For someone that was brought up on the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and then read them to his children, Goodbye Christpher Robin is a magical and emotional movie. The story and the screenplay are superb, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce from the original script by co-writer Simon Vaughan. Directed with aplomb by Simon Curtis, he is fortunate to have such a strong cast on fine form. For me, there is one outstanding contribution from Stephen Campbell Moore in a small role as Alan Milne's illustrator Ernest. He should be nominated for a best supporting actor at least.
The moments that really knocked me out were the words spoken from the poem Vespers, father and son walking in the snow and racing bits of wood in the river dropped from a bridge, but most of all a tiny, almost missed, fleeting reference to a poem my father recited to us young boys called Disobedience. There were just a few words about looking after mother at three (although Christopher said he was now six). That was it.
The poem starts off:
James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree
Took great care of his mother,
Though he was only three.
James James said to his mother, "Mother," he said, said he;
"You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don't go down with me."
Near the top of the poster for Home Again is the name to draw in the audience, and me, Nancy Meyers. Unfortunately her daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer is not in the same league as writer- director of this flimsy though watchable movie. The plot is all over the place, the premise totally unbelievable. I guess there are few movies for Reese Witherspon to choose from these days, but as usual she puts her heart and soul into some ropey dialogue. The same cannot be said for the rest of the cast including Michael Sheen.
Blade Runner 2049 is a classic in the making. Fortunately, I took advice from Mark Kermode on his Film Review and watched the original (the final cut which is Ridley Scott's own work - no voice over) before seeing the new movie. There were many references to the original that I might have missed otherwise. At two and threequarter hours, there are times when it feels a little ponderous, but I never lost interest and it is so beautiful to look at. It is visually stunning. Cinematographer Roger Deakins has done it again. The sound, or "music?" by composers Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer also respect that of Vangelis’s themes of the original, bringing in a fiercely up to date synthetic background.
Director Denis Villeneuve’s and co-writers Hampton Fancher (who created the original story) and Michael Green, have respected the first film in so many ways. In some ways this is a true "quest" movie as blade runner "K", played by a typically brooding Ryan Gosling, searches for his own identity within his mission from Robin Wright's human boss.
There are twists and turns as "K" and we try to unravel the truth of his own self. "To be human is to die for a cause worth fighting for". But is he? I was less than impressed by the late introduction of Harrison Ford as the older Deckard, but Ana de Armas as K's virtual girlfriend Joi is a marvel.
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