“This is the new world. And in this world, you can be whatever the fuck you want.”
After introducing the world and the main players of its story in the pilot episode, Westworld’s starts settling into the larger narratives with episode two, entitled Chestnut. As well as introducing new characters and expanding on some of the smaller roles from the previous episode, we’re given a look into a possible future for the future and enough to chew over with as many theories and ideas as we can manage.
Many people gawked at the remake to The Evil Dead, Sam Raimi’s influential no-budget horror classic seemed too lightening-in-a-bottle to work as a remake. But in the hands of first-time filmmaker Fede Alvarez, 2013’s Evil Dead proved itself a worthy reboot. However there were some who criticise the film for its shock and gore so in response, Alvarez follow-on was to be an original piece, focusing more on the tension than the gore and terrify the audience rather than sicken them.
Don’t Breathe is that response.
Shark movies have a difficult time getting noticed because they’re all inevitable going to be compared to Jaws, and rightfully so, in this niche genre Jaws isn’t just top of the pile, it’s wearing a crown made of shark teeth and sitting on a throne of bones. There have been a few that have made their mark, Deep Blue Sea for embracing the silliness of its own concept and the Sharknado franchise for just being plain silly. The Shallows might not be the next great shark movie, but for what it is, it’s one of the better low-key thrillers we’ve had for a while and a reminder of why people have been scared to go in the water for over 40 years.
The 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke is widely considered to be one of the best Batman comics of all time, and the definitive origin story of The Joker thanks to its look into the history of Batman’s most notable enemy, as well as the shocking turn where Joker shoots Barbara Gordon in the spine, crippling her, ending her career as Batgirl, and setting up the events that would lead her to reinvent herself as Oracle. When news broke that DC animation was adapting the novel for its own animated feature, as well as getting back the cast of the Animated Series – Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as Joker, Tara Strong as Batgirl – people were excited to see this defining novel come to life. Even more so when it was announced that for a single night on July 25th, the film would be shown in Fathom Events and Vue Cinemas across the US and UK (with a further 2 screenings on the 26th when demand became too much to handle). Not wanting to miss the chance offered to them, many fans – myself included – opted for the theatrical experience.
Hearing that a film is based on an existential novel that’s over 100 years old, you should expect some level of confusion and indeed controversy. That’s what The Man Who Was Thursday delivers: it’s a film that examines themes of religion, anarchy, faith, dictatorships and metaphysical consequence and never allows its audience to get too comfortable with what is really going on. It’s a challenging piece and no doubt some of the elements will be controversial, but there’s still something interesting here that’s worth trying to crack open.
New Zealand director Taika Waititi has been around for a few years, but it wasn’t until his breakout What We Do In The Shadows that his name become recognizable. While I’m not a huge fan of Shadows, Waititi did do good work with the material. Recently Waititi was named as the director for the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok; an odd choice, perhaps, but there was word that it was Waititi’s work on his upcoming Hunt for The Wilderpeople that put Marvel’s faith in him. And having now seen it, there’s no doubt why. Not only is Wilderpeople a great double-act comedy, it’s also perhaps the best family film of the year.
One of the most difficult things about festival viewings is that in today’s society of social media and the ease of throwing out an opinion on everything, you’re sometimes among the first people to actually see a film. With little to no prior thoughts on the film out there you have to choose your interest carefully. I bring this up because it was the central cast that brought A Patch Of Fog, the feature debut of Michael Lennox, to my attention. With Conleth Hill (Varys on Game Of Thrones) and Stephen Graham (Capone on Boardwalk Empire and more importantly, Combo from This Is England), the film plays into this modern day obsessive thriller. The result is a very successful piece, but one that falters a bit when trying to decide how far into the fog it wants to go.
The news of Finding Dory didn’t initially sit well with me. Finding Nemo was one of Pixar’s all-time best efforts, with a story that nicely wrapped up everything it had to. Putting Dory at the forefront ran the risk of overselling a supporting role, plus until Inside Out came along, Pixar hadn’t been hitting the heights they usually do. Coming out, I have to admit this is a fine follow-up that manages to make Dory a main character without stretching her too thin, but it comes up lacking compared to the first film.
Entering its sixth season, Game Of Thrones reached a point that excited and frightened fans in equal measure, while the fifth season had introduced original elements – such as Tyrion meeting Dany – season six would be the first to actively go passed the books and bring in new material, some of which would be unique to the show but some of it spoiling elements that Martin had not yet written.
Shane Black might not have invented the R-Rated Buddy Comedy, but he definitely perfected it, being the brainchild behind Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight and his own directorial debut, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. After a brief stint in the Marvel Machine, Black is back to what he does best with The Nice Guys, a film as seedy, profane and hilarious as its lead characters and – from the way the box office is looking – a firm contender for Most Under-appreciated Film of 2016.
Cinephellas 