Molly's Game

Year of Release:  2017
Director:  Aaron Sorkin
Screenplay:  Aaron Sorkin, based on the book Molly's Game by Molly Bloom
Starring:  Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Bill Camp
Running Time:  140 minutes
Genre:  Crime, drama

Molly Bloom (Chastain) is a world-class skier, who is severely injured while trying to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, ending her athletic career.  Molly moves to Los Angeles where, after several low-paid jobs, she ends up as a secretary for an obnoxious, unsuccessful real estate agent (Strong) who asks Molly to run his weekly high-stakes poker game.  The game regularly attracts very wealthy and very famous individuals, including movie stars and sports stars, and Molly is soon earning  a lot of money.  When she is unceremoniously sacked by her boss, Molly starts running her own game, but soon finds herself in serious trouble with both the Mob and the FBI.

Based on a true story, this is a hugely enjoyable thriller.  With a witty, complex and intelligent script, and slick, dynamic direction from Aaron Sorkin, Jessica Chastain gives a truly great performance as Molly, who owns the entire film.  This is Molly's story and the other characters don't really get fleshed out, with Kevin Costner in particular never really getting much to do as her overbearing father.  Idris Elba however, gives a typically suave performance as Molly's lawyer, and he and Chastain have brilliant chemistry together.  Personally, I have never had any real interest in poker, I've never played it and don't really know anything about it, but the film makes the gaming scenes not only understandable for a newcomer, but genuinely exciting.  Even though there were times where I could see where the story was going, and there aren't many surprises, with a running time of well over two hours, this is a fast-paced film with not a scene or a line wasted.

Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba play Molly's Game       

The Predator

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Shane Black
Screenplay:  Fred Dekker and Shane Black, based on characters created by Jim Thomas and John Thomas
Starring:  Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Sterling K. Brown
Running Time:  107 minutes
Genre:  Science-fiction, action

An alien spaceship crash-lands in Mexico.  The "Predator" creature inside attacks US Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna (Holbrook) and his team, killing them all but McKenna, who succeeds in incapacitating the creature.  So he can prove it's existence, McKenna takes the alien's facemask and wrist gauntlets and mails them off to the US.  A Special Forces team retrieve the unconscious creature and ship it off to a secret research base in the USA.  In order to discredit McKenna and cover-up the existence of the creature, he is sentenced to indefinite imprisonment.  The alien mask and gauntlet are delivered to the home of McKenna's estranged wife (Yvonne Strahovski) and their young, autistic son Rory (Tremblay), who manages to activate the mask.  In the research institute, the alien revives and, after messily breaking out, sets out on a violent search for it's missing property.  It also becomes apparent that there is more than one alien on the hunt.

This is the fourth film in the Predator franchise (sixth if you count the Alien vs. Predator films), and is probably the worst of the lot.  While the original Predator was a stripped down action film, this film has a convoluted story that feels more like a grab-bag of ideas.  The actors do their best with what they're given but large cast of characters are mostly defined by just one character trait or quirk, which means that they never really register, and are largely unlikable particularly the boorish, bullying McKenna.  The action frequently grinds to a halt for attempts at humour and winking references to the first two films, although personally I didn't laugh once.  Shane Black, who worked on the script to the first Predator (1987) and has a brief acting role in that film, has done much better as both a director and a writer.  Almost all of the characters can apparently work out alien technology after a few seconds of fiddling about with it, and is saddled with a ludicrous ending, which sets up sequels.  In the film's defense, some of the action is well-staged, particularly in the later part of the film,  and, aside from some ropey CGI, the special effects are fine.      

Meet The Predator   

All the Money in the World

Year of Release:  2017
Director:  Ridley Scott
Screenplay: David Scarpa, based on the book Painfully Rich:  The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty by John Pearson
Starring:  Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Charlie Plummer, Romain Duris, Timothy Hutton
Running Time:  133 minutes
Genre:  Crime, thriller, drama

Rome, 1973, John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer), known as Paul, is kidnapped.  Paul is the grandson of billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), at the time the world's richest private citizen, and his kidnappers demand a ransom of $17 million dollars (which is a sum that Getty Senior could easily afford).  However he refuses to pay, despite the pleas of Paul's mother, Gail (Williams).  Under intense media scrutiny, it falls to Gail to attempt to negotiate with both the kidnappers and Getty for Paul's release, with the help of ex-CIA operator Fletcher Chace (Wahlberg).

Based on a true story, this is a gripping thriller, which was overshadowed somewhat by behind the scenes drama.  J. Paul Getty was originally played by Kevin Spacey, however when allegations of sexual assault were made against Spacey, he was replaced at the last minute by Christopher Plummer, who does a fantastic job, considering he was cast and his scenes were shot within a month.  As Getty, Plummer moves from avuncular geniality to cold-blooded ruthlessness, and it is to his credit that he finds a sense of humanity and sympathy to someone who would otherwise be a complete bastard.  He is someone who would pay millions for a painting, but won't pay to get his laundry done.  The film is dominated, though, by Michelle Williams, who turns in a fantastic performance as Gail Getty, who provides real dramatic and emotional heft.  She is someone who is linked to the most powerful man in the world, but has to fight for her own power. 
While not Ridley Scott's best work, it is a stylish and well made thriller telling a very interesting story. 

Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg face the press in All the Money in the World

The Wolf Man

Year of Release:  1941
Director:  George Waggner
Screenplay:  Curt Siodmak
Starring:  Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Warren Williams, Ralph Bellamy, Maria Ouspenskaya, Evelyn Ankers, Patric Knowles, Bela Lugosi
Running Time:  70 minutes
Genre:  Horror

Larry Talbot (Chaney Jr.), the prodigal son of Sir John Talbot (Rains), returns to his ancestral home to reconcile with his estranged father.  He soon befriends Gwen Conliffe (Ankers), the daughter of a local antiques dealer.  One night in the woods, Larry attempts to save Gwen's friend Jenny (Fay Helm) from an attack by a large wolf.  Jenny is killed and Larry is bitten, but he does seemingly succeed in killing the wolf, but the corpse  is not a wolf but a man (Lugosi).  Larry's wounds miraculously heal by the next day, and he becomes increasingly obsessed with the village's local legend of a werewolf (a human who turns into a wolf at "certain times of year").

This is not the first werewolf movie, but it is one of the most influential, and one of the best films in  the "Universal Monster" cycle.  It benefits from a  poetic, literate script from writer Curt Siodmak, and striking photography with evocative, shadowy, mist-shrouded forests and iconic make-up from Jack Pierce (who created the look of Frankenstein's Monster in Frankenstein (1931)).  Lon Chaney Jr. turns in a great performance as the tortured Larry Talbot, both in his guilt-ridden human form and  monster form, he brings a powerful physicality and agility to the role.  He creates a sympathetic, tragic character.  Claude Rains is also a standout as the unbelieving Sir John, who refuses even to entertain the idea that his son might have anything wrong with him, either physical or mental as the bodycount rises.  The film is almost more of a psychological drama at times than a monster movie, Chaney only appears in the full "Wolf Man" makeup fairly late in the film, and only quite briefly.  His doctor, naturally enough, is convinced that Talbot is mentally ill, and there is a lot of discussion about psychology and folklore. 
While the movie has aged a lot better than many of the other films of it's time, it still shows it's age.  Evelyn Ankers has very little to do except be rescued, and a lot of the supposedly Welsh or English  characters are obviously Americans, the transformation sequences (which focus on Talbot's feet) are not particularly impressive  and the famous werewolf poem is recited no less than three times throughout the short film.  By the way, some people believe that it is a traditional old poem, but it was written by Curt Siodmak
However it retains it's power and, despite it's flaws is one of horror cinema's finest moments.  It's been followed by several sequels and was remade in 2010 with Anthony Hopkins and Benecio del Toro.

"Even a man who is pure at heart
And says his prayers by night
May become a wolf
When the wolfsbane blooms
And the Autumn moon is bright."

Things are getting hairy for Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot in The Wolf Man


      

Climax

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Gaspar Noe
Screenplay:  Gaspar Noe
Starring:  Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souhelia Yacoub, Kiddy Smile, Claude Gajan Maull, Giselle Palmer
 Running Time:  96 minutes
Genre:  Horror, musical, drama

Winter, 1996:  A company of dancers preparing for an international tour, hole themselves up in an isolated,  abandoned boarding school in the middle of a thick forest.  After three days of productive rehearsal the dancers cut loose with a booze fuelled party, however someone spikes their sangria with LSD.  Soon the existing tensions within the group turn much more sinister, paranoia takes hold, and the dancers are soon trapped in a hallucinatory nightmare.

If you are familiar with enfant terrible Gaspar Noe's previous work: I Stand Alone (1998), Irreversible (2002), Enter the Void (2009) and Love (2015), than you will have an idea of what you are in for with Climax.  Noe tones down his typical sex and violence, although this is still graphic and disturbing.  The film opens with it's end-credit crawl, and has it's opening credit sequence at about the half-way point, there is bravura mobile camera  work, skewed angles (a lot of the film is intentionally shown upside down), point of view shots, odd title cards and weird colours.  Lit in red and shadows, a lot of the latter part of the film is almost incomprehensible.  It features extended dance sequences, which are very well choreographed, and then movies on to dark, intense horror.  While this is mild for Noe, this may be strong for anyone else. 

"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson

Year of Publication:  1992
Number of Pages:  440 pages
Genre:  Science-fiction, cyberpunk, thriller

The book is set in a futuristic Los Angeles.  The United States Government no longer exists, having ceded most of it's power to private companies and entrepreneurs.  LA is now divided up among numerous franchises and syndicates.  People escape from their everyday lives into the computer-generated reality of the Metaverse, where you can be anyone and do anything, providing you have the necessary money, technology and coding skills.  A new drug called Snow Crash, is spreading through the Metaverse.  In reality, though Snow Crash is a deadly new kind of computer virus, which doesn't just infect the system, it infects the operator. 
Sword-wielding, pizza-delivering super-hacker Hiro Protagonist, and loud-mouthed, teenage, skater punk courier Y.T.  soon stumble upon the shadowy conspiracy behind Snow Crash, who are seeking to bring about a worldwide information apocalypse.

This is one of the most influential science-fiction novels of the 1990s, most notably popularising the term "avatar" for a computer representation of a person (although it wasn't the first to use the term in that context).  The book takes in linguistics, archeology, mythology, religion, computer science and politics, and ranges from surreal, punning humour, to hard-edged action.  Tonally it is all over the place, and it does get bogged down in the middle with long exposition. Plot elements are picked up and dropped without explanation, but when it works, it works brilliantly.  It is funny, it is exciting and and  an intriguing, involving thriller.  If you are a fan of Ghost in the Shell or Akira then you'll probably really enjoy it.

            

The Great Dictator

Year of Release:  1940
Director:  Charlie Chaplin
Screenplay:  Charlie Chaplin
Starring:  Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Henry Daniell, Reginald Gardiner, Billy Gilbert, Maurice Moscovich
Running Time:  124 minutes
Genre:  Comedy, satire, drama

Following the resounding defeat of Tomania in the First World War, ruthless fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel (Chaplin), leader of the Double Cross Party, has risen to power.  Meanwhile a poor Jewish barber (also Chaplin), who has suffered amnesia for the twenty years since the First World War, leaves the hospital and returns home to the ghetto.  The barber soon falls in love with his neighbour Hannah (Goddard), and together they stand up against Hynkel's forces.

This was Chaplin's first true sound film, having come to fame during the silent era, Chaplin was one of the few film-makers to successfully continue making silent films well into the sound era.  However, the film has dialogue-free passages, and most of the humour is the physical comedy that made Chaplin famous.  It was also one of the first major Hollywood films to openly attack and mock Nazi Germany and Hitler himself (Hitler banned the film from being shown in Germany and  Nazi occupied countries, although apparently he saw it himself twice - what he thought of it has not been recorded).
Given the full horror of the Nazis it does seem strange to portray them as basically a gaggle of dim-witted, bullying clowns (Chaplin himself said that he would not have made the film if he had been aware at the time of what the Nazis were actually doing), but it is an effective film, and quite brave for the time.  The mockery is pretty scathing, and the film is genuinely funny, containing possibly Chaplin's funniest work.  The film concludes with an impassioned final speech, one of the finest in cinema, and elevates the film to the pantheon of the great. 

Charlie Chaplin as Adenoid Hynkel in The Great Dictator

BlacKkKlansman

Year of Release:  2018
Director:  Spike Lee
Screenplay:  Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee, based on the book Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth
Starring:  John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace
Running Time:  135 minutes
Genre:  Crime, thriller, drama

In 1979, Ron Stallworth (Washington) is the first black detective in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Frustrated with his early assignments, and the racism of his colleagues, Ron is inspired when he is sent undercover to investigate a civil rights rally, and becomes close with activist Patrice (Harrier).  Ron works out a plan to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan chapter, calling up the leaders, pretending to be a racist white man, and recruiting white Jewish detective Philip Zimmerman (Driver) to pretend to be him in face-to-face meetings. 

Based on a true story, this is Spike Lee at his angriest and most powerful.  Opening with clips from Gone with the Wind (1948) and the horribly racist The Birth of a Nation (1915), this is a powerful and well-made film with a serious and powerful message about the pervasiveness of racism and how it is bound up in some people's sense of identity.  However, this is not a preachy message film, it's an entertaining thriller, exciting, intriguing and often very funny.  The film has a lot of contemporary relevance, which is occasionally pushed a little bit too bluntly in the dialogue, considering the film's 1970s setting.  Spike Lee is a real visual stylist and, despite, the film's generous run time, it's gripping throughout, and it's well-performed by a talented cast, with John David Washington dominating the screen in the lead role.  However, the film doesn't let it's audience off too lightly concluding with heart-breaking images that show how little has changed. 

Adam Driver and John David Washington in BlacKkKlansman