‘Tinker, Tailor, Sailor, Spy’

Archetypal John Le Carre procedural espionage tale as the identity of a high-ranking mole in the British Secret Service needs to be flushed out.

A who’s who of British male thesps clutter MI6 offices as retired George Smiley (Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour, The Dark Knight) is tasked with tracking the agent down, aided and abetted by Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch – Doctor Strange, The Power of the Dog), a man who has his own secrets. Helped or hindered, the suspicious death of Control (John Hurt – Alien, The Elephant Man) increases the urgency of cleaning up the East European desk.

Early 1970s Cold War politics, a bungled operation in Budapest that saw Mark Strong (1917, Kingsman) shot – leaving Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds and David Dencik on Smiley’s radar. A painstaking, dour investigation is put into action, resulting in an enthralling, wordy spy thriller directed by Tomas Alfredson (The Snowman, Let the Right One In).

Nominated for 3 Oscars in 2012 – best actor (Oldman), adapted screenplay, music score.

Rating: 74%

‘Lawless’

Based on a true story, three brothers in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia find their bootlegging Prohibition business threatened by new special deputy Charley Rakes, brought in by the corrupt new District Attorney. Shares in the profits and bribes are the expected payback. The Bondurant family, headed by legendary Forrest (Tom Hardy), just ain’t interested.

Written by Nick Cave and directed by John Hillcoat, there’s a significant Australian influence in the Blue Mountains storyline of booze, violence and crime. Add Guy Pearce as the malignant slimeball Rakes, Jason Clarke as middle-brother Howard alongside Mia Wasikowska as the love interest for the youngest of the three, Shia LeBeouf and it’ll give you an indication.

Shot in muted tones with the only flash of colour provided by ex-Chicago exotic dancer Jessica Chastain, Lawless is a dialogue-rich narrative interspersed with moments of extreme violence and unpleasantness. It’s a film full of impressive performances – but it’s a film that does not quite live up to expectation. Almost, but not quite.

Rating: 65%

Director: John Hillcoat (The Proposition, The Road)

Writer: Nick Cave (The Proposition, The Road) – adapted from the book by Matt Bondurant

Main cast: Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises), Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Holding the Man), Jason Clarke (Chappaquiddick, Terminator Genisys)

‘Venom’

It’s telling when, in director Ruben Fleischer’s Venom, the most engaging moments are the two (short) scenes between Tom Hardy and Mrs Chen, the local shopkeeper.

Venom is a unimaginative bombast of an origin film as Hardy acquires the power of an alien symbiote as an alter ego in his (initially reluctant) battle with power-crazed Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed).

In spite of all the CGI, the latest in the Marvel Comic oeuvre feels somewhat dated and wastes a great deal of talent. It’s an uninspiring yarn lacking any sense of the fun expected from a director responsible for Zombieland and Gangster Squad.

Rating: 35%

Director: Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad)

Writer: Jeff Pinkner (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Amazing Spider-Man 2), Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Gone in 60 Seconds), Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey, Saving Mr. Banks)

Main cast: Tom Hardy (The Revenant, Inception), Riz Ahmed (The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Nightcrawler), Michelle Williams (The Greatest Showman, Blue Valentine)

‘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)

Best of Year (2016) – Male Performance

Personally, 2016 was not awash with great films (or at least not yet released in Australia). And the same can be said about male performances. Drawing up the list was something of a struggle. There’s lots of good performances (Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs, Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge, Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool, Viggo Mortensen as Captain Fantastic, Tom Hanks in Sully and Don Cheadle in his personal labour-of-love that was Miles Ahead) but few that were that one rung up the ladder.

 

 

But my top five male performances of 2016 are:

5: Leonardo di Caprio (The Revenant)
4: Geza Rohrig (Son of Saul)
3: Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
2: Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)
1: Michael Keaton (The Founder)

Keaton’s renaissance over the last couple of years continues (Spotlight, Birdman) although chances are he will be overlooked again for his less than flattering portrayal of Ray Croc, CEO of McDonalds.

Part-time actor Dave Johns is riveting – and completely carries Ken Loach’s latest deeply humane British social commentary, I Daniel Blake. Jeff Bridges is in the supporting role for Texan sheriff in Hell or High Water – more screen time may have elevated him higher on the list. Like Johns, Geza Rohrig is rarely off-screen in the Hungarian Holocaust Oscar-winner, Son of Saul. And last year’s Oscar winner for best actor, Leonardo di Caprio, makes my top five for his role in The Revenant – narrowly beating out Tom Hardy who starred alongside him.

The list would have undoubtedly looked very different if the Australian release schedule mirrored the US – Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Denzel Washington (Fences), Joel Edgerton (Loving), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) and Dev Patel (Lion) could well have formed the top five.

‘The Revenant’

It picked up three Golden Globes – best film, best actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and best director (Alejandro González Iñárritu). Add 12 Oscar nominations and eight BAFTA noms and it’ll give you an indication of the Hollywood Royalty of The Revenant.

Stunning to look at thanks to cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (and a possible third successive Oscar following on from last year’s Birdman and Gravity in 2014), The Revenant is a sonerous, sweeping narrative; a brutal yet poetic survival tale of the utmost hardships.

Yet, in spite of an intense, believable performance by DiCaprio (possibly his first Oscar winning performance?) and excellent support from the likes of Tom Hardy and Domhnall Gleeson (Ex-Machina, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), a visceral The Revenant is a bombardment of grim, grim and yet more grim.

A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.

Nominated for 12 Oscars in 2016 (including best film, supporting actor – Tom Hardy), won 3 (best director, actor, cinematographer).

Rating: 68% 

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, Amores perros)

Writer: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, Babel), Mark L. Smith (Martyrs, The Hole) – based on the novel by Michael Punke

Main cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Beach, Blood Diamond), Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Drop), Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

‘Legend’

In creating the extreme contrast between psychotic Ronnie and tough-but-loveable Reggie, Legend loses its hard edge in telling the story of the feared Kray Twins and their control of underground London in the 1960s.

Tom Hardy is magnificently magnetic as both Ronnie and Reggie – this is no gimmick but two sides of one character literally wrestling with each other on screen. But the rest of the film is strangely underwritten (a surprise considering its written by Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland) and underdeveloped, creating something of an episodic mishmash of the evil that men do. 

It’s flawed, overlong, not as hard as nails as it should have been – yet it’s still entertaining and extremely cinematic.

Rating: 60%

Director: Brian Helgeland (42, Payback)

Writer: Brian Helgeland (L.A Confidential, Mystic River) – based on the book by John Pearson

Main cast: Tom Hardy (Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road), Emily Browning (Sucker Punch, Sleeping Beauty), Taron Egerton (Testament of Youth, Kingsman: The Secret Service), Christopher Eccleston (28 Days Later, Shallow Grave)

‘Mad Max: Fury Road’

Mad Max: Fury Road is visually stunning, with excitement pumped to the max (excuse the pun) that leaves you breathless. There’s no doubt that director George Miller, in this Australian-American co-production, has achieved an extraordinary updating of his original Mad Max films from the 1980s (also known as The Road Warrior in some countries).

But… I yearned for significant human interaction on screen that softened the frenetic chase across the desert. It is reported that not all was well on set between the two leads – and the lack of chemistry between Charlize Theron  and Tom Hardy shows.

Whilst an impressive piece of film making, ultimately felt bombarded and a little disappointed. (And Furious Furiosa would have been a more appropriate title – this is Charlize Theron’s movie).

Nominated for 10 Oscars in 2016 (including best film, directing) and won 6 (all technical but, surprisingly, not for John Seale and his cinematography)

Rating: 62%

Director:  George Miller (Happy Feet, The Witches of Eastwick)

Writer: George Miller (Happy Feet, Lorenzo’s Oil), Brendan McCarthy, Nick Lathouris

Main cast: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception), Charlize Theron (Monster, Prometheus), Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class, About a Boy), Zoë Kravitz (Divergent, Dope), Hugh Keays-Byrne (Where Green Ants Dream, The Trespassers)

Best of Year – Male Performances

Going away for those few days put me behind on my top film lists for 2014! So here we go with best male performance of the year (remember it’s according to the release in Australia).

5. Jake Gyllenhaal: Nightcrawler
4. Brendan Gleeson: Calvary
3. Matthew McConaughey: Dallas Buyers Club
2. Timothy Spall: Mr Turner
1. J.K. Simmons: Whiplash

This was hard as the top three are certainly interchangeable, and two or three on the periphery of the top five could have easily made the shortlist on another day – Tom Hardy for Locke and Oscar Isaacs for Inside Llewellyn Davies in particular.

But character actor J.K. Simmons is my choice for the year with his riveting performance in Whiplash.

‘The Drop’

I’m a big fan of film adaptations of Dennis Lehane’s novels and short stories – Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island, Mystic River. Add The Drop to the list.

A much smaller film in scope than the others, The Drop is filmed primarily in a bar and a couple of Brooklyn streets. The threat and dread of violence simmers beneath the surface of this crime drama, but it is the dialogue (and Tom Hardy’s performance) that is the highlight – the first to be adapted for the silver screen by Lehane himself.

The Drop also marks the English-language debut of award-winning Belgian director Michaël R. Roskam (Bullhead – nominated for 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar). It’s an auspicious debut.

Rating: 74%

Director: Michaël R. Roskam (Bullhead)

Writer: Dennis Lehane (TV’s The Wire, Boardwalk Empire)

Main cast: Tom Hardy (Locke, The Dark Knight Rises), Noomi Rapace (Dead Man Down, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), James Gandolfini (Zero Dark Thirty, TV’s The Sopranos), Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust & Bone, Bullhead)