A brief month, with only three films in the fight…

First up, The Nice Guys sees Shane Black return to the director’s chair for an offbeat detective, buddy comedy. Russell Crowe’s tough enforcer plays well against Ryan Gosling’s private investigator, who both get a little out of their depth on a missing girl case. There are moments of cliche, but most are confounded by sharp left turns into the unexpected. Fun, light, and entertaining, this is breezy enough to look passed the faults. Worth watching. (See my The Nice Guys Twitter review)

Independence Day: Resurgence is that worst of sequels: one that tries to make connections to a film from 20 years ago, and fails to do anything meaningful beyond making us pine for the days that the original was a blockbuster. The writing is expositional and dull, the characters are flat, and the action is entirely forgettable. There is absolutely no level on which this movie works. Lazy, and best avoided. (See my Independence Day: Resurgence Twitter review)

Finally, The Secret Life of Pets is an animated movie about what pets get up to when their owners are away. The beats of the story (main character is jealous of new character, both get themselves lost, but come together to be friends on the trip home) is straight out of the Pixar book – specifically Toy Story. That said, it’s got enough funny moments to keep the momentum up. Fine. (See my The Secret Life of Pets Twitter review)

As should be obvious, the winner for June is The Nice Guys; decent comedy/drama, challenging detective noir tropes.

Yes, I’ve let Film Fight slide extremely late this year, but I’m aiming to get caught up soon. May has six films in the fight…

First up, Captain America: Civil War is a middle-tier Marvel movie: it’s well-paced, funny, entertaining, dumb action. The set pieces work reasonably well, the writing is snappy, and the new additions show promise. Tom Holland, as Spider-Man, is especially fun to watch. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, but that’s not really the point. Worth seeing. (See my Captain America: Civil War Twitter review)

After the surprisingly decent original, Bad Neighbours 2 is a fairly unnecessary sequel. It doesn’t retread too much and does have something to say, but it takes a long time to get going. Go in expecting a passable comedy, and you might enjoy it but it is not exactly a classic. (See my Bad Neighbours 2 Twitter review)

Jeremy Saulnier set a high bar with his previous film, Blue Ruin, so it’s fantastic to see him out do it with the suspenseful Green Room. Punk kids get caught in a bad situation, as they engage in a battle of wits with a neo-nazi leader, played impeccably against type by Patrick Stewart. The writing is measured, clear, and exciting, but this film is not for the feint of heart. Expect to see a fair bit of gore. Excellent. (See my Green Room Twitter review)

Everybody Wants Some sees Richard Linklater return to Dazed & Confused territory, with a light-hearted but not light-weight, coming of age piece. Our protagonist joins a new university on a baseball scholarship, and we see how he tries to fit into a group of big personalities, realising he’s no longer the biggest fish in the pond. Fun, but not silly, with a rare tone. Very good. (See my Everybody Wants Some Twitter review)

Money Monster sees George Clooney cast as a TV financial pundit who gets taken hostage, live on air, after some bad advice. After that we get a fairly shallow but entertaining look at the financial crisis. It’s heavy-handed and obvious, but with enough fun moments to make the time pass. Okay. (See my Money Monster Twitter review)

Finally, Special Correspondents sees Ricky Gervais and Eric Bana as a reporting team sending back sensational reports from a warzone, the problem being that they never actually made it there. It’s a decent premise, but the execution is flat and dull, despite an excellent cast. It feels cheap and amateurish on all levels, from the editing, to the music, and even the look. There are a handful of laughs, but not nearly enough for the 90+ minute runtime. Bad. (See my Special Correspondents Twitter review)

The winner for May is Green Room for it’s excellent writing, style, acting, and tension.

Another very late post, April’s Film Fight features four films.

First up, Midnight Special is a great sci-fi, indie film that manages its world building with defat and care. You’re shown what appears to be a kidnapping, with the layers of why this act is happening being pulled back over the first half of the movie, before the film takes a different turn. The cast is excellent, with Michael Shannon bringing his usual level of intensity to proceedings. The very last scenes are, perhaps, lacking the solidity of the rest, but not so much as to be off-putting. Odd, but tense. Very worth seeing. (See my Midnight Special Twitter review)

The idea of a filmed first-person sequence has been around for a while, but I don’t recall seeing a full-length movie that commits to the idea in the way Hardcore Henry does. Sadly, the film’s striking and sometimes tense set-pieces are lost in mess of camera movement. If first-person is going to work, it’s going to need a lot more image stabilisation to be watchable. That’s before mentioning the awful dude-bro dialogue, some of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. What starts as a good idea quickly becomes unwatchable, for more reasons than the shaky cam. Avoid. (See my Hardcore Henry Twitter review)

Continuing Disney’s quest to remake every one of their cartoons as a live-action film, The Jungle Book surprises with some nice shots and great performances. However, as with so many remakes, they can’t help but cram it full of shoehorned attempts at nostalgia and ill-advised musical cues. Fine, but very unnecessary. (See my The Jungle Book Twitter review)

Finally, Miles Ahead is Don Cheadle’s feature directorial debut, in which he also stars, about the latter days of Miles Davis. Despite what feels like a tight budget, Cheadle delivers a film that looks, sounds and feels the part. The music, editing, and central performance work together to give us an insight into Davis’ genius and downfall. Very good. (See my Miles Ahead Twitter review)

The winner for April is Miles Ahead, for its strong take on the subject matter.

The apologies for late film fights continue as March finally appears in October. Onwards…

First up, Anomalisa is Charlie Kaufman’s follow-up to the excellent Synechdoche, New York. This time, the odd world he has created is filled with puppets in existential crisis. Without saying too much about the film itself, it’s strangely sweet and funny, yet challenging and uncomfortable. It’s a smaller film in many ways to his previous work, but Anomalisa stands up well. Very worth seeing. (See my Anomalisa Twitter review)

10 Cloverfield Lane is the strange thematic sequel to 2008 monster movie, Cloverfield. However, don’t expect more of the same. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a taut psychological thriller that twists and turns as a woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) tries to figure out if she has been kidnapped or saved by a somewhat unhinged man, played brilliantly by John Goodman. The core of the film is the unwitting cat and mouse game between the pair. The last act takes something of a questionable turn, but everything before then is great. (See my 10 Cloverfield Lane Twitter review)

While Marvel are being consistently decent with their MCU films, DC drop the ball with Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Drop it, puncture it, set it on fire, and bury it. It fails on almost every level. The action sequences are almost all flat (the Batman warehouse attack aside), there’s no real threat from the combatants in the title, the plot is truly awful and at a bad pace, there are layers of terrible dream sequences, some clunky exposition setting up future films, bad CG… I could go on, but I won’t. The only highlight is Ben Affleck as Batman. Do not see. (See my Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice Twitter review)

Set in a slightly warped version of the 70s, High-Rise is a brutal and satirical look at class and inequality. Full of dark humour, and elegantly stylish shots, the film shows us a microcosm of Britain in a tower block. Hiddleston is excellent as the lead, a doctor trying to move up in the world. The director does a fine job of walking a line between absurd, brutal and thoughtful. Odd, but very good. (See my High-Rise Twitter review)

Finally, Zootropolis is one of the best kids films in a few years. It’s a little predictable, but it’s both sweet and genuinely funny, and a little clever. Set in a world where predators and prey of the animal kingdom live together, the characters explore issues of race and prejudice with great care; a remarkable achievement given the target audience. Worth seeing. (See my Zootropolis Twitter review)

The winner for March is High-Rise for its dark humour, beautiful shots, and engaging story.

For February’s Film Fight, we have five movies, with the tail-end of the Oscar nominees in the mix.

First up, Trumbo tells the true story of Dalton Trumbo, an acclaimed Hollywood writer who was blacklisted due to his communist views. The story itself is interesting, showing the damage that was done by McCarthyism. Bryan Cranston puts in an excellent (and deservedly Oscar-nominated) performance as the lead, but the rest of the cast manage to keep up just fine. The dialogue, at times, can be a little too on-the-nose; stating intentions and conflicts rather than really showing them. All in, a worthwhile film. (See my Trumbo Twitter review).

It took a long time to convince the studios it had an audience, but Deadpool is finally a film. If you have any knowledge of the character, you know what to expect: puerile and dumb jokes, mindless and brutal action, and a tonne of self/meta-referential material. The film manages to put the elements together well. It never lets the in-jokes get in the way of moving the film forward, and has enough action to entertain. The baddies are ill-conceived and forgettable, but you likely won’t care much. Dumb, but good. (See my Deadpool Twitter review).

The Coen Brothers have a running history of telling shaggy dog stories, and Hail, Caesar! isn’t about to change that. Nominally, it’s the story of a studio enforcer during the golden days of the Hollywood studio systems, following his various attempts to put out fires as they appear. However, don’t worry about where the plots will land. Instead enjoy the dry humour, rich style, and entertaining glimpses at the films being made. The film meanders and revels in its own oddity, sure, but that’s part of the charm. Unnecessary narration aside, this is a film worth seeing. (See my Hail, Caesar! Twitter review).

It’s fair to say that The Finest Hours isn’t a bad film, but it isn’t a great film either. Most accurately it is inoffensive but predictable: a decent, by-the-numbers rescue movie with some delusions of award-worthy grandeur. It’s cleanly shot, reasonably acted, and keeps moving forward. It’s also a little bland, a touch slow, and never feels perilous; which would be a disaster for lesser films in the genre. Chris Pine does a great job of acting against type, as the meek lead, but Casey Affleck has basically nothing to work with to raise his performance above being acceptable. Fine. (See my The Finest Hours Twitter review).

Finally, Triple 9 shows John Hillcoat on form in the director’s chair, grasping with a group of criminals and cops executing various heists at the behest of the Russian Mafia. The premise is reasonable, but nothing new. The edit and shots are busy, fast, noisy, and uncomfortable (intentionally). As our cast gets put in more compromised situations, the discomfort ratchets up a notch. What a cast too: Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Normal Reedus. Either genuinely great actors or extremely watchable in these kinds of roles. That said, trying to service such a large and talented group of actors means the film feels a little overstuffed. There’s never quite enough time to give everyone room to breath. Okay. (See my Triple 9 Twitter review).

The winner for February is Hail, Caesar!. I’m an unapologetic fan of the off-centre comedy that the Coen’s produce, and there are few who can make a film that doesn’t really go anywhere entertaining.