Review: Home Alone

The core idea of a small child abandoned and on their own in a large house for the festive period is a great one. Add in two hapless burglars for him to defeat, and it should have been a Christmas classic.

Where this fails is all in the execution. More than two of thirds of the film is done before the principle characters encounter each over in a meaningful way. An eight year wandering about a big house and going shopping just isn't very interesting. One or two of the slapstick pranks hit the mark as does the creative use of a classic gangster film to impersonate adults.  The "Keep the change you filthy animal" line is used to particularly hilarious effect.

Culkin, Pesci and Stern are all well cast.

Verdict: The ingredients are there for Christmas magic, but something is lost in the mix. 

Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

As seems to be a bit of trend nowadays, this is the disappointing sequel in the expanded universe of a popular series.  It was kicked off in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Essentially, it only serves shift the focus to the bigger story of Grindelwald trying to do a Voldemort and to move various characters around a set of international locations while dishing out a few minor revelations. As a result, there's a distinct backgrounding of the actual beasts and wizard who loves to find them.

Depp is a welcome and suitably menacing presence - but criminally(!) underused, not least because he doesn't seem to commit many crimes.

Some scenes already felt like re-treads from the Harry Potter and I'll leave it to you to judge if the identity of a particular character was worth waiting a couple of hours for. I did like seeing the human form of Nagini though.

Verdict: Looks great, but feels like it's treading water. 

Review: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Carreyrou's book rides the wake left by his stunning expose in the Wall Street Journal of fraud and deception at Theranos, a blood testing start-up.  I remember reading some articles around Theranos and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes and thinking where on earth has this come from? While my biochemistry knowledge is now severely rusty, it seemed odd that someone so young could have stumbled across such an innovation without actually explaining the science behind it.

The book is an excellent tool for navigating the tech and finer details of the fraud and personalities involved.

It's not without its flaws. The prose is straightforward rather than sparkling and even a little repetitive.  I also felt slightly wrong-footed when the author joined the story.

Verdict: Salutary and fascinating reading. 

Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rowling travels back in time to the early 1920s to serve up another helping from the Potterverse. I was sceptical about trying this given the turgid mess the  original book series became (for me, only the third book and film really hits the spot).

Here the action wisely shifts to the US and a few peripheral historical characters from the original books to appeal to Stateside audiences and provide enough separation.  Redmanye makes for a compelling Scamander - a socially awkward wizard with a suitcase of wondrous creatures.  Sadly the creatures don't seem to be as grounded in folklore as the original series, but some of them are no less fun to watch.

Watching this I was reminded of sources as diverse as Ghostbusters and Men in Black - but with a wizarding gloss.

It's interesting to reflect on the clever choices Rowling has made here to give herself the ability to expand her canvas as widely as possible without breaking previous rules and to compare them with a series such as Doctor Who.  The principle character has a suitcase which is bigger on the inside and many characters can climb inside it. There's a near infinite supply of monsters which are largely unseen to the rest of us as they either inhabit a separate magical plane deliberately hidden from us or ordinary folks routinely have their minds wiped after an encounter Man in Black style.  There's a Gallifrey like bureaucracy in the form of the various Ministries of Magic to be avoided or circumvented. The ability to travel pretty much anywhere (even a limited ability to revisit the past).  Sonic screwdrivers - sorry wands - which can act as weapons or do pretty much anything else.

Verdict: Fun expansion to the wizarding world

Review: Bad Times at the El Royale

There's a lot to love in director/writer/producer Goddard's take on the noir mystery genre.  When you take on all of those roles - the responsibility for delivering something good largely rests on your shoulders. At times, it feels like distinctly Tarantinoesque patische - but doesn't reach either his highs or, fortunately, his excesses either.

He's assembled an ambitious cast who deliver some memorable perfomances - even when playing against type.  Bridges is as wonderful as ever and suitably absent as a priest with dementia.  But others are also credible and well-rounded characters, even with fairly slim back stories at times.

The setting is suitably lavish in period detail and conceit - as is the spin-worthy soundtrack.

The material and goodwill built up in the first two acts doesn't stretch to all of the way through the third and so justify the subsequent extended running time.  Despite all of this, the exposition is occasionally a little thin - leaving the audience to plug gaps with their own imagination. I was happy to do this, but your mileage may vary. The intervention by one character even feels a little deus ex machina actually.

Verdict:  Feels like it'll fall just a little short of being award-worthy (not least because of profile). 

Review: SuperBob

There's so much comedic potential to be had in the story of an ordinary British bloke given superpowers, that it's a shame SuperBob doesn't quite deliver. A little more budget and a couple more run throughs the script to amp it up - and it might have been a classic.  Similar territory has been better explored across the pond in Kick-Ass.

SuperBob isn't without some charm and the mockumentary format makes the best of a low budget by concentrating on talking heads and everyday south London interactions.  Unfortunately, this is no The Office either.

Acting wise Tate is sadly underused, while Goldstein and Tena are both plausibly charismatic choices to anchor the story.

Verdict: Heartwarming romance that lacks laughs. 

Review: BlacKkKlansman

Lee's latest film is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth - a black police officer who managed to inflitrate the KkK in the late 1970s. It takes a considerable dramatic licence with the story.

On the police side, Washington and Driver are excellent and help to ratchet up the tension in key plot moments. Washington is a real find with a great flair for the comedic elements of the tale.  Harrier gives a spirited and credible take as a black student activist.  For the KkK, Hauser adds another barely literate redneck to his roster while Pääkkönen provides suitably chilling menace.

One is struck a little by how little the incendiary talk on both sides translates into action.  This is explored in more depth with the KkK as the focus of infiltration quickly shifts to them.  They are always talking up their petty conspiracies based on half-imagined injustices. At least, the black power argument is coherent.

Verdict: Though BlacKkKlansman rarely made me laugh out loud,  it was very enjoyable and the closing scenes in particular remind us it still a very relevant story. 

Review: Jack the Giant Slayer

Bit of an oddity this one.  The themes are too dark and scary for little 'uns, but it's hard to imagine fully fledged adults finding enough here either.

Hoult doesn't really have enough charisma to carry off the hero part and while Tomlinson is charming there's a sense that none of the actors have had their best coaxed out of them.  I often felt distracted by McGregor's clipped accent and seeing Tucci with hair as well.

The CGI is almost the star here. It never entirely convinced, but the character design of the giants and locations are highly inventive. I also enjoyed the attempt to flesh the story out beyond the basic fairytale and at times it feels appropriately influenced by the BFG and Lord of the Rings (the soundtrack in particular).

Verdict: Fun, but lacking a little heart. 

Review: Their Finest

Meta-fictional narrative about the making of propaganda film to gee up British audiences shortly after the evacuation of Dunkirk.  Add in a dose of technicolour and the protagonists could easily be making a Powell & Pressburger production (but minus the sly satire perhaps although there are some fun in-jokes about scriptwriting and movie making in general).  At other points, I felt it had been inspired by Cinema Paradiso.

Nighy does some solid - even scene stealing - work as a past-it actor(!), and I was impressed by Arterton's affecting and restrained performance too. She and Clafin have good on-screen chemistry.

Location-wise, it looks recognisably like war torn London and even the specific area of Bloomsbury.

I was disappointed by the unsatisfactory fate of one of the characters towards the end.

Verdict: Not quite the finest, but certainly enjoyable enough. 

Review: Another Little Christmas Murder

This month's book group choice is a good riff on Agatha Christie's works where a plucky heroine is caught up in a murder mystery in a remote snowbound manor house.  Don't be fooled by the alternative title as Christmas gets barely a mention here. It's also very much of it's time.

I found the overuse of commas and redundant phrases in the opening chapters like listening to chalk being tortured on a blackboard.

It's slow to get going and most of the characters are only drawn in outline making it quite difficult for me to keep track of the increasingly large cast.

Thankfully, I found some solace in the odd bits of sly humour from the heroine in particular. 

Lastly, the identity of the murderer will surprise no-one.

Verdict: No classic, but enjoyable enough.

Review: First Man

Most space movies tend to be somewhat bombastic or at least patriotic, and First Man is refreshingly different as it's more a biopic of Neil Armstrong - the first man to step onto the moon - than an account of how the US beat the Russians to the ultimate space race goal.

Armstrong by all accounts was rather taciturn and that plays to Gosling's strengths as an actor who has made of a career out of expressionless or extremely subtle (depending on your point of view) characters.  For myself, I've increasingly grown to appreciate Gosling's work. Bladerunner 2049 was probably the turning point for me.

First Man itself turns out to be a moving and impressionistic tale of Armstrong's grief as well as his preparations for the voyage which would define his life.  While the outcome is never less than certain, director Chazelle manages to wring every moment of tension out of the landing itself and showing why Armstrong was a great man for the job. He remains calm while many of us would no doubt be clawing the control panels in frustration as their initial landing site proves unfeasible and fuel is running low.

Mention must also go to Foy as Janet Armstrong. Her steadfastness and support for a man who is often uncommunicative while facing tremendous risks is almost as breathtaking as the main endeavour. It's not just men that were made of the right stuff - their wives were too.

Verdict:  A powerful concoction of character study and human achievement. 

Review: The Dark Knight

Do you remember when superhero movies used to be slightly camp, even comedic?  Nolan's take on the Batman played a decent part in getting us to treat our comic book heroes rather more seriously.

Rewatching The Dark Knight I'm struck by how grounded it is.  Most of the action feels plausible as does the psychologies and psychopathies of the principle characters. The dialogue too is serviceable rather than occupying the hyperreal.

The canvas in which universal themes like corruption, weakness and sacrifice are explored is anything but though.

Verdict: Epic and game changing

Review: The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark

It's a wonder I haven't read Tomlinson's children's classic before. I was given this as part of a book exchange for Christmas at my local book group (on strict instructions to return it safely to its owner as it was a cherished favourite within their family).

It's a very Ronseal kind of book as it is indeed the story of Plop, a young barn owl who would rather be a Day Bird than a Night one - and how they overcome their fear of darkness.

The result is a short read which has quite a lot of charm, and provides plenty of opportunities for audience participation if you are reading it aloud.

I may even read it to my night owl missus who is also afraid of the dark...

Verdict: Cute and funny

Review: Guarding Tess

Cage and MacLaine are not two actors I would have put together in a movie.  This isn't a bad movie, but it's not a remarkable one either.  There's a few nice moments of comic tension between Cage's bodyguard and MacLaine's President's wife, but were this not free on Prime I'd have asked for my money back. 

For the most of the film, I was baffled why Cage was cast in it – and then it came – the Cage moment. The Cage moment is so utterly unexpected, and transforms the film from a mildly diverting comedy to something rather darker and so making it a two tone rather than monotone film.

Verdict: Mildly diverting. 

Review: Lady Bird

This is a charming coming of age movie which unusually isn’t wholly told from the teen’s perspective.  It'll won't rival Clueless as my favourite teen movie, but it has a lot of warmth and the dialogue feels authentic and smart.  I particularly liked that it wasn't overly daft or angst ridden. There's no high drama here either. 

Ronan as Lady Bird looks slightly too old for the part in some scenes, but easily convinces in others. Her long suffering parents - Letts & Metcalf - are excellent and both dealing with their own life changes. 

I did also enjoy the period detail of the turn of the millennium. Weird that I feel nostalgic about, but things did feel simpler and in some ways better without the ubiquity of connected multi-function mobile devices. 

Verdict: Lively coming of age drama.