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Film Fight 2020: March

A little late to post (I forgot!) and light on cinema viewings (global pandemic!), but the March Film Fight still has 5 films.

The Invisible Man

#FF20 The Invisible Man is a smart update to a well-known story. The dynamics at play make every scene tense. Every bit of empty space in the frame a potential trap.

Elisabeth Moss is great, as ever, as the abused victim of the titular character.

Very worth seeing.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 8, 2020

Spenser Confidential

#FF20 Spenser Confidential is a cheesey cop/action film. It's entertaining in the dumbest possible way.

Looks and feels cheap, and is more than a little under-written.

Not good but very fast-food film making, if you're in the mood.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2020

The Hunt

#FF20 The Hunt is a Battle Royale/Hunger Games kinda thing on a budget, with some interesting, if heavy-handed, messages thrown in.

Lots of really fun action sequences. A great central performance. Some tense moments. Decent laughs.

Not sure it lands its message, but solid.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 21, 2020

The Last Thing He Wanted

#FF20 The Last Thing He Wanted is remarkably dull. A plot that goes nowhere, with pacing that doesn't, and scenes that don't seem particularly tied together.

I'm not sure how you get lacklustre performances out of Anne Hathaway and Willem Defoe, but here they are.

Boring. Avoid
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 30, 2020

Freaks

#FF20 Freaks is a film you'll want to go into cold. Don't read about it, just go watch it.

Solid performances throughout, but Emile Hirsch is great as a paranoid father protecting his daughter.

All I'll say is this is the best X-Men movie that you haven't seen. Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) March 30, 2020

The March Winner

The winner is The Invisible Man for a genuinely tense and enjoyable update on a classic, that has something to say, and is well-executed.

Film Fight 2020: February

A relatively quiet month, due to being busy with a few other things, so only four films in the fight.

The Rhythm Section

#FF20 The Rhythm Section is a solid, if somewhat unremarkable, spy thriller.

The training montage in the middle is a little overlong, and there's plenty of cliche to go around, but it mostly just gets on with things.

Entertaining enough.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 2, 2020

Uncut Gems

#FF20 Uncut Gems is a deliberately messy film. It's hard to watch without feeling overwhelmed by the relentless bad choices that make sense within the framework of the world

Sandler is excellent as a self-aggrandising, optimistic, destructive gambler.

Well-paced, tense, great.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 9, 2020

Underwater

#FF20 Underwater is the Alien remake that no-one asked; from the characters to the visuals, this is Alien.

The setting means that some shots are overly murky, to it's detriment, but it mostly works.

It starts fast and wastes no time. Forgettable, but fine.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 9, 2020

Horse Girl

#FF20 Horse Girl is an odd film about a woman who is... different, and follows her as her life goes out of control.

Alison Brie is fantastic as the lead: switching between homely and quiet, to obsessed and frantic as necessary.

Go in without knowing much. A solid indie film.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) February 9, 2020

The February Winner

The winner for February is Uncut Gems. Tense, anxiety-producing, with an ending that’s as effective as it is inevitable.

Film Fight 2020: January

The first Film Fight of 2020 is… shockingly on time. Seven films this month.

The Gentlemen

#FF20 The Gentlemen has some entertaining moments, stylish visuals, and a reasonable pace.

That said, the characters are cliched, the plot is riddled with outdated tropes, and the dialogue, while trying to be geezery, belongs in the 90s, if ever.

We don't need films like this.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 4, 2020

Jojo Rabbit

#FF20 Jojo Rabbit brings some levity to a serious subject, as a way of bringing you into the world of an indoctrinated child.

Visually reminiscent of Wes Anderson, without being quite so precious.

At times, silly and funny, and at times tense and brutal. Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 5, 2020

Little Women

#FF20 Little Women is built on great performances. Ronan and Pugh are stand-outs in a big cast.

Pacing and editing are excellent. Cross-cutting between time periods (w/ colour grading) worked well; was a little tell-not-show at times

I was a little cold on the subject, but okay
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 12, 2020

The Lighthouse

#FF20 The Lighthouse follows a new lighthouse keeper and a veteran keeper on a remote island, as their sanity starts slipping away.

Beautifully presented with deep blacks picking out the sand and grime. The mood permeates the picture.

Both Pattinson and Dafoe are exceptional.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 23, 2020

1917

#FF20 1917 is a decent film, showing a small slice of World War 1.

The (fake) one shot is accompanied by excellent staging and cinematography throughout; technically brilliant.

However, it lacks an emotional journey. Feels like a theme park experience, or a video game.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 23, 2020

Parasite

#FF20 Parasite is a rare film: unpredictable, but never accidental. Everything is a consequence.

The story telling is tight, layered, and immaculately paced. The visual language is clear: you could watch with the sound off.

A masterclass. Early film of the year contender.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 31, 2020

The Personal History of David Copperfield

#FF20 The Personal History of David Copperfield is a wondeful film: despite dark moments, it's joyous and bright throughout. I think I smiled through 90%.

A solid script (tiny bit long at the end) and fantastic performances make for a really nice experience, start to finish.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) January 31, 2020

The January Winner

Lots of very strong contenders this month, but Parasite is a masterpiece. It works almost flawlessly from start to finish to bring you into its world, and pulls you through it one twist at a time.

Film Fight 2019: Finale

So, Film Fight didn’t remotely run to schedule this year. I all but abandoned it for a number of months, due to being busy elsewhere. As per my perennial caveat, Film Fight is done in a (not particularly serious) knock-out style: it can pick a first place, but everything else is unknown.

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

Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Velvet Buzzsaw
High Flying Bird
The Breaker Upperers
Three Identical Strangers
Captain Marvel
The Kindergarten Teacher
Paddleton
The Highwaymen
Unicorn Store
The Sisters Brothers
Avengers: Endgame
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
The Dead Don’t Die
American Factory
Joker
The Day Shall Come
Knives Out
The Irishman
Motherless Brooklyn

Not a bad set there, but fewer than last year. Probably a few more bigger budget action films too.

Now, the monthly winners:

January: The Favourite
February: If Beale Street Could Talk…
March: Us
April: Eighth Grade
May: Prospect
June: Booksmart
July: Spider-Man: Far From Home
August: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
September: In The Shadow of The Moon
October: The Laundromat
November: Dolemite Is My Name
December: Marriage Story

The first half of the year produced some solid winners, then some more questionable choices up until December (which was overstuffed).

I was surprised and impressed by Prospect. It’s indie sci-fi done right: understated, well-realised, with an interesting story that leaves you wanting to more.

Eighth Grade is an exceptional directorial debut. There are scenes where the combination of performances, shot composition, lighting, and editing are all perfectly brought together to ratchet up the tension, releasing it just at the right moment.

At times almost dream-like and dizzying, and at others painfully real, If Beale Street Could Talk… is an incredibly well-done film about a romance doomed to fail, due to an unaccepting world.

However, I’m really struggling to pick a winner between the next two.

Early in the year, we had The Favourite, for which Olivia Colman rightly picked up an Oscar. Either of the other two leads (Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz) could have picked it up too. Strong performances, offbeat comedy, and a great story. This worked well on every level. It had been my choice for winner for almost the entire year until…

Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story delivered a masterclass in performance, direction, and staging. I can’t say it better than my original review: “beautiful, bittersweet, infuriating, delightful, difficult; a rollercoaster, evoking the ups and downs of a real breakdown.”

I might kick myself after watching The Favourite again, but I think the winner is Marriage Story for its rawness; it made me cry because I was both sad and happy, and that’s a hell of a thing for a film to do.

Film Fight 2019: December

A big finish to the year with 9 films for December.

Knives Out

#FF19 Knives out is an excellent, and different, whodunnit. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll easily solve most of the mystery but that's not the point.

Strong, dry, comedic performances from the main cast. Excellent pacing. Some really nice shots, but not overt.
Very good.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 7, 2019

The Irishman

#FF19 The Irishman is the story of a mob enforcer, over many decades.

This is classic Scorsese: an epic cast, showy camera work, confessional narration, and a sprawling story.

It's slow, but evenly paced; lengthy but engaging; and ends in the right place. Good stuff.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 7, 2019

Marriage Story

#FF19 Marriage Story is at times beautiful, bittersweet, infuriating, delightful, difficult; a rollercoaster, evoking the ups and downs of a real breakdown.

Beautifully shot, with fantastic performances by the leads in particular.

Excellent.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 14, 2019

The Report

#FF19 The Report is a worthy biopic/documentary about attempts to conceal or reclassify torture by the CIA.

It's a solid telling of an interesting story, but most scenes could use a bit more room to breath and a bit more character building.

Decent.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 14, 2019

Motherless Brooklyn

#FF19 Motherless Brooklyn is beautifully done, in terms of its art direction and cinematography.

The performances are excellent, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a stand-out.

There is some dead weight in the plot, and some overly convenient detective work.

Worth seeing.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 21, 2019

6 Underground

#FF19 6 Underground has some beautiful 4K HDR moments.

It’s terrible in almost every other regard.

Badly paced, awful musical cues, terrible dialogue, thin characterisation, choppy editing, cheap CG etc

Worst of all: the action is poorly done. All noise, no clarity.

Bad.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 16, 2019

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

#FF19 Star Wars: #riseofskywalker has some solid action sequences and big set pieces.

However, it's full of exposition, painfully crammed in cameos, and plot contrivances that come out of nowhere. It's also visually dull, especially compared to The Last Jedi

Meh. Disappointing
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 23, 2019

The Two Popes

#FF19 The Two Popes is a surprisingly up-close look at the presumed differences between Popes Francis and Benedict.

Hopkins and Pryce are great as the leads, with their gentle, verbal sparring.

Beautifully shot, lightly funny, dark in places. A little slow, but worth seeing.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 29, 2019

The App

#FF19 The App is a dull, mess of a film.

None of the characters are particularly interesting, or well rounded. The big reveal at the end is cliche, and obvious from the start. It's remarkably slow for an 80 minute movie.

Resolutely boring from start to finish.
— Gary Fleming (@garyfleming) December 29, 2019

The December Winner

There are a lot of really great films that would easily have won in other months and the winner is a tough choice, but I think it has to be Marriage Story. Those lead performances and the material work.

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