Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Foy) and her lover crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) find themselves caught in a web of spies, cyber criminals and corrupt government officials after a mysterious figure from Lisbeth’s past resurfaces.

For a character and a story like this The Girl In The Spider’s Web needed a director with a vision to craft something utterly unique and rising horror master Fede Alvarez was the man for the job. With a resume that’s piling up withe genre hits like Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, Alvarez has now decided to change tack and has jumped into the thriller genre with a vengeance. He brings his same harsh eye for intensity that he did with his previous films to The Girl In The Spider’s Web and as a director he really leaves you on edge thanks to how he places his attention towards the unexpected.

Part of what makes Alvarez’s direction so engaging is that he focuses his attention on fully building the world that Lisbeth exists in and whether its the decadent halls of the moneyed elite or the dark and grungy basement of Lizbeth’s base of operations, as an audience member you truly feel like you’re a part of this world. The emphasis here is on the hyper real and Alvarez immerses you in this slick and stylish thriller thanks to some exotic camera work and some very shiny set dressing.

As a character Lisbeth Salander is completely fluid and can be interpreted in a multitude of different ways and now Claire Foy (The Queen) gets the chance to channel this anti-heroine in a new chapter of her story. The thing that struck me with Foy’s performance was her complete absorption into the character of Lisbeth. She’s sawny and taut and ready to pounce at any moment like some kind of wild animal. I also felt that there was a hunger about her and a curiosity that can’t be contained.

Part of what made her performance interesting was the situations that the narrative placed her in, such as when she has to confront her own maternal instincts for the first time and finds her antisocial, closed off character questioned and compromised. Foy also really gets into the action as well and her ‘win at any cost’ mentality when it comes to fighting makes for a genuinely interesting experience to see up on screen.

The supporting cast of The Girl In The Spider’s Web are also great additions to the film with Sverrir Gudnason cast as crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth’s one time lover and Sylvia Hoeks as Camilla Salander, Lisbeth’s vindictive and psychotic twin sister. I’ve also got to hand it to LaKeith Stanfield for his performance as Edwin Needham, an NSA operative who is on Lisbeth’s trail and gives her a run for her money, while Claes Bang brings a terrifying presence to Camilla Salander’s chief enforcer Jan Holtser.

If you’re looking for intensity then you’ll absolutely find it with The Girl In The Spider’s Web. From adrenaline charging car chases to heated exchanges of high ferocity gunfire this is one thriller that screams action. I have to say that my favourite part of all of it would be Lisbeth’s getaway from the police which see’s her slam her supercharged Ducati Monster onto a frozen ice lake that begins to crackle and bust up as she makes her getaway in style. It’s moments like these that take you back to Alvarez’s extraordinary vision and desire for a hyper real cinematic experience and the result is an edge of your seat watch.

If there’s a word that I’d use to describe The Girl In The Spider’s Web than gnarly would definitely be a perfect fit. This film grabs you by the throat with its intensity and its twists and turns will keep you guessing right up to the very end because Lisbeth sure knows how to take us for a ride.

Image: Sony Pictures

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That is where director Damien Chazelle takes us in First Man and it’s an ambitious and utterly magnificent piece of cinema.

The riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969 and the sacrifices and personal cost—on Armstrong and on the nation to accomplish one of the most dangerous missions in history.

First Man is nothing short of an astonishing. Narrative, direction, casting, costuming, set decoration, special effects, visuals effects and musical score all come together to create an incredibly compelling piece of cinema that pulls your attention inwards and takes you on the journey of one man’s quest to be the best, reach the moon and touch the stars in the process.

From Whiplash to La La Land Damien Chazelle has shown that he has the makings of a modern age cinema autuer filmmaker and in my mind he solidifies that standing with First Man.

Grounding his film in deep emotion and themes of obsession and wonder, Chazelle chronicles one man’s single-minded pursuit for the stars, while also capturing the incredible bravery that was needed to the accomplish the mission. As a director Chazelle has already proven that he has a strong eye for detail and that is readily apparent here in First Man as he and his team painstakingly bring to life the realities of the 1960s space program and NASA when it was still a nuts and bolts organization. Everything has an emphasis on the practical rather than the aesthetic and you get a picture of just how intense the training regime was to put these men on the moon. The film’s detail is particularly amazing to behold and you definitely feel the claustrophobic confines that these astronauts experienced.

Ryan Gosling is an actor who never disappoints and here he gives another brilliant performance. His portrayal of Neil Armstrong is strikingly true to life and you get a vision of an uncompromising perfectionist and high-performance individual who was willing to do whatever it took to get to the moon. His commitment to the Moon Mission is all encompassing and this desire to reach the lunar surface separates him from all those around them.

In his personal life Armstrong was regarded as somewhat of a recluse and had a hard time interacting or relating to others and this is expertly captured here. Even with his wife Janet (Claire Foy), you feel a certain detachment from everything as his all-consuming desire for the Apollo mission pulls him away from everything in his life.

Gosling’s performance has a lot to do with what is not said and instead relies upon a sense of delayed reaction and repressed emotion and all of this creates a portrait of an obsessed genius who speaks with his actions, rather than with his voice. Make no mistake Armstrong was a hero of the highest order and his bravery borders on the extreme, but its interesting to see this portrait of a quiet achiever who does not ask for fame or glory, but simply wants to accomplish incredible things.

Standing beside Gosling and with a performance that in my opinion completely steals the entire movie is Claire Foy as Armstrong’s wife Janet and her performance is simply remarkable. Next to Gosling, Foy’s performance is the center piece of the movie and the one which really commands your attention. As the emotional core of the film you see in her the reaction of just how monumental this feat is and more importantly the cost that is brought to bare from the pursuit of lunar surface. At times you feel that Janet is the only sensible person in the entire room as she seems to grasp the bigger ramifications of the personal costs that these astronauts families have to suffer from their pursuit of solar glory.

Foy’s performance is tinged by concern and restlessness as she sees the intensity that Neil suffers through and the tragedy that befalls so many on the quest for the moon. Like Gosling her performance is again rather physical in nature and not reliant on vast amounts of dialogue. And while the relationship they share is estranged at times you get a deep sense of the love they hold for each other and the extraordinary things they allow each other to do.

In terms of visual spectacle First Man ranks up their with some of the best cinematography you’ll see all year. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren captures the film with a focus on natural light and neutral colours and it highlights the varying settings from the warmth and comfort of the Armstrong’s home to the cold, mechanized world of a still burgeoning NASA to the beautiful vistas that exist between the atmosphere and the stratosphere. Sandgren also captures the intense claustrophobia of these early rockets and just exactly what it feels like to be strapped inside a tin can placed on top of 5,000 kilo-tonnes of fuel that at any moment could burst ablaze from the most rudimentary of faults.

When Armstrong does eventually feel the power of lift-off he is thrust forward into the sky with thunderous speed and you feel every moment of it. Chazelle truly captures the ferocity of spaceflight and you really experience the intensity that gripped these astronauts as they blasted forth into the unknown. These moments are particularly heavy to witness and I could feel just how immense the achievement of the Apollo missions were after seeing these scenes unfold up on screen. These men broke through the stratosphere and reached the moon and it is an astonishing feat to behold.

Music also plays a large part in Chazelle’s film’s and First Man is no exception. Composer Justin Hurwitz crafts a beautiful, if haunting score that captures the loneliness, isolation and dreamlike quality of the moon. This sound is both romantic and edgy all at the same time and this score really stands apart from others.

First Man is a monumental cinematic feat and just like the bold events of July 20, 1969 it exceeds in capturing the minds and hearts of audiences everywhere. Film’s like this are made to watched on the big screen and when you do see this extraordinary piece of cinema make sure you savor every second of it because it certainly is a rush.

Image: Universal Pictures

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Here’s the synopsis:

The riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969 and the sacrifices and personal cost—on Armstrong and on the nation to accomplish one of the most dangerous missions in history.

Sensational writer/director Damien Chazelle (La La Land) leads the charge on this very ambitious bio-drama which chronicles Armstrong’s single-minded pursuit to be the first man to walk on the moon, a feat he would accomplish on July 21, 1969. But before he could take those first steps would come years of grueling training and testing to enable both the space craft and the men who piloted it to reach the lunar surface and return home alive.

Gosling absolutely commits as Armstrong and channels both his unflinching professionalism and resolute courage, along with his disdain for public life and the press and the pressures that grow on him because of it. Even though he was without-a-doubt one of humanity’s greatest ever heroes Armstrong himself had a deep dislike of the celebrity that was thrust upon him by his mission and this film appears to address the psychological pressures that this placed on him.

Co-starring alongside Gosling are an all-star cast including Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Jon Bernthal and Pablo Schreiber, and Chazelle’s attention to detail in both the narrative and the era of the 1960s is absolutely spot on and will really ground an audience in the drama that will take place up on screen.

Get ready to reach for the stars when First Man touches down in cinemas on October 11.

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Based on the true life of Robin Cavendish (Garfield), a man who is struck down by polio in the prime of his life and is given only months to live. But thanks to the devotion, care and ingenuity of his beloved wife Diana (Foy), Robin survives via the help of a mobile ventilator and goes on to live a marvellous life, while becoming a hope for the disabled.

I must warn you that Breathe is a film that requires tissues, and plenty of them because the tears certainly do flow. While true-life stories are normally films that evoke very strong feelings from their audiences, Breathe does this even more so in a cruel twist of fate that is suffered by Garfield’s fun-loving adventurer Robin. But while everyone gives up on him, including himself, it’s the will and belief of his wife Diana, played here in tremendous form by Claire Foy, that will not let him fall into a life of despair.

While at one point in his career Garfield was being pushed towards the Hollywood limelight, he has steadfastly held to his position as a capable actor, rather than that of another Hollywood pretty boy. As a performer, he has always held a great maturity and commanding performance, and this is readily seen here in Breathe. The circumstances visited upon Robin Cavendish require an actor who can completely disappear into a role, and this can certainly be seen in Garfield, who relies upon nothing more than his limited facial expressions to bring to life this phenomenal man’s life.

But while Garfield might be the centre of the film, in my opinion, it’s Foy who is really the scene stealer. Her emotions and physical movements are not bound like Garfield and she makes the most of all of her vast range of motion and the feelings that result from tragedy. But while she does disappear for a moment, Foy’s Diana is ultimately a take charge kind of a lass, and will not stand meekly by and leave her husband to be combined to a hospital bed for the rest of his life. Foy’s performance is one of endearing love and her eyes never wander from her beloved Robin. Via each other, the couple manages to live an extraordinary life together and become a symbol of hope for Britain’s disabled population.

But while Breathe is ultimately the story of love, hope and survival, it’s subject matter does carry some rather terrifying moments. These come in the medical accidents and crises that Robin is frequently plagued by in his life, and acclaimed actor turned director Andy Serkis does not shy away from the hardships that the Cavendish’s battled. As an audience member, I was in no-doubt that Serkis was in complete charge of his film, and was helped in part by the presence of Jonathan Cavendish, the son of Robin and Diana, who was onboard as a producer and who was instrumental in bringing this story to the big screen. Both Serkis and Cavendish have long been working partners, and their respective talents behind-the-camera make for a very moving story.

If you’re looking to experience the power of love and devotion then you’ll find it with Breathe….and remember to bring tissues, because you’re bound to shed a tear or two.

Image: Transmission Films

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