Lockdown 2020 reviews: April - Movies, Documentaries and TV

Here are some bite-sized reviews of what I watched, read and listened to during our second consecutive month of lockdown.

Movies and TV series – in no particular order:

Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba in *Molly’s Game*

· Molly’s Game (2017) - A true story so good that it was picked up by Aaron Sorkin to adapt to the screen and direct. It stars Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, a high achieving ex-competitive skier who finds herself running the world’s highest-stakes poker game played by ultra-wealthy and famous people such as Ben Affleck, Alex Rodriguez, Toby Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s ironic that with the success of this film, the original Molly Bloom presented at the Golden Globes in front of many of her former “clients” who won and lost millions and divulged some of their biggest secrets at her poker table.

Ryan Gosling and Steve Carrell in *Crazy Stupid Love*

· Crazy Stupid Love (2011) - High quality romantic comedies are extremely rare these days, but I’m happy to say that this film is one of them.

· American Sniper (2014) – Yeah, it’s a captivating and at times a deeply moving film but it’s also unmistakable promo material and reinforcement for America’s gun-loving, military-obsessed, “middle America” Republican sect. It’s good, but the messages it pushes are dangerous.

· Whitney: Can I be me? (2017) - A documentary chronicling the rise and ultimate demise of Whitney Houston, one of my favourite artists of all time. It really is a testament to her greatness that she had such a vast and incredibly successful career, even while battling a severe drug addiction, as is shown in this documentary. I recommend this film, though it should have been at least 10x longer to even get close to doing Whitney justice.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jerry Seinfeld in an episode of *Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee*

· Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012 - 2019) - Jerry Seinfeld’s long running Netflix series in which he drives a cool car with a fellow comedian to go get coffee. The great thing about this show (other than the comfort one finds in its simplicity) is that you can pick which episode to watch based on which of his guests you enjoy or find funny. I chose to view the ones featuring Bridget Everett, Ricky Gervais, Eddie Murphy, Alec Baldwin, Amy Schumer, Howard Stern, Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and jimmy Fallon. They did not disappoint.

· The Big Short (2015) – Centred around the financial investors who saw the 2008 economic crash coming and bet on it, this is a great film that gets better every time you watch it, especially if your level of financial literacy is not off the charts. The creators of the film certainly did a good job of making a didactic story entertaining.

· Amy (2015) – Amy Winehouse is not an icon and is not worthy of the pedestal we have put her on. I believe that most of the acclaim she has garnered is a result of a highly publicised (and often romanticised) descent into drug addiction and the fact that she died at the age of 27, thus joining the revered and mysterious “27 club” (google for details). Ultimately, we are dealing with a jazz club singer who had less than a handful of hits (one of which was a cover) who’s ill fate was entirely self-determined by the bad habits she indulged in. This slow-drawling documentary comprised of overly long clips of old footage from Amy Winehouse’s childhood and below average career is just as indulgent and boring as the singer herself. An excruciating watch.

· Body of Lies (2008) - Lots of action, generic hero-gets-the-girl storyline, premium acting from Leonardo DiCaprio - pretty good, not great.

Scarlet Johanson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in *Vicky Cristina Barcelona*

· Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - Two young American girls summer in Barcelona and find a deeper side to themselves in the process. This film combines the neurotic New York wit of writer and director Woody Allen and the languid, (heavily sepia tone stained) streets of its Barcelona setting. It’s a weird mix, but it works.

· Inferno (2016) – An okay movie. Not as good as the other Dan Brown books which were adapted to the screen (The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons).

· Iron cowboy: The story of the 50.50.50 (2016) - A guy decides to complete 50 ironman triathlons in 50 states across the U.S.A in 50 days. This documentary details the incredible feat, though it is underscored with the ego and overall unlikability of its hero, James Lawrence, which ultimately hinders the film’s inspirational value.

Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in *Léon: The Professional*

· Léon: The Professional (1994) - If you are a big fan of Quentin Tarantino films then you will love this one. It is very similar to a Tarantino movie in almost every way - story-line, themes, soundtrack, acting and editing - but that’s not to say that it falls in the shadow of Tarantino’s cannon. With sound writing and quality performances by Jean Reno, Gary Oldman and a very young Natalie Portman, it is decent enough to stand alone as a great movie.

· Aloha (2015) - I don’t even know where to begin… All I can say is that this is an absolute joke of a film as it is so despicably horrible whilst pretending to be good. It fails in its attempts to beguile us with pithy dialogue, A-list actors and a picturesque Hawaii setting and leaves one with a feeling of being of having been duped into investing into a huge time waster of a cinematic experience. To prove my point, statistics show that it barely grossed half of its budget at the box office and critics regard it as Cameron Crowe’s worst film. And he wrote and directed Vanilla Sky, so that’s saying something!

· “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” (2010) - A documentary about the formidable, hilarious and hardest-ever-working comedian, Joan Rivers. Few people have managed to earn the moniker “ground breaking” at the beginning of their career as well as 60 years down the line, but Joan did. Allow me to transcribe one of the films scenes to show you why.

In 2009, Joan, 77 years old is performing stand-up comedy in an ultra-conservative city in Wisconsin: on the way, she remarks to her driver “when I say where are the gays? They’re going to tell me “dead, we killed them.””

Cut to her routine and she says:

“I hate children…the only child I think I would have liked was Hellen Keller because she didn’t talk!”

Man heckles from the audience: “that’s not very funny!”

Joan: “Yes it is!”

Man from the audience: “It’s not funny if you happen to have a deaf son!”

Joan loses the audience and shouts: “I happen to have a deaf mother”

Man from audience yells incoherently

Joan: “Oh you stupid ass! Let me tell you what comedy is about, comedy is to make everybody laugh and [be able] to deal with things… You idiot! My mother is deaf you stupid son of a bitch… And just in case you can [still] hear me in the hallway, I lived with a man for nine years with ONE LEG okay you asshole! And we’re gonna talk about what it’s like to have a man with one leg who lost it in world war two and then went back to get it because that’s fkn littering! (Wins audience back over)… So don’t you tell me what’s funny! Comedy is to make us laugh… 9/11? If we didn’t laugh, then where the hell would we all be?... How can you not find Osama? He’s on dialysis! There is one outlet in the whole of Afghanistan! Find the plug and follow the cord!” (crowd laughs hysterically).

· The Last Dance (2020) - An amazing and thorough 10-part documentary chronicling the NBA’s Chicago Bulls through their heyday in the 90’s. So far, the four episodes that have been released have mainly featured the teams heaviest and most memorable hitters: Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen and coach, Phil Jackson.

· Love Wedding Repeat (2020) - This Netflix original does not deserve your full attention. I recommend it as background noise only. There are a few funny jokes sprinkled on top of what is a boring flop of a film filled with D-list British actors.

Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow in The Talented Mr Ripley

· The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) - My only problem with this movie (apart from Harvey Weinstein’s involvement in it) is that the murderous plot line which crops up halfway through distracts us from losing ourselves in Matt Damon having the absolute time of his life in the resplendent beauty of a range of locations across Italy. This movie is disturbing in terms of content but contains some of the best and most picturesque mis-en-scenes and establishing scenes of all time.