Stan & Ollie (2018)

Laurel & Hardy are two of the finest double acts ever. This tells the story of their visit to the UK in the latter stages of their careers when the golden era is long gone. Steve Coogan plays Stan Laurel & John C. Reilly plays Oliver Hardy and I really like Coogan and have mixed feelings about Reilly although his recent outing in Kong: Skull Island shows he can still deliver a solid performance. The story moves to 1953 in Newcastle however where they shot this is in Dudley where I live so it was the rare instance where I was taken out of the location filming. That’s not a criticism that most people are going to have because they have never been there or will go there but it was one of two times I spotted areas of The Black Country Living Museum and it was fun to see.

Like Laurel & Hardy, Steve Coogan & John C. Reilly have very good chemistry together. Despite being a big fan of Alan Partridge and thinking that this is his best ever role, I enjoyed Coogan as Stan Laurel. He brings out the creativity of Stan and how he was in a way the brains of the team. John C. Reilly is under impressive prosthetics that makes Hardy warm and physically fragile. Both Coogan and Reilly look like Laurel & Hardy and along with their mannerisms you totally buy into the fact that these aren't impressions but performances that feel like they are paying homage to the real people. 

The attention to detail and nods to their greatest hits is quite good. The recreation of their dance in Way Out West is impressive and that's within the first few minutes of the film. Then there is a nod to The Music Box where they are moving a trunk up the train station steps and it falls to the bottom. There are plenty more there but I would be here forever but they are done in such a way that will please people who have seen the films and not be left out of funny moments. You are left to enjoy them and appreciate them which is the balance that the whole film took and got right.

As you would expect from a film that takes place during their final years, there is a hint of sadness. They aren't the Laurel & Hardy from their heyday and when they have their truthful discussion it was one of the more sad moments of a film that is generally filled with a lot of humour. Sadly the final part of the film has Hardy’s health deteriorating and even though they plough on and go to Ireland, there is always a hint of sadness with their performance.

I really enjoyed this film. Yes there is a lot of sadness but one thing that gets you through is the lovely heartfelt performances from Coogan and Reilly. The attention to detail is really impressive and the film looks stunning. I think if you are a Laurel & Hardy fan then you should go and see it but even if like me you haven't really seen any of their work then it is still worth your time because it's great to see this story told.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

The sixth Mission: Impossible film sees Ethan and his gang are tasked with locating some plutonium but when the deal goes wrong and places like the Vatican are attacked. The plots of these films are never built around complexity although they try to make them seem complex with people working for other governments or secret organisations. As ever, Hunt has Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg). It’s still weird to me that Shaun from Shaun of the Dead is in a franchise with Tom Cruise.

Henry Cavill appears in this film as Agent Walker who is the minion of Erika Sloane (Angela Bassett) and I do like how there is a sense of distrust between Hunt and Walker. It made the film feel quite big when Ethan Hunt takes on Superman. It was clear that there was something other than lackey to Walker because it's Superman and you don't just give him a straight forward role and it turns out to be but the obvious deception is worth it when we get an epic final battle between the two on the side of a mountain.

The Mission: Impossible films usually have an international and dare I say it, glamorous feel to it. This story takes place largely in Paris and London. I don't know whether the budget was cut because the locations are in countries where tax breaks seem to dictate where they go. This does limit what they can do because it means that all we get are bike/car chases through the streets of Paris and Tom Cruise running around the streets of London including one shot of him breaking his ankle which is kept in the final movie. I suppose if you're going to break something in your body then you want to make it worth it by including it in the movie.

Tom Cruise is very much a part of this franchise. It’s hard to believe that it's been 22 years since the first Mission film and it's a very different franchise compared to what it was perceived to be in 1996. Cruise’s willingness to do insane stunts including flying in a helicopter and running across buildings are the single biggest selling point of these films and long may they continue because I don't think they will ever get boring but I suppose time will tell. Rhames and Pegg are very good as Hunt’s sidekicks and Pegg provides the comic relief when the situation calls for it.

As much as I enjoyed this film, I dont think it's the best in the franchise. Yes there are some enjoyable fight scenes and it feels very much like a Mission: Impossible film but it doesn't seem to have quite the same glamour that Rogue Nation or Ghost Protocol had. Fallout does what it does and does it very well but it's a very minor step down in terms of quality for the franchise.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

After the surprise success of Jurassic World (making around $1.6 billion at the box office), it was inevitable that there would be a sequel. Like The Lost World in 1997, this film doesn't quite have the magic of the previous one. The film sees Claire who is now running the Dinosaur Rescue Group and is leading a recovery team to rescue Blue the raptor before a volcano on Isla Nublar. Quite why you would build a tourist park with an active volcano is a mystery. But the film doesn't spend very long on the island which is a shame really but it moves to a giant house. It’s at this point we are introduced to Rafe Spall. Spall is the baddie of the movie and its clear he is the baddie from the very first scene he is in when he is charming towards Claire. It turns out that there is a guy who is even more loathsome and that's some guy played by Toby Jones.

The film attempts to rewrite a bit of the backstory for Jurassic Park with Lockwood being the guy that helped John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) create the dinosaurs. Frankly it's kind of pointless as all it seems to achieve is lead us to the house with the massive underground lab that Lockwood seemingly didn't know anything about. The film has bit plot holes like this which makes it less interesting than the previous film.

To replace the kids from the previous film, Claire and Owen have sidekicks to help them in the film. Franklin is the cowardly lion of the film which gets very tiring very quickly. Zia is the stronger minded of the two and she has a bit more to her character but to be honest neither of them have much more going for them. They do all the techie stuff whilst Claire and Owen are running around doing the action stuff. They disappear for a large portion of the movie and it wasn't till I saw them again that I was reminded they were even a part of the film.

The scene where Owen, Claire and Franklin are running towards the coast with the other dinosaurs trying to outrun the fiery boulders the volcano is throwing up would have looked really good had it not been featured in trailers.

What annoyed people was that all the trailers seemed to suggest that Jeff Goldblum would feature more in the film than he ultimately did. He appears at some senate committee at the beginning and the end but that's about it. He’s probably on screen for 2 minutes in total but that's it. Also a problem is that they use the nostalgia stuff in this film in a less interesting way to the previous one. We have the kid in the small space as a dinosaur approaches them and a few other things that just felt like they were using it this time to distract you.

That's not to say that there aren't good moments. My favourite comes when Maisie is hiding in the bed as the dinosaur is hunting her. It’s got atmosphere and its well done and its one of the few moments that's felt like there was any major thought put into this film. The final 30 minutes of the film feels like it has some energy to it but by this point the film had shown it wasnt going to be as good as the previous JW film.

The ending of this film does feel like someone watched the Matt Reeves Planet of the Apes trilogy as at the end of the film all the dinosaurs are on the mainland and are running free which will be the main plot of the next Jurassic World film. To be fair it was a great way to end the film and acts as a nice teaser for the Dominion. Overall I found this to be a big step down in terms of quality and enjoyment. Things were there that kept my attention but it never had any impact that the previous film had. I think that despite the best efforts of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, the film feels like a load of different things cobbled together and as a result its disappointing to watch. Not terrible but not great either.

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War is the beginning of the end. The first Avengers film was a big success with 2015’s Age of Ultron being a disappointment. It's tricky to make Avengers movies work because there are so many different elements to put together and if the story isn't very good then the whole thing can go wrong. This is the first part of two (the second part coming next year) and comes in at 2 hours and 34 minutes which is the longest of the Avengers movies.

The opening scene might be one of the best opening 10 minutes or so that I have seen in a Marvel film. Thor and Loki versus Thanos which sees Loki killed by Thanos’ bare hand. This is the Russo Brothers way of saying this is what you can expect from these two films.

Thanos is perhaps the best villain that has ever featured in a Marvel film and that's partly because he has been involved one way or another in all the plots of the Marvel films and that alone makes him feel like the epic final boss. There is also the fact that he doesn't want the stones and the gauntlet to be a dictator but because he wants to bring balance to the universe and all he wants to do after that is rest. Literally the last shot of the film is him at peace and that makes it hard to 100% dislike him.

There are a couple of things that I am not so keen on. The Vision/Wanda portion of the film wasn't particularly interesting although it was fun seeing it filmed in Edinburgh. I know a lot of people might like it but the bickering between Tony Stark and Doctor Strange really did annoy me. I couldn't wait for the story to move away from them. Sometimes Robert Downey Jr.’s humour works but it felt like a bit of a misfire in this film.

I did like the relationship between Thanos and Gamora. It’s the thing that I found the most interesting aspect of the film. Yes everyone is going to be excited for all the characters to meet up again and in some cases for the first time but I think that this felt like something important and substantial. That is why when Thanos throws Gamora off the cliff to make the sacrifice it was a shocking moment and felt for the first time like there were some high stakes involved.

The moment when Thanos gets all his stones and clicks his fingers leading to half of humanity being wiped out is a fantastic moment and as it has been something that Marvel have been building up to for a decade, it didn't disappoint. It came after a long and very well set up fight on Wakanda and

Despite being two and a half hours long and part one of two, I felt like it was the perfect running time. Everyone got their time on screen and got something to do. It didn't feel like they were rushing things or struggling for things to do. It’s one of those rare instances where the run time was perfect. The only real downside to the film is that we will have to wait a year to see how this all pans out. The film does what it needs to do and does it very well. Time will tell if it was worth it.

Tomb Raider (2018)

The Tomb Raider video games are brilliant. I can remember playing them when I was growing up and there is a cheesiness to the Angelina Jolie movies that came out in the early 2000’s. Lara Croft underwent a change and she became a grittier searcher of ancient artifacts. Alicia Vikander takes on the role and is the ideal choice compared to the Lara Croft in the current video game series.

Lara at the start is acting like she is poor as she is in a boxing club and does not have the funds to pay but is doing courier work to pay the bills. The reason that she doesn't want to collect her inheritance is because she doesn't want to admit her father is dead even though he’s been gone for seven years. Lara is on a journey to discover the location of Himiko’s tomb. Himiko is the mythical Queen of Yamatai who is said to command the power over life and death

I do think that Vikander does make a good Lara Croft. She pulls off the action scenes very well and whilst she wouldn't have been my first choice to play the role, she more than proved the doubters wrong. Despite the weird way the character was written at the beginning, when she becomes the Lara we know then Vikander can show why she was the right choice. Credit has to go to Uthaug for making an action film whilst still remaining true (visually at least) to the source material. It did feel in several shots like they could have been lifted from the game.

The issue with the film though is that the first half of it is quite good but then the film just descends into a sort of film that we have seen many times before. There is a hint of Indiana Jones but it never felt like it was doing anything new or exciting. It was going through all the beats that we would expect from the Tomb Raider games but not delivering it in a way which felt fresh. I wanted to like this film far more than I actually did and despite the attention to detail to the game and how good Vikander was, it did feel like a missed opportunity and its difficult to say if there are going to be any more movies.

All the Money in the World (2017)

All the Money in the World is based on a true story but the more interesting news about this film is the fact that just six weeks before it was due to be released, Ridley Scott chose to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer so that the film would be released. The film tells the story of Jean-Paul Getty Jr who is kidnapped and held for a $17 million ransom but his grandfather Jean-Paul Getty who at this time is the richest man in the world wont pay a penny. Mark Wahlberg is tasked with finding him.

There’s a moment at the beginning of the film where Plummer tells a story about a Minotaur statue is worth $1.2 million but later on when Michelle Williams wants to sell it to raise some money realises that they are sold in a gift shop. This is quite a downbeat moment just when you think things are starting to go well. There is always a sense that Wahlberg and Williams are just one step behind finding Getty Jr. If I had one issue is that I think it drags on a little bit too long.

The performances are astonishing. I think that Christopher Plummer is the star of this film and bearing in mind how little time he had to prepare for this role, its amazing that the performances as the way it is. Imagine what he could have done if he had been given more time. I like the character because he is obsessed with money and there is a great scene where he is talking about how he spent an hour negotiating with some market trader just to save a couple of dollars. Mark Walhberg is one of those actors who has a rather chequered career. When he’s bad he is in films like The Happening and when he’s good, he is in films like this. Michelle Williams also deserves a lot of credit because she spends 80% of the movie being looking for her son so there aren’t any laughs to be had.

This isnt the sort of film you would expect Ridley Scott to direct really. Its very grounded in reality and when you think of Ridley Scott you think Alien or The Martian or something other worldly. Despite this being one of the most grounded films I think he has ever done, its still a brilliantly told story and Scott does a good job of increasing the tension as the film progresses. I would like to see the Kevin Spacey version just to see how different it would be but I think that the decision to replace Spacey was the right one so that the film could be released but also that Plummer was brilliant and made the film even better. This is a brilliant film and I think it might be one of Ridley Scott’s best films. Not quite on par with Alien but pretty close.

The Post (2018)

The Post tells the story of the Washington Post newspaper trying to publish a story about the pentagon papers. Meryl Streep play Kay who is the owner of the Washington Post and Tom Hanks as Ben who is the executive editor. The poster is simply those two which is perhaps all the marketing that you need and when you add Steven Spielberg to the mix then you have a film that naturally sells itself.

Even though this has a very impressive cast including Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford and Bruce Greenwood just to name a few, the film and story really centre around Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. Streep’s performance of Kay is very similar to Margaret Thatcher in ‘The Iron Lady’, it was a little distracting at times but I did think it still a good performance as someone who wants to do the right think but is being told to squash the story for the sake of her paper. Tom Hanks’ Ben is someone that drives the story and is very excited with what is about to happen and is very confident in what the paper has to do so is the opposite of Kay.

The film is essentially people talking in rooms and the fact that Spielberg manages to make this work shows how good of a director he is. This film would be a great double feature with the 1976 film ‘All the Presidents Men’, this film enda at the point where All the Presidents Men starts and this was almost certainly by design.

The Post isn't the sort of film that you would think off when you say Steven Spielberg but that doesn't mean that its any less of a film than say the Indiana Jones film and yet The Post is a very well told story that isn't perhaps the most exciting story but is done in a way that is dramatic and at times quite tense. I enjoyed The Post and think its worth watching although it might not be in Spielberg’s top 10.