Or, Lo and Behold: The End of Idris Elba’s Career Who thought it was a good idea to make a film adaptation of Cats ? The 1981 Andrew Lloyd-Webber show is an innovative and highly influential spectacle that transformed stage musicals into the big-budget blockbusters we know today. But it also couldn’t be less suited to cinema if it tried. It is, first and foremost, deeply weird. Adapted from T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats , a collection of whimsical and disconnected poems about — you guessed it — cats, the musical is effectively two and a half hours of character introductions with the thinnest plot imaginable. It’s a lot of campy fun, the vast majority of the song are bangers and the choreography is stunning but without a radical re-imagining nothing about it immediately lends itself to a film adaptation. Unfortunately, no one told Universal. Having acquired the film rights for Cats many years earlier, they decided in 2013 to finally get on with it. Presumably...

Joker’s (Probably) Accidental Identity Politics The discourse around Joker , the Joaquin Phoenix-starring origin story of the infamous Batman villain, has been exhausting. Beginning before most people had even seen the film, battle lines were immediately drawn between those decrying its allegedly alt-right sympathies and edgy gamers convinced this was going to be the greatest film of all time. Now that it’s actually in cinemas and I’ve seen it, it’s a lot more complicated than that, even if it isn’t on purpose. To get it out of the way, Joker is a fantastically constructed film. Whilst it’s certainly derivative of other prestige pictures (Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and King of Comedy have been regularly brought up) that doesn’t stop it from being spectacular and gripping in its own right. At the centre of it all is Phoenix, who’s performance is genuinely astonishing. The gruesome physicality he brings to the role is mesmerising, exemplified during the surreal dance sequences i...

Spoiler warning for the ending of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Like many others, I was concerned when Quentin Tarantino announced he was making a film based around the infamous 1969 Tate murders. Tarantino’s notoriously gleeful approach to violence seemed like the worst possible way to depict a real-life tragedy and I was gearing up for some uncomfortable exploitation. Except, that’s not exactly what happened. Tarantino’s 1969 isn’t the real 1969 but an alternate reality in which the Manson family are foiled and Sharon Tate survives. Our two leads, fading movie star Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth, are Tate’s next-door neighbours who end up being targeted by the Manson family instead and - through Tarantino’s typical, borderline slapstick goriness - come out on top. So, that’s alright then? Tarantino doesn’t depict the murders, doesn’t revel in their morbidity and doesn’t exploit the deaths of actual human beings. Which, yeah, I guess that's true. But the endin...

Considering the essentially non-existent readership for this blog, there’s little reason to apologise for not posting for three months. However, I still feel the need to say sorry - even if it’s only to myself - and to make up for the drought in content with this incredibly rushed summary of every film I failed to review during that time. Out of Blue Oh dear. Director Carol Morley’s ambitious sci-fi noir is a bit of a mess, juggling far too many threads and themes for any of them to reach a satisfying payoff. It doesn’t help that the writing, directing and acting decisions are frequently baffling. Morley is perhaps going for surreal but more often than not the film just feels awkward and unnatural. It’s a shame, there’s a lot of potential, but Out of Blue never really comes together. Unicorn Store Brie Larson’s directorial debut is colourful and whimsical but not exactly abundant in substance. Its central message of holding onto your childlike spirit is one that’s been...

So I haven’t reviewed anything here in a while because I am a disgrace, which means I now have two months worth of films to catch up on. In this post, I will just deal with the films of March. Shortly afterwards, I shall cast my critical eye over April, but don’t hold your breath for that. I had wanted to do full reviews of some of these but life got in the way so what are you going to do? If Beale Street Could Talk If Beale Street Could Talk , director Barry Jenkins’ follow up to the Oscar-winning Moonlight , is one of those films that completely transforms your worldview. Harnessing the unique sensory power of cinema to immerse you completely in its perspective, If Beale Street Could Talk is the closest a white English guy like myself can get to understanding the African American experience. Following the wrongful conviction of Fonny from the point of view of his girlfriend Tish, Jenkins ensures you feel the injustice of his treatment by juxtaposing the intimate vignettes of ...

With these reviews, I’ve never been able to keep up with all the films I actually watch and - inevitably - I have to write a bloated catch-up post. At the beginning of 2019 I had the genius idea of doing this at the end of every month; writing brief capsule reviews of the films I didn’t have the chance to take a full look at. I didn’t watch so many films in January, so I didn’t have to put this plan into action. However, this month I haven’t been able to stop watching films. As a result, despite squeezing out reviews of Vice and Glass , there are still five films I haven’t covered. That is, until now… Can You Ever Forgive Me? Marielle Heller’s second feature is another inexcusable Oscar snub directed by a woman. Despite Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant receiving worthy nominations for their performances, neither the Best Picture nor the Best Director categories paid any attention. Just like Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here and Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace ...