DVD/Blu-Ray Mini-Review - The Sisters Brothers (15)

We're the Sisters Brothers. The Sisters Brothers. Both of us.

The Gist: In 1850s Oregon Eli and Charlie Sisters (John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix) work as assassins for a mysterious businessman referred to only as The Commodore. Their reputation precedes them, not least for prospector and chemist Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), whose formula for locating gold the Commodore means to possess by whatever unpleasant means. The Brothers pursue Warm and his new companion John Morris (Jake Gyllenhall) the length of the State, but Charlie's behaviour is becoming ever more reckless, while Eli is having a crisis regarding the duo's long-term prospects in a violent profession. Just how long can they keep killing for a living?

The Juice: Adapted from Canadian Patrick DeWitt's novel of the same name, and by Frenchman Jacques Audiard who also directed, The Sisters Brothers is a skewed homage to the classic American western. The mountains and grasslands are shot with the same sunlit lushness as last year's Hostiles, and the familiar locations of prairie homestead, fire-lit campsite and saloon are in place - but there's also the strangeness of a tale told by outsiders looking in. It's there in some of the places the brothers visit once they reach the civilisation of big-city California. It's in the characters the brothers meet along the way and at the culmination of their quest, not least the oddball pairing of Gyllenhall and Ahmed. And it's most apparent in the unpredictability of a tale you find out you really haven't seen before. This story refuses to do anything you expect. That includes the portrayal of the brothers themselves. The spasmodic violence of Phoenix's younger Sister belies his damaged soul, while Reilly's big brother Eli is protective and quietly philosophical with a broad sentimental streak (he impresses here just as much as he did in Stan and Ollie). 

The Judgement: 8/10. There's much that's recognisable as a traditional frontier tale here, including sporadic outbursts of violence. However The Sisters Brothers has an ambience all its own - macabre and darkly humorous, but also melancholic and strangely touching. With a central quartet of fine performances, plus that distinctive directorial vision, it's a welcome addition to the growing pool of fine 21st century revisionist westerns.

Film Review - Spider-Man: Far From Home (12A)

You are just a scared little kid in a sweatsuit.  

(This review includes spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.) 

A grand total of eight standalone Spider-Man films - that's including last year's animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - have swung across our cinema screens this still-young century. It's a testament to multiple individuals, starting with Spidey's creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, that the web-slinger remains as fresh and entertaining as in his movie debut seventeen years ago. We love this high-school superhero's teen exuberance, never more so than right here in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The new movie begins with its youthful characters coming to terms with the world post-'blip', their word for the chaos perpetrated by arch-villain Thanos in Endgame. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is still feeling the loss of his mentor Tony Stark, and so embraces a school trip to Europe, intent on leaving spider-suit and alter-ego behind, while romantically pursuing classmate MJ. But ex-boss of SHIELD Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson of course) is pursuing him, so that the teenager might help counter new global threats. And the most imminent of these is a bevy of dimension-hopping elemental entities, being taken on single-handedly by caped newcomer 'Mysterio' (an impressively suited-and-booted Jake Gyllenhall). Peter's vacation, to quote best friend Ned, has been 'hi-jacked', and he must decide whether or not to shoulder the full weight of the super-hero burden.

Like it's predecessor Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far From Home must strike a fine balance between integrating itself into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole and telling its own tale. On the one hand it helps to know what the 'blip' stuff is all about and why the protagonist is so down in the mouth over Tony Stark (Ironman's checkered legacy looms over the whole story). On the other, the film takes off as a fast-paced and frequently hilarious high-school comedy in its own right, enhanced this time around by vividly coloured European locations. It's got a revitalised and joyous comic-book feed in contrast to the sombre stylings of Endgame, never more so than when Peter is tangling with elemental adversaries alongside his new pal Mysterio. And that's only the movie's first half, before a series of rug-pulling plot developments steer it into darker territory that make unexpectedly heavy demands on our hero.

For all its teen-based jokery and romantic complications, Far From Home has surprising dramatic depth. Fans of the Sam Raimi films have seen Tobey Maguire's Spidey go through all this 'power/responsibility' angst already, but here it's in the context of the turbulent post-Thanos world and has a consequent sense of - well - consequence. It's a challenge to which Holland rises. He's better than ever as Peter, whether zipping around Venice and Prague in hero-mode, fumbling his efforts at romance or facing up to loss and self-doubt as circumstances turn critical. Spider-Man has never been more fully human than this.

There's sterling support too from all sides. Zendaya (The Greatest Showman) comes into her own as a self-protecting emo version of MJ, while the other 'teens' and their incompetent teachers dependably raise smiles throughout. (There's a particularly funny subplot involving Jacob Batalon's lovable Ned.) Meanwhile Ironman fans will love how the relationship between Peter and Stark employee Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is developed, supplying nicely judged moments of humour and sadness. And Jake brings the Gyllenhall magic like you'd expect, as the enigmatic and magnificently attired Mysterio.

Intricately constructed by the same directorial/writing team as Homecoming, Far From Home balances comic-book thrills and weightier moments with expertise, while switching up gears towards a suitably explosive conclusion. (If it does go a bit too CGI-mayhem at the end, the character drama sufficiently compensates.) Marvel fans have been expecting epic developments in this movie and they get them, though possibly not how they expected. Hang around for a end-credits double-whammy to knock your socks clean off. This movie isn't over till it's over, and Spidey's world - to say nothing of the MCU - might never be the same again.

Gut Reaction: Grins, laugh-out-louds, cheers and gasps - all that a Spider-Man movie should provide and lots of it. 

Memorable Moment: There were any number of those during the feature, but it has to be the first of the end-credits scenes. Cheer-inducing, then jaw-dropping. Nothing short of sensational.

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. A fun-packed ride for the casual viewer, with chewy delights for the dedicated MCU fan. In a perfect world all summer blockbusters would be this good.