tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42596818678530658692024-03-14T06:25:43.864+00:00World of BlackoutFilm reviews, by someone who'd rather be watching Star Wars.Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.comBlogger1688125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-39847751902790018162023-10-01T23:31:00.000+01:002023-10-01T23:31:48.142+01:00Review: Hocus Pocus (30th Anniversary)<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/HocusPocus.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hocus_pocus" target="_blank" >Hocus Pocus</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>PG</b> / 96 mins / Dir. Kenny Ortega / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4e6YQFrt1s" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
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<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Taking as its starting</font><font size="2"> point the classic Macbethian trio of witch sisters, Kenny Ortega's much underrated and overlooked seminal feminist 1993 horror treatise <b>Hocus Pocus</b> may seem like a playful romp, but is actually a tale crafted from a draft manuscript by none other than <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-isolation-tapes-part-i.html"><b>Howard Phillips Lovecraft</b></a>, discovered in 1974 among the belongings of his deceased ex-wife Sonia Greene, snapped up by Buena Vista and duly transcribed to Disney's development-hell for almost two decades<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>.
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<br>All of the literary touchstones are duly homaged. The antiquated prologue is based around the New England witch trials (which which HPL was distractingly fascinated), and both it and its contemporary main-narrative occur on Samhain. Obsessed with the hidden knowledge of cats, the story is one of an ancient evil lying dormant until it's finally revived, so that the past can posses the present. This is orchestrated by a trio of brash if well-meaning innocents, unspeakably drawn to a forbidden sacred tome bound in human flesh. And just as the heroes <i>believe</i> they are making headway with magic for good purposes - unaware that they themselves have been drawn into a life of supernatural servitude - the three resurrected witches are unaware that the insanity of aeons has clouded their resolve, and they themselves are likewise slaves to greater forces - every bit at the mercy of the Elder Ones as the town they claim to haunt. Mass hysteria ensues while the dead rise from their graves, in a land where the sun never seems to rise and torment is eternal. <b>Hocus Pocus</b> is a tale of madness, witchcraft and helpless nihilism in the true Lovecraftian fashion.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">And best of all, leading man Omri Katz looks like the reincarnated ancestor of Mr Spooner from <a href="https://iporlemedia.podbean.com/e/chorlton-and-the-wheeliesare-you-being-served/"><b>Are You Being Served?</b></a>. <i>What's not to love?</i></p>
<p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/HocusPocusSpooner.jpg" alt="These are both Mr Spooner from Are You Being Served." title="These are both Mr Spooner from Are You Being Served."></p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating05.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> You think I'm joking at this point, much like the write-up I did for <b><a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2022/05/review-spaceman-and-king-arthur.html">The Spaceman and King Arthur</b></a>, but have you stopped to ask yourself why <i><b>Hocus Pocus</b></i> has the same initials as <i><b>Howard Phillips</b></i>? Aahhh... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-64863631064854232792023-09-30T21:50:00.000+01:002023-09-30T21:50:00.374+01:00Review: The Creator<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/TheCreator.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_creator_2023" target="_blank" >The Creator</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 133 mins / Dir. Gareth Edwards / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex3C1-5Dhb8" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
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<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">As much as</font><font size="2"> Gareth Edwards' new film is trumpeted as being from the director<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> of <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2017/01/review-rogue-one-seventh-pass.html"><b>Rogue One</b></a> and tackling the <i>bête du jour</i> of AI, <b>The Creator</b> is at its heart a callback to the 1970s era of thought-provoking science fiction, which didn't get bogged down in being the start of A Universe™<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>.
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<br>Excellent lead performances from John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles and Gemma Chan blend seamlessly with strong supporting roles from Allison Janney and Ralph Ineson, as the film leans back from <i>'the robots are going to kill us'</i> and asks instead what qualifies as <i>Artificial</i> when the <i>Intelligence</i> becomes truly self-aware. Much like Alex Garland's superb <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2015/01/review-ex-machina.html"><b>Ex Machina</b></a>, the real enemy here isn't the behaviour of the machines but that of the humans they're reacting against. Director and co-writer Gilroy evokes sympathy without being mawkish, and showcases a beautifully gritty world and jaw-dropping effects work without getting lost in the detail. While the film has a serious point to make yet never lectures its audience, this open-ended approach to morality may seem non-committal to some, and there's certainly the feeling that <b>The Creator</b> is merely extremely impressive, rather than surprisingly profound.
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<br>But above all else, it's just great to see a fiction-movie in this day and age which is familiar without seeming derivative and interesting for its entire run-time. Bravo.
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating06.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> It's a topic for a different post admittedly, but Tony 'Andor' Gilroy deserves <b>at least</b> an equal amount of credit for the direction (and indeed the <i>direction</i>) of <b>Rogue One</b>. It's not that Gareth Edwards didn't put in a hell of a lot of vital work, but ultimately Gilroy is responsible for the movie we saw. But much like <a href="https://www.avclub.com/chris-miller-and-phil-lord-talk-solo-a-star-wars-story-1848504533" target="_blank">the <b>Solo</b> debacle</a>, we'll likely never hear the full, true story behind all that. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> And let's be entirely fair, <b>Star Wars</b> caused that. <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-56207126312557163122023-09-20T21:53:00.001+01:002023-09-20T21:53:24.191+01:00Review: A Haunting In Venice<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/AHauntingInVenice.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/a_haunting_in_venice" target="_blank" >A Haunting In Venice</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 103 mins / Dir. Kenneth Branagh / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEddsSwweyE" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
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<br><p align="justify"></font><font size="4">There are few</font><font size="2"> images which evoke a perfect combination of civilisation and tranquility like the waterways of Venice, so it's not altogether inapt that we drop in on that city in a post-war setting as the celebrated detective Hercule Poirot is trying his best to adapt to a life of gentle retirement.
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<br>As for the <i>haunting</i>? Well, he's trying, that is, against the wishes of a subconscious still struggling to deal with psychoses from the world war <i>before</i> the recent one, followed by a civvy-street occupation that's involved being perpetually surrounded by All Of The Killing. It's no surprise that our hero's sense of reason is on the verge of collapsing. When Poirot attends a Halloween party in a palazzo reputed to be home to dozens of vengeful spirits, it makes for an uneasy evening. And when a visiting medium is murdered following an after-hours seance, well - that makes for a <i>typical</i> one...
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>STRING</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">And so to the third in this (frankly) <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2017/11/review-murder-on-orient-express.html">troubled</a> string of Kenneth Branagh's <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2022/12/2022-another-year-in-another-lack-of.html">interpretations</a> of Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth. I won't waste space here listing their particular failings, only to say that I approached this film with slightly more dread than was probably intended by 20th Century Studios. I don't necessarily consider myself as a Christie <i>Purist</i>™, but I also don't enjoy watching demonstrably inferior versions of <a href="https://setthetape.com/2018/10/24/death-on-the-nile-throwback-40/" target="_blank">the stories I love</a>.
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<br>So I was more surprised than anyone when I found myself rather enjoying <b>A Haunting In Venice</b>. The story is a (<u>very</u>) loose retooling of 1969's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallowe%27en_Party" target="_blank"><b>Hallowe'en Party</b></a>, but uses this more as a broad inspiration rather than source-text. And because of that distance between the novel and the screenplay, this has far more of an identity than the previous entries. There are far fewer 'small' inconsistencies to get caught up in when you're watching events unfold essentially for the first time.
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>EVERYTHING</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">Hildur Guðnadóttir's score, Haris Zambarloukos' cinematography and overall production design are firmly on the film's side, all managing to make an isolated, decaying multi-storey mansion still feel atmospherically sumptuous. And speaking of atmos, the sound editing appears to have been taking lessons from the school of <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/07/review-insidious-red-door.html">Blumhouse</a> for its deathly silences and subsequent jump-scares. That said, in terms of actual chills this is still more effective than most of the straight-up horror flicks of recent times.
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<br>Performances of the comparatively (and thankfully) pared-down ensemble cast are solid all round, even if they feel a little <i>televisual</i> in their melodramatic angst. Although with the very best will in the world Branagh's central turn is the weakest aspect of the whole thing (it's like he's hoping the audience will just accept him as Poirot through repeated exposure, rather than any persuasive craft on his part). We're three movies in and the man still sounds like he's auditioning for <b>'Allo 'Allo</b>.
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<br>And if that's not enough to raise a smirk, there are enough high ceilings and falling chandeliers here to suggest that the palazzo isn't actually haunted, it's just got the Trotter family <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFuYIi5-igc" target="_blank">running about in the attic</a>...
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>ONCE</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">Ken's <b>Poirot</b> movies have always worked best for audiences who are able to 'un-remember' previous versions of the story that's being told. <b>A Haunting In Venice</b> is no exception, and wisely assists the viewer by largely being its own - very respectable - thing. If this series is to continue (<i>and it will, whether we like it or not</i>), the way forward will be writing wholly original stories using familiar characters. Absolutely no shame in that, and far more scope for creativity.
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<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Apart from anything else, you really have to admire the chutzpah of budgeting for a Venice location shoot and basing your PR around that, then having 95% of the movie take place indoors, at night, while it's raining too hard to see the scenery in the occasional cutaway exteriors.
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<br>Ken got his holiday, I see...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating05.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-23210511132087907202023-09-18T22:52:00.001+01:002023-09-18T22:53:03.265+01:00Review: Dumb Money<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/DumbMoney.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dumb_money" target="_blank" >Dumb Money</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 104 mins / Dir. Craig Gillespie / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbZPxlI5H8s" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
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<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Well, it's nice</font><font size="2"> to see that the department at Sony in charge of greenlighting True-Story™, <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/review-wolf-of-wall-street.html">fast-cut</a>, mumbled-dialogue, <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/review-big-short.html">quirky</a>, yellow-<a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/review-foxcatcher.html">poster</a>, current affairs, <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/review-spotlight.html">underdog dramatisations</a> is largely weathering the storm <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_productions_impacted_by_the_2023_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike" target="_blank">currently affecting</a> the rest of the movie industry.
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<br>This is one of those pieces that's usually dropped in January as quasi awards-bait (but that aforementioned storm means it's hitting screens now to make up for nothing else being ready), usually based on a New York Times article or a factual book (or a New York Times article which led to a factual book), in which mainstream entertainment actors get to play in the frowny grown-ups sandpit, and convince us all that they're worth the sensible plaudits by doing so. <b>Dumb Money</b> centres around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameStop_short_squeeze" target="_blank">the Gamestop stock-debacle</a> of 2021, and is populated by players who are either perpetually furious, gormless or both at the same time. And because these characters are based to varying levels on Real People™, director Craig Gillespie gets carte blanche in portraying them as either too dull for dramatisation or too pantomime for documentary. So this is very much like real life in that we can't have nice things. Is it dumb? No. But is it an interesting cinematic distillation of a superficially complex subject, boiled down to its base elements to shine insight onto the fallibility of human behaviour which caused the furore and the plucky spirit of those who rode out the storm and stuck it to The Man? Also no.</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify"><b>Dumb Money</b> is for people who didn't manage to take in what was on the news <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2020/01/review-bombshell.html">18 months earlier</a>, and use their escapist downtime to watch movies about it all instead<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>. If that's you, enjoy.</p></blockquote>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating03.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Seriously, there were 2 (<b>two</b>) separate ads for vitamin supplements before the trailers, so at least the distributors know that the only people watching this movie are firmly middle-aged... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-57255455042226703182023-09-16T21:19:00.002+01:002023-09-16T21:27:43.808+01:00Review: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/MyBigFatGreekWedding3.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/my_big_fat_greek_wedding_3" target="_blank" >My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 92 mins / Dir. Nia Vardalos / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAflXqZ5xs0" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
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<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">There's a moment</font><font size="2"> in Kevin Smith's <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2011/09/229-snoochie-boochies-smovie-season.html">second <i>'Evening With'</i></a> video which addresses the fiscal reality of working in the entertainment industry. When asked if he - as a successful movie director, writer and actor - magically has cash lying around, Kevin replies <i>"Sir, I have a family. I'm married and I have a kid. Honestly, I kind of live very hand-to-mouth where it's like I get paid, and then I go back to work, and I get paid and basically we just spend that money until there's no money left. <b>And then I'm like '...well, what did Jay and Silent Bob do this week?</b>'"</i> Cue the mock-knowing laughter of a sycophantic audience acknowledging the artist's easy <i>go-to</i> of reliving former glories.
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<br>In unrelated news, successful movie director, writer and actor Nia Vardalos has a new <b>My Big Fat Greek Wedding</b> film out this week.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>HOLIDAY</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">Reuniting the (<i>surviving</i><a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>) cast from previous excursions, Toula (Nia Vardalos) and Ian (John Corbett) finally book themselves a first-time holiday to Greece with assorted family members to visit her late father's childhood village and hold a party in his memory. Brother Nick (Louis Mandylor) accompanies them with a secret plan for the homecoming-dispersal of the ashes, with Aunts Voula (Andrea Martin) and Frieda (Maria Vacratsis) thrown in for tag-along comedy value.
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<br>They're joined by Toula and Ian's daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) who's on the verge of failing college, and her sort-of-ex/half boyfriend Aristotle (Elias Kacavas) to add some teenage angst. Once back in the home-country, new characters arrive in the form of fearsome Alexandra (Anthi Andreopoulou), mysterious stranger Peter (Alexis Georgoulis), sparky town mayor Victory (Melina Kotselou), and Syrian refugee Qamar (Stephanie Nur) struggling to find acceptance in the traditional village. Old favourites Nikki (Gia Carides) and Angelo (Joe Fatone) arrive later in a further bid to reunite all of their father's childhood friends, and in the end the party is arranged for the same date as an impromptu wedding which is quickly pencilled in during the second act. It's all going on.
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>MUTINY</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">This is, with the very best will in the world, a complete shambles. Far too televisual in its scope<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>, far too many plot threads, few of which are properly developed (<a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2016/03/review-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-2.html"><i>again</i></a>), too many cast members, too many recurring-catchphrases in lieu of jokes, and a marked impatience in reaching its own natural conclusion.
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<br>Vardalos manages to under-write her own screenplay and then over-direct it, but the worst offender by far is the number of glaring 'laugh-gaps' - the leaden silences left in the script and sound-mix after a throwaway punchline is ham-fistedly delivered. The idea of these is that a theatre full of patrons will be <i>so</i> busy hooting with hilarity, some breathing-room should be left so that they don't miss the next crucial line in the script. This probably works well in a test-screening full of cast and crew, although in a provincial cinema with five other patrons (and worse still, in your own living room) the movie will play like it's been edited by someone suffering a blunt-force head trauma.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>MARATHON</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">That said, the film's heart <b>is</b> in the right place on an emotional level. There <i>are</i> chuckles and smiles to be had, there are few sharp edges and there's a concerted effort to sneak in various social issues without lecturing the audience (even if those issues are treated so non-confrontationally that they amount to box-ticking). The scenery is gorgeous, the cast are bringing their best energy and other than the struggling mechanics of making a coherent movie there's little to find objectionable<a href="#FootnoteThree">*<sup>3</sup></a><a name="BackThree"></a>.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">But ultimately, as the credits roll you're left with the feeling that Nia Vardalos has sat looking at a bank statement and wondered <i>'...well, what did Toula and Ian do this week?'</i>. And then she watched a couple of <b>Mamma Mia</b> flicks and realised the answer might involve HBO paying for a jolly over to Europe...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating03.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Look I know this feels like a low blow, but with the first movie landing in 2002, <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2016/03/review-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-2.html">a follow-up <b>fourteen years</b> later</a> and then waiting another <b>seven</b> for the threequel, <i>Greek Wedding</i> is a series so infrequent that its supporting cast are literally dying of old-age between instalments. And while that's certainly not shied-away from in this movie, Vardalos still didn't have the cojones to call it <i><b>My Big Fat Greek Funeral</b></i>. Maybe next time... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> The weirdest offset might be the combination of the film's full 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with opening titles that look like a mid-budget 1990s TV sitcom. <b>Who signed this off?</b> <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteThree">*<sup>3</sup></a> I know it seems like I'm being overly harsh to a perfectly harmless little <i>comfort-food</i> movie which was never intended for me in the first place, but for what it's worth Mrs Blackout enjoyed this even less than I did, and I only went to see it because she wanted to... <a href="#BackThree"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-82005124753438735542023-09-02T15:40:00.001+01:002023-09-02T15:42:58.971+01:00Review: Jurassic Park (30th Anniversary)<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/JurassicPark.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jurassic_park" target="_blank" >Jurassic Park</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 126 mins / Dir. Steven Spielberg / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWBKEmWWL38" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">There's something about</font><font size="2"> the nonchalantly galling nostalgia of anniversary screenings for movies you saw in the first time around and technically <i>weren't even a child then</i> that nobody warns you about. The last time I watched <b>Jurassic Park</b> in a cinema (which I swear blind wasn't <i>that</i> long ago) it was <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/233-dino-season.html">old enough to buy a pint</a>, yet now the fossilised mosquitos and interactive CD-ROMs weren't the only thing in that room feeling ancient...
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<br>And truth be told, there's not much to say all these years down the line about a movie that's still perfect. John Williams' score is still majestic, Bob Peck's focused intensity is still magnetic, the jokes still get audible laughs and Gary Rydstrom's sound-design for the Tyrannosaur is still one of the most hair-raising things I've ever heard. The digital and practical effects work is astounding of course, but above all else it's the human reactions to the dinosaurs that really sell this. And not just Ariana Richards' and Joseph Mazzello's terrified scrambling as Lex and Tim, but the sense of awe and jaw-dropped wonder from Laura Dern, Sam Neill<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> and Jeff Goldblum. Meeting the Brachiosaur herds was magical in 1993 and it's magical now. I genuinely still wipe away a tear in that moment. Like I said, <i>perfect</i>.
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<br>It's also still horribly relevant. This romp of dinosaurs gone rogue (or more properly, dinosaurs behaving completely naturally) is in its essence a timeless cautionary tale, glossed over with unapologetically self-aware marketing. It's no accident that a parable about the dangers of unfettered capitalism has its own logo'd merchandise literally appearing within the film as part of the problem. The story is blunt in its message (classic Michael Crichton), but hugely accessible in its scope (classic Steven Spielberg). One of the most interesting aspects is how the director actually leaves the audience feeling slightly sorry for park-visionary John Hammond, the gently-spoken entrepreneur whose myopic hubris causes widespread destruction, mutilation and death, while at the same time we're invited laugh at the demise of lawyer Donald Gennaro as he cowers on a suddenly exposed toilet. Remember, he's one of the few professionals who hadn't been bribed or cajoled onto the island to sign-off the project, and was merely working to represent the interests of investors who had well-founded concerns about the park's demonstrably appalling safety procedures. In the first act of <b>Jurassic Park</b>, <i>Gennaro is actually the good guy</i>. This flips of course once he gets dollar-signs in his eyes and is subsequently punished by the narrative as a result. Like I said, <i>blunt</i>.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">But perhaps most pleasingly, in the end there's no deus ex machina which gets our protagonists out of trouble. They just have to pick their battles, make it through the night and survive the ordeal<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>. <b>Jurassic Park</b> is about teamwork and tenacity in the face of adversity. About weathering the storm and about leaving no one behind. Yeah, even if they caused all this shit in the first place. Like I said, <i>horribly relevant</i>.</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating07.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> And for the record, Dr Alan Grant is never more than three lines of dialogue away from Sam Neill's native Kiki accent kicking back into gear, and <i>I don't even mind</i>. <b>That's</b> how much I love <b>Jurassic Park</b>. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> I do hope the poorly Triceratops was okay in the end. The plot-thread of the illness doesn't get resolved in the film (it's explained more in the novel but sill not 'fixed' iirc), and I'm not cool with the thought of her lying there incapacitated while the T-rex goes rampaging about the island willy-nilly... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-4249006526312449542023-08-31T19:37:00.001+01:002023-08-31T19:37:48.769+01:00Review: Back To The Future - The Musical<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/BackToTheFutureTheMusical.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.backtothefuturemusical.com/" target="_blank" >Back To The Future:<br>The Musical</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1"><b>London Adelphi Theatre / Saturday, 05 August 2023</b></font><font size="2">
<br></font><font size="1">Stage Manager <b>Gaz Wall</b> / Director <b>John Rando</b> / Musical Director <b>Jim Henson</b> (not that one)</font><font size="2">
<br></font><font size="1">140 mins (exc. interval) / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwU_HLUKv98" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">I am not,</font><font size="2"> as regular readers will be more than aware, A Theatre Reviewer<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>, hence the immediate shift here from detached critical oversight to first-person blog. However, beloved cinematic connections endured with today's subject, combined with a day out in London<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a> and the 2023 ethos of forcing myself to write about Stuff<a href="#FootnoteThree">*<sup>3</sup></a><a name="BackThree"></a>, resulting in a showery afternoon Down The Strand<a href="#FootnoteFour">*<sup>4</sup></a><a name="BackFour"></a> and a journey <b>Back... To The Future.</b>
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<br>When restless 80s suburban teenager Marty Mcfly (Ben Joyce) gets a call to assist his friend the eccentric professor Doc Brown (Gary Trainor) one night, he's astounded to find him in possession of a working time-machine. But Marty is even more alarmed when he finds himself thirty years in the past, and has endangered his own existence by disrupting the first meeting of his parents Lorraine (Amber Davies) and George (Cameron McAllister). With the time-machine out of power, how can our hero get back to 1985 and his girlfriend Jennifer (Sophie Naglik)? Will it be possible to not only restore the future, but to make it <i>better</i>? And how can town-bully Biff (Harry Jobson) and school principal Mr Strickland (Adam Margilewski) both be such a pain in <i>two</i> time-zones?</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>PACED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">So here's the thing. Robert Zemeckis's <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2015/10/review-back-to-future.html">1985 film</a> <b>Back To The Future</b> is 1h56m of perfectly paced storytelling. It's immaculately structured with not a frame to spare. Everything we see and hear is building - linearly or otherwise - into an exemplary whole that rewards first and repeated viewings alike. It is a masterpiece. John Rando's 2020 stage adaptation of <b>Back To The Future</b> is 2h20m of structurally the same story, which also has characters frequently bursting into a three-verse song to describe a moment's inner monologue (<i>that's fine, it <b>is</b> a musical</i>). The time spent in verse accounts for significantly more than the extra 24 minutes between the two versions. The upshot of this is that whenever a secondary character has their go in the literal limelight, that's happening at the expense of the quieter story beats - the ones which elevated the movie to more than a standard adventure flick. As a result, some of these smaller points are rushed, some are glossed over and some are jettisoned completely. And while this never derails the core narrative, it's unclear whether an audience watching <b>BTTF</b> for the first time on the stage would actually be able to clearly follow what's going on, amid the noise and cut-corners.
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<br>As you'd hope/expect, the film's diegetic songs <b>The Power Of Love</b>, <b>Earth Angel</b>, <b>Johnny B. Goode</b> and <b>Back In Time</b> are all present and correct<a href="#FootnoteFive">*<sup>5</sup></a><a name="BackFive"></a>, and all performed immaculately under Jim Henson's auspices in the understage orchestra pit. While the production features more than an admirable amount of Alan Silvestri's iconic original score, for the very most part that soundtrack is entirely separate from the new musical-numbers. With the exception of the key musical motif which sneaks its lyric-ed way into <b>Only A Matter Of Time</b> and its reprises (and a separate refrain from the same theme which sneaks in once), the new songs - <i>musically</i> - feel like they could have been written for any stage-show, and were crowbarred to fit this one by virtue of their lyrics. Although at the same time, it's the dialogue between which tackles the actual narrative (again, if a newcomer were to try and glean the plot from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfGu5K8jipVHo4gsVnrnVkHAvBvCedMaS" target="_blank">the cast recording</a>, they'd come unstuck pretty quickly). The songs themselves are great, I hasten to add. <b>Only A Matter Of Time</b> counterpoints with <b>Got No Future</b>, while <b>Teach Him A Lesson</b> dovetails boldly back into <b>Something About That Boy</b>. But the newly-penned soundtrack overall doesn't have its own stylistic through-thread, which you'd be forgiven for considering quite an important part of A Stage Musical. Collectively, this is a mish-mash of rock'n'roll, synth pop and full-on show tunes. Silvestri's score doesn't quite manage to thread these together, but it does act as a musical anchor, the base point which can be returned to at plot-specific moments of critical importance.
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<br>And of course when you go to see a West End stage show, you expect to see performances worthy of <i>A West End Stage Show</i>™. That's certainly what <b>Back To The Future</b> delivers, with wide eyes, gleaming teeth and belting vocals that could shatter a flux capacitor. This works best in conjunction with the deliberately <i>'50s-esque</i> sequences, but often feels more Rydell High than Hill Valley. Never more than two steps from going full jazz-hands (and occasionally doing that anyway), the enthusiasm certainly can't be faulted, even if some members of the cast seem more to determined to segue between overly earnest middle-distance yodelling and intricately parodic impersonations of their big-screen counterparts. The end result always works well <i>on the boards</i>, but can remind the audience more of the screen-characters they're <i>not</i> watching treading them.
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<br>So the storytelling here is erratic, the musical style is haphazard and the performances border on distracting. Naturally, there's only one conclusion I can come to.
<br><b>Back To The Future The Musical</b> is nothing short of brilliant. Absolutely. <i>Brilliant</i>.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>LARGED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">Put simply, there has never been a more flawless collaboration of performance, musicianship, physical sets, digital projection, razor-sharp lighting, and surgically precise off-stage co-ordination<a href="#FootnoteSix">*<sup>6</sup></a><a name="BackSix"></a>. When all of these come together in <b>Back To The Future The Musical</b> the effect is jaw-dropping, <u>way</u> more than the sum of its parts. This is the kind of magic that only theatre can bring to life, because it's happening in real-time and real-space as the audience watches agog. When the DeLorean first appears, it gets a huge round of applause. And do bear in mind that almost everybody in the theatre is watching this for the first time, it's not <b>Rocky Horror</b> where their interactivity is cued up - <i>this is just the energy that washes out into the audience</i>. We applauded a prop. By the time of the final curtain, we were giving that prop a standing ovation.
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<br>The device at the core of the live presentation (other than the DeLorean) is the huge central section of the stage that rotates to reveal new props and scenery. Not only is this a quick and effective means of carrying out the many scene changes (with technicians backstage constantly cueing up the next location), it's used to maximum effect in conjunction with the dual projection in simulating the high-speed action scenes. You <u>will</u> believe you're watching a car approach 88mph on a theatre stage, and you <u>will</u> believe you're seeing that from switching camera angles. It is awe-inspiring and perfectly executed. But on a more subconscious level, this central area echoes the movement of a traditional clock-face, and its rotation is representative of Marty having a time-machine at his disposal while suddenly finding that the clock is against him. This is a decision that's been made for maximum thematic enjoyment, an indication that every aspect of the physical production has been meticulously plotted out for aesthetics as well as practicality. While some scene changes take place under cover of darkness, more occur in front of the audience's eyes. The show doesn't slow down for these and it's all part of the experience - <i>a feature, not a bug</i>. The continuous efficiency with which this happens is nothing short of amazing; <b>Back To The Future The Musical</b> uses three-dimensional space to its fullest extent<a href="#FootnoteSeven">*<sup>7</sup></a><a name="BackSeven"></a>.
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<br>Although I've griped above about some of the performances, they do come together perfectly, and credit is fully due to Ben Joyce as Marty McFly, who keeps Michael J. Fox's exasperated soul of the character intact while still managing to add his own idiosyncrasies as an actor, without the two sides ever clashing. And extra, <b>extra</b> points must be awarded to Gary Trainor as Doctor Emmet Brown, who immerses himself in the role so perfectly that whether he's delivering dialogue from the film script or the sections written for this adaptation, with each shrug and shriek you don't just feel Christopher Lloyd, but <i>Actual Doc Actual Brown</i>. Everything about Trainor's turn is beautifully on-point and makes for an electrifying experience. The pair proudly, and rightfully, take centre-stage here.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>WISED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">This is certainly not a cheap night out<a href="#FootnoteEight">*<sup>8</sup></a><a name="BackEight"></a>, and for the majority of readers London isn't readily accessible, but I seriously recommend anyone wanting to see the show to do so at the Adelphi Theatre. Commercial logic suggests there'll be a touring version at some point, but sheer practical viability dictates that a 'mobile' presentation will necessarily lose its greatest aspects. <b>Back To The Future</b> isn't just presented <i>at</i> The Adelphi, it inhabits the auditorium on a more fundamental level, surrounding the audience in the stalls and filling the field of vision for everyone else. The theatre is more than just a stage. This intricate physical and mechanical setup <i>is</i> the show in its fullest form, and can't be re-assembled in the local Theatre Royal for a three-night run.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Overall, there <i>are</i> structural hurdles to be cleared and while that's managed, those obstacles <i>are</i> still visible<a href="#FootnoteNine">*<sup>9</sup></a><a name="BackNine"></a>. It's not that <b>Back To The Future The Musical</b> shouldn't work, more that it was always going to be a monumentally tall order to do the film justice. John Rando's stage adaptation takes this tall order and surpasses it, with force of will and the infectious commitment of its cast and crew. Like any adventure, there are perils and there are pitfalls, but the greatest trick the show pulls is having its audience walk out onto the Strand with a spring in their step and the feeling that it all looked so <i>easy</i>.
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<br>As with any artistic endeavour, precision, dedication and belief all play their part, but sometimes even the sheer joy of the thing is enough...</p></blockquote>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating07gold.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Indeed, on the most recent occasion I attempted a theatrical deconstruction, the resulting piece spent almost more time complaining about the bricks-and-mortar venue than it did the actual production. Although the two were intertwined so <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/04/review-when-darkness-falls.html">I feel justified</a>. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> Apart from anything else, the only three entertainment properties to have tempted me back to the capital this year have been <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/04/review-star-wars-return-of-jedi.html"><b>Star Wars</b></a>, <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/07/review-indiana-jones-and-dial-of.html"><b>Indiana Jones</b></a> and now <b>Back To The Future</b>; given that these are my all-time favourites, it feels appropriate that the stage production should be analysed here to some extent... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteThree">*<sup>3</sup></a> And yet I'm very aware that it's been over three months since my check-in at the Minack Theatre for a concert by <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1656653016223690752" target="_blank">The Fisherman's Friends</a> and no review has surfaced. But how to I collate words for a perfect combination of venue and performance which left me speechless? I still don't know. Hence. <a href="#BackThree"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteFour">*<sup>4</sup></a> Have one banana. <a href="#BackFour"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteFive">*<sup>5</sup></a> <b>Mister Sandman</b> seems notable by its absence, even if Marty's arrival in 1955 no longer features that same town square sequence of events when transferred to the stage. Although the song does make an appearance in the <i>'Radio Hill Valley'</i> soundtrack which is played in the auditorium during the interval. <a href="#BackFive"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteSix">*<sup>6</sup></a> When I say 'there's never been', I mean 'I have never seen one'. Like I said, I'm not 'theatre-people', but I did dally briefly with crew-work in my much-younger days, and I know how much precision and graft goes on backstage with even the most vanilla of productions. <b>Back To The Future The Musical</b> is next, <u>next</u> level. <a href="#BackSix"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteSeven">*<sup>7</sup></a> I also love that this telling of a story from 1985 about a kid travelling back to the '50s could not have been told on stage in <b>this</b> form until well in to the 21st century. The technology - practical as well as digital - didn't exist at this level of quality and accessibility to produce this show earlier; as if the past, and the <i>past-past</i> had been waiting for the future to catch up to timeless imagination. <a href="#BackSeven"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteEight">*<sup>8</sup></a> Tickets for <b>Back To The Future The Musical</b> are - to be blunt - <b>prohibitively</b> expensive, but the consolation is that you <b>do</b> see where that money is going, no doubt at all. And for the absolute avoidance of doubt, I'm <b>not</b> writing glowing words because I saw this with freebies or comps, I paid cold hard cash and will <u>gladly do so again</u>. <a href="#BackEight"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteNine">*<sup>9</sup></a> It's not that I was <i>sceptical</i> about watching this adaptation, but I was certainly wary and the price-tag doesn't exactly encouraging a gamble. You can't take a single escalator on the tube without seeing posters for a dozen West End shows, half of which seem to be stage port-overs of well-received movies from the 80s and 90s (<b>The Bodyguard</b>, <b>Dirty Dancing</b>, <b>Mrs Doubtfire</b>). But <b>Back To The Future</b> isn't just an 80s movie, it's a cultural touchstone. I'd struggled with how the producers were going to bring the story to life in a way which would add more to something that was already perfect. And on August 05, I found out. <a href="#BackNine"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-31746937580923315842023-08-30T23:44:00.003+01:002023-08-30T23:47:50.793+01:00Review: The Equalizer 3<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Equalizer3.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_equalizer_3" target="_blank" >The Equalizer 3</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 109 mins / Dir. Antoine Fuqua / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19ikl8vy4zs" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<br><p align="justify"></font><font size="4">I can't believe</font><font size="2"> they haven't called this <b>The 3qualizer</b>. Never thought I'd see the day when Lionsgate's <a href="https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/expend4bles-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdezmda5" target="_blank"><b>Expendfourbles</b></a> have got more cojones than Sony Columbia but here we are.
<br>
<br>Anyway, Antoine Fuqua has teamed up once again with the only actor in his contacts list still picking up the phone for another hour and three quarters of dad-vigilantism<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>. Pathologically unable to keep his neb out of other folks' business, Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has put his past killing <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/review-equalizer.html">Russian gansters</a> and <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/08/review-equalizer-2.html">Turkish gangsters</a> behind him, and has moved for a quiet life in... <i>*checks notes*</i> ...<b>southern Italy</b>. Well, quite. Also stars Dakota Fanning as a CIA operative literally phoning in a performance for half the runtime.
<br>
<br>An absolute pantomime of a film with much of the exposition thankfully lost in mumbled dialogue, what Fuqua sees as a 'steady pace' is more like dragging out a tight 85 minute thriller. Things could be worse but this sags frequently, eventually limping to a muted finale probably intended as 'nuanced', but looking like the budget was about to run out. Cinematographer Robert Richardson really earns that <i>"injury detail"</i> warning on the BBFC card, in fact the only thing shown with more glee than the violence is a gang of seven Italian mobsters standing around a spotlit table plotting murder while literally eating spaghetti bolognese. On a similar note, Marcelo Zarvos's score nodding merrily to <b>The Godfather</b> feels every bit as cheap as one would expect.
<br>
<br>Like many of the movies this Summer, <b>Equalizer 3</b> wouldn't have been out of place 15 years ago but feels slightly too grubby in 2023. It's technically competent, but plies its trade without verve or self-awareness. There's evidently still a market for this sort of thing otherwise Sony's badge wouldn't be on the front, but everyone here is going through the motions while they can still get away with it<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>
</p>
<blockquote><p align="justify">Still, it's not the most egregious <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/04/review-popes-exorcist.html">Italian bloodbath</a> I've seen this year, and at least this one was actually filmed there.</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> I know I call these movies <b>dad-bait</b>, but there was an advert for Lynx Africa before tonight's screening. I rest my case. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> Why does it feel like I'll be typing this again for <b>Expendfourbles</b>? <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-16208719933686694442023-08-29T23:03:00.002+01:002023-08-29T23:35:17.036+01:00Review: Cobweb<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Cobweb.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cobweb_2023" target="_blank" >Cobweb</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 88 mins / Dir. Samuel Bodin / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGY0icwlDGY" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">A by-the-numbers</font><font size="2"> haunted house creeper which channels <b>The Conjuring</b> flicks by way of <b>The People Under The Stairs</b>, this Lionsgate feature borrows liberally from the genre while remaining largely (and thankfully) free of cheap jump-scares. The movie rattles along its short runtime building a reasonable amount of uneasy tension - even if that’s offset by being over-directed in every single scene. This last lends <b>Cobweb</b> an unintentional silliness (together with hazy plot details) that may be the film’s saving grace, preventing it from getting swept up in themes of dark family secrets and lies.
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<br>God alone knows why this is being released in early September. Its Hallow’een setting makes the film suitable for the last week in October, and even then only the once (unless you’re a fan of Lizzy Caplan going psycho, in which case knock yourself out). </p>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br></font><font size="1">
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-52212847727722541912023-08-29T19:00:00.000+01:002023-08-29T19:00:19.308+01:00Review: Past Lives<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/PastLives.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/past_lives" target="_blank" >Past Lives</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br><font size="4"><b>(Spoilers)</font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 106 mins / Dir. Celine Song / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA244xewjcI" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">And so August</font><font size="2"> finally threatens to bear some sensible cinematic fruit, as writer/director Celine Song's debut feature focuses on a young Korean woman who - having moved and settled in the USA - encounters a face from her past which stirs uneasy feelings of loss and regret. Greta Lee stars as aspiring playwright Na Young / Nora, with John Magaro as her American now-husband Arthur, and Teo Yoo as Jung Hae Sung, the childhood friend who threatens to upset the applecart.
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<br>Actually it's not entirely fair to blame Hae Sung. As pre-teens, he and Na Young are shown to have a competitive, belligerent relationship until their parents agree to escort them on <b>one</b> playdate after which Na Young moves with her parents to Canada (and chooses her Western-name of Nora). Twelve years later, after learning toxic-masculinity traits in the army, Hae Sung starts Facebook-stalking her. Rather than shutting this down, Nora strings out the long-distance <i>nothing</i> in an awkward, dangling way for months before ghosting him for another twelve years because she can't face the responsibility of her own personality. Shortly after this, Nora has married author Arthur (<i>do you see what they did there</i>) on the rebound <b>purely</b> to get a green-card while both share a cramped NYC apartment full of repressed guilt and existential ennui. When Hae Sung decides he's finally going to visit the USA and asks to meet Nora again naturally she agrees, because the best possible thing for everybody here is a gamophobic woman introducing her emotionally anaesthetised ex to her brittlely insecure husband so that they can all be the same level of unhappy.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>TEST</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">All art is subjective of course and every film is its own Rorschach test. Despite <a href="https://twitter.com/cineworld/status/1696261897710870538" target="_blank">clear moments</a> of intended poignancy <b>Past Lives</b> compares well with Brian De Palma's <b>Scarface</b>, in that it's proof that you don't need to base your screenplay around likeable characters; <i>engaging</i> ones sliding into the morass of their own appalling decisions (and/or lack thereof) can be enough. The players in this game have their foibles and flaws shown, explained, highlighted and underlined at every single turn. It's not that Nora, Hae Sung or Arthur have <i>no</i> redeeming features, just that the film wallows in their repeated failure to learn from past mistakes. As lessons go it's pretty blunt and Celine Song proves herself to be the master of <i>'the awkward moment'</i>. In fact this one lasts for an hour and three quarters.
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<br>On the plus-side, Shabier Kirchner's cinematography is gorgeous; colour palettes have rarely looked so expressive and the use of light and shadow is sublime. Keith Fraase's diting is delicate and the overall pacing is deliberately languid, reflective of the protagonists' reluctance to grow. We spend a massive amount of time watching the non-relationship between Na Young and Hae Sung, and then comparatively none with her actual husband Arthur, so that when the marriage begins to show serious cracks there's little at stake for the audience other than imagining Arthur as the <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/this-is-fine/" target="_blank"><i>This Is Fine</i></a> dog.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>SAVER</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">That said, the premise and performances here <i>are</i> strong enough that the <b>Past Lives</b> could easily have been 20 minutes shorter with no detrimental effect to the story. And fair play to Song, it could easily have been a more mawkish, uplifting and chocolate-box take, but she's chosen to show life at its <i>needlessly complicated worst</i>. Thanks, mate. The fact that I didn't particularly enjoy myself doesn't mean the film doesn't work, of course; <i>it's supposed to be imperfect</i>. Arguably, me disliking just about every speaking character onscreen means that it's doing precisely what it's supposed to. Well done, I guess<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>.</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Oh, and repeatedly throwing in ancient folklore about the titular 'past lives' doesn't mean anything if your main character debunks that the very first time it's mentioned. <i>Also by her</i>. Then again Nora's wrong about literally everything else here, so...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> For clarity, me disliking <b>Past Lives</b> was not a foregone conclusion. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA244xewjcI" target="_blank">trailer</a> looks great and I was genuinely worried it was going to leave me sobbing in the auditorium. So perhaps the subsequent relief and surprise of me loving the performances and just despising the characters themselves was a <i>good</i> thing? Yeah, I don't think so either. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-41082988106590174322023-08-27T21:38:00.001+01:002023-08-27T21:43:19.427+01:00Review: Haunted Mansion<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/HauntedMansion.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/haunted_mansion_2023" target="_blank" >Haunted Mansion</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 123 mins / Dir. Justin Simien / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB_1o3c19y0" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">And so to the</font><font size="2"> House Of Mouse's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Mansion_(2003_film)" target="_blank">second-stab</a> at adapting their <b>Haunted Mansion</b> theme park attraction for the big screen. It's an ensemble tale of apparitions and adventure, of chills and chuckles, of ghoulish gags and of grief. The last of these is the cornerstone of Katie Dippold's screenplay, although it never really slows down enough to properly explore the emotions to which it refers (and for Disney that's a criminally-missed <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/01/review-coco.html">opportunity</a>).
<br>
<br>All of the central cast here are superbly likeable and perfectly matched to their roles, with particular standout performances from LaKeith Stanfield and Rosario Dawson. The antagonists they're up against, however, don't balance this out with any sense of credible threat. In fact we only really meet one - Jared Leto's <i>'Hatbox'</i> - a supernatural villain who looks like Tim Burton has re-tooled The Grinch and sounds like a half-arsed impersonation of Darth Vader. Screen-time with this character is all but wasted, then again Leto has proved on more than one occasion that he can easily take an average movie and make it feel far worse. Although the playfully creepy visual effects are every bit as accomplished as you'd expect (given that this is catering to a family audience), the film never manages to evoke the eerie otherworldliness that even <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/153-review-potc-on-stranger-tides.html"><b>Pirates Of The Caribbean</b></a> managed in its darker moments. Because of this we're never convinced that this is anything other than a ride.
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<br>The comedy is executed with more skill than the horror, even if there are plenty of chuckles but no real belly laughs. The scares aim for <i>'traditional'</i> but still fall short at cliché much of the time. Justin Simien never quite matches the kookiness of <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1057396426148405248" target="_blank"><b>Beetlejuice</b></a>, the adrenaline of <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2016/01/review-goosebumps.html"><b>Goosebumps</b></a> or the emotional rawness of <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1477032148095930370" target="_blank"><b>Ghostbusters Afterlife</b></a>. And that's a shame because <b>Haunted Mansion</b> feels like 80% of a great movie, but with its unfulfilled potential and capacity to be something more meaningful the end result is, sadly, forgettable...
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br></font><font size="1">
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-1991714175850425592023-08-25T01:00:00.000+01:002023-08-25T01:00:29.923+01:00Review: Blue Beetle<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/BlueBeetle.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blue_beetle" target="_blank" >Blue Beetle</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 127 mins / Dir. Ángel Manuel Soto / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wxyy8Rcz4k" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Next up in DC's</font><font size="2"> pantheon of semi-discarded continuity is Ángel Manuel Soto's treatment of The Hero's Journey, <b>Blue Beetle</b>. Xolo Maridueña comfortably handles the title role as restless law-graduate Jamie Reyes, Bruna Marquezine looks blank a lot as The Girl One and Susan Sarandon is so wooden as the villain she was treated on-set as a fire hazard. The film's branding and colour palette are gorgeous, although that's definitely offset by the pervasive layer of <b>Beige</b>™ emanating from the storyline. Tropes, platitudes and <i>galactic</i> levels of exposition clump along in a solid if basic script - delivered by a spirited cast with almost enough enthusiasm to paper over the cracks. The setup is basically that Peter Parker becomes Robocop with a suit that looks and acts like a pound shop Iron Man. In fact, by the time you factor in the corporate baddie looking to manufacture similar suits for their own capitalist-megalomaniac ends, our hero needing to be morally worthy of his cosmic assistance and his humble suburban family of hidden warriors and socially unconventional tech genii, <b>Blue Beetle</b> soon feels like watching all of the Marvel Phase 1 films at the same time. It never goes so far as to be <i>boring</i>, but little happens of any real interest. On a sincere note, it's genuinely great to see Latino representation on this scale that doesn't get <i>too</i> bogged down in cliché, it's just a shame it's in a movie so utterly featureless. More disposable than anyone at DC originally intended, this will probably be fine for an undemanding audience, although good luck finding one of those over the age of 12 in this day and age...
<br>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating03.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br></font><font size="1">
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-61531555018173312292023-08-22T23:56:00.002+01:002023-08-25T00:10:15.208+01:00Review: Theater Camp<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/TheaterCamp.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/theater_camp" target="_blank" >Theater Camp</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 93 mins / Dir. Molly Gordon & Nick Lieberman / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-vzMhTF3oI" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Well, the trailer</font><font size="2"> for this made me want to gouge my own brain out with pins, but I went to watch <b>Theater Camp</b> anyway because I'm a sucker for giving a film an even break (look, if I don't watch it then how can I tell anyone who'll listen how awful it is?). <b>Theater Camp</b> is awful. Proving that if there's one thing worse than needy actors it's needy actors playing needy actors, at some point this was pitched as an underdog comedy, then someone forget to write in likeable characters. Or comedy. Instead we get mawkish, cack-handed, overly earnest yet cripplingly insincere tosh like some early 80s Hallmark daytime-movie which has made its way onto BBC2 during the summer holidays when you were hoping for <b>Fast Times At Ridgemont High</b> but you asked your nan for the television especially and she's in the room so now you've got to watch it and pretend you're interested. As plot-devices go, <i>"we've got to save the theatre by putting on a <b>show</b>!!"</i> is so hackneyed that the literal <b>Muppets</b> were sending it up as a cliché <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/review-muppets.html">over a decade ago</a>. For reasons I can't fathom this is presented as a low-budget documentary (the kind that's constantly filmed on four separate cameras), even though it's filled with actors you clearly <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2019/05/review-booksmart.html">recognise</a> from other <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/05/review-machine.html">films</a> and <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2020/03/review-mandalorian-chapter-1.html">TV shows</a>. And hey that's okay, <b>Spinal Tap</b> was presented as a documentary too, except that leaned into the comedic ridiculousness of the docu-format whereas <b>Theater Camp</b> plays it entirely straight. Perhaps the weirdest surprise is that although the film is filled with kids, they are in no way the annoying factor(s) here, that honour is owned fully and shamelessly by the atrocious adult cast who are doing it all <b>on purpose</b>. <i>Who is this for?</i> Theatre people are going to see the movie as condescending or insulting, while non-theatre people are going to see it as the reason they don't go to the theatre. So who's winning here? Not the audience, that's for sure. I think the last time I took against a film as vehemently as this was <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1562193783764033537" target="_blank"><b>Bodies Bodies Bodies</b></a>, and at least with that there was the threat of imminent lethal violence. Here, I was just praying for that...
</p>
<blockquote><p align="justify"><b>Best line</b>, show-runner Amos (Ben Platt):
<br><i>"I apologise... waiting for entertainment that's expected is painful."</i>
<br>
<br>Well, quite.</p></blockquote>
<br>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating00.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it...">
<br><b>Correct: zero stars.</b></p>
<br>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-14099522951280358092023-08-22T01:00:00.001+01:002023-08-22T01:00:20.569+01:00Review: Strays<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Strays.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/strays_2023" target="_blank" >Strays</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 89 mins / Dir. Josh Greenbaum / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzwOLKTbCUw" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">So if 2023 has</font><font size="2"> brought you to the place where you need <b>The Incredible Journey</b> meets <b>The Secret Life Of Pets</b> meets <b>Ted</b>, then director Josh Greenbaum has got you covered. This R-Rated pup comedy does exactly what it says on the tin, in a movie where the dogs saying <i>fuck</i> is the primary joke for an hour and half. It works well enough as a concept, and there are frequent chuckles from Dan Perrault's script but no real guffaws. If that's all you want for an hour and a half, knock yourself out.
<br>
<br>In all fairness, the central quartet of characters voiced by Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher and Randall Park is well balanced and reasonably fleshed out. The mix of live-action and CGI is nicely accomplished and the voice-cast is enthusiastic, but at its core the film is tired before it's properly begun. This is <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-no-hard-feelings.html">third</a> studio-comedy in as many <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/07/review-joy-ride.html">months</a> which feels like a Judd Apatow script that's been found in a drawer after fifteen years and put into production because there was nothing else on the board.
<br>
<br>Dick-jokes aside (<b><u>so</u> many dick-jokes</b>), this movie is actually about the innocence of abandoned dogs, loss, companionship, trust and rising above abusive relationships, so it periodically tries to pull on the heart strings. But Greenbaum doesn't have the sincerity or courage of his convictions to do that properly<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>, and the only real enthusiasm here comes from the shrieking profanity on display in the trailer. <b>Strays</b> just isn't smart enough for the message it thinks it wants to convey and has little to emotionally justify its existence. But the dogs are (<a href="https://movieweb.com/strays-real-dogs-cgi-will-ferrell-comedy" target="_blank">largely</a>) real <a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a> here, so it's already head and shoulders above <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/08/review-meg-2-trench.html"><b>The Meg</b></a>.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Oh, but I'm taking points off for that accelerated greatest-hits montage of the most Outrageous™ gags just before the finale. If you need to tell your jokes twice to assure an audience they've enjoyed themselves, those weren't good enough the first time...</p></blockquote>
<br>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating03.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
<br>
<br></font><font size="1">
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> And rest assured, <b>I <i>am</i> Dog-People</b>™ and susceptible as fuck to all that. <b>Strays</b> just doesn't have it. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> The main dog is very cool, though. Not Will Ferrell who voices Reggie (obviously) but Sophie, the border terrier who plays him. <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-15733029928071141242023-08-21T19:28:00.000+01:002023-08-21T19:28:47.869+01:00Review: The Meg 2 - The Trench<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/TheMeg2.jpg">
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<meta name="twitter:description" content="Plumbing the depths.">
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<p align="center"><font size="2"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/TheMeg2.jpg" width="500">
<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/meg_2_the_trench" target="_blank" >The Meg 2: The Trench</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 111 mins / Dir. Ben Wheatley / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG91B3hHyY4" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">It may seem naïve</font><font size="2"> to hope a prehistoric shark action-er might do something unexpected, so fair play to director Ben Wheatley and his team of three screenwriters<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> ~ about half of <b>The Meg 2: The Trench</b> isn’t actually about the megalodon, and about half of it isn’t set anywhere near the trench. This is impressive, in its own way. Although it's the only thing that is.
<br>
<br>The film is somehow not <i>quite</i> as excruciating as expected, but it <b>is</b> every bit as lazy, patronising and formulaic. Murky visuals and monosyllabic scripting bloat out a plot structure that resembles a trope-showreel assembled by AI. This is basically <b>Jurassic Park</b>, then it’s <b>Jaws</b>, <b>The Abyss</b>, <b>Pacific Rim</b>, a bit <b>Predator</b>, <b>Piranha 3DD</b>, back to <b>Jurassic Park</b> and then <b>Godzilla vs. Kong</b><a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>, threaded together by Jason Statham playing his Jason Statham Character™ while no one else is introduced properly because most of them will cark it 20 minutes after their first appearance anyway. <b>The Meg 2</b> promises little and delivers less. You have never seen $129 million feel so cheap. Still, it's something to tide The Dads over until <b>Expendfourbles</b> comes out.
</p>
<blockquote><p align="justify">I haven’t seen a movie this dumb since <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/01/review-plane.html"><b>Plane</b></a>.
<br><i>And do remember, I sat through <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/05/review-fast-x.html"><b>Fast X</b></a></i>...</p></blockquote>
<br>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating02.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
<br>
<br></font><font size="1">
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> I'll put my hands up and admit that it was only in assembling this review that I learned the movie is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trench_(novel)" target="_blank">based on a novel</a>. As in, an actual work of printed literature that you could probably find in a proper library near real books. And it's based on a novel because <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/08/review-meg.html">the previous movie</a> was based on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg:_A_Novel_of_Deep_Terror">the previous novel</a>. There's a commercial appetite for this shit but <b>without</b> the pictures? By extension, this means there's going to be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg:_A_Novel_of_Deep_Terror#Sequels" target="_blank">at least one more</a> of these. <b>At least</b>. God help us all... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> You see, I'm very aware I've accused this movie of lifting wholesale from at least seven others, some of which were produced <b>after</b> the 1999 novel upon which it's based. But given the historical nature of the disaster movie format and the additional number of inferior rip-offs which already exist, plus the fact that <b>The Meg 2</b> was <i>still</i> made by a perfectly competent director in this form in 2023 with all of that shit pre-existing, <b>the point still stands</b>. Ben Wheatley, though. Actual <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/review-field-in-england.html">Ben</a> Actual <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2016/03/review-high-rise.html">Wheatley</a>. Fucking hell. <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-61591786794836712332023-08-20T17:09:00.001+01:002023-08-20T17:09:40.902+01:00Review: The Blackening<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/TheBlackening.jpg">
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<meta name="twitter:description" content="97 minutes. One joke. Zero coherence.">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_blackening" target="_blank" >The Blackening</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 97 mins / Dir. Tim Story / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moiRCJR4ToY" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">In Tim Story's</font><font size="2"><a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> satirical horror/comedy mashup, eight black American friends arrange a Juneteenth party in a remote AirBnB in the rural backwoods, doubling as a ten-year reunion get-together. Their jollity is interrupted as they learn a killer is targeting the house and forcing them to play the most inappropriate game...
<br>
<br>After the ads, trailers and BBFC card, an ominous fade-in red-on-black caption reads <i>"The following is based on true events..."</i>, a preposition joined a few seconds later by the words <i>"...that never happened"</i>. That's the level we're at, here. That's the film setting out its stall. That's how this <b>opens</b>.
<br>
<br>So. <b>The Blackening</b> only has one real joke: that the token black character in a slasher movie always dies first<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>, so what happens when the slasher movie is <i>filled</i> with those? That joke, incidentally, is written out <a href="https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3752913/the-blackening-clever-poster-for-horror-comedy-promises-the-trailer-tomorrow/" target="_blank"><b>on the poster</b></a> in a point-size larger than the fim's title, so you already know it before the lights go down. You can imagine how this drags out across 97 minutes. After a scene-setting pretitle sequence involving a couple of casualties, the friends arrive at the customary cabin in the woods and the plot thickens. To the point of stagnation. The key thing in slasher movies is that the players are picked of one-by-one, ebbing the protagonists' ability to fight back, narrowing the identity of the killer, raising the tension and giving the whole thing a pyramidal structure. Without going into too many spoilers, <b>not here</b>. So the whole thing drags its heels while <b>nothing actually happens</b>. Oh, except for a third-act reveal which may be one of the most repeatedly telegraphed progressions in cinematic history.
<br>
<br>The core problem is that Story's movie isn't thoughtful enough to be a satire, gruesome enough to be a horror or funny enough for a comedy. So... well done, Tim? And it’s not that horror-comedy is difficult to do right, it’s just <b>very easy</b> to get wrong. This is a shining example of that which isn't trying to be so bad it's <i>good</i>, it's just an astoundingly painful waste of a neat idea and an otherwise solid cast. <b>The Blackening</b> feels like a reboot of the <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/review-scary-movie-5.html"><b>Scary movie</b></a> franchise which foregoes the parody set-pieces and moves straight to shrieking, falling over and shit scripted gags.</p>
<blockquote><p align="justify">Horrifying for all the wrong reasons.</p></blockquote>
<br>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating02.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
<br>
<br></font><font size="1">
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Yes, <b>that</b> Tim Story. The one who directed the first two widely condemned <b>Fantastic Four</b> movies for 20th Century Fox, hopped over to Universal to make <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2014/03/review-ride-along.html"><b>Ride Along</b></a> and then after a period of sombre reflection still went on to make <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2016/01/review-ride-along-2.html"><b>Ride Along 2</b></a>.
<br><a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> Note: While there are certainly other factors in play, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_in_horror_films" target="_blank">they don't always die first</a>. But why let statistics get in the way of a good generalising trope, especially if your movie is depending on it? <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-18032390765672859552023-07-28T23:52:00.006+01:002023-07-29T15:25:18.659+01:00Review: Barbie<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Barbie.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/barbie" target="_blank" >Barbie</a></font><br><font size="4">(Spoilers)</font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 114 mins / Dir. Greta Gerwig / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk4NYhWNMM" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Life is pretty good</font><font size="2"> in Barbieland. Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) enjoys an idyllic existence partying, relaxing and socialising with a wide swathe of other Barbies. Beach Ken (Ryan Gosling) joins in but pines from afar, wishing their non-committal relationship could move to the next level, while also enjoying an active social life with all the other Kens. But strange things are afoot, and Barbie notices the shine beginning to rub thin on her daily activities; food tastes bad, showers are cold and she can't shake growing feelings of existential dread.
<br>
<br>Visiting Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) on the outskirts of town, our heroine learns that her problems stem from angst in The Real World, where the girl who owns the doll is suffering a series of emotional upheavals. This discord has caused a tear in the space-time continuum, and the only chance Barbie has of putting things right is by travelling into The Real World (with Ken in tow) and bringing a little sparkle to Los Angeles before Barbieland falls apart...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>BROKEN</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">So it seems Mattel have finally broken into the live-action movie IP business by spending $140 million<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> in remaking <a href="https://youtu.be/oBCfhBEH2jQ?t=47" target="_blank"><b>The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalpyse</b></a>. I mean fair play, I did <b>not</b> have that on my 2023 bingo card, but at least they've got the action figures on the shelves already so this is a bonus (<i><b>HASBRO TAKE NOTE</b></i>).
<br>
<br>After riffing on Kubrick's <b>2001</b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zIf0XvoL9Y" target="_blank">as per the teaser</a> trailer, <b>Barbie</b>'s opening act is everything you'd expect from A Barbie Movie naturally, and archly self-aware as it is, still feels like being kidnapped by a hen party and waterboarded with Lambrini. That said, the production design is a thing of surgically precise beauty, a wry homage to the brand rather than a parody. The players are entirely onboard and carry this in the same vein, and both Robbie and Gosling are perfectly chosen with excellent comic timing. Greta Gerwig's tight direction makes the most of her script with longtime collaborator Noah Baumbach.
<br>
<br>There are plenty of laugh-out-loud gags throughout, both in Barbieland and The Real World. A huge supporting cast are having a blast as the various branded iterations of Barbie and Ken, and Michael Cera brings his trademark anxious demeanour as Allan. America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt are superb as Gloria and Sasha, the mother/daughter combo caught up in the strife which has opened a gateway between planes of existence. Will Ferrell plays the (appropriately unnamed) CEO of Mattel by playing Will Ferrell™, and Dame Helen Mirren continues to channel the late John Hurt by providing a voiceover that's so cloyingly tongue-in-cheek it actually cheapens both the film and her own IMDB catalogue.
<br>
<br>The film wears its feminist credentials on its sleeve and does so very well, even if the message feels very much <i>on the nose</i> a lot of the time. But the fact that this ethos has made it out of a dozen boardrooms and onto mainstream cinema screens in such a prominent style is a feat to be applauded in itself. The version of what we see could not have been made without Mattel's endorsement, and while the impression remains that the paymasters are generally in on the joke, we're also left with the feeling Gerwig and Baumbach are filing off many of their sharper edges. What's more interesting is the boxes the film refuses to tick. Despite the ferocious branding and leaning heavily into the current, financially lucrative, version of its namesake, <b>Barbie</b> is not a children's movie. Children can certainly <i>watch</i> it (within the expected 12A parameters obviously), but it's made <i>for</i> adults - specifically, ones who remember Barbie but don't necessarily have a house full of them any more. And yet at the same time, this isn't an empty, cash-grab nostalgia exercise. It's promoting the product definitely, but it's more about selling the <i>idea</i> of Barbie. Or <b>an</b> idea, at any rate.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>POISON</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">In terms of the actual mechanics of the storytelling, things are a little more... well, <i>vague</i>. <b>The spoilers start here, by the way.</b> Even in a tale of fantastical allegory, the internal logistics have to work for the audience to buy-in on an emotional level. So, if Barbieland™ includes every Mattel doll that's played with then the town would have a population of <i>billions</i>, whereas if there's a separate, self-contained Barbieland for every girl who plays with Barbies then each one would only be populated by the dolls that girl owns. The girl in question here (it's Gloria) only has the few dolls left over from her daughter's recent childhood, not the vast array of specifically vintage and also <i>very up-to-the-minute</i> Barbies on display in the film. There's no clarification over why this is. The Barbieland we get seems to include one of everyone, with no details as to how many other humans are involved at a higher level or how ownership has been assigned. But okay, we'll go with it.
<br>
<br>We're told a portal has opened due to a Barbie-fan having a hard time in The Real World, yet in the real world boardroom scene we're told this has only happened once before. As if a lot of people in the real world who've got Barbies aren't having a hard time a <i>lot</i> of the time precisely because of how the real world works. There'd be portals everywhere. But okay, we'll go with it. Likewise, we're told that <i>Weird Barbie</i> has become eccentric because her owner/handler/God went a bit crazy and drew on her with pens, cut her hair with scissors and wedged her legs into permanent splits. Again, <i>kids are gonna be kids and there'd be a <b>lot</b> of these Barbies around town</i>. But okay, we'll go with it.
<br>
<br>We don't see the actual, plot-critical portal itself, just a recurring vehicle-montage through Barbieland then the travellers being on Venice Beach, Los Angeles; and vice-versa to return. Barbie and Ken manage to take Gloria and Sasha back through with them, so we'll accept that regular humans can make the reverse trip with no ill effects. But Will Ferrell and the entire Mattel board of directors also manage to surreptitiously follow them, so we've got to assume that it's accessible to anyone on-foot from Venice Beach, yet nobody else has accidentally wandered into this portal that's been open for the duration of the entire storyline. <i>How much more of this do we have to go with?</i>
<br>
<br>The <b>Crocodile Dundee</b>, fish-out-of-water routine with Barbie and Ken in LA is executed very well, but doesn't last for long as the pair are soon heading back, as noted above. Meanwhile, most people in the Real World seem remarkably calm about the human iterations of two actual dolls walking around, especially the ones who know exactly what's happened. You'd think this absolute upheaval of mundane reality and revelation of a parallel universe might be a bigger deal, somehow. Similarly, when Ferrell and the gang find themselves in Barbieland, the cultural offset is mined for almost <b>zero</b> reciprocal material. Indeed, the screenplay has no idea what to do with these characters so just forgets about them until the climactic <i>Beach-Off</i> where they have pretty much no constructive part to play (the board's overall plan to 'fix' the situation by putting Barbie back into a branded packaging-box is also weirdly indistinct). For a movie that's genuinely funny, it's staggering how much comedy-potential is wasted here.
<br>
<br>Despite all my snarking though, <b>Barbie</b> is good. I don't think it's quite everything it wants to be, but it succeeds in being the film that it (and its audience) needs. It's certainly more than Kenough. It <b>is</b> entertaining and it <b>does</b> also carry a worthwhile message. The feminism, however, is not its subtext - that's very much <i>The Text</i>. Deeper meaning is perhaps more rudimentary than a fuchsia-fuelled crusade for girl-power...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>RATT</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">The inhabitants of Barbieland seem vaguely aware that they're dolls and that The Real World exists, but they know next to nothing about it and show little desire to change this. It's not in the dolls' capacity or <i>programming</i> to realise the limitations of their surroundings or question anything outside of them, and so they're completely unable to deal with deeper philosophical problems about anything that can't be quantified in colourful plastic and simple, methodical activities. Even Margot Robbie's Barbie needs to be railroaded into knowledge by McKinnon's older, cynical sister. When peace and regularity is restored to Barbieland at the end of the third act, this is performed largely by reverting to the status quo prior to the first.
<br>
<br><b>Barbie herself</b> (the Margot Robbie one) <b>finally rejects this of course</b>, like a <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/review-blade-runner.html">Tyrell Corp replicant</a> now aware of its lifespan and wanting more. Having understood that revolution won't (or can't) work in her hometown, Barbie opts for evolution instead and journeys to live as a human in desaturated, complicated, messy meatspace. As we close, Barbie's future is an open road, albeit a markedly and necessarily less pleasant one in the process. But she's chosen hope and possibility. Gloria and Sasha's lives may be better as the credits roll but they're not that <i>different</i>, and we all know that Will Ferrell's character will still be Mattel's CEO on Monday morning and Gloria will still be working for him. Stereotypical Barbie was the only character in the movie to take a chance, to make a choice that bold, that <i>permanent</i>. And the choice is open to everyone on-screen of course, but the <i>availability</i> of that choice to everybody? That's the feminism, here. <b>That's</b> the equality. Because of course, the price of that freedom means having to accept that some people will decide they want things to <i>not</i> get better...
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Back in Barbieland, the remaining collective of Barbies and Kens (okay, and Allan) also have wider knowledge of how things really work now, and they choose repair their society by setting all this to one side and carrying on as before. They're not ready to make the change, yet. <b>Similar to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXiRZhDEo8A" target="_blank">Never Let Me Go</a>, this might be the most profound point the film makes</b> - that the Barbies' and Kens' perfect, repetitive, superficial lives are <b>our</b> lives, as we blankly rush through our ingrained routine to spend disposable income being distracted by a two hour dopamine-boost in a cinema. Or at a party. In a restaurant. At a shopping mall. In dream houses full of wonderful organised, covetable, accumulating <b>stuff</b>, always thinking about tomorrow and never appreciating the nuances of today, just as we recoil in horror whenever someone mentions the truth that we will not talk about: <i>that fact one day soon, we will die</i>.
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<br>We could live more, <i>feel</i> more, choose the genuine thrill of uncertainty. But it's easier to choose <i>not</i> to. Stereotypical Barbie has chosen to truly live, and in doing so has chosen death. And this is a final theme upon which <b>Barbie</b> does not dwell of course, because it doesn't do to be overtly reminded you're wasting your life by a toy advert...<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a></p></blockquote>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating05.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Wikipedia lists <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie_(film)" target="_blank">the film's budget</a> (<i>production, not including marketing</i>) at $128-$145m. And while that obviously <b>is</b> a lot of money, it has to be said that bringing in a Hollywood-grade film with a production-design <i>this</i> polished and featuring <i>this</i> cast for under 150 large ones is pretty damned impressive, especially looking at the box office returns it's making... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> There is a <b>very</b> strong chance I've over-thought all this of course, but please do bear in mind that I'm the one who interpreted the U-rated <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2017/04/review-boss-baby.html"><b>Boss Baby</b></a> animated movie as being a study of infant-mortality induced PTSD... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-61484434210919594812023-07-26T23:57:00.004+01:002023-07-27T00:06:51.238+01:00Review: Talk To Me<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/TalkToMe.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/talk_to_me_2023" target="_blank" >Talk To Me</a><br></font><font size="4"><i>(Structural spoilers)</i></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 95 mins / Dir. Danny Philippou & Michael Philippou / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGo4wfCejsk" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Reeling from the recent</font><font size="2"> death of her mother, suburban Australian teenager Mia (Sophie Wilde) attends a party with her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) where a seance-type game is being played. A curious ornament of an embalmed, outstretched hand is used as a bridge between the land of the living and the tormented souls of the dead in limbo. The subject who grasps the hand and recites a mantra is then possessed by whichever spirit answered the call, while friends in the room run a timer and break the connection by blowing out the candle before the player is lost completely.
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<br>But when Jade's little brother Riley (Joe Bird) persuades the group to let him try, the combination of his youth and a particularly malevolent visitor result in the boy being catatonically hospitalised. Blaming herself, Mia resolves to rescue Riley from wherever his essence is being held, as well finding time to battle her own demons...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>PHYSICAL</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">So, the Philippou brothers' film is, in a very real sense, a ouija-movie. The setup of bored teenagers using a physical artifact to channel the netherworld and then realising they've bitten off more than they can chew and spending the next 80 minutes trying not to go mad or die is a tried and tested formula. Long-time readers of this blog will know my patience with this sort of thing is <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-ouija.html">usually wafer-thin</a> at best.
<br>
<br><b>Talk To Me</b>, however is different. It's different in that it's pretty marvellous, and that's entirely because of <i>how</i> it handles its premise, rather than the premise itself.
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<br>A measured first act teases the results of a previous group messing about with The Hand, before taking the time to build up the characters of Mia and Jade. Neither are presented as bratty, conceited or unusually damaged (do remember these are teenage girl protagonists in a horror movie), and we get enough background information that it while may seem <i>unusual</i> for them to be diving into a seance, it doesn't feel unexpected.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>ROCKED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">But it's at the point of the first ritual that the film starts carving its own path. The teenagers in the room aren't surprised when contact is made with the other-side. The 'things' that the subject sees are visible only to that person; to everyone else it looks as if they're just hallucinating. But several of the kids have seen this before. Indeed, they've <b>done</b> this before; <i>that's the game</i>. This isn't a group of giggling children pushing a glass around a table, it's a quantifiable experience that can't be faked - and <b>it's treated here as a drug</b> as they take it in turns, filmed by everyone around them on their phones<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> and enjoyed by all. Because as terrified as each of them are when they're 'under', they return energised and wanting to do it again.
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<br>More importantly though, this isn't a film about meddling with the occult. Horror works best as metaphor, and <b>Talk To Me</b> is a study of grief, guilt and mental illness, which isn't altogether unusual for the genre. It is more, however, a surprisingly thoughtful muse on the boundaries of consent and where they intersect with responsibility. The film never asks these questions explicitly and it certainly doesn't offer easy answers, but to even raise this in such an under-the-radar way is a smart move, and one which should be lauded.
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<br>We see it play out many times. Once the game's participant is safely strapped to a chair (torso only) and the candle is lit, it's <i>that</i> person who has to reach out and grasp The Hand. It's <i>that</i> person who has to utter the words <i>"talk to me"</i>. And after the immediate sight of a decomposing corpse in front of them, it's <i>that</i> person who then has to literally say <i>"I let you in"</i>. After this point the dead person takes control of their body (hence the strap), and will remain in place until the candle is extinguished. The subject is fully inhabited by the dead at the absolute mercy of their friends, and they've been a willing player in this game of this from the off. They're reliant on those friends having also experienced this first-hand, and understanding the gravity of the situation amid the 'fun'. So who's to blame when the genie doesn't want to go back in the bottle?
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<br>While the already-mythologised origin of The Hand is discussed at one point, there's no second-act scene in a dusty hospital archive where Captain Exposition conveniently reels off a backstory. Likewise, destroying The Hand to magically undo its deeds is never mooted as an option, with Mia actually bringing a cause-and-effect approach to studying its mechanics instead. Although by a certain point in the film it becomes clear that the only light at the end of the tunnel might in fact be its own dark place...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>READYTORHUMBLE</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify"><b>Talk To Me</b> is different enough in its detail to set it aside from the standard posession-horror flick, but is rooted firmly enough in the social tradition of those to ensure that points of familiarity strike home. There are a smattering of jump-scares but the film certainly doesn't rely on them, infusing the audience instead with a sense of dread and sadness.
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<br>The main selling point though, is the <b>superb</b> work of the huge make-up and prosthetics team, and a host of <b>excellent</b> dramatic performances from the cast (especially Sophie Wilde), rather than the players defaulting to 'horror movie shriek-mode'. And ultimately, this also comes down to the deft writing of Bill Hinzman and Daley Pearson, and the focused direction of Michael and Danny Philippou, who've shown that not only can they play with the big boys - they understand the game far more intimately<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify"><b>Talk To Me</b> is a very neat little genre movie that's not going to change the world, but is punching well above its weight in an overcrowded fight. I don't need to see sequels (that ending is <b>perfect</b> as it is, thank you), or spin-offs or half a dozen Blumhouse efforts trying to emulate everything this does right, although I suspect all that's coming down the line anyway...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating06.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Okay, so when exactly is this movie set, that the characters have shiny new iPhones and MacBooks, but Jade's still got the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_bTTUihfx0" target="_blank">Crazy Frog</a> as a ringtone? <i>Is somebody looking after Australia..?</i> <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> Which is something of a surprise, because prior to the film there was a short welcome-reel featuring the Philippou brothers and quite frankly they come off like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gi0mJvq8S0" target="_blank">an absolute ADHD nightmare</a>. This was part of Cineworld's <i>Secret Screening</i> programme, incidentally, and between the BBFC card and ten minutes into the movie I counted 19 walkouts. Which is entirely fair enough. There are many people who just don't do horror (there can't be any other mainstream genre so culturally divisive), so getting people out of the house for a mystery movie and then springing something you know for a fact that a few of them will hate seems like an odd move. <i>Because those 19 people won't be coming to the next one</i>. It's also worth noting that the Secret Screenings are no longer exclusive to Unlimited card-holders, so potentially some of those walkouts had actually <i>paid</i> specifically to be there. I hope they got a refund... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-64511661640599266462023-07-24T19:08:00.001+01:002023-07-24T19:08:23.969+01:00Review: Oppenheimer<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Oppenheimer.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/oppenheimer_2023" target="_blank" >Oppenheimer<br></a></font><font size="4">(Spoilers)</font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 180 mins / Dir. Christopher Nolan / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6ldnjE3Y0" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4"><b>Oppenheimer</b> is a</font><font size="2"> three hour, period-set film about nascent nuclear weaponry from a provenly competent storyteller which somehow features neither a young Emmet Brown sitting in a physics lesson nor Indiana Jones in a fridge.
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<br>Christopher Nolan is a fucking coward<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>.
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating03.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Okay, I'll keep this as brief as I can. The note about Doctors Brown and Jones is obviously a joke. The score is not. <b>I did not enjoy Oppenheimer</b>. Then again, I genuinely believe that it's a film not created for enjoyment in any traditional sense, quite a demanding piece to watch and unsatisfying by narrative necessity. We should certainly expect no less a challenge from Christopher Nolan though, just as we wouldn't want him to be anything other than himself as a filmmaker. I suppose.
<br>
<br>Playing with non-linear storytelling once again, <b>Oppenheimer</b> is framed as two separate interviews with associated sets of intertwining and converging flashbacks, each spanning the same twenty-or-so years from different points of view, where the guy we're supposed to be rooting for is demonstrated as being a dysfunctional, womanising moral-vacuum who's figured out how to most efficiently carry out genocide before the nazis and complains non-stop about this before, during and after the fact. Leaving a spray of failed personal and professional relationships in his wake, we see <i>Oppo</i> systematically piss off just about everybody in his life and then act surprised when they take against him...
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<br>Of course, this wouldn't be a Christopher Nolan movie without mumbled, unintelligible dialogue from the most important characters, battling here against Ludwig Göransson's piercing, intrusive score in a sound-mix that was finalised while somebody was hoovering. All of this has the pacing and delivery of high-drama, but with the <i>implication</i> of a storyline rather than the exposition of one. I know Nolan doesn't like to spoon-feed his audience, but <b>Oppenheimer</b> doesn't even have cutlery on the table.
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<br>You see, despite the device itself having a supporting role on the film's poster, this movie is not actually about <i>Da Bomb</i>. This is just as well, because shortly into the first act Nolan realises he can't narratively simplify for the audience either quantum physics nor the workings of an atom bomb, so quickly stops trying. What the movie actually <b>is</b>, is three clinical hours of dislikeable characters doing unpleasant but necessary admin and then everyone being unable to cope with the fall-out (literal, as well as metaphorical) of that, interspersed with the micro-management of international and domestic U.S. politics of the 1930s, 40s and 50s. So I was hardly expecting <b>Terminator 2</b>, but this is lots (<b>lots</b>) of middle-aged white guys in suits sitting around withholding information and showing they really can't be trusted (I go to the cinema to get <i>away</i> from that), leaving the cinema audience with quite frankly nobody to root for. Other than the demonstrable sociopath the film is named after. I suppose.
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<br>In terms of moral debate, <b>Oppenheimer</b> occupies the same shelf as <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/review-eye-in-sky.html"><b>Eye In The Sky</b></a> and <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2019/04/review-red-joan.html"><b>Red Joan</b></a>, where hand-wringing and thousand-yard stares nudge aside the brutal practicalities of Not Losing A War. I never thought I'd watch a movie where Matt Damon plays the most rounded and sympathetic character, but here we are.
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<br>While the two timeline strands are clearly delineated by the use of colour, the content in each rarely seems complementary or interactive enough to warrant the effort. Like <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1298742642902216707" target="_blank">several</a> of the director's <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2017/07/review-dunkirk.html">recent</a> pieces, the presentation seems needlessly fiddly yet is perhaps the only thing saving a story which would otherwise be grindingly linear. But without a solid grounding in the U.S. politics surrounding the Second World War, it all comes out as a mess anyway. It certainly feels like there's a <i>price of entry</i> here that's separate from the one printed on the ticket...
<br>
<br><b>Biggest bugbear:</b> We know that test-bomb's not going to destroy the world, lads; we're all here in 2023 watching the film and we'd probably have heard about that before now.
<br>
<br><b>Second biggest bugbear:</b> So what are these clandestine, closed-room hearings <i>for</i>, exactly? What are the nefarious powers in faceless American government trying to <i>do</i> to Mr Oppenheimer, who single-handedly won all of that very specific part of the late-war for them? Are the Suits trying to have him <i>silenced</i>? Discredited? Ruined? <b><i>Killed</i></b>, even? No, they're trying to remove his security-clearance. They want his badge back, that's all. They don't want the guy swanning around the lab like he owns the place <b>ten years</b> after he built them a super-bomb and has done nothing since but wear out the buttons on the highly-subsidised coffee machine. Just have a bit of dignity and <i>retire</i>, Oppo. Jeez...
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<br>Oh and <b>bonus points</b> to Kenneth Branagh, failing to control an accent in a built-up screenplay. <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1298742642902216707" target="_blank">Again</a>. Proof positive that our celebrated auteur director was either distracted on-set, or <i>deaf</i>.
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<br>In short (and I'll bet you wish you hadn't clicked into this footnote now), <b>Chris Nolan has not made a genuinely great film since Inception</b>. There, I said it. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-61481550750494093512023-07-15T23:22:00.000+01:002023-07-15T23:22:29.636+01:00Review: Spider-Man - Across The Spider-Verse<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/SpiderMan.jpg">
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<p align="center"><font size="2"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/SpiderMan.jpg" width="500">
<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spider_man_across_the_spider_verse" target="_blank" >Spider-Man:<br>Across The Spider-Verse</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>PG</b> / 134 mins / Dir. Joaquim Dos Santos / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shW9i6k8cB0" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">It's an odd one alright.</font><font size="2"> I complain quite vociferously about the lack of new available content at my local 'small' five-screen cinema, while simultaneously seeming to ignore popular mainstream releases which <i>should</i> by all accounts be right up my alley. There are fatigue-related reasons that Sony's new <b>Spider-Man</b> movie opened at the beginning of <i>June</i> and it's taken me <b>six weeks</b> to get round to watching it.
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<br>While I didn't actively <i>dislike</i> its predecessor <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/12/review-spider-man-into-spider-verse.html" target="_blank"><b>Into The Spider-Verse</b></a>, the film was definitely saddled with the burden of being <i>Sony's</i> Spider-Man rather than <b><i>Marvel's</i></b> one. And Sony's output is increasingly like a 1980s pop band touring provincial venues with only one original member, and they're not even the <i>best</i> part of the band but they <i>are</i> somehow the one who won the legal rights to use the name. The 2018 animated feature was too long, too messy, too loud and with too much shit thrown at the wall in an attempt to make something stick.
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<br>With all this in mind then, I can confidently report that <b>Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse</b> is at least tonally consistent as a sequel.
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>MILES</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">The storyline follows on from last time, with Earth-1610's Miles Morales being back in his own world and struggling to find a trajectory as he nears the end of high school while moonlighting as Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Earth-65's Gwen Stacy battles with her own issues as Spider-Woman, living with a father who's unaware of her secret identity and determined to catch 'The Spider' for the murder of Peter Parker. But when a Renaissance version of The Vulture starts tearing through the multiverse, the multiversal 'Spider-Society' is tasked to stop him - which will mean reluctantly recruiting Morales to help...
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<br>In theory this is all fine; in practice it's too much simultaneous Content™ again. Visuals which would look outstanding for a three-minute music video become utterly exhausting over two hours. Each and every frame here is a work of art, they just make no sense when they're strung together too maniacally to keep track of. There's more detail than the eye can follow through the film's hyperactive editing, and the whole thing turns into the visual equivalent of white noise. Ironically for a film this <i>active</i>, it creates a soporific effect as the brain starts to shut down rather than keep attempting to process the information. Perhaps I just need to watch it on a smaller screen.
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<br>Part of the USP with the animation is that its art style is constantly changing, often within the same scene. Initially it seems to be doing this to reflect the character whose point-of-view we're experiencing, but scenes later in the movie only feature two people yet cycle through half a dozen looks. This precocious presentation results in a film which feels like watching a group of first-year art students have a collective seizure. Elsewhere, earnest and spirited vocal performances are rendered unintelligible by an atrocious sound-mix, poorly placed over intrusive, percussive soundtracking. And since around 60% of the dialogue here is catch-up exposition, <b>Across The Spider-Verse</b> basically has to be enjoyed (...) as a visual experience.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>GINA</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">My real problem is bigger than all of this, though. The following is not limited to <b>Spider-Verse</b>, but certainly includes it. Put simply, <b>multiverses are hands-down the worst thing to have happened to superhero cinema</b>, and that's only getting more problematic. The concept works in print where the possibilities and limitations can be explored at a more careful pace (<i>indeed, with comics it becomes needed as characters are relaunched for evolving audiences after years of literary service; multiverses allow for a soft-reboot</i>), and I've admittedly <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1522197473325895680">enjoyed it</a> at <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1477032557086715909">certain points</a> previously. But the cinematic iteration of the superhero-multiverse has fast become the equivalent of 3D, a knee-jerk fad to be ordered at an executive level in lieu of creativity. And it's <a href="https://thedirect.com/article/the-flash-box-office-flop-superhero-movie-history" target="_blank">already on its arse</a>.
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<br>As well as encouraging filmmakers to overindulge in distracting cameos and needless fan-service, the open-ended structure of parallel realities means that narrative decisions in one movie can be ret-conned, undone or just flat out ignored in the next (yes I'm looking at you, <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/05/review-guardians-of-galaxy-vol3.html">Gamora</a>). When consequence is removed from the storyline then none of it matters on an emotional level, and cinema is <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/empathy/video-roger-ebert-on-empathy" target="_blank"><i>supposed</i> to be about empathy</a>. But hey, why mine for a deeper pulse when you can just make the whole thing <i>bigger and louder</i> with more slightly-different versions of the same thing<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>? Audiences know by this point not to expect restraint from corporations desperately trying to keep their intellectual property fresh, and the race for <i>More Stuff</i>™ has become just as repetitive as the origins-formula it was trying to supersede.
<br>
<br>Even more ironically with <b>Across The Spider-Verse</b>, Miles Morales (and by extension, the whole audience) gets a whole lecture about 'canon events' - concurrences which need to take place across every iteration of the hero's life (here it's the death of Uncle Ben, or equivalent guardian in each timeline), otherwise their path will be too different from all the <i>other</i> spider-heroes and things will become too unpredictable. What this deftly - <i>if unintentionally</i> - illustrates is that Sony are happy to bring in about a hundred different <i>Spider-Mans</i> from all the corners of the property they've got the rights to <b>but</b> are too afraid to do anything different with the character. Spidey's backstory is permanently locked into our pop culture at the same level as Bruce Wayne's, meaning nothing can be changed on a fundamental level without Sony taking a massive gamble in pissing off the legacy fanbase and also not enticing new viewers. In other worse, <b>Spider-Man is precisely the wrong character with which to explore the multiverse</b>. Well done, guys.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>DICKIE</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify"><br>Truth be told, when <b>Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse</b> slows down and actually concentrates on its character-work, it <b>is</b> pretty superb. But the fact that this only happens <b>twice</b> in over <b>two hours</b> means that the film, on the whole, <i>isn't</i>. A textbook example of Style Over Substance. In all honesty, it feels like I'm done<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">All I really want out of Spider-Man is a third Andrew Garfield flick to close out his trilogy, and a new set of live-action movies for Miles Morales where possibilities can be broadened. And what are <b>Sony</b> bringing to the table instead? How are they maximising on their end of an historic deal from Marvel currently enjoyed by <u>no</u> other studio? With <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQK-QxxtE8Y" target="_blank">shit-Dracula</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rze8QYwWGMs" target="_blank">shit-Tarzan</a>. We get the protagonists we deserve.
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<br>To make matters worse, I just know that Me in some other part of the multiverse is enjoying the good stuff...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating03.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> <i>"more slightly-differing versions of the same thing"</i> is, to be fair, <b>Marvel</b>'s entire cinematic business-model. And I have to admit it's done them well for at least the first ten years of the MCU... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> It's worth noting of course that this is <b>Sony</b>'s mess, not that of <b>Marvel Studios</b>. But Marvel's name is on the can and they signed off on this - they <i>do</i> have that veto. Which means they are in a large and instrumental part responsible for it. And even that'd be easier to forgive if Marvel hadn't put out <b>Eternals</b> under their own banner. If they can be slack in what they serve up, they can expect consumers to give few fucks in return... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-35441634109855936942023-07-12T22:14:00.002+01:002023-07-12T22:15:12.179+01:00Review: Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part One<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/MissionImpossible.jpg">
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<p align="center"><font size="2"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/MissionImpossible.jpg" width="500">
<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mission_impossible_dead_reckoning_part_one" target="_blank" >Mission: Impossible<br></font><font size="4">Dead Reckoning, Part One</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 163 mins / Dir. Christopher McQuarrie / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avz06PDqDbM&pp=ygUhbWlzc2lvbiBpbXBvc3NpYmxlIGRlYWQgcmVja29uaW5n" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Things have finally</font><font size="2"> heated up inside the cinema as well as out and the war is truly on for Summer box-office dominance, as the major studios triumphantly present their long-planned showcases for audiences who stopped going to the pictures in 2019. You love to see it. Paramount's saviour is, once again, Tom Cruise - perhaps the last of the great bankable movie stars who manage to get bums on seats purely by being themselves again in a slightly different hat. Anyway, there's a new <b>Mission: Impossible</b> flick out...
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<br>This penultimate instalment sees Ethan Hunt and his ragtag IMF team trying to prevent various world- and criminal-powers getting their hands on <i>'The Entity'</i>, a lengthily described yet sketchily defined self-learning, fake-news generating Artificial Intelligence, which could either destroy humanity or just convincingly swap-out the faces of everyone on ITV (whichever is the most inconvenient), activated by a two-part interlocking key<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a> that's been stolen from a Russian nuclear submarine. As McGuffins go, this one is nailed so firmly onto the zeitgeist that it's actually kinda <i>quaint</i>...
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>NOTED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">Before we get into specifics, it should be noted that <b>Dead Reckoning</b> is incredibly solid. It's just never more than a <b>Mission: Impossible</b> movie. And while it's certainly arguable that it doesn't <i>need</i> to be, the whole thing plays out with breathless adrenaline and surgical flair, yet no real <i>emotion</i> at all. There's never the sense that this is leading to anything bigger than in previous entries (no matter how much Lorne Balfe's score swells), and for a screenplay which spends so much time harping on about its past, you'd be forgiven for expecting it to mean <i>more</i>, somehow...
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<br>There are slightly too many characters for the (admirable) simplicity of the story, each set-piece is <i>slightly</i> too long, and every rubber-unmasking is unintentionally funnier than the last.
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<br>Simon Pegg gets the lion's share of the comedic quips (delivering them perfectly, it has to be said) and a high-speed chase across the Italian cobbles in a yellow Fiat 500 brings some much needed silliness to the mood, but overall Christopher McQuarrie has gone for brooding intensity over <i>fun</i>. Again, whether levity should even be necessary is a debate for more scholarly viewers, but <b>Dead Reckoning</b> is far more slick in the moments when it's got a grin on its face.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>GOODYEAR</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">Cinematographer Fraser Taggart puts in solid work all round with framing, composition and deftly following the action, plus capturing the immersive yet distinct colour palettes of the many locales. Unfortunately his work is slightly undone when it comes to the melee scenes (of which there are many), where Eddie Hamilton's editing fast-cuts between angles so quickly that the whole thing loses coherence rather than adding excitement. And because these physical sequences <i>are</i> often used to move the story along, the script then requires regular industrial-sized injections of exposition from Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames, as they sit in front of generic nonsensical laptop displays and explain to other characters where we're all at and what's happening next.
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<br>The choreography and stunt work itself is - <i>it should go without saying</i> - beautifully executed of course, huge in its scope and minute in its detail. At this point in 2023 however, the thought occurs that since <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/05/review-fast-x.html"><b>Fast X</b></a> has already shown us pseudo-family-bonding and destructive car chases, Mr <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/03/review-john-wick-chapter-4.html"><b>John Wick</b></a> has brawled and shot his way through half of Europe and <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/07/review-indiana-jones-and-dial-of_8.html"><b>Indiana Jones</b></a> has had a prolonged train-top fight for a powerful golden artifact on a steam engine which is hurtling towards a bombed viaduct... well, what is Ethan Hunt bringing to the party exactly, except for <i>all-of-those-again?</i><a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>
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<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>ANCALENDAR</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify"><b>Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning</b> is great on a technical level, but unambitious on a narrative one. There's plenty in there to come to the cinema for, and yet little take away. Since the audience only trusts four characters at the start of the movie (and that only really raises to <i>five</i>), there's little jeopardy in tantalising that others 'might be a bit shady'. They're all a bit shady mate, that's why we're here. But Esai Morales going full Bond-villain as the marvellously camp <i>Gabriel</i> lifts that end of things considerably.
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<br>Decent, but the series has been better than this<a href="#FootnoteThree">*<sup>3</sup></a><a name="BackThree"></a>, so next year's finale has its work cut out.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Oh, and I'm taking points off for McQuarrie chickening out of a potentially brilliant and <i>literal-cliffhanger</i> ending, instead resorting to a damp squib of a decompression coda accompanied by another two minutes of expository voiceover...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating05.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> <b>SPOILERS, highlight-to-read:</b> <span style='background: whitek; color: white'>Apparently the powers-that-be are desperate to get their hands on both halves of this key, even though they're shown in the first act as having an exquisitely detailed 3D model of it, so they could just print that and then cast their own copies. There's something about some red and white 'dragons egg' jewels in the key's handle which light up when it's assembled, probably acting as a verification system, but this isn't explained in any practical sense either. We see two guys using it at the start of the movie and they literally insert the key into a lock and manually turn it. <i>Lads, Timpsons are open until 6, they can run one of those out for you...</i></span>
<br><a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> Look, I know it's not Bruce Geller's, Erik Jendresen's or Christopher McQuarrie's fault that the action sequences of <b>Dead Reckoning</b> have been undercut by its own release-date but seriously: <i>we've already seen most of this, and in films which weren't afraid to also make us laugh</i>. I mean if they'd had Ethan Hunt punching a giant prehistoric shark at the end, at least he'd have got his foot in the door <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG91B3hHyY4" target="_blank">before Jason Statham</a>...
<br><a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteThree">*<sup>3</sup></a> The first two <b>Mission: Impossible</b> films are the best ones and for wildly different yet complementary reasons thank you I will not be taking questions at this time.
<br><a href="#BackThree"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-44113125874660379742023-07-10T23:52:00.002+01:002023-07-11T00:00:03.446+01:00Review: Joy Ride<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/JoyRide.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/joy_ride_2023" target="_blank" >Joy Ride</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 95 mins / Dir. Adele Lim / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyI-AM5VXDo" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">Having been raised</font><font size="2"> in America by adoptive white parents, Chinese-born Audrey (Ashley Park) is due to make a business-trip to her spiritual motherland where her best friend Lolo (Sherry Cola) tags along for moral support and suggests that Audrey should use the opportunity to track down her birth-mother. Along the way they're joined by Lolo's awkward friend Deadeye (Sabrina Wu), and once in China Audrey is reunited with her college-bestie Kat (Stephanie Hsu), who is now an actress on the brink of stardom.
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<br>When Audrey realises that connecting with her birth-mother could actually help her close the deal as well as bringing her personal fulfilment, the four undertake a fish-out-of-water transformational road trip to find her, find themselves and each other...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>TEEN</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">So, the comedic sub-genre which gave us <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/review-american-pie-reunion.html">teen jaunts</a> at the end of the last millennium and ratcheted up to <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2013/05/review-hangover-part-iii.html">pre-midlife-crises</a> less than a decade later, has now taken the <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/09/review-crazy-rich-asians.html">next step</a> by transplanting the central plank of four American white men with four Asian-American women<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>. And while that kind of over-simplification does <b>not</b> help sell <b>Joy Ride</b>'s many high-points and all they have to offer audiences on a broader cultural scale, it's no less true for that. The screenplay here is banking on its audience being familiar with the journey in advance, because it knows that the average punter can only handle <i>so</i> much being 'different'.
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<br>From the off, internal friction comes from Audrey being the successful lawyer archetype who fears she's out of her depth, Lolo is the loudmouthed but well-meaning slacker, Kat is the preening actress with devastating insecurities and Deadeye is the socially-crippled wildcard. All four of these are treated well by the film, but almost everyone else is a sketched-in placeholder. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (of <b>Superbad</b> fame) are named in the producer's-list and it shows. True to genre-form, Teresa Hsiao and Cherry Chevapravatdumrong's script isn't afraid to use profanity in lieu of crafted punchlines, as well as lazy but well-meaning gags about racism and sex organs in the same vein.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>WERE</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">For all the extremity of the jokes, director Adele Lim <i>does</i> display genuine heart and sincerity when it comes to characters finding the line between discovering their past as a means of belonging to something, but not letting the weight of that heritage hold them back from forging their own futures. Ashley Park's scene with Daniel Dae Kim and Michelle Choi-Lee late in the movie is utterly delightful. If anything it's a shame that this emotion acts as a coda to the third act, rather than its backbone.
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<br>But for all this reviewer's cynicism, the bottom line is that <b>Joy Ride</b> works as a perfectly serviceable Saturday night comedy. It's a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel, but there's no denying that most of the jokes do land firmly as a result. The final product may not be especially unique, but the film does what the film does perfectly within its own remit.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>HEINZ</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
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<p align="justify">And yet much like <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-no-hard-feelings.html"><b>No Hard Feelings</b></a> currently doing the rounds, this smacks of a screenplay that's been floating across various desks for the last twenty years. There are clear demographic reasons why this version of the movie wouldn't have been greenlit back in the early 00s<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>, and it's debatable if the 2023-iteration is pushing boldly forward or just playing catchup.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify"><b>Joy Ride</b> is, though, indecently decent. And I'm adding points for the deserved use of <b>Maroon 5</b> and <b>Mumford & Sons</b> as a deadpan punchline. But I'm taking points off for the big emotional monologue in the restaurant-finale that drops in 'greatest-hits' clips of the movie we've all just sat through, and taking <i>more</i> points off for having the diners burst into applause at the end of it.
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<br>There are some places we just don't need to go back to...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Don't write in. I'm very aware as I write that line that Sabrina Wu is non-binary, as is their character in the film, Deadeye. And I love and respect the fuck out of that (especially the fact that it's addressed in the script but doesn't turn into A Thing), but I assure you that on a marketing, demographic and <i>"being <b>The Hangover</b> but the opposite of that"</i> level, this ticks all the boxes of A Film About Four Women. Less is more, and in the context of <b>Joy Ride</b> it's probably the only thing in the movie which <i>is</i> underplayed. This is also <b>way</b> more queer-friendly than any version of the movie with four blokes would be, and is better for it... <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> For what it's worth <b>Joy Ride</b> was part of Cineworld's <i>Secret Screening</i> programme, where viewers didn't know what they'll be watching until the BBFC card after the ads and trailers. Always a gamble. And given the very non-Caucasian angle of the movie, fair play to the one couple who at least waited through a full twenty minutes of dick-jokes before deciding this wasn't for them and leaving early. Because I had immediate visions of this being <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1049422865806893057"><b>The Hate U Give</b></a> all over again, where just under 30 punters walked out in the first ten minutes, presumably because they all remembered they'd left the iron on or something. That must have been it, yes... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-65724613824021693752023-07-08T16:25:00.001+01:002023-07-08T16:25:23.689+01:00Review: Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (plot-spoilers)<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Indy5C.jpg">
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<p align="center"><font size="2"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Indy5C.jpg" width="500">
<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/indiana_jones_and_the_dial_of_destiny" target="_blank" >Indiana Jones<br></font><font size="4">And The Dial Of Destiny</b><br>(plot-spoilers)</a></font><font size="2">
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>12A</b> / 154 mins / Dir. James Mangold / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYZmL9D3BEI" target="_blank">Featurette</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">I have to admit</font><font size="2"> that after watching <b>Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny</b> three times, I love the film without it having made a huge jarring impact. Much like <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/07/review-solo-star-wars-story-ninth-pass.html"><b>Solo</b></a>, this seems to have slotted perfectly into the continuity with no real controversy (other than <i>That Section In The Third Act</i> which will have the usual suspects clutching at their nostalgic pearls, pining for the narrative realism of a magic box out of the Bible full of ghosts). <b>Indy 5</b> slides deftly into the water rather than making a splash. And ultimately, this is for the best.
<br>
<br>If you haven't seen the movie yet, there's a <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/06/review-indiana-jones-and-dial-of.html">spoiler-free review here</a> and a second one <a href="https://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2023/07/review-indiana-jones-and-dial-of.html">discussing themes here</a>. Everything following the jump contains <b>heavy plot-spoilers</b>. Watch the film first. Hell, watch the film <i>anyway</i>...
</p>
<p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Indy5Cspoilers.jpg" alt="SPOILERS AHEAD!" title="SPOILERS AHEAD!"></p>
<br>Still here? Lovely.
<br>
<br>So while it fits seamlessly into the narrative and tonal continuity, the fifth entry in the series <b>does</b> feature a couple of glaring departures from its forebears. And the first of these is the very first thing the audience sees after the ads, trailers and a BBFC/MPAA card, with logos for Disney, Paramount and Lucasfilm. <b>In that order</b>. What this means is that there's no cross-fade from the Paramount mountain-ident into the film's opening scene. Which, frankly, people would expect...
<p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/Indy5Cparamount.gif"></p>
<br>Given that Disney are controlling production <i>and</i> distribution of the property now, it's unclear what part Paramount are playing in <b>Indy 5</b>. But you'd be forgiven for thinking that if the company is important enough to credit with full-screen branding, tradition alone would go so far as transforming the mountain into, perhaps, a pile of spent shell-casings in war-torn 1944?
<br>
<br>It's not a huge deal, but this is a real shame and the only thing that's definitively missing (read: <i>fixable</i>) in the whole film.
<br>
<br><b>Dial Of Destiny</b>'s other departure from the series is a little more complex...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>NAILED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">At the end of <b>Raiders</b>, the Ark Of The Covenant is closed and then nailed into a crate, to be kept safely out of harm's way (or at least until the US Government find a way to weaponise it, presumably). Similarly, <b>Temple Of Doom</b> sees the Sankara Stones returned to their people, and <b>Last Crusade</b> has the Holy Grail lost into the earth. Even <b>Crystal Skull</b> closes with the titular bonce being reunited with its owner and skipping off through <i>the space between the spaces</i>. Indy doesn't get to keep these McGuffins like Mr Benn sidling back to Festive Road with a memento. That's very much the point of the movies: archaeology is about acquiring and sharing knowledge rather than just hoarding treasure<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>.
<br>
<br>But as <b>Dial Of Destiny</b> winds down, a senior Henry Jones Jr wakes in his apartment to the ticking of a clock and a slow camera-pan (a callback to earlier in the film and a gorgeous nod to <b>Back To The Future</b>) with Archimedes' Antikythera sitting on the desk right next to him. Helena's left it there. It comes as no real surprise by this point that she's has decided against selling it off, but the dial <b>is</b> still in Indy's possession. Whether it can be used is up for discussion (and we're about to discuss it), but this is not an accident.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>TUDORED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">Shortly after, there's a lingering moment in the final scene where Indy and Marion reconnect in his kitchenette as the audience holds its breath for Mutt Williams strolling in through the door, to give a full family reunion. In this event, we would instinctively know that Helena had made an unseen, dial-assisted detour on their way back from the beach at Syracuse, managing to drop in on Mutt to have a quiet word about his upcoming enlistment in the US Army. The conversation between Indy and Helena in the second act where he laments his son's death certainly sets up this eventuality.
<br>
<br>This doesn't happen, of course. Helena has already demonstrated (and with far greater clarity than her godfather) that she's got a firm grip on not changing the course of history. She's very eager to avoid inadvertently destroying the present they're trying to get back to<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>, and so it appears she's brought everyone home without further chronological adjustment. Which is probably for the best.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>SEABROOKED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">This also results in a far more poignant ending, as Indy and Marion are rebuilding their relationship again (okay, <i>again</i> again) with wisdom, hope and reflection, rather than having their pain magicked away for a fluffy ending which must have been incredibly tempting in the writers' room.
<br>
<br>Bur crucially - <i>and for the first time, cinematically</i> - Indy still has the item he's spent the last two and a half hours chasing. This movie may be marketed as the final cinematic outing for Jonsey, but we should be surprised if Disney had bought Lucasfilm to use this particular property only <i>once</i>. And as the final frames in the streets of New York show us, the man is incapable of hanging up his hat for good. Just what form future (or past) adventures will take is unclear, but Helena and the four screenwriters left the dial with Indy for a reason.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>SPACE RAIDERED</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify"><br><b>Then again</b>, crammed into the third-act catchup exposition is the idea that the Antikythera is 'a forced deck'. That it only ever calculated a portal to travel back to Syracuse in 213 BC and that was its sole purpose. Because if Archimedes' time-fissures are happening anyway and the dial is merely a signpost, why has nobody accidentally discovered one without it? Do these rifts always occur in the air and during a storm, so you'd need to be mad to fly into one? And it still doesn't explain why, by 1969, the world hasn't had visitors or explorers from the future. <i>Or maybe it has?</i> The dial isn't a time-machine per se, but it demonstrably makes time travel possible.
<br>
<br>Basil Shaw's decryption notes only show us limited references to <i>to/from</i> dates, and even this is vague since he hadn't figured it all out. So do we assume that Archimedes managed to reverse-calculate 1969's entry-point, knowing that the journey must work because he'd seen the result of it in his own past? That fits with the time travel <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-project-almanac-spoilers.html">coil-theory</a> and would make this a <i>One And Done</i> item. In which case - its power spent - the Dial Of Destiny itself fits neatly among its enchanted peers. Not quite so different, after all. Indy can finally get one of his artefacts safely into a museum.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">Unless he holds on to it again, of course. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MijrvlkSL8"><i>Just to remind him</i></a>...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating07.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> A point literally spelled out by John Hurt's Harold Oxley in the fourth instalment, much derided and yet encapsulating the series perfectly. That movie is underrated. I digress. <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> Let's not get into the fact that <b>Dial Of Destiny</b> <u>does</u> leave a Syracuse coastline whose archaeological remains apparently contain a two thousand year-old HE-111 bomber plane, along with the non-perishable badges, buttons and firearms of all the nazis who fell out of it. Although because of the film's fixed-approach to time travel, those items were always there <i>anyway</i>. So fair play I suppose. Still, it's odd that in 1969 nobody has found these. Then again, Antonio Banderas' diving crew finally manage to be the ones to stumble across a sunken galleon full of ancient gold that everyone in the local fishing community knew about which is in water so shallow it can conceivably be seen from the surface on a sunny day, so... <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-58241487652091268072023-07-07T23:28:00.001+01:002023-07-07T23:28:08.811+01:00Review: Insidious - The Red Door<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/InsidiousTheRedDoor.jpg">
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<p align="center"><font size="2"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/InsidiousTheRedDoor.jpg" width="500">
<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/insidious_the_red_door" target="_blank" >Insidious: The Red Door</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 107 mins / Dir. Patrick Wilson / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuQuOnYnr3Q" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">It has been,</font><font size="2"> lest we forget, five years since <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2018/01/review-insidious-last-key.html">the last <b>Insidious</b> movie</a>. And ten years since the last <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/review-insidious-second-pass.html"><i>good</i> one</a>. But Sony and Blumhouse have decided there are still fumes in the tank and this time co-leading man Patrick Wilson makes his directorial debut as well. Writer Leigh Whannell returns once more (this time in the company of Scott Teems), and we're back with the core cast where it all began.
<br>
<br>In this fifth installment (there may be no numbers in the titles but rest assured Sony, <i>we're counting</i>), it's nine years after the events of <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/review-insidious-chapter-2.html"><b>Insidious Chapter 2</b></a> and the Lambert family's precarious <i>happy ever after</i> has petered to an end. Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) have separated, Josh's mother Lorraine has passed away<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>, and the spectral lodestone himself Dalton (Ty Simpkins) is about to go to art college. Josh is struggling with brainfog, as the lasting effects of the post-hypnotic suggestion that prevent him astrally projecting himself into danger are conflicting with his long-term memory. Similarly, Dalton finds that magically forgetting his abilities doesn't stop creatures from the other side seeking him out anyway...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>EARNEST</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">After a slow-burn of a first act which plays like a genuinely interesting family melodrama, the colour saturation and gamma correction are turned down so the push-button, cattle-prod jump-scares can begin in earnest. You get the impression it's not that Patrick Wilson has anything new or unique to bring to this as a director, more that the man has starred in enough mid-budget studio horror movies that he's looked at whoever's sitting in The Big Chair and thought <i>'yeah, I reckon I could do that'</i>. <b>Insidious: The Red Door</b> is by no means a bad movie, but it utterly squanders the property's cumulative potential.
<br>
<br>Ty Simpkins' performance is strong in and of itself, but the role doesn't really allow him to flex as an actor (although has it ever?). Patrick Wilson, on the other hand, feels underratedly solid once again, with a surprisingly delicate turn that's no doubt the advantage of being able to direct one's own scenes. Both Wilson and Byrne have always had a decent handle in these films of conveying the actual weight of their emotion rather than just Shrieking-Fear, and this outing is no different. Sure, as a metaphor for parental anxiety and empty nest syndrome it's a bit on the nose, but the subtext is better for being <i>text</i> rather than being absent completely.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>GREGORY</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">Of course Dalton's college setting opens the door to an array of setpieces the series has been previously unable to exploit: <i>Shitty Teen Horror</i>™. And leading the charge here, Sinclair Daniel as Dalton's roommate <i>Chris</i> seems to be acting in a far tackier version of the movie<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a> despite bringing a welcome 'civilian' viewpoint. The keg-stands and explosive vomit occupy a limited section of the film thankfully, but their presence in the first place cheapens it.
<br>
<br>Speaking of presence, in-universe character deaths don't stop other familiar faces returning of course, some of whom fill supporting roles while many are relegated to cameo-status. Between the demons we've already met and footage from the first two chapters intercut and re-composited throughout, there's plenty of connective tissue here. But crucially, there's never the feeling of two-way narrative traffic that writer Leigh Whannell once achieved. The film seems to spend a <b>lot</b> of its time pointing out the series' former glories, rather than expanding or exploring them.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>PENNY</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">If <b>Insidious</b> really had more to add to the story, it would have done so with <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/review-insidious-chapter-3.html">its third movie</a>. This tonal collection of callbacks has all the physical properties of a competent shocker, but doesn't enhance the events of those early films and barely even adds to them in any meaningful way. The <i>style</i> is fine, but ultimately this is hampered by a lack of coherent writing. The film seems to end just because things stop happening, rather than plot-points having been usefully resolved. This could be seen through some eyes as sequel-bait, but as of the closing credits there really is no story to continue.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify">The long and short of all this is that <b>The Red Door</b> is more interesting than the last two <b>Insidious</b> movies, and nowhere near as inventive as the first two. Which, at this point, feels about right...</p></blockquote>
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<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO UNDER HERE // -->
<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Yes that's right they've written out Barbara Hershey, <b>the only claim to any semblance of dignity these movies ever had</b>.
<br><a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> According to this script, there are actual human teenagers <b>in the present day</b> who literally say <i>"BRB"</i> and <i>"interwebs"</i> out loud using their mouths and sweet Christ will somebody please make it stop if I wanted this shit I'd watch <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldOfBlackout/status/1562193783764033537" target="_blank"><b>Bodies Bodies Bodies</b></a>.
<br><a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
<!-- // FOOTNOTES GO ABOVE HERE // -->
<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4259681867853065869.post-75339636714142041862023-07-06T20:54:00.001+01:002023-07-06T20:54:13.045+01:00Review: Fumer Fait Tousser / Smoking Causes Coughing<meta property="og:type" content="website" /><meta property="og:image" content="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2023m/SmokingCausesCoughing.jpg">
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<br><font size="6"><b><a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/smoking_causes_coughing" target="_blank" >Fumer Fait Tousser /<br>Smoking Causes Coughing</a></font><font size="2"></b>
<br></font><font size="1">Cert: <b>15</b> / 77 mins / Dir. Quentin Dupieux / <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0X8LXlE9pA" target="_blank">Trailer</a></font><font size="2">
</p>
<p align="justify"></font><font size="4">To the abstract then,</font><font size="2"> and Quentin Dupieux's semi-surrealist comedy <b>Smoking Causes Coughing</b>. The film is centered around <i>Tobacco Force</i>, a present-day quintet of French, jump-suited action superheroes comprising <i>Benzéne</i> (Gilles Lellouche), <i>Nicotine</i> (Anaïs Demoustier), <i>Ammoniaque</i> (Oulaya Amamra), <i>Mercure</i> (Jean-Pascal Zadi) and <i>Méthanol</i>, (Vincent Lacoste). Between missions (brawling with mutated turtles and lobsters in a disused quarry), they're sent on a team-building retreat by their boss Chief Didier (Alain Chabat) to regroup before going up against their nemesis Lézardin (Benoît Poelvoorde). As the weekend progresses, stories are told which make the group re-evaluate their past, their future and their values...
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>SOUND</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">If only the film was as straightforward as that paragraph makes it sound. Even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0X8LXlE9pA" target="_blank">its own trailer</a> only reflects about a third of what happens. This plays as Wes Anderson in some places, Tarantino in others, with notes of <b>The Greasy Strangler</b> as told by <b>The Mighty Boosh</b>. By the time we cut away to the tales characters are relaying to each other (none of which are about the heroes or their villains or anything either are trying to achieve), the film has dropped into <i>Experimental</i>™ mode, where performance and emotional-immersion far outstrip narrative credibility.
<br>
<br>And if this sounds <i>a bit up itself</i>, it's supposed to. As much fun as he's having (and there <b>is</b> fun to be had here), director Quentin Dupieux delights in testing the audience's patience as the central plot evaporates under <i>Tobacco Force</i>'s own scrutiny. And from the creator of <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/review-rubber.html">a movie about a sentient, killer tyre</a> this feels entirely in-keeping. The cast are impressively straight-faced considering how knowingly preposterous the whole thing is.
</p>
<br><p align="center"></font><font size="4"><b><u>SHOCK</b></u></font><font size="2"></p>
<br>
<p align="justify">As film-making goes, the movie is arguably at its best when it veers away to the anthologised story-segments, although it's never more focused than in the lengthy conversation-scenes between the five. Huge stretches of the film look washed-out, like someone's whacked up the Gamma Correction to view details in a dark scene and then forgotten to set it back again. Dupieux tries to hide his worst excesses by channelling low budget shabby-chic, acting as if the slight crapness is fully intentional. And to be fair, <b>Smoking Causes Coughing</b> looks like it cost around £300 to make, so that will be true to some degree.
<br>
<br>As intriguing as this is, it's difficult to recommend as it won't be for everybody<a href="#FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a><a name="BackOne"></a>, especially if the subtitles are going to be a problem<a href="#FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a><a name="BackTwo"></a>. That said, if it's not your bag then 77 minutes is at least mercifully short. And related to this, Dupieux probably intended to close on an ironically open-ended, faux anticlimax, but it feels more like an improv group running out of steam three quarters of the way through a sketch. Like I said, <i>intriguing</i>.
</p>
<br><blockquote><p align="justify"><b>Smoking Causes Coughing</b> is a weird little hallucinogenic film. Certainly not unwelcome, but I have no idea what it's for, what it's trying to do or how well it succeeds. But I didn't <i>not-enjoy</i> it, so that has to count for something...</p></blockquote>
<br><p align="center"><img src="https://www.skittlez.co.uk/worldofblackout/blogref/2022m/2022rating04.jpg" alt="And if I HAD to put a number on it…" title="And if I HAD to put a number on it..."></p>
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<br><a name="FootnoteOne">*<sup>1</sup></a> Even just taking the concept at face value, I've never smoked, I've never really got <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2017/03/review-power-rangers.html"><b>Power Rangers</b></a> and my french is atrocious - this film was <b>not</b> made to tick my boxes. It's 2023, why parody the Power Rangers <b><u>now</u></b>?? <a href="#BackOne"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><a name="FootnoteTwo">*<sup>2</sup></a> A thorny issue, but <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.com/2013/04/review-im-so-excited-los-amantes.html">subtitles often make</a> scripted comedies <a href="http://worldofblackout.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/review-in-house-dans-la-maison.html">particularly challenging</a>. Not only can the brevity of readable translation itself tangle the mechanics of a joke (as well as cultural differences affecting them), the viewer also loses the majority of the spoken intonation and - crucially - comic-timing. And despite its broad surrealism, <b>Fumer Fait Tousser</b> suffers here. <a href="#BackTwo"><sup>[ BACK ]</sup></a>
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<br><br><i>DISCLAIMERS:
<br>• ^^^ That's dry, British humour, and most likely sarcasm or facetiousness.
<br>• Yen's blog contains harsh language and even harsher notions of propriety. Reader discretion is advised.
<br>• This is a personal blog. The views and opinions expressed here represent my own thoughts (at the time of writing) and not those of the people, institutions or organisations that I may or may not be related with unless stated explicitly.</i></font>
Blackouthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11902762839184498321noreply@blogger.com0