Les Miserables (2012)

Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Aaron Tveit, Samantha Banks, Daniel Huttlestone
Certificate: 12
Genre: Musical, Drama
Awards: Best supporting actress (Hathaway), best make-up, best sound

Les Miserables is an adaptation of the musical adapted from Victor Hugo's book. In this version almost every line of dialogue is sung, which may make it difficult for some people. The story takes place in early 19th century France and mostly follows Jean Valjean (Jackman), a bread thief who breaks his parole, and Javert (Crowe), the police inspector trying to track him down. The film spans a vast number of years during the cat and mouse chase in which many other events take place, such as a factory worker being kicked into squalor and an attempted revolution.

For those not against musicals, Les Miserables is a very enjoyable film with its all star cast belting out their dialogue with brilliant songs. Whilst some have criticised Crowe's performance, he is not terrible to listen to and any flaws simply add to his character. The film is also incredibly stylised visually to create a picture like the artwork of the time. Similar to Barry Lyndon, yet perhaps more obviously computer generated.

The musical dialogue may perhaps stop the characters from becoming more complicated yet they still work as stock types that tell a story. There are still amazing moments within each character's ark that can bring a smile or tears, such as the first kindness shown to Veljean, the revolution's outcome and Fantine (Hathaway)'s fall.

Les Miserables is a triumph in the genre of the musical and works well as a great epic. The cast shine and the songs remain in one's head for days afterwards. The "live" performances may perhaps not add much but it is still extremely enjoyable in its own right.

****Good

War Book (2014)

Director: Tom Harper
Starring: Ben Chaplin, Shaun Evans, Sophie Okenedo, Kerry Fox, Phoebe Fox, Antony Sher, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Adeel Akhtar, Nicholas Burns
Certificate: 15
Genre: Drama
Awards: None

For years, civil servants have played a game of "what if", where they plan for a hypothetical threat towards nuclear war. In 2014, things go more or less the same except a minister has taken the place of one of the civil servants.

War Book is a film that creates or the twists and turns through its dialogue and it does create a gripping narrative. One crucial reveal changes the whole context of the story and makes it a much scarier tale.

yet, whilst the overall story is told well, the individual characters all fall slightly short. None are given to much focus, but enough to make you expect more. Some characters are given a slightly mysterious backstory and motive that is never really fully grasped whilst others have traits brought to the forefront that are not touched upon again.

War Book is an enjoyable film but it doesn't do anything too special to make it stand out against its peers and people may be disappointed at how far it goes with it's potential.

***Okay

Chicago (2002)

Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Taye Diggs, Dominic West
Certificate: 12
Genre: Musical, crime
Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Zeta-Jones), Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Sound

Chicago is a musical that features Roxie Hart (Zellweger), a wannabe singer and dancer who is sent to prison for shooting a man she was having an affair with. The story tells of her trial and how she became a public star because of the publicity garnered by her lawyer, Billy Flynn (Gere) as he contorts the truth in order to make her a much more poplar and relatable character.

Chicago is a very stylised, with its musical parts often taking place outside of reality in order to show what is happening. This allows for a great juxtaposition between Roxie's experience and her perception of her experience that, like Scorcese's underrated The King Of Comedy, can lead to the ending to become questioned for its validity.

Whilst Zeta-Jones won the oscar for best supporting actress, I would argue that her performance and character are in fact the least interesting. Zellweger's ditzy but ambitious protagonist, Gere's trickster lawyer, Reilly's pathetic husband and Latifah's charismatic gaoler all play much greater roles in the story and leave a greater mark behind once the credits have rolled.

All in all, Chicago is an enjoyable film with glitz and glamour all over the place. It's stylish, it's sexy and has lots of songs that are pleasing to hear.

****Good

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Kruger, Steven Berkoff, Leon Vitali, Michael Hordern
Certificate: PG
Genre: Drama
Awards: Best Cinematography, Best Art-decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Music Adaptation

Barry Lyndon is Kubrick's attempt to create a cinematic painting, recreating the 18th century with the odyssey of it's titular character as he rises to aristocracy and falls once more into obscurity. Over the course of the film, Barry joins two armies and makes many friends, lovers and enemies throughout his adventure.

Every shot of the film looks absolutely gorgeous as the special lenses used so that everything could be filmed in natural light works wonders. Barry Lyndon can easily be said to be one of the best looking films in cinematic history, with its costumes, sets and the cinematography that takes away the layers in order to give it a much more artistic look.

The story is also an enthralling collection of events that allow character after character to shine yet O'Neal's main character could be argued to be the least interesting character in the film (or at least in act 1) but he still mashes all the events and characters together whilst having an ark of his own.

Barry Lyndon is undoubtedly another great film by Kubrick and could easily sit alongside Paths Of Glory, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange any day. Perhaps not the most accessible of his films due to it's length and plot but it is worth it if you watch it.

*****Brilliant

Topsy-Turvy (1999)

Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Ron Cook, Shirley Henderson, Martin Savage
Certificate: 12
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Awards: Best costume, best make-up

Topsy-Turvy is a period piece that follows Gilbert (Broadbent) and Sullivan (Corduner), the playwright and composer after their latest play fails to become a hit. The two big names begin to bicker and fall apart until Gilbert gets a stroke of influence from a Japanese show, leading to The Mikado

Perhaps the greatest thing about Topsy-Turvy is the recreation of 19th century London, with sets, costumes and make-up all shining through to create a world not often seen in British Film. The recreation of Gilbert & Sullivan's shows are also brilliant to watch with each play feeling completely different to the others.

Whilst Broadbent does a good job in portraying the witty and moody Gilbert, it is Corduner who shines here as the cheerful Sullivan who seems to be friendly with everyone, and therefore becoming perhaps the most enjoyable character. The supporting cast are also great with notable performances by Timothy spall and Shirley Henderson as stage actors whilst a pre-Gollum Andy Serkis is memorable as a choreographer.

Topsy-Turvy may not be for everyone, (the stage play segments can feel like they drag on for some) yet it cannot be denied that it is beautiful looking film with some great performances. Perhaps not as enthralling as Mike Leigh's more depressing pieces, it is still very, very entertaining.

****Good

Battle Royale II: Requiem (2003)

Directors: Kinji Fukasaku, Kenta Fukasaku
Starring: Shûgo Oshinari, Tastsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda, Ayana Sakai, Riki Takeuchi, Aki Maeda, Takeshi Kitano
Certificate: 18
Genre: Action, Sci Fi
Awards: None

Battle Royale was a stunning film featuring schoolchildren forced to kill each other by an uncaring government. Like its american cousin, The Hunger Games, the sequel steps away from the concept that made it so intriguing and takes thing to a level of army vs army. A story much less unique.

Since surviving the Battle Royale, Shuya Nanahara (Fujiwara) has created a resistance group that has declared war against all grown ups. This declaration gains the response of Japan sending another class of schoolchildren to kill Shuya and disband his group. Among them are the violent tempered Takuma (Oshinari) and Shiori (Ai Maeda), the daughter of Kitano (Kitano) - the teacher who ran the last Battle Royale.

Whilst not as terrible a film as many would lead you to expect, Battle Royale II cannot compete with its predecessor. Although its much more action packed, there is less interest as most of the characters are completely forgettable whilst the plot complicates and then falls under its own weight (although Battle Royale suffered from this problem at its conclusion).

Battle Royale II is not a terrible film yet it is still a disappointing follow up, perhaps due to the death of original director Kinji Fukasaku at the beginning of filming. The potential was still there yet it seemed that the outcome was slightly different to intended.

***Okay