list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
DOCUMENTARY 20 FEET FROM STARDOM (12A) 91min ●●●●● FAMILY MUPPETS MOST WANTED (U) 112min ●●●●●
DOCUMENTARY THE UNKNOWN KNOWN (12A) 103min ●●●●●
Winner of best documentary at the 2014 Oscars, Morgan Neville’s soul-stirring celebration of backing vocalists is a bona fide crowd-pleaser with substance to match. Neville captures the goosebump-inducing joy of a group of voices in harmony, and by putting faces to the voices behind some of the 20th century’s most memorable rock hits, he uncovers some great characters and stories. 20 Feet from Stardom’s winning appeal comes
largely from Neville’s ‘show don’t tell’ approach. The film presents the stories of a handful of the most prominent backing vocalists in mainstream music, but rather than just speaking to these singers, Neville structures the film around several newly recorded reunion sessions. Along with well-chosen archive footage of classic performances, it makes for a powerful and hugely enjoyable experience.
Neville also packs the film with contributions from big-name artists: Bruce Springsteen identifies the way that rock and roll secularised the church’s call and response tradition; and Sting offers an appreciation of the spiritual necessity of backing singers. This is a film that exults in the power of song and wonderfully celebrates individuals who live to sing. (Paul Gallagher) ■ General release from Fri 28 Mar.
The opening song in Muppets Most Wanted openly acknowledges that most sequels exist in the shadow of their original. These are words that soon prove prophetic in James Bobin’s follow-up to the 2011 comeback movie. Despite being on a much bigger scale and dropping in even more cameos, the feel- good factor is much more hit-and-miss this time.
Having been successfully reunited at the end of the first film, the Muppets are signed up for a world tour by shady promoter Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais), unaware that a criminal mastermind and Kermit lookalike is planning to use them to commit an elaborate jewellery heist.
Most of the fun stems from seeing just how Bobin employs the film’s many cameos, with appearances from Ray Liotta, Tom Hiddleston, Stanley Tucci and Usher among the most amusing. It’s the story itself that lets things down, and both Gervais’ villain and the evil Kermit strike a false note. They’re also afforded too much of the film’s attention, when time spent with the hilarious Fozzy, Walter and Animal would have been much more entertaining. Muppets Most Wanted is a solid effort but lacks the magical quality of its nostalgia-driven predecessor. (Rob Carnevale) ■ General release from Fri 28 Mar.
The veteran documentarian Errol Morris turns his penetrating gaze upon Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary under both Gerald Ford and George W Bush. Comparisons are inevitable with Morris’ Oscar-winner The Fog of War, for which he interviewed Vietnam-era defence secretary Robert McNamara; but Rumsfeld makes for a very different subject, and the film is ultimately less effective. Where McNamara was prepared to engage
in self-analysis regarding the costs of his policy decisions, Rumsfeld comes across as a dead end. Is he genuinely powered simply by the conviction that America ought to be in charge of stuff? Or is he getting a kick out of not letting Morris in? Either way, the film fails to achieve much beyond its titular assertion (drawn from one of Rumsfeld’s famously convoluted public utterances) that some people are hard to fathom. His refusal to accept or even discuss contentions that challenge his view of history (such as the relationship between legalisation of interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib), reveals a near- psychotic self-assurance, but doesn’t make for a nuanced or enlightening film. (Hannah McGill) ■ Limited release from Fri 21 Mar.
COMEDY CALVARY (15) 100min ●●●●●
Brendan Gleeson plays Father James, the kind of priest who gives the Catholic church a good name: wise, witty, kind, non-judgemental, impious and not without a few demons of his own. It’s his very goodness that makes him a target for assassination, a threat hissed at him by an anonymous parish member during confession: killing a bad priest would be expected, but the death of a good priest, to atone for the sins of the Church – that would make a statement. As James spends his last week ‘getting his house in
order’, we’re treated to exceptional performances from all his parishioners played by the cream of Irish film and TV talent, including Chris O'Dowd, Dylan Moran, Aidan Gillen and Gleeson's son, Domhnall. If anything lets the film down slightly, it’s the sometimes unsubtle symbolism that underlies each of James’ relationships: the Church in relation to science (in the shape of Gillen’s doctor), to finance (Moran’s monied land-owner) and to homosexuality (Owen Sharpe’s rent boy, somewhat out of place in a rural parish). Still, the aforementioned performances shine in bringing
to life McDonagh’s screenplay, which is packed with wit, pathos and subtly powerful face-offs (witness the scene between Gleesons senior and junior, the latter playing a prisoner looking for absolution). Calvary is a reasonably good analysis of Irish Catholicism’s role in the age of atheism, but it’s much more valuable for its depiction of a good man attempting to live and die by his own set of morals. (Niki Boyle) ■ General release from Fri 11 Apr.
20 Mar–17 Apr 2014 THE LIST 61