"No Other Choice" - Review

Man-su (Lee Byung-hun, always excellent) is the manager of a paper plant, with a beautiful life, two excellent dogs, a loving wife named Lee Mi-ra (Son Ye-jin), a teenage stepson and a gifted cellist daughter. But when he is given the axe at the plant in a takeover, he struggles to make ends meet and witnesses his life slip away. But Man-su is a provider, and will not be edged out of this industry, and he has an idea: an excellent, if taboo, idea...

(Credit: Neon)
I adored this.
After the resounding misfire/"Tell Me Something" knockoff "Decision to Leave": Park Chan-wook, the master of mischievous mayhem, has come back swinging with a pinpoint-accurate, razor sharp satire on capitalism, the job market and societal expectations of masculinity and the class system of providers. It's tricksy, slippery, immaculately crafted and shot (it feels like a timepiece in the filmmaking mastery on display: with exquisitely framed shots of windows and nature, impeccable editing and split shots with things like fire and phone calls, and a beautiful mirroring at both ends. I was particularly fond of an early shot of the van with "It's What's Inside") and featuring fantastic performances across the board. Byung-hun is always brilliant, here shedding his traditional badass ("A Bittersweet Life" rules) style to wonderful effect: an extremely funny, yet dark and twisted little performance of a man justifying and reflecting and self-actualising all in one go, and Son Ye-jin is magnificent in equal measure: I thought she'd be more of a "Lady Macbeth" type role from the trailer (and Park Chan-wook's prior sense of humour and mischief) but no! She was unusual and enigmatic and had a lot to do, refreshingly so for a woman in a movie.
The film is stunningly well told, and has the funniest murder I have ever seen captured on film, well in recent memory at least. Wonderful stuff and what cinema should be: a singular vision told collaboratively.

"Wake Up Dead Man" - Review

At the parish of "Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude", young and once hot-headed Reverand Jud Duplenticy (Josh O'Connor) finds himself caught up in a murder amongst the eclectic shitheads of his congregation. Surrounded by bastards, with their suspicion and bastardry closing in, he calls upon famous debonair detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) to solve the murder.

(Credit: Netflix. Also fuck them)
I got to see this in the cinema, chomping at the bit for this.
Screw Bond: this is Daniel Craig's legacy, and will forever be Rian Johnson's.
Much like the first and second, it's a slippery, tricksy, whimsically naughty and playful beast: dishing out a delectably cromulent locked room murder, a mysterious treasure, and a gallery of weasels with their own dastardly bastardry, overseen by a detective so fun to follow you can sense Daniel Craig's need for seasoning for all of the scenery, and relishing the mad twists and turns, and chewing the dialogue like he's Rob Halford. It's a fun mystery, yes, but there's also (much like the previous entries) things Johnson is saying, this time turning his ire onto a church which has lost its way: here he skewers, rather effectively, the wealthy elites who use their churches as places to shun and despise others, and fall under the thrall of charismatic hate mongers, calcifying congregations and leaving societies and communities unable to open up, change and evolve. The cast are, as is now par for the course, relishing these parts: Josh Brolin plays a bombastic, furious, vile priest and pillar of the community whose actions are rotting it from within; Josh O'Connor's excellent as the audience surrogate and sympathetic, admirable priest in the footsteps of Martha Cabrera and Andi Brand from previous adventures (his buddy cop shenanigans with Blanc are highlights) and he has a fantastic little bit in a graveyard in the rain; Glenn Close is the iron-clad bitch right-hand woman who rules this congregation like a witch; Andrew Scott is a fading sci-fi author starting to lose his mind and become paranoid from too long in the weird world around him; Thomas Haden Church is playing his character from "Easy A" if he smoked enough hash to put Cheech and Chong in a coma, and living in a shed (I love Thomas Haden Church); Jeremy Renner goes somewhat against type as a spineless local doctor wallowing in alcohol and post-divorce misery with none of the self-reflection; and Caelee Spaeny is a disabled musician with a funny line delivered to Glenn Close. As I hoped, good old Johnson collaborator Noah Segan is back, this time as "Nikolai" the bar owner whose place is central to the case (That sequence is fucking brilliant payoff, trust me). The characters are fun to follow, and whilst some are clearly red herrings there for flavour, the taste of the dish is still a sumptuous one.
Yet it's not a simple side-swipe either: the film goes to lengths to show that these are not simple charicatures but people. Fading science fiction author Lee Ross (Andrew Scott) is aware that he's starting to attract kooks, and is self-aware enough to know that he needs to change, but the allure is too powerful (and he ends on a pretty funny "Big Lebowski" joke); for example. Craven little bitch boy Cy Draven (Daryl McCormack, here NOT attempting to have sex with an older woman, thus playing against type wonderfully) is a standout as the failed Republican candidate and streamer seeking any strand or moment of fame and prestige, yet still a victim of tragedy and able to turn away if he really wants but lacking the spine and gumption to do so: because being a grifter and shithead is easier and even encouraged by this world and the vast multitudes of bastards populating it and encouraging it.. The central message of the film is that we can do better, but many choose not to.
It's excellent fun.
Highly recommend this outing of the marvellous Mr Blanc.

"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

"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.