Inferno

Inferno ***

After tip toeing over The Lost Symbol Dan Brown's third book in his Robert Langdon series the producers ended up picking the forth book Inferno to follow up The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. 


Tom Hanks returns as Robert Langdon the symbologist who's greatest asset is his mind but here he is thrown into new territory by having amnesia after he awakes in hospital in Florence with no recognition and somebody is trying to kill him. 

The film quickly gets into gear with unsettling visuals, quick flowing plot and intrigue. Langdon with the help of his Doctor (Hot from Rogue One star Felicity Jones) most go on the run to prevent an eccentric billionaire from releasing a virus that will wipe out half the world's population.  

The book was very convoluted and the film's screenplay has done a good job of structuring the adaption for screen as well taking quite a few liberties with the story that change quiet considerably. 

Some work well such making Harry Sims (CEO of the private security company called "The Consortium") a much more engaging, physical character and played by a scene stealing Irrfan Khan (Life of PI). Another change is to principle character is more forced and gives Langdon a slight love interest in the movie. This I imagine was to make his role a bigger ark after three films but fails to elevate the concept past the idea stage making it a wasted unfilled concept. 

However despite the concept being engaging the film never really elevates itself from a solid thriller to brilliant one. Perhaps due to the source material of the book not really being better than the previous three you were not necessary going to make a better film than the previous films. The editor goes into over drive to make things seem more frantic then the material has allowed.

The movie is a enjoyable thriller that may have been better suited as TV mini series with it's twits and turns that beat through effectively however the film hits the motions but fails to innovate, take risks or really push the lead actor or director out of their comfort zones to raise the bar of this third film. 

When you get to the third film you really need to raise the bar not lower it. There are numerous examples of third films really delivering building upon the success of previous films in their franchise such as: The Bourne Ultimatum, Prisoner of Azkaban, Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Lord Of The Rings: Return of the King.



Inferno is certainly not a bad film it is by all means it's a enjoyable film with the ever enjoyable solid Hanks but lots of potential is replaced with a by the numbers thriller that is fun but not mind blowing or that memorable.

By Chris Hembury

Foster Florence Jenkins Film Review

Foster Florence Jenkins (2016)***

 Brit Director Stephen Frears directs true life comedy drama about the 40’s Singer Foster Florence Jenkins starring Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant and Simon Helburg. 

In a rush? 

Short Version....

                   A fantastic true life story with strong performances lead by the mighty Streep directed with confidence in Brit Director Frears like Florence there passion all round, however also like Florence your not entirely sure how you feel after the show. 

              But great to see stories like this being told to thousands that might have never have heard of Jenkins otherwise. Despite the fact Florence can’t sing she still gets a good review from me.  

Full Review

          Foster Florence Jenkins is a wealthy, eccentric, elderly, New York socialite in whose great passion is that of the arts, in particularly MUSIC!

         Her passion for music really is her life where she frequents, sponsors and even performs in theatre shows produced by her. The only problem with Jenkins’s ambitions to be a singer is that she can’t sing…This is the punch line of the film.  

           Her right hand man is her Husband St Clair, Suave and younger (Hugh Grant) he is by all means her manager. He coordinates her day, her life, her staff and PR. This is very important as Jenkins inner circle are well aware of the fact that Jenkins's passion far outweighs her ability to perform but it’s that passion that propels all around to hide her from her own limitations… that and everyone around her is well paid.

         This is also the moral crux of the story - Are people sticking with her because she pays them? Or is there genuine love for her? 

             For instance Carlo Edwards (played by Brit David Haig sporting his nice Hugh Laurie inspired American Accent) is a famous conductor employed to trains Jenkins to sing. He is more than aware she is awful, but takes her money and assures her she is tremendous. This would be sweet to a child but rather cruel to a delusional senior. 

          This is where the comedy moves to drama after the initial shock comedy factor of her being awful it becomes increasingly unsure whether we are to keep laughing laugh at her because it’s funny or not as it’s mocking an elderly lady.

            The morality of her inner circle is most tied to her Husband St Clair where his motives can be harder to read then others. 

           On paper he is in it for the money, he looks after her during the day but by night he disappears into his apartment across the city paid for by Jenkins where he has his secret girlfriend living with him, where they have big parties and booze ups to which Jenkins is blissfully unaware. 

        This betrayal of Jenkins's generosity is further made more sad as when learn her health is very bad indeed. 

       The story is propelled by the looming date of a massive theatre performance that Jenkins has booked for herself to sing Oprah at. 

       

        Here after twenty five years of her being hidden from the fact she can’t sing, she is about to unknowingly exposes her lack of talents to the thousands where it will become a known and publicly embarrassing fact that could and most likely will destroy her.

        You really don’t know whether to laugh or cry and that’s kind of the point where at times there is an almost uncomfortable vibe in the narrative making it a little unsure of where we are meant to plant our emotions. 

        Throw in the fact Jenkins is elderly, generous, in very bad health and purely has good sweet intentions. After all the theatre performance is all about wanting to entertain WW2 soldiers potential with post traumatic stress. This  makes it a more awful proposal that the benefactor should be publicly berated.

         However when characters are pushed to the edge true colours unfold where St Claire becomes more caring then we would have original presumed showing that even if he doesn’t have physical affections for Jenkins he does have a protective deep love for her, a love also felt by her newly appointed quirky pianist (played by scene stealing quirkiness by TV’s Big Bang Theories’ Simon Helberg) who both most stand by her or she will fall.

         The braveness of telling this story is fantastic because as the writer said you couldn’t make it up! The pitch alone is not the thing of box office gold but how joyous to see everyone involved in a heart warming story of one women just simply following the biggest joy in her life.

       Florence Forster Jenkins is a well acted and passionate film is let down by an almost uneven level in emotions with the central narrative. Where as a comedy drama such as Little Voice kept the first half laugh out loud then finally moved into the Dramatic conclusion here the minute she sings the joke is revealed and it is funny. However Streep’s excellent performance brings these laughs but also exposes the sad interior of a woman who has been used her and betrayed in her life but still thinks of others. It’s this ever so effective characterisation that evokes the drama but with an untimely rushed conclusion the story certainly ends like Jenkins had sang on slightly depressing note.  

The real life quote by Florence herself would have done for me:

   "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."

On that note, bravo Florence.

***

Rewind moment: For me it’s Grant’s fantastically loopy dance moves in a 1940’s rave.

Hacksaw Ridge Film Review By Chris Hembury

Hacksaw Ridge *****War is Hell but there's a Angel on Hacksaw Ridge

Mel Gibson returns to the Director's Chair and into Hollywood's Good books with this epic WW2 story Hacksaw Ridge. After a decade in limbo and Gibson passing on the project twice (same with Braveheart) finance coming in from Australia this true life story finally gets a cinematic outing. 

The film is based on the true story of Desmond Doss played by Andrew Garfield an conscientious objector who joins the army in WW2 but refuses to carry or use a weapon. 

This film is by all facts a mixed genre film being Action/Drama. The first half is almost a tender TV Drama showing the story of Doss from childhood , the series of events that shape him as a man and later his decision to join the army but keep to devout his religious beliefs. 
Doss is by all means a unique individual who cares deeply about family, honour and faith taking joy in helping others. 

His decision to join the army in order to be a medic is one that causes friction around him but the decision that he will not use a weapon is one that causes most provocation for Doss who becomes the point of hatred in the army. Victimised, picked on, attacked and taken to military court Doss is risking everything he has for everything he believes and the unfolding of his predicament is touching entertaining drama at it's best. 



The second half of the film sees Doss enter War and not since From Dusk Till Dawn has there been a more violent Genre shift from Drama to Action/Horror as Gibson shows you first hand the extreme horrors of War. You can understand the pursuit of Gibson services as his CV shows his no novice at War films having directed Braveheart and later shown true horrors of violence in The Passion Of The Christ here he brings all his skills to the table. Pulling no punches with the extreme shift in tempo shows a slight glimpse of what the real life soldiers of war most of envisioned when they first step foot into the hells of the battlefields and futility of war with such wasted life on both sides. 

In this hell the soldiers are expected to take Hacksaw Ridge a viscous battle that will cost many lives. It's in this hell that Doss makes it his mission to risk his life in order to save as many lives as possible. This is where the real life Doss reportedly saved 75 wounded soldiers an outstanding feet that made him a hero. 

There is excellent supporting acting with highlights from Hugo Weaving one of Hollywood most underrated talents who plays Doss's Father horrendously mentally handicapped from his fighting in WW1 as well a welcomed comedy relief from Vince Vaughn as Doss's stern commanding officer.   

Gibson features real life footage at the end of the film which shows you the real life Doss and it's only here you can then fully appreciate the amazing Job Andrew Garfield did of portraying him as the real life Doss has a unique speaking pattern that seemed odd when first watching the film but then replaced when you appreciate the actors replicated authentically. You would expect most Hollywood films to disregard such attention to details having Doss persona replaced by a more bankable image with a John Wayne type lead marching over the Ridge saving everyone in sight. The choice not to do reinforces the remarkable real life story of a man that was utterly selfless demonstrating the best of human potential. 



This is glorious to see this type of story made and most importantly respected. In such depressing real life times we live in where there is constant examples of negative behaviour it's a true refreshing experience to see a recreation of truly decent example of a human ability for goodness. The decision to put real life clips at the end of the film and show the audiences the true hero we saw who tells the audience his will to save others in the darkest hour of war is what moved this review from four stars to five.  

Further research into the real life Doss actually depicts that the film toned down some of the real heroism to make it more believable is a testimonial in itself. 

By Chris Hembury

xxx: The Return of Xander Cage**

XXX emerged over a decade ago originally as a rival to the James Bond franchise. A tough no nonsense, muscle ripped, dare devil who works for Government to save world and get the girl just in time to rival Bond's 2002 latest film Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan. However despite XXX making a good profit Bond won the box office battle and ironically also saw both lead actors leave their own franchises which were both rebooted shortly after. Bond with Daniel Craig and XXX with Ice Cube but his Sequel in 2005 (ironically directed by Bond's Die Another Day director Lee Tamarhori) under performed at the box office leaving the franchise in the abyss. 

Time however is a funny thing and the undoubted cash cow that has become the Fast and The Furious Franchise has to be the key factor behind the resurrection of this franchise that nobody was really chanting for.  XXX: The Return of Xander Cage or XXX: The Return Of The Actor From The Highly Lucrative Fast and Furious Franchise Please Watch This Film!

The story sees a national security threat where bad guys can use a device to crash satellites out of the sky.... think maybe they were scraping barrel with that one and only Vin Diesel's daredevil Xander Cage can save the world!

But wait his character was apparently killed in action over decade ago? Well it turns out his actually still alive, faked his death and been on the run ever since. Living a quiet life keeping a low profile by jumping off massive telephone aerials, flying through the jungle on a pair of skies, skateboarding into on coming traffic, risking his freedom and life just help locals get a better TV signal as you do. With this type of low key behaviour it's no wonder he is tracked down by the government agency that's behind the rogue XXX program which recruits daredevil renegades to save the day. 

Xander Cage agrees to come back out of retirement and work with them to find the device that allows satellites to drop out of the sky!

Well one thing most be obvious this film is not in it for the acting nor the screenplay accolades. This is meant to be balls out fun which doesn't take it self seriously and thank God for that because it is for all intensive preposes this is ridiculous and even jumps the shark when Vin engages in using his motorbike to surf waves. This makes Die Another Day much ridiculed wind surfing scene seem sensible and realistic.
This is the theme of the film just doing whatever it likes as even a tender love scene at the start with Vin is half an hour later replaced with a random mass orgy.

The redeeming feature here is when the action is more grounded it can be spectacular. There's chase scene on foot taking place on a highway with cars crashing all all round our hero which is genuinely exciting with crashes getting bigger, closer and louder in a environment that hasn't abandoned all sense of basic plausibility. This is of course until all the actors are getting run over by cars and don't even emerge with a bruise. Hell I had a car crash ten years ago and my neck still hurts. 

There's some great action straight out of a Call Of Duty Game where there's a zero gravity shoot out on board a crashing government plane. It's like a five minute version of that five second cool moment from the end of Liam Neeson's Non Stop.  

At the end of the day this is the Vin Vehicle and gives you exactly that. Hell if you can accept Vin skiing through the jungle in the opening ten minutes this is the film for you. The film wears it's crazy larger than life theme on it's sleeve with honour and 12 year old kids are going to love this film it's the adults and parents who going to be rubbing there heads.

By Chris Hembury

Bridget Jones's Baby Review by Chris Hembury

Bridget Jones's Baby ****

Who's the Daddy?

The first signs of another Bridget Jones's sequel arrived with the author Helen Fielding's third book Mad About The Boy. However mixed reviews of the book especially from fans made the green lighting of a film a little dubious. This was in part to (Book Spoiler Alert) the book killing poor Mark Darcy off and having a widowed forty something Jones chase for the affections of a toy boy while Tweeting all about it. A nice book but, yes perhaps not the seeds of box office glory.

However a different screenplay was written instead, meeting approval from all apart from this time Hugh Grant who delightfully played Daniel Cleaver. Ironically a fan of the book but not the screen play and so decided to not to return. How could they make a film without Hugh Grant you ask? Well luckily enough after 12 years TV'S  Grey's Anatomy Patrick Dempsey has just become unemployed and joined the casting ranks as the new love interest.

So after years of productions hell different directors, credited writers, departing actors the film's screenplay was finished, casted, filmed and finally after 12 years the third Bridget Jones Film has arrived! Bridget Jones's Baby....

We follow a 43 year old single Bridget (Renee Zellweger) who's finally doing well in her career but her personal life less so. Living alone again, single again and childless as usual. The only real change is Bridget's age and her Mum reminds her that her biological clock is ticking but after a twist of fate good old Bridget becomes pregnant but is unsure who the father is. Is is A) The Handsome American Jack (Dempsey) she hooked up with at a Music Festival or her old boyfriend Darcy (Colin Firth) she hooked up with at a Christening. Oh how her future Grandchildren will chuckle away at this romantic predicament.     

Well I must say the premise to this third addition of Bridget Jones Diary trilogy didn't exactly set my enthusiasm alight. After all the plot is something inspired by a tame episode of Jeremy Kyle. A forty something singleton is up the duff and can't work out whether the father is her former fiance or some random stranger she bonked at a music festival, dear God not quite Romeo and Juliet is it?

However almost like Guerrilla war fare Bridget Jones's Baby without fail makes every weakness it strength consecutively with out throughout the whole film.

First outstanding obstacle is how to make it's premise work without being tacky, cheap or a little voyeuristic. Here it succeeds bringing the right amount of loneliness and desperation to Bridget's point of life just before she engages on her new found Romances. The pregnancy aspect refreshes the franchise naturally allowing all the characters to grow and explore more new ground instead of completing the same beats like Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason sequel more or less went through with no real character development. 

The replacement of Grant with Dempsey works on a number of levels within the new baby story line as Dempsey character Jack truly cares and has good intentions with is a polar opposite to Daniel Cleaver Grant played. Cleaver was always the wrong to Darcy's right  but here Dempsey has a good kind heart which truly makes him a genuine rival to Darcy as he's someone who could ultimately care for Bridget as much as he could.

Many Studio franchises may have buckled from pressure and created a 12a friendly film made as contemporary as hell to reel in new audiences while simply using the franchise's name to a make a quick buck. Instead they've embraced the film's age even instigating it as the film's main theme making this romantic comedy a more mature, intelligent outing that retains the trademark swearing and relatable characteristics of the previous films.

This film truly does celebrates the films before it with frequent flash backs and winks to the audiences.
This feels like a film made for fans of the franchise that in turns delivers freshness and sweetness to the story of a character that has connected with many people over the years.

A true delight in the writing is the fact it plays on the genre itself. This is not just a romantic comedy but the third in a franchise of the same romantic comedy series. Here audiences are quite aware and prepared for certain plot points, rhythms and familiarities to takes place that can soon become un original and tiresome. But the delight or recognition with Jones's Baby's screenplay is that it's almost self aware of these facts and every time a move is made in the stereotypical direction the screenplay quickly reverts it. Whether it be Mark the gentlemen offering to carry the pregnant Jones only to buckle to her weight. Which ironically Renee Zellweger didn't bring the excess weight with her for the part this time round.

This is true Rom Com fun with a mature twist that draws a feel good aspect from one of cinema's most loved singletons. The only thing missing was Bridget's huge knickers it may not be Shakespeare but I must say it's been a while since I've seen a audience this happy leaving the cinema.

By Chris Hembury