Split

Guess who’s back! After what could only be described as the week from a nightmare and a brief soiree in Bankstown Hospital I am back on my feet and ready to review the shit out of this movie. Come at me Shyamalan.

Split follows the stor(ies) of Kevin, a man who has spent his life living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, with 23 different personalities inside his head. His dominant identity, ‘Barry’, has been treated for many years by his therapist, Dr Fletcher, who has a fondness for people who suffer with DID and believe they possess abilities that other humans could never achieve. However, things start to go sour when three of Barry’s ‘banned’ identities, nicknamed ‘The Horde’, start to take control. ‘Dennis’, an obsessive compulsive with a desire to watch girls dance, ‘Patricia’, a mother hen and religious enforcer, and ‘Hedwig’, a nine year old boy with a penchant for Kanye West, all begin to hatch a plot to bring about a possible 24^th identity, known only as ‘The Beast’. This plot involves kidnapping three young teenage girls and holding them prisoner until ‘the Beast’ arrives, as well as silencing Kevin’s other identities so they cannot find help. Can the girls gain an identity’s trust long enough for them to escape?

The positives: This movie is genuinely a really interesting and engaging film that really explores its subject matter in the sense that they don’t try to rush anything. The moments of suspense really keep you on edge and you become invested in these characters. James McAvoy does a great job convincing us that he is multiple people and this film is a testament to his acting ability. The 3 girls Claire (Haley Lu Richardson), Marcia (Jessica Sula) and Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) are also great at showing what typical people would do when faced with this situation, with a shoutout to Anja who’s role as Casey is both haunting and intriguing (and definitely one of the best characters in the film). As well as this, Dr Fletcher (Betty Buckley) is also a surprisingly interesting character, as a person who does not try to ‘fix’ Kevin but rather tries to understand him. Thinking back, I’m not sure there was bad acting from anyone, so props to the casting director.

The negatives: They really push the idea of ’23 personalities’ but only about 8 are fully explored: I don’t quite understand what the drive behind the number 23 is (aside from that shitty Jim Carrey horror movie, sorry Jim). They really shove it on the movie posters and in the trailers but it never really impacts the film: there are about 4 personalities that ‘take the light’ and another 4 that are discussed/viewed briefly, but why the need for another 15? There were also a few issues with the plot here and there: things that you only notice afterwards when you’re finally able to process the film as a whole. As well as this, although I doubt most people will feel this way but it bears mentioning: this movie is in no way a reflection of people who actually live with DID. Seriously, this films portrayal of the actual disorder is very much a Hollywood-ified version, and I know it sounds stupid to bring it up, but considering that a talking orange is currently running the US forgive me if my faith in humanity is a little lax.

In the end, the movie is an entertaining thriller that Shyamalan fans or thriller movie fans are going to enjoy. Although its not his best work, its certainly a step in the right direction for him. He seems to be getting his groove back and that’s good news for the film industry, I look forward to seeing what he brings to the table next.

X-Men: Apocalypse

I really enjoyed the last X-Men movie. The decision to go back and explore different stories with younger versions of the characters has ultimately paid off, but even by their own admission, the third movie is never as good. That last statement is a bit of a lie. While Apocalypse may not be a high point in the series, it's still a pretty awesome movie.

In a pretty exhilarating introduction in ancient Egypt, we see all-powerful mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) get buried under a collapsed pyramid. In 1983, CIA agent Moira McTaggert (Rose Byrne) witnesses his reawakening at the hands of a cult. Meanwhile in Poland, Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is living a quiet life with his wife and daughter until the townspeople discover what he is. Elsewhere, Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is off looking for mutants and comes across Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), whom she decides to take back to Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). It's at this point that Apocalypse reveals himself to the world with his plan to destroy everyone so he can start the world afresh.

Okay, so after writing out that plot it does sound like the movie doesn't have a lot going on for it. The plot of the movie does take a bit of a back seat, but don't worry, it's not sacrificed for the sake of action. Rather the focus of this movie is character development. Although the majority of characters who we've seen before have already been established, we do get a better insight into their personalities. For example, the psyche of Magneto is explored and we can further see how he is torn between being good and bad. The new characters who are introduced are also given similar inner conflicts. Jean Grey (played by Sophie Turner) is shown to have an immense inner power that she is unable to control. This ties in nicely with the future we saw in X-Men: The Last Stand. 

The performances from the series regulars were solid as usual. The newbies however gave mixed performances. Kodi Smit-McPhee was a standout. He gave Nightcrawler the right amount of a comedic edge that helped lighten the dark mood throughout the film. That complemented the laughs given by Even Peters as Quicksilver well. Sophie Turner, Alexandra Shipp and Tye Sheridan came out okay, but they still need some more time to find their footing, which is okay with a franchise like this as they have plenty of time to do that. I was really disappointed with Oscar Isaac's performance because he is my favourite actor and he was misused so much in this film. I think it primarily had to do with the fact that the character of Apocalypse wasn't all that menacing for me and none of the power that he supposedly had came through.

I know it seems like I'm skirting around whether or not to say this movie is good or bad, but I have to commit to something. I guess I thought it was a little bit better than average, but the lacking plot and Superman level of destruction in the action sequence at the end dragged it down.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Enough with the X-Men already! Is what I was thinking before watching this movie. It's not that I'm not a fan, it was more that I thought I was all X-Men'd out. This movie showed me I wasn't.

One of the great things that was in the movie was the number of characters. In any other movie, I would say that this would be too confusing, but it made this one so much better. There are all the characters from the original trilogy (Wolverine, Storm, Colossus and, my favourite, Iceman), characters from First Class that we all loved (the young versions of Professor X, Magneto and Mystique) and new characters that will definitely be your new favourites, like Quicksilver (who I think everyone will love), played by Evan Peters (Kick-Ass). The only problem with Quicksilver is that he'll be appearing in the next Avengers flick played by a different actor, James' Kick-Ass co-star Aaron Johnson (he won't be as funny).

I won't go into too much plot, but basically the mutants of now (or the future?) send Wolverine back in time to prevent a war between mutants and humans breaking out. He teams up with young Magneto and Professor X to make this happen.

I will go into the 70's setting though. It is amazingly accurate (or maybe it just seems that way to me). Instead of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the historical moment that is the backdrop is the end of the Vietnam War. Like First Class, this adds an extra level of tension that the audience can relate to. Director Bryan Singer also handles the dramatic moments of the story really well.

The other thing this movie handles really well is the comedy. The last couple of X-Men movies have been pretty good at mixing comedy and drama, but this time it is perfected. The jokes aren't rammed down your throat so that they are overplayed, rather they are well timed and don't interfere with the films more serious situations.

I had a couple of issues with the continuity of this film in the timeline. The last time we saw Patrick Stewart's Professor X he was torn to shreds by Dark Phoenix, yet this film is set years after that and he is fine. Maybe if it was made clear that this was an alternate timeline it would be okay, but I don't think it is.

Verdict: I had a lot of fun watching this movie, revisiting old characters and meeting new ones was great. The story was pretty simple, but at the same time engaging enough that you didn't lose interest.

Filth

The works of Irvine Welsh have always tackled addiction in the most confronting ways. Filth is no different. It has all the hallmarks of an Irvine Welsh story; the snappy dialogue, the scathing commentary on Scottish life and the drugs. Oh, those drugs.

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Detective Sergeant in the Edinburgh with high aspirations. After the murder of a Japanese student, he is offered the position of Detective Inspector if he solves the crime. Meanwhile, he sabotages the efforts of his colleagues, who are also after the position, and makes the life of his Masonic brother, Bladesey (Eddie Marsan), hell.

Underneath all the madness, Filth is a pretty funny movie. Bruce is a horrible person, but he is also charming as hell and it's easily understandable how he gets away with things that he does. This is made more apparent by McAvoy's excellent portrayal of the character. McAvoy possesses the right amount of skill to play such a character. His chemistry with the rest of the cast, in particular Marsan, is electric. Never before has there been a more reprehensible corrupt police officer portrayed on film (Harvey Keitel is still playing catch up in my book). Much like how Daniel Craig played a likeable villain before he scored the role of James Bond, I see the same future for McAvoy.

The rest of the cast did a superb job, although they were all relegated to minor characters next to the powerhouse that is Bruce Robertson. Jamie Bell (of Billy Elliott fame) did a superb job of playing rookie cop Ray Lennox, Imogen Poots is fantastic as rival detective Amanda Drummond and stalwart of British cinema, Jim Broadbent is hilarious as Dr. Rossi, who I think was supposed to be Australian, but I'm not sure.

Verdict: All in all an entertaining journey into the messed up mind of a coke addicted cop who needs some serious help. Also has a great cameo with David Soul, who was the original Hutch in the Starsky and Hutch TV series.