving adversaries (first appearing in issue 2), and one that the fans were desperate to see brought to the screen. However, this decision was overruled and, instead, Sony decided to go with Venom - a character from a very different period in Spidey’s history, with a very different fan-base. Well, we all know how <i>Spider-Man 3</i> (2007) worked out. But that was nothing to the delights which lay in store when the franchise went ‘Amazing’. I gave a fair and balanced viewing of that debacle, <a href="http://cellulord.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/amazing-sic-spider-man.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> So, Sony realised that its (galactically stupid) decisions were losing it profit. Years of back-room shenanigans ensued and, finally, they struck a deal with Marvel to return the character, at least in part, to the MCU (that’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, in case you haven’t been keeping up with your Three Letter Acronyms). This complicated process has led to no fewer than twelve credited producers and six credited writers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> So, what we have here is what’s now referred to as a soft re-boot. We don’t get Uncle Ben again, we don’t get the spider bite (although it is mentioned), we don’t get the Spider Sense, or J. Jonah Jameson; but we do get Peter back at school, navigating the corridor politics of bullies and girls and tests. We also get The Vulture. Point made, Kevin; point made!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctXupzwPwHkCn5P8bSml5q-THCCtdDSN6_rNKShvBC69owuFlH7Q8ecaS36W9gejp57FFBOBkPIdXh47lFzcZGUjKwmRnWV8jnswJTayrwL9MTvvmf-4TThNFbUqI5ETNma32wipS7iY/s1600/spider-man+crushed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1106" data-original-width="736" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjctXupzwPwHkCn5P8bSml5q-THCCtdDSN6_rNKShvBC69owuFlH7Q8ecaS36W9gejp57FFBOBkPIdXh47lFzcZGUjKwmRnWV8jnswJTayrwL9MTvvmf-4TThNFbUqI5ETNma32wipS7iY/s640/spider-man+crushed.jpg" width="424" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>The 'If This Be My Destiny' story (it's not actually called The Final Chapter) is one of the most famous episodes from the early Lee/Ditko comics, and is now brought to the screen, as are many other careful references to the source material.</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> The film heaves with smart acknowledgements to the original 60s comics; for those who are familiar enough to spot them. It still irks, mind you, that the creators behind a lot of these moments, aren’t credited among those six writers. Lee and Ditko are, but the others, John Romita, Don Heck, Brian Michael Bendis and the rest, they have to wait for a ‘based on characters created by’ acknowledgement at the very end of the credits. ... After Robert Downey Jr’s Hair Consultant. But then, I suppose they can’t <i>all</i> have cameos.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Like the original Lee/Ditko comics, this is as much a High School coming-of-age story as it is a superhero adventure. Yes, Tom Holland is 21 playing 15, but he actually gets away with it. Unlike Andrew Garfield’s turn in ‘Amazing’, I can actually buy Holland as a kid. Not too nerdy (not as socially inept as Tobey Maguire’s version), but not obviously too fit, too tall and too cool for school (as Garfield was).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Holland’s Spider-Man is clumsy and confused and over-excited and sometimes scared. He is, in other words, a teenager! That works for the demographics of the Marvel movie audience, but it was also key to the character from day one. As a comic-reading friend of mine once noted ruefully, back in the 90s: I remember a time when Peter Parker was older than me. But the key to him is that he’s a kid, a kid given extraordinary powers that shift his entire world. And he isn’t a billionaire or a god or a world-renowned scientist, he’s a kid. How does a kid deal with the powers of a superhero? That has always been the dilemma at the heart of the Spider-Man story, that’s the story that this generation of kids deserve to experience. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> These early scenes fairly echo with the footsteps of John Hughes. I’m grateful they resisted the temptation to put <i>Don’t You Forget About Me</i> on the soundtrack during the detention scene, and it is forgivable that they give in, briefly, to a Ferris Bueller gag. But it isn’t all levity. There is one moment in the movie, above all others, when Peter is alone and in peril and he panics. He screams for help and, right there, we are forced to confront the fact that, however cocky and sophisticated and knowing and cynical our kids are ... They’re still just kids.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDfiBykQp_oBXxzll62d1CbEt3c6SVe4foKMgP3daZwl8bGw75Ehe86h8I8XrAUPuk2JFE8Ehi-qH9ZV1JuMeQmrZecDevR9OHnhdO94Wf-QJzDlMs-Fwf_7W0mzZjAJ8aVi6eMjNepk/s1600/breakfast+club.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBDfiBykQp_oBXxzll62d1CbEt3c6SVe4foKMgP3daZwl8bGw75Ehe86h8I8XrAUPuk2JFE8Ehi-qH9ZV1JuMeQmrZecDevR9OHnhdO94Wf-QJzDlMs-Fwf_7W0mzZjAJ8aVi6eMjNepk/s1600/breakfast+club.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>High-School Avengers Assemble: Iron Man (top), Scarlett Witch (left), Bruce Banner (middle), Black Widow (seated), Captain America (right)</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> This also informs Peter’s desperation to please Tony Stark. He’s subconsciously looking for a father figure. Shame he picked a globe-trotting billionaire narcissist egomaniac who has serious daddy issues of his own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> For me, the characters and the small moments are much more impressive than the big set-pieces. The ferry scene, which features so predominantly in the trailer, feels like a mash-up of the bridge scene in <i>Spider-Man 1</i> (2002), the train scene in <i>Spider-Man 2</i> (2004) and, inevitably, the ferry scene in <i>The Dark Knight</i> (2008). There’s a similar big moment in Washington that also, for me, felt cluttered and confused and overly-familiar. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> A part of this clutter must be put down to Spidey talking constantly to the AI of his suit. Essentially, Stark has engineered the Spider Suit as a more streamlined version of his own Iron Man suit, complete with chatty computer interface. This gives Spidey lots of fun toys to play with, some of which are unnecessary, some of which are just plain dumb; but the main thing is, it gives him someone to talk to. In the comics, Spidey never shuts up. He’s trading witty one-liners with whoever he’s fighting (something we’ve already seen in his <i>Civil War</i> fight with Falcon) but also, when he’s alone, he thinks things through or talks to himself. That’s difficult to do well in a film. Having an on-board AI gives him someone to talk to which, therefore, gives him a platform to externalise all that teenage angst.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwf756aSBJW_I8qDf0-k5JwGUp1GsJqrYWbWLe3a6tkx4O_MLv-ZIf4DDxDd2lAv-Oe2nG21QM_X3CCyan1yagrPKmcCNp3XcmkgfyVixC7Vdh7ItqhUQqNiz8H3TneaEJT8iYAv4YqkY/s1600/vulture+wings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwf756aSBJW_I8qDf0-k5JwGUp1GsJqrYWbWLe3a6tkx4O_MLv-ZIf4DDxDd2lAv-Oe2nG21QM_X3CCyan1yagrPKmcCNp3XcmkgfyVixC7Vdh7ItqhUQqNiz8H3TneaEJT8iYAv4YqkY/s640/vulture+wings.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Pfft. And Falcon thinks <i>his</i> wings are all that.</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> At the other end of sci-fi tech scale, we have Michael Keaton’s Toomes. He starts the film in a flashback, working as a contractor clearing up the alien tech and devastation after the New York fight from the Avengers movie. He’s a working stiff who gets stiffed by the government, in the form of the all-new Department of Damage Control (how’s that for an oxymoron). This pushes his business over the edge financially. So, what’s he going to do? Well, he has a pile of unrecycled Chitauri tech and an enthusiastic tinkerer on staff; so time to make like Tony Stark and build some weapons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> His weapons manufacture is all very low tech, though, his gadgets seem to be being assembled in, essentially, a garage. He has limited aspirations for his toys; but that’s deliberate, because he wants to stay under the radar. As he says - when the film proper starts - he’s been doing what he’s doing for eight years, without ever attracting the attention of the FBI or SHIELD or The Avengers. He’s strictly small-fry. But, if you push the little guy the wrong way, he can develop big ideas. This is what took the honest business man and turned him into the gun-runner. As Spider-Man repeatedly foils his plans, the gun-runner decides to step up a gear ... After repeatedly refusing the call to get properly nefarious, he finally gives in and does what any business man would do ... He steals from the opposition.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTxzvJlCJyQoEDurJGVFL1L30mglZzT-gHvtQkECuASmI813jtZomL4b6PpAuVwCSQAF8FKWEByeTrb7bOucE-2Nyhi8ntDKHRwNWZCYq-g3-r_79ghcy9n4XGqlYijsM5s9p-GmC7tI/s1600/keaton+-+birdman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1600" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTxzvJlCJyQoEDurJGVFL1L30mglZzT-gHvtQkECuASmI813jtZomL4b6PpAuVwCSQAF8FKWEByeTrb7bOucE-2Nyhi8ntDKHRwNWZCYq-g3-r_79ghcy9n4XGqlYijsM5s9p-GmC7tI/s640/keaton+-+birdman.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Psst ... A little bird told me you'll be playing a different kind of birdman ...</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> The key to Toomes - and, no doubt, what attracted a heavy-hitter like Keaton - is that he speaks a lot of sense. He <i>has </i>been treated badly by a high-handed military-industrial complex. Tony Stark <i>was</i> a gun-runner before he found he could make more money elsewhere. The American Dream <i>was</i> built on the belief that it is acceptable to do <i>anything</i> to support your family. Toomes isn’t a grand-standing psychopath who wants to take over the world, he just wants to put his kids through college. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> There is an electrifying scene where Keaton locks eyes with Peter and calmly explains what he’ll do to stay in business. No shouting, no histrionics, just one guy smiling while he threatens another. That’s why you hire someone as complex as Michael Keaton, to get that intensity from a close-up shot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Back in the ’80s, when he was best known for his comedies, there was always a dark edge to Keaton. Ron Howard saw it first, when he cast him in <i>Night Shift</i> (1982), Tim Burton saw it when he made him <i>Beetlejuice </i>(1988), and John Schlesinger saw it when he cast him as the malignancy at the heart of <i>Pacific Heights</i> (1990). There was always a recklessness in Keaton’s eyes which made him potentially dangerous. Guess what: It’s still there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> Of course, Toomes is a villain so, however reasonable his argument, however justifiable his cause, the fact that he is prepared to ignore morality and kill people for it, somewhat undermines his point.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> And Spidey is a hero so, no-matter that no-one believes in him, no-matter that he’s alone and out-classed and out-gunned; he’s still going to try and protect the little guy. Cos that’s what Spidey always was, back in the early 70s, when four-year-old me learned to read on black-and-white reprints of John Romita and Ross Andru era Spidey .... He was always the little guy, always misunderstood, always struggling to balance the demands of real-life, relationships, work and super-heroing.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HoC4EpyKI55tX6NG4T6wL0hAYCg5iOOl_swFB6DCCya4IfbthanprYXFO5ohn7aZ8EsNpUdPLmG7NrtR0Dtsg9GWvl2AMv9Ys8QySpu0nInSlteiyClvLCjq_WSBuk6KhLsCjBika2U/s1600/peter+parker+tony+stark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7HoC4EpyKI55tX6NG4T6wL0hAYCg5iOOl_swFB6DCCya4IfbthanprYXFO5ohn7aZ8EsNpUdPLmG7NrtR0Dtsg9GWvl2AMv9Ys8QySpu0nInSlteiyClvLCjq_WSBuk6KhLsCjBika2U/s640/peter+parker+tony+stark.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>This isn't Tony Stark's happy face. Maybe he's just realised how few scenes he's in.</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> The early scenes of Spidey keeping himself busy whilst waiting for ‘the call’ from The Avengers, are very reminiscent of <i>Kick-Ass</i> (2010) but then, they would be; that was Mark Millar’s take on an updated Spider-Man ... This is Marvel’s take on the same thing; it’s no surprise there are similarities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> The film relies too heavily on the Toomes’ henchmen being as ham-fisted as Spidey, initially, is. Otherwise, he’d’ve been killed pretty much at the start, and then where’s your movie? But, because Holland is so likeable, and so endearingly clumsy, you go along with the film when it wanders into cliché or the odd page of lazy writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> However, there’s one particular plot-twist that is just way too convenient, and stretches the bounds of credibility too far. Nothing like the catalogue of contrivances in the last two Spidey films, though, so don’t worry. It’s just that this film goes so far in making Peter human and fallible, and the world he inhabits, so credible, and the friends he spends time with, so nuanced and detailed and likeable ... That they nearly throw it all away with one plot contrivance too many.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> But - thanks to some classy writing and some brilliant acting from Michael Keaton - they bring it back from the edge in the nick of time.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhirAOlM0jUkqN0zS7_zP0HwLxYfKJalp90xxj6nWduImaT308HQgFwds2oYBD2nh6dv4D8p0G8NIoYKZTAQckwTtaYdOujs0h4H_5ZGmHllV4JjTrpD_W4rV9H8otSM7ju0f_-n1sBBvA/s1600/spider-man-homecoming-webbing-gifs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhirAOlM0jUkqN0zS7_zP0HwLxYfKJalp90xxj6nWduImaT308HQgFwds2oYBD2nh6dv4D8p0G8NIoYKZTAQckwTtaYdOujs0h4H_5ZGmHllV4JjTrpD_W4rV9H8otSM7ju0f_-n1sBBvA/s640/spider-man-homecoming-webbing-gifs.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>It's just one of those boy-meets-suit, boy-loses-suit, boy-gets-suit-back-again kinda films</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> So, this film isn’t spectacular. It certainly isn’t amazing. It is, however, friendly; and it’s great fun to finally see Spidey in Marvel’s neighbourhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Written by: Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, Jon Watts, Christopher Ford, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers & Uncle Tom Cobbly<br />Directed by: Jon Watts<br />Cert: 12A<br />Dur: 133 mins</b></span></div>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4611043893536637860.post-5823294703979714182017-06-30T22:46:00.003+01:002017-06-30T23:15:01.804+01:00BABY DRIVER<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwDHsQW139QP2iKxCHDBG6ejUkBQJJ5dCQah9Y9Eif6zfQ8zCOeFYIs-2DTqkP4QVVByALszFui3UI4ITHY69yHLTkJ_lh6svva6Hhdxt3O-ZZYCgR0DZ44e1IwUtw-gSNWOnE5Vog2k/s1600/baby-driver-poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiwDHsQW139QP2iKxCHDBG6ejUkBQJJ5dCQah9Y9Eif6zfQ8zCOeFYIs-2DTqkP4QVVByALszFui3UI4ITHY69yHLTkJ_lh6svva6Hhdxt3O-ZZYCgR0DZ44e1IwUtw-gSNWOnE5Vog2k/s640/baby-driver-poster.jpg" width="432" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Edgar Wright has reinvented the Film Noir for the 21<sup>st</sup> century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Wright, as you may know, arrived in movies via comedy TV, working with Matt Lucas and David Walliams (looooong before they achieved National Treasure Status) and, of course, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spaced</i> (1999 - 2001).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That led to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shaun of the Dead</i> (2004) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hot Fuzz</i> (2007), wherein Wright <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i> took familiar movie signifiers into their own sandpit and played with them their way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This produced delightful, surprising and illuminating films.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Guess what:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it still does.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here, Wright plays fast and loose with the generic signifiers of the heist movie, the gangster movie and, yes, the noir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s not the first person to do this, of course:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember sitting in a cinema back in 1992, watching an unheard-of film by an unknown film-maker, playing one of the unregarded afternoon slots in the Birmingham Film Festival.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movie began with a group of villains in a diner arguing about Madonna songs and tipping waitresses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was, of course, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reservoir Dogs</i>, and it was a very, very different take on the crime movie.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, I’m not saying this film is like that film.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Although <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baby Driver</i> does share many traits with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Res Dogs</i>, not least its loquacious bad-guys and eclectic use of music; what I’m saying is that re-inventing (or ‘re-imagining’ as I believe the managementbots like to term it these days) the heist move is a noble endeavour which has engendered great results in the past.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AfqUTh4K9FWwhUkgjEkpP_oWJjCn9IewhMP3VcX7_Br2NEjzAc2uilP4OzYunsXqtJXak1GOAInObV9OMlAYcQAxXnSsWr_1c-5RJcuaiNsSEz-9hYxHKma9ezF5DZR1Hs409-KGh7k/s1600/jamie+foxx+jon+hamm+baby+driver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="993" data-original-width="1600" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AfqUTh4K9FWwhUkgjEkpP_oWJjCn9IewhMP3VcX7_Br2NEjzAc2uilP4OzYunsXqtJXak1GOAInObV9OMlAYcQAxXnSsWr_1c-5RJcuaiNsSEz-9hYxHKma9ezF5DZR1Hs409-KGh7k/s640/jamie+foxx+jon+hamm+baby+driver.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Let's go to work.</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It also doesn’t hurt <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baby Driver</i>’s chances that the last couple of decades has seen the getaway driver and the car-stunt elevated to previous unimagined heights of fame thanks, on the one hand, to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Transporter</i> series (2002, 2005 & 2008) and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fast and Furious</i> series (2001 - date), but also because of the art-house fave, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Drive</i> (2011).</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Indeed, rather like that Ryan Gosling film, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baby Driver</i> features a superhumanly able driver who works for villains out of necessity rather than choice; but he is trying to get out, because he’s got a girl he wants to go straight for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a familiar trope - best summed-up in Michael Corleone’s “<span class="watch-title">Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in” from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Godfather III </i>(1990) - </span>but, then, this film is all about presenting us with things we recognise in new and unusual ways.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Baby-faced Ansel Elgort plays the titular chauffer, who has a breezy, cheery demeanour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a lot of people, he has his ear buds in permanently and lives his life to the beat of his music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, he essentially dances down the street to fetch coffee in the film’s opening moments.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The oft-maligned (and overdue for a re-appraisal) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hudson Hawk</i> (1991) introduced the delightful notion of orchestrating a heist to a song.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bruce Willis and Danny Aiello split up but keep singing, and that way, they stay synchronised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They could just wear a watch but, hey, where’s the fun in that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D8KvM3vZo0w/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D8KvM3vZo0w?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> See? It's ace! </span></span>Anyway, Baby uses the same methodology when he drives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all about rhythm and gear changes, just like the song ‘Bellbottoms’, which underscores the opening car chase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During this scene and in all the scenes of violence, the action is synchronised to the beat of the music.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This is the way they used to edit pop videos back in the 1980s and editing found footage to the tempo of a favourite piece of music is an established way to teach video editing to Media Studies students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m sure Wright will have done it many times in his youth; just like he’ll have fooled around with mix-tapes.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Baby, likewise, makes mix-tapes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I do mean ‘tapes’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of his audio kit is out-dated, from the cassettes he records wild track audio onto, to the iPod he has plugged into his ears.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this retro kit is the first hint that there is something more substantial going on below the stylish surface of this film.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It almost doesn’t need saying that an Edgar Wright film is very clever, that initially comes through in the visuals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During that scene when he gets the coffee, I’m sure there are loads of easter eggs in the graffiti and in the behaviour/identity of the passers-by, which the pause button will reveal when the film hits home video.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMir9RP_AlOUMaPhbb9OdvExkRFc3HkRpcgdC8clFd_s4iuwHwc2BDBMpf8ZqLrOPJdP91d_ABEdxl3BgCq7Qt7izx3cRmlX8iZMJkD1AF_iCQTTGxY5cVdxr4bau2ZSPln7t22wA9UbA/s1600/Baby-Driver-Jon-Bernthal-Costume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMir9RP_AlOUMaPhbb9OdvExkRFc3HkRpcgdC8clFd_s4iuwHwc2BDBMpf8ZqLrOPJdP91d_ABEdxl3BgCq7Qt7izx3cRmlX8iZMJkD1AF_iCQTTGxY5cVdxr4bau2ZSPln7t22wA9UbA/s640/Baby-Driver-Jon-Bernthal-Costume.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>"Can we get a move on, Ed? I gotta get back to Marvel. You know what it's like working for those guys, right? Right? Ed?"</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The film also introduces us to some colourful bad-guys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First off, we have The Crew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, like a 70s rock-band, has a floating roster of people who join and leave and rejoin later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first, it seems that Jon (The Punisher) Bernthal is going to be the problem for Baby, but this proves to be a nice piece of misdirection on Wright’s part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Extra colour is provided for the crew by The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Flea, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mad Men</i>’s Jon Hamm and Kanye West’s Jamie Foxx.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>These are all given loads of character traits and ticks to work with - particularly, I notice, throat tattoos - as villains who are variously enigmatic, menacing, manipulative and/or just plain mad.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you might expect, Hamm particularly shines as Buddy (possibly not his real name), while Foxx gives a fantastic turn as Bats (presumably short for Batshitcrazy.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know you’ve got an interesting script, when Oscar-winning leading actors are willing to take supporting roles in it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwYXHjghBa4Afw8bzVh0kXbOjB-yjqS0_XcMIM_tNO75pa-SrpO7liCbHeHv_Q7C1YDY2osgQJoQ0fRPmh-UIuEwyZWj357q-YpLTyB_6gB2wAtEWDo-PHaT0vLlioV6u-vAcsuHoPKY/s1600/kevin-spacey-and-ansel-elgort-in-baby-driver-2017-large-picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwYXHjghBa4Afw8bzVh0kXbOjB-yjqS0_XcMIM_tNO75pa-SrpO7liCbHeHv_Q7C1YDY2osgQJoQ0fRPmh-UIuEwyZWj357q-YpLTyB_6gB2wAtEWDo-PHaT0vLlioV6u-vAcsuHoPKY/s640/kevin-spacey-and-ansel-elgort-in-baby-driver-2017-large-picture.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Don't trust him, Baby, he's the fucking President</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The man with the plan is Doc - played effortlessly by Kevin Spacey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He admires Baby’s skill, even has a soft-spot for the kid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then, they have something in common ... They both feel that being a bad-guy doesn’t mean one can’t be civil.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also value their family and their past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Baby, this is symbolised in the machines he listens to music on - machines that he associates with his dead mother (rather like Peter Quill and his Walkman); with Doc this is symbolised by the toy cars he uses to rehearse his heists, toys which he carefully puts away in a box afterwards.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are a couple of tasteful scars on Baby’s baby face, which are subtle indications of a violent and dramatic past which, in-turn, foreshadows the violence to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>About half-way through, the film turns on a dime, and we realise that the playful form of the film disguises a dark and troubling content; the strained civility and ritualised normality of the first half falls away, and real threat enters Baby’s life, accompanied by sudden and extreme violence.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We have learned to care about him and therefore, when the things he cares about are threatened, we take it personal too.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There comes a point when things go catastrophically wrong for Baby, and he seems to forget all of his driving skills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That seemed oddly convenient - insofar as the script needed him to get into trouble and the only way to do it, was for him to forget all the natural, effortless abilities he’d demonstrated in the film’s first heist; which could have got him out of that trouble, if the plot hadn’t needed him to be in it.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPheyhRcqX2qUO8ZwqFa6nC6ehcGV9RjlUuPwYEjQhLfDG1v8AsAl0uB_Ms3ZhnACd0dIXUb1DhfdUvisGZ6TaqNVjExd6OAlZORuxZNk3ebM8g2rYY5GlJUhxiFrTg0_ubaePrFacXw/s1600/baby-driver+lily+james.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1006" data-original-width="1600" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGPheyhRcqX2qUO8ZwqFa6nC6ehcGV9RjlUuPwYEjQhLfDG1v8AsAl0uB_Ms3ZhnACd0dIXUb1DhfdUvisGZ6TaqNVjExd6OAlZORuxZNk3ebM8g2rYY5GlJUhxiFrTg0_ubaePrFacXw/s640/baby-driver+lily+james.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>It is never made clear whether or not Baby tips the waitress. As we know, waitressing is the number one occupation for female non-college graduates in America. </b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That trouble, of course, comes in the form of his girlie, Deborah, who is neither a femme fatale, nor is she a hard-bitten moll; she’s kinda passive, in fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very much a passenger in Baby’s vehicle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That said, the scenes of them getting to know each other are delightful, and Lily James needs to portray Deborah as being especially vulnerable if the inevitable threat to her is to feel credible.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve called it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Film Noir for the 21<sup>st</sup> century</i> because, like a lot of Film Noir, the main character is a basically descent bloke who finds himself trapped in a spiral of violence, drawn into a criminal world that exists alongside the real world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve always found a vein of romanticism in Noir - sometimes bordering on the delusional - and that is definitely here in the way that Baby holds on to the belief that he can keep the two sides of his life separate, when we, the viewer, know that the best anti-lock brakes in the world won’t stop the one story crashing into the other.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, what we have a mash-up (as the young people say) of old Hollywood tropes and new-media post-post-modern film-making techniques, to create a film which feels both very traditional and very fresh.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBH52M7hEAPrT8gj_vlrV5ry52qc8t3GXjXOfsWUsKMuKi0wcJ9wCpePP1yMPgBOHnI7bq1yP5LbSSsLyj9wB9s2Jn8-0f6qCMrCQQKiMm1CwSRWKtpcJSEJCQo5FaAczbR1rU4Itcc0/s1600/baby+driver+model+car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="962" data-original-width="1440" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBH52M7hEAPrT8gj_vlrV5ry52qc8t3GXjXOfsWUsKMuKi0wcJ9wCpePP1yMPgBOHnI7bq1yP5LbSSsLyj9wB9s2Jn8-0f6qCMrCQQKiMm1CwSRWKtpcJSEJCQo5FaAczbR1rU4Itcc0/s640/baby+driver+model+car.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Playing with model cars is just for babies, right?</b></td></tr>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No, the visuals are not as extreme and the style as overpowering as they were in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Scott Pilgrim vs. The World</i> (2010) - that’s a good thing - the dialogue doesn’t quite sparkle like Tarantino’s or Scorsese’s does - but the music ... That’s a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">helluva </i>thing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both Tarantino and Scorsese are geniuses with threading music through their crime movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mr. Wright is now right up there with them!</span>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>James Gunn just got nudged into second place for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Soundtrack Album of 2017</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m listening to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Baby Driver</i> soundtrack now as I type this - find it <a href="https://open.spotify.com/user/g0u1d1e1/playlist/3bkHZLOB8D4zawAN1zME60?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open&play=true" target="_blank">here</a>, on Spotify.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve long maintained that there isn’t enough <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hocus Pocus</i> by Focus in the world ... But following it with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Radar Love</i> by Golden Earring was a masterstroke.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, Wright might not have Tarantino’s ear for dialogue, but he does have his ear for music and, if anything, he makes better use of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, let’s face it, he has form using Queen music to brilliant effect!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One other difference between this film and Tarantino - I actually found myself caring for the good-guys in this film, they became more than just ciphers (which Tarantino can be guilty of) and the bad-guys weren’t so terrifyingly brutal that you feel the need to look the other way - as happened from time to time in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kill Bill</i> (2003, 2004) for example.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i>Baby Driver</i> is good-humoured and good-natured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s fun from neutral to fifth, but that doesn’t cut into the tension of the dramatic scenes; it just means that, as a viewer, I was more invested in the adventure and, therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.</span></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Written & Directed by Edgar Wright.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dur: 113 mins</span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Cert: 15 </b></span></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Brought to you by www.cellulord.co.uk and the miracle of RSS.</div>Cellulordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14673507296965428476noreply@blogger.com0