Review: The Founder

Runtime: 1hr 55min
Director: John Lee Hancock
Release Date: 17th February 2017
Rating: 12A (UK), PG-13 (USA)

Despite high quality performances among seasoned acting veterans, The Founder is a missed opportunity in biographical cinema.

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The Founder is a movie which tells a story of the creation of the McDonald's restaurant chain and how it came to be, following Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) and his acquisition of the brand from the McDonald brothers (John Carroll Lynch & Nick Offerman).

What this movie holds to its' advantage is that the portrayals of the main characters do not water down their personalities, Ray Kroc is shown to be opportunistic and devious without apology; Dick McDonald is calculating and uptight, and Mac McDonald is conveyed as too forgiving. The screenplay for these characters played to the actor's talents; Nick Offerman was particularly entertaining in his role, but the main cast's performances could not save this semi-biographical script.

The movie has some interesting cinematography, one particular scene has the McDonald brothers explaining the creation of their restaurant, with cutaway shots going through the events being explained whilst simultaneously being described by the brothers; not to mention that they finish off each other's sentences in a slick manner. All of this adds to an alluring start, but really its' all just style over substance.

Besides the atypical camerawork and skillful performances, The Founder does not have much left to offer. The way the story flows is far from perfect, focussing on Kroc much more than necessary which pushed aside the credible supporting cast, which could have likely told a more accurate plot with greater inclusion of the McDonald brothers. 

The movie suffers from being in the middle ground, not taking enough risks to be credible as a great movie, but playing it safe enough so that the film isn't terrible either. There is not much that can even be said about The Founder other than that it has interesting moments and good acting, but I could never say that I didn't find my attention wavering during the picture.

The trailer of the movie does give away most of the important events during the film, I left the cinema getting exactly what I expected; a mediocre-to-good biopic with decent costume design for the era, and not a great focus on attention to detail or actually making the film more interesting than the bare minimum.

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If I was asked if I could recommend this film, I would only be able to do so if you're interested in biographical movies as a whole; the movie does project the characters in a realistic light but the story that they are placed in is far from perfect or interesting.

The Founder hired the right people for the acting jobs, but from the man who directed acclaimed biographical drama The Blind Side, this could have been much more than just a vanilla motion picture.

6/10

Review: Jackie

Runtime: 1hr 40min

Director: Pablo Larraín

Release Date: 20th January 2017

Rating: 15 (UK), R (US)

Natalie Portman takes on the challenging role of beloved 60's First Lady Jackie Kennedy in the days leading up to the end of her Whitehouse stint. The script not particularly engaging, Jackie contained performances which were much to the contrary.

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A movie based upon Jackie Kennedy's life has seemingly infinite source material; any type of biopic about the Kennedy's would have so much detail due to the amount of research that has gone into JFK's assassination and life - however this movie managed to skip all of that and focus entirely on the week after JFK's death alone - when so much more about Jackie Kennedy's life as a whole could have been covered. 

As a result, Jackie is entirely based around planning President Kennedy's funeral - and not much else. The premise of the movie is the events of Kennedys' assassination and the events that followed being recounted by Jackie herself in a controlled press interview in the week following the execution that shook a nation.

Jackie (Natalie Portman), details her account of not only the day in question, but also the succeeding funeral plans, her removal from long-term home the Whitehouse, and the very public funeral itself - in which she received much criticism for her personal and political decisions, despite being the grieving widow left to shelter two children from a media frenzy. 

Throughout, her closeness with brother-in-law Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard) is prominent; to the point where it became a bit of a two-man show. Both Sarsgaard and Portman can be commended on their performances, as can the remainder of the cast (for what little screen-time they had) - Portman in particular gave a show captivating to watch, with her vocal imitation almost perfection - despite speculation on its' authenticity due to its' husky, Marilyn-Monroe-esque perception. John Carroll Lynch (as President Lyndon B Johnson) was noteworthy also. Alongside this, it has to be said that the costume, makeup and overall styling was excellent too.

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However, with an almost-two-hour play-out of events that spanned just one week, it felt like Jackie was brimming with detail despite not actually having much real substance; the whole thing felt a bit uneventful for the chaos that it surrounded. Details that you would expect painted clearly for this movie (such as the arrest and public shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald) seemed entirely skimmed over - seemingly Jackie Kennedy's conversations with her interior designer (Richard E. Grant) and a priest (the late, great John Hurt) were deemed far more interesting by comparison.

Music and cinematography, whilst done quite well, were of no particular note, despite its' Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. Alongside this, Jackie's shortlistings' include well-deserved nominations for Costume Design and Best Actress in a Leading Role. Some beautifully detailed scenes became a tad lacklustre by the end, and a few in particular felt slightly mocking of true-to-life occurances.

Whilst the strength and intelligence of Jackie Kennedy were highlighted in this mediocre biopic, I can't help feeling it lacked depth where it churned out detail. A solid effort by Larraín, however not the masterpiece we all had hoped for.

6/10