90th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor

Oscars 2018: Best Supporting Actor

Another day, another Academy Awards category to look upon here at Black Ribbon, and whilst not as much as a full-on given, it may seem that joining Frances McDormand up on the Oscar winners stage this year will more than likely be fellow Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri star Sam Rockwell, whose performance as the despicable, hate-filled, racist bigot, Officer Dickson is one of awards touting success, even if the fundamentals of Rockwell's character is utter torturous from beginning to end, and whilst Woody Harrelson also shines as the moral cornerstone of McDonagh's movie as Sheriff Bill Willoughby, it seems Rockwell will indeed only continue the gongs that have been heading the Irish directors way. Elsewhere, Willem Dafoe earns his third Oscar nomination for Sean Baker's The Florida Project whilst Christopher Plummer also receives a nod for his rapidly manufactured role as Jean Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World after the much publicised erasure of Kevin Spacey in the same role. Concluding the nomination ticket is of course Richard Jenkins for his beautifully emotive role as Giles in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water after being completely overlooked for his equally impressive role in S. Craig Zahler's little seen Western Bone Tomahawk back in 2016, and even though the likes of Will Poulter and yes, Bill Skarsgård would have seen recognition in my book for Detroit and the brilliant It respectively, the Best Supporting Actor race is once again yet another strong category to pick a winner from. Here are the main points...

Winner - Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Personal Favourite - Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Nomination Snub - Will Poulter (Detroit)

90th Academy Awards: Best Actress

Oscars 2018: Best Actress

With Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri handing Francis McDormand her most juiciest on-screen role since Fargo, a film which of course also brought Academy Award success for the star, the category for Best Actress is seemingly over before it begins, with McDormand's portrayal of the hateful, scenery chewing Mildred Hayes picking up awards in a similar ilk to Gary Oldman's colossal domination of success as Winston Churchill, and whilst Saoirse Ronan's role as the angsty, hysterically colourful titular teenager in Greta Gerwig's masterful Lady Bird would be my own personal choice for the win, it seems my plead to the Academy will seemingly go rather unnoticed. Elsewhere, in a alternate universe, Sally Hawkins would undeniably lead the line for her outstanding performance in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water whilst Margot Robbie continues to show off her sturdy acting chops as the disgraced ice skating star, Tonya Harding in the wildly comical, I, Tonya, and with Meryl Streep capping off the nominations for The Post, it's no surprise to say that this year's ballot paper is one of the strongest in recent memory. As for the forgotten few, whatever anyone may think of the movie, Jennifer Lawrence is absolutely fabulous in Aronofsky's divisive mother! in her best on-screen role to date, whilst who can forget Jessica Chastain's performance as Molly Bloom in Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut, Molly's Game, and whilst it's a tad late to change the nominations, here are the top points for the Best Actress category...

Winner - Francis McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)

Personal Favourite - Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)

Nomination Snub - Jennifer Lawrence (mother!)

Film Review: Mute

"I Love You So Much Leo, But You Don't Know Me..."

Engaging with and including myself within the small minority who can actually stand up proudly and state that 2016's Warcraft was actually better than most critics gave the movie credit for, Duncan Jones' career has drifted from contemplative low-budget success story (Moon) to big budget science fiction spectacular (Source Code) in a reasonably swift amount of time, and with the release of Mute this week as the latest Netflix original after years of development hell, Jones' long-term project, one deemed as the "spiritual sequel" to 2009's Moon, is finally brought to life, if only on the small screen. Following Alexander Skarsgård's (The Legend of Tarzan) Leo, the titular mute barkeep who attempts to solve the mystery of Seyneb Saleh's Naadirah's sudden disapearance within the heart of a future-world Berlin, Jones' latest is unfortunately a cliched and utterly soulless Blade Runner rip-off, one which attempts to sew together a noir-esque primary plot thread amidst stereotypical Russian gangsters, The Fifth Element style campness and eerily ill-judged set pieces which are as ridiculous as they are jaw-droppingly stupid, resulting in Mute conforming to the fate of The Cloverfield Paradox by being yet another Netflix funded let down. 

With Sally Hawkins managing to convey both rigorous emotion and heartwarming depth to a character of similar ilk in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water, the inclusion of Skarsgård's Leo, the speech-free central character of the piece, is somewhat gimmicky and undeniably underwritten, with Hawkins' character necessary in furthering the audience's understanding of the relationship between herself and Doug Jones' aquatic monster, a level of narrative depth which is completely absent from the entirety of Jones' screenplay, resulting in Skarsgård's performance coming off as nothing more than a growling, angst-ridden puppet which is used to facilitate the furthering of plot when necessary. Whilst the opening forty five minutes of the piece is somewhat interesting, even with a heavy handed dose of exposition which explains absolutely everything in a excruciatingly painful paint-by-numbers fashion, the film really turns after a showdown between Leo and Dominic Monaghan's sex facilitator on a bed next to a staggeringly imaginative pleasure doll which resulted in one of the biggest unintentional laughs I will have this year, and with the emergence of the similarly awful Paul Rudd (Ant Man) as the least threatening villain of the year so far and Justin Theroux's (Mulholland Drive) overly misjudged paedophilic sidekick, Mute turns overly wacky and staggeringly dull rather quickly and with a conclusion which doesn't entirely make up for the wait, Jones' latest is annoyingly his weakest work to date, and for a project which took more than a decade to bring to the screen, one could have argued it should have stayed on the cutting room floor. 

Overall Score: 4/10

90th Academy Awards: Best Actor

Oscars 2018: Best Actor

With the Academy managing to get the winner of the Best Actor category absolutely spot on last year, with Casey Affleck's performance in Manchester By The Sea one of the best on-screen character depictions I have seen in recent history, the spoils this year all seem to be heading in the direction of Britain's own Gary Oldman, whose portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour is one of uncanny excellence, a performance with much more credence and power than simply stating it's Oldman's "turn" to win an Oscar after being seemingly snubbed for previous nominations in a similar vein to Leonardo DiCaprio's seemingly odds on win for 2016's The Revenant. With Daniel Day Lewis shining as always in his so-called final role as Reynolds Woodcock in Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread and Daniel Kaluuya creating his own personal waves in Jordan Peele's Get Out, either performers would be worthy of awards success, whilst Timothée Chalamet and Denzel Washington fill up the remainder of the ballot paper for Call Me By Your Name and Roman J. Israel, Esq. respectively. In regards to missed nominations, Christian Bale's outstanding performance as Captain Joseph Blocker in Hostiles has been shockingly snubbed in every major awards ceremony worldwide, whilst the more out-of-there mind could argue Vince Vaughn's career changing role in Brawl In Cell Block 99 could easily have seen recognition too. Anyhow, here are the main points: 

Winner - Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)

Personal Favourite - Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)

Nomination Snub - Christian Bale (Hostiles)

Film Review: Lady Bird

"I Want You To Be The Very Best Version Of Yourself That You Can Be..."

Arriving as the final Best Picture nomination from the upcoming Academy Awards to be released in the UK before the ceremony takes place on the first weekend of March, Greta Gerwig (Jackie) halts her acting career for her directorial debut, Lady Bird, a coming of age comedy drama formed around a screenplay written by Gerwig herself and starring Saoirse Ronan as the titular troublesome teen from Sacramento, California who in her transference from school to college faces difficulties within both her home-life and her widening taste of the adolescent outside world. Supported by the likes of Laurie Metcalf (Toy Story 3), Tracy Letts (The Post) and Beanie Feldstein (Neighbours 2), Gerwig's movie manages to break free from the cliches and pressures of coming-of-age dramas in which the film undeniably takes inspiration from, with the likes of particularly Ferris Bueller's Day Off and 2016's little seen The Edge of Seventeen obvious reference points in terms of storyline, thanks to a tightly wound script which manages to balance each of the film's leading characters with their own personal strengths, weaknesses and flaws, resulting in performances which not only feel perfectly rounded and entirely believable, but are so fundamentally humane and empathetic that the movie spins you around and grips you tightly from the opening scene in which we discover the roller-coaster nature of the relationship which is progressively examined between mother and daughter.  

After shining in a wide array of roles including The Grand Budapest Hotel and particularly John Crowley's magnificent 2015 romantic drama, Brooklyn, Ronan's portrayal of Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson is an absorbing and entirely empathetic performance, an awards courting triumph which perfectly captures the wildly inconsistent emotion of teenage angst, acne faced and all, one which is aided profusely by the magnificently resonant aura which the Irish star brings to a leading role bursting with flavourful personality and charisma, a character who although is proven to be riddled with human error and socially shocking flaws, manages to be much more interesting than the standardised Hollywood image of a cinematic on-screen teenager. Although the flashy editing and electrifying pace of the movie interweaves Lady Bird's in-school debacles and the choppy relationships with both the female and male sex, with Manchester By The Sea's Lucas Hedges and Call Me By Your Name's Timothée Chalamet the cameo love interests whose personal narrative endpoints both end in extravagant fashion, the cornerstone of the movie is entirely focused on the exhausting battle between the child and parent, with Laurie Metcalf's mother figure, Marion, a resoundingly commonplace thorn in the side of youthful curiosity of which many 21st century teenagers are more than accustomed to, with the performance of Metcalf equally as impressive as her younger counterpart, resulting in the many on-screen discussions between the two strong willed characters entirely captivating. With a deep level of care for the characters and precise direction from Gerwig who in her obvious admiration and pride for her screenplay manages to get the best out of even the most bit-part players of the piece, Lady Bird is flawless, a movie full with outstanding performances and a movie which manages to blend laugh out loud and perfectly pitched comic timing with elements of lachrymose inducing tenderness so effectively, you'll think you would have known each of the film's characters for years, and for a movie with a runtime with just over ninety minutes, it's suffice to say, I would have happily stayed for much, much longer. 

Overall Score: 10/10

90th Academy Awards: Best Director

Oscars 2018: Best Director

With a trio of veteran filmmakers and a duo of directorial newcomers, this year's Best Director category is undoubtedly the tightest one to call, and whilst Guillermo del Toro seems to be the named favourite after picking up awards at both the BAFTA's and the Golden Globes, any of the five nominees stand a more than plausible chance at walking away with the top prize. Whilst del Toro himself more than deserves at least the slightest of Academy Award recognition after failing to win the Best Foreign Language gong for Pan's Labyrinth back in 2007, no one can seriously question the remarkable directorial skills of Christopher Nolan on Dunkirk, and whilst many may see Nolan's wartime masterpiece as more of an technical exercise than that of a classical historic drama, the chance for Nolan to finally win an award after being royally snubbed previously for the likes of Inception and The Dark Knight is a mistake that may indeed come full circle. Elsewhere, Paul Thomas Anderson is a equally prestigious and remarkable filmmaker who has seemingly bypassed the Oscar award fever, and whilst Phantom Thread is an outstanding work of melancholic brilliance, the chance to succeed may indeed seep by once again, but for the likes of Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele for their work on Lady Bird and Get Out respectively, the Academy does deserve some form of applause for attempting to widen its' cinematic scope when it comes to choosing films worthy of such a prestigious award, and whilst snubs for the likes of Denis Villeneuve for Blade Runner 2049 and Darren Aronofsky for mother! prove that that they can't get it right all the time, at least the Academy are slowly catching up.

Winner - Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)

Personal Favourite - Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)

Nomination Snub - Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049)

90th Academy Awards: Best Picture

Oscars 2018: Best Picture

With the 90th Academy Awards set to take place on the 4th of March, we begin our examination of the nominations and major snubs in each of the major categories with the prestigious Best Picture nod, a category which features this year, nine movies vying for the chance to win the top prize and whilst the easiest course is to examine elsewhere where movies have done particularly well, including winners at the Golden Globes and BAFTA's, the Oscars do tend do pop out the odd surprise, with last year's Moonlight win being arguably being the most iconic in recent history. With the top two in contention for the prize being The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, it would be great to see Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk potentially take away for the award, but with its' total snub at the BAFTA's, a ceremony with a predominantly British-centred gaze when it comes to choosing the winners, Nolan's Oscar vacuum may seemingly go on. Elsewhere, the likes of Get Out, Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name prove that independent, ideas based movies continue to be recognised, whilst Darkest Hour and The Post seem to be the box-ticking historical dramas which although have a wide range of merits, really have no chance of taking home the award, and even with Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread potentially being the worthy outsider for the prize, it can be hard to argue between the top two favourites which have been dominating award ceremonies over the past few months. When it comes to nomination snubs, Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 is the obvious misstep whilst the widely acclaimed Logan and Julia Ducournau's Raw are too movies which easily could have been chosen with an eye-widening and forward thinking Academy. Anyhow, here are the predictions...

Winner - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Personal Favourite - Dunkirk

Nomination Snub - Blade Runner 2049

Film Review: Father Figures

"The Universe Has A Tendency To Point Us In The Right Direction..."

Renowned for his work as an accomplished cinematographer on an array of American comedies including War Dogs, The Hangover Trilogy as well as the upcoming blockbuster franchise sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, New Jersey citizen, Lawrence Sher, turns to a debut in directing for Father Figures, a messy, overlong and staggeringly sickening road trip comedy featuring Owen Wilson (Wonder) and Ed Helms (Captain Underpants) as alienated siblings, Kyle and Peter Reynolds who embark on a self proclaimed journey known as "Operation Whose Your Daddy" after being informed by Glenn Close's (The Girl With All The Gifts) mother figure, Helen Baxter, that she is unaware of her children's true parentage. With a narrative which twists and turns through redemptive family drama to lad-cultured sex ventures and finally settling for saccharin fuelled cop-out nonsense, Sher's movie is fundamentally unsure of what it entirely aspires to be, and with a two hour runtime attempting to hold it all together, Father Figures is unsurprisingly dour, a film which not only comes across as your run of the mill Owen Wilson centred comedy, but an Owen Wilson centred comedy without any meaningful laughs. 

Settling on air of overripe repetition as our leading duo move from state to state in order to locate their true titular father figure, the screenplay attempts to shoehorn in as many jarring cameos as humanly possible for some form of comedic effect, with the likes of Ving Rhames, Terry Bradshaw and the Oscar winning J. K. Simmons, yes, that J. K. Simmons, each conforming to a soap opera type scenario in which each character has around ten minutes to show off their goods and force some form of sketch show-esque comedic set piece before being entirely forgotten about as we head onto the next underwritten character who swiftly follows such a mould. With Wilson hitting snooze mode and regressing into normality after winning back some form of merits after his performance in Wonder, the star revels in handing the director a stereotypical Owen Wilson performance, one which clashes with Ed Helms' pretentious, all-moaning flannel of a character who not only couldn't look farther from being an on-screen sibling of Wilson if he tried but is the type of American character who believes their life is an utter shambles even with staggering levels of wealth and a high class occupation which of course only acts as a continuous, narrative weaving joke. The jokes are joyless, the script soulless and ponderous, and whilst at times the chemistry between the two stars evoke a sense of enjoyment that the film may be heading somewhere, the concluding act is shameful and for two hours of your life you may never get back, Father Figures really isn't worth the risk.

Overall Score: 3/10

Film Review: Black Panther

"You Are A Good Man, With A Good Heart. And It's Hard For A Good Man To Be A King..."

Whilst it is now common practice for Disney to hire critically acclaimed and subversive filmmakers in the ilk of Taika Waititi, Shane Black and the Russo Brothers to helm tangent releases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe post The Avengers, the decision to choose Ryan Coogler as the leading light behind Black Panther, the eighteenth release within the ever-expanding superhero franchise, is a real stroke of genius, a talented filmmaker with the likes of Fruitvale Station and Creed in his back pocket and most importantly, a director who knows full well the balance between script and spectacle when given the chance to helm pedigree franchises and big budget releases. Utilising an astounding array of raw talent to convey the first standalone depiction of the superhero widely recognised as the first character of African descent in American mainstream comics, Coogler's latest stars Chadwick Boseman (Marshall) as T'Challa, the titular king of the fictional East African nation of Wakanda, who reprises his scene-stealing appearance in Captain America: Civil War as he returns to his homeland in order to address the ceremonial tradition of becoming his country's ruler after the untimely passing of his father, King T'Chaka, but with the emergence of a long lost royalty successor, T'Challa's reign is immediately threatened and challenged, resulting in the possibility of detrimental effects to the outside world that the Wakandan way of life has always refused to become an integral part of.  

With eye-widening spectacle in abundance, a successful blend of drama and humour, and a cultural exploration unlike any world before it, Coogler's latest is one of the most fist-pumping releases in the MCU, a joyous ride of popcorn entertainment with an array of substance and depth, with Coogler's movie undeniably the most thematic based superhero release since Nolan's 2008 masterpiece, The Dark Knight. Working on a script by both Coogler and Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther explores a wide range of captivating ideas, beginning with T'Challa's sudden rise to power and moving through notions of power sharing, the isolation from the perils of the outside world and with the introduction of Michael B. Jordan's (Creed) physically imposing, Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, societal comments regarding the empowerment of the powerless in a world overran with tyrannical rulings and unjust treatment of the voiceless. Celebrating the world of Wakanda in gorgeously designed detail after only being passingly mentioned throughout previous Marvel releases, the visual splendour of the country and the exploration of otherworldly technology is thoroughly entertaining and indulgent, with Letitia Wright's (Black Mirror) Princess Shuri essentially a hipper, suavely comical Q to Boseman's Bond-esque hero figure, with a superbly measured action set piece in South Korea demonstrating the blockbuster scale of tools the people of Wakanda are used to and reluctant to let go. 

With Andy Serkis (War For The Planet Of The Apes) fleshing out his role as the ruthless arms dealer and all round nasty piece of work, Ulysses Klaue, after his minor stint in Age of Ultron, the character's hatred of Wakandan privilege and greedy need for the power of vibranium, the strongest metal on Earth and the core of Captain America's indestructible shield, allows for the introduction of Jordan's Killmonger, the primary antagonist of the piece whose hidden familial ties and lust for revenge sets him on a path of destruction and idealistic plans of world changing possibilities, a narrative point which aside from failing to adhere to the bog standard cliche of world domination is too a scheme which remarkably does seem inherently understandable, offering a conflicting battle between who and what is truly on the side of what can be deemed sufficiently right or wrong. With the CGI at times a tad iffy and an opening twenty minutes which somewhat disjoints the pacing of the action which follows, Black Panther is no means a superhero masterpiece, but with an organic cultural sensibility which opens the door to engaging and overly exciting new characters and a empowered outlook on the Wakandan way of life in which the most brave and bad-ass just happens to be led by The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira as Okoye, an actress so brilliant in last year's All Eyez on Me, Coogler's addition to the Marvel franchise is a riveting and overly cool action adventure, and with Infinity War to come, 2018's superhero calendar has started with a superhero sized bang. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Loveless

"I Think I've Made A Terrible Mistake..."

Chosen as Russia's entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, director Andrey Zvyagintsev's (Leviathon) stark and overly moody latest, Loveless, may be a particularly difficult picture to try and seek out thanks to an incredibly limited release, and whilst icy cold Russian mysteries aren't exactly the type of movies audiences tend to rush and out and catch as quickly as humanly possible, Zvyagintsev's latest is an interesting tale of extreme familial breakdowns and a depressing vista of Russia society, one which is helmed together by a central narrative regarding the disappearance of a young, seemingly unloved child and a movie that definitely deserves to be sought out. With a staggering plot pace and a claustrophobic overarching sensibility which not only takes its' time setting the pieces of the narrative chess board in place but may seem too tough to handle for wandering minds, Loveless is an uncompromisingly depressive tragedy which fails to enforce even the smallest amount of redemption, but for those who can withstand the harshness of its' winds, Zvyagintsev's latest is an impressive, overly mysterious achievement. 

With the first hour detailing in harsh detail the toxic relationship between Maryana Spivak's Zhenya and Aleksey Rozin's Boris as they both attempt to conclude an ongoing divorce and build fresh lives away from one another with new partners, Matvey Novikov's Alexey is the isolated child in the middle, whose decision to abandon both mother and father sets up a second hour in which the picture switches from an uncompromising domesticated drama to a Scandi-esque thriller of ambiguous and uncertain temperament, bringing to mind in more ways than one the brilliance of The Killing (The Swedish one, not the American re-hash) and the ice-cold atmosphere of Let The Right One In. Portraying a society in which the birth of a child is met with disdain in favour of flavoursome trips of winding romance with new lovers and uninterested public services in which authorities are forced to act through procedure rather than through willingness, Zvyagintsev's portrayal of modern Russia is unflinchingly negative, and with a conclusion which only serves as a reminder of the stark reality of consequence, Loveless is a sucker punch of a movie, one which leaves you gasping for the cheery horizons and one that even with obvious pacing flaws, keeps you thinking about it for days afterwards.

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: I, Tonya

"I Was Loved For A Minute, Then I Was Hated. Then I Was Just A Punch Line..."

Based upon the controversial and compelling career of professional ice skater, Tonya Harding, Craig Gillespie's (The Finest Hours) Oscar nominated biographical drama, I, Tonya, featuring Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) in arguably her most fleshed-out leading performance yet, takes an impressive shot at attempting to gel together a mix of Scorsese inspired storytelling with a Rocky-esque tale of sporting success, and with the aid of a rockabilly jukebox soundtrack and eye-catching performances all around, Gillespie's latest is a rousing, crowd-pleasing success. Utilising the form of retrospective interviews with each of the key players to unravel the exposition as the narrative evolves, I, Tonya benefits from a lightning quick editing pace straight from the outset, beginning with a young Harding as she is nurtured and raised by the steely-eyed harshness of Allison Janney's (The Girl on the Train) LaVona Fay Golden as she begins her love affair with the ice and swiftly moving to the fruition of the relationship between herself and Sebastian Stan's (Captain America: Civil War) Jeff Gillooly, one which proves central to Harding's journey through both successes and life-changing failures. 

Whilst the interview format does make it easy for Gillespie to cross over every avenue possible in terms of storytelling gaps, the constant switch from past to present does ultimately jar the pace of the movie come the second half, one which is too not exactly helped by the decision to include the breaking of the fourth wall at times which personally never really seemed to work to the film's advantage, yet where the movie does succeed is in Robbie's wildly comical and full blooded performance, one which utilises the scripts attempts to balance her love for the sport with the shocking depiction of domestic issues from both Janney's chain-smoking mother figure and Stan's abusive and deluded on/off love, and one which through the aid of digital effects and stunt doubles means that the physicality of the skating scenes are brilliantly orchestrated. Of course, with Harding's biggest association being that of a rather violent moment of utmost craziness, the concluding act of the movie ruffles together elements of jaw-dropping stupidity, laugh out loud comedy and heartbreaking finality, and whilst Gillespie's movie doesn't exactly hit the heights of Scorsese-inflicted film-making it so obviously attempts to emulate, I, Tonya is a highly satisfactory and ludicrous tale of a fundamentally interesting public figure. 

Overall Score: 7/10 

Film Review: The 15:17 to Paris

"Do You Ever Feel Life Is Pushing Us Towards A Greater Purpose...?"

Renowned for a distrust in the works of finesse and instead obeying the rule of one take, one hit when it comes to his particular brand of film-making, Hollywood stalwart, Clint Eastwood, returns after 2016's Sully, with The 15:17 to Paris, a somewhat similar tale of heroism and the remarkable workings of the human spirit, and a movie which features as its' seat-selling trump card, a trio of leading stars who each portray themselves in attempting to re-tell the widely covered events which occurred upon the titular train on 21 August, 2015. Whilst not exactly the type of character movie executives would tend to disagree with when it comes to the creation of a particular cinematic vision, Eastwood's bold and brave decision to allow the real heroes of the story to re-enact their own history is one of interesting possibilities, and whilst the tale at the heart of the movie is one of staggering bravery in the face of mindless destruction, The 15:17 to Paris is unfortunately a wildly misjudged mess, a movie which attempts to landfill its' runtime with elements of backstory and cliched character arcs without any degree of success, and even with a concluding set piece which is undeniably well executed, Eastwood's latest is a strange case which begs the question whether it was really needed in the first place.

Based on The 15:17 to Paris: The True Story of a Terrorist, a Train, and Three American Soldiers, a true account of events by each of the famous heroes and Jeffrey E. Stern, the movie begins with a somewhat swift and overly jarring diversion into Boyhood-esque territory in which we see the childhood lives of Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler intertwine through tales of school-time shenanigans and dreams of joining the US Military. Whilst the narrative decision to give backstory to each of the heroes may have seemed crucial in understanding at a deeper level the events which take place, the first hour is instead utterly pointless, with the acting abilities and on-screen charisma of both Skarlatos and Sadler completely devoid of any positivity whatsoever, a outcome rather unsurprising when considering the lack of acting experience between them. With this in mind, the obvious decision to allow Stone to be the leading figure of the film does allow some form of success, with his likeable and openly flawed demeanour the main access point for audience involvement, but when the movie does eventually come to its' taut and tense concluding set piece which brings together each strands of the story set in place, it is unfortunately too late, and for a movie to have only ten minutes of greatness within a runtime of just over ninety minutes, the wait really isn't worth it at all. 

Overall Score: 3/10

Film Review: The Shape of Water

"He's Happy To See Me. Every Time. Everyday. Now, I Can Either Save Him Or Let Him Die..."

With 2015's Crimson Peak in retrospect coming over as somewhat of a major disappointment, Spanish director, Guillermo del Toro, returns this week with the Academy Award nominated, The Shape of Water, a fantastical romantic drama featuring the likes of Sally Hawkins (Paddington 2), Michael Shannon (12 Strong), and long term del Toro collaborator, Doug Jones (Hellboy) on staggering form and a release which poses as the director's best work since the masterful Pan's Labyrinth back in 2006. Built around a somewhat overly simplistic narrative with heavy influences of B-Movie cinema and underlying themes of Cold War paranoia, The Shape of Water, in fairy-tale like fashion, explores the radiant relationship between the charming mute figure of Sally Hawkins' Elisa Esposito and Doug Jones' remarkable, amphibian human hybrid who is captured by the US Government and kept in solitude at a high-security research facility under the watchful eye of Michael Shannon's vulgar Colonel Richard Strickland. With a blend of romance, fantasy and at times, exploitation violence, The Shape of Water is a stereotypical del Toro release through and through and with flashes of remarkable brilliance and a Sally Hawkins on fine, fine form, the Spanish director's latest is unlike anything you'll see throughout the remainder of this calendar year.

With a loving sense of cinematic tradition and a wild, twisting tornado sensibility which navigates the movie through a wide range of differing genres, The Shape of Water is a beautifully old-fashioned work of film, one with a larger than life digital print clouded with dark colours of emerald green and cold war inspired muskiness, and a film which utilises the widescreen format to staggering degree, resulting in the film, as a work of pure spectacle, simply gorgeous to breathe in and admire for its' detailing and slimy creature feature makeup and effects. Although The Shape of Water may not be as rewarding as del Toro's previous endeavours as an overall body of work, the feature is one which instead arguably boasts his most humanist cinematic venture to date, with the leading relationship between human and inhuman marvellously envisioned thanks to character building set pieces which are as eye-wateringly romantic as they are naturally subversive in nature and with the film's leading character having to rely on the usage of sign language due to her incapability to convey her emotions through speech, Sally Hawkins is truly spectacular, a performance both powerful and understated in equal measure and one which may indeed tip the boat for upcoming Oscar success. Whilst the movie's quest for award supremacy in each of its' respective nominated categories is admirable and actually quite brave considering the fundamental strangeness of the tale at the heart of it, the most obvious case would be for The Shape of Water being the movie which hands del Toro his long-awaited directing Oscar after being wrongly acquitted of it back in 2006, and whilst when up against the likes of Dunkirk and Phantom Thread the film does seem lesser in its' successes in comparison, del Toro's latest is still a wonderful and endlessly romantic drama of monstrous creativity which demands to be admired on the biggest screen possible.  

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: The Cloverfield Paradox

"I Don't Know What To Believe Anymore..."

Dropping out of nowhere and onto Netflix in a remarkably abnormal and somewhat anarchic fashion, The Cloverfield Paradox, the second sequel to Matt Reeves' 2008 shaky-cammed monster marathon Cloverfield after 2016's claustrophobic, 10 Cloverfield Lane, bears it teeth without any sign of meaningful marketing or propaganda-esque pushing aside from a thirty second trailer proceeding its' release only hours before its' availability worldwide on everyone's favourite streaming service. Whilst such a decision is undoubtedly refreshing and boundlessly groovy, the question remains whether the film itself is worthy addition to a franchise which deserves plaudits for its' adventurous attempts at building a somewhat Twilight Zone infused shared universe, and with a cast list featuring the likes of Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Miss Sloane), Daniel Brühl (Rush) and David Oyelowo (Selma), and a ideas-based narrative which attempts to solve the ambiguities of its' predecessors, The Cloverfield Paradox, on paper, has success stamped all over it. Unfortunately however, Netflix's latest high profile release is a ludicrous mess of a movie, one which begins in absorbing fashion with acres of room to flex its' muscles but then descends into a shark-jumping bore-fest which not only veers the franchise off course, but could potentially endanger it completely. 

Attempting to gel together the mystery at the heart of the franchise in regards to the origin of the destructive beast from the first entry, The Cloverfield Paradox, directed by big-time debutante, Julius Onah, follows Mbatha-Raw's Ava Hamilton as she crews up with her expeditious space team aboard the Cloverfield Station in order to test the particle accelerator by the name of "Shephard" which has been designed in order to combat the life-threatening global energy crisis on Earth. Mixing in elements of Interstellar, Event Horizon and in regards to its' dealings with augmented reality splits, the rather excellent, if little seen, Coherence, Onah's movie suffers from having too much to say without any real follow-through, and with a wildly inconsistent tone which rakes in awfully timed comedy amidst perils of catastrophic possibilities, The Cloverfield Paradox is undoubtedly a missed opportunity and hands down the worst entry of the franchise thus far. With Chris O'Dowd being the glaring error of casting, with his supposedly intellectual character undoubtedly the most cringe-worthy performance of the year so far, and elements of slapstick-laden body horror amidst dialogue which can only be described as the cinematic equivalent of a paint by numbers book, Netflix's latest big budget cornerstone is really quite poor, and even when the ideas on the surface are interesting enough to warrant some form of applause for trying, the execution is badly managed and ultimately, a sobering disappointment. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: Winchester

"I Feel Their Presence. In The Air, In The Walls. He Has Found Us..."

With last year's Jigsaw not being as terrible as one might have thought and Predestination still being a particularly mind-bending and wholly entertaining guilty pleasure, The Spierig Brothers aren't exactly renowned for airing on the side of caution when it comes to their movies, and returning this week with Winchester, starring Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen) as the famous titular true to life figure of Sarah Winchester, the mould doesn't exactly stop here. Setting the narrative within the confines of Winchester House in San Jose, California at the turn of the 20th century, Winchester follows Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty) as the drug addicted doctor, Eric Prince, who is tasked by representatives of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company to medically assess Sarah Winchester's mental state as she pours her inherited income into constant construction of her isolated mansion in order to fulfil the wishes of the dead through her interaction with a medium after the passing of her late husband. Part The Haunting, part every single generic horror movie release ever made, The Spierig Brothers' latest is uncharacteristically dreadful, a movie so woeful in its' construction that you fail in your attempts to nod off thanks to a wide-set reliance on ridiculously loud jump scares which become worse and worse as the movie moves along, and even with a straight-to-video temperament surrounding it, Winchester can't even be defined as so bad it's good; it's just trash.

With each of the performances rivalling Gods of Egypt for the title of worst ensemble cast performance of recent times, the narrative dwindles its' way through a The Cabin in the Woods and, more specifically, a Thirteen Ghosts-esque setup, utilising the pull of being based on "actual events" to inspire a sense of horror at the sight of witnessing all hell breaking loose on-screen, ranging from high-pitched screaming hell demons to murdered psychopathic waiters who every now and then feel the need to explode onto the screen, screeching musical accompaniment in hand, in order to enforce a cattle-prod sensibility in which the lost art of actual horror and spine-tingling tension is unfortunately replaced with tedious, never-ending jump scares. With the plot ludicrous, the horror elements distastefully stupid, and even Mirren's portrayal of a better financed Jennet Humfrye, AKA, The Woman in Black, being totally ridiculous, not even a Dame can save such a hot-steamed mess of a movie, and whilst many may enjoy the chance to jolt out of your seat every ten seconds thanks to an immensely setup surround sound system in your local screening of the movie, The Spierig Brothers have landed on their first cinematic calamity, with Winchester a movie which not only pokes fun at its' claims of fictional inspiration but sticks needles in the eyes of all horror audiences who by now have learnt that not all horror is created equal. 

Overall Score: 2/10

Film Review: Phantom Thread

"Reynolds Has Made My Dreams Come True. And I Had Given Him What He Desires Most In Return..."

Of all historic collaborations which have resulted in works of acclaimed artistic brilliance, the combination of director, Paul Thomas Anderson, and acting aficionado, Daniel Day-Lewis, deservedly unearths a mouthwatering level of anticipation, particularly after their rousing success together on 2007's There Will Be Blood, a movie which not only garnered Academy Award success for the English screen legend but remains my personal favourite Anderson release within a career blossoming with quality examples of modern cinema ranging from the intertwining character study of Magnolia to the drug infused oddity of Inherent Vice. Returning together with Phantom Thread, a beautifully twisted romantic drama with a self-proclaimed final performance from Daniel Day-Lewis as the fictional renowned fashion designer, Reynolds Woodcock, Anderson's latest is a flawlessly designed work of art which mirrors its' leading character's penchant for exactness and measured perfection with a swooning, subversive portrayal of a household bursting with colourful and beautifully constructed characters which are brought to fruition in ways larger than life by a cast which under the wing of Anderson, are truly magnificent. 

Focusing on the blossoming relationship between Day-Lewis's Woodcock and the foreign, quaint muse figure of Vicky Krieps' (A Most Wanted Man) Alma Elson, Anderson's script moves in an unpredictable and sometimes quirky fashion, switching from a romantic tale of wonder to a character study of indecision and power, one which utilises minor incidents of subverted gothic tragedy and a heavy dose of laugh out loud comedy to create a combination of elements which only a filmmaker with the pedigree of Anderson could have successfully pulled off. With Lesley Manville's (Hampstead) eagle eyed and priggish Cyril Woodcock equally as fascinating as her on-screen sibling, Phantom Thread's triage of leading performers all work in equal symmetry in bringing to life an absorbing, sometimes jaw-droppingly beautiful piece of cinema, and with a well orchestrated accompanying score from Radiohead's stupidly talented, Jonny Greenwood, whose Academy Award nomination slightly makes up for the ludicrous decision to prevent him from being nominated for There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson's latest is really something, and if we are indeed witnessing the final performance of the truly magnanimous Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread sure is an outstanding way to bow out. 

Overall Score: 9/10 

Film Review: Den of Thieves

"Keep Your Eyes Open. Every Cop In The Country Is Going To Be Looking For Us..."

Being an avid hater of most things which bear the name Gerard Butler in the closing credits, the release of Den of Thieves unsurprisingly accompanied a heavy sense of sadness at potentially spending yet another two hours sat in a screening which results in time ultimately being well and truly wasted, and with London Has Fallen screenwriter, Christian Gudegast, on directorial duties for the very first time in his career, it's not exactly hard to imagine why on entering the auditorium in preparation for Gudegast's movie, my heart became just a tiny bit heavier. Whilst I'm more than adjusted through years of movie-going experiences to sometimes accepting and devouring a slice of humble pie, Den of Thieves is unebelieavably the sort of movie which raises above the sordid expectations set upon it in a somewhat miraculous fashion and leaves you shamelessly declaring out loud how wrong you were in the first place, a movie which presents itself as a slick, if sometimes silly and overly cliched, action romp which although is nothing entirely original or groundbreaking, still manages to be a worthwhile trip of high octane guilty pleasure. Praise the lord, we have a miracle. 

Focusing on two teams either side of the law, each with their own questionable moral compasses and a penchant for steroid infused workouts, Den of Thieves undeniably pays a significant homage to Michael Mann's 1995 crime masterpiece, Heat, in more ways than none, with the narrative essentially switching Al Pacino for Gerard Butler (300) and Robert De Niro for Pablo Schreiber (Orange Is The New Black), and whilst on paper such a switch seems similar to swapping Ferrari for Nissan, Gudegast's penchant for style and solid eye for action set pieces and well orchestrated heist scenes means that within a overly similar tale of cops and robbers, the debutante's movie packs a significantly entertaining punch and manages to hold your attention throughout its' bulky two and a half hour runtime. With Butler actually managing to not be entirely god awful, with even the staggeringly underplayed bad boy lifestyle in which his character partakes failing to undermine his performance, and the rest of the high profile cast including O'Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton) and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (Southpaw) all giving a solid case for their inclusion, Den of Thieves is undoubtedly one of the surprises of the year, and even with a "I gotcha!" style ending which wouldn't have gone amiss in Hustle, Gudegast's movie is actually pretty darn good, and for someone who was sharpening their knife going into it, that's damn fine praise indeed. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Maze Runner: The Death Cure

"We Started This Together. We May As Well End It That Way Too..."

Whilst probably not the best person in some way to comment on a concluding act to a trilogy of which I have been completely absent from up to now, the latest entry into the Maze Runner series, directed by franchise stalwart, Wes Ball, brings to end arguably the most uninteresting young adult dystopian book adaptation to date, one which seemed in all honesty to exist primarily in order to latch onto the success of the far superior Hunger Games, and whilst I always revel in the chance to be proved wrong, The Death Cure is unfortunately, if not entirely surprisingly, a complete and utter elongated drag, one which fails to ignite any sense of interest or involvement throughout its' unbelievably running time and a film which although is primarily designed for the younger side of audiences, seems entirely misjudged and altogether unrewarding. Beginning in a Skyfall-esque fashion with a somewhat well executed train heist, The Death Cure follows Dylan O'Brien's (American Assassin) indestructible Thomas and his merry band of wavy hair followers through a Mad Max inspired landscape in order to save Ki Hong Lee's Minho, who has been captured by the ridiculously named organisation, WCKD, in order to utilise his immunity to a virus unlike 28 Days Later's rage virus and potentially save the remaining human race. Sound convoluted? That's just the start.

Whilst I am all for spectacle-infused action carnage which sides with brass over an influx of brains, Ball's movie is fundamentally one which reeks of glaring similarity, and whilst the film seems to be at least made with a somewhat dedicated respect to the source material, the movie ultimately suffers due to a wavering and uncertain narrative and an inclusion of characters which not only come across as the epitome of one dimensional, but too are characters so underdeveloped and dull that any of them could have been simply plucked from the set of either Hunger Games or Divergent without any of the other cast entirely noticing or caring. With Dylan O'Brien in the leading role as the one-note resistance cornerstone, Thomas, his performance similarly seems to have been simply transferred from the set of last year's American Assassin, with the actor once again proving that with even the strongest will in the world, the American is still one of the most boring leading performers working today, and with the film personifying the term, deus ex machina, thanks to a constant stream of deadly set pieces which are suddenly revoked thanks to laughably bad saviours who seem to pop out of the cinematic ether for no apparent reason, The Death Cure is a shark-jumping bore of the highest order. 

Overall Score: 3/10