Directed by Craig Roberts and adapted by Simon Farnaby from Scott Murray’s book is the story of Maurice Flitcroft. Flitcroft (Mark Rylance) is a crane driver from Barrow-in-furness, who when he hears from his son (Jake Davies) that he may be made redundant, he decides he needs a new job and that entering the 1975 British Open Golf is the job for him. The problem is he has never picked up a golf club. But encouraged by his loving wife, Jean (Sally Hawkins), he applies and via some poor due diligence from the committee, he finds himself accepted to play. However, he’s not as good as he had hoped, scoring 121 the worst score from a professional (Self proclaimed) golfer. He’s seen as an embarrassment and banned for life, but undeterred Maurice keeps trying.

Roberts and Farnaby haven’t brought to screen a biography of Flitcroft. In the way Jaws is not about a shark this isn’t about his attempts to get into the open. It’s more a human story about hope, dreams, encouraging others and sacrificing yourself for them to achieve. This is compounded by the Rocketman’esque use of fantastical dream like sequences, which feel a little odd but do bring charm.

And charm is something it has plenty of especially from its leads. Rylance portrays Flitcroft as unassuming and good hearted, who constantly uses his homespun positivity to encourage others to achieve. And even when he feels he has failed he finds he has still inspired others. In Sally Hawkins, Rylance has the perfect support as she brings to Jean lots of understated charm and her unwavering support and love.

It is sweet film, a little slow at times and the premise is maybe a little thin. But its easy going warm nature and Rylance and Hawkins’s performances more than win you over.

Phantom of the Open won’t change the world, but it’s charming and inoffensive, humorous and warm hearted. Flitcroft’s story is a bizarre one and brought enjoyably to the screen and a nice enough way to spend 100 or so minutes

.

.

Next film in the 100 film bucket list challenge is Monty Python’s 1979 look at religion, cults and protest groups, the Life of Brian.

Directed by Terry Jones, written by and starring the Python cast, including Jones alongside John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Graham Chapman as the titular Brian. Brian lives in Roman occupied Jerusalem, who finds his purpose in joining one of Judea’s revolutionary groups. When on the run from one mission he accidentally finds himself followed by 1000’s after been identified as a new Messiah. But in reality he is just a naughty boy!

Monty Python remain comedic greats and Life of Brian one of their most famous creations. The comedy remains sharp and strangely prescient for a film that is over 40 years old. Its take on organised religion still remains controversial in some places even now, but for most it’s a typical pythonesque take on both historical and contemporary affairs.

The core cast, as usual, play multiple roles, from centurions to crazed peasents and all in between. As with all Python films it is full of scenes and lines that have become cultural references across generations as well as one of cinemas most famous film ending musical set pieces.

Yes it feels a bit clunky at times, but that’s partly because of their irreverent nature and of course it has aged. Would it still work as well for a brand new younger audience? I’m not so sure as the comedy may be aged and is very much of the Oxbridge type of the 70’s and 80’s. But for me still works just fine.

Life of Brian is one of histories most quoted films and with a final musical set piece that has become part of popular culture. And while its comedic approach is of its time, the target of that comedy, religious zeal and the hypocrisy of “protest” groups is still as accurate today as it was then. Life of Brian is and remains a classic.

Next film on the 100 movie bucket list is 1998’s American History X.

Written by David McKenna, directed by Tony Kaye and starring Ed Norton in a story of extremism, racism and the inevitability of their cycle of destruction. Norton is Derek a neo-nazi just released after 3 1/2 years in prison for the manslaughter of two young black men. He is released to find his brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), in trouble at school for writing a paper based on Mein Kampf. His teacher (Elliot Gould) is disgusted, but the Head, Professor Sweeney (Avery Brooks), still sees hope that Danny is not following his brother. Derek has been changed by prison, he has realised the stupidity of his beliefs and the lies behind them. But now his challenge is to free himself from his past and its influence on him and his family.

At its heart this is a story of redemption and growing up, but a version of the story with a hard edge. It is often visceral and doesn’t shy away from the reality of the extremism that forms its basis. It also highlights the hypocrisy of those behind those views. Embodied here by Stacey Keach’s Cameron.

But for its hard edge it’s also rather predictable and Derek’s redemption story a little too convenient and simple to be wholly believable. It also lacks subtlety at times with an over powering use of its soundtrack just to ensure you understand the emotion you should be feeling, alongside some “on the nose” dialogue. And it does come with a rather predictable ending.

Performances are solid, Norton is excellent and brings nuance to a difficult character. Leach and Gould bring what you expect and Guy Torry’s Lamont, who befriends Derek in prison, also provides solid support.

American History X is a hard edged redemption story. It is a disturbing watch at times but also a little predictable and overly convenient at others. However, It is lit up by an excellent central performance by Norton who brings subtlety that other areas of the film lacks. Maybe not a great but an interesting watch none the less.

Domee Shi directs the latest from Pixar, again oddly straight to streaming on Disney+.

Meilin (Rosalie Chang) is a 13 year old girl of chinese dececnt, growing up in Toronto, a good student, a small group of good friends. She is devoted to honouring her parents and ancestors, she helps at home and in the family business, a temple they that attracts visitors to learn about their heritage. Life is good, her biggest problem is how her and her friends will get to see their favourite band. That’s until one morning she awakes to find she has turned into fluffy Red Panda. However Mum (Sandra Oh), is not shocked and explains that this is a family “inheritance” passed down through the families women, but it can be contained. At first the Panda Is a “curse”, until her friends find out and love her cuddly Panda form, turning Mei and the Panda into school celebraties! But that comes with its own problems as she now has choices she’d never considered and into conflict with her Mum like never before.

Turning Red has all you expect from Pixar. It looks fantastic a lovely mix between western animation and Anime. And of coursen, as a Pixar film, wrapped into this beautiful animation and humour is a layered story of growing up and testing boundaries.

While this doesn’t quite rank at the top of Pixar’s work, it doesn’t stop it being a wonderful bit of storytelling. Ultimately Pixar do good and very good films and this sits at the good end of good!

The story engages adults and children alike not with grown up jokes for adults and silly gags for kids, instead it is the same story but a story with layers that appeals to the whole audience.

The voice cast is super as you’d expect and the story is engaging, funny and emotional in all the right proportions.

Turning Red may not be a Pixar classic but it looks fabulous, with a talented cast and engaging story about growing up, finding your way and relationships. You can always trust Pixar to deliver and deliver again they do.

Matt Reeves is at the helm for this latest reincarnation of DC’s Batman. Robert Pattinson dons the dark suite as we discover him in a Gotham over run by crime, from petty robbery to organised gangs run by overlords who have criminals and corrupt public servants in their pay. The crimes take a new twist with the violent murder of the mayor. Heading the investigation Lt. Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) brings Batman to the crime scene, where they discover a clue left for him from a new menace to Gotham, The Riddler (Paul Dano). But this is only the beginning as Riddler starts to carry out a series of killings to expose the corruption at the heart of Gotham, which challenges Batman to face not only these crimes but demons from his own past.

So does this Batman bring anything new? I think it does. There is a lot to enjoy here. With a gorgeously dark gothic look and some refreshing grown up storytelling. It’s feels more like a noir detective thriller than superhero film and works really well.

While Pattinson doesn’t bring anything particular fresh to Bruce Wayne that’s Ok. Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman is a good foil and holds her own and there is good support from Wright as well as Colin Farrel (under a lot of prosthetics), John Turturro and Andy Serkis.

Oddly the film that this reminded me of most was Dirty Harry. Not for its world weary protagonist, but actually for its villain. Andrew Robinson’s Killer in Dirty Harry was wonderfully disturbing and Paul Dano’s subtle unhinged menace brings something marvelously disturbing here, a fabulous bad guy performance.

It’s not perfect, it is much too long with a final third that feels very “and here’s another thing”. But that’s a small gripe on what, even for its run time, is an enthralling and engaging grown up comic book film.

This is a detective story at its heart with a brilliantly disturbing foe. Yes it’s too long, but its well told story remains absorbing and engaging. This is a refreshingly dark, brooding, grown up film and for reminding us that you can do that with a comic book franchise it should be congratulated.

Director Roger Michell’s last film is based on the true story of the 1961 theft of Goya’s painting of the Duke of Wellington from the national gallery. Jim Broadbent plays Kempton Bunton a man struggling to hold down a job, but a social idealist wanting to do more for the good of the people. His latest focus is demanding that over 75’s get a free BBC TV licence. At his side is his long suffering wife Dorothy (Helen Mirren), loves her husband but is frustrated by his campaigning. When Kempton learns about the £140,000 spent on the Goya he is frustrated and decides enough is enough and takes his campaign to parliament. While there the Goya is stolen and next time we see it, it’s in Kempton’s spare bedroom! With the help of his son Jackie (Fionn Whitehead) he hides it and uses it to demand money to fund TV licenses for the elderly. But when the risk of getting caught gets too much Kempton returns the painting, gets arrested and stands trial.

While the story lends itself to a comic caper there is a little more to it than that. In the background is a sadness for Kempton and Dorothy as they struggle to come to terms with loss of their daughter.

While this does give it a little depth, ultimately it is pretty light fair, the kind of thing to watch with a biscuit and a cup of tea! Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That’s very true here, a nice film with an unlikely hero and unlikely story.

Jim Broadbent is perfect as Kempton, his effortless charm and impeccable comic timing carry you along. Helen Mirren provides the perfect foil for him to work off. The two leads are well supported by a solid cast, but it is Broadbent who really makes this work.

The Duke is a nice enjoyable film, a fascinating and crazy story, well played with plenty of humour, heart and charm. It is pretty light and fluffy, and that’s just fine. One of those films that you’ll find on TV on a Sunday afternoon in years to come and settle down and watch again.

Joe Wright directs this screen adaptation of Erica Schmidt’s musical version of the Cyrano de Begerac story. Cyrano (Peter Dinklage) is a soldier with an artistic heart, a poet and a wit, but is also self conscious of his diminutive stature. Roxanne (Hayley Bennett) is his secret love, a long time friend, smart, articulate and wanting to be wooed. One night she sees at the theatre Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) a young soldier about to join Cyrano’s unit and she falls for him. But Christian lacks the poetic heart to woo her. Together Cyrano and Christian give each other what they lack, Cyrano gets his looks, Christian his voice. But as always the road to love is never easy, especially at a time of war, and is filled with jealousy and heartbreak.

There are certainly things to enjoy in this musical adaptation of the well known story, but sadly not everything worked for me as much as I wished it had.

On the plus side there are lots of beautifully judged performances and the three leads particularly bring lots of charm to the screen. Dinklage full of wit and charisma and Bennett brings effortless charm to Roxanne.

Visually it is gorgeous to look at from the packed theatre to the desolation of the battlefield. And the use of dance is inspired often bringing a real beauty to scenes.

Sadly not everything works as well. The musical numbers are a little hit and miss, and pacing felt a problem throughout.

That said the film finishes on a high with a beautifully moving final act from the battlefields to a heart wrenching moment between Cyrano and Roxanne.

But overall it was a little uneven, at its best it is beautiful, moving and funny. But it doesn’t sustain that throughout and ultimately falls a little flat overall.

I did want to enjoy Cyrano more than I did. There are moments to enjoy and the three leads are each enjoyable. At its best it is wonderful, but unfortunately it’s not at its best often enough.

Directed by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin also written by Carolin and starring Tatum, is Dog. Tatum is Briggs a former US Ranger looking to get back on rotation after serious injury. When he is brought back together with his former company to remember his friend Rodriguez recently killed in a car crash, he takes the chance to push his case with his former Sargent. When he receives a call to come to the barracks he thinks persistence has paid off. However, it’s not the opportunity he expects as he’s presented with the job of taking Rodriguez’s Ranger hero dog, Lulu, on a road trip along the Pacific coast highway to his funeral. Lulu is as battle hardened and damaged a soldier as Briggs as they set off on a road trip that will change them both.

Presented with a synopsis about a damaged soldier and a damaged veteran dog on a road trip, you will imagine a certain type of road trip redemption story. Well imagine no more because Dog is that film. That’s not particularly a critisicm, it is just exactly the story you get. The Dog is the canine realisation of Briggs, all the trauma that Lulu has encountered and Briggs learns about are the things he doesn’t see in himself, but of course learns.

For all of its predictably that doesn’t stop it having a fair bit of charm, plenty of humour and some, if sometimes rather heavy handed, explorations of trauma and mental health. But what really makes it work is the ever watchable Tatum. A film almost made for his easy charm and comedic delivery and he has the perfect foil in his dog companion.

This is very much a vehicle for Tatum, there are a couple of cameo roles to enjoy Jane Adams and Kevin Nash as an isolated couple who live in the woods and Ethan Suplee as Noah the owner of Lulu’s dog sibling, in particular.

Dog won’t change anybody’s world, it’s a predictable road trip with a destination that of course visits self discovery and redemption on the way. But it’s not without charm and if what you want is Channing Tatum doing what he does best, with a dog for company, then this will work a treat.

Kenneth Branagh returns as Director and wearer of fabulous moustaches in his second outting as Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. Death on the Nile sees Poirot in Egypt and a guest at the wedding of Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer) and Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot). However proceedings are upset when Doyle’s former fiancée Jacqueline De Bellefort (Emma Mackey) aggreived at been dumped for her former friend interrupts proceedings. In order to escape her stalking the Doyle’s hire the Karnak a paddle steamer, which takes them and their wedding guests, the usual Christie style group full of secrets and motive, and of course Poirot, on a journey along the Nile. As they head off on this trip there is a murder and Poirot is called into action and of course all onboard are under suspicion.

I did want to enjoy this more as I do like Branagh as Poirot. But this second outting sadly is less than the sum of its parts. A well assembled cast, an Agatha Christie story and a sumptuous set. But sadly it seems to lack much of the fun and energy that was there to enjoy in Murder on the Orient Express.

Firstly it’s slow from the very beginning as we get a lot of Nile before we get to the death. We also suffer from one of the challenges that come with large ensemble casts of characters, we barely get to know any of them. And even for those not familiar with the story, the mystery is pretty well sign posted and you spend quite a lot of the film wating for it to reach its destination.

There are things to enjoy, Emma Mackey steals most of the scenes she was in, Sophie Okonedo and Annette Benning are reliable and watchable as is Branagh again as Poirot. And the final act does zip along and has the pace and intrigue lacking from the rest of the film. And it is big and bright and the humour when it does appear raises a smile.

Unfortunately though Death on the Nile does fall flat lacking the fun and energy of its predecessor. It moves too slowly and is all surface with little depth to engage you. Which is a pity, because Branagh as Poirot is enjoyable, but he needs to investigate why this doesn’t quite work.

Director Roland Emmerich dips his toes back into the world of sci-fi disaster movies with Moonfall. Astronauts Jo Fowler (Halle Berry) and Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) are on a 2011 satellite repair mission when tragedy strikes. Harper is blamed for the incident which costs him his career. We find both 12 years later in very different places, Harper struggling, Fowler a senior NASA figure. The two are brought back together when conspiracy theorist and “mega structurisist” KC Houseman (John Bradley) discovers the moon is out of its orbit and is on a crash course with Earth. Together they form an unlikely group sent on a last ditch mission to the moon to solve the problem and save the planet.

Yep, disaster heading toward the earth, rag-tag group head off on last ditch attempt to save the world. Indeed it is that film. These kind of films can either be an enjoyable, if often silly action adventure or they can be Moonfall.

This is a dreadful nonsense to the extent that you start to wish the moon would just get on with it and end it for us all. It fails on many counts a terrible script at the heart of it, that at numerous times has you begging for them to stop talking. Did nobody think actors were going to have to say this out loud? And of course a ludricous plot, which is often par for the these kind of films, but Moonfall jumps the shark Evel Knievel style creating a conspiracy theorists wet dream.

It’s not all bad, although mostly it is, it does have some moments. Its final act has some entertaining action sequences and in John Bradley we at least get some redemption with a performance not completely handicapped by the script. But sadly for the rest of the cast, and there are fine actors in this, they cannot dig themselves out from the terrible nonsense they have to deal with.

Moonfall is terrible, with very few redeeming qualities and you will find yourself asking for it to stop on multiple occasions. Sometimes there is a place for dumb fun but sadly this is so dumb with very little fun that it will have you cheering for the moon long before the end!