Month: March 2023

Cinderella (2021)

Where to find it: Amazon Prime Video
Length: 1hr 50m
Synopsis: Fairy tale musical
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: dynamic, beautiful, funny, the talent, costumes, choreography, it’s very gay
What I don’t like about it: some weak jukebox numbers, overplays its strengths

Review:
Camila Cabello showcases her enviable talents in the lead role of this non-Disney fairy tale adaptation; colourful, hyperactive fluff with a charming level of effort. The voiceover narration (Billy Porter as the Fabulous Godmother) introduces us to Ella – for ‘Cinderella’ is an unwanted nickname = who lives in the cellar of her wicked stepmother (Idina Menzel) and spoiled stepsisters. Ella makes dresses and wants to sell them but is informed that women are not allowed to conduct business in this particular fantasy kingdom.

The setting is also introduced during the first number, a reworking of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation, as a land where everyone follows tradition without question and also sing and dance a lot, providing a plausible and very silly reason for all the choreographed pop hits. There are lots of them; also appearing are the songs Somebody to Love, Material Girl and a mash-up of Whatta Man with Seven Nation Army. I was in a go-with-it mood but this film is probably torture if you don’t like musicals. Far and away the best number is the villain song, Dream Girl, a bitter and wistful reflection on the traditional place of women in society written and performed by Menzel.

Currently holding a 4.3/10 on IMDb, I will die on the hill that this is a good movie and everyone involved deserves to be proud of their efforts. Kay Cannon’s writing and directing is funny and dynamic, even if the reliance on gags, numbers and hyperactive editing gets a little tiring. The costumes and choreography are delightful and visually stimulating. There are also great turns from Pierce Brosnan (whose infamous singing ability is lampooned) and Minnie Driver as the King and Queen, and a particular comic highlight in their daughter, the ambitious liberal Princess Gwen who is ignored in favour of primogeniture. If – and only if – you like spectacle, camp and fluff, you’ll find this an enjoyable diversion.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): James Corden

Inside Our Autistic Minds (2023)

Where to find it: BBC iPlayer
Length: Two 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Autistic mission doc
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: autistic people
What I don’t like about it: not very informative, self-important host, inspiration porn

Review:
Chris Packham hosts this BBC documentary in which he meets four autistic people and helps them make a short film about their perspective, which they then show to their friends and family. Despite many encouragements to understand autistic people, it doesn’t do a great job of explaining us, preferring ambiguous statements about how we’re all different. Occasionally hilarious, such as using VFX to show autism as some kind of Iron Man-esque superpower, but more often manipulatively ‘uplifting’ or uncomfortably intrusive.

Mostly, the show and its host seem to have a higher evaluation of their importance than I do and spend most of the time talking down to the audience, assuming they will have many negative impressions of autistic people. Thankfully Packham, patron(ising) saint of autism, is here to realise for us that people who don’t speak are still people.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

A Spy Among Friends (2022)

Where to find it: itvX
Length: Six 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Boring historical fiction about the Cambridge Five
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: occasional intriguing conversations, acting
What I don’t like about it: no plot, no pace, no interest

Review:
Like le Carré on sedatives, this imagining of historical MI5 investigations into Kim Philby starts out lost in the weeds and only gets less interesting as it goes. Damien Lewis and Guy Pearce are good but not good enough to carry six hours of slow British spy mystery.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, explosion

Mythic Quest (2020)

Where to find it: Apple TV+
Length: Thirty 30-minute episodes
Synopsis: Workplace comedy about a game developer
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: game industry satire, good characters and cast
What I don’t like about it: not very funny or great, can’t figure out its tone

Review:
Mythic Quest is a fictional MMORPG and this show follows the studio which creates it: self-obsessed creative lead Ian (pronounced like ‘iron’, Rob McElhenney), messy lead dev Poppy (Aussie newcomer Charlotte Nicdao), ineffectual producer David (David Hornsby), evil monetiser Brad (Danny Pudi), creative consultant C.W. (F. Murray Abraham), beleagured head of H.R. Carol (Naomi Ekperigin) and testers Dana (Imani Hakim) and Rachel (the multi-talented Ashly Burch), whose cute romance is a highlight.

The satirical workplace comedy is quite good, with some of the satire being so sharp that it’s a wonder they have Ubisoft’s help making this, but once per season they drop this format for a tangentially-related flashback drama episode. It’s a comfortable comedy if you’re in the market for one.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

The Patient (2022)

Where to find it: Disney+
Length: Ten 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: A psychotherapist is held hostage by a serial killer who demands to be cured
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: short episodes, good acting
What I don’t like about it: it’s bad in just about every way, never delivers on its premise

Review:
A grieving therapist (Steve Carell) is visited by a new patient (Domhnall Gleeson) who soon chains him up in his basement. The worst thing is it isn’t even psychologically interesting. It could have been better without the kidnapping; that kind of killed their ability to get any actual therapy done.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, the holocaust

Welcome to Chippendales (2022)

Where to find it: Disney+
Length: Eight 35-50 minute episodes
Synopsis: Decent drama about dancers
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: good acting (especially Bartlett)
What I don’t like about it: drags in the middle, doesn’t say much

Review:
Kumail Nanjiani stars as Steve Banerjee, yuppie founder of a Los Angeles club which became known for male exotic dancing, and Murray Bartlett is Nick De Noia, the never-satisfied choreographer who takes the brand to new heights and incurs Steve’s jealous wrath. It’s a moderately interesting story with plenty of sex, drugs and disco music pulling it along.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): sex, drugs, violence

Triangle of Sadness (2022)

Where to find it: Rent or buy on Amazon
Length: two and a half hours
Synopsis: A luxury megayacht is the setting for an angry metaphor
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: clever, funny, great images
What I don’t like about it: slow in parts, very gross in parts, long (though not overlong)

Review:
Ruben Östlund’s (The Square) English-language debut is inconsistent and disjointed but full of brilliant satire and further showcases his gift for visual symbolism and metaphor, while pacier than his previous European work. It opens with a modelling audition and smoothly dunks on many fashion targets before focusing on Carl, whose career has hit the skids, and girlfriend Yaya, who is doing just fine as a model/influencer and “finds it unsexy to talk about money”. They argue over dinner (providing Östlund’s signature intellectual cringe comedy) but soon reconcile and ship off for a luxury cruise on a megayacht.

Onboard, the crew is split between obsequious customer-facing staff hoping for a big tip and blue-collar boatmen hoping they don’t get noticed. Everything is luxurious and artificial and it seems to please the passengers, including Carl and Yaya – whose follower count has got them here as a freebie -, a post-Soviet oligarch, elderly English weapons manufacturers and a Swedish game developer who bears a striking resemblance to Minecraft’s notorious founder. On top of furnishing the absurd requests of their passengers, the crew are also dealing with an absentee captain, Woody Harrelson, whose alcoholism and devout Marxism bring about an encounter with the oligarch which was the funniest scene in the movie for me.

The highlight is the act two finale, when the boat is wracked by stormy seas and everyone tries to keep things ‘business as usual’ in a potent metaphor for climate change under capitalism. Unfortunately, this coincides with a highly graphic bout with seasickness and food poisoning – both brought about by poor priorities on the part of those who run the ship, further enhancing the metaphor. The final hour of the movie drags as the ship is destroyed and the survivors cope with a new social order but it ends well (an early line points out that the start and the end are the most important parts of a cruise as well as a movie, I found that cute).

Content notes (may contain spoilers): nudity, sex (coercion), vomit, defecation, corpse

Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: 130 minutes
Synopsis: DCI Luther returns for a sub-Bond adventure
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: Elba, Serkis hamming it up
What I don’t like about it: disgusting, chewy dialogue, flimsy plot, risible fight scenes, obvious product placement

Review:
Idris Elba returns as gritty London cop John Loofah in a pointless big screen(ish) outing and seemingly a favour to hack writer Neil Cross. In the first half-hour, Luther is sent to prison by this week’s villain (Andy Serkis), then quickly broken out and sent on Serkis’ trail.

This show has always been an odd mix of grim and cheesy and both elements are turned up to 11 in this. It revels in human misery and violence, with the edgiest and most unrealistic villains imaginable. If you want to feel sick and like you can’t stop laughing at the same time, you might like it.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence including sexual, cop worship