I've got just a few quick thoughts on the films I've seen in the past couple of weeks.
Calvary - As John McDonagh's follow-up to the exceedingly funny 'The Guard', I was slightly disappointed by Calvary. Although Calvary is arguably a more ambitious film than it's precursor, The Guard was able to deftly combine drama and comedy in a way that felt tonally consistent. Calvary on the other hand sometimes feels jarring, and the characters that populate the film often seem to have been written with the sole intention of highlighting a different view on morality. Luckily the script is mostly great and the cast (especially Brendan Gleeson) is excellent.
The Raid 2 - The best collection of action sequences ever filmed. What else is there to say.
Locke - Putting Tom Hardy alone in a car for 85 minutes without a single car chase might sound boring, but this film really struck a cord with me. I don't want to spoil anything by saying exactly how the film is able to extract drama from such a seemingly mundane situation, but the combination of Hardy's performance and the big themes (heritage, responsibility, free will) at the centre of the story made for a pretty gripping film.
Frank - If you've read any of the press surrounding this release you'll probably know that the titular 'Frank', played by Michael Fassbender, is a conflation of several musicians and artists, most notably Frank Sidebottom and Captain Beefheart. I'm not familiar with any of the performers that 'Frank' is supposedly referencing, and can't therefore say to what extent the events depicted are based on true stories. With that said, I love this film!
The characters, the music, it's visual treatment, it's sense of humour, it's melancholy tone, the questions it raises about expression, and talent, and fame, and people's sense of entitlement...I love pretty much everything about this film and can't wait to see it again.