(2 / 5)

Two sisters, one is already the Queen of England, the other, younger to be the Queen of Scotland. They could have both ruled peacefully throughout but pride and the manipulation and other greedy men forced conflict and led to the death of one. Mary Queen of Scots tells the story of Queen Mary (Saoirse Ronan), her arrival in Scotland and most of the events that lead to her execution, that wasn’t a spoiler, by the way, its the scene that opens the movie.

Mary’s boat
pulls in on the isle of Scotland and her and her followers set up in a
castle. Greeting her is the Erl of Moray (James McArdle) her half
brother, also there is John Knox (David Tennant) the protestant cleric,
he is against Mary taking up the throne because she is Catholic and
after he makes this very clear and shows her little to no respect she
dismisses him from her court. 

As portraits and
historical accounts tell us Mary was a great beauty and Elizabeth had
harsher features. This is how they play it in the movie but we can
clearly see that Margot Robbie is a very attractive woman in her own
right. Even after she suffers an illness
and has to be caked in heavy gaudy makeup we can still see through that
and know she is beautiful. This is a case of the movie saying one thing
while we can clearly see that this isn’t the case. To Robbie’s credit,
this is a role where she challenges herself and does something
different.  Throughout her career, she has not been content with simply
relying on being one thing. She made her name as a sex bomb in The Wolf of Wall Street, became the bouncing mad Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, a manic colorful killer in Terminal and a very rough around the edges figure skater in I, Tonya.
She is usually the best thing in whatever movie she’s in even if the
movie is less than stellar. Her she plays the iconic queen that was by
all accounts fastidious and kept composure at all costs, along with her
flawless English accent this is another notch on her impressive and
diverse filmography.

All the actors are very good here.
These are accomplished actors that have to go through multiple moods
within the movie, except for Tennant who is a grumpy bearded man
throughout. They adjust themselves depending on who they are talking to.
Whether they are talking to an equal, someone below them, someone
they’re attracted to or someone who’s trust they are trying to gain and
after they’ve gained it speak to them differently.

For
the historical accuracy of the movie I cannot attest to, it is one of
the many periods I have a blank space on. I know a little but not in any
way to call foul on. However I do not believe that matters so much,
history is history and a movie needs to tell its story, for as much
historical accuracy as we can get seek out of book or documentary. I
have no issue with a movie taking the overall tale that really happened
and tweaking it for narrative purposes, only when they insult the spirit
of the real people or make something so different that they might as
well have just made something original, to begin with. There is a scene
near the end which I know is completely fictitious but it’s fine because
it serves as a correct narrative climax. 

In the end,
things are said and we end on the black card with white text that reads
to us what happened afterward. These characters and this world never
really seems to come alive, striking cinematography and intricate
costumes and hair, but it’s all show. The elements for a good movie are
here, it just needs a breath of life within it.

From the opening few minutes, we get a sense of what to expect from the rest of Vice. It opens with news footage of 9/11, the towers have been hit and are going down, then we have people in suits and in offices being guided around. In a safe space with no windows people are on phones and talking to each other trying to get a handle on the situation. One man, who is not the President, picks up the phone and tells the army that they are allowed to shoot down any planes they deem a threat. Then it cuts to black and the text appears, it reads out that this is a movie based on a real person, but also Dick Chaney is one of the most secretive modern politicians ever so there will be times when they embellish then it reads “But we did our fucking best!” So now we know that we are watching a movie based on a real-life man but because of the limited information they decided to absolutely go with their own thing and they apologise for nothing. 

When we first
meet Dick Chaney (after the opening scene previously mentioned) he is
driving home on a dirt country road with the sun beginning to rise, or maybe
set? A cop pulls him over and he is clearly very intoxicated and lights
up a cigarette. We then get helpful and playful narration in the form
of Jesse Plemons as Kurt the narrator.  Chaney started off as a no good
slacker that worked a blue-collar job, anything he could find, he got
into a good school but was kicked out because he was more interested in
drinking beer than attending class. But his girlfriend Lynne (Amy Adams)
that believes in him and want him to be a man of worth, he says that
he’ll never let her down again.

So years later he
goes back to school, get his diploma and is in Washington, when they
have their induction ceremony a man named Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell)
gives a speech about making sure you serve yourself, always align with
whoever the winner is and there’s no one taller than the last man
standing (well essentially this is what he says). Chaney asks what party
he is with and when he learns he’s with the Republican party he says
that his party. So under Rumsfeld’s tutilage Chaney rises through the
ranks and halts any decisions that most Liberals would vote for. Never
the less he gains power and works some of his family and friends into
his circle and every once in a while he gets a heart attack and reacts
to it like he has a bad knee that’s playing up again.

He
asks Trumble “What do we believe?” which is met with a hearty and long
laugh. What a concept, a politician who is there to serve the interest
of the people believing in something, ha! but over the course of the
movie it becomes a big recurring theme, there are many other figures
that they meet and in order to move forward with their career they will
have to put aside whatever their loved ones feel or what would hurt the
majority or even long times friends so they can get the next step. It
seems that, at least in this world of the movie or certainly these
characters we follow, none of these high profile, very powerful politicians believe in anything.  

Bale is known as an actor that truly dives deep into his characters to bring them to the screen, many times throughout his career he has drastically dropped or gained weight for a role. Sometimes to his doctor’s great worry. For this role, he almost definitely put on quite a bit of weight but also has great make-up team manipulating him to resemble the actual politician. He also adds the nice touches of having his characteristic left eye squint, raise of the right side of his mouth and shake of the head. He also has a great handle on the man’s voice, being able to manipulate it for whatever he needs for a scene, whether it be intimidating, slightly tender, menacing or relaxed. It is truly realised but also stylised performance.

Writer-director Adam McKay is not the person you would expect to handle this kind of material. He made his career on goof-ball comedies, probably most notably Anchorman. But he broke that chain with The Big Short and now seems to have a talent for penning dramatic material. Though to be sure there are laughs to be had to hear too. It is probably his experience with comedy that makes this movie so unique, A writer or director that specializes in this material would go for a flatter colour pallet, documentary feels and more reality-based dialog. McKay allows himself to be stylized and have a little more fun, taking the real people and styilizing them into charactures.

Vice tells a serious story in a funny way that is probably more memorable than any other more accurate obsessed bio that we could name about politicians. It seriously casts comedic actors for serious roles and serious actors to deliver absurd lines. It wants to do so much that you can eventually catch on that your being played with and we should probably double check all the “facts” presented in this movie. But it has such undeniable panache and enthusiasm you can’t help but be charmed. 

“DUMBO, a major, major work. Yeah the perfect film, each sequence is totally self contained, totally complete and still pushes the picture forward.”

Sidney Lument, in conversation.

(3 / 5)

After rewatching the original DUMBO fairly recently I can attest to this statement. It is one of the most accessible and clear storytelling examples in cinema, every shot and emotion they intend to convey both from the characters and the scene rings perfectly clear.

So the question is “Why remake it?” The answer is, no real reason. really I guess I should end the review here but I should fully explain everything. A remake should take the ideas and feeling of the original but still make it it’s own thing or at least introduce some new elements and update it appropriately. But when you have something so timeless and so close to perfect your only real place to go is down.

So our story opens in 1919,
and two children, Milly (Nico Parker) and Joe (Finley Hobbins) they run
through a circus which is their home and run by Max Medici (Danny
DeVito) the ringleader and to the train station to their father Holt
(Colin Farrell) who’s back from the war, it cost him his left arm but
he’s happy to be home with his children, unfortunately his wife died
while he was away. You shouldn’t really care, the movie and the
characters don’t so let’s move on.

Medici has made an
investment, he bought a big elephant by the name of JUMBO, who is
expecting to give birth any day soon. One night she goes give birth and
the little baby emerges from hiding within a stack of hey. However, it
is not what they were expecting, because this baby has unusually large
ears. They do their best to cover them up but during one performance the
people see his ears and due to a rather clever accident with the sign
he gets named DUMBO. However, the children then learn that, with the
encouragement of a feather, his big ears can be used as wings, they have
a flying elephant, that’ll attract paying customers.

Being that DUMBO is an elephant and this is not a talking animal movie he is entirely silent throughout the movie, conveying his thoughts and emotions through his big blue eyes (this is how it should be). But being that they can’t let too much time go by without dialogue so we have two children explaining things to the audience and guiding him on his journey. This isn’t really necessary and these children just aren’t very good actors, they are either overacting or just being stonefaced throughout as well as their poor dialogue that flat-out, directly tells the audience everything.

Being that Tim Burton is
behind the camera I would expect one thing before anything else, a
strong visual flair. He brings that here, he has made a career out of
skeletons, clowns and theme parks. He sinks his visual teeth into these
images creating elaborate, slightly frightening and elaborate images
that make them seem like something more out of a fairytale than real
life.

One of the movies greatest strengths is also one of it’s greatest weaknesses and that is Michael Keaton as the villain V.A. Vandeverer.
Keaton made his name by working with Burton first in Beetlejuice then
in his two Batman movies. His career has made a resurgence recently with
Birdman and Spider-Man: Homecoming,
where he flexes his theatrical and sinister muscles like a man that
sells joyous wonder to the people while himself is only driven by greed
and narcissism. This character is a clique and is given lines that would
fit a forgettable villain during the nineties but even then he is able
to take them and make them wonderful zingers. However, no matter how
much Keaton elevates it, the question remains, why does DUMBO need a
villain? It’s DUMBO, one of the simplest stories ever told and was
devoid of a villain because it was not necessary, it was composed of the
problem of separation, not all this greed and contract complexities.
Plus some of his character’s decisions simply don’t make sense, in one
point in the movie everyone (including him) is given a chance to get
everything they want and he turns it down simply to be the villain. This
doesn’t make any sense, making a decision against the characters needs
is one thing but this would serve him too so whys would he do this? No
real reason, besides poor writing.

This wouldn’t really
be DUMBO without the inclusion of the Pink Elephant sequence. Well, to
be sure they do make an appearance but in their own unique way that is
quite stylized and fun (I’d be disappointed if it was mundane,
especially with Tim Burton behind the camera).

This movie is distinguishable from the original which shows that there are thinking independently. So far out of these movies, I would say the laziest is Beauty & The Beast. This is not a terrible movie and children will most likely be entertained and probably everyone will think the elephant is cute. But still, I have yet to see one of the remakes where I would say they improved on…well anything. For this movie, it’s not a waste of time but a much better use of it is to see the original again.R

(4 / 5)

Horror at it’s best and most profound is when it takes deep lurking insecurity within nearly everyone and fully realizes it through its images, colors, sounds and scenarios. In 2017, Jordan Peele made one of the greatest cinematic debut with Get Out, confident in its theme, refined in its layout and masterful in execution. Now he comes with his follow-up Us, about another base fear and brings his unique and refined vision to the table. 

Our
tale opens years ago, in the eighties. A little girl named Adelaide is
on vacation with her parents, they are in Santa Cruz on the beach and
enjoying the boardwalk, she wanders around and looks at the people and
the rides, her mother goes to the bathroom and her father plays a
shooting game and doesn’t pay her much attention so she wanders off by
herself. She wanders through the boardwalk, to the beach and then into a
hall of mirrors, inside she wanders and realizes she’s lost, she goes
for the exit but it is a mirror, she wanders and wanders and then has
her back to a mirror, only it isn’t a mirror because it turns and faces
her. There is another girl, that looks just like her, but is not her. 

Cut
then to years later and, we are in the present day and Adelaide has
grown up and is married with children. Her husband Gabe (Winston Duke),
daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and son Jason (Evan Alex). They
are going on one of their family vacations, to the same beach from that
night long ago, whatever happened there has clearly caused her great
trauma and is none too interested in going back. They meet their
“friends” the Tylers, Kitty (Elizabeth Moss) and Josh (Tim Heidecker)
along with their twin girls. 

One night while she
recounts the night in the hall of mirrors to Gabe, Jason comes in and
says “There’s a family standing in our driveway.” They go to take a look
and sure enough, there is, holding hands and just standing. Husband
tries to go out and start a conversation then tries intimidating them
but Adeline has a gut feeling that they mean harm and indeed they do.
One forces his way through the door and the others scurry around back,
they all gather in the living room with the fireplace on and in the
light they can see the intruders, they are them.  

Yes,
they have doublegangers, that look just like them but some are slightly
different and wear red jumpsuits, have one gloved hand and all carry
their own pair of uniquely shaped scissors. What do they want? To kill
them and take their lives for their own. Not the most complex motivation
but certainly a scary one.

There is very little fat
in this script. Peele constructs his scripts meticulously and
efficiently, years working as the comedy duo Key & Peele definitely
gave him a talent for efficient and clear writing. Almost no element of
what is introduced or said goes to waste, if a character has a hobby or a
bad habit then it will come into play in some way later in the movie. 

This
movies biggest success and biggest accomplishment is Lupita Nyong’o and
her performance as Adelaide. All the actors have to portray one
character and their double which are all brilliantly competent at.
Playing a regular person but then playing that person again, but moving
and reacting in an off way, which is fantastical mime acting. But
Nyong’o is able to take all these intense and subtle emotions that her
characters to go through and unifies them into her character, as well as
that she plays a twisted, disturbing presence that will most likely be
imitated for year to come, which her disturbing way of speaking by
breathing in and wide eyes that stare and never seem to blink and her
all too efficient way of walking that screams “Not right!” It is a
performance that would be great with just one of these characters, by
playing both it is a triumph.

In a horror movie,
the characters need to be afraid and convey that. If the characters
aren’t talking something seriously then we won’t. In an action movie,
you can have the hero blast monsters and face dire circumstances with a
stern look on their face throughout, but if the characters are faced
with something unnerving and are unfazed by it then we won’t engage with
it. These people are afraid but more than that they portray many facets
of fear. However, even with that, these are not just people that are
afraid throughout the movie, there are also a few laughs to be had.

Peele reunites with conductor Michael Abels to create another deep, memorable, unnerving score. Like with the last one he uses voice to invoke a deep, almost spiritual feeling within the movie but they are also singers that sing high pitched and in unison, this adds to the theme of double and the high pitched matches the strings which are sharp and shrieking, reminding us of both a scream and stabbing. Adding to the tension he will sometimes have one note continue on for too long, like a whistling kettle, giving the feeling of high pressure. 

Throughout
this movie, I was feeling everything the filmmaker wanted me to feel
while watching it. While the family were bantering and was laughing when
there’s a tense moment I was watching attentively and was horrified and
stimulated when the moments of fright were playing out. The only weak
link is the ending which makes sense poetically, but not logically, I
usually wouldn’t hold that against the movie but this was the one time I
was thinking “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.” 

Bad horror is a cray loud guy with a hatchet. Great horror is surgen with a scalpel, knowing exactly where to cut and doing so with precision. Jordan Peele is a surgeon that cuts deep, efficiently and leaves us bleeding long afterward.

(5 / 5)

Let’s be honest, we know wrestling is fake, or at least scripted. But people buy into it because of the drama, conflict, and flash. We get invested in the narrative and the showmanship. Much like any other dramatic performance, we become engaged through the sincerity and all the flash and color just make it more interesting.

Fighting with my Family is another family drama movie about the pursuit of a dream but with the unique twist of populating it with characters that aren’t weird, but unconventional and rather rough around the edges. We open with a little boy watching wrestling on the TV, his sister changes the channel so she can watch Charmed, for this he puts her in a headlock, Dad (Nick Frost) walks in and does not break them up but instructs the boy on how to properly put her into a headlock, then Mother (Lena Headey) enters telling her to get out of it by herself. Both mum and dad are wrestlers and are heads of a local wrestling company, very low scale and just about getting by though they aren’t above doing some dodgy things to bring in some extra cash. Tonight they need an opening act so they get the kids to fight, she doesn’t want to but after they promise she’ll like it and it’s something for the family she does. While in the ring, and they are playing their parts and she hears the crowd cheer, she does indeed embrace the act of wrestling. Cut to years later and she has truly fallen in love with wrestling and is a screaming beast while in the ring.

Her name is Saraya
Knight (Florence Pugh) and she along with her brother Zak (Jack Lowden)
perform their family act in their local community center or gym,
wherever they can, and get by with what they have but dream of the big
time. They get others involved, Zak goes out into the town and brings in
the local kids the be a part of wrestling, it focuses them, builds up
their teamwork skills and keeps them away from drugs and other shady
activities. He even gets the boy from the neighborhood who’s blind into
the ring.

One night they get a call back from the
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) that they have reviewed the tapes
they’ve sent of Saraya and Zak in the ring and they’ve been called in to
audition and that could lead to training in California. 

Making
two very announced appearances in the movie is Dwayne ‘The Rock’
Johnson. Small independent movies have a tough time getting made so they
probably needed some kind of big name behind to get the financing.
Being that he is also the producer why not give him a place in the
story? As has been proved with his career in the ring and in front of
the movie camera he is a force of charisma, when he is on-screen it is a
delight. Both times he appears is for a crucial element of the plot so
it is not simply inserting an iconic celebrity to simply make the
audience that’s for fans gush but of structural importance to the
narrative. 

During the audition they are assisted by
Hutch Morgan (Vince Vaughn) that is strict, to the point and easily
throws around a few cutting remarks, but if they can’t handle this one
mans remarks how will they stand to have thousands of people screaming
obscenities and booing them? In the end, Saraya and only she goes
through the next round. So she has to go to California alone, but she
perseveres because this is for her family. 

Wrestling
training doesn’t just consist of getting toned, they need to learn how
to communicate between each other, what moves the other is doing and how
to appropriately roll with the punches and get in the right position to
take a fall or catch the other. If they don’t then one could break the
other’s nose or even cripple them. Also how to start the match by
talking smack to the other wrestler to get the crowd fired up and build
tension between their two characters, also how to deal with hecklers. 

Taking
on writing and directing duties is Stephen Merchant, most famous for
being Ricky Gervais writing partner on The Office, Extras and other
movies. He goes out on his own to make a movie purely that is his.
Writing is definitely is the strongest ability, being able to structure a
plot and infuse the characters with their unique voice and have one
scene start as a comedy and then into a serious moment. He is able to
make great use of visuals with the wide space of the stadium and some
nice visual gags.

This is a comedy, mostly. There
are some very funny moments in it but it also has deep cutting drama.
You get to know these people and how they’ve come together through
wrestling, how it’s redeemed then and they’ve hung their entire hopes
and dreams on hitting the big time and to be denied it is one of the
biggest blows they can ever face.

When the big fight came for the climax of the movie (which of course was gonna be the climax of this movie) I found that I was truly engaged in it. I knew that the characters themselves were in no real risk, these were professionals, but I cared about how hard it was for them to get to this point and what victory would mean to them. I was able to understand that it was performers but able to connect with the emotional journey happening and isn’t that what movies themselves are?!