‘Allied’

A straight forward, somewhat stolid tale of a London-based Canadian intelligence officer dealing with accusations that his new wife, a member of the French Resistance, is a German spy.

Shipped into Morocco, Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) makes contact with his ‘wife’ Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard) where the assassination of high ranking Nazi officials is the mission. Intimacy leads to romance and, on his return to London, Vatan awaits her clearance to join him. Marriage, suburban bliss and a child follow – until friend and commanding officer Frank Heslop (Jared Harris) informs Vatan there are suspicions Marianne is a spy. He needs to disprove the suspicions.

With its mix of war time adventure and romance, Allied as directed by Robert Zemeckis is as solid as it comes in its storytelling. But there’s limited suspense, resulting in sluggishness. The zip of the opening adventure becomes bogged down in a strange domesticity in spite of the levels Pitt goes to prove his wife’s innocence.

Nominated for best costume Oscar in 2017 (Joanna Johnston)

Rating: 48%

Director: Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, The Walk)

Writer: Steven Knight (Locke, Eastern Promises)

Main cast: Brad Pitt (Thelma & Louise, Bullet Train), Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose, Inception), Jared Harris (TV’s Chernobyl, Mad Men)

‘13 Hours’

Bombastic yet appealling telling of a true story as, with the fall of Ghadafi, Libya freefalls into civil war – and American political and military personnel in Benghazi are targeted by various militia groups.

Jack Silva (John Krasinski – A Quiet Place, Aloha) is the final member of the ex-military contractors at an ‘unmarked’ CIA compound to arrive in Libya – just as tensions and anti-American sentiment reach boiling point. Ther’s no love lost between head of mission, Bob (David Costabile – Lincoln, TV’s Billions) and the team, adding to the tensions in the compound. When US Ambassador Chris Stevens (Matt Letscher – Her, TV’s The Flash) visits, all hell breaks loose as they are attacked by hordes of heavily armed locals. The security team of six need to somehow hold out until help is despatched.

Director Michael Bay (Ambulance, Transformers) typically pumps up the action and takes poetic licence with the unfolding drama but by his standards, 13 Hours is remarkably restrained. The humour and depth of friendship of the security team members help the balance of a harrowing film that could have so easily simply degenerated into gun battle after gun battle (which, in part, it inevitably is).

Nominated for 1 Oscar in 2017 – best sound mixing.

Rating: 65%

‘The Red Turtle’

A Studio Ghibli animation, The Red Turtle is a simple fantasy sublimely told, a stripped back, minimalist Robinson Crusoe who finds a very different way of surviving his loneliness and isolation.

As the man, shipwrecked and dumped on the island courtesy of splendid animated Hokusai waves, looks first to survive and then escape, a red turtle thwarts his attempts to set sail beyond the all-encircling reef. The focal point of the unfolding of the central story can be a little hard to take (no spoilers) but as an almost wordless animation, Michael Dudok de Wit’s existential The Red Turtle is unquestionably beautiful to look at in its simplicity.

Nominated for the 2017 Oscar for Best Animation feature film.

Rating: 64%

‘Tanna’

A remote Pacific island dominated by an active volcano is the setting for a forbidden love story that challenges tradition among the Yakel tribe.

Promised to a warrior in an opposing tribe to calm hostilities, Wawa is attracted to her own chief’s grandson, the handsome Dain. Love is not part of tradition and the two are forced to flee, finding shelter in caves under the volcano. But this can be no happy ending as they are pursued by both enemy warriors and family members.

Based on a true story and working with a cast of non-professional actors, directors Martin Butler and Bentley Dean (TV’s First Footprints, Contact) sensitively address the tribal culture in telling it’s Romeo and Juliet tale whilst creating a visual feast and celebration of a way of life.

Nominated for the 2017 best foreign language film Oscar.

Rating: 69%

‘I Am Not Your Negro’

The history of America is the history of the Negro in America. And it’s not a pretty picture.

A powerful, deeply personal account of race relations in the US based on author James Baldwin’s book, Remember This House, unfinished at the time of his death in 1987. Filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book from the 30 pages of the manuscript using only Baldwin’s own words, drawn from his writings and televised interviews and speeches.

It’s an examination of past and present with Baldwin’s words ringing oh so very true in 2017 as they did 40-50 years ago when three of the writer’s friends, ‘activists’ Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were all assassinated.

Baldwin’s words resonate – with Peck, judicious snatches of contemporary news footage and a voiceover from Samuel L. Jackson adding to the impact of this timely film.

Nominated for the 2017 best documentary Oscar.

Rating: 86%

Director: Raoul Peck (Lumumba, Sometimes In April)

Narrator: Samuel L. Jackson

‘Dunkirk’

Oh, oh, oh. It’s visceral magnificence on screen. Grand gestures aplenty but the minutiae of wartime claustrophobia, fear and defeat balance this superb, emotional sweep of a film.

Christopher Nolan tells the true story of the rescue of 300,000 British, Belgian and French soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk surrounded by an advancing German army. It’s the flotilla of weekend sailors and fishermen (and women) who save the day as the navy destroyers are picked off by the German air force.

A true ensemble piece – Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy along with newcomers Fionn Whitehead and Aneurin Barnard are just a few – that is a jigsaw of narratives of few words and which makes up the whole,  building to a rousing crescendo. Exhausting!

Nominated for 8 Oscars in 2017 (including best film, directing & cinematography) – won 3 (editing, sound editing, sound mixing).

Rating: 89%

Director: Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight)

Writer: Christopher Nolan (Inception, The Dark Knight)

Main cast: Fionn Whitehead (TV’s Him), Barry Keoghan (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, ’71), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, Intimacy)

‘Baby Driver’

Pure unadulterated entertainment. It’s slick, fun, engaging with a fabulous soundtrack and an ubercool lead in Ansel Elgort as Baby.

Nearly a decade as the getaway driver for crime boss Kevin Spacey closes in – but just because he’s paid his debt does not mean Baby can simply drive off into the sunset with new beau, Lily James. It’s a heist bound to fail – especially with pyscho Jamie Foxx and trigger happy husband and wife team, Jon Hamm and Eiza González in the vehicle.

Director Edgar Wright’s narrative may not be original, but a surfeit of ideas, fun and sheer class make Baby Driver one of the best films of the year.

Nominated for 3 Oscars in 2017 (film editing, sound editing, sound mixing).

Rating: 78%

Director: Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead)

Writer: Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead)

Main cast: Ansel Elgort (Insurgent, The Fault in Our Stars), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, Horrible Bosses), Lily James (Cinderella, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies)

’20th Century Women’

The latest from Mike Mills is a beautifully balanced late 70s nostalgic ensemble piece of likeable people.

As a single mother, the matriarch, a never better Annette Bening quite rightly takes centre stage, persuading Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning help raise and guide her 15 year-old son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). Arguably not the most sensible choices as mentors – Gerwig’s feminist influences leave Jamie in fights with school friends over clitoral orgasms and Fanning heads off on a road trip with Jamie in tow.

It’s a film full of contradictions and it does occasionally slip into anecdotal gratification but relative newcomer Zumann is a delight and, possibly for the first time, I personally liked Greta Gerwig on screen.

Nominated for 1 Oscar in 2017 (best original screenplay).

Rating: 69%

Director: Mike Mills (Beginners, Thumbsucker)

Writer: Mike Mills (Beginners, Thumbsucker)

Main cast: Annette Bening (American Beauty, The Kids Are Alright), Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha, Mistress America), Elle Fanning (Trumbo, Super8)

‘Get Out’

Something of a box-office sensation in the US (made for $4.5 million: $170 million takings), Get Out is the Stepford Wives of race relations!

Things go mighty wrong as photographer Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) travels with his girlfriend Allison (Rose Armitage) to meet her family for the first time. Their very white, middle-class upstate Alabama suburb just doesn’t ring true.

First time director Jordan Peele injects fresh ideas into the horror film genre with an effective mix of creepiness, gore and humour (courtesy of comedian Lil Rey Howery). Enjoyable.

Nominated for 4 Oscars in 2017 (best film, actor, director) won 1 – original script.

Rating: 60%

Director: Jordan Peele

Writer: Jordan Peele

Main cast: Daniel Kaluuya (Sicario, Kick-Ass 2), Rose Armitage (College Musical, TV’s Girls), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich, Capote)

‘A Man Called Ove’ (En man som heter Ove)

Some 85 films were submitted for consideration for the 2017 best foreign language Oscar. Sweden’s entry, A Man Called Ove, made the final shortlist of five before losing out to Iran’s The Salesman. The other 80 must have been appalling if the Hannes Holm-helmed dramedy was seen as one of the best of the year (Julieta, Elle, Neruda, My Life as a Zucchini are just a few that failed to make that final five).

Lonely, grumpy widower Rolf Lassgård learns to smile again after a new family moves into the neighbourhood. Off-kilter humour early on gives way to crowd pleasing tosh, resulting in disjointed comedic sentimentality. Deeply unimpressed.

Nominated for 2 Oscars in 2017 – best foreign language film & make -up.

Rating: 31%

Director: Hannes Holm (Klassfesten, Adam & Eva)

Writer: Hannes Holm (Klassfesten, Adam & Eva) – adapted from the novel by Fredrik Backman

Main cast: Rolf Lassgård (After the Wedding, The Hunters), Bahar Pars (Knãcka, Når mōrkret faller), Filip Berg (Eternal Summer, Orion)