[Locke]

I watched American Hustle and The Impossible the other day. That was a great day.

American Hustle:

American Hustle's meta-genre is fast becoming my favourite. Akin to one of my favourites of last year, Spring Breakers, American Hustle is a smart movie pretending to be a dumb one. It provides more than enough surface thrills to appeal to a mass audience, but then for those with a few braincells who don't want to be simply passive observers, there is a whole other, beautifully complex, little movie just underneath.

The pity with all this is what makes American Hustle great, is largely going to go over their heads. And I fear that the backlash against American Hustle is much like what happened with Spring Breakers. People just didn't quite get it, and as a species we fear what we do not know and hate even more to be made to feel stupid.

However one of the most entertaining meta aspects of American Hustle is that as grandiose as its plot is, dealing with corruption, paranoia and hysteria, the most fascinating things are done by the costume designer. Both Adams and Cooper wear plunging necklines, and curl their hair with curlers, but the only joke here is that is just how it was in the 70s. Bale's combover is nothing short of incredible, and seeing him sculpt that with his gut hanging out on display is simply immense, especially as the only thing sagging more than his gut are his shoulders in his anti-fashion wardrobe.

Bradley Cooper is an actor I really don't appreciate a whole lot but Agent DiMaso is just great and under all the little quirky details of his characterisation, it allowed me to largely forget it was Cooper at all. I guess it certainly helps that he is the kind of character the audience laughs at, not with, as he is just a complete and utter nutter who gets completely in over his head. And it's just so satisfying to see him have the rug pulled from under his feet by the end.

And when your movie can even make Cooper enjoyable, giving an actor of Bale's calibre something to chew on forms something truly beautiful to see. His character, Irving Rosenfeld, is sorta like what I'd expect a Marlon Brando biopic to feel like, if Marlon Brando was played by Robert De Niro. If nothing else, you gotta love watching Bale shape his body specifically to his role, like he is a Ditto or something. He is just an utterly incredible actor, and even despite the plunging necklines, he is who you'll have all your focus on.

Oh yeah, De Niro is even in this, as an uncredited but utterly wonderful cameo role. As charming as Lawrence is, I'd rather talk about De Niro's one scene than Lawrence playing herself with an accent almost as dodgy as whatever Amy Adam's is supposed to be doing when her character, Sydney, pretends to be an English woman connected to London Banks.

Yeah Amy Adams is a complex one for me, when I think of a glamorous actress to flash her legs and grab the tape to avoid wardrobe malfunctions, she wouldn't be the first actress I'd have thought of. And then her accent is so bad, it only further suggests she was woefully miscast, which is a shame as her character at least is very interesting.

Then there is Renner, playing the eternally sympathetic Mayor Carmine Polito. He's a crooked politician, that thinks evil is a necessary thing, but his heart is so huge and he's such a naive moron, that you can't help but fall in love with him, much in the way Rosenfeld seems to.

These performances are, ultimately, what sets it apart from the unavoidable must mention 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. Scorsese's direction is flawless, turning Wolfy into complex haze of raw energy, passion and charisma. Russell attempts to do the exact same thing with his movie but let's be honest, Russell never stood a chance. On a technical level this just feels like the poor man's version of Casino. But, because it has such fantastic performances across the board - and when the acting isn't quite as strong, the characterisation picks up the slack - it just becomes that much more enjoyable a movie.

The Impossible:

The Impossible is the kind of film that succeeds on almost every level, and as it succeeds in such a complete fashion, it's the kind of film that worms its way into your soul, not just as a film, but as a cinematic event. I will tell you now, this is one of the closest things I've ever seen to a perfect movie.

On a technical level, the film is wonderfully staged. The disaster sequence has to be one of the most incredibly realised disaster sequences I have ever seen. It is spectacular in scale, but in both the epic and the tiny. The camera sweeps up to show the huge destructive wave, and the carnage it leaves in its wake, but the camera also takes a dive as well as we see the debris in the water and how that becomes a deadly weapon in itself, perhaps even more deadly than the wave.

Harrowing shots of toe curling injuries, and bodies by the truckload, are juxtaposed against the, now ruined, but once idyllic Thailand scenery. The dead, once tourists so full of joy and love, now lay still by the sides of the road or wrapped in bags. We watch as some scream, and run and try to survive while others are frozen in place unable to move. Those left behind desperately clinging to life itself, often literally, screaming over those they have lost but also over those they still have.

Most impressive though, is the way the film carefully edits itself, so it never feels exploitive. Bayona knows when imagery should be used, and at what point he should allow his audience to look away. It's nice to know that at least one director knows you can explore the horrors of something, without rubbing our faces in it.

It's a film that matches heartbreak, with heart warming, almost beat for beat, meaning for the two hour long running time, you're basically crying the entire time. I don't think I've ever cried this much at a film before, across the journey I went into some of the highest highs, and the lowest lows I've ever experienced in a film. It is the kind of experience, that by the end, you feel reborn.

Some have complained that it is a little too Hollywood by the end, involving a very contrived "just by chance" sequence that leaves a pretty dumb message lingering in the air but it's realised with such emotional poignancy that you can't help but love it in all of its clichéd glory. My God, you fucking need that happy ending.

The main theme of The Impossible though, is humanity. The extent and importance of human kindness, but also the sheer power of the human spirit and willpower. What I hated about Aftershock, that vile putrid stain, was that it painted humans as disgusting animals and revelled in pure sadism in a mean spirited rampage that set out to degrade all of humanity. The Impossible is the complete opposite, it has a huge heart, and paints everyone as heroes. They are all complete strangers, but they all share this grief, and in this grief they share they all become a family and families help each other no matter what. It's so incredibly rewarding, it's so incredibly beautiful and uplifting. I loved it.

If there was to be any issues with the film at all, I'd probably draw up question around the characterisation of the family. They changed the real Spanish family this film adapts, and turns them into a bunch of rich British people, why? Shouldn't you make an every man family that everyone in the audience can relate to? And worst of all, all this characterisation they create that ends up alienating the audience, is soon swept away by a much more important plot point...

And yes - let's address it. Almost 300, 000 people died, it effected four countries, but rather than seeing the suffering of the natives we only watch the suffering of a beautiful, white family. I understand how incredibly problematic this is, from both a storytelling perspective and also a wider cultural perspective. But at the same time...I don't care. I don't mean I don't care in the wider perspective, but having faces for the disaster, choosing to focus on a single family, it's what makes this so powerful and so raw. Would it have been even better if we actually had a family that really represented the countries affected? Of course. But just this once I think it worked well enough that perhaps we shouldn't get our pitchforks out.

Thankfully the actual acting is impeccable as well. Child actors normally suck but as you hear Tom Holland's Lucas scream for his Mum before his voice cracks and drops to whimper, you realise you're in a whole different ballpark. Lucas' character arc, his coming of age tale, is truly wonderful.

His mother, Maria, played by the forever wonderful Naomi Watts was admittedly a sucker punch for me. It was difficult to gauge the quality of her performance from my own emotional baggage coming into the film. But even with all the makeup, you're going to believe in her injuries, if nothing else.

Meanwhile Ewan McGregor is easily putting in the performance of his career here as a father whose life is slipping between his fingers, in such violent fashion and he's battling with all his might to simply try and hold everything together. His sorrow is so tangible you can practically hear your heart snap, but the elation when he finds his family again is so equally tangible that you can hear your heart coming back together again. And it feels great.