1.
Ghost in the Shell
Rather
like the Beauty and the Beast movie,
this live-action adaptation makes me think, ‘It does the job it’s meant to do,
but what’s the point?’ I’m sure it will make money and draw fans and newcomers
alike, but the original has a lot of appeal that this doesn’t. Firstly, no
drama about white-washing, though I really don’t mind it in this case because
Major Kusanagi is after all a robot. Secondly, the sheer artistry of the
animated mechanisms. And then of course a much cooler spider-tank – I don’t
know why they didn’t just stick with the original design.
There
were some nice original ideas here, and the strangeness of the major meeting a
relative was impressive, but honestly, the story of the original was never its
strongest point, and without its artistry it’s honestly very much on the boring
side. This movie, with visuals only in line with everything around it, was
boring too – and definitely not worth whipping up racial controversy for.
2:
Hidden Figures
A
biopic of three women who made a significant contribution to NASA in the 1960s,
this is a fantastic film in its own right as well as an excellent piece for the
current political climate. Identity politics and racial tensions recently have
led to a combative climate, and I feel that a feel-good movie that highlights
the contributions of an oppressed minority in a time when institutional
oppression was much starker than today is a very positive thing. These are
superb role models and the more people like the lead characters of this film
there are in the world, the better.
I
don’t know how accurate this depiction is. I suspect no more than the Eddie the Eagle biopic I watched last
time I went on a long-haul flight. I doubt one woman really single-handedly
came up with the idea for calculating a change in orbits, or was a peerless
genius amongst other mediocre mathematicians rather than simply an equal cog in
a very sophisticated machine, but she certainly was a brilliant woman in a
society that would constantly denigrate her. I don’t suppose the other two key
innovators were her close friends and carpool buddies either – one
business-savvy woman who knew to learn computer programming as soon as she
heard of it, the other fighting in the courts to be allowed to qualify to
become an engineer. But all that just makes for a better movie narrative.
Having rocket launches in your storyline certainly helps keep things exciting, as well!
This
is a great reminder of when America was great – yet had a dark underbelly that
needed to change. It’s a superb underdog story and encourages not only
cooperation but the drive to succeed and innovate, equality through
self-betterment rather than the desire to tear others down. It was also
superbly acted, warm and funny in its family scenes, and even squeezed in a
cute romance. Overall, an excellent film I hope was widely watched and
well-received.
Ah
yes, checking on Wikipedia now, it’s highly dramatized and in fact the
segregation issue is hugely exaggerated. Like I said, it makes for good drama.
3. Colossal
What
a weird movie! I watched I because I saw the posters in London and thought it
looked strange. The premise is crazy, and I can’t imagine someone pitching it
or it getting through studio gatekeepers. Yet I like quirky, and this was
probably the most quirky premise I’ve seen in an American movie in years.
This
is the story of a typical young American woman who in pursuit of her dreams to
become a writer has ended up an unemployed alcoholic in New York sponging off
her boyfriend. When they decide to have a break and she goes back to her
hometown, she figures out that a giant monster attacking Seoul is actually her.
It’s a genre-clash of the typical relationship drama, with funny moments,
moments where you think the protagonist is pretty rotten, and serious moments
tackling emotional manipulation and abuse – and kaijuu movies. The ending is
cathartic wish fulfilment and the kaijuu scenes are well done enough that you
end up thinking this would have been better as the whole movie rather than a
semi-figurative take on fighting emotional abuse – and honestly the main part
was pretty boring with unlikeable characters. But the weird mish-mash was oddly
compelling, and even if I wouldn’t watch it again, I’m glad I saw it.
4.
The Jungle Book
Yet
another adaptation of a famous animated movie, this is Disney adapting one of
their older favourites. And unlike Beauty
and the Beast or Ghost in the Shell,
it doesn’t come across as redundant or unnecessary because it’s actually a
reimagining. It’s still more Disney than Kipling, but it’s been completely
re-written and given a very different tone to the original – more on the side
of Maleficent without being a
complete change of perspective.
As
a result, I liked it more than the other recent live-action versions. It actually
brought new things to the interpretation and had its own very satisfying
climax.
It
also had an amazing cast – Bill Murray, Lupita Nyong’o, Idris Elba, Ben
Kingsley, all providing fantastic voice performances. Scarlett Johansson shows
up too, this time APPROPRIATING that famous INDIAN character Kaa. There’s also
the very interesting choice to make King Louie more sinister than goofy, with
the inspired casting of Christopher Walken. I have to say, part of me hoped
Ringo Starr or Paul McCartney would cameo as a vulture, but that wasn’t to be.
We had Jon Favreau as a little pig, though!
Fun,
often cute, and far more epic than I expected towards the end, I feel a tinge
of regret that I thought it looked dreadful from the trailer. Too bad I think
the CG is going to look very dated very quickly…
5.
Get Out
Here’s
another interesting addition to the current landscape of racial tension. What
starts out as a typical drama about the awkward microaggressions and false
politeness of mixed race couples becomes a crazy yet predictable thriller. Any
film that has a scene where the plot is laid out by a character and people
laugh at its ridiculousness probably isn’t going to be all that strong, but Get
Out does a good job of building the tension and developing its slight paranoia
in a convincing way.
The
fundamental premise relies on a divided world with each side suspicious of the
other, and there’s an element of Blaxploitation here even if in many ways it
plays off the idea that white people are
creepy.
It’s
not really clever or original, and its twists are very obvious, but it does
what it sets out to do well.
6.
Split
A
thriller I feel like everyone has seen before. Three teenagers are abducted by
a man with a split personality. Here, the guy has over 20 distinct
personalities, notable ones including a fastidious fetishist, a flamboyant
fashion enthusiast, a stiff middle-aged lady and a little kid. A mysterious
final personality, which may or may not have superpowers, is in danger of being
unleashed.
Some
of James MacAvoy’s accents are a bit iffy, and for such a great actor his
characterisations are a bit secondary school drama class, but he’s still the
strongest thing in the film. His scenes with the older psychiatrist give the
film some much-needed meat. Scenes with the teen girls and highly clichéd
flashbacks of a life for a little girl in the countryside definitely don’t fare
as well.
Not
really offering anything new, falling back on lazy writing and keen to be much
scarier than it was, this was one to miss.
