Things we want to see more of onscreen. Diversity in blockbusters

I love films. Love hearing about them, love talking about them, love watching them. One aspect of film-making I couldn't care less about though is the money side. How much actors make, how much a film costs or how much a film earns at the box office. The last one especially you hear people shouting from the rooftops about how good a film is because it's making money hand over fist.  They seem to equate the quality of a film with the money it earns. Utter tosh. 

This week though I listened after seeing an article that mentioned Marvel's Black Panther had just broke through the $1 billion barrier at the box office. A billion seems to be the magic number that all blockbusters strive for and few rarely get there. In fact (without adjusting for inflation) only 33 films have ever made over 1 billion dollars. Black Panther is the latest with, at time of writing, $1.079 billion dollars.

Why does this matter? Who cares? Is this significant?

It's massively significant. 

30 of the 33 films that have hit that magic mark are filled with white actors or have a white leading character and Black Panther is the first film* to ever do it with a black lead character.  This is a massive boost for diversity in film. This is concrete proof to the big film studios that not all films have to have white leading actors. Back in 1998 Marvel had a big success with Wesley Snipes in Blades but instead of building on that success they let it tail off. I can't understand why. People want to see different faces leading films. We get sick of the same old heads in every franchise. We want to see fresh takes on old stories. To see a movie from a perspective that's new to us. To see a story in a culture that we know nothing about. We just like seeing new stuff!! There's a huge audience for films with leads who don't have blonde hair and blue eyes. Well normal well adjusted people do anyway. Racists will disagree. But fuck them.


*(yes yes John Boyega in the Force Awakens but that was a far more ensemble piece than this)

How many films do we see set in Africa? Not many and the majority of the ones we do see are seen through the eyes of white protagonists. Out Of Africa, Tears Of The Sun, Black Hawk Down, Blood Diamond, Tarzan (dreadful, do not watch), Gorillas In The Mist, District 9, The Ghost And The Darkness, The African Queen etc etc. Then we get ones like The Last King Of Scotland, or Cry Freedom or A Dry White Season that tell black stories but still feel the need to give us a white lead to identify with. Rare films like Hotel Rwanda and Beast Of No Nation slip through thankfully. Black Panther is the latest and it's definitely the biggest. No matter what your opinion on comic book movies you have to admit it's a hugely importantly cultural moment. Finally black kids are getting to see superheroes that look like them on screen.

And BTW its not just black representation making a huge impact at international box offices. 

Look at the three films below from the last year. 

The Fate Of The Furious - $1.236 billion. People scoff at this franchise but it's light years ahead of other bigger franchises in terms of racial diversity. This one was part 8 and look at the money it made. Part 7 BTW is the 6th biggest grossing film of all time. This one is 12th.

Wolf Warrior 2 - $870 million. A Chinese film that barely got a sniff of a release over here and look at the money it made. It even beat Titanic and Avatar in China. Asian cinema was huge in the west in the 70's with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan introducing western audiences to the wonders of martial arts cinema but has since tailed off with the odd success (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) rearing its head. If Hollywood was willing to embrace all the Asian talent around god only knows the kind of success they could have.

Coco - $740 million. Pixar's wonderful celebration of all things Mexico made a mint. It was great to see a film set in there that for once wasn't about drugs and war and one that was aimed at a young audience and one that introduced them to a culture all but ignored in Hollywood.

In less than 12 months 4 films were released that made shockwaves at the box office. Black Panther is still going strong and it's looking likely that by the end of it's run the combined total of all 4 films with be over $4 billion dollars. If that's not a stamp of audience approval for diversity onscreen I don't know what is.

Gringo

One of my favourite things about the 80's and 90's was the popularity of the comedy thriller. That blend of violence, profanity, tension and laughs that always seemed to work so well. Midnight Run, Grosse Point Blank, 48 hrs, Red Heat, Go etc. The sort of film you knew would easily entertain you. If you enjoyed those then Gringo is for you.

Harold Soyinka is a Nigerian man working in Chicago. He's stressed out. His wife is spending to much money on her business and his own business is worrying him too. On a trip to Mexico with his two bosses, Elaine and Richard, Harold overhears something that confirms his worst fears and decides to do something really really silly to get himself out of a hole.

A few issues aside I thoroughly enjoyed this. David Oyelowo plays Harold and is a joy. I've never seen the funny side of him before but one high pitched yelp of outrage sold me on him straight away. He plays the stressed out bloke we all know to a tee. The weight of the world is on his shoulders and when he finally decides he can't take it anymore the fun begins. It's not a laugh out loud comedy but the jokes that hit, hit hard. Those looks of outrage that never get old, a faked phone call, a drug dealer with a strange and angry musical obsession and basically every p.c. obliterating utterance out of Elaine's (Charlize Theron) mouth. There's a lot of fun to be garnered from the back and forth of the film too as characters keep making stupid rash decisions and telling lies that dig them deeper and deeper into holes. It's a never ending circle of backstabbing, double crossing, secrets, mistaken identities glued together by nasty selfish people and some surprisingly bloody violence.

There's a lot going on in this, so much that it never gets boring but at the same time so much that it does get confusing at times and with so many characters onscreen it's no surprise that some of them get short shrift. One plot line about a couple played by Amanda Seyfried and Harry Treadaway works hard to blend into the main story but eventually becomes pointless and the less said about the character played by Thandie Newton the better. The good outweighs the bad though and by the time the action hits a fever pitch near the end you'll have forgotten about any of the earlier confusion.

Director Nash Edgerton does a good job in portraying the sweaty edginess south of the border and gathers together a nice cast to do so. Oyelowo and Theron are great fun, one utterly sympathetic and one a raging bastard who despite initial reservations you'll end up (sort of) admiring. Joel Edgerton as Richard is a great prick. The kind of bro who you'd cross the road to avoid and who'd stab you in the back while patting you on the shoulder. Sharlto Copley as a mercenary dropped into the mix brings his trademark quirkiness too but manages to get one quietly surprising and touching scene that gives us a nice little moment of respite from the craziness.

This is well worth a watch. Go see it quick because it won't be around long. It seems to have been dumped in the post award season with little to no advertisement. Usually that's a sign that a film studio has no faith in the film but I'm at a loss to see why. It's great fun and far more entertaining than a lot of the so called prestige films released so far this year. Between this and the recent Game Night we are seeing a mini resurgence in the comedy thriller genre and I've got to say I'm loving it.

The best and worst screen mammies

It's mother's day today. It's a day for celebrating mothers all around the world for those of us lucky enough to still have our mam's. Now that you are lying on the couch half dead from the mega breakfast you've cooked for her or had cooked for you here's something to aid your digestion. A list of some of the most memorable mammies to ever grace the silver screen. Some of them are just lovely but as in real life some of them are absolute fuckin weapons as well.

Some spoilers for old films below

Jackie Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Janine Cody aka Smurf. The matriarch of a thieving pack of animals. A terrifying woman who has a very unhealthy relationship with her sons. Her sons are a pack of murdering drug dealers but she's the scariest person in the house. And quite possibly the scariest thing in Australia. Ellen Barking plays her well in the TV version but Jackie Weaver makes her a chilling creation.

Brenda Fricker - My Left Foot

Bridget Brown. Mother of Christy and 12 other children. Great at the aul saving. A saint, there's no other way to describe her. Her love and devotion and patience alone helped Christy become an artist. In one scene she literally digs the foundation for his future. An Oscar winning role and rightly so. The best Irish mammy ever. Well apart from my own. Of course.

Anjelica Huston - The Grifters

Lilly Dillon. A terrifying creation. That hair. The constant fag on the go. She's a con artist extraordinaire. No one is safe from her. Not even her son. She tries to con him, when that doesn't work she flirts with him and of course that ends with his throat being slashed and him bleeding out on the floor. And then she walks away. She's some piece of work.

Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce. A level headed loving mother who build her own business empire and who has the misfortune to be saddled with an absolute prick of a daughter. No matter what her daughter throws in her face Mildred still loves her and in the end, in the face of an ultimate betrayal is still willing to put everything on the line for her. Another oscar winning performance.

Piper Laurie - Carrie

Margaret White. A terrifying creation. Overbearing and ultra religious. So suffocating in her parenting of her poor daughter Carrie that it kicks Carrie's telekinetic powers into overdrive and we all know how that goes. The kind of mother who thinks breasts and menstruation are evil and who beats this into her daughter's head. Owner of the world's scariest crucifix. Dies an immensely satisfying death.

Jada Pinkett Smith - Menace II Society

Ronnie Richards. A selfless ray of light in the darkness of the Jordan Downs housing project in South Central L.A. Left the craziness behind to raise a son and go back to school. A beautiful soul. Decides to sacrifice her old life and begin again in Atlanta to give herself and her son a chance to thrive. Gets out by the skin of her teeth.

Diane Ladd - Wild At Heart

Marietta Fortune. A very scary woman. Overbearing as hell. Does things in the best interests of her family but does tend to go a bit far ie hiring knife wielding criminals and gangsters to find and kill her daughter's boyfriend. Of course things backfire which leads to a lipstick scene that will hate your dreams.

Sigourney Weaver - Aliens

Ok, we never get to meet her real daughter but the mother/daughter bond Ellen Ripley creates with little Newt gives a brilliant action film a big ol' pile of heart. She'll risk her life for her new charge after only knowing her for a day or two. Problematically she does this by murdering the newborn offspring of another mother but we'll forgive her today.

Mo'Nique - Precious

Mary Lee Johnson. An absolute wagon. The kind of character you want to see take a hatchet to the face after 30 seconds in her presence. She physically, mentally and sexually abuses her daughter Precious all because she was jealous when her own boyfriend made her daughter pregnant. A performance so potent that I can't even look at this actor anymore. 

Jo-Beth Williams - Poltergeist

Diane Freeling, the kind of mammy we'd all want if demonic native american spirits dragged us into the TV. The kind of mammy who loves and trusts her kids to do their own thing (witness her reaction to her daughter and the builders wolf whistling her) but who will risk everything for them when they need her. Her rescue of her daughter Carol Anne is a hero moment up there with the best of them. And she still has time to smoke a joint or two.


This tiny list is missing dozens of the most memorable movie mammies, both good and bad. Who would you pick?

11 films worth watching on TV this week

45 Years   Sat   10/3   CH4 @ 21.00

Just as they are about to celebrate their 45th anniversary a couple receive a piece of news that rattles the foundations of their relationship. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are fantastic in this deeply humane film that will make you rethink your ideas about how other people perceive you. Watching these two old pro's getting to grips with a meaty and mature story is a fine way to spend a couple of hours.

Death Of A Superhero   Sat   10/3   RTE2 @ 21.30

A young Dublin teen called Donald is dying of cancer and loses himself in his hobby of comic book drawing to avoid it all. His new therapist wants to help him accept the reality of his situation. A lovely little film that will uplift and upset you in equal measure. Good performances from Thomas Brodie Sangster and Andy Serkis buoy the film and there's good Irish support from Sharon Horgan and Michael McElhatton.

The Lady Vanishes   Sun   11/3   BBC2 @ 00.55

While travelling on a train across Europe a young woman makes friends with an elderly lady who all of a sudden vanishes from the train. No one else seems to know who the older woman was at all. One of Hitchcock's earliest thrillers is a doozy of a watch, full of suspense and is brilliantly watchable. So influential too. Margaret Lockwood, May Whitty and Michael Redgrave are all excellent.

Under Suspicion   Sun   11/3   TV3 @ 22.30

In 1950's Brighton a private eye unwittingly becomes part of the case he's investigating and finds himself under suspicion of murder when his alibi doesn't quite make sense. An early leading role for Liam Neeson here and he acquits himself well in a seedy and entertainingly twisty tale of sex, lies, murder and intrigue. Solid back up from Kenneth Cranham and Laura San Giacomo too.

Falling Down   Sun   11/3   ITV4 @ 23.45

On a scalding day in Los Angeles a man decides he can't take it anymore and decides to go on a rampage across the city. An elderly detective must figure out what's up. Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall are great in this blisteringly entertaining 1993 thriller where the heat & tension of a city on the edge just pour off the screen. Fine support from Tuesday Weld, Barbara Hershey and Frederic Forrest all adds to the goodness.

The Descent   Mon   12/3   The Horror Channel @ 21.00

Six women go on a potholing expedition into an underground cavern. Things of course go absolutely arseways. First off, if you are claustrophobic don't even bother with this. You'll be terrified and out of breath before the horror elements of the film even hit. If you are able for it you're in for a treat though. A terrifyingly intense treat. Shauna McDonald and Natalie Mendoza are excellent and Neil Marshall's direction is first class.

The Guest   Mon   12/3   Film4 @ 23.25

A family's life is turned upside down when a war veteran claiming to have been a friend of their dead son turns up at the door and wiggles his way into their life. A thoroughly entertaining and knowing homage of 90's action films and home Invasion thrillers with a little splash of horror thrown in for good measure.  Funny, nasty and totally absurd. A super way to spend 2 hrs. Maika Monroe and Dan Stevens are on fire in the lead roles.

A War   Tues   13/3   BBC4 @ 23.00

A decision made during a firefight in Afghanistan has grave consequences for a Danish soldier. Meanwhile his wife is fighting her own battle at home. An intelligent and tense take on an aspect of war we rarely hear about and mature look at the horrible gray areas that exist in the heat of battle. Pilou Asbæk & Tuva Novotny are great leads in a searing and probing mordern day morality tale.

The Artist   Wed   14/3   BBC1 @ 23.45 

In 1920's Hollywood, a star of silent cinema meets and falls for an actress who's star is on the rise due to the introduction of sound in film. But what will this mean for his career? A glorious modern take on silent cinema that's an absolute joy to watch and the music laid over the images on screen compliment them perfectly. A real love letter to the movies. Jean DuJardin and Bérénice Bejo are great as the leads.

Twelve Monkeys   Thurs   15/3   Syfy @ 23.30

A convicted criminal is sent back in time to gather information to help stop a plague that has decimated the earth of the future. But he gets sent back further than he should have been. Terry Gilliam's time travel thriller is absolutely bonkers and utterly compelling with an ending that will have you drawing diagrams to understand it all. Bruce Willis is at his best in the lead but Brad Pitt steals the film as a psychiatric patient he meets on his travels.

Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes   Fri   16/3   RTE2 @ 21.30

The domination of Earth by ultra intelligent apes is in progress and a group of survivors of a plague that has decimated mankind are the only thing that can stand up to them. The second film in the modern Apes trilogy is a masterful piece of escapism that still finds time to deal with it's subject matter with intelligence and subtlety. Between the explosions and gunfire of course. Highly entertaining. Andy Serkis as Caesar owns the film.

The Lodgers

We make some great films in this country but Irish horror films don't really have the best track record. For every Byzantium we have a Rawhead Rex and an Isolation. For every Grabbers we have Shrooms and (sweet jesus this one is bad) Boy Eats Girl. The goodness of A Dark Song is tempered by the memories of High Spirits and Stitches. Things are looking up however with the arrival of Brian O'Malleys 'The Lodgers'. This is one that can go in the good column.

The year is 1920. A pair of twins called Rachel and Edward live an odd existence in a decrepit old mansion in the Irish countryside. Strange supernatural forces tie them to the house and to each other. When Sean, an injured World War I veteran returns home, him and Rachel are drawn to each other which causes problems for both of them.

I really liked this but it's a film that's going to struggle to find an audience I think. It's languid (and at times glacial) pace makes it a tough watch in places and it's easy to find your attention wandering at times. But if you are willing to stick with it you'll be rewarded with a richly atmospheric story and visuals that will genuinely chill you. One sub aquatic image from the climax of the film will feature heavily in my dreams tonight I fear. One thing I really appreciated about it was the fact that it stays old fashioned in its scares and lets them build organically instead of the usual modern horror movie business of chucking jump scares and loud noises at the screen every five minutes. The setting of the film helps. It was filmed in the notorious Loftus Hall in Co. Wexford which is supposedly Ireland's most haunted house. Just knowing this lends the film a veneer of creepy authenticity.

Written by David Turpin and directed by Brian O'Malley, it's a lovely looking if slightly derivative film that wears it's influences a bit too much on its sleeve. Seasoned horror fans will notice nods to The Innocents and The Others and more modern influences like Let's Scare Jessica To Death, Crimson Peak, Under The Skin and especially Japanese horrors like Ringu when we arrive at the overblown finale of the film. But I suppose if you are going to homage something it's never a bad idea to cherrypick from the best and these moments will unnerve you and creep you out and any horror film that can do that is doing its job properly. Scares aside it also looks at social themes of the day like the way Irish people who fought in World War I were treated. 100 years later this is still a topic causing heated debate and it's good to see it acknowledged.

Horror needs a solid cast to sell the scares and we get a fine one here. Charlotte Vega as Rachel is a great lead and really sells her character and her bizarre relationship with her brother who's played well by Bill Milner. Ireland's own Deirdre O'Kane & Moe Dunford especially offer fine support with Dunford's character Dessie playing a bitter and bigoted character who's as nasty as any supernatural entity. I've never seen this side of him before but I hope we get to see more of it in the future. As with a lot of films made here I do wonder why the leads can't be given to Irish performers though. There's enough talent on this little Island to fill a thousand films and it's not like Vega and Milner are well known names who will bring in an audience. It's an annoyance but it doesn't take away from the quality of their performances.

This is definitely worth a watch. It's a well made and well crafted chiller that will get under your skin and one that doesn't have to rely on blood and guts and loud noises to get it's job done. That's always a welcome thing.

A perfect pairing of sound & vision. Boogie Nights. A visit to Rahad Jackson's house.

Boogie Nights came out in 1997. It was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who has since gone on to make The Master, There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread amongst others. He's a genius but for me this will always be his masterpiece. His other films are great but this manages to be both great and extremely entertaining at the same time.

Dirk (Mark Walhberg) and Brock (John C.Reilly) are porn stars. They are good at what they do. But it's the early 80's and coke is abundant. Dirk and Brock take too much coke and it affects what they do for a living. No one wants to work with porn stars who can't ......eh...... rise to the occasion. Dirk and Brock are also easily lead fools. When their friend Todd (Thomas Jane) suggests robbing a drug dealer they let themselves be talked into it. But Todd is an ill prepared fool too and soon the trio find themselves at the home of Rahad Jackson with no plan at all. Tensions are running high and a mixture of crack cocaine, fireworks and Night Ranger's brilliant song 'Sister Christian' all blend together to create one of the tensest scenes ever. Watch it below.




If you've seen this film you'll know how the scene plays out but if you haven't I urge you to track it down and fall in love with this brilliant film. If you are however an impatient person like myself you can see the climax of the scene here. Boogie Nights was loosely based on the exploits of real life actor John Holmes and this scene is very loosely based on The Wonderland Murders crime that he was caught up in. Thankfully for once the movie version doesn't go as far as real life.

Alfred Molina as Rahad is only in the film for less than 10 minutes but man he steals those 10 minutes with an absolutely manic performance. He should be in everything.

Previous parts

Mean Streets
Watership Down
Casablanca
Zodiac
Jackie Brown
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
Deliverance
The Omen
Copland
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Once More With Feeling
The Mission
Before Sunset
Carlito's Way
A Knight's Tale
Platoon
Before Sunrise
Rushmore
An American Werewolf In London
Dazed And Confused
Boogie Nights
Raging Bull
Almost Famous
Once Upon A Time In The West
Goodfellas
Last Of The Mohicans

Red Sparrow

We all know this feeling. There's a film coming out and you can't wait to see it. It stars two actors you've always enjoyed and it's about a subject that's always worth a watch. It can't go wrong. Then it gets released and you start hearing rumblings about it. Negative rumblings. Then people who's opinions you trust start saying it's not the best but no, no, you still want to go and make your own mind up. So you go and then when the film is over you are sitting there annoyed that you didn't listen to those trusted opinions. Yeah Red Sparrow, I'm talking about you of course.

After a horrific injury ruins her career as a ballerina in the Bolshoi ballet a young Russian woman called Dominika Egorova is offered a chance at a new life as a Red Sparrow spy working for her country's intelligence bureau. Here she will be trained to use her sexuality as a weapon. At the same time an American spy in Moscow by the name of Nate Nash has his cover blown pointlessly and jumps at a second chance to complete his objective. It's only a matter of time before they cross paths.

This was okay....ish. It has the bones of something great but fritters a lot of it's goodwill away with an overindulgent running time, unnecessarily complicated to-ing and fro-ing and a chorus of Russian accents that wouldn't have seemed out of place in an episode of Spitting Image, all spoken by a good cast that's mostly wasted. But if you can put the accents aside it is well acted and it's definitely Jennifer Lawrence's film. She gives a brave, open and unshowy performance. It's not just Katniss Everdeen with a glass of vodka. She's a tough piece of work but fragile under it. That glacial Russian exterior that she creates for herself out of necessity masks a warm interior and her relationship with her mother gives the film some much needed heart. Her other relationships throughout the film don't stand up though. The main one she makes just doesn't feel real. It comes out of nowhere and contains a level of intimacy that don't feel earned at all and made me wonder were portions of the story removed to shorten an already long (140 mins) film. This also applies to Dominika's spy training. We barely get a sense of it and it's over. It's odd. Anyways. The always reliable Joel Edgerton is good as Nate but doesn't get much to do. See also Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons and Ciaran Hinds especially. Kudos must go to whoever chose Matthias Schoenaerts to play Ivan, Dominika's uncle because he has the Russian look off to a tee. If there is ever a biopic of Vladimir Putin, this chap has to get first refusal on the part.

Much has been made of the violent and sexual content of this film and it earns it 16 certificate with ease.( Btw the version we are getting here and in the U.K. has been snipped of a tiny moment of violence by the filmmakers to prevent it getting an 18 cert). It's not an entertainingly crunchy film though. It's dark and brutal, especially so for a mainstream Hollywood production. Without going into spoiler territory one scene about 30 minutes in will test the mettle of a lot of people in the audience. We aren't spared any detail of what exactly a life of espionage is like for a woman. The brutality throughout the film is used sparsely but it has a horrible impact. A lot of people won't be able to take it.

An interesting aspect of the film is it's depiction of life as a commodity. Dominika's body is not her own and she is told this many times throughout the story. Raised, taught, nourished by the state and now it's time to pay the piper. To survive she has to dehumanise herself and give in to the idea that she is there to be used by men. It's not hard to see a parallel between the treatment of the women spies in this and young women in modern day show business. Jennifer Lawrence herself had a horrible taste of the dark side of celebrity life in the photo hacking scandal of 2014.

There's plenty of good in here, the opening 5 minutes is great especially, but as I mentioned it's just too diluted. It's too long, it's too dull, it's too muddled. All that and it's too nasty as well. Save your rubles and wait for this to turn up on netflix.

Game Night

Are game nights a thing in Ireland? I haven't a clue tbh. I'd like to think they are. It sounds like a laugh and a fun way to pass a few hours that doesn't involve getting annihilated drunk. A group of adults get together and play cards, scrabble, charades etc. Hopefully if they take off here they won't involve quite as many underground fight clubs and DIY surgery as this one though.

Every week 3 couples get together for a game night hosted by Annie and Max. Max is a ball of stress down to feelings of inadequacy caused by his older, more successful brother Brooks and Annie is feeling it as a result. Of course Brooks then turns up and decides create a SUPER game night. And it's right here that everything in their lives decides to go haywire.

Game Night is good fun. It's not belly laugh funny but it will throw a big smile onto your face and give you a nice few giggles (Squeaky toy, conveyer belt etc). It's the kind of comedy thriller that was prevalent in the 80's and 90's and feels nicely old fashioned as a result. Unlike a lot of modern comedies it lets the funny stuff come from the characters and the situations they find themselves in instead of packing the movie with cheap shock value moments. It economically and sharply draws up the two main characters and gives them identifiable problems that will make you actually give a damn about them. That's a rare thing in modern comedy. Characters that are actually likable and not just vehicles for punchlines.

It of course helps when you pack the cast with actors who do comedy well. Jason Bateman as Max is an old hand at this stuff by now. Rachel McAdams is great fun as Annie and seeing her let loose over the course of the film is a joy. Kyle Chandler as Brooks is fun also and does smarmy passive aggressive bastard very well indeed. The supporting cast has fun too and it's great to see our own Sharon Horgan popping up and getting to keep her own accent too. The whole film is stolen by Jesse Plemons though as the creepy cop next door who would love nothing better than getting in on the game night. Him and his fluffy dog get great mileage.

If you like the idea of Regina George quoting a very famous line from Pulp Fiction while aiming a gun at people it will be right up your street. If you laugh at the idea of a piss poor Denzel Washington impression then it's for you. If the thought of Sharon Horgan chasing after a fake faberge egg while being chased by fighters makes you smile then give this a whirl. There's plenty of great little moments here and they all build up to a fun whole. As with all comedies some of the jokes fall flat but more than enough of them hit the mark to make it all work. In fact the only dud note is a bit of pointless stunt casting near the end that adds up to nothing.

Well worth a watch. And all in under 100 minutes. Perfick. Make sure you see it with a big crowd. Comedies just work better that way.

Oscar predictions

David Niven gets a surprise while announcing the best picture of 1974

Every year I claim I couldn't give a shit about the Oscars and yet somehow every year still get caught up in the whole thing. "Why was that pile of muck nominated??" "Why wasn't that masterpiece nominated??" etc. Now I wouldn't go as far as actually watching the show ( watched it once cos I was in America at the time it was on and high on Dr Pepper ) because it's deathly boring but I always enjoy the buzz of the build up and hearing the results the next day. Doing well this year too as regards actually seeing the films. Of the 9 films nominated for best picture I've seen 8 of them. Haven't got to see Call My By Your Name yet because us lowly country plebs were denied a chance to see it in the cinema and it hasn't yet received a home release. 

I know the displays of wealth and sometimes hypocrisy shown at these awards puts a lot of people off but I just love the movie part of it and like seeing the right people acknowledged for doing a good job.

Anyway, here's what I think will win and what I hope will win. Not that anyone gives a damn. 

Underlined films are what I think will win.

Bold films are what I want to win

BEST PICTURE

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Meryl Streep, The Post

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound

Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

BEST DIRECTOR

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

Get Out, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

The Boss Baby

The Breadwinner* 

Coco

Ferdinand

Loving Vincent

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

A Fantastic Woman, Chile

The Insult, Lebanon

Loveless, Russia

On Body and Soul, Hungary

The Square, Sweden

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

Call Me by Your Name

The Disaster Artist

Logan

Molly's Game

Mudbound

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

The Big Sick

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ORIGINAL SONG

"Mighty River," Mudbound

"Mystery of Love," Call Me by Your Name

"Remember Me," Coco

"Stand Up for Something," Marshall

"This is Me," The Greatest Showman

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Beauty and the Beast

Blade Runner 2049

The Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Mudbound

The Shape of Water

COSTUME DESIGN

Beauty and the Beast

Darkest Hour

Phantom Thread

The Shape of Water

Victoria & Abdul

SOUND EDITING

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Dunkirk

Phantom Thread

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

VISUAL EFFECTS

Blade Runner 2049

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Kong: Skull Island

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

War for the Planet of the Apes

FILM EDITING

Baby Driver

Dunkirk

I, Tonya

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri


If i get one of these right I'll be happy.

* I haven't seen this but it's Irish