#elaine Farrell

[blogmollylane]

Newly acquired:

Everyone in my family has killed someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick

[letterboxd-loggd]

The Student Nurses (1970) Stephanie Rothman

August 4th 2024

[h50europe]

Repost • @ subotica.ie IG The Boy That Never Was airs at 9:35pm this Sunday on @rteone

We can’t wait for everyone to watch this story unfold! Some Ep 1 stills in the mean time.

Starring Colin Morgan, @tonior, @kerrlogan and Simon Callow.

Directed by @han_quinn

Written by @jospainscreenwriter and David Logan, based on the novel by @karenperrywrites

Produced by Natalie McAuley (@sneakyshrew)

Executive Producers: Tristan Orpen Lynch and Aoife Sullivan (@aoife.osullivan.og)

Director of Photography: Tim Fleming ISC

Editor: Darragh Moran

Production Design: Jon Beer

Music by: @djkormac

First AD: Ciara McIlraith

Key Second AD: Ciara Lyons

Script Supervisor: Louise Gaffney Farrell

Line Producers: Ailish Bracken , Hamid Herraf

Casting: Elaine Grainger CDG

Casting Morocco: Saad Fekhari

Costume Design: Kenza Chaabi, Suzanne Keogh

Make-Up Design: Bouchard Amelia Sakhi, Aisling Nairn

Hair Design: Redouane Dafaa, Sevlene Roddy

Sound Mixers: Mehdi Filali, Daniel Birch

📷 Stills Photographers 📷

1 / Poster - Cáit Fahy

2 - Reda Laaroussi

3 - Reda Laaroussi

4 - Reda Laaroussi

5 – Cáit Fahy

6 – Molly Keane

The series was produced by Subotica for @rteone and Abacus Media Rights who have pre-sold the series to @UKTV Alibi Channel and France Télévision.

The series was made with development and production support from @ScreenIreland

The series was produced with support from the Government of Ireland’s film tax relief Section 481. tourism.culture.gaeltacht

Financed in association with the @finnishimactfilmfund and produced in association with @aurorastudiosfi

The series was developed with support from Creative Europe Media Slate Funding @ced_ireland_media

#theboythatneverwas #boy #colinmorgan #toniorourke #kerrlogan #simoncallow #irishfilm

[brian-in-finance]

Apple TV+

Irish Film, TV Nominations 2023: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin,’ ‘Bad Sisters’ Lead With Most Nods

“The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, led the nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs) as the full list of nominees was unveiled on Monday night local time, picking up 11 nods in the film category.

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan’s Apple TV+ mystery series – led the pack in the drama category with 12 noms.

Coming off the back of a stellar year for Irish film and television, the nominations include a number of familiar names and titles, including Paul Mescal, who has been nominated for best lead actor in a film for “Aftersun” and best supporting actor in a film for “God’s Creatures” while Farrell is also competing in both categories, both for his star turn in “Banshees” and his supporting role as Penguin in “The Batman.”

“Conversations with Friends” has also scored noms in multiple categories while Aoife McArdle is up for best drama director for Apple TV+ series “Severance.” Sinead O’Connor doc “Nothing Compares” is up for best feature documentary.

The IFTAs are set to take place at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on May 7. They will be broadcast on local network RTÉ.

FILM CATEGORIES

Best Film

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“God’s Creatures”

“Lakelands”

“Róise & Frank”

“The Wonder”

Director – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“It Is In Us All” – Antonia Campbell Hughes

“Joyride” – Emer Reynolds

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy

Script – Film

“Aisha” – Frank Berry

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Martin McDonagh

“God’s Creatures” – Shane Crowley

“Joyride” – Ailbhe Keogan

“Let the Wrong One In” – Conor McMahon

“Róise & Frank” – Rachael Moriarty, Peter Murphy

Lead Actor – Film

Colin Farrell – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Daryl McCormack – “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”

Éanna Hardwicke – “Lakelands”

Liam Neeson – “Marlowe”

Ollie West – “The Sparrow”

Paul Mescal – “Aftersun”

Lead Actress – Film

Alisha Weir – “Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical”

Bríd Ní Neachtain – “Róise & Frank”

Danielle Galligan – “Lakelands”

Kelly Gough – “Tarrac”

Seána Kerslake – “Ballywalter”

Zara Devlin – “Ann”

Supporting Actor – Film

Andrew Scott – “Catherine Called Birdy”

Barry Keoghan – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Brendan Gleeson – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Colin Farrell – “The Batman”

Paul Mescal – “God’s Creatures”

Pierce Brosnan – “Black Adam”

Supporting Actress – Film

Aisling Franciosi – “God’s Creatures”

Eileen Walsh – “Ann”

Elaine Cassidy – “The Wonder”

Jessie Buckley – “Women Talking”

Kerry Condon – “The Banshees of Inisherin”

Kíla Lord Cassidy – “The Wonder”

DRAMA

Best Drama

“Bad Sisters”

“Conversations with Friends”

“Derry Girls: The Agreement (Extended Special)”

“Smother”

“The Dry”

“Vikings: Valhalla”

Director – Drama

“Bad Sisters” – Dearbhla Walsh

“Conversations with Friends” – Lenny Abrahamson

“Maxine” – Laura Way

“Severance” – Aoife McArdle

“Smother” – Dathaí Keane

“The Dry” – Paddy Breathnach

Script – Drama

“Bad Sisters” – Sharon Horgan

“Conversations with Friends” – Mark O’Halloran

“Derry Girls: The Agreement (Extended Special)” – Lisa McGee

“Smother” – Kate O’Riordan

“The Dry” – Nancy Harris

“Top Boy” – Ronan Bennett

Lead Actor – Drama

Aidan Turner – “The Suspect”

Conleth Hill – “Holding”

Jason O’Mara – “Smother”

Kerr Logan – “North Sea Connection”

Stephen Rea – “The English”

Vinnie McCabe – “The Noble Call”

Lead Actress – Drama

Alison Oliver – “Conversations with Friends”

Caitriona Balfe – “Outlander”

Dervla Kirwan – “Smother”

Roisin Gallagher – “The Dry”

Sharon Horgan – “Bad Sisters”

Siobhan McSweeney – “Holding”

Starz

Supporting Actor – Drama

Brian Gleeson – “Bad Sisters”

Ciarán Hinds – “The Dry”

Daryl McCormack – “Bad Sisters”

Michael Smiley – “Bad Sisters”

Moe Dunford – “The Dry”

Tommy Tiernan – “Conversations with Friends”

Supporting Actress – Drama

Anne-Marie Duff – “Bad Sisters”

Brenda Fricker – “Holding”

Eva Birthistle – “Bad Sisters”

Eve Hewson – “Bad Sisters”

Genevieve O’Reilly – “Andor”

Sarah Greene – “Bad Sisters”

OTHER AWARD CATEGORIES

Feature Documentary

“The Artist & The Wall of Death”

“The Ghost of Richard Harris”

“How To Tell A Secret”

“Million Dollar Pigeons”

“North Circular”

“Nothing Compares”

Live-Action Short Film

“An Irish Goodbye”

“Call Me Mommy”

“Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You”

“Lamb”

“Wednesday’s Child”

“You’re Not Home”

Animated Short Film

“Candlelight”

“Dagda’s Harp”

“Red Rabbit”

“Soft Tissue”

CRAFT CATEGORIES

Cinematography

“Conversations with Friends” – Suzie Lavelle

“How To Tell A Secret” – Eleanor Bowman

“It Is In Us All” – Piers McGrail

“The Dry” – Cathal Watters

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Peter Robertson

Costume Design

“Aisha” – Kathy Strachan

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh

“Disenchanted” – Joan Bergin

“Enola Holmes 2” – Consolata Boyle

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Susan O’Connor Cave

Production Design

“Aisha” – Tamara Conboy

“Bad Sisters” – Mark Geraghty

“Mr. Malcolm’s List” – Ray Ball

“Róise & Frank” – Padraig O’Neill

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Tom Conroy

Hair & Make-Up

“Aisha” – Dumebi Anozie, Liz Byrne

“The Banshees of Inisherin” – Orla Carroll, Lynn Johnston, Dan Martin

“Mr. Malcolm’s List” – Eileen Buggy, Sharon Doyle

“The Wonder” – Lorri Ann King, Morna Ferguson

“Vikings: Valhalla” – Joe Whelan, Tom McInerney

Sound

“Aisha”

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Conversations with Friends”

“The Sparrow”

“The Wonder”

Original Music

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” – Stephen Rennicks

“Lakelands” – Daithí

“Nothing Compares” – Irene Buckley, Linda Buckley

“Róise & Frank” – Colm Mac Con Iomaire

“The Dry” – Sarah Lynch

Editing

“Aisha” – Colin Campbell

“Elvis” – Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa

“Death on the Nile” – Úna Ní Dhonghaíle

“Nocebo” – Tony Cranstoun

“Nothing Compares” – Mick Mahon

VFX

“The Banshees of Inisherin”

“Marlowe”

“Stranger Things”

“The Woman King”

Best International Film

“Aftersun”

“All Quiet on the Western Front”

“Elvis”

“Tár”

“The Fabelmans”

“Top Gun: Maverick”

Best International Actor

Albrecht Schuch – “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Austin Butler – “Elvis”

Cosmo Jarvis – “It Is In Us All”

Felix Kammerer – “All Quiet On The Western Front”

Josh O’Connor – “Aisha”

Tom Cruise – “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best International Actress

Cate Blanchett – “Tár”

Emily Watson – “God’s Creatures”

Florence Pugh – “The Wonder”

Letitia Wright – “Aisha”

Michelle Williams – “The Fabelmans”

Viola Davis – “The Woman King”

Variety

Starz

Remember the ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️th IFTA nomination?

[midnightcowboy1969]

What are some of your favourite movies?

Thank you for the ask! (Don't take the numbers too seriously)

Midnight Cowboy (1969), dir. John Schlesinger - Joe Buck the Texan dishwasher goes to New York to hustle women but falls for the little scammer Rico Rizzo who offers him a place to stay when he in record-speed becomes homeless.

A New Leaf (1971), dir. Elaine May - Henry Graham, a rich man who has been living a very unsustainable lifestyle, is now broke. He wants to find a wife, kill her and then inheret her wealth. He ends up with Henrietta, a rich, family-less, botanist who is also a big clutz. ROMANCE.

Gilda (1946), dir. Charles Vidor - Johnny Farrell (bad bi rep) goes to Argentina and gets rescued from being mugged by the casino owner and tungston cartel boss Ballin Mundson, and starts working for him. One day Ballin has found himself an American wife, Gilda. Surprise, surprise. She's Johnny's ex. Drama. Amazing. Women's rights, as Johnny and Ballin are peak misogynistic.

The Roaring Twenties (1939), dir. Raoul Walsh - Eddie Bartlett returns home from the war and its rough being a veteran. He ends up working for the mob and then teams up with George Hally (who is >:)) and they go right to the top. There's like a love-gemoetrical shape. Jean Sherman, a performer, likes Lloyd Hart (friend of Eddie who works for him) but Eddie wants Jean. The singer Panama Smith yearns for Eddie. George and Eddie are married and divorced at the same time. Amazing. Love it.

Deadhead Miles (1972), dir. Vernon Zimmerman - Alan Arkin and Paul Benedict drive a truck. That's it. The music is great. The dialogue is interesting.

Harvey (1950), dir. Henry Koster - Elwood P. Dowd, a pleasant man living with his sister, has an invisible rabbit friend. People think he is mentally unwell, and his sister wants him put away. Pleasantness prevails! Long live kindness!

3:10 to Yuma (1957), dir. Delmer Daves - Dan Evans must regain his fatherly masculinity, he thinks, after his sons see him willingly hand their horses over to Ben Wade and his gang of outlaws etc etc. Because there's a drought, the Evans family also needs cash (for their little ranch), and so Dan agrees to help get Ben to prison in Yuma, aka. on the 3:10 train to Yuma. In Contention City, Dan and Ben are in the bridal suite, and Ben being a slut temptress tries to bribe Dan with cash into letting him go while >:) on the bridal bed. Amazing. Iconic.

The Wicker Man (1973), dir. Robin Hardy - Police sergeant Neil Howie goes to Summerisle to find the missing girl Rowan. Everybody there are unchristian sluts to Howie's horror. Unbeknownst to him, he is a fool. Very good.

Real Life (1979), dir. Albert Brooks - A fictional version of Albert Brooks wants to make a movie about real life! He gets himself a family and some scientists to study this thing. The problem is that Brooks is not completely stable and well... what is 'real life' on camera. Amazing! Love it!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), dir. Philip Kaufman - Aliens are taking over and look just like us. Donald Sutherland and Brooke Adams are so <333333. If you've not seen it, it's kind of fun having seen the 1958 version first (the book isn't all that) so you get the little thing about the man running around all :'0. And, it's a good movie. Both are good.

I have many more. These are the ones I remember now :))) Thank you again :)))

[byneddiedingo]

Karen Carlson in The Student Nurses (Stephanie Rothman, 1970)

Cast: Elaine Giftos, Karen Carlson, Brioni Farrell, Barbara Leigh, Reni Santoni, Richard Rust, Lawrence P. Casey, Darrell Larson, Paul Camen, Richard Stahl, Katherine MacGregor, Pepe Serna, John Pearce, Mario Aniov, Ron Gans. Screenplay: Don Spencer, Stephanie Rothman, Charles S. Swartz. Cinematography: Stevan Larner. Art direction: David Nichols. Film editing: Stephen Judson. Music: Roger Dollarhide, Clancy B. Grass III. 

Yes, the dialogue is clunky, the acting is amateurish, and the nudity is gratuitous, but The Student Nurses has a heart. That heart is Stephanie Rothman's. Working for the great quickie producer Roger Corman, she devised a story that would be exploitative enough for audiences wanting a little sex and yet give her the opportunity to deal with hot-button issues like drugs, abortion, and social protest. So she came up with a quartet of student nurses and devised situations in which they might encounter one or more of those issues, at the same time making a case for female independence and strength. True, they're nubile and somewhat randy women with no hesitation about taking off their tops, and the men they encounter are far from ideal. Phred (Karen Carlson) hooks up with a young OB/GYN named Jim (Lawrence P. Casey), Priscilla meets a drug-selling biker named Les (Richard Rust) at a love-in, Lynn (Brioni Farrell) falls for a Chicano activist, and Sharon (Elaine Giftos) befriends an embittered young man named Greg (Darrell Larson) who is dying of cystic fibrosis. If The Student Nurses had a real budget and some sharper dialogue and the four nurses had been played by actors like Jane Fonda, Natalie Wood, Katharine Ross, and Faye Dunaway, it might be remembered as a minor classic of its day.    

[sa7abnews]

Court overturns ruling against White Bear Township ‘neighbor from hell’

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/06/court-overturns-ruling-against-white-bear-township-neighbor-from-hell/

Court overturns ruling against White Bear Township ‘neighbor from hell’

The state appeals court has overturned last year’s harassment conviction of a White Bear Township woman who was once nicknamed the “neighbor from hell” because of her behavior. In a ruling released Monday, the panel of judges said the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lori Elaine Christensen, 61, engaged in conduct that caused her then-next-door neighbor, Amy Wheeler, substantial emotional distress, as defined by state law. Lori Elaine Christensen (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office) A Ramsey County jury had found Christensen guilty of felony harassment for three incidents that occurred between November 2020 and May 2021. It was charged at the felony level because Christensen had two previous domestic violence convictions within 10 years. Christensen was sentenced to the presumptive stayed 23-month prison term and put on probation for three years. She appealed the conviction three months later. An appeals court panel made up of Judges Matthew Johnson, Kevin Ross and Peter Reyes ruled that “the evidence is insufficient to prove that Christensen’s conduct caused, or would reasonably be expected to cause, ‘substantial emotional distress,’ as that term is defined in the harassment statute. Therefore, we reverse the conviction.” Christensen gained notoriety more than a decade ago — including an appearance on ABC’s “20/20” — for her long-running pattern of harassment against neighbors Gregory and Kimberly Hoffman on a White Bear Lake cul-de-sac where she had previously lived. In her years-long campaign against the couple, she was accused of lewd gesturing, screaming, loud swearing, taunting the family’s children and posting large signs about Kimberly Hoffman’s admitted struggles with alcoholism, such as, “I saw mommy kissing a Breathalyzer,” the charges said. A harassment restraining order was issued in 2010, and police cited Christensen nine times that year for violating the order, according to court records. In 2011, she was convicted of two misdemeanors related to the violations. In 2012, a judge barred Christensen from living in her home and barred her from coming within a mile of the Hoffmans. New neighborhood In her new neighborhood, in White Bear Township, she was accused in 2021 of harassing Tim and Pam Pharrell, who moved next door to her in 2016. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office later dismissed the case, which charged her with two counts of stalking, “in the interest of justice, specifically, judicial economy,” according to the court filing. Wheeler, Pam Farrell’s sister, then moved into the home in late 2019 or early 2020. In conversations with Christensen, Wheeler initially denied the relationship with her sister, but Christensen eventually became aware of it. According to the appellate court’s ruling, the first two incidents alleged in the harassment complaint involved Wheeler’s 12-year-old son. On Nov. 20, 2020, the boy told Wheeler that Christensen was yelling at him. After Wheeler went outside, Christensen continued to yell. A month later, Christensen approached Wheeler to complain that Wheeler’s son had littered by dropping a plastic yogurt cup and a wrapper on the street. Christensen threatened to call police and to ask the city to impose a $700 fine. Christensen called 911 and a police officer responded, but did not issue a citation. In April or early May 2021, Wheeler decided to move out of the house. According to Wheeler, “it was starting to be too much where I couldn’t even enjoy the outside of my house or take my dog on a walk or in the backyard.” Her sister put the house on the market in early May 2021. The third incident occurred later that month, when Christensen walked past Wheeler’s driveway with her dog while making a video recording with her cellphone. Christensen and Wheeler exchanged words, and then argued. Wheeler, like she did after the first incident, called police. Wheeler told the investigator the incident made her feel “scared” and “terrified.” ‘Substantial emotional distress’ Christensen did not argue to the appellate court the evidence was insufficient to prove she harassed Wheeler by “following, monitoring or pursuing” her. Christensen focused her argument on the statutory definition of substantial emotional distress, arguing the state did not prove any of Wheeler’s “responses that are manifestations of a victim’s mental distress, mental suffering or mental anguish, as required by the statutory definition.” Substantial emotional distress is defined in the harassment statute to mean mental distress, suffering or anguish as demonstrated by a victim’s response to an act, including but not limited to: seeking psychotherapy; losing sleep or appetite; being diagnosed with a mental-health condition; experiencing suicidal ideation; or having difficulty concentrating on tasks resulting in a loss of productivity. In analyzing the case, the appellate judges reviewed last year’s trial transcript and the video recording of the May 2021 incident. Johnson, writing on behalf of the panel, said the evidence showed that Christensen engaged in conduct toward Wheeler that was “rude, unkind, and unneighborly.” “It is reasonable to believe that Christensen’s conduct would cause a next-door neighbor at least some emotional distress,” Johnson wrote in the 15-page ruling. “But the state does not argue that (Wheeler’s) actual response (which we have concluded is insufficient) was atypical or that a reasonable person would have experienced a greater degree of mental distress, mental suffering, or mental anguish than (Wheeler) actually experienced.” Therefore, Johnson wrote, the state’s evidence is “insufficient to prove that Christensen engaged in conduct that would reasonably be expected to cause substantial emotional distress.” Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said the office respects the Court of Appeals’ ruling and “will make a decision on next steps after review and discussions with the attorneys involved in the case.” A call to Christensen’s lawyer for comment on the appeals court ruling was not immediately returned Monday. Court records show Christensen is on probation until September on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction stemming from an incident with a city worker in August 2022. According to the citation, Christensen yelled at the worker, who drove away, and then followed him in her car and recorded him with her cellphone. She blocked the worker’s vehicle with her car to stop him from leaving, causing him to drive onto grass to get away. In addition to the probation, she was ordered to serve an additional 10 days on electronic-home monitoring above what she had served in jail after her arrest. Related Articles

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St. Paul officer cited for DWI after off-duty, fiery crash into vacant building

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Man gets probation for Christmas morning ATV rampage inside Vadnais Heights motorsports dealership

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Man fatally shot in St. Paul’s Frogtown ID’d as 33-year-old from Inver Grove Heights

Crime & Public Safety |

Charge: St. Paul priest strangled by man he was taking to mental health evaluation

[keeperofthecrystals]

Cover for my FFIV fic, Vision of White Roses

[tvln]

kiss her goodbye (us, lipton 59)

[perfettamentechic]

1 maggio … ricordiamo …

1 maggio … ricordiamo … #semprevivineiricordi #nomidaricordare #personaggiimportanti #perfettamentechic #felicementechic #lynda

2019: Alessandra Panaro, attrice italiana. (n. 1939) 2016: Madeleine LeBeau, nata con il nome Marie Madeleine Berthe Lebeau, attrice francese.  (n. 1923) 2016: Nella Gambini, è stata un’attrice e cantante italiana. (n. 1953) 2015: Grace Lee Whitney, pseudonimo di Grace Elaine Whitney, attrice e cantante statunitense, nota soprattutto per il ruolo di Janice Rand nella serie classica di Star Trek.…

[doraemonmon]

The Interns - Mike Farrell and Elaine Giftos

[kwebtv]

Arsenic and Old Lace   -  NBC  -  February 5, 1962

A presentation of the “Hallmark Hall of Fame”

Running Time  90 minutes

Stars

Tony Randall as Mortimer Brewster

Dorothy Stickney as Abby Brewster

Mildred Natwick as Martha Brewster

Tom Bosley as Teddy Brewster

George Voskovec as Dr. Herman Einstein

Boris Karloff as Jonathan Brewster

Farrell Pelly as Rev. Dr. Harper

Dort Clark as Officer Brophy

Nathaniel Frey as Officer Klein

Dody Heath as Elaine Harper

Alan McAteer as Mr. Gibbs

Ralph Dunn as Lt. Rooney

Edward Cullen as Mr. Witherspoon

[filmpenance]

Day 18, 2022 - Superstar

Superstar (1999) Bruce McCulloch 1h 21m [Trashy Tuesday]

“Are you aware that I am rubber, and you are glue, and whatever you say to me bounces off, of me, and sticks to you?”  - Mary Katherine

Superstar is another one of those movies that I found frustrating, because on paper this has everything it takes to be good.

The story is a familiar one: It’s the coming-of-age story of Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon), a nerd who wants her first kiss – and she hopes to locks lips with Sky Corrigan[i] (Will Farrell) a popular guy and student athlete.  

The course of true love never did run and as such, Sky is dating Evian (Elaine Hendrix) a hot mean girl with her clique of even meaner cheerleaders who make Mary Katherine’s life miserable.  

The positives in Mary Katherine’s life are the friends she made in special ed. She’s been placed there for practise-kissing a tree and meets bestie Helen and the mysterious new boy at school, Slater. Slater is obviously cool because he rides a motorcycle and communicates via knowing glance.

Grandma Gallagher (Glynis Johns) is also a loving presence in Mary Katherine’s life, even if she harps on her granddaughter becoming a businesswoman, rather than wasting time trying out for the talent show.

But if she wins…she might kiss Sky!

Superstar was directed by Bruce McCulloch[ii] – a Kids In The Hall comedy legend – and has so many elements I like. The story is frothy and there are artful connections made in the plot, however the pacing feels off. There are nice references to other films[iii], but I think they should have leaned into the parody elements harder. There is also a cast filled with talented comedians – that said sometimes it felt like things were left in “for the joke” but they didn’t serve the characters or the plot. The balance between spontaneity and concision was off.

For me that meant a film that was short yet was bogged down by tangents.

TRAILER: https://youtu.be/6-ABqpHZzWo

NOTES:

[i] The most interesting thing about this character is that he’s not your typical jock asshole. He’s actually a levelheaded “kid”.

[ii] I will say, I really like the film he directed before this Dog Park (1998). He hasn’t directed a feature in a while but has been busy with TV including directing several episodes of Schitt’s Creek.

[iii] Particularly Brian DePalma’s Carrie. I feel like there was more comedic meat there.

[grigori77]

2020 in Movies - My Top 30 Fave Movies (Part 2)

20.  ONWARD – Disney and Pixar’s best digitally animated family feature of 2020 (beating the admittedly impressive Soul to the punch) clearly has a love of fantasy roleplay games like Dungeons & Dragons, its quirky modern-day AU take populated by fantastical races and creatures seemingly tailor-made for the geek crowd … needless to say, me and many of my friends absolutely loved it.  That doesn’t mean that the classic Disney ideals of love, family and believing in yourself have been side-lined in favour of fan-service – this is as heartfelt, affecting and tearful as their previous standouts, albeit with plenty of literal magic added to the metaphorical kind.  The central premise is a clever one – once upon a time, magic was commonplace, but over the years technology came along to make life easier, so that in the present day the various races (elves, centaurs, fauns, pixies, goblins and trolls among others) get along fine without it. Then timid elf Ian Lightfoot (Tom Holland) receives a wizard’s staff for his sixteenth birthday, a bequeathed gift from his father, who died before he was born, with instructions for a spell that could bring him back to life for one whole day.  Encouraged by his brash, over-confident wannabe adventurer elder brother Barley (Chris Pratt), Ian tries it out, only for the spell to backfire, leaving them with the animated bottom half of their father and just 24 hours to find a means to restore the rest of him before time runs out.  Cue an “epic quest” … needless to say, this is another top-notch offering from the original masters of the craft, a fun, affecting and thoroughly infectious family-friendly romp with a winning sense of humour and inspired, flawless world-building.  Holland and Pratt are both fantastic, their instantly believable, ill-at-ease little/big brother chemistry effortlessly driving the story through its ingenious paces, and the ensuing emotional fireworks are hilarious and heart-breaking in equal measure, while there’s typically excellent support from Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld) as Ian and Barley’s put-upon but supportive mum, Laurel, Octavia Spencer as once-mighty adventurer-turned-restaurateur “Corey” the Manticore and Mel Rodriguez (Getting On, The Last Man On Earth) as overbearing centaur cop (and Laurel’s new boyfriend) Colt Bronco.  The film marks the sophomore feature gig for Dan Scanlon, who debuted with 2013’s sequel Monsters University, and while that was enjoyable enough I ultimately found it non-essential – no such verdict can be levelled against THIS film, the writer-director delivering magnificently in all categories, while the animation team have outdone themselves in every scene, from the exquisite environments and character/creature designs to some fantastic (and frequently delightfully bonkers) set-pieces, while there’s a veritable riot of brilliant RPG in-jokes to delight geekier viewers (gelatinous cube! XD).  Massive, unadulterated fun, frequently hilarious and absolutely BURSTING with Disney’s trademark heart, this was ALMOST my animated feature of the year.  More on that later …

19.  THE GENTLEMEN – Guy Ritchie’s been having a rough time with his last few movies (The Man From UNCLE didn’t do too bad but it wasn’t exactly a hit and was largely overlooked or simply ignored, while intended franchise-starter King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was largely derided and suffered badly on release, dying a quick death financially – it’s a shame on both counts, because I really liked them), so it’s nice to see him having some proper success with his latest, even if he has basically reverted to type to do it.  Still, when his newest London gangster flick is THIS GOOD it seems churlish to quibble – this really is what he does best, bringing together a collection of colourful geezers and shaking up their status quo, then standing back and letting us enjoy the bloody, expletive-riddled results. This particularly motley crew is another winning selection, led by Matthew McConaughey as ruthlessly successful cannabis baron Mickey Pearson, who’s looking to retire from the game by selling off his massive and highly lucrative enterprise for a most tidy sum (some $400,000,000 to be precise) to up-and-coming fellow American ex-pat Matthew Berger (Succession’s Jeremy Strong, oozing sleazy charm), only for local Chinese triad Dry Eye (Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding, chewing the scenery with enthusiasm) to start throwing spanners into the works with the intention of nabbing the deal for himself for a significant discount.  Needless to say Mickey’s not about to let that happen … McConaughey is ON FIRE here, the best he’s been since Dallas Buyers Club in my opinion, clearly having great fun sinking his teeth into this rich character and Ritchie’s typically sparkling, razor-witted dialogue, and he’s ably supported by a quality ensemble cast, particularly co-star Charlie Hunnam as Mickey’s ice-cold, steel-nerved right-hand-man Raymond Smith, Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery as his classy, strong-willed wife Rosalind, Colin Farrell as a wise-cracking, quietly exasperated MMA trainer and small-time hood simply known as the Coach (who gets many of the film’s best lines), and, most notably, Hugh Grant as the film’s nominal narrator, thoroughly morally bankrupt private investigator Fletcher, who consistently steals the film.  This is Guy Ritchie at his very best – a twisty rug-puller of a plot that constantly leaves you guessing, brilliantly observed and richly drawn characters you can’t help loving in spite of the fact there’s not a single hero among them, a deliciously unapologetic, politically incorrect sense of humour and a killer soundtrack.  Getting the cinematic year off to a phenomenal start, it’s EASILY Ritchie’s best film since Sherlock Holmes, and a strong call-back to the heady days of Snatch (STILL my favourite) and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.  Here’s hoping he’s on a roll again, eh?

18.  SPONTANEOUS – one of the year’s biggest under-the-radar surprise hits for me was one which I actually might not have caught if things had been a little more normal and ordered.  Thankfully with all the lockdown and cinematic shutdown bollocks going on, this fantastically subversive and deeply satirical indie teen comedy horror came along at the perfect time, and I completely flipped out over it.  Now those who know me know I don’t tend to gravitate towards teen cinema, but like all those other exceptions I’ve loved over the years, this one had a brilliantly compulsive hook I just couldn’t turn down – small-town high-schooler Mara (Knives Out and Netflix’ Cursed’s Katherine Langford) is your typical cool outsider kid, smart, snarky and just putting up with the scene until she can graduate and get as far away as possible … until one day in her senior year one of her classmates just inexplicably explodes. Like her peers, she’s shocked and she mourns, then starts to move on … until it happens again.  As the death toll among the senior class begins to mount, it becomes clear something weird is going on, but Mara has other things on her mind because the crisis has, for her, had an unexpected benefit – without it she wouldn’t have fallen in love with like-minded oddball new kid Dylan (Lean On Pete and Words On Bathroom Walls’ Charlie Plummer). The future’s looking bright, but only if they can both live to see it … this is a wickedly intelligent film, powered by a skilfully executed script and a wonderfully likeable young cast who consistently steer their characters around the potential cliched pitfalls of this kind of cinema, while debuting writer-director Brian Duffield (already a rising star thanks to scripts for Underwater, The Babysitter and blacklist darling Jane Got a Gun among others) show he’s got as much talent and flair for crafting truly inspired cinema as he has for thinking it up in the first place, delivering some impressively offbeat set-pieces and several neat twists you frequently don’t see coming ahead of time.  Langford and Plummer as a sassy, spicy pair who are easy to root for without ever getting cloying or sweet, while there’s glowing support from the likes of Hayley Law (Rioverdale, Altered Carbon, The New Romantic) as Mara’s best friend Tess, Piper Perabo and Transparent’s Rob Huebel as her increasingly concerned parents, and Insecure’s Yvonne Orji as Agent Rosetti, the beleaguered government employee sent to spearhead the investigation into exactly what’s happening to these kids.  Quirky, offbeat and endlessly inventive, this is one of those interesting instances where I’m glad they pushed the horror elements into the background so we could concentrate on the comedy, but more importantly these wonderfully well-realised and vital characters – there are some skilfully executed shocks, but far more deep belly laughs, and there’s bucketloads of heart to eclipse the gore.  Another winning debut from a talent I intend to watch with great interest in the future.

17.  HAMILTON – arriving just as Black Lives Matter reached fever-pitch levels, this feature presentation of the runaway Broadway musical smash-hit could not have been better timed. Shot over three nights during the show’s 2016 run with the original cast and cut together with specially created “setup shots”, it’s an immersive experience that at once puts you right in amongst the audience (at times almost a character themselves, never seen but DEFINITELY heard) but also lets you experience the action up close.  And what action – it’s an incredible show, a thoroughly fascinating piece of work that reads like something very staid and proper on paper (an all-encompassing biographical account of the life and times of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton) but, in execution, becomes something very different and EXTREMELY vital.  The execution certainly couldn’t be further from the usual period biopic fare this kind of historical subject matter usually gets (although in the face of recent high quality revisionist takes like Marie Antoinette, The Great and Tesla it’s not SO surprising), while the cast is not at all what you’d expect – with very few notable exceptions the cast is almost entirely people of colour, despite the fact that the real life individuals they’re playing were all very white indeed.  Every single one of them is also an absolute revelation – the show’s writer-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (already riding high on the success of In the Heights) carries the central role of Hamilton with effortless charm and raw star power, Leslie Odom Jr. (Smash, Murder On the Orient Express) is duplicitously complex as his constant nemesis Aaron Burr, Christopher Jackson (In the Heights, Moana, Bull) oozes integrity and nobility as his mentor and friend George Washington, Phillipa Soo is sweet and classy as his wife Eliza while Renée Elise Goldsberry (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Jacks, Altered Carbon) is fiery and statuesque as her sister Angelica Schuyler (the one who got away), and Jonathan Groff (Mindhunter) consistently steals every scene he’s in as fiendish yet childish fan favourite King George III, but the show (and the film) ultimately belongs to veritable powerhouse Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, The Good Lord Bird) in a spectacular duel role, starting subtly but gaining scene-stealing momentum as French Revolutionary Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, before EXPLODING onto the stage in the second half as indomitable third American President Thomas Jefferson.  Not having seen the stage show, I was taken completely by surprise by this, revelling in its revisionist genius and offbeat, quirky hip-hop charm, spellbound by the skilful ease with which is takes the sometimes quite dull historical fact and skews it into something consistently entertaining and absorbing, transported by the catchy earworm musical numbers and thoroughly tickled by the delightfully cheeky sense of humour strung throughout (at least when I wasn’t having my heart broken by moments of raw dramatic power). Altogether it’s a pretty unique cinematic experience I wish I could have actually gotten to see on the big screen, and one I’ve consistently recommended to all my friends, even the ones who don’t usually like musicals.  As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t need a proper Les Misérables style screen adaptation – this is about as perfect a presentation as the show could possibly hope for.

16.  SPUTNIK – summer’s horror highlight (despite SERIOUSLY tough competition) was a guaranteed sleeper hit that I almost missed entirely, stumbling across the trailer one day on YouTube and getting bowled over by its potential, prompting me to hunt it down by any means necessary.  The feature debut of Russian director Egor Abramenko, this first contact sci-fi chiller is about as far from E.T. as it’s possible to get, sharing some of the same DNA as Carpenter’s The Thing but proudly carving its own path with consummate skill and definitely signalling great things to come from its brand new helmer and relative unknown screenwriters Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev.  Oksana Akinshina (probably best known in the West for her powerful climactic cameo in The Bourne Supremacy) is the beating heart of the film as neurophysiologist Tatyana Yuryevna Klimova, brought in to aid in the investigation in the Russian wilderness circa 1983 after an orbital research mission goes horribly wrong.  One of the cosmonauts dies horribly, while the other, Konstantin (The Duelist’s Pyotr Fyodorov) seems unharmed, but it quickly becomes clear that he’s now the host for something decidedly extraterrestrial and potentially terrifying, and as Tatyana becomes more deeply embroiled in her assignment she comes to realise that her superiors, particularly mysterious Red Army project leader Colonel Semiradov (The PyraMMMid’s Fyodor Bondarchuk), have far more insidious plans for Konstantin and his new “friend” than she could ever imagine. This is about as dark, intense and nightmarish as this particular sub-genre gets, a magnificently icky body horror that slowly builds its tension as we’re gradually exposed to the various truths and the awful gravity of the situation slowly reveals itself, punctuated by skilfully executed shocks and some particularly horrifying moments when the evils inflicted by the humans in charge prove far worse than anything the alien can do, while the ridiculously talented writers have a field day pulling the rug out from under us again and again, never going for the obvious twist and keeping us guessing right to the devastating ending, while the beautifully crafted digital creature effects are nothing short of astonishing and thoroughly creepy.  Akinshina dominates the film with her unbridled grace, vulnerability and integrity, the relationship that develops between Tatyana and Konstantin (Fyodorov delivering a beautifully understated turn belying deep inner turmoil) feeling realistically earned as it goes from tentatively wary to tragically bittersweet, while Bondarchuk invests the Colonel with a nuanced air of tarnished authority and restrained brutality that made him one of my top screen villains for the year.  One of 2020’s great sleeper hits, I can’t speak of this film highly enough – it’s a genuine revelation, an instant classic for whom I’ll sing its praises for years to come, and I wish enormous future success to all the creative talents involved.

15.  THE INVISIBLE MAN – looks like third time’s a charm for Leigh Whannell, writer-director of my ALMOST horror movie of the year (more on that later) – while he’s had immense success as a horror writer over the years (co-creator of both the Saw and Insidious franchises), as a director his first two features haven’t exactly set the world alight, with debut Insidious: Chapter III garnering similar takes to the rest of the series but ultimately turning out to be a bit of a damp squib quality-wise, while his second feature Upgrade was a stone-cold masterpiece that was (rightly) EXTREMELY well received critically, but ultimately snuck in under the radar and has remained a stubbornly hidden gem since. No such problems with his third feature, though – his latest collaboration with producer Jason Blum and the insanely lucrative Blumhouse Pictures has proven a massive hit both financially AND with reviewers, and deservedly so.  Having given up on trying to create a shared cinematic universe inhabited by their classic monsters, Universal resolved to concentrate on standalones to showcase their elite properties, and their first try is a rousing success, Whannell bringing HG Wells’ dark and devious human monster smack into the 21st Century as only he can.  The result is a surprisingly subtle piece of work, much more a lethally precise exercise in cinematic sleight of hand and extraordinary acting than flashy visual effects, strictly adhering to the Blumhouse credo of maximum returns for minimum bucks as the story is stripped down to its bare essentials and allowed to play out without any unnecessary weight.  The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elizabeth Moss once again confirms what a masterful actress she is as she brings all her performing weapons to bear in the role of Cecelia “Cee” Kass, the cloistered wife of affluent but monstrously abusive optics pioneer Aidan Griffin (Netflix’ The Haunting of Hill House’s Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who escapes his clutches in the furiously tense opening sequence and goes to ground with the help of her closest childhood friend, San Francisco cop James Lanier (Leverage’s Aldis Hodge) and his teenage daughter Sydney (A Wrinkle in Time’s Storm Reid).  Two weeks later, Aidan commits suicide, leaving Cee with a fortune to start her life over (with the proviso that she’s never ruled mentally incompetent), but as she tries to find her way in the world again little things start going wrong for her, and she begins to question if there might be something insidious going on.  As her nerves start to unravel, she begins to suspect that Aidan is still alive, still very much in her life, fiendishly toying with her and her friends, but no-one can see him.  Whannell plays her paranoia up for all it’s worth, skilfully teasing out the scares so that, just like her friends, we begin to wonder if it might all be in her head after all, before a spectacular mid-movie reveal throws the switch into high gear and the true threat becomes clear.  The lion’s share of the film’s immense success must of course go to Moss – her performance is BEYOND a revelation, a blistering career best that totally powers the whole enterprise, and it goes without saying that she’s the best thing in this.  Even so, she has sterling support from Hodge and Reid, as well as Love Child’s Harriet Dyer as Cee’s estranged big sister Emily and Wonderland’s Michael Dorman as Adrian’s slimy, spineless lawyer brother Tom, and, while he doesn’t have much actual (ahem) “screen time”, Jackson-Cohen delivers a fantastically icy, subtly malevolent turn which casts a large “shadow” over the film.  This is one of my very favourite Blumhouse films, a pitch-perfect psychological chiller that keeps the tension cranked up unbearably tight and never lets go, Whannell once again displaying uncanny skill with expert jump-scares, knuckle-whitening chills and a truly astounding standout set-piece that easily goes down as one of the top action sequences of 2020. Undoubtedly the best version of Wells’ story to date, this goes a long way in repairing the damage of Universal’s abortive “Dark Universe” efforts, as well as showcasing a filmmaking master at the very height of his talents.

14.  EXTRACTION – the Coronavirus certainly has threw a massive spanner in the works of the year’s cinematic calendar – among many other casualties to the blockbuster shunt, the latest (and most long-awaited) MCU movie, Black Widow, should have opened to further record-breaking box office success at the end of spring, but instead the theatres were all closed and virtually all the heavyweights were pushed back or shelved indefinitely.  Thank God, then, for the streaming services, particularly Hulu, Amazon and Netflix, the latter of which provided a perfect movie for us to see through the key transition into the summer blockbuster season, an explosively flashy big budget action thriller ushered in by MCU alumni the Russo Brothers (who produced and co-wrote this adaptation of Ciudad, a graphic novel that Joe Russo co-created with Ande Parks and Fernando Leon Gonzalez) and barely able to contain the sheer star-power wattage of its lead, Thor himself.  Chris Hemsworth plays Tyler Rake, a former Australian SAS operative who hires out his services to an extraction operation under the command of mercenary Nik Khan (The Patience Stone’s Golshifteh Farahani), brought in to liberate Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal in his first major role), the pre-teen son of incarcerated Indian crime lord Ovi Sr. (Pankaj Tripathi), who has been abducted by Bangladeshi rival Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli).  The rescue itself goes perfectly, but when the time comes for the hand-off the team is double-crossed and Tyler is left stranded in the middle of Dhaka with no choice but to keep Ovi alive as every corrupt cop and street gang in the city closes in around them.  This is the feature debut of Sam Hargrave, the latest stuntman to try his hand at directing, so he certainly knows his way around an action set-piece, and the result is a thoroughly breathless adrenaline rush of a film, bursting at the seams with spectacular fights, gun battles and car chases, dominated by a stunning sustained sequence that plays out in one long shot, guaranteed to leave jaws lying on the floor.  Not that there should be any surprise – Hargrave cut his teeth as a stunt coordinator for the Russos on Captain America: Civil War and their Avengers films.  That said, he displays strong talent for the quieter disciplines of filmmaking too, delivering quality character development and drawing out consistently noteworthy performances from his cast.  Of course, Hemsworth can do the action stuff in his sleep, but there’s a lot more to Tyler than just his muscle, the MCU veteran investing him with real wounded vulnerability and a tragic fatalism which colours every scene, while Jaiswal is exceptional throughout, showing plenty of promise for the future, and there’s strong support from Farahani and Painyuli, as well as Stranger Things’ David Harbour as world-weary retired merc Gaspard, and a particularly impressive, muscular turn from Randeep Hooda (Once Upon a Time in Mumbai) as Saju, a former Para and Ovi’s bodyguard, who’s determined to take possession of the boy himself, even if he has to go through Tyler to get him.  This is action cinema that really deserves to be seen on the big screen – I watched it twice in a week and would happily have paid for two trips to the cinema for it if I could have.  As we looked down the barrel of a summer season largely devoid of blockbuster fare, I couldn’t recommend this enough.  Thank the gods for Netflix …

13.  THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 – although it’s definitely a film that really benefitted enormously from releasing on Netflix during the various lockdowns, this was one of the blessed few I actually got to see during one of the UK’s frustratingly rare lulls when cinemas were actually OPEN.  Rather perversely it therefore became one of my favourite cinematic experiences of 2020, but then I’m just as much a fan of well-made cerebral films as I am of the big, immersive blockbuster EXPERIENCES, so this probably still would have been a standout in a normal year. Certainly if this was a purely CRITICAL list for the year this probably would have placed high in the Top Ten … Aaron Sorkin is a writer whose work I have ardently admired ever since he went from esteemed playwright to in-demand talent for both the big screen AND the small with A Few Good Men, and TTOTC7 is just another in a long line of consistently impressive, flawlessly written works rife with addictive quickfire dialogue, beautifully observed characters and rewardingly propulsive narrative storytelling (therefore resting comfortably amongst the well-respected likes of The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War, Moneyball and The Social Network).  It also marks his second feature as a director (after fascinating and incendiary debut Molly’s Game), and once again he’s gone for true story over fiction, tackling the still controversial subject of the infamous 1968 trial of the “ringleaders” of the infamous riots which marred Chicago’s Diplomatic National Convention five months earlier, in which thousands of hippies and college students protesting the Vietnam War clashed with police.  Spurred on by the newly-instated Presidential Administration of Richard Nixon to make some examples, hungry up-and-coming prosecutor Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is confident in his case, while the Seven – who include respected and astute student activist Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and confrontational counterculture firebrands Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Succession’s Jeremy Strong) – are the clear underdogs.  They’re a divided bunch (particularly Hayden and Hoffman, who never mince their words about what little regard they hold for each other), and they’re up against the combined might of the U.S. Government, while all they have on their side is pro-bono lawyer and civil rights activist William Kunstler (Mark Rylance), who’s sharp, driven and thoroughly committed to the cause but clearly massively outmatched … not to mention the fact that the judge presiding over the case is Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella), a fierce and uncompromising conservative who’s clearly 100% on the Administration’s side, and who might in fact be stark raving mad (he also frequently goes to great lengths to make it clear to all concerned that he is NOT related to Abbie).  Much as we’ve come to expect from Sorkin, this is cinema of grand ideals and strong characters, not big spectacle and hard action, and all the better for it – he’s proved time and again that he’s one of the very best creative minds in Hollywood when it comes to intelligent, thought-provoking and engrossing thinking-man’s entertainment, and this is pure par for the course, keeping us glued to the screen from the skilfully-executed whirlwind introductory montage to the powerfully cathartic climax, and every varied and brilliant scene in-between.  This is heady stuff, focusing on what’s still an extremely thorny issue made all the more urgently relevant and timely given what was (and still is) going on in American politics at the time, and everyone involved here was clearly fully committed to making the film as palpable, powerful and resonant as possible for the viewer, no matter their nationality or political inclination.  Also typical for a Sorkin film, the cast are exceptional, everyone clearly having the wildest time getting their teeth into their finely-drawn characters and that magnificent dialogue – Redmayne and Baron Cohen are compellingly complimentary intellectual antagonists given their radically different approaches and their roles’ polar opposite energies, while Rylance delivers another pitch-perfect, simply ASTOUNDING performance that once again marks him as one of the very best actors of his generation, and there are particularly meaty turns from Strong, Langella, Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as besieged Black Panther Bobby Seale) and a potent late appearance from Michael Keaton that sear themselves into the memory long after viewing. Altogether then, this is a phenomenal film which deserves to be seen no matter the format, a thought-provoking and undeniably IMPORTANT masterwork from a master cinematic storyteller that says as much about the world we live in now as the decidedly turbulent times it portrays …

12.  GREYHOUND – when the cinemas closed back in March, the fate of many of the major summer blockbusters we’d been looking forward to was thrown into terrible doubt. Some were pushed back to more amenable dates in the autumn or winter (which even then ultimately proved frustratingly ambitious), others knocked back a whole year to fill summer slots for 2021, but more than a few simply dropped off the radar entirely with the terrible words “postponed until further notice” stamped on them, and I lamented them all, this one in particular.  It hung in there longer than some, stubbornly holding onto its June release slot for as long as possible, but eventually it gave up the ghost too … but thanks to Apple TV+, not for long, ultimately releasing less than a month later than intended.  Thankfully the film itself was worth the fuss, a taut World War II suspense thriller that’s all killer, no filler – set during the infamous Battle of the Atlantic, it portrays the constant life-or-death struggle faced by the Allied warships assigned to escort the transport convoys as they crossed the ocean, defending their charges from German U-boats.  Adapted from C.S. Forester’s famous 1955 novel The Good Shepherd by Tom Hanks and directed by Aaron Schneider (Get Low), the narrative focuses on the crew of the escort leader, American destroyer USS Fletcher, codenamed “Greyhound”, and in particular its captain, Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks), a career sailor serving his first command.  As they cross “the Pit”, the most dangerous middle stretch of the journey where they spend days without air-cover, they find themselves shadowed by “the Wolf Pack”, a particularly cunning group of German submarines that begin to pick away at the convoy’s stragglers.  Faced with daunting odds, a dwindling supply of vital depth-charges and a ruthless, persistent enemy, Krause must make hard choices to bring his ships home safe … jumping into the thick of the action within the first ten minutes and maintaining its tension for the remainder of the trim 90-minute run, this is screen suspense par excellence, a sleek textbook example of how to craft a compelling big screen knuckle-whitener with zero fat and maximum reward, delivering a series of desperate naval scraps packed with hide-and-seek intensity, heart-in-mouth near-misses and fist-in-air cathartic payoffs by the bucket-load.  Hanks is subtly magnificent, the calm centre of the narrative storm as a supposed newcomer to this battle arena who could have been BORN for it, bringing to mind his similarly unflappable in Captain Phillips and certainly not suffering by comparison; by and large he’s the focus point, but other crew members make strong (if sometimes quite brief) impressions, particularly Stephen Graham as Krause’s reliably seasoned XO, Lt. Commander Charlie Cole, The Magnificent Seven’s Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Just Mercy’s Rob Morgan, while Elisabeth Shue does a lot with a very small part in brief flashbacks as Krause’s fiancée Evelyn. Relentless, exhilarating and thoroughly unforgettable, this was one of the true action highlights of the summer, and one hell of a war flick.  I’m so glad it made the cut for the summer …

11.  PROJECT POWER – with Marvel and DC pushing their tent-pole titles back in the face of COVID, the usual superhero antics we’ve come to expect for the summer were pretty thin on the ground in 2020, leading us to find our geeky fan thrills elsewhere. Unfortunately, pickings were frustratingly slim – Korean comic book actioner Gundala was entertaining but workmanlike, while Thor AU Mortal was underwhelming despite strong direction from Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal, and The New Mutants just got shat on by the studio and its distributors and no mistake – thank the Gods, then, for Netflix, once again riding to the rescue with this enjoyably offbeat super-thriller, which takes an intriguing central premise and really runs with it.  New designer drug Power has hit the streets of New Orleans, able to give anyone who takes it a superpower for five minutes … the only problem is, until you try it, you don’t know what your own unique talent is – for some, it could mean five minutes of invisibility, or insane levels of super-strength, but other powers can be potentially lethal, the really unlucky buggers just blowing up on the spot.  Robin (The Hate U Give’s Dominique Fishback) is a teenage Power-pusher with dreams of becoming a rap star, dealing the pills so she can help her diabetic mum; Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of her customers, a police detective who uses his power of near invulnerability to even the playing field when supercharged crims cause a disturbance.  Their lives are turned upside down when Art (Jamie Foxx) arrives in town – he’s a seriously badass ex-soldier determined to hunt down the source of Power by any means necessary, and he’s not above tearing the Big Easy apart to do it. This is a fun, gleefully infectious rollercoaster that doesn’t take itself too seriously, revelling in the anarchic potential of its premise and crafting some suitably OTT effects-driven chaos brought to pleasingly visceral fruition by its skilfully inventive director, Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Nerve, Viral), while Mattson Tomlin (the screenwriter of the DCEU’s oft-delayed, incendiary headline act The Batman) takes the story in some very interesting directions and poses fascinating questions about what Power’s TRULY capable of.  Gordon-Levitt and Fishback are both brilliant, the latter particularly impressing in what’s sure to be a major breakthrough role for her, and the friendship their characters share is pretty adorable, while Foxx really is a force to be reckoned with, pretty chill even when he’s in deep shit but fully capable of turning into a bona fide killing machine at the flip of a switch, and there’s strong support from Westworld’s Rodrigo Santoro as Biggie, Power’s delightfully oily kingpin, Courtney B. Vance as Frank’s by-the-book superior, Captain Crane, Amy Landecker as Gardner, the morally bankrupt CIA spook responsible for the drug’s production, and Machine Gun Kelly as Newt, a Power dealer whose pyrotechnic “gift” really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Exciting, inventive, frequently amusing and infectiously likeable, this was some of the most uncomplicated cinematic fun I had all summer.  Not bad for something which I’m sure was originally destined to become one of the season’s B-list features …

[nickanimation]

We partnered with Variety to honor the "10 Animators to Watch" for 2020! 🥳

Congrats to: Elaine Bogan (“Spirit Riding Free”) Myke Chilian (“Tig ‘n Seek”) L.C. Crowley, Brandon Barr and Greg Jonkajtys (“The Liberator”) Aminder Dhaliwal (“Woman World”) Tiffany Ford (“Craig of the Creek”) Brittany Myers (“Over the Moon”) Amanda Qian Li (“Tangled: The Series”) John Trabbic III (“SpongeBob SquarePants”) Genevieve Tsai (“Animaniacs”) Anne Walker Farrell (“Duncanville”)

And to Creative Impact in Animation Award recipient, Jorge R. Gutiérrez

Watch the exciting ceremony here: https://at.nick.com/Variety10

[ouyangzizhensdad]

Can you recommend us some books?

My tastes in books terms of fiction have been pretty basic these past few years, since it was mostly the self-indulgent things I would read in-between academic stuff and non-fiction. It’s pretty much almost only older British novels in the public domain (which means you can find the ebooks for free online and on Amazon, don’t get caught paying for them) and historical novels but Make It Gay. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (and everything else she has written, I assume the fact that I am a Austen head). Also if you are into self-published P&P fanfics, do give Sophie Turner’s A Constant Love a try.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters (or in fact pretty much anything by Sarah Waters. I have a soft spot for Fingersmith, as one does)

The World Unseen by Shamin Sharif

Maurice by E.M. Forster

The Only Gold by Tamara Allen

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell 

She sings of unhappy far-off things by Carea J. Werlinger

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

With regards to non-fiction, I’ll try to keep it short and include some variety of topics and styles:

The Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet:  Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene, editors: Anna Tsing, Elain Gan, Nils Bubandt and Heather Anne Swanson.

The presentation of self in everyday life by Erving Goffman (I particularly recommend this book for writers because it can help you think about characterisation differently) 

The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by Mikhail Bakhtin

The Already Dead: The New Time of Politics, Culture, and Illness by Eric  Cazdyn 

Hunger by Roxanne Gay (warning though this book talks about very upsetting stuff that happened to the writer)

The Railway Journey: The Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space by Wolfgang Schivelbusch

Vicarious Language: Gender and Linguistic Modernity in Japan by Miyako Inoue

Land and Society in Britain, 1700-1914: Essays in Honour of F.M.L. Thompson, editors Negley Harte and Roland Quinault and  English Landed Society in the nineteenth century By F.M.L. Thompson (but since it was published in 1963 it might be difficult to find a copy)

Cosmologies of Credit: Transnational mobility and the politics of destination in China by Julie Y. Chu

We, the people of Europe?: Reflections of transnational citizenship, editor Étienne Balibar

Becoming Modern Women: Love & Female Identity in Prewar Japanese Literature & Culture by Suzuki Michiko

Fat Shame: Stigma and the Fat Body in America by Amy Erdman Farrell