X Men - Days of Future Past

I think that's the title, I can't be sure... The more I think about the film the less I want to think about it, does this make sense? This movie didn't make much sense... But what was oddly thrilling was that it didn't feel the need to really explain itself too much, sure there was plenty of expository dialogue but there was a whole mess of things the film expected you to keep up with and be aware of. In many ways I admired this film mostly because of the way it blatantly just went about with it's business and didn't stop to allow you much time to really think, because to be honest, it was so damn entertaining. If I stop now and think about the plot holes, the missed explanations, of which there are many, it may irritate me slightly... But for the most part I enjoyed what was happening on the screen so much I didn't care about the leaps in logic, the glossing over and such. Does that make it a good film? I can't really say, the fact I'm willing to say I enjoyed it even though I usually pick at the details until the whole film unravels and loses it's appeal over time is quite telling.

Stand out parts of the film are the way it utilises it's actors, the characters get some short shrift (Ian McKellen for instance does painfully little) but with what they get, it feels like for the ones that count, they get their moments. The core three from the past, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence, all great actors, get their moments to flex their acting muscles, Fassbender as ever proving he can be intense and menacing without breaking a sweat but also perpetually charming. Then there's the core three of the veterans, McKellen, Stewart and Hugh Jackman, all providing a backbone and some gravitas to proceedings, all the rest are just add colour, some get more than others Nicholas Hoult for instance gets to play Hank McCoy but still have such a slight role, then Halle Berry literally does so little it's embarrassing, Ellen Page turns up too as one of my favourite mutants with her expanding (yet unexplained) powers, and hints at a Shadowcat/Colossus union are stoked ever so slightly, the fact that they are on screen together pleases me.

Not even mentioning the bit part Quicksilver plays in the film, turning up, stealing the show and essentially disappearing. Now for some complex manouvering which will never make sense to me, Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be playing this character in Avengers 2 with his Godzilla wifey Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch, for some reason I was more excited about seeing the latter's portrayal; with zero expectations I was thoroughly entertained by Evan Peter's performance, as with most of the film, but that kid got some of the loudest laughs in the cinema and had one of the best scenes, rearranging some bullets to hilarious effect. Maybe Mr Johnson will surprise me but after the charisma he brought to Godzilla - an entirely different tone I'll grant, also he'll have a totally different characterisation of course, but at this moment there was a light fun energy to Quicksilver that I don't think can be matched. Basically Aaron has a tough act to follow, no lies, they were inviting comparisons when they both used the same character.

Getting to the film, as I say, the more I write, the more I think about it, the less sense the film made and the more angry I get about the continuity but that's not what the film was about it. It was consistently entertaining and did the whole, let's reset all those past mistakes with a big eraser, rather than just rebooting the whole damn franchise. I admire that, and I also respect that they wished to at least to maintain some semblance of a history as time goes on. Messing with the continuity makes things a bit muddy, but it's satisfying to know as they build this tapestry of films, it's all connected somehow and it feels more organic and more of a franchise than the Marvel Universe that is being built. This has been going on 15 years and it still feels exciting and fun and we are still with the same, core bunch of characters having the same battles, but it's still feeling fresh and entertaining without drastically changing the tone or the message of the series, plus it respects it's audience enough for them to not have to explain itself. I like that, and I'm genuinely surprised by how much I liked this film.

Godzilla

If the Halo jump had been the entire film, it would have been the best film I'd ever seen, hands down. As it stands, it was a good film, but the theatrical trailer has outdone it in mood and atmosphere, the two hour film doesn't quite sustain the sheer thrill and exhilaration on that initial viewing of the two minute trailer with Strathairn narrating and the gradual reveal of the beast. How can you genuinely expect to top that? It would appear you can't. What makes the whole thing sore is that the sequence is obviously included in the film but it just didn't have that same impact, perhaps because I'd already seen it a whole bunch of times, perhaps because Strathairn didn't do his voice-over (I hate voice-overs anyway but it felt lacking suddenly...) but also, it just felt slightly out of place. That's my complaint about this movie, the trailer was incredible, the rest was, ok. I could pick at it for a long while.

I admire this film for various reasons and they are particularly good reasons. For instance, it is predominantly set from a human perspective, in fact it just piles on the human impact of the film, it's relentless in trying to make us feel like we're living this film. What kind of fails is the fact that the characters (aside from Bryan Cranston who I'll get to later) are all so slight and hard to care about. They tried to make us care, they gave us such easy people to root for, but they didn't feel like people, just ciphers there to be dropped in on to remind us that there are people about. Other films have done this terribly and Godzilla for it's merits has a good go at making the core set sympathetic, but for such an amazing pedigree of actors, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Ken Wantanabe, Elizabeth Olsen etc, they aren't particularly memorable or noteworthy but they work with what they're given. This is excluding Aaron Johnson who I really want to like (he was great in Kickass...) but is completely stoic throughout the film, call it PTSD, military training, but he is a complete wall with an unchanging expression throughout, he's damn hard to care about, it's actually embarrassing sometimes... Then there's Cranston who genuinely steals every scene he is in, he pours himself into his character and just proves to anyone watching he is a beyond excellent actor, the man chews the scenery like no one's business but he is unmistakeably in an upper stratosphere when it comes to acting.

Going back to the human perspective, not enough films of this ilk actually make us feel like we are part of the action, like there are human lives at stake.All the big set pieces do their utmost to give us the impression that this could be happening in a world not unlike ours. I really admired that about the film, that spent so much time and effort obscuring the beasts in order to add to the confusion and fear. It's clever and not oft done, if we wanted to see giant things punching each other we'd watch a different movie (Pacific Rim because it's awesome...)

There is also a respect for the history of Godzilla and a wide, global scope, as the film stretches across the Pacific spreading the threat and the action. It seems to have a deep respect and understanding of what the original 1954 movie was trying to say, Godzilla at the time being a metaphor for the nuclear threat that loomed over the world after the affects of the atomic bombs being dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. It briefly reflects on that, even going as far as having Wantanabe referencing his father, and having the same name as the protagonist from the original. Obviously the film doesn't play up the currently global anxieties of nuclear warfare as they aren't as predominant but I appreciated the respect the film paid to it's own history.

What is worrying is that I was thinking all this during the film; a bad sign I felt as time wore on. The film is neatly structured with the bulk of the monster action taking place in the last half and, as ever, focussing less on the monsters grappling, and more on how people were reacting to it. Godzilla, damn, he was impressive, a labour of love if I ever saw one, he looks truly magnificent, I've gone back and forth on how I felt about the MUTOs, I couldn't determine if they were lame or impressive, I was cycling back and forth, obviously we're rooting for Godzilla and I cared more for him than anyone else in the film, but those two big fellow chaps just weren't as impressive; the fights were, what we saw of them, fun for the brief punches and grapples we were entitled to see.

So there you have it, a film I was genuinely excited to see, that had so much potential and promise summed up in a trailer that gave me literal goosebumps; in the end it just didn't quite cut the mustard, it was a good film, a different film, technically interesting, but as far as balls out entertaining or memorable goes, I can't say it was.

Frank

So here's a new film which is very much worth seeing for many reasons, it's an odd mish-mash but it provides some food for thought and thoroughly entertaining. For one it uses the influence of Frank Sidebottom, a character of popularity during the 80s, my knowledge of him is brief but it was essentially a mancunian man with a plastic head who played keyboard terribly and sang awkwardly and became a cult figure. This film may be called Frank and it may have his recognisable guise as the central figure but this is not a film about Frank Sidebottom, it's a film about a different Frank, a different time and a different person under the plastic head (spoiler, it's Michael Fassbender.) This is important to note going into the film, it may seem like a fun film, with a weird chap making weird music with his buds and acting crazy, it might sound like a comedy but it's not as simple as that, it's more. It's a meditation on talent, media, mental illness, it's derives some humour from that but it's film with an extremely sad and melancholy core. I loved this film.

Some parts, if I were being picky were a bit irksome, it's hard to paint a picture of mental health very delicately on film, but broad strokes are difficult to define such complex issues so the film gives us outlines of these people and their issues but does not strain itself trying to fill in all the minor details. I understand this is a difficult thing to achieve in a film of such a short running time and there is much more going on, the action of the film. A meditation on mental health is not something that would slot neatly into any film, it's there for humour and pathos and drives the film but it all just feels superficial but I won't complain too much. The film is good on so many other levels.

I can't believe I've gotten so far without mentioning the best part of the film, the thing that holds everything together. Domhnall Gleeson, the shining beacon which made About Time not only watchable but on occasion downright delightful, sure he has the beautiful Rachel McAdams standing next to him but it was his film and he was brilliant. He also had a couple of other parts such as Levin (the best character obv) in Joe Wright's Anna Karenina and a bit part in the last Harry Potter Film (which I didn't bother seeing...) but most importantly he piqued my interest starring opposite Hayley Atwell in a heart breaking Black Mirror episode (Be Right Back) and absolutely nailed it. Therefore he has my utmost regard and interest - him along with Dane DeHaan are my ones to watch if anyone gives a shit, obviously I will follow Fassbender to the ends of the earth... He is essentially fronting this film, it's more his film than anyone else's and sure being the straight guy, eyes of the audience, main character, is a tough role to play because to cap it off, not going to lie, the guy is a total dick, but Gleeson has a charm about him that kind of makes his wet blanket loser relate-able. Ok, perhaps I'm being harsh on the guy, to be honest, he's just a normal idiot with no discernible talents but a desire to more than he is. It's a tough one.

Lots of people just coast through life without actually knowing or fulfilling their potential, sure we could all say we want to be famous and recognised and admired for our passions but life never usually works out that way. What the crazy people in this film seem to grasp is that life isn't about the fame and admiration, it's about doing what you love and doing it how you want to do it without pandering to anyone else. It's a human anathema that we wish to be liked, I don't give a shit if you disagree with me, it's the truth, everyone deep down wants to be loved, or liked, that's why we have family, friends, and in this day and age, Facebook, come on, even the word 'like' has become synonymous with some kind of achievement, because being liked is more important than ever in this day and age, not only is it built into our subconscious, now it's built into our society. Frank the film is essentially pointing at media of the modern age and music and talent and smushing them together to make some kind of statement, it's a sad one.

What I've learnt from this film is, talent is something you just have, if you don't have it, you either have to work really hard or you try something else, everything else, until you find something you can do and that you're good at and that makes you happy. And hey if you're not talented but something makes you happy, you just keep plugging away at it - just don't expect any awards. It's a fine line. Being good at something and enjoying something don't have to necessarily be the same thing. If you're bad at something (say for instance, critiquing films on a blog) but you enjoy doing it, just keep doing it, and don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks.

Then there's the media thing which basically, this film just makes out to be generally a bit of a hollow lie for the most part but also has it's uses, which is kind of true. Views on a youtube page don't equate to much, followers on your twitter feed don't mean shit, life is happening around you and it's much more fun than quantifying your popularity on social media! (I say this because if it's not obvious, I have no real presence on social media...) It has it's uses and it comes in handy in the latter half of the film but for the most part, as with everything, take in moderation kids!

As always I've dove straight into the boring stuff, you want to know if the film is actually any good; it is, I loved it. The humour is straight up black served in a line of shots, it can get deliriously awkward but it works for the tone of the film which is about damaged people through the perspective of something who is so straight up normal and boring the clash continues to pay dividends (stocks and shares speak, oh yeah!)

I could go on for ages about this film, I won't bore you though. I loved it and I didn't even mention how Michael Fassbender is essentially a walking Adonis even with a fibre glass head. Also boy can he sing... Maybe I was enticed too much by the film but I thought his music was fucking great, I would listen to that album! Fassbender has the ability to look like a world of sorrow is crushing him, he can pull that face off like no one's business, he can just look like sorrow personified and it's amazing, I almost feel like applauding and yell ACTING (in appreciation not mockery) whenever he does (he deserves all the awards.) But this might be one of my favourite roles of his predominantly because he is actually amazingly good at acting with a big round head on top of his head. I will stop now though. This film is great. Go see it. Now.