The Bikeriders: Violence and leather jackets meets 1960s Chicago in critically divisive drama

Hello Readers,

If you’re anything like me and have been monitoring what’s coming up in the film world, then you will have heard of the Bikeriders. It has been highly anticipated for quite a while with an A-List cast and based on true events, it generated a buzz.

Now that that film has been on general release at the cinemas, the reviews have come in and not all are favourable. Speaking to different friends who have seen the film, some loved it and some not so much. I have heard descriptions such as “too violent” and “lacked any plot”. Others have described it as capturing a moment in time and showcasing the best of the leads (Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Austin Butler).

Now that I have seen the film myself, I want to give my opinions.

The Bikeriders (2024)

This film explores a point in history that has been largely brushed aside for the shining lights of Hollywood or the grit and protests of New York City. The Midwest was a time for outlaws and Danny Lyon captured that in his book of photographs and transcribed interviews. Danny has been incorporated into the film being played by Mike Faist where all the characters acknowledge him and talk freely with him. We see the characters through the eyes of Kathy (Jodie Comer) who becomes involved with Benny (Austin Butler), a key member of the Chicago Vandals, a motorcycle club.

The club is led by Johnny (Tom Hardy) and originally started as a social organisation with a clubhouse/bar and picnics for family and friends. Over time, it becomes more violent with turf wars and young upstarts creating drama for the club and its members. Michael Shannon (Zipco); Norman Reedus (Funny Sonny); Boyd Holbrook (Cal) and Damon Herriman (Brucie) play other notable members of the Vandals. Kathy initially likes being noticed by Benny and when her boyfriend leaves her after his pursuit, she marries him. Benny has a strong temper and often gets into fights which people who hate the gang, want to join the gang or annoy him in general.

We see Danny in his time with the gang and then again when he comes back in 1973 to interview Kathy about what happened to the gang. One change is the introduction of The Kid played by Toby Wallace, who is desperate to join the gang but is told he is too young.

I thought the acting in the film was all amazing especially Jodie and Austin. Jodie has always been great at accents and her Chicago accent threw me at first at it was so different but the more the film went on, I realised the effort she put in to sound authentic. Austin Butler’s character also seemed very unlike his real self, very violent and quick-tempered. You could see in his face how much the club and sense of belonging mattered to him. Tom Hardy’s performance I felt was very much in his wheelhouse and he did not do much to differentiate from other American tough guys that he has played in the past. He mumbled quite a lot which did fit with the character but it felt to me as though it was a cover for the accent.

The setting, production design and costumes was all great and really showed the amount of research that had been done. As the book that this was based on was more a photographers guide rather than a real narrative, the film didn’t have much of a strong narrative arc and you often felt lost in time at points other than Kathy’s interviews.

The writer and director, Jeff Nichols is from the Midwest himself and is known for period Midwest/Western films so it was definitely a great project for him. Personally, I did not think the film was too violent and could have been worse but there were a few moments where I had to look away or cringed.

In my opinion, I thought the film was a worthy venture with an excellent cast and setting but would have worked a little better for the average viewer with more structure and Tom Hardy could have put more into his portrayal of Johnny. Overall, the film was enjoyable especially at the cinema with surround sound but I am not going to rush to re-watch it when it comes on streaming.

Happy Watching,

Robyn

Venom and Johnny English Strikes Again Review

Hello readers,

I know that this is my first post in over a month but due to going back to university, I haven’t been to the cinema that much. A couple of weeks ago, I did however see the highly anticipated anti-hero film Venom and the third instalment of the Johnny English films. I remember seeing the second one in the cinema when I was 12 so I thought it would only be right to see this one in the cinema too.

Venom

Tom Hardy in Venom (2018)

This new anti-hero film has changed the game for the superhero genre. Eddie Brock a journalist whose life goes downhill after investigating a laboratory trying to harness the power of symbiotes. He accidentally joins with an alien called Venom and gains immense skills and strength.

Set in San Francisco made a refreshing change from the Avengers setting of New York. The humanisation of Venom talking through Eddie adds a comedy element to the film. Tom Hardy plays the ‘bad boy’ character very well as was evident in Legend (2015) but his resistance to Venom killing and hurting people shows that Eddie does have heart. He also tries working with Venom instead of rejecting him completely.

Many critics wrote off the film but as a fan of Marvel and comic book films, I really enjoyed it. It had the right amount of action, comedy, special effects, rebellion against evil corporations and romance. As the superhero genre had really taken off in the past few years, perhaps critics are getting annoyed at reviewing films that won’t win any high profile awards.

I liked the romance between Eddie and Anne, it added a softness to a pretty intense film. When she leaves Eddie, it truly breaks his heart and is motive for his revenge on Carlton Drake’s empire.

Overall I think this film is great for any Tom Hardy or superhero movie fans but not one to watch if you like something clever. 4/5.

Cast:

Tom Hardy (Inception) as Eddie Brock / Venom

Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) as Anne Weying

Riz Ahmed (Rogue One) as Carlton Drake / Riot

Scott Haze (Child of God) as Security Chief Roland Treece

Jenny Slate (Zootropolis) as Dr. Dora Skirth

Peggy Lu (Awkward) as Mrs Chen

Johnny English Strikes Again

Rowan Atkinson in Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)

The third instalment of the Johnny English trilogy picks up years later when Johnny has retired from the world of espionage to become a geography teacher. He however has not taught his students much geography. The film starts with Mr English teaching all his young students how to be a spy.

When all the identities of all the MI7 agents are revealed to the public, the Prime Minister reluctantly recruits English to investigate. Reunited with his sidekick Bough, English travels to the South of France to find the source of the hackers.

Meanwhile, tech genius Jason is proposing an update for the British Government’s systems but is actually the bad guy and is trying to disable the country’s internet.

Johnny English of course would not be complete without laugh out loud gags and scenarios. Some of the best ones in this film include English setting a French restaurant on fire attempting to cook prawns, dancing for a whole night non stop, using virtual reality and accidentally throwing someone off an open top bus and wearing a full knight’s armour.

Rowan Atkinson is hilarious as always and the addition of Emma Thompson as the Prime Minister means their scenes together are comedy gold.

Overall a great family film with a laugh a minute. Comedy films don’t really include much slapstick and visual gags anymore so a reminder of the old days is welcome with Johnny English.

Cast:

Rowan Atkinson (Bean) as Johnny English

Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) as Ophelia

Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) as Prime Minister

Jake Lacy (Carol) as Jason

Ben Miller (Paddington 2) as Bough

Adam James (Doctor Foster) as Pegasus

Other films I have enjoyed recently are American Animals (2018) starring Evan Peters, Heathers (1989) starring Winona Ryder, The Social Network (2010) starring Jesse Eisenberg and BlacKkKlansman (2018) starring John David Washington.

Happy Watching

Robyn 🙂

Review: The Post and Oscar Nominations

Hello readers,

I recently saw The Post starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep so I am going to write my review and talk a bit about the context of the film and what it means in today’s climate in the USA. Also I am going to share my opinions on some of the Oscar nominations.

The Post (2017)

The Post is set in 1971 and tells the story of the Washington Post trying to print the Pentagon Papers – around 7,000 pages of government secrets about the relations between the United States and Vietnam for over 20 years. The information was kept quiet by the government to protect themselves until Dan Ellsberg, who worked for the Department of Defence, leaked the papers to the New York Times. The paper was told not to print any more of the secret documents unless they wanted to be taken to court by the US government. The Washington Post who wanted to be taken seriously as a national newspaper, found the source and decided to also print the Pentagon Papers. They all have to face decisions between obeying federal law and avoiding jail or fighting for the freedom of information and letting the public know what their government had been doing.

The Vietnam War had many casualties including over 50,000 American soldiers. 100,000 men were sent to fight by President Kennedy. Four US Presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon were involved in the Vietnam War and authorised thousands of troops being sent to fight in a war they knew they could not win.

Apart from Government secrets being kept from the people and freedom of the press, another issue addressed in The Post was sexism. Although Katharine Graham was the publisher of the Post, she still had to prove herself worthy enough of being on the board of the paper. She was the only woman on the Post’s board. For example, at an important meeting for the Post, when she was trying to get investors to back selling stocks for The Washington Post, Ms Graham had prepared her speech and another man next to her took over her speech. She did eventually manage to command the room and the decision to print the Pentagon Papers came down to her and not a man.

Overall I think the Post was a great film and very relevant to today’s US Government and the ideas of ‘fake news’ and the rigging of elections. I give the Post 5/5.

Also in other film news this week is the release of the Oscar nominations for this year’s awards. Many great films, actors, directors and other crew members were nominated.

Image result for oscars 2018

The biggest award of the night, Best Picture has many great contenders. I have only seen Call Me By Your Name (which I wrote about in November) and The Post but I hope to see a few more before the awards are handed out on March 4th. Personally, I think Call Me By Your Name was one of the best films of the year in terms of storyline, the actors, the setting, the director and the score. It has been nominated for 4 Oscars in total including Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet, Best Adapted Screenplay, James Ivory and Best Original Song – ‘Mystery of Love’ by Sufjan Stevens.

Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Other great films in the Best Picture category are Darkest Hour, about Winston Churchill and how he helped to win WWII; Dunkirk, about the famous battle of Dunkirk in WWII and the rescuing of over 300,000 troops from France; The Shape of Water which has a staggering 13 nominations and is about a woman connecting with an alien in the 1950s; and Get Out, a horror film about an interracial couple visiting the woman’s white parents for the weekend.

All of these films have received high praise so far, and have done well in other award shows. Darkest Hour directed by Joe Wright has a total of 6 Oscar nominations including Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design and Best Make Up and Hairstyling. Gary Oldman has already won the Golden Globe and SAG Award for his role as Churchill. This year was the first time he has won any awards.

Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Lily James in Darkest Hour (2017)

The war film Dunkirk directed by Christopher Nolan has 8 Oscar nominations including Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Director, Best Sound Mixing and Best Original Score.  Starring in the film is Kenneth Branagh, Tom Hardy, James D’Arcy, Harry Styles and Mark Rylance. Christopher Nolan has also been nominated for the David Lean Award for Direction at the BAFTAs this year.

Fionn Whitehead in Dunkirk (2017)

The Shape of Water has nominations in many categories including Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Score and Screenplay, Best Sound Editing and Mixing and Best Cinematography. This comeback from Guillermo Del Toro, is set in the Cold War and stars women as the important characters.

Doug Jones and Sally Hawkins in The Shape of Water (2017)

Get Out has 4 Oscar nominations in total including Best Director and Best Actor for Daniel Kaluuya. Kaluuya has also been nominated for an EE Rising Star BAFTA Award for his breakthrough role.

Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out (2017)

The other Best Picture nominations are Lady Bird, Phantom Thread and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

I hope that Timothée Chalamet wins Best Actor, but I predict that Gary Oldman will win as he has already won a Golden Globe and SAG Award for his outstanding portrayal of Winston Churchill.

I would like Margot Robbie or Meryl Streep to win Best Actress for their roles in I, Tonya and The Post. I think any of the nominees, also including Sally Hawkins, Saoirse Ronan and Frances McDormand could win.

For Best Director, I would like to see Greta Gerwig win as she is the only female nominee and her work is outstanding or Jordan Peele, for Get Out, his amazing debut. I feel like Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk or Guillermo Del Toro for The Shape of Water may win the Oscar.

The other awards are still important but I have picked a select few to comment on. If you feel inclined, please leave a comment below with who you want to win at this year’s Oscars.

Happy Watching,

Robyn 🙂