CineBites

The Fast Film Review

[cinebites]

Bad Boys for Life (2020)

Dir. Adil El Arbi

Synopsis

Two Miami cops are caught up in a revenge assassination attack by a Mexican drug cartel leader’s widow and pursue the assassin and the widow to the final shoot-out.

What’s To Like

Some amiable quipping between the two principals and effective special CGI scenes.

Quibbles

The whole plot is a farrago of thirty years of buddy movies mingled with drugs heist/Latino cartel films. There isn’t an ounce of originality in this, the third of its franchise.

Rating: *

Recommendation

Don’t bother - you have seen it all before and usually done better. The ending is so totally implausible as to resemble science fiction. How can serious people get paid serious money to make such garbage?

[cinebites]

Little Women (2019)

Dir. Greta Gerwig

Synopsis

In mid-19th century Massachussets, a woman struggles to bring up her four daughters whilst their father is fighting in the Civil War. The story highlights the girls’ artistic sensibilities and their love-lives. Adapted from the famous novel by Louisa May Alcott.

What’s To Like

Sumptuous filming and luscious settings create a romantic vista in which to frame the story. The portrayal of the girls and their interactions is carried out effectively by the principals. The star is Timothée Chalamet whose depiction of ‘Laurie’ is sensitive and poignant. Look for my review of Hostiles and what I said about this young actor then.

Quibbles

The intercutting timelines start out well but then are switched so frequently that they become an irritant. Those familiar with the novel may, as I did, bridle at the cavalier treatment of its plot.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

It’s a pleasant entertainment, not morally or mentally taxing, with much for the eye to enjoy. Why not?

[cinebites]

The Gentlemen (2019)

Dir. Guy Ritchie

Synopsis

An American criminal in the UK decides to retire and sell his profitable marijuana production and supply business. This news brings out a number of plots from other criminals who want to steal his venture from him.

What’s To Like

Fine acting from a troupe of great thespians, especially Charlie Hunnam. The slowed action in which potential events are considered and played through - an old Ritchie trick - still please.

Quibbles

Utterly far-fetched, improbable and unrealistic.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

A light-hearted romp, worth watching just for Hunnam’s contribution, but it is ultimately impossible to identify with any of the characters. It’s another ‘win’ for an immoral way of life that is glamourised but that, in reality, causes real, ordinary people devastation and death. (See previous reviews of Widows, Logan Lucky, Baby Driver, American Animals, The Mule, Can You forgive Me, The Hustlers).

[cinebites]

Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Dir. J J Abrams

Synopsis

The evil empire, now called the ‘First Order’ is gaining power and the heroic trainee Jedi, now called Rey, must combat the Dark lord, now called Kylo Ren. Along the way, a band of gallant rebels, now called the Reistance, gather to try in their tiny ships to expose tactical flaws in the giant battle cruisers of the empire (sorry, First Order).

What’s To Like

It’s Star Wars so of course we will enjoy the nostalgia of previous films in the franchise as well as excellent CGI.

Quibbles

Where to begin? We have seen it all before - eight times before - yet this one goes through all the turns more routinely, more witlessly than the last seven, displaying a total paucity of creative input. Anytime now, I said, we will have a cantina scene; and lo, it came upon us. Anytime now, the dark lord will be fighting the Jedi hero but will relent with a glimmering recall of their potential goodness. Oh, stop it, please. Both dialogue and acting are wooden and banal at their best. And it is, at 140 minutes, way too long.

Rating: *(*)

Recommendation

A painting-by-numbers set yields merely an image, not a work of art. 

[cinebites]

Midway (2019)

Dir. Roland Emmerich

Synopsis

A dramatic re-enactment of the Battle of Midway in the Pacific Ocean in 1942, during which a US carrier fleet decisively destroyed their Japanese counterparts. It is considered by many historians to have been the turning point in the war with Japan.

What’s To Like

Some exciting aerial and naval battle sequences, making good use of modern CGI techniques. The role of cryptographers, pivotal to the American success, is well brought out.

Quibbles

There is too much time spent in the opening pre-war sequence establishing the Woody Harrelson character, and then on Pearl Harbor which is not relevant to why and how Midway was important but seems included just to provide a good war shoot-up sequence. 

In order to dramatise the historical record, too much emphasis is given to the actions of individual characters - such as that played by Nick Jonas. You would also be forgiven for thinking that the Battle of Midway was single-handedly won by Pilot Dick Best - significant though his contribution was.

Rating: **

Recommendation

The 1976 film Battle of Midway, starring Charlton Heston, was an effective picture of this historical event - although it too suffered from over-emphasis on one character (‘Tom Garth’ played by Edward Albert). There was simply no reason for this remake.

[cinebites]

Sorry We Missed You (2019)

Dir. Ken Loach

Synopsis

A man in the North-East of England thinks that self-employment as a delivery driver in the ‘gig’ economy will solve his financial problems. His wife, a care assistant, is also subject to the rules of that economy. The more they try to be good parents and providers, they more remorselessly are they ground down by the system.

What’s To Like

Loach presents a stunning indictment of post-modern capitalism and its disastrous impact on ordinary people. The characters are depicted as such a reasonable family that we cannot fail to empathise with their plight and we burn with indignation at their foul treatment by the system - for which, Loach makes clear, we are in part responsible. All the actors playing the family are compelling but young Rhys Stone gives such a convincing, honest study of the son that we realise the truth of the old saying: ‘We are all two payslips away from poverty and two actions short of prison.’

Quibbles

None whatsoever - unless you want a movie to simply make you feel good, which this will not!

Rating: *****

Recommendation

It’s an absolute must-see if you want to understand what austerity has meant in terms of its human impact. Take it together with the director’s last film, ‘I, Daniel Blake’ and you have a clearer awareness of what it means to live in Britain with limited financial means than any media accounts or academic texts will ever provide.

[cinebites]

The Good Liar (2019)

Dir. Bill Condon

Synopsis

An elderly conman meets a wealthy widow and plans to take her for all her money but begins to develop some affection for her as their relationship develops.

What’s To Like

The film has a finely-written script, more a stage- than a screen-play, that sparks with wit, threat and innuendo. The acting is exquisite, both principals at the height of their art and meshing brilliantly with each other. Great supporting role from Russell Tovey. The moment when the veneer of an almost Ealing comedy is cracked by an act of shocking violence is visceral.

Quibbles

To say that the denouement is contrived is an understatement; it did rip credibility away. I tried desperately to make the mathematics of their ages work and found it simply does not add up. Oh well, let’s not let too much reality intrude.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

These two will not be around for ever, other than on celluloid, so enjoy some great British acting while you can.

[cinebites]

The Farewell (2019)

Dir. Lulu Wang

Synopsis

Chinese-American college student is told that her beloved grandmother is terminally ill and returns to China for the hastily arranged family wedding of a remote cousin, in truth an excuse for them all to see grandma for the last time. During the trip, the whole family are sworn not to reveal to the grandmother the true nature of her medical condition. Based, they say, on a real-life set of events.

What’s To Like

There are some genuinely affecting moments in which we share this close-knit family’s emotional response to the pain of loss. Some wittily scripted comedy moments too. Sumptuous cinematography.

Quibbles

There’s little to wonder at as the plot slowly unfolds. I found it hard to believe that the savvy grandma has no inkling of what is going on as a horde of relatives unseen for years suddenly descend on her. I got the bit of cod Oriental culture about lives belonging to the group and not to the individual. But denying the old lady the truth in this orchestrated way - including implicating the medical staff in the deception - was degrading and patriarchal.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

Beyond the limited confines that this movie sets for itself, there’s not a lot more it can do, nor can we expect it to.

[cinebites]

The Kitchen (2019)

Dir. Andrea Berloff

Synopsis

In 1970’s New York, three men running protection rackets are jailed and their wives are compelled by circumstance to take over their husbands’ criminal activities. (Wait a minute, wasn’t that the synopsis of the recent Widows?)

What’s To Like

Strong, nay feisty, performances in the central roles from all three principals particularly Melissa McCarthy. Domnhall Gleeson’s obsessed amorality is compelling. It is well-made with a lovely period filmic feel and is to be congratulated for telling its tale in less than two hours. The action sequences are generally gripping…

Quibbles

… whilst the domestic arguments and angst are tedious. Based on a comic book and that shows in some lack of credibility in the violence.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

Read my recent review at https://cinebites.tumblr.com/post/183067548111/can-you-ever-forgive-me-2018 about the problem of making saints out of sinners. I’m not saying that crime should always be seen to be paid for heavily, as was the Hollywood code of the 1950’s. But the relentless weight of characters lacking any remorse, and seen to profit from outrageously violent behaviour, has gone too far (Widows, Logan Lucky, Baby Driver, American Animals, The Mule, Can You Forgive Me?) Of recent films, only Hell and High Water seemed to me to strike a correct balance.

[cinebites]

Ad Astra (2019)

Dir. James Gray

Synopsis

Space Command, a militarised NASA, sends an officer into deep space to investigate strange power surges causing havoc on Earth. After adventures on the Moon, Mars and in space, he arrives at the far outpost station to encounter his father, sent there years previously on a similar investigative mission. (Listen, I’m trying to make this sound exciting as I write but I am already yawning.)

What’s To Like

The special visual effects are impressive and the soundtrack works well for this movie genre.

Quibbles

At over two hours, it is too long for the limited narrative it presents. Ideas are introduced and left drifting in space (who are the moon base bandits? what do they want? why are they so easily defeated?) and the overall movie is similarly inconclusive. Yes, just as if the hatch is left open for a sequel.

Rating: *

Recommendation

The only reason for sitting through this drip-feed space opera is to spot the borrowings from other movies. The opening space antenna is from a Star Trek film; the moon chase is Diamonds are Forever meets Mad Max; the chiller middle sequence is Contagion; a strong flavour of 2001 permeates; the ending is Gravity, and so on. Quite why we would pay to see a mash-up of better films, I do not know.

[cinebites]

Hustlers (2019)

Dir. Lorene Scafaria

What’s To Like

To be honest, not a great deal. The story, of hard-pressed ordinary people turning to criminality reluctantly by the force of circumstance, is hackneyed and this movie offers no new insights either to the situations of the protagonists or to our appropriate response.

Quibbles

The director wants to construct a veneer of sophistication on what is a sleazy, self-serving enterprise: a sort of sham-glam. The J Lo character is painted almost as a Madonna; far from how she would have seemed to the victims of her crimes.

Rating: *

Recommendation 

Read my recent review at https://cinebites.tumblr.com/post/183067548111/can-you-ever-forgive-me-2018 about the problem of making saints out of sinners. I’m not saying that crime should always be seen to be paid heavily for, as was the Hollywood code of the 1950’s. But the relentless weight of characters lacking any remorse has gone too far (Widows, Logan Lucky, Baby Driver, American Animals, The Mule, Can You Forgive Me?) Of recent films, only Hell and High Water seemed to me to strike a correct balance.

[cinebites]

Mrs. Lowry and Son (2019)

Dir. Adrian Noble

What’s To Like

The film constructs a view of Lowry as a man of wry good humour and great charm. How historically accurate this is, I cannot say, though I had always imagined him to be more of a grumpy old fellow. The interplay between Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave is spirited and lively; we empathise with both of them as lives lost in the clash of circumstance. As is to be expected with modern movies, the mise-en-scène to create the period feel is exquisitely done.

Quibbles

Noble is a theatre director and the film feels throughout like a stage play. This makes the dialogue and the personalities of the two characters come to the fore, yet constrains the images to a limited canvas; perhaps this was the intention. Still, it feels stagy and staged. I found myself at times wondering whether I really cared who or what L S Lowry was, possibly because the power of his art has already assured him of his place in posterity.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

It’s highbrow art, wordy, a little moralising and a refreshing change from typical Hollywood values. The score by Craig Armstrong, which does not try to keep within a musical idiom to match the period, is impressive.

[cinebites]

Good Boys (2019)

Dir. Gene Stupnitsky

Synopsis

Three 6th grade students (11 to 12 year olds) skip school to deal with problems of relationships, stolen drugs, being pursued by older girls and attending an important peer-group party.

What’s To Like

Several moments of smartly observed commentary on middle and middle-class America. It’s also fun to see the descent into familiar gross-out humour being led by ones so young.

Quibbles

Treat it as a series of comedy sketches rather than a script with a through-composed logic. 

Rating: ***

Recommendation

Despite its total implausibility - or perhaps because of it - this will at times make you cry tears of laughter without ever hinting at the darker sides of urban American life.

[cinebites]

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood (2019)

Dir. Quentin Tarantino

Synopsis

A fading action movie actor seeks to rekindle his dwindling career, encouraged by his personal stunt double. His downward spiral becomes enmeshed with the fate of historical Hollywood personalities.

What’s To Like

The film’s observations of how Hollywood uses up people are presented with sharpness and poignancy. There is a lovely creation of the period especially the ‘knowing glimpses’ of film history.

Quibbles

It descends into a farrago of improbable violence, a schlock gore-fest that does no justice to the ideas of Hollywood as a devourer of ambitions thus far presented. Nor does it revere the memory of those slain in the real-life 1969. This may be a Hollywood fairy-tale, the truth was far different and merits greater respect.

Rating: **

Recommendation

Much has been made in the Press of this being Tarantino’s 9th film out of a total of 10 he will make. It is far from being his best: frankly, Quentin, scrap this one and make a couple more to up the average on your œuvre.

[cinebites]

The Current War (2019)

Dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Synopsis

At the end of the 19th century, Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse are two great industrial inventors who propose rival technologies for the supply of electrical power around the United States.

What’s To Like 

A great atmospheric recreation of period and a generally successful explanation of complex engineering matters.

Quibbles

The action moves at a single pace, and that rather slow. Tom Holland seems miscast as the inventor-savant’s worldly sidekick. There is a bizarre repeated flashback sequence of Westinghouse in the US Civil War which adds nothing to the story of the competing electricity systems.

Rating: **

Recommendation

A curious historical text that might have made a good enacted documentary of an hour’s duration. But the story that ‘Current War’ tries to tell of the ‘battle’ between alternating and direct current simply isn’t electrifying enough to warrant a full length movie. What next - the contest between standard and broad railway gauges? Betamax fights it out with VHS?

[cinebites]

Stuber (2019)

Dir. Michael Dowse

Synopsis

An unassuming and gentle guy, Stu is working days in a leisure goods store and other times as an Uber driver to raise the investment to start his own fitness centre. His cab is booked by a grizzled detective who is in pursuit of an old adversary but, due to recent eye surgery, cannot drive himself so Stu becomes his back-up partner.

What’s To Like

There’s some witty dialogue when the movie pokes fun at middle-class American values on consumerism and the gig economy.

Quibbles

Dave Bautista provides us with nothing endearing in his character, then adds a level of stupidity to make it certain we don’t care. The film blends so many genres and conventions - violent action thriller, romcom, slapstick, gross-out, buddy-cop - without an overriding sense of itself and ultimately dissolves into a farrago of implausible behaviours and improbable levels of violence.

Rating: **

Recommendation

It might pass the time on a long train ride or layover but it isn’t worth the effort of a trip to the movie theatre.

[cinebites]

Spiderman: Far From Home (2019)

Dir. Jon Watts

Synopsis

Peter Parker tries to take a ‘normal’ vacation to Europe with his classmates but Nick Fury needs him to work on the strange appearance of destructive elemental beings in various locations around the globe who are only stopped with the help of a mysterious superhero from a parallel Earth. However, this supposed saviour is not all he seems.

What’s To Like

As always with an MCU movie, it's the CGI and effects in the action sequences that entertain. Occasional throwaway lines amuse, like the ‘Led Zeppelin’ remark and the quotation from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, though overall the dialogue is not compelling. There is an attempt to restore a zany, comic and slightly frivolous veneer to Spiderman, for which Tom Holland is an apt choice in the role (in a way that Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire could never have been). You will either love this redirection, or hate it.

Quibbles

Totally implausible plot lines that stretch our willingness to suspend disbelief way beyond its limits. I mean, a video projector giving out a beam of light that is supposed to be solid and opaque. As the science teacher would have said to Spidey’s classmates ‘but that’s not how physics works’.

Rating: ***

Recommendation

Full disclosure: my answer to that party question ‘Who is your favourite superhero?’ is ‘Spiderman, of course!’. Try as I wanted to give this a higher rating, I just could not. Set your mind to coast along and it is a fun ride. But when MCU have recently delivered 4-star movies in Infinity War, Endgame and Black Panther, you just know they could have done better here.