Films round-up
It's been nearly 7 months since I last did one of these. With Cineworld closing again and other cinemas probably not far behind (the Bond film delayed again being the final straw after every other major release was also put back), it could well be another 7 months or more before I do another. But I have enjoyed going back to the cinema, however briefly it lasted.
Proxima - Sarah (Eva Green) is an ESA astronaut preparing for a lengthy space mission. We follow her training, but the emphasis is on her personal relationships with her young daughter and ex-husband as she prepares to leave them behind. A film about enforced separation and quarantine is perhaps a little too close to the bone for 2020, and it tugs at the heartstrings. The training and Sarah's bonding with her fellow astronauts is all handled very realistically, and the multinational characters mean the film switches between English, French, German and Russian constantly, but it's seemless and natural. One selfish act by Sarah near the end is a tad annoying and undermines the realism, but overall this was an absorbing story.
Tenet - Much-hyped as the saviour of this year's cinema, Tenet was... well, it was okay. I say that as a big Christopher Nolan fan, but this was sub-par for him. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast. The timey-wimey weirdness, conspiracy-laden plot and pretty much non-stop action were all blockbuster entertainment as it should be, and so much fun to see on the biggest screen (IMAX) again. But it's lacking in character - we know nothing about our hero (John David Washington), who is credited only as "The Protagonist", and very little about anyone he meets. We care that he's trying to save the world from a mysterious future threat, but not about the characters. Despite the convoluted plot, in some ways it's too predictable. Several times I'd watch a scene and thing, "We're going to see this again later, aren't we? And that thing is going to be done by that person." There's some satisfaction in watching these replays unfold, but I'd like not to have guessed so much. 2020 hat-tip: as a visual aid to tell when a character's travelling back through time, they wear a face mask. Apparently it's dangerous to breathe oxygen travelling the other way through time to you. Of course it is.
Away - This was a rather lovely piece of animation. A teenage boy and a little bird journey across a strange island. He has been planewrecked there, and a giant shadowy figure is slowly pursuing him as he tries to get home. That's it. There's no dialogue, hardly any characters and very little story. Just simple, but eye-catching visuals and watching the journey unfold. It's a short 75 minutes, but an utterly absorbing escape from the world for that time. It was a limited release, but worth tracking down if you can find it.
The New Mutants - Much delayed, the latest X-Men film goes full teen horror movie. Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt) is a young mutant only just discovering her powers. After a tornado, she wakes in a hospital run by Dr Reyes (Alice Braga) and populated by other mutants her age - a troubled and sometimes spiky ensemble cast consisting of Maisie Williams, Anna Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton and Henry Zaga. Are they in an asylum? A prison? A research facility? Or all three? Before long, things are going bump in the night and all the teens' various unresolved traumas are coming to life around them. Is this a manifestation of their powers, or something worse? If you want an idea of the vibe the filmmakers are going for here, there are moments where our heroes are watching Buffy on telly. It is all very Buffy, but with the horror dialled up several notches. Not a classic, but much better than I expected it to be.
Bill & Ted Face the Music - Dudes! The Wyld Stallyons are back, for more time-travelling chaos, saving the world, saving the princesses, and trying to find the song that wil unite the world. Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) are now middle-aged rockers, failing to recreate their brief glory days, but worshipped by their teen daughters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), aka "Little Ted" and "Little Bill". The dads haven't grown up at all and the kids are chips off the old blocks. All the survivign cast are back, and there's even a touching tribute to Rufus (George Carlin). It's nostalgic fun. Like its heroes, the film is riffing mainly on past glories, but with just enough new stuff in the mix to keep it fresh and entertaining. It's not going to blow you away, and anyone unfamiliar with the first two installments will probably wonder what the hell they're watching. But it doesn't matter, because it's so upbeat, so full of optimism and joy and people coming together, that you can't help but smile. A most triumphant and much needed antidote to 2020.
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet + Q&A with Michael Palin - Sir David Attenborough, national treasure and aged 94, describes this as his "witness statement and vision for the future". It's a more personal and sobering film than most of his work, charting how, over the course of his lifetime, he has seen how humanity has "not just ruined the wilderness; we've destroyed it". Through archive footage counting through the years of his life, on-screen statistics count the rising human population and carbon levels in the atmosphere, and falling proportion of wilderness. Most of this we already know, but nothing brings it home to you quite as much as a documentary like this can. But, as always with Attenborough, there is a glimpse of hope, as he sets out examples of rewilding, intensive sustainable farming, changes in attitudes and more which could yet save us all. For, as the bookending Chenobyl sequence shows, "nature" will survive and thrive in the long term, with or without us. After all the solemnity, the interview with Michael Palin at the end provides a welcome bit of light relief. Everyone should see this film.
Proxima - Sarah (Eva Green) is an ESA astronaut preparing for a lengthy space mission. We follow her training, but the emphasis is on her personal relationships with her young daughter and ex-husband as she prepares to leave them behind. A film about enforced separation and quarantine is perhaps a little too close to the bone for 2020, and it tugs at the heartstrings. The training and Sarah's bonding with her fellow astronauts is all handled very realistically, and the multinational characters mean the film switches between English, French, German and Russian constantly, but it's seemless and natural. One selfish act by Sarah near the end is a tad annoying and undermines the realism, but overall this was an absorbing story.
Tenet - Much-hyped as the saviour of this year's cinema, Tenet was... well, it was okay. I say that as a big Christopher Nolan fan, but this was sub-par for him. Don't get me wrong, it was a blast. The timey-wimey weirdness, conspiracy-laden plot and pretty much non-stop action were all blockbuster entertainment as it should be, and so much fun to see on the biggest screen (IMAX) again. But it's lacking in character - we know nothing about our hero (John David Washington), who is credited only as "The Protagonist", and very little about anyone he meets. We care that he's trying to save the world from a mysterious future threat, but not about the characters. Despite the convoluted plot, in some ways it's too predictable. Several times I'd watch a scene and thing, "We're going to see this again later, aren't we? And that thing is going to be done by that person." There's some satisfaction in watching these replays unfold, but I'd like not to have guessed so much. 2020 hat-tip: as a visual aid to tell when a character's travelling back through time, they wear a face mask. Apparently it's dangerous to breathe oxygen travelling the other way through time to you. Of course it is.
Away - This was a rather lovely piece of animation. A teenage boy and a little bird journey across a strange island. He has been planewrecked there, and a giant shadowy figure is slowly pursuing him as he tries to get home. That's it. There's no dialogue, hardly any characters and very little story. Just simple, but eye-catching visuals and watching the journey unfold. It's a short 75 minutes, but an utterly absorbing escape from the world for that time. It was a limited release, but worth tracking down if you can find it.
The New Mutants - Much delayed, the latest X-Men film goes full teen horror movie. Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt) is a young mutant only just discovering her powers. After a tornado, she wakes in a hospital run by Dr Reyes (Alice Braga) and populated by other mutants her age - a troubled and sometimes spiky ensemble cast consisting of Maisie Williams, Anna Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton and Henry Zaga. Are they in an asylum? A prison? A research facility? Or all three? Before long, things are going bump in the night and all the teens' various unresolved traumas are coming to life around them. Is this a manifestation of their powers, or something worse? If you want an idea of the vibe the filmmakers are going for here, there are moments where our heroes are watching Buffy on telly. It is all very Buffy, but with the horror dialled up several notches. Not a classic, but much better than I expected it to be.
Bill & Ted Face the Music - Dudes! The Wyld Stallyons are back, for more time-travelling chaos, saving the world, saving the princesses, and trying to find the song that wil unite the world. Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) are now middle-aged rockers, failing to recreate their brief glory days, but worshipped by their teen daughters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), aka "Little Ted" and "Little Bill". The dads haven't grown up at all and the kids are chips off the old blocks. All the survivign cast are back, and there's even a touching tribute to Rufus (George Carlin). It's nostalgic fun. Like its heroes, the film is riffing mainly on past glories, but with just enough new stuff in the mix to keep it fresh and entertaining. It's not going to blow you away, and anyone unfamiliar with the first two installments will probably wonder what the hell they're watching. But it doesn't matter, because it's so upbeat, so full of optimism and joy and people coming together, that you can't help but smile. A most triumphant and much needed antidote to 2020.
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet + Q&A with Michael Palin - Sir David Attenborough, national treasure and aged 94, describes this as his "witness statement and vision for the future". It's a more personal and sobering film than most of his work, charting how, over the course of his lifetime, he has seen how humanity has "not just ruined the wilderness; we've destroyed it". Through archive footage counting through the years of his life, on-screen statistics count the rising human population and carbon levels in the atmosphere, and falling proportion of wilderness. Most of this we already know, but nothing brings it home to you quite as much as a documentary like this can. But, as always with Attenborough, there is a glimpse of hope, as he sets out examples of rewilding, intensive sustainable farming, changes in attitudes and more which could yet save us all. For, as the bookending Chenobyl sequence shows, "nature" will survive and thrive in the long term, with or without us. After all the solemnity, the interview with Michael Palin at the end provides a welcome bit of light relief. Everyone should see this film.