David R. Walker

Archive for February, 2022

Uncharted

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Cast: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, Sophia Ali, Tati Gabrielle, Steven Waddington

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Running Time: 1 hour 56 minutes

Gangster Squad and Venom director Ruben Fleischer delivers a slick and glossy adventure film Uncharted set in New York City, Barcelona and the Philippines featuring the man of the moment British star Tom Holland as Nathan Drake opposite Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg (The Departed, The Fighter) as Victor Sullivan.

Based upon the Playstation action adventure video game, Uncharted tracks the adventures of the treasure hunter Nathan Drake as he searches for his long last brother whose last words are “Things are lost but not gone”. Nathan gets ensnarled into an international search for the Spanish explorer Magellan’s gold which is rumoured to be somewhere in the Philippines archipelago.

Drake teams up with trickster Victor Sullivan as they track down an infamous gold and ruby encrusted ancient cross from a swish auction house in New York City to Barcelona as the duo come across an array of equally dodgy characters including the wealthy Spaniard Santiago Moncada wonderfully played by Oscar nominee Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory) the mysterious Braddock played by Tati Gabrielle and the gruff Scotsman played by Steven Waddington (The Last of the Mohicans, The Imitation Game).

While the first half of Uncharted takes a while to get going, the onscreen chemistry between Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg is mesmerizing particularly as it is mostly the extremely buff and energetic Tom Holland fresh from his hugely successful blockbuster Spiderman: No Way Home that performs most of the outrageous stunts from dangling from light fitting in Manhattan to sky diving out of aeroplanes with sports cars over the Philippines.

The second half of Uncharted is pure entertainment much like a real action adventure story and is worth seeing. While the script of Uncharted is not superb, it’s also not meant to be as this is a film based on a video game. The main idea is to have the live action characters embodied on screen by two extremely likeable actors who should attract a large audience.

Clearly Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg had loads of fun making this film and ensuring that audiences leave the cinema with a smile on their face as the closing credits role on. And be sure to stay beyond the ending for a hint that Uncharted will be the start of a franchise.

Look out for a captivating Sophia Ali as Chloe Frazer as the love interest of Nathan Drake.

Uncharted is basically an Indiana Jones for the Instagram generation and which better actor to put in lead role than the gorgeous Tom Holland who proves he can hold his own in a big budget action film which doesn’t involve spandex or CGI.

Fabulously entertaining and packed with action and adventure, Uncharted gets a film rating of 7 out of 10. Recommended viewing.

Death on the Nile

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Letitia Wright, Russell Brand, Sophie Okonedo, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Armie Hammer, Gal Gadot, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Ali Fazal

Running time: 2 hours and 7 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

The much anticipated remake of Death on the Nile is finally in cinemas and it is worth seeing. Agatha Christie’s who dunnit set on a riverboat steamer on the Nile in Egypt is one of her most famous murder mystery novels first published in November 1937.

The original film was made in 1978 and featured a fantastic cast including Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Jane Birkin, Bette Davis and Angela Lansbury.

The 2022 remake features an equally fabulous and diverse cast including multiple Oscar nominee Annette Bening (American Beauty, The Grifters, Being Julia), Tom Bateman, Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name) and unrecognizable Russell Brand.

With lavish costumes and an equally exotic setting in Egypt, the 21^st century version of Death on the Nile is entertaining but not awe inspiring.

Fortunately writer and director Kenneth Branagh reprises his role as the infamous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot and this time he gives the character some backstory fighting in World War 1 in Belgium and the origins of that unbelievably outlandish moustache which was the talking point of his first remake Murder on the Orient Express back in 2017.

In Death on the Nile a wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway beautifully played by Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) is found murdered on her honeymoon cruise up the Nile. All the suspects are on board and danger lurks in every cabin. The action takes place between London and Egypt in 1937. The costumes and the music perfectly match the ambience of the setting.

Fussy Belgian Hercule Poirot is on board to make the necessary deductions as the bodies start piling up, soon to be entombed like Egyptian mummies similar to the Pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings.

Glossy, lavish and extremely beautiful to watch, Death on the Nile is an exciting murder mystery set on one of the world’s most exotic countries: Egypt. Director Kenneth Branagh makes full use of all the ancient symbolism of the Pyramids and the exterior shots of the Nile River are gorgeous.

Without revealing any more details beyond the odd green scarf and crimson pigment disappearing mysteriously, everybody is a suspect and they are all armed and ready to defend themselves.

Death on the Nile gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is really entertaining and it is comforting to collectively watch a murder mystery in a cinema that was full again.

Now all director Kenneth Branagh has to do is tackle Evil Under the Sun…

Being the Ricardo’s

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J. K. Simmons, Nina Arianda, Jake Lacey, Clark Gregg, Christopher Denham, Tony Hale, Alia Sawkat

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Running Time: 2 hours and 11 minutes

This film is only available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Despite the extremely limited release of Being The Ricardo’s, the casting genius of having Oscar winners Nicole Kidman (The Hours) and Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) play husband and wife pays off in this talkative Aaron Sorkin film pays off.

Kidman and Bardem are absolutely superb playing the film and TV star Lucille Ball and her Cuban husband Desi Arnaz and it is a real treat to watch both actors feed off each other’s immeasurable talent.

The tumultuous marriage of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is vividly captured in Being The Ricardo’s as they work together on the hit TV show I Love Lucy, filming all the while in the late 1950’s in Los Angeles amidst the tail end of the McCarthyism Anti-Communism trials which affected the American Film and Television industry as Republican senator Joseph McCarthy targeted the entertainment industry as being a cesspool for communist sympathizers, whipping up Anti-Communist sentiment in America which was rife in the 15 years following the end of World War 2.

Audiences just need to read Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as a cultural point of reference for his allegorical play about the Salem Witch trials of 1692 in Massachusetts. Arthur Miller himself was targeted by the Committee for Un-American Activities.

Fortunately for writer and director Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardo’s is exceptionally well researched but what really shines through is the brilliant acting of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem.

Both are experienced actors and their portrayal of Lucille Ball and the suave and charismatic Cuban entertainer Desi Arnaz is perfect. In actual fact, Javier Bardem is as good as Nicole Kidman and to add into this are the supporting cast most notably Oscar winner J. K. Simmons (Whiplash) playing drunken actor William Frawley.

There is a superb scene in Being the Ricardo’s when William Frawley takes Lucille Ball to a dive bar at 10am in Hollywood to escape the histrionics on the set of I love Lucy, which at that point in the late 1950’s was sponsored by the American Tobacco company Philip Morris to assuage her feelings of control and her constant suspicion of her Cuban husband Desi of committing adultery.

Like The Trial of the Chicago 7 spotlighted a particular event in American socio-political history, Being The Ricardo’s is a slice of American entertainment history superbly acted by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as all the suspicions surrounding infidelity and being a communist sympathiser are heightened on the night of the live filming of I Love Lucy. The rest is pure dress rehearsal.

If audiences can get to watch Being The Ricardo’s make sure to see it for the excellent performances by Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem, their combined acting talents are enthralling.

Being the Ricardo’s gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10 and is highly recommended viewing.