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Film Reviews by Jordan Adcock
BOILING POINT
FILM OF THE MONTH - Star Rating: 4/5
Boiling Point, now available to buy and rent digitally, is less sensational than the average Kitchen Nightmares episode and yet has much more genuine drama packed into its ninety minutes, all very impressively filmed in one unbroken shot. Stephen Graham plays Andy, a head chef reeling from divorce, debts and faltering attempts at fatherhood all while failing to properly manage the kitchen for an upmarket London restaurant. The evening starts with a pushy health inspector and only gets worse from there for him, his fellow chefs of varying experience and waiting staff. None of the main characters are strictly good or bad here, every character has their flaws or blind spots as they work and clash with one another to try and survive an overbooked night filled with barely-concealed racist diners, obnoxious Instagram influencers and (what else?) a prominent food critic.
Rather than the experience feeling unpleasant or claustrophobic as a result, the well-observed details and the direction moving seamlessly between believable interactions give the film its thrilling veritas. The one-shot technique helps connects these characters in a shared pressure cooker which also highlights their individual stories and struggles. Everyone gets their turn in the spotlight but it revolves around Andy and Stephen Graham’s magnificent performance. He avoids any obvious theatrics while leading every scene he’s in with equal confidence and doubt, even as his character struggles to lead his own kitchen. Like him and the other characters, you won’t have time or space to focus much on the food. It might leave you marvelling that any fairly busy restaurant functions at all. ✪
THE NORTHMAN THE LOST CITY
THE GREEN KNIGHT
DOCTOR STRANGE 2
Star Rating: 2.5/5
Star Rating: 2.5/5
Star Rating: 2/5
Star Rating: 1.5/5
The Northman’s story of the young Viking prince Amleth driven to exile and later revenge by his uncle’s betrayal and murder of his father, was based on Scandinavian legends which helped inspire Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Despite what that might suggest, The Northman, for all its extended scenes of brutal, bloody violence and pagan enchantment, is a very straightforward revenge story that rushes the foundation to get to scenes of gruesome swordfights, bloody slaughter and incantations which consequently feel more gratuitous. It’s rather familiar territory for director Robert Eggers, whose previous films The Witch and The Lighthouse were similarly haunted by dark magic and grisly gore. Yet those films had more genuine spooky atmosphere whereas here it’s more, admittedly impressive, gritty texture than anything else. ✪
Sandra Bullock is the adventure romance author, Channing Tatum her books’ dashing cover model, forced into ironically going on their own jungle adventure for treasure by evil Daniel Radcliffe. Whatever the terrible punchline for that setup is, the actual silly jokes in The Lost City are mostly better than that. Sure, it’s close enough to being the 1980s film Romancing the Stone that it includes an obligatory background reference. Still, there’s plenty of light action and romance, and its appeal is, strangely, being breezy and unpretentious in an era with films of all sizes trying to show off their worthiness. But while Bullock and Tatum are decent as an unlikely onscreen couple, it could stand to have more genuine charm and wit. ✪
Indie filmmaker David Lowery adapts possibly the single greatest medieval Arthurian romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by mostly eschewing its courtly intrigue, complex symbolism and memorable characters in favour of a nihilistic and frankly simplistic telling. The story’s made both vaguer and more obvious, adding its own characters while diminishing the original’s. Sir Gawain, who in the romance was flawed but certainly chivalric, is turned cowardly and pathetic here as he journeys from a decaying Round Table to face the enchanted Green Knight. Lowery’s thematic interests in nature overcoming human civilisation would be better served in a new story than in yet another example of King Arthur and his knights being cinematically mishandled. ✪
With this latest entry in the ever less coherent Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it’s not so much Multiverse of Madness (per this film’s subtitle) as MCU of Maddening. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange is adrift in ostensibly his own film, that’s actually more interested in other characters like the bland America Chavez and the firmly wrong-headed “tragic” villain arc for Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. There’s so many plot turns that would be laughable if they weren’t so wearyingly lame. There’s much visual chaos and expensive CGI shown off yet the lack of narrative imagination or overall point post-Avengers: Endgame is painfully clear. In that regard it’s no worse than other recent MCU entries but that’s no compliment either. ✪
You can follow Jordan on Twitter (@JordanReview) and read his blog at www.reviewsreflections.wordpress.com For the latest local news visit www.mkpulse.co.uk | MK Pulse Magazine | June 2022
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