The Farrelly Brothers direct Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller and Chris Elliot in this gross out romcom about a perfect woman’s cabal of stalkers.

TSAM seemed to be the midnight movie at the Park Royale Warner Village for over a year when it was first released and we went to see it a lot. Too much. And it can also be seen as Patient Zero in the gross out comedy epidemic that swept Hollywood in its wake, an epidemic which rarely produced anything quite as sweet as this. But it still entertains almost two decades later… It is far, far too long, the conclusion in particular feels like A Bridge Too Far, while Diaz’s star making turn (and she is great in it) often feels underwritten and superfluous. Essentially Mary is a MacGuffin for all the other crazies to lust and plot after rather than a protagonist in her own right. But just like Diaz manages to outshine that trap of a part, the rest of the casting is on the penny. Chris Elliot in particular has never been more enthusiastically obnoxious. Even the one scene characters rock in their gleeful nastiness. At two hours, it is a lot of movie to take in for a throwaway comedy but there’s always a particularly iconic skit in the post… “Franks-And-Beans”, dog resuscitation, Ted’s arrest, the cast sing-a-long at the end – all still hold up perfectly. Kingpin may well be The Farrelly’s best but this was their biggest. Nostalgia for when this felt groundbreaking forgives There’s Something About Mary for many of its sins.

7

Jules Dassin directs Jean Servais, Robert Manuel and himself in the classic heist thriller. 

Taut and perfectly executed this is about as good as hard boiled cinema and acting gets. The wordless 30 minute long heist sequence still thrills but the final, delirious kidnapping and rescue set piece enters the surreal with its pleasurable dash to the finish. A great night at the movies.

9

 

Tom Hanks directs Liv Tyler, Tom Everett Scott and Steve Zahn in this nostalgic look at a pop band’s one hit wonder. 

I remember watching this small but lovely film 20 years ago on VHS – enjoying it as a well crafted, if slight, pleasure and moving on. Two decades have been very kind to Tom Hanks directorial debut. It’s upbeat, gorgeous and authentic to look at but most importantly incredibly well cast. The always good value Zahn has never been better nor funnier, Everett Scott embodies a young Tom Hanks type perfectly, Hanks has a hoot in a smaller role (part Don Draper, part fairy godmother), look there’s a young Bryan Cranston, and Liv Tyler walks away with the film and our hearts. It helps that the central song is an absolute toe tapper but really this out and out charmer, like it’s pop subject matter, might seem throwaway on first glance yet hits pleasing notes that recent movies no longer seem to care about. I doubt it will be 20 years before I thoroughly indulge in this Oneder again.

8

Cameron Crowe directs Bradley Copper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams in a romantic comedy set around a satellite launch in Hawaii.

Better than its reputation at the box office, in the press, within its own studio and the backlash about honky Emma Stone being cast as a character who is a quarter Hawaiian suggests. Crowe is a director who has gone off the boil since Almost Famous but his lesser films still have the charm of someone trying to emulate mid-career Billy Wilder… or even early career Crowe. If anything the film suffers most from a very messy opening sequence where, in a rush to introduce all the characters and plot stakes in one long 1930s style gush, we are left by the end of the first act with no real idea of the who, the what and the why is going on nor what could happen. The later scenes that are salvage job reshoots are very obvious too; any clip where Cooper’s hands go yellow from fake tan and his hair is a shade darker are obvious signs of a loss of faith in the intended product. Despite all this the film actually settles down into a relatively enjoyable and captivating adult romcom in the last hour, bolstered by an AAA Grade supporting cast and another stand out turn from Stone. On paper she may seem like controversial casting but in the actual experience she pulls off a performance of wide eyed optimism and eagerness to ingratiate herself into her vague Hawaiian roots (the controversial quarter seems an intended joke on the clearly white character) that makes the film. A messy fumble of a flick for sure but I have inkling that on a third or fourth viewing that clunky handicap of an opening wouldn’t matter quite so much and the strands about modern corporate colonialism, death, rebirth, fidelity and tradition might make this a far more inviting prospect for reappraisal. In a decade’s time we could all be kicking ourselves for ignoring what could turn out to be the Blade Runner of sunny romances in terms of richness and depth. And with an ensemble like it has there’s every chance this film will have a long shelf life beyond it’s current horrid status.

6

Stanley Kubrick directs Keir Dullea, Douglas Rain and William Sylvester in a sci-fi epic from the dawn of man via space travel to a final stage in technological evolution.

Kubrick’s finest work for many still frustratingly rubs me the wrong way. Impenetrable when I first watched it as a teenager, this fifth attempt to appreciate it, having recently read Arthur C. Clarke’s tandem released novella as a type of York Notes, merely made me feel the book was far superior. The SFX innovation to achieve the vision impresses and the HAL chapter is hauntingly well realised (“I can feel it”) but everything around that sequence, the majority of the film, is dull and alienating. Being a massive Stanley fan away from this and Eyes Wide Shut I’ll trust that alienation is the intention and the fault is with me. It can only be attributable to human error.

4

Stanley Tong directs Jackie Chan, Anita Mui and Francoise Yip in this American set actioner.

Jackie’s charm, skill and stunts keep you happy in a frankly mental fish out of water Kung Fu movie. Away from the amazingly choreographed fights and chases, do not come for anything resembling plot logic or emotional reasoning. The jist seems to be Jackie is protecting his uncle’s supermarket from a colourful motorcycle gang after his uncle sells it to a woman who turns out isn’t Jackie’s romantic interest despite various meet cutes betwixt them. Suddenly there’s a bag of diamonds hidden in a disabled boy’s wheelchair cushion (plus a U rated stripshow involving a tiger) and Jackie has forgiven the gang for mercilessly pelting him with glass bottles to near death in an alleyway so he can now chase a hovercraft through the streets of Vancou… Sorry… The Bronx. Mad as a box of frogs, a reel of the outtakes of stunts being achieved or going wrong set to Ash’s Kung-Fu at the end is the highlight.

5

Craig Gillespie directs Chris Pine, Casey Affleck and Holliday Grainger in this 1950s true tale of the coast guard rescuing the crew of a torn in half tanker.

The special effects are obvious but convincing, the derring do familiar and the pace respectful making this is a decent Sunday afternoon movie – comfortable and unchallenging. It has some plus points in casting Chris Pine effectively against type (he essentially plays Michael Shannon well) and just simply including Affleck, who brings his usual understated magic to a bland part. It is the kind of old fashioned movie that does nothing wrong yet struggles to justify its existence in the modern marketplace. Maybe the real heroes it was based on, the budget spent to realise it and the talent involved deserved a better film  but you could choose a far worse two hours at the movies at this time of year.

6

 

John Hillcoat directs Casey Affleck, Clifton Collins Jnr and Kate Winslet in a frenetic cops and robbers thriller.

You’ll either leave Triple 9 feeling cheated by the simplicity of the characters, the familiarity of the plot threads weaved together and the murkiness of the storytelling… Or deeply involved by all the heft the stellar cast brings, the red raw and delirious level of detail embroidered into Hillcoat’s vision, and impact of the intense set pieces. It is an ensemble where few survive, the least known stands out, and that will be unsatisfying to many… but for me it was a much needed taste of big screen, adult crime storytelling. A taste I crave.

8

Two things I watched this month, Netflix’s Jessica Jones and at the cinema Room, have a similar midway scene. Twenty something females, after a decade long, innocence definitely lost trauma, return to their preserved teenage bedrooms (or in Jessica Jones’ case recreated). You don’t need me to walk you through the simile… You get it.

Both times I wanted to see the band posters and boy pin up chosen by the set dresser or director. Did it feel true to a teen from the mid noughties? Or was it done with an adult rewrite of what kids now wish they were into with ten years mature hindsight? Or an even more obvious forgery by an older man just having a wild stab after googling 2006 into their search bar? They passed, the walls. But it was the actresses’ responses that resonated.

With Jessica Jones it felt like good creepy hook to dangle some character background off… But in Room, a fine film, it hit a nice emotional seam.

And walking away away from the cinema I thought “That’s all we’ve been doing this year. Going back home to childhood surroundings. Recreating them. Curling up in them. Taking comfort in their safe pleasures.” We’ve had too many remakes and belated sequels and reboots before. Years of it now. Maybe we are in the Matrix as so much of culture is now a JPEG of a photocopy of a fax of a sketch.

But all this rehashing had never really been approached with as much care and attention in repeating detail as the ones this year. Like the quickly forgotten The Thing prequel / remake they weren’t satisfied with recognised brand and a returning actor cameo, they really tried to clone the era we first experienced them in. The reason why Jurassic World, The Force Awakens and Creed work so well is not just that they take us back to simple, long in putted pleasures but they get the knick knacks on the nightstand right, the books and VHS shelves having been stocked and selected by someone who loves these rooms too. Lived in those cherished originals as much as we did. The product feels like it came from the same factory with the same materials. The new album has the hiss and crackle and little jumps of a constantly listened to vinyl of old.

The big movies of last year and now work because they are replicating a long cherished experience rather than existing as a mere cash in continuation with anachronistic modern sensibilities.

Apart from Mad Max: Fury Road… which evolves Max and the chase and the apocalypse through every rejected day glo action figure, rip off console shooter and 2000AD so that it times itself to the power of all that came in its wake. Straining to make something revolutionary out of the original parts all over again. Thanks for fucking up my rambling theory lousy Best Movie of 2015.

Still the key thing about experiencing Room was not that it crystallised my feelings about the tasty blockbuster reheats we literally queued up around the block for again. It made want to watch more Brie Larson. So I tried Short Term 12. Even better, even more affecting and now within a weekend she has become a new favourite. And before I go back to the Rocky well I want to make time to see Room director Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank. As getting the chance to travel back to our childhood and be awed all over again by dinosaurs, droids and Philly underdogs is great and good but what I love most about the movies is being surprised and excited. Discovering. Seeking out new favourites will do that, whereas there’s nothing but over watched dusty VHS tapes in the old room I first started loving cinema in.

 

 

1. Mad Max : Fury Road
2. Whiplash
3. The Martian
4. Crimson Peak
5. It Follows
6. The Diary of a Teenage Girl
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens
8. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
9. Brooklyn
10. Kingsman: The Secret Service
11. Pan
12. Sicario
13. John Wick
14. Jurassic World
15. Spectre
16. Everest
17. Joy
18. The DUFF
19. The Town That Dreaded Sundown
20. Irrational Man