"Song Sung Blue" - Review

A recovering alcoholic by the name of Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) is about to come on stage as a last minute Don Ho impersonator, but refuses to do it. When Patsy Cline impersonator Claire Cartwright (Kate Hudson) tells him he'd make for a pretty good Neil Diamond impersonator, an idea takes root...

Based upon a documentary, which I am sadly unfamiliar with, about a Neil Diamond Diamond tribute act (though they would much prefer the term "Neil Diamond Experience") by the name of Thunder and Lightning; the film's pretty good and elevated by the two central performers. It has a pleasant attention to character details and little moments (a bit with a coffee cup comes back wonderfully) whilst focusing on a pair of extremely decent people trying their best in the world to get by and make art, perform and be themselves. It's the inherent likability of the larger than life "Lightning" (complete with a lightning bolt on his tooth, and a habit of saying "I'm huge!" whenever asked how he is) and "Thunder" (a wholesome single mother, upbeat and cheery) and the two excellent performances on display which bolster the film. There are excellent supporting turns from Ella Anderson and King Princess as the two artists' daughters, a fun part for Michael Imperioli (whom I wanted more of) and another for Fisher Stevens (plus Mustafa Shakir turns up! Heck yeah); and the film's focus on home life is admirable and fairly well shot. When the film takes a turn in the second half (as you know it will) Hudson is the one who rises to the challenge, and is excellent.
My favourite scene was the one in a Chinese restaurant, as an adoration of music transcends language and allows people to just bond. The film also does a fine job of showing that Thunder and Lightning were legitimately fun. Even if you've seen a lot of these sorts of biopics before, the execution is good.

"Sinners" - Review

The year is 1932, and during the height of both Prohibition and Jim Crow Laws, wayward twin brothers Smoke (Michael B Jordan) and Stack (Michael B Jordan) Moore return to their home city of Clarkdale, Mississippi, with a bounty of wealth and alcohol from their time with the Chicago Outfit. Intending on setting up their own Blues Bar, they meet up with old friends, including their brilliant Blues-prodigy cousin Sammie (Miles Caton) and Stack's passing ex-girlfriend (with a bone to pick with him) Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), and begin to assemble the dream team for running the joint: legendary Blues musician Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo, always fantastic); sharecropper and big bouncer Cornbread (Omar Miller); Smoke's superstitious wife Annie (Wunmi Mosaku, who I'm happy to see coming a long way since "Moses Jones") for the position of chef; married shopkeepers Grace and Bo Chow (Li Jun Li and Yao) as their in house staff; and the brothers running the day to day affairs - things are coming up roses! But opening night coms around, and a strange guest will bring different worlds together...

Ryan Coogler has, quite rightly, performed some sort of twisted sorcery with the brokering/distribution deal for the film: managing to gain ownership of it after 25 years (a truly fucked up commentary on the state of the film industry as a whole, when one comes to think about it), as well as first cut at profits, in return for allowing Warner Brothers (the norovirus of companies) to distribute. This is fantastic news for the industry as well as Coogler, and a much-needed win for artists.
Also, the film is fucking great, which is a welcome relief and bonus.
Clocking in at just over 2 hours, Coogler's film tells a tale of black identity, grief, "passing" and the spiritual, transformative power and history of black music for the first half; and is such a fun, well observed character/period piece sumptuous with emotion and detail, that when the supernatural elements kick in during the second half and (without spoiling much) it turns into a cross between John Carpenter and a certain Lance Henriksen movie musical, it fels not only seamless but like getting two fun movies for the price of one. I could happily just watch these guys (excellently played by Jordan, though the entire cast are wonderful, and Caton is a hell of a find) simply run a bar; so when the blood starts flying and everything hits the fan, it's beyond cathartic and engaging. The big swings work (musical numbers like a barn-burning and rambunctuous rendition of "Rocky Road to Dublin", playing with time, and even a sweet cameo from a Blues legend at the end to cap it all off), because the characters and the themes do, it's an audcaious and perfectly crafted work. Sterling work from one of the better films allowed to work and have visions today.

"Mean Girls" - Review

You know what "Mean Girls" is.

This is a musical remake of a 20 year old film. A film which has cemented itself into lexicon and pop culture and made stars of its cast, and probably one of the few 2000s films to earn its title of "classic". The original (it's so weird to say that) was about hierarchies, the corrupting nature of popularity and power, and the need for women to stop being so just damned mean to each other.
So, what does this remake add to the table?
Honestly, nothing.
I was cautious regarding this, and was essentially sent as a surrogate viewer because my partner refuses to watch a remake of one of their all time favourite films, which is only 20 years old. And you know what? Fair.
The movie has a lot of energy and punch behind it: the transitions and editing make the musical work for the big screen (which is refreshing to see, honestly, in the era of musicals ashamed or afraid to be musicals, and no, I'll never stop calling Tom Hooper a talentless hack), and there is a lot of energy to the film. They open on a garage door DIY self recorded number, then open the door to reveal the plains of Kenya where our protagonist lives, for example. There is a Greek-chorus/backing band of the theatre kids, who we see play in the numbers throughout the film, and they have a lot of fun with blurring diegetic and non-diegetic elements: for example as the characters dance through the school canteen on one number, the band are playing on one of the tables, and the headmaster tells them to "get down from there!". That made me laugh, touche movie. As did the addition of a little parallel "Mean Boys" clique with Kevin G and the Matheletes. That got a good laugh.
The characters are honestly pretty well cast: I like Angourie Rice as an actor, and am happy to see her in a leading role as Cady. She does a good job. Renee Rapp is an absolutely stellar Regina George, relishing the part and having a blast playing it (as one would); all of her numbers are done in a sort of breathy, Billy Eilish, whisper sung style, and I like the choice and feel it could work, but personally they didn't click with me and I couldn't name a song for you. Bebe Wood is a good Gretchen Weiners (and from the side, weirdly, looks like Lindsay Lohan), and gets a sweet little characterising number in a cupboard (though, to fans of the original, Gretchen already gets given depth through her arc in the movie, though I digress...). Avantika honestly steals the show as Karen, having a great time playing her. Auli'i Cravalho plays outcast lesbian girl Janice (whom they actually make a lesbian here. On the one hand: yay, well done, but also I like reading the original as a joke about how we assume people are lesbians, you know?) and has some pipes on her, but the character here is schizophrenic and feels from a different movie. Her numbers (which are the ones the makers and songwriters feel are the "big, empowering songs") are full of soaring vigor and high notes and lyrics about not giving a shit - but very clearly Janice does give a shit: she spends the entirety of the movie fixated on vengeance against a particular person for the way they have treated her. It's like the wrote the song and worked backwards. Cravalho easily has the best voice in the cast, but that "Disney Girl Boss Energy" is misplaced.
And that is the key problem with the film: it's a musical where the songs aren't very good.
I remember liking one of Regina's songs in the moment, and enjoying the staging and choreography on the whole and for the most part, as I've said before, but two days after watching it: I'm only able to remember one song. Fittingly it's Karen's song, about how much she loves sexy Halloween costumes, a throwaway number which has nothing to do with the plot and is fitting for Karen as a character. When you're doing a musical and the songs are not particularly catchy, memorable or good? You have a problem. And when the musical is based upon a beloved film based on character development, satire and witty dialogue? That's a bigger problem. It adds nothing to proceedings. However, it does remove the racism of the Asian characters (always welcome, good job there) and the paedophilia joke with the coach (again, good work) and enough energy, relish for the material and effort on display to be more than a simple cash grab. It may possibly work as a companion piece to "Mean Girls" if you know the original text, but so much of its humour relies on knowing the characters, and what parts do work are merely holdovers from the original text. It's hard to separate the two of them from each other. Every time I chuckled, or smirked, I thought "is this just a holdover from the original?". At best it feels like homage, but most of the time it feels like theatre kids riffing on it and quoting a film you've never seen (to be fair, that was the majority of my experience with "Mean Girls" for many years, so that may factor into it...).
Yet the whole thing has enough joy and effort on display, I can't QUITE bring myself to hate it. It's not necessarily something I recommend to a fan, but I'm also not sure how a person unknown to the material will enjoy it: maybe it'll be great?

"Theater Camp" - Review

Every year, the AdirondACTS theatre camp run by Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris) is home to the outcast, the fabulous and the theatrical kids, underdogs all, who come together to learn about acting, singing, dancing, stage craft and how to put on the best show you've ever seen! This year, there is a documentary crew here to follow Joan and her arts. But when she suffers a seizure, and falls into a coma (the first ever "Bye Bye Birdie" related injury ni the county's history), the documentary makers are forced to move onto new subjects on the first day of shooting. Namely, we follow acting teacher Amos Klobuchar (Ben Platt), and his co-dependent best friend; the new Age past life-healer and musical director Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) as they must contend with the news, putting on a musical in Joan's memory, the new stewardship of the camp under her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro), his attempts to save it from financial ruin, and the new influx of kids this year. Complicating this already huge task is the revelation that a Ms Krauss (Patti Harrison), a representative from a rival camp, is here to buy them out, and the new kids have their own issues they have brought to camp this year...

This movie was absolutely fucking brilliant.
A madcap spiritual successor to "Waiting for Guffman", with rapid fire jokes not seen on a level since "Booksmart" (featuring some of its alumnii, as a matter of fact! But I get ahead of myself...), razor sharp scriptwriting and a runtime which never outstays its welcome come together to make a witty and sweet comedy: the pace is something to behold.
Ben Platt is great in this, and actually won me over after playing Dear Evan Hansen in that bad version of "World's Greatest Dad", here relishing the part.
But I was here for my queen Molly Gordon, frequently the best thing about whatever she is in (a welcome anti-anxiety medication in "Shiva Baby", a hilarious best friend in "Broken Hearts Gallery", the antagonist and zinger-master in "Good Boys" and the one whose simple delivery of "Where the fuck do you live?" in "Booksmart" still has me in stitches to this day) and here finally relishing the chance to play a role she has wanted for her entire career. They carry the production wonderfully, and the supporting characters all get a chance to shine. The pace of jokes never let up, and they land each and every time in their celebration of this mad, "theatre kid energy", and even the age-old reaction shots of people having to put up with this bullshit never gets old. Troy is essentially Tatro's character from "American Vandal" again, and most welcome here, and the performers across the board all get given gems. Not a single scene goes by without somebody getting a great joke in. Noah Galvin from "Booksmart" also shows up, and "Booksmart" cast members are always welcome. From Troy trying to bond with the kids and calling them "Fam", "Squad" and the like, only to be called "Cishet" to mocking laughter; to the efforts of oddly talented yet overlooked theatre kid Glenn (Galvin) trying to keep the place going; to the new teacher Janet (Ayo Edebiri) bluffing her way through every class after lying on her CV; Rebecca-Diane and Amos trying to just make and write a damn musical: it juggles an enormous number of plates in the air, a huge number of funny characters, and has them all pay off in terms of punchlines, big and small, and emotional, satisfying arcs by the end of the story. It includes 2 coming out jokes, bookending the story, and has not a single mean spirited bone in its body.
Come for Molly Gordon and the redemption of Ben Platt, stay for the antics of Troy, the drama of shows, a cocaine-based musical number, a disatissfied Air B'n'B guest, a welcome cameo from Patti Harrison, and the warmth of its heart.
A fantastic debut, and I unironically want a TV show based on this, and a full length musical based on the final number.

"Bill and Ted Face the Music" Review - From the Vaults

"Bill and Ted Face the Music"

Bill S. Preston Esquire (Alex Winters) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) have not yet fulfilled their destiny of uniting the universe. Wild Stallyons have broken up, the pair have not yet written the song destined to bring unity, they are playing dive gigs, their princess wives Joanna and Elizabeth (Jayma Mayes and Erinn Hayes) have started going to couple's therapy, and everything basically sucks. The only highlights are their daughters Theadora "Thea" Preston (Samara Weaving) and Wilhelmina "Billy" Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) whom they love dearly.

Then matters worsen when Kelly (Kristen Schaal), the daughter of their time travelling mentor Rufus, informs them that reality as we know it is collapsing: the only way to save it is to write and perform the legendary song in the next 77 minutes!

Our gruesome twosome embark upon one last time travel adventure, deciding that the best way to get the song is to steal it from themselves in the future! Meanwhile, Billy and Thea decide to help out in their own way, by going backwards in time and forming the awesomest, most tubular band they can to back their dads!

This movie is delightful.

It's an amiable, lovely little adventure in which our two leads have slipped back into their titular parts like old gloves. It's two guys who we just immediately like, who are never mean spirited or unpleasant, and somehow still amusing and interesting to watch. I have missed Alex Winter, and Keanu is always amazing.

And as their daughters, Weaving and Lundy-Paine are equally great. Samara Weaving is somebody whose career I have always wanted to follow ever since "Ready or Not" and is carrying on the momentum of that movie, here given some real gem lines; whilst Lundy-Paine is an excellent physical actor: the way that they move and mimic Keanu Reeves' Ted is pitch perfect. The rapport that the two have is wonderful. Plus it is excellent seeing non-binary actors in major roles in movies.

The supporting cast are fun, nobody outstays their welcome, I've missed William Sadler, and it's a wholesome movie about family, supporting each other, being excellent to each other, and time travel shenanigans.

It's what we need this year.

"In the Heights" Review - From the Vaults

"In the Heights"

In Washington Heights, New York: an eclectic group of predominantly Latin American citizens dream of a better life; and a winning lottery ticket has been bought by the people... Against this backdrop, Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) tries to whoo the beautiful Vanessa (Melissa Barrera); Nina (Leslie Grace) is welcomed home from Stanford by the neighbourhood, her old friend Benny (Corey Hawkins) and her proud father Kevin (Jimmy Fucking Smits); and the looming spectre of gentrification threatens to envelop them all...

This movie is fucking spectacular.

There is no other word for it.

It is akin to an injection of pure euphoria into the eyeballs and brain, administered by masters of their craft.

Yes, the numbers are amazing without a dud in the bunch (personal favourites are "96000"; "Benny's Dispatch", "The Club" and "Paciencia y Fe") but so much praise has to go to John M Chu for making it electrifying to watch, stage and experience. He elevates this all above a clunky translation to the big screen and makes it feel like a true film, lets it breathe, lets it intoxicate you. Even the smaller, not as bombastic and more traditional romance number between Hawkins and Grace ("When the Sun Goes Down") is rendered gorgeous and mindbending with its choreography and creativity.

The underground sequence for "Paciencia y Fe" is going to be talked about for years to come. 

Even if you're not a musical fan, I can highly recommend it for the technical capabilities on display.

This man directed the masterpieces of "Step Up 2: The Streets" and "Step Up 3D" and it fucking shows.

This is contender for movie of the year.

"Annette" Review - From the Vaults

 "Annette"

When asshole comedian Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) begins a whirlwind romance with beloved French opera diva Ann Defrasnoux (Marion Cotillard), they soon birth a daughter named Annette. Over the course of their relationship, we embark upon an odyssey of control, abuse, talent, celebrity, misogyny and the trappings of wealth and fame...

Remember when I said that "Space Jam 2" made me reconsider my views on art and the medium of cinema?

This regrew my faith in it.

This is a rock opera by Sparks. 

That sentence will immediately make you decide whether or not you want to watch this movie, and whether or not you will enjoy this. 

Sparks fucking rule. I'm torn between "Big Beat", "Hippopotamus" and "Indiscreet" for which album is best. But that's the beauty of Sparks: every fan is correct!

The music, as expected, is fucking genius, opening on the truly breathtaking "So May We Start"and never letting up from there. It's a truly quirky, delightful soundtrack throughout. Cotillard, as expected, is phenomenal, and whilst Driver is a lot less impressive initially, it fits his character as a man whose estimations and arrogance and cruelty override his talent; something the actor is clearly aware of. This is one his nastiest, cruellest performances in ages, and after that fucking dire piece of shit "The Rise of Skywalker" it is good to see him not only being allowed to act, but being allowed to play an actual villain.

His controlling, domineering, vile presence and stage persona as a comedian makes this a far superior "Joker", especially with the film's central gimmick of having Annette played by a wooden puppet, reflecting his control over women he so casually, cruelly enjoys

It's a surreal, 4th-wall shattering movie about control, fame and love and how it destroys and is inaccessible to the truly evil. But it is not for everyone:

Despite some gorgeous (genuinely AMAZING) shots and scenes and a never-ending gourmet of music, it's not for everyone. It's surreal, goes on for too long (you can trim part of the first act and a fair bit of the third. My fiancee recommended an EXCELLENT part where it can end, despite a truly lovely ending with a great child actor) and I can definitely see why this is not widely marketed: but this is a story which wanted to be told, a passion project of love, romance, music and beautiful imagery.

Also, side note, I appreciate that Simon Helberg (under-utilised here, but excellent, much like in "Florence Foster Jenkins") and, to a greater extent Adam Driver, are embracing weirder projects and throwing off their mainstream parts, overshadowing their bigger co-stars in those projects.