High-Rise Review

There's a word that is often banded around when a famous book goes from person to person and failed project to failed project, un-adaptable. This has happened with many books in the past, such as Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian which still struggles to make it to screen, and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas which did make it to screen. High-Rise is a 1975 novel from J.G. Ballard which focuses on a class war between the higher and lower floors of a high-rise apartment building, eventually descending into anarchy and mayhem. After failed attempts to bring the novel to screen the project eventually landed at the feet of a British director who's been on his own rapid rise, Kill List and Sightseers Ben Wheatley.

It is unmistakably a Wheatley sort of project, the material plays to his dark sensibilities as well as his innate Britishness. Wheatley manages to capture the nostalgic yet also oddly futuristic feel to the film. The slow deterioration of normality and rationality as the film progresses is managed so effectively that by the time things do deteriorate into anarchy, rape and murder and eating dogs seems oddly rational.

Plaudits must be given to screenwriters Amy Jump and Benjamin Taylor, who have managed to successfully adapt the seemingly un-adaptable. Most notable in their adaptation is they've managed to make the incredibly passive protagonist of the novel seem investing. Laing is the lead character of the book, but he sort of comes off as a spectator in his own story, in the film Tom Hiddleston is given more weight to the character, Hiddleston's Laing has some much needed edge. When everyone else is losing their minds his calm demeanour comes off as alarmingly sociopathic, as Luke Evans manic bull of a character Wilder observes “the real dangerous ones are the self-contained types like you”.

High-Rise won’t be for everybody, it’s not quite the film that its trailer might suggest. It's a slow film which might bore some viewers but there's so much style to it that its worth taking the time. The featured soundtrack is an impressive combination of synth and pop and oozes cool throughout the building. It's an odd film bound to find a following akin to the book, but more than anything its a Wheatley film, dark, funny, violent and with its focus on the class system, very British. (High 4 Stars)

Finding Dory Review

It's hard to believe that Finding Nemo is actually 13 years old. There's every chance that today's 18 year olds, about to start university and drink themselves silly, were once fresh faced 5 year olds sitting down to take in their first film at the cinema. Pixar aren't usually in the business of making sequels, director Andrew Stanton has said that sequels need to have a natural story progression for them to be worthwhile coming back, and Finding Nemo has the unexplained story of a forgetful blue tang called Dory.

Set 2 years after Marlin's and Dory's adventure across the ocean to rescue Nemo after he had been kidnapped, or should that be fishnapped? Finding Dory sees Dory living with Marlin and Nemo, only she's starting to remember things, and she's remembered that she has a family and so sets out to find them at the California based Aquatic Park she thinks they're at.

The animation from Pixar is every bit as extraordinary as you expect it to be, and the ocean based setting allows them to flourish in the design. Returning characters from the first outing play just as strong and there is a real talent in how the voice performances match the animated performance. Despite this being a sequel this isn't a case of running out the whole gang from the first one, despite a brief appearance from Crush the sea turtle, instead the film welcomes a whole bunch of new players. Brits Idris Elba and Dominic West lend their voices to 2 cockney Sea Lions called Fluke and Rudder, they're lazy but also incredibly possessive of the rock they lie on, their cry of “off, off, off” is the “my, my, my” of this film. Then there's Ty Burrell as a beluga whale with damaged sonar and Kaitlin Olson's near sighted whale shark called Destiny, when you know that the two actors probably never had a chance to meet each other, it makes the chemistry the characters have all the more impressive. The there's Ed O'neill's Hank the octopus, or septopus as Dory humorously points out given his missing tentacle. He's a wonderfully animated character and it’s a consistent visual delight the way he flops around and camouflages into scenery, but he's a bit too nasty to really enjoy, yes there is the obvious nice epiphany at the end, but it doesn't make his abrasiveness any more enjoyable.

Pixar are the number one animators in cinema, not just because of what they do in terms of pushing animation, but because of what they do with story. The moments featuring an adorably cute baby Dory are some of the most emotional you'll see this year. The film succeeds in given so much weight to Dory's disability which has previously only been a comedic side note. Seeing Dory's parents helping her cope with her memory loss and making sure that she will be able to make it in the world is utterly heart-breaking, and it transcends the film from mere fun animation. The film has a positive message throughout that disabilities don't have to hold you back, it doesn't matter if its Hank's missing tentacle, Nemo's lucky fin or Destiny's near sightedness all of them have something to offer. Last year’s Inside Out showed that they could confidently tackle questions other film makers had struggled with for years, and in Finding Dory they show that you can make a film just as affecting for adults as it is fun for children without having to make nods and winks to things children won’t get.

After a beautifully played emotional denouement to the film it feels a little frustrating that it then slips into an entertaining but fairly simple and not very Pixar climax, but the work they'd put into that point means that they've earned themselves that ending.

This isn't quite as transcendental or original as last year's Inside Out, but Finding Dory is a very worthy sequel and shows that on their day there are few that can conjure the magic of Pixar. (Low 5 Stars)

Jason Bourne Review

We've had Identity, Supremacy and then Ultimatum, and now nine years later we finally have a fourth Bourne film, and this time it’s just Bourne, Jason Bourne. Of course, we did actually have a fourth Bourne film back in 2012, only without Paul Greengrass behind the camera and Matt Damon in front of it, it turned out The Bourne Legacy was as much a Bourne film as Austin Powers was a Bond film. This dual return to the world of espionage and all things Blackbriar, Treadstone and Bourne must be seen as a conscious reaction to the disaster of the so called legacy film, but with The Bourne Ultimatum being such a strong closer to the original trilogy coming back for another outing could have spelled trouble.

In this latest venture Bourne has been off the radar for some time and has taken up the not so nice hobby of bare knuckle fighting. Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) brings Bourne back in after she hacks the CIA and uncovers something unknown to Bourne about his past. The hack and Nicky end up leading the CIA to Bourne and the usual ensues. Writers Greengrass and Rouse have attempted to provide the film with some timely commentary as a Mark Zuckerberg type figure, performed pathetically well by Riz Ahmed, is in cahoots with Tommy Lee Jones shadowy CIA figure, so that the social media platform that Riz Ahmed creates can be used by the CIA to provide information.

The greatest achievement that Greengrass accomplishes here is that he makes you forget all the terribleness of the spin off and reminds you why these films are so great. When it gets going it really gets going, an early motorbike escape and a Vegas car chase are really edge of your seat brilliant. As bombastic as those bravura sequences are, it’s also the smoothness and slickness of the covert Bourne sneaking past people and watching them from a distance that is incredibly difficult to achieve but looks effortless in the hands of Greengrass.

Matt Damon has owned this part for almost 15 years now and his performance as Bourne is now completely weathered in, Bourne obviously looks older, but he also looks worn down and with very little dialogue Damon conveys so much just through the way he carries himself. Performances elsewhere are good, but Nicky Parsons aside, they're all new characters and unfortunately don't feel fully developed. Tommy Lee Jones' Robert Dewey and Alicia Vikander's Heather Lee are the two CIA directors at odd over to handle The Bourne Situation (that would have made a good title). The problem is, though Tommy Lee Jones is as craggy as ever Robert Dewey just feels like diet Brian Cox from the earlier films. At one point he says about Bourne “he was always coming for me”, but there's been nothing to suggest over any of the previous films that he even existed so it rings entirely hollow. The same goes for Alicia Vikander, though she could comfortably act anyone in the film off the screen, there's so much of Heather Lee that feels false, maybe that's supposed to play on her CIA status, but small things such as people calling her a rookie despite clearly being in charge of a very large team end up feeling quite annoying. Then there's Vincent Cassell's agent, known only as The Asset. Vincent Cassell brings it his all and in the film he's a force to be reckoned with, however with a name like The Asset, his character should remain far more ambiguous, yet they choose instead to give both Bourne and The Asset personal vendettas against each other, the film longed for Joey Ansah's Desh, or Karl Urban's Kirill, they were brilliant because they were dangerous and wanted to kill Bourne, only because they'd been told to.

There's this desperate sense in Jason Bourne that its trying to be as relevant as possible, which as admirable but when it’s trying to shoehorn references to Edward Snowden and makes social media a central plot point yet clearly doesn't really understand what social media is, it feels like a dad at a teenagers party trying to name as many of the latest pop stars his brain can struggle to mention.

It can never be understated how influential the Bourne films were on cinema, they were the films that forced the Bond franchise to up their game and change their style, and inspired a trend in action style that allowed the likes of Liam Neeson to become stars of the genre. This does definitely feel like Bourne is back, but it more aptly feels like Bourne again (another good title). It feels as though it’s returned about a decade too late. It’s a lot more fun and gripping than any other films you're likely to see this summer, but if that what you want, just go back and watch the original trilogy. (High 3 Stars)

Star Trek Beyond Review

This year sees Star Trek celebrate its 50^th birthday, timed with that celebration is the third installment of the JJ Abrams helmed Star Trek reboots, in this latest outing however Captain Abrams has relieved his role aboard the Starship Enterprise and overseen Justin Lin in the driving seat.

Co-written by Scotty himself Simon Pegg, Star Trek Beyond sees the crew of the Enterprise now actually exploring the final frontier. After some shore leave on the beautifully designed spherical glass ball Starbase called Yorktown, they are tasked with assisting a stranded ship that lies beyond an asteroid belt. Once through, the Enterprise is attacked by Idris Elba’s big bad Krall and though mostly evacuated to safety the crew are now left stranded on the planet below.

After the solid jumping off point of Abrams first, and the slightly squiffy venture of Star Trek Into Darkness which, Benedict Cumberbatch chewing the scenery aside, seemed to more or less forget what Star Trek is about, it’s refreshing here to see it back on track. What is most prevalent in Simon Pegg and Doug Jung's script is the love and respect for the history of Star Trek. There are dutiful nods to the sad passing of Leonard Nimoy, but the ultimate reverence they’ve paid to the original series is to uphold the principles of what made it so great.

Once stranded on the planet the film makes the decision to break the crew up into fun double acts, with Kirk and Chekov ending up one place, Sulu and Uhura held captive, Spock and Bones in another place and Scotty making a new friend in the form of the brilliantly feisty and charming resident alien Jayla. The time spent with the crew apart means the film can explore the characters more closely, the most enjoyable of which being the relationship between Bones and Spock, which gets the closest to the bickering relationship between the two formed in the original series. It also feels like every character gets at least one moment, particularly Sulu, reminding us that whilst its Kirk who sits in the captain’s chair, it’s really Sulu who does the hot shot piloting.

As with nearly every sci-fi action film ever made there are obviously giant leaps in logic which, if the film slows down long enough for you to put any thought into you could spot black holes in from a mile away, fortunately the moment the film feels as though it might slow down it immediately ramps back up to warp speed. Though Idris Elba’s Krall is a better villain than these films have received in the past, his motives behind his actions seem a little bit repetitive of Nero and Khan from the first two, and in all the whizzing fun it rushes a big revelation towards the end without ever really fleshing it out.

The overriding feeling experienced during this film is that it’s fun, and it has no pretensions of being anything more, yes it doesn’t have the substance that other Star Trek films have had in the past, but Justin Lin is a director who knows how to create spectacle, and destroying a swarm of enemy ships to the tune of the Beastie Boys is probably one of Star Treks funnest moments, and that’s saying something because there’s 50 years worth of them now. (4 Stars)  

The Neon Demon Review

There was a time, what feels like a lifetime ago now, when Nicolas Winding Refn had finished his Ryan Gosling starring film Drive and released it to almost universal acclaim. After that, with Drive as his calling card, he had all sorts of people knocking at his door. However instead of jumping on a franchise bandwagon he turned to Bangkok and brought us the nightmarish descent into hell in the divisive Only God Forgives. It seemed like an almost deliberate attempt to tell those who were knocking at his door that he had no intention of answering. 

Now he brings us The Neon Demon, a film that explores what lies underneath the modelling world of LA, as Elle Fanning’s stunningly beautiful wannabe model Jessie moves to the city of angels and enters the jealous, competitive and narcissistic world of beauty, as Alessandro Nivola’s designer observes at one point “beauty isn’t everything, it’s the only thing”

The style that Refn has cultivated is maturing into something truly unique and special. Refn, along with his cinematographer Natasha Braier, create stunning shots of pure formalist brilliance, whatever you think about the content of the film, no one can deny that with shots this beautiful and a brilliant pulsating score from Cliff Martinez, there are few films that look or sound this good. The performances are all strong as well, as with any Refn film they are all very still, but that’s mostly because the time Refn takes with them means that his actors are more images then they are characters, how their appearance is presented through the camera is all he really wants you to know about them. Which in a sense is the films main flaw, the script, which was co-written by Refn with Mary Laws and Polly Stenham, doesn’t quite achieve the malice that it tries to create between the characters in this world. Aside from a strong moment on the discussion of real beauty and artificial beauty, the film operates best when it is communicating through image rather than dialogue.

There’s a moment where The Neon Demon feels like its drawing to its natural close and you’d leave the theatre and feel somewhat passive towards the ending. It’s at this point that Refn doubles down in a truly glorious fashion, yes there had already been necrophilia by this point of the film, but the final moments descend into something else entirely which ends up elevating the experience to something far more visceral.

Essentially what Refn has created with The Neon Demon is his vision of Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole, only this vision is more like a mean acid trip, and when you end up in wonderland there’s no Cheshire Cat or March Hare, just Keanu Reeves being a scuzz ball and make-up artist into necrophilia, now how many other directors can you say would bring you a film like that? (High 4 Stars)

Ghostbusters Review

Hell hath no fury like fan boys who’ve been royally pissed off by someone to have the cheek to remake a ‘classic’ film, because that’s what happens when a remake is done, it destroys all available copies of the original and makes remembering it a thought crime. Perhaps, it could instead be seen that a director like Paul Feig felt he had an approach on Ghostbusters that would make a remake worthwhile seeing.

                Feig’s vision of Ghostbusters sees 3 scientists and 1 street smart subway worker team up to investigate the seemingly increasing levels of paranormal activity in New York City, with a scheming villain named Rowan seeking to enhance the presence of the ghosts and ghouls in the big apple. Paul Feig’s films have a unique style to them, his comedy is lots and lots of jokes that come thick and fast and usually have quite a high hit rate. In his last film Spy, Feig showed he could tackle fight sequences just as well as he could handle puns, and the great joy of his Ghostbusters film is how well he tackles the creepy/spooky stuff, in an early sequence in a haunted house he manages to pull of spooky without ever being too scary to alienate the comedy.

                The greatest strength of Ghostbusters is the Ghostbusters themselves, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig’s scientific investigators of the paranormal Abbie and Erin, Kate McKinnon’s whacky engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and Leslie Jones as font of all New York knowledge Patty. Between them is a chemistry that is really hard to fake, a chemistry you get the sense is as strong off screen as it is on and without it the film would suffer greatly. Their characters as individuals work to varying levels of success, though Wiig and McCarthy work well together, their characters are almost too similar in their qualities to distinguish one of them from the other, McCarthy is right to stray from her more brash characters of the past, but that then means Wiig needs to provide something different, there is however much joy to be taken from Wiig’s cringe-inducing ‘flirting’ with Chris Hemsworth’s hilariously stupid secretary. In the case of Leslie Jones its impressive that with her little experience in the way of film credits to her name, her on screen charisma is strong throughout, her ‘race-thing, lady-thing’ joke lands big, but her delivery of throwaway lines produce smiles throughout. The real breakout star of the piece however is McKinnon’s Holtzmann. Holtzmann will be a character that divides people, she’s far zanier and out there than any of the others and that might grate on people, but when you provoke as many laughs as Holtzmann does then you’re onto a winner, and it will be a hard moment to beat at the cinema this year seeing Holtzmann whipping out dual pistols of her own design before dispatching a series of ghosts.

                If there are problems with this reimagining, which there are, it’s that it doesn’t quite reimagine as much as it could. It often feels like a bit of a slave to the original and loses itself as it approaches its climax where it turns the CGI fest up to eleven. There’s also a villain that isn’t really a villain, Rowan isn’t really a character let alone an antagonist and the film was crying out for someone far more compelling for them to rally against.

                This probably doesn’t turn out to be quite as good as you want it to be, but what it has done is set really strong ground work to move on with, there will be more room to breathe in a sequel now that all the necessary nods to the original have been made, so for the love of God make sure this film does well at the box office, because 4 smart women saving the world and doing it without wearing tight shorts and vest tops is exactly what young female cinema goers need today. (High 3 Stars)

Page to Screen - The Must See Film Adaptations of Stephen King

Film adaptation, the process of bringing a writer’s hard work to screen for audiences to enjoy in their local cinema. Some of the more difficult adaptations in film have been that of the literary works of horror writer Stephen King.

This week at the wonderful FACT Picturehouse in Liverpool, Park Circus will be screening not one, but two of the finest King adaptations, Carrie on Saturday the 16^th and Stand By Me on Sunday the 17^th.

Before you take in a weekend of King at FACT, here's a countdown of the must see Stephen King film adaptations.

10. THE RUNNING MAN

A camp 80s sci-fi action film starring Arnold Schwarznegger and directed by one half of Starsky & Hutch doesn’t necessarily scream great movie and it probably isn’t. Based on the King novel of the same name it’s an example of how someone can take a book and rework it so heavily into something else. The Running Man is set in a dystopian future in which prisoners are pitted against each other in gladiator style combat for the amusement of the masses. Though a very enjoyable film, one wonders what King would think of Schwarznegger strangling someone with barbed wire and delivering the line “what a pain in the neck”.

9. MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE

This would perhaps feature on a list of the worst Stephen King adaptations with its enjoyable but absurdly over the top horror/comedy and often more unintentional laughs feature than intentional ones as you watch a film where machines begin to attack people. However, what makes this a must see King adaptation is that the adaptation was done by King himself, who both adapted the screenplay from a short story of his own, as well as directing the film. It remains his only film to date, which says pretty much everything you need to know, and is probably why he has left the films to others better suited since.

8. CHRISTINE

When thinking of horror, two people always come to mind. The first is obviously King, the master horror writer himself. The second is the master horror director himself, Mr John Carpenter. A match made in heaven then when Carpenter brought to the screen King’s 1983 novel about a possessed Plymouth Fury called Christine. Though it should feel ridiculous and definitely not scary, the talent of Carpenter elevates this to a film that has some genuinely chilling moments. I’ll stick with a Fiesta; it’s a little less threatening.   

7. THE MIST

Frank Darabont had already directed two King adaptations by the time he came to direct 2007’s The Mist, the story of people holding out in a supermarket when a strange mist brings terrifying creatures to the town. Though featuring much more creepy monsters than his previous adaptations, Darabont is astute at making the film about the flaws in the characters fighting the monsters as much as the actual fighting of the monsters. The Mist also features one of the most memorable endings in recent cinema, changing the ending of the original novella; Darabont opted for a far more nihilistic ending. If ever there was a film that feels like one thing for so long before taking a sharp right turn and ending somewhere completely different then it’s this. In King’s own words “Frank wrote a new ending that I loved. It is the most shocking ending ever and there should be a law passed stating that anybody who reveals the last 5 minutes of this film should be hung from their neck until dead.”

6. THE GREEN MILE

Taking things down to brass tax, this second collaboration between Darabont and King is the most successful of any King adaptation, making almost double the box office of its nearest competitor, nominated for four Academy Awards and also being critically acclaimed, it’s fair to say that they struck gold with this one. Starring Tom Hanks as a prison officer on death row in 1930’s Louisiana, the film follows the events from those waiting for their day in the electric chair, and those responsible for their fate. It doesn’t really feel like King in that it’s not really a horror in the traditional sense, but it’s a film looking for the light in what is traditionally a horrific situation. It also features an exceptional performance from the late Michael Clarke-Duncan as the mentally challenged inmate John Coffey.

5. CARRIE

A landmark in this countdown, as Brian De Palma’s Carrie adaptation from 1976 is the very first work from King to be adapted for film, and what a way to start. Carrie is a masterclass in horror film. The first half is all about the natural horror we see day today in people, from the bitchiness seen at Carrie’s school, to the horrific abuse from her mother (brilliantly played by Oscar nominated Piper Laurie). And then one of cinemas most iconic moments happens and the horror becomes gloriously and violently supernatural, a horror film that also manages to get away with a jump scare ending. This is one of those must see films, and you have your chance to see it on the big screen in Liverpool this week.

4. MISERY

What happens when obsessive fandom goes too far? The answer is Kathy Bates Oscar winning performance as Annie Wilkes who takes hostage her favourite author and subjects him to some really messed up shit, including a now infamous ‘hobbling’ scene. Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Kings novel cuts away a lot of King’s more horrific violence and instead focuses on the mind games and acts that Annie and Ed Harris’ Paul enact with each other. It’s a really impressive piece of work and also inspired a very amusing Family Guy version, which I’m sure is what King really wanted all along.

3. STAND BY ME

Before he tackled the darker Misery, Rob Reiner brought to screen an adaptation of the King novella The Body, in which four friends set out on a trip to find the dead body of a lost child, in the process Reiner created cinemas ultimate coming of age film. It being the most autobiographical of his works it’s no surprise that this is King’s personal favourite adaptation of his work. Will Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell and of course River Phoenix. It’s those four young and very talented actors whose legacy will always be this film. Phoenix’s career ended far too soon but his exceptional performance in this film lives on forever. And you have a chance to see it in all its glory at FACT Picturehouse this weekend.

2. THE SHINING

From King’s favourite adaptation to his least favourite. There has been no doubt over the years given how unflinching and unmoving he has been with his opinion of it, that King really didn’t like Stanley Kubrick’s version of his book. Though it has since been regarded as one of the undisputed masterpieces of horror, a film that conjured images and moments that live on to this day, upon release the film received a fairly lukewarm reaction. It may be a poor adaptation of the original book, and might feature a slightly iffy performance from the usually exceptional Jack Nicholson, but the nightmarish atmosphere formed by Kubrick is almost unparalleled in horror cinema. Sorry Stephen, I’m afraid I have to disagree, this film is a classic.

1. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

So here it is. The number one must see Stephen King film adaptation, the reason for it being number one? Quite simply it’s the most loved, the one that’s stood the test of time, the one people keep revisiting and enjoying it just as much as the first time. The first of Darabont’s collaborations with King, Shawshank is the adaptation of one of King’s novellas focusing on the story of Andy Dufresne and his time spent in Shawshank Prison. Similar to The Green Mile it’s a story of maintaining hope in a hopeless situation. It’s responsible for some of cinemas iconic moments, whether it’s the opera over the courtyard or the exceptional surprise ending. It’s also supplied us with quotes to live by such as “get busy living, or get busy dying” or “hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies”. It was nominated for 7 academy awards, and frequently features in the top ten of greatest films ever made lists. Quite simply, if you haven’t seen it, what the hell is wrong with you?

For more information on those screenings head to https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Picturehouse_At_Fact