Movie Review: Rebecca (2020)

Genre: Romantic Drama Mystery  

Director: Ben Wheatley  

Starring: Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ann Dowd  

Running Time: 121 minutes  

Synopsis: It's the 1930s in Monte Carlo, and the personal assistant (Lily James) to Mrs. Van Hopper (Ann Dowd) meets and falls in love with wealthy widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer). They marry and settle at Maxim's Manderley estate in rural England. The new Mrs. de Winter learns that her predecessor Rebecca was adored before dying in mysterious circumstances, and finds the authoritarian housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Kristin Scott Thomas) protective of Rebecca's legacy. As Maxim grows distant, the new Mrs. de Winter has to uncover secrets of the past.

What Works Well:  The inherent strength of Daphne Du Maurier's story registers first as a romance then a mysterious drama, director Ben Wheatley generally avoiding suspense. The gorgeous sets are straight out of a glossy magazine, with colours popping into images of wealth. Kristin Scott Thomas perfects the tight condescending smile and resolutely commits to Danvers as a guardian of the past, while the new Mrs. de Winter's unsettling experiences reach a peak during a costume ball that veers into a gargoylian nightmare.

What Does Not Work As Well: Compared to Hitchcock's mood-rich version, the attractive locales here remain soulless, and the two main performers struggle for depth, never rising above the status of intruders from a different era. Armie Hammer lacks the necessary darkness to convey complex grieving, and Lily James is too obviously a misfit in Manderley's world. After a careful set-up, the final act is a jumbled rush, depriving the momentous revelations of any time for reflection.

Conclusion: Enjoyable vintage imagery but lacking the corresponding substance. 



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Movie Review: The Dig (2021)

An archeological drama, The Dig ignores historical relevance in favour of bland side stories.

The setting is 1939 in Suffolk, England. War against Germany appears to be a certainty when widowed landowner Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires unconventional archeological digger Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate mysterious mounds on her estate. Brown has no formal training but a lifetime of hands-on experience. He gets to work, and bonds with Edith's young son Robert. Edith also recruits her cousin Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn) to help.

Brown soon makes a stunning discovery: he uncovers a ship from the Anglo-Saxon era, with a burial chamber containing treasure. Officials from the British Museum led by Charles Phillips (Ken Stott) arrive, declaring the discovery of national importance and sidelining Brown. Stuart Piggott (Ben Chaplin) and his wife Peggy (Lily James) are among the professional archeologists brought in to work the site. All is not well in the Piggott marriage, and Peggy is soon attracted to Rory.

The true story of the discoveries at Sutton Hoo deserve cinematic treatment, but The Dig wastes a good opportunity. Writer Moira Buffini deems the artefacts of minimal interest, and barely invests any time explaining the history, relevance, or science. Instead, the narrative is quickly distracted by dreary tidbits: Edith's illness, Robert's obsession with comics and astronomy, huffy museum types attempting to derail the dig, and the snobbery of elitist professionals dismissing Brown's contribution.

With Buffini and director Simon Stone demonstrating no confidence in the ability of the actual subject matter to command interest, the second half is comprehensively derailed by a tepid love affair between Peggy as the bored wife of an archeologist (her husband Charles is presented as gay) and Rory as the cousin of the land owner. Two tertiary characters, barely relevant to the story, are allowed to subsume one of Britain's most important archeological discoveries. 

Mike Eley's rural cinematography is evocatively drenched in countryside browns, and the background snippets of a country slipping into a world war are effective in conveying a time and place. Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes are suitably restrained, but The Dig is nevertheless mired in its own tripe.



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Movie Review: The Exception (2016)

A World War Two spy story and romance, The Exception offers good ingredients for a wartime thriller but the mix is lumpy.

In 1940, the Nazi war machine rolls into Holland. Captain Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney) is assigned to protect Germany's former Kaiser Wilhelm II (Christopher Plummer), who has been living in exile in Utrecht since the humiliating defeat of the Great War. Brandt, who has a chequered military career history, immediately starts a steamy affair with the Kaiser's Dutch housemaid Mieke de Jong (Lily James).

Dietrich (Mark Dexter) of the SS is looking for a British spy in the area and warns Brandt there may be a plot to assassinate the Kaiser. Meanwhile, the Kaiser's wife Princess Hermine (Janet McTeer) still dreams of a return to the throne, and her hopes are elevated when Heinrich Himmler (Eddie Marsan) plans a visit.

Filled with sharp uniforms, the cockiness of a victorious army on the march, high-level intrigue, cross-generational tension, and slick styling, The Exception provides swirling chicanery on many fronts. It is never less than engaging, but also lacks narrative focus. The Simon Burke script, adapting the book by Alan Judd, creates plenty of overlapping characters, events and competing agendas. But director David Leveaux struggles to find a focused thrust, and the film divides its energy among multiple protagonists.

At various times The Exception wears the coat of different movies. Mieke is a spy on a mission, Brandt is charged with protecting the Kaiser, and their urgent love affair creates a potential collision course, even before she reveals another secret. But not satisfied with the story of dangerous lust, the film invests plenty of time on the parallel story of the Kaiser and his wife.

Wilhelm is still re-living the agony of defeat and exile, refusing to accept his role in the subsequent humiliation of his people. The nakedly ambitious Hermine believes redemption is close at hand and insists on plotting a return to the glory of the throne. Caught between them is Colonel Sigurd von Ilsemann (Ben Daniels), the Kaiser's loyal attendant, who understands that Wilhelm's open disdain of everything the Nazis stand for is unlikely to endear him to the likes of Himmler.

And so The Exception often forgets the spy story in favour of grandiose scenes of Christopher Plummer holding court with suspect proclamations about the past and the present, then shifts again to an appropriately nervous Janet McTeer betting everything on a return to Berlin. Meanwhile Dietrich and Brandt circle each other like two wolves about to engage in battle, while the scenes between Jai Courtney and Lily James alternate between hot sexuality and cold spy games.

Despite the absence of a singular purpose, director Leveaux adds a gloss of quality to all the mini plots, the Kaiser's grand mansion and surrounding estate providing a rich visual setting for the multiple dramas. The Exception may not quite know which plot to chase, but looks quite good testing them all out.

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Movie Review: Yesterday (2019)

A music-inspired romantic comedy with a fantasy premise, Yesterday combines the songs of The Beatles with an appealing and lighthearted story about the lure of fame.

In England, Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is an unknown struggling singer songwriter close to giving up on the dream of a music career. His manager and agent Ellie (Lily James) has steadfastly supported him since grade school, but their relationship never progressed beyond friendship. A mysterious global power blackout lasts for 12 seconds, during which Jack is hit by a bus.

He wakes up in hospital, and upon recovering is stunned to realize he is the only person on earth who knows who The Beatles are. The Fab Four (along with a few other iconic items) appear to have never existed. Jack senses an opportunity to claim The Beatles' catalogue as his own work. He is soon discovered by Ed Sheeran (playing himself) and business manager Debra Hammer (Kate McKinnon), and sets off on a wild ride towards superstardom, but at a cost to his relationship with Ellie.

Tapping into the eternal magic of The Beatles' music, Yesterday sets off to explore the conflict between fame and fulfilment. The film is elegantly paced and earnestly staged by director Danny Boyle, and benefits from agreeable performances from Patel and James, with a terrific assist from McKinnon.

Richard Curtis conjured up the script, and uses the global memory hiccup as a humorous launching off point to delve into eternal conflicts. Jack can achieve everything he ever wanted if he can just continue to lie to himself and turn away from Lily's adoration. Keeping one secret and losing one woman will allow him to become the world's biggest music star, and Yesterday playfully toys with Jack's internal agony as he gets to decide which version of the future he will seize.

The romance between Jack and Ellie underpins the story. The two are perfectly suited to each other but in their ten years as friends and business partners never found the courage to express their true feelings. Now with fate and fame intervening it may all be too late, but Curtis keeps the flame flickering, with both demonstrating vulnerability to provide the film with its human warmth.

Elsewhere McKinnon gets the best one-liners as the acerbic music manager fully in charge of the industry machinery and just as fully fixated on the bottom line, while Joel Fry as accidental roadie Rocky provides laidback comic support. Ed Sheeran lends plenty of star power and credibility as the already-there superstar paving the way for the next and greater talent to emerge.

With the clever cosmic twist deployed to tangle up would-be lovers in a global knot filled with delicious pitfalls and opportunities, Yesterday is suitably inspired by music that changed the world. 

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Movie Review: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

A musical sequel celebrating more of ABBA's tunes, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again manages to easily outperform the original.

On an idyllic Greek island 10 years after the events of the first film, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is planning the grand reopening of the hotel Bella Donna, now named in memory of her mother (Meryl Streep) who passed away a year earlier. Sophie's marriage to Sky (Dominic Cooper) has hit a road bump, and her mother's former bandmates Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Waters) arrive to cheer her up. Sam (Pierce Brosnan) is the only one of her three "dads" in attendance, with Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) tied up in prior engagements.

In flashback, the adventures of young Donna (Lily James) after graduating from college are recalled. Eager to escape from her mother, Donna travels the world, meets the young and flustered Harry (Hugh Skinner) in Paris and then adventurous sailor Bill (Josh Dylan) in Greece. Upon arriving at the island, Donna falls for the dishy Sam (Jeremy Irvine). She has quick affairs with all three, but is soon alone on the island, carving out her new life only to discover she is pregnant. Back in the present, Sophie's plans for a celebration are disrupted by the weather and plenty of unexpected party attendees.

While it was admittedly a low bar to step over, Here We Go Again is an effortlessly better movie than its clunky predecessor. Directed and written by Ol Parker, the sequel is freed from the stage musical, and also delves deeper into the ABBA catalogue. This proves to be a blessing: with less emphasis on singalong moments, Here We Go Again not only demonstrates the remarkable breadth of the Swedish group's talent but focuses more on plot, characters and storytelling, and the result is a much more engaging viewing experience.

Also working in the film's favour is the split between two stories: Sophie's present-day sorrow at losing her mother and determination to celebrate her memory are made so much more powerful and poignant with the flashback scenes of Donna as a young vivacious woman finding herself and influencing the lives of three men in quick succession. Despite being full of music and telling two stories, Here We Go Again clocks in under two hours, Parker demonstrating admirable restraint and stopping every scene and musical number before excess creeps in.

Despite the flightiness, many creaky moments, acknowledged silliness and prevalent self-awareness, Parker manages to scale some emotional heights. Early on Sophie and Sky sing One Of Us oceans apart but together through some beautifully fluid camera and editing work. Past the halfway mark a small flotilla arrives at the island to the timeless tune of Dancing Queen, injecting the film with a large dose of nostalgic jubilation. And the affecting climax features a genuinely tender reunion of mother and daughter across a generation to the tune of My Love, My Life.

The talented Lily James as the young Donna adds immeasurably to the film, and shares the load with Amanda Seyfried, both actresses knowing their way around delivering a song with conviction but without pretensions. Streep gets just the one song, but absolutely crushes it. Cher appears late on, voice intact but otherwise a walking (barely) advertisement about the perils of Botox and plastic surgery.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is fun, frivolous and silly, all as expected, but unexpectedly also quite decent.

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The Movies Of Lily James

All movies starring Lily James and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Cinderella (2015)

Burnt (2015)

The Exception (2016)

Baby Driver (2017)

Darkest Hour (2017)

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

Yesterday (2019)

Rebecca (2020)

The Dig (2021)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Darkest Hour (2017)

A biographical character study, Darkest Hour captures a leader rising to the challenge. Primarily a celebration of Gary Oldman's acting in the role of Winston Churchill, the film otherwise traverses overly familiar historical territory.

It's May 1940, and with the Nazis sweeping across Europe, the British Parliament loses confidence in Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup). His conservative party reluctantly replaces him with the abrasive Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman), a decision that underwhelms King George VI (Ben Mendelsohn). Churchill's new secretary Elizabeth Layton (Lily James) bears the brunt of his acerbic attitude.

Despite the encouragement of his wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), Churchill is aware that he has achieved his life's ambition at the worst possible time: France is capitulating, Belgium and Holland cannot withstand the Nazi assault, and the British army is falling back to Dunkirk, their backs to the water with the Navy seemingly helpless to mount a rescue. With members of his cabinet arguing for a negotiated but humiliating peace, Churchill has to define a position for his fractured government and chart his nation's course through history.

Directed by Joe Wright, Darkest Hour zooms in on Churchill's first month in office. The film delves into the psyche of a man thrust into the most difficult leadership position in the free world at age 66, as western civilization crumbles under the boot of fascism and the United States stubbornly holds on to a policy of non-involvement. Churchill only became Prime Minister due to his well-known and uncompromising hatred of Hitler, and yet here he was in a position of power and being advised to sue for peace.

Wright centres the film on this deeply personal dilemma, with Churchill isolated from his own party and disconnected from the people, forced to make a literally existential decision days into his mandate. The film uses its artistic license to dramatize some pivotal moments, and Wright makes good use of a (more than likely) imagined turning point on the London subway system.

Darkest Hour touches on the actual events of the raging war with a light brush. A couple of artistically rendered scenes convey a taste of events in France, as Churchill comes to grips with an army in full retreat and the enormous responsibility of issuing orders that cost human lives. But most of the film takes place in London, in Churchill's home and in his war bunker, with Wright limiting his scope to the political, personal and national calculus going on in his head.

The film is therefore primarily composed of Churchill's often verbose conversations with his wife, his political rivals, and the King. Patience is required as the machinery of government under Churchill kicks into gear and he comes to terms with his available options. Wright tries to flesh out the drama with some pointed contributions from wife Clementine, the still-influential Chamberlain, other politicos including Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane), secretary Layton (representing the common people) and the King, but they remain fleeting characters who barely progress beyond the most basic definitions.

An intensely personal drama demands an immersed central performance, and Gary Oldman delivers in the role of his career. Under layers of makeup, Oldman disappears into the Prime Minister and dominates the screen, humanizing the man behind the myth as burly and boorish but conflicted, not yet having hit his stride but clearly possessing an enormous if stubborn heart.

With the destination of the film never in doubt and the secondary characters not much better than window dressing, Oldman is the one reason Darkest Hour works.

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Movie Review: Baby Driver (2017)

A stylish, artistic and hyperkinetic action film, Baby Driver excels at burning rubber to a thumping soundtrack. Humour, idealized romance and violence have rarely mixed better.

In Atlanta, an orphaned young man known as Baby (Ansel Elgort) works as the getaway driver on jobs planned by master criminal Doc (Kevin Spacey). Constantly listening to music to counteract severe tinnitus and push away the demons of his parents' death, Baby owes Doc a debt, and is working it off as the wheelman in a series of high profile armed heists. Baby lives with the elderly and deaf Joseph (CJ Jones), who is supposedly his foster father although Baby now looks after the wheelchair-bound old man.

Doc's regular gang members include the quiet but dangerous Buddy (Joe Hamm), his girlfriend Darling (Eiza González), Griff (Jon Bernthal) and the slightly unhinged Bats (Jamie Foxx). In between jobs Baby meets diner waitress Debora (Lily James), and the two start a relationship and plot a future life away from Atlanta. But Doc will not let Baby go easily, and one final job takes a dangerous turn.

Written and directed by Edgar Wright, Baby Driver exudes a sense of detached cool. The film is modern-day full length music video, largely disconnected from reality and fully embracing stylized and high revving action as its primary mission. That Wright also provides a reasonably interesting, rounded and conflicted central character in Baby is a bonus, although Baby's exceptional skills behind the wheel and his overall calm demeanour in the face of unfriendly villains and street level carnage stretches all credible limits.

But none of that really matters, as character realism is a distant objective in this narrative. Similar to 1978's sparse The Driver (and much less similar to 2011's brooding Drive), Baby Driver sets out to create insane excitement through a series of breathless urban chase scenes with an aloof protagonist in the driver's seat, and succeeds in creating some of the best sequences of grounded automotive mayhem. At once modern and old-fashioned, Wright threads the needle by keeping the action just on the right side of plausible in relative cinematic terms.

The action scenes are properly spaced out to allow the story breathing room to progress, and when they do arrive, no effort is spared to maximize the highest possible revolutions per minute.

And it's all set to the music mix playing through Baby's earbuds, Baby Driver an audio experience as much as it is a visual feast. Baby's mother was a musician, and he insists on having the right tune playing at exactly the right time even when anarchy is about to be unleashed. Wright grabs a lot of tense and fun mileage by having his young hero insist on synchronizing his life to his chosen soundtrack, no matter what is happening around him.

While Baby is an innocent among wolves, the evil doers surrounding him are not kidding around. Buddy, Darling and especially the appropriately named Bats are various degrees of crazy, and this is a violent film where obscenities, threats, shootouts, corrupt cops, blood, violence and various forms of gruesome death are thrown at the screen. The contrast with Baby's sweet budding romance with Debora is sharp, Wright giving his young hero every opportunity to differentiate himself from the sordid world created by the likes of Doc.

Hip, unflappable and built for speed, Baby Driver rocks to his own tunes.

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Movie Review: Cinderella (2015)

A fairy tale fantasy romance, Cinderella hits perfectly pure notes in retelling the story of one woman overcoming hate with kindness.

Ella (Lily James) is simple rural girl brought up by kindly parents. Her mother dies when Ella is still a child, and on her death bed she pleads with Ella to always have courage and be kind. Her father (Ben Chaplin) remarries, but Ella's new Stepmother (Cate Blanchett) is an evil and selfish woman, while her two step sisters Drisella and Anastasia are conceited and rude. When Ella's father dies, her Stepmother reduces her to the status of a maid and the stepsisters nickname her Cinderella. Her only friends are a group of house mice, but still Ella does not lose her commitment to kindness.

On a ride through the forest Ella has a brief encounter with the charming Prince (Richard Madden), and the two are immediately enchanted with each other. The Prince is about to succeed his ailing father the King (Derek Jacobi), and a grand ball is arranged for the Prince to choose a wife, with all the maidens in the land invited. Stepmother and the two stepsisters get themselves ready, but cruelly prevent Ella from attending the ball -- until Cinderella's Fairy Godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) intervenes.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Disney's live action non-musical remake of the 1950 animated classic creates magic of its own. Targeting a family audience with a laser focus on story rather than sarcasm, irony, or gimmicks, Cinderella is a throwback to simpler times, and yet effortlessly succeeds in updating the message of tolerance and hope in the face of animosity and antagonism.

Recognizing the inherent magic of the story, the film steers well clear of silly cutesiness. There are no talking animals and the few friendly mice and one mean cat are deployed in just the right amount. Otherwise Branagh allows the film to breathe deeply from the magical fantasy elements. A particular highlight is the centerpiece palace ball scene, starting with the Fairy Godmother's arrival all the way through to the carriage turning back into a pumpkin. The CGI is seamlessly woven into the action, with editing smooth enough for eyes young and old to appreciate the wizardry.

It's not easy updating the character of a genuine Ella for a more modern audience, but the Chris Weitz screenplay focuses on virtues of tolerance and kindness reinforced with steely determination, and Lily James pulls off the role with glowing restraint. The Stepmother tests the limits of Cinderella's compassion, Cate Blanchett amplifying the character's hateful attributes while just hinting at a woman gone stone cold due to a stream of broken expectations.

The film looks rich and magnificent, with colours often subdued around Ella to allow her to literally shine. The sets are grand and imposing, Branagh finding impressive perspectives to fill the screen with activity and detail. The story may be familiar, but with charm and ambition, this Cinderella earns her own place as an inspiration for young hearts and minds.

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