Film Review: Vox Lux

"One For The Money, Two For The Show, Three To Get Ready, And Four We Go..."

Directed and written by actor-turned-director, Brady Corbet, Vox Lux sees the American return to the big screen after the critical success of 2015's, The Childhood of a Leader, for a bizarre, sometimes masterful, ideas-heavy drama which blends a whole catalogue of themes and satirical subtexts around a central narrative which focuses entirely upon the character of Celeste Montgomery, the survivor of a brutal mass shooting at her school at the turn of the twentieth century who soon finds worldwide fame and fortune in the musical industry after the song she writes for her fellow fallen students goes viral. Boldly coined by the marketing team as Black Swan meets A Star is Born, Corbet's movie does indeed have incidental flashes of familiarity from both, but with its' own individual identity and a strange and overly knowing holier-than-thou, art-house sensibility, Vox Lux is that type of auterish, pretentious work of boldness which tends to divide both audiences and critics alike, and whilst Corbet's movie does indeed suffer at times from choosing to rely more on it's very flashy and expertly designed surface over meaningful plot or characterisation, the American's second big screen venture is a highly original and memorable work of nonsense which grabbed my attention from the offset and never let go. 

Split into two very different narrative halves, the first act of Vox Lux begins with a Sunset Boulevard style voiceover, helmed of course by the dulcet and very familiar tones of Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) as we are dropped into the early life of Celeste, as played in younger form by the excellent Raffey Cassidy (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) as we see her attempt to reason with her fellow student who goes through with his plan to carry out a mass school shooting, an opening set piece so expertly and horrifically orchestrated I sat jaw-dropped for a good five minutes through the opening credit roll. As we progress through Celeste's sudden rise to fame in the pop world, we are introduced to Jude Law's (Captain Marvel) passionate music manager and Celeste's close relationship with her older sister, Ellie, as played by Stacey Martin (High Rise) who both play a part in the doe-eyed victim slowly becoming less and less innocent as she opens her eyes to the wider and more glamorous side of the world in which she lives. Cue a significant time jump and the second act of the movie sees Natalie Portman (Black Swan) take on the role as the elder Celeste, a now world famous, significant figurehead in the music industry suffering from a steady blend of alcoholism, narcissism and broken relationships including that of her sister and young daughter, Albertine, also played in excellent fashion once again by the impressive Cassidy. Whilst I understand the commentary regarding the effects of fame and social pressures wholly evident in the film's second act, Portman's performance is so vile and infuriating (in a good sense) that come the final act, Corbet's movie becomes more and more agitating, and whilst I expect that this is undoubtedly the effect Vox Lux attempts to evoke upon the audience, it's jarring sensibility is both intriguing and detracting, resulting in a movie which is one of the more original works of the year so far, but boy, is it hard work. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Captain Marvel

"Superhero, Space Invasion, Big Car Chase... Truth Be Told, I Was Ready To Hang It Up. 'Till I Met You Today..."

Teased ever so delightfully during the post credits scene of the universally accepted brilliance of Avengers: Infinity War last year, Captain Marvel acts as the final chapter in its' respective franchise before the hotly anticipated, Avengers: Endgame, as it attempts to offer up a slice of background and characterisation to a figure before dropping her amidst our grieving survivors suffering from the murderous snap of Josh Brolin's Thanos. Acting as the twenty first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and helmed by the American directing duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Mississippi Grind), filmmakers who adequately fit the recent Marvel mould by being independent filmmakers given a chance to expand their horizons with a much larger budget, Captain Marvel finally brings forth the first female led chapter in the franchise, with the Academy Award winning Brie Larson (Room) taking the role as the titular heroine who attempts to both save Earth from the threat of Alien invasion after crash landing after a space battle gone awry, as well as digging deep into her own ambiguous and murky past which is haunted of visions of a yet undetermined previous life. Whilst not as groundbreaking or epic as the likes of Infinity War, a particular big screen feat which has now set a very high bar for every Marvel feature which follows, Captain Marvel is a thoroughly entertaining and fan-pleasing origins story which above all else, reaffirms the notion that Thanos is in deep, deep trouble indeed. 

As per the likes of Black Panther, Captain Marvel begins in surprisingly jarring fashion, introducing Laron's annoyingly named, Vers, on her Kree inhabited planet as we see her dream of the mysterious figure of Annette Benning (American Beauty) whilst being trained by the steely-eyed demeanour of her mentor, Yon-Rogg, as played in superb fashion by Jude Law (The Crimes of Grindelwald). With her powers and abilities already established in the opening act, the narrative plays with the audience from the offset as it gently lifts the lid of Ver's mysterious youth and young adulthood as we progress through the story, and whilst the opening act features a very familiar Guardians of the Galaxy-esque sensibility, due in part to the return of Lee Pace and Djimon Hounsou, the film doesn't really heat up until the story diverts to Earth, where Vers soon begins a blossoming relationship with Samuel L. Jackson's trim looking Nick Fury in an attempt to thwart the plans of the simply brilliant Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One) as Talos, a shift shaping terrorist with a knack for taking deception cues from the likes of X-Men's Mystique. With more laugh out loud humour than one might expect amidst a lovely, 90's setting revolving gag which features Blockbuster and a continuous anxiety regarding the loading speed of the internet, Captain Marvel may indeed fit the mould of the a-typical superhero origin story, but with superb performances all around from both the movie's leads and supporting acts, a genuinely interesting and surprisingly twisting script, and of course, a cute ginger cat named Goose, the latest Marvel flick may be just another side-note in the buildup to Endgame next month but when the side-note is this damn enjoyable, you can't help but admire the sheer entertainment factor such a movie evokes. Team Captain Marvel all the way. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

"Do You Know Why I Admire You, Newt? You Do Not Seek Power. You Simply Ask, "Is A Thing... Right..?"

Not being the biggest fan of the first Fantastic Beasts film back in 2015, the three year wait for the second entry in the ever-expanding "Wizarding World" franchise to focus on Eddie Redmayne's (The Theory of Everything) Newt Scamander was undoubtedly filled with notions on how exactly they could make a film with such talented performers become something I could actually enjoy. Directed by the steady hand of David Yates, a filmmaker who has helmed everything linked to the words of J. K. Rowling since Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Crimes of Grindelwald reunites Scamander with both friends and foes whilst introducing the likes of Jude Law (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) as a younger, trimmer Albus Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as the central and titular antagonist after Colin Farrell (Widows) was seen in the previous movie to simply be a jaw-dropping falsehood. Whilst swapping the likes of Farrell for Depp feels similar to trading your beautiful Aston Martin for a raggedy, temperamental French coupe with a penchant for stalling, such a trade feels only like a faint blip in the spectrum of issues prevalent in The Crimes of Grindelwald, a convoluted and needlessly tedious second wind which suffers from the simple fact of being a franchise entry which is all filler, no killer, and whilst there are particular elements which bring forth memories of what makes Rowling's world so magical and delightful, Yates' latest is unfortunately a wizarding tale of woe which fails to recreate the best the franchise has offered in the past. 

Central to the film's maddening issues is undoubtedly Rowling's script, a convoluted, messy and particularly confusing work of madness which features zero threat, makes zero sense and is bogged down by a range of two dimensional, underdeveloped characters who come and go without clearly laying down their individual intentions or overall purpose to the story. With Depp ironically the best thing in the entire movie, his Billy Idol inspired look and Bono-esque sanctimonious villainous speeches failed to prevent me from cheering inside every time he came on screen, particularly when alternative company elsewhere became more and more boring with every passing minute, and even with the inclusion of the wonderful  Zoë Kravitz as a conflicted, troublesome auror adding to list of powerful female actors carried over from the first film, her performance is let down by wonky character development and a overarching sense of her talent's being well and truly wasted. With awful camera work which featured a mix between jaded, snapshot editing and invasive facial shots which looked like the work of a drunk and drugged up Sergio Leone, one of the more obvious issues is cinematographer Philippe Rousselot's decision to mask the film in a bland, murky colour pallette, which although managed to echo the bland and lifeless feel of the film to a tee, also felt like a DC Universe interpretation of the Harry Potter franchise by failing to handle the darker aspects of the narrative and instead becoming a painful slog into unrepenting murkiness. Whilst the likes of Jude Law and even Eddie Redmayne, an actor who I still can't fully get on board with, try their absolute best to bring some sense of dramatic pull to the action, an impressive musical score and wardrobe aside can't paint over the fact that for a film which lasts nearly 140 minutes, nothing memorable actually seems to happen, and with gargantuan, bewildering plot twists crammed into a indecipherable final ten minutes, The Crimes of Grindelwald is somehow less fantastic than its' mediocre predecessor. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

"I'm Not Getting Drawn Into This Mess! There's An Army Of You, There's Only One Of Me..!" 

Oh, Guy Ritchie. With a career which began with the promising flourish of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the independently made British gangster flick which not only launched the career of everyone's favourite action star, Jason Statham, but was too a brilliantly audacious black comedy which included The Stone Roses on the soundtrack and Vinnie Jones as, well, Vinnie Jones, it seemed that ever since his much publicised mess of a marriage to Madonna, the "saviour" of all things cockney geezer went on an outstanding run of woeful cinematic failures, with the likes of Swept Away and Revolver being the two much maligned examples of Ritchie's failed promise. One divorce later and middling return to success with the Robert Downey Jr. led Sherlock Holmes movies, of which I can state to not being a massive fan of due to the success of the BBC led series at the time, Guy Ritchie returns once again to the limelight with yet another big-screen adaptation of the legend of King Arthur, utilising the skills of Sons of Anarchy and The Lost City of Z star, Charlie Hunnam, in the titular leading role in a movie which is as barmy and OTT as it is messy and overblown. Some would call it Snatch in kilts; who I am I to disagree?

After the death of both father and mother at the hands of Jude Law's power-hungry, megalomaniacal King Vortigern, Charlie Hunnam's Arthur Pendragon is raised from child to man in the heart of a slumber town brothel, taking ques from the criminal fraternity around him in order to build a reputation and presence of power with an ultimate goal of leaving for a better and more prosperous life. A touch of a sword and an god-awful David Beckham cameo later, the long lost King of Camelot is finally arisen, bringing with it ear-grating dialogue, stupidly dull action sequences and a swarm of yawn-inducing special effects which turns the latter half of the movie into some form of lifeless video game. Among these many issues, Ritchie's tenderness for the cockney geezer camaraderie is quite easily the worst element of the movie, with one scene in particular near the start of the movie in which our hero is forced to remember the day's events via flashback coming across as a somewhat Lock, Stock/Snatch parody sketch which literally left me draw-dropped at how misjudged and awfully ludicrous it seemed. Even with all these obvious issues, Legend of the Sword is the type of movie which although at times is trying to say the least, does offer a sense of "so bad its' good" in its' wacky sensibility which works in tandem with the campy hiss, boo performance of Jude Law as the film's main antagonist. Messy and narratively twisted, Ritchie's interpretation of the mighty King himself is a cinematic raspberry, but when put up against the likes of Unlocked and Sleepless recently, is a slightly enjoyable raspberry.

Overall Score: 5/10