FILMS
LOGAN (2016) D- James Mangold.
In the near future, Logan, aka Wolverine, aka Hugh Jackman has found himself in the unlikely and unwanted role of Professor Xavier's (Patrick Stewart) carer. The latter's enormous mind is failing, and when he has a funny turn he starts triggering earthquakes in the vicinity. Then an unusual girl turns up at their bolthole requesting sanctuary from a giovernment who would use her as some sort of psychic weapon.
When I heard Stewart on Graham Norton gushing about how extraordinarily good this film was I thought it was just another bit of Hollywood hyperbole. I was wrong. Logan is terrific- perhaps the best of all the X Men franchise, funny, thoughtful, beautifully acted and really powerful in its impact. I don't think anyone has really explored before the idea of the superhero as an aging, vulnerable being, facing old age and death, albeit with great courage. The portrayal of the human, vulnerable aside of those which we previously thought of as invulnerable is superbly done. If you see only one superhero film this year, make it this one- and see it even if superhero movies aren't your thing.
ZOOTROPOLIS (aka ZOOTOPIA) (2016) D- Byron Howard and Rich Moore (Disney)
OK. This wabbit wants to be a cop, hopefully take down the cheeky-chappie fox who's cocking a snook at society. He achieves his dream, then forges an unlikely alliance with the fox to expose the evil mayor who is poisoning usually peaceful creatures to render them vicious "wild animals" so she can crack down generally on personal freedoms (think President Erdowan).
In other words, the latest, and to be fair, quite creditable offering from the Disney studios, now perhaps the world's most powerful media giant.
Some say Disney hasn't done anything of real quality since the "Big Five" of the 30s and 40s: Snow White, Fantasia, Bambi, Pinocchio and Dumbo. Others would say that's a bit uncharitable, even me. Although I have long been suspicious of the man behind this empire, a man who hated unions, didn't respect women, never employed blacks or Jews and who peddled an idea of a perfect American Society that had little to do with real life, his studios have created quite a number of outstanding movies. In fact I offer this latterday "Big Five"- my entirely personal choice of notable offereings since then: One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, Aladdin, Wall E and Frozen. Where's Beaurty and the Beast, or The Lion King, for that matter? Hey, I said it was a personal list. You make your own if you want to.
Whether you approve of Disney's safe, non-threatening (certainly to the establishment) world view, or, like me, you have deep misgivings about it, you have to say they keep on putting out class products- and Zootopia is a worthy successor to these.
AQUARIUS (2016) D- Kheber Mendonza.
A woman (the estimable Sonia Braga) lives in an apartment on the seafront in Recife, Brazil. She had cancer a few years back, but she's a survivor, and she's a holdout too. She refuses to sell her apartment to the developers who have bought all the others units in her block, and would build a bigger tower block in its place. In order to "persuade" her to sell, they hold noisy orgies next door and try various other dirty tricks. But the lady did not survive this long without the most formidable strength of will.
What emerges is an extraordinary portrait of strength and perseverance in the face of corruption. Braga is splendid as the woman who will not be moved in this brilliantly observed minor masterpiece from Brazil. Highly recommended.
GET OUT (2017) D- Jordan Peele.
A preppie girl takes her black boyf home to meet the parents and things seem to go OK for a while. Then Mum, a skilled hypnotherapist, offers to cure our guy of his nicotine addiction. To tell what happens next would be an unwarranted spoiler, and I don't wish to do that in what turns out to be one of the scariest movies I've seen in a long time. Suffice it to say that it starts out like Guess who's Cominbg to Dinner but pretty soon turns into something more akin to Rosemary's Baby.
You probably won't have heard of Jordan Peele. Don't worry, neither has anyone else, but that's about to change. Costing less than $5 million to make, this film has netted over $140 million, putting it in the same category as, in an earlier era, Never on a Sunday, or even the granddaddy of all made-on-a-shoestring-but-made-a-fortune movies: The Blair Witch Project.
Why is it called Get Out? Well, you know that scene in Psycho, when Arbogast is going up those stairs and you want to scream "Don't go up there!"? Same thing here.
I have a feeling we'll be hearing more of Mr Peele, and I for one will be looking out for his name on the director's credit.
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