Author: Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

The White Crow

Rated: MThe White Crow

Directed by: Ralph Fiennes

Written by: David Hare

Inspired by the book “Nureyev : The Life” by: Julie Kavanagh

Produced by: Gabrielle Tana p.g.a., Ralph Fiennes p.g.a., Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Andrew Levitas,  François Ivernel

Composer: Ilan Eshkeri

Starring: Oleg Ivenko, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Chulpan Khamatova, Ralph Fiennes, Alexey Morozov, Raphaël Personnaz, Olivier Rabourdin, Ravshana Kurkova, Louis Hofmann, with Sergei Polunin and    Maksimilian Grigoriyev, Andrey Urgant, Nadezhda Markina, Anna Polikarpova, Nebojša Dugalić, Anastasia Meskova.

Based on the true story of the Soviet Union ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev (Oleg Ivenko), The White Crow is a film that shifts in time, from his time during the cold war, visiting France as a member of the Kirov Ballet Company in the 1960s, back to his lessons, showing his determination to be the best, the most expressive male dancer, back to the time of his childhood and his birth in 1938 on a crowded train as it travels through the snowy countryside – all his past leading to his ultimate defection from the Soviet Union to France where in a dramatic scene he seeks asylum while under the careful guard of the KGB.

We see the contrast of the oppressive days living in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the scenes leached of colour, to renewed hope after the war where the people living under the communist regime feel the bad days are over, only to see the vigour and freedom of Paris and the gorgeous be-jewelled costumes and stage-craft of lights and dancing, chandeliers and standing ovations.

The film shows the background of this famous performer, giving insight into his infamous temper and demands.  He explains to his friend and French supporter, Clara Saint (Adèle Exarchopoulos), his nickname, White Crow: the unusual, the extraordinary, not like others: an outsider.

To be able to express and give all of himself in the dance, his drive must remain pure, his soul free.

Ralph Fiennes, has directed with restraint, giving the tone of the film a quiet power.

It was the silence of the soundtrack that absorbed, to hear the scraping of ballet shoes on a hard wooden floor cutting to Rudi’s admiration and observation of paintings and statues in the Rembrandt Room of the Hermitage museum in St Petersburg, showing his aspiration to be as perfect as a statue himself.

The layering of the story makes the film more than the defection of Rudolf Nureyevilm, this is about the determination of a driven and abrasive, spectacularly brilliant dancer, as he explores a world he’s only dreamed about, filled with intellectual conversation, acceptance, art, adoration and freedom.

As his long-time supporter and teacher Alexander Pushkin (Ralph Fiennes – directing and also starring) explains to the KGB about Rudi’s defection – it’s not about politics, it was more an ‘explosion of character’.

Yet it’s the love of his mother and his childhood, the flashes back to his father returning in uniform, his mother searching for firewood in the bitter cold, that gives him the strength to fight through any fear of performance.

It’s a classically, beautiful film filled with the grace of ballet and violins, the tap of piano, the production team determined to show the story with respect with the cast made-up of native Russian actors, the lead, Oleg Ivenko also an award winning ballet dancer.

What I appreciated as a viewer was the cast speaking Russian instead of English with a Russian accent.

And the setting is filmed in France, and Russia, the artwork of Géricault’s painting ‘The Raft Of The Medusa’ used to show the beauty of Rudi’s internal torment and ability to see the beauty in the tragic.

Like Rudi tells Clara Saint, if you have no story to tell, you have no reason to dance.

A White, White Day (Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur)

Rated: MA White, White Day (Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur)

Written and Directed by: Hlynur Pálmason

Produced by: Anton Máni Svansson

Music by: Edmund Finnis

Cinematography by: Maria von Hausswolff

Film Editing by: Julius Krebs Damsbo

Starring: Ingvar E. Sigurdsson, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason.

WINNER

Best Actor, Cannes International Film Festival 2019 (Critics’ Week)

WINNER

Best Actor, 2019 Transilvania International Film Festival

Opening the Scandinavian Film Festival, A White, White Day (Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur) is a slow, bold and at times beautiful film, the outstanding performance from Ingvar E. Sigurdsson the centre piece to the background of Icelandic scenery.

I was drawn into the landscape of this film, the interest of change while the centre remains the same; the boldness and cheek of a granddaughter, the roar of a monster – it’s a film about grief but shown in images and movement and stillness, showing the process of grief rather than the narrative.

Time is shown as frame, by frame, an old farm house remains static, as each frame shows wind, snow, wild horses, a full moon at night, to daylight and green grass, and eventually, former police chief and grandfather, Ingimundur (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) arriving with granddaughter, Salka (Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir).

They wander around the old house, turning on taps, finding one of the horses in the kitchen.  Laughing together, the scene shows the relationship between grandfather and granddaughter; the natural companionship and exchange between them, the love.

Slowly, we realise that Ingimundur’s wife has died.  He’s a widow.  He used to be a cop.  We see a counsellor ask him not to be so hard on himself.  Not to self-criticise.

To ask: ‘What would be a perfect day?’

We receive no answer, the film cutting to Ingimundur in a rowboat with his granddaughter after they’ve caught a fish.

The editing (Julius Krebs Damsbo) sets the tone of the film, the story shown through image and object to depict the way a retired police chief’s mind works: Ingmiundur plays soccer in his purple boxes with the sea slowly rippling in the background.

He’s found out his wife was unfaithful.  He didn’t know while she was alive. Now, he has questions.

The sea churns.

The film’s a mysterious family drama that revolves around the quiet strength of this man, Ingimundur, who loses his grip as he investigates the infidelity of his beloved wife.  But instead of revenge, his quiet anger shows the depth of this love.

And the mystery of his love is set in the strangeness of fog and snow, as he tells scary tales to his granddaughter, while he quietly grieves.

I was absorbed into that quiet and open feeling like a strange day can create – that’s why the film’s title is, A White, White Day – where the sky and land are both white so they blend, allowing the dead to speak.

Booksmart

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Olivia WildeBooksmart

Written by: Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Katie Silberman

Produced by: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Megan Ellison, Chelsea Barnard, Jessica Elbaum

Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstien, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte.

Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) have been besties all through senior high, working their butts off so they can be accepted into the right college.

Not that they can talk about what college they’re going to with the other graduates; don’t want to make them feel bad about their choices and all.

Until Molly overhears a couple of the cool kids calling her personality, butter-face.  She might be cute, but her personality needs a paper bag.  Case-in-point, she’s just been correcting bathroom graffiti grammar.

So when Molly finds out the kids who have been partying all year have also gotten into Harvard, Stanford or jobs working for Google, she realises she’s missed out.

It’s time to party like it’s 2019 for the next twenty-four hours before graduation, to make up for all the fun times missed while studying like an idiot.

Sounds familiar, right?!

Another American graduation film.

Booksmart can’t be dressed up as anything else but graduates trying to figure out the next step: friendship, the safety of that friendship in a world of the unknown, sex and crushes and all the obsession and humiliation that goes with it.  So yeah, it’s familiar but jez the humour is fun.

We get a bumper sticker on the back of a teen feminist’s car stating: Hot flushes?  Power surges!

And a principle who spends his spare time driving an Uber while piecing together his detective novel featuring a pregnant woman whose baby kicks when she gets close to a clue.

The humour is off-beat and funny without trying too hard.

Even girls losing it in argument has been handled by first feature director Olivia Wilde so it’s not screeching but drama, somehow making a teen movie not annoying.

Molly (Beanie Feldstein) should have been a nerdy hard-to-take teen, but she’s adorable in her persistence and abrasive Slytherin nature.  And her bestie Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), the loyal, patient, keen for her first girl-on-girl moment was believable making her sexual orientation a normal teen struggle rather than an attempt at the contemporary – it’s all the same teen stuff we’ve seen before made more relevant.

More than anything, Booksmart’s good for a giggle.

Mystify Michael Hutchence

Rated: MA15+Mystify Michael Hutchence

Directed by: Richard Lowenstein

Written by: Richard Lowenstein

Produced by: Maya Gnyp, John Battsek, Sue Murray, Mark Fennessy, Richard Lowenstein, Lynn-Maree Milburn, Andrew De Groot

Executive Producer: Maiken Baird

Music by: INXS, Michael Hutchence, Ollie Olsen, Max Q, Kylie Minogue & Nick Cave, Olafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm.

With a noted very special thank you to: Tiger Hutchence – Geldof.

Michael Hutchence: ‘The trouble is hanging on to a fixed point long enough to understand it.’

I grew up with INXS, clearly remembering watching Michael Hutchence on TV performing on stage at Wembley Stadium (leading to their album, Live Baby Live) and feeling something stir.

Like the rest of the world, I saw that Michael had that something.

What this documentary shows is that Michael wanted to be more than a pop star.  He wanted fame.  And he wanted to be an artist.

Usually I’m scribbling notes and at times drifting during a screening, thinking of a phrase to write.  But I was absorbed into this documentary because there was so much footage of Michael.  Those eyes.  That heart.

Director and writer, Richard Lowenstein knew INXS and Michael personally, directing most of their music videos and the film, Dogs in Space (1986) with Michael starring as the lead (and part of my, If you Haven’t Watched You’re in for a Treat, List).

Lowenstein notes, ‘There finally came a time when I felt that the hype had calmed down and enough time had passed for someone who had known him well and respected that relationship, to physically and emotionally tell a genuine and respectful chronicle of his life.

That’s when the interviews began.’

The documentary is made up of footage of Michael taken by family and friends and himself with voice-overs from those who were close to him – Kylie Minogue tries to explain their intimate relationship admitting it was exactly what it seemed, the dark and worldly Michael introducing Kylie to the sensory delights.

And we witness his relationship with super model Helena Christensen, as they gallivanted around the South of France, living the dream.

Early girlfriend and long-time close friend, Michele Bennett and Helena had never spoken publicly about Michael, until being interviewed for this film.

Michele Bennett, Kylie Minogue, Susie and Kell Hutchence (Michael’s parents), Tina Hutchence, Rhett Hutchence (sister and brother) and ‘Ghost Pictures have opened up their extensive archive of never-before-seen personal 35mm, 16mm and home video for this film. Many other informants and sources have supplied photographs, sound recordings and rare documents seen for first time.’

It was so easy to think Michael was just this superficial, sexy guy.  But the story of his life, in this documentary at least, depicts a sensitive dreamer who worked hard.  Who made the band INXS his family.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him alive and well in those early days, only to get my heart broken again by his ultimate suicide.  Yet, there’s answers here, which I appreciate as a fan.

Whether the film gives us insight into all that happened during Michael’s heady days, I’m not sure.  The band members weren’t given much of a voice but were shown alongside Michael, on stage, backstage.

What struck me was the revelation of the attack that occurred in 1992 in Copenhagen, when he was outside a pizza shop with Helena.  The traumatic brain injury (TBI) he suffered lead to a complete loss of his sense of smell and 90% of his sense of taste.  And he kept the injury a secret.

The later years of his life were buried in controversy after his relationship with Paula Yates became the London presses favourite topic.

All I remember from the time is the much-publicised divorce and custody battle Paula fought against Sir Bob Geldof, and the drug abuse of Paula and Michael.

Here, we’re shown the effect the controversy had on Michael while his condition took it’s toll, the symptoms from his TBI looking like the effects of drugs.

Michael says of life, ‘Sometimes it clicks and sometimes you’re fighting against nature.’

It was a pleasure to see, once again, the performance of Michael on stage and to see behind the scenes of this surprisingly shy man.

It’s a haunting documentary that satisfies the curiosity while breaking the heart.

Michael Hutchence: 1960 – 1997.

Heavy Water

Rated: MHeavy Water

Directed by: Michael Oblowitz

Produced by: Red Bull Media House and All Edge Entertainment

Distributed by: Adventure Entertainment

Best Surfing Film in the 2017 Byron Bay International Film Festival 

Winner of the 2018 Wavescape Category in the Durban International Film Festival

‘Either the water lets you go.  Or it doesn’t.’

Watching surfing guru, Nathan Fletcher tell the story of his life, I can see how bad the drive to find that edge can be.  And how rewarding.

Heavy Water is a documentary driven by Nathan’s dream to surf a big-wave by dropping from a helicopter: A Helicopter Acid Drop.

I can’t imagine the coordination, balance, strength and shear will/balls/tenacity it took to successfully pull-off this feat – the first of its kind.  But on the 21st of April, 2017 – Nathan succeeds.

For fellow surfers and adrenaline fans that understand the skill involved, this is an exciting feat to watch.

But it’s the story leading up to The Drop that makes this documentary an absorbing film.

Director, Michael Oblowitz states, ‘I’m a surfing anthropologist and my baseline is good storytelling.’

A Hollywood director who surfs to escape the pressures of his career, Oblowitz decided it was time to combine his two passions, ‘To make surf movies that are unlike any other surf movie ever made’.

The documentary flows along the timeline of Nathan’s life, from growing up in San Clemente, California, where he learned to walk and talk and surf all at the same time.

There are voice-overs and interviews and footage giving insight into the Fletcher family, pioneers in surfing, from: Herbie Fletcher starting the motorised wave-ski tow-line drop, to Nathan’s brother Christian who started the aerial surfing trend and even his grandfather, big-wave original Walter Hoffman.

Riding a wave that can kill you is a family tradition.

Heavy Water is a biography showing the tight-knit circle Nathan ran with growing up, with mates like Darrick “Double D” Doerner, Danny Fuller and legendary Jay Adams (the original DogTown Z-Boy) talking skateboarding over footage of the guys skating in an empty swimming pool, the grimace of tough coolness hard-won and admired – the punk-rock style changing the face of skateboarding forever.

Nathan adopted the style, using the skate moves on the water, wanting to jump higher and higher.  Eventually leading to his pursuit of big-waves.

Nathan and mates like Bruce Irons would be constantly checking satellite weather patterns searching for ‘Code Red’ swells and then travel to places like Fiji, Indonesia and Tahiti to ride waves called the Himalayas, Jaws, the Mavericks – massive, dangerous waves that can crash you into a 60-foot crevice and hold you under, never knowing if you’ll get to the surface in time, or drown.

Seeing how big those wave are from the perspective of the ones riding them; to see the awesome power of the pull of water literally gave me goose bumps.

The film has footage of guys like Andy Irons and his brother Bruce, and Sion Milosky pushing their limits, all dancing with death – some making it through, some not.

Christian Fletcher states that those lost in the water are immortal, forever at the age they died doing what they love.  It’s the ones left that miss them.

The intensity and risk creates a spiritual bond, the documentary giving insight into what it takes to get to such a high level – some of the guys ending up in jail after pushing the limits too far.

Nathan leaves his entire life behind to compete in a comp in Tahiti, scoring 10, then another 10, going home a professional surfer.  Only to arrive to nothing – no home and no wife.

He lived in a van for two years, chasing waves.

The film takes away the glamour of the glossy magazine shots and shows the reality of what it takes to get those photos.

The footage of Nathan and Bruce back in Tahiti, leading to that famous shot of Nathan awarding him the XXL 2012 Ride of the Year shows the motivation and spiritual mindset needed to get to that headspace.

This isn’t a stylised promo for surfing or any branding, Heavy Water is the story of a guy who wants to continue the family legacy with all the risk and reward that goes with it.

Parasite

Rated: MA15+Parasite

Directed by: Bong Joon-Ho

Story by: Bong Joon Ho

Screenplay by: Bong Joon Ho, Han Jin Won

Produced by: Kwak Sin Ae, Moon Yang Kwon

Executive Producer: Miky Lee

Starring: SONG Kang Ho, LEE Sun Kyun, CHO Yeo Jeong, CHOI Woo Shik, PARK So Dam, CHANG Hyae Jin, JUNG ZISO, JUNG Hyeon Jun, LEE Jung Eun.

Winner d’Or Cannes Film Festival

Official Competition Sydney Film Festival

Director and writer Bong Joon-Ho describes Parasite as, ‘a comedy without clowns, a tragedy without villains.’

And Joon-Ho has certainly captured a film with a difference here, where the story starts off one way, then evolves into something else so the film’s like a journey into a way of thinking or a thought that creeps up.

Parasite starts off about a struggling family, living in a sub-basement where they contemplate putting up a sign, ‘No urinating’ because of the drunk that is forever pissing outside their window.

The father, Ki-Taek (Song, Kang Ho) has no job after several failed business ventures; the mother, Chung-Sook (Chang Hyae Jin) is a former national medallist in the hammer throw who keeps house as best she can amongst the stink beetles and cardboard pizza boxes the family assemble to at least have some money coming in.

Getting cut-off from the wi-fi because the neighbour has changed their password, son, Ki-Woo (Choi Woo Shik) and daughter, Ki-Jung (Park So Dam) wave their phones around, trying to find a connection, waving past a fan cover with socks hanging, eventually finding connection up on the raised toilet.

It’s desperate times, but the family struggles together.

Until Ki-Woo gets an opportunity to tutor a rich kid.

Posing as a college graduate, Ki-Woo burrows into the life of the Park family, also a family of four, with Mr. Park (Lee Sun Kyun) CEO of a global IT firm and young wife Yeon-Kyo (Cho Yeo Jeong) who stays at home with their two young children.

Ki-Woo plans and manipulates this rich family to keep his family together – to get them jobs as well, despite the fact all the positions are already filled.  And it’s easy.  The family are so nice.  But they can be nice.  They’re rich.

There’s so much more to this film than the concept of the haves and have-nots.  Yet, this is the central idea shown with symbolism like flood water running down steps – from the beauty and green grass and clean lines of a house built by an architect to catch the sun, running down to the squalor of the streets below, flooded with raw sewage.

There’s a line – Mr. Park even stating, ‘I can’t stand people who cross the line’ – and as the film progresses the more stark the difference between those above and those below.

I can see why this film is winning awards.  There’s so much thought and layering in the story, carefully unveiled.

From light humour capturing how families are, to the horror of a class divide that keeps getting deeper shown with the revelation of ignorance and the fight to protect family; the individual fights against circumstance until the eventual learned behaviour: with no plan, nothing can go wrong.

The portrayal of what feels like a true-to-life tragedy is made to feel authentic because of the lightness and brevity of the family on the edge of starvation; the desperation turning relatable, intelligent people into something else.

Like the film is saying: it’s not like people who are desperate don’t know they’re desperate.

So there’s more than the class divide growing wider and the actions the desperate make trying to survive, there’s self-reflection.

Annabelle Comes Home

Rated: MAnnabelle Comes Home

Directed by: Gary Dauberman

Written by: Gary Dauberman and James Wan

Produced by: Peter Safran, James Wan

Starring: McKenna Grace, Madison Iseman, Katie Sarife, Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga.

‘Not all ghosts are bad, right?’

In this third instalment of the Annabelle series, we find Lorraine (Vera Farmiga) and Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) taking the doll, Annabelle off the hands of some very frightened nurses – circa the end of The Conjuring (2013).

The relationship between Ed and Lorraine is as always, close and personal and sweet – unlike their life’s work of containing the demons infesting the lives of those still of this world.

It’s a familiar feeling, seeing the Warrens return, and the doll, Annabelle.

James Wan (director and co-writer of, The Conjuring 2 (2016) and also co-writer of the original, The Conjuring) co-wrote this instalment, along with Gary Dauberman.  But the direction is all Dauberman – his debut after successfully writing the two previous Annabelle films.

And the atmosphere is tense.

There’s something about Lorrain’s eyes that’s used so well here – the expressive concern compared to the doll’s wooden cracked stare.  This is just one of the many techniques used to ramp-up the tension.

The demonologists leave their young daughter Judy (McKenna Grace) in the hands of the ever-reliable baby-sitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman) while they venture out to another job.

Most of the film is set in that 70s style house of laminate kitchen, low hanging lights and orange and brown decor.  Back to the house holding the room with three locks and a sign asking, Do Not Touch Anything; filled with all the objects touched with evil, to have a priest pray over every week to keep the demons where they’re supposed to be: contained.

This is the focus of the film, the Occult Museum and the misguided friend, Daniela (Katie Sarife) who releases all within in it.

The film isn’t about Lorraine and Ed, this is about the three young girls fighting for their souls and sanity while the demon that controls the doll Annabelle acts as a beacon that calls all the other spirits.

The suspense is built on the creepy atmosphere of the house, bit by bit – the sounds of static and touches of orchestral sounds keeping up the edge.  And the turn of light through blue, green, yellow and red cellophane revealing hidden spirits turn the house into something like a freak show – all set to a sometimes still silence while you wait and wait for that next scare.

There’s some lightness to break the tension, ‘Don’t touch her, you’ll get obsessed,’ says one kid at Judy’s school.

And there’s a kind of sweetness to the relationship between the girls and the want-to-be-brave boyfriend that manages not to be cheesy, making Annabelle Comes Home not horrific but still scary because of the suspense.

Some of the objects in that room really get the heart pumping – who would have thought a reflection seen in an old tube TV could be so creepy.

So there’s plenty of tension but the violence doesn’t evolve.  It’s more the threat that kept me on edge.

In the end, the film felt more like a homage to the Warren family, with the recent passing of Lorraine Warren: 1927 – 2019.

I wonder if she’s still floating about, haunting anything – like ringing her spirit bells, just for fun.

Child’s Play

Rated: MA15+Child's Play

Directed by: Lars Klevberg

Screenplay by: Tyler Burton Smith

Produced by: Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg

Executive Producer: Chris Ferguson

Starring: Gabriel Bateman, Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry and Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky.

‘Are we having fun yet?’

‘I guess.’

‘Yay!’

Child’s Play (1988) is a classic horror movie I remember watching when I was about twelve-years old.

I remember it was about a doll and it was scary; and I remember cringing and trying to get to sleep after seeing feet hanging out the end of a bed getting sliced by a knife.

So, I knew I was waking into a movie about a killer doll. But was somehow surprised by the horror, meaty horror at that, where the writing and the performance of single mom Karen (Aubrey Plaza) and son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) suspended reality enough to get a decent scare going when this life-like Buddi doll, doesn’t get possessed or start off being evil, but becomes a serial killer by mimicking what people do; by doing what he thinks his best buddy Andy wants him to do.

Afterall, he is a Buddi doll.

Chucky would do anything for his best mate.  Including ripping the skin off faces, hanging people, stabbing and setting up angle grinders to saw pesky people in half.

Child’s Play re-imagined manages to give a classic horror, but somewhat hard to swallow concept, a believable hook.

Here, we have ‘Chucky 2.0’ based on the technology of today – where electronics are interconnected, wireless and activated by voice command.

So all we have to believe is that Chucky is an animated doll capable of responding to commands like Siri or Alexa.

Sure there were contrived moments like a person with broken legs, bones broken through skin, still able to crawl rather than writhing in agony; and rope around a neck suddenly loosened when a body falls to the ground.  But it still kind of hung together.

And that had a lot to do with the tone of the film, director Lars Klevberg balancing the gore and horror with some dark humour that really hit the mark, like the question of why is there fruit involved?!

Just think watermelons being a similar shape to a decapitated head.

Yep, Child’s Play is gory and funny with Mark Hamill voicing the evil doll that is Chucky, surprisingly effective on so many levels – childhood, Star Wars, evil doll.  Why not?  If the voice fits.

There’s enough essence of Chucky-the-original to keep fans happy, while the fresh take lifts the original concept somewhere the audience can laugh with and not at – a close call for me at the beginning of the film, saved by the wry performance of Aubrey Plaza and the likable Brian Tyree Henry as Detective Mike who lives down the hall.

The Secret Life Of Pets 2

Rated: PGThe Secret Life Of Pets 2

Directed by: Chris Renaud

Co-Directed by: Jonathan Del Val

Written by: Brian Lynch

Produced by: Chris Meledadri, p.g.a., Janet Healy, p.g.a

Voices by: Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Patton Oswalt, Eric Stonestreet, Jenny Slate, Lake Bell with Harrison Ford.

‘If you pee on it, you own it’:  The wisdom of Terrier Max.

We all love our pets and their shenanigans.  My cat Cloud, AKA Cheeky brat, AKA Ching-Chong-Chunk is a constant source of entertainment and companionship.

The Secret Life Of Pets (2016)) managed to tap into that delight of humans and what we imagine our pets get up to when we’re not around.

Here, in The Secret Life Of Pets 2, we get Terrier Max (Patton Oswalt) returning with the loveable house-mate and mutt, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), along with pomeranian Gidget (Jenny Slate) taking a steam in the dishwasher and Chloe (Lake Bell) teaching Gidget the way of the cat.

The characteristics of animals we know and love are captured in detail making me smile in recognition, cat-meowing-in-sleeping-human-face included.

So starting out, all I could think was, Adorable.

In this next instalment, Max is coping with the introduction of another member of the family, baby Liam.

With Max stress-scratching we see the running theme of fear and rising to the challenge of life and facing fear, all cumulating when the family visit a farm.

Here we meet a wise farm dog and crazy stalker turkey.

All the birds are crazy-eyed and brainless, managing to always get me giggling.

Then there’s this side-story with an evil circus and lion and rescue mission from wolves I didn’t really get.

The humour was more slapstick as well, moving away from the cheeky pet behaviour that makes The Secret Life Of Pets so good.

Sure, this side-mission added adventure and was perhaps aimed at the youngsters in the audience; but I didn’t really sense a positive response from the kids either.

The super-hero bunny Snowball (Kevin Hart) with Daisy-the-brave (Tiffany Haddish) felt like another story from another movie.  And it didn’t really gel because the attachment to Max and Co. was already made.

I just wanted to keep watching Max at the farm and Gidget and the cat Chloe back at the city apartment block – that’s what I was interested in.  That’s what I found funny: the behaviour of the characters as pets, not as super-hero adventurers.

So, some of the film I adored; the rest, not so much.

Wild Rose

Rated: MWild Rose

Directed by: Tom Harper

Written by: Nicole Taylor

Produced by: Faye Ward

Starring: Jessie Buckley, Sophie Okenedo, James Harkness, Jamie Sives and Julie Walters.

Wild Rose is a Glasgow county music film opening on Rose-Lynn’s last day, ‘in the jail’: she’s wild and free and ready to pick up her dream of becoming a country (not western) singer.

Three Cords and the Truth.

That’s what Rose-Lynn (Jessie Buckley) has tattooed on her forearm.

But like the tag on her ankle and the curfew she must keep while on probation, Rose-Lynn is tied-down with the responsibility having two kids, each born before she turned eighteen.

With the kids left with granny (Marion, played by Julie Walters) while she was put away for a year, it’s like she’s forgotten she’s a mother.

How is she going to get to Nashville and become a famous country singer and look after two kids?

I find there’s a particular darkness to these UK, character-driven films, like the cold of the place brings a heaviness with all the wooly jumpers and indoor living – not that Rose-Lynn was partial to jumpers, she was more about denim skirts and white cowboy boots.

Wild Rose has that same dry heaviness broken with golden light brought by this incredible voice from the bratful Rose-Lynn.  It brought tears to my eyes when she sang, every single time.  So by the end of the film the tears were streaming because what was heavy, turned into life-affirming.  Like the heaviness of everything else made her voice sound more pure.  Which is what country music is, I guess.

Which is something writer Nicole Taylor wanted to share, “The way the emotionality in it helps people open up, certainly in places such as Glasgow. I’m from Glasgow and all my life I’ve been obsessed with Country music. I think it’s popular in places and among people who are not used to talking about their feelings. Who might not even know their own feelings. But when they hear Country – which is raw and pure and unashamedly emotional – it’s a way to process things and have a cathartic experience [….] It’s a language for the emotionally inarticulate – and that’s Rose-Lynn!”

And Jessie Buckley was great for this role.

I could relate to the young lass and her Gallus behaviour (as the Glaswegians would say, meaning full of cheek, irrepressible, doesn’t care if she’s rude, but not in an obnoxious way).  Middle class and missing her youth, Susannah (Sophie Okenedo) employing Rose-Lynn as her ‘day woman’ (cleaner) introduces this torn and talented singer as light; like she’s a breath of fresh air.

But Rose-Lynn has been unlucky learning her life lessons.  Except for that voice.

And we see the affect her need, to use her talent instead of taking responsibility, has on her mother – the performance from Julie Walters has to be noted here, with that look of sadness, realisation and pride in her eyes.

It’s about this journey with the music used to show Rose-Lynn’s talent, what she was born to be, versus the responsibility of her choices, her kids and eventually her life.

So it’s more about Rose-Lynn learning what she really wants out of life and how her choices have landed her where she never saw coming while dreaming about where she thought she should be.

More family drama than expected but a solid story with some beautiful moments.