I've always loved the music of Amy Winehouse, from the moment I first discovered her debut album Frank back in 2003. Her songs were raw, honest, and straddled genres including jazz, soul and R&B. Her cover of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow is spinechilling.
Marisa Abela nails the vocals in Back To Black, and I found her performance utterly convincing. I don't really understand the lukewarm reviews, to be honest. Amy's story was told with honesty, and I found myself shedding a tear on a couple of occasions. The film really captivated me from the start. Eddie Marsan is always good value, and is reassuringly excellent as Mitch Winehouse. You can't help but wonder how much more incredible music Amy would have made, had things worked out differently. You find yourself rooting for her to make different decisions, even though you know how the story ends.
Although he was clearly not a great influence on her life, Blake's role is slightly reimagined too, and he's not quite the pantomime villain depicted in the tabloids. In fact, the paparazzi photographers who relentlessly and aggressively pursue Amy through the streets of Camden Town are the real bad guys, it seems to me.
Meanwhile, a close second for my favourite film this week is If, the new caper starring Ryan Reynolds and examining the phenomenon of imaginary friends. Like a lot of kids' films, it deals with some big issues, in this case bereavement and grief, but in a really intelligent way. One girl can see all of the lost imaginary friends, who have been forgotten and left behind by their kids as they grow up.
The trailer is slightly misleading, as I was expecting a goofy comedy, and it was much more multi-layered than that. My eight year old nephew told me afterwards that it gets a very precise "4.8 out of 5" from him, which is definitely a vote of confidence! It's heart-warming, thought-provoking, warm, kind and funny. One for grown-ups, their children, and your own inner child.
And The Fall Guy left me a little disappointed, but still gets three stars for effort. It's loud, showy, knowingly silly, full of action, and in fairness a decent enough nonsense popcorn flick. The chemistry is a little lukewarm for my money between Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, and I think I had a micro-sleep about 30 minutes in. Admittedly, I'd had a big lunch in Holmfirth before reclining in the leather chair at Cineworld! Gosling does have a certain Kenergy though, and it reminded me a bit of his largely wordless performance in Drive, albeit with a few more flickers of emotion.
Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood, but I personally wouldn't rush to watch this on the big screen. Could have been a good 20 minutes shorter, but there are some impressive stunt set pieces. It's interesting that The Fall Guy is the one with the huge Rotten Tomatoes score, so maybe I'm wrong! If you've seen it, or have any other film recommendations, let me know.
Alex Cann's weekly film blog - 9th January
