Cops and Robbers

Cops and Robbers ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Arnon Manor, Timothy Ware-Hill.

Based on the poetry by Ware-Hill written for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery murder in May 2020, this short animated film is dedicated (and the final caption says) to “all the black men women and children who have been victims of racial profiling, police violence, loss of life and other injustices, just for being themselves”.

What’s interesting about “Cops and Robbers” is that it was created by black students and artists from all over the world; each of them used their own visual style to represent the source material: 2D, 3D, hand drawing, black and white, puppetry and so on (To see the variety of people who costributed to this in the end credits is just as fascinating as the short film).

The final result is something which in only 4 minutes adds power, beauty and a level of emotion to the already hard-hitting words.

The cacophony of images probably gets slightly too overwhelming in a few places and the quietest moments are actually the ones I found more impactful, but maybe that was the point: the loud noise and confusion and energy adds to the desperation of the words.

This is poetry on film in the best possible sense, where all the elements (music, visuals, words, editing) work together towards the powerful message.

On Netflix

Death to 2020

Death to 2020 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Al Campbell, Alice Mathias. Writers: Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones. Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Lisa Kudrow 

Charlie Brooker’s mockumentary looks back at 2020 with interviews with fictional experts, world leaders, reporters and “average citizens” and gives a satirical look at one of the worst years in memory. Brooker (the creator of Black Mirror) used to so something similar for the BBC, but now of course he has Netflix to back him up and that allows up his budget and bag A-List stars for his cast: Jackson, Hugh Grant (who’s is great and once again willing to look despicable and make us laugh at his own expense), Tracey Ullman, Lisa Kudrow and Kumalil Najiani.Brooker’s wit (at times surreal) is all over this and the joke come in at a really fast rate. Yes most of them are very infantile and if you’ve browsed the internet over the past 12 months, if you’ve been on Facebook, or any social media for that matter, in fact if you’ve been alive at all, you will be familiar with most of them.

This feels like a collection of the memes of 2020: things which have already been told by many other comedians out there. There’s no great revelation, no big arguments or deep observations and to be honest, just a few hours after having watched it I can hardly remember any punchline. But having said that, despite the fact that it’s been slaughterred by the press, I did enjoyed it. I found it light and breathy and I’d be lying if I didn’t say that while watching it time flew by and I did find myself laughing more often than I thought I would. It may be because I like Charlie Brooker (I have actually worked with him a while ago and he’s one of the wittiest person I’ve ever met) but there is a certainly cathartic pleasure in seeing it all laid out there (and yes, it is all from a biased lefty point of view… but so what?). It works like a sort of exorcism to cleanse us from the memories of this terrible year.

On Netflix

Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 ⭐️⭐️

Director: Patty Jenkins Cast: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig , Pedro Pascal

Everywhere I turn these days I seem to find reviews of “Wonder Woman 1984” all mentioning the same words: “great escapism” (as if that could be an excuse for what’s actually a bad film). I was really hoping that this could be not just a nice fun action romp, which would give me that much needed “escapism” and fill that void and satiate that blockbuster craving I’ve been having for the past year, but also something which would help advocating for the return to the big screen. Unfortunately I have to say I was not only very disappointed by this film, but also rather bored too. I thought it was a bloated (Sooo long!), messy, hammy and ultimately very silly sequel.

Of course, I’m aware this is a superhero movie and one should really hang any disbelief at the door when checking in, but I do have a problem when these types of films cannot even stick with their own rules. And so now Wonder Woman can fly ( yes I know this happened in comics too at some point, but still); here she seems indestructible (though from times a few punches did manage to knock her down, quite randomly when the script required her to be hurt). Now people can come back from the dead and anyone can wish for anything and it will magically happen. There’s point when it all gets just way too much and laves the film with nowhere else to go.

I have been an avid fan of superheroes forever and have seen more than I care to admit. I certainly have no problem with people in tights and silly costumes saving the world from whatever the latest evil mind is, using their super-powers. It’s the kind of silly mindless fun that Marvel does so well and DC keeps on messing up. But this film feels so chaotic and over the top that even with all the will in the world I just couldn’t take it anymore.Of course, some of the action is spectacular and the special effects are spotless, but those are all things we’ve come to expect from such a multi-million dollar “tentpoles”.

And yes of course Gal Gadot is beautiful and now embodies her character as a second skin, to perfection, but as soon as you look beyond that, you’ll soon see what a mess this film is and even those action scenes, however skilfully handled, felt really disconnected with each other almost as if they were filmed in isolation without even a script (“let’s shoot something and we’ll figure out how to connect it all later on”.In fact narratively it is all over the place and doesn’t add anything to the previous instalment in terms of world-building or character development. So much so that when Wonder Woman 3 comes out (As I am writing this news broke that a third film is being greenlight and fast-tracked by Warner Bros), you will be able to skip this one altogether and you would actually not have missed anything. Diana’s (aka wonder woman’s ) only defining characteristic seems to be her constant mourning the death of Chris Pine’s character (how many years later?!?!), which is how we left her at the end of the previous film.

The film tries to throws so many ideas in the mix (the cardinal sin of super-hero sequels, too many strands, too many baddies, too many storylines) in the hope that something will stick at some point. As long as it can please fans on the internet and give them enough hashtags to play with…

If this is the kind of film they were hoping could save “Cinema” for its post-covid demise, then we are in real trouble.

Santa Claus: the movie

Director: Jeannot Szwarc. Cast: Dudley Moore, John Lithgow, David Huddleston 

Santa Claus gets the “Superman treatment” in this 1985 movie (incidentally by the same writers and producers of Superman) which let’s be honest should really only be watched around d Christmas time and possibly by children alone, while the parents get some rest elsewhere. 

The first act is actually rather magical and somewhat promising: the introduction of Santa, the arrival of the elves, the amazing toy factory. The production design is warm, cuddly and detailed and makes you hope for a much better film than what you’re eventually going to get.

The story (if it can be called such… I’m using the term very “broadly”) goes through the numbers and gives children all they’re hoping see: Santa flying above the sky (aided by some ropey 80s effects) and delivering presents to children (all rather annoying and with terrible haircuts), the toys being build is the factory in North Pole… and so on… Then at some point the film becomes something else when one of the elves (a charmless Dudley Moore) decides to use automated machines to build toys. And just when you’re thinking “I’m not really enjoying this anymore” there’s another abrupt left-turn as a super-villain comes into the story, wanting to steal the spotlight (and the job) from Santa, by which point all the promises of the first few minutes fall apart and the parents who are still left watching this with their children begin to contemplate possible ways to flee the room to do something else instead. 

It is actually a jumble of at least 3 films stitched together at 80s pace (or rather the bad 80s). Slow, uneventful, unimaginative and turning the whole Christmas magic into a merchandising machine (not that far from the truth probably… ).

Worst of all Santa himself is one of the most wooden and empty characters of any children movies I’ve probably seen this year. He may look the part but that’s about it. The blame must be directed to the script which doesn’t really allow him to do much at all.  Children under 10 may probably love it but for anyone else it’ll be a test of endurance. 

Soul

“Soul”

Directors: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers. Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade.

Let’s be honest, if you really wanted to pick hole in this film you could certainly do that (not quite sure why you’d want to do that, you heartless human being! )and you could easily argue that it’s not really a 5 stars film… And you may be right, but what it’s also true is that after a whole year of watching mainly junk or even just average-to-mediocre animated films (the likes of Secret Life of Pets come to mind) to find something like “Soul” a film which not only is beautiful to look at, but also explodes with life, ideas, thoughtfulness and most of all ambition, is enough for me to give it as many start as it needs to, if that’s what’s going to move you to watch it. Because we need more films like this not just for our children, but for our grown-up souls too.

This is so-so close to be a masterpiece that you just want to forgive it all the messy bits that don’t quite gel together. How do you even come up with an idea like this for what’s essentially a kids movie? This is the question I’ve been asking myself a lot watching most of the Pixar’s outcome, whether it’s Wall-E, Up, Inside Out, Coco… “Soul” perfectly marries the surreal with the mundane, the metaphysical with the everyday life of a New Yorker, the silly slapstick and the deep meaning of life (and the afterlife too). This marriage of extremes is not just in the story, but also in the animation style as well. This is one of the most gorgeous films from Pixar in years.

At times it may feel like it’s almost succumbing to the weight of the ideas it’s has, but just when you think it’s overdone it a bit, something wonderful comes along and you just fall in love with it again: whether it’s piece of Jazz being played by the characters so wonderfully that you forget you’re watching an cartoon, or whether it’s a hilarious scene where a cat and a human exchange souls, or the depiction of the afterlife (or rather the before-life), or the details of a hair-cut sequence at the barber shop…It is a film about life that doesn’t just celebrates life at its fullest but actually teaches you to appreciate the smallest things too, whether it’s just a ray of sun, or nature… or even a pizza.

The message to live every day of your life at its fullest is particularly poignant during this Covid-times. A very telling last credit at the end of the film says “created & producer at Pixar Animation Studios… And in home at least 6-feet away from each other. Well if that’s the result of working remotely from home, then this must be the future!

On Disney +