Suffragette.

Another fact based story, this time one which has been constructed around the woman’s suffrage movement in Britain in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. The movie includes some real life characters, Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) leader of the movement and Emily Davison (Natalie Press) a militant suffragette who was jailed on nine occasions and force-fed 49 times both written in along side some very convincing fictitious characters.   Written by Abi Morgan who was also responsible for screenplay for Brick Lane (2007) co writer on the Steve McQueen directed movie Shame (2011) and created and wrote the six-part British TV drama Series River that stars Stellan Skarsgard and Nicola Walker. Directed by Sarah Gavron, who won a Best Director award for Brick Lane, Suffragette (2015) was selected to open the 2015 BFI London Film Festival.

 

The protest goes on (the London Premiere) 

The brave women that Morgan's story was based upon. 

As I have already said Morgan’s story is based around real life facts that emanates from the decision of Emmeline Pankhurst to concentrate on deeds and not just words, an edict that went a long way to radicalise woman of all classes encouraging them to participate in actions of social unrest and acts of destruction.  At the centre of the narrative is Maud Watts, played by Carey Mulligan in award winning mode, who has worked in the same laundry since a very young child, a married woman with a small child of her own. We witness Maud accidentally getting mixed up with a window-breaking riot in Oxford Street London. This single incident leads her deeper into the movement and the effect it has on her and her family life.

 

'Deeds not Words' 

Although most people will be familiar with the woman’s movement and its battle to allow female voting rights the movie really does concentrate the mind on how difficult and hard it was to win what should have been a basic right for all women over the age of eighteen. It’s still incomprehensible to believe that it took until 1928 for woman to get parity in the UK with men over their voting rights. Just one more example of how hard it is to go against the establishment and their paid lackeys. The film is difficult to watch at times not because of what you see on the screen but because of the story it’s portraying, an unbelievable mix of sadness, hardship and dedication. The cast also includes Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw and Anne-Marie Duff.

Arrested by the Establishments Lackeys. 

The Lone Ranger.

Sometimes it pays to ignore the critics. A case in point is the latest movie from the ‘Pirate’ partnership of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and of course Johnny Depp. If I had listened to other people I would never have seen The Lone Ranger (2013) a film that turned out to be very entertaining and humorous, in fact it was laugh out loud funny due to Depp’s natural comedic skills. 

 

The indian and  the spirit horse.

The movie is a revamp of a TV series of the same name that I loved to watch as a wee lad, one who was in love with any thing to do with westerns: comic books, films and on the TV, which in the past never ignored the genre. This American TV series ran from 1947 to 1954 and continued beyond these dates because of continuous reruns on British TV, well after the series finished in the States. The most famous incarnation was with Clayton Moore playing the masked man in a total of 169 episodes. John Hart followed him in the remaining 52, episodes that have hardly seen the light of day since their first release. Jay Silverheels played Tonto, the Lone Rangers constant companion, in 217 episodes.

 

The Villain.

The unscrupulous railway tycoon.

In the latest outing of this classic western Depp plays the Comanche Indian Tonto who takes credit as the inspiration behind the invention of the masked avenger and crime fighter. It’s also Tonto, as an old man, who relates the story to a young boy, how John Reid, a man of the law, was transformed into the legend of justice. Armie Hammer, who played both the Winklevoss Twins in The Social Network (2010), is the latest actor to play the man that brought justice to America’s old west and he does it with just the right amount of laid-back panache always making the audience think perhaps Reid is not quite the right man for the job but with the help of the white ‘spirit’ horse we all know as Silver, an enormous white Stetson and of course constant advise from an Indian with a well fed dead crow on his head he can’t go wrong, or can he?  They have to pit themselves against a great villain in the form of Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), a ruthless and cannibalistic outlaw, whom Tonto believes is a wendigo.[1] Tom Wilkinson plays Latham Cole an unscrupulous railroad tycoon, the brilliant Ruth Wilson plays Johns love interest and ex sister in law Rebecca Reid (you will know Wilson from playing the wonderfully murderous Alice Morgan in the TV series Luther). James Badge Dale plays John Reid’s brother Dan and of course we must not forget the lethal ivory-legged brothel madam Red Harrington played with style by Helena Bonham Carter.

 

The love interest.

The ivory legged madam. 

A wee warning, on seeing this picture you must not take it too seriously, just as the TV series was always very tongue in cheek so is the movie version. I think the critics took the whole thing far too seriously, but it’s not, its just great fun and never boring. Enjoy.

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[1] A demonic half-beast creature appearing in the legends of the Algonquian peoples along the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes Region of both the United States and Canada. The creature or spirit could either possess humans or be a monster that had physically transformed from a person. It is particularly associated with cannibalism. The Algonquian believed those who indulged in eating human flesh were at particular risk; the legend appears to have reinforced the practice of cannibalism as a taboo. It is often described in Algonquian mythology as a balance of nature.

Great Expectations 2012.

The Author.

The only problem with Charles Dickens TV and film adaptations is that the stories have become very familiar over the years. Great Expectations (2012) is certainly no exception with something in the region of sixteen versions to date starting with a silent feature film in 1917. The most celebrated film adaptation has to be the 1946 version directed by David Lean, which all other adaptations have to aspire to. It stared John Mills as Pip, Finlay Currie as Magwitch, Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham, Jean Simmons as the young Estella and Valerie Hobson as the adult Estella. But to be fair the last television version shown as a three part BBC mini-series in December 2011 was also outstanding featuring Ray Winstone as Magwitch and an excellent Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham.

Pip meets Magwitch for the first time.

Mike Newell’s 2012 film adaptation of this Victorian coming of age drama makes up for the familiarity with an absolute cracking cast with Pip played by two brothers, the younger incarnation played by Toby Irvine and the older one played by Jeremy Irvine last seen in the saccharine coated sanitised period piece Warhorse (2011), Helena Bonham Carter gives her creepy best as Miss Havisham with Holliday Granger as the grown up Estella. Magwitch is on this occasion played, with all his normal Shakespearean relish, by Ralph Fiennes, even the smaller parts are portrayed by well known British thespians like Robbie Coltrane, Sally Hawkins and Jason Flemyng, with a great cameo from David Walliams as Mr. Publechook, Joe Gargery’s uncle. The casting director is Susie Figgis whose name you would have seen in many closing credits including Harry Potter.  David Nichols (And When Did You Last See Your Father 2007) wrote the screenplay and the cinematography is in the experienced hands of John Mathieson. All in all a very acceptable and attractive adaptation of the novel, but lets hope we get a reasonable break before the next reworking.  

Pip gives Estella his best chat up line. 

Dark Shadows.

An American T.V. gothic soap opera created by Dan Curtis, that run from June 1966 to April 1971, became a childhood obsession for a certain John Christopher Depp the Second and it was this same gentleman that persuaded Tim Burton, a man who has made a very successful career out of dark eccentric movies, to direct the 2012 film version of Dark Shadows.

One rather dysfunctional family.

Seth Grahame-Smith’s screenplay starts in 1750 at the Port of Liverpool where Joshua and Naomi Collins along with their young son Barnabas set sail to start a new life in America. It’s here that they build a fishing business and a town called Collinsport. We move on twenty years and find that Barnabas Collins is a very rich and well to do young man who falls in love with the beautiful Josette DuPres. This upsets the powerful witch Angelique Bouchard who has fallen for the good-looking Barnabas. She casts an evil curse that forces Josette to jump off a cliff and turns Barnabas into a vampire and then buries him alive.

Angelique Bouchard.

We are still in Collinsport but two centuries later, its 1972 and workmen are extending the Angel Bay Fisheries when they displace a tomb from which emerges Barnabas Collins: Vampire!!!!!!! After a quick snack Collins returns to his ancestral home where he finds that his once grand estate has fallen into disrepair and is occupied by the dysfunctional remnants of his once proud family and a live-in psychiatrist. Our rejuvenated vampire decides to restore his families fortunes but discovers that the fisheries business, and the town is know run by a certain Ms Angelique Bouchard.

More families should have a live-in psychiatrist?

Tim Burtons tongue in cheek gothic comedy, which brings to mind Edward Scissorhands (1990) and HBO’s True Blood, stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard the family matriarch, Helena Bonham Carter as the previously mentioned live-in psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman, the ever more beautiful Eva Green plays the vengeful witch Angelique Bouchard and Chloe Grace Moretz plays Elizabeth’s rebellious teenage daughter Carolyn. Both Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper, who plays himself, have cameo roles.

Fooling in love with a vampire is not always easy.

As well as a score composed by four time Oscar nominee and regular Burton collaborator Danny Elfman the soundtrack also includes several great rock and pop anthems from the likes of The Moody Blues, The Carpenters, T.Rex and Black Sabbath, with Depp chipping in on the Steve Miller track The Joker. The whole ‘look’ of the film is brilliant with some great sets from Rick Heinrich (Sleepy Hollow) and costume designs from Colleen Atwood (Alice in Wonderland). It was filmed entirely in England at the Pinewood Studios and on location. Depp’s performance as the wronged vampire is pure class and he is provided with some first rate dialog that is at the same time extremely funny and charming. In fact, although the critics reportedly said that this was not the greatest Burton/Depp collaboration, I found this wonderfully hammy nonsense to be a very agreeable evenings entertainment and can highly recommend it for a couple of hours pure escapism.