Us (Jordan Peele, 2019)

What's it about? A family on a beach holiday are threatened by their evil doppelgängers. Is it all somehow linked to a childhood trauma of the mother, Adelaide ( Lupita Nyong'o), at the same beach?

Is it any good? On paper, this is a promising concept, with plenty of potential for both scares and ideas. In practice, however, it doesn't quite satisfy. Compared to Peele's excellent debut feature Get Out, which had a clean satirical theme skewering its horror, this adopts a more ambiguous position. Perhaps it is about the dark shadow-self that resides in everyone? Or maybe it's a swipe at American propensity for violence against those different from them (amusingly captured when the family compare kill-counts). Or is it a topical political treatise about American fear of immigrants taking over. It could be all, or none, of those things, or indeed about something else entirely. Thing is, the film itself doesn't seem too sure, so it never really delivers a knockout blow, with the humour undermining, rather than accentuating the horror. As a result, it's not that scary, although there's some creepy moments thanks to some tidy editing in the climactic scenes, and to Nyong'o, who is clearly having a ball in her double role. It's still entertaining enough, but it might have worked better in a tighter format as a Twilight Zone episode if anyone were ever to reboot that series.

Anything else I should know? *Cue Twilight Zone music* Well, well, turns out The Twilight Zone has indeed been rebooted by none other than.....Jordan Peele. It's an inferior imitation of the old series though.  As it turns out, it was indeed an old Twilight Zone episode, 'Mirror Image', which sowed the seed for Us in his brain. Here's some thoughts from him on his inspiration for Us.

What does the Fonz think? 11:11 out of 20:20

Award-Winning Triple Bill

Caught up with some well-regarded flicks which gathered a bauble or two over the last while. Starting with...

A Star is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018) was the front-runner for the 2019 Oscars for a while, before a slightly unfair backlash scuppered its chances and left it taking home just the Best Original Song award from 8 nominations. It is true that, as the fourth version of this story, it doesn't really do anything new with the material, but it is still an accomplished directorial debut from Cooper, well-paced and assured in its presentation. In the acting stakes, he also impresses as the self-destructive Jackson Maine, while opposite him Lady Gaga is equally good as Ally, no doubt bringing her experience of the music industry to bear on her performance as she transitions from bar-singer to star. Even if you have seen the other versions, this is still a handsome, romantic musical drama.

Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2018) won the Palme d'Or in 2018 at Cannes and manages to be both a heart-warming and heart-breaking watch. A family living in poverty on the outskirts of Tokyo, who supplement their meagre income with acts of petty crime, decide to 'adopt' a little girl who they find wandering the streets. It's a simple set-up and the first half of the film provides the warmth as the obvious tenderness between the various members of the household is demonstrated in tiny moments and quietly affecting scenes. But it can't last and the heartbreak follows as somewhat inevitable events occur, when some surprising revelations and the harsh realities of life intrude on their simple existence. It's like getting a nice hug from someone, only to find they've stolen your wallet in the process. Recommended.

Manchester By the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan, 2016) won Best Actor for Casey Affleck and Best Original Screenplay for Lonergan at the 2017 Oscars, but I had avoided seeing it because it didn't sound like a lot of fun. And guess what? I was right. This is a wintry melodrama about how Lee (Affleck), a loner with a tragic past, copes with being unexpectedly asked to be legal guardian for his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges), an arrangement neither of them is too happy with. Be warned; this is not one of those tales in which a seemingly mismatched pair eventually bond - it's a much more downbeat and realistic depiction of how grief and guilt can affect a person's ability to form relationships. It isn't happy watching, but both Affleck and Hedges are really good here and the film's flashback structure helps keep the interest. Chilly viewing, though.

There you go, something more low-brow next time methinks...

An Irish Triple Bill

A selection of recent efforts from the Emerald Isle connected together by that most Irish of things: prison.

Maze (Stephen Burke, 2017) is an account of the infamous IRA breakout from the Maze prison in 1983, an event which lives long in the minds of Northern Irish people who marveled at The Great Auld Escape (the biggest prison break since WWII, no less) taking place just up the road from them. Sadly, the film doesn't quite manage to deliver on this promise, falling short of the wire as either a dramatic piece or as an exciting prison drama. Despite a reliably strong turn from Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (with spot-on accent) as the mastermind behind the plan, it is a fairly pedestrian journey through the usual tropes of the prison break film, with only a superficial attempt to explain much about the political landscape and wider context of the times. That said, the grim Maze prison is recreated well and Norn Iron viewers will no doubt find themselves reminiscing fondly about the Bad Old Days.

 

The Cured (David Freyne, 2018) presents an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse set-up. Here, the action takes place in Ireland after a viral outbreak, which turned people into slavering zombie-like fiends, has been largely contained. The 'Cured' of the title are those plague victims who have been successfully treated and are now released from quarantine, ready for rehabilitation back into society. However, they retain the memories of the horrific acts they carried out whilst infected, making it very difficult for the likes of Senan (Sam Keeley) to return to any sort of normality when he reunites with his sister-in-law Abbie (Ellen Page), whose husband died during the outbreak. A quietly affecting drama ensues as Senan and fellow cured acquaintances struggle to integrate back into a society which is not entirely welcoming of them. Although Freyne claims his inspiration came from the boom-and-bust of the Celtic Tiger, it is hard for any Irish person to view this without thinking of the prisoners released as part of the Good Friday agreement, and the various reactions to this across Irish society. As such, it isn't really to be viewed as a horror film - it certainly isn't that scary and heads off in slightly unsatisfactory directions toward the end. But it is interesting viewing to see the socio-political overtones falling, falling softly upon all the living and the walking dead.

Michael Inside (Frank Berry, 2018) is set in Dublin, where young teenager Michael (Dafhyd Flynn) ends up sentenced to 3 months in prison for a minor drugs-related offence. A grimly affecting drama ensues, which shows how easy it is to end up on a slippery slope to crime when a combination of circumstances, systemic failures and bad choices conspire against you. It's an impressive effort from Berry, who researched the film with former inmates of the reform system in Dublin, lending it an authenticity which recalls the work of Ken Loach in its depiction of the socially excluded and the struggles they face. Add in excellent performances (from Flynn and Lalor Roddy as Michael's kindly granda), a melancholy score and brooding camerawork, and you have a very worthwhile prison drama indeed. 

And as luck would have it, these are all available to view on Netflix. So lock yourself up and get watching.

A Sequel Triple Bill

Off boozing this weekend, so patching together a hasty entry here, with scant regard for quality or high standards. Have the makers of the following done the same?

John Wick 2 (Chad Stahelski, 2017) is pretty much the same as the first John Wick, with a little more kung-fu thrown in. Essentially, it's a violent video game which someone will adapt into a film one day. Here John Wick fails again to retire peacefully and instead spends his time killing the hell out of various assassins and henchmen. Whenever Neo....*consults notes*...sorry.....John Wick is dispatching said rivals in slickly choreographed but rather soulless action sequences, it is mildly entertaining. But it is hopelessly stupid stuff, even dumber than a bag of Johnny Utahs. That's pretty dumb, people, best make sure you're hopelessly drunk before you watch it.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (Michael Mitchell, 2019) makes a valiant attempt to rebuild a creation with the same charm and anarchic humour of The Lego Movie. Here, our Lego heroes Emmet, Lucy, Batman and friends face an impending Lego Apocalypse, which we now know is related to events occurring in the real world. It moves between both worlds as things progress, but although the central themes here are good, it's less funny, more muddled and simply not as well put together as the first one, Sadly, everything is not as awesome as before.

Split (M. Night Shymalan, 2016) isn't really a sequel until a surprise end scene reveals that actually it sort of is. James McAvoy has a lot of fun here playing various versions of Kevin Wendell Crumb, a kidnapper with a multiple personality disorder who is keeping three comely girls captive in his lair. Indeed I hoped it wouldn't set the long-dormant voices in my own head off.....
*
This was fantastic!
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No it wasn't, it was shite!
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Shut up, you two or I'll tell on you. It was somewhere in between ; silly but fun.
*
I liked the bits with the girls in their underwear.
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Oh for God's sake, stop drooling on us, and put that thing away! You know I don't like seeing it.
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Oh yeah? Well it's my body too! You don't even wash it properly!
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Did you know this is a sequel?
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Really? To what?
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Er.....Herbie Goes Bananas, I think.
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Enough chit-chat, our host is regaining awareness let's take an average score.
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You're not the boss of us! No wait, you are. 

What? Where? Sorry, folks, must have dozed off there for a bit. Strange. Anyway that was all a bit silly and all over the place, with poor use of language and stumbling badly towards the end. A bit like me this weekend! WAHEYYY!

Avengers: Endgame (Anthony & Joe Russo, 2019)

What's it about? After the events of Avengers: Infinity War (*lawyers in attendance begin shuffling nervously*), the Avengers (many people in Hollywood) and friends (everyone else in Hollywood) set about dealing with, (*lawyers frantically making cutthroat motions*), undoing, (*lawyers signal for hired goons to move in*) and somewhat undermining the impact of things that went down in that film (*humble reviewer beaten mercilessly for spoiling film*).

Is it any good? In my reviews of previous Avengers films, I likened them to Band Aid and Live Aid. Well, I thought it was funny at the time. And I am nothing if not consistent, so to labour that musical analogy, I suppose this is a bit like Glastonbury festival. It's big, there's something to please everyone, anyone who is anyone is involved, and there are some good highlights. But it also goes on a bit too long, has a few dull supporting acts and some people really do take the whole thing a bit too seriously. (*pauses to nail some more boards across the doors and check the tripwires around the house*)

There is no doubt this is blockbusting film-making on an epic scale. The Russo brothers have the onerous task of not just tying up the story begun in Infinity War, but also completing several character arcs which have been developed over the past decade or so as Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) moves to a conclusion. And they manage to pull it off for the most part, affording each of the vast array of characters a turn in the limelight, with moments of drama, humour, action and pathos patched together in crowd-pleasing fashion. The loyal, starry-eyed acolytes in the MCU temple will find much here to reward their faith. However, if one were inclined to risk heresy in the temple, one might point out that the behemoth they worship is not all that solid and is certainly less interesting now that focus has shifted away from the villainous Thanos to the somewhat boring heroes. The second act here is particularly wobbly, leaning to a large degree on previous constructions to keep things from collapsing. Indeed, for a movie that dares to disparage Back to the Future, there's a distinct whiff of BTTF2 in the plot mechanics of this section, which plays out in rather rushed and unsatisfying fashion. It does stabilise itself to some degree in the final act as the plot is largely forgotten in favour of CG action and emotional fallout, the impact of which will depend on your personal investment in these characters and stories (best brush up on those if you want maximum effect). Elsewhere, there's a few other memorable bits, including a good Fortnite gag and a bad Girl Power scene. Overall, it assembles the Avengers and friends to entertaining effect, but I'm not sure I would camp out in a field with no toilets to see it.

I don't trust you. What do others think? It is both amusing and a little frightening to see the vicious bile that get sprayed across the internet as people argue about the relative merits of the film. Look folks, if Iron Guy and Captain USA can learn to get along, why can't you? (*pauses while hard-drive explodes from volume of apoplectic emails*). Nevertheless, the hype is real, with fans stumbling bleary- and teary-eyed from cinema complexes, variously declaring themselves as 'shook', 'cried out', 'nostalgic' and 'emotionally wasted', while others have taken to the internet to decree that the film marks the greatest cultural high-point in human history. Replies suggesting such people 'read a book or something' have of course brought social media a step closer to DEFCON 1. Meanwhile, up in their ivory MCU Towers, the studio bosses gleefully watch the box-office numbers whizz around on their monitors as the film breaks all records by powering past $1billion in the opening weekend alone, as it makes a valiant attempt to knock Avatar off its perch at the top of the box-office tree. For them, that is the real endgame.

What does the Fonz think? I'm afraid to say anything. Blame the guy above who made me give it...