Weekly Recap 23 | Azumi, Lucy, Baby Driver, Jujutsu Kaisen, Doctor Who Series 8 & more

Another two in one Weekly Recap, with funny trash, dissapointing classics, awesome movies and great anime. I have a little bit of everything in this episode, so enjoy!

Let’s begin with a supposed ‘classic’: Easy Rider. A cross-country trip to sell drugs puts two hippie bikers on a collision course with small-town prejudices. I knew this film would never appeal to me, but I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt even if I did find it overwhelmingly boring. There’s even some pretty good cinematography throughout that surprised me a great deal, though the obnoxious editing and overall bland aesthetic did rather counterbalance it. But the ending honestly completely murdered any semblance of quality, because while it made me laugh out loud, it was purely done for shock value since it just doesn’t follow at all from the dreadful plotlessness that the movie had been up till then. It really did just feel like Dennis Hopper realised his film was a whole load of nothing and so killing off the main characters was the only way he could think of ending the film; in other words, pure laziness.

A film now that I never ever saw myself watching, and that’s the story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a New York heiress, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, despite having a terrible singing voice. This film is so morally corrupt it’s laughable! I get it: she’s dying, so he wants to create a dream world for her in which she can be happy; but the lengths that Hugh Grant’s character goes to to make sure the bubble isn’t broken is hardly praise worthy, and when her prior mockers start to applaud her was pretty cringe. Meryl Streep is hands down the most overrated actress ever – since she’s only ever ok at most – and while I had some hearty laughs alongside the film’s audience at her singing, it eventually just became really dry as it stretches the premise far too thinly. There’s some surprisingly good jokes, and Simon Helberg gives a fun performance, but as a whole this was just awfully boring.

Next is a film that I passed up when it was on at the cinema, because as you all know, I hate Fincher, so I’m naturally going to dislike films that feel the same. The Little Things is about a deputy (Denzel Washington) and a detective (Rami Malek) searching for a serial killer who’s terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, the investigation starts dredging up echoes of the past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than this case. I’m just not a fan of this genre, because while I do like the occasional detective drama, most of the time I just find them dreadfully boring. And while The Little Things does fall into the boring category, at the very least I did think this film was well written. I liked the twists and the performances (Jared Leto is deliciously creepy and Rami Malek looked amusingly stoned as always) but the experience as a whole was still rather dreary.

Some Japanese stuff now, with the rather obscure two films of Azumi. In war-torn Japan, a girl is raised from birth with nine other orphans to become an assassin and kill warlords. For something with such a colourful exterior, these films are brutal. A really silly type of brutality, but self-aware about this fact, with awesome fights and a lot of lavish blood splatters. The final battle of the first film is especially fantastic, with the climatic duel reaching absolutely stellar heights. I haven’t laughed this hard in a while, though I’m not sure how much of the comedy was intentional, as the writing is admittedly terrible. But I adore the impeccable costume design, music and cinematography, which combined with the gorgeous fights to create a spectacular visual style and truly enjoyable mess. Which is why it’s such a shame that the sequel doesn’t continue the ‘so bad it’s good’ness of the first. Its biggest offence is just being dreadfully boring to be honest, since it doesn’t possess the same charm that allowed the cheesiness to be fun to watch. Swords become boomerangs and people get sliced up into lots of pieces, which could have been awesome to see if it was done properly, but because it looks so bad it just comes across as embarrassing. Everything is just a massive downgrade, so paired with a convoluted screenplay and atrocious special effects, I really didn’t enjoy how this duology ended up.

Ok, this film I actually liked, and that’s The Great Escape. The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security ‘escape-proof’ camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story, The Great Escape boasts a humongous cast, and while no one stood out as particularly phenomenal, each scene of their scheming and camaraderie was fantastic to watch. I particularly liked how the Germans aren’t presented as cartoonish evil villains, but rather as normal soldiers who are just as fed up with the war as everyone else, so the prison camp felt more real (if a bit too comfortable) and the interactions between Germans and Allies made for some great comedy. This is a really well made and enjoyable film, though it’s a pity about the overly long runtime as it definitely doesn’t justify every minute, with the final act going on for far too long and rather tarnishing what had been so brilliant up till then.

For my next entry, I have chosen Lucy. A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic. I keep being told this film is atrocious, but I feel Lucy is really unfairly maligned. Yes, it’s nonsense, but it’s a massive amount of fun all the same. Neo-noir will always enchant me with its aesthetic and excitement, even if it did clash at times as the plot took a turn for the worst when Luc Besson started to be a bit silly in his implementation of the premise. But the ideas that are explored, while proven dumb, still makes for a fantastic movie, so I do think this film is still a masterful piece of action cinema. Putting fantastical nonsense aside, the highlight of this film is undoubtedly Scarlet Johansson. She is utterly phenomenal! From her beginning as terrified prey in the jaws of her hunter, to her poignant emotional moments as she feels her humanity slipping away, to her detached coolness perfect for an antihero of this genre, to the overwhelming scientific jargon she delivers at captivating speed: ScarJo simply gives a one of a kind performance in a repertoire of brilliant characters. Choi Min-sik is also perfect as always, the plot is unbelievably thrilling, and that sequence towards the end is simply breathtaking. I know that this film goes a bit too far in places and doesn’t fully capitalise on what made the first act so fantastic, but I can’t deny how much I loved experiencing it all. This is my fourth time watching this film and I still continue to adore it.

Ok, this next film is universally recognised as being great. Baby Driver follows a young getaway driver as he tries to get out, with almost his entire life synced up to his music. This is one of my favourite of Edgar Wright’s movies, though that’s not saying much since almost everything he’s made is brilliant. This is actually only my second time watching this film, but like with all of Edgar Wright’s films, I continue to adore it as his comedy is just fantastic. He has always had a mastery over editing, but here it’s refined to hilarious heights, with music perfectly timed to the exhilarating action. I will admit though that the pacing does slump a number of times during the second act, and the romances – both Elgort x James but also Hamm x Gonzalez – are a little annoying. But the first and third acts are simply stellar pieces of cinema, with brilliant characters, great dialogue, a thrilling plot, and many fun car chases.

I’m afraid to say that’s all for films this week, but I do have three series lined up for you. The first is Netflix’s Lupin. Inspired by the adventures of Arsène Lupin, gentleman thief Assane Diop sets out to avenge his father for an injustice inflicted by a wealthy family. There’s something so enticing about gentleman burglars, since you know they’re wrong for stealing but their charm prevents them from ever becoming despicable criminals. It’s an archetype that’s now been done probably too frequently, but Arsene Lupin seems to be the original, so this modernised take on the character (where Lupin is revered by the protagonist as a legendary figure) had a lot of potential. I thought the first season was a fair amount of fun; nothing incredible, just a lot of grin inducing thievery. Omar Sy gives a great lead performance as Lupin’s number one fan, embodying all of his ideals to become the same thief who’s simply impossible to hate. An intriguing mystery is gradually unravelled throughout the series, giving way to explorations of ideas of a morally dubious nature to create a season that I felt was flawed but very entertaining. Unfortunately, season 2 does lose a lot of the intelligence required to make this premise work, as the writing has become painfully lazy. The finale is pretty fantastic, but I was forced to sit through an abundance of plot contrivances that really did tarnish the quality of the series. Omar Sy seems to have amusingly put on weight, the day and night cycle is all over the place, and every character has collectively lost half their brain cells. So while the narrative is still fun to watch, the lack of coherency between scenes and decreased dedication from the lead causes the motivations and revelations to fall rather flat.

Guess who’s back: Doctor Who with ma boi Peter Capaldi! He is honestly, far and away, my favourite Doctor. His sarcasm and wit paired with gravitas and fury is just such a perfect combination, and Capaldi pulls it off with superb eloquence. Every moment with him is an absolute blast, and it’s thanks to his change of attitude that Clara is now genuinely a great companion. From being utterly insufferable, the negative traits that I complained about in Series 7 Clara are now the butt of jokes made against her, with the Doctor constantly calling Clara out for her vanity and egomania. In turn, this mellows her out to be a fantastic counterpart to Capaldi’s sociopathic Doctor, with their teamwork and confrontations testing their friendship and pushing their characters to greater heights amidst some truly emotional scenes.

Obviously, a series of Doctor Who can’t solely be carried by the performances, as what’s actually important are the episodes. And I can safely say that pretty much every single episode is as masterfully written as the majority of the RTD era. At the very least, I had a ridiculous amount of fun watching this season after being dissapointed by Matt Smith’s run, because aside from In The Forest of the Night (which continues to be my most hated episode even counting Chibnall), the fantastic concepts aren’t too ambitious this time so that a coherent story can be told, while still exhibiting an immense amount of intelligence and charm so as to be memorable and enjoyable. And while I have problems with Missy in principle, I can’t deny just how much I love Michelle Gomez in the role and the way she plays the Master, creating a finale that is genuinely one of my all time favourites.

Series 8 is definitely Doctor Who back on form, so I sincerely hope the rest of Capaldi’s run can keep such high quality with the characters and stories, as we’re sadly fast approaching the end.

And now my final entry is a glorious 5 star anime: Jujutsu Kaisen! With his days numbered, high schooler Yuji decides to hunt down and consume the remaining 19 fingers of a deadly curse so it can die with him. This is such a phenomenal anime! I was worried this would be too similar to Demon Slayer, as although I’ve only seen the film (which I hated), the premise of good guys working to kill curses/demons felt dissapointingly identical. But unlike with Mugen Train, I thoroughly enjoyed the way this premise is presented and explored in JJK, with astronomically better writing and actually likable characters that are cool beyond their mere design.

The first few episodes did stumble a fair amount though, as they didn’t feel very coherent in establishing the world and characters. But from the first episode, I was magnitised to Yuji, who has to be among the very best of shounen main characters. He naturally does fall into some very familiar and very overdone protagonist tropes though, as he’s hard headed and a little thick, but with a good heart and a childish sense of glee (plus he solely uses his fists, which is peculiarly common for these types of heroes). But I loved him regardless of his clichés, since it’s these very tropes that are constantly being challenged by the other characters, questioning his motives and behaviour so that his previously one dimensional traits become the catalyst for giving him a tremendous amount of depth. But this anime doesn’t pour all of its creativity into a single character, as the huge ensemble is comprised of a myriad of equally enticing personalities that clash, fight, squabble, chat, tease, joke around, pour their hearts out and team up with each other to achieve tremendous amounts of comedy, drama and action. It’s already shocking enough to see nearly every single side character get fleshed out to become real people beyond their awesome abilities, but it’s even more satisfying when some of these characters also undergo character arcs that rival the protagonist’s in their poignancy and impact. 

Yet while the characters are enough to make this anime an enjoyable experience – as I was completely hooked even when they started to play baseball for practically no reason whatsoever – it’s the fascinating themes and moral questions that arise from the plot that gives it the extra push required to make this truly excellent storytelling. A lot of great ideas get juggled from episode to episode – tradition Vs progress, collectivism Vs individualism, the ethics of killing, etc -which are all really well developed with many interesting perspectives being shown while never preaching a single concrete answer. However, I don’t think any of them is given the same amount of reverence as the dichotomy between selflessness and selfishness. Too many shows and films present sacrifice as an innately good thing, with ultimate selflessness the only right way of living, which can be tiring since it either places unrealistic expectations on people, or is straight up corrupt in its disregard of human nature, emotion and desire. But JJK is simply refreshing to watch in the way it tackles the same question, as the show genuinely discusses selfish ideals with dignity and respect, accepting humanity’s flaws not as a hinderence but rather an opportunity to improve, then proving how greed and egoism is not just ok, but actually necessary to fully achieve one’s desire to save people. The level of nuance and maturity that arises from the mostly playful tone is simply spectacular, and the prime reason I was able to fall so in love with the otherwise unremarkable overall plot. 

Jujutsu Kaisen is a deceptively extraordinary anime, as hiding behind the shounen veil of dumb fighting and awesome animation lies an expansive world of characters that are gorgeously brought to life and mesmerising to watch fight because of their dynamic, eccentric, unique and unforgettably human personalities full of problems, dreams, nightmares, virtues and vices, with not a single aspect holding them back from being absolutely remarkable individuals to watch grow. I wouldn’t say it’s the very best anime has to offer – for me, that title would probably have to go to the likes of Code Geass, Hunter x Hunter and maybe Attack on Titan – but it’s certainly up there as I am very happy to have binged this in two sittings.