2019

DIEGO MARADONA

Cert 12A 130mins Stars 4

This gobsmacking documentary about the magnificently flawed Argentinian footballing genius is a must-see for the ‘hand of god’ goal generation.

The infamous incident defeated England and helped him to almost singlehandedly, ahem, power his country to success at the 1986 Mexico World Cup, as well as cementing his contradictory image as a cheat and hero.

But that’s only the prelude to a glittering period of superstardom tarnished by a spectacular fall from grace, which involved cocaine addiction, and being banned from playing.

He drove unfashionable and unsuccessful Italian club side, Napoli, to two top-flight championships in Italy’s brutally savage Serie A, and to European success.

In doing so Maradona roused a proud city, inspired the region and became worshipped with an almost religious fervour, which is a terrible height to fall from.

Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo is a concrete gladiatorial arena full of flags and flares, and is packed for a riotous press conference where Maradona is first unveiled to the home supporters.

Whatever team you were supporting in 1987, it can’t have been as much fun as supporting Maradona’s Napoli. Mind you, if you thought the terrace songs of English football fans were sick and disgusting, you should hear the Italians in full voice.

It’s a look at a remarkable age of football from an age before players were obsessed with personal branding and access became limited to their immaculate online instagram lives, as for example, Lionel Messi, or Christiano Ronaldo.

Touching upon Maradona’s poverty stricken childhood, we see the pressure of his being the family breadwinner from age of 15 years old. And there are interviews with girlfriends and his personal trainer.

Oscar winning director Asif Kapadia, previously produced celebrated documentaries on singer Amy Winehouse, and racer Ayrton Senna, but where their untimely tragic deaths provide a strong narrative framework, here Kapadia has to create one, and it feels forced and arbitrary.

To emphasise the psychological importance of the accusation of his fathering a child, the narrative is mostly limited to Maradona’s career with Italy’s FC Napoli, meaning Argentina’s calamitous campaign in 1994’s USA World Cup is bizarrely excluded.

However it’s a victory for research and editing and uses a wealth of astonishing never seen before footage, accompanied by a soundtrack as winning as the football.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIVISION 19

Cert 15 93mins Stars 2

This ambitious dystopian sci-fi doesn’t lack for interesting ideas, but is guilty of terrible incoherence, a near terminal over-serious tone and lacklustre action.

In the near future the government keeps the population under control through strict surveillance and identity control.

Prisoners are now reality TV stars used by companies to sell consumer products to the citizens. This is a great satirical concept and is deserving of a far better movie.

Division 19 is the underground resistance who exist off the security grid, and plan to rescue the world’s most popular prisoner to dent an evil corporations profit-swelling expansionist plans.

Jamie Dravin is a sadly anodyne hero, Linus Rosche riffs on Alan Rickman as the sheriff of Nottingham in Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the film’s one undoubted bright spot is Alison Doody’s immaculate and villainous CEO.

The abandoned areas of modern Detroit make for a suitably apocalyptic backdrop and has featured in many films previously, notably in Ryan Gosling’s 2014 directorial debut, Lost River, which was shot concurrently.

But there’s no sense of geography or distance between locations, and while low flying skyscraper-sized satellites fill the skies, the quality of the CGI makes they seem tacked on rather than organic part of the world. In a similar manner robots appear briefly and randomly, and seem to be there to offer fleeting comic relief, but it’s hard to be sure.

Meanwhile the roof-hopping parkour action is leaden and dated, and the downtrodden masses are conspicuous by their absence.

From Westworld to Mad Max the influences are obvious, but this feels like a clumsy fan-fiction low-budget episode of the Divergent franchise.

MISSING LINK

Cert PG 95mins Stars 4

Hugh Jackman leads an all-star cast to a high old time in the Himalayas in this delightful animated comedy full of family fun and excitement.

With engaging energy and charm the Aussie actor plays a 19th century English aristocratic adventurer searching for the missing link between humans and apes.

A sighting of the legendary Sasquatch in the US leads to a madcap whistle-stop journey by steamship, locomotive, stagecoach and elephant, from the Wild West to the fabled city of Shangri-La.

Along for the ride are Zoe Saldana and Zach Galifianakis, with wonderful support from Brits Emma Thompson and David Walliams.

Astonishing heights of craftsmanship mix the richly detailed texture of traditional stop-motion animation with beautiful CGI vistas to glorious effect.

The producers were deservedly Oscar nominated in 2017 for their wonderful fable, Kubo and the Two Strings, and though this more mainstream adventure feels a tiny evolutionary step backwards by their lofty standards, it’s still a wonderful early Easter treat.

WILD ROSE

Cert 15 100mins Stars 4

Music and motherhood create spiky discord in this honest, raucous and irrepressible British musical drama, which is as full of heartache and hardship as the foot-tapping Country tunes which power the story.

Irish actress Jessie Buckley won renown last year for her riveting big screen debut turn in the terrific thriller, Beast, and here she’s staggeringly great as Rose-Lynn, a Glaswegian sweary single-mum who aspires to singing stardom in Nashville.

No retiring wall flower, Rose is immature and untamed as she struggles with the harsh truths of choosing between her kids and her dreams, but her passion and vulnerability makes us root for her.

And she’s the thorn in the side of her put-upon mother, Julie Walters, who responds by giving her most affecting performance in years as she copes with her daughter’s chaos.

The grandkids are generally un-impressed by the adults except when Buckley’s extraordinary voice belts out her own compositions, as she demonstrates why this Rose is blooming marvellous.

HELLBOY (2019)

Cert 15 121mins Stars 2

Unrepentant for its blood-splattered gore, this comic book comedy horror reboot is brash, noisy and violent, reflecting the demonic character at the heart of the CGI-heavy action.

Under deadening layers of makeup, actor David Harbour tries manfully to bring life to Hellboy, a truculent government field agent attempting to prevent Milla Jovovich’s resurrected fifth century sorceress from starting the apocalypse.

Though as she wants to save us all from the hell of Reality TV, I don’t think she’s all that evil.

Rattling around England in pursuit of a decent script, Hellboy is accompanied by Sasha Lane’s very modern fortune teller, and a SWAT team leader with a secret agenda of his own.

As Hellboy’s adoptive father and boss of the US paranormal research bureau where Hellboy works, Ian McShane uses every ounce of his foul-mouthed and scene-stealing experience to bring energy and humour to this frequently flat exercise.

This is a very different beast to Hellboy’s previous cinematic incarnation in a pair of films from over a decade ago. Original director and writer, Guillermo del Toro, bailed out and went off to win Oscars for his fishy romance, The Shape of Water.

And fans of his elegant and stylish version will be horrified by way director, Neil Marshall, brings a much more action-orientated approach.

Clearly the genial Geordie was watching the same video nasties I saw growing up, and indulges his taste for gory thrills first seen in his 2002 werewolf debut, Dog Soldiers.

Throwing in an army of demons, flaming weapons, shoot-outs and Scouser Stephen Graham as a half-human warthog, it’s evident Marshall shares with Terry Gilliam a love of fairytales and Arthurian legend as well as a gleeful taste for the grotesque. 

But there’s little tension or chemistry, the CGI looks cheap, and the hardworking editing disguises a lot of sins, leaving this to feel more like purgatory than a hellish good time.

 

WONDER PARK

Cert PG 85mins Stars 3

This bright and breezy animated adventure is a rollercoaster of fun for younger kids which will keep them entertained while it lasts but probably won’t have them pestering you for a second ride.

June is fearless young inventor who emotionally withdraws when her mother is taken ill, but running into a magical forest she encounters the Wonderland theme park which previously existed only in her imagination.

It’s strangely overgrown and deserted except for five talking animals trying to save the park being destroyed by a swarm of zombie monkey toys, who are a lot cuter and less scary than they sound.

YouTube stars Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee join an impressive voice cast of Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick and Mila Kunis, but they’re all outshone by my favourite Dr Who, Tom Baker, who’s enjoying himself immensely as a big blue bear.

Although not as ‘splendiferous’ as characters repeatedly insist, any film which encourages children to value their dads is OK with me.

 

AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Cert 12A 181mins Stars 5

The world of Marvel’s superheroes is changed forever with this epic and emotional finale which fulfils the promise of the preceding 21 films by serving up a hugely satisfying and super-sized blast of popcorn entertainment.

Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth allowed full rein to be at their crowd pleasing best as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor who risk their lives in a last gasp attempt at saving the universe.

Following directly on from the events of last year’s Avengers: Infinity War, it sees our heroes consumed by grief and anger after Josh Brolin’s intergalactic warlord, Thanos, succeeded in killing half the world’s population including many of our favourite heroes such as Spider-Man.

Not to be outdone by the boys, Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel is involved from the off and it’s great to see Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Karen Gillan’s Nebula afforded plenty of screen time and their own key moments.

Never feeling anywhere near its length, this huge movie is surprisingly light on its feet as it skips about the galaxy, through time and into the quantum realm, from which Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man is released and then has to return to.

With lots of call-back moments to previous adventures Marvel shamelessly plays to the galley which they have every right to do after delivering eleven years of quality thrills.

They cherry pick from the best of the series to splices the laugh-out-loud comedy of Thor: Ragnarok, the two-fisted action of Captain America: Civil War, and the hidden heart of Iron Man.

Casual viewers as well as dedicated fans will be gasp by its many twists, shocks and surprises and the spectacular smack-down is almost too much to take in.

This is an event as much as a movie which demands to be seen on the biggest available screen and is so tightly packed you may need to see it twice.

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM

Cert 15 130min Stars 4

Keanu Reeves burns the candle at both ends and in the middle in as he returns as the titular hitman this blistering all-action thriller.

Fast, ferocious and surprisingly funny, we join the much feared dog-loving assassin exactly where the previous film left him, alone in New York with a $14m bounty on his head and every hitman in the Big Apple gunning for him.

Almost immediately he’s busting out his brutal bone-breaking and head-cracking action moves. Where once he killed a man with only a pencil, here he uses a library book as a lethal weapon in his bid to survive, as well as an assortment of more traditional weapons, such as knives, pistols and automatic rifles.

Among the tremendously and energetically staged ultra-violent fights which had me wincing with their savagery, one in a stable full of horses and another utilises motorbikes.

Ian McShane is back as the nonchalant manager of New York’s most sumptuous hotel, The Continental, while franchise newcomer Anjelica Huston is majestic as a powerful Belarusian matriarch.

An angry Halle Berry is far more interesting and kick-ass here than she ever was as a sidekick to Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in 2002’s Die Another Day. And her pair of trained attack dogs deserving of their own spin-off adventure.

A sojourn to Casablanca adds epic sweep, and there are nods to Clint Eastwood in his Spaghetti Westerns, and with every frame capturing the tactile weight of the luxuriously decadent interiors, this is easily the most handsome action franchise. 

Unfortunately the running time is as much a hindrance as the clumsy title, and takes the sting out of the climactic battle, which is overlong and less inventive and impressive than those preceding it.

Parabellum comes from a latin phrase meaning ‘prepare for war’. Well, you can’t say this bloody and frequently brilliant episode doesn’t warn you of what to expect.

 

ROCKETMAN

Cert 15 121mins Stars 4

Taron Egerton launches his inner diva into the spotlight with a wonderfully versatile performance as Elton John, in this redemptive musical biopic of the singers stellar career.

Charting his rise from suburban schoolboy to global superstar, we sees the tears behind the tantrums as Elton struggles with a lack of self-worth which results in a multitude of self-destructive addictions including, drugs, booze, sex and shopping.

Packed with greatest hits such as Crocodile Rock, and Your Song, it’s an orgy of clothes,, cars, mansions, and um, orgies, though unlike the outrageous costumes, the intimate sex scenes are tasteful, sincere and won’t scare the horses.

I’ve never been a fan of Kingsman star Egerton, though I did enjoy his turn as a singing gorilla in 2016’s animated caper, Sing.

But no there’s no denying the range, commitment and all round excellence of his performance as the Pinball Wizard, particularly his ability to transition in a moment from from heartbroken heap to grandstanding onstage star.

He makes Elton a magnificently flawed, petulant, often unpleasant figure who wins our sympathy through his honesty and eventual willingness to confront his demons. And the actors playing the childhood Elton are also terrific.

Jamie Bell plays Elton’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin and their bromance is the beating heart of the movie.

As Elton’s abusive manager, Richard ‘Bodyguard’ Madden is a compellingly sharklike, and Bryce Dallas Howard is breathtakingly cold as Elton’s mother.

From playing as Babyface in kiddie caper, Bugsy Malone, to making The Proclaimers jukebox musical, Sunshine on Leith, and taking up the reins on last years smash, Bohemian Rhapsody, director Dexter Fletcher is a veteran of big screen musicals.

His dynamic and slickly choreographed numbers full of visually inventive flights of fancy reveal his empathy for Elton and is  clearly a huge fan of the Rocketman. And so will you be after this.

ON THE BASIS OF SEX

Cert 12A 120mins Stars 3

Hollywood gives a makeover to a spartan legal warrior in this earnest and easy to follow biopic of US lawyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Now an 85 year old Supreme Court judge and a popular media figure who’s known to her devotees as RBG, she made her name fighting gender inequality.

Her long career is boiled down here down to a landmark legal case of 1972. When Charles Moritz is denied to claim a caregiver’s tax deduction because he’s a man, RBG argues in the Appeals court discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional.

As well as demonstrating her willingness to fight for men as well as women, the timeframe allows for the box office friendly casting of Star Wars: Rogue One star, Felicity Jones as the young firebrand.

The Brit actress gives an impassioned portrayal alongside screen husband, Armie Hammer, whom the script is contradictorily over keen to crowbar in at every opportunity, leaving us to think RBG deserves better.