Review #1,475: 'The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part' (2019)

Before Phil Lord and Christopher Miller surprised everybody with one of the best films of 2014, the idea of a movie based on a toy line seemed like a rather hopeless idea. Yes, the building blocks and miniature figures of Lego have been adored by both children and adults alike for decades, but they are still produced by a company whose main focus is naturally on your wallets. It felt inevitable that The Lego Movie would be a soulless feature-length advertisement, but not only did it feature some of the most eye-popping CG animation in recent memory (which also felt hand-crafted), it also melted our hearts by taking the action into the real world, where we discover that events are being conjured by the imagination of a young boy. His father, an avid collector played by Will Ferrell, had forgotten the true meaning of playtime. Lego, after all, is about whatever you want it to be.

The Lego Movie wasn't just great, it was awesome. It was also unfairly snubbed by the Academy, but with a worldwide box-office gross of just shy of $500 million, Lord and Miller's film was a huge hit and seemingly the beginning of a lucrative new big-screen franchise. The Lego Batman Movie was next, successfully capitalising on the appeal of Will Arnett's supporting character and opening up Lego's own DC universe. The juggernaut started to creak and show signs of fatigue with The Lego Ninjago Movie however, which arrived the same year as Batman, so the brand was allowed a bit of time to breathe before its next instalment. The big question is does The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part steer this yellow-tinged universe back on course, or has it burnt itself out? The good news is that this sequel is far more the former than the latter, but despite the skills of Lord and Miller on the screenplay (Mike Mitchell has moved in to direct), it does suffer slightly from sequelitis.

The end of The Lego Movie saw the arrival of the real-world family's young girl on the playing field, and with her comes unicorns and Duplo, both unwelcome arrivals in the world built up by the young boy. As a result, Bricksburg has become Apocalypseburg, a Mad Max-esque wasteland turned to dust by the invading Duplo aliens. While Wyldstyle/Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) finds the wastelands a perfect place in which to brood and gaze seriously into the distance, Emmet (Chris Pratt) maintains an upbeat attitude, enthusiastically purchasing his morning coffees and listening to remixes of his favourite song, Everything Is Awesome. Despite being plagued by visions of Armageddon, Emmet builds Lucy their dream home, but their attempts to live a normal life are scuppered by the arrival of intergalactic traveller Sweet Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz), a mini-doll from the 'Systar System' who has come to take the strongest leader away to marry Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (Tiffany Haddish). Naturally, that leader is Batman, and he along with Lucy, Benny (Charlie Day), MetalBeard (Nick Offerman) and Unikitty (Alison Brie), find themselves kidnapped and taken to another galaxy.

The premise sounds fun and that's precisely what it is. It maintains the madcap energy of the first film and brings back memorable characters, throwing in more meta-jokes and visual gags than you can shake a stick at. But The Lego Movie was fun and so much more, and Lord and Miller really set the bar high for any future sequels. The Second Part keeps the family thread going, this time with Mom (Maya Rudolph) trying to keep the peace between older son and younger daughter, but doesn't bring anything new to the table. One of the funnest aspects of the original was tying to keep up the amount of characters from both pop culture and real life showing their faces, but the supporting cast seems much thinner this time around. There's a joke about Marvel not returning the calls, and in fact no characters from the world of Disney show their faces. More focus could have been given to other DC figures who show up, particularly Channing Tatum's Superman and Jonah Hill's Green Lantern, who both seem to be having a great time behind the microphone. It's still a rollicking ride, and it only seems like a slight let-down because, somehow, we have come to expect something special from these Lego romps. The film boasts a new catchy song called, um, Catchy Song, which warns 'This song's gonna get stuck inside your head." And in your head it will certainly remain, but the rest of the movie sadly won't.


Directed by: Mike Mitchell
Voices: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Tiffany Haddish, Stephanie Beatriz, Maya Rudolph
Country: Denmark/Norway/Australia/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,437: 'The House That Jack Built' (2018)

Seven years ago, Danish provocateur Lars von Trier found himself banned from the Cannes Film Festival after making a rather ill-timed joke about sympathising with Hitler during a press conference for Melancholia. For a festival that seems to inspire walk-outs and boos from audiences who have apparently never seen a film before, it was never going to be too long until von Trier wriggled his way back in. After all, for a director famous for clitoris-removal and the mocking of disabled people, the lure of free advertising from appalled cinema-goers would surely be too strong to resist. For his return, von Trier brought The House That Jack Built, a two and half hour serial killer movie that often feels like a stand-in for the director's self-satisfied smirk. Not only does the film feature animal cruelty, infanticide and open mocking of the #MeToo movement, but the anti-hero at its centre talks frequently at length about his real obsession. You guessed it: the Third Reich. This is a giant middle-finger to the Cannes board.

Jack (Matt Dillon) is a serial killer who, by the end, boasts more than 60 victims. He mainly kills women, but he also kills men and children if the subject is just right for his unique brand of 'art'. At the start of the film, he discusses his life and the nature of evil with an unseen man, played by Bruno Ganz, who we don't see until the very end. He defends his grisly past-times as artistic expression, claiming that everyone who died at his hands will be forever immortalised in his work. His story is recounted as a series of incidents, the first of which involves Uma Thurman as an impossibly stupid victim stranded by the road-side. Convincing Jack to give her a ride to a nearby garage that can fix her car jack, she almost talks the stranger into killing her, even handing him the murder weapon. When the brutal, sudden murder occurs, we almost feel a sense of relief. You can imagine von Trier stroking his chin and grinning at the thought of us feeling like she deserved it. Over the course of a decade, Jack ponders his favourite kills, taking the occasional detour to discuss architecture, literature and the work of Glenn Gould, and to repeatedly build and knock down his dream house.

For a film that understandably caused outrage at its premiere, The House That Jack Built isn't gory and full of spatter, but that isn't to say the film isn't frequently repugnant. An old lady is strangled to death for comic effect, a duckling has its leg snipped off, and worst of all, a child's corpse is contorted with wires and preserved in Jack's walk-in freezer, positioned in the background of many scenes just in case we happen to forget. Such blatant button-pushing would be forgivable, of even admirable, had this trudging vanity project been remotely convincing. Instead, its two and a half hours that feels two and a half hours, with a miscast Dillon delivering monologues on the beauty of genocide and the evolution of architecture while von Trier plans his next trick to make you feel uncomfortable. The film's best performance is delivered by Riley Keough as a young woman Jack cruelly names Simple. Jack toys with her low self-esteem before dispatching her in a horrendous manner, but there's real humanity lurking in this scene, and a real sense of dread conjured up by von Trier. The whole thing is almost saved by a climactic journey through a Hell seemingly inspired by the covers of death metal albums, which manages to be both truly eerie and cartoonishly comical. But then you remember what you had to get through to get there, and wonder how to get your 150 minutes back.


Directed by: Lars von Trier
Starring: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Sofie Gråbøl, Riley Keough, Jeremy Davies
Country: Denmark/France/Germany/Sweden

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,354: 'The Neon Demon' (2016)

The arrival of a new movie by Danish director and enfant terrible Nicolas Winding Refn is always a cause for excitement. Not because the filmmaker's name is any kind of guaranteed stamp of quality, but because of our natural curiosity to see just how far he is willing to push his audience. His 2011 smash and Hollywood breakthrough Drive was a surprise treat: a neon-lit journey into the underbelly of L.A. that featured a career-defining performance by Ryan Gosling. His follow-up Only God Forgives was a massive disappointment and received a near-universal panning, but there was enough style there to maintain the belief that Refn was still capable of delivering something special. Sadly his next film, The Neon Demon, is similarly hollow, kicking up such a stink at Cannes that it inspired mass booing, although just as many were cheering it.

Where the L.A. of Drive was dangerous and seductive, the City of Angels depicted in The Neon Demon is one cut straight from a glossy fashion magazine. Models are dolled up to look like corpses, staring dead-eyed into the lens as the shady photographer watches ominously. The city's latest arrival is porcelain-skinned beauty Jesse (Elle Fanning), who natural golden curls and cute nose draw jealousy from her cosmetically-enhanced rivals. She has just celebrated her 16th birthday, but a modelling agency talent spotter (played by Christina Hendricks) advises her to claim she's 19, should anybody ask. She soon catches the eye of some of the best photographers in the business, all of whom seems instantly enchanted by her looks and youth. As make-up artist Ruby (Jena Malone) puts it, Jesse just has that 'thing'. That thing is innocence, but such a quality cannot last in a cut-throat industry where models eat each other alive.

There's always been a grimy quality to Refn's movies, even in his most polished output. The Neon Demon is his closest brush with horror, and the director initially seems like the perfect fit for the genre. Yet this button-pushing slog will likely inspired yawns and frustration rather than gasps and shudders. It seems like Refn has a list of taboos he's eager to tick off his body of work, and The Neon Demon is happy to indulge in everything from necrophilia to cannibalism. It's a premise built on the flimsiest of metaphors, and the resulting message ultimately seems to be that some men are sleazy, women can be bitches, and the fashion world is vacuous and materialistic. Sub-plots are introduced, such as an incredibly dull love interest (Karl Glusman) and an unscrupulous motel owner (Keanu Reeves), but they lead nowhere and serve no real purpose to the story. It's provocative for the sake of being provocative, which wouldn't be a huge problem if the film wasn't so utterly ponderous. Like his fellow countryman Lars von Trier, Refn is eager to shock, but there can be little to no impact when there is a complete lack of substance.


Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Elle Fanning, Karl Glusman, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee, Keanu Reeves, Alessandro Nivola, Christina Hendricks
Country: Denmark/France/USA/UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,288: 'The LEGO Ninjago Movie' (2017)

It's highly unlikely that anybody was expecting 2014's The LEGO Movie and its spin-off/follow-up The LEGO Batman Movie to be quite as good as they were. The former came out of left-field and took a surprisingly anti-corporate stance in teaching its younger viewers that using their own, raw imagination to have fun will always trump sticking to the instructions, while the latter leaned on the popularity and gravelly charm of Will Arnett's vocals as well as DC's impressive roster of popular supervillains and supporting characters to create a ridiculously entertaining and eye-catching romp. The latest in LEGO's movie franchise is The LEGO Ninjago Movie, based on the popular Ninjago toy line and the various TV series, books and video games to emerge from it. Perhaps we've been spoiled, but Ninjago, with its three directors, six writers, and a noticeable lack of focus, gives the impression that this universe is already running out of steam.

The city of Ninjago is constantly under attack from the evil Lord Garmadon (Justin Theroux), a four-armed brute who lays siege to the metropolis with a variety of wild gadgets and machinery that would put James Bond to shame. Garmadon's son Lloyd (David Franco), who lives with his mother Koko (Olivia Munn), is bullied at school for being the spawn of the evil tyrant, and when his father phones him on his birthday, he quickly realises that it was an accidental butt-dial. Garmadon's efforts to conquer Ninjago are constantly thwarted by a secret gang of ninjas: Kai (Michael Pena), Jay (Kumail Nanjiani), Nya (Abbi Jacobson), Zane (Zach Woods), Cole (Fred Armisen), and the mysterious Green Ninja, who is actually Lloyd battling his own father. When he lets his emotions get the better of him, Lloyd accidentally released a giant - and live-action - cat into the city, forcing him to team up with his deadbeat dad in search of the 'Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon' to take back the city from the clutches of Meowthra.

Justin Theroux is easily the best thing in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, voicing the character with a similar growl to Arnett's Batman and getting all the best lines. He is an ego-maniacal and selfish war-lord, but his relationship with Lloyd (which he pronounces L-loyd) forms the heart of the movie. The film relies far too much on their bantering however, as the rest of the running-time fails to generate many laughs, despite the best efforts of Jackie Chan's Master Wu. Ninjago also has the handicap of being self-contained, without the blink-and-you'll-miss-em cameos from other franchises that added to the whole idea that you can do whatever the hell you want with LEGO and the results may just be wonderful. It's a noticeable step down from the two predecessors, but the message the film is trying to convey is a good one, in that violence is rarely the answer and there is always two sides to a coin. It's certainly the loudest and most action-packed of the series, so kids will no doubt take to it, but many older audience members hoping for another pleasant LEGO surprise will likely wish they'd kept this one in the box.


Directed by: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan
Voices: Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Jackie Chan, Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, Olivia Munn
Country: USA/Denmark

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,203: 'The LEGO Batman Movie' (2017)

Nobody quite saw 2014's The Lego Movie coming. An animated family film based on a hugely popular range of toys sounds like the stuff of nightmares, and something that could tumble a big studio if it didn't find an audience. However, it was a resounding success, both critically and commercially, managing to deliver an exciting, colourful and hilariously funny adventure movie with a poignant message about corporate takeover and the loss of imagination. One of the most memorable supporting players to emerge from the ensemble of wacky characters was Will Arnett's Batman, who proved so popular that we get his spin-off before we get a sequel to The Lego Movie. But this is no bad thing, as while it may not contain the same element of surprise as its predecessor, The LEGO Batman Movie is a more straight-forward blast.

As the song goes, Batman is darkness and has no parents. After saving the city from an attack by the Joker (Zach Galifianakis) and his many cronies, the Dark Knight high-fives his adoring fans but returns to Wayne Island to microwave a lobster thermidor for one. While he may be awesome, he broods over pictures of his dead parents and isolates himself, although his trusted butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) is always on hand for advice. Newly-appointed police commissioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) announces that she hopes to restructure the force to handle crime without the assistance of Batman, much to the caped crusader's amusement. Meanwhile, the Joker, locked up in Arkham Asylum, plans to manipulate Batman into sending him into the Phantom Zone, where he will be free to gather an army of mega-villains to launch an attack of Gotham and prove once and for all that he is Batman's greatest nemesis.

Lego Batman is arguably a one-joke movie. It takes the character's persona from The Lego Movie - dark, broody and arrogant - and runs with it, building the entire plot around Batman's need to open up and allow other people to enter his life. Yet the film's kinetic energy and gorgeous animation mean that you won't care too much about the lack of a truly engaging story. Director Chris McKay was clearly enjoying himself having Batman's entire rogue gallery at his disposal, as well as members of other Warner Brothers franchises. Familiar villains such as Poison Ivy, Catwoman and Bane (riffing on Tom Hardy's take in The Dark Knight Rises) grace the screen, but we also get appearances from the more obscure Clock King, Kite Man and, most bizarrely, the Condiment King. Batman fans will lap it up, with references to his history in both comic-books and on the big screen, referring to the camp Adam West series from the 60s as "that weird one".

Although this is Batman's first solo movie in Lego form, this is the opposite of an origin story. We meet him already in a set routine. When he isn't effortlessly kicking the butt of crime, he spends his time jamming on the electric guitar, beat-boxing, pumping iron, chowing down on lobster, and laughing at Jerry Maguire. If anything, Batman is a bit too obnoxious, and Arnett does slightly grate at times, but this is eventually balanced out by the introduction of Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), a highly capable and doe-eyed orphan who will become the scantily-clad Robin. The two gradually form a bond that provides the movie's emotional core, which, after an hour or so of Batman's jock shtick, is most welcome. The frequent references to pop culture, which are both clever and tiresome, often make it feel like an extended episode of Robot Chicken, and I believe this is what will divide most of the audience. It's not perfect, and it certainly isn't at the level of The Lego Movie, but if anything, this is a very good Batman movie. And Lord knows it's been a while since there was one of those.


Directed by: Chris McKay
Voices: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, Jenny Slate, Jason Mantzoukas, Conan O'Brien
Country: USA/Denmark

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,195: 'A Royal Affair' (2012)

A Royal Affair opens with a melancholy Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain narrating as she pens a letter to her unseen children. Flashing back in time, she is a young and beautiful teenager about to be shipped off to Denmark to marry her cousin, King Christian VII of Denmark, giggling and dreaming about what her new life will be like with a man who sounds like the ideal husband. It would seem that we are in very familiar costume-drama territory, and director Nikolaj Arcel's film makes sure to include all the factors that make the genre so appealing to some: the beautiful young bride; an unknown kingdom; handsome period costumes; a bastard child; and a love affair that is passionate but ultimately doomed. Yet a careful, character-driven approach ensures that A Royal Affair doesn't boil over into overwrought hysterics. What emerges is a tense tale of political intrigue and terrific performances, and a fascinating history lesson to boot.

As the Princess, played by Alicia Vikander, arrives in Denmark, she immediately encounters her husband not as the gallant artist she expected, but as a nervous man-child, giggling to himself while hiding behind a tree. The King (Mikkel Boe Folsgaard) is a puppet on a throne, and quite clearly mentally deranged. He doesn't take much of a liking to his new Queen, and prefers to spend his free time getting drunk in the company of big-breasted prostitutes. Her optimism is quickly turned into bitterness, and is pleased when her husband decides to take a year off his duties to tour Europe. Shortly after his return, German Johann Struensee (Mads Mikkelsen), a skilled yet humble doctor, is recruited as the King's personal physician. He instantly forges a strong bond with the mad King, who is pleased to have a man of stature and intelligence by his side amidst his stern, old-fashioned council. Struensee's influence in court grows, but he finds himself caught up in a dangerous love affair with the Queen that could mean both of their heads should they be discovered.

This being 18th century Denmark, the King is surrounded by a council of religious old men looking to keep the country firmly in the Dark Ages. Struensee is a believer in the Age of Enlightenment, a progressive philosophical movement spearheaded by the likes of Voltaire and Rousseau. The Queen also shares his liberal views, and their love story isn't so much about their own sexual impulses but a driven and united desire to illuminate their country. Realising just how great an influence he is on the King, the doctor quickly sets about abolishing oppressive laws such as capital punishment, the torturing of suspects, and censorship. This immediately puts him at odds with the ruling aristocracy, who view him as a foreigner destroying their fatherland, and they waste no time looking for a way to expel him from court. It's alarming just how familiar it all sounds with the general one-step forward, two-steps back nature of politics. The three leads are all strong, with Mikkelsen in particular convincing as the reserved man of Enlightenment. By avoiding dramatic melodrama, A Royal Affair succeeds as a simmering portrayal of social disintegration and an intimate, intellectual love story.


Directed by: Nikolaj Arcel
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Mads Mikkelsen, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik
Country: Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,177: 'Force Majeure' (2014)

Wounded machismo and domestic disintegration are the order of the day in Swedish director Ruben Ostlund's comedy drama Force Majeure. Holidaying together at a fancy ski resort in the French Alps, the family at the centre of the story are presented as the pinnacle of bliss and success. Mum Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and Dad Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) and both good-looking and financially comfortable, and along with their children Vera (Clara Wettergren) and Harry (Vincent Wettergren), make for a Kodak-cute unit, highlighted in the opening scene where they are badgered into posing for a few snaps by a tourist photographer. Tomas is taking a break from his busy work-life, and Ebba is happy to have her husband by her side for a week. As they ski, nap and dine together, frequent explosions - creating 'controlled avalanches' - boom in the distance, suggesting that something troubling is looming.

On their second day. the family relax in a cafe when an avalanche starts to rush in the distance. What begins as curiosity and excitement soon turns to terror as it appears that the giant wall of snow is heading straight for them. They are engulfed in mist, but are relieved to discover that the avalanche came to a halt some way off. As the fog clears, Ebba still embraces her children, while Tomas is nowhere to be seen, although he has remembered to save his iPhone. It would seem that the husband and father isn't quite the man they thought he was, and this sets off an incredibly uncomfortable yet shrewdly funny breakdown of the photogenic unit over an increasingly long week away. At first, Tomas refuses to admit any wrongdoing, but is pecked away at by his wife and eventually confronted in two particularly uncomfortable scenes over dinner and drinks. Even his buddy Mats (Game of Thrones' Kristofer Hivju) struggles to defend his cowardly actions.

Shot with a Michael Haneke-esque eye for emotional violence and domestic unravelling, Force Majeure is often far more awkward than the work of Ricky Gervais, thanks to Ostlund's ear for witty, realistic dialogue and some committed performances from the leads. Tomas' fall from hard-working patriarch to emasculated cry-baby is both brutal and utterly hilarious. Ostlund clearly doesn't like the privileged bourgeois, and has fun picking them apart. The most wince-inducing scenes are somewhat relieved by the comedic timing of Hivju, who inspires humour by merely reacting to the horror playing out in front of him, siding with his friend as his much-younger girlfriend Fanni (Fanni Metelius) comforts Ebba. The gender divide is drawn in the snow, and thanks for a conversation between Mats and Fanni where the latter throws hypotheticals at her recently-divorced fella, this is perhaps the worst film in the history of film to watch with your partner. While it could have benefited from a running-time trim, Force Majeure leaves you with the disturbing idea that you may never truly know the people closest to you.


Directed by: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Kristofer Hivju, Fanni Metelius
Country: Sweden/France/Norway/Denmark

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,023: 'The Act of Killing' (2012)

The 1960's saw great political upheaval in Indonesia, with then-President Sukarno being overthrown by Suharto, and the Indonesian Communist Party finding themselves the subject of a widespread propaganda smear campaign. Death squads were created to systematically wipe out the Communist party and anyone suspecting of sympathising with the organisation. Between 1965 and 1966, it is estimated somewhere in between of 500,000 and 1 million Indonesians were murdered in a massacre widely ignored by Western countries. Shockingly, the heads of the death squads still hold power and influence in their country, with many now employed as high-ranking military officers.

A straight-forward documentary covering the topic would have no doubt been a powerful and upsetting experience, but director Joshua Oppenheimer, along with co-directors Christine Cynn and somebody listed as 'Anonymous', have rejected this approach and, with The Act of Killing, have subverted the genre entirely. Obviously appalled at the countries failure to highlight the atrocity and punish those responsible for the crimes committed, Oppenheimer has instead opted to give the killers the opportunity to tell their own story. Yet rather than talking-heads juxtaposed with archive footage, Oppenheimer gave them a film crew and the freedom to depict their acts in a movie of their own making. The results, quite frankly, are utterly astonishing.

Portraying their war crimes in a variety of genres that range from musical numbers and film noir to westerns and bizarre dream-like sequences, their cinematic vision is naturally cheesy and poorly handled, complete with bad acting and stodgy dialogue, with one gangster over-eager to dress in drag in an effort to lighten the tone (and succeeding in the process). However, Oppenheimer isn't interested in the final product (which we don't get to see), but how the film-making process affects those involved. At first, these killers, rapists and torturers are utterly loathsome, demonstrating absolutely no remorse whatsoever about their actions. One, Anwar Congo, gleefully displays his efficient method of murder, which involves strangulation by wire, while another boasts to his friends about the delights of raping a 14-year old girl.

Yet Congo, who is viewed as a sort of celebrity in his country, starts to reflects on the pain and suffering he has caused. In one scene, he plays a victim being interrogated while tied to a chair. When the wire is tied around his neck, the experience has a profound affect on him, sitting motionless in silence as his friends look concerned and baffled. He later watches it back, transfixed, and starts to break down. The Act of Killing is careful not to sympathise with its subjects (Oppenheimer quickly points out to Congo that his victims' experience would have been far worse), but at least tries to understand them. It's less about the atrocities Indonesia experienced than the act of killing itself, and what could possibly drive anybody to such cold-blooded barbarity. It's a powerful and moving experience like no other movie I've ever seen, and it is no overstatement to hail this as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.


Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer
Starring: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto
Country: Denmark/Norway/UK

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,021: 'Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country' (2008)

In 1962, the Burmese government was overthrown in a coup by the socialist military, who maintained control of the country until 2011. During this time, Burma deteriorated into poverty, while any protests or statements made against the ruling government were quickly crushed through intimidation, torture, outlandishly long jail sentences and executions. In 1988, a series of marches, rallies and protests now known as the 8888 Uprising were brought to a bloody end as the military killed 3,000 civilians in the streets.

With the media controlled by the state and a ban on any footage leaving the country, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) has trained its journalists to work as guerrilla cameraman, working in the shadows to capture any acts of oppression or revolution. They work as a network but rarely meet, communicating using mobile phones and internet chatrooms, and frequently putting themselves at great personal risk. Being captured could mean death, with our narrator, known as 'Joshua', having his footage wiped early on by secret police and being forced into exile. Clever reconstructions of Joshua receiving updates on a new uprising now known as the Saffron Revolution, led by the Buddhist monks, forms a tense narrative.

The footage captured by the DVB is astonishing, with the action taking place right before your eyes. It is also, at times, incredibly intimate. Early on, the monks distrust the DVB, suspecting they are secret police. When the cameramen are attacked by plain-clothes military, the monks protect them and trust is immediately solidified. You are instantly swept up by the protesters elation and feel their incredible sense of hope, so it's absolutely shattering to see it all torn away. Director Anders Ostergaard weaves the footage together expertly, and the film is wholly deserving of its Best Documentary nomination at the Academy Awards in 2010 (and probably deserved to win). It's as close as you could get to being on the streets of a country under a crushing regime, and the results are frustrating and terrifying.


Directed by: Anders Østergaard
Country: Denmark/Sweden/Norway/UK/USA/Germany/Netherlands/Israel/Spain/Belgium/Canada

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,009: 'Babette's Feast' (1987)

Gabriel Axel's Babette's Feast, adapted from Karen Blixen's short story of the same name (written under the pen name Isak Dinesen) and winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, is about both the richness of true artistry and the spiritual necessity of sampling what few pleasures life has to offer during our short time on Earth. Like an exquisite, expensive meal, it moves at a slow pace and requires you to savour the delicate starters before the wholly satisfying climax arrives like a rich dessert and fine malt whiskey, resulting in the most romantic film about living a quiet, pious life ever made.

Two elderly sisters, Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Filippa (Bodil Kjer), have lived in a windy, remote hamlet in Jutland, Denmark their entire life. Years ago, their father (Pouel Kern) was a highly respected pastor, and with his two young and beautiful daughters (played in flashback by Vibeke Hastrup and Hanne Stensgaard), ran a small conventicle, who still meet up occasionally to converse. The sisters are courted in their youth by two men - cavalry officer Lorens Lowenhielm (Jarl Kulle), who falls in love with Martine, and opera singer Achille Papin (Jean-Philippe Lafont), who happens to hear Filippa's flawless singing voice and longs to make her a star. Both reject their suitors advances out of loyalty to their marriage-spurning father, and remain alone together for the remainder of their lives.

One day, a French refugee named Babette (Stephane Audran) arrives having being sent by the ageing Papin to escape the bloody Paris Commune. The sisters have no money to pay her, but take her in when Babette offers to work for food and shelter. Her swaggering nature makes her hit in the small coastal town, and she stays with Martine and Filippa for years. When she receives a letter from Paris informing her that she has won 10,000 francs in the lottery, she begs the sisters to put aside their rigorous routine and allow her to cook them and their white-haired conventicle a fine French feast. They reluctantly agree but soon become concerned at the exotic ingredients arriving at their doorstep (including a live turtle), but Babette's feast with be spiritually enlightening for everyone involved.

Babette's Feast manages to gaze warmly on a life that may seem harsh and miserable to many, and the early scenes of the sisters turning their backs on a life of true love and fame is difficult to watch. But Martine and Filippa remain without any bitterness; their only concern being the dwindling resources due to a lack of new members to their flock. In their old age, the rest of the group have become quarrelsome, but as each beautiful course is served, the petty issues are mended as they all experience the earthly miracle being set out in front of them. We taste every bite and get light-headed as the wine is supped, and it's a truly sincere experience. It also retains a tenderness and a grace usually lost in movies designed to pull on the heart-strings, and this is embodied by Audran who is outstanding as the eponymous artist.


Directed by: Gabriel Axel
Starring: Stéphane Audran, Bodil Kjer, Birgitte Federspiel, Jarl Kulle, Jean-Philippe Lafont
Country: Denmark

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #756: 'The LEGO Movie' (2014)

For anyone who spent a lot of their childhood banging lumps of plastic together, creating outlandish plots and dialogue for them to act out, and pretending that all that lurked beyond the edges of the bed is a sea of molten lava, then you'll get The Lego Movie. It's hyperactive, fit-inducingly-colourful, and very, very funny, but it's the message behind the movie that makes it so wonderful. It tells a silly prophetic story about a simple construction worker thought to be 'the Special' - a plot deliberately made to sound like it's the product of an imaginative child - but his world of instructions manuals, mass consumerism, moronic pop songs and diabolical sitcoms is our world: the adult world. The Lego Movie makes you want to find your inner child again, and go back to those days where you could transport yourself to another world in your bedroom by using your own brain.

Emmet (Chris Pratt) is a naive and simple everyman, routinely watching popular sitcom "Where Are My Pants?", singing along to "Everything is Awesome!", and using an instruction manual for every aspect of his life. Left behind on a construction site one night, he comes across the mysterious Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), who seems to be searching for something. After accidentally spooking her, he investigates himself, and comes across the 'Piece of Resistance', a glowing object that gives him visions and knocks him unconscious when he touches it. When he awakens, he's being interrogated by Bad Cop (Liam Neeson), and finds the Piece has attached itself to his back. Believing him to be 'the Special' from a prophecy, Wyldstyle rescues Emmet and takes him to the Gandalf-alike Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), who teaches Emmet the way to becoming a master builder.

What could have been a mindless 90-minute advertisement for a global product, The Lego Movie dodges the bullet by actually attacking mass-consumerism, placing the importance on creativity and individuality. The big bad buy is Lord Business (Will Ferrell), a helmet-wearing, caped corporate devil who wishes to control everyone by gluing them in place with 'the Krakle' (a mispronunciation of Krazy Glue), oppressing the freedom to travel between Lego worlds (including The Old West, Middle-Zealand and Cloud Cuckoo Land). This is also a stab at collectors, those strange types who like to keep their toys in boxes and display them, rather than getting them out and using them for what they were designed for. Toys may have become ornaments, ways to make easy money on eBay.

It could be argued that such satire has no place in a kids movie. But these are the same kids who now have their own iPhones, bombarded with in-game advertisements and growing up in a world of reality TV, with programmes consistently celebrating wealth, stupidity and branding. Wyldstyle, concerned that Emmet may have never had an original thought in his entire life, asks him what his favourite restaurant is. "Any chain restaurant!" he gleefully replies. This is the man who is supposed to save the world, the greatest master builder to have ever lived, only to be a master builder, you need to have an imagination to create something amazing out of nothing. The best that Emmet has come up at this point is a two-level couch. It maybe useless, illogical and absolutely pointless, but it's something.

But The Lego Movie isn't all metaphors, it's also beautifully animated (it occasionally replicates stop-motion, as if the movie is actually made of Lego bricks, although it is entirely CGI), exceptionally witty, and features an outstanding vocal cast, who make up an entourage of Lego characters based on other mediums. We have Batman (Will Arnett) as Wyldstyle's arrogant yet loveable boyfriend, and the likes of Han Solo, C-3PO, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Michelangelo the Renaissance artist and Michelangelo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. It's an absolute joy, as if looking into a child's toy box to find a bunch of random and unconnected figures from years of collecting. And that sums up the film - like looking into the past and realising that that same person, who could lose hours putting on silly voices and concocting ridiculous stories, is still in there somewhere.


Directed by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Voices: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson
Country: Australia/USA/Denmark

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #683: 'Only God Forgives' (2013)

After the surprising success, both critically and commercially, of 2011's Drive, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn has furthered his auteur aspirations with his difficult follow-up, Only God Forgives. Refn admitted in an interview that he gets a kick out of screen violence to an almost fetishistic degree, and, like Drive, Only God Forgives has moments of nightmarish violence set in a seedy criminal underworld.

Set in Bangkok, Thailand, Ryan Gosling plays Julian, a reserved young man who runs an underground boxing club as a front for his drug dealing business. His older brother Billy (Tom Burke) sets out one night with self-destructive tendencies, and rapes and murders and 16 year-old girl. The girl's father takes personal vengeance and kills Billy. Julian sets out for revenge himself, but after hearing the reasons for his brother's murder, realises that some kind of justice has been achieved and lets the man go. But with the arrival of Julian's peroxide-blonde, acid-tongued mother Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas), Julian's hand is forced.

For a director so obviously eager to prove to everyone that he's some kind of film-making genius, Only God Forgives is surprisingly familiar in tone. Refn has gone to Thailand to make a Korean movie, full of abstract plot devices, a basic revenge premise, and some squirm-inducing, yet cartoonish scenes of torture and murder. One thing that cannot be denied is that the film looks absolutely beautiful. Like Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void (2009), this is a film seeped in neon-porn, and it's amazing how a bold flash of blue or red can make a scene instantly more wonderful to look at.

But the set design and cinematography aside, this is disappointingly empty movie, full of long moments of existential pondering and comically bad dialogue. The movie's antagonist, a crooked police chief named Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), slices his way to his own form of justice, using a sword to execute and dismember his unfortunate victims. He is meant to be a vengeful God to Julian's sinner, and his appearances on screen are meant to fill us with dread, but instead only serves as a warning that more violence will soon implode. As a sort of idiosyncrasy, Chang sings karaoke as his police force watch him silently. It comes across a bit like Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet (1986), but here it seems pretentious and just rather silly.

It's a real love-it-or-hate-it type of movie. On one hand, you have the technical brilliance that helps create a sleazy, slightly unnerving world, but on the other, you have the fact that this is a straight-to-DVD plot with some rather laughable dialogue. Kristin Scott Thomas, playing against type, gets to use the phrase 'cum dumpster' at an uncomfortable dinner with Julian and his 'girlfriend' Mai (Yayaying Rhatha Phongam). It all just feels like Refn is simply trying to antagonise his audience, but he really only insults them.


Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Yayaying Rhatha Phongam
Country: Denmark/France/Thailand/USA/Sweden

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #678: 'The Hunt' (2012)

After garnering attention and acclaim from critics and art-house fans alike with his debut Festen (1998), things didn't pan out for Danish director Thomas Vinterberg as most people expected. He had a number of flops that passed by without anyone taking notice, and it seemed like the co-founder of the Dogme 95 movement was destined to be a one hit wonder. However, he hit back in 2012 with Jagten, or The Hunt, a powerful study of hysteria in a small town that was nominated for the Palme d'Or and took home Best Actor for lead Mads Mikkelsen.

It tells the story of teacher-by-trade Lucas (Mikkelsen) who is working for a local kindergarten school after the closure of his school. He is a quiet, lonely man living in the house he once lived in with his wife and son. He has his close friend Theo (Thomas Bo Larsen), the father of Klara (Annika Wedderkopp) who is in Lucas's kindergarten group, and the two regularly go on hunting expeditions with a circle of heavy-drinking friends. Things are looking good for Lucas when he begins to date co-worker Nadja (Alexandra Rapaport), until the confused Klara tells another teacher that Lucas exposed himself to her and possibly molested her.

To avoid falling into the did-he-or-didn't-he category, Vinterberg wisely cements Lucas's innocence from the off, making The Hunt less a thriller and more of a serious study of small-town mentality and the rapid spread of mass hysteria. People whom Lucas once shared drinks with as friends quickly turn a simple, albeit dangerous, lie, into paranoid and sheer panic. Pamphlets are handed out to parents detailing signs of sexual abuse - nightmares, crying - things you would generally expect children to do anyway, but when faced with leading questions, the children are understandably confused about the facts and are willing to go with what their parents obviously believe.

Nobody seems to confront the fact that sometimes children lie, and even when Lucas's case is dismissed by police due to an overwhelming lack of evidence, he is still a predatory paedophile in other people's eyes and is isolated by the townsfolk. Mikkelsen, who will be familiar to most English-speaking audiences as the bad guy from Casino Royale (2006) and as Hannibal Lecter in the TV series Hannibal, gives an excellent, nuanced performance, who is at first confused and outraged, and later full of anger and contempt. This is very much an actor's film, with Vinterberg using a calm, hand-held camera to avoid intruding on the story. This film will leave you uncomfortable and frustrated, no doubt, but this is an important and powerful film about the dangers of witch-hunt mentality and condemning people as guilty until proven innocent.


Directed by: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Alexandra Rapaport
Country: Denmark

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #351: 'Ordet' (1955)

Family patriarch Morten (Henrik Malberg) lives in rural Denmark with his three sons - faithless father Mikkel (Emil Hass Christensen), the deranged Johannes (Preben Lerdorff Rye) who after going crazy studying theology, now believes himself to be Jesus Christ, and youngest son Anders (Cay Kristiansen). Anders is in love with the daughter of the leader of a strict religious sect, Anne (Gerda Nielsen), and asks both his own father and the father of his love, Peter (Ejner Federspiel), for her hand in marriage, who both refuse. Morten eventually agrees with the help of Mikken, but comes to loggerheads with Peter over their religious beliefs.

I don't know much about the work of the great Scandinavian director Carl Theodor Dreyer, as the only other film of his I've seen is the fantastic gothic 'horror' Vampyr (1932). I do know that his films are notoriously bleak, and is a favourite amongst Lars von Trier and his Dogme troupe. Ordet is no exception to the rule, as Dreyer films his interior scenes with minimal props, and allows the actors and their voices to fill the screen instead. The result is a beautiful and humanistic study of religion and the miraculous.

The main crux of the film focuses on the two fathers' views on religion, with Morten's beliefs allowing him to embrace life, while Peter lives a stricter, more sacrificial life. All the while Johannes, their apparently demented son, wanders the dunes and condemns the now faithless world they live in and the fact that they are ignorant to the fact that he is indeed Jesus Christ, and all they need is faith. The family's beliefs are tested when Mikkel's pregnant wife Inger (Birgitte Federspiel) goes into premature labour, and the local doctor fights to save both the her and the baby's life. The film builds towards an inevitable climax, but Dreyer's execution is that of elegance and beauty that allows one of the most moving, uplifting, and satisfying final scenes I've seen in cinema.

The film is slow moving, but the subject matter warrants such an attention to detail. There is also an underlying coldness to the film (this is also a Dreyer trait), and all the characters seem emotionally hesitant. Dreyer himself was adopted and experienced a lonely childhood, with his adoptive parents constantly re-enforcing the fact that he was lucky to now have a family and a home. Although these childhood memories clearly influence his work, including Ordet, he also sees hope and promise in humanity, which makes comparisons to the Dogme movement unfair, as there is real human emotion here. A true masterpiece, cementing Dreyer's reputation as one of cinema's most innovative, visionary and intelligent film-makers.


Directed by: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Starring: Henrik Malberg, Emil Hass Christensen, Preben Lerdorff Rye, Birgitte Federspiel
Country: Denmark

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #322: 'Lilya 4-Ever' (2002)

In the former Soviet Union, 16-year old Lilya (Oksana Akinshina) lives with her mother and new boyfriend, and is excitedly awaiting a relocation to the United States. It turns out her mother doesn't want her there, and takes off with the promise of Lilya following later, leaving Lilya alone in her apartment. Her aunt then throws her out, giving her the run-down flat of a recently deceased old man, and Lilya finds herself without any money, and only the young Volodya (Artyom Bogucharskiy) as a friend. Desperate, she discovers how easy it is to make money from whoring herself out, and then meets the handsome Andrei (Pavel Ponomaryov), who invites her to live with him in Sweden. Despite Volodya's warnings, she decides to take his offer, but it soon becomes apparent that there is more to his Andrei's promises.

Based on a true story of a young girl who was trafficked to Sweden only to find herself imprisoned and forced to have sex for money, director Lukas Moodysson's film is set mostly in a very grim reality. Similar both to the social realism of Ken Loach, and the relentless and uncomfortable degrading of it's lead female character that is so prominent in Lars von Trier's films, Moodysson film is certainly brutal. As Lilya (played with a tragic naivety by Akinshina) is being abused in Sweden, we are treated to a POV montage of the various perverts and abusers, sweating and breathing into the camera. We live through the whole thing through the eyes of Lilya, a character of almost operatic tragedy, who suffers for the sins of others in a country ravaged by poverty, glue-sniffing and boredom.

But Moodysson wisely doesn't keep everything grim. In the final third, as Lilya suffers the most, the film often turns dream-like and fairy-tale. He introduces angels and dream sequences, as Lilya finds herself drifting through existence in an almost coma-like state, with her dreams and fantasies her only relief. These scenes (and there are only a few) are not flashy or whimsical, but are subtle and simplistic, in a similar way that Wim Wenders portrayed his angels in Wings of Desire (1987). It's a powerful tool that makes Lilya's plight all the more profound. The film plays out almost like a cruel fairy-tale, only set very much in the real world. Lilya 4-Ever is a hard film to sit through, but is rich in humanity, even though most of its characters are certainly devoid of it.


Directed by: Lukas Moodysson
Starring: Oksana Akinshina, Artyom Bogucharskiy, Pavel Ponomaryov
Country: Sweden/Denmark

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #261: 'Melancholia' (2011)

I wrote a review for Lars Von Triers previous film, Antichrist (2009), so I won't reiterate his 'agent-provocateur' profile outside of his films. I also have to confess that I've never really been much of a fan of his work. The aforementioned, I found intriguing, The Idiots (1998) was OK. Other than Breaking the Waves (1996 - which whilst utterly depressing, was a fine film), I can't say that his films have enlightened me in any way. His approach has always been interesting though. Now to his most recent effort. Melancholia, whilst forming around the concept that a planet (Melancholia) is heading towards Earth, the film is largely focused upon the relationship between siblings Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who are, emotional, polar opposites. The film is split into two chapters, each with the sister's names as titles.

The first half focuses on Justine, and specifically her wedding reception. This part of the film plays much like another of the Dogma '95 films, Thomas Vintererg's excellent Festen (1998). We are introduced to Dunst's character as someone fleeting. She constantly leaves the party, sporadically moving around outside of family and friends. We know from this that she is without conscience when considering people around us. We see in this section that Justine is a person attracted to chaos; she despises order. This is perfectly illustrated in a scene in the bridal suit, where coitus is about to take place. Her new husband, Michael (Alexander Skarsgard), begins taking his clothes of, folding each element of garment and carefully laying them down. This show of order seems to frighten Justine, as she leaves.

In chapter two, the main focus is on the sister, Justine. She has a seemingly austere life, married to John (Kiefer Sutherland) with a young son. They stay in what seems to be a manor house. Justine, who is now staying with them in the throws of deep depression. Claire, unlike Justine, is petrified with any form of disorder. All things have to be in the right place. From the start of the film the presence of the approaching planet is referred to. As it gets ever closer Claire's husband constantly reminders her that it will most certainly not impact with Earth. The film progresses as each character comes to terms with their existence in the face of utter destruction.

A drama which alludes to science fiction, it is an interesting film on two very different people living with the idea of total destruction. It is without question an utterly beautiful piece of cinema, with some exceptionally great performances, particularly from Dunst, in what must be her finest role.


Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling, John Hurt, Alexander Skarsgård, Stellan Skarsgård
Country: Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany

Rating: ****

Marc Ivamy