Film Round Up

 

I freely confess there have been A LOT of great films (and some not so, in my opinion) that have been released since I blogged here. Some potential reviews of mine, for what they are have probably been lost to the ether, and some may still be to come - but to begin to address the situation - here's a quick round up of a few...

ADULT LIFE SKILLS

This film is admittedly a few years old, but I have only just discovered it. It features a pre-Doctor Who Jodie Whittaker (Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor will almost certainly be making a future appearance here, not to worry) as a 30-year old woman in deepest Yorkshire, who lives in her mum's shed at the bottom of the garden. What sounds like an incredibly simplistic premise results in a true gem. Gut-wrenchingly heart-breaking, hilariously comical, gutsy, earthy, very northern, very British barnstormer; that's how I can best describe it.

Gloriously crafted by writer and director Rachel Tunnard - this is one of those rare things in a film that genuinely made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions, and that thoroughly uplifted me by the end. It is just lovely.

The cast, to a man woman and child is perfect. Jodie Whittaker leads effortlessly, Alice Lowe is a genius addition, Lorraine Ashbourne is superb and newcomer the young Ozzy Myers is an extremely gifted child actor who has what I feel to be that rare gift (see an archived column piece to your left featuring why just firing child actors into the mix is often hit and miss) of being fully capable of carrying a cast and a film - he is honest, seems wise beyond his years and his rapport with Jodie Whittaker is strangely beautiful and pure to watch.

Believe me, unearthing this rare jewel of a film will be well worth it.




CHICKEN RUN

OK - this is truly an oldie; I can't believe it's now twenty years old?! But Chicken Run is that rare thing of an animation that can be appreciated on some level by pretty much anyone.

Representing one of the first tentative steps into feature films by the now legendary Aardman Animations, this film was a huge success upon release and has since become something of a cult classic, with an upcoming sequel generating a bit of tentative yet excitable hype.

Following a ragtag gang of farmed chickens and their ludicrous journey to freedom (another niche concept, I know) the resulting 84 minutes is pretty close to genius.

Featuring a brilliant voice cast (some of which do not always get the screen time they deserve sadly) led by Julia Sawalha and Mel Gibson - Chicken Run truly is a barnstorming and hilarious way to while a way an afternoon with some genuinely heartwarming animated loveliness. 





MAN UP

The brash, grating and potentially insensitive title aside, this film I still think has some plus points as a relatively new addition into the never-ending swirling and ever-expanding world of rom-com.

Again the concept is a simple, if rather far-fetched one - a case of mistaken identity on a blind date leads to chaos, laughs and a charming redemption and formation of a man and a woman, all set in 21st century London. OK, grand.

OK, maybe not so in that yes the idea behind this is pushing the limits and yes though Simon Pegg is solid in his leading man turn, he is a tad one-dimensional at times and doesn't seem to know what his character wants at any given time, despite the scripts' assurances to the contrary. And yes it does all seem a bit rushed by the end.

However, yes...the soundtrack and imagery is belting at times, yes there are some great supporting characters given life by the brilliant likes of Ken Stott, Olivia Williams and hilariously Rory Kinnear (though again the latter ventures into the cartoonish and slightly non-believable but good all the same).

Good or bad, hit or miss however, the whole thing in my opinion is held together and often carried by the brilliance of Lake Bell, who I find encapsulates a struggling, depressed dour yet feisty flirty and determined 30-something British lady in 2015 rather well. If any element shines in this one, for me it is her well and truly.

SUICIDE SQUAD

Past reads of this blog will inform you that on balance, I am definitely more of a Marvel man than DC - in terms of comics and their big screen adaptations.

However, in this anti-hero DC extended universe ensemble pic, there were some plus points; enough at least to warrant a few re-watches over the years.

This 2016 flick saw a group of villains formed to combat a common threat whilst dangling tenuous links to various other Superman/Batman pictures of the time and serving as origin stories for some characters too.

There were a quite a few misses to be seen if you look too closely, such as Viola Davis on the one hand giving gravitas and presence to proceedings, but also being far too hammy and cliched as a hard ass administrator, or talents like David Harbour hardly getting a look in.

However there were some plus points -

Will Smith may seem like a poor fit for this sort of film, but he does just about pull it off as Deadshot (although often none too subtly at the expense of others' screen time) and I think Jared Leto didn't do too badly in revamping the iconic Joker, following the Oscar-winning Heath Ledger.

However it is largely agreed that the stand out of this film was Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. For the actress it helped her go from strength to strength as one of the most coveted and respected talents in Hollywood, and it introduced a zany, ludicrous, dark, damaged, sexy, funny and sparkly character that is just how the comic book creation should be on screen - so much so Robbie has since starred in her own spin-off movie focusing more on Quinn.

As comic book movies go, DC or otherwise - this one ain't bad.