The BFG

Hello dear reader. I need to start with a confession. Well I say confession, it’s more of an admission really, that could possibly cost me some of those all-important ‘fab & groovy’ cool points that I’ve worked so hard on attaining. Growing up I wasn’t what you would call the sharpest knife in the box. I was slow learner, or as some of the more highbrow inteligencia out there would say, a bit of a thicko. Now, I’m not after sympathy or special treatment but I was effectively the poster boy for the ‘me fail English?, that’s umpossible’ club. However, It wasn’t all doom and gloom growing up. I did have good looks and a rather devilish smile to fall back on but from about the age of five till about nine, I didn’t enjoy reading at all. I found it really hard to concentrate and having to read books I didn’t like at school, basically meant I had absolutely no enthusiasm to read in my own spare time. What saved me from the abandoning the printed page came in the form of a small mobile book shop which turned up one sunny morning at my junior school. This was, if memory serves, a customised Luton van with makeshift shelving and a till. The driver of this magical van recommended a particular book as being fun to read and not like any other book I’d ever read. To his credit he was absolutely right on both counts. The book in question was ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ by Steve Jackson. It’s a fighting fantasy book which, for the uninitiated, means as you read through it, you get to decide what happens next in the story. This book was a revelation to me. Without it books could have ended up just being something other people did. Without that one book and its subsequent butterfly effect, I could have missed out such great literary giants like Douglas Adams, Steven King and Delia Smith. 

Now, back to that all important confession/admission. Between the ages of five and nine, or as I like to call it ‘the wilderness years’ my reading back catalogue was a little thin on the ground. At school we had novels read to us, in a sort of communal Jackanory, with lots more floor cushions and fewer TV cameras but that didn’t really expose me to wide range of authors. I do remember having ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ read to me and its sequel ‘Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator’ but apart from that my only other Roald Dahl dalliance was with ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ and that was in no small part down to the one and only Rik Mayall, The. So what I’m trying to tell you all is, that basically, I have never read ‘The BFG’ and if I’m going to be brutally honest with you, I couldn’t have even told you what BFG stood for until my mid-teens. ‘Basil’s Furry Gerbils’ would have been a good guess at the age of twelve. As would ‘Bilingual Flappy Gangsters’ or even ‘Backdoor French Grandpa’s’ but thanks to the passage of time and the wonders of social interaction I now know that its stands for ‘Big Friendly Giant’ and here’s what I thought of the film…      

The film itself has been a story of stop and start. Or should that be start then stop? It’s been in development for over twenty five years in one form or another but it wasn’t until Steven Spielberg, him off E.T. and Saving Private Ryan, came along that things finally stopped stalling and everything fell into place. For those not in the know, which included me up until a couple of days ago, the story centres around a young orphan called Sophie and the relationship she strikes up with a Big Friendly Giant, or what Richard Osman would call a Big Friendly Person. The Giant in question lives in a place called ‘Giant Land’ (it’s not on Google Maps, I’ve checked) and is pretty much shunned and bullied by the other Giants that live there because he won’t eat children. Now, where things get a little interesting here is when said ‘unfriendly child eating Giants’ start popping up and eating children in Britain. The very nerve of it, I know! So Sophie and the Giant pop off to see the Queen and with the her help the and assistance of some generals from the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force (One of which is played by Matt Frewer or Max Headroom as he’s more commonaly known) they come up with a plan to banish all the nasty Giants and live happily ever after. 

And there you have it. Not the most complex of plots and to be honest, it being a Roald Dahl story, it doesn’t need to be. What it is however is a very well-acted and very well made film. The Big Friendly Giant is played a Mark Rylance, who up until last year’s Bridge of Spies, I’d never heard of. He is a stage actor who’s started to make the crossover from mostly stage based work to appearing on a regular basis in films and television. As the Giant he is everything you could want in twenty four foot tall dream catcher. The computer wizardry that brings his performance to the screen is apparently a hybrid of motion capture, developed by WETA and the system that James Cameron used when he was filming actors in Avatar and you can see where the money has been spent. The Giant is completely convincing as a character and from his large ears to his bushy eyebrows he is able to convey emotion and believability effortlessly. The other great thing about this movie is the actress they’ve found to play Sophie. Her name is Ruby Barnhill and not only does she blow everyone else away when she’s on screen, including Rylance himself, she does it with the confidence of one of her peers, who’s been acting for decades. Ruby Barnhill is a name that you need to remember. She is destined for great things and as her age rises and the scope of rolls she’s offered increases, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there is a golden statue waiting for her, somewhere down the line. 

The overall feel of the film and its visual style are what make it a very pleasant experience to watch. When you give quality script, written by the late Melissa Matheson, to someone who is arguably one of the greatest directors in history you do expect the end product to be polished and meticulously well made. The BFG does not disappoint in this regard. Throw in a score from John Williams on top of that and you have a children’s film that in unlikely to be equalled anytime soon. Spielberg’s thirtieth theatrical release proves that is he capable of not only creating great action icons like Indiana Jones and Bruce the shark but that he can also do deliver films driven by emotion and sentiment too. The BFG is going to have a long shelf life and I doubt that any one will be inclined to try and put this Dahl classic on the silver screen again, for a long time.

Twitter Review: 

A young girl, an old Giant and a lot of magical moments. Rylance & Barnhill, A double act with no equal.  

#scrumdiddlyumptious

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3691740/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ0Bey4YUGI

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/bfg/review/

Victoriia

Hello dear reader, yes I’m back again and yes, I know. There was a gap of about two months before yesterday’s post and here I am with my second offering in less than twenty four hours. The reason for this as you probably guessed from the nice and shiny poster above, is all down to a film called Victoria. Now this blog is going to be a first for a couple of reasons. Namely it will be the first time I’ve ever blogged about a film I didn’t watch at the cinema and equally important. It’s a first because I’m really not going to tell you that much about it, for reasons I shall explain shortly. 

Victoria is a film that first came to my attention in February of this year and when I read its premise it instantly went on my must watch list. It was made in the early hours of the 27th of April 2014. Now, when I say made in the early hours of the 27th of April, I do mean the entire film. You see the reason Victoria peaked my interest is simple. It has a running time of 136 minutes or just over two and a quarter hours long if you want it in imperial and it’s all one shot. Now when I say one shot, I mean one shot. There’s not clever editing or special effects, what you watch from beginning to end is one cameraman filming the entire movie. This accomplishment is made more impressive when you realise that the film starts in a night club and by the time it’s concluded we’ve been on the top of apartment blocks, witnessed fights on street corners and also been put right in the middle of a bank robbery. Other films have had long shots in them. Robert Altman’s The Player has an opening shot that lasts over eight and a half minutes and Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity beats that by four minutes but I’ve never seen a film that was entirely just one shot and no edits. 

Victoria has a director that you’re unlikely to have heard of, Sebastian Schipper. Its cast is also small and full of actors you probably won’t have seen anywhere else, although I suspect we will be seeing Laia Costa, who plays Victoria in a lot more over the coming years. Don’t let the fact that this is a film that has probably slipped under your radar put you off watching it. As I said in the beginning I’m not going to elaborate on the plot, more than I already have. I think it’s probably better going into this film without expectation or prior knowledge of what will take place.  All I will say is this. I took three attempts to film Victoria and what we, the paying audience, see is the third take. It’s set in Berlin but is has large parts of English dialogue in it. So much so that it was disqualified for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language. I sometimes recommend films, in these blogs as being worth a watch but Victoria is the first time I think I’ve ever written that a film should fall into the ‘must watch’ category. As it’s a relatively new film it’s unlikely to be available on Netflix or Amazon Prime yet but when it is, set aside an evening to watch it. It’s nothing short of astonishing. Also, PSA. If you have photo sensitive epilepsy, skip the first two minutes of the film. It won’t impact the story in any way, shape or form. 

One girl. One City. One City. One Take. 

Ghostbusters

Hello dear reader,

9724 Days, or 1389 Weeks, or 233,376 Hours, or 14,002,560 Minutes.

That’s how long the gap has been between Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters and the Ivan Reitman sequel that hit the screens back in December of 1989. Twenty seven years of trying to get the third film off the ground. Several false starts. Numerous rewrites and more drafts than you’d normally see in your average double glazing advert. So why did Columbia Pictures spend put so much time and effort into getting what would have been Ghostbusters III off the ground? The simple answer to that is money. The original that hit the screens back in 1984 was, and by some considerable distance, the year’s biggest box office draw and although the 1989 sequel wasn’t as big of a hit. It crept in at number 7 on the top 10 of the year, with Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Lethal Weapon 2, claiming the top three positions, it put enough bums on seats to get a script the green light. Now it’s one thing for a studio to want a another sequel but it’s a whole other ball game to get one made when one of the principle stars isn’t overly keen on making it. The star in question being Mr Bill Murray. Now, for those of you who don’t know much about Mr Murray when he’s not entertaining you on the silver screen or on your TV’s, Ipad’s, laptops etc, he is, shall we say, a little bit eccentric. He’s walks to the beat of his own drum and doesn’t really do things the way that others in Hollywood would consider ‘normal’. For example, he doesn’t have an agent, he has an answer phone and from time to time he’s known to listen to it. Rumour has it that when Sofia Coppola couldn’t get hold of Murray when she was trying to get Lost in Translation off the ground, she had to hire a private investigator to track him down.

So it’s safe to say that if Bill decides he doesn’t want to do something he doesn’t do it. Dan Ackroyd and the late Harold Ramis spent a long time trying to get Murray to change his mind but they never did. The closest they came was getting him to agree to it but only if his character ‘Dr Peter Venkman’ was killed off in the first act and then only appeared sparingly, throughout the rest of the film as a ghost. After about fifteen years of back and forth and several unsuccessful meetings Ackroyd, Ramis and Columbia Pictures gave up and the Ghostbusters franchise seemed to be forever languish in development hell.

Then came along Paul Feig, a man whose recent directorial efforts had shown he had a knack for making funny films. He set his stall out, made his pitch and before you could say misogyny and internet backlash he had a healthy budget to play with and marketing campaign that practically looked after itself.  The words ‘Female Reboot’ shouldn’t really be considered as dangerous. But given some of the reaction to this film, when it was announced that the four main lead characters were going to be lacking in that ‘ever so important’* Y Chromosome, you’d have thought that someone had announced that men were being rounded up in there thousands and being subjected to unspeakable horrors, like having their testosterone removed at needlepoint. I have mentioned kneejerk backlash, regarding casting decisions in previous blogs. Daniel Craig being a ‘Blonde Bond’ and Ben Afleck as Batman but the casting of four women in a comedy nearly broke the internet, at least twice.

*Sarcasm klaxon on full volume.

Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Lesie Jones and Kristen Wiig. Four names that shouldn’t really cause that much controversy and if they’d been cast together in any other movie, assuming that also hadn’t have been another reboot of a male-centric movie in the first place, it wouldn’t have caused so much as a ripple in the fabric of movie journalism, to say nothing of the internet itself. But because of, what I hope were, a small group of Neanderthal, knuckle dragging, cockwombles (I would have used harsher language but there could be young’uns reading this) these four actresses have spent the better part of the last twelve months having to deal with trolls, and other assorted inbred, dingleberry fondler’s (still trying to keep it clean). Not to mention probably having to answer questions on it, every time they spend the day on a press junket. And you know what, every single one of them. To all the naysayers, all the ‘You’re going to ruin my childhood’ bandwagon jumper-oners and all the people out there that decided to bash this film before it was even released, I say this. GO FECK YOURSELF AND WHEN YOU’VE FINISHED FECKING YOURSELF, GO FECK YOURSELF AGAIN!

Right, I’ve climbed down off my little soapbox and I’ll now get down to the nitty gritty of why most of you are hear, my opinion of the film. Well I have good news and bad news. I’ll start with the good. It’s funny, not only that, it’s very funny. Paul Feig and fellow screenwriter Katie Dippold have come up with what at times is a laugh out loud script and I can’t remember the last time I watched one of those in a cinema. It also isn’t really based around one main lead character with the rest ridding along on the coattails of their mirth and merriment. Everyone gets an equal share of the spotlight and everyone gets to steal scenes throughout the movie. The other thing that screams funny here is Chris Hemsworth as Kevin the receptionist. If you haven’t been sold on the trailers so far and I’ll be honest, I think I fell into that category myself. The film is worth the price of admission purely on his performance. I wouldn’t want to spoil Kevin too much for you but I will say this. He has a dog called Mike Hat (say it out loud) and he has removed the lenses from his glasses because they got dirty. He’s the sort of character that would try and shoot someone with a sword, whilst shouting bang at the same time. Just think Thor with the IQ of a tennis racket and you wouldn’t be too far wide of the mark. But back to our four main leads. They are a very eclectic bunch. Kristen Wiig plays Erin Gilbert, a former friend of Melissa McCarthy’s Abby Yates, who is now trying to make a name for herself in the academia. Which is made harder when it’s brought to her attention that a book on the paranormal, that she co-wrote with Abby, is now available on Amazon. Abby has set her stall out to prove the existence of ghosts with the help of her assistant, Jillian Holtzman. Played by Kate Mckinnon, who by the way is nothing short of astoundingly brilliant. The three of them end up ‘leaving’ their respective position’s and team up to confirm and provide proof that ghosts are real. It’s whilst they are investigating the paranormal they come across Patty Tolan, a no nonsense, hardworking and  very outgoing MTA employee, played by Leslie Jones. The four of them team up and pull their resources to form…..wait for it, ‘GHOSTBUSTERS’. (Bet you didn’t see that coming did you!)

So to sum up the good news, I’ll say this. It’s fairly obvious that Ghostbusters has had a lot of time and effort spent on it. Twenty seven years to be exact. Paul Feig has done a great job in assembling a top notch cast and with the notable absence of Rick Moranis all of the original cast appear in cameo roles. Even the late and great Harold Ramis puts in a, blink and you’ll miss it, appearance as a bronze bust. There is a credit sting and as for the credits themselves, I’ll say this. If you like your Norse Gods with a bit of the Saturday Night Fever about them, you’re in for a very big treat.

Now for what I shall call the bad news. Or as I suspect some of you will say ‘Bavin, you don’t know what you’re fecking talking about’. For me the biggest let down, and there aren’t many, is the third act. The first two thirds of the film are great and I’d go so far as to say that the opening ten minutes of the film could be described in some corners of the internet, as actually scary. But for me where things go south is the last twenty five minutes or so. The villain of the piece Rowan North played by Neil Casey, stops being creepy and uncomfortable to watch and basically becomes what I would at best characterise as, the big white hype. The whole thing then rips off Poltergeist, pretty much lock stock and barrel, and has people jumping into other dimensions with cables wrapped around their waist and has more continuity errors then you can shake a class four, full roaming vapour at. On the whole though it isn’t a bad film at all. In my humble opinion I would happily sign legal documents to say that it’s a very solid four out of five stars. Columbia Pictures have a film that is not only respectful of what has come before. It’s also good enough to be considered on its own merits. If the universe is a fair and just place and judging on what politicians seem to call normal these days, it must be somewhere! Then I fully expect to see a sequel announced within six weeks of its release date. If they don’t green light a follow up film then going on previous experience it’s likely to be another twenty seven years before someone else comes along and tries a reboot again. And if that happens dear reader, I’ll be just north of seventy and to be honest, unlikely to even be able to spell Ghostbusters.

Twitter Review:

27 years in the making and only slightly overcooked in places. Funny, fresh & full on. 

#We’reReadyToBelieveYou

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289401/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6hlkIlGFCI

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/ghostbusters-2016/review/

Captain America: Civil War

Hello dear reader. Well they’ve gone and done and it again. Those annoying types over at ‘Team Marvel’, with Kevin Fiege at the helm have released another one of those pesky superhero movie things. And much to my bloody annoyance, (Hashtag Team DC), it has, to quote George Formby, turned out nice again. The film in question is of course Captain America: Civil War and it without wishing to cry over my keyboard too much, it shows perfectly well how to make a movie that lasts the better part of two and a half hours, filled with more characters than you’d usually find on the average page of a Where’s Wally book, which is then also coherent and fun to watch. 

Must not mention Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Must not mention Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Must not mention Batman v Superman: Dawn of…

Capatian America as a character works. He’s one of only a handful of superheroes from the Marvel stable that have made it to three standalone films. The others, of course, being Iron Man and Thor (Ragnarok 2017). He’s not quite truth, justice and the American way, mostly because the current American way seems to be the polar opposite of his own moral compass but If you have a problem, if no one else can help and The A-Team aren’t available (and of course you happened to live in the MCU), chances are he’d offer to help. Assuming of course he wasn’t previously engaged in say, jumping out of a plane without a parachute, fighting 13 squillion people in a glass elevator or doing the world’s greatest impression of an ice lolly, just north of Castle Black. 

One of the main reasons that ‘old cappy’ works is down mostly down to three people. The first is Joss Whedon, who took the less than stellar origin story and built the character into a believable and credible human being in the first Avengers film. The second and third people responsible for making Cap an ‘A lister’ are the brothers Anthony and Joe Russo. Rumour has it that Mr Fiege was so impressed with their directorial MCU debut, Winter Soldier (Captain America 2, to the uninitiated) that he green light them to direct Civil War and also both parts of the upcoming Avengers: Infinity Wars. (Coming to a cinema screen near you in the summer of 2018 and then 2019). These two films will be the culmination of everything that has come before. Phases one, two and now three, will all be hanging their respective hopes on the ever so crowed shelf, that and also keeping their fingers crossed that the shelf in question doesn’t give way under the weight of expectation. To give you some idea of the task at hand, pretty much every MCU bod and their official hangeroners (excluding those of course that have popped their clogs and snuffed it, ex-parrot like) will be making an appearance over the course of these two movies. Thanos, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Loki, Hulk and Mr Bun the Baker are all scheduled to appear. Which is long way of saying that, by comparison Civil War is basically like watching a hermit convention.

So without wishing to channel my inner Baldrick too much, I give you the following.

‘The thing is: The way I see it, these days there's a film on? and, ages ago, there wasn't a film on, right? So, there must have been a moment when there not being a film on went away, right? and there being a film on came along. So, what I want to know is: How did we get from the one case of affairs to the other case of affairs?’ 

Or to put it another way, how did Civil War make it to the big screen?

Well as I mentioned earlier, the Russo brothers were handed the reins for 2014’s Winter Soldier. Marvel have a habit of picking from the outer rim of expectation when it comes to choosing directors. James Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy, John Favreau for the first two Iron Man films and of course Kenneth Branagh for Thor. The biggest hit the Russo’s had had prior to Winter Soldier was with the schmaltz fest ‘You , me and Dupree’ and just over a dozen episodes of Community. However they pretty much knocked it out of the park and ticked all the boxes they were asked to. No mean feat considering that one of those boxes was to turn Robert Redford into a credible villain (sorry, there should have been a spoiler alert in there somewhere). They teamed up again with the same screenwriters as before, Christopher Marcus and Stephen Mcfeely and, as I alluded to earlier, have delivered the longest MCU film to date and at the same time a film, that in my not at all biased DC opinion, can quiet easily sit up and hold its own in the best three Marvel films ever made. 

Must not mention Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice etc…

Now, as for that all important plot, it’s not that complicated and is basically as follows. The world’s governments and assorted leaders are starting to get just ever so slightly annoyed with the collateral damage and clean-up operation that is normally bestowed upon them after a visit from a passing superhero, or in most cases, superheroes. The cost, not only financial but physical too, is starting to take its toll and it’s decided that there needs to be some accountability for this. So before you can say ‘sign on the dotted line’ a document the size of a telephone directory is thrust in front of any and all ‘do-gooders’ that have a costume clause in there ‘we will only help humanity if…’ contract.  

Now as you can imagine this does not go down well with some and is what effectively causes the so called Civil War. Just a quick note here. When I first heard that this was the basic premise for the plot I had kind assumed, wrongly as it turns out, that It would be Captain America that was all for this and that free thinking, doesn’t like to play by the rules, Tony Stark (or is that Stank?) that would be dead set against it. However that’s not how the film plays out at all. I haven’t read the Comic Book series in which this film is based upon but I’d be very interested to find out how much it has been altered, to bring it to the big screen. 

So there you have it. Team Tony, including Vision, Black Widow and Spider-Man (more on him later) are happy to sign but Team Cappy, who include Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and assorted others are shall we say, not overly keen to put their John Hancock’s on this document. Primarily because it would relinquish their ability to choose who to help and when and they’d be under the control of an organisation. And as Cap says, Organisations have agendas and agendas can change.  

As well as the more familiar faces returning here there are also a couple of new ones. Firstly we have Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa or as he’s more communally known, Black Panther. Now he has an interesting back story which borders on, or at least parks very close to, spoiler territory. His Character is set for his own film, which is currently set to hit the silver screen at some point in July of 2018 and I myself am looking forward to what direction it ends up taking. Again I can’t get into the meat and bones of the character too much without giving away Civil War plot details but I will say he spends most of the film hell bent on revenge. Annoyingly though he never starts any of his conversations with the sentence ‘I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand? 

However, the real star of the show is Spider-Man. Now, this is only possible because at some point back towards the tail end of 2014, either Andrew Garfield threw his rattle out of the pram and walked away from the rebooted ‘Amazing Spiderman’ franchise or the bean counters over at Sony Films decided that there weren’t enough bums on seats and merchandise being sold to continue it as a viable proposition. The exact reason for mothballing ‘Spidey’ will probably never come to light but Kevin Feige, being a clever old soul, set up a meeting with Sony to see if they’d be willing to let him use the webcrawler in his MCU. After the dust settled and the obligatory sacrifices to the gods had been made Sony & Marvel agreed that it would be in everyone’s best interests to put Peter Parker back on the big screen and do it quickly. Long story short it was announced that Spider-Mans first MCU appearance would be in Civil War and the only small issue to overcome, was to actually cast someone for the roll. Again, depending on which parts of deepest darkest corners of the internet you’re prepared to believe, the shortlist for auditions had three names on it and all three actors had to complete a screen test with Robert Downey Jr & Chris Evans. 

Tom Holland ending up landing the roll and I have to say, it seems like the right choice. Tom is currently nineteen and given that the screenwriters have forgone the origin story that seems to be obligatory in any and all superhero films, he’s at the perfect age to play Peter Parker whilst he’s still in high school. He’s funny and intelligent and by the time Tony Stark tracks him down he’s already been out and about, swinging through the Manhattan skyline for the better part of six months. I’m not sure if it’s just Peter Parker being catastrophically naïve or not having the life experience to know any better but when Tony Stark asks him to join him to fight the good fight and help show ‘Team Cap’ the error of their ways, he jumps at the chance. Of course Stark telling him he’ll fund him for basically the best part of forever, does help sweeten the deal too. Tom Holland doesn’t so much steal this movie, he commits grand larceny. He is the stand out performance in a film that isn’t exactly shy when it comes to actors that ‘know their shit’. He will be back in the Spidey suit next year for what Marvel have cheekily called ‘Spider-Man: homecoming’ and I for one can’t wait.

Another quick little tangent here, if you’ll permit me. Most of you British types of a certain age, or should that be a certain generation (far more PC) will probably be interested to know that Tom’s father, is in fact Dominic Holland. Now, that name might not mean much to you but I’m pretty sure in you Googled the name and saw his picture, you would all say ‘Oh, Him!’ 

Captain America: Civil War is an absolute blast. From its beginnings to its closing credits, it does exactly what a blockbuster film is supposed to do. It entertains and reminds you that when movies are done well, the cinema can be a great place to while away and afternoon or evening. It has some of the best action sequences that Marvel have ever offered us, including a visually stunning fight sequence in an airport, that’s worth the price of admission on its own. It certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously and the script is full of humor and intelligence, which given some of the subject matter that comes up, definitely puts this film very much in the win column. The next MCU Film that’s lurching just over the horizon is Doctor Strange. That’s due to it land at the end of October this year and apart from Benedict Cumberbatch’s ridiculous false beard, the trailer looks very impressive. So in closing I will say this. Go and see Civil War, you’ll be glad you did. As always, make sure you stay and watch the credits. There’s a mid-credit sting and one at the very end and remember these films aren’t the be all and end of movie making. There never going to be considered high-brow or worthy of winning the best film Oscar. I’ve said before that I believe there is a real danger that at some point soon, especially as DC & Warner’s are now squarely affixed to the bandwagon, we will hit the Superhero event horizon and people will just get tired from an oversaturated market and stop going to see them. However, until that day comes, get your bottom down to your nearest multiplex pronto quick and watch Civil War. You’ll be really glad you did…

Twitter Review: Marvel at Marvel doing that voodoo that they do so well. 

#WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility 

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498820/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKrVegVI0Us

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/captain-america-civil-war/review/

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Hello dear reader. Is it a bird, is it a plane, no!, it’s a Hollywood studio and DC Comics trying to launch a film franchise eight years after the other team (who shall not be named, boo hiss) started their little foray into the world of silver screen spandex and all things Superhero. 

I am of course referring to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now to say this is the start for Warner Brothers and DC is a little unfair. They did of course bring us Man of Steel back in 2013. Directed by Zack Snyder, it was a complete reboot of the Superman cannon, at least when it came to film and had British born Henry Cavill donning the big red cape. It did a reasonable amount of business, which is good, because if it hadn’t then we wouldn’t find ourselves, looking out over a Warner Brother’s film schedule that is now set in stone until the beginning of 2020. Indeed, assuming nothing changes and we don’t reach the Superhero event horizon anytime soon, Warner’s and DC have close to a dozen films just waiting to be given the green light. To say nothing of the boo hiss brigade, over there in smelly town. (DC fan boy and damn proud of it!) 

Man of Steel hit the screens in June of 2013 and at that years San Diego Comic Con, which ran from July the 18th through to the 21st, Warner’s hired out the infamous Hall ‘H’ for an one of those ‘dress casual, we hope you can make, we’d love to see’ kind of afternoon sessions. No one really knew what they were going to trumpet or promote for that matter. And it’s safe to say that there wouldn’t have been many cosplayers, fans or even press, that were prepared for what was about to be announced. Zack Snyder took to the stage and with less than four weeks under its belt, confidently proclaimed that there would be a sequel to the Man of Steel. And although the script had not even been started, he was sure of the direction he wanted to take it and the story he wanted to tell. Then the big S Superman logo filled the screen behind, which was promptly followed by a lot of cheering and whooping, and then it happened. A Batman logo appeared behind the S and it’s safe to say that for a good thirty seconds or so, Hall H went a little bonkers conkers. Then of course, once the initial impact had started to ebb away, everyone started to speculate about who Warner’s And DC were going to get to don the cowl and play the dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman. Christian Bale had left some pretty big shoes to fill, in no small part down to Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. And whoever they decided on, they needed to get it right. Names were banded around and shortlists were drawn up and on August the 22nd, 2013, there was an official press release. A press release that at the time seemed to be a ‘little bit’ controversial. In the same way that the moon is a ‘little bit’ of a long walk. Many had hoped that Mr Bale could be coaxed back to the part, and if ye olde internet is to be believed, there was an awful lot of money thrown in his direction, to try and make that happen. But no, Sir Ben of the Affleck had landed the role of the caped crusader and it was safe to say he was not a popular choice. 

There have been other casting decisions, in the past, that have been met with universal disapproval. Daniel Craig had to deal with a huge backlash against him and even an online petition that garnered over fifty thousand signatures, purely down to the colour of his hair. But when all is said and done, it turns out that Bond can be blonde and after four films he has managed to silence even his sternest critics. When Tom Cruise was cast as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice threatened to sue Warner’s if they went ahead and made it with him in it. She did however rescind that threat and after watching the final cut of the film, and before its general release, Anne took out a full page advert in Variety, apologising to Tom for her previous behaviour and also to praise his performance. Even the late and great Heath Ledger had to suffer scorn and ignominy when the aforementioned Mr Nolan cast him in The Dark Knight. And by the way, if you don’t think that Heath as the Joker is the greatest portrayal of a comic book character ever to grace the big screen, then you and I are destined to fall out.

However, none of the actors mentioned above have had to come close to the level of flack that Matt Damon’s best bud had had to endure when the powers that be announced Affleck as Batman. The geek and nerd world cried out in one universal voice, NO! And to be honest they could have had a point. Mr Affleck had previously dipped his toes into the comic book world, back in 2003, when he played the title role of Matt Murdock in Daredevil. Now to say this film is bad doesn’t really do the word bad justice. It’s a film I have and will only ever watch once. It is an hour and forty three minutes of the most overblown twaddle you can imagine and don’t even get me started on Colin Farrell as Bullseye.

So in retrospect there may well have been genuine concern for Affleck taking on, what is arguably one of the most iconic comic characters ever created. Mr Affleck however, was determined to prove these naysayers wrong and put in a performance that would not only stand the test of time but prove once and for all that you can utter the words Ben and Batman in the same sentence without wanting to throw up a little. 

He started training in the gym, twice a day, six days a week, knowing that if you’re going to play a Superhero, you need to look like a Superhero. If you ever get the chance to watch Gone Girl, have a look at how big he is at the start of the film, compared to how he looks towards the end. He’s practically bursting out of his shirt in some scenes. 

So that moves us into early 2014 and the film, which had now evolved from being called Man of Steel 2, to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It was now about to start filming and the studio exec’s and bean counters would have been forgiven for feeling just ever so slightly nervous with what, at best, could have been described as a ‘luke warm’ reception, when it came to its casting choices. It did however have a few aces still left to play. The announcement of Gal Gadot as Diana Prince, or more commonly known to us mere mortals as Wonder Woman and Oscar winner Jeremy Irons as Alfred, did help slow the tide of apathy and indifference towards this tent poll movie, but only just. Principle photography lasted nearly eight months, which is about double what you’d expect for a film of this nature. Then the original release date got moved from the summer of 2015 to March 2016. This did set a few alarm bells off because as a general rule, if a studio moves a film from its announced date, especially if that date is slap bang in the middle of blockbuster season, it’s never normally for good reasons. Of course it is only a rule of thumb and it certainly didn’t hinder the box office of The Force Awakens, after that had been put back by some six months. But having B v S pulled from its slot last year did nothing to help with its reputation or general buzz. 

Then came the trailers. There have been four official trailers so far and several TV Spots and even with the best spin in the world, they haven’t really enthralled or convinced me that this could be the Superhero movie the world has been waiting for or indeed the kick in the spandex the entire franchise, as a whole, requires to launch DC’s Justice League (The equivalent of the Avengers, made of course by the people who shall not be named, boo hiss…)  

Now for those of you who are not in the know, I love Batman as a character. Its dark, he has a great back story and a collection of some of the greatest villains you’re ever likely to see this side of a political convention. But even I have to admit the last two and a half years have not been an easy ride. I was also not overly keen on Affleck getting the nod for Batman but I told myself that even though DD was a bit wrongo pongo, he had still won two Oscars. One for screenwriting (Good Will Hunting) and the other for best director (Argo) and they don’t give them out just anybody and I should know, I have asked!  I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and reserve judgement until I had seen the film. Then there were interviews with Snyder himself and quotes where he stated that he was looking to make a film that was tonally similar to Watchmen, which if you haven’t seen is okay but only in patches. All in all I wasn’t sure I was going to like Dawn of Justice much at all. It seemed the universe had spent a lot of time and effort to make sure I was underwhelmed going into its screening but then came the world premiere in New York…

Although there was a press embargo and no one could officially comment, there were some people who attended, who were not members of the associated press and they took to twitter and offered up a tantalising glimpse into what was to come. It was good, and not only that, it was very good. Talk of ‘Gadot being the standout performance’, ‘nothing like the trailers portray it’ and ‘the best comic book film of the last five years’.  

Now it’s very hard not to get carried away when you read things like that. Having your expectation level raised from ‘mediocre’ to just ever so slightly above ‘quietly confident’ can be a dangerous thing. I always try to be objective when I write these reviews, even if I’ve been looking forward to what I’m going to see, I always try and tell it how I see it. So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, geeks and nerds of all ages, gather round, make yourself comfortable and sit back and relax as I get to the meat and bones of why you’re all here.

In the red corner I give you, weighing in at a shade over 250 lbs. An orphan, with an external underwear issue. ‘The’ illegal immigrant. The king of sting. The master of disaster. The count of monty fisto. The one, the only, son of Krypton, I give you ‘Super-no-one-can-tell-its-me-when-I-wear-glasses-Man!’ 

And In the blue corner, also weighing in at over 250 lbs. and change. Another orphan. A man who’s moodier than a moody thing on national moody day in moody land. A man with a belt for any and all occasions. The car maybe big, the cowl may have ears but don’t mention the boy wonder or it’ll all end in tears! The one, the only, the Gotham grappler ‘Bat-I-have-a-cape-as-well-Man!’

So to start with, I’ll give you my honest opinion of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It’s a mess, the end. 

Now, as you were probably expecting something a little more ‘highbrow’ than that I shall expand my review a tad, but it is my sad duty to report that the greatest gladiator match of modern times and yes I am including Freddy vs. Jason, Coke vs. Pepsi, Blur vs. Oasis and Red Sauce vs. Brown, in that statement, has missed the mark by some considerable distance. Mr Snyder seems to have taken the premise of the film, decided that plot and story aren’t important and then tried to convince most of the paying audience that filling the screen with more C.G.I. than you’d find at the headquarters of Pixar, is definitely the way to go. Now I should, in the balance of fairness, say that it isn’t all bad. It’s an improvement, in a lot of respects, over Man of Steel but it does seem to suffer from the age old problem of trying to do too much on screen. Which is odd because with a running time of over two and a half hours you’d of thought that there would have been ample time to deal with the subject matter at hand. Alas no, in the same way that the third outing for Toby Maguire’s Spiderman and Avengers: Age of Ultron didn’t really work, Dawn of Justice is just a real jumble when it comes to its backbone, the narrative. It’s completely M.I.A. I am not trying to get too personal here but in the same way George Lucas was taken to the wood shed for Episodes I, II & III, it’s becoming more and more apparent that Zack Snyder doesn’t know how to translate a screenplay onto the silver screen. It’s unfortunately it’s starting to very much look like 300 may have been a one hit wonder. 

Watchman, a swing and a miss.

Suckerpunch, a fairly sexiest foul ball.

Man of Steel, another swing and a miss.

Batman v Superman, strike three, your outa here!

As for the actors themselves there also a few under par performances. Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luther is just a very odd, almost borderline irritating. This is partly my fault as I’ve grown up with Luther always being played by an older actor. Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey were as good as it gets and having someone half their age cast in the role just feels very wrong. Eisenberg’s approach to the part is different and he should certainly get some credit for originality but there are times throughout the film where I felt like I wanted to reach through the screen and slap him. Henry Cavill and his square jaw go through the motions and to be honest he does little more than he did before. Flying to the rescue, as and when required and rescuing Lois Lane at least twice. Things do a touch better with Ben Affleck. He certainly looks the part and is basically as close as anyone has ever come to looking like The Dark Knight in Frank Millers graphic novels. He’s broody and plays the whole angst angle very well. He won’t be everyone’s favourite brand of vodka and is also a long way from anything Mr Bale brought to the Screen. Jeremy Irons, as Alfred, has a lot of fun with what he’s asked to do but, as with any actor of that standing, is never on screen long enough. However the star of the show is Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. She is every part the equal of the two headline acts. She outsmarts Bruce Wayne, isn’t afraid to tell it like it is and has her own guitar riff intro when she first appears in costume. Although again, as with Alfred, she doesn’t get anywhere near the screen time that she deserves. 

At the end of the day I was really disappointed with Dawn of Justice. There are some issues with it that I can’t go into without giving away some spoiler’s but who ever okayed one of the main protagonists dying twice within the last twenty minutes of the film, should be forced to attend Donald Trump Conventions, wearing an ‘I love Muslims and Taco’s’ T-shirt. 

What I really don’t understand is that when the bosses at Warner’s and DC were shown the fine final cut, with all the effects shot in place, they apparently gave it a standing ovation and then gave the go ahead to make an extra two more stand-alone Batman films (originally there was only going to be one) and also signed on the dotted line to let Snyder direct the first Justice League film. Which on reflection, makes about as much sense as cheese socks or waterproof tea bags. 

I do worry for the future at the moment. The powers that be seem to be blissfully out of touch with not only reality but the intelligence of its audience as well. Its target audience, based on what I have just seen, is the five to ten year old brigade, who are buzzing their little socks off from a popcorn and coke sugar rush and couldn’t give two hoots about character development as long as everything looks cool and shiny! What they need is the equivalent of a Kevin Fiege. Someone with a clear voice and a clear vision. Someone who can oversee the upcoming years and who isn’t afraid to say no when it’s needed. It isn’t quite panic stations yet. Suicide Squad is out in early August and from what I’ve seen and read about that, it looks like it could be something quite special. I guess in the meantime I’m going to have to get my Superhero jollies from that lot who shall not be named, boo hiss. Does anyone know which buses go to smelly town?...

Twitter Review:

#Batman v Superman is a gladiator battle that any compassionate referee, would stop. Problematic, muddled and messy.

#ThrowInTheTowel

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2975590/?ref_=fn_al_tt_4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwfUnkBfdZ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yViIi3gie2c

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/batman-v-superman-dawn-justice/review/

10 Cloverfield Lane

Hello dear reader, its film time again and as you can tell from the poster above, it’s a film that will fall into what I like to call the ‘Marmite’ category. And by that I mean that it’s either going to be a film you love or a film that you will actively avoid. This can also be said of its predecessor, Cloverfield. 

Back in the latter half of 2007, a trailer appeared for what turned out to be the Matt Reeves monster movie Cloverfield. It was attached to the start of the first Transformers film and it basically did two things. Firstly it proved that even in the early stages of social media and internet spoiler’s, it was possible to make a film that was not only under the radar but also make a film that some Hollywood studios didn’t even get wind of. Secondly, for the better part of the three months between the first trailer going viral and the film’s release, it nearly broke the internet. If you go to YouTube and just type in ‘Cloverfield’, there is page after page of fan theories and conjecture. I can’t think of a marketing strategy and plan that was executed better, when it comes to film.  

Now, I mentioned that Cloverfield is the predecessor to 10 Cloverfield Lane, which in some ways is true. However, both films are neither a sequel or a prequel to each other. The best description I’ve read about the two is that they are blood relatives. But for those of you who are preparing a trip to see 10 Cloverfield Lane, I will say this. They are both very different animals. Cloverfield is, and the statute of limitations on spoilers has well and truly expired here, is a movie about a monster, from somewhere, that has decided to rip Manhattan a new one. 10 Cloverfield Lane most definitely isn’t. 

Do you ever go into a cinema, with expectations of what you’re about to see and then have someone completely pull the rug from under your feet? It doesn’t happen to me that often and I think the last time it did happen to me was with Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, which I went into thinking I was about to watch a visually stunning science fiction epic, which for the most part it is. But fundamentally it’s a (small spoiler alert) ghost story. The reason I bring this up is because I had some preconceptions about what 10CL would offer up but what I wasn’t anticipating was just how dark the film was going to turn out to be. And by dark I mean its tone, not its lighting. To quote Ren and Stimpy, it is not a ‘Happy happy joy joy’ film at all. 

As for the film itself, I’ll start with the basics. It has a cast list of eight, yes eight. And three of those are only heard as voices. The more observant of you will pick up who Ben on the phone is played by and will realise that it’s not first time he’s been in a film with John Goodman. John himself shares the screen for most of the film with John Gallagher Jr, who is probably most famous for being in Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. For many Mary will be an actress who they are not familiar with but she has acting since the late 90’s and has been in Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Tarantino’s Death Proof and the last two Die Hard films, to name but a few. However, as good as those two actors and the performances they give are, they are both put in the shade by Mr Goodman. He plays Howard, an ex-Navy man with a survival fixation. He’s spent the prevailing years building a bunker next to his home, believing that an attack, whether its nuclear, chemical or military in nature is a forgone conclusion and it’s only a matter of when, not if, before it takes place. Howard isn’t evil however he runs the bunker with a very authoritative regimen. ‘His bunker, his rules.’ Although he isn’t evil Howard, is a very unbalanced man. Going from calm to angry in the blink of an eye. 

Mary’s character, Michelle, finds herself waking up in the bunker after being involved in a car crash. Howard has tended to her wounds, put her on an intravenous drip and provided food for her. He then tells her that the air outside has been poisoned as the result of an ‘attack’, which could have originated from outer space and as such she cannot leave. Mary, understandably, doesn’t believe a word of this and promptly puts plans into action, to try and escape back to the outside world. Now, without going into spoiler territory, there is reveal and counter reveal. As I mentioned earlier, the tone of this film is very dark and at times can be uncomfortable to watch. Its’s also worth pointing out that as with The Abyss, 10CL is a tight, claustrophobic, character driven piece that takes a big left turn about three quarters of the way through. It’s been less than twenty four hours since I’ve seen 10CL and I still can’t work out if it’s a film I want to see again. I did enjoy it and I think it’s well worth everyone’s time and effort to go and see it. I just can’t work out if I want to watch John Goodman being Howard again.

As with Cloverfeild, 10CL only appeared a short time before its release. Although there was an even shorter gap between acknowledgment of the film even existing and it taking up schedule space at the local multiplex. The first and only trailer for it was unleashed in mid-January this year (2016) and again, as with Cloverfield, was attached to a Michael Bay film, that being 13 Hours. 

Whilst JJ Abrams was playing director on a small independent sci-fi movie last year, he also had his producer hat on for Paramount. Just an aside here, if you have a spare couple of hours spare, take a look at JJ’s profile on IMDB’s website. He must have an at best, cursory relationship, with sleep. With his supervision, first time film director, Dan Trachtenberg has turned in a film that could be defined, in years to come, as a good base camp to start out from. It’s been eight years between these two films and I wouldn’t mind betting at some point in the future there will be a third. I’ll be keeping an eye on what the internet says JJ and Paramount are up to in 2024 and by then, who knows, we may have reached a point where someone at a major studio is prepared to do the film equivalent of Beyoncé and actually release a major Hollywood film with no build up, no trailers and no marketing and just casually announce that its opening tomorrow, ‘go see it’.   

There are a few things wrong with 10CL and a couple of plot devices that are, in my humble opinion, just a little bit lazy, when it comes to screenwriting. I can see the ending being a problem for some as it offers a promise of things to come that we almost certainly won’t see, at least not yet and the three main characters, on which the film hangs itself on, don’t always feel like they are being that smart. A solid four out of five but may leave a bitter aftertaste… 

Twitter Review:

Above and below, there are monsters everywhere…

#SomeThingWickedThisWayComes

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179933/?ref_=nm_flmg_prd_7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saHzng8fxLs

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/10-cloverfield-lane/review/

Hail, Caesar!

Hello dear reader, I hope you are well. Right, now we have a problem. Or to be more precise, I have a problem. A problem I suspect I may not be alone with but I have the tiniest of inklings that it could ever so slightly taint what you are about to read. 

My problem is this. Ever since the early nineties, I cannot hear the words ‘Hail Caesar’ without immediately thinking of Graham Chapman in the masterpiece that is ‘The Life of Brian’ and one particular scene in general. This problem is then further compounded by the fact that no sooner has my brain processed that little gem of comedy gold, that it always, and I do mean always, moves onto Mr. Michael Palin and his fabulous ‘Biggus Dickus’ speech. Now once that has played out in my head things tend to settle down a bit and I can try and pull my thought processes back to what most qualified professionals would laughably call ‘normal’. However, it can sometimes be a struggle to get there, as its dependant on the prevailing wind speed, the company I am in at the time and whether I am the Messiah or just a very naughty boy. 

There’s also the small matter of me doing the world’s worst impression of the Beavis & Butt-Head laugh whilst I happily play out this internal monologue. As I said it’s a problem but to be honest, it’s not one I plan on getting fixed any time soon. 

So if you’re willing to put up with this little affliction and don’t mind knowing that there will be points during the writing of this blog where I will have been crying over my keyboard, please feel free to continue reading.

Still there? Good. Out of the door, line on the left, one cross each.

So a little background to start with, if you’ll permit me. The Coen Brothers, Ethan and Joel have been producing, writing and directing their own films now for the better part of thirty years. Their back catalogue is remarkable and includes gems like Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, The Big Lebowski, Fargo and True Grit, to name but a few. The have managed to work with the very best when it comes to acting talent and, as with other directors, have collaborated with some on more than one occasion. George Clooney has now appeared in four of their films, Josh Brolin has three under his belt and Tilda Swinton has two. However, Frances McDormand blows them all out of the water with a very imposing eight. Now, she is married to Joel Coen and far be it for me to say that she doesn’t have to audition but even with the best spin doctors available it does look like favouritism to me!

Hail, Caesar! tells the story of Eddie Mannix, played by the aforementioned Mr Brolin. Mannix works for Capitol Pictures and is what’s referred to in 1950’s Hollywood as a fixer. He keeps stars out of trouble, rumours under control and always try to keep at least two steps ahead of the press. The film is a snap shot of a day in his life and all the troubles and tribulations he has to go through and deal with. There’s everything from twin Journalists, with very different agendas. Trying to appease and seek approval from several Gods, whilst making sure that other religions aren’t also offended at the same time and then dealing with the kidnapping of Capitol Pictures prize asset by a rather nice bunch of cardigan wearing communists. The asset in question is none other than Baird Whitlock, played to perfection by the annoyingly good looking George Clooney. Whitlock is basically an amalgamation of three real acting heavyweights. Namely, Robert Taylor, Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas. Who gave us Quo Vadis, Ben Hur and Spartacus respectively. Whitlock is a drinker and a ham actor. A man who has got to where he is today on good fortune and luck, rather than talent and hard work. Those charming communist cardigan wearers refer to themselves collectively as ‘The Future’ and are played flawlessly by a great ensemble group, including John Bluthal, or if you prefer ‘Frank Pickle’ from the Vicar of Dibley. Without giving away a spoiler there is also another famous actor hidden amongst their ranks and again, without wanting to give too much away, the character his person plays ends up on a Russian bound submarine captained by none other than Dolph Lundgren and yes, you did read that right. 

Life for Mannix life is further complicated by the fact that he’s trying to be a good father and a good husband but work just keeps getting in the way. Mannix been offered a different job, with normal hours, great pay and potential from a representative of Lockheed but that’s not where his heart lies. Mannix is a morally sound guy but he just needs the day to be about six hours longer to get everything done. 

Hail, Caesar! is a love letter from the Coen brothers to Hollywood. It’s full of sharp dialogue and mirth. It’s scattered with cameos from start to finish. Christopher Lambert and Clancy Brown (The Highlander and the Kurgan respectively), although they don’t share any scenes together. Robert Picardo, Agyness Deyn, Michael Gambon as the Narrator and Jonah Hill to name a few. There are also a plethora of other actors scattered throughout the film who deserve a slightly bigger mention too. Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum and Alden Ehrenreich each bring their own unique qualities to the screen and help produce what is and always will be quintessentially a Coen brother’s film.   

This is a film that won’t be to everyone’s tastes. It has a sense of humour that skewer’s ever so slightly towards quirky and odd ball.  It’s unlikely to win over anyone who isn’t already a Coen brothers fan but for those of you out there they feel they could still need persuading before they go and see it, I offer up the following evidence for the defence. If you’ve ever actually wanted to see someone slap George Clooney for real, then this is the film for you. If you like your cinema outings not to contain any deaths then this is the only Coen brother’s film where no one becomes an ex-parrot and even though Francis McDormand is barely in the film for more than three minutes, she steals the film and you’re unlikely to see a better one hundred and eighty seconds committed to film any time soon. So that ladies and gentlemen is that. Hail, Caesar! is an hour and forty six minutes of fun and frivolity. It’s a small glimpse into an ever so slightly surreal world that is American film making in the 1950’s. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fail to appreciate it’s the meek who are the problem. 

Twitter Review:

Hail, Caesar! Is a little slice of silly & a sprinkling of eccentric. Amazing cast & a Coen brothers classic. 

#AreYouTheJudeanPeoplesFront?

Useful Links:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475290/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMqeoW3XRa0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMqeoW3XRa0

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/hail-caesar/review/