Review: Rango

You can find my review of Rango on KYEO.tv

Review: The King's Speech

Today the Royal Family are viewed as the most scandalous family in Britain: drugs, divorce, partying, nazi costumes. They would be better suited to Celebrity Love Island than Buckingham Palace. But in the 1930s they demanded more respect than that and a weakness that threatens to strip them of that respect is very important indeed. Prince Albert’s promotion to the throne couldn’t have come at a worse time. After his father died and his brother abdicated the throne, he had his coronation in May 1937, when England was on the verge of being dragged into another world war. The people needed a king who could speak confidently and reassuringly and Albert struggled to deliver.  

The King’s Speech is the biopic of Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth), second in line to the throne, yet destined to one day become King George VI, a situation that is described as ‘medieval’ by his older brother Edward. Albert is beset with a stammer, which ordinarily wouldn’t have been a problem for a member of the Royal Family, but the 20^th Century rise of radio broadcasts and public speaking renders this more than a private problem. Albert is embarrassed by the deficiency, for which his older brother has mocked him since childhood and his father addressed in the way you’d expect of a stern upper-class Englishman, by telling him to ‘quit stuttering and spit it out already.’

After every avenue seems to have been exhausted, his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) – we know her as the Queen Mother – pays a visit to the idiosyncratic Australian speech therapist Logue, known for his ‘controversial and unorthodox’ methods – ‘not [her] favourite words.’ His methods, though they may strike the modern viewer as commonsensical, probably did seem unusual at the time. He insists on delving into Albert’s private life and upbringing, trying to get at the psychological root of the stammer, something he feels very uncomfortable with.

At first glance it seems to be spinning royal themes into awards fodder in a similar way to 2006’s hugely successful The Queen, but it is rather a different beast. At its heart lies a compelling wholly affecting character drama, with its well worn themes of friendship across social boundaries, the story of two men of different social classes forming an enduring friendship. It draws from the sports-movie formula, complete with training montage, of the underdog fighting the odds to eventually come out on top. Yet the film does not come across as a cliché but as an intelligent, well-crafted story. Director Tom Hooper keeps things breezy but not glib; serious when necessary but with constant glimpses of humour.  

The scenes between Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush are both delightful and heartbreaking. Though it’s the first time Firth and Rush have starred in a movie together, they have the sharp and easy-to-watch rapport of old pros. In their first hostile meeting Logue asks Albert if he can call him Bertie. His reaction to being addressed by his family nickname by an Australian commoner is priceless; as his face registers shock, indignation and outrage. Firth neither overplays it, nor underplays it, getting their relationship off to an interesting start. The power balance of their relationship is a constant entertaining struggle, Albert allowing himself to be humiliated with embarrassing exercises but making Logue continuously aware of the social gap between them. They give it humour and humanity. 

The performances are stellar. Firth, as everybody has said, manages to step into one of the many aristocratic roles that made his name, with a considerable amount of maturity, dignity and dry wit, as well as devastating vulnerability and emotional fragility. But it was Rush’s performance that truly impressed me with more of a supporting role than Firth but just as important. It is the scenes between them that make up the meat of the film, with sharp dialogue and wit shared amongst them, but his solo scenes as a failed actor, overcoming his own debilitating flaws and being constantly treated as lower then his supposed friend, are heartbreaking and impressive.

Bonham Carter gives another delightful performance as the equally proud but slightly more likeable wife of Albert. The refined Duchess is a refreshing change of pace from her usual oddball characters and she delivers it with love and passion brimming just beneath her cool exterior. We are also privileged to small but colourful supporting performances from Guy Pearce as Albert’s immature and easily manipulated brother Edward, Michael Gambon as his stern and old-fashioned father King George V, Timothy Spall as the supportive Winston Churchill and Derek Jacobi as a disapproving archbishop and fans of TV’s Outnumbered will be very pleased to see nine-year old Ramona Marquez cast as the delightfully pompous Princess Margaret.

Both one of the most entertaining and intriguing British films in years. It brings a patriotic tear to the eye – who am I kidding, I was in pieces.

Review: Paul

I was lucky enough to attend an advance screening of Paul at Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, held exclusively for people named Paul/Pauline/Paula etc and their friends. After a few pictures of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and the whole audience wearing our Paul masks (which has now taken its scary place at the end of my bed) Pegg and Frost took to the stage, to roaring applause, to introduce the film and prove that even without working mics they are still funny. After a few jokes, and a few technical difficulties, they left us to watch the film and my worries that they were leaving because the film was rubbish was erased within seconds.

Chemistry is definitely not something that best friends Simon Pegg and Nick Frost lack. Journeying through their careers together, starting with Spaced and then moving onto the big-screen with Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, they have never failed to impress; so why, in the lead up to Paul, have I felt so doubtful of it? It could be because their usual teammate Edgar Wright wasn’t involved, or because the trailers and advance clips have been decidedly underwhelming, or because the premise of two nerds befriending an alien on a road trip sounds like a banal children’s film; most probably, it was a combination of all three. Whatever my reason, they proved me wrong. It was always entertaining and provided constant laughter, as well as a round of applause at the end of the film (something I think should happen more often). 

The film follows two comic book nerds, Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), who decide to embark on a tour of reputed UFO crash sites on their way back from the San Diego Comic-Con. Along the way they pick up a small, foul-mouthed hitchhiker – an alien named Paul (Seth Rogen) – who has escaped from Area 51 and is looking to return to his home planet. They make their way cross-country to the pick up point, pursued by FBI agents, religious fundamentalists and crazed hillbillies. Pegg and Frost came up with the idea in 2003 while shooting Shaun Of The Dead, and while there are obvious similarities and comparisons, Paul is a very different film to its predecessors – undeniably broader, more commercial and sweeter. 

Unlike their previous double-acts, this time Nick Frost was not merely Simon Pegg’s sidekick. Pegg might have got the girl once again, but unlike with Ed and Shaun, Danny and Nicholas or Mike and Tim, they were equally major characters. There was hardly any conflict between them as this time they were both playing nice amiable blokes. While I did miss Frost’s usual antagonistic buffoon character, it was nice to see him play a lead character and maybe in future he will even get the girl? It will be interesting to see where they take their double act next, firstly in Spielberg’s Tintin and then in The World’s End, the third part in Wright/Pegg’s ‘Blood and Ice Cream’ trilogy. Only time will tell if the Pegg/Frost double act has the mileage to become one of the great screen double acts, but right now, they’re three for three and are definitely at the top of my list.  

The film has a distinctly 1980s feel, both through references to films like E.T, Aliens and Mac and Me and through the classical style and sensibilities of director Greg Mottola. This is clear within minutes, as the opening sequence plays as homage to Spielberg with a very Close Encounters-style sequence of a young girl and her dog witnessing the arrival of the spaceship in 1947. Then the ending, while obvious and cheesy and sometimes cringy, adds to this 1980s feel that we all know and love with it’s simple yet action-packed sequence interjected with one liners. 

The script was impressively tight and included all the best elements of Pegg’s previous scripts – the running gags, the wordplay and the film references. It included a brilliant supporting cast of Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, David Koechner, Bill Hader, Jane Lynch, Sigourney Weaver and Jeffrey Tambor, and it was a pleasure to see a comedy actually giving them funny things to say, rather than saving all the best gags for the lead characters. After my initial doubts while watching the trailer, Seth Rogen’s voice worked brilliantly as Paul, and the impressively emotive CGI and good writing made this character worthy of the title name.

It is not in the same league as Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. The film references aren’t as sharply implemented, the character development is distinctly shallower, and the jokes, that in the previous films get funnier with every viewing, are more obvious. But on a purely laugh-by-laugh basis, it’s easily the equal of the ‘Blood and Ice Cream’ series. The phrase laugh-a-minute is often used, yet rarely appropriate, but I’d certainly say it’s applicable in the case of Paul. From the moment our heroes walk on screen accompanied by a couple of orcs from Lord Of The Rings, to the nicely understated final line that undercuts the action-packed finale, there were at least 5 laughs a minute from everyone in the audience. 

Paul is one of the funniest comedies to hit the cinema in a while, with an enviable gag:hit ratio, great performances and some surprisingly great FX work.

The trailer might suck but trust me, the film is good!

Review: Morning Glory

Produced by JJ Abrams, directed by the guy who made Notting Hill and written by the woman who wrote The Devil Wears Prada; this potentially brilliant team brings us a cheerful workplace comedy that might not be ground-breaking cinema, but is delightfully entertaining and good fun.

A brilliant cast, including legends Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton, but it was women’s favourite Rachel McAdams who really stole the show. She plays the adorable and perky Becky Fuller, a frantic can-do television producer who dreams of producing the prestigious Today show. Desperate to succeed, she is wholly consumed by her thankless job at her local morning show in New Jersey, but when her boss calls her into his office for what she assumes to be a promotion, she is fired for cost-cutting reasons.

Despite being a dedicated workaholic, she has little experience to offer and after a hard struggle to find a job is offered the role as the latest in a long line of producers of Day Break, the fourth ranked national morning show “behind Today, Good Morning America and whatever they have on CBS” as her new boss (Jeff Goldblum) puts it. She has the impossible job of righting the sinking ship and goes to any lengths possible, no matter how degrading, to keep the show from being cancelled – queue a montage of cringing attempts to gain viewers. 

After a promising start with Mean Girls, The Notebook and Wedding Crashers, Rachel McAdams career has been ill-served since then with disappointing characters in Sherlock Holmes and State of Play. However, in Morning Glory she gives a gusto performance as the determined woman struggling to prove she can succeed. She gives a believable performance that is both strong and insecure and is someone the audience can really get behind. Her performance seems effortless and her timing brilliant, and she manages to stay likeable throughout, separating her from the often annoying and obnoxious performances of similar romantic comedy stars Kate Hudson and Katherine Heigl. Her relationship with the rest of the cast is both interesting and entertaining, and makes up for the lack of depth and development of the supporting characters.

After sacking her male presenter, Becky boldly decides to team up her only remaining anchor (Diane Keaton) with the Pullitzer-winning, grumpy news anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), the “second worst person in the world” according to his former colleague and her soon to be boyfriend. The constant sparring between McAdams and Harrison and the bitter hatred between Keaton and Harrison is the driving force of the film and keeps the energy up throughout. While on his own Harrison is dull and monotonous, when playing off of these women he is entertaining and funny and their dialogue snappy. 

The most disappointing part of the film is the half-arsed love story. As with The Devil Wears Prada, the romance felt like an unneeded subplot, because obviously women aren’t interested in a film unless there’s a love story! (I’m just glad they didn’t try to form a relationship between Keaton and Harrison). The original draft of the script didn’t even include a love story, and it shows. The under-written boyfriend part this time falls to Patrick Wilson, who is perfectly fine in the few scenes he is in, apart from the fact that he doesn’t have much of a character. He is the perfect guy, with a perfect job, a perfect body and perfect manners, who apparently has no hopes or dreams or even opinions, and is able to drop whatever is going on in his own life to magically appear by Becky’s side at important turning points in her life. 

The film explores the failings of modern media through the dumbing down and the ceaseless dichotomy between information and entertainment. It is looked at as both a disappointment and a necessity in the current climate of crippling budgets and is shown to be both demeaning, with jokes about her eight segment orgasm series, and empowering, as she is able to prove her worth to the show through gaining figures with cringingly desperate infotainment. They never really answer the question of the fluffy banter and cold hard news rivalry, but after years of debate it would be difficult to do in a 107 minute comedy. The film also explores the fixed roles and silent assumptions of women in work. In the 1933 film of the same name, Katharine Hepburn played a talented actress struggling to be recognised for anything more than her looks. Eighty years on and little has changed. 

 Do not mistake this old-fashioned comedy for an award contending film, because it simply doesn’t aim to be one. A snobbier crowd will, without a doubt, deem this too shallow, cute and forgettable, but others will enjoy this as a well-executed, uplifting, feel-good comedy. The jokes aren’t the most original in cinema history, and the story is predictable, but the film still manages to be intelligent and broadly entertaining, delivering plenty of laughs from start to finish.  

Review: The Fighter

Star and producer, Mark Wahlberg, introduced the film at the World Premiere in Los Angeles, claiming that he would travel to the house of anyone who didn’t like the movie and do hard labour in exchange for time spent watching it. A project obviously fuelled by passion; it was in development for four years and saw multiple actors and directors – including Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Darren Aronofsky – drop out before its final configuration was decided. But it seems his development hell was all worth it in the end as he was left with a seemingly perfect cast. The Fighter is a strong piece of work that benefits from the passion of everyone involved.

The film tells the real-life story of “Irish” Micky Ward (Wahlberg), a boxer from Lowell, Massachusetts, who fought the odds to become a welterweight boxing champion in the 1980s. Basically the plot of every sporting film in history (insert name, town and sport here), but the film benefits from its focus on his family struggles - with the boxing matches being filmed as if for TV to make them seem like a separate entity to his personal struggles in the film. At the beginning I felt like I would have benefited from actually having heard of Ward and from ever seeing a boxing match, but it didn’t take long for me to feel like I’d been following his, and his brothers, careers for years and while anybody can guess the outcome of the final fight, you are left constantly unsure of how his family situation will pan out. 

While Wahlberg is the one who – behind the scenes at least – appeared most dedicated to getting this move made, it’s the other actors that are more likely to go home with acting accolades come February. If nothing else, this movie will be remembered for a phenomenal performance from Christian Bale and exceptional work from Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. But, while watching the film Wahlberg is outshined by his supporting cast, in retrospect his restrained and believable performance erases any doubts that he is a talented actor. Wahlberg is at his best, not as an action star despite his impressive muscles but instead, when he lets his guard down in films like Four Brothers and Boogie Nights. He provides much needed relief from Bale’s energetic performance: his rueful shrug towards the camera in the very final shot as his brother takes the limelight once again showing the bruised heart of a guy used to being eclipsed by his many siblings.

Micky has a huge family who hinder him from living up to his full potential. He is managed by his mum Alice (Leo), followed by his gaggle of seemingly jobless sisters and trained by his older brother Dicky Ecklund (Bale), a former professional boxer who earned the nickname “the pride of Lowell” after he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard. The film’s title points more to the battle with his family than the boxing, especially with his brother, who he has always looked up to but is now, sadly, a crack addict. 

Wahlberg and Bale play spectacularly off each other and it is clear from the video of the real Micky and Dicky at the end of the film that they capture the brother’s relationship perfectly, Bale in particular completely becoming Dicky. Bale slinks around the screen, constantly moving and talking non-stop. His wiry, serpent like body weaves in and out of spaces, making the audience follow him across the screen, leaving them unsure of his reliability and intentions but never wavering about his familial love. His friendly and flamboyantly entertaining personality leaves you liking him no matter how much he lets people down, leaving you just as unsure as Micky is of whether he should leave him behind. Bale has always been an incredible physical actor, but he takes it to another level here. 


Amy Adams seems poised to be nominated for another Academy award, this time for her depiction of Charlene, Micky’s “tell it like it is” college dropout turned bartender girlfriend. She’s a great influence on Micky and imbues the character with a strength sorely lacking in female characters on screen these days (and you have to love her classy, classy outfits). Melissa Leo also does a terrific job as the overprotective Alice, a character we alternately despise and sympathize with. Yes she’s a horrible person, but she thinks she’s doing what’s best for her son.

Not forgetting director David O Russell, who was just as impressive as the cast. The head body head body fighting style of Ward echoed in the family fighting family fighting construct of the film. Most of the fighting scenes were turned over to the experts, which was a very good decision, and Russell's scenes were handled with skill. They hired HBO crews and used 90s era cameras to create a convincing, accurate portrayal of how the matches would have looked on TV and the fighting was so convincing that they actually had me covering my eyes and worrying for their safety at points (as I said, I've never seen a boxing match). I've heard from boxing fans that Wahlberg convincingly portrays Ward's famous liver-quivering left hook).

It’s a huge crowd pleaser and had the whole audience cheering, a rarity in English cinemas. The formula is somewhat predictable but the direction is skillfull, culling great performances from actors that signify The Fighter as one of the best-acted films of the year. It was a wholly satisfying experience that provided tears, laughter and brilliant accents. It’s the most uplifting, exuberant fun you’re likely to have at the cinema this year.

Forgotten Favourites: Night Shift

It is a cause of constant misery in my life that nobody seems to have heard of the 80s classic Night Shift - starring Batman, The Fonz and the woman from Cheers. How could this film be anything other than epically brilliant? No seriously, what more could you want from a film? Beetlejuice doing a Tarzan swing in some pants I hear you scream...Well it has that too! 

Queue the trailer:

It was introduced to me by my brother a few years ago when he promised me it would cure me of the flu. And by golly he was right. This is one of two films that have proved able to cure illness, much like Jesus did (but the other was Matilda and she's magic, much like Jesus). 


The fast paced black comedy is about a prostitution ring run from a New York morgue, with odd couple attendants Winkler and Keaton as their pimps. This early Ron Howard comedy has no shortage of laugh out loud moments thanks to Keaton's unforgettable screen debut as manic wildman Bill Mlazejowski (and he's not the only starting his film career in this comedy. Kevin Costner stars in his role as Frat Boy #1). Winkler, miles away from his iconic and ultra-confident Happy Days character, is wonderful as the uptight Chuck Lumley and his performance is matched by Shelley Long as the call-girl abused by customers after her pimp is flamboyantly executed. They just don't make comedies like this anymore.


If that hasn't convinced you to watch it, hopefully this will:

Michael Keaton should be in every film!