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Doctor Who Returns On New Year’s Day

by admin December 3, 2019December 3, 2019

Since the Doctor is all about time (and space), it’s somehow it’s a relief to learn that we won’t need a TARDIS to see the new episodes of Jodie Whittaker’s character quicker than we perhaps thought. Because, as revealed by the new trailer, Doctor Who returns to screens on…. drum roll… New Year’s Day.

(Source: empireonline)

Series 12 as it is known, kicks off with an action packed two-part episode entitled Spyfall. As Whittaker takes charge of the TARDIS once again, the Doctor will be joined by her friends Tosin Cole (Ryan), Mandip Gill (Yaz) and Bradley Walsh (Graham). The twelfth series will also welcome a host of famous faces including Stephen Fry, Sir Lenny Henry CBE, Robert Glenister and Goran Višnjić.

Add to that the return of the Cybermen, the Judoon and, as seemingly confirmed by this trailer, the Racnoss. Spider-danger! Get over your New Year hangover (or food coma) with some timey-wimey goodness.

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

A knife-wielding serial killer (Kim Sung-kyu) in South Korea is committing random violent murders in the dead of night – but when he accidentally targets mob boss Jang Dong-soo (Ma Dong-seok), the gangster survives his stabbing and teams up with cop Jung Tae-suk (Kim Mu-yeol) to hunt the killer down.

It’s obvious why South Korean film The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil has already been flagged for a US remake courtesy of Sylvester Stallone – Lee Won-tae’s slick, zippy action-thriller is the sort of straight-up, mid-budget cops-versus-killer crime movie that Hollywood once churned out, but has shied away from in recent years. Delivered here with a propulsive visual sheen, it’s primed for crossover appeal.

The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil
All the information is there in the Ronseal title, referring to the film’s three key players. (The Good, The Bad And The Ugly was apparently already taken). The gangster is the hulking, sharp-suited Jang, played with physical heft by Train To Busan’s break-out star Ma Dong-seok (soon to be seen in Marvel’s Eternals), who hands out beatings with ice-cool aloofness. The cop is Kim Mu-yeol’s Jung, a smirking and sarcastic but good-hearted detective who longs to fight back against the pervasive criminal underworld. And then there’s the ‘devil’ – a motive-free murderer who coaxes his victims into danger by orchestrating minor car accidents. Jung is alone in believing that one of the crime scenes points to an active serial killer on the loose – but when Jang survives an attack from that very same murderer, both sides of the law unite to dish out some payback. Whoever gets there first, gangster or cop, gets to handle the method of justice.

A fast-paced, entertaining thriller buoyed by two engaging leads.

It’s a clean, exciting set-up that Lee wastes no time in establishing, setting a lively pace for the unfolding hunt. Jung and Jang make for a highly watchable duo, their conversations laced with sardonic humour (“I heard you got poked,” Jung says to Jang after the latter’s brutal stabbing) and barely concealed contempt. Kim and Ma’s performances complement each other nicely – the former enjoyably cocky and brash (you could imagine Brad Pitt or Will Smith taking on the role in the ’90s), the latter more powerful and controlled.

It’s visually stylish too, doused in neon and atmospheric lighting captured by Park Se-seung’s clean, vibrant cinematography. The action, occasionally lost in a slightly choppy edit, is mostly good – especially some larger-scale beat-downs as the criminal gangs turn against each other, in a side-plot that intrudes a little too much on the more streamlined serial killer thread. A final act car chase is particularly well handled as the film hurtles towards its conclusion, leading to a protracted final reel that slightly overstays its welcome as it unfurls its final twists. There’s not much going on beneath the energetic surface, but for the most part The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil is a fast-paced, entertaining thriller buoyed by two engaging leads. Don’t mess it up in translation, Sly.

What it lacks in depth, it makes up for with style, well-handled action, and an entertaining central duo. More proof, if needed, that Ma Dong-seok is a star.

(Empireonline)

Frozen II Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

The kingdom of Arendelle is at peace. Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) is planning a proposal to Anna (Kristen Bell), snowman Olaf (Josh Gad) is loving life in the sun, and Elsa (Idina Menzel) is content in her role as queen – until she hears a mysterious song calling her out into the wilderness.

As a rule, animated Disney princess movies don’t get theatrical sequels – they end, by definition, with ‘happily ever after’. But then, 2013’s Frozen went far beyond your average animated Disney princess movie, a $1.2 billion box office behemoth that subverted fairy-tale notions of true love, with an earworm soundtrack that sent frazzled parents loopy on endless repeat listens. So it is that Frozen’s happy ending gives way to a big-screen sequel that — as they tend to — goes bigger, bolder, and more epic.

It begins gloriously, with a lush, confident opening act that establishes the new status quo – Elsa (Menzel), in control of her ice powers, ruling Arendelle and living with love and warmth among sister Anna (Bell), soon-to-be-brother-in-law Kristoff (Groff), and goofy snowman Olaf (Gad). The first film’s frosty palette is swapped for a gorgeous autumnal aesthetic — all golden leaves, hazy sunsets and open fires — bolstered by a string of stirring musical numbers that deal beautifully with ideas of growth and impermanence (“I can’t freeze this moment, but I can seize this day,” sings Elsa). Frozen II isn’t just set in a season of change — it’s about the inevitability of it.

Frozen II
It’s also a more mature film that deals with notions of maturity, for an audience that has itself grown up in the six years since the previous outing. That means an expansive, mythical tone as the gang sets off on a quest tied into a mystery around Elsa and Anna’s family history, incorporating epic fantasy elements from Middle-earthian stone giants, to elemental spirits and indigenous tribal communities. Like Moana before it, Frozen II takes Disney further into Studio Ghibli territory, dropping binary good-and-evil storytelling for more nuanced depictions of the balance between humanity and nature.

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The monolithic spectre of ‘Let It Go’ is not only winked at in a sharp gag, but is followed up with a double whammy of Elsa-bangers.

That the plot largely exists in service of world-building leads to a meandering middle act, driven by a mystery that remains narratively vague for too long and is largely obvious in hindsight. If the wider scope is admirable, the mythology-extending doesn’t always succeed, delivering backstory and familial revelations in hazy, hasty exposition that leaves big questions still unclear come the credits.

But just as Frozen transcended a tangled narrative thanks to its engaging characters and show-stopping music, Frozen II’s plot missteps are more than compensated for by another suite of hits by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Olaf — who delivers a hasty recap of the previous adventure in the film’s funniest sequence — gets a particularly witty number in ‘When I Am Older’, repressing his trauma as he’s menaced by forest spirits. Kristoff gets the only notable misfire — a half-hearted parody of mopey soft-rock ballads. As for the musical elephant in the room, the monolithic spectre of ‘Let It Go’ is not only winked at in a sharp gag, but is followed up with a double whammy of Elsa-bangers, two fresh songs of spine-tingling self-discovery — the propulsive ‘Into The Unknown’ and mystical ‘Show Yourself’. If neither quite matches the last film’s breakout hit, that they both come close is impressive enough.

Where Frozen II does surpass its predecessor is in the jaw-dropping animation – one moment involving water drawn from a plank of wood is near-photoreal. Elsewhere, the film is far more stylish and playful than the prosaic original, with metaphysical character-driven sequences that make full use of the medium’s blank canvas, their imagery more emotionally intuitive than any expository dialogue. A scene of Elsa taming a spectral water-horse in the heart of a raging sea is simultaneously frightening, beautiful and enigmatic, drawing to mind Rey’s finger-clicking journey to self-discovery in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

If the final act underwhelms in the action stakes, Frozen II still delivers where it really counts — the emotional beats and relationship between Elsa and Anna, who continually strengthen and uplift each other across the runtime. Among the not inconsiderable flaws, there’s enough greatness to make Frozen II worth Disney breaking its big rule for. And that in itself is a happy ending.

The best things about the first film — the characters and music — once again sing in a frequently dazzling if narratively flawed sequel that’s better at being sensory than sense-making.

(Empireonline)

Queen & Slim Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

After a first date, a young black man and woman (Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith) are involved in a routine traffic stop. Things escalate, there is a tussle and the white policeman is killed. With no other option, these relative strangers — and sudden folk heroes — make a dangerous run for it.

“Well, if it isn’t the black Bonnie and Clyde,” says tracksuited pimp Uncle Earl (Bokeem Woodbine) midway through Queen & Slim, regarding our two fugitive protagonists with more than a little scenery-chomping relish. It is the sort of line that may as well come with a turn to the camera and a wink; an irresistible, snappy marketing proposition that distils this complex, none-more-2019 project into the sort of arresting pitch that could be scrawled on to a cocktail napkin.

But scratch the surface and it has a more significant resonance. Because just as the real Bonnie and Clyde (a desperate pair of career criminals, hobbled by injuries and actually more prone to rob small grocery stores than banks) have been lost to the more seductive, romanticised 1930s legend, so too do runaways Queen and Slim (respectively, a similarly electric Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya) find themselves as the baffled, scared recipients of wider public mythologising. In a film that ultimately proves to be about how the world chooses to view you — and how dangerous or powerful that can be — it’s far more than a throwaway gag.

Queen & Slim
Yes, debut feature director Melina Matsoukas delivers on the promise of a Black Lives Matter spin on Thelma & Louise – replete with stomach-knotting moments of tension, neon-bathed visual razzmatazz and exhilarating musical cues. But Queen & Slim always affords time and space to intimate, quiet moments that orient themselves around these issues of race, perception, legacy and the fledgling love between its two central characters. From a certain angle, it is merely a movie about the most traumatic, life-changing first date imaginable. And it’s all the better for it.

Written by Lena Waithe (the actor and screenwriter perhaps best-known for her Matsoukas-directed, Emmy-winning episode of Master Of None), it opens with Kaluuya and Turner-Smith’s largely unnamed Ohio natives in the midst of a decidedly lacklustre Tinder date at a bright-lit diner (“Did you pick this place because it’s all you could afford?” zings Turner-Smith’s character before Slim shoots back that, no, it’s because “it’s black-owned”).

Tackles urgent, difficult subjects with bravery, care and adrenalised genre cool.

Afterwards, in the wintry slush of an abandoned street, they are pulled over by a white cop (played by alt-country singer Sturgill Simpson) who — as tensions rise — grazes Queen with a bullet. In a powerful, transgressive twist on how these encounters usually go, Slim fires back with the dropped weapon, kills the officer and (prompted by the fact that Turner-Smith’s character is a criminal defence attorney who knows how, well, slim their chances of exoneration are) the two of them hit the road, ultimately bound for Florida and then, hopefully, Cuba.

It’s an opening that perhaps induces some dramatic whiplash. However, from there, as a viral video of the incident casts Queen and Slim as both dangerous criminals and vital avenging angels for a brutalised African-American community, the film settles into an irrepressible groove; visuals, dialogue and performances purring away like the gleaming Pontiac Catalina that Woodbine’s terrific, Louisiana-based relative reluctantly loans our heroes.

Waithe peppers her wry, almost theatrical script with tension-easing comic moments (including a Tarantino-worthy debate about whether Fat Luther Vandross is better than Skinny Luther Vandross) but also artfully reveals Queen and Slim’s divergent character traits in conversations that feel both fiercely personal and like universal disagreements between opposing sides of the modern black American psyche. Matsoukas — who brings a painterly eye and dreamlike cutting from the world of music videos — maintains a curious, agile camera, taking us from flickering juke joints to lush fields that are tended by prisoners who may as well be latter-day slaves.

But it’s perhaps the grounded, magnetic lead performances that are most important (especially as the third act throws in a few light implausibilities). Kaluuya, from the moment we see terror and pride swim across his face during that traffic stop, is extraordinarily affecting as god-fearing, slightly gawky Slim. And Turner-Smith (SyFy’s Nightflyers) matches him all the way as Queen: a proud, lonely workaholic who gradually opens herself up to the possibility of love and letting go. If that character progression sounds like the stuff of a Netflix romcom then, in truth, that is sort of the point. Queen & Slim tackles urgent, difficult subjects with bravery, care and adrenalised genre cool. But it triumphs because it shows you the personal toll beyond the politics. And how black lives brimming with potential can still turn on one fateful moment.

Anchored by the magnetism of Kaluuya and Turner-Smith, Queen & Slim crackles with urgent anger and provocative swagger. A road movie with a lot going on under the bonnet.

(Empireonline)

Charlie’s Angels (2019) Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

The Townsend agency is waving farewell to John Bosley (Patrick Stewart), and welcoming a new mission. When the dangerous potential of a sustainable energy project is harnessed by the wrong people, two Angels — Sabina (Kristen Stewart) and Jane (Ella Balinska) — must work with the young engineer, Elena (Naomi Scott), who created it to save the world.

Niceties are taken care of from the get-go: “I think women can do anything,” Kristen Stewart’s Sabina Wilson tells a rich man she quickly ends up swindling. There was the fear that a new spin on Charlie’s Angels could have fallen into a trap of performative, derivative feminism — but Elizabeth Banks’ film puts its money where its mouth is, as these women do do so much, as well as just thinking about it.

The premise is the same as ever: Charlie, never seen, only heard over an intercom, runs an agency of spies, assassins, masterminds. These are his angels. We meet two, hired on the same job, but certainly nowhere near soul sisters. There’s Sabina, a sly but also silly rebel with a criminal record and enough comedic energy to power an entire country, and Jane (Balinska), a ruthless and devoted former MI6 agent — show-stopping newcomer Balinska really should be considered on the day when Bond finally is played by a woman.

Charlie’s Angels (2019)
It’s a real joy to see Stewart actually having some fun — she’s the ringleader of this new team, sparky enough to keep spirits up but never gimmicky to the point of derision. Balinska is a revelation — sophisticated and focussed in her mission, channelling severe power when required and bouncing off those around her with sensitivity and charm.

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Skirmishes play out in heavyweight, high-octane action sequences. Every single fight feels like it could be the last.

And the third angel? Well, it’s not that easy. Scott, fresh from this year’s Aladdin, finds her feet as the gifted engineer, both the target and crucial asset in the angels’ latest job. She knows her craft well, but struggles in her position when her male boss fails to take notice of her warnings or, well, sheer existence. The gender dynamics feel different to those of the 2000 film — physical beauty was then used as the first and most obvious weapon by the angels, distracting men who couldn’t stop looking at them. But now, in the age of mansplaining and major Fragile Ego syndrome, the fact that men can’t take these women seriously, because they’re not even acknowledging base-level worth, makes the conflict so much more rewarding.

These skirmishes play out in heavyweight, high-octane action sequences (an earsplitting roving shootout in Hamburg, an almost body-crushing face-off in a warehouse, a floodlit finale set to a Donna Summer banger). Even if the eventual outcome might hit familiar beats, every single fight on the way there feels like it could be the last.

Banks has always been one for well-designed characters and worlds — the wardrobe, geography and production design of this film are ambitiously stylish. The angels have tons of fun with sequined party attire and monochrome bodycon fighting gear, as well as candy-coloured disguises — bowl cuts and all. We get panoramic views of Hamburg and Istanbul, touching down in London but never settling long enough for things to get stale. The conventional makeover scene is zoomed in on, walking through the accessories but avoiding the cliché montage of a transformation. Whenever you think she’s done enough, Banks comes back fighting. And then some.

What could have been a watery rehash is a fresh, exciting update on an attractive story that previously got lost in its own glamour. Do not underestimate these women.

(Empireonline)

21 Bridges Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

When two criminals’ raid on a restaurant leaves several NYPD cops dead at the scene, detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) orders Manhattan to be put on lockdown. He has until 5am to hunt them down — but can he capture them alive, when another senior officer (J.K. Simmons) is baying for blood?

There are three things to know about 21 Bridges. One: it does not star Jeff or Beau Bridges (talk about missing an open goal). Two: it was originally called ‘17 Bridges’, after the number of water-crossings connecting Manhattan to elsewhere, until somebody realised mid-shoot that they’d missed a bunch. Three: it’s the kind of high-concept, low-VFX, grown-up thriller that we really don’t get much of anymore. Think of it as a missing Tony Scott/Denzel Washington team-up from the days of yore, although in terms of both quality and plotting it’s closer to The Taking Of Pelham 123 than Crimson Tide.

The action is slick, brutal and crisply cut.

The actual lead is Chadwick Boseman, taking a break from being Black Panther (even if the word “avenger” is cheekily shoehorned into dialogue early on) to play equally solemn homicide cop Andre Davis. He’s a guy who, as he helpfully explains multiple times, likes to look the devil in the eye. And that habit comes into play when two crooks (Stephan James and Taylor Kitsch) find a simple late-night drugs-snatch spiralling out of control, with seven dead police officers left behind. “Flood the island with blue!” Davis yells, ordering the closure of every possible escape route (the more accurate 21 Bridges And Four Tunnels presumably didn’t score well with focus groups). Cue an adrenalised, high-gloss, countdown-’til-dawn tale, as Davis and his new partner (an impressive, low-key Sienna Miller) hotfoot it around the city in pursuit of two guys who might not be the tale’s only rotten apples.

Director Brian Kirk, who has made episodes of Game Of Thrones and Penny Dreadful, does a decent job elevating this rather slim set-up. The action is slick, brutal and crisply cut, particularly the first-reel raid, in which Kitsch is utterly convincing as a twitchy triggerman. And like the city in which it’s set, the film keeps hustling along, with colourful supporting characters (a drug lord with a penchant for early-hours exercise-bike workouts; a smarmy Sudanese fence) entering and exiting at a brisk clip. Areas of central New York are used smartly, if sometimes a little on-the-nose-ly, with one tense encounter in the Meatpacking District going down inside a store room featuring a lot of pre-packed meat. With hard-boiled dialogue, sleek God’s-eye views of the city and serious talent in supporting roles, you’re not given a chance to get bored.

Even so, an air of overfamiliarity hangs over proceedings. Despite a few early scenes trying to build up his complexity, and a commanding performance, Boseman’s incorruptible blue-suit is ultimately just a little bit dull. And the long-in-development script by Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan, which originally featured a much older protagonist, feels both underwritten (after a huge deal is made of how unprecedented it is to shut down Manhattan’s transit links, we never see any consequences to the decision) and overly trope-y (yes, there are smarmy FBI guys, and yes, that guy who often plays shady characters is revealed to be playing a shady character). It’s far from a top-tier action flick, then, but if you go in not expecting too much, or Jeff Bridges, there’s quite a bit to enjoy.

A refreshing break from VFX-laden spectaculars and a throwback to the pulpy cop thrillers of yesteryear, if not quite strong enough to ensure that Boseman’s righteous cop gets his own franchise.

(Empireonline)

The Amazing Johnathan Documentary Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

Documentary filmmaker Ben Berman starts out making a documentary about The Amazing Johnathan, a popular ‘80s comedy magician who is heading out on a “comeback farewell” tour. But as the road trip unfolds, Berman increasingly feels he is being played.

The Amazing Johnathan opens with a titlecard explaining it is “based on available facts”. It’s the first warning we get that Ben Berman’s documentary isn’t exactly what it seems. It starts as a funny engaging profile of stunt magician John Edward Szeles, aka The Amazing Johnathan, who goes out on one last tour under the shadow of a usually fatal heart disease. Yet, as it develops, Berman’s film becomes a meditation on the constructed nature of cinematic non-fiction and the impossibility of objective truth. It has laugh-out-loud, jaw-dropping moments but ultimately feels manipulative and unsatisfying.

Entertaining and frustrating in equal measures.

It all starts innocently enough. Berman mounts a funny reminder of Szeles’ talent. Self-described as the “Freddy Krueger of magicians”, Szeles was an outrageous comedy illusionist during the ’80s, mixing sleight-of-hand and Grand Guignol comedy to convince startled audiences he was hacking off a limb or piercing his tongue. His outrageous shock tactics — he would snort “magic dust” between tricks — earned him TV appearances and Vegas residencies. For the uninitiated, Berman does a good job of recapping Szeles’ talent, using great clips and talking heads like Weird Al Yankovic (very likeable) and Carrot Top to put his talent in context.

It then transpires Szeles contracted a fatal heart disease known as cardiomyopathy which, the film tells us, means he only had a year to live. Three years later, he’s still alive, and Berman’s documentary project starts in earnest, visiting Szeles in his huge Los Angeles McMansion where the magician lives a desultory live, smoking meth and taking cocaine “like vitamins”. To break the routine, Szeles intends to stage a “comeback farewell” tour and invites Berman a long for the ride.

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At this point Szeles starts to implement a number of rug-pulls that leave the documentarian bemused and bewildered. For a while this is very funny, jaw-dropping stuff as Berman increasingly feels he is being duped. But as the curveballs mount up, it soon becomes clear that all bets are off in terms of what is fact and fiction, making it difficult to become invested in Berman’s plight. In the end, The Amazing Jonathan Documentary wants to make evident the stuff other documentaries try to hide. But, there is an argument to be made that, sometimes, you are better off not knowing how the trick is pulled off.

The Amazing Johnathan Documentary starts as a blast but as the journey progresses, becomes ever more slippery: Is Szeles tricking Berman? Is Berman bamboozling us? The answer is entertaining and frustrating in equal measures.

(Empireonline)

Harriet Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

After escaping from her former masters, Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) makes it her life’s mission to shepherd more slaves to freedom, ultimately rising through the network of activists and safe houses known as the ‘Underground Railroad’ to become a legendary ‘conductor’.

It’s been long past time for Harriet Tubman to get her due on the big screen. The infamous abolitionist was as close to a real-life superhero as it gets, guiding more than 300 slaves to freedom — which earned her the nickname of ‘Moses’ — and serving as a Union spy during the American Civil War. After eye-catching performances in Bad Times At The El Royale and Widows, Erivo was an exciting choice to bring the iconic figure to life, but Kasi Lemmons’ biopic makes the fatal mistake of revering its subject without getting under her skin and illuminating her humanity.

Harriet
Part of the problem lies in the attempt to make Harriet hit several beats of Tubman’s life rather than take the Selma route and focus on a shorter, more significant time period. Lemmons and co-screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard chart Tubman’s 100-mile escape to freedom and her work with the ‘Underground Railroad’, but we don’t slow down enough to fully connect with our titular character.

Tubman’s perfectly timed psychic visions drain much of the tension from key sequences.

More issues arise with an on over-the-top and too frequently used score by the usually reliable Terence Blanchard which takes a lot of weight out of many an inspirational speech. Additionally, a narrative device depicting Tubman’s visions from God reads as more supernatural than spiritual, with her perfectly timed psychic visions draining much of the tension from key sequences.

Even with all these shortcomings, Erivo’s Harriet is almost always riveting to watch, especially once she begins to assert herself and come into her power. She’s ably supported by Leslie Odom Jr. as fellow abolitionist William Still, and Janelle Monáe’s boarding-house proprietor Marie Buchanon. The latter provides rare moments of intimacy, as Marie — born into freedom instead of bondage — is forced to reckon with her preconceptions through her friendship with Harriet. The next Tubman biopic would do well to have more of these human moments, and less by-the-numbers heroics.

Erivo’s impressive central performance is frequently undercut by an all-too-conventional approach. Hopefully in a few years Tubman can get the definitive biopic she deserves. Sadly, this isn’t it.

(Empireonline)

Judy & Punch Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

In the town of Seaside, Judy (Mia Wasikowska) and Punch (Damon Herriman) — a violent drunk — are trying to bring back their puppet show. But when Punch commits an abominable crime, Judy sets out to seek revenge on her deplorable husband.

It’s girls to the front for Judy & Punch, Mirrah Foulkes’ eccentric yet ambitious directorial debut that sees a toxic folk tale receive a feminist shake-up. An unsubtle yet timely rumination on fear driving destruction, the actor-turned-director uses Seaside to cast a wider spotlight on the world at large, with its pantomime-esque residents enforcing mob mentality to drive a growing wedge between themselves and the unknown.

Playing to the booze-fuelled patrons of the local tavern, Punch and Judy perform a poetic if problematic puppet show — Judy undoubtedly the more talented of the two, but content in sidestepping the spotlight in the name of her husband’s ego and spending more time with their baby.

Judy’s complex trajectory requires both stoicism and charisma which Wasikowska delivers easily.

When Punch’s unspeakable crime is committed in a bizarre whirlwind of terror and slapstick comedy, Judy is ostracised and the film spins on its heel, evolving into a revenge romp for a modern audience that reclaims masculine power and places it into Judy’s capable hands.

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Wasikowska — who has built a steadfast reputation as the bristling ingénue in Crimson Peak and Stoker — here gets to flex her action credentials in the film’s second half, set amidst an underground movement reminiscent of a medieval Mad Max: Fury Road. Judy’s complex trajectory requires both stoicism and charisma which Wasikowska delivers easily, matched by Herriman’s slippery charms and callous underbelly.

The world that Foulkes has created around them is enterprising — a lush, fantastical landscape that refuses to be tethered to reality save for some modern dialogue and an eclectic electronic score from composer François Tétaz.

It shoulders a few tonal misfires — the Monty Python-type novelty doesn’t quite suit the dismal misfortune that Judy and her band of outcasts suffer at the hands of their small-minded community. For its aesthetic flair and well-timed criticism of traditional values, however, this is a commendable debut that gives its leading actress something to sink her teeth into.

A risky project for Foulkes to make as her first feature, Judy & Punch ventures a little too far into troubled waters with its comedic handling of heavy matter, but shows promise in the woman holding the strings.

(Empireonline)

Blue Story Review

by admin November 30, 2019November 30, 2019

Timmy (Stephen Odubola) and Marco (Micheal Ward) are best friends who go to the same high school in Peckham but live in different, warring postcodes. Initially content to stay out of the fight and remain friends, they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a gang war.

To fully appreciate Blue Story, it’s important to note how it came to fruition. It’s the feature debut of British grime rapper Andrew Onwubolu, aka Rapman, who became a YouTube sensation with a viral trilogy of short films dubbed Shiro’s Story last year. The clout that came with that success helped get a feature-length adaptation of a YouTube series Onwubolu had made in 2014 to the big screen, and the result is a hard-hitting, semi-autobiographical morality tale that manages to feel both new and familiar.

A well told story with a worthwhile, if not especially revolutionary message.

The fresh part of that equation is epitomised by Rapman himself, who pops up in multiple scenes to provide raw and energetic musical interludes. It’s an effectively deployed gambit that alternates between adding colour to the movie’s various threads and driving them forward, the skilful lyrics smoothly delivered.

It’s not quite enough, however, for Blue Story to differentiate itself from other stories of its ilk. There’s lots of shared DNA with the Kidulthood trilogy, Top Boy (in which Ward also stars) and more, and while the depressing inevitability of the gang war cycle is one of the movie’s key themes, it doesn’t make the overfamiliarity any less of an issue.

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Still, it’s a well told story with a worthwhile, if not especially revolutionary message — gang wars are not worth dying for, and you don’t have to follow the cycle — that hits home, with attention being paid to making sure the small details such as the unapologetically British language in both sets of gangs feel just as authentic as the larger themes.

It’s all anchored by two impressive performances from relative newcomers Odubola and Ward, whose chemistry is just as strong in conflict as it is in friendship. Similarly, the likeable romance between Odubola’s Timmy and Karla-Simone Spence’s Leah is frequently able to strike sweet and tender notes amidst all the male posturing. If it doesn’t completely grip, Blue Story announces several emerging talents who have bright futures ahead of them.

The musical interludes in which Rapman narrates significant plot points offer a welcome change of pace, but the subject matter at play here is a little too common to truly stand out from the pack.

(Empireonline)