Eddie The Eagle

If you’re looking for an intellectual and in-depth look into the world of Olympic sport, you’ve found the wrong film. If you’re looking for a highly accurate depiction of the life of the real Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, you’re not likely to find that here either. But if you don’t smile at least once during this film, you’re made of stone.

Eddie The Eagle follows the (highly fictionalised) true story of a young man named Eddie Edwards (played by Taron Egerton of Kingsmen fame) who has had dreams of becoming an Olympian since he was a child, however lacks any real athletic ability or talent, and has no idea which event he wants to compete in. After trying and failing repeatedly to impress British Olympic Association representatives and meeting stonewall after stonewall, in steps Bronson Peary (Hugh Jackman), an ex-olympic ski jumper that fell from grace. After much pestering by Eddie, he agrees to coach him (partly in order to save his life) and the pair form an unlikely bond.

The positives: The story is fun and entertaining and definitely has its ‘awww’ moments interspersed with moments of surprising sincerity, where we’re reminded that heart is an important part of being human. The film appeals to a wide audience as this story really could be about anyone, and all of us have been in Eddie's shoes at least once before: the important part is getting back up after a fall and trying again. Eddie’s unfailing optimism that he will succeed makes us care about him, a testament to Edgerton’s acting. Hugh Jackman’s performance as the hardy but somewhat unhinged coach plays well with the slightly off kilter Eddie, and their relationship tends to create much of the comedy in the film alongside the obvious jabs at English sport. Jo Hartley’s performance as Eddie’s mother was also a surprising standout.

The negatives: Although the story is a fun ride, it misses a lot of the charm of an original quirky film and does appeal more towards those who love the formula-style in their movies: there isn’t much in terms of ingenuity or innovation, just a straightforward narrative. Although it’s not necessarily a deal breaker, what you see is essentially what you get, which will be a disappointment for some people if you were looking for that indie film vibe.

Overall, the film has its rough patches and certainly misses its beats here and there, but it hits its target audience and the message of the film is has its charm. Its nice to have a film that reminds us that you don’t always have to win to be a winner.

The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is one of those stories that people of all ages have grown up with, whether it's the books, the original 1967 Disney animated movie or any of the other movie versions that have been released since. The latest version has come along at a time when making a live action version is possible without relying on unpredictable trained animals (like they did in the 90s.) And while there's a lot of good in this movie, there's also a lot of bad.

Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is a young boy who has grown up in the jungle. He was found by the black panther Bagheer (Sir Ben Kingsley) and raised by the wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o). During a peacetime period brought on by drought, Mowgli comes under the attention of the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), who threatens the entire jungle unless Mowgli is turned over to him. Mowgli realises that the best thing for him to do is find his true place in the world and go to the man-village where he was originally from. Along the way, he comes across the snake Kaa (Scarlett Johannson), befriends Baloo the bear (Bill Murray) and angers King Louie (Christopher Walken).

The original Disney animated movie was very much targeted toward kids, no doubt about it. This one, I'm not so sure. Yes, the plot is pretty basic and doesn't need too much attention to follow it, but it is a really intense movie. Every time Mowgli found himself in a dangerous situation, I couldn't help but get caught up in the moment, so I can't imagine how terrifying some of it must have been for kids under ten. The way the world is presented to us is pretty ingenious. Everything seems out of proportion and way bigger than it would be in real life. That's because we're seeing the world through the eyes of a ten year old. Of course elephants will seem like the biggest things in the world. While we're on the topic of the animals, I have to mention how fantastic the visual effects are. So much research must have gone into how each individual animal species moves, because when you see them, you almost forget that they aren't even there with Neel Sethi, yet he reacts amazingly to them.

While all this is great, there are still problems. I felt like some of the characters were only included in the film because the filmmakers felt obliged to put them in there rather than serving any plot points. For me Kaa was the big one. She only appears briefly (basically all her part is in the trailer) and all we want to see from that character is the crazy eyes. The other one is King Louie. I find his character particularly problematic. He doesn't appear in any of the original books, but rather was created for the Disney animated movie. In 1967, I'm sure it was okay to have a parody of a black jazz musician in your movie, but when you've got a very obvious Christopher Walken doing a very obvious impression of a black person (blackvoice?), it goes a bit far. I know Christopher Walken loves to sing, but does he need to? That leads into the next problem. This isn't a musical like the old one, so why shoehorn in two songs. "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You" were the most popular songs from the original sure, but I found that breaking up the action with these songs just pointless.

Overall, the voice cast is pretty solid. Idris Elba and Ben Kingsley are amazing. Elba has a rather menacing voice as it is, but when it's coming from a tiger, well that's just terrifying. Kingsley is such a talented voice actor that you end up paying more attention to his character than the voice. And that's a problem that sticks out with the rest of the characters. The cast is so well known that they become removed from the parts they play. This is most noticeable with Bill Murray who seemed to be playing more of a version of himself than Baloo.

The Jungle Book is hanging in a weird limbo for me. I wouldn't say I particularly enjoyed it, but I wasn't bored. There was always something that was intriguing for me on screen and at times that distracted me from what was going on with the story. I also couldn't help noticing that this movie took some beats from The Lion King, which was a huge distraction.

War Movie Month: The Deer Hunter (1978)

Post traumatic stress disorder is one of the side effects of war that can destroy people's lives (that's not including death, destruction of property and pure terror that are also products of war). Michael Cimino's war drama The Deer Hunter is a film that succinctly looks at the trauma (albeit fictional) that soldiers go through to end up with PTSD.

The movie follows three Russian-American men, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steve (John Savage), all from the same small West Pennsylvania steel mining town, who go off to fight in the Vietnam War. Whilst there, they are captured and made to play Russian Roulette. They escape and Michael returns to America to find that Steve has been terribly injured and Nick is nowhere to be seen.

Michael feels distant and removed from the town he has come back to. This is something that a lot of soldiers have reported feeling once they return from a warzone. This is nothing compared to how the character of Steven feels. Not only is he mentally scarred from the torture that he went through, but he is ashamed of the injuries that he sustained during the war; the loss of both legs, and refuses to see his wife. Nick becomes so unstable that he is unable to recognise Michael when he finds him in an illegal betting ring where the contestants play Russian Roulette.

One of the most remarkable things about this movie is that it was shot all on location. The small mining community of Clairton is comprised of many mining communities in the US and the Vietnam scenes were shot in Thailand, the first movie to shoot a Vietnam War film in that country. Probably one of the most amazing set pieces is the first act of the film, which is Steve's wedding. This was shot in St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Church using an actual priest. This first act goes for an hour and does an amazing job at setting up the characters.

Robert De Niro is as exceptional as you would think in this movie, being on top of his game in the 70s. But his performance is hardly the most captivating. Christopher Walken winning an Academy Award might seem a strange and humourous idea for modern audiences, especially when all you can picture is his strange and signature style of talking, but back in 1978 he didn't really speak like he does now, well not as much. He gives a haunting performance as Nick (short for Nikonar) and is truly deserving of the award he won. The film features a young Meryl Streep who is nearly unrecognisable and this is John Cazale's (The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon) final film before succumbing to cancer, which he had during shooting.

Verdict: The Deer Hunter is a long slog of a movie, but is very rewarding in many ways. Fantastic performances from both De Niro and Walken.

Jersey Boys

It's not that I don't like musicals, nor is it that I don't like the music of Frankie Valli, but something about this movie fell flat. At times it felt derivative and not of the musical in which it is based. Although I do admit it is a very interesting story of how the band, The Four Seasons, became popular.

The film starts in New Jersey in the early 1950s and shows how Frankie Castelluccio (John Lloyd Young) has started out working with friend and two-bit hustler Tommy DeVito (Vincent Piazza), who is also in a band. DeVito works under mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Christopher Walken) who takes an interest in Frankie's ability to sing. Frankie eventually joins DeVito's band, which evolves into the Four Seasons over time. The film then follows the band through their rise to popularity and eventual break-up due to financial troubles caused by DeVito.

Although the film is based on a true story and musical, I felt as though Clint Eastwood was trying to emulate different films, in particular Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. This is mainly because of his use of multiple narrators who directly address the camera. I can see how this works for the musical, each of the main characters having their own monologues to the audience, but I feel the constant breaking of the fourth wall sometimes took away from the story. Perhaps if it were just one of the characters narrating, I wouldn't mind it.

All the performances are spot on, especially Lloyd Young, who appeared in the original Broadway run of the musical. The performance I was a bit disappointed with was from Christopher Walken, who was just playing his character from True Romance. Eastwood even worked himself in with a cameo from one of his movies from the period.

I can't really fault the music because these are songs that have been popular for fifty years or more. Although I wasn't a fan of the encore at the end of the film. Here they bring out all the cast who appeared in the film. This works of course in a stage musical, but not in a film. It's not like we forget who these characters are and it leaves the film on a high note, rather than the sobering end that the previous scene would have left us with, which would suit the overall tone of the film.

Verdict: An inconsistant film adaptation of a musical that I'm sure works really well. Good performances and music help it only so far.