War On Everyone

John Michael McDonagh's latest film could not be further from his last, Calvary, which came out in 2014. Gone is the introspective brooding of that film, instead replaced by stylised gun violence and the lack for societal norms that you wished you had. That's what it seems like on the surface anyway. Deep down, War on Everyone presents a level of nihilism we haven't seen on screen since The Big Lebowski. While philosophy isn't the focus of the film, it plays a big part of who the characters are and justifies their actions.

Bob (Michael Peña) and Terry (Alexander Skårsgard) are two renegade police detectives who have just returned from a suspension they received for corruption, bribery and assault of a fellow police officer. Their newest pet project is blackmailing the shifty "Lord" James Mangan (Theo James) who is plotting a dark business venture with the shady Birdwell (Caleb Landry Jones). They recruit informant Reggie (Malcolm Barrett) to get as much information has he can, while they spend their time drinking, doing drugs and the minimal amount of police work possible. Terry starts a makeshift family with former stripper Jackie (Tessa Thompson) and runaway Danny (Zion Rain Leyba) in an attempt to emulate Bob's family life. 

If there's one thing you're going to do when watching this movie, it's laugh. McDonagh's razor sharp writing is fantastic and portrayed amazingly by both Peña and Skårsgard. Whether it's talking about the ease of finding a black man in Iceland or questioning whether a mime makes a sound if you hit him with your car, the movie is hilarious. McDonagh is also able to handle the issue of race in the United States, and particularly police shootings, with humour as well. The police captain, played by comedy veteran Paul Reiser, is relieved to find that the men shot by a SWAT team were all white, a very interesting, but also sad indictment on the nature of things at the moment. McDonagh also does something very cool with his use of other police officers in the movie, namely that there aren't any. The only connection we ever see Bob and Terry having to anything remotely police is their boss. It furthers their rogue status and makes them that bit more appealing.

This movie also shifts to some very dark elements. When we are first introduced to James Mangan, we see him shooting heroin in the back of a stable. This isn't glossed over in any way and we are shown it in an almost Trainspotting level of detail. Like his last film, McDonagh, handles the subject of child abuse again, although in a much, much darker way. And that's saying something considering Calvary was about the abuse of children by priests. Although it gets extremely dark, it doesn't take anything away from the comedy, in fact it makes you glad there is so much comedy in the film. The shifts that it makes toward the darker parts of the narrative aren't jarring or out of place, they flow in and out quite nicely. The characters, especially Terry, are driven by their central philosophy that nothing in the world has any meaning. He drinks, takes copious amounts of drugs, all because he believes that the world will go on regardless of how he acts. This is refreshing to see in the protagonist of a big budget movie. Alexander Skårsgard's hulking physique also aids this and his posture is an obvious remnant of his recent role as Tarzan.

War on Everyone isn't a movie Hollywood would make. It's dark, depressing and there are moments where you feel terrible for the characters. But there is never a moment where you don't want to be a part of the world in which the characters live. It's beautifully shot and funny as hell. Another must watch for everyone.

The Legend of Tarzan

Before I watched this movie, I had myself thinking that I had never seen a Tarzan movie. But then I remembered Disney's Tarzan and it's TV spinoff, the parody George of the Jungle, the comedy Jungle 2 Jungle and even listened to Baltimora's 1985 hit Tarzan Boy (here's a fun challenge, give that one a listen while you read this). But all of those had a fairly upbeat tone to them. How does the one hundred year old character hold up in this era of gritty reboots? Not as well as it should have.

In 1890, Belgian envoy Léon Rom (Christoph Waltz) has been sent to the Congo in an attempt to make some money for the bankrupt king. He comes across Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), who promises him a lot of diamonds in exchange for the jungle man Tarzan, who killed his son. In England, Tarzan is reformed as Lord Greystoke (Alexander Skårsgard) and has received an invitation to return to the Congo to tour for some publicity. He is initially hesitant to visit, but American spy George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) convinces him to go after hearing rumours of slavery taking place. Tarzan's wife Jane (Margot Robbie) also tags along, but this ends up being a mistake after she is kidnapped by Rom. Of course Tarzan is there to the rescue.

Tarzan suffers from some pretty bland plot problems. After a really interesting hint at some politics and great introduction to Léon Rom, the film just kicks into regular action/adventure tropes that follows perfectly in line with, well, the legend of Tarzan. And while it's not the generic discovery of Tarzan, the return of Tarzan isn't much more interesting. Another thing I found very distracting was the behaviours of some of the animals. Everyone knows that gorillas don't swing from vines and I thought it was really stupid that Tarzan would learn this from them. I would be fine with him developing this technique on his own. There is a heavily proliferation of CGI animals at work here and while it's not as bad as The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we really don't need a cameo from a group of poorly rendered elephants.

The characterisation is at least good. Tarzan is introduced with a shot of disfigured knuckles, a remnant of running around on all fours and although Skårsgard's accent is a bit shaky, his diet of raw eggs and whiskey is something we should all aspire to (take that Rocky). Margot Robbie's Jane offers a lot more than a damsel who's nice to look at. She works well in a sticky situation and her relationship with the African tribes proves invaluable. While I said that Christoph Waltz had an intriguing intro, he ends up being a bit of a generic villain, a thing that he has become lately. Of course, Samuel L. Jackson is there to be the good sidekick as always.

While The Legend of Tarzan promised to give us a different look at the famous jungle man, it ends up being the same old story, with all the elements of his adventure we've come to expect. The only thing missing was his chimpanzee buddy Cheeta.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Marielle Heller's directorial debut The Diary of a Teenage Girl really packs a punch as a confronting film about sexuality, intimacy and coming of age. What sets this film apart from other films in this genre is that it is told through the lens of a teenage girl, and while this is a refreshing approach, it does heighten the tension and make the movie more real.

Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley) lives in 1970s San Francisco with her mother Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) and younger sister Gretel (Abby Wait). She is attracted to her mother's boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skårsgard) and soon begins an affair with him, losing her virginity at the same time. Minnie soon begins an journey of exploring her sexuality joined by her friend Kimmie (Madeline Waters), but at the same time is under the watchful eye of her concerned stepfather Pascal (Christopher Meloni).

What caught me instantly about this movie was its tone. I had initially thought it was going to be a light comedy, and it is pretty funny in places, turned out to be a rather serious drama. And this is definitely a welcome fact. If this movie had been funny the whole way through, I think it would definitely trivialise the subject matter and say "Hey, girls can't be sexual beings." By taking it all seriously, Minnie's journey to adulthood is legitimised. The film's exploration of intimacy and feminism is greatly aided by the characters around Minnie, especially her mother Charlotte and Monroe. The exploration of drug experimentation also feels genuine and a little more scary than that idea of peace loving hippies you associate with experimentation around this time.

Although you could transplant this story into any decade since the 60s and still have it be effective, the choice to set it in the 70s was a good one, especially when you add the San Francisco setting into the mix. The muted colour palatte of the film really lends to that familiar look of the film and the soundtrack really cements this feeling. All the costumes also give the film a great authenticity. The film's editing and camera choices also stick out as technical elements that really help convey some of the subtle emotion of the film.

For someone with such limited screen experience, Bel Powley is a real talent to carry such an emotionally heavy role. Her portrayal of Minnie is authentic and memorable and she really gets into the skin of this heavily conflicted character. Compared to her performance, everyone else seems like they are just playing support roles. Alexander Skårsgard does such an amazing job playing the broken character of Monroe, torn between his love of Minnie and Charlotte. I felt like Kristen Wiig could have been better in this movie, as she definitely has the capacity to play serious roles quite well. I was disappointed that Christopher Meloni didn't have as much screentime as he should, because his performance of psychoanalist Pascal was amazingly intense and he shares a hilarious non-verbal scene with Alexander Skårsgard that had me in stitches. Both Abby Wait and Madeline Waters do fantastic jobs in their first feature roles.

While The Diary of a Teenage Girl may be confronting for a number of reasons, its rawness is really refreshing in a world of movies that are all about perfect people doing perfect things.