Belfast

The 15th of August 1969. The day Buddy (Jude Hill) lost his innocence. While running to dinner after being called in from play by his Ma (Caitríona Balfe) he finds himself caught in the middle of sectarian hatred when a Protestant mob storms his street to oust his Catholic neighbours. His family will be safe if they play the game but his Da's (Jamie Dornan) loyalty is called into question when he won't take part in the intimidation and violence going on all around them. Buddy just wants to play and learn and watch films, he wants to talk to the girl he likes in school and enjoy the company of his grandparents Pop (Ciarán Hinds) and Granny (Judi Dench) but real life is closing in fast.

Director Kenneth Branagh was born in Belfast in 1960 and his family moved to England in 1969 to avoid the violence of the Troubles. Buddy's his proxy here and so we get his view of a horrible time in Irish history through both rose tinted glasses and from a child's perspective. For his Ma and Pa, who never get first names because they aren't something that children ever call them, the tension around them is a constant source of fear and stress. For a 9 year old it's an annoyance and as such Branagh never lets the horror take over because we all know how bad it got up there, it's been the subject of a thousand books and songs and films and documentaries but we rarely get a glimpse at the lives lived behind the doors lining the city's streets, the people who weren't involved, those just trying to live normally and make sense of the chaos outside. One beautiful moment sees Buddy trying to learn about women from his Pop who openly admits he hasn't a notion either while Granny watches them from an open window just like the soldiers in the towers and helicopters above watch them. Happiness and horror side by side.

Like Paul Thomas Anderson's recent Licorice Pizza there isn't really much of plot as much as a collection of misty B&W (not watercolour) memories that will strongly evoke similar memories for the audience; the fear and exhilaration of indulging in and getting away with a spot of underage criminality, the joy of seeing your parents happy and the fear and confusion involved when they aren't, the tummy butterflies when you realise you fancy the girl beside you in class and that great feeling when the adults in your life stop talking to you like a boy and start talking to you like a man. Throughout we get these wonderful little moments between Buddy and his parents and his grandparents that get reinforced late in the day by that famous bible quote about putting away childish things from verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 13. He's not there yet though, the childish things are still important to him, to his parents who want him to stay a child for as long as possible, his matchbox toys, a trip to the cinema to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, an awestruck viewing of Tom Doniphon taking care of business in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. It's easy to see Branagh's real life influences here but it's one of them that takes from the film late in the day.

As was want to happen on the streets of Belfast a riot has kicked off and Buddy and his family are caught in the middle and Branagh makes a musical choice that will roll your eyes in your head. On paper it might have sounded like a heroic way to see Pa through Buddy's eyes but the reality is just cringeworthy and it kills any bit of suspense in the scene stone dead. It won't ruin the film for you but it will cheapen it a bit. It's a shame but it doesn't take away from the strength of the performances here at least. Judi Dench feels curiously underused until the end where her 87 year old face tells us a million stories without saying a word while Ciarán Hinds, Jamie Dornan and Caitríona Balfe all do superb work especially the latter during a tear-stained rant on a bus that leaves her husband speechless. It's Jude Hill's film though. Buddy's always onscreen or in the background while life happens around him. Sometimes Branagh just leaves the camera on his face as he listens to adult conversations and the sound design in these scenes conveys his understand and confusion to a tee. 

Belfast is out now in cinemas. It's black and white imagery looks glorious on the big screen, making an intimate tale feel epic. It's worth your time. 

The King's Man

The first Kingsman film had Colin Firth massacring a church full of hateful right wing fundamentalists to the sweet sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird. The second film had our hero being protected from killer robot dogs by Elton John. The third one has Ralph Fiennes being headbutted by a goat. After 100 painfully misguided and quite frankly, mostly boring minutes.

1901. The Second Boer War. Orlando, Duke Of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) becomes a widower and his son Conrad loses his mother Emily (Alexandra Maria Lara) when she's caught up in a battle at a South African prisoner of war camp. 13 years later he's a man of peace but a shadowy cabal of infamous criminals, including one Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans, having a whale of a time), have plans that will see him brought out of retirement when their actions led to the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the imminent start of war in Europe. Conrad (Harris Dickinson), now a man, wants to do his duty and fight for his country and Orlando, terrified of losing another family member to a bullet, sets out to nip things in the bud.

About 80 minutes into The King's Man there's a near silent fight scene between British soldiers and German shock troopers in the middle of No Man's Land on the Somme. It's 90 seconds of choreographed brutality shot in director Matthew Vaughn's action movie style that ultimately leaves a bad taste in your mouth when you remember it's built on the back of what is possibly the most appalling waste of human life in history. It feels woefully misjudged, as does 3/4's of the film, a tonally bizarre mishmash of fact and fiction that wipes out or sidelines it's best characters while filling it's running time with scene after scene of exposition delivered by moustachio'ed men in rooms full of books. If you know your early 20th century history you'll follow it easily but if you don't you won't have a clue whats going on. The audience that got hooked in by the adventures of Eggsy, Harry and Merlin in the previous Kingsman films might well feel quite alienated by it all.

In fact it doesn't feel like part of the Kingsman franchise at all until very late in the day, aside from a early & fun Russian encounter involving a sex mad monk, a poisoned bakewell tart and an inventive use of a tongue. It's exciting, hilarious, violent, the three ingredients we came for and then it's over and we're back in exposition town. It's makes for a frustrating couple of hours when fine actors like Gemma Atherton and Djimon Hounsou as Orlando's fiery cohorts Shola and Polly are swept to the side after you've seen what they are capable of with knives and guns. Ralph Fiennes does his stiff upper lip thing well though and when he's onscreen you'll at least have something to enjoy but when he's not ...... Then when you finally get to see what he's really capable of atop a remote Russian plateau the film sparks into life again but at this stage it's just too little too late. Instead of enjoying the head lopping, horn impaling madness you'll just be thinking to yourself "Why wasn't the rest of the film like this?"

The King's Man is in cinemas now. It's not worth going out in the cold for. 

Last Night In Soho

There's a quite a bit of filler in Edgar Wright's new psychological horror, especially in it's second half and for a moment you might fear it's going to end in a very unsatisfactory manner but then it clicks, everything becomes clear, previous scenes make sense and you'll remember why you'd enjoyed his earlier films. Forget the bombast and bluster of the godawful Scott Pilgrim Vs The World or the cloying try hardness of The World's End. No, this is the work of someone playing in a sandbox they love. It shows.

Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie) has hit London with a plan. She wants to design clothes and has travelled across England to make a name for herself. London though, it takes it toll , she was warned and it's coming true rapidly. Not fitting in with student life she rents a bedsit in Soho from Mrs Collins (Diana Rigg in her final role) and the room starts getting under her skin when her night time dreams transport her back to the swinging sixties of London. In her dreams her avatar is Sandy (Anya Taylor Joy), a would be singing starlet looking for fame. She takes up with Jack (Matt Smith), a manager who promises her the world but delivers her into the sordid underworld of celebrity instead. Soon Eloise's dreamworld starts to bleed into her reality and it's only a matter of time before it starts getting dangerous.

Yup, that's the stuff. Wright has fully moved away from comedy and here delivers a dark, twisting, surprisingly vicious look at the dark side of stardom, at male violence in it's myriad forms and how both too often intertwine. It's at it's best in it's first half, setting the stage, laying on the alienation (Synnøve Karlsen as Jocasta, her first roommate is a hateful creation), making Eloise the perfect conduit for all ghostly goings on.....or are they ghostly. We know she's troubled, there's mental illness in her past, things are ambiguous, purposefully so, there's shades of Polanski's Repulsion here, tinges of giallo and then full on eurohorror takes centre stage. It starts to get messy, a bit too repetitive and padded as messages get hammered home but as things start to come together near the end you'll be too busy gawping at the gaudily coloured chaos on screen to care.

There's a neon sign outside Eloise's bedroom window and it bathes her room in deep blues and reds throughout the film. It belongs to a French bistro but may as well say DARIO ARGENTO in huge flashing letters. Wright's never been shy with his homages but this one is hilariously on the nose, speaking to a love of the horror genre that gets a real run out as Sandy's 60's life goes from glamorous to horrifying courtesy of a nightmarish escape through the bowels of a venue that feels like the stuff of fever dreams. It's here the first half of the film's glorious evocation of 60's London flips and we see the worms beneath, the truth of the place, not the version that only ever existed on the silver screen. A place where flesh was a commodity, indulged in by sweating, leering creeps. Until one night.......a night that's seared into Eloise's retinas. To see her go from bright eyed and bushy tailed to buoyed by confidence created by dream inspirations to a screaming wreck is tough going but Thomasin McKenzie sells it perfectly.

It's her film but it's Anya Taylor-Joy's Sandy that has the biggest impact. She's brilliant. The embodiment of old school glamour kicked off with a wicked dancefloor routine in a smoky club that just oozes dangerous cool. Like Eloise, Wright's love for the time period is apparent and to really lay it on thick screen icons of the time like Terence Stamp, Rita Tushingham and Diana Rigg all play a big part in proceedings. Rigg especially, in her final screen appearance really plays a memorable part in it all. The lady had presence. She'll be missed but goddamn what a way to go.

Last Night In Soho is out now. It's too long, it's messy and it repeats itself but if you let it this surreal and beautiful looking hybrid of psychological horror and shrieking melodrama will grip you tight. 

Oh and the soundtrack is just *chef's kiss*

The Last Duel

The Last Duel seems to have died a death at the international box office making $9 million worldwide in it's first week against a budget of $100 million. Despite great turns from Matt Damon, Jodie Comer and Adam Driver and super direction by Ridley Scott it's a hell of a tough sell. Based on truth it's a muddy, bloody, two and a half hour long story about the rape of a woman and it's after effects told in the style of Akira Kurasowa's Rashomon. It's a fine film but audience indifference to it is going to be yet another nail in the coffin of this type of big budget adult film making.

France. 1386. Jean de Carrouges (Damon) and Jacques Le Gris (Driver) are two squires fighting in the One Hundred year war against England. Count Pierre d'Alençon (Ben Affleck rocking an N'Sync haircut and a nu metal beard) has been named their overlord by King Charles VI and a wedge is driven between Jean and Jacques when Pierre takes a liking to Jacques. War taxes are levied on landowners and Jacques is tasked with collecting them, leaving Jean in a precarious state financially. To acquire more wealth he enters into a marriage with Marguerite de Thibouville (Jodie Comer), collecting a large dowry from her father as a wedding gift. With his finances back in order and a new wife at hand he sets about fathering a son but is once again forced to fight for his country. On his return Margeurite informs him that she has been raped by Jacques and now the only way he can get justice is a trial by combat. Because god says the righteous can never lose.....

He can get justice. Not her. Him. It's all about him. His pain. His disgrace. His name tarnished. In the 14th century women existed to create sons for men like him. Weddings were transactional, wives were property and Ridley Scott's new film never ever shies from the horrors of medieval life for women. It's a story told in three acts, the same story from each viewpoint. The first is the truth according to Jean, then Jacques and finally Margeurite. There's subtle and not so subtle differences between all three but every difference is telling, each speaking to the mindset of the point of view we are seeing them through. Scott flits through the timelines ensuring we rarely have the see the same things repeatedly, except the pivotal moment itself, the rape scene, a gruelling act of violence we see perpetrated on Margeurite twice. It's not exploited but it's tough going each time and thankfully it's never played ambiguously, it's a violation. In the eyes of Jacques though it's only a violation of property.

Each chapter was written respectively by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener and it's her chapter that really gets to the crux of the story, toxic masculinity and the problems it breeds regarding expectation and privilege. Earlier moments shown to be charming are really shown to be predatory, facts become lies and embellishment, glances bring fear not enjoyment. A trial where the victim is painted as a harlot and a seductress shows how far society has not come in 700 years in regards to it's treatment of women. Now we have politicians, priests and respected members of the community lining up to shake a rapist's hand. Back then the victim could be burned at the stake if the accused was found not guilty. We'll watch this and shake our heads at the horror of it all while knowing that not much has changed at all. #Metoo

The duel of the title? It certainly lives up to it's name and reminds us of how good Scott has always been at depicting the crunching physicality of medieval warfare. People will complain that it's gruelling, graphic brutality pushes Comer out of the way in the film's final act but it once again proves the film's ultimate point - to it's detriment, society will always care more about the plight of "wronged" men than anyone else. It was true 700 years ago and painfully, it's still true now.

The Last Duel is in cinemas now. It's a powerful watch but jesus it's tough going. Be warned.

The Courier

If you had knowledge of something terrible on the horizon would you try and stop it even if it meant your own life would be ruined? Most of us wouldn't. We'd put our heads down, chug along and let the inevitable guilt eat us alive. Only the rarefied few will ever stand tall, step out of line and risk it. The Courier is the true story of one such person. But that person isn't the one on the film posters you'll see.

It's the early 1960's. The cold war is in full effect. Soviet - US relations are on a knife edge. Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a Russian official with access to very sensitive information about the USSR's nuclear capabilities is worried about the future and an unstable leader with access to world ending weaponry. He decides to leak the information to the west and the MI5 in conjunction with the CIA hire Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), an ordinary businessman who sells machinery to factories, to travel to Moscow and meet with Oleg under cover of work, so they can swap info which Greville will then smuggle out. The two men become fast friends and when Oleg travels to Britain he forms a bond with Greville's wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) too. But all good things must come to an end and when Greville's frequent trips catch the eye of the KGB, well let's just say......

At times The Courier feels like a love story about two men keeping their forbidden romance a secret. Terse looks, secret hotel room rendezvous, conversations where every word is loaded. But you'll soon realise it feels like that because you're worried about them both and for good reason. The stakes are massive, the Brit might go to the gulag but the Russian faces a point blank bullet, they've families who's lives will be ruined, their actions if discovered could trigger all out war but it's mostly because Merab Ninidze and Benedict Cumberbatch are so damn good in their parts. Merab, warm and relaxed on the outside but riddled with anxiety within, Cumberbatch, with a nervy and oh so proper exterior but fun loving when he's not on edge. Together their friendship works, built on vodka and ballet. It gives the film an emotional core that makes it's suspense really work. When you give a fuck you'll give a fuck, you know.

Then a decision is made two thirds of the way through the film to sideline Oleg, the hero of the story in favour of Greville. Cumberbatch, the film's big star takes centre stage and as the film takes a dark turn, we lose the chemistry built and the dramatic fizz of the first 80 minutes of the film is stripped away. Oleg is barely glimpsed again and in a story decision that feels genuinely disrespectful, gets a postscript just before the credits roll. Cumberbatch tries (his physical transformation is unsettling) but the film never really recovers when it's just about him. But at least our own Jessie Buckley gets a look in at this point, having been mostly ignored up to now, with a stiff upper lip filled conversation that will remind you of how good she can be.

The Courier is a handsomely mounted and very well acted production that excels by taking an intimate look at a crazy era in history. Partly set during the Cuban missile crisis, it takes a terrifying time and places it firmly in the background of the story, choosing to focus in on a very unlikely but rewarding relationship. If only it didn't choose to ignore half of that friendship in it's most vital moments.

The Courier is out in cinemas from tomorrow.

Held

Held is the type of film you'll watch and maybe think "Nah, that's ridiculous, that would never happen" and then your mind will wander back to stories about scary Reddit pages and the unsettling subcultures brewing unchecked within. You'll turn it over in your mind and then you'll find yourself thinking "this could actually happen" and eventually "christ I'll be amazed if this isn't already happening." Metaphorically of course.

I like when a film leaves you thinking. Most don't. Most won't challenge you in anyway other than when you see an actor and wonder where you've seen them before. It's one thing horror movies do well, taking the big social issues of the day and forcing their audience to look at said issues through a scare infused prism, so that you see things from different points of view, in ways you'd never think of. Held does it's job very well in this regard and it's a watch that may well leave a (hopefully small) proportion of the audience pondering their own behaviour.

Emma (Jill Awbrey who also wrote this) is getting away from it all. She's arrived at a high tech holiday home in the middle of nowhere and her husband Henry (Bart Johnson) is on his way. Things haven't been the best between them lately and this weekend in the countryside might be just the thing needed to rebuild the intimacy that's been lacking in their relationship. After a night filled with wine and tension they wake up to find their phones missing, the doors locked and strange incisions behind their ears. A disembodied voice fills the air, commands are given and the pain begins....

If you have been known to utter the phrase "not all men" this might make your head cave in. If sexual politics make you uncomfortable you might want to give this one a miss. If you're mature and open and honest enough to watch a film that delves into them you might just like Held. You won't enjoy it exactly but come the end you'll realise this one that turned into something far more interesting than the schlocky home invasion thriller the opening scenes will have you expecting. It's built around a clever script from Awbrey, one that takes the clues dropped in the opening scenes and returns to them in ways you won't expect, all the while subtly turning up the tension that's with us from the first frame, until it reaches a climax that will have you shouting at the screen as our leads use what they've learned from their situation to saves themselves. It's always handy to have a couple of sharp implements around too of course. 

Horror works best when you give a damn about the people onscreen and Awbrey & Johnson play a couple you'll be able to relate to. They've been through the wars before the film even starts, trauma in their past has brought them to where they are now. They just want to be happy. But the cracks are visible from the start. A polite decline, an annoyed expression, little things that grow from slightly askew at first, to skin crawling near the end. Awbrey especially sells it all, even when things take a silly turn late in the day. But that silly turn, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this review, is one that, in the bizarro world of 2021, is always feasible.

Held is streaming online now. It's worth your time.

Wolfwalkers

Kilkenny, 300 years before Brian Cody civilised it, was a dangerous place. Cramped, dirty streets were patrolled by English soldiers supervised by the Lord Commander (a thinly veiled Oliver Cromwell voiced sneeringly by Simon McBurney). Surrounding the city were wild forests, gnarled, overgrown places filled with wolves that feasted on the livestock in the fields under the city walls. Entrusted with slaying these wolves was Bill Goodfellowe (Sean Bean), a British soldier and hunter who lived in the city with his daughter Robyn. Sick of her household chores she one day follows her father into the trees and discovers a mystical world in the caves beneath the forest. A mystical world that she's introduced to by a young girl called Mebh Óg MacTíre (Eva Whittaker), a young girl with a distinctly lupine presence.

Wolfwalkers, the latest creation from Kilkenny's Cartoon Saloon and directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart is a beautiful thing. A funny, thrilling & heartfelt slice of Celtic mysticism that will leave you buzzing as it's credits roll. It's the fourth animated film from Cartoon Saloon and once again they've nailed it. Any single frame of this lovingly crafted film would hang proudly on your wall, then there's the music, the design, the wonderfully drawn characters, all of it just hits the spot, coming together like a gorgeous tapestry. There's Robyn, the young girl who feels there has to be more to a woman's life than what society expects of them, Bill, the loving father who's terrified for his daughter growing up in a land where her accent will only bring her hate, the hilarious woodcutter Sean Óg (Tommy Tiernan) who's ill advised rant lands him in a very public spot and Mebh, a super creation, a feral but fun loving young Wolfwalker who craves townie treats (bread) and wants to 'ate the people who stole her mammy' from her. 

These are the people who populate the story, a deftly plotted tale that weaves magic and real life history together in a way that never feels forced or preachy. As with Cartoon Saloon's previous two Ireland set films this one is all about our ancient Hibernian ties with the magical side of life but here we see how colonialism tore it away from us, replacing it with civility and order and servitude. The wolves and wolfwalkers represent a freer existence, one that Robyn is striving for and when she gets a taste of it, her life becomes joyous and we get to have a lot of fun on her journey. A journey represented in a sparsely sketched POV that will just drop your jaw. Of course all fun things must can to an end and when the nefarious Lord Commander catches wind of the prowling, growling world outside the city walls the film veers off into more familiar but still thrilling territory with shifting aspect ratios and comic book style framing amping up the action in a stylish manner. Honestly, you'll be giddy watching it all play out.

Animated films live or die with their voice acting and here it's pitch perfect. Honor Kneafsey and Sean Bean bring gentle Northern tones that suit their characters perfectly, McBurney radiates menace as the baddie but it's little Eva Whittaker who steals the show as Mebh, her untamed accent and wild red mane melding together. She's just fantastic, a funny and vicious facade hiding a broken wee heart. Watching her and Robyn together would melt the coldest of us and later on when we get to see what she's really capable of, you'll be gnawing the nails off yourself as the Brits (never not at it) set their sight on her. It's a film that will stir the emotions of everyone in it's audience, the kids who'll love the colour and the sense of adventure and the adults who'll appreciate it's thematic richness.

Wolfwalkers is coming to Apple TV on the 11th of December. Hopefully it will get a cinema release next month to but your guess is as good as mine as to whether government restrictions ease. What ever way you do choose to watch it, it's a glorious way to spend your time.

The Trial of The Chicago 7

"I think the institutions of our government are wonderful things....that right now are populated by some terrible people." Abbie Hoffman, 1969, speaking words that hit pretty hard in 2020.

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is one of those films you'll need to do a bit of research on before you watch it. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin gives us the broad strokes during the film but to get the most out of it a wee trip online might be required, both to get the backstory of the events depicted and to learn a bit about the odd eccentricities of the US legal system. Just 10 minutes on wikipedia and you'll be sorted. The downside is you'll then realise that much has been changed to service the flow of the film instead of telling the actual story.

In August of 1968 the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago with the intention of choosing a presidential nominee to run for the party. '68 was a torrid time in America. Martin Luther King jr had been assassinated in April. Riots in 100 cities then ensued. Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in June. The draft for the Vietnam war was in full flow and the late 60's counterculture and a growing anti war movement was changing the mindset of young people nationwide. They were sick of the governing classes and swarmed to Chicago to protest at the DNC. Hippies ( Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman), student activists (Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner), members of the Black Panther party (Bobby Seale) and pacifists who were just plain sick of it all (David Dellinger) came together, some preaching non violent action and others deciding force was necessary if used against them. Inevitably it all kicked off and this film is the story if the people blamed for starting all the trouble. Yes, there are 8 mentioned. I know.

This has Aaron Sorkin written all over it. Rousing speeches, compelling conversations, many overlapping at once, a couple of perfectly polished killer one liners, the kind you could imagine flying between previous Sorkin characters like Josh and Toby from the West Wing. It's fun, in places it's a blast courtesy of Jeremy Strong's Jerry Rubin and Sacha Baron-Cohen's Abbie Hoffman, but as a history lesson it feels lacking especially for any audience going into the story cold. Months of the trial are skipped over. 3 of the 7 are barely given any screen time, the circumstances behind Bobby Seale's (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) involvement are left vague and his timeline in the trial is confusingly muddled, important witnesses with trial altering evidence are introduced late in the day like real life deus ex machina plot points. Things like this leave the film feeling a bit messy.

But one thing I loved was the film's bluntness. In 2020 there's no time for subtle barbs anymore. Taking the higher ground is pointless. Here the government and the cops are most definitely the enemy as they still are. In 1969 as in 2020 Black men are still seen as the boogeyman by the establishment, witness Seale's horrifying courtroom treatment just for having the temerity to open his mouth. Pointed dialogue such the lines in the first paragraph above are thrown around nonstop and the films strongest theme of all is the suggestion that unless the left can put aside it's many differences and come together then nothing will ever change. The eight (7 white men, 1 black, notably separated from the others) on trial all want the same thing but infighting and differing ideology threatens to rip them apart many times. Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne), the man accused of actually kicking off the riot, is accused by the others of being too respectful to the court. It was happening in 1969 and its still happening right now on twitter. If you aren't with me on everything, you are against me.

A great cast breathes life into what could be a croaky old courtroom drama too. Strong's Rubin gives the film it's most likable central character, Cohen makes us understand why so many looked up to Hoffman as a leader, Abdul-Mateen II's Seale smoulders with righteous anger and Redmayne is solid as a decent man trying to please everyone. Frank Langella, now in his 82 year plays Judge Hoffman (no relation to Abbie) with a power that will remind you of the scariest characters of his career and Joseph Gordon-Levitt does fine work as a prosecutor who know, in his heart that he's on the wrong side of history. The strength of the performances here help paper over the films other shortcomings.

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is showing in Omniplex cinemas but if like many others this pandemic has you wary then you won't have to wait long as it's going to be coming to Netflix later this month.

Greyhound

The Pit. An area in the North Atlantic Ocean that couldn't be surveilled by fighter planes during World War II. Fighter planes used to provide aerial support to ships crossing towards Europe carrying much needed supplies to help aid the allied war effort. The only line of defense for these convoys of supply ships were the battleships & destroyers that led the way. One such destroyer was called the USS Keeling and it's Captain was a man named Ernest Krause (Tom Hanks), a career Naval Officer who's first command of a destroyer coincided with the Battle Of The Atlantic. His job, to lead and protect the ships behind his from the wolfpack of relentless U-Boats hunting for them.

90 minutes. A magical number. The perfect length for the vast majority of movies. When a film is 90 minutes long it means there's no need for unnecessary padding and it ensures a film will cut right to the chase. 90 minutes headlined by a acting stalwart like Tom Hanks is a no brainer right. You can do wrong with Greyhound. It's a lean and economical war movie that doesn't feel the urge to be an epic or a state of the union address. It has a story to tell and it does it in an unshowy fashion without the need for silly action or unnecessary pyrotechnics (ok there's some). It's not a film you'll remember in years to come (for reasons I'll get to) but if you're craving a short sharp blast then here you go.

I've a gra for movies that show well trained people carrying out their work efficiently and exactly. Onboard the Keeling there's no room for mavericks, no one goes off book, people even apologise after they say "fuck". They follow their captain's commands to the letter and things work out. Sure if you had a boss like Tom Hanks why wouldn't you do what you're told. The man's been a steady hand on our screens for 35+ years now and you just feel safe with him around. Greyhound knows this and plays to his strengths and our expectations of him. Jesus I'm making this sounds fierce boring altogether aren't I. It's not, I assure you. Within 5 minutes everything's kicking off and because, for once, it's a war film about fictional characters so we don't have the safety net of googling the outcome to fall back on when things start looking dark.

Imagine it. Night time in the North Atlantic, shattered tired, starving, feet bloody with blisters, a Kraut U-Boat captain (Thomas Kretschmann, unseen but effective) taunting you, telling you today's the day you're going to die. Wouldn't you just shit yourself. Greyhound gives us a little taste of what that kind of fear must be like. The ever present spectre of death looming over you like the Northern Lights atop a sea full of carnage in one memorable shot. It nails that horrible claustrophobia of battle. Claustrophobia in the middle of an Ocean. It's a strange one ain't it. It's a film that makes little concession to the viewers either. Naval jargon is shouted left and right and director Aaron Schneider thankfully doesn't feel the need to stop and explain it to us. It all adds to the feeling of confusion when you're trying to figure out a term while deck canons and depth charges explode all around you.

I praised that 90 minute runtime earlier but it does have it's downsides. The brilliant Stephen Graham is wasted as Cole, Krause's second in command and recognisable faces like Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Rob Morgan get little more to do than and follow commands and serve coffee. Oh and don't mention Elisabeth Shue who I'm guessing was able to film her part between breakfast and lunch of the same day. Had a tiny bit more time been spent with the supporting cast and away from the star then Greyhound might have had a touch of much needed humanity to make it memorable.

Greyhound is available now to stream from Apple TV. Like all Apple products it's solid & well made  but lacking all warmth.

Da 5 Bloods

The excitement about this one was palpable. The highest profile film to be released in months. Spike Lee's latest joint. On Netflix no less. The trailer came out last month. It looked great. The soundtrack! Everyone knows Vietnam had the best tunes. That cast!! Full of well known Black faces. Faces from The Wire, Black Panther and of course Lee's own back catalogue. Then we heard it was over 2.5 hours long. Uh-oh. Was this going to be Spike Lee's own Deer Hunter?

Da Bloods are back in Vietnam. Not the 5 of them though. Otis (Clarke Peters), Paul (Delroy Lindo), Eddie (Norm Lewis) and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr) have returned to put things to right. 50 + years before they buried their squad leader Norman ( Chadwick Boseman) in the Vietnamese dirt and now it's time to locate him and repatriate his bones stateside. Being back in country takes it's toll on their psyches though and their well thought out plans soon come crashing down on them. Will they ever get out of Vietnam again? Did they ever really leave it in the first place.

Much has been made of Netflix's place in the Hollywood hierarchy. Are they a real studio? Should the movies they make even be considered cinema? Should their product be eligible for awards? Would a Netflix film ever be good enough for an Oscar? This one is. If Delroy Lindo isn't at least nominated for an acting Oscar in 2021 the whole thing is a farce (yes i know it's a farce anyway). It's very much an ensemble piece but his turn as Paul, a vet haunted by his actions all those years ago is just brilliant. A jungle rant direct to camera late in the film can stand proudly alongside similar moments in Do The Right Thing and The 25th Hour. He's the Black Vietnam experience distilled down to a man, treated like shit by his country, then forced to fight for his country, ruined by the experience and then treated like shit when he got home. Too proud to deal with his PTSD, he's come back to where it all started as a warped form of therapy and everything implodes once again. A phenomenal performance. Hateful, fuelled by rage but heartfelt and even tender in parts.

But that's not to take the rest of Da Bloods. Each get their moment to shine, an unexpected and potently emotional reunion, a backwards rant into disaster, a drunken bar roar, metal detector glee. The easy and genuine chemistry between the four is fun to experience, they feel like real friends and it's a joy to watch them interact which makes their trip into the jungle to find their friend drip with tension, especially when an encounter with an anti landmine group reminds us of the dangers laying ahead. Da 5 Bloods is much more than a trip down memory lane though. This is Spike Lee, he's always been a political film maker and his barbs about the Black American experience are always pointed. Black men were forced into a war for a country that despised them. The VC knew it and used it to cloud their minds. One scene of the squad learning of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. from VC propaganda is a killer. The rage pours off the screen and the primal screams are painful to hear. You can't help but tie it to the events of recent weeks. This film was done and dusted before the death of George Floyd and it does feel blisteringly topical but Lee takes aim at the system in a way that will allow the film to age well. He's not using a precision aim, he's going for the shotgun approach and it's a big target.

It sounds like a tough watch and it is quite gruelling in places but the fun and camaraderie between Da Bloods lightens the mood and takes the edge off Lee's usual sledgehammer touch. The film riffs on The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre and gives us film fans a nice in-joke. Ride Of The Valkyries is used in a far gentler way. A famous line from The Wire is quoted perfectly (You'll guess straight away who's going to say it) and we even get a nod to Lee's last outing 'Blackkklansman with a bit of gleefully meta revenge. Then near the end the story takes another twist and turns into something action fans can get their teeth into. This is where things get a bit silly and it feels like a bit of wish fulfillment on Lee's behalf especially when broad caricature (Jean Reno in full cheese mode) gets involved. It's having your cake and eating it too.

A silly climax aside this is a powerful watch about the scars wars leave behind. The physical can be dealt with, it's the psychological ones that really take their toll. Lee isn't subtle (one character flat out calls Trump a Klansman) but issues of war and race have to be dealt with bluntly. There's no other way. You know he's not messing about when he doesn't bother with de-aging effects in the flashback sequences. He knows things like this just don't matter and I loved that. He knows only one thing matters. Black Lives.

Da 5 Bloods is available to watch on Netflix now.

Scenes that never get old. Hunger. A chat & a smoke.

00.23 - 17.33.

2 men, 2 chairs, a table, a pack of fags and a chat. One 17 minute take. Perfection.

Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) has organised a hunger strike among the IRA prisoners of the Maze prison. He was the leader of a group who were political prisoners and as such demanded to be treated differently to normal convicts. To achieve their aims they would refuse food from the 1st of March 1981. We all know how his story ended but here we see what happened before when Bobby meets with Father Moran (Liam Cunningham). 

The craftsmanship on display here is staggering. Two actors at the height of their game. A director (Steve McQueen) who trusts his cast to carry 1/6 of the film in one go. The rapid fire back and forth dialogue that never once feels like acting. One take shots like this usually feel like showing off on the directors behalf but here it's used to brilliant effect. It draws you in and never gives you the comfort of a cutaway. A chat that starts warm and friendly before veering off a cliff into a chasm of anger and disappointment. A chat about the morality of laying down your life for what you believe in. Two men who believe what they are saying is absolute. Both know it's suicide but for one it's justifiable and for the other it's a mortal sin.

It's a scene that shatters the mythology surrounding Sands but a scene that never once belittles him. It humanises him while reminding us of the human cost of the strikes. Reminds us that Sands was seen as a pawn in a political game by both sides. An indictment of the IRA high command and the British government. Fassbender's wiry physicality brings Sands to life brilliantly while Liam Cunningham's priest is every decent priest you've ever met, he's utterly believable. Both men bouncing off each other, letting slip little slivers of themselves to get under the other's skin.

Stunning.

The Call Of The Wild

CGI can be great. The liquid metal killer from Terminator 2. The folding cities of Inception.The Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park. Davy Jones from The POTC movies. Paddington. The ruined Las Vegas vista from Blade Runner 2049. Groot from The Avengers. Everything from The Force Awakens. What it hasn't been able to replicate yet are the living breathing people and animals we see every day. There's always something sightly off about them and Buck the leading good boy from The Call Of The Wild is no exception. But when you see the hardships he faces throughout the film you'll be glad he's made of ones and zeros.

In the latter part of the 19th century in an opulent Californian house lived a big St Bernard/Collie mix called Buck. Buck had the run of the town being the property of a judge and was loving life until the night he got stolen and taken to the Yukon in Canada, a place where strong dogs were always in demand to work in the gruelling gold rush conditions. Taken from a carefree lifestyle and forced to exist in the harshest conditions on Earth put Buck in touch with a part of himself domesticity had long since buried.

Yes, a CGI dog is hard to take seriously but if you can put this aside (a tough call for many, more on that later) and go with the flow, The Call Of The Wild is a solid piece of old fashioned entertainment. Funny in places, exciting, filled with glorious vistas, tense enough to put the smallies on edge but never even to traumatise them. The rougher edges of Jack London's famous story have been smoothed off (the fate of most dogs up there is conveniently ignored) there's still plenty here to convey the harshness of that snowy life. Two heartfelt turns from Omar Sy as the sleigh riding postman and a craggy looking Harrison Ford as a man running from tragedy keep things grounded when the story verges on the silly side but this film is all about the Woof. Buck is a lovely fella, mad to please but a fella who marches by the beat of his own drum. Seeing him slowly breaking free from human bondage will make you look wistfully at your own dog and ensure you never deign to dress them up again. Because that.....it's just wrong.

A few years back Disney made the decision to stop using animals in it's productions and go the all CGI route. In theory it's an admirable decision and one that lets audiences enjoy animal endangering thrills guilt free but technology and morality aren't quite on a level pegging just yet. On rare occasions you'll forget that the animals onscreen aren't real and you'll marvel at the action unfurling before you, a close encounter with a wolfpack or an escape from an avalanche but when Buck's in close up and you can see just how artificial he is the spell of the movie is broken fast. Some people will be able to get past that but many won't I feel, especially when Buck pulls off a wrestling move on a pack rival. Yeah, that really happens. A silly decision.

For what is a children's film there's some surprisingly weighty themes laid on throughout the story. Humanity's brutality towards animals, behaviour that makes us more primitive than they are. Just how close to the edge of civilisation people live and how it doesn't take much at all to push us towards a vicious existence. The whole nature vs nurture debate with Buck torn between how he was brought up and what he actually is gives us plenty of food for thought but (sorry to keep going back to this) everything is tempered by Buck's artificiality. The film's heart is in the right place though and that alongside it's sense of adventure means this one is going to become a fixture on holiday tv in years to come.

In cinemas now everywhere.

Jojo Rabbit

"Make her feel safe and she will drop her guard and then you will be the one in control."

"Reverse psychology?"

"Don't complicate things. Just use my backwards mindpower trick."

It feels weird to laugh along with Hitler. But Jojo Rabbit is a weird film. It's audacious. It's downright hilarious in places but in 2020 it's a very odd one to place.

Johannes Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis, excellent) is a young boy in the Hitler Youth during the late stages of World War 2. He's trying his hardest to live up the aul Adolf's ideals but when he can't even bring himself to kill a rabbit he earns his titular nickname and ends up delivering anti Jewish propaganda around his small town. He lives with his mother Rosie (Scarlet Johannson) who isn't exactly enamoured with his political beliefs and every day is a struggle to just survive as the approaching allied forces are having a huge effect on food supplies. All Jojo has is his friend Yorki and his imaginary friend Adolf (yup, that one). One day he discovers a teenage girl called Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) living in the crawlspace of his house and he's horrified to learn she's a Jew. Now Jojo is torn between his ideology and his humanity. With the Gestapo executing traitors everyday just what will he do?

This film is weird as hell. Even by Taika Waititi standards it's a bizarre one. Warmth & kindness juxtaposed with atrocity. Slapstick humour leading into executions. A child's smile crumbling into a shrieking grimace. A film that takes aim at the evils of nazism but one that humanises them as well. It's a jumble, messy, a well meaning story but messy. A 12 cert look at one of the worst periods in human history. Awful, violent things happen but we never witness them, only the barest aftermath. A satirical look at the worst people shouldn't be afraid of showing them at their worst. There's stuff here you'll gasp at alright, children turned into suicide bombers, the ridiculous anti-semitic canards bought into wholesale by national socialists but it all feels tempered by Waititi's (and ultimately Disney who now own Fox pictures) unwillingness to go as dark as the material requires.

Oddness aside there's no denying some of it is very funny. Jojo's friend Yorki's line about the distinctly non Aryan look of certain Axis members is a proper belly laugh as his clumsy handling of munitions. Rebel Wilson's brusque and vicious Fräulein Rahm is an inspired creation and for once it gives her something to do instead of falling over or telling self deprecating weight jokes. Sam Rockwell who's always good value in a comedy role does well as Captain Klenzendorf, the drink sodden Hitler Youth leader who definitely wouldn't fit into the nazi idea of a master race. Waititi's sense of whimsy and quirkiness is present and correct here but it clashes constantly with the abrupt tonal turns a story like this has to take. It just doesn't sit right. This light and dark approach worked brilliantly with his last film, the wonder Hunt For The Wilderpeople but not so much against a non fictional backdrop. 

Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo does a lovely job though. The good nature of a child rebelling against the brainwashing of adults and the whole struggle painted across his face. Against all odds you'll find yourself empathising with a little nazi. Luckily Waititi himself plays the imaginary Hitler as broadly and nastily as possible so we never forget the bigger picture. The image of him and his ridiculous moustache bounding acrobatically around a forest is one you'll find hard to forget. This isn't a subtle film but he acts his part as bluntly and broadly as possible. Thomasin McKenzie's Elsa is well played but ultimately she's a plot point, a source of tension for Jojo and his mother. It would have been nice to see the film's outlier get a more well rounded part to play.

It's nice to see unusual films like this appearing in the cinema and chances are you'll never see anything like this again. It's just a pity it wasn't allowed to be riskier, allowed to have real weight and a real sense of just how dangerous hate can be. In a world that's rapidly heading to the right we need to be hit over the head with this fact because it just doesn't seem to be getting through to people.

Harriet

In 1994 a biopic of slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman was heading towards pre production in an unnamed Hollywood studio. Julia Roberts was wanted for the part. Of course Harriet Tubman was black. "It was so long ago. No one is going to know the difference" a studio executive argued. Sweet jesus. So much has changed since then. And on the other hand not much has changed at all.

In 1849 a slave by the name of Araminta Ross tired of a life of bondage and decided to run for her life after a chance of a free existence with her husband was denied to her by her owner. The trip from Dorchester county, Maryland to the city of Philadelphia was a long and dangerous one and she only survived with the help of the underground railway, a collection of free folk and sympathisers who offered food and shelter to fugitives along the way. Eventually arriving in a safe city she sought out the help of the Pennsylvania anti slavery society who documented her time as a slave and set her up with a new life and a new name. She was free but plagued by visions of her family who were still living a life of slavery. So she decided to go back for them.

Imagine the guts that required. A flight from hell followed by a willing return back into the fire. That's why Harriet Tubman is so well remembered 170 years later. The Moses of the southern states. So effective at her work that no one would believe a woman was capable of it. Cynthia Erivo plays the part of Harriet with a fiery conviction and is totally believable in the part. It's just a pity the rest of the film doesn't live up to her performance. There's too much going on, time flies by too fast, Harriet's journey's to the antebellum south have her flitting around like a new world ninja and as such there's little sense of the danger the real Harriet must have been in everytime she went on a mission.

It's a drama made for audiences with a short attention span. One that feels it has to hit the crowd pleasing beats a modern audience needs. As such it takes from a powerful story that demands a bit more reverence than it's shown here. The 12A approach dulls the film's effect too. No one wants misery porn but tiptoeing around the horror of the era doesn't help anyone either. The slavery era was a horrifying time for black people in America. The 2010's are still a horrifying time for black people in America. People need to be reminded of the horror so it doesn't go that way again but sadly sometimes it feels like it's already too late.

All that said it is an effective watch in places. Little moments linger, like running to a safe place for a long awaited hug, terrified of being seen. Small things we all take for granted were grounds for death back then. The happiness of a parent seeing a child they'd assumed gone forever. The feeling of betrayal when a loved one has moved on. A nighttime lake crossing. The postscript ending where we find out what else Harriet was capable of. The glorious way she conveyed messages to her family. Eviro is front and centre in all these little slivers of greatness and makes them her own. The mighty Clarke Peters makes a good showing as her father too & Janelle Monáe is very effective is a small role that shows off the other side of black life in those times of hardship.

Harriet isn't a bad film at all but it just feels like it could have been a lot better. Had director Kasi Lemmons narrowed it's focus to a specific part of Harriet's life instead of trying to cram too much in it could have been something special.

The Banana Splits Movie

If you're of a certain vintage you might remember the Banana Splits, an American puppet show that used to pop up on English TV on Saturday mornings a long time ago. It had THE most annoying theme tune in the world and it made Barney look like University Challenge but it was undemanding fun and sure what else would you want when you're 8 years old. The news of a Banana Splits movie with a horror twist coming out piqued my interest. I knew it would be fun. I had no idea it would be so gory.

Oh it's so gory.

Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky are the Banana Splits. Animatronic puppets adored by kids. One such kid is Harley Williams (Finlay Wotjak-Hissong) and for his birthday his mam Beth (Dani Kind) has gotten him tickets to a live taping of one of their shows. Him, Beth, his brother Austin and their shitbag step dad Mitch all head along expecting an hour of fun but what they get is a puppet fueled massacre that will change their lives FOREVER.

Whoever wrote this loves 80's horror, specifically slasher movies. The DNA of Friday The 13th, The Burning, Madman, Rosemary's Killer and Halloween et al is spattered all over The Banana Splits Movie and if you're a fan of the genre it's not a bad thing at all. If not your eyes will roll right out of your head at the plot contrivances and extreme cliche on display here. Everything you'd expect to see in a ropey horror gets rolled out. Characters heading off into the dark by themselves. Dead bodies popping up out of the blue while defying the laws of physics. Characters you want to see minced as soon as they open their mouths and the worst one, knowing exactly who will live and who will die. It's all here and you'll groan every single time.

And yet for all it's downsides it's just a big ol' pile of fun. There's an awful lot of pleasure to be gained from seeing evil puppets dismembering and bludgeoning the worst sections of society. Instagrammers who insists on livesharing every moment of their lives. Parents forcing their own failed dreams on their kids. Bullies who treat their staff and families like shit. Watching them getting set on fire and asphyxiating on novelty lollipops never gets old. I'm sure that probably paints me in an awful like but as Brendan Grace once said "I've had my fun and that's all that matters."

It's the takeaway food of movies. You'll enjoy it while you devour it but an hour later you'll have it all forgotten. Harley and Beth aside every other character blends into one. They exist to get turned into ketchup. There's no bit of depth here at all. Nothing unique. Nothing memorable. It lives in the moment. But if you like your splatter with a side order of dark giggles you might get a kick out of this. If not avoid it because it might ruin your Hanna-Barbera tainted childhood memories forever.

The Highwaymen

Everyone knows the tale of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Two of the most notorious outlaws of the 20th century. Their murder and robbery spree all across the central and south central states of the USA made them a sensation during the great depression of the 1930's. Newspapers spread stories of their evil deeds and the public lapped it all up, not seeing them as villains at all but as heroes who took on the banking institutions that had made so many ordinary people homeless during that huge recession. Ya. it's safe to say Bonnie and Clyde were well known. But what about the men who took them down in the end? 

Ma Ferguson (Kathy Bates), the first woman to govern Texas is under severe pressure from the law to stop Bonnie and Clyde in their tracks. Their crime spree has effected the state after a prison break leaves several prison guards dead and it's an embarrassment to her administration. Her solution is to reach into the past and dig up a man called Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) to deal with the whole mess. Frank was a Texas Ranger who retired when his unit was disbanded after being seen as old fashioned. He's given the unofficial job of hunting down the pair and exterminating them with extreme prejudice. It's too much of a job for one man and he hires Benjamin Gault (Woody Harrelson), his former partner to help him out. The depression has taken a fierce toll on Gault and he jumps at the chance. A lot of time has passed though since they worked together and the two old men aren't as sprightly as they used to be.

At 132 minutes The Highwaymen is a tad too long. That's the only bad thing I have to say about this movie. Other than that I really liked it. It's a slowburning but gripping look at that time in American history when the Wild West was leaving the building and modernity was taking over. The mythical age was ending and reality had come knocking in the shape of crushing poverty and mindless violence. Violence that necessitated the creation of the FBI, an institution that made the Texas Rangers look archaic. The Rangers were the last gasp of an era that made legends. The general populace was hungry for that age of legends and so made Bonnie & Clyde into their own antiheroes. The Rangers took out those antiheroes with such overkill that it put that era to bed for good.

That's one of the things I liked about this. It's a postscript and a full stop in one. A look at two men out of time called back into action and the toll of the violence they carry with them. The film makes no bones about the effect that violence has on a person both physically and psychologically. There's nothing glorious about young bodies ripped asunder by hails of gunfire and there's no good memories involved either. Costner's Hamer somehow can carry the weight of it all but Harrelson's Gault is ruined by it. He's a drink sodden mess haunted by a massacre he once took part in, in the name of justice. "Manos Arribas, you sons of bitches." A scene where he looses his demons is a cracker. He's a great actor who never gets enough credit for it.

It's not all darkness thankfully. Hamer paying off neighbourhood kids so they won't blab about his out of practice shooting skills is a lovely moment as is a scene in a speakeasy bathroom where we get a glimpse of the wildcard Gault was before life ruined him. The interplay between Costner and Harrelson is a joy too. There's plenty of gentle humour to be mined as they both realise their aging bodies are letting them down but their still sharp minds and experience put them head and shoulders over everyone else in investigative stakes. They work well together and it's hard to believe that it's the first time these two old(ish) pro's have shared the screen. Story aside I'd have happily watched them driving around and bickering for ages.

Don't go into this expecting anything like the 1967 take on Bonnie & Clyde. You won't get it. There's no rose tinted glasses here, no romanticising of the old story. The outlaw duo barely even appear onscreen apart from one very pivotal moment. It's worth watching though. A western set in the era that ended the old west. It might be a bit too slow for some but two excellent performances from Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson will see you through. 

On Netfix right now.

Mary, Queen Of Scots

Historical films are tricky. Be true to the texts and you risk boring casual audiences to death. Be creative with the texts an you risk alienating historians and that virulent brand of film fan who believes any type of deviation from the truth is a moral outrage. Mary, Queen Of Scots falls between truth and creativity. It's a bit dull in places and outright makes up one big chunk of the story but luckily for us we also get two lead performances so good that we can forgive any longeur or flat out fabrication.

Mary Stuart has returned to Scotland, the land of her birth and she has a legitimate claim for the throne of England, a position currently held by her first cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth has been unable to have a child and feels threatened by Mary's youth and vitality. Mary's a Catholic too, a fact that does not go down with the English parliament and the fact that's she a woman in charge maddens many within her own circle. She might be the person wielding power in the north but her life was still subject to the whims of the men in her council.

This was a hard film to like and it's definitely not one you'll enjoy. Life for a woman in the 16th century was tough and the film has no qualms about showing us just how brutal the times could be. Power didn't matter a damn if you had the wrong genitialia and various dehumanising moments will kick the heart of out your chest. Our own Saoirse Ronan, an actress we've seen grow from a child into an actress of amazing talent, it's tough to see her treated this way. Her Mary is a fully rounded human being who you want to succeed even if you know the outcome of her story. One moment where we think she's found a loving, generous man is shattered when he's revealed to be just another scumbag and it's just fierce hard to take. For us and for her. Her fragile self struggling to stand tall as man after man shows himself to be a disappointment. Yet the moments she does stand tall are awe inspiring. Leading her forces into battle. The loyalty she inspires amongst her ladies in waiting. Her final scene. That colour red. Wow.

Elizabeth meanwhile has her own problems. Smallpox has, in her own mind, ruined her features, her body has betrayed her and her lack of an heir mortifies her. (Check out the comparison of her hobby and Mary's scene of labour.) She's being pushed back and forth about how she's going to deal with the problem of Scotland by the men in her council and like Mary she has to stand up for herself as well. Margot Robbie as Elizabeth has a smaller role than Saoirse but she's just as good, and not one but vain about how she looks throughout the film. Like Mary, she's a mix of fragility and towering strength and Robbie carries it all with aplomb. They had far more in common with each other than any of their so called allies. It's a pity history, religion and politics forced them away from each other.

As mentioned earlier these two fiery performances help the film rise above it's duller scenes (aka whenever Mary or Elizabeth are absent) and more confusing moments. It's a good idea to go into this movie knowing a little of the history because a few lines at the start of the story aside, we get very little hand holding here. You'll have plenty of "Who's he. What's happening? Why do they all have to have beards?" moments throughout. It does become clear eventually but it can be frustrating at times. As a history lesson it leaves a lot of be desired but it's great to see this story onscreen. Traditionally these historical period dramas are packed with bloodied, screeching men in kilts rendering each other down to gristle and bone on a battlefield so it's always refreshing to see a more sedate, considered take on events. 

It's worth making the trip to the cinema to see this for the 2 lead performances alone. Don't go in expecting the Braveheart/Rob Roy film promised by the trailers though. Instead expect a story dealing with sexual politics, power and patriarchal structures that still feels topical 400 years after the fact.