Fit for duty: Returning for a final bash in ‘Spinal Tap II: The End Continues’.
SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES ***1/2 (84 minutes) M
In the glorious finale of Spinal Tap II we finally get to see what we’ve all been waiting more than 40 years to witness as Stonehenge gets the big stage production values it truly deserves. And with Elton John, no less.
It’s a fitting closer to the long-awaited sequel to the landmark 1984 mock-rockumentary This is Spinal Tap, a squib of a film that now boasts a global, transgenerational fanbase.
All fears that this would be an embarrassing enterprise evaporate in the opening reel as director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) gets reacquainted with ageing band members David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer).
As unlikely as it might have seemed they’ve managed to recapture the semi-improvised comic lunacy of the original, with straight faces all around as the band prepare for a one-off arena gig in New Orleans.
They’ve got a new drummer (Valerie Franco) and a new management team composed of Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman) daughter of previous bat-wielding manager Ian Faith (Tony Hendra, who passed in 2019), and her associate Simon Howler (Chris Addison) a music-averse promoter who turns out to be one of the film’s highlights.
The creative and personal tensions between David and Nigel still run hot as they attempt to rehearse, despite being interrupted by Paul McCartney, who David regards with hilarious disdain.
Nicely updated to incorporate the band’s swelling popularity over the intervening decades, including the viral impact of Garth Brooks’ rendition of Big Bottom, the film, of course, doesn’t have the novelty of the original but mostly makes up for it with plenty of golden moments, not the least of which is McCartney’s praise of the Big Bottom lyrics as literature.
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER **1/2 (162 minutes) M
From Paul Thomas Anderson, one of America’s most ingenious and versatile directors (Boogie Nights; There Will Be Blood; Magnolia; Phantom Thread) comes a major disappointment with One Battle After Another,
an overlong cine-opus saved mainly by its strong ending and menacing performance from Sean Penn.
Essentially an elongated procedural chase yarn, the film pits dishevelled alcoholic former urban guerrilla Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) against evil, square-jawed Colonel Lockjaw (Penn) in the search for Bob’s renegade daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti).
There are nods to hot-button topics such as immigration control and secret cabals of racist white men running America, but far from delivering any sort of controversial commentary the film is a flabby pursuit with way too many detours and superfluous scenes, such as Bob trying to remember a secret code.
DiCaprio, in a grizzled, surprisingly 2-D turn, spends most of the film in a haggard dressing gown, an image that was somehow considered so compelling it features on the film’s poster, easily one of the worst in recent years.
To its credit the film comes good in its final stretch and, to be fair, has received raves and much Oscar buzz.
Still, it unspools as a greatly inflated character-driven action lark that takes too long to say not very much. Example: the exposition in the opening 30-40 minutes could have been covered with a punchy five-minute pre-credit sequence.
Where’s Oliver Stone when you need him?
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA – THE MOVIE: INFINITY CASTLE *** (155 minutes; subtitled) MA
It was with a foolhardy spirit of adventure and deep curiosity that your humble servant ventured forth into Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. Given how the anime epic had taken around $600 million globally it seemed only proper to investigate what was vacuuming audiences into cinemas.
Superbly animated and consisting of fight after fight after fight as noble warriors locked blades against a smarmy demon, with truckloads of backstory bumping out the running time, the film unfurled as barely comprehensible, especially to one unfamiliar with this particular universe.
It figured that the film would probably make much more sense to those who had seen Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train, the film this was the sequel to.
So imagine the shock, dear reader, when yours truly discovered that he had, in fact, seen and reviewed said film – and had also found that epic barely comprehensible.
Despite all that, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle still engaged, mainly through its visuals which presented a cascade of surreal images and a fascinating blending of styles, with traditionally rendered main characters playing against backgrounds that were mostly digital.
Particularly impressive was the vast metropolis maze featured throughout the film, a glistening vision of a multi-layered city with no inhabitants.
Yet more captivating, though, was the audience.
Filling out a mid-afternoon session on an ordinary weekday, nearly 200 patrons – presumably anime addicts – sat silently, absolutely enthralled at the cartoon frenzy on screen.
Turning around every few minutes to watch as the reflected light danced across their spellbound faces was more than worth the price of admission.
THE LONG WALK * (108 minutes) MA
What a stupid movie.
With all due deference to the genius and prolificity of Stephen King, it really does seem, based on this dreck, that if the guy sneezed into a tissue there’d be a director somewhere wanting to adapt it into a movie.
Set in an alternate version of the late-1950s where everyone is suffering financial hardship, the premise involves an event in which 50 teenagers embark on a closely supervised and televised walk.
The rules are that anyone falling below three miles per hour gets a warning, with three warnings leading to summary execution. There are no rest breaks and any needs to go to the toilet must be performed while walking. The sole survivor of the walk gets financial relief along with a wish.
Not a bad idea, sure, only the thing is so replete with story holes and glaring implausibilities it quickly descends into a laughably bad farce.
Any allegorical intent is quickly overwhelmed by the sheer idiocy of its execution. Director Francis Lawrence, who helmed I Am Legend, also did five Hunger Games films (including the upcoming Sunrise on the Reaping), with which this nonsense bears some passing similarity. He fails to bring any substance to the piece.
One of the film’s big problems is the casting of Cooper Hoffman in the main role. Son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman and a fine actor (Licorice Pizza) he simply isn’t believable.
Visibly overweight and out-of-shape, he nonetheless shows more stamina than rivals who are much fitter than he is.
Other issues abound.
If this is a walk to the death, why would friendships form? Why would anyone help anyone else? Why would they even talk? Perhaps as a subtle attempt to bore each other to death.
And how is this event meant to “inspire” the work ethic of an indigent populace that has survived a civil war? None of it adds up.
As a side note, the film’s box office failure has been linked by many conservative commentators to Stephen King’s tweet about Charlie Kirk, the hugely popular Trump-supporting Christian advocate who was assassinated on 10 September.
On the same day of the film’s release King (the executive producer) tweeted that Kirk endorsed stoning of gay people, which wasn’t true.
A huge backlash followed, King deleted the post – a pointless gestures given how everyone automatically takes a screenshot of anything contentious – and apologized.
Still, it didn’t stop people attributing the film’s poor attendances with the remark, implying that King, who was actively spruiking the film online, was being punished by his audience.
As alluring a theory as it is, especially for those angry at King for his comment, it’s far more likely the film has foundered due to good old-fashioned word of mouth – the one thing no movie can escape.
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