Stardust is a Masterpiece…

When I first saw Stardust back when it released, I assumed naively from the trailer that this was nothing more than a silly romance dressed up as light fantasy. I was convinced going into the cinema that this would be cheesy and dull. Before you judge me too harshly, bare in mind that I was about twelve years old at the time, and anything that didn’t have copious action, armour and swords was inferior in my mind. It was also long before I read any of Neil Gaiman’s books, so I had no idea who he was or that the films and books he has written are all intensely fun. But thankfully, even at that age when I was a very narrow minded film-goer I recognised as soon as the movie got going that this was a classic in the making.

Stardust ticks all of the boxes I need to enjoy a film. It’s quotable, hilarious, full of great cast members giving memorable performances and has a delightful amount of wacky fantasy concepts. As a fan of fantasy, finding enough good genre films can be a nightmare. There are so many dull fantasy-lite films out there that are usually set in the modern day, where magic is real but somehow hasn’t affected human history at all. I love all–in fantasy, where the entire world is different to our own, and magic causes many things we deal with in the real world to be completely different. Neil Gaiman is great at doing this. Stardust is a simple story at its core, but uses that to explore a strange world with wonderful characters and concepts.

It takes place in the kingdom of Stormhold, a world reached by a portal at a country wall in a small English village. That itself is a fantastic concept, something that comes right out of wishes I had when I was a kid. The plot follows country boy Tristan Thorne’s attempt to take a falling star back to his love interest, only to discover that the star is in fact a woman named Yvaine. The two slowly fall in love throughout, and it is a sweet romance, but the main plot is not what makes me love this film so much.

The best part of this film is the setting. Stormhold is a weird and wonderful place, and we feel as we watch the film as though we’re only seeing glimpses of how the place works. Eyes in a jar that follow you. Tiny live elephants being sold like toys. Lightning being collected by pirates and sold on the black market, even containers of lightning being used as an impromptu weapon. The scenery is beautiful, shot in Iceland and the island of Skye. The shots of the stark countryside give us the impression of a wild and untameable country, with its own unique geography. Since the film begins in a small Victorian village, the juxtaposition between the two locations serves to make the fantasy elements seem all the more creative by comparison. The sets are a wonderful blend of late medieval style architecture and full-blown gothic when the witches castle is reached later in the story.  The buildings shown are ridiculous in style and proportion, but work within the logic of the world created.

This film is one of the few that makes me laugh even after having seen it countless times. Part of this is the cast. The actors who play the ghosts of murdered princes are a highlight, always reacting to events of the film while the characters carry on oblivious. In particular, Rupert Everett and Mark Heap bring great humour to their performances and manage to work in subtle character moments with limited screen time. Mark Strong is an effectively threatening villain but still has scenes in which he pulls off great comedy, such as when he pretends to be poisoned to make fun of his brother. My personal favourite is Robert DeNiro however. His Captain Shakespeare is a brilliant surprise the first time you watch the film. This tough pirate captain played by an actor known for tough violent characters, turns out to be a polite, softly spoken stylist. He is a pleasure to watch, as he chats amicably with his former prisoners and gifts them lessons in dancing, swordplay and nice clothes. His scenes are my favourite part of the film, and a lesson that characters can be nice people and yet still be fun to watch. The leads, Charlie Cox and Claire Danes, have decent chemistry and bring charm to the film. Cox’s Hugh Grant style of awkwardness is good fun, and Danes does a great job portraying the extreme crossness of a star having been sent crashing to earth against her will.

Musically, this film excels too. The themes are woven effortlessly into the film at key moments, at times triumphant, at times whimsical. There are plenty of cool montages and each one has a great piece of music backing it up. The costumes are interestingly made in the style of the 18^th century, with some differences. It lends the film a swashbuckling tone that feels instantly fun and light-hearted. Mathew Vaughn directs the film, and much like most of his other work, he shoots each scene with a sense of energy and plenty of unique shots that liven even the simplest scenes up. There is a healthy dose of sword fighting and action, but the film never feels bloated by it. The action is personal, the fate of the world may not be at stake, but that doesn’t stop the tension from rocketing up during the final act. The choreography during the final duel between Tristan and a voodoo-controlled corpse is inspired.

This film has it all, great action, amazing scenery, moving music and all-round strong performances. It’s funny but knows when to be serious. It’s filled with fantastic actors but keeps focused on the main leads. It has clichés and yet uses these in unique ways to deliver a fresh take on the fantasy genre. Overall, it is an excellent film, full of excitement, romance and Robert DeNiro in a tutu. What more could you want?

New Video up on YouTube

Over on my YouTube channel I recently uploaded a video essay exploring the excellent acting in the film Split. If you would like to take a look, here it is:

Doctor Who: Spyfall

Series eleven of Doctor who was fine. That’s all I really have to say about it. I watched it when it came out last year and thought it was mostly fine. There were some weak points, the main villain was ridiculous in a completely unintimidating way for example, but overall the writing was just competent yet not particularly memorable. There were exceptions, Demons of the Punjab was a very emotionally stirring and well written story, however most of the episodes felt a little underwhelming. Because of this I wasn’t on the edge of my seat waiting for the new years special, Spyfall. It looked to be another safe holiday special riffing on a classic genre. Much like The Return of Doctor Mysterio was a fun yet uneventful superhero homage.

I suppose I should get some cream for my humble pie. This newest episode was honestly really exciting and shook up the stale formula of series eleven with some much-needed character progression, and some decent and actually surprising twists. It wasn’t perfect, but the writers seemed to have taken on board some of the criticism from the previous series and Spyfall was overall a great improvement. It fixes a lot of the things that I think were holding it back last year, and proves that while Chris Chibnall may not be the most exciting writer, he can make a damn entertaining episode of television when he wants to.

Spyfall begins much as most of the episodes in series eleven did, with the Tardis gang spending a few moments with friends and family before being whisked away by the episodes plot, MI6 agents. I was already tuning out a little at this point, the formula was pretty clear. A few moments of characters checking in with their normal lives, plot happens, they meet up with the Doctor and go on a self-contained adventure, exchange a few quips and then end the episode on some cute emotional moment. That is how Spyfall got me. The first sign of something new was when the agent who had rounded up all of the Tardis gang got vaporised inside his car. This abrupt and brutal murder happened during a scene which normally would only be used as set up for the rest of the episode, and caught me by surprise. This was followed by a pretty fun scene in which the Doctor attempted to regain control of the car as it tried to drive them all off a bridge, all the while shooting lasers at them. Such a big set piece early in the episode before we even knew what was going on was just a little more daring than I expected from Chibnall, and that wasn’t the only surprise to come.

When we meet C played by Stephen Fry, I fully expected him to last most of the episode at least, and be the person the Doctor and team interact with the most as they go on their spy adventure. After all, why else would you get such a big name as Stephen Fry? I was shocked again when halfway through the dull exposition scene, Fry’s character was shot in the head. Lesson learned, the stakes are higher, and the plot won’t wait for the team to figure out what’s going on. These deaths, while not as impactful as if they had been main characters, at least demonstrates a willingness on the part of the writers to let the audience be in the dark, and to rely less on characters spouting information, and more on the story unfolding organically. We don’t even find out who the strange creatures behind the killings are until part two.

The rest of the episode, and part two contain a few more twists and turns, although most are less surprising, and some really decent characterisation that has been missing in the new series until this point. I love that although there are some moments that pay homage to the spy genre, the story isn’t dominated by it. In fact, the name of the episode and the tone of the trailer tricked the audience into assuming this was a safe Doctor Who take on espionage, then pulled the rug from under us as the genre switches halfway through. The story goes through multiple time periods and re-establishes the Master and the Doctor’s rivalry in a refreshing way. The newest Master, played by Sacha Dhawan, is just the right combination of unhinged and Machiavellian. He finally has his own Tardis back, and even a weapon from the classic series, the Tissue Compression Eliminator which shrinks people down killing them instantly.

The Doctor finally can’t run from the things she hasn’t told her crew. While last year Yas, Graham and Ryan seemed oddly trusting of her and willing to go along on adventures without finding anything out about who she was, they are now finally fed up with the secrets. They ultimately won’t allow the Doctor to keep deflecting and she finally has to tell them who she is, something that really should have happened earlier. It feels as though the show is finally comfortable enough in its newest incarnation to start reconnecting with it’s past. Chibnall seemed keen last season to avoid references and reintroductions. He clearly wanted to focus on new creatures and stories, and while this was good for making the show feel new, it was frustrating to old fans. We don’t need all the old villains to come back, but the Doctor has a rich history and not tapping into it makes the show feel shallow. Spyfall seems to find a good balance, with the mysterious Kasaavin and the plan to wipe humanity’s DNA for storage being an interesting new creature and a fairly original evil plan, but with the reintroduction of the Master and Gallifrey reaffirming the connection to the past.

The seeds of mistrust the Master planted in Graham by asking if he really knew the Doctor, and the secrets she still keeps from the crew even at the end of the episode hint at an evolving dynamic between the main characters, which will be interesting to see unfold. I hope that there is a firm emphasis on fleshing out these characters. Despite knowing a lot about their family and life, they still don’t have much actual personality between them, although there were flashes in this episode. The story wasn’t perfect of course. The Master tells the Doctor that Gallifrey has been destroyed, and she visits at the end to find that he was telling the truth. After all the effort that was put into saving the planet and its people, destroying it offscreen feels cheap. It whiffs of recycling the last of the time lords plot from the first six series. Not to mention that it lacks impact, since the show hasn’t revisited the planet since 2016, and we don’t know any of the characters living there. However, this is only a setup for an ongoing plot, so I’ll wait to see where Chibnall goes with this.

Overall, there were flaws, but this two-part special feels like a firm step in the right direction, introducing new character arcs, blending exciting action and deep character drama, and finding a good balance between new and old. I enjoyed it a lot and I now have higher expectations for series twelve. Let’s see if you can keep it up Chibnall…

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

A really fun send up to classic Hollywood with some troubling elements…

Tarantino is an interesting director. He has a unique style and flair for dialogue, yet his work can suffer from indulgence that drags down the pacing and they often contain problematic elements, mostly unnecessary violence against women or sexual assault. Art is subjective of course, and a director can have many reasons for why certain things are in their films, but after it shows up in many of their films, you can start to see a pattern.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a great film. It has some amazing performances and brilliant characters. The dialogue as always is massively entertaining. Leonardo DiCaprio makes an excellent washed up action star, and Brad Pitt is very watchable as a laid back stunt man. There are sections of the film that really stand out to me, for instance when DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton is struggling to remember his lines on set and has a break down. His conversion with the young child actress onset and his triumphant scene where he finally nails the performance is incredibly cathartic and it shows that though he might not be the same star any more, Dalton can manage to reclaim a small amount of what he once had.

The film handles Sharon Tate and the history around her for the most part in a respectful way. In the scene in which Tate goes to see her own movie at the cinema, the film she watches features the original Tate and doesn’t try to composite Margot Robbie on top of the film, as is done with Dalton later on. Every scene in the film which makes fun of Hollywood is hilarious and demonstrates the more ridiculous and fickle sides of the industry. Tarantino clearly had a lot of fun making this film and it shows in the send ups he does at the beginning of the film to his own work. There are many flashbacks to Dalton’s films and a lot of them are clear parodies of Tarantino’s work, including a western tv series and a war film in which Dalton kills a group on Nazis with a flamethrower. Tarantino almost seems to be commenting on his own career through this film. Dalton used to be a much bigger star than he currently is, and while Tarantino is still big, he isn’t perhaps as fresh and exciting as he once was. He even tried to retire a few years ago.

The film is less a defined story and more an exploration of a golden age of movies that has passed by. Dalton meanders around nearby more famous people; he even lives opposite Roman Polanski. The Manson family plot seems to be attempt to right wrongs of the past through film. (Spoilers for the ending) In the real-life events the Mansons invaded Polanski’s home while he was away and brutally murdered Sharon Tate, his pregnant wife along with three friends. In Hollywood, the cultists instead recognise Rick Dalton from his old TV show and decide to kill him instead. However, they don’t account for Pitt’s character Cliff Booth coming home having smoked acid. He freaks them out with his behaviour and manages to fend them off with the help of his dog. They all end up dying as a result of their murder attempt, symbolically avenging Tate and preventing the event that helped end the golden age of Hollywood from happening. Dalton even gets to visit Tate in her house and the film ends with them all the characters that died in real life getting to live on.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. And yet certain areas of the film did make me uncomfortable. Coming back to the ending, although it can be seen as a depiction of awful people getting their comeuppance, it doesn’t feel the same as Inglorious Basterds. In that film many Nazis are horribly killed, but since most of them are men and they are seen in the film committing horrible atrocities themselves I can cope with it a lot easier. But we never see any of the Mansons commit murder or any really nasty crimes before they show up at the house. They intend to kill Dalton, but it doesn’t create the same feeling when all they have done is talk about killing people. And the way Cliff kills them is not fun to watch. He launces cans in their faces, repeatedly smashes their heads against walls and sets the dog to bite and tear them to pieces. It’s horrific, and the fact that a grown man is doing this to two petite young women makes it particularly troubling. It wouldn’t be so disturbing if the tone of the scene wasn’t so obviously comedic. Dalton even kills one with a flamethrower. Yes, the real people were vicious murderers, but onscreen this still looks like a group of troubled youngsters getting brutalised. And all of it being played for laughs just didn’t sit very well with me.

The film also does a disservice to the memory of Bruce Lee. In a flashback scene we see Cliff Booth listen to Lee as he brags about his martial skill. Lee claims he could beat Muhammad Ali in a fight, and Booth and he come to blows. Cliff ends up throwing Lee into a car so hard he dents it and gets thrown off the set. There is something childish in the way Tarantino creates a character so good at fighting he beats up Bruce Lee. The only explanation is that he is a stunt man, but that isn’t the same thing as a martial artist, and it feels disingenuous. On top of that the presentation of Lee as a braggart who inflates his martial legend to stroke his ego, and claims to be able to beat Ali in a fight is flat out disrespectful. It sells the real man short, and it also means that one of the few POC characters in the film is a joke.

Despite all this, the film shows that Tarantino has matured in his writing and directing. Aside from the end violence, there is very little needless action. The story is more of a character study and a look back at a period of film history. Tarantino shows a willingness to critique his own films through the lens of parody, and he still has the best dialogue and some smashing characters and cinematography. This film is a fun time, but I would say that Quentin can do better. It might be a challenge but I think he could make an amazing film that doesn’t contain questionable violence against women, or bad taste racial politics. I look forward to seeing that film.

Why I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Why I love the Joss Whedon show… in spite of it’s name. 

Joss Whedon is a unique writer. As a director he is most famous for the first two Avengers films, as well as Cabin in the Woods. He has made countless films and television shows loved by nerd culture, including Firefly, which I have talked about on this blog before. Perhaps his most long running and career defining creation however, is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Over the seven seasons of this show, Joss experiemented with the style, format and character arcs in such creative ways that each season feels completely distinct and yet part of a larger whole. Joss has a defining voice and style in his writing that can be simultaneously hilariously quippy and moving at the same time. Buffy is a rare show that lives up to it’s reputation, in fact it’s probably much better than a lot of cynical people will give it credit for.

When I first heard about the show, I dismissed it. I had yet to go to film school and my taste in film and TV was decidedly narrow. I like action and fantasy and that was mostly it. I saw Buffy as some cheap corny show about love triangles and that was all. I was technically right, but I made the mistake of looking at the show from a distance and leaving it at that. I think the title also put me off a little. Its a mouthful and sounds like a cheap B movie. I was wrong. Buffy is a show with one or two love triangles, and the production values are sometimes stretched, owing to the small budget. But it’s also so much more, an exploration of becoming a responsible adult, a grand story about the very real consequences on a person’s life when they actually become the “chosen one” and all the burdens that comes with.

It wasn’t until I watched a video called Why You Should Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Passion of the Nerd that I realised I had been missing out for years.

The show is an epic adventure with many unique and iconic episodes that not only pushed the limits of writing (Hush) but often also influenced the trend of writing for TV for years after. There is a reason that many shows like Grimm and Charmed sprang up after Buffy gained success. The story is compelling, but what really makes me come back to the series is the characters. Joss is best at create interesting and nuanced characters that feel grounded and real. He is the master of witty dialogue, but some of the best moments of the series are when characters simply sit down and talk candidly to each other.

The arcs that each character goes through provide plenty of opportunities for varied stories, and often go in completely unexpected directions. Some characters start off as the main villain of the season, only to become more and more heroic as time goes on. The acting from the main cast is also stellar, as each actor manages to very quickly embody the personality of their role. Sarah Michelle Gellar in particular is just the right blend of spunky, cheerful and intense when neccesary, and the range of performance she demonstrates through all the seven seasons makes me wish that she was still playing the character.

Other films can boast a bigger budget with more polished effects and choreography, but Buffy has something none of those can offer, depth. TV shows have the luxury of being able to explore stories and characters for far longer than most movies, and Buffy takes full advantage. Rather than being an easy show about the relentless return to the status quo, the town of Sunnydale is in constant change. Friends become enemies and vice versa. Characters grow and start new relationships. The show is not afraid to embrace change, and part of that might have been owing to the fact that Joss Whedon was never quite sure if he would get another season greenlit, and so he felt willing to take more risks than he might have if the show was guaranteed.

I’m not suggesting that this show is flawless. It took me a while to get into it properly even after watching Why You Should Watch Buffy. The first season is a mixed bag tonally, and suffers from too many one-off monster episodes, many of which are extremely cheesy. However even in those episodes there are things to enjoy, and by the time I got to season 2, I was having a whale of a time. It keeps you interested by having many interesting themes that drive the motivations of the characters and allow you to understand them better. For instance, choice is often brought up. Characters often argue whether or not they have a choice in their actions and if what they are doing can be judged. There are often heavy consequences for the characters in many of the choices they make. The show implies through Buffy and her stance that there is always a choice in our lives, even if it isn’t always a pleasant one, and that central theme runs through most of what Buffy does throughout her story.

This show has much to offer. I am immensely glad that I finally got around to watching it as has had a profound effect on me and taken it’s place as one of my favourite TV shows of all time. Joss Whedon is an exellent writer and is in my opinion, at his best writing for long running series. Once you get past the title (and parts of the first season) you might just find that this 90’s show about vampires and high school has a lot more to it than you assumed. I did.

Career Spotlight: Bruce Campbell

It is always interesting to me when watching films to pay attention to the supporting actors, the people in the background who can often give a much better performance than the leads. On the other hand, it’s also fun to watch actors who mostly star in cult movies and who may not be the most famous movie stars, but are often infinitely more entertaining. Bruce Campbell is such an actor. I have been a huge fan of Campbell as an actor for years, ever since I first watched the Evil Dead trilogy. He is a huge personality, and while he has not yet become a mainstream name, he has dedicated fan-base and is a nerd culture icon. I’m going to look at a selection of his best movies and explore what makes him, and them so damn entertaining.

The Evil Dead trilogy

Looking at the start of Campbell’s career, it is worth exploring the films that made him a name in cult cinema. The Evil Dead has a production history legendary to most film buffs. The film spent years in production, with shoots forced to halt several times as the director Sam Raimi tried to rustle up enough money to continue. Actor’s scenes were finished by stand ins, and even the most hardcore fan will admit that the effects were cheap. But the cheapness doesn’t detract from the visceral feeling those effects conjure. To this day the gooey, all too tangible makeup of the deadites is enough to make me squirm. And as many cult fans will tell you, cheap practical effects often add to the charm of a film if done correctly. There’s a fine line between crap and camp.

Bruce Campbell plays Ash, a young member of a group of friends who all get trapped within a cabin after accidentally reading from a strange book. It turns out to be a Necronomicon, a book of the dead, and summons evil creatures that take over the bodies of dead humans and wreak havoc on the living. As the movies progress, Ash grows from a scared young man in over his head into a hardened warrior, with enough ego and hilarious lines to please even a die-hard cynic. His character really comes into his own in Evil Dead 2. During the film, everything is thrown at him, as he first loses his girlfriend and then his hand to the forces of evil. Everything he experiences toughens him up, but it also turns him into an egomaniac, capable of making huge mistakes that only lend the growing comedy of the films. Evil Dead 2 is in my opinion, even better than the first film because it leans into the strengths of the star and director. Campbell is best when he is blending extreme physical comedy and action, and throwing out deadpan jokes that never fail to crack a smile on me. Ash has so many good lines, a mix of bad-ass and hilarious that feels like a natural response to the growing horror. Ash as a character feels like someone who has been forced to adapt fast and harden as a person. Oh, and did I mention the chainsaw hand? There’s a chainsaw hand.

 

Xena Warrior Princess (and Hercules)

Xena is a show that should collapse under the sheer weight of its own cheese. Being a swords and sandals adventure series set in the mythical days of ancient Greece, it somehow manages to manage its campiness and somehow deliver an engaging story. It has a lot of good fun action, and some awesome performances, especially from the wonderful Lucy Lawless. She gives off an effortless aura of bad-ass-ery (I know that isn’t a word) that makes her character really appealing. She has her share of great one-liners and dry wit, but the king of that style is of course, Mr Campbell.

Campbell plays the self-proclaimed King of Thieves, Autolycus. A character well suited to the actor’s style. In any other hands, this kind of character could be nothing more than a stereotype, the quippy master thief with a heart of gold. However, Campbell has spent a lot of his career honing that kind of character, and putting new spins on it. For Autolycus, he focuses on showing the heart behind the thief. He has a lot of arrogance and bluster, but plays it so that we can tell it is an act, a persona to keep up in order to keep people at a distance. Autolycus does have a massive ego mind you, one that gets him into bigger and bigger scrapes as he fails to recognise when he is in over his own head. But underneath it all we can see how he ultimately means well. It also helps that the writers give Campbell some fantastic one-liners, and a slew of great slapstick set-pieces. Autolycus shows up in both Xena and its sister show Hercules the Legendary Journeys, but I think he works best as a foil to the more stoic Xena. Campbell is clearly having a lot of fun with the role and it comes across onscreen. The character is a riot to watch, and has some surprisingly emotional moments to enjoy as well.  I thoroughly recommend checking Xena out.

 

Burn Notice

So we’ve seen Campbell in fantasy and cult horror, what about a crime procedural? Luckily, I have just the show for you. Burn Notice is a TV series about Michael Western, an ex-CIA agent played by Jeffrey Donovan. He has been “burned”, unjustly blacklisted from the CIA following mysterious circumstances. Now stuck in Miami, he must do small-time surveillance and spy work for cash in hand while trying to find out who burned him and why.

The first couple of seasons have some very dated editing and pacing that is slightly annoying, but it is more than made up for by the other strengths of the series. The best thing about this show to me is the scale of it. Western doesn’t take on the entire CIA or perform huge world saving spy missions. Instead he helps out local people caught up in legal matters they can’t deal with themselves. He frequently uses the only resources available to him, a small team of people with unique skills and connections. He also makes surveillance equipment out of random tech he buys in shops. On top of this rather unique concept, the acting is stellar across the board, and all the cast have great chemistry together.

The cast is rounded out by some great side characters, and of course, the one played by Bruce Campbell. Sam Axe, an ex-Navy Seal who gets by in Miami doing freelance work and helping out Michael. He is an over the hill veteran who takes every opportunity to booze it up, steal Michael’s yoghurt and casually deliver some of the show’s best lines. I love how Campbell tones his performance in the show. It being a fast paced traditional procedural, it wouldn’t make sense to go as over-the-top as Campbell is capable of, so he tones it down and keeps Axe very mellow. Axe tends to provide comedy most of all, but he is still very useful in the missions, helping get contacts that Western no longer has access to, along with using alter egos in order to gain information, which is always extremely entertaining. Despite the humour, this could be considered one of Campbell’s more serious characters and it shows that despite mainly starring in tongue in cheek cult films, Bruce is more than capable of doing some smashing acting when required.

(Apologies for the loud music)

 

My Name is Bruce

Campbell has directed and starred in many films that refuse to be defined. He directed a film called the Man with the Screaming Brain and starred in a film called Buba Hotep, which is about a secretly alive Elvis living in a retirement home until he must fight an undead mummy. The latter is considered some of his best work. But one of the strangest and yet most charming films he has made is one called My Name is Bruce. This is a film starring cult actor Bruce Campbell, playing cult actor Bruce Campbell. The entire film is something of a commentary on the actor’s career and it is equal parts bizarre and bonkers fun.

In the film, Campbell (the character) is brought to the town of Gold Lick by a fan of his movies, who wants him to fight an ancient evil that has terrorised the town. If this is sounding incredibly meta-textual, that’s because it is. The character Campbell is disappointed with his career, as he stars in B-movies with cheap effects, which isn’t too far away from the truth. Through the character of Jeff, we get to see the interesting relationship that Campbell has with his fans and how that can lead to unrealistic expectations. It also gives Bruce a chance to play a hilariously cartoon version of his own public persona, with even more cheesy one-liners, acting like a total coward, and somehow still kicking all kinds of arse. It isn’t a particularly nuanced or high budget film, but given the main character, that works just fine. This type of film is an acquired taste, as to enjoy it you need to know the actor’s career well and also enjoy campy B-movie comedies. Fortunately, I love all those things, and if you do to, I cannot recommend it enough.

 

Bruce Campbell is a unique performer. He has spent his career cultivating a certain persona, a blend of arrogance, quips and self-deprecation that makes him endlessly entertaining. He may not have mainstream success, but he has a loyal fan-base and a definitive niche that no-one else can touch. His movies may not all be high-art, but who cares? He makes fun films. I think he has an interesting legacy in cult film and his willingness to embrace this side of film-making is what has made him such a success in it. If you have been interested by any of the TV shows or films I’ve explored, then give them a watch and see what all the fuss is about.

Game of Thrones – Season eight review

Spoilers for eight seasons of television.

A lot of people didn’t like season seven of Game of Thrones. I was not one of them. For many the sped-up pace and seemingly too fast travel made everything feel less realistic, and because quite a few plot-lines were streamlined and wrapped up it felt to many like the show was rushing. I however defended this choice. To me it was simply the ramping up of pace that the penultimate season needed. I could forgive cutting out journeys and other unnecessary scenes in order to focus on the important stuff. In retrospect, I should probably have spotted the warning signs; the willingness to rush to plot points. But season seven was giving me so many moments I had longed for: Daenerys meeting Jon Snow, Dragons in battle for the first time, the Dothraki fighting in an open field, Jon Snow as king in the north. Having so many brilliant scenes completely won over my inner fanboy.

Don’t mistake me, I still think that season seven was a good series of television. It has flaws, but they are outweighed, at least to me by the fantastic production. However, if I had looked a little harder I might have seen a bad trend in the writing. A tendency towards sacrificing logic and set up in order to surprise the audience, or make sure characters headed a certain way. I was more than happy not to notice when the writers were making great scenes that pleased me as a fan, but now that those flaws have come home to roost, I’m forced to admit that the problems with the final season of Game of Thrones come from the last few seasons just as much.

Season eight has been baffling to watch. I was looking forward to it, honestly more than Avengers Endgame, as I am a much bigger fan of fantasy than comic books. I was confident that the writers would have some brilliant last-minute plot to throw at us before the conclusion. And as creators David Benioff & Dan Weiss had met with G.R.R Martin to discuss the ending, I was sure it would at least be broadly satisfying, even if there might be differences. Things started off very well. The first two episodes Winterfell and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms were fantastic pieces of television, artfully reintroducing us to the predicament of all these characters after the long hiatus. They gave each character a lot of good interactions with one another that developed many of them in interesting ways. There were some really good moments in the build up to the assault from the White Walkers, romances coming together after years, reunions and emotional conclusions to long time characters arcs. There was also some great set up for Jon Snow in particular, finally revealing to him his true parentage, something fans have been waiting for ever since it was little more than a theory.

And then, The Long Night happened. When I first saw it, I couldn’t help but feel a little cheated. It was a very exciting battle, but with a sudden and overly simple ending. The fact that Arya came out of nowhere to stab the Night King should have felt amazing, but the show simply hadn’t earned it. The fact that they introduced the idea that the entire army of the dead could be killed by destroying the leader was something I worried about last season when it was brought up. They found this out by killing a white walker general, which killed the wights around him. At the time I hoped this was a red herring because writing in a fail-safe where all the enemy forces are destroyed by killing the leader is a tired cliché at this point. It felt really anticlimactic after so many seasons of build-up, not to mention that this happens halfway through the season. It also robbed Jon Snow of anything to do for the entire season. He mostly just stood around while other people drove the plot on.

So, I ended the third episode slightly nervous about what could be in the finale, if the main antagonist had been destroyed three episodes early. It turns out, not much happened. Cersei barely put up a fight, and many of the characters we know and love are given lame endings. Daenerys turns evil, which was always set up as a possibility, but struck me as a poor move, especially as it basically just repeats what happened with her father. Jon doesn’t become king, but kills Dany and re-joins the Nights Watch, essentially meaning that his whole story ends up nowhere. It also renders the big twist of his parentage basically meaningless, not to mention the slightly sexist trope of a women going mad with power and a man being forced to kill her. Bran becomes king, which is even cheaper when you consider that he did nothing for the last two seasons of the show. Some of the characters end the show in a positive way, Sansa becomes queen in the north, Arya goes west to explore, and Tyrion becomes Hand of the King yet again. But for me, after the battle at Winterfell, everything that happened next felt like a let-down. Nothing felt momentous or important, I felt like I was just wading through the rest of the show to get some closure that never came.

The finale was not the worst piece of TV I have ever watched. There are shows that jump the shark far worse than Game of Thrones. Dexter is almost unrecognisable after season four. But for a show which has received such acclaim to finish with such a lacklustre finale is a shame. There was so much potential in the show, much more potential plot to use and yet it felt like the writers were rushing all the way through the final season. They tried to subvert everyone’s expectations at every turn, but didn’t stop to think if that would make a compelling story. Not everything has to be unpredictable. Sometimes people want to see a show end how they expect, as long as it is satisfying. Game of Thrones managed neither. There were so many elements set up and foreshadowed in earlier seasons that don’t pay off now, and it makes me wonder what the point of them all was. Not all foreshadowing needs to turn out true, but if none of it does, why was it even there?

At the end of the day, this show was still an amazing ride, and one that I’m glad I followed from start to finish. But I won’t be able to summon the same level of enthusiasm for it again, sadly. The final season of Game of Thrones is like watching a chef cook a fantastic smelling meal, adding vibrant ingredients one by one while you look on with anticipation, only to realise once you finally eat it that a lot of them don’t go together, it tastes quite bland and the chef wasn’t actually following a recipe at all.

Endgame – Review

A broad strokes finale that achieves a satisfactory ending, but no way near the experience of Infinity War.

Vague Spoilers ahead.

I was nervous about Endgame. Endings are very hard to do in a satisfactory way, especially when concluding multiple stories in the same film. I was very worried about how all of the plot threads dangling in the MCU after Antman and the Wasp and Infinity War would be tied up. After having seen it I can happily say that Endgame manages to wrap things up nicely, and I would say that overall I very much enjoyed my experience. However, this film did not measure up to Infinity War, which is quite a shame.

I’ll start with the things I enjoyed most. The acting was top notch from everyone in the film, with Robert Downey Jr getting a few moments that were downright haunting. For example, once he arrives back on earth, broken from his fight with Thanos and losing Peter Parker, Tony launches into a tirade at Steve Rodgers, lashing out in his pain. It’s a hard moment to watch as this character we all love loses himself to despair. The acting across the board is well done and suitably dramatic. My only caveat would be that at a certain funeral, none of the characters appear to be nearly as sad as they should be considering.

The action is decent and the battle near the end has enough great moments to make it memorable, including the four-way fight between the original Avengers and Thanos. The costume design is varied and strikes a good balance between campy and functional. And on a more personal and subjective note, I appreciated all the moments that catered directly to fans, such as when Captain America finally wielded Thor’s hammer. Yes, these moments were pandering and obvious, but after over a decade of films, I think that it was inevitable. You can’t conclude that much plot without crafting call-backs and winks to the fans. I am also a bit of a sucker for those moments.

Now we come to the stuff that frustrated me. None of these things were enough to make me hate the film or think it wasn’t fun, but they did temper my enthusiasm a little and left me a bit less interested in the MCU going forward. First of all, the pacing is wonky. One of the best things about Infinity War was just how tight it was as a film. No scene felt unnecessary to me, and all the important moments of the story felt weighty, but not too long or bloated. Group battle scenes didn’t drag on; they were all paced just right. The story went along at a decent speed, but nothing was rushed. The problem with Endgame is that the five-year time jump and time heist take way too much of the film up. Did we really need to travel to four different parts of history? Who honestly wanted a lengthy flashback to Thor the Dark World, arguably the worst marvel film? And these scenes can be entertaining but since we all can guess the outcome, that they will get the gems back to their time for the climax, then it begins to feel bloated. There are one or two great scenes, such as when Tony meets his father and finally gets closure at his death, but they come at the expense of other moments later on. The film didn’t need to be three hours. It could have been two and a half, and still included most of the important parts. Many scenes carry on minutes more than they need to and this just all adds up.

Speaking of the time jump at the beginning, it cheapened the character development for me. It’s always tricky jumping forward in time for a story. Normally I think it works best when starting a new story in the same universe, rather than halfway through an ongoing one. It leaves us wondering how the following films will work, now that they are all set in the future, and it skips important character growth. For Tony, it means that he goes from a complete breakdown to having a young child and living happily in a few minutes. it is tonally jarring and undermines what has come before. Not to mention that in between the jump he appears to have completely forgiven Steve Rodgers for lying to him about Bucky, something that absolutely should have been included. It robs the audience of potential catharsis as they make up off screen.

This also affects Thor and Hulk. Before the time skip, Banner is struggling to balance his Hulk persona and himself. He had just spent two years as the Hulk, before suddenly Hulk refused to come out during Infinity War. This was very interesting and could have led to a lot of fun interactions between the two personalities as they struggle to live together. All of that is gone. Now Banner is the only personality and he lives in the Hulk form. This comes out of nowhere and just doesn’t feel earned or set up. It feels cheap. Thor gains weight and becomes depressed, although his transformation feels less cheap, as his story is not quite finished yet.

The story suffers from the introduction of time travel. The problem is that time travel never makes sense, even in the best films, and so it’s injection into the story opens up a ton of plot holes. How does Captain America return to his own timeline, then come back without using the suit to jump? In general, the conclusion of the characters arcs feels satisfying as it wraps stuff up, but doesn’t excel. Tony gets a great send off, but Black Widow’s departure feels a little arbitrary and not very well executed, especially considering that she is one of the first Avengers.

The music and direction are fine. It is a visually appealing film though not to the same degree as Infinity War. A couple of moments in the final battle come close but again, the pacing means that the shots become very similar as we spend too much time in one place. The MCU has a lot of good musical leitmotifs that I feel they do not use nearly enough. The whole film feels just slightly like an obligation to be honest. Many of the scenes feel less meaningful than what has come before. But none of this is a deal breaker. I have watched far worse films and as hard as it is to conclude a story like the avengers, I think the Russo brothers gave it a fair shot. It would have been impossible to deliver the same subversive ending as Infinity War, although I think with better pacing this would be much closer in quality to that film. In the end, this is a film that I was happy to see, and I may see it again someday. It is a fitting conclusion, however clumsy it might be in places.

Captain Marvel – Review

Captain Marvel is pretty good. I could probably leave the review with that statement. It sums up mostly how I feel about the film. It has a good cast, a serviceable plot and some great action scenes. Brie Larson is playful and fun, yet serious when needed. Sam Jackson is a riot. playing a very different Nick Fury to the one we are familiar with. The colour and style are great fun, and there is even a cute cat.

The best part of the film by far is the part where Fury and Carol Danvers team up to hunt down the Skrulls together and find out parts of Danvers backstory. The two have good chemistry as a duo and Jackson has a lot of fun playing a younger and less battle worn fury, with more jokes and a much more relaxed attitude. The CGI used to make Jackson look 20 years younger is superb, and in fact, it might be the first time I have seen that effect look convincing rather than uncanny. The film starts a little slowly as most of the parts in the Kree home world are a little dull, but as soon as the film gets to Earth, the story picks up and maintains a decent pace until the end. The main weakness of the film is its surprise villain, (spoilers) Jude Law’s character Yon-Rogg.

He is set up as Danvers’ mentor but turns out to have been behind her capture. His character felt very lacking to me. He spends much of the film telling Danvers to control her emotions which felt incredibly on the nose and lacking in subtlety. The most redeeming part of him as a villain is the way he is dealt with at the end. After beating her in hand to hand fights during their training together, he challenges Danvers to face him without her photon powers and see which one of them could win. Carol pulls an Indiana Jones and simply shoots him with a photon blast, because why the hell wouldn’t you? This was great character moment, and probably my favourite in the entire film, however it is a little anticlimactic after all we’ve been through. But this is really a nit-pick. While it has its weaknesses and I would still consider something like Wonderwoman a much better film, I had a lot of fun watching it, and that’s all I generally expect from Marvel films. Why am I reviewing it then? Truth be told I have an ulterior motive.

When I went to see this with a friend, we missed the regular 2D screening and so I had to see it in 4DX. That involves sitting in a cinema with movable vibrating seats and air spraying into your face. It has smells and flashing lights, and of course, 3D. I avoided 4DX for a long time. Mostly this was because I don’t really value 3D, it always feels like a gimmick and adds little to a movie experience for me. But I was still curious as to whether or not 4DX improves immersion. It could be like VR, and I could have felt transported to the world of the film. Maybe moving in your seat during action and feeling the explosion blasted through air would add to the experience?

So, I caved, and paid a few extra quid to see it in 4DX with my friend. My hidden motive in this review is to comment on the 4DX experience I had, and how it impacted on the film. To start with, I don’t recommend paying extra for it. While it didn’t completely ruin the film for me, I think I certainly would’ve had more fun without all the distractions the effects caused. Far from immersion, the feeling of being thrust around in your seat during action makes it almost impossible to pay attention to what is going on, which meant that parts of the action passed me by. The seat vibrated at odd moments, not just when someone was hit or fell. Often when the music used bass notes it would vibrate as well, which felt very strange. The air spray just annoyed me, it made me feel cold and it seemed to go off just too late to actually feel as though it was part of the film.

There were upsides of course. The few moments when Captain Marvel or other characters fly were vastly more fun as the seat moved to simulate us flying alongside them, which was something you can only get at 4DX. The 3D wasn’t too intrusive, although I did still get a small headache from it. And the smells of the sea were very nice, and I was very grateful they didn’t use any less pleasant scents. But those few positives weren’t nearly enough to justify the extra cost to me. The whole experience was very interesting but it was one I don’t think I’d want to go through again. For me 4DX was not worth it, and I think I’ll need to watch Captain Marvel one more time to really enjoy all those action sequences I missed the first time. In summary, Captain Marvel was good fun, but see it in regular 2D.

Alita: Battle Angel – Review

I have to be honest, I wasn’t excited to see Alita: Battle Angel. My apathy to this film started from the moment I saw the first trailer. It looked like a very interesting idea, with a lot of potential, but I couldn’t help but notice that none of the dialogue grabbed me. Not one of the characters stood out as memorable. I finally saw it this week, and unfortunately, it seems on this occasion that first impressions were pretty much spot on. I am not saying that this film isn’t good, it’s no way near bad, but it isn’t fantastic either. It is just fine. And that’s part of my problem with it.

One of the things that can make or break a film is character and dialogue. Sometimes I forgive films with minimal budget and/or lacklustre visuals simply because it has engaging characters and a good script. For example, I love the show Buffy the Vampire slayer in spite of frequent budget constraints making the effects look dated and cheesy. Why? Because of the characters. Joss Whedon is brilliant at creating scripts with very relatable, frustratingly human characters. I grow to love almost every character he has written and as such, I love the show despite its flaws. However, a film can have incredible visuals and top-notch action, but if the characters don’t feel fleshed out to me, I’m just not going to care what happens to them. Sadly, this is the case for Alita.

Alita is brought to life with a lot of vulnerability and innocence by Rosa Salazar, but she is given little to work with. The weird big eyes she is given in post make it hard to empathise with her, especially because no other characters have them. I realise this was adapted from a traditional Japanese anime, in which all the characters have huge eyes, but then why don’t all the characters have this? The eyes are distracting, but beyond that we know nothing about Alita as a character. We see her do a lot of stuff, and we know she’s impulsive and good at fighting. But what else? Other than a generic sense of justice she doesn’t particularly stand out. But then none of the others do. Christoph Waltz seems fatherly one moment and sinister the next, but at least he has a little personality. Keean Johnson doesn’t even manage to make Hugo, Alita’s love interest, seem like a real person at all. The extent of his character is that he wants to improve his station in life, and he likes Alita, for no obvious reason. Even the villains, played by great actors like Mahershala Ali and Jennifer Connolly, barely get enough screen time, and have no depth to them.

The problem is that the script seems to have had so many potentially humanising moments cut down or left out altogether. The dialogue is so matter of fact and blatant that it becomes funny at the wrong moments. Alita calls people evil and declares that she must fight evil, with a straight face. Potentially interesting conversations last a few seconds at most, like when Alita asks Doctor Ido if humans can love Cyborgs, to which he simply says “Yes”. Most of the dialogue just feels very generic and I struggle to remember any of it, even though I watched the film yesterday at time of writing. This lack of compelling conversations and too fast pacing means that I never feel I have enough time to get know or even particularly like any of the characters, so when any of them die, the moment feels empty. I don’t care what happens to any of them, because the film won’t let me.

I think the film suffers from trying to create broad appeal. Anime typically has a very specific style, and watering that down with so much generic dialogue makes for a weak experience overall. Robert Rodriquez is great at creating stylistic films, and the Spy Kids films have shown that he can make very distinct characters, but I just felt a little disappointed this time. Don’t get me wrong, he remains great at memorable action, Alita’s fighting style is certainly unique, and there is a lot of fun in watching a small cute looking cyborg destroy a bunch of big and tough ones, but it just isn’t enough for me to care about what’s going on, and I want to care.

The visuals are incredibly impressive, although like Ready Player One, it’s over-reliance on CGI to create background and characters gets a little annoying. Computer generated imagery can be breath-taking, but using it for both background art and most of the characters smacks of complacency. It would’ve felt more impactful if the characters were only partly animated, and used actual physical costumes. But like I say, the visuals are good. The action is also fun. It was surprisingly visceral and gory, considering that this is a PG-13 film, but it was a welcome surprise. Personally, I think they could have gone further and made this R-rated, or at least a 15, then it could have really taken advantage of the brutal setting. But that’s really just a nit-pick.

Despite all I have said, I don’t mean to imply that this film is worthless. It is entertaining and visually fun, and not too long. It had a lot of good production design, and the world it creates is interesting. But for me, it was kept from being truly engaging by the mediocre dialogue and lacklustre characterisation. I realise a lot of these complaints come from the script, and that really is what drags the film down for me. There is a lot to enjoy here, and if you can look past the script’s failings, you’ll have fun, but sadly for me, I couldn’t. I’m not sorry I saw it, but I’ll probably forget it very quickly.