2018 is over, in the final month I saw twelve movies at the cinema bringing my total for the year to 126. For the final time of the year we crown the movie of the month, here are the contenders:
Disobedience – Following the dead of her farther, a highly regarded rabbi, Ronit (Rachel Weisz) returns home to London from New York. While some of the Orthodox Jewish community welcome her return, others are less welcoming. When she reconnects with childhood friend Esti (Rachel McAdams) it becomes clear why she left. Based on Naomi Alderman’s début novel of the same name, Disobedience is a beautiful exercise in subtlety and understatement. Set within a community I little to nothing about, it comes across as the most honest, and realistic film I have seen all year, it helps that the performances were sensational.
Green Book – Based on a true story; a mildly racist working-class Italian-American doorman (Viggo Mortensen) takes a job as the driver of an African-American classical pianist (Mahershala Ali) on a tour of venues American South in the 1960’s. No cliché is left underused, there are no surprises in the plot, the characters are caricature, and not a great deal happens. None of this matters, as the film is warm and funny, the performances are Oscar worthy, what should be cringingly sentimental turns out to be nothing short of delightful.
Creed II – Or Rocky 4.5. Now heavyweight champion of the world, Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), takes on the s Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), who killed Apollo Creed in the fight depicted in Rocky IV. Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), Bianca (Tessa Thompson) are both back, the latter being poorly served by the script. Although it fails to reach the heights of the best in the franchise, the way Creed did, it is an enjoyable and uplifting story.
Tulip Fever – A romantic drama of misadventure and misunderstanding told against the backdrop of the Tulip mania of 17th century Amsterdam. The film has sat on the shelf for several years, a look at the producers behind the film may explain why. Or it could just be because the movie is average at best. Alicia Vikander, Holliday Grainger, and Christoph Waltz are all good. Tom Hollander, Dane DeHaan, and Jack O’Connell are all guilty of overacting.
The Old Man and the Gun – A “mostly true” story (so a caption tells us), Aging bank robber Forrest (Robert Redford) is in the middle of crime spree, some committed alone, others with Waller and Teddy (Tom Waits, Danny Glover), al committed without violence or even a raised voice. Along the way he meets the delightful Jewel (Sissy Spacek). All the time Detective Hunt (Casey Affleck) is on his trail. A charming film told with a deliberate pace that director David Lowery seems to have mastered more so than any other filmmaker. Reported to be Robert Redford’s last movie before he retires from acting, if this is true, it’s a worthy end to a great career.
Beautiful Boy – Timothée Chalamet plays Nic Sheff, Steve Carell plays his farhter David in a film adapted from books written by both men describing Nic’s fight with addiction. Both actors are fantastic with Carell slightly edging it for me. The story is well told with a great use of time-shift that is never confusing. The English language début of director Felix van Groeningen isn’t as heartbreaking as his earlier film The Broken Circle Breakdown, but it is just as compelling.
Mortal Engines – Yet another high concept dystopian sci-fi based on a popular YA series of books. This time, we have mobile cities roaming across the wastelands of the globe capturing and consuming the recourses of other smaller towns and cities in what they refer to as Municipal Darwinism. I won’t spoil the plot that unfolds within this story, least to say it involves a young couple who start on opposing sides. Newcomer Hera Hilmar is a compelling lead Hester Shaw, Robert Sheehan is less convincing as the co-lead. Jihae, Hugo Weaving, and Stephen Lang all provide good support. The world building is good, if not believable. The look of the film is good, and the story zips along nicely. The characters are relatively well realised, although a couple of supporting players look like most of their story is on the cutting room floor. One of the reasons the story works, as is often the case with stories of the type; the heroes are filled with self doubt, and the villains think they are heroes. The allergy for the destructive, and self-destructive nature of capitalism isn’t subtle, but it is surprisingly effective. An enjoyable if disposable blockbuster with an ending so clearly influenced by another film, it should be called Mortal Engines episode IV A New Hope!
Aquaman – After the events of The Justice League, we learn the origin Aquaman/Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa). He (and the audience) soon discover that he is heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis, but there is the small matter of his evil half brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson). Aquaman should have been the Justice League’s equivalent to Thor, the preposterous but fun member of the team, the character played totally straight the more silly things get. In a way it achieves this in justice league to a certain extent, but it lacked the fun and charisma of Thor. But given his own movie he fares better. The visuals are spectacular, Jason Momoa has fun with the part, and is well supported by Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, and Willem Dafoe. Very silly and not as good as Wonder Woman (or even a middle ranking MCU movie), but the most fun the DCU has been to date.
Bumblebee – Set in 1987, about twenty years prior to the events of Michael Bay’s first Transformers movie: Bumblebee arrives San Francisco, a little worse for wear, he finds himself mute and in a scrapyard in the shape of a VW Beatle trying to evade the Decepticons. This is where awkward teenager Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) finds him. The sequels, to Bay’s first Transformers film were so bad, we forget that the original wasn’t bad. Bumblebee, is somewhat better than not bad, it’s actually really good. Steinfeld is charming and funny, but so is her animated co-lead. The filmmakers aren’t shy in talking about the influence of Steven Spielberg movies, notably ET. Bay’s pornographic sensibility is nowhere to be seen. Superficial characters who would have been on the end of Bay’s “male gaze” are relegated to supporting roles and ridiculed. The final act is far better than you would expect, and the 80’s soundtrack is excellent.
Sorry to Bother You – Set in a dystopian present-day, Cassius’ (Lakeith Stanfield) lives in his uncles garage with girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson). In need on money he takes a job in telesales, and sucks at it until colleague Langston (Danny Glover) teaches him to use his “white voice”. Musician, activist, and first time director Boots Riley’s movie is full of fantastic ideas and brilliant gags, and observations, unfortunately the execution is a total mess. The cast are all excellent, and I enjoyed parts of the movie, but I fail to see the masterpiece I was led to expect.
Stan and Ollie: Towards the end of their career, world famous comedy duo Laurel and Hardy toured UK music halls. Most of the film concentrates on this one brief spell of their careers, but it gives an insight into their relationship and personalities of camera. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are both excellent as the duo, Reilly looking the part, more than Coogan but both giving believable performances, for me Coogan is the better of the two. Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson are also excellent as their wives. The balance of the film is a little off, with the first half spending too much time recreating the performances. the behind the sconces relationship is far more interesting.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Like Peter Parker before him, Miles Morales is bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes a new Spider-Man. At the same time Kingpin opens a portal to other alternate realities, bringing multiple Spider people into Miles’ world. Not an MCU movie, but part of Sony’s own ever more confusing cinematic universe. Using an ever changing array of animation styles to create a bizarre and bonkers movie that is also amazing fun, and very funny, as well as being full of heart. The freshest and funniest comic book movie for a very long time. The voice cast is amazing, Shameik Moore is joined by: Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, Zoë Kravitz, Nicolas Cage, Liev Schreiber, and Chris Pine.
Die Hard: 30th Anniversary Screening – Towards the end of the 1980’s Die Hard rewrote the book on action movies, how has it aged? The simple answer is very well! It is made with typical 80’s film stock that is a little grainy and muddy looking (not as bad as 70’s, but not as bright or crisp what came before or after), other than that it is very modern. If you saw it for the first time many of the story beats may seem a little clichéd, it isn’t, this is the archetype that everything else copied. A treat to see on the big screen. (not included in competition for movie of the month).
First, a special mention for the best new film of the month Roma. Seen on TV via Netflix, not at the cinema so not eligible.
Disobedience, Green Book, The Old Man and the Gun, and Beautiful Boy, would all make worthy winners. I considered Bumblebee as it is the movie that surprised me so much. But the movie of the month is: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse:
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