BlogAlongAStarWars: Episode IV – A New Hope

Hello :-)

So I’ve decided to take part in The Incredible Suit’s BlogAlongAStarWars because I can’t think of a better way to distract myself from the impending responsibilities of my own adulthood.

Also because I don’t think I’m a Star Wars fan.

Hang on! Put those flaming torches and pitchforks away! When I say I’m not a Star Wars fan, that doesn’t mean I don’t like Star Wars. It’s fine, it’s a perfectly pleasant way to pass the time, I just don’t emotionally connect to it. I haven’t seen the original trilogy for years, I can’t quote it, I can’t remember what happens in each film (I’ve seen them all but they blur together in my mind); basically I’m a bit vague on the whole thing.

So I’m going to see if this little project can turn me into a proper fan. Or at the very least help me remember the difference between a Jawa and a Sandperson…

It would be extremely easy to be cynical about Star Wars, they’ve got to be the most parodied movies in modern cinema so sitting there, eye-rolling my way through every iconic shot or line sounds about right, especially for someone as bitter and jaded as me. However, I press play and I can’t do it. I’m totally engaged because of that score. That score is fucking majestic. There’s no way you can be arch and glib when you’re listening to that, it’s too awesome.

So straight away my defences are down and we get into the story. I could’ve sworn it was more complicated than this but here we go; Princess Leia, sporting a parallel cinnamon bun hairstyle, is captured by The Empire because she’s stolen their secret plans, she sends a SOS message to Obi Wan Kenobi via robots R2D2 and C3PO who make a quick getaway via an escape pod. We land on a desert planet where some Jawa traders (Ahhhh! So THEY’RE the Jawas…) kidnap our droids and sell them on to Owen Lars and his nephew Luke Skywalker. Luke comes across Leia’s message and sets out to find Obi Wan.

What’s weird about taking A New Hope out of it’s fandom context is that on viewing, it’s refreshingly unpretentious. I’d never criticise anyone for reading into the philosophy behind these films, art is made for the viewer, not the artist and if you get a deeper message out of them then more power to you, but A New Hope makes no bones about the fact that it’s here to be a super fun space romp and to that end it’s a total success. It feels a little like we’re moving from one set piece to another sometimes but it’s all so good natured and perky you get dragged along for the ride with a huge smile on your face.

Luke is a perfect central character because he is basically every teenager who ever existed; a bit stroppy, naïve and desperate to experience what life has to offer, his character arc basically writes itself. He comes off as a little beige in the beginning of A New Hope, especially when he’s surrounded by such brilliant characters as Han and Leia, but by the time the credits roll you’re totally rooting for him.

Speaking of Han and Leia they have so much personality I want to bottle it and spread it around all the modern blockbusters that don’t imbue their characters with half as much as this did. Impractical hairstyle aside, Leia is wonderful. Carrie Fisher practically glows with wit and moxie. As for Harrison Ford… well he’s pretty much perfect. There’s no other way I can put it, it’s a perfect performance; charming, daring and cheeky before Nandos was even a thing.

The downside to this awakening of the potential Star Wars fan within me is that the only versions of the original trilogy I can find are the remastered ones. Now, when I watch Sci-fi from the pre-CGI age, as long as the story is good enough, I don’t have an issue with the effects. Particularly in the case of Star Wars because a lot of the effects are practical and as we all know the believability half-life of real effects is inordinately greater than that of CGI. However, in this remastered version, George Lucas or whichever clown is responsible, deemed in necessary to add in extra CGI creatures and a whole new scene featuring a CGI Jabba the Hutt. These scenes are massively jarring because the CGI clashes hideously with the original footage. What I really want to do is immerse myself in a world, what this is doing is pulling me straight back out of it. 

Despite the CGI retconning, A New Hope is an inordinate amount of fun. It’s full of characters you want to spend time with, action you care about and a style of storytelling that puts as much faith in the audience as the audience does in the film.

I’m starting to wonder why I didn’t watch Star Wars more as a child because I would have absolutely loved it, in fact I love it now. Maybe the Force is turning me into a fan after all…

Final Thoughts: George Lucas gives zero shits about scientific accuracy. He’s gonna stick “PEW PEW!” noises all over the space battles and there’s not a god damn thing you can do about it.

Surprise Discovery: I had no idea Debbie Reynolds was Carrie Fisher’s Mum, cheers Google!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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Inside Out Review

Hello :-)

Pixar have been the leading light in modern children’s animation since the release of the seminal Toy Story in 1995. However, when the studio turned out Cars 2 in 2011 it was seen as a move towards more cynical, toyetic releases and the movie going public feared the worst. With a perceived reliance on sequels and the recent resurgence in quality from Disney Studios, Pixar’s position as the best in the CG game was looking shaky; can they turn it around with their newest offering Inside Out?

Inside Out is about the emotions in our heads, specifically the emotions in the head of a young girl, Riley (Kaitlyn Dias). Riley is governed by Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). The emotions help Riley make decisions, navigating her way from childhood to adolescence, forming glowing memory marbles along the way. When Joy and Sadness are cut off from the other emotions they get lost in Riley’s Long Term Memory. Joy and Sadness must find their way back to Headquarters or Riley may never be happy again.

Forgive my pre-amble, I hate talking Pixar down but it must be said, Cars 2 is a Turkey. Thankfully it looks like it’s going to be consigned to the history pages as a blip on Pixar’s record because Inside Out is back up there with some of the studio’s best.

There’s an inbuilt quality that we’ve come to expect from Pixar and it’s time we stopped taking that for granted and appreciated the artistry they produce. The animation on Inside Out is gorgeous. The inner and outer worlds are clearly defined and the mind-machinations are fleshed out in bright, shiny visuals that literally give shape to the abstract.

In terms of story it’s the most ambitious concept Pixar have attempted so far, but the world of Inside Out is so beautifully realised you won’t struggle to engage with it. There’s a lot of detail in the film and it’s a testament to the writing team (Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley) that it all feels effortless and natural.

Some have said the ideas might be too much for very young viewers but I disagree. There are just as many layers here as there are in the Toy Story movies; younger viewers can enjoy the jokes and glorious visuals, adults can have their heartstrings tugged by the truths about letting go of childhood and everyone can shed a tear when [REDACTED FOR SPOILERS AND MY OWN SANITY BECAUSE I’M STILL NOT OVER IT].

Pete Docter previously directed Up and with that film’s infamous opening it’s no surprise that some tears will be jerked here. What’s so special is how that’s balanced with humour and moments of levity. There are some lovely gags peppered throughout and Pixar still remain the masters of encorporating cultural references that everyone will get something out of. The pacing allows for all of this without ever feeling like it’s dragging you from one emotion to the other, more letting you experience each one as it guides you through the film.

The voice cast is unsurprisingly excellent. It reads as a who’s who of Hollywood comedy but it’s Amy Poehler’s Joy and Phyllis Smith’s Sadness that lead the charge. Poehler and Smith make a great mis-matched pairing and, whilst neither of them are covering ground they haven’t already broached in other projects, they fit perfectly into the world.

The seeming refusal to end on an unequivocally happy note is an indication of how sophisticated this storytelling is. The acceptance and understanding that all emotions are valid and that we need to embrace the whole spectrum of our complex inner lives is one of the most profound take-aways I’ve seen in a film in a long time, let alone in one aimed at children.

I can’t think of anyone else that could have made Inside Out. It’s the perfect marriage of technical skill, adventurous writing and spot on performances that earned Pixar their reputation as the best in the business. Sweet, poignant and fun, Inside Out is a joy.

Inside Out is on general UK release on Friday 24th July.

That's all from me for today. 

Goodbye till next time :-)

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It Follows Review

Hello :-)

If you’ve read any of my Horror reviews before you’ll know I have a history of actively avoiding the genre until recently when I decided to rehabilitate myself and get on board with scary films. This has proved an excellent decision and I’ve seen a whole load of great stuff I otherwise wouldn’t have, most recently I went to see low budget Horror flick It Follows.

Jay is a 19 year old girl dating the seemingly lovely Hugh. They have what she believes to be an innocent sexual encounter, but afterwards she seems to hallucinate figures walking towards her and can’t shake the feeling that something is out to get her. With the help of her friends Jay tries to get to the bottom of these strange visions and avoid becoming its next victim.

Anyone that’s been on Facebook, owned a mobile phone or had an e-mail address has probably seen a chain message of some kind. They usually tell some kind of horrific story and then end by saying “if you don’t forward this message to 10 people the same fate will befall you!” This is the concept behind It Follows and the results are scarier than you’d think.

It Follows revels in suburban gothic imagery, using Detroit’s indigenous dilapidated buildings to great effect. The result is a striking mix of decaying infrastructure, and the unnerving leafy quiet of residential purlieu that really puts the audience on edge. The camera work further aids the atmosphere with the inclusion of a number of 360° pans that whip round just fast enough to make you question everything you see.

In order to set themselves apart from the crowd, the subversion and omission of genre tropes has become a necessity for Horror film makers recently. Happily, It Follows does both by simultaneously proving and disproving Randy Meeks’ theory that sex in Horror films is fatal. It’s a nice twist on an old trope and it’ll stay with you well after the scares have gone.

Having said that It Follows doesn’t rub it’s meta in your face. It’s a genre-literate film and, whilst the sexual spectre (or randy revenant, whichever you prefer) is refreshingly original, it has a definite lineage behind it. David Robert Mitchell is a Director who wears his influences on his sleeve and this film positively reeks of John Carpenter. The music, the shot composition, the growing sense of dread, the slow, linear momentum of the villain.  Carpenter has proved to be a huge influence on a number of filmmakers recently and I for one, wholeheartedly encourage this.


Maika Monroe is a stand out in a film from a genre not usually know for the quality of it's performances. She's sympathetic and stays on the side of distressed damsel rather than crossing over into being the maker of moronic decisions. The rest of the cast don't quite match her levels of nuance but none of them are irritating enough for the audience to wish them into cannon fodder.

There’s a lovely nod to 1942’s Cat People as the film gathers momentum towards the finish line, but things come to a crashing halt when an almost entirely unexplained final show down punctures the carefully constructed atmosphere. It Follows ends on a high with an utterly superb parting shot but it’s hard not to feel let down by a film that does brilliantly for three quarters of its run time but messes up its grand finale.

It Follows is probably one of the most interesting cinematic conversations about sex in recent years. The sub-textual discussion of the way youth imagines sex is fascinating but it’s packaged in such a way that you’ll be jumping out your seat and checking over your shoulder for the promiscuous poltergeist all the way home. It’s not as ground breaking as some would have you believe but what it is, is really good.

Ok, let’s have some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. It’s been out for a little while now but there’s a teaser trailer for the new Fantastic Four film. Fantastic Four (or FantFourStic as I’m petulantly calling it) is an interesting one because it’s pretty much been deemed a lost cause already. After seeing the trailer though, I’m not so sure it should be. My ever-increasing crush on Miles Teller aside, I really think we should go into this one with an open mind.

The cast look great, they all have good track records, Josh Trank is an interesting,  young talent (in spite of the found-footage tag the relationships in Chronicle are one of its best assets) and nothing in this teaser gives us cause for alarm. I mean it’s not as if the existing films are masterpieces, let’s give it a chance :-)

2. You may or may not be aware that I’m a daughter of the Midlands and the lack of midlands based media is a constant thorn in my side. Enter my hero Caitlin Moran and her sister Caz who have put their heads together and penned Raised By Wolves, a Channel 4 show about girls from a poor family growing up in Wolverhampton. Needless to say it’s utterly brilliant. The first episode aired on Monday so if you missed it catch up on 4OD.

That’s it for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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P.S I’ve managed to sneak some of my ramblings on to Den of Geek again. This time I’ve been complaining about people telling me I can’t complain about things :-)

Kingsman: The Secret Service Review

Hello :-)

Spy films are a rather interesting breed. You’ve got your classics like The Ipcress File and North by Northwest then more modern fare like the Bourne Series, The Mission Impossible movies and finally the decades spanning stalwart of the Bond films. The latter in particular, is taken to task in the latest genre pastiche from Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service (or just Kingsman because I’m lazy).

Kingsman follows Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (Taron Egerton), an underachiever who is wasting his vast potential on a life of crime. Eggsy is selected by Harry Hart aka Galahad (Colin Firth) to undergo a training programme to select the newest member of the Kingsmen, a British secret service who work independently of the government.

Meanwhile, the Kingsmen are investigating Internet billionaire Richmond Valentine, who has announced a world-wide giveaway of SIM cards that allow free phone calls and internet access. The Kingsmen suspect him of being involved in a number of disappearances of the rich, famous and influential, a case that Harry goes to investigate.

Just to set my stall out early, I totally loved this film. It takes the same sense of fun, charm and batshit craziness that made Kick Ass such a breath of fresh air and applies it effortlessly to the spy genre.

Kingsman is another adaptation from Vaughn of a Comic by Mark Millar and, as hesitant as I am to suggest that creatives should find a niche and stick to it, I would be perfectly happy if Vaughn and Millar kept this co-creative relationship for the rest of their careers. Millar’s stories seem to lend themselves perfectly to Vaughns genre bending tendencies and in turn, Vaughn is excellent at turning Millar’s comics into a cinematic experience.

This is definitely Vaughn’s vision and what a wonderfully violent, deliciously witty vision it is. It plays a little bit like a Matthew Vaughn greatest hits: it’s got the East End-eyness of Layer Cake, the mansion based training montage from X-Men: First Class, and ballsy violence we’ve seen from Kick Ass. Whilst this is all present and correct it’s remarkable how new those elements feel when you apply them to a spy movie making Kingsman simultaneously familiar and fresh.

The cast are excellent and really commit to Kingsman’s ‘dialled up to 11’ vibe. Colin Firth’s gentlemanly shtick fits perfectly in the world of Kingsman. He’s as reliable a screen presence as he ever was, slipping seamlessly from suave to sweary to lethal killing machine. Also enjoyable are Mark Strong as Merlin head of intelligence and training at Kingsman, Michael Caine as Arthur/Chester King (in a nod to the aforementioned The Ipcress File) and newcomer Sophie Cookson as fellow recruit Roxy. I feel a mention should also go to Jack Davenport who, for my money, is not in enough things, especially here…

Samuel L. Jackson’s Richmond Valentine is pretty enjoyable. Aside from the fact it’s Samuel L. Jackson doing Samuel L. Jackson, it’s a nice performance albeit with an occasionally distracting lisp. He hits an interesting balance between new money seeking acceptance from old money and full on cackling bay guy.

However, Taron Egerton’s Eggsy is the films focal point and a bang up job he does too. As an actor he seems to have that rare, universally likable appeal that, coupled with a flair for on screen action and a clear confidence in his craft, makes him eminently watchable. I’m hoping for big things from him in the future.

The film has had some criticism lobbied at it for a questionable joke about anal sex towards the end of the film. I can see what they were trying to do, but instead as coming off as a subversion of the double entendres synonymous with the Bond franchise it feels jarring and a tad inappropriate. That said, when a film delivers as much as this, a minor lapse of judgement is easily forgiven.

As with Vaughn’s previous films, Kingsman works because although it serves to send up the genre, at its heart lies a great affection for spy films. Boasting a game cast, plentiful gags and gloriously OTT action, Kingsman can talk the talk and walk the Oxford-clad walk.  

Kingsman: The Secret Service is in cinemas now.

Let’s have a look at some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. So, unless you’ve been living on the Moon it can’t have escaped you attention that Sony and Marvel have reached an agreement to work together on future Spider-man ventures. What we know is that a new Spider-Man will be introduced in an unspecified MCU movie before 2017 (the smart money seems to be on Captain America: Civil War). Then, after 2017, Sony will release the next instalment in its own Spider-Man series using the same actor.

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say that this news has been universally well received. I’m sad that Andrew Garfield has been caught in the crossfire of all this, I’ve never made any bones about that fact that I prefer him to Tobey Maguire, but he’s a brilliant actor I’m sure he won’t be unemployed for too long. Aside from that every other outcome from this has the potential to be brilliant. Exciting times for Spidey fans:-)

That’s all for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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Selma Review

Hello :-)

Another awards season, another few months of people saying that the Oscars don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. At best the Academy are accused of being a bit elitist, at worse downright racist and at the centre of this year’s argument is the exclusion of David Oyelowo from the Best Actor category for his performance in Selma.

Selma is a dramatic retelling of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches as part of the civil rights movement. Following a meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson ) in which he is denied his request for federal legislation around the voting rights of black citizens, Martin Luther King Jr (David Oyelowo) heads to Selma with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to stage a number of peaceful protests and marches to help bring about change.

To add my 10 pence worth to the ongoing Oscars argument, I think it’s a crying shame that David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay aren’t getting recognition from the Academy. Selma is a great piece of work in which they are the lynchpins.

What I found most surprising is the focus on the tactics behind the cause and the ever-present politics. In one scene movement’s organisers try to drill down into the core of the problem of voting for black residents of Selma. It’s rare to find something that dissects big problems in that way rather than just pointing at it and telling you how horrible it is. Those scenes also underline exactly how many levels of bullshit these people had to deal with which I hope younger audiences find as illuminating as I did.

So much of Selma is tied up in David Oyelowo’s remarkable performance it’s almost impossible to try and imagine the film without him. Instead of presenting us with a flawless image of an icon, Oyelowo shows us the man behind the mythos. In Selma King is flawed, plagued by doubt and fatigue but still understands the gravity of the cause and his pivitol role within it. He inhabits the character rather than giving an  impersonation; in particular the tone and cadence of his voice is hypnotic.

King may be front and centre of the action but Selma is an ensemble story and the cast of characters around Oyelowo acquit themselves very well. Carmen Ejogo shines as Coretta Scott King. She imbues her character with such grace and strength but also the duality of her relationship with her husband, both understanding the importance of his work and resentful of his unfaithfulness and time away from his family. Trai Byers and Stephan James play the SNCC members James Forman and John Lewis who raise some interesting questions on the merits of grassroots activism versus wider media attention. There are many more excellent supporting performances but it’d be impossible to put it into a coherent review without it turning into an IMDB cast list.

Other cast members, I’m not so sold on. Tom Wilkinson’s LBJ never really convinces, neither do Tim Roth as Governor George Wallace or Dylan Baker as J. Edgar Hoover. Roth plays Wallace like a 1920’s moustache twirling villain rather than a convincing bigot and the conversation between LBJ and Hoover about plans to set surveillance on King and his family comes off as cringey rather than ominous. 

Ava DuVernay shows some real talent here, the scene with the initial march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge is nothing short of masterful and she injects some real fire into the speech scenes which, in lesser hands, could have come off as a bit po-faced. Her obvious confidence underpins the whole picture which is something you really need if you’re taking on a subject as emotionally loaded as the civil rights movement.

As uplifting as this story is there is an overarching feeling of melancholy when you put it in a present day context. I defy anyone not to watch this and think of the recent unrest in Ferguson (something that’s referenced in Selma’s Oscar nominated song Glory) and that’s one of the film’s biggest strengths. It doesn’t shy away from reminding us “of the fierce urgency of Now”.

It would take a cold soul to watch Selma and not be moved. It takes us into the nitty gritty of affecting change and the brutal treatment of those who tried. Despite some forgivable flaws the film is gracefully aided by the strength of it’s central performance and sterling direction throughout.  Timely and timeless, Selma is essential viewing.

Selma is out in the UK this Friday.

Right, let’s have some…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

Superbowl Trailer Special! (FYI there were LOADS of trailers from the recent Superbowl, there are just my favourite)

1. Tomorrowland, got a new trailer, a whole 32 seconds of it… It looks fantastically crackers and interestingly, we still don’t know that much about the actual story. Eevn so, I’m willing to give anything a chance if it’s come from the creator of The Iron Giant.  Tomorrowland comes out on 22^nd May :-)

2. There was a new trailer for Jurassic World! I’m so looking forward to this, I know it has it’s detractors and they have perfectly valid reasons for their skeptisism but the sight of Chris Pratt training Velociraptors (something we all suspected but this trailer seems to confirm) is just ridiculously exciting to me.  The park will open on 12^th June :-)

3. And finally there was a trailer for Pitch Perfect 2! I went through a phase of watching Pitch Perfect once a week so you’d be correct in assuming I was excited about it’s sequel. Pitch Perfect 2 is out on 15^th May.

That’s all for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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