MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN

Catching up on a few releases I missed last year and the first is MAMMA MIA! 2, the inevitable follow up to the phenomenally commercially successful ABBA jukebox musical turned movie. I must confess to a lot of fondness to the original with its top tier hits, performed with elan by the elder cast members - notably a very campy Meryl Streep, always superb Christine Baranski and Julie Walters.  The added surprise was that Amanda Seyfried, playing the young girl wondering which of her mother's one night stands was her real father - had a superb singing voice. It would take a cynic indeed to resist the original movie's charm.

Sadly the sequel doesn't quite live up to the original's infectious joy. Partly that's because a lot of the best songs have already been used up - so that the occasional hits seen here are diluted with some B grade material.  Partly it's because Lily James, playing the young Streep, just doesn't have a strong singing voice to compete with Seyfried - and neither competes with a last minute cameo from Cher as their mum/grandma.  Partly it's because all the young actors in the flashback scenes to Meryl Streep's wild years have to do impersonations of how their elderly versions would act and it's hugely constraining. So we have Lily James not acting as her character but impersonating Streep's exaggerated somewhat awkward dancing - and we have all three young men impersonating Firth, Skarsgard and Brosnan from the original film.  Of the three Harry Skinner does the best as Young Harry, perfectly imitating Firth's stilted delivery.  But a few fun impersonations and a stellar Cher cameo do not a movie make. You'd be better off the just watching the end credit performance of Super Trouper on youtube.

MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN is available to rent and own. It has a running time of 1hr 54m and is rated PG.

THE GHOST WRITER - the joy of skewering Bliar

I eagerly anticipated the release of Roman Polanski's latest film, THE GHOST WRITER. Partly because I think Polanski is a fascinating director, with a technical mastery beyond many of his contemporaries and an obsession with the sinister that is as compelling as it is unwavering. Partly because I have always loved Robert Harris' intelligent, well-researched, political thrillers. And partly because his novel, "The Ghost", is a thinly veiled skewering of a particularly slippery figure - Tony Blair. I was not disappointed. THE GHOST WRITER reminded me a lot of MICHAEL CLAYTON - it's intelligent, suspenseful, provocative and beautifully made. Indeed, quite superbly photographed by DP Pawel Edelman.

The plot centres on an un-named writer (Ewan McGregor) who has been hired to ghost the memoirs of an oleaginous former Prime Minsiter, Adam Lang (a perfectly cast Pierce Brosnan). The plot is driven by his investigation of the accusation that Lang illegally handed war criminals to the CIA. The Ghost doesn't know whether to trust Lang, his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams), his mistress (Kim Cattrall) or his aides. And of course, this being Polanski, there are no idealistic pay-offs for truth-seekers.

When I left the screening I had a wistful feeling. Because as polished and convincing as THE GHOST WRITER is, somehow, because you know it was made by Polanski, and you know what he is capable of achieving, you end up feeling a little short-changed by a "mere" good thriller. I loved the Hitchcock reference, but it wasn't necessary to the plot. And that kind of slight mis-step seemed to me indicative of a true auteur turning in a "place-holder" film.....

THE GHOST WRITER played Berlin 2010 where Roman Polanski won the Silver Bear. It is on release in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, the US, the Philippines, Belgium, France, Canada, Greece, Israel, Estonia and Italy. It opens this weekend in Denmark and Norway. It opens on April 8th in Portugal and on April 16th in Finland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. It opens in May in Thailand, the Netherlands and Romania. It opens in June in Hungary and the Czech Republic, and on August 19th in Argentina and Slovakia.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF - also not entirely unwatchable

Another movie that’s easy to deride is PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF. The similarity of the source material and the fact that it shares the same director as the first two HARRY POTTER films have led many reviewers to call it “Harry Potter lite” or a Harry Potter rip-off. Certainly, you can see their argument. Percy Jackson is a boy who is “special” and that being “special” relates to his now absent father. His being special leads him to a special school where he will learn to use his secret powers, and to make two friends – a loyal but doltish boy and a much more clued-on girl. They will ultimately have to contend with another student who has conflicting loyalties, and to go on a quest for high stakes. They will be guided by a wise old teacher and their adventures will take place both in a magical realm and in our real world. The only difference is that Harry Potter is a wizard and Percy Jackson is the son of the Greek god Perseus, and is thus a demi-God. And rather than battling Voldemort, he is battling to restore to Zeus his bolt of lightning in order to prevent a war between Zeus and Hades. There are even similarities in the production design, largely because of the journeyman-like-quality of all Chris Columbus movies. He’s the go-to-guy if you want a movie to come in on time, on budget, to have some serviceable special effects and not do anything too crazy.

The resulting film is just fine. It’s not the sort of kids film that adults should go and see unless they are accompanying a small child, but I’m betting good money that any kid, bored in the school holidays, will have a good time watching this film.

PERCY JACKSON & THE LIGHTNING THIEF is on global release.

Random DVD Round-Up 6 - BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL aka SHATTERED

Tab A fits perfectly into Slot B in this taut, competent thriller. Gerard Butler and Maria Bello play a successful complacent couple, terrorised by a vengeful Pierce Brosnan. He kidnaps their kid, issues sadistic demands and they run around town all night. The mood is noir. The atmosphere is sombre. There's a satisfying plot twist and then a slightly rubbish one. Overall this is an engaging way to spend ninety minutes and I can't quite figure out why it had such a limited theatrical release.

BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL was released in autumn 2007 and is available on DVD.

Meryl Streep deserves an Oscar for her performance in MAMMA MIA!

The story is slight. Twenty years ago, Donna (Meryl Streep) fell in love with Sam on a Greek island, but he left her to marry his fiancee. She then slept with two other men on the rebound - Harry and Bill. Twenty years later, the resulting child, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) secretly reads her mother's diary and invites her three potential fathers to her wedding, hoping that she'll just intuit who her real dad is. Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) remains a free-spirited traveller, rather flummoxed at the idea of having a daughter. Harry (Colin Firth) is now a straight-laced financier, who is charmed with the idea of even a part-share in a daughter. But for Sam (Pierce Brosnan) the prize is not just a daughter, but lost love.

The resulting movie is a well-crafted balance of the light and dark in Abba's music. On the one hand, we have all the disco classics, with high-energy song and dance routines. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters are laugh-out-loud funny as Donna's female friends and Colin Firth steals a couple of scenes towards the end of the film.

On the other hand, the writer has evidently taken care to listen to the lyrics of the darker material about relationships gone wrong and thwarted dreams. These are played out in the relationship between Donna, her daughter, and her old lover Sam. Meryl Streep is absolutely brilliant as Donna. We really believe that she used to be a wild child, and she pulls off all the physical comedy. But Streep excels in the scenes that demand emotional depth. In particular, her performance of "The Winner Takes It All" - a brutal song - is heart-breaking. I didn't imagine I'd leave MAMMA MIA! having seen an Oscar-worthy dramatic performance, but I honestly believe that Streep has pulled it off.

Phyllida Lloyd's direction is full of energy and in general, feels naturalistic, even when the performers go into heavily choreographed routines. She wisely uses a lot of location work rather than studio sets, and Haris Zambarloukos' photographs the Greek islands beautifully. The only mis-steps for me were the staging of "Money, money, money" and the use of the literal Greek Chorus, which seemed just too camp and jarred with the less stage-y feel of the rest of the movie. Still, the odd gripe aside, MAMMA MIA! was tremendous fun and also surprisingly moving. I was dragged along by a total Abba fan who was desperate to see it on opening weekend, and I felt a little hemmed in by the die-hard fanatics at the start, but soon lost all my prejudices. MAMMA MIA! makes for great entertainment and is by far the most satisfying summer movie this year.

MAMMA MIA opens on July 3rd in Greece. It opens on July 10th in the UK, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. It opens on July 17th in the US, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Estonia and Finland. It opens on July 23rd in Egypt; in August in Spain, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Argentina, Israel and Mexico. It opens in September in Slovakia, Romania, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Singapore, Russia and Venezuela. It opens in Turkey and Italy on October 3rd.

Random DVD round up 4: THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY - Hubris, Nemesis.

The LONG GOOD FRIDAY isn't quite a pantheon movie, purely because it's early 1980s saxophone-heavy score has dated badly. But to all other respects, this British gangster film is an absolute classic. And in view of Sir Bob Hoskins' role in last weekend's opener, DOOMSDAY, I decided to revisit the film that made his name as a screen actor.

THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY was directed by John Mackenzie and written by Barrie Keefe, both of whom had, like Mike Leigh, cut their teeth producing TV plays for the high quality British series "Play for Today". With THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY, they got the chance to aim for something altogether more violent, explicit and tricksy.

The movie is set in the East End of London on the cusp of the Thatcherite era when Britain dragged itself out of economic squalor by any means necessary. Gangster Harold Shand epitomises this hubristic desire to make good. Unsatisfied with running the East End, he wants to redevelop the East End partly to give something back to the Ordinaries (as Sir Alan B'Stard might say) but mostly to rake in the phat cash.

Harold has a boat and a posh girlfriend (Helen Mirren) to complete his social aspirant pose. ("The Yanks love snobbery. They really feel they've arrived in England if the upper class treats 'em like shit") He even has some American backers that he's wining and dining over Easter weekend. ("It's Good Friday. Have a Bloody Mary!") But the deal turns sour as his businesses and people start getting targeted by the IRA. ("You don't crucify people! Not on Good Friday!") Just watch Bob Hoskins reactions when he realises that his best mate has been assassinated. It's all there - grief, vulnerability, rage, violence, incomprehension. The rest of the film sees Harold try to uncover who's after him and why, indulging in some vicious torture on the way. It all ends in a plot resolution that is audacious in its nihilism and absurdity and a five minute close up that shows Bob Hoskins at his best and a director brave enough to try it. Pure class.

THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY premiered at London 1980. It is available on DVD. Apparently the rights to a remake have been bought and Paul W S Anderson (of RESIDENT EVIL fame) is slated to direct.

THE MATADOR - Brosnan is superb; the film is not

THE MATADOR is an odd film but not a successful one. There are so many factors that should turn me on and yet somehow the finished product left me unengaged. We have Pierce Brosnan, the only Bond who ever compared to Connery, playing against type as a sleazy hitman on the edge of a nervous breakdown. He meets an all-american stand-up guy called Danny (Greg Kinnear) in Mexico. He appreciates that Danny is a nice guy who loves his wife, and feels sorry for Danny's bad luck in business and the accidental death of his child. Danny finds Julian, the hitman, fascinating, enigmatic, charismatic, but slightly nerve-wracking. The story charts their friendship, Julian's journey back to some kind of mental health, and Danny's move towards a more fulfilling life.

So far, the story sounds intriguing: unusual and amusing. A sort of buddy movie, crossed with a fish-out-of-water story, crossed with a thriller. But this genre-confusion is ultimately THE MATADOR's downfall. The production designer has tried to give us the heightened-cool of movies like Once Upon a Time in Mexico or Ocean's Twelve; the score is chock-full of iconic hits like A Town Called Malice. But we don't have the visual style or wit of a Paul McGuigan or a Quentin Tarantino movie. The use of the camera is pedestrian.

Occasionally the script breaks into crazy humour - and the hitman does have a lot of crude, off-colour, one-liners - largely similes involving Thai brothels and under-age girls. But these laugh-out-loud moments are relatively sparse. The best moment by far is when Pierce, drunk, dishevelled, almost butt naked, strutts through the hotel lobby in cowboy boots and a pair of Y-fronts. This is a genuine little sliver of Pure Comedy Gold. But the comic tone is under-cut by the serious matter of Pierce/Julian's nervous breakdown. Sadly, writer-director Richard Shepard seems unable to manage the tonal shifts in this movie. Forced to make a choice between which "half" of the movie I would engage in, I opted for the drama. Pierce Brosnan is outstanding in the role. His physical mannerisms, the facial expression, the vocal inflection. It is the stuff of awards, were the film not tagged as a "black comedy" (and an unsuccessful one at that). But with the comedy and thriller facets of the movie crowding out any real in-depth character development I left the theatre feeling unsatisfied. Somewhere in this movie there is a really great psychological thriller OR a great Robert Rodriguez flick. At the moment, we just have a flawed film, which is not quite redeemed by a great performance by Brosnan.

THE MATADOR premiered at Sundance 2005. It is currently on release in the UK and will be released in Germany and Austria on April 20th.