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War For The Planet Of The Apes (DVD Review)

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Starring: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Karin Konoval, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller
Directed By: Matt Reeves
Running Time: 136 mins
BBFC Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: November 27th 2017 (UK)

Our Score

The recent Planet Of The Apes prequel trilogy is probably the most consistently impressive ‘blockbuster’ franchise of the past decade. The movies break the rules far more than they’re generally given credit for, getting progressively more radical as they’ve gone along. This is, after all, a big budget, tentpole franchise where human beings are the bad guys – they’re increasingly presented as brutal, arrogant, cruel and largely deserving of being wiped off the planet.

The three movies have been about the rise of a new civilisation, becoming increasingly confident in having non-human heroes, and that the audience won’t mind siding with the apes against humanity. It’s an oddly radical thing for them to have done. They’ve also become more confident in their moral complexity. Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes was essentially about an insurgency from the point of view of the insurgents, using the fact that it was apes and humans to hide the fact that its strongest parallels were about America had done in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The criticism of jingoistic, militaristic, unthinking American patriotism continues into War For The Planet Of The Apes, which is incredibly timely in presenting a world where humanity has become increasingly fascist, and where someone – in this case an ape – who wants to heal divisions is ignored. Indeed, the movie is pretty about the nightmare of Trump and alt right – that western civilisation is going to be replaced, partly because of an arrogance that can’t seen the benefit of working together.

The movie once more follows Caesar (Andy Serkis), who’s now at full-scale war with what’s left of the US Army. He attempts to bring an end to the conflict, but ends up being double-crossed. A man known as the Colonel (Woody Harrelson) enters the ape’s secret compound and kills most of Caesar’s family.

Broken by what has happened, Caesar sets out with only a couple of his closest friends to get vengeance. However, Caesar’s personal mission may put all the apes in danger, resulting in a showdown that will determine the future of the planet, and which civilisation is in the ascendancy.

While the trailer for the movie understandably highlighted the action scenes, for much of the running time it’s more of an intense drama. In fact, the middle section is a modern western, but with a couple of chimps and an orang-utan instead of cowboys. It allows the movie to spend time being rather internal, allowing it to explore a key moment in who the apes will be as a civilisation. There is a rather mythic feel as Caesar reaches a crossroads as he attempts to lead his ape brethren in the right direction. There are conscious parallels to Moses and Jesus in what’s going on behind the story, as well as hinting towards things such as the Holocaust.

Thankfully, it doesn’t do this too heavy-handedly (although scenes where Caesar is literally crucified aren’t subtle). It allows War For The Planet Of The Apes to be far more thoughtful and morally complex than most big budget movies would dare to be. Indeed, if this was about two sets of humans against one another, it would probably seem pretty brutal and shocking – it almost certainly wouldn’t have a 12 certificate – but by passing the issues and ideas it’s dealing with through motion-captured apes, it allows the movie to go to some pretty dark and ethically intricate situations, without alienating a mainstream audience. While it maintains a good guys vs. bad guys setup, it’s not afraid of the grey areas in between.

When the action ratchets up, there are some very good setpiece sequences, and as you’d expect for a movie filled with photo-realistic CGI apes that you completely empathise with, the effects are impressive. There are admittedly a few flaws, as while the screenwriters did a great job with the characterisation and overall arc of the plot, at times there are some pretty lazy contrivances to keep the story moving forwards. However, that’s only a minor problem amidst what is otherwise one of the best tentpole releases of the year.

Overall Verdict: The recent Planet Of The Apes films really should be applauded for breaking the mould of what it’s possible to do with a tentpole release, with War sending it out on a thoughtful and powerful note.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Special Features:
Behind The Scenes Featurette

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Jabberwocky (Criterion Blu-ray Review)

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Starring: Michael Palin, Harry H. Corbett, John Le Mesurier, Max Wall, Bernard Bresslaw
Directed By: Terry Gilliam
Running Time: 105 mins
BBFC Certificate: PG
UK Release Date: November 20th 2017 (UK)

Our Score

In 1977 Monty Python had made their TV series and their first film, The Holy Grail, but hadn’t yet brought us Life Of Brian or The Meaning Of Life. In amongst this came Jabberwocky, which wasn’t a Python movie (although their production company was involved), but marked Terry Gilliam’s first movie as a solo director, and starred Michael Palin and Terry Jones.

The result is a movie that’s semi-Python, with echoes of the zany, off-the-wall humour, but which is still its own beast.

Palin plays Dennis, an apprentice cooper in a fantasy medieval kingdom. He’s desperately in love with Griselda (Annette Badland), and so to prove himself – and after a falling out with his father – he sets off to the city to make his fortune.

The kingdom has a big problem though as a monster, the Jabberwock, is stalking the woods. The King (Max Wall) decides a champion is needed. While Dennis has no experience of combat, Dennis gets caught up in all this. But will it help him win the heart of Griselda?

Like much of Python, there’s a madcap quality to Jabberwocky. Although there is a plot, it’s a rather circuitous one that isn’t afraid of going off on zany, often downright silly, tangents. Unlike Python though, there are few moments of comic genius. That’s not to say it’s not fun though, as it’s zaniness and dark humour ensure it’s entertaining to watch, even 40 years on.

Despite being made when the Pythons were still in their first active phase, Gilliam still had enormous difficulty raising the funds for Jabberwocky. It was a very low budget film, but as has almost become Terry’s trademark, he makes a little go a long way. Although there are some obvious rough edges, it still manages to create a convincing, dirty, medieval world, helped by a cast of British comedy veterans. And while it’s mainly interested in being silly, it does have a few serious points to make, such as the ‘businessmen’ who think the Jabberwocky is good for business and don’t want it killed, despite the misery its causing.

There’s also a nice addition for gay audiences in that despite this being a 1977 fantasy film, the King and his Chamberlain (Max Wall and John Le Mesurier) are a couple. They don’t make a big deal of it – indeed, it’s something you could easily miss – but when you notice it adds an unexpected sweetness to the movie. There’s no laughing at them and no one comments on it – it’s just something that is – and has a naturalness to how it’s included that even many modern movies can’t manage.

As this is a Criterion Edition, the Blu-ray comes with some good special features, including a really interesting, brand new documentary. Gilliam, Palin and actress Annette Badland all talk about the making of the movie, giving some fascinating insights into its creation. With a commentary and a few other worthwhile inclusions, it’s a good selection of features. The film has also recently been restored, ensuring that while not a crystal clear as modern released, it looks better in HD than you might expect.

Overall Verdict: Crazy, silly and rough around the edges, Terry Gilliam’s zany solo directorial debut is still a lot of fun – and looks good in this new release.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Special Features:
New 4K digital transfer from a restoration by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, approved by director Terry Gilliam
5.1 surround mix, supervised by Gilliam and presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray
Audio commentary from 2001 featuring Gilliam and actor Michael Palin
New documentary on the making of the film, featuring Gilliam, producer Sandy Lieberson, Palin, and actor Annette Badland
New interview with Valerie Charlton, designer of the Jabberwock, featuring her collection of rare behind-the-scenes photographs
Selection of Gilliam’s storyboards and sketches
Essay by critic Scott Tobias

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The Big Sick (Blu-ray Review)

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Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Anupam Kher
Directed By: Michael Showalter
Running Time: 120 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: November 20th 2017 (UK)

Our Score

Despite the presence of executive producer Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and plenty of ecstatic reviews, The Big Sick wasn’t the breakout international hit many had crossed their fingers it would be. That said, the fact a movie about a Pakistani-born man raised as a Muslim got a mainstream release seems like progress.

Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) was born in Pakistan but was brought to the US by his parents when he was still a kid. Now he’s living between two worlds, with his family still keen for him to be a good Muslim and have an arranged marriage with a nice Pakistani girl, while he’s not sure what he thinks about God and wants to be a stand-up comic.

He meets Emily (Zoe Kazan) at a gig and the two begin to date. However, he knows that there’s a good chance that if he told his family he was with a white girl, they would reject him. After the two have an enormous blow-up, Emily falls ill, which results in her having to be put into a medically induced coma. This brings Kumail into contact with Emily’s parents (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano), who aren’t sure about the young man, or whether he ought to be around after he broke their daughter’s heart.

There are moments during The Big Sick where you may be tempted to think it’s stretching credulity or taking a bit of a strange turn. However, with all of these oddities, it turns out they’re in the movie because they happened in real-life.

The plot is a fictionalised take of Kumail Nanjiani courtship with his now wife Emily V. Gordon, who then worked together on the script. It means that when Emily suddenly falls into a coma, which initially comes across as a tiny bit strange and convenient (especially at the point it comes in the movie), it’s because the real Emily had a serious, life-threatening illness.

The couple took three years to write the script, with the likes of Judd Apatow giving them notes to help them hone the story and dialogue. That extended writing period and the sense that neither of them put their own ego above the story, allows it to be a sharp, clever and sometimes very funny movie. Even when it turns darker in the second half, it still retains its sense of humour.

The screenplay also realises that there are moments when looking for a filmic ‘truth’ is more important than just echoing the actual events and character. That results in some smart fictionalisation, such as making Emily’s movie parents different to her real ones. It allows the movie to more effectively compare and contrast Emily’s American parents with Kumail’s Pakistani ones in an interesting, intelligent way. The movie never really criticises either parents, instead deftly showing why their very different experiences of the world make them see things in different ways. That in turn helps illuminate why the culture clash for their children initially seems so intractable.

The movie challenges stereotypes about Pakistanis and Muslims in often humorous ways. It doesn’t hide the challenges or suggest everything is perfect, but constantly reminds the viewer that there may be different ways to look at things, and that underneath the cultural differences, the human emotions are the same.

For example with arranged marriages, the western stereotype would suggest they were always about forcing someone to marry against their will, as the family’s ‘honour’ and social standing are more important than the happiness of the couple. Here though, it’s clear that for right or wrong, Kumail’s parents genuinely believe it’s what’s best for their child and will make him happy in the long run. Equally, his mother’s obsession with introducing him to single Pakistani girls is far removed from the stereotype of the people getting married having no say in the matter and barely meeting the person beforehand.

The film is smart enough to say that while with arranged marriages and other things, they may be different and/or more complex than we might initially think, that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems and pressures on a human level. That includes Kumail being somewhat trapped between his own desires and those of his parents, as well as a very smart scene involving one of the women Kumail’s mother has introduced him to. She talks about the pressure to marry and weight of expectation she feels. It’s written in a way that acknowledges the difficulties may be similar but more pronounced for women. It’s a vital moment as it stops these women just being props for a man’s story.

It’s one of the things that helps set the movie apart, that it is acutely aware of the issues of race, gender, religion, and even level of funniness that it’s dealing with, and has empathy for all of them. Not just that but it also knows that to promote understanding it can’t get too bogged down in all this. Instead it finds the humour in the situations, helped by a very charming, self-deprecating turn from Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani.

Overall Verdict: Many films are said to be ‘bittersweet’, and that’s very true here. The Big Sick doesn’t hide from the darkness of some of the issues it raises, but it also looks hard for the humour and empathy, showing a different side to Muslims and interracial relationships than the mainstream is used to.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Special Features:
A Personal Journey: The Making Of The Big Sick
The Real Story
The Bigger Sick: Stick Around for More Laughs
The Big Sick: The Other Stuff
2017 SXSW Film Festival Panel
Cast&Filmmaker Commentary
Deleted Scenes

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The Wall (Blu-ray Review) – Aaron Taylor-Johnson is trapped by a sniper

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Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena, Laith Nakli
Directed By: Doug Liman
Running Time: 89 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: November 20th 2017 (UK)

Our Score

It’s 2007 and two American soldiers – Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Matthews (John Cena) – have been sent in after a group of people working on a pipeline in Iraq are gunned down. Convinced the gunmen have left, they head down to the bodies, only to come under fire from a sniper. Mathews is hit in the gut and collapses in the open. Isaac meanwhile is shot in the knee but manages to take shelter behind a ramshackle stone wall.

Losing blood and with no long-range radio, Isaac is trapped – unable to move away from the small wall without getting shot. Things get even more complicated when the sniper comes onto the short-range radio, demanding Isaac talk to him and threatening to shoot Mathews in the face if he doesn’t. [Read more…]

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Baby Driver (Blu-ray Review)

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Starring: Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx
Directed By: Edgar Wright
Running Time: 112 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: November 13th 2017 (UK)

Our Score

I can’t help but wonder whether director Edgar Wright is wishing right now he’d picked someone other than Kevin Spacey to play a powerful man coercing a much younger guy to do his bidding. There are also moments in the special features on the Blu-ray where they’re talking about how wonderful Spacey is and how good he is at ‘playing’ a manipulative asshole, where you know the distributors wish they’d had time to cut it out before the disc his shelves, but which certainly give things an unexpected subtext now.

Thankfully though, the presence of the disgraced actor doesn’t completely overshadow the movie, which got great reviews and word of mouth on its cinema release for reasons that had nothing to do with Spacey.

Baby (Ansel Elgort) is working as a getaway driver for crime boss Doc (Spacey). He doesn’t want to be, and is hoping he will soon be out from under the thumb of the criminal. However, Doc wants to keep him around because he’s so good at what he does. He’s a man able to get away from the cops and turn a car on a dime to ensure that no matter what may have happened during a heist, they won’t get caught.

Having narrowly escaped from two different heists, Baby thinks he’s out of the criminal life – but Doc pulls him back in for one more job, which involves robbing a post office. He’s teamed up with the violent and potentially unstable Bats (Jamie), along with the Bonnie & Clyde-esque couple, Buddy and Darling (Jon Hamm and Eiza González) – a combination that’s potentially explosive and dangerous. As the heist gets closer, it looks like there’s no way it can succeed, and that Baby could easily end up getting killed.

Mixed into all this is Baby’s fledgling relationship with waitress Debora (Lily James), who brings out a new side to the usually quiet young man, who spends most of his time listening to music and not speaking, in order to drown out his tinnitus.

As many had hoped from the time direct Edgar Wright started talking about it several years ago, what helps set Baby Driver apart is the Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim helmer’s unique sensibility, helping to make it a film that’s both familiar and not quite like anything you’ve ever seen before. Wright takes the tropes of a heist/car chase movie, and then twists things into something new. In one of the featurettes someone talks about how Wright told them to look at it less like a car chase film and more like a musical, and that’s exactly right.

The characters may not burst into song, but huge amounts of the film are choreographed to classic tunes – from Queen to T.Rex. And while plenty of other directors have used pre-existing music to create a particular style and feel, here the action is literally choreographed to the music. Guns fire to the beat, cars drift round a corner in time to the music and gears shift like it’s a dance. Even when it’s not a car chase, the action often moves to the music, even if technically it’s only supposed to be Baby who’s listening to it on his iPod.

The non-stop – and exceedingly eclectic – mix of songs and the way they’re edited to the action, creates a hyper-real atmosphere. That also extends to the 50s musical style romance between Baby and Debora, where love is told in bright primary colours. Although there are moments when it feels like Wright is trying just a little too hard and is on the verge of overstuffing things to the point of explosion, Baby Driver always pull itself back, or produces a virtuoso sequence that shows there’s method in the madness. That said, while much of the editing is exceptionally well done, a bit of judicious cutting to the runtime wouldn’t have gone amiss (something that’s also been true of Wright’s other movies).

The hyper-real atmosphere also helps ensure that while some aspects of the films could have come across as more nasty than entertaining, the violence and unpleasantness of some of the characters never becomes too off-putting – even if it gets close at times.

It also helps that the acting is good, with Ansel Elgort putting in a charming performance in the central role – managing to make Baby seem like a charming and sweet young man stuck in a difficult situation, despite the fact he has plenty of complicity. He’s backed up by great turns from Jamie Foxx (channelling a similar vibe to his character in Horrible Bosses, and most particularly Jon Hamm, who’s incredibly intense playing against type as the driven and utterly amoral Buddy.

Overall Verdict: Some reviews have gone over the top, calling Baby Driver a genre game-changer. It’s not quite that, but it’s a fun, idiosyncratic movie crime thriller that should put a smile of your fane.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Special Features:
Extended/Deleted Scenes
‘Mozart In A Go-Kart: Ansel Drives’ Featurette
‘I Need A Killer Track: The Music’ Featurette
‘That’s My Baby: Edgar Wright’ Featurette
‘Meet Your New Crew: Doc’s Gang’ Featurette
‘Find Something Funky On There: The Choreography’ Featurette
‘Devil Behind The Wheel: The Car Chases’ Featurette
Animatics
Ansel Elgort Audition
Annotated Coffee Run Rehearsal
Hair, Make Up & Costume Tests
Mint Royale – “Blue Song” Music Video
Complete Storyboard Gallery
Director Commentary
Filmmaker Commentary With Edgar Wright and Director of Photography Bill Pope

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Wonder Woman (Blu-ray Review)

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Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Danny Huston, Robin Wright, David Thewlis
Directed By: Patty Jenkins
Running Time: 141 mins
BBFC Certificate: 12
UK Release Date: October 9th 2017

Our Score

Although DC’s movies have done okay at the box office, the likes of Man Of Steel, Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad certainly haven’t gained the same level of enthusiasm and fan fervour as Marvel’s movies. However, with Wonder Woman they hit the jackpot, with a movie that was well-received by critics, fans and general audiences, grossing over $800 million at the box office. It set a lot of records for a movie directed by a woman along the way, from being the most expensive film with a female director to the highest grossing.

The film starts out on the mystical island of Themyscira, home of the Amazons. Diana (Gal Gadot) has been trained to be the ultimate warrior, although her mother, Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), is determined that she needs to be protected and shouldn’t find out the truth of her birth.

Literally crash landing into this paradise comes Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), followed by a platoon of First World War German soldiers. After hearing that the world outside Themyscira is at war, Diana decides she must help, as she believes she is the only one who can kill the god of war, Ares, who she things must be behind The Great War. Steve however doesn’t think there is a god influencing things, but he does think that Diana can help, especially as he knows German General Ludendorff (Danny Huston) is working on a new chemical weapon, which could lengthen the war and turn the tide against the allies.

After the effusive reaction the film got at the cinema, for the first hour of Wonder Woman I couldn’t see what the fuss was about. There is an awful lot of set-up, as they explain the island of Themyscira, the Amazons, how the Greek gods fit into all this, and that Diana is somehow special. Then Captain Kirk, sorry, Chris Pine turns up and they have to explain about the war, who Ludendorff is and various other things. It really is death by exposition.

Even when they occasionally throw in an action scene in the early parts of the movie, the special effects aren’t that great, with everything looking oddly plastic and fake, like a cut-scene from a videogame.

Eventually though, they get Diana off the island and she essentially starts taking on the entire German army all by herself. At that point, things get a lot more fun. All the never-ending explanation is replaced with a fun storyline, a snappier pace and better special effects. While the acting isn’t brilliant, Gal Gadot and Chris Pine make a good central pairing, with their romance essentially being played out like Captain America has been smashed together with The Little Mermaid.

Thankfully the second hour and a bit is enough fun that it makes you forget the slog it took to get there. Some will feel the ending is a little dragged out, but it works and even manages a little emotional resonance at times. And despite being set during the First World War, it manages to keep the tone lighter than the earlier DC films, which seemed to be trying to outdo each other with their gritty outlook and edge of nihilism (to be fair, it was actually quite an achievement to make a nihilistic Superman movie). However, it also made those movies less entertaining.

Whereas Batman vs Superman made the case for humanity not being worth saving (I don’t think that was meant to be the point, but it’s the effect of the way it approached things), Wonder Woman has no doubt that the world is a good place overall, even if she may be a little naïve about the way things work. It helps make you root for her and overlook some of the film’s sloppy edges. It’s a lesson that hopefully other DC movies will take note of, starting with November’s Justice League.

As you would expect, the picture quality on the Blu-ray is very good, and it’s backed up by a good selection of special features, which take you into the complex creation of the movie.

Overall Verdict: Although it’s far from a perfect movie and the first hour is mainly boring explanation, the second half is great fun and points towards what DC should have been doing all along.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Special Features:
Epilogue: Etta’s Mission
‘Crafting the Wonder’ Featurette
‘A Director’s Vision: Themyscira: The Hidden Island’ Featurette
‘A Director’s Vision: Beach Battle’ Featurette
‘A Director’s Vision: A Photograph Through Time’ Featurette
‘A Director’s Vision: Diana in the Modern World’ Featurette
A Director’s Vision: Wonder Woman at War’ Featurette
‘Warriors of Wonder Woman’ Featurette
‘The Trinity’ Featurette
‘The Wonder Behind the Camera’ Featurette
‘Finding the Wonder Woman Within’ Featurette
Extended Scenes
Blooper Reel

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