David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Ferdinand Kingsley’

Supergirl

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Milly Alcock, David Corenswet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, Ferdinand Kingsley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, Jason Momoa

Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Cruella and I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie returns to the big screen with an origin story about Superman’s kryptonite cousin Supergirl brilliantly played by Milly Alcock who briefly appeared in last year’s film Superman.

Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl appears at the beginning of the story to be an intergalactic party animal celebrating her birthday in a very debauched fashion with Clark Kent aka Superman checking in on her via video link from Earth. Kara hasn’t come to terms with her Supergirl status, her powers as a superhero or her inherent responsibility to fend off evil.

Evil in this form comes from the villain Krem wonderfully played by Belgian actor Matthias Schoenaerts (The Danish Girl, Rust and Bone, Far from the Madding Crowd) who displays his nastiness when he shoots Krypto, Supergirl’s adorable dog with a poison dart after Ruthiye played by Eve Ridley comes to Supergirl for assistance after her family are brutally murdered by Krem.

Krem leads a violent band of misogynistic men who capture young girls all across the galaxy as brides for this evil tribe of maniacs. A storyline which scriptwriter Ana Nogueira lifts straight out of Furoisa: A Mad Max Saga. Supergirl and Ruthiye kick start some serious girl power as they go up against Krem and his band of miscreants. They do have some help from the cigar smoking biker Lobo played by Jason Momoa last seen as Aquaman who seems to relish this role.

Supergirl does appear to possess a script that is all over the show and appears as a pastiche of several film franchises in one: Star Wars, Mad Max and even Dune. There are more aliens in this film than is necessary.

The best scenes in the film are the back story of Kara Zor-El as a young girl on the dying planet of Krypton whereby her parents Zor-El played by David Krumholtz (Oppenheimer) and Alura Zor-El played by British actress Emily Beecham (Cruella, Hail, Caesar!) who was so brilliant in the historical series King and Conqueror, put young Supergirl in a capsule and send her to earth with specific instructions that her tall handsome cousin will look after her. Those scenes are beautifully done with clear inspiration from the Dune franchise.

Schoenaerts is brilliant as Krem, all studded in black leather and speaking in a harsh accent with crazy eyes and enough virility to keep the Manosphere going into the next century. The juxtaposition between him as the uber-male villain and Supergirl as the blond and blue eyed saviour of the world is revealing. For a good superhero film to work, you have to have a truly evil villain that feels nothing at killing innocent people, slave trading and darting adorable dogs.

The first half of Supergirl is a bit unsteady although the world building is brilliant and filled with imaginative detail. The second half gets better with Milly Alcock holding her own and showing an inspiring character development as Supergirl embraces her powers and helps Ruthiye rid the galaxy of megalomaniacs like Krem. The end scene is wonderful as Superman appears in his full suit and bonds with his Kryptonite cousin in an apartment in Metropolis.

There will definitely be a Supergirl sequel and I enjoyed this stand alone superhero film.

Supergirl gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and although it lacks an original narrative, the film is entertaining and visually astounding. Recommended viewing for a good popcorn film.  

Mank

Director: David Fincher

Cast: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Tom Burke, Ferdinand Kingsley, Arliss Howard, Charles Dance, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, Toby Leonard Moore, Monika Gossmann, Joseph Cross, Tom Pelphery

Running Time: 2 hours and 11 minutes

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

This Film is only available on NETFLIX

The Social Network director David Fincher returnswith the unbelievably brilliant story of the screenwriter Herman Mankiewizc in the 2020 film about 1930’s Hollywood Mank starring Oscar winner Gary Oldman as the erudite, heavy drinking screenwriter who become extraordinarily famous when he won the best original screenplay for the most iconic film ever made, director Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941) inspired by the real life story of American media billionaire William Randolph Hearst and his illicit romance with the gorgeous silent screen film star Marion Davies, 30 years his junior.

Fincher cleverly frames every alternate scene in Mank with the formatting for writing screenplays, however what really dazzles is the superb script written by Fincher’s father Jack Fincher.

What is especially thrilling to watch is Gary Oldman delivering another superb performance as the tortured screenwriter who after breaking his leg in a car accident is confined to a ranch in California to finish the original screenplay for the demanding Orson Welles played by Tom Burke.

Oldman’s performance is a companion piece to his Oscar winning turn as Sir Winston Churchill in 2017’s film Darkest Hour. The frame of his character is the same. Mank has young women assisting him, in this case Rita Alexander played by Lily Collins and Fraulein Frida played by Monika Gossmann. Then there is Herman Mankiewizc’s long suffering wife Sara, wonderfully played by British actress Tuppence Middleton (The Imitation Game, The Current War).

What is so masterful about Mank are the fabulous flashback scenes to Mank’s platonic enchantment with the dazzling silent screen diva Marion Davies, superbly played by Amanda Seyfried, who loves to make an impressionable exit especially out of a studio lot.

In these brilliantly executed scenes, Mank and Marion are seen conversing amidst drinks and cigarettes on Hearst’s massive estate, on his bankrolled film sets and more significantly in the social shadow of William Randolph Hearst’s friendship with studio executive Louis B. Mayer who founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or better known as MGM studios a rival to Paramount.

Hearst is played with a regal elegance by famed British character actor Charles Dance (White Mischief) while Mayer is played with an unrecognisable talent by Arliss Howard. Toby Leonard Moore plays David O. Selnick, the producer of Gone with the Wind.

By far the most extraordinary scene in Mank is the fancy dress dinner party in 1937 whereby Mank, utterly drunk, storms into the lavish setting and proceeds to lambast the most important guests at the table including Hearst, Mayor and Marion Davies.

Hearst after Mank’s tirade coolly escorts the inebriated screenwriter out of his mansion reciting the story about the organ grinder’s monkey, alluding to what Mank really is: a clown in a major larger circus. That circus is and always will be show business.  

Any aspiring filmmaker or film analyst studies Citizen Kane, and Mank is a very specific film, a cineaste’s tribute to the Golden age of Hollywood in the 1930’s and 1940’s. It’s best to research the period between 1934 and 1942 in Hollywood to appreciate Mank’s extraordinary elegance and cleverly crafted story.

Mank is sumptuous, intelligently told and Gary Oldman holds the entire film together in his witty and cantankerous fashion giving Mankiewizc a quality of genius bordering on the tragic.

Mank gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10 and is a film lover’s tribute to cinema, ironically streaming on Netflix and not available in cinemas.