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Films That Got Away, Netflix, Reviews

FILMS THAT GOT AWAY #16: OFFICIAL COMPETITION (2021)

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FILMS THAT GOT AWAY #16: OFFICIAL COMPETITION (2021)

Directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn

Written by: Mariano Cohn, Andrés Duprat and Gastón Duprat

Produced by: Jaume Roures

Main cast: Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, Oscar Martínez, José Luis Gómez, Irene Escolar, Manolo Solo, Nagore Aranburu, Pilar Castro
Koldo Olabarri, etc.

Cinematography Arnau Valls Colomer

**MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS**

It’s no surprise there are an abundance of films about the actual process of filmmaking. The film industry is full of rich possibilities in terms of drama, action, tragedy, romance and comedy. Moreover, cinema down the years is replete with imaginative, tough, evil, spoilt, egotistical, eccentric, pretentious and frankly insane individuals working in the film industry. 8 1/2 (1963), Dolemite is My Name (2019), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Sullivan’s Travels (1941), Barton Fink (1991), State and Main (2000), Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019), Hugo (2011), Living In Oblivion (1995), Boogie Nights (1997), The Disaster Artist (2017), Ed Wood (1994), The Player (1992), and Tropic Thunder (2008) are just a few brilliant films about filmmaking. Now you can add the hilarious Argentinian-Spanish co-production, Official Competition (2021) to that list.

With stunningly funny performances from Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez, Official Competition (2021), centres on a film-within-a-film production, as Cruz’s ostentatious director, Lola Cuevas, helms a billionaire-backed-big-budget adaptation of a critically acclaimed book. Banderas is Felix Rivero, a famous movie star, while Martinez is a method-driven actor, and with the wildly unpredictable Cuevas between them, a rivalry soon develops between their different acting styles and personalities. As the production progresses any respect they had evaporates and descends into hilarious acrimony amidst a series of expertly staged comedic set-pieces.

I find it incredibly irritating that so many films get critical praise and win awards and you watch them and, while technically brilliant, they are ultimately boring and pretentious. Then we get Official Competition (2021), with a perpetually inventive screenplay by Mariano Cohn, Andrés Duprat and Gastón Duprat, that has not received nearly enough critical praise or awards. In fact, it mocks those artistically inflated directors and actors whom often get over-praised by fawning film critics and journalists. So, if you love films about filmmaking and funny ones at that, please do check this film out streaming on Netflix. It is certainly a cut above the pretentious films, actors and directors it is cleverly satirising.

Cinema, Reviews

CINEMA REVIEW: INDIANA JONES and the DIAL OF DISNEY (2023)

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CINEMA REVIEW: INDIANA JONES and the DIAL OF DESTINY (2023)

Directed by James Mangold

Written by: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp
and James Mangold

Based on Characters by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman

Produced by: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel

Main cast: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, Mads Mikkelsen, etc.

Cinematography: Phedon Papamichael

*** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ***

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was one of the most memorable cinema experiences I ever had in my early life. Myself and my younger brother went and watched it at the ABC Cinema Fulham in 1981. I was eleven and he was nine year’s old. After the film ended, we were exhilarated and hungry. We decided that rather than spend our remaining money on bus fare, we’d prefer to walk home to Battersea and share a bag of chips in the rain.

The three mile walk lasted no time at all as we were full of excitement about the incredible film we’d just witnessed. Gigantic rolling balls, snakes in cockpits, treacherous monkeys, villainous Germans, a hard-drinking heroine, unforgettable fights, shootouts, chase scenes galore, and a whip-cracking, charismatic, never-say-die archaeology Professor as our leading protagonist. Those Nazis never stood a chance chasing the ultimate McGuffin in the lost Ark of the Covenant.

My brother and I bounced out of the cinema wishing we were Harrison Ford. He portrayed the world-weary and intelligent man of action, Indiana Jones, superbly. After Ford’s star-making turn as Han Solo, here he was doubling down and cementing his place as one of the most charismatic screen actors. Fast-forward forty-two years later and Ford is back for the fifth outing of “Indy” in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). After the disastrously poor Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), could ‘Dial’ redeem the franchise? Well, given they spent almost $300 million dollar on it, I would say, no!

The story, if you can call it that, finds a grouchy and retired Indy, literally now a crumbling fossil himself, dragged into the murky shenanigans of his god-daughter, portrayed by critic’s darling, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She’s looking for an ancient artefact that also happens to be sought by nefarious agents, led by Mads Mikkelsen. He is flanked by evil ‘Laurel and Hardy’-type henchmen and the ensemble hurtle around the world, travelling by map, all trying to out-do and kill each other. Apparently the ‘Dial of Destiny’ has magically temporal abilities which can blah! blah! blah! Of the main cast Waller-Bridge is okay, but her character arc is confusing as we never quite care which side she is on. But, Mikkelsen impresses as the villain whose fiendish plan is frankly preposterous and revealed way too late into the final act.

Maybe I am just a grumpy old git, but I did have real issues with the story and screenplay of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). Oh, and the characterisation, darkly shot set-pieces, choppy editing, and gigantic plot-holes. James Mangold is a fine genre filmmaker and has made some terrific films during his career, but this is not one of them. It just smacks of another cynical money-making exercise by Disney, with little or no respect for the original’s legacy. Worst of all it was predictable, overlong and tedious. Having said that Harrison Ford is absolutely fantastic as Indiana Jones. He brings a real gravitas and emotional depth to the character. His physical stamina, given his age, is admirable too. Unfortunately, the screenplay should have been locked away with the Ark of the Covenant and never seen the light of day.

Mark: 6 out of 11