Bridge of Spies

I recently watched the latest film that features the recurring collaboration of those two notable Hollywood tours de force; messrs Hanks and Spielberg. Yes the intrinsically iconic director and the formidably iconic actor reunited in a slick, stylish and poignant Cold War thriller - Bridge of Spies.
Powerful, fast-flowing, thought-provoking and not at all dull, the teaming of sterling director and leading man seem to have puled it off once again; as Bridge of Spies seems to both hark back to a simpler way of War Film genre that does not involve violence and gratuitous blood and shooting, as well as being crisp and pitched enough to compete with the best modern thrillers around.

Based on the life of notorious legal mind James B. Donovan (played superbly by Hanks) and his efforts to secure the release of captured American pilots, and prisoner exchanges via Soviet-controlled Berlin of suspected spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), Bridge of Spies really does smack to me of a future classic.
Beautifully shot, accompanied by a superb score by another notorious movie name Thomas Newman, choc full of period touches and elements that are pitched just right, and achieving perfect balance of real old-school thriller moments (including a fantastic sequence of Tom Hanks being tailed and chased in the rain by a mystery sleuth) as well as hard hitting drama that smacks you in the face without warning before thrusting you back into the phenomenally crafted world of, cool, covert yet raw Cold War espionage.

Yet for all this films' many plus points (and there are quite a few) to me it can be summed up very simply; this is the Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance show. Two genius acting heavyweights of such talent, range, precision and power that you are instantly drawn to their characters of Donovan and Abel respectively. Every scene, nay every frame that features either Tom Hanks or Mark Rylance immediately captures you and holds you in a vice-like grip that is woefully addictive. And when they appear together; well to my mind there have been very few examples in recent times of two such superb actors both playing against and uniting with each other in such superb harmony.
Such is the way that they inhabit their own characters, and then hurl them at each other, as well as entwining together to such unique and incredible effect.
Of course, Tom Hanks needs no introduction and certainly does not need to prove himself to anyone as an actor, but to see him do his thing is never ever repetitive, and here as in any other film, to see him take on James Donovan's journey is a joy. Never has art imitated life so truly as when Rylance's Abel asks Hanks' Donovan - "are you good at what you do?" To which Tom Hanks deftly, modestly and brilliantly replies - "yeah...pretty good."
And yet scene for scene, brilliance by brilliance, we see the rising talent and superb actor that is Mark Rylance dutifully and perfectly match Tom Hanks' Donovan as suspected Soviet spy and code-breaker Rudolph Abel. He is perfectly nuanced, and imperfectly sublime. If ever there was a man to best Hanks in terms of how much you were looking forward to seeing someone in a scene during this film, Mark Rylance is most certainly it. My only slight mar and problem with his performance was that Abel's supposedly Northern English accent seemed to sway ever so slightly into Scottish which was a tad off-putting, but otherwise my only issue with Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies is that we did not see nearly enough of him; fully and totally deserving of his Oscar.

So, yes Bridge of Spies is a great modern take on a classic Cold War spy thriller. Yet above and beyond that, if you just want to see two great acting performances, look no further than Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance.

Jimeoin: Renonsense Man - The Preston Guildhall & Charter Theatre

I have seen the bordering-iconic Irish comedic force that is Jimeoin before, several years ago when I was based down south, and I have of course watched and enjoyed his various appearences on mainstream telly stand up shows, but I had absolutely no compunction in going to see him demonstrate the works of his latest tour in Preston tonight.

I got what I expected to get - pure unbridled comedic lunacy. Few other comedians I know of present such fast-paced, bordering on sense-assaulting comedy, with such sublimely superb and often creasing results. The man is a tornado of expression, perfectly timed and delivered observational comedy, and a great mix of dour Irish wit and charming lust for life and laughter.
From the tiny intricacies of married life (or at least his!) to the evolution of the human being, explained in a very unique fashion, to some brilliantly crafted musical comedy, Jimeoin's latest line up of humour did not fail to produce anything less than a steady stream of laughter out of his Preston audience tonight, and often went on to have them rendered into blubbering fits of hilarity.
His presence fills any stage he graces, yet often his most brilliant routines are achieved through the most subtle of expressions, movements and mannerisms; indeed often featuring his now equally famous eyebrows. He is clearly a well seasoned stand up craftsman whose results seem so assured and so regular that I would have no hang ups in calling him a modern day genius of comedy. Such is his appeal in my view, and it was with such ease, charm and brilliance that he dispatched me and all the audience members at the Preston Guildhall Theatre into various iterations of giggling mess.

There is not much else to say really, except: go see him! Sure very occasionally his jokes got a tad lost in translation, but 99% of the time Jimeoin nails it. If you're in need of a good laugh, look no further.

RIP Jimmy Perry

1923-2016

Another Look Back At An Old 'Un (Relatively Speaking!) : Muriel's Wedding

Not too long ago I watched for the first time the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding. This very early foray into what is now perhaps over-broadly labelled "chick-flick" romantic comedy was very well received at the time of its release and has gone on to become something of a cult classic, with legions of fans around the world still watching and remembering it fondly to this day.
Whilst I wasn't completely taken and overwhelmed with the film in its entirety, I did see some very good bits indeed, with some charming, amusing and classically endearing elements to enjoy.

Essentially the film revolves around Toni Colette in her early days as a film actress playing the titular character Muriel, whose driving ambition is to escape her humdrum, inauspicious and often embarrassing Australian suburb origins to live an exciting, successful, high-profile married life in the fast lane. The film basically chronicles her doing just that, at any cost (namely fraud, constant lies, a few awkward fumbles, a hefty amount of tragedy, a bit of light hearted tomfoolery, a degree of soul-searching and a whole lot of ABBA). Indeed, this was a film whose soundtrack quintessentially revolved around ABBA before it was popular, á la Mamma Mia.
Whilst to me there was nothing too wrong with the fairly pedestrian plot, and whilst there were not too many outright disappointments character-wise, the whole package was in danger of falling flat for me if it weren't for a few choice elements and some constant ideas that one had to cling to when watching.

Not that I'm an expert, but the whole thing seemed a bit like Neighbours on heat. And no, that's not just a dig at the Australians. In fact the Ozzie elements to me worked a lot of the time. The self-deprecating and often blunt uses of humour combined with the stunning scenery were such that the film just worked as an Australian piece. Set in America, Britain, or probably anywhere else I imagine the film would have been a total flop but in Australia they just about got away with it, sometimes to great results.
No, what made it a bit too soap-opera-esque to my mind was the very unsubtle and often poorly performed ways in which a vast array of elements and emotion were portrayed. On the one hand we had the typical 'clique girls' who were out to make everyone feel unpopular, then we had the horribly dysfunctional family, who from the very start all seem self-destructive, then we have a heady and often unbalanced mix of 90s Sydney high life. You may be thinking - so what? These elements can and in many other ventures have worked. And I would agree. But for me, unusually of a P.J Hogan piece, it was so utterly disjointed, even when supposedly all tied together by the central character Muriel. From her sofa sloth of a sister almost constantly and exclusively saying "you're terrible Muriel!" (funny the first time but quickly irritating) to a bad early attempt at Australia's Mean Girls, to an over postulating father figure whose attempts at grandeur and constant chest puffing were so clichéd that I couldn't differentiate between how annoying the character was or how annoying the portrayal was. Even the supposedly hard-hitting snippets seemed just horribly wooden in execution to me. Muriel's mother, whilst on some basic level endearing is supposed to be depressed and living in a loveless marriage, to the eventual point of suicide. This had the potential to be a beautiful and earth-shattering dramatic contrast to the more light-hearted elements of the film. But no, the actress playing her spent almost all of her time either staring wide-eyed into space, or else simpering down the phone to some member of her family. The direction of the character, as with most of the characters, was incredibly predictable, and when the short, sharp bursts of attempted raw emotion did come they seemed very jarring and often very out of place.

It sounds like I'm having a total downer on Muriel's Wedding, but not so. Whilst there were elements I didn't like, or just did not get, there were several core themes to the film throughout that did resonate, and were enough to salvage it for me watching, and better still they did make me understand this film's extended longevity and popularity.
Principally: Toni Colette is brilliant. Incredibly adorable, beautifully portrayed, and utterly endearing, Muriel is clearly the driving force of the film, but Toni Colette seems to effortlessly but constantly ram this point home so much that you cannot help but be uplifted by Muriel. And this is no small feat, as if you dissect it a bit, Muriel simplistically is a compulsive liar, a fraud, a cheat and a fantasist who for a severe chunk of the film fabricates a life that is not her own, disowns her family and turns her back on her friends for the sake of material gain and marriage to a South African Olympic swimmer. And yet, all these individual instances and traits are rolled up and hurled at the audience in this adorable, vulnerable and lovable package that is Toni Colette as Muriel from Porpoise Spit. What's more, her dynamic, unabashed and kick-ass chemistry with Rachel Griffiths' Rhonda Epinstall is sublime, and together they pretty much save the flick.

The chemistry-packed and joyous pairing of Colette and Griffiths drive the movie home, but what finishes it off (often encapsulated by the pair) is the film's completely unapologetic and hugely unsubtle heart and optimism. On the one hand it seems to say - it doesn't matter about Muriel's lying, cheating and fraud etc because she comes around in the end and drives off into the sunset with Rhonda. Yes, again this Neighbours knockoff of Thelma and Louise is a positive force, but again it is just the sheer joy with which it is done (often again embodied by Toni Colette as Muriel). It is infectious; whatever qualms you have about whichever elements of the rest of the film, the sheer heart, joy, sass and soul of Muriel's Wedding weirdly but wonderfully remains constant and impervious to all dourness. That I think is its best quality for me as a whole. Muriel's Wedding is not perfect in my view, far from it. But it does not give up in trying to put a smile on your face. And it does it with a pretty unique feel, unorthodox methods and a dazzlingly  brilliant leading lady; what more could you want?

RIP Jean Alexander

1926-2016

Bridget Jones's Baby

Yes, twelve years after her last adventure, Bridget is back. All-new tales of woe, all-new mishaps, all-new man (and an old flame) and the same levels of ditz. Yes that winning formula, based on the original idea and novel by Helen Fielding, and on the original film penned by the likes of the legendary Richard Curtis, returns after a long hiatus to complete a trilogy of films.
For me, the Bridget Jones franchise as we must now refer to these things, were a series of ups and downs in scale and feel. Whilst the formula and the chief characters didn't quite resonate with me as much as others (it may be clichéd but I do think that it is probably true to say women just get Bridget more than men) the first film still resonated and was believable to my mind, brilliantly cast and acted, and with the aforementioned writing skills of Curtis and co. did hammer home as a Brit flick classic as it did with most. Its sequel, Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason, whilst funny and pleasant did seem to me at the time to be the absolute peak of where these characters could go, and possibly well past peak in various cases.
I say characters as to me, perhaps controversially these films were always best when viewed as ensemble pieces. I think to the legions of fans who adore them Bridget is seen as the be-all and end-all, and whilst Renée Zellweger is extremely well cast as Bridget in the first two films, she is not to me what completely makes the picture. To me what does is certainly Bridget Jones but also certainly the huge plethora of talented actors and great characters she interacts with, resulting in her unique life and view of life.
So whilst I was open to the idea of them bringing Bridget back, I was a little wary that actually this time they may be a tad too optimistic and may just overestimate Bridget Jones' longevity and appeal on screen. However, by and large I feel they have just about pulled it off.

Let's start with the positives, as thankfully I feel they are definitely in the majority. First and foremost - it is still funny! The comedy was key, and this third film did have a handful of genuine laugh out loud in the cinema moments for me, and the overall tone was generally quite light-hearted and warm, which was nice to see.
A lot of key players were also back and many did hold their own so well it was like they had never been away. Of course Zellweger is still quintessentially Bridget Jones, and though there was absolutely no degree of subtlety shown in moving Bridget on with the times, the lead actress and character seemed to take it in their stride. Colin Firth too as the imitable Mark Darcy showed his constant class, charisma and charm, as well as matching any character stride for stride in terms of comedy, and his and Zellweger's chemistry, whilst perhaps not overflowing was still readily and happily accessible.
Whilst I lament the loss of Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver, as I believe that element could still work a third time done right, I did enjoy the injection of Patrick Dempsey as the latest and freshest part of the love triangle. Whilst at times obviously superficial and blasé in tone and execution, his character was actually a pleasant breath of fresh air, likeable and though at times forced, his addition was genuinely welcome amongst the well-known formula.
Other great names, talents and characters were great to see back too such as the legends that are Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones, Sally Philips, Jessica Hynes and Celia Imrie. Plus a few new faces were nice to see including Sarah Solemani and the iconic Emma Thompson (who's writing talents were also on display).
The plot isn't especially nuanced or overthought but is bright and breezy enough, like Bridget Jones films gone by.
Bridget shags two guys, Bridget gets pregnant, Bridget knows not who the father is, Bridget gets briefly and Britishly fought over, Bridget has baby, all is well, basically. There are a few added layers and a few added attempts at high drama and intrigue that in all honesty do not suit, but basically that is it. The plot I think is fresh enough to attempt to drag Bridget over a decade on into the modern world (though not sure about her diary being replaced by a glorified iPad) but not too flouncy and fragile enough to crumble too much under scrutiny. Overall the story is quite a nice, warm comedic ride that just about manages to carry the mantle of Bridget Jones.

However, not too discretely secreted throughout the otherwise quite nice third outing are glaring additions, touches and decisions that just did not work for me as an audience member, and I suspect in some cases not for other audience members too.
The first is an obvious one. For whatever reason, Renée Zellweger just does not look like Bridget Jones anymore. At least not as much. Now you may say that this is a tad materialistic, which it kind of is, and that it surely isn't unrealistic to change one's appearance a tad, which it isn't and yes it is briefly covered in the actual film, sort of. But part of Bridget Jones' charm in films gone by was how she looked, and how she was quite insecure with how she looked and came across and how she dealt with that was what made her so adorable, relate-able and lovable. As I've said Zellweger hasn't lost the ability to play Jones, but I think she has simply put her foot down this time and not put on the added weight everyone talks about with Bridget, plus has done something to her face (I'm not speculating what - I'm not falling in with tabloids and gutter press) in the intervening years between films, or she has simply changed with age. Either way, she is Bridget but not as we knew her, and that I think took away a severe advantage before we even began.

Perhaps partly down to this, and the possible fear of returning after so long, whilst as I say the general formula and nice feel is there, in terms of direction and tone this film seems a bit of a mishmash. On the one hand they would have us believe nothing has changed and isn't it all lovely. On the other hand they try and inject so many fresh new oddities and eccentricities its just confusing. And then on the third hand, whilst we know how crazy and eclectic Bridget Jones' life is, we suddenly seem to be going to a whole new level to compensate for all the changes (so much so it even outdoes the Thai prison of the previous film). I think the idea throughout is to show that however times have changed, and whatever insane situation she finds herself in, Zellweger's Bridget deals with it in the exact same intrinsic and deliciously individual way. That is not the effect this time. The lunacy and sheer dizzying array of odd occurrences and over-the-top interactions take over any character and any true character development. I mean come on - crowd-surfing at a Glastonbury knock-off and Ed Sheeran zorbing with a Tinder-obsessed news anchor. The amount of elements to this film that were clearly and so obviously just done for effect, and to try and remain relevant is beyond description. Whilst they all do not take away from Bridget Jones' core, they provided heaps of unwanted distractions and perhaps unnecessary embellishments.

My other main gripe is that, while I say the past two films have found strength in ensemble, this time the ensemble is treated often as an added extra and formality. More so than ever before, Zellweger, the writers and all the powers that be seem blatantly selfish in trying to make it all about Bridget. So much so that the likes of Jim Broadbent and Celia Imrie have barely more than cameo roles. And Jessica Hynes does not even have one line at all! These are not only proven and superb acting talents that frankly deserve more respect than this, but they are also key parts of the franchise's lore and characters that fans have come to know and love very well. To forsake them at the expense of just trying to ram home a third film that apparently should be treated like gold dust is just plain wrong in my view.

All that said, as I say for me in the end the positives do outweigh the negatives, and for any faults I or others may find in this third outing, there is no getting away from one simple fact; that it is really and truly oh so good to see Bridget Jones back!