Author: Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

Let The Sunshine In

Directed by: Claire DenisLet The Sunshine In

Screenplay Written by: Claire Denis & Christine Angot

Produced by: Olivier Delbosc

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Xavier Beauvois, Philippe Katerine, Josiane Balasko, Sandrine Dumas, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Alex Descas, Laurent Grevill, Bruno Podalydés, Paul Blain, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Gérard Depardieu.

I wrote my thesis on, A Lover’s Discourse – Fragments (Ronald Barthes (1977)), using Hemingway’s writing in, The Garden of Eden (1986), Across the River and into the Trees (1950) and also his short fiction piece, Hills Like White Elephants (1927) as an illustration of Ronald Barthes theory:

That love cannot be expressed through language, that love is expressed through the ‘nothing’ that is not language, that it is the actions and gifts given because of love that signpost to the reader that the characters in the story are in love, or conversely, not in love.  Because of the nature of writing love, I have utilized Hemingway’s writing as a basis for Barthes’ theory – it is Hemingway that writes love and it is Barthes that writes of love.

Let the Sunshine In was originally based on the Discourse then evolved into a screenplay written by Claire Denis (also director) & Christine Angot where Isabelle (Juliette Binoche) falls in love, only to have her heart broken, to love again… and again…

Divorced and the mother of a ten-year-old daughter, we only see briefly as a face behind the window of a car pulling away, Isabelle mirroring the outline of her hand on the other side of the glass.  The love of her child is not what this film’s about.  This is a series of moments as Isabelle opens a dialogue with the men she means to love and all the complications and baggage finding love at an older age brings.

She’s not old; she’s not young.

Isabelle laments to a friend that she feels her love life is behind her.  The impossibility of each relationship revealing itself in complicated exchanges, each trying to find a way towards or away from the other.

The camera pans back and forth from the cheating husband who bluntly describes his extraordinary wife he will never leave, to the realisation on Isabelle’s face when she can’t find a way back to the love with this man after his blatant denial – no matter how charming he finds her.

We’ve all been there, the wondering of how much to give, how much to take.  For love.

Here, we see the pulling apart of feelings that are there, or not.  And the language, the limit of language as the lovers try to get past all the talk to find the physical connection.  And then, to keep it.

It’s a complicated film that manages to avoid melodrama, replacing physical expressed emotion with words.

I wonder how much was lost in the translation from French to the English subtitles, yet Barthes’ Discourse is what’s being translated with the depth of meaning still conveyed.

Putting love into words is a difficult conversation.

The expertise and experience of Juliette Binoche shines here.  I couldn’t imagine another actress portraying the vulnerability of Isabelle, the willingness to follow the reasoning behind the emotions from the other.  A heavy burden but a successful one.  Like reading a play because it’s all about the dialogue and the tears and expression and never-ending search for love.

Let the sunshine In isn’t a love story, nor a drama; it’s not sad.  It’s a lover’s discourse.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Rated: MA15+Mary Queen of Scots

Directed by: Josie Rourke

Written by: Beau Willimon

Based on the Book, “Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart” by John Guy

Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, Gemma Chan, Martin Compston, Ismael Cordova, Brendan Coyle, Ian Hart, Adrian Lester, James McArdle, with David Tennant, and Guy Pearce.

In the same vein of Elizabeth (1998) staring Golden Globe winner for Best Actress, Cate Blanchett, Mary, Queen of Scots is an intricate film of politics, love, betrayal, stupidity and power.

This is Josie Rouke’s directional debut, her success here, the ability to show the rivalry and complicated relationship between the two half-sisters: Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

Mary returns home from France, married at 16 only to become a widow at 18, to return as Queen of Scotland with rightful claim to England, the power in her blood as a Stuart.  A power she has to continually fight for against the male dominated world of 1587.  Where women are condemned as evil, especially returning as Catholic in a land whose foundations rest on the Church of Scotland.

Elizabeth also struggles in a male dominated world.

As a Protestant, Queen Elizabeth has forsaken the ties of the Catholic Church, renouncing the Papas, yet, she struggles to renounce her sister.

And the careful confrontation and manoeuvring for power between the two fiery sisters is fascinating to watch.

We get the intrigue of House of Cards but set in the ‘resplendent’ (as Queen Elizabeth is described by her constant companion and lover Robert Dudley (Joe Alwyn)) rolling lands of Scotland and England to jewels sparkling in candle-lit rooms filled with gentle women and plotting aristocracy, where Elizabeth acknowledges the treachery of men and her necessity to become one in order to remain on the throne.

There’s a lot to unpack, being one of those epic films; but the way the film is shown with Mary speaking to the audience, watching herself at times, telling her tale.  And the symbolism of Elizabeth burning an intricate quilled portrait of red poppies, her obsessive creating of red flowers flowing across the floor like blood from her empty womb hold the attention, to be absorbed into the tragedy and intrigue of the story.

There’s so much attention to detail here, portraying Mary in a different light to the general condemnation of history; the tragedy of being sentenced to death by beheading, ordered by her half-sister, Elizabeth – her reputation, based on unfounded rumours and lies spread by her own Council of sexual depravity and betrayal.  A reputation that has followed Mary into the ages.

The film, based on the detailed historical book, “Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart” written by John Guy shows there’s so much more to be told about this powerful woman.

‘There’s a time for wisdom, love.  And there’s a time for strength,’ Mary tells her half-brother, a statement backed by a cold, icy stare shown so well by Saoirse Ronan.

And Margot Robbie shows a continued depth and maturity as an actress in her role of Queen Elizabeth.

Not quite capturing the embodiment of the steal and soft that Cate Blanchett managed to bring to Queen Elizabeth, there’s strong performances here, the success of the film not only an interesting story, but the careful balance between the two powerful protagonists of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth: where only a queen could understand the burden of ruling a kingdom while remaining each other’s greatest threat.

Pick Of The Litter

Rated: G Pick of the Litter

Directed and Produced by: Dana Nachman and Don Hardy

Written by: Dana Nachman

Original Score: Helen Jane Long

Photographed and Edited by: Don Hardy

In Order of Appearance:  Diane Meier, Terry Blosser, Janet Gearheart, Sharon Kret, Ronald Strother, Christine Benninger, Linda Owen, Rebecca Minelga, Eric Minelga, Oliver Minelga, Nick Ursano, Alice Ursano, Cathy Wassenberg, Bill Wassenberg, Lisa King, Chris King, Patti White, Al White, Louise Pay, Gail Horn, Tammy Shankle, Adam Vanderhoofven, Melissa Griffith, Kristin Sheppard, Kenny Sheppard, Deana Allen, Anne Tyson, Rick Wilcox, Maureen Balogh, Jenna Bullis, Meghan Fraser, Carol Simmons, Adam Silverman, Melanie Harris, Stacey Ellison, Todd Jurek, Rachel Chamness.

A documentary shot over two years, Pick of the Litter follows a litter of five puppies (otherwise known as the P-Litter) born into the Guide Dogs for the Blind program.

This is a straight-forward, linear doco that allows the dogs and those who come into contact with them, tell the story.  And it’s very sweet getting to know each of the dogs as we follow them through their training from pups to adulthood: Patriot (mouthy and super-enthusiastic), Phil (the chiller), Potomac (a handful and full of curiosity), Poppet (a blessing who loves her work) and Primrose (well, she just wants to be loved).

Co-directors Dana Nachman and Don Hardy have teamed up for their forth feature doco, Pick of the Litter taking three times the number of shots trying to keep up with each of the dogs to capture each personality.  And the extra time and care pays off as I found myself cheering along the dogs wanting them to succeed after all the effort not just from the dogs but from the volunteers who train them.

Especially Patriot who reminded me of a hyper-kelpie farm dog I once knew (Benji), jumping and straining against his chain, chocking himself with excitement.  The trainers have to be able to re-direct this energy into obedience and skill.

We’ve all come across a guide dog and their human at some point, understanding the role of the dog’s guidance of a blind or visually impaired person.  Pick of the Litter opens the door to the rigorous training process, only the select few making it to become someone’s guide into the world, to give back so much freedom.

It’s an education to watch.  And sad to see when all the work doesn’t end in success.

It’s sad and sweet and makes you feel good about those out there doing their best to help those in need showing that training these special canines isn’t for everyone with a 16 to 18 month commitment (dog asleep by 10pm; owner asleep by 10pm!), with constant assessment by the program to see if the dog’s appropriate to continue training or be, ‘career changed’, meaning, a civilian dog.  And it’s not unusual for a dog to be taken from one trainer and given to another if it means a better chance for the dog to succeed.

Lives are put into the hands of these dogs, so it was reassuring to see the process, to see the dogs themselves show their will not to be a guide dog.  Sometimes the dog’s life is meant for something or someone else.

The film just adds to the fascination and special relationship between human and dog.  I swear my pet Aussie Terrier, Jim-Bob could sense when I was sad and would find me to cheer me up.

So, it’s a dog-lover’s movie with a special interest into the process of training these extra-special dogs to become guide dogs, shown from each perspective of those involved from: the breeders, the volunteers who train them, the trainers in the association who graduate them, to those who ultimately benefit.  And the dogs.  Who doesn’t like a dog movie!

How to Tran Your Dragon: Hidden World

Rated: PGHow to Tran Your Dragon: Hidden World

Directed and Written by: Dean DeBlois

Based on the Books of: Cressida Cowell

Produced by: Brad Lewis, Bonnie Arnold

Starring: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Kit Harrington, Craig Ferguson, F. Murray Abraham.

The final of the trilogy (I had to go back and watch the previous two instalments (well worth the watch), How to Train your Dragon: Hidden World, finds Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his Night Fury, Toothless, saving dragons from the Hunters to bring them back to the safety of Berk where Vikings and dragons coexist in peace.

Does anyone else think it’s strange that the Vikings have Scottish accents?!

The Hunters don’t believe dragons should be treated as equals, the evil villain, Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), the Fury killer, believing peace can only be found when every Fury is dead.

The Hidden World is full of myth and fantasy; the Mariner Myth of the Hidden World a place where dragons live freely at the end of the world is the drive behind the story.

While fighting to save dragons from the clutches of Grimmel and searching for the mysterious Hidden World, Toothless meets a female Fury who’s beautiful and light with expressive blue eyes and moves that make his little heart race.

The courtship between these two is adorable, there’s no other word, my nephews and I awing and ahing at the antics of Toothless, his attempt to woo the beautiful Light Fury hilarious and delightful.

And the animation of this adventure-packed film is stunning; the burst of colours and detail of waterfalls and expressions of the dragons spectacular on the big screen.

Returning director and writer, Dean DeBlois has made a film to be enjoyed by all with some happy tears shed by many in the audience.

While making the most of the colourful characters like Tuffnut (T. J. Miller) brandishing his full thick beard (hilarious), we get a story about love, equality and freedom.

I had a smile on my face the whole way through, my nephew announcing The Hidden World the best How to Train Your Dragon out of the three, and quite rightly getting an applause from the audience at the end.

He then went on to say it was the best movie he’s ever seen.

I wouldn’t go that far, but The Hidden World is a great entertainer and a certain hit for the school holidays.

Aquaman

Rated: MAquaman

Directed by: James Wan

Story by: James Wan, Will Beall, Geoff Johns

Screenplay by: Will Beall, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Based on characters created by: Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger for DC

Produced by: Rob Cowan, Peter Safran

Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, Ludi Lin and Temuera Morrison.

Aquaman was always going to be a difficult adaptation – the film about ‘fish boy[‘s].  No, it’s fish men!’; the setting underwater.

But with James Wan as director and one of the writers, I went into the film somewhat reassured.

Then the film opened with Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), Atlantean royalty meeting a surface dweller, and I was thrown because I just couldn’t believe I was seeing an Atlantis queen falling in love, the contrast a little too much.

Perhaps it was seeing Nicole Kidman as an action figure?!

And there were times when I really couldn’t decide whether to laugh with the film or at it – the guitar riff to highlight a joke not helping.

Yet, as the film progressed and Jason Momoa as Aquaman opened up to give us a down-to-earth (well, half-surface dweller, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry) hero, I became more absorbed.

Forbidden love between a queen of the sea and a man from the surface bears a forbidden son, a half-breed.  Aquaman.

Yet even as a half-breed, Aquaman has the right to claim the throne of Atlantis instead of his younger brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) who plots to become the Ocean Master; to bring together all seven kingdoms of the underwater world: Atlantis, Brine, Fisherman, Xebel, Trench, Deserter and the Lost.  Together they can destroy those on the surface.

Afterall, aren’t the surface-dwellers creating pollution and trashing the sea into poison for those who inhabit its waters?

Those who want peace with the surface dwellers not war, rise to the surface to seek Aquaman to fight for the throne to then save those above and below, with love-interest Mera (Amber Heard) abandoning Atlantis, just like his mother.  All leading to the meeting of the two brothers on opposing sides of an inevitable battle.

The writers have created enough twists and turns to keep the film interesting and it has to be noted the film has a different tone to the other DC, Justice League films.

Aquaman is more a technologically based world with an 80s-esq tone including synth soundtrack and fluorescent lit underwater worlds that become more spectacular as the film progresses.

Let me state again, it gets better!

There’s the expected cheese, because, yeah, this is Aquaman: Son of the land, king of the sea.

But Wan has offset this with humour and his own unique style.

Jason Momoa’s performance as Aquaman certainly helped.

So after an ordinary beginning, Aquaman ramps up to a deliver a visually stunning entertainer that was able to take a laugh at itself with a story that comes full circle.

Peppermint

Rated: MA 15+Peppermint

Directed by: Pierre Morel

Written by: Chad St. John

Produced by: Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Richard Wright, Eric Reid

Starring: Jennifer Garner, John Ortiz, John Gallagher, Jr., Juan Pablo Raba, Annie Ilonzeh, Jeff Hephner and Pell James.

Who is Riley North?

She’s a female vigilante who wants justice.

A classic revenge film, Riley North (Jennifer Garner) loses her husband Chris (Jeff Hephner) and her daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming) when Chris even contemplates robbing a drug cartel.

After Riley wakes in hospital from a coma, something has changed. When the guys who killed her family are let off, something breaks.

It’s a rampage of revenge with Riley North becoming an assassin; social media arguing whether she’s a criminal or a hero.

I wasn’t sure what to expect walking into Peppermint, hoping I wasn’t going to see a melodrama of family crisis.  And thankfully, the film is more action than drama with Garner holding her own in the believable character of Riley North.

I did however, get struck wondering how this wife and mother, taking her kid out to sell baked goods for the equivalent of the Brownies (for all those Aussies out there who partook in Pow Wows during their Primary School years…) suddenly becomes a killing machine.  But the story gets there, sort of.  I would have liked more backstory, making the most of filling some of the character with interesting mother-becomes-assassin interest.  But in the end, this is an action movie not a drama.

What I found difficult was the timing that felt off at moments, like tough cop talk lines delivered flat: ‘Pro tip’, states Detective Moises Beltran (John Ortiz) to fellow detective Carmichael (John Gallagher Jr.) who likes a shot of booze added to his morning coffee, ‘Wait until you’re dead before you embalm yourself.’

So there were jolts in the narrative.

And it felt like a film I’d seen before with nothing really new; techniques like flash backs as exciting as it gets.

But hey, it works!

And the story evolves with some good action.

What can I say, I like a good crime thriller.

So although not the best I’ve seen, Peppermint served with ‘a double scoop’ is worth a watch.

Bumblebee

Rated: MBumblebee

Directed by: Travis Knight

Screenplay by: Christina Hodson

Story by: Christina Hodson

Produced by: Michael Bay, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Mark Vahradian

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Justin Theroux, Dylan O’Brian, Angela Bassett, Peter Cullen, Pamela Adlon, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, Jason Drucker, Stephen Schneider.

A spin-off from the Transformers series (1-5 directed by Michael Bay, here as producer), Bumblebee introduces new director Travis Knight and writer Christina Hodson.  And the franchise just keeps getting better.

Bumblebee opens on the war raging on Cybertron.

With the Decepticons on the brink of annihilating the Autobot resistance, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) sends B-127 (Dylan O’Brian) to Earth in the hope to rebuild and fight again.

On Earth, circa 1987 (this is a prequel to the original Transformers (2007)), Charlie’s (Hailee Steinfeld) about to turn eighteen.  She spends her days listening to music (The Smiths, of course) and fixing an old Corvette in memory of her deceased Dad.  It’s zits (Hailee Steinfeld has that teen-angst down to an art), her annoying martial-arts yellow-belt younger brother, Otis (Jason Drucker) and humiliation while working at the fair in what looks like a clown costume while serving divas who have number plates that read: UWish.

It’s painful to the extent new stepdad, Ron (Stephen Schneider) decides it’s a good idea to give Charlie a book about the magic of smiling… For her birthday.

Charlie doesn’t notice Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr) trying to get her attention.  What Charlie does notice is a yellow VW Bug, just asking for some love, AKA Bumblebee.

With the army chasing an alien they don’t understand and the Decepticons fighting to extinguish the last of the resistance, human and transformer fight together while forming an unlikely friendship.

Even in the previous instalments of Transformers Bumblebee was a favourite.  And writer Christina Hodson has built on a winning character, explaining quirks like his lost voice and how Charlie gives it back to him.

And the expression given to this Autobot, with pupils that dilate to show emotion, the kicking of legs while being examined like a kid who trusts a carer, all add to that adorable, bull-in-a-china-shop appeal.

We get funny and adorable from all the characters, really.  Even the annoying younger brother gets his time to shine, all mixed with explosive action and sudden flash forwards of focus to keep up the pace.

The writing here is really entertaining; the timing of jokes just right so even a cheesy moment is backed-up with a laugh.

And director Travis Knight adds detail after detail to get the most out of the action and drama of the story, adding layers like a reflection of lights a shadow of the Decepticons onto the army men with evil intentions – a transference instead of a transformance.

So, there’s more to the film if you’re looking for it.

Mostly, I was entertained by the antics of Bumblebee.

A lot of fun, Bumblebee was better than expected with good humour, explosive action and heart-warming moments that manages to humanise a mass of moving metal parts: like us, playing music makes a car feel better.  Loved it.

Mortal Engines

Rated: MMoral Engines

Directed by: Christian Rivers

Written by: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson

Based on the Book by: Philip Reeve

Produced by: Zane Wiener, Amanda Walker, Deborah Forte, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson

Starring: Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Jihae, Ronan Raftery, Leila George, Patrick Malahide and Stephen Lang.

Set in the far distant future, all the cities of the world have been destroyed by an event known as the Sixty Minute War.  Now, cities move around as roving machines, cities on wheels that ‘ingest’ other smaller cities (Municipal Darwinism) to keep feeding the beast that transports its citizens around the Great Hunting Ground.

The enemy to these future-humans is old tech, now viewed as the downfall of the Ancients; Tom (Robert Sheehan) who works in the museum of London (yep, that’s the biggest and baddest rolling machine around) collects artefacts in an attempt to understand the history of their predecessors.

We see the attempt at humour with rusted Minions displayed as gods and the cracked screens of mobiles and monitors that asks the question of whether the Ancients ceased reading and writing completely.

Didn’t tickle my funny-bone, but there was an attempt, I guess.

Then we have Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar) break on board London in the assassination attempt of much admired lead archaeologist, Thaddeus Valentine (Hugo Weaving).  A two-faced man who killed her mother.

After seeing what Thaddeus is made of and finding themselves grounded, Hester and Tom have to fight to survive while under attack from the Southies (machines driven by people who hunt humans for sausage meat) and having to drink water from puddles… the unlikely pair of urbanised Tom and would-be assassin Hester, now working together to stop Thaddeus from his evil plan to take control and change the very ideals of this future world.

But wow, there are so many other side-stories and characters in this sprawling saga that the momentum of the film gets lost.  The investment in what’s happening gets thrown away because the emotion just isn’t there.  Instead, we get this overdramatic soundtrack that’s supposed to make us feel what the dialogue and build of relationships should.

The whole film felt like stolen bits from other films, thrown together and glossed over with an explosion of many moving parts I frankly didn’t care about.

Ironically, the character I liked the most was the part-human, part-automata (yep, it’s a terminator rip-off), Shrike (Stephen Lang).  He’s the last known Stalker – a dead man resurrected by technology – that’s a killer yet haunted by his human memories.

Shrike is the character used to give Hester a backstory, the only real showing of character we get.  The rest of the characters explain themselves with a forced monologue that made me grit my teeth.

Yes, the intricate design of the machines and future world are amazing and detailed.

And Hugo Weaving as Thaddeus Valentine kept the believability of the story up to a certain level.

But there were so many holes it made me wonder how much was left out from the book the film was based on.

It’s a young-adult novel, which may explain the bad humour… But trying to condense so much into the film made the sentiment feel forced.

Climax

Rated: MA15+Climax

Directed by: Gaspar Noe

Screenplay by: Gaspar Noe

Produced by: Edouard Weil, Vincent Maraal, Brahim Chioua

Choreography: Nina Mc Neely

Starring: Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smily, Clude Gajan Maull, Giselle Palmer, Taylor Kastle, Thea Carla Shøtt, Sharleen Temple, Lea Vlamos, Alaia Alsafir, Kendall Mugler, Lakdhar Dridi, Adrien Sissoko, Mamadou Bathily, Alou Sidibe, Ashley Biscette, Mounia Nassangar, Tiphanie Au, Sarah Belala, Alexandre Moreau, Naab, Strouss Serpent, Vince Galliot Cumant.

A spectacular sensor experience that slowly becomes a disturbing endurance.

‘1996, it was just last night’ – director, Gaspar Noe.

Climax is a horror set to dance music from the 90s where everyone goes insane on very, very bad acid.

This is a film based on a real news story from France.

Daft Punk had just released their first record.  And you could still smoke on the dancefloor.

A troupe of dances finish a rehearsal choregraphed by Selva (Sofia Boutella); DJ Daddy (Kiddy Smile) keeping up the tunes while the dances decompress and party.

We’re brought into this amazing space of dancing and music, with most of the characters made up from the best dances director Gaspar Noe and doll line producer Serge Catoire could find in France (and those who could travel to France): waackers, krumpers, a group of electro dancers and a contortionist (Strauss Serpent) for that extra bizarre movement.

And we watch as the dances drink spiked sangria.

And we watch as each of the characters go insane.

There’s a fascinating introduction to each of the dancers with their audition tapes shown on video so we get this psychological profile before they’re all, well, fu*ked.  So we see who they are normally and how they might react to the LSD: horny, confused, hysterical, paranoid, self-harming, murderous.

And the way the dancers were shown speaking to the camera, the dance-moves shot from above; the spinning…  I was completely absorbed from the opening scene.

But really, prepare yourself, there’s cutting, incest, burning and basically people completely losing it, all in this abandoned school with the music always playing.

I was reminded of scenes from Event Horizon (1997) depicting the crew in space when they went literally through hell.

But Climax is based on real and relatable people.

I was into the film.  Then it became an endurance.  It just kept on getting more and more confronting.

People left during the media screening.

For me, if there was just a shocking end to the crescendo (a climax!), I would have gotten into the film more.  But the timeline was kept linear, showing the decline into madness with each step given its due…  Lower and lower until the camera barely lifted from the polished concrete floor reflecting the animalistic grunting and f*cking and blood.

Climax will definitely evoke a response.

It certainly shocked me sideways.

Music:

TROIS GYMNOPEDIES (ERIK SATIE) by GARY NUMAN  SOLIDIT by CHRIS CARTER  SUPERNATURE by CERRONE  BORN TO BE ALIVE by PATRICK HERNANDEZ  PUMP UP THE VOLUME by M/A/R/R/S  FRENCH KISS by LIL LOUIS  SUPERIOR RACE and TECHNIC 1200 by DOPPLEREFFEKT  DICKMATIZED by KIDDY SMILE  SANGRIA and WHAT TO DO by THOMAS BANGALTER  VOICES by NEON  THE ART OF STALKING by SUBURBAN KNIGHTS  ROLLIN’ & SCRATCHIN’ by DAFT PUNK  WINDOWLICKER by APHEX TWIN  ELECTRON by WILD PLANET  TAINTED LOVE / WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO by SOFT CELL  UTOPIA ME GIORGIO by GIORGIO MORODER  ANGIE by THE ROLLING STONES  MAD by COSEY FANNI TUTTI and COH.

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch

Rated: GThe Grinch

Directed by: Scott Mosier, Yarrow Cheney

Based on the Book: ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ by Dr. Seuss 1957

Screenplay by: Michael LeSieur, Tommy Swerdlow

Produced by: Chris Meledandri, p.g.a, Janet Healy, p.g.a

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Cameron Seely with Angela Lansbury and Pharrell Williams.

Based on the Dr. Seuss book (1957) ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’, The Grinch modernises a classic tale of a self-isolating grump (Grinch’s voice-over by Benedict Cumberbatch) who hates Christmas because he can’t stand all the bright light and exuberant joy – three times as much joy called for this year by the major of Whoville.

All Grinchie (so named by the super-friendly neighbour Bricklebaum (Kenan Thompson)) feels when he sees all that joy is pain.

Being chased by over-enthusiastic carollers in town while having to re-stock the cupboards after emotional over-eating… during Christmas week… does not help matters.

What Grinch wants is quiet and isolation in his abode on Mt. Crumpet, with his constant companion Max; the dog able to read his moods from annoyed to really annoyed while making his morning coffee.

So when Grinch sees the size of the giant Christmas tree, where all the Who Folk of Whoville will sing carols – it’s too much.

Christmas has to be cancelled.

And the way to stop Christmas is to dress up like Santa, abduct a tubby reindeer, Fred who looks like he ate the other seven reindeers (hilarious), steal a sleigh from a roof-top and burglarise everyone’s house taking all the presents.

That’ll make him feel better.  He thinks, until he meets little Cindy-Lou (Cameron Seely) who only wants to help her overworked mum.  Cindy-Lou doesn’t want presents, she only wants to feel the joy.

It’s all very sweet.  And the classic nature of The Grinch, the cantankerous meanness of the green, pot-bellied critter is even funnier when alongside the over-joyous Whos while Max and Fred (the orange-haired reindeer) are all the more adorable alongside the grumpy Grinch.

Everyone loves to see a Grinch turn good.  It warms the heart.

And the attention to detail, the artwork of scenes like the light maze and the inventions of Grinch including the extenda-legs; Max turning in his dog matt just that one more time like real dogs do; The Grinch trucking around in sandals over socks; and the little stubby legs of Cindy-Lou as she prepares to leave for the north pole to find Santa in four winter jackets really keeps up the cuteness and fun of the film.

It took me a while to get absorbed into the Christmas world and spirit, but I couldn’t help some laugh-out-loud moments with the screaming goat – Benedict Cumberbatch as The Grinch noting the goat as nothing but ‘strange’ – capturing that sense of humour that I find ticklish.

The Grinch is a classic made with a wave of magic from the Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri who also adapted Horton Hears a Who! (2008) and The Lorax (2012), the success here in those added details so the kids will be entertained by the fun of the story, the light twinkling, the not-so-quiet antics of Fred (who my nephew found hilarious!), while the adults will appreciate the extra effort of getting the wonder of the story as realistic as if it was a film about people: that crotchety old Grandpa, or grumpy Aunty that just needs an extra hug at Christmas-time.