All posts by Paul. Writer and Filmmaker

Paul is a writer and filmmaker. He has been committed to a writing career from a very early age. In 1997, he graduated from Staffordshire University with a first class degree in Film, TV and Radio Studies. His 2nd year short film project THE ARTS FILE won a Stoke-on-Trent Young Filmmaker's award. Subsequently, he worked as a Production Assistant on a number of promos and successfully completed a work placement at Sky Movies. In 2002, he gained an MA in Feature Film Screenwriting from Royal Holloway College of London and since graduation has written several feature and many short film scripts. In 2005, he formed FIX FILMS and has written and produced many shorts to date. He has also had several short screenplays commissioned by the Mountview Film Academy and film director Jonathan Wolff. His work can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/c/FixFilmsLtd Most recently Paul wrote, produced and directed his own short horror film called FLATMATES (2018). He has subsequently written and directed the films: MISDIRECTION (2019), TOLERANCE (2019) and YOU HAVE A NEW FOLLOWER (2020). His short films have had screenings worldwide at many film festivals. His latest works are the horror, INFERIS (2024), a set of short film monologues called SIN (2024) and THE SUICIDE SHIFT (2026). PAUL is a versatile and prolific writer with ideas in abundance and a very strong feel for structure, characterisation and dialogue. He favours thought-provoking and entertaining narratives with memorable characters, images and scenes. While he values all styles of film he tends toward genre movies as opposed to overtly "arty" cinema. Moreover, being involved in the producing, casting and crewing of low budget shorts has given him great experience and insight into the filmmaking process; improving his writing no end. From 2008 until 2020, Paul had been on the exciting merry-go-round that is the stand-up comedy circuit. He has done over 1000+ gigs. Venues included: Downstairs at the King's Head, The Comedy Pit, The Comedy Cafe, Soho Comedy, London Comedy Store, Electric Mouse Comedy, Streatham Comedy Club, Mirth Control, Comedy Heat, Lion's Den Comedy etc. He also ran two comedy nights: West End Comedy @ The Comedy Pub and West End Comedy @ The Brazen Head. He used to be the resident MC at Electric Mouse's show at The Fox, Palmers Green and got regular paid bookings as a comic and MC in and out of town. In 2014 and 2016 he performed at the Brighton Fringe Festival and Camden Fringe Festival in 2014. He performed open spots for the Banana Cabaret, The Comedy Store and Up the Creek comedy clubs in London. He is also a keen film and television seer and has a love for all genres of movies from art-house to low-budget z-movies. He also loves television of all kinds notably great comedies and dramas. He is an essayist expressing passionate analysis for all elements of cinema. Links Blog: www.thecinemafix.com YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/FixFilmsLtd
Amazon Prime, Cinema, Comedy, Films That Got Away, Reviews

FILMS THAT GOT AWAY #12: THE DAY SHALL COME (2019) + SIX OF THE BEST #29 – CHRIS MORRIS THINGS YOU MUST WATCH!

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THE DAY SHALL COME (2020) – FILM REVIEW

Directed by:  Chris Morris

Produced by: Iain Canning, Anne Carey, Emile Sherman

Written by: Chris Morris, Jesse Armstrong

Cast: Marchánt Davis, Anna Kendrick, Danielle Brooks, Kayvan Novak, Denis O’Hare, Jim Gaffigan etc.

Chris Morris is a bona fide genius. A natural prankster, a fearless satirist, writer, actor, producer, director and enfant terrible of radio, television and more recently cinema. He has been suspended by Greater London Radio and by the BBC and described by the Daily Mail as “the most loathed man on TV.” Which to me is a highly positive thing. Moreover, Morris is genuinely one of my cultural heroes and certainly one of the funniest artists to have graced the planet.

Morris’ latest cinema release is called The Day Shall Come (2019), and given I am such a fan of his work it did not make any sense why I have only just seen the film. Perhaps I had seen some negative reviews or maybe it was released at the same time as the London Film Festival in 2019? Thus, it meant I could not find time to watch it. Anyway, the story is somewhat of a mixed bag and definitely not as focussed or blisteringly funny as Morris’ prior directorial masterwork, Four Lions (2010). Centring on the idiotic efforts of the F.B.I’s terrorist taskforce to bring down targets that threaten United States security, operative Kendra Glack (Anna Kendrick) and her boss, Andy Mudd (Denis O’Hare) pull focus on Marchánt Davis as Moses Al Shabaz, an impoverished preacher, running the hapless ‘Star of Six’ commune. Moses, who is possibly bi-polar, is a likeable fool with delusions of grandeur, however, the FBI decide he is a threat and try to fit him up in many farcical scenes of entrapment.

There are funny moments and some delightfully bizarre dialogue exchanges. Furthermore, Davis excels in his role as the eccentric Moses and the under-used Danielle Brooks brings much needed humanity to her role as his wife. However, the film is full of mostly unlikeable and unlikely characters, meaning Morris’ satirical bullets rarely hit their target. Kendrick is miscast and while there are a few laugh-out-loud moments throughout, I just felt like the script was continually trying to squeeze square blocks into round holes. I even watched it twice to see if maybe I had missed something first time round. Goes to show even for a creative magician such as Chris Morris, certain tricks don’t always come off.

Mark: 7.5 out of 11

SIX OF THE BEST #29 – CHRIS MORRIS THINGS YOU MUST WATCH!

NEWSREADER: The main stories so far: Jimmy Savile drops dead at the Stoke Mandeville Boxing Day bash—but the patients are far from mourning.

CORRESPONDENT: The majority, if not all of them, are extremely relieved that he’s now dead, although I suspect that some of them will be sorry that he didn’t suffer a great deal more.

— The Chris Morris Music Show, 16 December 1994

While The Day Shall Come (2019) does not reach the dizzy heights of Chris Morris’ best output, it is still a highly thought-provoking critique of American law enforcement practices. Arguably though it misses more marks than it hits. Here are six of the best things that Chris Morris has been involved in and I urge you to try and find them on a streaming platform or on DVD or online somewhere. If you love obsidian black and controversial comedy then Chris Morris is your man!

CHRIS MORRIS RADIO SHOWS!

Morris’ creative career really formed on radio. He worked at Radio Bristol, Greater London Radio and made the The Chris Morris Radio Show on BBC Radio 1. He gained notoriety and was suspended from the BBC for announcing Conservative politician Michael Heseltine was dead. In fact, fake obituaries were one of his early favourite pranks. Later, Morris joined forces with another comedy legend, Armando Iannucci, to help create the seminal spoof news show called, On the Hour. The rest they say is history.

THE DAY TODAY (1994)

The Day Today was a TV comedy show that parodied current affairs programmes. Broadcast in 1994 on BBC2, it was created by Armando Iannucci and Chris Morris and an adaptation of the radio programme On the Hour. The genius and surreal satire The Day Today found Morris winning the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. The rest of the cast including Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider were incredibly good too. I wonder what happened to them?!

BRASS EYE (1997)

Chris Morris took the ferocious journalistic character he created on The Day Today (1994) into Brass Eye (1997), with one of the most scurrilous and controversial works of television ever. Once again, Morris was lampooning current affairs shows and the often hysterical way the media sensationalise issues such as drugs, sex and crime. Morris fooled many celebrities and politicians during the filming of Brass Eye (1997), getting them to commit to absurd, but fake media campaigns. A 2001 special was planned but cancelled due to fear of further controversy and litigation against Channel 4.

JAM (2000)

Ever pushing the boundaries of radio and television genre form and style, Morris’ cult sketch show Jam (2000), is a truly dark and twisted experience. Unsettling and bleak it presented unconnected and surreal sketches, unfolding over an ambient soundtrack. Buried late at night on the Channel 4 schedule it was incredibly striking in style and content with a superb cast including: Amelia Bullimore, Julia Davis, Mark Heap and Kevin Eldon.

NATHAN BARLEY (2005)

This absurdist comedy found Morris working with another comedy genius in Charlie Brooker. Here they took inspiration from Brooker’s TVGoHome – a 2001 E4 TV show parodying television – as the focus of a fly-on-the-wall documentary called Cunt. With energetic fool and influencer Nathan Barley as the lead idiot, the sitcom delivered six delicious episodes which skewered hipster characters and pretentious Shoreditch-based culture. The cast included: Julian Barratt, Ben Whishaw, Richard Ayoade, Nicholas Burns, Claire Keelan etc. and Nathan Barley is a highly recommended comedy that seems as vital now as it did in 2005.

FOUR LIONS (2010)

Oh my word! How the hell this film did NOT get banned is something that still shocks me. It is one of the the funniest and controversial films ever about the darkest subjects, namely terrorism and radicalised Jihadis. How Morris and his co-writers, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, managed to successfully satirise, demonise and humanise Muslim fundamentalists is beyond belief. The wicked script and unbelievably good performances by Riz Ahmed, Nigel Lindsay and Kayvan Novak help make Four Lions (2010) one of the finest socio-political comedies of all time. It’s hilarious and actually moving at the end as I pitied, recoiled and felt for these poor misguided fools. Deservedly, Chris Morris won the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the BAFTAS in 2011.

Articles, New Releases, Short films, YouTube Video Articles

YOU HAVE A NEW FOLLOWER (2020) – SHORT FILM YOUTUBE RELEASE

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YOU HAVE A NEW FOLLOWER (2020) – SHORT FILM RELEASE

Hope you are well and safe!

Finally, I have decided to release my short film, You Have A New Follower (2020) on YouTube. It has been delayed due to the pandemic and other personal matters. It got several screenings at online and physical film festivals, however, not as many as hoped due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

I am very proud of the film as I have attempted to explore issues relating to mental health within the thriller genre. I hope it intrigues and interests you too. Below is link to the film and after that the credits and further film details.

You Have A New Follower (2020) – Fix Films Ltd

PITCH

“Watch your back…”

Astrid Nilsson’s life begins to unravel when she is stalked by a mysterious hooded figure.

You Have a New Follower (2020) is the latest short film from Paul Laight and Fix Films. It was shot in London and combines mystery, suspense and science fiction genres with dramatic effect. It’s a short, low-budget film which seeks to explore themes of paranoia, anxiety, and identity within the thriller genre.

CAST & CREDITS

Directed by: Paul Laight & Tilde Jensen
Cast: Tilde Jensen, Mitchell Fisher
Written and Produced by: Paul Laight
Camera: Petros Gioumpasis
Lighting: Sakis Gioumpasis
Sound: Marina Fusella
Editors: Oliver McGuirk, Petros Gioumpasis
Composer: James Wedlock
Sound Design: Simos Lazaridis
Location Manager: Melissa Zajk
Production Assistant: Lue Henner

SCREENINGS

The Fix Film Night, London – February 2020
Cineshots, London – March 2020
Lift Off Sessions, UK – March 2020 (Online)
Fabulosis Short Film Night, London – May 2020 (Online film night) Unrestricted View Horror Festival, London – October 2020 – (Online festival)
Horror of Damned, Italy – November 2020 (Online festival)
Lulea International Film Festival, Sweden – November 2020 – (Online in 2020 and hopefully in Sweden in September 2021)

Website: www.fixfilms.co.uk
YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/FixFilmsLtd

A FIX FILMS PRODUCTION © 2020

Reviews, Star Trek, Television

TO BOLDLY REVIEW #11 – STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION (1992 – 1993) – SEASON 6

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TO BOLDLY REVIEW #11 – STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION (1992 – 1993) – SEASON 6

Based on Star Trek & Created by: Gene Roddenberry

Season 6 writers (selected): Joe Menosky, Jeri Taylor, Frank Abatemarco, Ronald D. Moore, Jean Louise Matthias, Ronald Wilkerson, Brannon Braga, René Echevarria, Ward Botsford, Diana Dru Botsford, Michael Piller, Allison Hock, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Naren Shankar, Ronald D. Moore, Morgan Grendel, Ronald Wilkerson, Jean Louise Matthias, James E. Brooks, Michael A. Medlock, etc.

Season 6 directors (selected): Les Landau, Cliff Bole, Winrich Kolbe, Alexander Singer, Robert Weimer, Robert Scheerer, Adam Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Gabrielle Beaumont, Dan Curry, James L. Conway, LeVar Burton, etc.

Main Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Whoopi Goldberg, Colm Meaney, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Michelle Forbes, Majel Barrett, Rosalind Chao, plus guests: David Warner, Olivia D’Abo, John De Lancie, Daniel Davis, Norman Lloyd, Rene Jones, Stephen Hawking, James Doohan, etc.

Music/Composers: Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith, Dennis McCarthy, Ron Jones, Jay Chattaway

Production Company(s): Paramount Television, CBS Television

**** CONTAINS SPOILERS ****

I watch a lot of television drama and comedy shows, as well as films, so I can be quite the critic and hard to please. Too many though to find the time to review every single one on this website. However, over the past couple of years I have ventured into the project of chronologically watching every episode of Star Trek in release order, then reviewing each season. I have now completed the viewing of season six of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION and can safely say that the quality of the writing, acting, directing and production values remained exceptionally high. Season 6 felt just as fresh watching it now and, while set in the future, it did not feel dated in any way.

One always worries about having fatigue for a particular show that continues for many seasons. Moreover, many television programmes can quickly run out of ideas and “jump the shark” by resorting to desperate concepts, parody or relying on special guest appearances to bolster weak writing. While Star Trek has always represented a robust set of values, ideals and structure, it would be easy for the science fiction to be over-blown and concepts become more bizarre. While some of the episodes in season 6 stretched credulity, on the whole it was another twenty-raft of consistently superb works of television. Indeed, a major strength of this particular episodic show remains the characters. Each of the ensemble gets several opportunities to shine and here I present a mere six of my favourite episodes of season 6. It could easily have been double that!

RELICS – EPISODE 4

Talking of characters, the episode Relics contrived in a highly positive way to bring back Montgomery Scott (James Doohan). Having escaped being trapped in a transporter buffer for some decades, Scottie clashes initially with Geordi (LeVar Burton), before the two inevitably join forces to save the Enterprise. A great episode which conflicts Scott’s experience with La Forge’s youthful exhuberance, highlighting that old age is no barrier to resolving major engineering and life problems.

Star Trek: The Next Generation" Relics (TV Episode 1992) - IMDb

SCHISMS – EPISODE 5

Given the number of physical wars with the well-known foes such as the Klingons and Romulans, this creepy episode did something different with an insidious and hidden alien enemy. The superb script finds Riker, Worf, Troi and Data discombobulated, and sleep deprived as their behaviour on the Enterprise is confused to say the least. When other crew members go missing they begin to piece together the events on the Holodeck, with Schisms overall using suspense and horror to excellent effect.

Year of Trek: Schisms

CHAIN OF COMMAND – PARTS 1 & II – EPISODES 10/11

A fantastic two-parter finds Captain Picard being sent on a covert mission into Cardassian territory. Not only do the episodes introduce an espionage mission, but they also provides excellent character conflict on the Enterprise. This is because Captain Jellicoe, portrayed by the formidable character actor Ronny Cox, takes over the Enterprise and he has a more aggressive style when compared with Picard. Riker especially finds himself clashing with Jellicoe’s more egregious decisions which exert pressure on the crew. Part two of Chain of Command heightens the tension as Picard is captured by the Cardassians and mercilessly tortured. Here Patrick Stewart gives a powerful and emotional performance as a man sent to the edge of darkness by David Warner’s interrogator. Stewart and Warner in a room attempting to outwit each other makes this episode very special television. How many lights do you see?

FRAME OF MIND – EPISODE 21

Frame of Mind is an incredibly clever episode structured around a stage play within the hallucinatory mental breakdown of Will Riker. Opening with Riker rehearsing Dr Crusher’s play called Frame of Mind, and about to go undercover on a secret mission, he suddenly finds himself falling apart mentally in an insane asylum. Cutting back and forth between the asylum, the play and the Enterprise, Jonathan Frakes excels as Riker. He is usually such a cool character, so to find him experience fragility, confusion, anger and depression is an extremely emotional experience for the audience.

6 Things to Know About "Frame of Mind"

SUSPICIONS – EPISODE 22

I was going to choose the episode Second Chances as that has Will Riker finding, following a transporter accident eight years earlier, that he has a duplicate. However, I am such a sucker for whodunnits and Riker features heavily in my prior selection. Moreover, I also I really enjoyed that Suspicions was led by the character of Dr Beverly Crusher, who turns detective after the death of a Ferengi scientist. Structured like a noir detective film, Crusher recounts to Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) how she is about to be court martialled and lose her career for defying Starfleet regulations. There’s a great (if mildly obvious) twist as Crusher discovers an unlikely killer, with Gates McFadden giving a committed lead performance. Lastly, the episode also introduces the fascinating scientific theory of metaphasic shielding, a technique which returns in the two-parter Descent.

Ex Astris Scientia - Alien Monocultures in Star Trek
Cinema, disney, Reviews

DISNEY + FILM REVIEW: SOUL (2020)

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DISNEY + FILM REVIEW: SOUL (2020)

Directed by: Pete Docter

Produced by: Dana Murray

Written by: Pete Doctor, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Phylicia Rashad, Donnell Rawlings, Questlove, Angela Bassett etc.

Music by: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste[a]

Cinematography: Matt Aspbury, Ian Megibben

*** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ***

Death, the loss of childhood innocence, grief, mid-life crises, missing children, the end of the word due to human greed, ghosts, female emancipation within patriarchal society, the afterlife, use of fear as energy, neuropsychological exploration of emotions, oh, and death again are all heavy themes and subjects for a film. But they are not just from the works of heavyweight filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman or Stanley Kubrick. They are subjects investigated and probed and rendered entertainment in a fantastic style by the ever-impressive Pixar studio. Their latest film Soul (2020) is yet another extravaganza of high concepts, existential themes, and scintillating visual world-building.

Soul (2020) centres around Joe Gardner (Jamie Foxx), a music teacher who longs to immerse himself in a career as a jazz musician. It’s not necessarily suggested in the opening scenes as to why Joe hasn’t made it as he clearly has musical talent. However, his dominant mother Libby (Phylicia Rashad) objects to his frivolous desire to play piano, plus Joe, like many artists out there just cannot get a break. A chance arises though when he gets an opportunity to audition for esteemed singer, Dorothea Williams (Angela Bassett). Joe’s exquisite piano playing wins over Dorothea, but then tragedy strikes as an excited Joe falls down a manhole and dies. Being a Pixar film committed to venturing into the afterlife, as it did previously with Coco (2017), Joe finds himself, not in the ‘Land of the Dead’ but rather the ‘Great Before/Beyond’ instead.

As Joe moves toward the light with the many other souls he refuses to accept this is the end. He rejects the unknown glowing light of the ‘Great Beyond’ and escapes to a world full of young, old and lost souls called the ‘Great Before’. Here he meets a cynical soul called 22 (Tina Fey), who is refusing to claim the badges required to begin her own life on Earth. This is where the story gets a bit sticky for me. I mean I enjoy narratives about life, death and the afterlife including the brilliant A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and both excellent versions of Heaven Can Wait (1943 / 1978). However, Soul (2020) I think tries to do too much as 22’s story threatens to dominate Joe’s pursuit to get his life and career back. Moreover, the ridiculous sight of Joe’s soul ending up in a therapy cat also felt like a contrived lean toward giving the kids something to laugh at. Indeed, I felt this water-and-oil decision, while funny, undermined the more intrinsically vital themes within the narrative.

Ultimately though, having succumbed to the cultural pressure of signing up to Disney +, I did thoroughly enjoy Pixar’s Soul (2020). Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey create a fine double act with their brilliant comedic timing and performances. Moreover, Graham Norton and Richard Ayoade provide humorous voice support, and of course, the animation is incredible. Although I would actually have preferred to stay on the exquisitely drawn streets of New York more than the ‘Fantasiaeque’ lysergic acid look of the afterlife. Still, once again, Pixar have been clinical in delivering an intelligent film that delves into existential themes relating to the meaning of life. Joe’s journey, like his music, is full of verve, beauty and many surprising twists, ensuring his soul is certainly one that is worth saving.

Mark: 9 out of 11

Articles, Cinema, My Cinematic Romance

MY CINEMATIC ROMANCE #22 – MARTIN SCORSESE

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MY CINEMATIC ROMANCE #22 – MARTIN SCORSESE

Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out.
— Martin Scorsese

I recently had a three-week career break while I was looking for a new job. I have since gratefully located employment and that would explain why I have not been as active on this blog as before. Because looking for work is more time consuming than an actual job! Anyway, aside from spending the day on the computer searching for gainful employment I also caught up on some TV shows and films that had been on my planner for a while. One of the those I watched was the HBO produced TV drama called VINYL (2016). Created, directed (first episode only) and produced by, among others, Martin Scorsese.

Vinyl (2016) was an incendiary, nostalgic and snorting cavalcade of 1970’s rock and roll music centred around a drug addicted record executive, portrayed by Bobby Cannavale, whose business and personal life are collapsing due to his addictive and self-destructive behaviour. Overall, the ten episodes were scintillating entertainment: loud, over-the-top, ballsy, in-your-face and darkly hilarious. The characters were despicable scumbags at best, yet Scorsese’s sensational style ensures the audience enthusiastically rubber-necks these human car crashes.

Alas, due to low ratings, poor critical response and the huge budget, HBO did not renew Vinyl (2016) for a second season. Thus, Scorsese’s blistering TV rock and roll creation was no more. However, in my latest piece in the My Cinematic Romance series, I have selected five of Scorsese cinematic classics. I could’ve, of course, chosen many, many more but have challenged myself to pick only ONE film from each of the last five decades of the master filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Don’t worry Marty – I thought Vinyl (2016) absolutely rocked. F*ck the critics! You are a true genius.

Vinyl – Co-Creator/Executive Producer Mick Jagger with Bobby Cannavale and Co-Creator/Executive Producer/Director of Pilot of Martin Scorsese on the set ©2016 HBO, photo by Niko Tavernise

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

Paul Schrader’s incredible screenplay about a lost soul travelling the mean streets of New York while on the edge of insanity, is given dark life by Scorsese’s evocative direction and Robert DeNiro’s fearless performance. One of the most memorably nightmarish thrillers and character studies of the 1970s; a period which arguably represents the most exceptional decade of American cinema. Having both the writer and director admit to substance addiction in the 1970’s, lends further to the monstrously illusory vision of urban decay within the pores of this amazing work of cinema.

RAGING BULL (1980)

Boxing champion Jake La Motta represented another morally complex vision of masculinity in crisis for both Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese. Both in and out of the ring he is man in pain who hurts those he loves and, above all else, himself. Each battering jab and uppercut and hook is felt by the audience via incredible editing and sound design. Overall, Scorsese delivers a brutal profile in stark black-and-white and a knockout box of cinematic tricks. Unsurprisingly, DeNiro won a Best Acting Oscar at the 1981 Academy Awards. Rather surprisingly, Ordinary People (1980) was winner of Best Picture. Go figure!

GOODFELLAS (1990)

As far back as I can remember, this has been one of my favourite films of all time. Ray Liotta’s voiceover introduces and tells the story of the rise and fall of gangster, Henry Hill, while expertly supported by Scorsese’s selection of memorable shots, music and sequences. Further, Scorsese’s major skill here is too, is to make us both enamoured and disgusted by the actions of these charismatic criminals and killers. There are so many classic scenes in this incredible epic and the cast of Liotta, DeNiro and scene-stealing, Joe Pesci, make it one of those films that can be watched over and over. Did I forget to mention that it also has one of the greatest cinema soundtracks ever!

THE DEPARTED (2006)

A truly remarkable remake of Infernal Affairs (2002), the film is shot and edited, as expected, with immaculate precision; crammed with unrelenting and bone-crushing thrills and violence. Thematically, it’s powerful too. Throughout, honesty and truth are obliterated by lies and death. Costigan and Sullivan are no more than pawns at the hands of a corrupt system that lets people down from a great height. This is literally the case where Martin Sheen’s Captain Queenan is concerned. An immense cast including DiCaprio, Damon, Wahlberg and scenery-chewing, Jack Nicholson, take a twisting Kafkaesque plot where criminals and cops collide; ultimately chasing their shadows and souls to a treacherous, bloody and bitter end.

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) feels like a greatest hits package combining all of the finer ingredients from Scorsese’s other films. You’ve got the classic swooning camera moves; the direct address to camera; cat-and-dog couples fighting as seen in Casino (1995) and Goodfellas (1990); the boat-in-peril sequence as seen in Cape Fear (1991); the multi-character voiceovers; the dumb criminals putting themselves in the shit; characters turning on each other and ratting each other out as seen in The Departed (2006); plus many more. But whereas Scorsese used to deal with outsiders, oddballs and working class criminals like Travis Bickle, Rupert Pupkin or Henry Hill, he presents via Jordan Belfort a white-collar criminal and venal member of the “Master-Race”, getting his just desserts in an incendiary morality tale of major power.

Cinema, Netflix, Reviews

NETFLIX FILM REVIEW – MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (2020)

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NETFLIX FILM REVIEW – MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (2020)

Directed by: George C. Wolfe

Produced by: Denzel Washington, Todd Black, Dany Wolf

Screenplay by: Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Based on: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom by August Wilson

Cast: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo, Michael Potts etc.

Music by: Branford Marsalis

Cinematography: Tobias A. Schliessler

*** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ***

The spectre of death hangs over us all as time effortlessly drains the life from us. It is an unstoppable force that will quicken on occasion to take a human being way before they deserve. What if said individual has knowledge of their end? Aside from the fear they must be feeling, there is clearly a moment of clarity and strong focus. Something that makes their work gather an altogether unique power. Both player and audience feel such power palpably. This is most certainly the case where Chadwick Boseman’s acting performance is concerned in the screen adaptation of August Wilson’s powerful play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020). As talented, hustling and arrogant musician and songwriter, Levee Green, Boseman is a charismatic vision of drive, confidence, energy and naivety, ready to take on the world, not quite knowing the odds are stacked against him.

Boseman steals the film from under the lungs of the formidable Viola Davis as the titular blues legend, Ma Rainey. Her laconic singer with a voice that stops the clocks is being paid to record a series of songs at a Chicago recording studio in the year 1927. Much conflict is derived from Levee Green’s desire to spice up Ma Rainey’s more traditional blues arrangements. Ma Rainey will not give in to what she perceives as ideas of populism and selling out to white producers who want to water down the blues for a white audience. As Ma Rainey, Viola Davis, excels as this irascible and world-weary diva, fighting off her exploitative manager and record producer. Rainey and the other band members try to dampen Levee Green’s enthusiastic ardour, however, the younger trumpeter will not listen to the advice of more experienced musicians. This eventually comes at a grave cost to those within the play.

Events of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) are set mainly within a day and in the confines of the recording studio. The mix of a hot day, tempestuous characters and colliding personalities all combine in the enclosed space to create much dramatic tension. Given the screenplay is based on August Wilson’s acclaimed play, what the film loses in cinematic visuals, it more than makes up with sensational dialogue and stellar acting performances. Indeed, the supporting cast including: Colman Domingo as Cutler, Glynn Thurman as Toledo and Michael Potts as Slow Drag provide sterling contributions as Ma Rainey’s band. They banter and battle and spar, especially with the argumentative Levee, desiring to simply play the music and get paid. Safe to say therefore the wonderful blues songs performed are beautifully played. They fill the screen with humour and pathos, puncturing the fizzing dialogue of Wilson’s many fine soliloquys with poignant joy.

Amidst the conflict and music, August Wilson’s original text also contains great thematic power within the words. At the heart of the drama and eventual tragedy there is the underlying critique of the black musicians’ songs and style being stripped away from them by unscrupulous record producers. Ma Rainey stands strong rejecting attempts to assimilate her work and personality and voice into the mainstream. Those songs are her lifeblood, and she refuses to entirely sell her soul. Levee Green does not see the bigger picture and is sucked in by the promise of money, women and fame. He is blinded by the bright city lights and the closer he gets to them the easier it is for the record producers to pick his pocket. In such a tragic character August Wilson has created a memorably complex persona, perfectly rendered by the acting genius, Chadwick Boseman.

Mark 9 out of 11

Articles, Cinema, Classic Movie Scenes

CLASSIC MOVIE SCENE #15 – X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014) – QUICKSILVER BREAKS OUT MAGNETO!

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CLASSIC MOVIE SCENE #15 – X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014) – QUICKSILVER BREAKS OUT MAGNETO!

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Produced by: Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker

Screenplay by: Simon Kinberg

Story by: Jane Goldman, Simon Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn

Based on: X-Men by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Days of Future Past by Chris Claremont, John Byrne

Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Elliot/Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Evan Peters etc.

***CONTAINS SPOILERS***

“We need your help, Peter.”

“For what?”

“To break into a highly secured facility…and to get someone out.”

“Prison break? That’s illegal, you know.”

“Um…only if you get caught.”

“So, what’s in it for me?”

“You, you kleptomaniac, get to break into the Pentagon.”

―Wolverine, Quicksilver, and Professor X

After loving the venture back in time to the 1960’s in X-Men: First Class (2011), I recall genuinely looking forward to the follow up X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). I wasn’t disappointed as it gripped me from the brilliant opening scene which established a set of all-conquering villainous machines called The Sentinels which had taken over the earth and were wiping out both mutants and humans alike.  Cue Wolverine being sent back in time by Magneto and Professor X to convince the two respective younger versions of them to change the events which caused the Sentinels to rise to power. If it seemed a bit Terminatoresque it’s because it was completely the same story with some Back to the Future nods thrown in too.  But Simon Kinberg’s screenplay (from Matthew Vaughan/Jane Goldman’s story in turn inspired by 1981 Uncanny X-Men comic book narrative by Chris Claremont and John Byrne) wears its influences proudly and gets us into the story so quickly that the time travel element becomes structurally very satisfying.

Usual X-Men favourites get some wonderful moments including Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) going back to the past and finding his powers are altered somewhat. Moreover, Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is on impressively vengeful form. We are also introduced to a “new” character called QuickSilver, portrayed with cheeky charisma by Evan Peters. He gets his chance to shine when the film goes all Mission Impossible.  Magneto is being held a mile underground at the Pentagon penitentiary and QuickSilver utilises his speedy skills brilliantly. The rescue scene gives rise to probably the best set-piece I saw at the cinema that year. The majestic use of slow motion, special effects, sight jokes, folk music by Jim Croce etc. had my heart in my mouth and adrenalin rushing throughout. It also reveals character as Quicksilver’s playful jabs, hat-knocking and wedgy show him as a mischievous force of nature.  

Furthermore, the scene continued to highlight the ongoing battle between Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) with Magneto having little consideration for life. As the adults argue, the “child” in the scene is the one who saves the day breathing a hurricane of humorous fresh air into the scene and film. Finally, QuickSilver is also speedy in mind as all his set-ups pay-off with a litany of fantastic punchlines at the end of the scene. Thus, avoiding any deaths and getting the X-Men out of a difficult situation in the blink of an eye. The interesting thing about the scene is Quicksilver steals the film and then is not really involved afterwards, leaving a gaping hole in any further potential action. I guess the writers were trying to avoid easy resolution, given he could just save everyone with his impressive powers. Still, quality over quantity, I guess.

Cinema, Six of the Best

SIX OF THE BEST #28 – KAFKAESQUE FILM NARRATIVES!

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SIX OF THE BEST #28 – KAFKAESQUE FILM NARRATIVES!

According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to describe a book or film or life situation as Kafkaesque relates to:

“Franz Kafka (1883-1924) – a Czech-born German-language writer whose surreal fiction vividly expressed the anxiety, alienation, and powerlessness of the individual in the 20th century. Kafka’s work is characterized by nightmarish settings in which characters are crushed by nonsensical, blind authority. Thus, the word Kafkaesque is often applied to bizarre and impersonal administrative situations where the individual feels powerless to understand or control what is happening.”

Moreover, it especially relates to characters and events which could be described as:

“. . . relating to, or suggestive of Franz Kafka or his writings, especially having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality.”

Such narratives are abundant throughout cinema history and in this occasional strand I would like to suggest six of the best films which could be described as ‘Kafkaesque.’ Interestingly, I have not selected the purer surrealist work of say David Lynch or Luis Bunuel, but concentrated on films dominated by characters utterly lost to a nightmarish fate, bureaucracy or a scenario entirely not of their making. I guess one could draw parallels with the world’s current situation in regard to COVID-19, as many of us have found ourselves powerless and at the mercy of bureaucracy, sickness and unknown external forces. However, I am not going to dwell on that; just keep going and hope we all get through safely to the other side of it.

AFTER HOURS (1985)

THE HUNT (2012)

I, DANIEL BLAKE (2016)

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)

THE TENANT (1976)

THE TRIAL (1962)

Amazon Prime, BBC, Cinema, Reviews

BBC FILM REVIEWS: SMALL AXE ANTHOLOGY (2020)

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BBC FILM REVIEWS: ‘SMALL AXE’ ANTHOLOGY (2020)

Director by: Steve McQueen

Producers by: Anita Overland, Michael Elliot

Writers: Steve McQueen, Courtia Newland, Alastair Siddons

Composer: Mica Levi

Cinematographers: Shabier Kirchner

Original Network: BBC and available on Amazon Prime.

*** CONTAINS HISTORICAL SPOILERS ***

Small Axe could also be described in the vein of ‘Small Acts’. Dramatized and rich slices-of-life that reflect significant historical figures and events from black culture in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.  MANGROVE (2020) was the first in a set of five films devised, written and directed by Steve McQueen. It premiered at the London Film Festival in 2020, before being released on the BBC television network. I reviewed the film MANGROVE (2020) here. Such was its power, the searing drama would make my list of favourite films of 2020.

Ultra-talented McQueen was not satisfied with one amazing work. He, his incredible cast and production team also delivered four more high quality dramas called LOVERS ROCK (2020), RED WHITE & BLUE (2020), ALEX WHEATLE (2020) and EDUCATION (2020). I had the privilege of viewing these films via the BBC over the New Year period and provide short reviews here.

LOVERS ROCK (2020)

Main Cast: Micheal Ward, Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Kedar Williams-Stirling, Shaniqua Okwok, Ellis George, etc.

As well as alluding to the main love story within the narrative, Lovers Rock also makes specific reference to a style of reggae music with a romantic sound and content. Set over one night during a London-based birthday party, the film opens with the setting up of a sound system, making of food and preparation of the large house. While mostly an ensemble piece, the story narrows its focus on prospective lovers, Franklyn and Martha, who fall for each other amidst the thumping bass and hearty vocals of the music. Surely, Lovers Rock is a testament to the power of harmony and community and love. There are brief moments of drama to spike the party mood, but ultimately this is about the joy of being alive and drunk on song and romance. Lastly, it’s arguably as close to feelgood as McQueen’s intense filmmaking style gets in this amazing anthology.

Mark: 9.5 out of 11

LOVERS ROCK (2020)

RED, WHITE AND BLUE (2020)

Main Cast: John Boyega, Steve Toussaint, Neil Maskell, Joy Richardson, etc.

As well as evoking the socio-political landscape of the era so well, the costumes, hair, make-up and location work feel so authentic in all of the Small Axe films. Such authenticity serves the stories well, as does the virtually perfect casting too. Fresh from his energetic portrayals of Finn in the Star Wars trilogy, John Boyega’s performance as Leroy Logan in Red, White and Blue (2020), brings his character into conflict with a whole different kind of dark side. Logan was one of the first prominent black police officers in the Metropolitan police. He subsequently founded the Black Police Association and attempt to reform the police from within. No two ways around it, based on the early part of his police career, Logan is represented as a trailblazing hero. He is intelligent and tough and ready to face up to the barbaric language and violence from both white police officers and members of the black community who saw him as a traitor. Boyega is spellbinding as Logan, navigating his way up the ranks facing rancour and rejection from within the police and his own father too, who was understandably unhappy at Leroy’s controversial choice of career.

Mark: 9.5 out of 11

RED, WHITE & BLUE (2020)

ALEX WHEATLE (2020)

Main Cast: Sheyi Cole, Robbie Gee, Johann Myers, Johnathan Jules, etc.

What Steve McQueen deserves praise for with Small Axe, among many other things, is bringing to the fore individuals one may not have heard of, or reminding us of important events from within recent British history. In Alex Wheatle (2020), McQueen weaves the early years of now famous author, Alex Wheatle, with circumstances relating to the Brixton riots and the New Cross fire tragedy of 1981. The latter took the lives of fourteen young black people and fuelled much anger at the time in regard to racist attacks on the black community. Alex himself was brought up in care and grows up an angry young man. He finds solace in music and expressing lyrics in a political and combative style. We first meet him in a prison cell sharing with Rastafarian, Simeon (Robbie Gee). The fractious scenes between the two, with both Gee and Sheyi Cole giving fine performances, are full of anger and humour. Far from being a comedy, there remains both witty banter and pathos fizzing around this profile of Wheatle’s formative years. This fine profile finds a young rebel discovering his voice and identity amidst the urban decay, racism and police brutality of the mean streets of London.

Mark: 10 out of 11

ALEX WHEATLE (2020)

EDUCATION (2020)

Main Cast: Kenyah Shandy, Sharlene White, Josette Simon, Tamara Lawrence, Daniel Francis, etc.

Having addressed social and cultural issues relating to civil liberties, law, music, work and identity, Steve McQueen focussed specifically on educational themes within the black community in the aptly named, Education (2020). The highest praise I can give Education (2020) and all the films in the Small Axe anthology is that I felt genuine emotion for all of the characters and the situations they were in. They may not have been perfect and had their flaws, but ultimately all five of these narratives made me feel and care about the characters. Because they were up against an unfair system which demanded to be challenged and changed to stop the systematic prejudice of the time. Education (2020) feels extremely personal to Steve McQueen as one senses the lead character, twelve-year-old Kingsley Smith (Kenyah Sandy) experiences much of the grief he may have when younger. Considered disruptive at the local Comprehensive, Kingsley is dumped into a “Special School” where he becomes lost and ill-educated. One absurd scene simply shows a teacher playing House of the Rising Sun as part of a lesson. Kingsley’s formidable mother, with help from political forces within the black community, strive to right these educational wrongs in a powerful and moving final chapter to the Small Axe anthology.

Mark: 9.5 out of 11

Cinema, Netflix, Reviews

NETFLIX FILM REVIEW: MANK (2020)

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NETFLIX FILM REVIEW: MANK (2020)

Directed by: David Fincher

Produced by: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski

Screenplay by: Jack Fincher

Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Charles Dance, etc.

Music by: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Cinematography: Erik Messerschmidt

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

“A movie in production is the greatest train set a boy could ever have.” – Orson Welles

I was never a fan of train sets as a child or adult. Nor those racing car circuit kits like Scalextric. They were not for me and I always got the feeling that the person playing with them was having much more fun than any spectator in the room. I had that similar feeling of exclusion and while watching David Fincher’s latest film, MANK (2020). Fincher of course is one of the leading film directors of a generation, combining exquisite technical brilliance with a formidable eye for genre storytelling. Indeed, films he directed such as: SEVEN (1995), FIGHT CLUB (1999), ZODIAC (2007) and the arguably under-rated, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008), are all masterclasses in filmmaking technique and genre narratives. Fincher has also made other excellent films too and also helped create the superlative crime series on Netflix, MINDHUNTER.

Thus, with such a directorial power at the helm it is mildly surprising that Fincher has chosen, as his latest film opus, to favour the trials and tribulations of a famous Hollywood screenwriter in Herman J. Mankiewicz. Yet, this is somewhat of a personal project for Fincher as his father, Jack Fincher, wrote the screenplay prior to his passing in 2003. Mankiewicz or ‘Mank’, as he was commonly known, is portrayed by the never-less-than-brilliant, Gary Oldman. His Mank is a wise-cracking, gambling and barely functioning alcoholic, who so happens to be one of the best screenwriters and script doctors in 1940’s Hollywood. Laid up following a car crash, Mank is consigned to a bed for the majority of the present tense of the film. There he is bullied to write CITIZEN KANE (1941), by theatrical wunderkind, Orson Welles, while also ordered to remain sober.

If you have never seen, CITIZEN KANE (1941), or know little of the Hollywood period of the time, then you are most likely to be lost with MANK (2020). CITIZEN KANE (1941) is rightly considered one of finest films of all time and there have been a number of films made about its creation. Here though the story concentrates on the plight of the writer and how Mank came to be influenced by his relationships with William Randolph Hearst (Charles Dance) and Marion Davies (Amanda Seyfried). Some of the best scenes of the film are Mank’s visits to Hearst Castle and the opulent dinner parties which take place. Mank himself is seen as a witty addendum to proceedings, but always the sneered upon drunken outsider, good for a biting quip and an inebriated jest. Allied to this there are an abundance of characters from the studio system featured, notably Louis B. Mayer, Irvin Thalberg and David O. Selznick. The scene where an drunken Mank bitterly lets rip his ire at Hearst and his cronies is a memorable work of acting from Oldman and contains some fantastic dialogue too.

Overall, the drama rarely gets as good as this and I hardly ever cared about many of the characters, including Mankiewicz himself. The script felt broken-backed, switching from the belligerent and bed-ridden Mank to the flashbacks portraying his Hollywood experiences. I must say though, that the use of screenwriting headers to delineate the place and year of a scene is inspired. The political subplot also, while important to Mankiewicz’s motivation behind his writing choices, did not quite work for me either. Finally, as we would come to expect from a visual genius such as David Fincher, the film’s style is artistry of the highest order. The black-and-white cinematography and stunning production design of MANK (2020) is absolutely incredible to behold. As such, one won’t witness a more beautiful looking train set on a TV or cinema screen all year.

MARK: 8 out of 11