Spider-man: No Way Home

Spider-man: No Way Home

Director: Jon Watts. Stars:Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch 

The fact that this film even exists is not just the closest thing to a ‘miracle’ for any superhero fan (and for a Spiderman freak like me, this is pretty much a childhood dream come true), but it also shows the power that the Marvel Machine has these days: basically they can do anything they want.They had already proven themselves with the humongous “Avengers: endgame” in 2019 in which they were able to put together one of the greatest cast ever assembled, raking them up from more than 10 years of previous films, into a very satisfying epic finale.As it happened, it ended up being the most successful film in cinema history with a massive $2.8 billion gross worldwide (only to be beaten again by James Cameron who, like a sore loser, decided to re-release Avatar in China, thus adding enough money to get to 2.85 billion and pass its adversary). Wherever you stand on the “Marvel franchise” debate, one has to bow to such numbers. With this latest Spider-man (latest, but certainly not the last: mark my words, this is going to make a fortune and we’ll see more of Tom Holland in the suit) they went even further by creating a real crowd-pleaser which celebrates twenty years of the Spiderman legacy at the movies and brings this trilogy to a great conclusion.Needless to say, your appreciation for “No Way Home” will very much depend on how fond (and knowledgeable) you are about ALL the previous films: there are so many “call-backs”, “Easter eggs” and “winks” that the geek inside me was on over-drive and was just having the time of his life. It is of course one that plays to the fans, and one wonders what it’ll do to the average moviegoer, but hey, how many of those are left these days anyway?If this is what’s needed to get people back in the cinema, well please, give me more of this! It’s very hard to talk about this film without giving away some BIG spoilers (even if some of those are possibly the worst kept secrets in movie history), but it’s a film that starts on top gear and hardly slows down. However, beyond the spectacular fights, the astonishing visual effects, the vertiginous swings across New York and overall sense of fun that bursts from every frame of this film, the moments that I will remember more than anything else were actually the most intimate ones. There are some truly heartbreaking scenes in this film, including a poignant ending which will leave you wanting to see Spiderman 4 as soon as possible. Tom Holland is once again a very likeable presence, showing not just his charisma, but also his vulnerability and playing on the fact that he is actually very young superhero (in fact the youngest of all the actors who previously played the character). In the end, while this might not be the best Spiderman movie out there (That trophy still belongs to Raimi’s 2nd film with Tobey Maguire in my view), this was certainly the most enjoyable experience I’ve had in the cinema in years. And apparently I wasn’t the only one to feel that: there were a couple of moments in the (packed) auditorium where I was, when the whole crowd exulted and screamed with happiness, clapping and cheering at the screen, like I have hardly ever seen or heard before. If this isn’t the joy of watching a film with an audience in the cinema, then what is?4 stars as a film, but 5 (and more) as an experience with a crowd of people (hopefully Covid-free)

Cured

“Cured” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directors: Patrick Sammon, Bennett Singer.

This very competently made documentary talks the fight to remove “homosexuality” as a mental disorder from the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual (it stood right next to “Pedophilia”)

It starts off with a very grabby pre-title, which is probably slightly in-your-face but very still very effective and which sets the tone for some of shocking things one is reminded off in the rest of the film. In a not too distant past, only a few decades ago, gay and lesbian people were sent to be “cure” with shock treatments, lobotomies and even castration. In some instances their memories were erased “It was like removing a chink of their”, “Like a horror movie” somebody says at some point. Needless to say, some of the archive mages from the film are hard to watch, but the stories are told with great warmth by some incredibly likeable people, most of whom lived through those times and are now the kind of grandpa or grandma one would like to have. It’s a fairly straight forward documentary, with beautiful evocative archive, talking heads and lots of graphics in the form of old photos and newspaper articles. It won’t set the world on fire, it probably runs out of steam in a few places feeling slightly repetitive but it’s still a real eye opener: an important documentary, especially when one thinks conversion centres still exists in America and in many places homosexuality is still outlawed.

Currently showing at the BFI Flare Festival

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/9YDXNHYCd9g

The Traitor

The Traitor (il traditore) 2019

Director: Marco Bellocchio. Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Fabrizio Ferracane, Fausto Russo Alesi, Luigi Lo Cascio,Nicola Calì

It took me a while to actually settle down and appreciate this film and eventually like it. The first act are probably the most conventional, squeezing in “the greatest hits” from any other Mafia related movies we’ve already seen hundreds of times. It seems to add nothing to the genre (though arguably very little has been added since the 70s with the godfather)An unlikeable main character, going through the motions, with cliche dialogue, over-the-top direction, ultra-violence and cheesy Italian mandolino playing in the background. I was ready to dismiss it. And then, at the 40 minutes mark, the story actually find its groove and the real film begins: a deep multi-layered character study of the “rat” Tommaso Buscetta, a high ranking man within the Cosa Nostra ladder, whose key testimonies between 1986 and 1992 would lead to a total of 366 convictions in one of the largest Mafia trial in history. It is an uneven film which works best when it plays it simple and tries to be as real as possible. Most of the scenes during the chaotic trials are gripping, absurdly hilarious and equally spooky, but also the quietest scenes are mostly beautifully handled too (thanks to a towering performance by veteran Favino, who here speaks Italian, Sicilian, English and Brazilian and it brings gravitas to the role like few people can and he alone manages to lift the film from the average a 3 stars film to the edge of a four stars one!). Unfortunately at times director Bellocchio let himself carried away a bit too much by the excitement about making his film look needlessly stylish and “modern” and when he tries to be too flashy, that’s when he falls: the counter on the screen, the intercutting between the big mafia boss being cornered by the police and a trapped animal (was it a lynx? Anyway talking about subtlety.) are some of the most over-the-top examples (though I have to say the POV inside the car exploding was quite something… even if a bit tasteless).

Not all performances are quite as believable to Favino’s, but that may have something to do with the fact that Sicilians seem like bad actors in their day-to-day lives anyway. Eventually the film ends up doing pretty much what Scorsese’s The Irishman did (though with a couple of hours to spare) and somehow it managed too grip me.