Charlie Mortdecai, the human shambles in a sharp suit, is leaping off
the printed page into cinemas this week. Debonair, cultured and about as
principled as a rat in the Queen’s cutlery drawer, he’s brought to life
by none other than Johnny Depp. It isn’t the first time Depp has used
those relatively fresh-faced looks to an advantage when portraying the
morally-quagmired. The actor’s most famous ne’er do’well, Captain Jack
Sparrow, is setting his dirty sails for a return in 2017. But Mortdecai
is a different breed of fish to Sparrow – equally slippery, yet more in
the category of “cad”; a gentleman who should know better. A man not
above using all means at his disposal, from the depraved to the
downright duplicitous, to attain his murky goals. Like many of the best
of this species, he comes armed with a moustache, a surfeit of hair gel
and an English accent. Depp as Mortdecai is not the first to sully the
viewing public with his deeds and he won’t be the last. So keep your
wits within reach as THN invite you to a gathering of the best of the
worst screen cads from across the decades…
A masterpiece can last forever, immortalized within the frame of a
picture the way a camera catches a moment in time. Yet the mechanics of
getting paint on canvas would bore even the sturdiest of cinema
audiences. Movies have a longstanding love affair with art, but one that
focuses more on the creators than the result. Art is used as a catalyst
for conflict, fanaticism, passion, malevolence and good old-fashioned
greed.
Tim Burton’s BIG EYES embodies the last of these qualities and also a
smattering of the others. It tells the story of Margaret Keane, whose
marriage to husband Walter was defined and eventually destroyed by her
work, characterized by the exaggerated eyes of the title. Released in
cinemas from Boxing Day, now is a good time to take a look back at how
filmmakers have shown the brushstrokes and bad behaviour that gave rise
to and surrounded the creation of some of the world’s best-loved pieces...
Christopher Nolan’s latest movie INTERSTELLAR
is an experience that truly takes you somewhere else. In the heart of
London that can be a hell of an advantage. Following an early morning
screening where the sound was ramped up so loud the seats rattled as
much as the spaceships, it was relaxing to decamp to Claridges for the
press conference attended by the director and cast, including a surprise
appearance by Sir Michael Caine.
These events can easily descend into backslapping and while some
there seemed determined to tell the director what a genius he was, some
genuine insight into the process emerged that was fascinating for a
Nolan fan like myself (who probably would have gushed all over him if
I’d had the chance). Below are a selection of highlights from Nolan,
Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, young star
Mackenzie Foy and producer Emma Thomas.
As I staggered out of the screening room from Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR,
my ears well and truly battered by Hans Zimmer’s celestial choirs, I
found myself feeling elated, confused, headachey but overall generally
satisfied. This isn’t a quick jaunt into the cosmos punctuated by a few
laser dogfights. As you might expect from the director it’s an ambitious
and emotionally exhausting epic that comes at you every which way...
The Doctor faces a rebooted Master and the Cybermen in this jam-packed finale that combines the good, the bad and the downright weird. The best aspects are the revelations that both his arch enemy and staunch allies want the Time Lord to do the same thing; nourish his ego and take charge. Steven Moffat cleverly has The Mistress pulling Peter Capaldi's strings over the nature of his relationship with Clara, a source of much griping from fans. This strand also brings the issue of the new Doctor's dual nature to a reasonably satisfying conclusion. The Cybermens' water-based plot is rather unfathomable and veers onto the silly side (presumably the 'dark water' of last week is involved but it's never clarified).
Of the supporting cast, it's essentially Michelle Gomez's show. She makes a terrific Master, creepy and funny by turns. You can speculate why Moffat gave the character a sex change till the cyber cows come home. Either way, Gomez's performance is a pleasure, though she's let down by the script rapidly lurching into cartoon villainy so quickly. Some background as to how the Master ended up in her current form wouldn't have gone amiss. Jemma Redgrave is back heading up UNIT but she doesn't really add anything to the mix. Sanjeev Bhaskar is similarly wasted. Redgrave has apprently been inserted to usher in an odd cameo from her late onscreen father, itself part of Danny Pink's exit storyline, a bizarre tribute to the fallen of World War One.
As with last week there is a cruel streak to the episode that sits uneasily with the show in general. After "Cremationgate" we now see a popular supporting character bumped off in a manner arguably more suited to The Dark Knight than Doctor Who. I'd say overall this two parter has been the weakest story in the run, but there are still encouraging signs of the newfound maturity the series has displayed, seemingly inspired by its leading man. A hilarious end credit sequence suggests his mettle is going to be tested to breaking point by a rotund and rosy-cheeked polar opposite. Christmas couldn't come early enough for this reviewer.
The Doctor goes to the undiscovered country in this curate's egg of an opening instalment. Pitch black in its humour with very little to recommend for younger viewers, it heralds the start of possibly the most challenging and downright odd finales in the show's history.
Opening with the shock of Danny Pink's death before hotting up quite literally by the side of a volcano (candidate for most impressive scene in the run), it then takes us into the heart of Missy's world - what it represents and indeed who she is.
Having trumpeted the Cybermen as the villains of the piece it comes as no surprise to discover the identity of those skeletons immersed in the nefarious liquid of the title. It would have worked better if they'd been kept a secret (in fairness the production team
did have them stomping about St.Paul's). While I was disappointed not to see some Jason & The Argonauts-style action, this is at
least a novel way of introducing the monsters on a Halloween weekend. Whether "dark water" is going to form a solid part of the plot or if it's just one of Moffat's patented attention-grabbing gimmicks remains to be seen.
The setting and the script's attitude toward the afterlife could be seen as contentious. As someone who's experienced a bereavement I have to say I wasn't offended. The question for me is its suitability as a subject for family viewing, Danny's storyline being a wider case in point. I'll make a final judgment after the conclusion but I'd say, despite enjoying the episode, Steven Moffat has misjudged things here.
Michelle Gomez is a positive boon to the action. Showrunner Moffat has described her as treading a fine line between funny and scary. I agree. She's certainly dangerous and makes a strong counterpoint to Peter Capaldi. Chris Addison is also a clever piece of casting, his ingratiating yet cheeky presence adding dimension to the role of Seb. As for the revelation that Missy is the Master, well it's hardly a surprise if you've done any degree of fannish speculating over the past weeks. As someone who thinks the Master is a bland character I find it a shame they didn't create a more original enemy for Gomez. Why not just make her the Rani? She's going to be an improvement on John Simm's overgrown megalomaniac at any rate. A rather shoddy cliffhanger paves the way for an intriguing denouement.
For such a prickly, inaccessible incarnation of the Time Lord, Peter Capaldi's first season has been notable for the inclusion of children in his stories. He grilled a young Danny Pink in Listen and the meddlesome Courtney went to the stars in Kill The Moon. Now he has to deal somewhat entertainingly with an entire class of precocious moppets via Frank Cottrell Boyce's high-minded entry. Boyce is one of the few writers selected with bona fide
credentials in kids' entertainment, so the diminutive cast are well-drawn. Arguably a little too articulate to be fully plausible, but this is a tight forty five minutes of TV drama after all. Brilliantly, Boyce creates a nonplussed reaction to the inner-workings of the Doctor's travelling machine.
The concept of the trees being our saviours is one of those ideas that could easily have sunk into sentimentality, and though it threatens to at times this is skilfully-executed stuff. There should be a lot more cars and people around, but overall the freshly-sprouted setting gets handsomely realized. The animal encounters, which appear to be a mixture of live action and CGI, lend a lot to the action.
Danny becomes an official part of the crew with the character proving a vital addition to the mix, boding well for his jumping aboard any future adventures. Another interesting development sees Jenna Coleman send Capaldi away - though much criticism has abounded that the Twelfth lacks pro-activity, that's not the case here. It's a part of his character that he's not barrelling in with his screwdriver out all the time, yet he's still indisputably the Doctor and here comes up with the solution to the situation as well as
saving a few necks in the process. With the season finale imminent, this is a good way to round off a run of thought-provoking ideas featuring strong character development that has been a step up from the rollicking eye candy of previous years.
