BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Cert 12A Stars 5

In a year when musicals have ruled cinema, this supersonic biopic of Freddie Mercury allows rock band Queen to claim their rightful crown as the champions of the box office.

Sympathetic, moving, funny and filled with some of the greatest rock anthems ever recorded, at a rare lick we see Freddie’s rise from airport luggage handler to global superstar.

As the band’s outrageous and supremely gifted vocalist, he struggles to break free of his traditional family, beginning the film by chasing what he wants and ending up with what he needs.

Powered by his finding somebody to love, 1985’s famous Wembley charity gig, Live Aid, becomes a redemptive, poignant and climactic celebration.

Though the film steers away from showing anything graphic, Freddie’s rockstar party life leads to his being diagnosed with AIDS, the disease which would kill him at 45 years old.

Rami Malek is tremendous as Freddie, and who cares if the American-Egyptian doesn’t particularly look like the Parsi Indian Brit, he absolutely captures the essence of the man as we’d like to remember him, dynamic, creative, outrageous and a world class crowd-pleasing frontman.

With the actors miming to the bands actual recordings, Queen’s chart-topping and lengthy back catalogue supercharges the script, and it’s worth the ticket price to hear the soundtrack, which rockets through their best-selling greatest hits album.

The majestic title track is the first song I can remember hearing that wasn’t a church hymn, and the scenes of its recording imbue the song with deeply personal meaning, a trick used repeatedly on songs such as, Love of My Life.

Band members, Brian May and Roger Taylor are executive-producers, and you might expect more of a contribution from their characters. Efforts are made to emphasise their contribution to the group, but even in their own band they were always the supporting act.

It’s a kind of magic this films is as great as it is, after the original director, Bryan Singer, was sacked with two weeks of filming to go. For the sake of brevity some of the dialogue is very direct, but it’s not afraid to ask the important questions, such as ‘how many Galileo’s do we need?’.

For his Tom Hanks-starring 1994 drama, Philadelphia, director Jonathan Demme persuaded Bruce Springsteen to contribute a title track. Demme argued the Boss’ song would encourage people who otherwise might  be disinclined, to go see a film about a gay man who dies of AIDS.

Similarly the music of rock royalty Queen will draw in an audience to this determinedly mainstream Hollywood biopic where they’ll watch a drama which celebrates the life of a much-loved performer who dies from AIDS.

And though this isn’t a ‘message’ film, if it kickstarts a discussion among parents and young teens of sexual health then that can only be a good thing.

Also in this film is a scene featuring a passionate, tender snog between two men, conducted without shame or fear. How many other broad-appeal saturation release Hollywood films will be showing that this year, next year or the year after?

It’s unlikely the upcoming Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will feature Jude Law’s young wizard Dumbledore snogging Johnny Depp’s titular villain. The Star Wars, Marvel and Fast Furious franchises fail repeatedly to do anything more than pay lip service to gay representation at best, and the decision to cut a gay kiss from Star Trek Beyond tells us all we need to know about Hollywood timidity.

I loved last year’s gay drama, God’s Own Country as much as anyone else who saw it, but far more people will see , and I suspect many will be people who wouldn’t normally consider to pay to watch a gay love story.

 isn’t a warts and all expose of the life of Freddie Mercury, it’s the unapologetically enjoyable, accessible, music-laden celebration it sets out to be. It promises a good time and it delivers.

And for once don’t worry about the size of the cinema screen, see this at the venue with the biggest sound system. And this will rock you.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Here’s a spoiler heavy thread on why Bradley Cooper’s #AStarIsBorn fails in regard to its sexual politics and misunderstanding of its own nature.

.#AStarIsBorn 2018 re-tells a story without updating the late-mid 20th century gender politics to reflect our very different times. Of the four versions, the first three were made in the era of the casting couch, the new version in the time of  #Metoo

The first version of #AStarIsBorn was released in 1937, the same year as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We wouldn’t expect the mooted live action version of Disney’s classic animation to have a heroine as passive or as un-ironically domesticated as the original.

.#AStarIsBorn charts the relationship between a wealthy older husband and mentor and his young wife and protege. The first three versions are the product of male producers and directors and predominantly male writers, it’s always framed as a tragic love story.

In 2018’s #AStarIsBorn Bradley Cooper combines those three roles with that of lead actor, and so unthinkingly continues to frame it in the same way, with the male character presented as being a tragic figure

However far from #AStarIsBorn being a tragic love story, it’s a tale of abuse. The key driver of abuse is the desire to control, which Cooper’s character, named Jackson Maine in Cooper’s version, seeks at all times to exert over Lady Gaga’s character, Ally.

Jackson’s controlling nature is flagged up early. He has his chauffeur stake out Ally’s house until she agrees to be flown to his gig. Later he drags her on stage to perform. #AStarIsBorn

Enter record producer, Rez, who because he threatens Jackson’s control over Ally, is framed as the film’s ‘bad guy’. Even though Rez never tries to have sex with Ally, treats her with respect and works hard to make Ally’s career a success. #AStarIsBorn

At this point Jackson tries to reassert his control over Ally by proposing marriage, disapproving of her new career direction, and calling her ugly. And yet the film believes #AStarIsBorn is a romantic love story.

When these strategies fail, Jackson’s heavy drinking nearly sabotages her career at an awards ceremony debacle. Even though Ally cancels her European tour, Jackson violently commits suicide. #AStarIsBorn

Tragically this attempt of gaslighting from the grave works. Ally is made to feel guilty for his death and in publicly taking Jackson’s name, Ally submits once more to his control. #AStarIsBorn

In framing the story in the style of the original and not taking account of the progress in sexual politics, there is a huge dissonance between the film #AStarIsBorn 2018 believes it is – a tragic love story – and the film it actually is – a tragic tale of abuse.

.#AStarIsBorn 2018 is pernicious for equating love with control, and suggesting violence solves ‘romantic’ difficulties.

Plus it’s not best to represent suicide as an act of love when suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales. #AStarIsBorn

Here’s hoping the new Snow White meets a prince more respectful and loving of her than Jackson is of Ally. #AStarIsBorn

 

Here’s my review of the film

A STAR IS BORN (2018)

Cert 15 135mins Stars 2

Extrovert pop star Lady Gaga gives a 21st century gloss to this dated, ego-driven and tone deaf musical drama.

This third remake of the 1937 original cleaves closely to the Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson 1976 version in story, tone and nuclear-grade levels of indulgence, courtesy of the multi-tasking Bradley Cooper.

As producer, director, co-writer and star, Cooper offers a mumbling and stumbling turn as ageing alcoholic rocker, Jackson Maine, who thrusts a waitress called Ally to singing superstardom after he discovers her performing in a drag bar.

Cooper is clearly indulging a long held ambition to unleash his inner rock god, which is never a good look for a man over 40, as my 7 year old will tell you.

Known to her parents as Stefani Germanotta, Gaga is a magnetic and affecting presence in her first lead role as Ally, and is unsurprisingly at her best when she unleashes her awesome vocal power. These are the films best and most successful moments, something even beyond Cooper’s ability to get wrong.

A relationship develops between the pair, and we see how the self pitying man-child, Jackson, is unable to cope with Ally’s growing success, with her having to manage his controlling and bullying manner.

There’s no reflection on how the music industry has massively changed since Streisand’s day and social media is almost entirely absent.

Worse, the script demonstrates a tin ear for contemporary issues such as the #metoo movement. There’s an astonishingly lack of judgement in romanticising the behaviour of a rich, famous and powerful older man who marries and abuses his wife and protege, and then to offer his character a note of nobility.

From tinnitus to a sad back-story, Cooper pulls out every stop to afford Jackson sympathy but he’s seemingly unaware the singer’s behaviour is cowardly and weak, making the signature tune, ‘The Shallow’, unintentionally appropriate.

BLACK ’47

Cert 15 100mins Stars 4

The Western is bracingly invigorated with this bitter, brutal and brilliant Irish revenge thriller which swaps the Wild West desert for Ireland’s bleak midwinter of 1847.

When a soldier returns home from fighting for the British overseas, he finds the remains of his family in desperate circumstances due to the potato famine and the despotic land clearances of the English aristocracy.

It’s an impressively physical and taciturn performance by Aussie actor, James Frecheville, as the veteran, Martin Feeney, who begins to wage a one-man war across the land and has his sights set on Jim Broadbent’s callously indifferent lord of the manor.

Meanwhile Freddie Fox’s foppish sergeant is sent to hunt down Martin, and recruits Hugo Weaving’s disgraced policeman, who is also a former army colleague of the renegade.

During the course of his personal vendetta, Martin’s patriotic shift is clear from his use of his native Irish language, and those caught in his violent wake also experience a political radicalisation.

One such example is Barry Keoghan’s squaddie, whose conscience-driven actions suggests the working classes on either side of the Irish Sea have a great deal of common cause against the English landed gentry.

Adopting a suitably spartan style, director Lance Daly brings a harsh mournful beauty and mythic overtones to the magnificently photographed epic landscapes, while not forgetting to feature plenty of shoot-outs and horse rides.

A lean script doesn’t waste a word of dialogue is full of contemporary concerns such as bigotry, torture, the clash of religions and a refugee crisis. It also includes moments of gallows humour and there’s a novel use for a pig’s head, which even the English members of today’s broadminded political elite would shy away from.

Though lacking the romance, melodrama or grandstanding speeches of Mel Gibson’s Oscar winner, this is very much an Irish Braveheart, and is intense, timely and terrific.

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

Cert PG 103mins Stars 3

Ewan McGregor comes unstuck by a CGI Winnie-the-Pooh in this period live-action family fantasy which is surprisingly light on honey.

Disney plunder A.A. Milne’s whimsical classic children’s characters and throw in elements of their own 1960’s animated adaptations, but for all it’s impressive craft, occasional charm and predictable sentiment, there’s a surprisingly lack of joy.

And with the doom-laden donkey, Eyeore, as the funniest character, it struggles for chuckles.

The script imagines Milne’s son Christopher as a middle-aged office manager who’s under pressure at work, disconnected from his lovely wife and daughter, has forgotten his old friend Pooh bear, and can’t see the magical 100 Acre Wood for the trees.

Hayley Atwell brings charm to her small role as the wife, and Mark Gatiss is a panto villain of a boss.

Before you can say ‘Mary Poppins’, the wind changes direction and Pooh Bear enters his life once more, needing help to find his missing friends such as Piglet and Tigger.

Scotsman McGregor deploys his stilted English accent in an earnest performance, but the lacks the genius light-comedy skills of Hugh Grant, who was so brilliant in last years talking bear movie, Paddington 2.

That film placed a beloved bear in a bright modern context, but Pooh is weighed down with a muted palette of autumnal tones and Edwardian nostalgia, making the US accents of the animated cuddly toys sound out of place.

Plus considering 100 Acre Wood is a metaphor for the carefree joys of childhood, even when the sun’s shining it’s a gloomy, muddy, chilly and vaguely nightmarish place.

Director Marc Forster’s is a curious choice as director given his last big movie was Brad Pitt’s zombie thriller, World War Z, and he delivers at best a solid, handsome and occasionally creaky experience.

Fortunately we’ve the Mary Poppins sequel arriving in December to give us a proper spoonful of sugar.

THE MEG

Cert 12A 113mins Stars 4

It’s man versus megalodon in this enjoyably silly slick and glossy action adventure.

Jason Statham experiences a sinking feeling when a prehistoric giant shark is discovered at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

The Brit star plays a retired rescue diver with a ropey reputation called Jonas, presumably in homage to the biblical who was swallowed by a huge whale.

Jonas realises he’s going to need a bigger boat if he’s to save the crew of a stricken submersible, lost off the China coast 11 miles underwater and faced with the 23 metre long hungry behemoth.

Various characters become fish bait as greed and self interest compete with bravery and noble sacrifice.

With the script merrily splicing Steven Spielberg’s 1975 masterpiece, Jaws, with his Jurrasic Park franchise, the big budget CGI and an international cast are designed to give this fishy tale a global appeal.

And with Statham being a former member of the British diving team, he’s completely at home when up to his neck in watery thrills.

Plus he’s well-practised at delivering outrageous lines with the straightest of faces. The film would be sunk without him.

Most impressively of all he swims against the tide of accepted wisdom by being adept at acting with animals and  children, establishing a lovely rapport with the cute-as-a-button ten year-old, Shuya Sophia Cai.

Her on-screen mother is Chinese superstar Li Bingbing, who is a strong foil for Statham, with equal screen time and action scenes of her own.

There are monstrous squids, schools of sharks, and holidaymakers oblivious to the peril of the cast spouting some of the best so-bad-it’s-good dialogue of the year.

This is knowingly broad not deep entertainment, a giant bite of popcorn fun which is totally jawsome.

MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN

Cert PG 114mins Stars 4

This unashamedly feel-good sequel to 2008’s musical box office chart buster is another sequinned celebration of sisterly love and the unbreakable bonds of motherhood.

With the original pulling nearly half a billion pounds at the global box office, this sticks rigidly to the successful formula.

So once again the irresistible platinum-plated pop tunes of ABBA set the tone for this flamboyant escapist fantasy, which sees the original cast reunite in a split storyline which flicks between events now and from twenty five years ago. 

In the present Amanda Seyfried is organising her Greek island hotel’s grand opening night, and frets about her relationship with Dominic Cooper. Meanwhile a deliciously lusty Christine Baranski and a lovelorn Julie Walters banter for space alongside Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Pierce Brosnan.

Bless the former 007, he still can’t carry a tune in a bucket but that doesn’t stop him from manfully trying.

There’s a conspicuous deficit of Meryl Streep as Seyfried’s vivacious screen mother, Donna. However the younger version of the character is played in the earlier timeline by Lily James, and the former Downton star treats us to a barnstorming turn worthy of Streep herself.

Bristling with defiance, optimism and enthusiasm, we see how Donna meets a trio of buff and eager suitors who become responsible for the confusion surrounding her daughters parentage.

All this turning back time sets up a show-stopping singing turn by the ever fabulous Cher, who unlike much of the cast, has the advantage of being a bona fide vocalist. It’s one of many preposterous and crowd-pleasing scenes, my favourite of which is set at sea and best described as Dunkirk with a disco beat.

This brazen and cheerfully loopy sense of fun mingles with heartfelt multi-generational bonding and the pains of summer loving.

Among the barely choreographed mass dance-alongs and ill advised attempts at singing lurks a finger so firmly on the pulse of its intended audience it was rewarded at the packed-out world premiere with an all singing and dancing ovation. 

Mamma Mia 2’s manic determination to give you a good time is relentless. I’m not saying it’s a great movie, but if you’re in the mood for irresistible sun-kissed feel good poptastic silliness then it’s terrifically entertaining.

HOTEL ARTEMIS

Cert 15 94mins Stars 3

It’s great to see Jodie Foster back on the big screen in this agreeably offbeat, stylish and violent near-future thriller.

After a five year gap she returns with a typically sharp-tongued and vulnerable performance, and has been aged to look twenty years older than real life, but there’s no disguising her distinctive voice or talent.

She plays the in-house nurse who operates as a surgeon and concierge with a humorously doleful Dave Bautista as her much put-upon assistant.

Jeff Goldblum and Sofia Boutella offer great value among the collection of assassins, gangsters and bank robbers. 

Decorated in a moody art decor style similar to Keanu Reeves’ John Wick movies, the Artemis is a heavily fortified and hi-tec Los Angeles hospital which caters exclusively to criminals.

But when the strict rules are broken, the fragile truce between the guests shatters. As the violence escalates it becomes clear you can check in to this Californian Hotel, but some can never leave.

 

A PRAYER BEFORE DAWN

Cert 18 114mins Stars 4

This bloody real life kick boxing drama is a full contact contender for sports film of the year.

It’s based on the best-selling account of drug addicted Scouse boxer, Billy Moore, who was sentenced to three years in a Thai prison where he sought redemption in the ring.

Sweating testosterone in the lead role is Peaky Blinders star, Joe Cole. He delivers a  physically punishing performance with most of his dialogue being aggressively Anglo-Saxon.

Local former prisoners are used as actors and filming took place in a real jail, fleshing out the script which is clear-eyed about the squalid conditions and the rape, suicide and extortion suffered by the inmates.

Nimble camerawork puts us in the ring giving the fights a frightening immediacy, and  and we’re battered by a combination of smacks, screams, screeches from the tremendous sound design.

This is as far from Hollywood boxing movies as Bangkok is from Los Angeles, and is an unnervingly immersive, authentic and intense experience.

INCREDIBLES 2

Cert PG 125mins Stars 4

It’s been a scarcely credible 14 years since we were first introduced to the animated exploits of films’ first family of superheroes.

And now Mr and Mrs Incredible and their 3 kids are back with brilliant blockbuster adventure.

It’s powered by strongly drawn and relatable characters, fabulous retro design and consummate technical skill, plus a smart and funny script begins and ends the fun with two great action sequences, making for a gorgeous, entertaining and exciting time.

Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter return as the voices of Mr Incredible and his wife Elastigirl, who with their three super-powered kids combat a new super-villain, the mysterious Screenslaver. He has the power to hypnotise the population through their TV screens.

They’re joined in the battle by Samuel L. Jackson’s cool hero and fan favourite, Frozone, and are once again kitted out in costumes by the eccentric Edna Mode.

An admirable determination to deal with gender issues means we hear a lot of how Elastigirl feels guilty being out fighting crime and leaving the kids with her hubby, while he struggles on the domestic front with his super cute and film-stealing toddler, Jackjack.

And the plot deals extensively  with the legality of superheroes which was a reasonably fresh idea in 2004, but not now after umpteen Marvel films discussing the issue. And there’s a lot of navel gazing discussion about the cinema audience’s need for superheroes which will sail over your kids’ heads.

Plus the villain’s identity is obvious and the small stakes involves saving monorails, and super yachts, not preventing the end of the world.

Nevertheless when it works it really works, something which shouldn’t be sniffed at when you consider Pixar’s history of sequels veers from the magnificent Toy Story films to the lacklustre Cars trilogy.

Incredibles 2 has already taken over half a billion pounds at the global box office, so I don’t imagine we’ll be waiting 14 years for the next one.