Category: REVIEWS

Here is where you would find our film reviews on BRWC. We look at on trailers, shorts, indies and mainstream. We love movies!

The BRWC Review: I, Daniel Blake

“When you lose your self respect you’re done for” is one of the many powerful messages contained in the latest film by Ken Loach. I, Daniel Blake won the Palme D’Or at Cannes and that I suspect will be the first of many awards. The other is why in 2016 are the most vulnerable members of society being failed by the State.

The film follows the story of Daniel Blake a middle aged joiner living in Newcastle who suffers a massive heart attack at work and needs help from the State. Whilst trying to navigate the benefits system he meets Katie a single mother of two who the State say they cannot rehouse in London, where her support network is based, and the only housing that can be found is in Newcastle. So she and her two children must move 300 miles to Newcastle where she knows nobody. Together they battle the system to try and get help but come to realise the State doesn’t want to help.

Dave Johns takes the title role but it is Hayley Squires in the role of Katie who ignites the screen and together they deliver powerhouse performances. Ken Loach teams up with his long term writing partner Paul Laverty to write this. They want you to be angry. The film makes you angry. Daniel Blake is told by his consultant, GP and physio he cannot work yet he still fails the benefit system’s points test and only scores 12 instead of the arbitrary 15. This means he’s not entitled to employment and support allowance. This is because the nameless and faceless health care professional said so after asking spurious questions such as is he able to defecate. The opening scene is excellent in conveying the staggering absurdity with the simple use of audio and a black screen. Paul Laverty as ever manages to capture humanity and humour in all the scenes he writes. When Daniel struggles to fill out a form online because he’s never used a computer and he literally runs the mouse up the screen. It will make you laugh but then you catch yourself. Yes we may be digital by default but what about society as a whole and its vulnerable members – it’s not serving everyone’s needs this digitisation.

I, Daniel Blake is not Cathy Come Home – that seminal play directed by Ken Loach for the BBC in 1966 followed Cathy and her husband Reg descent into homelessness and caused such an outcry that it provoked parliamentary debate. In the same way in France that Days of Glory/Indigènes by Rachid Bouchareb which after viewed by Chirac brought about the payment of pensions to all Algerian soldiers. Film is a powerful medium. Whilst this film will definitely cause debate by those who see it. The scene in the food bank broke me. The humanity and the pity you feel for Katie and the shame of watching someone decent into such feral act will not only haunt you for days but left me raging inside as to why we people have to live like this in 2016. I never cry watching films but that scene goodness – it made me recall the John Donne poem do not ask for whom the bell tolls for it tolls for thee. Paul Laverty explained that all the scenes were based on incidents that actually happened, stories that he had been told. That food bank scene actually happened. The reason for me the power of I, Daniel Blake is diluted is the penultimate scene – it almost seemed cliched and a vehicle for the final scene. What I call the soap box scene which really wasn’t necessary and actually dissipated some of the power that film had.

What Ken Loach does well are that his films are simple, no razzle and yet brutal in that simplicity. He gives you just enough in the 100 minutes running time and this film will captivate and disgust the viewer in equal measure. I just wish the final scene had been cut.

Having said all of that you should go and watch this film. Then channel the anger you’ll feel in a positive way. Ken Loach wants to create a movement in the Q&A afterwards that was clear. Both he and the screenwriter are angry at what they see as the rhetoric of striver and skiver. Even the very words used now instead of welfare system it is benefits which has a negative connotation. The distributor E1 (email Ben Metcalfe) are planning on allowing individuals and community groups to write to them and they will provide a DVD copy of the film for a very small fee so that groups who wouldn’t ordinarily go to art house cinemas can see the film and be spurred in action. Watch and if you are minded to do so engage in some social activism.

I, Daniel Blake opens in cinemas across the UK on Friday 21 October.

20th October 2016
Review – Ouija: Origin Of Fear

In the 1960s a mother and her two daughters create sham séances to try and make ends meet since her husband passed away. When a Ouija board is bought into the family home as an intended prop the family falls foul of the malevolent spirits channelled through the game.

When the first Ouija launched in 2014 I found it a frustrating watch as although competently crafted it slipped a little too neatly into the groove of cliché and pandered to the quiet, quiet, BANG crowd. While Blumhouse.com is labelled as a “celebration of all things scary”, their cinematic output too often substitutes a creeping sense of dread and atmospheric build up, for cheap shocks and moments that startle. This prequel does an admirable job of developing an emotional foundation for the characters but runs afoul of the tropes that bog down the Paranormal Activity, Sinister and Insidious franchises.

That being said, Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso and Lulu Wilson do a fantastic job of making this scarred and sorrowful family believable, and it’s the sense of loss and desperation that they convey that puts this movie leaps and bounds over its predecessor. Henry Thomas’ Father Tom has more dimensionality to his role than many priests in modern horror and evokes Father Karras from The Exorcist. There’s a slow build over the first half of the movie that threatens to make for an interesting story. Likeable characters in relatable situations and a measured pace ratchet up the tension until it all comes crashing down when the spooky ghosts start behaving in an obnoxious and perfunctory way.

There are nightmare sequences that tread a path well worn by other, better movies. We have a gaping plot niggle a mile wide when we’re first introduced to the Ouija board that is never addressed and the potential for an interesting plot development in the big reveal that gets thrown out of the window in favour of a more perplexing one. As with the Slasher sub-genre that came before, I think there’s a generation of film viewers who know the formula, who know where to cast their eyes in the frame, who are attuned to the rhythm of these modern sucker-punch-jump movies and that’s when the monster loses its bite.

This is a great looking horror with a brilliant sound mix but one with few surprises that will only fleetingly play on your nerves. All in all, a positive step-up from its predecessor, Ouija: Origin of Evil contains some great, emotional performances but eschews atmosphere for jump scares in its final third which is indicative of where supernatural Horror cinema is at today. As a series that’s showing signs of improvement I’m actually looking forward to where the studio takes the inevitable sequel as I hope this upward trajectory continues.

Ouija: Origin of Evil opens today.

20th October 2016
Don’t Breathe: Review

I was so excited to see this film after the promise Alvarez showed with his Evil Dead remake and he didn’t disappoint at all!

This is tight, taught tension and suspense done with the sort of inventiveness that has been lacking in this genre of late. To make a somewhat lazy comparison I would say it is a cross between David Fincher’s Panic Room from 2002 and Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room from last year.

Fede Alvarez constructs his scenes so wonderfully that you can’t help but instinctively hold your breath along with the characters. Where Evil Dead succeeded in over the top gore and insanity, Don’t Breathe has something completely different on its agenda. There is a pace to the proceedings that is pretty relentless and there are some truly surprising twists along the way that keep hitting you hard. Alvarez has now proven himself with Gore and Supsense, if the rumours of an “Incognito” adaptation next are true then consider me 100% on the bandwagon!

By the way, Jane Levy is everything!!! The cast are all superb even if the characters are quite thinly drawn but Jane Levy as Rocky is a spot on performance in my opinion. When you see enough genre films you start to recognise the same performance being done by different actresses in these lead roles but Levy really does bring something new here. I can’t wait to see what she does next, preferably with Alvarez for a third time!

Our two young male leads also do a good job of being the ying and yang of Rocky’s affections. One a possessive and cocksure wannabe gangsta and the other a more sensitive and thoughtful admirer. They play this cat and mouse game well and are more interesting than the trailer and synopsis would lead you to believe.

All that leaves is Stephen Lang as The Blind Man! Holy mother of God is this character awesome! I remember Lang being huge in Avatar but he is terrifying in this. To explain too much about the character would do the film a disservice but you will be remembering some of these scenes long after the credits have rolled!

I cannot recommend this film enough. It’s under 90 minutes, it has tension beyond belief, it has some genuinely inventive twists and turns, it is shot beautifully and it showcases the talents of one of the greatest modern genre actresses working today! It doesn’t surprise me one bit that Sam Raimi and Rob Tappert took Fede Alvarez under their wing. The guy is definitely one to watch!!

19th October 2016
American Honey: Review

When Directors attempt to show us a cross section or particular subset of modern day youth it more often than not ends up being horribly misjudged, caricatured and way off the mark. The fact that this 55 year old filmmaker from Kent in England has managed to commit to film the most measured, confident and eye-opening account of American youth and the state of modern social structure in the United States is absolutely incredible. Andrea Arnold is the real deal! I have not seen anything this vital and seemingly authentic since Larry Clark’s “Kids” back in 1995.

It is quite obvious that the film”s casting is a huge factor in why it works so well and front and centre of that is Sasha Lane as Star. This is her first acting role and she is absolutely incredible. A quiet and subtle performance one minute can turn into an aggressive and defensive outburst so fast and yet it feels entirely real the whole time. This girl will be huge after the general audiences get to see this.

Shia LaBeouf has lost a lot of respect over the years for various reasons however I have always found him to be an interesting person. He doesn’t play the same game as the rest of Hollywood and that makes him a target. Putting all personal views aside though, his work in this is the best he has ever been! As with much of the rest of this film I was often left wondering where the real person ended and the character began. This is high praise indeed and hopefully this will be a resurgence for him as I think he still has something more to give.

The rest of the supporting cast are absolutely invigorating. A complete wild bunch of runaways and misfits from all over the country and they are with you the entire way throughout the movie. It genuinely feels like Arnold just turned the camera on in a van full of kids and tried to capture the magic. How much of this was scripted compared to how much was improvised I couldn’t tell you but therein lies this films greatness.

It is not a short film at all and I have heard some criticism of it’s 163 minute run time resulting in the pacing being too slow however I couldn’t disagree more. It is not in a rush to show Star’s journey and it was important to show the repetitiveness of life on the road. In all honesty I was both happy and sad by the end because as much as I loved the movie I wondered what would happen next with them all. I can’t say I feel that way often and it is yet another shining testament to Arnold’s mastery of the craft and the amazing job the performers did.

This is undoubtedly one of the year’s best movies for me and firmly cements Andrea Arnold as one of the most consistently inspiring and interesting filmmakers working today. Check out “Red Road”, “Fish Tank“, and “Wuthering Heights” if you need any more convincing before seeing her crowning achievement “American Honey”

17th October 2016
My Kaiju-thon Weekender! Day Three

By Last Caress.

KAIJU! (and goodnight)

It’s the third and final day in my Kaiju Marathon Weekender (check out Day One HERE and Day Two HERE) and, far from being sick of the sight of them, I’m going to miss them on Monday. I’d like to think my wife feels exactly as I do about them too. I’d like to think it; I bloody don’t think it, though. What I DO think however is that my bowl of Shreddies tastes suspiciously like Redex this morning. Hm. Let’s finish this before she finishes me, eh?

GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK

Every bit as fantastic as it is ludicrously titled, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) is in all probability my favourite Godzilla movie. For this picture, Toho brought in Shusuke Kaneko, the genius director of the Gamera trilogy in the 1990s, and he brought them exactly what they would’ve hoped from him. Here, Mothra and Ghidorah (along with second tier beastie Baragon) are reimagined as Gamera-style “Guardian Monsters” who exist to defend Japan from the terrifying Godzilla who, this time, is on a revenge mission: He’s been reimagined too, see, as carrying within him the souls of the fallen Japanese WW2 soldiers, all of whom require Godzilla to get them some retribution for Japan’s failure to win the war. Smart new twist or needlessly distracting lapse in taste? It certainly could have been a bit of an own goal but Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack is far too much fun to dwell on whatever McGuffin Toho have employed to haul the big guy out of the Pacific this time.

GAMERA 3: THE REVENGE OF IRIS

And from Kaneko-san’s triumphant spin on Godzilla we move straight to the brilliant conclusion of his equally triumphant Gamera trilogy: Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris (1999). Predating the present superhero movie trend for forcing the good guys to face the consequences of their deadly approach to global security by a good couple of decades, Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris places Gamera in the path of a creature driven entirely by the hatred felt for Gamera by the girl who raised it, a hatred which began when Gamera inadvertently killed the girl’s parents during the climactic battle with the Gyaos in the first picture of the trilogy, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. In fact Gamera is losing friends and alienating people all over: An early brouhaha with the returning Gyaos in this movie sees Gamera once again emerge victorious but at the cost of 20,000 innocent lives, causing the Japanese government to declare Gamera an enemy of the Empire. From a genre as daft, light and fun as Kaiju usually is, Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris has balls like grapefruits. It doesn’t even give us a happy ending, concluding as it does with Gamera about to charge into an insurmountable amount of Gyaos. Exhausting stuff, and not just because it’s the tenth Kaiju pic I’ve seen in three days.

PACIFIC RIM

It’s a dumb movie, Pacific Rim (2013, del Toro). From start to finish, it’s beset by some of the most shamelessly cheesy dialogue and cornball characterisations ever heard or seen in a picture house outside of the 1980’s. But where Pacific Rim delivers, it delivers BIG, and where Pacific Rim delivers BIG is with its Kaiju. And when you’re after as much Kaiju action as you can crack into a three day binge, Pacific Rim‘s plus points far outstrip its shortcomings. From the very start of the movie, the Kaiju are front and centre, as awesome as Kaiju have ever looked or will ever look, and they just keep on coming. Do we get three monsters? Five? Six? Eight?? Pfft. Pacific Rim pulverises us with no less than fifteen of them. Fifteen! Bloody hell. And, given the way in which Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba chew the scenery to pieces in every single scene, you could even argue that they qualify as two more.

GODZILLA

And nooow, the end is neeeear, and so I face, the final Kaiju… (sorry)

I suppose it was always going to be right and fair that I conclude my Kaijuthon with the Elvis Presley of the monster world, the King of Kaiju: Godzilla. And it would of course be properly right and fair if the Godzilla pic I’d placed in the headline slot had been Godzilla (Honda, 1954), the pic which introduced us to the big guy in the first place.

But I’m not watching that one this weekend. No, my son and I will be sitting down to that gem at Christmastime. It might not seem a particularly festive treat but, honestly, ALL films are festive if you watch them on 24th/25th/26th of December. Playing us out today is Godzilla, the 2014 US reboot from Gareth Edwards, in which Godzilla lays waste to the west coast of America battling another couple of Kaiju while the US Navy attempt to exterminate all three monsters. It’s a decent picture, this; I was fairly ambivalent towards it upon its release but it’s grown on me. Yes, it could definitely have done with a bit more of Bryan Cranston, and personally I could have done with a whole lot LESS of Aaron Taylor-Johnson, but having to put up with Kick-Ass is a small price to pay for getting to see Godzilla really kick ass. And, as with Pacific Rim before it, the cgi and the effects for the monsters is outstanding.

So, that’s that! Twelve Kaiju movies in three days, and I’m cross-eyed with exhaustion, but in the good way. The wife however has been looking ready to garotte me for several hours now. I reckon I’ll leave it a couple of days before telling her I’m going to watch thirty spaghetti westerns in thirty days, all through November. Spiritu Sancte!

17th October 2016