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Film Reviews by Jordan Adcock

the MENU

FILM OF THE MONTH - Star Rating: 4/5

In terms of films set in restaurants so far this year, The Menu’s a very different dish to Boiling Point. Where that film was gripping, gritty one-shot drama, The Menu is black comedy with a slice of horror. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Margot Mills who travels by boat to Hawthorne, the ultra-exclusive fine dining restaurant led by celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The only catch is that his menu proves more deadly than culinary for his patrons…

Ralph Fiennes’ dependable thespian presence is perfect for the film’s funny-dark duality. He delivers the evening from hell with mannered formality and without giving so much as a wink to the audience. The whole film wouldn’t work nearly as well if it wasn’t played completely straight, and it means we can root for Margot despite how gradually, ridiculous(ly evil) the “menu” gets. She’s very out of place amidst the entitled, deeply flawed guests (including a funny performance by John Leguizamo as a sleazy actor).

The film deliciously satirises the pretentiousness of gourmet food and of the upper classes in general without descending into crude power fantasy. It also serves up the downfall of these very deserving diners (Nicholas Hoult is great playing Margot’s “partner” Tyler, an utterly slimy piece of work) with generous helpings of schadenfreude as Slowik lays bare their dirty secrets. Is The Menu an acquired taste? You won’t know until you try it… ✪

GLASS ONION STRANGE WORLD SPIRITED

Star Rating: 2.5/5 Star Rating: 2/5 Star Rating: 2/5

Continuing the theme of eating the rich on private islands, it’s what writer-director Rian Johnson’s sequel to murder mystery Knives Out is all about. Glass Onion briefly ran in cinemas before streaming on Netflix and it features charming acting from a starry cast including Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista as they congregate at Norton’s character’s home to stage his own murder (this obviously doesn’t go to plan). They make the film very watchable throughout, even if Daniel Craig’s returning detective Benoit Blanc, with his thick Kentucky accent, is really overplayed at times. It unfortunately all leads to a pretty ridiculous reveal before a downright indulgent ending, though these certainly fit Johnson’s forte for subverting expectations in facile ways. ✪ The sad reality is that the tiresome handwringing over whether Disney “allowed” Strange World to bomb because it features an openly gay main character, is slightly more engaging than the film itself. The underworld our protagonists explore to save their home’s energy source is certainly strange, and realised with typical digital perfection, but the storytelling takes way too many shortcuts getting to the beats we all see coming. The intergenerational drama between the Searcher family, divided between wanting to explore and wanting to stay put goes firmly through the motions rather than being truly adventurous. Henry Jackman’s stirring musical score is the only good discovery here. ✪

If you somehow run out of things of watch over Christmas, I still wouldn’t recommend rushing to see this “comedy” musical streaming on Apple TV+. Think A Christmas Carol mixed with the Tim Allen comedy The Santa Clause, with Will Ferrell’s Ghost of Christmas Present trying to get an “unredeemable” media consultant (Ryan Reynolds) to change his ways. It’s so determined to be ironic that the whole film carries a predictable, smarmy flatness, and any time it tries being more dramatic it’s weaker than a used Christmas cracker. Given all that, it’s an unbearably long two hours. Not even the songs written by Pasek and Paul (La La Land, The Greatest Showman) save it; they’re more energetic than enchanting, featuring overdone choreography and Will Ferrell’s less than optimal singing voice. ✪

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

Star Rating: 1.5/5

While the sorely-felt absence of Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther certainly can’t be held against this film, the sequel Wakanda Forever is both terrible and terribly long. It’s just another one to add to the recent depressingly bad run of Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Apart from a couple of mostly well-executed scenes marking the death of King T’Challa (and Boseman himself in a meta way), the film drowns in its aquatic villain’s endless backstory, the very stupid plot and just as lame fight scenes. The MCU’s recent decay is best summed up by the film’s intended replacement for Iron Man. Rather than Tony Stark, the character whose journey started this whole filmic behemoth in 2008, it’s a college student who’s impossibly good at everything except having a compelling character. ✪