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READY OR NOT (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/29/2019

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***

18, 94 Mins

Satirical slasher isn't as scary as it should be, but crackles with polemic wit.
If Hollywood depictions are anything to go by, the rich are a fairly weird bunch. In the eyes of David Lynch's 'Blue Velvet' (1986) and Sam Mendes's 'American Beauty' (1999), every member of the elite is either a murderer, a sex abuser or an adulterer. Even away from the sprinkled grass of leafy American suburbia, the 18th century upper class have been portrayed as Machiavellian, power-hungry and corrupt in 'The Favourite's fish-eyed insight into the lustful pursuits of duck-racing aristocrats behind majestic closed doors.

It's worth noting therefore that 'Ready or Not' (2019) isn't the first film to dismember the stiff, upper lip stereotypes that the rich seem to snoot around with. Directors Matt Bettinilli-Oplin and Tyler Gillet's film must be credited though for its polemic wit when approaching well-worn "evil rich people" territory.

It's an enjoyably macabre comedy horror that sees Samara Weaving (niece of Hugo) star as a newly-wedded bride invited to her husband's (Mark O'Brien) family's drooling gothic mansion. It's a bloodthirsty specimen replete with scorching fireplaces that heat up an oven of flame-grilled unsettlement throughout the film's lean and mean 94 min running time.

As per family tradition, the bride must take part in a gory game of hide and seek (hence the "ready or not" title) where she must rely on her considerable gumption to outwit an unhinged wealthy bunch before the dawn is due...

Given the film's central cat and mouse antics, it's arguably unsurprising that its shock factor should revolve around bogeyman-in a-closet jump scares. This is not a film keen on subtlety, prefering instead to impale one's hands on the spikes of a house gate than to gently massage the tension into your spine. For this reason, its never quite as scary as you might hope for.

Ironically, though, the film's reliance on "show and tell" storytelling is its secret weapon. As well as a scabby slice-up of the rich's dark secrets, I read 'Ready or Not' as a satire on the state of modern horror's commercialized, crowdpleasing conventions. It's a movie which finds humour where most cookie cutter genre fare would squeeze scares. It suggests that we should chuckle instead of scream when these films serve up slash.

'Ready or Not' is bolstered by a star-making turn from Samara Weaving who looks so much like Margot Robbie that they could be twins. With her delicate high cheek bones and lacy attire, she seemingly embodies the walking manifestation of the pretty damsel in distress that horror film-maker's love to torment and terrorize. And yet she manages to imprint an empowering dollop of #MeToo badassery to proceedings; subverting stereotypes with shotgun panache strapped to her shoulders.

​With such a high body count, I almost felt guilty for finding it all as entertaining as I did...almost.
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THE LAST TREE (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/29/2019

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*****

15, 98 Mins

Britain's answer to 'Moonlight'.
There's a tendency in British social realist cinema to ground everything in gravelly grit with grisly grey skies overcasting the damp dankness of grotty kitchen sink estates and graffitied brick walls being all-too-familiar familiar sights on the Jafaican-inflected streets of Noel Clarke's 'Kidulthood' trilogy (2006-2016).

On stateside shores, Barry Jenkin's 'Moonlight' (2016) subverted the standards of social realism on film by proving it's possible to provide pulsating political commentary without drowning audiences in misery. 

In the years since that film's remarkable OSCAR victory, us Brits have struggled to come up with anything to match its symphonic storytelling across the pond. With 'The Last Tree', it appears we finally have.

​A semi-autobiograpical account of the childhood of its writer-director Shola Amoo, this trance-inducing coming-of-age drama opens with dapples of heartstring-yanking sunlight cast over an irredescent corn-field. These early shots could easily evoke a sense of syrupy sentimentality yet the sun-stroked cinematography paints eye-watering pallets of gold upon the landscape of Lincolnshire that - much the same way that Ken Loach's 'Kes' (1969) did for Yorkshire - creates a canvas that's almost too idyllic to be believed.

Running his hands through the corn with effortless wonder is 11 year old Femi (Tai Golding in an awe-inspiring child performance); a British Nigerian boy growing up in a white family with a loving foster mother named Mary (Denise Black).

The revelation of Femi's foster care is all, but a teaser for the darkness that's tucked beneath the beauty of his surroundings. Abruptly comes Femi's real mother Yinka (Gbemisola Ikumelo) whose ready to bring her boy home despite Mary's promises that "she's not going to take you away".

Cut swiftly to the grimy council estates of South London (photographed here with the watery, oriental elegance of Wong Kar-Wai's '2046' (2004)) and our innocent-looking protagonist is now a huge, hulking adolescent (played in teenage form by Sam Adewumni) dabbling with drugs and crime while receiving regular beatings from Yinka.

His last shot at redemption comes from the intervention of his teacher Mr. Williams (Nicholas Pinnock) who grew up in similarly poverty-stricken circumstances, sees potential in Femi's studies  and is determined to make sure one of his brightest students doesn't take the wrong road in life.

One of the greatest joys about 'The Last Tree' is its spectacular subversion of stereotypes. When young Femi is bullied and beaten up, its not by white boys in what could have fallen into the over-populated cinematic territory of exploring white skinhead-riddled racially-motivated violence. Instead - by making the bullies black - British Nigerian Director Amoo refuses to be biased; the reasoning behind the bullying coming from the "funny" sound of the name "Olu Femi" to the ears of Afro Caribbean students. It raises a tantalising debate surrounding the often unseen black-on-black racism that chillingly recalls the Damilola Taylor case.

From the outset, it's clear Femi doesn't quite fit in. Lyrical touches such as him tuning into metallic riffs of The Cure while lying to his mates that he's listening to Tupac provide stirring examples of the conflict at the heart of black masculinity where young black men are often brainwashed into behaving like the stereotypes often handed to them by the media.

Meanwhile - as his friends smoke pot and shoplift - Femi adores reading; his gradual descent into drug dealing and addiction coming not from peer pressure, but as an escape from the traumas of his home life with his mother. It is this story arc that arguably represents 'The Last Tree's most traditional trope; wrestling with the single mother matriarchal households that seem to reasonate amongst African and Afro Caribbean culture.

Despite being a storyline as old as cinema itself, its execution is delivered with rough-hewn conviction thanks to the stunning performances of Sam Adewumni and Gbemsola Ikumelo. The former fumes with testerone-fuelled fury that is well-explained by the latter's hard as nails parenting that titters towards domestic abuse.

Tempering the rage is a terrific turn from Nicholas Pinnock whose kindly Mr. Williams clearly owes a debt to Mahershalla Ali's swoon-worthy part as a sympathetic drug-dealer in the much-mentioned 'Moonlight'. The tender chemistry between Adewumni and Pinnock is mesmerising with the latter providing the missing paternal figure in his student's life as the film grapples with the sobering lack of male role models often missing from black households.

It's a role that could have easily belonged to a "white saviour", but making Mr. Williams a black character who grew up in the ghettos only to work his way up the social ladder only adds to the film's universal appeal.
 
Despite the complex and unflinching nature of its themes, there's nothing here that isn't breathtakingly beautiful. The camera swirls deliriously around the hardened face of our central character throughout while scattering the screen with slow-mo shots mixed with floaty visuals that offer audiences a dream-like trip into his tortured psyche. Meanwhile a fantastically fluid score pulses with electronic pathos; swimming up to the surface and down to the depths with the manic mood swings of the drama.

Building on the artful promises of 2016's 'A Moving Image', Director Amoo has created a timeless masterpiece refreshingly free of exclusivity to any race, class or gender. This may be a little arthouse picture with a budget likely less than a million, but there's film-making finesse here that dwarfs the biggest behemoth of a blockbuster. With our help at the Box Office, every penny should go towards allowing this director to continue making movies as mouth-welling as this. 
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HOTEL MUMBAI (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/29/2019

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***

15, 123 Mins

Terror thriller walks the wavering line between emotion and exploitation.
Why am I enjoying something as horrific and tragic as this? That's what I couldn't stop asking myself when watching 'Hotel Mumbai' (2019) - a pulsating, nail-bitingly tense thrilller that dramatises the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks and the heroic efforts of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel staff to ensure the survival of its guests.






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AD ASTRA (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/22/2019

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****

12A, 124 Mins

A hallucinogenic trip into deep space psychosis.
Just like 'Drive' (2011), '(500) Days of Summer' (2009) and 'Les Miserables' (2013) are for people who dislike action, romance and musicals, 'Ad Astra' (2019) is a Sci-Fi movie for an audience with little love for science-fiction.

Oweing less to the scientific ponderings of '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1969) and more to the psychedelic trips of 'Apocalypse Now' (1979), this hypnotic deep space adventure sees Brad Pitt finally donning spacesuit and helmet as astronaut Roy McBride. He's NASA's answer to Martin Sheen's Captain Benjamin L. Willard from Frances Ford Copella's aforementioned Vietnam War masterpiece; spectacularly swooping onto the scene in a jaw-dropping opening sequence featuring a vertigo-inducing drop from a terrifying transmitter tower.

It is from here that proceedings slow as Pitt's Roy embarks on a mission to the edges of the solar system in search of the long-lost "Lima Project" engineered by his Colonel Kurtz-like father Clifford (Tommy Lee-Jones) whose life and work went AWOL on the rings of Neptune decades earlier yet now threatens the future of human existence.

"What did he find out there?" coos our square-jawed hunk in a hushed, ear-watering monologue that wouldn't feel out of place in Terrence Malick's 'The Tree of Life' (2011) (co-incidentally also starring Pitt) while haunted by hallucinogenic visions of his wife Eve (Liv Tyler) that have some of dreamy cinematic poetry of the mother-daughter scenes in 'Arrival' (2016).

As he ventures further and further into the void, Roy's mental state finds itself increasingly tested. Will he find the key to the electrical surges that threaten life on Earth or will he sink deeper and deeper into "the horror, the horror"?

Despite the stereoscopic scope and scale of space sprawling at his disposal, Director James Gray is far more concerned with the insular battle that confronts our pouty protagonist; wrestling with the Nietzchean concept of staring straight into the abyss only for the abyss to stare straight back at you.

It's a film about the loneliness of space travel, the maddening hysteria that comes with continuous, unearthly isolation and - on this level - takes giant leaps into the realm of Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Solaris' (1972) which similarly centred around a man on the trail of a lost mission only to question his sanity as much as those he is trying to locate.

'Interstellar' cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema does a spine-tingling, occasionally nauseating job of utilizing the whopping majesty of 35mm projection as a means not to look outward into the vast magnitude of the universe, but inward through the lenses of a looking glass into the tiniest fragments of the human psyche.

You won't find operatic Kubrickian galaxy shots here nor any of the dizzying, theme park ride-like simulation that accompanied 'Gravity' (2013). Instead the clandestine cinematography narrows in on the claustrophobic containment of the film's central spacecraft; lingering in the sensation of being essentially entrapped in a "tin can" with only one's self and the can's metallic walls for company.

In this setting reflected off the stars, Pitt's symmetrical beauty has rarely looked quite so breathtaking with the camera fetishistically obsessed with capturing every angle of his angular features in all their glory. 

​It's a schizoid performance that provides an ingenius insight into deep space psychosis with Pitt's stoned gazes - capable of conveying a million emotions with the twinkle of an eye - keeping us frantically guessing between the real and the surreal.

That aforementioned surreal latter manifests itself as hallucinogenic horror best realised in a blood-splattered moment of macabre madness involving a rabid baboon flashing its teeth while floating weightlessly around the central ship's cabins. It's the kind of full-throttle terror that made my skin shiver so much that I ended up having fond memories of those chilling flying monkeys from 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939)​!

For a film so sucked into the psychology of its central character, you could easily forgive 'Ad Astra' for feeling cold, clinical and cerebral. Yet this is far from the case. The film's beating emotional heart lies in the cockle-warming chemistry of Pitt and Tommy Lee-Jones's wounded star veteran that oozes paternal love; Jones's gravelly, grizzled face providing the perfect accompaniement to his younger counterpart's wide-eyed wonder.

Innevitably there comes a point where a blockbuster behemoth of this $100 million budget must give in to crowdpleasing demand. Action-packed set-pieces involving lunar pirates, interplanetary gunfire and preposterous time jumps feel far too often like cheap 'Star Wars' rip-offs thrown in for extra bucks.

The existential tension ultimately wins out, though, thanks to the sentient craftsmanship of James Gray who proudly establishes himself as a film-maker who refuses to make creative compromises no matter how big or bankable the production.

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DOWNTON ABBEY (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/15/2019

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**

PG, 122 Mins

Won't win over any converts.
Given the moral monstrosities of the 'Entourage' (2015) and 'Sex and  the City' (2008-2010) movies, perhaps the fact that the "long-awaited" big screen version of 'Downton Abbey' (2010-2015) is, at best, mild froth at the top of a very weak cuppa is reason to praise the high heavens.

There's nothing remotely offensive or even controversial about this movie which centres around a royal visit to the much-famed manor. In fact, its saddeningly safe stateliness is its Achille's Heel. Any attempt at dramatic tension such as an assasination attempt against the monarch finds itself brushed aside in favour of suited and booted posh toffs scuppering from wardrobe wooden room to room while occasionally stopping to sip Earl Grey.

Film spin-offs of popular TV series have a tendency to feel, well, televisual and - with the exception of luxurious wide shots of the period setting in the opening credits and the amplified piano beats blaring from the sound system - this production reeks of a 2 hr sucrose small screen special. There's no attempt at bringing non-Downton afficianados up to speed with the phenomenon who will find themselves increasingly lost amongst the conveyer belt of celebrity cameos lining up to stiffly smile at the camera and speak in snooty, incomprehensible English before getting back to their tea.

On the plus side, the cast - ranging from Hugh Bonneville to Michelle Dockery to an always fabulous Maggie Smith - seem to be enjoying themselves enormously and good for them. However the rule remains that the more fun people had making a production, the less fun it is for anyone watching it.

65+ year old upper lip Britons will lap it up, but those who find its TV roots too benign to breathe are unlikely to be won over by this brain-numbingly boring rendition.
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BAIT (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/8/2019

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*****

15, 89 Mins

A grain-soaked technical triumph as much as a poetic portrait of communal and class tension against the sea-swept backdrop of Cornwall's cliffs.
In 2012, the victory of Michel Hazavanicius's 'The Artist' (2012) at the annual Academy awards provided physical proof that silent film still had life in the glitzy world of IMAX, 3D and digital cinema.

7 years later, the film is a one-hit wonder, but its notion of historically popular film-making surving against cinematic progression remains at the forefront of Director Mark Jenkin's ​'Bait' (2019). 

Shot on clockwork cameras in hand-made, black and white 16mm stock, 'Bait' is an earthly textural masterpiece unlike anything playing in cinemas for over 10 decades. Every glitch and scratch on its frames is a gorgeous, cine-literate homage to the earliest days of the moving image dating right back to Georges Melies's 'A Trip to the Moon' (1902).

A grain-soaked technical triumph as much as a poetic portrait of communal and class tension against the sea-swept backdrop of Cornwall's cliffs, it centres around a quaint Cornish fishing village that's clash between working-class trades and middle class gentrification is grittily encapsulated by a torturous relationship between two fisherman siblings.

Burly bear of a man Martin (Edward Rowe) scrapes a living selling lobster door-to-door while his brother Steve (Giles King) - to the former's frothing fury - succumbs to the tourist trade having re-purposed their late father's boat as a tour tripper for wealthy, stiff upper lip holidaymakers.

Tensions between locals and vacationists simmer when the brothers's family home is sold to posh Londoners Tim and Sandra Leigh (Simon Shepherd and Mary Woodvine) with interactions tittering on the brink of physical violence due to disagreements  about quayside parking and the deafening noise of early morning sailing.

Seeking solace, Martin begins a relationship with fiesty bartender Wenna (Chloe Endean) who shares his penchant for aggressively breaking the rules. Meanwhile the Leigh couple's daughter Katie (Georgia Ellery) takes a fancy for Steve's handsome son Neil (Isaac Woodvine) much to the horror of her brother Hugo (Jowan Jacobs)...

In this digital day and age, the fact that a film as dated, roughened and enclosed as this provides such a sweeping sensory experience is beyond phenomenal with every grain of sand crunching beneath feet and wave crashing against rocks soaking viewers in a maelstrom of absorptive, three-dimensional texture.

100% of the credit for the film's visual audacity must go to Director Jenkin who truly establishes himself as one of the most exciting film-makers on the scene today with his mastery of montage. There are shots here worthy of Sergei Eisentein's 'Battleship Potemkin' (1925) in their granular beauty as the camera flickers between blink-and you'll-miss it images of fishing nets used as cheap decorations juxtaposed against fridges stacked full of champagne that remind audiences of the sobering price paid for Cornwall's growing tourism industry.

Most impressive, however, is 'Bait's auditorial prowess. It's a once-in a-lifetime oddity filmed essentially as a silent movie with dialogue, music and sound effects added in post-production that offer a bizarre soundscape akin to a foreign-language picture dubbed in English and lending the film an off-kilter, dream-like quality. Adding to the surreal expressionism, the hypnotic score spectacularly downplays its use of analogue synths to evoke an unmistakable aura of idyllicism that teases unseen horrors lurking beneath the surface. A sensation of small town paranoia that would make even David Lynch's skin crawl!

Every silent movie needs a silent movie star and real-life fisherman and youtube star Edward "Kernow King" Rowe more than fits every facial tic and body gesture of the bill. The acting newcomer muscularly mixes hulking physicality with flashes of minute vulnerability to Chaplin-esque effect in a star-making performance that deserves to light up every awards ceremony.

For such an impeccable technical triumph, its easy to forget what a deeply personal and political film this is; rooted in Cornish past, present and possible future yet stretching far further than the cliffs of Kernow in its sobering realisation of traditional lifestyles increasingly under threat. It's about as far away from the swooning shores of 'Poldark' (2015-2019) as you can get!

"You didn't have to sell us this house" insists London incomer Sandra during an unbearably tense confrontation with our bearded central protagonist. "Didn't we?" Martin grunts in a poignant response that speaks volumes for fishermen increasingly facing giving up their homes as a direct result of gentrification.

Yet 'Bait' never once feels preachy in its politics. This is a timeless film with a universal message. One that's battle ground of old vs. new applies to the medium of cinema itself and has the potential to redefine its lanscape; suggesting that the original formats - whether they be silent cinema or 16mm stock - do not need to be relics of the past, but can proudly co-exist alongside technological advancements.

Whether it catches the widest possible audience remains to be seen, but it will have been a year from the heavens if I am to see a better film than this come the end of 2019...

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IT: CHAPTER TWO (2019) FILM REVIEW

9/8/2019

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**

15, 170 Mins

A CGI carnival with little heart to spare.
​When Director Andy Muschietti's nostalgic adaptation of Stephen King's classic clown chiller 'It' crept into cinemas back in 2017, its greatest success was its roots in realism; dabbling with dysfunctional households, childhood phobias and the dangers of talking to strangers.

For a while, it provided a welcome detour from the endless multiplex orgies of bogeymen behind doors before descending into jump scare-ridden silliness in its final act.

​That problematic finale is stretched into nearly 3 hours of CGI-cluttered carnivalesque chaos in this over-inflated sequel that suffers from a distinct absence of adolescent angst and awe.

Set 27 years since their first encounter with Pennywise the dancing clown (Bill Skarsgard), this spin on the second half of the King novel picks up the unfortunately-named "losers club" as adults living far, far away from the quaint town of Derry, Maine. James McAvoy stars as Billy whose brother Georgie was snatched by the titular "It" during his youth. He's now a struggling screenwriter unable to come up with satisfying endings to his stories.

Jessica Chastain inhabits the role of Beverley - the ironically-named "it" girl of the crew - who's suffering at the hands of another abusive relationship. Crushing on her still is Ben (Jay Ryan); slimmed down and a successful architect while characters such as Bill Hader's Richie has become a stand-up comedian and Eddie (James Ransone) is fraught with anxiety as an insurance risk assessor.

Only Mike (Isaiah Mustafa) has stayed behind in the sleepy suburbia where the group once swore a pact that should the devilish demon return, they too would to destroy it. He's been slowly driven insane over the decades by his obsession with "It" yet his grandest worries appear to bear truth as the creature sneaks back into town and embarks on a nightmarish rampage nicking children by embodying what they fear most.

Having been alerted by their friend, the "Losers" regroup and return to Derry with the desire of vanquishing the villain for good yet "it" prays on their darkest traumas; forcing them to question, confront and ultimately face their fears...

As with every mainstream movie helmed by an artistic film-maker, there's an inevitable battle between populism and personality in 'It: Chapter Two' (2019). The question being how much of a personal stamp Director Muschietti - who worked wonders with the macabre 'Mama' (2013) - can imprint upon a franchise follow-up to the most financially successful horror film of all time.

The answer is best described as 80% corporate fantasy and 20% Muschietti; that tiny percentage of auteurist flourish best realised in arguably the nastiest opening sequence in recent memory as the camera lingers longly upon the bloodied punches of a horrific homophobic killing. It's terrifically unflinching stuff; cruelly redolent of real-world hate crimes and frankly far more disturbing than any of the ghouls, guts and gore that splatter the screen throughout the film's substantial length.

I also enjoyed the neat nods to horror classics that litter the production. While its predcessor revelled in the coming-of-age inflections of 'The Goonies' (1985) and 'Poltergeist' (1983),  this sequel strays a step further into grungy Cronenbergian territory with a grotesque scene centring around a surreal explosion of fortune cookies that spew disgusting baby-faced beasts looking straight out of 'Naked Lunch' (1991). 

It is these sporadic moments of adult, full-blooded terror that indicate the maturity you wish the film had stuck with for its entirity. Instead 'It: Chapter Two' panders to the childish demands of hyperactive high-schoolers who care little for the sinister social relevance behind Stephen King's stories and crave nothing more than cheap Friday night frights bereft of sustained psychological tension.

The computer-generated imagery applied to many of the film's monsters have none of the gloopy physicality that prosthetics bring with them slimily. Specifically Bill Skarsgard's Pennywise is a crushing disappointment as the actor's hair-raising face and mannerisms are hidden behind dreadful digital aesthetics that painfully shield him from unleashing his sing-songy villainy upon audiences.

Having milked an admittedly impressive $700.4 million worldwide with the first film, Warner Bros. fully exercise their commercialistic agenda here; replicating the original's lazy cattle prod shocks that generally consist of a quiet build-up to a predictable "BANG!". Unsurprisingly these shocks should draw in the film's teen target audience yet - at a ridiculous running time of 170 mins - feel both exhausting and exhausted.

Most of all, this sequel lacks one crucial ingredient - heart. Despite the best efforts of a tremendously talented adult cast, these grown-up "losers" never capture the childhood sense of wonder that their youthful predecessors oozed with cockle-warming panache.

It leaves the film feeling like little more than an elongated, flashy fairground ride that - like too many horror crowdpleasers - falls for the mistaken notion that "more means more". In actuality, the opposite is almost always true.


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WHAT TO WATCH THIS AUTUMN: FILM

9/1/2019

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Jokers, Jedi and Irishmen headline a wildly unpredictable seasonal schedule.
When anyone asks the question "what films are you most looking forward to?" my answer is simple- the films that generate the most excitement are often the films I know least about! The hidden gems amongst a pack of overhyped OSCAR contenders. The little, low-key masterpieces that sneak up behind your back before whacking you around the head with disbelief that you didn't see them coming. Most of all, these films provide the most satisfaction for an aspiring film critic as they justify the relevance of their increasingly tried and tested passion. While we can often be known for slamming big-budget blockbusters bereft of heart or soul, if film criticism has any future at all, it's in flagging up films that would otherwise slip under the spotlight.

​Anticipation is always a risky business as it's mostly the case that if you invest too much faith in an upcoming production, all it can do is disappoint you when it turns out to be far from expected. As a result, I've usually supressed the urge to comprise a longlist of "most anticipated films of the year". With a surprisingly unpredictable autumn movie season beckoning at our feet, though, the temptation to look ahead ultimately proved impossible to resist...
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​IT: CHAPTER TWO (OUT SEPT. 6TH)

Andy Muschietti's 2017 screen adaptation of Stephen King's clown chiller 'It' sacraficed coming-of-age oomph for gimmicky shocks. However, that earlier film was only one half of the original novel; the second of which arrives at multiplexes early this month and boasts an impressive adult cast including James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain. Fingers crossed for less jump scares, less CGI and more psychological tension than your average horror potboiler.
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​BAIT (OUT SEPT. 6TH)

Shot in hand-made, monochrome 16mm stock, Director Mark Jenkin's Cornwall-set drama centres around a fisherman displaced from his boat due to an influx of tourists. Aswell as being an unreservedly old-fashioned technical triumph in this digital day and age,  this went down a stowaway success at this year's Berlin Film Festival and looks straight up the street of down n' dirty British cinema.
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​THE FAREWELL (OUT SEPT. 20TH)

For her second feature film following 2014's 'Posthumous', Director Lulu Wang helms this bilingual, semi-autobiographical tale of a Chinese American family who - upon learning of their grandmother's terminal illness - organize a gathering to celebrate her life. It's a well-trodden tale, but the trailers suggest a tad more sensitivity and sincerity than your standard, emotionally manipulative melodrama.

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​AD ASTRA (OUT SEPT. 18TH)

One-time smug pretty boy Brad Pitt flexes his "serious" acting muscles in this operatic space adventure that pits him as an astronaut searching for his father (Tommy Lee-Jones) on the edges of the solar system. The film's director James Gray has lingered long in the minds of arthouse obsessives yet looks set to break into the mainstream with what promises to be the thinking man's Sci-Fi  of the year.
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JOKER (OUT OCT. 4TH)

The late Heath Ledger's ultra-psychopathic portrayal of the character remains the highest watermark of movie villains, but Joaquin Phoenix looks set for similar standing ovations  if the terrifying trailers are anything to go by. This deeply disturbing origins story casts Batman's No.1 nemesis as a twisted, tortured loner of the 'Taxi Driver' (1976) vein. That alone makes me cackle with maniacal excitement!
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JUDY (OUT OCT. 4TH)

An unrecognisable Renee Zellweggar looks poised for OSCAR glory for her seemingly skin-inhabiting turn as Judy Garland in a film that promises to follow 'Rocketman' (2019) in terms of spewing musical creativity out of a by-the-numbers biopic. The unstoppable Jessie Buckley ('Wild Rose' (2019)) also stars.
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THE DAY SHALL COME (OUT OCT. 11TH)

Almost a decade since his sobering terror satire 'Four Lions' (2010),  Chris Morris returns to the big screen - this time on American shores - for another jet-black comedy about Homeland Security. Newcomer Marchant Davis stars as an unassuming Miami commune leader with little threat to the United States before Anna Kendrick's FBI officer spots a crafty opportunity to win over her boss. Expect laughs and tears in abundance!
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SORRY WE MISSED YOU (OUT NOV. 1ST)

Aged 83 and showing no sign of slowing down, British king of working class misery Ken Loach follows his outstanding Palme d'Or winner 'I, Daniel Blake' (2016) with this gravelly tale of zero-hour contracts centring around an indebted delivery driver. Gritty social justice is a guarantee.
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THE IRISHMAN (OUT NOV. 1ST)

Those who claimed Martin Scorsese's last film 'Silence' (2017) wasn't what you'd expect from the master of the mob movie can hardly level the same complaint at his latest which ​reunites him with 'Goodfellas' graduates Robert De Niro and  Joe Pesci along with Al Pacino and 'Mean Streets' mafioso Harvey Keitel. A titanic talentfest battles it out in the mesmerising auteur's Netflix-produced biopic of Frank Sheeran - a veteran hitman rooted in the Bufalino Crime Family. Classic Scorsese? I think so! 
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STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (OUT DEC. 19TH)

Calling the coming of a new 'Star Wars' movie an "event" is laughable given the pop cultural explosions of ecstatic energy that greets any upcoming release from the franchise. This sequel trilogy has so far proved to be every bit a match for its originals if not (whisper it) better and - if there's anyone who can pull off the trick three times lucky - its J.J Abrams whose Lucasian passion for the material has every bit the Spielbergian sense of wonder that absolutely accompanies a galaxy far, far away. 
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​CATS (OUT DEC. 20TH)

If you weren't vomiting enough from watching the Twitter-mocked trailer, how about 2 hours of humanoid felines in mo-cap jumpsuits singing to their hearts galore? This unintentionally creepy-looking rendition of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's 38 year-running stage musical nonetheless boasts a terrific cast ranging from Judi Dench to Idris Elba to Taylor Swift yet the real star is Director Tom Hooper who made a masterpiece out of 'Les Miserables' (2013) and could well pull off the same results for this bizarre beastfest. "Could"...
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    Meet Roshan Chandy

    Freelance Film Critic and Writer based in Nottingham, UK. Specialises in Science Fiction cinema.

    Roshan's Top 10 Best Films of 2020

    1. Tenet
    2. Clemency
    3. Rocks
    4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
    5. Mangrove
    6. David Byrne's American Utopia
    7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
    8. Calm with Horses
    9. Saint Maud
    10. Soul

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    FILM OF THE WEEK
    ​

    Picture

    Soul
    ​(PG, 97 Mins)

    Pixar's latest is a lovely, jazzy look at life, death and the afterlife. Their best film since 'Inside Out' (2015).


    DVD OF THE WEEK
    ​

    Picture

    Looted (DVD)
    (15, 89 Mins)

    British crime flicks about divided loyalties are in hot demand now, but this impressively understated feature-length debut from former shorts director Rene van Pannevis subverts Guy Ritchie-ish mockney gangster tropes with heart and lots of style.

    TV MOVIE OF THE WEEK
    ​

    Picture

    Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
    (15, 120 Mins)       
    Weds 20th Jan., 11.20pm, Film4

    Feelgood film or not, Danny Boyle's movie is a fable of Dickensian social realism and escapist dreams.
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