The Suicide Squad (5 Stars)

This is what I call a BBBM. It's a Big Budget B-Movie. It has a trashy feeling to it which increases as the film progresses. It was a lot less successful than the first film, for reasons I don't understand. It's definitely a better film. I even voted it the best film of 2021.

Once more, the premise is that a team of super-villains is put together to do a job that none of the super-heroes want to do. If they die on the job, who cares? They're villains anyway. If they succeed, their prison sentences are reduced by 10 years each, which admittedly isn't much for someone who's been found guilty of killing 23 people. I'd demand a full pardon as a reward for doing a job that I might not survive.

As in the first film, the team is assembled by the government agent Amanda Waller. In the first film her ruthlessness made us suspect that she's not much of a good guy, but in the second film we see that she's downright evil. The villains are the real heroes. Even Harley Quinn. She might be deranged, but she has lines that she won't cross.

If I had to name one fault in the film, I'd say that Harley Quinn doesn't have enough screen time. It's a team film, so the action is shared by the six team members. I would rather have seen Harley Quinn doing all the fighting, but that's just me. After three films, she still hasn't had the solo film the character deserves. Maybe the next one.

But when she bursts into action she's magnificent.

That's not to say I don't like the other characters. I particularly like King Shark.

Idris Elba is outstanding as Bloodsport. In fact, he's outstanding in every role he plays. He's one of my favourite actors.

They have to fight a giant starfish. As silly as that may sound, it leads to some incredible fighting scenes. Can you see Harley Quinn on the ground in front of the starfish?

Success Rate:  - 1.2

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The Suicide Squad (5 Stars)

I'll keep spoilers to a minimum, because this film is still in the cinemas. It's a film that you really have to see, even if you didn't like the first Suicide Squad film, which was called "Suicide Squad", without a definite article. That's confusing. There may be a subtle joke intended, but I don't get it.

A good friend, whose opinions on films I usually agree with, warned me in advance that this sequel is much better than the first film. That's the only sort of spoiler I appreciate with a new film. After watching the first 10 minutes I disagreed. A group of eight villains, of whom I only knew Harley Quinn and Captain Boomerang, were hurriedly united as a team. No character development. I groaned. Then they went into action, and within another five minutes they were all killed. Except for Harley Quinn. I was relieved. This was just the introduction to set up the film. The six new characters didn't need any character development, because they weren't going to be around long enough. Within the context of the film they were only intended as cannon fodder. None of them were expected to survive. Their only purpose was to distract the enemy from the arrival of a second team, the Suicide Squad. With a definite article. In a flashback sequence we get to know them all.

• Idris Elba is Bloodsport, a weapons expert.
• John Cena is Peacemaker, another weapons expert.
• Sylvester Stallone is King Shark.
• David Dastmalchian is Polka-Dot Man.
• Daniela Melchior is Ratcatcher 2.

I've been assured that they're all well known DC villains. I rarely read DC comics, so they're new to me. I'll leave it up to other reviewers to tell me whether they're accurate portrayals of the comic book characters.

The film has a glorious grindhouse aura about it. The gore is exaggerated, and it can't be taken seriously. I couldn't help laughing out loud at some of the deaths. I feel ashamed of myself, I should be able to control myself better.

The action scenes are ridiculously over-the-top. Robert Rodriguez would be proud to make a film like this.

Harley Quinn is prominent, but not to the extent she stood out in the first film. She's still magnificently crazy. My only regret is that for most of the film she doesn't wear her usual Harley Quinn costume.

The reason for the improvement over the first film can be summed up in two words: James Gunn. He's a far superior director to David Ayer, who made the first film. James Gunn already contributed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as director of the two Guardians of the Galaxy films. They're both very good films, and he's getting better at making super-hero films as he goes along. I can hardly wait for "Guardians of the Galaxy 3".

Christopher Robin (4 Stars)

After "Goodbye Christopher Robin" this is the second film in quick succession that shows the life of Christopher Robin Milne. Whereas the first film showed him as he really was, this is a fictionalised version of his life that strongly diverges from the facts. More of that below.

The cinema today was full mostly of young children with their parents. When I sat down with my friends, all of them adults, I overheard a young boy in the row behind me, probably about five years old, ask his mother, "What are they doing here?" Her reply was, "They want to see Winnie the Pooh as well". "Christopher Robin" features children's characters, and the posters make it look like a children's film, but it's actually a film that has a message only adults can understand:

"However old you are, always remain a child".

That's an easy message to understand, and many adults might smile and accept it in theory, but it's a very difficult philosophy to put into practice. Society expects adults to act like adults. Anyone who doesn't is considered either foolish or insane. Children have great imagination. Children can dream. I sometimes watch my grandson playing with a simple toy, and I can see from the concentration on his face that he's totally involved in what he's doing. Any adult who can't do this has lost something.

The film begins with Christopher Robin saying farewell to Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and his other friends. They're his stuffed animals, brought to life by his imagination. He has to leave to go to boarding school. He promises Winnie that he will never forget him, even when he's a hundred years old. That's an easy promise for a child to make, but it's a tough promise for an adult to keep. 25 years later he's an executive for a suitcase manufacturing company in London. He doesn't even have time to spend with his wife and daughter, so how can he find time to sit and remember his childhood friends?

Christopher Robin might have forgotten his fantasy friends, but they haven't forgotten him. Winnie the Pooh comes to visit him in London, and Christopher Robin returns to his childhood home in Hundred Acre Wood.

I have a personal attachment to the life of Christopher Robin and can relate to him more than most of my readers. He grew up in a remote house in the woods, where he had no friends of his own age, and he spent his time with his father and his stuffed animals. I grew up in a house on the grounds of Little Aston Hall, and there were no other children around me. I spent my early years walking alone through the fields and meadows, alone with my dreams and my fantasies. In retrospect, I'm surprised that my mother wasn't worried about me when I was gone for hours. When I was eight years old my parents moved to a large town (Walsall), and I changed. I was no longer the same person.

After watching "Goodbye Christopher Robin" two months ago I read up on the life of A. A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin, so I was jolted in the early scenes when the character's biography was changed. To name the things that I noticed:

Robin wasn't his surname, it was his middle name. His correct name was Christopher Milne.

The names of Christopher's wife and daughter are changed, from Lesley to Evelyn and Clare to Madeline respectively. Maybe that's because Lesley Milne is still alive and doesn't want her real name to be used. I wonder what she feels about Hayley Atwell's portrayal of her.

Christopher's father didn't die when he was a child. A. A. Milne died in 1956. The early death in the film puzzled me more than any other change to his life story.

Christopher is shown meeting his wife before the Second World War and leaving for war while she was pregnant, so he didn't see his daughter until she was six. In reality, he got married in 1948 and his daughter wasn't born until 1956.

These are Christopher Milne's stuffed animals, on display in the New York Public Library.

"Christopher Robin" is a very good film, especially if you're old enough to appreciate it. The acting by Ewan McGregor and Hayley Atwell is impeccable. I didn't get a chance to talk to the boy sitting behind me. If I'd spoken to him I would have said, "Remember this film and watch it again when you're 50".

Max (4½ Stars)

This is the 15th film starring Leelee Sobieski, made in 2002 when she was 18. Yes, I know I'm jumping backwards and forwards, not watching her films in order. It's the only way I'll get through them all this year. She only plays a relatively small role in this film, but it's my intention to work my way through her entire filmography.

The Max named in the film's title is Max Rothman, a wealthy Jew who lives in Munich. In 1914 he volunteered to fight in the German army, where he served until 1917. In the Battle of Ypres he lost his right arm and was discharged. Before the war he was a talented artist, but he's now unable to paint with his left arm, so he makes a living buying and selling art. Unlike the people around him he lives a life of luxury. He has a beautiful wife, but he also has a mistress, Liselore von Peltz, played by Leelee Sobieski.

In 1918 Max meets a struggling young artist called Adolf Hitler who has just returned from the war. Max recognises Hitler's talent and sells some of his paintings for low prices, telling him he can make more money if he puts more emotion into his art. At the same time Hitler is engaging in politics, making speeches in beer halls. Max is fascinated by Hitler, because they hold many views in common, such as hating the Treaty of Versailles. However, Max tells Hitler that he should concentrate on his career as an artist, because there is no future in politics.

What would have happened if Hitler had taken Max's advice? Did he have enough talent to become a great artist who would have been revered today? I don't know. People usually criticise him and say he was talentless, but I suspect they're biased against him because of the other things he did in his life.

There's also the question as to how Hitler would have continued in his personal development if he had maintained his relationship with Max. The film shows him initially being uncertain about anti-Semitism. He's pushed into it by fellow soldiers who see the Jews as being responsible for Communism. Max, of course, is far from being a Communist. If a deeper friendship had developed Hitler might have accepted that it's possible to be both Jewish and German.

As I mentioned in my review of "Never Been Kissed", Leelee Sobieski retired from acting because she said that 90% of films involve sexual stuff with other people. Of her nine films I've watched this year none of them have any sexual stuff, and this is the first film in which she kisses a man. I'm keeping count.

Paddington (3 Stars)

This is a live action film based on the stories of Paddington Bear, who first appeared in a children's novel by Michael Bond in 1958. There have been three television series featuring Paddington, in 1975, 1989 and 2008, but this is his first appearance on the big screen. It's fortunate that we've waited so long, because the state of computer animation is finally good enough for a miniature bear to look realistic.

The film begins with Montgomery Clyde, an English explorer, visiting the "darkest jungles of Peru". He discovers intelligent bears, that he teaches how to speak English. He also teaches them English culture, including the love of marmalade.

50 years later a young bear decides to travel to England to see the wonderful country that his aunt and uncle have talked about. He arrives at Paddington Train Station and meets the Brown family. The Browns can't pronounce his name, so they call him Paddington. Things aren't as perfect in England as expected. Paddington is hunted by Millicent, an evil taxidermist who wants to stuff him. That's such a strange concept for an arch-enemy that I'd be tempted to ridicule it, except that Millicent is played by Nicole Kidman, who looks bizarrely sexy in her blond wig.

I was rather surprised to see Peter Capaldi. I hadn't heard he was in the film, and I almost jumped out of my chair when he first appeared on screen in a phone box. That was a nice touch.

As a children's film, I couldn't really relate to it. But take your kids to the cinema with you, I'm sure they'll enjoy it.

Day of the Doctor (5 Stars)

Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame.

Day of the Doctor (5 Stars)

Spoilers!

In The Loop (4½ Stars)

I don't believe this film was very successful when it was released in 2009. I'd never heard of it until I recently stumbled on it by accident. As a political satire its comedy rests in the fact that it's very close to the truth. Too close.

America is considering a military attack in the Middle East. Britain has no official policy. The Prime Minister doesn't want to propose a war because that would make him look like a warmonger, but he doesn't want to oppose a war because that would anger the Americans. Then one day the British Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, blunders by calling a Middle East war unforeseeable in a radio interview, jeapordising Britain's neutrality. He tries to clear up the confusion, but blunders again by making statements that sound like the British government supports the war.

So off he goes to America to take part in meetings to defuse the situation. But everything he says makes things worse. Everyone around him has their own agenda, whether they support or oppose the war. The only thing that unites everyone is a total disregard for the truth. First the politicians speak, then the spin doctors rewrite the speeches to their own ends.

Incredible! This film is a hidden gem. Watch it if you can.

The Lair Of the White Worm (2½ Stars)

I bought this film after seeing a short clip on television. It seemed like a fascinating horror film, and since it's based on a Bram Stoker novel I expected quality. It didn't live up to my expectations. The problem is Hugh Grant. I've never understood his success as an actor. He's incapable of playing a role, any role, he can only play himself. Maybe it's his Britishness that endears him with American audiences? I don't know.

The story itself is good. In a remote Scottish village an ancient creature, a carnivorous giant worm, returns periodically to devour members of the local population. The film has erotic moments, and is in serious need of a remake. Without Hugh Grant.