Fantastic Creatures - and where to find them. (2016) J.K Rowling's Harry Potter spin-off takes us back in time and across the Atlantic, as Eddy Redmayne tries to round up and protect the eponymous beasts - and various immigrant humans - from the fearful bigotry of the muggle population - and a scheming wizard. Splendid realisation and a subtle inclusive message.
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015 Thomas Vinterberg). I think this adaptation of Hardy’s novel is superior in many ways to the 1967 John Schlesinger film. Carrie Mulligan’s reading of Bathsheba is very good, less flirtatious than Julie Christie’s, less impulsive and more emancipated. Bathsheba’s ongoing relationship with Gabriel (Matthias Schoenaerts) properly reflects her growing maturity. However, Tom Sturridge who plays Sgt. Troy lacks the intelligence and charisma of Terry Stamp’s earlier incarnation. Michael Sheen presents a more sympathetic Boldwood than Peter Finch. Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen images are lustrous, with misty mornings, honey blessed sunny days, unsentimental sunsets and the essential rolling landscapes, honouring Hardy’s love of the country. It is thoughtfully Directed, beautifully shot, and with a good score. See my article my pick of movies from 2015, posted 2016.
Far from the Madding Crowd (2015 Thomas Vinterberg). I think this adaptation of Hardy’s novel is superior in many ways to the 1967 John Schlesinger film. Carrie Mulligan’s reading of Bathsheba is very good, less flirtatious than Julie Christie’s, less impulsive and more emancipated. Bathsheba’s ongoing relationship with Gabriel (Matthias Schoenaerts) properly reflects her growing maturity. However, Tom Sturridge who plays Sgt. Troy lacks the intelligence and charisma of Terry Stamp’s earlier incarnation. Michael Sheen presents a more sympathetic Boldwood than Peter Finch. Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen images are lustrous, with misty mornings, honey blessed sunny days, unsentimental sunsets and the essential rolling landscapes, honouring Hardy’s love of the country. It is thoughtfully Directed, beautifully shot, and with a good score. See my article my pick of movies from 2015, posted 2016.
Fearless. (1993 Peter Weir) Jeff Bridges, Isabella
Rossellini and Rosie Perez. Two people survive an airplane crash, one of them,
Carla (Rosie Perez) loses her child and cannot stop blaming herself. The other,
Max Klein (Jeff Bridges,) loses his fear of dying and cannot stop pushing the
limits. Is he a Christ like hero, bringing healing to others, or a broken man
who cannot be healed until he faces his own needs? Gareth Higgins raises that
question and goes to write ' Max Klein thinks that he has been transformed
by the plane crash - he says "I walked away from that crash with my life -
the taste ands touch and beauty of life'" but he is only really in limbo
until he acknowledges his need for salvation. In acknowledging his need for his
partner - the one who loves and knows him best - he can learn to live with his
extraordinary experience in a way that allows it to make sense without
destroying him ore those around him' (How Movies Saved My Soul p 73f). The
slow final reconstruction of the plane crash - accompanied by Gorecki's 3rd
Symphony - is amazing and moving, and so, for me, is the film. Compare it with
American Beauty?
The
Fearless Vampire Killers (1967 Polanski) in which
Alfie Bass, when confronted by a defensive crucifix, gloats over his hapless
victim, telling him (in an exaggerated Jewish accent) ‘Oy vey, have
you got the wrong vampire!’ Great fun, with Sharon Tate. See The Plight of the Vampire 2014 for
an overview of the genre.
First Blood. (1982 Ted Kotcheff) Yes this is the
first of the Rambo movies, and yes the rest of them were truly dreadful, but
here John Rambo is a traumatised ands tragic figure desocialised by the
violence he trained for, executed and suffered in Vietnam. How they got to the
sequels from here beats me. A good way to unsettle teenage boys (or men) who
want to glorify violence.
A Fish Called Wanda. (1988 Charles
Crichton) Cleese's most humane creation, and Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Kline
playing hilariously together. Well worth watching again simply for its own
sake.
The Fisher King. (1991
Terry Gilliam) Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams, Mercedes Reuhl and Amanda
Plummer explore the Christ-like legend of the Fisher King in New York, or the
Jeff Bridges character learns to grow up the hard way in the company of a holy
fool, while a wise woman waits patiently in the wings. This is a Terry Gilliam
movie, so extravagance, visual and dramatic flair and a touch of madness are to
be expected.
Flaming Star. (1960 Don Siegel). Elvis Presley
starred in this Civil War Western melodrama about divided loyalties, but it
could just as easily have been Marlon Brando. A solemn and unusual western with
a down beat ending, and sadly unique in the Presley oeuvre.
Flight of the Navigator. (1986 Randolf
Kleiser) David is 12 years old, but is 8 years late for dinner and everyone
wants to know why. The answer lies in
one of the most beautiful space ships you have ever seen. When I played this
for 10- 12 year olds the adults were enraptured. Simple things are not to be despised.
The Flowers of War. (2011 Zhang Yimou)
Yimou's first film with a European star, this film is set in the 1937
Japanese invasion, and based on the true story of an unlikely hero, played
by Christian Bale, who rescues a bunch
of schoolgirls from death, and a fate worse than.
Fly Away Home (1996 Carrol Ballard) is a parable, a
meditation on loss and love, an adventure in which a young girl adopts and
mothers a flock of goslings, - and then has to lead their flight across America
to the breeding site. It is also, it seems, a true story. Jeff Daniels and Anna
Paquin do well.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007 Cristian Mungliu) Cannes Palme d’Or. It
seems that the more serious the political and ethical implications of a film
the more directors such as Mungliu try not to beat us over the head with the
message. Hollywood, this aint. Good it is.
Frankenstein (2011
Danny Boyle) is the filmed National Theatre’s live broadcast. Release was delayed for a couple of years
because (it seems) they could not decide
which version to release as Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Jones
swapped the roles of Doctor Frankenstein and his Creature nightly. Eventually the version with Cumberbatch as
the Creature was chosen and his sheer physicality is a revelation. The staging prefigured Boyle’s Olympic
Opening Ceremony in many splendid ways. However, I am still waiting for
the DVD. See…..
The Full Monty. (1997 Peter Cattaneo).
Simon Beaufoy, the scriptwriter, said the film's 'politics centre on the
disenfranchisement of working class men. I get particularly pleased when people
comment on the sadness at the heart of the film.'
The Funeral (1996 Abel Ferrera) A gangland movie
with Christopher Walken, Isabella Rossellini and Benicio del Toro, as overblown
and intellectually facile, or as morally challenging and dramatic as the rest
of Ferrera's output. Discus. Whichever you decide, Ferrera is a very serious
movie maker with deep spiritual questions to ask.
Gone Girl (2014 David Fincher) Rosalind Pyke and Ben Affleck
give subtly ambiguous performances in Gillian Flynn’s adaptation of
her best selling novel. This is a dark
and engaging thriller. See my article Don’t
Tell Tem your Name, Pike, 2014.
Gorillas in the Midst. (1988 Michael Apted)
Sigourney Weaver plays Dian Fosse in the true story of her crusade to protect
the Rwandan mountain gorillas with a devotion that eventually cost her life.
This is a fine, honest and moving film about a determined and courageous woman
- and there are still not enough of them about, films that is, not determined
women!
The Grand Hotel Budapest. (2014
Wes Anderson) An intricately designed
comedy, as lovely as a Faberge egg, with Ralph Fiennes exercising and
relishing his comedy chops amidst the usual Anderson repertory company of stars. See my article Enjoy your stay at The Grand Budapest Hotel 2014.
Gravity. (2014 Alejandro González
Iñárritu) I resisted the DVD for a long time as I did not want to
diminish the original experience of seeing this film on a large cinema screen
by recreating it on my 42" TV. But I was
wrong. This movie is as much about inner space as outer space. The
spectacular special effects achieved in the making of the film rather
obscured this aspect when I first saw it. Gravity started
with a story. A very human story. It is a story that happens
to take place in space. It could be happening right above our
heads at this moment. This is not futuristic science fiction.
It is about as close to present day science fact as the Director could
make it. But the genre is secondary to the story, to
the deeply human story. It is not a complex story, and it may not be
profound, but not all stories have to be complex or profound. For some
of us Hemingway's most powerful novel is his shortest and simplest, The Old
Man and the Sea. This story is relevant and rings true. It is
also life affirming, and at the end of the day - or the end of movie - that is
a quality most dear to me. Not the typical and cynical Hollywood 'feel
good factor' but more like the feeling we sometimes find in D H Lawrence's poetry,
that 'we have come through', and our humanity has not
been diminished by the trials and sacrifices we have witnessed
but has somehow been deepened. See my
articles With
Great Gravity, 2013, Gravity
revisited and reappraised. 2015.
The Great Gatsby. (2013 Baz
Luhrmann). Daisy Buchanan and Jay
Gatsby may be bathed in a romantic light in our hearts and minds. The Great Gatsby was last filmed in
1974 with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow playing the leads, and the film was
very much a tragic romance, starring two of the most popular romantic leads of
the time. But a film maker, paying close attention to the text from
which they sprang, may see, and portray them in a less flattering light. Leonardo DeCaprio’s performance seems to have suffered in some
people’s eyes by being less romantic than Redford’s and his character’s morality
more open to question. The essential question is, of course, which
characterization is truer to the book? We should be careful not to adopt
the values and judgments of a narrator. Nick may well hero worship
Jay, be dazzled by him and want to hang on to his ‘values’, but Fitzgerald does not. This is not Nick’s
story. It is a story he tells, and tells it the way he sees it, the only
way he can, but he is inevitably an unreliable narrator. Fitzgerald did not write to praise the Jazz
Age, but to bury it. He and Zelda were also its victims, and Gatsby
shows us why any of us might also have fallen for it, given the
opportunity.
Fitzgerald told his daughter Scottie that The Great Gatsby
is a political sermon. Gatsby
is prophetic, written before the Fall, as it were. I think ’s Gatsby
is among the very best – and most accurate – translations of any book to the
screen, and if anyone feels let down by I recommend they go back to the text
and see what F. Scott Fitzgerald was really saying – and not just how he was
saying it. See my article Baz
is the Man for a Great Gatsby. 2013.
Gremlins. (1984 Joe Dante) A simple and urgently
relevant morality tale about stewardship and ecology - if that's how you see
it. Gizmo is a delightful creature and the ultimate pet, as long you keep three
simple rules Break these, and all hell breaks loose.
Grosse Point Blank (1997 George Armitage).
Hilarious thriller and love story. John Cusack is the very professional
assassin returning to his High School re-union to find his lost love (Minnie
Driver) and maybe himself. Alan Arkin plays his terrified shrink- before
Analyse That! build a whole film round the same idea.
Groundhog Day (1993. Harold Ramis) If today was the
last day of my life what would I want to do with it? Bill Murray runs through
most of the options, as his only/last day is repeated over and over again until
he finds a way to be a better, happier human being. He has only one day; We
have only one life. Thank goodness the film is so funny!
The Guard, (2011) written and
directed by J M McDonagh, and starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Rory
Keenan and Mark Strong. This was shot around my beloved Galway Bay, Gleeson’s
homeland, and he plays the local Police - or Garde - sergeant, caught up in a
drug plot being investigated by the FBI agent played by Cheadle (who also
played such in Traffic). This is a culture-clash comedy, a buddy movie,
a comedy caper, and utterly unPC. I loved it.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) is a fun Marvel superhero team movie, but the team is very different, including a Tree (Groot) and a modified Racoon alongside Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista (later the very heavy heavy in SPECTRE). Fun, fast and family friendly. A sequel is promised.
Hannah (2011) See my article Go, go, read your Perrault!
Happy (2011) a documentary Directed by Roko Belic, produced by Tom Shadyak. Shadyac was the writer, director and/or
producer of many box office hits (Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty,
the two Nutty Professor movies, Patch Adams and Evan
Almighty.) After 12 yeas of hits
he was living in a mansion on
14 acres, with 30 people working for him as gardeners, chefs. But he
wondered if he was more happy than his
gardener and his housekeeper. Tom
sold his mansion and art work, moved into a trailer, funded a charity for the homeless and set out
in pursuit of happiness. His journey included directing the
documentary I Am and producing Happy.
Here in County Clare for the last three years we have used these two films as
part of our annual Happiness Project, marking the United Nations Day of
Happiness. The response has been very positive – and
productive. Feedback from showing Happy led us to organize a
week of eight activities in May 2014, twice the number of events in
2015 and 27 in 2016.
Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire. ( 2005 Mike Newell) Best of the series,
darker and more complex. 'The times is coming, Harry. when you will have to
chose between the easy and the good' says a worried Prof Dumbledore, but
Lord Voldemorte admits that there is only one force more powerful than evil;
love. See my article Top Grossing Movies and what they say to us. 2016.
Harry Potter; the Deathly Hallows part 2.(2011) in which David Yates ‘brings the closure
that Potter fans have been seeking and dreading – something they and Harry have
in common.’ (BFI) For years I assured parents worried about the
‘witchcraft’ element that this series was simply a morality tale about the
victory of good over evil, of love over hatred, and Harry did not win his
battles by being a better magician than Voldemort, but by the courage and
loyalty of his friends (and Hermione doing her homework!). The question was
never 'will Harry defeat Voldemort', but how? Now we know that J K Rowling was
a Christian all along, but she did not publicize it. If I had, she said,
everyone would work out the ending which is thoroughly Christological.
Her (2013 Spike Jonze)
An intelligent vision of a possible future interface between humans and
AI. In it Joaquin Phoenix gave an amazingly understated
and effective performance as a man who falls in love with his advanced AI
Operating System, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. I think this movie has real theological undertones, as this OS becomes increasingly omnipresent
and omniscient. It (she?) begins to
have compassionate empathy with her clients, and how different is this from
love? From God?
Hero (2000 Zhang Yimou) The most subversive Chinese
director takes the whole martial arts movie genre apart at the seams, and uses
its prime exponents to do so. Amidst the grace, beauty and excitement each of
the differently coloured versions of the same story gives us a different
perspective on what it is to be human. A revelation. (See my article Unraveling
the rainbow in Hero 2011 and The
rainbow revisited 2013).
Hidden/Cache. (2004 Michael Haneke.) Daniel Auteuile
and Juliette Binoche display unglamorous talent in this deeply subversive film
as it slowly reveals the long term effects of the racism and violence the State
- and public- would rather forget. It is also raises philosophical questions
about the role - and responsibility - of the observer.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. (2005
Garth Jennings) How good it is to see a big ( = American) budget used to bring
high class British comedy to the screen without having to compromise too much
for the US market (see also Wallace & Grommet). Marvin the paranoid android is wonderfully
created. Sermon point: The good Christian, like the wise hitchhiker, always
carries a towel; if only metaphorically, because we ought to be ready to wash
feet at any opportunity.
The Hollow Crown, is the BBC
Bard project, filming Richard II, Henry IV (parts I and II) and V.
directed by Rupert Goold, Richard Eyre and Thea Sharrock. This is
terrific Shakespeare, with fabulous casting: Ben Wishaw, Jeremy Irons, Tom
Hiddleston, Simon Russell Beale, Patrick Stewart, John Hurt, Julie Walters,
Maxine Peake
It was followed in 2016 by Henry VI parts 1 and 2, building up to Richard III with Benedict
Cumberbatch. Magnificent.
Hook. (1991 Spielberg) Let's forget about
appropriate models of leadership and parental anxiety and just let it pick us
up and sweep us along, enjoying Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Bob Hoskins
having the time of their lives. If you want to switch on your brain, or your
Youth Leaders, think about the 'is he
really Peter?' sequence and the imaginary feast.
Hope Springs, (2012 David Frankel) Meryl
Streep and Tommy Lee Jones delight in a gentle and funny exploration of
middle-aged love falling victim to habit and fatigue (See my
article Hope Springs 2012).
The House of Flying Daggers. ( 2004 Zhang Yimou).
Asia is currently producing the most visually beautiful movies in the world,
and this is high among them. Ask
yourself, when did you see such gorgeous images in a European or American
movie? This is very different to Zhang's previous film Hero, being a
love story, or rather two love stories, but once more he exploits his native
Chinese cinema's narrative traditions and then subverts them brilliantly.
Hugo (2012 Martin Scorsese) A
children's adventure turns into an exploration of the earliest days of cinema,
but carries us along all the way. See films of 2012.
The Hunger Games (2012 and onwards) I am glad that Young Adult films do not have
to be simplistic – or non-political. Here we have four movies that boast high
production values, great casting and meaty content. I think the last two were less satisfying
that the first two, but still worth watching.
The Hurt Locker (2009 Katherine
Bigelow) See films of the year 2009.
I Am. (2010 Tom Shadyak). Shadyac was the writer, director and/or
producer of many box office hits (Ace Ventura, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty,
the two Nutty Professor movies, Patch Adams and Evan
Almighty.) After 12 yeas of hits
he was living in a mansion on
14 acres, with 30 people working for him as gardeners, chefs. But he
wondered if he was more happy than his
gardener and his housekeeper. Tom sold his mansion and art work,
moved into a trailer, funded a charity
for the homeless and set out in pursuit of happiness. His journey
included making two documentaries, I Am and Happy.
Here in County Clare for the last three years we have used these two films as
part of our annual Happiness Project, marking the United Nations Day of
Happiness. The response has been very positive – and
productive. Feedback from showing Happy led us to organize a
week of eight activities in May 2014, twice the number of events in
2015 and 27 this year.
I Am Love (2009) see Movies of 2010.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Terry
Gilliam 2009) See films of the year 2009
The Imitation Game (2014 Morren Tyldum) provided Benedict Cumberbatch with an
opportunity to show that he can play brilliant men with social difficulties in
very different ways. His Alan Turing was vulnerable as well as
arrogant. The only thing I did not like was the awkward
framing device, but at last the story of this brave man, tragically mistreated
by the government of his time, has been told on screen.
In The Mood For Love (2000 Wong
Kar-Wai) stars Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. Set in 1960’s Hong Kong it
tells of Su and Chou, who move into neighbouring flats. Each
has a spouse who works long hours. Each of them nurses suspicions
about their own spouse's fidelity, and when they meet they come to the
conclusion that their partners have been seeing each other. In
their isolation they are drawn closer together. In November 2009
Time Out -New York ranked this film as the fifth-best of the decade,
calling it the "consummate unconsummated love story of the new
millennium." It was followed by 2046, which I found much less
satisfying, but you may not.
Inception (Chris Nolan 2011) See Toy Story 3
and Inception.
The Incredibles (2004 Brad Bird) A
terrific witty exciting knowing flash bang wallop of a movie with animation and
characterisation so good that we stop thinking of it as animation. The super-gifted
family have to hide their abilities from a blaming society until they are
really needed again. Meanwhile their superkid is told that everyone is special
- and retorts 'so that means no-one is
special'. And if everyone is loved by God?
Indian Jones and the Last Crusade (1989
Steven Spielberg) For me this is the best of the Indiana movies, as his father,
Sean Connery guides him to find the Holy Grail of enlightenment. The
Harrison/Connery combination and competition is deliciously funny, and it certainly
opens up questions of faith (crossing the void) and the meaning of the search
and Grail.
Interstellar. (Christopher Nolan), I enjoyed the scope and heart of this movie and thought
that much of the negative criticism it attracted was misplaced. For
sure it was not The Dark Night or Inception, but I remember
that when someone asked Joseph Heller why he had not produced another novel as
good as Catch 22 he replied ‘Why hasn’t anybody?’ It is a really thoughtful movie, with
ecological implications, terrific SX and engaging characters.
Into The Woods. (2015 Rob
Marshall) This is the film of Steven
Sondheim’s well-loved musical, in classic favourite fairy tales are
deconstructed with wit and insight.
Meryl Streep is magnificent. She takes the role of the
Witch by the throat and utterly owns it. Emily Blunt is the
Baker’s Wife, James Corden (OBE) gives his usual seemingly effortless
performance as the Baker. Chris Pine is charming, of course,
as the Prince who falls for Cinderella. Anna Kendrick says she
expected to be cast as Red Riding Hood rather than Cinderella and I can
see why she is not the obvious choice, but she carries it well. Johnny
Depp is the Wolf, and I almost wish they had followed the dual casting
used in earlier stage productions by doubling the roles of Wolf and Prince –
and for me it would be Chris Pine who got the jobs .
Disney only (!) spend $50 million on this movie, but it really
is all up there on the screen. The sets, design, cinematography and
recording are first class. It lacks the intimacy and
emotional resonance of the stage show, but is well worth seeing anyway. See my
article Something lost in the Woods? 2015.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. (1955 Don Siegel)
This original could be as pertinent to today's America as to its original
target, the Senator McCarthy' drive to purge everything UnAmerican and impose
conformism. It might be fun to compare with the 1978 remake starring Donald
Sutherland, and Abel Ferrera's 1993 version, Body Snatchers.
Irma Vep. (1996 Olivier Assayas). A low budget
French art house film about the making of a low budget French art house film homage
to the classic silent movie Les Vampires. Maggie Cheung played herself. Maggie, as Maggie, a stranger in a strange land, trying to
work out what the hell is going on, and is wonderful. Amazingly the film works. And Irma Vep
is of course an anagram of...
I've Loved You So Long. (2009 Philippe
Claudel) Kirstin Scott Thomas plays a woman released from prison after 15
years, trying to rebuild her life and relationship with her sister. (In French
with subtitles)see Films of the year 2011.
Jesus of Montreal (1989 Denys Arcand).
French Canadian, subtitles, starring no-one most people had ever heard of then,
this film is about the devising and performance of a Passion play by a group of
impro-actors; a version that proves too hard for the church to swallow, or for
the actors to stop feeding into their own lives. Well worth seeing if you don't
know it.
The Jewel of the Nile. (1985 Lewis Teague)
I prefer this sequel to 'Romancing the
Stone' with Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny de Vito in a helter
skelter rom-com romp set in North Africa and concerning a vary different
messianic figure.
Jude. (1996 Michael Winterbottom) From Thomas
Hardy's novel, with Kate Winslet and Christopher Ecclestone. 'The films intellectual, emotional and
spiritual aspirations are daunting' said Sight & Sound, and some
critics didn't think it fulfilled them; but there is still plenty to grapple
with and performances to appreciate.
Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. (1993 and 2015, Steven Spielberg). Jurassic Park warned us against
our scientific and technological arrogance. Both of these
Jurassic movies told us that we do not in fact dominate nature. We
are not as clever as we think we are. The Jurassic
monsters were not monstrous. They were simply being themselves,
dinosaurs being dinosaurs. The fault lay not in them but in
ourselves, creating them as Victor Frankenstein created a being he saw as
monstrous too. See Top Grossing movies article 2016.
Kingdom of Heaven. (2005 Ridley Scott). The Church Times Editorial for
Epiphany said that "Christians are ....seekers after truth, and take
their place alongside Muslims, Hindus, Jews and all others who ask for
spiritual strength to participate more fully in the enterprise that Christians
call the Kingdom" This film has
been seen by some Christians and Muslims as a helpful part of the current
debate, with its condemnation of Crusade and its willingness to find wisdom and
good will on either side of the so called holy war, even if the misuse of
religion turns people against their faith. A very well intentioned film. There
is a ‘Director’s cut’ with much added footage, well worth the extra time.
Kundun (1998 Martin Scorsese) A NY Catholic boy with a taste for the Grande guignol films the early life of the
Dalai Lama? Yes, sumptuously, but profoundly aware of the tragedy.
The Lady in the Van (2015 Nicolas Hytner) Dame Maggie Smith ‘becomes’ Miss
Shepherd, the woman who lived on Allan Bennett’s front drive for fifteen years
in a series of camper vans. We see two Bennett’s, one of them
living the life, the other observing it and writing – or not writing – about
it. Bennett has written the testy interior dialogue and Alex
Jennings plays out both wonderfully. See my article The Dame in
the Van 2015.
Ladyhawke (1985 Richard Donner) A medieval
magical mishmash for a younger audience, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger
Hauer as star-crossed - or rather Bishop becursed - lovers saved by Matthew
Broderick and Rumpole (sorry- Leo McKern) The running commentary is the
Broderick's ongoing conversation with God, which makes most prayers sound like
legalistic gobbledegook.
The Last Starfighter. (1984 Nick Castle)
The future of the civilised universe (which does not yet include us) depends on
the extraordinary gift possessed by an otherwise ordinary teenager living in a
mid-American trailer park. Dare he trust his talent? Sharp, witty, so much less
portentous than Star Wars and with a
better female lead role.
The Last Temptation of Christ. (1988 Martin
Scorsese) The pre-release furore by
pre-outraged Christians obscured the serious intent of this attempt to film
Kazantzakis's novel. Scorsese had spent decades trying to get it made, and it
is well shot and acted, but maybe too long and wordy to do justice to the idea.
Worth using as part of an ‘images of
Jesus season’ however, along with Jesus of Montreal, The Life of Brian, the
Gospel according to Matthew and
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2005 Liam Lunson)
This is more than just a concert of Leonard Cohen songs, sung by devoted
admirers including Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, the Wainwright and McGarrigle
siblings, Beth Orton, Linda Thompson, and U2. It also provides
Cohen's own memories and reflections
Les Miserable. (2015 Tom Hooper) Out of sheer curiosity and in pursuit of
critical integrity I did go to see Les Mis. Other wise known as
The Glums. And I was very impressed - by the acting - Hugh
Jackman working so hard and heroically, I think Ann Hathaway
deserved her BAFTA, (if not her Oscar) and
of course by the directing, production design, photography and sound. However…. the music in Les Mis seems
to me to be stridently sentimental, banal and so, so lazy. I know
that many people are deeply moved by the score, but if you are one of them can
you imagine what it is like for those of us who are not? I also Boublil and Schonberg, who wrote the
stage show got the history - and Zola’s
take on it, badly wrong. Thank God for
Sasha Baron-Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter, the only light in the
heaviness.
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfreson 2009)
See Films of the year 2009.
A Life Less Ordinary. (1997 Danny Boyle.)
Ewan MacGregor, Cameron Diaz and Holly Hunter in a surreal comedy romance about
kidnapping and angels.
The Life of Brian. (1979 Terry Jones)
Python's infamous, hilarious and accurate attack on religiosity and half a
dozen other worthy targets - in fact just about everything apart from Jesus
Christ. There are so many good points to pick up on if you enjoy Python's
essentially public school humour. I think the crucifixion scene could only be
filmed by people who see death as a
penultimate reality – and therefor a proper subject for laughter. (See
Bonhoefffer and discuss.)
Life is Sweet. (1990 Mike Leigh) An
hilarious and humane slice of life with Alison Steadman (of course) Jim
Broadbent, Jane Horrocks, Claire Skinner, Stephen Rea and Timothy Spall, as one
family suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous adolescence and life, but
manages to do more than survive.
The Life of Pi (2013 Ang
Lee) based on Yann Martel's Booker Prize-winning
novel, this is first and foremost a spiritual journey as the young Pi
learns to put his faith in God during or because of his amazing story of
shipwreck and survival. At the end of
the film we are presented with an alternative story, one that may sound much
more likely than the tale of the boy and the tiger, and we are asked ‘which
do we prefer.’ Not believe, but prefer. Some stories are true, factually.
Some stories are truthful, they carry meanings that can be trusted even
if they are not factual. We call some of these stories myths, and
some we call parables. Could the Life of Pi be a
parable? See my study notes for
the movie, 2013.
Live Die Repeat.
See The Edge of Tomorrow.
The Lives of Others. (2006 von
Donnersmark) See my articles The Lives of
Others; a STASI fable or a human truth? 2011.
London Spy. (BBC 2015 Tom Rob Smith's script, Jakob
Verbruggen's direction) If I was a
parent, relative or friend of the late Gareth Williams I might be rather
upset by the BBC five part drama, London Spy. Why?
Because Mr. Williams’ life and unhappy death seem to mirror those of
Alex, one of the main characters in London Spy. In 2010 Mr. Williams went missing and
was found dead in his smart London apartment in very suspicious
circumstances. His body was crammed in a sports holdall.
Williams was a code-breaking genius, working for MI6. He had
gone to University when he was 13, and been recruited by GCHQ in his
teens. Williams’ flat was full of women’s clothing and
wigs. It was alleged he was a transvestite. There
were suspicions that his flat had been either cleaned up, or 'dressed' by
secret agents after his death. Both the British and Russian
Secret Services were suspected of illegal involvement. Most of
this is mirrored in London Spy. See my article London Spy, Fact or Fiction, 2015.
The Lone Ranger (2013 Jerry Bruckenhiem) How is that the Pirates
of the Caribbean franchise can sprawl over ten hours of
self-indulgent weak plotting and hapless jokes, and take hods of cash, but The
Lone Ranger, which also has Johnny Depp and the same producer, director and
writers as most of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (Bruckenhiem,
Gore Verbinski, Justin Haythe and Ted Elliot) and is just one
self-contained film (admittedly over-long but much less indulgent), is funnier and in many ways more
diverting, has failed at the box office and in most critics
eyes? I was late coming to it, waiting for the DVD, and I
have to report that I was not in any way underwhelmed. I
enjoyed it. See my article Hi
Ho Silver Lining 2013.
Looper (2012)
Great fun, great performances.
From the team who made Brick, see films of 2012.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy has inspired generations, and the
films held true to the virtues of the book. I am
sure we do not need to rehearse the moral qualities of the protagonists or the
corruption of the antagonists. However, it has been said that
many of the characters match each other in a Jungian/Toaist manner, that each
creature of light has a corresponding creature of darkness – or that within
some of them there is at least a struggle between light and
dark. Gollum of course most poignantly displays this ongoing
struggle, and I find it interesting that people seem to instinctively
sympathize with him in ways they do not with the corrupted
Suraman. Of course the true heroes are not the highborn and
powerful, the magical and mighty, but the lowly Hobbits.
Courage, fidelity, integrity and self-sacrifice win the day. The
battles are merely side shows to the main event, the journey, almost a
pilgrimage, that finally destroys the binding Ring of Power.
Mad Max Beyond ThunderDome (1985 George Miller)
I love the design and the witty use of Tina Turner, but most of all the liturgy
the colony of children use to keep alive their story and hope of salvation. Try
producing something like that for all age worship telling of our gospel!
Mad Max Fury Road. (2015
George Miller). Max came back in
style, with hardly any CGI but wonderful stunts, Charlize Theron as a real feminist Road Warrior. Tom Hardy fills the Gibson boots, pulls
back from the madness, and is a hero for our times. As the Roger Ebert web-site review says “Fury
Road is a challenge to a whole generation of action filmmakers, urging them to
follow its audacious path into the genre’s future and, like Miller, try their
hardest to create something new.” See my
article and the Road Warrior is now a woman! Mad Max Fury Road 2015.
Magnolia (1999 Paul Thomas Anderson) the dying Jason
Robarts played a dying man, Tom Cruise played a deeply unattractive human
being, William H Macy played an everyman loser (again?) and Julianne Moore,
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, John C Reilly added to an amazing
cast in this complex and challenging movie. It will either inspire you or hugely irritate
you, but hang on for its ‘plague of frogs’ ending, and ask what kind of
liberation (if any) these characters have experienced. And where, if anywhere, is God?
Maleficent (2014 Robert Stomberg) is a retelling of The Sleeping Beauty
as a psycho-drama, dominated by Angelina Jolie as the mutilated fairy
queen who seeks wreak revenge on her abuser. This film is built
round the back-story of the fairy queen Maleficent, done wrong by an all too
human and insufficiently humane man. We see how she was not
only betrayed but also mutilated by the ‘man who would be king’, the one
who had given her what he said was the ‘kiss of true love’ on her sixteenth
birthday. It was not only her physical form that was misshapen (by fairy
standards) by him, but also her heart. She later curses his
child, the newborn princess, to become a sleeping beauty at the age of
sixteen, only allowed thereafter to be freed by a ‘kiss of true love’. Maleficent, who duplicitously adopts a kind of
parental role, is damaged, and damaged people damage people.
But she also becomes a kind of surrogate mother, and this unexpected
relationship….well, you may not have seen the film, so no spoiler here. Of
course it connects with her work opposing FGM. The film is well worth
watching simply for her, magnificent as Maleficent. Her work redeems an otherwise middling movie.
See my article Angelina Jolie, the Interior Designer. 2014
A Man for All Seasons. (1966 David Lean from
Robert Bolt's play). Thomas More told Henry VIII 'I am the King's good
servant, but God's first.' And being obedient led inevitably to his
martyrdom. Complex, literate and gorgeous to look at, with Paul Scofield,
Robert Shaw, Wendy Hiller, John Hurt. But.....read or watch Hilary
Mantel's wonderful Wolf Hall for a very different, and maybe more
accurate picture of More and Cromwell.
The Martian. (2015 Ridley
Scott) realistic account of an astronaut stranded on Mars. Despite
our confidence that the hero (Matt Damon) would survive and eventually return
to Earth Scott and Damon maintain the tension and keep us engaged, rooting for
our hero’s survival to the end. There is an able cast, led by
Jessica Chastain, Michel Pena, Sean Bean, Bill Pullman and Chiwetel
Enjiofor. Damon did a great job,
bringing humour as well as vulnerability to his role. See my article my pick of movies from 2015, posted 2016.
Mask (1985 Peter Bogdanovich) The true story of
Rocky Dennis, a 16 year old suffering from the rare disfiguring disease
Lionitis that was expected to kill him before he reached his teens. Cher
deservedly won Best Actress Oscar playing his mother, and Erick Stolz played
Rocky in a film that is emotionally hard but ultimately rewarding.
Michael (1996) Nora Ephron. John Travolta as an
overweight, womanising, charming slob, who is also, as it happens, the
Archangel Michael.
Milk (2009) See Films of 2009
The Mission. (1986 Roland Joffe) This is a big film
both visually and theologically, as the gospel of love and the power of the
Church militant collide in the Latin American jungle. There is a wonderful
early sequence about repentance and forgiveness. The Jeremy Irons and Robert de
Niro characters offer extreme solution, but the papal nuncio (Ralph McNally)
has to choose the path of painful responsibility rather than attractive purity.
At least that is what the closing shot means to me, as McNally stares out at us
and silently challenges us to judge him.
Mr. Turner (2014 Mike
Leigh). Timothy Spall is magnificent as
the curmudgeonly genius. I
thought the movie was brave and beautiful, and as it won the Palme D’Or at
Cannes I cannot understand why it has not won more awards.
Mona Lisa. (1986 Neil Jordan) Bob Hoskins is the
ex-con who takes the job of driving prostitute Cathy Tyson, and eventually
falls for her. But on his journey he sees her through many eyes, from tramp
through lady to slut, always seeing what he most wants to see - well, isn't
that how it always is? So as well as
showing the Male Gaze in action this is also a taut thriller with an engaging
lead part for Hoskins.
Monsters (2010 Gareth
Edwards) was made for less than £500,000, mainly because it was
written directed, designed and photographed by one man, Gareth Edwards, with a
cast of two, a largely improvised script and home-made special effects - again
by Mr. Edwards. This is Science-Fiction, but with very
different aliens, and a touching love-story. The director, actors and sound man
traveled across Mexico looking for locations and recruiting amateurs as they
went. Sadly, almost inevitably, he was later
lured to Hollywood, given $150 million to spend and produced a very poor Godzilla.
Monty Python's Life of Brian. see Life of Brian.
Moon. (2009 Jones) this
inventive Science fiction movie was directed by Duncan Jones,
son of David Bowie, shot on a shoe string, but nonetheless starred Sam
Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. One asks ‘how the blazes did they do
that?’ but that question does not arise during the film, as the
story-line and acting compel us forward. See films of the Year
2009. Unlike
Gareth Edwards – see Monsters – his
Hollywood debut, Source Code, was
rather good.
Moulin Rouge. (2002 Baz Luhrmann) 'I will love
you till the end of time'. Outrageously brilliant, extravagantly romantic,
unique and successful reinvention of the musical. Just enjoy it.
Mulholland Drive (2001 David
Lynch). The Wizard of Oz meets Blue Velvet in what
may be the most complex psychodrama ever put on screen. I have
seen one 116 page analysis of its structure, symbolism and use of key colour
motifs. Naomi Watts is outstanding as a hopeful young Hollywood aspirant
and Laura Elena Harring provides a suitable mysterious and erotic companion.
The filmic references are all used to deepen the meaning, and if ever
a film demanded a second viewing (and probably many more) this is it.
Mystic Pizza (1988 Donald Petrie) A coming of age
movie about three young women (including Julia Roberts) rather than the usual
male protagonists, which reverses some stereotypes (one of the girls loves
having sex with her boyfriend, but doesn't want to be tied down by marriage. An obvious issue opener for a girls group -
but why shouldn't young men face up to these issues as well?
presents them to our gaze.
