Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Avengers: Endgame (Dir: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, 2019). 

Over 11 years Marvel have rewritten the superhero movie playbook, becoming the most critically and commercially successful franchise in film history. For better or worse the MCU has had a profound effect on movie making with every other Hollywood studio scrabbling around to compete with their own cinematic universe, but with only a fraction of the success. As the ‘Infinity Saga’ draws to a close Marvel further cement their reputation as comic book movie king. 

Anybody who has sat through the previous 21 Marvel Avengers movies will know what to expect as the surviving Avengers assemble to take down bad guy Thanos and restore order to the Universe. 

Thankfully Avengers Endgame is at least as enthralling as the movies which preceded it. It looks amazing. Art direction, costumes, special effects and action set pieces are all exemplary; every cent of the $356 million budget is up there on the screen to see. The performances from the star studded cast are faultless, the Russo Brothers direction is a stylish as always and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s screenplay is exciting, funny and ultimately, surprisingly moving. 

At 3 hours long I would suggest emptying your bladder before watching. (Fittingly for such a lengthy movie the end credits roll over Harry James and Kitty Kallen’s recording of the Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn standard It’s Been a Long, Long Time.) I would also NOT recommend watching without having seen Avengers Infinity War (A Russo & J Russo, 2018). For everybody else watch, enjoy and maybe shed a tear. 

The Hatton Garden Job aka One Last Heist (2016)

The Hatton Garden Job aka One Last Heist (Dir: Ronnie Thompson, 2016). 

Proving that coming first doesn’t always make you a winner, The Hatton Garden Job, like last year’s King of Thieves (James Marsh, 2018), is based upon the true story of the Hatton Garden safe burglary of 2015. Arriving in cinemas a full 17 months before King of Thieves this bungled bank job of a movie is weaker than its competitor in every department. 

While purportedly based on the actual crime, this version of events is  largely fictionalised. The basic plot of a bunch of ageing criminals conniving to pull off one last job is the same, yet the involvement of the Hungarian Mafia and a corrupt ex-copper are entirely fabricated. This would perhaps be forgivable if the retelling had any entertainment value. How such an audacious real life story can be transformed into such a dull and insipid movie is anybody’s guess. 

Matthew Goode, Larry Lamb, Phil Daniels and Joley Richardson prop up the otherwise less than stellar cast but are severely let down by stilted dialogue and lazy character development. The screenplay by Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines fails to draw upon the inherent humour of the situations while Ronnie Thompson’s bland direction is lacking style and imagination. 

If you like geezer ladden crime movies that take themselves too seriously then maybe The Hatton Garden Job is for you. Otherwise you would be better off checking out the superior King of Thieves. 

Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Winnie the Pooh (Dir: Stephen J Anderson & Don Hall, 2011). 

Disney’s 5th cinematic feature-length venture into the Hundred Acre Wood acts as a direct sequel to the compilation feature The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Wolfgang Reitherman & John Lounsbery, 1977). Roughly separated into three sequences, the bulk of the movie concerns the search for the mythical Backson, a fearful creature to rival Heffalumps and Woozles, who Pooh and pals mistakenly believe has kidnapped Christopher Robin after misreading the phrase ‘back soon’ on a note from Christopher to Pooh. 

Thematically Winnie the Pooh covers much of the same ground as the straight-to-video sequel Pooh’s Grand Adventure (Karl Geurs, 1997). However, where that movie was dark and at times somewhat depressing, this one is an inventive, humorous and warm-hearted delight.

Animated in handcrafted 2D, the movie is a visually pleasing throwback to the original Pooh featurettes (the 3 shorts comprise ‘The Many Adventures... movie). It is more faithful to Milne and to Walt Disney’s original vision of Pooh than any of the intervening features or TV adaptations. 

While Sterling Holloway will never quite be replaced as the voice of Pooh, nor Paul Winchell as Tigger, Jim Cummings does a decent job of imitating both. Likewise, John Cleese is a welcome choice of narrator, although perhaps not quite possessing the warm yet authoritative tone of Sebastian Cabot. However, to criticise a fine vocal cast for not replacing the childhood memory of now deceased actors in one’s mind would be churlish; younger audience members will neither notice nor care. 

The subtle ‘hums’ of Richard and Robert Sherman are missed, although Frozen songsmiths Kristen Anderson Lopez and Robert Lopez’s more elaborate musical numbers are a satisfactory substitute. 

At little under an hour before the end credits roll, the movie could stand being a mite longer. As it is, Winnie the Pooh is still a winning tribute to the Pooh movies of the past. A short and sweet old-school treat that should appeal to original Pooh fans as well as newcomers. 

The Beloved Vagabond (1936)

The Beloved Vagabond (Dir: Curtis Bernhardt, 1936). 

A British made star vehicle for French actor/singer Maurice Chevalier, The Beloved Vagabond is a silly soufflé of a musical comedy. 

Frenchman lodging in London Gaston de Nerac (Chevalier), forsakes the love of his life to a wealthy Count who will pay her father’s debts and save him from financial ruin. Returning to France with his lodger’s son in tow, he hooks up with a struggling musician (an early role for future star Margaret Lockwood) and the three of them traipse across the country getting mixed up in some foolhardy japes, the details of which will be forgotten by the time the end credits roll. 

Chevalier is the only French actor in a mostly British cast. None of the other players (excluding Chevalier) even attempt a French accent and the end result feels patently fake. 

Your enjoyment of The Beloved Vagabond will largely depend on your tolerance for Chevalier who, let’s be honest, is a little bit of an acquired taste. It’s an okay movie, somewhat submarined by its preposterous plot. It’s lighthearted with plenty of musical interludes but, ultimately, feels like it should be a lot more fun to watch than it actually is. 

The House of the Spaniard (1936)

The House of the Spaniard (Dir: Reginald Denham, 1936). 

Based upon Arthur Behrend’s novel The House of the Spaniard is a hopelessly dated comedy thriller set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War. Peter Haddon hams it up as hapless David Grey, accidental witness to some dodgy goings on on Liverpool marshland who then gets mixed up in some nonsense about Spanish revolutionists. The confusing plot is peppered with coincidences and contrivances and for much of the movie I was in the dark as to what was happening as the narrative jumped from one incredulous event to another. 

The Marlene Dietrich-esq Brigette Horney is appealing as Margarita, Mr Grey’s love interest and the daughter of his employer and eventual kidnapper Pedro de Guzman (Allen Jeayes) and the movie is not wholly unentertaining; some enjoyment is to be found its frankly ludicrous situations and eventual denouncement. But to be honest the film has little else going for it. 

Told in a jolly, lighthearted manner unbefitting of it somber real-life backdrop of civil unrest, The House of the Spaniard is a largely missable b-movie that leaves a slightly bad taste. Those with an interest in pre-war British cinema, or with a peculiar fetish for bad movies, may find it worth a watch. 

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Dir: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey & Rodney Rothman, 2018). 

Produced in a distinct style utilising 2D and 3D animation techniques, Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the most visually spectacular feature film in recent memory. 

Unconnected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or, indeed, any of Sony’s many incarnations of the Spider-Man universe; it has its roots in Marvel’s Ultimate Marvel Comics, a series set in an alternate universe to the regular comic lines. 

The set-up - high school student is bitten by radioactive spider, struggles with newfound powers before using them to fight evil - is a familiar one, but here the bitten is not the expected Peter Parker but new kid at school misfit Miles Morales. Parker does appear, as a mentor to Miles. But this is an older Parker; a sweatpants wearing, out of shape, midlife crisis Parker from an alternate universe. They and a bunch of other alternate universe Spideys team up to fight his (their?) old adversary Kingpin. This sounds complicated but Rodney Rothman and Phil Lord’s screenplay is brought to life with surprising clarity. The movie is never difficult to understand and doesn’t get bogged down by its complex multiverse concept. In fact its story is unexpectedly moving, dealing with Miles’ difficult family relationships and his seeming inability to find acceptance in new social surroundings. 

The voice work is also exemplary. Shameik Moore is a suitably hip, streetwise yet vulnerable Miles and Jake Johnson brings a worldweary charm to the middle-age Parker. 

In a cinematic landscape littered with superhero movies, here is one that really stands out from the crowd. With its humorous, thoughtful storytelling, action set pieces that are genuinely exciting and beautiful graphics Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is one the most satisfying comic book adaptations to grace the big screen. 

The Shiralee (1957)

The Shiralee (Dir: Leslie Norman, 1957). 

One of the final productions from Ealing Films, released through MGM, The Shiralee was one of a handful of movies the company shot in Australia. 

Aussie swagman Jim Macauley (Peter Finch) returns home to find his wife Marge (Elizabeth Sellars) in the arms of another man. After giving her lover a beating he takes their young daughter Buster (Dana Wilson) and hits the road. Travelling from job to job with the youngster in tow she thus becomes his ‘shiralee’, an Aboriginal term for burden. Fighting his way from one town to the next and abandoning Buster for a tryst with a shop assistant, Macauley makes for a somewhat unlikable central character and is a little difficult to sympathise with. In spite of which, Peter Finch does well in the lead.

Some comedy relief arrives in the form of Tessie O’Shea and Sidney James which, while a welcome break from the otherwise bleak narrative, represents such a shift in tone it feels like it belongs in a different movie. Presumably the Leslie Norman and Neil Paterson screenplay or, perhaps, the D’Arcy Niland novel from which it is sourced are to blame. As such, The Shiralee, while an easy film to admire, is a difficult film to wholeheartedly enjoy. 

As director the underrated Norman is as efficient as ever and cinematographer Paul Beeson’s location footage from the streets of Sydney to the Outback is beautiful. A couple of Tommy Steele numbers on the soundtrack was a pleasant surprise. 

While not among the very best work of Leslie Norman or Peter Finch, The Shiralee still has much to recommend it, from its beautifully shot locales to its stellar cast. A commendable effort to expand the range of the already dying Ealing Studios but not an entirely successful one. 

The Ware Case (1938)

The Ware Case (Dir: Robert Stevenson, 1938). 

The Ware Case is a creaky crime drama from the early days of the Ealing Studios; the second release from producer and studio head Michael Balcon’s tenure. 

It features none of the hallmarks and belongs to none of the genres of filmmaking generally associated with later Ealing. Not a comedy in their classic mould, nor a wartime drama or social-realist piece, and is presumably a holdover from the Basil Dean era. 

Based on the play by G P Bancroft, The Ware Case opens with a courtroom sequence set in the Old Bailey where we find society scoundrel Sir Hubert Ware (Clive Brook) on trail for the murder of his brother-in-law, the events leading up to which are subsequently told in flashback. 

It’s lighthearted enough and some of the dialogue is humorous but a romp this ain’t. The central character of Ware is an unlikable fellow and the rest of the characters are all a little too one dimensional to really relate to. As an example of embryonic Ealing it certainly has curiosity value but, to be honest, I found the whole thing rather dull. 

Robert Stevenson directs with efficiency but shows little of the flair for the fantastic he would display in his later career association with Walt Disney Productions. Responsible for Mary Poppins (1964), The Love Bug (1969) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) among others, he would become the most commercially successful film director in Hollywood. 

WALL•E (2008)

WALL•E (Dir: Andrew Stanton, 2008). 

Combining futurist sci-fi and robot rom-com with a timely ecological message, this 9th feature film from Pixar Animation Studios released by Walt Disney Pictures opens on post-apocalyptic Earth 700 years after humans mass consumerism and neglectful waste management has made the planet uninhabitable. Here trash compactor robot WALL•E, the last of his kind, stoically continues a clean-up operation. Enter Eve, a reconnaissance bot dispatched from starliner Axiom to recover life forms and asses suitability for a possible return of humans to the planet. On discovering a solitary plant sample Eve is summoned by the Axiom pursued by WALL•E. A burgeoning bot romance ensues on their quest to deliver the sapling to the Axiom’s Captain and initiate a return to Earth. 

From its opening scenes of an eerie, trash-strewn abandoned Earth to its awe-inspiring space-scapes, the movie is a visual delight. With a titular character who is largely mute, the screenplay by director Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon is a masterclass in how to tell a moving, thought provoking story with minimal dialogue. Its comments on consumerism, big business, political corruption and the human destruction of Earth are even more pertinent now than when the movie was released a decade ago. 

Despite its serious message WALL•E is an utterly joyful, uplifting viewing experience and is refreshing in the entirety uncynical, optimistic approach to its subject. 

In 2016 a poll of international critics conducted by BBC Culture voted WALL•E the 29th greatest film of the 21st Century. With this I would disagree, this modern masterpiece is arguably the greatest movie of the century and one of the greatest movies of all time.

Barnacle Bill aka All at Sea (1957)

Barnacle Bill aka All at Sea (Charles Frend, 1957). 

The last true Ealing comedy; 1958’s Davy, often regarded as the last, is a comedy/drama quite different in tone. Barnacle Bill, retitled All at Sea for US audiences, adheres to the ‘little guy against the system’ aesthetics of the classic Ealing comedy, although less subversively and with a little less bite than earlier films. 

The marvellous Alec Guinness is on good form as Captain William Horacio Ambrose, the last in a succession of seafarers. Afflicted with seasickness, Capt Ambrose purchases a dilapidated seaside pier which he runs as a stationary luxury liner to the chagrin of the town council who wish to bulldoze the site to make way for a marina. A scene in which Guinness portrays his ancestors recalls Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949) where he plays all 8 members of the D’Ascoyne family. 

To be honest, Barnacle Bill is not as good as earlier Ealing comedies, despite its screenplay by TEB Clarke, scenarist of previous winners Passport to Pimlico (Henry Cornelius, 1949) and The Lavender Hill Mob (Charles Crichton, 1951). Perhaps director Charles Frend, an Ealing stalwart notable for Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The Cruel Sea (1953) was better suited to drama than comedy. That said, it is not at all bad and as an example of a brand of comedy that cinema no longer produces it should be considered a minor treasure. 

Rise of the Guardians (2012)

Rise of the Guardians (Dir: Peter Ramsey, 2012). 

What would get if you crossed Marvel’s Avengers with a 1970s Rankin/Bass holiday special? Probably something not too dissimilar to DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians as Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Toothfairy, the Sandman and new recruit Jack Frost assemble Avengers-style to defeat evil Pitch Black, aka The Boogeyman, as he attempts to take over the world by filling children’s heads with nightmares and suppressing their belief in the ‘Guardians’, threatening the imminent Easter celebrations to boot. 

Director Peter Ramsey’s movie is action adventure on an epic scale rarely seen in animation. The glib humour and pop culture references that often mired DreamWorks’ early features is thankfully absent here. Certainly there is humour, yet there is also pathos, as when Jack learns of his forgotten past and why he was chosen as a Guardian. 

With genuinely exciting action set pieces and excellent voice work from a star studded line up including Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher and Jude Law, it is difficult to see how Rise of the Guardians could fail at the box office. But fail it did. Much to the detriment of cinema audiences who possibly found the Christmas/Easter mash-up aspect unappealing. Perhaps its winter release date was also misjudged, although it is certainly the most Christmassy of Easter movies. 

While perhaps not quite in the same league as their How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda franchises, Rise of the Guardians is still one of DreamWorks’s best movies to date. Its visuals are often breathtaking and its nod to vintage Rankin/Bass shows, where Santa is as likely to crop up in an Easter or a Groundhog Day special as he is a Christmas one, gives it a nice nostalgic feel befitting of a movie which deals with childhood and tradition. While this movie was designed as a franchise opener, Rise of the Guardians was destined to remain a one off. As a stand-alone feature film it is an often exciting, warm-hearted treat and is highly recommend viewing at Easter, Christmas or any other time of year. 

Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004)

Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (Dir: Saul Blinkoff & Elliot M Bour, 2004). 

A A Milne meets Charles Dickens in a weird hybrid from a time when Disney’s Pooh franchise had seemingly lost both direction and appeal. At least for anyone above pre-school age. Yes, this is Dickens’ A Christmas Carol re-told for Easter with, despite Roo’s billing, Rabbit as an Easter banning Scrooge. 

Walt Disney first filmed Pooh in the animated featurette Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1966). Two more featurettes followed and were combined in the movie length compilation The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Reitherman & John Lounsbery, 1977). While some bemoaned the Americanization of Pooh and the replacing of Pooh’s hums with songs by Mary Poppins’ tunesmiths Richard and Robert Sherman, the original shorts were praised for their charming, whimsical nature, delicate storybook-esq animation and general faithfulness to Milne’s text. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, an animated TV series not directly based on Milne, debuted in 1988. While a success, The New Adventures... marked a distinct change of tone for Pooh. Gone is the innocent charm of the featurettes and of Milne’s tales upon which they were based. Insecurity and doubt have crept into The Hundred Acre Wood. This is a new neurotic Pooh for the modern age. Sadly this mood continued through a series of theatrical and straight-to-video features, most notably the dark and downbeat Pooh’s Grand Adventure (Karl Geurs, 1997). Most of the latter Pooh movies are surprisingly melancholic as is this feature in which, after cancelling Easter, Rabbit is shown, via some heavy handed moralising, the negative impact his actions have on his friends. 

At 65 minutes Springtime with Roo is mercifully short. The animation by DisneyToon Studios, while not up to the standard of the theatrical product, is bright and colourful but on the whole this movie is a rather joyless affair. Those wishing to indulge in Pooh would be best advised seeking out The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh or, better still, reading  A A Milne’s original literary classics ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and ‘The House at Pooh Corner’.

Missing Link (2019)

Missing Link (Dir: Chris Butler, 2019). 

2019 is the year of the animated sequel, with follow-ups to How to Train Your Dragon and The Lego Movie recently leaving cinemas and further instalments of Toy Story, Secret Life of Pets, Shaun the Sheep, The Angry Birds Movie and the mighty Frozen to come. In a market oversaturated with sequels this, the fifth feature from Oregon based animation studio Laika, is a rare treat. 

The second Laika production written and directed by Chris Butler, following 2012’s Paranorman, Missing Link is a departure from the dark fantasy of Paranorman and Coraline (Henry Selik, 2009) and finds the studio in decidedly lighthearted mode. 

The adventure comedy concerns discredited explorer Sir Nigel Frost (Hugh Jackman) who teams up with a Sasquatch-like creature Mr Link (Zach Galifianakis) on a quest to the Himalayas to unite Link with his Yeti cousins. 

As is to be expected from Laika, Missing Link is a beautifully realised stop-motion spectacle. It is easily the funniest Laika movie and the exquisitely detailed, hand-crafted animation is a joy. Galifianakis is a sweet natured, lovable Mr Link and is is supported by a first rate vocal cast which also includes Zoe Saldana, Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry. 

Despite its disappointing box office Missing Link continues the run of excellent animations from Laika, proving them to be the most consistent of all animation studios. The movie is a sweet and humorous adventure, as entertaining for grownups as for children and is almost certainly the most original animation you will catch in cinemas this year.