Finding Dory

Finding Dory

Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O’Neill,Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell.

A lovely sequel which is just like what a sequel should be: something that doesn’t betray the spirit of the original (nor the memory of it), which gives you a little bit of the same (same settings, same characters and enough connections to the original) so that it feels familiar and inviting, but at the same time it can set itself apart from it and live on its own. “Finding Dory” starts from the same place but it follow a side character, taking the story to new places and exploring different themes. The sequels to Toy Story were the perfect example of “perfect sequels” and to be honest hardly anything gets close to those (especially part 2 and 3), but still “Finding Dory” is a step up to on sequels like Monsters University, or the various cash-in “Cars” (And we’re only talking about the Pixar products, I won’t even go into the endless Madagascar or Ice Age sequels, just to mention some). One of its biggest achievement is that it manages to tackle very serious issues like “learning disabilities” in the most gentle and warmest way. It goes without saying that it look beautiful even better than the original if that’s even possible: the reflection of the light across the various seascapes is so detailed and realistic that it’s at times disarming and the animation of the character Hank, the octopus, is one of the most inventive and beautifully realised I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not quite up there with “Nemo”, but at the same time even if it followed exactly the same arc, I thought it was more homogeneous film which felt less episodic than it predecessor. Even if not an absolute classic this is still a delightful, charming, poignant film, well above the average.

Incidentally, this was also my son’s first ever trip to a movie theatre back in October 2016, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Director: Steven Spielberg. Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, River Phoenix, Michael Byrne.

Let’s face it, they don’t make them like these anymore. This one of those last handsome adventure movie filmed all around the world on actual location, with an actual script and some great set-pieces before CGI came in and made them all look more like video-games.This is possibly my least favourite of the entire trilogy (what? A fourth one? I don’t know what you’re talking about), but that doesn’t mean that it’s less enjoyable.It may not have the memorable action from Raiders or the tension and the energy from from “Temple of Doom”, but it makes up for all that in charm and so much humour that my jaws still hurts from all the smiling.

The chemistry between Connery and Ford is pure gold: their comedic timing is impeccable, whether they’re tied up on a chair while a room is on fire around them, or flying on a plane or riding a motorbike, their expressions and banter make up for the fact that actually the action and stunts are not as impressive as one might remember.

Of course are great ideas here, like the introduction to young Indy, rats in the catacombs under Venice, the tank chase, the 3 final challenges and of course bringing back the Nazi as the big badies (including Hitler himself) and that final ride into sunset among many other things, but there are less successful ones too: for example bringing back Sallah felt more like fan-serving than anything (so much so that he’s left with very little to do), the ploddy scene full of exposition telling us everything we needed to know about Holy Grail, the rather cheap-looking scene on the boat at the start (that one annoys me even back in 1989) or the slightly wasted opportunity to have fun with boats and gondolas along the canals in Venice. Spielberg is so keen to make us laugh and to bring humour everywhere he can (after being criticised for all the darkness in the previous instalment) that he seems to forget the kind of action that made the other film so thrilling.

Don’t get me wrong: I still think this is a great film and I love it with all my heart (and I really adore its soundtrack too) and it’s a really great right, but I have to be honest I love the first two a bit more.

So, not quite a 5 stars… but pretty damn close.

The X-Files (S1.Ep8) “Ice”

Season 1 – Episode 8 – “Ice” 1/2

Director: David Nutter Writers: Chris Carter, Glen Morgan, James Wong. Cast: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Xander Berkeley, Felicity Huffman

This is definitely the best episode so far in this season. Written by some of the best writers in the series Glen Morgan, James Wong and directed by one of their best men, David Nutter, the only reason why it doesn’t get the full 5 stars rating from me, it’s just because some of it seems to riff John Carpenter’s “The Thing” a bit too closely (they call it homage… but, let’s be honest, it’s a complete rip-off. But hey, who cares when it works so well!).Right from the first few frames you know this is going to be a much darker and better episode. The way the camera glides across those details of dead bodies is intriguing and creepy at the same time. Apparently the decision to have the most of the episode taking place inside the ice station, was to somehow balance the budget with the rest of the series and actually make a cheap one. Well, it might have been cheap, but the use of the single location really does enhance the feeling of claustrophobia which beautifully fuels the whole episode. The sense of paranoia, as we don’t know who to trust is beautifully handled and so is the interplay among all the characters, both in terms of script and acting, including the first really tense moment between our two heroes, who find themselves pointing theirs guns at each other in one of the greatest scenes of the entire season.It’s their first big argument and it gets as close as killing each other off. Brilliant. Of course it does help that you also have 2 great supporting actors too: Felicity Huffman (well before her time in Frasier, Desperate Housewife and many others) and especially Xander Berkeley (a great character actor and later seen playing Mason in 24) bring a sort of lived-in baggage to their characters making them believable and three-dimensional. This is what the X-Files is all about: paranoia, mystery, tension, gross-out moments, and a little bit of humour too (Mulder having to take his clothes off in front of the others and proclaiming “Let’s not pass judgment, we are in the artic!).

Dramarama

Dramarama (2020)

Writer, director: Jonathan Wysocki. Cast Zak Henri, Nico Greetham, Anna Grace Barlow, Megan Suri, Nick Pugliese, Danielle Kay

What a charming and unexpected little surprise this was!!!

The story centres around 5 high school friends who have their last night together (in fact a murder mystery party in costume) before each of them will have to leave the day after for college.After quite a frantic, unsettled (and unsettling) beginning with a bit too much background music, the film soon finds its feet, it calms down a bit and as it becomes more of a stage play (though never feels static or stuffy), it begins to show a definite John Hughes vibe (which made quite irresistible for kid like grown up in the 80s).

It’s a sort of rite-of-passage story which clearly owes a lot to films like “the Breakfast Club” with the so-called “rejected” group of kids who, during the course of the night, ends up learning about themselves, their friends and essentially they grow up. Even if the script is at times slightly too over-written a bit too self-conscious (however smart these kids might be, some lines carry a bit too much experience-baggage), the magnificent ensemble cast makes even the most improbable dialogue work beautifully.Writer, producer and director Jonathan Wysocki handles their continuous changes of moods beautifully. One moment they kids are laughing their heads off, the way teenagers do, playing jokes on each other, talking by quoting lines from classic 80s and early 90s movies and being immature in general (a hilarious scene in which they swap movie titles with the word “fart”, “jurassic fart”, “silence of the farts” and so on), then they themselves arguing and fighting as if there was no tomorrow only to make peace again a few minutes later. They apologise, they cry, they hug and they carry on laughing on whatever the next idiotic thing is. The film perfectly captures what being a teenager is all about: the awkwardness, the laughters, the talk about sex, the inappropriate jokes, the spontaneous hugs among friends, the hopes for the future. You’re still la child most of the times but with brilliant and short moments of maturity filled with naive, unspoilt and often acute observations. A time when being friends means everything. And when towards the end of the film they will have to say goodbye to each other, a lump on your throat will remind you of all the times you’ve had to say goodbye to a a friend.

I don’t know if the film has a distribution yet (I saw this at the BFI Flare Festival) but I do hope it gets it and you’ll be able to see it too.

The X-Files (S1.Ep7) – “Ghost in the Machine”

Season 1 – Episode 7 – Ghost in the Machine

Not even the fleeting appearance of Deep Throat can lift the level of excitement of this rather uninspired and lazy episode which not only is pretty unoriginal (an AI computer killing humans… we haven’t seen that before… ) but actually it has very little to do with the paranormal. Mulder takes centre stage here (so to speak) while Scully does pretty much nothing throughout. It’s not really boring but it’s so predictable and devoid of any surprise that it feels like like like a bit of a letdown. There are some interesting ideas here, but it’s all played by numbers. It also feels like it’s been written by somebody who doesn’t really know much about computers and the flimsy ending clearly shows that. One to forget and possibly the worst episode so far.