PG, 105 Mins, Pixar.
The latest from
animation powerhouse Pixar, there’s a wonderfully old-fashioned, moral, Disney
feel to Coco - yet it feels simultaneously fresh. Young Mexican boy
Miguel has a unrequited passion for music - his family dismiss his artistic
talent ever since a family descendent abandoned them years ago to pursue his
own dreams of being a musician.
When the guitar
inside the statue of his local celebrity idol magically comes to life, Miguel
is transported to the phantasmagorical irreverence of The Land Of The Dead,
where he must get back to the living, and discover the true meaning of how
family lasts forever…
The animation is
technically extremely rich, full of little moments of slapstick, particularly
in the world of the afterlife - eye-sockets retract and jaws fall off.
But it’s the
emotional, human touches of affection which really resonate. For example, the title
itself refers to the oldest living member of Miguel’s family - Grandma Coco.
Well into her hundreds, the lines and wrinkles on her face are rendered with
such minutia of detail and texture, that there were moments - as so often
happens with computer-animations, where my disbelief was so suspended that I
believed that these characters were really people - and was completely
emotionally captivated.
It’s also
thankfully very telling in its timing and themes. Along with tackling quite
difficult, universal thematic material for children: life, death, forgiveness
etc, it’s also somewhat of a much-publicised statement against the
separation-politics which presently loom over us. With diversity currently such
a hot-button topic, this is one of the first mainstream animations ever to have
an almost entirely Latino cast. There are nods to making a stance against both
Trump and Brexit, even a reference to immigration control, but all treated
subtly enough as to not be too heavily ladled-on. It’s so refreshing to see a
Hollywood studio make such a celebratory film about embracing another culture
so fully.
This joyousness
is evident in the glorious songs, from the Frozen lyricists, notably Remember
Me, which will have many parents misty-eyed by the end. A delight - bound
for Oscar glory.
Rating: * * * *
114 Mins, 12A, 20th Century Fox.
Just as the poster for the famous
1974 version of what is arguably Christie’s most famous mystery, showcased its
stars faces like a Cluedo-esque comic-strip cartoon, this one has had equally
starry publicity, for a cast that contains some of our finest actors of all
time.
Sir Kenneth Branagh directs, co-writes, and
also stars as Poirot, that fastidious perfectionist of a Belgian detective.
Twelve strangers meet, and become stranded on the famous train, then one of
them is brutally murdered…
Johnny Depp plays Edward Ratchett, a notoriously nasty gangster,
absolutely terrifically - surly, slimy and relentless, but in such a subtle
way. Depp dosen’t actually have that much screen-time, or that many lines, but
actually has a couple more scenes than Richard Widmark did in the original.
One is a very interesting,
lust-strewn exchange between himself and Michelle Pfeiffer, also extremely
good, but again, as with Depp, underused, as the domineering, serial divorcee -
Mrs Hubbard, previously played by Lauren Bacall.
The other key scene for Depp, is his famous
confrontation with Poirot, when he asks unsuccessfully for his help. It’s
discussed over what looks like a caramel pastry dessert, which Ratchett
demolishes with frustration…
There are some fantastic sequences, namely a central set-piece where the
train itself derails completely, with everybody falling out of their beds, as a
lightening storm releases a giant avalanche…
Not everyone is well cast. Mary Debenham, the governess brilliantly played by Vanessa Redgrave before, is now
played by Star Wars’s Daisy Ridley, - far too young to convince
in the the role. Josh Gad, as Ratchett’s assistant McQueen, fails to capture
that nervous energy that Psycho’s Norman Bates himself - Anthony
Perkins, brought to the role.
The biggest miscast is Branagh
himself, majorly over-egging the accent and mannerisms as Poirot - his
performance is pure caricature.
Character names and professions
have been changed. Sean Connery’s Colonel Arbuthnot from the original, is now a
doctor. The car salesman, who was called Foscarelli, has now become the Spanish
Mr. Marquez, played with fantastic, gregarious benevolence by Manuel
Garcia-Rufo.
Stylish, and very entertaining.
Rating: * * * *
15, 141 Mins, Twentieth Century Fox.
In 2015, director Matthew
Vaughn made the first Kingsman film: it was gloriously unapologetic in
the irreverence of its own subversiveness. It knows, as Vaughn does, exactly
which elements it’s sending up. So much so that there’s even a scene in the
original between Colin Firth’s dapper gentlemen spy and Samuel L. Jackman’s
lisping, baseball-capped megalomaniac, where they discuss the many iterations
of the spy genre itself. ‘Nowadays they’re all a little serious for my
taste…give me a far-fetched theatrical plot any day’.
Now,
all the on-the-button self-referentiality coupled with a knowingly nostalgic
whip-smart screenplay gets a sequel.
The second chapter in a proposed trilogy, is even more
over-the-top, flashier, brasher, and gratuitous than the first one. The only
element that’s given a comic-book tone-down this time, is the speed-ramped
violence: there’s no equivalent of the infamous church massacre from the original.
We’re back in spy extravagance from the opening scene: an spectacularly
staged sequence in a London taxi.
Eggsy, our
charismatic young spy, must tackle everything from deadly bionic arms, to
American rivals and lethal cable-cars, all with sharp orange tuxedos, acerbic
one-liners and its tongue firmly inside its cheek.
Taron Egerton as Eggsy, is so confident and funny delivering all of the
above, that he really could be a Bond of the future, effortlessly having much
more personality than Daniel Craig. These movies wouldn’t be nearly as
entertaining without him at the centre.
Starry new recruits are given nothing to do: Halle
Berry and Jeff Bridges are both frustratingly stuck behind desks. While this
film definitely works significantly less well than the original in terms of
sheer surprise, shock or invention - it has an even better villain - another
terrific performance from Julianne Moore as Poppy, the deceptively sunny
proprietor of a fifties-style diner with a ruthlessness behind her veneers. In
her words: ‘Kingsman is crumpets!’. Why ruin it with a gimmicky cameo
from Elton John, and lewdness which makes it impossible to determine who it’s
aimed at. It’s far too jammed with expletives for younger children, and also too
much off an obviously mainstream comic-book spectacular to appeal to more
mature adults. Not as streamlined, self-referential or as strikingly original as
the first one. Can’t wait for the next two though!
Rating: * * * *
2017, PG, 20th Century Fox, 105 Mins.
Casting Hugh
Jackman as
P.T. Barnum, the very first man of show-business, is a perfect match. Jackman
started his career in Oklahoma! at London’s National Theatre before
becoming synonymous as the clawed superhero Wolverine in nine X-Men movies.
The most recent of those, Logan,
decidedly became very gritty, but The Greatest Showman is thankfully
much happier fare: lighter, brighter, much more fun.
In fact, I would
argue it’s even a grand return to the more classical, traditional MGM
Gene Kelly-style musicals of the fifties, ones which we haven’t really seen on
screen for a while, such as Singin' In The Rain or An American In
Paris. The fantastic
score and joyous musical numbers have such an expert sense of glossy spectacle
- so much so, that afterwards, even though it’s a deeply cinematic experience -
because it’s also unashamedly theatrical, you feel as if you’ve just been to
the theatre. Seamus McGarvey’s panoramically swirling cinematography, captures
everything from trapeziums, to elephants and CGI lions, all encompassed within
Nathan Crowley’s effortless production design. This theatricality, hits the audience like a
shot of adrenaline from the dramatic opening shots - drum beats, Barnum in
silhouette, directly addressing the audience, singing: ‘Ladies and gents,
this is the moment you’ve waited for’. Those unaccustomed to the stumbling
block musicals have, of characters suddenly bursting into song and not stopping,
may take a while to acclimatise.
The score itself, is written by the same
lyricists of last award-season’s crowd-pleaser, La La Land, however I
think this is a far more captivating film.
It’s a
score studded with rich textures of emotional resonance, showcasing
fantastically assured performances, not just from a deservedly Golden
Globe-nominated Jackman, but also a terrific Michelle Williams as his wife
Charity, who’s been hiding this astounding voice, for her numbers A Million
Dreams and Tightrope. My favourite, is Never Enough, the
profoundly moving centrepiece for opera starlet Jenny Lind, portrayed brilliantly by
Rebecca Ferguson.
One of the very best films of 2017.
