Jun | 2017 | DJ Speaks Movies

Baby Driver

Posted on Jun 29, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a young man who works for the criminal kingpin Doc (Kevin Spacey) as a getaway driver. Having suffered an accident as a child his hearing is effected by tinnitus so he uses music to overcome the situation and assist him focus on tasks at hand. When he meets Debora (Lily James) and they bond over their love of music, Baby finally begins to see a chance for a life away from his current profession. But, love never flows that easy and baby’s attempts to free himself from the crime world are a lot more difficult than he expects and with the talents he has being irreplaceable he is forced into working with Doc’s crew once again but this time enough is enough and he kicks in his escape plan leading to a showdown with some unexpected twists.

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With such a strong director filmography to date, an Edgar Wright release always comes with a high level of expectation, so my hopes for Baby Driver were very high especially after the high octane trailer driven along by Radar Love by Golden Earring and what Wright seems to be able to do is bring the comic elements of his previous movies into serious movies so that there’s enough action to keep you engaged but it’s interspersed with comic dialogue and wit that adds levity to the tension yet all packaged together keeps the movie ebbing and flowing between either extreme without ever peaking at either end which might sound a little dull but I promise you, it is not.

One point of note that must be lauded from the rooftops is the use of music through the film, not only is it a superb soundtrack of songs but each piece of music plays a part within the story and in a lot of cases the scenes pace and rhythm is in time with the score which is a brilliant unique turn for film which is not a musical.

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The camera work through the whole film is great with some super tracking shots and pivoting camera works all at just the right time to enhance the moment while the driving scenes are excellent and with one of two exceptions there is no sign of CGI adding a real sense of realism add excitement to the chases, very refreshing considering some of the more recent over the top car related movie plots (I’m looking at you Fate Of The Furious!!)

Ansel Engort is superb as Baby, while I hadn’t seen much from him prior to this to suggest it, he looks like he could be a star as he more than holds his against his illustrious co-stars. The fact that you are often watching a scene through the music he is listening to gives his character much more audience impact, which is another great call by Wright. Jamie Foxx looks like he is loving his over the top role as Leon Bats, the loose cannon in the pack, Jon Hamm and Eiza Gonzalez as the Bonnie & Clyde like duo Buddy & Darling bring a different intensity to the group and even the smaller players feel like they are important parts of the tale to give a great ensemble feel to the plot.

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One gripe is that the love story, while imperative to the plot, sometimes felt like the weak aspect of the film. Nothing to do with the performance of James but it seemed a little stretched at times although I am being picky. There were elements of film noir, seventies crime thrillers and even some aspects of Tarantino in the film so, while it not an original story it’s handled in such a unique way, when coupled with Wright’s style, it creates a super film full of humour, tension, action and a little bit of romance thrown in for good measure like a cocktail of classic pieces of each genre where the part all add to the package and there a even a few Easter eggs for fans of Wright’s earlier movies to watch out for.

I hope that this one gets the credit it deserves and doesn’t fly under the radar in the season of summer blockbusters as it would be a shame to see this one slide past.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7.5 Out Of 10

Churchill

Posted on Jun 21, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

Focusing on the final days leading up to the events of D-Day, Churchill tells the story of the man, often named the greatest Briton of all time, struggling to find a voice as the powers that be prepare for the Normandy invasion. After the impact he had on the country during The Blitz in WWII and still adored by the general public, he finds himself as a bit player with senior military figures. With memories of the WWI disaster where over two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers were sent to their death in a similar gamble in the Gallipoli campaign, Churchill (Brian Cox) is against the high risk operation. He finds nothing except polite, but firm push back, the leaders of the British and US forces, Montgomery (Julian Wadman) and Eisenhower (John Slattery) are determined to push ahead, preferably with his approval but undeterred even without.

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Taking more desperate measures to try and stop the potential manslaughter he even turns to long term allies such as military advisor Alan Brooke (Danny Webb) and war cabinet member Jan Smuts (Richard Durden) but he is increasingly frustrated with the lack of support and he feels like the whole country is turning against him, he even reaches out to King George (James Purefoy) for assistance at one point but struggles to gain any vocal support.

Considering the historical epic nature of the events that the movie is set to the problem with the movie was that it just didn’t feel that interesting despite the efforts of Cox who puts in a note worthy performance as a man full of self doubt internally yet still full of arrogance in public. Unwilling to bend an inch, the virtues which made him the leader he was in the early war years, are now working counter productively to his needs.

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Equally as admirable is Miranda Richardson as Churchill’s exasperated wife Clementine who has stood side by side with her husband since day one and can see the error of his ways but who, despite her best efforts, cannot bring down his steely exterior.

At times it felt like you were stuck listening to an elderly relative telling you how great things were a few years back, how people had more respect then and that nobody ever listens to them anymore as Churchill spends the movie trying to strut around like he is top dog when in fact he is no longer has the relevance he once had to the military efforts and it is only through an moment of epiphany that he realises he has been battling with inner demons, which have tormented him for years, causing him to act irrationally and understand how he can best serve his country in dealing with the terror of the Nazi forces.

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Also, while artistic licence is one thing, changing a story slightly to improve the tale being told, it is well known, unless history books are lying to us, that Churchill, was initially opposed to the idea of a high risk, singular attack on Europe in the mid war years, by the time the D-Day landings came around he was completely supportive of the idea and contributed to the planning of the operation. Yet the movie paints this lauded historical figure as a major stumbling block for the campaign which turned the war in the Allies favour. I think it was this historical inaccuracies and seeming ignorance of historical facts, more than anything else, which ruined any prospect I had of enjoying the film.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4.5 Out Of 10

Gifted

Posted on Jun 17, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

Chris Evans is Frank Adler, who is the guardian of his niece Mary (McKenna Grace) a seven year old with a special ability for solving complex mathematical equations despite her tender age. When Frank decides that home schooling can offer her nothing else he to sends Mary to regular public school classes where she is, understandably, bored by the seeming basic tuition. When her teacher Bonnie Stevenson (Jenny Slate) realises just what a talent she has, Mary is offered a scholarship to a private school for gifted children. Having seen what this kind of education done to his sister he turns the offer down but her estranged grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) emerges from the shadows to ensure that Mary gets the education she believes she should have. This begins a battle over the custody of Mary and the ethical question emerges as to whether Mary should be allowed to live the life of a normal kid with her uncle, who undoubtedly loves her as if she were his daughter, or should her talent be honed and nurtured to ensure she fulfils the full scope of her abilities.

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While this may all sound a little melodramatic the refreshing take this movie has is that it doesn’t ever really answer the question it poses, instead it focuses on the characters who are causing the question to be posed. Grace plays Mary with the cuteness of Jonathan Lipniki in Jerry Maguire, she is never anything other than a seven year old child, with natural curiosity and mood swings as any child of her age. She knows that she is different but her ability is just something that she can do and her bond with Frank is her whole world. Evans is excellent as Frank, a relatively carefree spirit, happy to earn a few quid repairing boats. Devoted to looking after his niece but torn by the developing decision he has to make as he realises that treating Mary as a normal child may not be the best thing for her education but he is fearful of sending her down the same path as her mother, so he tries to protect her but deep down knows that he’s inevitably going to fail. It’s nice to see him away from the Captain America suit and he get to show his dramatic range with his bonds with Mary and her kind hearted teacher Bonnie both having an air of gravitas adding to the reality of the situation.

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Duncan plays the grandmother with an almost pantomime essence and although the story set her out as the villain what she is trying to achieve for Mary is not the wrong thing to do either, which adds an interesting twist. She is fearful that Mary’s talents will go to waste and wants nothing more than to see her grand daughter carry on the work that her daughter has completed, keeping the academic tradition of the family going.

What could have turned into a Hallmark movie is kept from doing so by some good direction by Mark Webb who uses his experience from 500 Days Of Summer and The Spider-Man reboot, to ensure the serious is sporadically filled with moments of levity either in the script or on screen activities which stops the drama becoming too heavy.

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For a smaller budget movie this is one of the more enjoyable films I have seen in the past few weeks and, although the subject matter may not be something that captures your attention this is will worth checking out and it would be a shame if you missed this one with some of the poor efforts which have graced our present in recent times.

DJ Speaks Movies Rating: 5.5 Out Of 10

The Mummy

Posted on Jun 13, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

Opening up the Dark Universe franchise, in a new world of monsters and men, part time soldier, full time looter Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) inadvertently unearths the tomb of Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) and when archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) is brought onto the scene for her expertise Nick becomes frustrated with the red tape and decides to cut some corners, which does not end well. After apparently dying in a plane crash Nick finds himself alive but somehow linked to the Egyptian Princess and with some assistance from Jenny tries to work out why he has been spared. In the meantime London underground builders have unearthed a tomb of crusader knights and the area is ceded to Dr.Henry (Russell Crowe) the leader of a mysterious group called the Prodigium, a mysterious society who investigate apparent Supernatural threats to modern humanity. These seemingly individual occurrences all become linked and begin a big budget adventure of hidden artefacts, clandestine societies and a battle against a mummy apocalypse all loosely based on the tales of the monsters from the older days of cinema which is quite ironic as there are many aspects of the film plot which are also a carbon copy lift from other, better, movies in the genre too, The Quatermass Experiment, Lifeforce and An American Werewolf in London to name a few of the obvious ones.

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We do get Tom Cruise front and centre and once again his effort in a movie can’t be faulted. For all the faults he may have he rarely looks like he is not giving 100% and it’s no different here as he does as much as he can with the character, turning a very dislikeable guy into one that you want to succeed as he fights against his natural selfish instincts to do the right thing to battle the demons, all the while getting in some of his usual moments of on screen running which he does so well, but also surprisingly showing come very good comic timing with some decent one liners, while being cheesy, delivered in just the right way to garnish a giggle.

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When Crowe and Cruise are on screen together, you can see the class in acting take a dramatic turn for the better as they work brilliantly together during their interactions despite the general weakness of their story point. These moments were arguable the strongest in the film from an acting point of view and it was a shame that they were so limited. Boutella does a good job as Ahmanet, looking both beautiful and menacing in equal measure, although her type cast of the generally silent villain is becoming a little repetitive and it would be nice to see if she can do more in a role and Wallis brought a nice, down to earth performance, amongst all the supernatural activity, grounding the action when necessary and bringing the film back into perspective although after all the recent talk of how great it was to see strong female characters in films there was an element of the damsel in distress about her role which is likely to upset some.

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There are some very good action sequences and the CGI is excellent but there is a lot of lazy exposition, some terrible plot holes and moments of convenience which were hard to overlook. The poor script ensures that the decision making of the characters is at times worse than some B-movie horror film so for all the good work, generally laziness seems to have counter acted those positives. Also, for a so called monster movie it’s not at all scary which was a disappointment and the ending is just awful, almost as if they ran out of ideas, which is remarkable considering there were numerous script writers given credits.

Having received some terrible backlash from critics I was expecting the worst but it’s a not a terrible film. It has flaws (quite a few of them) and in analysing the movie critically, it doesn’t work well and a whole. In saying that, if you can treat it for what I can only hope it was created as, a summer blockbuster, fill your face with popcorn, while enjoying seeing a-list celebrities hop from one action sequence to another, kind of silly but fun movie, then you’ll walk away entertained although I can only hope the future of the Dark Universe has better in store if it wishes to survive as, with the rumours of The Wolfman, Bride Of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man all being mentioned the jury is still out on whether they can make this a successful series or not.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

Posted on Jun 8, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

Set five years after the occurrences in the franchise’s previous movie At World’s End, Deal Men Tell No Tales, or Salazar’s Revenge depending on who you ask, is the story of Henry (Brenton Thwaites), who is looking for the mythical Trident Of Poseidon, which he believes can free his father from a curse he has been afflicted with. When he is on board a British warship which is attacked by a strange ship captained by seemingly dead sailors, Henry is spared by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) in order to convey a message to Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), that his days are numbered as Salazar is coming for him.

On the island of Saint Martin, Henry locates Sparrow in jail and with some assistance from an astronomer, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), who also needs to leave the island, they formulate a plan to free Sparrow and chase the legend of the Trident, each for their own purpose.

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When Depp burst onto the scene with his Oscar nominated performance as Sparrow, it was novel and refreshing, the character was mysterious as it was never clear if he was genuinely imbalanced or just playing that way as a misdirection. Slowly it’s changed to where the character has now become a bumbling drunkard who seems to rely on luck to save the day with none of the cunning traits which gave him legendary status being apparent. This time around it’s almost like the Sparrow character is playing as a parody of himself, he had his moments here, but they were very sparse.

Both Thwaites and Scolelario are decent as the support characters and, when given moments to shine, they usually hit the mark but there is not a lot of depth to what they are required to do. Scolelario has the better moments and, there were occasions in certain scenes when she looked remarkably reminiscent of a young Nicole Kidman, although there is a recurring theme joke about her being a witch, just because she is intelligent, which got repetitive and irritating very quickly.

Bardem was excellent as the zombie Captain, over acting and looking like he was enjoying himself which added great character and depth to Salazar, even if his screen time was limited, and move over Keith Richards as this movies musical star cameo is taken by Paul McCartney, you’ll spot him easily enough.

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One big plus for the movie is another great score, this time with Geoff Zanelli taking over the composition duties from Hans Zimmer. If one thing has been consistent through the varied quality of these movies, the music has always been memorable and instantly recognisable. Once those French horns kick in, you know you’re hitting the high seas for an adventure.

Although the movie was one of the shortest in the franchise it still felt over long, perhaps because the first two acts were quite slow moving so when it came to the final section and the best of the action kicked in, it felt like I had been waiting a long time for it to occur and the movie had lost most of my interest.

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This is one that the kids will probably enjoy, there are moments of humour but not enough to entertain the adults, some of the CGI is great, the ships and settings look superb and at least there is a purposeful plot this time so it’s a step back in the right direction after the slow decline into mediocrity that the movies have taken since the second entry. It still feels like a dying franchise but as long as it is making money keep your eyes peeled for the inevitable announcement of the casting for the next instalment.

DJ Speaks Movies: 5 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2017

King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword

Posted on Jun 4, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

When the kingdom of Camelot is under siege from the forces of the evil warlock Mordred, their army, under the leadership of King Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana) barely manage to win the day but later that night his weakened troops are betrayed by an organised coup from the Kings treacherous brother Vortigen (Jude Law), who wants the throne for himself. Before he is defeated Pendragon manages to place his son in a boat and gives him his freedom, washing up in Londinium he is found by a group of prostitutes who take him in and name him Arthur (Charlie Hunnam). He grows up as what can only be called a typical cockney lad (almost a copy and paste character from Lock, Stock or Snatched) who robs and steals, but always looks after his own and because it’s all done with a wink, a cheeky grin on his face and some witty dialogue, that makes it all okay.

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Haunted by the tales of the legend that the true king will return and remove the sword from the stone, Vortigen is systematically insisting that every man takes his turn attempting to remove the sword, confident that the controlled conditions of this test will ensure that he has the upper hand once the true King is revealed. When Arthur is forced to partake in the ritual, the true power of the sword is revealed, Vortigen realises that he has underestimated his adversary and knows that he must destroy Arthur before he can learn how to harness his true powers. The battle lines are drawn, so Arthur and his rag tag bunch of, surprisingly multi-cultural, cut throats and thieves must use their wit and cunning against the might and power of the King of England to return the reluctant heir to his rightful place on the throne.

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As in a lot of Guy Ritchie’s movies, you’re not cheering for the good guy, you’re rooting for the best of the bad guys, and this film is no different. Hunnam is okay as the unwilling ruler, reminding me a little of his role in Green Street, playing the likable gangster-like protagonist, he does what he has to do well without ever shining. Along for the ride in his Robin Hood style mission, his merry men all tick the boxes as required and most are given moments in the limelight which they deliver on but, with the exception of Alden Gillan as Goosefat Wilson, none were given anything particularly memorable to do. Djimon Hounson felt awfully wasted given his talent and something about Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as a character, inventively called The Mage (have a wild guess at what she does), just didn’t work. There were a few scenes between Arthur are herself which were horrifically reminiscent of the cringe worthy romantic moments between Padme and Anakin in Star Wars.

Jude Law was the real stand out as the power hungry ruler, bringing his full deck to the table and giving his all. It was during the times when this man was feeling the weight of his choices that the movie actually threatened to break out of the haze of mediocrity and become something much better, alas, these moments were fleeting.

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There are some good, entertaining action sequences, the CGI at times is great and, at other times, awful, the moments when Arthur becomes one with the sword are both brilliant and jarring, the lady in the lake is a CGI mess, throw in some training montages and a David Beckham cameo (Yes, you heard me right) and you get a sense of the divisive rhythm that seems to flow through this film.

There is a distinct skill to what Guy Ritchie can do as a director that few others can and perhaps this is what stops this movie from becoming a complete train wreck. If you were unaware who the director was from very early you could hazard an educated guess, from the quick cut camerawork to the sharp tone of the dialogue, all full of energy but, at times, all too frenetically. While there are moments in the film which are entertaining it really lacks the substance to make it any good because the movie seems to be in such a rush to move to the next scene. It feels like a lot of style over quality and instead of raising up above previous efforts to take the crown, it ends up in Arthurian serfdom.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10

Wonder Woman

Posted on Jun 3, 2017 by DJ Speaks Movies

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave, with your fingers in your ears, you must have heard at least some of the word of mouth about this movie, which has been almost universally positive.

The exposition in the early stages of the movie, on the Amazonians home island of Themyscira, are done very cleverly and without you even really realising it give great background into Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) growing, with guidance from her mother Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) and training from her aunt Antiope (Robin Wright) into a powerful warrior. When American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) accidentlally crashes off the shore of the island and is rescued by Diana he brings the horror of war to this peaceful land.

Informing the warriors of what is going on outside their island, Steve reveals the story of World War I and how he must get the information he has stolen, outlining a deadly new form of mustard gas which has the potential to kill instantly, from German General Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) and his imbalanced scientist Doctor Maru (Elena Anaya), to his superiors in London. Convinced that Ludendorff is Ares, the God of War from Amazonian legend, banished by the God Zeus, but who will return one day, Diana leaves with Steve, along with the weapons to kill Ares, and Wonder Woman is born.

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Steve and Diana head to London and are met by Steve’s secretary Etta Candy (Lucy Davis) to advise the War Cabinet that they must destroy Ludendorff’s facilities but they are met with resistance as the British are trying to negotiate an armistice with Germany. Undeterred, Steve is able to round up his team, Sameer (Said Taghmaoui), Charlie (Ewen Bremner) and Chief (Eugene Brave Rock) and with some financial help from Sir Patrick Morgan (David Thewlis), they head to the front for a showdown with Ludendorff.

I can understand the joy this movie is bringing to people who feel it really portrays the strength of women on the screen. Apart from the obvious power of the hero, director Patty Jenkins really does allude to it all through the movie, nowhere more so than a small, but brilliantly subtle moment at the Western Front trenches where Pine tells Diana that she cannot leave to help some villagers as “It’s No Man’s Land out there, no man can survive.” After which, nothing is said but it doesn’t have to be – she’s not a man, she’s Wonder Woman. It was such a powerful moment in the film and I think it’s once of those epic movie scenes which will live on in time.

In her brief appearance previously Gal Gadot looked great as Wonder Woman and when the action kicked in she really felt like she could pull of the fight sequence. She does not disappoint here either as she looks fantastic as the hero and the action scenes are great, especially the scene in the village where she absolutely kicks ass, but I still had doubts over Gadot’s acting ability as she never really convinced in previous roles. I will admit that I was wrong, here Gadot showed the characters full range full of hope, innocence, hate, sadness, pain and conflict but above all optimism fuelled by a willingness to fight for what she believes is good and right, all performed with a believability which I couldn’t fault. There’s also a nice underlying theme of good and evil inherently being in all of us and the battles we face every day to make the right choices which makes us the people we are, which I though worked in the context of the movie without getting too preachy.

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There’s great chemistry between the two leads and despite the movie being predominantly about Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor is a very strong character thanks to some great writing and an absolute spot on performance from Pine. He may not have the powers of Diana but she still has a lot to learn which is where Steve comes in. The role reversal in the movie is well handled as Pine is the stranger as he crashes on the island but he becomes the teacher once they leave and he has to teach Diana about the world, it’s culture and people, all of which is handled really well, and it makes us warm to these two characters as their friendship develops and they begin to realise that, each of them has very different, but no less critical, strengths and without each other, this mission will not succeed.

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As I mentioned previously, it’s not without its flaws. A lot the second half of the movie reminded me of the first Captain America film, a hero character realising the world they knew is not all it seems, finding themselves thrust into the ‘real world’ and joining with a small squad going against German villains, plus Ludendorff was almost a copy and paste for Red Skull. The film also suffered badly from the usual super hero movie issue of having weak, underutilised, villains who never really feel like there is any real peril but, then again, these are movies are all about the heroes who are going to save the day, so I can’t complain too much. Also, while the action scenes are great there are a few moments of very dodgy CGI which briefly take you out of the moment and Steve’s team, in particular, Charlie, felt very under developed but I’m really being picky with these points.

Overall, it’s a great addition to the genre, the story represents the character brilliantly without straying too far from the origins of the comic books. There are some small links to both the Batman Vs Superman movie and the upcoming Justice League films but this is a complete stand alone tale, no cameos and no post credit scenes, which was quite refreshing. So, have no doubts, Wonder Woman is now a major player in the DC Universe and if this is a taste of things to come for future DC films then I’m all in.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 Out Of 10