With his background in the fashion industry you can be guaranteed that you are going to get a beautifully shot movie with Tom Ford behind the camera and this is no exception. Amy Adams plays Susan Morrow, a Los Angeles art gallery owner who seems to have it all but her relationship with her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer) is not so rosy as it looks on the outside. It seems that their financial situation is not as grand as the lifestyle they are living. This shows us the other side of Susan, trouble trying to get a good nights sleep, with self doubts over her talent, her husbands fidelity and the friends she has showing us quite a disturbing picture of a woman on the edge.

When she unexpectedly receives a copy of a new novel from her ex husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) she is both shocked and intrigued, especially when she see the title is Nocturnal Animals, a nickname he used to call her. Her curiosity gets the better of her so she begins to read the tale and gets drawn into the memories of her former life and almost welcomes it as a form of escapism.

Told in an overlapping style from the real world, where Susan tries to get on with her life despite being so seemingly unhappy, to the story contained within the book where Jake Gyllenhaal plays Tony Hastings who along with his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber) are on a road trip when they are run off road by a group of men lead by Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and when his wife and daughter are kidnapped her turn to the police for assistance. This brings Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) onto the case and together the two men must track down Tony’s family and bring justice to the men involved, to Susan’s reminiscing of her younger, seemingly happier years.

The movie features, arguably, the most on point acting of a cast in any movie this year, Adams was superb (but not quite as engaging as her role in Arrival) as Susan, Taylor-Johnson was almost unrecognisable as the slimy gang leader, Gyllenhall gave his usual high standard performance as the father who turns from meek to marauder in search of his family and above all Shannon was absolutely superb, and should get a best supporting actor nomination, as the lawman with nothing to lose.

It’s the kind of movie that people will view differently despite watching the same thing as the whole movie is very open to interpretation. For me, the juxtaposition of the three threads is fantastic, jumping from the gritty, raw, desert setting of the book to the upper class circles Susan lives her life and then to the early days of their relationship when both were happy, at least to begin with, which gives a real feel of just how different Susan and Edward were. Also the cleverness of how the book becomes a non literal allegory for how Edward viewed his relationship with Susan leading up to the events which eventually drove them apart was fantastic movie making and Ford deserves credit for how he pulls you in to the story.

A cleverly built film where the jumps from the visualisation of the novel on screen, to Susan’s present life and back to her past could have been confusing but instead controls the tempo of the film so it never becomes one paced and just as you begin to get sucked into one part of the tale it switches back, keeping you on your toes at all times. With a couple of nods to a David Lynch style film, some very disturbing moments mixed up with a reality that feel dream like, a triple overlapping narrative, some great use of metaphor and eerie artwork to enhance the surrealism of the situation I can see this one developing a cult status in years to come. Best watched with as little knowledge of the plot as possible, it’s going to be a case of you making your own mind up on this one, crass or classy? I’m leaning towards the latter.

DJ Speaks Rating: 7 Out Of 10

© Darren Jones 2017

In a year of disappointing blockbuster movies, yes I’m pointing at you Ghostbusters and Independence Day, mixed levels of superhero movie quality across the board and the resurgence of the horror film genre, 2016 was a year where the better movies were not the ones with huge budgets and massive media campaigns. So with that in mind, in no particular order, here are my top 5 movies of 2016.

Criminally ignored by the general movie going audience, a throw back to the classic buddy cop films with  great performances from both Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as two private investigators with demeanour as polar opposite as can be, investigating the disappearance of a girl and the death of a porn star set against a 1970’s back drop. Comedic and entertaining in equal measure with some great over the top violence, Shane Black adds to his impressive resume with this effort.

A young boy struggling with family life in 1980’s Dublin starts a band to impress a girl. Sounds simple? It is, but John Carney makes it so much more, as it becomes a coming of age tale John Hughes would be proud of, a tale of brotherly love beating adversity with hints to ‘sticking it to the man’. Set against a back drop from my childhood and a soundtrack you will not beat, which is unfortunately likely to be ignored at the Oscars, this is a feel good film everyone will enjoy.

This is the one that most people will question but this is an underplayed movie which keeps you guessing right the way until the last few scenes. Jeff Nichols does a fantastic job of disclosing the truth behind who this child may be one step at a time, gradually revealing the motivations behind all the players without ever slowing the film down and adding twist after twist to keep you on your toes. It wont be for everybody but it’s very clever film making at its best.

Take a classic cowboy movie and transport it into modern day, you get Hell Or High Water. Two bank robbing brothers are carrying out scores on local banks pursued by a grizzled old sheriff who has one last case to close before he retires but don’t think that’s all the movie is as there’s much more to this tale. Beautifully shot and fantastically acted (I’ll be very surprised if both Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster are not nominated for this) it may be a modern setting but pays homage to its roots and when the truth behind the brothers motivations is revealed the lines between good and bad become blurred, while hitting a nerve topically in this era of depression and homelessness.

As if it wasn’t already apparent from his earlier movies Prisoners and Sicario, Denis Villeneuve has shown himself to be a master behind the camera in this tale of first contact where Amy Adams is an expert linguist who must battle against time to decipher the message brought by the beings who have landed at 12 separate locations across the globe with the threat of all out war looming the longer the intentions of the visitors remains unknown. Visually stunning and with a superb performance by Amy Adams, Arrival will draw you into the mystery and intrigue of the tale before blind siding you with a twist which changes the whole concept of the film. Absolute class.

Set as prequel to the awful 2014 movie, Origin Of Evil is another in the growing number of possession tales which seem to be littering the horror genre. This is not a bad thing if done well but, as we seen to our detriment in the original film, if done poorly it all ends up as a mess of jump scares and generally bad acting. Where does this one sit? Probably somewhere in the middle but let me break it down.

Set in 1967 we meet the struggling Zander family who are still coping with the loss of their patriarch and with financial issues growing ever more desperate the mother, Alice (Elizabeth Reaser) decides to enhance the spiritualist con they have set up by adding a Ouija board to the proceedings. However unbeknownst to her this prop has a far bigger impact on the scam than expected as youngest daughter Doris (Lulu Wilson) immediately seems to have a connection with the board and can communicate with the spirits with ease and leads to an increase in business as word spreads about how ‘real’ their sessions are. When Doris claims that she can speak with her dead father Alice is wholly behind the girls claims as she can seemingly answer personal questions correctly. Eldest daughter Paulina (Annalise Basso) is not so sure as she sees a dramatic change in her sister that her mother is blind to. Once she approaches a priest, Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas) for help it becomes apparent that there a lot more going on that initially realised. As the battle to save Doris escalates so does the danger to the family and anyone else who threatens to get in the way of the malevolent spirit.

Although this is essentially a subtle advertisement for the Hasbro owned Ouija board it is not a terrible movie with director Mike Flanagan, who also brought us the underrated Hush earlier this year, doing a good job of keeping the intrigue levels high. The retro feel of the movie is captured excellently and for a tale which has been done so many times before there is enough originality and surprise to keep you on your toes. The set up and purpose for the actions of those involved feel genuine and the clever use of the innocence of the daughter being juxtaposed with her transformation as the evil takes over is a nice touch, even if it is a little akin to what happened to Regan in The Exorcist. There are no loud bursts of music accompanying the jump scares which was refreshing and made them much more effective as there was a sinister feel to them given the subtler approach and there are some very clever dialogue scenes.

Lulu Wilson does a great job as the possessed girl, her facial expressions spoke volumes and her smile was both beaming and sarcastic at the same time. There was also a superb scene with Paulinas’ boyfriend Mikey (Parker Mack) which will give you the shivers in how such a calm speech can have so much threatening context. The rest of the cast played their parts well, even if they were playing second fiddle to Doris, but the performances were strong enough that you still feel interested in the characters by the time things begin to take a turn for the worse. The exception would be Henry Thomas as Tom Hogan. It’s not the actors fault, as his whole plot line felt tacked on and the relationship between him and Alice just did not play out well. Although he has a great scene towards the end the use of a priest character just didn’t sit well with me alongside the rest of the movies content.

The movie itself is not without its issues either. It’s a very slow build up with an excellent middle piece let down by a weak ending so you need to stay with the movie as it builds up the tension and back story before the best parts of the film kick in and that may put some people off. The ending is probably the most disappointing of all as it felt cheap in comparison to the rest of the film and became very clichéd in contrast to some of the more surprising turns the movie took earlier on. Also, having seen the first film I knew where they were going as soon as it took the first step along that path and that ruined the last third of the film for me.

Overall it’s a better than average attempt to kick start life into, what I can only assume will be a series of films around this tale and it has managed to keep an air of respectability to this years resurgence of sorts in the horror genre but its more creepy that scary and is saved by the performance of young actress who, if this performance is anything to go by, could have a big future.

DJ Speaks Movies Rating: 6 Out Of 10

©Darren Jones 2016

Amy Adams is Louise Banks, an expert linguist, who is recruited by the army, and in particular Colonel Weber (Forest Whittaker) to try and decipher what is believed to be a communication attempt by the unknown beings who have landed at 12 separate points across the globe for a yet to be determined purpose. She is teamed with physician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) so between them they must decipher what the aliens are trying to say before time runs out, as tension rises across the planet since the world remains unsure if the visitors are friend or foe.

The acting is spot on all round, particularly from Adams, and the chemistry between herself and Renner is a key selling point of the film as this is a character piece rather than an action movie. There are no right or wrong actions as the situation is unique, there are no good or bad guys, it’s the tale of how humanity deals with the quandary it faces with individuals acting in what they see to be the best way. The gradual heightening threat of conflict is done in a way which is reminiscent of the best of the Cold War or Cuban Missile Crisis themed movies.

With some great use of camera angles and spectacular visuals the cinematography is of the highest standards. The superb score from Jóhann Jóhannsson adds to the suspense and drama on queue, as required. For the most part the plot is very plausible which gives the whole movie an air of believably often missing in science fiction movies and this only heightens the intrigue.

First contact movies have a strange way of dividing the viewing public with even the great Stephen Spielberg’s Close Encounters still swaying opinion today. There may just be another to add to the list here as director Denis Villeneuve has developed a very cleverly layered story which asks the viewer to immerse themselves in the building drama and brings a number of unexpected twists before reaching its conclusion.

While the slow burning plot may be a little dull for some the pay off is well worth the investment if you are engaged in the film however, if you switch off halfway through or if science fiction is not your thing then you may just find the unravelling climax a bit too much to swallow. I can highly recommend checking this movie out though as, in my opinion, it is one of the best films of the year.

DJ Speaks Rating: 8 Out Of 10

 © Darren Jones 2016

Mel Gibson is John Link, a washed up ex-con and recovering alcoholic who grinds out a meagre existence as a tattoo artist living in a trailer across from his sponsor Kirby (William H.Macy). Link is a hardened but broken man who still keeps the missing poster of his daughter Lydia (Erin Moriarty) in his trailer and has her face tattooed on his body.

When he receives a call out of the blue from Lydia who has put herself in the line of fire of some drug barons he grasps at this chink of light in his otherwise bleak life and when he sees echoes of himself plus traits of similar error making in the person his daughter has become have finds purpose in ensuring that she does not follow his chosen path. After an encounter with some henchmen and an assassin they need to go on the run which begins a very dangerous road trip which becomes a bonding session or sorts until his daughter is kidnapped and Link becomes a one man avenging angel who will stop at nothing to save his daughter and find some redemption for his past errors.

With Peter Craig, who wrote the book working on the screenplay and as a co-producer it was always going to be a reasonably faithful adaptation and director Jean Francois Richer, who brought us the entertaining remake of Assault on Precinct 13 and the classic French film Mesrine, has managed to create a low budget, Grindhouse feel to the film without making it look cheap in terms of the  stunts or effects so the simplicity in tone suits the premise of the film. Gibson isn’t some super hero with a huge arsenal of guns hidden away, he’s a man with nothing to lose who is given a final chance to make a difference and atone for his errors in life and must rely on his street smarts and some favours from old criminal contacts to survive.

While the story line may feel familiar, and it is, with many echoes of Taken in particular, it also felt like a confessional for Gibson, echoing his apologies for his off screen antics with a performance full of guilt and regret yet searching for redemption. Grizzled, haggard yet looking bulked up, his performance has some great moments of classic Gibson performances. He is this movie, everything else is secondary and when he is not on screen the film slips back into mediocrity but to see him threaten somebody and look like he means it, then switch to a man full of compassion when dealing with his daughter is an art and it felt like the actor we all knew is still there, which was great to see.

The movie does suffer from the fact that, Gibson aside, the characters in the movie weren’t given much to shine with. Even Moriarty who has the biggest character arc plays second fiddle and when the movie is not focused on Gibson it suffers a lot of drag and even luminaries of the screen like Macy and Parks can’t help liven it up despite their best efforts.

If you want to see a, been there, seen it and have worn the t-shirt action revenge movie then this will keep you entertained. If you want something deep and thought provoking then leave it be but I can highly recommend that you watch this movie for one reason only, the return of the Mel Gibson we love as this could so easily have been a throw away film without his charisma and presence elevating it to another level.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

©2016 Darren Jones

Tom Hanks is back in this third outing as Professor of Iconology Robert Langdon. This time he finds himself in a hospital in Florence with no knowledge of how he got there from Boston, which is last recountable memory. He is being tended to by Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) a doctor at the hospital and a fan of Langdons so after an attempt is made on his life she aides his escape. When he finds a container in his pocket containing an skewed picture of Dantes inferno they manage to link the drawing to a geneticist Bertrand Zobrist (Ben Foster) whos vocal and extremist views on overpopulation of the world has him on the watch list of many government agencies.

As Langdon realises that he is a wanted man his amnesia causes him to mistrust everybody so he goes on the run, along with Brooks to try and work out why he is in possession of the drawing and what links it to Zobrist. So begins the hunt as Langdon unravels the clues to uncover the truth all the while having the authorities on his tail including the mysterious Vayentha (Ana Ularu), who has the most purposeful walk I’ve seen since Robert Patrick as the T-1000.

While I have read both the DaVinci Code and Angels And Demons I have not read this novel so I can only assume that it is reasonably faithful to the source material. If this is the case then I hope that the plot line makes more sense on print as I found this to be an awful mess of a storyline. I won’t give anything away in terms of a spoiler but it’s fairly common knowledge that this movie revolves around the potential release of a virus which will wipe out a large portion of the human population so if this was an agenda for somebody who was in possession of such a bacterial agent I would expect that they would just release the virus. Instead we have a convoluted mix of clues, each leading to the next step towards finding the location of the virus which is waiting to be released. It’s a glorified version of how the villains in the early James Bond movies always took the time to explain their plans for world domination to the character before killing him.

This is only the beginning of my gripe. I know that Langdon is a well know person in certain circles but I doubt he is famous enough to be allowed to pass though closed off areas of tourist attractions and not have anybody approach him regarding what he may be doing, yet he seems to have free reign to run around said areas in search of clues with it even going so far as to being able to take an exhibit without recourse, the World Health Organisation are now almost militaristic in their approach to things, crack shot hit-men suddenly can’t hit a barn door with a banjo, a believable twist but one that was so obvious that I called it twenty minutes into the film, then further twists which are extremely far fetched and a climax so ridiculous. The whole thing felt like an amateur hour idea in its execution.

The premise itself is fine. Humanity is ruining the planet, like a disease and the only way to solve the problem is to eliminate the many to save the few, no problem with that concept but the whole thing just left like it was a lazy adaptation of a story with no real sense of danger or drama considering the supposed consequences.

There is a lot more wrong with this film and I could go on but I’ve said about as much as I can without giving the movie away, just in case you do decide to check it out. Considering this is directed by Ron Howard it’s a very poor effort and Tom Hanks felt like he was phoning it in as the usual charisma and intensity he brings was missing, which is not something I can ever recall saying before so I can only blame the material on that. The rest of the cast as similarly wasted with Omar Sy & Ben Foster completely underused and apart from Hanks & Jones the only person who stood out was Irrfan Khan as Harry Sims, head of the unknown group who are chasing Langdon. I’m not sure if it was the actors performance or his lines which were the reason for the humour in the role, whichever it was, it was one of the few bright spots in a poor film which is overlong, preachy and not as good as the previous two movies, neither of which was great either.

In a year full of disappointing movies this one is down the lower echelons of that list.

DJ Speaks Rating: 4 Out Of 10

© Darren Jones 2016