"Renfield" - Review

Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) has a problem.
For years he has been the familiar, servant and minion of the depraved Vampire Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), and he chafes under his rule. Despite super powers and long life, the consequences of this all begin to get to him. So he enrolls in a self-help group for toxic relationships, and ends up crossing paths with not only his boss, but angry traffic officer Quincy (Akwafina), and a spoilt gangster Teddy Lobo (Ben Schwarz).
Improving oneself sucks.

This horror comedy from the outset has very "Warm Bodies" energy in its tone, stylings and even aesthetic - there are star wipes, tri-split-screen montages done to funky upbeat music, and a total acceptance of the wacky shenanigans at work here. We even start on a freeze-frame with narration from Hoult stating something to the effect of "this is me, and this is the situation I'm in..."
It works. A lot more could be done with the concept (extracting oneself from the literal thrall of an evil boss in a toxic relationship), but it gets by as a fun and cartoonishly gory comedy largely on its upbeat good graces and the talents of its cast: Nicolas Cage naturally steals the show as a truly repellant, petty, snide, delicious Dracula; and it's actually great seeing a guy appreciate the talents of Shoreh Aghadashloo by casting her as a smoky, sultry villainess dressed all in white, and Ben Schwarz is bizarrely inspired as the wannabe gangster dickhead (who gets a great subversive exchange with Renfield at the end). But it's Hoult who goes all out, and reigns in the movie. He elevates whatever he is in, and is very much the British Ethan Hawke. Here his droll monologues and quirky reactions to the violence never veer into annoyance and instead remain charming.
God fucking damn it I want a sequel to "About a Boy"...
Oh, there's a cameo by William Ragsdale as a priest killing Dracula, which is always welcome. I fucking love "Fright Night" so much.
And just in case the 2012 audience wasn't abundently clear with its Nicholas Hoult, editings, tone, plot and genuinely amusing gore: My Chemical Romance appear on the soundtrack.
And I will not tell you which one it is.

"Aunt Beth's Babysitting Adventure" - Review

Guitar technician Beth (Lily Sullivan) has been estranged from her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) for a few years now. But she's in town, and willing to catch up. Ellie is a single mother to 3 children: aspiring DJ Danny (Morgan Davies), activist Bridget (Gabrielle Echols, who looks like a budget Selena Gomez) and amusing and savvy Kassie (Nell Fisher); and is trying to scrabble money together from her tattooing business to support the 4 of them before they are forced to leave their soon-to-be-demolished home. Together, they have differing ideas on motherhood, outlooks on the other's lives, and grow to bond over a dark and stormy night mirroring the tumult of their relationship.

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We had 4 walkouts and my girlfriend was fear-sweating throughout, whilst the friend next to me was pleading for shit to stop.
10/10, solid follow up. Weird sequel to "Hole in the Ground" though.

"How To Blow Up a Pipeline" - Review

A group of 8 strangers gather together at an abandoned house in Texas, plotting to blow up the pipeline running across the land nearby. Through a selection of flashbacks, we learn the motivations of each of them, and how they came to meet.

A tense, taut masterclass in building dread and suspense. My nuts felt like they were in a vice throughout. The use of flashbacks for the 8 protagonists is effective and puctuates the build up rather than interrupting it, acting as both a release valve and a way to add twists and depth to the tale. Each of the 8 protagonists are well sketched out, going beyond charicatures and stereotypes and coming from a cross section of society. It has a lot to say about activism and unity, and manages to take some great swipes at performative activism, without feeling smug or preachy or insincere: it's a film about how maybe we have to unite under the banner of political violence if real change is to happen right now. It's hard to disagree with the politics of the film.
The performances are stellar (highlights are Forrest Goodluck and Kristine Froseth as a maverick Native American, and a white girl stoner seemingly just along for the ride. Though personally I enjoyed seeing Jake "Looks Like Every School Bully Ever" Weary in more movies, and here portraying a hard-done by working man, further illustrating the need to unite rather than being intellectually superior and classist. Sasha Lane also turns in a subtly nihilistic performance), and the stripped back, stark shooting really works in the film's favour. The 3rd act twist keeps the momentum going rather than derails it.
An incendiary film.

"Suzume" - Review

Suzume Iwato (Nanoka Hara) is a schoolgirl who lives with her aunt Tamaki (Eri Fukatsu). On the way to school one day, she ends up bumping into Sota (Hokuto Matsumura), a strange boy seeking ruins. On a whim, she follows him and learns that his job is to close doors from other realms which would otherwise unleash a monster to destroy the world. When he is cursed by a spirit and transformed into a sentient chair, Suzume takes him on a road trip to transform back. Along the way they may have to save the world!

Makoto Shinkai's latest film is a frustrating, but still ultimately engaging beast. At its strongest it is a road trip movie, jam packed with details, gorgeous watercolour animation, and engaging likable characters (standouts are Chika the orange delivery girl, pictured above, and Serizawa the cool kid who takes centre stage largely for the third act) - the comedy beats are strong and the relationships seem natural and good natured. It's a sweet film, and world in general, and Shinkai has an affection for the characters and people within it. But it's also a film of 2 distinct halves. It could have been a simple silly road trip of a girl and her chair, but instead casts that by the wayside in favour of a huge, world-spanning apocalyptic threat which feels out of place and jarring alongside its main plot. Whilst spectacular to look at, its emotional heights (including the ending, of all things) only earns its emotions and payoffs with the trick of "soaring music and big emotions"; handily forgetting that it had emotional weight and payoff earlier on with its sweet characters and their arcs, and has just abandoned them in favour of whatever the hell this Kaiju Worm plot is. It feels like coming into the anime movie finale of 2 series worth of content you have neither seen nor studied for. Whilst still impressive to look at, it still is disappointing after the lower stakes fun we've had up until now. The movie also seems to know this, as its end credits are a rather sweet series of vignettes of the characters we have met over the course of the journey.
To be fair: if I had a quid for every animated movie where Shota Sometani has played a delightful supporting character, I'd have 2 quid, which is not a lot but strange that it's happened so frequently.
It's an admirable effort and an ambitious film, and still worth a watch, but I feel it would have been stronger had it focused on its less "anime" plot. Granted, that plot is about a man transformed into a chair, but we've had weirder.

"Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves" - Review

Bard and daring scoundrel Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) and his best friend, the blunt and exiled barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez) recruit a crew of misfits to break into the tower of their old friend Forge Fairchild (Hugh Grant) so that they may retrieve a magic tablet to resurrect Edgin's deceased wife. Teaming up with self-conscious and nervous sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith), Tiefling nature advocate and shapeshifting Druid Doric (Sophia Lillis) and hot-sexy-Paladin who fucks, Xenk (Rege-Jean Page): they find themselves involved in planning a heist which unfolds into a plot to save the world...

Like your favourite game of "Dungeons and Dragons" come to life, when you try to tell that story to other people it can lead to an excruciating marathon of cringe. But here, the writers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (the kid from "Waiting"? Okay...) have thread the needle wonderfully with a good hearted heist movie where the humour comes not solely from quips or 4th wall breaking snark (though they allow themselves cute moments, like "that seems arbitrary" for spells) but from solid scripting, character interaction, punchlines and pacing. The cast bounce wonderfully off of each other and the events of the movie, rattling along wonderfully not quite at a breakneck pace but a fun, endearing one. Pine is pitch perfect in the most Chris Pine performance as the most Bard, channeling his inner Rick O'Connell; and Justice Smith is endearing as the sorcerer with self-esteem issues, basically being his character from that God-awful "Jurassic World" sequel but written well. But it's Michelle Rodriguez and Rege-Jean Page who were my favourites: the former I knew would be, and the latter in his first performance I have seen. Rodriguez was always going to be great as the blunt, plain-talking Barbarian who has a wonderful joke about a deer and is not merely a foil to Pine's bard, but genuinely good and a sweetheart companion/brother in arms, and refreshingly there is no romantic subplot between the two of them, instead being more a "two bimbling bisexuals have to babysit" situation. Page absolutely steals the show as not just a pitch perfect portrayal of a Paladin, but an inspired piece of casting which has the naturaly charismatic, handsome actor playing a brilliant, dashing, handsome, super-competent warrior who is also a complete and utter dullard in social situations. He gets some excellent laughs, and manages to make a walk amusing, and it is a shame he is not in the movie longer... Lillis is somewhat underused, as the "only competent part of the plan" but works well as the only idealist and genuniely decent one in the party. I'm happy to see her getting more work. Then there's Hugh Grant. I for one welcome a return of our beloved English treasure, here hamming it up and being deliciously, delightfully devillish and relishing the material at hand. If anything, he overshadows the actual villain of the piece, and the 3rd act loses a bit of steam with him out of the way, but the brisk and breezy and delightfully creative fights manage to save it. The set pieces are lively and effervescent: from a portal-gun sequence with flipping and rotating cameras (a nice little bit of scripting to how in EVERY D and D game the players will obtain a magic item and COMPLETELY fuck the difficulty curve with a soldering iron, using creative thinking which makes you want to end them... Side note there. Apologies), a fight with a fat dragon, a colourful wizard duel, a good punchline with the Owl-Bear, and a stand-out piece of comedy in a grave yard. Everything thrown into play comes back later in what is depressingly rare scripting in today's movies (a slingshot, a love of Halflings for a sweet gag at the end of the movie, an Owl Bear, the portal stick, even Simon's useless spells and a lute), and the end result of all of this is a comedy which works both on its own merits and as a sweet little love letter of sincerity to the source material for fans. It captures the silliness, the chaos and the energy of it all perfectly without having to resort to condescension or overwritten gags or awkward riffing and sneering at stuff. It's helped by the sincerity and how clear it all is in its intentions. Settle yourselves in for a nice, lovely time, with some fantastic performances. Oh, and keep an eye out for the other gang in the cage sequence, you'll recognise them if you enjoy shit cartoons...
End credits song slaps too