December Round Up
Honey Boy
Director: Alma Ha'rel
Cast: Noah Jupe, Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges
Synopsis: Troubled actor Otis is sent to rehab after drunk and violent behaviour where he is forced to confront his turbulent childhood and the rocky relationship that he shared with his father.
Written by LaBeouf and inspired by the star's own experiences as a child actor, Honey Boy is an incredibly personal and intimate portrayal of a complicated father-son relationship. The film begins with 22 year-old Otis (Hedges), LaBeouf's fictional representative, crashing his car and assaulting a police officer after a night of heavy drinking. He is ordered to a rehab facility and his exposure therapy sessions encourage reflection on his past to seek the root cause of his alcohol addiction and destructive behaviour. These sessions prompt flashbacks to a decade earlier where Otis relives his youth as a 12 year-old child star. He lives in a motel complex with his emotionally turbulent and alcoholic father James, a living arrangement where neither can escape each other's presence due to the confinement of the close quarters. The two timelines feed into one another and advance each other's progress, deftly cut between and handled with a firm delicacy by Ha'rel.
Ha'rel also capitalises on the limited locations featured in the film and maximises every opportunity for glorious framing and vivid colour schemes even when the action and dialogue can feel repetitive and exhausted. The director also successfully incorporates the script's wackier, more absurd elements and ensures a tone of cohesion is maintained throughout. LeBeouf, playing a complex version of his own father, gives a fully committed and plainly nerve-touching performance but is never quite convincing enough to portray a man of the his character's age despite the assistance of ageing hair and make-up. However, he channels James' anger, explosive tendencies and inner turmoil with a raw and unfiltered menace. Meanwhile, Jupe is revelatory as young Otis and turns in a devastating performance that far exceeds his young years.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Director: J. J. Abrams
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill
Synopsis: Discovering that Emperor Palpatine did not die at the hands of Darth Vader, Rey, Finn and Poe must lead the Resistance in defeating the tyrant and thwarting the First Order's plan to form a new Empire.
Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi was a bold and ambitious blockbuster that sought to steer the 2010's trilogy in a new direction, with the intention of establishing an original mythology for a new audience. However, certain fans and corners of the internet strongly opposed Johnson's vision and The Last Jedi became perhaps the most controversial entry in the Star Wars canon. J. J. Abrams, who brought the series back to the big screen in 2015 with The Force Awakens, was invited back to helm the final instalment. Sadly, it transpires that the director has given in to the pressure of appeasing those who were left dissatisfied with The Last Jedi, inserting a dizzying amount of fan-service and abandoning mature, thought-provoking themes that Johnson had introduced. Promising character arcs have been eschewed, particularly Rey's whose personal journey was one of the franchise's most interesting elements. Rey's struggles with identity and sense of belonging due to her uncertainty over her parents' origin is completely dismantled, and her growing allure to the Dark Side and her growing connection to Kylo Ren is poorly explored.
Whilst the writing and treatment of characters is clumsy, the actors turn in fantastic, nuanced performances that elevate the film in its weakest moments. Ridley and Driver are particularly compelling and they bring more to the screen than what is written for them on the page. Meanwhile, fan favourites Finn, Poe and Rose Tico are sidelined and their development is almost non-existent. Despite all of the timid and disappointing choices made in the conclusion to the Skywalker saga, the impressive visuals, distinctive score and world-building provide the sense of a grand, sweeping epic that Abrams and co-scribe Chris Terrio failed to deliver.
Cats
Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: James Corden, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, Francesca Hayward
Synopsis: A tribe of cats called the Jellicles, led by their beloved matriarch Old Deuteronomy, must decide which one of them will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
Based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash-hit musical of the same name, which in turn is adapted from T. S Eliot's poetry collection entitled Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, director Tom Hooper faced an incredible challenge adapting this tale to the big screen. Sadly, albeit unsurprisingly, the challenge proved too great and the ensuing result is one that has perhaps never been seen on cinema - and most likely never will be again. Cats is without a defined and scaffolded narrative, much like Webber's musical. Whilst this loose structure may work on the stage, it certainly doesn't on screen and the film is essentially an onslaught of character introductions. Each member of the Jellicle tribe that the young, abandoned Victoria (Hayward) encounters presents their case as to why they should be the one selected to ascend to the Heaviside Layer. Each desire to be chosen is expressed through song, with every musical number both ridiculous and exhausting in equal measure - and every one is utterly bonkers.
The glaring gripe with the film that has plagued discussion around it since the release of its first trailer is the design of the cats. Their appearance - a combination of human and feline features - leaves little to be desired and the memory of them will haunt your dreams and pervade your waking thoughts long after the credits have rolled. Additionally, the scale of the purpose-built set is thoroughly inconsistent in regards to the supposed size of the cats, suggesting that Hooper's vision was confused from the project's inception. Bewilderingly, the film attracted a host of A-list talent and has subsequently left a stink on their resumé. Corden as Bustopher Jones and Wilson as Jennyanydots are particularly disgraced, producing truly cringe-worthy "comedic" performances that were hindered by the script's belief that humour stems from painful cat puns. Truly pawful.
EB
Director: Alma Ha'rel
Cast: Noah Jupe, Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges
Synopsis: Troubled actor Otis is sent to rehab after drunk and violent behaviour where he is forced to confront his turbulent childhood and the rocky relationship that he shared with his father.
Written by LaBeouf and inspired by the star's own experiences as a child actor, Honey Boy is an incredibly personal and intimate portrayal of a complicated father-son relationship. The film begins with 22 year-old Otis (Hedges), LaBeouf's fictional representative, crashing his car and assaulting a police officer after a night of heavy drinking. He is ordered to a rehab facility and his exposure therapy sessions encourage reflection on his past to seek the root cause of his alcohol addiction and destructive behaviour. These sessions prompt flashbacks to a decade earlier where Otis relives his youth as a 12 year-old child star. He lives in a motel complex with his emotionally turbulent and alcoholic father James, a living arrangement where neither can escape each other's presence due to the confinement of the close quarters. The two timelines feed into one another and advance each other's progress, deftly cut between and handled with a firm delicacy by Ha'rel.Ha'rel also capitalises on the limited locations featured in the film and maximises every opportunity for glorious framing and vivid colour schemes even when the action and dialogue can feel repetitive and exhausted. The director also successfully incorporates the script's wackier, more absurd elements and ensures a tone of cohesion is maintained throughout. LeBeouf, playing a complex version of his own father, gives a fully committed and plainly nerve-touching performance but is never quite convincing enough to portray a man of the his character's age despite the assistance of ageing hair and make-up. However, he channels James' anger, explosive tendencies and inner turmoil with a raw and unfiltered menace. Meanwhile, Jupe is revelatory as young Otis and turns in a devastating performance that far exceeds his young years.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Director: J. J. Abrams
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill
Synopsis: Discovering that Emperor Palpatine did not die at the hands of Darth Vader, Rey, Finn and Poe must lead the Resistance in defeating the tyrant and thwarting the First Order's plan to form a new Empire.
Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi was a bold and ambitious blockbuster that sought to steer the 2010's trilogy in a new direction, with the intention of establishing an original mythology for a new audience. However, certain fans and corners of the internet strongly opposed Johnson's vision and The Last Jedi became perhaps the most controversial entry in the Star Wars canon. J. J. Abrams, who brought the series back to the big screen in 2015 with The Force Awakens, was invited back to helm the final instalment. Sadly, it transpires that the director has given in to the pressure of appeasing those who were left dissatisfied with The Last Jedi, inserting a dizzying amount of fan-service and abandoning mature, thought-provoking themes that Johnson had introduced. Promising character arcs have been eschewed, particularly Rey's whose personal journey was one of the franchise's most interesting elements. Rey's struggles with identity and sense of belonging due to her uncertainty over her parents' origin is completely dismantled, and her growing allure to the Dark Side and her growing connection to Kylo Ren is poorly explored.Whilst the writing and treatment of characters is clumsy, the actors turn in fantastic, nuanced performances that elevate the film in its weakest moments. Ridley and Driver are particularly compelling and they bring more to the screen than what is written for them on the page. Meanwhile, fan favourites Finn, Poe and Rose Tico are sidelined and their development is almost non-existent. Despite all of the timid and disappointing choices made in the conclusion to the Skywalker saga, the impressive visuals, distinctive score and world-building provide the sense of a grand, sweeping epic that Abrams and co-scribe Chris Terrio failed to deliver.
Cats
Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: James Corden, Judi Dench, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, Francesca Hayward
Synopsis: A tribe of cats called the Jellicles, led by their beloved matriarch Old Deuteronomy, must decide which one of them will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.
Based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash-hit musical of the same name, which in turn is adapted from T. S Eliot's poetry collection entitled Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, director Tom Hooper faced an incredible challenge adapting this tale to the big screen. Sadly, albeit unsurprisingly, the challenge proved too great and the ensuing result is one that has perhaps never been seen on cinema - and most likely never will be again. Cats is without a defined and scaffolded narrative, much like Webber's musical. Whilst this loose structure may work on the stage, it certainly doesn't on screen and the film is essentially an onslaught of character introductions. Each member of the Jellicle tribe that the young, abandoned Victoria (Hayward) encounters presents their case as to why they should be the one selected to ascend to the Heaviside Layer. Each desire to be chosen is expressed through song, with every musical number both ridiculous and exhausting in equal measure - and every one is utterly bonkers.The glaring gripe with the film that has plagued discussion around it since the release of its first trailer is the design of the cats. Their appearance - a combination of human and feline features - leaves little to be desired and the memory of them will haunt your dreams and pervade your waking thoughts long after the credits have rolled. Additionally, the scale of the purpose-built set is thoroughly inconsistent in regards to the supposed size of the cats, suggesting that Hooper's vision was confused from the project's inception. Bewilderingly, the film attracted a host of A-list talent and has subsequently left a stink on their resumé. Corden as Bustopher Jones and Wilson as Jennyanydots are particularly disgraced, producing truly cringe-worthy "comedic" performances that were hindered by the script's belief that humour stems from painful cat puns. Truly pawful.
EB
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