Home Comforts: The best in TV, VOD, DVD and Blu-ray (week beginning Monday December 14)

The week's 10 best films to enjoy at home in a host of different formats, including Roxanne (above)...

1. The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson
(DVD)

Director Julien Temple (The Filth And The Fury) tells the extraordinary tale of musician Wilko Johnson, who you may remember as lead guitarist in '70s r'n'b rockers Dr Feelgood. At the beginning of 2013, he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and not expected to last the rest of the year. Temple's film shows Wilko coming to terms with the diagnosis while explaining how the experience left him feeling more positive and energised than ever before. No longer the anti-social misery guts of his own self description, Johnson - an incredibly erudite and well-read man - proceeds to live every moment of the life he has left, embarking on a farewell tour and recording a final album with The Who's Roger Daltrey. And it's at that point when proceedings take a turn for the truly unexpected (if you don't know the story, I wouldn't dream of spoiling it for you). Temple's style of documentary making - avant garde film clips, quotes and images mixed in with the usual talking heads - leaves some people cold but it works perfectly here as the director uses Wilko's plight to explore ideas about life, death and resurrection. All in all, you'd be hard pressed to find a more uplifting slice of cinema this year.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

(23:00, Wednesday, BBC4)

Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi masterpiece - nuff said.

3. Eden
(DVD and VOD)

Director Mia Hansen-Løve chronicles the rise and fall of a young French garage DJ over a 20-year period. In early '90s Paris, Paul Vallée (Félix de Givry) starts a musical duo called Cheers with his friend Stan at around the same time Daft Punk are just kickstarting their own rise to stardom in the city's underground club scene. Cheers do well initially and have a big following but when tastes change and habitual drug user Paul runs out of money and luck, the only way is down. Eden's a little on the long side (131mins) and isn't perhaps quite as essential as some critics have suggested, but its refusal to provide a pat happy ending or to suggest pursuing a dream above all else doesn't sometimes have unpleasant repercussions should be applauded. Hansen-Løve's film would probably make an interesting double bill with the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis.

4. The Wolfpack
(VOD)

The head-spinning true story of the Angulos, six brothers raised in a small apartment in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and only very rarely allowed to venture into the outside world by their insanely overprotective parents. Isolated from society, the boys seek refuge in movies, building elaborate props and costumes as they re-enact favourite scenes from the likes of Reservoir Dogs and The Dark Knight. A bizarre and brilliant documentary.

5. Roxanne

(21:00, Tuesday, Movie Mix)

Classic comedy from 1987 that cleverly updates the story of Cyrano De Bergerac. Steve Martin - still at the peak of his powers at this point - plays CD Bales, a fire chief with an enormous nose. Daryl Hannah is the object of his affections. The scene in which Martin is challenged to think of 20 insults better than 'big nose' makes the film worth seeing on its own: "It must be wonderful to wake up in the morning and smell the coffee... in Brazil."

6. Wild Tales
(Amazon Prime Video, from Tuesday)

Argentine portmanteau featuring six stories about rage and vengeance produced by Pedro Almodóvar  The final sequence centring on the meltdown of a couple’s relationship at their wedding is a tour de force of bleak humour and brutal emotion.

7. Con Air

(21:00, Friday, Channel 5)  

Ridiculously enjoyable action flick in which Nicolas Cage's Cameron Poe - a former Army Ranger just released from jail on parole - is trapped on a plane with some of America's most dangerous criminals. The ruthless cons have taken over the craft and plan to use it to escape justice but Poe - keen to get home to his wife and daughter - has other ideas. John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames and John Malkovich (as Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom) make up a great cast. 

8. Tangerines
(VOD, from Sunday)

Oscar-nominated pacifist drama set during the 1992-93 Abkhazia conflict when the Georgian government, separatist forces, and Russia were embroiled in a bitter war. Ivo and Margus - farmers who have remained behind in their otherwise-deserted rural village to harvest a crop of tangerines - are caught in the crossfire when two bands of warring soldiers clash. The pair take in two of the wounded men - one from each side - and hope they can be nursed back to health and persuaded not to kill each other. Nicely written and acted, uplifting and heartbreaking.

9. The Rebel

(00:10, Wednesday, ITV3)

Tony Hancock is the downtrodden office clerk who quits his job and moves to Paris' left bank to pursue his dream of being a great artist. Despite having limited talent, the comedian becomes a huge success when his paintings get confused with another - far superior - creator. Hancock collaborated with British sitcom gods Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (Steptoe And Son) on the script and, as you'd therefore expect, it stands up pretty well nearly 55 years after its release. I couldn't track down a trailer but below there's footage from the film's UK premiere in 1961 at the Plaza in London's Haymarket.

10. Pinocchio

(17:05, Sunday, Channel 5)

Disney's animated take on the not-quite-a-fairy-tale. Released in 1940, it was the company's second full-length feature (following Snow White And The Seven Dwarves) and based on the 19th Century book by Carlo Collodi. In the Italian writer's story, Pinocchio is executed by hanging at the end of one of the chapters but his editor insisted on a miraculous resurrection!

And one to avoid...
Keith Lemon: The Film
(23:00, Thursday, ITV2)

Unfunny tosser.

Please note: Films starting after midnight are always considered part of the previous day's schedule, e.g. The Rebel begins at 00:10 - technically Thursday morning - but is still part of Wednesday's listings. All times in 24-hour clock.

**Coming soon: 

My top 30 films of the year... look for it right 

here towards the end of the month**

My top 20 movies of the year... so far (part #1)

Blimey, those six months just sped by, didn't they? And with them lots of very, very good films. I don't know whether we've had a stone-cold classic yet but with the likes of Todd Haynes' Carol, Michael Fassbender starring in Macbeth, and Crimson Peak from Guillermo del Toro scheduled for later in the year, there's still plenty to look forward to in 2015. Of all the films I've seen there is only one I can honestly say I hated – American Sniper – but that was more about its lousy politics than Clint Eastwood's skill as a director or the merits of Bradley Cooper as an actor. 

Anyway, the rules here are simple: all films under consideration had to have had a UK cinema release between January 1 and June 30 2015 (to prevent moans of 'But surely that was out last year', I've even included each film's official UK release date, courtesy of launchingfilms.com). No straight to Netflix/Amazon Prime or straight to DVD/Blu-ray movies were considered (sorry, Starry Eyes). 

Not being a professional critic, there are dozens of films I've yet to catch up on that have been released in the last six months (The Falling, White God, and Slow West to name but three) but of those I've seen – 59 as of this morning – these will be my 20 21 favourites. Let's start with numbers 20-11, shall we?

=20. Selma
(Director: Ava DuVernay UK release date: February 6)
The fact David Oyelowo wasn't nominated for an Oscar for his astonishing portrayal of Martin Luther King still sticks in the craw. The rest of this civil rights drama doesn't quite hit the heights of the British actor's performance but is powerful, heartfelt stuff nevertheless.

=20. A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence
(Director: Roy Andersson UK release date: April 24)
Bizarre comedy following the antics of two dour salesmen as they attempt to flog a range of hopeless novelty items. There isn't a coherent plot as such, just a string of loosely connected sketches each commenting on some aspect of human existence. Gloriously odd.

19. Blind
(Director: Eskil Vogt UK release date: March 27)
Fantasy and reality merge in this extraordinary Swedish film from a first-time writer/director about a young blind woman struggling to come to terms with isolation and paranoia. Boasts a great central performance from Ellen Dorrit Petersen (below)

18. Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
(Director: David Zellner UK release date: February 20)
Terrific but elliptical drama charting a young Japanese woman’s quest to find the briefcase full of cash buried by Steve Buscemi’s character in the movie Fargo. Is the titular Kumiko mentally ill or merely so alienated from modern life that taking refuge in fantasy is her only option? 

17. Inherent Vice
(Director: Paul Thomas Anderson UK release date: January 30)
Vague and sprawling, this adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s similarly opaque novel features Joaquin Phoenix at the top of his game. Perhaps a difficult film to truly love but it is nevertheless enormous fun.

16. Jauja
(Director: Lisandro Alonso UK release date: April 10)
A weird and woozy ‘western’ set in the wilds of 19th Century Patagonia and starring Viggo Mortensen (below) as a Danish engineer on a quest to find his missing daughter. I’d be surprised if I saw a more visually stunning movie all year.

15. Wild
(Director: Jean-Marc Vallée UK release date: January 16)
Reese Witherspoon is terrific as an emotionally shattered young woman hiking a thousand miles up America's west coast in a bid to come to terms with her mother's death and the downward spiral it has plunged her into.

14. Foxcatcher
(Director: Bennett Miller UK release date: January 9)
Haunting adaptation of a true story featuring superb performances from a strong cast. Steve Carell is creepiness personified as John E du Pont, the unstable multi-millionaire who founds a wrestling academy to train US Olympic hopefuls. Suffice to say, it doesn’t end well...

13. Wild Tales
(Director: Damián Szifrón UK release date: March 27)
Argentine portmanteau featuring six stories about rage and vengeance. The final sequence centring on the meltdown of a couple’s relationship at their wedding (below) is a tour de force of bleak humour and brutal emotion.

12. The Duke of Burgundy
(Director: Peter Strickland UK release date: February 20)
BDSM and lepidoptery (the study of butterflies and moths) make strange but beguiling bedfellows in this eccentric and gorgeous lesbian relationship drama. Not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

11. Mad Max: Fury Road 
(Director: George Miller UK release date: May 15)
Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy, pictured at the top of the page) returns to the post-apocalyptic Aussie badlands in a movie for which the term high-octane was surely invented. Charlize Theron’s badass Imperator Furiosa steals the film out from under him though.

Numbers 10-1 coming later in the week...

Wild Tales: An anthology that is all killer no filler

Review

Wild Tales
Director: Damián Szifron
Starring: Darío Grandinetti, María Marull, Mónica Villa, Érica Rivas
Running time: 122 mins



The first 10 minutes of Wild Tales are so brutal, bleak, and hilariously entertaining that I didn’t think director Szifron could possibly keep it up for a whole film. But, you know what? He pretty much does. 

Portmanteau movies are frequently inconsistent affairs. Some stories hit the spot, others… less so. This Argentine Oscar nominee – comprised of six short tales taking rage and revenge as their subject – is all killer no filler.

The first, third, and closing segments are my favourites, though. “Pasternak” – told pre-credits – takes place on a plane whose passengers realise they all have a link to the same man. A sense of surprise and puzzlement quickly gives way to unease, panic, and finally abject terror as the tale’s pitch-black heart reveals itself. Its ending provoked in me an emotion I can only describe as “joy-horror”, involving as it did a mixture of loud laughter and profound dread. It's a marvellous, provocative opening, even in light of the Germanwings plane tragedy that some have clumsily sought to connect it to.

The third segment – “El más fuerte” (The Strongest) – begins with a minor road rage incident and then escalates. And escalates. AND ESCALATES! Punches are thrown, vehicles are smashed; a hammer and fire extinguisher become lethal weapons as a yuppie motorist and his banger-driving aggressor tear lumps out of each other. Filming this segment in the middle of nowhere proves an inspired move as a regal Argentine mountain range stares down on the bloody tableau beneath, as if to say, “All this and you’re killing each other over a motoring disagreement?!” The Strongest also boasts a terrific, ironic ending that neatly puts the previous 15 minutes of macho bullshit into perspective.

Wild Tales’ main message seems to be that humanity – and the society it has built – is sick, twisted and beyond repair. Furthermore, within all of us, just below the surface, lurks a vengeful monster capable of the most heinous acts.

The film – which is co-produced and clearly influenced by Pedro Almodóvar – focuses on Argentina but the themes and ideas it explores are just as apposite in the western world. The sixth and final tale – “Hasta que la muerte nos separe” (Until Death Do Us Part) – starts at a lavish wedding as two young lovers are joined in holy matrimony surrounded by their nearest and dearest. It couldn’t be a more perfect scene until a recent infidelity is revealed and a mini Armageddon ensues with enraged bride Romina (the excellent Érica Rivas, pictured above) at its epicentre.

It’s like watching The War of the Roses – the Kathleen Turner/Michael Douglas black comedy of the late-’80s – on fast forward; violent, bleak and sad but also, somehow, very funny. Mercifully, it ends on a hopeful note and it needed to lest proceedings become too nihilistic. Yes, we’re awful to each other and too often the authors of our own downfall but, amidst the madness and poison, there’s something about humanity worth preserving and celebrating. Maybe.

Although perhaps not quite as successful, the other three stories are equally pointed in their satire – the ageing cook in “Las Ratas” (The Rats) happy to return to prison because “society is shit”, the explosives engineer wreaking vengeance on the bureaucracy he allowed to wreck his life in “Bombita” (Little Bomb), the rich father happy to sacrifice a lowly employee to keep his drunken son out of jail in “La Propuesta” (The Proposal).

There isn’t a duff moment amongst them as Szifron rails not just against those taking revenge or giving into their rage but rather fixing the privileged, the disloyal, and the out-and-out bastards firmly in his sights and pulling the trigger. It’s a profoundly moral film albeit one whose conclusions you might find troubling.

Rating: WWW

Ratings

WWWW = Wonderful
WWW = Worthwhile
WW = Watchable
W = Woeful