"Glass Onion" - Review

During the great lockdown of 2020, a selection of puzzle boxes arrive on the doorsteps of various members of high society: men's rights Twitch streamer Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), current Governor and environmental candidate for the Senate Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Junior), fashion icon and socialite Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), and mysterious business mogul Andi Brand (Janelle Monae). When solved, they reveal invitations to the private island reunion of laid-back billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton), who meets with his "disruptors" every year for the last 10 years for fun, thrills and games. This year he has prepared an intricate, weekend long murder mystery for them to solve! But things are not as they appear: in addition to the tensions and awkwardness amongst the group, they are joined by another guest: the debonair and dashing detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). And when something goes very much awry on the island, his services may be required...

To say that I was excited for this is an understatement of unmeasurable proportions. "Knives Out" is a slippery, playful, fun, endless delight of a film which holds up to many a repeat viewing, and may be the best thing Rian Johnson will ever make. This is not quite that, but gives us so, so, so much more of what that movie had to offer. It's so MUCH more, it's the "bigger and better" kind of sequel, another excellent murder mystery to boot. The characters are an utterly delight to follow: watching a bunch of high-society shitheads bicker and bond and pull apart and keep secrets, all under the gaze of the biggest shithead of all: Bron. The characters are a delight to follow, and the actors relish in their parts: chewing on dialogue and scenery alike, just like in the first mystery. The grander scale allows for slightly more eccentric folks, but in the context of obnoxious success and the ultra rich on a desert island, they don't come across as charicatures, rather the same examinations of upper-middle-class arrogance from the first film but filtered through EVEN MORE money and just escalated. Dave Bautista as a men's rights activist (living in his mother's basement) gets a lot of laughs (especially in the beginning), but for me the highlights were Kate Hudson as a constantly cancelled, posting racial slurs, airheaded fashion designer; and her put-upon straight-woman assistant Peg (an excellent Jessica Henwick, who gets a flat "what" at one of Benoit Blanc's lines, which absolutely kills me) - consistently getting laughs and stealing the show. The rate of humour and jokes and witty asides, observations, callbacks and planting-payoff is awe-inspiring, and this is some magnificent scripting work across the board.
It remembers that it is a murder mystery, and it's a damn good one. I was happy to call it, remembering that the "Glass Onion" in question is something with many layers, but the core is visible at all times...
Yet despite the FREQUENTLY funny moments, at its core (hah!) there is still a story about how we idolise billionaires for absolutely no reason, and when you peel back that layer of idiocy, you see the stupidity was always there. In its explosive, bombastic conclusion, where the murderer is revealed, we are happy to have been hoodwinked by the film, yes, but there's also a righteous anger to it all.
100% recommend

"Confess, Fletch" - Review

Investigative journalist Irwin M. Fletcher (Jon Hamm) is renting a house in Boston, and upon returning to it discover the corpse of a young woman in the living room. Immediately calling the police (who are perplexed as to why he is reporting his own rather obvious crime), our sharp-talking journo investigates what the hell is going on and who is trying to frame him...

This movie is electrifying script-work on display. Matching its protagonist's razor wit and rapid-fire neurons, it is a throwback to 50s screwball comedies of old, akin to something like "His Girl Friday" or fellow throwback and favourite of mine "Big Trouble in Little China". Every scene is a rapid-fire joke-fest, and not simply quips or put-downs but genuinely witty wordplay, interplay, barbs and verbal spouts. It's a fine return to form for Greg Mottola (director of "Superbad" and "Adventureland"), and for comedies in general: relying on wit and rapport rather than awkward improv and just a breath of fresh air. It's tightly paced, well-written, and the sheer number of jokes (not seen since "Booksmart") mean that it never flags or falters, and if you don't like one then then next will likely land. Or more accurately, as you are halfway through giggling your tits off at one, you'll miss the set-up of the next and try to calm yourself just in time for the next zinger. It goes along so rapidly and wonderfully that I forgot Robert Picardo was credited in this until he showed up, you have to be a great movie to do that.
Hamm is wonderful in this, and very much not Chevy Chase: which makes him 10x better for any project, including being Chevy Chase.
Izzo is great fun and always welcome in movies, and Marcia Gay Harden has been soreley missed in movies: here playing a deliciously campy Italian countess. Cameos and supporting parts aplenty have fun (Kyle MacLachlan is an art dealer who has raves to EDM in his house, which may make this the best film of the year), and whilst there is a funny role for Annie Mumolo as a stoner neighbour (who bounces off of Fletch wonderfully) and Lucy Punch and Roy Wood Jr (a socialite and slow cop respectively), Ayden Mayeri threatens to steal the show as Junior Detective Griz. Naturally, being a funny and sharp movie which casts talented performers over big names, and relies on jokes and tight scripting rather than memes, it is bombing hard.
This is criminal.
Please watch this, if only because it will REALLY piss off Chevy Chase.

"Watcher" - Review

Julia (Maika Monroe) moves to Bucharest with her partner Francis (Karl Glusman), as he has gotten a promotion. Whilst Francis goes to work, for many an hour, Francis is left alone with her thoughts. In a foreign country with no friends, no connections, not speaking the language and in a rougher part of town; Francis starts to believe that something is very wrong, and that one of her neighbours is watching her. And reading about a serial killer on the loose certainly doesn't put her mind at ease...

This is a well-crafted, slow burn, minor key pot boiler. More specifically it is a better rehash of Giallo flicks than Edgar Wright's "Last Night in Soho", with an emphasis on paranoia and the genuine dread that comes from being in an unknown land, all alone and feeling like you are constantly in danger.
The cinematography is gorgeous, director Chloe Okuno has an eye for windows and the simple touches of paranoia, and there is something intrinsically sinister about a silhouette in the window. It's not attempting to reinvent the genre, so it simply plays it bloody excellently.
Monroe is, as always, excellent and welcome in any film.
The camera lingers, lets the scene breathe, and the dread is always there, always creeping in, always present. We really get in the shoes and mindset of Julia, and feel that same feeling.
Look, if you're going to just remake "It Follows", I'm not going to complain! Hell, this one puts a spin on it.
Burn Gorman shows up in the opening credits, so you know who the villain is. And as good as the last act is, I'd have much preferred him to just be a weirdo!

"Drive My Car" - Review

Yusuke Takafu (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is a stage actor and director who specialises in multi-lingual productions of classic works. His world is shattered when his bloved wife and muse Oto (Reika Kirishima) passes away, and he tries to move on. Years later, suffering from glaucoma in his eye, he is brought on to direct an adaptation of "Uncle Vanya", and assigned a young driver named Misaki (Toko Miura) to transport him. Despite his misgivings, he loves the project, and this guarded man comes to terms with his grief and secrets of his path through bonding on the frequent car journeys with the mysterious but dependable Misaki...

The synopsis is simple, but the movie is deceptive like that. Yes, it is a character piece between these two adrift, lonesome souls on long car journeys, but that's only a piece of the puzzle. This movie is getting a lot of hype, and indeed picked up a "Best Picture" nomination and victory for "Best Foreign Language Film" at the Academy Awards (apparently "Parasite" is enough, we've had our fun with "non-English" movies, they should know their place), and I can see why. It's bloody long, but (refreshingly) doesn't drag. We're not talking "Zack Snyder" here.
It's pensive, slow, and deliberate, with lingering shots and marvellous cinematography (it's particularly good that director Ryusuke Hamaguchi and his cinematographer Hidetoshi Shinomiya don't make us feel trapped or claustrophobic in the car, but quite the opposite: quite free and open, oddly) so it should be a wank-a-thon mile-a-minute pretense ride.
But I loved it. It's a mesmerising movie about sadness and communication (a lovely dinner table scene with Park Yoo-Rim's sign-language fluent actor is just wonderfully sweet) and how it leaves us adrift. It's about loneliness and happiness in equal measure. Simple gestures like our 2 leads trailing cigarettes together through the sun-roof, or sharing a quiet drink in a tiny noir-bar are immeasurably important to them. It's affecting, touching, and deeply engaging. Yes, it's bloody long, and only tends to drag in the third act slightly, but everything up here is still warm and all too human. Particular shoutout goes to the 50 (!) minutes of build up so that we understand the relationship between Yusuke (Nishijima is a subdued and marvellously understated actor) and Oto (Kirishima makes her far more likeable and complex than would be the case in lesser works), and the pensive ending gives way to an emotional stage montage which is really, truly earned.
I genuinely get the hype, and was happy that it lived up to it, and it's going to affect different people in different ways. I recommend it.

"Castle Falls" - Review

Castle Heights hospital is finally being torn down, years after being officially closed. But inside this decrepit old monument is a stash of $3,000,000 belonging to the imprisoned crime boss Damian Glass (Robert Berlin). Berlin has made a deal with prison guard Richard Ericson (Dolph Lundgren) - Ericson can have the cash (which he needs to pay for his daughter's treatment) if he gets him a better cell with fewer stabbings. Ericson comes to grab it, but has 2 complications: out of work cage fighter Mike Wade (Scott Adkins) is on the demolition team, and has discovered the money, and ruthless gang of Neo-Nazis have arrived on site to seize the money, which they claim to be theirs... As the explosives are planted and the building evacuated, these 3 parties have a mere 90 minutes to get the money, and with this ticking clock there will be explosive confrontations...

A direct-to-DVD action movie directed by our star, Dolph Lundgren (who has earned the nudge-nudge wink-wink "Lundgren Construction" banner on the wall, touche my man) which is exactly what you want it, need it and expect it to be. It's competently made, overcoming a shoestring budget with a fun central premise and the always welcome legendary Scott Adkins (who I am delighted is keeping the action-movie star line alive, and is the one shining star of straight-to-DVD movies nowadays, actual legend that man is) to liven things up. The villains are fun and whilst it's nothing you've not seen before, it's actually going above and beyond what you expect from the usual dreck that the likes of Seagal is pumping out. You can tell that Lundgren wants to be here and wants to do this, and Adkins is great in anything. Ida Lundgren turns in a surprisingly sweet and nice performance too.
It's cheap, cheerful entertainment, and honestly I'm just happy to be getting another action movie this year, they seem few and far between

"The Banshees of Inisherin" - Review

During the Irish civil war of 1923, the people of Inisherin live a quiet and quaint existence. This is shattered for local farmer Padraic (Colin Farrell) when his best (and perhaps only) friend, grouchy folk musician Colm (Brendan Gleeson) abruptly ends their friendship. Padraic tries to figure out why, and falls deeper and deeper into despair, whilst the community itself tries to meddle and recover too.

This is classic McDonagh, but playwright McDonagh more than film McDonagh. A "feel bad comedy" which, and I cannot understate this, is VERY funny (it has the best joke about a bread van I have ever heard in my life, and it was a welcome respite for my tense cinema) but undercut and intrinsically woven with a pitch black story about divides, the meaning of friendship, and our own dreadful existential realisations. Fun stuff.
Classic McDonagh! There are excellent little touches (the sound of gunfire and explosions on the mainland during a confrontation, other characters reading the paper regarding the civil war, and trying to figure out who will win and why they are fighting) and some great supporting turns (Kerry Condon is excellent) but it remains largely a 2-man show with a fantastic Farrell and glorious Gleeson. They flip dynamics, play off of each other, get one up on each other, and own the stage (for this, despite its cinematic flair and trappings, is still very much a stage play) in this petty, narrow minded game. In the end nothing matters, none of this does, and it's gruelling as a result.
The ending has no real closure, it ends on a bleak note, and I would expect nothing less from McDonagh. We as people don't make sense, we're irrational, we hold grudges, we're petty, we're pretentious, we're casually cruel.
It's excellent cinema.
But maybe watch a nice light hearted affair afterwards, to rinse the taste.

"See How They Run" - Review

The year is 1953, and Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" is celebrating its 100th performance with a bang: sleazy blacklisted Hollywood director Leo Koepernick (Adrien Brody) is here to make a film adaptation. But Koepernick, disliked by just about everybody involved with the play and making a fool of himself at the party, puts a spanner in the works when he ends up murdered backstage. Assigned to the case are the world weary cynical Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and an eager, excitable and rather keen Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan). Together they have a struggle on their hands: not only must they contend with each other and their mismatched personalities, but also who solved this murder!

This is a delightful, droll and exceedingly British afternoon romp.Knowing and nudging without being smug or insincere about it, it comes across like a love letter to murder mysteries. Its use of "The Mousetrap" is both a creative setpiece and period detail; and adds to the meta-textual playfulness of it all. Opening with a film noir narration by a suitably sleazy and deliciously oily Adrien Brody talking about how he hates murder mysteries and "whodunnits", like all good ones it gives a clever viewer the killer in the first few minutes and then justifies why with it was indeed that person you thought little of.
The supporting cast are strong, from a campy David Oyelowo to a prickly Ruth Wilson and Reece Shearsmith, to an always welcome Tim Key as the chief of police and national treasure Shirley Henderson immediately elevating proceedings for a cameo as Agatha Christie. Rockwell is always wonderful, and here plays his droll best, and is wonderfully counterbalanced by an all too eager and rather amusing Ronan. The transitions and audience-knowing interweaving of the plot and its mechanics never get grating, and make for a bouncy ride.