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The Punk Floyd Company presents Actress/Writer Stella Velon’s directorial debut: THE CRITIC, a psychological drama/thriller, Produced/Executive-Produced by Jean Gabriel Kauss. Starring: Stella Velon (Baskets, Shutterbug, Men in Black 3) and Alan Smyth (Persons Unknown, The Outfield, Castle). Cinematography by Akis Konstantakopoulos Edited by Ivan Andrijanic Music by Asaf Sagiv Watch more clips on Youtube: http://bit.ly/the-critic Follow The Critic on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecritic.shortfilm IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8314192/ 2018 | USA | 15 MIN CONTACT: info@punkfloydco.com

(London Film Festival, October 13th, 2018, Prince Charles Cinema, 18:15) "Bad Reputation" A look at the life of Joan Jett, from her early years as the founder of 'The Runaways' and first meeting collaborator Kenny Laguna in 1980 to her enduring presence in pop culture as a rock ‘n’ roll pioneer. When a precocious 13 -year-old girl in a sleepy suburban town put a 'Sears Electric Guitar' at the top of her Christmas list in 1971, no one could have predicted how the gift would change the course of history. Joan Jett wants to make some noise. She wants to start a band. An all-girl band. Never mind that the only viable path forward for aspiring female artists in the male-dominated music industry was as a singer-songwriter on an acoustic guitar. Jett wants to plug in, and nothing is going to stop her. Following the break- up of 'The Runaways', Jett met songwriting partner and producer Kenny Laguna, and formed 'Joan Jett & The Blackhearts'. After being rejected by twenty three labels, Laguna and Jett formed 'Blackhearts Records', selling records out of the trunk of Kenny’s Cadillac. Then, 'I Love Rock n Roll' went number one all over the world. The friendship and tenacity exhibited between Jett and Laguna proves to be both entertaining and inspiring. Jett ’s relentless passion for music and her revolutionary spirit has allowed her to defy great odds and find success, credibility and respect among her peers. Joan Jett is an originator, an innovator, and a visionary. As the leader of the hard- rocking 'Blackhearts', with whom she has become a 'Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame' inductee, she's had eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics 'Bad Reputation", 'I Love Rock 'N' Roll', 'I Hate Myself For Loving You', and 'Crimson and Clove'. Her independent record label, 'Blackheart Records', was founded in 1980 after she was rejected by no less than 23 labels. 'Blackheart' is one of the longest running indie labels and continues to give voice to new bands. Jett has acted in movies and television, including 1987's "Light Of Day", and in a Broadway musical, 'The Rocky Horror Show'. She has appeared on such television shows as 'Oprah' and 'Law and Order'. As a producer, she has overseen albums by 'Bikini Kill', 'Circus Lupus', as well as 'The Germs'. Her music has become a permanent force in mainstream culture. A version of 'I Hate Myself For Loving You' was reworked for 'NBC's Sunday Night Football' theme song. Her music is heard in countless films and TV shows including 'Easy-A', 'The Runaways', 'Shrek' and 'Baby Mama'. Since co-founding 'The Runaways', the pioneering all-girl punk quintet, at age 15, Jett's determination and drive have kept her in the public eye. Jett and 'The Blackhearts' released their latest record, 'Unvarnished', in 2013 and continue touring the globe to throngs of adoring fans. Joan Jett has spent her lifetime breaking barriers and challenging expectations, this is, after all, a woman who's both a spokesperson for 'PETA' and a devoted supporter of 'The US Military'. She's fought hard for all of her historic accomplishments, yet she remains humble and appreciative.   Kenny Laguna has been in the music industry as a musician, songwriter, singer, and producer, for nearly five decades. His resume is as diverse as his talents, including 'Bubblegum', 'Punk Rock', 'Indie Rock', and 'Blue-Eyed Soul'. He has produced the soundtrack to 'The Andy Warhol' movie "Lonesome Cowboys". He's Joan Jett's longtime producer, songwriting partner and partner in their label, 'Blackheart Records'. Starting at the tender age of 12 years old, Kenny was playing keyboards for New York radio high school hops, for twenty dollars a day, when he was recognized by an industry bigwig. This led to other doors that Kenny kicked open, and eventually he found himself producing and playing in 'Bubblegum' bands like 'The Ohio Express'. By 1972, Kenny had played and sung on over '50 Billboard Top 40' hits. After the demise of 'Bubblegum', he was given the opportunity to produce for 'The Who's' label in London, which would prime him for the next phase, 'Punk Rock'. Soon after that, Kenny was asked to help write and produce six songs in 8 days with a young singer named Joan Jett. Her former band, 'The Runaways', had broken up, but they're still contracted to do a project that was yet unfinished. Kenny and Joan immediately found they're kindred spirits, and have collaborated on every Joan Jett album and hit ever since. Kenny wanted to help Joan get a record deal, so they submitted 'I Love Rock N' Roll' and 'Bad Reputation'. They're turned down by every  one. Despite this, they didn't give up; Kenny and Joan manufactured the record, 'Bad Reputation' and sold the album from the trunk of 'Kenny's Cadillac'. This was the beginning of 'Blackheart Records'. 35 years later, 'Blackheart' is still the home to Joan Jett and 'The Blackhearts'. Kenny served as 'Executive Producer' of 2010's, 'The Runaways', bringing the story of the band to life on screen. After 35 years of creating music together, he and Jett are still touring the world, writing and recording new music. Kenny Laguna's vast career is a testament to his talents and tenacity. His body of work is as diverse as his talents. His lengthy career has been driven by passion for what he loves to do best; create music.   Carianne Brinkman spent her first 5 years traveling all over the world with rock n roll bands and then retired from the tour life to start kindergarten. Having grown up in the music industry, she was destined to follow in the formidable footsteps of her father, Kenny Laguna, a music business legend, and her adopted aunt, Joan Jett. After attending college, she joined the family business, 'Blackheart Records', and began to plot how to bring the label into a new era. 'Blackheart' was started after 23 labels rejected Jett and Laguna, before they found success with 'I Love Rock n Roll'. Brinkman rebranded 'Blackheart'' to reflect Jett's authenticity and rock n roll spirit. The label has become one of the longest running and most respected indies. By bringing Jett's catalog into the digital space, and focusing on Jett's unique brand and influence, Brinkman helped propel Jett from rock star to icon. In addition to infusing new life into the over 35 year old label, by signing and championing unique and diverse artists, she has been an integral part of Joan Jett's management team and was key in ushering in a new era for Jett. Jett credits Brinkman as the secret to her current success. After 13 years as 'SVP Of Blackheart', Brinkman began to expand into film. She was an associate producer of the 2010 film, 'The Runaways'. "Bad Reputation" chronicles the life of Joan Jett, from her early teenage years as founding member of The Runaways to her enduring presence over four decades later as a rock ‘n’ roll icon. Joan is so much more than "I Love Rock 'n' Roll." It's true, she became mega-famous from the number-one hit, and that fame intensified with the music video's endless play on 'MTV'. But that staple of popularity can't properly define a musician. Jett put her hard work in long before the fame, ripping it up onstage as the backbone of the hard-rock legends 'The Runaways', influencing many musicians-both her cohort of punk rockers and generations of younger bands-with her no-bullshit style. The film gives you a wild ride as Jett and her close friends tell you how it really was in the burgeoning '70s punk scene, and their interviews are laced with amazing archival footage. The theme is clear, even though people tried to define Jett and keep her stuck to one hit, she never compromised. She will kick your ass, and you'll love her all the more for it. The film shows the evolution of a young girl with a radical notion that girls could play electric guitars into a woman whose place in history will be marked by perseverance, authenticity and incredible rock n roll. Jett’s activism and commitment to all living beings are captured in her work on behalf of animals rights, travels to warzones to entertain the troops. Her humanity and candid reflections reveal a side seldom seen of the seminal rock star. Joan Jett is the essence of rock and roll. A dark and dingy club filled with the hormonal roar of longing and desperation and fuck yes. A stadium filled with hundreds of thousands of fans with their fists in the air. A dyed in the wool musician working on a song alone in her bedroom who won't let a lick or lyric rest till it's just fucking right. A machine who has such perfect timing that she don't need no stinking click track. An alley cat whose iconic howl is either mother's milk or a call to arms or both for millions of people all across the world. An atomic, three chord burst of guitar that's a thousand punches in the gut. A poet who speaks screams whispers of things that go bump in the night with such insight and finesse that the pain somehow just goes away. The highest of all hi-priests and priestesses who preside over a ritual that's still the gold standard for all art forms when it comes to moving masses. A fight against injustice of every stripe. A voice for the voiceless. A champion of champions and defender of the underdog. A feminist manifesto in the flesh. A paver of ways for little girls all acrothink pink was their color and even for those who did. A defiant, never-say-die general and foot soldier who tore down the old world patriarchy so that little girls could plug in and play it loud.

Hounds of Love (2016) Starring Emma Booth, Susie Porter, Ashleigh Cummings and Stephen Curry. Written and Directed by Ben Young. What a dark horse Australia is proving to be when it comes to filmmaking. I first discovered this when I was introduced to The Babadook a few years ago after complaining to my brother I hadn’t seen a decent horror in a while. Now, I have found this little gem and was surprised to find Australia is giving us a whole other dimension to abduction based thrillers. Hounds of Love tells the story of teen Vicki (Ashleigh Cummings), struggling to come to terms with her mum leaving her dad to ‘find herself’. As a result, she plays out her inner rebel and sneaks out at night to a party one evening. After a moment of naivety though, she is abducted by serial rapists/killers Evelyn (Emma Booth) and John White (Stephen Curry) after foolishly accepting a lift and a promise of drugs. Don’t get me wrong, it still has all the typical elements of an abduction movie - an escape attempt that is thwarted as it comes too early in the film to pay off, agony that is further prolonged by the hard-to-watch ordeal (very tactfully shot), chains and blood, local law-enforcement who don’t care, the inevitable scenarios of sexual abuse, which became over-familiar (and therefore devalued) in the Hostel heyday of torture porn. However, this film is different from the rest. In many other ways, it plays against expectations, which of course keeps you gripped. Rather than the basement cage in a remote house of most abduction movies, Vicki is very loosely chained in a back bedroom, in a bungalow, on a regular street, and the racket she raises often alerts nosey neighbours. Accustomed to cracks in relationships from her parents’ break-up, she realises that the needy Evelyn, who has children that don’t live with her and dotes on a child-substitute dog, is exploited by her perverse, domineering, inadequate partner. A monstrous master in his own home, John is a little fish in a bigger crime pond (people are chasing him for money), taking frustrations out on his victims and his wife alike. Vicki sees an opening and plays on Evelyn’s insecurities with the moody teenager skill she has developed pushing her own mother’s buttons. As a result, very quickly as a viewer you begin to ask all the questions the Director hopes you will – will Vicki’s plan work? Will she actually be able to negotiate? Oh god, is she actually going to make it out? The fact she is so painfully close to the perfectly populated street (excellent storytelling) makes it all the more enthralling. In my past posts, I have spoken about true horrors having a huge element of psychological trauma. What works in this film is that John’s victims know exactly who he is and what he wants, but his wife lies to herself about it until he crosses a line, which makes Evelyn waver in her loyalties. Again, this makes us question does Evelyn even have the mental capacity to believe Vicki’s plea? Abduction narratives are always tough to watch and this one is no different. However, Young’s storytelling is proof he cares about audience satisfaction and how realistic we believe it to be. After all, the minute it becomes too farfetched we switch off. Vicki’s abduction has plenty of uncomfortable scenes, but it isn’t just blood, gore and chains. Most of the harrowing scenes take place behind closed doors, leaving it to us to use our imagination. That alone is enough discomfort for any reasonable person. It doesn’t surprise me to see this film is based on fact, relating to similar abductions that happened across Perth in the ‘80s. Emma Booth and Ashleigh Cummings are outstanding. In most films like this, female characters have to be foolish and irrational for the narratives to work, but here we see why these intelligent women (Evelyn is unnervingly good at luring victims into the car) ignore their own best instincts to get into a position where John can exploit them. I think what was missing for me was the motive. I wasn’t sure why this deranged couple did this to young girls, but my first thought was something to do with using them to reproduce, because of the storyline of Evelyn not having her children with her. However looking back, a couple capable of committing such crimes probably don’t need a reason. The most thrilling scene for me was right at the end, when Vicki is a matter of feet away from her own mother, but being kept quiet under a knife to the throat. Conveniently, Vicki and her boyfriend have code breaking skills, whereby simple spelling errors in letters can reveal a message. Earlier in the film, Evelyn had forced Vicki to write a letter to her mum to throw her off the scent but this handily led her to her best chance of survival. Does she get out??? Watch it!!! You won’t be disappointed.

Jason Statham and a massive shark.  5/5 It’s Jason Statham and a massive shark. Seriously though what more would you want from a film? It’s Jason Statham and a massive shark. Look, if you was expecting an oscar worthy movie that was going to be challenging, insightful, intelligent then get out, this is some B-Movie, blockbuster trash, it’s trash, it’s complete trash. But my god this is a brilliant steaming pile of trash. 📷Originally posted by theshawbrothers Jason Statham is an ex-rescue diver, after a mission goes wrong where he encounters Meg, has to leave two of his friends behind to save 11 men, he retires. Fast forward 5 years and Dwight from The Office has spent a tonne of money on this underwater research facility that is exploring the depths of the ocean. The scientists have found a strip of science stuff that is blocking some sort of underwater world that is untouched by humans. They send a crew down there but their sub gets attacked by Meg and needs saving. Jason Statham comes along and saves the day. However, Meg manages to get out of the layer of science stuff (it couldn’t before because the layer was too cold, however because of the ships heat it now can) and starts to cause a right nightmare in the normal ocean. Jason Statham and his crew try to find a way to capture it, they do but it turns out to be baby Meg. Big Meg kills a couple of the crew and then makes his way to the beach. Kills a couple of people on the beach and then Jason Statham stabs it in the eye, takes a massive chunk out him. Blood comes gushing out, little sharks come out and eat Big Meg. Bit like Scar in Lion King, but in water, and sharks, and not digitally animated, and not as good.  Gripping stuff right there, am I right? What do you expect from the guy who directed the National Treasure films? To be fair, this movie is a whole lot of fun. Sure, the dialogue is a bit iffy, it’s a bit all over the shop and at times it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Jason Statham saves the crew and then gets accused by the female lead (Li Bingbing) of not saving the guys life who sacrificed himself. And then the scene after she’s flirting with him. What’s that all about? Where’s the consistency? The humour is really cringe, you know it tries to be funny but it fails a lot. A couple of the stereotypical black jokes and the film mostly tries to use Rainn Wilson (who was Dwight) as the comic relief as nostalgia to his Office role. It just doesn’t work.  📷Originally posted by dailydwight What does work is the action, it’s good shark vs Jason Statham shenanigans. It’s fun to watch, a massive shark being a nuisance and eating people, what’s more fun is the attempts to catch it and the method in doing that. Jason Statham out in sea trying to plant a tracker on it. Or Suyin Zhang (Li Bingbing) tricking it by going in a shark cage. Which, although can’t be smashed because of what it is made from, can fit inside its mouth because it’s a FRICKIN’ MEGALODON. 2/5 Look it’s good fun. That’s what I can say. It’s a good blockbuster flick. It’s worth paying the £11 at the cinema just to hear Jason Statham say ‘oh my god, it’s Megalodon’. Brilliant. That will be up there with ‘No, I am your father’. At the end of the day though, it is Jason Statham and a massive shark.

First seen at the Raindance Film Festival, our movie critic Chris Olson reviews short film Balcony for UK Film Review. You can see his Vlog film review below:

■ (Release Info London schedule; August 4th, 2019, BFI Southbank, London SE1 Belvedere Road, South Bank, London, England, SE1 8XT, 12:30 PM) ■ (Release Info UK schedule; August 23rd, 2019, Phoenix Cinema and Art Centre, Leicester 4 Midland Street, Leicester, LE1 1TG, 10:15 AM) "Playmobil: The Movie" For more than 45 years, children around the world have been delighted by the 7.5 cm-tall plastic figure toys known as 'Playmobil'. This year, the popular toys come to animated life in 'ON Animation Studio’s' beautifully crafted and imagined new movie. Featuring a live-action prologue and epilogue, "Playmobil: The Movie" is centered on an imaginative young girl named Marla Brenner (Anya Taylor-Joy) who embarks on an epic journey after her younger brother Charlie (Gabriel Bateman) disappears into the vast and wondrous animated world of 'Playmobil'. As Marla tries to find her brother in this magical realm, she encounters a memorable cast of 'Playmobil' characters including a friendly food truck driver Del (Jim Gaffigan), dashing secret agent Rex Dasher (Daniel Radcliffe), a modern fairy godmother (Meghan Trainor) and the power-hungry Emperor Maximus (Adam Lambert). After being reunited with her brother, her sweeping adventures teach Marla to break free from her structured adult life, reconnect to her childhood dreams and enjoy the endless possibilities of her imagination. Like many animated family classics, "Playmobil: The Movie" is a 'Musical'. If a character has a song, you want to hear bits of that song to remind you of their want or their need, whatever it's. The movie begins with a song in the live-action world, where the main character Marla is aspiring to her future. She expresses her feelings about the world, and it sets up the whole journey. It encourages young people to go out there and conquer the world out there. The song serves as the musical peaks in the movie. We want to approximate life in a sense. We like to sing when we’re feeling very good or sad. So, the main character sings to celebrate a moment or feel the blues. Get wet in the rain and enjoy the ride. The heroine of "Playmobil: The Movie" is Marla Brenner, a spirited young woman who's thrust into the magical world of 'Playmobil' when her young brother Charlie disappears into a fantastic toy universe. In the beginning of the movie, Marla is really excited about going out into the world and she has such a zest for life. When her little brother goes missing, they both end up on this mad adventure when they get sucked into 'Playmobil-Land', and she has to find him. Marla has a very grown-up sensibility and throws her into this eclectic wildness that's the world of 'Playmobil'. She has to face problems that she's not used to solving without the benefit of her digits, or a stiffness in her arms, or all those sorts of things. Something that's really fun about this world is that the film adopts the genre of that world and the film language of that world. She's really going to be a fish out of water as she's bounced from a world of 'Kung Fu' to a world of 'Sci-Fi'. All of a sudden, she's riding on the back of a dinosaur. 'Playmobil' lets you do that, because all of these worlds are so wildly diverse. Some of the obstacles that Marla faces in 'The Playmobil World' echo epic traditional film moments, allows to wink at the audience with clever homages to films as diverse as 'The Indiana Jones' movies, martial arts classics such as 'Crouching Tiger', 'Hidden Dragon', 'Gladiator' films and 'James Bond'-type spy capers. Marla who’s zooming out on her life, and then she has this adventure and comes back to it with a newly found perspective and a lot of gratitude. That's a very important, healing message. So, the movie is a really lovely story of courage and family love, but it’s also very funny and entertaining. Charlie Brenner, Marla’s younger brother, whose imagination and sense of wonder, draws him to the amazing realm of 'Playmobil'. In the beginning of the movie, Charlie doesn’t see Marla’s point of view. She’s too strict with him. When he has to take responsibility, he really starts to understand that she was just doing her best to take care of them. As a result of their time in 'Playmobil-Land', their relationship changes. They get closer and they feel more like a family again. The film has a huge amount of care and attention and comes up with something that pays a lovely homage to the world of imagination and how toys fire up the imagination and make you connect with others. So the film as a whole will be imbued with that same kind of joy of discovery and the sort of family relationship between Marla and her brother is very sweet. One of the first characters Marla meets in 'The Playmobil World' is Del, a happy-go-lucky food truck driver who decides to help her along the way. He’s kind of a guy who gets by thanks to a lot of side jobs. The interaction with Marla changes his life in some ways. Del is certainly someone who's able to move between the different worlds of 'Playmobil' and as we get to find out, he also has a heart of gold. Initially, Del has selfish motives for helping Marla, but he soon reveals that he does have a big heart as the adventure unfolds. You don’t see his humanity in the beginning of the movie, but he and Marla navigate these worlds together to track down Marla’s brother. He has a lot of interactions with lots of people, so he’s a very useful person for Marla to accidentally come across. Rex Dasher is a smooth and savvy secret agent. He's sort of 'Playmobil' world’s version of 'James Bond'. He exists to be a toy parody of 'James Bond', but it’s all sorts of the silliest bits of Bond, more of 'The Roger Moore-Era Bond' than 'Fhe Daniel Craig Persona'. 'The Fairy Godmother' is everything! She's amazing, super cool and down to earth. She comes to the aid of Marla when she needs her the most. She has a tattoo, and is edgy. She kind of has fishnets on her arms, and has pink hair and flowers in her hair. It reminds of 'The All About The Bass’ video with a little more edge. In the movie, 'The Fairy Godmother' helps revive Marla’s spirit. She reminds Marla that she can get through anything, that the power is in her. 'Emperor Maximus' is the villain of the movie, but he’s also completely out of his mind. In a weird way, he's lovable. He's a childlike spoiled brat of a dictator. He decides that his way of keeping control over the people is by giving them a big fight to watch, a la 'Rome'. He's completely obnoxious. He's the bad guy, but you kind of like him and hate him all at the same time. The 'Pirate Blood Bones' (Kenan Thompson) often gives pep talks to the rest of the bunch. He’s always like, ‘come on guys we can do whatever we want'. During the journey, the main characters visit different worlds, the idea is to change the look and feel using the codes and cinematography of the genre each sequence refers to. 'The Viking' sequence is the entry in this world. It's contrast strongly with the real world we've left behind. It's vibrant, colorful, and the kind of messy battle you would find in "Braveheart" or "Gladiator". When Marla ends up in 'The Wild West World', audiences are taken to the dry, empty plains. We've this super strong light that’s used to emphasize her effort to get to the town, and the images are almost overexposed because of the sun being so strong. The pace changes too, using the classic western codes, slower camera moves, close up shots on the staring bad guys. Then she and Del escape to 'The Spy Sequence', which is treated like a retro futuristic 'James Bond' classic with surprising gadgets, an atmospheric night and villains with a dark plan. The lighting and mood of the exterior sequence compares to a film noir, the saturation is toned down to let more space to the shadows and lights, and there’s fog as well. This also contrasts with the bright lab-like villain facility and their super cool retro computers. Then there are wide open spaces of the drive on the highway, followed by the mix-and-match world of 'Constantinopolis' and the power-hungry 'Emperor. Maximus' has access to modern technology, so we can turn the games into a giant light show to really captivate the audience. We also move on to the busy, futuristic 'City Of Glinara'. For this sequence the film reminiscences 'The Fifth Element', funny creatures, robots, infinite glass buildings and lens flares. In this 'Asian'-inspired city, the best place for a smuggler to hide would be a huge karaoke machine. First, there's the scary gray forest from which Marla is unable to escape, with all the many twisted trees, which are a metaphor for her tangled mind. Then, we move on to the shiny, colorful fairytale city which restores hope and send her back on her way to her brother. The challenge is to look at the broad landscape of 'The Playmobil Universe' and identify the kinds of characters and story, the film wants to develop. It’s about forgiveness and understanding, a fractured family finds a way to come back together. This feels like a worthy and meaningful story to tell. The characters are emotionally upended and turned literally into something else, and that transformation challenges them in a remarkable ways. Their journey inspires them to act courageously and offers hope that the best version of their life together is yet to come. Classic storytelling and universally relatable characters help strengthen the film’s broad appeal. Many of us grew up with 'James Bond' movies, Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns, and movies about knights and magical kingdoms. When we got together and started talking about genre jumping, we're like kids again, playing with toys in the living room. The film brings that same level of playfulness and joy to audiences around the world and remind them that with imagination, anything is possible. We're able to contrast a young character that really has that sort of superpower to create worlds and have this expansive imagination contrasted against somebody that never really had that, and you see that missing component from their life and how essential it's. We've this opportunity to have 'Playmobil’s' really fun and silly multi-world, which also allows you go to a deeper place and talk about character and what it means to graduate from childhood into adulthood. This movie has this amazing ability to find magic in the mundane. When you think about the world of toys, especially 'Playmobil', they're sort of sitting there just waiting for a child to activate it and unlock it's magic. We see those toys from a kid's eyes, not what he has in front of him but what he imagines; the pirate in his hand has a stiff plastic cape, but when he plays he sees it, the cape floating in the wind. That’s what the movies does, which explores this idea of a wish fulfilment visually. The animation is based on how a kid would see the toys through his/her imagination. You see the arms and legs bending at 90 degrees, but we still maintain some of the iconic constraints of the toys. Their necks don’t bend. They've no fingers and noses, and surprisingly, we discovered that we didn’t need them. We can tell everything we want without fingers or noses. From time to time, the visuals remind audiences that we're still playing with 'Playmobil' toys. You see the skin change from something fleshy and organic to a texture that has little sparkles of plastic in it. One of the remarkable aspects of the film’s animation is how the animated 'Playmobil' characters each display their complex and special personalities with such elementary visual cues. We've a laid-back character like Del, who's very different from the villain 'Emperor Maximus'. But when you put them side by side, they are the same toys. They both have beards and literally come from the same mold. "Playmobil: The Movie" provides the opportunity to remember how as a child we used to play with our favorite toys. Launched in 1974 'Toys' like 'Playmobil' are a gateway to your earlier memories. They can be like time machines as they take you back and immediately give that spark. It's very important to convey the true emotions that we all experience in childhood. The central part of the movie is the ability to bring back the feelings and spirit of childhood that come with playing with 'The Playmobil Toys'. With 'Playmobil', you get the feeling that anything is possible. You create the rules, and you become a character in this movie. Kids can be 'Knights', 'Vikings', 'Princesses' or 'Cowboys'. It’s not a girl- nor boy-driven toy. We often see boys and girls playing together in the world of 'Playmobi'. You've pirates, knights, police officers, firemen, brides, princesses, and children connect to these characters all over the world! You can mix the characters, the figurines and the worlds, and the only limitation is your imagination. You can travel through time, fly to the moon and be a pirate at the same time. They're quite serious about their game, but they've great fun! So it’s about serious fun as well as creating own stories. The world of 'Playmobil' offered us endless story possibilities. Most fairy tales use a visual device that bookends the story. This film explores opening up a storybook or having a narrated opening, but none of it feels organic to the story. To have a dynamic contrast and stimulating visual from animation it's best to have a live-action opening and ending. The protagonist Marla has lost touch with the child’s point of view that she used to have. It feels right to show her in a live-action world where there's no magic. When she finds herself in a very magical situation, which is the entrance to the world of 'Playmobil', it becomes the catalyst for the whole movie. 'LEGO' is to construction, 'Playmobil' is to role playing. The film wants to reflect that idea in the movie since Marla literally gets turned into a toy and ends up in a magical world. This is mportant for a creative education. You can go through a lot of different experiences, but just like the main character in the movie, you should never forget about your dreams and your childhood. Know that anything is possible if you trust yourself and stay optimistic. It’s also the magic of imagination that you see in all of these distinct 'Playmobil Worlds'. Everything feels familiar, because for some of us, it’s not that distant memory. And for children, it’s a world that they know very well. The movie has both an honest, emotional core it, while being funny and entertaining at the same time. Simple plots with complex characters. One of the special devices that sets the movie apart is that the characters get to travel to different realms, which allows to have fun with various cinematic genres. If you think of your favorite genre films like 'Westerns', 'Fantasy', 'Sci-Fi', 'Musicals', there are tropes that are familiar in all those movies. The film uses those tropes as our comedic framing device. As the characters travel through the different lands, "Playmobil" adopts the cinematic language, acting and dialogue from the different genre’s and just have fun with it. There’s a certain chord that animated movies strike inside you. Maybe it’s because you don’t expect them to affect you so deeply or have such a powerful meaning. Animated movies have this emotional impact more than regular live-action movies do. Audiences will really love this movie because it’s entertaining, very creative, and it will make you laugh and cry at the same time. It really hits you in the heart right from the beginning and keeps you engaged all the way. There’s a lot at stake, but there’s also a lot of honest emotion and we infuse the comedy all throughout the movie as well. It’s always nice to go back to something that you loved from your childhood as it triggers an honest emotional response. This movie will make audiences remember the young person inside of them. That's why this is truly a family movie that everyone will enjoy. It's important because it reminds us that everyone is bound to grow up and take on responsibility of adulthood, but at the end of the day, you can't lose the child inside of you. This movie really reminds people to always be a little bit of a kid inside and to honor that, to honor the part of you that wants to play, create, and have an imagination. It's a great vehicle for positivity, and parents and children will leave the theater feeling upbeat and optimistic about the future. "Playmobil" is just an awesome piece of our culture.

(Release Info London schedule; April 20th, 2018, Empire Cinrmas, Leicester Square) "Wildling" A teenage girl’s coming of age comes with a terrifying twist in this spellbinding take on the werewolf legend. Since birth, Anna (Bel Powley) has been raised in isolation by a man she knows only as Daddy (Brad Dourif) who has done everything possible to conceal the truth about the girl’s origins from her. But when the teenage Anna is suddenly thrust into the real world under the protection of no-nonsense police officer Ellen (Liv Tyler), it soon becomes clear that the young woman is far from ordinary. Unable to adjust to a normal life, Anna finds herself drawn instead to the wild freedom of the forest while struggling to resist the growing bloodlust that has awakened inside her. This moodily atmospheric thriller combines supernatural scares with a myth-like tale of self discovery. It's an origin story about a girl named Anna who goes through a gradual, irreversible transformation. It's similar to what we all go through during puberty, but for Anna it goes much further than that. The story is intrigued by strange mythological creatures like 'The Big Bad Wolf, 'The Snow Queen' or 'Rumpelstiltskin'. So "Wildling" creates an own misunderstood creature. The film is a fantasy about our primitive roots. Anna's story is partly inspired by the tragedy of 'Kaspar Hauser', a German youth who grew up in the isolation of a darkened cell in the 18th century, completely oblivious to the outside world. Werner Herzog made a beautiful film about this individual in 1974, "The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser". "Wildling" is a female-empowered film. The heroes are women, while the male characters spend most of the movie trying to keep pace with them. This isn't' a conscious decision but grew naturally out of the story. The film is about the notion of freedom, it begins with captivity. "Wildling" is a blend as well, part drama, romance and fantasy, part horror, thriller, and action. And since every movie needs humor, you'll also find comedic moments.   'Wildlings' are a nearly extinct parallel branch of homo sapiens that has survived until present day. We're originally inspired by werewolf motifs, but quickly ended up stripping away all the supernatural elements such as the full moon, the silver bullets, the magic amulets and so on, and we decided that our transformation would happen slowly over the course of the whole film and be more grounded in actual biology. This makes room to explore the inner struggles of the creature. 'Wildlings' are strongly connected to nature, and their actions are purely driven by instincts like the will to survive, the restless search for food and the desire to procreate. With the hero Anna, the film wants to showcase these primitive instincts as a glorious part of our existence, all the while taking the audience on an exciting, visceral journey of discovering the wild in all of us. At it's core, the film is about identity and the importance of embracing your true nature. It's the key to being free.

"It’s not just a call... It’s a warning." From Warner Bros. Pictures comes Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” starring Robert Pattinson in the dual role of Gotham City’s vigilante detective and his alter ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne. Two years of stalking the streets as the Batman (Robert Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies—Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright)—amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens. When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City. It was a rainy summer day when Robert Pattinson's casting had been officially announced back in 2019. DC fans and the internet alike drove in volumes to Twitter to protest the "sparkly vampire" from Twilight being selected as the new Batman, but I maintained the notion that he was the best choice for the role and counted down the days till he would prove me right. Come the end of this week, that day will emerge for fans worldwide. As you likely know thanks to Reeves' words, this feature begins with a young Batman, and is not a full origin story, but Bruce is not yet the iconic character we know and love. This makes sense: Bruce didn't become the Batman in a week, nor did he stay the same throughout his career; he must have developed, he must have changed and grown, yet we have never truly seen that on the big screen - The Batman marks the first chapter of that. From past adaptations, all the iterations we've seen feature Bruce wearing the Batman mask at times; this time, Batman wears the Bruce mask - this is evident from the opening scene. Rather than donning a playboy persona, Bruce keeps true to his mindset, adopting a depressed, reclusive attitude. It seems this story (and any follow-ups) will be a long-form origin story for Robert Pattinson's Bruce Wayne to eventually become the caped crusader from the comics, and this is true for the entire ensemble, as will become apparent. Speaking of masks, perhaps the most prominent theme in the movie is the question of identity. When the Riddler's first look was revealed, many fans criticised the uncharacteristic costume and the use of a mask, but the mask is vital to the theme. In this feature, wearing masks is not about hiding identities, it is about revealing them. As I spoke of Batman being Bruce's true identity, the same can be said for the Riddler, and their dichotomy is the heart of the film. It's this meaning that never allows the pace to falter - the movie does not feel remotely close to three hours. This theme wouldn't be anywhere near as impactful if it was not sold by the pairing of Pattinson and Dano. While every cast member goes above and beyond, the standout has to be Paul Dano. Dano sells this intelligent, unhinged, childlike Edward Nashton and it gave me chills. Dano also sells the fearless, terrifying, unbeatable Riddler: two characters, two performances. Robert Pattinson too adopts this philosophy and perfects his on-screen chemistry with every supporting cast member, most notably with Zoe Kravitz's Catwoman, who explores her own storyline that makes you root for her. Colin Farrell not only has the perfect look through the use of prosthetics, but nails the performance. Andy Serkis is the Alfred this feature needed - I was a little hesitant on this at first as I had always seen Alfred as a harmless-appearing butler with a renegade side, but Serkis was the perfect choice for this Alfred. The entire supporting cast give it their all, and I have never seen such a quintessentially assembled cast in any form of media. The Batman is a feature so well cast that even the extras have standout performances. The cast make sure not to play their characters from the comics, but to take a step back as they become them. This isn't a Batman origin story; this is a Gotham origin story. Gotham, in fact, is portrayed better than any past feature: yes, portrayed. Much like the television show of the same name, Gotham is written as its own character and given an identity on screen, and Liverpool was a great casting choice for the role. As Andy Serkis reiterated in an interview, the film is timeless, and that is in large part due to Gotham's style. The architecture (both classic and modern) only adds to the tone of the city, uplifting the movie's noir feel. The city's identity was one of the few flaws in The Dark Knight trilogy, and Reeves made sure to correct this from the very first scene. The world goes hand-in-hand with the world-building, and while the film works as a one-off, the world-building sets up an entire universe very well. I highly anticipate both the Gotham PD and Penguin shows, as well as the inevitable sequel. Despite my words on this iteration being an almost "proto-Batman" (or rather "proto-Bruce Wayne"), there are so many moments that made me giddy. Even shots from the trailer surprised me and carried so much more weight when played within the movie. In fact, these shots are so well produced by cinematographer Greig Fraser and compliment the tone of the movie so well, that The Batman is the most beautiful film I've ever seen. For Batman fans, especially fans of the Arkham games, this movie is a smorgasbord of some of the best Batman moments on-screen. Reeves also follows suit in keeping the comic-book genre alive. The Batman is not a superhero movie, it isn't even a Batman movie, it is an intelligent screenplay that chases its own ambitious story and draws elements from the Batman IP, but ultimately adapts them however it sees fit. As audiences are beginning to grow tired of what has now become standard of the genre, movie studios are beginning to adapt comic-book material into movies of other genres - this is an intelligent way of doing so but is adopted by so few filmmakers. Following such features as Logan and Joker, The Batman is a welcome addition to their ranks. The Batman is up there among the better comic-adapted movies and a breath of fresh air in the genre. From the first act, it took the spot as my personal favourite Batman film. Perhaps it's time to retire the "best Batman movie since The Dark Knight" and now set The Batman as the new staple. After decades of cinema rushing toward the latest tropes, The Batman is a much-needed (and long-overdue) return-to-form. About the Film Critic Ahmed Abbas

(London Film Festival, October 7th, 2019, Odeon, Tottenham Court Road, Central Cross, 30 Tottenham Court Rd, London W1T 1BX, UK, 15:10 pm) https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=jojorabbit&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= "Jojo Rabbit" "Jojo Rabbit" is a 'World War II' satire that follows a lonely German boy Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) as whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), a young Jewish girl, in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind 'Nationalism'. Based on Christine Leunens novel 'Caging Skies', first published in 2004, the story begins in fictional 'Falkenheim'. In this quaint town under 'Nazi' rule, the end of the war is rapidly approaching. However, in 10-year-old Jojo’s bedroom, anticipation is mounting. For today, he finally has the chance he’s been waiting all his 10 years for, to join The Hitler Youth'. To Jojo, so credulously gullible and susceptible to the pervasive propaganda that surrounds him, it feels like his first opportunity to do something big and important, to help protect his single mother he loves beyond anything, and maybe even to feel like he belongs. To sooth his insecurities, Jojo brings along an outsized imaginary friend; a clownish, hare-brained apparition of Hitler, who with all the emotions of a child dispenses advice Jojo might have sought from his absent father. With Adolf in his head, Jojo feels invincible. But in fact, Jojo’s troubles are just beginning. Humiliated and nearly decapitated in 'The Hitler Youth' camp, his frustration only grows deeper. Then, Jojo makes a discovery that slowly, yet radically, transforms how he sees the world. Chasing what he believes to be some kind of phantasm, he finds instead that his mother has been hiding a 'Jewish' girl in the wall at terrible risk to them all. The shock nearly undoes him, here's the danger he’s been warned about living in his own home, under his own nose, mere feet from where he regularly confides in his imaginary friend Hitler. But as Jojo endeavors to keep tabs on the mysterious Elsa, his fear and vigilance grow into something even Adolf cannot seem to fathom. For the more he gets to know Elsa as a person, the more she becomes someone Jojo can’t imagine allowing anyone, including his 'Nazi' idols, to harm. While "Jojo Rabbit" is very much a comic allegory about the costs of letting bigotry take hold, whether in your bedroom or a nation, Jojo also takes a very real journey as a child coming-of-age. For in finding the courage to open his mind, he discovers the power of love to change your path.   Jojo is a very, very conflicted boy, so that's a big challenge. When you first meet him, he truly believes all the propaganda he’s seen. All Jojo knows about 'Jews' is from propaganda and the teachings at school which says they've got horns and devil tails and they're monstrous creatures. But you also see that he’s just a sweet kid who doesn't really know what he's talking about! He’s looking for something in 'The Nazis' that's missing in his life. His father is gone, and his mum is busy with things she doesn’t talk about, so he has no one except his imaginary friend, and he imagines that the only one who can really help him is Hitler. Jojo is a mix of blind gusto and untamed emotions in stride. He has that sparkle in his eye and the extreme enthusiasm for life. He mixes anger, anxiety, discovery and other subtle emotions into the humor. He reminds people of the harrowing history of bigotry, and how deeply it can affect not only entire societies, but especially children. Jojo’s awakening seemed to mirror how the world reacted after 'WWII'; stunned by a collective human loss of innocence, then uniting to affirm that hateful ideas would never again be allowed to take hold like that. As bizarre and unexpected as it's to interact with Hitler, some of the most demanding scenes come as Jojo wrestles with how to react to Elsa, who he truly believes has devilish powers. Yet, even Jojo cannot keep up his suspicion of Elsa for very long. While at first, he merely keeps her secret for fear of his mother getting arrested, the more he gets to know Elsa, the more he can’t resist what starts to feel like an authentic, eye-opening friendship that's rocking his world. In many ways, Elsa has all the bravery and sense of dignity Jojo only dreams of having. In spite of everything he thinks he’s supposed to think, Jojo really starts to like her. It’s quite confusing for him; how can he have such affection for Elsa despite his strong beliefs? It makes him question everything, even Hitler.  Elsa is basically living in a cave, almost starving and all alone, so it's difficult to find such strong feelings and go on pro-'Nazi' rants at her. At first, you don't really know if she's a monster or a ghost. You don't know who she's or what her intentions are.  You’re in Jojo’s point of view, so you start off with a fear of Elsa. But then, like Jojo, you see more and more of who she's and all that she's going through. As Elsa and Jojo start to see each other more clearly, outside of all the propaganda that surrounds them, they develop a relationship almost like a brother and sister. She's mysterious to entice Jojo to want to know more, but with a humanity that strips away Jojo’s illusions and confronts him with the discomfiting fact that everything he’s been led to believe about 'Jews' is all a terrible lie. Elsa’s situation is so vulnerable the whole way through, trapped in this small crawlspace, but the film wants to counter that by showing that Elsa is actually stronger and fiercer than anyone. She's a girl who isn’t a victim at all and definitely doesn’t see herself that way. The character of Elsa represents nothing less than the hope and resilience of humanity when confronted with unbridled hate and evil. She doesn't want pity, she just wants to be able to live her life without all this crap happening. Elsa transforms Jojo in spite of himself. The film likes the dynamic where, contrary to what Jojo expects, Elsa holds most of the cards and calls the shots. But also, they're in a 'Catch-22' that binds them together because both face terrible stakes if their secret gets out. Also vital is creating all 'The Nazis' in the film to be ridiculous and mockable, full of all the same flaws and quirks as the rest of us, which makes their participation in the fascist realm that much more of a chilling warning of how easily malevolent ideologies can take root on a large scale. This is especially true of Jojo, who initially reveres what he sees as Hitler’s might, until he sees in Elsa and his mother a principled strength that's so much greater. It's important that Jojo be clearly seen as a 10-year-old-boy who really doesn’t know anything. He just basically loves the idea of dressing in a uniform and being accepted. That's how 'The Nazis' indoctrinated kids, really, by making them feel part of this really cool gang. It's about the idea of seeing the madness of war and hate, something grown-ups very much manifest, through the eyes of a child. Adults are supposed to be the people who guide children and raise them to be better versions of ourselves.  Yet when children look at us in times of war, adults seem ridiculous and out of their minds.   You’ll go to Morocco, take up lovers and make them suffer, look a tiger in the eye and learn to trust without fear. That’s what it's to be a woman, or at least what it could be. You don’t get to see the full extent of their relationship, but Rosie Betzler is someone that’s saving her life and putting a lot on the line just to have Elsa in her house. Elsa feels admiration and a longing to establish a relationship, a longing to have a mother and someone to speak to. The film turns Rosie not only into a single mother, but also a defiant woman who decides that so long as ideals of empathy and tolerance are being pushed to the margins, she will work fearlessly to uphold them. Contrary to Jojo, she sees all too clearly the poisonous world Hitler is forging, so her natural response is to help, as she says, by doing what she can, which in her passionately practical way is a lot. But that also means hiding the truth of her life from Jojo to keep him safe, while hoping her little boy comes to his senses. She's really strong solo mom who's trying to save her son and others from this horrible situation, but at the same time trying to retain Jojo’s innocence. She's trying to balance her need to live boldly and be true to herself while doing all she can to keep Jojo safe through loss and peril. Being a mother is a big part of her identity but it's just one part. She also is full of fervor and ideas and the film wants her to have all those different shades so that she might feel really full of life. Rosie is unabashedly imaginative, poetic and romantic and at the same time, she's this very grounding force for Jojo. She's fighting for 'The Resistance' and is really a very modern woman. She's such a bright light in this very dark time. Even though Rosie is a dreamer and a bit of a comedian, she's also very pragmatic. Very much part of being a parent is that constant balancing between your practical, responsible, adult side and the side who can create a magical world for your kids. She's truly the strongest character in the film. Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) is really recent in terms of human history and we’ve got to keep talking about it, because the dynamics that caused it aren’t going away. He’s a figment of Jojo's imagination so his knowledge of the world is limited to what a 10-year-old understands. He’s the little devil on Jojo’s shoulder, basically. He’s also a bit of a projection of Jojo’s heroes all combined, including his father. Jojo’s fantasy version of Hitler is hardly the historical figure. Instead, he’s a loony, larger-than-life mashup of Jojo’s own impulses, desires, things he’s read or overheard and his yearning for a father figure. Jojo’s version of Adolf can actually sometimes be quite nice, which might seem a bit weird because he's Hitler, but at other times he's properly scary. He’s very light in the beginning, like Jojo, but by the end of the film he's just this sad, sad despot. Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) is the cheekily imperious trainer of 'Hitler Youth Troops' who's at various times Jojo’s idol, nemesis and confidante. He has one eye, zero faith in the military command and a growing number of secrets. Captain Klenzendorf lives in a world of his own. He has all this flamboyant creativity that we want to give expression to at the end, when he explodes onto the scene.   Providing deadpan comic relief throughout "Jojo Rabbit" is Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), the instructor who teaches the girls how to perform their womanly duties in war time but dreams of joining the frontlines herself. Fraulein Rahm follows in this tradition, ever-willing to believe every absurd 'Nazi' myth that makes the rounds. Despite her satiric portrait of a woman who questions absolutely nothing she hears, Fraulein Rahm is representative of many German women who took lead roles in the war. She serves in every way she can; teaching girls their womanly duties, giving Jojo physical therapy, then manning a machine gun. Perhaps the most hilariously dark and frightening character of all in Jojo Rabbit is Captain Herman Deertz (Stephen Merchant) of 'The Falkenheim Gestapo', who meticulously investigates reports of hidden 'Jews' and resistors. The character reminds people of just how outrageous cults of personality can become. There's something laughable about the worship of this little man with his little moustache who looks like an angry accountant and that’s one of the things that the film plays with. There’s a sense of how people can be swept up by, for lack of a better word, bullshit. It’s something still resonating right now. We still see people all over the world being up in these things, especially when there’s a uniform and an identity involved, so it seems well worth satirizing.   'The Hitler Youth' was first created in 1922 to indoctrinate kids and teens into 'Nazi Ideology' and train them to ultimately be tools of war. This gives us a sense of just how dark the reality of Jojo’s world is, no matter how much he just wants it to be a glorious adventure, as any 10-year-old would. What 'The Nazis' did to children was really awful. They wanted to have an army of fanatics to help them take over the world. Nazis' were parodied on screen as early as the 1940s when they're still very much a global threat, with the key being that the last laugh was always on them. Both during and after the war, Hitler was routinely mocked because it was a way of people dealing with the horror they're seeing. If you can reduce Hitler to something laughable, you win. The book is more of a drama, though it has comic moments. The film has more fantastical elements and obviously more humor, creating a kind of dance between drama and satire. The film creates something like a jazz riff on Leunens book, whipping up the structure of her story into an antic allegory of how fear mongering can take root in naïve mind, and how love can come out of left field to topple down the walls we put up against other people. If the book is a classical, panel painting, the film is more like Picasso’s 'Guernica'.   Like the story, the design of "Jojo Rabbit" presents the world through a 10-year-old’s confined but vivid lens, full of bright colors and bucolic beauty even amid the oppression and destruction of 'Nazi Germany'. At that age, you remember everything but with a kind of brightness to it all. Everything looks like a Spring morning. The film has all those 'Neorealist' qualities where there are sunny and charming moments but also very dramatic moments, and the mood can go from funny to tragic in a snap. That era between 1930 and 1945 was actually a revolutionary one for style in Europe, despite the war. In a lot of 'WWII'-era films, everyone dresses in brown and gray and it just feels kind of sad and dated. But if you look at the fashions of the time, though, there's really lots of bright color and high style. It's an era that in most people’s minds unspools in black-and-white. To see that world in color, the way Jojo, Rosie and Elsa would have experienced it, gives it a whole new dimension and aliveness. We've seen so many muted period films from 'WWII', whether in black & white or in more somber colors, that we're shocked to see such a vibrant spectrum of color.  But that's the reality and once the film decides to reflect this, it's an idea that circulated through the set design and the costumes and helps to set the tone for the story. At Jojo’s age things are a little more rosy-tinted and the world seems bigger and more amazing. So, the film recreates this feeling, the feeling we all have in childhood, but within 1940s Germany. For most of the film, we’ve been in Jojo’s imagination, with his playful view of war, but when the battle hits the town, we’re suddenly struck with the reality of what war really is. The frightening atmosphere and noise of it feels very real. In some ways it feels very visceral and real, but the film also creates something that becomes a kind of magical and surreal moment in the film. As the events in the film grow darker, so too do the colors. For the happier, more playful moments in the film, we've a diverse palette of oversaturated colors.  Then, the film tapes those off as more drama comes into play. Most of the film takes place in 'The Autumn" so we've lush greens sprinkled with gorgeous reds, oranges and pinks into the street scenes. However, hidden deep within the lightness of the house is Elsa’s dark, cramped space behind the wall, which forges an opposite feeling, mirroring the nearly unbearable tension under which she's forced to live. Rosie’s look has to be so distinctive that the audience recognizes her, in a flash, in the scene that's a devastating emotional turning point of the story. The butterfly seemed to express who she's, and the film uses a very distinctive pair of shoes, which stand out for a lady in that era. It's more powerful when you just see the shoes and make the connection to the butterfly in this moment. The camera always tries to make sure the audience is aware of Rosie’s shoes. For example, you really notice them when she’s dancing by the river in that light moment. The best comedy has always come out of the hardest human situations and 'Nazi Germany' is one of the hardest situations in history. "Jojo Rabbit" offers a sharply funny, yet profoundly stirring, child’s-eye view of a society gone mad with intolerance. The film makes a powerful statement against hate with this pitch-black satire of 'The Nazi Culture' that gripped 'The German Psyche' at the height of 'WWII'. It's a story almost too appalling to approach with sober solemnity, that of a boy who, like many at that time, has been brainwashed into absolutely gung-ho devotion to Hitler. He then mines from it a dark, mesmerizing comedy that ultimately unravels the toxic ideas of 'Anti-Semitism' and persecution of the other. Balancing on a comedic high-wire, the film mixes the fury of satire with an insistent sense of hope that fanaticism and hate can be overcome. The film follows very much in the footsteps of Mel Brooks, Charlie Chaplin, Ernst Lubitsch and Stanley Kubrick to name a few. The script has a charged, satirical edge in the vein of say "Dr. Strangelove" and other black comedies that confront heavy subject matters by making them very funny. "Jojo Rabbit" is a fresh way to re-visit the most unsettling of topics through the paradoxically moral force of out-and-out parody. But much as the film owes to its bold forbearers, The film feels very much of our times, with it's deeply human characters whose blinded foibles might amuse but whose inner predicaments are deadly real and pointedly relevant right now.     The film opens a comfort zone but also any notion that stories about 'The Nazi Era' have been played out, especially when the lessons of those times are so urgent right now. With 'Nationalism', 'Anti-Semitism' and other forms of religious and racial intolerance on the rise, the stakes of grabbing people’s attention felt sky-high. The film brings the audience in with laughter, and once they’ve dropped their guard, then start delivering these little payloads of drama that have serious weight to them. Even if you don’t see them right away, you’ll feel them. It’s after the laugh that the strings start to be felt, drawing one’s consciousness to things that aren’t quite right, aren’t entirely funny, into deeper, more complex emotions, amongst these, the realization of the absurdity of the situation, and the tragedy and pain. In the end, as much as "Jojo Rabbit" showcases the tragically absurd realities of authoritarianism and nationalistic fervor, as well as the personal wages of prejudice and hate, the film equally reminds us of our human connection and the simple responsibility we all have to do what we can, including simply trying to be good to one another. This feels like exactly the right time to tell this story, because this is a case where you don’t want it to be too late to tell it.

Our newest film critic gives his verdict on IT GIRL in this Vlog film review. Check it out and SHARE with the world. If you are interested in doing a Vlog film review, feel free to use the community forum to post your own. It can be of any film you like, simply upload to your YouTube channel and use the video link option in the post to enter. UK Film Review.

There are two things I love in life. Films. Football. To be precise, West Ham United. So when I saw a FILM that was set a FOOTBALL stadium, to be precise, WEST HAM UNITED’S old stadium I was so excited. My life was made. The only thing that could go wrong was how bad the film was. And fuck me, it went downhill as soon as the film started to play. A right pile of shite.  (for context with the rest of this review, West Ham are a terrible football team, just awful. So when I say, the film was as bad as the football that is normally played there you’ll get the joke) There’s a Russian revolution gone on. Two brothers are the leaders. One of the brothers realises its gone too far and leaves with the help of the British government and gets a new identity. Pierce Brosnan, he turns into Pierce Brosnan. We’ll come back to that. Dave Bautista is an ex army who is visiting his niece in London, he’s got tickets for the West Ham game, the last game to be played at the stadium. They go to the game together. Now remember the other brother, the one who isn’t Pierce Brosnan, well he is London to capture his brother. For some reason, instead of just getting him at his house, he decides to capture him at the football game. I know right, makes no sense. So he takes over the control room and tries to locate where he is sitting using some special face-recognition technology. At the same time, Drax’s niece goes missing so he goes up to the control to try and find her (the terrorists have killed the phone lines) and comes face to face and ends up killing them to save his niece.  📷Originally posted by gamorasnebula Now there’s a few stupid problems with the film that I can clarify as a football fan: 1) No way would Dave just be able to buy tickets to the last game at the stadium if he wasn’t a season ticket holder, or had a membership. Seeing as he hates England and football, its highly unlikely he would have one.  2) Erm, why are the away fans sitting in the old chicken run? We all know that they sat in the Trevor Brooking lower stand.  3) Honestly when I go to football stadiums I can’t even take the cap of my water bottle into the stadium. Seriously I have to take that off. Christ knows how them Russians got them flares into the stadium. 4) There is no way West Ham fans would let that massive flag block their view from the match. Any fans bring one of them into the stadium, they’d be bottled. 📷Originally posted by ultragooner89 This is the CAPTAIN. He’s like 5ft 4. Trying to take on a 6ft 4 bloke. What do you think the fans would do? Anyway. The film had a budget of £20 million, apparently. Which, for a Sky original film is a big budget. But I’m not too sure where that money was spent because the special effects were awful. It was so badly done. The shots were shaky, the green screen was obvious, the colour grading was horrible. It was so messy, more messy than West Ham’s defence. Ayo. The whole plot doesn’t really make sense. I have no idea why the Russians don’t grab the guy when he is at his home. If they know he will be attending the football game, they surely must know where he lives. But instead they do this where they are easily going to attract police attention. Which in the end they do. God its awful.  They acting is pretty woeful too, although I think this mostly comes down to the shoddy characters than the actors themselves. Dave Bautista neither has the charm of a Bruce Willis, nor the cold wit that Arnold Schwarzenegger so effortlessly oozes into his action roles. His niece, played by Lara Peake, who to be fair is pretty decent, but she isn’t from London and her accent is awful. You’re telling me the casting directors couldn’t find one East London actress? I think Pierce Brosnan lost a bet, or the director has got some dirty secret about him because I don’t know why he is in the film. It’s quite obvious he is the brother because we see him for one shot at the start of the movie and then not again until the final act of the film. And poor Amit Shah, who whilst likeable, falls foul of the racist abuse that comes from the white working class. It’s a classic trope that always pops up in football films. And whilst the writing uses his character to make fun of his religion, it also creates a barrier between the white working class as the film pokes fun out the far-right stereotypes that we are so use to seeing. White people running scared when a Muslim shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’.  Are there any good things about this film I hear you cry? Well, it was nice seeing the old stadium again. But thats purely from a West Ham point of view. It was good that the old bill punched that guy who called football, soccer. But thats purely from a football point of view. Oh there was a good scene when Dave is having a fight with a Russian and sticks his head in the boiling fat fryer and his face burns off. But thats purely from a sadistic point of view. 0/5  You know when I first started doing this I had a code for what rating a film should be. 1 to 5. 5 being to the best. 1, being the worst. I didn’t even account for 0. I didn’t think it possible for a film to not even score at least a 1 rating. All I can say is well done for creating a big pile of rubbish. Final Score 1 vs How many hours I’ve lost watching this, 1 and a half. 

All right, I need you to loosen the guy up. He’s old, all right? Do not kill him. The only thing I wondered afterward was “Why for God sake was this movie made?“. I’m not saying that this was the most horrible film of the year. Or the most superfluous release ever. There were some positive things in it. And in a certain way, it was sometimes far from bad even. But in the end, it was only a simplistic storyline and little to nothing innovative. The only thing that stayed with me is that you got an unpleasant feeling while watching. The way Rainy (Guillermo Diaz) addressed and dealt with the kidnapped persons was rather intimidating. An agitated character who’s completely out of control after consuming some kind of soft drugs. You just felt that it was a difficult situation for Audrey (Tammy Blanchard) and her daughter Cheyenne (Onata Aprile). But that’s the only thing in this film that can be called exciting. For the rest, it’s quite weak. It’s all about water. Everything revolves around the claiming of water rights by Bobby (David Spade). Something his ancient grandfather failed in doing. And apparently, he can only achieve this by sending two vicious-looking characters to the elderly owner. To exert a little pressure. What Bobby didn’t know was that the latter had already died. The only ones they find in the old man’s house are the daughter Audrey and granddaughter Cheyenne. And the only plan that those two bums can come up with is to kidnap these two people who happen to be present. What follows is a precarious situation where one kidnapper (Dwight Henry as Jawari) tries to keep the other in line (clearly that these two bunglers don’t really know each other). And when someone unexpectedly shows up at the door, Ryan gets even more agitated. Some familiar faces. Apart from the lesser known actors, you will notice a number of familiar faces. The most well-known person is, of course, the comedian David Spade as the go-getter Bobby who apparently has to prove himself towards his grandfather Calvin (Bruce Dern, known face number two). Personally, I don’t think David Spade belongs to the crème de la crème when it comes to comedy. Usually, these are forgettable, nonsense comedies that are far from funny. I thought he’d make a funny comment at any moment. His contribution was reasonably mediocre. Bruce Dern’s acting was also fairly limited. Certainly compared to his part in “The Hateful Eight” as General Sandy Smithers. And finally, you’ll also recognize James Earl Jones in a tiny role as a sort of notary. Also an insignificant role for such a well-known star. A movie to forget about. What remains are the leads. Their acting is nevertheless of a reasonable level. For example, I found the interaction between Tammy Blanchard and Onata Aprile very convincing. Maybe at times, it was a bit overly sentimental and Cheyenne came across as inexperienced. But that didn’t really bother me. Also, the acting of Guillermo Diaz was generally good. He managed to picture Ryan as an unstable character. Although his frantic attempt to sound like an accomplished psychiatrist was a bit absurd. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to make it an interesting film. The motive itself was already far-fetched. The final denouement sounded even more nonsensical. Nope, “Warning Shot” certainly isn’t a great film. So, you don’t want to waste time? Better you skip it then. My rating 3/10 Links: IMDB More reviews here