Samuree Swords (Samuree)

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Thin, mediocre film. Never heard of Glenn Powell ; looks like he might have gotten some early work as a Tom Cruise look a like - his style is rather smarmy, cheesy, small town television anchor, who has gotten a lucky break as a leading man... yawn...Adria Arjona is just another pretty actress - plenty of sensuality to mask her very ordinary acting. Linklater is a decent director; this project is truthfully forgettable. An okay watch if you are recovering from flu and you've watched all the good stuff already - verdict : Snooze

It's shiny and colourful ; it's intricate, it has some cool sunsets and billowy clouds as billowy as Bella's sleeves- It's got bankable stars.... This film reminds me of modern art installations where critics wring their hands , flummoxed with writers block; 'what do I say?' So, to appear intellectual ,' with the times' and ultimately progressive , they stumble over themselves with hyperbole; 'genius'! 'Incredible performances!' 'The best movie in ages!' When most people are just looking quizzical - Really Hollywood and all those critics are just afraid to look stupid - when the film is actually a heap of horse dung.

The Iron Claw- Like the opening scene with its menacing black and white grimacing character , the image of The Iron claw -the metaphor is pronounced so clearly . Jack is the typical American testosterone fuelled, toxic father , who leads his sons into the slamming world of wrestling. Demanding he deserves the coveted World Champion belt -he deploys each son to the task- he lists his favourite sons during a family meal and no one winces. Sean Durkin's direction, excels and dominates during those almost uncomfortable closeups ; body parts hitting the ring , giant men jumping off of ring posts , crashing , pummelling; the viewer can feel the jolts and punishing of the contenders- this is beautifully accompanied by a dissonant score by Richard Reed Parry , as are the most poignant scenes in the film. Durkin soars when handling the closeness of the siblings and their dreams to please their toxic father. Astonishingly , the comedy is well couched within the ferocity and doesn't morph into a Blades of Glory type genre. However , as the intensity of the plot increased the direction seemed to falter and keep a distance from the potency and visceral needed to explore this family tragedy further. The absolute disaster that ensued with one brother after another being sacrificed to the wants and wills of their father , is never tackled. There are brief glimpses and an ever- after scene which doesn't really hit the mark. Efron is the stories main thread and narrator , suitably pumped , yet slightly opaque; his most convincing moments were after a brutal loss, the disappointment and defeat weighed heavier than any wrestling belt . This harrowing family tragedy tries to tie off its endings like neatly laced up wrestling boots,leaving too many unanswered questions, despite this, there is a camaraderie with the brothers that truly resonates.

To begin , it's fair to assume that if you aren't familiar with Leonard Bernstein or his canon, this film might not resonate. Opening scene; it takes off like the opening of Candide, tone and tempo with long dramatic shots and Lenny opening his arms to the world's stage. This is couched within the setting of an interview , reenacting stories of his life, with his premiere as the replacement of Bruno Walter conducting at Carnegie Hall. As Lenny lets his mind go through his journey , the audience is taken there with him, first in Black and white in the 40's , ending in colour as the years progress. This retelling is punctuated with Bernsteins music throughout , achingly moving, especially with the arrival of his intended wife , Felicia . Cooper's direction confounds and astounds simultaneously; the ghost like apparition of Felicia in a minute sliver of a shot through a stage curtain while Bernstein's silhouette dominates the screen ; with the constant motif of the back or profile of Felicia's golden coif,slowly panning into the corner of shots whilst watching Lenny conduct- especially in what appears to be a long take of Mahlers Resurrection- the camera pulling back to find Felicia was magical and heart wrenching ; the perspectives changing in a two shot; from a death bed to a window and a sprawling lawn, where the audience sees grief in Lenny's youngest ,running in the distance ,to Bernstein catching and embracing her . The tour de force was the Fancy Free scene; a metaphor for Lenny and Felicia 's love and foreshadowing her heartbreak with Bernsteins infidelity. These little gems are touches of brilliance , creativity and tenderness, immersed with the soundscape of Bernstein's musical narrative . None of the canon is played in full, and the film soundtrack ( on Spotify) is quite frankly, a disappointment ,as they have left the film dialogue in - instead they should have just recorded Bernstein's originals ,sans talking . , Cooper has outdone himself as director and certainly embraced Leonard Bernsteins fever and genius . However, the baton belongs to Carrie Mulligan. Her tight wired loyalty and devotion was spellbinding. Watch it more than once, to fully understand this exceptionally crafted film. Bernstein definitely provoked and lived between his summers of contradictions.

It's been two years, due to Covid , that one of our favourite past times , going to the cinema, has finally returned - only to be colossally disappointed by Ridley Scott's strange menagerie- a tragi- comedy called House of Gucci. The true tragedy here is that within this weird and disjointed film , there are some very good performances . The film has a hopeful start - but quickly depreciates - the story is patchy and not very persuasive - there is a fabulous love- making scene ( and one of the best for direction and purpose) with Gaga and Driver - their chemistry is believable - its climax is acted out with fever and hilarity with the best quick - cut segue into their marriage ceremony- but even this isn't enough to save the House of Gucci from demolition. There are scenes that almost seem stuck together for no particular reason - as if the film editor fell asleep in the cutting room. Gucci and Patrizia's marriage falls apart without the audience's witness- in one scene, the police come to the Gucci's doorway due to tax evasion - then suddenly , Driver is in Switzerland and has gone 360 on his feelings for his beloved wife - the story line is as bankrupt as the Gucci household. Lady Gaga is great fun to watch as the betrayed wife - Driver's Italian accent goes in and out as haphazardly as his 'Maurizio wig' - Leto is focused on an 'Oscar' and is unrecognisable as the buffoonish and impoverished Gucci cousin- doing his own Gucci parody in a theatre near you. Oh and Salma Hayek as a tarot card clairvoyant who assists in Patrizia's criminal rebuttal; worthy of a Saturday Night live skit. Pacino -whose presence should add gravitas- actually looks off camera during a pivotal scene with Leto- in what appears to be a scene rehearsal (?) - Jeremy Irons is properly cast as the stoic and crumbling head of family - but his death and exit seemed rushed with zero emotional baggage. A talented ensemble gathered - but the result is a very silly and awful film.

M. Night Shyamalan and the screen play team of A Quiet Place, should have received at least a nod in the credits for this botched Sci- Fi/ supernatural effort. Just take The Happening and A Quiet place and put them into one of those Teleporters from the 80’s version of The Fly, and appearing out of its fog machined door, you’d get The Bird Box. Melodramatic acting with pin the tail on the donkey blind folds, plus we are never enlightened to the cause or get a whiff or peek at the cause of the sudden onset of worldwide suicide mania. John Malcovich’s usual sociopathic tendencies are wasted here; the scariest part is really Bullocks botoxed face. Just ridiculous and a waste of time. Turd in a punch bowl, for the last supper during Signs 3/10 🌟

Tar is a towering 2 hours and 37 minutes of Cate Blanchett in a beautiful tailored suit, mad conductor swept back hair, and quite a lot of long scenes of self important dialogue. Once you wrap your head around this aspect , it's a leg folder film with some deep psychological twisted meaning - it has moments where you aren't looking at your watch. Blanchett, as expected, gives a tour de force performance as the tyrannical Lydia Tar, but the five star reviews that are dominating the reception of this film, might be a tad over arching. Favours , bullying , sexual abuse, power games; these are certainly ubiquitous in the arts as well as other fields where stardom and slim chances of recognition are paramount . Leonard Bernstein, ( an actual famous conductor ) is Tar's icon , and who himself had a checkered past with his sexuality - James Levine is mentioned - he too - a well known abuser in classical music circles. The scenes that held the most tension were in rehearsals at Juilliard, where Tar's narcissism and grandiosity as a coach will remain unmatched by any promising talent . This type of behaviour from many teachers in the arts isn't unusual; plenty of them thrive on destroying the egos of young hopefuls- ( a better example as a film for this is Whiplash). The narrative follows Tar's rehearsals, ( Mahlers 5th and Elgars Cello Concerto) , her disconnected life with her violinist partner ( Hoss) and their adopted child. This is blurred with the underbelly of a young musician / conductor who Tar most likely groomed , then dropped; the ingenues suicide becomes Tar's undoing. There are threads that could have been brilliant; a relationship with Mark Strong- a hopeful conductor who steals her Mahler performance Score - a Russian cellist , the newest possible ingenue - who ends up foiling Tar by being a street smart survivor. The scene where Tar loses her baton - so to speak- was hilarious - not dramatic -so it loses its gravitas as a true psychological thriller .

Babble-on The best part of Babylon was actually the well crafted extended trailer . If they had used that principal of editing for the film , you would have seen a great film. The premise of this cornucopia is Silent to Talkie films - which is an interesting idea. Chazelle is a gifted director, and he employs a lot of his previous motifs - quickly syncopated clips which mirror his musical ethos, with a soundtrack that couches the action and narration . However , the end result for most of the film resembles a high school orchestra without a conductor or a good rehearsal , whilst reading about three different popcorn romance novels simultaneously. Within this extravaganza is a thread of simpatico with Nelly ( Margot Robbie) and Manny (Diego Calvo), which should have been more fully developed . A second thread is Brad Pitt, a silent film star who struggles with maintaining his career in the transition to talkies . A third thread is a black jazz horn player (Jovan Adepo ) who suffers racism in a 1930's timeline- but seems to carve a career with nightclub gigs. There are some fun scenes with a Cecil De Mille -type extras chaos ; the directors cameras fail and they are losing the scene due to the sun setting - This was good story telling and an amusing take on how it must have been in the early days before high tech sets , CGI and studio voice overs- with the added hilarity of a live orchestra on an outdoor set. Although, the ridiculousness, excrement and vomiting and the debauchery are excessive - perhaps deliberately, but it just doesn't work. The constant big band score orchestrated by Chazelle's musical collaborator Justin Hurwitz, creates a circus- like whirling dervish that illustrates the Babylon- madness of those Hollywood turmoils - actors committing suicide , rampant corruption- alongside the vulnerable dreamers who just wanted a better life and ended up trying their luck on the glitzy gold roads of film studios . The montage at the end was the nail in the coffin. Chazelle repeats his La La Land ending with the main characters not ending up together and their starting points revisited on the screen . This time, he bombards us with technicolour images spliced with the opening scenes , when Manny meets Nelly- he should have left it with the overhead shot of the audience at the cinema. Overall, Chazelle has a love affair with all things about film , especially, the old musicals. Babylon is his overture for this. Let's hope he ends it now with a large 'Ta Da' ...