FILM: Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi IMAX 3D (dir: Rian Johnson, 2017)

"Happy beeps!"

A film of this length that has so much going on requires far more unpacking than this one-paragraph review, but suffice to say The Last Jedi starts with an absolute bang and is absolutely rollicking entertainment, and as expected the trailer played with expectations by means of clever editing and in the movie things certainly 'are not going to go the way you think'.  Rian Johnson - an edgier director with whom Lucasfilm stuck but who understands Star Wars yet is brave enough to make some very distinct choices here - gives the series some new visual ideas, some delightful throwaway humour, some unexpected character development that feels freshly ambivalent and a series of bold set pieces that absolutely deliver.  It is certainly darker (relatively) than Episode VII, but it is story-driven and puts the characters in situations where choices have consequences.  Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac deliver the strongest performances here, and Carrie Fisher is majestic in her final bitter-sweet appearance.  No doubt the diehards who complained that The Force Awakens stayed too close to A New Hope will now say this film is too modern and not light-fantasy enough, but these are precisely the two main reasons that make The Last Jedi not only interesting but also a franchise progression.  It would be nitpicking to say that one plot strand gets a bit familiarly Battlestar Galactica at points, and there is a bit of a mid-point lull, but overall The Last Jedi is genuinely entertaining, and whether or not Abrams continues in this new vein or reverts to safer ground for the trilogy-closer, the next film is left with real potential to explore this 'new' Star Wars universe.

VOD: Beach Rats (dir: Eliza Hittman, 2017)

"What year is this?"

Another of 2017's festival mainstays has many strengths but it is a fairly  unadventurous coming-of-age movie.  Writer/director Eliza Hittman scores well in both departments, with some strong use of framing to create relationships and  deliberate male objectification giving a grounded, credible feel to the movie as a whole.  Brit Harris Dickinson provides an intelligent performance as the conflicted and aimless teen at the heart of the movie, and Madeline Weinstein works well on screen as his budding girlfriend.  The central metaphor used to represent the passion and beautiful rage of teenhood leads to a bleakly blunt but affecting ending, and even if the movie hardly covers original territory, this one of the more considered and thoughtful indie efforts in this sub-genre.

FILM: The Man Who Invented Christmas (dir: Bharat Nalluri, 2017)

"I am the Ghost of Christmas Past!  Follow!"
"Not bloody likely...."

This enjoyable piece of whimsy manages to concoct a reasonable fiction of the creation of A Christmas Carol, presenting the  Dickens phenomenon as the 1840s equivalent of J.K. Rowling's modern-day Potter success (which of course the author was).  Desperate for a hit and for money to support his lavish new lifestyle and ever-expanding family, this film takes an interesting  Pirandello-style approach to the creative process and newly-emerging characters coming to life and challenging their writer as Dickens also comes to terms with his own past and looks to the future.  There are three main threads that are almost integrated effectively: Dickens the man and writer, his relationship with his father and of course the writing of one of his most-loved titles.  Dan Stevens proves yet again to be a wonderfully versatile and precise actor in the lead role, Christopher Plummer is cast magnificently as Scrooge (who challenges and hectors his creator in true character manner), Morfydd Clark does some lovely work as the author's patient wife, and a load of recognisable Brit character actors thesp away hammily.  Fans of Dickens, period films and, well, Christmas will enjoy this pleasant and well-made piece of light seasonal fayre.

FILM: Suburbicon (dir: George Clooney, 2017)

"It's a terrible, terrible tragedy."

There is a lot of quality work on display in Suburbicon, especially on the acting front, but overall the film has difficulty hanging together.  For the most part it is a very controlled and quite predictable film, with everything feeling very deliberately placed, and the slow burn approach means that when the momentum picks up towards the end it is almost too little too late.  A bigger issue is the crude mirroring of the main story with a horrifying parallel  escalating deliberate racism strand that is clearly meant to reflect the unravelling of the suburban ideal but the two aspects sit together uncomfortably.  The film seems to want to end with a powerful streak of dark humour but instead plays like an underpowered Joe Orton farce.  Noah Jupe gives a delightful performance as the young son caught up in an adult nightmare, and Oscar Isaac does some lovely character work in his brief scenes, but overall Suburbicon is not as strong as one would have expected.

FILM: Daddy's Home 2 (dir: Sean Anders, 2017)

"Now you fixed it."

Going the same holidays route as the Bad Moms sequel, Daddy's Home 2 aims for the simplest and broadest of comedic strokes but it is a lot funnier than the first film.  The film dashes along at a terrifying pace, with a lot of the gags hitting the mark (if you are not expecting anything too lofty - the snow-clearing set piece is a standout).  The established effective chemistry between Ferrell and Wahlberg works again and shows even better timing than previously (the latter especially is strong here), and Gibson and Lithgow simply bring their experience and have a blast with their barely-sketched stereotypical characters.  The final act takes a seemingly odd turn but it all comes together to end with a most extraordinary rendition of a xmas pop classic, by which point you will either be swept along with the festive daftness of the whole enterprise or give up hope all together.  

FILM: Justice League IMAX 3D (dirs: Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon, 2017)

"Yeah, it looks expensive."

Justice League is a little lighter (visually and in respect of tone) than the dark and dismal Batman vs Superman, but as a film it does not gel, and not necessarily because of the split directorial circumstances.  With the WB determination to tighten the running time, the film feels extraordinarily empty, with an astonishingly simplistic (and sometimes oddly judged) storyline with a script that hardly sparkles, leaving a bunch of invulnerables having regular punch-ups and lots of CG/explosions that are quite unengaging.  Individually, the League members are fine - Affleck still makes for a good Batman, Gadot is again wonderful as Wonder Woman, Mamoa turns Aquaman into a musclebound bad-boy, Ray Fisher at least has some character progression to work with as Cyborg and Ezra Miller is good fun as The Flash, but together they still come across as a grumpy Avengers-lite.  The mid-credits scene  is a bit of comedic fluff, and the very end of the credits has a scene that sets up a future DCEU movie, but there clearly needs to be some creative re-tooling and change of direction to make these characters work together properly.

FILM: Murder On The Orient Express (dir: Kenneth Branagh, 2017)

"This is not a beach-side puzzle."

This 2017 version of the Agatha Christie classic maintains its period setting, and for anyone familiar with the material (including the famous 1970s movie) this is a handsomely-presented and well-performed piece that holds no surprises.  For newcomers, the clues are laid on surprisingly thickly and the solution signposted quite early on in a film which is dialogue-rich and surprisingly spritely.  Branagh makes some well-considered directorial choices, holding the camera on a character at points and occasionally using interesting shots and angles, and he performs well as Poirot, a little subdued but bearable compared with some interpretations.  The starry cast deliver well, with Josh Gad and Michelle Pfeiffer perhaps proving to be the most interesting.  Overall, this is a solid take that entertains but does little new.

FILM: Paddington 2 IMAX (dir: Paul King, 2017)

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"This is perfect."

Lightning does strike twice, and this Paddington sequel is as good as the original film.  It has the same charm, joy and child-like delight that made the first movie so enjoyable - and perhaps even more so in the first half here -  but the warmth and creativity is also evident throughout (the pop-up book sequence early on is one of the loveliest sequences seen in recent film).  The animation and compositing of the central character is exemplary, there are plenty of recognisable Brit actors doing delightful work (Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson in particular are absolutely wonderful), and London again looks gorgeous and is used very effectively (as the treasure-hunt story involves key landmarks).  The ambitious final set-piece perhaps ends a little abruptly, but the actual ending is a real heartstrings-tugger, and the credits include an hilariously camp song-and-dance routine that is so over-the-top that it leaves this delightful film on a big smile.

VOD: The Untamed (La Region Salvaje) (dir: Amat Escalante, 2017)

"You can't escape everything."

This Mexican-international co-production has been a festival favourite, and it is both intriguing and oddly absorbing.  With echoes of Andrzej Zulawski's Possession, a tentacled creature comes to Earth via a meteorite and is kept at a couple's isolated rural home, telepathically attracting emotionally troubled people and delivering extreme sexual fulfilment, sometimes with severe consequences.    Following the sexually tangled relationship between volatile Angel, his wife Alex, her brother Fabian and the mysterious Veronica who enters their lives, the film has an hypnotically strange feel, through steady pacing, unexpected juxtaposition of extreme shot types and curiously-placed sound elements.  The creature scenes are brief but impactful and well-realised for the budget.  Not all questions are resolved, and The Untamed will not be to everyone's taste, but it is a curious and interesting experience overall.

FILM: A Bad Moms Christmas (dirs: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, 2017)

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"It's Christmas?"

The first festive offering of 2017 (first week in November!) sees the Bad Moms team return in a sequel that rigidly retreads the template but with added 'mothers of the mothers' and Christmas trees.  Oddly, the Christmas theme is often abandoned in favour of straight mother-daughter relationship scenes, giving the film a slightly stop-start feel, but this sequel capitalises on what worked best in the first film: Kathryn Hahn's wild character is a hoot, Mila Kunis sells the material brilliantly, and the chemistry between the three leads is terrific.  In spite of the relentless stereotyping (male and female) and the material is again slight, there are more laughs this time round and Baranski, Hines and Sarandon bring their considerable experience into comedic play effectively (and a potential spin-off movie is set up into the bargain).   Continuity fans will have a field day with snow and hair, but as the film breezes merrily along,  subtlety and detail are hardly the point here.  It is fun, it is forgettable... it's Christmas!