30-Day Film Challenge Week 3

It's that time of week again, cinephiles  -  the third week of the never-ending  ongoing film challenge  -  and we're starting with an absolute classic. ( Yeah, I know I say that a lot but this one really is. )

Day Fifteen
A film that makes you happy

Singin' In The Rain ( 1952 )
Yep, every time. Just a joyous movie, every frame filled with colour, movement and sheer exuberance. The ultimate Hollywood musical.

Day Sixteen
A film that is personal to you

Not quite sure what this means but I'm going with
Star Wars ( 1977 )
When this movie was released in the UK I had just turned 11-years old, the perfect age for Lucas' space epic. Like most kids of my generation I was completely knocked out by it  -  I hadn't known it but this was the film I'd been waiting for...

Day Seventeen
Favourite film sequel

The Godfather Part II ( 1974 )
Most sequels are a case of diminishing returns but Coppola's second installment of his Corleone family saga is a masterpiece. So much so that, like the first two Superman movies, it's difficult to separate them. The cinematography, the score, the dialogue, the performances  -  all unbeatable.

And, as if the cast of the first movie wasn't wonderful enough, the sequel added Robert De Niro as a young Vito Corleone. Just outstanding.

Thank God Coppola didn't make an inferior third movie long after the fact.
( What do you mean he did??? )

Day Eighteen
A film that stars your favourite actor / actress

It's very hard for me to pick a favourite actor ( even if it was "pick a fave actor from a particular decade" it would be difficult unless it was the 1910s ) so I'm going with
The Philadelphia Story ( 1940 )
Here are three of my faves in one movie ( and one promotional photo )  -  Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart:

Day Nineteen
A film made by your favourite director

Another nigh-on impossible choice so I'll cheat and go with one classic / one modern
The Lady Vanishes ( dir. Alfred Hitchcock 1938 )
Baby Driver ( dir. Edgar Wright 2017 )

Day Twenty
A film that changed your life

Believe it or not it's the lame Bruce Willis / Kim Basinger comedy Blind Date ( 1987 )

There was a girl at work I liked and I knew she liked me. I asked her to see this film with me ( I knew she was a fan of Willis in Moonlighting ) ...and we're still together 33 years later.

Day Twenty-One
A film that you dozed off in

Avengers: Age Of Ultron ( 2015 )
My family can attest to the fact that I can fall asleep anywhere any time but this particular superhero slugfest seemed to go on for sooooooooooo long that the old eyelids began to droop somewhere during the climactic battle...

Sorry Ultron, I know you tried your best.

Okay, just one more week to go and, as the number of categories goes up to 30 ( it's a month! ), this final post will probably be on 18/08 if I can get my act together. That's a big "if"...

As ever, if anyone would care to join in with this challenge then please leave a comment, it would be very welcome. Cheers!

Spider-Man: Far From Home and other recent movies

So far this year my movie-going experiences have oscillated ( and that's a word I don't use enough! ) between MCU blockbusters and assorted classic re-releases. I'm just going to do a quick rundown in roughly reverse order, starting with super-hero shenanigans...

Spider-Man: Far From Home ( 2019 )
James and I saw this at our local Cineworld last weekend, and probably just in time too as the film is down to one showing a day now. We'd missed seeing Spider-Man: Homecoming at the cinema so really wanted to catch this sequel on the big screen, especially because there were scenes set in Venice, as the poster above demonstrates. After the huge, world-saving, time-travelling Endgame where everything was about the BIG STAKES, this movie was lighter and smaller scale but a lot of fun. Again going for the John Hughes teen-comedy vibe this took Peter Parker and his friends on a wild school trip around Europe, taking in beautiful Venice ( sigh! ), Prague, Berlin, somewhere unspecified in the Netherlands ( we knew that 'cos there were tulips and windmills on display ) and ending up in London. Some fine action sequences, Jake Gyllenhaal having a ball as anti-hero / villain Mysterio and some great performances from the young cast. I'm still uncomfortable with Peter being Tony Stark's bitch and not really his own man but this movie went some way to move the character onwards in the wake of *SPOILER* Stark's death in Endgame.
So, I'd rate this a solid Three and a Half out of Five Web-Shooters

The Matrix ( 1999 )
Sarah, James and I went to see this 20th anniversary re-release in Southampton while we were on holiday down in Hampshire. This was at the Showcase Deluxe cinema which boasts a 70 ft (!) screen which was perfect for a film like The Matrix in which you need to be totally immersed. For a film that is two decades old ( I still can't believe that! Surely it came out in about 2010? ) and has been almost constantly imitated ever since, The Matrix stands up really well. Apart from a few wobbly effects and some obviously outdated cultural references it's still a visually spectacular thrill-ride, with its cod-philosophy more integral to the plot than the endless navel-gazing in the sequels, and lots of fun to be had in the interactions between the lead actors. Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne are still impeccably cool, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano are hilariously slimy and Keanu is... well, he's Keanu. Playing a hacker-turned-action hero who seems to be simultaneously the smartest guy in the room and the dumbest dope on the block, the role of Thomas Anderson / Neo is absolutely perfect for the former Ted ( Theodore ) Logan. And, bizarrely, Keanu is of course an action hero again all these years later in the John Wick series. "Whoa!" indeed.

Avengers: Endgame ( 2019 ) ( SPOLERS! For anyone who hasn't etc. etc.)
What more can be said about The Most Successful Movie Ever Made TM? ( Until the next one, anyway. ) There's not much I can add except to say it was hugely entertaining, with the Russo brothers somehow managing to corral the immense cast, spectacular action scenes and emotional payoffs to this long-running MCU saga into a convincing, and mostly coherent, whole. After the intense setup of Infinity War this last chapter in the Thanos saga was surprisingly light and comedic, although the early scenes of post-"Snap" trauma were suitably anguished. Most of the characters received appropriate screen-time and were given fitting ends / next chapters in their stories. Chris Evans and Mark Ruffalo easily walked away with the acting honours... or hobbled away, in Cap's case... but it was also suitably sad, if inevitable, to see Robert Downey Jnr's Iron Man meeting his heroic downfall. ( Also, as Doctor Who fans, James and I both laughed when the concept of a "time heist" was unveiled but, of course, nobody else in the cinema did. )

Captain Marvel ( 2019 )
More super-hero action of the cosmic variety next with the latest iteration of Captain Marvel. It's certainly past time the MCU focused on a female hero and its previous applicants ( Black Widow, Scarlet Witch ) have never been strong enough characters to carry their own movie. Carol Danvers, on the other hand, former test pilot - turned - Kree warrior, is far more interesting and worthy to be Marvel's answer to DC's successful Wonder Woman. The film showed huge confidence by instantly plunging the viewers into the middle of the intergalactic Kree / Skrull conflict with very little hand-holding by the way of exposition. Brie Larson was the definition of "steely" as the good Captain, trying to discover the secrets of her past and to escape from the toxic shadow of Jude Law's Kree mentor Yonn-Rogg. Her scenes with Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury were a delight, their spiky, acerbic chemistry being the best parts of the film. Larson brought a subtlety to her character which many nay-sayers confused for blankness but I thought was refreshing after the often over the top stylings of many other super-hero actors. The action scenes were well handled and surprisingly not too gratuitous, while the 90s soundtrack was a blast. Hopefully, apart from her short appearance in Endgame, we won't have to wait too long for this gutsy, empowered hero to return.

A Clockwork Orange ( 1971 )
Another classic movie re-released, this time Kubrick's controversial adaptation of Anthony Burgess' equally controversial dystopian novel. James and I saw this at Stroud's Vue cinema with only about a dozen other people. Maybe another Fast And Furious movie was out or something.Anyway, it was a lovely print of the film, lending extra clarity to Kubrick's eye-popping visuals and, as often when you see a familiar movie on the big screen for the first time, all the little details of the set design just sang out, enhancing the experience. I hadn't seen A Clockwork Orange for some time and I found "the old ultra-violence" to be as shocking as ever ( especially the sexual abuse scenes ) but I was surprised to recall just how much of a pitch-black comedy the film really is. From Malcolm McDowell's alternately charming and sneering performance, to all the typically Kubrickian grotesques that make up the supporting cast ( "P and M", Mr. Deltoid ) to the juxtaposition of horror and farce, this was a film that had you laughing at some "real horrorshow" situations, then feeling suitably uncomfortable that you'd found it so funny. Viddy well, O my brothers, viddy well...

A Matter Of Life And Death ( 1946 )
And finally, another re-release, in complete contrast to the last one  -  Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's romantic fantasy masterpiece A Matter Of Life And Death  -  or Stairway To Heaven if you're American. This has long been one of my and Sarah's favourite films and we jumped at the chance to see it on the big screen at the Cheltenham Playhouse, part of a season of "fantastic films". We dragged James along too and I think we converted him.
I should probably do a whole post on my love for this movie, and for P&P's other classic films, but I'll just state for now that it's one of the most beautiful, heart-felt, witty and wise films ever to be made in this country. The direction by Michael Powell and the cinematography by Jack Cardiff are absolutely perfect and the wonderful script by the Hungarian Emeric Pressburger is a total joy, masterfully capturing aspects of the British character as only an outsider could see them. The story of a WWII airman who jumps from his burning plane without a parachute but survives and then has to justify his life to a maybe-imaginary Heavenly court is a triumph  -   a sweet love story, wrapped up in a fantasy, underpinned by philosophical ideas and touching on darker themes of war and mental illness. There really isn't anything else like it. And the lead actors  -  a never-better David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Marius Goring and Raymond Massey  - are all sublime. I have to admit, I've never watched the last scene of this movie without getting a bit misty-eyed... and I hope I never do.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Star Wars: The Last Jedi and other recent( ish ) movies

A long time ago in a year far, far away ( 2017 ) there were many movies. Some of those I wrote about, some I didn't. Then there was another year ( er, this one ) and there were more movies. In a desperate attempt to resume blogging a heroic band of resistance fighters ( well, me actually ) decided to dash down some irrelevant and probably unwanted thoughts about these movies. In reverse order.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Although not the kind of film I'd normally see at the cinema ( and certainly not at Cineworld! ) this was one my friend Tom wanted to see so I went along with him, and James tagged along too. And I'm glad we did! This story of a bereaved mother seeking justice for her murdered daughter could have been a grim slog through grief and despair but turned out to be hilariously, spit-your-popcorn-out funny, as well as dark and raw. Some amazing performances from Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell brought to life unforgettable, multi-layered characters, all morally conflicted and none of them wholly good or bad. Rockwell's character, a racist cop, was particularly repellent but somehow humanised ( but crucially not redeemed ) by the end of the story. I'd be amazed if a more compelling, surprising and emotionally visceral movie appeared this year.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Last Review. Yes, as ever I was the last person in the galaxy to see this movie, just sneaking into the cinema at the start of January while most people had already seen it and planned their Twitter backlash weeks before. I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was suitably exciting and epic with some interesting developments for the Rey / Kylo relationship, poignant scenes with the late Carrie Fisher, and a genuine feeling that the Star Wars story was now heading in a new direction with the demise of ( SPOILERS! ) Luke Skywalker. I won't even go into the ridiculous controversy over this character but just say that I personally thought it was a bold move to have some actual character development and progress in the saga. My only gripe would be some second-act padding which didn't really go anywhere, but the reliably stunning visuals and often warmly funny script made up for that. Hats off to director Rian Johnson for delivering a game-changing middle to the trilogy which, hopefully, JJ Abrams can conclude in style, excessive lens-flare and all.
Of course, the best part of the night was the post-movie chat in a nearby pub...

Thor: Ragnarok
After the Thunder God's second movie was a bit of a damp squib, Marvel obviously decided to add a dash of Guardians-style colour and humour this time around. Falling just short of an out and out comedy, Thor: Ragnarok was a fast-paced, light-hearted adventure which was the perfect antidote to the teeth-bearing, muscle-straining, dark 'n' gritty seriousness of many other super hero movies. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston clearly relished the chance to have a bit more fun with their roles, Mark Rufallo again demonstrated how he's one of the best actors in the MCU, and the awesome Cate Blanchett made an impact as Hela, Goddess of Death  -  easily one of the most convincing super villains since Loki first betrayed his hammer-wielding brother. It was also very satisfying to see some obviously Jack Kirby-inspired designs amongst all the colourful costumes and sets.

Blade Runner 2049
Without a doubt my favourite movie of 2017. Beautiful, poetic, intelligent and strangely moving, this decades-late sequel to a movie that really didn't need one is a masterpiece. I'd enjoyed a couple of director Denis Villeneuve's previous movies, Prisoners and Arrival, but they hadn't prepared me for this wonderful film. Like a fever dream of an '80s movie projected into the future, Blade Runner 2049 continues and extends all the themes of its predecessor while adding even more emotional content.
( Surely this is the only movie which can almost bring tears to your eyes over the destruction of what is basically a hard-drive. If you've watched it you'll know what I mean. ) Ryan Gosling again demonstrates why he's one of the best actors working today, giving a performance which manages to be both intense and subtle at the same time, and Harrison Ford is a delight as grizzled old Blade Runner Rick Deckard. Script, direction, acting, music  -  it all comes together here to form one of the best SF movies ever made, definitely a worthy follow-up to Ridley Scott's classic original.

It
A very satisfying take on the first half of Stephen King's huuuuge novel. The kids are all very convincing ( even though some key character moments are missing  -  no "Hi-yo Silver"? ) and the updating of the story from the '50s to the '80s is well done. Bill Skarsgard's interpretation of Pennywise the Clown is suitably chilling and is a worthy successor to Tim Curry's more humorous, TV-friendly version. Although nothing short of a 12-part Netflix series would be able to come close to capturing all the detail and layers of the source material, director Andy Muschietti does a fine job of suggesting all the terrible events that have happened in the town of Derry over the centuries, while keeping the focus on the "Losers Club" and their lonely battle with "It". If the inevitable sequel / part two keeps up the quality this may well be the best King adaptation since... I don't know, Stand By Me?

Dunkirk
Christopher Nolan's take on the "miracle of Dunkirk" was, for all its modern-day style and perspective, a surprisingly old-fashioned movie, in the vein of The Longest Day or A Bridge Too Far. Neatly breaking down into three separate timelines ( covering land, sea and air ) which all converged at the end, the film told the story of the desperate attempt to rescue nearly 400,000 trapped Allied soldiers from the beach at Dunkirk. Eschewing any Hollywood romanticism, Nolan plunged the audience into the heart of the action, his characters struggling to survive with barely any time for unnecessary back-story or wistful speeches about loved ones back home. The widescreen vistas looked amazing ( I should have seen it in Imax! ) and the "ticking clock" motif in the score kept everything tense and urgent. Fine performances from Kenneth Branagh, a quietly dignified Mark Rylance and even ex-One Direction star Harry Styles who was very promising, although Tom Hardy was mostly wasted as an RAF pilot barely glimpsed behind his oxygen-mask. My only issues with the film were that the German threat often seemed too far away as men seemed to sit on the beach in relative safety, and the whole thing often seemed too organised and bloodless... especially when compared to the absolute chaos of Joe Wright's epic, one tracking-shot view of Dunkirk from Atonement. The film was basically an updated version of the rainy Sunday afternoon war movie you'd watch with your dad. And that's not a bad thing.

And that's me caught up, apart from the re-release of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. James and I went to see this at our local World Of Cine and, even though the film's publicity trumpeted a 4K resolution make-over, we knew we wouldn't get that in Gloucester. I had hoped for a relatively decent print but the grainy, scratchy version shown here wasn't even as good as my DVD copy. It's still a wonderful movie, of course, and great to see on the big screen again but I have to admit the ropey picture quality was a let-down. Keep watching the skies for a better screening...

Avengers: Age Of Ultron

It's here at last  -  the age of The Age Of Ultron, the next step in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the sequel to The Biggest Super Hero Movie Ever ( TM )  -  so what's it like? Well, it's pretty good actually. ( How's that for an incisive critical appraisal? )
The movie starts at a gallop with our heroes busting up the castle stronghold of evil Nazi throwback Baron Von Strucker ( who gets one of the funniest lines in the film ) and attempting to recover Loki's sceptre, which happens to contain yet another Marvel Universe McGuffin, the Mind Stone, one of those pesky Infinity Stones which will no doubt cause all sorts of problems in future movies. ( I still think of them as Infinity Gems as they were named in the comics but I'm old-fashioned like that. ) From this almost-generic scene the various plot threads spin out  -  Tony Stark likes the look of Strucker's AI experiments and thinks nicking the tech to create an army of police-bots is a neat idea
( it isn't ); embittered, super-powered twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff are freed in the chaos to plan revenge against the West in general and Stark in particular; and an unlikely romance begins to blossom between the Black Widow and the Hulk.

It will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody that Stark's plan for "a suit of armour around the world" to protect us from intergalactic menaces like the first movie's Chitauri is a spectacular failure, resulting in the genesis of Ultron, this installment's Big Bad. The metal maniac quickly decides, only seemingly moments after his "birth", that the human race don't need defending, so much as wiping from the face of the Earth, starting with his "father" and the rest of the Avengers. Cue many, many action scenes...

Now, don't get me wrong, a lot of this is great fun and very exciting but at times AOU almost strays into Transformers territory, with lightning-fast cutting and multiple points of view making for a lack of focus in some scenes. With more than the usual burden of expectations placed on any movie sequel it seems that Joss Whedon has lost some of the clarity of the first movie. And, as in the first movie, there's quite a flabby middle section. ( I know... there's no need to get personal, is there? ) But on the plus side...
The new characters  -  Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and the long-awaited Vision  -  all add interest and a level of unpredictability which shakes up the Avengers status quo in a very welcome fashion. Paul Bettany's Vision receives the least screen time but probably has the most potential. I'm hoping for a lot more from this enigmatic character in the future. The Widow / Jolly Green Giant romance is quite touching and gives Mark Ruffallo a real chance to shine. In fact, Whedon ensures that all the sprawling cast of main characters get their time in the sun, with Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye far better served this time around. And there are a ton of cameos from MCU regulars like Sam Jackson, Cobie Smulders ( love that name! ), Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle and even Hayley Atwell. Plus the inevitable Stan Lee in possibly his funniest appearance yet. And then there's the big bad robot himself:

James Spader absolutely runs away with the movie through his voice performance alone  -  not an easy task when the likes of Robert Downey Jnr and Scarlet Johansson are up there on the screen. From his first appearance as a walking scrapyard, slowly gaining sentience, to his marshalling endless legions of Ultron-bots to swarm over the Avengers, Ultron is the quintessential super villain  -  intelligent, sarcastic and witty, nearly always one metal step ahead of his foes and never quite tipping over into AI insanity, but always delivering his lines in Spader's purring, mocking tones. A worthy successor to Loki and definitely one of the best and most believable villains yet to stalk the MCU.
While inevitably not feeling as fresh as its predecessor, AOU is spectacular entertainment and sets the scene for future Marvel movies, from the passing reference to Wakanda ( home of the Black Panther ) to the final scene appearance of a certain mad Titan. And, with the traditional-for-the-comics roster change now introduced into the movie ( "The Old Order Changeth!" as Stan would say back in the day ) the future's certainly looking interesting for Earth's Mightiest Heroes...

Avengers Assemble

"And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, The Avengers were born - to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand..."

The Avengers have finally assembled in Joss Whedon's much-hyped blockbuster and, after all the scene-setting in previous movies, one question hangs over our harassed heroes' heads: is it worth the wait?

Well, for this blogger at least, it's a resounding "Yes!"

Avengers Assemble ( do I have to keep calling it that? ) is more or less everything I could have wanted from an Avengers movie - action-packed and funny ( well, it's Joss Whedon, gorram it! ) while still managing to squeeze in the requisite character development for its large cast of spandex-wearers. And visually it perfectly captures the style of Silver / Bronze Age Marvels as these iconic characters battle and argue in the streets of NYC. While I may have a few minor gripes ( Hawkeye's character is seriously under-used, there's too much exposition onboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, the 3D is mostly pointless ) they are just that - minor. As an agonising aggregation of Assemblers and antagonists, Avengers Assemble is A-1!

The plot is fairly straightforward: that fiendish God Of Mischief, Loki, has allied himself with a warlike alien race ( Spoilers! It's the Chitauri, not the Skrulls ) and has returned to Earth to even his score with the human race and big brother Thor. He plans to steal the Tesseract ( aka the Cosmic Cube ) from SHIELD and use the power of that Asgardian McGuffin to open a portal to Chaitauri-space and let his new-found friends in to wreak havoc on Earth, or New York at least. And if he averts Nick Fury's creation of a team of super human do-gooders in the process, all the better.
In the grand old Marvel tradition these mismatched heroes spend some time bitching and fighting amongst themselves before putting aside their differences to tackle their common foes. All these verbal and physical smack-downs are great fun and cinematic catnip for super hero fans. The three-way scrap between Thor, Cap and Iron Man is like a 1970's issue of Marvel Team-Up blown up for the silver screen: repulsor rays versus shield versus hammer. When the action hits the streets of New York the Avengers are forced to become a team and it's a delight to see the characters slotting into their familiar roles... and kickin' arse. I've only been waiting 40 years for this :-)

Whedon does a great job of tackling the large cast and giving them all ( with the possible exception of Hawkeye ) their chance to shine. As always, Robert Downey Jr gets all the best snarky lines as Tony Stark ( Tony Snark? ); Chris Evans is touching as the man out of time, struggling to understand the 21st century; Scarlet Johannson is given some suitably Whedon-esque issues to deal with; and Mark Ruffalo is subtle and witty as probably the best screen Bruce Banner yet.

Some favourite moments ( may contain spoilers ) :

The Helicarrier rising out of the sea

The first, ripped-shirt sighting of the Hulk

Lovely cameos by Harry Dean Stanton, Jenny Agutter and Stan The Man

The Black Widow / Loki confrontation

"Hulk... smash!"

Thor bringing the lightning

Cap showing the NYPD how to tackle alien invaders

Agent Coulson's moment of glory

That teaser at the end! Please don't walk out before the credits are over...