January 8th 2024
Dream Scenario
Maestro (streaming on Netflix)
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Happy 2024 to all my readers! Post operatively, I'm making a gentle return to a few films and reviews. Yes, I've still to catch up with several high-profile releases, but slowly, slowly, Meantime three strong offerings for your consideration.
Dir: Kristoffer Borgli
Length: 102 mins
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© VVS Films - audacious plot with another
standout Cage performance |
Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) is your average bloke. Sure he's a professor of biology, but in a very modest, unassuming way, such that he is perceived as bland, even boring. He lives a suburban life with wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson), and two kids. Life changes unexpectedly when countless people all start having dreams featuring Paul. Mostly in their dreams he is passive, just observing or doing nothing, often when something bad is happening. Soon the whole crazy communal dream thing becomes a viral global phenomenon and Paul gains instant celebrity. Advertising companies want him as their new star. But then the dreams change and Paul becomes the aggressor - a murderer, a rapist, and people start to shun him in real life. This is a clever and funny film, featuring a star turn from Cage, in a more muted role than we often see him. The film's many relevant themes around social media, instant fame and cancel culture are handled in a thoughtful, dark and satirical way, and though we may laugh, there is actually quite a dark side to what happens to poor old Paul, when his life lurches out of his own control into the public sphere. Although not every aspect of the narrative hangs together, it is a wildly entertaining, original and thought-provoking film, and of course for Cage fans, it's a must.4 - highly recommended
Dir: Bradley Cooper
Length: 129 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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© Netflix - glorious, and acting and
directing tour-de-force from Cooper |
Already garnering 16 wins and nearly 100 nominations, why would you miss the chance to see this splendid film on Netflix? Bradley Cooper directs, writes and stars in this remarkable portrait of the lifelong relationship between composer Leonard Bernstein, and his wife Felicia (Carey Mulligan). Forget the controversy about Cooper's prosthetic nose - what a red herring; he looks like Bernstein, he captures Bernsteins's zest for life, and he totally inhabits his role. (The make-up department triumph in the way they have aged Bernstein throughout). One inspiring scene near the film's conclusion, of Leonard conducting, is as physical a performance as you'll ever see. The story is as much about Bernstein's passion for his wife, and his relationships with other men and women, as his dedication to music. Half the film is shot in black and white with the other half erupting into glorious color. Mulligan is sublime as the loving, long-suffering wife. Every aspect of the film is suffused with energy without ever straying into melodramatic territory. I was gob-smacked throughout by Cooper's tribute to one of the 20th century's greatest musican icons.4 - highly recommended
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Dir: Francis Lawrence
Length: 122 mins
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© Roadshow - a worthy prequel to the
popular franchise |
Every good franchise needs a prequel, and Hunger Games is no exception. For those familiar with Donald Sutherland's tyrannical character President Coriolanus Snow, you may be very surprised to discover him as an appealing young man in this stylish prequel, set 60 years prior. Snow (Tom Blyth), living in the Capitol, is asked to mentor a young girl from District 12, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), chosen as a tribute in the 10th Hunger Games. But he develops feelings for her, and what transpires sets the scene for what he becomes as an adult. If this is all Greek to you, don't worry - you may need to bone up on the whole concept of the Hunger Games, based around a highly popular series of young adult novels. With strong lead performances, excellent action scenes, plus a winner turn from Viola Davis, this is an entertaining film, certainly too violent for little kids, but with quite a number of themes relevant to the real world, where betrayal, ambition, factionalism and megalomania are all on the rise.3.5 - well recommended
