THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Barbie

"It's Barbie and Ken. There is no just Ken"

This is a brilliant film. From the opening pastiche of 2001: A Space Odyssey to the knowing winks to a post Trump US (I know. I'm a pretentious fucker) it doesn't put a foot wrong. It's outstanding, and genuinely not what I was expecting. To be honest I didn't really know what I was expecting. But it wasn't this.

The casting is perfect. Both Robbie and Gosling are not only outstandingly beautiful, but they're fantastic actors, and the supporting cast if anything exceeded the two mains. Michael Cera as Ken's little known rival Alan really was the highlight for me. He was brilliant.

I guess if a movie makes as much money as this one has, then it certainly must have something about it. I'm a 61 year old man. I seriously doubt that it was made for someone like me, but I enjoyed it immensely. If you've not seen it, then I'd urge you to rectify that omission ASAP. You won't be disappointed.

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When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

Barbie, is unironically brilliant.

It's managed to pull everyone into thinking it'd be anti-men Pro woke women - it's kinda the exact opposite. Just being proud of who you are, men, woman, trans, disabled, able, black, white, yellow and all inbetween. The 'I'm just Ken' scene is an absolute god tier scene of wonderful piss takey seriousness.
I went to see it in the cinema for a laugh, and saw it again in the cinema a week later because it was really fucking good.
I can't believe we're talking about this on a soccer forum.

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That’s three of us then.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire.
An enjoyable cinema film for those who grew up with the originals with a nice mix of the new family and original cast, a feel good family movie to be enjoyed not dissected.
If you are looking for originality you won't find it, with Ghostbusters they never stray far from the basic premise of world in peril from ethereal being and neither should they, give the people what they want!

Dune: Part Two

Picked up exactly where part one ended. I enjoyed the first one immensely, and have rewatched it two or three times, so I was really looking forward to this. It didn’t disappoint. Following the source novel quite closely, with Paul not having to shack up with the Freman fighter he killed’s wife. But that apart, it was all there. I particularly liked the fact that the emperor was toned down. In the book, and subsequent film and telly adaptations, he walks around like a more flamboyant Liberace. Not here. Which is credit to the designer, or whatever they’re called. Simple but elegant.

Timothée Chalamet is a good actor, and his transformation from indulged princling to leader of an entire planet was superbly realized. However, Austin Butler as his nemesis was, once again, outstanding. He’s a great actor. In fact the entire cast were outstanding, and Rebecca Ferguson remains the most beautiful woman on Arrakis or any other planet for that matter.

The plot is the plot. Young Paul Atreides, fated to lead the planet in a war against the evil Harkonnens, is transformed into the messiah, and we see him both win the aforementioned war, and slowly transform into something a tad unsavory towards the end.

There are any number of follow-up novels in the series, and the ending points toward a third installment I would imagine.

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When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

I think FH wrote 5.
I enjoyed the 'cinematic spectacle' of it when I saw it yesterday - although it must be nearly 50 years since I read the book and so can't comment on how true it was (happy to accept your view Gers) but half the time I didn't know what was going on - couldn't remember what the Bene Geseritt 'thing' was all about at all and so I was at a distinct disadvantage. probably should have looked before going - as I too certainly enjoyed the first film.

Yes, apparently Herbert didn't want the book (or is it - first 2 bookS?) to end as a simple 'hero conquers evil' story and Paul darkly demonstrated this. Yes I'm supposing there will probably be more.

On a flippant level most of the Fremen scenes had me firmly in mind of 'Life of Brian' and all the various discussions about whether or not he was The Messiah had me biting my tongue not to call out the obvious.

Then there was...The 'rats must be killed' comments that looked/sounded to have been lifted straight from 'Lord of the rings films' ("I don't take orders from stinking morgul rats") said by something (one of those big white orcs) from The Hobbit.

The helicopter attack WAS a straight lift from Apocalypse Now without the tape blaring.

Well worth seeing I'd say*. One of The Junior Ramones (who also enjoyed it) said it was basically 'a standard old as the hills power grab film'. Maybe....I think I'll read the book again.

*To people 60+ be aware it's 2h 40 mins. With ads/previews added on....consider your fluid intake carefully.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Wicked Little Letters

A comedy-drama based on a true story of a small town suffering from a wave of obscene poison pen letters. It's one of those typical "small" British movies which is a bit of a curate's egg (OK in parts). The women in the audience (including Mrs Soze) all seemed to enjoy it but I found it to be passably engaging, whilst being neither especially comedic nor dramatic.

The film features a strong cast featuring some well known thesps, most who have done both drama and comedy. From the top we have Olivia Colman in the starring role as the God-fearing spinster who is the first to be targeted with the letters. Co-starring is Jessie Buckley as her wild Irish neighbour and erstwhile friend, who is accused of the libelous crimes. There is also Tim Spall as Colman's dad, Jason Watkins as a barrister and Joanna Scanlan as a friend to the two female leads. The police are inept but Woman Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan from Killing Eve) is on hand to ensure justice is done. Others include Lolly Adefope as a post mistress and Tim Key as a vicar.

Colman mostly phones in her performance but occasionally, especially in scenes with her father, you get glimpses of her undoubted huge talent. Buckley is fun and likeable if a little implausible but the acting honours sit squarely with Spall, who is wonderfully hateful as the bullying, coercive and controlling father. He is the antithesis to everything else in this film, like a jagged piece of glass hidden in a strawberry trifle.

The film casting is done in the voguish colour-blind fashion (think the ghastly Bridgerton). I get why this is done and, as a fully paid up leftie woke snowflake, I know I should applaud it. But I found it jarring and anachronistic. The film is set in the mid 1920s and the characters plausibly all comment and poke fun at the novelty of a woman police officer but none of them comment about her having a South Asian heritage and the fact her father before her was also a small town Bobby. The same is true in some of the other roles too. If it was set in London then maybe, maybe, fair enough. But Littlehampton? At a time of gas lights, tin baths and outside loos?

Anyhoo, that's a personal bug bear and nothing in the performances of Vasan, Adefope et al are at issue. I should just try to get over it but historical inaccuracy rankles with me.

Overall, pleasant enough fun with a good ensemble cast and some amusing swearing.

6/10

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

Scoop

Dramatization of Newsnight’s infamous interview with Prince Andrew, where Emily Maitlis (played with supernatural accuracy by Gillian Anderson) handed the royal nuisance his crown jewels on a plate.

It’s a Netfilx film, and it’s directed by someone who directed various episodes of The Crown, so you know what you’ll be getting from the off. I suppose they had to get their money’s worth out of those sets.

It focuses on producer Sam McAlister (once again played with supernatural accuracy this time by Billie Piper) being tasked with booking guests for, what we’re being asked to believe is a failing show, and trawling the usual suspects “If you want Farage it’s not that difficult. Just ring his agent” before the Epstein case blows up with the release of that picture of HRH with his arm around Virginia Giuffre’s waist. The rest, as they say, is history.

Speaking of supernatural accuracy. Rufus Sewell as the pizza party loving favorite son. Not as pin-sharp as Anderson or Piper bring to their roles, but he brings just the right amount of a sense of entitlement, and it has to be said some charm when dealing with members of the public, that you almost believe he’s the real thing. Constant references to his mother being his go to line when either facing the public, or when he realizes he’s in trouble.

The only thing that let’s it down is a speech at the end where the editor of Newsnight saying “This is what we do” sort of rubbish. Really didn’t need that. It’s the sort of thing Channel 4 would put out on a Thursday evening at nine o’clock, albeit with lesser production values and not such a stellar cast. It's okay, give it a go.

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When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

For the first forty odd minutes of this I thought is it beyond Christopher Nolan to just make a movie in a linear fashion? Like he did with Batman. It was jumping all over the place, and if, like me, you had no real conception of Oppenheimer's timeline you'd struggle to know what's going on. However...

Once it settled down into the building of the actual bomb, it was riveting, and you could easily follow the multiple timelines. Basically it's the story of one man's life defining work, and his moral dilemma with what followed. Ending with him being hung out to dry amid the fledgling cold war anti-commie US. The hearing behind closed doors into his alleged left leaning sympathies was brilliantly done.

The cast was absolutely outstanding. There were no bad turns in this. And when you consider the stature of some of them appearing in relatively minor roles, it says something about the pull of Nolan. There's little point in going over the cast, it'd require a thread all of its own, but Cillian Murphy, and especially Robert Downey Jr, as stated above, were outstanding. Likewise Jason Clarke, and not forgetting Emily Blunt. If only for her retorts to Clarke in the kangaroo court exchanges.

If there's one issue I'd take, apart from the slow start, it's the basic exploitation of Florence Pugh. I'm struggling to recall a scene where she was fully clothed. I was extremely uncomfortable with her part, and felt it added nothing but titillation. But those two minor gripes aside it's a great film.

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When you make your music, do you think about the man in the street? No, I've met the man in the street. He's a Ladybit.

Back to Black

As you'll all doubtless be aware, this is the Amy Winehouse biopic. We've had a recent glut of them (Elvis, Elton John, Freddie Mercury etc), so I was interested to see how this stacked up. Overall, I'd say it's pretty good but not flawless. The story takes us from her adolescence to her death and it focuses more on the characterisation and the songs, rather than the career. In fact, the various steps of her career progression are dealt with in a perfunctory way, making it seem like it was easy and straightforward.

Marisa Abela plays (and sings!) Amy and I think she nails it. The voice is first rate. Her dad Mitch and her nan are played by Eddie Marsan and Lesley Manville, so you know they are going to be done well. And love of her life Blake is played by Jack O'Connell (who was nutter Paddy Mayne in the SAS thing Rogue Heros). Now, one of the major choices of the film is how it treats Mitch and Blake. You'll remember at the time, and after Amy's death, these two were vilified in the media, as the cartoon baddies that drove Amy down a dark path. Now, I have no idea if that is true, partially true, or total fantasy. But, in this film, both come out of it reasonably well. The dad dotes on his daughter and perhaps is too willing to overlook obvious red flags. Blake is shown as a chancer and a diamond geezer. A bad lad with a drug habit but not without charm. In other words, they are played as flawed but not without some redeeming features. You're left with the impression that although they may have enabled Amy's self-destructive streak, she'd have likely damaged herself anyway.

Amy is shown as loving and fun, except when she is drunk. And she's drunk far too often. You feel compassion for her, but also get the feeling that she would be deeply irritating to be around. Her death is handled very well, in my view - fade to black, with some white text giving the bare facts, with no ghoulish attempt to wallow in her demise.

So, not perfect but still an enjoyable movie. Some good performances. Worth going to see.

7/10

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.