Review #852: 'Paddington' (2014)

When the announcement was made of a feature-length adaptation of Michael Bond's beloved Paddington bear - the polite, marmalade-loving, bespectacled bear from deepest, darkest Peru - I'm sure the common assumption was that disaster was afoot. How do you take a character so steeped in nostalgia, some distinctively old-fashioned, and so quintessentially British, and translate it for a modern audience of children raised on multi-film franchises, CGI and fat suits? Based on the strength of the film's finished product, you employ a young, ambitious director with a real talent for visual flair.

His name is Paul King, and his only previous film, Bunny and the Bull (2009), was a funny, sweet odyssey into the weird, similar in many ways to his most popular TV work, The Mighty Boosh. Paddington is an enormous step up into the mainstream, and could have easily been yet another cheap and formulaic Brit-com; films that are churned out quicker and lazier than they are placed in Asda's bargain bin. Yet despite it's thread-bare plot and familiar genre tropes, Paddington not only offers excitement in some slapstick set-pieces that will surely please the kids, but King makes the film an interesting analogy of immigration, a hot topic in modern society.

When Paddington (voiced with adorable naivety by Ben Whishaw) arrives at Paddington station, leaving his Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) and Uncle Pastuzo (Michael Gambon) after an earthquake destroys his home, the image of the tiny bear, adorned with a sign around his neck asking any friendly Londoners to "please look after this bear, thank you", brings to mind the images of poverty-stricken immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in the 1900's as much as it does the child evacuees during World War II, Bond's original inspiration. He is taken in by inner city statistical analyst Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and his wife, artist Mary (Sally Hawkins), and is soon causing chaos in their home.

Evil taxidermist Millicent (Nicole Kidman) shows up about a third of the way in, intent on capturing and stuffing the rare talking bear, teaming up with grumpy (and randy) next-door neighbour Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi) in what is the only contrived plot-thread of the movie. Her purpose is to be Paddington's antagonist, and it's during these scenes that the film stutters. When the focus is on the curious bear's adventures and pratfalls, and his relationship with the Brown family, this is an incredibly warm, visually engaging experience. It's peppered with wonderful moments, such as Paddington's scribbled addresses appearing out of the London skyline and the ever-changing wallpaper, which blossoms and fades to fit in with the film's various moods. This is a delightful surprise, and I'm eager to see where King will go from here.


Directed by: Paul King
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, Ben Whishaw, Nicole Kidman, Peter Capaldi, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon
Country: UK/France

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #788: 'Maleficent' (2014)

Anyone who has seen Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959) will no doubt remember the horned wicked sorceress that is Maleficent. She appears only briefly, but her extremely dark persona and complete lack of empathy make her a memorable and intriguing Disney villain. Maleficent the film continues the trend of allowing female fairytale antagonists to tell their side of the story, as well as Hollywood's desire to re-make every film ever made that was ever a success. Disney is sitting on a treasure-trove of beloved stories, all ripe for 're-imagination' and money-making. But, cynicism aside, Maleficent is actually not that bad, thanks mainly to a purring performance by Angelina Jolie as the titular witch.

Opening in the CGI-heavy world of the Moors, we meet a young girl with mighty wings. She is Maleficent, the fairy-queen who is one with the strange-but-loveable beasties and natural kingdom all around her, which borders the land of men. She meets a young man named Stefan, and the two becomes friends and eventually fall in love. As they grow older, Stefan stops visiting the Moors, and when he becomes an adult (Sharlto Copley), begins to work for the greedy King Henry (Kenneth Cranham). Henry, terrified of Maleficent's magical power, declares war, only to be beaten back by Maleficent and her army of tree creatures.

On his death-bed, the King announces that whoever kills her will become his heir. Stefan, befriending Maleficent, tricks her into drinking a sleeping potion and, unable to kill her, cuts off her wings and brings them to his king. Years later, with Stefan now king and announcing the birth of his daughter, Aurora, Maleficent gets her vengeance by gate-crashing the party and cursing the child with the dreaded spinning wheel spell, promising release only by true love's kiss, something she knows not to exist. As Aurora is cared for in the woods, Maleficent watches closely, and sees Aurora (Elle Fanning) grow into a person capable of uniting the two lands.

Directed by visual effects artist Robert Stromberg (who won Oscars for his Art Design on Avatar (2009) and Alice in Wonderland (2010)), Maleficent has spectacular special effects, but the world it takes place in feels almost entirely soulless and fails to capture the magic created by those using a pencil 55 years ago. The story often goes to dark places, but it's difficult to care about the characters that inhabit the film, who aren't allowed to develop any extra dimensions other than the ones they were given in Disney's original vision. However, Maleficent, in the hands of Jolie, dominates the film as expected. She manages to juggle the understandable darkness brewing inside of her character as well as the humane, caring side. The film may be good-looking nonsense, but it's nice to have an interesting, morally grey female lead in a mainstream film for once.


Directed by: Robert Stromberg
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Elle Fanning, Sharlto Copley, Lesley Manville, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, Sam Riley, Kenneth Cranham
Country: USA/UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #768: 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' (2007)

Back in 2007, with the impending arrival of J.K. Rowling's seventh and final instalment novel and this, the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Pottermania was at astronomical levels. A director new to the franchise was introduced, David Yates, who seemed a shrewd choice given his track record in British TV, but in hindsight, his inexperience with blockbusters proved slightly harmful to the franchise. It became difficult to cram Rowling's increasingly sprawling novels into a two hour-plus film, and Yates (along with fellow newcomer Michael Goldenberg penning the script), struggled to juggle the emotional drama so delicately handled by Cuaron and Newell before him, along with the CGI-heavy action.

With the horrors he witnessed at the climax of Goblet of Fire still lingering in his mind, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) finds himself returning to a wizarding world in denial. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), refuses to believe the Dark Lord has returned, and half the pupils at Hogwarts accuse Harry of being an attention-seeker. Even Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), who has always protected Harry, seems to ignore him. Only his close friends Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), and the strange new pupil Luna Lovegood (Evanna Lynch), stick by him inside school. Outside, Harry is encouraged by his surrogate father Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who is part of the Order of the Phoenix, a small group of wizards preparing the upcoming war with Voldemort.

Everything about Order of the Phoenix is suitably grim. The opening scene in which Harry and his repulsive muggle cousin Dudley (Harry Melling) meet a couple of hungry Dementors, shows Harry's world as dry, cracked and grim. It suits Harry mood, with his first experience of witnessing death still haunting him, and the frustration of being ignored making him quick to anger. Hogwarts is also no longer a safe retreat for the pupils, as the introduction of Ministry of Magic worker Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) sees the school of wizardry infiltrated, and Voldemort's true aims become clearer.

The politics were more carefully laid out in the novel, and it's here that Yates stumbles. Umbridge's fascist approach is clear as day, to the point of making Harry write lines that scratch into his skin, but the effect it has on the changing attitudes towards 'mudbloods' such as Hermione (wizards born out of non-magical parents) and half-breeds like the formidable centaurs lurking in the forest, is all but ignored. The climax at the Ministry of Magic, which sees Harry and Voldemort both seeking a prophecy, is messy, as it was in the book. It works well when focusing on Harry and his demons, and Radcliffe again performs well, but integrating them with the enormous ensemble and the overarching story is where it falls flat.


Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Jason Isaacs
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #2: 'Taking Woodstock' (2009)

It's seems remarkable to me that such a massive historic event as the one portrayed in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock has largely been ignored in the movies, when it included many giants of the industry and took place in one of the most beloved era's in our recent history. The event I'm referring to is, of course, the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969. The Festival was documented in the epic 1970 documentary Woodstock, but Lee's film concentrates on the creation of the Festival, the resistance the creators were faced with by the townspeople, and the dedication that the protagonist Elliot Teichberg had in what he saw as putting money into his poor parents pockets and back into the town's economy.

Teichberg (played with ease by stand-up comic Demetri Martin) is a successful interior designer and President of the Chamber of Commerce who spends most of his time handing his parents money so they can keep running their shit-hole motel, in which his miser mother tries to saves money by turning the bed sheets over rather than actually washing them. His long-suffering father spends his days in a semi-daze after years of living with his Russian-born wife who accuses anyone in her path of being an anti-Semite and reminds them of her struggle escaping from the Nazi's during WWII.

When Teichberg overhears that the original location to hold the Festival falls through due to opposition from the town members, he uses his permit (purchased for $1 for his usual small arts festival for the theatre troupe that lives in his barn) to lure the organisers to Woodstock and obtains permission to have free reign to use the acres of land owned by dairy-farmer Max Lasgur (the ever-brilliant Eugene Levy). He is aided by festival organiser Michael Lang (Jonathan Groff) and transvestite Vilma, who, being played by giant Liev Schreiber, looks ridiculous in a blond wig, but played to fantastic comic effect.

There are both strengths and weaknesses for the film, unfortunately a lot more of the latter. The film beautifully captures the era without going overboard, and it wisely keeps the focus on the main character's plight to make the concert work rather than shifting to the concert itself. But, while the character of Teichberg is interesting himself, his relationship with his mother and father takes up most of the film's focus, and it just isn't either convincing or interesting enough. His mother is uptight and unappreciative of her son's input in the family business, spending years saving any money she can while her son goes broke and the business suffers. It's a storyline that's been covered many times before and offers nothing new, although played well by the ever-reliable Imelda Staunton. Thank God, then, for the sweet relationship that develops between father Jake (Henry Goodman) and Schreiber's character, with the former fully engaging with the swarm of hippies on their motel and finding a new dimension and meaning to his life.

I must admit I was expecting more from a director of the magnitude of Ang Lee, capturing the same kind of magic found in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000), but it's never quite funny, dramatic or engaging enough. Many scenes fall flat, such as a spectacularly unfunny scene where Teichberg's parents eat 'special' brownies given to them by Vilma and proceed to dance and laugh with their son before stumbling into their bedroom and falling asleep. And the inclusion of Emile Hirsch's character - an isolated and paranoid Vietnam veteran who is struggling to fit back into home life - is just poorly written and wholly unconvincing.

Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh, or maybe I just expect more from Ang Lee. It is elevated by good performances by Martin and Schreiber. It also has a few nice moments - namely when we experience a screaming crowd turn into waves of psychedelic lights through the eyes of an acid-influenced Teichberg. An easy film to watch, but disappointingly run-of-the-mill.


Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Demetri Martin, Imelda Staunton, Henry Goodman, Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch, Paul Dano
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie