A Star is Born (15A) – Movie Review

Here is a story that was filmed many times in the past.  However this version brings it up to date to 2018.
Singer, Lady Gaga and box-office hit star, Bradley Cooper take up the roles of up and coming singer Ally and big star singer, Jackson Maine.  There had been versions of this story filmed in the 30s, 50s and 70s.  Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson starred in the 1976 version. 
Ally is living with her father, and is on the verge of giving up her hopes of a singing career.  Fate intervenes when she meets Jackson Maine, and he encourages her to further explore her songwriting and singing talent.  Along the way the couple fall in love, but while Jackson slips into alcoholism, Ally’s career rises.  Then Jackson’s situation starts to infringe on Ally’s burgeoning stardom.
A clash of happenings between both talented musicians bring them to the edge of disaster that can only lead to new heartache. 
Lady Gaga is absolutely marvellous in the role of Ally.  Her singing is superb, as you’d expect anyway due to her music career, and her creation of the role of Ally never diminishes for a second of film.  She portrays the humble character with humility, and it’s no wonder that she is nominated for a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination will surely beckon next year.
Bradley Cooper has got a fantastic singing voice, and he plays the part of Jackson like he was born for the role.  Concert footage in the movie is fantastic, where the massive crowds cheer on Jackson and Ally to singing success. 
Cooper too deserves the acting nomination of the Golden Globe, because of his meltdown performance alone. 
However the 1976 and 2018 movies are very similar, with the exception of the odd mention of YouTube and mobile phones around. 
Bobby, a character in the 2018 movie is a father figure for Jackson, who was played by Sam Elliott. He would be a great option for Best Supporting Actor in next years Oscars.
The 2018 story is positively brought up to date with the gay characters in the movie.  Jackson first encounters Ally singing in a Drag bar, and her best friend in the movie is a gay man, Ramon who is played by Anthony Ramos. 
As director, Bradley Cooper has created a classic.  He was helped by the great performances of his lead and supporting cast, writes David Flynn.  The music is also superb along the way, and is a worthy successor to the 1976 movie.

Halloween – Movie Review

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her most famous movie role forty years later.

Back forty years later to the scene of the crime in the small town of Haddonfield, USA, where Michael Myers went on his second spree of killing (he had also killed his sister fifteen years earlier when he was a 4 year old!), is the order of this new Hallowe’en movie.
This movie is a direct sequel of the 1978 movie of the same name and stars the same important cast members Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode and Nick Castle as Michael Myers. 
This ‘Halloween’, the cinemagoer is asked to forget about the other seven or eight Halloween movies, which built (maybe not brilliantly) on the original Myers/Strode story.  Here we take up the story forty years after the end of the original movie.  At the time, Laurie narrowly escapes being brutally murdered by the evil Myers. 
In the intervening years, Laurie has been twice divorced and is trying to connect with her granddaughter, Allyson (played by unknown Andi Matichak).  (Jamie Lee Curtis too was an unknown when she made the original movie.)  Today, Laurie lives in a forest fortress, where she is repelling the outside world.

Myers has been forty years in a prison for the criminally insane, and has baffled psychiatrists there, and has never spoken a word since 1978.  Of course he escapes, and heads back for Haddonfield, and Laurie gets ready for their inevitable confrontation.
It’s an interesting film, although it has the obvious slashings and killings.  Innocent babysitters and regular bystanders are prey for Myers when he begins his first killing spree in forty years. 
The movie pays homage to the original ‘Halloween’.  There is a late 70s feel to the movie, with the exception of the mobile phones used by characters and about their talk of using the internet.  Other than that, Haddonfield looks the same.
Halloween 2018 is a credible comeback for these familiar characters.  However it should have picked a slightly different name to differentiate it from the original.   But it was all worth the effort for the cast and crew, writes David Flynn.

Adrift (12A) – Movie Review

A true story is in the foreground of this survival movie which is situated in the midst of the treacherous waters of the Pacific Ocean.
The movie, ‘Adrift’ is originally set on the island of Tahiti in 1983.  Tahiti is a paradise island below the equator, which was the setting for the 18^th century maritime adventure which became well known as the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’.
‘Adrift’ features the story of a Californian girl, Tami who is touring the world alone, and working her way through the South Pacific islands.  She meets a young English man, Richard, who is sailing his way to his destiny in the same region.  When they meet up, they find a kindred spirit in each other, and love happens.
The young lovers set out on a boat through the wild ocean, but neither envisaged the hell of a trip that awaited them.  Unfortunately for them, they encountered one of the worst hurricanes ever recorded.
Tami awoke to find Richard first missing, and then seriously injured.  She had to work to save both their lives in a boat that was barely afloat and adrift.
Tami is played by Shailene Woodley and Richard is played by Sam Clafin.  Shailene is also producer of the movie which has a claustrophobic feel to it, due to much of it being set on the adrift boat, in the middle of the great ocean.  The strength of the waves were very vivid in the storm scene, and the general look of the movie was shown beautifully.
The performances of both main actors were exemplary, particularly Shailene Woodley’s.  Shailene gave great depth to the part of Tami, which came across very natural. 
There are certain to be awards at the different ceremonies next year for this feature, writes David Flynn, and one definite will be for cinematography, and it’s hard to see another feature between now and then beating ‘Adrift’. 

Ocean’s Eight (12A) – Movie Review

Some of cinema’s top female stars appear here as would-be jewel thieves in a robbery worth no less than $150,000,000.  ‘Ocean’s Eight’ is a spin-off of the successful 2000s trilogy, which starred some of the top male stars of the time.
This new movie begins with Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) getting out of prison after doing time for fraud.  Debbie is the sister of Danny Ocean, the leader of the lads in the original productions.  Danny was played by George Clooney in the earlier movies.
However it is now more than ten years since an Oceans movie and Danny is now dead, and after Debbie gets out of prison she plans a caper, the likes of which would have made her late brother proud.
Glamour is the order of the day in ‘Ocean’s Eight’ and it features Debbie re-joining with her old partner in crime, Lou, played by Cate Blanchett.  Lou is living off a scheme of watering down vodka when she reunites with Debbie (they did some bingo scams together in their youth), and the duo engineer a new scam to steal a museum’s Royal jewels.
The ladies they assemble include Helena Bonham-Carter as a tax criminal and successful 1990s fashion designer, and also Sarah Paulsen as fence turned homemaker, Tammy.
Movie star Daphne is the key to putting the whole plan together, she was played by the brilliant Anne Hathaway.  Rihanna is in there as well on the team, and there are special appearances from two of the Kardashian girls and Olivia Munn and Katie Holmes.   Popular veteran actor, Elliot Gould from the other Oceans movies makes a guest appearance.
There are a couple of laughs in the movie, and it’s a mind-candy feature.  Despite it having three Oscar winners on board in the acting stakes, it won’t win any Oscars, but it’s a bit of fun, and you could see far worse writes David Flynn.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (12A) – Movie Review

Returning to a movie franchise which is now 25 years old can be exciting for those who grew up with the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park.
Here we have the fifth move in the series, and the remaining dinosaurs are living out their existence on a volcanic island.  The governments of the world are in talks about whether they should save the dinosaurs or let them die.
This new movie is set three years after the last one, ‘Jurassic World’, and the animal expert couple, Clair and Owen return, although they are now estranged.
An invalid industrialist, Benjamin Lockwood (played by James Cromwell), who was an associate of the founder of Jurassic Park, which was original home of the dinosaurs gets Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her former love, Owen (Chris Pratt) to return to the island and save the dinosaurs.  Owen has the further interest of finding his own favourite dinosaur, Blue, and along the way he discovers that they will have more battles to save the dinosaurs than they originally thought.
It begins like a traditional movie, with the elderly billionaire offering the young folk the opportunity to save the dinosaurs, but the storyline gets lost along the way, although it does manage to throw in a few surprises.  The CGI of the dinosaurs is still great to see, but somehow it was more effective in the early 1990s when audiences hadn’t seen as much of these types of movies.
Jeff Goldblum returns as Dr. Ian Malcolm to give a philosophical perspective on the whole plan of dinosaurs living in the world with man, writes David Flynn
It’s a moral story, which shows some respect for animals, and it’s an interesting episode of the series.  However producers will want to come up with some new and adventurous ideas for the next Jurassic feature.

I, Tonya (15A) – Movie Review

People of the 1990s will probably remember the story about the US figure skater Tonya Harding.   Now, a long-awaited bio-pic has come to cinemas, and it’s far from soap opera variety.
Tonya Harding was a champion figure skater who was accused of being involved in an attack on her skating rival, Nancy Kerrigan.   It was January 1994, and the internet wasn’t even a word in the mainstream vocabulary, but it was the early days of 24 hour news stations.  International news was becoming more commonly known because of most televisions having the SKY news channel.
Tonya was born to a low-income family in Portland, Oregon, but her obsessive mother, LaVona started her daughter figure skating at age 5 years.  Tonya made it up the ranks through her teenage years, but was never fully accepted by the figure skating world, because she lacked what they saw as a sense of grace in her skating style, and there seemed to be snobbery among the community.
Tonya got married young to Jeff, who was later found guilty of organising the attack on Nancy Kerrigan.  Tonya too was deemed guilty of involvement.
‘I, Tonya’ tells the story from the side of Tonya Harding, but not without warts.  She was a victim of physical abuse, first from her mother, and later from her husband.  The movie doesn’t pull any punches with these abuses, and viewing is not for the faint hearted.
The cast are brilliant in their portrayals of the real people, especially the three leads.
Allison Janney has won the Oscar, BAFTA award, and Golden Globe Award, for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Tonya’s mother, LaVona.  She is a compelling figure to watch, and Allison brought a chilling performance to the fore with the role, writes David Flynn.
Margot Robbie, in interviews admitted that she had never heard the Tonya Harding story.  However she got in behind the role, and re-created the life of Tonya from early teens to her marriage and becoming a world champion Figure Skater.
Sebastian Stan as the bad guy in the piece – Tonya’s husband, Jeff, was very real in his portrayal.
The movie is told in documentary style, and the viewer can’t help but feel part of the world of these difficult people.
It was worth the wait to see the background to the Tonya Harding story.  While it may not all be believable, it’s certainly an insight that hasn’t been shown for almost 25 years.

The Shape of Water (15A) – Movie Review

A bit of everything is the crux of this particular movie.
It’s set in the cold war era at a secret scientific base in Baltimore, USA., during the JFK years.
A mute woman who works as a cleaner at the facility discovers a humanoid sea creature stored there.  The woman, Elisa, lives a lonely life, with her only friend being her equally lonely artist neighbour, Giles.
Elisa and her co-worker, Zelda find themselves working in the laboratory where the creature is held.  Elisa builds a relationship with the creature which slowly grows from fascination to something more intense.  When she learns that her boss, Strickland (played by Michael Shannon) doesn’t have the creature’s best interests at heart, she decides to act in ways that will change her existence forever. 
The movie is nominated for 13 Academy Awards, and has already won two Golden Globes and three Baftas.   It didn’t win the major awards, but writer/director Guillermo del Toro has won two of the awards for Best Director, which is a good omen going into the Oscars.
Sally Hawkins gave a beautiful performance as the silent Elisa.  Richard Jenkins also does well playing the gay artist, Giles.  Zelda was played by Octavia Spencer, who as per usual in her acting brought some much needed humour with her role.  Spencer is a good tip to win Best Supporting Actress, which would add to her win for The Help in 2012. 
The skin design of the creature and the special effects are magnificent, as is definitely the direction, and the story, which is traditional in ways, but is told in a most unique way, writes David Flynn.
The setting of 1962 America is excellent to look at, and the look of everything from ice-cream parlours to US streets is a picturesque trip back in time.
The creature is played beautifully by Doug Jones, and it took some stagecraft or possibly some experience with mime, for the actor to create such a role. 
The action, the violence, the lovemaking – all of it makes up one of the top movies of the year, and it’s still only late February!

 

The Greatest Showman (PG)

An old fashioned Hollywood musical is currently on general release telling the story of Mr. PT Barnum, who was the originator of popular showbusiness.  Barnum was incredibly ambitious but also perpetually broke, and he came from the poor side of America’s streets in the middle of the 19^th century.   He has a childhood sweetheart, Charity, from the wealthy side of life, and he clashes angrily with her father.  Barnum has ambition to provide circus entertainment for the masses featuring unusual characters.  He takes many risks with many ups and down to achieve this ambition and also to continue true love with Charity.  Along the way he meets two people, young writer, Phillip Carlyle, played by Zac Ephron and opera singer, Jennie Lind played by Rebecca Ferguson, who will help him change the world of entertainment.
The movie, ‘The Greatest Showman’ is colourful with a lot of singing and dancing around the lavish sets that were specially built to depict new theatre in 19^th century America, and is now showing in Athlone IMC.  The movie had a stage feel throughout, and it didn’t leave that aside.  The music is so-so, but the Oscar nominated song, ‘This Is Me’, is of good quality, writes David Flynn.
The movie is reminiscent, but not as lavish as Moulin Rouge in 2002, or as cinematic as La La Land in 2017.
Hugh Jackman was excellent in the role, and proved that despite pushing 50, he could play Barnum at all stages of his interesting life.  It was good to see Michelle Williams (Charity) back in a good role.  Zac Ephron was a surprise star as Carlyle, and proved he’s capable of producing a good performance with an interesting role.  Rebecca Ferguson is a star who is only beginning to peak, and should have many good roles ahead of her in the future.
The Greatest Showman’s a very watchable movie, due to the visually pleasing sets and also the talented supporting cast, ie Sam Humphrey as Tom Thumb, Keala Settle as Lettie Lutz and Zendaya as Anne Wheeler.  However there could be more depth in the story of the life and works of PT Barnum.  The set is the real focus of the feature, and it’s a relaxing feature to watch.

 

The Post (12A) - Movie Review

The order of the day in ‘The Post’ is a step back to a place and time when the White House in the Vietnam War era, and the national media were all wrestling with their own consciences.
Most know the gist of the Watergate story, ie burglars with links to the Nixon (Republican) White House were caught robbing the Watergate building, which was the Democratic Party headquarters.  However this motion picture, directed by Steven Spielberg tells a story that predates the 1972 burglary.
An employee of the American military, Daniel Ellsberg, played by Matthew Rhys discovers a major government cover-up concerning Vietnam, which dated back to the 1950s.  Ellsberg copies the documents, and passes some of them to the New York Times, who publishes them as a major scoop.  
Welsh actor, Rhys is currently starring in the Cold War US tv drama, ‘The Americans’.
The Washington Post editor and management are livid with missing the story, but after a period of cat and mouse, the Post eventually manages to get a full copy of the report, which gives a damning to previous US governments.  Court and judges comes into the equation, and huge battles begin between, government, court, editor and journalists, and the Washington Post’s owner.
In the movie, ‘The Post’, the set of the major US newspaper is almost a direct copy of the one in the brilliant 1976 Watergate movie, ‘All the President’s Men’, and the two movies could be looked at as companions. 
‘The Post’ gives a terrific insight into how things used to be done before mobile phones, and digital this and that.  Here it’s all telephones and typewriters, and pure sweat, blood and tears in smoke-filled rooms.  It’s also interesting to watch the true depiction of the 1971 US lifestyle, ie many people smoking everywhere.
Meryl Streep is nominated for an Oscar as Katherine Graham, and while she delivers a good performance, it is no better than any she has done before.   The role wasn’t her most challenging, like when she played Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’ in 2012, and deservedly won the Oscar.
Tom Hank’s role was challenging as editor Ben Bradlee – a strong character, who was played by Jason Robards in the 1976 Watergate movie   
There are great supporting performances from the likes of Sarah Paulson as Bradlee’s wife, Bradley Whitford, Allison Brie and Bruce Greenwood.
The movie is palatable, and is one to savour.  They don’t tell many strongly told stories like this anymore, writes David Flynn.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A) - Movie Review

Here we return to long long ago, and the space world of Star Wars where the Empire and the Jedis are still fighting.  It’s more than forty years since we first encountered the young jedi twins, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia (now General Leia).
This is the eighth Star Wars film since 1977 and while it is faithful to the original storyline, sadly much of the Jedi and Empire world seems to have got lost in Hollywood over the years.  The original director, George Lucas sold on his interest in the Star Wars saga to Disney films in the past few years.  However Star Wars: The Last Jedi does have the required special effects that a Space Opera requires.   Also there is important conflict among the characters Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and young jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) on Skellig Michael in Ireland, which doubles for an outpost in the farther regions of the galaxy.   Also Rey’s powerful encounter with new Darth Vader Kylo (Adam Driver), who has gone to the Dark Side, is an important part of the film.
The story sadly allows the action to tell too much of this episode of the saga, and not enough character conflict, and that has been a problem with the Star Wars movies (1999-2005).  However the final showdown featuring most of the main characters in The Last Jedi is worth sticking around for, writes David Flynn.
Also it’s sad to see Carrie Fisher in her final performance as Leia, poignant though that be, since the role she first played in 1977 set her on the road to her Hollywood journey.  Carrie died at Christmas 2016, just after wrapping The Last Jedi.   She gave good value for money as the Princess (now a General) fighting a major war across the galaxy.
Skellig Michael is worth seeing for its magnificence and rugged beauty, and it won’t do Irish tourism the least bit of harm.  Also speaking of Ireland, Domhnall Gleason as the wimpy, General Hux showed that the actor has talent that crosses many fields.

There is also an interesting appearance by 2018 Golden Globe winner Laura Dern as a rebel Admiral.  She won the Globe a few weeks back for the tv series, Little Big Lies.  There are also sightings of old favourites such as robots C3PO and R2D2, and the beloved Chewbacca, although it seems strange not to see his old familiar sidekick with him.
The movie is too long, but as said earlier, it’s worth sticking around.