Rev Stan's film blog

Review: Pride, the film that leaves you feeling so good you want to give it a hug

Synopsis: A group of gay and lesbian activists decide to raise money for a group of striking miners in small Welsh town but their efforts cause division in the community.

Stan's thoughts: Pride is the epitome of a feel good movie. It has the perfect mix of laughs with heartfelt tender moments, it is a well-rounded story, with characters you care about and has toe-tapping 80s soundtrack.

Perhaps one of the best ensemble casts you'll see in a film, there are too many star performances to mention all individually.  Dominic West continues to surprise with his variety of roles, in this he is a mullet-sporting, disco-hips and it's great to see Imelda Staunton having heaps of fun as the liberal Welsh matriarch who gets a taste for life. 

Then there is Andrew Scott who is movingly understated and George MacKay's delicately observed Joe who is newly 'out'. He is definitely a talent to keep an eye out for. In fact it is a film you need to watch more than once to spot and enjoy fully.

Pride is a perfectly huggable film, it is chocker full of good feelings and poignancy, laughter and tears I dare you not to enjoy it.

Ratings

• Stan’s 95%
• IMDB 82%
• Metascore 83%
• Rotten Tomatoes 97%
• RT Audience Rating* 93%

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* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

Review: The Riot Club - it's Wolf of Wall St for the young British upper crust

Synopsis: Based on the hit play Posh it follows a group of supremely posh and privileged Oxford students who are members of the elite Riot Club as they recruit two new members and indoctrinate them at one of their infamous dinners.

Stan's thoughts: Loved the play which is set purely at the night of the dinner and the film has been been broadened out nicely. Laura Wade who wrote the play and the film has fleshed out the characters adding in a glimpse of their world outside the club dinner. There are also additional female characters and a romantic plotline which balances the story nicely.

Having expanded the Club's world beyond the dinner it makes their behaviour and outlook all the more ghastly, it dampens the humour of the play. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it feels more political - The Riot Club is loosely based on the Bullingdon Club which numbered Boris, Cameron and Osborne among its members.

It also emphasises how seductive the Club is. Miles (Max Irons) is the moral touchstone in the play and becomes more so in the film. He is the most socially aware of the group but makes bad choices while swept up in the whirlwind and loses more as a result.

This is a great ensemble of actors to have sharing screen time - there is almost too much going on to really appreciate them fully. This is also a very pretty ensemble of actors - Max joined by Sam Claflin, Douglas Booth, Freddie Fox, Ben Schnetzer, to name just five - and they are like poisoned lilies, beautiful to look out but certainly not beautiful inside.

The Riot Club is funny at times but is also an uncomfortable watch and a little bit depressing. It is a little like Wolf of Wall Street for the British upper crust.

Ratings

• Stan’s 75%
• IMDB 69%
• Metascore 61%
• Rotten Tomatoes 78%
• RT Audience Rating* 72%

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* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

 

Review: Historical drama Belle

Synopsis: Based on a true story, it is 18th Century England and Belle (Gugu Mbatha Raw) is the daughter of an Admiral (Matthew Goode) and a black slave. Belle's father asks his uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) to bring up Belle and as she reaches the age of 'coming out' into society she discovers her uncle, who is the most senior judge in the country is presiding over an important insurance case involving a shipment of slaves who were thrown overboard.

Stan's thoughts: This film is a wonderful and disturbing mix of love story, prejudice, racism and history. Belle is brought up as one of the family, almost. In certain social situations she is kept apart so as not to cause social upset but is otherwise loved and cared for as the equal to the Mansfield's other ward their niece Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) with whom she forms a strong sisterly bond.

As the girls reach marrying age their cosy life is challenged. Elizabeth must marry for money. Belle's father has left her a substantial sum but is at best described as 'exotic' by the society she was born into. As she is exposed to more of the world and the case her uncle is involved with, her position in society and her own sense of self are challenged.

Beautifully acted Belle has a dual power of love story and historical drama (with all the usual dramatic license of course), I enjoyed this very much.

Ratings

• Stan’s 80%
• IMDB 73%
• Metascore 64%
• Rotten Tomatoes 82%
• RT Audience Rating* 88%

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* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

Review: Two Faces of January

Synopsis: An American couple travelling in 1950s Greece befriend a young American tour guide who is also a small scale swindler but proves invaluable when the husband accidentally kills a private detective.

Stan's thoughts: From the same pen as The Talented Mr Ripley this is like TMR-light. It has enough twists and turns and surprises to entertain as a psychological thriller but it doesn't quite grab in the same way.

It is beautifully shot and the costumes are worth the price of the cinema ticket alone but despite great performances from the leads - Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac - this will never quite live up to the comparison of its predecessor.

Ratings

• Stan’s 58%
• IMDB 67%
• Metascore 69%
• Rotten Tomatoes 81%
• RT Audience Rating* 56%

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* Based on number of people who rated the film 3.5/5 and higher

 

Review: Tom Hardy in Locke

Synopsis: Ivan (Tom Hardy) has a big day coming up at work but a decision to do the right thing sets his life into free-fall.

Stan's thoughts: Locke is a film in which a man is driving his car making and receiving phones calls. Considering the concept it is a thrilling film but not in the way the trailer suggests, you can understand why the filmmakers struggled with that.

Tom Hardy gives a nerve-jangling performance as a man juggling the twin pressures of work and family life as a one-off past misdemeanor comes back to haunt him. He is a man trying desperately to do the right thing while everyone around him thinks he is doing quite the opposite, trying to remain calm as those around him fall apart.

Lets face it a film that can make a concrete pour at a building site thrilling has to get awards in fact that is the genius of the film is in taking a story line you'd expect to see strung out in a soap opera and making it thrilling and engaging.

I'm not sure the sequences when he talks to his dead father completely work in putting his decisions into context but overall this is a surprising film, surprising for not being at all what I expected and surprisingly good considering the concept had I known.

Ratings

• Stan’s 78%
• IMDB 77%
• Metascore 79%
• Rotten Tomatoes 89%
• RT Audience Rating 74%

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Review: Jesse Eisenberg in The Double

Synopsis: Simon (Jesse Eisenberg) is a skilled clerk but lacks the confidence to get noticed and move up in the organisation. His love life mirrors his career, he watches and yearns but just can't quite bring himself to take the next step. Then James turns up. His exact double in everything but personality, in that he is everything that Simon isn't charming and confident.

Stan's thoughts: Really like Richard Ayoade's directorial debut Submarine which had a lovely quirky humour to it. The Double is one of those films that I can appreciate but I can't say I really enjoyed it but then that might be the point.

It's stylistically shot and great to see Jesse Eisenberg play two very different characters but I found Simon excruciatingly annoying to the point where he had me fidgeting in my seat and occasionally huffing. It tainted my enjoyment of what is otherwise an interesting, nightmarish, almost Kafka-esque concept - I've subsequently found out the film is based on a Dostoevsky novel.

An accomplished work but not necessarily for me.

Ratings

• Stan’s 70% (for technical merit)
• IMDB 75%
• Metascore 70%
• Rotten Tomatoes 89%
• RT Audience Rating 67%

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Review: Five stars for Starred Up

Synopsis: Explosively violent teenager Eric (Jack O'Connell) is transferred to an adult prison (starred up) where he is caught between a well meaning therapist Oliver (Rupert Friend) and his father Neville (Ben Mendelsohn) who is high up in the prisoner hierarchy.

Stan's thoughts: Normally wouldn't touch a film like this - 18 certificate prison drama would just scream of cliche and violence but it had so many stars on the poster (ironic considering its title), and from some respected publications, so I was curious.

Yes there is the usual hierarchy of inmates, with threats and violence meted out to keep people in line but at its simplest level this is a father and son tale. Neville doesn't want Eric to end up in prison for life but his parenting skills while well meaning are tainted by his low intellect and own life as a criminal.

Eric is an intriguing character, more so than you'd expect from the genre. You never know what crime he's committed but he isn't green when it comes to prison life and he can certainly handle himself, in fact he seems fearless. You learn only a little of his childhood which was spent mainly in care. O'Connell's performance is such that despite the fact that his answer for most things is to lash out you do warm to him, there is something underneath the steel walls he's erected around himself.

This film is intriguing as much for what you don't know about the characters and their pasts as what you do know and its refreshing to watch a film where there are blanks left to audience to interpret. It is also a film alarming in the regime and corruption within the prison. There is an interesting tension between the traditional prison regime versus a more therapeutic approach for keeping control. 

Starred Up is tense and intelligent. I was gripped and left wiping a tear from my eye which I certainly didn't expect going into the screen.

Ratings

• Stan's: 85%
• IMDB: 78%
• Metascore: 74%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 98%
• RT audience rating: 84%

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Review: Scarlett Johansson freezes in Scotland - Under The Skin

Synopsis: An alien (Scarlett Johansson) preys on lone men.

Stan's thoughts: This film has been getting critics all in a lather. The poster is awash with stars and references to director Jonathan Glazer being 'the new Kubrick'. I don't know about the latter but it is certainly a work of exceptional and unique vision and tone.

This isn't a sci-fi like you'll have seen before. What is alien is the melding of more abstract scenes with Johansson's improvised encounters with real men. Johansson drives around in a van trying to entice men in, usually under the guise of needing directions. She has a quietly erotic charm but there is a distance that is also disarming. There is a sense of danger about her but it is so, so subtle than you wonder if the men she encounters feel it as much as the informed audience does.

There is also a growing sense of danger for her, that she could easily be eliminated by some greater force, particularly as she starts to develop a hint of human emotion. It is all underpinned by a searing score that gives me the willies just watching the trailer

It's mainly shot in Glasgow and Scotland and certainly not an advert for tourism but still succeeds in showing the delicate balance between happiness and loneliness in humanity. The Glasgow on film is a no make-up, warts and all version, as are the people you see in the streets. Just ordinary people. But amid the loners there are plenty out enjoying themselves, a sense of companionship, however crude, amid the ugliness.

When the action moves to the countryside it is always raining or about to and looks freezing. The sweeping landscape is desolate, damp and cold, the tiny hint of warmth comes from the alien's subtle epiphany.

Kudos to Glazer for getting Scarlett Johansson on board and kudos to her for agreeing and giving such a strikingly different performance (and enduring the cold because she must have been freezing the entire time). If this is what she can do in between comic book action movies then she is certainly an actress to watch.

This is far from a mainstream film. It is challenging to watch but I haven't walked out of cinema shaking for a long, long time and it's stayed with me.

Ratings

• Stan's: 89%
• IMDB: 72%
• Metascore: 78%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
• RT audience rating: 65%

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Review: Ben Whishaw in Lilting - additional thoughts after second screening

Synopsis: Junn (Cheng Pei-Pei)  is left grieving and isolated as a non-English speaking resident in an assisted living facility after the sudden death of her son Kai (Andrew Leung). When Kai's 'close friend' Richard (Ben Whishaw) comes to visit she has to confront the truth about her son and her relationship with him.

Stan's thoughts: Writer/director Hong Khaou's feature length debut is a gentle and tender piece about love and loss. It also has a good dose of lighter humourous moment and while there is much to like about it and it is a solid enough piece of work its flaws are difficult to ignore.

Firstly the good. Pei-Pei and Ben's performances are knock-out, almost to the point of being too good for the material. Language is the barrier between the two and while many of their exchanges are through an interpreter, which can be quite distancing, it is their non-verbal performances that speak volumes. Ultimately it is what isn't said but what is felt that unites them.

Flashbacks are well used, both real and imagined scenarios between June and her son and Richard and his lover. And Khaou introduces some laugh out loud light relief through a developing relationship between Junn and a fellow resident Alan played by (Peter Bowles) although that did feel a little forced at times.

Richard and Kai make for an adorable if slightly too perfect couple which serves well to crank up the emotional tug. Ben shows what a master he is, once again, in snot crying - someone really should give his character a hankie. Watching as a stifled sob catches in his throat certainly had me reaching for my pocket tissues.

It is always a joy to see Ben on screen but even his uber-talents couldn't disguise the occasionally clunky script and direction. On the one hand Lilting feels a little stretched and it is only 84 minutes long. On the other, spending that time with the characters in such an intimate and emotional story I still didn't feel like I'd quite got to know them well enough to understand their motivations and as a result some of the plot points felt a little contrived.

So to sum up, Ben Whishaw is very, very good in it but it isn't close to being my favourite piece of work by him.

* I've seen the film a second time since I wrote this review and most of my comments still stand. There are two or three scenes which didn't work for me - mainly those involving conflict/argument which felt forced and a bit out of character.

There is still a problem with understanding the motivations but otherwise this oozes with emotional intensity that is even more affecting on second viewing. It is also has some lovely humourous moments (some lighter moments for Ben too) and it was nice to be in a screening of mandarin speakers who were getting the jokes before us English speakers got the translation.

I've been scouting around for reviews to see what others think and they are mixed ranging from two to four stars and I feel my original score should remain which puts me in the middle of the pack.*

 

Ratings*

• Stan's: 59%
• IMDB: 80%
• Metascore: Not yet rated
• Rotten Tomatoes: No consensus
• RT audience rating: Not yet rated

* Lilting is only playing film festivals and not on general release (in the UK) until June so reviews and ratings are still few and far between.

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Review: Ralph Fiennes' The Invisible Woman

Synopsis: Biopic about a young actress Nelly who became Victorian author Charles Dickens' secret mistress and then struggles to find her identity after he has died.

Stan's thoughts: Ralph Fiennes both directs and stars as Charles Dickens in what is a quietly atmospheric and tender story. I normally prefer him when he is playing out and out villains (Voldemort in Harry Potter and Harry in In Bruges are two particular favourites) as he has an aloofness in his performance style that I think is more suited to baddies.

But in this he surprised me. OK so Dickens doesn't come across particularly well and so he shouldn't, he was a little bit of a villain in his own life story, treating his wife abominably. However there is a tenderness and poetry to his performance that both serves to show his love for Nelly but also why she fell for him and risked her reputation to be with him.

Felicity Jones gives a beautifully subtle performance that had me quietly weeping and it is also a delight to see the likes of Tom Hollander and Tom Burke on the big screen.

Kristen Scott Thomas makes a rare appearance in a British film as Nelly's mother. And while she isn't necessarily a frumpy mother it does make you understand why she chooses to work more in France where the characters she is given are far less stereotypical for an actress her age and far, far sexier.

A solid and moving costume drama.

Ratings

• Stan's: 68%
• IMDB: 67%
• Metascore: 75%
• Rotten Tomatoes: 76% 
• RT audience rating: 53%

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