GLASS : Tuesday 22nd January 2019.

'GLASS', which I saw at my local multiplex this week, will doubtless please fans of the 'Unbreakable series' (aka the 'Eastrail 177 Trilogy' following the derailment of the fictitious Eastrail #177 train in the first instalment of this series of now three) of films which launched in 2000 with 'Unbreakable', carried on with 2016's 'Split' and now sees its apparent conclusion with 'Glass'. All three films have been Directed, Written and Co-Produced by M. Night Shyamalan. 'Unbreakable' was made for US$75M and grossed US$248M, while 'Split' was made for just US$9M and grossed US$279M with both films being a critical success too. 'Glass' had a production budget of US$20M, and was released in the US and Australia last week, has so far grossed US$107M and has generated largely mixed or average Reviews. By way of a quick recap however, Samuel L. Jackson's character from 'Unbreakable', Elijah Price is a mass murderer and comic book theorist with Type 1 Brittle Bone Disease and superhuman intelligence. Bruce Willis's character also from 'Unbreakable', David Dunn, is a former college football prodigy turned security guard who possesses superhuman strength, stamina, and invulnerability as well as an extrasensory ability to see the crimes people have committed just by touching them. Dunn is the sole survivor of the Eastrail 177 train journey which killed all 131 other passengers on board, but left him completely unscathed - hence Unbreakable! Dunn turned Price into the authorities after discovering the full extent of his crimes. James McAvoy from 'Split' plays Kevin Wendell Crumb, a former Philadelphia Zoo employee with 23 different personalities whose body chemistry changes with each personality, resulting in a 24th personality known as 'The Beast'.

From 'Unbreakable' Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn and so does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, aka Mr. Glass. From 'Split' we have James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the other 23 multiple personalities who reside within him, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with 'The Beast' (Kevin's 24th identity). Following the conclusion of 'Split' and about three weeks after that fact, we find David Dunn and his now adult son Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark) working together from the stockroom of David's Security shop to take down criminals whilst also attempting to home in on Kevin Wendell Crumb who has taken four cheerleaders captive somewhere across the city of Philadelphia. Crumb and his numerous persona's now collectively go by the name of 'The Horde', whereas Dunn's exploits have earned him the moniker 'The Overseer' on social media.

One day while out scouring a derelict part of the city, Dunn brushes up against Crumb in his nine year old 'Hedwig' persona, and using his powers of extra sensory perception is able to locate the cheerleaders whereabouts. He frees them, just as Kevin returns in the guise of 'The Beast' and immediately sets upon Dunn. The pair fight, with The Beast surprised at Dunn's strength and resilience. They crash through a window and fall to the ground several storey's below, but are captured by heavily armed Police authorities who escort the pair to the Raven Hill Memorial Psychiatric Hospital for observation and treatment.

Inside the heavily fortified psychiatric hospital, Dunn is placed into a room with powerful showers that will flood his room instantly in the event of an attempted escape, erratic behaviour or anything else that gives cause for concern. This is because Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) the head Doctor in charge of the facility, knows of Dunn's weakness when he is exposed to water. Similarly, The Horde are placed in a room with movement sensitive lights and cameras that flash on an off in an instant, so causing Crumbs multiple personalities to change with each flash of the high intensity bright lights, so effectively disarming The Beast. Staple's chosen field of medical expertise is in working with patients who claim to have special powers, and be superhuman, and to persuade them otherwise.

In the fullness of time, Staple assembles Elijah Price who has been confined to a wheelchair and remains mute and almost motionless the whole time, and who has been a long term resident of the hospital for some years now, with Crumb and Dunn in a room together. Her aim is to evaluate how the three interact with each other and debunk their theories that they are something special and convince them that are just normal human beings who may possess some kind of special skill but nothing extraordinary that can't be learned by anyone else. She also reveals that she has been given just three days to convince the three that they are normal, and if they can't be convinced then they'll have to suffer the consequences of a very long term stay in her facility under constant observation, scrutiny and treatment.

Meanwhile Joseph, Mrs. Price (Elijah's mother, played by Charlayne Woodard) and Casey Cooke all visit the hospital on separate occasions and meet individually with Staple and try to persuade her that Mrs. Price's son, Joseph's Dad, and Casey's former captor all have merits, are simply misunderstood and have good inside them. Staple is however, unconvinced.

The evaluation awakens something in Elijah, giving him the motivation to make his play. One night when the facility is quiet, the care staff are between shifts and otherwise distracted and security is at a minimum, Elijah breaks into The Hordes room wanting to meet with The Beast. After an introduction and time running out before the next care giver starts his shift, Elijah sets up a meeting for the next night, at which he will also see to it that David Dunn is freed too. Upon leaving the room, Crumb asks Elijah what he should call him, to which Elijah turns in his wheelchair and says 'first name Mister, last name Glass'. 

Staple has however, recently extended her comprehensive network of security cameras across the complex, and Elijah's movements were caught on camera. Knowing that he cannot be trusted, having managed to successfully pull the proverbial wool of everyone's eyes for so long, Staple announces to Elijah, (back in his catatonic state) that they are bringing forward to the next day surgery on him to render his alleged superhuman thinking redundant.

The next day, post surgery, Elijah slashes the throat of one of his care givers with a shard of glass taken from a picture hanging in his room. It is also revealed in flashback that Elijah sabotaged the laser device (used in his surgery) the previous evening by removing the lens rendering its power useless. He visits The Horde with the notion of awakening The Beast, with a plan to pitch The Beast against David Dunn in a grand showdown in full view of the media at the grand opening of the city's tallest skyscraper later that same day. Elijah taunts Dunn with his plan, saying that if he doesn't comply he'll destroy the tower and all those inside it. Consequently, Dunn breaks the reinforced steel door down with his third shoulder barge attempt, knocking it clean off its hinges.

Meanwhile, Mr. Glass and Kevin Wendell Crumb are making it out of the hospital using a network of basement tunnels. They are intercepted by several guards, who are quickly dispensed with by The Beast, while Mr. Glass continues to wheel himself out into the open, to be joined by The Beast when his work is done with the guards.

Outside in the hospital grounds, The Beast and David Dunn face off and are pretty evenly matched - The Beast's raw unfettered aggression against anyone and everyone pitched against Dunn's considered unbreakable brute strength and resilience and his unwavering desire to protect those at risk and ultimately use his skills for good.

Staple has by now arrived, as have Mrs. Price, Joseph and Casey Cooke. Armed Police arrive in riot gear. She orders four armed men to fend off The Beast and Dunn but they are no match for the duelling pair and are quickly subdued. Looking on from his wheelchair, Mr. Glass tells The Beast that water is Dunn's weakness, but Joseph comes between them and reveals to The Beast that Elijah orchestrated the train crash that killed Kevin's father, the same train crash from which Elijah came to meet up with Dunn.

In a seemingly moment of clarity, The Beast thanks Mr. Glass for creating him, but also tells him that his purpose was to protect Kevin and therefore he cannot trust Mr. Glass. The Beast breaks Glass' shoulder and punches him severely in the stomach causing him to topple off his wheelchair onto the hard road surface breaking further bones in his brittle body. The Beast then throws Dunn into a water tank and jumps in after him holding him beneath the surface. Despite the effects of the water, Dunn is able to break through the walls of the tank causing a torrent of water to flood the grounds in the immediate vicinity and wash them both out. Dunn survives but has been weakened by his drenching. As The Beast retreats having taunted Dunn to finish off their duel at the new skyscraper, Casey confronts him and coerces Kevin to take control of his body so returning to his normal human state and taking control away from The Beast.

Staple's men then fire on Kevin while he is weak with a single laser pointed gun shot to the stomach. Three others then set upon a now weakened Dunn and begin to drown him in a flooded pothole. Staple lets Dunn touch her as he is drowned, giving him a vision of her participation in a secret society trying to keep the existence of superhumans a secret. Mr. Glass dies of his multiple bone fractures looked over by his weeping mother. Kevin dies of his gunshot wound in the arms of Casey, and Joseph arrives after Dunn was drowned, and is distraught by the death of his superhuman father whom he idolised. Staple promptly wipes clean all the footage from the one hundred or so internal and external security cameras so destroying any and all evidence of superhuman behaviours and what went down earlier that day. She also reports that her mission had been a complete success.

However, what is unknown to Staple, is that all the cameras around the psychiatric hospital had been hacked by Mr. Glass earlier in the day and had been live-streaming that coverage to a private network. Subsequently, Mrs. Price, Joseph, and Casey all receive a copy of the footage. They choose to release that footage to the public at large, and sitting together on a bench in a busy train station, they watch people increasingly accessing their mobile devices to watch the footage so creating an awareness of the existence of superhumans, and before you know it, it makes the primetime television news channels too.

I enjoyed 'Glass' but not nearly a much as I would have hoped. The film meanders in the mid-section, regurgitates old tropes that we have seen before, short delivers on the action and suspense spectacle and the ending is something and nothing and lacks the punch of a grand finale to a trilogy that up until the final few frames of 'Split' nobody saw coming. McAvoy gives a fine turn once again flexing his multi-personality The Horde by switching from one persona to another without missing a beat. This is his film, and it is richer for his performance. As for Jackson - well he really does diddly squat for the first half except stare blankly at the screen in a near comatose state save for the occasional facial twitch; and Willis is the stoic, expressionless die hard character that he has played in a hundred movies. Paulson just keeps on repeating herself, and Taylor-Joy is also underplayed when her back story could have been explored more. There are a few twists and turns in the film, and any levity comes from McAvoy's rapid fire ever changing character voices, mannerisms, quirks and traits which he nails every time. And as for the trademark Shyamalan surprise at the end, well don't hold your breath this time, because when it does eventuate, its not up to the standard of some of his more noteworthy offerings. All that said, I would describe this glass as half full, rather than half empty.

As such, 'Glass' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BIRD BOX : Friday 21st December 2018

I saw 'BIRD BOX' from the comfort of my own living room watching the film on Netflix the day of its worldwide release on 21st December. Based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman, the film is Directed by Susanne Bier whose most recent outing as Director was for the highly acclaimed television series 'The Night Manager'. Made for US$20M the film has a limited theatrical run from 14th December before being released on the Netflix streaming service on 21st December. Within a week, Netflix had claimed that the film had seen the biggest seven-day viewership for any of its original movies to date, with over 45 million viewers. The film has received mixed or average Reviews from Critics, although Sandra Bullock's performance as the lead character has been praised.

The film opens up with a mother, Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) kneeling down and speaking quickly and anxiously to her two young children. She informs them that they are about to go on a journey down a river and its going to be dangerous, and if they don't listen to her every word they will die. She also tells them that if they get separated they will die, and if they run off or cause a distraction they will die, and if they remove their blindfolds for as much as a fleeting minute they will die.

We then go back in time five years and Malorie is an expectant mother who is visited in her home painting studio by her sister Jessica (Sarah Paulson). Before setting off to the local hospital for a routine pregnancy check-up, they see reports on television that some sort of strange phenomenon across Europe and Russia is causing mass suicides on a seemingly alarming scale. The pair dismiss the story and go to the hospital. Upon leaving the clinic the pair witness a woman in the corridor smashing her head repeatedly against a plate glass window, smashing the glass and her head and face. Malorie realises that perhaps there was more to that news story than they gave it credit for. As they attempt to race away from the hospital, they see chaos erupt in the streets all around them as more and more people suicide. Distraught by the scenes and carnage unfolding in front of them, Malorie reaches into the back seat to retrieve her ringing phone, when Jessica is unnerved by something up ahead. Jessica crashes the car which comes to halt upside down. They both clamber out. Injured, Malorie is unable to stop her sister stepping in front of an oncoming speeding truck and is killed instantly.

Malorie is swept along by a fleeing crowd of people all running away from something that no one can seemingly see, hear or understand. She is pulled to safety by a group of strangers holed up in house, but in the ensuing chaos, one of those residents walks out into the street and sits in a burning car very quickly engulfing herself in flames. That was the the wife of Douglas (John Malkovich) the owner of the house. After collecting their thoughts as much as they are able under the dire circumstances, they draw the conclusion that just by virtue of looking at the creatures can cause humans to go insane and commit suicide. They cover the windows with newspapers and blankets to hide themselves from the chaos and creatures on the outside.

Days and presumably a few weeks pass by and food supplies in the house are running short. Malorie and the other holed up residents Charlie (Lil Rel Howery), Tom (Trevante Rhodes), Lucy (Rosa Salazar) and Douglas agree to drive to a local supermarket on a supply run. They paint out the windows, and use the vehicles GPS and proximity sensors to detect obstacles in the road and to guide them to their destination. Arriving at the store, but not before encountering the creatures which they manage to successfully evade with some nifty driving skills, they find an almost fully stocked supermarket which Charlie happens to work at. In the drinks aisle Douglas is in his element having found a stash of Scotch Whisky and votes to remain there indefinitely. The others however, reject his notion. Malorie comes across a bird cage containing a pair of birds, which she decides to adopt. The birds quickly validate themselves when a man crying for help from behind the loading dock door wants to gain entry. Upon opening the door the birds yelp and flap their wings violently indicating they are an early warning system against the creatures. The man allowed entry quickly attacks the group as he is seemingly under the influence of the creatures and is out to infect other humans. Charlie sacrifices himself so that the others can make a getaway.

Some time later Lucy and Felix (Colson Baker) steal the vehicle and decide to go it alone, leaving those left in the house without any means of transportation. Soon after, another heavily pregnant survivor Olympia (Danielle Macdonald) allows a seemingly unaffected and innocent wanderer, Gary (Tom Hollander) into the house against Douglas's wishes, for which he is locked up in the garage lest he should try to injure or kill their latest resident. Seemingly speaking from first hand experience, Gary refers to infected survivors who are insane and are compelled to force unaffected humans to look at the creatures, of which he has numerous pencil drawings contained in a satchel. When both Olympia and Malorie go into labour, Gary reveals himself to be one of the insane people he described. He then proceeds to remove all the coverings from the windows and attack the others within the house. Gary murders Douglas and forces Olympia, having just given birth, and another survivor Cheryl (Jackie Weaver) to look at the creatures, resulting in their deaths by suicide. Tom is able to kill Gary with a shotgun and save Malorie and the two newborns, leaving all the other survivors in the house, dead.

Fast forward five years, and Tom and Malorie are living together with the children in a seemingly relatively safe haven. Malorie calls the now five year olds only Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair). One day they receive a return radio transmission from a survivor stating that they are well and safe at a community two days downriver and that they are welcome to join them. Tom wants to go to the community despite the dangers of the river, but Malorie fears it could be a trap.

Following the transmission, Malorie flees with the two children when a group of infected survivors locate them and attempt to kill them. Tom manages to kill all the infected, but in doing so glimpses the creatures which results in him turning his gun on himself. Blindfolded, Malorie takes the children, also blindfolded, and the two birds wrapped in a shoe box to a rowboat next to a river.

Their journey is dangerous as described by the voice at the other end of the radio transmission. After some two days having survived raging rapids, an insane infected man, and even capsizing their boat in the rapids, they are washed ashore but by now separated. The creatures tease the children and Malorie to remove their blindfolds by mimicking the voices of loved ones but are unsuccessful as the three are reunited by the sounds of each others voices, and make it through dense woodland to the community guided by the sounds of tweeting birds, just as the voice had instructed.

Upon arriving Malorie and the two children are quickly taken in, and removing her blindfold very gingerly, sees that the compound is an old school for the blind, and most members of that community are blind, rendering them immune to the creatures. She kneels down and gives the children names, Olympia for the girl and Tom for the boy, and releases the birds from their box to join the many others flying above in an enclosed atrium, that have kept them free from harm for these past five years.

This film evoked memories of M. Night Shyamalan's 2008 post apocalyptic horror thriller 'The Happening' and more recently John Krasinski's 2018 post apocalyptic horror thriller 'A Quiet Place'. This film is below par compared with the latter, and would rate just about the same as the former elevated only by the performance of Sandra Bullock who once again turns it on as the everyday woman determined to overcome adversity and look fear in the face and say FU! The film falls somewhat short on suspense, scares and any real horror elements and lingers too long in the past, not long enough in the present and not at all in the intervening five years. As for the fate outside of Malorie's small little world, we are left but to wonder, and why certain individuals are left to roam free as 'carriers' of the creatures curse but not victims of suicide, also remains unclear. If post apocalyptic thrillers are your thing, and if during these extended school Summer holidays you are looking for two hours to sit and watch such an offering from the comfort of your own lounge, you could do worse than tune into 'Bird Box', but equally there's more compelling viewing out there too.  

'Bird Box' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a potential five.

 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE POST : Tuesday 30th January 2018.

I caught the much praised historical political thriller 'THE POST' earlier this week as Directed and Co-Produced by Steven Spielberg. This film tells the story of The Washington Post newspaper and how, together with The New York Times, exposed the Pentagon Papers in 1971. Officially titled 'United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense', this serves as a United States Department of Defence history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. The papers were released by a former Pentagon staffer, who had worked on the study which were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of The New York Times in 1971, and immediately thereafter by The Washington Post. The film saw its Premier and limited release in the US just before Christmas, and went on wide release in the US and Australia in mid-January. Costing US$50M to make, the film has so far recovered US$86M and has picked up in total so far twelve award wins and another 79 nominations including two yet to be announced Academy Award nods for Best Film and Best Lead Actress.

The film opens up in 1966, in Vietnam, as a platoon of American Troops set off for the jungle, accompanied by military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (Matthew Rhys) who is there to observe and document the progress (or not) of the American military activities in the region for his boss, Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood). En route back to the US after a tour of reporting duty, McNamara states to President Lyndon Johnson and Ellsberg that the War in Vietnam is a lost cause, that no progress is being made and that their efforts are near hopeless. Upon landing however, McNamara expresses to the gathered throng of reporters a completely different story citing that they have seen very positive strides forward, and that he is encouraged by the progress being made.

Fast forward some years, Ellsberg now works for a private military contractor, and he takes it upon himself to begin photocopying the entire 7,000 page Top Secret and highly Classified Report that documents in every detail the progress, or lack of it, of the Vietnam War, dating back to President Truman's time. Once copied he distributes these documents to The New York Times, spelling out clearly over two decades worth of under the radar, confidential activities and brutally truthful admissions of just how poorly the war had been going for the Americans. Meanwhile Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep) as the owner and publisher of The Washington Post is seen to be busy juggling her social calendar with preparations for an imminent float of her company on the Wall Street Stock Exchange, whilst keeping a watchful eye on her newspapers content, dwindling readership and the fact that it is still seen as a small local newspaper. Plus, the fact that she is very much a woman all alone in a mans world, and lacks the confidence in herself and her abilities as a result of being looked down upon and frequently overruled for many years by her more assertive advisors and Board Members.

Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) is her Editor-in-Chief, and while struggling to find any real newsworthy stories to cover, notes that the top investigative reporter over at The New York Times, Ed Sheehan, has been uncharacteristically quiet for sometime. Bradley surmises that he must be working on something big, and so sends an intern over to the offices of The Times to conduct some undercover investigating. In the meantime, McNamara who is also a long time friend of Katherine Graham and a trusted advisor confides in her that in tomorrows New York Times there will be published a very unflattering exposé into the US Government's long running lies and deceit to the American public into the affairs surrounding the Vietnam War. After a number of days of sensational reporting by The Times blowing the lid off the whole long running sordid, sorry and mismanaged affair, the series is halted in its tracks by a Court Injunction banning any further publications of such stories.

At the same time, a shoe box wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with string winds up on the desk of a Post staffer. Curious he unwraps the box and inside finds a sample of the leaked documents and takes these around to Bradlee's office all post haste. The Post's Assistant Editor and former associate of Ellsberg, Ben Bagdikian (Bob Odenkirk) believes that Ellsberg is the sources of the leaked documents so begins tracking down his old friend who has gone under deep cover for fear of being hunted down and persecuted by the Government for crimes against the state and treason. However, he is able to track down Ellsberg, who provides him with copies of the same material that he provided to The New York Times.

Back at the Bradlee household, a small team of his reporters convene to sift through 4,000 or so jumbled up pages that Bagdikian sourced from Ellsberg in two archive boxes. While trying to piece together the disorganised and random pages to make a bigger picture story, the Post's legal team have been made aware and advise Bradlee against publishing, for fear that Nixon's administration will bring the full force of the Government down upon them and file criminal charges, which could shut down the newspaper and throw Graham, Bradlee, the Board and the Reporters in jail.

With the clock ticking on their print deadline to make the next morning's newsstands, Graham deliberates long and hard on whether to publish or not. She seeks the counsel of the men around her, including McNamara, Bradlee and various Board Members. All of those except Bradlee coach Graham not to publish for fear that the legal and political fall out would ruin the newspaper and destroy her deep rooted family legacy. On the flip side, if she stands her ground and successfully defends any legal proceedings, she could propel The Post into the realms of a relevant and important news publication on the national stage. She opts for the latter and decides to publish, while The Times remains inactive under its Court Injunction.

The day of publication the White House sends an opening salvo by summonsing both The Post and The Times together before the Supreme Court to plead their First Amendment right for the freedom to publish the leaked documents. Meanwhile, all around the country, other local and State news publications have picked up the story too, made it their front page headlines and come out in support of The Post and The Times. The court determines in favour of both newspapers so validating Graham's decision to publish. Bradlee and the entire office team gather around a small screen to hear the outcome of the determination. In closing President Nixon is seen talking on the telephone banning any representative from The Washington Post ever stepping foot inside the White House again, or attending any Presidential or Governmental event whether at the White House or elsewhere. The final scene, sees a night-time Security Guard interrupting a break-in in progress at the Democratic National Committee Headquarters housed in the Watergate Office complex. The rest as they say, is history!

The film also stars Tracy Letts as Fritz Beebe (Chairman of the Board at The Washington Post); Bradley Whitford as Arthur Parsons (Board Member), Alison Brie as Lally Graham (Katherine's daughter), Sarah Paulson as Antoinette Bradlee (Ben's wife) and Jesse Plemmons as Roger Clark (Legal Counsel to The Post).

This is the first time that Hollywood heavyweights Hanks, Streep and Spielberg have worked together on a film, and judging by the quality of this offering, hopefully it won't be the last. Of course Hanks and Spielberg have plenty of history together, most recently on 'Bridge of Spies' and before that on 'Terminal', 'Catch Me If You Can' and 'Saving Private Ryan'. The quality of the performances from the principle cast, most notably Hanks, Streep and Odenkirk is top notch as you would expect, as is the quality of filmmaking also first rate with Spielberg's deft touch at capturing the real sense of urgency, the power struggle, and the relevance with the political machinations between then and now - albeit with a smattering of poetic license along the way! For equally compelling viewing of this same story you can check out 'The Pentagon Papers' from 2003 - a historical television film about Daniel Ellsberg (portrayed by James Spader here) and the events leading up to the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, or 'The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers' - a 2009 documentary film based on the same course of events. This is a good solid film, up there with other investigative journalism films including 2014 'Kill The Messenger', but lacking the greatness of 'All The President's Men' from 1976, 'The Killing Fields' from 1984, and more recently 'Spotlight' from 2015 to name but a few investigative journalism offerings.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-