Best Pictures 2019: Part I

A Star is Born

A dazzling directorial debut from Bradley Cooper, breathing new life into a classic Hollywood narrative. As the fourth re-imagination of of the same story, there's a danger of being stale and tired, falling victim to over-used tropes and clichés. Cooper, however, fearlessly presses on like a veteran and creates one of the year's biggest and boldest hits.

A Star is Born requires one thing to succeed: a real star. Fortunately, it has two. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are astonishing, with Cooper particularly turning in the performance of his life and Gaga's mesmerising voice will blow you away; the leads make this story real. There's an overwhelming feeling of truth hidden behind the artifice of cinema, helped in no small part by having a pop star reenact the climb to fame with dialogue that feels pulled directly from Gaga's backstory. It's a beautifully shot, masterful piece of work, that seamlessly overcomes its weaknesses such as pacing in its third act. Like the songs it contains, the film hardly misses a note. It's enthralling, moving, and musically outstanding.

Black Panther

Marvel films dominate today's cinematic landscape and appear in, and regularly on top of, lists of the best movies of the year. Whether you believe they're that good or not, no one can deny their cultural impact and certainly not that of Black Panther. The eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe caused a worldwide stir at the beginning of 2018 when it was released and those ripples are still apparent now, a year on. It's clear to see why; in a cinematic universe, and more widely a cinematic landscape, featuring predominately white male heroes, the lack of representation for people of colour in cinema's biggest franchise was painfully apparent.

But Black Panther is not just a check box for the MCU's diversity quota; it's a political commentary, a thrill ride of power struggles, and one of the MCU's best movies. In many practical elements, it is flawless. Its production design and costume design are inspired, drawing inspiration from African tribal wear - the image of which contrasts with the valuable knowledge and resources the Wakandans have to offer. It feels more timely, more pertinent today than Marvel's other films, but even its visually impressive and strong design, fresh take on the superhero genre, and brilliant performances can't save it from feeling too neat, too restrained by the bigger picture that the MCU has in sight. With a bit more freedom, it's exciting to imagine what Black Panther could have been.

Bohemian Rhapsody

The controversies surrounding new allegations of sexual misconduct by director Bryan Singer may be an external factor affecting how (and if) one watches Bohemian Rhapsody but on on it's own merits, it still struggles. It's not a bad film, but it's not great. It's all spectacle and no depth and it feels like a cheap imitation of a creative genius. It's not just air-brushing to compress the narrative, it's unnecessarily manipulating Mercury's life to evoke an emotional response and tell a more compelling story. But it feels dishonest; Mercury was a legend, so why adjust key aspects of his life? In order to tell a 'better' story?

And despite being an entertaining romp through Queen's greatest hits, it's often emotively flat. The supporting cast are one dimensional at best which elevates a brilliant performance by Rami Malek by contrast. But there's no character development beyond Mercury, which is strained anyway and mostly hinges on a literal descent into a gay underworld. Maybe there was something worse here, salvaged into something watchable and mostly enjoyable by veteran editor John Ottman, but it's not inventive, innovative, and inspiring like its subject. And really, isn't that what Freddie deserves?

Vice

Featuring a powerhouse politician embodied in a powerhouse performance by Christian Bale, Vice tells the story of Dick Cheney; his subtle rise to a position of power and how he wielded that power. Adam McKay’s energetic follow up to The Big Short is angled in a way designed to make Thanos look like a puppy dog. It’s partisan and biased but it’s completely compelling film making, playing with narrative story structures and using its cinematic medium to full effect. There’s a restaurant scene where the menu offers tasty travesties from the invasion of Iraq, a false ending, archival footage, a Shakespearean soliloquy, and much more. It’s a storytelling marvel.

That being said, it sometimes rushes and sometimes drags and occasionally becomes confusing as we jump between self-aware meta-scenes, safari footage, and the main narrative. There’s a lot to digest which will no doubt require multiple viewings and it’s exciting enough to not make that a chore. It's funny, which only highlights the severity of its subject matter. It's a well aimed satire and, for the most part, it hits its mark dead on.

Oscars 2019: Part II

Free Solo

You may think someone climbing El Capitan without ropes would be the most compelling aspect of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's documentary but it is the climber rather than the climb that makes Free Solo what it is. Alex Honnold is risking life and limb when he solos, so what makes him attempt the insane? Looking closely at both Honnold and those closest to him, we get a glimpse into the mind of a major thrill seeker and it is exhilarating. By the time we get to the climb, you’ve already sweat a bucket and bitten all your nails off.

It’s a fascinating journey of one man trying to do the impossible and we’re along with him for all the very literal, and all too terrifying, highs and lows. It only really scratches the surface of man vs nature and why someone may want to do this, but it's beautifully shot, somewhat disturbing, and all-together captivating.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins follows his best picture winning Moonlight with another close-up of life in the black community. He carefully dissects the institutional racism inherit in America, without ever abandoning the love story at the centre of his film. His camera paints poetry with a delicate and deliberate colour palette, capturing and commanding the eye. It glides through scenes like a dream, showing the joy and optimism amongst the pain and the suffering. Beale Street simply doesn’t need to talk when it looks this good.

Powerful performances ground Jenkins’ transcendent style, bringing human heart with strong but flawed characters. The chemistry and tensions on-screen are palpable, drawing the audience into the scene, seating them in the middle of the crossfire and forcing them into the conversation. Occasionally it may drag when indulging its vision too much, but it’s forgivable; ultimately, it’s powerful and emotive film making.

Christopher Robin

For many of us, Winnie the Pooh played a big part in our childhoods but none as big as the part he played in the childhood of his pal Christopher Robin. Also like many of us, Christopher grew up and forgot Pooh, filling his time with other things - work and family - until they reach breaking point with one another. It is at this crisis point that Pooh reappears to help his old friend once again. 

It's a charming film, though very familiar. The plot is ancient, though typically Disney, with some CGI Pooh Bears and Tiggers thrown in, and a goofily archetypal antagonist in Christopher's boss (Mark Gatiss) for good measure. And despite it's somewhat dark and dismal start for an excellent Ewan McGregor's Christopher, the film drips with joy and love for its source material. Pooh, who gets vastly more screen-time than the other critters of Hundred Acre Wood, is a delight, helped in no small part by Jim Cummings returning to voice the beloved bear. At it's worst, Christopher Robin is too plain and simple. At it's best, it's fun; plain and simple. 

Mirai

The true cosmic magic of family, the connections that transcend time, are on full display in Hosoda's Mirai. It's an adventure that plays with linear narrative storytelling, the best method to capture the jealousies, insecurities, need for love, and imagination of a young child whose space is invaded by a newborn sibling.

It's a touching exploration into memory and family, investigating the invisible links that hold the fabric of our lives together but it can be clunky at times. Mirai struggles to maintain its tempo, often too neatly tying up threads before they're suddenly unravelled again for the next mystical encounter. If nothing else, it's a refreshing reminder that animation is still alive and well if not flourishing, without feeling the need to adhere to the formats presented by the big western studios.

Oscars 2019: Part I

A Quiet Place

Alfred Hitchcock has long been deemed the 'King of Suspense' and many have tried to topple him from his throne. With so many worthy suiters, who would ever have thought that Jim from The Office would be one of those vying for the crown, but John Krasinski is more than a sitcom goofball. Director, writer, producer, and star - Krasinski takes 90 minutes and makes them unrelenting and unforgiving.

Featuring stunning performances from Krasinski, Blunt, Simmonds, and Jupe - a.k.a. the whole cast - a near immaculate screen-play, and sound-design to die for, A Quiet Place is a breakthrough for a promising young director. Also, it grabs the award for the best opening in years; if you're not gripped by it, then film-watching may not be for you.

Ready Player One

Steven Spielberg, one of history's most defining and versatile directors, is no stranger to the Oscars. He's won a couple, directed a couple of actors to win them, and been nominated for a couple of handfuls more. Whilst his eyes are normally on bigger prizes than Best Visual Effects, Ready Player One is a fun return to family magic for the veteran director. Set in a desolate future where a virtual reality system, Oasis, consumes everyone's times and lives, people (or rather their avatars) compete within the game to find the late creator's keys which open the doors to his enormous fortune.

Jumping in and out of its magnificent digital landscape, Ready Player One is a feast for the eyes. Almost immediately we're in the midst of a chaotic and reckless race; long lingering shots of computer generated mayhem dominate the screen and it is glorious. The narrative, whilst at times is contrived, is timely - grounded in the digital age - and littered with pop culture references. Occasionally this is the film's greatest strength (a particular scene should not be 'Overlooked'), but it may make the film irrelevant in five years time. For now though, it's a treat to be enjoyed today.

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Ralph Breaks the Internet is, to put it generously, a confused follow up to a great original. It doesn’t seem to know who it is appealing to; do the kids care about ebay’s bidding process, for example. It’s jokes about memes or YouTube videos being all about babies and cats are not satirical, but outdated. If there is a commentary about culture’s obsession with the internet, it’s lost amongst the backdrop of corporate identities and Disney’s intellectual properties. The film has no problem being explicit (it’s presentation of Ralph’s insecurities are like being slapped with a wet fish) but it never really approaches its subject matter with any sort of commentary or, more worryingly for a family film, any joy. At two hours in length, it’s overlong, underwhelming, and misguided.

RBG


Telling the story of a great woman does not a great documentary make. A good, if not simple, documentary that tells a great and important story, however, that may do. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the notorious RBG, is one of the most inspiring women in the United States and her story is one that people should know. That's where RBG comes in. It's a well structured, well presented documentary that fulfils its aims and its supreme subject's bubbling personality and fiery determination make for good watching.

Best Picture: Part I

Dunkirk


Visionary director and innovative story-teller, Christopher Nolan tackles the tale of one of Britain's most dangerous challenges during the Second World War: the evacuation of Dunkirk. The story is told in three temporalities with three areas of battle - we spend a week on land, a day on the sea, and an hour in the sky. The stories, interwoven into one another, capture the struggle and determination of both the British public and armed forces.

Nolan is at his visceral best. Every bomb hit you, water pouring into a claustrophobic space engulfs you. This is sensory film making as it should be. Delicately balancing his timelines to maximum effect, Nolan manages to tell three powerfully engaging stories which are all as gripping and nerve wracking as one another. A master class in war films.

Phantom Thread


Daniel Day-Lewis' 'retiring' film, Phantom Thread tells the story of a man, a dress maker, though more importantly, he's a perpetual bachelor, allowing women to float through his life and inspire him on a breeze before they drift away again. But falling for one of them disrupts his whole life.

Beautifully shot and wonderfully crafted, Paul Thomas Anderson's latest struggles at times to be fully engaging. Grounded by solid performances by the whole cast, notably Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread is, in essence, a film about the consuming world of fashion and an eccentric designer but his quirks often rub the wrong way, making it difficult to support the central figure and his reluctant pursuit of romance. It works as proof that making a technically brilliant film does not necessarily make a brilliant film.

Get Out


Take a the sense of unease you get in any good horror movie. Combine it with overtones of the racial oppression that haunts suburban, southern USA. What you get is Jordan Peele's phenomenal Get Out, a striking racial satire with Daniel Kaluuya anchoring the film with a star-making leading turn.

The important social issues presented in Get Out are the reason satire exists - to hold a mirror up to society and highlight its blemishes - and Peele focuses his quiet anger on making the audience feel uncomfortable before unleashing it in loud, brutal fashion.  Get Out is bold. Get Out is brave. But most of all, Get Out is terrifying. The question that remains is whether it is the film that is scary, or the darker reality it is portraying?

Call Me by Your Name


Beautiful, relaxed, loving film-making. This is what is on display in Call Me by your Name, the unconventional and forbidden character driven love story set in the countryside of Italy. The camera floats around the leads passively, simply observing something, allowing characters and relationships to evolve in its view. 

Featuring strong performances from its leads but also from the minor characters (particularly Michael Stuhlbarg, who was robbed of a Best Supporting Actor nomination), Call Me by your Name is arguably the most rounded, well crafted film at the Oscars this year. It succeeds on every single level, not to mention Luca Guadagnino's immense control over combining all these elements. This is film making at its very best, its most powerful, its most emotive. And the the long takes are to die for. 

The Great Return

Apologies. I slipped into a movie related coma after the Oscars but the good news is their back on our screen! It's been six years since they released any form of movie (The Wizard of Oz) and 20 years since the last time they had their famous TV show. Finally, with great vision and determination, they return with a post-modern, biographical (sort of), comedy starring themselves. Who am I talking about? Yes, it's The Muppets.

Three Muppet enthusiasts, Gary (Jason Segel), Mary (Amy Adams), and Walter (voiced by Peter Linz), head off to Hollywood to see the Muppet theatre and to celebrate Mary and Gary's tenth anniversary. However, on the tour of the theatre, Walter overhears Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) discussing his plans to buy the theatre and destroy it to get to the oil underneath. In horror, the trio set out to find Kermit and with him, hatch a plan to get the gang back together, raise the $10 million, and return the theatre to its glorious state. They begin to travel around the world in search of the other Muppets and try to find a TV company that will air their telethon. It's a tough time for them though considering they're no longer considered 'popular' and on top of this, Tex Richman is keeping a close eye on them.

When they realised there wasn't enough seatbelts to go around,
The Muppets got scared.

There is very little in terms of human performance here. Jason Segel was absolutely fantastic as Gary. Not only is he absolutely hilarious, he is also so touching and heartfelt when the moment calls for it. Not to mention he can sing and dance like a pro. His voice in Man or Muppet - which won Best Original Song at the Oscars - is natural and raw. It gives me tingles every time. Amy Adams was also a delight in this movie. Her innocence and charm made her perfect for the role of Mary. And we all know she's a wonderful singer because of Enchanted. Finally, Chris Cooper played a mean (if not overdone) baddie. There was several things I disliked about Tex Richman as a character which I don't think was down to Chris Cooper's portrayal; I think it was down to the writers and directors. All the cameos in this movie were fantastic. They were so perfectly inserted with excellent jokes and pure wit.

Our Lord and Saviour... Kermit.

The film was spearheaded by Jason Segel and the promotion of it was fantastic. The world became excited for The Muppets. The film was great fun for all the family. Kids will love it because it’s silly and its protagonists are puppets and adults will love it because it brings The Muppets back to the screen with plenty of clever jokes and meta-humour. The script, while at parts dipped in quality and dragged a little, was mostly true to The Muppets style with a typical ‘good vs evil’ plot and silly comedy mixed with well thought out jokes. The songs in the movie were fantastic – probably the best parts of the movie – and were all worthy of an Oscar nomination (though Man or Muppet rightfully won.)

I find The Muppets sense of humour hilarious. Things like travelling by map or the line ‘They must have got broken in the dance number I was just doing,’ just make the movie that little bit better for me. Also, if you know me, you’ll know I’m a fool for singing and dancing, especially songs as good as the ones in The Muppets. I would definitely suggest this movie to people. It’s just plain good fun.

Best Bit? Man or Muppet was a definite highlight for me due to my love of songs, puppets and Jason Segel. I also very much enjoyed the post modern collection of the rest of The Muppets.

Nothing Bad Happens In Hawaii... Right?

Best Picture nomination number two. A film that constantly makes me say, ‘What else have they been in?’ A film hailed as essential viewing and nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and, obviously, Best Picture. A film set in the beautifully idealistic islands of Hawaii. A film known as The Descendants. 

The film tells the story of Matt King (George Clooney), whose wife, Elizabeth, has been left in a coma after a motorboat accident, and his two daughters, Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alex (Shailene Woodley), as they come to terms with their mother's condition. Alex is 17, a bit of a rebel and is at boarding school. Scottie is ten and is taking her mother's accident pretty badly. Matt, who hasn't had to look after Scottie alone since she was three, is suddenly thrust into the world of single parenting with two daughters that he has not spent enough time with and no longer understands. There is added complications thrown in as Matt is the head trustee of a large area of land that his family have passed down over generations and it is entirely his decision as to how the family sell it. On top of this, Alex refuses to be civil without her best friend Sid (Nick Krause) at her side, Matt's father-in-law, Scott (Robert Forster), is extremely critical of how he is handling the situation, and Matt's surrounded by the guilt his shambles of a marriage. As Elizabeth edges closer to death, we are drawn into Matt's life to see how he copes.

Family in trouble? Call the A-team
(Plus, look at Shailene Woodley... Need more reson to see the movie?)

 George Clooney is nominated yet again for Best Actor and, once again, he deserves it. I've been slightly angered by people's judgements of George Clooney after reading the IMDb forums but I tell you now, he is superb. But this film is about one man coping with pain. With suffering. With losing control. In reality, this doesn't happen with large, heartfelt, speeches in the rain. It happens with shock, confusion, desperation. Clooney shows every deep emotion with every part of his body. The contrast of a smile with his sad eyes. Personally, I found it a very moving performance. Definitely worth an Oscar nomination. Also pulling out some awesome acting chops is Shailene Woodley. Not only is she absolutely stunning, she's also a very good actress. She balances the line between angry teenager and broken hearted daughter perfectly. Her performance is gripping and I'm half surprised she didn't get a Best Supporting Actress nod. Also worth a mention is the very brief apperance from both Shaggy, Sorry, Matthew Lillard, and Judy Greer as Brian and Julie Speer. While their screen time is small, their effect is huge. 

George decided to grow a bushy beard for the role

I thought this was a very well constructed script. Having said that, there were moments that seemed unneeded. There is an overwhelming sense of realism throughout the movie. People don't announce their problems to the world, they keep them close. Because of this, the dramatic irony throughout the movie is absolutely heart breaking. As Elizabeth comes closer to death, Matt is constantly told, 'She's a fighter. She'll be fine in no time,' and he responds with a smile that shows all the pain and suffering that we know is there but the other characters would never recognise. As well as a sturdy script and great acting, the Hawaii based score is a pleasure to listen to and, when combined with the idealistic setting of Hawaii's gorgeous cliffs and beaches, causes a heart-rendering juxtaposition from the events of the film.

A really, really good film. Certainly one of George Clooney's strongest performances despite what amateur reviews on IMDb say. A captivating, passionate, and emotional story. It reaches into the depths of your heart and tugs strings that you didn't know existed. Even with the comedy input, this film is extremely touching. If you've experienced losing someone close to you or had to deal with someone you loved being in hospital for a long time, some moments may ring all to true. It is a sensitive subject and it is treated as exactly that, sensitive. A must see.

Best Bit? This is hard. I love the confrontation between Matt and Brian Speer. Some quality acting from all involved as well as an important message for all. Be the better person.