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Happenings

Film Fight 2021: March

For March’s Film Fight we have 9 films.

Coming 2 America

#FF21 Coming 2 America is... fine. It does nothing new or interesting, spending too long falling into the revisiting all of the same characters rather than establish much that is new.

The dated elements are, thankfully, updated here.

A few nice moments, but nothing spectacular.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 7, 2021

Moxie

#FF21 Moxie is a nice mix of rebelling, getting things a bit wrong, and trying harder. There are moments that are a bit earnest and obvious, and others that hit pretty hard.

It's wrapped in a great soundtrack, is directed with a solid pace, and sets a decent tone.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2021

Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar

#FF21 Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar is surprisingly excellent.

It's tone veers from a little odd to very weird; it reminds me a lot of Anchorman, in the best way.

The cast are excellent, the plot is fine but doesn't matter, and I laughed a lot.

Watch this film.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2021

Kajillionaire

#FF21 Kajillionaire is an offbeat film about a grifter family, and what they put their daughter through.

Evan Rachel Woods is like you've never seen here before, nailing the socially awkward and downtrodden lead who begins to glimpse a better life.

A little slow, but solid.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2021

Dead Pigs

#FF21 Dead Pigs appears at first to be a series of vignettes about commercialism in China, but it's not long before the pieces start to interlock.

The direction here is incredible: clear, dynamic, beautifully light, frequently picking slightly longer shots.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2021

Judas And The Black Messiah

#FF21 Judas And The Black Messiah tells the story of Fred Hampton and Bill O'Neal incredibly.

The lead performances are great; empathetic and tragic at the same time. Looks great too; the opening section had me grinning with some subtle choices.

A must see.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2021

Fire Will Come

#FF21 Fire Will Come is the story of a released arsonist in rural Spain.

It's beautiful, in colour and composition, but also incredibly slow. We don't see his character develop or learn much about him.

I'm fine with an ambiguous ending, but make me care before we get there. Meh
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 28, 2021

Bad Trip

#FF21 Bad Trip takes the prank-reality-meets-story concept from Bad Grandpa and applies it to a road trip/romantic comedy.

It's not amazing. There are funny moments, but the reliance on shock and gross-out humour pulls this film down. It's all been done before.

Skip.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 28, 2021

Bacurau

#FF21 Bacurau is about colonialism and culture, through the lens of The Most Dangerous Game.

Strange, dark, bloody, funny; it shows people trying to live their very different lives, and the encroaching outsiders. Some stunning imagery.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) April 4, 2021

The March Winner

A genuinely difficult month to pick. While Barb & Star is the best comedy I’ve seen in ages, the real contenders are Judas & The Black Messiah and Dead Pigs. I think Judas & The Black Messiah edges it simply because if I had to pick one to watch again soon, it’d be that.

Film Fight 2021: February

Eight films for February’s Film Fight…

Possessor

#FF21 Possessor is an uncomfortable by fantastic film about an assassin who takes over people's bodies.

Body horror is at the core, as the lead starts to lose her mind. It'll make your skin crawl in places, with some sharp twists and deep discomfort.

An excellent watch.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 7, 2021

Bliss

#FF21 Bliss sees Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek confront the reality of their world, believing it to be a simulation.

Is it? Isn't it? You won't care at all by the end. Poor performances and clanky philosophising don't help an already dull script.

Avoid.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 7, 2021

Greenland

#FF21 Greenland is better than most low-mid budget, VOD fodder. That's not to say it's great.

The middle chunk ("separation") is turgid and predictable, for example.

That said, it's a decent disaster flick: easy, entertaining, silly. Watchable.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 15, 2021

Malcolm & Marie

#FF21 Malcolm & Marie is what I like in a good performance piece: two very skilled actors chewing the scenery, as characters who you both love and hate.

The stagey monologues are mostly gripping; the presentation clear & crisp; and the flow works well.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 15, 2021

The White Tiger

#FF21 The White Tiger sees the rise of a poor man in India to be the driver of a rich family and beyond; showing the abuses inherent in a class system.

The pacing is a little off towards the end, but for the most part the film is darkly funny, a little heartbreaking, and decent.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 6, 2021

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

#FF21 Portrait Of A Lady On Fire was a little disappointing, but not bad, largely due to hype.

It's a gorgeous film throughout, in framing and colour choices. The final scene has an incredible performance, that outshines the rest of the movie.

Slow, a little dull, not for me.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 6, 2021

I Care A Lot

#FF21 I Care A Lot sees Rosamund Pike but in an incredible performance as the uncaring guardian of vulnerable elderly people she exploits.

While the film is entertaining, I think we're supposed to eventually get on side with her as she stands up to a mob boss. It fails.

Good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 6, 2021

Escape From Pretoria

#FF21 Escape From Pretoria is a surprisingly entertaining story about activists attempting a prison escape during apartheid.

It does a great job of pacing, tension, and spatial awareness. You're rarely in doubt as to what is happening and why.

Very watchable.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 6, 2021

The February Winner

A tough call. Malcolm & Marie would take it most months, but I think the winner is Possessor. Some of those images will stay with me for a very long time.

Film Fight 2021: January

A fairly good start to the year despite, or maybe because of, the lack of cinemas. I’m keeping the change I made during lockdown: rather than fairly strictly new releases from the last month or so, it’s anything since all of this started since timeliness is less relevant. I’ll start disallowing the older films in that at some point.

I watched 11 new films in January.

Saint Frances

#FF21 Saint Frances is a film dealing with issues that we don't talk about enough, while deftly not making a big deal about them unless it matters.

It's at times funny, heartbreaking, sombre and joyous.

I don't think there was a single scene that didn't work.

Very good!
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 4, 2021

Babyteeth

#FF21 Babyteeth is an incredible yet difficult film about a dying teen and her longing for a relationship with a man whose life is in ruins; captured in moments that are both sad and relatable.

It explores different kinds of vulnerability perfectly.

An excellent but uneasy film
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 4, 2021

Rogue City

#FF21 Rogue City spends its first half as a dull, overwrought action film about corrupt cops and double crosses.

It gets better towards the end, with some decent sequences, but not enough to wade through that terrible first half.

Skip.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 10, 2021

Pieces Of A Woman

#FF21 Pieces Of A Woman opens with a stunning, devastating, tearjerking, masterclass of a one-shot, showing a home birth.

It falters after that. Great performances start to serve an uninteresting family drama, rather than the intimate portrait this should have been.

Has moments
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 10, 2021

Superintelligence

#FF21 Superintelligence is an entirely forgettable, and laugh-free, comedy about an AI who needs to be convinced to not kill humanity.

The cast are solid, but given absolutely nothing to work with; with several plot points that seem at odds with everything else.

Skip.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 10, 2021

Outside The Wire

#FF21 Outside The Wire is a pretty middling action film. The two leads turn in decent performances, but the plot is muddled and the action badly shot; far too cut up to be exciting.

The anti-war message is interesting, but heavy handed.

Forgettable but fine.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 17, 2021

Soul

#FF21 Soul is as incredibly designed and animated as you expect from a top-tier Pixar movie.

The cast, the music, the mood; all great. A fairly minor criticism would be that it feels like the Pixar formula: fantastically executed, great message, but nothing new.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 17, 2021

Ham On Rye

#FF21 Ham On Rye matches the loose feeling, end-of-school indie (Dazed And Confused) with something quite different.

Playing expectations and anxieties around the importance of these days vs the reality, we see a second half that deftly turns a little dark.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 24, 2021

Arkansas

#FF21 Arkansas wraps its plots up a little too neatly, but is a surprisingly enjoyable, slice-of-life tale of two drug dealers, their mentors, and more.

The tone is a little tongue-in-cheek, some charm, with a more brutal streak mixed in.

Worth your time.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 24, 2021

One Night In Miami

#FF21 One Night In Miami is a good feature debut: looking at a shared night between Mohammed Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown.

It's stage origins are clear: this is performance-forward, and location-limited. This mostly works, but at times the energy dips.

Worth seeing.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 31, 2021

Synchronic

#FF21 Synchronic sees Benson/Moorhead work through the daily drudge of life as a paramedic, brotherly friendship, and living with your choices; with a strange twist.

A little dreary, but that's kinda the point. The two leads are solid.

Go in as cold as you can, to enjoy it most
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 31, 2021

The January Winner

There’s some really good options for January, but I think I’m going to go with Babyteeth.

Film Fight 2020: Finale

Film Fight, for the first time in years, ran roughly to schedule. Most of the monthly posts went up on time! Hurrah!

The downside is that the entire film release business was pretty hampered by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, with cinemas being shut for most of the year. Given this meant my attention was elsewhere and timeliness was less of an issue, I made a change to the rules: rather than only reviewing films I saw within roughly a month of their release, I’d review anything that came out in 2020, whenever I finally saw it.

As we go into 2021, I’ll start ageing out films from eligibility in some way or another, but it’s not like any of this particularly matters. The good films will still be good.

As per the caveat every year, Film Fight is done in a (non particularly serious) knock-out style: it can pick my favourite film of the year, but nothing else. (Also the very idea of a single favourite film is a bit silly.)

First up, the honourable mentions: films that were good but didn’t win their month:

Jojo Rabbit
Little Women
The Lighthouse
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Horse Girl
Freaks
The Platform
Vivarium
Lost Girls
Sweetheart
Extraction
Swallow
Sea Fever
The Lovebirds
Ultras
Da 5 Bloods
The Banker
Family Romance, LLC
Palm Springs
Nobody Knows I’m Here
7500
Days of the Bagnold Summer
Tenet
The King of Staten Island
Greyhound
Mank

All of those are worth seeing, but worth pointing out Palm Springs and Tenet as the only two films from this year I’ve seen twice; and I’d happily watch either again immediately.

Now, the monthly winners:

January: Parasite
February: Uncut Gems
March: The Invisible Man
April: System Crasher
May: Uncorked
June: The Orphanage
July: The Assistant
August: Never Rarely Sometimes Always
September: Get Duked
October: The Trial of the Chicago 7
November: His House
December: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

As always, the year was front heavy, but wasn’t followed up by many Summer blockbusters or late-year prestige dramas.

I remember how difficult System Crasher was to watch, but it’s incredibly powerful too. A system failing a young girl with serious issues. Seek it out.

Likewise, The Assistant is important but much quieter, showing how quietly and complacently people become part of a system that exists to harm others, backed up by an excellent lead.

Uncut Gems is anxiety-ridden, tense, aggrevating, and absolutely gripping. It’s great to see Sandler back in a decent role, and the rest of the cast back him up. A stressful watch.

Finally, to a winner: it feels like a long time ago that I saw it, and definitely not like within the last year. I had wanted to rewatch Parasite before making a decision here but, honestly, it’s not much of a contest. There have been some incredible films over the last 12 months, despite the obvious challenges, but Parasite gets everything right. It’s beautiful, well-paced, surprising, and with a lot of depth. It seems like that rare film that almost everyone will get something from.

Film Fight 2020: December

A decent number of films for December with 10 new films, but are they any good?

Mank

#FF20 Mank is an ode to classic cinema. It takes on the look, movement, audio etc, down to lens choices.

The cast are excellent, with Oldman and Seyfried the stand-outs.

The back-and-forth structure doesn't work for me, but I understand the why.

A solid movie.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 6, 2020

Inheritance

#FF20 Inheritance is not a good movie.

At every turn, the characters make bizarre choices, driven by handwaved issues, that simply do not make sense.

The performances are so-so, with British actors doing American accents that fall apart pretty consistently.

Skip.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 6, 2020

Ava

#FF20 Ava is a fairly forgettable film about an assassin who starts asking too many questions. A solid main cast doesn't help a cliched plot, especially with a dull family b-plot in the background.

A few okay action moments, but you can safely skip this.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 13, 2020

Archenemy

#FF20 Archenemy fails to deliver much beyond some mildly interesting visuals, a contrast between neon and grimy grain.

The story is predictable, and the dialogue dull. There's little to care about here, and a lot to dislike.

Avoid.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 20, 2020

Yes, God, Yes

#FF20 Yes, God, Yes is a fairly limp light comedy about a Christian high school retreat, and some of the hypocrisy around sex.

It doesn't have enough teeth to deliver a message, or enough laughs to be particularly entertaining.

Skip.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 20, 2020

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

#FF20 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a fantastic performance showcase for both Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman; both very different, but captivating.

Some of the longer monologues feel a little out of place, but are well executed.

Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 27, 2020

The Midnight Sky

#FF20 The Midnight Sky gets more disappointing the longer it goes on. It begins beautifully, and slowly.

What should have been a quiet, contemplative movie about what we've done to the world and second chances, gives way to cliche and unnecessary contrivance.

Skip.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 27, 2020

Wonder Woman 1984

#FF20 Wonder Woman 1984 squanders a good cast on a mess of a film.

Overlong, dull, dumb, and badly paced. It's a real slog.

Even the action is uninspired, badly edited, and visually poor. Suprising, given the original.

There’s little to recommend here. Avoid.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 3, 2021

Greyhound

#FF20 Greyhound is an unusual film.

It doesn't have much of a defined structure: focussing on the constant but quiet action of this kind of naval combat.

It's quite human, despite most of the people being abstract figures on distant ships.

Grounded, steady, solid. Watchable.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 3, 2021

The 2nd

#FF20 The 2nd is one of the worst films I saw in 2020.

Nonsensical plot, bad action, bad acting; the works. None of it makes any sense, and it's not even particularly entertaining along the way.

Big avoid here.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 3, 2021

The December Winner

There was a surprising amount of bad stuff this month, but Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a more than deserving winner, for those excellent lead performances.

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