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The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone (2022)
A beautiful and important film
Depressing (and inevitable of course) that trolls have piled into this film with their standard approach of giving it 1 star to down vote it. It's a powerful and touching film about the reality of someone's life. Not the lies and the fear and the hate that so often characterise government and media coverage in countries like the UK, nor about so-called 'ideology' and all that rubbish, but about the genuine, authentic experience of someone growing up and simply wanting to be who she truly is.
Moving and powerful and should be seen by all those who can still retain an open mind, compassion and humanity, in the face of relentless hatred and monstering of trans people by powerful voices in Britain.
The Journey (2016)
Heavily fictionalised, but very moving
It never claims to be an accurate telling of how the Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley finally shook hands and buried the past, but it contains within it something really powerful and moving. The imagined journey they take together, in the back of a car going to the airport get Paisley back to Belfast for a wedding anniversary likely never took place, but as a dramatic device, it works well (I read that the breakthrough actually came when one day the two of them finally started talking about fishing).
The acting from Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney is faultless. They have the bearing, the accents and the look of the two absolutely nailed. They really inhabit the characters and the on screen chemistry between them is extraordinary and ultimately very moving. By the end, I was welling up, particularly, as I write this on the day - 15 years later - when (as McGuinness predicted back then), it looks like Sinn Fein might be about to provide the First Minister of Northern Ireland for the first time in its history.
The 'containing' plot, which involves Blair, some M15 guy and a camera watching them all the time is pretty absurd and I found it really overcooked and irritating, as are some of the 'narrator' style lines given to John Hurt. Blair is portrayed as an awkward, light weight idiot. But none of that really matters - it's all about Spall and Meaney and who they are playing. Mesmerising performances from both.
This was huge moment in history, heavily fictionalised but beautifully told. The film ends with titles talking about how they finally created a lasting peace together. I so hope that remains true.
Spencer (2021)
Cardboard cut outs and a psychotic Diana
Much hyped but overacting on a scale hard to believe as Kirsten Stewart plays Diana as essentially a psychotic puppy throwing looks from under her fringe. Dream sequences, hallucinations, and the rest of the Royal family reduced to cardboard cut out psychopaths. And oh God the endless heavy headed metaphors. Accurate? Hard to believe there's much truth in it.
Very disappointing.
Greenland (2020)
Not this again. Yawn.
I only watched this as I saw a good review from a BBC film critic. More fool me. The world is going to be destroyed in 48 hours and Intrepid Hero plus wife/kid must make the arduous trek to safety.
Cue:
Cuts to tv screens of cities getting mashed by bits of comet
Jammed freeways (a lot of this)
Looting
Mobs and explosions
Troops only following orders
Tender moments when the couple Remember Their Love
Phone signals going down
An eccentric ole Gramps who won't leave his home because Something The Good Lord Something Something
A weird and pointless plot twist in which the kid gets kidnapped for a while solely to create a scene in which he can be tearfully reunited with his mom
A Government That Has It All Taken Care Of because they thought of a plan before etc (yep, Covid's really demonstrated how good governments are at this whole foresight/pre planning thing hasn't it?)
Shots of smashed up cities
A New Dawn After The Armageddon etc
This film has been made 50 times before. I really can't think why someone had the idea to do it again, adding nothing.
Away (2020)
I tried, I really did
A cliche soaked script with the subtlety of an air-raid siren. A check list of cardboard cut out characters constructed from ludicrous national stereotypes and current American preoccupations. An absurd plot.
Avoid.
They Came from Beyond Space (1967)
Truly terrible
Ok, so we are dealing with a candidate for 'So Bad It's Good' territory here. Except this doesn't make it. It's so bad, it's awful. The lack of budget doesn't excuse it I don't think. Ludicrous amdram script. Leaden acting. Props that I noticed included a load of spray painted garden incinerators doubling as some sort of alien power source. Some sort of spray painted colander/sieve as a protective hat. A 'ray gun' too.
If it had been a 3rd year school play, perhaps. And yes, I know it was British, and from the 1960s, and on the cheap...but that doesn't excuse the terrible writing or the performances. Meanwhile in the US, Star Trek had already been made and Kubrick's 2001 was only a year away - it might as well have been a light year.
I tried to like it, honestly, in an ironic, cheesy way - but I just couldn't!