Ang Lee is one of our most accomplished directors who is best known for his Academy Award winner Life of Pi and Brokeback Mountain.
Now he returns with Will Smith clone drama Gemini Man.
The film revolves around an elite assassin who has a mysterious young operative predicting his every move.
With allusions to Looper, this does still look interesting. What do you think?
Gemini Man is out later.
When it comes to splitting Monty Python fans, you have a couple of choices. On one hand you have people who deem The Holy Grail the best of the movies, the other Life Of Brian (And that odd one who prefers Meaning Of Life. Yes, I am talking to you.) Well, I am here to settle all of that. If you haven’t guess already by the title this, then I am saying that Life Of Brain is better. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love The Holy Grail. In fact, if I were to personally pick between the two, I’d pick Grail every time. It’s silliness, the music, the comedy; it’s the winner of my heart. But sitting down, and actually critically examining the two then Life of Brian is the champion.
Life of Brian tells the story of Brian, a normal citizen of Judea. But Brian has been plagued all his life. After all, being born in the same place and the same time as Jesus (the barn next door none the less,) it’s hard to not have people confusing you with the Son of God. However, after a series of unfortunate events, Brian is soon believed to be the Messiah and is followed around by a group of religious fanatics. Pestered by the Romans, hounded by the believers and pestered by his mother, poor Brian can’t get a break as his life leads him up to a dramatic finale.
As with every Monty Python film, television show, or stage show, the comedic timing and deliver are impeccable. Every scene is full of lashings of farce. From the rude Roman names to correcting Latin graffiti; there is a slice of humour everywhere Brian turns. There is no denying that the comedy troupe excel in comedic timing and their hilarious characters. Each of the Monty Python crew play multiple characters within the movie and play them convincingly well.
That’s great but we are used to this. After all, they play multiple characters in their television series and they do in Grail. What raises Brian above it all is the satire. Not actually a satire on the story of Jesus itself it is cleverly a stab at the worshippers. In one poignant scene, Brian tells the populous that they must all think for themselves and they eerily repeat what he says. It’s a poke at people who put too much faith into their beliefs that causes them to be narrow minded. In one instance, they kill a man for even angry denying Brian as the Messiah. It’s weirdly accurate and scarily real.
Controversially, they caused a hell storm. But that’s the brilliance of Brian. Instead of people appreciating the satire, people would instead angrily boycott the film believing it to be blasphemous against Jesus.
If you don’t believe the sheer anger of religious leaders, watch the debate Michael Palin and John Cleese with Malcolm Muggeridge and Meryvn Stockwood, The Bishop of Southwark on BBC show Friday Night Saturday Morning. After the opposition missed the opening 15 minutes where they showed the clear separation of Jesus and Brian, the two men soon delved into jibes and name calling. Watch whilst the two comedians who are being accused give a well thought out and researched points are subjected to schoolchild taunting. It’s fascinating to watch.
I digress; much like Jesus, Life of Brian’s message was taken and misinterpreted by the mass. But cleverly they used it to their advantage. In Sweden they advertised it as the film “so funny, Norway had it banned.” Life of Brian is so much more than the quotes you pass your fellow geek friends and fathers (me and my Dad try to slip one in at least once a day.) It is a clever and historical (See “What did the Romans ever do for us,” moment,) movie that gets legions of fans yearly.
And bloody hilarious.
Happy 40th Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
There are some films that take your breath-away. That’s Madeline’s Madeline.
Madeline’s Madeline revolves around the titular character who is stuck between allegience with her mother and a drama teacher who believes in her talent.
Directed by Josephine Decker, this is an unmissable film!
What do you think?
Madeline’s Madeline hits MUBI and Cinemas 10th May!
by Tom Beasley
The oeuvre of S. Craig Zahler is defined by a number of characteristics. His films are extremely violent, from the caved-in skulls of Brawl in Cell Block 99 to that one scene towards the end of Bone Tomahawk that immediately induced a thousand yard stare in everyone who saw it.
Crucially, though, Zahler’s movies also take their time. They deal in bloodshed, for sure, but they also deal in the calm before the storm.
Dragged Across Concrete is no exception. At a bum-numbing 159 minutes, it’s a lengthy slog of a movie, and one that makes no apologies for that excess. It also makes no apologies for its politics or its casting. This is a film that positions the intensely problematic Mel Gibson and the gun-loving Republican Vince Vaughn as racist cops, who are suspended by Don Johnson’s police chief when video footage of them using excessive force on a Latino dealer hits the headlines. “Politics are everywhere,” says Johnson, adding that “the entertainment industry formerly known as the news needs villains”.
And it’s in dialogue of that stripe that Dragged Across Concrete emerges as Zahler’s most difficult work from an ideological perspective. The foregrounding of Gibson is a blatant act of trolling and Zahler’s dialogue juggles casual racism, jibes about how the line between men and women has now “blurred” and discussions about the threat of a young white woman being attacked by black men that are an unsettling reminder of the recent controversy around Liam Neeson. Apparently, in this world, throwing cups of soda around is an obvious precursor to rape. At times, the film is like sitting in a pub with Piers Morgan, Jeremy Clarkson and that Tory MP who keeps blocking up-skirting laws.
Certainly, there’s no room in Concrete for women. Female characters do cross the orbit of the protagonists occasionally, but they’re either framed as cartoonishly emotional – one woman literally cannot bring herself to leave her newborn son to go to work – or bizarrely laissez-faire. Vaughn’s character’s girlfriend is black, but seems curiously unmoved by his suspension for a racially motivated misdemeanour. Black actor Tory Kittles is nominally the third lead, but the film’s lack of interest in him would be funny if it wasn’t so depressing.
Mel and Vince – it’s impossible to divorce these characters from the men behind them, despite the best efforts of Gibson’s 70s porn tache – respond to their suspension by staking out a drug dealer in the hope of liberating some cash from him. When it becomes clear that the dealer is actually embarking on a more deadly crime, the cops become heroes again, apparently, as they follow him around wondering when and whether to intervene. This is a film about masculinity and male duty that feels grounded in a time when men were men, and men were also racists.
The story inexorably winds towards a violent conclusion, in which bullets fly and arterial fluid leaks onto grubby asphalt. But it all feels weightless, even when a character is literally fiddling around inside another’s internal organs. Zahler has replaced the style and power of his previous work with a Trollface meme. He’s like a basement-dwelling Reddit user daring you to be ‘triggered’ by him, just waiting to share that ridiculous copypasta about “sexually identifying as an attack helicopter”.
Like so many purveyors of shock, Zahler has seemingly forgotten why he wanted to shock people in the first place.
Dragged Across Concrete is in 19th April
Two colleagues, Fiona and Phil, are at opposite ends of the ladder. Fiona is an ambitious and driven career PR agent who has used work to propel herself forward. Phil, however, is stuck in a rut as a HR manager, pushed to the dregs of the office and alone in his world.
Driven by stress in two very different ways, the pair tragically die at the same time and are pulled together by their one commonality – work. Together, they have to figure out the brand new landscape around them as well as the person they’d become.
Working with Lambeth & Southwark Mind, LMB looks to tackle mental health in the work place as well as how we can aid those suffering.
Based on a select scene study and developed through the teams personal experiences, LMB takes a fantastical setting and uses it to help our characters build courage, self-esteem, and confidence. The short film will intimately explore how two people can spiral out of control in very different ways.
There are a few notable things about Disney’s classic Dumbo animation film from 1952. One of the biggest things is that it now seems completely dated, with uncouth stereotypes and animal captivity in the circus. The other big thing – well, small really – is that it is only 64 minutes. A nice somewhat charming tale that comes in just over an hour because that’s all it truly needs to be.
Tim Burton manages to adapt and change all of that for his latest movie spectacular. After a run of poorly-received films such as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and Dark Shadows, is Burton back on top with Dumbo? The big top?
For those who haven’t heard the story of Dumbo, the film revolves around Medici’s travelling circus. Fallen on hard times, it’s namesake owner has decided to sell anything. When wartime hero Holt comes back from the war injured, he is dismayed to hear about the passing of his wife – having to now look after his to children alone. Once a horse performer, he now has to tend to the elephants and, lo and behold, one gives birth to a daft looking elephant with huge ears. Ferrier’s children Milly and Joe look after him, only his surprising talent piques the interest of someone else…
f
As family adventures go, Burton has crafted a film that has a lot of imagination. The great world of vintage circus is on display with glorious outfits and timely set pieces. The titular animal is crafted by an elephant performer and CGI and the result is magical – making Dumbo absolutely adorable with big blue eyes that you cannot help but root for. There is a lot of emotion here and the melodious scene of Baby Mine still pulls at your heart-strings as much as the classic did.
The problem is that even with the colours, sights, and sounds, there is still this incessant Burton drabness that dilutes the proceedings. Plus, the original is an hour long – just over. Trying to stretch that film into a two hour story is ambitious, and it doesn’t work. If anything, it just slows the movie down. The climax should be Dumbo figuring out he can fly and does so outstandingly in front of an audience. It’s the classic story but that’s why it works – it’s all about Dumbo’s self-believe in the face of bullying, and adversity. Instead, Burton changes the message. He does all his flying work in less than an hour and is taken to a Coney Island funfair to be the main attraction.
Soon the film changes tone and tempo to become a escape film that warns of the moral implications of keeping animals in captivity for entertainment. It’s somewhat admirable that Burton would focus on this but it doesn’t quite fit the movie or momentum, causing it to drag in places.
With Dumbo, there is more heart in here than most of Burton’s latest releases and that works to keep you entertained for the runtime. Colin Farrell makes a compelling Dad (and a very hot clown,) whilst Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins are charming children to root for. Dumbo just gets sloppy and it is an unnecessary outing.
Go, however, purely for the adorable elephant!
Dumbo is out 29th March
