Author: Callum Forbes

The BRWC Review – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

My favourite film of all time is Jurassic Park; so, when a sequel is announced, of course I’ll be going to see it. To re-cap, Jurassic Park does have issues but what’s good is much too good, better than any other film in my opinion. The Lost World: Jurassic Park on the other hand was a disappointing film – it was dull, messy and was clearly made by a director whose heart wasn’t in it – but that director was Steven Spielberg, and so we still got some clever filmmaking and fun action scenes.

Jurassic Park III is a bit of dumb fun, with emphasis on dumb – it’s short and efficient in its thrills, so it’s not a bad time in my book. Jurassic World was a nice revitalisation for the series, taking nostalgia and new things in a good mix and making one of the most entertaining film’s I’ve seen in a long time – even if it lacks the wonder and awe of the films before it. Now we get the ambitious looking Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. We have high promises; how does it deliver?

The volcanic island that homes the dinosaurs is about to blow up. Claire, from the last film, is part of a group attempting to safe them, and when a business man offers his help to save the dinosaurs, it’s an offer too good to pass on. Owen, also from the last one, gets involved to help save Blue, the last surviving raptor, who he still has a bond with. Thing’s go wrong almost immediately, and when the dinosaurs are taken from the island, it’s clear that the business man has a far more sinister agenda for the creatures than what first appears. If you want to know more, watch the trailers as hey spoil way too much of the film for my liking.

I do have issues with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. There is the issue that has plagued all the other sequels in this series – the script. I don’t know what it is, but Jurassic Park scripts, outside of the first one, always have issues. But I’ll give it credit, this is the strongest script of the sequels. Despite starting off as a fun adventure and disaster film and ending as a Gothic horror sci-fi film, the pace and tone are never unbalanced and it all flows together very well. The issue is with character and some moments of dialogue. While Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire and two of the newer characters – a sharp-tongued dinosaur vet and a little girl respectively – no one else stands out. Chris Pratt and Ted Levine are great to watch in all their scenes, but that has nothing to do with character – it’s because Pratt is a funny and charming actor and Levine has always been a darkly amusing presence. The villains in particular come off as cartoons and are very hard to take seriously.

Despite this, director J. A. Bayona works wonders with it, shooting the most visually amazing film in the series since the original. The cinematography alone is worth praising, with no shot wasted, all shots looking spectacular and some of them are exceptionally creative. What also helps is the film featuring the best effects of the series. Saying that CGI is amazing feels redundant as it’s almost constantly great these days, only standing out when it fails – but the CGI was amazing here. It was also in surprisingly short supply, with animatronics and practical effects taking up a good majority of the dinosaur scenes. The two effects blend so well together, that at times I couldn’t tell the difference between them.

There’s no denying that the first half of this film, involving the volcanic explosion and the reveal of something sinister, is the better half of the film. That’s where most of the dinosaur action is too – which is some of the most spectacular of the whole series. The opening scene and the eruption being the stand out moments. Even in the latter half of the film we get an excellent chase and dino-battle – there’s even a great moment involving a head-butting dinosaur (I think it’s called a stygimoloch for those dinosaur fans out there). It’s constantly amazing and fun – whenever a dinosaur is on screen, I’m happy. The second half does slow down, and it starts getting a little bogged in science fiction and gets a little too silly in moments.

It’s moments of silliness and too many call backs to other films in the franchise that really shoots the film in the foot. Some call backs – like a tear-jerking moment involving a brachiosaurus and the introduction of the t-rex looming over the trees – were nice touches, but then we get a re-enactment of the t-rexes final roar from the first one and a painfully obvious call-back to the raptors in the kitchen, that went a little too far. We also get things like a smiling dinosaur and a velociraptor who could apparently read that a tank was flammable. We also have Rafe Spall and Toby Jones giving us some bad American accents and James Cromwell giving us a bad British accent, which was a little bizarre. Unfortunately, a major issue too is that despite blowing up the island, changing the setting and in some ways completely changing the path of the series, we are still stuck with the formula of dinosaurs escaping cages and eating people. I wouldn’t have minded too much if we weren’t promised something a little different this time around.

Despite that though, this is the first time a Jurassic Park sequel has had me calling it great. I loved this film overall, despite these issues. Jurassic World was one of the most entertaining films this decade for me. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is the most entertaining film this decade to me. It also takes its time in moments – we don’t get much wonderment again, mores the pity, but we do get something else. We get upset. This is at times a dark film, with some unflinching depictions of animal cruelty. As cartoony as the villains are, they did have me feeling rage at times. That’s an emotion I’ve never felt from a Jurassic Park film before. They’re still hard to take seriously, but they do make the heroes easier to root for. Great performances and simple but effective themes are a good help too.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a flawed yet great film to me. It’s more dinosaur fun, with something a little more thrown in for it. We are still worlds away from the original master-piece and it’s very clear that we will not hit any closer to that mark. There is a tease for another film, which I honestly hope is the last one now, as much as I’ve liked these last two films. I do know that I like this film more than most people will, I know many already who do prefer Jurassic World to this one, but still, they all came out having enjoyed it. If you are hoping for a revitalisation of the series, then you will be disappointed. But if you want a fun and exceptionally well directed blockbuster, then you couldn’t ask for more.

13th June 2018
Everything’s Going To Be Okay: Review

It’s not often that something can feel so simple and yet so strange at the same time. Everything’s Going to be Okay is definitely one of those experiences. The short is a very simple story – Alex and Jake are on a hike across a desert, which soon takes a turn for the worse. Jake has a wound on his leg and it’s made evident very quickly that it has gotten infected and is quickly spreading. It then becomes a choice for Alex – does she abandon Jake and go get help, or does she help him but further risk the death of them both?

It’s a very simple and very effective story. At only thirteen minutes long, it’s a pretty decent length, making sure that the story isn’t dragged out and yet gets enough time to put its point across. The cinematography for Everything’s Going to be Okay does an excellent job of demonstrating how isolated these characters are. We get some admittedly lovely shots of the desert around them – but we do get an excellent sense of desolation too. We know from the first moment that Jake’s predicament is made clear that they are beyond help from others. Despite the open space, it works to make the audience feel claustrophobic.

Everything’s Going To Be Okay

The film-making and tension that it brings, thanks to perfectly times editing, great camerawork and effective use of sound does make our characters easy to sympathise with and root for. I even liked the colour scheme that the film used, it was a desert yellow covering everything. This does make sense because they’re in a desert. It also makes the film feel gritty, grimy and unflinchingly realistic. It was almost like the first moments in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in how it made the film feel.

This did make what I assume were supposed to be comedic moments feel very out of place however. If it was never meant to be comical, then something went a little wrong. There’s one moment in particular – Jake is describing how isolated and how much danger they are both in – and the it comes off as a comedy shot. The camera is drawn further back between edits, it felt like one of those action film parodies where the filmmaker is playing with action film dramatics.

While the film-making was on point, outside of the comedy moments, the performances left a little bit to be desired. They certainly weren’t terrible, but there was something about the delivery of their lines that didn’t really work for me. It came off as too dramatic at times and a little too deadpan at others. Again, if I was certain that this was a comedy I wouldn’t have minded, but I’m not entirely sure if that was the point of it. The script is pretty well written, albeit a little preachy towards the film’s close – though, to be fair it’s still well written and feels earned.

Depending on how you perceive the film – whether or not it’s supposed to be comical at times or not – the ending might completely lose you. I’m willing to accept fault here, as I wasn’t sure as to what the film was aiming for, so to me it was a bit jarring. I’ll admit to laughing, but I was very confused by the choice made at the end too. To many, I can see that as being good enough, and even improving the overall film. It just didn’t work for me.

Everything’s Going to be Okay is one of those films where I really don’t know what to make of it. I’m inclined to say that I liked it, even if it was lost on me. I loved the film-making and it, at least until the end, it told a very effective story. I just couldn’t pinpoint its tone. I recommend seeing it as I know many will enjoy it and find it interesting. To me, that at least is a good sign of success.

12th June 2018
Are You Glad I’m Here: Noor Gharzeddine Interview

After watching and thinking about the film Are You Glad I’m Here, I spoke to its director, Noor Gharzeddine.

You were clearly passionate about this project, as it clearly displayed. What was it that inspired you to make Are You Glad I’m Here?

The story was developed by Samuel Anderson, our screenwriter, and I. We wanted to make a film in Lebanon, where my family is form and where he had studied Arabic. We were interested in telling a story about the nuance and complexity of these two very different women and in exploring what a friendship between them would entail. Kirsten is a recent liberal arts graduate coming over from the US to teach English in Beirut and she feels like she has the world figured out, but once she’s removed from her bubble and meets a Nadine her views are challenged. As recent graduates I think Sam and I were interested in that dynamic.

Are You Glad I’m Here

As a Lebanese American it was also important for me to make a film in Lebanon; a film that bridged two cultures and was easily accessible to both audiences. Because I grew up in a bilingual household I also felt like it was important and natural to make a bilingual film, and it was always something I wanted to do.

I got a good feeling of hope and friendship while watching this film. This wasn’t just through the characters but also through how the story had played out, even in its darker moments. Was this your intention? Did you have any other intentions for the film thematically?

I definitely intended to create a genre blend and not get bogged down in the drama of the subject matter. We explore a lot of heavy themes in the film and it easily could have become strictly a dark and dramatic movie, but I wanted to use a playful lens as often as was appropriate. In the end it really became about realism and mirroring reality versus trying to stick to a genre. In reality there are moments of humor even in the saddest of times, especially if you’re surrounded by funny people who want to alleviate your pain. I think this is where the feeling of hope comes from- when the film ends Nadine is about to start a tough new life, but she’s surrounded by a loving family and this gives us a feeling of hope.

Was there any film-maker who you drew inspiration from for the filming?

It’s hard to put my finger on just one influence! In terms of relationship building I looked at films like Persona and Carol. I admire the emotional compositions of a lot of old Japanese cinema- where you’re not necessarily feeling emotion because of the characters faces but more because of the framing /visual scene as a whole. And the symmetry and colors were partly inspired by Volver and Wes Anderson films. When people watch the film the scenes in Kinan’s shop commonly get likened to Tarantino films and the ending to Thelma and Louis– I always love hearing other people’s thoughts!

The subject matter does bring up points about difference in culture and in particular how women’s rights are viewed in different cultures. Was this something wished to explore and make more people aware of with this film? Is it something that you yourself have had experience with?

I want the viewer to feel the difference between Nadine and Kirsten- we see it in age, culture, family life, life experience etc. but to also always feel like they’re both in the right and to view both women with sympathy and compassion. We didn’t set out to preach a certain message or tell the story from just one woman’s perspective. I think we wanted people to be aware of how complicated it is to insert yourself, and your ideas, into someone else’s life without causing some sort of chaos, even if it’s well intentioned, which we hint at in our title – Are You Glad I’m Here.

Are You Glad I’m Here

Making a film is a monumental task. Were there many struggles when it came to filming Are You Glad I’m Here? How did they affect the film, and did you find any of them helped the film as it went along?

Firstly, we knew we had the restriction of a low budget, and much of the script was written with these restrictions in mind; constantly reigning yourself in can be difficult! However, it also allowed us to really focus on our two lead actresses and on building the relationship between them in the beginning of the film, without a lot of other distractions like side characters and plots. Because I’d never worked in the film industry in Lebanon and was trying to do work remotely from NYC at the beginning of pre-production it took a while to lock down a line producer, but once we did meet the right person it was so rewarding and I was welcomed into such an amazing film community; I’d love to go back and make another film in Lebanon.

Are You Glad I’m Here

Your film is a very well written and acted one. How was it working with your actors, how did you all go about realizing these characters?

I was lucky to have time to rehearse with the actors before we got on set and we all had so much fun together. Marwa Khalil, the actress playing Nadine, is a French educated Lebanese woman who rarely uses English in her daily life, and Tess Harrison, the American actress playing Kirsten, was visiting Lebanon for the first time, so many miscommunications happened organically and found their way into Are You Glad I’m Here. Tess I had worked with previously, so I knew we could collaborate well and had been thinking about her for the role. I hadn’t met Marwa until we began auditions in Lebanon- but her audition was so powerful (pretty sure I teared up) that I knew I had to work with her.

1st June 2018
Are You Glad I’m Here: Review

Are You Glad I’m Here is one of those strange films that can take a dark subject matter and turn it into something hopeful. The film is set in Lebanon, in the city of Beirut, and follows the growing friendship of Nadine and Kristen. Nadine is a Lebanese house-wife, with a husband and children. Kristen is an American who has moved to Beirut to teach English. After meeting by chance and meeting often to get to know each other, they both become good friends. Unfortunately, Nadine’s husband is a drunkard, adulterer and abuser – when he takes things too far, Kristen decides that they will both deal with him together. When the unfortunate happens, the two friends become partners in crime as they are forced to do what they can to avoid spending the rest of their lives in a Lebanese prison.

Already, from minute one, this is a great pairing of people. Nadine clearly started married life with nothing but happiness – unfortunately, her husband and certain aspects to her culture’s views on women’s rights have whittled her down to someone whose, maybe not miserable but definitely wanting better and feeling very scared at times. It makes it all the nicer when Kristen comes into her life and gives her someone to talk to and feel supported by. At the same time, Kristen is culturally naïve, not understanding the views of the majority of people and even arguing against their views – some of which are justifiable, some are a little pettier. We know the dangers of this, even if she doesn’t. It makes it nice when Nadine is giving her information on how the world here works and giving her street smarts. There will always be something endearing about a dreamer lifting the spirits of a realist and a realist calming a dreamer down with hard but simple truths.

The actresses for these parts are on top form. It’s not character playing, they come off as human beings. With dialogue so realistically written, both of them feel like someone you could meet if you travelled to the city right now. There’s a scene where they just talk about watching Marvel’s Jessica Jones – and it fits. It helps flesh them out just that little bit more than the scene before it. The same can be said for the scene after it. Director Noor Gharzeddine has an almost Spielbergian approach to developing her characters. She doesn’t just let great writing and talented actors work and speak for themselves, but she uses her sets and cinematography to make every scene dedicated to these characters feel close and personal.

It is a good thing that the characters are as good as they are – because it does take a while for the story to kick off. The conflict in the plot isn’t introduced until half-an-hour into the film, and it was an extra quarter-of-an-hour before it really kicks in. This does not bother me as what we do get before was so very good. Oddly enough, I preferred what came before to what comes after the conflict starts. But, with this film being much shorter than expected, it barely reaching an-hour-and-a-half, the pacing is affected by this. It also has the issue of being a much better character drama than it is a thriller, with moments that are not as tense as they should be. Their well-constructed on the whole, especially one scene that plays at the very beginning and is revisited later on. I just didn’t get much of a feeling for the stakes. I know they were high for the characters, and I completely understood their dilemma. I couldn’t feel it, or at least I wasn’t as invested with it as I should have been.

That won’t stop me from recommending Are You Glad I’m Here. It’s a nice, and strongly hope filled exploration of friendship across cultures. Gharzeddine is that perfect level of un-bias towards both characters and their views. We see how both perceive what’s wrong and what’s right and how they are never openly declared as right or wrong. It’s up to you do decide. That adds extra levels to a nice and short character piece, with some interesting thriller moments. It’s worth your time, all it asks for is for you to listen.

30th May 2018
Callum Has Ranked The MCU

It’s been ten years since an eye-patch wearing Samuel L Jackson told Iron Man he was assembling a team to save the world. Now the accumulation of that ten years has lead to the third Avengers film, Infinity War.

Ten years and nineteen films. Never has a film series been so successful, critically praised, fan loved and box office destroying. Enough is most certainly enough now! We have one more year and three more films before this MCU’s third phase ends and our true ending is given. But very recently I’ve watched all the films in preparation for the release of Infinity War. I feel that now is the best time for me to rank them all from very worst to absolute best.

It’s no secret that I’m not exactly fond of this series. On the whole I like them, but there are too many of them, and honestly, they’re mostly just average films for me. There are certainly those I love, just as there are those I hate. Every single one has its pro’s, and every single one has its cons. This is all opinion of course, so feel free to disagree with me on any point. Or agree. I’ll also mention that I’m not really a comic book reader. I’ve read a handful, but most of them didn’t involve superheroes and those that did so far haven’t been Marvel.

So this will be judgement by film only.

Let’s begin.

Thor: The Dark World

19/ THOR: THE DARK WORLD. DIR: ALAN TAYLOR.

I really hate this film. It’s the only MCU film that I think is completely insufferable. When I watched it last, I couldn’t finish it in one sitting. It’s dull, it’s boring, it has no lasting consequence to the series – outside of introducing us to one of the six Infinity Stones. It’s a very made-by-committee film. Nothing is artistic or creative, it’s all just a calculated story to get bums in seats.

The film’s director Alan Taylor, who gave us some of the best Game of Thrones episodes and the awful Terminator Genysis, is very much a hand for hire director. A studio wants something done and he just shoots it, with most of his own ideas getting side-lined. He clearly has talent – he did give us the death of Ned Stark – but there is none of that flare here. He does bring some of his Game of Thrones strengths to the sets, but they’re too grey and uninteresting that they don’t stand out.

The acting is the worst of the whole series. It feels more in place in a soap-opera than an Avengers film. Hemsworth feels out of his element while his chemistry with Natalie Portman is non-existant. Portman is clearly not happy being here – the same sadly goes for Sir Anthony Hopkins, giving one of the worst performances of his career. The less said about the woefully miscast Christopher Eccleston the better, as he provides the series worst entry in the long list of bad villains. We do thankfully have Tom Hiddleston’s Loki on top form. He supplies the best scenes of the whole film. Sadly he’s not in it very long. I know it has its fans, but to me it’s just so boring, ineffective and just plain bad. It’s the only one I would call unwatchable. Thankfully, it’s only up from here.

18/ IRON MAN 2. DIR: JON FAVREAU.

Admittedly Iron Man 2 shares a lot with Thor: The Dark World. It’s a mess, at times embarrassingly so, with a very committee feel and a lack of artistic vision behind it. I would even argue that it may be a more boring film, with a huge dead zone of interest in the latter half of act two. But I do give it some interesting ideas and much better acting. Most of the original cast and crew return for this one, and it’s not like they forgot how to make a film.

The action is pretty solid, with a very cool fight scene on a race track. While Mickey Roarke is clearly not too happy to be here most of the other cast members do a good job. Downey Jr is still pitch perfect as Tony Stark and Don Cheadle is a far better casting of Rhodes than Terrance Howard. Sam Rockwell does a typically great job at playing the corporate sleaze villain. I also appreciate the idea of the celebrity superhero, which was something very new at the time.

But there is no denying that this film is just a colossal mess. There’s three separate stories at play, and they don’t really connect at the end. Half of the film is just dedicated to setting up The Avengers and other future superhero films. I really cannot express how bored I was during watching this film! The dissatisfying ending did not help matters at all. It just feels like the first Iron Man film, but with far sloppier writing and worse effects. Just like Thor: The Dark World, if you put a gun to my head and forced me to tell you specifics that happened in this film, then I would be dead. They’re both beyond forgettable. I know it has gained a following of late, but it’s one I’d say you can definitely skip.

17/ AVENGERS: THE AGE OF ULTRON. DIR: JOSS WHEDON.

This one is a hit or miss film. Everyone agrees that it has its issues, but typically people either really like it, or really don’t. Placing it here should give away where I fall in that. While the films starts off well enough – with a decent action scene, a fun party at Avengers Tower and a legitimately creepy introduction of the film’s titular villain – but it all quickly goes down hill from there. Most of the Marvel assembly films have their own issues, but they don’t feel clustered and hard to follow. This one does.

Age of Ultron sadly demonstrates everything I don’t like about the MCU. There’s so little character development given to anybody in this film. The only characters who aren’t ignored are Iron Man, Hawkeye and Scarlett Witch. I still don’t care for Hawkeye, he’s just a very bland action hero to me – someone who I could see more in a film like Taken or Bourne than an Avengers film. Iron Man has a good learn from your mistakes story – which gets completely undermined when he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. In fact he makes the same mistake as he did at the beginning – which created Ultron – but now it works, apparently. Ultron is the crutch that the film leans on – and it suffers for it. Outside of his introduction he is such a poor, non-threatening, almost laughable villain. Admirably played by James Spader, but still poor.

Scarlett Witch is really the only new thing I liked in this film, giving her interesting powers and dilemmas. The action is fun I suppose, but it’s very CG heavy and towards the end feels very poorly choreographed. This is easily the worst film I’ve seen with Joss Whedon’s name on it – I include Alien And Predator Ranking in that. I’m not a fan of Whedon as a writer or director. He has talent – particularly for television and especially with teen audiences, such as Buffy. He is the wrong man to write and direct a superhero film, especially of this magnitude. I don’t hate Age of Ultron – well until Vision arrives, then I tune out completely. But this is an Avengers film! This is what the films before were meant to build up to. It could have – and should have – been so much better.

9th May 2018