"The Bikeriders" - Review

The rise and fall of the Vandals motorcycle club is told by Kathy (Jodie Comer) to a photographer and aspiring journalist Danny (Mike Faist, always welcome), chronicling their beginnings under founder and leader Johnnie (Tom Hardy), her meeting with hotheaded Benny (Austin Butler) and the path the Vandals took from the 60s into the 70s...

I like Jeff Nichols as a filmmaker, and have missed him. He tends to have a good eye for the great American Fairy Tale, much with "Mud" and "Midnight Special" (the latter an incredibly underrated road movie), and recapturing older genres less glamorous and mainstream than the ones usually marketed and hyped. Here is a period piece rise and fall which does pretty much what you expect it to do from the trailers, with the added and welcome narrative device of Faist and Comer in their interviews, the two pulling it off well and it adding some spice to the movie. It tackles the mythology and fantasy of Biker Gang iconography, and is carried by its central performances: Hardy is always good, here with his tough guy swagger and posturing, but also playing the character as having watched one too many Marlon Brando movies and trying to imitate that cool as a family man (a welcome twist on the tale and adding some much needed humanity), it's a part he can play in his sleep. Butler is good too. But the movie belongs to Comer: she's the star of it, despite the trailers skewing the marketing to the more "lads friendly" Butler and Hardy, and she's great in this. Really good even. The supporting parts are aided by some memorable and lovable character actors: Nichols stalwart Michael Shannon plays "Zipco", the enigmatic weirdo who hates "Pinkos"; Boyd Holbrook is the laid back "Cal", who ends up in a fun little arc with the scary California newcomer Sonny (Norman Reedus) and Beau Knapp pops up too! Plus it's a Jeff Nichols movie, so I was waiting for the Paul Sparks cameo and it's good!
It does what it says on the tin, and has some nice attention to detail with the period pieces, costume design and props, and the photography is as pretty as ever (I prefer "Midnight Special", but hey ho! Not the movie's fault - very different beasts!). It's carried by the performances, and if you think you'd like it from the trailer, you probably will. The point when you know it's going to turn into darker territory could have been darker in my eyes, but I'm just a mean spirited bastard like that.
Yeah, it's good.
Plus, if that's your thing: Tom Hardy wrestles a man in mud, and he and Butler spend the entirety of the film in denim, leather or denim and leather.

"Arcadian" - Review

Something has happened. In the aftermath, a man named Paul (Nicolas Cage) lives on a farm, locking the doors securely during the day. He is aided by his two sons, the argumentative and rebellious Thomas (Maxwell Jenkins) and the more pensive, inward looking Joseph (Jaeden Martell), as they survive... something.

Bloody good actually.
There are few things which inspire more dread than "limited release Nicolas Cage movie" as, despite being the greatest and most talented actor alive (a statement I make with 100% sincerity), he has had a reputation of sorts: appearing in some true bottom of the barrel dreck in order to salvage it and make it memorable. Yet he'll keep putting out good or interesting or great movies in order to remind us why he's here. And the man has been on something of a tear of late: "Pig", "Renfield", "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent", "Dream Scenario", "Prisoners of the Ghostland" and "Willy's Wonderland", and I'm extremely excited for "Longlegs".
Here, we get an oddly subdued Cage performace. He's all over what little marketing there is, but his Paul is reigned in. It works. The film is refreshingly well done in the age of modern horror: we have a stark, simple introduction with no dialogue, where Paul flees from... something, in a city going wrong, which we never truly see, only getting a pretty beautiful (in a twisted sort of way) shot of the skyline, as it burns, smoke billowing from its bowels, before Paul walks away.
It remains enigmatic, mysterious and more of a character piece as the three men grow and adapt to a world around them: Thomas wants to go forth and explore the neighbouring farm, with a budding and blossoming friendship with Charlotte (Sadie Soverall); whilst the always reliable Jaeden Martell's Thomas is concerned with keeping the farm together, following his father's rules, and learning about the apocalypse. Its 1st act is fantastic: it builds, slithers under the skin, leaves you wanting more, leaves you curious, it's talented film making. Good job director Benjamin Brewer, and writer Michael Nilon. When the "thing" arrives, and breaks through the sinister fog of the unknown, its momentum actually keeps going: there's a FANTASTIC scare with Jaeden Martell in the farmhouse which had me grinning from ear to ear from the edge of my seat, where I had inadvertantly perched my jaded and cynical arse. It gets wobbly in the 2nd act, when it tries to juggle twists and character drama, and writes out their best asset (Cage), sort of spinning its wheels and trying to figure out where it goes, before it evolves into an absolutely bananas 3rd Act far different to what has come before, which will be divisive. We've all been enjoying subtlty, mystery, and not quite knowing WHAT this is, or ever really learning what happened. But I feel that the monster design is so deranged and terrifying with its chattering jaws and walls of pulsating flesh and fur, that it manages. A hidden gem, I feel.

"Furiosa" - Review

In the not too distant future, the world has gone mad. Furiosa, a young girl in one of the last remaining green places, is kidnapped by raiders and brought to their leader Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Refusing to tell him where her lands lie, she is raised as a warrior by the warlord until, as a young woman (Anya Taylor-Joy), her path crosses with warlords, warriors and the madness of all that comes with the end of time...

This had a lot to live up to, after the genuine masterpiece of mayhem, violence and kinetic lunacy that was "Fury Road". Oh great, a creative movie finally allowed to exist by a visionary director and his team, it seemed inevitable that the ghouls of Hollywood would demand a prequel to its breakout character.
So imagine that it's good.
Imagine that it's actually a "swing for the fences" piece of episodic, poetic lunacy more akin to the underappreciated "3,000 Years of Longing", made solely to cry out in rage at nobody having seen that movie. If you enjoy "3,000 Years of Longing" you'll enjoy this, George Miller adds lots of Jodorowsky to boot. Split into 5 chapters, the movie becomes less a conventional by-the-numbers prequel rags to riches tale, and instead is more an ensemble story about the world around Furiosa, the people within it, how these "societies" (as much as they are) work. It's a bold choice, and I have nothing but respect for it. The story zig-zags like a Tory minister, hopping from set piece to set piece, and keeping its revenge tale on the back burner: if you don't like one piece, there'll be something cool around the corner! It's unconventional, strange, wild, explosive and violent in equal measure. It lacks the stronger throughline of the impecable "Fury Road", but explores more of the ideas of narrative and expectations in its ending, and how stories change and evolve over time, it feels like a piss-take of the whole idea. Hemsworth makes for an excellent villain, and I want more of this kind of Hemsworth (related note: "Bad Times at the El Royale" is excellent), and somewhat refreshingly Anya Taylor-Joy is not actually present for a large chunk of the movie, she comes into it a lot later. She's good. Tom Burke leaves zero impact as Praetorian Jack, but they can't all be winners.
The action is incredbile, but less white knuckle that "Fury Road" due to its vignette nature, however they all work as little 3-Act action movies on their own, which is unique and cool and simply great film making. The cinematography, as expected, rules, and the score is markedly, refreshingly different to "Fury Road".
It's unexpected and fun.
Oh, and Charlee Fraser from "Anyone But You" is Furiosa's mother! You go, girl!
Angus Simpson is back, hell yes.

"The Fall Guy" - Review

Stuntman Colt Sedars (Ryan Gosling) drops out of the industry after a particularly nasty accident. He seems content to be parking cars and living a quiet life until producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) tricks him into coming back to help his old flame and true love Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) with her movie. It's Jody's first time directing and whilst she's annoyed to see Colt, her leading man Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has gone missing. To save the project and prospects of the love of his life, and maybe win her back, Colt embarks on a quest to uncover the missing action star, getting into all sorts of hi-jinks in the process...

The trailer is a touch misleading. Marketed as another action film from the guy who made "Bullet Train" (which is good clean fun), this is actually closer to the Burt Reynolds movies of the 1970s: throw a bit of everything into a blender, hit "pureee" and slather it over a love story. The framework is a sort of wacky, rekindled old flame romance which Gosling and Blunt could play in their sleep. It's honestly a kind of charming throwback in that regard, something we genuinely don't get anymore, though the latter half leans a lot more into the action movie almost like methadone to wean viewers into it. The action scenes are good, the pace bounces along rather nicely, and Stephanie Hsu has a cameo and is always welcome. Plus Winston Duke is good in this.