For many cinema-goers, Arrival may have been one of the worst films of the year. For all its big-budget sci-fi overtones and its positioning alongside other space-based 2016 blockbusters such as Independence Day: Resurgence, Passengers and Rogue One, if you sought out Arrival expecting more of the same you may have been disappointed. Indeed, you will have been tricked into that much-elusive cinematic experience: thinking.
Set in modern-day USA, it stars Amy Adams as renowned linguist Louise Banks, brought in by the government to help humanity communicate with extra-terrestrial life forms that have mysteriously landed throughout Earth. She teams up with physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) to begin to decipher their language and understand why they have chosen now to begin communication.
Amy Adams as linguist Louise
It is anything but a full-blown rollercoaster of action, instead concentrating its efforts on an elegant storyline with some seriously unsubtle political messaging. Or should that be serious and unsubtle?
What screenwriter Eric Heisserer has set out to do – and succeeded – is position the viewers in the shoes of alien lifeforms understanding Earth for the first time. In that sense, we are asked to consider the absurdity of the fact that so many countries have ongoing conflicts, unable to get along with one-another.
It may be set in the USA but you would be mistaken in thinking this was a lazy choice in making the Americans the saviours. The decision was more likely financial. Sure, the hero could have been from Pakistan or Chile, but this would have seriously hindered sales in the USA and all other countries where English is either a first or second language.
Amy Adams, as always, puts in a brilliant turn as the determined linguist Louise. She’s a likeable and versatile actress, perhaps at the top of her game right now, and it is a crime that not one of her five Academy Award nominations has thus far earned her a win. Perhaps this year, with a potential double-nomination for this and Nocturnal Animals, we’ll see her rightly rewarded.
Arrival is one of the best films of the year. Gripping, intelligent, thought-provoking and stylish. A must see.
There were so many great documentary films unleashed on the world in 2016 that I felt it was worth pulling them out of my main list.
The best of the bunch is Weiner, the completely bizarre fly-on-the-wall documentary of Anthony Weiner as he repeatedly details his own political career. The rest are more than worthy of a viewing.
Weiner
What I said:
“As a documentary, Weiner is about as good as it gets. It isn’t putting the pieces together after an event, instead getting lucky and being able to present a truly spectacular political scandal from the inside of the bubble. The characters are their interactions are as captivating as any fictional story.”
“It is a truly brilliant piece of documentary film-making, managing to tell the familiar story with a flurry of individual memories that bring to life again a rise to stardom that has not and will not ever be replicated.”
“The film may take a look at only one man’s struggles with autism, but the focus shifts from him to those around him: his parents, his brother, his girlfriend, the professionals helping him through his condition. In this way, we see how his autism affects those around him. The result is arguably one of the most important films about autism ever made.”
“Most insightful are the interviews with his mother and father. Clearly huge sacrifices were made throughout his life to get him to where he is now. The film leaves it open as to whether either of them regret putting him through it, and it’s not something that ever really needs an answer. He certainly has a different life to the one he would have had if he’d stayed in Khersan, Ukraine.”
“The film builds up a balanced picture of Kurniawan and the people he had been associating with in these wine tasting circles. It follows him as he befriends the self-professed ‘Angry Men’ group in LA over a period of several years, buying up key vintage wines, developing his palette to unrivalled levels and becoming a key player in the wine buying and selling scene. The results are nothing short of fascinating.”
“‘The Hard Stop’ is one of the most important documentary films to hit the big screens this year. Out of necessity, it is rough around the edges. It has, at the heart of it, some of the greatest social themes facing Britain today. A riveting watch.”
Writing these blogs is a weird and wonderful endeavour. Some of my most treasured works will get such a small amount of traffic it can be extremely disheartening. Other times, I get a silly amount of traffic for a review and I will never understand where the differences are made.
Here are the top ten most accessed review pages for this last year.
Dancer
Headshot
Looking for a Home
Your Name
A Bigger Splash
So what does this tell me? Clearly films that are mainstream do less well, whilst the ones listed above are all certainly out of the mainstream and I guess more likely to appear sooner on popular search engines.
Interestingly, three of the films are for the Asian continent, with the majority of views arriving from the country the film was made in. I guess I can say that I was big in Japan this year.
Here’s a quick list of my favourite albums of 2016. In no particular order, although I suspect Gregory Porter edges it in terms of listens for the year, closely followed by Mr Bowie.
David Bowie – Blackstar
Gregory Porter – Take Me To The Alley
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool
Travis – Everything at Once
Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein – Stranger Things Vol. 1
Michael Kiwanuka – Love and Hate
Takatsugu Muramatsu – When Marnie Was There Soundtrack Music Collection
An infrequent but nevertheless joyous family tradition of mine is to catch up with the tales of nine-year-old Ralphie Parker and his family in Bob Clark’s adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s semi-autobiographical stories. It covers his pursuits in the lead up to Christmas to convince his family, teacher and a department store Santa to deliver him a Red Rider Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle for Christmas, despite the fact he will inevitably poke his eye out.
The famous tongue on the lamppost scene
The film was made in 1983, but is set in early 1940s USA. It is heaped in nostalgia for an era that many of us now can’t remember, but somehow feel represents our past. It is a past that is entirely more innocent: be it the kids crowding around the radio for their favourite show, or the punishment for swearing (the classic bar of soap in the mouth), the music and the cars. It sends a strange shot of emotion across me as it reminds me of growing up, despite the fact I was born after the film was released.
The script doesn’t really follow any real character development, instead taking on a mode of storytelling via a series of vignettes that dip into various tales. It works because each mini-tale is absolutely hilarious, and the actors are all clearly having a lot of fun with the material. I defy anyone to not find at least one part of the story they can relate to.
Above all else, it’s simply hilarious.
Please seek it out and spread the word. This film needs to be enjoyed by more people than are aware of it today.
This article was originally published in December 2014.
Every year my Christmas is not completely underway until I see my favourite Christmas film. That film is The Muppet Christmas Carol. I don’t watch it at the same point every year. Sometimes it comes the weekend before the big day, occasionally it gets an airing on the day itself. I think the ideal time is in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. By that point I’ll have finished work for a week or so, the log fire will be going, I’ll be wearing a big jumper and I’ll just need a way to delay wrapping the last of the presents for around 90 minutes. What better way to relax than revisiting a childhood favourite and rejuvenating the magic of Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some absolutely amazing Christmas films out there. I would put good money on my brother and me sticking on Die Hard in the evening of Christmas Eve, and I usually make sure A Christmas Story is involved somewhere along the line (a film that is criminally unpopular in the UK but is apparently very popular in USA). But above all this, there’s something undeniably festive about The Muppets’ retelling of the classic Dickens story A Christmas Carol that really hits home.
I am a huge fan of The Muppets and I was thrilled when they got the 2011 film so right, with Brett McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords peppering a top quality script with some of his best ever songs. Songs like “Man or Muppet” and “Life’s A Happy Song” match songs like “One More Sleep ‘Til Christmas” or “Marley and Marley” pound-for-pound, but it’s hard to compete with something I’ve been watching every year since I was about 12 [1].
For those who are still unfamiliar with this film (I assume you are all under the age of one and therefore haven’t had a Christmas yet), it is a fairly accurate retelling of the story, only with almost every character replaced by a familiar Muppet: Tiny Tim is played by Robin the Frog, Fezziwig becomes Fozzywig. You get the idea. Michael Caine puts in a fabulous turn as Scrooge, really revelling in being as humbuggy as is imaginable.
It is pretty silly in parts, and it is a musical, and it is with puppets. I’m positive that Charles Dickens would have hated this rehashing of his classic tale. But his would-be loss is our gain. It uses some great source material and turns it into something equally great but completely different. It doesn’t lose any of the messages, and that’s probably the most important thing.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is showing at some selected cinemas across the UK this Christmas, including (for those in the East Midlands) Broadway in Nottingham and QUAD in Derby. It will also be showing at least once in my front room, and the soundtrack will be on repeat throughout Christmas morning. Maybe.
[1] I was, however, equally disappointed when they got the 2014 Most Wanted picture so terribly wrong, but you can’t win every time I guess.
Walt Disney Animation Studios have released their 56th animated film, the musical Moana. I’m going to whisper this quietly, but it might actually be better than Frozen.
The story follows 16-year-old girl Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) as she defies her passage to become the leader of the tribe on the fictional island Motunui. Her father Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison), leader of her island tribe, and her mother Sina (Nicole Scherzinger), are fearful of the water and want her to remain on the island, but her outgoing grandma Tala (Rachel House) encourages her to leave and hunt down the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson) to solve a mysterious curse that she believes has led to a poor harvest.
Moana and Maui
The basics of the story are, on the face of it, quite by-the-numbers. There’s a teenage protagonist, which makes it relatable for the younger viewers. She goes on a quest that has a practical purpose but also helps her develop as a person. She teams up with an unlikely buddy to help her in her journey. We’ve seen it many times before but the familiarity doesn’t hamper its success.
Where the story excels is threefold. Firstly, it has a brilliantly sharp and humorous script, which the actors are clearly having a lot of fun with. Secondly, the animation of both the characters and the surroundings is absolutely stunning. Finally, the music, which was written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’i, is outrageously good, and goes much further than simply one great flagship song (in this case “How Far I’ll Go”, sung by the lead and effectively Moana’s answer to “Let It Go”).
Indeed, it is unfortunate that the film has been unleashed in the same year as La La Land, which is destined to sweep up at most of the award ceremonies, at least in the Best Song categories. Miranda may have to have another attempt in a less competitive year.
There are a couple of nice smaller roles that are grasped by those involved. Alan Tudyk may be more famed for his turn as K-2SO in Rogue One this year, but he’s equally hilarious as Hei Hei the Rooster here, constantly stealing scenes with sound effects that match the ridiculousness of the island’s most endearingly stupid bird. Elsewhere, Jermaine Clement shows up as Tamatoa, a giant kleptomaniacal crab who has a penchant for all things shiny.
But the plaudits must go to Auli’i Cravalho, who comes in as a complete unknown and has delivered a lead performance that equals the best Disney has ever achieved. At just sixteen but with a voice as good as anything I’ve ever heard on stage, she has a very bright future indeed.
Moana is a must see this holiday season and should be top of your list if you need to entertain any younger relatives over the coming weeks.
Check out the reviews of other Disney animated features and shorts here:
I’ve recently taken the decisive step to ditch my old Xbox 360 and purchase an Xbox One S, bringing me back into the light from a four year period of darkness on what the wider public refer to as “serious gaming”. [1]
Playing on an Xbox console is synonymous with the strangest of progress markers: the Achievement. I unlocked my first achievement for over a year on Monday night, “Cast Member”, essentially for starting to play a fun platformer called BattleBlock Theater. I had this sudden dread fall over me, which reminded me of a time when I had fallen out of love for video games and had instead got addicted to increasing my GamerScore, which for those of you who don’t have an Xbox console is their way of keeping track of your progress in a videogame in a way that displays your progress to everyone on your friends list. It’s a hollow existence, especially when you don’t know anyone on your friends list and you’re doing it anyway.
So to remind myself to not get involved in this silliness again, I thought it would be cathartic to list out the worst “achievements” I earned in my first run during the Xbox 360 era. Before I start I will answer the two questions that will spring to mind for you as you read: I was largely single and my job wasn’t very taxing.
1000 GS for “completing” Avatar: The Last Airbender
This is probably the most shameful on the list, and it’s one I can’t even believe I did. In the time where the internet existed but Netflix hadn’t taken off, there was a thing called Lovefilm in the UK that allowed people to rent DVDs, Blu-rays and games via post… Sorry, what? Oh… it still exists.
Anyway, I’d heard that there was a glitch in the training section of this children’s game that allowed you to unlock all the achievements in around five minutes. I rented it, I exploited the glitch, then put the game back in the post.
For what? I’ve no idea. I’ve spent the intervening time (almost a decade) hiding it from anyone I speak to.
80 GS for Treasure Hunter in Final Fantasy XIII
This started off as an innocuous attempt to complete my first Final Fantasy game since the seventh installment on the PlayStation. What ended up happening was a 60 hour end game that book-ended the conclusion of the game with misery and a huge detriment to my mental and physical health.
The game finishes after about 40 hours and there are a few standard completionist-type achievements for maximising all of your stats and getting five star ratings all Cie’th Stone missions, but this one took the biscuit.
Whilst collecting all the weapons and items might seem like a normal request, what was required was an unexpected and very slow slap in the face. The precise requirements were a heck of a lot of gill, some very precise catalyst items and (most importantly) six trapezohedrems. It was unrewarding and unforgiving and all I got was 80 measly GamerScore points. It’s almost worthy of a t-shirt, but for the fact that nobody would want to wear it and nobody else would understand it.
1650 GS for being a frustrated completionist by Family Game Night
Due to a rights issue, Yahtzee wasn’t available on Family Game Night in the UK (it isn’t owned by Hasbro outside the United States). So whilst I sat there playing Connect 4 for hours and hours with nothing to show for my efforts, I also wasn’t even able to 100% the achievements.
So what have we learned? I’m an idiot.
120 GS for 100 matches won in Pro Evolution Soccer 6
This is where the online community of website True Achievements comes into play. I managed to hook up with someone else with the same chronic completionist issues as myself and spent several long nights connecting and then immediately quitting online Pro Evolution Soccer 6 matches, taking it in turns to get default wins. The game was so awful we couldn’t even bring ourselves to keep playing it; even on the last game we decided we’d play an actual game and the lag was so bad we got kicked out. This all happened five years after its initial release and took about ten hours of our lives that we will never ever get back.
Please help me.
50 GS for Duo-Hedgeidecimal on FIFA 09
I’m still split on this one. I’m not sure if it was a complete embarrassment or a triumph of the wills.
This achievement required 20 players to play in the same match session at the same time, making a 10 v 10 game. It was a logistical nightmare that was co-ordinated by a group over on xboxachievements.com. That we got it over the line was something of a fantastic gaming moment.
But why? Why did we do it? I’ve got no idea. The match was actually played, but it was dreadful. No fun to be had here.
765 GS for some random achievements in Football Manager 2006
The sad thing about this was that I played this game for months and months in an honest manner when I first owned an Xbox 360. At the time I only had Football Manager 2006 and Top Spin 2 so I had to make do. Then, six years later, I booted it up and within a couple of weeks had boosted my GS for the game from 15 to 765, by exploiting glitches and collaborating online.
Nobody on my friends list owns this game and nobody I know in real life would be impressed by the so called achievements.
1000 GS for 100% completion of Truth or Lies
This took me just under four hours to complete on 20th January 2011. It’s probably the worst game I’ve ever played, involving a quiz where you ask your friends to be honest about the answers to questions. I sat there, alone, answering questions in particular tones of voices that exploited a glitch with the interface between the microphone and the software.
Just imagine that.
A hollow existence indeed.
[1] By this I mean I’ve been playing on my Wii U for four years, so even though I’ve enjoyed gaming moments like the stupidly challenging Champions Road on Super Mario 3D World, or the very much adult-themed Bayonetta 2, or the complex fighting mechanics of Super Smash Bros. U, all of these are on a Nintendo console so can’t be really serious games, right?
Cinema, etc. 