Quick Reviews #21

Earlier this week I had quite the few days of catching up on the new releases in cinema. Sunday I caught A Star is Born, Monday was First Man and Tuesday I was taken on a ride with Mandy. Three very different films and I've reviewed them all for you in another Quick Reviews post. So please read on and enjoy. 

A Star is Born

This is my first time seeing one of the many versions of A Star is Born and I can see the appeal. A drunk rocker living like there's no tomorrow, bringing a new musician into the world. What I didn't consider was that despite not seeing the original version, I feel like I've seen this before. I guess that's kind of ironic that the original premise now feels tired and clichéd. It runs a lot like a typical musical biopic; where the rise is a lot more enjoyable to watch than the fall. And there is no doubt that the first half of this film is great; a building crescendo of emotion until that powerful duet between Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper blows you away. Gaga really does have an incredible voice and now we know that she can act pretty darn well too. In fact, this whole film is full of powerful performances. They'd have to be as well because it's semi-obvious that this was directed by an actor as the camera rarely leaves a close-up position; it's all face and emotion. I don't blame first-time director Bradley Cooper for doing this - he's got hell of a cast to work with - but I would have appreciated a little more creativity at times. I had fun with this film, the second half feels a little too long and I wasn't as moved as I think the film wanted me to be. Overall though I liked it, even though nobody ever says that they’re “gaga” for Ally…

3.5/5

First Man

I wasn't particularly excited for this film: it felt like a strange route for Damien Chazelle to go from La La Land to a biopic about Neil Armstrong. I should never have doubted him though, as he takes a massive part of history and turns it into an intimate story of grief and achievement. Not only is this an interesting way to present the story, he also gets a lot more experimental behind the camera. The camera is shaky, the use of zooms and even the graininess of the footage gives you the sense you’re watching an old documentary at times. It's got such a human atmosphere, making something big feel very small and personal. There's even a sequence in the film, a mission to dock two ships together in space that shows the lift off from inside the rocket only. Inside a small pod, nuts and bolts shaking everywhere under the extreme thrust: it's very claustrophobic and I could barely breathe throughout the whole sequence. It was quite something. Ryan Gosling plays the stoic Neil Armstrong and Claire Foy plays his wife Janet; both incredible in their roles and no doubt will be getting some Oscar attention for it. At times I felt like I needed some more meat to their relationship, I was not as satisfied with their final scene together as I would have liked to have been. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of their scenes; the children running around the house and playing cut with NASA figuring out how to get to the moon - really hammered the point that they themselves were just playing, the game just costlier. Don't sleep on this one, Chazelle really knows what he's doing, a very powerful film.

4.5/5

Mandy

Having gone in blind I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this film, except that it was going to take me on quite the ride. The film follows Nicholas Cage as Red Miller and his wife Mandy played by Andrea Riseborough, whose haven is destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeramiah Sand played by Linus Roache. You may not have heard of this film and - unless you’re ready for a gore filled psychedelic revenge thriller - you might not want to either! If that sounds like your thing then you’re in luck, this film is quite something. It’s a slow burn, completely capturing you with its synth-y soundtrack and gorgeous visuals. The atmosphere is almost dreamlike: the slowness is rarely a problem as you are almost put into a trance throughout the running time. I did think some trimming could have been done to tighten things up but the first-time experience of seeing this was unlike anything else. As things heat up in the second half, it almost turns into a different film. Cage is unleashed and allowed to do what he does best; creating some terrifying and hilarious moments of badassery. You could freeze frame the film at any moment and make an awesome metal vinyl from it and stick on the side of van. The revenge story is one that has been done before but never in this approach. This is cinema at its best; knowing the experience is one unlike any other you will have again. Striking both visually and audibly: this is easily the most insane film of the year.

4/5

What did you think of any of these films? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Venom

There’s been a lot of negative reviews for Venom, the new comic book film based off of the villain of Spider-Man, but is it as bad as everyone is saying? NO, YOU’RE ALL WRONG IT’S A MASTERPIECE!!!

Who am I kidding, it’s bad, like really bad. Read on a find out why.

Venom follows Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist who’s trying to take down the head of the Life Foundation, Carlton Drake. While investigating one of Drake’s experiments, Eddie’s body merges with an alien symbiote – Venom - leaving him with superhuman powers and a twisted alter ego.

The film was produced by Sony who have had a bit of trouble with making Spider-Man films over the last few years. With Spider-Man now semi back with Marvel Studios, the company have now gone down the route of making money from the villains of the superhero instead. Now producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach have had a boner for the character of Venom for a long time, trying to greenlight a movie since the 90’s and shoe horning him into Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 despite the director’s doubts. I’m going to assume that the producers are like most people who say they “like” Venom but they don’t actually know that much about the character - instead just like how cool he looks. Personally, I don’t think Venom is that good of a character, I find him quite boring. His origin is pretty cool and is well done in the Raimi films but overall he’s not that interesting. He’s just a bit of a zombie Spider-Man and it wasn’t until recent times in the comics with new hosts that his stories became less repetitive. So, as you can imagine, I’ve not been that excited for this film.

Despite my lack of excitement for the character or the film, my interest was piqued by the cast. Tom Hardy plays Eddie Brock/Venom, he’s joined by Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed and Jenny Slate. That’s a pretty stellar cast and if you’re into your films you might be suckered into thinking that there must be something in Venom that grabbed these high-class actors’ interest. Well let’s just say there must have been a lot of money on the table for this one… Michelle Williams especially looks like she’s so bored with the film and her chemistry with Tom Hardy is so non-existent. It’s uncomfortable to watch. Only Tom Hardy looks like he’s having any fun with character and you can tell that he definitely puts his all into the character - it’s enjoyable to watch and despite the lack of comic book accuracy to the Eddie Brock character. He is actually a solid choice and it would be good to see in a more thought out film. I don’t blame the cast, they all have done and will do better.

So, the film is bad you get that but unfortunately, it’s not even one of those films that’s so bad it’s good. The whole thing just feels so uninspired and dull: the story is choppy and the heroes/villains seem to have little to no motivation for their actions. It takes way too long for Venom to actually come into play and although the film perks up a little when he does, the character just feels messy and incomplete. His powers are all over the place and his changing intentions come out of nowhere. The film feels like it was made in the early noughties, when studios weren’t as sold on superhero films and we got dumps like Daredevil and Catwoman. This film even comes complete with dodgy CGI and messy visuals that disorientate you during action scenes. It’s crazy to think that the producers - having wanted this film made since the 90’s - did not give any reason as to why this film should be made other that it being a cash grab for the suckers who think Venom looks cool and believe they’re in for a more adult take on the character. It’s dark alright but I’m talking more in terms of the lighting.

This film frustrates me because it feels like uninspired and lazy filmmaking personified. No offence to the crew that no doubt worked their butts off to try and make something out of this but it was tainted from the get go. I think it deserves this scathing review because it gives superhero films a bad name. When made with love and effort superhero films can soar - look at Black Panther - but when these films are made with no other thought than greed, well they look like Venom. As a fan of comic books and Spider-Man in particular, I should be the prime target for this film; but I couldn’t care less. I also really don’t care for the Spider-Man Villain universe without Spider-Man that Sony are trying to set up, leave the characters alone.

Venom is not a film, it’s a product. A product that looks cool but when you bite into it, it’s mouldy and makes you ill. So yeah, I’m rating it a 1.5/5. Give it a miss.

So what did you think of the film? Am I right or am I wrong? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!