The best new character debuts, comebacks and the please-just-retire-already
Some stars might want to think of saying goodbye after delivering performances that stank up the screen in 2019. But there were also some epic comebacks and the debut of exciting new characters.
Leigh Paatsch
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ISN’T IT TIME YOU JUST SAID GOODBYE?
SYLVESTER STALLONE in Rambo: Last Blood
No-one in their right mind would go hailing Last Blood a classic. Most would be reluctant to go as far to call it a movie.
As for 73-year-old Stallone, he spends the picture concentrating manfully on forming partial sentences between committing acts of complete butchery.
If what he is doing here can be considered a performance — and there are moments it seems Stallone is unaware the cameras are rolling — then his work ranks as the strangest by a leading man in living memory.
READ THE FULL RAMBO: LAST BLOOD REVIEW
ANGELINA JOLIE in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
In 2014, Maleficent and its unusual take on the Sleeping Beauty legend gave Angelina Jolie one of the biggest hits of her career.
That movie’s billion-plus box-office gross turns out to be the only reason the substandard sequel Mistress of Evil exists.
Jolie’s presence as the title character was inspired the first time around, but feels absolutely contractual on this second lap of the Maleficent fairytale universe.
READ THE FULL MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL REVIEW
CLINT EASTWOOD in The Mule
Veteran actor and director Clint Eastwood is not in the best of form here.
The source material cannot be faulted: it’s the fascinating true story of an old timer who became the most effective courier in the operations of a leading Mexican drug cartel.
The Mule is not unwatchable by any stretch, but could have been so much better in the hands of another filmmaker.
THE BEST STAR DEBUTS OF 2019 – A BIG HELLO TO …
FORKY in Toy Story 4
You cannot improve on perfection. So when it was announced there would be a fourth Toy Story, longstanding fans of the family-friendly franchise had every right to question it. But rest easy, the unimpeachable excellence continues.
Chief among the new characters worthy of admission to the Toy Story universe is the wonderful Forky (Tony Hale), a goofy hybrid of plastic cutlery and pipe-cleaners that — even by the loosest definition — is not a toy at all.
READ THE FULL TOY STORY 4 REVIEW
JESSIE BUCKLEY in Wild Rose
On first impressions, Wild Rose shapes quite simply as a rags-to-riches tale of a country-and-western singer hailing from the not-so-Nashville environs of Glasgow.
However, it turns out there is more than meets the eye (or indeed, serenades the ear) going on here. A blazing, star-making burst of acting from the unknown Jessie Buckley.
READ THE FULL WILD ROSE REVIEW
VIVEIK KALRA in Blinded by the Light
By turns corny, ungainly and every so slightly silly, the sugar-sweet coming-of-age affair Blinded by the Light still comes through with the goods by the end.
While not exactly a musical, it is the music of legendary American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen that fuels the engine of this endearing British movie.
The year is 1987, and a young, picked-upon Pakistani student named Javed (Viveik Kalra) finds direction in a life going nowhere after discovering the inspirational songbook of the bloke they call ‘The Boss’.
READ THE FULL BLINDED BY THE LIGHT REVIEW
THE BEST COMEBACKS OF 2019 – A BIG HELLO AGAIN TO …
ROBERT DE NIRO in The Irishman
AL PACINO in The Irishman
JOE PESCI in The Irishman
There is so much excellence afoot in The Irishman that listing each and every component of its success is pointless.