Trailer Talk: The Lost Nocturnal Santa

Certain Women

This looks to be an excellent female-centric performance piece by the likes of Michelle Williams, Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart, but I'm intrigued by whether or not the various plots will be enough to warrant continuous interest. But with good direction, this could be a sleeper hit - at least, critically.

Collateral Beauty

So this looks like an interesting twist on the classic Christmas Carol, but with some iffy screenwriting and some cringe-worthy lines. But at least the all-star cast of Will Smith, Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley look like they'll be great.

Gold

Ack! Balding Matthew McConaughey! This looks to be a good movie, but this trailer delves perhaps a little too deeply into the plot. Granted, that doesn't stop me being interested in what will probably be yet another great McConaughey performance and being able to see Bryce Dallas Howard away from giant animals.

Live by Night

Considering that this is a brand new Ben Affleck-directed movie - his last one being the multi award-winning Argo - it's strange that Warner Bros. would rather release this in January as opposed to prime Oscar time. Especially when you consider that this looks like a solid gangster film with a large ensemble cast. Consider me excited.

Free Fire

Ayy, a new Ben Wheatley film starring recent Oscar winner Brie Larson being in an elongated and riveting gun fight for an entire movie! This looks to be a fun-filled time with some genuinely funny moments, but I pray that it manages to keep interest going throughout rather than get boring quickly.

Fifty Shades Darker

Here we go again... If you recall correctly, I practically boycotted the first instalment in this series, so seeing the franchise continue is partially disheartening. That said, this probably only looks better because of some of its more laughable traits, such as the stalking and the rekindling of an abusive relationship. Don't expect a review unless things get desperate.

Miss Sloane

Why doesn't this film have more traction? Discussions on gun control are more important than ever thanks to the countless attacks on American soil, and this seems like a strong showcase of how the Government and the NRA respond to claims and attempts to put at least some form of ruling to the matters. And with Jessica Chastain of all people in the lead role, this could be a truly strong film. So why isn't anyone talking about it?!

Nocturnal Animals

Critics have been eating this up almost as much as La La Land, and it's hard to deny that they're not wrong. A strong all-star cast, intriguing premise, excellent title... bring it on, Tom Ford.

Trolls

This isn't a trailer. This is a featurette that they're calling a trailer with what's obvious the saving moment of the third act. Do Dreamworks really want this film to succeed? Because with this and the teaser trailer, you'd think they were trying to just to try and commit cinematic suicide?

Moana

I must admit, this trailer hasn't entranced my like the smaller teasers we've seen before, but this longer look still looks like yet another mega-hit for Disney's main focus.

Annabelle 2

Meh.

Who's Your Daddy?

Are they meant to be twins or something? Are there multiple dads? The most I can like is the hitchhiker gag and J.K Simmons just existing.

Passengers

At long last, a glimpse into the film starring Hollywood's two biggest stars right now, and the follow-up for Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum. And while complaints over some potential spoilers make sense, this still looks like a pretty cool movie and one that we've been excited for a reason. Mostly Chris Pratt.

Smurfs: The Lost Village

Hey look, it's the Smurfs! And they appear to be actual Smurfs this time in a world that actually makes sense to be instead of New York or Paris! That's improvement enough for this tease.

Bad Santa 2

Okay, so I've seen Christina Hendricks have sex in a dark alleyway today. Kinda comes out of nowhere in this plotless trailer. I may be new to the series, but please say there's more to it than this.

Fist Fight

Behold: the laziest film premise I've ever seen. Two teachers have a fight on the last day of school right out of nowhere, with seemingly the whole film following Charlie Day trying to "prepare", I assume. Can we just say that Warner Bros. just wanted another Batman V Superman plug?

Ben-Hur (2016) Film Review

If there's one film that can truly rival Ghostbusters for being the controversial remake/reboot to come out this summer, it's Ben-Hur. While most forget that it was itself a remake of silent versions from 1907 and 1925, the 1959 iteration starring Charlton Heston is widely renowned as being an outright classic (winning 11 of the 12 Academy Awards it was nominated for); deemed untouchable for giving the much-dreaded Hollywood treatment of being retold in the same vein as fellow landmark productions like Psycho. But evidently MGM and Paramount Pictures found something interesting in screenwriter Keith R. Clarke (The Way Back) and his script, and pressed ahead on bringing about the classic story once again; hiring Turkish director Timur Bekmambetov (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) to take the reins and to hope that the film can reach the finish line in extraordinary fashion - not taking into account the expectedly high levels of outrage from the general film community for even trying to redo the Heston classic. And with trailers failing to win them over, and an opening weekend in America that only made about 10% of the film's budget, could this film actually be the failure that it was expected to be? 

During the days that Jesus Christ (here played by Rodrigo Santoro), there lived two men who were like best friends: Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Houston), a descendant of a royal family that resides in Jerusalem, and his adopted Roman brother Messala (Toby Kebbell). Following a horse racing accident which nearly claims Judah's life, Messala opts to join the Roman legion and fight on behalf of the Empire; deeming it a more welcoming family than the one that adopted him. Years later, and Messala returns a decorated officer and trusts his brother to inform him of any planned attacks on the visiting Pontius Pilate (Pilou Asbæk), which ultimately occurs when a recovering zealot residing in secret at the Ben-Hur home. Taking the blame in an attempt of keeping the rest of his family – which includes his dear mother (Ayelet Zurer), sister (Sofia Black D'Elia) and wife (Nazanin Boniadi) - safe, Ben-Hur is taken to be a slave in the galleys. When an attack five years later leads to the ship's destruction, and in turn into the hands of Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman), Ben-Hur is granted the revenge he so craves on his dear brother as part of the prestigious and dangerous chariot racing...

With the film sitting at just over 2 hours long and with a number of flashforwards in time, Ben-Hur may not be reaching the same lengths as that its popular version is (3 hours) but it still feels a long-winded and dull tale. While it's understandable as to why the filmmakers would want to worm in an early glimpse at the infamous chariot racing – it is, after all, one of the most famous sequences in cinema – it feels like the longest wait until we get anything close to what they promise for, and when it finally makes its appearance it turns into an incoherent mess (more on that later). We sit through long and tedious discussions about family, betrayal and acceptance before anything remotely interesting happens, and even then we can hardly see what they want to showcase. With an off-putting pace and some cheesy dialogue, it makes this story of family barely tolerable.

The biggest insult comes in with the visuals and the direction. While director Bekmambetov has done fine enough in the past with the likes of Wanted, here he's deemed rather for bringing alive the classic tale of two brothers; bringing about unclear visuals of chariot races and a POV image that feels more vomit-inducing than the entirety of Hardcore Henry (impressive for a 12A). Add some severe shaky camera work and some interesting character placements for certain shots – tied together with some makeshift editing that made it into the final product – and it just looks wrong for a Biblical epic. As for the visual effects, one would assume that the $100m budget went solely towards the actors, set design and costumes, as it's quite possibly some of the worst major effects work seen all year; completely throwing you out of the element by looking at just how drab and gloomy it looks.

 In the titular role of Ben-Hur is Jack Houston, who gives off a fine performance when he doesn't make his voice turn into a Batman knock-off. It's hardly anything special, and hardly a scratch on Heston's award-winning work, but it's good enough to keep watching him crawl through this mess. Toby Kebbell, meanwhile, chews his way through the scenery in a hammy performance that makes you wonder whether after this, Warcraft: The Beginning and Fantastic Four, he should get a new agent, but at least he gets on well with Houston. Morgan Freeman as Ben-Hur's mentor seems to be giving off a performance on auto-pilot – perhaps all his energy is going towards trying to make his wig look realistic – while Messala's version of a mentor (Pilou Asbæk) is barely an influence other being a key part of the Jesus crucifixion storyline. Rodrigo Santoro is your typical Jesus type, so he's technically good enough for the role; Nazanin Boniadi may have more of a presence compared to older versions of her character but still adds little to the overall story; Sofia Black D'Elia and Ayelet Zurer have little purpose; and any remaining co-stars are hardly noteworthy in any sense, way or fashion.

Ben-Hur was never going to be as good as any of its predecessors, but that didn't mean it had to be as bad as it actually ended up becoming. With visuals that make one feel queasy and overstated religious commentary that even the most hardcore Christian would find unbearable, this latest attempt at redoing a classic has fallen flat before it could even do a lap around the race course; a dire and uninspired remake in a time where they're being criticised enough for being lacklustre. 3/10.

Bridget Jones's Baby (2016) Film Review

The Bridget Jones series is an interesting beast because it's forever been riddled with controversy surrounding its titular character's actress, Renée Zellweger. When the time came for the literary character to be brought to life for 2001's Bridget Jones's Diary, the public was baffled by the casting of an American to play an English woman, yet after the release of the film she actually ended up with an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (losing to Halle Berry in Monster's Ball), and the film itself ended up with a slew of award nominations. And while its 2004 sequel – Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason – wasn't quite as well-received it still earned a good amount at the worldwide box office. Move forward a decade later, and the spotlight has been turned to Zellweger again because of her difference in appearance, sparking a controversial editorial by a writer for Variety and a written response from the actress herself. But whilst poor Zellweger has been thrown into a social media mess over the simple effects of ageing, this third entry to the franchise has been embraced – especially in the UK, but not so much by the absent Hugh Grant – and reviews have been positive for this return. But is it just business as usual for the series, and the nostalgia of the past keeping it afloat?  

The last we heard from Bridget Jones, dear lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) had proposed to her with the inclination that the two had finally gotten their happily ever after. But as we see during her 43rd birthday, things haven't entirely gone her way. The two have broken up, and she's back to being a simple singleton; working backstage on a news show and keeping herself occupied with the likes of exercise. She decides that, as a celebration of her age and status, she should try and find fulfilment in life, so she joins best friend and news anchor Miranda (Sarah Solemani) to Glastonbury. It's there that she meets the dashing American Jack Qwant (Patrick Dempsey) – a mathematician who believes he's worked out an algorithm for finding your true love – and the two inevitably find themselves going at it. But less than a week later, Bridget rekindles with Darcy for a night, before deciding against pursuing him once again. But as expected, things don't work out her way, as she ends up (surprise surprise!) pregnant with no idea which one of her suitors the father is. Thus begins a series of events in which she wins over the two men and figure out which would be best for her and her baby – let alone which one the father actually is. 

As a basic plot goes, it's quite standard. Woman sleeps with two men, gets pregnant, tries to keep secret and tries to confront men about it. Add a minor subplot about the workplace being in the midst of a major overhaul by a young and trendy boss (Kaye O'Flynn), and it's a fine enough venture for a continuation of Bridget's story. But thanks to a well-written and occasionally funny screenplay by creator Helen Fielding, actress Emma Thompson (who also has a role as Jones' doctor) and Dirty Grandpa director Dan Mazer, it makes for a more worthwhile experience than one would have expected. While a number of elements are repeated for the sake of making little nods or keeping to conventions – the infamous fighting sequences between the two men, likely to the dismay of some, is limited to verbal comments – and a number of potential interactions with co-stars are squandered for the sake of focusing on the A-plot, it doesn't stop Bridget Jones's Baby from being an entertaining experience, albeit one that doesn't feel all that new.  

In her first role in six years (if you exclude The Whole Truth), Renée Zellweger does a great job at returning to the role that made her a household name. It's clear that she still has a knack as a comedic actress, but she still manages to give it her all during the more sombre moments and continues to sizzle with chemistry with her male co-stars. Colin Firth, having come out of this series a Best Actor winner for The King's Speech, is amusing to watch because he's back in the role of love interest, but he too manages to get back into the role well enough and brings about a different side to things than rival Patrick Dempsey. Dempsey offers a different character to that of the womanising Daniel Cleaver (Grant), and brings about an utterly charming and charismatic persona that instantly wins over any trepidatious viewers, and actually comes across as an arguably better suitor than Firth. Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent as Bridget's parents bring some heartfelt moments when they aren't vouching for a seat in the local government (insert minor commentary on the acceptance of different nationalities and sexualities); James Callis and Sally Phillips as two of her friends make minor but worthwhile appearances; Shirley Henderson not so much; Celia Imrie is wasted in a small role; Sarah Solemani is more often than not an engaging character who's involvement diminishes with each act; Kaye O'Flynn makes for a poor antagonist, and Emma Thompson steals every scene she's in. 

Returning to the director's chair after missing out on The Edge of Reason, Sharon Maguire brings a good sense of ease to the proceedings, and with a clear rapport with the actors to boot. Being friends with creator Fielding certainly helps with getting a good idea of what she'd deem suitable for the feature adaptation. Add some unremarkable cinematography by Andrew Dunn (Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Lady in the Van) and a poor attempt at a CGI landscape – plus a moment of editing which looks like it was pulled directly from the film's marketing campaign – and you have a visually okay movie. 

Bridget Jones's Baby may not feel like the most original or visually engaging film – hell, it's probably not the most original Bridget Jones movie – but with a strong cast of characters and a funny-enough script, it makes the welcome return of Bridget and company a good enough experience that still leaves the door open for future instalments (if there's anywhere for the character to actually go from here). 6/10.