Florence Foster Jenkins

British director Stephen Frears is well known for his heavily dramatic movies like The Queen and Philomena. Even the comedies he has directed tend to be on the heavier side. Because of that inclination, a conventional comedy like Florence Foster Jenkins seems like an odd choice for him. Combine that with the fact that the story isn't that interesting, makes it an even more confusing choice.

In 1944 New York, Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) and her husband St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) are patrons of the music scene in the city, putting on many concerts at The Verdi Club, a concert hall that they founded. Florence decides soon that she wants to put on a concert of her own to display to the public her singing skills. St. Clair hires pianist Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg) to accompany her, but he soon discovers that she is an awful singer. Despite this, Florence wants to play Carnegie Hall, a dream she has had since she was a child.

It seems odd that this story has been made as a comedy (well I thought it was one) because it's quite a sad story. It almost seems as though we are making fun of Florence because she was completely unaware of her terrible singing voice. The jokes also don't come from the fact that she has a terrible voice, but rather the reactions from people who are hearing her for the first time. The first joke that I did find funny was the tension that was built up when we hear Florence sing for the first time, being interrupted by this or that. I feel like the decision to make this movie was based very heavily on the fact that a French film called Marguerite was made last year and their needed to be an English language version of the story made. Again, I have no idea why, it's not a very interesting story.

Method actor Meryl Streep has gone a bit overboard here. Since she is well known for immersing herself entirely in her roles, Streep has done the same here but to no real effect. In her portrayal of Florence, she just becomes bland because the character has no room to be interested, thus boxing Streep in. Luckily, the other performances are a tad more engaging. Hugh Grant has aged very quickly I've noticed. One day he was young and now he just looks a lot older. And it really helps him in this movie as he's playing a more sedate mature character. He works really well as the emotional core of the movie. Simon Helberg is pretty funny as Cosmé and shows a real departure from other characters he has played. Rebecca Ferguson appears as St. Clair's girlfriend, but way too briefly for my liking.

Florence Foster Jenkins is an unexpected movie. Not in a way that you're surprised at how good it is or how funny it is. The feeling is more one of "Oh, I didn't expect that."

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is one of those popular 60s spy TV shows that is finally getting a film adaptation, although twenty years after it's most associated show, Mission: Impossible. And like that other series, UNCLE has taken a different turn from it's source material, but this time into the world of comedy. A job that lands in expert hands with director Guy Ritchie.

Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) is top spy with the CIA. He is given a routine task of retrieving Gabby Teller (Alicia Vikander) from East Berlin so that the CIA can ascertain information about her former Nazi father who has gone missing with the knowledge of new atomic technology. Hot on his heels however, is Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer), the KGB's top killing machine. The day after Solo completes his mission, both he and Kuryakin find out that their respective governments have teamed them up to go after a terrorist organisation headed up by Victoria Vinciguerra (Elizabeth Debicki), who plans to use Teller's technological knowledge to build her own nuclear weapon.

Ritchie definitely returns to his roots here. While the film is still an action movie, comedy reins supreme with plenty of laughs, not unlike those you would find in Snatch. But his action movie experience from Sherlock Holmes is definitely a bonus, as the film uses slick stunt driving and excellent fight scenes, that are still laced with comedic moments. My only quibble with these action sequences is that there are certain number of stylised CGI transitions used, especially in the driving scenes that took me out of it slightly.

Henry Cavill is at his most charming and suits this charismatic role perfectly. Napoleon Solo is part spy and part conman (same thing really) and that is a big bonus for his character. Armie Hammer looks like he's having fun playing a more serious character after his romp in The Lone Ranger. It is also refreshing to see Alicia Vikander in a lighter movie after watching her do so many dramatic roles. Hugh Grant has a really fun supporting role.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a much lighter movie than what I had expected, but nevertheless a very good and enjoyable adventure with two fantastic leads. The cool 60s setting didn't hurt the film at all.