Listen Up Philip
Do you have problems watching films with no sympathetic or likeable characters? If so, Listen Up Philip is not for you. I don’t usually have that issue but still I can find little to recommend in this new drama from writer / director Alex Ross Perry.
Jason Schwartzman stars as Philip, an arrogant, self involved, author who is about to publish his second book. Feeling out-of-place in the city, and with the relationship with his girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss) breaking down, he takes refuge in the summer-house of an older author Ike (Jonathan Pryce) that he has befriended.
Puffed-up, privileged and angry, with no real reason to be, I found it hard to watch Philip’s story from the moment he humiliates his ex-girlfriend in a café. The initial encounter with Ike is intriguing and I was hoping their relationship would be of interest but soon that becomes as tiresome as the rest of the film. There is some respite when the story centres on Ashley for a while, but I found her character too dull to care about!
On the plus side, this is nicely filmed, capturing a 1970s feel, and the performances are all fine, but otherwise this is a hard slog, and is best avoided.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Spy
Melissa McCarthy has been searching for a lead role to utilise her talents on the big screen. The star of one of the best sitcoms of recent years, Mike and Molly, she was brilliant in a supporting role in Bridesmaids and her pairing with Sandra Bullock in The Heat was very enjoyable. The director of both of those, Paul Feig, has put her front and centre in the secret agent spoof, Spy.
The results are mostly very funny. McCarthy carries the film with her ear for improvised dialogue and ability for physical comedy. She plays Susan Cooper, a CIA agent who has spent her career behind a desk but volunteers to go into the field when it appears another agent, Bradley Fine (Jude Law) – who she is secretly in love with – is killed.
It would have been too easy to make her completely incompetent in a Johnny English way, and although there are clumsy moments, she shows she is a trained agent who is resourceful and quick thinking. The film is peppered with some great verbal and visual gags, and with spot on supporting performances from Law, Jason Statham (spoofing his usual hard nut character), Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, and the always excellent Allison Janney.
There are few negatives. As is inevitable with this genre of movies, having to service the plot in the latter part of the film reduces the gag quota and there is an uncomfortable cameo from 50 Cent. Otherwise that is a laugh out loud film that will hopefully result in more starring roles for McCarthy.
Rating: 8 out of 10
San Andreas
I’m a sucker for big old-fashioned disaster movies and I am hoping after last year’s Into the Storm and now San Andreas, we will see more of them on the big screen where they belong. In San Andreas, a fearless helicopter rescue pilot, Ray (Dwayne Johnson) tries to save his estranged wife and daughter when the biggest earthquake in recorded history hits California.
Full of comforting clichés – the brilliant scientist who is struggling to get people to listen to his warnings; the couple on a verge of divorce having to work together and rekindling their relationship; the scheming step Dad to be who abandons his step daughter in order to save himself – this is tremendous fun. If you are happy to ignore the plot holes this is an action packed romp with a number of notable set pieces. It is good to see a strong, smart female character in Alexandra Daddario’s Blake who doesn’t just wait around to be rescued. Paul Giamatti hams it up marvelously and Johnson does what The Rock does!
The effects are mostly top-notch but are let down towards the end of the film when the tsunami hits San Francisco that looks too obviously CGI and the green screen action that follows took me out of the movie somewhat. There is also an excruciatingly patriotic final scene that will rank as one of the funniest of the year!
Still, this is one to catch on the biggest screen possible.
Rating 6.5 out of 10
Queen and Country
I remember enjoying John Boorman’s wartime set drama Hope and Glory at the cinema. The release of this sequel, Queen and Country, made me feel very old when I realised that the first film was released 28 years ago!
A child in the original, Bill Rohan is now grown up and doing his national service in the army with his friend Percy. With the superiors either sadistic or snooty, a jape to steal the company clock, and encounters with the local girls in town, this is serviceable stuff but it feels far too episodic and a little tired.
This sort of thing has been done better before, and is additionally let down by a terrible mannered performance by Caleb Landry Jones as Percy. Callum Turner as Bill is fairly bland, and the acting honours are left with David Hayman reprising his role and Bill’s father Clive with John Standing as his grandfather. Their scenes are unfortunately brief however.
It is good to see the veteran Boorman still making films, but I wish that they were more original than this.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
Finally, I thoroughly recommend a documentary about Cannon films which is available on most streaming services. Firmly for those of us going to the movies in the 1980s who would have seen a number of their cheap and cheerful films, this is a nostalgic treat. Most people will have a guilty pleasure or two from their output – mine include the pair of Allan Quartermain / King Solomon’s Mines movies (that provide the best anecdote in this documentary) and the best late career Charles Bronson effort, 10 to Midnight – and will enjoy reliving them with the mixture of engaging talking heads and numerous clips. It tells the story of the rise and fall of the company in a straightforward chronological manner and is never less than entertaining.
Rating: 7 out of 10