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Denmark (2019)
Bittersweet gem
Rafe Spall gives a memorable performance in this bittersweet fish-out-of-water comedy drama.
It slowly dawns on me after 10 minutes that Adrian Shergold also helmed Funny Cow, one of the bleakest dramas of recent years. He's a master at constructing compelling dramas with characters trapped in joyless personal prisons.
In this case it's Herb, a 34-year-old Welshman with a knack for fixing things. But he can't get a proper job, has an estranged son; he's lost his welfare; has a neighbour who plays incessant music, and Herb's diet consists mainly of cheap beer and mushy peas.
Little wonder he's so depressed.
After discovering Danish convicts live a luxurious life he could only dream of, Herb decides to travel across Europe with one goal: to get arrested and sent to a Danish prison.
However, after meeting Mathilda, a local barmaid, and a lovable stray dog who won't leave his side, Herb realises that prison may not be his only chance to get the life he hoped for.
Though the film could become a generic romcom, with Herb drifting into a ready made family, it's not quite so formulaic as that. As the tale unfolds, it's hard not to hope Herb will do the right thing, but he's a troubled soul. To paraphrase Springsteen, like a dog that's been beat too much, he's damaged by circumstances, and those wounds don't heal overnight.
As with Funny Cow, Richard Hawley provides some terrific songs, and Jeff Murphy's script never strikes a false note.
With a star-making turn from Simone Lykke as Mathilda, this really gets under the skin. At 91 minutes it never outstays its welcome, and the fact it left me hungry for more is testament to its success.
Rafe Spall has long been one of showbusiness's most in-demand actors, and this is one of his finest turns to date.
Highly recommended.
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II (2006)
Phenomenal
I spent days on this amazing game. Bought it in 2009, played the multiplayer until the online facility stopped, but still spent an age after that playing the assorted maps. In my top five of greatest of all games, and beautifully rendered. A third game would be very welcome.
Pernicious (2014)
Horrible
Just a tension-free torture porn excuse for scenes of torture. As morally bankrupt as a Wall Street trader in 2007.
Flatliners (2017)
Same old story, new Page
Joel Schumacher's overly stylish med students-kill-and-resurrect-themselves-for-kicks thriller was one of the more original films of 1990.
Nobody was desperate for a remake, but with Ellen Page and original star Kiefer Sutherland on board, the going looked good.
Alas, the result looks like a straight-to-DVD thriller with Page, Sutherland and a barely understandable Diego Luna heading a no-name cast.
Once more eclectic med students decide to endure short-term death for the sake of hyper intelligence: the latter aspect a bit like Limitless.
Naturally there's a price as demons from their past come back to haunt them.
It starts off well. But once the dream turns into a nightmare, it looks like every thriller from the past 30 years.
Flashes of The Ring and Final Destination will leave you rolling your eyes.
Director Niels Arden Oplev did a great job with the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but here he's still sold short with a humdrum script.
Flatline it does.
5/10
Solis (2018)
A white-hot, white-knuckle ride
Most of time when I see films I've visited the set of, it's via a screener on my iPad where most of the effect is lost. But occasionally I get invited to see the finished thing. Such is the case with new sci-fi thriller Solis.
I was there on day one of the shoot and had a good feeling about the production.
Given the fact I've been hyped about the production for 19 months, finally seeing the movie at a cast and crew screening in London is a relief, then an edge-of-the-seat, pulse-pounding, breathless rollercoaster ride.
Imagine a mash-up of Danny Boyle's Sunshine, Gravity, The Martian, and Tom Hardy's Locke and you get an idea of the tone and setting, yet it's not a clone of any of those but very much its own beast.
Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead) gives a terrific performance as Troy Holloway, the sole survivor of an escape pod on a collision course with the sun. His single contact is Roberts, the crackly voice on the end of his intercom; the audio lifeline who will stop at nothing to save him.
Alice Lowe is superb as the lone voice in the darkness, and as Holloway encounters one problem after another, it's not just Troy who clings to Roberts as the voice of sanity. The audience will no doubt use her as a checkpoint after each breathless hurdle.
Like Alien, the first act is a world-building exercise, even if that world is space and a shuttle for most of the movie.
Solis was shot on a shoestring, but it looks like it cost a lot more because of the calibre of the cast and crew. Had Hollywood shot the same film with a bigger cast and production team, and more lavish effects, I doubt it would have been any more successful. (Take a bow Viridian FX for some excellent work).
The photography by Bart Sienkiewicz is terrific, while production designer Tony Noble (Moon) and his team do a great job with the old school look of the movie.
By the third act I was gripped as Solis reached its natural conclusion, yet it's such a lean production, the bits you think will round things off don't come. Not a bad thing as it left me hungry for more. Yes I'm being deliberately vague because I don't want to give anything away.
I have no doubt Hollywood will be banging on the door of Carl Strathie in the near future. And having been on the set of his next move Transience (aka The Encounter), I can't wait to see how that plays out. (Alice Lowe also features in that offering for reference).
If you get a chance, see Solis on the big screen. It sounds great; the groaning metal and cracking glass are almost characters in their own right.
Music (or a lack of it) is crucial to any movie's success, and David Stone Hamilton does a terrific job of adding a grandiose feel to the drama. He's another rising star who will be snapped up for blockbusters in the near future.
I explain to producer Charlette Kilby after the screening that film makers are futurists, and reviewers are historians, examining the light from their star that was created years ago. It's an apt analogy for any sci-fi movie.
I have a feeling fans will be examining Solis's glow for some time.