CRUELLA : Tuesday 15th June 2021.

'CRUELLA' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is a PG Rated American crime comedy-drama film Directed by Craig Gillespie whose previous film making outings include 'Lars and the Real Girl', 'Million Dollar Arm', 'The Finest Hours' and 'I, Tonya' most recently in 2017. This film is based on the character Cruella de Vil, introduced in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' and specifically on the version from the Walt Disney 1961 animated film 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians'. It is the third live-action film in the '101 Dalmatians' franchise which were '101 Dalmatians' released in 1996 and '102 Dalmatians' released in 2000 both with Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil. Those first two instalments grossed a total US$505M off the back of production budgets amounting to a combined US$160M. This film was released theatrically and simultaneously available on Disney+ with Premier Access from the end of May, has generated mostly positive Critical Reviews aside from the screenplay, has so far taken US$132M off the back of a production budget of somewhere in the vicinity of US$150M, and Disney announced earlier this month that a sequel is officially in the early stages of development with both Emma's (Stone and Thompson, who play the leads here) having stated that they would like to make a second film. 

The film opens up sometime in the early 1960's and we are introduced to young five year old Estella Miller (Billie Gadsdon) and her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham) at home fashioning clothes out of scraps of material for Estella's dolls. Already it is clear that the young child has an eye for fashion but also a mean streak, so her mother coins the nickname 'Cruella' for her. We then fast forward to Estella aged twelve (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) and starting at a new school she is already out of sorts with her student cohort for her outlandish fashion sense, outspoken nature, rebellious streak and never say die attitude which gets her into all sorts of trouble with the Headmaster resulting in him blotting her record with black mark upon black mark. Ultimately Catherine is forced to pull Estella out of school before she is expelled, and the pair decide to travel to London to seek a fresh start there. En route, Catherine pulls over at the cliff top mansion of Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) who is hosting a lavish ball. She asks the Baroness for financial assistance, at which Estella witnesses her mother being shoved over the edge of a cliff to her death by three of the Baroness' ferocious Dalmatian dogs. 

Needless to say the young Estella is mortified by what she witnessed and flees the scene, hitching a ride in the back of a garbage truck all the way to London. She gets out of the truck at a fountain at Regent's Park and is later the next morning greeted by two young street urchins - brothers Jasper and Horace Badun (Ziggy Gardner and Joseph MacDonald respectively). After being chased down by a Policeman on the beat the threesome all come together in an abandoned loft in what looks like a condemned building. In an attempt to go unnoticed she dies her unusual half black half white head of hair red. 

We then fast forward ten years and Estella (Emma Stone) remains with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and have become very adept grifters, so much so that they are able to eek out a reasonable standard of living for themselves by picking pockets, stealing wallets and sundry items of jewellery from unsuspecting members of the public and shops around the city. All the while Estella works on her fashion skills by designing their disguises. On the occasion of her birthday Jasper and Horace present Estella with a contract of employment at the Liberty department store (a store that she has always aspired to work at), albeit as an entry level cleaner. After numerous attempts to convince her boss that she is more talented than scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets, but failed, one night in a drunken stupor she changes the window dressing of a particular display much to the chagrin of her boss, but also and more importantly, much to the prise of the Baroness who happens to be the owner of the store. Estella as a result lands a much coveted job with the Baroness who is a famous highly regarded albeit very demanding and authoritarian fashion designer. 

In time Estella wins over the confidence of the Baroness, until one day Estella notices the Baroness wearing a necklace and pendant that previously belonged to her mother Catherine, and which she had given her daughter on the night on her death. In fleeing the scene of the crime, the young Estella had dropped the necklace in panic and only noticed she had lost it when she arrived in London. Estella makes a casual enquiry as to the origin of the distinctive necklace, and the Baroness responds that an employee has once stolen it. At that Estella asks Jasper and Horace to help her steal it back. 

Estella, under the auspices of Cruella and now donning her natural half black half white hair colour, crashes one of the Baroness' lavish parties to steal back the necklace. When the Baroness uses a whistle to command her Dalmatians, Estella comes to the realisation that she used the same whistle to direct her dogs to murder Catherine. 

Now fuelled by revenge for her mother's death, Estella taunts the Baroness by appearing at her parties and social gatherings and upstaging her as Cruella in ever increasingly flamboyant outfits, designed with the aid of vintage clothing store owner, Artie (John McCrea). 

Cruella's unpredictable and often outrageous appearances gain publicity through her childhood friend Anita Darling (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) a gossip columnist. However, meanwhile Cruella's egotistical and arrogant behaviour increasingly antagonises Jasper and Horace so much so that they consider going their separate ways. The Baroness in the meantime, fires her lawyer Roger (Kayvan Novak) for failing to stop Cruella. Estella also kidnaps the Baroness' three Dalmatians after one of them accidentally swallows her mother's necklace, then relies on Jasper and Horace to retrieve the necklace when it appears out of the other end of the dog that swallowed it. 

Cruella later on sabotages the latest Spring collection hosted by the Baroness and stages her own show in front of the fountain at Regents Park wearing an outfit supposedly made out of Dalmatian fur. The Baroness in the meantime has come to the conclusion that Estella and Cruella are in fact the same woman. With her heavies in tow, the Baroness infiltrates their loft and when Estella returns from her successful Regents Park gig she is confronted by a tied and bound Jasper and Horace. Estella is tied and bound, and petrol is doused all around the place, with Jasper and Horace both being framed for her untimely death. The Baroness in turn lights a flame and leaves Estella to die in the fire which quickly engulfs the building. Jasper and Horace are both arrested. 

Cruella while presumed dead and reported as such in the press, is in fact rescued by the Baroness' long serving and trusted valet John (Mark Strong). When she comes round in John's modest home he reveals that he found the necklace, cleaned it with bleach, and therein is a key to a box containing Estella's birth records. She discovers that the Baroness is in fact her biological mother, and ordered John to have the baby Estella killed so she could concentrate exclusively on her fashion career. John couldn't bring himself to commit such an act so instead gave the baby to Catherine, one of the Baroness' maids, who raised Estella in secret. Estella is initially angered by Catherine's deception but in time comes to terms with the truth in an effort to complete her vengeance, so taking on the name Cruella permanently.

Cruella breaks Jasper and Horace out of jail using a garbage truck to ram the front entrance to the Police Station where they are being held (straight out of 'The Terminator' 1984), recruiting them and Artie for her final scheme. They sneak into the Baroness' charity gala, where Cruella has previously sent out an identical costume and black and white wig for all female guests to wear on the night under the pretext that it was sent by the Baroness (straight out of 'V for Vendetta' 2005). Cruella (dressed as Estella) standing on the same spot as her mother was thrown over the cliff all those years before, reveals to the Baroness that she is her abandoned daughter. The Baroness feigns remorse for her actions and asks to hug her before pushing her over the cliff top into the raging sea below, unaware her guests had been led outside and had witnessed the whole thing. The Baroness claims that Estella jumped just as the Police arrive. Cruella survives the fall using a parachute built into her clothing and picked up in a row boat by Horace. She discards her Estella disguise before returning to witness the Baroness being arrested, as Cruella.

Having adopted the last name de Vil (inspired by her stolen Panther De Ville car), Cruella inherits Hellman Hall, shortening it to Hell Hall, as its rightful biological heir, and she, Jasper and Horace attend the funeral of Estella as the only mourners in attendance. Stay seated for the mid-credits sequence in which Cruella has delivered to Anita and Roger (now married since he got fired as the Baroness' lawyer) two Dalmatian puppies named Pongo and Perdita. Roger is now writing songs for a living and begins singing the lyrics to 'Cruella de Vil' while tapping away at his piano. 

I have to say that I enjoyed 'Cruella' a whole lot more than I was expecting. For a Disney film this is quite dark in places and wickedly entertaining in the process. Director Craig Gillespie has here fashioned a Disney origin story that we never knew we needed, and delivered the goods in spades. The production values are top notch; the set designs impressive; the make up artistry equally so; and as for the punk era costumes as worn by Cruella and the haute couture outfits as worn by the Baroness, well they are awards worthy in the own right and worth the price of your ticket alone. Both Emma's shine in their roles, underscored by a strong supporting cast and Paul Walter Hauser nails it with his London accent and is about as far removed from 'Richard Jewell' as you can get. For a live action remake of a beloved Disney animated classic this film is right up there with the best of them and as for the running time of two hours fourteen minutes - fear not, it flies by and never leaves you wanting.

'Cruella' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

YESTERDAY : Tuesday 16th July 2019.

I finally got around to seeing 'YESTERDAY' this week, some three weeks after its Australian release, which carries an M Rating. Here this musical fantasy comedy is Directed by Danny Boyle (of 'Trainspotting', 'The Beach', 'Slumdog Millionaire', '127 Hours', '28 Days Later' and 'Sunshine' fame amongst others), and is written by Richard Curtis (he of 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Notting Hill', 'Love Actually', 'The Boat That Rocked', 'War Horse' and 'About Time' fame also amongst others). The film saw its World Premier screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in early May, was released in the UK in late June, made for US$26M and has so far grossed US$84M, and has received mixed or average feedback from Critics.

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter from Lowestoft in the county of Suffolk located in eastern England, whose dreams of musical fame and fortune are rapidly in decline, despite the unwavering devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James). Ellie is a school teacher and surrogate Manager to Jack who manages to score him a gig at the Latitude Music Festival which he is initially elated about, but after the fact is depressed because no one but a bunch of boozehounds and kids saw his performance. On the drive back after the gig, Jack threatens to give up his musical aspirations but Ellie is able to convince him otherwise.

One night while riding his bike home after a pub gig Jack is knocked off his ride in a head on collision with a bus during a mysterious global blackout that lasts for just twelve seconds. Jack comes round in a hospital bed a day or two later with no memory of what happened. He is comforted by Ellie who pokes fun at him because of his two missing front teeth, his fat lip, broken ribs and bruised and bloodied face. Upon release he catches up with some friends and Ellie at a beachside pub, where his friends present him with a new guitar to replace the one damaged in his earlier bike accident. His friends ask him to sing them a song. He sings them 'Yesterday' by The Beatles, and after, the three friends look on astonished at the beautiful song he has just performed, asking him when he wrote that. Jack retorts that The Beatles of course wrote it, but they all come back with 'who'? Looking on a little perplexed, he quickly dismisses their ignorance as a joke.

Later that day he visits Ellie at home to double check on her knowledge of The Beatles, and again she feigns ignorance. Jack hurries home, goes to his computer, punches The Beatles into Google, and the search reveals beetles. He tries again, with the same result and then a third time. He then tries various derivatives also with no success, even punching in Oasis to reveal a desert watering hole rather than the Manchester rock band of the '90's said to have been heavily influenced by The Beatles. It quickly dawns on Jack that in the new world post his bike accident, no one has ever heard of The Beatles. And so Jack begins performing their songs mostly in down beat clubs and pubs claiming he wrote them, but still with little success, until he is heard by a local music producer Gavin (Alexander Arnold), with whom he records a demo CD.

Following a spot on a local TV programme on which Jack performs live, he is contacted by Ed Sheeran who saw his performance and was able to lay his hands on a copy of his demo CD. Ed rocks up one evening unannounced to Jack's place and is invited to play as Ed's opening act in Moscow in four days time - next Tuesday. Ellie declines to join him, saying she has to work at her day job as a school teacher, so Jack's totally unreliable and somewhat roguish roadie friend Rocky (Joel Fry) travels with him instead. Jack goes down a storm in Moscow and has the packed audience eating out of his hand, particularly with his rendition of 'Back in the USSR'.

After the hugely successful Moscow gig, Jack is signed by Sheeran's agent, Debra Hammer (Kate McKinnon), and rapidly rises to global fame off the back of The Beatles extensive catalogue of songs which Jack has had to remember the music and lyrics to, remembering that if The Beatles never existed there are no recordings, no archival footage, no song sheets, no music and no lyrics recorded anywhere. His new Agent summons Jack over to LA to negotiate a deal and to meet with top executives in the recording industry, media people and image consultants etc. in readiness to launch Jack on a partially suspecting world as the biggest thing ever to hit the global music scene.

After a series of meetings in LA and more scheduled for the end of the week Jack makes a hasty retreat back to Liverpool to meet with Ellie and to conduct some more Beatles research in the hope of jogging his memory of their songs lyrics. He travels with Rocky and visits Strawberry Field, Penny Lane and the grave of Eleanor Rigby - all landmarks immortalised in the words and music of classic Beatles tracks. At a party at Jack's home, Ellie confesses that she has always loved Jack ever since they were at Junior School together, but she knows that his feelings for her aren't reciprocated. Jack tries to summons the words to express his feelings but is pressured into rejoining the party downstairs.

The next evening Ellie seeks out Jack at his hotel. They have dinner together, eat lots, drink more and then retire to his room. They embrace and kiss but then Ellie shies away telling him that she is not interested in being his one night stand before he does a bolt back to the glitz, glamour and temptations of LA. Early the next morning, Jack and Rocky pursue Ellie to Liverpool Lime Street Train Station where she is waiting to get a train back down to Suffolk. Ellie reminds Jack about making a choice between her and his career. Already running late for their scheduled flight Jack returns to Los Angeles heartbroken.

Jack flies back into LA and attends a marketing meeting at his record label in which a decision is to be made about the title of his first double album release. He had already suggested 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' or 'The White Album' or 'Abbey Road' but instead the marketing guru's come up with 'One Man Only' pushing his solo and independent song writing talents. Jack is becoming increasingly disillusioned and persuades Debra Hammer to launch the album with a performance in Gorleston at a beachside hotel back in Norfolk, England - his former stomping ground. In the meantime Jack has a guest appearance on the James Cordon Show, in which Cordon reveals that there are a couple of guests in the audience who claim that Jack's songs are not his own.

Whilst waiting to go on to the roof top stage at Gorleston, Rocky approaches Jack saying that two crazies are demanding to see him, and hands over a model of the Yellow Submarine. Whilst Rocky has no clue about the significance of the model, Jack instantly recognises it and is shocked. Fearing the worst Jack nonetheless agrees to meet them. In walk two Beatles fans who tell him they know he plagiarised the songs; however, not being able to sing themselves they thank him, fearing the music of the Beatles would have been lost forever had it not been for him. Upon leaving they give him a hand written note on a scrap of paper and saying that their research had been exhaustive. Jack goes out onto the roof top stage and launches his album to a huge crowd gathered on the beach in front of the hotel, in which he belts out 'Help'.

The next day Jack is travelling in a taxi to the remote beachside cottage address given to him by the two Beatles fans who visited him the day before. It is the home of John Lennon (an uncredited Robert Carlyle), who has lived to be 78 and is still going strong. Jack asks John if he has led a successful life and John responds that he has led a happy life with his wife, and his sailing and his artistic talents and tells him to chase the one he loves and to always tell the truth. Jack hugs John for reasons that are unclear to the now unrealised musician and 20th Century icon, and leaves. 

Ed arranges for Jack to perform at Wembley Stadium which he does by belting out several Beatles classics. After his performance Jack confesses to the massive audience that he plagiarised the music that was written by John, Paul, George and Ringo (which of course means nothing to the crowd) and that he is simply a conduit to keep their music alive. He goes on to display Ellie on a giant screen behind him oblivious to the fact that she is up on stage remotely, but she hears him saying that he loves her, is sorry for fooling everyone with his songs and then has Rocky upload the songs free to the Internet, sabotaging the record release and sacrificing tens of millions of dollars in sales in the process. Jack and Ellie marry and have a family together, Jack becomes a music teacher and they live happily ever after.

I quite enjoyed 'Yesterday' I'd have to say and perhaps just a little more than I had expected going in. The film will doubtless please Beatles fans keen to hear some of their catalogue of more memorable tunes sung with conviction by a passable Himesh Patel. It's a fun feel good movie that does leave a satisfying taste in the mouth after the credits have rolled, told in a simple, no nonsense uncomplicated albeit fairly formulaic manner about a struggling musician; the girl who loves him but he doesn't get it; boy literally stumbles across worldwide stardom, fame and fortune; loses girl in the process; and then all comes good in the end. Patel, Sheeran and Fry give the standout performances in this film with equal amounts of comedic and emotional heft, while James and McKinnon are left largely undercooked and in reality not that interesting, albeit necessary to move the story along. In this parallel universe or whatever it is (which is never explained further except for a twelve second global blackout caused by a solar flare) we also learn that Coca Cola, cigarettes and Harry Potter also have never existed. If, however, two other people have memories of The Beatles, then presumably they can also recall these other products, and if there are two, how many more are there in the global population that also share those memories, and those others seemingly lost from human consciousness forever. Lots of unanswered questions mostly on a cosmic scale, a couple of half baked   storylines masquerading as romantic turmoil and the music PR machine, all just about saved by a solid debut from the lead Actor and a strong self depreciating cameo from Sheeran.

'Yesterday' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-