Knives Out: And if this doesn’t win a few awards then “I suspect foul play” 

A true contender for my film of the year! All my life I have sat and watched murder mystery after murder mystery with my family. From your Agatha Christie’s to your Midsummer Murders, Morse to Monk I’ve seen them all, and this one, although be it a tad predictable to the trained eye, was an absolute bundle of fun for all involved. With a wall to wall cast of the creme de la creme of acting royalty flounced across the screen, it wasn’t long before I relaxed into a cracking two hours of pure entertainment. Some great stand out performances by Christopher Plumber, Chris Evans, Michael Shannon and Toni Colette (yes that is most of the cast but that’s how good it is.) However the two I want to talk about are our next Bond due, an early glimpse to some wonderful on set chemistry, Ana De Armas who plays the magnificent lead an Mr Bond himself, Daniel Craig.

Everything you need to know about this film is explained within the first 10 minutes, including a beautifully genius characteristic of our lead Ana De Armas, who can’t lie without vomiting, a trait that plays out very nicely as the film progresses. Each actor seems to be playing their opposite casting with great mirth and none so much as Daniel Craig who plays a private detective with the most ridiculous southern American accent that can’t help but put a smile on your face, inspiring the iconic line form Chris Evans “what’s this CSI KFC?” 

Ryan Johnson has done a fantastic job of directing and writing these wonderful characters in a brand new modern take on the classic ‘who done it.’ These characters do appear fairly one dimensional at the beginning but as the plot thickens, so does the characterisation of these potential perpetrators by a truly phenomenal cast. 

This is a brilliant movie to take the family to see over the Christmas holidays with performances that all can enjoy. I give this film a very high rating of 8.9/10 and a must must see for all you murder mystery fans out there. It is certainly much better than the travesty that was the newest adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express and I’m very glad Ryan Johnson wasn’t put off making this movie, when after that ‘train crash’ by Kennith Branagh, there may not have been a market of Knives Out. 

I’ve been Christopher Whitmore, thank you for reading. 

Get Outlook for iOS

The Irishman: Englishman and a Scotsman walk into a bar and three hours later they start contemplating their own existence. 

Martin Scorsese’s latest movie is a masterpiece in character lead story telling. It is a tad long yes, but that is how long it takes to tell an almost entire and extraordinary life of the lead character Frank Sheeran (no relation apparently). Played by a man who needs little introduction, Robert De Niro who, unsurprisingly, really delivered with this performance. When you then back that up with stellar performances from Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and Stephen Graham it’s very hard to go wrong.

Hoooooowever ... I’m definitely one for slow paced, long scenes of epic dialogue, heck I even enjoyed Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but I do have to admit that even I was limping to the finishing line with this one. But this wasn’t an issue with lazy editing, no. The reason why I think this film was verging on the tedious was this whole de-aging fad. This coming from a man (Scorsese) who has caused huge

controversy with Marvel fans saying their beloved movies are more “theme park rides than real cinema.” The hypocrisy of it is maddening. The technology itself, even though it’s putting actors like me out of work, isn’t the issue. It was actually pretty good in this film and didn’t distract too much. The problem I had with it is they de-age the face but they can’t de-age how an actor moves. In scenes when a “younger” Frank is threatening and being physical with people who cross him and his family, unfortunately Robert De Niro’s movement was laughable. When you take the threat and the danger out of a movie like this, scenes lose tension and drive, so even the best dialogue and acting can’t stop you thinking “but it looks like a light breeze would knock him down ....” This is why this film for me will always pale in comparison to Goodfellas or The Godfather when these actors were in their prime. Just use younger actors to play the characters younger selves! That way you can establish these aggressive mafia dons early on so when you do have scenes of long dialogue with the older actors they have more potency. 

I did still very much enjoy large parts of this movie. My favourite scene where Stephen Grahams character Tony is late for a meeting Pacino and from interviews I've seen I know a lot of that scene was improvised and it's lovely to see the actors have some real fun with it. I can happily give it a solid 8/10, but as I said it won’t be going down in the history books as one of the all time greats in my opinion. In fact it’s not even the best film of the year, which is still held by ‘Joker.’ Being on Netflix however does make it very accessible, so I would highly recommend sitting down with some popcorn and once again just hash it out with our “old” friends Scorsese and De Niro. 

Le Mans 66 or the better non Steve McQueen title; Ford Vs Ferrari.

“Caaaaaawww blimey” what an excellent movie! In fact one could probably say it’s better than “a fur covered frog” (new favourite phrase, thank you Jez Butterworth) 

Now if you were to write a perfect film for Christopher Whitmore then it would be about car racing and star three of his favourite actors, Matt Damon, Christian Bale and Jon Bernthal, so well done TSG you’ve well and truly won my money. 

This film tells the story of the famous battle Ford had with Ferrari to topple the iron like vice Ferrari had over the most prestigious of races, Le Mans. Ford buy the services of Carol Shelby (Damon) a former Le Mans winner and all round racing fanatic. He then enlists the help of his business partner, racing driver and mechanic extraordinaire Ken Miles (Bale). 

Together they rage war against Ferrari to create one of the most iconic cars of the 60’s; the Ford GT40. The story really progresses from there and the banter between these two actors/characters is wonderful to watch, even if their accents are a little broad ranging, with Bale's in particular wandering around the Midlands and then further up north on the odd occasions, making it sound like a particularly dodgy episode of 'Peaky Blinders'.

The drama of the whole thing is very much driven by the pantomime like baddies that do stray into the ridiculous at points, but that is all part of the fun in my opinion. Enzo Ferrari seems to be portrayed as a Godfather like mafia boss rather than the engineering genius he certainly was and Josh Lucas plays a sensationally irritating, single-minded and classically middle management arse, who is hell bent on removing our boys from the history books at every chicane. 

So we have all of this petrol fuelled tension and we haven't even got to the gritty racing itself, where you won’t find more dramatic revving and gear changes outside of The Fast and The Furious franchise. This visceral experience where you feel you're in the car with the drivers really keep this film moving at a tremendous pace and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. No it probably won’t win any Oscars but for pure enjoyment you won’t find much better at the cinema this year.

Overall I’d give this film A RATING OF 8.3/10 and an absolutely massive recommendation for everyone who wants to have a bit of fun coming into the Christmas period. 

My names been Christopher Whitmore and thanks for reading!

Doctor Sleep: Or Doctor Edge of My Seat. 

Well this was a pleasant surprise. I won’t lie to you I basically had to drag myself into this cinema for this one as I was very sceptical about a follow up to The Shining. I also won’t lie to the fact I’m not the worlds largest fan of The Shining but still found it ridiculous they would dare to make something even close to approaching the Kubrick universe. 

Doctor Sleep however far surpassed all my expectations to a point where I might posit the question ... Could it be possible that this film is better than The Shining? Well I dare not say from fear of the backlash I’d get from the “Uber Kuber” fans out there. 

Now I’ve not actually read Doctor Sleep so I can’t say this with huge amounts of authority, but from what I’ve heard and read from other reviewers, this film is very much one for the Stephen King fans over the Kubrick fans. Kubrick, as some of you may know took a few liberties with The Shining, especially its ending, whereas Mike Flanagan was a little more faithful.

Mike Flanagan also pulled no punches and it was an incredibly gripping film, with a fantastic narrative and some bits that were genuinely hard and quite distressing to watch. I don’t want to spoil any of it for you my readers because I want you to go see it for yourselves, but the scene with the baseball boy had my teeth reaching for my fingers nails. 

This was all made possible by three or four fantastic performances by our leading actors. First off, this was a properly good showcase of what Euan McGregor can actually do. I’ve always liked him but he does has the tendency to go for the easier roles but this was a hard, gritty, highly complex character that he really bedded himself into and it was brilliant to watch. 

Euan plays a grown up Danny, ie the little boy from The Shining, who is still struggling with the traumas from his past and also wrestling with his ability to “Shine” (Telepathy on steroids). He meets a little girl played by Kyliegh Curran, who incidentally is stunning in this film and one to watch out for.  Abra (Kyleigh) has seen a vision of these “Steam Catchers” who are stealing people’s “shine”. It is their mission to stop them. One such steam catcher, the leader, is played by Rebecca Ferguson, who was remarkably unnerving in this movie and I would love to see her play more roles like this. It is up to Danny and the girl to stop her. Simple.

There are some lovely throwbacks to the original which I hear are causing tremendous amounts of historical whining from the die hard Shining fans but I really enjoyed them. 

Overall, even though it was a touch too long, I really enjoyed this film and it has edged its way to a RATING OF 8.1/10, which is darn good going. I urge everyone to see it in the cinema and if you hate it then please get in touch and i’d love to have you on my podcast to discuss it further. 

My names been Christopher Whitmore and thank you for reading. 

Joker - “That’s Life” 

Yeah it’s pretty good I guess ......

       

      Christ it was so tempted just to write that and leave it there but what with everyone raving about how great it is you just want to say something negative, but I can’t. It really is a true masterpiece in acting/writing and direction. It’s an absolutely stunning movie, visually, aesthetically, emotionally, existentially .... grammatically.... but jokes aside this film had me at hello. 

Todd Phillips how do you go from The Hangover to this? Boggles the mind, not that The Hangover is a bad film but the two just don’t relate in anyway. Very impressive sir, I tip my hat to you. 

       

 Joaquin Phoenix, as I knew he probably would be, was a perfect Joker. He adhered and respected the phenomenal character that Heath Leger “created” but completely made it his own with additional support of a very compelling back story. 

The story follows the life of Arthur Fleck who is a socially awkward (putting it mildly) clown performer with, what slowly unfolds throughout the film, very severe mental health issues. I’m not going to spoil this movie at all but there’s some stand out scenes to watch out for. The scene in the train carriage is utterly heartbreaking and the scene where his “friends” visit his apartment to show their support after his mother dies had me on the edge of my seat! 

Some fantastic supporting performances from Frances Conroy who plays Arthur's disturbing mother, Brett Cullen who plays Thomas Wayne, where he gets taken down from that Nolan pedestal and shown for the true man Mr Wayne was more likely to have been. (Yes these characters are real to me) And finally do I really need to tell you how excellent De Niro was? ....... no I didn’t think so. 

Other things I loved was the spellbinding score by Hildur Guonadottir which captured the horrific yet beautiful essence of this movie. Hildur composed around one of my favourite songs of all time ‘Smile’ - which has been used for the trailers so wonderfully - but gave the song a Zimmer like Brahms punch to it that really hit you right in the chest at the crescendo moments in the film. ‘That’s life’ was also an excellently moving choice of song for this film and made me feel all the emotions at once. 

I could go on about the music all day long but I must also mention the fabulous script written by a large writing team including Todd Phillips himself. I couldn’t believe this film included my favourite joke of all time “my friends always laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian ..... well they’re not laughing now” by the genius one liner comedian Bob Monkhouse.

This brought me a lot of joy and just added another layer of person joy and adoration to this almost perfect film.

Haaaaving said that, a few negatives though if I may (I know right?!!)This is a very brave film to make about a character who is an aggressive, murdering, psychopathic, anarchist, who you (maybe just I) wholeheartedly sympathise, empathise and identify with. It really does make you question morality and by the end of the film I was genuinely thinking “yeah f*^k It Joker, kill the lot of them” Therefor I can understand the controversy and backlash this film has been getting. 

Also this film might have been just too good. At quite a few moments in this film you can so tell they finished shooting the scene, patted each other all on the back very smugly knowing they were making a “masterpiece” and part of me wants to rebel against that - which I’m sure the Joker would be very happy with. 

For those reasons I can only give this film a rating of 9.4/10 .... so there. But obviously you MUST go and see this film while it’s in the cinemas, you won’t be disappointed. That is a Christopher Whitmore guarantee. 

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: Second times the charm. 

I went to go and see this film in the cinema right at the beginning of august assuming it was out already due to the fact I was reading so many reviews online that I now realise were all coming from America. I was very aghast and outraged to find out it wasn’t going to be out in England for another two weeks!!! So yes I’ve been waiting for this film to come out for a while now, and I don't mind telling you, with a bit of a rocky start. 

Like most Tarantino movies I walked into the cinema a fortnight later not really knowing what to expect. No matter if I’m watching his films, talking about his films or even just thinking about them I’m tense, which I can only assume is learnt behaviour from repeat exposure to his methods. True to form there was a sense of a low churning undercurrent of paranoia right from the beginning of this one, until classically, the gruesome finale leaves you with all the right endorphins from the grateful release of pressure. It’s a very clever film trope that has “done Quentin” very well throughout his career. With most of his new films, ie 'Inglorious Bastards' and 'Hatefull 8' this creative tension has been a bit more in your face whereas in this film it was far more subtle. 

We follow the three main characters Rick Dalton (Leonardo De Caprio) Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) and

Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) in their day to day Hollywood lives the three days leading up to the famous tragic event - don't worry i'll explain later. - Rick Dalton is an Actor on the verge of becoming irrelevant with the big modern changes (in the 1970’s) happening in the industry. Cliff Booth is his stunt double who tied himself closely to Rick , a very loyal character, a close friend, driver and general handy man. The slow demise of Ricks career obviously affects Cliff's too, so their relationship and destiny is very intertwined and established brilliantly very early on. 

Brad and Leo were just so bloody good in this film. Instead of a hardy story line the audience can get their teeth into, this movie is made from lots of little "sketches." Some were based in the real world, small intimate one person scenes showcasing normal life and daily routine. One such stand out scene was Brad Pitt feeding his dog. Sounds simple, but it built a character and his world very quickly and very well. 

Other “sketches” were scenes we see Rick acting in. Leo does an incredible job of acting an actor acting his very last socks off, which is a mind fuck in itself. We also see Rick chastise himself very harshly in his trailer after screwing up a scene. This very comical but at the same time very moving, as this is a man cashing in his last chips, a desperate last hora for a flagging actor. 

These scenes perfectly set up the characters stories and as always Tarantino’s dialogue was utterly spellbinding. Yes these scenes sometimes left you thinking “where in the Sam Hill is this film going?” but that was all part of the suspense. 

The biggest tension building scene was when Cliff was invited by an underage girl, brilliantly played by Margrette Qualley, (one to watch out for) who (as we’ve all done) falls under Brad’s charming spell. When we arrive to the Ranch things are quickly established as "not as they seem." There’s a large family with plenty of young and attractive women. They’re all starting, and they keep referencing a man they call “Charlie” .... Dakota Fanning plays one of the daughters and some what of a ringleader that has a lovely exchange of dialogue with Brad that really makes you feel uneasy. Cliff (Brad) just about escapes with his life but that is the through-line of the story set up for our grande Tarantino finale. 

Before we get to that I want to quickly talk about another lovely “sketch” where Margot Robbie (Sharon Tate) goes to the cinema to watch herself, unannounced, in her break through film with Dean Martin. The gorgeousness of the scene paralleled Margo’s own beauty. I connected so much with this character enjoying the positive reaction from the unassuming audience around her. As an actor I can’t wait to experience this for myself and Margot portrayed that sense of achievement and self congratulation to a tee. 

So in true Tarantino form I’ve probably made you wait long enough for the conclusion to this review and film and yes SPOILERS Quintin does rewrite history again! 

The Manson family end up attacking Rick and Cliff who live next door to Sharon Tate instead. However with their far more aggressively Wild West and war movie experience they kick the shit out of these “hippies” and when I say “kick the shit” I mean Kill Bill level of bloody grotesque violence, which - as always- is thoroughly satisfying. Therefore in this universe Sharon lives on and Rick and Cliff get the break they need from the freshly introduced “new wave of cinema” who live next door .... 

"And they all lived happily ever after."

Very clever Quentin.

Overall this wasn’t my favourite Tarantino film. I much prefer Inglorious Bastards but it’s still darn good film making and acting so I’d give this film A RATING OF 8.2/10. Go and see this and please be patient with it. It’s well worth it, trust me. 

I've been Christopher Whitmore, thanks for reading.