Juno (2007)
Director: Jason Reitman
Screenwriter: Diablo Cody
Starring: Elliot Page, Michael Cera, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Thirlby

As Juno reaches the ripe old age of fifteen, it seems a fitting time to review the coming-of-age teen dramady. With so many of the genre’s well-trodden tropes, this movie is an indie film fan’s winning bingo card. From the animated title sequence to the gawky teens who are impossibly smart and more put together than any of the adults they interact with, or the constant nodding to achingly cool bands, a year split into seasons, and dealing with serious themes using sarcasm and humour, it’s a full house!

The opener sees Juno (Elliot Page) chugging a bottle of Sunny D so big it has its own gravitational pull. With the line ‘so what’s the prognosis, Fertile Myrtle? Minus or plus?’ the scene is set. Juno’s pregnant, ‘forshizz up the spout’. And she makes it very clear that she will be dealing with this by herself… or so she thinks. Though her desperation is clearly shown as she makes a noose out of candy before stepping inside to her chaotic and loving home to tell her parents the big news.

From the synopsis and the poster, (and even the first paragraph of this review), you’d be forgiven for mistaking that Juno is a film about teen pregnancy, and while that is a pretty sizable Bretton-stripe-clad motif, it’s not where the real story is.

Obviously, the people in Juno’s life are shocked, but there isn’t actually much judgement thrown at her, not from those who matter anyway. This is not an issues movie. By removing any real external conflict surrounding the pregnancy, Cody’s screenplay allows Juno’s internal conflict to drive the story. So yes, there is a pregnancy, but this film is about growing up too fast, acceptance, and the realisation that grown ups haven’t got a clue what they’re doing either. But at its heart, Juno is a love story.

The platonic love is covered by Leah (Olivia Thirlby), the best friend everyone needs – a girl obsessed with her maths teacher and cheerleading but who holds Juno’s hand every step of the way. And romantic love? That’s served in bucketloads by Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera), who is a gem. When he shyly asks ‘what should we do?’ after receiving Juno’s news, it’s clear that he cares about her and wants to share the responsibility for what’s happened. The two of them are perfect for each other. For some, no grand romantic gesture will beat the boom box in the air, the car flying off into the clouds, the library in the enchanted castle. But it’s hard to find a sweeter moment in any film than Paulie spooning a hormonal, weeping Juno as she processes everything that has happened, his trainers muddy from running to the hospital. All comfort, no expectation. Beautiful.

While J.K. Simmons gives a sterling comic performance as Juno’s dad, it’s really all about the moms. Juno herself, a mother in biological terms only, is the embodiment of the rage and worry and self-doubt that comes with parenthood (and being a teenager). Her stepmom Bren, played by the incredible Allison Janney, is funny and fierce and loves Juno for what she is – her takedown of the ultrasound technician is one of the film’s highlights. She is a breath of fresh air amongst the angst and hormones. Jennifer Garner’s Vanessa, ‘desperately seeking spawn’, is slightly one-dimensional in her obsessive pursuit of motherhood and perfection. She is a stark contrast to Jason Bateman, who is undeniably the villain of the piece as Mark Loring, Vanessa’s reluctant husband. Ironically, he is stuck in arrested development as he reminisces about his 90s band and his life in Chicago. He doesn’t want a woman who pushes him or expects anything from him. Juno idolises him because he is so unlike all the other adults in her life, and he is delighted by this adulation. Mark’s disregard of boundaries is a moment of jeopardy in an otherwise wholesome film.

Juno is funny, smart, and wholesome without being saccharine. The larger-than-life characters aren’t like real people, not really, they’re amplified versions of real people. And that’s what makes the film great, these bordering-on-unbelievable characters tackling a difficult situation and all emerging triumphant at the end – apart from Mark, but no one cares about him.

Well received by audiences and critics, Juno went down in the record books. It has aged well and remains funny. The hamburger phone, gold track shorts, and protruding stripy bump are iconic and feel as fresh as they did when they came out kicking and screaming in 2007.

Score: 22/24

Recommended for you: Panic! At the Movies: An Emo Top 10 Watchlist

Written by Martha Lane

You can support Martha Lane on Twitter – @poor_and_clean

Ride the Eagle (2021)
Director: Trent O’Donnell
Screenwriters: Jake Johnson, Trent O’Donnell
Starring: Jake Johnson, Susan Sarandon, D’Arcy Carden, J.K. Simmons

Fresh out of the pandemic comes Jake Johnson and Trent O’Donnell’s newest collaboration, Ride The Eagle. The pair, who worked alongside one another on the hit comedy TV series ‘New Girl’ for several years, pieced their project together over the course of lockdown. As such, they were among the first to tackle the logistics of filmmaking following the outbreak of Covid-19. Having realised and executed their film safely during one of the biggest health crises in history, in many ways Ride The Eagle is a product of innovative thinking and adapting to circumstance. Its very existence is a reminder that cinema and the arts will continue to adapt and thrive no matter what the world has up its sleeve.

The film stars Jake Johnson as Leif, an ageing bro and struggling musician with mommy issues. Leif (conveniently) is the kind of person who enjoys isolation; he lives alone in a log cabin with only his wise and faithful dog Nora (played by Nora, Johnson’s own rescue dog) as a companion. After hearing about the death of his estranged mother, Honey (Susan Sarandon), who abandoned him at the age of twelve to run away with a zany New Age cult, Leif discovers an unusual arrangement regarding his inheritance. Honey’s large Californian home, situated in the secluded Yosemite national park, could be his, should he choose to complete the set number of tasks Honey prepared for him before her death. 

Leif chooses to travel to Yosemite, where he happens upon instructions – several recorded VHS messages Honey uses to communicate with him posthumously – and a substantial amount of marijuana. Honey guides Leif through several tasks, some riskier than others, in a last-ditch attempt to parent him and pass on some enriching life lessons, hoping this will allow him to forgive her and let go of any childhood pain and resentment that might hold him back. Among other tasks, Honey has Leif learn how to catch fish with his bare hands and encourages him to call and apologise to his ex-girlfriend so that he might begin to take more responsibility over his life. With the completion of each task, we see Leif begin to evolve and apply Honey’s lessons to his own life. Eventually, he wonders if there might be more to life than existing in isolation and more to achieve in his musical career than tagging onto a hipster band unironically named Restaurant. Along the way, Leif runs into several exciting faces, including his mother’s crazed ex-boyfriend (J.K Simmons), to whom Leif delivers his mother’s departing message, and the girl who got away, otherwise known as Audrey (D’Arcy Carden), who Leif reconnects with via awkward phone calls as part of his mother’s dying demands.

Ride the Eagle is a product of lockdown and probably wouldn’t exist in the same way or even at all if it hadn’t been for the many restrictions we all faced throughout 2020. The film will seem impressive to the audiences willing to bear those many restrictions in mind; however, for those who are eager to avoid any reminder of the pandemic, this probably isn’t the film for you. Ride The Eagle cleverly dances around its limitations. Yet, although the film doesn’t ever actually mention the pandemic, it’s transparently covid friendly and, as a result, is unable to spread its legs to its fullest extent. Although funny and charming, Leif and Audrey’s split-screen phone conversations start to drag on and subsequently fail to muster up the same emotion as physical communication, and Leif’s isolation and socially distanced interactions begin to feel somewhat forced as the movie wears on. It seems as if Johnson and O’Donnell were more interested in constructing their story around finding clever ways to combat covid restrictions. With such devoted attention to logistics, the overall narrative surrounding the middle-aged dude working through his issues becomes disappointingly unoriginal and vanilla. 

This isn’t to say the film suffers as a whole. Jake Johnson’s self-deprecating, man-child humour fits in very well with this tale. Johnson manages to bring Leif into existence without leaning too heavily on his Nick Millerisms. Leif is very much his own man, willing enough to mature and lean into his emotions surrounding grief and the loss of his mother—a woman who Leif consistently reminds us he didn’t even know that well. Johnson, who, for the most part, spends the entire film in isolation, copes marvellously, holding the film together alone, drawing humour out of one-sided conversations with the memory of his dead mother and his adorable and surprisingly charismatic dog. His work here resembles his collaborations with famed mumblecore director Joe Swanberg, with the low-budget stylings, meandering pace and everyman narrative lending the film its humanistic and painfully familiar edge. 

Ride the Eagle is a charming piece of work that achieves a delicate balance between comedy and tragedy. The film is serious enough to explore the meaning of family and past traumas, reminding us that it’s never too late to reach out, make amends and begin to heal. On the other hand, the film also packs in some hearty laughs, making us squirm and chuckle as Leif awkwardly navigates his assignments alongside one wayward phone sex experiment. As the film begins to hit its stride, we also tap into the nuances of Leif’s surprising emotional journey as he begins to form a relationship with a mother he has already learned to live without. O’Donnell navigates this intricate tonal blend well, throwing in the right amount of meaningful story beats to stop his narrative from feeling mawkish while keeping a fun and uplifting atmosphere with a healthy mix of humour and lunacy.

If you were inclined to pull at this movie’s many wayward threads, the whole thing could unravel very quickly. Why Leif puts himself through the ordeal, watches the tapes and completes his mother’s requests is unclear—there isn’t anybody around to actually check he’s sticking to his end of the bargain. However, the film’s heart-warming mood and adorable, scene-stealing debut performance from Nora the dog is guaranteed to bring smiles to the faces of all who watch. 

Ride the Eagle is a step in the right direction for cinema as we navigate our way out of lockdowns and restrictions and back into normality.

14/24

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Director: Zack Snyder
Screenwriters: Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder, Will Beall
Starring: Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ciarán Hinds, Amy Adams, Amber Heard, Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, Diane Lane, J.K. Simmons, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto

In 2017, Warner Bros. suffered something of a catastrophic tentpole failure. Justice League, a would-be superhero contender to the Avengers’ throne atop the box office, was an amalgamation of two opposing creative directions put together under the intense glare of studio executives we have since learned pushed the film’s release ahead despite significant challenges in order to pursue personal bonuses they’d accrue from the film’s box office takings; it was a disaster. A significant tonal disparity between original director Zack Snyder’s more dark and serious vision – which was fundamental to Justice League’s direct predecessors Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – and the levity of incoming screenplay doctor turned replacement director Joss Whedon (The Avengers), was just the tip of the iceberg. Poor CG was compared to that of a Playstation 3 video game, the score from replacement composer Danny Elfman universally panned, the glowing colour palette of reds and oranges unfaithful to expectations and the original creative vision for the film. Justice League 2017 was “one of the worst mainstream superhero movies of all time“, and it cost $300million to make; reportedly costing double that when taking into account marketing costs and bonuses, thus only just breaking even despite earning $657.9million at the worldwide box office.

A critical and financial failure, the original Justice League was underwhelming for audiences too, and the subject of much criticism from fans, the most vocal of whom dubbed it “The Josstice League” after its replacement screenwriter-director. To these fans who’d helped the franchise’s two direct predecessors earn $1.54billion at the box office, had come to understand the deeply tragic circumstances surrounding original director Zack Snyder’s exit from the project, and were wary of bullying allegations made against replacement director Joss Whedon by both Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole and Justice League star Ray Fisher, something had to be done. As soon as rumours leaked of an apparent “Snyder Cut”, #ReleasetheSnyderCut went viral, mobs of impassioned fans tweeted and wrote letters to Warner Bros, hired billboards in Times Square, and mobilised into a collective that couldn’t be ignored. As soon as stars Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill began to show support, it seemed the wheels were already in motion for a remake of sorts; a rewinding of time that would see Snyder pick back up that which he had to leave, directing the film that he had always intended to direct. The result is 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and it may just be the best film you could expect from such a mess of a situation.

The subject of a trifecta of outside influences – a vocal and impassioned fanbase clamouring for a vision closer to what it had expected originally, a director looking to fulfil his own vision for the project amidst massive uncertainty over the future of the franchise he started, and a studio driven by the desire to make more money through subscriptions to their streaming service HBO Max – and restricted creatively by the tones and presentations of the famous characters imposed by their own standalone movies, Justice League seemed on paper to be more a juggling act than a form of creative expression or tool for ultimate escapism. Yet, every frame of its four hour runtime looks and feels like a Zack Snyder film, and the combination of patience, logic, intense action and genuine fun do make this film a tool for worthwhile escape from all the nonsense and tragedy of our real lives.

Costing as much as $70million to re-shoot, re-animate and by all purposes remake, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is not simply a director’s cut, it’s a new movie. Justice League 2021 is a film that may share some scenes from the 2017 Justice League, but is told in an entirely new way, with much more logic and entirely new reasons to care.

Clocking in at four hours and two minutes, it should perhaps be expected that character arcs are fleshed out, that moments of action are explained and developed, and this is precisely the case here. Whereas Justice League 2017 jumped from story beat to story beat with no rhyme or reason, Justice League 2021 does its best to explain everything; there isn’t a single moment of action that takes place without some logical decision by those involved being presented beforehand. Importantly, this doesn’t come across as patronising or reductive in most cases either, and instead serves to develop the characterisations of its heroes and bring meaning to its conflict. If Zack Snyder’s Justice League is lacking in anything, it is significant mortal threat to the Justice League members themselves, but when supporting characters are this honourably presented, and there is reason to anticipate and then digest the excitement of each of the action sequences, questions of mortal threat remain far from your focus.

Perhaps Zack Snyder’s Justice League’s biggest strength is in its characterisation. The 2017 Justice League film was missing a lot, but perhaps its biggest faux pas as a superhero film was being unable to exemplify the strengths and weaknesses of the superheroes at its heart, seemingly forgetting about their powers as bland fist fights and mechanical battles took precedent. That couldn’t be further removed from how well developed and presented each of the characters are here. Batman, whose brooding and righteously angry persona was replaced by an out-of-touch old man gimmick aimed at providing comic relief in the 2017 film, is smarter, more determined, and a certifiable leader to his group in the 2021 film. Wonder Woman and Aquaman are each fleshed out in terms of characterisation too, with the duo not only feeling like real people, but also having their own unique skillsets highlighted in battle. Superman, whose name isn’t even uttered until around one hour and forty five minutes in, is the crux of the world’s hope, his presence central to the film’s idea that humanity needs an all-good hero right now. But it’s Barry “The Flash” Allen, and particularly Victor “Cyborg” Stone, who benefit from the elongated runtime and shift in perspective.

The Flash, whose standalone is set to debut in 2022, has something of a coming-of-age arc in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, offering quips and moments of levity here and there but ultimately being defined by the heroics that come from the bravery beneath the anxiety. Unlike in the 2017 version where Barry Allen is very much a silly minor character to help with comic relief, the 2021 version presents him as just as pivotal to the team, and as much of a hero as anyone else. Cyborg, whose presence in Joss Whedon’s version of Justice League is barely featured and is used primarily as a narrative convenience, is transformed in Zack Snyder’s Justice League into perhaps the most pivotal member of the whole team, undergoing a transformative and emotive character arc whilst fulfilling his promise as an unmissable warrior in battle. With Cyborg actor Ray Fisher’s allegations against Joss Whedon fresh in the mind, it seems abhorrent that their doomed professional relationship altered the course of history, and that without Snyder’s reintegration we may never have had such a unique and powerful representation of the famous comic book character.

It is interesting that Snyder, a director famed for his appealing action sequences and hired to spearhead a superhero franchise because of his history directing action-heavy movies like of 300, excels mostly in his patience for building characters in Justice League 2021. His creative choices to bring The Flash and Cyborg to the fore are most noticeable certainly, but the director also chooses to totally abandon the exploitative framing of Wonder Woman that plagued so much of Joss Whedon’s version – the scene in which the Amazon Warrior meets Cyborg for the first time no longer begins with a camera pan from her feet to her hips, nor is she the subject of relationship jokes from Alfred. Wrestling with the almost comical CGI of some of the 2017 version, Snyder also abandons a particularly egregious shot of Aquaman accelerating away from Bruce Wayne in an early water-side sequence, and has overseen a complete CG-remodel of central villain Steppenwolf – a character still doomed to a shoddy look, albeit one that no longer evokes comparisons to video games.

Visually, Snyder excels at converting his usually highly stylistic and comic book inspired palette into something more grounded and cinematic. Presented in a boxy 1.33:1 aspect ratio (complete with black bars on either side of the frame as opposed to at the top and bottom), and filmed with a celluloid-like grain that highlights the imperfections on his cast’s skin as well as the interactions of light and shadow, Snyder’s version of Justice League is a notable upgrade on the previous release and an almighty improvement on most of the superhero sub-genre’s output from the past decade or more. The director’s biggest gift, however, is in the rhythm of his filmmaking.

Making an early career out of directing music videos and commercials, Snyder has long worked with the ideas of pace and rhythm in his visual creations, but in Justice League it seems more evident than ever that Snyder is a rhythmic filmmaker first and foremost; the pace of each story beat, each movement within each shot, and each cut, being nothing short of superbly orchestrated. Justice League is very long, yes, but it maintains an undercurrent of momentum that significantly benefits the picture. Whilst critics of Snyder’s perceived self-indulgence will perhaps never be won over by this filmmaking trait – it does leave space for extra cuts here and there to trim the extortionate runtime – it is clear that Snyder is imparting a level of skill in this regard that Whedon couldn’t touch and most filmmakers are rarely given the runtime to experiment with.

A major component of Snyder’s rhythmic filmmaking is his partnership with the writers of his film’s soundtracks, and in Justice League 2021 he has reunited with Batman v Superman co-composer Junkie XL to set a tone and rhythm that is infinitely better and undeniably more suited to the Justice League than Danny Elfman’s score was for the 2017 version. The work of Junkie XL here not only underpins tension, escalates violence and offers emotive musical cues, but it does what every good superhero movie score should do: gives each of its heroes unique musical accompaniments in their most heroic moments. This latter point seems like a simple solution, but it’s one not adhered to by much of the MCU and was certainly not present in Joss Whedon’s version of Justice League; in any case it is rarely so vital to tentpole filmmaking as it is here.

There is no doubt that Zack Snyder’s Justice League will prove to be just as divisive as a lot of the director’s other films, and that critics of the context around the film getting made will never be convinced of the movie’s better machinations, but what Zack Snyder has managed to assemble from the brink of abyss is really quite remarkable. Justice League 2021 may be too long for some to sit and watch in one go – it is handily compartmentalised for those wanting to view it episodically – and it may not abide by the quick and snappy Marvel formula that has come to be the archetype of the genre, but Zack Snyder’s vision of the Justice League is an absolute improvement on Joss Whedon’s work in 2017, and is the best of Snyder’s DCEU trilogy (Man of Steel and Batman v Superman).

This was a film made per the demands of fans and the injustice of what came to pass the first time around, and as such it is filled with a lot of fan service, notable character cameos and some rewrites that have appropriately found justice for some members of the Justice League, so while it isn’t the “hit right out of the box” that some superhero films are, and whilst some may never enjoy some of the director’s recognisable filmmaking traits, there is a lot to enjoy about Zack Snyder’s Justice League for fans of Snyder’s earlier work and especially fans of the DCEU. For everyone else, Justice League 2021 itches a blockbuster-sized itch that we seem to have been missing for much of the past year.

15/24

Klaus is a 2019 animation directed by Spanish director Sergio Pablos and distributed by Netflix. It features the voices of stars such as Jason Schwartzman, Joan Cusack and J.K. Simmons, and was produced by Pablos’ own animation company Sergio Pablos Animation Studios. The story follows Jesper’s (Schwartzman’s) trials and tribulations of being a postman on an island that doesn’t send letters, his unlikely friendship with a woodsman (Simmons), and how the duo transform the gloomy, feud-ridden island into a place of joy through delivering presents. It was a nominee for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2020 Oscars, and won the equivalent award at the 2020 BAFTAs.

It has been lauded by many as one of the great animated films made outside of the Hollywood studio system in the past ten years, but what makes Klaus so special? In this Movie List, we’re looking at this Christmas themed animated feature to offer 5 Reasons Why Klaus (2019) Is an Amazing Christmas Film.

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1. The Animation

In an age of animation inhabited almost exclusively by 3D releases, 2D animation is a breath of fresh air. With both 2D and 3D animation styles being blended together, Klaus is full of added depth but stays true to its nostalgic and unique art style.

Smeerensburg, where the film takes place, is inspired by German Expressionism in its design, both in terms of the buildings and the town’s inhabitants. The colour scheme also plays a large role in the atmosphere building throughout the film; Smeerensburg’s first appearance is dark, grey and rundown, but as time goes on, warmer tones begin to take over, especially in scenes of isolated happiness such as during the first present delivery.

Unlike the bland and corporate offerings of some of the US’s biggest animation studios – Illumination Entertainment, Warner Animation Group, etc. – every aspect of Klaus’ animation really adds to the emotional weight of its story, helping it to connect with audiences young and old.

2. It’s an Original Look at Santa’s Origin

The origin of Ol’ Saint Nick has been revisited time after time, both in literature and on screen, so to have a film in 2019 have a fresh take on the beginnings of Santa is already impressive, but to then have it be emotional, comical and magical takes the film to the next level.

The story behind why Klaus makes toys is enough to reduce any adult to tears, but then the comical edge of Jesper’s struggles with the actual delivering of the presents helps to ease the emotional tension. Jesper’s involvement in the story is actually very important, since it finally gives credit to postal workers – the ones who work extra hard to deliver the Christmas presents over the holidays.

Vitally, this change in perspective and in tone doesn’t kill the magic of Father Christmas, as despite the legendary figure’s disappearance, he still delivers presents every year.

Palm Springs (2020)
Director: Max Barbakow
Screenwriter: Andy Siara
Starring: Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J.K. Simmons, Peter Gallagher, Meredith Hagner, Camila Mendes, Tyler Hoechlin

There is a montage that takes place at around the 37th minute of Palm Springs in which the co-leads enjoy limitless, guilt-free action, the sequence working as a narrative device to illustrate how the pair are getting closer, and how we should be feeling closer to them. It is at this moment that the film asks “are you in or are you out?” regarding its relatively lofty concept of a looped timeline romance, your answer to this question either opening the door to a melty love story between two eternally bonded twenty/thirty-somethings or having the door shut firmly in your face, leaving you to wonder whether the next hour or so is even going to be worth your time. For those who board the train, there is joy and meaning to be found in this Max Barbakow directed and Andy Siara written feature, but for those not willing to give themselves over to the film in this moment, Palm Springs may very well feel like another cheap replica of better movies that you’ve seen already.

Produced by Party Over Here, the production company founded by lead star Andy Samberg’s parody music group The Lonely Island, Palm Springs is surprisingly a much more down to earth and in many ways standard rom-com than one might expect from a film associated with a group known for releasing songs like “I Just Had Sex”, “Motherlover” and “D*ck in a Box”, even as a film exploring timeloops and the existentialism that comes with it. There are moments, just as there are with any rom-com, where Palm Springs has the potential to break out of its mould and offer something fresh or even challenging, but despite taking obvious inspiration from a number of sci-fi leaning big screen romances, this film doesn’t seem willing to shed its modern romantic comedy skin, reverting to trope after trope while forgetting about narrative strands and running gags just as willingly.

On the surface, Palm Springs shares many similarities with the Mark Duplass starring duo of early 2010s films Safety Not Guaranteed and The One I Love, the former in particular acting as a strong comparison piece on how to deliver such an outlandish concept via the means of a standard love story. Unfortunately, this doesn’t paint Palm Springs too favourably, the 2020 release having its moments but ultimately failing to capture its atmosphere as effectively as the Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) directed 2012 film or even sustain the same level of intrigue surrounding its conceptual pursuits. It’s not that Palm Springs is bad – as Safety Not Guaranteed is one of the more impressive films of its type released in recent years – it’s more that this comparison serves as an indicator as to where this release could have gone had it had the foresight and creative direction to do so.

Palm Springs actually starts like a modern Netflix rom-com – that being of a relatively expensive but uncreative aesthetic with little by way of meaning regarding camera movements and edits – and evolves from there into something Safety Not Guaranteed adjacent, landing somewhere in the middle of the two in terms of quality. It will make you smile, and there are moments that will ignite your imagination, but ultimately Palm Springs isn’t made to challenge you or to bring forth any repressed emotions, it is a film made to be a good time and seems to actively pursue the many hallmarks that films of its type have presented in pursuit of the same goal. It has lovable, young and attractive leads (Cristin Milioti acting alongside Samberg), a guest star people seem to be fans of (J.K. Simmons), a number of scenes or shots that will likely be shared across social media ad infinitum, and just enough by way of concept and narrative intrigue to maintain your attention should you not be put off during its first third.

Palm Springs is, ultimately, a film that had grand visions of something greater than what it ultimately became – lines directly lifted from genre-topper Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind offering the greatest example – but that’s not to mean that it doesn’t hold value, this Andy Samberg star vehicle being the kind of enjoyable throwaway fun that will likely become a staple of many people’s easy-watching collections, a film that some will use as a blanket to comfort them during hard times and others will use as noise in the background while they clean the house. This isn’t Eternal Sunshine nor is it Safety Not Guaranteed, it’s not even The One I Love, but depending on your sensibilities Palm Springs can be thoroughly enjoyable and forever rewatchable nonetheless.

12/24

Oscars favourites Pixar are once again there as the most experienced in the category to battle it out for the crown, however the absence of Disney Animation’s biggest hit of the year, Frozen 2, has not gone unnoticed.

The early dark horse in this race has been Netflix’s Klaus, though it does have to contend with other heavy hitting animation studios such as Dreamworks, Laika (the creators of former Oscar nominee Kubo and the Two Strings) and Netflix’s other animation entry I Lost My Body, which did well at both the Cannes and Annecy film festivals.

In 2020, it seems to be a pretty even race, so it will interesting to see which film takes the top prize.

Let’s take a closer look at this year’s contenders in the 2020 Animation Race…

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Director: Dean DeBlois

The second sequel in this year’s Animated Feature category is How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the final chapter in the How To Train Your Dragon franchise that wraps up a complex coming of age story.

When Hiccup discovers that Toothless is not the only dragon of his kind, the race os on to find the ‘Hidden World’, a utopia for dragons, before the tyrant Grimmel does.

Dreamworks brings an emotionally and visually beautiful end to the much loved series. The audience has grown alongside Hiccup and Toothless throughout the trilogy and The Hidden World is the perfect send off for our heroes. Getting to see the characters grow from children to adults over the years brings a true sense of realism to the saga even though it is an animated film series set in a fantasy world with dragons, and that shows just what talent Dreamworks has put behind the project.

Perhaps in any other year How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World might have been the front-runner in this race, but this year it has some tough competition to fight off.

Recommended for you: Hair Love – Oscar Nominated Animated Short Review

I Lost My Body

Director: Jeremy Clapin

I Lost My Body is a French animated fantasy drama that debuted at Cannes Film festival in 2019 and was the first animated feature to win the Nespresso Grand Prize. It is also Netflix’s second entrant in this category.

The story is a little bit bizarre. On the surface it’s a story of boy loves girl, but it’s also the story of the boy’s severed hand making its way back to him through a Parisian backdrop.

Leaning towards a more traditional animation style does not mean it is any less impressive than the others. The atmosphere is simple but extremely poetic, showcasing the losses that we all go through in life and exploring how rediscovering the missing parts of us is ultimately the reason we keep on living.

I Lost My Body disproves the assumption that animated films are for children in the most spectacular way, and could very well be the underdog to come out on top in this race.

Klaus

Directors: Sergio Pablos & Carlos Martinez Lopez

Klaus was one of a myriad of films released by Netflix around the Christmas period, however it was certainly one that stood out from the crowd.

Klaus is the directorial debut for Sergio Pablos and has an incredible voice cast of the likes of Jason Schwartzman and Rashida Jones, as well as J.K Simmons as the title character.

This is certainly a twist on the origin story of Santa Claus and follows the story of a postman stationed on an island in the North who befriends Klaus, a reclusive toymaker. The message of the story is clear, that one act of kindness can often spark another even in a place where feuding locals barely speak to each other.

Klaus is a heartwarming take on the Christmas origin story, filled with emotion and humour, with a message of kindness that really rings true, coupled with some stunning animation that (much like last year’s winner Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse) sets itself apart from the rest.

This is Netflix’s first animation to be nominated for an Academy Award, and it has already won the BAFTA for best animated feature, so expect some high praise for Klaus even if it doesn’t walk out with the trophy.

Missing Link

Director: Chris Butler

Missing Link is another stunning stop-motion animated feature from Laika, the creators of previous Academy Award nominee Kubo and the Two Strings.

It presents the story of Mr Link, a Sasquatch who befriends an English explorer and adventures with him to the Himalayas in search of his Yeti cousins. It is a traditional story of adventures and friendship, with a heartfelt and humorous core.

Missing Link is another contender with an all-star voice cast including Hugh Jackman, David Walliams, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson and Zach Galifanakis just to name a few. Missing Link lets us celebrate a more traditional style of animation, away from the computer generated films that now dominate the genre. It was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature and was the first non-computer-generated animated film to win in this category, which certainly increases its chances of taking home the gold come Oscars night.

Recommended for you: Laika Animated Movies Ranked

Toy Story 4

Director: Josh Cooley

Pixar are no stranger to the awards scene when it comes to animated features, and this year they presented the fourth instalment to one of the most beloved animated franchises of all time, Toy Story.

The entire gang are back, including Tom Hanks and Tim Allen who reprise their roles and Woody and Buzz. We may have felt that Toy Story 3 gave the perfect send off to Woody, Buzz and the gang but this film developed their story that little bit further. We see the characters we know and love set off on a road trip with new owner Bonnie, and a new toy Bonnie has created and loves dearly. When said toy, Forky, gets separated from the group, Woody sets off on a quest to find him and ultimately make sure Bonnie is happy. Along the way, Woody runs into an old friend as well as some hilarious new ones that make him question his place in the world now that he is no longer a part of Andy’s life.

Toy Story 4 is blessed with the stunning visuals that Pixar always deliver, however it has a lot to contend with this year, and this chapter in the story did not quite hit the same highs as its predecessors, and may not quite make it to the finish line first (though never entirely discount Pixar…).

Recommended for you: Kitbull – Oscar Nominated Animated Short Review

There are some serious contenders in the Animation Race this year, and it will be interesting who will come out on top. Who do you think will win the Animation Race 2020? Let us know in the comments or tweet us.

Justice League (2017)
Director: Zack Snyder
Screenwriters: Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon
Starring: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Amber Heard, Ciarán Hinds, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Joe Morton, Connie Nielsen, J.K. Simmons

In the aftermath of a poor 2016 that saw Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad not only bomb with critics but also experience some of the heaviest box office drop-offs in history, Warner Bros were so pleased with the critical response and financial achievements of their must-win movie Wonder Woman in the Summer of 2017 that they developed an awards season campaign in the hope of landing director Patty Jenkins an Oscar nomination. Justice League was their attempt at capitalising on the regained faith of its super-fans and the casual movie-going audience so, despite Joss Whedon taking the director’s seat late in the process due to a personal tragedy suffered by original director Zack Snyder, the studio putting the script through multiple treatments in response to their 2016 failures, millions of dollars worth of re-shoots, and a studio scrap surrounding Henry Cavill’s moustache costing the production a lot of money to CG from the face of their Superman, Warner Bros unwisely pressed on with their late November 2017 release date to produce what was the worst film of the current phase of DC movies and undoubtedly one of the largest blends of bad ideas put to screen in 2017. It really was that bad…

Justice League was essentially the typical superhero team-up story we’ve become accustomed to through the years, with vastly different and sometimes opposing personalities coming together to fight off the never-before-spoken-of villain from a foreign planet. We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again, but the tiresomeness of the film’s structure seemed less of an issue than its demand that all 6 of its heroes be introduced individually, creating one of the most prolonged first acts known to the genre; a lengthy mess of disconnected introductions that served little purpose other than to bore.

There were lackadaisical attempts to stitch the act together through ill-timed and obviously forced (re-shot/re-edited) interactions between head recruiter Bruce Wayne and a number of the other would-be league members, seemingly with the misplaced intention of cheering up the film’s end of the world narrative tension and the death of Superman. The entire first act – all 35 minutes of it – felt like a combination of ideas attempting to serve the same message, which read: let’s forget all of the dark, serious themes we’ve developed before and instead produce the funny and colourful movies they’re doing at Marvel. None of said decisions worked to serve the story.

In the midst of this cloud of nonsensical boredom came the reveal of the film’s worst-kept-secret, the villainous Steppenwolf, a character so bland and underdeveloped that his story arc was almost as insulting as the video-game-level CG that Warner Bros used to animate him. Entering the planet via a beam of light he would use to travel with, but conveniently only when he wasn’t desperate or in combat with superheroes, aliens or his own lackies, the villainous Steppenwolf needed to find some boxes for less than clearly defined reasons that would ultimately bring an end to mankind. As such, there was a need to illustrate his strength and dominance, leading the team at Warner Bros to decide that he should destroy almost everything and everyone on Wonder Woman’s home island Themyscira, therefore literally killing the only positives to exist in the DC cinematic universe to date – a quite fitting metaphor for the way Warner Bros have handled their “Justice League” films. It was a mind-bending decision that, much like everything else in this film, failed to serve the story – of film and universe – moving forward.

Said choice was indicative of a creative process at odds with itself; a team of creators forcing their opinions into a mixing pot, the results of which were poured onto screen with little thought for the consequences. The prolonged introductions were the result of failing to prepare the universe in advance and therefore giving each of the characters their own introductions in different films before stitching them together for a team-up; the entire plot of the film was underwhelming and poorly defined as the result of an assumption on the parts of Snyder, Whedon and company that audiences had a pre-existing knowledge of DC comics (ie, the cheapest of all writing tricks) and the generally woeful structure; the poor CG was typical of Warner Bros’ productions for over a decade – including the likes of Harry Potter and Wonder Woman – and is a problem that needs addressing, especially for a film costing $300million, and; the way in which all of these missteps combined still couldn’t forge a memorable moment throughout the entire 2 hour run-time, including the destruction of an entire race of Amazonians (that was somehow about as bland and lacking investment as is possibly believable), is an absolute creative travesty for all involved.

The DC universe is however, despite all the odds, not without hope, and this is entirely because of the manner in which Cyborg and specifically Aquaman and The Flash were handled.

The characterisations of most of the heroes in the film, with the exception of Batman who seemed to revert back to something close to people’s worst nightmares for the character pre-BvS and Superman who they tried to cheer up despite being brought back from the dead, were strong. Each forged their own unique contribution to the story and, despite the convenience through which they all join together, acted almost always by the book of who the characters were introduced to be, never oddly straying from their personas in a way often seen in action movies (notably Fast & Furious). In some ways, the movie’s insistence upon portraying the characters’ quirks damaged the presentation of the villain and the potential for an end of the world coming to pass, but without them the movie would’ve been without redemption and the undoubted end to a waning franchise. At least in this respect, Warner Bros can take hope from their unfortunate mess of a production and press on to an auteur-led future presenting strong and vastly different characters.

Whether the future of Warner Bros’ DC universe goes ahead is a question we’ll be sure to get the answer to in the coming weeks and months, though regardless of where they take the franchise there remains a clear need to drastically change the output from this point. Justice League was an awful movie, whether you like comic books or not, and even with solid characterisations of beloved characters many have wished to be seen on screens for years, there was simply too much that failed in terms of filmmaking, nevermind $300million worth of filmmaking, to make for anything better than what is undoubtedly one of the worst mainstream superhero movies of all time. This is a movie that was more fascinating behind the scenes than it was on the screen, another blotch on the record of Warner Bros’ DC team-up that will be hard to come back from.

6/24

The Snowman (2017)
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Screenwriter: Hossein Amini, Peter Straughan, Søren Sveistrup
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jonas Karlsson, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer, Toby Jones

What the hell happened? That is the major question I asked myself after I left my screening of The Snowman. How could a film helmed by Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Let the Right One In), based on a solid crime novel by Jo Nesbø and starring Michael Fassbender turn out to be such an ineptly made mess?

My suspicion, based on the finished product alone, is that the shoot suffered set-backs, causing a botched edit. The studio may have been unhappy with the original cut, ordering re-shoots and hiring another editor to reshuffle the film. This would explain why Val Kilmer’s words don’t match the movement of his lips (nor does it even sound like the actor), why Fassbender’s hair looks different one scene to the next and why the film has two credited editors.

Set in Oslo, Norway, The Snowman centres on alcoholic cop Harry Hole. Following an extended bender – the opening of the movie sees Hole waking up from a drunken stupor in a children’s playground – the detective returns to his job to find out various women have gone missing. The only noticeable link between them is a freshly built snowman at each crime scene. Teaming with the ambitious but inexperienced Katrine Bratt (Rebecca Ferguson), the two try to find the culprit. Could the crimes be linked to Arve Stop (Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons adding top-layer creep), a governor trying to get Oslo to host a Winter Olympics?

On the brief positive side, the first few scenes of The Snowman are nicely moody. The Norwegian setting looks great and when the editing doesn’t feel cut-up and disjointed, Alfredson’s natural flair for shooting icy environments (as evident in his previous work) is on display. Helped by incredible DP Dion Beebe (a part of Jane Campion’s underrated In the Cut, an adaption of a whodunit done right), he stages a handful of striking moments. In one of these scenes, we see a flock of birds obscuring a patch of land. Gunshot fire causes the birds to disperse and as they do, a mutilated, dis-articulated corpse is revealed, resembling a real-life version of the famous Anatomy of a Murder poster.

The problem is that these well-executed moments are suffocated by an array of problems, most of which are caused by a failure to adhere to basic ideas regarding story and scene construction. The whole point of pairing two mismatched cops is to present them as being awkward at first with a respect and care for one another grown out of that (Lethal Weapon; 48 Hours; Seven; ‘True Detective’; ‘Mindhunter’). In The Snowman, Fassbender and Ferguson’s characters carry out practically separate investigations. Harry Hole doesn’t tell his partner the murderer has been sending him messages or that he’s travelling to Bergen to follow up on a lead. Meanwhile, Bratt has her own agenda which she fails to fill Hole in on.

To be more specific of this overarching problem; why would the film show the baddie sneak into Hole’s apartment and replace his medication with mysterious pills if the movie was never going to mention it again? Wouldn’t it have been exciting if the new tablets had altered Hole’s behaviour in some way? Perhaps by impairing his judgement.

Then there’s the simple filmmaking problems. Harry Hole’s ex-wife (played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, who along with Ferguson and Chloe ‘Snowy’ Sevigny form a trifecta of actresses worthy of more) enters the detective’s apartment as he is listening to music. When he notices her, he takes his headphones off. There’s then a cut to another scene. When we return to Harry and his ex, she is straddling him awkwardly and he’s in the same position on the ground with headphones in. Why would he put them back on?

To compound the nonsensical there is the introduction of Kilmer’s also drunken detective. He’s in conversation with Irish actor Adrian Dunbar’s character. Yet, everytime Kilmer speaks, the film cuts to the back of his head in a clumsy attempt to hide the redubbing. Maybe the Batman star didn’t want to be in The Snowman? I wouldn’t blame him.

5/24

Written by Stephen Porzio

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Well anyhoo…

Kids these days have more superhero movies to choose from than there are to shake a stick at. Is that bad thing? No, not at all! Let’s be honest, it’s a grim world for kids these days and superheroes are the ultimate in fantasy and escapism. Even so, Marvel has absolutely bombarded me with movie after movie to the point that I am sick to my back teeth, yet I remain foolish enough to throw my money at the cinema attendant each time. A decade ago, superhero movies were the major blockbuster event of the year; it was genuinely exciting, especially considering how infrequent they were (these days there’s like 5 superhero movies a year).

Despite my whinge just there, yippee-yay, it has just been announced that a Venom movie is in the works! And to be fair, this is pretty big; the last time we saw Venom was in “Spider-Man 3” (2007) as one of the spooks in the cavalcade of villains; so I bet a lot of Spidey fans will be very happy as many regard the final movie in the original trilogy as abominable.

Now, here comes the bombshell of humiliation.

I really love the original Spider-Man trilogy and I genuinely enjoy the third Spider-Man movie. I have to admit, I have a very soft spot in my heart for Sam Raimi movies – they fall under one of my obsessions, not that I’m the obsessive type *kisses photo of Bruce Campbell * – as I feel everything that Sam Raimi does radiates his infectious humour, and I cannot dislike people who make me laugh. I also cannot help but to respect the guy as he is the epitome of the grassroots movie-making success story: going from making low-tech horrors with his mates from school to becoming the director of the major blockbuster trilogy of the last decade. Most importantly, he has retained the same spirit and style throughout his filmography: you can see a Raimi film a mile-off, as distinctive as Kubrick, Spielberg, and …eeerrr…. Bay(?!) And; what is the essence of his movies? Shameless, grotesquely nerdy, completely goofy, dorkiness.

With the likes of dark and brooding Wolverines, Dark Knights and even surprisingly sombre Supermans that all bring sophistication and edge to the array of comic-book works, what place does this geeky trio of Spidey movies have in this domain? What is their clique? Well, I might just be brave enough to claim that they are one of the most important of all contemporary comic book movies; and the best big-screen adaption of Spider-Man.

Yes I will actually argue these points.

First, Tobey Maguire’s performance as Peter Parker absolutely blows Andrew Garfield’s out of the water. Yes, Garfield’s is better –looking, cooler, grittier. But, Peter Parker is in fact none of these things. He is a loser! He is an anorak with a hopeless crush on a girl who is completely out of his league. He just so happens to be gifted with powers which he got completely by accident. And, despite these wonderful powers, he is still a loser. As Spider-Man’s eminence/infamy grows, Peter gets tossed downstream shit creek without a paddle. There are moments of calmness and happiness but life repeatedly slams its fist into Peter’s gut throughout all 3 movies: his uncle is killed; he gets rejected by MJ on several occasions; his social life dwindles; he is alienated from his friends; his grades suck, and; through it all he has to put up with his Aunt May who seems to be living in the 19^th century. I can’t deny that Garfield’s Parker is more angsty, and I’m not saying that the Original Trilogy doesn’t wrestle with the major character crises as the Amazing Spiderman movies do, but Garfield’s arc is much more of an obvious attempt to portray darkness. However, it is still so much easier to get behind Maguire’s Peter Parker for tragedy hits closer to home when portrayed through comedy, for is it not the small evils of life that slowly chip away at the soul. All the comical slaps in the face, the bullying at school, his encounters with Bruce Campbell (!?), and his doomed quests in love all make Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker more believable: an ordinary bloke with a shit life, trying to make the best of the extraordinary circumstances he has been shoved in. And all those menial trials and tribulations (and Tobey Maguire’s ugly crying faces) makes it so much easier for the audience to place themselves into the role. Thus Maguire’s Parker is more relatable and therefore beloved.

Secondly, the overall goofiness of the movie makes the serious moments far more dramatic in comparison. In movie one, the first act introduces us to the hapless hero and then we are hit with the genesis of the Green Goblin and Willem Dafoe’s scenery chewing, and you are left feeling “is this movie fucking serious?” But no, Uncle Ben’s death comes as a sharp sting which jerks you awake and makes Peter’s resolve to use his powers for good more believable. Peter’s crush on Mary-Jane comes off as a bit losery and even creepy (hello! Unsolicited photos?!) which makes his sacrifice to keep her at arm’s distance at the end of the movie an admirable move in our eyes. It becomes even more tragic in the second movie that despite all of the slapstick routines as Peter tries to maintain a healthy relationship with his friends, his cock-ups mean he nearly loses MJ to a rival. Then, yes, the last movie is way over the top – there is an actual risk of dying of second-hand embarrassment throughout the whole “Bad-Peter” subplot. But poo-pooing that story means you will miss a hugely important point, and this is where Sam Raimi does shine: concealing darkness in the laughter. As Venom digs its claws into Peter’s psyche during the movie, it seems everyone involved in the screenplay and direction had a brain-fart. Surely they couldn’t believe the audience to be dumb enough to accept the portrayal of Peter’s inner demons via guy-liner, an emo fringe and a swagger? Scratch a little deeper though and you can see how terrifying Venom truly is. Peter Parker is undeniably a sweetheart, but once Venom comes on to the scene he does really nasty things like deliberately getting people fired, pushing people’s buttons regarding family life, etc. just to get a rise out of them. Although the “Dig on This!” scene is possibly the corniest in movie history, upon reflection you then realise what Peter is doing: using a woman to get beck at an ex who has lost her dream job. It is so disgustingly vindictive; I mean if my ex did that to me after we broke up I would have probably cried. Think hard and Peter truly appals you in that moment.

Finally, these movies came at a time when people needed them. It is well-known that these Spider-Man movies came out after a tragedy that shook the entire world to its core, but the rest of the world cannot comprehend what it must have felt to be a New Yorker at that time. Of course, a few dumb movies are a drop in the ocean of what could have been done about this whole terrible incident, but this trilogy is undeniably an absolute joy to watch: so funny, so cheesy, the over-acting of the villains, Tobey Maguire’s face, the Saturday Night Fever routines; they can’t help but to cheer you up. Fifteen years on, the patriotism may seem over-the-top but, to be honest, I think it’s a wonderful testament to the spirit of New York: people from all walks of life who stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of adversary. There are plenty of flag-waving moments but one scene stands out. In Spider-Man 2 (the best of the trilogy) Spidey faces down Doctor Octopus who distracts him by setting up a sub-way train to crash. Spider-Man saves them all by stopping the train by his own strength, leaving him in a dead faint. He is caught by the passengers, who pass his limp body back into the train. His mask fell off in the struggle and all the passengers who see his face are left aghast that their saviour is “just a kid”. Still, they all promise to keep his secret. When Doctor Oc comes back for more, all of these ordinary men, women and children put themselves in the way to protect Spider-Man. I can honestly say that in all of the superhero movies I have seen since X-Men (2000), that this is my all-time favourite scene of any comic book movie, even after 12 years. It leaves  me misty-eyed and with a lump in my throat, and I hope that New York is proud that one of the best superheroes movies of all time pays tribute to the goodness of her people.

Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash is probably the surprise of this year’s Oscars season, accumulating 5 award nominations including a nod in the Best Picture category. To-be megastar Miles Teller – of Divergent fame – leads the line on screen with this year’s favourite for the Actor in a Supporting Role category, JK Simmons, providing some world class backup. Whether you’re into jazz or not, you’re probably going to want to see this one.

Remember how the underdog story of Rocky Balboa in the late 70s was game changing in its gritty and down to earth approach? Well, Whiplash is the modern equivalent.

Damien Chazelle and his team have produced a film that retells the classic underdog story of strong American values like working hard and never giving up, and they’ve done it with a drummer trying to make it into a jazz band. Chazelle must be lauded for his achievement of making a 2 hour film with such a simple premise as enticing as this, while basing the story around an incredibly small and relatively unpopular genre in the contemporary music industry. Let’s face it, everyone likes Jazz a little, but it’s rare that you’ll find anyone under 60 that listens to it on their ipod or considers a jazz song to be their all-time favourite piece of music; it’s just not popular. Jazz music wasn’t cool and few people cared too much about it when this film was commissioned, yet the story entices and enriches while never being patronising towards what will be a naïve audience so far as Jazz goes.

Throughout the film we are invited on a ride of emotional turmoil and asked to question what parts of ourselves we’d be willing to go to in order to achieve greatness or even perfection. What would you do to be the best? Whiplash explores what it truly means to commit to your craft. Failed relationships and broken family ties are just scratches of the surface with regard to where this film bravely aims to go, and while success may not necessarily be in the realm of possibility for Miles Teller’s character Andrew, he’s going to make damn well sure that he gets as close to it as he can on both a physical and spiritual level.

Miles Teller is more of a comedic actor by trade – as is his co-star JK Simmons (Juno, Spider-Man) – yet the journey we witness him go on, and the depths we see him sink to, in order to truly prove himself as a jazz drummer are incredibly well presented by the 28-year-old. Andrew (Teller) is the audience’s portal into this world, and it was important to the script that we identified with him as much as he encouraged us to do. One huge plus with regards to this is that Teller actually drummed for himself and there was no use of stunt doubles in any of the scenes. Without Teller being a self-taught musician, the film simply would not have worked. Some of the most moving scenes, the real tough ones to watch, have the camera thrust into or besides the drums, and in seeing the hard work of physical labour and pure determination Andrew puts into his work, we are encouraged to route for him. One particular scene that relied on his musical talent as a necessity was a three way drum-off between Teller’s character and two competitors for the same seat in the band’s first line-up. Teller excelled as the exhausted yet wholeheartedly invested character and really opened up the space for JK Simmons to shine as an aggressive perfectionist seeking the absolute best from his students.

JK Simmons’ performance is no less than a revelation. The critical success he has acquired from this performance is completely deserved because it not only illustrates his incredible emotional range that shoots him from aggressive to upset and right back again, but it also really hooks the story. In many respects, his character is used to change the direction of the plot in most scenes in which he’s involved. This requires a talented presence, and JK Simmons certainly showed that he is more than capable of defining his legacy with this magnificent showing.

Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash shall go down as an important moment in cinema, and its critical success supports that, but with the Academy Awards favourites Boyhood, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel likely to sweep up this awards season, it seems like this modern day Rocky will more than likely be appreciated as time goes on for its timeless look, feel and approach with regard to the ever-so-typical Hollywood underdog story.

22/24