Director: Michael Showalter
Writers: Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani
Stars: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano

Synopsis: A couple deals with their cultural differences as their relationship grows.

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Laden with gluttonous lashings of acerbic wit, this spell-casting romcom co-written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon hits all the right notes. Mostly. A true account of their fledgling relationship spanning two hours and a near-fatal illness, The Big Sick earns every right to halt Hidden Figures’ reign as feel-good movie of 2017. A first turn behind the camera since 2005’s The Baxter for Michael Showalter (better known for his thespian work in Wet Hot American Summer), the drama is efficiently steered through waters that could so easily capsize into ripe melodrama; the heavy lifting here, though, is in the writing. Like the indestructible screenplays of Paddy Chayefsky (Network, The Hospital), it’s not a great leap to suggest even the salacious sensibilities of Michael Bay couldn’t harm this tale.

Kumail (Nanjiani) spends evenings delivering stand-up routines in a seedy Chicago comedy club, a passion subsidized by nocturnal Uber fares. A chance meeting with Emily (Zoe Kazan) during one of these performances sparks an immediate romance, despite the early reservations of graduate student Emily. It’s in these moments; these minutiae, that The Big Sick works its magic. Contrasted with beautifully observed dinner sequences Kumail shares with his devout parents, in which his mother, Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff), conspires to introduce Kumail to prospective brides, there develops an air of truthfulness I can’t say I can recently recall. It may even be that, were it not based on actual events, I’d dismiss the eventual narrative arc as utterly unnecessary. The sudden onset of a supposedly innocuous lung infection renders Emily comatose, hastening a series of fractious interactions with Emily’s parents, Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano). Racial prejudice is given the comic floor in some of these moments, as indeed are those with Kumail’s parents, a particular line referencing 9/11 with sardonic nous drawing fits of stifled laughter from the audience. That we’ve spent long enough in the company of Emily and Kumail to recognize the absurdity of their parents’ inclination yet retain an appreciation for it, is quite brilliant. We are in no doubt of whose side we’re on, but everyone’s sympathetic.

It can’t be understated just how many laughs Nanjiani and Gordon have skillfully weaved into the script without lessening the drama. Going into the film we know the real events can’t have played out amidst such incessant levity, yet here they are, as naturally woven into the plot as anything else. I did feel, coming out of the screening, that the playful tone did challenge my expectations less as the film wore on (a minor final-scene misstep eliciting a reticent groan), but such is the writing that I’d have forgiven next to pretty much anything. These two families, afflicted by sickness, infidelity and pride, are simply a pleasure with whom to spend an evening.

Brian Burgoyne’s cinematography is both unobtrusive and patient, detaching itself from what, for all the world, feels an ardent retelling. It’s tempting to consider his work here passive, given that so very little of the story is told by the camera, but our distance is the actors’ intimacy.

The Big Sick is an easy sell. The screening I attended flew in the face of any notion of a target demographic, the laughs endearing us all to a love story with the warmest of hearts. A complex examination of its characters, all of whom are afforded the time to earn their sometimes partisan, sometimes ambivalent views, will likely reveal more with repeat viewings. And it’s from DVD shelves that I expect further viewing will catapult this relative box office smash to modern indie classic.

Overall Grade: A

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Director: Bong Joon Ho
Writers: Bong Joon Ho (screenplay) (as Bong Joon Ho), Jon Ronson (screenplay)
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Seo-Hyun Ahn, Jake Gyllenhaal

Synopsis: Meet Mija, a young girl who risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend – a fascinating animal named Okja.

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Okja is a beautiful, heartfelt tale and another smash hit for Netlfix. With brilliant direction from Bong Joon-Ho, an absolutely stellar ensemble cast and a film that is clearly filled with a lot of heart and soul, Okja is a unique glimpse into the modern world. Proving to be not only socially relevant but also emotionally challenging, this film will make you even question some of your own beliefs.

Taking place in an altered version of our modern reality, the company Mirando has devised a devious plan to sell food to their consumers. Advertising it as non-GMO, completely organic and all the other white lies that current corporations offer up, Mirando claims to raise 26 super pigs that are guaranteed to basically end world hunger while simultaneously satisfying their consumers. What they aren’t telling everyone is that they are practically creating every one of these super pigs in a lab and slaughtering them to produce a mass food product. However since they sent out the 26 super pigs, to keep up their public image, they must now round up all of these pigs. This includes stealing Mija’s best friend, Okja, an adorable super pig who is also her best friend. After stealing her pig, Mija must fight desperately to get Okja back through the help of animal friendly freedom fighters.

The plot for Okja remains relatively simple and easy to keep up with since it feels so familiar. Not familiar in the sense of we’ve seen this in a film before but that we are actually living this reality. We are in this world of corporations consistently lying to us about the products they are selling and how they either craft or obtain said product. The film is such a topical and intelligent glimpse into our own reality that its almost terrifying just how accurate it is. Bong Joon-Ho not only perfectly exemplifies this american corporation problem but he also gives us a catalyst for how we should be feeling about said issue.

Through the main character of Mija and the relationship she has with Okja, we get a glimpse into the thought process we should be having. The two have a deep friendship that we as an audience connect with on a deep emotional level. But the dedication Mija has to rescuing Okja, the innocence Mija has in terms of her exposure to corporations all fits this puzzle of how we should feel in our own lives. We are living in this fabricated world that Bong Joon-Ho has created and he gives us the clear straight cut answer for how we should react to our own world. The subtext that is so clear cut in this film is sheer genius and further proves what an incredible director Bong Joon-Ho is.

Another thing that he does so effectively as a director is his use of the ensemble. He proved his mastery of this approach in Memories of Murder in 2003, and he is continuing to execute on this talent to this day. Every character plays a part in the bigger picture, not only the adorable pig that is Okja, but the twisted CEO that is Tilda Swinton, the bubbly yet simultaneously poignant Jake Gyllenhaal, and the freedom fighter leader Paul Dano, and of course the heart and soul of the film, Seo-Hyun Ahn. Each character is their own piece of the puzzle, each one of them fitting perfectly into the grand scheme. Bong Joon-Ho knows how to perfectly make each character possess a specific trope or ability and then use to the advantage of the overall film. For example, Swinton is the dirty, rotten CEO, Gyllenhaal is the yes man who is regretful, Dano is the voice of reason and voice of hope, and Ahn the heart and soul of the entire puzzle.

Okja is a heartfelt, beautifully crafted film that will make you feel every emotion under the sun. With a beautiful visual style, a stunning score and brilliant direction from Bong Joon-Ho, this film is not worth missing. The only disappointing thing about Okja is that most of us will not be able to experience it on the big screen. With a brilliant ensemble cast and a perfect glimpse into our own reality, Okja is easily one of the smartest and greatest films of 2017.

Overall Grade: A

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Director: Sofia Coppola
Writers: Thomas Cullinan (based on the novel by), Sofia Coppola
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, Colin Farrell

Synopsis: At a girls’ school in Virginia during the Civil War, where the young women have been sheltered from the outside world, a wounded Union soldier is taken in. Soon, the house is taken over with sexual tension, rivalries, and an unexpected turn of events.

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Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled is a slow burning drama that offers up quite a bit erotic subtext. With a film centered around themes of temptation, sexual desires, and romance, The Beguiled is a smaller film that will dazzle those looking for something different during the summer movie season. Stunning cinematography, an outstanding ensemble cast and brilliant direction from Coppola, the movie’s only weakness lies within its plot or lack thereof.

The Beguiled takes place at a girls only school in Virginia during the Civil War. When the girls’ peaceful existence is disturbed by the unwanted arrival of a wounded Yankee soldier, the women must quickly decide whether they try and save him or leave him for dead. Choosing to follow in the steps of God, the woman assist the soldier and allow him to regain his strength at their school. But he is not there long before the women and the soldier’s sexual tensions begin to rise, leading to bad blood among them.

The Beguiled relies heavily on its subtext, focusing on how the film is edited, as well as how the characters interact in order to deliver a deeper meaning. The plot of the movie consistently remains as basic as possible in order for Coppola to fully immerse her audience into the psyche of the characters. Which isn’t a bad thing, it is incredibly refreshing to see something so nuanced in this modern age of film. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name and also technically a remake of the Clint Eastwood film from 1971. However Coppola’s approach is told through the lens of the women in the school versus the wounded soldier. Coppola and her team masterfully recreate the subject matter for an incredibly indulgent viewing.

Besides its deep metaphorical subtext, the visual style is actually the movie’s biggest strength. Not only is this project shot on film but it actually is shown in a different aspect ratio than most films, with the black bars on the sides versus the top. This just slaps us over the head with even more subtext because the movie has now metaphorically and literally trapped its character into a physical space. The Yankee soldier feels imprisoned by these women in the third act of the movie and the framing is a visual representation of that. Despite its framing the film overall is just incredibly pleasing to look at. The sets are recreated stunningly, all of the costumes are accurate and drop dead gorgeous and the lighting of the exterior sets is immaculate. Coppola has been in the directors chair for quite sometime but this project is easily her greatest achievement.

The film is slow moving but that does not hinder the overall enjoyment. The runtime and pacing is built around the script and story, making it all the more effective. This effect is sold even further through the fantastic ensemble cast. Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, frequent Coppola collaborator Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning and many other up and coming actresses, each performance in the movie is brilliant. Not only are everyone’s accents spot on but also their mannerisms and inflections. From Farrell’s sleek and charming performance that quickly switches to intimidating and ferocious, to Kidman’s relaxed and powerful performance, each actor delivers new career bests.

The Beguiled is an incredibly slow burn that focuses and relies heavily on its subtext. However, catered with an abrasive visual approach and a brilliant ensemble cast this does not hinder the film. Serving as Coppola’s best directing job yet The Beguiled is a summer movie that does not quite feel like a summer movie. If you are seeking something small scale and not as epic or grand as every other movie this summer, this film is totally worth your time.

Overall Grade: A

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Director: John Watts
Writers: Jonathan Goldstein (screenplay), John Francis Daley (screenplay)
Stars: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Jon Favreau

Synopsis: Several months after the events of Captain America: Civil War, Peter Parker, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark, tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens, New York City while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man as a new threat, the Vulture, emerges.

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Peter Parker, plucked from obscurity in Queens to assist ‘Team Stark’ in the Captain America: Civil War, finds himself sidelined after the battle of Frankfurt airport by Stark. Told to stand up for the little guy, our erstwhile superhero finds himself directing lost old ladies and beating up muggers, all the while feeling that he could do more. Overconfident as a superhero, he is the polar opposite at high school where he is the champion of the quiz team and shyly attracted to Liz, a popular girl on the same team and member of the Homecoming committee.

Spider-Man foils a bank robbery, which is performed with some slightly outlandish weaponry leading to the destruction of a local bodega, our hero begins to track the source of said weapons, leading him back to Adrian Toomes, a contractor who was kicked off the Chitari cleanup contracts and lost a lot of money. Toomes now uses an elaborate flying suit and Chitari technology to steal Chitari technology from Stark’s organization and continue his highly profitable weapon development and sales operation.

Tom Holland as Peter Parker is the core of the film and I am delighted to say he is quite excellent in the role. For the first time in any Spider-Man film, we have a teenage Spider-Man and the film does very well in making us feel that this guy is just a kid, and a somewhat weedy one at that. Looking small and uncomfortable whenever he is at school (yet curiously buff when stripping in and out of his outfit), he is frequently shown in long shot or against massive backdrops to highlight just how out of his depth he is in this world of superheroes. Charming, enthusiastic, hubristic, and flawed, Holland’s Spider-Man is a triumph of characterization, character and actor all combining to produce a winning cinematic creation. In a Marvel films so often there is little to no sense of peril, but this is different; we become genuinely concerned for Peter. We will him not to make some of the decisions he does and fear for his safety several times. It’s great.

As a foil to Spider-Man, we are blessed to have the ever-wonderful Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture. A disaffected American worker some of his speeches ring true in our own world as spoken from re-energized coal miners and laid-off US auto workers. He’s the embodiment of the American Dream, to set up your own business and grow it, laid low by big corporations stealing the lifeblood of small contractors, the contracts themselves. At one point Keaton growls that “the guys who created this mess now get paid to clean it up”. It’s hard not to sympathize with the character, and Keaton’s effortless charisma and superb performance really sell this villain as a believable creation. So long a weak-point in Marvel movies, Toombs is one of the best villains the franchise has created; threatening, charming, understandable, sympathetic, psychotic, driven, motivated. He is a fantastic character.

The rest of the cast are capable and fine in their roles, though the constant reappearances of Tony Stark starts to grate. I found myself yearning for a charismatic older actor playing the Uncle Ben/father figure role – one of the highlights of Sam Raimi’s film was Cliff Robertson’s performance. Stark is a blowhard, and it is hard to see him giving life-lessons to a kid when he basically created the whole situation in the first place. In fact Keaton mentions this discrepancy at one point.

You’ll be pleased to know that the action sequences are all very good indeed, a sequence on the Washington Monument being a standout (and in 3D this really delivers). Whenever Spider-Man is taking on three or four opponents in a medley of web shots, punches, kicks, flips, wall hangs and constant sarcastic commentary from the snarky kid in red and blue it is brilliantly entertaining.

So with all this positivity, why the less than top score? Well there are a couple of things.
Firstly the film overall feels quite flat. Despite the great work from the actors, the moments that are clearly meant to be humorous don’t always deliver – for example every scene with Jon Favreau’s Happy. Likewise some of the action sequences seem a bit, well, rote. They felt like TV sequences, something you’d see in Agents of SHIELD rather than a mega-budget movie. The worst offender being an elongated van chase. There is also un-neccessary sub-scenes and nods that didn’t quite fit with the characters or the story (or indeed the tone of the film), the final scene with Aunt May and the f-bomb I found really jarring. While I bring up Aunt May, I would have welcomed more scenes with Tomei and Holland, they had an easy chemistry, but we didn’t see enough of their relationship.

The other major problem with the film is the existence of Kick-Ass. Michael Vaughan’s uber-violent F-you to the superhero film clearly owes a great debt to Lee and Ditko’s creation, but it is hard to get the green-suited loser out of your head, especially when you see Spider-Man walking around the neighborhood using his powers on low-level muggers. The same sense of ‘don’t do this’ rattles through my brain in both films, both place their convincing teenagers into positions of great peril, and both deal with balancing school-life with superhero -life.

Unfortunately, due to the flat direction mentioned above, Kick-Ass is a superior film. The slight dips that Homecoming suffers from (the nerdy best friend is irritating, the love interest is a bit bland, all the humor falls flat, some of the action feels cheap, any plot twists are visible a mile away) Kick-Ass doesn’t.

However I fully understand that this is the film that Spider-Man fans have been waiting for, and it is as slick and enjoyable a film as Marvel has ever made. It is the first time Spider-Man is seen as he should be: as a kid. The film is very good indeed, the best Marvel film of the year, but this reviewer enjoyed Wonder Woman more. Don’t get me wrong, DC’s film cannot avoid some of the dunderheaded plotting that marred their other movies, a pothole Homecoming avoids admirably, but it was also energetic, propulsive, colorful, lively and, in one outstanding scene, tear-jerkingly heroic. Homecoming doesn’t quite engage the same emotions in this reviewer.

I’m really nitpicking though: Homecoming is a polished piece of entertainment, and well worth your money. It is particularly strong on its lead characters and the villain is the best I’ve yet seen in a Marvel film. If you are a Spider-Man fan, feel free to add a whole grade to the score above because this IS the definitive cinematic version of your beloved character.

Overall Grade: B+

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Hear our podcast review on Episode 229, coming soon.

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Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Writers: Alex von Tunzelmann
Stars: Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery

Synopsis: 96 hours before the World War II invasion of Normandy, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill struggles with his severe reservations with Operation Overlord and his increasingly marginalized role in the war effort.

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Jonathan Teplitzky’s Churchill follows the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Brian Cox) in the days leading up to the D-Day Normandy landings, painting a picture of a man haunted by the First World War who is anxious not to repeat its military mistakes.

Churchill’s hat becomes a symbol for the man throughout the film, with images of his hat rolling across the British shores that face the channel and, beyond, the French coast onto which thousands of men will soon arrive by ship to invade Nazi-occupied France. The moments in which Churchill dons his famous hat, wears it to the beach and even raises it to the sky whilst facing the French coast may be a little on the nose but it is a visually striking cinematic device to illustrate not only the iconic image of the man himself but his desperate desire to lead from the front and show his troops the support of the nation.

Churchill speaks for “the ordinary fighting man” and tries desperately and ultimately in vain to show his support through his physical presence on board one of the ships headed to Normandy when he is unable to change the plans for Operation Overlord altogether. Brian Cox delivers a very strong performance as this much-played historical figure and is compelling to watch in his struggle against plans for the D-Day landings with their alarming similarities to the British military disaster at Gallipoli in 1915. Unfortunately, however, the script requires that all of his – and indeed, the other characters’ – struggles play out through their dialogue and not in the nuances of their physical performances, leaving its talented cast to air every concern and thought to one another or, indeed, to God.

Low-angle shots highlight Churchill’s double chin buried into his high, broad shoulders; Cox’s physical performance has this great Briton down to a tee but it is a shame that the physicality and expressions of this talented actor are not relied on more greatly to project his inner turmoil. In one particular scene, the distraught Churchill lies on his bed motionless having been given the devastating news that Operation Overlord will go ahead as planned. Rather than letting the silence speak for itself, Churchill instead unleashes another speech in which he describes the shortcomings of First World War tactics to the audience, ahem, sorry, to a room of people who know in detail what happened because they were either there or reading the newspapers at the time. It can feel at times like “Let’s Recap World War One and the start of World War Two with Brian Cox” who, alas, is the victim of a script that has no faith in its audience’s basic knowledge or its ability to pick up on any form of subtlety.

The talented Miranda Richardson does her very best with the same hindrance, portraying Clementine Churchill’s concern and dejection in a nuanced performance that is frequently interrupted by the need to say what we can already see she is experiencing. There is also, amongst the film’s fear-fuelled final scenes, a touching relationship that plays out between Churchill and his secretary Helen Garrett (Ella Purnell) which, if a bit contrived, adds a human perspective to the men headed for the front. In other moments of the film, the focus each actor is placing on accurately depicting an historical figure hinders the ability to interact in a realist manner. When Churchill and Eisenhower (played ably by John Slattery) converse it feels less like a discussion and more two performances of famous people happening opposite one another; yet another moment when the clunky, explanatory and repetitive script does not assist its cast.

Credit where it is due, the cinematography in Churchill is wonderful, with numerous shots featuring the silhouettes of characters and striking architecture stood against the bright British sky. There are moments on the beaches of England that are visually reminiscent of the First World War, not only in the yellow and muddied filter that screams of the misery of the trenches but in the film’s opening scene in which Churchill envisions barbed wire and bodies littered across the coast.

A review of this film is not complete without crediting James Purefoy for a fantastic performance as King George VI, managing to accurately portray the King whilst sharing a moving moment with the Prime Minister in a scene that, blissfully, is not another refrain on Churchill’s ‘this is not a good idea’ or ‘I’m trying to win a war’ speech. Churchill’s famous speech on the day of the D-Day landings, too, is a highlight of the film; a rousing moment with an evidently scrupulously studied performance from Brian Cox.

The film certainly has its inspired moments and at no point was I tempted to give up on it, but you have to brace yourself through a slow start and a lot of grating dialogue to appreciate some really skilful performances from the cast.

Overall Grade: C

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