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.

Second Act

Rated: MSecond Act

Directed by: Peter Segal

Screenplay by: Justin Zackham and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Produced by: Jennifer Lopez, Benny Medina, Justin Zackham and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Milo Ventimiglia, Leah Remini, Vanessa Hudgens, Treat Williams, Annaleigh Ashford.

While Jennifer Lopez, the mega-successful singer, dancer and actor has made dozens of movies, only a handful are actually what could be classified as rom-coms, yet she has become synonymous with those kinds of roles.

The trailer for Lopez’ latest outing, Second Act, gives the impression that Jennifer, playing an assistant store manager called Maya, is starring in a light-hearted romantic comedy about a local girl making good.

So it was a surprise to watch this movie unfold and discover that it wasn’t really a comedy at all, more an often reflective exploration of a woman turning 40, who wonders, is this all there is? And why is life experience not valued as highly as a university degree?

Sure, there are some comical moments, mainly due to Lopez’ playful interaction with her bestie Joan, played by Leah Remini in a role that Joan Cusack used to play with ease. There are a few scenes where Lopez’ character Maya is mistakenly supposed to have talents that lead to humorous outcomes. There is also a gently wry sub-plot involving a dorky chemist at the corporation where Maya becomes a highly-paid consultant, and her eccentric assistant who has an extreme fear of heights.

But these light-hearted moments are not the focus of the plot.

Despite having similarities with Working Girl, where the heroine learns to add a veneer of polish to her outward appearance, while her street smarts give her the advantage she needs to succeed, this film relies on a deliberate lie that inadvertently gets Maya the requisite foot in the door of a successful corporation. She may have been employed based on information that severely exaggerates her accomplishments, but once there it is her intelligence and business acumen that sees her score victories and her star start to rise, despite opposition from different men (and some women) who seem threatened by her business knowledge and innovative ideas.

But Maya is harbouring a secret from her past, one that inhibits her and leaves her feeling unworthy of success in her current life, so that she doesn’t readily embrace the opportunities that Fate has suddenly thrown her way. The movie takes a sudden turn down an unexpected path that I didn’t see coming, and that adds even more layers of suspense and interest.

Of course, in any movie with a heroine who has down-to-earth girlfriends, you’d expect there to be some romantic ups and downs. Maya’s boyfriend of five years, Trey (played by Milo Ventimiglia, shuttling from coast to coast across America while working on this film and the TV series This Is Us) seems too good to be true. He also wants something from the relationship that Maya is too conflicted to provide (and can’t tell him her reasons). So their issues provide an undercurrent of tension as her professional star rises.

One scene shows Maya jogging (ostensibly for exercise), yet I got the impression she was running from her demons as well, often dwelling on past mistakes and waiting for the moment she will be exposed. This angle gave the film a slightly less predictable plot arc whilst also imbuing the interaction between characters with unexpected depth, but without ever really leaving the audience in doubt of the eventual outcome. The film, despite not being a normal rom-com, is entertaining, briskly directed, with a fabulous wardrobe for Ms Lopez, effective use of locations and a hummable soundtrack, as well as a supporting cast that ably assists with fleshing out the action.

According to director Peter Segal, Second Act is ‘about second chances, reinvention and not giving up’.

According to Lopez, who was also a producer on this film, the mantra is ‘the only thing stopping you is you’, a lesson her character learns and accepts, just in time for her own particular brand of happy ending.

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.

Elliot The Littlest Reindeer

Rated: GElliot The Littlest Reindeer

Directed and Written by:  Jennifer Westcott

Produced by:   Michael Emerson, Victoria Wescott

Starring: Morena Baccarin, Josh Hutcherson, John Cleese.

I must confess I got excited when I read about the stellar voice cast including names such as John Cleese and Martin Short. I love animation and I knew absolutely nothing about Elliot The Littlest Reindeer, walking in with an open mind.

First impression was weak though for he graphics looked like I was home playing PS4 and the awkward character’s tone attempt to wink at humour was soon defeated by a numb storyline. There was one moment I laughed, when the Highland horse with Braveheart-painted face and accent to match appeared on the screen. And that was it.

Barely 30 minutes into the film, something unprecedented happened: half the reviewers watching left the cinema. Imagine that. And I sat there, unable to find a comfortable position not the will to fall asleep for a painful hour and a half. Do you want to know my very honest opinion? Well, I wouldn’t take my worst enemy’s children to endure this waste of time and resources. Still want to know more? Sure, let’s continue.

The protagonist, a miniature horse with illusions of grandeur, is bullied by jerk-reindeers (the film’s words not mine) every time he attempts to train with them. Suddenly, Blitzen decides to retire and Santa organises a competition to select the next best thing and everything goes down the hill from here. Elliott goes from friendly horse to wannabe-reindeer in sixty seconds flat, leaving his old friends for a chance to be accepted.

But wait, there is more. The baddie-bad villain Miss Ludzinka, a Cruella De Ville type voiced by Martin Short, plans to purchase Elliott’s farm to make jerky out of its residents. Yes, I said jerky. Yummy. Now, after winning, Elliott is disqualified for not being a reindeer and the judges discover that DJ (the antagonist, Blitzen’s son and Elliot’s personal jerk-reindeer bully for convenience sake) has used additional ‘magical cookies’ to stay high in the sky for longer and win the competition.

If they don’t win, they lose the farm. All is lost, or is it? No spoilers here. All I am going to say if that the logline ‘big dreamers dream big’ is repeated over and over to ensure the audience stays tuned and follows Elliott the wannabe-reindeer and his owner the wannabe-farmer on their journey to become better beings.

What happens next? You’ll have to find out. Or maybe not. Maybe you can spare your kids and go watch something where animals are not threatened to be butchered, smoked and become jerky. Just a thought.

Redeeming features of the film include a nice old-fashioned score by Grayson Matthews and interesting facial expressions courtesy of animation director Sean Coughlin’s and his team. Until next time!

The School

Rated: MThe School

Directed by:  Storm Ashwood

Produced by: Clement Dunn, Cathy Flannery

Written by:  Storm Ashwood, Tessa Alana

Starring:  Megan Drury, Will McDonald, Jak Ruwald.

After a visually stunning trailer, I was more then ready to watch The School: an Australian supernatural horror thriller by award-winning director Storm Ashwood.  But I have to admit I was slightly disappointed.

Amy is a doctor, wife and grieving mother. After spending two years by her comatose son, David’s side, Amy falls into her own twisted world of obsession and denial. Blocking out everything and everyone around her while the walls of the hospital she neglects begin to fall apart. She begins to awaken in what seems to be an abandoned old school, where Amy finds herself a prisoner to a hoard of displaced cultish and feral kids trapped in a hostile supernatural purgatory for children.

As the stakes get higher, Amy becomes an unwilling surrogate mother and must try and escape an impending evil. But terror ensues and Amy must find her way out, fighting against the demonic, supernatural creatures and ultimately her very own demons.

Despite the catchy plot and stunning visuals, The School fails to offer a sense of place, making the hospital where her son remains, and her workplace, the same site where a school used to be.

Filmed at the Gladesville Mental Asylum, founded in the late 1830s, the film’s location is also the oldest facility of the kind in Australia. Regrettably, the unusual punishment of its patients was a normality, including the use of electric shock therapy making both patient and employee deaths common.

There are 1,228 unmarked patient graves on-site providing an unsettling place to capture the supernatural horror elements in the film.

Storm Ashwood has led a successful directing career thus far. His short film The Wish was not only nominated for Best Director and Best Script in the SASAs, but was also screened in festivals around the world including The Australian Film Festival, The LA Film Festival, and the most prestigious, The Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival in Paris. Storm was nominated for an AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards) for best short screenplay as well as having overwhelming success in the festival circuit, with an array of awards and nominations including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Foreign film and several Merit awards.

His feature film script A Search For Hope was a runner up for the 21st Century ScreenWriting awards in 2007.

Early in 2012 Storm’s feature film script and teaser for THE SCHOOL was included as one of the Top 10 Finalists for the MTV Optus180 project.

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.

Creed II

Rated: MCreed II

Directed by: Steven Caple Jr

Story by: Sascha Penn, Cheo Hodari Coker

Screenplay by: Juel Taylor, Sylvester Stallone

Produced by: Irwin Winkler, Charles Winkler, William Chartoff, David Winkler, Kevin King-Templeton, Sylvester Stallone

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Sylvester Stallone, Florian ‘Big Nasty’ Munteanu, Dolph Lundgren, Phylicia Rashad.

‘Don’t do this.’

‘I ain’t gotta choice.’

‘That’s the same thing your father said and he died right here in my hands.’

Two sons: each unbeatable on their home soil, each bearing the scars of a mortal wound, each with a score to settle.

Toe to toe, the two couldn’t be more different.

The challenger, Viktor Drago (Florian ‘Big Nasty’ Munteanu), is a man with absolutely nothing but his towering physique and the will to ‘break’ his opponents.

Thirty years earlier, Viktor’s family was left fractured and demoralised following a grudge match between his father, Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), and Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone).

Growing up in the Ukraine, Viktor has spent his whole life preparing to avenge his family’s honour. Looming over his American rival Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan), Drago presents a brooding mountain of raw-boned muscle with nothing to lose.

Significantly shorter with a much lighter frame, Creed has everything to lose, as his trainer and mentor Rocky Balboa points out. Despite a loving mother (Phylicia Rashad), his adoring partner Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and a comfortable existence, Creed grew up without his father and he risks exposing his baby daughter to the same fate if he agrees to meet Viktor Drago in the ring.

While dedicated buffs may find some of the action slightly implausible—even on the movie poster Creed has dropped his guard on the left and is telegraphing his right, leaving himself open (if that makes perfect sense, you might need to suspend your disbelief)—for the rest of us the movie delivers an immersive experience.

Even on set, a sense of danger was present, with director (Steven Caple Jr) describing the choreography of the action as ‘a hardcore musical’. A single misstep and a real punch would have impacted on real flesh, and all of the blows in the slow motion sequences between Drago and Creed were real: ‘Florian said it was only fifty per cent, but it felt like ah a car crash.’ Even the camera operator, Mike Heathcote took a few hits as Florian was stepping up to the lens to simulate the fight from Creed’s point of view.

More than any other, even Clint Eastwood’s harrowing 2004 Million Dollar Baby, this movie brought home to me how primal that space inside the ring actually is. Even with all of the rules, the referees, the high pants and the gloves, in those three minutes between the bells, two men are locked in a struggle not only for the integrity of their vital organs but, ultimately, for their own consciousness.

With so much at stake, the question Balboa poses to Creed before he steps into the ring is: Why are you doing it?

At once he is asking Creed to seek out that nub of grit in his core, at the same time as he asks him whether he should even be stepping into the ring at all.

Haunted by Apollo Creed’s death, the ambivalence in Balboa’s question lends depth to the drama and the feeling is echoed by Bianca when she asks Creed as he lurches around the ring after winning the World Heavyweight Championship, ‘Do you know what’s happening?’

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.

Robin Hood

Rated: MRobin Hood

Directed by: Otto Bathurst

Screenplay by: Ben Chandler and David James Kelly

Story by: Ben Chandler

Produced by: Jennifer Davisson, Leonardo DiCaprio

Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Jamie Dornan, Tim Minchin, F. Murray Abraham.

The name ‘Robin Hood’ usually conjures up images of medieval villages awash in mud, a lushly green forest, oppressed and poorly dressed peasants, an evilly sneering villain (Sheriff of Nottingham), an heroic yet elusive outlaw (former lord of the manor) and his motley band of merry men, often wearing green hose to blend into the forest where they hide out between raiding the rich to give to the poor.

My favourite version is The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), with a rousing score provided by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and everyone wearing gorgeous costumes in rich jewel colours. I also have a soft spot for Prince of Thieves (1991), but only because of Alan Rickman as the ruthless, Christmas-cancelling Sheriff of Nottingham.

The latest iteration of the famous legend combines medieval grittiness with contemporary adventure, aiming to drag the famous tale firmly into the 21st century, whether the legend sits here comfortably or not. It’s an enjoyable, rollicking adventure that has beautiful production values, impressive sets, nail-biting chase scenes, convincing acting and a pleasing mixture of drama and some comedy (mainly provided by Tim Minchin’s Friar Tuck who carefully balances his allegiances to both Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham).

Director Otto Bathurst said of his approach to this film that ‘it is not about being remotely historically accurate or being faithful to previous versions.’ This much is true.

Taron Egerton (Kingsman, Rocket Man), who plays a disillusioned Robin of Locksley returning from the holy wars overseas, concurs, saying that, ‘there is nothing period or traditional about this movie, because it’s not the Robin Hood we’ve all seen before.’ Definitely not. I kept waiting for the assembling of the merry band who follow Robin, but instead there is a smaller group comprising a dewy-eyed Marian (Eve Hewson), Friar Tuck and Will Scarlet (Jamie Dornan sporting his natural Irish accent), with Little John being played as a vengeful Moor. (Jamie Foxx relishes almost every line with a manic grin.)

Things have changed since Robin went off to fight in the Crusades, with Marian having moved on, and the Sheriff of Nottingham oppressing the poor with steely-eyed determination as they slave in his dire mines. I’m not a big fan of Ben Mendelsohn as a villain (see Ready Player One or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) but here he is more subdued, and is given a grim backstory that makes his current course of villainy understandable if not acceptable.

For the most part the film focusses on the bromance between Robin and John, the latter of whom mentors Robin in the fine art of archery and thievery, interspersed with technically exhilarating horse and wagon chases (I hope no horses were at risk during all this) and lots of close-up fights featuring a staggering variety of bows and arrows.

For the most part I was able to put aside my expectations of this film not following more closely in the established world and time of the legend, and just view it as another adventure movie.

There were some jarring moments (notably the lavish party in the Sheriff’s stronghold which seemed to have escaped from a Great Gatsby film) so that the director’s desire to create a look that is ‘modern Medieval… yet still grounded in its own gritty reality’ was not entirely successful.

But it was a lot better than I was expecting, so if you like adventure films with heroes, villains and a (mostly) believable world, you could do worse than watch this one.

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