The Firm (1989)

Year of Release:  1989
Director:  Alan Clarke
Screenplay:  Al Hunter Ashton
Starring:  Gary Oldman, Lesley Manville, Phil Davis, Charles Lawson
Running Time:  70 minutes
Genre:  Drama

London, 1988:  Clive "Bex" Bissel (Oldman) is a 30 year old estate agent, who lives an apparently comfortable suburban life with his wife, Sue (Manville) and baby son.  However when the weekend comes, Bissel is the leader of the ICC (Inter City Crew), a hooligan "firm" (an organised gang who attach themselves to soccer teams and go to matches with the sole purpose of fighting rival gangs).  Bissel has an ambitious plan to unite the rival firms into one for a European championship, with the aim of causing havoc on an international scale.  However the rivalries are not so easily put aside.

This made-for-TV movie was the final work from acclaimed director Alan Clarke, who died in 1990 at the age of 54.  Like much of his work, this is an examination of male aggression and social commentary, which is as much about Britain at the end of the 1980s as it is about soccer thugs.  Hooliganism was a real hot button topic at the time, and these are not the traditional disaffected young men, they are mostly not "victims of society" but middle-class people with good jobs and plenty of money, who commit the violence for the "buzz".  This is an exciting film, shot with a constantly roving camera a times almost shoving the viewer into the middle of these guys, and the film has a real sense of danger (apparently some of the fighting scenes weren't entirely fake).  Gary Oldman gives a terrifying performance as the mercurial Bex, always well-dressed, charismatic and intelligent, but who can turn on a dime and unleash savage brutality.  This is definitely a film about men, and women don't really get a look in, the only major female character is Sue, and Lesley Manville does not have that much to do, but she does appear in a very disturbing sequence that was cut from the broadcast version of the film, but is available in the "director's cut".  Alan Clarke himself was a committed soccer fan and hated the hooligans for ruining the game, the film makes a point of never actually showing any soccer at only one point are any of them seen at a game, and they aren't watching it.  The film periodically erupts into violence, which is sudden, savage and brutal.  It might be a TV movie but it is definitely not for the faint of heart.  A brutal, confrontational work.

Gary Oldman gets bang out of order as the leader of The Firm  

King of New York

Year of Release:  1990
Director:  Abel Ferrara
Screenplay:  Nicholas St. John
Starring:  Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Victor Argo, Wesley Snipes, Janet Julian
Running Time:  106 minutes
Genre:  Thriller, crime, gangster

Convicted drug lord Frank White (Walken) is released from prison, and immediately returns to New York City and sets about expanding his already vast criminal empire, making a bid for legitimacy by using the profits to help an underfunded inner city hospital.  However, White and his gang ruthlessly proceed to wipe out anyone who stands in their way and, as the body count rises, a group of police officers are determined to stop Frank, by any means necessary.

This is one of the best films from prolific director Abel Ferrara, a gritty, action-packed urban thriller, which rattles along with nary a dull moment.  Christopher Walken is effective in the lead, looking almost more ghostly than usual against his all black clothing and shadowy locations.  His Frank White is an interesting character, calm, cool, reasonable, soft-spoken, who can erupt with sudden, ferocious violence, an absolutely ruthless killer, who nevertheless has a strong social conscience and who claims that he has never killed an innocent person.  The film features several well-known actors in relatively early roles, including David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne (here billed as "Larry"), Wesley Snipes, and Steve Buscemi.  There are few female characters and they are given very little to do, except look pretty.  It contrasts the world of opulent hotel rooms, lavish galas and lunches in top-class restaurants, with the gritty mean streets, dark clubs and back rooms, and the film uses it's locations very effectively.  The film's frequent graphic violence may be off-putting for some viewers, but it is one of the best urban thrillers of the period.

Christopher Walken reflects in King of New York    

Inside Llewyn Davis

Year of Release:  2013
Director:  Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Starring:  Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garret Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, Justin Timberlake
Running Time:  105 minutes
Genre:  Drama, dark comedy, period, music

Greenwich Village, New York City, the winter of 1961:  The film charts a week in the life of struggling folk singer Llewyn Davis (Isaac), sleeping wherever anyone will give him a couch for the night, constantly hustling for low-paying gigs or session work and always hoping for an elusive big break.

This is a beautifully dark comedy, following one very bad week for Llewyn Davis, virtually plotless, the film moves from incident to incident as Davis' troubles mount up, although many of them are self-inflicted.  Filmed in muted colours it captures a particular moment in American music, of the folk scene just prior to the emergence of Bob Dylan.  It features a fantastic performance from Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis who could easily just be a complete prick.  While Davis is not a particularly likable character, his obnoxious personality alienating friends and strangers alike, he is never unsympathetic, with Isaac being able to convey so much despair and frustration with just a look.  Also the fact that Davis is a good singer, and he could possible make it big if he could get the breaks, but he knows that his break probably will never come, and the fact that often it doesn't matter if someone has talent if they can't catch a break.  Isaac is well supported by other great performances, mot notably from Carey Mulligan (as a fellow folk singer who looks like an angel and sings very sweetly but has a lot of anger which she is not shy about expressing) and John Goodman (as an obnoxious drug addicted jazz musician).  There are a lot of Coen Brothers hallmarks here, with characters being defined by repeated phrases and motifs, and recurring plot elements (such as Llewyn's search for a missing cat, which runs through the film), and it feels almost like a companion piece to A Serious Man  (2009), which has a similar theme of life being like a cosmic joke.  The film also has one of the best soundtracks of recent years.      

Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan in Inside Llewyn Davis

Comics Round-Up # 6

This is the return of an old feature from my blog, in which I discuss the comics that I have been buying and reading each week.  It's by no means comprehensive or definitive about what's available, just what I've picked up.

SHADE, THE CHANGING GIRL # 8

Written by: Cecil Castellucci
Illustrated by:  Marley Zarcone
Inked by:  Ande Parks
Coloured by:  Kelly Fitzpatrick
Lettered by:  Saida Temofonte
Cover by:  Becky Cloonan
Published by:  Young Animal

Little Runaway, Part 1: In the City.   16 year old Megan Boyer, possessed by the extraterrestrial Loma Shade, and equipped with the reality distorting Madness Coat has run away to Gotham City.  Learning about life in the big city, while inadvertantly causing havoc everywhere she goes.

Shade, the Changing Girl is one of the best comics to come out of the Young Animal strand from DC Comics.  The lost in the big city storyline is amusingly told, mixed with memorably surreal images.  The character of Shade is sympathetic, if not always likeable.  She causes a lot of damage to the people around her, albeit without choosing to.  The comic also has alien characters which look and act... alien. 

SECRET EMPIRE:  UPRISING # 1

Written by:  Derek Landy
Art by:  Joshua Cassara
Colour Art by:  Rachelle Rosenberg
Lettered by:  VC's Joe Caramagna
Cover by:  Meghan Hetrick
Published by:  Marvel

With America dominated by the fascist Hydra, shockingly assisted by Captain America, Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, decides to recruit some younger heroes to infiltrate the Hydra Youth Choir and stop Captain America by any means necessary.

Secret Empire is the current Marvel "event" storyline, and I haven't really been keeping up with it, in fact this is the first of the books that I've read, although I was still able to follow it without any trouble.  It is an entertaining issue, with debate about the ethics of spying, and potential murder, lightened with humour and some fun superheroics.  The artwork is moody and effective with a good feeling for light and shadow.

ALIENS: DEAD ORBIT  # 2

Writing, Art and Lettering by:  James Stokoe
Published by: Dark Horse

The crew of a space station orbiting a remote planet rescue survivors from a derelict spaceship.  Needless to say, the survivors have not come alone...

This is pretty much what you would expect from an Aliens comic, with a lot of running around corridors and some satisfyingly gory chestburster scenes. What really sets it apart is the stunningly detailed artwork from James Stokoe, who also wrote and lettered the comic.  It's perfect if you want a traditional, straight forward Aliens comic.

PICK OF THE WEEK:         

SHADE, THE CHANGING GIRL # 8

Legend

Year of Release:  2015
Director:  Brian Helgeland
Screenplay:  Brian Helgeland, based on the book A Profession of Violence by John Pearson
Starring:  Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccleston, Chazz Palminteri
Taron Egerton
Running Time:  131 minutes
Genre:  biography, drama, crime, gangster

This tells the story of the life and career of the notorious Kray twins, who ruled London organised crime in the 1960s.  Reggie Kray (Hardy) is suave, charismatic, intelligent and volatile, while Ronnie Kray (Hardy again) is a brutal psychopath.  The film mixes the story of the rise of the Krays criminal empire, with Reggie's relationship with Frances Shea (Browning), who narrates the film.

This is a fairly average gangster movie.  It's enjoyable enough, but it feels as if it's trying to pack too much into an, admittedly generous, running time.  Tom Hardy is brilliant as both Reggie and Ronnie, the scene where they have a long fight is a highlight, however there is no way to engage with either of them, and you never really find out anything more about either of them than you do in the opening scene.  Emily Browning gives a good performance, providing the emotional core of the film as the unfortunate Frances Shea, although her breathless, romantic narration seems very out of place.  I don't know enough about the Krays to comment on how accurate or not the film is, but as a gangster film it is entertaining, and never gets dull throughout it's running time, with several scenes of brutal violence punctuating the tale.

      
Ronnie and Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy) in Legend

Wonder Woman

Year of Release:  2017
Director:  Patty Jenkins
Screenplay:  Allan Heinberg, from a story by Zack Snyder, Allan Heinberg and Jason Fuchs, based on Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston
Starring:  Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya
Running Time:  141 minutes
Genre:  Superhero, fantasy, action-adventure, war

The hidden island of Themyscira is the home of the Amazons, warrior women who, according to legend, have been charged by Zeus to guard against the return of the war god Ares.  However the idyllic island life is shattered when American pilot Steve Trevor (Pine) crashes off the coast.  Trevor is rescued by Diana (Gadot), the daughter of the island's ruler, Queen Hippolyta (Wright).  In the world outside, World War I is raging, and Trevor reveals that he is a spy, who is trying to return to London with information about an experimental weapon that brutal General Erich Ludendorff (Huston) and scientist Doctor Maru (Anaya) have developed.  Convinced that Ares is behind the "War to End All Wars", Diana resolves to return with Trevor to find and defeat him, believing that this will end the war and restore world peace.  However she soon learns that things are not that simple.

This film is notable to be the first major superhero film to centre on a female character and the first to be directed by a woman.  Gadot debuted as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and this movie is part of a linked series of films based on DC Comics characters, however aside for a brief framing sequence set in the present day, this isn't really connected to any of the previous films, and so can be enjoyed by people who haven't sat through the other DC movies.  The film mixes fantasy, period war film and some culture clash comedy, and works very well.  Gal Gadot is perfect as Wonder Woman, not only handling the action sequences but also a strong emotional arch, and Chris Pine also does well as the square-jawed Steve Trevor.  The film has an emotional core that is often lacking in superhero films, and, while there is a lot of darkness in the film, it leavens the often Bergmanesque levels of despair in the DC movies with a welcome level of hope and optimism.  Certainly this is one of the best of the recent glut of superhero films.

Gal Gadot is Wonder Woman

The Hitch-Hiker

Year of Release:  1953
Director:  Ida Lupino
Screenplay:  Ida Lupino and Collier Young
Starring:  Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman
Running Time:  71 minutes
Genre:   film noir, crime, drama, thriller

Two friends (O'Brien and Lovejoy) are on the road heading for a weekend's fishing.  However, they make the mistake of stopping to pick up a hitch-hiker (Talman) who turns out to be a gun-toting psychopath who has already left a string of bodies in his wake as  he tries to avoid the pursuing authorities.

This tense psychological thriller is notable for being apparently the first major American film noir directed by a woman.  Lupino had already had a successful career as an actress, before turning to writing, directing and producing movies, and, by the time of The Hitch-Hiker, had directed a number of social issue dramas, dealing with some controversial topics.  This was a departure from her usual work for being a straight-forward thriller and featuring an almost entirely all-male cast.  Written by Lupino and her then-husband Collier Young, and based on the story of real-life serial killer Billy Cook, this movie does not waste a minute of it's brief run-time.  From the dark, claustrophobic interior of the car, to the sun-drenched, bleak, lonely desert, the movie presents a mesmerising battle of wills.  This is not an action film, it's about masculinity in crisis, the two men held hostage are just ordinary middle-aged guys, who throughout the ordeal are forced to re-examine themselves and each other.  William Talman is well cast as the repulsive, contemptuous killer who never closes his right eye, even when he's asleep.

William Talman, Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy in The Hitch-Hiker